Padmapada

One of the two attested disciples of
Shankaracharya—the other being
Sureshvara—and the founder of the
Vivarana school of Advaita Vedanta.
The Advaita school upholds a philosophical position known as monism,
which is the belief that a single Ultimate
Reality, Brahman, lies behind all things,
and that all things are merely differing
forms of that reality. Advaita proponents
claim that reality is nondual (advaita)—
that is, that, despite the appearance of
difference and diversity, all things are
nothing but the formless, unqualified
Brahman. For the Advaitins, the
assumption of diversity is a fundamental misunderstanding of the ultimate
nature of things, and a manifestation of
avidya (lack of genuine understanding).
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Pacification of Planets
The defining characteristic of
Padmapada’s Vivarana school is that he
places the locus of ignorance in
Brahman, in contrast to the Bhamati
school, which placed it in the individual.
To explain how Brahman can be the
locus of ignorance the Vivarana
Advaitins invoke the theory of
Reflectionism: Just as an image appearing in a mirror is based on the original,
but different from it, so human selves
are identical with Brahman, but appear
to be separate. The basis of Padmapada’s
position is an uncompromising affirmation of Brahman as the sole “reality,” to
which anything that exists must belong.
For further information see Karl H.
Potter (ed.), Advaita Vedanta up to
Samkara and His Pupils, 1981; and
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles
A. Moore (eds.), A Sourcebook in Indian
Philosophy, 1957.