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89-509: The company publishes The Library of Perennial Philosophy , which focuses on the beliefs underlying the diverse religions, also referred to as Sophia Perennis or " Perennial Philosophy ". World Wisdom’s Library of Perennial Philosophy encompasses seven series. Perennial Philosophy Sacred Worlds Sacred Art in Tradition Spiritual Classics Spiritual Masters—East & West Treasures of

178-478: A basic outline which an individual can adopt to achieve the "Godhead": That there is a Godhead or Ground, which is the unmanifested principle of all manifestation. That the Ground is transcendent and immanent. That it is possible for human beings to love, know and become the Ground. That to achieve this unitive knowledge, to realize this supreme identity, is the final end and purpose of human existence. That there

267-500: A given period of history. This perennial truth has been rediscovered in each epoch by mystics of all kinds who have revived already existing religions, when they had fallen into empty platitudes and hollow ceremonialism. Shipley further notes that the Traditionalist School is oriented on orthodox traditions, and rejects modern syncretism and universalism, which together create new religions from older religions and compromise

356-501: A harmony between the thought of Plato and Aristotle and saw aspects of the prisca theologia in Averroes (Ibn Rushd), the Quran , Kabbalah , and other sources. Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) coined the term philosophia perennis . Developments in the 19th and 20th centuries integrated Eastern religions and universalism —the idea that all religions, underneath apparent differences, point to

445-517: A more apt translation is "non-secondness." Advaita has several meanings: The word Vedānta is a composition of two Sanskrit words: The word Veda refers to the whole corpus of vedic texts, and the word "anta" means 'end'. From this, one meaning of Vedānta is "the end of the Vedas" or "the ultimate knowledge of the Vedas". Veda can also mean "knowledge" in general, so Vedānta can be taken to mean "the end, conclusion or finality of knowledge". Vedānta

534-411: A person on earth, sun does rise and set, there is both light and darkness, not "all is light", there are relative shades of light and darkness. Both are valid realities and truths, given their perspectives. Yet, they are contradictory. What is true from one point of view, states Grimes, is not from another. To Advaita Vedānta, this does not mean there are two truths and two realities, but it only means that

623-646: A professor of philosophy specializing in Sanskrit and Vedic studies, the word Advaita itself is from the Vedic era, and the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya (8th or 7th-century BCE ) is credited to be the one who coined it. Stephen Phillips, a professor of philosophy and Asian studies, translates the Advaita containing verse excerpt in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad , as "An ocean, a single seer without duality becomes he whose world

712-450: A single source, more ancient than the Greeks. Steuco was strongly influenced by Iamblichus 's statement that knowledge of God is innate in all, and also gave great importance to Hermes Trismegistus. Steuco's perennial philosophy was highly regarded by some scholars for the two centuries after its publication, then largely forgotten until it was rediscovered by Otto Willmann in the late part of

801-558: Is Brahman." While the term "Advaita Vedanta" in a strict sense may refer to the scholastic tradition of textual exegesis established by Shankara, "advaita" in a broader sense may refer to a broad current of advaitic thought, which incorporates advaitic elements with yogic thought and practice and other strands of Indian religiosity, such as Kashmir Shaivism and the Nath tradition. The first connotation has also been called "Classical Advaita" and "doctrinal Advaita," and its presentation as such

890-439: Is a Hindu tradition of textual exegesis and philosophy which states that jivatman , the individual experiencing self, is ultimately pure awareness mistakenly identified with body and the senses, and non-different ("na aparah") from Ātman - Brahman , the highest Self or Reality . The term Advaita literally means "non-secondness", but is usually rendered as " nondualism ", and often equated with monism . It rejects

979-513: Is a Law or Dharma, which must be obeyed, a Tao or Way, which must be followed, if humans are to achieve their final end. For the Traditionalist Seyyed Hossein Nasr , the perennial philosophy is rooted in the concept of Tradition, which he defines as: ...truths or principles of a divine origin revealed or unveiled to mankind and, in fact, a whole cosmic sector through various figures envisaged as messengers, prophets, avataras,

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1068-543: Is a school of thought in philosophy and spirituality that posits that the recurrence of common themes across world religions illuminates universal truths about the nature of reality, humanity, ethics, and consciousness. Some perennialists emphasize common themes in religious experiences and mystical traditions across time and cultures; others argue that religious traditions share a single metaphysical truth or origin from which all esoteric and exoteric knowledge and doctrine have developed. Perennialism has its roots in

