Prashna Upanishad (IAST praṣnopaniṣad) is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. It is a Mukhya Upanishad, associated with the Atharvaveda. It figures as number 4 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. In Sanskrit, Prashna mean question. This book consists of six questions and their answers, hence the name. It is in the form of question-answers. excep ...

Including:

• Prashna Upanishad - The questions

Read more here: » Prashna Upanishad: Encyclopedia - Prashna Upanishad

The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. It is a Mukhya Upanishad, associated with the Samaveda. It figures as number 9 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. It is part of the Chandogya Brahmana which has ten chapters. The first two chapters of the Brahmana deal with sacrifices and other forms of worships. The other eight constitutes the Chandogya Upanishad. Though there are more than one hundred Upanishads, ten are principal. These are known as Dashopanishads and known for their philosophical ...

Including:

• Chandogya Upanishad - Commentary
• Chandogya Upanishad - Sources

Read more here: » Chandogya Upanishad: Encyclopedia - Chandogya Upanishad

Swami Vireshwarananda was born in Karnataka and was popularly known as 'Prabhu Maharaj'. Disciple of holy mother Sri Sarada Devi, he was the tenth president of the Ramakrishna Mission. Vireshwarananda - Related Links. Bhagavad Gita: With the gloss of Sridhara Swami - Swami Vireshwarananda ISBN 81-7120-402-3 Brahma Sutras: According To Ramanuja - Swami Vireswarananda Brahma Sutras: According To Shankara - Swami Vireswarananda Spiritual Ideal for the Present Age - Swam ...

Including:

• Vireshwarananda - Related Links

Read more here: » Vireshwarananda: Encyclopedia - Vireshwarananda

Achintya Bhedabheda is a Vedanta doctrine taught by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as a synthesy of teachings of all Vaishnava sampradayas. It means "paradoxically (achintya) dualistic (bheda) and monistic (abheda)". This central concept of Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology teaches that the absolute reality can be understood as non-dual and unmanifest (immanent brahmajyoti) and as dual (transcendent personal God). Thus it can be considered a form of panentheism. It is the philosophy followed by ISKCON (Hare Krishna movement). Indian pre-Shankara Buddhist writer Bhavya in the Madhyamakahrda ...

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The Kaṭha Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. It is associated with the Taittiriya school of the Black Yajurveda. It figures as number 3 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad uses as its base the story of Vajasravasa (alluded to in Rigveda 10. 135), a poor and pious Brahmi who performs a sacrifice and gives as presents (dakshina) to the priests a few old and feeble cows. His son, Naciketas, feeling disturbed by the unreality of his father's observance o ...

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The Kena Upanishad (kenopaniṣad), is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. It is associated with the Samaveda. It figures as number 2 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. Kenopanishad - About the Upanishad. Kenopanishad derives its name from the first word Kena , meaning ‘by whom’. It belongs to the Talavakara Brahmana ...

Including:

• Kenopanishad - About the Upanishad
• Kenopanishad - Brief Content
• Kenopanishad - Story part
• Kenopanishad - Final Lesson
• Kenopanishad - Sources

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Vijnanabhiksu is an Indian philosopher who lived in north India in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He wrote commentaries on three different schools of Indian philosophy, Vedanta, Samkhya, and Yoga. Although his sub-commentary on the Yoga Sutras, the Yogavarttika, is his most widely read work in the modern period, his earliest works belonged to the school of Bhedabheda (Difference and Non-Difference) Vedanta. Like many medieval Vedantins, he considers Shankara's school of Advaita Vedanta a school of Buddhism in disguise, and un

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Jivanmukta is a unique concept in Hindu philosophy, and that too, particularly in the school of philosophy known as advaita. The word means 'Liberated even when alive'. The ultimate goal of Hinduism is Liberation from the cycle of births and deaths. This Liberation is technically called 'moksha'.In all schools of Hindu philosophy except advaita, Liberation is necessarily an event after the death of the body, if at all. But the advaita school of Shankara, envisages that Man is already liberated, his soul is already free, he has only to realise so. So such souls who have had this realisation, are called

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The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads. It is associated with the Black Yajurveda. It figures as number 14 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. Adi Shankara has called it the "Mantra Upanishad" of the Vedic Shvetashvatara school. This Upanishad contains 113 mantras or verses in six chapters. In the last chapter we find the following verse. " Sage Shvetashvatara got this knowledge of Brahman which is very sacred and revered by many great sages by his penance and ...

Including:

• Shvetashvatara Upanishad - Time of this Upanishad
• Shvetashvatara Upanishad - Specialities

Read more here: » Shvetashvatara Upanishad: Encyclopedia - Shvetashvatara Upanishad

The Transcendental Meditation technique, or TM, is a form of meditation that originates from the Vedic tradition of masters that includes Guru Dev and the venerated Shankara, a part of the long history of India. It was introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a disciple of Guru Dev, fifty years ago. It has become a worldwide movement, with more than five million people having learned the technique. The TM organization has founded an accredited university Maharishi International University, and at one point even had a political part ...

