Journey of Advaita

About the BookThe Journey of Advaita elucidates the richness, depth and profundity of Advaitic thought right from Vedas to Integral Advaitism of Sri Aurobindo and further how it is being incorporated in modern science.Advaita Philosophy is not a later development of thought as one of the six systems of Indian philosophy. Vedas are replete with suggestions about Unity. The earlier stage of naturalistic and anthropomorphic polytheism yielded to monistic belief. In the dictum, ekam sad vipraI bahudhaI vadanti we perceive an echo of Unity. UpanisI adic seers picked up this Unity and tirelessly went in their search till they came to the highest conclusion, tat tvam asi. This concept of Unity gets its full bloom in SI anI kara's KevalaI dvaita; later on it gave inspiration to different rivulets of VedaI nta schools. SI anI kara's unqualified impersonal Brahman could not satisfy those who sought loving communion with God. Consequently different schools of Bhakti-VedaI nta came into existence, namely, VisI isI tI aI dvaita of RaI maI nuja, Dvaita of Madhva, DvaitaI dvaita of NimbaI rka and SI uddhaI dvaita of Vallabha. For all of them the emphasis is on the liberation of individual soul only, which gave way to Sri Aurobindo's Integral Advaitism where the emphasis is not only on spiritualization of man but of the whole cosmos.The journey continues further with modern physics. Consciousness is the building block of the Universe and the ground of all beings, which can't be found in plural.About the AuthorDr Priti Sinha retired as the Head, Department of Philosophy, Vasanta College, Banaras Hindu University after twenty-eight years of service. An alumnus of the university, she holds a doctorate and postgraduate degrees, both in Philosophy as well as Religion and Philosophy. She has been recognized for her work in several national and international seminars. An accomplished musician, Dr Sinha has the distinction of choreographing dance dramas, human puppetry and designing costumes for stage plays, especially historical dramas.