1157-663: Is an underlying unity to the world, the soul or love, which has a counterpart in the realm of ideas. Platonic Philosophy and Christian theology both embody this truth. Ficino was influenced by a variety of philosophers including Aristotelian Scholasticism and various pseudonymous and mystical writings. Ficino saw his thought as part of a long development of philosophical truth, of ancient pre-Platonic philosophers (including Zoroaster , Hermes Trismegistus , Orpheus , Aglaophemus and Pythagoras ) who reached their peak in Plato. The Prisca theologia , or venerable and ancient theology, which embodied

1246-417: Is attained through knowledge of Brahman, recognizing the illusoriness of the phenomenal world and disidentification from the body-mind complex and the notion of 'doership', and acquiring vidyā (knowledge) of one's true identity as Atman - Brahman , self-luminous ( svayam prakāśa ) awareness or Witness-consciousness . Upanishadic statements such as tat tvam asi , "that['s how] you are," destroy

1335-482: Is based on this broader strand of Indian thought. This broader current of thought and practice has also been called "greater Advaita Vedanta," "vernacular advaita," and "experiential Advaita." It is this broader advaitic tradition which is commonly presented as "Advaita Vedanta," though the term "advaitic" may be more apt. The nondualism of Advaita Vedānta is often regarded as an idealist monism . According to King, Advaita Vedānta developed "to its ultimate extreme"

1424-536: Is both the efficient and the material cause, that from which the material universe evolves. Yet, in the Brahmasutras Brahma is a dynamic force, while the Advaita-tradition regards Brahman as an "essentially unchanging and static reality," sinve Brahman changing into something else would mean that Brahman would not exist anymore, while a partial change would leave Brahman divided. By accepting that Brahman

1513-505: Is due to mediaeval doxographies , the influence of Orientalist Indologists like Paul Deussen , and the Indian response to colonial influences, dubbed neo-Vedanta by Paul Hacker, who regarded it as a deviation from "traditional" Advaita Vedanta. Yet, post-Shankara Advaita Vedanta incorporated yogic elements, such as the Yoga Vasistha , and influenced other Indian traditions, and neo-Vedanta

1602-475: Is intelligent and consciousness, is the sole Reality, "that from which the origination, subsistence, and dissolution of this universe proceed," as stated in the second verse of the Brahman Sutras. In Samkhya, purusha is the efficient cause, and prakriti is the material cause: purusha causes prakriti to manifest as the natural world. Advaita, like all Vedanta schools, states that Brahman, consciousness,

1691-598: Is no duality between a Creator and the created universe. All objects, all experiences, all matter, all consciousness, all awareness are somehow also this one fundamental reality Brahman. Yet, the knowing self has various experiences of reality during the waking, dream and dreamless states, and Advaita Vedānta acknowledges and admits that from the empirical perspective there are numerous distinctions. Advaita explains this by postulating different levels of reality, and by its theory of errors ( anirvacaniya khyati ). Shankara proposes three levels of reality, using sublation as

1780-805: Is not one of the systems of Indian philosophy. Samkhya is the philosophy of India!" The Brahma Sutras, the constituting text of the Vedanta-tradition, rejects the purusha - prakriti dualism of the samkhya-tradition, and "much of the Brahmasutra appears to have been written to refute the perspective of the Samkhya school." Samkhya postulates two independent primal principles, purusha (primal consciousness) and prakriti (nature, which includes both matter and cognition and emotions). In samkhya, prakriti consists of three qualities ( Guṇas ), which are in balance, until they come in contact with purusha and

1869-538: Is not an awareness of Brahman, but instead an awareness that is Brahman. Although the threefold practice is broadly accepted in the Advaita tradition, and affirmed by Mandana Misra , it is at odds with Shankara, who took a subitist position. Classical Advaita Vedānta states that all reality and everything in the experienced world has its root in Brahman, which is unchanging intelligent Consciousness. To Advaitins, there

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1958-470: Is not one conventionally associated with the Renaissance . Indeed, he tends to believe that the truth is lost over time and is only preserved in the prisci theologica . Steuco preferred Plato to Aristotle and saw greater congruence between the former and Christianity than the latter philosopher. He held that philosophy works in harmony with religion and should lead to knowledge of God, and that truth flows from

