Sankara’s Interpretation Of The Upnisads

Description

Sankara Interpretation Of The Upnisads The Upaniṣads are the earliest landmarks in the history of Indian philosophical thinking. They have left their impact on the entire range of subsequent spiritual speculation in India. Almost all the schools of Indian philosophy are concerned with and about them in one way or the other. However the exact import of their teachings has been a matter of controversy from the very beginning. Among the various attempts of interpreting and systematizing them, Śankara’s is perhaps the most controversial to the extent of being called quite illegitimate. Therefore it becomes pertinent to study how far it is authentic and useful as a guide to Upaniṣadic thinking. The present study is an attempt in this direction. It undertakes a critical and comprehensive study of Śankara’s interpretation of the Upaniṣadic philosophy.

Though Śankara has discussed elaborately the philosophy of the Upaniṣads in his bhäşya on the BS, we have deliberately chosen his bhāsyas on the Upaniṣads only for the purpose of our study. In this we have been prompted by the fact that the texts of the Upaniṣads in their original setting provide a better context for the interpretation of their philosophy and a critical estimate of that interpretation too. On the contrary, the style of the BS is so cryptic and the sūtras are so short that the task of their interpretation itself is a problem.

The inportance of this study lies in the fact that apart from examining the legitimacy of Sankara’s interpretation of the on the basis of his Upaniṣadbhāṣyas whose richness of content is well recognized by scholars like M. Hiriyanna and N. K. Devarāja. These bhāsyas, according to these scholors, are of immense value for an understanding of Sankara’s philosophy. They supplement in many ways the philosophical material available in his bhāṣya on the BS and thus they are indispensable for a thorough grasp of the subtle points in his philosophy.