Nondualist Vedanta Theology as Propounded
by Sri Sankara
Lecturer: Professor M. N. Narasimhachary
Day & Time: Trinity Term, Thursdays, 4 PM, Weeks 1-4
Place: Christ Church, Lecture Room 2
Aims:
This is a course of four lectures on the Nondualist (Advaita) Vedanta
theological system as propounded by Sri Sankara, the 8th century
CE Hindu theologian. The aim is to focus on the contribution of
Sankara to Vedanta theology in general and to Nondualist Vedanta
in particular. Theistic Vedanta, articulated by later Vedanta theologians
such as Ramanuja, Madhva, and Vallabha, cannot be fully understood
without a proper understanding of the works of Sankara.
Objectives:
Familiarity with the historical and cultural background in which
Sankara appeared.
Familiarity with the key concepts of the Advaita theology: for example, Brahman (as Ultimate Reality), Brahman with positive form (saguna) and without form (nirguna), the nature of the individual soul, the world as material nature, ignorance as a personal and cosmic phenomenon (avidya, maya), and living liberation (jivanmukti).
Materials necessary for a comparative study of Advaita and other systems of Vedanta.
Lecture schedule (first four weeks of Trinity
term):
Introduction: Sri Sankara, his life and teachings; his predecessors;
his critique of the systems of Buddhism and Jainism; his successful
reestablishment of the Vedanta method of interpreting the Upanisads
and systematizing their teachings.
Sankara's commentaries on the three basic textual resources of Vedanta: the Upanishads, the systematized synthesis of the Upanisads known as the Brahma Sutras, and the famous Bhagavad Gita; key concepts such as those mentioned above under Objectives.
Sankara as a poet, composer of praise hymns such as the Bhaja Govinda Stotra and the Kanaka Dhara Stotra; a consideration of the philosophy reflected in them.
Post-Sankara Nondualist Vedanta classics such as the Brahmasiddhi, Naiskarmyasiddhi, Istasiddhi and the Advaita Siddhi.
Concluding remarks; the debt of gratitude later Vedanta writers owe to him.