Walter Menezes

The Dhvani Theory is a prominent tool of literary criticism in Indian linguistics that emphasises the Dhvanyartha or the suggestive meaning, which is the third meaning in the three levels of meaning: literal meaning, intended meaning, and suggested meaning. The suggested meaning is, therefore, the most crucial level, as it enables the reader to commit to the work on a more resonant level and derive multiple interpretations. The Dhvani Theory has been limited to poetry and literature in Sanskrit and is criticised for its subjectivity and emphasis on suggestion. This research paper focuses on the Dhvani Theory and its ability to give multiple meanings to singular sentences, statements or words in all languages. It argues that the Dhvani theory is still relevant, beneficial, and applicable in contemporary literature and language. The theory enables one to engage with language and literature more profoundly and derive multiple interpretations, which is essential in the modern world of diversity. The Dhvani theory ensures that its acceptance is valued. The paper concentrates on the Dhvani Theory in practice and responds to criticisms of the theory. It highlights its benefits, such as developing critical thinking ability, emotional intelligence, significant argumentation skills, brilliance in imagination and problem-solving ability. Ultimately, it demonstrates the significance of the Dhvani Theory and the strengths and benefits it provides by enabling the multiplicity of meaning and interpretation in literature.

This book investigates into the central metaphysics and epistemology of Advaita. Although the vastness of Advaita literature has grown to immense proportions in the span of fourteen centuries, there has been a glaring vacuum in unraveling its philosophical, theological and religious implications. This volume undertakes a thematic search on the conception of Ātman in an all-important Advaitic text, the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, and other supportive texts of the same genre. Walter Menezes aims to revive Advaita as a sound philosophical system by driving away the cloud of negativity associated with it, thereby opening a new chapter in the history of Advaita philosophy.

The recent scholarship on Advaita testifies that the epistemology of Advaita Vedānta is of a special sort that warrants a philosophical process of analysis and speculation in its quest for ultimate knowledge. The aim of this paper is to make a case in favour of Advaita as a philosophy than a theological enterprise and address the philosophical process required to reach the zenith of Advaita Philosophy. This would in turn give Advaita its own identity as a perennial philosophy in praxis than to hide its uniqueness under the garb of a religion or philosophy by any other standards. The first part of this paper attempts to clarify the notion of philosophy and religion and their mutual interdependence in the system of Advaita. The second part of the paper discusses the significance of language, culture, and religion, and their subsequent sublation (tūlāvidyā) as a useful tool in enabling a state of mind unfettered from hallucinations and superimpositions that is essential for undertaking uninterrupted meditative reflections. The third part of the paper refutes any suggestion that Advaita is a religious enterprise by highlighting its philosophical significance through its analytic-deductive model as an essential contribution for attaining self-realisation. The fourth part of the paper refutes the suggestion that Advaita is merely an analytical philosophy and points out the importance of speculative element in the advanced state as a necessary substitute for analysis. The fifth part of this paper, as the conclusion, argues that though the initial path of enquiry in Advaita is somewhat loaded with religio-cultural connotations and symbols, in the later phase it is transcended and overwhelmingly identified with the methods of analysis and speculation. To sum up, the philosophical significance of Advaita significantly gains prominence than its religious counterpart, namely theology.

This paper investigates the interplay of language, concepts, and reason in treading the non-dual path of Śaṅkara in the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi. This paper claims that in order to gain the non-dual insight, the language and concepts in the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi require to pass through three intermingling phases, namely, a symbiosis of language and concepts leading to understanding, a paradox of concepts and reality leading to sublation, and a dialectical reasoning on the opposing conceptual categories leading to a meta-language and meta-concept. The reality depicted through language and its nets is an obstruction of the reality per se, and therefore, in the text Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, language and concepts irreplaceably pass through the phases of symbiosis, paradoxes and dialectics and reveal the reality sans language genus of worldy enterprises. In this way, in the text Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, language kicks out itself from the general metaphysical structure to be a scaffolding of the reality per se.

This is an enquiry based on the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, the primary focus of which is to present viveka along with its three catalysts, namely, śruti, tarka, and anubhava as the unique pramāṇa of Ultimate Knowledge. This paper discusses the significance of the six popular pramāṇas of Advaita Vedānta and reiterates that as far as AV is concerned epistemologically those pramāṇas have merely a provisional value. In accordance with the purport of VC this paper argues that śruti and tarka, culminating in anubhava are blind in themselves and are enthusiastically carried forward by viveka for the attainment of the final realisation. This paper concludes that viveka, along with its three catalysts namely, śruti, tarka, and anubhava is the sole pramāṇa of the trans-empirical experiential knowledge of Brahman