Notes on
Radhakrishnan, S. (1923). Indian philosophy (2 volumes). London: George Allen & Unwin.

CONTENTS

VOLUME 1

Preface.
1. Introduction.

PART 1 -- THE VEDIC PERIOD

2. The hymns of the Rg-Veda.
3. Transition to the Upanisads.
4. The philosophy of the Upanisads.

PART 2 -- THE EPIC PERIOD

5. Materialism.
6. The pluralistic realism of the Jainas.
7. The ethical idealism of early Buddhism.
8. Epic philosophy.
9. The theism of the Bhagavadgita.
10. Buddhism as a religion.
11. The schools of Buddhism.
Appendix.

VOLUME 2

PART 3 -- THE SIX BRAHMANICAL SYSTEMS

1. Introduction.
2. The logical realism of the Nyaya.
3. The atomistic pluralism of the Vaisesika.
4. The Samkhya system.
5. The Yoga system of Patanjali.
6. The Purva Mimamsa.
7. The Vedanta Sutra.
8. The Advaita Vedanta of Samkara.
9. The theism of Ramanuja.
10. The Saiva, the Sakta, and the late Vaisnava theism.
11. Conclusion.

VOL. 1. PREFACE.

Though the world has changed considerably in its outward material aspect, there has not been any great change in its inner spiritual side. The ideas of great thinkers are never obsolete.

Ignorance of the subject of Indian thought is profound. The intelligent student interested in philosophy will find in Indian thought an extraordinary mass of material which for detail and variety has hardly any equal in any other part of the world. If the outer difficulties are overcome, we feel the kindred throb of the human heart.

In the absence of accurate chronology, it is a misnomer to call anything a history. Nowhere is the difficulty of getting reliable historical evidence so extreme as in the case of Indian thought.

The task of the historian is hard, especially in philosophy. However much he may try to assume the attitude of a mere chronicler and let the history in some fashion unfold its own inner meaning and continuity, still the judgments and sympathies of the writer cannot long be hidden. My aim has been not so much to narrate Indian views as to explain them.

Particular parts of Indian philosophy have been studied by many scholars, but there has been no attempt to deal with the history of Indian thought as an undivided whole or a continuous development. This book professes to be no more than a general survey of Indian thought, a short outline of a vast subject.

A characteristic feature of many of the views discussed in this volume is that they are motivated, not so much by the logical impulse to account for the riddles of existence, as by the practical need for a support in life. It has been difficult to avoid discussions of, what may appear to the reader, religious rather than philosophical issues, on account of the very close connexion between religion and philosophy in early Indian speculation. The second volume, however, will be of a more purely philosophical character.

VOL. 1, CH. 1. INTRODUCTION.

1. THE NATURAL SITUATION OF INDIA

Fate called India to a spot where nature was free with her gifts and every prospect was pleasing. Natural situation was conducive for spiritual pursuits.

In ancient India, philosophy always held a prominent position of independence.

Each nation has its own characteristic mentality, its particular intellectual bent.

The question whether and to what extent Indian thought borrowed its ideas from foreign sources such as Greece is a useless pursuit.

2. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIAN THOUGHT

Spiritual motive dominates life in India.

Religion in India is not dogmatic. It is the intimate relation between the truth of philosophy and the daily life of people that makes religion always alive and real.

The philosophic attempt to determine the nature of reality may start with either the thinking self or the objects of thought. In India, the interest of philosophy is in the self of man.

The dominance of interest in the subjective does not mean that in objective sciences India had nothing to say.

If we put the subjective interest of the Indian mind along with its tendency to arrive at a synthetic vision, we shall see how monistic idealism becomes the truth of things (p. 31). To it the whole growth of Vedic thought points. Monistic idealism has assumed four main forms in Indian thought: Non-dualism (advaitism), pure monism, modified monism, implicit monism.

Three states of consciousness -- waking, dream, and deep sleep. It is the self which is the unaffected spectator of the whole drama of ideas related to the changing moods of waking, dreaming, and sleeping.

How are we to account for the world? World has no real existence, yet is not non-existent. This is Maya.

These are the different ways in which the mind of man reacts to the problems of the world according to its own peculiar constitution (p. 41).

There is a cordial harmony between God and man in Indian thought, while the opposition between the two is more marked in the West.

Darsana (philosophy) as spiritual perception.

Four qualifications of a student.

Reverence for the past is another national trait. When confronted with new cultures, the Indian does not yield to the temptations of the hour, but holds fast to his traditional faith, importing as much as possible of the new into the old. This conservative liberalism is the secret of the success of Indian culture and civilization.