2047-503: Is one of six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy . While "a preferred terminology" for Upanisadic philosophy "in the early periods, before the time of Shankara" was Puruṣavāda , the Advaita Vedānta school has historically been referred to by various names, such as Advaita-vada (speaker of Advaita), Abheda-darshana (view of non-difference), Dvaita-vada-pratisedha (denial of dual distinctions), and Kevala-dvaita (non-dualism of

2136-420: Is the "real self" or "essence" of the individual. It is caitanya , Pure Consciousness, a consciousness, states Sthaneshwar Timalsina, that is "self-revealed, self-evident and self-aware ( svaprakashata )," and, states Payne, "in some way permanent, eternal, absolute or unchanging." It is self-existent awareness, limitless and non-dual. It is "a stable subjectivity, or a unity of consciousness through all

2225-561: Is the sole, unchanging reality, various theoretical difficulties arise which are not answered by the Brahmasutras, which asserts that the Upanishadic views have to be accepted due to their scriptural authority, "regardless of logical problems and philosophical inconsistencies." Advaita and other Vedānta traditions face several problems, for which they offer different solutions. According to Deutsch and Dalvi, "The basic problem of Vedanta [is]

2314-497: The Kabbalah among other sources. After the deaths of Pico and Ficino this line of thought expanded, and included Symphorien Champier , and Francesco Giorgio . The term perenni philosophia was first used by Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) who used it to title a treatise, De perenni philosophia libri X , published in 1540. De perenni philosophia was the most sustained attempt at philosophical synthesis and harmony. Steuco represents

2403-542: The Middle Ages , neoplatonic ideas were integrated into the philosophical and theological works of many of the most important medieval Islamic, Christian, and Jewish thinkers. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) believed that Hermes Trismegistos , the supposed author of the Corpus Hermeticum , was a contemporary of Moses and the teacher of Pythagoras , and the source of both Greek and Christian thought. He argued that there

2492-450: The Renaissance era-interest in neo-Platonism and its idea of the One from which all existence emerges. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) sought to integrate Hermeticism with Greek and Christian thought, discerning a prisca theologia found in all ages. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494) suggested that truth could be found in many—rather than just two —traditions. He proposed

2581-461: The Samkhya -dualism between Purusha , pure awareness or consciousness, and Prakriti ('nature', which includes matter but also cognition and emotion) as the two equal basic principles of existence. Instead, it proposes that Atman-Brahman (awareness, purusha ) alone is ultimately real , and, though unchanging, the cause and origin of the transient phenomenal world ( prakriti ). In this view,

2670-571: The Sannyasa Upanishads (first centuries CE), the Vākyapadīya , written by Bhartṛhari (second half 5th century, ) and the Māndūkya-kārikā written by Gauḍapāda (7th century). Gaudapada adapted philosophical concepts from Buddhism , giving them a Vedantic basis and interpretation. The Buddhist concepts were further Vedanticised by Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), who is generally regarded as

2759-482: The jivatman or individual self is a mere reflection or limitation of singular Ātman in a multitude of apparent individual bodies. It regards the material world as an illusory appearance ( maya ) or "an unreal manifestation ( vivarta ) of Brahman," the latter as proposed by the 13th century scholar Prakasatman . Advaita Vedanta is a Hindu sādhanā , a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and states that moksha (liberation from suffering and rebirth)

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2848-525: The mahavakyas , posing a paradox of two opposing approaches which is also recognized in other spiritual disciplines and traditions. Shankara's prominence as the exemplary defender of traditional Hindu-values and spirituality started to take shape only centuries later, in the 14th century, with the ascent of Sringeri matha and its jagadguru Vidyaranya (Madhava, 14th cent.) in the Vijayanagara Empire , While Adi Shankara did not embrace Yoga ,

2937-507: The renaissance humanist side of 16th-century Biblical scholarship and theology, although he rejected Luther and Calvin. De perenni philosophia is a complex work which only contains the term philosophia perennis twice. It states that there is "one principle of all things, of which there has always been one and the same knowledge among all peoples." This single knowledge (or sapientia) is the key element in his philosophy. In that he emphasises continuity over progress, Steuco's idea of philosophy

