Explaining Indian Philosophies simply
Here’s a quick primer on all Sanatani/adjacent philosophies.
Advaita - Shankara - You are not a person having an experience; you're the one awareness everything appears in. Separateness is a lifelong optical illusion.
Ajatavada - Gaudapada - Pushes Advaita to the edge: nothing has ever actually happened. No creation, no bondage, nothing to escape.
Vishishtadvaita - Ramanuja - God isn't impersonal emptiness; the world and you are real and are literally God's body. Love, not erasure.
Dvaita - Madhva - You and God never merge, ever. The soul's dignity is in staying itself and loving a God who stays Other.
Dvaitadvaita - Nimbarka - You're a distinct self who nonetheless can't exist for a second without God holding you up.
Achintyabhedabheda - Chaitanya - One-with-God and apart-from-God are both true; the contradiction is the point - surrender instead of solving it.
Shuddhadvaita - Vallabha - The world isn't an illusion to escape; it's God's real play. Grace alone carries you, not effort.
Bhedabheda - Bhaskara - You're different from God and identical to Him by your very nature - no trick, no illusion required.
Samkhya - Kapila - Your thoughts and feelings are just matter churning; the real you is the silent watcher who never acts. Freedom is seeing the difference.
Yoga - Patanjali - Agrees with Kapila, then gives the gym plan: discipline the mind until the watcher stands alone.
Nyaya - Gautama (Akshapada) - Truth needs proof. Lays down what counts as valid knowledge so belief can't hide from scrutiny.
Vaisheshika - Kanada - Reality is countable: eternal atoms combining by fixed rules. The first Indian physics.
Purva Mimamsa - Jaimini - Meaning lives in action: the Vedas aren't about God, they're about doing ritual correctly, and that is dharma.
Kashmir Shaivism - Abhinavagupta - One blissful consciousness (Shiva) freely plays at being everything, including you. Wake up and recognize it.
Shiva Siddhanta - Meykandar (Tamil systematizer) - Soul, world, and Shiva are all real; you're bound by impurity, and only Shiva's grace cuts you loose.
Pashupata - Lakulisha - Deliberately court disgrace and shed shame to burn off ego and fuse with Shiva.
Vira Shaivism / Lingayata - Basava - Carry Shiva on your body, reject caste and temple priesthood; equality is the spirituality.
Natha - Gorakhnath - Don't escape the body - perfect it. Breath, posture, and kundalini forge a deathless yogi.
Shakta - (Tantric/Devi tradition) - Ultimate reality is feminine and active; raw power and energy are God, not God's tool.
Tantra - (Abhinavagupta and others) - Desire and body aren't obstacles to liberation; channelled rightly, they're the fastest vehicle to it.
Pancharatra - (Vaishnava Agama tradition) - God descends in graded forms so finite beings can actually reach Him through temple and ritual.
Charvaka - Brihaspati (legendary) - Only what you can perceive is real. No soul, no rebirth - so stop fearing the next life and live this one.
Buddhism - the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) - There's no fixed "you" inside; everything is in flux and dependently arising. Grasping at permanence is the wound.
Jainism - Mahavira - Every viewpoint is partial, so cling to none and harm nothing; the soul rises by shedding the karma it accumulates.
Ajivika - Makkhali Gosala - Everything is already fixed by fate. Striving is theatre; the outcome won't move.