Adi Sankara, the chief profounder of Advaita Vedant speaks about certain methods of education which may be summarized as below:—
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1. Shravan Vidhi:
Shravan Vidhi i.e., listening attentively to what the Guru says.
2. Manan Vidhi:
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Manan Vidhi the method of meditating over what the Guru has taught Meditating implies logical thinking for assimilating the essentials.
3. Nididhyasan Vidhi:
Nididhyasan Vidhi i.e., the method of reaching the conclusion correctly it may be noted that Shravan, Manan and Nididhyasan are not three independent methods, but they are the essentials of the one whole method.
4. Prashnottar Vidhi:
Prashnottar Vidhi Question-Answer Method was used by the followers of Advaita Vedant in helping the students to get their doubts removed by the Guru. We know that this method was followed in the Upanishads. In Gita, too, Lord Krishna adopted this method for his disciple Arjun.
5. Tark Vidhi:
Acharya Shankar has recommended the Tark Vidhi or the method of reasoning for removing the doubts of the Shishyas (students).
6. Vyakhya Vidhi:
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Vyakhya Vidhi or exposition, Tika or Commentary or annotation was also used as a method of teaching the student. Shankar thus speaks on behalf of a Guru— “Come and sit. I shall interpret for you the essentials of self realization”
7. Adhyaropa Apavad Vidhi:
Adhyaropa Apavad Vidhi or the projection method—the student is guided to see the real into the unreal i.e., to see Brahma (God) into the Jagat (world). Just as a snake (the unreal) is projected into a piece of rope (the real). Upavad comes after Adhyaropa in the process of determining and reaching a decision. Herein reasoning is employed.
8. Drishtant Vidhi:
Drishtant Vidhi is used for helping the student to understand difficult subject matter through illustrations. Drishtant means illustration.
9. Katha-Kathan:
The Katha-Kathan is the story telling method as used in the Upanishads. The followers of Advaita Vedant used this method of storytelling for helping the students to understand the difficult things.
10. Upadesh Vidhi:
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Upadesh Vidhi i.e., the lecture method was also used by an Advaita Vedantist in helping Shishyas (students) to understand these matters.Shankar has used this method in his Vivek Chudanani and Upadesh Sahasri (meaning Best Wisdom and Thousand Lectures).