The Metaphysics of Meditation
Sri Aurobindo and Adi-Sakara on the Isa Upanisad
Published on 24. July 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
248 pages
978-1-350-41244-6 (ISBN)
Description
In this book Stephen Phillips focuses on one of the most important poems about meditation in world literature, as understood by two of the greatest philosophers of India, one classical, one modern. Sankara's commentaries on the Upanisads are a core of the Vedanta tradition and Aurobindo is a towering figure of 20th-century Hindu thought. This is the first time their approaches have been studied together.
The Isa (c. 500 BCE) an "Upanisad" belongs to a genre of "adhyatmika" learning-concerning self and consciousness-in early Indian literature. According to the Ancient Indian tradition of yoga, meditation is antithetical to willful bodily and mental action. Breathing is all you do. In the conception of the Isa Upanisad, we are told that the best that comes from meditation is because of what the "Lord" is. In Sankara's interpretation it comes to block out the little "you," whereas according to Aurobindo it comes as a divine connection, an occult "Conscious Force" belonging to truer part of oneself, atman, and an "opening" to that self's native energy.
Framed around Aurobindo's translation of each of the Isa's eighteen verses, along with a translation of each verse, Phillips follows a different reading of Sankara as laid out in his commentary. All this is done against the backdrop of modern scholarship. Convergences and divergences of these streams are the focus throughout. Appendix A presents the Upanisad with the two readings side by side.
This book traces a worldview and consonant yoga teaching common to two authors who are typically taken to be oceans apart, not only chronologically but in intellectual stance. Addressing a huge gap in the contemporary literature on meditation in the Hindu traditions, Phillips presents a compelling new way of thinking about meditation in the Advaita Vedanta philosophy and Upanisad.
The Isa (c. 500 BCE) an "Upanisad" belongs to a genre of "adhyatmika" learning-concerning self and consciousness-in early Indian literature. According to the Ancient Indian tradition of yoga, meditation is antithetical to willful bodily and mental action. Breathing is all you do. In the conception of the Isa Upanisad, we are told that the best that comes from meditation is because of what the "Lord" is. In Sankara's interpretation it comes to block out the little "you," whereas according to Aurobindo it comes as a divine connection, an occult "Conscious Force" belonging to truer part of oneself, atman, and an "opening" to that self's native energy.
Framed around Aurobindo's translation of each of the Isa's eighteen verses, along with a translation of each verse, Phillips follows a different reading of Sankara as laid out in his commentary. All this is done against the backdrop of modern scholarship. Convergences and divergences of these streams are the focus throughout. Appendix A presents the Upanisad with the two readings side by side.
This book traces a worldview and consonant yoga teaching common to two authors who are typically taken to be oceans apart, not only chronologically but in intellectual stance. Addressing a huge gap in the contemporary literature on meditation in the Hindu traditions, Phillips presents a compelling new way of thinking about meditation in the Advaita Vedanta philosophy and Upanisad.
