Vedanta Sub-School
अद्वैत वेदान्त
Advaita Vedanta
Founder
Adi Shankaracharya
Era
8th century CE
Category
Vedanta Sub-School
Central thesis
Brahman alone is real, non-dual, and identical with the innermost self (atman); the phenomenal world of multiplicity is a superimposition (adhyasa) on Brahman, real at the empirical (vyavaharika) level but ultimately (paramarthika) sublatable. Bondage is rooted in avidya (beginningless ignorance), and liberation arises from direct knowledge — "Tat tvam asi" ("That thou art") — that the apparent jiva is in essence Brahman itself.
Key texts
- Brahma Sutra Bhashya of Shankara
- Upanishad Bhashyas (Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, et al.)
- Bhagavad Gita Bhashya
- Upadesha-sahasri
- Vivekacudamani (attributed)
- Panchadasi of Vidyaranya
Pramana (accepted means of valid knowledge)
- Pratyaksha (perception)
- Anumana (inference)
- Upamana (comparison)
- Shabda (scriptural testimony — primary for Brahma-jnana)
- Arthapatti (postulation)
- Anupalabdhi (non-apprehension)
View of liberation (moksha)
Moksha is the realisation of one’s ever-existent non-difference from Brahman; it is not a new attainment but the removal of avidya. Jivanmukti — liberation while still embodied — is accepted.
Modern exponents
- Swami Vivekananda
- Ramana Maharshi (lineage-adjacent)
- Swami Chinmayananda
- Swami Dayananda Saraswati
- Eliot Deutsch
Key concepts
- Non-duality (advaita) of Brahman and atman
- Avidya (beginningless ignorance) and adhyasa (superimposition)
- Two-truth framework — paramarthika and vyavaharika
- Maha-vakyas (Tat tvam asi, Aham brahmasmi, Prajnanam brahma, Ayam atma brahma)
- Sadhana-chatushtaya (four-fold qualification)
- Jivanmukti