Post
by DNS » Wed Aug 29, 2018 10:32 pm
Yes, I agree it is very rich and vast. However, there are some common themes among all the various forms:
Common features
Despite their differences, all schools of Vedanta share some common features:
* Brahman exists as the unchanging material cause and instrumental cause of the world.[105]
* The Upanishads are a reliable source of knowledge (Sruti Śabda in Pramana);[106] Vedanta is the pursuit of knowledge into the Brahman and the Ātman.[107]
* Belief in rebirth and the desirability of release from the cycle of rebirths, (mokşa).[108]
* The self (Ātman / Jivātman) is the agent of its own acts (karma) and the recipient of the consequences of these actions.[108]
* Rejection of Buddhism and Jainism and conclusions of the other Vedic schools (Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, and, to some extent, the Purva Mimamsa.[108]
Metaphysics
Vedanta philosophies discuss three fundamental metaphysical categories and the relations between the three.[109]
Brahman or Ishvara: the ultimate reality[110]
Ātman or Jivātman: the individual soul, self[111]
Prakriti/Jagat:[17] the empirical world, ever–changing physical universe, body and matter[112]
(from the wikipedia article)