Book Title: Relation Between Religion And Philosophy
Author(s): Jitendra S Jetly
Publisher: Jitendra S Jetly
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/269243/1

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Page #1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Relation between Religion and Philosophy by Dr. JITENDRA S. JETLY Nyāyāchārya, M.A.Ph.D. Director Institute of Indology DWARKA (Saurāshtra) India Presidential address of the Religion and Philosophy Section XXV All India Oriental Conference Jādavpur 29th, 30th, 31st October, 1969. Page #2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ RELATION BETWEEN RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY Learned friends, I feel really grateful to the authorities and friends of the All India Oriental Conference who have honoured me by inviting to preside over the Section of Religion and Philosophy of the 25th Session of ihe Conference, I ain fully aware of my limitations. So this assembly of the learned friends will be kind to me if I do not fully fulfil their expectations. I know that I am merely a student of Indian philosophy and am not a masterphilosopher of the subject. So this assembly of the scholars will excuse me if I commit any mistake from their point of view. · Last year my learned predecessor Dr. Devraj had rightly stated in his presidential address that “hega: युरोपमें प्रायः दर्शनको धर्मसे अलग माना गया है और इस लिये कभी दर्शनका लक्ष्य या प्रयोजन मोक्षवादका प्रतिपादन नहीं रहा ।"1 That is to say as European or rather Western philosophers believe religion quite separate from philosophy they do not discuss salvation as the aim of philosophy. In fact Western philosophers have not discussed different metaphysial elements in their different philosophical systems with the aim to achieve certain goal or aim like ta in this or other life. Their discussions are purely logical and they are for the sake of knowledge of these metaphysical elements. ' Presidential address by Dr. Devraj P.! President, Religion and Philosophs section 24th Session A.I.O.C. Varanasi. Page #3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ This is not the case with Indian philosophical systems. Every Tridian philesophical system is connected in some way or other with their respective religion which is interwoven in the daily life of the common followers of that system. Tuis type of interweaving of religion and philosophy is responsible to some extent for certain type of behaviour in the daily life of the different followers of different religious sccts of our country. This intermingling does sometimes create confusion among the people to know as to which is the right path of the religion. The interesting example of such confusion is cited in the MBH as follows : 2 कि स्विदेवेह धर्माणामनुष्टेयतमं स्मृतम् । व्याहतामिव पश्यामो धर्मस्य विविधां मतिम् ॥१४॥ ऊछ देहातवन्त्येके नतदस्तोति चापरे । केचित्संशयितं. सर्व निःसंशयमथापरे ॥१५॥ अनित्यं नित्यमित्येके नास्त्यस्तोत्यपि चापरे। .. एकरूपं द्विधेत्येके व्यामिश्रमिति चापरे । एकमेके पृथक् चान्ये बहुत्वमिति चापरे ॥१६॥ मन्यन्ते ब्राह्मणा एवं प्राज्ञास्तत्त्वार्थदशिनः । जटाजिनधराश्चान्ये मुण्डाः केचिदसंवृताः ॥१७॥ अस्नान केचिदिच्छन्ति स्नानमित्यपि चापरे । आहारं केचिदिच्छन्ति केचिच्चानशने रताः ॥१८॥ कम केचित्प्रशसन्ति प्रशान्तिमपि चापरे । देशकालावुभौ केचिन्नतदस्तीति चापरे । केचिन्मोक्ष प्रशंसन्ति केचिन्भोगान्पृथग्विधान् ॥१६॥ MBH. R.Q.R.I. edition. Asvamedhika Parva. Adhayaya 48 Verse No. 14-24. Page #4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ धनानि केचिदिच्छन्ति निर्धनत्वं तथापरे । उपास्यसाधनं स्वेके नैनवस्तीति बापरे ॥२०॥ अहिंसानिरताश्चान्ये केचिद्धिसापरायणाः । पुण्येन यशसेत्येके नेतबस्तीति चापरे ॥२१॥ सद्भावनिरताश्चान्ये केचिरसंशयिते स्थिताः । दुःखादन्ये सुखादन्ये ध्यानमित्यपरे स्थिताः ॥२२॥ यशमित्यपरे धीराः प्रदानमिति चापरे। सर्वमेके प्रशंसन्ति न सर्वमिति चापरे ॥२३॥ तपस्स्वन्ये प्रशंसन्ति स्वाध्यायमपरे जनाः । ज्ञानं संन्यासमित्येके स्वभावं भूतचिन्तकाः ॥२४॥ These different philosophical thoughts include paarat or भौतिकवादी चार्वाक also. Let us first give our thoughts to the so called materialist philosophy viz. चार्वाक. Generally in the realm of Indian philosophical systems it is believed that चार्वाक had no connection with any religion. But if we go deep and study the philosophy we are able to see that the चार्वाक philosophy is also based on भूतदया. It is rather a misconception that oraf believe only in eating, drinking and marrying. It is a fact that they do not accept different self or soul other than body. They have no much aim like मोक्ष. They do not accept पुनर्जन्म. . But if we examine the back ground of all these tenets then we can find that भूतदया = compassion towards innocent créatures was responsible in creating such tanets. When Aryans came here they brought us along with them. In this as they sacrificed several innocent creatures like goat etc. aratat could not tolerate this type Page #5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ I of mass killing of innocent creatures. studied the reasons of the Vedic religion making such sacrifice of innocent animals, They came to know that this sacrifice was performed in order to achieve i.e. heaven or some good result in the next birth. But they argued that such imagined heaven was not seen by any one. For the