3. SOME CHARGES AGAINST INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

The main charges against Indian philosophy are those of pessimism, dogmatism (supremacy of Vedas), indifference to ethics, and unprogressiveness (stationariness).

4. VALUE OF THE STUDY OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

Study of Indian philosophy alone can give a right perspective about India's past. It will conduce to the adopting of a more balanced outlook and the freeing of the mind from the oppressing sense of the perfection of everything that is ancient.

5. PERIODS OF INDIAN THOUGHT

Broad divisions of Indian philosophy:

1. Vedic period (1500-600 B.C.).

2. Epic period (600 B.C.-A.D. 200). Ramayana, Mahabharata, Buddhism, Jainism, Vaisnavism, Saivism.

3. Sutra (aphorism) period (from A.D. 200).

4. Scholastic period (from A.D. 200). Samkara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Caitanya.

VOL. 1, CH. 2. THE HYMNS OF THE RG-VEDA.

1. The Vedas. Four Vedas. Each Veda consists of mantras or hymns (collections called samhitas), brahmanas, and (aranyakas and) upanisads.

2. Importance of the study of the Vedic hymns. Rg-Veda samhita or collection consists of 1017 hymns or suktas.

3. The teaching of the Vedas. Aurobindo's claim that Rg-Veda concealed knowledge through symbols is not in tune with Sayana's view.

4. Philosophical tendencies. The genuine philosophical impulse, the desire to know and understand the world for its own sake, showed itself only towards the end.

5. Theology. Worship of nature as such is the earliest form of Vedic religion, followed by anthropomorphism. Dyaus (heaven) and earth, Varuna. The law of which Varuna is the custodian is called Rta (the course of things). Surya, Savitr (often identified with Surya), Visnu, Agni, Soma (the god of inspiration), Yama, Indra (initially Parjanya, the sky god), and Rudra (the howler).

6. Monotheistic tendencies. Tendency at systematization of the various gods had its natural end in monotheism. Henotheism is an unconscious groping towards monotheism.

7. Montheism versus monism. It is the supreme reality that lives in all things. Apparent vacillation between monotheism and monism. Personal God is a symbol, though the highest symbol of the true living God. Growth of religious thought -- Nature worship (Dyaus), moral god (Varuna), selfish god of the age of conquest and domination (Indra), monotheism (Prajapati), and the perfection of all these four lower stages (Brahman).

8. Cosmology. Two views -- God created the world out of his own nature without any pre-existent matter (monism), or through His power acting on eternally pre-existent matter.

9. Religion.

10. Ethics. Four varnas.

11. Eschatology.

VOL. 1, CH. 3. TRANSITION TO THE UPANISADS.

1. The Atharva Veda. The spirit of accommodation naturally elevated the religion of the primitive tribes but degraded the Vedic religion by introducing into it sorcery and witchcraft.

2. Theology. The most prominent feature of the Atharva is the multitude of incantations which it contains. Even the magical portion of the Atharva-Veda shows Aryan influence.

3. The Yajur-Veda and the Brahmanas. The spirit of religion is in the background, while its forms assume great importance. The religion of the Yajur-Veda is a mechanical sacerdotalism.

4. Theology. The chief of the Brahmanas (second part of the Vedas) are Aitareya and Satapatha. The emphasis on sacrifice, the observance of caste and the asramas, the eternity of the Vedas, the supremacy of the priest, all belong to this age.

5. Theories of creation. Though the lead of the Rg-Veda is generally followed, there are some fanciful accounts also mentioned.

6. Ethics. Conception of duty first arises in the Brahmanas -- duties to gods, seers, manes, men, and lower creation. Life is a round of duties and responsibilities. The asrama dharma was formulated in this age.

Beneath the formalism of ceremonial worship there was at work a spirit of true religion and morality.

The flexibility of the original class system gave way to the rigidity of the caste.

7. Eschatology. The distinction between the path of the fathers and that of the devas is given in the Brahmanas. Those who merely perform rites without knowledge are born again and repeatedly become the food of death.

The Brahmanas contain all the suggestions necessary for the development of the doctrine of rebirth.

VOL. 1, CH. 4. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE UPANISADS.

1. The Upanisads. Vedanta, concluding portions of the Veda. They set forth fundamental conceptions which are sound and satisfactory.

2. The teaching of the Upanisads. So numerous are their suggestions of truth that almost anybody may seek in them what he wants... The Upanisads do not contain any philosophic synthesis as such.

