Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Vol. 3: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and his Pupils (v. 3)

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The avowed function of this book is to discuss the Advaita tradition from a *philosophical* perspective. It is not a handbook on meditation but a discussion on the crucial philosophical *arguments* which the Adviatin scholars and sages gave in support of their tradition. So, there is no fault if it does well what it tries to--and it does.

Readers like Steve would be better served by Shambala-type books, which don't get too heavy on the discursive thought, but revel in the OM-yness. This book is for scholars and practitioners who want to go deeper into the philosophical underpinnings of this meditational tradition.

While other volumes deal with largely "philosophically-minded" works (Nyaya-Vaisesika in vol. 2 and 6, Samkhya in vol. 4, Buddhism in vol. 7 and 8), i'm not sure Advaita Vedanta can be dealt with from a philosophical perspective without removing most of its content. Advaita Vedanta is rather spiritual and religious than philosophical in purpose. Advaita is not to be analyzed from a philosophical perspective. This leaves an impression that these scholars have not understood the content of Advaita when reading it (have they really read it ?). If one reads the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam and other Advaita texts, one will soon realize that the stories they contain have not just a moral purpose. Their intent concerns the reader, not just ontological aspects as in philosophy but consequences on everyone's life. The purpose is not about trying to win arguments by word jugglery, but to provide spiritual insight for the reader. So i think that this volume misses largely its point, by restricting Advaita to what it is not intended to be. Rather read the non-scholarly works available everywhere than this volume.