CHAPTEK V
DARSANAS
It is very difficult to draw a hard and fast line of distinction between religion and philosophy, especially our religion and philosophy.The former deals with doctrines and rituals and the latter with the ultimate problems of life, like the nature of the world, the soul and God and their interrelations. The one is practical and the other is theoretical. But our ancestors were of a philosophic bent of mind from the beginning and they translated their philosophy into practice.Our religion and philosophy are intermixed and so in an exposition of religion, philosophy legitimately comes in. Our people identify the ultimate
reality of philosophy with the highest Godhead of religion and give a theistic colouring to their philosophy. So our religion supplies the spiritual needs of our people and at the same time satisfies the mental wants of a high order. In one isolated school of philosophy this distinction is maintained, and naturally it did not appeal to the majority of the nation. There is therefore much discrepancy between their mode of life and their speculations.It may be all right for highly intellectual and gifted people but for the ordinary man, it is of no use.
Philosophy, as we have said, discusses the nature of the three ultimate entities, matter, soul and God and their interrelation. It also treats of another question which is intimately connected with the relation between soul and God, namely,the life after death, the condition of the soul after its separation from the material body, i.e., the nature of Mukti. If the soul travels from this world to another the path taken by it also comes under its purview. This leads to the question of rebirth or transmigration and its cause,karma.All these and some related topics come under discussion in philosophy and these problems have been solved differently by different seers. In this way different schools of philosophy have arisen
in our country, the chief of which are six, called darsanas.
The chief authority for the acceptance of the existence of God is the Veda, because He cannot be realised by the senses, nor can His existence be inferred from any known facts. There are some schools of philosophy which do not accept the authority of the Veda and mainly depend upon perception and inference. As they do not recognise the Veda, there can be no place for God in their philosophies. They are the atheistic schools of Carvakas, Bauddhas and Jainas. They are called Nastikas. We need not consider them here.
Ancient systems
The six astikadarsanas are:
3. Vaisesika,
4. Nyaya,
5. Purvamimamsa and
6. Uttaramimamsa or Vedanta.
Sankhya and Yoga are similar in their central teaching and so they go together. Prakrti,or Miilaprakrti as it is called, is independent of Purusa or soul and is the cause of this world.Purusa is eternal, caitanya or intelligence. Prakrti is composed of three gunas called sattva, rajas and tamas. In the state of Pralaya the gunas are in equilibrium; in srsti they are unequal.Buddhi is a product of Prakrti when it is near Purusa. Itis also called mahat and antahkarana.Purusa imagines the activity of buddhi to be own and thus becomes atman. This attribution is samsara. From buddhi through ahahkara are produced the ten senses and their objects (bhutas) and tanmatras. Purusa has no qualities- other than caitanya and it is eternal.
There are innumerable Purusas. The realisation of the distinction between Prakrti and Purusa puts an end to samsara. This is mukti. Sankhya philosophy does not accept God (Isvara).
The Yoga philosophy accepts God but attributes no powers of creation, etc. to Him. Mukti is the state of kaivalya or independence from Nature(Prakrti).The Yoga system recommends certain practices to control the mind, which lead to the recognition ox the distinction between Prakrit and Purusa. They are yam,a (control ox senses),niyama ('purification of mind and body), asanas (convenient posture), pranayama (control of breath),pralyahara (control of the mind), dhyan (meditation), dharana (concentration) and samadhi(attainment).
Yyaya and Vaisesika similarly agree in their essentials and so can be treated together. The world is made of atoms. The world is created by Isvara and is real. The souls are infinite in number. The (Naiyayikas establish Isvara by inference. The world is composed of parts and is therefore the effect of a cause like a pot. Everything that is produced must have a producer who knows its causes and uses. So there must be a being who produced this world. He must be superior to souls whose knowledge is limited and who are bound by karma. The souls are undergoing the pleasure and pain of samsara from the eternal course of karma. Some atrnans who perform the prescribed duties, without any object in view, simply to please God, attain power to perform Yoga by His grace, and by its means attain perpetual freedom from pain, which is u/okm according to these Schools of thought.There will be no more pleasure or pain or knowledge. So this sort oi' saltation is styled pasana mukti by others.
The true value of the Vyaya system lies in the extraordinary method of critical enquiry developed in the modern school. The modern Vyaya relegated the discussion of the problem of the ultimate entities to the background and developed into a science of correct knowledge. The discussion of the pramanas or means of correct knowledge acquired prominence in it. Even here inference is discussed in its minutest detail and in the most comprehensive manner. To the Naiyayika the Veda is authoritative, not because
it is eternal but because it is the word of Isvara,and therefore is infallible.
