World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/007005/1

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WORLD OF PHILOSOPHY A HARMONY (ACHARYA PROF. DR. YAJNESHWAR SHASTRI FELICITATION VOLUME) Editor in chief Dr. Christopher Key Chapple Editors Dr. Intaj Malek | Dr. Dilip Charan | Dr. Sunanda Shastri | Shri Prashant Dave

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World of Philosophy - A Harmony (Acharya Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri's Felicitation Volume) Editor in Chief Dr. Christopher Key Chapple Editors Editors Dr. Intaj Malek Dr. Sunanda Shastri Dr. Pilip Charan Prof. Prashant Dave Dr. Pilip Charabave

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World of Philosophy: A Harmony (Acharya Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri's Felicitation Volume) Editor in Chief: Dr. Christopher Key Chapple Editors: Dr. Intaj Malek * Dr. Dilip Charan * Dr. Sunanda Shastri* Prof. Prashant Dave (c): Editors, 2011 All right reserved. The moral right of the Editors has been asserted ISBN: 978-93-81090-00-8 PUBLISHED BY SHANTI PRAKASHAN 1780, sector-1 Delhi By-pass, ROHTAK-124001. (HR) OTHER CONTACT PLACES 528, pooth-khurd DELHI-110039 D-19/220, Nandanvan Appartment, Nr. Bhavsar Hostel, Nava Vadaj, AHMEDABAD-380 013. (Gujarat) PRINTED BY APEX PRINTERS Sakkarpur, DELHI Type Setting: Keyur K. Bhatt, 5, Maitri Park Society, Nr. Madhuvan Flat, Amraiwadi, Ahmedabad-26. Ph. 9898039407, 22771316

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Acharya Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri

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World of Philosophy - A Harmony (Acharya Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri's Felicitation Volume) Advisors Dr. Parimal Trivedi Vice Chancellor, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad Dr. Sudarshan Iyengar Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad Editor in Chief Dr. Christopher Key Chapple Editors Dr. Intaj Malek Dr. Sunanda Shastri Dr. Dilip Charan Prof. Prashant Dave III

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A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF. An academic felicitation volume aims to celebrate the work of a great scholar. This volume accomplished its goal. Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri has provided academic leadership to a generation of scholars. A true scholar probes unexplored fields and forges new ground. Dr. Shastri has investigated the core texts of Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism. He has commented upon and provided new commentarial translations for many texts from all three traditions in the spirit of the great thinkers such as Haribhadra Suri and the author of the Yogavasistha, Shastri has sought to find common ground even in places of great theological dispute. Shastri has translated core sections of and commentaries on Umasvati's Prashamarati Prakarana. This remarkable text sets forth a cosmology and worldview that informs Jaina ethics. Why should on practice nonviolence? According to Umasvati, all acts of violence dampen out spirituality and thicken and darken the cloak of karma that shrouds us from our true self. Shastri's work, both in translation and in his years of service to the L.D. Institute of Indology, have helped us all understand and appreciate the wisdom of Jainism more deeply. Jainism and Buddhism share one facet in common: they both hold in abeyance the notion that a god created or continues to be involved in the affairs of the world. For Jainism, as Shastri has helped us understand, this means that human beings need to cultivate an inner place of peace and self reliance. For Buddhism, this insight emphasizes the centrality of the mind in all human endeavors. Shstri, though his work on the Buddhist Yogacara text the Mahayanasutralankara, has given the world an avenue for understanding the centrality of meditation in the Mahayana system. Although Buddhism does not posit the existence of a soul, both Jainism and Hinduism share a belief in an inviolable state, a silent place of truth, consciousness, and bliss referred to in Jainism as Jiva and in Hindusm as Atman. Through an exhaustive, multi-year study, Dr. Shastri has furthered our understanding of the Self or Soul as articulated in the Isa Upanishad. Though one of the shortest of religious texts, this important work has inspired more than 43 traditional commentaries. Shastri has compiled and compared these works, advancing our appreciation for the complexity of Indian thought and practice. Leadership takes many forms. Dr. Shastri has encouraged countless faculty members and graduate students during his many years as the head of the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Education at Gujarat University. He has also inspired hundreds of students and community members during his frequent visits to the United States, speaking to study groups in Los Angeles and Cleveland and through teaching his classes at Loyola Marymount IV

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University and Cleveland State University. It is no small wonder that so many scholars have responded by contributing chapters to this volume in Dr. Shastri's honor. His work has inspired creative thought in a variety of fields: Indian philosophy, Western philosophy, ethics, ecology, archaeoloty, education, comparative religions, peace studies, Jainism, Buddhism many schools of Vedanta, yoga and so much more. The many contributors from so many disciplines share one common visionary as their inspiration: Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri. Chistopher Key Chapple Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology Editor, Worldviews: Gloal Religions, Culture and Ecology University Hall, Room 3763 Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, California 90045, USA 12/12/2010

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Editors' words: To edit means to revise, to correct, to check, to amend, to omit and to prepare for publication. The editor in other words performs the duty of a surgeon. The present editors have shouldered a great responsibility to edit the felicitation volume of a never retiring man Acharya Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri who is retiring from his official duties. Dr. Shastri is an untiring man as his pursuit for knowledge, for values, for peace continues. He is a man in quest of values, in quest of peace not for him but for the people of the world at large. He himself is the most satisfied man with peace in his heart and peace in his mind. His home is the temple of Goddess Peace, where one feels an atmosphere of heavenly bliss. Initially we invited papers from selected fifty scholars from India and abroad keeping in view that other scholars may not be able to submit their scholarly papers within a time bound frame work, but the response was so immense and spontaneous that some professors and scholars voluntarily sent their papers for this volume. We apologize scholars to whom we were not in a position to send invitation letters. The present volume contains as many as seventy three papers on variety of subjects ranging from the Vedas to the contemporary concepts of management, from environment and Gandhian Philosphy to Tantra and mysticism. The volume ciontains sholarly papers from almost all walks of life. It has the philosophy of Vedanta and the philosophy of Sufism, in as much as it contains the Lataif and the Chakras. It contains scholarly articles on Jainism, Buddhism and Islamic mysticism. It contains papers of scholars such as Dr. Chapple, Dr. Karad, Prof. Ramjisingh, Padmavibhusan Dr. Dhaky, Dr. Sagarmal Jain, Dr. Sudarshan Iyengar, Prof. R. Balasubramaniam, Prof. SR Bhatt, Prof. RP Singh, Prof SP Dubey, Prof. Dr. James L. Fredericks, Prof. Madhusudan V. Baxi, and many more on whose papers we are very small to pass any editorial comment. Dr. Shastri's unique love affair with philosophical pursuit led him to ardous journey such as arranging national and international conferences, seminars, symposia and workshops. The papers presented by scholars at such seminars and conferences are brought out by Dr. Shastri in the form of books which not only provide reference materials to the teachers and students but it will also satisfy the appetite of the persons, who are interested in philosophy. The present volume may also serve this purpose. It will not only provide reference material to the students and reasearchers but it will quench the thirst of the scholars of all walks of life. In editing this volume, we have taken great care but if any errors or ommissions are left, the editors in advance seek apology, from the scholars and the readers. VI

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Apart from the subject of Philosophy, Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri is renowned scholar of Sanskri Language and literature also. He has written many articles and books in Sanskrit language. His scholarly articles and books written in Sanskrit are admired by national and international scholars of great stature. We have intially decided to include his papers written in sanskrit but due to shortspan of time and other hurdles, we are not in a position to include the same in this volume. Dr. Bharti Shelat has submitted her paper very early but as she had submitted her paper in the pdf image format, which could not be opened at the last moment hence her paper is not included in the volume.We regret our inability to include her paper and seek her apology for the same. We are thankful to all scholars and contributors who have filled up the pages of this volume with their schoalarly papers. We are thankful to Dr. Parimal Trivedi the Vice Chancellor of Guajarat University Ahmedabad and Prof. Sudarshan Iyengar Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith Ahmedabad, who have extended their kind cooperation to be the advisors of the felicitation committee.In preparing this volume, we are thankful to Shri Keyur Bhatt of Keyur Arts Amraiwadi Ahmedabad for taking extreme pain to finish the typographical work. We are also thankful to Shanti Prakashan of Nava Vadaj Ahmedabad in bringing out this volume in a short period of time. Dr. Intaj Malek Dr. Sunanda Shastri Ahmedabad, India Christmas 2010 VII Dr. Dilip Charan Prof. Prashant R Dave

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A Remembrance - Christopher Key Chapple In the winter of 1989, just five months after the birth of my daughter Emma on July 10th, I embarked on my second journey to India. The first journey was to "see India" and also speak at a conference of the world's religions and at Sankara's birthplace in Kalady in 1981. This second journey included two tasks: editing the Yoga Sutra co-translation being published by Sat Guru Publications in Delhi and to meet scholars of Jainism. While in Delhi, the proprietors of the press, when I asked whom to seek out in Ahmedabad, gave me the card for Y. S. Shastri, who recently had moved from the L.D. Institute of Indology to Gujarat University. Unfamiliar with India's late opening traditions, I arrived at the L.D. at 9 a.m., only to be told that access to the library would not be available until 11 a.m. Looking somewhat forlorn, I walked away, only to be greeted by a retired professor on his morning walk. When he asked if he could help, I showed him Shastri's card, he hailed a motor rickshaw, and send me on my way to the Professor's flat on the far side of the Gujarat University campus. When I knocked on the door, I disturbed a young family engaged in a familiar rhythm, though two hours later than that followed in the United States! Professor Shastri was helping eight year old Yogeshwar prepare for an exam while Sunanda was preparing breakfast. The graciously received me and I waited as they finished their morning routine and sent Yogeshwar, well prepared, on his way. Then we sat over bread and tea and talked. We soon realized that we shared so many interests: Vedanta, Yoga, Yogacara Buddhism, and Jainism. Sunanda had been assistant librarian at the L.D. Institute, and they many times have helped me obtain research materials there. She had since moved to the Nehru Centre for Environment and Education, and also helped me become familiar with the resources there, an important part of my ongoing research project on religion and ecology. I learned so much that morning about daily academic life in India, just two years before the liberalization policies revolutionized Indian life after the end of the cold war. The rest is history: Dr. Shastri came often to the United States to teach students during the summer and for one semester was my sabbatical replacement at Loyola Marymount University. He learned how to cook rice and do the "American" routine of housecleaning and walking and self-reliant behavior. He has welcomed my now-grown daughter to his home where Sunanda has taken to calling Emma her "American daughter." His scholarship and passion have inspired our students and our community in Los Angeles.... all because life starts later in the morning in India, and thankfully so! The auspiciousness of welcoming Dr. Shastri to teach in America resulted in an important introduction. When he arrived in Los Angeles for the VIII

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first time, he immediately set about connecting with the NRI community in Los Angeles, most notably Navin and Pratima Doshi and their circle of friends. For many years, Navin Doshi, en engineer, had hosted a study group in his home, exploring the connections between Vedanta and science. Dr. Shastri helped re-energize the group, which met weekly with him to discuss the Upanisads, Vedanta, and Indian philosophy. Shastri introduced me and my wife to the Doshis, who live quite close to LMU. Through the energy and good will of Dr.Shastri, the Doshis felt welcomed into our university scholarly endeavors. Eventually, the Doshis established the Doshi Chair for the study of India at UCLA and the Doshi Professorship in Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University. Each year LMU presents the Doshi Bridgebuilder Award at LMU through this professorship, honoring individuals who have helped foster cross-cultural and interdisciplinary understanding. Awardees have included Dr. Deepak Chopra, Maestro Zubin Mehta, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, educator and author Greg Mortenson, and Professor Huston Smith. The community started by the Shastris and Doshis has now developed a worldwide network! One of the great pleasures of welcoming Yajneshwar and Sunanda and on occasion Yogeshwar to California has been introducing them to some of the historical sites that relate to Hinduism. In addition to the Vedanta Center in Hollywood, we have experienced two memorable excursions. The first, several years ago, was to Ojai. The Ojai Valley was featured in a classic 1930s movie about the allure of the East: Lost Horizons. Many years ago, Annie Besant discovered Ojai and purchased several thousand acres in both the upper and lower valleys. Krishnamurti lived and taught there for many years. Both the Theosophical Society and the Krishnamurti Foundation maintain schools there. We also visited the Ojai Foundation, a retreat center on Theosophical land renowned for its cutting edge work in group dynamics known as Council inspired by Native American traditions. As we wended our way through the oak-studded valleys and citrus groves between the Topa Topa Mountains and the Sulphur Mountain Ridge, where Meher Baba frequently taught, Professor Shastri delighted in how similar the landscape seemed to his native Karnataka. Another journey took us to Mount Madonna Retreat Center, a compound of over 320 acres established more than 30 years ago by Baba Hari Dass, a silent Muni and author who established this Ashram in the Santa Cruz mountains, replete with a temple in honor of Hanuman. The Shastris were featured speakers at the second Yoga and Ecology Conference, co-sponsored by Loyola Marymount University and the Green Yoga Association. More than 100 American practitioners of Yoga gathered on the mountain to learn more about how our conections with the earth and our treatment of the earth can be enhanced through the practice of Yoga. Sunanda spoke about and demonstrated the Gandhian spinning wheel as an emblem of Yogic dis

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cipline, and Yajneshwar evoked the Upanisads as providing the fundamental connection between individual self and universal consciousness. On the way home, they crowded into a Mini Cooper sports car with some Yoga friends, refreshed from yet another California adventure. Sunday, December 12, 2010, 9:55 AM

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Ideal personality and Exemplary Work - N.S. Hegde, BharatanaHalli. (Shri. N.S. Hegde is 84 years old primary teacher of Yajneshwar Shastri. N.S. Hegde, Bharatanahalli, is renowned writer of Kannada and honoured with 'Karanatak Shri' by the Government of Karnataka.) Where is the mango tree and where is cuckoo, What kind of relation is this! It is veritably so in the function of nature. When mango tree starts blossoming, at that time only the cuckoo' beautiful songs are heard. Other times no one knows the whereabouts of cuckoo. This is the natural relation between things. Similarly, though, our Yajneshwar Shastri has been spending the springs of his life in a far away peace like Ahmedabad in Gujarat, still notes of cuckoo's songs are heard in his birthplace of Malenadu in Karnataka. His scholarly and academic activities are well known here as well. Fragrance of this soil is spread there as well. Yajneshwar Shastri has become natural binding between these two places. Creeper of his intellectual and familial life is spreading fruitfully there is a fact. It is also fact that the roots of this delicate creeper have sprouted here. These roots are pulling him back and encircling in this soil connecting people. Sweetness of emotions in his heart and broadness of mind are truly responsible for the strong tie between him and people of his soil. That young child Yajneshwar is comes before my eyes though today's Yajneshwar has ascended the heights of Meru Mountain of scholarship. I remember that Yajneshwar who wore Khaki half pants, clean white half shirt and Gandhi cap on the head and school bag full of books and notebooks dangling from his shoulder. He came barefooted to school from his home in the Kosguli village three kilo meters away passing through thick forest of our area. He always came running with long steps and panting. He used to reach before the prayer bell of the primary school in the front row. He was very punctual child. It is still fresh in my mind that I got him as my student. Yajneshwar was a young boy of twelve or thirteen at that time and a much disciplined boy. Children are disciplined in the class for two reasons, either due to fear of teacher or through self discipline. Our Yajneshwar belonged to second category of naturally self disciplined child. Most probably it was the influence of his family culture. Child Yajneshwara's father Vidvan Sadashiv Shastri and mother Tungabhadra both well cultured. They were traditionalists of the finest nature. They were such ideal couple that humility should be learnt from their life. Vidvan Sadashiv Shastri was the first person to move out from this forest region where the means of communication were scarce before our indepen XI

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dence to study in Maharaja Sanskrit College, Mysore. He obtained Vidvan degree and later he was conferred the title of "Vidvan Kesari' by the then Maharaja of Mysore. He was famous as the first scholar of our area. He was famous as V.K. (Vidvan Kesari) Sadashiv Shastri, Kosguli. One can easily recognize unique characteristics in this Vidvan Kesari (i.e. Lion among the Scholars). Though, he was highly learned, he came back to his native place to serve his own land and garden of areca nut as the farmer. Along with the agriculture he also continued with the Vedic teaching at his home and performing Vedic rituals. These activities of V.K. Sadashiv Shastri added to the honour of our region. He was not just a degree holder scholar, but as Bhagavad Gita says that 'Pandita samadarshinah', he was also equanimous towards everyone. He was affectionate towards young and old, learned and ignorant and wealthy and poor. V.K. Sadashiv Shastri's wife Tungabhadra was equal in her behavior to his ideals. She belonged to a well cultured family of the area. It is no wonder that our Yajneshwara has come out as an exemplary genius having such background of the best Vedic Culture family. I do not believe that birth of a person having special qualities in particular family is not an accident. Our philosophers say the merit and demerit are responsible for birth and parents. Shankaracharya stated that human life is not possible without the merit of thousands of lives. Birth in particular family is because of previous sanskaras. I feel that our Yajneshwar also is fruit incarnate of merit. One may get birth in good family on account of merit, which is not enough for the successful future. He may use that opportunity either for downfall or for reaching the great heights. From this point of view, Yajneshwara's life and his efforts for learning are fruitful. Yajneshwar has used the opportunity of his birth in good family and has reached greater heights of scholarship and success. Yajneshwara has all necessary modern and traditional degrees such as Ph.D. and Acharya etc. One cannot become a leading scholar just by studying for the examination. Famous Kannada poet D.V. Gundappa says, 'you cannot call him a learned man who simply holds degrees by reading books. One who digests the knowledge and implements in his life and experiences it is the real scholar.' When I see Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri, I see him as a person who has digested and experienced his learning. There is a saying in the Sanskrit that 'as a crane in the horde of swans', but in the case of Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri I would like to change a little and say 'a swan shines among the horde of cranes'. Usually, we see that the teachers limit their teaching to classroom and remaining time spend with family or friends or just chitchatting, but when I think of Yajneshwar, he has contributed lot to society by crossing those limits. Our Yajneshwar Shastri is shining like a star among his peers is a special thing for us. His other activities and contribution on national and XII

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international level is seen and recognized. If I go on describing all these things, it will become a book. Still, I would mention few important things: He is president of World Peace foundation; Vice-President of international Social Philosophy; General Secretary of Indian Philosophical Congress and worked as the director in different educational institutions. He was honoured as General President, Key note speaker, endowment speaker and chair person in several national and international seminars and conferences. He was invited to teach as Distinguished International scholar in Cleveland State University, Ohio, USA and Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles USA and other foreign Universities which show his international standing. Still, he is being invited by several National and International Universities. He is prolific writer of Philosophy and has authored fourteen books and more than one hundred twenty research papers to his credit. He has successfully guided 14 Ph.D. students and more than 80 M.Phil. Students so far. He can read and write and deliver lectures in Sanskrit, Kannada, English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. He has edited several books and journals and souvenirs. He is Ph.D. referee in well known Universities of India, such as Mumbai, Banaras, Pune, Karnataka, Sagar, Mysore etc. I am overwhelmed by seeing the graph of his progress at national and international level, arising from a small village as his birth place in Karnataka. Even though, he has reached great height of scholarship, still I see that small child Yajneshwara in one corner of his personality. When he comes to native place, he sits cross-legged like others on the ground and eats his food in traditional way in the plaintain leaf conversing with others. This is the instance where I find his retained childhood. Let the words of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita that 'I take care of those people who are completely devoted to me' be with my dear Yajneshwar and his family. This is my blessing to Yajneshwara. XIII

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Prof. Yajneshwar Shastri- a treasury of knowledge, love and humanity Dr. Intaj Malek "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."-William Shakespeare Dr. Shastri is a mingling of the three. Dr. Yajneshwar Sadashiv Shastri, a white Indian with golden hair and a French beard is a man with myriads of ideas. It was during 1994, when my friend Siddhartha Swaminarayan took me to Dr. Shastri's home at Jas Apartment 'Ahmedabad, as I wanted to do PhD after my second post graduation in Philosophy. Actually my first but short meeting with Prof. Shastri took place when I ranked first at M.A. Dr. S S Sharma and Prof. Shastri both sent me a word to meet them at Department of Philosophy Gujarat University because in spite of being an an external student of M.A, I ranked first at University Examination. When I reached the Department of Philosophy Gujarat University, Prof. Shastri welcomed me very heartily. From that day onward, I decided to do PhD under his guidance. There was no vacancy with Dr. Shastri hence he told me to bring get permission from Gujarat University, which I received and then got myself registered as a PhD student in Philosophy under his guidance. It was during 1994 that the seeds of our intimate relations were shown. Considering my academic interest and knowledge of subject, he invited me to teach to the students of post graduate class. The frequencies of my visit to Dr. Shastri increased day by day as each day on my visit I received warm welcome from the bottom of his heart. I became his family member very soon. He ignited in me a great passion for Indian Philosophy and comparative religious studies. I have studied modern western philosophy by my own but Dr Shastri diverted my flow to Indian and Vedantic Philosophy. In other words he was a Max Muller for me who has shown us a way back to Vedas. Initially I wanted to do PhD in modern western Philosophy, decided to do research on Upanishads and Semitic religions. Further it was too big a subject to do a research work for the doctoral degree. I then confined my study to Upanishads and Islamic Mysticism. I started my research with new topic. After registration as a PhD student I could not finish my research due to my job profile, and my social as well as familial circumstances. Dr. Shastri still did not discourage me. He continued to instill in me the hope that I could do my research work. Basically I hailed from discipline of English literature, I used to write poems and palys and translating plays into Gujarati language. Very often when I happened to visit Dr Shastri;s residence, I read my plays or poems to the Shastris. Dr. Sunandaji was very kind and generous. She listened to my plays and poems when I used to read and recite before her. She taunted me onece that instead of XIV

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writing this and that, I must complete my research and get PhD. From that day onwards I took the words of Sunandaji very seriously and I started my research work in full swing till it culminated in PhD thesis in the year 2003. At this point of time I must remember Yogesh Dr. Shastri's son who helped me technically to type set my thesis. During the odyssey, I became more and more intimate to Dr. Shastri, Dr Sunandabahenji and Yogesh. On every week end, I used to go to Dr Shastri's residence with bits and pieces of my research work. Dr Shastri sat with me, listening to my work and I read out to him what I had written. During these sessions of studies Sunandaji served us delicious dishes very warmly. Sometimes she served tea/coffee with both Kanrnataki and Marathi dishes. She never felt any disgust even though I always preferred night time for my studies. It was an ever smiling face of Sunandabahen whose humanistic hospitality services cannot be described in words. There lives Goddess Saraswati in her and in him. They are the real teachers. The Shastri's home is a temple of Goddess Saraswati, full of sacred books ranging from Vedas and Upanishads to the Philosophy of Husserl and Hebermas. The mingling range of subjects and the books, the family of Shastri is also a mingling of composite Indian culture. Sunandabahenji knows many languages- Sanskrit the language of Gods, Gujarati, Hindi, English, Marathi and Kannad, so is Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri in whom has reincarnated the Vedas, the Upanishads and the sacred scriptures. I have become an integral part of the family of Prof. Yajneshwar Shastri. He keeps me with him for all academic, social, cultural and familial functions, whether it is an occasion of holding academic seminars, or selecting and buying a house or inviting great persons for seminars, he always shares his feelings and his ideas with me and always keeps me involved. It was the time of International Conference on world peace that we worked together hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder. It was a great and memorable experience to work for International Conference on World Peace with a selfless, egoless man. I worked in the conference as a Joint secretary of the conference. Dr. Shastri introduced me to many scholars such as Dr Christopher Key Chapple, Dr Krishna Ahooja Patel, Dr Vishvanath Karad, Prof, Ramjisingh, Dr. G C Nayak, Dr. Hamidulla Ayatollahi and Dr. H Kalbasi from Iran, Dr. Santinath Chattopadhyay, His Holiness Swami Maheshwaranandaji and many others. There were approximately four hundred and fifty delegates from all over the world who took part in the conference on world peace. I also presented a paper along with scholars of international stature. Value Added Tax System of Indirect taxation was introduced in Gujarat from 2006. As I am working with the Commercial Tax department of Gujarat, Dr. Shastri gave me an idea to introduce a short term course on taxation. Dr. Shastri and I both went to Dr. Parimal Trivedi the Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University and put our idea before him. Dr. Parimal Trivedi XV

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welcomed this idea and soon allowed us to implement the course for the benefit of the students of Gujarat University. Dr. Shastri managed a seminar Hall as a class room for the students of this course in the Department of Philosophy itself. People wondered with the idea of a course on Taxation being run at the Department of Philosophy and more surprising was that Dr. Shastri provided his services as a coordinator. AnywayHwe must not forget that all subjects become a Philosophy at the highest level, so idea of taxation is also a philosophical idea in that way. Coming to the centre from periphery, let me say that Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri is the epitome of academic, philosophical, social and cultural activities. The spectrum of light flows from him to his colleagues, students and friends, culminating into solid social, academic and cultural edifice. Dr. Shastri has spread knowledge as he is the real Upasak of Goddess Saraswati. I would like to conclude with few lines of a great Persian poet Shaikh Saadi: Whoever Acquire knowledge but does not practice Is like one Who ploughs but does not sow. Dr Shastri has ploughed as well as sown; now he will reap and disseminate his knowledge for the benefit of society. He has lived and is still living a real life of a teacher. XVI

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The Quest - Prof. Prashant R. Dave In India there are places, even today, where the grandure and sublimity of nature and tradition flow in tune with each other. Ancient knowledge and Wisdom incessantly flow in the lap of nature. Kosguli of North Karnataka, where shree Yajneshwar Shastri was born and brought up. A place consecrated to ancient knowledge and tradition. A place where nature has transcribed its divine text, and shaped the human life with the content of inner tranquility and inward gazing. Nature was trying to teach a boy the lesson of sublimity and inner equilibrium almost unconsciously. Nurtured in a vedic tradition the boy instictively grasped the tradition. Tradition became the part of his being. His father 'Sadashiv Ganapati' was a scholar with eminence. He was awarded, with the title 'Vidvan Kesari' by the late 'Krishna Maharaja' the king of Mysore. He was a 'Dash Granthi' scholar and 'Ghanant Pathi' of Rigved. For a boy Yajneshwar to get the knowledge of the Shastras; was an imperative demand of the family. The demand was willfully sanctioned and supported by his mother Tungbhadra Shashri. Her irrepressive love for the study was so Whement that she sold her ornaments. While narrating this even today tears come from the eyes of Yajneshwar. He is moved by her mother's sacrifice, commitment, concern and care. In 7th std. Public examnation Yajneshwar got Second Rank. He was sent to shree Matruka Sanskrit Pathshala. There he studied sanskrit for three years. For authentic and intense learning of the Shastras a young boy Yajneshwar was sent to Jagadguru Shankaracharya Pathshala Dharvad. There he studied Sanskrit Literature, Vedanta, Nayaya, Upanishad under the renowned scholar - Vidya Mahodadhi Balachandra Shastri Uppin Betageri. Thus Yajneshwar doctrinated himself with ancient ideas and tradition. This led him to realize even at a very early stage that neither a dry pedantic intellectualism nor sloppy excitable emotionalism is desirable in the seeker after truth. In the year 1965 Sanskrit Vishwa Parishad was organized by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bombay, at Banglore where, Yajneshwar represented Jagadguru Shankarcharya Pathshala of Dharwad. Shree K.M. Munshi spoted him, and invited him to study modern subjects along with Sanskrit, and assured him to provide full scholarship for Acharya degree and also for college education. In 1967 he was admitted to Mambadevi Sanskrit Mahavidyalay and got the degree of Acharya. He did his Bachelor and Master degree in philosophy from K.J. XVII

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Saumaiya College. He was also appointed as a fellow and lecturer at the same college. In 1977 he was appointed as a senior lecturer in Anantacharya Indological institute, Bombay. In 1977 at Kashivishvanath temple sunanda became the Vagadatta of Yajneshwar. They decided to marry. It was heaven's choice blessed by lord Shiva. Mutual understanding, transperancy and care became their way of expression. The 'Sakhya' - togetherness became the mantra of their life and expression. Kalidas calls it 'Ratnakanchan Yoga'. Their living is a virtual expression of Saptapadi. Son Yogeshwar and his wife Sravanti Shree Lakhshami also followed the same path. The whole Shastri family is a living episode of love and affection. Contentment and harmony is the signature of the family. In 1980 under Dr. S.G. Mudgal Yajneshwar Shastri did his Ph.D. on 'Mahayansutralankar- A study in Vijnanvada Buddhism from Bombay University. In 1981 July he was appointed as a lecture of Indian Philosophy and Religion at L.D. Indology. He worked with the renown scholars like Dr. Malvania, Dr. Harivallabh Bhayani, Dr. Madhusudan Dhaki, Dr. Naginbhai Shah and Dr. Ramesh Betai. Here he established himself as a scholar of Indian Philosophy. He worked as an acting Director of L.D. Indology for two years from 1987 to 1989. In 1989 he was selected by Gujarat University for the reader's post in Philosophy. In 1993 he became the head of the department in Philosophy. In 1998 Dr. Shastri was appointed as a Professor. Since 2003 he is a Director, University school of Psychology, Education and Philosophy Gujarat University. A scholar with distinction and dedication can not remain hidden. Under Indian scholar endowment program he was invited at Cleveland State University as a visiting professor of comparative religions in 1994-1995. Since 1993 almost regularly he was invited as a visiting professor of Indian Philosophy and Religion at Loloya Marymount University U.S.A. In 2003-04 under his directorship International conference on world peace was organized at Gujarat University. It was a unique event in the academic life of Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri and also in the academic life of Gujarat University. Hundred and forty delegates from 22 countries belong to different discipline participated in the seminar. Papers on the World Peace conference were edited by Dr. Shastri and Published in two volums in 2006 from Delhi. He is a prolific writer with 14 scholarly books and more then hundred research articles are to his credit. He is honored as general president, Keynote Speaker, Chair Person, Endowment speakers, by several international and national academic bodies. He was made chief judge to evaluate philosophical book aword by Indian Philosophical Congress,(I.C.P.) established by Poet Rabindranath and XVIII

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Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. He has guided 80 M.Phil students and 14 Ph.D. student. Like a good teachers he is expanding his horizon of knowledge incessantly. Swadhyay is his motif and motto of life. At present he is engaged in a critical study of 'Ishavasyopanishad". With 43 Sanskrit commentaries. His philosophy of life which has been experienced and endorsed by his friends, colleagues and students is: "If you live inwardly in love and harmony with yourself and with all others, if you persistently reject all contrary ideas and negative appearances, then, this love and this harmony must manifest themselves outwardly, in your environment." His life is an offering to Goddess Sarasvati. A life committed to knowledge and wisdom. Authenticity and freshness of knowledge and expression are his benchmark. Life live for the quest of knowledge and Wisdom. The quest as he understands not only begins in the heart but also ends there too. To expand and enrich one's consciousness is the real quest of life ever old and ever new. Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri's life is a book, we are oblige to read and master its freshness in the inner recesses of one's own being, the lesson he offers. - "Bhumaiv Sukham". XIX

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Short Biographical Sketch & C.V. of Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri. Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S.Shastri holds the rank of Director, University School of Psychology, Education and Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India. He is also Professor and Head [i.e. Chairperson), Department of Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India. He is President of World Peace Foundation, Gujarat, India. He is Chairman, Board of Philosophy, Gujarat University. He is Vice-President of International Congress of Social Philosophy and Joint Secretary, Indian Philosophical Congress, India. He was Director of International Conference on World Peace, held in Ahmedabad in 2003-2004. Dr. Shastri holds Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral Degrees from Bombay University. He also holds traditional Bachelor's (Shastri) and Master's [Acharya) degrees in the Sanskrit Language. Dr. Shastri is internationally known scholar of Indian Philosophy, Religion and Sanskrit. Since 1977, he is teaching, guiding and conducting research in the field of Indian Philosophy and Religion. He has more than 12 books such as 'Foundation Of Hinduism',' Salient Features of Indian Culture', Traverses on Less Trodden Path of Indian Philosophy and Religions', 'Mahayana Sutralnkara of Asanga- A Study in Vijnanavada Buddhism, 'Prashamaratiprakarana of Umaswati Vachaka' (on Jainism) and 'Jainism from the point of view of Vedantic Acharyas', Culture of Peace'[from the Vedic and Buddhist Perspective] and many more and more than 120 research papers to his credit. Recognizing Dr. Shastri's scholarship in the field of Indian Philosophy and Religion, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, C.A. invited him as Visiting Professor to teach comparative Religions of India, under the Noted International Scholar Project in the summers of 1993, 1994, 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007. He was appointed as Visiting Professor of Theological Studies for the summer and fall, 1998, at LMU.L.A. Dr. Shastri was appointed as Distinguished Indian Scholar, to teach Comparative Religions of India, at Cleveland State University, Ohio,. 19941995, Under Indian Scholar Endowment Program. He was also invited to deliver several community lectures by CSU [in 1995] and University of California, in 1998 [Dept. of History). Dr. Shastri, was General President of 5th International Congress on Social Philosophy, held in Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, Yellapur, Karnataka State, in 2006. He was invited to deliver Keynote Address at Green Yoga Conference, held in Madonna Centre, Sanfrancisco, USA, from May 18 -20, 2007. Dr. Shastri is honored with Ambassador of Peace, by the Universal Peace Federation of Korea, on 18th December, 2006. He is also honored with Eminent Citizen of India Award, 2006, by the National and International XX

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Compendium of India. He is also honored with Rastriya Gaurava Award, 2005, by the International Friendship Society of India. Dr. Shastri Chaired several International conferences such as International Congress for Asian and North African Studies, held in Toronto University, Canada, in 1990 (Jain section], Seventh International Social Philosophy Conference, in Ahmedabad, 1991, International World Philosophers Meet, at Pune, 1996 [Buddhist section], International Conference on Vedanta, Osmania University ,Hyderabad, in 1999, World Philosophy Conference, Delhi, 1999-2000, [Religion section), First International Conference of Philosophy, Kuwait University, Kuwait, Nov.2001, and many other International conferences. He Chaired more than 25 National Conferences in India. Dr. Shastri reads, writes and speaks in Sanskrit, English, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and Gujarati. He is a Chief Editor of several books and Journals, he is an Expert Member of Board of Philosophy, in several Universities of India. He is a Ph.D. referee in well-known Universities of India, such as Bombay, Banaras, Pune, Mysore, Karnataka, Sagar, Madras, Baroda and so on. He has guided 13 Ph.D, and more than 80 M. Phil students successfully. At present seven students are working under him to do their Doctoral thesis. Curriculum Vitae NAME : Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar Shastri DESIGNATION : Professor and Head (Chairperson), Department of Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India Director, University School of Psychology, Education and Philosophy. Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. President, World Peace Foundation, Gujarat. Vice-President, International Congress of Social Philosophy, India. Joint Secretary, Indian Philosophical Congress, India [Which is established by Shri Raveendranath Tagore and Dr.Radhakrishan). DATE OF BIRTH : 19th December 1948. QUALIFICATIONS : M.A. (Philosophy), University of Bombay, 1975. Ph.D. (Philosophy), University of Bombay, 1980. Acharya (Sanskrit, equivalent to M.A.), Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1972. XXI

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SUBJECT OF Ph.D. THESIS : Mahayanasutralankara- A Study in Vijnanavada Buddhism. FIELD OF SPECIALIZATION : 1. Indian Philosophy and Religion 2. Upanisadic Philosophy 3. Advaita Vedanta 4. Mahayana Buddhism 5. Jaina Logic and Metaphysics 6. Sanskrit Language. LANGUAGES KNOWN : Sanskrit, English, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and Gujarati. TEACHING AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE : 33 years. [P.G&U.G.). 1. Director, University School of Psychology, Education and Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. Since May 2003. 2. Professor and Head, [Chairperson), Department of Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Head since 1993 and Professor and Head since 1998. Visiting Professor, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Summer 2007, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA. Visiting Professor, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Summer, 2004, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA. 5. Visiting Professor, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Summer, 2001, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA. Visiting Professor of Theological Studies, Summer and Fall, 1998, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA. Visiting Professor of Comparative Religions of India (Distinguished Indian Scholar. Under Indian Scholar Endowment Program), Winter and Spring 1994-95, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. 8. Visiting Professor, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Summer, 1994, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA 9. Visiting Professor, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Summer, 1993, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA. 10. Reader (Associate Professor), Department of Philosophy, June 1989 through September 1998, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad 11. Director, L.D. Institute of Indology, December 1987 through, June 1989, Ahmedabad. 12. Lecturer, Indian Philosophy and Religion, L.D. Institute of Indology, 1981 through 1987, Ahmedabad. XXII

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13. Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Anantacharya Indological Research In stitute, Mumbai, April 1977 through July 1981. 14. Ph.D. Guide in Philosophy since 1987, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. Guided 13 Ph.D. students and 75 M.Phil, students successfully. BOOKS PUBLISHED: 1. Culture of Peace from the Vedic and Buddhist Perspective, Shanti Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 2010. 2. Taoism: Its Relevance in Modem Times (Its Philosophy, Ethics and Ecol ogy), Yogeshwar Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 2009. 3. Jainism from the viewpoint of Vedantic Acharyas, B.J. Institute of Learn ing and Research, Ahmedabad, 2003. 4. Foundations of Hinduism, 2nd edition, Yogeshwar Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 1998. Traverses on the Less Trodden Path of Indian Philosophy and Religion, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1991. 6. Salient Features of Hinduism, 2nd edition, Yogeshwar Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 1998. 7. Mahayanasutralankara of Asanga- A Study in Vijnanavada Buddhism, Indian Book Center, New Delhi, 1989. 8. Prashamarati Prakarana of Umaswati Vachaka (Jainism), Critically edited with English Translation, notes and study, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1989. Atmabodha of Padmanandi, critically edited with introduction and English translation, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1985. 10. Prayers, compiled and translated, Yogeshwar Prakashar, Ahmedabad, 1994. 11. Lalita-maha-tripurasundari-stotrani, co-editor, Sharada Jnana Peetham, Pune, 2005. 12. Lalita-trishati-stotram, co-editor, Pranava Bharati Foundation, Ahmedabad, 2000. 13. Aravindacharitam, (Sanskrit) Sharada Gaurava Granthamala, Pune, 1972. EDITING: General Editor of: 1. Quest of Peace, volume I & II, Bharatiya Kala Prakashan, New Delhi, 2006. 2. Essence of Jainism, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1987. Muni Suvrata-swami-charitam, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1988. A 9. 3. XXIII

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Nyaya-Manjari, Gujarati Translation, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1989. Prashamarati-Prakarana, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1989. 6. Siddhanta-lesha-sangraha, Gujarati translation, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1991. 7. Traverses on the Less Trodden Path of Indian philosophy and Religion, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1991. 8. Sambodhi, volumes nos. 13, 14, 15, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1987 through 1991. BOOKS IN PRINT 1. Critical Edition of Ishavasyopanisad with 43 Sanskrit Commentaries by different Indian philosophical Schools, with exhaustive Introduction, notes and critical comments. 2. English Translation of Lalitata-trishatibhashya of Sankaracarya, with exhaustive Introduction and notes. 3. Concept of Abhava in Indian Philosophy. BOOKS REVIEWED 1. Geographical knowledge in the Upanisads, Review Projector-India, Coimbatore, 1991. 2. Madhu Brahmana, Review Projector- India, Coimbatore, 1990. Ganadharavada- Mahavira's Philosophy, Review Projector-India, 1989. 4. Madhyamika Schools in India, Review Projector- India, Coimbatore, 1988. Faith, Prayer and Grace, Review Projector- India, Coimbatore, 1987. Dialectical Method of Nagarjuna, Sambodhi, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1984. Gautama: the Nyaya Philosophy, Sambodhi, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1982. Buddhist Wisdom, Sambodhi, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1982. 9. Handbook of Virashaivism, Sambodhi, vol. IX & X, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1981. MEMBER OF DIFFERENT ACADEMIC BODIES: 1] Chairman, Board of Study in Philosophy, Gujarat University, since 1997. Ahmedabad. 2] Member, Board of Study in Philosophy, M. S. University, Baroda, since 199 I. India. Member, Board of Study in Philosophy, Uttara Gujarat University, Patan, India. 2002. XXIV 6.

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- 4] Member, Advisory Board, B.J. Institute of Learning and Research, Ahmedabad, India, since, 2000. 5] Member, Board of 'Experts, Review Projector India, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India, since 1987. 6] Member, Board of Study in Philosophy, Bhavnagar University, India, 2004. 7] Member, Board of Study in Philosophy, Saurastra University, Rajkot, India. 2002. 8] Life Member and Joint Secretary, Indian Philosophical Congress, India. 9] Life Member, Akhila Bharatiya Darshana Parishad, India. 10] Life Member and Vice-President, International Congress of Social Phi losophy, India. 11] Life Member and President, World Peace Foundation, Gujarat, India. 12] Member, Academic Council, Gujarat University, 1996 to 2007. HONOURS AND AWARDS ; HONORS: 1) Invited as International Scholar to teach Indian Philosophy, Religion and Sanskrit, by Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA, Sum mers 1993, 1994,2001, 2004,2006, and 2007. 2). Appointed as 'Distinguished Indian Scholar' Under the Indian Scholar Endowment Programme, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA., Winter and Spring, 1998. 3] Appointed as Professor of Theological Studies to teach Indian Philoso phy, Comparative Religions and Sanskrit, for Summer and Fall, at Loyola Marymount University, LOS Angeles, C.A. USA, 1998. 4) Invited to deliver lectures at University of California, Los Angeles, De partment of History, 1998. 5) Invited to deliver more then 11 community lectures by Cleveland State University, 1998. 5a] Invited to Deliver Lecture on Taoism and its Relevance in Modern Times, by the Institute of Laozi and Daoist Culture, Beijing, China, Nov, 2009. 6] President, World Peace Foundation, Gujarat, India, since 2004. 7] Director, International Conference on World Peace, December 2003 2004. 8] General President, 5th International Congress on Social Philosophy, held 'In Karnataka State, India, 2006. 9] Key-note Speaker, Green Yoga Conference, held in Madonna Center, San Francisco, USA, 2007. 9a) Invited as an Expert and Trendsetter: Hinduism and Hindu way of life XXV

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by the Belgium Delegation for documentary film on 'India for Begin ners', Sept.2008. 9b] Chairperson, Spiritual Values and Peace, one-day International Semi nar, organized by Universal Peace Federation of India, Delhi, 22nd De cember, 2008. 9c] Distinguished Speaker: Redefining Philosophy, World Peace Center, MIT, Pune, January 29-30, 2009. 10] Chairperson, International Conference on Yoga and Spiritual Science, Karnataka University, Dharwad, June 2009. 11] Chairperson, International Conference on Environmental Issues, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Dec 2009. 11a] Chairperson, First International Conference on Philosophy, Kuwait University, Kuwait, 2001. 12] Chairperson, Philosophy of Religion, World Philosophy Conference, Or ganized by Indian Philosophical Congress, Platinum Jubilee Celebra tions, New Delhi, 200-2001. 13] Chairperson, World Philosophers Meet, MIT, Pune, 1996. 14] Chairperson, International Seminar on Perceptions of Buddhist and Jain Philosophy in the 21st Century, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad, 1997. 15] Chairperson, 7th International Social Philosophy Conference, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, 1991. 16] Chairperson, Jain Section, 33rd International Congress for Asian and North African Studies, Toronto University, Toronto, Canada, 1990. 17] Chairperson, International Conference on Vedanta, Osmania Univer sity, Hyderabad, India, 1999. 20] Chairperson, International Conference on Buddhist Heritage, (Philosophy Section) M.S.University, Baroda, India, Jan, 2010. 21] Chairperson, Seminar on Technology, Resource Management and Val ues, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, March 2010. 22] Chairperson, Seminar on Wounded History, Religion, Psyche and so cial Healing, University of Delhi and Vidyajyoti College of Theology, New Delhi, 2004. 23] Chairperson, National Seminar on Concept of Guru in Indian Philoso phy and Religion, Himagiri Research Institute, Lonavala, India, 2002. 24] Chairperson, National Seminar on Impact of Jainism on Pan - Indian Traditions, Institute of Orissan Culture, Bhuvaneshwar, 2000. 25] Chairperson, Buddhism and Conflict Resolution, Department of Bud dhist Studies, University of Pune, Feb, 16-17, 2009. SI XXVI

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25a] Chairperson, Gujarat's Contribution to Indian Philosophy since 1000 years, Feb, 2009. 25b] Chairperson, World Peace Congress, ISISIR, Kolkata, Jan, 5-10, 2004. 25c] Invited to deliver lecture on 'Islam and World Peace, at Plenary Session in World Peace Congress, Kolkata, 2004. 26] Invited to deliver Pratap Seth Vedanta Endowment Lecture, Indian Philosophical Congress, Karnataka University, Dharwad, 1998. 27] Invited to deliver Vedanta Endowment Lecture, Indian Philosophical Congress, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad, 2008. 28] Invited to deliver Endowment Lecture on Buddhism, Indian Philosophical Congress to be held in Gauhati University, Asam, 2010. 29] Invited to deliver endowment Lecture on Philosophy of Swaminarayana, Akhila Bharatiya Darshan Parishad, Jabalpur University, 2006. 30] Director, National Seminar on Jainism, Department of Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, 2001. 31] Director, Seminar on Advaita Vedanta, Department of Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, 2000. 32] Director, Hemachandracharya Vyakhyanamala and National Seminar, L.D.Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1998. 33] Convener, all India Sanskrit Scholars' Conference, Jamnagar, India, 1984. 34] Invited by the Lion's Club of Bombay, Sion, to deliver lecture on 'Practical Aspect of Patanjali Yoga', 1980. 35] Invited by the Lion's Club of Ahmedabad, to deliver lecture on 'Indian Culture1 2004. 36. General Editor, L.D.Series, 1987 to 1989. 37] Editor, Sambodhi, 1987 to 1991, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad. 38] Invited to recommend Nobel Prize for peace, twice. 38] Ph.D.Referee : [ in almost all known Universities of India] such as: University of Bombay; Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi; Karnataka University, Dharwad; University of Mysore, Karnataka, University of Pune, Pune, Sagar University, M.P.; Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Madras University, Chennai; M.S.University, Baroda; Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad; Saurashtra University, Rajkot, Luckhnou University; etc. AWARDS: 1] Ambassador of Peace, Awarded by the Universal Peace Federation of Korea, 2006. XXVII

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Eminent Citizen of India, Awarded by the National and International Compendium of India, 2006. 2] 3] Rashtriya Gaurava Award, by the International Friendship Society Of India, 2005. 4] Gold Medal for Excellence in Journalism by the Seminar Research Center, Hyderabad, 1997. 5] Kulapati's Gold Medal, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1971. 6] Recipient of Best Research Paper Award of 32nd Session of All India Oriental conference, Ahmedabad, 1985. 7] Recipient of Best Research Paper Award of Hari Om Ashram Prerit Bhaikaka Award, 1985. 8] Recipient of Discretionary Grant of Vice President of India, 1975, 1976, and 1977. COMMUNITY LECTURES DELIVERED IN USA. [L.A., S.F. CL, Taxas, Huston, Baumount, etc.]. Common Thread among the Religions of India Vedanta and Modern Science Obligations and Goals of Human Life Teachings of Upanisads Idol worship, Fasts and Festivals of India Teachings of Buddhism and Jainism Anekantavada of Jainism Doctrine of Karma in Jainism Fundamentals of Hinduism. Relevance of Buddhism in 21st Century Concept of Right and Freedom in Buddhist Thought Holistic Approach of the Vedic Civilization Salient Features of Hindu Culture Vedas and Environment Buddhism on the Eve of New Millennium Suicide in Indian Culture XXVIII

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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Prof. Dr. Ambikadatt Sharma Darshan Vibhag, Dr. Harisingh Gaur Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar (M.P.) Dr. Ashwin Jansari Head, Psychology Dept., Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. Prof. Dr. B.P. Siddhashrama Professor of Philosophy, Karnataka University, Res. No. 31, Sidda Prakash, Siddharoodha Nagar, Srinagar, Dharwad- 580003. Prof. Dr. B.R. Shantakumari Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Pondichery University, Pondichery-605014 Dr. B.V.S. Bhanusree Associate Professor Department of Philosophy, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam-530003 Prof. Dr. Basant Kumar Das Reader, Philosophy Department, Govt. College, (Autonomous) Angul, Orissa. Prof. Dr. Christopher Key Chapple Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology. Editor, Worldviews; Global Religions, Culture and Ecology, Room 3763, University Hall, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California-9004, USA. XXIX

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Prof. Dr. D. Nesy Dean, Faculty of Arts and professor of Philosophy, University of Kerala. Prof. Dr. D.A. Gangadhar Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Prof. Dr. Devashish Banerjee Prof. of Indian Art and History, Pasadena City College, L.A. Educational Director, Philosophical Research Society and Executive Director, Nalanada International L.A., C.A. 90045 USA Dr. Dilip Charan HOD, Department of Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad.9. (M) 9825148840 Dr. Dinanath Sharma Assocaite Professor, Department of Prakrit, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad-9 (M) 9428245944 Prof. Dr. Ganesh Prasad Das Professor of Philosophy, (Retd.) Utkal University, 396, Paika Nagar, Bhubaneswar-751003, Orissa. Dr. Geeta Mehta Director, K.J. Somaiya Centre for Studies in Jainism, Vidyavihar, Mumbai-400077. XXX

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H.H. Gangadharendra Saraswati Swamiji, Svarnavalli Mahasthanthanam Mathada Devala, Uttra Kennada, Karnataka Dr. H.L. Chandrashekara Assistant Prof. DOS. in Philosophy, Manasagangothri, Mysore-570006 (M) 9900293432 Email: hugu@yahoo.co.in Prof. Dr. Harshdev Madhav Head of the Dept. of Sanskrit, H.K. Arts College, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad. Dr. Hemant J. Shah Prakash Hr. Sec. School, Ahmedabad-380054. Tel: 26858888 Res. 12, Premanjali Society, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad-15. Dr. Intaj Malek Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Tax, Honorary Director PG Certificate in Taxation,SEZManagement & Forensic Accounting. Res. 1, AL- Asar Apartment, Saiyedwada, Khanpur, Ahmedabad - 380 001 Email: intaj@poetic.com (M) +919925278623 Prof. Dr. James L. Fredericks Department of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, C.A. - 90045 Dr. Jodi Shaw Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California-90045, U.S.A. XXXI

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Prof. Dr. K. Srinivas Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry - 605014 E-mail : ragsri55@yahoo.com Dr. Kale A.P. Research Officer R & D Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilizer Ltd. Chembur, Mumbai - 400074 E-mail : apkale71@yahoo.com Dr. Laura Cornell California Institute of Integral Studies San Francisco, USA. Prof. Dr. M. Ramachandra Professor and Chairman (B.O.S.) and Ex. Director, Gandhian Studies, Dept. of Studies and Research in Philosophy, University of Mysore, Manasagangothri, Mysore - 570006. Phone : 08212417265(R) (M) 9880236944 E-mail : profdrmram@yahoo.in Dr. M.A. Dhaky Padmavibhusan, Ahmedabad, Gujarat (India) Res. People's Plaza, 6th Floor, Nr. Vijay Char Rasta, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad-9 Prof. Dr. M.L. Wadekar Offg. Director Oriental Institute M.S. University of Baroda, Nr. Palace Gate, Palace Road, Vadodara - 390001 Mob. 9427347645 email : mlwadekar2008@hotmail.com Phone : 0265-2425121 (off) 2431035 (Res.) XXXII

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Prof. M.P. Mathai Professor of Gandhian Philosophy, Peace Research Centre, Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, and Editor, 'Gandhi Marg', Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi. Prof. Madhusudan V. Baxi Retd. Principal, G.L.S. Arts College, Res. 6th Floor, Shailly Tower, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad. Phone: 079-26303690 Shree N.S. Hegde, Bharatanahalli, Editor, Swarnavalliprabha, Kundaragi Uttarakannada, Karnataka. Prof. Dr. Narayan Manilal Kansara 17/176, Vidyanagar Flats, Nr. Himmatlal Park, Ambawadi Area, Ahmedabad-380015. Phone: 079-26740587 (M) 9998999741 Shree Navin Doshi President, Nalanda International Centre, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Prof. Dr. Nitin J. Vyas Head, Department of Philosophy, Dean, Faculty of Arts, The M.S. University of Baroda Res. 28, Thakkarbapa Society, Near Ayurvedic College, Panigate, Vadodara. Phone: 02652572557 E-mail: njvbpt5151@yahoo.com Dr. Nutan Damor Lecture, Dept. of English Gujarat University, Ahmedabad-9 XXXIII

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Prof. Dr. P. Seshadri, Department of Philosophy, Visiting Faculty, University of Mumbai, Mumbai. Dr. P.K. Sasidharan Department of Philosophy, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Kerla-683574 e-mail: pksasidharan4@gmail.com Prof. Prashant R. Dave Res. 631, Nagarvado, Lakha Patel Ni Pole, Sankadi Sheri, Manek Chwok, Ahmedabad-1 Dr. Ms. Pratima Joshi M.Sc. Ph.D. (Philosophy) A-104, Kaveri Apt,. M.G. Road, Goregoan (W), Mumbai-400062 E-mail: drpratima@rediffmail.com Prof. Dr. N.V. Ramana Chair Person (BOS) Dept. of Sanskrit, Andhra University, Vishakhapattanam-540003 Prof. Dr. Purnima Dave, Adjunct Faculty, Department of Philosophy, University of Mumbai Mumbai. Prof. Dr. Purushottama Bilimoria Professor of Philosophy and comparative studies at Deakin University, Professorial Fellow and Editor in Chief of Sophia, Melbourne University (Australia) Prof. Dr. R. Balasubramanium Chairman Indian Philosophical Congress. XXXIV

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Dr. R. Lakshmi Asst. Prof. of Philosophy, Govt. College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram-695014. Prof. Dr. R.A. Malagi Ex. Director School of Languages, Gujarat University. Management Enclave, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad-15. Prof. Dr. R.C. Sinha Former Professor and Head. Department of Philosophy, Patna University, Patna Prof. Dr. R.P. Singh Centre for Philosophy, SSS, JNU, New Delhi-110067 E-mail : rpsinghjnu@yahoo.com rpsing@jnu.ac.in Phone No. 011-26704170, 011-26704580 Mo.9868061209, 9868564605 Shree Raghunandan Prasad Chief Materials Manager Eastern Railway, Kolkata Email : raghu82uor@gmail.com Prof. Dr. Raghunath Gosh Ex. Dean, North Bengal University, Raja Rammohanpur, Dt. Darjeeling, West Bengal-734013 Prof. Dr. Ramesh M. Dave Director, Anantacharya Indological Research Institute, G.D. Somani School Building, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai - 400005. XXXV

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Prof. Dr. Ramjisingh Ex. Member of Parliament and Vice-Chancellor, Hon. President, International Society of Social Philosophy, Secretary, Afro-Asian Philosophical Association, 104, Sanyal Enclave, Buddha Marg, Patna - 800001 Prof. Dr. Rasesh Jamindar Former Professor and Head dept. of History and Culture, Gujarat Vidyapith B-10, Vasu Apts., Nr. Shreeji Palace, Naranpura, Ahmedabad-380013. Phone : 079-27683365 Dr. Renuka Sharma Melbourne, Australia Prof. Dr. R.S. Patel Director, School of Psychology, Education and Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad-9. Phone: 9825523233 Dr. Raksha J. Shah 71-B/1, Adarsh, Saraswati Road Santacruz (West), Mumbai-400054, India. Tel: 91-22-26490164 /Fax: 9122-26490378 Email: shahraksha99@hotmail.com Dr. S. Indira Associate Professor in Philosophy, Pndicherry University, Pondicherry. Dr. S.G. Nigal Res. Tatwajnana Vidhyapith, Apna Bazar, Thane- 400610 (M) 9869577581 XXXVI

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Prof. Dr. S.N. Chaudhary Retired Professor Guru Basistha School Campus. Kachahari Road, Hajipur - 844[101 (Bihar) Phone : 06224-272350 (M) 09431856755 E-mail : snchaudhary@rediffmail.com Prof. Dr. S.P. Dubey President, Akhil Bhartiya Darshan Parisad, Jabalpur, (M.P.] Prof. Dr. S.R. Bhatt Former Professor of Philosophy, University of Delhi, India Res. P-23, Maurya Enclave, Pitampura, Delhi - 110034. E-mail : srbhatt39@gmail.com Prof. Dr. S.V. Bokil 25, Rucha Appts, Opp. I.T.I., 138, 1/B, Baner Road (I.T.I. Road) Aundh-Poona - 411007. Dr. Sagarmal Jain President, Prachya Vidyapith, Shahjahapur (M.P.) 465001 Phone : 07364222218 Prof. Dr. Santinath Chattopadhyay LLB, P.R.S. Ph.D. Executive Director, ISISAR Editor, 'Culture and quest' and 'Kristi O Anvesa' Retired Professor of Philosophy Kolkatta. XXXVII

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Prof. Dr. Shashiprabha Kumar Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies Jawaharlal Nehru Uni. New Delhi - 110067 Phone : 91-11-26742596 26742676 (0) e-mail: shashiprabha@gmail.com Res. "Abhyadaya' 295/Sect. 15n, Noida (U.P.) - 201301 Phone. 011-120-4334221 Prof. Dr. Shubhada Joshi Professor and Head of Dept. of Philosophy, University of Mumbai, Kalina Campus, Santa Cruise, (East) Mumbai - 400098. Shree Shubhakarana Surana 1, Charul Flats, Nr. Bank of Maharashtra,m Opp. Kamdhenu Complex, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad. Dr. Siddharth Y. Wakankar 1/5, Vrindavam Estate, Pashabhai Patel Park, Race Course Circle (South) Vadodara - 390 007 Dr.Md. Sirajul Islam Reader, Dept. of Philosophy and Religion Visva- Bharati University, Santiniketan-731235, West Bengal. (M) 09732071184 Phone : 03463-264686 E-mail : siraj_tuli@yahoo.co.in Prof. Dr. Sudarshan Iyengar, Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad. XXXVIII

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Dr. Sunanda Shastri Department of Sanskrit School of Languages, Gujarat University, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad-9. Dr. T.K. Badrinath, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, RKM Vivekanand College, Mylapore, Chennai-60004 Tamilnadu. Prof. Dr. T.N. Ganapathy Director, Yoga Siddha Research Centre, "Rajkamal' 45 (21) 4th Avenue, Ashok Nagar, Chennai-600083 Phone : 24897396 e-mail : tngana@yahoo.com Prof. Dr. V.N. Sheshagiri Rao Professor and Head of the Post Graduate Dept. of Philosophy, Mysore University, Manasagangori, Mysore-570006 Phone : 0821-25452 (M) 9886069345 Dr. Veneemaadhavashastri Joshi Professor of Sanskrit and Prakrit, Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad - 580001 Phone : (0836) 2446788 Res. "Bhaamatee" Bendre- Maarga, Saudhanakeri, Dharwad - 580008 (Karnataka) India Mob. 9449357212 Dr. Viresh Hughes Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, C.A. 90045 XXXIX

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Contents 1. Mahatma Gandhi and Some Enduring Challenges for the 21st Century. Prof. Dr. Christopher Key Chapple Meditations on the First Movement of the Isha Upanishad Prof. Dr. Debashish Banerji 001 2. 014 3. Spiritualscape of the Upanisads Prof. R. Balasubramanian 044 4. 058 069 Extra-sensorial Liaisons of 4D Yogins : Enigma Extolled by Nyaya; Impeachable to Mimamsas- Purushottama Bilimoria Lataif, Chakras and Leshyas Dr. Intaj Malek Gandhi, Civil Society and Social Capital James L. Fredericks Jainism and Vegetarianism Dr. Viresh Hughes Thunder of the Silence Dr. Sunanda Y. Shastri 079 6. 097 7. 110 120 132 Consciousness Raising, Outreach, and Action in Green Yoga Dr. Laura Cornell 9. Women Worshipping; Worshipping Women: Immanence and Transcendence in the Naya Yuga Dr. Renuka Sharma 10. Mariyamman: Does She Remove the Stings? Insert Them, Or Exemplify Ways to Transmute Them? An Enquiry into Whether the Goddess is Empowering to Women Jodi Shaw Gandhi's Heritage and India Prof.Dr.Sudarshan Iyengar 12. Understanding Diversity / Plurality in Multiculturalism: Fusion of Cultural Horizons Prof. Dr. R.P. Singh 155 11. 169 184 13. Mahatma Gandhi and Human Values Prof.Dr. M.P.Mathai 14. Light and Signs of the Divine Navin Doshi XXXX 206

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212 15. Indian Identity and Cultural Continuity (A philosophical Analysis) Prof. Dr.S.R. Bhatt 16. Aham Brahmasmi : Its Logical Foundation and Value Implication Prof. Dr. Ganesh Prasad Das 221 17. Navya Visistadvaita Vedanta Philosophy of Sri Swaminarayan Prof. Dr. Ramesh M Dave 236 18. Philosophy of Personality Development : Indian Perspective Prof. Dr. B. P. Siddhashrama 249 19. Sri Ramanija's Critique of Advaita Metaphysics Prof. K. Srinivas 267 20. Harmonizing the sacred and the secular - ALiving Challence to Man Prof. Dr. Nitin J. Vyas 277 21. Pandit Sukhlalji's Philosophical Notes On Acarya Hemacandra's Pramanamimamsa. Prof. Madhusudan Baxi 284 295 308 22. Dharma : Advaita and Neo-Advaita Perspective Prof. Dr. Shubhada Joshi(Mrs.) 23. Sharing Wisdom in search of Inner and Outter Peace Dr. Geeta Mehta 24. Truth in Philosophy(Absolutism versus/and Relativism) Dr. Hemant Shah 25. Cittasuddhi and Jivanmukti DR. B.R. SHANTHA KUMARI 317 332 339 26. Application of Indian Philosophical Concepts To Modern Management Dr. Dilip Charan 27. Living in Harmony with Nature Religious Philosophical Perspective of India Prof. Purnima Dave 28. God Vs. Evil : The human Dilemma Prof. P.Seshadri 345 348 XXXXI

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29. Making Sence the Return of Religion P.K. Sasidharan 357 364 30. Biopesticides for sustainable development Dr. A.P. Kale 31. Ethics is in Integral prat of Religion Dr.B.V.S.Bhanusree 368 32. Gandhi an ideals of religious harmony and world peace Prof.Dr. M. Ramchandra 372 379 384 389 33. Indian conception of values Dr. T.K.Badrinath 34. Conflict Resolution - The Gandhian Way Dr. S. Indira 35. Swami Vivekananda's concept of Universal Religion Dr. H.L.Chandrashekara 36. Comparing and Contrasting the Representation of Women in the Works of Select Black Male Writers and Black Female Writers Dr. Nutan Damor 37. Sufi Spirituality and Universal Harmony: A Rational Approach in Socio-Cultural Viewpoint Dr. Md. Sirajul Islam 38. Four Pillars of Education- A True Philosophy In The Field of Education Prof. Dr. R.S. Patel 39. Psychological Disturbance and Yoga Practice Dr. Ashwin Jansari 392 396 411 421 425 444 40. Shri Shankara Bhagavatpada : The Master Harmoniser H.H. Gangadharendra Saraswati Swamiji 41. Arhat Vardhamana's Attitude toward 'Ahimsa' M.A. Dhaky 42. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The United human family) The Universal Message of Sanskrit Literature Prof. M.V. Ramana 43. Psychology of 'The Gita' Raghunandan Prasad 450 455 XXXXII

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463 44. Social Significance of forgiveness as depicted in the pratikraman a sutra Dr.Raksha J.Shah 45. The Upanisads and Their Philosophy Prof. S.P. Dubey 46. Paul Hacker's Philosogical Confrontation Prof. S. V. Bokil 472 493 47. Bhakti: A Philosophical Discourse Prof. Prasant R. Dave 503 48. Religion and Morality Prof. Dr.Basant Kumar Das 505 49. The Sakti-worship as Depicted in the Saundaryalahari Prof. Dr. M.L. Wadekar 512 519 50. Sakti-Pata, A Practical Yogic Process Prof. (Dr.) Narayan Manilal Kansara 51. The concept of Yoga Dr. Pratima Joshi 526 52. Place of Scepticism in Quine's Naturalised Epistemology Dr. R. Lakshmi 530 536 545 556 3. Secularization of Man and the Ecological Crisis Dr. S.G.Nigal 54. Onomastics : Unconventional Source for Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Rasesh Jamindar 55. Religious Harmony and Fellowship of Faiths : A Jaina : Perspective Prof. Sagarmal Jain 56. Philosophy of Dinakara Bhatta: Some Contributions Prof. Dr. Raghunath Ghosh 57. Neo-Vedantic Conception of Philosophizing Prof. Dr. R.C. Sinha 58. Some peculiar Etymologies from Goraksasahasranamastotratika Prof. Dr. Siddharth Y. Wakankar 575 584 597 59. The Twilight Language - The Mystic Language of the Siddhas Prof. Dr. T.N.Ganapathy 602 XXXXIII

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613 619 638 60. Stages of Life (Asrama) in Jain Tradition Dr. Dinanath Sharma 61. The Contribution of Indian thought towards the Philosophy of Environment and Ecology in the emerging age of Global Society. Prof. Dr. S. N. Chaudhary 62. Concept of Bhakti in the Vedas Prof. Dr.Shashiprabha Kumar 63. Culture, University and Freedom Prof. Dr. Shantinath Chattopadhyay 64. Essentials of universal religion Dr. Veneemadhavshastri Joshi 65. The Unmoved Mover and the non-doing doer Prof. Dr. R.A.Malagi 66. 3920 S 20ER zrI zubhakaraNa surANA 67. G et recite trae prophe. DaoN. ambikAdatta zarmA 666 676 685 702 705 68. Adhyasa in Bhamati (Epistemological Point of View) and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason Dr. V.N. Sheshagiri Rao 720 728 732 69. Gandhian Paradigm of Peace Prof. Dr.Ramjisingh 70. M.M.Pt. Gopinath Kaviraja's Contribution to Tantric Philosophy Dr. D.A. Gangadhar 71. Person and Consciousness: Different Perspectives Dr. D. Nesy 72. '7440064-7' f file Do. harSadeva mAdhava 737 741 XXXXIV

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Selected Paper of Acharya Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri Doctrine of Maya-A Critical Study Recongiliation of Different Philosophical View Points - An Attempt made by Jaina Philosophers Nagarjuna is Mahayanist Upanisadic influence on Mahayanasutralankara Place of Suicide in Indian Culture and Religions Conception of Reality in Mahayana Buddhism Religion and World Peace Taoism and Vedanta [Upanishads]- A Comparative Study 11. World Peace, War and Yoga 12. Culture of Peace from the Veda-Vedantic Philosophical point of view 10. 13. 14. 15. Refutation of Advaita Vedanta in Major Jaina Works The Vaidikadharma and Its Holistic Approach Principles of Buddhist Management, Economy and Social Realm for Promoting Peace Buddhism and Ecology World Peace - A Buddhist Perspective ... XXXXV 754 781 798 813 831 840 854 869 892 895 907 917 924 934 942

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Mahatma Gandhi and Some Enduring Challenges for the 21st Century. - Prof. Dr. Christopher Key Chapple Ahmedabad, the home of the professor to whom this book is dedicated, plays an important role in Indian history and in the world's imagination. For many years, Mahatma Gandhi lived and worked at his Ahmedabad Ashram by the shores of the Sabarmati River. The Ashram now houses both a museum and a training center established by non-resident Indians to educate household servants and bring.literacy to the underserved. In addition to providing an academic home to my friend and colleague Yajneshwar Shastri at Gujarat University, the city also boasts Gurujarat Vidyapeeth, a residential university dedicated to the perpetuation of Gandhian values. In many ways Ahmedabad represents a crossroads of cultures and eras. Its inner core hearkens back to the Mughal and pre-Mughal presence of Islam in India. Its spacious 20th century expansion houses some of the great institutions that helped shape India's independence, including the Ashram, the University, the Vidyapeeth, as well as Loyola College, the Nehru Centre for Science and Environment, and the L. D. Institute of Indology. Since the liberalization of India's economic policies in 1991, Ahmedabad has seen stupendous growth, with the construction of the superhighways, numerous new educational institution, and dense, high-rise residential construction. This new Ahmedabad reflects the new globalized India, look eagerly toward a better future. However, as India modernizes and embraces the many comforts of consumer culture, Ahmedabad runs the risk of falling prey to old prejudices and difficulties. Periodically, communal riots have blemished the city's history, pitting majority Hindus against minority Muslims, a situation that would deeply sadden the Mahatma. More recently, there seems to be grounds for hope that the new drive toward urbanization and globalization can help minimize present and future conflict. However, in order for peace to prevail, it must not be established merely on the values of secular consumerism, but must draw deeply from the well of India's longstanding cultural values, values that transcend the provenance of any single faith. Furthermore, any solution for India will also serve as a model for the world. India boasts one of the world's most complex melange of cultures, linguistic groups, and religions. The harmonious co-existence of these plural communities can help inspire others to live peacefully with one another while respecting differences. Some of the premises of Indian thought in regard to the pluralism that informed Gandhi's worldview can be summarized as follows. Origins are obscure. We cannot be certain from where we came or at what point of time things began. The Vedas articulate an unformed foundation, a realm of nonexistence (asat), a mist from which arise distinct worlds, depending

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upon human desire. Through desire, humans craft their world, creating boundaries and distinctions, separating heaven from earth, light from darkness. In this constructed world, sustained by sacrifice, meditation, and prayer, individuals gather into community, moving from the unformed to the formed. Intention and desire direct communities and individuals to select various options, symbolized by various deities, all seen as provisional tools for attaining a goal, whether worldly or sublime. Dharma sustains those who choose to uphold the world. Sannyasa or renunciation of the world appeals even today to hundreds of thousands of individuals who give up the world and retreat from society in search of higher meaning. Followers of Dharma aspire to fit into the cosmic flow of life (rta). Renouncers, particularly the practitioners of Yoga in its various forms, strive for an elevated sense of cosmic connection, known as samadhi. For both the worldly and the spiritually inclined, precepts such as nonviolence and truthfulness set forth ideals for behavior that respect the need for acknowledging the ongoing flux or flow between the unspeakable realm of origin, the asat, and the realm of manifest activity. These precepts, observed by Vaisnavas, Saivas, Jainas, Bauddhas, and Sikhs in India, include respect for all forms of life, a mandate to be truthful and honest, and cautions against the dangers of greed and lust. These precepts shape both personal and social ethics. Drawing from this well of wisdom, Gandhi championed these precepts, known in Sanskrit as ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmcarya, and aparigraha.. The values found in these precepts remain important as we confront not only the challenges of pluralism but also the many ecological and economic challenges of the 21st century. In his life work, he constantly reminded his followers of the importance of satyagraha (holding to truth), ahimsa (non-violence), and aparigraha (non-possession). In this chapter, Gandhi's ideas and values will be explored in light of their continued relevance for resolving environmental issues, coping with the upheaval caused by the onset of modern economies, and the pressing issue of deciding the most ethical way to allocate medical treatments. Gandhi's core text arguing for independence from the British Empire, Hind Swaraj, was published 100 years ago, in 1910. In this text he sets forth a manifesto that not only critiques the basic policies of the colonial occupation, but also calls for a re-examination of some fundamental assumptions. His ideas diverge radically from the development model of recent decades. This model, popular since the 1990s, has placed great value on expanding economies, growing transportation networks, reducing of illiteracy, and reducing morbidity. Though Gandhi's ideas on these topics would most likely have changed given new information, his cautions about their apparent benefits contain some wisdom and an opportunity for introspection and reflection.

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Thomas Merton, the Catholic Christian writer and pioneer of interreligious dialogue, thought deeply about what motivated Gandhi to persevere in his nonviolent struggle. Merton articulated one aspect of satyagraha as follows: "The whole Gandhian concept of non-violent action and satyagraha is incomprehensible if its thought to be a means of achieving unity rather than as the fruit of inner unity already achieved." For Gandhi, appropriate action can only take place from a place of direct encounter of a transcendent reality, of the sort described in the Vedic term rta and the Yoga meditation term samadhi. By seeing our unity with the adversary, we can hope to understand, empathize with, and convert that enemy. For Gandhi, the adversary was not only the British but also any form of injustice toward the downtrodden, whether impoverished low caste Hindus, women of all faiths, and disadvantaged Muslims. The enemies of the 21st century not only include injustices to disenfranchised human beings. Today, we have come to the slowly dawning truth that humans have been responsible for a shift of weather patterns, and that the very behaviors associated with industrialization and technology that have brought great comfort to the human condition, are becoming our own worst enemy. Cataclysmic climate change in past eras was precipitated by cosmic events such as meteors or comets. Science has established human culpability in altering the climate through release of industrial effluent. Worldwide, societies face climate change, species extinctions, and the ongoing heath problems (animal and human) caused by human-produced pollution. In the words of Thomas Berry, we must take responsibility for the emergence of the Ecozoic age, wherein humans become community partners in the web of life beyond, though not excluding, anthropocentric concerns. Through nonviolent appreciation of all forms of life, from landscapes to non-human animals, we might be able to recover from the nature-deficit autism caused by being caught in the technological and consumerist trance. Europe and America initially excelled at developing the scientific theories and applied manufacturing techniques that have given rise to societies driven by consumer economies. Since the 1980s, the manual labor required to manufacture various consumer comforts, from automobiles to plastic toys, household goods, clothing, and electronic gadgets has shifted to Asian and Latin American countries, eviscerating the respect according to the working class in the "developed" world, whose economies now rely not on the production of consumer goods but on their transport and sale, and with the processing of all the various supports needed to keep afloat the modern lifestyle: restaurants, educational institutions, entertainment media, and, increasingly, medical facilities to treat the ill and elderly. The production of "stuff" has been outsourced from the developed world, whose economies are now mainly concerned with the consumption of consumer goods and various forms of self-indulgence at worst and self-maintenance at best. With globalization, 3

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the "factory-and-loom" countries, particularly China and India, have seen the growth of their own middle classes who also aspire to a lifestyle of comfort, with all the benefits of education, entertainment, and health care. The differences between the developed world and the developing world are disappearing, which brings both blessings and difficulties. The difficulty with development lies in scarcity of resources and unmitigated pollution. The air quality, soil purity, and clean water availability in India have reached a point of crisis. Though some improvements have been made to air quality in Delhi and other cities due to stringent legislation, the sheer growth of the number of automobiles will soon erase any gains. The Yamuna River in particular has become little more than a runoff ditch for Delhi's industrial and human waste; a once sacred site has been rendered profane through pollution. Even though modern technology exists that can help improve the situation, countless cleanup attempts for both the Yamuna and Ganges Rivers have yielded few results. As we look toward solutions, it seems that a strengthening of will and moral resolve in the style of Mahatma Gandhi must prevail to counteract the greed of industrialists and the culture of corruption. For Gandhi, nonviolence entailed kindness to animals, both human and nonhuman. Gandhi's nonviolence required vegetarianism as well as a willingness to engage and converse with and ultimately have compassion and even love for one's antagonists. In our current situation, we must learn to even better love nature, love animals, and, for the purposes of change, develop an effective approach to redress the injustices committed by the new colonizers of the world, the multinational corporations. Habits and practices, both personal and in society and in the business arena, must be transformed to bring about a sustainable economic environment. Gandhi emphasized that "we must become the change we want to see in the world." The root of ecological degradation lies in the profligate usage of resources, which does not fully take into account an eventual scarcity or the consequences of waste disposal. Human consumption is disproportionate to the carrying capacity of the planet. Consumerism has become a replacement religion, whereby some persons attempt to find happiness by acquiring goods, defining their sense of worth by the monetary value of their possessions. This has lead to an escalation of acquisitiveness, with deleterious effects on the ecosystem, and dubious results in terms of human happiness. In fact, studies have shown an inverse relationship between wealth and happiness once basic needs have been met. By practicing the lessening of possessions, known as aparigraha, we can move toward reversing, in the words of John Cobb, this "religion of economism" and restore balance to modern lifestyles worldwide. The current ecological crisis might bring Gandhi's key insights on the 4

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benefits of small scale economics into the realm of popular discourse once again. Young people in contemporary India, benefitting materially from the new globalized economy, are fond of relegating Gandhi to a retrograde past, seeing him as irrelevant. However, in the words of Lloyd and Suzanne Rudolph, we might now need to heed "Gandhi's postmodern emphasis on human capital, decentralized production, and 'appropriate technology." The human must be valued for his or her dignity, not as a potential customer or consumer. Gandhi advocated a village economy. This involves the consumption of local foods, and the wearing of clothes spun and woven by each individual. He also encouraged small scale technologies, which, for instance, involve solar cook stoves, locally generated electricity, and self-transport using bicycles. Michael Mazgaonkar, of the Mozam Project in southern Gujarat, has even arranged a school whereby its electricity is generated by each student pedaling on a machine for twenty minutes each day to charge a generator (lecture, Loyola Marymount University, September 20, 2010). As Gandhi himself stated, there is enough in the world for "everyone's need, not everyone's greed." The ethical anchor of Gandhi's teachings can help people worldwide make a shift to a common sense, and truly human-sized, footprint on planet Earth. Self-Rule, Transportation, and Health Care in Gandhi's Hind Swaraj : As we examine Hind Swaraj on the occasion of its centenary, three items stand out as holding relevance for our times and into the future. The first has to do with its general philosophy of self-effort, indicated in the title "Self-rule" and attested to by the reading list that influenced the Mahatma. The title refers not only to Hind/India as a country but also to the people of India themselves. Gandhi proclaimed that by mastering themselves individually and collectively Indians will find the will to govern themselves and cast off their colonial oppressors, which in fact transpired some 37 years after the publication of Hind Swaraj. The second area to be examined has to do with Gandhi's abiding critique of transportation, and his related call for maintaining a slow-paced life. The third topic that I will to discuss is Gandhi's critique of physicians and his general approach to health care. Self-Rule: In regard to self-rule, I would like to share a translation that I rendered many years ago from the Mumuksuprakarana of the Yogavasistha, one of the texts recommended to Gandhi by his Jaina teacher Raichandbhai, also known as Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta (1868-1901) (Parels, xlix). There are some who, due to their desire, have incapacitated themselves to such an extent that they cannot squeeze their fingers together 5

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sufficiently enough to hold water without scattering several drops. On the other hand, there are some who, by efficacious actions, take on the responsibility of seas, mountains, cities, and islands, as well as families, for whom even the earth itself would not be too much (Chapple, 105-106). Gandhi struggled to find strength within India and within the Indian psyche. In the Yogavasistha he found a philosophy that regales one into action, that rejects any form of submissiveness. This strength must be directed inward, however, and not against an external enemy. From Rajchandra and his own mother, Gandhi learned and lived an undying commitment to nonviolence. Nonetheless, he advocated inner warfare, heeding the advice of the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. As I learned from his personal secretary, Narayan Desai, in 2008, Gandhi recited the last eighteen verses of the Yoga of Knowledge daily, adhering to the ideas encapsulated in verse 64: "With the elimination of desire and hatred, even though moving among the objects of the senses, the one who is controlled by the self through self-restraint attains tranquility." Combining strength, adherence to nonviolence, and self-control, Gandhi set himself and others on a path that changed the course of world history. Narayan Desai serves as the Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapeeth, the university that Mahatma Gandhi established in Ahmedabad, India. Desai, following the footsteps of his father, served as Gandhi's personal secretary. Desai continues to set forth Gandhi's core message: holding to truth in a spirit of nonviolence. He states that we need to overcome our all-to-human greed and fear with love and cooperation. Greed and fear plague the U.S. and throughout the world today. Debts, individual and governmental, have been poorly managed with dire consequences. Signs of greed can be found throughout the world in obesity and other food-related crises, and in lumbering, energy-guzzling cars, trucks, and overbuilt houses. Likewise, fear can be seen in a deepening split between political parties, between religions who ironically all preach peace and love, between rich and poor. All these tensions can lead to mistrust and the potential for violence. No political figure today will dare suggest that citizens should alter their lifestyle and reduce their consumption willingly for the sake of a common good. Desai offers a radical personal solution to the world's ills: Live within your means, occupy your hands with creative work, and be open to the ideas and views of others. Even when engaged in world travel, Desai, following the model of Gandhi, spins tufts of cotton into thread, adding to his spool each day. After several weeks or months, he weaves this thread into homespun cloth and wears only self-crafted clothing. All the students and

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faculty at his university do the same, engaging head, heart, and hands. This simple act helped India cast off its colonial oppressors. Gandhians today continue to espouse the ideals and realities of self-control, moving toward self-sufficiency and self-respect. Each of us needs to ask the question: How much is enough? How much food? How much entertainment? How large a car? How large a house? From a Gandhian perspective, we might surprise ourselves with the realization that true happiness comes with ingenuity and restraint, not through unbridled consumption. By gaining control of our senses we can regain mastery of ourselves, attaining self-rule. Transportation : We live today in a world of three-car families in the United States. Thousands of new cars pour onto the roads of India each week, the new mark of middle class status. The rapidity of change in the developing world staggers the imagination, with innovations in many instances following some basic Gandhian precepts, at least at first glance. For instance, India has engineered and put into production the world's least expensive car, at one tenth the price of an average American sedan. Cell phone technology has put mobile communication within the reach of nearly all India's population without the need to construct a network of costly telephone lines. The internet and inexpensive public access to computers has allowed India to leap into a position of leadership in the area of information technology. Perhaps Gandhi would have embraced these changes. But., in 1910, before the era of the mass produced automobile emerged in the developed world, Gandhi warned even about the shortfalls and pitfalls of the railroad. Henry David Thoreau extolled the punctuality and progress and support of commerce offered by the "iron steed" (Walden, 101-111). In contrast, the railroad roiled Gandhi. In regard to allocation of resources, Gandhi makes an apt comment on the nature of the railroad. Although common wisdom states that England united India through its railroads and hence improved the general situation in the subcontinent, Gandhi suggests that a better use of public funds would have been to improve irrigation systems, allowing local areas to flourish. He suggests that railways facilitate the spread of disease and that "Good travels at a snail's pace-it can have little to do with the railways" (Parel, 47). In his critique of railroads, Gandhi calls into question the very premises of progress and speed. He writes: "Honest physicians will tell you that, where means of artificial locomotion have increased, the health of the people has suffered.... I cannot recall a single good point in connection with machinery" (110). Although we hesitate to think in categories of either-or and recognize that both irrigation and transportation result in positive outcomes, daily life through improved access to water would have been a good use of imperial resources. Today, alongside the railways, both

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air travel and automotive transport have increased exponentially, resulting in a faster pace of life, and, to an extent, an increase in disease. The AIDS problem has been exacerbated in India by truckers, patrons of sex workers, bring the disease home to remote villages. Railways, steamships, private cars, and airplanes have accelerated the flow of goods in ways nearly unimaginable in 1910. Gandhi could not have imagined the new corporate colonialism brought about by reliance upon oil. Oil powers the bulk of our electricity, drives the engines of our automobiles, provides the fertilizers for our crops, and lies at the root of ongoing wars and turmoil worldwide. Yet, in his critique of the railroad, he imparts an enduring wisdom. Gandhi asks himself, "What, then, of tram-cars and electricity?" He responds, "If we are to do without the railways, we shall have to do without the tram-cars. Machinery is like a snake-hole which may contain from one to a hundred snakes.... where means of artificial locomotion have increased, the health of the people has suffered.... Nature has not provided any way whereby we may reach a desired goal all of a sudden" (Parel, 110-111). He advocates the slow-paced life of the village, wherein all needed goods and services and provided locally. The simplicity advocated by Gandhi would entail little or need for transportation of goods or persons. By adhering to a village economy, and by remaining content within one's community, basic human needs could be fulfilled. Today, great virtue is seen in scaling back our modes of transportation. Emphasis is being placed upon mass-transit options and rides sharing. In quiet ways, Gandhian principles are being reasserted by individuals who compost, grow their own vegetables, and minimize their own transport and oil consumption needs by living close to work, who drive rather than fly when possible, purchase low emission vehicles, and preferably walk or bicycle frequently. Though Gandhi could not have anticipated the massive looming problem of global warming, he certainly saw the ills that accompany complexity. His call for simplicity and abstinence from reliance on machinery remains relevant. As the planetary population continues to urbanize, a host of difficulties arise: reliance on agribusiness, alienation from the rhythms of nature, and a loss of a sense of community. With the shift to service economies in the developed world, the male gender tends to become marginalized as seen in the steady decline of male participation in higher education. In the developing world, which now provides the bulk of manufactured goods, we see the increase of what Gandhi lamented in Europe a century ago, when he wrote "Machinery has begun to desolate Europe. Ruination is now knocking at the English gates. Machinery is the chief symbol of modern civilization: it represents great sin" (Hind Swaraj 107). With great prescience, Gandhi wrote: "And those who have amassed great wealth out of factories are not likely to be better than other rich men. It would be folly to assume that an

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Indian Rockefeller would be better than the American Rockefeller" (HS 108). In China, labor now balks at working conditions. Within the next two decades, India will most likely absorb more manufacturing jobs, and similarly will struggle with issues of justice, seeking to avoid what Gandhi lamented: "The workers in the mills of Bombay have become slaves" (HS 108). Health Care and Education: Health care has been an issue of great discussion in the past few years. On the one hand, advances in medical research and delivery systems have helped humans overcome countless diseases and allow for greater longevity. On the other hand, the defeat of the microbe in the past seventy five years has resulted in exponential rates of population growth, stressing the carrying capacity of the planet. Though the global trend indicates a leveling of population by mid-century, nine billion people will occupy and seize the resources of planet as never before, imperiling the viability of life systems worldwide. This comes at a great cost, economic and spiritual. For each individual to maintain health in the developed world, particularly in the United States, vast sums are expended each year, consisting of a significant percentage of the gross domestic product. From the beginning of the Christian. tradition, death is considered to be an "evil," an "enemy to be destroyed" (First Corinthians, 15:26). The rise of modern medicine ushered in medicines and technologies that allow the postponement of death. Accompanied with what has been termed the Denial of Death, what once was known as inevitable now seems unfair. For Gandhi, growing up in an era before antibiotics and in the proximity of the Jaina community, death was not a mystery nor were extraordinary measures employed to avoid death. In fact, the tradition of fasting unto death (sallekhana/santhara) undoubtedly informed his worldview, a practice still enacted by monastic and lay Jainas worldwide today. Hence, death with dignity would be an essential part of a Gandhian approach. He considered the manner of death far more important than the avoidance of death, advocating a spiritual approach. He considered medicine to be a "parasitical profession" (62) and wrote that "Doctors have nearly unhinged us" (63). His attitude toward medicine was highly suspicious, and he regarded reliance on physicians as feeding human weakness: How do these diseases arise? Surely by our negligence and indulgence. I over-eat. I have indigestion, I go to a doctor, he gives me medicine, I am cured, I over-eat again, and I take his pills again. Had I not taken the pills in the first instance, I would have suffered the punishment deserved by me, and I would not have over-eaten again. The doctor intervened and helped me to indulge myself. My body thereby certainly felt more at ease, but my mind became weakened. A continu 9

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ance of a course of medicine must, therefore, result in loss of control over the mind.... Had the doctor not intervened, nature would have done its work, and I would have acquired mastery over myself, would have been freed from vice, and would have become happy (HS 63). Though this approach seems to arrogate all illness to the mind without taking into account truly debilitating conditions beyond human control, Gandhi nonetheless offers insight and wisdom. The rise of diabetes worldwide is due in part to the increase of caloric intake. Many diseases, including those related to alcoholism and smoking, arise due to human behavior. Gandhi, as a vegetarian, considered the life of animals to be sacred and advocated for the protection of animals. He was a vocal anti-vivisectionist. He wrote: European doctors are the worst of all. For the sake of a mistaken care of the human body, they kill annually thousands of animals. They practise vivisection. No religion sanctifies this. All say that it is not necessary to take so many lives for the sake of our bodies. These doctors violate our religious instinct. Most of their medical preparations contain either animal fat or spirituous liquors; both of these are tabooed by Hindus and Mahomedans... The fact remains that the doctors induce us to indulge, and the result is that we have become deprived of self-control and have become effeminate.... To study European medicine is to deepen our slavery (64). Anticipating the rapaciousness of pharmaceutical companies, he also observed: Doctors make a show of their knowledge, and charge exorbitant fees. Their preparations, which are intrinsically worth a few pennies, cost shillings. The populace in its credulity and in the hope of ridding itself of some disease, allows itself to be cheated (65) As one reflects on the disproportionate compensation given to physicians, particularly in the United States, and the extreme expense of both medicine and insurance, Gandhi's homespun remarks continue to be poignant. In his nineteen point call for action, he proclaimed that a doctor, in order to exert the strength needed for Swaraj, "...will give up medicine, and understand that, rather than mending bodies, he should mend souls" (117). He called all physicians to abjure vivisection:

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it is better that bodies remain diseased rather than that they are cured through the instrumentality of the diabolical vivi section that is practised in European schools of medicine. In a radical acceptance of the inevitable, he considered it more noble for a patient to succumb rather than subject himself or herself to drugs: if any patients come to him, [the doctor) will tell them the cause of their diseases, and will advise them to remove the cause rather than pamper them by giving useless drugs; he will understand that, if by not taking drugs, perchance the patient dies, the world will not come to grief, and that he will have been really merciful to him (117). Although this advice would often be imprudent today given the advances of modern medicine, the adoption of a more non-interventionist approach would help reduce the modern doctor's propensity for ordering expensive tests and prescribing too many medications. This of course would need to be complemented by a less litigious attitude in the health care field. Gandhi's ideas on education would not conform to the modern approach that, as articulated by Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen, sees universal education as the best solution to poverty and economic injustice. During Gandhi's time, literacy within India was about 30%. It has since grown to nearly 70%, and has been accompanied with the rise of an Indian middle class. For Gandhi, education would allow one to serve and would allow one to control the senses. Gandhi stated that it would not be necessary to make education compulsory and that building strong character traits takes priority over book learning. He stated that "we must not make of it a fetish" (Hind Swaraj, 102). Gandhi emphasized life skills. It would seem that this practical approach to education would be irrelevant in today's global economy. However, his standards for a good education entailed the cultivation of service and self-control, which are not necessarily included in today's curriculum certainly have their merits. As with health care, where he took an approach that by today's measure would be highly unconventional, by suggesting that character counts more than the accumulation of facts, Gandhi once again is looking for a quality of life that defies quantification. Conclusion: Gandhi advocated simple living. He held deep suspicions about the benefits of European civilization, including its insistence on mechanized transport and its fetish for medicines of dubious efficacy. The wisdom he shared regarding self-reliance remains relevant for the contemporary post-modern world, though with modifications. Our economy has become globalized and 11

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knowledge-based. It no longer is manipulated onlyl by governments, but by corporations as well. If Gandhi were alive today, he not doubt would stand in awe of cell phones, the internet and so many other accoutrements of daily life. He would be relieved at the number of nations that have cast off the shackles of colonialism and remain concerned about the host of social justice issues that remain unresolved, not only in India, but in China, the nations of Africa, and elsewhere. He would, however, still bear witness, as do modern Gandhians such as Satish Kumar, Vandana Shiva, Michael Mazgaonkar, and many others, against the power of corporations, the unbridled greed of business, and the frivolous embrace of materialist consumerism that now pervades the globe. 12

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References Thomas Berry. The Dream of the Earth. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988. Christopher Chapple. Karma and Creativity. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986. Rajmohan Gandhi. Mohandas: A True Story of a Man, His People, and an Empire. New Delhi: Penguin Viking, 2006. Homer A. Jack. The Gandhi Reader: A Source Book of His Life and Writings. Madras: Samata Books, 1956, 1984. Thomas Merton. Gandhi on Non-Violence: A Selection from the Writings of Mahatma Gandhi. New York: New Directions, 1964. Anthony J. Parel, editor. Hind Swaraj and Other Writings by M. K. Gandhi. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph. Postmodern Gandhi and Other Essays: Gandhi in the World and at Home. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006. Mohandas Gandhi. Hind Swaraj and Other Writings. Edited by Anthony J. Parel. Cambridge University Press, 1997. Henry David Thoreau. Walden and Other Writings. Edited by Brooks Atkinson. New York: The Modern Library, 1937.