Reviews / Votes
The Metaphysics of Meditation is a deeply insightful study of Sankara's and Aurobindo's engagement with the Isa Upanisad. With his characteristic textual and analytical rigor, Phillips addresses important issues in metaphysics, philosophy of consciousness, philosophy of meditation, and the interpretation of Vedanta. It will be of great interest to scholars in philosophy, religion, and consciousness studies. * Matthew MacKenzie, Professor of Philosophy, Colorado State University, USA * Prevailing scholarship assumes irreconcilable differences in Sankara's and Aurobindo's Vedantic worldviews. Stephen Phillips challenges this through a critical comparison of their commentaries on the Isa Upanisad. He reveals overlooked convergences, and provides novel perspectives on the entanglements of meditation and yogic phenomenology with metaphysics. In the process, Phillips invites readers to bridge the temporal, cultural, and philosophical gaps between two of South Asia's most influential thinkers. * Neil Dalal, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Alberta, Canada * In this remarkable book, Stephen Phillips offers a provocative new study of the Isa Upanisad that is admirably attentive to its literary, philosophical, and spiritual dimensions. More controversially, he claims to find common ground between Sankara and Sri Aurobindo-usually considered to be worlds apart-in their reflections on the metaphysical and meditative teachings in the scripture. * Swami Medhananda, Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at the Vedanta Society of Southern California and Hindu Chaplain at UCLA and the University of Southern California, USA * The Metaphysics of Meditation revisits academic cliches nuancing the "vulgata" contrasting Shankara's and Sri Aurobindo's standpoints and emphasizing their convergences on the basis of both an erudite close-reading of their sources and a pragmatic argument: for both philosophers metaphysics and self-knowledge-through-practice, intellectual and yogic knowledge, must be understood as mirroring one another and guaranteeing their respective validity. * Benedetta Zaccarello, Senior Researcher, ITEM (French National Centre for Scientific Research / Ecole Normale Superieure Paris), France *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
400 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-41244-6 (9781350412446)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
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E-Book
01/2024
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€31.99
Available for download
E-Book
01/2024
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€31.99
Available for download
Person
Stephen Phillips is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Content
Acknowledgments
Sanskrit Transliteration and Pronunciation
Introduction: Vedanta and Yoga
(Vedantic meditation; Upanisads; Sankara and Aurobindo; Sankhya's pradhana vs Vedanta's brahman; the Bhagavad Gita; the Brahma-sutra and Vedantic metaphysics; action and "liberation"; meditation and "knowledge"; modern studies of Vedanta; Aurobindo vs Sankara)
1. Who is Addressed by Adi Sankara, Who by Sri Aurobindo?
2. "Blocked Out" by the Lord or "Integrated?" (Isa 1, 2, & 3)
3. The Whole in the Part (Isa 4 & 5 & the makgala-vacana)
4. Mystical Knowledge of Unity (Isa 6 & 7)
5. (K)nots of Metaphysics: The Causal Argument for the "Self-Existent," svayam-bhu (Isa 8)
6. Knowledge of Self (atman) and Knowledge of the Occult (Isa 9 through 14)
7. A Theistic Way to Self-Discovery (Isa 15 & 16)
8. Aspiration and Surrender (Isa 17 & 18)
Appendix A: The Isa Upanisad (the two readings and the Sanskrit)
Appendix B: Sankara's Commentary on the Isa Upanisad
Appendix C: From the Bhagavad Gita
Part One: "The Yoga of Meditation" (Gita chapter 6)
Part Two: "The Yoga of Action" (Gita chapters 3, 4, & 5)
Appendix D: Sankara's Theodicy (from his Brahma-sutra Commentary)
Glossary (Sanskrit words; Classical schools, authors, and texts)
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Sanskrit Transliteration and Pronunciation
Introduction: Vedanta and Yoga
(Vedantic meditation; Upanisads; Sankara and Aurobindo; Sankhya's pradhana vs Vedanta's brahman; the Bhagavad Gita; the Brahma-sutra and Vedantic metaphysics; action and "liberation"; meditation and "knowledge"; modern studies of Vedanta; Aurobindo vs Sankara)
1. Who is Addressed by Adi Sankara, Who by Sri Aurobindo?
2. "Blocked Out" by the Lord or "Integrated?" (Isa 1, 2, & 3)
3. The Whole in the Part (Isa 4 & 5 & the makgala-vacana)
4. Mystical Knowledge of Unity (Isa 6 & 7)
5. (K)nots of Metaphysics: The Causal Argument for the "Self-Existent," svayam-bhu (Isa 8)
6. Knowledge of Self (atman) and Knowledge of the Occult (Isa 9 through 14)
7. A Theistic Way to Self-Discovery (Isa 15 & 16)
8. Aspiration and Surrender (Isa 17 & 18)
Appendix A: The Isa Upanisad (the two readings and the Sanskrit)
Appendix B: Sankara's Commentary on the Isa Upanisad
Appendix C: From the Bhagavad Gita
Part One: "The Yoga of Meditation" (Gita chapter 6)
Part Two: "The Yoga of Action" (Gita chapters 3, 4, & 5)
Appendix D: Sankara's Theodicy (from his Brahma-sutra Commentary)
Glossary (Sanskrit words; Classical schools, authors, and texts)
Notes
Bibliography
Index