3. Number and date of the Upanisads. 108, 10 of them being major (commented by Samkara). The accepted dates for the early Upanisads are 1000 BC to 300 BC.

4. The thinkers of the Upanisads. We know very little of their lives.

5. The hymns of the Rg-Veda and the Upanisads. The advance of the Upanisads on the Vedas consists in an increased emphasis on the monistic suggestions of the Vedic hymns, a shifting of the center from the outer to the inner world, a protest against the externalism of the Vedic practices, and an indifference to the sacredness of the Veda.

6. The problems discussed in the Upanisads. The central theme is the search for what is true.

7. The nature of reality. Etymology of the word Atman.

Prajapati & Indra (Chandogya Upanisad): Progressive development in the definition of self through the four stages of bodily, empirical, transcendental, and absolute self. The self of man consists in the truly subjective, which can never become an object.

8. Brahman. Taittiriya Upanisad -- son approaches his father. Gradual negation of matter, prana, manas, vijnana, and ananda.

9. Brahman and Atman. Visva, taijasa, prajna, turiya (subject) versus virat or vaisvanara, hiranyagarbha, isvara and brahman.

10. Intellect and intuition. The reality cannot be made into an objective representation which the intellect can grasp. It is when thought becomes perfected in intuition that we catch the vision of the real.

11. Creation. Brahman is the material and efficient cause of the world. We do not know how the relation-less Brahman is related to the world. There is hardly any evidence in the Upanisads that the world is a barren nothing or an illusion.

12. Degrees of reality. While the absolute is in all finite things, the things differ in the fullness of the reflections they give forth. Doctrine of the five elements.

[13. Are the Upanisads pantheistic?] No. God in transforming Himself into the world has forfeited nothing of His nature.

14. The individual self. Upper bird and lower bird story.

15. The ethics of the Upanisads.

The ideal is becoming one with God. Duty is a means to that end.

If we are called upon to love our neighbor, it is because all are one in reality.

Moral life is a God-centered life. Upanisads also give us a code of duties, without which the moral ideal will be an uncertain guide. Asrama and varna.

He who reaches the highest is above all laws.

16. The religious consciousness.

Three stages: Sravana, manana, nididhyasana. Imperfect forms of worship are admitted as preparatory to the perfect.

17. Moksa or release.

In the highest condition, there is a giving up of selfish isolation.

18. Evil and suffering.

Evil is the denial in conduct by the ego of the supremacy of the whole.

Morality implies a wrestling with the lower tendency, the pursuit of which appears pleasant.

19. Karma.

We can be free from karma only by social service.

Man is not a mere product of nature. He is mightier than his karma. Karma inspires hope for the future and resignation to the past.

20. Future life.

Devayana (path of kramamukti) and pitryana.

21. The psychology of the Upanisads.

Indriyas, manas, buddhi.

Waking, dream, deep sleep, turiya.

22. Elements of Samkhya and Yoga in the Upanisads.

Purusa and prakrti of Samkhya. Yoga system compares mind to a mirror in which reality is reflected. Indication of later Nyaya logic in Mundaka.

23. Philosophical anticipations.

Upanisad thinkers tried to be champions of future progress as well as devotees of ancient greatness.

VOL. 1, CH. 5. MATERIALISM.

1. THE EPIC PERIOD. It was an age keenly alive to intellectual interest. Intuition was giving place to inquiry, religion to philosophy. Political crises also unsettled men's minds.

2. COMMON IDEAS OF THE AGE. Rebirth and the suffering of life embodying the idea of impermanence were current.

3. MATERIALISM. Germs of it are found in the Rg-Veda.

4. DOCTRINES. The sastra is called Lokayata. The materialists are called Lokayatikas or Carvakas (after the name of the founder). What is not perceivable is non-existent. There is no inference at all. Matter is the only reality. There are only four elements. Pleasure is the central fact of life. The authority of the Vedas was denounced in the bitterest terms.

5. GENERAL REFLECTIONS. The Carvaka philosophy is a fanatical effort made to rid the age of the weight of the past that was oppressing it. The theory that there is no self apart from the body is criticized on four grounds.

VOL. 1, CH. 6 (THE PLURALISTIC REALISM OF THE JAINAS), SEC. 9 (ETHICS), PP. 325-329.

