Advaita Vedanta Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Textual authority=== The Advaita Vedānta tradition considers the knowledge claims in the Vedas to be the crucial part of the Vedas, not its ''karma-kanda'' (ritual injunctions).{{sfn|Koller|2013|pp=100–101}} The knowledge claims about self being identical to the nature of ''Atman-Brahman'' are found in the [[Upanishads]], which Advaita Vedānta has regarded as "errorless revealed truth."{{sfn|Koller|2013|pp=100–101}} Nevertheless, states Koller, Advaita Vedantins did not entirely rely on revelation, but critically examined their teachings using reason and experience, and this led them to investigate and critique competing theories.{{sfn|Koller|2013|pp=100–101}} Advaita Vedānta, like all orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, accepts as an [[epistemic]] premise that [[Śruti]] (Vedic literature) is a reliable source of knowledge.{{sfn|Klostermaier|2007|p=26}}{{sfn|Coburn|1984|p=439}}{{sfn|Deutsch|2000|p=245–248}} The Śruti includes the four Vedas including its four layers of embedded texts – the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the early Upanishads.<ref>Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1988), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, Manchester University Press, {{ISBN|0-7190-1867-6}}, pp. 2–3</ref> Of these, the Upanishads are the most referred to texts in the Advaita school. The possibility of different interpretations of the Vedic literature, states Arvind Sharma, was recognized by ancient Indian scholars.{{sfn|Sharma|2007|p=17–19, 22–34}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=35–36, 77, 210–212}} The [[Brahmasutra]] (also called Vedānta Sutra, composed in 1st millennium BCE) accepted this in verse 1.1.4 and asserts the need for the Upanishadic teachings to be understood not in piecemeal cherrypicked basis, rather in a unified way wherein the ideas in the Vedic texts are harmonized with other means of knowledge such as perception, inference and remaining [[pramana]]s.{{sfn|Sharma|2007|p=17–19, 22–34}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=35–36}} This theme has been central to the Advaita school, making the [[Brahmasutra]] as a common reference and a consolidated textual authority for Advaita.{{sfn|Sharma|2007|p=17–19, 22–34}}{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=6–7}} The Bhagavad Gitā, similarly in parts can be interpreted to be a monist Advaita text, and in other parts as theistic Dvaita text. It too has been widely studied by Advaita scholars, including a commentary by Adi Shankara.{{sfn|Rambachan|1991|pp=xii–xiii}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=35–36, 77, 210–212}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page