Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, ‘First Shankara’), was an Indian Vedic scholar and teacher (acharya), whose works present a harmonizing reading of the sastras, with liberating knowledge of the self at its core, synthesizing the Advaita Vedanta teachings of his time. Due to his later fame,...
Transtheism Transtheism refers to a system of thought or religious philosophy which is neither theistic nor atheistic, but is beyond them. The word was coined by either philosopher Paul Tillich or Indologist Heinrich Zimmer. Zimmer applies the term to Jainism, which is theistic in the limited sense that gods exist but are irrelevant as they are transcended...
Smarta Tradition Smarta tradition (स्मार्त) is a movement in Hinduism that developed during its classical period around the beginning of the Common Era. It reflects a Hindu synthesis of four philosophical strands: Mimamsa, Advaita, Yoga, and theism. The Smarta tradition rejects theistic sectarianism, and it is notable for the domestic worship of five shrines with five...
Hindu Atheism This article covers Hindu Atheism. Atheism (निरीश्वरवाद, nir-īśvara-vāda, lit. “statement of no Lord“, “doctrine of godlessness”) or disbelief in god or gods has been a historically propounded viewpoint in many of the orthodox and heterodox streams of Indian philosophy. There are six major orthodox (astika) schools of Hindu philosophy—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedanta, and five major...
Karma Yoga Karma yoga, also called Karma marga, is one of the three spiritual paths in Hinduism, one based on the “yoga of action”. To a karma yogi, right action is a form of prayer. It is one of the paths in the spiritual practices of Hindus, others being Jnana yoga (path of knowledge) and Bhakti yoga...
Neo-Vedanta Neo-Vedanta, also called Hindu modernism, neo-Hinduism, Global Hinduism and Hindu Universalism,are terms to characterize interpretations of Hinduism that developed in the 19th century. The term “Neo-Vedanta” was coined by Paul Hacker, in a pejorative way, to distinguish modern developments from “traditional” Advaita Vedanta. Scholars have repeatedly argued that these modern interpretations...
Advaita Vedanta Advaita Vedanta (अद्वैत वेदान्त, Advaita Vedānta, literally, “non-duality“) is a school of Hindu philosophy, and originally known as Puruṣavāda, is a classic system of spiritual realization in Indian tradition. The term Advaita refers to its idea that the true self, Atman, is the same as the highest metaphysical reality of the universe, Brahman. The followers of...
Vedanta Vedanta (वेदान्त, Vedānta) or Uttara Mīmāṃsā is the most prominent of the six (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning “end of the Vedas“, Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from the speculations and philosophies contained in the Upanishads. It does not stand for one comprehensive or unifying doctrine. Rather it is an umbrella term...
Sunyata Sunyata or Śūnyatā (शून्यता, śūnyatā; suññatā) – pronounced in English as (shoon-ya-ta), translated most often as emptiness and sometimes voidness – is a Buddhist concept which has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. It is either an ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a phenomenological analysis of experience. In Theravada Buddhism, suññatā often refers to...
Nondualism In spirituality, nondualism, also called non-duality, means “not two” or “one undivided without a second”. Nondualism primarily refers to a mature state of consciousness, in which the dichotomy of I-other is “transcended”, and awareness is described as “centerless” and “without dichotomies”. Although this state of consciousness may seem to appear spontaneous,...