The School of Purvamimamsa lays stress on dharrna or performance of the acts enjoined by the Veda. As the course of karma is eternal,samsara too is eternal. There is no creation, no destruction. Those who perform acts prohibited by the Veda, are born as worms and insects or go to hell. Those who perform karma for attaining some desire will be reborn again and again. If the dharrna enjoined in the Veda is performed for its own sake, without desiring any benefit,it produces what is termed apurva, which in its
turn destroys the connection with karma and makes the soul realise itself. This is moksa according to this school. Then the soul enjoys eternal bliss. This school accepts no separate God or Isvara, who will dole out the fruits of the acts.The Sahkhyas, the Yogas and the Purva mimamsakas accept an infinite number of jivas who are eternal and who are found in everything;but they do not accept an Isvara who is capable of fulfilling their desires. To the Pnrvamlmamsakas, the Vedas are eternal and impersonal. The omission to perform the prescribed duties results in sin.
The most popular of the darsanas is the Uttaramlmamsa or Vedanta as it is also called.Although the others are as much darsanas or schools of thought as this, still they are now only of academic interest and there is no class of people who specifically follow any of those views in their daily life. It can therefore be called the living philosophy of the day and when we hear of Indian philosophy nowadays, our mind generally comprehends only the varieties of Vedanta and nothing more.. As its name Vedanta implies,its teaching is based mainly on the Upanisads which form the concluding portion of the Veda.
While the Purvamlmamsa, which stresses on dharrna, is based on the former portion of the Veda called the Brdhmana, the Vedanta is based on the latter portion. Hence the names Purva and Uttara-Mimamsa. There is the school of philosophy which affirms that the two darasanas are supplementary to each other and really 1’orm one darsana. There is no wonder then if the Uttaranuniamsa also adopts the view that the Veda is' eternal and impersonal and that the dharma taught in it should he followed in practice. The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata contains in a nut-shell the teachings of the Upanisads in very simple language without their illustrative stories and esoteric methods. For this reason, it has become the most popular handbook of our religion in recent times, especially with the laymen who cannot drink deep in the Upanisadic springs. Sri Krsna, the light of the world, teaches the ways of Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Prapatti Yoga to Arjuna on the battle field of Kuruksetra and makes him fight the battle of life without ruga and dvesa ,And attain His feet by prapatli.
The teachings contained in the Upanisads have been systematised and stated in an aphoristic manner by Badarayana or Vyasain his Brahmamitrah. This is the main text-book of Vedanta.This is interpreted in different ways by different commentators and thus arose several schools of Vedanta. The most important of these are Visista DARsANAS dvaita, Advaita, Dvaita and Pasupata. iSankaracarya is the ohiei exponent of Advaita philosophy, Ramanujacarya of Visistadvaita philosophy, and
Puraaprajnaearya of Dvaita philosophy and &rlkantha of Pasupata philosophy.According to Advaita philosophy. Brahman,alone is real and everything else, like the self (knower' and Isvara and the world (knowable;and knowledge, is unreal; Brahman is nirvi£esa and pure consciousness. Nirmsesa means undifferentiated. Three kinds of differences are possible;difference between similar things,, like the individuals of a class; difference between things of different kinds and difference which exists in the thing itself i.e., between it and its qualities. There is no difference between Brahman and th&Jivas which are both of the form o: cit. Isvara is Brahman reflected in maya or cosmic illusion and Jlva is
Brahman reflected in avidya or subjective illusion.Brahman is eternal and by its concealing and perplexing powers, it makes the Jivas unable to realise their real nature and produces, different kinds of" illusions in them. Still as it is false,there is no question of difference between it and Brahman. As Brahman itself is consciousness,bliss and truth, there can be no qualities like consciousness, bliss and truth, apart from Brahman, and so there can be no difference between Brahman and its qualities. Samsara is delusion Oi Jivas by avidga and the disappearance of amdya at the rise of jnana derived from the mahav&kyas of the Upanisads is moksa. The stock example for the delusion of diva by ajhana
