VEDANT/ VEDAANT
Vedant or Uttra Mimansa is one of the six schools of Indian philosophy. Term ‘Vedant’ is a combination of two words: ‘Veda’ (the ancient/Aryan books) and ‘Ant’ (end) i.e. the end of the Vedas. Vedant is based upon the philosophy of Upanishads, Brahm Sutras and Bhagwad Gita.
There are three main schools of Vedant: Advaita (non-dualism), Vashishat-advaita (qualified non-dualism) and Dvaita (dualism). Shankaracharya (788-820), Ramanujaharya (1017-1137) and Madhavacharya (1199-1276) were the major exponents of Vedant. All these, however, differed from each other on several issues.
Some writers find resemblances in Sikhism and Vedant but mere resemblance of one or two principles does not make Sikhism akin to Vedant. Then, that sense Sikhism and Islam too a few common points and so have Christianity and Sikhism.
There is no doubt that Guru Nanak was the greatest monotheist of the world but on the other hand Sikhism rejects several principles of Vedant. It is wrong to call a Sikh a Vedanti (Vedantist).
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)
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