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Meditations on the First Movement of the Isha Upanishad - Dr. Debashish Banerji I consider it an honor to present an article in felicitation of Professor Shastri, who has contributed so many years of ground-breaking scholarship in Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy. One of Professor Shastri's major projects in the recent past was the compilation of all Sanskrit interpretations of the Isha Upanishad. In recognition of this work, I present here my meditations on the first three stanzas of the Isha Upanishad, based on the interpretation of this text by Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950). The Isha Upanishad is an early Upanishad, and a highly condensed text, containing only eighteen verses. This Upanishad has a special signifi-. cance for Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo's relationship with this Upanishad goes back to the early years after his return to India in 1893, when he was a teacher at Baroda University. He began translating, contemplating and commenting on this Upanishad from that time. He continued taking this as one of the central pillars of his own engagement with the Indian tradition through the revolutionary period in Bengal (1905-1910). The final form in which we have it comes from the cultural and spiritual journal known as the Arya which he published from Pondicherry over the period 1914 to 1920, when he wrote all his major works. Here we find a growth or evolution in his engagement with this text which keeps pace with his own advance as a yogi. It leads us to wonder why Sri Aurobindo found this text so fascinating. At a certain point he started writing a commentary on this text which he titled The Life Divine. As anyone even slightly familiar with the writings of Sri Aurobindo knows, this is also the title of his most well known philosophical work, also serialized in the Arya. It became an independent text, with over a thousand pages. But perhaps it was a commentary on the Isha Upanishad that provided for him the initiatory movement and seed for this magnum opus of his philosophy. In retrospect we may say that what Sri Aurobindo found in this text is the quintessence of what would become his yoga philosophy, the idea of a divine life on earth and the condition for its possibility. It seems to me that though an early text, the Isha Upanishad follows in the wake of an already established Upanishadic tradition. Somebody reading the Isha would get very little from it if it were not for the fact that there is an enormous background to it. There is also the fact that these texts are operating simultaneously with an oral tradition. They form only the tip of the iceberg, of a tradition of esoteric teachings and practices that are shared in a community of initiates. Thus it is important to consider the Isha as part of a tradition and 14

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keep this background in mind when trying to understand it. Further, we find that the Isha can easily be related to later seminal Indian texts of yoga, such as the Bhagavad Gita. Undoubtedly, this was a factor that drew Sri Aurobindo's interest. Many central ideas of the Gita can be found in the Isha Upanishad. It may even be argued that the Gita is mostly an elaboration of the Isha Upanishad, with the addition of the idea of the avatar which is not present in the Upanishad. The seventeen verses of the Isha Upanishad are not divided into chapters or khandas. But in his commentary, Sri Aurobindo begins by indicating four movements in its organization. He writes, The central idea of the Upanishad which is a reconciliation and harmony of fundamental opposites is worked out symmetrically in four successive movements of thought. The first movement: In the first a basis is laid down by the idea of the one and stable Spirit inhabiting and governing a universe of movement and of the forms of movement. (Verse 1, line 1) On this conception the rule of a divine life for man is founded, -enjoyment of all by renunciation of all through the exclusion of desire. (Verse 1, line 2). There is then declared the justification of works and of the physical life on the basis of an inalienable freedom of the soul, one with the Lord, amidst all the activity of the multiple movement. (Verse 2) Finally the result of an ignorant interference with the right manifestation of the One in the Multiplicity is declared to be a state of involution in states of blind obscurity after death. (Verse 3) Second movement: In the second movement the ideas of the first verse are resumed and amplified. The one stable Lord and the multiple movement are identified as one Brahman, of whom, however, the unity and stability are the highest truth and who contains all as well as inhabits all. (Verse 4 and 5) The basis and fulfilment of the rule of life are found in the experience of unity by which man identifies with the cosmic and transcendental Self and is identified in the Self but with an entire freedom from grief and confusion with all its becoming. (Verse 6 and 7) 15

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Third movement: In the third movement there is a return to the justification of life and work - the subject of verse 2 - and an indication of their divine fulfilment. The degrees of the Lord's self-manifestation in the universe of motion and the becoming of the One Being are set forth. And the inner law of all existences declared to be by his conception and determination. (Verse 8) Vidya and Avidya, Becoming and Non-becoming - are reconciled by their mutual utility to the progressive self-realisation which proceeds from the state of mortality to the state of immortality. (Verses 9 to 14) Fourth movement: The fourth movement returns to the idea of world and under the figures of Surya and Agni, the relations of the Supreme Truth and immortality (Verses 15 and 16), the activities of this life (Verse 17) and the state after death (Verse 18) are symbolically indicated. This, in a nutshell, is Sri Aurobindo's introduction to the organization of ideas in the Isha Upanishad. The present work consists of my meditations on the first of these movements. p The Isha Upanishad, like many other Upanishads, begins with a preamble or Invocation. The Invocation of the Isha Upanishad is famous and known as the purnam stotra. It goes: Om, purnamadah purnamidam, purnat purnamudachate. Purnaschya purnamadaya purnameva vishishyate. Om shanti, shanti, shanti. From this outset we see the significance of the Isha for Sri Aurobindo in its use of the term Purnam. Sri Aurobindo's philosophy has been named Purnadvaita Vedanta; in English this has been translated as Integral Nondualism. Thus we see that to Sri Aurobindo the term Purna refers to integrality. The word Poorna commonly means full, complete, whole. Sri Aurobindo would like us to think of this wholeness as integrality. Integral implies a complexity which is yet unified. This unified wholeness is being hymned in the Purnam Stotra: That, there, is the whole. This, here, is the whole. The whole or complete, arises from the whole and complete. Withdrawing the whole from the whole, it is indeed the whole that remains. As a prelude to this Upanishad, this cryptic verse is evidently preparing us with a contemplation which is paradoxical and startling. In this sense, it is reminiscent of Zen koans and may point to the origin of this mode of yogic contemplation. It refers to a kind of mathematics that is not our com 16

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mon experience, but it is not mathematically outrageous either. It is the mathematics of infinity. If one adds to or takes from infinity, it is the infinite that remains. One may add infinity to infinity or take infinity from infinity, still it is the infinite that remains. Infinity may go forth from infinity and still persist as infinity. In fact, in such a case, we will have two infinities, the original one, which remains infinite and the extracted infinity. However, both these infinities yet remain one infinite. We begin to see what integrality may imply in terms of a complex unity. Thus this sloka initiates us to the contemplation that our universe is infinite but may have arisen out of a more fundamental infinite. Moreover, this emergent infinity does not in any way diminish the infinite content out of which it has arisen. Further, all instances within this universal infinity are also infinite yet don't modify the infinity out of which they are formed and in which they exist. This is the beginning of the Isha Upanishad, a contemplation of Reality as integral, not only in its whole but in its parts. It is an indivisible infinity that faces us in every finite and behind it in that which contains it and that which exceeds it. This becomes the basis of the cosmology of the Isha Upanishad, and, Sri Aurobindo will point out that this is consistent with the cosmology of all the Upanishads. Reality is infinite. This infinite conscious being, in the very possibility of reflexive knowledge, exteriorizes itself to itself in a self-representation. This self-representation cannot but be infinite, though an order of infinity within the infinity of absolute Being. The viewer is infinite, that which is viewed is also infinite. Neither of these infinities abrogate the original infinity out of which the possibility of self-knowledge arose. The viewing of the infinite by the infinite then produces a world in which the infinite is represented to itself in finite terms. But in each of these finites it is the infinite that dwells. Therefore every finite that represents the infinite is nothing but the infinite. This, according to Sri Aurobindo, is the integral basis of the philosophy of the Upanishads, and this is the background to the Isha Upanishad. What the Isha Upanishad does with this is to turn it into the basis of a knowledge of works in the world. III After this Invocation, we are led into the text of the Upanishad. It begins: Isha vasyam idam sarvam yat kinchit jagatyam jagat. Tena taktyena bhunjitha ma gridha kasya sviddhanam. Here is Sri Aurobindo's translation: All this is for the habitation by the Lord, whatsoever is individual universe of movement in the universal movement. By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy. Lust not after any man's possession. 17

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The very first word of the Upanishad introduces the term after which the Upanishad is named, Isha. Sri Aurobindo's translation for the word Isha is 'lord' - "All this is for the habitation of the Lord." As we know through Prof. Shastri's encyclopedic work on this Upanishad, almost every yoga philosophy (darshan) in India has its own interpretation of this Upanishad. So, when Sri Aurobindo translates "Isha" as "lord," it would seem to indicate a theistic interpretation. However, if we probe Sri Aurobindo's other treatments of this term, we find a further qualification, pointing to the larger Upanishadic tradition hidden behind this text. We find, for example, that another Upanishad which Sri Aurobindo has given an extended commentary for, the Kena Upanishad, also begins with this term. The first two and primordial words of that text are "Kena ishite" - "by whom impelled?" Sri Aurobindo translates the first of its questions starting with these words - "By whom missioned falls the mind shot to its mark?" What is primary here pertaining to the word "isha" is intent, will. Isha is he/that who/which wills. It is that Being whose will produces this world. This is the tapaswin, he whose tapas has become this world. Undoubtedly, for Sri Aurobindo the idea of Isha as Lord, as that Being who wills, carries a personified notion. The idea of the purnam, on the other hand, which precedes in the preamble this first line of the Upanishad, carries the notion of Brahman as an impersonal infinite and integral Reality. For Sri Aurobindo, through this succession of ideas, the Isha Upanishad establishes an equivalence between the impersonal and the personal aspects of Brahman. Para Brahman as the Supreme Reality is none other than Parameshvara, Supreme Lord, by whose will towards self-representation, yoga tapas, infinite Being launches into an infinite Becoming. This equation of the impersonal and the personal is made at the very start of the Upanishad, because it establishes a certain relation in Reality, of the being and power of will with that which is willed. IV The second term in this first line is "vasyam." Sri Aurobindo translates it as "habitation." Vasyam has been translated in other ways also. For example Shankara translates it as dress. In his commentary, Sri Aurobindo provides a footnote for this term vasyam. He says, "There are three possible senses to vasyam: to be clothed, to be worn as a garment, and to be inhabited. The first is the ordinarily accepted meaning, that is to be clothed. Shankara explains it in this significance that we must lose the sense of this unreal objective universe in the sole perception of the pure Brahman. So explained, the first line becomes the contradiction of the whole thought of the Upanishad which teaches the reconciliation by perception of essential unity of the apparently incompatible opposites - God and the world, renunciation and enjoyment, action and internal freedom, the One and the Many, 18

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Being and its Becoming, the passive divine impersonality and active divine personality, the knowledge and the Ignorance, the Becoming and the Nonbecoming, life on earth and beyond and the supreme immortality. The images of the world either as a garment or as a dwelling place is for the informing governing spirit. The latter significance agrees better with the thought of the Upanishad." All this is for the habitation of the Lord, for the dwelling of the Lord, the Lord dwells in all this. That Infinite that has become each of these infinites -- the infinite Being dwells in each of these infinities. V The sense of this first phrase is further elaborated in the second half of the first line: Yat kincha jagatyam jagat. Simply put, one may translate this "Whatever moves in this world." But jagat put beside jagatyam is evidently an emphasis on the etymological origin of jagat, the word for "world." Sri Aurobindo's translation makes explicit this relation, achieving a sense of concreteness and profundity: "Whatsoever is individual universe of movement in the universal motion." What was seen in terms of static being representing itself as universe and its parts, is now more properly seen as becoming. This again is one of the repeated concerns of the Upanishads - the relation between eternity and time, the real and the phenomenal. The mahavakya of the Upanishad that repeats in a number of places comes to mind - nityo'nityanam - that which is permanent in transient things, a being-in-becoming. Jagat, world, is that which changes. This is the basis of phenomenal experience. We find ourselves in a transient world; around us everything changes, nothing remains still. But, transience may have other properties when we study it more carefully. In Sri Aurobindo's treatment of the line, he highlights first the instances of becoming. Here, each entity is its own universe. But not only is it the center of a static universe, it is a universe of movement, a mobile infinity, a whirl that takes itself to be the central reality, an individual universe of movement. Yet this reality which is an universe to itself is whirling in the language of the German philosopher Heidegger, we may say "worlding") in a cosmic reality (jagat/world) which is also whirling/worlding. This is the "individual universe of movement in the universal motion." In Sri Aurobindo's rendition, what becomes evident is that in each of these individual movements which take themselves to be their own universe, the entire moving universe is contained, is present - the Being of universal movement is present in every individual movement. And all this is "for the habitation of the lord" - that is, the integral Becoming made up of individual instances of becoming are inhabited by the Being-in-Becoming, which remains the integral Being 19

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outside the Becoming, immune, infinite and integral without the Becoming, within the Becoming and within each becoming of the Becoming. This Being-in-Becoming is what Sri Aurobindo will call "the active Brahman." That which is active in the world, the dynamic energy, shakti, is one Being and one Becoming, multiply becoming, in each of its instances. But each of these instances knows its becoming as its own separate becoming. Therefore we find ourselves in a world of many becomings constituting or contained within one Becoming. This fragmented self-absorbed individual perspective on Becoming is what bestows one of the central sources of suffering in phenomenal experience. Such suffering is experienced due to the perception of "sharing" a world with "others," who each experience the world as if they constituted the center of its movement, yet each such center is distinct, separate, rubbing unpleasantly with all others. Thus each "individual universe of movement" carries an urge to monopolize the "universe of movement" (jagat/world) in which it finds itself, something it attempts through swallowing, annihilation or identification. Since these individual universes of movement are none other than instances of the universal movement, it should be possible for them to experience a primordial identity, but the experience of separation renders such an identity painfully absent in experience. To consider the universal movement, jagat, we find that the primary properties of this Becoming, its transience, are two-fold : one is, that all things are born, all things change or mutate through time, and all things die - appearance, preservation, mutation, death - "Appearing and perishing on the roads of time," as Sri Aurobindo puts it in his epic poem Savitri. This appearance or semblance of Becoming is part of the condition of a manifestation in which the Eternal has fragmented itself. An evolutionary Becoming begins by the fragmentation of Being, what is called the sacrifice of Purusha in the Vedas. This is primordially a fragmentation in space and time. Fragmentation in space is the discretion and dispersion of the infinite qualities of Brahman. It can be thought of as an infinite particulate dispersion of matter, the independence of the particularity of that which is known to itself by identity in the act of knowledge. Brahman's attempt to know itself reflexively is a self-representation in terms of its qualities, its particularities. Particularity inevitably manifests itself in a particulate world, a world in which there is dispersion into particles. This is the sacrifice of Being in space. Again, this sacrifice is represented in time by the discreteness of temporality, from continuity to discreteness in temporality. We move from that which is seamless and continuous, to that which appears and disappears. It is born, it mutates, it dies. This is thus seen as the inevitable consequence of a manifestation in which multiplicity and temporality form the basis of a self-representation of Brahman. Transience can have other properties as well. One such property is progress. Things change, but there may be a direction to change, a sense of 20

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growth. From a human viewpoint, whether such a property marks the ontology of transience on earth is a debatable question. Contesting the idea of time's progressing arrow is the notion of a circular time, of ages that repeat. Some thinkers have posited that the temporal experience of "the west" is "progressive," while that of "the east" is "circular." Some have even seen these divergent civilizational ontologies as springing from the character of the predominant religious systems followed in these regions. Abrahamic religions with their eschatological orientation are naturally focused on the inexorable succession of time; while Indic religions, with their emphasis on the experience of something unchanging, have paid less heed to the temporal dimension, seeing it as illusory or repetitive. This may be an over-simplification, but there may be some truth to it. By the time of the Gita, though action is enjoined, its purpose is left vague, as a "holding together of the world" (lokasangraha) and the aim of human realization is indicated as freedom from the cycles of rebirth. In modern times, the western hegemony of a global world has brought a strong "progressive" orientation to human striving, while at the same time, the misguided emphasis on instrumentality and technological progress has been countered by philosophers questioning any assumption of teleology, particularly to human history. At the head of this counter-progressivist trend, we may see the figure of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and his adaptation from Hindu philosophy, "the eternal recurrence of the Same." However, these two orientations need not be at odds with one another. The Same, which ever repeats in new forms as temporal phenomena, is infinite. In the interpretation given to Nietzsche's phrase by Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995), what repeats from moment to moment in the discreteness of phenomena is the infinity of the Same, its infinite possibility of becoming, developing on the basis of the train of history. And if we think of cyclic structures, these may be ever-widening repetitions, spirals unfolding patterns of sameness in progressive expansions. In our own experience, we find a subjective accounting, the seemingly random accretion of experiences of continuity and rupture, building or integrating consciousness. All around us in nature, we also see the grades of emergence, consciousness struggling to manifest in terms of complexity, self-mastery and world-mastery. However, at the human level, some temporal circumstance of continuity or desire is easy to mistake for such an evolutionary or teleological drift. This can turn into an inexorable determinism sealing human destiny. This is a false identification, which it is necessary to be suspicious of and critical about. On the other hand, to recognize an emergent property of consciousness in the cosmos can empower self-consciousness to transcend its ego limits and aim at cosmicity. Whether it is called teleology, evolution, or persistence in the journey 21

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towards self-revelation, the change of becoming is marked by this kind of progress. That is its other property. Thus the cosmos or world, jagat, can be seen as a mobile reality, a becoming which is not only always in transit, transitory, but also transiting towards a self-realization, transitional. Here, the sense of Isha as "lord," master of will, becomes evident. Thus, in this universe of movement where nothing is still, in each individual instance which knows itself to be separate, dispersed and discrete in space and time, the one infinite Being that alone is, resides as Lord, conscious agent and Master of Will, impelling towards development and identification of consciousness. That is the drift of the first verse of the Isha Upanishad as interpreted by Sri Aurobindo. A poem by Sri Aurobindo brings out this idea at the most basic level of material existence. This is a poem titled "Electron": The electron on which forms and worlds are built, Leaped into being, a particle of God. A spark from the eternal Energy spilt, It is the Infinite's blind minute abode. In that small flaming chariot Shiva rides. The one devised innumerably to be; His oneness in invisible forms he hides, Time's tiny temples to eternity. Atom and molecule in their unseen plan Buttress an edifice of strange onenesses, Crystal and plant, insect and beast and man, - Man on whom the World-Unity shall seize, Widening his soul-spark to an epiphany Of the timeless vastness of Infinity. This poem exemplifies very well the first stanza of the Isha Upanishad. Each electron is its own universe of becoming within the universal becoming. In each of these, it is the Lord (isha), Master of conscious Will, who inhabits or resides. We see clearly the mobile properties of the electron-it is always in movement and undergoing reconfigurations of aggregation and disaggregation. In this sense, it is a transitoery becoming in a transitory cosmos. But, this transitoriness is also secretly upheld and impelled by the Conscious Will which resides at its center, motiving an evolution towards a critical juncture of conscious self-emergence. The Lord resides in every form of cosmic becoming, down conceptually to its particulate building blocks because it is the Lord who, as Master of Will, impels each of these becomings independently towards His self-manifestation in the cosmos. This residence and willful control, acting through the motions of cosmic becomings, translates to an evolution of consciousness. This is the meaning of cosmos, the 22

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truth of the cosmic Ignorance, Avidya. That meaning to be recognized as cosmic truth, awaits the appearance of the human being, because the human being is capable of the form of self-consciousness of the Lord, Isha. This, again, is part of the background of the Isha Upanishad. It is perhaps best brought out in the Aitareya Upanishad, where, of all creatures, it is the human which is accepted by the gods for identification. Man is made in the image of God but, encased in and emerging from Ignorance, lives in a forgetfulness of this truth. Thus, the human being has a critical step to take at arrive at the realization of cosmic meaning. This step fulfills not merely individual becoming, not even human becoming, but cosmic becoming. The Isha Upanishad asserts this truth and meaning at the outset and functions as a mantra to wake up the secret memory of human identity with the Lord in the heart of all things, leading towards cosmic self-realization. VI The first line of the Isha Upanishad thus presents us with an idea for contemplation. This central idea of the Upanishad is like a seed containing many implications which are then developed, but the contemplation required by the first line is never lost sight of. The second half of the first verse reads: "Tena tyaktena bhunjhitha ma grida kasya sviddhanam." In Sri Aurobindo's translation, this reads: "By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy; lust not af ter any man's possession." There seems to be little connection here with the first line. But this is not uncommon in the Upanishads, where such apparent discontinuities are part of its intuitive languaging. Some dwelling on the idea is necessary to establish the connections. Here, for example, we see the statement beginning in the instrumental case, which raises a question and establishes the link with the earlier line. "By that renounced" the question raised here can be formulated as by what renounced, using what power to enter a condition of renunciation? The answer is "by the power of contemplation on the first line." The first statement of the Upanishad - "All this is for the habitation by the Lord, whatsoever is individual universe of movement in the universal movement" sets up the mantra for contemplation. This contemplation becomes an instrument for renunciation of desire, which in turn leads to the divine enjoyment which is the goal of the Upanishad. Here again, we see one of the key ideas of the Upanishads, the origin of all manifestation in a divine delight; the goal of human existence being the realization or enjoyment of this delight and the way to this delight being our right orientation to reality through a contemplation of its hidden truth. This notion of renunciation also reminds us of the Bhagavad Gita and demonstrates the debt of that text to the Isha Upanishad. Tyaktena draws us close to the discussion on sannyasa and tyaga in the Bhagavad Gita. Sannyasa implies formal and overt withdrawal from the world of action, the life-world, while tyaga stands for renunciation of desire. The latter can be 23

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practiced in the midst of life through loss of attachment to the fruit of one's action and the sense of the doer. This is the message of karma yoga in the Gita and the Isha Upanishad paves the ground for this teaching through its concise pregnant injunction. Sri Ramakrishna reduced the teaching of the Gita to the sense emerging from its repetition. The term "Gita" repeated strikes the ear as "tagi," a sound-form close enough to tyagi to mean this kind of inner renunciation. In the Isha, the same inner renunciation in action is enjoined as the condition for true enjoyment, but here the way to this renunciation is not primarily the way of works but the way of knowledge - the inner renunciation arises from the sustained contemplation of the idea that all is the habitation of the lord, whatever is individual universe of movement in the universal movement. The contemplation of this divine inhabitation within us and within all things, in their (static) being and in their (dynamic) becoming helps to dissolve personal desire and with it, the sense of doership and self-importance. This becomes the basis for the pure enjoyment of purusha, ishwara, the lord within us enjoying the works of prakriti or nature in and around us. VII The second half of the second line, once again in a seemingly disconnected fashion, now lays further emphasis on the renunciation of desire by drawing attention to its nature and connecting this with the first line, our central contemplation. In its simple statement, it is an injunction against greed : "Lust not after any man's possession." This seems to be in the nature of a moral commandment, a teaching for social ethics, which deviates significantly from the darshanic and yogic character of the first line and the first half of the second line respectively. But this "do not covet" seen more deeply in the light of what precedes it, yields for us a journey, a subtilisation from the moral to the yogic, a yoga of the loss of desire. In this sentence we are given an insight into human desire. In the practice of reduction of one's desiring, comes a profounder remembrance of our central contemplation: "All this is for the habitation by the Lord." No "possession" belongs to anyone but the Lord. In identity with the Lord - all is ours. Outside that identity - nothing is ours, we have no right to anything. What precedes this line rings immediately in our mind: "By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy." The state of desiring is absent from the lord, who is self-fulfilled and to whom all is his self-formulation, for his inhabitation. Thus to have desire is to be separate from the lord, a condition to be renounced. In this fragmentation of Being in which we find ourselves, where consciousness arises as if by accident from the appearance of Inconscience, the Spirit, Lord, Isha, has plunged or involved himself, and awakens only gradually through the play of soul and nature. The secret of the divine will is at first hidden in an appearance of Inconscience, as in the electron. Uncon 24

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scious laws drive these movements. In its journey towards the release of consciousness and its powers, the soul's spark, that conscious being, is at first completely identified with the automatisms of inconscient Nature. As it evolves into human existence, Nature or Prakriti borrows its sense of self from this identity. The Purusha or Isvara, Lord, is spoken for by Nature, Prakriti. Purusha or Ishvara is that which is conscious in us. The instruments of mind, life and body (karana) borrow their sense of self as if by proxy from the consciousness of ishvara (karana). Ishvara wears the mask of prakriti and the mask takes itself to be the surrogate self of Ishvara - this is the Ego. A construct of self at the confluence of the mental, vital and physical forces of nature (triveni sangam), the ego is driven by these forces, struggling to maintain a semblance of stability, to survive and persist in the Ignorance. But this self of prakriti lacks the plenitude of unity which belongs to purusha. Insignificant, separate and precarious, it is marked by grasping, want, need, lack, the hunger and thirst with which the entire creation is seeded in its self-exploration out of its own opposite. This is the foundation of desire in the creation. Thus, in its first verse, the Isha Upanishad drives us into a meditation towards the recognition of Brahman as Ishvara at the heart of all things in the cosmos, the Being of all their being (vasyam) and the will (isha) of all their becoming. And it reveals its real concern as that of proper and unsullied enjoyment (bhunjitha). For this enjoyment, it shows the method (tena tyaktena) and it warns against the mistaken path (ma gridha). If one is identified with the Lord in being and becoming, attained through the practice of the renunciation of desire, one can enjoy with the enjoyment of the Lord. Lacking this identification, one is out of sync with the intent of the Lord, the isha of the Isha, and the Upanishad sees the person in this condition as a thief, interfering in the paths of God, snatching through desire at the rightful manifestation of Delight, the divine's enjoyment and earning only suffering as result. * "Tena tyaktena bhunjitha" - by that renounced thou shoudst enjoy. The very second line of the Upanishad it presents one of its two main concerns, that of enjoyment. Indeed, this is one of the major concerns of the Upanishads as a body of text, because among the founding realizations of these texts is the premise that this world arises from delight. Delight is at the basis of things and the very meaning of existence is the enjoyment of delight. This forms an entire class and central core of Upanishadic understanding, which is why it is foregrounded in the second sentence as the injunctive goal of its meditation: "bhunjitha" - enjoy! This is what we are here for. But one must know how to enjoy. Wrongful enjoyment brings only suffering. VIII The tightness of the first couplet becomes even more evident with this 25

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understanding of its intent, as we intuit the profound relation between enjoyment and transience. This relationship was brought to the forefront and exploited powerfully by the Buddha. The philosophy of the Buddha stems from the notion that the root of suffering is transience. In the Isha Upanishad the fact of transience is highlighted in the second half of the first line, after the assertion of the inhabitation and pervasion of the Divine; in Buddhism, the fact of suffering resulting from the phenomenal experience of transience forms the very first of its Four Noble Truths: This world is one of suffering because it is a world of transience. This phenomenon of suffering as related to transience is profoundly analyzed in Buddhism. Suffering is related to transience in three ways - first, all things are born, all things change, all things die. Like it or not, old age, illness and death will visit our home, our habitation : suffering is ours from the very beginning, it's written into one's book, one's text. Second, we desire something, but we may never achieve what we desire, and hence we suffer due to not having. Or, we achieve our desire, but by the time of achievement, we are no longer the person who initiated the desire. The mutations of time have transfigured our subjectivity. This transfigured subjectivity has changed our experience of what we desired. Moreover, time dulls our capacities of enjoyment. Again, what we desired has mutated in time, and is no longer what initiated our desire. In having, we find a second-hand enjoyment, no longer what we wanted. Third, at the inception of desire, the object of desire shines with the light of wonder. It is full of an infinite richness and potential. But as soon as we grasp it, it turns to ashes in our hand, because we mark it with our own finitude. As soon as we have what we desired, it turns boring, because finitude is boring. One sought "the Other" because one is bored with oneself, but in finding it, it loses its otherness and becomes "possessed" within one's own boring limits. This profound reality of transience and finitude also connects with the preamble of the Isha Upanishad, its meditation on wholeness, purnam. To truly enjoy, one must be infinite oneself, one must first know oneself as infinite. Then one will continue to see everything as infinite. It is only the infinite that is real, everything is truly full of infinite content. This is why the phenomenal experience of transience, the sense of discreteness and finiteness of time, is so powerful in bringing us our basic perception of this world as a world of suffering. But the Isha Upanishad attacks this perception at its roots pushing us to recognize the One Eternal in all transient things, nityo'nityanam. This One Eternal is shown to be none other than one's Self and the same in all things in this universe, the Isha, Lord, for whose habitation all exists and becomes. With this as the basis of one's enjoyment, one is secure and free of suffering, because one is identified with the Enjoyer of the universe. The Lord resides in the heart of all things in the universe so as to enjoy them. This again is among the central tenets of the Upanishads, repeated variously in many of its texts. The Katha Upanishad refers to this Enjoyer as the eater of honey, madhvadaha. In uniting with That, we unite 26

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with the Lord in the enjoyment of his creative will and the enjoyment of his receptive experience. Being the Will of the cosmos as a single becoming in all becomings, that will, Isha, causes a harmonious unfolding, even in the appearance of discord, and leads to an enjoyment proceeding from that harmony. Because this will is the knowledge-Will of Supermind, there is no gap between its knowledge and its action. Its Action is the seamless and spontaneous expression of its Knowledge. It contains within it all the relations that are being mapped out inevitably in time as the unfolding representation of Being-in-Becoming. Therefore, this dynamic union with the Lord puts us in "the right place at the right time." We are led spontaneously to the work to be done (kartavyam karma). We know ourselves, as the Gita says, as occasion only (nimitta-matra) with the Lord as doer and enjoyer in us and we partake of the enjoyment of action but not of the consequences of action. This is how the very first verse of the Isha Upanishad encapsulates the core of what will become the Gita's teaching of the yoga of works (karma yoga). This also becomes one of the cornerstones of Sri Aurobindo's teaching of The Life Divine. This cornerstone is now further elaborated. IX The second stanza of the Upanishad runs: Kurvan eva iha karmani jijivisheshwata sama Evam twayi na anyat ito asti na karma lippyate nare. Doing verily works in this world one should wish to live a hundred years. Thus it is in thee and not otherwise than this; action cleaves not to a man. In our elaboration of the first stanza, we could see the relation between enjoyment and work. But this is not an obvious relation. So, too, there seems to be little relation between renunciation and living a hundred years. As with the verses which precede this stanza, such suppressed links are part of the intuitive languaging of the Upanishads. This stanza brings us even closer to the Gita and its doctrine of divine works. We have already seen how the very first stanza fields the question of renunciation, tyaga and noted the resonance of this idea with the later distinction between sannyasa and tyaga which is dealt with in the Gita. This is an early debate in Indian spiritual life, which had hardened by the time of the Buddha. In the life-story of the Buddha, the choice between samsara and sannyasa is coded at the very outset, in the pre-natal calculations of the astrologers. He will either be a great king of the world (samsara) or a great spiritual emperor by world-renunciation (sannyasa). He chooses the life of the wandering renunciant. But this distinction is not a hard division at the time of the Upanshads, where the king or other householder (grahasthi) can also be a seer (rajarshi) or knower of Brahman (brahma-jnani). The Isha Upanishad emphasizes this world-af 27

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firming spirituality. Enjoyment is the goal of spiritual life and this enjoyment must be realized here in life, where people work, labour, struggle. It must be known in and through works, by the renunciation of desire, of false perception and false will, the will of Prakriti. Thus we find the importance of works in this stanza something which will become later the cornerstone of the Gita's Karma Yoga. The second stanza states: "Doing verily works in the world one should wish to live a hundred years." This is clearly the furtherance of a view to which life in the social world (samsara) is not seen as an imprisonment, but rather a field of enjoyment. A similar sentiment is carried on in the Gita, where Krishna says to Arjuna, "Arise, O Arjuna, be victorious in the battle of dharma, and enjoy a vast kingdom." This is the Indian ideal of enjoyment in the world by "right action, karma of dharma, not understood as social ethics or morality, but dharma as spiritual identification with the Enjoyer, the only Enjoyer there is. X It is useful to query what is meant by the term karman, works, here. The essence of work is to be seen all around us. The whole world is full of work. Work is the very essence of the sense of struggle, labour, pain, with which this world is fraught, because there is only one Worker in this world, the same One who enjoys all work. This is the Lord who is at the heart of things, who has sent forth his will force, tapas, isha, to become work in the world. Behind this Will-to-work in the world is the evolutionary self-revelation of the Lord in all his creatures. Everything here labors to release the Godhead, to make it manifest in time and space. That is the work. This is the reason why such emphasis is paid in the very second stanza to work. The first stanza ends on the topic of enjoyment, but the second begins surprisingly with work. This is because to the Lord whose will has gone forth and is at work in all things, there is no difference between enjoyment and work. The first line of the second stanza establishes this relation doing verily works in this world one should wish to live a hundred years. There are other elements, too, to this statement: the fullness of an integral realization needs time for realization. There is a resolute will necessary to persist and endure through the unknown journey from ignorance to the consciousness of identity with the Lord. As part of this resolution, there must arise a firm will in the being not to allow the compulsion of death to overcome one before the attainment of integral identity with the dweller within. XI The second line of this stanza continues the engagement with work: "Thus it is indeed and not otherwise than this, action cleaves not to a man." 28

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This very powerful line brings us once more into the precognition of the Gita's idea of doing works without suffering its consequences. This relates to one of the core connotations of the Indian conception of Karma. Work as a facile English translation of karma misses this essential dimension of the Indian understanding. The notion of work in India is related from early teachings with subjective cosmic determinism, a psychic law of causation. This Upanishad is making an assertion here that Karma does not cleave to a man, ie. action does not leave any marks of consequence on the doer. And it makes this assertion without condition. It is not providing conditions under which we will suffer the consequences of our actions and conditions under which we will be free from such consequences. Once again, many layers of meaning seem condensed in this fragment of a couplet. Firstly, there is something in us which is untouched by work or any action, -- that is the dimension of the Lord, the Infinite potential which remains Infinite within the finitude of becoming. This remains untouched, irrespective of how much of it appears or is mobilized in the becoming. Even if an infinity of it appears, an infinity remains unmanifest. We hear here once more the echo of the purnam verses of this Upanishad. This is the unborn dimension of being within us, an inexhaustible potency that each of us carries. The entire universe carries this at its center, and each entity in the universe carries it. This is the true "man" in each person, the nara. This dweller within (dehin) is the soul or psychic being, anataratman. Yet, in each individual, it is always coupled with the Lord who inhabits the universe at its center and in each nameable instance within it (Isha). This coupling of the "man" and the "Lord" is developed in later Indian literature as the divine couple nara-narayana. "Nara" literally means "man" and refers to the psychic sonship of each individual. "Narayana" literally means "the way of Man" and is the Lord seated in the heart of all things, the possessor of the unified and harmonized Will (Isha) which is The Way. This coupled psychic center of our existence is untouched by action, action does not cleave to this psychic essence of our being, this central Purusha. Therefore, even if Prakriti desires in our instrumental nature and interferes in the truth of the will of God, enters the crooked ways in the saying of the ancients, then too the Purusha in us is not touched. That inner essence is not subject to the law of Karma. This is the primary understanding of the assertion of that verse, its unconditional understanding. Sri Aurobindo has a similar epigrammatic assertion at the head of his treatise of Yoga, The Synthesis of Yoga. Here he writes: "All life is yoga." It is an unconditional statement and like the assertion of the Isha Upanishad, it needs first to be understood unconditionally; only then can one understand it conditionally. In both cases, these two forms of understanding belong to Purusha and Prakriti. To the Purusha the assertions are unconditional, to Prakriti they are conditional. 29

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What is the law of Karma? The law of Karma is not an ethical law, it is not a moral law. It is not, as in the popular understanding, reducible to the tenet that doing good brings good consequences and doing evil brings evil. It cannot be so, because the values of good and evil are relative. One man's good may be another person's evil. As we saw with the essence of work, Karma is an evolutionary law. Karma exists to ensure that our will falls in line with the will of the Lord. This is the very movement of the evolution. The will of the Lord is the will of the One. The law of karma seen by our instrumental nature, by the prakritic experience, stems from the lack of our consciousness of oneness, our knowledge of identity. It is the ignorance of the truth that there is only one Being and its one Becoming; it is to that Being that all action is directed, and by that Being that all action is done. It is the veil of this ignorance that yields karma, crookedness of intent, causing suffering and pain to the instrumental nature, Prakriti. Prakriti bears the consequences of this ignorance leading it even unconsciously to seek union with Purusha/Isha within. This is the meaning of karma. If (and when we are identified in consciousness with the Lord in being and becoming, so that His will alone works in and through us, irrespective of the nature of action, there would be no suffering, there would be only delight. This is the delight of the instrument in its instrumentation (prakriti), and the delight of enjoyer in its enjoyment (purusha). That is what the teaching of Karma in the yogic sense amounts to here. We may further consider how are we to understand experientially this assertion that action does not cleave to a person. As with the first line of the Upanishad, this assertion may also be taken as an invitation to a meditation. This is an invitation to contemplate the fact that there is something in us that is untouchable by any phenomenal experience. Interestingly, it is with this invitation that the Bhagavad Gita also begins. It starts with Arjuna's dejection, what is termed by it, Arjuna vishada yoga. Witnessing the opposing armies arrayed for battle, Arjuna refuses to fight. He argues, that it is an evil war firstly because, all war is evil and secondly, because it is a civil war, in which what he is required to do opposes the very foundations of dharma that hold civilization together. It offends the basic principles that he has been taught, respect for teachers and elders, amity with relatives and kinspeople. Instead, he is required to take arms against all these well known and respected people. Arjuna can see no good coming from this. If he loses, he will be shamed and if he wins, he will be ridden by guilt for the rest of his life. There will be no enjoyment, only suffering. Krishna's answer to Arjuna takes us through the mazes of right and wrong and the intricacies of yoga, but his very first response to Arjuna asks the latter to consider who he thinks he will kill or who he thinks will kill him. He points out to him that he hasn't even been born, neither have the others he sees and that, from another vantage, all these people have already died, driven into his jaws as the immeasurable Time Spirit, arisen for destruction. He thus enjoins on him first, to know 30

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himself as the Unborn, as the infinite potential that has not even been manifested here. He describes this dweller within (dehin) then as unborn (aja), eternal (nitya), sempiternal (saswata) and ancient (purana), that which does not perish in the perishable body (na hanyate hanyamane sharire). This is the unconditional reality of the self that Krishna first invites Arjuna to contemplate and identify with. This unborn purusha is in all of us : it's our Infinite Reality. But in the prakritic sense, the phrase 'action cleaves not to a person' must be understood conditionally, in that if the instrumental nature, prakriti, is perfectly under the control of the Lord's will, it does not accrue consequences of action, karma. The way to this yoking of the prakriti to the Lord seated within the heart of all things is the core of the Gita's Karma Yoga. This is the injunction to desireless works, nishkama karma, action through renunciation. The Gita teaches the surrender of the fruits of action to the Lord, such fruits do not belong to the person who acts, they belong to the Lord who inhabits all things and guides them as part of a single Becoming. This same teaching is what forms the message of the first two stanzas of the Isha Upanishad. XII The transition from ignorance to knowledge born of identity with the Lord is initiated by this renunciation of the fruits of action. It achieves two things thereby: first, it puts into action, makes active, a faith in the perception of the Lord as the Being of all beings and the power of all becoming. It establishes an orientation towards the will of the Lord and makes that the basis of one's primary relation with the trasitioning world (jagat). It acknowledges that in our lives. Second, it detaches us from the sources of our compulsion to action. The instrumental (prakritic) behavior of all humans is motivated by the struggle of the ego to survive and have its separate enjoyment in the world. This separative desiring and grasping is an ignorance which exists in a tangled clash of wills and of unfulfillment and brings only suffering. The recognition of the Lord as the true knower who ordains all cosmic results, taking the universe with all its beings towards His self-revelation in them, initiates the discipline of the renunciation of results which detaches action from its prakritic compulsions. It brings us to the realization of ourselves as a witness consciousness (purusha as saksi) and the instrumental channel (prakriti as karana) of a force (shakti) that is working through us. That force is the will of the Lord (isha). This realization is the vindication of the faith we started with, that it is the Lord who acts and not we. Thus, the renunciation of the results of action leads to a change in the experience of agency, doership. One is only an instrument and an occasion of action, not a doer or cause of action. Cosmic shakti is the doer and the cause; this shakti is the energy of the Lord's will, isha. This realization liberates prakriti from karma. But to the karma yoga of the Gita as of the Isha Upanishad, there is one more step. This is the transition of purusha from its status as witness 31

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(saksi) to the status as Lord (Isha), source and enjoyer of action. This transition is the culmination of the karma yoga and the completion of the meditation initiated in the first movement of the Isha Upanishad. The Gita, as a theistic text, introduces into Indian spirituality, the agency of the avatar, the embodied divine, as the way to the journey from ignorance to identity of consciousness. Narayana, "the way of man" here becomes the human guide and companion, Krishna, who holds the key to the transformation of human identity. In a translation of the idea of the Isha as the Lord in control of all becomings, Krishna is metaphorically the charioteer, holding the reins of the individual's journey. Thus here, surrender of the fruits of work is made to the avatar. The tangled path of right choice is simplified in this text, by laying out the various ramifications of "dharma and leading to the final injunction of casting aside all dharmas and looking for guidance to the avatar alone, who gives the assurance of deliverance. from all sin and error. In the Isha Upanishad we do not have the Avatar, but this is the very reason why the Parabrahman is shown to be seated in the heart of all creatures as the Lord, Parameshwara, Isha. In the Gita too, Krishna makes it clear that he is not an external figurehead that demands worship, but indeed the Lord of all creatures seated in their hearts. He can speak to us intimately. This is the key: the one who speaks to us is the Lord of our being and nature. It is His Will that has gone abroad in all becomings. And in effect, in the Isha Upanishad, the very same thing is implied: come to me alone, offer all to me. I will save your nature from its own errors and deliver you from Ignorance through identification with Me. XIII If the Way of Works is implied in the first two stanzas of the Isha Upanishad, there is a another direction that can lead to this overcoming of karma. This lies in developing the knowledge of the will of God, and that is a direction more familiar in general to the Upanishads. As a class of texts related to the Veda, the Upanishads are referred to as Jnana Kanda, the division of Knowledge. Thus, what is hidden in these texts is the way to the development of faculties of knowledge which will bring us into union with the intent of the Lord's will (isha). Ignorance marks the human instruments of knowledge. These are constituted by a limited organization of mental consciousness into a subconscious mentality (citta), sense organs (indriyani), a sense mind (manas) and a cognitive apparatus (buddhi) which derives possible interpretations from the evidence of the senses. All this knowledge is probable knowledge arrived at indirectly, from a vantage of separation from the object of knowledge. These mental operations, moreover, are conditionings based on personal psychology, past life samskaras, upbringing, environment, and the heuristics of semi-conscious learned behaviors. The clamors of personal desire color our thinking and preload the dice of 32

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judgment. Even were we to be free of such interference of the blind lifeforce and develop an impartial intelligence, this can bring us only uncertain models of reality. We grope for an understanding of what we are, where we are or where we go. But the one who alone inhabits all things and whose form of becoming all things are, knows all things directly, by identity, because all is His self-representation. Between our ignorance and its knowledge is a gulf, but not one which is unbridgeable. The Upanishads deal variously with the building of this bridge using the apparatus of human knowledge. Our senses can be turned inside-out to bring a different and more intimate knowledge of things. Our sense mind can be trained to by-pass the senses and contact directly the inner realities of things. Our intelligence can be made receptive to the rays of a pure intuitive understanding. All these and other paths form the means of developing the intermediate zone of knowledge between our ignorance and the Lord's knowledge, a development which Sri Aurobindo calls building the intuitive mind. For this, we must first learn to bring to quiescence the clamors of vital desire and mental preference, and we must learn to be receptive to the higher powers of divine knowledge which can in-form our present mental instruments and bring us into union with the divine will and knowledge. Sri Aurobindo spells these higher powers out, in The Synthesis of Yoga as well as in his diary notes, which have been published as the Record of Yoga. He also points out the concern with the development of these powers in the Veda and the Upanishads. The Veda deals with these powers in personified form. Two of them which repeat often in its corpus are Revelation and Inspiration, Ila and Saraswati, the goddesses. But these two Vedic goddesses co-exist, almost as a family of sisters, with two other younger goddesses that precede them: they are Dakshina and Sarama, Discrimination, and Intuition respectively. The first of these intuitive powers that must grow and settle as a form of intelligence in us is discrimination. This discrimination, the ability to choose between alternatives, is not a mental faculty, based on preconceptions of good and evil. Discrimination is a form of intuition. It has an origin within us in the soul or what Sri Aurobindo calls the psychic being. Plato refers to this inner guidance as the Daemon. It is also accessible from above from the thinking mind, in ranges of consciousness now inactive in us. There is a yoga of the development of discrimination. Its essence lies in the development of an inner mental silence and receptivity to a kind of mental tact, a higher power of certitude that indicates the difference between truth and falsehood, desire and will. Discrimination matures into intuition, intuition matures into truth-seeing and truth-hearing, revelation and inspiration. Thus, truth-seeing and truth-hearing, drishti and sruti, are at the origin of intuition and discrimination; this progression forms the journey or yoga of the discrimination. 33

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There is another aspect to true discrimination that can enable one to distinguish it. It is of the nature of memory. Sri Aurobindo deals with this esoteric aspect of discrimination in his Record of Yoga. Here he says, "The inner faculties of knowledge, -- revelation, inspiration, discrimination and intuition can be divided into sruti and smriti." These two terms, sruti and smriti or direct evidence and memory respectively, form an important polarity in the Indian scholastic tradition and are more commonly understood in that context. There, the Vedas and Upanishads (Vedanta) are considered revealed scripture and classed as sruti while later texts such as the Puranas and Sastras, are considered smriti, remembered texts. But in Sri Aurobindo's usage, these terms take on a more strictly psychological aspect, related to the yoga of the discrimination. Here truth-seeing or revelation (drishti) and truth-hearing or inspiration (sruti) are both classed as direct reception of reality, shruti, while intuition and discrimination are classed under memory, smriti. This use of the term "memory" provides an important link between human knowl-' edge and divine knowledge. Divine knowledge is knowledge by identity. It is self-evident knowledge since it is through being that one knows. One knows because one is or one has become. The divine, being absolute, possesses itself in its completeness. It is the knower of the three times, trikaladrishti. In its static transcendental poise, all has already happened and stands mapped out in its gaze. However, to speak in these terms is paradoxical, since human knowledge is always finite and the self-knowledge of the infinite is incomprehensible to finite knowledge. It constitutes a shift of modality. The power of knowledge of the Divine is mobilized in time and space from a status where it is already realized. This is what Sri Aurobindo calls Real-Idea. Hence, this quality of the "already known" marks the link between human and divine, relative and absolute or mental and supramental knowledge. The development of an intuitive mentality is marked from the outset by the emergence of this recognitive quality of experience. This is the sense of something settled, which has always been, known for ever to have been, yet occurring in the present. The development of the power of intuitive discrimination is accompanied by the emergence of this quality, which relates to the prakritic understanding of the overcoming of karma by being one with the will of the Lord. This memorial structure of intuitive knowledge appears in the succeeding stanzas of the Isha Upanishad and forms a very important subtextual aspect of its communication. XIV The Upanishad continues: Asoorya nama te loka undhena tamsaghrita Tamte pretyabhigachchhanti ye ke cha atmahono jana 34

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"Sunless are those worlds and enveloped in blind gloom whereto all they in their passing hence resort who are slayers of their souls." The third stanza of the Upanishad begins with what appears to be a vision of hell. Theological literature in most cultures attempt to reinforce the call for a moral discipline in life by an image of dire consequences in the afterlife for disobedience - roasting in eternal fire or horrible torture. The Isha Upanishad in rounding out its first movement introduces an analogous device, but one not marked by the suffering of sentience, rather its opposite, the plunge into insentience, unconsciousness. We also begin to intuit the Upanishad's general structure of polarities. What we have encountered in these very first three stanzas of the Upanishad are a set of startling opposites. Like a see-saw, we are introduced to enjoyment and renunciation, to freedom from results of action and now, to the dire consequences of slaying one's soul. We are reminded of Sri Aurobindo's early assessment of the text: "The central idea of the Upanishad .... is a reconciliation and harmony of fundamental opposites..." The Upanishad presents itself in the starkness of the complexity of reality, where everything occurs in doubles, sat-asat, truth and falsehood, enjoyment and suffering, life and death, knowledge and ignorance come together, as in the phenomenal experience of life. "Sunless are those worlds and enveloped in blind gloom": In a footnote, Sri Aurobindo questions the prevailing interpretation of asurya as having to do with the asuras. Based on context and symbolism, Sri Aurobindo prefers an interpretation of asurya as 'the sunless worlds,' where there is no * sun. He refers to the symbolism of the sun in the Veda and other Upanishads as pertaining to the Logos or Supermind, the Lord as Real-Idea and source of the cosmic Becoming. He also points to the centrality of this symbol in later verses of this Upanishad and sees the present occurrence as a prelude in contrast. This condition of prakritic Inconscience is given as the condition of consciousness in its afterlife for those who are "slayers of their souls." After being told that no consequence clings to the man, the reference to the slayer of souls is paradoxical. But what is meant here now is the full import of the crime of desire introduced in the first stanza: ma gridhah kasya sviddhanam, do not covet another's wealth. As pointed out earlier, such greed is the law of prakritic desire which is contrary to the movement of the Lord's self-becoming in the cosmos. Sri Aurobindo explains this soul-slaying in terms of "interference with the right manifestation of the One" in his discussion of this line: "Finally, the result of an ignorant interference with the right manifestation of the One in the multiplicity is declared to be an involution in states of blind obscurity after death." Absorption in the persistent error of desiring leads to the sunless worlds. This vision forms a counterpart to the previous stanza in which one 35

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was told 'action cleaves not to a man.' Taken together, the two provide an integral view of karma - Purusha in its unborn aspect is untouched by karma, while prakriti is conditioned by its effects. The transformation of prakriti rests in its ability to come under the control of purusha. Alternately, one may say that the evolution of purusha lies in its power to control the prakriti of ignorance. But such a power cannot be acquired in a brief lifetime. Hence purusha carries the impress of karma from life to life, though untouched by it. The prakriti (nature) assumed by a soul in a life becomes subject to the traces of karma carried in the purusha (soul). This aspect of purusha is termed by Sri Aurobindo the psychic being. Psychic being or soul personality is moulded into a qualitative essence and can control nature having the qualities it has already mastered. This is how it expresses itself in life. The persistent refusal of the soul's choice, the quiet voice of the inner Socratic Daemon, in favor of the pull of desire, by the prakriti is referred to as the slaying of the soul, that which leads to an absorption in realms of unconsciousness in the afterlife. Sri Aurobindo points out that in the Indian conception, the subtle (sukshma) prakritic makeup of the individual, composed of the subtle physical (sukshma sharira), the vital (pranamaya) and mental (manomaya) sheaths (kosha) with the soul (chaitya purusha) at its centre, travels to the subtle physical, vital and mental worlds after death, persisting in these realms for longer or shorter periods, before being divested of the respective sheaths of prakriti and finally entering the soul's sleep of assimilation between lives. The preparation of the subtle make-up through receptivity to certain zones of subtle existence determines the duration of the soul's sojourn in those realms. A life of greed and desire subjects the soul to the automatisms of nature, dragging it into "the sunless worlds." A disciplined prakritic existence, on the other hand, which attempts to refine its choices through desirelessness, openness to more conscious realities and obedience to the voice of the soul, enables the psychic being and subtle body to persist for longer periods in realms of heightened consciousness (the heaven or solar worlds) during the afterlife, and express these forms of consciousness in lives to come. Unless one is attuned, aligned, aspiring for the Divine Will, the gravitation of universal prakriti drags the soul towards desire and unconsciousness. The greater the absorption in patterns of slavery to desire, expressing the will of falsehood, the more bound or subject the condition of the soul, rejected from life. It is this condition that is being termed the "slaying of the soul" and the lot of such a being after death is lost wanderings in sunless worlds. This reference to a sunless world also invokes a different resonance which forms a key component to the message of this Upanishad in later verses. One may think of two kinds of darkness that are referred to there. The metaphor of darkness can be used from the viewpoint of consciousness to describe whatever lies beyond its range of awareness. The realm of experience belongs to self-representation of Being, the universe inhabited by the 36

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Lord. In itself Being itself emerges from an infinity which cannot be named or described. This primordial infinity is what the Isha Upanishad refers to at its very beginning, with the purnam preamble. To the spectrum of experience, this infinite out of which the infinity of Being emerges is eternally Unmanifest. Conscious Being itself manifests its infinite possibilities through power of consciousness (chit) and of these, one modality of manifestation is structured systematically in terms of Real-Ideas by Supermind. Among supramental possibilities of manifestation, one is this evolutionary world in which we find ourselves. In this self-Becoming, Being lapses into a state of Inconscience or more properly, objectifies itself to itself by power of consciousness so as to form a ground zero of graded and phased self-emergence. Being as Spirit or Subject being infinite, its self-perception as Object (Inconscience), is also infinite, a Dark Infinity. This dissolution (laya) of consciousness in the Unmanifest, can be of two kinds. One, by persistence in Ignorance and choice of Falsehood, takes us into Inconscience; and the other, by negation of all manifestation, facilitates escape into the Superconscient Transcendence, beyond the domain of the Lord's self-becoming. This is brought out in succeeding stanzas of the Upanishad and its later movements. In terms of "the sunless worlds," both these cases of dissolution into the Unmanifest may be hinted at here. In both cases, there is an entry into Darkness. In one case we found the Darkness of the Night of lost consciousness, in the other the Darkness of the excess of Light, from which there is no return to the possibility of manifestation. In later stanzas, the Upanishad says, 'Into a blind darkness they enter who pursue after the Ignorance.' This is an extension of what is introduced here as the consequence of soul-slaying desire. But it speaks in even stronger terms of the Darkness of the Superconscient Unmanifest (avyakta paratpara): "But into an even greater darkness they enter who pursue after the Knowledge alone." We encounter here the deliberate enigmatic language of this particular Upanishad. It enjoins strongly against the soul-slaying power of desire which leads to the Darkness of Inconscience. Its voice is even stronger against the denial of the will of the Lord that is here for work and enjoyment, for the self-revelation of Being in the Becoming. The result of this escape into the Transcendent Unmanifest, according to it, is an entry into an even greater darkness. This, again, is related to the status of the soul. Even the slayers of the soul, who subject it to the law of the Inconscience (death), cannot succeed in rejecting it from the Becoming. All souls in the Becoming are eventually subject to the evolutionary will of the Lord (isha) and, sooner or later, resume their journey towards the conscious inhabitation of the human instruments. But the soul that escapes from the realm of Being-in-Becoming loses its chance of participating in the self-representation of the Lord in the universe. This inability to fulfill its destiny as a soul which had chosen to participate in the evolutionary becoming, is held out by the Isha Upansihad as the darkness of no return. That concludes the first movement of this Isha Upanishad. 37

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Bibliography Asvaghosha. Buddhacarita I:31-47, trans. E. H. Johnston. New Delhi: Motilal Banrsadass Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1936, 2007. Sri Aurobindo. Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol. 10. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001. Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol. 11. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001. Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol.15. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1998. Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol. 17. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001. Essays on the Gita. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, 1995. The Life Divine. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1990. The Mother: The Science of Living. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1972. Deleuze, Gilles. Difference and Repetition, trans. Paul Patton. New York: Colombia University Press, 1994. Isherwood, Christopher. "The Story Begins", Ramakrishna and His Disciples. New York: Vedanta Press, 1980. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs, trans. Walter Kaufman. New York: Vintage Books, 1974. Plato, "Apology of Socrates," 31c-d, 40a in John Burnet, Plato: Euthyphro Apology of Socrates, Crito. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924. Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli and Charles A. Moore, editors. A Source Book in Indian Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957. 38

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Foot Notes Nineteen verses including the Invocation. Sri Aurobindo, "Isha Upanishad," Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol. 17, (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001) pp. 13-15. Sri Aurobindo, "Isha Upanishad," Ibid., p.5 Kena Upanishad, 1:1 Sri Aurobindo, "Kena and Other Upanishads," Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, Vol. 18 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001) . p. 5 Sri Aurobindo, "Isha Upanishad," Ibid. p.5, fn.1 8 nityonityArAm cetanasicetanAnAm cko bahUnam vo ridadh Ati kAmAn... Kathopanishad II:2:13, Shvetashvataropanishad VI:13. Sri Auorbindo considers this to be one of the four pillars of the Upanishads. See Sri Auorbindo, "Philosophy of the Upanishads," Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol 18 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001) p. 345-399. Sri Aurobindo, "The Passive and the Active Brahman" Chapter XIV, "The Synthesis of Yoga," Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vols. 2324, (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001), pp. 400-408. Sri Aurobindo, "Savitri" Book VI Canto II, Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vols. 33-34, (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001), pp. 447. Purusha Sukta, Rig Veda Samhita X:90:1-18 11 Bhagavad Gita III:20 Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs, trans. Walter Kaufman (New York: Vintage Books, 1974), s. 285, 341. Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, trans. Paul Patton (New York: Colombia University Press, 1994), pp. 6, 41, 126, 242. Sri Aurobindo, "Collected Poems," Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2009), p.600. Aitareya Upanishad: 1:2:1-3 For example, Taittiriya Upanishad III.6.1: "Froin Bliss (ananda), verily, are these beings born; by bliss, when born, do they live; into bliss, at the time of dissolution, do they enter." 39

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17 Bhagavad Gita, XVIII: 1-12. See Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, 1995), 476-78. ""Gita, Gita, Gita,' you begin, but then find yourself saying 'ta-Gi, taGi, ta-Gi'. Tagi means one who has renounced everything for God." Christopher Isherwood, "The Story Begins", Ramakrishna and his Disciples (New York: Vedanta Press, 1980), p. 9 19 The dualism of Purusha and Prakriti (soul and nature) is introduced in the Sankhya Karika attributed to Ishvara Krishna. Sankhya Karika 37.2 See Sri Aurobindo's phenomenological treatment of this in The Synthesis of Yoga: "Entering exclusively into the witness consciousness he becomes silent, untouched, immobile; he sees that he has till now passively reflected and appropriated to himself the movements of Nature and it is by this reflection that they acquired from the witness soul within him what seemed a spiritual value and significance." The rest of the paragraph is also pertinent. Sri Aurobindo, "The Synthesis of Yoga," Op. cit., p. 122. Sri Aurobindo, "The Three Steps of Nature" in "The Synthesis of Yoga," Ibid., p. 17. Kathopanishad II:2:13, Svetashvatara Upanishad VI:13, Ibid. The Four Noble Truths (catvari arya-satyani) are considered to be part of the First Sermon of the Buddha (Dharmachakra Pravartana Sutra) and can be found in the Sutta Pitaka (Samyutta Nikaya, Chapter 56) and Vinaya Pitaka (Mahakhandaka) of the Pali canon. Kathopanishad II:2:13, ShvetAshvataropanishad VI:13. Kathopanishad II:1:5 Sri Aurobindo, "The Supermind and the Yoga of Works" in "The Synthesis of Yoga," Ibid., pp. 279-80. Bhagavad Gita IV:13 Bhagavad Gita IV:14, XI:33 Sri Aurobindo, "Isha Upanishad," Op. cit., p.5 Bhagavad Gita XVIII:1-12 Asvaghosha, Buddhacarital:31-47, trans. E. H. Johnston (New Delhi: Motilal Banrsadass Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1936, 2007), pp. 8-10. Bhagavad Gita XI:33

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See Sri Aurobindo, "The Supreme Will" in "The Synthesis of Yoga," Ibid. p. 218-19. "This work of unification requires much time to be brought to some degree of perfection. Therefore, in order to accomplish it, we must arm ourselves with patience and endurance with a determination to prolong our life as long as necessary for the success of our endeavour." The Mother, The Science of Living (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1972). p.1. Mahabharata, "Vanaparvan" 12:46,47; 30:1; Bhagavat Purana III:4:22 Bhagavad Gita I:20-47; II:1-9. Ibid. II:10-16 Ibid. II:17-25 Ibid. II:47,48; V:11 Ibid. XVIII:66 "Thus can he utterly renounce to the supramental Shakti his works as well as the fruits of his works and act only as the conscious instrument of the eternal Worker. No longer giving the sanction, he will rather receive in his instruments and follow in her hands a divine mandate. No longer doing works, he will accept their execution through him by her unsleeping Force." Sri Aurobindo, "The Synthesis of Yoga," Op. cit., p. 231. "First there must be the freedom of the impersonal Witness; afterwards there can be the control of the Master, the Ishwara." Ibid. p. 238. "But there is still another step that calls us, an ascent out of this cosmic identity into the identity of the Divine Transcendence." Ibid. p.254. Bhagavad Gita XVIII:66. 5 Analysis of the Mind in Sankhya psychology. Sankhya Karika 35-38. Sri Aurobindo, "The Intuitive Mind" in "The Synthesis of Yoga," Op. cit., pp. 799-810. Sri Aurobindo, "Saraswati and Her Consorts" in "The Secret of the Veda," Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol. 15 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1998), p. 96. Sri Aurobindo, "The Ashwins, Lords of Bliss," in "The Secret of the Veda," Op. cit., p. 331. 46 41

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Sri Aurobindo, "Sapta Chatusthaya - Scribal Version" in "The Record of Yoga," Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol. 11 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001) pp. 1472-73. Plato, "Apology of Socrates," 31c-d, 40a in John Burnet, Plato: Euthyphro, Apology of Socrates, Crito (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924), pp. 16-17. Sri Aurobindo, "Sapta Chatusthaya - Scribal Version," Op. cit. Sri Aurobindo, "Sapta Chatusthaya" in "The Record of Yoga," Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol. 10 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2001) p. 17. Ibid. Sri Aurobindo, "Sapta Chatusthaya - Scribal Notes," Op. cit. 53 "The timeless Infinite holds in itself, in its eternal truth of being, beyond this manifestation, all thatit manifests in Time. Its time consciousness too is itself infinite and maintains in itself at once in a vision of totalities and of particularities, of mobile succession or moment sight and of total stabilising vision or abiding whole sight what appears to us as the past of things, their present and their future." Sri Aurobindo, Chapter XXV, "Towards the Supramental Time-Vision" in "The Synthesis of Yoga," Op. cit., p. 885. "...a mind, not of original ignorance, but of self-forgetful knowledge. This mind is conscious that the knowledge of all things is hidden within it or at least somewhere in the being, but as if veiled and forgotten, and the knowledge comes to it not as a thing acquired from outside, but always secretly there and now remembered and known at once to be true,-each thing in its own place, degree, manner and measure." Sri Aurobindo, "Towards the Supramental Time Vision," Op. cit., p. 887 Sri Aurobindo, "Isha Upanishad," Op. cit., p. 5. Ibid., p. 13. Sri Aurobindo, "Isha Upanishad," Op. cit., p.6, fn.4. Ibid., p. 14. "H..he would cast off his mind sheath and life sheath as he had already cast off his body sheath: but the essence of the personality and its mental, vital and physical experiences would remain in latent memory or as a dynamic potency for the future." Sri Aurobindo, "The Life Divine," Op. cit., p. 832

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59 Ibid. 60 Ibid. 61 Ibid. Isha Upanishad, IX. Ibid. Sri Aurobindo, "Isha Upanishad," Op. cit., pp. 51-55. 62 63 64 ....... 43

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SPIRITUALSCAPE OF THE UPANI.ADS - Professor R Balasubramanian The Upanisads are not only the concluding portion, but also the consummation, of the Vedas. There are four Vedas, and each Veda has four sections which are called Mantras, Brahma.as, Ara.yakas, and Upanisads. The Mantras are hymns in praise of gods and goddesses. The Brahma.as deal with sacrificial rites. The Ara.yakas contain meditative practices. The Upanisads are philosophical treatises dealing with Being and beings of all kinds. Though we speak of the different sections of the Vedas, each section having a specific theme, the Vedas have thematic unity and help the spiritual aspirant to achieve the final goal of liberation through prayers and rituals, meditative practices and philosophical investigation. The transition from the Mantras through the Upanisads is comparable to the change from the mystifying twilight to the bright and brilliant sunlight of the day. What is implicit or suggested in the hymns becomes explicit through rigorous explorations in depth in the philosophical tracts. The Upanisads discuss the most fundamental question of metaphysics-the nature of Being and how beings, both living and non-living, are related to it. 1 FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS The Upanisads are extra-ordinary philosophical texts. They are extra-ordinary for two reasons. First of all, the subject matter they deal with is extra-ordinary. They are not concerned with stocks and stones, which can be known through perception and other sources of knowledge. On the contrary, they are concerned with Brahman-Atman, which is trans-empirical, transrelational, and translinguistic. They are not interested in the analysis of the different categories of knowledge such as substance, qualities, and action, the universal and the particular, and so on. Not that such an analysis is unimportant. There are philosophical systems and positive sciences which give us a lot of information about them widening the frontiers of our knowledge. There are two kinds of metaphysics, descriptive and transformative. Descriptive metaphysics has its own value; but it has at the same time its own limitations. Its major limitation is that it does not deal with Being which transcends the space-time-cause framework even though Being is the ground of the world. It does not tell us about the inward Self in everyone of us, which remains covered or enveloped by the mind-sense-body complex which is material. The fundamental questions are: "Who am I? What is Being? How is it related to me and to the outside world in which I am placed?" A little reflection tells us that, endowed as we are with the mind whose emergence in the process of evolution has heightened the evolutionary course, our purposive life cannot be confined to the bodily, vital, sensory, and mental levels and that we must seek the inner reality, the Self in us, which is the source and support of all our mental, vital, and bodily activities. Through a 44

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systematic analysis of our experience, the Upanisads help us to discover the Self in us by removing the veils which cover Professor R Balasubramanian 2 it and realize that it is no other than Brahman which is said to be the source and support of the world. The teaching of the Upanisads is that Brahman or Atman is the source of the manifested world, that it is immanent in all beings, sentient as well as non-sentient, that humans and other living beings are divine, and that nature is essentially spiritual. The metaphysics of the Upanisads is not descriptive, but transformative. The subject matter of the Upanisads is, therefore, extra-ordinary. Like the subject matter, the method of inquiry pursued and practised by the Upanisads is extra-ordinary. It is true that they employ the tools of analysis and synthesis which are usually employed in philosophy. What is significant in the case of the Upanisads is that they employ these tools for deconstruction and reconstruction. Though it may appear that deconstruction is a new mode of philosophizing, the truth is that it is not really new. The technique of deconstruction has been used in the past by great masters, both in the East and the West, in their creative writings. Since philosophical thinking does not take place in a vacuum, every creative philosopher has to undo, sometimes partially, sometimes radically, what has been done by his/her predecessors in order to build a new structure. Aristotle has to deconstruct what he inherited from Plato for constructing his philosophical system. Ramanuja has to demolish the solid structure of Advaita for reconstructing his philosophy on the basis of the traditional sources. In recent times Sri Aurobindo, the great mystic-philosopher-poet, created a magnificent philosophy of synthesis known as Integral Philosophy by resorting to deconstruction followed by reconstruction. So is the case with Martin Heidegger in our own times. DECONSTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION THROUGH STORIES AND DIALOGUES : To the Upanisadic thinkers, philosophy in an important sense is anthropocentric. It does not follow from this that theocentric and cosmocentric discourses are absent in the Upanisads. Though all the three dimensions of philosophy-anthropocentric, cosmocentric, and theocentric-are found in the Upanisads, the fact remains that philosophy is for the sake of man. God does not need philosophy. Nor do animals and nature require philosophy. But it is only humans who require the benefit of philosophy for the transformation or regeneration of their life, for over-coming the foundational ignorance they suffer from and thereby discovering the Self in them, which is no other than Brahman. Sankara tells us that, owing to the foundational or spiritual ignorance, human beings are engaged in their daily activities purely at the bodily, vital, sensory, and mental levels as if they were no more than the mind-sense-body complex forgetting the spiritual reality in them.2 What is uppermost in our daily life is body-consciousness, and not Self-conscious 45

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ness. It means that there is identification of oneself with the body, or the senses, or the mind, leading to the superimposition (adhyasa) of the characteristics of the body, the senses, and the mind, all of which are material, on the inward Self which is non-material. For example, we say, "I am stout/ slim," "I am blind/deaf," "I am happy/ miserable," and so on. Stoutness and slimness are the characteristics of the body; blindness and deafness are the qualities of the senses; happiness and misery are the characteristics of the mind. Though the "I" which stands for the Self does not possess bodily, or sensory, or mental characteristics, these features, due to a wrong identification of the Self and the not-Self arising from ignorance, are superimposed on the Self. What is called existential predicament is a condition in which human beings do not have harmony of spirit, mind, and body at the personal level, and also harmony with others including nature at the transpersonal level. Absence of harmony is suffering; and the cause of suffering is spiritual ignorance, which can be removed only by knowledge. The aim of the Upanisads, according to Sankara, is to help human beings dis-cover the Self which is Brahman and overcome the existential predicament. The goal can be achieved only by means of a new thinking, a radical questioning of the given, a rigorous inquiry into the life-world which is bound to lead to a transvaluation of all values through deconstruction and reconstruction. This is what the Upanisads have done. The work of radical thinking which the Upanisads pursue in quest of the primal Spirit (also called Brahman or Atman) is echoed by Heidegger, who beautifully summarizes as follows: What philosophy essentially can and must be is this: a thinking that breaks the paths and opens the perspectives of the knowledge that sets the norms and hierarchies, of the knowledge in which and by which a people fulfills itself historically and culturally, the knowledge that kindles and necessitates all inquires and thereby threatens all values.3 The Self is timeless; all other things than the Self are temporal. Philosophy investigates the timeless. While the Self can easily be distinguished from the body and the senses, there is great difficulty in separating the Self from the mind. According to the Upanisads, the mind, like the senses and the body and also like the things of the external world, is material. The Self that is spiritual or non-material should not be identified with the mind and the intelligent functions it performs being inspired by the Self. Heidegger warns us against the wrong interpretation of the Self or Spirit as intelligence, as a tool in the service of others, as an entity in the realm of culture. The neglect and misinterpretation of the Spirit, according to him, results in "the darkening of the world, the flight of the gods, the destruction of the earth, the transformation of men into a mass, the hatred and suspicion of everything free and creative."5 46

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Though the Upanisads are inspiring philosophical texts par excellence, they do not present their teachings in the form of a coherent system with premises and conclusions supported by lengthy arguments. Sometimes the Upanisadic statements are suggestive. We also come across declarations in them which are conclusive. There are texts which not only complement, but also contradict each other. It is not the case that logic is totally absent in them. When the Upanisads themselves suggest the need for the triple discipline of hearing, reflection, and contemplation, aerava.a, manana, and nididhyasana as they are called, for realizing the truth, it is wrong to conclude that they contain only insights without investigation, seminal ideas without supporting reasons. 6 Just as the philosophical ideas are scattered in them, even so the supporting arguments, though meagre but not flimsy, are scattered in them. It must be borne in mind that the Upanisadic thinkers were fully aware of the limitations of both logic and language in comprehending the ultimate reality. As Heidegger says, all thinking which solely follows the laws of thought formulated in traditional logic is incapable of understanding the fundamental question of metaphysics, let alone actually unfolding the question and guiding it towards an answer. As for language, it operates in the realm of duality involving all kinds of distinctions such as subject and object, substance and qualities, cause and effect, and so on. Brahman or the Self, which is one and non-dual, which is free from distinctions and relations, cannot be brought within the scope of language like an empirical object. One should not, therefore, read the Upanisadic texts as one would read Aristotle and Aquinas, Sankara and Ramanuja. Notwithstanding these difficulties, one will not fail to notice what Radhakrishnan calls "the consistency of intuition" in them. The message which they intend to convey is clear: there is nothing greater than the Self, which is immanent in everything, sentient as well as insentient, and to know the Self is to be free. The Upanisads make use of stories and dialogues to convey their teachings, which are the product of radical thinking. What is difficult to be con'veyed through a philosophical system packed with premises, conclusions, and corollaries can easily be conveyed through stories and dialogues. In almost all the Upanisads we come across stories and dialogues. Very often the problem that is presented through a story and dialogue is further developed in a narrative form. Sometimes what is conveyed through a narrative is concluded in a dialogue. It must be borne in mind that the Upanisadic seers about whom we know very little did not set forth their ideas as their personal views. As Radhakrishnan observes: "So careless were they of personal fame and so anxious for the spread of truth, that they fathered their views on the honoured deities and heroes of the Vedic period."9 We are naturally interested in the narratives connected with the haloed personalities like Prajapati, Indra, and Narada, with Janaka, Yajnavalkya, and Maitreyi, with Uddalaka and Evetaketu, and many others. These stories and dialogues which we find 47

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in the Upanisads are concerned with the central problems of philosophy, which are mentioned in the very beginning of the Evetacvatara Upanisad: What is the cause of the universe? Is it Brahman? Whence are we born? By what do we live? On what are we established? O ye who know Brahman, please tell us at whose command we abide here in pain and pleasure...10 The philosophical core of some of these dialogues is given below. The light of the Upanisads is neither dimmed by time nor blurred by the developments in philosophy and science, because it illumines the timeless vis-a-vis the temporal. DEATH AND DEATHLESSNESS : The Katha Upanisad discusses the problem of death and deathlessness through the story of Naciketas who meets and questions Yama, the Lord of death. Taking advantage of the boons given to him by Yama, young Naciketas requested Yama to instruct him about the secret behind death, that which survives death. The dialogue between Yama and Naciketas, which is interesting, is followed by the exposition of the nature of the Self which is the central theme of the Upanisad. Issues connected with the Self such as the proper mental frame for discriminating the eternal from the ephemeral, the empirical distinction between the individual self and the supreme Self, the parable of the chariot to highlight the ultimacy of the Self, the imagery of the fabulous world-tree to explain the relation between the world and Brahman, and the problem of rebirth for those who have not attained the saving knowledge, are discussed. There are two approaches to metaphysics, epistemological and axiological. It is usual to make the transition from epistemology to metaphysics. A systematic and rigorous inquiry into the nature of truth in epistemology takes us to the absolute truth, eternal and unchanging, which is the core of metaphysics. One may also, as Yama does, proceed to metaphysics from the axiological side and show that the ultimate good is the absolute reality. Drawing a basic distinction between the good (@reyas) and the pleasant (preyas), Yama tells Naciketas: Both the good and the pleasant approach a man. The wise man, pondering over them, discriminates. The wise chooses the good in preference to the pleasant. The simpleminded, for the sake of worldly well-being, prefers the pleasant." The good which Yama speaks about is not just moral goodness, but the highest good, the ultimate value, which is the Self, ever-free and neverbound. In another context, when Yama makes a reference to two selves, the one enjoying the fruits of life and the other remaining as a passive spectator 48

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of the happenings of life, he is drawing a distinction between the conditioned self, i.e. the Self-in-the-body, popularly called the jiva, and the unconditioned Self, i.e. the Self-in-itself, which is called Paramatman. The parable of the chariot is introduced in this Upanisad for the easy comprehension of the nature of the Self as different from the mind, the senses, and the body. It suggests that there is a choice between the inward life and the outward one. One whose mind is drawn towards external things by the uncontrolled and ever-outward-going senses is always caught up in the existential predicament. On the contrary, one who keeps the mind and the senses under the control will go inward towards the Self, realize it, and become free. For such a person there is no more bondage. He becomes liberated-in-life (jivan-mukta). It may be noted that the Upanisad here suggests a method of inquiry, which may be characterized as regressive, for reaching the Self. We have to proceed from the gross to the subtle, from the outward to the inward, until we reach the Self or the Puru.a than which there is nothing higher or subtler. One has to give up stage by stage the things which are not-Self-the senses and their objects, the intellect and the mind till one reaches the Self. The method of transcendence from the gross to the subtle, from the subtle to the subtler, and then to the subtlest is the way of mystical contemplation. We cannot go beyond the Self, which is the limit of transcendence. INQUIRY. INTO MAN AND THE WORLD : The Taittiriya Upanisad narrates the story of the universe from its origin till the emergence of the human being and then gives an in-depth analysis of the constitution of the human being in order to show through the parallelism between the individual and the cosmic being that Brahman is the source and support of everything. This narrative is followed in the next section of the text by the celebrated dialogue between Bh.gu and his father, Varu.a, which reiterates the origin of the universe narrated earlier. The dialogue conveys, among other things, that philosophy by its very nature is inquiry and that the truth about the ultimate reality can be known only through inquiry. The highest metaphysical truth cannot be revealed at once even to the earnest seeker of truth. Instruction has to proceed from what is obvious and easily comprehensible to what is subtle and difficult to understand. In this dialogue, Varu.a who plays the role of a teacher first of all states that matter, life, etc. are the gateways to the knowledge of Brahman, and then, without telling what Brahman is, gives him a definition of Brahman and makes him inquire into it in order to find out its nature. The method of inquiry that Bh.gu pursued led him from matter to life, from life to mind, from mind to intelligence, and finally from intelligence to bliss; and the inquiry came to an end when he realized that bliss was Brahman. The Self is bliss; and so Brahman and the Self are identical. 49

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A few comments are relevant at this stage. First, revelation and reason supplement each other. What scripture reveals is made intelligible by means of reasoning; and reasoning is guided by scripture. Second, inquiry (vicara) which is indispensable for knowing the truth comes to an end only when the goal is reached. Third, one will be able to follow the logic of the dialogue between Varu.a and Bh.gu only when it is closely examined against the background of the narrative contained in the previous section of the Upanisad. Fourth, matter, life, mind, and intelligence through which Bh.gu moves in his metaphysical exploration are aspects of reality in its manifested condition, in the state of becoming. Many of us are tempted to say on prima facie consideration that matter is the reality. There are philosophers who hold the view that everything can be explained in terms of matter and motion. Further inquiry reveals that life which shows a higher organizational complexity cannot be explained in terms of matter. So is the case with mind and intelligence, each of which functions as an organizing principle at higher levels. To abstract any of these principles out of the whole and consider it by itself will amount to have a fragmented view of the reality. Matter, life, mind, and intelligence--all these are the manifestations of the reality; they constitute a hierarchy with matter, which is gross, at the bottom and the Spirit, or the Self, which is subtle, at the top. The analysis of the grades of existence, or levels of reality, from matter to Spirit is from the metaphysical perspective. We can also view them from the axiological side. The life of human beings is at different levelsmaterial, vital, mental, intellectual, and spiritual, because they are endowed with matter, life, mind, intellect, and Spirit; and the different values they pursue constitute a hierarchy. Bodily values are the lowest while spiritual value is the highest. The higher value, it is necessary to emphasize, does not annul the lower value, but fulfils it. The Upanisad says that the wise one, who has realized Brahman and who remains as Brahman, attains all desires. The liberated person is in harmony with himself and also in harmony with all. Commenting on the life of a jivan-mukta (the liberated-in-life), Radhakrishnan observes: The enlightened one attains unity with the All. He expresses wonder that the individual with all limitations has been able to shake them off and become one with the All. To get at the Real, we must get behind the forms of matter, the forms of life, the forms of mind, the forms of intellect. By removing the sheaths, by shaking off the bodies, we realize the Highest. This is the meaning of vastrapahara.a. "Across my threshold na ked all must pass."12 "EVERYTHING IS DEAR FOR THE SAKE OF THE SELF." The B.hadara.yaka Upanisad is the greatest of the Upanisads-great 50

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est not only because of its voluminous size, but also because of its declarations and dialectics, upadeaea and upapatti. This Upanisad presents us with Yajnavalkya, the greatest champion of non-dualism, who strode the philosophical stage like a Colossus. Maitreyi, his wife, was responsible for eliciting from her husband some rare passages elucidating the nature of the Self. Yajnavalkya's dialogue with Maitreyi, which occurs in the second chapter of the B.hadara.yaka Upanisad, highlights three points-the nature of the Self as the ultimate value, the distinction between absolute and relative standpoints called paramarthika and vyavaharika respectively, and the importance of the spirit of renunciation in the scheme of life for realizing the Self. Yajnavalkya argues that everything in the world-husband, wife, son, and so on, is dear not for the sake of any of these things, but for the sake of the Self. According to him, the Self which is bliss by its very nature is primary and all other things, whatever they may be, are secondary in relation to the Self; and the knowledge of the Self is the means to immortality. After explaining the nature of the Self, Yajnavalkya gives illustrations to show how the Self is everything in the manifested world. The various objects in the world are differentiations of the one underlying reality, which is not usually noticed; however, they do not exist apart from the underlying reality just as the particular notes of a drum, which are but differentiations of the one sound of the drum, are not heard apart, and do not exist separate, from the whole sound of the drum. Just as all objects originate from the Self, even so all of them merge in the Self. As the ocean is the one goal of all waters, even so, argues Yajnavalkya, the one primal reality is the goal of all objects. The following example given by him is very illuminating: As a lump of salt thrown in water becomes dissolved in water and there would not be any of it to seize forth as it were, but wherever one may take it is salty indeed, so, verily, this great being, infinite, limitless, consists of nothing but knowledge. The Self comes out as a separate entity through these elements, and its separateness is destroyed with them. After attaining this oneness, it has no more (particular) knowledge. This is what I say, my dear.13 A brief explanation is necessary in order to correctly understand what Yajnavalkya means when he says that one who has become identical with the Self, i.e. one who has realized the Self, has no more particular knowledge or consciousness. We carry on our daily life thinking that I am a Brahma.a or a K.atriya, that I am a celibate student or a householder, that I am stout, or blind, or happy, and so on, on the basis of what Sankara calls adhyasa, which is due to spiritual ignorance. We transact all kinds of business in our daily life on the basis of the different kinds of cognitions we have. Cognition, desire, and action constitute a causal nexus. We cognize something; we like 51

