The Hidden Lives of Brahman: Sankara's Vedanta through His Upanisad Commentaries, in Light of Contemporary Practice

Foreword

 The Vedānta tradition has a long, glorious history. The Vedas serve as the foundation for the ritual life of India. Their associated Upāniṣads comprise the philosophical substratum for all later schools of Indian thought. Vedic seers or ṛṣis composed hymns and taught them to their children and grandchildren . The oral transmission of the Vedas and Upāniṣads texts has ensured their integrity through more than two millennia. This method of recitation and memorization continues, unbroken, into present times. However, until the publication of this book, we have not had a clear sense of the depth of commitment and the complex nature of this very specialized form of training. This book conveys the rigors of such training as practiced today. Throughout India, Vedic schools continue to receive young Brahmin boys for training to preserve these ancient texts. For a period of several years, the boys reside with their teachers and learn to recite the Vedas and the Upāniṣads, and it is with this foundation that a smaller number study Śaṅkarācārya’s commentaries on the Upāniṣads and the Brahma Sūtras. This very specific philosophical perspective allows the advertisement of a coherent worldview that has come to characterize what is popularly known as Advaita Vedānta, the non-dual school of Hinduism. For more than a year, Joël Dubois lived at Sringeri Math in the state of Karnataka, south India. He also visited Bangalore, Mattur, and other sites, living alongside young Brahmins in training. In this remarkable book, he captures the sounds, sights, and tastes of India’s Brahmin schools and centers of study, conveying a sense of what he calls the “hidden lives” of young people who later emerge to carry on the tradition of Advaita Vedānta. In elegant, descriptive language, Dubois evokes the mood and energy of the daily life followed by these young men as they prepare for highly specialized careers. For them, the Upāniṣads and the works of Śaṅkarācārya come alive every day, culminating in a celebration of the great insight that “you yourself are already the paramātman, the supreme self of all beings, the ineffable, the transcendent reality known as brahman, the goal which everyone is seeking” (see chapter 1, p. 6). With great exuberance, Dubois invites the reader to participate, to enter into the world of Vedānta, to partake in the joy of an embodied philosophy and way of life committed to the elevation of consciousness. Of particular significance in this study are the often-neglected first book of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upāniṣad, the teachings of Yājñavalkya later in that same text, and the insights of the Taittirīya Upāniṣad. Dubois demonstrates Foreword xiv Foreword how the wisdom of Śaṅkara draws deeply from these materials and continues to shape the lives of young Brahmins. A combination of ethnography and text study, this book sheds new light on the living tradition of Śaṅkarācārya’s Advaita Vedānta, revealing its vital presence within India today. Christopher Key Chapple Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology Loyola Marymount University ...