Understanding the Self

Religious Studies: KS3, topic 2.2.9

Three Hindu thinkers have tried to explore this of what is the self.

Shankara was an Indian thinker from the 8th Century CE.
He started from the belief that there is an absolute reality, Brahman, who creates and sustains the universe.
Shankara believed that Brahman is the spirit that is part of everything.
This spirit exists in every being and is what directs their life.

For Shankara, God is impersonal. It is more like energy and not, for example, like the idea of God as a father which is present in Christianity.
He also believed that the self and Brahman are essentially one.
Once a person understands the impersonal nature of the self, then they achieve moksha.
This is liberation from the cycle of rebirth, and reunites them with Brahman.

Ramanuja developed his ideas a few hundred years after Shankara.
He disagreed with Shankara on some important topics.
Ramanuja believed in a personal God.
He had a personal devotion to Vishnu. He believed it was important for people to look up to and worship a God as a being superior to them.
Because of this he taught that the person, the self, and God are distinct.
This also means that each ‘self’ is different from the other.

But Ramanuja also believed that everything that exists is part of Brahman.
The only way to know Brahman is through its attributes.
Worshipping a personal God means you can observe these attributes and imitate them.
This leads to becoming more like God and the path to Brahman.

Madhva emerged as a Hindu philosopher in the 13th Century CE.
His way of understanding the self and God is quite different from the two previous thinkers.
Madhva believed the self and God are quite separate.
Braham is the creator and has perfect knowledge and power.

Madhva believed each person has their personal self, and the self responds to God in an individual way.
In our lives, we show the love of God, for example, and surrender to God.
They need an image of God, an icon, to which they can relate. Then, with God’s help, they can achieve moksha, liberation from the cycle of rebirth.
This belief is similar to the Christian belief in each person having a personal soul, and developing a relationship with a personal God.

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