God in the Vedanta Tradition Professor Edwin Bryant Rutgers University

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God in the Vedanta Tradition Professor Edwin Bryant Rutgers University

NOTHING PURIFIES LIKE KNOWLEDGE THE MATTOO CENTER FOR INDIA STUDIES presents God in the Vedanta Tradition Professor Edwin Bryant Rutgers University Monotheism is usually characterized as a development exclusive to the Abrahamic traditions. This talk will problematize this stereotype, by considering the ways in which the various Vedanta traditions have construed the notion of a supreme Creator God. The Vedanta traditions all accept the notion of Isvara, a personal creator God, and correlate this Being with Brahman, the highest Truth expressed in the ancient Upanishads, the oldest mystico-philosophical texts in ancient India. They differ as to whether this personal Being is the primary ultimate expression of Brahman, or a secondary Truth derived from a still higher impersonal Being. This talk will examine these understandings of Isvara, and explore how the differences are rooted in the Upanishads themselves. Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 6 P.M. Humanities Building, Lecture Hall 1006 Edwin Bryant is Professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University. He has published books on Vedic history (In Quest of the Origins of Vedic Culture; Indo-Aryan Controversy), Yoga (The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , translation and interpretation), Indian philosophy (Free Will, Agency and Selfhood in Indian Philosophy), and the Krishna tradition (Krishna: A Source Book; Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God (translation of Srimad Bhagavata Purana Book X). He has just completed a new book, Bhakti Yoga in the Krishna tradition (forthcoming). This lecture is free and open to the public. All are cordially invited. For information, call 631.632.9742, email [email protected] or visit www.stonybrook.edu/india .

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