next birth also no body was certain. There were perhaps the reasons why he ultimately considered perception as the only right means of knowledge. Non-acceptance of separate self other than body and hence rebirth of the self was maintained because of the fact that they were not perceptible () to any one. So he vehemently cpposed the mass killing of the innocent animals in the sacrifice in the name of merit goreligion, Thus the inner con passion towards all the creatures led them to above tanets. He rejected the authorities of those fas which preached killing of animals in the sacrifice. Ultimately he rejected, leeding_to prove परलोक or स्वर्ग etc. He could see that on the strength of the fa and wrong inference Brahmins were proving the existence of heaven, rebirth, good and bad birth according to cne's merit and demerit and so on. So he rejected all these while accepting as the only right means of knowledge. As all these things were not seen by any type of perception they did not exist and the dictum was established प्रत्यक्षमेव प्रमाणमिति चार्वाकः The ultimate aim of ajafa was not to behave without any responsibility in the society but to have social justice here and here i.e. in this world alone and in this birth through good government. This was the reason why some arafas accepted a king as the God. Page #6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ grarian mataifa T T T fryra states 3977 HE in his Fot9750*t. In the language of politics rather good government is the real God. Good government can establish good social order and remove injustice from the society. Thus they never accepted immoral behaviour but for the sake of good social order good moral behaviour was the primary necessity. Under the excuse of the merit of the previous birth Fiat:18 never accepted the right of exploitation of any one by any body. The rich people on the strength of their goe had no right to exploit the labour of the poor people. In the terms of modern politics paff may be named as the first communist who believed in good social (rder with the help of the establishment of good government. Such good government can bring all people to right path. Neither anybody has any right to kill any innocent creature in the name of religion nor anybody has right to exploit the labour of any poor man in the name of you and 9.9. However, he had no objection to accept the general tanet of all good religions as preached in the MBh. viz. भूयतां धर्मसर्वस्वं श्रुत्वा चंवावधार्यताम् । आत्मनः प्रतिकूलानि परेषां न समाचरेत ॥ Of course in this श्लोक, परेषां should be understood in its broad sense. It does not mean only qarai HELSETTİ but it means मरेषामन्येषां जन्तूनाम्. This verse if followed properly will lead to total non-violence and hence total non-exploitation. aafa had no objection in observation of such religion. He does accept that any act which is Page #7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Start unfavourable to oneself should not be performed to have one's selfish end. But if the followers of grafa system preachs that यावज्जीवेत् सुखं जोवेत् ऋणं कृत्वा धृतं पिबेत् । भस्मीभूतस्य बेहस्य पुनरागमनं कुतः ॥ then it is really the misinterpretation of their own philosophy. As we have seen the immoral and irresponsible social behaviour was never acceptable to real cārvāka. The moral strength was rather the only strength which inspired him to oppose the sacrifice of innocent creatures by Brahmins. Thus the most heterodox Indian philosophical systems of arala had relation with religion. Here the term religion should be understood in its broad sense. and not in its narrow sense of any sect सम्प्रदाय or पन्थ. Let us now turn to Jainism. We know that followers of this religion or seci are mainiy divided into two sects viz. Svetāmbara and Digambara. Both sects neither accept the existence of God nor they accept the authorities of aas. The followers of this religion strict:y believe in non-violence. Like cārvakn their non-acceptance of the authorities of das is due to their opposition of the animal sacrifice which is based on the authority of aes. The main principle of their philosophy, is 377FlTarg. To understand the propoundation of this principle we should once again go back and peep into the history of this philosophy. A According to Jaina Agamas about 303 aras i.e. philosophical theories existed in the time of lord Mahāvīra. Page #8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 7 The followers of these different systems were busy in discussing the validity of their own theories. They spent their useful and valuable time in trifle and useless discussions without arriving at any point of decision. Lord Mahavira saw the absurdity of these fruitless and hence useless discussions. He could see that all the debators of those different systems were not prepared to understand the point of view of one another. He also saw that each one was right from his own point of view but equally wrong from the opponents' view point. Observing this simple ignorance of the debators, he preached them that they were all correct from their own points of view but at the same time they were equally wrong from others' view point. So instead of wasting time in such petty discussion they should try to understand the view points