page_title: Advaita Vedanta
section_title: History of Advaita Vedanta
hierarchical_section_title: Advaita Vedanta / History of Advaita Vedanta
caption_attribution_description: English: Shri Gaudapada Statue Picture
context_page_description: Advaita Vedanta is a school of Hindu philosophy, and is a classic system of spiritual realization in Indian tradition. The term Advaita refers to the idea that Brahman alone is ultimately real, the phenomenal transient world is an illusory appearance of Brahman, and the true self, atman, is not different from Brahman.
  Originally known as Puruṣavāda and as māyāvāda, the followers of this school are known as Advaita Vedantins, or just Advaitins, regarding the phenomenal world as mere illusory appearance of plurality, experienced through the sense-impressions by ignorance, an illusion superimposed on the sole reality of Brahman. They seek moksha through recognizing this illusoriness of the phenomenal world and acquiring vidyā of one's true identity as Atman, and the identity of Atman and Brahman.
  Advaita Vedanta traces its roots to the oldest Upanishads. It relies on three textual sources called the Prasthanatrayi. It gives "a unifying interpretation of the whole body of Upanishads", the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. Advaita Vedanta is the oldest extant sub-school of Vedanta, which is one of the six orthodox Hindu philosophies.
context_section_description: Advaita Vedanta existed prior to Adi Shankara but found in him its most influential expounder.
caption: Gaudapada, one of the most important pre-Śaṅkara philosophers in Advaita tradition
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