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it or dislike it; and then according to our mental frame we engage ourselves in appropriate action to attain or avoid it. Every cognition that we have, every mental episode that takes place in us, is a particular cognition (vice.ajnana). Every cognition has a cognitum. On the basis of the plurality of cognitions we say that there is a plurality of objects. It means that our daily life is based on distinctions such as cognizer, cognition, and cognized. Yajnavalkya says that when the Self, the plenary reality, is realized through knowledge, there is no more plurality, the reason being that the foundational ignorance (avidya) which is the cause of plurality disappears at the dawn of knowledge just as darkness disappears at the onset of light. In other words, Yajnavalkya points out that there is a basic distinction between the state of ignorance and the state of knowledge, a distinction of farreaching importance to Advaita. The following is his explanation to Maitreyi: Because when there is duality, as it were, then one smells something, one sees something, one thinks something, one speaks something, one knows something. [But] when to the knower of Brahman everything has become the Self, then what should one smell and through what, what should one hear and through what,...what should one know and through what? Through what should one know That owing to which all this is known-through what, O Maitreyi, should one know the knower.14 The man of wisdom transcends the world of plurality. The distinction between the state of ignorance and the state of wisdom is intended for the purpose of highlighting the spiritual ascent from the empirical to the transempirical THE LIGHT OF LIGHTS : The two epistemological questions which we raise with regard to the object which we know and the means of knowing it are: "What do we know?" and "How do we know?" The dialogue between Yajnavalkya and Janaka helps us to identify the basic principle of all knowing, what Husserl called the principle of principles. The focus of the dialogue was on the self-luminosity of the Self, the light of lights. Yajnavalkya tells Janaka that, though we speak of the sun, the moon, and the stars as the luminaries, though we speak of the mind and the sense organs as the cognitive instruments which reveal objects of various kinds, the real light by depending on which the heavenly luminaries and the cognitive instruments are able to reveal the objects is the Self, self-luminous and ever-shining. Sankara in his commentary on this dia. logue points out that the mind and other senses are able to function as cognitive instruments by borrowing the light of the Self. It may be noted in this connection that the Self not only reveals things through the medium of the mind, but also directly without any medium. Drawing a distinction between 52

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the seeing of the Self and the seeing of the Self through the mind, Sankara observes: Seeing is of two kinds, ordinary and real. Ordinary seeing is a function of the mind as connected with the visual sense; it is an act, and as such it has a beginning and an end. But the seeing that belongs to the Self is like the heat and light of fire; being the very essence of the Witness (Self), it has neither beginning nor end... The ordinary seeing, however, is related to objects seen through the eye, and of course has a beginning.... The eternal seeing of the Self is metaphorically spoken of as the Witness, and although eternally seeing, is spoken of as sometimes seeing, and sometimes not seeing.15 So the Self which is of the nature of consciousness is the presupposition of all knowledge; it is the light of lights (jyoti.am jyoti.). The mind and the senses, which are instruments of cognition, are not only material (ja.a), but also are objects of knowledge (d.cya), and so should be differentiated from the Self. FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ONE TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALL The sixth chapter of the Chandogya Upanisad contains a good introduction to metaphysics. Instead of starting with the definition of metaphysics, the nature of Being and beings, and so on, which we usually find in a text book on metaphysics, the Upanisad provides a family background of a concerned father and his conceited son engaged in a dialogue on metaphysical issues. The dialogue starts with the familiar examples which reveal metaphysical principles of great significance. It proceeds from what is ordinary to the extra-ordinary. Though the presentation is simple, the analysis of the issues is sophisticated. It covers the entire range of metaphysics with the view to bring about a transformation of a far-reaching character in the individual. Being an adept teacher, Uddalaka gradually prepares the ground for the surprising denouement, and with a dramatic swiftness makes the great declaration "That thou art" (tat tvam asi) at a time when neither Evetaketu, his son, nor the reader of this Upanisadic text is ready for it. He assures Evetaketu that there is something which is worth knowing by knowing which everything is known; and after giving a few examples by way of illustration he formulates the thesis that Being (Sat) of which the world is a manifestation is one only without a second (ekam eva advitiyam). The thesis which Uddalaka formulates on the basis of the illustrative examples such as clay and the objects made of clay brings out not only the relation between Being and becoming, but also their ontological status. This world of becoming was Being alone in the beginning. It means that Being has assumed the form of becoming; but at the same time it remains "one 53

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only without a second." Though Uddalaka's thesis is apparently simple, it contains the problematic which has engaged the attention of philosophers from the beginning. Heraclitus and Parmenides were concerned with the problem of Being and becoming. In recent times Heidegger has examined this problem against the background of the history of metaphysics in the West. The Upanisadic thinkers have discussed this problem at great length. A careful reading of the thesis formulated by Uddalaka in the light of the examples given by him will show that Being is real while becoming is an appearance. The expression "ons only without a second" (ekam eva advitiyam) is intended to show that there is nothing else besides Being, similar or dissimilar to it, and that it is also free form internal differentiation. There are three kinds of difference (bheda).difference between two objects belonging to the same class as in the case of two mango trees, difference between two objects belonging to two different classes as in the case of a tree and a stone, and internal difference as seen in a tree consisting of various parts such as the root system, trunk, branches, and so on. These three kinds of difference are known as sajatiya-bheda, vijatiya-bheda, and svagata-bheda. The three words in the expression "ekam eva advitiyam" are intended to show that Being is free from all the three kinds of difference. If so, there cannot be the world of becoming. However, the fact is that we do experience the world of becoming, what is frequently referred to as the world of name and form (nama-rupa-prapanca). It is an accepted principle that what is experienced cannot be denied. At the same time the world of becoming cannot be real, because Being is the sole reality, one only without a second. The Upanisad tackles the problem of Being and becoming by holding that, while Being is real, becoming is an appearance. Being and becoming do not have the same ontological status, because both are not real; and so there is no possibility of conflict between them. It is not a case of either Being or becoming, or of both Being and becoming; but it is a case of Being appearing as becoming. This will become evident if we consider the illustrative examples given by Uddalaka. Take the case of clay and the objects made out of it. Uddalaka tells that clay which is the material cause of pot, pan, and so on is real, whereas its modifications (vikaras) such as pot, which are effects, exist only in speech and are, therefore, not real. Every object of our experience has name and form; and what strikes us most when we see an object is its form and not its essence. While the former is perceptible, the latter is not with the result that we are forgetful of the essence or the reality of the object. In this respect we are no better than children. Being fascinated by the beautiful form of an elephant made of clay, a child gets absorbed in it without knowing its reality. To it the "elephant", the plaything having a form and a name, is real and not the clay out of which it is made. In the same way, we get absorbed in the pluralistic universe without knowing the reality, which remains concealed by it, due to our foundational ignorance. It is now easy for us to understand 54

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the promise of the assurance with which the dialogue between Uddalaka and Cvetaketu begins. A person who knows clay can claim that she knows all the objects made out of clay, because all of them, whatever be their names and forms, are clay and nothing but clay. It is the clay that appears as pot, pan, elephant, and so on. Likewise, it is Being (Brahman/Atman) that appears as the world of becoming. Just as clay alone, which is the cause, is real, even so Being alone which is the final cause or ground of the world is real. It follows that to know Being is to know everything. That is why Uddalaka asks his son whether he has known that "thing" by knowing which he could say that he knows everything. The analysis of the three states of experience, waking, dream, and deep sleep, finds an important place in the teachings of the Upanisads. It brings out the nature of the Self vis-a-vis the mind and the senses. In our normal waking state, we experience objects through the functioning of the mind and the senses. Of course, the Self which is the revealing principle supports the work of the mind and the senses. As distinguished from the waking state, the dream state is a condition in which the senses do not function, but the mind is active getting the support of the Self. But in the state of deep sleep, both the mind and the senses do not function; only the Self is present as the revealing principle even though there is no object, external or internal, to be revealed by it. It is quiet and peaceful as it is not disturbed by the mind. According to the Upanisads, the states of dream and sleep provide us with great metaphysical and epistemological insights. The Upanisads make use of the dream experience for establishing the unreality of the objects of waking experience. Just as the objects perceived in dream are unreal, even so the objects perceived in the waking state are unreal. It is not necessary to go into the details about the similarity between dream and waking states. Again, the Upanisads make use of the state of deep sleep in order to show how we have access to the Self-in-itself in sleep and enjoy happiness without knowing it. In the state of sleep we remain as the Self losing all distinctions because of the absence of the functioning of the mind and the senses. It is to this experience that Uddalaka refers when he says that, even though we get absorbed in the Self in sleep, we do not know it. The moment we wake up, all kinds of distinctions such as colour, caste, gender, and so on arise because of the functioning of the mind and the senses. The moral that is suggested by this analysis of the triple states of experience is obvious. The happiness that we enjoy in sleep is only temporary; it has been possible only because of the absence of the functioning of the mind and the senses. One who controls the mind and the senses through moral discipline and transcends the empirical life with the help of knowledge attains eternal bliss, which is characterized as the state of liberation. There are two kinds of texts in the Upanisads: they are called subsidiary texts (avantara-vakyas) and major texts (maha-vakyas). The Upanisads 55

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purport to teach the identity of the individual self and the supreme Self, what is called jiva-brahma-aikya. The role of the subsidiary texts is to explain the nature of Brahman, the cause-effect relation between Brahman and the world, the condition and constitution of the jiva, and so on, and prepare the ground for the work of the major texts, which directly teach the identity of the jiva and Brahman. There are four major texts representing the four Vedas: "Consciousness is Brahman" (prajnanam brahma), 16 "This Self is Brahman" (ayam atma brahma),17 "That thou art" (tat tvam asi),18 and "I am Brahman" (aham brahmasmi).19 The maha-vakya, "That thou art," occurs nine times in the sixth chapter of the Chandogya Upanisad. It may be noted that the Upanisad adopts for the purpose of instruction the same technique which we follow in our discourse. We repeat an idea in order to reinforce it; and this is a wellknown experience. Likewise, the repetition of the text is for the purpose of emphasizing its importance. Uddalaka instructs his son how from Being (Sat), one only without a second, the world came into existence. After describing in detail the process of the objective manifestation of the Self of the universe, Uddalaka turns with a dramatic swiftness and says that the universal Self is identical with the Self of Svetaketu, his son, There is only one Self. The Self in the jiva is no other than the Self of the manifested world. Uddalaka expects his son to realize that he is not a finite being limited by the mindsense-body complex. To know the Self is to be the Self. Since one can attain the knowledge of the Self in this life itself, the Upanisads hold the view that liberation, which is the ultimate goal, can be attained here itself. 56

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 34 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. NOTES I have discussed elaborately these issues in "The Timeless and the Temporal through Stories and Dialogues in the Upanisads, "The Voice of Sankara, Vol. 24, No.1, January 1999, Adi Sankara Advaita Research Centre. See his introduction to the Brahma-sutra. Martin Heidegger, An Introduction to Metaphysics. Yale University Press, 1959, p.10. Ibid., pp. 46-9. Ibid., p. 38. B.hadara.yaka Upanisad, 2.4.5. Heidegger, op. cit., p. 25. S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy. Macmillan, New York, Vol. 1, p. 141. Ibid., p. 143. Svetaoevatara Upanisad, 1.1. Ka.ha Upanisad, 1.2.2. S. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads. George Allen & Unwin, London, 1953, p. 561. B.hadara.yaka Upanisad, 2.4.12. B.hadara.yaka Upanisad, 2.4.14. Sankara's commentary on BU, 3.4.2. Aitareya Upanisad, 5. Ma..ukya Upanisad, 2. Chandogya Upanisad, 6.8.7. B.hadara.yaka Upanisad, 1.4.10. ... 57

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Extra-sensorial Liaisons of 4D Yogins : Enigma Extolled by Nyaya; Impeachable to Mimamsas - Purushottama Bilimoria Introduction Tere dvaar kha.daa ek jogi na maangoo me sonachaandii maangoo darshan teri. o'pyaari (Hindi song: subterfuge lover in yogi's guise) The two most committed Hindu-darsanic savants of realism and avowed sticklers for the rigid validation criteria (pramanyatva) in respect of all cognitions, to the exclusion of other spurious claims to knowledge, lock battles however over the veracity of supposed yogaja (yogi)-pratyaksa or trans-sensory perception. Although it was the Mimamsakas who in their quest for anviksiki (investigative understanding) first promulgated an epistemological framework that enlisted a set of acceptable pramanas, means of knowledge grounded in a rigorous legitimatizing process that would yield valid knowledge, it was the Nyaya school that analyzed the operational features and introduced further strictures for a more representational-correspondence theory of true knowledge. Very crudely, the end-goal of the Mimamsa was to ritually escape the entrapments of desire-alluring action; while for the Nyaya it was to attain a misery-less state of no-mind, albeit via a refined purna-sophic disposition delivered by the full blossoming of the pramanas of perception, inference, analogy, and testimony. Thus dharma is the means (and in a certain sense also the end) for the former; while for the latter, it would seem to be knowledge with certain strict qualifications. But dharma, like things in the past, future or distant spatial locations, is not admitted to be an object of perception. For what is perceived, according to the Mimamsa theory must be present and presentable to at least one of the six sense-organs (eye, nose, tongue, tactility, ear, and the mind). Dharma nevertheless is known through the Scriptures (Sabdapramana). Accordingly, the Mimamsakas, led by Kumarila Bhatta (c.8th century CE), mounted a torrential tirade against the Nyaya soft-peddling, for they were suspicious of both the motivation and the rational justification behind the Nyaya admission of a special class of perception, called alaukika (extraordinary, out-of-this-world), which is different from even though it overlaps inexorably with ordinary or laukika perception. Alaukika perceptibility has three modes: tacit cognition of universals, knowledge of that sameness, and yogaja (pervasion of the mental extension, vibhu, conjuncting with 4Ds, viz. distant space; past and future, time; atoms, and adrsta or 58

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imperceptible traces). For our purposes the third kind of alaukika, namely, yogi or yogaja, which goes beyond far beyond the bounds of sense than the previous two is of particular interest. This chapter proposes to disentangle this debate and set out the case for and against yogaja-perception in all its intricacies, and possible ramifications for a folk-phenomenology of cognition (vis-a-vis omniscience, heavens, and churchlands). The textual sources for Nyaya are drawn from BhasaParichheda, Siddhanta-muktavali, Karikavali, Nyayakusumanjari, Tattvacintamani; (for Mimamsa), Slokavarttika, Tantravarttika, Sastradipika, as well as some twentieth century interventions, notably by Matilal (almost mutely), Stephen Phillips (his derivation of 'mystical empiricalism' from Sri Gangesa), Ramanuja Tattacharya, KT Pandurangi, and a compendium called Sastralokah. This chapter argues that the Nyaya have not distanced themselves from the metaphysics of the Upanisads, while the Mimamsa follow the stringent Brahmanas, and reject vibhu (pervasion of the mind) in place of eye-light reaching out to conjunct, for instance, with emanated-light from the extinct stars. But more significantly, in the bottom-down Nyaya epistemology, the discourse is tied up with the issue of omniscience (sarvajnana), exemplified first-up by Isvara-the-paramatma, next, via the Aquinian gradation of lesserperfections, by the moksa-attained mind-less kevalin (i.e. a state empty of all conceptual cognitive contents), then by the yukta (in continual samadhistate of 'knowing what-all') and finally, the viyukta (in yunjana or cintamaticoncentration frame, by ordinary sensorial contact with subtle, imperceptibilia, elusive qualia, and very distant things). Bhogis can have claim neither to sarvajna nor to yogaja, though they could be alluring through summoning up magical and tantric powers, causing halloo-balloo in the basement regions. Jaina and Buddhists accept the doctrine of omniscience in an attenuated way for the highly-attained human beings like the Buddha and Jina, and some part of their leanings on yogic-perceptibility converges with the Nyaya view (except on the first two alaukika-kinds) in respect of practicing yogis, bodhisattvas, arhats, and demi-gods. The Mimamsa, as will be seen, are worried about a universal claim to omniscience based on the Buddha's supposed all-knowing capabilities, and so, not ever having accepted the existence of a Personal Deity either, omniscience cried out to be refuted once and for all. Its corollary, yogic-perceptibility, also stands to be scrambled, lest such a self-possessed person becomes a cultural icon and begins to be worshipped as another Buddha or a Baba. As long as the Vedas are there, Kumarila agues, 'what for there is any need for a sarvajna ... or, for that matter, yogaja-pratyaksa?' There is though the notion of apurva, the mediating unknown po 59

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tency (sakti) between a ritual or positive action done, t1, and its maturation at some later time, t2. What gives us knowledge of this invisible enigma? And of time itself? Or do we remain occluded from its delayed mantric-effect by virtue of its non-presence to empirically-conditioned vision? The response of the Mimamsaka tends to suggest that we remain ignorant, for there is no cosmic inward-turned mystic-eyes (divyacaksu) to reveal such media. Although in his lapsed-Buddhist moment Kumarila appears to concede that the yogi might have some 'intuitional grasp' akin to pratibha (the explosive-flash of a new knowing), but he does not develop this insight further. Yogaja : Being born of Yoga: this motif of the sadhu purportedly seeking darshan, mystic inner vision, of this beautiful devi-like minstrel (who I will call Sridevi) will symbolically inform my paper as I unravel the Nyaya phenomenology of yogaja-pratyaksa, literally 'perception born of yoga', as befits a yogi's transcendental stature. At first glance or for quite some dramatic time maybe - and certainly to all the by-standers and her own servants - this unexpected guest is the holiest among godmen who from the goodness of his own judgment has chosen to confer his darshan, blessed vision, and shower the prasada of consecrated gulabi-petals onto this lucky or karmically benign gharwalli, the household-newly arrived daughter-in-law. Two sequential processes are at work here (as the imperceptible adrsta erupts in noesis). (1.) Sridevi's mind absorbs a certain kind of rasa or pathos and excellsius elicited by the mellifluous bhajan bellowing from this wandering paanchew, that render immediate contact with the inner cavity in the space between her ears that elicits sympathetic vibration to the recognized melody. The intentionality (arthibhavana) constituting her consciousness that arises as a result of this neuro-theologic impact of the sabdibhavana, 'grammar of testimony', is a direct replication (sarupya) of the intense passion, longing and desire of a man lost in some dreamscape, and a throw-back in time. But she listens inside her mind and grasps a tickling kinesthetic sensation in her womb of the universal (samanya) of lovingness, but a lovingness that cannot be straightforward bhaktirasa that a devout soul pours out in rapturous devotion peering towards the mandira's garbha at the istadevi or chosen goddess; and yet uncannily this is like that, suchmuch so-so. The exhortation to darshan is very subtle as is the process of darshan which takes an Indologist and Gayatrivacani over Ecknathi purity to capture fully in its de textualbhajanic puranic intricacy Pilee, pilee, piile, piile, hariinaam ka piyaalaHtorebina nindnahi aye...kaha giyo shaam're? Natawar-nachanananda bhajore mere govinda. (See Spivak in Devi catalogue of exhibition; and Greg Bailey's monumental work on the Ganesapurana.) 60

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(2.) She instantaneously apprehends - cognitively, and not as a matter of inference - a second generalization, that this devotionally-qualified lovingness, amorous feat, belongs to class of emotional stirrings (bhavas) that is present in all men that are overcome by a stinging longing for a lover. That this is a mark of universal guna comes to possess one who has become irreversibly besotted by the lover's sensuous image in his mind's eye (like Prajapati seeing Usa with a hidden desire-eye from behind his unflinching divine-eyes), that he inwardly dissimulates and embarks on all manner of narcissistic excesses in order to impress the queen in his life and draw this virtual goddess closer to his own emergent self. In other words, a parallel cognitive process follows even as the melodious words of the atithi's devotional chant fall on her innocent ears, evoking a second-order, albeit transcendental perception, in the projected Devi here. There is another self-constitution subtly at work underneath the ordinary sensory contact (positivist empirical sense-data as-is correspondence) that her outward senses have made with this apparition. This latter perception (per-intro-extro-spection) is en-gendered (literally) by the association or samyukta-samyoga of the intentional noeta with the sameness it bears to the sensorial excitement evoked upon hearing, say, a Mirabai imploring the elusive gopi-infatuated Krishna to return to his real lover's cot. The isomorphism is not any less, though of a differential modal order, that phenomenologically transcends the given empirically fired category of understanding united with sensation (Kant's misnomered 'intuition'). So the same-same biting love-notes ring clear with another level of meaning and with it a synthetic percept's son (no a prioris givens here) that reaches all the way down, registering a knowing-concept (jnanagrahaka) which is an awareness that another desirous self is hungrily lusting to make intimate contact with the deep recesses of her otherwise inert, unsuspecting and uneventful self (jivatma indeed). So the question arises: who is having whose darshan? Which way is the traffic, the thin literalism of the song notwithstanding? And what is this experience about? Consider, even the trope of darshan is subverted or inverted in this process, in as much as the real darshan or fill of vision-feelingperception is to be savored, relishingly consumed, not by the deigned sadhu, but by the wonder-filled, awesomed, sadhvi herself (maangoo teri darshan to liyo mera darshan): it is she who is supposed to have the darshan in terms of the thick plot in which the spirit or what is really the vibhu - extensional pervasion - of the inert, feelingless self moves in mysterious ways; he has already come with a savikalpa pre-structured perception of her as the darling and twinkle of his pupilating eyes - no god of small things this one, but the goddess of his enlarged heart whose lull-alibi is serabi jaa ja ja jaa, o 61

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divane o parvaneh yaahoo - jahe koyimuze jungali kaheH; dil-daike-dekho dildena wallo dil lena sikhoji (give over your heart, witness the spectacle; giver of hearts, learn to snatch a heart too). The long-forsaken lover, the veritable childhood sweetheart she was arraigned from in arranged wedlock, has already as it were undressed the damsel with his potent gaze so that the cupidified arrows issuing from his bosom can warmly land on hers without the invincible Bhisma-effect, rather the subaltern Ravana-Duryodhana honey-bemoaning Sita-Draupudi effect. Thus would it instigate the desired, desirous vision in her own expansive atman -- now saddled to the sensorially-soaked manas (passions enslaving Humean reason) -- the presentification of the most-dedicated, devoted, sage-like admirer and loverrolled into one, whose subterranean guise is that of an austere pilgrim, arhant, muni, rsi, as though on the verge of sallekhana (since he has avowedly been fasting or like Prajapati exhausting himself in order to reach this end-point of his tirthayatra, pilgrimage - or so he told his folks back home as he left, as did Yajnavalkya to his two wives as he sets off for the forest re-treat). Or like our Chakrahomababus who find the next beautiful selfsame deshijati-speaking arrival phrankly irresistible and succeeds in due course to introject a transubstantive permutation (yogaja-cittanirodha) in the mind-sense-set of the appropriated an-other as altarity or sacrificial locus of desire (icchadhisthan). Janemankiya piyar ho geya..tophir darna kiya? Thus, on Sridevi's part there has been an elegant and subliminal transformation. This marks the reversal from her earlier uncertain doubt, samsaya, as to why this sadhu would want to project onto a mere sari-clad gharani - to be sure, beautifully bangled with gold-silver-heeramohar, though she wasn't entering her own kitchen that day for fear of transposing impurity, and still under strict housebound surveillance -- such magnificent jati-gunas (property-universals) fit only to be showered on a real goddess. The new-found realization is that it is she - the household Gooddy - who is being adored in her own right for her pritivan, womanly, Avalon effeme, feminine, and preloved rasadharini elegance, and that this is the beginnings of or an invitation to a courtship that promises to ensue or culminate in other fulfillments, joiussance, ananda, perhaps even moksa. And as the damsel beholds the vision, dwells on it and contemplates with mananayukta on the extraordinary presentification - she would grow in the inner-glow of her stature or bhava of that universal love-ness, amor-fati, that her guest's musings have suddenly and unexpectedly unleashed in her. Overcome and embarrassed by the insufferably stupefying sensation and rapid-state vibration in her bellyparts, lest her newly-felt secret de-en-flowering be noticed and her vision (darshan) be expropriated by the lesser-deserving, envious or confused subultanhua-dekhi others - kuch kuch hota hei, and like Sita in Lanka thinking constantly only of Rama against the allurement of an even greater Sivabhakta and macho-suitor Ravana, at any moment our Sridevi Pativrata could feign a samadhi-collapse, shying to her now approaching dowry short 62

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changed Godmother-in-law that she has been amazingly graced with her long-wished magnificent vision-presentification, mahadarsan of none other than the great viyukta Lord himself descended from the Kailash parvat (an amsa-avatara as said of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa) in the dis-guise of a dishevelled sadhuman! Soha, soham. 'Siva is me, Siva is me' as she clutches her damp sari-fold and turns over (mafkijiye, me maili hoon, muckho bahar jani hein: excuse me I am moon-soiled, ought dutifully to go bathroom ). Jiteraho beti; narayana, narayana.. oops, hare hare Sankara-sambhooh.. Omnamah Sivaya, civayah namah-om. The masala lover -- who incidentally had wheeled himself on chaarpaiya 4.D phat-phat-zatpat Maurutivan only from across the polluted Yamuna, Delhi's Mrs Sippeoy-bugbear-to-Maneka Gandhi -- equally overcome, gasping his second breath understands that the most important moment of his ministerial mission has been climaxed: that a sublime com-union (sam-yogibhaj) of two souls via the requisite propertied universals felicitous towards the exchange and mutual elevation of perceptions, from the veritable mundane to the sacredly erotic has been achieved; as though from the dirt of Brooklyn to the sky-kissing windy levitation of the erotic chicaloquent linga-yoni simulation, sufficient to send a hostage of unsuspecting, innocuous countrified damsels as indeed our heroine here into rapturous illogical or non-rational flirtatious, thought-surpassing, ecstatic extra-textual raptures. 'You really think Indian culture is about logicH not tantra or alchemy?' Here is a match-maker of lost souls and mad-donor ghee of immaculate conceptions and inducer of ruptures too. This sadhu of sadhus, fishy rishi 4D yogi, or philosopher-priest and -priestess united in one is none other than the 8th century Naiyayika Jayanta Bhatta, himself bored witless in his prison incarceration, and reincarnated as Stephen Phillips now in Austinapura, the arch-defender in our times of Nyaya's 'mystic empiricism' (yogipratyaksa) modality arguably given short shrift in the analytic obsessive-compulsive logicism of Bimalda Matilal. But before I turn to the classical texts let me summarize the key narrative gestures here and lay the narrator, Rushdie's * Dimpleton Billimoria, to a well-deserved vishraam, siesta. I want to underscore this mystic moment which is at once empirical as it is transcendental: the first moment conforms to the standard empirical analysis - which is also roughly the Nyaya theory of perception -- of the process of coming to have a perception in the form of noetic presentation evoked by sensation (in nirvikalpa state) maturing into an object-linguo-cognition (savikalpajnana) when the senses come in contact with a propertied substance out there. The erstwhile debate among British empiricists of whether the medium is that of sense-data or some light-fusion radiation, phenomenalism's abhida gatherings, or as in the astika-Indian context, whether the sense-organ of the mind or some subtle vibratory consciousness loops across to the table - and even to the non-existent stars in our heaven 63

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ward wonderment, or the absent partner in the dreadful darkness -- need not concern us for the moment. There is one-to-one immediate expropriation of the thing out there - reality - by the mind sense, which informs (outforms rather) the understanding in the locus of the cognitive event itself (that is to say, the perception episodically occurs out there in the thing by virtue of the vibhu-expansion of the mind through the mediation of the senses). Let us call this nana 'direct naive darshan'. In the second moment, in certain non-constraining epistemic environments, a parallel but deeper phenomenological process takes place, wherein an unusual and unique sameness of the thing to an elusive general class is apprehended; the theory is that there is also a conjunct of the mind sense (the sixth sense in Nyaya) with the imperceptible universal alongside the universal given in normal perception (this is the samanya as distinct from the jati or universal or akrti of Mimamsa that particularizes a thing as possessing such and such property). The samanya here as a second-order modal perception discloses the class to which even the jati-qualified object belongs (in all possible worlds), e.g. cownesstva of cowness; hindutva of Hindu-ness (?!). There may even be a separate third-order perception that has a distinct knowledge of the categories of such samenesses or modal universals (dravya substantives, propertied subsistences, and timeless events), unattached to any particulars or even classes. The knowledge of the infiniteexpanding expanding self, omniscience, liberation (moksa), summum bonum of nihsreya, would be four instances of this extraordinary subpramana ignored by one of the greatest Nyaya philosopher-expositors of our times, Bimal Krishna Matilal. 64

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References Bailey, Greg. Ganesapurana Part II: Kridakhanda. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2008. Chakrabarti, Kisor Kumar. Classical Indian Philosophy of Mind: The Nyaya Dualist Tradition. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999. Keith, Arthur Berriedale. Indian Logic and Atomism: An Exposition of the Nyaya and Vaisesika Systems, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1921. Mohanty, J. N. Essays in Indian Philosophy Traditional and Modern (ed. P. Bilimoria), New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993 (1995). Phillips, Stephen H. "Counter Matilal's Bias: The Philosophically Respectable in Indian Spiritual Thought," Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, III no 2, 1996 (edited by Arindam Chakrabarti in honour of Bimal K Matilal). Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. "Moving Devi," in Vidya Dehejia, Devi The Great Goddess, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Catalogue), Smithsonian Institution, Washinton D.C. with Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 1999. Purushottama Bilimoria is a Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Studies at Deakin University in Melbourne; professorial fellow and Editor-in-Chief of Sophia, Melbourne University (Australia), and Visiting Professor/Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley. 1. The author of Nyayasara and Laugaksi Bhasakara (Tarkakaumudi), with Visvanatha seem to have become key proponents of this visionary tract; commentators on Vaisesika sutras, from Prasastapada onwards, and on early Nyaya works, e.g. Tarkasamgraha (TS) plus tikas on the Nyayasutrabhasya and Varttika itself were hard pressed to keep up with the transmysticization of perception and so introjected discussion of yogipratyaksa with their own idiosyncrasies, e.g. the Dipika on TS; not to mention Udayana and Gangesa themselves, plus commentaries to this century on Siddhantamuktavali 2. Alaukikastu vyaparastrividhah parikirtitah Samanyalakhano jnanalaksano yogajastha (B.P.#63, see Note 17 below for bibliographic code); in free translation with the use of commentaries, the text here speaks of three operational modalities vyapara, of 'extraordinary conjunct, parikirti in perception (of the unusual type), and laksana, cognitive structure. A word on the use of vyapara: in Gautama's time this was simply called 'sannikarsa', as in indriyasannikarsa (sense-organ contact), but because 'mind is only tendentiously a sense-organ (sixth sense still. 65

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within logical padartha), technically conjunct is preferred and its fitting object is samanyalakasana - laksana being the 'structure of cognition', thus sameness as a common generic feature, prakarata, structuring the cognition, (Commentators continue to use sannikarsa, p. 241). So it is not just samanya as jati (e.g. natural kind universals or real universals in LockeanKripean distinction forged over nominal universals), or smokeness in seeing smoke oozing out of the fresh dung, dust, with which the sense-organ has direct contact), but the association of this smokeness to all instances of smoky things generically, remembered and otherwise, is said to be critical here: this hypergeneric coordinate is the conjunct in the cognition: samanyalaksana, (tatha hi dhumadau caksusamyoganantaram dhumadivisesyakam dhumatvadiprakarakam dhuma itiyadyakarakam jnanam jayate). 3. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, 'Moving Devi', in Vidya Dehejia, Devi The Great Goddess, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Catalogue), Smithsonian Institution, Washinton D.C. with Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 1999, pp. 181200. Trying to move us out of 'yesterday's talk' : "I went to Banaras and was overwhelmed by the experience of the gods and goddesses of Hinduism which made me reflect deeply on my Jewish-Christian God". There are now over three million Indians of various descents/ascents (descends/ascends) in this continent to stop pretending that chamra-bound southern Baptists are only audience. Bhagavadgita chp 11 Asattirasrayanatu samanyajnanamisyate Tadindriyaja-taddharmabodhasamgriyapeksyate (B.P. 64) Here the awareness of the generic sameness structure is identified as the conjunct (asatti, pratyasatti) with the supportbase (substratums) to which the particulars are associated. The complete commeasurement involved in the perception correlative to the indriya, sense instrument, is the unmitigated condition. (That is, the eye, the radiance, the mind, generic features, and contact, etc, must all be involved in this awareness-generation as well, to rule out possibility of simple abstractions and conceptual elopements). 6. I have deliberately skipped a step in the descriptive narrative of sameness appropriating, which connects the above observations to this one: Visayi yasya tasyaiva vyaparao jnanalaksanah. This verse underscores the facticity of the knowledge of the specific, unique and unusual universal as the transacting connection in the cognitive episode with its object cognized and via this connection mutatis mutandis knowledge of all object-substratums that possess this universal. A question is discussed in the commentaries: but how can you say such one knows all the smokes and fires, when these are not there, and is he therefore omniscient? The answer is smokes and fires do not have to be eternally present (somethings do), and what is known is not 66

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in any great detail, so no claims to omniscient in this condition is being emphasized. There are two further steps (and verses) before this claim is possible. 7. Almost verbatim from a friendly personal epistle to me (Doniger). 8. See Matilal Perception, is devoted through and through to this argument; p 424 on ultimate real universals and their assimilation; while Kant;s universals were a priori; Aristotle's grounded in the physical, in Nyaya it is mixed up by a relation of inherence (samavaya). 9. Zilberman adds comeasurability and value to the analysis, retaining its empirical ground nonetheless, for perception without samavaya fails to acquire a categorical definition..pp.153-197 ff. Only by analogy is it said to have the clarity of yoga-perception, but the higher up the hierarchy the more logical-formal is the process and the greater the certainty. Zilberman, Birth of Meaning in Hindu Philosophy (Boston Series in Philosophy of Science, 1988). 10. The erstwhile debate among British empiricists of whether the medium is that of sense-data or some light-fusion radiation, phenomenalism's abhi-vikapla gatherings, or as in the astika-Indian context, whether the senseorgan of the mind or some subtle vibratory consciousness loops across to the table - and even to the non-existent stars in our heavenward wonderment, or the absent partner in the deadful darkness -- need not concern us for the moment. See also work of Sibajiban Bhattacharya, Nyaya concept of visesyata objective knowledge (book at home). 11. I am taking the tenets of Nyaya realism as outlined by Matilal to be indicative of this cognitive holism, see Perception, p. 5. 12. Gautama, Nyayasutra (=N.S.) 2.1.34 Nyayadarsanam with Vatsyayana's Bhasya, (NSBh) Uddyotkara's Varttika (NS.vart), Vacaspati Misra's Tatparyatika and Visvanatha's Vrtti, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1985, p. 497-8 (reprint of Calcutta first edition, 1936-44 edited by Taranatha Nyaya-Tarkatirtha et al]); see also Mohanty (op cit. p. 89); and Matilal Perception, chp. 1. Gautama and commentators discuss 'self under Chapter III, I. Bhasa-Pariccheda (B.P.) 65: yogajo dvividhah prokto yukta-yunjanabhedah (Bhasaparicheddah Karikavali of Visvanatha-nyayapancanan-bhattacarya with Muktavalisamgraha by Pancanana Bhattacharya Sastri, Chowkhamba Sanskrit Office (n.e.d), pp. 241-246; Nyayasiddhantamuktavali (NSM) of Visvanatha Panchanan Bhattacharya with Dinakari (Prakasa) Commentary by Mahadeva Bhatta & Dinakar Bhatta and Ramarudri (Tarangini) Commentary by Ramarudra Bhattacharya & Pt Rajesvara Sastgri, Edited by Pt. Harirama Sukla Sastri, Varanasi: Chokhamba Sanksrit Series Office, 1972, pp 202-209.

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13. B.P. 66 yuktasya sarvada bhanam, chinatasahakrtah vyaparah. Visvanath from his Karikavali; NSM, see note above; also discussed by E A Solomon in her article, "The Problem of Omniscience (Sarvajnatva)', Adyar Library Bulletin, p. 74 n2; Phillips is discussed in Siderits (op cit), and note 64 above; cf. C D Bijalwan, op cit. p 124 Nyayasara (Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol II NyayaVaisesika and vol VI Navya-Nyaya metaphysics and epistemology; Halbfass, Bijalwan, and other references to later Nyaya writers in Notes above). 14. Nyayamanjari, detailed attention to the question of yogic perception and omniscience, pp. 95 ff. (Yogajapratyaksa) and again in Part II under apavarga and atmapariksa. This is developed further in Bhasa-Parichheda and Siddhanta-muktavali under Pratyaksa and samanya-samyuktasannikarsa. (See Note 17 below); Cf. N S Junankar's pessimism, Gautama: The Nyaya Philosophy (Delhi: Motilal Banarsdidass, 1978). p 553, and passim; even the undermining of Nyaya and Dharmasastra conceptions of Dharma in the Indian Constitution - P V Kane notwithstanding. 15. Stephen Phillips, 'Counter Matilal's Bias: The Philosophically Respectable in Indian Spiritual Thought', Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, III no 2 1996, pp. 173-183 (edited by Arindam Chakrabarti in honour of Bimal K Matilal.), p. 178, p. 175. 68

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Lataif, Chakras and Leshyas Dr. Intaj Malek 'Lataif is an Islamic or rather Sufi term which means the subtle centres or elements of creation or psycho spiritual energy centres. Singularly it is called Latifa. Lataif are considered as psychospiritual organs or faculty of sensory or suprasensory perception. These Lataif are sometimes thought to be parts of the self in similar manner as the glands and organs are part of the body. Vedic Chakras of Hindu tradition and Leshyas of Jainism are the similar concepts in Indian Religious traditions. The concept of Lataif is drawn from the Holy Quran by Sufis. All Sufis distinguish Lataif-as-Sitta-the six subtleties namely Latifat-an-Nafsi, Latifat-al-Qalbi, Latifat-as-Sirri, Latifat-ar-Ruhi, Latifat-al-Khafi, and Latifatal-Akhfa. Some Sufi Schools add one more Latifa which is known as Latifatal-Qalib. Shaikh Ahmed Sirhindi the greatest Sufi said that humans are made of ten Lata'if or elements of creation. Five of them pertain to Alam-e-Amr (the divine world, and the rest five pertain to Alam-e-Khalq (Created world). The five lata'if of Alam-e-Amr are Qalb, Ruh, Sirr, Khafi and Akhfa. The five lata'if of Alam-e-Khalq are Nafs, Soil (solid), Water (liquid), Air (gas) and Fire (energy).However, for the sake of convenience seven lata'if are acknowledged and accepted by most of the sufi orders. The four such as soil, water, air and fire are jointly called Latifa Qalbia with reference to Qalib -the corporeal human body. Latifa Qalbia is also referred to as Sultan al-Azkar in many Sufi orders. At the outset, it is pertinent to discuss these Lataif in detail and then to reflect upon their counterparts in other religious traditions. Latifat-an-Nafsi ( the lower self): This latifa is located a little below the navel, and it is yellow in colour. Some believe that it is located between the eyebrows and its colour is blue. The word nafs is generally translated as self or psyche. Etymologically it is rooted in "breath" (similar to Biblical or Kabbalisticnefesh) and is common to almost all archaic psychologies where the act of breathing was connected with life, animating otherwise lifeless object. In this respect, ancient notions of "Atman" in Hinduism or Greek "pneuma" as well as Latin "spiritus" -all associate the basic visible process of breathing with stimulating principle that presents existence to an individual human being. Some Sufis consider that the term "Nafs" takes into its ambit the entire psychological processes, encompassing whole mental, emotional and volitional life; however, the majority of Sufis are of the opinion that Nafs is a "lower", egotistical and passionate human nature which comprises vegetative and animal aspects of human life. The third Chakra of Vedic tradition, namely Manipur Chakra is also considered a seat of emotions. It gives a sense of personal power in the world and it manifests anger or a sense of victimization. 69

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In modern psychology, ego may be equated with Nafs. In Sufi terminology it is called Tazkiya-I-Nafs purgation of the soul from its awful state of egocentredness through diverse psycho-spiritual stages to the piety and submission to the will of God. The central aim of the Sufi practice is transformation of Nafs. Most of the Sufi orders have accepted seven maqaams, while some Sufi traditions still applies only three maqaams. The Sufi journey starts with Nafs-e-Ammara amd ends in Nafs-e-Mutma'inna. Nafs-e-Ammara means the commanding soul where as Nafs-e-Mutma'inna means satisfied soul. This final stage of Sufi journey is sometimes called Nafs-1-Safiya wa Kamila which means restful and perfected soul in Tawhid i.e. unity of God. This state can well be compared with the Christian paradigm of via purgative those who are separated from all concerns of the lowly world. At the periphery level this Latifa seems similar to the Ma?ip?ra chakra or Solar Plexus. Chakra which is located around the navel area and its colour is yellow. Latifat-al-Qalbi (the Heart): This latifa is located in the left of Chest and is dark yellow in colour, some Sufis believe that it is red. In this latifa, a person views his deeds both good as well as evil. By awakening it a person acquires the knowledge of the realm of Jinns. The word Qalb, stands for heart. In Sufi terminology, this spiritual heart (not to be confused with corporeal organ) is again variously described. Some consider it to be the seat of pure vision. Others consider it the entrance of Ishq or Divine love. Some thinks that it is the battleground of two warring armies: those of Nafs and Ruh or spirit. In short, cleansing of the Qalb or heart is a necessary spiritual discipline for salik (traveller) on the Sufi path. The term for this practice is Tazkiah-l-Qalb and the aim is the purging of everything that stands in the way of God's love or Ishq-e-Khuda. Recitation of Kalima or the name of Allah is practised by the seekers To awaken this latifa. When the name 'Allah' vibrates in the heart, an aware. ness of Right and Wrong, and wisdom follows. It is then called Qalb-e Salim. (the content Heart). Then the status of the meditation by Qalb changes its direction towards God; it is called Qalb-e Minib (the penitent Heart). This heart can prevent a person from mischief, but it cannot make a right judgement. When the theophanies (Tajalliyat) of God begin to fall on the Heart, it is called Qalb-e-shahid or the witnessing Heart. Qalb and Nafs form the "Rooh-e-haivani" (Animal Soul). This part of the soul has the record of every activity of life. Latifat-ar-Ruhi (the Spirit): According to some Sufis, this latifa is situated in the right side of the chest and is white in colour, for some others its colour is green. When it is activated, the human gets acquainted with Alam-e-Aarafa the sacrosanct mortuary. 70

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Located on the right side of the chest, this is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed attentiveness on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation is done in this way. This is development in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. It is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Gabriel. Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty Latifat-as-Sirri (the Secret): Sirr is positioned in the solar plexus and is linked with white colour. It records the orders of Allah for the individual in similarity to that which is originally present in Loh-e-mehfooz (Preserved Scriptorium). After its activation, human being gets acquainted with Aalam-e-Misal (The Allegorical realm - Reflection of knowledge of the preserved Scriptorium.) This center is associated with consciousness. This is also awakened and illuminated meditation and one-pointed attention on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayyu, Ya Qayyum. Sirr, literally means "the secret". Emptying of the Sirr (Taqliyya-1Sirr) is basically a focus on God's names and attributes in perpetual remembrance or Dhikr, hence diverting one's attention from the mundane aspects of human life and fixing it on the spiritual realm. The "emptying" signifies negation and obliteration of ego-centred human tendency. When we compare the Lataif with similar concepts in Indian traditions, we come across the system of chakras in Hinduism or rather Indian religio-spiritual practices. Paramhans Swami Maheshwaranand describes a Chakra as a powerhouse in the way it generates and stores energy pulling it from cosmos. The Lataif are generally compared with the Chakras of the Vedic belief system but they are not similar. Though there seems an apparent similarity between the Chakras of Vedic belief system and the Lataif of Sufi-Islamic tradition, they are different esoterically, exoterically conceptually and methodologically. It is a better not to establish the similarities between them, because the Chakra system starts from Muladhar the lowest place near the anal region and moves upward through the spinal cord, where as the Sufi Lataif starts from Qalb the heart and are located around the Qalb and move upward to forehead as believed by some Sufi schools. Latifat-al-Khafi (Mysterious): The term Khafi means inexplicable, arcane or Latent Subtlety. It represents intuition.This Latifa is located in the middle of the forehead between the eyes or on the point of third eye. Its colour is black or darkest blue. Some believe that it is located to the right of the chest and it is darkest green in 71

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colour. Some Sufis compare it with Kitab-e- Marqoom the divine codices. The invocation or activation of this latifa leads to the realm of unification with ultimate reality. Latifat-al-Akhfa ( Secret of the secret and unfathomable): The term Akhfa or ikhfa means most arcane, deeply mysterious, or obscure, subtlety. Its location is deep inside the brain or on centre-top of the head. The colour of this centre, according to some, is green, to others, it is violet. It is called the Nuqta-e-wahida (point of unity) in every human where the Tajalliat (beatific visions) of Allah are directly revealed. It contains information about Ilm-al-Gaib the hidden knowledge of the universe. By entering into this point, the human being enters the system of the universe and laws governing the universe and he understands the meaning of "for you, We (Allah) have revealed whatever is in the earth and the heavens". This center is associated with deep perception. The last center or subtlety is accessible only to those who have developed the others, and belongs to the real sage. Akhfa and khafa make up "Rooh-e-azam" (the great soul), also called sabita. It is a brilliant ring of light in which all the mysteries pertaining to the manifest and unmanifest cosmos is inscribed. The Attributes of God that have been transferred to the existents and have become parts of the mechanism of the universe are collectively known as the Incumbent knowledge (Ilm-e-wajib). Knowledge of the Incumbent means knowledge that has been transferred to the existents, that is, it refers to those Attributes of God with which existents enjoy affinity and correlation. The Knowledge of the Incumbent is also known as the Knowledge of the Pen (Ilm-e-Qalam). In Hinduism these Lataif are known as Chakras. The word Chakra is a Sanskrit word which means the wheel. The entire energy of the cosmos is flowing in circular motion. Everything that is on earth and in heaven is described by seers in cyclical motion. The human energy as it is also considered divine energy also flows from one stage to other stage in a cyclical motion but upwardly. The Chakras in human bodies are located at several places starting from mooladhar to ajna that is forehead and above the head. There is originally a concept of Sadchakra in Indian religio-spiritual tradition but generally seven chakras are describes. The Sahasrar chakra is beyond the corporeal body the Indian Seers thought of Sadchakras. The number six is very much important in Hindu religious traditions. There are Sad-darshanas, six systems of philosophy, Sad Chakras (Six wheels of energy rooted in the human body), sadrasas (Six tastes of balanced food) and Sadgunas(Six attributes ). Seen in this way we can come across the same concepts in other religions. In Islamic Sufism there is a concept of Lataif-e-sitta (Six subtleties), Sad Leshyas (Six states of mind). These Chakras are considered as energy centres or energy store 72

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houses. They are the openings for life energy to flow into and out of our aura. Their function is to vitalize the physical body and to bring about the development of our self-consciousness. They are associated with our physical, mental and emotional interactions. There are seven major chakras. The aura is often referred to as the eighth chakra. The first chakra (root) actually hangs outside of human body. It is located between your thighs, about halfway between your knees and your physical body. The seventh chakra (crown or Sahasrar) is located on the top of the head. The remaining chakras, (sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, and third eye), are aligned in sequence along in the spine, neck, and skull. Individually, your chakras look similar to funnels with petal-like openings. Chakras are invisible to the human eye, but they can be perceived intuitively when activated. The seven Chakras can be described in brief as under: Muladhara Chakra Located at the base of the spine, this chakra forms our foundation. It represents the element earth, and is therefore related to our survival instincts, and to our sense of grounding and connection to our bodies and the physical plane. Ideally this chakra brings us health, prosperity, security, and dynamic presence. The chakra of the physical body is the muladhar. This is the first chakra and it has an essential connection with the physical body. The Muladhar chakra has two possibilities. Its first potentiality is a natural one that is given to us with birth; its other possibility is obtainable by meditation. Osho Rajneesh says that Sex exists at the first chakra, the first center, the lowest and we exist at the lowest. That is why we know life only at its minimum. When the energy flows upward and reaches to the last chakra, to the SAHASRAR, energy is at its maximum, life is at its maximum. Then you feel as if the whole cosmos has become silent: not even a single sound is there. Everything becomes absolutely silent when the energy comes to the last chakra. You know the first chakra; it will be easy to understand through that. When the energy comes to the sex center, you become absolutely tense. The whole body is feverish; your every cell is in a fever. Your temperature goes high, your blood pressure goes high, and your breathing becomes mad. Your whole body is in a temporary delirium -- at the lowest. Svadhisthana Chakra The second chakra, located in the abdomen, lower back, and sexual organs, is related to the element water, and to emotions and sexuality. It connects us to others through feeling, desire, sensation, and movement. Ideally this chakra brings us fluidity and grace, depth of feeling, sexual fulfillment, and the ability to accept change.

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Manipura Chakra: This chakra is known as the power chakra, located in the solar plexus. It rules our personal power, will, and autonomy, as well as our metabolism. When healthy, this chakra brings us energy, effectiveness, spontaneity, and non-dominating power. Anahata Chakra: This chakra is called the heart chakra and is the middle chakra in a system of seven. It is related to love and is the integrator of opposites in the psyche: mind and body, male and female, persona and shadow, ego and unity. A healthy fourth chakra allows us to love deeply, feel compassion, have a deep sense of peace and centeredness. Vishuddha Chakra: This is the chakra located in the throat and is thus related to communication and creativity. Here we experience the world symbolically through vibration, such as the vibration of sound representing language. Ajna Chakra: This chakra is known as the brow chakra or third eye center. It is related to the act of seeing, both physically and intuitively. As such it opens our psychic faculties and our understanding of archetypal levels. When healthy it allows us to see clearly. Sahasrara Chakra This is the crown chakra that relates to consciousness as pure awareness. It is our connection to the greater world beyond, to a timeless, spaceless place of all-knowing. When developed, this chakra brings us knowledge, wisdom, understanding, spiritual connection, and bliss. Speaking on Chakras Osho Rajneesh said that, one more journey yet remains - the journey to non-being, non-existence. Existence is only half the story. There is also non-existence. Light is but, on the other side, there is darkness. Life is one part but there is also death. Therefore, it is necessary to know as well, the remaining non-existence, the void, because the ultimate truth can only be known when both are known -- existence and non-existence. Being is known in its entirety and non-being is known in its entirety: then the knowing is complete. Existence is known in its entirety and nonexistence is known in its entirety: then we know the whole. Otherwise, our experience is incomplete. There is an imperfection in Brahma gyan, which is that it has not been able to know the non-being. 74

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Therefore, the Brahma Jyani knower of the supreme knowledge denies that there is such a thing as non-existence and calls it an illusion. He says that is does not exist. He says that to be is the truth and not to be is a falsity. There simply is no such thing, so the question of knowing it does not arise. If we look into the scriptures of Jainism such as Bhagwati Sutra, Uttaradhyayan Sutra, Tatvarth Sutra, and Aagam literature we find many such similar concepts that stand in line to Chakras and Lataif. The six Leshyas or rather mental tendencies as described in Jainism can well be equated with Lataif and Chakras. There are six Leshyas as there are six chakras and six Lataif. These Leshyas are Krishna Leshya, Neel Leshya, Kapot Leshya, Tejo Leshya, Padma Leshya and Shukla Leshya. They can be described in brief as under: 1. In Krishna leshya, black leshya, colour is black like Collyrium. The person in this conditin would be devoid of Dharma; he will have no kindness, or sympathy; he will be burning with jealousy; he will be angry; and will be steeped in animosity and malice. If person dies in this condition then such person would go to Hell. 2. In Neel leshya, blue leshya, colour is blue like the throat of a peacock. The person in this conditin would be lazy, haughty, cowardly, steeped in stupefying passions, and will be a cheat and a hypocrite. If person dies in this condition then such person would be born as a in tree, plant, etc. 3. In Kapot leshya, Brown leshya, colour is brown like the throat of pigeon. The person in this conditin would be gloomy, excited, of a dejected, despondent, lamenting calumniating others; praising himself and will lack mental poise. If person dies in this condition then such person would be born as a bird or animals. 4. In Tejo leshya, Red colour, colour is red like the beak of parrot. The person in this conditin would be religious, death, a benevolent and thinks will of what can be done what should not be done. He has a wholesome and balanced personality. If person dies in this condition then such person would be born as human. 5. In Padma leshya, Yellow lesya, colour is yellow like gold. The person in this conditin would be forgiving by nature and makes sacrifices. He is very conscious; wakeful in the performance of austerities. He remains unaffected by joys and sorrows and is always cheerful. If person dies in this condition then such person would be born as celestial beings in devloka. 6. In Shukla Leshya, White leshya, colour is white like cow's milk or conch shell. When the Jiva is firmly rooted in this Leshya that person becomes omniscient; becomes totally free from attachments and hatred and 75

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becomes immersed in soul- experience and self-realization. If person dies in this condition then such person becomes liberated and attains salvation. Lataif and Chakras are the concepts of Islamic Sufism and Hindu Vedic spiritual practices. The similar concepts are found in Judeo Christian religious or spiritual practices also. The seven Chakras as described in the Tree of Life of Kabbalistic Judaism are mentioned here with their Hebrew names against their Sanskrit equivalents. They are: (Kether : Sahasrara chakra), (Hokmah : Ajna chakra),(Binah : Vishuddi chakra), (Gevurah : Anahat chakra), (Tifferet : Manipura chakra), (Yesod : Swadhistana chakra), (Malkuth : Muladhara chakra). On top of the tree of life proper is Kether (the crown) which lies directly below Ayin and represents pure divine will. This is the equivalent to Sahasrara chakra. Next is Hokmah, or the wisdom point, which is the equivalent to ajna chakra. Then Binah (understanding) at the throat center or vishuddi chakra. The heart chakra (anahat) is a combination of Gevurah or justice (symbolized by the left arm and red in color) and Chessed (love and grace) symbolized by the right arm and the color, white. The manipura (jewelled center) chakra at the navel corresponds to Tifferet or beauteous splendour which corresponds to the sun in kaballah and the fire element in yoga. Below Tifferet (splendour) is Yesod which is the generative, seminal, and sexual center which is linked to Tifferet above both directly and through Hod and Netsah. The root chakra (muladhara in Sanskrit) equates to Malkuth of the Kaballah where the Shekinah can enter. It is said that the secret of fulfilling the mizvot (the epitome of all good deeds) is the mending of all the worlds and drawing forth the emanation from above thus balancing Shekinah with Ayin Soph. There is much to discuss about subtleties of Christianity, but let me close with a brief introduction of the seven neshamot (subtleties) within us which correspond to the first seven "Let there be" instances of Genesis. They can be briefly stated as under: 1) Neshamah-behemot: The subtlety of our physical body. 2) Neshamah-nepheshi: The subtlety of our self, our soul. 3) Neshamah-lev: The subtlety of our heart. 4) Neshamah-sod halev: The subtlety of our secret heart. 5) Neshamah-ruach: The subtlety of our spirit man. 6) Neshamah-chayim: The subtlety of our spiritual life. 7) Neshamah-yachidah: The subtlety of our oneness with the One.

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The Lataif of Islamic Sufism, Chakras of Hindu spirituality and Leshyas of Jainism represent the same thing in one way or the other. All have colour systems of their own. Different Lataif are represented by different colours so are the chakras and the six Leshyas are also represented by different colours. The colour has a specific importance and function in religious traditions. : Why did God opt to create the universe and what is the Will of God, which He intends to accomplish? Reflection of all these things is found in the Great Soul. One side of Great Soul is the Obscure Subtlety (akhfa) and the other side is the Latent Subtlety (khafi), Great Soul is the storehouse of eleven thousand beatific visions of God. The person who attains communion with these two subtleties can observe these visions. These two subtleties of akhfa and khafi are found in every human being irrespective of who he is, what he is, or whatever his station in life is. "Great Soul", "Human Soul", and "Animal Soul" are really levels of functioning of the same soul and are not different souls. These three components are like three rings of light infused in one another and are collectively called the soul, the inseparable entity, the Lord's decree, or simply the man. Man gets acquainted with them one by one by Muraqaba (Sufi Meditation), Dhikr (Remembrance of God) and purification from negative thoughts patterns such as fear, depression, negative emotions such as hate, contempt, anger, lust and negative practices such as hurting others psychologically or physically. Loving God and loving every human being irrespective of his race, religion, or nationality, and without consideration for any possible reward, is the key to ascension according to Sufistic Islamic tradition. Though there exists apparent similarities among Lataif, Chakras and Leshyas, they are the independent concepts of spiritual practices of different religious traditions. There is a similarity that all of them have colour system. Lataif, Leshyas and Chakras have different colours of their own. As the ultimate aim of any religio-spiritual practice is to achieve liberation or evolution, it is natural that these concepts have certain similarities, but the seekers must follow particular rules of a particular tradition when he or she desires to practice and activate the chakras or the Lataif. In final words these Lataif and Chakras are the energy sources for the evolution of human kind. By activating them one realizes God, one merges with ultimate reality and at periphery level one can control many passions and there by lead a happy and peaceful life.

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References Sufism: An account of the mystics of Islam, Arthur J Arberry Dover Publication 2001 Mystical Islam: An Introduction to Sufism, Julian Baldick I B Tauris 2001 The Quranic Sufism, Mir Valiuddin Motilal Banarasidas Publishers Pvt Ltd 2002 Sufism: Its Saints and Shrines, John A Subhan Mystical dimensions of Islam, Annemarie Schimmel Chakras: energy centers of transformation, Harish Johari, Destiny Books 2000 Exploring Chakras: Awaken Your Untapped Energy, Susan G. Shumsky, New Page Books 2003 Jainism: Short Essays on Jain Philosophy, Anonymous, Forgotten Books 2008 Jainism: through science: a collection of Gujarati-Hindi-English articles, Nandighoshavijayji (Muni.), Sri Mahavira Jaina Vidyalaya 1995 World Religions, Warren Matthews, Wadsworth Publishing Company 2002 The Golden Book of Jainism, Mahendra Kulasrestha Lotus Press 2006 The mirror of the self, Acharya Mahaprajya Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, 1995 The Hindu World. Mittal Sushil & Thursby Gene. Rouledge London.2005

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Gandhi, Civil Society and Social Capital - James L. Fredericks, Ph.D. Recent research on Muslim-Hindu violence in India provides an opportunity for revisiting Gandhi's program for the moral renewal of Indian society. From his return to India in the 1920s until his assassination in 1948, Gandhi not only worked with the Congress Party to organize opposition to British colonial rule. He also organized numerous social organizations with the aim of building up inter-communal civil society. His purpose in this regard was not so much India's independence but rather the spiritual transformation of Indian society. All this provides a basis for recognizing civic associations that intentionally cross religious boundaries as a form of "social capital." The effort to establish such organizations should be recognized as a civic virtue for religious leaders. I believe this is the case in India, but also in many other multi-religious societies today. In the first part of this essay, I will review recent research on inter-communal violence in selected Indian cities that points to the importance of civil society in preventing riots. Following this, I want to discuss the relationship between civil society and what has come to be known as social capital. In the third section, I will reflect on Gandhi's work in raising social capital by developing inter-religious civil society as an example of the "virtue of solidarity." Part One: Inter-Communal Violence in India There has been a good deal of social-science research on violence between religious communities. In twentieth century India, the cause of such conflicts has to do with competing visions of national identity. The official ideology, represented by Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress Party, has been the secular nationalism enshrined in the Indian constitution. What Mark Juergensmeyer has called "religious nationalism" offers a competing vision. Religious nationalisms seek to make a particular religious or cultural worldview align with national boundaries and serve as the basis for social order. A version of religious nationalism can be seen in Jinna's vision of a Muslim state, separate from India, in West Punjab. Hindu religious nationalism has been associated with the term Hindutva ("Hindu-ness"), although the use of the term is quite varied. The goal of Hindu nationalists is not to up-root heresy or overcome differences between castes, language-groups and sects. Like Jinna's hope for a Muslim society in the Punjab, Hindu nationalists seek to build the Great India: (Mahabharat) based on "Hinduism" (itself a problematic word). V.D. Savakar argues that Hindutva is not a religious term at all. In his view, Parsis and Jews, because of their assimilation into Indian culture, share in Hindutva. Christians and Muslims, however, remain outside this culture. Muslims could be assimilated if they accept Hindu tradition as central to Indian identity, look on Ram as a cultural hero, and atone for the excesses of the Mughals. As a result of these demands, Hindu nation 79

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alists alienate even moderate Muslims. The split between Hindu nationalists and secular nationalists can be seen in differing views of the Partition as well. Hindu nationalists see the Partition as proof that Muslims are not true Indians. Secular nationalists see the Partition as proof that religion and social order should not be conflated. With all this as background, some observers maintain that the violence that ensued after the destruction of the Ayodhya Mosque in December 1992 was not really about religion. The incident was a political dispute about national identity. Hindu nationalists look on Babur (the first Mughal emperor and builder of the mosque) as an alien conqueror, while Rama (the divine king who was allegedly born at the site) is seen as indigenously "Indian." Explanations for ethnic conflicts around the world are manifold. I will offer a three-fold typology for categorizing theories only as a temporary convenience. The first type of explanation is often called "essentialism." Theories of this type generally argue that the rivalry between ethnic groups is based on the claim that ethnic groups are separated by essentially different identities that stretch back into time immemorial. As there is an irreducible "Hinduness," so also there is a "Muslimness" that sets Muslims apart from their Hindu neighbors. Some anthropologists speak of the "primordialisms" of race, religion and culture. As primordialisms, "Hindu" and "Muslim" become ancient and unchanging essences. This view of the roots of ethnic violence lends itself readily to the language of "fundamental incompatibility," "intrinsic difference," and "tribal identity." The "irreconcilable blood feud" between Hutus and Tutsis, Catholics and Protestants, Jews and Arabs are offered as cases in point. Thus, in India, inter-communal violence arises inevitably between Muslims and Hindus as a result of their primordial differences. Currently, there is widespread dissatisfaction with essentialism. Essentialism fails to explain why ethnic violence is sporadic and why it is a problem in some parts of the world and not in others. With these problems in mind, other theorists appeal to an instrumentalist argument. Violence is the result of the manipulation of ethnic differences by elites, especially politicians, for political and economic purposes. In this approach, since the differences that distinguish ethnic groups are not innate, the roots of conflict are not innate either. Conflict, therefore, is not inevitable. To be sure, there is much empirical evidence that provides a basis for assigning a causative role to politicians and other elites in the fomenting of riots in India. Questions still remain, however. For example, why are some politicians successful while others are not? Why are some politicians successful at times while, other times, these same politicians are not? Are there social factors that militate against the likelihood of communities being manipulated by elites? Constructivism offers a third general category of explanations for

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ethnic violence. Arguments of this type can be related to both essentialist and instrumentalist explanations. The "primordial" identities of ethnicity, race, and religion are modern constructions. Thus, primordialisms may not be primordial, but to the extent that they are successfully constructed in the present, violence between ethnic groups may be said to be "produced" Arguments of this type do not deny that there were groups with distinct identities before the modern period. These arguments, however, emphasize the fact that "Tibetan" and "Chinese" or "Pakistani" and "Indian" or "British" and "colonial" are identities that are always under construction and reflect developing social and political circumstances. There were "Hindus" and "Muslims" in the past as well. But the construction of Hindu and Muslim as identities is always a contemporary phenomenon. The complex connections between essentialist arguments and instrumentalist arguments on the one hand with constructivist arguments on the other can be seen in the work of authors as different as Michel Foucault and Benedict Andersen. Foucault examined how knowledge-elites construct grand narratives that legitimate hierarchies of power. This can be seen in the way the British promoted a master-narrative of Hindu and Muslim: "communities" and their "ancient antagonisms" in order to prove that India was still a pre-modern nation and in need of colonial supervision. I would like to set aside the theoretical discussion and turn instead to the empirical work done by a respected Indian sociologist. Ashutosh Varshney, professor of political science at the University of Michigan, has recently advanced an argument explaining inter-communal violence that does not rely on any of the three theoretical models outlined above. In a monograph, Ethnic Conflict and Civic Strife, Varshney offers case studies of six Indian cities: Calicut and Aligahr, Hyderabad and Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Surat. Based on this research, he concludes that inter-communal civil society is a key predictor of whether or not a city will suffer from violence in times of tension between Muslims and Hindus. Varshney argues that where inter-communal civil society is strong, there is a diminished tendency to violence. Where it is 'weak or non-existent, cities will be more prone to violence. Varshney makes clear that his claim about civil society is a predictor only, not a hard and fast rule. All the same, he believes that inter-communal civil society is the outstanding factor in predicting whether or not a city will erupt in violence or not. Varshney's interest in civil society as a predictor was piqued by three facts. First, inter-communal violence is geographically limited, for the most part, to a relatively small number of states. He includes Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharastra, and Gujarat as the most violent-prone. Second, he notes that the violence is restricted, within these states, to a relatively small number of cities. In fact, according to Varshney, 97% of inter-communal violence is restricted to but a few cities in all of India. Third, since 1949 these cities have 81

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been characterized by long periods of peace, punctuated by occasional outbreaks of violence. How are we to account for such data? Why is violence so geographically restricted in India? Why is there violence in some cities and not other cities that are economically and demographically similar? And in one case studied by Varshney, why was there violence in the outer fringe of a city and not in its center? Like other social scientists, Varshney understands civil society as social networks that function between the level of the immediate family and the state. Social networks such as these make interconnections between individuals possible in a way that neither the immediate family nor the state can provide. Civil society includes football leagues, bridge and film clubs, trade unions, NGOs, business associations, neighborhood groups organized around schools, political organizations, etc. Civil society is what connects people to their local communities beyond the family. Many sociologists argue that civil society, by definition, is voluntary and intentional, not ascriptive. Varshney also notes a distinction between "quotidian" civil society and "associational" civil society. Quotidian civil society involves informal interactions between neighbors, such as visiting homes, sharing meals, kids playing together, chatting at markets, etc. Associational civil society consists in the more formally structured social networks mentioned above. When Varshney uses the term "civil society" in his work, he generally means associational civil society. Since associational civil society is stronger because it is intentional, he concludes that associational, not quotidian civil society, is the decisive factor in preventing inter-communal violence. At least this is the case in urban centers. Quotidian civil society may be sufficient for villages, but not for cities which require social networks that are more intentional. These more formal social organizations allow for the management of conflict in times of tension. They help to facilitate communication and to kill rumors that would otherwise mobilize people for violence. Varshney's first empirical study compares Aligarh and Calicut. These cities were selected because both have a significant Muslim population (35% in 2000) a significant portion of which is middle class. They differ, however, in terms of inter-communal civil society: Aligarh is weak in this respect while in Calicut, inter-communal civil society is plentiful. Calicut is integrated by neighborhoods, business associations, industry and professions. Aligarh is segregated along these same lines. This important difference can be accounted for, in part, by their different histories. Calicut was not part of the Mughal Empire. This has meant that conflict has tended to be between castes. Muslims were not singled out as the enemy of a unified Hindu community. Aligarh, on the other hand, was a Mughal city. Many of the Muslims there come from families that were members of the old Mughal oligarchy. This historical fact has helped to unify the Hindu community against the Muslim population. Trade and business associations tend to be segregated. Banking 82

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insticutions, crucial to establishing networks of credit (and thus trust and reciprocity), also remained intra-communal. As a result, what Varshney calls Calicut's "thick civil society" has made the exploitation of communal tensions in that city by politicians difficult. Conflict, especially labor conflicts, have generally been between castes. In Aligarh, in contrast, the BJP has flourished. For example, during the Ayodhya crisis, Aligarh exploded into violence. There were 75 deaths. Newspapers passed on rumors without substantiation. Peace committees could not be formed or the peace committees tended to be intra-communal, uncoordinated with their counterparts in the corresponding community, and thus ineffective. BJP and Muslim politicians could not be brought together. In fact, they had no need to cooperate, given their segregated constituencies. At the same time, Calicut was tense, but there were no riots. Instead, peace committees, organized by various inter-communal civic networks, were effective in quelling rumors, supplying reliable information and presenting the city with a sense of Muslim/Hindu cooperation at a time of great stress. These successful efforts, according to Varshney, were rooted in local neighborhoods and based on pre-existing social networks no more glamorous than the Lions Club and the Rotary, the rickshaw pullers association, theater groups and science societiesi all of which constitute social networks that are voluntary and inter-communal. The second set of cities studied by Varshney is Lucknow and Hyderabad. Once again, the data indicate that the presence of inter-communal civic networks is an important factor in predicting a propensity to violence or the lack thereof. Like Aligarh and Calicut, Lucknow and Hyderabad resemble each other in significant ways. Both are about one-third Muslim in their populations. Both were Mughal cities with Urdu speaking elites. Both are centers of the textile industry. Lucknow, however, has suffered only one major riot since 1924, while Hyderabad has been one of India's most riotprone cities since 1938. Lucknow has been so immune to rioting that even during the two major crises for inter-communal relations in India during the twentieth century, Partition and the Ayodhya incident of 1992, Lucknow remained tense, but free of violence. This is all the more remarkable given the fact that Lucknow is only eighty miles from Ayodhya. Hyderabad, in contrast, was turbulent from 1938-1948, relatively quiet in the 1950s, and turbulent again in the 1960s. Since 1978, this city has been especially plagued by violence. How does Varshney explain this contrast? As a step toward recognizing the role of inter-communal civic organizations in the prevention of violence, Varshney notes that intra-group conflict is a predictor of inter-group peace. In Lucknow, in the past and in the present, Sunni and Shiite Muslim conflict has played a significant role in city politics. Prior to independence, 83

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the local Mughal prince, a Shiite, favored members of his own sect and made deals with Hindus at the expense of Sunni Muslims. The Muslim community, therefore, never developed as a unified political block in opposition to Hindus. There are Muslims political parties in Lucknow, but Muslims do not support these parties as a unified community. Thus, in order to win elections, politicians must appeal across religious and sectarian boundaries to Hindus, Shiites and Sunnis. In Hyderabad, in contrast, the political divide separated Hindus from Muslims, not Sunnis from Shiites. The Muslims were a ruling minority in the city that refused to give up political power after the rise of mass political organizing in the 1930s. The last Mughal prince in the final decade of his rule (1937-1948) went to great lengths to block the development of local civic organizations that would unite Muslims and Hindus against his own authority. Varshney even claims that, instead of inter-communal civic and political organizations, there is an institutionalized riotsystem in this city in which politicians, criminal groups, and some of the local press take a role in fomenting violence. As a result, Lucknow and Hyderabad are very different cities in terms of inter-communal civil society. Civil integration in Lucknow is largely economic, even though the integration is vertical (Muslim workers seeking jobs from Hindu businessmen who need labor). In the embroidered textile industry, labor/management relations are informal and based on trust. The industry works because of time-honored relations among Hindu and Muslim families. Hyderabad's economic structure is quite different. Muslims and Hindus tend to be segregated according to trade, such that cooperative relationships do not develop between them. Much the same can be said for political organizations. In Hyderabad, political organizations tend to be intracommunal. In Hyderabad, Muslims overwhelming support the Majlis-eIttehadul Muslimeen (MIM), even though the general pattern for Muslims after Partition was to support the Congress Party and its secular policies. This means that the traditional role of Congress in bringing Hindus and Muslims together has not been a factor in Hyderabad's politics. As with Calicut and Aligarh, Varshney's data show that the lack of inter-communal civil society in Hyderabad goes a long way in accounting for its rioting problem. The presence of civil society accounts for the impressive record of peace in Lucknow. Varshney's study of Ahmedabad and Surat was structured somewhat differently than the previous two studies. In the Calicut/Aligahr and Hyderabad/Lucknow studies, the contrast was between the presence of inter-communal civil society and its absence as a predictor of violence. This third case study investigates the phenomenon of Hindu/Muslim violence diachronically by gathering data on the decline of civil society and how this correlates with an increase in violence. In other words, Varshney is tracking how violence arises as inter-communal civic networks breakdown. 84

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As in the previous two studies, he has selected these cities for their many similarities in order to isolate the role of civil scciety as much as possible. Both Ahmedabad and Surat have been in the same state (Gujarat) and subject to Gujarati state politics since the establishment of the state by the British about 200 years ago. The cities are but 158 miles apart. Both have been about 12-15% Muslim since India's independence. However, since 1969, Surat has remained largely peaceful while Ahmedabad has suffered from chronic violence. Particularly intriguing to Varshney is the fact that the frequency of violence in Ahmedabad has changed over time. From the 1920 to 1969, Ahmedabad was mostly peaceful. After 1969, Ahmedabad has become one of India's most riot-prone cities. The great riot of 1969, in which 630 people died, was among the worst riots in India between 1950 and 1995. Surat, in contrast, was peaceful until the 1992-1993 riots accompanying the destruction of the Ayodhya mosque. In 1969, when much of Gujarat suffered rioting, Surat remained tense, but untouched by the violence. Ahmedabad was not exempt from the riots of 1985-1986 that broke out in much of Gujarat. In these riots, inter-communal violence followed inter-caste violence. Surat, in contrast, suffered only inter-caste rioting. The inter-communal peace in Surat finally failed in 1992-1993. How is this to be explained? Varshney's data show that there has been a gradual decline in inter-communal civil society in both cities. The decline happened some time ago in Ahmedabad and more recently in Surat. Understanding this decay of civil society requires an historical perspective on the work of Gandhi in Gujarat. Gujarat was Gandhi's home state and Ahmedabad his adopted city between 1915, when he returned to India from South Africa, and 1930, when he embarked on the salt march. Gandhi eventually established his ashram in Gujarat just outside Ahmedabad. Of course, Gandhi worked diligently to promote the political aims of Congress in Gujarat and elsewhere. In addition, he organized numerous voluntary organizations of a social, economic and political nature, leaving a legacy of social service and communal harmony in the state. According to Varshney's data, however, after 1969 there was a gradual loss of Gandhi's heritage in Ahmedabad, but not in Surat. This can be seen not only in the decline of Congress after the passing of the pre-independence generation, but also in the gradual weakening of the local civic organizations in Ahmedabad. Varshney's assessment is pessimistic. Between 1920 and 1969, Ahmedabad took pride in the Gandhian values of peace and non-violence. Over the past three decades, a metamorphosis has taken place. Violence, bigotry and crime have taken over. A few Gandhian organizations are still fighting a dour battle for civic sanity and calm, but their attempts, though valiant, have not been able to reclaim Ahmedabad's lost civic heritage. The city's Gandhian soul has all but vanished. 85

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Gandhi's efforts in building inter-communal civil society needs to be placed in the context of the Congress Party and its ideology of secular nationalism. Congress was a significant political influence in Gujarat from the 1920s to the 1960s due in no small part to Gandhi's charisma. As a political movement, Congress organized itself into vigorous and well-disciplined cadres. In addition to Gandhi's formidable presence in the city, the leadership of Sardar Patel must be recognized as well. Gandhi and Patel both lived in Ahmedabad, Gandhi from 1915 to 1930 and Patel from 1913-1946. Patel's gifts for grass-roots organizing complemented Gandhi's gift for inspiring the masses as a spiritual figure. Some have claimed that Congress did not succeed in becoming the trans-communal political movement Gandhi hoped for. In Varshney's view, this claim is overly simplified, although he admits that the success of Congress in this regard is difficult to assess. Signing up Muslims for the Congress Party was difficult. Muslim participation in Con-. gress-sponsored protest activities, however, was substantial. In any event, Varshney believes that Congress' success, however mitigated, was significant in contributing to the maintenance of peace in Gujarat for several decades. The numerous civic networks established by Gandhi and his co-workers contributed to the peace in Gujarat as well. The relationship of these civic organizations and the Congress Party in preserving the peace is complicated, in Varshney's view at least. Gandhi had two major aims guiding his activities. He wanted independence for India, of course, but also the moral and spiritual transformation of Indian society. Congress, with its cadre-based organizational structure, was largely for achieving the aim of independence from Britain. Founding grass-roots civic networks also contributed to this goal, for Gandhi recognized that Indian society's own internal weaknesses contributed to the success of the Raj by allowing the British to exploit communal antagonisms. For realizing his second goal, according to Varshney, Gandhi looked less to Congress and its cadres and more to grass-roots, selfsustaining, local organizations. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, he worked to build small, grassroots organizations. These social networks may be classified into four types. First, he established organizations that promoted social welfare. These social networks worked for the prohibition of alcohol, rural self-reliance and the "home spun" (khadi) movement. He also established organizations for addressing the needs of women, tribal peoples and Dalits. Second, Gandhi worked for educational reform. He established intercommunal schools that would promote a sense of secular national identity. In 1920, he founded the Rashtriya Vidyapith ("National University'), now called Gujarat Vidyapith. Also in Ahmedabad, he founded the Science College, the Arts College, as well as the College of Commerce. The mission of all these institutions included promoting of the equality of religions. 86

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Third, Gandhi established or strengthened inter-communal business associations. At the time of Gandhi's return from South Africa, Gujarat's textile industry was organized around traditional guilds (mahajans for merchants, panchs for artisans). All had a stake in the smooth functioning of the guilds because the division of labor among Muslims and Hindus in the textile industry. For example, in Surat, Muslims provided several services vital to the success of the industry, such as winding and embroidery. After the introduction of power looms in 1941, the vertical integration of the textile industry demanded inter-communal cooperation. Gandhi helped the guilds to become more democratic in their operation. Voluntarism rather than inheritance became the basis of leadership within guilds, making it easier for Muslims and Hindus to share power. Forth, Gandhi organized inter-communal trade unions, neighborhood cooperatives, and professional associations. The Textile Labor Association (TLA) was founded in 1920. This union was in fact a federation of unions supporting textile craft-workers in Ahmedabad. The TLA was successful in connecting Muslims and Hindus because craft specializations within the industry were divided by community. The goal of the TLA was "total transformation," which for Gandhi meant not just the improvement of wages and working conditions, but also the betterment of worker literacy and housing, the uplifting of women, and the prohibition of alcohol. Professional organizations of physicians, lawyers, teachers, etc. are numerous, but not as strong as business associations have been in the state. The period from the 1920s and 1940s, although a turbulent time in parts of India for inter-communal violence, was peaceful in Ahmedabad and Surat. Varshney believes that the tranquility of these two cities can be accounted for by the inter-communal civil society created by Gandhi, Patel, and their followers. During the partition, Ahmedabad had no rioting at all. Ahmedabad's time of relative peace came to an end after 1969, and Surat's in December 1992 with the destruction of the Baburi Mosque. Varshney argues that this violence can be explained by the gradual decline in the strength of inter-communal civil society, first in Ahmedabad and eventually in Surat. In Ahmedabad, there was the decline of Congress and the rise of the BJP. The social vision of the pre-independence leaders, to say nothing of their organizational abilities, lead not only to the weakening of Congress, but the decline of Gandhi's social organizations as well. As Congress was replaced by the BJP, so also Gandhi's social networks were replaced by organizations championed by Hindu nationalists. The political influence of Congress waned in Surat as well, but importantly, inter-communal business associations increased in strength, at least in the central city. In Varshney's view, the persistence of inter-communal civil society in Surat goes a long way to explain. why Surat, in contrast to Ahmedabad, was free of violence until the crisis of December, 1992. The decline of civil society is especially visible in the busi 87

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ness associations like the Ahmedabad Millowners Association (AMA). The situation in Surat was different. Business associations remained integrated due to the fact that different parts of the production process remained the specializations of Muslims making inter-communal cooperation an economic necessity. In Ahmedabad, the TLA declined along with the AMA as the textile business slowed. Thus Ahmedabad lost its one major inter-communal organizations starting after 1969 while this was not the case in Surat. Of course, rioting did finally break out in Surat during the crisis of 1992-93. But even here, the importance of inter-communal civil society is evident to Varshney. After the destruction of the Ayodhya Mosque, the 175 deaths in Surat were confined to the shantytowns along the periphery of the old city. The shantytowns had little inter-communal civil society, while the old city remained peaceful. The organizational structure of labor contracting in the shantytowns tended to be intra-communal. Muslims and Hindus in the old city suffered the same shock wrought by the destruction of the mosque, and heard the same rumors. The old city was even the site of a Muslim protest march. Despite all this, the old city did not burn. The old business alliances between Muslims and Hindus formed the basis of ad hoc peace committees, squashing rumors about the desecrations of mosques and temples and assaults on women. Part two: Civil Society as Social Capital Varshney's work argues that inter-communal civil society is the key factor in determining whether a city will be riot-prone. His work is largely descriptive. I want to expand on Varshney's descriptive work by relating it to the notion that civil society can be looked on as a form of social capital. Social capital helps to explain how the inter-communal civil society studied by Varshney helps to thwart the outbreak of violence. There are numerous definitions of social capital. In his widely influential book, Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam, a major contributor to the discussion, defines social capital as the idea that H social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a college education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so do social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups. In other words, the trust, reciprocity, and cooperation necessary for coordinated action that is produced by social networks can be looked on as a kind of asset. As there is financial capital as well as material and human capital, so also there is social capital. Voluntary networks, therefore, are assets in that they provide the cohesion necessary for people to cooperate with one another for mutual advantage. Based on Putnam's definition, the

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extended family can be said to provide social capital. The same can be said of caste organizations and religion-based forms of civil society. Despite the scholarly and popular attention garnered by Putnam's Bowling Alone, the notion of social capital is nothing new. One of the earliest uses of the phrase was by L.J. Halifan and his investigation of rural schools in 1916. Political scientist Robert Salisbury appealed to the term as a way to understand the formation of interest groups. Of course, social commentators and sociologists from de Toqueville to Durkheim and Tonnies have shared a concern for how the quality of relationships and shared values produce social cohesion. Even still, social capital is a relatively new category for contemporary social research. Putnam claims, somewhat whimsically, that social capital has been discovered six times during the twentieth century. Looking at Varshney's descriptive research in light of this theoretical discussion may prove fruitful. The roots of the contemporary discussion lead from Putnam's work back to that of James Coleman at the University of Chicago and Pierre Bourdieu in France. Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002), a public intellectual in France and professor of sociology at the College de France and other institutions, was interested in the construction of social status beyond the material dialectics espoused by Marxists thinkers. The elites of any given society, he argued, have social capital, just as they have the financial capital that the poor lack. As examples, he offers golf clubs, private schools, and professional associations available only to the wealthy. These social networks provide opportunities for cooperation and bonding among the rich and help to reproduce social inequality. James Coleman (1926-1995) taught political science at the University of Chicago and was much influenced by the neo-Liberal commitments of the Chicago School of Economics. Coleman, therefore, comes to the notion of social capital from a political perspective quite different than that of Bourdieu. Unlike Bourdieu, Coleman argued that social capital is good for the poor as well as the wealthy. Local networks of trust and shared value make reciprocity possible in communities of low as well as high income. A poor community may be lacking in social capital, but the advantages of social networking are not restricted to higher-income groups in society. Coleman's work on social capital was motivated by problems he recognized in the Rational Choice Theory espoused by the Chicago School. If individuals always pursue their own selfish interests, how can we account for cooperation and trust? Rational Choice Theory would seem to account only for competition. Coleman answered this question by arguing that the reciprocity and cooperation that characterize social capital are a form of "exchange" that benefits those who participate. The theory of social capital, therefore, augments Rational Choice Theory by helping to explain why people are mo 89

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tivated to cooperate. For Coleman, however, people do not enter into social networks of trust and cooperation with the intention of generating social capital. Instead, social capital is a bi-product of the pursuit of self-interest, in compliance with Rational Choice Theory. Robert Putnam (1941 - ) of Harvard University has brought the discussion of social capital to its current state. As mentioned above, Putnam is the author of the widely admired Bowling Alone which documents the decline of voluntary social networks in the United States. This decline, he argues, is bad for any society because it brings with it a decline in social capital. Putnam's early research on the benefits of social networking was done in Italy, where he documented how the political stability and economic prosperity of northern Italy can be explained by the relative abundance of social capital compared with the south. Subsequently, Putnam went on to do extensive research on social networking in the United States. His research suggests that a lack of social networking, and thus a deficit in social capital, leads to panoply of social problems. Putnam's research and Varshney's research come to similar conclusions about the significance of the social capital provided by civil society. Putnam and Varshney move beyond Bourdieu and Coleman in two ways. First, Putnam argues that social networks promote the flourishing not only of individuals, but of society as a whole. This observation will be crucial later in this essay for getting a more concrete understanding of why intercommunal civil society helps to prevent violence as documented by Varshney. In Putnam's view, social networks contribute to the flourishing of society at large, not only individuals, by promoting social cohesion, reciprocity and trust. Similarly, Varshney believes that he has documented the fact that inter-communal civil society provides a basis for cooperation, the suppression of rumors, and communication in times of inter-communal stress. Here, the utility of the metaphor "capital" is evident. Putnam recommends that we "invest" in social networks, much as we invest in economic ventures, in the hope that our investment pays off. Crucial for Putnam, however, is that the payoff is not only for individuals, but for society as a whole. Varshney's research bears this out. There is a second way in which Putnam moves beyond the work of Bourdieu and Coleman. Putnam factors social capital into two types: bonding social capital and bridging social capital. Bonding social capital reinforces exclusive identities and maintains homogeneity within a group. This form of networking entails strong in-group loyalty. Bridging social capital is produced by networks created out of groups that are heterogenous, be it socially, economically, ethnically, racially, politically, or religiously. Extended families or organizations based on ethnicity would be examples of bonding social capital. Often, but not necessarily, religious organizations are examples 90

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of this form of social capital as well. Examples of bridging social capital could include sports teams, networks centered on schools; business associations and unions, and bowling leagues (Putnam's featured example). What these examples have in common is that they establish connections that cross social divisions and promote links to resources external to the group or individual, the diffusion of information between groups, and the broadening of reciprocity. Putnam's distinction between bonding and bridging social capital was partly in response to criticism that he was too sanguine about the beneficial effects of social networks. Social capital has a dark side. A criminal gang with its strong in-group bonding is, after all, a social network which produces social capital. The effect of such networks on society, however, is hardly beneficial. Social networks tend toward homogeneity (bonding networks) - trust tends to trust like. Attention to the negative side of social capital goes back to Bourdieu's argument that social capital is a mechanism for reproducing inequality. The social capital enjoyed by the power-elite makes access to social networks unequal. Social capital, according to Bourdieu, benefits the wealthy by functioning as an instrument of exclusion. Thus, bonding social capital needs to be balanced by bridging social capital. Francis Fukuyama, reflecting on the problems bonding social capital can pose, argues that there is a "radius of trust" at work in social networking. The wider the radius, i.e. the further from the in-group the network extends, the more benign the social capital will be. Fukuyama is saying, in effect, that bonding social capital, for all its benefits, often needs to be supplemented by bridging social capital. Social capital has been a subject of interest for sociologists and political scientists studying India as well. Matthew Morris has studied the relationship between social capital and poverty. Widmalm Sten's research has been on social capital and the problem of corruption. Harihar Bhattacharyya's interest is the contribution of social capital to the functioning of government. Sudha Pai, Nandini Sundar, and Niraja Gopal Jayal have looked at social capital and grassroots democracy. Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya has investigated social capital and marginalized groups. Ashok Swain has investigated social capital and protest movements. Part three: Gandhi's legacy of social capital In light of the foregoing discussion of social capital and the data aggregated by Varshney, I want to offer a reflection on Gandhi's efforts to build civil society in India and his notion of swaraj. Gandhi returned to India in 1915 from South Africa to face a triangle of challenges afflicting the independence movement. Muslims feared rule by the high caste Hindu establishment. On their part, high caste Hindus had no intention of countenancing a return to the time of the Mughal empire. Neither were they eager for the 91

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empowerment of the lower castes, especially the so-called "untouchables." The British looked on these conflicts as an opportunity for driving a wedge between segments of Indian society, then claiming that India was not a real nation and unfit for home rule. Moreover, Gandhi's relationship with Congress was complicated at times. When asked by Congress to focus exclusively on eradicating untouchability, Gandhi retorted that the problem of Hindu/Muslim conflict was in fact "the question of questions" and that he would not put it aside. All this raises the question of swaraj as understood by Gandhi. In his first book, Hind Swaraj, written aboard ship as he made his way from South Africa to India, Gandhi says, "The English have not taken India, we have given it to them. They are not in India because of their strength, but because we keep them." The British Raj was not simply a matter of military force by a European power. The weaknesses and conflicts within Indian society made the Raj possible. For this reason, for Gandhi, swaraj does not mean simply political independence from the British. Swaraj also requires the social, moral and spiritual transformation of Indian society. Later in Hind Swaraj, Gandhi claims that "we want English rule without the Englishmen. You want the tiger's nature, but not the tigerH This is not the Swaraj I want." Swaraj, therefore, is not Hindu hegemony within an independent India. True swaraj requires a transformation of Indian society where communalism (based on religion or caste) is transcended. True self-rule, therefore, entails a "self purification." The British were saying that India was not one nation and incapable of ruling itself. In parallel to this, Gandhi argued that India was not deserving of self rule if it refused to overcome its social problems. As discussed by Varshney in his research, Gandhi and his associates built social networks, many inter-communal, from the twenties until his death in 1948. These organizations were associational, voluntary and intentional, instead of ascriptive. For example, in this period, the Bhoodan Movement (devoted to land reform), the All India Spinners Association, the All India Village Industry Association were founded. Gandhi's famous Chakra and Khadi movement took its inspiration in part from Kabir, a 15th century weaver/poet, who concerned himself with Hindu/Muslim conflict. Gandhi planned, with Nehru, an inter-communal organization that would be trained to quell rioting. Eventually, Gandhi even proposed disbanding the Congress Party with the aim of reconstituting it as a network of local service organizations that would be called the Lok Sevak Sangh. This effort was to be coordinated by Vinoba Bhave. This surprising proposal is directly related to Gandhi's idealistic understanding of swaraj. Gandhi believed that Congress had been warped by its own political power and was soon to become the ruling party in a newly independent India. Independence from Britain was only part of true swaraj.