3026-452: The srutic evidence for the identity of jivanatman and Atman-Brahman. This meditation negates the misconceptions, false knowledge, and false ego-identity , rooted in maya , which obfuscate the ultimate truth of the oneness of Brahman, and one's true identity as Atman-Brahman. This culminates in what Adi Shankara refers to as anubhava , immediate intuition, a direct awareness which is construction-free, and not construction-filled. It

3115-656: The 19th century. Overall, De perenni philosophia was not particularly influential, and largely confined to those with a similar orientation to himself. The work was not put on the Index of works banned by the Roman Catholic Church, although his Cosmopoeia which expressed similar ideas was. Religious criticisms tended to the conservative view that held Christian teachings should be understood as unique, rather than seeing them as perfect expressions of truths that are found everywhere. More generally, this philosophical syncretism

3204-420: The 20th century the mystical universalist interpretation popularised by Aldous Huxley , and the metaphysical approach of the Traditionalist School became particularly influential. The idea of a perennial philosophy originated with a number of Renaissance theologians who took inspiration from neo-Platonism and from the theory of Forms . Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) argued that there is an underlying unity to

3293-663: The 20th century to Unitarian Universalism . Universalism holds the idea that there must be truth in other religions as well, since a loving God would redeem all living beings, not just Christians. By the end of the 19th century, the idea of a perennial philosophy was popularized by leaders of the Theosophical Society such as H. P. Blavatsky and Annie Besant , under the name of "Wisdom-Religion" or "Ancient Wisdom". The Theosophical Society took an active interest in Asian religions, subsequently not only bringing those religions under

3382-598: The Advaita-tradition by then had accepted yogic samadhi as a means to knowledge, explicitly incorporating elements from the yogic tradition and texts like the Yoga Vasistha and the Bhagavata Purana , culminating in Swami Vivekananda 's full embrace and propagation of Yogic samadhi as an Advaita means of knowledge and liberation. In the 19th century, due to the influence of Vidyaranya 's Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha ,

3471-835: The Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta , which they saw as the exemplification of a Universalist Hindu religiosity. The Traditionalist School is a group of 20th- and 21st-century thinkers concerned with what they consider to be the demise of traditional forms of knowledge, both aesthetic and spiritual, within Western society. The early proponents of this school are René Guénon , Ananda Coomaraswamy and Frithjof Schuon . Other important thinkers in this tradition include Titus Burckhardt , Martin Lings , Seyyed Hossein Nasr , Jean-Louis Michon , Marco Pallis , Huston Smith , Jean Borella , and Elémire Zolla . According to

3560-703: The Indian traditions of religious philosophy and practice which accept the authority of the Vedas. The various schools of Vedanta aim to harmonise the diverging views presented in the Prasthantrayi , the Principal Upanishads, along with the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gitā , offering an integrated body of textual interpretations and religious practices which aim at the attainment of moksha , release or liberation from transmigratory existence. "Samkhya

3649-463: The Logos or other transmitting agencies, along with all the ramifications and applications of these principles in different realms including law and social structure, art, symbolism, the sciences, and embracing of course Supreme Knowledge along with the means for its attainment. The perennial philosophy originates from a blending of neo-Platonism and Christianity . Neo-Platonism itself has diverse origins in

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3738-475: The Modern World , Traditionalism emphasises a metaphysical unitary source of the major religions in their " orthodox " forms and rejects syncretism, scientism , and secularism as deviations from the truth contained in their concept of Tradition. There is no universally agreed upon definition of the term "perennial philosophy", and various thinkers have employed the term in different ways. For all perennialists,

3827-446: The Real". According to Soares de Azevedo, the perennialist philosophy states that the universal truth is the same within each of the world's orthodox religious traditions, and is the foundation of their religious knowledge and doctrine. Each world religion is an interpretation of this universal truth, adapted to cater for the psychological, intellectual, and social needs of a given culture of

3916-505: The Signs of the Times , one of the founding works of the Traditionalist School. According to Frithjof Schuon : It has been said more than once that total Truth is inscribed in an eternal script in the very substance of our spirit; what the different Revelations do is to "crystallize" and "actualize", in different degrees according to the case, a nucleus of certitudes which not only abides forever in

