The earlier Vedic texts and the Sutras, which constitute the basis of the philosophy, were too vague for the practical inquirer; and being considered revelation, did not admit of doubt. Only two courses were open: either to reject them altogether or inject new thought into them by the aid of commentaries. The believer in the faith has no thought of reject ing what he considers divine revelation; so, the philosophy was built up of so-called com mentaries or bhashyas. Every sage and philos opher, who had a system of thought to offer, claimed only to comment on the revelations; he took no credit for himself. It is no wonder, therefore, that European scholars and students should fall into the error of believing that the Vedanta is a single system of philosophy, somewhat on the lines of Plato or Epictetus.
There are three principal schools of Vedantic thought, adwaita, that which does not recognize the existence of a second, dwoita, that which recognizes two, and Vishishtadwaita or qualified dualism. The founder of the adwaita school was Sankaracharva, who lived about the 3d century of the Christian era. He enunciated that there was only one truth, i.e., Brahman. Existence, world and all dif ferentiation was built out of Maya, or illusion. Maya is the principle by which the soul mis takenly identifies itself with fictitious adjuncts like the organs, faculties and the human organ ism. Out of maya is created the unreal world, and maya is the case of the projection of the manifold of experience. Sankaracharya held that name and form are illusions, neither existent nor non-existent, nor both in one, neither to be explained as an entity or as non entity, fictitiously proceeding from, and to, all eternity. The illustrations to prove the maya or illusion are very telling: Existence is like the blue sky, which has no existence or attri bute, like the waters of a mirage, like the visions of a dream, like the snake seen by a dim light in a piece of rope.
Speculative thought in India has always been intimately connected with religion. Knowledge, per se, for no other purpose, had no place in Hindu philosophy. Hence, systems of philos ophy are inextricably mixed up with a purpose; in the case of Vedanta, it is the release of the soul from ignorance and the attainment of the highest. The sumnum bonum of life, accord ing to all schools of this thought, was to become one with Brahman. Sankara's system did not recognize duality; hence, maya or illusion only stands as a curtain between thee soul and Brah man, which have ever been one. The moment
the curtain is removed, there is an automatic absorption of the individual soul in the eternal.
While this school of thought was the earliest interpretation of the Sultras and Upanishads, it has not been popular. The doctrine of illusion, as preached by Sankara, was too ab struse for even the intellectuals. There was a hankering for a little more of the human touch in intellectual and religious speculation. A super-volitional Brahman had to give way to Brahman, which was the operative cause of the world. The transition did not involve any modification of the attributes; it was still im mutable, omnipresent, omniscient and incor ruptible. Only, Brahman had these attributes volitionally, and was not a residuum of abstrac tion. Brahman became the light of lights be yond the darkness, and by the light of Brah man all the world shone forth. Brahman had his abode within the heart. This process of reasoning led to the dualistic school of thought. Ramanuja was the originator of the new school which, while admitting that the individual soul emanated from Brahman, and was part and parcel of it, contended that it was still a dis tinctive entity. Even salvation was not the annihilation of the individual soul, although it was held to mean "to become one with Brah man?) Ramanuja admitted the existence of Maya or illusion; but he used it to signify wrong perception, and not the perception of existence in non-existence. Sankara exalted knowledge as the means to Salvation; but Ramanuja relegated it to a secondary place, placing ((faith° on a higher plane. i-fe exalted the doctrine of the attainment of salvation by faith, and incorporated it in his system of philosophy. His school is known as Visishtid waita, or qualified dualism. According to him. Brahman is the operative cause of the world, and the process of evo-ution by which existence is regulated is called ((differentiation under name and form)) The process moves in cycles eternity to eternity, evolution and dis solution chasing each other in an endless circle. As plants proceed from seeds and seeds from plants, so embodiment proceeds from works and works from embodiments. This series con tinues until each individual soul realizes itself, and finds eternal bliss and repose in the bosom of Brahman. Salvation is not absorption and negation of existence to the individual soul, but the attainment of bliss in Brahman.