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Perhaps we can say that as home rule became more and more an eventuality, Gandhi became even more focused on the transformation of Indian society through the creation of inter-communal forms of civil society. To cast this observation in light of the discussion of social capital, I believe we can say that Gandhi was trying to build social capital for a society that was still plagued with the problem of communalism. Varshney's research documents the legacy of Gandhi's efforts. More specifically, Gandhi's efforts can be interpreted as an attempt to resist the negative effects of the "dark side" of "bonding social capital." Recall that in Bourdieu's analysis, social capital is a tool for reproducing inequality in a society where access to networks is restricted to elites. Beyond Bourdieu, I noted that social networks tend to be based on homogeneity - like tends to bond with like. Therefore, bonding social capital may not be good for society as a whole. Religious communities can be examples of this dark side of social capital. For this reason, Gandhi believed that the alienation between Hindus and Muslims needed to be countered by building bridging forms of social capital in the form of inter-communal social organizations. In keeping with Varshney's findings, bridging social capital such as the inter-communal networks of the Gandhian tradition continue to make a significant contribution to maintaining peace in Indian cities in times of communal tensions. What would the Mahatma think about this interpretation of his legacy? I suspect that he would be less than satisfied with the notion of social capital. Gandhi was not interested merely in building trust between Hindus and Muslims, however helpful this might be. Bridging social capital, as understood by contemporary political scientists like Putnam as a boon to society, is not sufficiently radical for Gandhi's vision of swaraj. Gandhi was an anarchist, fundamentally suspicious of government. He looked on it as an institutionalized form of violence. He envisioned a society where governance was founded on the virtues of individuals at the local level, not the coercive power of a government beyond that level. The state, he maintained, was a soulless machine. Therefore, the society Gandhi held up to India for emulation was the ashram. Gandhi's first ashram was Phoenix Settlement near Durban in South Africa. Subsequently, he founded Tolstoy Farm near Johannesburg. The ashram outside Ahmedabad was founded soon after his return to India. He founded seven ashrams in all. These communities mixed castes, social classes, and religions into a life of simplicity and service. When asked if the word ashram sounded too Hindu and might alienate Muslims, Gandhi replied that the connotation of the word must change to denote a radically inclusive community. In contrast to the various forms of civil society we associate with Gandhi's legacy in India and the social capital these organizations continue to create, Gandhi's ashrams took as their goal the transformation of private life as the locus of India's deepest alienations. As understood by 93

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Putnam and other commentators, social capital does not reach into the private sphere to any degree. At least, this is a question that has not been explored as of yet. Perhaps Gandhi's ashrams and his highly idealistic view of swaraj might provide an impetus to such a study. As is well known, Nehru repudiated Gandhi's anarchist vision soon after the death of the Mahatma. Even still, the legacy of Gandhi's work remains, as Varshney's data demonstrates. Civil society that is associational, intentional, and inter-communal contributes to inter-communal peace in times of social tension. What are we to say about India today as it becomes an economic (and military) power? Currently, Indian society is undergoing enormous changes. Homogenous networks are of diminished value during times of rapid social change because they tend to reinforce the status quo. Heteronomous networks are more useful. The dark side of bonding social capital needs to be addressed by bridging social capital in a society that is in flux. In this respect, I believe, Gandhi's challenge to India and many other societies remains. 94

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References Appadurai, Arjun. Modernity at Large. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. Bhattacharyy, Harihar. Making Local Democracy Work in India: Social Capital, Politics and Governance in West Bengal. New Dehli: SAGE 2004. Bhattacharyya, Dwaipayan et al., eds. Interrogating Social Capital: the Indian Experience. New Dehli: Sage 2004. Brass, Paul Language, Religion and Politics in North India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973. --- The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence. University of Washington Press, 2003. Bourdieu, Pierre. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974. Coleman, James. "Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital," American Journal of Sociology Supplement 94 (1988): 595-S120. Gandi, Mohandas K. Hind Swaraj and Other Writings. Rarel, Anthony ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Gandhi , Rajmohan. Mohandas: A True Story of a Man, His People and an Empire. New York: Viking, 2006. Hanifan, L. J. (1916) "The rural school community center," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 67: 130-138. The Community Center, Boston: Silver Burdett, 1920. Hardin, Russell. One for All: the Logic of Group Conflict. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. Hobsbawm, Eric and Terence Ranger, The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Juergensmeyer, Mark. The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. Morris, Mathew. Social Capital and Poverty in India, Brighton, UK: Insitute of Development Studies, 1998. Putnam, Robert. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. NY: Simon and Shuster, 2000. --- Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton 1993. 95

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Rudolph, Lloyd and Susan Rudolph eds. Post-Modern Gandhi and Other Essays. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Salisbury, Robert, H. "An Exchange Theory of Interest Groups." Midwest Journal of Political Science, vol. 13, no. 1. (1969), 1-32. Savakar, V.D. Hindutva, 6th ed. Bombay: Veer Savakar Prakashan, 1989. Varshney, Ashutosh. Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. Wellman, Barry and Scot Wortley. "Different Strokes from Different Folks: Community Ties and Social Support," American Journal of Sociology 96 (1990): 558-88. Widmalm, Sten. Decentralization, Corruption and Social Capital: From India to the West. New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2008. 96

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Jainism and Vegetarianism - Dr. Viresh Hughes 'So tell me, why are you a vegetarian?' I remember the first time someone asked me why I never had a hamburger. 'Well, I don't eat meat, never have,' I responded. 'Why,' he asked, 'it tastes so good.' Growing up a vegetarian, I never really questioned why I was a vegetarian until quite recently when a friend and I were eating dinner at a restaurant. As she was enjoying her meal, I asked her, 'so how's that rotting flesh?' She didn't take this comment lightly. She responded truthfully yet angrily, "you know, I've seen a chicken have its head cut off and even after watching it run around headless, I still ate it." Flabbergasted at her insensitivity, I remained speechless. Never had I felt more passionate about being a vegetarian than I did at that very moment. Immediately, I began to formulate my reasons for being a vegetarian, which I will now attempt to articulate with the support of Jain precepts. Violence is part and parcel of universal existence. From the collision of stars to the ferocious horn clashing battles of rams, all things are continually fighting for survival and space. From a Darwinian standpoint, the entire purpose of a species is to survive. Jainism, an ancient sramanical tradition of India, also understands the drive to survive as the underlying feature of every creature. Humanity, being endowed with an intellect capable of understanding and sympathizing with this fundamental desire for continuance, is thusly obligated not to obstruct any creature's freedom to do so. In Jainism, humans are implored to celebrate and protect this desire of every creature by adhering to the fundamental vow of ahimsa, or non-violence, of which the most basic requirement is a strict vegetarian diet. For the Jain, the observance of ahimsa not only leads to the preservation of life, but also enables the adherent to attain moksha, or final liberation. The historicity of [Jainism) has been unanimously accepted from the time of its twenty-third Tirthankara, Parsva, about 2,800 yeas ago (traditionally dated 872 B.C. - 722 B.C.) Tirthankara's are those exalted individuals who make a 'ford' across the tumultuous ocean of existence, or samsara. Their ability to do so requires a martial quality, enabling one to conquer the stranglehold of worldly attachments and aversions, which would otherwise lead to a deluded world-view. As such, Tirthankara's are also called Jina's, who are 'victorious' in acquiring an enlightened world-view by defeating the agents of delusion. Jains are those who follow and attempt to emulate the life and teachings of the Jina's. Jainism denies the existence of any external creative, sustaining or unifying agency and is therefore considered to be thoroughly atheistic. The Jain universe, as experienced and revealed by the great Tirthankaras, con 97

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sists of an infinite number of individual life forms (jiva) continuously striving for continuance and liberation from the limitations of worldly existence. In the soul's tormented struggle to free itself from its beginningless, and possibly endless, worldly bondage, neither fate (niyati) nor the gods are at hand to assist. In Jainism, liberation and bondage result from the intentional choices an individual makes and not by the dictates, graces or curses of any external entity. The Acaranga Sutra states, "Man, it is you who are your only friend. Why do you want a friend other than yourself?" (AS 1.3.3.4) Unlike the atheistic existentialism of Sarte, Jainism does not intend to alienate oneself from other life forms. Rather, Jainism stresses an active commitment to self-reliance as the only means of attaining perfection, of which no other being can offer any aid. The enlightened world-view, enlightened knowledge and enlightened conduct are the path to liberation. - Tattvartha Sutra, 1.1 In the pursuit of liberation, one must first strive to obtain an enlightened world-view. Jainism posits that enlightened understanding necessitates the acknowledgement of seven categories of truth, which are: 1) the existence of souls, 2) the existence of non-sentient entities (matter, time, space, media of movement and rest), 3) the inflow of karmic particles to the soul, 4) the binding karmic particles to the soul, 5) stopping the karmic inflow, 6) the falling away of the karmic particles and 7), the liberation from worldly bondage. The journey towards liberation begins with a fundamental belief in these categories of truth. Through empirical examination, consisting of perception (sensation and comprehension), inference (logical deduction), analogy (comparison) and articulation (language), one will then come to witness the proposed truths as reality. Once these truths are digested in one's consciousness, enlightened conduct will take place spontaneously. Let us begin, then, to explore the Jain cosmos comprised of the aforementioned categories. In Jainism, perfection (i.e., liberation) entails a state of epistemological omniscience in which one is capable of perceiving reality as a whole. Consequently, the great kevalins (i.e., those who attained perfection) perceived everything in the universe to be in perpetual movement, as modern science will acknowledge, and everything that moves, lives. This conclusion was formulated neither through inductive or deductive reasoning but rather through meditative experience. The universe was perceived to be teeming with countless beings. The kevalins categorized two classes of beings, those that can move by their own volition and those that cannot. Amongst these two classes, Jainism lists six classes of living beings, namely, earth-bodied, water-bodied, air-bodied, fire-bodied, vegetation which has only the sense of touch, and mobile beings that are two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed, and five-sensed, with or without the mind. 98

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The kevalins also perceived every class of being to be endowed with a soul, comprised of four main constituents: pure knowledge, pure perception, pure bliss and pure energy. Souls inhabit bodies that range from nigods, which are microscopic beings that blink in and out of existence, up to humans, which are the only beings capable of actually recognizing the aforementioned innate qualities of the soul. There are, however, numerable instances in Jain mythology of lower sensed beings obtaining knowledge of self. The Jains believe nigods to be "a kind of 'mine' (khan) or reservoir of souls, infinite in extent and inexhaustible." In order for a nigod to incarnate into a more favorable condition requires the liberation of a soul, which, as the Jains, Buddhists and Hindus understand, is few and far between. The progression of a soul is dependent upon merit gained through actions performed within the innumerable bodies it has occupied since beginningless time. Once a soul gains enough meritorious action to attain human incarnation, the task is then to cease action altogether, which we will discuss further. According to the Tattvartha Sutra, there are five types of bodies accompanying every soul, which are progressively finer. They are the gross, protean, conveyance, fiery and karmic bodies. The karmic body is a permanent possession of the soul until its liberation whereas the gross, protean and conveyance bodies are generated by the power potential of the soul. The gross body refers to the physical frame and the protean body enables one to assume different physical forms. The conveyance body enables one to commune with the Jina's and also provides one the ability to traverse lightly without harming anything. The fiery body provides digestive heat and enables one to emit hot and cold rays. The subtlest body, the karmic body functions as a 'basket,' which holds 'karmon' particles within the soul. According to Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, karma is the root cause of all worldly bondage. In contrast to the traditional rendering of karma as 'action,' the Jains understand karma to be a physical substance, which binds to the soul, inhibiting its otherwise unbounded freedom. Karmic matter obscures the knowledge of the soul, obscures the perception element of the soul, defiles the bliss element of the soul, and obstructs the energy element of the soul. The pure soul, which in its natural state is endowed with absolute knowledge, bliss and freedom, is weighed down by the unchecked accumulation of karma. Haribhadra, a proponent of Jainism, also acknowledges the fact that "due to the linking of self with karma, one is trapped in samsara; through disconnection from that, one is indeed liberated." The souls karmic magnetism runs parallel with an individual's desires and aversions. The effect of the karmic body is to vibrate the soul, resulting in the activities of body, speech and mind. These activities are fueled by one's passions, which then prompt more activity resulting in the contin 99

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ued acquisition of more karmic matter. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna informs Arjuna that he should know his enemies to be kama (desire) and krodha (anger). Similarly, Jainism posits the 'doors' by which karmic matter enters the soul to be fourfold: anger, pride, deceit, and greed. In Jainism, the only means of slaying the four-headed dragon and thereby relieve oneself of the accumulation of karmic weight, is to completely withdraw oneself from the objective/material world. The model provided by the Tirthankaras, the Siddhas, the Preceptors, and the community of monks and nuns has offered a clear path for lessening one's karma and advancing toward the state of total purification. Jainism is 'choro, choro, choro!' ('relinquish, relinquish, relinquish!') On account of this, Jains not only revere, but worship ascetics. The great Tirthankara's succeeded in relinquishing their worldly attachments and aversions and thereby attained total freedom from pudgala (matter). They left behind them a kind of metaphysical echo of the welfare (kalyan) generated by their presence that continues to reverberate in the cosmos and that can be mobilized by rituals and in other ways at the present time. Jains worship Tirthankaras by paying homage to the five great stages (panc kalyanak) of their lives, which are listed as 1) the descent of the Tirthankar-to-be into a human womb (cyavan), 2) his birth (janam), 3) his initiation as an ascetic (diksa), 4) his attainment of omniscience (kevaljnan), and 5) his final liberation. The devotional re-enactment of these stages enables the worshipper to emotionally connect with the Tirthankara's progression with the hope of attaining the same perfection at the end of the ritual. As the Tirthankara's are believed to exist on a plane, which is completely inaccessible to humans, worship is considered to be reflexive, i.e., the fruit of performing the ritual is attained from the performance of the ritual itself. The worshipper must therefore approach the ritual with the right spirit (bhava) in order for the rite to be effective. The crux of the ritual, which is the most important step in advancing towards liberation, lies in third stage, i.e., one's initiation into the ascetic lifestyle. Given the Jain understanding of the defiling effects of karmic matter, the only rational response is to completely withdraw from the physical world. As Haribhadra notes, "the Yoga of Total Freedom (ayoga) is declared the highest of Yogas; Characterized by the renunciation of all things, it is truly the path of liberation." The prerequisite for the attainment of ayoga is the practice of Samarthya Yoga, which is the yoga of effort. The effort required for Samarthya Yoga denotes the strict adherence to certain precepts, which enable one to procure the energy (sakti) to separate oneself from matter. The degree of a persons' advancement on the spiritual path, indeed the very fact of his or her commitment to the Jaina ideal, is indicated by the religious practices which are undertaken - particularly those involving various self-imposed restraints. One must commit to certain goals (laksya), 100

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which are achieved by taking certain vows beginning with the vow of vows, ahimsa. The Acaranga Sutra, written within a few decades after the death of Mahavira, the [23rd Tirthankara] who lived at the same time as the Buddha (ca., 450 350 B.C.E.), lists five vows: nonviolence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), not stealing (asteya), celibacy (bramacaraya), and non-possession (aparigraha). The Tattvartha Sutra confirms the vows to be the same (See TS 7.1). Taking into consideration the welfare of every being, from onesensed beings up to five-sensed beings, the first and foremost vow is ahimsa. The observance of the remaining four vows helps to insure one's commitment to nonviolence. Further, one must observe these vows in thought, word, and deed in order to fully commit to nonviolence. Violent thoughts lead to violent words, which culminate into violent behavior. The primary commitment, therefore, is to control one's mind, which as we know, is not an easy task. Yet Jainism, unlike Theravada Buddhism, has never fully developed a culture of true meditative contemplation. In Jainism, physical discipline precedes mental transformation, which rests on one's commitment to nonviolence. It is formulized in the ancient vow: I will desist from the knowing or intentional destruction of all great lives [souls with two or more senses]. As long as I love, I will neither kill nor cause others to kill. I will strive to refrain from all such activities, whether of body, speech or mind As stated previously, the Jains, like Darwin, acknowledge that all beings continually strive for survival. As a result, the Jains find themselves called towards compassion, unlike the purely objective position of Darwinism. While the Acaranga Sutra affirms that "All beings are fond of life, they like survival; life is dear to all," the Dasavaikalika Sutra warns us that, "killing horrifies because all beings wish to live and not be slain." Given the innumerable amount of beings occupying every square inch of space, the Jains understand that the slightest movement, even a breath will lead to the destruction of beings. Therefore, intentionality is taken into account in qualifying destructive activity. The Pravacanasara states: A tiny insect may be trampled to death on the track under the foot of an ascetic of restrained movement. However, according to the scripture, because there is no attachment or hatred, no bondage whatsoever is created. Just as the sense of clinging, not the actual ownership of things, has been. declared possessiveness in the scripture, even so, it is only the passion that is said to be the cause of bondage and not the act if it is free of passion and laxity. Still, one may consider the actions of a madman, who commits random acts of violence without remorse or attachment (See No Country for 101

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Old Men or The Dark Knight). Would he, then, not be held cosmically or legally liable for his actions since he acted without desire or aversion? Would he not be entangled in the sticky web of karmic bondage? Taking the Jain understanding of intentionality, it would seem that he would not be held liable, at least cosmically. Such a person, however, being unable to distinguish between true and false does not fulfill the capacity of being human. His/her soul's progression will either remain at a stand still or most probably de-evolve into a lower, less capable life form. In Jainism, humans are obligated, both to self and others, to obtain a 'right belief (samyaktva) of the basic constituents of the universe and thereby recognize the absolute necessity of nonviolent behavior. The Acaranga Sutra states: The Revered Ones (Arhantas), and the Lords (bhavantas) of the past, present and future, all say thus, speak thus, enjoin thus, explain thus - all breathing, all existing, all living, all sentient creatures should not be killed, nor driven away. This is the discipline which is pure, eternal, inalterable, and declared by the enlightened ones who have comprehended the nature of the world. For those who have not comprehended the nature of the world, they must operate strictly upon an unshakeable faith in teachings of those who have. It is believed that if one possess the 'right beliefs,' the truths they point to will become self-evident. The 'why' of the Decalogue's commandment 'thou shalt not kill' is answered by the Acaranga Sutra, which states, "You are the one whom you intend to kill, you are the one you intend to tyrannize, you are the one whom you intend to torment, you are the one you intend to punish and drive away." In the perfection of ahimsa, one is said to actually perceive other beings as non-different from his/herself whereby another being's experience of pleasure and pain becomes one's own. Jesus' commandment to 'love thy neighbor as thyself is based upon the same perception. As only fully realized beings are capable of actually realizing the radical sameness of all things, one must assimilate their words, look towards one's conscience for continued guidance and observe the vows in full faith. Partial abstinence is a small vow and complete abstinence is a great vow. - Tattvartha Sutra, 7.2 In recognizing the fact that there are very few people who are desirous or even capable of committing themselves to an ascetic lifestyle, this verse subtly allows one to take a partial vow and still be considered to be a 'Jain.' Each community is morally responsible to observe the vows in accordance with their own capacity, which is dictated by one's chosen lifestyle. It is difficult for the householder to avoid injury to life in the daily routine of cultivating 102

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land, cooking food, grinding corn, cleaning the toilet and so on. On the other hand, the ascetic who has renounced everything is capable and thusly obligated to completely abstain from violent behavior. This verse also speaks to the co-dependence of the Jain ascetic and lay communities. While the laity depends upon the ascetics for moral and spiritual guidance, the ascetics depend upon the laity for physical survival. Strictly adhering to the five vows, the ascetics are forbidden from even cooking their own meals, which involves numerous acts of violence. Since the continuance of the Jaina faith is dependent upon some form of sustenance, the laity must bear the burden of harming many lives, which is inherent in the cooking of food, albeit vegetarian food. Wandering Jain ascetics also require that food never be prepared on their behalf, so as to avoid being an accomplice to the violence inherent in the preparation of food. The sin is that of that of the preparer of the food, but presumably it is offset by the merit (punya) generated by feeding the ascetics. Tirthankara Mahavira's first motto is that if violence under compulsion is unavoidable, at the very least voluntary performed violence is to be avoided. The observance of a vegetarian diet represents one's minimal commitment to nonviolence. The following is a concise list of what type of foods that must be avoided by both partial and complete abstainers. Eating things in contact with animate food, eating things mixed with animate food, drinking alcohol, and eating half-cooked food. - Tattvartha Sutra, (SS variant) 7.4 Eating animate food refers to any food that is still living or has living beings (e.g. bacteria) on it. All flesh and eggs and some plants are considered permanent supporters of microcosmic life even when cooked. Further, the Jains do not eat vegetables that grow underground, which is a distinguishing mark of Jain vegetarianism. The ancient Jain vow of ahimsa states, "I will desist from the knowing or intentional destruction of all great lives [souls with two or more senses]." Beings composed of two or more senses are mobile beings, i.e., beings that move about by their own volition. Intentional movement denotes awareness of comfort and discomfort, which signifies a great life.' Two-sensed creatures such as worms dwelling in and around vegetables that grow underground will unavoidably be harmed or killed if the plant is uprooted. Even more restrictive is the Jain prohibition on alcohol, which is considered to be teeming with nigods, i.e., one-sensed beings, not to mention its effect in deluding one's consciousness. However, serious as it is, harm done to nigodas is considered far less grave than that done to higher life forms. Jains also avoid eating at night, so as to protect against the consumption and killing of undetected bugs that tend to fly into food. Although no stone is left unturned when it comes to the protection of 103

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life, the Jain will literally avoid turning stones for fear of harming life dwelling beneath. Unlike other sentient beings, humans possess an intellect capable of grasping realities, which both encompass and transcend the physical realm. In the human person, bestial tendencies of 'fight or flight' can be superseded by an intellectual and conceptual overtone. Humans are capable of premeditation and guilt, which entails a sense of moral responsibility not only toward our own person or kind but also towards the rest of creation. Every creature's fundamental desire for continuance necessitates the freedom to do so. As such, Jainism rightly places an obligation upon those who are capable of higher awareness, i.e., humans, to celebrate and protect the freedom of every creature by taking an oath of ahimsa, of which a vegetarian diet represents one's minimal commitment. "So, how about fish, do you eat fish?" Whenever I inform someone that I'm a vegetarian, this is usually the first question that they ask me. My reply is that I don't eat anything that had a nervous system. The possession of a nervous system denotes the capacity to feel pleasure and pain. "How do you know an apple doesn't feel pain when you pick it from a tree?" An apple does not possess organs capable of sensing pleasure and pain. However, an apple does harbor seeds, which, as the Jains will observe, denotes the potential for life and therefore necessitates protection. As the great kevalins have noted, there exist two types of beings: those capable of moving according their own volition and those that cannot. An apple cannot move about according to its own volition. On the other hand, a creature bearing two or more sensual faculties can and will move if threatened. Capable of perceiving this difference, we ought to observe this fundamental precept: "If it gets scared, it deserves to be spared." If that answer doesn't suffice, they may ask, "what if its free-range?" With an instinctively puzzled look, I ask, "so, let me get this straight. You think by allowing animals to frolic around peacefully before slaughterHis kind?" One must understand that there is no nice way to kill anything. In fact, the words 'nice' and 'kill' are absolutely incompatible and ought not to be uttered under the same breath. What I have come to understand is that most people do not differentiate between neatly packaged lumps of flesh and a can of baked beans. There is a radical disconnect between peoples perception of packaged meat from the extremely violent process inherent in its production. To most, meat is perceived as nothing more than a vegetable. Some vegetarians feel that it is better for one to kill an animal for meat rather than to eat the meat killed by a butcher. Of course, this does nothing to lighten one's karmic load, but that's not the point. The reasoning is that if one has no qualms about eating an animal, one should therefore possess no reservations for killing it. Once 104

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the connection between the violent act of killing and the dead flesh is perceived, it ought to have an impact on one's conscience. This experience, however, was not enough to impact my friend, who upon watching a chicken run around headless, was still willing to eat its flesh in perfectly good conscience. As the conversation continued, I engaged her to think about the law of cause and effect. "But, I didn't kill it, I'm just eating it," she responded. In all seriousness, your demand for it will create a supply for it. One is directly involved in the killing of the animal if it is eaten. As it is said, one who associates with thieves, though not necessarily a thief, is considered to be a thief. A violent action (be it killing or eating an animal) will lead to a violent reaction. Of this, one can and should be assured. There is a sneaking irrational belief, seen in the behavior of individuals and nations that we can get away with bad behavior and that, when hardship strikes, we are victims of undeserved bad luck. In times of hardship, people exclaim, "what have we done to deserve this?" Although they may have been model citizens before experiencing a great personal calamity of some sort, they fail to consider the reactions of their past lives. They also fail to consider the violence they've committed in this very life by their seemingly harmless acts of eating meat. The Sanskrit word for meat is mamsa, which breaks down into mam (of me - genitive singular) + sa? (he - nominative singular) = 'of me, he.' The Hindu's say mam sa atti, which means 'he will eat me,' i.e., the one killed and consumed will eat its consumer. It is also said in the Manusmriti: Count the hairs of the animal you have killed and eaten, and for that many lifetimes you will be killed by that animal. -5:38 For most, physical survival is no longer of primary concern. What is of great concern is the proper distribution of goods, which is beyond the scope of this paper. Humans are no longer hunters. We are gatherers. There is enough natural food and resources on the planet for us to gather and sustain a healthy vegetarian diet for all six billion of us. The amount of grains, vegetables, nuts and fruits that are available suffice to fulfill our dietary requirements. Further, medical studies have proven that vegetarian food is easier to digest and provides an equivalent, if not greater, source of nutrients required for the body. Moreover, a vegetarian diet is healthier for the planet. Environmental degradation and resource wasting associated with the meat industry's operations are unnecessary. It takes a greater amount of resources to raise an animal for meat than it takes to feed a human. By eating meat and supporting this ongoing animal and environmental holocaust, people are essentially choosing to perpetuate this fruitless and destructive cycle in order to gratify their senses. As Jainism will acknowledge, this choice is both selfish and self-destructive. 105

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The reestablishment of the soul's inherent splendor is entirely dependent upon one's absolute separation from the material world, which necessitates an inordinate amount of respect for the material world. In Jainism, every form of violence (in deed, thought, and word) is to be avoided altogether for the purpose of protecting every being's progression on the path towards liberation, of which only humans can ultimately attain. All other beings are en route on the transmigratory highway, awaiting an opportunity to incarnate into human form. Let us, then, do our best to ensure that all beings are given the due time and space for just such an occurrence to take place. In doing so, we shall also be given the opportunity of realizing our own liberation. 106

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Bibliography Dundas, Paul. The Jains. London, England: Routledge, 1992. Babb, Lawrence A. Absent Lord. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996. Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994. Chapple, Christopher. Jainism and Ecology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002. ----- Reconciling Yogas: Haribhadra's Collection of Views on Yoga. Albany: State University of New Yrok Press, 2003. Mardia, K.V. The Scientific Foundations of Jainism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1996. Hughes, John. Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994. Foot Notes Mardia, K.V. The Scientific Foundations of Jainism. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1996), 1 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), xxvii Dundas, Paul. The Jains. (London, England: Routledge, 1992), 42 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), xix ibid., 8 Chapple, Christopher. Jainism and Ecology. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), 3 Babb, Lawrence A. Absent Lord. (Berkely, CA: University of California Press, 1996), 49 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), 59 Mardia, K.V. The Scientific Foundations of Jainism. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1996), 10 Chapple, Christopher Key. Reconciling Yogas. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2003), 60 107

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11 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), xx 12 133 14 15 16 Chapple, Christopher Key. Reconciling Yogas. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2003), 95 18 17 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), xxviii 19 20 Chapple, Christopher Key. Reconciling Yogas. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2003), 93 2 23 Babb, Lawrence A. Absent Lord. (Berkely, CA: University of California Press, 1996), 101 ibid., 6 ibid., 6 25 26 21 Chapple, Christopher. Jainism and Ecology. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), 6 ibid., 176 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), 173 27 - Chapple, Christopher Key. Reconciling Yogas. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2003), 22 Dundas, Paul. The Jains. (London, England: Routledge, 1992), 166 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), xxix 24 Chapple, Christopher. Jainism and Ecology. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), 7 ibid., 7 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), 176 That Which Is. (New York, NY: Babb, Lawrence A. Absent Lord. (Berkely, CA: University of California Press, 1996), 59 28 Chapple, Christopher. Jainism and Ecology. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), 178 29 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), 182 108

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30 Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), xxix Umasvati. Tattvartha Sutra - That Which Is. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), xix 32 Hughes, John. Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994), 83 109

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Thunder of the Silence - Dr. Sunanda Y. Shastri Ramayana- the first and the oldest epic of India has many facets, which are continuously discussed by the scholars. Every character and every episode is seen through the different lenses of understanding. Ramayana is the building block of Indian culture. Ramayana is supposed to be the oldest epic of India. The period of Ramayana decided by the scholars is around 8000 years before the Christ. It is the story of Great War fought between Rama the prince of Ayodhya and the Demon king Ravana. Abduction of Princess Sita- Rama's wife by Ravana was the cause of this war. The story, though, includes many characters, its aim is focused. It revolves around Rama and Sita. Rama is the hero of this epic and most highlighted character. Whole Ramayana is full of his heroic deeds and praises of his virtues. Sita's character is somewhat dissipated on this background. Though, there are strong elements in Sita's character that would shake the depths of human spirit. Sita is different right from her birth. She was found while ploughing the field ( MERITI CON 7151 Hafa fasa i amicferni ai qahri HHC4514 | Balakanda (BK), 66.14). King Janaka says, 'I have brought up this daughter of mine (H1 q ata 1645). Janaka further declared that Sita cannot be given in the marriage like any common girl, but she can be married only to that person who pays the fee of valour. There were three other daughters in Janaka's house. But the condition of valour was demanded from the bridegroom only in the case of Sita. There is something very different about Sita, which is not yet surfaced. Sita is married to Rama. Everyone knows the story how Kaikeyi plotted against Rama and exile was ordained for him. Rama tried to convince Sita to stay back in Ayodhya while he completed the days of exile. Sita was deeply in love with Rama. She was neither worried about the hardships of forest life, nor she cared for the amenities and luxuries of palace life. She argues with Rama and gets her wish. Sita is not quarrelsome, but knows how to convince others. Her resolution stands out on the background of her sister Urmila- Lakshmana's wife who does not argue with her husband decides to remain back. Rama finally agrees and allows Sita to accompany him in exile. Here, Sita proves that she is not submissive. She is fearless in spirit and in action. She is adventurous. She exerts her will as and when necessary. Her great love for Rama also is expressed here. When Rama tried to dissuade her from her resolve to accompany Rama, she retorted that, 'probably my father got a woman as son-in-law in the form of a man. If people say that Rama is valorous like the Sun, which is because of their ignorance for ace: 110

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pitA me mithilAdhipaH / rAmaM jAmAtaraM prApya striyaM puruSavigraham // anaUtaM vata loko'yamajJAnAd yadi vakSyati / tejo nAsti paraM rAme tapatIya divAkare | Ayodhyakanda (AK), 30.3-4). There are instances when one can see her training as a princess and deep knowledge of Dharma. There is dialogue between Sita and Rama. She tells him about the three disasters emerging from the desires. They are, 1. approaching other's wife; 2. cruelty without enmity and 3. untruth. Among these three, killing without any reason is the most terrible disaster. Only use of bow and arrow according to Sita is for the protection of helpless and sad ones (paradarAbhigamanaM vinA vairaM ca raudratA / mithyAvAkyaM na te bhUtaM na bhaviSyati rAghava // kSatriyANAM tu vIrANAM vaneSu niyatAtmanAm / dhanuSA kAryametAvadArtAnAmabhirakSaNam || Aranyakanda (ANK), 9.4; 9, 26). Then we meet Sita when Ravana is abducting her. She is terrified, worried and in total shock of this sudden happening. Still, her inner brave self is thinking to find out solution in that dire situation. She sees five monkey chieftains sitting on the mountain. Tears her garment and puts her ornaments in it and throws small bundle of ornaments to them. She is hoping that in case Rama comes to find her, he would get her news. (hriyamANA tu vaidehI kaMcinnAthamapazyatI / dadarza girizraUGgasthAn paJca vAnarapuGgavAn / teSAM madhye vizAlAkSI kauzeyaM kanakaprabham / utarIyaM vArArohya zubhAnyAbharaNAni ca // mumoca yadi rAmAya zaMseyuriti bhAminI / vastramutsaUjya tanmadhye nikSiptaM sahabhUSaNam // ( ANK, 53.1-3). During this abduction Sita is continuously lamenting, wailing. She is in panic, but continuously she is seeking some way of escape. She saw the great bird Jatayu the Vulture. She beseeched his help. (jaTAyo pazya mAmArya hiyamANAmanAthavat / anena rAkSasendreNAkaruNaM pApakarmaNA // ANK, 49.38). Jatayu fought with Ravana with all his might. Jatayu broke Ravana's chariot and bow. Still, he could not stop Ravana. Ravana cut his legs and wings and left him to die. Sita is supremely courageous in dealing with Ravana. She admonishes Ravana with strong words. She is not afraid of ogresses surrounding her. Ravana comes in the Ashoka garden with all his paraphernalia. She puts a * stick of grass between herself and Ravana (taUNamantarataH kaUtvA pratyuvAca zucismitA / Sundarakanda (SuK), 21.2). She reminds him of his duty that he should protect other women just as he protects his own. She tells him to be contented with his own wives. Kings who unjustly rob things which are not theirs, they perish (yathA tava tathAnyeSAM rakSyA dArA nizAcara / AtmAnamupamAM kaUtvA sveSu dAreSu ramyatAm // akaUtAtmAnamAsAdya rAjAnamanaye ratam / samaUddhAni vinazyanti rASTrANi nagarANi ca // tathaiva tvAM samAsAdya laGkA straughasaMkulA / aparAdhAtavaikasya nacirAdvinaziSayati // SuK, 21.7, 11-12 ). She further tells him that she cannot be lured by riches, money, or kingdom. This speech shows her strong indomitable spirit. The whole twenty first chapter of Sundarakanda is devoted for Sita's speech. She is helpless and continuously crying, but at the same time she is level headed. Her reason has not left her. She speaks about Dharma to Ravana. She boldly tells him consequences of 111

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his deed. She even describes Rama's valour. She predicts his destruction. Here, her fearlessness is worth noting. She is surrounded by frightening ogresses. Their terrible king Ravana - with all his paraphernalia- is trying to frighten her. Sita is on his territory without an ally. She has firm faith that Rama will come for her rescue. Hanuman finds Sita sitting alone in the Ashoka garden guarded by terrible ogresses. Hanuman saw two wonderful facets of Sita. He witnessed Ravana coming to Ashoka garden and trying to intimidate Sita to enter in his harem. Ravana even threatened her that if she did not comply with his wishes he would eat her for breakfast killing her in his kitchen and drink her blood after two months (Feat STRZI TARZIYa rhiftoria 19 I MIRTOHICTY HET I fara a fi gyfa1977 Afad i fer reft her da Il Suk.22.9: 58.69). Sita, though, extremely unhappy did not listen to him. She rebuked him with strong words. She called him 'basest among the demons' (TTTTTTT), and said, 'what was his braveness that he abducted her in the absence of her husband'? Further she said that, he was not even fit to become her husband's servant (fon frage Car H ift II SuK, 58.72,73). Though alone, a ray of hope emerges in this bleak night. Hanuman finds her in the Ashok garden. He witnesses the episode of Ravana. He attracts her attention by singing praise of Rama and Lakshmana. Though, she is overjoyed at heart that at last there is somebody who knows about Rama and her plight. She reasons with herself that it is just another illusion created by her grief stricken mind. But her upbringing in the royal household of king Janaka holds her back from jumping to the conclusion and implicitly trusting an unknown person. She is afraid that it could be another trick of Ravana. She cautiously questions Hanuman that being a monkey how he is connected with Rama. She asks him to describe Rama and Lakshmana in detail. Hanuman even tells about an intimate incident between Rama and Sita. Then Sita comes to believe him. Hanuman then presents Rama's signet ring as token. After all this scrutiny finally she gives him message for Rama and a jewel ornament for her head to be delivered to Rama. Sita weeps and laments only when she remembers Rama and before Hanuman. She is very vocal and expresses her anger when she confronts Ravana. Her softness and weakness is love and it is for her dear ones. She would not exhibit it before Ravana. She is highly self-respecting person. She diplomatically handles all those situations she faces. She steadily examines every aspect logically before coming to conclusion. Her mind is calm compared to the situation and therefore, she exercises presence of mind. Ravana caught Hanuman. Ravana's attendants put fire to his tail. Hanuman in his enthusiasm of accomplishment of task ignited fire everywhere in Lanka. All the trees and mansions of Lanka are on fire. When Sita saw the blazing fire, she was not worried for herself, but was worried for 112

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Hanuman. She was struck by sorrow and prayed to the fire god that, if she had served her husband well, if she had performed austerities, and if she had exclusive devotion for husband then let the fire be cool to Hanuman.(34714 vizAlAkSo prayatA havyavAhanam / yadyasti patizuzrUSA yadyasti caritaM tapaH / yadi vA tu ekapatnItvaM zIto bhava hanUmataH // yadi kiJcidanukrozastasya mayyasti dhImataH / yadi vA bhAgyazeSo me zIto bhava hnuumt| ||SuK, 53.27-30). And, in fact all through this fire Hanuman was not hurt. After the inferno, Hanuman rests for a moment. Suddenly he realizes that along with the Lanka, the Ashoka garden must have burnt down. He feared that Sita also must have been burnt. He hopes and prays to god to save Sita. At that juncture Hanuman hears from the bards that it was indeed miracle that daughter of Janaka has not burnt in that terrible inferno (CTERI r 15: CT ACCA10 RATU I J a gufa fa esga Ta 7: 18uK, 55.32) Fire cannot burn the fire. Hanuman sees it as a miracle, accepts it as the divine side of Janaki. He is sure that Sita who is protected by her own sterling character, fire cannot touch her (a fo cha rufafada: Taifa Tai ai muefa 496: Suk, 55.23). Hanuman went to Ashoka garden to find Janaki. He found her unhurt under the Shimshapa tree (Tak for8197457 G177 gefafferarti 371999gag face 44 CIT89414 || SuK, 56.1). Sita did not forget her duty as hostess. She was grateful that he came all the way for her. She requested him to stay and rest for a day. Her mind is racing far ahead of the time and analyzing the situation. She knows from the reporting of Hanuman that there is no alternative but war. Now her worry is how Rama and Monkey king Sugriva and the bears would cross the ocean to reach the Lanka (ayaM ca vIra saMdehastiSThatIva mamAgrataH / sumahatsu sahAyeSu haryukSeSu mahAbalaH / / kathaM nu khalu duSpAraM Hafafa rr I at B RI a artRECAST I SuK, 56.7-8). Saying about the impossibility of the task, she exposes her inner wish that, if Rama can come with his forces, defeat Ravana and take her back himself. That alone was befitting of Rama at i focal 150 YONIGA: HI 7 of an Torre FC TRT HERI HOC 11 79 781 de fashiangle FETHA: 147 9 791 444164 11-ibid-1213). Hanuman departs and Sita's first fire ordeal is over. Hanuman reported this episode in detail to everyone including Rama and Lakshmana (GH17 dagdheti vismayodantabhASiNAm / tato me buddhirutpannA zrutvA tAmadbhutAM giram // adagdhA jAnakItyeva falfidanudaraq 191447 g M T Hi gefa 496: | SuK, 58.162-163). Valmiki Ramayana do not record what Rama's thoughts were about this fire ordeal of Sita. Hanuman was overwhelmed by the miracle. Somehow Sita's first ordeal goes unnoticed. The great war was over. Ravana was killed. Sita was summoned by Rama. Rama ordered that she should be brought before him properly decked in royal attire and ornaments. Vibhishana took this message to her (Fot'RTTI 113

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vaidehi divyAbharaNabhUSitAm / iha sItAM ziraHsnAtAmupasthApaya mA ciram // evamuktastu rAmeNa tvaramANo fauitqu: fagea: Ti ini ifa: PIERCIGYTE II Yuddhakanda (YuK), 114.7-8). Sita expressed her wish that she would see her husband before taking bath and without costly dress and ornaments (1947 para fa que e l gefogfH waff TT ll-ibid-114.11). She was not granted her wish and Vibhishana simply told her to do according to her husband's wish (TERTE e rariae fa qu: 174756 1741 af a agent Chef 11-ibid-114.12). Thus, Sita was brought before Rama. The ogres accompanying Sita's palanquin started dispersing the crowd of monkeys who were curious to see Sita. Rama asked Vibhishana to stop them. He said that houses, costumes or protective wall cannot veil a woman. Her character alone is her shield. A woman in distress can appear in public. Sita being in distress can appear in the public. Sita should come out of the palanquin and walk towards him on feet. Let everyone see her (visaUjya zibikAM tasmAt padbhyAmevApasarpata / samIpe mama vaidehIM pazyantyete 1 : II-ibid-, 114.30). Sita did as she was told. Ramayana says that Lakshmana, Sugriva, Hanuman and other dignitaries there felt greatly distressed hearing Rama's order. They guessed from Rama's stern gestures which were lacking in regard for his wife, that Rama was displeased with Sita (ant lakSmaNasugrIvau hanUmAMzca plavaMgamaH / nizamya vAkyaM rAmasya babhUdurvyathitA bhaUzam // kalatranirapekSaizca iMgitairasya Glut: 137 aria ari fa ||Yuk, 114.32-33). There was nobody to see dishonor of Sita when she was abducted by Ravana. Today her beloved husband brought unspeakable shame to her. Except her marriage, Sita probably never had been before the assembly. She was standing alone before the enormous multitude of warriors. There were no maid servants to accompany her. She knew no one except Rama, Lakshmana and Hanuman. Though Ravana was her abductor, he never put her to shame before the public. Sita is described as, 'as if she was shrinking into her own limbs out of modesty' (Guerraaritua sq fecitYuk, 114.34). Rama did not stop there. As if he was pouring his vengeance on her. Probably every passing moment hung on her like a mountain. Rama did not say any personal word to her. What he said was addressed to the assembly and Sita both. He told her that war he fought was to absolve his great family's name and blot on his valour and not for Sita (fafgaanTa s vyft: I aiut: regi al age chora: Yuk, 115.15). He told her that there was doubt about her character and he could not stand her sight, just like a person suffering from the sore eye cannot stand light (WHIRERIGET 44 fayd fra 141 krta fach MIRA EGII Yuk, 115.17). Rama allowed her to go anywhere she wished and he had nothing to do with her (ag og IGEASE 210540615HSI GA gu fait refafa all YuK, 115.18). Nobody from a noble family and self respected one can take back a woman who has spent some time in another man's home. Ravana saw Sita with lustful eyes. It was her fault only. On the top of that she was 114

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squeezed in tight embrace of Ravana when he abducted her. These were inexcusable crimes. It was impossible for Rama to take her back. Ravana could not have controlled his desires after seeing divinely beautiful lady. (rAvaNAGkaparikliSTAM dRSTAM duSTena cakSuSA / kathaM tvAM punarAdadyAM kulaM vypdishnmht|. ..... nahi tyAM rAvaNo dRSTvA fama TRA I farti a tale ufafreann | Yuk, 115.19, 24). It was her open court martial. She was ashamed to hear her husband's terrible speech alleging her openly before a very large gathering. Her head was bent low (791 Talad fe ut hefa Herrialdet at mogelia781490 11 YuK, 116.2).Rama openly alleged her of infidelity. In those treacherous moments Sita was destroyed. Something firm as steel emerged from her soul. All the time after emerging from her palanquin she kept her head bent and carried the burden of modesty. When she heard Rama's thoughts, she became fearless and threw the burden of bashfulness. Sita spoke. She answered with firm word, but not with the vehemence of Rama. She asked Rama why he was speaking with her like a common man addressing to a common woman. She swore to him by her own character. She even reproached him that he was distrusting the whole womankind by judging some vulgar women (4372 BITUTI YERU gia dyfish YuK, 116.7). Sita even assured him that it was not her fault that she came into contact with Ravana while being abducted, it was fate. She even said that Rama has failed to know her even through the long association of many years (YUK, 116.5-10). Sita even asked him that why he had not abandoned her while she was in Lanka. She would have given up life then only. Unnecessarily Rama had undergone the exercise of war and given trouble to his friends. In her speech she revealed Rama's meanness. She said, you allowed anger to overtake you and you have only seen womanhood like a lowly person (ry I 759911CC Touargadai eta hau Ficha qe 304 11 YuK, 116.14). She was extremely unhappy that Rama did not consider her divine birth or the long association from very young age. . Immediately after her address she ordered Lakshmana to make a pyre. She heard whatever was there to hear from Rama before her speech. She spoke whatever she wanted to convey, but she did not seem to have expected any answer from Rama. Rama also did not answer to her speech. Sita was shocked by this gross insult that every connecting thread between Rama and herself was broken. She did not care to glance once to Rama. Her husband left no alternative but death. On the contrary, when Lakshmana overcome with indignation looked at Rama, he understood Rama's consent from his facial expression (evamuktastu vaidehyA lakSmaNaH paravIrahA / amarSavazamApanno rAghavaM samudaikSata // sa fasir 1989 Chafenti ferai alohi siffra Tharari ni Yuk, 116.20-21). Probably Lakshmana wanted Rama to solve this impossible situation. It did not happen. Ramayana says, Rama was looking fierce like god of death and 115

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unapproachable that no one dared to talk and pacify him. Rama's mind was overcome with anger and at the same time Sita is described as 'fearless and calm' while ascending the pyre (fast Tomi GH YASHIRIYA || Yuk. 116.29). Sita was courage incarnated. Lakshmana prepared the pyre and Sita circumambulated Rama and ascended the blazing pyre. Rama was not moved by the sight. Even the Lokapalas- gods rebuked Rama that how he was ignoring Sita ascending the pyre? He has been ignoring Sita just like a common man would do (The HIGI YA 6 Yuk, 117.6: 37 aGE TU: h 30 27211 11 Yuk, 117.9). Sita's third ordeal comes in the last chapter of Ramayana (Uttarakanda). Sita forgave Rama after the fire ordeal in Lanka. She started her life afresh with Rama. She very well understood the consequences and ramifications of staying in another man's house. Sita was happy for her acceptance in the husband's abode, but some corner of her heart was sad about her public insult. That insult had taken deep root in her heart. Rama had ignored her while she ascended the pyre. He remained aloof when she was about to burn. Though, Sita was happy to be back to the normal Ayodhya life. Here, she was protected and surrounded by the family. She became pregnant. Her every wish was taken care of. Life seemed steady and secured. This calm was broken by the gossip among the people about Sita's character and Rama's impulsive decision to abandon Sita. This time Rama heard about gossip about Sita's character. It was talk everywhere that how could Rama take back Sita, who lived in another man's house. If the king is lenient towards his characterless wife, then our wives also might take liberty. People naturally follow their leader- the king. (kIdRzaM hRdaye tasya sItAsaMbhogajaM sukham / aGkamAropya tu purA rAvaNena balAddhaUtAm // laGkAmapi purA fangichafiani TMI TATA 491414571581 7417 ob raifa Uttarakanda, 43.17-20), This was reported to Rama. Rama immediately called a meeting with his brothers (Uttarakanda, XLIV). He informed them regarding the rumours about Sita's character. He ordered Lakshmana to take Sita and leave her on the banks of Ganga. After reaching on the other side of Ganga, Lakshmana could hold not hold his calm. He broke down. He told Sita the real purpose of bringing her there. He also told her that sage Valmiki's hermitage was nearby. She should go there and live. She should observe fasts and be loyal to her husband (zvastaM prabhAte saumitre sumantrAdhiSThitaM ratham // Aruhya sItAmAropya viSayAnte samutsaUja / / Uttarakanda, XLVII.16, 17). Here, Rama's character needs some attention. He is very conscious of his own image as a king. He wants to become a perfect king who is devoted to the well being of the subject. His personal comfort and happiness has no place before this goal. Sita being his wife, he can abandon her to please his people. Rama further tells Lakshmana that nobody should argue with him in this regard ( af fag 4: Haifa II 116

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Uttarakanda, 45.19). He even revealed his intention to speak lie to Sita. He said that Sita had expressed her wish to visit hermitages on the banks of river Ganga. She would be taken there on the pretext of visiting hermitages and be abandoned near Sage Valmiki's hermitage (pUrvamukto'hamanayA gaGgAtIre'hamAzramAn // qififa 14: aria4 11 Uttarakanda, 45. 24-25). Lakshmana was forbidden to tell anything to Sita. Sita was enthusiastic about going to see the hermitages. She is telling her plans to Lakshmana. She saw Lakshmana in tears, but did not suspect anything wrong. She thought Lakshmana was unhappy for leaving Rama for one day. They both were supposed to return next day morning. Sita told Lakshmana that Rama dearer to her also more than her life and he should not to be so childish' Hift af 27 ufafa FUTI 7 2164 yiti a ra afina II Uttarakanda, 46.28). On the other side of the river Lakshmana could not hold himself and crying bitterly he fell to the ground. Then Sita suspected something wrong and commanded him to tell the truth (Uttarakanda, 47.9). He told her the truth, which shattered Sita. Rama could not tell her that she was being abandoned on the same ground for which she had undergone the fire ordeal. He was witness of her fire ordeal and her purity. He probably had no courage to stand before her and tell her truth. Instead he resorted to untruth. He threw Sita out like and unwanted dirty object and not treated her with humanly kindness. Sita had no scope to speak or finish her weary life. She was in the advance stage of pregnancy. She did not know what to tell the sage Valmiki if he asked as why she was abandoned (Uttarakanda, XLVII.7). She held herself together while Lakshmana was there with her on the other bank of Ganga. Sita gave a message for Rama. The message said, 'you are the king properly established in Dharma. Treat your citizens like your own brothers. It will provide you unparalleled fame. I am not bothered about my body. It was necessary for you to rectify public censure in this way only. A wife should propitiate her husband even at the cost of her life." (Uttarakanda, 48.14-18) Lakshmana left her on the other bank of Ganga and ascended the boat. She saw him until his chariot on the other bank disappeared from the vision. Then she broke down. Fear of the lonely forest, loneliness, insult and grief of being abandoned, worry of the child in her womb and so many other things made her cry inconsolably. Sage Valmiki's hermitage was nearby. His young disciples came to Ganga for bathing. They saw her sobbing thus and reported back to Sage Valmiki. The sage already knew her identity through his Yogic intuition. He told her that she was Rama's queen and Dasaratha's daughter-in-law and Janaka's beloved daughter. He also told her that, he knew the reasons of her presence there. He promised her to look after her just like his own daughter and took her in his hermitage (Uttarakanda, 49.15-16). 117

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Later Sita gave birth to twin sons. Years passed. More than twelve years later Rama performed a great sacrifice named 'Ashvamedha'. Sage Valmiki came to attend that sacrifice along with Rama's twin sons. Rama. was unaware of their presence and existence. Both sons- Lava and Kusha sung the story of Ramayana in the assembly. For many days, Ramayana was sung in the assembly. Rama came to know through that song that Lava and Kusha were his sons. Rama sent the envoys to Sage Valmiki that, if Sita was of pure conduct, then she may purify herself here in the assembly at the bidding of sage Valmiki. Let her give proof of her purity.' The venerable Sage agreed to this. Next day morning, Sita followed Sage Valmiki in the assem bly. Her head was bent and eyes full of tears. The Sage declared that Sita who was left near his hermitage was sinless and pure. Rama replied that he already knew that Sita was pure and sinless. It was the censure of people that led to her abandonment. He also accepted that he knew Lava and Kusha were his sons only. And let her chastity be acknowledged by the world and be my love reinstated in her. Sita was wearing brown garment made from the tree bark. She had no ornaments on her person. Her hands folded and her gaze down. She said, "As I have not thought about anyone except Rama, as I worship Rama in mind speech and action, Goddess earth grant me the space to enter. As I have spoken the truth that I do not know anyone except Rama, grant me the space to enter.' (yathAhaM rAghavAdanyaM manasApi na cintaye tathA me mAdhavI devI vivaraM dAtumarhasi // manasA karmaNA vAcA thA rAmaM smrcye| tathA me mAdhavI devI vivaraM dAtumarhasi // yathaitatsatyamuktaM me vedmi rAmAt paraM na ca / tathA me mAdhavI devI vivaraM dAtumarhasi // Uttarakanda, 97. 14-16) As Sita was taking the oath, a wonderful divine throne appeared from the Earth. The goddess Earth was sitting on it. She welcomed Sita with words and took her by hands she seated Sita near her. Sita entered the netherworld. Gods showered flowers. Gods praised Sita. Role of Sita in Ramayana ends here, but not the impact created by her is ended. All through this episode, Sita never once looked at Rama. Her gaze is towards the earth. She wanted to prove her purity. She proved it in her own way. She knew in her heart that, once she proved her purity before the vast gathering of army, before Rama by entering the fire. Still, Rama abandoned her when query was raised against her purity. If she proved her purity by entering the fire again at the behest of Rama, there was no guarantee that Rama would not abandon her again if the question again is raised about her purity. She never wanted to taste the poison again. She probably was resolved to prove her purity and save herself from the further insult in the future by Rama. There is possibility that she knew in her heart that such blots cannot be washed. They penetrate deeper the more you try to absolve them. There is possibility that she understood Rama's mind when she first entered the fire in Lanka, that it would be shame for him to accept Sita who 118

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lived in Ravana's abode for a long time. So her decision to enter the fire was justified. This time Rama asked her to take an oath of he purity just to please the people who never knew what the purity was, it was a sheer mockery. It must have been impossible for Sita to forgive Rama for such atrocity. Sita, though very independent in thought, was a silent person. She lived through her decision. It was the final stroke of silent lightening. Story of Sita is incomplete if one does not know what happened to Rama afterwards. Rama was thunderstruck by this sudden happening. He was more enraged than sad. He got up and threatened the earth to split it to retrieve Sita. It was hard for him to take this gross insubordination from the woman who was object of his mercy. Rama lived on to comprehend the greatness of Sita and enormity of his own injustice. This is the version of Valmiki Ramayana. There are many other versions of Ramayana which have tried to soften the harsh corners of original story told by Valmiki. Only Valmiki Ramayana is taken up for the study. Bibliography 1. Shrimadvalmikiramayanam, ed.Shivaramasharma Vashishtha, Chowkhamba Vedyabhavan, Varanasi, 1957. 2. Shrimad Valmiki Ramayana, with English Translation, volume I & II, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, 1998. 3. Ramayana, Rajagopalachari 119

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Consciousness Raising, Outreach, and Action in Green Yoga - Dr. Laura Cornell Introduction This chapter will examine how the ecological aspects of Yoga might be more fully integrated into contemporary Yoga teaching and practice. It is based on collaborative research with a group of five U.S. Kripalu Yoga teachers. While our research was primarily focused on our own personal practice and teaching of Yoga, an action-oriented arm of the collaboration emerged. This subsidiary branch of the research lead to the founding of a national non-profit organization, The Green Yoga Association in 2004. In honor of Professor Shastri, and in honor of his commitment to peace, ecology, and Yoga, this chapter will present our group's learning in the areas of consciousness raising, outreach, and action. I first met Professor Yajneshwar Shastri in 2006 when traveling in India. He and his wife Sunanda welcomed me into their home, serving chai and sharing their delightful collection of Ganesh statuettes. Sunanda gave me a translation of the Sri-Lalia-Maha-Tripurasundari-Stotrani, edited by her and her husband. Later, Professor Shastri travelled to the United States to speak at the second Green Yoga Conference in May of 2007 on Yoga and ecology. I appreciated Professor Shastri's efforts in supporting our conference, and am grateful for the opportunity to give back by presenting this chapter. The Bhagavad Gita describes action in the world as one of the main paths of Yoga. When undertaken as spiritual practice, action becomes Karma Yoga, a key form of Yogic development. The Bhagavad Gita provides a helpful perspective for the social or ecological activist; the activist learns that he or she is not the doer, but simply the vehicle for the action of the Divine in the world. Given the extent of the environmental crisis, being clear on how to act skillfully in raising consciousness and caring for the planet is very, very important. This chapter will begin with an overview of our outreach work, providing a context for the learning we derived. The chapter will then describe seven principles for conscious action drawn from our experience, giving examples for each. Overview of Actions Engaged by the Collaborative Research Group Our research group consisted of six Kripalu Yoga teachers--Ben Lord, Bob Bruce, Hasita Agi Nadai, Leanne Ovalles, and Tanuja Pat Daniel--plus myself as lead researcher. We held two retreats at a cabin in the Vermont 120

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woods, one May 2003 and the other in May 2004. At the first retreat we shared our ideas for eco-Yoga in teaching and personal practice, selected readings for group study, and committed to share regular journal reflections about our experiments over the year. At our final retreat, we shared what we had learned in our personal practice and teaching. One major outcome of the research was the original YogaGaia curriculum that Hasita developed. This curriculum tells the story. of cosmogenesis and evolution through Yoga movement. On a public front, we gathered information on the toxicity of the ubiquitous polyvinyl chloride (PVC) Yoga mat and took initial steps to share this information with the public. The primary public aspect of our work, however, was in formulating and circulating a values statement linking Yoga and ecology. Originally named the Yoga is Ecological Values Statement, it was later renamed the Green Yoga Values Statement, and became the founding document for the Green Yoga Association. As of the publication of this volume, the statement has been endorsed by over 500 Green Yoga member studios and teachers, and been reprinted widely in magazines, on the web, and in Yoga studio brochures. Developing a statement connecting Yoga and ecology was first suggested to me by Shobhan Richard Faulds, Past President of the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and author of Kripalu Yoga: A Guide to Practice On and Off the Mat. The idea was to circulate the statement to the most respected U.S. Yoga teachers for endorsement, thus coalescing the Yoga community around the connection between Yoga and earth care. In preparing the statement, I wrote a draft and shared it with the collaborative group at the opening retreat. The group was excited about the statement and potential outreach, but wary about the potential to derail our collaborative learning. There was concern that this could distract us from the more personal work related to our teaching and practice. The group ultimately chose to go ahead with outreach on the values statement. Several in the group helped me revise the wording, and others volunteered to contact senior teachers for endorsements. We started with seven prominent names. Significant dialogue ensued, as some of those we contacted requested revisions, which often were in conflict with revisions requested by other potential endorsers. The process of negotiation was complex, and after several months, the project appeared to stall. At the point when I was close to giving up completely on consensus, I made one last attempt. I went out to my meditation spot on the San Francisco Bay, and sat for quiet reflection. Keeping in mind the conversations of the previous six months, I rewrote the statement completely from scratch. 121

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That new version was accepted in full by seven initial co-signers, with one minor word change. Here is the statement as it was formed in November 2003, and as it remains today: Yoga is Ecological Values Statement (Later renamed "Green Yoga Values Statement") The health of our bodies depends on clean air, clean water, and clean food. Yoga is grounded in an understanding of this interconnection. Historically, Yoga developed in the context of a close relationship with the earth and cosmos and a profound reverence for animals, plants, soil, water, and air. This reverence towards life is the basis of the Yogic teaching of ahimsa, or non-violence, non-injury, and non-harming. Today, the viability of earth's life systems is in danger. If humanity is to survive and thrive, we must learn to live in balance with nature. Now is the time to cleanse and heal the earth and to establish a sustainable relationship with the environment for generations to come. Therefore, as practitioners of Yoga we will: - Educate ourselves about the needs of the biosphere as a whole and our local ecosystems in particular. Cultivate an appreciation for and conscious connection with the natural environments in which we live, including animals, plants, soil, water, and air. Include care for the environment in our discussion of Yogic ethical practices. Commit ourselves to policies, products, and actions that minimize environmental harm and maximize environmental benefit. And if we are Yoga teachers or centers, we will incorporate these commitments into our work with students. Having obtained our first co-signers, the next step was to reach out more widely. Judith Hanson Lasater, one of the co-founders of Yoga Journal and author of Relax and Renew and Living Your Yoga, was one of those we had initially contacted who was most excited about the statement. She recommended we share it with the public at a Yoga Journal Conference by purchasing a non-profit table in the "Yoga Marketplace." I registered for such a table, and enlisted the support of the collaborative group. Ben Lord agreed to join me, and we spent the weekend answering questions from curious conference attendees. Our table featured the Values Statement, information on toxicity in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) Yoga mats, books on ecol 122

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ogy and Yoga, and a sign-up sheet for email contacts. Although we didn't know it then, out of this outreach would come a core of volunteers who would build Green Yoga's first website, encourage its first conference, and join its initial Advisory Board. The research group gained many valuable insights as we engaged the Yoga community with our values statement. We learned that wise action is grounded in deep inner listening, love, and service; that such action requires courage; and that action works best when it involves person-toperson connection. Finally, we learned that action in the spiritual sense always involves mystery; we can never know what the results of our actions will be. Listening Principle One: The initial step in effective action is listening for guidance. This is perhaps our most basic learning. Listening means turning within to hear the guidance of Spirit. It also means turning without to hear the voice of the earth, the water, the soil, the air, a rock, or the leaves. Our group shared the Tantric worldview, in which the entire universe is understood to be imbued with prana, or life force. The voice of Spirit thus can appear to emanate from within or from without. In the Yogic texts, this guidance is often represented in the form of a dialogue between the one who will act and a spiritual teacher or the Divine Being Him or Herself. In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is assisted by the god Krishna, who serves as his charioteer, or the guiding force behind his actions. Arjuna speaks at length with Krishna regarding his doubts and questions before acting, representing the inner dialogue we can all experience with Divinity. In many ways, individuals in our group drew on this process of listening for and/or spontaneously receiving guidance. Hasita received very clear guidance from Spirit to create her YogaGaia process, and this provided the strength of motivation that sustained her through the intensive time of developing this work. Similarly, Tanuja received a clear message to combine earth and Yoga, leading her to explore this topic in writing and later join our research group. When I asked Ben if he would join me in San Francisco for the Yoga Journal conference, he replied that he wanted to check in with spirit guides first. He went to sit in his spot in the woods, and after listening there, responded to me by email that the presence of the forest had let him know that this was the right thing to do, and that yes, he would come. Ben wrote in his journal that his practice of sense meditation in the woods was one of "learning to hear the corn sing," and acknowledged that he was still working on this skill. 123

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For myself, I relied heavily on the guidance of Spirit throughout the process of carrying out the research and later writing a doctoral dissertation. I went into prayer to choose a topic and received clear instructions. regarding its central theme. Later whenever I felt challenged, I turned to Spirit for guidance. When conflicting opinions made consensus on the Values Statement difficult, and when its language only became more watered down with each edit, I went to sit with the water along the Bay near my home. After quiet presence with the water, I was able to rewrite the Values Statement from the perspective of what the water wanted me to say. The working was clearer, and it quickly became the final version with only one minor edit. Similarly, in January 2004 when I felt doubtful in preparing for the first Yoga Journal conference where we held an outreach booth, I could turn to the presence of nature for guidance. Seeking guidance in this way is not always easy, and I often felt as though I were in a dark forest, walking steadily as I had been instructed, but not at all clear about where I was going. The guidance sometimes came in the form of direct messages from nature, and sometimes through gifts from others. I had many companions and mentors along the way, offering suggestions and helping with discernment about which path to take. Fearlessness Principle Two: Action is about fearlessness. Once one has listened, the next step is to follow the guidance that has been given. Sometimes this requires tremendous courage. Fearlessness is one of the most important qualities of the spiritual warrior. This is emphasized repeatedly in the Bhagavad Gita, as in the following example: "Be fearless and pure; never waver in your dedication to the spiritual life" (BG 16.1). It was a scary process to follow guidance without a clear understanding of the ultimate goal. As one example, I decided a month after our first retreat to leave my job as an English language coach at a public school where many students do not speak English at home. I chose to trust my instinct that this project would require a significant commitment of my time, that it would be worth it, and that the universe would provide financially. At our second retreat, Tanuja and Ben led a Yoga class focused on the theme of courage. Tanuja invited us to become aware of a place inside. that was "wanting to break free from the bondage of fear," and to send "comfort and forgiveness" to that place. She called upon Lord Shiva to be with us, saying: Transform our fears into courage. We're not asking, Shiva, that you take away our ability to protect against danger. We're not asking to become reckless, or to move without caution 124

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into a place that feels risky. We're simply asking to know the next step, and the step after that, and the step after that, to be led from the darkness of fear into the light of courage. The physical practice of our Hatha Yoga also served as a place to open to the light of courage. As we moved through spine-limbering exercises, Tanuja reminded us of the relation of the word "backbone" to courage. "We say someone is spineless, implying that they have no courage. By limbering the spine we give ourselves physical capacity for a strong backbone, for courage." Our Hatha Yoga practice can be a source of strength to us when we are feeling fearful. The upright stance required during asana practice helps to instill a sense of courage and grounded determination. As Tanuja also noted, "Fear holds us back and tightens our bodies, whereas courage opens us up into a place where we can move." The practice of asana helps to open the body and to experience the freedom of cour age in our cells. During a labyrinth activity led by Tanuja in the second retreat, Ben had become aware of strong resistance to his fear. Ben wrote in his final reflections, "I am grateful to Tanuja who helped me explore fear so deeply and to express that learning in a class. I have seen anew how my fear is at fear of surrendering control, letting go into the wild." The trust we are called to is to trust the ways of the wild, which may lead us to places where we do not necessarily wish to go. Courage does not mean having no fears, but rather having the strength to go deeper than the fear, to trust the ways of the Spirit, and to move forward when the way seems right. Self-Transformation Principle Three: Action is about self-examination and self-transformation. Action is about working on oneself first. This means that it is not about trying to get others to change. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the great karma yogis of all time, did not focus first on getting others to change. Rather, his strongest attention was always on self-purification, on self-change. Gandhi wrote: Identification with everything that lives is impossible without self-purification; without self-purification the observance of the law of Ahimsa must remain an empty dream; God can never be realized by one who is not pure of heart. Self-purification therefore must mean purification in all the walks of life. A purification being highly infectious, purification of oneself necessarily leads to the purification of one's surroundings. (Gandhi as quoted in Shinn, 2000, p. 222) Gandhi inspired high standards of ethical action in others because he 125

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himself upheld them. From his example, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have been inspired to become like him. Our group learned that whenever we thought our work was about trying to get others to change, we would become confused and uncomfortable, and our work would stall. Instead, we learned that what we wanted to bring to others was not the idea that they needed to change, but rather the gift of reverence for and joy in the world. Richard Miller, a teacher of Advaita (non-dual) Vedanta, commented on an early version of the Values Statement that it seemed to include the notion that we were trying to get others to change. The words in this early version that were problematic to him were, "This statement is a call to the Yoga community to become catalysts for a shift in global consciousness." His reply via email was this: "Until violence ends within, inner violence will continue to be projected outwardly and engaged in as if it's 'out there.' It's always 'in here." (July 16, 2003). Ultimately, while the final wording of the Values Statement does encourage people to commit to making changes towards a more ecological way of living, its intent is to foster compassionate self-inquiry and inner change. Over the year of the research I made several small changes to make my life more earth-friendly. I began to eat significantly less meat, ride my bike more, avoid using a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) Yoga mat, and experiment with traveling by train rather than by airplane. I was very happy to discuss these changes with others, but I certainly was not trying to make others change through my conversation with them. My intent was to share my learning and to seek the dialogue that facilitates liberating transformation in myself and others. Coming to understand that action is not about making others change is in itself a significant piece of inner transformational work. As several in our group noted, it can be very painful to see ecological damage being caused by others, and natural to want stop the harm being done. But ultimately, we learned, this is ineffectual. Our most important task is to bring joy into our own hearts, and where appropriate, to change our own actions. Compassion Principle Four: Action is about moving spontaneously from compassion. As the Bhagavad Gita says, action is inevitable, and attempting to hold ourselves back from action is counter to our nature. "No one is free of actions even for a moment, because everyone is moved to do things by the qualities of nature" (BG 3.5). Further, the Gita says: "Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work a man attains the supreme goal of life" (BG 3.19). According to this teaching, action should neither be avoided nor resisted. Rather, we should act out of love for our fellow humanity, in this way serving the Divine. 126

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One of the authors that we read over the year was Vimala Thakar, an Indian spiritual teacher and social activist. Thakar writes, "Awareness of misery, without defense structures, will naturally lead us to action" (2001, p. 152). When we have cleansed our hearts and become free of ego, we are moved to respond to the pain we feel in the world. This is the normal and natural response to seeing a need. Apathy is an unnatural phenomenon based on constricted and compacted pain. After much discussion, our group agreed that our main motivation for engaging in this research project and outreach was love. This love is a force that flows from the heart, and that moves our bodies into action. Ben wrote about the connection between love and action for him, "When I am in love, the head goes off, and it is just the heart and the hands reaching out." He referred to it as a "change in attitude," saying he was ready to "stop thinking" so that he could move directly from love. Over the year Ben maintained a daily practice of opening sensory meditation in the Vermont woods; for him this practice was based on his desire to actively show love for the world. When I saw a question on the Kripalu International Network (KIN) list-serve regarding a student with an allergic reaction to a Yoga mat, I was moved to respond. I was hesitant to do so because I did not want my first communication with that list to be a "downer," and the issue of Yoga mats is very challenging. At the same time, I felt moved to contribute to the conversation by sharing what I had been learning. In writing this letter I was motivated by my spontaneous desire to speak on behalf of the water, air, soil and our bodies, and to share information about the toxic load they carry from the plastics we use. I tried not to provide solely head-based information, which in and of itself I had found to be painful, but to acknowledge and discuss the way I had worked with that pain. Working on self-transformation does not mean that we must be silent regarding the problems we see in the world. Gandhi certainly did not hold himself back from scathing indictments of the brute violence and lack of truthfulness he saw around him and the need for self-rule among the Indian people. Similarly, our group shared the Values Statement with the Yoga community out a deep conviction that we were being asked to speak in this way. For myself, sharing the Values Statement was more about helping others to make the connection between reverence for nature and Yoga than about getting anyone to change. Service Principle Five: Action is about Service. This is the classic teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, that we should not undertake action with the inter of gaining a certain result, but rather with the intention of serving all life. 127

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Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita "Do the work that comes to you-but don't look for the results. Don't be motivated by the fruits of your actions" (BG 2.47). For many of us, this principle is counterintuitive, as we tend to believe that the only reason to undertake an action is to achieve a given result. However, attachment to results binds us, creating karmic links that actually prevent an openhearted and completely free engagement in the action. While sharing the Values Statement at the Yoga Journal conference, Ben contemplated on his reasons for being there, and on the conference atmosphere that seemed to push him into a "seller's" mentality. He reflected later in his journal: At the conference marketplace (what Laura called "Yoga Hollywood,") I saw two mind-states acted out. 1) The buyer: I need, I want, I am not enough, I do not have enough, I must have more. 2) The seller: I must convince, I must show "them" the light, I must make "them" feel, believe, and act a certain way. I, of course, watched these attitudes move within myself. I longed for greater peace and insight (buyer). And I pressed myself to make others see the need for healing the earth (seller). Even though I was selling a far nobler and infinitely more valuable product. Even though I made no money or had any personal gain. I was still a salesman because I was in the seller mentality. When I noticed this I practiced the suggestion from the Yoga Sutra to cultivate the opposite. Buying turned into gratitude, and selling turned into service. Instead of "I need" and "I want," I practiced thinking, "Thank you for what I have." Instead of "You should do this; I have the answer," I practiced thinking, "I am here to give from my abundance. My concern for the earth is a gift. This Values Statement is a gift. I am offering it to those who may want it." I found myself envisioning these attitudes as a web of selfless service in which to be delightfully caught. Instead of seeing ourselves as missionaries, we became more like Santa Claus. When action is predicated on results, it can lead to self-injury and burnout. Tanuja spoke of how she had based her life on effectiveness, choosing work in environmental organizations where she believed she would have the greatest impact. Gradually she is realizing that this way of being has stressful effects on her body and prevented her from following more soulenhancing paths. 128

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Person-to-Person Connection Principle Six: Action is about working small scale, person-to-person. Again at the Yoga Journal conference, where over 1000 people were present, and where we were one of over 50 "vendors," Ben noted the challenges provided by a mass-marketing situation. He commented that in such a large setting people become anonymous to each other, and that a sense of sangha, or spiritual community, is nearly impossible. He later wrote, Sangha is tribe. Tribe is sangha. After my experiences in San Francisco, I have a renewed appreciation for tribes, small groups of people who know, care for, and depend on each other. In a non-tribal Yoga community at the Yoga Journal conference I saw Yoga stratified into groups. It was clear who had power and prestige. It was clear who did not. Tribe is intimate. Tribe is natural. Tribe is uniquely human. Birds flock. Lions pride. Bison herd. And humans tribe. To return to Yoga's ecological roots we can imagine a new vision for Yoga in this country. Let's not build Yoga around schools, studios, retreat centers, or national fitness trends. These structures are too big, too impersonal. They lose their humanity. What if each class became a community of practice-a tribe? We can stop organizing the American Yoga universe around products or teachers and start organizing it around commu nity and places. Gandhi similarly believed that mass production, or the "factory economy," as he called it, inhibited spiritual growth. He felt that villages based on economic self-sufficiency were the ideal environment in which to foster non-violence and truthfulness. He wrote, "You cannot build nonviolence on a factory civilization, but it can be built on self-contained villages," (in Shinn, 2000, p. 225) and elsewhere said, "We can realize truth and nonviolence only in the simplicity of village life" (in Shinn, 2000, p. 224). Releasing Attachment to Results Principle Seven: Skillful action requires releasing attachment to results. In order to proceed skillfully with Yogic action, one needs to be able to hold paradox, such as our deep concern for the current harm being done the earth combined with our knowledge that the earth will be fine, no matter what happens. Our group regularly came up against this paradox in our actions and in our discussions. A related paradox is not knowing what the results of our actions will be. Particularly in relation to the environment, it is likely that the health of the earth will continue to worsen for the foreseeable future, despite our actions. And yet we need to hold this information without apathy or anger, and to realize that no matter what, we are called to act. 129

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At the final retreat I shared an interview by Andrew Cohen with Zen social activist Bernie Glassman that is relevant to this point. Cohen asked Glassman about the state of not-knowing while acting: BG: When we step back, we can just say, "It's overwhelming, you know - it's all going to fall apart." Yes, it is all going to fall apart. But, in the meantime, this is what I'm going to do. AC: So you would say, "Abide in a state of not knowing and do the best one can? BG: Yes. Approach the situation in a state of not knowing. Then bear witness to it. (p. 71) Later in the same conversation Glassman and Cohen discussed the paradox of knowing that the world is perfect as it is, but acting anyway from a place of love. BG: My feeling is that the world at every moment is the perfect world as it is. It's not like something is broken that I'm going to put together. But I'm going to work toward making a more loving situation. AC: That's a very delicate distinction that you're making. BG: It is. AC: Because that is the challenge of enlightenment. On one hand, everything is already full and perfect and inherently free as it is, and yet at the same time - BG: Yes, but if you're attached to that - then you may not act. AC: But aren't both true? Isn't everything already full and complete and already free, and at the same time, isn't there an overwhelming amount of suffering that urgently needs to be responded to in every moment? BG: Exactly. (Cohen, 2001, p. 75) Holding this mystery means knowing that the earth is fine as it is and does not need us to save it, while at the same time being called by love to speak on its behalf. It means not seeking to change others, and yet working to increase awareness of how we could all love the planet better. It means acting as skillfully as possible to create positive results, and yet releasing attachment to those results. 130

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References Cohen, Andrew"Is that me bleeding? An interview with Roshi Bernie Glassman." What is Enlightenment: Can Enlightenment Save the World? 19, 68-75; 147. (2001, spring/summer). Morris, Cynthia. "Mat matters: Your Yoga Mat Could Be Polluting the Earth." Yoga Journal, 186, 38. (2005, January/February). Satchidananda, Sri Swami. The Living Gita: The Complete Bhagavad Gita: A Commentary for Modern Readers. Yogaville, VA: Integral Yoga Publications, 1988. Shinn, Larry D. "The Inner Logic of Gandhian Ecology." Hinduism and Ecology: The Intersection of Earth, Sky, and Water, Chapple, Christopher Key and Mary Evelyn Tucker eds. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000. Thakar, Vimala. "Awakening to Total Revolution: Enlightenment and the World Crisis." What is Enlightenment? Can Enlightenment Save the World? 19, 100-109; 150-153. (2001, spring/summer). Tomasko, Felicia. "The Greening of Yoga." LA Yoga Magazine, 4(3), 34-35. (2005a, May). Laura Cornell teaches at the California Insitute for Integral Studies, San Francisco. ... 131

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Women Worshipping; Worshipping Women: Immanence and Transcendence in the Naya Yuga - Dr. Renuka Sharma Introduction As the last century came to a close we were left with vivid images of women in the process of change. Unwritten texts from past centuries may give voice to as much change if they can be located and interpreted from a woman-centered reading. Most spectacular was the visual feast assembled during the Fourth Women's Conference at Haioru, outside Beijing, where 30-40,000 women gave homage to the process of change in 1995. The experience remains for many beyond words. Although the process of meeting in small groups to discuss the political process and personal experiences after the Beijing Conference, has continued, something ineffable about the experience has remained so. In various conversations with those present at the conference this 'mysteriousness' was awe inspiring. Terms such as connectivity; communitas; presence, speak of another transcendent process not so readily amenable to language. Perhaps it was the circumstances of the conference, held under duress by the Chinese Government, who had not anticipated a women's NGO conference to be a subversive presence. Thus the political attitude gave rise to methods of surveillance and control by the host government which in turn gave rise to subversive strategies of cohesion and organization by the participant NGO's. They utilized electronic media, visual media and the best forms networking and activist strength while being together in a civic space for a period of three weeks as an international community. Issues that fragment and divide women's communities were superseded by the need for a collective effort toward survival. Preverbal bonding took place in spite of enormous differences. The threat of surveillance, abuse, and restriction by the conference organizers brought about a process of formation that is seldom seen on such a large scale. Unlikely bedfellows helped transform agendas. The experience of the conference as a large scale ritual of worship by women for women; 'a women's Woodstock'; 'a lovefest' may not have been shared by everyone, but the sense of mammoth achievementgiven the circumstances-remains in the memory of those who were present. Feminist Activism, Religion and Spirituality: Meeting Points on a Parasiddha Spectrum It is perhaps time to begin exploring the meaning of the myth, a modern myth of immanence and transcendence at the turn of the century. A gateway event for women and worship in the next century, the 1995 conference in Beijing was really two conferences: first, a 5,000 organization strong meeting of NGOs, a grassroots-meets-NGO spectrum. Second, this was fol 132

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thousa st to worked in lowed by a United Nations Conference attended by dignitaries and a limited number of NGOs (5,000 of the 30-40,000 thousand present). The contrasts between the two events were marked in many different ways. China played the role of an uncertain host to women's passions, passions different to that initially envisioned by the hosts. The facilities for the NGO conference were meager and the conditions somewhat sparse. Much has been written about the attempts by the organizers to come to terms with the presence of a group who symbolized so much change. Thus visas were withheld, material confiscated, accommodations were sometimes hours away, the disabled manhandled, etc. These difficulties seemed to draw the best from the women determined to be present at the event. Thus it seemed that the grassroots were positioned as the Native informants, empowered with knowledge, and the organizers as the restrictive container of this passion for difference at the NGO conference. As women found the ways to say what they had come to say, a unique flow of information between participants and the audience occurred. Somewhat like Shakti herself disseminating and flowing between the swirls of Chinese silk that participants had purchased, in spite of the rain, bog and mud, a spirit undaunted arose from the collective assembly. An ecstatic high, a shamanic trance, lifted us all from the mundane concerns of funding, right-left politics, treachery of aid organization speak, U.N.-W.T.O.G.A.T.T.-I.M.F imbroglios, etc. This feeling gave solace to the bunch of weary warhorse feminists that have toiled for gender justice and equity. Perhaps this was the gift of the universe: the descent of transcendence onto the assembled group. A shamanic moment in history, like the gift of Prometheus, of fire-here the gift of knowledge of Saraswati herself became immanent. No Bacchus of wine flowers and sentiment, but an elevation based on the role of women and the construction of sociopolitical equity. Let me not glorify the moment too much, but just allude to this other element the conference, rarely spoken of. This sentiment came into its own fullness at the shrine of the Feminine and the Women's wall of art. In the Tent City that much of the conference was housed, a small corner had been set aside for the shrine. Impromptu assemblies of materials were provided, such as crayons and colored pens. The women gathered items of sentiment and value. Stones were provided from Ontario; sand from the pyramids of Mexico, a crystal pyramid from the shrine of the virgin of Guadalupe. Votive offerings were left from the travelers who had assembled, like wise women of the east and west, for the birth of the feminine in the next millennium. I remember stumbling into this space by chance, fleeing the rain and exhaustion of the conference and what had preceded it. Our panels on migration and south Asian feminism were over and as organizer I was free to wander. Driven by the rain, wet to the skin, this space opened up to me and left an impression that, now after some years, as we are poised on this symbolic marker of time-a new millenniumthis experience returns to be given voice. The tent was busy, yet contained a 133

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sense of peacefulness. A right wing fundamentalist religious group was feeding sweets to women from the right and left, who had previously jousted on the streets. The sweets, rich milk chocolate with an almond in the middle, left me with a memory of overwhelming sweetness. Political correctness was superseded by the feelings of nurture and sustenance. Here difference was not to be a war cry but a contribution, no matter how briefly, to solidarity. This old fashioned word describes best the feminist spirituality of that day. Activist spirituality is based on the notions of song and connectivity, a telos of bodily care and immediacy, an Eros of sentiment that arose from the field of combat. Agape, love, pathos were the rasas of the day. This collective opening into the other world, a hard won descent and ascent of spirit is what, as activists, we best carry into the next millennium. An assemblage of parts and fragments, these aspects constitute something greater than the whole. The evolving tradition of activist spirituality is based on the life of the earth. This movement transcends religion and feminist activism. This "Other Revolution" is detailed in other publications, yet it is this spiritual dimension that I wish to capture in words here. In contrast to this spirit of action and co-operatively, at a Women's Coordinating Conference funded by the Ford Foundation ib Amman, Jordan, NGOs were invited to give representatively to the WCRP (World Council of Religion and Peace) in token form. This effort to constitute the concept of Religious NGOs (RNGOs) seemed somewhat contrived as women from within the chapters of the WCRP attempted to take on the guise of an NGO action dedicated to spirituality. In the ensuing political racketeering for positions on to the inaugural committee the NGOs were seen as token representations of action. In the ensuing discussions among the NGOs present, it became clear that the honor of NGO action had been hijacked for political reasons.. The NGO group orchestrated, in small groups, a counter attempt to feminize and spiritualize the process, to listen with the soul rather than logos or as handmaidens. In small groups the emotions of exclusion were danced, sang, and written in verse. The draft document for the WCC was created by this group, who were left with the task while the rest were busy within the political structure. The WCRP, the largest interfaith organization, was left with a position statement from the most radical group of NGOs present! This again reflects the power of the subversive site of activist spirituality as distinct to the religious women's groups that can be ahistorical and apolitical within tradition religious structures. The appropriation of activist spirituality by elite women's groups from within religious structures is to be defined and resisted. As the WCRP move towers over the formation of a women's wing at the turn of the century, reflecting the exclusion of women within the voting structures, we are reminded again of the slowness of religious groups to take on board the necessity of women's representative as many other groups began to do from the mid 70's onwards. 134

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From within religious traditions have arisen attempts by as yet a small yet growing group of women to restate their positions with relation to text, authority and experience. This has led to a question of an increasing relegation of women's roles, representation, and experiences to the traditional dogmas, tenants, papal edicts, hadiths, and shlokas. A re-envisioning of tradition from women religious elders, scholars, and theologians is needed. The intersection of this group and feminist activist spirituality promises much for the new millennium. Concerns of gender equity and justice must sit beside that of reinterpretation of text as an equal partner. Liberation theology has already encapsulated these concerns: an activism sensitive to poverty, health care, equity, and gender, as well as space for spirituality. These two streams do merge, yet, the feminist movement has shied away from religion, as this could have been too restrictive for the growth of feminist ideal over the last 100 years. As women within religious traditions radicalized and as activists faced the reality of burnout-resulting from a lack of communitas, support, belief, and faith-the two trajectories of change came to offer each other strengths of different sorts. This common ground remains to be truly defined by women themselves and not at the behest of an aid funding organization, or of transnational conscience. Thus, notions of spirituality will need to change in order to accommodate emergent spaces of worship and notions of ritual and belief. In a world of rapid change, communalism, economic fundamentalism, and globalization, the polylocationality of meaning and respect of difference call for strategies of different kinds, networks and organizational structures that can respect this emergent praxis of action that heralds a different kind of space for the girl child today, woman of tomorrow. Feminism with spirituality and religion with feminism must emerge, with an engendered telos of spirituality and respect for the earth. Women and the Interpretation of Textuality Textual analysis of the role of women in religious texts, by women, is the recasting of light on the meaning of womanhood and a powerful movement that holds keys to the future of religious movements and the women's movement. This, in conjunction with research on the social reality of women's lives, as well as the description of women's engagement in rituals and ascetic personal practices, paves the way for a more accurate phenomenology of women's spiritual lives. The intentionality and Dasein of women's existence will open new interpretations of religion and spirituality. By extrapolation from these sources it may be possible to see what is not being said in previous textual interpretations on women's lives. That which arises from the negative capability of text and experience rises to a richer account on women, as pointed out by Leslie. Bynum's interpretation of cultural religious symbols as gendered and 'polysemic, leads to the question of the correct interpretation of another's religious tradition. Cultural comparisons are difficult to make. Thus, the femi 135

