Abstract

The Limits of Scripture: Vivekananda's Reinterpretation of the Vedas by Anantanand Rambachan has been a pathbreaking work for initiating a critical examination of Swami Vivekananda's epistemological teachings. Rambachan challenges the trend adopted by some modern commentators to equate the teachings of Śaṅkara and Vivekananda. He observes that they overlook the "[f]undamental differences" between the two and present the latter "merely as a reviver of the Advaita of Śaṅkara."1 Opposing the trend, Rambachan follows Paul Hacker in projecting Vivekananda as a proponent of "neo-Hinduism"2 as distinct from the traditional Hinduism.3 He argues that while Śaṅkara regards the Vedas as a "unique and self-valid...