PECULIARITIES OF VEDANTA

The Vedanta philosophy is peculiar, compared to other religions.  To begin with, it is completely impersonal in that it does not owe its origin to any person or prophet; it does not build itself around one person as a center.

Yet it does not have anything to say against philosophies that do build themselves around certain persons.  For instance, historically other philosophies and systems that arose in India have been based on particular persons, such as the Buddha and Buddhism and other sects of Hinduism.  Each of those have a leader, just as, for example, the Christians and Muslims have.

Another peculiarity is that Vedanta claims that the human soul, what it calls the Atman, is divine, and that all of existence emanates from the pure consciousness that is the divine.  Vedanta has no quarrel with those who do not yet understand the divinity of the soul, Atman, and its relation to Brahman, the Godhead.

Vedanta holds that every human being is trying, consciously or unconsciously, to unfold that divinity.  Each of us is like a spring coiled up in a small box, and that spring is trying to unfold itself.  All human activity over the centuries has been a consequence of this attempt to unfold.