Monism and Reality

Name:
Professor’s Name:
Course:
Date:
“Reality,” PP. 49-74
For each of the views mentioned (Advaita, Yoga, etc.), give a brief (a couple of sentences) summary of the view. Which view do you most agree with? Disagree with? Why?
Monism is the idea that only one thing is real and everything else springs from the real. Advaita Vedanta is the first theory of monism. Coined by Sankara, it means non-dual. Sankara was against the idea of dualism. His writings were argumentative as he wrote with the intention of convincing his readers that his position was right. However, his suggestion did not exactly agree with the monist understanding of reality. He, thus “proposed that within the sacred texts there are two levels of truth.” His claims, however, are founded on the notion that there exists only one reality which is Brahman. However, like Ramanuja, it is indeed misleading to suggest that Brahman existed without any qualities. One would ask, how then do all things appear with the qualities they have if the one who causes them to exist is quality-less? But he does seem convincing because in his assertions, it does come out that Brahman is the beginning and the end. All that is Brahman and all that is not are all dependent on Brahman.
The second theory of monism is Visistadvaita Vedanta which is attributed to Ramanuja’s version of Vedanta. It is quite similar to Sankara’s theory but it offers several claims which differ with the basis of Sankara’s claims. First of all, Ramanuja “claims that Brahman cannot exist without the existence of human selves and without the material world.” Additionally, he is against the notion of a quality-less Brahman but believes Brahman’s qualities “are real in an absolute sense.” Ramanuja’s other claim is that Brahman exists as a trinity (“a personal God, a plurality of selves and the material world”). He opines that while Brahman’s body is portrayed by the unity of selves and the material world and that Brahman causes their existence. Thus, Brahman is dependent on these.
When it comes to dualism, the first theory is Samkhya. Harrison writes that the word Samkhya “w...