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nine as wholeness within the Confucian tradition or as Mother in the Christian tradition, can be cause for caution when proclaiming the unique access to the feminine. This analytic position is different from that of a corrective in the history of representation of women's voices within the phallocentric theological traditions. It is a beginning to the process of cross dialogue about the richness of polysemic religious symbols, rather than a feminist rallying cry. It entails a phenomenology rather than sociology of difference, essentially a mediation on the construction and meaning of text and audience. The works of Geertz, Victor Turner and Paul Ricoeur on the nature of the symbol helps us understand how we give meaning to experience, arising and shaping at the same time. Turner's term "polysemic multivalent quality of symbolsi. Active process of appropriation" capture the nature of this work. Smith's work on the narrative aspects of autobiography as means of subversive assertion of selfhood, at the same time recruiting the new forms of subjectivity, has meaning for the experiences and expressions of women's subjectivity. Henrietta Moore in 'A Passion for Difference brings into dialogue feminist theory with current concerns in social and cultural anthropology around issues of identity, subjectivity, collectively, and the limitations of theoretical language. The struggle to identify the complexity and provisional nature of difference from within feminist frameworks undergirds the notions of we and not we, identification and differentiation; position and location; insider and outsider; authenticity and alienation. Moore takes a Merleau-Pontian approach to this matter, speculating on the embodied nature of identities and experience: A notion of 'lived anatomy' and bodily practice as a mode of knowledge draws on an understanding of experience as a form of embodied intersubjectivity. Experience is thus intersubjective and embodied, irredeemably social and processual. A number of anthologies on Women and World Religions have now arisen, such as those edited by Arvind Sharma, Denise Carmody, and Marianne Ferguson. These, to varying degrees, attempt to locate women's religious experience within the traditions of origin. Humans are born into gender and religion simultaneously, each affecting the other in complex ways. The historical constructions of religion affect the intimate and personal ways of being and self perception as well as more legal rules of child and family laws. These include rites of passage for giving birth, encountering death, dealing with sexuality and reproductive health, as well as notions of the divinite or istadeva and other symbolic referents. The notion of a universal civil code of legal rulings, irrespective of religion, is a site of contention with respect to the current status of religious laws. There are various reinterpretations of religious laws from feminists and theologians, but what remains unclear is the role of choice in the matter of individual decisions. Rifat Hassan's interpretation of the Koran, in regard 136

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to female equality within the Muslim tradition, highlights the fact that later interpretations such as the Hadiths may be influenced by other syncretic influences. The social ills and oppression facing women within religious traditions remains an issue for social justice. Honor killings, Koran marriages, low education ratios, and dowry deaths are not necessarily corrected by textual reinterpretation. There is a need for feminist strategies as well as a correction of the roles and rituals appropriate for women. The construction of doctrines, ethical codes, myths, ritual worship needs to be examined from both a theological and feminist perspective. Feminist theory will sharpen the study of women's religious experience. Theologians will develop spaces of plurality of forms of worship. Border-zones of constructed sacred spaces will be created. Texts must be revisited to form new styles of worship to dislodge monolithic masculinist forms. This radicalization of theology will result in the construction of activist modalities sensitive to the history and displacement of women. Mary Daly's writings on the oppression of Asian women are well known. While not disagreeing with her analysis, I wish to highlight the difficulties of cross cultural analysis, as for instance, in her work on footbinding in Chinese culture and the phenomena of sati (widow immolation) in India. Cultural difference can be approached from many methodological perspectives, yet is seems that incomplete analysis of an incomprehensible difference may fall into the category of "Orientalist" writings in the Saidian sense of the word. My disquiet about the writings of Daly on the oppression of women in other cultures stems from a number of reflections, notably the mode of cultural analysis employed. Certainly, such oppression is not justifiable. The analysis of cultural difference does not, I feel negate the truth that 'woman's rights are human rights.' Feminist anti-violence campaigners in any culture have pretty much the same dogma. However, as a cultural feminist that lives in the first and third world, I would like to point out that Western feminists leave much unsaid in their descriptions of the east. The closure and reductionist thinking are oppressive. In the language of stereotypes, black and white facts about oppression are helpful in the analysis, however, in that grey zone resides complexity. Daly cites Katherine Mayo's work on sati, but not the plethora of other writings on the subject (i.e the works of Pandita Ramabai, a fierce reformer, feminist and scholar whose works predate that of Mayo). The common ground is of course the outrage expressed by women against orthodox practices. However, a cursory reading of another's culture eludes, ellipses, and ultimately oppresses the production of yet another set of stereotypes. Edward Said, in writing about Palestinian nationalism, distinguishes the issues faced by the nationalist movement from that faced by the indigenous feminist movement. It is this form of particularity that cultural feminists and postcolonialists such as Mohanty, Spivak, Sudarajan, Sangari, 137

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Sarkar, Said and a whole host of others, are at pains to express. In standing apart from that which is brave and courageous in Daly's writings, I wish to make a plea for the experiences of difference expressed by numerous cultural feminists and activists. These experiences move us towards the fostering of notions of gender and identity from the margins. New kinds of universals may help to shape our notions of body, identity, self, secularity, and history. In this respect my exploration of the Indian tradition does not differ from that of Daly, but is defined by generation and cultural identity. Furthermore, a postmodern analysis of self, culture, and gender allows for a greater particularization of context than a purely radical feminist analysis, based on gender difference alone. This conceptual difference need not transcend a gender-based analysis but aught to contextualize and be inclusive of such differences along with other differences. Plurality and Sacred Spaces With the increase in right wing religious fundamentalism, it is necessary to undertake a historical and epistemic analysis of women's spirituality. The representation of woman as it emerges from religious institutions often encodes and encapsulates role models in a prescriptive manner. In this discursive attempt I will not compete with historical realism but constitute a series of dialectic questions, which are of importance for myself. Deep seated paradoxes can be seen at close hand in the lives of family and friends with relation to this ambit of religion, spirituality, and agency. In writing against the grain of male scholasticism, I wish to voice a series of dialectic questions central to the epistemic construction of sacred spaces, empowerment and spirituality. The oft quoted shadows of disempowerment and inscription by religious dogma may be as being historically constructed. For instance, there can be a tendency to valorize of Hinduism, as being beyond history, operating in the realm of myth and mystification. In the process, in many academic and popular Orientalist writings, the historically constructed experiences of women are often ignored. The actions of indigenous activists who fight a cause may be seen as reactionary and nonintellectual by first-world poststructuralists. The promotion of the notion of third-world women and compassion also often essentialized. The stepping back into the purview of history to examine socio-economic and political causes of gender injustice is an unfashionable exercise towards Enlightenment values of humanism and justice. But it also reflects a move towards an examination of the impact of the double injunction of colonialism and patriarchal practices and the resistance moments that this has generated. In the contemporary debates towards non- essentializing compassion and justice, feminist agency in the non-Western world appears to be generating a body of knowledge that at some point stands apart also from the language of oppression by racism and sexism. The 'Other Revolution,' a large scale democratic NGO (nongovernmental organization) movement, speaks to this as a leitmotif of empower 138

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ment seen in its precursors, such as the bhakti tradition. Bhakti, a thirteenth century religious resistance movement, exists historically together with a history of oppression. It is these intermingled historical trajectories of women's empowerment and disempowerment vis-a-vis spirituality that fascinates and speaks to different sorts of sacred spaces that sustain and oppress simultaneously. The notion of the sacred may, at one level, be individually constructed and also given a certain status as a universal a priori. Thus, multiple sacred spaces may be possible, rather than a few holy iconic correct experiences. Complex rather than simple principles may be the basis for a multiple hermeneutic of the divine feminine. This would allow for an informed, critically chosen construction of a personalized sacredness rather than a constant disputation with the institutional constructions of the divine feminine. Daly, in choosing a separate space for analysis and elevation of the feminine, may have elevated the location of woman in time and space beyond the complexity of the cultural reaches of experience. Ruether examines this separation of male and female spaces critically and obverts Daly's framing of male spirituality as 'generically evil.' This is not to ignore the importance of Daly's kind of analysis of religious power in institutions which, is most often patriarchally constructed, has inherent value towards deconstructing tradition. However, the complexity of analysis required goes beyond simple dichotomies of good and bad; male and female; east and west. In the Indian tradition, the texts and practices relating to women's spirituality seem at first contradictory. On the other hand, a number of positions are proscribed along a continuum of possibilities of worship that may not be as restrictive as the Judeo-Christian tradition. A number of religious or spiritual perspectives form the basis of everyday experiences for women. The degradation of female empowerment by monastic and legal practices historically resulted in prohibitive laws that govern family practices and directly affect the lives of women. The contradictory codicils of Manu and Narada, the chief law givers, have been debated heatedly over the centuries and at the present time have implications for the reforms of family law currently being considered. The bodily experience of spirituality, be that in the form of stigmata, trance states, or other manifestations, takes us into a complex relationship between transcendence, spirit, body and materiality. In a number of interviews conducted with women seen by local communities as possessing a range of spiritual powers, I have determined that the intentionality of the woman begins with a desire for a numinous experience of the divine feminine. This on occasiron leads to lead to a transcendence of duality which was described in various ways. At times this resulted in spirit manifesting through corporeality, as in the case of stigmata or trance states. If the body is 139

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the primary conduit of the spirit then the phenomenology of scared spirituality needs further documentation. An examination needs to take place of the early Indus valley, pre-Harrapan civilization and the subsequent evolution of women's spirituality from antiquity to postmodern times within the Buddhist, Jain, Hindu traditions. Perhaps the loss of spiritual authority highlighted by Daly in her numerous works acts a signifier of the unconcealment of the causes of lack and loss with relation to spiritual authority by women. As such, the period of recent history of the women's movement has acted as a catalyst for subsequent deconstructions in relation to certain concepts. History, Secularism, and Religious Nationalism The religious oppression of women, a key point in Daly's work, has many different causalities. However, cultures differ in the ways in which tacit and overt epistemic structures sanction violence against women. In this section I will examine some of the different frameworks that have permitted the emergence of oppressive practices against women. Socio-political studies examining the status of women in India have exposed the problems associated with dowry murders, custodial deaths, infanticide by selective sex preferences, and renewal of interest in sati practices. Although class based access to education has allowed for a new freedom it is still largely defined by patriarchal attitudes. Resistance to patriarchal norms has been a growing interest in feminist and cultural studies. Traditional images of all-powerful goddesses have been utilized to avoid confronting the real oppression of women in many different ways. Drawing from cultural mythology to bolster images of feminine strength contains pitfalls. Often this mythology is invoked by reactionaries who sentimentalize an earlier time. Thus it seems that without awareness of a proper historiography of the cultural construction of the feminine, the process of change for women's rights cannot blossom. It remains embedded in the polymorphic constructions between state, nationalism, religion, and idealism. Class and economic analysis remain essentialist in relation to gender issues. Notions of sexism and racism remain embedded in the very language of modernism, thus making it difficult to elucidate a language of gender equality within Marxist or modernist frameworks. Likewise nationalist frameworks have been encumbered by various stereotypical frameworks of woman. In Katherine Young's analysis of the placement of women in world religions, the history of masculine authority and the rise of institutional religions are seen as linked. She stresses a natural separation from established rituals and practices at crucial times of history. For instance, she describes the transition from nomad to hunter gatherer and later the move from a hunter gather to an agrarian and industrialized society. Each change posed a series of threats to masculinity and patriarchal authority. This phylogenetic ontology is seen to lead to male dominance within the structure of 140

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world religions such that women are then placed within the domestic space or ascribed appropriate religious spaces within institutional religion. This analysis is of relevance with the current move to a post Cold War era, globalization and the rise in fundamentalism. Together these factors raise issues of a reinscription of women's roles within religion and nationalisms and threaten the rights of women won in the last century. In describing the sacred and religious shaping of feminine subjectivity and sexuality, voice is given by feminist scholars to the need for a balance between an understanding of women's religious and mythic experience as well the sociopolitical and economic realities within which they are formed. Different frameworks for analysis use different methodologies. Traditionally, the reading of 'prakriti" (feminine) as the multifold essences of being, and 'purusha"(the masculine) as the impersonal structure of consciousness was constructed as constituting the gendered identity framework of the pantheon of gods and archetypes in many readings. In turn, these transpersonal selves are seen as the signatures for understanding the bisexuality/androgynous nature of human identity. Gendered human spirituality plays out some sort of polarity. The divine play as template for the personal endeavor and struggles on the one hand of a model of submission, purity, chastity, and domesticity and on the other of a wild woman of unbridled passion, strength, and knowledge seems to typify the generally Orientalist readings of Indian iconography into the dichotomy between stereotypes of renunciation and exuberance, virginality and whoredom. The Gandhian vision of the Indian superwoman, Max Muller's reading of dangerous sexuality vis-a-vis Indian women, and O'Flaherty's idealization of Jungian archetypes within the Indian pantheon seem a limited dichotomization of a multitude of positions and indeed realities. Perhaps historicity can not so easily be separated from personal symbol systems and experiences. It may be tendentious to suggest that the notion of the divine and numinosity are open to cultural and historical analysis. The lure of the rich symbolism of the Indian goddesses holds potent meanings for analysis and exploration but I am not sure whether a Jungian or Freudian/ Ericksonian libido theory are necessarily the only tools of analysis. Perhaps the personal numinous experiences of women's spirituality needs to come under the gaze of a sociopolitical and economic analysis. This construction of the notion of the divine highlights many of the difficulties of simple readings of women's spirituality. These difficulties in understanding become further accentuated by the regional differences and heterogeneity, such as in the considerably enlightened position of women in the Virasaivism sect; the polyandrous Nayar traditions; Draupadi-influenced sects of southern India, and the reasonably enlightened approach to education within Kerala. 141

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The Historical Epistemes of Women's Spirituality : Kumkum Sangari's concept of 'multiple patriarchies' is an excellent attempt at revising our own concepts of one monolithic patriarchal religious dogma. Historically there are many governing structures and laws at any one point of time in history. Some institutional world views are a little more generous to women. At the present time, as discussed in the previous section, the controversy surrounding the notion of family laws and the distinctions between Hindu and Muslim laws as promoted by the fundamentalist parties occludes the reality that each could be as oppressive as the other. Thus a socio-historical and cultural analysis may indicate more clearly the gendered aspects of male law. The need for new epistemes of spirituality becomes evident to understand the twin strands of disempowerment and subversion. The suppression of women in India has a long history, from the initial powerfulness of the feminine cosmological principles within the Indus Valley, to being displaced by the Sanskrit/Aryan pantheon of male gods, to the exclusion of women by the very powerful monastic traditions, to spiritual practice based partly on the purification laws governing the female life cycle and its notions of defilement during menstruation and widowhood, to the partial restitution by the religious and nationalistic reform movements involved in the Independence struggle, and most recently the subsequent reinscription of women as handmaidens by the fundamentalists' reinsertion of ideals of chastity, monogamy, and "wifeliness." This brief account of the historical denudation of power and exclusion from privileged spaces is perhaps only partially balanced by a slow countermovement evident in the lives of the countless ammas, shamans, midwives, scholars in the Indian feminist traditions who are able to enunciate these paradoxes and open up the ambivalent spaces to the current large scale grassroots NGOs' feminist movement that articulate the concerns for literacy, economic empowerment, and the environment. The need for analysis is as crucial now as at any other point of history. In the early 21st century, even with new political powers in place within India and the global community, the danger lurks that the pendulum may yet swing toward the oppression of minorities and women. Subversion of the male order may only happen through continued interpretation and analysis of the past and present flux. Harper's analysis of the Indus Valley symbols and iconography from within a Gimbutas paradigm is interesting and supports the thesis of a fall from enlightened times into the patriarchal laws of history. Symbols evocative of a great goddess tradition are thought to be present in a wide range of cultures. The complex philosophy accompanying these symbolic representations gave way to later traditions. Harper's discussion uses the Gimbutas method of reconstruction from archaeological evidence. It then turns to the examination of the seven goddess tradition in the fifth and the seventh century B.C. It also examines women in the Jain spiritual tradition at present. 142

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Her remarkable archaeological interpretations, textual analysis, and the examination of ritual in a number of traditions within India is a refreshing contrast to a kind of glib Orientalist generalization based on limited historical contextualization. In this particular paradigm of archeological analysis, prior to the tradition of servitude, it is possible that the ruling cosmological powers were femocentric and in harmony with the forces of nature both at a microcosmic and macrocosmic level. Goddesses presided, in the real and symbolic sense over birth, death, and childbirth but also over the natural elements and seasons. The loss of authority over civic processes went hand in hand with notions of female defilement. Thus the purity laws (niyogas) governing the regulation of personal and communal spaces of women gradually eroded the ambience of authority. Widowhood, menstruation, and childhood became scripted by laws which defined the limits of the possible. With a growing Sanskritization of life, the powers of governance passed in to brahmanic hands. The process of exclusion of women from the portals of formal education then resulted in a new brahmin male elite with coincided with an Aryan Sanskrit rule in contrast to earlier tribal based systems of apprenticeship. In the analysis of women writing against the grain by Tharu and Lalita, an account of the perseverance of subversive efforts by women to maintain representation in Jainism, Buddhist and even the more enlightened of Hindu traditions such as the Virashaivite sects, there was an erosion of speaking spaces for women as male academies of knowledge construction gained ground. In the re-visioning of spaces, selves, bodies and nature, Rosemary Ruether is sensitive to the cultural complexity that led to the loss of a feminine theology. Although prehistory can only be reconstructed by the methods of knowledge construction, the re-visioning of a feminist theology can only arise out of a deconstruction of the recent past. Such analysis in relation to the construction of dogma and the exclusion of women's voices has recently come under increasing analysis. Rita Gross's analysis of egolessness and the misfortune of a female birth as it is expressed in various texts within Buddhism highlights this contradiction in contemporary Buddhism. Whereas sunayata (Void; Nothingness) may indeed be beyond gender analysis, gender inequity is still expressed in the life of the sangha (community). The Buddha dharma of compassion may indeed find expression in the community by the development of awareness and thought as to how this practiced by the women members. Feminine icons such as the Green Tara of Compassion are situated in a hierarchy of gods. This paradox is also given voice by Harper in relation to women in Jainism. An enlightened liberalism allowed for the entry of women into the monastic traditions of learning, healing and service. Thus venues of educational development, in contrast to Hinduism, were within the realm of the possible. True liberation, however, remained hitched to the misfortune of gender at birth. 143

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The multiply complex processes of patriarchal oppression reveals in analysis complex counter-movements. These subversive movements over time have left a rich legacy of literature, accounts of which are being uncovered by current feminist research. The Bodily Textuality of Sacred Spaces: Round, Square or Indefinable: In re-reading religious texts from a feminist perspective the placement of women's spirituality cannot be seen as a monolithic perspective, rather as a polyvalent expression of a number of frameworks such as socioeconomic, religious, and political. Trinh T. Minh-Ha reminds us of the dangers inherent in one feminist reading of the other's sacred spaces. In reducing complexity to simple statements, the dangers of stereotypes occlude perceptions of spirituality. Distinctions between church, state and the laws, on the one hand, provide some frameworks for the reading of institutional structures that govern women's lives yet other kinds of readings may be necessary to uncover the traditions that have permissible forms of spiritual expressions and empowerment for women in India today. In order not to repeat a wornout binary stereotypes in relation to women, other, indigenous spirituality, I will take heed of Trinh Min Ha's words: Knowledge can not merely be rejected in a contaminated world where every gesture reverberates endlessly on others. But it has to be exceeded. Thus it is through the individual parts, and the relations between the fragments in the process of decentralization, that change continues to engender change. Her representation of female knowledge defies reification within feminist hegemonies towards the expression of the forms of experience beyond conceived notions of duality: Chinese thought which is rooted in the crossing double movement of the Void and the Full, and within the Full of the Yin and the Yang, remains profoundly ternary rather than dualistic. At the heart of the Yin Yang system, the Void constitutes the third term, and with it the binary system becomes ternary, the Void being the interval between the Yin and the Yang. The ternary system tends ceaselessly towards the unitary the oneness of the Yin Yang circle. The notions of self and identity while in the west may be held differently from perceived notions of spirituality, are underpinned by a kind of Cartesian dualism. If one moves in to a ternary space' then being time and selfhood may be integrally intertwined with conceptions of godhead and spirituality. If 'purusha' (spirit) and 'prakriti' (matter) are the indefinable cultural essences of personhood, how does one then label and define this other 144

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then the notion of self.? Is it possible to be an atheist in this culture when conceptions of self are integrally intertwined with a cultural-spiritual world view? Or is it that the "other" of western discourse on identity and religion as distinct from personhood cannot find coherence or correlation to the world view of a self not defined by religion but by symbol systems imbued with symbolic constructs in relation to the divine? The juxtaposition of the language of cultural difference in relation to the tropes of western feminist theological arguments on gender inequities highlights a contrast of concepts on gender itself. The descriptions by Katherine Mayo and Mary Daly of cultural practices, while important in the illumination of arcane cultural practices such as dowry and sati, do not go far enough to examine the very practices from a structural basis. This insufficiency leads not only to condemnation but a continued incomprehension of cultural differences. Buimillar repeats this kind of shock tactict analysis more recently in her novel. In contrast, more recent analysis such as by Sundar Rajan point out these ambivalences, and repressed analysis on the notions of pain, agency and other sorts of attendant emotions that this sort of cultural analysis invokes. It is perhaps also Judith Butler's work on the body that holds most hope for the development of perspectives on areas of seeming cultural diversity yet perhaps most needful of new ways of analysis. The ironic location of the traditional texts in postmodernist perspectives that encompasses the premodern as well as the postmodern location of cultural studies that offers hope for a rounded understanding of gender and cultural difference. If in a Foucauldian light, religious experience can be constructed by epistemes, in a further deconstruction are there essential biological phenomena in the lives of women such as birth and menstruation that can be interpreted differently according to episteme as quantifier of knowledge, yet remains constant? In defining bodies and selves, does deconstructionism as a political enterprise do justice to or help to decenter the bodily location of self? A radical departure would be to conjecture a cultural reading of body and its functions as a basis for women's spirituality. Thus the disembodiment (starvation, homelessness) of the bhakti women poets can be read as resistance, somewhat akin to that of Simone Weil and Gandhi, both also embarked on enterprises of a kind of 'subversive spirituality' and resistance through fasting, writing, and solitude. This act inverts the master slave relationship to produce a freeing of ability within restrictive and oppressive spaces. Ricouer's reading of the phenomenology of the body is illuminating in its complexity of meanings. In his reading of the transcendental philosophy of Husserl he locates the juxtaposition of body corporeality with intersubjectivity, the relational self as the space of intentionality, moving 145

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towards otherness. This ternary opens up possibilities of the interpretation of otherness based on cultural differences and a constitution of objective nature on the basis of intersubjectivity. A phenomenology of (bodily) constitution alone fails to account for the constitution of the 'otherness' of the foreign (-other on the horizon of perception is another thing.) However, the fact that in order to comprehend a foreign subjectivity, it is necessary to formulate the idea of oneself. That is precisely flesh in its difference with respect to the body...myself as flesh, before the constitution of the alter ego-other, is what the strategy of the intersubjective constitution of nature obliges us to think. That we owe to this impossible enterprise the formation of the ontological concept of flesh is indeed the divine surprise. The bodily location of suffering and indeed fertility are different for the sexes. How then does this locate the experiences of the other? The other in the horizon of one's bodily location provides a map for oneself via the negative of difference. The other must be seen as one's self. By negative difference, one finds oneself. In my work on empathy, in order to differentiate this concept from staid psychoanalytic concepts, the historical deconstruction returned me to the work of Edith Stein, the first student collaborator of Husserl who wrote a book, On The Problem of Empathy. Her work progressed from developing the notion of intersubjectivity to the notion of empathy, to women's issues as a writer and activist. Her subsequent conversion from Judaism to Christianity did not prevent her execution, due to her Jewish identity, during the war. Her works remained dislocated from the academic discourse of the university unlike that of Husserl or Scheller works' on sympathy and intersubjectivity. However the trajectory of Stein's work from intersubjectivity to empathy to her writings on gendered difference and spirituality leading to her experience of a numinous conversion and a life of the spirit as a nun, has perhaps a location in today's conception of thought, emotions and spirituality. In proposing the notion of a black mirror of history, as the unthought spaces of nonwestern feminist cultural history, I am inspired by Stein's contradictory positions during her lifetime. Is it that women's history provides a history of abjections and aporias? The experiences of the female other is removed from textual representation leaving a void. This black mirror, as an inversion of the Lacanian notion of vision and clarity, contains valuable unrecorded and unvalued testimony of women's experience and spirituality. Foucault casts light on the location of spirit and the emergent self within the time frames of history, a history of the other, white elite male privilege. In the case of third world women then the double injunction of the colonial gaze and patriarchy needs considering. Thus the Other forms the prototype of the self in the absence of a recorded history of self. The others' history is projected onto oneself. In reversing a reading of Ricouer one proceeds perceptually from oneself toward the-other-as-oneself, which could raise an interesting relocation of identities. 146

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In reading resistance from the site of women's bodies, Rajan examines the location of the experiences of 'real and imagined women.' The examination of the discourses on rape, sati, pain death, leadership and the politics of representation has as much importance of the reading of victimization. The complexity of the fabric of experience is given space rather that straight dichotomies of understanding worn out tropes of existence to map a space of the post colonial female subjects. Hybridity of matter (history, issues, themes) and method (theory, language) is a function of the postcolonial intellectual subject. In a similar vein, Fatima Mernissi's contextualizes the relationship of women in Islam to the culture of Islam with respect to the role of bodies, adornment, sexuality from behind the veil. The appropriateness of critique not informed of perspectives from within traditions has been much in the literature on third world women. It is to return to an examination of the role and place of spirituality given the postmodern deconstruction of binary compositions that other sorts of spaces open for analysis. The hybrid text of spirituality, given place, location, and culture shapes the given expression of women's spirituality in contrast to the doctrinal laws formed by institutional orthodoxy. A further complexity is entertained if one views the sects within Islam. For instance the women in the Sufi traditions were inspiring as poets, oracles, fearless in the travels and ecstatic in the pronouncement of Allah's name. The search for the beloved in the form of Allah was permissible and indeed respected. This is in contrast to the notion of confined spaces popularized as the only version of women worshipping in Islam. Conclusion: The Women's Conference in Beijing (1995) highlighted the diverse paths taken as women continue to define and redefine themselves in the 21st century. Religion plays a significant role in both oppressing and liberating women. Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism have all been valorized and demonized in regard to empowerment and disempowerment of women's voices. The persistence of cultural difference in our increasing globalized world requires and demands deeper intersubjective encounters. Through understanding, empathy will grow.. With empathy, the prospects for peace between peoples and genders will prosper. ... 147

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Fiorenza, Elisabeth Schussler. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: Crossroad, 1994. Gross.Rita,.M. Buddhism after Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Religion. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993. Harding, Elizabeth, U. Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar. York Beach, Maine: Nicolas-Hays, Inc., 1993. Harper, Katherine, A. Iconography of the Saptamatrikas: Seven Hindu Goddesses of Spiritual Transformation. Studies in Women in Religion Series, number 28. Edwin Mellon Press, 1990. Harper, Katherine, A. "The Jina Malli: Jainism and the Spirituality of Women." Jinamanjari: International Journal of Contemporary Jaina Reflections. Vol. 13, No. 1, April 1996. Hiltebeitl, Alf. The Cult of Draupadi Vol. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Hawley, John Stratton., ed. Sati, the Blessing and the Curse: The Burning of Wives in India. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Kakar.Sudhir. Intimate Relations:Exploring Indian Sexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989. Khaniqahi, Nurbakhsh. Sufi Women. London and New York: Nimatullahi Publications, 1990. Krishnaswamy, Revathi, "Subversive Spirituality:Woman as Saint Poet in Medieval India." Women's Studies International Forum. Volume 16, No. 2, pp. 139-147, 1993. Manushi Bhakti volume Tenth anniversary. Kumari Jayawardena. Feminisms and Nationalisms in the Third World. Zed Books. 1993. Latlitha. K., and Tharu. Susie. Women Writing in India. 600 BC to the Early Twentieth Century, vol.1. New York: Feminist Press, 1991. Leslie, Julia. Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1992 Madhavananda, Swami and Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra eds Great Women of India Advaita Ashrama Mayavati, Almora, Himalayas, 1953. Manna, Sibendu, Mother Goddess Candi; Its Socio Ritual Impact on the Folk Life. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1993. Marglin, Frederique A. and Marglin, Stephen A., Dominating Knowledge: Development, Culture and Resistance. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. 149

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Math, Sri Ramakrishna Mylapore, Madras, 1953; Female Images in the Museums of U.P. and their Social Background. Upadhaya, Padma. Varanasi: Chaukhambha Orientalia, 1978. English trans. Swami Jagadiswarananda. Mernissi, Fatima. Beyond The Veil. Male Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society. Indianapolis and Bloomington: Indiana University Press 2nd ed., 1987. Mernissi, Fatima. The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women's Rights in Islam. Redding: Addison Wellesly Publishing Company, 1991. Mishra, Srikanta. Ancient Hindu Marriage Law and Practice. New Delhi: Deep and Deep. Publications 1994. Mishra, Srikanta. Protection to Women in Matrimonial Home. New Delhi: Deep and Deep. Publications 1994. Moore, Henrietta L. Passion for Difference: Essays in Anthropology and Gender. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994. Mullati, Leela The Bhakti Movement and the Status of Women: A Case Study of Virasaivism. New Delhi Abhinay Publications 1989. Rajan, Rajeshwari Sunder. Real and Imagined Women: Gender, Culture and Postcolonialism. New York: Routledge 1993. Ricoeur, Paul. Oneself as Another. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Ross, Steven David. Plenishment in the Earth: an Ethic of Inclusion. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Sexism and God Talk: Towards a Feminist Theology. Boston: Beacon Press, 1983. Sathe, Satyaranjan Purushottam. Towards Gender Justice. Bombay: RCWS Gender Series, Research Centre for Women's Studies. S.N.D.T. Women's University, 1993. Sarkar. Tanika.,and Urvashi Butalia. Women and The Hindu Right: A Collection of Essays. New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1995. Sharma. Arvind. Women in World Religions. New Delhi: Nari Series in Gender Studies. Volume 1, Indian Book Centre, 1995. Sharma. Renuka, ed. Representations of Gender, Democracy and Identity Politics in South Asia. New Delhi: Indian Book Centre, 1996. Smith, Sidonie. Subjectivity, Identity and the Body: Women's Autobiographical Practices in the Twentieth Century. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993 150

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Talamantez, Inez. "Seeing Red: American Indian Women Speaking of Their Religious and Political Perspectives." In Our Own Voices: Four Centuries of American Women's Religious Writing, Keller, Rosemary Skinner and Rosemary Radford Ruether, eds. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000. Talamantez, Inez. "In the Space Between Earth and Sky: Contemporary Mescalero Apache Colonialism." Native Religions and Cultures of North America: Anthropology of the Sacred. London: The Continuum Publishing Company, 2000. Tharu, Susie. "Tracing Savitri's Pedigree, Victorian Racism and the Image of Women in Indo- Anglian Literature" in Recasting Women: Essays in Indian Colonial History. Sangari, Kumkum, and Sudesh Vaid, eds. New Brunswick,: Rutgers University Press, 1989. Trinh T. Minh-Ha. When the Moon Waxes Red: Representation, Gender and Cultural Politics. New York: Routledge 1991. Trinh T. Minh-Ha. Framer Framed. New York: Routledge, 1992. Trinh T. Minh-Ha. Women, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1989. ... 151

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Foot - Notes 1 2 4 O'Flaherty in using strictly Freudian or Ericsonian models of interpretation of culture places herself in the position of knowing observers from frameworks that have become themselves, more critical of their own practices such as the interpersonal, object relations and post Freudian frameworks. See also Penelope Mcgibbon The Personalities of PrakritiKeys to Feminist Perspective in Religions and Comparative Thought. Essays in Honour of the late Dr Ian Kersacodi Watson.(New Delhi: Indian Book Centre, 1988). Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Sexism and God Talk. Towards a Feminist Theology. Beacon In Memory of Her. A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, (New York: Fiorenza. E. S. Crossroad, 1994). See Archana Parachar, Women and Family Law Reform in India (Sage Publications 1992), S.P. Sathe, Towards Gender Justice (Bombay: RCWS Gender Research Centre for Women's Studies. S.N.D.T. Women's University, 1993; and S. Mishra, Ancient Hindu Marriage Law and Practice (New Delhi: Deep and Deep. Publications 1994). Protection to Women in Matrimonial Home.(New Delhi: Deep and Deep. Publications, 1994). There are serious difficulties with this sort of evolutionary reasoning, but it is one that has much standing in contemporary critique of patriarchal religions. A. Sharma. Women in World Religions (New Delhi: Nari Series in Gender Studies. Volume 1. Indian Book Centre, 1995), and Mary Douglas. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge, 2003. (First published 1966.) The possibility of multiple patriarchies allows for a more refined analysis of gender based privileges. Kumkum Sangari's analysis at keynote address at the Women's Conference. Jaipur. 1996. I am grateful for In Inez Talamantez's work on American Indian women, in particular the sensitive accounts in Seeing Red. American Indian Women Speaking About Their Religious and Political Perspectives. See also to Maha Siva's discussion of Rama Prasada's mother in Kali as Abject Motherand Revathi Krishnaswamy, "Subversive Spirituality: Woman as Saint Poet in Medieval India." Women's studies International Forum. Volume 16. No. 2 pp 139-147, 1993. Manushi Bhakti volume Tenth anniversary, and Leela Mullati. The Bhakti Movement and the Status of Women.: A Case Study of Virasaivism (New Delhi Abhinav publications. 1989). 6 7 Katherine Harper, The Saptamatrika Tradition: Women in Religion Series (Edwin Mellon Press) and "Women in the Jaina Traditions" in Jinamanjari. 152

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8 K. Latlitha and S. Tharu, Women Writing in India: 600bc to the Early Twentieth Century-' Tracing Savitri's pedigree, Victorian racism and the image of women in Indo- anglian literature. An account of the construction of Savitri in the mode of Victorian sensibility: a reasonably idealised masculine freedom together with victorian ethos of sexual purity akin to the notion of the divine. The notion of 'divine' in Kristeva as unknowable and mysterious has come under increasing scrutiny as having origins in a form of covert Catholicism however drawing on a form of Orientalism. Also this conflation of imagery is present to some degree in religious writings largely seen as proscriptive in some religious traditions e.g. Swami Madhavananda and Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (eds) Great Women of India (Advaita Ashrama Mayavati, Almora, Himalayas). 9 R.M. Gross Buddhism after Patriachy. a Feminist History, Analysis,and Reconstruction of Religion (Albany: State University of New York Press 1993). See also Allione Tsultrim, Women of Wisdom. 10 Trinh T. Minh-Ha When the Moon Waxes Red. Representation, Gender and Cultural Politics. (New York: Routledge 1991), Framer Framed (New York: Routledge, 1992). and Women, Native Other. Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism. (Bloomington and Indianaplois: Indiana University Press, 1989). Contemporary analysis of representations of self and other that attempts a nonwestern interpretation of symbolic forms. See also the work of Butler Judith on the difficulties with descriptions of embodiment. 11 Buimillar, Elizabeth in May You Be the Mother of Hundred Sons: A Journey Among The Women of India, repeats the sort of analysis seen in Katherine Mayo's, work on women in India from a subject-object firstthird world observer position. 12 I an indebted to Ramu Gandhi for sharing his thoughts on the connections between bipedality, (walking) disembodiment and thought. The solitude of writing and the commitment to the action of writing combines in an experiential way to provide a kind of enhanced spirituality which does not distance from action but combines body, thought and action in a powerful mix. It was also remarkable in Beijing, to see women activists committed to the cause of action, not as a religious way but in a manner that could be described as little else. it is interesting to note the level of grassroots commitment to ideals that emerges from South Asian activism, this would not of course be described as spirituality by many who would count themselves to be agnostic or atheist. Janet Chawla, Child-Bearing and Culture (New Delhi: Indian Social Institute, 1994). 153

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13 Ricoeur, Paul, Oneself as Another (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 322. 14 Rajan Rajeshwari, Sundar, Real and Imagined Women: Gender, Cul ture and Postcolonialism (New York: Routledge, London. 1993). This form of analysis can be contrasted with other forms of contextualization which incorporates historical analysis of a different order. See for example "Sati" in J. S. Hawley (ed). The Blessing and the Curse: The Burning of Wives in India (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), and L. Harlan Courtright, From the Margins of Hindu Marriage: Essays on Gender, Religion and Culture (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995). Others who have attempted an analysis of contemporary feminist and cultural analysis in relation to religious practices are: Steven David Ross, Plenishment in the Earth (New York: State University of New York Press, 1995); Frederique A. Marglin and Stephen A. Marglin, Dominating knowledge: Development, Culture and Resistance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990); and H. Afshar and M. Maynard, The Dynamics of Race and Gender (London: Taylor and Francis, 1994). 15 Fatima Mernissi. The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women's Rights in Islam (Redding: Addison Wellesly Publishing Company, 1991). Also by the same author Beyond The Veil. Male Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society, 2nd edition (Indianapolis and Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987). This sort of culturally sensitive analysis is somewhat at odds with the goddess generalizations', that can come from certain archaeological tropes. The Chalice and the Blade essentially examines the history of womens; spirituality in the Judeo-christian world. The risk of applying this analysis to the world of other cultures can be at the cost of repeating Orientalisms in a new form. See also Sufi Women (New York: Nurbakhsh. KhaniqahiNimatullahi Publications, 1990). 154

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Mariyamman: Does She Remove the Stings? Insert Them, Or Exemplify Ways to Transmute Them? An Enquiry into Whether the Goddess is Empowering to Women Jodi Shaw Introduction: Garlands, Stings, and Devi In December 2009 I visited India for the first time. We were a group of Western pilgrims who traveled on a plush bus in order to Temple hop across Tamilnadu. Many of us were yoga teachers, or former yoga teachers, known to one another if not through years then through shared studies, and practices. One early evening darshan found us in the inner sanctum of a Saivaite temple in time for the milk abhiseka of the Siva Lingam. One of the priests led us through repeated chants of "aum namah Sivaya" while other priests performed the offerings, and the bath. The mantra, the incense, the barely glimpsed crowd whose chants wafted our way on route to the god, the thick temple walls almost made liquid that seemed to drip, as the milk turned the linga white then black again all this swirled inside me. At the end the priests held up garlands of flowers and motioned us to come forward. At previous temples, more often then not, they would place a garland around the leader of our group, but there had been a couple of occasion when flowers had been placed over mine. I was up front, and thus close to one of the priests. I stood waiting, head slightly bowed, still intoxicated. I did not grasp that he was withholding it from me; his smile was so broad and welcoming that his words initially passed over me, "gents only, gents only." One of the young men in our group who stood behind me recoiled when he heard that, he no longer wanted to be there, said when we were leaving, "let's get out of here." Another man who had made this same trip twice before said to me as we left, "this is the first time they have let us into the inner sanctum." For my part I had felt layers of stings, the sting of the impropriety of being a foreigner, the rush of old insecurities and shames, the sting of knowing if I had been further back in the crowd it would have meant less, and of course the deep sting of exclusion. The next time a garland was given to one of the men the women took turns wearing it on the bus, but I could not. This story courses underneath my questions about female empowerment. Outside of the familiarity of my native categories those of another culture pulsed like a siren. I suspect if I were Indian, since I most likely would not have stepped forward to receive the garland, I would not have noticed. (I by no means wish to speak for Indian women, but rather try to imagine what I would be like if I could untangle my sense of self from my culture, and place it within another.) Of course, there is another story that underlies that one, a secret de 155

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fense that had made the stings associated with the garland less potent. A few days earlier we had visited the Kali temple on the outskirts of Cidambaram. At the entrance stood a female devotee, her forehead red with thick layers of kumkum powder, while inside were a group of women in red saris seated in front of one of the Kalis. There were two inner sanctums, Tillaia Kaliamman in her colorful sari and golden earrings, which the priest would swing away from her face to reveal her other faces, and the other Devi, Pratyanga Kali. I had heard about her for years, but descriptions could not compare to her darshan. She was cooled by the late-monsoon drizzle, dressed in a white sari with kumkum powder covering her face and the top of her chest leaving only her eyes uncovered like a black mask in a sea of red. Gazing at her I felt she could make me a better person in all the different ways a better person could play out during the course of a life. I saw her face every night, she was with me from then on, and was ready to meet me in the Siva temple spoken of above. Despite the sting of being deprived of a garland of flowers the priest's intention may well have been some form of respect. The placement of flowers over a stranger's head has a certain intimacy; culturally it would be inappropriate to touch a woman other than his wife. Maybe for him the garland was a form of touch. There is so much complexity woven into the Hindu tradition. Because of that complexity the question of whether or not the Hindu goddess(s) is empowering to women cannot be boiled down to one definitive answer. To do so would ignore the multifaceted array of interpretations and praxis, as well as the layers and levels of the Hindu Indian experience. Just the same one can utilize the Goddess as an entry point for gleaning a better understanding of the complexities of Indian culture and of Hinduism in particular. Since we have created our gods, just as our gods create us, Devi as a source of empowerment ultimately depends on the lenses of her devotees. I shall focus on the Tamil village goddess Mariyamman, recognizing that the lenses through which she is viewed play a crucial role in where she stands within the hierarchies of the Hindu pantheon, or even if she would want to be associated with the pantheon. That in turn speaks to what the lens-viewers interpret about one another. This in turn leads to questions about caste and class which must be acknowledged when discussing Mariyamman even though the intricacies of colonial and post-colonialism's impact on identity are beyond the scope of this chapter. The day after we had darshan at the Tillai Kaliamman temple we visited a bronze maker in Swamimilai, down the street from the Murugan temple. He, along with his workers, made traditional murtis, each mold fashioned anew and individually carved. I had already shopped sensibly in his larger room when I walked into his smaller store. It was like she called me 156

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from the shelf. I picked up the goddess, and knew I couldn't put her down. She was golden to me, feminine and fierce, I was not sure if she was a Kalified Parvati or a saumya Kali. I could not afford her, but I bought her. Our guide got so excited when he saw her; he told me she was very popular all over Tamilnadu. He asked my teacher if he knew Mariyamman. I was told she would protect me from smallpox. He also called her a Durga, but all I heard was smallpox. I could not believe the murti that insisted I pull her off the shelf was just some smallpox goddess. When I got home and unwrapped her from the Tamil newspaper that had protected her on our journey, she was just as golden to me as when I had taken her from the shelf. For me, she is not only a goddess that called to me from her shelf, and she is not only interwoven with my Kali experience, but she is also the exposure of some of my biases. In this chapter I will look into Mariamman's history, and creation stories as well as how who is telling her stories define what type of goddess she is. Mariyamman is a continuously evolving deity whose facets reflect the varying aspects of her devotees, thus I will look at how she is worshiped and by whom. I shall then turn to the goddess/goddesses in the broad pan-Indian context noting her beneficent and ferocious forms. Then I will touch on the claim that even the independent Devi is a male construct, and what that might mean to women's empowerment. In addressing the complexity of the issue of women in India I will explore the long history of women in political power as well as some staggering statistics of gender inequality. In lieu of what the statistics reveal it is important to look at some exceptions that contradict them. Finally I shall propose that we look at Mariyamman in ways that are affirming for both women and men by how we interpret her and ourselves. Mariyamman Thealogy Mariyamman's initial form is as a grama devata (village deity) who populates the villages of Tamil country, served by her male attendants. In areas with greater Brahmanical influence she may be loosely associated with Siva as a potential consort, and in that case she would be Vishnu's younger sister. Consorted or not, one of her fundamental features is her autonomy. Mariyamman is one of many grama devitas, those goddesses who are "ammans" (mothers) and are considered, thealogically, to predate the village. Each village's Amman is its ground, and it is from her that the cultivation and calamity that compose community life have blossomed. She is thus viewed as the central core of the village represented by a "navel stone," by a carved head, or by no visible mark what so ever. Even as she is the center she is also every part of the village and stands in small shrines or symbols as the protrectress at its boundaries. There area a myriad of Ammas, the most common of which is Mariyamman, but each Mariyamman varies from place to 157

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place, so she is the Mariyamman of this or that village. To delve into the specific variations of worship from place to place to place would do little to drive this discussion forward; therefore the village descriptions will stay broad. What is important to hold in mind is her mutating malleability which is revealed in the diversity of her forms. The grama devita, and thus Mariyamman, is viewed as a continuation, or an evolution of the fertility goddesses dating back to when the Dravidians of Southern India first began to cultivate the land. There is a vacillation, or even merging between Mariyamman as a beautiful and loving goddess, and Mariyamman the furious ferocious form of Devi. Paul Younger views this interplay as a salient feature of who she is, and how it is made apparent in the variant sectors of life where devotees believe her sakti appears. The most notable areas are fertility, sickness/healing, overcoming enemies, and the championing of the oppressed. Her changing character is exemplified by Younger's portrait of Mariyamman as a fertility goddess dressed in green with a predilection for margosa leaves. The margosa is a plant that remains green through out the driest years of the dry season. Parents carry babies in "yellow cloths strung on sugar cane stalks" to her annual festival at her Samayapuram temple as evidence of, and thanks for, the mother's fertility. Fertility is often "a problem not a joy" for agricultural people working a dry land. Draught, pestilence, and lack of heirs wreak havoc that can decimate generations of toil invested in gaining a title of land. It is then they turn to Mariyamman's wrath as a potential cause; the goddess may have been slighted in some way; a kin member may have failed to duly worship her. Focused on her, they can find solace in rigorous devotion that appeases the destructive side of the mother. When "mari" means "rain" she is the rain mother who goes to the Kerala Mountains to petition the rain god for the monsoon, and as rain she is associated with coolness, and she wants to be cooled. When it means "disease" she dots people with pearls (muttu), or kisses (muttum) of pustules with the tip of a feather. When it means "changed" it can be associated with the quick switches of her temperament, or her adaptability in the face of crushing adversity The "changed mother" is clear in Mariyamman's creation stories, which inevitably describe a good Brahmin woman done wrong by a man, or men. She is a good daughter given a way to a lower caste male who has disguised himself as a Brahmin in order to win this lovely bride. In that case she either burns him or self immolates with her rage. She may have to destroy herself first in order to become the goddess capable of the destruction of the deceiving male. In another story she is the wife of a great rishi celebrated for her beauty and virtue so much so that the trimurti (Brahma, Visnu, and Siva) appear in her home unannounced, and uninvited. Not knowing who they 158

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are she curses them to become children; they in turn take offence and curse her with the loss of her beauty exemplified by a face be-speckled with pustules. Her rishi husband discovers his now deformed bride and kicks her out of their home with a curse to be reborn as a disease-demon that infects people with her self same pox. Another popular creation story equates her with the story of Parasurama's mother. The story of a Brahmin wife whose virtue was manifested by her ability to make jars out of sands, to boil water by placing a pot atop her head, and to carry large quantities of water home from her bath without a bowl or pitcher, as her sari dried fluttering overhead. The stories vary on whether she saw reflected in the water held in her hands a beautiful bird, a handsome gandharva, or copulating gandharvas but in all cases she feels a momentary pang of yearning. At that the water splashes to the grown and her drying sari, now soaked through, tumbles to the earth. Her rishi husband, seeing the loss of her special abilities condemns her by ordering their son to behead her. He beheads her, along with a woman from the lowest caste who she either hid behind, or chose to embrace. The son returns home devastated and his father offers him a boon for his obedience, he quickly asks to be able to restore his mother. The wish is granted, but in his enthusiasm he places the wrong head on the wrong body. Thus broken and put back together she becomes goddesses. The one with the Brahmin head is Mariyamma while the other switched woman became Yellamma.. By and large Mariyamman is considered a low caste deity, sometimes the last choice deity of those who make pilgrimages to her temples in plea for some kind of cure, she is at times the goddess of the desperate. Her creation stories can be viewed as warnings to Brahmin women, as well as examples of Brahminical influence. Kinsley notes how the interpretation of the Parasurama's mother's story is very often viewed as a re-affirmation of the hierarchal caste system established in the Rg Veda's Purusha Sukta (10:90). The primordial man/the first sacrifice has a head made up of the Brahmin caste, the feet made of the lowest caste, while the body held everything in between. On the other hand, Mariyamman holding all castes in one body could be seen as an example of how she represents all people who live in her village because, The extent of the all-inclusive nature of local-goddess worship in villages is indicated by the participation of Brahmins and Muslims in these festivals. The point is the locals goddess is not so much a Hindu deity or a deity specially related to a caste or occupation, or even a specific phenomenon such as diseaseHThe point is that from the village's point of view the goddess is specifically their deity, their lady, as it were, who has their particular needs at heart. Besides, the Purusha Suktam type of interpretation implies that the 159

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lower caste people view themselves through Brahmin eyes. It may very well be that it was not until she stopped viewing herself through Brahmin eyes that she became a goddess. Many worshipers (at the Samayapuram temple festival) relate to her as someone neither respected nor supported by the staus quo. They see in this lady, both patient and furious, a woman who has stood up for herself, and is thus a goddess who can understand their predicaments. In some cases they are loath to ascribe any one particular myth or sets of mythologies to her because they see her as the mysterious primordial ground, "precisely because the goddess's character has not been codified in elaborate myths, her personality stays very close to that of those who worship her." For many, as the source and ground of All she transcends gender, holding both masculine and feminine within goddess-self. In regards to the beheaded wife, her choice to hug a woman of the lowest caste (something infinitely polluting) can be interpreted as a demonstration of how the reach of common humanity can extend much further than castes, at least in moments of extreme desperation like draughts and plagues. This shifting egalitarianism, her crossing through the confines of caste, and her over all mutability are the likely causes for her rise as the chosen deity of the contemporary Tamil middle-class. She may be championed by the well to do now, but Mariyamman's festival worship was a mortifying affair for Western missionaries and scholars, for many Brahmins, as well as for the western educated moderns of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The fondness for animal sacrifice (even if the Devi in the main shrine stood shielded from the bloodshed by a curtain, a smaller form would often watch) was troublesome enough, but there were also the ecstatic expressions of devotion as well. There are often men performing vrata (vow), which requires them to wear alaku (hooks, spikes, spears etc., that are ritually pierced into the flesh of the chest, cheeks, backs, or tongues.) There is an elaborate purification process before attempting to fulfill the vow. His skin cannot be pierced until he has been possessed by the deity. The possession is aided by a crowd which is almost exclusively male (only post menopausal women may attend the ceremony) aided and orchestrated by a priest who sings to the rhythmic beat of his uddukai-drum. Thus pierced and possessed the man will "dance" to the temple. Along with those pierced with alaku, there are fire-walkers, as well as men and women who carry large pots of charcoal fire on their heads, or in their hands. Many of the women, the children, and the elderly carry pots of water decorated with margosa leaves on their heads each one dancing in varying degrees. The community of worshipers participates by showing reverence to the vow takers. They may make-way, or supply refills of water or charcoal. Women often pour water on the "danced" person's feet, and then 160

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prostrate themselves in the muddied earth. Whether in the village or at her large temples her worship is considered a "community effort." In the later half of the twentieth, on into the beginnings of the twentyfirst century Mariyamman's worship has expanded from the villages into the cities, and her identity has grown to accommodate the differing devotees. Younger notes the diverse worshipers at the Samayapuram temple festival in the late 1970's, villagers, city dwellers, and those who held the ideologies of the "non Brahmana" politics expressed by the likes of the DMK party find support and expression in Mariyamman. The festival both affirms the long village history with its caste and kinship roots, as well as the contemporary issues of modern urban life and political identity. In the years since Younger wrote of his visit to the Samayapuram temple it has continued to grow to be one of the wealthiest temples in south India. In and around Chennai Amman temples have been renovated while she has been recast to reflect the rising middle-class. Those temples are clean and comfortable with overhead fans. The goddess tended by Brahmin priests has become vegetarian. In these temples equipped with bourgeois comforts her beneficence often over shadows her ferocity, her foul mouth, and her riff-raff devotees. Samayapuram still has possessed worshipers "danced by the goddess" en route to the inner sanctum, but the impoverished and malformed seriously ill beggars who reside on the temple grounds have begun to be sequestered to a different private section of the temple, thus saving bourgeois pilgrims from suffering their sight. Still, she maintains the place of one who blurs the distinctions of identity, whether it be via possession, or the contemporary middle-class effort to form a multi-caste community. Devi Means "Goddess," Devi Means "Lady" The goddess of the Indian subcontinent is one of (if not the) oldest uninterrupted extant traditions in the world. In a generalized way she can be classified within the categories of either the beautiful, refined, dutiful wife, or the autonomous goddess who is ferocious, volatile, and often dripping with blood. There is a fluidity within these camps, the good wife creates the chaotic devis out of her rage, the wild goddess becomes tamed by her male consort. As mentioned above Mariyamman, even unmarried, is a mix of beautiful beneficence and ferocity. Her worshippers may appreciate a connection between her and Kali, but are quick to point out her other side; the Samayapuram Mariyamman for example, is young and beautiful, adorned with garlands and jewels. All women are said to contain shakti, the power that is the goddess which animates the world. A common motif in Siva lore is that without the goddess Shakti he would be shava, a corpse. A husband is supposed to view his wife as Shakti, while she in turn is supposed to worship him as her lord. 161

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The repeated motif is that women have the power, while men have the authority. The male marries/tames the female who oozes with the unpredictability and messiness of feminine sexuality, enabling him to thus harness that power. From that vantage point, it is clear why some scholars argue that she is still a male construct, even when she waves a man's severed head. (Kali often holds a man's head in one of her left hands. Mariyamman is regularly depicted with her foot atop a man's head, which is balanced against two more heads.) The goddess' stories can certainly be interpreted to uphold the patriarchal society, one can say that the goddess does not fight to liberate women, but rather she destroys demons that have disrupted the status quo. Demons, who through some boon or other are defeating the male gods, and invading the male ruled realms of the other worlds. Sati/Parvati creates the dashamahavidya (ten great goddesses) as a result of her fury when her fa: ther Daksa insulted her husband Siva. Daksa invited everybody to his sacrifice except his tiger skin wearing, ash be-smeared, serpent adorned son-inlaw. It is a male insulting a male that causes her to self-immolate. More often than not the Devi will sacrifice herself in order to uphold a male. Surely Kali was more than capable of performing the urdhva tandava, the failure of which made Siva the victor in their dance competition. I may be inserting modern western values here, but though a standing split performed by a semi nude women would reveal more than propriety permits, the fact that she wore severed arms as a skirt implies a disregard for the "laws of Manu" obeying female, not to mention that Siva was her consort. Maybe she backed down just to make him feel better, or maybe she lost interest in the competition all together. When viewing how the goddess affects regular women it is ever important to bear in mind when discussing Indian women's sense of self and spirituality what Rita DasGupta Sherma posits, "Some of the ways in which Hindus relate women with the goddesses are not in keeping with Western feminist concepts of female power and autonomy." Meaning just because we may not see the value, or power in being the "Laksmi of the house" doesn't mean it isn't empowering. (Sherma suggests that degrees of empowerment really come from which forms of the feminine women choose to align with.) I would add that empowerment depends on the interpretive approach taken because viewed from a different lens the good wife model can be subversive, just as the ferocious goddess can be viewed keeping male order in place. Women in India : I am hesitant to discuss the role of women in India because I am a Westerner, and because I barely understand the subtleties of gender and sexual identity within my own culture, yet I will move forward because sometimes distance brings perspective. As stated earlier, there is a danger of en 162

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tering into the topic with the blinders of Western notions of empowerment and feminism stuck in place, and thus not acknowledging the strata of complexity within the Indian experience. Because I will move into some statistics about women in India that will appear to devalue any positive impact the images of powerful goddesses may have, it is necessary to try to avoid the pitfalls of personal and cultural limitations. Kathleen M. Erndl cautions this by bringing in the work of Lidde and Joshi where they argue that, "the British championed the cause of women in order to 'maintain colonialism and to demonstrate national superiority. It is easy to look at other cultures and think one's own has better answers. Before turning to some of the points in Amartya Sen's "consequential analysis of gender inequality" I will look to his opening essay in The Argumentative Indian. There he points to women's participation in the rich dialectics throughout India's history, beginning with the women who questioned the guru in the early Upanishads, to contemporary women who are deeply entrenched in politics with many national and regional parties headed by women. The Congress Party, which led the national movement for independence, had more women in powerful positions than the Russian and Chinese revolutionary movements combined. Or to quote Rita M. Gross, "it is worth noting that no American woman could possibly attain the political position of Indira Gandhi, no matter whose relative she might be." In contradiction to India's plethora of powerful women Sen looks at six "faces" of gender inequality including: "survival inequality, natality inequality, unequal facilities, ownership inequality, unequal sharing of benefits and chores, and domestic violence and physical victimization." I am going to briefly look at a few of the issues on the list. Survival inequality speaks to the international issue of higher mortality rates of women compared to men due to the poorer health care and nutrition available to women and girls. Overall India's female to male ratio is.93 compared to the sub-Saharan African standard of 1.02 (or Europe and North America which have roughly 1.05/1.06 females to 100 males) Natatlity inequality is part of a rising trend in India, as well as other parts of the world, currently played out as "high-tech sexism" in other words, sex-specific abortions. Because birth registration is incomplete in India his data comes from girl to boy ratios in children under the age of six. Of course, these numbers may also be caused by unequal health and nutritional care as well. In 1991 the girl to boy ratio was 94.5 girls to 100 boys; in 2001 it was 93 to 100.(which far exceeds South Korean and Chinese ratios with girls at 88 and 86). An interesting issue Sen raises is that the pan Indian data is very different across India. The North and West have much lower ratios (be 163

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tween 79.3 and 87.8), while the South and East have ratios as high or higher than the Western countries. Along with health care and abortion bias he voices concern for the inequality in schooling, and social participation of women who are expected to stay home, (as good upper caste females) or to be pulled from school to work in the fields (as lower caste girls are while their brothers may continue with their education ). He feels that they are deeply connected to issues of women's agency and empowerment. Ownership equality has been uneven for generations. (Not just in gender but in caste distinctions as well) But Kerala, where the influential Nayars have a history of matrilineal inheritance, stands in contrast to most of the country. Kerala was one of the Southern states (along with Andrah Pradesh, West Bengal, and Assam) that had a higher girl to boy ratio (between 96.3 and 96.6) than the highest ratio in the west (US 95.7). Kerala (as of 2001) had the highest female literacy rate, and lowest birth rates than other parts of India. Possession: Men May Subsume Female Identity, but Mariyamman has the Last Word Despite the bleak figures above there are many holy women in rural India who have contributed to education, and fostered women's communities. Ritual possession by the Devi is quite prevalent for women in the north, but it presents itself differently in south. There are descriptions of possessed female fortunetellers outside the temples in Tamilnadu, but generally female initiates practice for kin and close neighbors. In Aurloo Kapadia did witness a Brahmin priest possessed by Mariyamman but Brahmins were most apt to keep those types of experiences within caste-only gatherings, and these possession rituals were gender segregated. In Aurloo possession by the deity was generally a lower caste affair at least when displayed publicly, and as far as female possessions is concerned it was only women of the lowest, the Pallar caste who could become possessed. This contrasts with Endl, (and the women in the north) who states that there are high caste women who experience possession. Among the Pallar women of Aurloo there were a number who regularly became possessed by the goddess, but it was only men who played official, often inherited roles as vehicles for the goddess. Kapadia voices concern about an essential feature of the all caste male experience of possession that is not possible for the Pallar women. When a man prepares for possession he must, by Tamil gender-role standards feminize himself. He has to become receptive in order to be penetrated by the deity. She sees here the very qualities, such as self-sacrifice, devotion, and submissiveness that define Tamil women's power and cultural identity subsumed by males. They then contain both masculine and feminine attributes, 164

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making the women metaphorically superfluous. This "symbolic androgyny" opens men up to freedom and power. "It is this very freedom to become female,' so easily available to men, that locks Tamil women even more securely into their marginalized role because the freedom to 'be male' is never allowed to them in any ritual situation." Kapadia examines this in light of the pan Indian pattern that says women's inherent shakti needs to be controlled by men. Rather then saying men have "authority" she uses "wisdom," they have the wisdom to guide female power. In the Siva/Shakti model it is this wisdom, like Siva seated in unflinching meditation for millennia, which is steadfast, while Shakti is erratic and always moving. Masculine "wisdom" can harness this vast and vibrant feminine "power," and possessed men join the two attributes within themselves Possessed men become 'androgynous" and "complete," while women are prohibited from any ritual expression that would enable them to join their power with wisdom. Of course, nothing is cut and dry. When Kapadia switched her vantage point she went on to find a solution for female disempowerment in the lower caste understanding of Mariyamman. Brahmins may stick to seeing Mariyamman as a ferocious goddess who needs to be cooled by a male deity, but the non-Brahmins see her as "complete" without need of a male consort to balance her even if she might have one. She may become enraged under certain circumstances, but she also exudes sweetness, is wise, and beneficent. Kapadia's hermeneutics as such, stem from her understanding of the supreme divinity within the Hindu context as being the "androgynous Diety." From this perspective she views the Brahminical discourse to be one that emphasizes the male half of the divine, while the lower castes emphasize the female half. "God/Mariyamman is female in her powers but also male in her infinite wisdom." In a sense Mariyamman's roots as the ground of the village/civilization makes her second to none, she is the womb and the seed. Western Conversation Of course, female empowerment does not, and should not come at the expense of men. Mariyamman is the great goddess, but her worshipers are often devotees of Murugan as well. It is one of the lovely hallmarks of Hinduism, whether of the upper or lower castes, where worship fluidly moves from one group of gods to another. This is something that can be rife with confusion for the Westerners who study it. How could Shaivites worship. Laksmi? How could Vaisnanva Brahmins come to the Mariyamman temple? How could feminist Shaktas include male deities? I think this coursing through different perspectives and differing deities is a key to both understanding the intricacies of female and male Hindu identity, as well paving the way for variant hermeneutical methodologies. My interest in Mariyamman is very recent. I could not remember her name after I first read Kinsley's book about five years ago. The village god 165

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desses invoked my curiosity, but my snobberies were geared to the Sanskrit goddesses of the Hindu pantheon, not some smallpox goddess. It was not until I came across an image of her that she had an impact on me. Mariyamman sits on my puja, I look at her daily. At the very least she is a reminder of my inadvertent snobbery for the Brahminical deities deemed worthy of worship. She is niuch more than that. She is about change and growth, and how that often hurts. I had fancied myself a Sakta Tantrika, enjoyed the myths of the goddess, and utilized some of her mantras and mudras, but it was not until I had stood in the Kali temple, and later held my Mariyamman murti, that I understood the power of the goddess for me, as a woman. From the broad perspective the question is no longer whether the goddess is empowering to women, because she both is and is not. It is more a question about how one's vantage point of interpretation affects self and societal understanding. For me Mariyamman epitomizes the expanse past the horizon of biases, she is both not just a smallpox goddess, and simultaneously asks why is being a smallpox goddess of less import then some flasher moniker? Continuing and Moving Forward with Regular Re-Interpretation Because the stories of the deities are never the definitive story but represent diverse and sometimes conflicting teachings, and because they are what interest me that is where my proposal resides. It is in a method of interpretation that asks one to participate in the myths in a way that all the parties contained within each story are explored as aspects of oneself. I am the demon and the demon slayer, the subservient wife and the husband who calls for her beheading. Depending on my vantage point I can explore the many shades of a deity in order to grasp which aspects I need to cultivate within myself: In this sense the god no longer needs to be a fantasy husband, but rather a part of me. Since I come from a culture without divine female imagery the sight of the goddess made me feel privy to a secret well of female strength, but I suspect the stories of the goddesses are very loaded for Indians. If one's family, teachers, and priests have a certain set of interpretations that do not coincide with one's world view, excavating the goddess may seem to be much work. For some contemporary Indian women regular re-interpretation may be the only way the goddess could be useful for them. Mariyamman's fluidity, even her strange rise to upward mobility attests to the pliability of the deities, even as she exemplifies how religion reflects culture. Whether or not the goddess is a male construct is not necessarily the issue, her stories and evolutes are rich enough to be mined in variant ways. The need to differentiate male and female myths and roles may very well be 166

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necessary for women's empowerment. On the other hand, if as some scholars purpose, there has always been a patriarchal society, that the feminist ideal of a matriarchal golden age is only a fantasy, then maybe the delineations of male and female modes of interpretation is a patriarchal norm that has been taken up by feminists. I do not mean to suggest we return to the Western 1970's call that there be no difference between the sexes beyond biology, but simply that both sexes share feminine and masculine characteristics. A man should be able to gain insight into himself from Kali without it necessarily reflecting hetero or homoeroticism, but rather because she represents qualities he shares or needs to grow, just as I should be able to see Siva as part of me rather than a dream and/or nightmare boyfriend. It is through regular re-interpretation of the myths, and thus viewing them beyond gender divisions, that the goddess can become empowering for all. My proposal is then about interpretation. I suggest one look not at Siva or Kali as masculine or feminine role models, or love interests, so much as representing different facets of oneself that can be nurtured or attenuated by the stories. I suppose this means if being the "good wife" is what one aspires to be than Sita's qualities are perfectly fine to emulate, but Sita is also defiant, and if one is Sita he or she is also Rama and Ravana. I feel that just as Mariyamman's ritual festivals are for everyone in the village regardless of social or religious affiliations, so too can interpretation be a matter that enhances the community, we grow through seeing ourselves and one another in unexplored roles and realms. The undercurrent of all this is that it cannot be summed up, and nor should we want to. Mariyamman and all the gods and goddesses are rich and diverse sources who will not fit into any one thing, positive or negative. They reveal themselves the way the viewer wants to see them, and sometimes not how the viewer wants to see them. If nothing else they remind us of our own complexity and the complexity of the world around us. In the spirit of contradiction I will end by saying that whatever challenges us, and whatever reminds us of our richness and depth invites empowerment. 167

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Bibliography Fuller, C.J. The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. Harman, William. "Taming the Fever Goddess: Transforming a Tradition in Southern India" in Manushi, vol. 140, pp. 2-13. Hawley, John Stratton and Donna Marie Wulff eds. Devi: Goddesss of India. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996. Hiltebeitel, Alf and Kathleen M. Erndl eds. Is the Goddess a Feminist? The Politics of South Asian Goddesses. New York: New York University Press. 2000. Kapadia, Karin. Siva and Her Sisters: Gender, Caste, and Class in Rural South India. Boulder/Oxford: Westview Press, 1995. Kinsley, David R. Hindu Goddesses. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1986. Nabokov, Isabelle. Religion Against the Self: An Ethnography of Tamil Rituals. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pintchman, Tracy, ed. Women's Lives, Women's Rituals in the Hindu Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Sen, Amartya. The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture And Identity. New York: Picador, 2005. Waghore, Joanne Punzo. "The Gentrification of the Goddess" in International Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Dec., 2001), pp 227-269. Younger, Paul. "A Temple Festival of Mariyamman" in Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol48, No. 4 (Dec., 1980) pp. 493-517. Whitehead, Henry. The Village Gods of South India. Calcutta: Oxford University Press and Association Press, 1921. 168

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Gandhi's Heritage and India Sudarshan Iyengar Let everybody be happy, let everybody be healthy and peaceful, let all wish well for all, let nobody be unhappy. Let peace prevail in the Universe, let peace prevail around us and let peace prevail within. Introduction I am happy to contribute this small article to the collection that is brought out to felicitate Professor Y.S. Shastri, who is retiring as Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy at Gujarat University. My association with him has been rather short, I being an outside university creature and he being a Professor in the university tradition. But in the short duration that I came to know him, I have witnessed his keen interest in pursuing serious academics and training a new crop of students who can follow the tradition of learning and scholarship. I am not a trained philosopher, but I have tried to write a general essay that touches upon some aspects of economic philosophy. People and countries in the world have gone through severe turmoil and have been unable to find sustainable peace through wars, violent conflicts, rapid economic development and the unprecedented control over nature by developing science and technology. The limitations of each of these approaches have sobered us immensely and we all looking for some succour. The world has thus turned to the actions and thought of a man who by his sheer will and determination mobilised a large section of humanity to struggle against the brute forces and achieved some success. Gandhi had sufficiently warned us about the danger towards which the humanity was marching and had demonstrated that working towards the construction of a sustainable society was possible only by using non-violent means. He had put his ideas in a small but powerful book Hind Swaraj which he wrote in 1909. Though it was titled as 'Indian Home Rule', he addressed the basic problems of the world as he saw and suggested an alternative. Thus it is his ideas for the whole of the humanity. The book is not only an intellectual journey; there are emotions and experience that speak in the book. It is intense and therefore at times has a sweep, but a patient reading helps in going back to the basics of humanity dignified survival on the earth. The modern man is adventurous and would not listen to wise advise but as it is said in Gujarati Varya na Vare te Harya Vare those who do not turn back with good advice do so following defeat. The world appears to be inclined to turn back and try the Gandhian thought. A beginning has been made by the United Nations Organisation by declaring 2nd October, Gandhi's birthday as the day of International Peace and Non-Violence. In this context I would like to revisit the basic tenets that Gandhi Proposed for building a society which was sustainable and which by and large at peace. 169

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It is here that I would like to link India and the Gandhi Heritage. Gandhi always maintained that he had nothing original to offer to the world; he had only imbibed, internalised and practiced what he had learnt as the Indian heritage for sustainable human survival and development. What has India to offer to the world? This article has begun with a small prayer. It is a Vedic prayer and hence dates back to thousands of years. In the prayer the wish is for welfare of one and all and the prayer ends with an intonation for peace at the level of the universe, immediate surrounding and within self. In fact, these are the three levels at which the problems arise. Human being has a problem with self Human being has problem with fellow human beings Human beings have problems with nature It is interesting to note that this formulation was done by Bertrand Russell also and he was most probably not aware of the connection of his formulation with Vedic recitation of the peace or the Shanti Mantra that calls for peace at universal level, immediate surrounding and at an inner level. "1 Way back on 21st December 1954, the then Vice President of India Dr. S. Radhakrishnan while delivering a speech on the occasion of the Presi dent Tito's Address to the Members of Parliament in India had said, "Our age is characterised by three things, if I may say so: craving for political freedom, socialist reconstruction of society and international peace." The agenda has hardly changed today substantially. Political freedom manifests in terms of distinct ethnic or other identities even within a state that is politically free, socialist reconstruction has given way to economic growth with open economies and international peace is still on the agenda. The world has moved forward but humanity is also facing new challenges. Praying for peace at all levels even before any 'this worldly work is embarked upon is India's heritage. That is what is reflected in the Vedic peace prayer in the beginning. Prayer is most important to invoke peace. Gandhi, who always maintained that he had nothing original to offer, he was merely reiterating what was traditionally rooted in the Indian society. Gandhi was an ardent believer in prayer. He prayed without fail at least twice every day. Gandhi's heritage is thus in a way India's heritage to the world. Socialist reconstruction of the society a theme that had become popular with most the states especially after the Second World War, suffered a severe set back by the beginning of the last decade of the twentieth century. The twenty first century saw the re-emergence of market economies and globalisation. The first twenty or thirty years of the globalised economic development of the countries in the world has had a chequered record. In 170

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comes have increased, prosperity has risen and poverty has decline world over. However, there is still large number of poor people in the world for whom the future continues to be bleak. A section of the world citizenry has become an elitist group that has unleashed an era of unbridled consumerism threatening the very physical existence of the world. There is confidence among the intellectuals that the crisis can overcome with the continued advances in the science and technology. But the behaviour of the elitist groups have within the countries given rise to perception of relative deprivation which manifests in violent reactions towards fellow human beings and the nature. It appears that the peace has broken substantially. Conflicts galore. Traditionally India has viewed the material development and prosperity differently. India's heritage has been distinct with respect to treating material prosperity. It was understood that human by efforts can achieve high degree of material prosperity, but the mission of human should not be that. Instead, human mission should be inward growth or in other words, spiritual development. Gandhi took forward this concept, but with a difference. He did not speak only about developing spirituality. He suggested the approach to deal with the material progress of the people. This is a distinct contribution. Old Indian sages and the modern day spiritualists emphasise the development and exaltation of the soul at new heights and almost firmly believed in brhma satyam jagat mithya the ultimate truth was soul that merged into God and the world of material living was only a myth. The Modern civilisation almost has reversed the belief into saying jagat satyam brahma mithya, the material world is truth and the soul or God is falsehood. Gandhi applied spirituality to this worldly affair. Thus in Indian tradition, he made an original contribution. Gandhi drew from the tradition and was very clear about it. Gandhi once said that even if all the Vedas were lost completely to the humanity and only if the Ishavasya Upanishada was saved, the wisdom of the Hindu religion will be saved. And if for some reason this Upanishad was also lost but the first verse remained engraved in the memory of mankind, humanity will remain on the right course. Its relationship with self, with other selves and with nature will remain peaceful ever. We need to visit this first verse of the Ishavasya Upanishada. It goes in the following way. Ishavasyam idam sarvam Yatkinchit Jagatyam Jagat; Ten tyaktena bhunjitha maa grudha kasya swid dhanam. Whatever there is changeful in this ephemeral world, - all that must be enveloped by the Lord. By this renunciation (of the World), support yourself. Do not covet the wealth of anyone (Swami Sarvananda, 1987). India's heritage did not freeze after the Vedic period. Time and again wise people continued to reiterate and of course there were always people 171

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who tried to live the enunciated principles of the Upanishads. India, most of you may be aware, also had a strong tradition of Saints and Sufis. They used people's language to reaffirm the messages given in the Vedas and the Upanishads. In this context I will only quote a couplet by Kabir, the sixteenth century Sufi poet of India who even today has a large following in the country. Kabir said, Godhan, gajdhan, vajidhan, aur ratandhan khan, Jab aa jaave santoshdhan sab dhan dhuri samaan. Cattle wealth, Elephant wealth, horse wealth and wealth of jewels are important, but when the human mind receives the wealth of contentment, all other wealth is like dust. This is a strong message about holding the wealth. In those times. kings and the aristocrats held the wealth of elephants, horses, cattle, jewels etc. and hence Kabir had addressed to such ownership. In the second stanza he says that there was one more type of wealth and that was of contentment. Any person who got or acquired this wealth of contentment, rest all was equivalent to dust. It is not that only the sages and saints lived according to this belief. In India one would find many commoners who would have lived with the wealth of contentment. Gandhi follows this grand Indian tradition of treating the material wealth with a particular attitude. And it is in this tradition that he raises at strong criticism of the modern civilisation as he witnessed in England where he had gone to study Law. He developed his critique all through his stay in England and later in South Africa, where he lived and worked for more than twenty years. He penned his critique in 1909 in the month of November. He was travelling back from England after making a representation and he was going through immense emotional turmoil. A group of Indian Youth had decided to fight for India's independence using violence. A member of the group had attacked and killed a British officer. Gandhi firmly believed that violence was not the means through which freedom could be gained. He also saw that the youth had no idea of the type of social reconstruction that would be undertaken after the independence. They almost were to follow the way the world was going. Gandhi had severe objection to this. And thus was born. Hind Swaraj. A document containing about thirty thousand words was writ ten at once and in almost a trance. Gandhi's reservation was with regard to limitless material prosperity in the society. In Hind Swaraj, Gandhi explains the implications of the fall in the moral standards in society following material prosperity. England was the most prosperous nation in the world when the Hind Swaraj was penned. The First World War was still five years away. America was already emerging as a land of great wealth. In his December 1916 Lecture he took note of America emerging as the role model for material progress. Gandhi's reflec 172

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tions on modern civilisation were largely based on his observations on the conditions in England. He ascribes the state of affairs in England to the modern civilisation when he said, "it is not due to any peculiar fault of the English people, but the condition is due to modern civilisation. It is a civilisation only in name. Under it the nations of Europe are becoming degraded and ruined day by day" Commenting on the material prosperity Gandhi writes that living in better built houses, wearing variety of clothing, wearing shoes was all part of the civilised society. Instead of spears, people carried revolvers containing five or more chambers. Ploughing land with steam engines and make wealth was hailed as a sign of civilisation. Flying from one place to another was considered the height of civilisation. He visualises the future in the following manner. "As men progress, they shall be able to travel in airships and reach any part of the world in a few hours. Men will not need the use of their hands and feet. They will press a button, and they will have their clothing by their side. Another button and they will have their newspaper. A third and a motorcar will be waiting for them. They will have variety of delicately dished up foodH.Formerly, when people wanted to fight one another, they measured between them their bodily strength; now it is possible to take away thousands of lives by one man working behind a gun from a hill. This is civilisation" What Gandhi saw in England during his stay made deep impressions and was reflected in the following way in the Hind Swaraj. "Civilisation seeks to increase bodily comforts, and it fails miserably even in doing so. The Civilisation is irreligion, and it has taken such a hold on the people in England that those who are in it appear to be half mad. They lack real physical strength or courage. They keep up their energy by intoxication. They can. hardly be happy in solitude". Bodily comfort and the rush to acquire bodily comfort is what Gandhi has criticised the most. In his December 1916 Lecture at Allahabad in India he introduced the concept of voluntary poverty. The saints and reformers he mentions were, during their times, living examples of beings who courted voluntary poverty in order to achieve high moral standards. It is clear from the Hind Swaraj and his 1916 Lecture that material prosperity did not ensure high moral standards instead, the dash. towards material prosperity has brought the moral standards down and led to decay of human society. Through these thoughts Gandhi laid the philosophical foundation of the economic order of society. According to him, limitless material progress could not be the goal of economic development in a society. Material progress was important only for limited purposes of lifting people from abject poverty and destitution that lowered or destroyed human dignity. The production and distribution system that Gandhi conceived and tried to implement later in India along with the freedom struggle calling it the 'Swadeshi' movement was founded on the basic tenet of ultimate moral progress combined with dignified and healthy physical survival. 173

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According to him, the societies that were on limitless material acquisition path experienced a moral fall in the end. Rome suffered a moral fall after it achieved material affluence. The Yadavas during Lord Krishna's time in India ruined themselves morally when they were rolling in riches. Gandhi thought that an ordinary measure of morality is possessed by most including the very rich, but their material gains did not ensure moral richness. Sharing his longstanding observation of the society of the rich he said, "I observed almost invariably that the greater the possession of riches, the greater was their moral turpitude. Our rich men, to say the least, did not advance the moral struggle of passive resistance, as did the poor. The rich men's sense of self-respect was not so much injured as that of the poorest. If I were not afraid of treading on dangerous ground, I would even come nearer home and show you that possession of riches has been a hindrance to real growth". Gandhi then says that Jesus Christ was the greatest economist of his time. Quoting the dialogue between the Christ, a citizen and other disciples described by St. Mark, Gandhi emphasises in his lecture the virtue of spending wealth in the service of the poor and the have-nots. He further said, "I have not taken the trouble of copying similar passages from the other non Hindu scriptures and I will not insult you by quoting in support of the law stated by Jesus passages from writings and sayings of our own sages, passages stronger even if possible than the Biblical extracts have drawn your attention to. Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha, Nanak, Kabir, Chaitanya, Shankara, Dayanand, Ramakrishna were men who exercised an immense influence over and moulded the character of thousands of men HHAnd they were all men who deliberately embraced poverty as their lot." A Gandhian scholar Mashruwala has termed Gandhi's vision of culture and civilisation as sant sanskriti - saint culture. The goal of human being is to live with values where material prosperity is not the ultimate aim. Ultimate aim is to live according to indication given in Ishavasya Upanishad, which says that you should renunciate first and then indulge - ten tyakten bhunjhithaha. This is a moral value. It should thus be clear to all of us that the foundation of Gandhian economic system is based on moral values. It should now be possible to understand the process and outcome with and without ethical values in economic affairs. Modern economic thought had a religious foundation in supporting Protestant ethics against the Catholic Church values that had asked the human beings to work for all rewards that were other worldly. The consequences of such an approach and the revolt against it are well known and need not be repeated here. However, the Prot. estant ethics which began with an alternative religious value was soon deserted in favour of what was called rationality and creating a Frankenstein named 'Economic Man'. While this assumed entity of 'economic man' helped in analysis of economic behaviour in quantifiable, measurable and predictable way and helped Economics gain the status of science, in reality the 174

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uncontrolled and unregulated 'actual man' played havoc. As stated earlier the Christian sins gluttony, pride, selfishness and greed that were disapproved even with Protestant ethics surfaced soon with all possible ugliness. Gandhi visualised the havoc created by this Frankenstein and hence rejected the 'Economic Man' in favour of a 'Moral Man'. Gandhi is advocating ethics precisely for 'this worldly affair' that are economic and visualises man who is self discipline. It is important here to mention that the sant sanskriti to which Mashruwala makes a reference is not religious in the sense of 'other worldly' but it is the attitude towards need for material prosperity and progress for decent survival. In Sant Sanskriti it is Moral Man. The first premise we need to understand in the sant sanskriti is that the requirement of human beings for survival has to be regulated one. We have to start with the treatment of wants. Why did Gandhi suggest control on wants? He did so because he understood that human wants given the freedom of choice were insatiable. The modern economic thought accepts the insatiability of human demands and then suggests ways and means to deploy resources for production. Edgeworth averred more than a century ago that the first principle of economics was that every agent was actuated only by self-interest. From there arises the maximisation behaviour. It is here that the 'economic man' was born. This 'economic man' is unacceptable to Gandhi. It is here that he fundamentally differs from the modern economic thought. According to Prof. Ajit Dasgupta, it is Gandhi's conviction that one's behaviour as an economic agent cannot be isolated from one's behaviour as an autonomous moral agent. In this context, Gandhi brings in the concept of self-restraint. Then he talks about limiting one's wants. In his scheme, wants cannot be unlimited and hence they would have to be controlled. Those who have should not be aspiring for more and more. The economic man and the economic society are so defined that one always feels poor, no matter how rich he or she is. The core of this contradiction lies in the consumption and not in production. Let us remember what Marshall, the master craftsman of the consumption theory had to say, "Although it is man's wants in the earliest stages of his development that give rise to his activities, yet afterwards each new step is to be regarded as the development of activities giving rise to new wants rather than of new wants giving rise to new activities". Despite this clear understanding that Marshall displayed with respect to contrived demand dominating the consumer's behaviour, economists continue to accept the thesis of consumer being the most superior. Marshall has not been alone in this. But the great economist Keynes also had realised the problem. "Now it is true that the needs of human beings may be seen to be insatiable. But they fall in two classes: those needs which are absolute in the sense that we feel them whatever the situation or our fellow human beings may be, and those which are relative in the sense that we feel them only if their satisfaction lifts us 175

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above, makes us feel superior to, our fellows. Needs of second class, which satisfy the desire for superiority, may indeed by insatiable, for the higher the general level, the higher still are they. But this is mot so true of the absolute needs; a point may soon be reached much sooner than we area aware of, when these needs are satisfied in the sense that we prefer to devote our fur. ther energies to non-economic purposesH.We shall once more value ends above mean and prefer good to the useful'." The second issue that needs attention is the use of science and technology for economic betterment in Gandhian scheme. Modern economic thought evolved in the environment in which science and technology were changing the face of the earth very rapidly. It was no surprise that in the modern economic analysis they have played a very crucial role. There is a belief that Gandhi opposed machinery. This is not true. In his economic thought science and technology are not only useful but also desirable. They fit in well within the framework of simple living and high thinking. At the time of the writing Hind Swaraj Gandhi had observed the efforts being made all over the world and especially in England which was the imperial lord of the world then, about complicating the economic activities so that the one who set in complications reaped the maximum benefit by way of profit for the firm and industry and income and employment for the population. The criticism by the advocates of simple and uncomplicated societies for human survival, who also draw their basic strength from the emphasis on spiritual growth and development of the human civilisation than materialistic growth and development, has been that the modernisation of the society which began with the industrialisation has largely led to complication of economic transactions. The main reason for this is the acceptance of the premise that human wants are insatiable. And this has been accepted as such without any serious scrutiny of morals and ethics in society. In 1924, Gandhi was bluntly asked whether he was against all machinery. Gandhi had categorically said that he was not against machinery as such, but he was certainly against all machinery that exploited people. He also opposed the craze for machinery. He would have certainly frowned upon the gadgets and the gizmos that the top executives carry, flaunt with pride and use these days (and the Financial Newspapers run special glossy supplements on such executive choices!). Labour saving devices which resulted in human beings thrown on the streets without work is what Gandhi never took in stride. Man for him was always at the centre and he too abhorred drudgery. Interestingly, Marxian surplus can also arise only by squeezing labour and as the capitalism advances it is technology, which is used to throw labour out to increase the profits. Gandhi had put it slightly differently when he said that machines for greed were not good and he would continue to oppose them, but machines for reducing drudgery of labour were always welcome. 176

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Gandhi's concern about the type of economic development model was thus relevant then and relevant now. In a labour surplus economy, technology and industry have to be one supporting production for masses rather than mass production. Gandhi had not anticipated the western type of industrialisation even in the 1930s when the population was around 350 million. In the September 14, 1934 issue of Harijan he wrote, "We can never industrialise India, unless of course, we reduce our population from 350 millions to 35 millions or hit upon markets wider than our own and dependent on us". Thus, Gandhi was clear that capturing markets in other countries was one possible goal and removing the drudgery and using the capital in a labour scarce economy was another. Interestingly, today with even 1000 million plus population in India the argument would alter only slightly. Only forty per cent people in India have the purchasing power for most of the industrial and consumer goods that are produced and the mega Indian companies are raring to capture the global markets and that is how there is such a tremendous leaning towards globalisation. Poverty and unemployment persist albeit at much lower proportions than what they were during Gandhi's times. Industrialisation of the fourth generation i.e. the Information and Technology (IT) type also has had limited advantage in solving the problems of poverty and unemployment. The details about the Gandhi's understanding of the economic systems are mainly to make a point that he was aware about its severe limitations. Not all has come true as Gandhi had feared, but not all has come true for all that the modern civilisation appears to promise. Instead, humanity is in great crisis with respect to use of natural resources. In December 2009, the World will convene in Copenhagen, under the auspices of the United Nations, to forge a new international agreement on climate change. Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of UK, and I am sure other world leaders also, thinks that it is the ultimate test for global cooperation. It is feared in some quarters that in the midst of demanding economic conditions, environment will take back seat. But experts and political leaders supported by good economists argue that those who embrace this new green revolution concept of working on low carbon emission technologies earliest will reap the greatest rewards. Interestingly though the argument by the market economists is also that the State backing will be required to make a sustainable attempt! The argument is that more efficient consumption of energy will bring greater overall productivity, as resources once directed to meet fuel bills are released for investment. The British Prime Minister tells us that the need for low carbon energy production and infrastructure in the both the developed and the rapidly growing emerging economies, will require up to $ 33 trillion of investment by 2030, according to the estimates from the International Energy Agency. By 2015 the global environmental sector could be worth $7 trillion and sustain millions of jobs. UN 177