4005-431: The Traditionalist School, orthodox religions are based on a singular metaphysical origin. According to the Traditionalist School, the "philosophia perennis" designates a worldview that is opposed to the scientism of modern secular societies and which promotes the rediscovery of the wisdom traditions of the pre-secular developed world . This view is exemplified by René Guénon in his 1945 book The Reign of Quantity and

4094-701: The World's Religions Writings of Frithjof Schuon In 2012, World Wisdom launched a children and teen book imprint , Wisdom Tales Press, with its stated goal as "Sharing the wisdom and beauty of cultures from around the world with young readers and their families." Wisdom Tales publishes titles by well-known children book authors Paul Goble and Demi , as well as teen author Michael O. Fitzgerald . Sophia Perennis Antiquity Medieval Early modern Modern Iran India East-Asia The perennial philosophy ( Latin : philosophia perennis ), also referred to as perennialism and perennial wisdom ,

4183-497: The adoption of the Old Testament with Christianity, as opposed to Gnostic roots of Christianity. Philo translated Judaism into terms of Stoic , Platonic and neopythagorean elements, and held that God is "supra rational" and can be reached only through "ecstasy." He also held that the oracles of God supply the material of moral and religious knowledge. Neoplatonism arose in the 3rd century CE and persisted until shortly after

4272-546: The attention of a western audience but also influencing Hinduism and Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Japan. Many perennialist thinkers (including Armstrong, Gerald Heard , Aldous Huxley , Huston Smith and Joseph Campbell ) are influenced by Hindu mystics Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda , who themselves have taken over western notions of universalism. They regarded Hinduism to be a token of this perennial philosophy. This notion has influenced thinkers who have proposed versions of

4361-631: The closing of the Platonic Academy in Athens in 529 CE by Justinian I . Neoplatonists were heavily influenced by Plato , but also by the Platonic tradition that thrived during the six centuries which separated the first of the neoplatonists from Plato. The work of neoplatonic philosophy involved describing the derivation of the whole of reality from a single principle, " the One ." It was founded by Plotinus , and has been very influential throughout history. In

4450-426: The desires, not the emotions, not the ego, nor the dualistic mind, but the introspective, inwardly self-conscious "on-looker" ( saksi ), which is in reality completely disconnected from the non-Atman. The jivatman or individual self is a mere reflection of singular Atman in a multitude of apparent individual bodies. It is "not an individual subject of consciousness," but the same in each person and identical to

4539-447: The divine Omniscience, but also sleeps by refraction in the "naturally supernatural" kernel of the individual, as well as in that of each ethnic or historical collectivity or of the human species as a whole. The Traditionalist School continues this metaphysical orientation. According to this school, the perennial philosophy is "absolute Truth and infinite Presence". Absolute Truth is "the perennial wisdom ( sophia perennis ) that stands as

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4628-561: The divine was beyond description and thus that no religion could claim a monopoly in their understanding of it. The mystic Ramakrishna 's spiritual ecstasies included experiencing his identity with Christ , Mohammed and his own Hindu deity . Ramakrishna's most famous disciple, Swami Vivekananda , travelled to the United States in the 1890s where he formed the Vedanta Society . Roy, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda were all influenced by

4717-457: The equilibrium is disturbed. From this pradhana then evolves the material universe, distinct from purusha , thereby postulating purusha as the efficient cause of all existence, and prakriti as its material cause or origin. While closely related to Samkhya , the Advaita Vedānta tradition rejects this dualism, instead stating that Reality cannot evolve from an inert, consciousness- and intelligence-less principle or essence. Brahman, which

4806-701: The higher religions. In contrast to the Traditionalist school, Huxley emphasized mystical experience over metaphysics: Advaita Vedanta Traditional Shaivism/Tantra/Nath New movements Kashmir Shaivism Gaudapada Adi Shankara Advaita-Yoga Nath Kashmir Shaivism Neo-Vedanta Inchegeri Sampradaya Contemporary Shaivism/Tantra/Nath Neo-Advaita Hinduism Buddhism Modern Advaita Vedanta Neo-Vedanta Advaita Vedanta ( / ʌ d ˈ v aɪ t ə v ɛ ˈ d ɑː n t ə / ; Sanskrit : अद्वैत वेदान्त , IAST : Advaita Vedānta )

