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.
