6 papers in the library · publishing 2024-2026
September 17, 2026 Aleksandar Uskokov
Abstract The Epilogue argues that Śaṅkara’s enduring significance in Indian intellectual history lies not in his originality as a philosopher or his portrayal as a mystic but in his theology of liberation. While often described as a synthesizer of prior doctrines and cast as a mystic by Western and Indian scholars influenced by Otto and Schleiermacher, Śaṅkara’s project was to repudiate the...
September 17, 2026 Aleksandar Uskokov
Abstract This chapter examines the doctrine of prasaṅkhyāna—a form of meditation appropriated from Yoga and integrated into pre-Śaṅkara Vedānta—as a response to a perceived insufficiency of scriptural knowledge for liberation. It begins with Bhartṛprapañca’s soteriology, which combines ritual and meditation through assuming dual entitlement of the individual Self for ritual and for knowing...
September 17, 2026 Aleksandar Uskokov
Abstract This chapter examines pre-Śaṅkara deliberations on liberation (mokṣa) and its status as the highest good (niḥśreyasa) in Vedic theology, tracing its conceptual evolution from early Mīmāṁsā to the Brahma-sūtra. It begins by situating niḥśreyasa within dharma literature, where it initially denoted general human goods before being redefined as liberation from rebirth through knowledge and...
September 17, 2026 Aleksandar Uskokov
Abstract This chapter examines Śaṅkara’s Upaniṣadic hermeneutics, focusing on the distinction between texts of knowledge (para-vidyā) and texts of meditation (apara-vidyā). It argues that while all Upaniṣadic passages operate within the framework of ignorance, only some intend to negate it by presenting Brahman as non-dual and devoid of attributes, whereas others affirm duality through...
September 17, 2026 Aleksandar Uskokov
Abstract This chapter focuses on Śaṅkara’s ideas about the inquiry into Brahman through examining the relationship between knowledge, desire, and renunciation. It argues that Śaṅkara reinterprets Vedic injunctions as terminating in cognition rather than action, classifying knowledge of Brahman as prohibitory in kind and thereby independent of ritual performance. The discussion situates the...
Journal of Hindu Studies March 26, 2024 Aleksandar Uskokov
Abstract: This article interprets the religious epistemology of the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava theologian Jīva Gosvāmin, specifically his division of perception in ‘learned’ and ‘ignorant’, to argue that ‘learned’ perception is supersensible cognitive experience shaped by learning and language. The article goes on to show that the contemporary scholarship on religious experience can learn an important...