Darshanas: Schools

Different philosophical views of understanding Sanaatan Dharma 

From olden times, sages have founded different systems of deriving knowledge from the Vedas known as ‘Darshanas’ or views. Six primary ones are Vaiseshika by Sage Kannada focussing on atomic matter and nature, Sankhya by Sage Kapila categorising and differentiating twenty five types of existence created from the cosmic energy,  Nyaya by Sage Gautama following a logical reasoning approach, Yoga by Sage Patanjali emphasizing meditation and control, Mimansa by Sage Jaimini concentrating on the rituals, powerful chants, words in the Vedas and Vedanta by Sage Vyasa/Bhadrayana attaching most significance to the Upanishads and Aranyakas of the Vedas. These six schools are classed as ‘Astika’ (orthodox) due to their belief in the Vedas as the primary Sruti scriptures. Buddhism and Jainism are considered as the Naastik religions (heterodox, not based on the Vedas) although their philosophies are said to have many common threads with the Sankhya philosophy and in some cases Buddhism is likened to Advaita Vedanta.

Advaita Vedanta: Whilst some of these views were more suitable to past ages, the Vedanta school is most popular in today’s scientific age of reason. Vedanta has further evolved into schools of Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita philosophies referring to non-duality, qualified non duality and duality in reference to existence of God and the world with life in it respectively. Thus Advaita Vedanta believes that there is only one absolute reality of God which manifests itself in various forms in the world but ultimately these manifestations are illusory compared to the singular truth of the eternal Atman (God). Atman is said to be consciousness without any attributes. The Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita sub schools have subtle but significant differences in terms of whether God is one with the soul in human life. However some Vedanta followers view these three schools of Dualism, qualified non dualism and non dualism as simply the ‘starting point’, the ‘middle’ and the ‘end’ of the same journey and seek to highlight the key similarities upon which they are based.

Smarta Tradition: In modern times many Hindus are followers of Advaita Vedanta and often belong to the ‘Smarta’ tradition of Hinduism which accepts six manifestations of God as Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesha, Kartikeya (also known as Murugan/Skanda) and Surya who are all considered to equally personify the Supreme God Brahman.  Smarta devotees also believe and promote the ‘Smritis’ which are scriptures derived from the Vedas.

The Smarta lineage however includes followers of all six views (‘shad darshanas’) based on the Vedas and not just Advaita Vedanta. Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism are the other three major Hindu sects which worship Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Goddess Shakti respectively as the Supreme Being.  Vaishnav devotees pray to one or other incarnation of Lord Vishnu such as Lord Krishna or Lord Rama. The Shaiva school is one of the oldest in Hinduism. Further sub systems of faith also exist since ancient times within the ‘Shaiva’ philosophy (including the ‘Pashupata, Siddhanta, Kashmiri Shaivism, Lingayat’ sub schools which have some philosophical differences).  Followers of the’Shrauta’ tradition attach importance to strictly conducting rituals as per the Vedic texts. 

This philosophy of Advaita Vedanta accepting all the main five or six deities as promoted by ‘Adi Shankaracharya’ influences my study recorded in this blog although this is in no way aimed at negating other beliefs and thought systems. 

Smriti Scriptures

Hindu scriptures developed over thousands of years ago by Sages are classed as Smriti knowledge.  These include:

Upa Vedas such as Aayurveda, Dhanurveda, Gandharva veda and Stapathya Sastra referring to the science of medicine, science of battle, arts such as music and dance and the science of mechanics and construction respectively.  

Vedangas are another important part including Siksha (phonetics), Kalpa (rites), Vyakarana (Grammar), Nirukta (Vedic Glossary), Chhandas (Prosody), Jyotisha  (Astronomy & Astrology). These are vital to understand and learn the scriptures especially as the Vedas originally existed only by word of mouth in sound form for many centuries. 

Dharma Smritis do not have divine origin but consolidate the wisdom of Sages over generations to provide guidelines on how to lead a ‘Dharmic life’. The Manu Smriti by Sage Manu is the most well known among eighteen others.

Puranas narrate stories about religion, traditions, history of the earth including creation and destruction in order to deliver the same philosophical concepts using mythological tales as aids for easier understanding by the common man. Puranas provide continuity from prehistoric times and help to identify with all our history and our ancient ancestors. There are eighteen most important ‘Maha Puranas’ and another forty six auxiliary ‘Upa Puranas’. 

