Vedanta

views updated

Vedanta (Sanskrit, ‘conclusion of the Vedas’) Best known and most popular form of Indian philosophy; it forms the foundation for most modern schools of thought in Hinduism. One of the most influential Vedanta schools was that expounded by the 7th–8th-century philosopher Sankara. This school holds that the natural world is an illusion. There is only one self, Brahman-Atman; ignorance of the oneness of the self with Brahman is the cause of rebirth. The system includes a belief in the transmigration of souls and the desirability of release from the cycle of rebirth. See also Upanishads

More From encyclopedia.com