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agreement is not only about safeguarding environment but also about stimulating economic demand and investment. Contain global warming at 2 degree Celsius effective by establishing market mechanisms to reduce emis sions efficiently alongside a strong regime of monitoring and verification. And fair in providing help to developing countries to tackle climate change. We all know that the environmental issue came on the agenda of the world seriously after the Brundtland Commission report 'Our Common Future' was made public in. It has raised a serious issue of intergenerational equity. Are we eating up very fast all the resource that our forefathers had left for us and leave almost nothing for our future generations? The manda. rins of the modern civilisation want us to believe that all will be well once we have low carbon emission technologies in place and we all will be happy ever after. This is patently wrong, because it assumes that there will be no greed ever anywhere and everybody will behave. The financial crisis leading to a great recession is just an example of how the assumption everybody includ-" ing the state behaving honestly can go wrong. The emphasis is solely on the production. Consumption side is thoroughly ignored. It is continued to be assumed that wants are insatiable and will continue to grow. Unless the conventions of the Copenhagen type seriously deliberate a cut on consump tion, environmental problems will not get solved. The issue is not efficient production it is the issue of life style. It is the issue of life style that calls for focus on both production and consumptions simultaneously. Gandhi advocated decentralised production for local units of human settlements taking account of the surrounding ecosystem services. He did not forbid regional, national and international trade and exchange of goods and services, but he definitely insisted on prioritising the local level production and consumption of the goods and services. This production has to consider the overall constraints that the local eco-systems impose on the survival of this specie in harmony with all other species that constitute the total eco system. Obviously, Gandhi had not specifically made the point of the limits of the ecosystem's overall constraints, but he had in his perspective placed the human specie as one of the numerous in nature and regarded the later as something to be respected and revered rather than being chained and tortured and exploited for material and bodily comforts alone. The reverence and regard for the nature has been germane to the Indian culture and civilisation and hence it was no wonder that Gandhi only reiterated it. Gandhi raised the issue of consumption first because deciding about life style will determine the production requirements. In the present day context we need to raise and tackle important conceptual issues, such as "What exactly is consumption?" "Which consumer activities are most ecologically significant?" and "What strategies for changing consumer behaviour actu 178

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ally work?" All along from the day we have defined the mainstream economics, we have assumed that for economic analyses preferences are given and wants are unlimited. Further and more importantly, we believe that consumption is an end in itself. We forget that it is not an end in itself. The end depends upon ethics, culture and philosophy that govern a society. Gandhi discussed this fundamental issue. He said that that there was enough for everybody's need, but there wasn't enough for even one person's greed. Gandhi would not have treated the issue of environmental governance in the way in which today's leaders are doing. They are trying to work towards systems that would restrain individuals and producers from licentious behaviour. There would be incentives and disincentives. There would be carrot and stick policies. This approach is the product of the thinking of modern civilisation. Gandhi suggested that individual should be at the centre. The behaviour has to be regulated first by the self. It is here that he argued that the modern civilisation motivated individuals towards exercising brute force that would only unleash violence. So the materialistic society will not only support unbridled consumption, it will also promote violence. The humanity will ultimately lose. Thus, in Hind Swaraj Gandhi established compassion and love as the core human values. Compassion and love helped in cultivating self-denial, which promoted non-violence. These values together created the soul-force. The Swaraj, which meant regulating one self, could be achieved only by developing soul force. Gandhi knew that it was not easy to cultivate these human values. One had to practice all through the life. But a commitment was necessary before one embarked on this path. Gandhi was acutely aware about this when he was writing Hind Swaraj. He wrote in the end "In my opinion, we have used the term "Swaraj" without understanding its real significance. I have endeavoured to explain it as I understand it, and my conscience testifies that my life henceforth is dedicated to its attainment." The point that is worth noting is that Gandhi successfully used this individually cherished and practiced human value of love to resist and protest against the brute force of the British rulers. Gandhi's conviction in the sustainability and superiority of soul force over brute force was total. In this context of his belief in soul force and love force he appears to have drawn again from the Indian heritage. The Ishavasya Upanishada from we read the first verse comes another verse which is as follows. "Yastu sarvani bhutani atmanyeva anupashyati, sarvabhuteshu cha atmanam tato na vijugupsate'. The wise man who perceives all beings as not distinct from his own Self at all, and his own Self as the Self of every being - he does not, by virtue of that perception, hate any one (Swami Sarvananda, 1987). 179

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It should interest us immensely that this concept of love towards all souls by perceiving them as own soul continued to reflect in the writings and advocacies of the saints in India. Gandhi while emphasising love force quotes one such saint Goswami Tulsidas who is very well known for his epic poetry of Ramayana. Gandhi quotes the following couplet explaining the love force. Gandhi quotes this in Chapter 17 of Hind Swaraj. Daya Dharamka mool hai, Deh mool Abhimaan, Tulsi daya na chhandiye, jab lag ghat mein pran". Hence he believed in loving all human beings including the enemy. A Gandhian Scholar notes that Gandhi's primary concern was to revolutionise human life itself, to remake a man capable of cultivating Soul Force, by transforming his motivations and the modes of his nature so that he could meet the demands of life in human way. One could appeal to others only when one had nothing but love for all and not hatred in the inner side of the self. I began with the observation that humankind is faced even today with the problem of physical well being today and tomorrow, our generations and the next innumerable generations. Second, we all want to lead that physical wellness life with peace and almost no conflicts. However, we know that the path we have tried to follow since the Industrial revolution has increasingly reduced our attachment to soil the mother earth and hence we have only tried to exploit her. Unfortunately, the earth is only the source, but also the sink. It is the same place where we are producing, using the resources and consuming. While we do so we are also creating waste (In the sense in which it is not useful to human specie and in many cases hazardous and lethal to some other species). This waste that is produced by the human beings also reduces the scope for regeneration of resources that we need to produce and consume. By abusing mother earth, by making it filthy we are not disrespecting our creator and our provider, but also we are putting our own existence into danger. We shifted from Soil economics (i.e. agrarian economics), where we used human and animal energy both of which were renewable and hence sustainable. We removed S from soil and landed into Oil Economics and we know that the trouble began. Have we ever thought that for thousands of years of existence when mother earth supported us and in turn we supported her, we all lived sustainably? The conflicts were less; peace was inbuilt, because there wasn't much greed. With shift in energy source, the production and consumption leapt many times and so also the greed. And here we are; in less than 300 years of the great industrial revolution, we are in deep crisis. Scientists, technologists and the economists have influenced the politicians who are trying to sell us the idea that everything will be fine and we only need to innovate, innovate and innovate and work for low carbon emitting technologies and 180

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things will be fine. This is deceptive to say the least. Look at the consumption basket of the rich. It has gone bigger and bigger. Many more poor are eating today than they were 100 years back, but their aspirations have changed too. They are eyeing at the rich's consumption basket. The rich in turn are eying at the natural resources in the poor countries. The deal is: poor nations produce cheap and sell to rich nations and rich nations throw crumbs at poor nations. And in every poor nation there is a section of rich who can afford the same level of living as that of rich nations. They are the middle men who produce and sell to the rich nations. This analysis may appear very simple, but meaning of globalisation is not much different. There is a problem and Gandhi saw and warned us 100 years ago, but we have not listened. Poor feel relatively deprived. Some of them have become very conscious about the loss of property and use rights over the natural resources that market takes away from them in an unfair deal, because in most cases State has become a partner to business. In reality we should know that a nexus has been established between the state and the market forces (which most times are monopolistic and oligopolistic). The poor are now organising and fighting for the identity. This is another and parallel development. In defending the identities and fighting the market and state forces of the developed world, the developing world's communities are turning fundamentalists using religion as a weapon. I do not have to elaborate on this point as we all know it. I am only trying to tell that rise of fundamentalism is although religious and thus moral based, it soon turns violent and immoral. The world view of these fundamentalist organisations is also the same one i.e. capturing power for material prosperity. The conflict is mainly for capturing and enjoying scarce resources. It is here that Gandhi tried to show us the way. Examination of transformation in personal life would lead us to search the emerging individual and her values. New Individualism is being explained variously. There appears to be a rise in 'me' generation proceeding fast towards 'me first' generation. If personal liberty gains paramount importance then the problems between liberty and equality will have to be tackled de novo. 'Me first' society would harm the social solidarity which both the neoliberal and the neo-socialist have to achieve. The causes attributed to this 'me first' individualism are different. Neoliberal blame it on the new permissiveness of the 1960s and neo-socialists would blame it on the rise of the market fundamentalism. The new individualism rejects traditions and traditional values. Family is not the unit, individual is the unit. This might not necessarily mean a total moral decay. New post modern values seem to be appearing in which individual is keen to see basic human rights, ecological values and sexual freedom established. It is worth recalling here that despite the concerns the ecological problem can be tackled neither in the market fundamental environment nor in the communist or social democratic welfare state environment. 181

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In the overall assessment, the situation is complex indeed. The individualism with 'me first' characteristics and new moral concerns can turn in any way. I have argued in sufficient details above that the perspective has to change and reach near the Gandhian perspective. For regulating individual behaviour and cultivating love force he suggested eleven vows that an individual must resolve and practice. In the context of Indian struggle for independence he had suggested the following resolves. Truth Non violence Non stealing Non Acquisitive Brahmacharya (detachment) Control over palate Self reliance Bread labour Fearlessness Removal of untouchability Respect for all religions The first five vows are very well-known Yam Niyams, principles to be strictly followed for spiritual development. Along with striving for truth and non-violence Asteya- non-stealing, Aparigraha - being trustee to wealth and accepting voluntary poverty, Bread labour for living and in interacting with others at micro level would answer main problems relating to insatiable aggregate demand, monopolistic practices, abnormal profit appropriation and ecological disasters. This Gandhian model of individual behaviour has greatest potential to bring a socioeconomic order that in turn has better potential for moving towards sustainable societies. These core values for self regulation are age old and part of the India's heritage and Gandhi found them very relevant for the modern day human development. Thus India and Gandhi have left with humanity a rich heritage that would help in building a human and sustainable society. One wonders why the world is so hesitant to consider the 'Gandhian Way'! 182

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Foot-notes Gujarat is one of major Indian Language spoken in Gujarat located in western India. For full text of the speech refer, S. Radhakrishnan, 1956. Occasional Speeches and Writings, Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, New Delhi 3. Upanishads are highly scholarly commentaries on the Vedas. There are 108 Upanishads.g For an interesting account, readers may refer Rajmohan Gandhi, The Good Boatman: A Portrait of Gandhi, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 1995, and Mohandas-A True Story of a Man, His people and an Empire, Penguin, Viking, New Delhi 2008. On December 22, 1916, he had accepted Kapildeva Malaviya's invitation to speak to the members of the Economics Society of Muir Central College Allahabad. Significantly, his lecture was entitled "Does Economic Progress Clash with Real Progress"? 6. Shah Ramesh B, 1998, (Gujarati) Gandhian Lifestyle and Economic Sys tem, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad. 7. Ajit K. Dasgupta, Gandhi's Economic Thought, Routledge, London, 1996 8. Diwan Romesh and Lutz Mark (Editors), 1985. Essays in Gandhian Economics Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi 9. Joshi P.C. 1985, "Gandhian Economics Today: Issues for Discussion", in Conference Volume, Indian Economic Association. P 2. 10. United Nations, 1987. Our Common Future: The World Commission on Environment and Development, United Nations, Washington D.C. 11. Dayal Parmeshwari, 2006. Gandhian Theory of Social Reconstruction , Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi. 183

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Understanding Diversity / Plurality in Multiculturalism: Fusion of Cultural Horizons - Professor R.P. Singh Philosophically speaking, diversity / plurality is the most operative term in the discourse on multiculturalism. This is based on the fact that there are cultures representing diverse visions of good life, values and convictions. Multiculturalism is not a philosophical school with a distinct concept of man and his place in the world, yet it is definitely a perspective on or a way of viewing social nexus, spatio-temporal frame, and earthly existence, historical, cultural and actual human life. As such multiculturalism involves a study of human life within historical and cultural framework, culturally derived system of meaning and significance. Most importantly, multiculturalism proposes to study diversity of cultures in terms civil and democratic rights, property and settlement, marriage and inheritance and above all citizenship so that people belonging to each cultural community could be recognized as valid participants in the civil society and hence there is a possible fusion of cultural horizon. In this paper, I'll develop the philosophic aspect of the notion of diversity / plurality in order to understand multiculturalism to pave the way for fusion of cultural horizon. I'll propose dialectical dialogue which is deeply rooted on the reality of human existence in terms of their identities, ethnicities, cultures and civilizations. The term multiculturalism first came to be used in the 1960's. It was used to counter the term "Biculturalism". Multiculturalism basically addressed the rights of the French and English peoples. The immigrants since 1900 weren't getting fair rights and the Natives and the e French speaking Canadians were extremely frustrated. They were being ignored by English speaking people who were controlling Canada. This caused the split of lower and upper Canada. People started complaining that they weren't getting paid the same amount or treated the same way as the other Canadians. In 1967 the racial and ethnic barriers started being removed. And finally to restore peace in 1971(after Canada became independent), Canada became the first country in the world to adopt the multicultural policy based on cultural pluralism. Canadians were accepted as a mosaic of people, meaning people from all different nations were equal. The US however used a melting pot technique, people aren't allowed to keep their own nationalities but rather give them up and become Americans. Though the emergence of the multicultural discourse was at first in Canada, it gradually went to Australia and then in the U.S.A., U.K., Germany, Spain and even France, the strongest bastion of the nation state, which takes no official note of its citizens' ethnicity, culture and religion and does not record these in its decennial census. Bhukhu Parekh suggests three central insights to multiculturalism: "first, human beings are culturally embedded in the sense that they grow up and live within a cultur 184

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ally structured world and organize their lives and social relations in terms of a culturally derived system of meaning and significance. Second, different cultures represent different systems of meaning and visions of the good life. Third, every culture is internally plural and reflects a continuing conversation between its different traditions and strands of thought. This does not mean that it is devoid of coherence and identity, but that its identity is plural, fluid and open." As a matter of fact, multiculturalism was in the process of making for a long time, perhaps very long time. Rightly understood, the emergence of the multicultural society is not sudden. History knows no hiatus in its course. The periodization of history under the labels of ancient, medieval, modern and postmodern has a liberal element of academic arbitrariness. Today the world is one; the Chinese, the Indians, the Europeans or the Americans mingle in academia and in the market place. The philosophical excursion into the emergence of multicultural society requires us to undertake an exploration of many human horizons, proximate and distant, contemporaneous and historical. What is more, humans being essentially Dasein, projective in character, the fuller implications of emergence can be better understood if we look forward, more intensely and imaginatively, to the future which slowly, at times not so slowly, are coming up. Modern science and technology has played the most important role in bringing the people so close to one another. Culture is one of the most operative terms of multiculturalism. Culture (Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning 'to cultivate') refers to the cultivation of human mind in terms of customs and traditions, values and virtues, language and literature, art and architecture, music and dance, and above all, an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning, the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize a community. In 1952, A.L. Kroeber and Klyde Kluchohn have given 164 definitions of cultural aspects of human beings comprising of the content and the intent of culture, its universalistic character, the hierarchical status and the pluralistic features. The universalistic features are based on the distinction between humans and the animals, the former can create symbols, typologies. conventions, belief systems, reason, subjectivity and emancipation. Humans can even create symbols not understandable by means of five senses. There may be negotiating aspects of culture particularly in the context of hierarchies of cultures - central/marginal, mainstream/subaltern, literate/illiterate, west/east, and so on. Raymond Williams in Culture and Society has enumerated three features of culture; namely, culture as a way of life, culture consisting of norms and principles and finally the documentary aspects of culture such as oral/written aspects, museums, archaeology, symbols/meanings, etc. Sri Aurobindo in Foundations of Indian Culture 185

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vindicates S?dhan?, Vidy? and Kal? as three interrelated aspects of Indian culture. Indian culture is a culture of knowledge par? vidy? and apar? vidy?, of Abhyudaya and Nihshreyas, of dialogue, of spirituality Ish?v?syamidamsarvam, of Amrit?syaputrah, of Yoga, of Global family, and so on. In view of different forms of life- world, one may take up Wittgensteinian approach of different 'language games' or Ryles 'logical geography of concepts'. But I'll take up knowledge-power nexus in culture emphasizing on the hermeneutic aspect of culture where there is perpetual development of culture through cross cultural interaction or what Gadamer says of 'fusion of horizons'. When the concept of culture first emerged in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, it connoted a process of cultivation or improvement, as in agriculture or horticulture. In the nineteenth century, it came to refer first to the betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through education, and then to the fulfillment of national aspirations or ideals. In the twentieth century, culture emerged as a concept central to anthropology, encompassing all human phenomena that are not purely results of human genetics. Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively. Following World War II, the term became important, albeit with different meanings, in other disciplines such as sociology, cultural studies including philosophy, organizational psychology and management studies. In the nineteenth century, humanists such as English poet and essayist Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) used the word "culture" to refer to an ideal of individual human refinement, of "the best that has been thought and said in the world." This concept of culture is comparable to the German concept of bildung: "...culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world." In practice, culture referred to an elite ideal and was associated with such activities as art, classical music, and haute cuisine. As these forms were associated with urbane life, "culture" was identified with "civilization" (from lat. civitas, city). Another facet of the Romantic movement was an interest in folklore, which led to identifying a "culture" among non-elites. This distinction is often characterized as that between "high culture", namely that of the ruling social group, and "low culture." In other words, the idea of "culture" that developed in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries reflected inequalities within European societies. 186

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Culture is the one people inherit. Alfred Kroeber (1876-1970) identified culture with the "superorganic," that is, a domain with ordering principles and laws that could not be explained by or reduced to biology. He proposes a distinction beteen culture and nature - culture is everything which is not natural. Kroeber argued that the "unlimited receptivity and assimilativeness of culture" made it practically impossible to think of cultures as discrete things. Ruth Benedict (1887-1948) and Margaret Mead (1901-1978), produced monographs on comparative studies analyzing the forms of creativity possible to individuals within specific cultural configurations. Essential to their research was the concept of "context": culture provided a context that made the behavior of individuals understandable; geography and history provided a context for understanding the differences between cultures. Benedict presents sketches of three cultures, the Zuni, the Dobu, and the Kwakiutl, and uses these cultures to elaborate her theory of culture as personality-writ-large.' Before introducing the ethnographies, Benedict includes two theoretical chapters and introduces the term 'pattern, which she interchanges with similar phrases in the rest of the text. Indeed, although she rarely uses the word 'pattern,' she articulates her theory of cultural patterns within the first chapter, stating: "What really binds men together is their culture - the ideas and the standards they have in common" (Benedict 1934:16). "A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought and action" (Benedict 1934:46); "The nature of the trait will be quite different in the different areas according to the elements with which it has combined" (Benedict 1934:37); "If we are interested in cultural processes, the only way in which we can know the significance of the selected detail of behavior is against the background of the motives and emotions and values that are institutionalized in that culture " (Benedict 1934:49). Thus, by her definition, every culture has a system of beliefs -- the ideas and standards, the institutionalized motives, emotions, and values -- that enables internal coherence. This theory links individuals, almost like fractals, to the general cultural shape in which they participate. A culture can be understood as an individual personality, and each person within a culture can be understood in relation to the pattern, traits, or types which characterize their particular culture. Although Benedict felt that virtually all cultures are patterened, she argued that these patterns change over time as a consequence of human creativity, and therefore different societies around the world had distinct characters. Patterns of Culture contrasts Zu?i, Dobu and Kwakiutl cultures as a way of highlighting different ways of being human. Additionally one may go to Guilt, Shame and Hope traditions of culture. Benedict observed that many Westerners felt that this view forced them to abandon their "dreams of permanence and ideality with the individual's illusions of autonomy" and 187

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that for many, this made existence "empty." She argued however that once people accepted the results of scientific research, people would "arrive then at a more realistic social faith, accepting as grounds of hope and as new bases for tolerance the coexisting and equally valid patterns of life which mankind has created for itself from the raw materials of existence." Hence human beings are culturally embedded in the sense that they grow up and live within a culturally structured world and organize their lives and social relations in terms of a culturally derived system of meaning and significance. They have either consciously adopted or uncritically accepted the culture or reflectively revised it in rare cases. Since European modernity, science and the scientific temper has been instrumental in moulding and transforming cultural beliefs and attitudes of the people. The question arises- is cultural identity getting lost or is it getting replaced with scientific temper? The liberalist ideology regarded man as 'given' and nature is regarded as another 'given' and nature is something for man to 'use' and have power to control natural forces and exploit its resources for human development. The Enlightenment Rationality had dual function to perform to validate the development of science and to vindicate values of freedom, autonomy, sovereignty, rationality, tolerance, adulthood, public and private, property, etc. - and to be able to replace cultural values. Max Weber characterized Cultural Modernity as the separation of substantive reason expressed in religion and metaphysics into three autonomous regions-Science, Morality and Art. Peter Berger suggested five phenomena characteristic of modernity: a. Abstraction, b. Futurity, c. Individualism, d. Liberation and e. Secularization. I prefer Max Weber's definition for a start, but would amend that slightly. For behind that separation of 'substantive reason' from the religious consciousness, and also from its basic unity, is the fundamental act of the Modern- the repudiation of the Transcendent as the Unifying Principle, and its replacement by Human rationality as Sovereign and as the New Unifying principle of all experience and all understanding. The central and the fundamental thrust of the modern, it seems to me is the bold and unhesitating affirmation of the autonomy of human individual and society, as not dependent on, or answerable to, any other reality. It is that affirmation that repudiates all external authority, outside of human reason, whether of religions or of tradition. From that repudiation of external authority and the affirmation of human autonomy and sovereignty have come the other trappings of the Modern- e.g., Modern Science/Technology, Modern Urban/Industrial civilization, Modern Philosophy and Literature, and so on. The beginnings of Modernity can be traced to that intellectual fever that spread in Europe from the middle of the 18th century. The French Revolution of 1789 was a high point in the spread of this intellectual-spiritual as 188

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well as political-economic-social ferment in western society. The process lasted from mid-18th to mid 19th century, and is still spreading geographically, encompassing all cultures, which adopt the urban technological-industrial system, with its Capitalist mode of production, Calvinist-individualist "valuesystem". Culture, medicine, cominunication system, educational system and political-economic institutions are all based on human sovereignty and autonomy. We "modern educated people" are all today, in large measure, product of the ferment and process. In India the process is pervasive, but has not yet conquered all the people since all the people have not yet been educated! The Modern, if not identical with that process, is certainly a consequence of that intellectual-spiritual ferment which is sometimes referred to as the European Enlightenment to distinguish it from other enlightenments like the Buddhist, to whom perhaps the term originally belongs. Enlightenment Liberalism, with its twin children of modern Science/Technology and the Urban-industrial society, and its outcomes, namely, the Marxist attempt to construct the ideal society, and the Positivist-Linguistic-Discourse endeavor to capture the truth in words is based on the affirmation of the autonomy of the human individual and his /her capacity to know, shape and order the world. These four constitute the hallmarks of the modern. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) formulated an individualist definition of "enlightenment" similar to the concept of bildung: "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity." He argued that this immaturity comes not from a lack of understanding, but from a lack of courage to think independently. Against this intellectual cowardice, Kant urged: Sapere aude, "Dare to be wise!" In reaction to Kant, German scholars such as Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) argued that human creativity, which necessarily takes unpredictable and highly diverse forms, is as important as human rationality. Moreover, Herder proposed a collective form of bildung. For Herder, "Bildung was the totality of experiences that provide a coherent identity, and sense of common destiny, to a people." In 1795, Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) called for an anthropology that would synthesize Kant's and Herder's interests. During the Romantic era, scholars in Germany, especially those concerned with nationalist movements - such as the nationalist struggle to create a "Germany" out of diverse principalities, and the nationalist struggles by ethnic minorities against the Austro-Hungarian Empire - developed a more inclusive notion of culture as "worldview". According to this school of thought, each ethnic group has a distinct worldview that is incommensurable with the worldviews of other groups. Although more inclusive than earlier views, this approach to culture still allowed for distinctions between "civilized" and "primitive" or "tribal" cultures The connection between culture and language has been noted as far back as in the classical period and probably long before. The ancient 189

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Greeks for example distinguished between civilized peoples and barbaros "those who babble", i.e. those who speak unintelligible languages. The fact that different groups speak different, unintelligible languages is often considered more tangible evidence for cultural differences than other less obvious cultural traits. Herder, Wundt and Humbolt, often saw language not just as one cultural trait among many but rather as the direct expression of a people's national character, and as such as culture in a kind of condensed form. In 1860, Adolf Bastian (1826-1905) argued for "the psychic unity of mankind". He proposed that a scientific comparison of all human societies would reveal that distinct worldviews consisted of the same basic elements. According to Bastian, all human societies share a set of "elementary ideas" (Elementargedanken); different cultures, or different "folk ideas" (Volkergedanken), are local modifications of the elementary ideas. This view paved the way for the modern understanding of culture. Franz Boas (18581942) was trained in this tradition, and he brought it with him when he left Germany for the United States. A culture could possibly be evaluated in three ways- Cognitive, Connotive and Normative. The cognitive aspect consists of the world view, the apparent plurality with internal coherence and identity and reflects a continuing conversation between its different traditions and strands of thought. Connotive means acting in certain way within the culture, a way of life with meaning and significance. Normative means judging or evaluating in terms of majority and minority, mainstream and subaltern, high and low, etc. with the view of apprehending the crisis. In a nutshell we can say that culture consists of the aspects of religion/dharma, spirituality, philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, archaeology and so on. With science and its methodology, there can be an attempt to evaluate culture in terms of the content and the intent of culture, the universalistic character of culture, the hierarchical status of culture and the pluralistic features of culture. Since different cultures represent different systems of meaning and visions of the good life, each realizes a limited range of human capacities and emotions and grasps only a part of the totality of human existence. Suppose I say that 'Everybody has freedom to live a good quality of Life'. Now I split this statement into two parts- 'Everybody has freedom and 'to live a good quality of life'. So far as the first part is concerned, there is no contestation but the second part is extremely contested. One may ask the question is Christianity or Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism, etc. a good quality of life? Or is capitalism or socialism a good quality of life? Or is liberalism, conservatism, or nationalism a good quality of life? To answer this question, one culture needs other cultures to help it understand itself better, expand its intellectual and moral horizon, stretch its imagination, save it from nar 190

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cissism to guard it against the obvious temptation to absolutize itself, and so on. This does not mean that one cannot lead a good life within one's own culture, but rather that, other things being equal, one's way of life is likely to be richer if one also enjoys access to others, and that a culturally self-contained life is virtually impossible for most human beings live in the modern globalized and interdependent world. From a pluralist perspective, no political doctrine or ideology can represent the full truth of human life. Each of them - be it liberalism, conservatism, socialism or nationalism - is embedded in a particular culture, represents a particular vision of the good life, and is necessarily narrow and partial. Liberalism, for example, is an inspiring doctrine stressing such great values as human dignity, autonomy, liberty, critical thought and equality. However, they can be defined in several different ways, of which the liberal is only one and not always the most coherent. The term multiculturalism generally refers to an applied ideology of racial, cultural and ethnic diversity within the demographics of a specified place, usually at the scale of an organization such as a school, business, neighborhood, city or nation. Some countries have official, or de jure policies of multiculturalism aimed at recognizing, celebrating and maintaining the different cultures or cultural identities within that society to promote social cohesion. In this context, multiculturalism advocates a society that extends equitable status to distinct cultural and religious groups, with no one culture predominating. Cultural pluralism is a term used when small groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities. One of the most notable cultural pluralisms is the caste system, which is related to Hinduism and also the example of Lebanon where 18 different religious communities co-exist on a land of 10,452 kma. In a pluralist culture, unique groups not only co-exist side by side, but also consider qualities of other groups as traits worth having in the dominant culture. The current contemporary art world in the 21st century is an example of cultural pluralism. For another example, a community center in the United States may offer classes in Indian yoga, Chinese calligraphy, and Latin salsa dancing. That community may also have one or more synagogues, mosques, mandirs, gurudwaras, and/or Buddhist temples, as well as several churches of various Christian denominations. The existence of such institutions and practices are possible if the cultural communities responsible for them are protected by law and/ or accepted by the larger society in a pluralist culture. We may propose four ways to deal with the notion of plurality. The first could be the Vedic exhortation of Ekam sat vipr?h bahudh? vadanti. This has been the fundamental act of philosophizing in India. The Reality admits of alternative approaches in terms of thought constructions and linguistic expressions. It is pluralistic in its expression. The initial characteristics of Indian society are that it is diverse, liberal, democratic and pluralistic in regulating and restructuring the systems of Indian philosophy. Pluralism has been expressed in many ways 191

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in the later development of Indian philosophical systems, such as in the Ved?nta philosophy, we go from one to many; in Vallabha Ved?nta, we go from many to one; in S?nkhya and Ny?ya-Vaisesika systems, we go from many to many and in Buddhism, we go from nothing, i.e. svabh?va shunya to many. The pluralistic nature of Indian society is manifested in various ethnic identities, community structure, linguistic identities, different nationalities, languages and so on. This plurality, however, does not imply that there is complete fragmentation as has been proclaimed by Karl Marx, "A country not only divided between Mahommedan and Hindoo, but between tribe and tribe, between caste and caste; a society whose framework was based on a sort of equilibrium, resulting from a. general repulsion and constitutional exclusiveness between all its members. Such a country and such a society, were they not the predestined prey of conquest?...India, then, could not escape the fate of being conquered, and the whole of her past history, if it be anything, is the history of the successive conquests she has undergone. Indian society has no history at all, at least no known history. What we call its history, is but the history of the successive intruders who founded their empires on the passive basis of that unresisting and unchanging society. The question, therefore, is not whether the English had a right to conquer India, but whether we are to prefer India conquered by the Turk, by the Persian, by the Russian, to India conquered by the Briton." I wish to contest and repudiate this position. Behind the plurality in Indian philosophy, there is an underlying unity and collectivity which rejects individualism. It may be illustrated with such acts of philosophizing as purva paksa, khandan and uttarpaksa, dialogue opposed to commandments, vad, vivad and vitanda, councilling aspects of Indian culture. Of course Karl Marx had never stepped foot in India. But it was a temper of the times. A white man was always preferred for such intellectual tasks over an Indian, even though the subject was India. In this context, an analysis of power, its relation to knowledge and culture/ cultural community becomes sine qua non for fruitful investigation. The relationship between power and knowledge is central to what Foucault (1926-84) calls "genealogy." Eschewing a top-down model that conceives of power as a monolithic force imposed by dominant social/ cultural groups, Foucault posits power in terms of various articulations of force circulating throughout the social - cultural body and shaping people's understandings of themselves and their relations to the world in which they act. So for Foucault power is force, not a substance-a force that is fluid and productive, and not merely coercive. Power cannot be conceived except in terms of its relations, relations that range from the microphysical to the global and that can be traced in terms of the strategies, techniques and practices within which such relations are enacted. As a matter of fact, Foucault wrote little about philosophy in terms of epistemology, ontology and so on, 192

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The subjects which Foucault dealt with are such as madness, hospitals, prisons, infamy, sexuality, etc. But he is philosophically preoccupied with conversations on reason, language, knowledge, and power, along with the structure of classical episteme including that of Kant besides being greatly under the influence of Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. I regard Foucault a postmodernist. Since postmodernity, as Jean-Francois Lyotard has said, is a 're-writing of modernity', Foucault retains many aspects of modernity, yet he has rejected the norms of strict logic and rationality which characterize the latter. In epistemology, we come across a fundamental re-ordering of objects of knowledge, with the help of the sources and the means of knowledge. Foucault, in his structuralism, "presents them as rather organic structures', connected to one another by analogies between their structures and hence between their functions. As a result, the essential reality of things is not located in the continuous series that they form in an ideal conceptual space. It is found rather in their existence as discrete structures. Further, their similarities of structure are not due to 'their adjacency in a classificatory table (but to the fact that they are close to one another in a temporal succession: A thing is what it is not because of its place in the ideal classification system but because of its place in real history. The order of concretely existing things is from now on determined not by ideal essences outside them but by the historical forces buried within them." Once the sources and the means of knowledge are redefined, the corresponding conceptions of reality get redefined. Foucault notes that modern philosophical reflection especially that of Kant is preoccupied with 'man'. He says, "...before the end of the eighteenth century, Man did not exist and that he will disappear with the (apparently imminent) collapse of the modern episteme." To develop modernist notion of man, I would like to turn to Richard Rorty's consideration of the dispute between cardinal Bellarmine and Galileo. For, as Rorty explains, "Much of the seventeenth century's notion of what it was to be a 'philosopher' and much of the Enlightenment's notion of what it was to be 'rational turns on Galileo being absolutely right and the Church absolutely wrong." In modernism Bellarmine's appeal to Biblical scriptures to limit the scope of Copernican theory is seen as illegitimate in so far as it imposes a religious dogma on a scientific hypothesis. In other words, it imposes non-scientific values on purely scientific concerns and thus fails to understand the distinguishing marks of rational knowledge as opposed to faith. The conflict between science and religion is itself historical product of modernism. This conflict did not exist before Galileo's defenders used it to refute Bellarmine. We support Galileo because we are his heirs. "We are the heirs of three hundred years of rhetoric about the importance of distinguishing sharply between science and religion ... But to proclaim our loyalty to these distinctions is not to say that there are 'objective' and 'rational' arguments for adopt 193

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ing them. Galileo, so to speak, won the argument and we all stand on the common ground of the grid of relevance and irrelevance which modern philosophy developed as a consequence of this victory." Galileo's reply was his Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, in which he argued for the strict separation of theological and scientific issues, on the ground that science and religion require different enterprise so that the truth of science should not conflict with the truth of religion. rou Foucault takes this episode as a narrative of power. Two techniques of power with which Foucault has been interested are disciplinary power and bio-power. From the seventeenth century western societies, Foucault suggests that the power to administer life evolved in two basic forms: the first, disciplinary in character, focusing on the body as a productive machine, and the second, bio-power, focusing on the body as a living organism, serving the basis of biological processes (e.g., birth, health). Power operates through bodies, as bio-power. Dreyfus and Rabinow write, "Foucault's aim is to isolate, identify, and analyze the web of unequal relationships set up by political technologies which underlies and undercuts the theoretical equality posited by the law and political philosophers. Biopower escapes from the representation of power as law and advances under its protection. ... To understand power in its materiality, its day to day operation, we must go to the level of the micropractices, the political technologies in which our practices are formed" Bio-power is a specific form of power that emerges in the modern period (post-18th century) as a part of the larger "technology" of modern societies. Bio-power is a dispersed form of power; rather than coming "from above" and organizing people through restriction and prohibition, bio-power gets us to regulate ourselves. Think of bio-power this way: once medicine gets a handle on how to cure disease (which really only happens in the 20th century, with the development of antibiotics, chemotherapies, the understanding of hormones and the ability to synthesize them, etc.), there is a shift in emphasis from death to life in medicine. There is a tremendous focus in culture now on "health"; we are told everyday how to eat, sleep, exercise, and basically live our lives in order to extend them or avoid illness. From a traditional perspective, this is a positive development; medicine works to enhance people's lives. From Foucault's perspective, this development represents the enhancement of biopower, as our daily practices must now include myriad micropractices aimed at illness-prevention. The flow of medical information about health is a regulatory discourse and a method of dividing people based on their health practices and outcomes. Unhealthy people become easy to blame for their illnesses within this paradigm, and the state is able to avoid its responsibility to clean up the environment, curb industrial pollution, insure a safe food supply, etc., since the primary emphasis of illness prevention is understood to be 194

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personal, in one's own control. Personal regulation knits us all ever more firmly to the ideal of "progress" that modern society stands for; we stake our claim to be modern subjects in part through the specific practices we engage. "Exercise," then, is a regulatory regime that keeps us focused on our bodies; the forms of bio-power in operation today not only work through our bodies, but keep us focused on our bodies as a locus of the truth of the person. The knowledge - power nexus becomes evident if take culture as the horizon of people's body (of knowledge/power) and we come across multiple horizons. One definitely faces the problem of contact, conflict and confluence of cultural horizons. The basic model of understanding that Gadamer (1900-2002) finally arrives at in Truth and Method is that of conversation. A conversation involves an exchange between conversational partners that seeks agreement about some matter at issue; consequently, such an exchange is never completely under the control of either conversational partner, but is rather determined by the matter at issue. Conversation always takes place in language and similarly Gadamer views understanding as always linguistically mediated. Since both conversation and understanding involve coming to an agreement, so Gadamer argues that all understanding involves something like a common language, albeit a common language that is itself formed in the process of understanding itself. In this sense, all understanding is, according to Gadamer, interpretative, and, insofar as all interpretation involves the exchange between the familiar and the alien, so all interpretation is also translative. Gadamer's commitment to the linguisticality of understanding also commits him to a view of understanding as essentially a matter of conceptual articulation. This does not rule out the possibility of other modes of understanding, but it does give primacy to language and conceptuality in hermeneutic experience. Indeed, Gadamer takes language to be, not merely some instrument by means of which we are able to engage with the world, but as instead the very medium for such engagement. We are 'in' the world through being 'in' language. This emphasis on the linguisticality of understanding does not, however, lead Gadamer into any form of linguistic relativism. Just as we are not held inescapably captive within the circle of our prejudices, or within the effects of our history, neither are we held captive within language. Language is that within which anything that is intelligible can be comprehended, it is also that within which we encounter ourselves and others. In this respect, language is itself understood as essentially dialogue or conversation. Like Wittgenstein, as well as Davidson, Gadamer thus rejects the idea of such a thing as a 'private language'-language always involves others, just as it always involves the world. Gadamer claims that language is the universal horizon of hermeneutic experience; he also claims that the hermeneutic experience is itself universal. The universality of hermeneutics derives from the existential claim 195

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for hermeneutics that Heidegger advanced in the 1920s and that Gadamer made into a central idea in his own thinking. Hermeneutics concerns our fundamental mode of being in the world and understanding is thus the basic phenomenon in our existence. We cannot go back 'behind understanding, since to do so would be to suppose that there was a mode of intelligibility that was prior to understanding. Hermeneutics thus turns out to be universal, not merely in regard to knowledge, whether in the 'human sciences' or elsewhere, but to all understanding and, indeed, to philosophy itself. Philosophy is, in its essence, hermeneutics. Gadamer's claim for the universality of hermeneutics was one of the explicit points at issue in the debate between Gadamer and Habermas; it can also be seen as, in a certain sense, underlying the engagement between Gadamer and Derrida, although in Derrida's case this consisted in a denial of the primacy of understanding, and the possibility of agreement, on which hermeneutics itself rests. very finite': et, he dould be for It would seem the only way out of these paradoxes would be for Gadamer to argue that horizons aren't limits after all. Yet, he does seem to say quite clearly that horizons are limits. "Every finite present has its limitations. We define the concept of "situation" by saying that it represents a standpoint that limits the possibility of vision. Hence essential to the concept of a situation is the concept of a "horizon." The horizon is the range of vision that includes everything that can be seen from a particular standpoint." The two horizons, the inner horizon of the subject matter of the culture and the outer horizon of the historical context of the same, are not unrelated. When Descartes says that the body is like a machine, we need to not only know what kind of thing a body is, and what kind of thing a machine is, but what kind of thing they would have thought a body and machine were in the seventeenth century in order to see what this sentence means. If we find that in Descartes' context, calling something a machine was a sign of praise for its complexity and craftsmanship, then we get an idea of what the claim "human bodies are machines" means, which would be very different from the one we'd get if we knew that calling something a machine in Descartes' context meant it was sure to break at some point. Also if we find that in the seventeenth century "body" referred to all physical objects, then again we have a quite different understanding from the one we'd get if "body" referred only to animal or human matter. So the outer horizons itself inform us of the appropriate inner horizons, of the possible subject matter of the sentence. When dealing with texts, the outer horizon is what Gadamer refers to as the historical horizon. The candidates for the meaning of a sentence are given by the historical context. The inner horizon informs us of the outer horizon as well. All the examples above are plausible ways to think of the body (as something that's complicated, as something that breaks, as being fundamentally related to all 196

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other physical things, or as fundamentally different from inanimate things); we'd reject an interpretation of "machine" if it led us to nonsensical conclusions about the body. For example, if we were to find a seventeenth century association between the word "machine" and the phrase "the use of iron in construction" we'd rightly conclude that is not the sense of "machine" in Descartes' claim that the body is a machine. The relevant interpretive contexts, the historical horizons, are those that produce possibly true sentences. Notice that in practice determining the meaning of a sentence and determining how a sentence might be true are not two separate operations. This insight is necessary for understanding how the fusion of horizons is properly called a fusion. If we take Gadamer's understanding of horizons as the beliefs that make possible the understanding of a culture, then we can see what he means by the fusion of horizons. Horizons fuse when an individual realizes how the context of the subject matter can be weighted differently to lead to a different interpretation than the one initially arrived at. Either new information, or a new sense of the relative significance of available information leads, at the very least, to an understanding of the contingency of the initial interpretation, quite possibly to a new understanding of the subject matter, and ideally to a new agreement between the two parties about the subject matter. In any case, the original understanding is surpassed and integrated into a broader, more informed understanding. One's horizons are broadened; we have a new perspective on our old views, and maybe new views as well. This is the meaning of the "fusion of horizons." Inasmuch as understanding always occurs against the background of our prior involvement, so it always occurs on the basis of our history. Understanding, for Gadamer, is thus always an 'effect' of history, while hermeneutical 'consciousness' is itself that mode of being that is conscious of its own historical 'being effected'-it is 'historically-effected consciousness' (wirkungsgeschichtliches Bewusstsein). Awareness of the historically effected character of understanding is, according to Gadamer, identical with an awareness of the hermeneutical situation and he also refers to that situation by means of the phenomenological concept of 'horizon' (Horizont)-understanding and interpretation thus always occurs from within a particular 'horizon' that is determined by our historically-determined situatedness. Understanding is not, however, imprisoned within the horizon of its situationindeed, the horizon of understanding is neither static nor unchanging (it is, after all, always subject to the effects of history). Just as our prejudices are themselves brought into question in the process of understanding, so, in the encounter with another, is the horizon of our own understanding susceptible to change. Gadamer views understanding as a matter of negotiation between 197

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one culture and another in the hermeneutical dialogue such that the process of understanding can be seen as a matter of coming to an 'agreement' about the matter at issue. Coming to such an agreement means establishing a common framework or 'horizon' and Gadamer thus takes understanding to be a process of the 'fusion of horizons' (Horizontverschmelzung). The notion of 'horizon' employed here derives from phenomenology according to which the 'horizon' is the larger context of meaning in which any particular meaningful presentation is situated. Inasmuch as understanding is taken to involve a 'fusion of horizons', then so it always involves the formation of a new context of meaning that enables integration of what is otherwise unfamiliar, strange or anomalous. In this respect, all understanding involves a process of mediation and dialogue between what is familiar and what is alien in which neither remains unaffected. This process of horizontal engagement is an ongoing one that never achieves any final completion or complete elucidation-moreover, inasmuch as our own history and tradition is itself constitutive of our own hermeneutic situation as well as being itself constantly taken up in the process of understanding, so our historical and hermeneutic situation can never be made completely transparent to us. As a consequence, Gadamer explicitly takes issue with the Hegelian 'philosophy of reflection that aims at just such completion and transparency. In contrast with the traditional hermeneutic account, Gadamer thus advances a view of understanding that rejects the idea of understanding as achieved through gaining access to some inner realm of subjective meaning. Moreover, since understanding is an ongoing process, rather than something that is ever completed, so he also rejects the idea that there is any final determinacy to understanding. It is on this basis that Gadamer argues against there being any method or technique for achieving understanding or arriving at truth. The search for a methodology for the Geisteswissenschaften that would place them on a sound footing alongside the 'sciences of nature' (the Naturwissenschaften)-a search that had characterized much previous hermeneutical inquiry - thus has shown to be fundamentally misguided. Not only is there no methodology that describes the means by which to arrive at an understanding of the human or the historical, but neither is there any such methodology that is adequate to the understanding of the non-human or the natural. Gadamer's conception of understanding as not reducible to method or technique, along with his insistence of understanding is an ongoing process that has no final completion. To supplement Gadamer, I propose to have dialectical dialogue, which can incorporate dialogue on the one hand, and the dialectic on the other. Dialectical dialogue is deeply rooted in the plurality of human existence in terms of their identities, ethnicities, cultures and civilizations which come in contact, conflict and confluence with other such entities. From pluralist perspective the good society cherishes the diversity of human solidarity, commu 198

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nity, a sense of rootedness, selflessness, deep and self-effacing humility, contentment and encourages a creative dialogue between its different cultures and their moral visions and thus creates a negotiating space wherein fusion cultural horizon takes place. Such a society not only respects its members' rights to their culture and increases their range of choices but also cultivates their powers of self-criticism, self-determination, imagination, intellectual and moral sympathy, and contributes to their development and well-being. This could be an on-going process without any finality. These features are both instrumental to multiculturalism and emancipatory at the same time. 199

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Mahatma Gandhi and Human Values - Prof. M.P.Mathai It is well known that Mahatma Gandhi was a dyed in the wool exemplar of moral values in his life which earned for him the title of Mahatma. The values that he followed and upheld in his life are widely known and therefore, it is not hard to enumerate those values that guided Gandhi's life and conclude by saying how relevant they are for the present times which is beset with multifarious complex problems. But the fact is that the question of values is not as simple as it might appear. Those who have some familiarity with Ethics or Moral Philosophy will know that the concept of values, their nature and application are problematic. In fact, values cannot be fully defined. It could be seen that right from the days of Aristotle (see Nicomachean Ethics) down to the post-modern times this difficulty has persisted with thinkers and academics alike. When we examine the study of values in various disciplines like ethics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, social work or economics what strikes us most is the confusion surrounding the concept. It appears astoundingly kaleidoscopic. Values have been viewed and explained as norms, as cultural ideals, as assessment of action, as beliefs, as objects regarded favourably or unfavourably, as value-orientations, as behaviour probabilities, as generalised attitudes, etc., etc. When we navigate from the confusing terrain of definitions onto the discussion of values proper it could be noticed that there is a noticeable rise in temperature. The whole discourse changes into a debate mode and often more heat is generated than light. While on the one extreme we come across scholars who attribute the present predicament of humanity to its utter neglect of moral values and principles and characterize the contemporary crisis as a crisis in values, on the other there are scholars, especially those whose intellectual odyssey is still through the enlightenment trajectory (in other words, those in the scientific/rational tradition), who consider moral values as sheer chimera, not worthy of serious consideration in academic pursuits. They advocate an expulsion of values from all academic disciplines and stand for what they call 'value neutrality' even in social sciences. Any observation that has a touch value about it is stigmatized as 'value loaded' and summarily rejected. The contemporary scenario is different and slightly reassuring. It has been pointed out that in the recent history of ethics, theory has not been developed with an eye to application, and practice has not been adequately grounded in theory. And on how to bridge this gap between theoretical ethics and applied ethics, there has been no consensus among moral philosophers (see DeMarco and Fox, New Dimensions in Ethics, 1986).The twenty-first century has been characterized as the century of applied ethics because human transactions and enterprises of the century have thrown up practical issues and problems with clear ethical implications. So we talk about 200

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the ethics of nuclear energy, bio-medical ethics, business ethics etc. There is obviously a proliferation of literature on the subject as well. This does not mean neither that the field of moral values has proved a blind alley for students of ethics nor that there has not been any convincing or comprehensive definition of values to guide them. From a plethora, two definitions may be given as illustrative examples, one by the Cambridge scholar Paul Roubiczek: "A value expresses the significance - great or small - which man ascribes to matters related to a particular activity or experience or to his life in general and thus provides him with guidance for his behavior" (Paul Roubiczek, Ethical Values in the Age of Science, 1969), and the other by the well-known sociologist Anthony Giddens that values are "ideas held by human individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good or bad. Differing values represent key aspects of variations in human culture. What individuals value is strongly influenced by the specific culture in which they happen to live" (A. Giddens, Sociology 1973, Revised edition, 2007). When we examine the literature on moral values it becomes clear again that the subject matter is traditionally circumscribed by three questions: (1) what ought we to do? (2) what is the meaning of good? (3) are we able to do what we ought to do? (P. Roubiczek, 1969). When we examine Gandhi's ideas on ethics it could be seen that he had given prime consideration to these questions and tried to answer them through his life and writings. What is the life worth living or, in other words, what is the morally right way of living, was a question that engaged his close attention from his very early days. The stories of Harischandra, Sravana and Prahalada, which illustrated the significance of living a moral or value based life, prompted Gandhi to ask himself 'why can't I be like them?' Again, when he read Ruskin's Unto This Last his mind was searching for principles that would guide him in day to day living. Gandhi has reported to us that the first lesson that he picked from Ruskin's book was on the mode of life worth living: "The life of labourHHis the life worth living." A life based on moral principles or values presupposes a concept of morality and values. Hence the question arises as to what were Gandhi's views or presuppositions on morality and values. Gandhi believed that there is a Law operating in this universe and it is because of this Law that the universe is held together as a cosmos, and why it is not a chaos. He also believed that corresponding to this physical law there was a law operating at the level of human transactions and he called it a Moral Law. It was Gandhi's considered view that every human being must try to comprehend this Moral Law (which he equated with Truth and Nonviolence) and organize her/his life in harmony with this Moral Law. According to Gandhi human life not only had a meaning but also a purpose and the purpose for him was self-realization or God/Truth realization or moksha. He wrote in the Introduction to his autobiography as follows: "What I want 201

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to achieve, - what I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years, - is self-realization, to see God face to face, to attain moksha. I live and move and have being in pursuit of this goal. All that I do by way of speaking and writing, and all my ventures in the political field, are directed to this same end." (The Story of My Experiments with Truth, "Introduction"). Gandhi did discuss in detail what he understood and meant by self-realization; but as he was more concerned with attaining moksha than analyzing it, he tried to develop appropriate means for realizing the goal he set for himself. Quintessentially, living according to the Moral Law i.e., engaging in moral action, is the way to self-realization. Gandhi believed that although attaining self-realization might appear to be a formidable task it was the duty of all human beings to attempt it, for he considered every human being to be endowed with the potential for self-realization. It was not the prerogative of the siddha or the yogi; every creation could aim at and attain that goal. Life meant action or karma and it was by regulating karma that one can aspire to attain moksha. Gandhi wrote: "I firmly believe in the law of karma but I believe too in human endeavour. I regard as the summum bonum of life the attainment of salvation through karma by annihilating its effects by detachment. (Young India, Oct. 1928). Through this thoughtful statement with powerful metaphysical overtones Gandhi acknowledged his acceptance of the path of karma yoga - performance of one's duty with total detachment - advocated by the Bhagavad Gita as his chosen path to moksha. It may be relevant to recall here that the Gandhi entitled his interpretation of the Gita as Anasakti Yoga (and anasakti means total detachment). This would naturally lead us to a consideration of the Indian ethical system of purushartha. But before moving on to a discussion of that, it is necessary to make clear Gandhi's basic premise in terms of values or moral principles. For Gandhi Truth and Nonviolence were absolute values / moral principles. They were his Categorical Imperatives. He had made it clear that Truth and Nonviolence were not two but one; they were like two sides of an unstamped metallic disc. Gandhi discovered nonviolence in his pursuit of Truth and therefore, he formulated the dictum: Truth is the end and nonviolence the means. For him Truth was what his inner voice, (that he believed to be the voice of God) told him. Gandhi distinguished between Absolute Truth which was the Ultimate Reality, which by its very nature and magnitude was indefinable and incomprehensible, and relative truths, which were truths as individuals perceived them from moment to moment which will, therefore, always be plural. Truth could be realized by living it i.e., by being truthful in thought, word and deed. For Gandhi Nonviolence was the only sure way to move through truths, from relative truths to the Absolute Truth. Thus, Truth and Nonviolence are absolute values for Gandhi. 202

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Long before Gandhi, ahimsa or nonviolence had been designated as an absolute value by several sages and seers of ancient India. We know that the great Indian epic Mahabharatha proclaimed nonviolence as one's supreme duty: ahimsa paramodharma. In the Indian ethical system human values or aspirations are characterized as purushartha and they are classified into dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Moksha is referred to as the paramapurushartha, the supreme human value or goal. According to one school of thought moksha occupies a cardinal place in the scheme and it is therefore considered the end/intrinsic value whereas artha and kama are means/instrumental values. (S. Gopal, Hindu Social Philosophy, 1979). For the realization of the ultimate value, the instrumental values of artha which connotes the normal material and economic necessities and activities of human life and kama which includes all normal human desires ranging from instinctive desires sentiments and emotions to the aesthetic yearning of the spirit for beauty have to be properly nourished with the value of dharma playing a regulative and restrictive role on the other two instrumental values. Thus it is clear that in the Indian value system a dharmic (good) life is a sine qua non for the realization of the ultimate goal of life. In the purushartha paradigm satisfying one's material and physical needs and fulfilling one's emotional, intellectual and spiritual requirements are given due recognition and importance. But a condition is attached that they should be pursued only within the parameters of dharma or what in ethics is termed 'ought'. (For a detailed discussion of this, see M.P.Mathai, Mahatma Gandhi's Worldview, 2000, Chapter IV, Gandhian Teleology). We can see that Gandhi accepted the spirit of this position and followed it rigorously. In fact, the whole theory of life enunciated by Gandhi could be explained within the frame work of the purushartha. Dharma for Gandhi was the unifying principle or 'the law of cohesion', to use his own expression. He wanted every human activity to be organized on the basis of this moral imperative of dharma which consists of truth and nonviolence. Examine his views on economics. It is appropriate to mention here that economists consider their science to be a value-free or valueneutral domain. Acknowledging this Gandhi said: "I must confess that I do not draw a sharp or any distinction between economics and ethicsHTrue economics never militates against the highest ethical standard, just as a true ethics to be worth its name must at the same time be also good economics. An economics that inculcates Mammon worship and enables the strong to amass wealth at the expense of the weak is a false and dismal science. It spells death. True economics, on the other hand, stands for social justice; it promotes the good of all equally including the weakest and is indispensible for a decent life." This challenging statement makes it amply clear that Gandhi wanted ethics or dharma to guide economic activities. This penchant for values was not limited to economics only. Value orientation should be all 203

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pervasive, insisted Gandhi. To borrow, the purushartha terminology dharma should guide not only artha but also kama. This brings us to another major Gandhian value namely means-end correlation. Gandhi rejected the theory that end justifies the means and insisted on the purity of means. For him ends and means were inseparable. Comparing means to a seed and end to a tree he argued that there is an inviolable connection between the means and the end. The achievement of any goal is dependent on the purity of the means, argued Gandhi. He went to the extent of declaring that 'means are after all everything and gave the aphorism:" as the means so the end." Thus we can see that Gandhi approached the question of the role of values in life from the personal and structural angles. In order to realize the ultimate goal of life one has to lead a value based life. Gandhi believed in the intrinsic value of moral principles and wanted every one to follow them for their own sake. This, he believed, was essential for self-discipline and selfpurification which were inevitable precondition for achieving the higher goals of life. For this Gandhi and his fellow seekers of truth in the Ashrams developed a system of observing vows or vrata. The well-known eleven Ashram Vows namely truth, nonviolence, non-stealing, non-possession, brahmacharya or chastity/celibacy, control of the palate, bread labour, fearlessness, sarvadharma samabhav or equality and equal respect for religions, swadeshi, non-practice of untouchability which Gandhi and other members of the Ashram followed were the result. This insistence of Gandhi on personal ascesis and right moral character shall not lead us to conclude that he was advocating a virtue ethics. Of course, for Gandhi personal virtues were important and the cultivation of right moral character was necessary for taking right decisions and making right moral choice. But that was not enough. So while emphasizing the sig. nificance of cultivating personal virtues through the observance of ethical vows Gandhi also advocated the crucial need for the creation of a sociopolitical and economic order - or broadly a new world order - based on moral values which would provide a congenial environment, enabling the individuals to aspire and strive for higher goals of life. Thus, from the personal level Gandhi moved on to the structural, and suggested structural changes. It is important to bear in mind that Gandhi always emphasized that the choice of moral values and principles must be voluntary and not compulsory. He wrote: "No action which is not voluntary can be called moral. So long as we act like machines, there can be no question of morality. If we want to call an action moral it should have been done consciously and as a matter of duty." (Pyarelal, Epic Fast, 1932). Gandhi also suggested innovation and experimentation in the cultivation and practice of moral values 204

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also. He did not want people to blindly follow traditional values. It may be said that Gandhi is Socratic in this. An examination of the Ashram Vows would reveal that Gandhi amalgamated a package of six vows put together by the Ashram community after due deliberations with the five Yamas or Cardinal Vows of Patanjali's Yogasutra. This is experiment, indeed. He wrote: "True morality consist not in following the beaten track, but in finding out the true path for ourselves and in fearlessly following it." (M.K.Gandhi, Ethical Religion). A final point also needs to be added and that is about moral courage. For Gandhi the choice and practice of moral values entails moral courage. Gandhi, in fact, epitomized such moral courage. He lived his preferred values vigilantly, valiantly and in a spirit of sanctity and thus demonstrated their supreme importance and efficacy. One can, therefore, easily agree with the conclusion (Raghavan Iyer, The Moral and Political Thought of Mahatma Gandhi, 1983), that Gandhi tended to assimilate all the virtues to that of moral courage. 205

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Light and Signs of the Divine - Navin Doshi Descartes' contribution to the field of science and philosophy was to distinguish mind and body, making him one of the first in the West responsible for separating the two selves. He was able to define the mind, unlike matter, as non-local (it does not have any location in space), not divisible, and existing independently of matter. Matter, unlike mind, is divisible and has a location. This separation of body and mind has been described in Eastern traditions thousands of years back even more clearly. But Descartes also made a profound over-simplification in claiming consciousness as the property of mind. The implication here is that he believed in upward causation, meaning matter was a primary reality, followed by mind which was equated with consciousness. Eastern traditions believe in downward causation where consciousness, that is Brahman (God), is the highest state of being, followed by the mind and the body that is matter. The Upanishads describe Brahman as Satchidananda-the true Absolute reality, which not separately but simultaneously is Sat, or Truth, Chit or Consciousness or Light, and Ananda or Bliss. They describe it as non-dual: That which is One-without-a second, That from which nothing is separate, That which is limitless, That which is brilliantly radiant, That which is changeless, That which is not conditioned by time, space and causation, That which is self-existent, That which is devoid of attributes, and that which is without a beginning or an end. It does not have any limits because it is beyond space, for limits of something or someone can only be cognized within the contours of space. It is changeless because change can only be conceived within the parameters of time. It is without a beginning or an end because the beginning or end can only be perceived within the confines of time and space. It is self-effulgent for It is Consciousness itself; its effulgence is not dependent on anything, for It is beyond causation. Because nothing in the cosmos is separate from the Brahman, It has manifested this universe from its own body, first engendering time and space and then entering into them, just as a spider creates its web from its own saliva. In manifestation, Brahman manifests as a principle of Purusha and Prakriti, as enumerated in detail by the Sankhya philosophy. Purusha is the static principle and Prakriti or Nature is the dynamic principle. Purusha is the witness and static or unchanging principle which supports and gives assent or negates the workings of Prakriti, which carries its dynamic processes through three gunas: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Sattva psychologically manifests in human beings as the force of truth, harmony, peace, right poise, equilibrium, intelligence, happiness etc. Rajas psychologically translates as the quality of action, energy, domination, possession, creation, will 206

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to fight, will to resist, and will to conquer. Tamas signifies indolence, inertia, unintelligence, sloth, and resistance towards change. All these gunas are present in each individual and are in flux-however the predominance of one or two determines the general character of an individual in that whether he or she will be sattvic, rajasic or tamasic. When an individual is under the influence of the modes of Prakriti or Nature, then his or her soul or Purusha is involved in the play; it is not free and it suffers or enjoys the play of the Prakriti as the case may be. Therefore the first step towards liberation or moksha involves separating the Purusha from the modes of Prakriti, and letting the witness and unchanging consciousness of Purusha, which is its natural characteristic, to emerge. The Purusha, then, instead of being involved in the constant subjection to Prakriti, is able to watch the movement of her different modes and can give sanction to the continuance or cessation of the play. Finding its union with the transcendental Brahman it can then. find its complete liberation or moksha. Thus in manifestation, the transcendental Brahman through Purusha and Prakriti reveals changeless or constant characteristics and changing or dynamic characteristics respectively. However, it is due to the greater similarities that the Purusha has with transcendental Brahman that it is considered Divine in the universe while Prakriti is not-the crucial difference being that Purusha is unchanging and constant whereas Prakriti or Nature is dynamic and changing. The Divine or God in most major traditions is characterized by Light. The Brahmasutras and Upanishads define Brahman as self-effulgent. One of the prayers in the Upanishads specifically speaks about taking one from falsehood to truth, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality equat ing the characteristic of the Divine with truth and light. Diwali, the festival of light, in most Indian traditions represent the triumph of good over evil or an attainment of nirvana in Buddhist and Jain traditions. Genesis explains that at the time of creation God said, "Let there be light" and from light the whole 'universe came into play. People who have had near-death experiences recount them as godly tete-a-tete with light. The Tibetan Book of the Dead contends that as soon as an individual dies, it has an encounter with "Clear Light of Reality." It is not able to hold that state because its karmic propensities bring it to lesser and lesser states until it is reborn. Ramakrishna, describing his experiences in featureless or nirvikalpa samadhi, stated that he saw an ocean of light having no beginning or end. Many mystics from different traditions have also experienced and recorded spiritual encounters as light. It is the life giving light of solar deity that we find in ancient Egypt, Chinese, Aztec, and Inca mythology. Even movies like The Abyss and Ghost project higher beings as self-effulgent. It is not surprising three centuries after Descartes conceptually sepa 207

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rated mind and matter, Albert Einstein, who had a deep exposure to Indian spiritual traditions, came out with his Theory of Relativity and the E=MC2 equation, where the speed of light is the unchanging constant. However, mass and energy-and if we take his entire Theory of Relativity into account, space and time also being attributes of Nature, are changing. Everything in Nature is changing and relative (though never absolute) except light. It is true that the velocity of light changes when it is approaching a black hole, but not the speed. Light, constituted of photons, has zero mass. The speed of light is not affected by the gravitational force exerted by a black hole--only the direction is affected. Apparently the unchanging nature of the speed of light is associated with Purusha, and the changing nature of light direction is associated with Prakriti. What about other physical constants like the Alpha? Nobel laureate physicist extraordinaire Richard Feynman called Alpha a "magic number" and its value "one of the greatest mysteries of physics." A dimensionless number which goes by the symbol alpha must remain constant for our existence. If not, then stars, including sun, would not be able to sustain nuclear reactions that synthesize carbon and oxygen atoms and therefore the carbon based life would not exist. A new research in astrophysics, reviewed in Economist magazine dated September 4, 2010, has discovered that the Alpha may not be constant after all, but changing from place to place within the universe. If their results hold up to scrutiny, they will have profound implications-for they suggest that the universe stretches far beyond what human telescopes can observe, and that the laws of physics, discovered by human beings, vary within it. Our material existence, if true in matters of the size of the universe, has become even more insignificant. The new research, however, does not change our connectedness with light. The speed of light remains unchanging at least in our part of the universe, and probably elsewhere. Light therefore remains the conduit to the Divine and connects it with Nature. All living souls in Nature, bounded within the space time continuum, are also connected with the gale of the sun, as described by Anand Coomaraswamy. The significance here is that we need to learn to live "Now" not in the past and not in the future. That would help us to transcend to higher states of mind. Recall "Now" is the common apex of both, past and future cones, in space-time continuum bounded within the confines of the speed of light. "Now" literally is at the threshold to escape the domain of Nature. Apparently our existence at the apex "Now" may be a step away from the ultimate state of Sat-chit-Ananda. The goal of a transcending philosopher is to acquire the highest mental state of being, the spiritual self. The insight here is to becoming selfless, egoless-that is, mass-less and light like, approaching the attribute known as unchanging. Here we need to focus on only the mind disassociating from 208

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the somatic self. Thoughts are similar to sub-atomic particles; thoughts jump from one to the next similar to quantum jumps of sub-atomic particles. Intuitively, a thoughtless mind could be egoless, and selfless. It is amazing and significant that Einstein was able to uncover the relative nature of Nature by associating light with the realm of the Divine, which happens also to be the view of the world's great religious traditions. Before Einstein had made such a discovery, Descartes made a second error. He believed that the non-material world, though separate from, interacted with the localized material world within the realm of Nature. It reminds me of the story from Reader's Digest recited by my teacher some time in 1940s in India, about scientists in the US trying to see if the escaping soul can be detected employing very sophisticated instruments of the time. Obviously they could not detect an escaping soul from the dying body. BrahmanAtman (soul), as stated in Upanishads, is not in the realm of Nature. People who are agnostic or atheist should consider the following a few signs of the Divine. As explained in my book, TranscendenceH..Saving Us from Ourselves, Ruta is the first evolute, the first cause, the first sign of the Absolute, and samskara acquired through hard training becomes the first link, the first several steps to transcend to the ultimate state of Godhood. If we believe in downward causation, meaning the primacy of the life force over the non-living matter as stated in Upanishads, we have to believe in God. Downward causation occurs in a non-ordinary, non-local state of consciousness that we call "God-consciousness." If we believe that we have a soul (Atman), then we have to believe in God (Brahman). If we accept that we have the power of creativity, then we must accept the existence of God. Creativity often is instantaneous and spontaneous because we are connected with consciousness. Samskara linked with Ruta, are very much instrumental to experience creativity. If we accept the non-local non-ordinary working of quantum physics, we are indeed a lover of God. Only downward causation can help us resolve the mystery of fossil gaps in the theory of evolution. The fact that we perceive, communicate, and understand each other is due to our connection to consciousness. If we believe that mind could help heal the body, then consciousness is the cause. If the reader is interested in discovering more in detail, the reader should consider reading the book, God Is Not Dead: What Quantum Physics Tells Us About Our Origins, written by Professor Amit Goswami. As explained earlier, Einstein's insight of connecting unchanging nature of light with the traditional view of the first glimpse of the Absolute is, I believe, one of the strongest proofs of the existence of the Absolute. If we believe in love for humanity and animals, then certainly God loves us all. Following is a very appropriate poem written by James Henry Leigh Hunt: 209

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ABU BEN ADHEM Abu Ben Adhem Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And saw, within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, An angel writing in a book of gold: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And to the presence in the room he said, "What writest thou?" The vision raised its head, And with a look made of all sweet accord, answered, "The names of those who love the Lord.' And is mine one?' said Abu. 'Nay, not so, replied the angel. Abu spoke more low, But cheerily still; and said, 'I pray thee then, Write me as one that loves his fellow men.' The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night It came again with a great wakening light, And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest. As noted by Mircea Eliade, there is an innate interconnectivity between God, Sun, Light Atman, and the creative force which permeates the cosmos, understood even in the Vedic age. The early Vedas give us a host of sun gods, the Adityas. Aditya is a variant word for sun, but also means the son of Aditi, which in turn means infinity. They are eternal, infinite light, twelve in number who correspond to the location of the sun during each month of the year. In book three of the Rg Veda (3.62.10) is found the Gayatri mantra devoted to Savitur, one of the Adityas. This mantra invites meditation upon (dhimahi) the sun (savitur), and upon divine luminosity (bhargodevasya) to inspire (pracodayat) thought (dhyah). The Gayatri is still chanted the world over today. Lord Rama is said to be descended from the sun (Surya). Karna, one of the son's of Kunti, was fathered by the sun. The temple at Konarck in Orissa and the sun temples in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan carry on the age-old practice of worshipping the sun. The fields of science, philosophy, and religion agree on the supremacy of light. Light gives visibility and meaning, both literally and figuratively. By acknowledging and reaching for the light, humanity advances forward and manifests higher states of being. 210

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Bibliography Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Edited by Rama P. Coomaraswamy. Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2004. Doshi, Navin. Transcendence: Saving Us From Ourselves. Ithaca: Ithaca Press, 2009. Eliade, Mircea. "Spirit, Light and Seed." History of Religions, vol. 11, no. 1 (Aug., 1971) 1-30. Feynman, Richard. Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by its Most Brilliant Teacher. Cambridge: Perseus Books, 1995. Goswami, Amit. God Is Not Dead: What Quantum Physics Tells Us About Our Origins. Madison: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2008. Hume, Robert Ernest. The Thirteen Principle Upanishads. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1877. Knappert, Jan. Indian Mythology: An Encyclopedia of Myth and Legend. London: The Aquarian Press, 1991. 211

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INDIAN IDENTITY AND CULTURAL CONTINUITY (A philosophical Analysis) - Professor S.R. Bhatt The present paper attempts to understand the notion of 'Indian-ness' or 'Indian Identity' in terms of its cultural continuity from the hoary past to the eventful present. It is a philosophical task to understand a culture, to evaluate its ideas, practices and norms of living and then to undertake an inter-cultural dialogue for mutual understanding, mutual appreciation and mutual supplementation. This is possible if one is steeped in one's own culture and is also sympathetically exposed to other cultures. The East-West Center at the University of Hawaii, with its avowed objective of promotion of such dialogues, has contributed quite a lot in this regard under the able direction of Late Professor, Charles A Moore. His following very perceptive remark is worth notice. He writes, "Understanding is a very complicated matter. Genuine understanding must be comprehensive understanding. It must include a knowledge of all the fundamental aspects of the mind of the people in question. Philosophy is the major medium of understanding, both because it is concerned deliberately and perhaps uniquely with the fundamental ideas, ideals and attitudes of a people, and also because philosophy alone attempts to see the total picture and thus includes in its purview all the major aspects of the life of a people". Concerning Indian philosophy he writes, "...there are very significant ideas and concepts thereno matter how old they are to which the rest of the world may well turn for new insights and perhaps deeper wisdom". He further writes, "As said before philosophy is our concern here. But philosophy is not merely an (or the) indispensable medium of understanding and of knowing a people or a culture. Philosophy is also and more basically, of course-the search for knowledge, for truth, for wisdom. In this respect, India provides the basis for a potential philosophical renaissance, if only the rest of the world, especially the West, will search out the new insights, the new intuitions, the new attitudes and methods which might well at least supplement if not replace or correct and at least enlarge-the restricted perspective of the Western mind"3. In fact Professor Moore is echoing what the Yajurveda averred long back as "Sa prathama samskrti visva vara" i.e. "It is a culture which is primeval and yet worthy of preference by the world because of its perennial relevance" A question is often raised, more by Indian scholars than by non-Indian scholars, as to what is meant by the expressions 'Indian philosophy, 'Indian culture' etc. They argue that philosophy, as a discipline does not admit of geographical confinements. Likewise because of heterogeneity there is no such thing as Indian culture. This in fact raises the problem of 'Indian Identity' in particular and 'Identity' in general. 212

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Any attempt to understand an entity or a phenomenon is to identify it in terms of its differential properties that constitute its very essence. However, in view of the dynamic and constantly changing character of every existence there cannot be absolutistic or static determination of an identity. The notion of identity, whether that of an individual or a collectivity, defies neat and precise categorization. The identity of an individual has some ostensivity and therefore it can be demonstratively referred to but the identity of a collectivity does not admit even this type of reference. And yet our mind tries to look for and discern identities for practical purposes. Though experienced intimately and made use of in worldly behaviour identity eludes determination in thought and language. It provides a basis for all empirical activities and yet its conceptual apprehension may not be adequately available. Thus there is a paradoxical awareness of an identity. We know what it is but we cannot clearly define or describe it through concepts and words. This is because the reality has a natural way of breaking down whatever walls of separation human mind may erect between concepts III The questions as to what is Indian-ness or what is to be identified as Indian etc. are characterized by the same vagueness and relativism that pertain to other collectivities. In spite of this Indian identity is so profoundly and vividly unique that there is some kind of demonstrativeness about it. Our perception of what makes an 'Indian' may be different but none of us who is an Indian would deny the label of that identity and on this logic none else would refuse such an ascription to an Indian. We may disagree over notions of democracy, socialism, secularism etc. but may not do so in regard to Indian-ness. Howev.,ust also be conceded that there is such a spatiotemporal vastness and wide variety about India that this identity cannot be seen in rigid and fixed terms. India is a geographical unit with changing boundaries at different periods of time. Initially having a habitational reference Indian-ness soon transcended geography to spread far and wide with the stream of emigrants who zealously preserved, propagated and practiced all that India stood for. As a consequence, Indian-ness becoming quasi-geographical assumed a cultural overtone. It may appear to be naive but it must be made clear that Indian-ness is not to be confused with Indian nationality or Indian citizenship or even Indian ethnicity, though their evolution as concepts in actual practice has been so closely interspersed that they have often slipped from one to another. Thus Indian-ness is a matter of psychology, a unity of race and culture, of a view and a way of life. IV Indian identity is embedded in the multi-faceted Indian culture, which 213

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has been an eternal bedrock of India's glorious past, adventurous present and bright future. In order to discern Indian identity one has to look precisely to the diverse cultural and sub-cultural traditions, which have evolved over times, in which the Indian people have been born and by which their general human sensibilities have been refined and shaped. India being multi-lingual, multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-subcultural, there cannot be any fixed parameters of Indian identity. There are many elements, which have contributed in making of Indian identity. There is a generic identity and many specific sub-identities, each having one's own unique nature and features. So only an organicismic approach to Indianness can enable one to understand it properly and fully. One may argue that for an identity there must be common habitation or culture or way of living or pattern of thinking or language or race or religion etc. but none is attached to Indian-ness in an indispensable way. The simple reply is that in practice we do understand what is meant by being an Indian and it is a matter of common sense and logic that there is a consciousness of some principle of unity, howsoever vague and varied it may be, which enables us to apply this single individualizing appellation to a vast variety of ideas, practices and human beings. Indian-ness is characterized by inclusive pluralism in which there is accommodation for each individual or unit. It has basic openness which is at once both centripetal and centrifugal. It is not a 'melting pot' but a unity-inmultiplicity ideally based on the principles of cooperation and sacrifice regulated by the spirit of duties and obligations rather than demands and rights. Unfortunately this base is fastly dwindling in modern times and there is an urgent need to revive, revitalize and consolidate it. It has to be reminded that the Indian culture possesses inherent vitality and resilience, which has enabled it to survive the onslaughts of time and foreign invasions. This is due to its openness and catholicity to accommodate and absorb the diversity. It has displayed a remarkable symbiosis of two sensibilities of belongingness to the whole and of being a part of the whole, of relatedness and of self-identity. It advocates a communitarian or participatory mode of living implying distinctness of its members along with soli. darity with the whole enjoying an individual existence and yet partaking and sharing experiences with the whole. It is an inclusive social pluralism in which every individual becomes a person. There is an unbroken spirituo-material culture of India which is uniquely its own which it is sharing with the outside world for more than three thousand years known in history, which is multifarious and manifold, which is living and has vitality to live. Because of its organicismic nature and character it displays a unity-in-multiplicity and becomes conducive to self-identity and self-preservation as well as group solidarity and group-co 214

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hesion. It has a vitalizing and animating force of its own and yet it does not deny nourishment and nurture from extraneous sources as well by incorporating and absorbing them as its own. Both the variety and continuous identity are the assets of Indian culture. This diversity is not to be looked at in terms of fragmentation of time as ancient, medieval and modern or in terms of associating these time fragments with racial or denominational segregations. Such a fragmentary and divisive approach to integral Indian culture is not only a superimposition and a distortion but it also strikes fatally at the roots of identity and continuity. The very ideas of identity and continuity are at stake if Indian culture is taken to be disjointed pieces of multiple contributions from heterogeneous sources. Equally suicidal is the approach to confine India to the present and to negate all past inheritance.3 In the background of the foregoing analysis it will be meaningful to present a brief outline of the pivotal bases of Indian culture which constitute a ground for Indian identity and a justification for cultural continuity both in India and abroad, and which my provide our existence meaning and worth. On account of centuries of extension in time and vastness of space the sources of understanding Indian culture are many and varied. Beginning with the Vedic and Sangama literature of the hoary past they include Ramayana. Mahabharata, Sutra literature and their expositions, literary compositions in different languages, writings of saints, vast storehouse of folk tales, exhibits and remnants of art, architecture, music, dance, paintings, sculpture etc. One can go on enumerating and enumerating and there may seem an unending line. In spite of such diversity there is a fundamental unity running all through spatio-temporal expansion. V Ever since the dawn of thought right from the Vedic times the.Indian mind has undertaken a search for ideals of life. For this it constructed elaborate systems of epistemology and logic, metaphysics and morals, social and political philosophies, language and hermeneutics, science and technology. This search for ideals of life implies that the seekers were not satisfied with the present life they were living day to day. This dissatisfaction was not so much due to historical and natural circumstances that conditioned the society of the time but it was generated by a search for a deeper meaning of life than could be found in the day-to-day experience. It was due to a keen and critical sense of peace, perfection and beatitude developed by the people. The questions that they tried to grapple were: what is human life? What is its meaning and purpose? How is human being to plan the life so that the summum bonum of life can be attained? The ideological perspective and goal oriented approach, which was discernible in the minds of Vedic people, continued to hold its sway, and the same is reflected even in the contemporary thinking. In the classical Indian 215

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thought four main values of life (purusarthas) viz, dharma, artha, kama and moksa were prescribed.? Artha stands for material prosperity and kama stands for material satisfaction. Both of them jointly are known as preyas. Dharma is regulative of both and is a means to moksa. Moksa, along with dharma, comes under sreyas. It is spiritual realization. Though the ideals of life admit of a distinction between preyas and sreyas, there is no incompatibility between the two as there is no bifurcation between matter and spirit. Preyas provides the material base and sreyas constitutes the spiritual summit of the same process of self-realisation. Since matter provides the arena for selfrealisation, the preyas has a natural claim of being first catered to. But one should not remain entangled with preyas forever. After the necessary gratification of the preyas one should make a passage toward sreyas. Another thing to be remembered is that all the demands of matter do not constitute preyas and hence are not to be gratified. Only those demands are to be regarded as preyas that are not incompatible with sreyas. Preyas thus is the proximate value and sreyas is the ultimate value. The ancient thinkers established the asrama-vyavastha in order that there may be well-organised and balanced pursuit of both preyas and sreyas. The word asrama is suggestive of points of beginning and departure and stoppage. In this context we may fruitfully make a mention of the Upanisadic theory of Pancakosas i.e. five dimensions of individual's personality as physical (annamaya), vital (pranamya), mental (manomaya), intellectual (vijnana-maya) and spiritual (anandamaya). 10 An all-round development of individual means fullest development of all these aspects in a proper proportion. In the modern context we can understand and appreciate this theory by reinterpreting it in a more meaningful way. The first and the foremost kosa is the gross physical body and the natural surrounding which are to be catered to by means of physical sciences and technology. The second one is that of vital breaths for which hygiene and medical sciences are helpful along with yoga. For the next two social sciences, humanities, fine arts and mathematics are to be resorted. For the last one we need higher spiritual pursuits in the form of contemplation and meditation and gradual withdrawal from hectic worldly activities. VI From the above-described view of life an appropriate way of life has also been prescribed. A way of life is the way man plans his life for realizing an ideal whatever it is. It is called yoga or marga. Many yogas or margas have been recognized by the ancient thinkers of which karma i.e. the way or action, jnana i.e. the way of knowledge and bhakti, i.e., the way of devotion, are prominent." Human being is a complex of cognitive conative, and affective elements and therefore a good way of life must have a balanced view of all these three. For the realization of the ideal life the whole person has to 216

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rise up and strive.12 So all these three aspects, through distinct, are to be integrally united. VII After having discussed the traditional Indian view of life and the way to realize the same, we may briefly refer to the relationship between individual and society. The Indian thinkers always try to avoid the extremes of individualism and totalitarianism and emphasise a middle position13. They entertain no incompatibility between the individual and the society and advocate a harmonious relationship between the two. The society is conceived of as a whole comprising the multiplicity of individuals as its parts. The society expresses itself only in and through the individuals and the individuals, in turn, derive their being and living only from the society. The two are regarded to have organicismic relation and mutual appreciation. VIII The organicismic relation, which binds the individual and the soci ety, is also regarded to be the characteristic of the relation between the individual and nature. Individual being exists in and through the nature and nature provides the needed nourishment to it. Nature has instrumental value because of its benevolence in serving us in infinite ways selflessly. But it is also an object of worship and devotion for the same reason.14 The Svetasvatara upanisad's declares, Ajamekam lohita sukla krsuam bahavi praja srjamanam namamali i.e. "we salute the nature which is unborn, uniform, having the triple hues of red, white and black and who is the procreator of multiple offsprings" So we have to respect and love nature by maintaining its cleanliness and by preserving its purity. The usability of nature should not be misunderstood as misuse of nature otherwise as a consequence it will lead to environmental pollution and ecological imbalance. Nature helps us only if we help nature. Of course, nature allows us to transform it but this also has to be done in accordance with the laws of nature. This is the approach to nature, which has been handed down to us by the Vedic thinkers. IX No account of Indian culture can be complete without a reference to traditional Indian scheme of education. The ancient Indian system of education is theoretically most compact and sound and practically it is most viable and useful. Its theoretical worth is on account of its broad, comprehensive and healthy vision with regard to the nature and destiny of human beings and the cosmos in their inter-relationship. Its practical utility is due to its flexibility to suit the needs and requirements of different ages and societies. It only provides a broad format to which content can be provided as per the requirements. Herein lies its perenniality and eternal relevance. Just 217

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as the Vedic wisdom is eternal, the Vedic mode of seeking wisdom is also eternal. It is really a matter of pity that we do not know what the Veda means and what is the Vedic vision of reality, life and education. Here is not an occasion to go into the details but a brief outline is called for. The Vedic seers find an abiding and enduring place for values of existence in the very heart of reality. The description of reality as sat, cit and ananda implies that all existence (sat) and knowledge (cit) culminate in bliss (ananda), which is the ultimate value. In the human beings because of their finitude and imperfection the values are only partially reflected. But every individual is potentially perfect and has the capacity to be perfect. So the ultimate end of every individual ought to be the fullest efflorescence of the value-essence lying hidden or dormant in him/her. It should be made clear that this realization of perfection is not a mere utopian dream because the Vedic seers firmly believe that every individual has come forth from per-. fection. This is one of the implications of the famous Upanisadic Santipatha. "Aum Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnatpurnamudacyate etc."16 The values are realizable and they are to be realized through proper endeavour and that is why this process of value-realisation is called purusartha. But this is not possible until and unless all impediments in the process of growth and perfection are removed. Here comes the role of education. Education is preparation for life. But life is not mere livelihood. Similarly life is not mere catering to the needs of either matter or spirit. There is no exclusive "either-or" between general and technical education. No human being is merely a professional being, whether an engineer or a doctor or a scientist or a technician. He/she is above all a social and spiritual being. Hence the fullness of education must comprise all the facets, physical, vital, mental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. The true and adequate system of education must aim at the total person. It should produce human beings and not living machines!7. This is what Indian culture stands for. Indian culture has been a source of inspirations for a way of life, which is integral and holistic, synthetic and accommodating. That is why it could survive the onslaughts of time and transcend the limits of space. Pt. Nehru very pertinently remarked that wherever in this wide world there goes an Indian there also goes a bit of India with him. In this age of cultural pluralism the Indians settled abroad may integrate themselves in the societies in which they live and yet they may preserve and promote their distinct cultural identity. Continued adherence to Indian culture in no way hinders their dynamic interconnectedness with their fellow beings belonging to different cultural groups. In fact the Indian culture has sufficient built-in mechanism of flexibility and receptivity to suit the conditions of its locale and time. As Bhisma says in the Mahabharata, dharma needs to be modified according to the circumstances, demands and exigencies of time and place. 218

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Dharma bhahuvidha loke sruti bheda mukhodbhavah Kula jati vayo desa guna kala svabhavatah Etad dharmasya nanatvam sampad apjad vibhedatah The Indian culture is alive to the fact that human situations impose on people the necessity to find ways and means to respond and adjust constantly to a never-ending sequence of events and circumstances affecting their welfare and happiness. Sometimes this generates tensions and conflicts within and outside an individual or groups of individuals in any given place and country. So there is a need to cope with negative forces for better livelihood for progress and for harmonious human relationship. But all this adjustment is possible remaining wholly within the ambit of Indian culture. 219

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Foot Notes 1. The Indian Mind, pp-2-3. 2. Ibid, p 8 3. Ibid, p.9 4. Yajurveda, 7.14. 5. No grateful nation should disown its past. But it should not carry the deadweight of the outlived traditions. A discriminative awareness of what is living and what is dead is required. 6. "Udvayam tamasaspari svah pasyanta uttaram. Devam devata suryamaganma jyotiruttamam." Yajurveda, 20.2. 7. "Dharmam samacaret purvam tato artham dharma samyutam Tatah kamam caret pascat siddharthah sa hi tatparam" Mahabharata, Santiparva, 167.27. 8. "Sreyasca preyasca manusyametah, tau samparitya vivinakti dhirah" kathopanisad, 1.2.2. 9. Mahabharata, santiparva, chapter 61. Also Manusmrti, chapters 2-6 10. Taittiriya Upanisad, Bhrguvalli, 2-6. 11. See, Bhagavadgita, chapters 3,7,12. 12. "Uttisthata jagrata prapya varan nibhodata," Kathopanisad, 1.3.14. 13. "Madhyamam abhayam," Satapata Brahmana. 14. "mata bhumih putro'ham prthivyah," Atharvaveda 12-1-12 15. "Samudra vasane devi parvatastava mandale visnu patni namstubhyam padasparsam ksamasva me." Visnu Purana 16. First and the last verse of Isopanisad. 17. Manurbhava janaya daivyam janam,' Rgveda, 10.53.6 220

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AHAM BRAHMASMI : ITS LOGICAL FOUNDATION AND VALUE IMPLICATION - Ganesh Prasad Das I have chosen for deliberation here a topic that many profound scholars before have done so. I do not know what new grounds remains to be struck in this regard. Still then I hope to create an ambience of novelty and clarity in what follows. I remember Mahatma Gandhi's words, "Whatever you do would be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." I also remember the adage of Jayanta Bhatta, the author of Nyaya Manjari in this connection: kuto va nutanam vastu vayam utpreksitum ksamah/ vacovinyasavaicitramatram atra vicaryatam// He means to say that we, the philosophical investigators, cannot discover a new thing or truth, but we can do something new by rephrasing in modern terminology the old truths propounded by the ancients. In our time, P.F. Strawson, a leading British philosopher, asserts, "If there are no new truths to be discovered, there are old truths to be rediscovered." He goes further to assert, "No philosopher understands his predecessors until he has re-thought their thought in his own contemporary terms." One would be regarded as anachronistic if one asserts in the technotronic global village today, "East is East, West is West and the twain shall never meet." There is meeting and participation in one another's material and intellectual products and joint ventures are there everyday in the field of culture, the upshots of which are too many like the much talked of 'Colonial Cousins'. It pays only to enrich and benefit both the Western and the Indian if we attempt to understand one another's tradition of philosophy that constitutes an important dimension of culture. Accordingly, I have set myself the task of assembling some of my thoughts that I articulated concerning the 16th century Advaita Vedantic text Vedantaparibhasa of Dharmarajadhvarindra in the idiom of Anglo-American philosophy of logico-linguistic analysis following the lead of Professor Ganeswar Misra. The views of Misra, and quite naturally the views of those, who more or less followed his line like me, were judged to be contra-tradition and vehemently criticised. I wish to say this much at present that the views that emerge out of such exercise are critico-constructive and quite in keeping with the tradition. I do not wish to affirm here what Professor Misra meant to say by making a survey of the whole philosophy of Advaita. I have instead chosen to limit myself to the import of the mahavakya (great logia) "Aham Brahmasmi" that constitutes the quintessence of Advaita. I shall first speak on the logical foundation of the mahavakya "Aham Brahmasmi" and then speak about its value implications. "Aham Brahmasmi" is one of the four/five mahavakyas enshrined in 221

