VEDĀNTA Skt.; a compound of Veda and anta: “end”; the end, that is, the conclusion of the Vedas, as contained in the Upanishads. Their scattered revelations and profound insights, which above all have to do with brahman and ātman and the interrelationship of the two, are summarized by Bādarāyana in his Vedānta-Sūtra, which forms the basis of the philosophy of Vedānta (Uttara-Mīmāmsā). Radhakrishnan wrote in the introduction to a chapter on the Vedānta-Sūtra in his work Indian Philosophy (1962): “Of all the Hindu systems of thought, the Vedantic philosophy is the most closely connected to Indian religion, and in one or another form it influences the worldview of every Hindu thinker of the present time.”
Three chief branches of Vedānta have developed: (1) Advaita-Vedānta (nondualism), whose major teachers are Gaudapāda, Shankara (the most important), Padmapāda, Sureshvara, and Vidyāranya; (2) Vishishtādvaita-Vedānta (qualified nondualism), whose chief representative is Rāmānuja; and (3) Dvaita-Vedānta (dualistic Vedānta), whose chief representative is Madhva.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Documents on Vedānta
Books on Vedānta
External Links: Vedanta / Brahma-Sūtras