In
Hindu philosophy,
vidyā refers to the knowledge of the soul or spiritual knowledge; it refers to the study of the six schools of Hindu philosophy:
Nyaya,
Yoga,
Vaisheshika,
Samkhya,
Purvamimamsa and
Uttaramimamsa. The process of gaining the knowledge of the
Atman cannot commence unless one has explored the
Prānavidya or
Agnividya to the full in all its numerous phase; through
vidyā or
upasana to
jnana was always the eternal order indicated by the
Upanishads.
Jnāna dawns after the completion and perfection of the being through the
vidyās; then, one crosses over beyond birth and death having already destroyed the bonds of death.
Vedas During the
Vedic period,
vidyādāna or the gift for the sake of education was considered to be the best of gifts, possessing a higher religious efficacy than even the gift of land.
Vidyā comes from the root
vid ("to know"); it therefore means knowledge, science, learning, lore, scholarship and philosophy. There are basically four
Vidyas: •
Trayi (triple) which is the study of the
Vedas and their auxiliary texts; •
Anviksiki which is logic and metaphysics; •
Dandaniti which is the science of governance; •
Varum, the practical arts such as agriculture, commerce, medicine etc.
Vidyā gives insight, in the spiritual sphere it leads to salvation, in the mundane sphere it leads to progress and prosperity.
Vidyā illuminates the mind and shatters illusions, increases intelligence, power and efficiency; develops the intellect and makes it more re-fined; it effects a complete transformation as the root of all happiness and as the source of illumination and power. The word,
Vidyā, does not occur in the
Rig Veda, it occurs in the
Atharvaveda and in the
Brahmana portions of the
Yajurveda and in the
Upanishads.
Agni Vidyā Agni Vidyā or the science of
fire is said to be the greatest discovery of the ancient Indians who gained direct experience of divine fire through continuous research, contemplation, observation and experimentation; their experience led them to discover ways of using this knowledge to heal and nurture the outer and the inner worlds. To them fire is sacred, and because of the pervasive nature of fire all things are sacred. Body and mind which are extensions of the fire that the soul spontaneously emits are also sacred. Within the body the most significant centres of fire are more subtle than those of the sense organs. They are called the
chakras which are seven fields of sacred fire. The understanding of the role of fire without and within gives proper self-understanding which understanding is gained through yogic practices. The performance of
yajnas is the
karma-kānda aspect of
agni vidyā. All rituals follow set rules and conditions. The main function of the fire ritual is to make an offering to nature's finest forces and divinities that fill the space of inner consciousness; fire carries oblations to these forces and divinities. The fire has seven tongues all having unique qualities. The gods, goddesses, divinities and nature's forces are grouped in seven main categories which match with the qualities of the seven tongues of fire.
In Vedanta and the Upanishads Atmaikatva Atmaikatva or the absolute oneness of the self is the theme of entire
Advaita Vedanta which distinguishes six
pramanas or means of valid knowledge, but this
vidyā or knowledge of
Brahman is
guhahita,
gahavareshta i.e. set in the secret place and hidden in its depth, unattainable except through
adhyātma-yoga, the meditation centering upon the nature of the self. Vedanta literature is only preparatory to it, it dispels ignorance and makes the mind receptive but does not reveal the truth therefore it is an indirect means of knowledge. The oneness of the self, which is self-established and self-shining, is called
vidyā in cosmic reference which reveals the true nature of
Brahman, the self-shining pure consciousness which is not a
visaya ('object matter or content') but the one subject, transcendent of all conventional subjects and objects. The Self or the Atman is to be sought, the Self is to be enquired into, known and understood.
Hierarchy of knowledge The sage of the
Mundaka Upanishad (Verse I.1.4), more in the context of the ritualistic than of epistemological concerns, states that there are two kinds of knowledge (
vidyā) to be attained, the higher (
para) and the lower (
apara).
Para vidyā, the higher knowledge, is knowledge of the Absolute (
Brahman,
Atman);
Apara, the lower knowledge, is knowledge of the world – of objects, events, means, ends, virtues and vices.
