Samkara's Advaita Vedanta A Way of Teaching (Routledgecurzon Hindu Studies Series)

265 Pages·2005·1.31 MB·English

by  Jacquelin Hirst

S´AM. KARA’S
¯
ADVAITA VEDANTA
S´am.kara (c. 700 ce) has been regarded by many as the most authoritative
Hindu thinker of all time. A great Indian Veda¯ntin brahmin, S´am.kara was
primarily a commentator on the sacred texts of the Vedas and a teacher in the
Advaitin teaching line. This book provides an introduction to S´am.kara’s
thought which takes this as a central theme. The author develops an
innovative approach based on S´am.kara’s ways of interpreting sacred texts
and creatively examines the profound interrelationship between sacred text,
content and method in S´am.kara’s thought.The main focus of the book is on
S´am.kara’s teaching method. This method is, for S´am.kara, based on the
Upanis.ads’ own; it is to be employed by Advaitin teachers to draw pupils
skilfully towards that realization which is beyond all words. Consequently,
this book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of Indian
philosophy, but to all those interested in the relation between language and
that which is held to transcend it.
J. G. Suthren Hirst is Lecturer in South Asian Studies at the University of
Manchester. Her interest in teaching and learning at all levels informs her
research on the Veda¯nta school of Indian philosophy,on Hindu texts and on
gender and religion in South Asia and the diaspora.
ROUTLEDGECURZON HINDU STUDIES SERIES
Series editor:Francis X.Clooney,SJ
The RoutledgeCurzon Hindu Studies Series, in association with the Oxford
Centre for Hindu Studies, intends primarily the publication of constructive
Hindu theological, philosophical and ethical projects aimed at bringing
Hindu traditions into dialogue with contemporary trends in scholarship and
contemporary society, and with the particular concerns of Hindus living
in India and abroad today. The series also invites proposals for annotated
translations of important primary sources and studies in the history of the
Hindu religious traditions.
EPISTEMOLOGIES AND THE LIMITATIONS OF
PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY
Doctrine in Ma¯dhva Veda¯nta
Deepak Sarma
A HINDU CRITIQUE OF BUDDHIST EPISTEMOLOGY
Kuma¯rila on perception
The ‘Determination of Perception’chapter of
Kuma¯rila Bhat.t.a’s S´lokava¯rttika
Translation and commentary
John Taber
S´AM. KARA’S ADVAITA VEDA¯ NTA
A way of teaching
J.G.Suthren Hirst
´
SAMKARA’S
.
¯
ADVAITA VEDANTA
A way of teaching
J. G. Suthren Hirst
First published 2005
by RoutledgeCurzon
2 Park Square,Milton Park,Abingdon,Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeCurzon
270 Madison Ave,New York,NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint ofthe Taylor & Francis Group
© 2005 J.G.Suthren Hirst
All rights reserved.No part ofthis book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,mechanical,
or other means,now known or hereafter invented,including
photocopying and recording,or in any information storage or retrieval
system,without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-00192-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-35549-4
TO ALL THOSE FROM WHOM
I HAVE LEARNED

CONTENTS
Series editor’s preface x
Preface xii
Acknowledgement xiii
Abbreviations xiv
Introduction:studying the teacher 1
Identifying the teacher 1
Method in studying S´am.kara 4
The shape of the study 8
1 The teacher himself 11
The views of S´am.kara’s pupils 11
The traditional lives 13
The quest for S´am.kara the teacher 17
S´am.kara’s major works 19
Questions of authenticity 22
Dating S´am.kara’s life 25
S´am.kara’s historical background 26
The rise of devotion 26
The intellectual climate 29
2 The need for the teaching 32
The human condition 32
The commentator’s task 36
Knowledge and ritual action 37
The fit pupil 41
The one to be known 45
vii
CONTENTS
3 The source of the teaching 49
Methods of acquiring knowledge 49
The nature of scripture 52
Na¯ra¯yan.a,founder of the teaching tradition 57
Interpreting scripture 59
On reason and personal experience 64
4 The methods of the teaching 69
The Upanis.adic basis of S´am.kara’s teaching methods 69
Questioning 70
Renunciation 74
Examples 76
Story 80
Interiorization 83
The framework of superimposition and elimination 85
5 The context of the teaching:the world of name and form 89
Ultimate and conventional truth 90
Origination stories 95
Name and form (na¯maru¯pa) 97
The clay–pot example 103
The rope–snake 105
Magician and magical illusion 109
Complementarity and mutual restriction 113
6 The context of the teaching:the Lord 116
The debate about the Lord 116
The higher and lower brahman 118
The Lord and the cosmos 123
The place of Vis.n.u 129
The context of the Lord 135
7 The language of the teaching 138
The wider context 140
Tat tvam asi(‘You are that’)inBSBh 4.1.2 141
Neti neti(‘Not thus,not thus’)inBr. Up Bh 2.3.6 143
Satyam. jña¯nam anantam. brahma(‘Brahmanis reality,
consciousness,infinite’)inTait Up Bh 2.1.1 145
viii
CONTENTS
Tat tvam asi (‘You are that’)inUpades´asa¯hasri¯Metric
Chapter 18 151
8 The end of the teaching 161
The methods at work:S´am.kara’s commentary on the
Taittiri¯ya Upanis.ad 161
Remaining problems? 168
Corrective readings 169
The culmination of the teaching 173
The supersession of the teaching 175
What remains? 176
Summarizing the argument 177
Is duality overcome? 180
The study of S´am.kara the teacher 182
Glossary 188
Notes 193
Bibliography 225
Index 236
ix