Vedanta

Vedanta, also known as Uttara Mīmāṃsā, is one of the six orthodox traditions of Hindu philosophy and textual exegesis. The word Vedanta means 'conclusion of the Vedas,' and encompasses the ideas that emerged from, or aligned and reinterpreted, the speculations and enumerations contained in the Upanishads, focusing, with varying emphasis, on devotion, knowledge, and liberation. Vedanta developed into many traditions, all of which give their specific interpretations of a common group of texts called the Prasthānatrayī, translated as 'the three sources': the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.
All Vedanta traditions place great emphasis on textual exegesis and contain extensive discussions on ontology, soteriology, and epistemology, even as there is much disagreement among the various traditions. Independently considered, they may seem completely disparate due to the pronounced differences in thoughts and reasoning.
The main distinct traditions or movements within Vedanta are: Bhedabheda ; Advaita ; and the Vishnu-centred traditions of Dvaitadvaita, Vishishtadvaita, Tattvavada , Suddhadvaita, and Achintya-Bheda-Abheda. Modern developments in Vedanta include Neo-Vedanta, and the philosophy of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya.
Most major Vedanta schools, except Advaita Vedanta and Neo-Vedanta, are related to Vaishnavism and emphasize devotion to God, understood as Vishnu or a related manifestation. Advaita Vedanta, on the other hand, emphasizes Jñana and Jñana Yoga over theistic devotion, though Shankara may also have been a Vaishnavite. While the monism of Advaita has attracted considerable attention in the West due to the influence of the 14th century Advaitin Vidyaranya and modern Hindus like Swami Vivekananda and Ramana Maharshi, most Vedanta traditions focus on Vaishnava theology.

Etymology and nomenclature

The word Vedanta is made of two words:

Veda — refers to the four sacred Vedic texts.
Anta — meaning "end."

The word Vedanta literally means the end of the Vedas and originally referred to the Upanishads. Vedanta is concerned with the or knowledge section of the vedas which is called the Upanishads. The meaning of Vedanta expanded later to encompass the different philosophical traditions that interpret and explain the Prasthānatrayī in the light of their respective views on the relation between humans and the Divine or Absolute reality.
The Upanishads may be regarded as the end of Vedas in different senses:

They were the last literary products of the Vedic period.
They represent the pinnacle of Vedic philosophy.
They were taught and debated last, in the Sannyasa stage.

Vedanta is one of the six orthodox traditions of textual exegesis and Indian philosophy. It is also called Uttara Mīmāṃsā, which means the "latter enquiry" or "higher enquiry"; and is often contrasted with Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, the "former enquiry" or "primary enquiry". Pūrva Mīmāṃsā deals with the karmakāṇḍa or ritualistic section in the Vedas while Uttara Mīmāṃsā concerns itself with the deeper questions of the relation between humans and Divine or Absolute reality.

Vedanta philosophy

Common features

Despite their differences, all traditions of Vedanta share some common features:

Vedanta is the investigation of Brahman and Ātman.
The various traditions give their own, specific exegesis of the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavadgītā, and the Brahma Sūtras.
Scripture is the main reliable source of knowledge.
Brahman - Īśvara, exists as the unchanging material cause and instrumental cause of the world. The exception is that Dvaita Vedanta does not hold Brahman to be the material cause, but only the efficient cause.
The self is the agent of its own acts and the recipient of the consequences of these actions.
Belief in rebirth and the desirability of release from the cycle of rebirths .
Rejection of Buddhism and Jainism and conclusions of the other Vedic schools.
Scripture

The main Upanishads, the Bhagavadgītā and the Brahma Sūtras are the foundational scriptures in Vedanta. All traditions of Vedanta give a specific exegesis of these texts, collectively called the Prasthānatrayī, literally, three sources.

The Upanishads, or Śruti prasthāna; considered the Sruti, the "heard" foundation of Vedanta.
The Brahma Sūtras, or Nyaya prasthana / Yukti prasthana; considered the reason-based foundation of Vedanta.
The Bhagavadgītā, or Smriti prasthāna; considered the Smriti foundation of Vedanta.

