Arguement Against Shankara’s Ideas of Reality

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Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta means the end or completion of knowledge and also means “the end of Veda.” It originated from the Upanishads (sitting near the teacher) and is the Hindu Philosophy of the non- dualistic school. Shankara explains Vedanta in greater details in the Crest- Jewel of Discrimination, which are timeless teachings on nonduality. Vedanta’s main goal is to sustain that human life is to recognize Brahman which is the crucial reality and to be combined with the mystical ground of the universe. Shankara believes that Brahman is the one true reality and everything else is just delusion. Atman which is the personal self is but Brahman simply. In this paper I will argue with Shankara’s idea that something can only be real if it doesn’t change or never stops existing is incorrect, because temporary things are still real. After all nothing in this world ever lasts forever. Also if this world is not considered to be real then there is not a reason to live.
Shankara states that “BRAHMAN- the absolute existence, knowledge and bliss is real. The universe is not real. Brahman and Atman (man’s inner Self) are one.” (Viveka-Chudamani, p.7) Shankara accepts things as “real” only if they don’t change and never ceases to exist. “No object, no kind of knowledge, can be absolutely real if its existence is only temporary. Absolute reality implies permanent existence. Every object of knowledge, external or internal for a thought or idea is as much an object of knowledge as in the eternal world is subject to modification and therefore, by Shankara’s definition, “not real.” (Viveka-Chudamani, p.8) Temporary things are still real though, because after all nothing lasts forever. We humans actually only live to a certain age,...

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...ure and refer to Him as Iswara or the lord of the universe.
Shankara says the world is illusory, not since it does not have an existence, but because it is always altering, unsteady, temporary and obligated to obliteration and deterioration. It is a presence, a plan of God, a hallucination, an incorrect reality, which our minds take for, granted and which we fallaciously consider as genuine and everlasting. It exists because of our awareness of duality and will vanish when we experience non-duality or unite with Brahman. When we overpower delusion and unattached ourselves from the sense matters we understand the unity of existence and develop conscious of illusive nature of the world. Although I find the world to be perfectly real and what makes it more real is the fact that it’s altering, unsteady, and temporary and obligated to obliteration and deterioration.

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