Subjective Journey in Vedanta and Sadra’s Transcendent Theosophy

Knowing human being and his relation to Allah is the key mystical issue in Hinduism and Islamic mysticism. “Atman and Brahman” in Vedanta and “Allah and soul” in Sadra’s transcendent theosophy and their graded stages are among the concepts to be studied in the course of explanation of such a relation. In addition to those factors, the constituents of intuitive or higher knowledge and self-knowledge in Allah-man unification play a major role which is explained and interpreted by the commentators of both transcendent theosophy and Vedanta school. In their research here, the authors have tried to explain those common factors and to study the obstacles of acquiring true knowledge and self-knowledge. Knowing those factors is the prerequisite to achieve that noble and lofty aim. From among common obstacles of acquiring such knowledge are: reliance on exoteric and sensory knowledge, bodily actions, wishes, and material belongings. In these two schools, the aim of such subjective and esoteric journey takes its meaning through different stages of the soul from the exoteric stages to the esoteric ones, and to the union with divine stages. Having referred to the Hindu texts particularly Upanishads and Sadra’s works, we have tried to examine the issue by a descriptive-analytic method .