The apparatus of morality is necessary to bring about the reformation of man's nature and prevent the formation of new karma. The way to nirvana lies through the three jewels (triratna):

1. Right faith: Faith in Jina; belief in real existence or tattvas.

2. Right knowledge: Knowledge of real nature without doubt or error.

3. Right conduct: An attitude of neutrality without desire or aversion towards the objects of the external world.

Virtue consists in the fivefold conduct of one who has knowledge and faith: Ahimsa, charity and truth speaking, honorable conduct like not stealing, chastity, renunciation of all worldly interests.

All those actions which lead to peace of mind are punya. There are nine ways of obtaining punya or merit such as giving food to the deserving, water to the thirsty, clothes to the poor, shelter to monks, etc.

Man should attempt to be indifferent to pleasure and pain. True freedom consists in an independence of all outer things. Meditation is enjoined, since it enables us to acquire strength for fulfilling the vows.

While Buddhism repudiates suicide, Jainism holds that it increases life. Women are looked upon as objects of temptation.

Jainas are not opposed to the caste system.

The Jain sangha or community is fourfold, containing monks and nuns, lay-brothers and lay-sisters.

VOL. 1, CH. 8. EPIC PHILOSOPHY.

1. The readjustment of Brahmanism.

2. THE MAHABHARATA.

The great war was fought around 1300 B.C... It has become a national epic, with tales from different parts of the country worked into a single whole... It conserves in a collected form all the ancient beliefs and traditions of the race... By bringing together the social and religious ideas of the different peoples assembled on the soil of India, it tried to impress on the minds of men the fundamental unity of the Bhârathavarsha.

3. DATE AND AUTHORSHIP.

Bhâratha Samhithâ, as originally composed by Vyâsa (perhaps around 1100 B.C.), contained 24,000 verses. Vyâsa enlarged it to 6,000,000 verses, of which only 100,000 now exist.

4. The Ramayana.

5. Common ideas of the age.

6. Durga worship.

7. THE PASUPATA SYSTEM. Five chief categories-karana (the cause, the lord, the pati), karya (effect, pasu), yoga, vidhi (rules), duhkhanta).

8. Vasudeva-Krsna.

12. THE CODE OF MANU.

Schlegel holds that its date cannot be later than 1000 BC... The author is familiar with Vedhic literature. Weber, Max Mueller and Burnell think that the versified edition of the Mânava-dharma-shâsthra is a later rendering of an older treatise in prose... From the nature of its style and language, the Code of Manu is assigned to the epic period (600 BC-200 AD). Like the Mahâbhâratha and the Purânas, this book is of a popular character intended for those who cannot get to the fountain head. It shows the close relation between law and religion. Its main purpose is not philosophy.

The account of creation given in Manu has nothing distinctive about it. It is based on the hymn of creation of the Rg-Vedha.

The Code of Manu is essentially a dharma-shâsthra, an ethical code. It glorifies custom and convention at a time when they were being undermined... Manu bases his ordinances on ancient usages which prevailed in the Hindu settlements on the banks of the Ganges. He admits Vedhic sacrifices and regards caste as an ordinance of God. He favors asceticism, and yet he tells us that we have to surrender only the desires opposed to dharma. Along with much that is defective, there are some flashes of genius and insight... Social duties are to be fulfilled first and foremost.

Moral conduct is that which has a predominance of the quality of saththva and that which does not make for future existence... Morality is relative to the effects of our acts on future life. Conduct which has a tendency to bring about a good birth is good conduct, while that brings about a bad birth is bad conduct. But both of these are inferior to that supreme conduct which enables us to reach perfection or cessation from rebirth.

We cannot say that Manu is an exclusive advocate of the established order whose system provides no scope for progress. There are according to him four ways of determining right and wrong: Veda, Smrthi, âcâra, and conscience. The three former make for social order, but social progress is guaranteed by the last. We can do what is agreeable to our conscience (âthmanah priyam). We are allowed to do whatever is convincing to our reason. Manu admits that value of the inner witness, the voice of God within us, the antharâthmâ.

VOL. 2, CH. 1. INTRODUCTION [TO THE SIX BRAHMANICAL SYSTEMS].

1. THE RISE OF THE SYSTEMS

The age of Buddha represents the great springtide of philosophic spirit in India. The progress of philosophy is generally due to a powerful attack on a historical tradition. Buddhism served as a cathartic in clearing the mind of the cramping effects of ancient obstructions. The critical side of philosophy became as important as the speculative. Atmavidya or philosophy is now supported by Anviksiki or the science of inquiry. All logical attempts to gather the floating conceptions of the world into some great general ideas were regarded as darsanas.