of one another. This is the history of a r स्याद्वाद. This led to establishment of सप्तभङ्गीन्याय in the Jaina philosophy regarding every matter. The aim of Lord Malavira was to remove unnecessary quarrels arising out of trifling discussion and to have right understanding of the objects or topics from as many view points as possible. In view of this the author of afaa states अनेकान्तोप्यनेकान्तः ie even अनेकान्तवाद also should be viewed from that particular method. It should not be accepted blindly as the ultimate truth. This philosophy has its reflection in the daily life of its right followers. The true Jaina would never find fault with the philosophy of the other religion and create unnecessary quarrels. He being staunch believer in non-violence would see that none of his act should be such which injure the feeling of others. They would try Page #9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 8 to refrain from doing injury of even the smallest creature in their daily life. This is truly expected of a true Jaina in his daily life." Jainas do accept the general definition of eri as prescribed by MBh. i.e. मात्मनः प्रतिकूलानि परेषां न समाचरेत् । Some body may argue that this is not true. Many Jainas hate other religions. Moreover, though they physically do not injure small creatures in their daily life, they do exploit the labour of other human beings and they are seen employing any means good or bad in order to obtain wealth. They do not hesitate in deceiving even their own friends. This is true but for this untoward behaviour of some followers of Jainism, neither philosophy nor religion is to be held responsible. It is the weakness or the fault of some of the followers. The author of the निरुक्त : has. rightly said that नेष स्थाणोरपराधो यदेन मन्धो न grufa gerigata ga wafa. In fact, in the world people have witnessed the downfall of many religious sects due to the irreligious acts and behaviour of the followers of these sects. Sometimes the ignoreut followers do not understand the philosophical background of their religion. Therefore, if the followers are not properly behaving according to their religion it is not the fault of the particular philosophy or re'igious sect. - After Jainism we turn to another heterodox system, yiz Buddhism. When Lord Buddha like Lord Mahavira saw followers of different philosophical schools discussing about the metaphysical elements like seif, God etc. with the help of logical arguments he could see the uselessness Page #10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ of such discussions. He saw that every philosophical system applied its own logic to prove its own accepted principles. The same logic was applied to disprove the principles of opponents. No body had any empirical or intuitional vision regarding the metaphysical elements accepted by one's philosophy., So Lord Buddha could casily see that it was merely the waste of time and energy both to prove and disprove the existence of metaphysical elements with the help of crude logic. Such elements can be perceived only by intutional vision, According to him truth regarding the metaphysicai elements can be known through intuitional vision and not by logie. If one is really desirous of knowing the truth regarding such elements like self he should take recourse to yoga. Mere logical discussion may prove or disprove any thing but it would not lead to any real experience. Therefore he plainly held that the elements like God self etc. were 3737738 i.e. indescribable by any words. They can be known through the experience of oneself. SKAIT of such ele:nents was the real way of their right knowledge. Due to this statements some scholars named him as an agnostić, that is to say Lord Buddha himself did not know such elem ments as God and self and therefore he preached that such elements were unknowable by logic. In fact, he wanted that people particularly intelligent people should not waste their time and energy after such trifling discussion. " He also opposed vedic sacrifice because aayi inspired him to do so. Thus to avoid useless discussions he preached out that of metaphysical elements. The creatures should not have any wrong attachment towards this worldly things and therefore he preached afla Page #11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ He preached that this world was full of miseries and one should try to be free from these miseries instead of wasting his precious time in trifle logical discussions. But surprisingly enough we see that some of his followers were master logicians in the realm of Indian phi.osophy. They used their subtle logic to prove the principle of Buddhism and disprove the principles of other philosophical systems. Buddhism is mainly divided into two yānas viz. gagn and A101. Besides, philosophical schools of Buddhism are also divided into four divisions viz. à 199, altifras, it and Alef. Lord Buddha did not desire such differences to take shape but his own followers established these different schools with their own logic. These schools spread Buddhism in whole of the world. This . resulted in establishment of big communities of Buddha Bhikshus in the world. It also fostered some good scholars of Buddhism and some genuine Buddha Bhikshus, But all