Vedanta Darshan or Brahma Sutra – key of Upanishads
Vedanta means "end of the Vedas". Vedanta or utter Mimansa, one of six Hindu Darshans, has four Chapters and 555 verses. Badarayana (5th BC) synthesized and systematized the various philosophies contained in the Upanishads in the Brahma Sutras, also called the Vedanta. Inquisitiveness, diseases or miseries experienced in life, inspire people to inquire about Brahman (Almighty, Iswar, Parmatama or cosmic consciousness) who is eternal, blissful, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. The Upanishads gave various interpretations on Brahman, Jivatma, Prakriti and Moksha. Vedanta probed various interpretations given in Upanishads and conceptualized the knowledge of Brahman and other aspects. The salient features of Vedanta are as under;
Based on Vedanta Darshan, different schools of Vedanta developed. The prominent Vedanta schools are following:
The chapter-wise detailed explanations are attempted as under (Verse wise):
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Vaisheshika Darshan (370 Sutras, 10 chapters) was founded by Kaṇāda Kashyapa around the 2nd century BC. Vaisheshika Darshan, one of the six Hindu Philosophies explains about the existence physical universe, living beings, soul and moksha.
He postulated as under:
3. Atheism – Parmanu are eternal. 4. Creationism – No action / activity is done without reason. Activity is non-eternal. Supreme Being is creator and operator of the universe. 5. Salvationism – The ultimate goal of living being is escape from re-birth and attains liberation (Moksha). The salient features of the Darshan are as under: Physical Universe – Creation & Function 1. Parmanu and the true being is eternal, having no cause. 2. Part of the world is non-eternal i.e. subject to origin and destruction in time. All composite objects are constituted by the combination of atoms and destroyed through their separation. The 1st combination of 2 atoms is called a dvyanuka or dyad, and a combination of 3 dyads is called tryanuka or triad. Triad cannot be perceived, but are known through inference. 3. At the beginning of creation, God's given effort is possible only by the combination of atoms; earth and tree are all things. 4. A lot of great qualities arise from the properties of the atomic particles, etc. It is the effect that the qualities which are in the causation, those qualities are inferred in the activities. 5. Elemental knowledge is created by knowing nature six substances. The substances can be classified into six categories, dravya (substance - six), guṇa (quality – twenty four), karma (activity - five), sāmānya (generality - two), viśeṣa (particularity) and samavāya (inherence). 6. The experiences about the substance are derived from the interplay of substance (a function of atoms, their number and their spatial arrangements), quality, activity, generality, particularity and inherence and liberation is to be attained through understanding the nature of existence. 7. The natural qualities of the earth, air, fire, water and ether are smell, touch, form & heat, fluidity & coolness and sound. Living Beings –Execution of Karma 8. The living beings are having bodies with senses and possessing mind, intellect and egoism. All these exist and interact with one another in time, space and Moksha. 9. Living beings are souls who enjoy or suffer in this world according as they are wise or ignorant, good or bad virtuous or vicious. 10. The knowledge of happiness and misery is not from any sense, therefore, in order to know these qualities, the soul needs some reason, and the reason is the mind (mann). The seat of knowledge is soul. 11. Desire which create tendency in the offerings of charity, yagna and donation, is Dharma (virtues). Violence, malice etc. are the tendency of the wicked. The activities done by speech, mind and body, are called tendencies. Speaking truth, speaking sweetly, speaking for others' sentiment are virtuous tendencies. Telling lies, talking bitter and harming others is sin. 12. Karma is done by the combination of soul and effort of organisms. The soul inspires the mind and the mind inspires the senses. By this inspirations the karma / activities arises. 13. Attachment and aversions create its strong sanskar/impressions in mind. Wisdom to attain Moksha 14. Dharma & adharm (unrighteousness) or atma (soul) is associated with the body, senses and mind. This association is called birth. When atma separates from the body & senses, this is called death. Cycle of birth and death, is the name of the world. Dharm-adharm is due to attachment & aversion which caused by false knowledge. 15. False knowledge is a cause of sadness, desire and defects. The destruction of misery is not salvation, but the continuous happiness is the only salvation (Moksha or liberation). 16. When the mind (mann) detaches from the outside senses and lives in the soul, no action is done and the mind becomes steady. The same condition, when leaving all the work, meditation is called and that is Yoga. When yoga takes place, it is not the beginning of action in the mind, when Yoga happens, there is a lack of grief and the action is done to remove misery. 17. When the false knowledge is destroyed, attachment & hatred/aversion and their tendencies disappear, which results in the loss of karmic account of re-birth. Thereby, re-birth gets stopped, that is only salvation/liberation. 18. Knowledge of nature of atma and parmatma, at that time the body and mind which is separated from the soul, it is called moksha (liberation). The chapter-wise detailed explanations are attempted as under (Verse wise): |
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