(13th century) One
of the six schools of ancient Hindu philosophy, Advaita Vedanta, is a
proponent.
The Vivarana school of Advaita Vedanta is named after Praka
Shatman's Vivarana, a commentary on the work of the Advaita philosopher
Padmapada.
The chronological mismatch renders it improbable that
Prakashatman is Padmapada's student, given the latter is an established pupil
of Shanka racharya (9th century C.E.).
Because Brahman is said to be the source of all things, Vivarana
Advaitins reason that ignorance must be a component of Brahman as well.
They do, however, attempt to preserve Brahman's integrity by
using a reflectionism theory to explain the seeming distinction between Self
and Brahman, despite the fact that they are essentially same.
Human Selves are identical to Brahman yet seem to be
distinct, just as an image shown in a mirror is based on the original but
different from it.
The Vivarana school's main premise is an unconvincing
statement of Brahman as the single "reality," to which everything
that exists must belong.
