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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Relation between Religion and Philosophy by Dr. JITENDRA S. JETLY Nyayacharya, M.A.Ph.D. Director Institute of Indology DWARKA (Saurashtra) India Presidential address of the Religion and Philosophy Section XXV All India Oriental Conference Jadavpur 29th, 30th, 31st October, 1969.

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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: yuropameM prAyaH darzanako dharmase alaga mAnA gayA hai aura isa liye kabhI darzanakA lakSya yA prayojana mokSavAdakA pratipAdana nahIM rahA / "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.

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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 ki svideveha dharmANAmanuSTeyatamaM smRtam / vyAhatAmiva pazyAmo dharmasya vividhAM matim // 14 // Ucha dehAtavantyeke natadastoti cApare / kecitsaMzayitaM. sarva niHsaMzayamathApare // 15 // anityaM nityamityeke nAstyastotyapi caapre| .. ekarUpaM dvidhetyeke vyAmizramiti cApare / ekameke pRthak cAnye bahutvamiti cApare // 16 // manyante brAhmaNA evaM prAjJAstattvArthadazinaH / jaTAjinadharAzcAnye muNDAH kecidasaMvRtAH // 17 // asnAna kecidicchanti snAnamityapi cApare / AhAraM kecidicchanti keciccAnazane ratAH // 18 // kama kecitprazasanti prazAntimapi cApare / dezakAlAvubhau kecinnatadastIti cApare / kecinmokSa prazaMsanti kecinbhogAnpRthagvidhAn // 16 // MBH. R.Q.R.I. edition. Asvamedhika Parva. Adhayaya 48 Verse No. 14-24.

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dhanAni kecidicchanti nirdhanatvaM tathApare / upAsyasAdhanaM sveke nainavastIti bApare // 20 // ahiMsAniratAzcAnye keciddhisAparAyaNAH / puNyena yazasetyeke netabastIti cApare // 21 // sadbhAvaniratAzcAnye kecirasaMzayite sthitAH / duHkhAdanye sukhAdanye dhyAnamityapare sthitAH // 22 // yazamityapare dhIrAH pradAnamiti caapre| sarvameke prazaMsanti na sarvamiti cApare // 23 // tapassvanye prazaMsanti svAdhyAyamapare janAH / jJAnaM saMnyAsamityeke svabhAvaM bhUtacintakAH // 24 // These different philosophical thoughts include paarat or bhautikavAdI cArvAka also. Let us first give our thoughts to the so called materialist philosophy viz. cArvAka. Generally in the realm of Indian philosophical systems it is believed that cArvAka had no connection with any religion. But if we go deep and study the philosophy we are able to see that the cArvAka philosophy is also based on bhUtadayA. 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 mokSa. They do not accept punarjanma. . But if we examine the back ground of all these tenets then we can find that bhUtadayA = compassion towards innocent creatures 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

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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 paraloka or svarga 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 pratyakSameva pramANamiti cArvAkaH 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.

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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. bhUyatAM dharmasarvasvaM zrutvA caMvAvadhAryatAm / AtmanaH pratikUlAni pareSAM na samAcareta // Of course in this zloka, pareSAM should be understood in its broad sense. It does not mean only qarai HELSETTI but it means mareSAmanyeSAM jantUnAm. 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

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Start unfavourable to oneself should not be performed to have one's selfish end. But if the followers of grafa system preachs that yAvajjIvet sukhaM jovet RNaM kRtvA dhRtaM pibet / bhasmIbhUtasya behasya punarAgamanaM kutaH // 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 carvaka. 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 sampradAya or pantha. Let us now turn to Jainism. We know that followers of this religion or seci are mainiy divided into two sects viz. Svetambara 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 carvakn 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 Mahavira.