4895-571: The human being. This Absolute is the God-without-form of Hindu and Christian mystical phraseology. The last end of man, the ultimate reason for human existence, is unitive knowledge of the divine Ground—the knowledge that can come only to those who are prepared to “Die to self” and so make room, as it were, for God. In Huxley's 1944 essay in Vedanta and the West , he proposes The Minimum Working Hypothesis ,

4984-437: The identity of jivan-ātman and Brahman , destroys or makes null avidya ('false knowledge'), and results in liberation . According to Shankara, taking a subitist position, moksha is attained at once when the mahavakyas , articulating the identity of Atman and Brahman , are understood. According to the contemporary Advaita tradition, knowledge of Atman-Brahman is obtained gradually, by svādhyāya , study of

5073-525: The ignorance ( avidyā ) regarding one's true identity by revealing that (jiv)Ātman is non-different from immortal Brahman . In a narrow sense Advaita Vedanta is the scholarly tradition belonging to the orthodox Hindu Vedānta tradition, with works written in Sanskrit; in a broader sense it refers to a medieval and modern syncretic tradition, upholding traditional Hindu values and culture, blending Vedānta with Yoga and other traditions and producing works in vernacular. The earliest Advaita writings are

5162-439: The importance of Advaita Vedānta was overemphasized by Western scholarship , and Advaita Vedānta came to be regarded as the paradigmatic example of Hindu spirituality, despite the numerical dominance of theistic Bhakti -oriented religiosity. In modern times, Advaita views appear in various Neo-Vedānta movements. The word Advaita is a composite of two Sanskrit words: Advaita is often translated as "non-duality," but

5251-400: The isolated). It is also called māyāvāda by Vaishnava opponents, akin to Madhyamaka Buddhism , due to their insistence that phenomena ultimately lack an inherent essence or reality, According to Richard King, a professor of Buddhist and Asian studies, the term Advaita first occurs in a recognizably Vedantic context in the prose of Mandukya Upanishad . According to Frits Staal ,

5340-400: The last end of every human being, is to discover the fact for himself, to find out who he really is. Huxley's approach to perennialism is grounded in ineffable mystical experience, which ego can obscure.: The divine Ground of all existence is a spiritual Absolute, ineffable in terms of discursive thought, but (in certain circumstances) susceptible of being directly experienced and realized by

5429-481: The material world? Third, if Brahman is ananda ('bliss'), why did the empirical world of sufferings arise? The Brahma Sutras do not answer these philosophical queries, and later Vedantins including Shankara had to resolve them. To solve these questions, Shankara introduced the concept of "Unevolved Name-and-Form," or primal matter corresponding to Prakriti , from which the world evolves, coming close to Samkhya dualism. Shankara's notion of "Unevolved Name-and-Form"

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5518-514: The monistic ideas already present in the Upanishads. In contrast, states Milne, it is misleading to call Advaita Vedānta "monistic," since this confuses the "negation of difference" with "conflation into one." Advaita is a negative term (a-dvaita), states Milne, which denotes the "negation of a difference," between subject and object, or between perceiver and perceived. According to Deutsch, Advaita Vedānta teaches monistic oneness, however without

5607-532: The most prominent exponent of the Advaita Vedānta tradition, though some of the most prominent Advaita-propositions come from other Advaitins, and his early influence has been questioned. Adi Shankara emphasized that, since Brahman is ever-present, Brahman-knowledge is immediate and requires no 'action' or 'doership', that is, striving (to attain) and effort. Nevertheless, the Advaita tradition, as represented by Mandana Misra and others, also prescribes elaborate preparatory practice, including contemplation of

5696-460: The multiplicity premise of alternate monism theories. According to Jacqueline Suthren Hirst, Adi Shankara positively emphasizes "oneness" premise in his Brahma-sutra Bhasya 2.1.20, attributing it to all the Upanishads. Nicholson states Advaita Vedānta contains realistic strands of thought, both in its oldest origins and in Shankara's writings. Vedānta is one of the six classical Hindu darśanas ,

5785-481: The nature of Atman/Brahman." This truth is established from a literal reading of selected parts of the oldest Principal Upanishads and Brahma Sutras , and is also found in parts of the Bhagavad Gitā and numerous other Hindu texts, and is regarded to be self-evident. Great effort is made to show the correctness of this reading, and its compatibility with reason and experience, by criticizing other systems of thought. Vidya , correct knowledge or understanding of

