Guides
Study Guides
Structured reading guides and curated learning paths through Sanatan Dharma.
All guides
Beginning Your Study of Sanatan Dharma — A Grounded First Pathway
Starting with Sanatan Dharma can feel overwhelming when every doorway seems to open onto an infinite corridor of texts, traditions, and interpretations. This guide offers one honest, source-grounded pathway for new students — not the only way, but a well-worn one.
Beginning with the Bhagavad Gita responsibly
A suggested reading sequence with linked thematic cross-references for approaching the Gita with clarity.
How to Read the Bhagavad Gita — A Responsible Approach for New Readers
The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most translated texts in human history, which means it is also one of the most variously interpreted. Before settling on a translation or commentary, it helps to understand what kind of text you are holding, what questions it is answering, and how the tradition has read it.
How to read a source page on Vedika
A short guide to evaluating context, commentary, and provenance when reading any source page on Vedika.
Navigating Vedanta's Three Schools — Advaita, Vishishtadvaita, and Dvaita
Three of the most significant schools of Vedānta — Advaita (Śaṅkarācārya), Viśiṣṭādvaita (Rāmānuja), and Dvaita (Madhvācārya) — offer deeply different readings of the same scriptural sources. Understanding the stakes of each disagreement enriches your reading of the texts themselves and sharpens your own inquiry.
Navigating multiple commentarial traditions
A framework for comparing Advaita, Vishishtadvaita, and Dvaita interpretations without flattening their differences.
Understanding the Upanishads — Keys to Entering the Philosophical Heart of Vedanta
The Upanishads are not a single book but a category of texts — dialogues, meditations, and declarations composed over several centuries. They resist easy summary because they were never designed as systematic philosophy but as transmissions between teacher and student. This guide introduces the principal Upanishads and suggests an honest approach for reading them.