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the Upanisads. This mahavakya that occurs in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad is regarded as an experiential statement of the pupil. The corresponding instructional statement of the preceptor is "Tat tvam asi". The logical and epistemological status of the Upanisadic statement, "Tat tvam asi" has come up in recent-day literature for discussion and debate. In January 1998 issue of the Indian Philosophical Quarterly, Daya Krishna opened up the debate by asking, 'Is "Tattvam Asi" the same type of identity statement as "The morning star is the evening star"?' He is interested here to find out the exact meaning of this statement and whether this statement and the other one, which is the favourite example of Frege, "The morning star is the evening star," are meaningful in the self-same way. According to him, "both the statements share a common problematic as they point to two seemingly different entities which are regarded as totally different from each other and yet which are really identical in a fundamental sense that is not known to those who see them as different." The difference, he says, is rooted in foundational experience, whereas their identity is rooted in more powerful and deeper level of experience. Daya Krishna seeks to show that the identity of Atman and Brahman is different from the identity of morning star and evening star. Thereafter some other scholars like N.S. Dravid and S.V. Bokil took up the discussion to new heights, but I would not discuss their views in detail. In this paper, I shall, first of all, discuss what exactly is an identity statement and then try to show what sort of identity statement, or what sort of statement, is "Tat tvam asi". Two descriptive expressions might refer to one and the same thing. In that case, the meanings of the two expressions are different, whereas one and the same thing is there as the referent of both. There could have been two different things corresponding to the two descriptions, but, as a matter of fact, there is only one. It is possible that one and the same thing correspond to two expressions, both of which are names, e.g., 'Everest' and Sagarmatha' or "Kaunteya' and 'Radheya'. There could be cases where there is one and the same thing corresponding to two expressions, one of which is a name and the other a description, e.g., 'Everest' and 'the highest mountain of the world'. It appears that both the sorts of expressions, names and descriptions, are labels put upon things and, as such, it is supposed that they mean the things by naming them. Frege sought to point out that the supposition is wrong. He observed that the way a name has meaning is different from the way a description has meaning. A name cannot have meaning without anything in the world as its referent, i.e., in isolation. But a description could have meaning without there being anything in the world as its referent. It is an incomplete symbol. Accordingly, Frege made a useful distinction between the sense and the reference of an expression, which paved the way for further discussion by Russell and Wittgenstein. The statement, "The morning star is the evening star" is labeled by some as an identity statement. But to label it thus becomes misleading in 222

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view of the fact that the statements like "2 2=1", or "pqopq", one belonging to mathematics and the other belonging to logic, are called as identity statements. The meaning of the expression '22' and the meaning of the expression 'l' are one and the same. In any statement where one of these expressions occurs, the other could be substituted for it without any alteration of meaning. This is independent of what is there in the world corresponding to '22' and '1'. Similar is the case with 'p q' and '-pal. There is some difference between the identity statements of mathematics and those of logic, but that is not important for our present discussion. It is important at present to appreciate that the statement, "The morning star is the evening star," is not of the same type as "2 2 1" and "pq-pq". The latter two statements are not used for identification of anything in the world, whereas the former one is used precisely for this purpose. It is an astronomical fact that the planet Venus is both the morning star as well as the evening star. It is called an identification statement in order to mark it off from its counterpart, namely the statement that they are two discernible entities. "This is that Devadatta" would be another example of identification statement. It is an empirical fact that Devadatta seen then at Pataliputra is the self-same Devadatta seen now at Hastinapura. But again there is difference between "The morning star is the evening star" and "This is that Devadatta." It is the planet Venus that appears both as the morning star and as the evening star. It could be identified in some way other than as the morning star or as the evening star. "The morning star' and 'the evening star' are descriptions of some thing, which could have many other descriptions also like 'the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days'. "Venus' is the name given to that something, which has existence in space and time. There is continuity of the spatio-temporal route from the planet Venus appearing as the morning star to its appearing as the evening star and to its appearing as the morning star again. The word 'is' is ambiguous. It is used in at least three different senses, such as (i) in the sense of existence as in the statement, "Dharma is (there)," (ii) in the sense of predication as in the statement, "Grass is green," and (iii) in the sense of identity the examples of which are under discussion. We sought to show above that identity statements are not alike in respect of their function in language. When we come to the statement, "This is that Devadatta," we find that there is nothing which was then called 'that Devadatta' and now called this Devadatta' other than Devadatta himself preserving unity, continuity and identity amidst spatio-temporal changes. It is not necessary to suppose Devadattahood as the substratum of the spatio-temporal predicates. "This is that Devaddata" is unlike the statement "Everest is Sagaramatha". The latter is more like the statement, "The morning star is the evening star." 223

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"Tat tvam asi" is a unique statement, a category by itself. It does not seek to render any factual information. It seeks to bring out a perspective that reorganises all the information that all the possible statements of human discourse as a whole could render. Hence it is called a mahavakya. The terms 'tat' and 'tvam' have technical philosophical use in the context of Advaita literature. 'Tat' signifies the ultimate reality Brahman and 'tvam' signifies the psycho-physico-intellectual jiva. Daya Krishna regards Atman and Brahman as entities that are 'theoretically postulated' for understanding experience in its subjective and objective aspects respectively. They are not "directly experienced and hence require a special spiritual praxis for their existential realisation in experience." He argues that the Atman-Brahman identity is radically different from morning star-evening star identity that is realised in empirical experience. His view that Atman-Brahman identity is different from the morning star-evening star identity is indeed illuminating, but his view that the former is a matter of special spiritual realisation needs reconsideration. R.K. Puligandla seeks to muster phenomenological justification for Atman-Brahman identification. In a paper entitled, "Is the Central Upanisadic Teaching a Reductionist Thesis?" he argues that "Atman is Brahman" cannot be a reductionist thesis in the sense in which this is conceived in the Western philosophical tradition. There the physical and the mental both are regarded as phenomena and one of them is regarded as being ultimate. According to Puligandla, "Nothing could be more absurd than to think of consciousness as a phenomenon." Consciousness is transcendental. "Transcendental' does not refer to something beyond the understanding of man, something, which is apprehended through some religious mumbo-jumbo or hocus-pocus. It only means 'non-phenomenal', that is, non-spatial, non-temporal and nonobject. In short, it is formless and nameless which cannot be raised and erased, expanded or contracted. There is no lower consciousness or higher consciousness, as it is impartite and unitary. He concludes by saying that the Upanisadic teaching is nonetheless a reductionist thesis, but it is better to call it as Upanisadic reductionism. Elsewhere, in an extension lecture delivered at the Department of Philosophy, Utkal University, he characterised the Upanisadic ultimate reality as being at once immanent and transcendent. According to him, Brahman is the power whose varieties of manifestation are the phenomena of the world without as well as within man. It is unborn, uncreated, undying and eternal which the senses and the mind cannot perceive. Brahman is not a he, nor a she, but that, tat. Atman like Brahman is unborn, uncreated, undying and eternal. It is pure, objectless consciousness not to be identified with the empirical ego or the metaphysical soul. Atman is also formless and nameless and it transcends space and time and is therefore unperceivable, inconceivable and inexpressible. Atman and Brahman are not, however, two numerically different realities. They are two different la 224

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bels for the one and the same non-dual reality. Whatever is experienced in the three states, waking, dreaming and sound sleeping is, only a manifestation of Brahman, which Puligandla labels as 'power'. By the practice of yoga, mental modifications could be halted and there could be consciousness without any object. This objectless consciousness is the Atman and is none other than the unmanifested Brahman. Brahman is immanent when it gets manifested into varieties of worldly phenomena. It is transcendent because it cannot be experienced as a phenomenon that is the object of consciousness. "Atman is Brahman" is, according to Puligandla, a profound pheonomenological-analytical truth. Coming back to Daya Krishna, he seeks to underline the homogeneity of Atman and Brahman by saying that both are postulated entities. N.S. Dravid does not agree. According to Dravid, Brahman is a theoretical entity but Atman is not. He supposes "Atman is Brahman" is a subject-predicate statement in which the subject is always given whereas the predicate is ungiven (sic). This would not be correct if Daya Krisna's contention is fully conceded to. Bokil prefers to call "Tat tvam asi" as a 'metaphysical hypothesis'. This sentence, according to him, is grammatically correct but systematically misleading as Brahman is not an expression belonging to natural language. "Atman is Brahman" is a case of pseudo-identity. "The structures of metaphysics and religion are all founded on such pseudo entities." Bokil is critical of the phenomenological approach to the Vedantic thesis given by Puligandla and Beena Gupta. The latter claims that application of the phenomenological finding to one's own consciousness would lead us to a horizon of pure, experiential consciousness and its structure transcends the linguistic and the interpretative differences. But Bokil observes, "Hin recommending to us to look at experience rather than language they are using language to convince us of their approach." His conclusion is that search for philosophical truth without language is like search for a black cow in the pitch of darkness. Phenomenological route to Brahman takes us to a dead end; it does not throw any light on the nature of identity supposedly stated in "Tattvamasi." It may be pointed out here that the word 'hypothesis' has its primary use in science. It is used only metaphorically with respect to metaphysics. Although for Bokil the expression 'metaphysical hypothesis' is in place, Bokil objects to Dravid's contention that the meaning of "Tattvamasi" can be made intelligible by invoking metaphorical meaning (bhagatyaga laksana). Bokil says that Dravid's proposal of understanding the meaning of "Tattvamasi" beats him completely for the simple reason that he does not look upon philosophy as a spiritual discipline as Dravid does. For him philosophic enquiry is strictly argumentative. N.S. Dravid gives a rejoinder to Bokil's contention that "Tattvamasi" is a pseudo-identity and needs verbal understanding in order to make its 225

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meaning clear. According to him, the verbal understanding of meaning is quite different from the introspective understanding or spiritual realisation of the identity in one's own being. Consciousness endowed with the empiricality is 'tvam' and the same consciousness endowed with universality is 'tat'. As such, the two cannot be identical. Their identicalness can only be made intelligible by shedding a part of their meaning, he argues. As I assess the views of these notable scholars, I find that they contain some useful insights, but their views give rise to certain confusions. They sometimes register their dissention over the view that philosophical investigation is purely logico-linguistic and that appeal to scientific (factual or psychological), religious, moral and metaphysical principles with a view to corroborating a philosophical viewpoint vitiates it and leads to many interminable disputes. It will not be profitable to make a table of such confusions here. In the rest of the paper, I shall devote my time to offer my understanding of the identity statement, "Tat tvam asi" and thereby hope to dispel the confusions that I think to be involved in the views of scholars. For this purpose I shall make reference to Dharmarajadvarindra's text, the accreditedly authoritative Vedantaparibhasa. The thrust of all the mahavakyas, four or five as referred to already, is that Atman is Brahman. In the sentence, "Atman is Brahman," 'Atman' stands for 'this' as well as 'I' which function as the subjects of knowledge in the propositional symbolism, whereas 'Brahman' that stands for Existence as such (sadghana) and Knowledge/ Consciousness as such (cidghana) functions as the subject of the whole of intelligible discourse. There are different ways of expressing the sentence like "This is that," "Everything is Brahman," "You are that," and "I am that," These are known as extra-ordinary statements or great logia (mahavakyas) as already stated. All such statements have the same import, that is, the ultimate limit of the actual language is the maximum approximation of the ultimate limit of any possible language. Surely, "Atman is Brahman" is an extraordinary statement, because it is not a statement that can be found in our work-a-day use of language. Yet there are sentences in the work-a-day use of language, which are similar to this sentence in respect of grammatical structure. We have to apprehend how the statement "Atman is Brahman" is different from others in respect of logical behaviour. In the sentence, "This is that Devadatta," which is admitted to be an approximation to its inner structure, the identity that it portrays cannot be an identity of substance. It cannot be an identity of some necessary attributes either, because that would presuppose a mitigated form of essentialism. The identity of two things or two persons or two events of the world, as the case might be, is not established on the basis of their substances or their attributes. Their identity is established on the basis of general characteristics, which are not necessarily abiding, but which constitute what Hospers calls, 'a quorum'. A thing or a person or an event in one appearance is, in the 226

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strict logical sense, similar to itself in another appearance to an appreciable degree. But they can sometimes be similar to such a low degree that doubts can be entertained about their similarity. When an appearance of a thing or a person or an event is similar to another appearance of a thing or a person or an event to an appreciable degree, we regard the two appearances as being appearances of the self-same thing or person or event; or we say that the particular having the first appearance and the particular having the second appearance are not two but one. Atman and Brahman are not entities according to the Vedantin. As such, they cannot be said to be identical in the sense that their substances are the same. Again, Atman and Brahman cannot be characterised as they are bereft of characteristics (nirguna). As such, they cannot be said to be identical in the sense that their attributes are the same. Because of this, it is improper too to say that Atman and Brahman are similar to each other. According to the Vedantin, they are identical in a different sense. The identity of Atman and Brahman is to be understood in the sense that they are terms of identical or approximately identical significance. They stand for the selfsame feature of language and discourse. The term 'Atman' stands for the limit of factual discourse and the term 'Brahman' stands for the limit of any possible discourse. The former points to or shows the latter. What is shown is that the former is the maximum possible approximation of the latter. According to Acharya Samkara, "apnoteh atteh atateh vaHatma." Atma is that which gets, eats up and goes or grows. 'Brahman' comes from the root 'Brnha' that means 'to grow', 'to expand'. The two terms are highly potent in their significance and are used in philosophical, religious and cultural discourses as well. When they are used in the philosophical discourse, their meanings must not be got mixed up with that which they have in nonphilosophical discourses. It pays to increase our clarity in understanding the rules in language games and roles in forms of life if we explain them in the philosophical logical idiom. The sense in which Atman and Brahman are said to be identical is different from the sense in which an empirical particular is said to be identical with itself or rather with different appearances of itself. We can distinguish the two by labeling the Atman-Brahman identity as conceptual identity and the identity of empirical particulars as factual identity. Accordingly, the statement made by the use of the sentence "This is that Devadatta" expresses factual identity of terms whereas the statement made by the use of the sentence "Atman is Brahman," or any of its variants expresses conceptual identity of terms. In order to avoid a possible confusion, however, the Advaita Vedantin says that Atman and Brahman are non-different. This is the maximum that the philosopher can say using language in order to clarify possible confusions of language use. Wittgestein's observation with regard 227

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to the paradox generated by the use of the word 'identical' is quite enlightening: "Roughly speaking, to say of two things that they are identical is nonsense, and to say of one thing that it is identical with itself is to say nothing at all." It is important to show, in this connection, the distinctive characters of a statement of conceptual identity. The structure of such a statement is different from that of a non-identity statement. We know that the basic structure of a statement symbolism that seeks to state something about the empirical world is that a particular is described under a universal. That is, the statement involves a distinction between two parts, namely, the particular (visayi) and the universal (visaya), or the support (adhisthana) and the ascription supported by it (adhyastha). The two are sought to be related by means of an assertive tie. The subject term of the statement stands for the support and the predicate term of the statement stands for the ascription. These two terms are related by such words as 'is' or 'am'. So a statement of the form, "This is thus and so" or "I am such and so", involves a relation that is fundamental for human thought and discourse about the empirical world. It is called a samsargavagahi (involving relation) statement. In contradistinction with this sort of statement, an identity statement like "Atman is Brahman" or any or its variants does not involve a distinction between a subject term and a predicate term. They are not really bound by a relational tie. It is called a samsarganavagahi (not involving relation) statement. Such a statement appears to establish a relation between two terms because the device indicating the relation 'is' is there. But it is only the semblance of a relation. The reason is that there is no distinction between the subject term and the predicate term, strictly speaking. We must make it clear that the distinction between a subject and a predicate that is in question is not the grammatical distinction between a subject and predicate but a categorial distinction between the two. According to the categorial distinction, we know, a subject cannot function as a predicate and a predicate cannot function as a subject. Their functions are absolutely demarcated. The statement "Atman is Brahman" seeks to point beyond the distinction between the two. Yet, to speak within the bounds of the distinction, both the terms that appear as being related are subject terms. The statement in question is not an exact statement because Atman and Brahman are not strictly subject terms. There cannot, however, be a more exact statement to convey what it intends to convey. It intends to convey that Atman that constitutes the limit of the actual language or the factual discourse is the maximum approximation of Brahman that constitutes the ultimate limit of any possible language and discourse in respect of logical status. This is a statement of extraordinary structure belonging not to language and discourse, but to their limits. An ordinary identity statement like "This is that Devadatta" comes in between a non-identity statement at the one extreme and a necessary 228

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identity statement at the other. It can be regarded as an 'intermediary case' in the words of Wittgenstein. The meaning that a conceptual identity statement carries is said to be impartite. That is, knowledge conveyed by such a statement is not differentiated into subject and object that is inevitable in case of knowledge conveyed by a statement like "This is pot" or "I am happy". Hence the statement "Atman is Brahman" is said to express impartite meaning (akhandartha). Knowledge conveyed by a non-identity statement like "This is a pot" or "I am happy" is differentiated into subject and object. Hence such statements are said to express partite meaning (khandartha). Most of the criticisms that are leveled against philosophical logical analysis or critico-constructive analysis of the Advaitins's view that Atman is Brahman are rooted in certain presuppositions two of which I intend to put forward here. One is that linguistic philosophy and philosophy of language are one and the same. This is not correct, as the former is a philosophical method whereas the latter is an area of philosophical pursuit. I shall not dilate on this except saying that Samkara whose views are reconstructed linguistically has a philosophy of language to his credit. The second is that the mahavakyas like "Tat tvam asi" or "Atman is Brahman" are not meant to be intellect-deep, but further and farthest deep. By the attempt to understand and construct the traditional doctrines and arguments in the current philosophical idiom, one does not intend to fix it at intellect deep. We intend to put it there where it should properly be. But one cannot neglect and bypass the domain of the intellect. One has to pass through the domain of the intellect, not to get stuck there and to go beyond. (In the Vedantic terminology 'go' and 'know' logically mean the same.) In the West, philosopher F.H. Bradley came to the conclusion that the intellect must commit suicide to apprehend Reality. But there is no question and scope of suicide in Advaita. The Advaitin wants to transcend the intellect with the help of the intellect, as there is no bypass or short cut. The Bhagavadgita is clear in this regard: evam buddheh param buddhva samstabhya atmanam atmanaH (Knowing That which is superior to intellect and disciplining the lower with the higher intellectH) One must expatiate in detail the reasons provided by the faculty of reason only to find that they are not adequate to render knowledge of the ultimate reality. The idea of ultimate reality, it might be clarified, is not foisted from outside by, nor is a figment of the imagination of the philosopher. The present way of understanding the idea is not an imposition, nor grafting made by the present writer. There are some scholars who appear to think that when they use the current logico-linguistic idiom, they are not imposing or grafting, but when others use the same, they are imposing or grafting distorting the philosophical view under reappraisal. 229

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II I think that those who are more or less averse to the logico-linguistic study of the doctrines and arguments of Advaita Vedanta, perhaps feel that the sap of the philosophy is destroyed. It bears important messages for philosophy of life and that is lost by this conceptual-critical study. I am fully convinced that this is not so. The metaphysical-epistemological or the ontological-epistemological or the ontic-epistemic view (such are the varied forms of description the differences among which are not easy to grasp) of the Advaitin does not imply any philosophy of life. In a paper entitled, "Brahman as Sat-Chit-Ananda" that I published long back, I said that the philosophy of Vedanta can be employed in ways that might be opposed to one another. For example, some commentators interpret the Vedantin as propounding an illusonistic philosophy that denounces the world as illusion. Consequently people might become indifferent to worldly affairs and averse to all social. actions, because the world is unreal without trying to appreciate that the world is said to be an illusion from a different standpoint altogether. One could, on the other hand, employ the same philosophy in the opposite direction. One might argue that the philosophy of Vedanta is not antagonistic to the present day materialistic society. It is rather congenial to it. The modern man in the process of making money has lost the higher values of life and has moved away from his human nature. He looks upon his fellow men as so many contenders in the race for making money rather than so many souls very much like him whose dreams and desires, attempts and achievements, are, in no way, different from his own. All are at bottom one. There should not, therefore, be any strife between region and region and man and man. All must live in mutual peace and harmony instead of living in perpetual tension and terror, insecurity and uncertainty. There must be universal brotherhood of man. R. Balasubramanian in the Centre for Study of Civilization volume on Advaita Vedanta, Volume II asserts, The message which Samkara wants to convey in his adhyasa-bhasya is simple, but profound. A life unreflected is not worth living. We are engaged in the loka-vyavahara without a deeper reflection on the meaning and purpose of life. Samkara expectes human beings, who have the special competence for the pursuit of knowledge and the practice of religious duty (karmajnana-adhikara), to reflect on their nature, deeds, and destiny. One who fails to understand the problem of adhyasa cannot understand the philosophy of Advaita. He further writes, Samkara offers a solution to the problem of role-identification. We are called upon to play different roles in our day-to-day life. The roles are both relative and temporary. According to Samkara, the problem of roleidentification is a case of adhyas, A person who is sensitive to the fact of role 230

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identification will be humble in his life, responsible in his conduct, and detached and self-controlled in his attitude and outlook. Swami Atmasthananda draws a message for the people of today's world from the Advaita philosophy thus: Today we are living in a shrinking world and what happens in one corner of the globe affects people thousand miles away. At the social, political and economic levels we have to appreciate the other man's point of view and realize the oneness of existence. For this, the recognition of the inner spirit of man, which binds all humanity by a single bond, is an inevitable necessity. There are business gurus who claim to draw conclusions conducive to business from the Advaitic point of view. They think that, stress management, anger management and overall personality management can be done efficiently well by the concepts and principles provided by Advaita Vedanta. They have coined new expressions like 'Spiritual empiricism' and 'Vedantic Spirinomy' (that is, economy vedantically spiritualised!) for this emerging state of affairs. They think that 'Spirinomics' built on ideas of Vedantic spiritualism stands a better chance of providing balanced fulfillment whereas Hedonism (neo-classical economics of the Capitalists) transforms the individual into a consumerist automaton out of rapacious greed, and 'Communomics' (economics of the Communists) rides roughshod over the individual self in the name of the party. Which message concerning life and world is evidenced by the doctrine of Advaita? I would like to reserve my response on this. Let us now look at some of the modern attempts to link the findings of Advaita Vedanta with those of modern science and to draw matters of fact conclusions therefrom. But we must not forget what Samkara says about the necessity of the whole exercise of the philosophy of Advaita, that is, atyantika duhka nivrtti (total elimination of suffering) and akhanda sukha prapti (begetting total bliss). There are attempts of some modern thinkers to bring in the findings of particle physics to justify the identity of Atman and Brahman. According to them, all the things and beings of the world including the psychophysical organism are manifestations of energy. What is known as matter of diverse names and forms are merely packets of energy and energy, in its turn, is but a conscious principle. The whole world evolves out of it and devolves into it. But it needs to be appreciated that philosophical perspectives are not hypotheses or theories about the world requiring support from facts. They are independent of whatever there is or whatever happens in the world. Swami Vivekananda once remarked that Science is nothing but the finding of unity and that as soon as Science would reach perfect. unity, it would stop from further progress because it would reach the goal. He con 231

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tended that the science of religion would become prefect when it would discover Him, who is the one life in the universe of death, one who is the constant basis of the ever-changing world, one who is the only Soul of which all souls are but delusive manifestations. "Tattvamasi" is regarded as the principle, which asserts that the microcosm contains the macrocosm. Certain scientific findings are cited in order to buttress this point of view. Ferris asserts that the history and the fate of the universe are written in every atom. The scientists claim that in the sub-atomic level no particle is an independent entity. These entities are interconnected with each other. A particle is "a dynamic pattern of interconnected energy," says Capra. Moreover, "consciousness may be an essential aspect of the universe." We may fail to understand natural phenomena if we do not take this into account. According to Max Planck, "consciousness is fundamental and the matter is derived from consciousness." And Joad adds, "Everything we talk about, everything we regard as existing postulates consciousness."10 In the similar vein, the Nobel physicist Schrodinger contends that the dualism of mind and matter can never be resolved in the material plane, but only in the psychic plane. Thus both Planck and Schrodinger seek to accept the Vedantic principle that consciousness creates matter, not vice versa. Consciousness is the singular of which the plural is unknown. Consciousness in the plural is a deception or maya, says Schrodinger. This appears to be an echo of Swami Vivekananda's claim that although an atom is invisible, unthinkable, yet in it are the whole power and potency of the universe. 11 This is exactly what the Vedantin says of atoms. H.P. Blavatsky, a theosophist, brings out a novel thesis in his book entitled The Secret Doctrine of the East that the Reality is Be-ness rather than Being. This reality is absolute consciousness, which is free from and symbolised by finite and conditioned intelligence. This is parabrahma whose two aspects are spirit and matter. It is the force of all individual consciousness and is the pre-cosmic substance, which is the substratum of matters of various grades. The Secret Doctrine teaches fundamentals of all souls with the universal soul. Again, J. Feys, a Vedantic scholar of the West, in his little book, A=B: An Enquiry into the Upanisad's Basic Insight tries to explode the mystery about Atman-Brahman identity. He approaches the Upanisad not as a revealed word, which the acaryas do, but as a philosophico-religious document. From this 'restricted but legitimate point of view', the Upanisads appear to substitute Atman for Brahman, the immanent self for the transcendental or the sacred. Brahman, according to him, "never is something quite definite. It is the sacred, the numen, the highest or supreme, the last ground of all reality or absolute. Atman, on the contrary, is very clearly defined; it is the objectless consciousness of the pure self, the intuitive subject, term of the process of interiorisation." Atman-Brahman equation, that is A=B, is, according to him, not an assimilation to the sacred or the profane, of the numen 232

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to man. The amalgamation is fatal to philosophy as well as to religiosity. The distinction between the two, human and the divine, is essential for the progress of man's understanding of reality. Professor K.S. Murty in his Sarada Pitha address of September, 1985 said that scientists and popularisers of semi-scientific and semi-mystic ideas have written a number of books which try to prove that contemporary science supports some form of Eastern philosophy or mysticism, or what is believed to be common to all Eastern thought. He rejects this view with detailed arguments. According to him, no science can or need confirm the truth that reality is non-dual, sat-chit-ananda, nor is it ever opposed to or reject this. This truth, according to Murty, has been and can be confirmed in one way only, that is, by one's own experience. I wish to submit here that philosophy and science pursuits of two different orders. The putative truths of science are verified in sense experience in the respective segment. But the truths of philosophy are not verified in this way. One could say that they are not at all verified in sense experience; or one can say equally, nay more, cogently, that they are verified in any and every sense experience. The sense of reality which logic postulates - never arbitrarily, to be sure - is the sense that is criteriological. It provides the basis for deciding what is real and what is not. The truths of Advaita Vedanta could be approached in three ways. The approaches are: (1) scriptural, (2) rational, and (3) experiential as Arvind Sharma has sought to show clearly in his recent book, Advaita Vedanta: An Introduction. The Vedantic truths can be approached, assessed and appreciated in any of the ways that are by no means exclusive. They are complementary to one another for. All dualities like that between fact and value, religion and philosophy, fact and logic are overridden by the supervenient truths of Vedanta. I would like to close with a couple of sentences. In Vedanta, there is no aversion to any view, there is only delightful toleration; no rejection of any view, only harmonising accommodation and the Vedantin leaves everything as it is; there is no question of reduction as some scholars allege. The method of philosophy is logical analysis and hence a darsanika (philosopher) is regarded as a pramanika (logical analyst) in India long before this was seen as a landmark in philosophic progress in the West. 233

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REFERENCES: 1. Individuals, p. 10. Op. cit., p. 11. Prajnanam Brahma (Aitareya Upanaisad) / Sarvam khalu idam Brahma (Chandogya Upanisad), Ayamatma Brahma (Mandukya Upanisad), Tat tvam asi (Chandogya Upanisad), Aham Brahmasmi (Brhadaranyaka Upanisad). Vide, P.T.Raju, Structural Depths of Indian Thought, New Delhi, South Asian Publishers, 1985 and Indulata Das, Mysticism and the Upanisads, New Delhi, Nag Publishers, 2002. Vol. XXV No. 1, pp. 1-13. Ibid. Wittgenstein in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus makes such a distinction. 4. 5. 6. In a TV advertisement, two penlight batteries were offered free with the purchase of two soap cakes. But one could not get one battery free with the purchase of one soap cake. Here 2 2 1. Similarly if a soap cake weighing 75gm. costs Rs.7.50, then the dealer would not sell 10gm. of soap cake for Re.0.75. So here Rs. 7.50 10 Re.0.75. 8. Vide, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 3.323. 9. Indian Philosophical Quarterly, op. cit. 10. Asian Philosophy, Vol. I, No.1, 1991, p. 17. 11. Indian Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. XXV, No. 4, p. 538. 12. Indian Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. XXVI, No. 3, p. 429. 13. Op.cit., p. 432. 14. Op. cit., p. 434. 15. Indian Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. XXV, No.1, p. 336. 16. For a detailed discussion, vide, my Vedantaparibhasa: An Analytical Study, Meerut , Anu Books, 1986. 17. Vedantaparibhasa, Il-25 and VIII-66. 18. Aitareya Upanisad Bhasya, 1.1.1. 19. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 5.5303. 20. Philosophical Investigations, Sec. 122. 234

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21. III-43. 22. Vide, for example, G.C.Nayak, "Samkara's Formulation of Vedanta," in (Ed.) R. Balasubramanian and Sibajiban Bhattacharyya, Perspectives of Samkara, 1989, pp. 11-23. 23. The Humanist Vision, The Humanist Philosophical Circle, Bhubaneswar, 1981. 24. Cf. S.N.Dasgupta, Indian Idealism, Cambridge University Press, 1962, p. 163. 25. Cf. S. Radhakrishnaan, History of Philosophy Eastern and Western, Vol. II, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1967, p. 447-8. 26.. P.70. 27. P. 120. 28. Vedanta: Concepts and Application, Calcutta, The Ramakrishna Mis sion Institute of Culture, 1997, p. 11. 29. S.K.Chakraborty, Ethics in Management, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 21. 30. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. I, pp.14-5. Religion, according to Vivekananda, is the science that learns the transcendental of nature through the transcendental of man. 31. The New York Times Magazine, 26.9.1982, p. 87. 32. The Turning Point, p. 95. 33. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. I, p. 38. 34. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. I, p. 44. 35. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass Publishes Private Limited, 2003. 36. Hiriyanna, Outlines of Indian Philosophy, p. 178 n and Wittgenstein, op. cit., Sec. 124. 235

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Navya Visistadvaita Vedanta Philosophy of Sri Swaminarayan - Dr. Ramesh M Dave Late justice M.G. Ranade notes that, 'Swaminarayana is the last Acarya of the Vedantic tradition. He, at the same time, is an early representative of Neo-Hinduism'. Sri Swaminarayana alias Sahajananda Swami (2nd April 1781 to 1st June 1830) hailed from Capiya a village in North India, but worked and taught in Gujarat. He brought about a number of social reforms in the chaotic first quarter of the nineteenth century, in Gujarat. Like the great Sri Vainnava alvar saint Sri Saohagopa. Sri Swaminarayana too firmly believed that 'if religion is to reach the hearts of the common people, religious truths should be conveyed to them in a language understood by them.' He, therefore, preached all his philosophy and religion in Gujarati - the language understood by the people. This had deep and penetrating effect on the life of the people of Gujarat. The Vedas. Prasthana- trayi (i.e. Vedanta-Sutras, Upaninads and Geeta). Mahabharata, Sri Bhagawatam, Vasudeva-Mahatmya section of Skanda-Purana and Yajiavalkya smhti are the sources acceptable to Sri Swaminarayana. Saikhya, Yoga, Paicaratra and Vedanta are the bases for determining the nature of the highest ontological reality. Of course, we get the fullest picture of his Vedantic philosophy and religion from his two major works, namely Vacanamhtam' and Siksapatri. In addition, the commentaries on Prasthana-trayi by Gopalananda Swami, commentary on SandilyaSutras by Nityananda Swami and the works of Sri Krinnavallabhacharya viz Swaminarayana-Vedantasara. Tattva-prabhavali, SwaminarayanaDarshanam and Brahmarasayanabhasya are some of the important works explicating the vedantic tradition of Swami-narayana. In addition, the 'Swaminarayana Bhasya' on Brahmasutra, Upanishads and Geeta by Sadhu Bhadreshadas The present article largely relies on the two major works of Swami-narayana Himself (viz. Vacannamhtam' and siknapatri) and wherever necessary supports and supplements, it with appropriate references from above sources. Swaminarayana was a master of Vedic lore and scriptural literature. He was a genius in his methodology of arguments and exposition. He was the exponent of the Upaninadic doctrine of Brahman and Parabrahman. Swaminarayana's 'Vacannamritam' is a work, which leaves nothing unexplored in philosophy and religion of Swaminarayana-Vainnavism. It contains the touch, polish and finish of his profundity of intellect and stupendous knowledge and experience. It consists of the loftiness of thought, clarity of expression, infallible logic and easy-original solutions to the most 236

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intricate metaphysical, theological and epistemological problems. It is regarded as a best of prose work in early Gujarati literature. Written in the dialogue cum discourse form. It develops its ideas without criticizing the views of the earlier Acaryas. Like any system of Vedanta, Swaminarayana's Vedanta philosophy deals with three basic questions, namely, Tattva (What is Real?) Hita (What is Good?) and Purunartha (What is the Goal?) sri Swaminarayana's Navya-Visinoadvaita Vedanta and its cognate religious practice may be traced to the upaninadic doctrine of sarira-sariri relationship and ancient school of Bhagwata-dharma. As against the the three realities of Ramanuja's Visinoadvaita, (viz. cid, acid and Isvara) sri Swaminarayana holds the doctrine of five eternal realities viz. (i) Parabrahman i.e. the Supreme Self also identified as the Lord Narayana (ii) Aknara-brahman, (iii) Prakriti-maya (iv) Isvara i.e. cosmic selves (devatas) and (v) Jiva i.e. finite selves. The doctrine of five-fold realities, he arrives at, on the basis of his study of Prasthana- trayi, Smrutis, Puranas, Paicaratra and philosophical reflection backed by veridical intuitive experience. His is realism, for it believes in the reality of the external world, and the five-fold ontological entities as real and distinct from eternit. The 'beinghood' (sat-tva), knowability (jieyatva) and nameability (abhidheypitva) are the characteristics common to all the five principles/ realities (namely, jiva,isvara,maya-prkhti, aknrabrahman and Parabrahman). But for maya-prakrti the other four (jiva,isvara, aknrabrahman and Parabrahman) possess existence (sat), consciousness (cid) and (ananda) as the common characteristics in addition to self illuminationess (svayamprakasatva). In addition, consciouness (cetanatva) illuminationess (svayamprakasatva) selfhood (ahamartha) and agency (karthtva) are the characteristics common to all four of them. self In Navya-Visinoadvaita of Swaminarayana, God is the Absolute, and the Absolute is God. Metaphysics and theism go hand in hand and both of them refer to the same ultimate. It, thus, accepts the form-ful personal God, Who is the only independent (svatantra) supreme reality. The other reals being entirely dependent on Him, stand in the relationship of a body to its soul (sarera-sareri sambandha). Parabrahma is the non-dual-all-embracing qualified whole. The plurality of jivas, plurality of isvaras, changeful order of Nature (prakhti) and ever unchanging aknara-brahman are the part and parcel of His body. Changefulness does not make anything unreal, for it has no existence independently apart from Him. The dependence is irrevocable but not reciprocal. The relation of God as the all ensouling Self (Paramatma) to His 237

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body is asymmetrical (one-way relation) by virtue of God's exclusive independence, infinite omnipotence, highest transcendence, omni-immanence, omni-supporter-ship and controllership of everything. On the other hand, the body is controlled, supported and pervaded by God and stands powerless incapable before Him. This vedantic thesis of sarera-sareri (Body-soul has its support from Antaryami Brahmana of Bhhadaranyaka Upaninad and Subalopaninad. The Body-soul relationship between other reals and Prabrahman secures logical bond of inseparable relation that preserves the exclusive independence and transcendence of God. Who is the final destiny. Theologically, the Body-soul relationship inherently entails in it the sarirasariri i.e. servant-Master relationship and the prakara-prakari relationship because mode has its existence in its supporting Substance (the prakari). Metaphysically. God is one with and non-different from jiva-isvara-prakhti nevertheless He as the Being with innumerable auspicious attributes and excellence is totally unaffected by its corruptions. This also brings out a fact that sri Swaminarayana uses ghataka srutis as the reconciling passages which help in bridging the gulf between bheda and abheda srutis, without undermining the role and the status of any one of them. This also helps in showing that, other reals, as sarera have their relation of eternal dependence, on the sareri: the Supreme Self, and hence, the advaita of a qualified kind naturally exists. As it accepts the sarira-sariri relation, this system of Vedanta rightly deserves the claim of being sareraka-memamsa. The non-dual Parabrahman is all-inclusive, all- embracing qualified whole. Parabrahman: Parabrahman is the highest principle in order of reality and values. He is the Supreme Godhead and the highest ontological reality. The Parabrahman of Upaninads, Vedanta Sutras and the Geta is the same as the Lord Purunottam. He is also named as Paramesvara, Narayan and Vasudeva. He is the creator, sustainer and destroyer, immanent principle and transcendent God: the object of all worship and adoration. God is antaryamin, the indwelling Self in all. This helps in establishing the vision of equality in the seeker. God's immanence in man and nature does not mean that He is transformed into man and nature. It simply means that He pervades the creation and the created, both in their un-manifest (avyakta) and manifest (vyakta) states. This is evident from the 'srutis : 'antau pravinoau' sasta jananam sarvatma' i.e. entering within, He rules all beings. This is evident from the srutis: 'antau pravintau sasta janam sarvatma' ie entering within, He rules all beings. Parabrahman is always formful-personal (sada-sakara) having divine form and personality. He is eternally young like a teenaged boy. He is through and through consciousness-bliss (jnananandaghana) personified. This is His essential nature. He is the home of infinite number of infinitely auspicious qualities (saguna) and is devoid of heya gunas i.e. ephemeral 238

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qualities and blemishes. He is beyond the three gunas of prakhti. He reigns supreme by His transcendence, immanence and excellence, power and infinite number of auspicious qualities. He is the moral governor, inner ruler, savior and redeemer. He is the highest perfect person. He is the one and only one who is unparalleled and matchless (ekamevadvitiyam) as the Supreme Ontological Reality. Between metaphysics and ethics of Swaminarayana Vedanta, the science of love and aesthetics stands as the unifying principle. Love mediates between thought and will. The transcendental beauty, irresistible charm of God's personality and the inexhaustible flood of unalloyed bliss of the Lord ravishes sensuality and earthly attachments from the heart of the longing devotee. All worldly pleasures and happiness pale into disutility and insignificance before the infinite bliss and joy of God's effulgent divine personality. He thus is the parama sundara: the Supreme Beauty. His beauty excels the beauty of crores of cupids. Parabrahman, as the Supreme Godhead incarnates as avatara through His permeation of power in the person of Isvaras. This permeation is propotional to the purpose to be served. However, when God Himself has His descent on earth as the Lord of all avataras (avatari), He descends with all His glory, excellence and powers along with His abode with aknarabrahman. Though He appears, like a human, is not born in sin nor born to reap the fruits of karmas like other mortals. He is not the slave of material body, but He is the Master of it. And is divine and divinizing. Similarly His arca forms (icons) and saint-form (as aknara-guru) through whom, He keeps His presence (manifestation) continuous on earth are also regarded as un-material and divine. Aknarabrahman: Next to Parabrahman, in order of being an ontological reality is Aknarabrahman Parabrahman is higher than aknarabrahman and aknarabrahman is higher than mayaprakhti, Isvaras and jivas. Aknarabrahman is frequently addressed merely as 'aknara' and * Brahman in the Swaminarayana tradition. Aknarabrahman is uniquely on and matchless and singular as a reality subservient to Parabrahman alone. Aknarabrahman is vibhu or infinite like Narayana (Parabrahman). Although ontologically and functionally different from Him, he nevertheless is psychologically and lovingly (devotionally) one with Him. Though one and only one without second, Aknara serves Lord Purunottama variously and thus becomes - (a) Eternal Sevaka Bhakta co-eval with Him (b) Dhaman i.e. the permanent divine abode of God. (c) Sarvadharacidakasa i.e. all supporting consciousness-space and (d) the Aknara-Guru i.e. the medium of God's continuous manifestation. (1) Aknarbrahman, in his personal aspect is the 'sarva srenoa-carnasevaka', the Best Devotee nearest and dearest to Lord Purunottam, As His 239

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eternal attendant, He has divine non-material (divya-aprakhta) body and personality. Lord Narayana eternally dwells fully with all His glory and grace in Aknara alone. Although subservient, Aknara is co-eternal with God, and is ever united with Him supremely. Lord Purunottama is the Supreme God, Aknara is the Supreme Devotee. When God (Parabrahman) descends on earth, Aknarabrahman is always with Him. Aknara is the intercessor between God and the seekers of salvation. In all Swaminarayani rituals and adorations, Aknara is conjointly worshipped along with God Purunottama in the spiritual sadhana because it cuts asunder the ties of bondage much faster, which otherwise would take several births to get rid of, and thus enables one to attain the spiritual goal quicker by the grace of God. Aknara is the symbol of the best senatva and the ideal worthy of modelling, emulating and realizing. (II) The same Aknarabrahman also expresses himself simultaneously in another form aspect as the Supreme Divine Abode of Lord Purunottama, known as Aknaradham or Brahmadham or Brahmamohol and Paramapada. It is the eternal residence of God together with the liberated souls. It is the dhama, beyond the veil of maya-prakti and its three gunas. It is exceedingly effulgent, illuminating, bright, cool tranquil, blissful and divine. (III) As the immanent support and substratum of innumerable number of universes, Aknarabrahman is called sarvadhara-cidakasa. This form of Aknara pervades everywhere and permeates in everything, and is immanent within and without the universes. (IV) Aknara is the medium through whom God (after departing from earth) keeps His manifestation and presence continuous on earth in the form of Aknara-Guru to redeem the seekers of salvation. Aknara is the most intimate to God, and enjoys superlatively maximum bliss and eternal communion with God. He is the paragon of pure and perfect devotion-in-servitude (dasya-bhakti). Therefore obedient affliction with Aknara-Guru helps in acquiring 'Aknarahood', and thereby emancipation yielding place in the 'service of God in His highest abode The relationship between Aknara and Purunottama, is 'nitya-aviyogisambandha'i.e. the eternal relationship of undivorceability. The relationship of Aknara to Purunottam is 'Dasabhavayukta-nityaparamasnehaikyasambhandh' i.e. Aknara is related to God by the eternal relationship of the Supreme Love and Oneness coupled with devotion in willing servitude. This is the differentia of Swaminarayana Vainnava and Navya-Visinoadvaita, because apparently Aksarabrahman is found to occupy the same place with 'sri, Mahalakshmi or Radha occupy in other Vainnava schools of Vedanta. In case of Ramanujiya Visinoadvaita the metaphysical status of sri remains unclear and undecided. Consequently, Vadagalais tried to show sri as infinite and co-eval with the Lord, while Tengalais treated her on par with jivas i.e. the supreme among the nityasuri jivas. On the other hand, in case of the 240

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metaphysical and theological status of Aksarabrahman, sri Swaminarayana is very clear and specific as stated above. Therefore, in iconic worship also Aknarabrahman is conjointly worshipped with the Lord Purunottam (Parabrahman) in the Aknara-Purunottama Swaminarayana Sampraday but as the ideal devotee to be emulated by all in order to become analoguous to Aksarabrahmanand earn his grace and serve Him for eternity. In so far as the ideological belief goes, Svaminarayana is adored as the full manifestation of Parabrahman, the Supreme Person, while His best devoteedisciple Gunatitanand Swami is adored as the manifestation of Aknarabrahman. Maya-prakrti Maya-prakrti is trigunamika. It is the unconscious, inert primordial matter possessed of three properties (gunas) namely of sattva, rajas and tamas, and it is the cause of bondage of jivas and isvaras. It is an unintelligent principle possessing three gunas as its qualities. It is of the nature of darkness (tamas) and ignorance (avidya). It is beginingless, eternal and mysterious . It differs from Saikhya-prakrti, which is an independent principle, a triad of three gunas as its constituents. Prakrti together with ignorance, karma and egoistic body world attachment is called maya. It is also different from maya avidya of advaita which is an indefinableunderscribable category, which is neither real nor unreal nor both. Maya-prakhti is vastavika i.e. real. It is existence, but unconscious (acid), insentient/inert(jada), It is pervasive (vibhu) in realities subservient to it and it is enveloping on them. But for Parabrahman, aknarabrahman and released souls (aknaramuktas), it pervades everywhere and envelopes every one to cauwse attachment in non-self entities. Maya has no sway over them. In its original state, it is unmanifest (avyakta) and unmodified, (nirvisena). It is the power i.e. the accessory of Lord Parabrahman. It is an instrument useful for the purpose of creation. It exists in the body (sarira) of God as His (Sakti/Sadhana). It is pervaded by God. It operates and functions only at the will of God. It is totally controlled and supported by God. Unconcious-inert (jada) maya - prakhti cannot create the world by itself independently because of hetu-prayojana (purposiveness) and karthtvasakti (agency). Svaminarayana makes a distinction between 'Lower prakhti' called 'pradhana' whose lord is 'puruna' and the 'Higher prakhti Called 'Mula-prakhti' whose lord is Mula-puruna (a liberated soul i.e. Aknarised mukta). The Mulaprakhti and kala are the accessories or powers of the Lord Purnuottam. When the Lord Narayana wills to create the world, He conveys His will through Aknarabrahman to Mula-puruna. The Mula-puruna unites with Mula- prakhti and from it emerges innumerable pairs of pradhan and puruna each of which evolves a world (brahmanda) consisting of twenty-four evo 241

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lutes of prakhti. Thus the theory of causality advocated by Svaminarayana Is 'Parabrahma-prasasita-prakhti-parinamavada'. Here a point worthy of note is though God is both the efficient and the material cause of the universe both He and Aknara are not directly united with prakhti in the act of creation. Parabrahman does not suffer any transformation in Himself, but only through modes comprehended in the whole of which He is the immanent inspiring principle. He is not only the Absolute, but He also is the inner ruler who dwells within everything and makes all changes possible by the exercise of His power and inspiration through the via media of Mula-puruna. Nor does Aknara the ever stable (kuoastha) support and substratum and all pervading cidakasa undergo any transformation in the process of creation. God's will to create is an expression of His beneficence towards jivas and not of callous cruelty towards them. Rather there is a divine teleology in God's act of creation. It is not a mere purposeless purpose of sport. The munificent desire in creation is to give the eternally bound souls an opportunity to work out by their own appropriate efforts, the right means to become free from the yoke of maya and thereby attain final emancipation. It also makes one more point clear that, the world is not an illusion, appearance of maya. The world is real. In the state of pralaya, jivas and isvaras. return to their primordial (original) state and exist undifferentiated in the body of Parabrahman. They do not lose their entity in so far as they have potentiality to manifest again at the time of next creation. Isvara By 'isvara', Svaminarayana refers to subordinate gods and goddess. Of course, his list of isvaras is very exhaustive as to include cosmic selves right from Brahma to Puruna, the lord of pradhana (i.e. lower prakhti). Isvaras are the conscious selves with relatively greater pervasiveness, knowability, power and excellence extending upto the domain of the world to which they are bound. Isvaras stand higher than the jivas, but exist within the gamut of maya - prakhti. Each of the isvaras is assigned the duty and responsibility of taking care of a world or at least a department of it. Isvaras (cosmic selves) too have their atman of atomic size, though of course they are endowed with aisvarya ( special power- opulence) as a property specific to them. In addition, their jiana sakti (dharmabhutajiana is much expanded to cover the knowledge of the whole to which they attached. The isvaras have the qualities of sat-cid -ananda ( existence-consciouness-bliss) manifest in a much higher degree(quantum) in them than the jivas. The power, strength, capacitylife-span and knowledge of isvaras is comparivitely is much more long, wide and excellent than the jivas. The isvaras are conditioned by mahamaya, Virat, sutratma and avyakhta are the three bodies of isvaras. Isvaras too worship the Lord Narayana as their supreme object of adoration. In the visinoadvaita of Ramanuja too, Brahma, Rudra, Indra and other gods are called impure, as 242

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their births are due to karma. They are subject to the cycle of births and deaths. On the other hand, in navya- visinoadvaita of Svaminarayana, the class of isvaras is clearly distinguished from the jivas and assigned separate metaphysical status. Jiva: Jiva or the soul is finite individual self. It is a luminous spiritual substance, atomic in size. Consciousness is the very essence of the soul and also has knowledge as its essential inseparable quality. The soul pervades the whole body by its attributive knowledge and knows everything. It is the knower, enjoyer and doer during its worldly existence. All its faculties of knowing, feeling and willing are under the control of God. The jivas are innumerable, each distinct from the rest. God, as antaryami, resides in each jiva. Therefore, a man's body, is the temple of God and hence, its cleanliness, purity and sanctity should be maintained as a bhakti towards God residing in heart. Body is an instrument dowered by God as a gift to the soul for the purpose of attainment of mokna. Matter and nescience, karma and vasana are the causes of bondage. i.e. destiny and determination. Therefore, freedom is freedom from bondage. It is attainable at the realization of aknarahood by the grace of Gods. It is the freedom of soul, once for all. Epistemology Like Ramanuja, Svaminarayana accepts three means of valid knowledge namely perception, inference and testimony. Even dreamperceptions are real, because God is the creator of the dream-objects in the dream states of jivas and Isvaras to reward and punish them for their rajaskarmas. All knowledge is valid. All perceptions are true. The valid knowledge corresponds with the reality and is conducive to life, is in consonance with experience (VVS -2). Thus knowledge and action are mutually complementary and confirmatory. So, in order to be valid, the knowledge must satisfy both yathavasthithata and vyavaharanuguna factors (VLS-1). Valid knowledge is always resolute knowledge (niscayatmakajiyana) generative of a conviction of reliability. * Perceptual knowledge is direct and immediate. It arises when the self through antaukarana and antaukarana through sense organs comes in contact of an object directly. Knowledge by inference is mediate and indirect, because it depends on perceptual apprehension of vyapti. This philosophy accepts reason but rejects bare rationalism, which dwindles faith (sraddha) and spiritual aspirant-ship and sensitivity. Since inference/reason relies on perception, it has its own limitations. sabda or scriptural testimony is regarded as the only guide for the knowledge of God, as srutis are apauruneya. They, therefore, are free from errors, and hence, indubitable. Scriptural truths (sabda) should be studied neither by self-taught method nor from a spiritually uncommitted scholar/ 243

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teacher.They should be learnt from spirituality enlightened aknara-guru who has realized that highest truth and lives life in consonance with it. It is only through a guru that cone can acquire right knowledge and resolute understanding (niscaya) concerning the essential nature of God. In regard to knowledge of God Svaminarayana says God is the transcendental divine reality, Who is the Perfect and Infinite. As against this, the jeva is finite and imperfect and limited. God is above all our knowing and rational ways of thinking. God is ineffable and inexhaustible and is described in srutis as beyond the comprehension of human senses., mind and intellect. God's knowledge is incomprehensible to impure mind. However, to the devotees, God is knowable, when the body-mind-senses of a devotee, in the company of God or God-possessed aknraguru are divinized, and thus become capable of comprehending the essential nature of God. Thus God becomes knowable to the devotees when he chooses out of grace to reveal His essential nature to them. Sadhana: asraya (refuge) is faithful dependence on God with total resignation, with a conviction that He alone is my protector, redeemer and mentor of my destiny and moulder of my atman. For such a refugee to become eligible for the grace of God, total purification is emphasized, and it can be achieved when Ekantika-Dharma consisting of four complimentary virtues, namely dharma i.e. righteous conduct or dutifulness, jiana i.e. right knowledge, vairagya i.e. detachment and mahatmyajianayuktasneha i.e. intense love and undivided devotion to God with the knowledge of His glory and excellence is realized. All these four integral virtues together constitute Ekantiki Dharma, the parent means for the realization of mokna. In the history of Vedantic tradition apart from Svaminarayana, no one has made a reference to this great tradition of Ekantika Dharma. And the bhakti based on it is called Ekantika Bhakti. Its roots are to be found in the Skanda Purana. The credit goes to Svaminarayana in reviving and reestablishing the almost forgotten heritage of Ekantika Dharma. In the sadhana of Ekanita Dharma, love is superior to logic, though each one of them has equally significant place in a balanced scheme of sadhana As a bhakti school, it advocates an active life. Svaminarayana, therefore, insists on performance of all ethical religious and secular duties on the part of a spiritual seeker, even after he seeks refuge at the feet of God. Moral laxity, ethical exemptions and religious conditions are out of question except in the situation of serious exigency, In Swaminarayana theology the Guru-parampara Continues through Aknara-brahman in whom the Supreme Lord fully manifests with all His glory, grace and greatness. God keeps His presence continuous on earth through Aknara-Guru in discipic succession, and works and redeems the seekers of salvation. So, the Aknara-Guru stands as the prathamopaya and 244

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the caramopaya for the attainment of mokna. The Guru, Guru-prasad (Guru's grace) and satsanga are the foundational requirements. It is exclusively in the company of the Aknara-Guru that a soul can successfully identify itself with Aknara-Brahman, attain aknarhood (i.e. similarity with Aknara Brahman) and become eligible to serve God in the state of mokna. Bhakti fortified by dharma, jiana and vairagya is called 'Ekantiki Bhakti' or devotion par Excellence. sri Khnna (in Bhagwat Geta Chap. XII) regards the jiani who loves Him as His very life, is dearer and closer than breath itself to Him. Therefore, Bhakti ought to be mahatmya-jiana-yukta. Such a bhakti follows the logic of the heart and faith of the head under the guidance of the Guru. It is the consummation of disciplined devotion and intense unmotivated love for God and not its cancellation. Mukti: Swaminarayana's gospel of love and equality before God gives a wide scope and full opportunity for the uplift of members of all classes, castes and sex. It is of great value in social history of India. The idea that God can be approached by all i.e. even by lowly and humblest, with equal rights and privileges in the path of spirituality, deserves great consideration and applause. The foundational principle of sarira-sariri relation helps a seeker in 'seeing God in all and all in God'. A devotee who acquires aknara-hood in an embodied state during one's life-time. attains jivanmukti. Jivanmukti is a state in which one enjoys the highest bliss of God and the feeling of being free, here and now, and is a state of liberation from vasanas and nescience. Such a jivanmukta at the perish of the body, attains videhmukti (liberation in a disembodied state). Between the emancipation on earth and the one after death, the difference is in terms of qualifications. A mukta is freed from the cycle of births and deaths, and through arciradi path reaches the highest abode of God called Aknaradham. God Himself comes to receive the soul to His abode. The liberated soul is now known as aknaramukta and at times aknara in a generic sense. The liberated soul is invested with a divine non-material (aprakhta) body consisting of effulgence-consciousness-bliss as its essence. His form and figure resemble God. With this effulgent body he enjoys the supreme unalloyed bliss and serves Him eternally. Both in bondage and liberation jiva's individuality persists. In the state of bondage it is ego-centric nescienceprakhti dominated while in liberation it is egoless knowledge devotion dominated. The distinction between God and soul persists also in the state of liberation and hence the relationship of Master and servant continues. The mukta like a son serves his father lovingly and finds his eternal fulfillment in serving his Lord forever. The mukta lovingly gets absorbed in the Absolute, the fountain-head of unalloyed bliss. But absorption is not the annihilation of the self and its individuality. It is not a merger like that of light in the light 245

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or the river water in the water of the ocean. It is a psychological union despite metaphysical distinction. Appraisal In conclusion, it may be shown that, sri Swaminaryana prefers Ramanuja's visintadvaita as dearer to him and he makes use of some of the basic concepts of visintadvaita, nevertheless he differs from Ramanuja in many of the important respects, and hence, his Vedanta rightly deserves the title of Navya- visintadvaita. Swaminarayana follows the approach and methodology of Ramanuja. The concepts of 'Body-Soul relationship' (sarirasareri Sambhandha), the relationship of inseparability, attributive-knowledge, reality of the world, personal theism, dasya-bhakti etc are common to Swaminarayana and Ramanuja. At the same time sri Swaminarayana differs from Ramanuja in following respects: As against three reals of Ramanuja, Swaminarayana speaks of five reals. The Selfhood of all immanent transcendental Paramatman is presented as the foundational principle and the determining factor. The analogue of Body-Soul which has the support of the sruti is used as the coreconcept. The oft-repeated Ramanujiya logico-grammatical concept of Visenana-Visenya Sambhandha is hardly highlighted by Swaminarayana, for it has no direct metaphysical and scriptural support. The concept of Aknarabrahman as distinct from and subordinate to Para-brahma is a novel contribution in history of Indian philosophy. The metaphysical and theological role and status of Aknara-Brahman is clearly spelt out. The distinction between jivas and Isvaras, is again a new idea in the systems of theistic Vedanta. Not the atma-darsana (self-realization), but the attainment of aknarahood (similarity with Aknara) as the fundamental requisites for mokna is an idea so far unknown in the Vedantic tradition. In contrast to Visintnadvaita of Ramanuja, this school accepts the concept of jivanmukti in addition to videhmukti without impairing the basic spirit behind it. The concept of God's continuous manifestation and accessibility on earth through Parama-Ekantika Satpuruna i.e. Aknara-Guru in disciplic succession in addition to arca from (i.e. consecrated icons) is again a differenctia of Swami-narayanaryan 's Navaya Visintnadvaita In the state of liberation the muktas having attained aknarahood serve and worship the Supreme God Parabrahman alone and not the divyadampati sri and Narayana conjointly like the srivainnavism of Ramanuja. On the contrary in the highest abode of God all muktas, have their divine body resembling and Lord Narayana Himself, although they differ in their luster 246

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excellence and power from the Lord Narayana. This marks out one more important distinction on the theistic aspect of Visintavaita-vainnavism. Many more points may be enumerated to bring out the differentia of Swaminarayana's Vedanta from that of Ramanuja. As the exponent of Vedanta, Swaminaryana successfully reconciles the claims of philosophy with demand of religion. As Dr. A. Srinivasa Raghavan points out "The potentialities of Ramanuja philosophy of God reached unpreceded dimensions and height of vital realization in the life and teaching of Swaminarayana" 247

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Svaminarayana's Vachanamritam (in Gujarati, Pub BAPS, India. Ed 1-4,1969-73) satananda Svami - siknapatri & bhasya, Pub Vartal 1936, Harivakya Sudha sindhu Pub Hariprakash Satri Svaminarayana Mandir, Varanasi, 1970 satananda Svami Satgangi Jeevanam (SJ) Vol 1-5, Vartal 1930-36 Pt. Khnna Vallabhacarya - Megani Saurantra 1935 Dave H.T. Life & Philosophy of sri Svaminarayana Pub George Allen & Unwill, London, 1974 Dr. Yagnik Jayendra A. The Philosophy of sri Svaminarayana Pub L.D. Institute of Indology , Amdavad 1971 Dr. Dave Ramesh M, Navya-Visinoadvaita : The Vedanta Philosophy of sri Svaminarayana Pub Aknara Prakasan Mumbai 2000 248

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Philosophy of Personality Development : Indian Perspective - Dr. B. P. Siddhashrama 1. What is Personality Development ? Personality Development means a gradual and upward progress of a human person from animalhood to manhood and from manhood to divinity. Development obviously involves struggle with one's own impulsive mind characterized by wrong tendencies, sensuous desires and bad habits. It is an inner journey starting from childish desires and step by step uplifting ourself, rectifying our-self, through the self assessment, self criticism by strengthening our inner voice and following the suggestions of the conscience which is the guide within us. This conscience will work vividly if and only if we develop the discriminative power, the discrimination between the lower and the higher, the real and the unreal, the pleasant and the blissful. The lesser we identify with the lower mind and the more we identify with the higher mind by self-examination through the discriminative power the more developed will our personality be. For this one has to sacrifice the animal nature and raise to the level of rational being and gradually reach the abode of divinity. This automatically takes place if one develops the discriminative power(viveka). This Viveka will help us to win our lower mind which clings up to the lower desires i.e.Arishadvargas. Thus, Viveka leads to Jinatva which paves way for the Personality Development. The aim of yoga, education, training or any methods of Personality Development is to tap this viveka to strengthen the inner melody of conscience which works as an agent of the unseen, unheard divine which is the Aadhaara (support) and Adhishtana(ground) of all our experiences. In fact, it is the witness of all our movements / activities and if it becomes vigilant the sleeping soul will be aroused and miracle of Personality Development evolves. Personality Development is from danavattva(animalhood) to Jinatva and from Jinatva to Jivanmuktatva. Personality Development also involves deleting process and the process of transcendence. By deleting lower mind or passions one can strengthen and develop the higher mind and by transcending animal-hood one can reach man-hood and by transcending this stage too, one can submerge in the divinity. This divinity itself is Jivanmuktitva. Viewing from other point of view Personality Development means the expansion of human consciousness from finitude to infinitude or Brahmanization of human consciousness. It is here the individual consciousness will submerge in the universal consciousness. Confucius aptly puts it "to find the central clue of our moral being which unites us to the universal order that indeed is the attainment". Hence it is the journey of the soul from 249

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child-hood to teenage-hood, teenage-hood to adult-hood, from adult-hood to wisdom-hood. Human personality includes physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual dimensions. Hence the Personality Development includes the development of all these dimensions simultaneously and harmoniously while keeping in view the summum-bonum of life at the same time. Suffering at physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual plane is due to ignorance and the best remedy for the removal of ignorance in all these planes is blossoming of one's own personality to realize the oneness of all existence at the level of spirit or consciousness. This is the evolution of perfection in one's own personality. 2.Aspects of Personality Development There is a need for the discussion of few factors which are prerequisites for Personality Development. They are: Environment, Education, Etiquette, Experience and Engineering. i) Environment: A suitable atmosphere is highly essential for any development. This atmosphere is called environment which plays significant role for shaping the personality of a person. " We are the result of our family background, profession and social surroundings." If a person lives in good company(satsanga) automatically good samskaras will accumulate and he will emerge as a good human being; instead, if he is associated with bad company he will turn out to be bad human being; this is called sangadosa. Environment is such an important factor that will create such fresh samskaras which can destroy our past actions and past thinking that are stored in our unconscious mind and influence our conscious thinking and actions. That is why Angulimala could get himself completely changed in the noble company of Buddha. Our present state is the result of our past actions and environment and our future is determined by the present action and environment. Hence we are the architect of our own development and destiny. Not only that, through Satsanga and Nishkamakarma one can easily attain perfect personality i.e. Stitaprajnattva. ii) Education: Today, students are taught how to acquire(money) and how to achieve(comforts) without learning how to be. On the contrary, education should aim at being (perfect human being) and not having or achieving. Swami Vivekananda defines education as the "Manifestination of the perfection already in man." Man is potentially pure, perfect, strong, good and knowledgeable. These potentialities have to be actualized. Education should act as an agent of actualization of all these potentialities hidden in man. Education is training of the will which enables man to make use of the knowledge to uplift himself and the society. That is why Swami 250

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Vivekananda interpreted education as 'character building and man making. He further says: "We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet." More over education should provide us the presence of mind or street smartness while dealing with men and matter and the necessary I.Q. to read the situation. It also should provide us spiritual training so as to think holistically, act holistically and develop a holistic personality. iii) Etiquette: Etiquette means: manners, decency, dignity, protocol, formalities, civilities, decorum, convention etc. In the Personality Development etiquette plays an important role since one has to present oneself and project oneself before others through his behavior and communicative skills. He should be polite, precise and clear in presenting his views and ideas so as to convince the other person. For that one has to cultivate cultured behavior and language while communicating with others. Good manners, courtesy and politeness create favorable impression on others and lead to goodwill in the persons whom we come into contact. This will pave way for smoothening our interaction. Courtesy and good manners are the best and the least expensive investment one can make in life. If one is sincere, honest and dedicated these qualities will spring from one's own heart, otherwise it becomes superficial. Hence, one has to build up an ideal character so that good manners will automatically spring from one's own heart. Cultivation of good manners is the key to success in social life. Good manners are controlled by the heart, dictated by reason and evolve from good character. A man with good manners will be considerate for the feelings, rights and wishes of others. He will set a model and draw attention of others through small acts of kindness, courtesies and considerations. This enhances the beauty of one's own personality in his social contacts and add greater charm to his character than the display of great talent and accomplishments. Here is the brief list of good manners: When someone helps us we should use the words 'Thank you'; for any request we must add 'please'; when we are receiving and greeting an elderly person we must stand up and receive them with smile; we must be punctual and keep up our promises; we should not hesitate to say 'I am sorry' or 'I did a mistake' when it is necessary; we should not interrupt people at the middle of their conversation whether we agree with them or not and after listening attentively we should speak at our turn; we should not make sarcastic remarks about anybody; we should never tell anyone when they are tired or depressed or diseased; we should not indulge in gossip and give respect for others privacy; we should learn to appreciate others for the good things and good works done by them; we should be always positive, creative, constructive, cooperative, helpful and service minded. Let us be tolerant and righteous; let us do our duties without demanding for rights; let us love and respect 251

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others unconditionally; let us not be hypocrite but honest; let us not handle things belonging to others without their permission and without the proper knowledge of handling those things; let us not express our pains to the strangers; let us listen sympathetically the problems of others and try to solve if possible; let us express our opinion without hurting others; let us forgive and forget the mistakes of others; let us always try to protect the life, property and honor of others; our jokes should become source of joy and inspiration to one and all; we should not make mockery of others' ignorance; we should be generous with our smile and greeting even with unknown persons. Let us be friend to one and all and let us be good, do good and love all since entire universe is the manifestation of the Divine. Effective communication is another important element for the attainment of Personality Development. One should adopt the language which is apt, logical, effective and positive in a given situation. We should use simple, lucid, brief and inspiring language which should appeal to one and all. Our language should be free from confusion and should not give chance for vagueness. As face is the index of our mind, so also, our language is the index of our personality. In oral communication body language is also important; facial expressions, appearance of body gestures, etc., will influence the listener. One should neither drawl nor eat h words while communicating. The words should emerge from heart and should be melodious. The words should be filtered and refined through grammatical rules and syntactic regulations. The cultured and cultivated heart is the source of poetic language which normally attracts the hearer. Vyasa has laid down the characteristics of good language thus: 'alpaaksharamasandigdham saaravat vishvatomukham, akshobham anavadyam ca sutram sutraviduh janaah 6 that means, an effective communication is that which employs less number of words and narrates the quintessence of the subject matter without giving scope for any kind of confusion and which appeals(and also applies) to one and all. iv)Experience: From child-hood to old age we learn a lot through our life's experience. In fact, these experiences - pleasant-unpleasant, successfailure etc. - mould our personality. Swami Vivekananda says, "You will find that misery and happiness are equal factors in the formation of character. Good and evil have an equal share in moulding character. And in some instances, misery is a greater teacher than happiness. In studying the great characters the world has produced, I dare say, in the vast majority of cases it would be found that it was misery, that taught more than happiness, it was poverty that taught more than wealth, it was blows that brought the inner fire more than praise."7 It is needless to say that we have to mould and develop our personality early either through learning from the experiences of the noble personalities or from our own experiences. 252

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v)Engineering: The whole universe is engineered (planned or designed) by the Almighty. Looking at human person or even butterfly or a fly for that matter every minutest creature/thing is well designed and planned. Since we are part of this plan of the Almighty, we have to plan every thing and design in such a fashion that it yields expected results. This is what exactly meant by planning. Success is impossible without intelligent planning. Through meticulous planning one can foresee and overcome the obstacles. Planning gives us insight, clear thinking and perfection in action. It avoids chaos, confusion, worry, stress and strain. Planning in the field of Personality Development helps us to set an ideal goal, meaning and value to our life. Life is not accidental but purposive. This feeling of being valuable and purposive is the cornerstone of self discipline, because when one considers oneself valuable he will take care of oneself in all possible ways that are necessary.8 Hence planning paves way for self esteem and prompts us to achieve higher and higher goals. On the contrary, if we do not value our own life, we do not value others' lives also, and the result is an aggressive tendency which ends up with violence, terrorism and wars. Hence, planning is absolutely necessary not only for Personal Development but also for the development and protection of the entire world. 3. Principles of Personality Development: Man's personality includes physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual dimensions. The spiritual element in man is something unique since all these physical, mental components can be objectified and all these i.e., body, senses, feelings etc. are objectively observed by It. That means, the spiritual element in man (Atman) is the witness and observing everything in man's personality (about which we the ordinary people are not aware of) but it is not perceived or witnessed by anything else. This is the Divine Consciousness and we are conscious of everything else because of It's presence. Amrithabindopanishat says: 'the divine consciousness resides in every being as ghee is in the milk" and Swami Vivekananda while endorsing this view says: "Each soul is potentially divine".10 A famous psychotherapist named Scott Peck while recognizing the spiritual element in man says: "Spiritual growth is the evolution of an individual. The ultimate goal of spiritual growth is for the individual to become as one with God. It is for the individual to become totally, wholly God."11 From this point of view we should not only give importance for the development of body-mind complex of us but at the same time transcend this bodymind organism and give more importance for the spiritual development, because, we can have greater strength and stability in our personality and greater mastery over ourselves if there is this Spiritual Development. Ken Wilber, another famous psychologist from the west, while analyzing the downfall of the western civilization says: "It is unfortunate that we in the 253

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west over the past few centuries have increasingly tended to repress the transcendent. This repression, extensive as it is subtle, is undoubtedly more responsible for the discontent of our present unhappy civilization than any amount of repression of sexuality, hostility, aggression or other superficial repressions operating on the upper levels of the spectrum", 12 It is in this background we are laying down the following four principles to develop a vibrant and perfect personality. However, in the next chapter we will be giving a complete picture of Personality Development in the background of Ashtangayoga of Patanjali. There are four principles of Personality Development, which are: Sraddha, Swa-vimarsha, Shrama, and Sadgati. i) Sraddha: Sraddha means faith. Faith plays a very important role in our life. If there is no faith in our mother's word no one on earth could accept our father as father. If there is no faith our entire life will crumble down like a house of cart. That may be the reason why Sri Krishna says: 'Sraddhaavaan labhate jnaanam'( the one with sraddha will be endowed with wisdom which leads to freedom). While acclaiming about Sraddha Swami Vivekananda says: "The idea of true Sraddha must be brought back once more to us, the faith in our own selves must be reawakened, and then only, all the problems which face our country will gradually be solved by ourselves".13 "This faith in themselves was in the hearts of our ancestors, this faith in themselves was the motive power that pushed them forward and forward in the march of civilization; and if there has been a defect, mark my words, you will find that degeneration to have started on the day our people lost faith in themselves" and again he says: "Therefore, my brethren, teach this life-saving, great, enobling, grand doctrine to your children, even from their very birth."15 About faith Sri Saradadevi's openion is worth mentioning: "Faith is the lost word. If one has faith the goal is practically reached."16 The faith as indicated by Sri Sarada Devi is the jnanottara bhakti or the faith ofter the attainment of wisdom which verily leads to Freedom. This faith arises out of the mind which is established in equanimity or peace which in turn is the result of atmabodha i.e. the stream of wisdom emulating out of Atman. In fact, in this sense, faith is not the beginning of spiritual journey but the end of it. There are different shades of faith or sraddha. They are: self-confidence, self-regard, self-reliance and self-responsibility. a)Self-confidence is the foundation of self-development. One has to trust oneself first before trusting anything else. Trusting oneself means believing that we have all the resources within us to realize our goals. A man of faith creates miracles even in the midst of chaos. Sri Siddharudha Swamiji says: "If one has self-confidence he can achieve and attain anything in life 254

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since Self is the mini universe which is the source of courage, strength and every possible positive qualities."7 If we develop self-confidence we will gain mental and moral strength. Our personality and character will not only be developed but our actions also will be accomplished with great certainty which helps us to make faster progress towards our chosen goals. b) Self-regard is the offshoot of self-confidence which means to have a good opinion about oneself. Each one of us are endowed with one or the other talents/traits which have to be realized practically. We need not compare us with others and belittle ourselves. Cultivation of love for oneself, realization of one's own worth are the basic psychological requirements for one's own development. Swami Vivekananda says: "Self-esteem is the key for success and any achievement in life."18 c) Self-reliance emerges out of self-regard which means depending on oneself and becoming independent. Gita opines that, "A man should uplift himself by his own self, he is friend as well as foe for himself."19 We have to always keep in our mind that the greatness is achieved only by selfmade persons. d) Self-responsibility is the result of self-reliance. We must always remember that our destiny is in our hands and it is up to us to take it up and shape it according to our design and capacity. If we take full responsibility of all our actions on our shoulders that enhances our capabilities and make us to face any situations boldly. It also enables us to actualize all our potentialities. Thus, Sraddha plays a very important role for Personality Development which is the key to success in life. ii) Swa-vimarsha: Swa-vimarsha means self-criticism or self-assessment. Self-assessment plays dominant role in Personality Development. Without self-assessment progress is an impossibility. Swami Vivekananda says: "Self-assessment enhances the qualities like confidence, courage, conviction, strength and competition. This also helps us to plan our ambitions properly. "20 There are four shades of Swa-vimarsha. They are: Self-observation, Self-criticism, Self-comparison and Self-competition. a) Self-observation means witnessing one's own self. We have to assess our self in terms of our strong and weak points pertaining to our thoughts, words and deeds and draw up a list of areas of our character that needs attention and correction. We also should prepare the list of favorable points simultaneously. If we prepare such an exhaustive list, it will become easy for us to analyze the plus and minus points and find out solutions for the minus points in order to modify and mould our personality. That means, 255

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we have to be vigilant always and conduct things consciously and purposefully without getting ourselves lost in day-dreaming. b)Self-criticism is the next step after self-observation. After observing oneself if we do not examine the minus points, progress is not possible at all. This examination of minus points of ours is itself called self-criticism which paves way for self improvement. c)Self-comparision is the off-shoot of self-criticism. The building up of a personality is not a one day programme but is the ongoing process. In this process of personality building, after discovering our minus points and after improvement of our minus points, we have to compare the earlier character of ours with the later character for the purpose of self-improvement leading towards perfection. This is called as self-comparison. d)Self-competition is the resultant of self-comparison. Self-comparison directs us to compete with our desired personality with that of the present personality for improvement and for the realization of the ideal personality which we aimed at. This will prompt us to improve still further and reach the goal of perfection. Thus, Swa-vimarsha is the mile stone for self-improvement. iii) Shrama: Shrama means work, which should be performed as a worship to reach the desired goal. Entire world is running with this melody of work. The wind which blows, the fire which burns, the rain which flows, the seasons which move, the earth which rotates, the akash which protects, all this is because of divine worship, divine order and divine direction. Shrama is the order of the Lord; no one can escape from it. It is through shrama we should bring heaven on earth. "One should regard work as worship and the sweat as the resultant of that worship which would lead to the path of selfperfection vis-a-vis God realization".21 This is the motto of Swami Vivekananda, Swamiji says: "Work incessantly, holding life as something deified, as God Himself, Hy he who has served and helped one poor man seeing Siva in him without thinking of his caste or creed or race or anything with him Shiva is more pleased than with the man who sees Shiva in temples". 22 Shrama constitutes four facets, they are: Self-resolution, Self-initiation, Self-exertion and Self-sacrifice. a)Self-resolution means building a strong will to achieve the goal without which no one can initiate any action. This self-resolution or strong will or determination is the foundation for any successful action or achievement since it has the power of transcending all setbacks, obstacles and failures. After fixing a definite goal, one has to resolve oneself to achieve it and while achieving it this strong-will, will become sure vehicle. This vehicle makes us to initiate the action reaching towards the goal. 256

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b)Self-initiation is the immediate resultant of self-resolution. In this stage a pilgrim will initiate the programme of his desired goal with the loaded strong will which is pushing him to begin his journey. c)Self-exertion is the next stage of self-initiation. Without self-exertion or effort no one can achieve anything. It is only through self-effort and self-struggle one can achieve desired goal and not through the effort of others. This involves self-dedication, self-dependence and self-respect too. One has to exert oneself to translate one's dreams into reality. There is no substitute for one's own hard work. It is only by self-exertion one can enrich oneself. Hence, self-exertion is the foundation for Personality Development. d)Self-sacrifice is the result of selfless effort or action. One has to completely involve oneself to the extent of forgetting himself and melting in the work he undertakes. This requires devotion and total submission to one's own mission. In this stage the subject is untouched by any selfish desires or fruits of action. He performs his duties either for self-realization or for Godrealization or for social service. For him all are same because he has deified the whole world since he is seeing the presence of God in the entire universe. Swami Vivekananda says: "...it is God within our own self who is compelling to seek HimHhe works best who works without any motive, neither for money, nor for fame, nor for anything else, and when man can do this, he will be a Buddha, and out of him will come the power to work in such a manner which will transform the world".23 iv) Sadgati Sadgati means real (sat) path (gati). It also means true(sat) goal(gati). Indian Rishis have thought of Personality Development long ago. They have not neglected any dimension of human personality. By giving due attention to all dimensions of human personality they have laid down four Purushartas i.e., human values. They are: Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha. These values have to be practiced and attained step by step methodically. These values include physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual domain to accommodate different dimensions of human personality. If Artha and Kaama are related to physical, mental and intellectual domain; Dharma and Moksha are related to moral and spiritual domain of human personality. In order to practice and attain these human values, the Rishis have divided the span of human life in four stages(Ashramas), they are: Brahmacharya-ashrama, Grihastha-ashrama, Vaanaprastha-ashrama and Sanyaasa-ashrama. The above scheme of human values and while inculcating these values, the division of human life made by Rishis into four stages to attain perfect personality are narrated below with suitable modifications as per the need of the day. 257

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A. Purushaarthas: Purushaarthas are four; they are: Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha. a) Dharma: This is religious value. The term Dharma is derived from the root dhr, which means to hold, integrate, maintain or regulate(dhaaryate iti dharma). Dharma is that which is holding and supporting the entire universe and is the means for the attainment of ultimate bliss of mankind24. Dharma has been defined as the sum total of pious thoughts and observances.25 Dharma entails pure heartedness, right thinking, right character, non-violence, faith in truth, non-acceptance, non-stealing, control of senses and mind, practice of yoga, leading one's own life by his/her earnings, charity, humility, courage in danger, knowledge of one's own self, meditation and helping others.26 Dharma also includes the knowledge of Soul, God, World, Karma, Merit, Demerit, Rebirth etc., and their inter-relationships. Dharma is also defined as 'from that self-progress, worldly progress as well as transcendental bliss is attained"27. Valmiki defines Dharma as 'that which is harmful to oneself should not be practiced in the case of others also. 28 The above definitions of Dharma not only include Personality Development but also social development which blossoms through co-operation, harmony and peace. Dharma or religious value is placed first because it plays an important role for the Personality Development since on the basis of which one has to earn money and administer or conduct his duties and enjoy the life which is in conformity with final goal. b) Artha: This is economical value. Artha literally means meaning. It also means a thing or an object. It refers to any object of senses or volitions or actions. According to Zimmer: "Artha connotes attainment of riches, worldly prosperity, advantage, profit, wealth, business-matter, work, price H"29 etc. In addition to the above dynamics of Artha, Kautalya includes land, agriculture, state, power, administration etc.30 For Personality Development one has to earn one's own bread and help others if possible, but should not depend on others for his lively-hood. Selfeffort and self-dependence are the sign of development. Living on others earning will lead to parasitic personality. Hence, Artha, in this context, means to take up some job and earn money in accordance with the principles laid down by Dharma and lead a comfortable life which is in conformity with the summum bonum of life. c) Kaama: This is hedonistic value. The word Kaama has many connotations: passion, sex, lust, desire, love for pleasure etc. Vatsaayana defines Kaama as a tendency or disposition operating at four distinct levels i.e. mind, self, senses and objects of senses.31 Considered as value, Kaama can be defined as the consciousness of enjoyment through the sensory organs. The 258

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Kaamasootra of Vatsaayana delineates Kaama, the pursuit of love and pleasure as goal of life. According to Atharvaveda, Kaama (desire) constitutes the entire range of human strivings and cravings for sensual gratification.32 According to H. Zimmer, Kaama is 'meant to help men with their marital problems and difficulties, its aim being happiness and success in married life'33 Vaatsaayana also opines Kaama as the pleasure of the house holder which is for him a value where he is expected to settle in carrier and then in marriage.34 Human body is the product of Kaama which has to be experienced and exhausted in the path of and under the control of Dharma. 'I am Kaama, which is regulated by Dharma,' says Sri Krishna.35 The Vaasanas of Kaama will be extincted from the heart of a person either by exhaustion or by expansion of the consciousness or by deification of the entire universe. Unless universal love occupies in the place of Kaama no person can attain Perfect Personality. Hence, gradual development and upliftment of one's own personality needs to be done by the help Dharma to achieve the ultimate value i.e. Moksha. d) Moksha: Moksha is spiritual value. It is the highest value since there is no lapse from it when once attained. That means it is eternal and also absolute in the sense that it can never become means to any other end. This value is intimately connected with truth or knowledge of ultimate reality since the acquisition of such knowledge is regarded as a necessary prerequisite to its attainment. This knowledge invariably destroys the ignorance which covers the truth. By mere knowledge of truth will not lead us to Moksha, but it should be translated into one's own experience through meditation(Nididhyasana) i.e. it should become Aparoksha. When the truth is transformed as one's own immediate and intuitive experience (Aparokshaanubhava)through Nididhyaasana(Dharma) one gets released from samsaara(Moksha). In fact, Moksha means absolute or unconditional bliss which is totally different from the pleasures that hedonism holds to be * the supreme end of life. Moksha has several synonyms such as Kaivalya, Nirvaana, Sreyas, Nisreyas, Amrita, Mukti etc.36 The state of release is the Atma-Sthiti, which is the unconditional state of Self-Being. This state is neither bestowed on Atman by an external agent or principle nor it is earned by Atman as a result of self-effort. Release, thus, is the existential truth, the Atman or Brahman.37 The attainment of Moksha is the attainment of Perfect Personality and this Perfect Personality can be achieved by destroying all the Vaasanas dwelling in the heart.38 This can be done step by step only through following Purusharthas, which will be taken up for discussion while dealing with Ashramas. 259

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B. Ashramas: The literal meaning of the term Ashrama is halting or resting place so that an individual can step by step halt at particular stage, train and prepare himself to the next stage until he reaches the final goal (i.e.Moksha). Ashramas are four, they are: Brahamacharya-ashrama, Grihastha-ashrama, Vaanaprashta-ashrama and Sanyaasa-ashrama. These four Ashramas are but natural stages which human person undergoes due to his psycho-physical development and spiritual yarning and hence they are not enforced by any tradition. Thus, Ashramas are different natural and inevitable halting places in the journey of human life a) Brahmacharya Ashrama: The period of this stage is from six to twenty five years which period is precious in one's own life since it lays foundation for his onward journey. In this stage the mind will be fresh, body will be developing rapidly and hence both mind and body have to be moulded, trained and strengthened. As Swami Vivekananda says: one must build the personality with the 'muscles of iron, nerves of steel, mind of rock and spirit of perseverance'. 3deg Brahmachari Brahmacharini should be self-disciplined and selfcontrolled so as to become an ideal student and should approach a competent Guru who is self-less, knowledgeable and kind hearted so as to train and impart both temporal and spiritual knowledge to him/her. Student also should accept his/her Guru as his spiritual father/mother and follow his/her instructions rigorously. His food should be satvika and he is not supposed to take spicy food, meat etc., and not supposed to touch wine and any intoxicants and treat all women as his mother or sisters. He should get up early morning, practice yogic exercises (Kaaya-kalpa) and take bath in cold water before sunrise and perform all the duties prescribed by his Guru. His motto should be to get mastery over both spiritual as well as secular knowledge so as to enter next stage and conduct it successfully. Simple living, high thinking and hard work should become his moola mantra and protection of veerya (semen) should become his moola tantra. The Brahmachari is supposed to follow the strict path of celibacy and he should not waste a single drop of semen. In fact, this sexual fluid or semen is the Amrita and if it flows up. ward a man will achieve Amritatva. Swami Vivekananda says: "This semen if controlled flowing downward and by the direction of the Muladhara makes it to flow upward it converts itself into Ojas. It is only the chaste man or woman who can make the Ojas rise and store it in the brain; and hence chastity was considered as the highest virtue by our Seers." Kaaya-kalpa contains simple yogic exercises, meditation and simplified Kundalini-yoga which helps to protect semen and to build up healthy body and mind. This was practiced by Siddhas and modified by Pundit Prabhananda and Vethathri Maharshi which must be practiced regularly." This will not only make him strong and healthy but also uplift him spiritually 260

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to build a perfect personality. Manu praises this Brahmacharya elaborately as under : "He who practices Brahmacharya and is free from anger, moderate in his habit of eating, self-controlled, energetic, and truthful becomes a Sage", "Penance is not tapas, but, Brahmacharya is supreme tapas. A man of perfect continence is not man but God himself", " The nectar and the supreme medicine; to overcome death, cure disease and bear with old age is Brahmacharya, that can be attained only through great effort, those who are desirous of peace, tejas, knowledge, health and good progeny should practice the great dharma of Brahmacharya:"42 On successfully completing his studies in Guru-Kula(the house of the Guru) the Brahmachari becomes a Snataka(a graduate) and then enters into the next stage of his life by marrying a suitable maiden. The stage of Brahmacharya develops a person physically, psychologically and spiritually so as to take up the higher responsibilities in the onward journey of his life. b) Grishastha-ashrama: The stage of Grihastha or Grihasthashrama constitutes the very back-bone of the entire Ashrama scheme for, it supports all other Ashramas. It is the Grihastha who, along with his wife who is, meaningfully called the Grihini(the house-holdress) or the Sahadharmini(the female co-practitioner of Dharma along with the Grihastha, her husband) supports the Brahmachari, the Vanaprasthi and the Sanyasi by givining them food, clothing and shelter and by taking care of their other mundane needs in general. A Grihastha is not only enjoying Dharma but also enjoying the other two values viz, Artha and Kaama regulated by Dharma. In fact, the aim of marriage is to enjoy sex and get progeny under the umbrella of Dharma. Both husband and wife should be devoted to each other and follow Sati-vrita/Pati-vrita. Their special virtues are: kaayaka, daasoha, hospitality, industry, truth, honesty, liberality, purity of food and life.43 He is allowed to enjoy wealth and luxury provided he gives alms. Among his principle duties are the five great sacrifices which he ought to conduct along with his Grihini 1) Brahma-yajna( the sacrifice to Brahman which consists in the study and teaching of the Vedas or scriptures comprising spiritual knowledge), 2) Deva-yajna(sacrifice to Gods which consists of propitiation through offering of oblation), 3)Pitru-yajna(sacrifice to the departed ancestors through observing the Shraddha ceremony), 4)Bhoota-yajna( sacrifice to the domestic animals through providing food, water etc) and 5)Manushyayajna(sacrifice to the human persons which consists in feeding guests, the homeless and destitute).44 Thus, by actualizing the potentialities which are hidden in human person and by discharging their right-full duties and by contributing future noble citizen/citizens, the Grihastha and Grihani are now eligible to take up the next Ashrama. 261

