Athato Brahma jignyasaa ! ......
Vedanta is an enquiry:
The main topics of Vedanta are
Tatva ( Reality)
Hita ( mean of realization)
Purushartha ( ultimate Goal)
Reality or Tatva is divided into two
Para ( the ultimate ) or Paramatman
Apara that what is dependent on the ultimate reality ;
This Aparais divided into two
Individual souls that have consciousness ( Jeevatman)
Material entities which have no consciousness ( material universe – Jagat) )
Thus the three realities the Vedanta talks about are
- Paramatman
- Jeevatma
- Jagat
Now we come to the Vedantic Enquiry. The nature of the relation between the three namely Paramatma, Jeevatma and the universe is the Vedantic enquiry.
Specifically
The first and foremost enquiry is to know the relationship between Paramatma ( ultimate Realty) and Jeevatma ( the individual soul)
The next enquiry is about the relationship between Paramatma, the individual soul and the body embodying the individual
The third enquiry is about the individual soul and the material world ( Jagat)
In this all the three Paramatman , Jeeva ( individual) and jagat ( universe) are considered real – with Vedas , Brahma sutras and Bhagavad-Gita considered as sources
Vedas have Bhedasruti bringing out the difference between Jeevatma and Paramatma, Abhedasruti bringing out the non-difference of Paramatma and Jeevatma and also the conciliatory statements which try to bridge the difference.
This three fold enquiry resulted in seemingly startling conclusions covering a range of views from the unequivocal Advaita which is Unitary and says there is only One Reality not three (Paramatman, you and Jagat all in one !), the Dvaita which recognizes two separate entities Paramatma and Jeevatma , and then there is Vishishtadvaita a qualified Unitary philosophy .
There is Saiva system recognizing all the three as inevitable three realities.
All of them base their arguments on the same Vedas.
The Sankara's defense of Advaita left even the western scholars staggered at the sweep of his arguments affirming a single reality that is the human being itself. Sankara has used the Vedas, Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad-Gita to fully establish the point of unitary soul (Advaita) in that sense the Vedas and philosophy affirmed by Sankara is secular.
The Purna prajna basing its philosophy on “Hari” alone (hari sharanam) as the center piece, Saivism basing its philosophy on Siva, Vishidtadvaita keeping the Paramatma and Jeevaatma virtually separate are probably easier to understand and assimilate.
The reference to the difficult river , in the story of Dasamanyaaya , is a very apt analogy and for that reason alone vedas and Vedantists talk hoarse about the step by step process for reaching the level of Sankara's Advaita.
So that is about the lines of … Vedantic Enquiry..
And this is not left as a metaphysical enquiry; the enquiry got embedded into the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Upanishads talk about the same through sub stories like the dialog between Yama and Nachiketa in Kathopanishad etc
So we continue our enquiry .
om tat sat
om tat sat