VedĀnta
VEDĀNTA. The word vedānta literally means "end [anta] of the Veda," that is to say, the concluding part of the apauruṣeya, or revealed Vedic literature, which is traditionally believed to comprise the Saṃhitās, the Brāhmaṇas, the Āraṇyakas, and the Upaniṣads. Vedānta thus primarily denotes the Upaniṣads and their teachings. Metaphorically, Vedānta is also understood to represent the consummation or culmination (anta) of the entire Vedic speculation, or indeed of all knowledge (veda). The Hindu philosophical tradition, however, generally recognizes three foundations (prasthānas, literally, "points of departure") of Vedānta, namely, the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavadgītā, and the Brahma Sūtra. Of these three, the Bhagavadgītā, which primarily deals with the problems of social ethics, and which attempts a kind of religio-philosophical synthesis, can hardly be characterized as a strictly Vedantic treatise. Historically, one may speak of three periods of Vedānta—the creative period represented by the Upaniṣads, the period of systematization and harmonization of the Upaniṣadic teachings represented by the Brahma Sūtra, and the period of exposition, elaboration, and diversification represented by the commentaries on the Brahma Sūtra, the commentaries on those commentaries, and many independent treatises. The traditional grounding of Vedānta is thus consistently emphasized, it being implied that Vedānta is largely an exercise in scriptural exegesis rather than an independent philosophical formulation.