All prominent Vedantic teachers, including Shankara, Bhaskara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, and Vallabha wrote commentaries on these three sources. The Brahma Sūtras of Badarayana serve as a bhedabheda-based synthesis of the teachings found in the diverse Upanishads, and while there may have been other similar syntheses in the past, only the Brahma Sūtras have survived to the present day. The Bhagavadgītā, with its syncretism of Samkhya, Yoga, and Upanishadic thought, has also been a significant influence on Vedantic thought.
All Vedāntins agree that scripture is the only means of knowing regarding spiritual matters. This is explained by Rāmānuja as follows:

A theory that rests exclusively on human concepts may at some other time or place be refuted by arguments devised by cleverer people.... The conclusion is that with regard to supernatural matters, Scripture alone is the epistemic authority and that reasoning is to be used only in support of Scripture’ .

For specific sub-traditions of Vedanta, other texts may be equally important. For example, for Advaita Vedanta, the works of Adi Shankara are nominally central, though other teachers were equally, or even more, influential. For the theistic Vaishnava schools of Vedanta, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa is particularly important. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the most widely commented upon works in Vedanta. This text is so central to the Krishna-centered Vedanta schools that Vallabha added the Bhāgavata Purāṇa as a fourth text to the Prasthānatrayī.

Metaphysics

Vedanta philosophies discuss three fundamental metaphysical categories and the relations between the three.

Brahman or Īśvara: the ultimate reality
Ātman or Jivātman: the individual soul, self
Prakriti ''or Jagat'': the empirical world, ever-changing physical universe, body and matter
Brahman / Īśvara – Conceptions of the Supreme Reality

Shankara, in formulating Advaita, talks of two conceptions of Brahman:

Parā or Higher Brahman: The undifferentiated, absolute, infinite, transcendental, supra-relational Brahman beyond all thought and speech is defined as parā ''Brahman, nirviśeṣa Brahman, or nirguṇa Brahman and is the Absolute of metaphysics.
Aparā or Lower Brahman: The Brahman with qualities defined as aparā Brahman or saguṇa Brahman. The saguṇa Brahman is endowed with attributes and represents the personal God of religion.

Ramanuja, in formulating Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, rejects Nirguṇa – that the undifferentiated Absolute is inconceivable – and adopts a theistic interpretation of the Upanishads, accepting Brahman as Īśvara, the personal God who is the seat of all auspicious attributes, as the One reality. The God of Vishishtadvaita is accessible to the devotee, yet remains the Absolute, with differentiated attributes.
Madhva, in expounding Dvaita philosophy, maintains that Vishnu is the supreme God, thus identifying the Brahman, or absolute reality, of the Upanishads with a personal god, as Ramanuja had done before him. Nimbarka, in his Dvaitadvata philosophy, accepted the Brahman both as nirguṇa and as saguṇa. Vallabha, in his Shuddhadvaita philosophy, not only accepts the triple ontological essence of the Brahman'', but also His manifestation as personal God, as matter, and as individual souls.

Relation between Brahman and Jīva / Atman

The schools of Vedanta differ in their conception of the relation they see between Ātman / Jīvātman and Brahman / Īśvara:

According to Advaita Vedanta, Ātman is identical with Brahman and there is no difference.
According to Viśiṣṭādvaita , Jīvātman is different from Īśvara, though eternally connected with Him as His mode. The oneness of the Supreme Reality is understood in the sense of an organic unity. Brahman/''Īśvara alone, as organically related to all Jīvātman and the material universe is the one Ultimate Reality.
According to Dvaita, the Jīvātman is totally and always different from Brahman / Īśvara.
According to Shuddhadvaita, the Jīvātman and Brahman'' are identical; both, along with the changing empirically observed universe being Krishna.
Epistemology

Pramana

Pramāṇa literally means "proof", "that which is the means of valid knowledge". It refers to epistemology in Indian philosophies, and encompasses the study of reliable and valid means by which human beings gain accurate, true knowledge. The focus of Pramana is the manner in which correct knowledge can be acquired, how one knows or does not know, and to what extent knowledge pertinent about someone or something can be acquired. Ancient and medieval Indian texts identify six pramanas as correct means of accurate knowledge and truths:

Pratyakṣa
Anumāṇa
Upamāṇa
Arthāpatti
Anupalabdi
Śabda.

The different schools of Vedanta have historically disagreed as to which of the six are epistemologically valid. For example, while Advaita Vedanta accepts all six pramanas, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita accept only three pramanas.
Advaita considers Pratyakṣa as the most reliable source of knowledge, and Śabda, the scriptural evidence, is considered secondary except for matters related to Brahman, where it is the only evidence. In Viśiṣṭādvaita and Dvaita, Śabda, the scriptural testimony, is considered the most authentic means of knowledge instead.