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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 syAdvAda. This led to establishment of saptabhaGgInyAya 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 anekAntopyanekAntaH ie even anekAntavAda 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

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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. mAtmanaH pratikUlAni pareSAM na samAcaret / 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 nirukta : has. rightly said that neSa sthANoraparAdho yadena mandho na 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

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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 agnostic, 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

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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 yanas viz. gagn and A101. Besides, philosophical schools of Buddhism are also divided into four divisions viz. a 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

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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 Sankhya and Yoga systems. According to these systems prakRtipuruSaviveka khyAti is the cause of mokSa. 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 jIvAtmA is kUTastha 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 catanya but merely contact of caitanya empowers prakRti to do eyerything i.e. from creation of this world to fegefa and laya. Due to the reflection of buddhitattva 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 prakRtipuruSavivekakhyAti 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 prakRti as satvarajastamasAM sAmyAvasthA or the nature of self as it is the conciousness which does not do anything but

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- 12 giving contact... The evolution as described in these two systems cannot easily be proved in any scientific laboratory. in the modern times. prakRtemahAMstato'haGkArastasmAdagaNazca SoDazakaH cannot be observed in any scientific laboratory of the modern-science. : satvarajastamasAM sAmyAvasthA prakRtiH 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. rAgazekha rasUri describes in his SaDdarzanasamuccaya the followers of these systems as follows : sAGkhyA nirIzvarA kecit kecidIzvaradevatAH / ye te nirIzvarAste'mI nArAyaNaparAyaNAH // viSNoH pratiSThAM kurvanti sAGkhyazAsanasUrayaH / caitanyapramukheH zabdaH steSAmAcArya ucyate // .. kAzyAM prAcuryameteSAM bahavo mAsopavAsikAH / . dhUmramArgAnugA viprA acimArgAnugAstvamI // vedapriyAstato viprA yajJamArgAnuyAyinaH / . hiMsAdivedaviratA. sAGkhyA adhyAtmavAdinaH // This shows that these were followers of these systems, and they had imp.ication in the daily life of the followers. udAsonapaMtha seems to be the followers of sAGkhya and Yoga systems. This sect believes the self as udAsina i.e. kUTastha and nitya. The individual who has prakRtipuruSa vivekakhyAti 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 prakRtipuruSavivekakhyAti of the sAGkhya system.

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The next orthodox systems are nyAya and vaizeSika 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 AS 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 SAI 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 akSapAd or gautama 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 mithyAjJAna of the former prameya vAtsyAyana author of the nyAya bhASya cearly states that tatrAtmAdyapavarga 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 doSas would cause the absence of pravRtti viz. doing dharma and adharma which is responsible for pretyabhAva. 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 vaizeSika system. They are dravya, guNa, . *H, HIATU, faga, mar and 3THTA. The 1914 system

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va includes all these categories in the prameya viz. artha.. In fact, in this 37ef all other giros also can be included but to show that the mithyAjJAna of particular prameya is responsible for the existence of saMsAra, AtmA etc. they are to be shown as separate prameyas. Out of sixteen categories of nyAya system except prameya thirteen categories are connected with the first category viz. pramANa. The NBh. explaining this states in the clear terms as follows: saMzayAdayo yathAsthAnaM pramANeSu prameyeSuH cAntaryavanto na vyatiricyante / satyametata imAstu catasro vidyAH pRthakprasthAnAH prANabhRtAmanugrahAyopadizyante yAsAM caturthIyamAnvIkSiko nyAyavidyA / tasyAH pRthakaprasthAnAH saMzayAvayaH padArthAH / teSAM pRthagvacanamantareNAdhyAtmavidyAmAtramiyaM syAn / 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 adhyAtmavidyA which was already preached by upaniSadas. 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 nyAyavidyA that it is : pradopaH sarvavidhAnAmupAyaH sarvakarmaNAm / AzrayaH sarvavidyAnAM vidyoddeze prakotitA // Thus "logic or the science of reasoning in the art of arts and science of sciences" was long ago stated by . ..

