Vedantasara, Essence of Vedanta, is a 15th-century Advaita vedanta text [1] written by Sadananda Yogendra Saraswati.
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Vedantasara, Essence of Vedanta, is a 15th-century Advaita vedanta text [1] written by Sadananda Yogendra Saraswati.
Its author, Sadananda Yogendra Saraswati, was the son of Anantadeva Apadeva, and probably lived in the mid-15th Century A.D. He also wrote Vedantasiddhanta-sarasangraha, Bhavaprakasa on Bhagavad Gita and Brahmasutra-tatpryaprakasa.
Sadananda, the author of Advaitabrahmasiddhi, published by Asiatic Society of Bengal, is a different author.
The Vedantasara is based on Gaudapada’s Karika, Upadesasahasri of Adi Shankara, Panchadasi of Vidyaranya who died in 1386 A.D., and the Naishkarmayasiddhi of Suresvara. [web 1]
The Vedantasara presents Sutratman (text) as Viraj, [2] the prime means to reach knowledge of Atman and Brahman. Only the liberated Self-knower realizes Brahman. [3]
Just like the Dṛg-Dṛśya-Viveka the Vedantasara adds samadhi to the triad of sravana ('hearing'), manana ('reflection') and nididhyasana ('repeated meditation'). [4]
The Vedantasara is divided into six chapters and contains 227 verses. [5]
The earliest commentaries on Vedantasara of Sadananda, that incorporates pre-Sankara, Sankara and post-Sankara teachings, are Subodhini written in 1588 A.D. by Nrisimhasaraswati of Varanasi, Balabodhini by Apadeva, the renowned authority on Purva Mimamsa, and Vidvanmanoranjani by Ramatirtha.
Advaita Vedanta is a school of Hindu philosophy and a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience. In a narrow sense it refers to the oldest extant scholarly tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta, written in Sanskrit; in a broader sense it refers to a popular, syncretic tradition, blending Vedānta with other traditions and producing works in vernacular.
In Hindu philosophy, turiya, also referred to as chaturiya, chaturtha, is the true self (atman) beyond the three common states of consciousness. It is postulated in several Upanishads and explicated in Gaudapada's Mandukya Karika.
A jīvanmukta, literally meaning 'liberated while living', is a person who, in the Vedānta philosophy, has gained complete self-knowledge and self-realisation and attained kaivalya (enlightenment) or moksha (liberation), thus is liberated while living and not yet died. The state is the aim of moksha in Vedānta, Yoga and other schools of Hinduism, and it is referred to as jīvanmukti.
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad is the shortest of all the Upanishads, and is assigned to Atharvaveda. It is listed as number 6 in the Muktikā canon of 108 Upanishads.
The Vivekachudamani is a philosophical treatise within the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism, traditionally attributed to the Vedāntic philosopher Adi Shankara, though this attribution has been questioned and mostly rejected by scholarship. It is in the form of a poem in the Shardula Vikridita metre.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī (c.1540–1640) was an Indian philosopher in the Advaita Vedānta tradition and devotee of Krishna. He was the disciple of Viśveśvara Sarasvatī and Mādhava Sarasvatī, and is the most celebrated name in the annals of the great debate between Dvaita and Advaita schools of Vedanta. The Nyayamṛta of Vyasatirtha, a text criticising the Advaita view, caused a furore in the Advaita community resulting in a series of scholarly debates over centuries. Madhusūdana composed Advaitasiddhi, a line-by-line refutation of Nyayamṛta. In response to Advaitasiddhi, the Dvaita scholars, Vyasa Ramacharya, and Ananda Bhattaraka, wrote Nyayamṛta Tarangini and Nyayamṛta Kantakoddhara and challenged Madhusūdana Sarasvatī.
Sri Satchidanandendra Saraswati Swamiji was monk-scholar in the Shankara Advaita tradition. He is the founder of the Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya in Holenarasipura, Hassan district, Karnataka, India. He was a great Vedantin of Advaitha Philosophy.
The Bhagavad Gita, often referred to as the Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture, which is part of the epic Mahabharata. It forms the chapters 23–40 of book 6 of the Mahabharata called the Bhishma Parva. The work is dated to the second half of the first millennium BCE.
