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21 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is the goal of human life according to yoga?
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The ultimate goal of Yoga is moksha, or liberation of the purusha from Prakriti; attaining kaivalya.
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What is the goal of human life according to Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and the “saguna” poet saints?
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The attainment of the world of Naryana and the enjoyment of perfect freedom and bliss. The state of moksha or freedom is defined as a type of heaven or paradise of undisturbed bliss in association with God. (This definition of Moksha is different from the yoga form)
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How does one attain that goal according to Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and the “saguna” poet saints?
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Prapratti, meant for all, and bhakti, based on the teachings of the Upanishads and whose adoption is restricted to higher castes.
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What is the human predicament according to Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and the “saguna” poet saints?
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Lack of belief in the Supreme Being and the jiva wrongly identifies the chit with achit. The unrealized soul has "attributive intelligence," but is contracted.
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What is the goal of human life according to Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta and the “nirguna” poet saints?
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Man’s ultimate aim in life should be to know and realize the truth that the individual self is Brahman itself, and its supposed distinction from Brahman is entirely due to the illusory adjuncts with which it identifies itself. This is moksha, the experience of the Real. An individual can become liberated now, while living. The person who attains this liberation is called a "jivanmukti" or free man.
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How does one attain that goal according to yoga?
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The means to attaining Moksha is practicing the eight major steps (eight limbs of yoga) and realizing Truth. (See below for more information). One can be enlightened while in the body (jivanmukti), but one is not wholly emancipated from nature or prakriti until death, which is "final aloofness," a condition of isolation known as "kaivalya."
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How does one attain that goal according to Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta and the “nirguna” poet saints?
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The identity of the self with Brahman is not to be newly attained; it is already there and has only to be realized in one’s own experience. The discipline consists of two parts: cultivating detachment, vairagya, and acquiring knowledge, jnana.
Adherence to duty or karmayoga, and ethical virtues are all necessary. The method is to eliminate individuality and all distinctions. This will involve reading scripture, and through properly preparing oneself for meditation. Accordingly, worship of the limited understanding of Brahman, or personal gods, can be helpful to purify the mind for those on lower levels of understanding. By formal study, learned from a guru, Reflection (manana), and Meditation (dhyana), one attains the wisdom. |
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What is the human predicament according to yoga?
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life is suffering; we are bound by karma and rebirth. The cause of this is ignorance of our true nature. According to Yoga of Patanjali, our ignorance or avidya is due to misunderstanding our Human nature.
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What is the human predicament according to Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta and the “nirguna” poet saints?
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Ignorance of the self’s true nature (atman), and confusion of our essence or Brahman with the phenomenal self (the jiva, or bhutatman).By working to render the jiva aloof from its adjuncts, and showing itself as the “witness” or saksin of pure consciouness, persons become enlightened. This “witness” is much like the Samkhya yoga view of the goal.
Shankara supported the view that while there can be enlightenment in this life, one can also make gradual or progressive liberation. In other words, the advances people make in this life allows one to progress from one higher life to another until they acquire direct experience of the ultimate truth and are finally liberated. |
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What is the nature of the 'world' according to Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and the “saguna” poet saints?
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The world is a real part of Brahman's nature: God is the material and effecient cause. Whatever is, is Brahman: this whole universe is the body of Brahman.
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What is the nature of ultimate reality according to Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and the “saguna” poet saints?
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There are 3 completely real things in the world: matter, soul, and God.
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What is the nature of the 'world' according to Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta and the “nirguna” poet saints?
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The world is on the level of Appearance. It was created by the association of Brahman with maya, a type of power usually translated as delusion, which is the material cause of the world. He also uses the term “mithya”. By association of maya with Brahman, phenomenally real jivas result, which are unaware of their true nature as Brahman and instead focus on only the phenomenally real aspects, which compells them to take rebirth in accordance with the law of karma. Maya also exists on the level of appearance. The philosophy here gives rise to claims that Shankara teaches vivarta-vada: the philosophy of appeared change: not real transformation.
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What is the nature of untimate reality according to Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta and the “nirguna” poet saints?
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Reality is ultimately one, with no distinctions: nirguna. True reality is within us all, conveniently termed "Atman," or self.
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What is the role of “saguna” gods according to Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta and the “nirguna” poet saints?
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There are gods; but they are saguna, with qualities, on the level of the phenomenally real. They can only offer partial assistance in quest of moksha.
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What major categories of religious behaviors and persons do Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta and the “nirguna” poet saints promulgate, and how does this tradition’s philosophy seem to affect their views of religious leadership?
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What major categories of religious behaviors and persons does yoga promulgate, and how does this tradition’s philosophy seem to affect their views of religious leadership?
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What major categories of religious behaviors and persons do Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and the “saguna” poet saints promulgate, and how does this tradition’s philosophy seem to affect their views of religious leadership?
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What is the role of “saguna” gods according to Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and the “saguna” poet saints?
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Ramanuja contended that saguna and nirguna are one, related as body and soul.
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What is the role of “saguna” gods according to yoga?
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Saguna Brahman is the creator, sustainer and controller of the universe. Ishvara is merely one of the purushas, and is eternal, omnipresent, but not all-comprehensive.
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What is the nature of the 'world' according to yoga?
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the physical universe, with all its variety, comes from a single source called Prakriti. The universe is a transformation within the primal substance called Prakriti. Prakriti is matter, which contains dynamic force. It is both one and complex; it is constituted of three component factors or constituents called gunas: sattva, rajas, tamas. These constituents are not separate, but rather involve one another and form a unity in trinity. The Prakriti's evolutionary process is cyclical, being followed by dissolution or pralaya. Sankhya-Yoga assumes a single substance which is complex and all-pervasive that evolves (parinama vada) into the universe. Yoga follows the satkarya vada doctrine, that is, the effects pre-exist in the cause: there is necessary unfolding, as opposed to a more open agency in the alternative view.
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What is the nature of ultimate reality according to yoga?
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The Purusha, i.e., the Self, is Real, and every purusha is distinct from each other. Prakriti is also real; this is the material aspect of Reality.
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