2. RELATION TO THE VEDAS

If we cannot establish through logic the truth of anything, so much the worse for logic. It cannot be that the hopes and aspirations of sincere souls like the Rsis of the Upanisads are irrevocably doomed. Thus strenuous attempts were made to justify by reason what faith implicitly accepts.

Of the systems of thought or darsanas, six became more famous than others -- Gautama's Nyaya, Kanada's Vaisesika, Kapila's Samkhya, Patanjali's Yoga, Jaimini's Purva Mimamsa, and Badarayana's Uttara Mimamsa or the Vedanta. They are the Brahmanical systems since they all accept the authority of the Vedas.

The acceptance of the Veda is a practical admission that spiritual experience is a greater light in these matters than intellectual reason. It does not mean either full agreement with all the doctrines of the Veda or admission of any belief in the existence of God.

The philosophical character of the systems is not much compromised by the acceptance of the Veda.

3. SUTRAS

In the case of every darsana, we have first of all a period of philosophic fermentation, which at a particular stage is reduced to sutras or aphorisms.

4. COMMON IDEAS

Intuition, inference, and the Veda are accepted by the systems. Reason is subordinated to intuition.

All the systems protest against the skepticism of the Buddhists, and erect a standard of objective reality and truth as opposed to an eternal, unstable flux.

All the systems accept the view of the great world rhythm. Vast periods of creation, maintenance and dissolution follow each other in endless succession.

Except perhaps the Purva Mimamsa, all the systems aim at the practical end of salvation.

It is a fundamental belief of the Hindus that the universe is law-abiding to the core, and yet that man is free to shape his own destiny in it.

Philosophy carries us to the gates of the promised land, but cannot let us in; for that, insight or realization is necessary. All systems recognize as obligatory unselfish love and disinterested activity, and insist on cittasuddhi (cleansing of the heart) as essential to all moral culture.

A history of Indian philosophy, as we noted in the Introduction, is beset with innumerable difficulties. Madhava in his Sarvadarsanasamgraha treats of 16 different darsanas.

VOL. 2, CH. 2. THE LOGICAL REALISM OF THE NYAYA.

1. THE NYAYA AND THE VAISESIKA

While the other systems of Indian thought are mainly speculative, in the sense that they deal with the universe as a whole, the Nyaya and the Vaisesika represent the analytic type of philosophy, and uphold common sense and science. What is distinctive of these schools, is the application of a method, which their adherents regard as that of science, to material which has hitherto been treated in quite a different way. They are interested in mainly averting the skeptical consequences of the Buddhist phenomenalism, which merged external reality in the ideas of mind. They seek to restore the traditional substances, the soul within and nature without, but not on the basis of mere authority. Only by a thorough examination of the modes and sources of correct knowledge can the ends of life and religion be truly met. What is supplied to us by scripture or the evidence of the senses must be submitted to a critical inquiry, as the etymological meaning of the word anviksiki suggests. The Naiyayika is willing to admit as true whatever is established by reason. That which gives distinction to the Nyaya is its critical treatment of metaphysical problems. Vacaspati defines the purpose of the Nyaya as a critical examination of the objects of knowledge by means of the canons of logical proof.

The Nyaya and the Vaisesika take up respectively the world within and the world without. The Nyaya describes at great length the mechanism of knowledge and argues vigorously against the skepticism which declares that nothing is certain. The Vaisesika has for its main objective the analysis of experience. It formulates general conceptions which apply to things known, whether by the senses or by inference or by authority.

The two systems had been for long treated as parts of one whole. Both believe in a plurality of souls, a personal God, an atomic universe, and use many arguments in common. A difference in the distribution of emphasis on the logical and the physical sides distinguishes the one from the other. While the Nyaya gives us an account of the processes and methods of a reasoned knowledge of objects, the Vaisesika develops the atomic constitution of things.

The classical studies of the Hindus comprise the five subjects of Kavya (literature), Nataka (drama), Alamkara (rhetoric), Tarka (logic), and Vyakarana (grammar). Every system of Hindu thought accepts the fundamental principles of the Nyaya logic. The Nyaya serves as an introduction to all systematic philosophy.

VOL. 2, CH. 4 (THE SAMKHYA SYSTEM), SECTION 7 (EVOLUTION), PP. 266-277.

Samkhya Principles

1. Purusa.

2. Prakrti (unmanifested).

3. Mahat or buddhi (intellect).

4. Ahamkara (self-sense or ego).

5-9. Five tanmatras (subtle elements): Sound, touch, smell, form or color, taste.

10. Manas (mind).

11-15. Five senses: Ear, skin, nose, eye, tongue.

