Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

encyclopedia

PHILOSOPHY

PHILOSOPHY

It is said that religion without philosophy is blind and philoso-

phy without religion is barren. In India the close connection that

exists between philosophy and religion has saved religion from

becoming blind and philosophy from going barren. In the West

intellectualism and rationalism led to repudiation of religion. Phi-

losophy in India began with a quest after the highest truth—truth not

as mere objective certitude but as one which was closely linked with

the development of the human personality for the attainment of

absolute freedom from all bondage and the bliss that results from it.

Man's supreme end was regarded as

moksha,

salvation, freedom from

the cycle of rebirth. This was the common concern of both philoso-

phy and religion. It is the quest for

moksha

that has kept Indian

philosophy and religion together.

The schools of Indian philosophy have sprung from three origi-

nal sources — the Brahmanical or Hindu system is based on the

Atman

doctine of the

Upanishads-,

the Buddhist system is based on the denial

Atman

while accepting the doctrine of

Karma

and rebirth. The

Jaina system is un-Brahmanical, in that it accepted a changing

Atman

and even ascribed different sizes to it, and un-Buddhistic in that it

accepted

Atman

as a permanent entity. Buddhism and Jainism do

not recognise the authority of the

Vedas.

But, in fact, the roots of philosophic thought may be discerned

in the Vedic hymns. The conception of a plurality of gods did not

satisfy the Vedic

rishis

who began asking questions like "To what

God shall we offer our oblation?" and "Who saw the first born?"

There are attempts at monotheism in the hymns by bringing together

the various gods under one conception. Prayers are offered not only

separately to the different deities but all of them together as

visve-

devas

(all gods). Certain characteristics of the gods like creation and

lordship over the creatures are abstracted and endowed With divinity.

Thus arose the conceptions of

Vishvakarman

(Maker of the World)

and

Prajapathi

(Lord of Beings). In one hymn the Rig Veda declares

that the great divinity of the gods is one :

Mahatdevanam asuratvam

ekam.

Another famous passage reads : What is but one Reality, sages

call it by different names and as Agni, Yama and Matarishvam.

This Vedic seer who composed the "Hymn of Creation" in the

Rig Veda

succeeded in rising to the rarefied heights where there is

no duality whatsoever:

Then there was neither Aught nor Nought,

no air or sky beyond.

What covered all? Where rested all?

In watery gulf profound?

Nor death was there, nor deathlessness,

nor change of night and day.

That one breathed calmly, self-sustained

nought else beyond it lay.

Gloom hid in gloom existed first —

one sea, eluding view.

That one, a void in chaos wrapt,

By inward fervour grew.

Within it first arose desire,

the primal germ of mind,

Which nothing with existence links,

as sages searching find.

The kindling ray that shot across

the dark and drear abyss—

Was it beneath? Or high aloft?

What bard can answer this?

There fecundating powers were found,

and mighty forces strove —

A self-supporting mass beneath,

and energy above.

Who knows, who ever told, from whence

this vast creation rose?

No gods had then been bom — who then

can e'er the truth disclose?

Whence sprang this world and whether

framed by hand divine or no—

Its Lord in heaven alone can tell,

if even he can show.

Translation by J. Muir,

Original Sanskrit Texts

This poem contains the essence of Upanishadic monism, Ve-

dantic non-dualism. The Ultimate Reality is not named. It is not

identified with any of the gods. "No gods had then been born." It

is referred to as "That One". There is nothing other than it and it

is self-sustaining.

Philosophical speculation in ancient India can be traced to the

Upanishads

which followed the Vedas and were composed between

the 8th and 6th centuries B.C. The word

Upanishad

means "sitting

down near" (Upa-near; ni-down;

shad-

to sit), sitting down at the feet

of a teacher to receive spiritual instruction. The literature of the

Upanishads

developed among the ascetics, forest hermits, who began

asking fundamental questions regarding the origin of the universe,

the nature of the soul and other problems.

One hundred and eight

Upanishads

have been preserved. The

earliest, the

Brihadaranyaka,

dates from 800 B.C. The other prin-

cipal Upanishads are the

Isha Upanishad, Mandukya Upanishad,

Mundaka Upanishad, Chandogya Upanishad, Katha Upanishad,

Kaushitaki Upanishad, Taittiriya Upanishad

and

Shvetashvatara

Upanishad.

The earlier Upanishads, like the

Brihadranyaka

and the

Chandogya,

are in prose and consist of a series of short expositions

of the new doctrines, often in the form of question and answer. Later

Upanishads, like the

Katha

and

Shvetashvatara,

are in verse. They

are the outburst of the joy and emotion of intuitive experience and

the quest for the ultimate truth. Each

Upanishad

is attached to one

of the four

Vedic Samhitas.

The

Upanishads

represent the final stage

in the development of Vedic religious thought. They are thus the

end of the

Vedas (Vedanta).