The 4 Vedas

The 4 mahavakyas
Brahman/ Brahma- ?
Composition of each of the Vedas:
• The Samhitas – literally “collections,” in this case of hymns and
mantras. They form the Veda proper.
• The Brahmanas – prose manuals of ritual and prayer for the guiding
priests. They tend to explain the Samhitas. They also contain early
versions of some stories.
• The Aranyakas – literally “forest books” for hermits and saints. They
are philosophical treatises.
• The Upanishads – books of philosophy. Also called
Four Upavedas
• The Four Upavedas (following the Vedas) explain arts and sciences
• Ayur-veda (medicine)
• Dhanur-veda (warfare)
• Gandharva-veda (music and dance)
• Shilpa-veda (architecture)
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The Orthodox School of Thoughts
• Samkhya (Sage Kapila -1st C)
• Yoga (Sage Patanjali- 4th C)
• Nyaya (Sage Gautama- 3rd C)
• Vaisheshika (Kanad Maharshi- 3rd C)
• Purva Mimamsa (Rishi Jamini- 4th C)
• Uttara Mimamsa also called Vedanta
Philosophy(Gaudapada/Govindapada and ???)
Unorthodox School of Thoughts
• Jainism (Mahavira- 6th C)
• Buddhism (Gautam Buddha – 6th C)
• Charvaka School of Thought or School of Materialism (Ajitha
Kesakambali- 7th C)
Lokayatta Philosophy
• This philosophy was called LOKAYATA because it believed in nothing
but this concrete material world (LOKA) and denied everything
beyond.
• LOKA could be the object of sense perception. Lokayata meant not
only the philosophy of the people but also the philosophy of this
worldliness.
• Propagated DEHAVADA, the view that the materal human body is the
microcosm of the universe, along with theory of origin of the universe
to the “Union of the Male and the Female”
• Oral Tradition
• Rejection of performing duties (dharma)
• Self Denial to pleasures
• No transmigration of soul/ No rebirth
Jainism
• The knowledge is passed down through a succession of twenty-four
leaders or Tirthankaras
• First- Rishabhadeva, whom the tradition holds to have lived millions
of years ago
• 23rd Tirthankara- Parshvanatha
• Twenty-fourth Tirthankara- Mahavira around 600 BCE.
• Jainism is considered to be an eternal dharma with the tirthankaras
guiding every time cycle of the cosmology.
Ahimsa (Non- Violence)
Principle of Anekanta-vada
• The one of the main principle of Jainism is anekāntavāda from anekānta
("many/ multiple-sidedness") and vada (doctrine)
• The doctrine states that truth and reality are complex and always have
multiple aspects. It further states that reality can be experienced, but
cannot be fully expressed with language. It suggests that human attempts
to communicate are Naya, "partial expression of the truth".
• According to it, one can experience the taste of truth, but cannot fully
express that taste through language. It holds that attempts to express
experience are valid "in some respect", but remain "perhaps, just one
perspective, incomplete".
• It concludes that in the same way, spiritual truths can be experienced but
not fully expressed. It suggests that the great error is belief in ekānta (one-
sidedness), where some relative truth is treated as absolute.
Aparigraha (Non Posession)
• The third main principle in Jainism is aparigraha which means non-
attachment to worldly possessions.For monks and nuns, Jainism
requires a vow of complete non-possession of any property, relations
and emotions
• The ascetic is a wandering mendicant in the Digambara tradition, or a
resident mendicant in the Śvētāmbara tradition
• For Jain laypersons, it recommends limited possession of property
that has been honestly earned, and giving excess property to charity.
Ahimsa (non violence)

• Central Jain teaching, is that of ahimsa (non-violence)

• Literally translated, Ahimsa means to be without harm; to be utterly
harmless, not only to oneself and others, but to all forms of life, from
the largest mammals to the smallest bacteria.

• Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture or

kill any creature or living being.
Austerities
• Monks and nuns follow the doctrine of ahimsa in every part of their
life with great strictness:
• monks walk in the street and sweep the ground with the utmost care
so as to avoid accidentally crushing crawling insects
• monks wear muslin cloths over their mouths to make sure they don't
swallow and thus harm any flies
• monks are not allowed to use violence in self-defence even if this
results in their own death
• Awareness to life around !
Buddhism
• 488 million (9-10% of the world population) people practice
Buddhism. Approximately half are practitioners of Mahayana schools
in China and it continues to flourish. The main countries that practice
Buddhism currently are China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
• Two sects- Theravada School and the Mahayana school of Buddhism
• All beings experience pain and misery (dukkha) during their lifetime:
• “Birth is pain, old age is pain, sickness is pain, death is pain; sorrow,
grief, sorrow, grief, and anxiety is pain. Contact with the unpleasant is
pain. Separating from the pleasant is pain. Not getting what one
wants is pain.
• The origin (samudaya) of pain and misery is due to a specific cause:
• “It is the desire that leads to pain and rebirth, accompanied by
pleasure and passion, seeking pleasure here and there; that is, the
desire for pleasures, the desire for existence, the desire for non-
existence”.
• The cessation of pain and misery can be achieved through the
complete non-passion and cessation of this very desire, with its
abandonment and renunciation.”
Kek Lokski (Penang)
 Eight Fold Path
• The method we must follow to stop pain and misery is that of the
Noble Eightfold Path.
• The Noble Eightfold Path - Buddhist practices leading to liberation
from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth in the form of nirvana
• The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve,
right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right
mindfulness, and right samadhi ('meditative absorption or union').
4 Famous Disciples of Adi Shankara
• Hastamalaka
• Padmapada
• Sureshwaracharya (Mandana Mishra)
• Totakacharya (Giri)
Totakashtakam
• विदिताखिलशास्त्रसुधाजलधे
• महितोपनिषत् कथितार्थनिधे ।
• हृदये कलये विमलं चरणं
• भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥ १॥

• viditā khila śāstra sudhā jaladhe/ mahito paniṣat kathitār thanidhe ।

• hṛdaye kalaye vimalaṃ caraṇaṃ/ bhavaśaṅkara deśika me śaraṇaṃ ॥ 1॥

• I praise and seek the protection of Śaṅkara, Who is the ocean of nectar of our great
holy books, And who is like the Treasure Of the essence of the great Upaniṣads