Questions of the nature of the Self and the purpose of life have been of interest to
mankind for millennia, culminating in the study of Consciousness in various
civilizations. Amidst the milieu of ancient and contemporary theories of
Consciousness is the ancient Indian philosophy of advaita-vedānta, or the system of
non-duality. This dissertation explores the nature of the Self as Consciousness
according to the well-known 20th Century philosopher of advaita-vedānta and Hindu
guru, Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), drawing upon the core texts of Vedānta,
the Upaniṣads, and the works of the chief systematizer of Advaita philosophy and the
head of Chinmayananda’s monastic order, Śaṅkara (788-820 CE), and locates
Chinmayananda and his work within the contemporaneous and ongoing dialogue
regarding Hinduism. Understanding that the Upaniṣads are cryptic in nature and that
we need a lens through which we can study them, we begin by providing a biography
and analysis of the life of Swami Chinmayananda, the lens we have chosen for this
dissertation, in the first two chapters. The circumstances in which he was raised,
particularly the struggle for India’s independence, would influence his interpretation
and presentation of Advaita philosophy. We then analyze his interpretation itself in
the third and fourth chapters in the form of an intellectual biography, by presenting
the philosophy in its traditional sequence, comparing and contrasting
Chinmayananda’s interpretation with his predecessors, especially Swami
Vivekananda (1863-1902) and Śaṅkara. In the fifth and final chapter we attempt to
situate him in the ongoing hermeneutical process of Hinduism by assessing his
particular position within three broad strands of research: Hinduism and science,
Hinduism and modernity, and Hinduism and diaspora configurations. We conclude
that there is something to be learned from the Upaniṣads about Consciousness that
augments our contemporary understanding of it, and that the voice of Chinmayananda
must not be lost within the dialogue regarding Consciousness, the Self, and Hinduism,
for his work has helped to shape the discussion about Hinduism as it stands today