What is Vedanta ?

 

         What Vedanta is ? - must be understood . It is not a system of philosophy . Vedanta is a pramana (means / instrument ) to self knowledge . The enquiry " Who am I ? " must be done with the help of the teaching of a competent guru . Then , it works .

         This knowledge is rare in terms of its result . Generally , knowledge itself is not an end . It is made for an end later . But , here , the knowledge is  self-knowledge - for moksha . Upon knowing this , there is nothing more for you to know or to gain , meaning that you no longer have any purushartas (goals ) . In the choice of moksha , the results of the other 3 purushartas (dharma , artha and kama ) are included because in choosing moksha , you choose the whole . Moksha means freedom . Freedom from the pursuit of dharma , artha and kama since it includes what is essentially achieved by any one of them . But , moksha is not included in any one of them or in all three of them put together . And this results in moksha being identical to knowledge (self-knowledge) . The jnanam , knowledge , itself is the end . Because of this unique nature of the result , this knowledge becomes a rarity .