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Hindu philosophy He wrote commentaries on the Prasthana Trayi. A famous quote from Vivekacu?ama?i, one of his Prakara?a gra?thas (philosophical treatises) that succinctly summarises his philosophy is[4] This widely quoted sentence of his is also widely misunderstood.[citation needed] In his metaphysics, there are three tiers of reality with each one sublating the previous. The category illusion in this system is unreal only from the viewpoint of the absolutely real and is different from the category of the Absolutely unreal. His system of vedanta introduced the method of scholarly exegesis on the accepted metaphysics of the Upanishads, and this style was adopted by all the later vedanta schools. Another distinctive feature of his work is his refusal to be literal about scriptural statements and adoption of symbolic interpretation where he considered it appropriate. In a famous passage in his commentary on the Brahmasutra's of Badarayana, he says "For each means of knowledge{PramaNam} has a valid domain. The domain of the scriptures {Shabda PramaNam} is the knowledge of the Self. If the scriptures say something about another domain - like the world around us - which contradicts what perception {Pratyaksha PramaNam} and inference{Anumana PramaNam} (the appropriate methods of knowledge for this domain) tells us, then, the scriptural statements have to be symbolically interpreted..." Adi Shankara's contributions to Advaita are crucial. His main works are the commentaries on the Prasthanatrayi (Brahma Sutras, Bhagavad Gita and the Upanisads) and the Gaudapadiya Karikas. He also wrote a major independent treatise, called Upadesa Sahasri, expounding his philosophy.
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