Bhikshus of these communities had no realisation of the momentariness of the world. Due to this reason the behaviour of these Bhikshus became irre igious in their daily life. Moreover, on the basis of difference of opinions and difference of principles quarrels took place among different schools of Buddhism. To purify this type of behaviour tremendous efforts were made but unfortunately the standard of behaviour among the followers had deteriorated to such an extent that the downfall of Buddhism could not be checked. Thus without fully understanding the religious implication of their own philosophy and signification of Page #12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 11 pure religious behaviour the critical discussions alone would not establish the rightness or wrongness of any philosophical theory especially in our country. Let us now turn to the so called orthodox schools of Indian philosophical systems. From these systems we shall first take Sānkhya and Yoga systems. According to these systems प्रकृतिपुरुषविवेक ख्याति is the cause of मोक्ष. According to this sulfa or realisation the ggfa is responsible for everything that happens in this world. The self or soul which is known as जीवात्मा is कूटस्थ and is mere 91897 of this happening. He has nothing to do with the actions done by tofa. Of course gafa is 3 and hence it has no power to do anything without the contact of चतन्य but merely contact of चैतन्य empowers प्रकृति to do eyerything i.e. from creation of this world to fegefa and लय. Due to the reflection of बुद्धितत्त्व an element of gafa in a pure self a self illusively believes he is responsible for all the acts i.e. he is doer. The removal of this illusion is gsfaganfaa Fegifa. This illusion is so much interwoven in the daily life of human beings that it cannot be removed easily. To remove this illusion and to have प्रकृतिपुरुषविवेकख्याति one has to take help of gin syster which is the sister system. It accepts all the philosophical principles of HISEL school. Without the help of gtr, principles of HTEET school cannot be realised. One cannot prove logically the process of the creation of the world as described in Saikhya system. One has to accept certain principles of this system as the axioms eg. The nature of प्रकृति as सत्वरजस्तमसां साम्यावस्था or the nature of self as it is the conciousness which does not do anything but Page #13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ - 12 giving contact... The evolution as described in these two syştems cannot easily be proved in any scientific laboratory. in the modern times. प्रकृतेमहांस्ततोऽहङ्कारस्तस्मादगणश्च षोडशकः cannot be observed in any scientific laboratory of the modern-science. : सत्वरजस्तमसां साम्यावस्था प्रकृतिः should be accepted as an axiom and then one should proceed further. According to them both the self and nature are omuipotent. These principles are proved by these systems by their own logic. One should remember that it is not pure logic in the sense understood by Western logicians. They had their own followers in those days. रागशेख रसूरि describes in his षड्दर्शनसमुच्चय the followers of these systems as follows : साङ्ख्या निरीश्वरा केचित् केचिदीश्वरदेवताः । ये ते निरीश्वरास्तेऽमी नारायणपरायणाः ॥ विष्णोः प्रतिष्ठां कुर्वन्ति साङ्ख्यशासनसूरयः । चैतन्यप्रमुखेः शब्दः स्तेषामाचार्य उच्यते ॥.. काश्यां प्राचुर्यमेतेषां बहवो मासोपवासिकाः । . धूम्रमार्गानुगा विप्रा अचिमार्गानुगास्त्वमी ॥ वेदप्रियास्ततो विप्रा यज्ञमार्गानुयायिनः । . हिंसादिवेदविरता. साङ्ख्या अध्यात्मवादिनः ॥ This shows that these were followers of these systems, and they had imp.ication in the daily life of the followers. उदासोनपंथ seems to be the followers of साङ्ख्य and Yoga systems. This sect believes the self as उदासिन i.e. कूटस्थ and नित्य. The individual who has प्रकृतिपुरुष विवेकख्याति can be judged only by his behaviour in his daily life and not by one's only boasting that he is dcttifa or he has प्रकृतिपुरुषविवेकख्याति of the साङ्ख्य system. Page #14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ The next orthodox systems are न्याय and वैशेषिक systems which are considered to be the most realistic among the orthodox systems of Indian philosophy. The FTTT system was established to prove its 12 ÀS logically. The realisation or arata of these twelve hus is responsible for the 3tqari or #. * The system, though, accepts altogether sixteen categories, but except the category SÀI the remaining fifteen catagories TATT ATT TAIFA ZOTTT, facra and so on are the elements of the science of reasoning of course, this science of 1easoning might have been established before अक्षपाद् or गौतम but he does not name any predecessor who might be the master of this science. So in the orthodox systems of Indian philosophy he is considered to be the father of the science of reasoning. According to him FASTIFT of 37TFAT, TTTT, PITH, 372, #77 and area is responsible for the HATT. gaff, ata, fcHIa, and g:e are the result of the मिथ्याज्ञान of the former प्रमेय वात्स्यायन author of the न्याय भाष्य cearly states that तत्रात्माद्यपवर्ग qiravai ga FACUTTIA HF9PTk ada , The acag of the former ses would remove this fAETITIA and thus by FASTIFTATUT, atas viz. IT and Atz will be removed. The absence of दोषs would cause the absence of प्रवृत्ति viz. doing