Ancient History

Vedas

Vishnu purana - original veda
by Veda vyasa ( believed to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu)
Four vedas in order are

1. Rig veda        - oldest, related to hymes
2. Yajur veda     - rituals & astronomy
3. Sama veda     - songs of praise, music
4. Atharva veda - spells, incantations & charms

Divisions:

Four division in vedas

1. Samhita
2. Bhramana
3. Aranyaka
4. Upanisads

Schools of Hindu Philosophy

Six schools of Hindu Philosophy

1. Samkhya  -  denies existence of God
2. Yoga  -  meditation
3. Nyaya  -  logic, analytic & philosophy
4. Vaiaheshika  -  school of atomism
5. Mimamsa  -  school of orthopraxy
6. Vendanta  -  end of veda

Samkhya:

• by kapila
• denies existence of Ishvara (god)
• 2 realities namely Purusha & Prakriti
• Purusha - consiousness
• Prakriti - realm of matter
• concept of dualism
• karma for salvation

Yoga:

• by Patanjali
• physical, mental, spiritual disciplines
• Meditation for salvation

Nyaya:

• by Aksapada Gautama
• logic, analytic, philosophy
• 4 source of knowledge (Pramana) based on perception, interference, comparison & testimony
• attaining true knowledge for salvation

Vaiseshika:

• by kanada
• all objects reducible into number of atoms
• closely related to Nyaya
• atoms ultimately disintegrate

Mimamsa:

• by Jaimini
• also known as karma-mimamsa or purva-mimamsa or prior enquiry
• improved by Kumarila Bhatta
• considers Dharma
• karma & rituals mentioned in vedas for salvation

Vedanta:

• also as uttara-mimamsa or brahma-mimamsa or later enquiry
• six subschools namely -
• Advaita vedanta - Gaudapada & Adi Sankara
• Vishistadvaita - Ramanuja
• Sri lakshmi visishtadvaita - Srinivasa Deekshitulu
• Dvaita - Madhavacharya
• Dvaitadvaita - Nimbarka
• Shuddhadvaita - Vallabha

Gaudapada is the grand guru of  Adi Sankara

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