Unity of Existence in Philosophy of Sankara and Mulla Sadra

Unity of Existence in Philosophy of Sankara and Mulla Sadra

Unity of existence has been interpreted in Islamic philosophy and school of Vedanta in Indian  philosophy. The transcendental philosophy of Mulla Sadra is based on multiplicity in unity and unity in multiplicity that is explained by two theories: (I) Gradational unity of existence, and (II) Individual unity of existence. Sankara as mystic philosopher of Vedanta built his philosophy on unity of existence that is called non-dualism which means that Atman is identical to Brahman. Sankara demolishes the realm of multiplicity with the help of cosmic illusion that is known as doctrine of Maya. This paper focuses on the idea of Mulla Sadra and Sankara in unity of existence. Although both mystic thinker’s ideas are common on unity of existence and one reality is hidden by veil and these two thinkers accepted the spirituality of classical ascription in own realms consist of Quran and Vedas so they developed system of thought which is built upon  premises and assertions that permit some degree of examination but some discrepancy also can  be seen in their ideas and our main endeavour in this paper is to discuss the similarities and  polarities among Mulla Sadra’s and Sankara’s philosophy.