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him. Otherwise regarding #TOFTA, 197169 #13 is clear in his mind. He frankly states that iha tu AtmAditattvajJAnaM tattvajJAnam and by this tattvajJAna one achieves niHzreyas 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 du:khajanya prati doSa mithyAjJAna.nAmuttarottarApAye tadanantarApAyA dpvrgH| 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 very 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 Nyaya system on the other hand accepts the seven categories of the Vait'esika system. : However, the Vaiz'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 dravyas like AkAza kAla dizA

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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, trayANAma arthazabdAbhidheyatvam because in reality in day to day life 404, TU and Fix can be easily explained as independent categories..... Thus truly speaking dravya, guNa and : kameM were the categories in the early Vais'esika 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 Nyaya Vais'esika 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 caitanya, is a different entity. The caitanya in the sAGkhya. 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 Nyaya Vais'esika 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.. atha yogamataM bamaH zavamityaparAmiSam / Forefta: suntetaafafora: II;

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17 kambalikA pra.vahINA jaTApaTalazAlinaH / bhasmoddha lanakartAro norasAhArasevinaH // dormUle tumbukabhRtaH prAyeNa vanavAsinaH / AtithyakarmaniratAH kandamUlaphalAzanAH // .... sastrIkA atha nistrIkA nistrIkA teSu cottamAH / paJcAgnisAdhanaparAH prANaliGgaparAH kare // vidhAya dantapavanaM prakSAlyAjrikarAnanam / .. spRzanti bhasmanAGgaM tri striH zivadhyAnatatparAH // yajamAno vandamAno vakti teSAM kRtAJjaliH / OM namaH zivAyetyevaM zivAya nama ityaso // teSAM ca zaGkaro devaH sRSTisaMhArakArakaH / / tasyAvatArAH sArA ye te'STAdaza tarpitAH // teSAM nAmAnyatha bamo nakulIzo'tha kauzikaH / / gAryo matryaH kauruSazca IzAnaH SaSTha ucyate // . saptamaH pAragAryastu kapilANDamanuSyako / aparakuziko'trizca piGgalAkSo'thapuSpakaH // .. bahavAcAryo'gastizca santAnaH SoDazaH smRtaH / rAzokaraH saptadazo vidyAgururayAparaH // ete'STAdaza tIrthazAstaH sevyante pade pdeN| pUjanaM praNidhAnaM ca teSAM jayaM tadAgamAt // . akSapAdo gurusteSAM tena tehyakSapAdakAH / .uttamAM maMdamAvasthA prAptA-nagnA bhramanti te // .. Thus the inf#5 were mainly S'aivaits in their religion Same was the case with vaizeSikas... Due to this reason TTRICT briefly states that atha vaizeSikamataM bramaH pAzapatAnyanAmakam / / liGgAviyogapatteSAM te te tIrthakarA api //

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18 ferentemente pentru a: gr: 1 matametatprakaTita tata aulUkyamucyate // anapAvena RSiNA racitatvAtta yaugikam / AkSapAdamiti khyAta prAyastulyaM matadvayam // 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 pUrva mImAMsA system of jaimini. As aryans were much more connected with performance of Vedic sac.ifices the ga 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 nityakarmas like sandhyA , fra att etc. God is not the important entity in this system. karmeti mImAMsakA: i.e. karma is the main important entity. In the realm of Indiau philosophical systems except carvaka 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

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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 vedAnta-also called uttaramImAMsA, Question as to whether different. Vedanta system, existed before Sarkaracarya 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, nyAya system vaizeSika system and pUrvamImAMsA system are not found now. In fact, at present, position is that Hindu philosophy means Vedanta 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 zuddhAdvaita of vallabhAcArya. Other divisions are also there but the above different acaryas have their different followers also. This system particularly the Sankara Vedanta 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**

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20 to this momentary world. The same is fulfilled by mithyAtva of the saMsAra or the world. The ekAtmavAda or eka caitanyavAda or brahmavAda 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