is the rope or the crack in the ground mistaken for a snake. The false snake-idea is attributed to the real rope (or crack) and the illusion is dispelled on realising the truth of the rope (or crack). A man who desires to attain moksa or release, must have four qualifications, namely viveka, vairagya possession of sama, dama etc., and sincere desire for release; that is to say, he should know that Brahman alone is real and the world is false, renounce everything, have self-control and have thirst for release. Jnana is the only means to moksa and karma and bhakti are only aids to jnana. When once the jnana emerges, he becomes a mukta even in this body and he is then called a jivanmukta. This is the peculiarity of Advaita.The other schools do not admit jivanmukti and say that Jiva attains moksa by casting off this
mortal body which is a real product of karma.There are two other schools which go by the names of their founders, Bhaskara and Yadava praksa. Bhaskara says that Brahman is saguna;there are Jivas and the world which are also real. By the limiting power of Brahman he becomes different and has forms like buddhi, senses, body,etc. Parts of Brahman having these limitations are called Jivas. Although Brahman is indivisible like space, still just as space limited by a pot acquires the name of pot-space, so Brahman with the above limitations is separately termed a Jiva.Samsara is the limitation caused by the upadhis or limiting adjuncts of Brahman. The upadhis are dispersed by true knowledge caused by
incessant meditation on Brahman after attaining the knowledge of the unity of Brahman and Jioa by means of Vedic karma and jnana together. Moksa is the union of Brahman and Jiva on the disappearance of the limitations.Yadavaprakasa says that Brahman transforms itself into the forms of cit, acit and Isvara by real parinama. Cit is jiva; acit is body,senses, etc. Isvara is the ordainer of every thing.Jiva does not know his unity vntiaj Brahman and this sense of difference is samsara. The fetters
of samsara can be shaken off by performing good deeds and by God. True knowledge leads to union with Brahman and attainment of mukti.Even then there is unity as well as difference between Brahman, the Jiva and the world.According to Visistadvaita, soul (cit), matter (acit) and God (Isvara) are real. Of these cit and acit are the special qualities, prakara., of Isvara, and Isvara is the possessor of these
qualities or modes (prakarin). A prakara is that by the help of which its substratum is known. Prakara cannot exist without the prakarin;therefore Brahman possessed ox cit and acit is tei'med one. As prakarin and prakara are intrinsically different, there is difference in their nature. A cit is of three varieties, like mddhasattva. misrasattva and sattvasunya. Bmklhasattva is self-effulgent. It is called Paramapada.Time is sattvasunya; but it is also eternal like space. Misrasattva, being subject to sattva, rajas and tamas, develops in the form of the 24 tattvas called prakrti, mahat, aha.nka.ra, the subtle
elements, senses, etc. It also forms the body and ahahkara. of Jivas according to their previous karma. Samsdra is the cycle of repeated births and deaths of embodied souls brought about by marnakara or egoism and ajnana. In the cycle of karma and avidya the sins of some persons are destroyed by the ir virtues. Then they pray to God for redemption. They realise the true knowledge of the Sastras by the instruction of a good teacher attained by God’s grace or daya. They duly practise the obligatory and optional duties according to their station in life and acquire the enriching spiritual qualities of sama, dama, tapas, sa'uca, ksmnd, arjava,bhayci, abhctya, sthana. oiveka. ahimsa, daya, etc.They surrender themselves to God and due to bhakti recollect and reflect on Sastra and meditate upon His qualities and get rid of ignorance(ajnana) by His grace. They practise bhakti yoqa and attain mukti by prapatti and God’s grace when they leave the body. Mukti is of two kinds,kaivalya and reaching Isvara. Kaivalya is the enjoyment of the pleasure of the realization of atman. The other is attaining Isvara in Param. apada and enjoying his svarupa and eternal bliss.Isvara in Paramapada has His own form or rupa of divinely beautiful body. He is one with His beloved ones, &ri, Bha, and Nila who are His concrete krpa, and with nityasuris who are enternally free like Ananta, Garuda and Visvaksena, and the freed souls or muktas. His chief Ilia consists in releasing the other Jivas also from karma and making them into his likeness.Visistadvaita says that the absolute Brahman is the same as Visnu, Narayana, Vasudeva,
or Venkatesvara. He incarnates on historic occasions in different forms to redeem mankind.In response to the prayers of this devotees, He incarnates permanently as idols or area, owing to His infinite love. So according to Visistadvaita, Visnu or Vasudeva Himself has His home in the temple of Tirumalai. Out of His infinite love for the erring mortals of Kali, the Infinite has incarnated permanently in Tirumalai and the mortal becomes immortal by utter surrender to His grace. So there is no exaggeration in the
statement that Tirupati is Kaliyuga Vaikuntha.Just as the relation between body and soul is.sarira-sariri-bhava, so the relation between soul and Isvara is the same. So Isvara is the inner soul of everything in this world and every name and form ultimately applies to Brahman or Srinivasa, the self of all selves.
