What is Vedanta?

"Swamiji, what is Vedanta, please?" I began.

He answered in his soft, firm voice, "Vedanta is the essential philosophy original to the Hindus, but we claim it is the essential philosophy of all religions. The major ideas of Vedanta are, first, the ultimate existence. We hold that all the things we see around us are ultimately reducible to one substance. Normally, in every philosophical system, there will be three main questions: What is the nature of man? What is the nature of God as the ultimate reality? What is the nature of nature?

"Different religious systems and different philosophical systems have different answers. Vedanta, especially the non-dualistic Vedanta — Advaita, as it is called — says that all three are one. Man in his ultimate nature, nature in its ultimate nature, and God in His ultimate nature are the same. This is the basic position of Vedanta.

Form & Formless  

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