Advaita Vedanta

Also called: Advaita · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 3 "Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries"; Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"

Meaning

Advaita Vedanta ("advaita" means "not-two", or non-dualism) is the school of Vedanta taught by Adi Shankara. It holds that Brahman (the one Ultimate Reality, pure consciousness with no form and no qualities) is the only thing that is truly real. It also holds that each person's soul (atman) is the same as Brahman, and that the world we see is maya (illusion), not finally real.

It matters because Advaita became one of the most influential schools of Indian philosophy. Much of later south Indian bhakti thought, especially Ramanuja's vishishtadvaita, grew up as an answer to it.

Explanation

Background: where Advaita comes from

• Vedanta means "the end of the Vedas". It is the group of schools that explain the Upanishads, the last part of the Vedic texts.
• Shankara was born in Kerala in the 8th century, according to NCERT. Exact dates are not certain, and different traditions give different years.
• He wrote bhashyas (commentaries) on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita. Through these he set out Advaita as a clear system.
• He did not invent non-dualism. Older Upanishadic ideas already spoke of the oneness of the self and Brahman. Shankara systematised these ideas (put them in order) and defended them in debate.

Main ideas of Advaita

• Only Brahman is real.
• Brahman is formless and without attributes. In the tradition this is called nirguna Brahman ("Brahman without qualities").

• Nothing exists apart from it.

• Soul and God are one.

• The individual soul (atman) is not separate from Brahman.

• We feel separate only because of ignorance (avidya).

• The world is maya.

• The world we see is an illusion. It is not finally real.

• It is like mistaking a rope for a snake in the dark. When knowledge comes, the "snake" goes away.

• The path to liberation is knowledge.

• Moksha (liberation) comes through jnana (true knowledge) of Brahman.
• Shankara preached renunciation of the world (giving up worldly life) to reach this knowledge.

The challenge from Ramanuja

• In the 11th–12th centuries, Ramanujacharya (c. 1000–1100 according to NCERT) argued against Advaita from Tamil Nadu.
• He taught vishishtadvaita vedanta, or "qualified non-dualism" [2]. Its main points:
• The world is real. It is not a trap or an illusion.
• Individual souls are real. They are not wiped out when they unite with God.

• God is one but has parts. Matter and souls are the body of God, so God is "qualified" by them [2].

• For Ramanuja, the path to moksha was bhakti (loving devotion to God) and prapatti (total surrender to God). Dry knowledge alone was not enough.

• He still held that careful reasoning is needed to reach the highest truths [2]. So the debate with Advaita was a debate within philosophy. Ramanuja was not rejecting thought.

Results and legacy

• Advaita gave Hindu philosophy a strong, unified system based on knowledge (jnana marga, the path of knowledge).
• By calling the world maya, it left little room for personal devotion to a God with qualities.
• This gap is what Ramanuja filled.

• He joined popular devotion to formal philosophy, so temple worship now had an intellectual defence against Advaita [2].

• Tradition links Shankara to the founding of four mathas (monastic centres) at Sringeri, Dwarka, Puri and Joshimath. The heads of these mathas still carry the title Shankaracharya.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: Shankara is placed in the 8th century (NCERT). The exact dates are uncertain.
• Region: Shankara was born in Kerala. Tradition says he travelled across India debating rival schools.
• Key people:
• Adi Shankara, who systematised Advaita.

• Ramanujacharya (c. 1000–1100 according to NCERT; c. 1017–1137 according to Britannica), who challenged it. Ramanuja was born at Sriperumbudur and died at Srirangam (Tamil Nadu) [2].

• NCERT placement: this falls in the same centuries as the regional kingdoms of the 6th to 12th centuries (Class 7, Ch 3 and Ch 4).

• How we know:
• Shankara's own commentaries on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutra and the Gita.
• Ramanuja's replies, written in the same commentary tradition. Both sides wrote mainly in Sanskrit.
• Later monastic traditions, such as the mathas, kept these texts and passed them down.

Don't confuse with

• Vishishtadvaita (Ramanuja): this is "qualified non-dualism". The world and souls are real, and the path is bhakti + prapatti. Advaita says the world is maya and the path is jnana [2].
• Dvaita (Madhvacharya, 13th century): this is full dualism. God and soul are always separate. Advaita says they are one.
• Shrivaishnavism: this is the Tamil Vaishnava school that worships Vishnu with Shri (Lakshmi). Its key thinker is Ramanuja, not Shankara [2].
• Virashaiva / Lingayat movement (Basavanna, 1106–68, Karnataka): this was a Shaiva bhakti and social-protest movement that rejected caste. It was not a Vedanta school of philosophy.

Prelims Hooks

• Advaita = "not-two" = non-dualism. It was systematised by Adi Shankara, who was born in Kerala, 8th century.
• Advaita: Brahman is formless and without attributes. The world is maya. Liberation comes through jnana (knowledge).
• Vishishtadvaita = qualified non-dualism. It was taught by Ramanuja, who opposed Shankara's Advaita [2].
• Pairing trap: Advaita – Shankara; Vishishtadvaita – Ramanuja; Dvaita – Madhva.
• Order in time: Shankara (8th c.) → Ramanuja (c. 1000–1100) → Madhva (13th c.).
• "Which school says the world is real?" Answer: Vishishtadvaita, not Advaita [2].

Mains Points

• Knowledge and devotion as two routes: Advaita made jnana and renunciation the road to moksha.
• Ramanuja answered that the world and souls are real.
• So devotion, daily work and temple worship have real meaning.

• This shows bhakti growing inside Sanskritic philosophy, not only as emotion [2].

• Continuity and change in Vedanta: all three schools (Advaita, Vishishtadvaita, Dvaita) explain the same Upanishads.

• They differ on one question: how the soul relates to God.

• This shows how Indian thought changed through commentary and debate, not by throwing out older texts.

• Philosophy and the bhakti movement: Advaita's formless Brahman left little room for a personal God.

• Ramanuja joined popular devotion to formal reasoning [2].
• Bhakti now had an intellectual base.
• This prepared the ground for the wider bhakti traditions of the following centuries.

Related concepts

• Adi Shankaracharya
• Shankaracharya mathas
• Ramanuja
• Vishishtadvaita
• Madhvacharya
• Haridasa movement
• Purandara Dasa
• Kanaka Dasa
• Annamacharya
• Basavanna

Read more

• Reforming the south: Ramanuja and the Virashaiva tradition