16-20. Five organs of action: Speech, hand, foot, reproduction, evacuation.

21-25. Five gross elements: Ether, air, earth, light, water.

VOL. 2, CH. 6. THE PURVA MIMAMSA.

Its central problem is ritual. The entire Veda, excluding the Upanisads, is said to deal with dharma or acts of duty, of which the chief are sacrifices. The performance of sacred rites is normally the prelude to the pursuit of wisdom.

Vedic text and oral tradition continued for long to be the two authorities on the performance of religious duty. After the rise of Buddhism, the followers of the Vedic dharma were called upon to review and recast all the knowledge they possessed, prove its soundness and embody it in the form of the sutras.

The avowed aim of the Purva Mimamsa is to examine the nature of dharma. The philosophical speculations found in it are subordinate to the ritualistic purpose. For the sake of the integrity of dharma, it is obliged to affirm the reality of the soul and regard it as a permanent being possessing a body, to whom the results of acts accrue. The Mimamsa is frankly polytheistic, though by implication atheistic.

VOL. 2, CH. 7. THE VEDANTA SUTRA.

1. INTRODUCTION

Those who look upon the Upanisads as revealed truth are under an obligation to show that their teaching forms a consistent whole, and Badarayana attempts this work of systematization. In 555 sutras, which consist mostly of two or three words each, the whole of the system is developed.

4. METAPHYSICAL VIEWS

The Vedanta Sutra has four chapters. The first deals with the theory of Brahman as the central reality. Its purpose is samanvaya or reconciliation of the different Vedic statements on this subject. We have in the first chapter, an account of the nature of Brahman, its relation to the world and the individual soul. The second (avirodha) meets objections brought against this view and criticizes rival theories. It also gives an account of the nature of the dependence of the world on God and the gradual evolution from and reabsorption into him, and in the latter part there are interesting psychological discussions about the nature of the soul, its attributes, its relation to God, body and its own deeds. The third discusses the ways and means (sadhana) of attaining Brahma-vidya. We have in it an account of rebirth and minor psychological and theological discussions, together with many exegetical comments. The fourth deals with the fruits (phala) of Brahma-vidya. It also describes in some detail the theory of the departure of the soul after death along the two paths of the gods and the fathers and the nature of the release from which there is no return. Each chapter has four parts (padas), and the sutras in each part fall into certain groups called adhikaranas.

VOL. 2, CH. 9. THE THEISM OF RAMANUJA).

1. INTRODUCTION

Philosophy has its roots in man's practical needs. The speculations of philosophers, which do not comfort us in our stress and suffering, are mere intellectual diversion and not serious thinking. Samkara ignores the helping hand of grace that needs to be stretched out from the unknown when weak and erring human beings call from the depths. An experience that is not owned by a subject is a contradiction in terms. The innermost being of God is not solely the realization of eternal truth, but is perfect love which expends itself for others.

Ramanuja concentrates his attention on the relation of the world to God, and argues that God is indeed real and independent; but the souls of the world are real also, though their reality is utterly dependent on that of God. He insists on the continued individual existence of the released souls. While Brahman is eternally free from all imperfection, matter is unconscious, and the individual souls are subject to ignorance and suffering. Yet they all form a unity, since matter and souls have existence only as the body of Brahman. The individual soul and inanimate nature are essentially different from him, though they have no existence or purpose to serve apart from him or his service. So Ramanuja's theory is an advaita, though with a qualification (visesa), viz. that it admits plurality, since the supreme spirit subsists in a plurality of forms as souls and matter.

In ethics also there was a protest against the ritualism of the Mimamsakas and the intellectualism favored by the followers of Samkara. The reaction against the Mimamsakas led to the development of the theistic religions of Vaisnavism, Saivism, and Saktaism, which laid little stress on considerations of caste, race, or social status. Theism has implicit in it the social hope.

Though Samkara did not mean by jnana theoretical learning, there was a tendency among some of his disciples to make religion more an affair of the head than of the heart or will. Hence the emphasis on bhakti by the theistic systems, including the four Vaisnava schools. These are all agreed in rejecting the conception of maya, in regarding God as personal, and the soul as possessed of inalienable individuality, finding its true being not in an absorption in the Supreme but in fellowship with him.

2. AGAMAS

The higher Dravidian and the lower aboriginal peoples both helped to modify the old Vedic sacrificial cult in favor of temple worship and public festivals. Very early in its career, Hinduism developed the important cults of Vaisnavism, Saivism, and Saktaism, with their distinctive scriptures, the Pancaratra Samhita, the Saiva Agama, and the Tantra.

