The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Vedanta

Description

This handbook brings together a distinguished team of scholars from philosophy, theology, and religious studies to provide the first in-depth discussion of Vedanta and the many different systems of thought that make up this tradition of Indian philosophy. Emphasizing the historical development of Vedantic thought, it includes chapters on numerous classical Vedantic philosophies as well as the modern Vedantic views of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, and Romain Rolland. The volume offers careful hermeneutic analyses of how Vedantic texts have been interpreted, and it addresses key issues and debates in Vedanta, including religious diversity, the nature of God, and the possibility of embodied liberation. Venturing into cross-philosophical and cross-cultural territory, it also brings Vedanta into dialogue with Saiva Nondualism as well as contemporary Western analytic philosophy. Highlighting current scholarly controversies and charting new paths of inquiry, this is an indispensable research guide for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of Vedanta and Indian philosophy. Cover Contents Notes on Contributors Acknowledgments Note on Sanskrit Transliteration Introduction: The Past, Present, and Future of Scholarship on Vedānta Ayon Maharaj Chapter Summaries Part 1 Classical Vedānta 1 Contemplating Nonduality: The Method of Nididhyāsana in Śaṅkara’s Advaita Vedānta Neil Dalal 2 Soul and Qualifying Knowledge (Dharmabhūtajñāna) in the Later Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta of Veṅkaṭanātha Marcus Schmücker 3 Vyāsatīrtha’s Nyāyāmṛta: An Analytic Defense of Realism in Mādhva Vedānta Michael Williams 4 Accomplishing the Impossible: Jīva Gosvāmī and the Concept of Acintya in Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Vedānta Ravi M. Gupta Part 2 Modern Vedānta 5 Sri Ramakrishna’s Philosophy of Anekānta Vedānta Jeffery D. Long 6 Sri Aurobindo’s Psychology of a “Psychic Being” in Support of a Metaphysical Argument for Reincarnation Stephen Phillips 7 Debating Freud on the Oceanic Feeling: Romain Rolland’s Vedāntic Critique of Psychoanalysis and His Call for a “New Science of the Mind” Ayon Maharaj Part 3 Key Themes, Concepts, and Debates in Vedānta 8 Making Space for God: Karma, Freedom, and Devotion in the Brahmasūtra Commentaries of Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and Baladeva Andrew J. Nicholson 9 Vedāntic Approaches to Religious Diversity: Grounding the Many Divinities in the Unity of Brahman Ankur Barua 10 Nondual Philosophies in Dialogue: The World and Embodied Liberation in Advaita Vedānta and Pratyabhijñā Klara Hedling Part 4 Hermeneutic Investigations 11 Seeing Oneness Everywhere: Sri Aurobindo’s Mystico-Immanent Interpretation of the Īśā Upaniṣad Ayon Maharaj 12 On the Style of Vedānta: Reading Bhāratītīrtha’s Vaiyāsikanyāyamālā in Light of Mādhava’s Jaiminīyanyāyamālā Francis X. Clooney, S.J. 13 Śaṅkaradigvijaya: A Narrative Interpretation of Śaṅkara’s Advaita Vedānta Daniel Raveh Part 5 Cross-Cultural Explorations 14 A New Debate on Consciousness: Bringing Classical and Modern Vedānta into Dialogue with Contemporary Analytic Panpsychism Anand Jayprakash Vaidya 15 Mystical Experience as a Skeptical Scenario: Śrīharṣa’s Skeptical Advaita in the Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya Ethan Mills 16 Dream and Love at the Edge of Wisdom: A Contemporary Cross-Cultural Remapping of Vedānta Arindam Chakrabarti Index