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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 nityakarma like sandhyAvandana and agnihotra 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 Sankaracarya in this connection. He in his brahmasUtra clearly gives idea of the adhikArI of brahmajJAna. According to him nityAnityavastuvivekaH, ihAmutrArthabhogaM virAgaH, on

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22 zamadamAdi sAdhanasampat mumukSutvaM ca / teSu hi satsu prAgapi dharmajijJAsAyA Urdhva ca zamyate brahma jijJAsituM jJAtu N ca na viparyaye * S ( adhyAsa bhASya pR. 5 ) Thus he has laid down stress on zamadamAdi sAdhana sampatH which is connected with religious behaviour of a saMnyAsin in his daily life. Nobody can be saMnyAsin until he has realised brahma or has real jijJAsA regarding brahma. Regarding also he is clear in his mind. He in his clearly states fore brahmAtmabhAvasya yathApUrvaM saMsAritvaM zakyaM kalpayitum / na hi zarIrAdyAtmAbhimAnino duHkhabhayAdimatvaM dRSTamiti tasyaiva vedapramANajanita brahmAtmAvagame tadabhimAnanivRto tadeva mithyAjJAnanimita duHkhamayA vimatvaM bhavatoti kalpayitum / na hi dhanino gRhasthasya ghanAbhimAnino dhanApahAra nimitta duHkhaM dRSTamiti tasyaiva praprajitastha dhanAbhimAnarahitasya tadeva dhanApahAranimitta duHkhaM bhavati / (za. mA. pR. 21 ) azarIraM vAvasanta na priyApriye spRzata: (chaM. 5 - 12 - 1 ) iti zarIre patite'zarIritvaM syAnna jIvata iti na sazarIratvasya mithyAjJAna nimittatvAt / na hyAtmanaH zarIrAtmAbhimAnalakSaNaM mithyAjJAnaM muktvA'nyataH zarIratvaM zakyaM kalpayitum / (zA. bhA pR. 21-22 ) tasmAnnAvagatabrahmAtmabhAvasya yathApUrvaM saMsAritvam / yasya tu yathApUrva saMsAritvaM nAsAvagata brahmAtmabhAvaH (zA. bhA. 23 ) Similarly, upaniSad are also quite clear regarding the real adhikArI of brahmajJAna kaThopaniSad states-- nAvirato duzcarito nAzAnto nAsamAhitaH / nAzAntamanaso vApi prajJAnenainamApnuyAt //

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. 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 brahmajJAna. yastvavijJAnavAn bhavati bhavatyayuktena manasA sadA / tasyendriyANyavazyAni duSTAzvA iva sAratheH // kaTha. 1-3-3 yastu vijJAnavAn bhavati yuktena manasA savA / tasyendriyANi pazyAni samazvA iva sArathaH // kaLa. 1-3-6 yastvavijJAnavAn bhavatyamanaskaH sadA zuciH / na sa tattvamApnoti saMsAraM cAdhigacchati // kaTha. 1-3-7 yastu vijJAnavAn bhavati samanaskaH savA shuciH| sa tu tatpadamApnoti yasmAd bhUyo na jAyate // kaTha. 1-3-8 * brahmajJAna is not to be obtained by hearing the pravacana or by reading and mastering the Vedanta philosophy. nAyamAtmA pravacanena labhyo, na medhayA na bahanA zrutena / yamaMveSa vRNute tena labhyastara-vaSa vaNute tanu svAm // Inspite of all these statements we see the saMnyAsina having good property and quarreling in the court of law for that property. We see even the heir of the seat of zaGkarAcArya 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 Mahavira nor even Lord Saikaarcarya, Ramanujacarya and other Acaryas had dreamt. that there would be big armies of Bhikshus and

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24 Sadhus and Sanyasins 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 samaj, Prathana samaj and Brahma samaj had come into existence. Similarly, philosophy of Mahari Aurtindo, philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and latest the phi osophy of Acarya 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

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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

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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.

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