धर्म and अधर्म which is responsible for प्रेत्यभाव. The removal of deata i.e. Frh after one's death will bring end to 957 viz. ge and g:@ and ultimately it will lead to a. The followers of the Fry system accept all the seven categories of वैशेषिक system. They are द्रव्य, गुण, . *H, HIATÚ, faga, mar and 3THTA. The 1914 system Page #15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ व includes all these categories in the प्रमेय viz. अर्थ.. In fact, in this 37ef all other giros also can be included but to show that the मिथ्याज्ञान of particular प्रमेय is responsible for the existence of संसार, आत्मा etc. they are to be shown as separate प्रमेयs. Out of sixteen categories of न्याय system except प्रमेय thirteen categories are connected with the first category viz. प्रमाण. The NBh. explaining this states in the clear terms as follows: संशयादयो यथास्थानं प्रमाणेषु प्रमेयेषुः चान्तर्यवन्तो न व्यतिरिच्यन्ते । सत्यमेतत इमास्तु चतस्रो विद्याः पृथक्प्रस्थानाः प्राणभृतामनुग्रहायोपदिश्यन्ते यासां चतुर्थीयमान्वीक्षिको न्यायविद्या । तस्याः पृथकप्रस्थानाः संशयावयः पदार्थाः । तेषां पृथग्वचनमन्तरेणाध्यात्मविद्यामात्रमियं स्यान् । So to differentiate the system from 39f99cs which merely preach the metaphical elements without any base to prove them the i919 system has elaborated separate y the elements of the science of reasoning. Thus the main purpose of the Fale system is to teach logic and not अध्यात्मविद्या which was already preached by उपनिषदs. With the help of logic any system could prove the different mr.etaphisical elements that were accepted by the propounder. This was the reason why alifuta a states regarding न्यायविद्या that it is : प्रदोपः सर्वविधानामुपायः सर्वकर्मणाम् । आश्रयः सर्वविद्यानां विद्योद्देशे प्रकोतिता ॥ Thus “logic or the science of reasoning in the art of arts and science of sciences" was long ago stated by . .. Page #16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ him. Otherwise regarding #TOFTA, 197169 #13 is clear in his mind. He frankly states that इह तु आत्मादितत्त्वज्ञानं तत्त्वज्ञानम् and by this तत्त्वज्ञान one achieves निःश्रेयस् and not the afast of all the categories which are eunmerated in the 1st phorism by 3TT TT. The author of Fragt is also quite clear in his mind regarding the achievement of 197 and states दु:खजन्य प्रति दोष मिथ्याज्ञान.नामुत्तरोत्तरापाये तदनन्तरापाया दपवर्गः। Thus the establishment of the science of reasoning may be useful to some extent to prove the metapbisical elements of different philosophical systems but for the sake of achieving 19 may be verỳ few perhaps the knowlege of self only is useful. The sister system Vaid’esika and other systems too have accepted this FUTETTE to prove their own principes. As the Vais’esika system accepts the categories of the Ferra the Nyāya system on the other hand accepts the seven categories of the Vait’esika system. : However, the Vaiž’esika system had tried to enter the world of physical science to some extent. Of course, all the so called realistic Indian phi osophical systems have poked their nose in the world of physical - science. None of them had any idea of testing their assumed principes concerned with physical elements in any scientific laboratory. They had presupposed ceatain elements, in their minds and then they tried to prove them by their selected logic. So the Vajs'esika system though accepts seven categories, the later four viz. Ha, Faeroe #919 and 37H17 are the categories, of their imagination unwarranted by fact and reality. Many cther philosophical systems do not accept these later four categories. Even from three categories certain द्रव्यs like आकाश काल दिशा Page #17 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 16 are not accepted as independent elements by many systems. In fact, perhaps ahors themselves were convinced of this fact in the beginning of the establishment of their system, cu, and were the real categories acceptable to empirical world. JEHTIG also says in his 9164, त्रयाणाम अर्थशब्दाभिधेयत्वम् because in reality in day to day life 404, TU and Fix can be easily explained as independent categories..... Thus truly speaking द्रव्य, गुण and : कमें were the categories in the early Vais'eșika system. pfa was in the form of different atoms of different ways ... like gferat, 79, and ary with their qualities 5791cht, 9A1CHT and Aah. were the elements of metaphys.cs. Regarding fat of Nyāya Vais'eşika systems we can safely leave to the world of scientists: Of course, the gia of get which is active only, when there is a contact. of चैतन्य, is a different entity. The चैतन्य in the साङ्ख्य. system as we know is just like the electricity which creates activity in different things like fan etc. That is not the case in the Nyâya Vais'eşika systems. Here #Ta giiqicht is responsible for all the actions that he does. He is doer of all the acts. Here the reality of these systems is experienced to some extent. Still however, scientists do not feel the separate existence of self or a. In his accinay Tata Taft describes the followers of cry school in the following words. The TT 18 used for aty.. अथ योगमतं बमः शवमित्यपरामिषम् । Forefta: suntetaafafora: II; Page #18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 17 कम्बलिका प्र.वहीणा जटापटलशालिनः । भस्मोद्ध लनकर्तारो नोरसाहारसेविनः ॥ दोर्मूले तुम्बुकभृतः प्रायेण वनवासिनः । आतिथ्यकर्मनिरताः कन्दमूलफलाशनाः ॥.... सस्त्रीका अथ निस्त्रीका निस्त्रीका तेषु चोत्तमाः । पञ्चाग्निसाधनपराः प्राणलिङ्गपराः करे ॥ विधाय दन्तपवनं प्रक्षाल्याज्रिकराननम् ।.. स्पृशन्ति भस्मनाङ्गं त्रि स्त्रिः शिवध्यानतत्पराः ॥ यजमानो वन्दमानो वक्ति तेषां कृताञ्जलिः । ॐ नमः शिवायेत्येवं शिवाय नम इत्यसो ॥ तेषां च शङ्करो देवः सृष्टिसंहारकारकः । । तस्यावताराः सारा ये तेऽष्टादश तर्पिताः ॥ तेषां नामान्यथ बमो नकुलीशोऽथ कौशिकः ।। गार्यो मत्र्यः कौरुषश्च ईशानः षष्ठ उच्यते ॥ . सप्तमः पारगार्यस्तु कपिलाण्डमनुष्यको । अपरकुशिकोऽत्रिश्च पिङ्गलाक्षोऽथपुष्पकः ॥ .. बहवाचार्योऽगस्तिश्च सन्तानः षोडशः स्मृतः । राशोकरः सप्तदशो विद्यागुरुरयापरः ॥ एतेऽष्टादश तीर्थशास्तः सेव्यन्ते पदे पदें। पूजनं प्रणिधानं च तेषां जयं तदागमात् ॥ . अक्षपादो गुरुस्तेषां तेन तेह्यक्षपादकाः । .उत्तमां मंदमावस्था प्राप्ता-नग्ना भ्रमन्ति ते ॥ .. Thus the inf#5 were mainly S'aivaits in their religion Same was the case with वैशेषिकs... Due to this reason TTRICT briefly states that अथ वैशेषिकमतं ब्रमः पाशपतान्यनामकम् ।। लिङ्गावियोगपत्तेषां ते ते तीर्थकरा अपि ॥ Page #19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 18 ferentemente pentru a: gr: 1 मतमेतत्प्रकटित तत औलूक्यमुच्यते ॥ अनपावेन ऋषिणा रचितत्वात्त यौगिकम् । आक्षपादमिति ख्यात प्रायस्तुल्यं मतद्वयम् ॥ Thus between para and def systems there was not much difference except in the number of gaITS. It is certain that in older days these systems had their religious followers as described above. Next we turn to that system. By HAI here we mean पूर्व मीमांसा system of जैमिनि. As aryans were much more connected with performance of Vedic sac.ifices the gå afar system seems to be one of the older systems, discussing the interpretation of different Vedic sentences in connection with their injunctions. In fact, this system teaches us the science of interpretation. To be in line with other philosophical system it discusses the nature of self etc. but it is not its main function. It is more connected with different sacrifices to be performed to achieve different aims. It is also connected with certain नित्यकर्मs like सन्ध्या , fra att etc. God is not the important entity in this system. कर्मेति मीमांसका: i.e. कर्म is the main important entity. In the realm of Indiau philosophical systems except cārvāka it is the only system which does not discuss AT&T seriously as the ultimate aim of life. The system is studied mainly to learn the science of interpretation than to study any metaphysical elements like self, God etc. It does not mean that it has no such Page #20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 19 tenets at all, but the main stress of the system is on the interpretation of Vedic sentenses. Now we can come to the next important philosophical system known as वेदान्त-also called उत्तरमीमांसा, Question as to whether different. Vedānta system, existed before Sarkarācārya in their present form which requires to be discussed in detail. We shall not touch that point here. As we know that after the spread of this system in India, followers of almost all the orthodox systems, in India. have merged into this system in one or other way. At present we find followers of Jain system and Buddha system but separate followers of 15-EL system-Yoga system, न्याय system वैशेषिक system and पूर्वमीमांसा system are not found now. In fact, at present, position is that Hindu philosophy means Vedānta philosophy particularly Sankara Vedanta. This is the understanding of common. people in our country as well as in other countries of the world. Unlike Buddha this system has its division like wania of gr, fafetezta a of TAITE, & aga of 457 and शुद्धाद्वैत of वल्लभाचार्य. Other divisions are also there but the above different acāryas have their different followers also. This system particularly the Sankara Vedānta has digested and diluted all the main principes of glaTT and Areqfa schools of Buddhism and thus the main. attraction of common people particularly orthodox Hindus were easily diverted to this system. Some principles of Buddhism were interwoven in such a way in this systein that it was possible to wipe out the effect of Buddhism from its main homeland. Instead of for Fiat of Buddhist schools it has preached pigtars and ultimately fatica of the ant. The aim of 79.916 is to have non-attachment** Page #21 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 20 to this momentary world. The same is fulfilled by मिथ्यात्व of the संसार or the world. The एकात्मवाद or एक चैतन्यवाद or ब्रह्मवाद had attracted many people who were tired of this world. It has affected the life of good many saints in this country whether Saivaits or Vaisuvaits. The system is also responsible to create good fas also but it is also responsible for the creation of a pretty big army of fans who merely talk regarding philosophy of Vedanta, and are a burden to the society. Sankara's aim in preaching perhaps was to have good selfless volunteers for the uplift of the society but unlike all other systems it has followers without proper understanding of the heart of its principles, and downfall of the system is seen. Of course, the different activities of Ramkrishna Mission and other such activities are going on but on the whole in the modern days people have not much faith in such