5874-405: The ontological criterion: Absolute and relative reality are valid and true in their respective contexts, but only from their respective particular perspectives. John Grimes explains this Advaita doctrine of absolute and relative truth with the example of light and darkness. From the sun's perspective, it neither rises nor sets, there is no darkness, and "all is light". From the perspective of

5963-410: The origin of the world, which declared phenomenal reality to be an illusion , became the dominant explanation, with which the primacy of Atman/Brahman can be maintained. A main question in all schools of Vedanta is the relation between the individual self ( jiva ) and Atman / Brahman . As Shankara and his followers regard Atman/Brahman to be the ultimate Real, jivanatman is "ultimately [to be] of

6052-406: The perennial philosophy in the 20th century. The unity of all religions was a central impulse among Hindu reformers in the 19th century, who in turn influenced many 20th-century perennial philosophy-type thinkers. Key figures in this reforming movement included two Bengali Brahmins. Ram Mohan Roy , a philosopher and the founder of the modernising Brahmo Samaj religious organisation, reasoned that

6141-714: The perennial philosophy without mentioning the Italian. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was a pioneer of the idea of spirituality as a distinct field. He was one of the major figures in Transcendentalism , which was rooted in English and German Romanticism , the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher , and the skepticism of Hume . The Transcendentalists emphasised an intuitive, experiential approach of religion. Following Schleiermacher, an individual's intuition of truth

6230-538: The popular book The Perennial Philosophy , propagated a universalist interpretation of the world religions, inspired by Vivekananda's neo-Vedanta and his own use of psychedelic drugs. According to Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy is expressed most succinctly in the Sanskrit formula, tat tvam asi ('That thou art'); the Atman, or immanent eternal Self, is one with Brahman, the Absolute Principle of all existence; and

6319-409: The quality of consciousness." According to Shankara, it is self-evident and "a matter not requiring any proof" that Atman, the 'I', is 'as different as light is from darkness' from non-Atman, the 'you' or 'that', the material world whose characteristics are mistakenly superimposed on Atman, resulting in notions as "I am this" and "This is mine." One's real self is not the constantly changing body, not

6408-402: The relation between the plural, complex, changing phenomenal world and the Brahman in which it substantially subsists." According to Mayeda, following the post-Shankara predicate sat-cit-ananda , three problems emerge. First, how did Brahman, which is sat ('existence'), without any distinction, become manifold material universe? Second, how did Brahman, which is cit ('consciousness'), create

6497-575: The same Truth. In the early 19th century, the Transcendentalists propagated the idea of a metaphysical Truth and universalism—this inspired the Unitarians , who proselytized among Indian elites. Toward the end of the 19th century, the Theosophical Society further popularized universalism in the Western world and Western colonies. In the 20th century, this form of universalist perennialism

6586-515: The same one Reality and one Truth is explained or experienced from two different perspectives. As they developed these theories, Advaita Vedānta scholars were influenced by some ideas from the Nyaya , Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy. These theories have not enjoyed universal consensus among Advaitins, and various competing ontological interpretations have flowered within the Advaita tradition. Ātman ( IAST : ātman, Sanskrit : आत्मन्)

6675-428: The self and of the Vedic texts, which consists of four stages of samanyasa : virāga ('renunciation'), sravana ('listening to the teachings of the sages'), manana ('reflection on the teachings') and nididhyāsana , introspection and profound and repeated meditation on the mahavakyas , selected Upanishadic statements such as tat tvam asi ('that art thou' or 'you are That') which are taken literal, and form

6764-417: The soul something similar to, or even identical to, divine Reality; the ethic that places man's final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being ; the thing is immemorial and universal. Rudiments of the perennial philosophy may be found among the traditional lore of primitive peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of

6853-415: The specific states of individuated phenomenality." Ātman, states Eliot Deutsch, is the "pure, undifferentiated, supreme power of awareness", it is more than thought, it is a state of being, that which is conscious and transcends subject-object divisions and momentariness. According to Ram-Prasad, "it" is not an object, but "the irreducible essence of being [as] subjectivity, rather than an objective self with

6942-414: The standing traditions. The term was popularized in the mid-twentieth century by Aldous Huxley , who was profoundly influenced by Vivekananda's Neo-Vedanta and Universalism . In his 1945 book The Perennial Philosophy he defined the perennial philosophy as: ... the metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in

