Knowra Hindu philosophy Hindu philosophy Hindu philosophy comprises diverse traditions rooted in Hindu texts and practices. Its schools debate knowledge, reality, selfhood, liberation, and the authority of the Vedas.
Vedas : The oldest sacred texts of Hindu traditions, composed in Sanskrit and central to Vedic ritual and authority. Their authority is a defining point of agreement among the orthodox schools.
Vedānta : A family of Hindu philosophical traditions interpreting the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gītā, and Brahma Sūtras. Its subtraditions make divergent claims about Brahman, the self, and the world.
Cārvāka : An ancient Indian materialist tradition that accepts perception as the primary source of knowledge and rejects afterlife doctrines. Its rejection of Vedic authority and rebirth marks a sharp contrast with orthodox Hindu schools.
Brahma Sūtras : A concise Sanskrit work systematizing teachings associated with the Upanishads and forming a foundational Vedānta text. Its terse arguments became a shared basis for competing Vedānta commentaries.
Upanishads : Late Vedic texts that explore ultimate reality, selfhood, knowledge, and liberation through dialogue and reflection. Their teachings become central evidence for Vedānta’s accounts of reality and self.
Sāṃkhya : A Hindu philosophical school that explains experience through the interaction of consciousness and material nature. Its distinction between puruṣa and prakṛti gives liberation a distinctive explanatory mechanism.
Buddhist philosophy : The philosophical traditions developed within Buddhism, addressing suffering, knowledge, reality, and liberation. Buddhist critiques of a permanent self challenged Hindu accounts of ātman.
Bhagavad Gītā : A Sanskrit dialogue in the Mahābhārata in which Krishna teaches Arjuna about duty, knowledge, devotion, and liberation. Its synthesis of action, knowledge, and devotion influenced Hindu philosophical reflection across schools.
Ātman : In Hindu traditions, the self or inner principle, understood differently across philosophical schools. Disputes over whether the self is unitary, plural, or ultimately identical with Brahman shape school differences.
Yoga : A Hindu philosophical tradition that disciplines mind and body to bring about freedom from suffering. Patañjali’s system adapts Sāṃkhya metaphysics into a practical path of mental discipline.
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