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Sramanism As a Weltanschauung
the earliest version of the later Vedāntism which combines Brahmātmaváda with Samsāravāda and Sannyäsa. This is the doctrine of Jñana as leading to Nivrtti in opposition of Karma as tied with Pravrtti and transmigration. However, from this we cannot assume that the Upanişads as a whole are familiar with the doctrine of Samsāra and advocate a Nivriti-laksana-dharma as Sankarācārya describes it while opening his commentary on the Bhagavadgita “divividho hi vedokto dharmaḥ pravyttilakṣano nivșttilaksanaś ca/” The prevailing doctrine in the Upanişads is that the universe is a manifestation of divine being and energy. The many gods of the earlier period were undoubtedly merged into one Great Being identified with the Self but the result was a spiritual view of the universe where everything falls into place as part of a great harmony if only one realizes that every finite object is nothing but a limited expression of Brahman. Creation and manifestation are here held to be real, not illusory. It is true that occasional utterances denying duality or asserting the unreality of Name and Form can be quoted on the other side. But as the Vedäntasütras expound the Upanișadic passages, the realistic interpretation appears to be the correct one. The very definition of Brahman as janmadyasya yatah sets the pace and to explain this as an aupādhika laksana appears to be a tour de force. Duality and finitude are due to a real but limited manifestation of the infinite and one reality. They are not a beginning. less illusion due to Nescience. Such a view tends to consecrate worldly life, properly lived, as a stepping stone to the ultimate destiny of man. Action as ritual is not sufficient for man but is not an inherent evil. Moral action is indeed more important than merely intellectual knowledge –"nåvirato duścaritānnāśānto násamāhitah / nāśāntamānaso vā’pi prajñānenainam apnuyat ||” “No one can attain to the spirit by intellect, if he has not desisted from evil action.” The knowledge of the self leads to happiness all round. The quest of the self, indeed, arises not from the realization of the truth of ubiquitous sorrow but from the search for truth in a mind which seeks to understand things in their ultimate nature. In modern times Tagore and Aurobindo have read the principal doctrine of the Upanişads in this way and even the interpretation of Rāmānuja has been acknowledged by Thibaut as more appropriate to the Brahmasūtras than that of Sankara.
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