Liberation and the Inquiry into Brahman
September 17, 2026 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197861493.003.0008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Śaṅkara treats Vedic injunctions as terminating in cognition rather than action, making knowledge of Brahman prohibitory and independent of ritual. Proposes that śravaṇa, manana, and nididhyāsana clarify rather than cause cognition, and that liberation is intellectual understanding, with nididhyāsana functioning as parisaṅkhyāna, a practice of systematic negation. |
Abstract
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 threefold process of śravaṇa, manana, and nididhyāsana within the broader doctrine of pramāṇa, arguing that their function is one of clarification rather than of causal instrumentality in cognition. The chapter explores how the three processes aim to remove epistemic obstructions and establish certainty in the identity statements, culminating in liberation as intellectual understanding rather than mystical experience. Finally, the chapter reevaluates the function of nididhyāsana as parisaṅkhyāna, a meditative practice of systematic negation designed to preserve the immediacy of Self-knowledge against residual karmic tendencies.