Including:

• Transcendental meditation - History
• Transcendental meditation - Effects of TM
• Transcendental meditation - Procedures and theory
• Transcendental meditation - Pure consciousness
• Transcendental meditation - Stress
• Transcendental meditation - Mantra
• Transcendental meditation - TM and religion
• Transcendental meditation - Criticisms and controversies
• Transcendental meditation - Possible negative side effects
• Transcendental meditation - TM-Sidhi Program and Maharishi Effect
• Transcendental meditation - Publications on Maharishi's technologies
• Transcendental meditation - Political activities of the TM organization
• Transcendental meditation - Sexism and the TM organization
• Transcendental meditation - Coercive methods
• Transcendental meditation - Notable practitioners
• Transcendental meditation - Reference

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Sri Ramanuja Acharya (1017 - 1137 AD) was an Indian philosopher and is recognized as the most important saint of Sri Vaishnavism. He held the Vishishtadvaita or Nondualist belief that the world and Brahman were united, like a soul and a body are. His version of Indian Nondualism differed from Adi Shankara's because he acknowledged the existence of differences, and believed that the identity of an object as a part was as important as the unity of the whole. The Vaishnava Theology espoused by Ramanuja posits that Brahman is not devoid o ...

Including:

• Ramanuja - Formative years
• Ramanuja - Visishtadvaita philosophy
• Ramanuja - God alone exists
• Ramanuja - Differences with Sankara
• Ramanuja - Caste system
• Ramanuja - Writings
• Ramanuja - Samadhi

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Nirguna Brahman, stresses the Ultimate Truth which exists and pervades through the Universe. It is considered without any form in Advaita and without material form in Dvaita schools of philosophy. In either case, it is considered beyond sensory and mental comprehension of humans. Advaita philosophers say that for human eyes Nirguna Brahman is viewed as Saguna Brahman, or Brahman with personal attributes, and is c ...

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The Yadava Dynasty ruled a kingdom in what is now Maharashtra, India from the 12th century to the 14th century. The Yadavas were feudatories of the Chalukyas until the late 12th century, when Bhillam (also spelled Bhilama) revolted successfully against the Chalukyas. He established Devagiri as his capital. In 1292 Ramachandra annexed Gujarat. In 1294 the armies of Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi surrounded Devagiri, and Ramachandra was forced to pay tribute. Ala ud din captured Gujarat in 1297–98. Ramachandra's successor Shankara ...

Including:

• Yadava Dynasty - Yadava rulers of Devagiri

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The Sanskrit term Ajativada can be translated as "non-creation". Ajativada is one of several alternately-held creation theories in Hindu Advaita Vedanta philosophy. According to Advaita Vedanta, the world of appearances is considered an illusion and to not actually exist. The idea that the illusory world was not created is called ajativada, or non-creation. The concept implies that searching for a source of the origin of the world in a creator is futile. Some Advaitins translate the concept of ajativada with the phrase: "nothing ever happened" or: "Not even the appearance of creation exists". That is to say, n ...

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shankara:

the great philsopher of non-dualistic vedanta

(See also: shankara, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Shankara:

Shankara ("He who is benevolent"): the eighth-century adept who was the greatest proponent of nondualism (Advaita Vedanta) and whose philosophical school was probably responsible for the decline of Buddhism in India

(See also: Shankara, Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Shankara: (788-820AD)

Founder of the best-known and most influential school of Vedanta, known as the non-dualist or advaita Vedanta.

He taught that the teachings of the Upanishads was a self-consistent whole, that the ultimate reality id Brahma or the Self, which is pure reality, pure consciousness, and pure bliss, and that the world has come into being from Brahman and is wholy dependent on it. The criteria of reality is immutibility and permanence. The world is called illusion, or maya.

(See also: Shankara, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Shankara: the great philsopher of non-dualistic Vedanta

(See also: Shankara, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Shankara: Shankaracharya; Adi (the first) Shankaracharya: The great reformer and re-establisher of Vedic Religion in India around 300 B.C. He is the unparalleled exponent of Advaita (Non-Dual) Vedanta. He also reformed the mode of monastic life and founded (or regenerated) the ancient Swami Order.

(See also: Shankara, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

All modern scholars do not agree to the dates in the 8th century, though it has proved controversial to reach agreement on Shankara's precise dates of birth or death. The protagonists of the 8th century CE cite the quoting of Dharmakirti,a Buddhist scholar of the 7th century CE, in the Brahmasutra Bhashya. According to other scholars the Brahmasutra Bhashya was not a work of Adi Sankaracharya because while commenting on a verse in Bhagavad Gita, where there is reference to Brahmasutra, Adi Sankara in his Bhagavad Gita Bhashya refers to a ver ...

See also:

Adi Shankara, Adi Shankara - Life, Adi Shankara - Birth, Adi Shankara - Formal education, Adi Shankara - Renunciation, Adi Shankara - Travels, Adi Shankara - Shankara's dates, Adi Shankara - Philosophy and religious thought, Adi Shankara - Works, Adi Shankara - Mathas monasteries

Read more here: » Adi Shankara: Encyclopedia II - Adi Shankara - Shankara's dates

Shankara was born in Kalady, a small village in Kerala, India, to a Namboothiri brahmin couple, Shivaguru and Aryamba. The traditional source for accounts of his life is the Shankara Vijayams, which are essentially hagiographies. The most important among them are the MadhavIya Shankaravijaya, the AnandagirIya Shankaravijaya, cidvilAsIya Shankaravijaya, and keralIya Shankaravijaya. What follows is the standard story of Shankara's life; some of it is clearly mythical, but a substantial portion is historical, according to most scholars. In fact ...

See also:

Adi Shankara, Adi Shankara - Life, Adi Shankara - Birth, Adi Shankara - Formal education, Adi Shankara - Renunciation, Adi Shankara - Travels, Adi Shankara - Shankara's dates, Adi Shankara - Philosophy and religious thought, Adi Shankara - Works, Adi Shankara - Mathas monasteries

Read more here: » Adi Shankara: Encyclopedia II - Adi Shankara - Life