The Agamas are generally divided into four parts: jnana or knowledge, yoga or concentration, kriya or the acts relating to the founding of temples and the installing of idols, and carya or the method of worship.

Buddhism and Jainism could not satisfy the Dravidian temperament, which longed for a God who could receive and reward passionate devotion.

3. PURANAS

They were composed with the purpose of undermining if possible the heretical doctrines of the times. They are all theistic in character, and recognize the distinctions of matter, soul, and God. The conception of trimurti comes into prominence, though each Purana is interested in emphasizing the supremacy of one particular aspect, Visnu or Siva. The Puranas admit the reality of the world and refer to the conception of maya only to condemn it.

In religion, we find a clear departure from the Vedic worship, consisting of prayer and sacrifice, to image-worship and bhakti. The society decays when property confers rank, wealth becomes the only basis of virtue, passion the sole bond of union between man and woman, falsehood the source of success in life, sex the sole means of enjoyment, when the outer trappings are mistaken for the inner spirit.

VOL. 2, CH. 10. THE SAIVA, THE SAKTA, AND THE LATER VAISNAVA THEISM.

1. SAIVA SIDDHANTA

Saivism in south India elaborated a distinctive philosophy called the Saiva Siddhanta about the 11th century AD. There are striking similarities between the Siddhanta and the Saivism of Kashmir. The 28 Saiva Agamas, especially the parts dealing with jnana or knowledge, and the hymns of the Saiva saints form the chief sources of southern Saivism.

3. DOCTRINES

The number of souls cannot be increased or decreased. As more souls get released, the embodied ones become reduced in number.

The Saiva Siddhanta does not support the illusory conception of the world.

4. THE PRATYABHIJNA SYSTEM

Though the Agamas were also the basis of Kashmir Saivism, the later works show a distinct leaning to Advaitism.

5. SAKTAISM

Gradually the worship of Sakti as the world-mother displaced Vedic ritualism. The literature relating to this phase of Hinduism is called Tantra. It is famous for its reverence for women, who are regarded as forms of the divine mother.

The 77 Agamas belonging to the Sakta cult are divided into 5 subhagamas (practices leading to knowledge and liberation), 64 kaulagamas (practices intended to develop magical powers), and 8 misragamas (aim at both). The Tantras, which are in the form of dialogues between Siva and Devi, themselves belong to the 7th century and onwards.

Siva is of the nature of omnipresent, pure consciousness (prakasa). The active personal being Sakti includes all individual souls. Siva and Sakti are related as prakasa and vimarsa (spontaneous vibration of the ultimate reality).

The five functions of illumination (abhasa), coloration (rakti), examination (vimarsana), sowing the seed (bijavasthana), and lamentation (vilapanata) are attributed to Sakti.

Prakrti or maya is looked upon as of the substance of Devi. The Samkhya account of the evolution from Prakrti is followed. Instead of the 25 tattvas of the Samkhya, we have 36 which are classified into Sivatattva (the supreme), Vidyatattva (subtle manifestations of Sakti), and Atmatattva (material universe from maya down to earth). These three answer to prakasa (Siva), vimarsa and the not-self.

The jiva, under the influence of maya, looks upon itself as an independent agent and enjoyer until release is gained. Salvation is dissolution in the blissful effulgence of the Supreme. Jivanmukti is admitted. There is a protest against ritualistic religion.

The mystic side of the Yoga system plays a large part throughout. Great emphasis is laid on the awakening of the forces within the organism. The perfected man will awaken the Kundalini and pierce the six cakras. The theories of karma, rebirth, gross and subtle bodies, are accepted by the Sakta thinkers.

6. MADHVA

Differences with Ramanuja: While Ramanuja thinks that the individual souls are similar in their natural essence, Madhva makes them different. Madhva denies that Brahman is the material cause, which Ramanuja admits. For Madhva, the universe is not the body of God. In Ramanuja, there are no souls disqualified for salvation and there are no differences in the enjoyment of bliss for freed souls.

Madhva stands out for unqualified dualism and insists on the five great distinctions of God and the individual soul, God and matter, the individual soul and matter, one soul and another, and one part of matter and another. The doctrines of exclusive mediatorship through Vayu, the son of Visnu, eternal hell as well as the missionary fervor of Madhva's faith suggest the influence of Christianity, though there is little evidence in support of it.

