The Upanishads form one of the three main sources for all schools of Vedanta, together with the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahmasutras.[133] Due to the wide variety of philosophical teachings contained in the Upanishads, various interpretations could be grounded on the Upanishads.[note 2][note 9] The schools of Vedānta seek to answer questions about the relation between atman and Brahman, and the relation between Brahman and the world.[134] The schools of Vedanta are named after the relation they see between atman and Brahman:[135]
- According to Advaita Vedanta, there is no difference.[135]
- According to Vishishtadvaita the jīvātman is a part of Brahman, and hence is similar, but not identical.
- According to Dvaita, all individual souls (jīvātmans) and matter as eternal and mutually separate entities.
Other schools of Vedanta include Nimbarka's Dvaitadvaita, Vallabha's Suddhadvaita, and Chaitanya's Acintya Bhedabheda.[136] The philosopher Adi Shankara has provided commentaries on 11 mukhya Upanishads.[137]
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita literally means non-duality, and it is a monistic system of thought.[138] It deals with the non-dual nature of Brahman and Atman. Advaita is considered the most influential sub-school of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy.[138] Gaudapada was the first person to expound the basic principles of the Advaita philosophy in a commentary on the conflicting statements of the Upanishads.[139] Gaudapada's Advaita ideas were further developed by Shankara (8th century CE).[140][141] King states that Gaudapada's main work, Māṇḍukya Kārikā, is infused with philosophical terminology of Buddhism, and uses Buddhist arguments and analogies.[142] King also suggests that there are clear differences between Shankara's writings and the Brahmasutra,[140][141] and many ideas of Shankara are at odds with those in the Upanishads.[143] Radhakrishnan, on the other hand, suggests that Shankara's views of Advaita were straightforward developments of the Upanishads and the Brahmasutra,[144] and many ideas of Shankara derive from the Upanishads.[145]
Shankara in his discussions of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy referred to the early Upanishads to explain the key difference between Hinduism and Buddhism, stating that Hinduism asserts that Atman (soul, self) exists, whereas Buddhism asserts that there is no soul, no self.[146][147][148]
The Upanishads contain four sentences, the Mahāvākyas (Great Sayings), which were used by Shankara to establish the identity of Atman and Brahman as scriptural truth:
- "Prajñānam brahma" - "Consciousness is Brahman" (Aitareya Upanishad)[149]
- "Aham brahmāsmi" - "I am Brahman" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)[150]
- "Tat tvam asi" - "That Thou art" (Chandogya Upanishad)[151]
- "Ayamātmā brahma" - "This Atman is Brahman" (Mandukya Upanishad)[152]
Vishishtadvaita
The second school of Vedanta is the Vishishtadvaita, which was founded by Ramanuja (1017–1137 CE). Ramanuja disagreed with Adi Shankara and the Advaita school.[153] Visistadvaita is a synthetic philosophy bridging the monistic Advaita and theistic Dvaita systems of Vedanta.[154] Ramanuja frequently cited the Upanishads, and stated that Vishishtadvaita is grounded in the Upanishads.[155][156]
Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita interpretation of the Upanishads is that of qualified monism.[157][158] Ramanuja interprets the Upanishadic literature to be teaching a body-soul theory, states Jeaneane Fowler – a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, where the Brahman is the dweller in all things, yet also distinct and beyond all things, as the soul, the inner controller, the immortal.[156] The Upanishads, according to the Vishishtadvaita school, teach individual souls to be of the same quality as the Brahman, but quantitatively distinct.[159][160][161]
In the Vishishtadvaita school, the Upanishads are interpreted to be teaching about Ishvara (Vishnu), who is the seat of all auspicious qualities, with all of the empirically perceived world as the body of God who dwells in everything.[156] The school recommends a devotion to godliness and constant remembrance of the beauty and love of a personal god. This ultimately leads one to the oneness with abstract Brahman.[162][163][164] The Brahman in the Upanishads is a living reality, states Fowler, and "the Atman of all things and all beings" in Ramanuja's interpretation.[156]
Dvaita
The third school of Vedanta called the Dvaita school was founded by Madhvacharya (1199–1278 CE).[165] It is regarded as a strongly theistic philosophic exposition of the Upanishads.[154] Madhvacharya, much like Adi Shankara claims for Advaita, and Ramanuja claims for Vishishtadvaita, states that his theistic Dvaita Vedanta is grounded in the Upanishads.[155]
According to the Dvaita school, states Fowler, the "Upanishads that speak of the soul as Brahman, speak of resemblance and not identity".[166] Madhvacharya interprets the Upanishadic teachings of the self becoming one with Brahman, as "entering into Brahman", just like a drop enters an ocean. This to the Dvaita school implies duality and dependence, where Brahman and Atman are different realities. Brahman is a separate, independent and supreme reality in the Upanishads, Atman only resembles the Brahman in limited, inferior, dependent manner according to Madhvacharya.[166][167][168]
Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita school and Shankara's Advaita school are both nondualism Vedanta schools,[162] both are premised on the assumption that all souls can hope for and achieve the state of blissful liberation; in contrast, Madhvacharya believed that some souls are eternally doomed and damned.[169][170]