Itihasas are a record of history focussed around human lives with a message of upholding religious values. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the two Itihasas composed as epics by Sage Valmiki and Sage Vyasa and very much part of the Hindu Smriti scriptures.

Other scriptural texts include ‘Agamas’, ‘Nibandhas’, ‘Subhashitas’, ‘Kavyas’, ‘Alankaras’, ‘Natakas’ and all this literature makes Sanaatan Dharma more and more accessible to the common people in comparatively recent generations of human life. 

Scriptures: Srutis

Vedas: are the scriptures known as ‘Srutis’ considered to be directly received from God by ancient Rishis through transcendental meditation rather than by inference or derivation. The origin of the Vedas is said to be hundreds of thousands of years old when great seers experienced God as the supreme consciousness and recited the hymns that were revealed to them during their meditation. Since very ancient times these Vedas have been chanted orally and passed on from one generation to the next in this way although it is said that many thousands of hymns got lost too from the original single compilation of Vedas that had grown out of the revelations heard and passed on by sages by word of mouth. 

A few thousand years ago the Vedas are said to have been arranged into four namely Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda by Sage Ved Vyasa. Their content relates to praising ancient Vedic practices, informing sacrifices and rituals, detailing poetically the ancient practices and specifying magical spells for healing and correcting errors during the rituals of prayer respectively. Each of the Vedas contain three portions that is the mantras or ‘Samhitas’, the ritualistic portions or ‘Brahmanas’  and the philosophical portions called ‘Aranyakas’ also known as ‘Jnana Kanda’. Samhitas and Brahmanas together are called the ‘Karma Kanda’

Upanishads:  The Upanishads mainly occur within the Aranyakas or reflective portions of the Vedas.  There are said to be 21 Upanishads in the Rig Veda, 108 in Yajur Veda, 1000 in the Sama Veda and 50 in the Atharva Veda totalling up to 1179. Traditionally 108 of these are considered most important of which the twelve or so principal Upanishads that Acharya Adi Shankara has written commentaries on are called Chandogya, Kena, Aitareya, Kaushitaki, Katha, Mundaka, Taitriyaka, Brihadaranyaka, Svetasvatara, Isa, Prasna, Mandukya and also Maha-Narayana. The Upanishads contain the most profound complex details of the Sanaatan thought promoting virtues, wisdom and a quest for emancipation through understanding the one single reality of God.

Vedanta: is the philosophical meaning derived from the Upanishads. Vedanta literally means the end of the Vedas i.e. a summary or the essence of the Vedas.  Thus Vedanta is a summation of all the contemplative knowledge from the Upanishads but also from the rest of the Vedas.  

In order to understand Vedanta, that is to encapsulate the fundamental philosophy of the Sanaatan Dharma, the study of three canonical texts is recommended. These three sources (or ‘three starting points’ called ‘Prasthanatrayi’ in Sanskrit) are the Upanishads (‘Sruti Prasthana’ or the revealed knowledge as the starting point), the Brahma Sutras (‘Nyaya/Yukti Prasthana’ or logical reasoning as a starting point) and the Bhagwad Gita (‘Smriti/Sadhana Prasthana’ or traditional practical knowledge given by Lord Krishna in the epic ‘Mahabharata’)

The ‘Brahma Sutras’ provide a systematic logical approach for us humans to understand Vedanta perhaps by classifying, contextualising and ordering the philosophical knowledge of the Vedas (mainly in the Upanishads parts) as well as the more detailed practical elucidation of this knowledge in the Bhagwad Gita.  The Brahma Sutras are said to consist of 555 aphorisms composed by Sage Veda Vyasa  although some attribute the Brahma Sutras to Sage Badarayana.  

Bhagwad Gita: (Song of ‘Bhagwan’) is Lord Krishna’s advice to prince Arjuna in response to his doubts. The importance of doing one’s duty without attachment or expectation with the knowledge and faith in the supreme God is emphasised in the context of the Great War in Mahabharata. Lord Krishna expounds upon the paths of ‘Bhakti Yoga’ (devotion), ‘Karma Yoga’ (selfless action) and ‘Jnana Yoga’ (Knowledge) to understand God and describes three stages of self-realization of the divine. These are the supreme ‘Brahman’ as universal energy, ‘Paramatma’ the divine soul omnipresent within every person and ‘Bhagwan’ the God’s incarnation with a transcendental form.