7031-688: The syncretic culture of the Hellenistic period , and was an influential philosophy throughout the Middle Ages. During the Hellenistic period , Alexander the Great 's campaigns brought about exchange of cultural ideas on its path throughout most of the known world of his era. The Greek Eleusinian Mysteries and Dionysian Mysteries mixed with such influences as the Cult of Isis , Mithraism and Hinduism , along with some Persian influences. Such cross-cultural exchange

7120-434: The term denotes a common wisdom at the heart of world religions, but exponents across time and place have differed on whether, or how, it can be defined. Some perennialists emphasise a sense of participation in an ineffable truth discovered in mystical experience, though ultimately beyond the scope of complete human understanding. Others seek a more well-developed metaphysics. Drawing upon the same Renaissance foundations, in

7209-473: The tradition of this concordistic philosophy; his philosophy of harmony especially had affinity with Steuco's ideas. Leibniz knew about Steuco's work by 1687, but thought that De la vérité de la religion chrétienne by Huguenot philosopher Phillippe du Plessis-Mornay expressed the same truth better. Steuco's influence can be found throughout Leibniz's works, but the German was the first philosopher to refer to

7298-424: The transcendent source of all the intrinsically orthodox religions of humankind." Infinite Presence is "the perennial religion ( religio perennis ) that lives within the heart of all intrinsically orthodox religions." The Traditionalist School discerns a transcendent and an immanent dimension, namely the discernment of the Real or Absolute , c.q. that which is permanent; and the intentional "mystical concentration on

7387-500: The truth and could be found in all ages, was a vitally important idea for Ficino. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), a student of Ficino, went further than his teacher by suggesting that truth could be found in many, rather than just two, traditions. This proposed a harmony between the thought of Plato and Aristotle, and saw aspects of the Prisca theologia in Averroes , the Koran and

7476-410: The world, the soul or love, which has a counterpart in the realm of ideas . According to Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), a student of Ficino, truth could be found in many, rather than just two, traditions. According to Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) there is "one principle of all things, of which there has always been one and the same knowledge among all peoples." Aldous Huxley, author of

7565-540: Was further popularized by Aldous Huxley and his book The Perennial Philosophy , which was inspired by Neo-Vedanta . Huxley and some other perennnialists grounded their point of view in the commonalities of mystical experience and generally accepted religious syncretism . Also, in the 20th century, the anti-modern Traditionalist School emerged in contrast to the universalist approach to perennialism. Inspired by Advaita Vedanta , Sufism and 20th-century works critical of modernity such as René Guénon 's The Crisis of

7654-460: Was not adopted by the later Advaita tradition; instead, the later tradition turned avidya into a metaphysical principle, namely mulavidya or "root ignorance," a metaphysical substance which is the "primal material cause of the universe ( upadana )." In this view, Brahman alone is real, and the phenomenal world is an appearance ( maya ) or "an unreal manifestation ( vivarta ) of Brahman." Prakasatmans (13th c.) defense of vivarta to explain

7743-557: Was not new to the Greeks; the Egyptian god Osiris and the Greek god Dionysus had been equated as Osiris-Dionysus by the historian Herodotus as early as the 5th century BCE (see Interpretatio graeca ). Philo of Alexandria ( c.  25 BCE  – c.  50 CE ) attempted to reconcile Greek Rationalism with the Torah, which helped pave the way for Christianity with neoplatonism , and

7832-589: Was set out at the expense of some of the doctrines included within it, and it is possible that Steuco's critical faculties were not up to the task he had set himself. Further, placing so much confidence in the prisca theologia, turned out to be a shortcoming as many of the texts used in this school of thought later turned out to be bogus . In the following two centuries the most favourable responses were largely Protestant and often in England. Gottfried Leibniz later picked up on Steuco's term. The German philosopher stands in

7921-489: Was taken as the criterion for truth. The Transcendentalists were largely inspired by Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881), whose Critical and Miscellaneous Essays popularised German Romanticism in English and whose Sartor Resartus (1833–34) was a pioneer work of Western perennialism. They also read and were influenced by Hindu texts, the first translations of which appeared in the late 18th and early 19th century. They also endorsed universalist and Unitarian ideas, leading in

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