Why is this course called Vedanta?

Veda means knowledge and anta means end. So Vedanta means the ultimate knowledge.

Vedanta is a philosophy taught by the Vedas, the most ancient scriptures of India. Its basic teaching is that our real nature is divine. Every living being is of the same nature as God, or Brahman.

Religion is therefore a search for self-realization and God-realization. It is ment for reastablishing our loving relationship with God.

Vedanta acknowledges that there are many different approaches to God, and all are valid. Every spiritual practice will lead to some kind of self-realization. Thus Vedanta teaches respect for all religions.

The Main Ideas of Vedanta

Following are some of the main tenets of Vedanta:

· God is one without a second, absolute and the primeval cause of all causes. He is self-sufficient, cognizant and free from the illusion of relativity.

· God can be realized as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan, who are qualitatevly one and the same. This three features of the one Absolute Truth are different perspective views seen from different angles of vision.

· All souls are God's separated parts.

· All of the incarnations are actual embodiments of Divinity and are never subject to illusion.

· There is no accident in the cosmic universe. Human destiny is governed by the law of cause and effect.

· We are born repeatedly to finish the unfinished work of becoming God-conscious. Although we suffer because of actions, we can have the freedom to control ourselves and hence our destiny.

· There is a higher state of consciousness which can be achieved in this human birth.

· There are many ways to achieve union with God, through the intellect, emotions, actions, and the will. A specific path or a combination should be followed to realize the aim and objectives of life.

Pure devotional service is the only means for attaining the final objective of life.

The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all

The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.

In the Upanishads the description is more or less negation of the material conception of everything, up to the Supreme Lord. It is very important to note that there is no denial of the spiritual, absolute, transcendental conception in the Upanishads. The purpose of the Upanishads is to philosophically establish the personal feature of the Absolute Truth as transcendental to material names, forms, qualities and actions.

Darshana means, sight or vision. In the Vedanta philosophy, the first question is, what is the source of everything? There are philosophers who saw different stages of the original source, and explained philosophy according to their vision. These are known as darshanas. They are also known as sad-darshanas (six systems of philosophy).

There are five different sects of vaishnava acharyas - the shuddhadvaita, vishishtadvaita, dvaitadvaita, dvaita and acintya-bhedabheda. All the vaishnava acharyas in these schools have written commentaries on the vedanta-sutra, but the mayavadi philosophers d o not recognize them. The mayavadis distinguish between Krishna and Krishna's body, and therefore they do no recognize the worship of Krishna by the vaishnava philosophers.

Actually in the first two chapters of vedanta-sutra the relationship between the living entities and the Supreme Lord is explained, and in the third chapter the discharge of devotional service is explained. The fourth chapter deals with the relationship which results from discharging devotional service. The natural commentary on vedanta-sutra is Srimad-Bhagavatam. The great acharyas of the four vaishnava communities (sampradayas) - namely, Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Vishnuswami and Nimbarka - have also written commnetaries on vedanta-sutra by following the principles of Srimad-Bhagavatam. At present the followers of all the acharyas have written many books following the principles of Srimad-Bhagavatam as the commentary on the vedanta. Shankara's commenta ry on vedanta-sutra, known as sariraka-bhashya, is very much adored by the impersonalist scholars, but commentaries written on the vedanta written from the materialistic point of view are completely adverse to the transcendental service of the Lord. Consequently Lord Chaitanya said that direct commentaries on the Upanishads and vedanta-sutra are glorious, but that anyone who follows the indirect path of Shankaracharya's sariraka-bhashya is certainly doomed.

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Ramakrishnan (www.vedanta.org)

A closer look at the word "Vedanta" is revealing: "Vedanta" is a combination of two words: "Veda" which means "knowledge" and "anta" which means "the end of" or "the goal of." In this context the goal of knowledge isn't intellectual—the limited knowledge we acquire by reading books. "Knowledge" here means the knowledge of God as well as the knowledge of our own divine nature. Vedanta, then, is the search for Self-knowledge as well as the search for God.

What do we mean when we say God? According to Vedanta, God is infinite existence, infinite consciousness, and infinite bliss. The term for this impersonal, transcendent reality is Brahman, the divine ground of being. Yet Vedanta also maintains that God can be personal as well, assuming human form in every age.

Most importantly, God dwells within our own hearts as the divine Self or Atman. The Atman is never born nor will it ever die. Neither stained by our failings nor affected by the fluctuations of the body or mind, the Atman is not subject to our grief or despair or disease or ignorance. Pure, perfect, free from limitations, the Atman, Vedanta declares, is one with Brahman. The greatest temple of God lies within the human heart.

Vedanta further asserts that the goal of human life is to realize and manifest our divinity. Not only is this possible, it is inevitable. Our real nature is divine; God-realization is our birthright. Sooner or later, we will all manifest our divinity—either in this or in future lives—for the greatest truth of our existence is our own divine nature.

Finally, Vedanta affirms that all religions teach the same basic truths about God, the world, and our relationship to one another. Thousands of years ago the Rig Veda declared: "Truth is one, sages call it by various names." The world's religions offer varying approaches to God, each one true and valid, each religion offering the world a unique and irreplaceable path to God-realization. The conflicting messages we find among religions are due more to doctrine and dogma than to the reality of spiritual experience. While dissimilarities exist in the external observances of the world religions, the internals bear remarkable similarities.