Advaita Vedanta

This "Student's Note" offers a constructive interpretation of Advaita Vedanta by tracing its philosophical, historical, and social development. While doing so, it explores the total landscape of non-dualist traditions in the Indian subcontinent. The second edition retains basic organization of the first edition. Chapters 0 to 4 discuss orthodox Vedanta. Chapter four discusses karmic axiology while the previous chapters give basic ontologic-epistemic elements of the tradition. Chapter five traces historical development of Vedanta. It also delineates other non-dualist Indic traditions in comparison to Vedanta. These and other excurrent topics are mainly discussed in annexes of respective sections of this chapter. They are roughly organized according to historical development of the tradition. Chapter six offers the interface between Advaita and science. Advaita's new avatar - Neo Advaita or New Vedanta is seen here as a spiritual metaphysics that complements science in its quest for Reality. Chapter seven concludes with the discussion of some contemporary themes and a summary of Advaita's longstanding features. Chapter eight provides exhaustive bibliography. The second edition adds new annexes: (i) a brief synopsis of competing Vedic schools to give basis of their polemics, (ii) the thematic alignment of liberal democracies with the central doctrines of Advaita, and (iii) deconstruction of the concept of God to reconcile Advaita and science. The last two annexes along with revised chapters six and seven posit Advaita as the new age philosophy of unity.