Introduction to Vedānta

Introduction 01.Purushārtha – Insight into Human Pursuits 02. Shāstram or Scriptures 03. Varna Dharma 04. Āshrama Vyavasthā 05. Karma Yoga 06. Upāsana Yoga – Right Action 07. Jnāna Yoga 08. Bhakti Yoga 09. Sādhanā Chatushtaya 10. Sharīra Trayam 11. Avasthā Trayam and Kosha Panchakam 12. Ātmā 13. Creation 14. Jīva Īshvara Aikya 15. Law of Karma 16. Overview of Tattvabodha [SOURCE: introductiontovedanta.blogspot.in] ...

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16. Overview of Tattvabodha

Over the last few sessions, we have covered the textbook of Tattvabodha in which all the important technical terms of Vedanta Shāstram have been beautifully presented. We saw all those topics in these classes.Now we will wind up the Tattvabodha study by a bird’s eye view of all the important topics that we have seen. Just a consolidating summary.That Tattvabodha text can be broadly classified into five portions.The first portion deals with the...

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15. Law of Karma

In the last few sessions, we saw the central teaching of the Vedanta – namely Jīva Ātmā and Parama Ātmā Aikyam. Through this, I am given to understand that I am not the Reflected Consciousness which is the Distorted Consciousness through the medium. But I am the original Consciousness which is none other than Brahman. The distortions will be there as long as the medium continues to distort. But whether medium distorts or not, I in my original nature...

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14. Jīva Īshvara Aikya

In the previous sessions, we have seen the main theme of the Vedāntik Teaching – Jīva Ātmā Parama Ātmā Aikyam. The idea conveyed is that Ātmā the Chaitanyam is only Ekam. Aikyam means oneness. Therefore Ātmā the Chaitanyam is only one and that one Chaitanyam alone is expressing through the matter principle. And when that Chaitanyam is functioning through individual matter called Sharīra Trayam, then the consciousness gets the name Jīva Ātmā. And...

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13. Creation

All the studies that we did till now, whether Sharīra Trayam or Avasthā Trayam are all associated with the individual or microcosm. In Sanskrit we use the word Vyashti. Today we are going to the next topic through which we are entering Samashti or macrocosm. The topic is Srushtihi or creation or cosmology. How does the cosmos or creation come about and what was there exactly before creation came ?First before understanding the topic of creation,...

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12. Ātmā

Till now we dealt with the following from Tattvabodha Sādhana Chatushtayam – Four fold qualification Sharīra Trayam – Threefold body Avasthā Trayam – Threefold states of experience Pancha Koshaha – Fivefold personality layers of an individual We also saw that Sharīra Trayam and Kosha Panchakam both refer to the same personality alone. The Sharīra Trayam itself looked from another angle is called Kosha Panchakam and are practically one and...

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