|
|
|
|
|
|
|
tion of the complex upanisadic discourse on a belief in the final identity, non-dualism, of human self and the ultimate, non-qualified (nirguna) reality, Brahman. Though by no means the only school of Vedanta, Advaita's importance is attested by the fact of the many attacks on it by later schools of Vedanta. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sankara (8th century) is the most prominent of the Advaitins, and his Bhasya is the first extant commentary on the UMS.
21 Though on most issues he sets forth a traditional interpretation of the UMS, and affords us access to the general Vedanta interpretation of the upanisads, he argues distinctively that there is a hierarchy in the teaching of the upanisads, the highest position being reserved for the teaching that Brahman alone is the final reality, devoid of anything exterior to itself; according to Sankara, the texts which speak of distinction in Brahman and from Brahman are provisional, prior and intended for different purposes than those texts which deny distinction and which represent the final truth of the upanisads. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sankara's Bhasya on Badarayana invited further commentaries which performed the necessary task of explaining the more difficult parts of the Bhasya,as well as extending it by refining its pronouncements and exploring its implications; these later commentaries were in turn objects of further commentary. Although the limited intention of this book precludes the much-needed project of a comprehensive study of the development of Advaita as a commentarial tradition,22 I draw on these later commentaries throughout, particularly the following: |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
1. Vacaspati Misra (mid-9th century)Bhamati |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. Amalananda (13th)Vedantakalpataru (commentary on the Bhamati) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. Appaya Diksita (16th)Kalpataruparimala (commentary on the Vedantakalpataru.) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. Anandagiri (13th)Nyayanirnaya (commentary on the Bhasya) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5. Govindananda (end of 16th)Bhasyaratnaprabha (commentary on the Bhasya,drawing on the Nyayanirnaya) |
|
|
|
|
|