Vedic works start from the four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva), written about 1500 to about 1000 BC, and with their numerous accompanying works (Samhita, Upanishad, Purāna, Mahabharata, Tantra etc). This body of work is so wide that, in order to make it approachable, this school of thought is further devised into smaller subgroups.
Thus, the vedic system of philosophy is made out of 3 paired couples:
- Vedanta and Mimānsa;
- Sāńkhya and Yoga; and
- Nyaya and Vaiśeṣika.
Out of them, the Vedanta (the world itself in Sanskrit meaning ‘‘conclusion of knowledge’’) seems to be the ‘‘highest’’ charged one, as it deals with the ontological and metaphysical conclusions and notions, the transcendental and the material world. Vedanta deals with nature of reality beyond the phenomena, the birth of the world of phenomena, living and presence as well as the source of the material world. Vedanta aims to simplify this complex ideology into accessible deductions.
And within this Vedanta chapter of knowledge - Advaita is the school of thought that became one of my focuses.
