Fundamentals of Hinduism (PB)

Vedānta is the very heart of Indian philosophy. The various schools of Vedānta have been explored under diverse categories including ontological and epistemological, but they are a storehouse of so much more. “Hermeneutics” in simple words can be the theory of interpretation and this book has studied the critique of the Advaita hermeneutics by Rāmānujācārya based on Vedic statements like tat tvam asi, tadaikāta bahu syāma, neha nānāsti kiñcana and many others in his book Vedārthasaṁgraha which mirrors a complete vision of the Upaniṣads. Rāmānujācārya has shown how the Śruti statements can be seen in a coherent manner resolving the conflicts of bheda and abheda. The nature of a word and its various śaktis, followed by how successful are words in describing the concepts of sat, cit and ānanda, are also discussed here.
This book is an initial effort in the hermeneutic studies of Indian texts, which have been kept limited to the scope of philosophy, theology or religion alone. Many more linguistic treasures can be found here.

“The Vedānta has been rightly called the Finest Fruit of Indian Thought and the Upaniṣads as the Finer Flowers. Vedānta grows out of the teachings of the Upaniṣads and passes into the various systems in the writings of Śaṅkara, Bhāskara, Rāmānuja, Madhva and Vallabha, the great founders of Advaita, Bhedābheda, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaitādvaita and Śuddhādvaita, respectively. However, there is a perception among Orientalists that while the Upaniṣads favour the Monistic doctrine, Bādarāyaṇa’s Brahmasūtra fundamentally opposes it on some of the most crucial points.
The book thus delves deep into the philosophies of both Bādarāyaṇa and Śaṅkara in enunciating the essential features of Brahman and Its association with the world. It thus discusses topics such as what sort of cause Brahman is?, and what sort of material causality is to be ascribed to It? It also addresses the conflicting views on the nature of Brahman like that of Vivarttavāda and of Rāmānuja’s Saguṇa-Brahman.
This book proposes to take up the question of Universal Causation to examine thoroughly as how far it is right to regard Brahman as the Universal Cause and how far sūtrakāra himself lent his support to each of the inter-conflicting schools of Vedānta. This book should, therefore, benefit all who are devoted to the philosophic teachings of Advaita Vedānta and its preceptors.”