Advaita

Advaita theology rejects plurality at two levels: (1) At the phenomenal level it assumes "one unknowable" from which the Universe emanates and into which it dissolves, (2) At the absolute level it believes in the "via negativa" which pervades everything and provides an existential basis to the phenomenal Universe including our subjective and qualitative experience. This via negativa is knowable (realizable) and its Knowledge is said to be liberating. In Advaita tradition the "via negativa" is known as Brahman. Upanishads gave positions (1) and (2) among other things based on which Advaita theology evolved over centuries. It unified epistemology, ontology, and axiology whereby duality of Knower-Known (subject-object) is dissolved in the Knowledge absolute. This is the ultimate non-dual reality. By implication, the world phenomenon is of secondary reality. This position allows the aspirant to choose her path. It also gives freedom to the theologian. She can design theories of the "creation" and the "order" insofar as she maintains positions (1) and (2). This freedom is put to good use in the book "Advaita: A Contemporary Study (ACS)." ACS is a companion volume to the Author's previous text on Advaita Vedanta. Both ACS and the previous one are independent texts though ACS is more limited in its scope giving it a better focus on theology. It uses a different approach to make the text more accessible to the uninitiated reader. In one way this approach is more traditional because ACS uses a 15th century text to present a traditional line of Advaita with all its distinguished marks. ACS however, expands on this traditional line through digressions. It offers new interpretations or introduces new concepts without violating the traditional positions. Just to mention few such examples: (i) ACS postulates Brahman as an inactive semanticizer giving meaning and content to the world objects in the subjective and qualitative experience, (ii) Sankhya Tri-Gunas are interpreted as platonic, psychological, and physical aspects of the universe retaining their polysemy, (iii) Ishvara and deities are taken as aggregated entities without subjective experience of plurality, (iv) subjective free wills are postulated as epiphenomena, (v) Panchikarana (Quintuplication) is interpreted as the separator of measurable and immeasurable worlds. Add to it the two appendixes which ACS adopts from the first volume with minor changes. Appendix-1 constructs Atman=Brahman in a dependency framework, reduces it to few transactional principles, and then apply them to conceptualize social justice and institutions. It does this in Rawlsian framework though the intention is not to promote a particular theory of justice. Appendix-2 views Atman=Brahman as supernatural semanticizer - a kind of explanatory device or a semantic gap-filler. It uses the framework of science to check the indispensability of such a gap-filler and then position it in Advaita's epistemology and axiology. The book is expected to be a useful resource to the students of theology in general and to the students of Advaita in particular.