According to Dvaita philosophy, soul (cit)r world (acit) and God (livara) are different tattvas. God is only the instrumental or efficient cause of the world. He is Visnu himself. He possesses all the auspicious qualities and has a beautiful body made of jhana, ananda, etc. The souls and the world depend on Him. The souls are infinitesimal in size and are different from each other. They are of three kinds according to their gunas—tamoyoggas, nitgasamsarins and muktiyogyas. The first class of Jlvas dwell in Hell for ever. The last class are eternally free and dwell in Visnuloka. The second class of
Jvvas attain direct cognition of God by their practices beginning with renunciation of the results of their actions and ending with meditation on Visnu and enjoy the pleasures of mvktas according to their nature. If they are free from impressions (vasana) of hatred etc., they attain mukti and enjoy supreme pleasure. The relation between God and soul is that of svamin and dasa(master and servant). So the summvm bonum of life, according to this school is service to God,here in this world and beyond.According to Pasupata, there are three eternal entities, God (pati), Soul (pasu) and Nature (pasa). God is the supreme pati or Paramesvara. He is only the instrumental or efficient cause of creation while the atoms are the material cause. The Jiva (soul) is different from Isvara and matter but is self-conscious. It is like a crystal and assumes the form of that with which it comes in contact. When caught up in pasa which is made up of ignorance, inertness and desire (anava, maya and kamya) it undergoes samsara like pasa. When the Jiva contacts Pati it becomes like Him.- The Jiva attains mukti by following certain practices which free it of its ignorance etc. Mukti, according to this system, is Sivasarupya (likeness to Siva) and not feivaikya (identity with Siva).Siva, it says, is love itself and by His grace(and), He makes the Jiva free from its impurities. The highest form of jnana consists in service to Siva and His devotees. Saiva and Shkta philosophies are both comprised in Psupata. In Sakta, Sakti or Devi(called Condi) is supreme. She is worshipped in three forms, Kali, LaksmI and Sarasvatl. Owing
to the love of Sakti, the world emanates from Siva and merges in Him. By means of jnana and bhakti, the Jlva attains mukti. and becomes one with Siva. Certain sects of Saktas engage themselves in non-Vedic practices, like worshipping God in a wine-pot, smearing the body with ashes from the burning ground, etc.
Medireval Schools
The Visistadvaita philosophy with its doctrines o-c bhakti and prapatti and emphasis on the equality of all bhaktas and propounds, irrespective of caste or sex, appealed to the minds of all people and it soon spread all over the country. Many pious people came forward in Northern India to propagate the faith. But their teachings were coloured by their temperamental bias. The theistic tinge which Visistadvaita assumed in the identification o’: Brahman (Paramatman) with Narayana (Visnu) caught the imagination of these saints and they identified Him with those particular forms of Narayana which attracted their
minds. In whatever form He is adored, He appears in that form and accepts the devotion.
Ramananda was the first or these teachers.He taught that Isvara resides in every Jiva and He is Rama, the righteous. The force of his personal attraction and teachings of Ramananda can be judged from the fact that even Muslims became his disciples. Kabir followed his teachings and incorporated them with Islam and evolved his School of Kabirpanthis.
Vallabha taught that Sri Krsna was Brahman. His form is made of spiritual love and it is Radha-Krsna. He sports with the Jivas in Gokula. Creation is the lila of Krsna. Bhakti is the only means of attaining Krsna. Bhakti is irrepressive love or nusti. On release from the body the bhakta goes to Gokula, which is beyond Vaikuntha, and enjoys the bliss of communion with Krsna.Caitanya taught the Radha Krsna cult. The absolute Brahman is Sri Krsna who is eternally sporting with Radha, his beloved ‘ other ’. He has a bewitching form of beauty and he attracts the Jivas to him by his entrancing beauty. Bhakti or pre?ria is the only means of attaining the bliss of Krsna. The saint taught a number of bhavas in the love towards Krsna, like those of God as ruler, master, mate, etc., of which the best is the bhava of Krsna as spiritual bridegroom. The love of Krsna exceeds the pleasures of Vaikuntha.
Modern Religious movements Brahmosamaj, Aryasamaj and Ramakrishna Mission are effective reactions to the proselytising influence of alien religions. They are movements
in response to their ideas of the needs of the age.
