Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

PHILOSOPHY

Two other systems of thought were the Vaisheshika (the School of Individual Characteristics) and the Nyaya (Analysis). The former which was founded by Kanada developed a view of the physical universe through its atomic theory according to which objects were constituted of atoms ( anu ) and as each was distinct by virtue of its own ultimate peculiar quality called Visesa, the school came to be known as Vaisheshika. The non-atomic substances are time, space, soul and mind. Vaisheshika thus postulated a dualism between matter and soul and declared that salvation depends on fully recognising the atomic nature of the universe and its difference from the soul. The Nyaya school specialised in the methodology of thought and reason- ing. It was founded by Akshapada Gautama. It was rather a school of logic than of theology. A religious basis was given to the system by the contention that clear thinking and logical argument were es- sential to salvation. The Vedanta ("End of the Vedas"), the school which primarily based itself on the Upanishads, emerged as the leading school of Hindu philosophy. The doctrines of Vedanta attempted to formu- late more systematically the Upanishadic teaching concerning the nature of Brahman (world spirit or soul) and the identity of the individual soul or self (Atman) with Brahman. The Brahma or Vedanta Sutras, the earliest Vedanta work, are ascribed to Badaray- ana or Vyasa, the legendary sage and teacher. Other thinkers who expounded the doctrines of the Vedanta and who are referred to by Vyasa include the sages Ashmarathya, Audulomi, and Kashakritsna. The Brahma Sutras were supplemented by Sariraka-Bhasya, the commentary of Shankaracharya, who is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers the world has produced and the "second-father" of Vedanta. Vedanta postulates the existence of Brahman as the only Reality and only Existence. With this conception the Vedantists brushed aside all the previous conceptions and theories including that of Kapila's purusha and prakriti holding that even these aspects or principles must be existing merely in the "mind of the one". The above six schools of philosophy were developed by the orthodox thinkers who accepted the Vedas as authoritative. All the schools are one in agreeing that the goal of the philosophical quest is liberation from the misery of the transmigratory cycle, of going from birth to death and death to birth ( samsara) and the attainment of eternal Bliss (Mukti or moksha). Thus three basic concepts form the cornerstone of Hindu philosophical thought: the self or soul, ( atman ), action or deed (karma) which conditions one's future birth (samsara), and salvation (moksha). All these schools of philosophy played a notable part for a time, becoming superseded later, leaving only some subsidiary aspect of it as its contribution. The Sankhya school was once the most widely accepted school against which even Buddhism had to contend. But the rise of Vedanta made it superfluous, its doctrines of primordial matter being paralleled by the Vedantic conception of illusion (maya) and its conception of the spirit or purusha by the Vedantic atman or Brahman. The Mimamsa had served to restore the authority of the Veda when it was assailed by the Buddhists but with the rise of Vedanta, Mimamsa began to merge with it. THE BHAGAVAD GITA The Bhagavad Gita (The Song of the Lord), which forms part of the great epic, the Mahabharata, is a religious philosophical text

rial elements ( mahabhuta ), hearing, touch, sight, taste, smell, speech, grasping, walking, evacuation, procreation, mind ( manas) and the 25th, Purusha (the person, the soul). Sankhya which was founded by the sage Kapila recognises the dualism between soul and matter, Purusha and Prakriti. An important feature of this school is the doc- trine of the three dispositions or qualities (guna) causing virtue (sattwa), passion (rajas) and darkness (tamas). These three quali- ties correctly balanced constituted normality. Closely related to Sankhya is the school of Yoga (spiritual dis- cipline, union), the basic texts of which are ascribed to the Sage Patanjali. This school accepts the philosophical doctrines of Sankhya with one important difference in that it accepts a God ( Ishvara ) as the supreme omniscient Being. He was specially symbolised in the sacred syllable OM. Patanjali says: "The word which expresses him is OM. The word must be repeated with meditation upon its meaning. Hence comes knowledge of the Purusha and destruction of the obstacles to that knowledge." The Isvara of Yoga is not the creator of the world but a being possessed of infinite knowledge who has existed for all eternity. The Yoga school sets forth a system for con- trolling the mind and body through physical and ethical disciplines which leads to knowledge of the ultimate reality. The Yoga Sutra recommends the practice of controlled breathing ( pranayama ) with the ultimate object of suspending it for as long a period as possible; its frequency should be expanded . In this way the body will breathe as few a number of times as possible and in a progressively shallower manner till it is able to hold the breath for a fairly long period. The idea that controlled breathing cleanses the system and that the elements of the body are thereby rid of all impurities came later. Originally breath was controlled because it disturbed the attention and because the control of breath not only made the mind attentive but also reduced the Karma that clouded discriminative knowledge. The Yoga Sutra lays down a scheme of fixation of attention in order to avoid distraction. The mind could be fixed on any visible part of the body like the navel or the tip of the nose or of the tongue or later on some hidden constituent of it like the heart lotus ( hrdayapun - darika) or the light within the head ( murdhajyotis) after fixation on external objects has been practised. The steadying of the mind thus achieved is called dharana (fixed attention). The mind is said to have attained dhyana (contemplation or meditation) when the object of concentration fills the whole mind. When the knower almost loses himself in the object, the ultimate goal of the process of concentra- tion is reached, namely, Samadhi (Deep Meditation). These three represent the direct aids to conscious concentration. The indirect are: 1) Yama, the practice of non-violence, truthful- ness, not stealing, chastity, and the avoidance of greed. 2) Niyama - observance, the practice of contentment 3) Asana, sitting in certain postures, the most famous of which is padmasana, the Lotus posture in which the feet are placed on the opposite thighs. 4) Pranayama, control of the breath and 5) Pratyahara, restraint. This course of training is the Rajya Yoga. The risk was not foreseen that the search after powers would result in the means of bringing about concentration usurping the rightful place of the end to be achieved. The various postures and breathing were controlled for the sake of acquiring powers over the body. Other systems developed such as the yoga of spells (Mantra Yoga) and the yoga of force (Hatha Yoga) which involved very difficult postures.