There are currents of idealism

Idealism

In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...

in classical Hindu philosophy

Hindu philosophy

Hindu philosophy is divided into six schools of thought, or , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures. Three other schools do not accept the Vedas as authoritative...

.
Idealism and materialism are the principal monist

Monism

Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry. Accordingly, some philosophers may hold that the universe is one rather than dualistic or pluralistic...

 ontologies

Ontology

Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...

.
A related branch is the Buddhist concept of consciousness-only.

Idealist notions have been supported by the Vedanta

Vedanta

Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...

 and Yoga

Raja Yoga

Rāja Yoga is concerned principally with the cultivation of the mind using meditation to further one's acquaintance with reality and finally achieve liberation.Raja yoga was first described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and is part of the Samkhya tradition.In the context of Hindu...

 schools
opposed by dualist Samkhya

Samkhya

Samkhya, also Sankhya, Sāṃkhya, or Sāṅkhya is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy and classical Indian philosophy. Sage Kapila is traditionally considered as the founder of the Samkhya school, although no historical verification is possible...

, the atomist Vaisheshika

Vaisheshika

Vaisheshika or ' is one of the six Hindu schools of philosophy of India. Historically, it has been closely associated with the Hindu school of logic, Nyaya....

, the materialist Nyaya

Nyaya

' is the name given to one of the six orthodox or astika schools of Hindu philosophy—specifically the school of logic...

 and Mimamsa

Mimamsa

' , a Sanskrit word meaning "investigation" , is the name of an astika school of Hindu philosophy whose primary enquiry is into the nature of dharma based on close hermeneutics of the Vedas...

 as well as the atheist Cārvāka

Carvaka

' , also known as ', is a system of Indian philosophy that assumes various forms of philosophical skepticism and religious indifference. It seems named after , the probable author of the and probably a follower of Brihaspati, who founded the ' philosophy.In overviews of Indian philosophy, Cārvāka...

 schools.

Like Platonic idealism

Platonic idealism

Platonic idealism usually refers to Plato's theory of forms or doctrine of ideas,Some commentators hold Plato argued that truth is an abstraction...

, Hindu idealism is essentially monotheist

Monotheism

Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...

, espousing the view that consciousness

Consciousness

Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...

, which at its root emanates from God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 (Brahman

Brahman

In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...

, Purusha

Purusha

In some lineages of Hinduism, Purusha is the "Self" which pervades the universe. The Vedic divinities are interpretations of the many facets of Purusha...

 or Svayam bhagavan

Svayam Bhagavan

Svayam Bhagavan , "The Lord" or Lord Himself, is a Sanskrit theological term. The term refers to the concept of absolute representation of the monotheistic God as Bhagavan within Hinduism....

), is the essence or meaning of the phenomenal reality

Maya (illusion)

Maya , in Indian religions, has multiple meanings, usually quoted as "illusion", centered on the fact that we do not experience the environment itself but rather a projection of it, created by us. Maya is the principal deity that manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality...

.

The presence of idealist concepts in Indian thought has been emphasized by Rupert Sheldrake

Rupert Sheldrake

Rupert Sheldrake is an English scientist. He is known for having proposed an unorthodox account of morphogenesis and for his research into parapsychology. His books and papers stem from his theory of morphic resonance, and cover topics such as animal and plant development and behaviour, memory,...

 and Fritjof Capra

Fritjof Capra

Fritjof Capra is an Austrian-born American physicist. He is a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California, and is on the faculty of Schumacher College....

. These ideas have also been developed by P.R. Sarkar and advanced by his disciple Sohail Inayatullah

Sohail Inayatullah

Sohail Tahir Inayatullah is a Pakistan-born political scientist and futurist who lives in Australia. He holds a number of academic positions:*Professor, Graduate Institute of Futures Studies, Tamkang University...

, notably in the theory of Microvitum.

Liberation

The essence of Hindu Idealism is captured by such modern spiritual teachers as Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj , born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli, was an Indian spiritual teacher and philosopher of Advaita , and a Guru, belonging to the Inchgiri branch of the Navnath Sampradaya....

, Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...

 and Sri Anandamurti, also known as P.R. Sarkar. Sri Nisargadatta advocated discovery of the real self

Real self

The Real self theory in politics and philosophy proposes that people often have a private "real will" , that is different from their public "expressed will".-References:...

. By establishing oneself (as jiva-atma, spiritual soul) in the earnestness of spiritual pursuits, it is possible to transcend the temporal self ("aham-kara" - "I am doer", false ego), limited by desires, fears, memories and mental constructs, and gain blissful immersion from material world (brahmanda, mahat-tattva) into the ocean of the pure consciousness (brahma-jyoti or rays) of God (or Abolute Truth, known in vedanta and Srimad Bhagavatam as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan, ultimately - Vishnu, Narayana, Krishna). Sarkar went further by emphasising that liberation was best achieved through service to self and society, exemplified by his socio-spiritual movement Ananda Marga

Ananda Marga

Ananda Marga, organizationally known as Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha , meaning the samgha for the propagation of the marga of ananda , is a social and spiritual movement founded in Jamalpur, Bihar, India in 1955 by Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar .Ánanda Márga followers describe Ánanda Márga as a...

, or the "Path of Bliss".

Hindu materialism

Impersonalists or advaita-vedanta philosophers try to prove that God is ultimately if not impersonal, but comes from impersonal source, thus concluding that matter is first cause, not spirit (atheistic mayavada philosophy of so-called Shankaracarya followers, see astika).

Further reading

• An Idealist View of Life by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan at archive.org
• Indian Idealism by Surendranath Dasgupta at archive.org
• A History of Indian Philosophy by Surendranath Dasgupta (5 Volumes) at archive.org