Vedanta Vs Belief System
Is Vedanta a belief system? If
there is a knowledge that is not a belief, it is the knowledge of the atma
revealed by Vedanta. The external objects are there or not – one can doubt. Our
perception of any external object need not be true. Yet many of us believe that
it exists. Hence even science is a belief system. Science is based on
observation of the external objects. It is based on the fundamental belief that
the observations are valid.
The atma is the witness of all thoughts
– cognitions and beliefs. Hence the presence of atma alone cannot be doubted or
negated. Hence Atma is there – it cannot be called a belief. It is a truth that
cannot be doubted about.
A belief is a fact that can be otherwise
doubted. It is not so with the atma – the self.
