Brahmānubhava as Überpramāṇa in Advaita Vedānta: Revisiting an Old Debate
Alan A. Preti
Philosophy East and West July 1, 2014 DOI: 10.1353/pew.2014.0045 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that the debate over anubhava in Advaita Vedānta rests on a confusion about its function, and proposes that intuition is a distinctive mode of cognition that is not an independent means to brahmajñāna, while still holding that Advaita's fundamental claims about reality can be realized only in mystical experience. |
Abstract
This article revisits a debate about the nature and function of anubhava or intuition in Advaita Vedānta. In their presentation of Indian thought to the West, neo-Vedāntins such as Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan emphasized intuitive experience as a unique means to brahmajñāna , or Brahman-realization. In so doing, they distanced themselves from the tradition’s emphasis on the role of scripture in revealing Brahman. Detractors claim that such an account misrepresented Śaṅkara’s epistemology and led to a facile characterization of Advaita as a form of mysticism. It is argued here that the issue rests upon a confusion about the function of anubhava , and an understanding is proposed of intuition as a distinctive mode of cognition that mitigates the neo-Vedāntin claim that it is an independent means to brahmajñāna , yet that does not undermine the common view of Advaita as a system of thought whose fundamental claims about the nature of reality can be realized only in mystical experience.