Vedānta

Vedānta · veda-anta, “the end of the Veda”

Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of veda and anta (end, culmination): “the end of the Veda“.

Meaning: the teaching of Brahman and the ātmā given at the culmination of the Veda; vedānta-jñāna is the knowledge that all is Brahman.

In the scriptures: in his teaching on brahma-vijñāna, Agnideva says that the Paramātmā is the support of all, and that Parameśvara is praised in the Veda and the Vedānta by the name Vishṇu; he alone is Yajñeśvara, the lord of yajña. Those on the path of action serve the Yajña-purusha; those on the path of withdrawal realise through jñāna-yoga the Paramātmā who is the form of knowledge (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 379).

In his teaching on the rasas of kāvya, Agnideva begins from the caitanya (consciousness) told in the Vedānta: imperishable, eternal, birthless, all-pervading, the svarūpa of Parabrahman, without a second, of the form of light. Ānanda is natural to it, and it becomes manifest from time to time; that manifestation is called camatkāra. From it come ahaṅkāra, then abhimāna, in which the three worlds are contained, and from abhimāna rati, which grows into the śṛṅgāra rasa (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 339).

At the close of the Yama-gītā, the teaching of Yama to Naciketas, Agnideva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi: “Through vedānta-jñāna, the arising of the understanding that all everywhere is Brahman: that is the ātyantika pralaya”, the final dissolution (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 382). In the training of a prince, Pushkara names ānvīkshikī among the vidyās he must learn, and the text glosses it as nyāya, vedānta and the like (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 225).

In the glory of the Agni Purāṇa, Agnideva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi that the vidyās of chandas, śikshā, vyākaraṇa, nighaṇṭu, jyotisha, nirukta, dharma-śāstra, mīmāṃsā, nyāya, āyurveda, purāṇa, dhanurveda, gāndharva, artha-śāstra, vedānta and the rest are all forms of Hari; this is the aparā vidyā, and the vidyā that teaches the supreme truth of the ātmā is the parā vidyā. Sūta tells Śaunaka and the munis that there is no essence, no friend, no śāstra, śruti, smṛti, āgama or siddhānta, and no vedānta greater than this Purāṇa; and among the subjects the Agni Purāṇa holds he names the naimittika, prākṛtika and ātyantika pralayas, vedānta, brahma-vijñāna and ashṭāṅga yoga (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 383).

Related terms: Veda · Brahma-vijñāna · Parā Vidyā · Ānvīkshikī · Ātyantika Pralaya · Upanishad

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 225, 339, 379, 382, 383