The Advaita Guru-Paramparā is the traditional lineage (parampara) of divine, Vedic and historical teachers of Advaita Vedanta. It begins with the Daiva-paramparā, the gods; followed by the Ṛṣi-paramparā, the Vedic seers; and then the Mānava-paramparā, with the historical teachers Gaudapada and Adi Shankara, and four of Shankara's pupils. Of the five contemporary acharyas, the heads of the five Advaita mathas, four acharyas trace their lineage to those four pupils and one to Adi Shankara himself.
Ānanda literally means bliss or happiness. In the Hindu Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad gita, ānanda signifies eternal bliss which accompanies the ending of the rebirth cycle. Those who renounce the fruits of their actions and submit themselves completely to the divine will, arrive at the final termination of the cyclical life process (saṃsāra) to enjoy eternal bliss (ānanda) in perfect union with the godhead. The tradition of seeking union with God through loving commitment is referred to as bhakti, or devotion.
Panchadasi or Panchadashi is a simple yet comprehensive manual of Advaita Vedanta written in the fourteenth century CE (1386-1391) by Vidyaranya, previously known as Madhavacharya.
Sadananda Yogendra Saraswati, the exponent of the Advaita Vedanta as taught by Adi Shankara and the renowned author of Vedantasara which is one of the best known Prakarana Granthas (text-books) of the philosophy of the Upanishads, was the son of Anantadeva, and probably lived in mid-15th century A.D. He is also reputed to have written - Vedantasiddhanta-sarasangraha, Bhavaprakasa on Bhagavad Gita and Brahmasutra-tatpryaprakasa – which are works of equal repute and importance. Not much is known about the life of this acharya. Hiriyanna states that Sadananda of Vedantasara is different from the Sadananda of Advaitbrahmansiddhi the text that was published by the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
Paramananda is a Sanskrit word composed of two words, parama and ānanda. Parama is taken to mean the highest or transcendent. Ānanda means bliss or happiness, and also suggests a deep-seated spiritual emotion that is entrenched. The Upanishadic authors also used ānanda, to denote Brahman, the Supreme Being in Hinduism.
In Advaita Vedanta and Jnana Yoga Nididhyasana is profound and repeated meditation on the mahavakyas, great Upanishadic statements such as "That art Thou", to realize the identity of Atman and Brahman. It is the fourth step in the training of a sisya (disciple), consisting of preparatory practices, listening to the teachings as contained in the sruti, reflection on the teachings, and nididhyasana.
Abhasavada is the term derived from the word Abhasa meaning mere or fallacious appearance, reflection, looking like, light, semblance of reason, intention. In Hindu philosophy this term refers to the Theory of Appearance, both of the Shaivite school and the Advaita Vedanta, though with differing connotations.
Prajña or Pragya is used to refer to the highest and purest form of wisdom, intelligence and understanding. Pragya is the state of wisdom which is higher than the knowledge obtained by reasoning and inference.
Kasaya is attachment to worldly objects and is an obstacle in the path leading to Nirvikalpa Samadhi: it is overcome through viveka, discrimination.
Rasāsvāda means – appreciation, sipping of juice, perception of pleasure; in Indian philosophy, it refers to the taste of bliss in the absence of all thought which is an obstacle in the path leading to Nirvikalpa Samādhi ; it is aesthetic consciousness. Rasasvada means one gets a power of healing or a power of knowing the mind which gives enjoyment but this enjoyment is superficial enjoyment or happiness which should not be sought while seeking Truth.
Ātma-bodha is a short Sanskrit text attributed to Adi Shankara of Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. The text in sixty-eight verses describes the path to Self-knowledge or the awareness of Atman.
Naiṣkarmya-siddhi is a treatise on Advaita Vedanta written by Sureśvara, one of the direct disciples of Ādi Śaṅkara, in approximately the 8th century. It comprises 423 verses divided into four chapters. Along with Brahma-siddhi of Maṇḍana Miśra, the Advaita-siddhi of Madhusūdana Sarasvatī and the Iṣṭa-siddhi of Vimuktātman, it is considered to be one of the four most important works in the siddhi-literature tradition of Advaita, which comprises the stating of the essence of Advaita along with new facets brought out by defending the theology from rival schools.