17. THE CAITANYA MOVEMENT

Caitanya accepted converts from Islam freely. Jiva Gosvami and Baladeva furnished the philosophical basis for the sect.

The universe and its creatures are dependent on God. They are neither one with God nor different from him. An incomprehensible difference-non-difference is the truth of things. The world is real and not illusory; it is called maya on account of its nature, since it attracts men to itself and away from God.

Jiva attempts to displace the theory of attributes (visesana) advocated by Ramanuja, by his own theory of energy (sakti).

VOL. 2, CH. 11. CONCLUSION.

1. PHILOSOPHICAL DEVELOPMENT

The ideal of a world behind the ordinary world of human strivings has been haunting the Indian race. Man's never-ceasing effort to raise himself above the level of the beast to a moral and spiritual height finds a striking illustration in India.

Philosophy helps us to feel the grip and the clanging of the chains. It sharpens the consciousness of human imperfection, and thus deepens the sense of perfection in us, which reveals the imperfection of our passing lives.

Few things are more futile than to rail against the course which the historical past has taken or weep over it. We are able to see further than our predecessors, since we can climb on their shoulders. Instead of resting content with the foundations nobly laid in the past, we must build a greater edifice in harmony with ancient endeavor as well as the modern outlook.

2. THE UNITY OF ALL SYSTEMS

The twin strands that run through all the efforts of the Indian thinkers are loyalty to tradition and devotion to truth. A progressive people with a rich tradition cannot afford to neglect it, though it may contain elements which are not edifying... The different philosophical interpretations of the universe are varying approximations to the truth.

3. PHILOSOPHY AND LIFE

Philosophy has for its function the ordering of life and the guidance of action. It sits at the helm and directs our course through the changes and chances of the world.

4. THE DECLINE OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE RECENT PAST

In the last three to four centuries, the Indian mind seems to have developed a fear of thinking. The Hindu, in the face of the clash of cultures, fortified himself with conventions and barred all entry to invading ideas. His society flung itself into the arms of an authority which stamped all free questioning as sin.

5. THE PRESENT SITUATION

While some thinkers are busy rebuilding the house on ancient foundations, others want to remove the foundations altogether.

Economic stability and political security are only means to spiritual freedom. When the ideals for which the race stood for millenniums are decaying, it is no wonder that the Indian is conscious only of the crushing burden.

Our fear of outside influence is proportioned to our own weakness and want of faith in ourselves... If India assimilates the valuable elements in the western civilization, it will be only a repetition of parallel processes which happened a number of times in the history of Indian thought... Those who are untouched by western influence adopt a gospel not of confident hope but of resignation and detachment. They have an exaggerated respect for authority in thought and action.

We cannot simply copy the solutions of the past, for history never repeats itself. We have to keep our eyes open, find out our problems and seek the inspiration of the past in solving them. The spirit of truth never clings to its forms but ever renews them.

One of the arguments of the conservatives is that truth is not affected by time. Truth may be immutable, but the form in which it is embodied consists of elements which admit of change... It is possible to remain faithful to the letter and yet pervert the whole spirit... The chief energies of the thinking Indians should be thrown into the problems of how to disentangle the old faith from its temporary accretions, and how to organize the divergent influences on the basis of the ancient faith... But, unfortunately, the religious education of the nation is not undertaken on broad lines. It is not seen that the spiritual inheritance cannot be any longer the monopoly of a favored few.

While those who have not yet been subjected to the influence of western culture are conservatives in all matters of thought and practice, there are some among those educated in western ways of thinking who ask us to get rid of the weight of the past. They are eager to imitate the material achievements of western states, and tear up the roots of the ancient civilization... Till the other day Indian thought was not a subject of study in the Indian universities, and even now its place in the philosophical curricula of the universities is insignificant. Suggestions of the inferiority of Indian culture permeate the whole educational atmosphere. The policy inaugurated by Macaulay has not helped us to love our own culture and refine it where necessary.

We can build better on foundations already laid than by attempting to substitute a completely new structure of morality, of life and of ethics. We cannot cut ourselves off from the springs of our life.

Both radicals and conservatives are equally defective. Those who condemn Indian culture as useless are ignorant of it, while those who commend it as perfect are ignorant of any other. The radicals and the conservatives, who stand for the new hope and the old learning, must come closer and understand each other... There is nothing wrong in absorbing the culture of other peoples; only we must enhance, raise and purify the elements we take over, fuse them with the best in our own... With the increasing insistence on the study of Indian thought in the new universities, the dawn may break.

Last Revised: 8 Nov 2002

Return to Venkat's Front Room