Sankara

Question 1

What is Vedanta?

Answer 1

Philosophical schools of Hinduism which consider the ideas of the vedas.

Question 2

What Vedanta school was sankara?

Answer 2

Advaita- behind all ideas of the divine was an awesome ultimate reality.

Question 3

What was sankara’s background?

Answer 3

Born in Kerala in 788, he traveled widely through India, debating with opponents, opening monasteries, setting up orders of monks and writing books.

Question 4

What was the situation like at the time?

Answer 4

Hinduism’s popularity was under attack from Buddhism, Sankara saw it as his role to defend Hinduism.

Question 5

Which beliefs did Sankara disagree with?

Answer 5

Mimamsa- exaggerated emphasis on karma and vedic rites. Bhakti- path of devotion to god.

Question 6

What did Sankara want?

Answer 6

A lifestyle interwoven with philosophy and religion which promised people greater fulfillment.

Question 7

Which books did sankara focus on?

Answer 7

The Upanishads, he also wrote commentaries on the Brahma sutras, Bhagavad Gita and wrote 72 minor works.

Question 8

Give three Upanishad quotes

Answer 8

1. The atman is Brahman. 2. Consciousness is Brahman. 3. Sat, cit, ananda.

Question 9

How did he see the atman?

Answer 9

Exists, is unknowable and the root cause of all thought. It is witness to the activities of the person. There is only one atman and it is trapped in many bodies.

Question 10

What did he think of meditation on the self?

Answer 10

Pointless as the atman is unknowable.

Question 11

What is advaita?

Answer 11

Non dualism, the atman and Brahman exist and are identical.

Question 12

How did he see Brahman?

Answer 12

Eternal, infinite, beyond name and niguna. He is apophatic and there is not nothing else but him.

Question 13

What is ignorance?

Answer 13

Maya, our intellect and sensory perceptions deceiving us into thinking that the physical world is real.

Question 14

How did he see the self?

Answer 14

You are not really you, your consciousness is Brahman and is identical with all other consciousnesses.

Question 15

What is maya?

Answer 15

The soul becomes trapped in an illusion, it creates a false identity and believes that the material world is more then a series of appearances produced by maya.

Question 16

Describe the illusionary level of reality

Answer 16

That which we know is not real- dreams, illusions and hallucinations.

Question 17

Describe the mundane level of reality

Answer 17

Accepting things we experience in the empirical as real. It is constant, empirically real and predictable, but is not absolutely real and is just a product of maya.

Question 18

What is knowledge of the empirical world?

Answer 18

Avidya- ignorance which allows us to know the empirical, but conceals the ultimate reality of Brahman.

Question 19

Describe the ultimate level of reality

Answer 19

Brahman nirguna- only this is real and all else is maya. This realization will bring an end to karma and will bring moksha.

Question 20

What is lower knowledge?

Answer 20

Maya, believing the world and an Ishvara are real.

Question 21

What is higher knowledge?

Answer 21

Jnana- realizing that the world is an illusion, it is the only way higher knowledge can be gained. The vedas are crucial, but loose their importance once one understands the knowledge of the ultimate reality.

Question 22

How did Sankara see Bhakti yoga?

Answer 22

Pointless as Brahman has no qualities. Part of lower knowledge, but is a good starting point.

Question 23

How did Sankara see Jnana yoga?

Answer 23

Best way to achieve moksha which helps to achieve higher knowledge of Brahman. True knowledge is experience of Brahman brahmavidya.

Question 24

Who can follow Jnana yoga?

Answer 24

Upper caste Brahmins. Those with a hankering for liberation. Those who have lived a variety of lives and are ready to renounce action and the world.

Question 25

What does Jnana yoga lead to?

Answer 25

Higher knowledge of Brahman (brahmavidya) which ultimately leads to moksha.

Question 26

What is realization?

Answer 26

Waking from a dream and realizing it was an illusion. You realize the material world is unreal and reach jivanmukti (you are liberated, but your atman is still trapped in Prakriti.)

Question 27

How does the Mahabharata describe realization?

Answer 27

The removal of all thoughts of I and the realization that there is just one ultimate reality.

Question 28

What did Sankara think of the Bhagavad Gita?

Answer 28

Disliked its emphasis on Bhakti and ignored many of its chapters.

Question 29

How did Sankara respond to the Bhagavad Gita?

Answer 29

Chapters which seem to recommend Bhakti do not really, they are just being misinterpreted by ignorant readers.

Question 30

What is monism?

Answer 30

The world is made from one element, nirguna Brahman.

Question 31

What is dualism?

Answer 31

The world is made form two totally separate elements, Brahman and the atman.

Question 32

Give three criticisms of Sankara

Answer 32

1. Jnana yoga is only for higher castes. 2. No room for a personal/loving god. 3. Most people reject the idea of maya.

Question 33

Give three more criticisms of sankara

Answer 33

4. Little influence outside of the intellectual elite. 5. Withdrawing from society means it can’t function. 6. Accused of making Hinduism more like Buddhism.

Question 34

Give three strengths of Sankara

Answer 34

1. Most important philosophical ideas in India. 2. Allows for murti worship as a starting point. 3. Studied by the Rama Krishna math and publicized outside of India by the neo Vedanta movement.

Question 35

Give two more strengths of Sankara

Answer 35

4. Idea that all atman are equal supports social reform. 5. Vivekananda believed in non dualism messages, religions all lead to one ultimate reality. His ideas are based on advaita Vedanta and have been influential in the spread of Hinduism as a world religion.