philosophy for which to sonie extent the behaviour of the followers is responsible. In view of such condition a marxist friend could opine that religion is the opium and due to such defamation of Religion this country has come to this sorrowful stage. In fact, this is not the case. In reality any ism is opium when followed blindly, whether it is religious or political. Therefore, Stevenson a great thinker has rightly said that "The real enemies of the greatmen and their principles are their blind followers." I would like to improve upon the statement by adding one word and state that "The real enemies of the greatmen and their principles are their blind and knave followers." Thus we have briefly surveyed all the systems and we now know that every Indian philosophical system had Page #22 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 21 some good aim and the founder of the system in his own time wanted to check and remedy the corruption that had entered into the particular prevailing system in his own days. Thus the founders of the great philosophical systems in India were not merely the great philosophers but to some extent they were social reformers too. To do something good to the society and to bring society to the right religious path was their real aim. In the beginning these philosophers had good followers also but by passing of the time, blind followers and some knave followers with their wrong understanding and corrupt behaviour had marred the inner heart of their philosophies. Thus when some thinkers state that religions have destroyed India then it is not the correct statement. The followers of the religious sects instead of observing religion in its broad sense interpreted their own religion in the wrong way and stressed upon of their particular systems e.g. The followers of iar systems would do daily नित्यकर्म like सन्ध्यावन्दन and अग्निहोत्र etc. in his daily life. Similarly, followers of Jain and Bauddha system also would do faza like prayer and going to their temples etc., but the daily religious action stopped there and there. In fact, every philosophy has some cardinal principles of daily life. Not to tell a lie, not to deceive anybody, not to injure any creature and so on. but these cardinal principles of religions are not observed by the people who follow the particular religion based on that philosophical system. I would like to quote great Sankarācārya in this connection. He in his ब्रह्मसूत्र clearly gives idea of the अधिकारी of ब्रह्मज्ञान. According to him नित्यानित्यवस्तुविवेकः, इहामुत्रार्थभोगं विरागः, on Page #23 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 22 शमदमादि साधनसम्पत् मुमुक्षुत्वं च । तेषु हि सत्सु प्रागपि धर्मजिज्ञासाया ऊर्ध्व च शम्यते ब्रह्म जिज्ञासितुं ज्ञातु ं च न विपर्यये * S ( अध्यास भाष्य पृ. ५ ) Thus he has laid down stress on शमदमादि साधन सम्पत्ः which is connected with religious behaviour of a संन्यासिन् in his daily life. Nobody can be संन्यासिन् until he has realised ब्रह्म or has real जिज्ञासा regarding ब्रह्म. Regarding also he is clear in his mind. He in his clearly states fore ब्रह्मात्मभावस्य यथापूर्वं संसारित्वं शक्यं कल्पयितुम् । न हि शरीराद्यात्माभिमानिनो दुःखभयादिमत्वं दृष्टमिति तस्यैव वेदप्रमाणजनित ब्रह्मात्मावगमे तदभिमाननिवृतो तदेव मिथ्याज्ञाननिमित दुःखमया विमत्वं भवतोति कल्पयितुम् । न हि धनिनो गृहस्थस्य घनाभिमानिनो धनापहार निमित्त दुःखं दृष्टमिति तस्यैव प्रप्रजितस्थ धनाभिमानरहितस्य तदेव धनापहारनिमित्त दुःखं भवति । (श. मा. पृ. २१ ) अशरीरं वावसन्त न प्रियाप्रिये स्पृशत: (छं. ५ - १२ - १ ) इति शरीरे पतितेऽशरीरित्वं स्यान्न जीवत इति न सशरीरत्वस्य मिथ्याज्ञान निमित्तत्वात् । न ह्यात्मनः शरीरात्माभिमानलक्षणं मिथ्याज्ञानं मुक्त्वाऽन्यतः शरीरत्वं शक्यं कल्पयितुम् । (शा. भा पृ. २१-२२ ) तस्मान्नावगतब्रह्मात्मभावस्य यथापूर्वं संसारित्वम् । यस्य तु यथापूर्व संसारित्वं नासावगत ब्रह्मात्मभावः (शा. भा. २३ ) Similarly, उपनिषद् are also quite clear regarding the real अधिकारी of ब्रह्मज्ञान कठोपनिषद् states— नाविरतो दुश्चरितो नाशान्तो नासमाहितः । नाशान्तमनसो वापि प्रज्ञानेनैनमाप्नुयात् ॥ Page #24 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ . 23 Thus one who has no gooit character or one who is not of pure character in his daily life is not a fit person for ब्रह्मज्ञान. यस्त्वविज्ञानवान् भवति भवत्ययुक्तेन मनसा सदा । तस्येन्द्रियाण्यवश्यानि दुष्टाश्वा इव सारथेः ॥ कठ. १-३-३ यस्तु विज्ञानवान् भवति युक्तेन मनसा सवा । तस्येन्द्रियाणि पश्यानि समश्वा इव सारथः ॥ कळ. १-३-६ यस्त्वविज्ञानवान् भवत्यमनस्कः सदा शुचिः । न स तत्त्वमाप्नोति संसारं चाधिगच्छति ॥ कठ. १-३-७ यस्तु विज्ञानवान् भवति समनस्कः सवा शुचिः। स तु तत्पदमाप्नोति यस्माद् भूयो न जायते ॥ कठ. १-३-८ · ब्रह्मज्ञान is not to be obtained by hearing the प्रवचन or by reading and mastering the Vedānta philosophy. नायमात्मा प्रवचनेन लभ्यो, न मेधया न बहना श्रुतेन । यमंवेष वृणुते तेन लभ्यस्तर-वष वणुते तनु स्वाम् ॥ Inspite of all these statements we see the संन्यासिन having good property and quarreling in the court of law for that property. We see even the heir of the seat of शङ्कराचार्य fighting for their seats. People in general particularly young generation of our time has lost faith in religion and even in philosophy because they see that these bind and rather knave followers by their irreligious acts, have marred the inner heart of that philosophy and religion. both... ...... Neither Lord Buddha nor Lord Māhavira nor even Lord Saikaārcārya, Rāmānujacārya and other Acāryas had dreamt. that there would be big armies of Bhikshus and Page #25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 24 Sadhus and Sānyasins who would instead of preserving the philosophy and religion and showing the right path to the people quarrel among themselves and ultimately would lead their philosophy and religion both to the path of destruction. The process of establishing new philosophy and religion has not stopped in this age also. With a view to have social reform on the basis of religion Arya samāj, Prāthanā samāj and Brahma samāj had come into existence. Similarly, philosophy of Mahari Aurtindo, philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and latest the phi osophy of Acārya Rajnishji also have come forth. The modern age is so speedy that emergence of a new phi osophy and downfall of the same by the blind and knave followers ot that philosophy have happened side by side and that we are eye-witnesses of both the occurrences. In the centenary year of Mahatma Gandhi we have been seeing his followers quarrelling against each other for petty political powers and at the same time preaching the philosophy of truth and non-violence. At present we are living in an age of science. Modern science has surprised the world with the inventions like that of electricity, radio, television, different kinds of acrophones and lastly the atomic energy. Nowadays man can reach the moon and can return also within a few days. But with all these inventions there is no peace in the world. The scientists who have invented good many useful things for this world are in a strong grip of the “po.iticians of the respective big countries that on one hand they invent good many things for human comforts Page #26 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 25 but at the same time on the other hand they are compelled to invest instruments like atom bombs and hydrogen bombs for the destruction of the world. The big countries with command over auch armaments are frightened of each other and hence avoid participating in World-War. Bout we do nat know when the political whim of these politicians of the so called big powers will prail this world to the path of destruction. In ancient times there was no such scientific progress. People had to walk a long way to cover long distance, Of course, horse, bullocks and camels were to help the long travel but at the same time people could settle in any country if they desired to do so. There was no question of obtaining nationality for going to any country. There was no necessity of visa or passport. To-day with all the convenience obtained by the scientific means not a single individual can step in any country without the proper visa and passpurt. To obtain the nationality is altogether a different question. On the contrary some small countries after getting independence remove these people from their country who settled there since generations in that country. So we see that with scientific progress the nature of human beings or minds of human beings have not become broad. They are as marrow as we had withered in old days of sectarian people. . For thousands of years the great philosophers, anintsand social reformers in this country and in other countries of the world have given good thought and tried to improve the society by their good behaviour. They did create some good effect for a certain period top but at Page #27 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ 26. present the problem is to find out the way to improve the mind of the politicians of the world and to bring them to the right path. Otherwise! with all good philosophical thinking these politicians are sure to bring the destructions soon. This can be done by the people with the moral force of their good behaviour. 978111 and 1 people should be ready to follow the path of . Good thinking by mind () and good expression of the same by words (a) would not create any effect of this thinking and this expression is not implemented into the action (4011). ̈ ̈ The implementation of good philosophical principles into action with proper nnderstanding is what we mean religion. Good minds give good thinking, and power of expression can express this thinking in good words, these two processes are regularly going on in our country. But what we lack in is the implementation of this good thinking and we do not get the moral force in absence of imple mentation of good principles. Any type of good thinking is going to be proved impotent if it is not implemented. Let us try to implement good philosophical principles in which we have faith, and let Almighty may improve our. minds to that direction. Regarding the review of books in the last three years the speedy publications have given birth to good many philosophical and religious publications. The list of even important books can be very long. So the scholars will excuse me if I do not name them here. Once again I pray my learned friends that they will excuse me if they find any short commings in my expres sion of my thoughts from their view points. Page #28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Shree Gayatri Printing Press-Rajkot