Para vidyā has Reality as its content;
Apara vidyā, the phenomenal world. According to Advaita Vedanta,
Para vidyā, by the nature of its content, possesses a unique quality of ultimacy that annuls any supposed ultimacy that might be attached to any other or form of knowledge, and is intuitively gained as self-certifying. Once Brahman is realized all other modes of knowledge are seen to be touched by
avidyā, the root of ignorance. In this context,
Vidyā means true knowledge. However, it is argued that the Advaita Vedanta interpretation does not answer the final question: what is the reality or truth-value of
avidyā or what is the substratum that is the basis or cause of
avidyā?
Valid knowledge The Upanishads teach that the knowledge of difference is
avidyā or ignorance, and the knowledge of identity is true knowledge or
vidyā or valid knowledge, which leads to life eternal. For the
Cārvākas, perception is the only means of valid knowledge (
pramana). Vadi Deva Suri of the
Jaina school defines valid knowledge as determinate cognition which apprehends itself and an object and which is capable of prompting activity which attains a desirable object or rejects an undesirable object; the result of valid knowledge is cessation of ignorance.
Vaisheshikas recognized four kinds of valid knowledge – Perception, Inference, Recollection and Intuition. The Mimamsa schools introduced the concept of intrinsic validity of knowledge (
svatahpramanya) and extrinsic validity of knowledge (
parastah-apramana) but agreed that the validity of knowledge cannot be determined by the knowledge of any special excellence in its cause or the knowledge of its harmony with the real nature of its object or the knowledge of a fruitful action.
Sankara accepted perception, inference, scriptural testimony, comparison, presumption and non-apprehension as the six sources of knowledge and concluded that the knowledge which corresponds with the real nature of its object is valid. The Atman is the reality in the empirical self as the ever-present foundational subject-objectless universal consciousness which sustains the empirical self.
Significance In
upāsanā the movement starts from the outer extremities and gradually penetrates into the inmost recesses of the soul, and the whole investigation is conducted in two spheres, in the subject as well as in the object, in the individual as well as in the world, in the
aham as also in the
idam, in the
adhyātma and also in
adhidaiva spheres and conducted synthetically as well as analytically, through
apti as well as
samrddhi, which the
Bhagavad Gita calls
yoga and
vibhooti. The
vidyās do not rest content in knowing the reality simply as a whole but proceed further to comprehend it in all its infinite details too. The higher includes the lower grades and adds something more to it and never rejects it; the lower has its fulfilment in the higher and finds its consummation there but never faces extinction. All forms of contemplation have only one aim: to lead to the Supreme Knowledge and hence they are termed as
vidyās; through
vidyā, which is
amrta, one attains immortality (
Shvetashvatara Upanishad Verse V.1).
Dahara Vidyā,
Udgitha Vidyā and
Madhu Vidyā are the synthetic way whereas the analytic way is signified by the Sleeping man of the
Garga-Ajātsatru episode and by the Five Sheaths, which ways show that the world and the individual spring from the same eternal source.
In Hindu Tantra In
Hinduism, goddesses are personifications of the deepest level of power and energy. The concept of
Shakti, in its most abstract terms, relates to the energetic principle of ultimate reality, the dynamic aspect of the divine. This concept surfaces in the
Kena Upanishad as Goddess Umā bestowing
Brahma-vidya on
Indra; when linked with
shakti and
maya, she embodies the power of illusion (
maya), encompassing ignorance (
avidya) and knowledge (
vidyā) and thereby presented with a dual personality. According to the Saktas,
Māyā is basically a positive, creative, magical energy of the Goddess that brings forth the universe. The ten
Mahāvidyās are bestowers or personifications of transcendent and liberating religious knowledge; the term
Vidyā in this context refers to power, essence of reality and the
mantras. The gentle and motherly forms of Goddess Sri Vidyā are 'right-handed'. When the awareness of the 'exterior' (
Shiva) combined with the "I" encompasses the entire space as "I" it is called
sada-siva-tattva. When later, discarding the abstraction of the Self and the exterior, clear identification with the insentient space takes place, it is called
isvara-tattva; the investigation of these two last steps is pure
vidyā (knowledge).
Māyā, which has been identified with
Prakrti in the
Shvetashvatara Upanishad represents its three
gunas; also identified with
avidyā, which term primarily means the dark abyss of non-being and secondarily the mysterious darkness of the unmanifest state,
Māyā binds through
avidyā and releases through
vidyā . ==Buddhism==