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A) Vaanaprastha-ashrama: This is the penultimate stage for reaching the final goal and hence he has to follow some duties assigned in Grihasthashrama and follow some virtues prescribed in Sanyasashrama. This is the middle-path i.e. the path of both pravritti and nivritti combined harmoniously as indicated by Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa's allegory of boat which is in water but, water is not in the boat. When the house-holder sees wrinkles and white hairs in his body, then, he has to retire along with his wife from the active life and lead a life of hermit in forest(vaanaprasta). Now a days, it is very difficult to go to forest as either there are no forests or even if there are forests it is not safe to go and stay there. The implication of such suggestion is that, at this stage one should be with nature to maintain health and solitude to practice meditation and spiritual sadhanas to become eligible for the next stage(i.e. sanyasa). Hence both husband and wife should leave the day-to-day affairs of samsaara by handing over that responsibility to their progeny and do sadhana in solitude either in their courtyard or (if there is no courtyard - which is a must from the point of view of health as forests are vanishing) in their house itself. They(both husband and wife) should lead a life of Tapaswis and take only saatvika food. They should lead a celibate life sleeping on the floor and following the path of detachment. The rule of their life is to study(swadhyaya) and continue to perform the five great sacrifices. Manu says: "Let him be ever be engaged in the study of Vedas, controlled, friendly, collected, evergiver, not a receiver and compassionate to all beings."45 The beauty of this stage is that man after seeing the ins and outs, and merits and demerits of samsaara automatically tends towards something beyond mundane and material domain and hence seeking solutions to the problems of mundane world through spiritual attempt. The inner Spirit(Atman) which is operating and witnessing in all the states of human experience will be tapping him to turn within and be with It so that man can be blissful by transcending all the dualities of life. Hence, this stage is naturally the preparative stage for the final stage i.e. sanyaasa. c) Sanyaasa ashrama: After attaining perfection in Vanaprasthaashrama one has to relinquish and renounce everything and become yati or sanyasi. As stated above even if he/she cannot live at forest he/she can stay at home and lead a life of sanyasi/sanyasini. In this stage, he/she is not offering any sacrifices since they have given all their properties to their progeny( if they do not have their own progeny they can give all their properties to some charitable institutions as charity) and lead a detached and indifferent life. In this stage of sanyasa he/she is though detached but attached in a higher sense as he will be working for the spiritual upliftment of the entire mankind(sarvodaya) treating the whole world as Vasudaivakutumba. The 262

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Development of Personality in this stage has been depicted by Sri Krishna as: "He who performeth such action as his duty, independent of the fruit of action, is a sanyasi and yogi as well and not the one who is without fire and rites. "46 He is a moving God as he dwells in universal love and walks in righteousness. A Sanyasi neither cares for life nor death since he is indifferent for both. Further, he will be preparing himself to leave the body by taking Icchamarana(death-at-will). In that way both Vaanaprastha and Sanyaasa ashramas educate a human person about attainment of perfection by relinquishing all belongings including body whereas the earlier two Ashramas educate the human person about the enrichment and enjoyment of life. A mention of the interrelationship between the above scheme of Purusharthas and Aashramas is required. So far as the functions of the four Ashramas and the pursuit of the four Purusharthas by those Aashramis is concerned the Brahamchaari who is undergoing a priod of learning and training is not expected to pursue either Artha or Kaama. The Grihasthaashrami on the other hand is pursuing the first three Purusharthas viz., Dharma, Artha and Kaama in their fullest extent. The last two Aashramas, the Vaanaprastha and the Sanyasa are meant to devote to the exclusive pursuits of the two ultimate Purushaarthas, viz, Dharma and Moksha. The above four types of human values and four stages of human life show the methodical development of human personality, by inculcating different values which strengthen the personality to lead perfect life. This process also includes satisfying different dimensions of human personality without neglecting any facet and at the same time regulated by Dharma and discharging different responsibilities (Rinas) under the guidance of Dharma. These four Ashramas and four Purusharthas are to be practiced by all ordinary human beings, but there might be some exta-ordinary personalities(due to their preparation at early-life/ poorva-janma), like Swami Vivekananda, Sri Adisankara, Sri Siddharoodha Swamiji, Sri Ramana Maharshi and others, who might straightaway enter the stage of Sanyaasa soon after Brahmacharya Ashrama by skipping Grihastha and Vaanaprastha-ashramas. In Sanyaasa-ashrama one has to sacrifice everything pertaining to mundane domain, since it is mere appearance from the stand point of highest goal - Moksha, and seriously attempt for getting relieved oneself from the shackles of samsaara to attain Sadgati i.e. Jivanmukti.47 Jivanmukti is liberation during life, a liberation of mind from the bondage that involves feelings of pleasure and pain concomitant with action and enjoyment.48 The attainment of Jivanmuktitva itself is the attainment of Perfect Personality.49 263

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1. Notes and references Lin Utang: The Wisdom of China and India, p.831 Dr.B.P.Siddhashrama: Social Philosophy of South Indian Saints, p.26 CWSV, IV, p.358 + Ibid, I, p.27 w See, Dr.B.P.Siddhashrama: Philosophical Reflections, p.81 o Bikku Gowri Shankar(Ed): Sarvatantra Siddhanta Padartha Lakshana Sangraha, p.225 N CWSV, III, p.120 M. Scott Peck: The Road Less Travelled, p.18 o autimy pyis ingUfm! EUte vsit iv}anm!, 10. CWSV, I, p.257 11. M. Scott Peck: The Road Less Travelled, p.282 12. Ken Wilber: No Boundary, p.124 13. CWSV, V, p.332 14. CWSV, III, p.376 15. CWSV, III, p.376 16. Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi, p.11 17. Dr.S.T.Kallapur: Sri Siddharudha Bharati, p.25 18. CWSV, III, P.125 Gita, 6.5 20. CWSV, V, p128 1. Dr.B.P.Siddhashrama: Spiritual Globalization, p.67 22. CWSV, III, p.141 23. Ibid, IV, p.176 xar[at! xmR #Tyahae> xmeR[ ivomta> aja> - Mahabharata, 12.109.14 25 smioeCyte xmRSsdacivRcaryae>, - Pundit Prabhananda: Mukti Dharshana, 12.10 264

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26 pairzus Aih Aasnm! aa[raex>cs imjlvnm!, danm! c ivnyae xeyRmaTm}anMc icNtnm! praepiHitir e;a< smio> xmR %Cyte. - Pundit Prabhananda: Mukti Dharshana, 12.11-12 27. ytae_yudy in>ieyisii> sxmR> - see, Dr.B.P.Siddhashrama: Jivanmukti Dharshana, p.10 28' AaTmn> aitknlain preza< n smacret - see, Ibid, p.11 29. H. Zimmer: Philosophies of India, p.35 30. See, Jeevanmukti Darshana, p.8 See, Vaatsaayana Kaamasutra, I.2.11 32. See, Atharva Veda, II.46 33. H.Zimmer: Philosophies of India, p.148 34. See, Vaatsaayana Kaamasutra, 1.4.1 35. See, Gita, 7.11 "Balam balavataam asmi kaama-raaga-vivarjitam xmaRiveiae kamaeiSm Ert;RE - Gita, 7.11 36. Amarakosha, 1.5.145 See, Dr.B.P.Siddhashrama: The Meaphysics and The Mysticism Of Shri Nijaguna Shivayogi, Pp.125-130 38. See, Ibid, Jivanmukti Dharshana, Pp.132-170 39. CWSV, III, Pp.224 & 278 40. Teachings of Swami Vivekananda, p.296 41. See, Vethathiri Maharshi: Vethartrian Principles of Life, p.2 & Pundit Prabhananda: Mukti Darshana, Cha-VII 42. ^XvRreta ijtiaexae inytazi c sMyml, inshanushZz! SsTysNxae Eveomi;>. n tpStp #TyahauncyRm! tpaeAmm!, ^XietaEve*Stu s devae n tu manu;> euTyuVyaRix jranaiz plyu; < prmaE;xm!, aucyn mhXyAE< sTymev vdaMyhm!. ziNt< kaiNt< Seuit< JnanmaraeGy< caip sNtitm!, y #iCt mhIMPage #315
44. For details, see, Swami Harshananda: A Consise Encyclopaedia of Hinduism, Vol.2, Pp.474-75 SvaXyaye inTyyuL> Syat! daNtae mES> smaixman!, data inTym! Anadat> SVREUtanuk. --Manusmriti 45. Aanaiit> kmR) < kayn kmR kraeit y>, ss. - Gita, 6.1 See, Dr.B.P.Siddhashrama: The Metaphysics and the Mysticism of Sri Nijagunashivayogi, Pp.115-130 See, Pandit S.Subramanya Shastri and T.R. Srinivasa Iyangar(Ed): Jivanmukti Viveka of Sri Vidyaranya,p.10 For details, see, Dr.B.P.Siddhashrama: The Metaphysics and the Mysticism of Sri Nijagunashivayogi, Pp.125-130 & 187-196 48. 49. 266

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SRI RAMANUJA'S CRITIQUE OF ADVAITA METAPHYSICS - Prof. K. Srinivas, Introduction One of the most interesting and intriguing issues confronted by the three great Vedantins, namely, Sankara, Sri Ramanuja, and Madhva is to resolve the apparent conflict between the One and many. If Brahman is the only reality, then how does one account for the world of plurality. An explanation or answer to this question resulted in three different popularly known schools of Vedanta, namely, Advaita, Visistadvaita, and Dvaita. All these schools rely on Prasthanatraya (the Upanisads, the Bhagavad-gita, and the Brahma-sutra) for building up their own metaphysics. In addition to Prasthanatraya, both Visistadvaita and Dvaita have also taken recourse to agama literature known as Pancaratra, according to which Brahman is none other than Lord Visnu. This is another fundamental difference between transtheistic systems like Advaita and theistic systems like Visistadvaita and Dvaita. The concept of nirguna Brahman is unacceptable to both Visistadvaitins and Dvaitins, for they hold that Brahman is sagunatmaka. Since it is difficult to discuss with the metaphysics of all the three major schools of Vedanta here, I confine myself to Sri Ramanuja's critique of Advaita metaphysics. The source of the conflict between the One and many lies in the philosophy of Upanisads itself. There are certain passages in the Upanisads which hold that Brahman is everything. It includes both individual spirits and the world of matter. But in some passages of the Upanisads we come across the view that Brahman is none of them and is different from them. The task of bhasyakara here is to reconcile both these views. In other words, we come across three kinds of reality--the supreme Spirit (Brahman), the individual spirits (atmans), and the material principle (the world). Then there are three kinds of relationship. They are: 1.the relation of supreme spirit to individual spirits, 2. the relation of individual spirits to matter, and 3. the relation of matter to the supreme Spirit. Each of the terms is terms is related to the other two; hence each relationship has two dimensions. Now the questions that follow from these relations are as follows: 1. Are all the relations of the same nature? 2. Are they of the same kind in each of the dimensions? If the three relations are of different nature, then what is the nature of this difference? Against this backdrop I propose to proceed with my project. The metaphysics of Advaita as expounded in the Brahma-sutra-bhasya of Sankara is to establish the view that Brahman/Atman is the only reality and the world of plurality cannot have an independent existence. The being of the world of plurality is the very being of Brahman itself. The causality of Brahman in creating this world of plurality does in no way affect the perfection of Brahman. In explaining away this most intriguing issue Sankara, 267

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like any other Advaitin, takes recourse to maya as an explanatory concept. He makes use of rope-snake analogy to show just as locus and content of the illusory snake is rope, the locus and content of maya is Brahman. Sri Ramanuja in his Sri Bhasya with his dialectical skill critically examines Sankara's interpretation of maya and avidya. In the process Sri Ramanuja raises seven important objections (seven great untenables) against Advaita metaphysics. These seven objections remain as a great challenge to Advaita metaphysics. An attempt is made in this paper to rationally examine these seven objections. The Metaphysics of Advaita Levels of reality The metaphysics of Advaita is an outcome of the interpretation of the Prasthanatraya. Under this head the following four important issues are covered. They are: 1. The fundamental distinction between absolute (paramarthika) and relative (vyavaharika) standpoints. 2. The distinction between transcendental and empirical metaphysics. 3. The interpretation of the scripture. 4. The role of ignorance (avidya). The issue concerning the nature of Brahman is discussed threadbare by the Advaitins. In the Brahma-sutra it is mentioned: "Now, therefore, the enquiry into Brahman." This enquiry is not merely an intellectual exercise, but a practical one. The questions that follow this enquiry are; is Brahman cosmic or acosmic? Is it the cause of the world, and if so, are both real? Is it endowed with attributes or attributeless? According to the Upanisads, Brahman is the all inclusive ground of the universe, and the reality of which universe is but an appearance. It is the difference between these two views that led to the divergence interpretations by the schools of Vedanta. The Advaitic interpretation of the Upanisadic statements results in the distinction between the absolute and (paramarthika) and relative (vyavaharika) points of view. This distinction is vital for Advaitic metaphysics, because what is true from one point of view is not true from another. Unless one goes into the deeper levels of reality one does not really understand the significance of this distinction. What is important to notice here is that there are no two different types of reality or truth, but one reality, one truth, as seen from two different perspectives. Sankara in his Brahma-sutrabhasya writes as follows: Brahman is known in two forms as qualified by limiting conditions owing to the distinctions of name and form, and also as the opposite of this, i.e., as what is free from all limiting 268

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condition whatever.... thus many (Sruti) texts show Brahman in two forms according as it is known from the standpoint of avidya or from that of avidya. The above distinction between absolute and relative standpoints makes the Advaitin move freely in both the levels of reality without any contradiction. From the relative point of view, Advaita admits plurality of distinctions. Of course, from the point of view of metaphysics, there is an apparent conflict between One and many. There are individual objects which differ from one another; and there is seeming plurality of objects. Epistemologically, there is subject object polarity as well as the problem of truth and error. Ethically, there is the problem of bondage and freedom. Yet, from the point of view of absolute reality, there is only Brahman/Atman-one and nondual." it means either an individual is involved in the relative level of duality or one realizes the non-dual Brahman as the ultimate truth. The multiplicity that is encountered at the relative or empirical level is the starting point of the philosophical enquiry. It is not the final truth. According to Advaita, everything that is experienced or encountered by an individual is real in some sense or other. In this sense, Advaita epistemology is realistic for cognition points to an objective reference whether it is veridical or erroneous. Now the question that arises is: How real are the things that are experienced in the empirical world? The reply of an Advaitin is that the things in the empirical world are real as long as the empirical world exits. The division of real and unreal depends upon knowledge or experience that is real whose knowledge does not miscarry; the unreal on the contrary, is the object of knowledge which fails or goes astray. Therefore, it clear, according to Sankara, the real (sat) is that which endures forever. It suffers no sublation or contradiction, and is eternal. The objects of empirical existence are real until they are sublated or contradicted. They belong to a peculiar category of existence in the sense that they are neither real nor unreal (sadasatvilaksana), according to Advaita. They are illusory (mithya) and indescribable (aniravacaniya). Since the objects of empirical world are experienced, they are not unreal. They are not real for they suffer sublation or contradiction. This criterion makes Brahman alone real and all other existents mere appearances. In fact, the distinction between one object and another, the existence of plurality of objects, the ascription of attributes to the absolute are all concessions to the truth made from the relative point of view. In order to explain the significance of the expression 'advaita', one must keep in mind that the expressions "absolutely real", "from the absolute point of view" are used contextually. Such expressions are used only to distinguish the real from the unreal. Strictly speaking, there is no need to call Brahman/Atman real. If one admits the existence of empirical 269

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reality, then alone these expressions are meaningful. But to one who has realized the truth, these expressions have no significance at all. For such a person even the "Veda is no longer Veda." But all our philosophical discussions about the nature of reality are confined to vyavaharika world. Therefore, these expressions have tremendous significance to every pragmatic individual. The expression "advaita" refers to non-dual reality; and it is the ultimate Truth. Brahman/Atman is infinite and indescribable. It is trans-relational. As a matter of fact, the distinction between the various levels of reality arises only in the context of infiniteness of Brahman/Atman. In the Upanisadic statement, "All this is only Brahman" the prefix "all" refers to the world of plurality. Then the question that arises is: How can the many be One? Advaita has no problem in answering this question because the many gets dissolved into one absolute reality, Brahman/Atman. Types of metaphysics There are two types of metaphysics, according to Advaita. They are transcendental and immanent. The metaphysics of Advaita is immanent for the real enquiry into Brahman/Atman starts at the empirical level. It is the basis and of one's experiences. Brahman is not consciously present to one's consciousness unlike the objects of the empirical world. Brahman is not consciously present to one's consciousness unlike the objects of the empirical world. The individual must make a sincere attempt to have the knowledge of Brahman/Atman through discrimination. It is not something to be gained afresh. All that one has to do is to differentiate it with non-self. The search for Brahman/Atman is not aloof from one's own day-to-day experi ences. It is part and parcel of one's day-to-day experiences at all levels. Therefore, the pursuit of reality starts from here and now. There is no need for an individual to look for it elsewhere or outside one's own experiences. Advaita maintains that when the Upanisads state that Brahman is nirguna what it means is that Brahman is attributeless and is devoid of all qualities. Pure Being (sat), pure Consciousness (cit) and pure Bliss (ananda) are not the qualities of Brahman/Atman, but they are the very constitutive aspects (svarupalaksana) of it. The saguna Brahman or Isvara is Brahman associated with maya the cosmic illusion. The two potencies (saktis) of maya are: 1, the power of concealment (avarana sakti), and 2. the power of projection (viksepa sakti). With its power of concealment maya conceals the real nature of Brahman, and with its power of projection it projects Brahman as something other than what it is. Maya is the principle of inexplicability. It is anadi, but has a beginning. Anything that has beginning must also have an end. Therefore, maya cannot be sat. But, where does this maya exist? Does it exist outside Brahman? If it is so, then there is another entity apart from Brahman which has an independent existence. But this goes 270

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against the teachings of the Upanisads. Then where does maya reside? ACcording to Advaita, Brahman is the locus and content of maya. Jus as an illusory snake cannot exist outside the rope which is empirically real, maya cannot exist outside Brahman. It is also the case that the expressions "maya' and 'avidya" are used as synonyms by the Advaitins. Both these expressions signify the same principle of inexplicability. However, these two expressions are used contextually. When we talk about Brahman as the cause of the world, we mean Brahman associated with maya, which is treated as cosmic illusion. Avidya is basically associated with the individual self (jiva). In other words, maya as a principle of inexplicability operates at cosmic level and avidya at individual level. Two kinds of Scripture It is normally understood that the Upanisads contain two distinct streams of thought. The first stream is pertinent to strict monism, according to which Brahman is the only reality. The empirical world is illusory; and the individual self is non-different from Brahman.11 The other stream of thought describes Brahman as full of attributes and virtues; individual souls are real and many; and the world of name and form is real. These two streams of Upanisadic thought are called bheda and abheda texts. The following statements from the Upanisads bring the nature of the supreme reality. He is Brahman; He is Indra: He is Prajapati; he is all these Gods; and these five great elements...12 As Being alone was this in the beginning, one only, without a sec ond. 13 Advaita considers abheda texts as primary and all other texts secondary. The other schools of Vedanta such as Visistadvaita try to reconcile both these two streams of thought with the help of the Ghataka texts. The other distinction between the types of Scripture is based on action-oriented texts (karma-kanda) and knowledge oriented texts (jnana-kanda). The tradition of Purva-Mimamsa interprets the Veda in terms of ritual action. The other portion of the Veda, namely, the jnana-kanda is represented by the Vedanta. According to the tradition of Advaita, the knowledge portion of the Veda alone is important for it is represented by the Upanisads. It accepts the fundamental schism between the two portions of the Veda and it openly declares that the texts containing the knowledge portion of the Veda are meant for different classes of individuals.14 On the contrary, the Visistadvaitins maintain that the two Mimamsas are basically one body of the Scripture (ekasastra). Therefore, they give equal importance to action and knowledge, for there is no internal classification of the Scripture in terms of authenticity. Accordingly, the Visistadvaitains view that there is no higher or lower Brahman and no higher or lower knowledge. 271

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According to Advaita, there is no causal relationship between action and knowledge. Also, there is no chronological relationship. The agents of action and knowledge have different priorities and their interests differ. Visistadvaita does not admit this anti-thesis between action and knowledge. The Veda as a scripture is meant for the same class of people. The two portions of the Veda are complementary to each other. Jnana-kanda dwells on the nature of God and karma-kanda deals with the modes of worshipping him.15 For Visistadvaitains action becomes a pre-requisite into the enquiry into Brahman. The Role of Avidya Maya/avidya is one of the most important concepts of the tradition of Advaita. 16 The critics of Advaita characterize Advaita as maya-vada. Maya/ avidya cannot exist and function independent of Brahman. Unlike Brahman, according to Advaita, maya/avidya has a beginning and it is only an explanatory concept which shows how the One and non-dual reality appears to be manifold and multitudinous. For Advaitins, Brahman is One and all. There is no other entity apart from Brahman. The fundamental tenet of Advaita is that Brahman alone is real, the world is illusory, and the individual self is essentially same as Brahman. According to Sankara, "Atman, the self-luminous, though the owner of its own maya, imagines in himself (all the objects that the subject experiences within or without).17 According to Advaita metaphysics, Brahman is One and non-dual. It is infinite, indescribable, and non-rational. It appears in the form of creator God (Isvara) and individual self (jiva) due to avidya. This led to the problem of One and many. What is the relationship between the One and many, between the Absolute and relative? Advaita needs to give a satisfactory answer to this question. It is through the concept of maya/avidya Advaita explains this apparent duality. Similarly, the bondage of the individual self is also attributed to avidya. Therefore, avidya can be removed by right knowledge alone. The salient features of maya/avidya are: 1. it is beginningless (anadi); 2. It can be removed by knowledge; 3. it is a positive entity; 4, its ontological status is neither real nor unreal (anirvacaniya); 5. it has the power of concealment and the power of projection; 6. Its locus is either Brahman or jiva. We have stated the salient features of Advaita metaphysics. Sri Ramanuja criticizes Advaita metaphysics as he radically differs from Sankara's interpretation of certain important passages of the Upanisads. After stating Sankara's position Sri Ramanuja in his Sri Bhasya raises as many as seven important objections (sapta-vidha anupapatti) against the central doctrines of Advaita. The Seven Untenables (sapta-vidha anupapatti) Unlike Advaitins, Visistadvaitains do not admit the concepts such as 272

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"nirgu?a Brahman", "maya/avidya". According to Visistadvaitains, there is no entity without identity. Brahman is not an exception to this rule. In order to identify Brahman it is necessary that we approach Brahman through its qualities Thus Brahman is sagunatmaka. Similarly, the individual selves and the world are not distinct from Brahman. They are the attributes of Brahman. In other words, Brahman is qualified by cit and acit. And this Brahman is none other than the supreme God (Visnu). The relation between Brahman (God) and the individual selves and the world is an inseparable relation (aprathaksiddhi).It is also termed as soul-body relation. Sri Ramanuja exhibited great dialectical skills to disprove Advaitic interpretation of maya/avidya. The entire Advaita metaphysics can be summarized in the following way: 1. Brahman is real; 2. Brahman creates the world in association with maya; 3. The nature of maya/avidya is inexplicable 4. Brahman limited by mayay/avidya is the individual self (jiva); 5. Knoeldge of Brahman alone can destroy maya/avidya. The following are the seven important objections raised against Advaita metaphysics by Sri Ramanuja. 1. According to Sankara, "Avidya is paramesvarasraya, that is, it depends upon Brahman. And in it avidya, jivas, having lost their identity with Brahman, rest."18 if Brahman is nirguna and nirvisesa, then there is no scope for avidya to reside in Brahman. Avidya as an entity must belong to something or to someone. To whom does it belong? It cannot belong to Brahman, which is of the nature of pure Consciousness. And it cannot belong to the individual self (jiva), for the jiva is the product of avidya. In other words, avidya must exist prior to the individual self in order to produce it. Therefore, individual self cannot be locus of avidya. To quote Sri Ramanuja's view in this context: Brahman, the non-differentiated consciousness, is the only reality, and all this manifoldness is imagined in It alone and is false. Due to the effect of Beginingless nescience which is unspeakable, the manifoldness is wrongly imagined in the one non-dual Brahman which is pure consciousness. 19 2. Avidya is said to conceal the real nature of Brahman as it possesses the power of concealment (avarana sakti). This must happen before Brahman becomes individual self (jiva). But Brahman being pure Consciousness, it can be concealed only when it forgets itself. But it can forget itself only when it is concealed by avidya. This is another vicious circle. 3. According to Advaitins, we cannot understand the nature of avidya. We cannot say whether it is positive or negative. If it is positive it cannot be destroyed by knowledge as contended by the Advaitins. Knowledge only rec 273

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ognizes the existence of positive, but never destroys it. If it is negative, how does it associate it with Brahman to produce the world of objects? If avidya is negative then it is only absence of knowledge, but absence causes nothing. Nothing is produced out of nothing. To say that avidya is both positive and negative will be a self-contradiction. 4. Maya/avidya is defined by the Advaitins as neither Being, nor nonBeing, nor both, nor neither. This distinction is circuitous and self-contradictory. If something is not being then it must be non-Being; and if it is not non-being then it must be Being: It cannot be both and neither. It must be one of the two. In this definition the Advaitins violate the principle of noncontradiction. 5. The presence of maya/avidya cannot be established by any valid means of knowledge. Ignorance is absence of knowledge, and absence can never be perceived. To perceive the absence of a pen on the table is to perceive the table, which is a positive entity. Maya/avidya cannot be inferred. It is not possible to infer something which is devoid of characteristics. If it possesses characteristics then it must be real entity. But according to Advaita, it is not. It cannot be proved on the basis of the Scripture for the Veda holds maya is the mysterious power of Brahman. But Advaita maintains that Brahman being nirguna, it is devoid of this mysterious power also. 6. If what is stated by Advaita as regards the nature of avidya has to be accepted, then it cannot be removed even by knowledge. What is this knowledge that removes avidya? It is the knowledge of Brahman that shatters ignorance which is responsible for the world of objects. Now the question arises: Does this knowledge of Brahman have Brahman as the object of knowledge or is it the knowledge or consciousness that is the same as the Being of Brahman? The first alternative is not acceptable to Advaita, for Brahman can never be the object of one's knowledge, but same as one's atman. The second alternative also does not make the removal of the knowledge of the world, which is due to ignorance. The knowledge of one's own self does not contradict the knowledge of the world. Apart from that, if Brahman is an object of my knowledge then the world is also an object of another act of knowledge. There are two different kinds of objects and two different kinds of knowledge situations. How can the knowledge of one act can cancel the knowledge of the other and show it to be due to ignorance? Hence it is absurd to say that knowledge of Brahman will remove the knowledge of the world of objects. 7. If avidya is a positive entity, then its removal by knowledge is not possible. If ignorance means absence of knowledge of an object, then knowledge of that object alone can remove that ignorance. But if avidya is a positive entity, then knowledge does not remove it. Advaita clearly holds that avidya is a positive entity. 274

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The above mentioned seven objections against Advaita metaphysics by Sri Ramanuja are logical and it is not all that easy for an Advatin to wriggle out of them. One of the attempts made by the followers of the Advaita tradition is to show that Sri Ramanuja is only flogging a dead horse, for maya/avidya is something inexplicable. How can one explain the inexplicable nature of something? Similarly, when Sri Ramanuja talks about knowledge he is only dealing with attributive consciousness, but not with existential consciousness (svarupa-jnana), which is also accepted by him. According to Advaita, my Unconscious is that which grips my own being, but not the unawareness of an external object. It is difficult for me to explain how my Unconscious originates as it is the root cause of my very being. I am what I am because of it. But there is always a possibility of becoming more than what I am if my Unconscious becomes my conscious. Even if Brahman has become my "I" through self-forgetfulness, which is due to the power of Unconscious, this self-forgetting is not the forgetting of an external object, but of my own true being. But there is some reason in accepting the first and second arguments, for the force or power (sakti) of avidya, if does not belong to Brahman, cannot in any way conceal it. This is a forceful argument of Sri Ramanuja. Therefore, it is difficult for an Advaitin to explain its origin. Simply to say that it is an inexplicable mystery is an argument at all. If it is positive, then as a positive entity it must belong to something. Otherwise, it must come out of nothing. This view is not acceptable to both Sankara and Sri Ramanuja. Concluding Remarks It is not the case that the logic of one school of thought is superior to another. When we view the standpoints of Advatins in general and Sri Ramanuja in particular, we come across two distinctive types of interpretation of the Upanisadic texts. Their respective philosophies emerged out of these interpretations. Both Sankara and Sri Ramanuja are known for their dialectical skills and logical reasoning. However, the presuppositions from which they derive their standpoints obviously go against each other's doctrines concerning the nature of Brahman, consciousness and maya/avidya. But Sri Ramanuja's arguments against the presuppositions of Advaita are illuminating. It is accepted by the Advaitins that the trans-empirical world and empirical world are poles apart. The former is enduring and the latter is not. Then what is experienced or encountered in the empirical world is only relatively true. If this were the case, how can the Advaitins extend the ropesnake analogy to the trans-empirical reality? The logic of one realm cannot be extended to another realm, for the objects experienced in each realm are of different nature. The followers of Advaita tradition attempted to meet these objections to substantiate their position. But to my mind it appears that their defense lacks logical rigour and persuasive power. First of all, to 275

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say that nature of maya/avidya is something mysterious and inexplicable is to go against the very canons of logical thinking. We can bring in any number of concepts like maya/avidya to defend our case by stating that their nature is inexplicable. What is inexplicable cannot be brought under the purview of binary logic. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. NOTES 17. 18. 19. Brahma-sutra, 1.1.1. There are three levels of reality, according to Advaita. They are: apparently real (pratibhasika), the empirically real (vyavaharika), and the absolutely real (paramarthika). Brahma-sutra, 1.1.11. Chandogya Upanisad 6.2.1. (ekam evam advitiyam) Ibid.,7.2.1. 7. 8. Mandukya-karika 4.74. 9. Brhadaranyaka Upanisad 34.3.22. 10. Chandogya Upanisad 3.14.1. 11. Brahma satyam jaganmithya jivo brahmaiva na aparah. Aitereya Upanisad 5.3. Chandogya Upanisad 6.2.1. Vedanta-paribhasa,7. (just as the notion of one's identity with the body is assumed to be valid knowledge, exactly so is this ordinary knowledge till the Self is truly known). Brahma-sutra-bhasya 2.1.11 and 3.2.4. Brahama-sutra-bhasya 1.1.1. Yatindramatadipika III.6.p.46. S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, Vol.2., p.565. Sankara's commentary on Katha Upanisad III.11. Brahma-sutra-bhasya 1.4.3. Sri Bhasya, 1.1.1. pp.59. : ... 276

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HARMONIZIING THE SACRED AND THE SECULAR - A LIVING CHALLENGE TO MAN Introduction - Prof Nitin. J. Vyas Religion is manifesting itself at the best of one's capabilities. It aims at experiencing peace, happiness and total fulfillment in life. Essentially all religions tend to convey this universal spirit of man and a total outlook on human life. This is why one finds that all religions preach the philosophy of brotherhood and a belief in the All- pervading Supreme Reality or Being. It is this reality that sustains and commands the world. This is in short what the world religions claim through their cardinal teachings. However, those who are serious and honest in their respective religious folds are baffled with the prevailing state of religiosity in the present day world. According to them the above-said religious context can hardly be experienced. As a result they do not see harmony in the direction that is prevailing in the world without and the spiritual call of religions within. Consequently very often the followers of various religions question themselves painfully: Do we as individuals experience peace? Is the world being steered in the way that may bring about peace? This is why genuine thinkers in different religions today consider it inappropriate to limit and search for metaphysical concepts such as avidya, sin, disbelief etc. etc. as explaining the cause of the absence of peace and happiness in man. They confess that religions have said much about it all these years and while all that is alright, it is desperately felt that something more needs to be probed into the religious ideas. For, on one hand man's spiritual quest of supreme values is in no way disappearing despite all protests against it, at the same time on the other hand, the modern secular tendencies have made a lasting impact on man's basic socio-political and economic structure of existence. The genuine religious thinker is in a fix as to how to examine the relationship of the religions with the need of the contemporary world! Moreover, how to steer clear from the contemporary secularism and also from the traditional religions? Humbly speaking there are no answers for all the questions posed above. Let me restrict my inquiry in context with the predominant present-day structure of socio-economic and political power-play vis-a-vis the human dilemma in the religious field. Seeking mundane power central to man althrough Examining and evaluating the past experiences, the socio-economic and political power-game in one way or other has always remained with man. Thus notwithstanding the fact that man might have been spontaneously driven to seek and understand the super conscious higher dimensional nature within him from times immemorial, acquiring of mundane values 277

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imparting the socio-economic benefits and political gains have also been predominant with man all along. If we sincerely examine the hold of religious groups in various religions, the above-said mundane power struggle could be strikingly evidenced in them. A statement like this does not necessarily negate the true evaluation of religion. This also is not to make a prejudical remark about the total impact of religion. This is just to pinpoint one aspect namely the factual tangle that has existed all through between man's essential religious ideal and his behavioral motivation. It is in this light, although not agreeing with the shocking Marxian view of religion as an opium of masses and a convenient tool for the benefit of an established order of 'haves', that proposes to proceed in our inquiry. To recapitulate the basic issue specifically viz., if religion is man's affair with the ultimate supreme being, then the point namely is whether man gets an appropriate nourishment from it today? As the numerical amount. is concerned, world religions have too wide a following. But then what? Don't we complain still man's increasing departure from true religious objective as due to constraints of the complex socio-political and economic situations today? If we look into the very issue raised in the present discussion then this fact of positive understanding of the world is to be inevitable with the increasing knowledge of the reality as such. Thus the scientific and technological march along with the pragmatic outlook by man have been a unique success in all spheres of human life. To realize the mundane goals in full, man has ably exploited the physical and the natural resources considerably. The influence of this powerful utilitarianism is very much gripping the responsible spokesmen as also the followers of different religions as well. The gap between the ideal of religion and the fact of living is very wide indeed. If this is so, then the outward theoretically dry complacency for the supreme spiritual values of reality is just of no consequences. To be precise, those who clearly hold on to the religious cause must ask themselves: "Can we claim to follow the intrinsic spiritual life as laid down in our respective religions? How much are we intent upon it, even though professing the same with much fanfare"? Else, how could it be that the religious hold is fast giving way ubiquitously? No doubt random cases of reviving of religious fundamentalism or orthodoxy in some countries have come to the fore sharply of late. But if the nature of this revivalism is critically examined, it turns out to be a platform of socio-political power for those entrenched in authority. It is nothing but a ruthless imposition in the name of religion. As against this, the state of religious concern in all liberal and developing countries is different. Therein the people hardly seriously attend to religious preachers and institutions. Even if it seems differently, it is increasingly becoming routined and hollow in nature. In nutshell, the problem is the same everywhere in as much as the whole religious concept and outlook is passing through a critical phase. 278

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The Quest of Secularism all - pervasive today : The indisputable fact is that presently the influence of transcendentalism is fast losing its appeal on mankind as a whole. Barring few exceptions, an all pervasive secular outlook is the call of the day. The humanistic visions of earthly goals are more appealing than the knowledge and realization of the supreme being. Thus the pursuit of the spiritual values for seeking stability and harmony in the world is considered a mere past hangover and hence as an outdated activity. Today man has achieved a tremendous capacity for upward mobility in all the social spheres of man. So also the communicating instruments for this end have increased many times all over the world. The point is that the conventional ideas regarding man in various religions as well as religious orientation and understanding in general need to be revised afresh in the light of the prevailing modern thought and ideas. It is questioning the other way, whether the challenge to transcendentalism in religions is just a sudden and unexpected phenomenon in the recent times? To this our answer is simple 'no' because as early as the 5th century B.C., the same categorical understanding of human existence and the universe had really dawned on Gautam Buddha. In fact when we look into the past traditions of the prevailing religions thus, we do witness in them such rational approaches and inquiries at least in some way or the other as a necessary dynamism of the time. It might be that the ruthless authorities or the religious heads did not take a note of this and confined themselves to time-old dogmas. In this context, however, the period of modernity is very different indeed! Its revolutionary humanism has influenced all religions in great deal. Hence the sensitive religious person must be open to it and bring about a necessary change in their perspective. They must enquire afresh as to what religions stand for and how are they going to help man positively in his search for self-identify. How then the religious thinkers are to face this predicament and bring about a proper revitalization among the followers of their respective religions? To me this tangle presupposes a true understanding of the stark realities presently facing us all. It would add a great weight in our collective efforts as the followers of respective religions. For, after all mere carrying on the heavy-weight of innumerable traditional legacy of huge temples, abundant scriptural facilities, countless missionaries etc. will not save us from deep pessimism and insecurity of bleak future facing us as due to total and extreme pursuing of present secular tendencies. Some posers at the peak of secularization Some pertinent questions at the peak of this secular climaxes of modern times are: How much and what does a man know about his own problems-individual and social? What is his responsibility at this juncture 279

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when the whole universe has reduced to a compact unit wherein both the survival and destruction of mankind are a simultaneous reality? Is man confident that mere socio-political development in itself capable to lead him out of the socio-political boundaries i.e. the mundane existence? This is to drive home the realism that despite external developments in human civilization, the primitive animal-drives in regard to man's socioeconomic and political nature have more or less remained unchanged. This only means that religious vision of man as presented in different religions is not so effective indeed and it is far from being universal. That is why the differences amongst the various religions are still persisting. Not only that, there are many splits within one's faith too. Besides the prevailing atmosphere of material culture is not self-satisfying to man either. It is only a reflection of this fact that the basic internalizing process of religion whereby the individual expands and comprehensively includes the whole universe is a distant vision still. For man has yet to understand and cultivate an in-depth experience within his own personality ensuring a sense of freedom offered by respective religions. It is specifically conveying and questioning those who have a concern for religion in their heart and who happen to be the moral pursuers and followers of various religions, as to how much are they prepared to rise up from their parochial interests of the common run? Respecting their full freedom to material and social upliftment with good results for themselves having no objections whatsoever. But how much are they organized unitedly in making discriminating protest when the same resources of man and material are misused and misdirected in the name of increasing the dire and mere down to earth standards of life? Are they ready to give up torpid indifference in their striving for the supreme understanding of man and the universe as enuniciated in their respective religions as such? Although apprehensive to state, I do believe that the religious men all over are yet not clear as what do they mean by religion and its vision in the present period. Not a pedantic grasp with enormous research output is the real need but how these people respond dynamically in moral actions to the prevailing challenges is, what I mean to be, the crux of the religious phenomena. All prevalence of the superstitions and dogmas, pseudo fundamentalism and fanaticism in religions and at the same time, indiscriminate inequality socially, economically and politically etc. openly mock their concern for the supreme search for reality. Insensitivity to all these mean becoming silent victims of our age. The helplessness of the inner spirit in this respect is yet to be experienced deeply and revolt suitably. The significance of secular achievement Frankly speaking the scientific and technological age is truly a fine 280

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opportunity for rethinking in the realms of the religions. For, the votaries of different religions can freely meet and converse with one another now! The outer barriers of religions may not matter much. The transcendental nature of man seems very much translated in such evidences of empirical understanding of life. In the same way, the upholders of spiritual values have to struggle with the down-to-earth empirical problems centrally affecting the very survival of man and his universe presently. For, it is in such creative search of the human identity in the religious sense that would help symbolize the universal human ability at its best. If there prevails no peace in the outer world, the ostrich like religious pursuits would lead us nowhere near the goal. However, too much stagnation and lip-service in name of religions prevail still. Essentially there is no inner moving and becoming in the religious sense. Even the leading followers and thinkers in various religions suffer from many personality splits consciously and unconsciously. Thus, science and technology seem to have made far reaching changes in a short time everywhere. But the responsible religious leaders have yet to charter people in the religious or spiritual direction and this presupposes the great change and reawakening in all those who care for religious goals as such. The haunting question is as to how these searchers in the religious goals are prepared to suffer consciously for truth as one opted for a religious way of life? Mere remaining a part and parcel of a certain religious sect won't lend an objective assessment of the present reality and hence that of the corresponding necessary actions. What is needed is to do away with the conventional authoritative hold-ups and effectuate essential religion in all its existential applications. The issue is whether the followers of various religions want to live and live fully together? Do they really seek a meaningful spiritual progress? If so, then whether they care to make such an atmosphere? Thus, the spatiotemporal ideas of the followers in different religions may be of whatever nature, but where universal issues are concerned, are they ready to speak with one voice? If socio-political or economic reasons bring many countries together and make a world-wide impact together, then why can't the religious spokesmen speak collectively for religious cause? Instead of petty selfcentered talks of crusades, proselytizintg activities, mass preaching etc. etc.; all the religions and religious organizations need to stress the common concern and urgencies in the harmonious welfare and development of mankind. The harmonious religious goals in the secular era It is to pinpoint in this context that the world is facing varieties of exploitations and injustices perpetrated for centuries at the cost of human dignity. This list is long and it needs no mentioning for it is too patent. Again, 281

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most of the human activities are far from the essential living of the normal human life. In reality, these activities do not orient men in meaningful quest of the supreme value. In fact danger signals loom heavily in such forms as population explosion, ecological imbalances, increasing military stances against each other etc. etc. These are the consequences of the age-old animal drives itching to dig man's own grave. All this shows that religious institutions are failing or that their utility and efficacy do not march at all with the colossal predicament of man. Hence the question is do the followers of respective religions have such basic universal con-commitments of moral goals? Do not the followers of religions who visualize the order, harmony and the unity of supreme being, have some primary concerns for the elemental values of mankind and get united in their quest like politicians and businessmen? Why should they not continue to follow their goals even if they feel being treated with indifference by those bigwigs whose socio-political and economic authority is writ large? Simultaneously agreeing with the empirical approach taking its own course in the various sphere of life, the religious spokesmen have to hammer the eternal and transcendent values too. It is not only believing but also living practically the essentials of their faith. This in other words, suggests a great melting of the age-old religious differences and the conditional complexes gained otherwise by physical, economic and political might. Again, it is setting an example of not being party to the socio-political power games and unabashed consumerism. A conscious initial beginning, may be of only speaking out unitedly would help in blunting the sharp edges of the emerging problems in advance. Some serious religious queries for those who concern: are they reassured daily that they approach their religious vision truly or just get bothered by external trifles? Religion is an inner becoming but do they take note of this initiative carefully? In this sense is it not that, the religious process seems to be regressing in the historical sense? Whereas the science and technology have contributed much to the outer unification of mankind, still the individual and national interests do not recognize the genuinely increasing interrelationship of the global society and acting to the tune of the moral and spiritual imperatives of the time. The conclusion Thus, the crux of the problem has been that the dominant socio-economic and political directions in the present world operate in an area of darkness. For the future of mankind is not as reassuring as it should have been. Many elites and intellectuals too become conscious or unconscious supporters of the blind self-centered operation. The ruling class as usual adapts itself with the prevailing utilitarian ethos. It is the religionists alone 282

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who can think and perceive beyond such phenomenal values. The question concerns that of fully knowing and executing the essentials of their faiths into appropriate action, thus making a precedent before they preach. In the dawn of a new age, religions have to play a vital role. But the followers of religions can't do anything by remaining aloof from the totality. Mere affiliation to any religion is not enough but they have to probe the existing reality and make their evaluation accordingly. In the next decades when new discoveries in cosmology, genetics and brain functioning and so on are going to challenge still more, and disprove the age-old faiths which the followers of religions are holding, they need to make a great beginning in recreating and reformulating their basic values. ... 283

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Pandit Sukhlalji's Philosophical Notes On Acarya Hemacandra's Pramanamimamsa. Dr. Madhusudan Baxi Hemcandra (1089-1172A.D.) was a distinguished Jaina philosopher born in Dhandhuka (Gujarat). Sukhlalji Sanghavi (1880-1978), was a distinguished scholar of Indian philosophy. Sukhlalji has introduced, translated, edited, commented upon and summarized important texts of Indian philosophers like Umasvati, Siddhasena Divakara, Dharmakirti, Jayarasi Bhatta, Yasovijayaji and others. Sukhlalji has analyzed Acarya Hemacandra's text with reference to the light it throws on Indian philosophical traditions in general. His way of reading philosophical texts in the context of history of the traditions concerned is very interesting and fruitful. Sukhlalji's historical-developmentalcomparative approach to Indian philosophies is very fruitful for understanding how philosophical problems were dealt with in a particular school of Indian philosophy by its followers and how their solutions have been increasingly refined in response to critical examination of the problems by the thinkers of the different schools. This paper discusses some questions about Indian philosophy and philosophy in general arising out of Pandit Sukhlalji's analysis of Acarya Hemacandra's Pramanamimamsa. Sukhlalji's Introduction, Preface and Notes are very important not only for understanding Hemcandra's contribution to the Jaina epistemology and ontology, but also for the problem of authentic intercultural understanding in the context of the plurality of Indian philosophical systems. I have based my analysis here on the work edited by Nagin ShahHemacandra's Pramanamimamsa -A Critique of organ of knowledge; A work on Jaina Logic; Shah (2002). Shah' work includes the following; (1) Sanskrit text of Pramanamimamsa in Roman, script printed for the first time and specially prepared for this work. (2) The English translation of Hemacandra's Pramanamimamsa by Mookerjee and N. Tatia, (3) Indukala Jhaveri' English translation of Sukhlalji's extensive Introduction (in Hindi). (3) K.K.Dixit's English translation of Sukhlalji's notes and Sukhlalji's Preface (in Hindi). (4) Dixit's own introduction to Sukhlalji's notes and (5) Shah's own editorial introduction. 284

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I have here also referred to N. Shah's first Gujarati translation of Hemacandra's Pramanamimamsa (2006) which includes Hemacandra's Sanskrit text also. Shah's Gujarati translation of Pramanamimamsa also includes Gujarati translation of Sukhlalji's Preface and Notes I have not discussed here the main contribution of Acarya Hemacandra's Pramanamimamsa itself. I have also not discussed here the epistemological problems discussed by Sukhlalji in his notes 1 to 27 (Shah; 2002). I have discussed only some of the aspects of Sukhlalji's Introduction, Preface and Notes here. I have only discussed here some of the general issues raised by Sukhlalji himself rather than the problems discussed by Acarya Hemacandra. For example Sukhlalji has accepted that authentic intercultural understanding is possible by illustrating it with reference to the understanding of the Western scholars of various Indian philosophies. I find this very interesting, but in that context, I have further examined the problem of cultural authenticity versus philosophical universality. My point here is that it is not always due to any misunderstanding, prejudice, error, negative attitudes etc, that the philosophical differences emerge. Each philosophical system in India tries its best to represent the claims and arguments of the other systems with fairness and impartiality and then each of them claims that the other systems have been rejected after proper objective and rational assessment. So intercultural understanding also can not eliminate genuine ontological differences between systems and it is also not meant to do that. Sukhlalji himself has an authentic understanding of various Jaina and NonJaina traditions and he very carefully notes various types of theories on the main topics of Indian epistemology and ontology. In this context, after the clarification of Sukhlalji's historical and comparative approach in the first Section, the importance of Sukhlalji's classifications of Indian doctrines has been highlighted here in the second section. The tension between originality and fidelity in Indian philosophical texts has also been discussed here in the third section. I have dealt with the theme of authentic intercultural philosophical understanding discussed by Sukhlalji in the fourth section here. I have shown here that authentic philosophical understanding at any level does not necessarily lead to any ontological consensus and such a consensus need not be insisted upon because, tolerance, harmony and peace can be promoted even when there is a broad inter-cultural agreement among different philosophies only on the basic humanistic moral values. The problem of cultural authenticity versus inter-cultural universality has to be faced in the context of philosophical understanding of various traditions, because there can be authentic understanding of the totally different traditions without the acceptance of different incompatible ontologies. Even the explanations of such incompatibilities might turn out to be themselves irreconcilable. I do not mean to say that there is no possibility of misunderstanding, error, deliberate inferiorization of other cultures 285

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due to imperialism, colonialism, etc, but they are different issues and they have to be discussed with reference to Edward Said' famous work Orientalism (1978) or other works of thinkers of post-colonialism. 1 Sukhlalji's Approach In his preface to the notes on Pramanamimamsa (Shah, N, 2002; 297-301), Sukhlalji points out that he had studied philosophy according to the old style of Pandits and surely he derived many advantages from such training. But he also found out that he had not paid proper attention to his inability to make out " how as a result of mutual discussion and criticism, the various philosophical systems of India influenced one another either negatively or positively". Awareness of such a shortcoming forced him to "traverse a new path". It consisted firstly in understanding the basic texts of the system concerned and then trying "H to determine the historical interconnection between the philosophical issues and to make a comparative study of these issues as discussed by the various philosophical systems." (Shah; 2002; p, 298). Sukhlalji's method of understanding and explaining Indian philosophical traditions is historical, developmental and comparative (Shah; 2002; p, 299). He has claimed that that even for understanding the Jaina standpoint, we have to use the comparative and historical method of understanding various non-Jaina traditions of Indian philosophy. The same applies to the studies of non-Jaina systems. For an accurate understanding and analysis of the philosophical problems of the non-Jaina traditions, we have to attend to some of the arguments of the Jaina thinkers against the main claims of non - Jaina traditions. 2 Sukhlalji's Classifications of Indian Philosophies. If we want to locate the standpoint of any Indian philosophical system, we must first place that system within the broad metaphysical, epistemological classifications of the various systems of Indian philosophy and then we can trace the history of any philosophical problem within the Indian philosophical system under consideration and between the systems of the Indian tradition. If, for example, we first understand the history of the problem of perception from within the Jaina system and then compare it with the Non-Jaina systems, we find that the Jaina philosophy is a metaphysical realism, and therefore, the objects of perception are transcendentally real for them. No Jaina thinker will therefore endorse Vijnanavada (empirical idealism) of some of the Buddhists. This and other such examples analyzed by Sukhlalji highlight the importance of various types of classifications of Indian systems and Sukhlalji has made an important contribution to this area by his historical and comparative methods. Sukhlalji, in his Introduction, has rightly emphasized the different 286

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orientations of Indian philosophical traditions. He has done this very lucidly. If anyone knows certain relevant classifications and if he knows that a particular author of a certain text is, for example, a Jaina thinker, he can easily predict the types of problems that the author might have discussed and the type of solutions which he might have offered. A. Realist and Idealist Systems. Sukhlalji, in his Introduction (translated from Hindi into English by Indukala Jhaveri), has classified the Indian philosophical systems into two classes. The realist include Nyaya-Vaisesika, Purvamimamsa, Samkhya-Yoga schools, Carvaka, the two realistic schools of Buddhism, the Madhvite Vedanta etc. Sunyavada as well as Vijnanavada schools of Buddhism and the Samkarite school of Vedanta are the main Indian idealist philosophies. The idealists maintain that the external world is unreal and only the internal world is real. The realists believe that the world apprehended by the empirical (laukika) organs of knowledge is real and the world apprehended by the transcendent (lokottara) organs of knowledge is also real. Realists maintain that all truth is of the same kind though differing in degrees and real objects are capable of being expressed in words. Sukhlalji first classifies the systems into realistic and idealistic and then he points out that Jaina system has never changed its realistic standpoint, but there was a change from realism to idealism in Buddhism and Vedanta. Locating Jainism with reference to this classification, Sukhlalji writes in his Introduction that, "its basic attitude of non-absolutism (anekantavada) notwithstanding, the Jaina standpoint is absolutely realistic (ekantatah vastavaadin) in nature." (Shah, 2002, p, 4) This clearly means that no Jaina thinker in any of his works can ever give up the realistic position and this also means that he can not synthesize idealism with realism at any stage at all. Sukhlalji has admitted this by saying that realism is the unchangeable character of the Jaina standpoint as is also the case with other non-Jaina Indian realist systems. The realistic systems, like the Jaina system, use both reasonable analysis and reasonable synthesis as they give equal importance to the empirical and the transcendent world. B. Five Indian positions as to the degrees of competence of the various organs of knowledge. Sukhlalji, in his Introduction, (Shah, 7-10] has identified five Indian positions as to the degrees of competence of the various organs of knowledge as under; 287

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1. The view advocating sole competence of sense-organs (indriyadhipatyavada) - Carvaka. 2. The view advocating sole competence of non-sensuous organs (anindriyadhipatyavada) - Sunyavada, Vijnanavada and Samkarite Vedanta. 3. The view advocating equal competence of sense-organs and nonsensuous organs (ubhayadhipatyavada) -Samkhya-Yoga, Nyaya-Vaisesika, Mimamsa and Vaibhasika and Sautrantika Buddhists. 4. The view advocating sole competence of the Scriptures(agamadhipatyavada) - Purvamimamsa. 5. The view advocating incompetence of all organs whatsoever(pramanopaplavavada-tattvopaplavavada) - Jayarasi Bhatta. The Jaina position can now be easily located among the above five positions. Jaina thinkers advocate the third view, i.e., ubhyadhipatyavada. The Jaina tradition therefore rejects the remaining four positions. C. Four Indian Theories of Causation. Sukhlalji, in his Introduction [Shah, (10-20)], has identified four theories of causation in Indian philosophy as under; 1. Arambhavada - Theory of Novel Creation. (Nyaya theory) 2. Parinamavada-Theory of Real Modification including Pradhanaparinamavada of the Samkhya system and the Brahma - parinamavada - of thinkers like Vallabhacarya. There are thus three types of parinamavada. Samkhya-parinamavada, Brahmaparinamavada and the Jaina 3. Pratityasamutpadavada -The Buddhist Theory of dependent origi parinamavada nation. 4. Vivartavada-The Kevaladvaita theory of illusory modification. We have two main types of Vivartavada also- Nityabrahmavivartavada of the absolute monistic Vedanta and ksanikavijnanavivartavada of the Buddhists. Now here also Sukhlalji helps us to locate the Jaina position by saying that the Jaina theory is a kind of sarva-vyapaka parinamavada because it applies to the physical as well as conscious, gross as well as subtle ele ments. D. Five Indian Theories about the Nature and Object of Pramanas. 288

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Indian logic, in all the systems, is invariably ontological. It cannot be detached from the epistemological and metaphysical and even theological questions. Purely formal validity makes no sense in the context of Logic in India, because of its basic informal non-deductive character. The concept of pramana is not at all a formal concept. Every realistic Indian system has a definition of real object and pramana is treated as true knowledge of that extra-mental real object. dravyaparyayatmaka vastu, for example, is the real object for Acarya Hemacandra and all the thinkers of the Jaina tradition and if you say that the means of knowledge recognized by them need not be linked to any such real object, it will not make any sense to any Jaina logician. Sukhlalji refers to the following theories in this context (Sukhlalji's Notes; 28;29:30 Shah;2002 p413-424) 1 The doctrine of Absolute Permanence (kevalanityatvavada)Brahmavadi-Vedanta's position. 2. The doctrine of Absolute Change (kevala-anityatvavada)-The Buddhist position. 3. The doctrine of Changing Permanent (parinaminityatvavada) - The Samkhya position. 4. The doctrine of Changing and the Permanent. (Nityanityaubhayavada)-The position of Nyaya-Vaibesika 5. The doctrine of Permanence coupled with Change. (nityanityatmakavada). This is the Jaina position, according to which everything is permanent, as well as changing. Sukhlalji here discusses in detail the contribution of Hemacandra. The capacity to perform a function is the criterion of reality. (Shah;2006 373-375) Thus, Jaina philosophy accepts the following theories; vastavavada, ubhyadhipatyavada , sarva-vyapaka parinamavada and nityanityatmakavada. 3. The Problem of Originality versus Fidelity in Indian Philosophical Texts. From Sukhlalji's notes on Hemacandra's Pramamamimamsa, it is clear however that the originality of the system-affiliated Indian thinkers lies in the new justifications of the system. At times the originality lies in working out the implications of earlier texts or in presenting new refutations of the positions of the new opponents. Originality in this context therefore does not lie always in any total paradigm-shift involving the giving up of the hardcore of the system. Any philosophical system in India operating within a certain religious tradition or dealing with ancient scriptural inputs has still 289

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some free cognitive space and Indian philosophers are innovative within such a free cognitive space in the inherited structure of a given system. We must however remember that it is Hemacandra's Jaina theory of perception and not simply Hemacandra's theory of perception that really matters in the Indian context. We do have Jayanta's Nyaya theory of Verbal Authority for example and not simply Jayanta's theory of Verbal authority. We have to introduce Hemacandra as a Jaina philosopher and not just as an Indian philosopher only. Once we do this we can broadly predict the kind of theories which would be acceptable to him. Argumentative innovativeness within the scripturally structured traditional paradigms does lead to newer justifications of the systems. If we can clearly identify the Indian philosophical system to which any classical Indian Philosopher belongs and place that system's theories among the various types of classifications of Indian philosophies, then we will find it easier to understand the philosophical text of any system concerned. We can then easily understand why, inspite of agreement on many other matters, the Jainas can not share any non-Jaina epistemology or ontology though they might broadly share similar spiritual-ethical goals. The same applies to the non-Jaina thinkers. 4. Problem of Intercultural Understanding According to Sukhlalji, "For thousands of years the currents of philosophical speculations have run their course in India and with the passage of time they gained in logical subtlety; but these have been seldom, if ever, subjected by the Indian scholars to that type of investigation, which have come from the pen of Westerners since the last century or so. For example, the thorough researches of Prof. Jacobi and others in the Jaina scriptures have not been matched by any undertaken by a scholar who is himself an upholder of the Jaina tradition. Similarly, the academic endeavor of no Buddhist monk will stand comparison with that of scholar like Stcherbatsky who has thrown veritable flood of light on Buddhist logic. Dr Thibaut, apart from translating into English the Bhasyas of Samkara and Ramanuja, has offered, in his introductory remarks, a penetrating study of the issues involved a study which has perhaps not been surpassed by any Samkarite or Ramanujite scholar however acute. And not even the thoroughest of Nyaya-Vaisesika scholars have been able to pursue that marvellous analytical method which Prof. Ingalls of the Harvard University has adopted in presenting the materials for the study of Navya-Nyaya Logic." [From Sukhlalji's Preface, translated into English by K.K.Dixit, included in Shah_(Ed), 2002, p, 300) Sukhlalji has pointed out in his Preface to his philosophical notes that it is a matter for anxious thought that "Hthe same texts which have been edited and translated so admirably by Western scholars, had (or have) come out in so poor a quality when edited and translated by their Indian counterparts" (Shah, 2002, p, 301). 290

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Sukhlalji has rightly acknowledged that intercultural understanding of different philosophical traditions is possible as it has been illustrated by many authentic contributions of the Western scholars on Indian traditions. I would also add that authentic understanding has been possible on the part of for example, the classical and contemporary Jaina philosophers regarding the non-Jaina Indian traditions This illustrates that in one sense, philosophy, as reflection on certain common fundamental conceptual problems of knowledge and reality in general, is a universal project, but at the same time, as text-based analysis, philosophy is a culture-specific- historical project. Still there can be genuine intercultural understanding on the part of the Western scholars of the historically, geographically and culturally different philosophical traditions. The same applies to Indian scholars of the Western traditions. If we agree, in principle, that S. Radhakrishnan has understood Kant, Hegel or Bradley, then we can not deny in principle, that Halbfass can have a right understanding of Vaisesika system. Famous Western thinkers like Hegel, Husserl and Heidegger, shared Eurocentric attitudes to Indian thought, arguing that philosophy is essentially Greek and is therefore basically European. Of course, neither Eurocentrism nor Indocentrism or any other approach in the name of Orientalism or Occidentalism or any other such attitude can be helpful in authentic intercultural understanding. The Problem of cultural authenticity versus intercultural universality. The problem of philosophy as cultural or national or regional selfexpression of society through certain historical periods may lead also to the idea that only certain cultures, nations or languages comprise genuine philosophies. For example, it had been claimed by many that there is no such thing as African philosophy and that anything resembling African philosophy has been imported from Europe or from Arab scholars who got it from the West. The same problem of universalism versus cultural authenticity has been raised about the Latin American philosophy also. It has also been argued that there need not be any single world-wide philosophy in which everyone participates in the name of universality and similarly, and there need not be a totally culture-specific untranslatable philosophy in the name of cultural-regional authencity or national traditions.. Bruce Zanz has raised the following questions here;- When we speak of German or African philosophy do we refer to contingent or necessary feature of philosophy? Is philosophical thought unaffected by the places in which it is practiced? Do the ethnic, racial or national commitments of practitioners of philosophy affect the philosophy that is done? 5. 291

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The point is that when, for example, we talk about Indian philosophy do we highlight the word 'Indian' or the word 'Philosophy? These questions need to be discussed thoroughly. [(For a detailed analysis of this problem See, "Philosophizing from different places", 99-128; In, Carel and Gamez(Ed); 2007]. Geopolitical and historical factors do produce new philosophical developments as has been illustrated by the neo-Ved?ntic Indian philosophies during colonial and post-colonial stages of modern Indian history. I believe that too much concern about the uniqueness or cultural authenticity and also about total historical, geographical and cultural specificity of any tradition would lead to the claim that texts of any of such different traditions can never be understood at all by an outsider and no systemspecific ideas can ever be grasped across cultures. This would apply not only to the differences between the Indian and the Western traditions of philosophy, but also to the Jaina and Non-Jaina systems of philosophy within the same Indian tradition. The totally non-transparent culture-specific understanding of a system would imply, for example, that neither Hemcandra nor Sukhlalji can claim to understand any non-Jaina tradition, Indian or Western. If only an insider can understand philosophical texts, or tradition, then all cross-cultural understanding will be rendered impossible. Thus the claim of total cultural opacity is obviously false. Similarly, too much emphasis on universality of thought-patterns and similarity of the general categories and also on the convergence of the systems on certain basic themes would place all system-specific interpretations of such themes under erasure. It is clear therefore that there is a considerable tension in various philosophical traditions due to the claims of historical-cultural-regional specificity of concepts involved on the one hand and also due to the emphasis on cross-cultural content-validity of the same concepts on the other. Even if, for example, any Jaina thinker correctly understands the non-Jaina systems and has valid objections against them, it does not mean that Jaina philosophy itself has solved all philosophical problems. The same is true of the non-Jaina philosophers' understanding of the Jaina systems. This is because both these traditions might be equally rejected by various Western traditions- like phenomenology, hermeneutics, existentialism, deconstruction, etc. Understanding is thus possible without any acceptance of any particular system as finally true. The idea that rational dialogues among various traditions will enable the participants to avoid misunderstandings is welcome, but my point here is that the Jainas do not accept for example, Samkhya-Yoga, Nyaya-Vaisesika, Mimamsa, Vaibhasika and Sautrantika and other schools of the Buddhists, not because of some misunderstandings about those systems, but because they claim that they have rejected those systems 292

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after thorough objective scrutiny. No amount of objections can weaken the Jaina-specific theory of karma or liberation although all other traditions except the Carvaka System, believe in karma, liberation, rebirth etc. The same is true of the Kevaladvaita - Ved?ntic theory of Avidy?. There is no question of misunderstanding of other systems or absence of objective assessment here. No Ved?ntic thinker will give up the concept of Brahman and no Jaina thinker will give up the theory of ontological realism, ekantatah vastavavada, though thinkers of both the systems succeed in an authentic understanding of the others. Understanding thus leads to social-cultural tolerance rather than to the liberal acceptance of rival ontological theories. Those who endorse the concepts of God, soul, karma or any other type of socio-religious knowledge, have to face the problem of historical-cultural specificity of those concepts versus cross-cultural-content validity of the relevant systems involving those concepts. For example, Umasvati's Tattvarthasutra, at the very outset announces that the pathway to emancipation comprises right faith, right knowledge and right conduct (sutra;1). The right inclination towards validly determining the nature of things is samyak-dar?ana (sutra;2), which originates either by nature, or through external means like instruction, etc. (sutra; 3) andright faith or inclination (samyak-darsana) means faith in the following fundamental verities; soul, non-soul, inflow, bondage, protection, cleansing off and emancipation (sutra;4). (Dixit; 2000; 4-10). It therefore can be said that this interpretation of the concept of samyak-darsana is totally Jainaspecific here and if other Indian Philosophies require to use it, then the cognizable entities denoted by the same concept of samyak-darsana will have to be different in every system. Such a concept has certain general minimum meaning, but it is then appropriated by a particular system for its specific use. The concept of causation or the concept of space and time or the concept of substance, for example, do not appear to be as system -specific as the concept of Brahman or the concept of Avidya and yet those who endorse the system concerned would say that it is universally true and not true relative to the geopolitical or cultural factors. If you point out the cultural particularity of system-specific Brahmav ada, for example, the thinkers concerned will claim that their concepts have universal applicability. [For Sukhlalji's discussion of irreconcilable ontological differences on various issues, See, Shah; 2006; 334-342; (and also Shah; 2002; 413-424)]. All the thinkers of Indian philosophy have used rational arguments and yet philosophical agreement eludes them. Does it mean that there models of rationality are incompatible? Julian Baggini has pointed out in the context of Western thought that, 'H consensus is omniabsent in philosophy yet the arguments of philosophers are among the most rationally rigorous 293

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in the humanities or scienceH.philosophy lacks the agreed methods of science that enables consensusH" (In Carel and Gamez, ed; 2007; 154). I would add that prior commitments to different religious traditions and different scriptures on the part of Indian philosophers might be one of the reasons for the absence of ontological consensus though the very same factors probably are sufficient to generate an agreement on some kind of moral universality. References. K.K. Dixit: ((English Translation); Second Edition: 2000 L.D. Series 241: Pandit Sukhlalji's Commentary on Tattv?rthas?tra of Vacaka Umasvati. Ahmedabad; L.D Institute of Indology. Havi Carel & David Gamez; What Philosophy is;(First South Asia Edition;2007) London; Viva-Continuum Edition Shah, Nagin, (Ed), (2002); Hemacandra's Pramamamimamsa. A Critique of Organ of Knowledge;A Work on Jaina Logic; Ahmedabad; Gujarat Vidyapith) Shah Nagin(2006); Pramamamimamsa. [Kalikalasarvajna Shri Hemcandracaryavirachita Jaina Tarkasastrano mahana grantha); (Gujarati Translation) Palitana- Ahmedabad- Mumsbai; Shri 108, Jaina Tirthadarshana Trust. 294

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DHARMA: ADVAITA AND NEO-ADVAITA PERSPECTIVE - Dr. (Mrs.) Shubhada Joshi Saikara, in the introduction to the commentary on the Geta classifies dharma into two pravhtti laksana and nivhtti laksana i.e. according to Saikara there are two types pf religious paths, one characterized by Action pravhtti - literally it means activity or tendency to go outward and nivhtti - literally means tendency to come back i.e. abstain from activity, characterized by knowledge and non attachment. (jnana vairagya laksana) Saikara writes, 'dvividho hi vedokto dharmau pravhtti-laknano nivhttilaknanas ca'. He further writes, 'jagatau sthiti-karanam praninaa saknad abhyudaya-niusreyasa-hetur yau sa dharmo brahmanadyair varnibhir aSramibhis ca Sreyo'rthibhir anunoheyamanau' i.e. "This two fold religion enjoined by the Vedas, characterized by Action and Renunciation is verily the cause of sustenance of the universe. And this Religion being the direct cause of the prosperity as well as the liberation of sentient beings, has been practiced by brahmanas and others, belonging to several castes and orders of life, as they wished to secure welfare (here and hereafter)" ((P.2) Geta Bhashya of Saikara C.V. Ramchandra Iyer - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan 1988.)1 Pravhtti is explained in Geta (18.46) as yatau pravhttir bhutanaayena sarvam idaa tatamsva-karmana tam abhyarcya siddhia vindati manavau i.e. 'From whom is the evolution of (all) beings, by whom all this is pervaded, worshipping Him with his own duty, a man attains perfection.' Saikara comments on this saying, 'From whom is the evolution of (all) beings: the word pravhtti means 'evolution' as also 'activity' and pravhtti of all living creature proceeds from ESvara the Antaryamin, the Ruler within by whom ESvara all this world is pervaded, worshipping, adoring, propitiating him, (ESvara) with this (i.e. one's) own duty stated by which Varnashrama a man attains perfection which consists in merely getting qualified for devotion to the path of knowledge2. According to Saikara, actions done even as obligations lead to purification of mind body. The earlier verse says sve sve karmany abhiratau saasiddhia labhate narau; sva-karma-niratau siddhia yatha vindati tac chhnu i.e. 'Devoted each to his own duty man attains to perfection, that hear'. Saikara comments as, 'Devoted exclusive each to his own duty (karma yoga) a man attains perfection consisting in the body and the sense organs becoming qualified for steadfast adherence in the path of knowledge (jiananisoha), when all ones impurities have been destroyed by the performance of his prescribed duties' (P584-585)2. This makes it clear that according to Saikara path of action either binds if followed in a selfish way or if followed without attachment as duties only, leads to perfection of mind-body but not to bhramajiana. 295

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The distinction between pravhtti & nivhtti is further stated in 18.30 pravhttia ca nivhttia ca karyakarye bhayabhaye bandhaa moknaa ca ya vetti buddhiu sa partha sattvike "That which knows action and inaction, right action and wrong action, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation, that intellect O partha is sattvika'. Saikara comments as that which knows action which leads to bondage, the path works and that which knows inaction nivhtti which leads to mokna3 (Saikara's common.) P5733. Further comments in the (upodghaoau) i.e. introduction to Geta Bhanya4 as 'The religious path characterized by Action has been prescribed in respect of the (several) castes and orders of life with the object of securing their prosperity; and it is also the means of attaining the position of gods, {(devadi-sthana-prapti) means also reaching the abode of gods etc.} and the like. Nonetheless, if practiced with the sense of dedication to the Lord & without the desire for (the enjoyment of) the fruits, it brings about purity of mind and by him of a pure mind is gained the means for securing final beatitude (Geta 18.45 to 55) successively through the attainment of competence for the acquisition of (spiritual) knowledge & the actual dawn of (spiritual) knowledge'. Accordingly having in mind this very same import the Lord says. 'Dedicating actions to Brahman - (brahmany adhaya karmani saigaa tyaktva karoti yau lipyate na sa papena padma-patram ivambhasa) (5.10 Geta) 'Yogins perform (their) actions, leaving all attachment for their self purification (atmaSuddhi)'. (kayena manasa buddhya kevalair indriyair api yoginau karma kurvanti saigaa tyaktvatma-Suddhaye) (5.11 Geta) comments on above verses as follows, that the idea of 'mine-ness' is absent and reference to body etc (and that the actions are done) in the spirit, 'I perform action for the sake of Lord alone and not for my benefitHforsaking attachment in respect of the result, for the purification of the self, the mind'5. Geta Sastra 'thus unfolds this two-fold religion (dharma) having for its aim, final, beatitudeH' These two kinds of wisdom viz pravhtti and nivhtti are referred to as yoga & saakhya (2.39 Geta)6. ena te'bhihita saakhye buddhir yoge tv imaa Shnu buddhya yukto yaya partha karmabandhaa prahasyasi On P.70 Saikara comments "This which has been declared unto you is wisdom (buddhi) in regard to the true knowledge of the Supreme Reality, which directly terminates evil (i.e. ignorance of the nature of self Anandagiri teka) which is the cause of Samsara (characterized by) sorrow & delusion. Hearken now to the wisdom, which is about to be told of yoga, which is the means of attaining saakhy? buddhi. Its aim is the worship of ESvara through karma-yoga the performance of works without attachments & samadhi yoga (meditation) HH'7 P70 While commenting on Geta 3.3 Saikara again refers to the two paths saakhy? & yoga (loke'smin dvividha ninoha pura prokta mayanagha jiana 296

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yogena saakhyanaa karma-yogena yoginam) as paths leading to supreme felicity and worldly prosperity. Geta 3.19 tasmad asaktau satataa karyaa karma samacara asakto hy acaran karma param apnoti purunau Saikara comments 'therefore without attachment do you always perform that action which ought to be done, which is obligatory; for performing action without attachment for the sake of ESvara, man attains to the highest through purification of mind (satvaSuddhi)'8 P.120 karmany evadhikaras te ma phalenu kadacana ma karma-phalahetur bhur ma te saigo'stv akarmani (2.47) P77 (2.48) yogasthau kuru karmani saigaa tyaktva dhanaaH.samatvaa yoga ucyate9 ('neither let your attachment be towards inaction' imp.) The path of nivhtti is different from that of pravhtti which constitutes 'action', karma. Sankara while commenting on the 4th sutra of 1st adhyaya clearly distinguishes between 'Karma' and 'Jiana'. He states that action of kayik, vachik and m?nasik type is dharma and is analyzed and studied and examined in Mimamsa by Jaimini Sutras. The Vedic prescriptions and prohibitions of actions lead to either Dharma-Adharma or Sukha-Dukha which are to be enjoyed by the body. But Bhramajiana i.e. NiSreyas is not to be enjoyed by the senses or body as it is not a fruit of either merit or demerit. So mokna is not the result of action. It is of different nature which is of the disembodied nature and eternal. It is of the transcendental nature. It is without any parts, self illuminating (svayam prakasa). It is different from dharmaadharma, karya karana, bhoot bhavishya etc (K? 2.14). The Upanisadic passages and sentences tell us that it is the knowledge of Truth i.e. Bhramajiana which is mokna. No action or obligatory duty is required between Bhramajiana and mokna. Brh. 1.4.10 (The same is in 4th Mandala of rgveda). If it is assumed that action is required then it won't happen immediately after Bhramajiana. One has to believe that there is some gap between two. Because fruit of action is followed after sometime e.g. merit resulting into reaching heaven after death. But the Shrutiv?kya's indicate that there is no time gap hence it can't be considered as action. Again Saikara says that the Shrutiv?kya's such as Cha. 7.1.3 atmavit tarati Soka: knower of Atman crosses sorrow; or one whose impurities are vanished, is shown the other side of ignorance by bhagavan sanatkumarau (Cha. 7.26.2) indicate that Atmajiana is nothing but removal of all those factors which come in the way of liberation (mokna). Even Nyaya sutras of Gotam (1.1.2) says so. Sorrow (duukha), birth (janma), tendency (pravhtti), impurities (dosha), and ignorance or wrong knowledge (ajiana, mithyajiana) 297

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are destroyed one by one leading to liberation. The elimination of wrong knowledge (mithyajiana) takes place by way of the knowledge of Unity of jiva & Brahman. Saikara further quotes Geta 2.54 sthita-prajia laksana and says that Bhramajiani doesn't do any action ajianam eva hi karma-yogau, na jianinam. It is further explained saying10, 'a jiani even though resides in the body, has given up attachment to the body. So he is actually as of without body, beyond death, one with Paramatman. So also even though he acts like ordinary people, still his actions are without any attachment, egoiety, desire for fruit or any selfish motive. So all actions performed without attachment & egoiety & desire for fruit (asakti, ahamkara, phalasa) are as if non-performed. This is jivanmukti'. Geta V.13 describes renunciation of action by mind i.e. at the inner level (sarva-karmani manasa saanyasyaste sukhaa vaSe). This becomes possible when the discrimination between body & self is done, is understood, then one sees that Self is not acting but actions of body are only super impersonal on Self (deyhatmabuddhi) to be eliminated). According to Saikara, the Knowledge of Truth or Reality i.e. Atmajiana can't be said to be an activity of the mind. An action depends upon human endeavor and is not bound up with the nature of things. It can either be done or not done or modified by the agent. Knowledge on the other hand doesn't depend upon human action but on the thing itself. It is the result of right means (pramanas), knowledge can therefore neither be made nor not made nor modified. So, it can't be obtained by action. Brahman can't be known through any human endeavors. So the objection is how is it that it is said that Brahman is to be known? The answer is to know Brahman is to get rid of ignorance (ajiana). Saikara further states that mokna is not the result of fruit of any action. It is neither utpadhya i.e. created like a pot, nor is it modified vikarya like a curd, not is it to be obtained (prapya) like reaching a town or a place, nor sanskarya to be purified like rice to be washed before cooking. If it (mokna) is equated with any of these it will be an effect or fruit of an action which will be of impermanent nature. So it is knowledge which is of the nature of removal of ignorance. The egoiety (ahamkara) and identification with body is due to ajiana. The moment this is removed, liberation takes place even while having the body (jivanmukti) 4.18 karmany akarma yau pasyed akarmani ca karma yau sa buddhiman manunyenu sa yuktau khtsna-karma-kht 298

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'He who can see inaction in action & action in inaction, he is intelligent among men, he is a yogi & doer of all action (accomplisher of all objects)'. [Ref to adhyasa as action kartritva of prakhti is aropit on puruna] So puruna who is inactive appears to act & vice versa, but who discriminates between the two is a yogi. He is free from all evil] Geta 18.49 asakta-buddhiu sarvatra jitatma vigata-sphhau nainkarmya-siddhia paramaa saanyasenadhigacchati i.e. 'He whose intellect is not attached anywhere, whose self is subdued, whose desires have fled, he by renunciation, attains to the supreme perfection, consisting of freedom from action' The commentary says that it is characterized by non-attachment to all those which are causes of attachment control of the inner, disappearance of desires, & knowledge of the self. This is perfection (siddhi) which consists of freedom from action (naiskarmya). 11 The ones The question now arises, what is the meaning of naiskarmya in case of Bhramajiani. According to Saikara, such a person doesn't do any action. His very existence lends to natural happenings (if one wants to describe the actions of such a person). In 2.71 vihaya kaman yau sarvan pumaas carati niusphhau nirmamo nirahaakarau sa Santim adhigacchati "That man who abandoning all desires, moves about, devoid of longing, without the sense of 'mine', without egotism - he attains peace' Saikara somments 12 A that man of renunciation (sannyasin) who abandoning all desires completely & in their entirety moves about acting barely for the sustenance of life, devoid of longing even in regard to the sustenance of life in the body, without the sense of 'mine'. Without the attachmentHHwithout egotismH.steady in wisdom becomes one with Brahman'. 3.20 probably answers: karmanaiva hi saasiddhim asthita janakadayau loka-saagraham evapi saapasyan kartum arhasi P120. Comments13 "Verily with (through) action alone did (Cha.V.10.4) in olden times wise kntriya Janak & others such as Ashvapati abide in (aim at) perfection, remain in liberation (saasiddhi mokna)'. If they were persons who had attained perfect knowledge (of the self) then the meaning is: they abided in the state of perfection, doing action as a result of prarabhda karma i.e. without renouncing action, for the guidance of the world. 299

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Again 3.22 na me parthasti kartavyaa trinu lokenu kiacana nanavaptam avaptavyaa vartaiva ca karmani P121 to 122-14 comment - 'For me O partha there is nothing whatever to do in the three worlds even' Why? 'For there is nothing unattained (by Me) which has to be got, acquired (anew), yet with a view to the guidance of the world I engage in action' Still further 3.25 saktau karmany avidvaaso yatha kurvanti bharata kuryad vidvaas tathasaktas cikernur loka-saagraham's 'As do the unwise attached to the work act so should the wise act, O Bharata without attachment, desirous of the welfare of the world' P123. Comm - 'like the unwiseH.the wise, the knower of the Self should act remaining without attachmentH.for desirous of bringing about the welfare of the world' Imp._'For me or any other, who being a knower of the Self thus desires the welfare of the world, there is nothing to do except for guiding the world. Therefore, for such a knower of the Self, this (course of conduct) is prescribed 6. Vivekananda has picked up this message of nivhtti dharma viz one has to act without any attachment for the well being of the world, without egotism. He expressed this idea in a very positive way in the 'Practical Vedanta' of Vivekananda. What we find is acceptance of Saikara's definition of dharma as abhyudaya nishreyas or pravhtti and nivhtti. He interpreted them as outer & inner (as the literal meaning also suggests). But what we find in Vivekananda is a statement of both inner & outer as a unity. He never wanted to create an impression that pravhtti is interior to nivhtti. Saikara's interpretation gives the impression that cittashuddhi leads to sannyas-jiana-vairagya leading to mokna. Is there a gap between cittashuddhi and Bhramajiana? If cittashuddhi leads to jiana, vairagya it is mokna. For Vivekananda, cittashuddhi is mokna & cittashuddhi is possible by either karma, bhakti, rajayoga associated with knowledge jiana. Giving up of attachment & egotism is removal of ajiana i.e. ajiananivhtti which is jiana & karma, bhakti or rajayoga which has knowledge base in liberation. What could have been inferred in Saikara's position, Vivekananda has made it explicit in his Advaita. Saikara speaks in terms of svakarma determined by varnashrama while referring to pravhtti but Vivekananda in a very clear way denies varnashrama and speaks for upliftment of the Sudra. Saikara by emphasizing sannyasa created an impression that liberation of an individual is important rather than sustenance of society. Vivekananda equated the two saying Atmano Mokshartham Jagad-hitaya Cha. Saikara made very cursory refer 300

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ences to actions of jivanmukti in terms of lokasaagraha. Vivekananda brought it to the forefront & made it the prime message of Advaita Vedanta. Saikara's interpretation was mainly refuting the ritualism of M?m??s? & negativism of Baudha. Vivekananda's interpretation was mainly refuting the charge of teaching inaction naiSkarma without refuting Saikara's Advaita. To summarize saikara's position it can be said that Saikara distinguished between pravhtti and nivhtti as two paths of dharma. Even though he said that action done without selfishness (phalasa), without any attachment (niSkama) doesn't bind & leads to the purification of the mind, he was criticized by scholars & interpreters of Advaita as an advocate of path of karma - sanyasa (naiskarmya) leading to inaction. He was at times held responsible for presenting the path of spirituality in a negative & pessimistic way. Saikara when stated that pravhtti binds, he equated it with shrothsmarta-karma's advocated by M?m??s?. So he was stating indirectly the inadequacy of ritualism of M?m??s? & trying to establish superiority of transcendental knowledge. Again the supreme knowledge, which is unity, is beyond any attributes & best described negatively. While doing so he probably could adopt philosophical terminology used by Bauddhas to explain the truth. Vivekananda presenting it in all optimism, all positivity covering the socio-political as well as material-spiritual dimensions & following Saikara Advaita as transcending all categories & dichotomies, declared that "The Religion' which is Truth is beyond all sects or religions & that is the illuminating essence of Advaita Vedanta. For him (Vivekananda) Advaita was The Truth. He said: 'Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die. Societies should be moulded upon Truth & Truth has not to adjust itself to societyH.that society is the greatest, where the highest Truths become practical. That is my opinion & if society is not fit for the highest truths make it so, & the sooner the better' (II 84-85). In his philosophy we see attempts to make society fit for the highest Truth where highest truths become practical. Even though he interpreted pravhtti & nivhtti in a different way than that of Saikara, he admitted the glory of nivhtti or sannyasa as the answer to various problems. He said 'As far back as the days of the Upanishads, we have thrown the challenge to the world: Not by progeny, not by wealth, but by renunciation alone immortality is reached. Race after race has taken the challenge up & tried their utmost to solve the world riddle on the plane of desires. They have all failed in the past - the old ones have become extinct under the weight of wickedness & misery which lust for power & gold brings in its train & the new ones are tottering their fall. The question has yet to be decided whether peace will survive or war, whether patience will survive or non-forbearance, whether goodness will survive or wickedness, whether 301

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muscle will survive or spirituality. We have solved our problem ages ago Hour solution is unworldliness - renunciation'. (4.314-15) 18 In the teachings of Vivekananda what we find is that he has accepted the broad framework of Advaita. He agrees with Saikara's interpretation & yet successfully meets with the objection of naiskarmya by declaring his teachings, 'practical Vedanta'. He accepts both pravhtti and nivhtti as the types of religion (dharma). In keeping with Advaita tradition he calls pravhtti the outer & nivhtti the inner. But he doesn't say that it is the outer that binds & the inner that liberates. He wrote, 'Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature external & internal. Do this either by work (karma) or worship (bhakti) or psychic control (yoga) or philosophy (jiana), by one or more, all of these and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrine or dogmas or rituals or books or temples or forms are secondary details' (1.257) 19 He has picked up the Advaita thought that action without attachment leads to cittashuddhi. It is cittashuddhi which is followed by Bhramajiana, which is nothing but mokna or freedom, the highest goal. Giving up of attachment is getting rid of ignorance, giving up of desires is not running for the fulfillment of desires. It is a journey from selfishness to selflessness. But it is not giving up of action. The message, which remained subdued in Saikara's work is brought to the forefront by Vivekananda. He writes, 'Religion is the idea which is raising the brute unto man & man unto God' (V.409) 20 'The difference between God & the devil is in nothing except in unselfishness & selfishness'. He criticized selfishness & the doctrine of advocating selfishness & materialism. It is this path of pravhtti which Saikara criticized as binding. 'Ethics always says, 'Not I, but thou'. Its motto is 'Not self, but nonself The vain ideas of individualism, to which man clings when he is trying to find that infinite power or that infinite pleasure through the senses, have to be given up - says the law of ethics. You have to put yourself last and others before you. The senses say, 'Myself first'. Ethics says, 'I must hold myself last'. Thus all codes of ethics are based upon this renunciation; destruction, not construction of the individual on the material plane. That infinite will never find expression upon the material plane, nor is it possible or thinkable.' (1162-63) 21 RELIGION & ETHCIS "Utilitarian standards cannot explain the ethical relations of men, for, in the first place, we cannot derive any ethical laws from considerations of utility. The utilitarian wants us to give up the struggle after the Infinite, 302

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the reaching-out for the Supersensuous, as impractical and absurd, and, in the same breath, asks us to take up ethics and do good to society. Why should we do good? Doing good is a secondary consideration. We must have an ideal. Ethics itself is not the end, but the means to the end. If the end is not there, why should we be ethical? Why should I do good to other men, and not injure them? If happiness is the goal of mankind, why should I not make myself happy and others unhappy? What prevents me? In the second place, the basis of utility is too narrow. Utilitarian theories can only work under present social conditions. Beyond that, they have no value. But a morality, an ethical code, derived from religion & Spirituality, has the whole of infinite man for its scope. It takes up the individual, but its relations are to the Infinite, and it takes up society also, because society is nothing but numbers of these individuals grouped together.' (II.63-64) 22 "The Devil knows as much as God, is as powerful as God, only he has no holiness-that makes him the Devil. Apply the same idea to the modern world; excess of knowledge & power, without holiness makes human beings devils'. (I.425) 23 He further added, "The only definition that can be given of morality is this - that which is selfish is immoral & that which is unselfish is moral' (1.110) 24 He criticized pravhtti as selfish materialism. Throughout his teachings & sermons he has given importance to unselfishness & non-attachment. He says that is all religion. The rest is unimportant. E.g. 'Be moral. Be brave. Be a heart-whole man-strictly moral, brave unto desperation. Don't bother your head with religious theories. Cowards only sin, brave men never, no not even in mind'. (V.1)25 Can unselfishness be a sin at all? He wrote, 'Selfishness is the chief sin; thinking of ourselves first. He who thinks 'I will eat first, I will have more money than others, & I will possess everything' He who thinks 'I will get to heaven before others, I will get mukti before others' is the selfish man. The unselfish man says 'I will be last, I don't care to go to heaven, I will even go to hell, if by doing so I can help my brothers'. This unselfishness is the test of religion. He who has more of this unselfishness is more spiritual & nearer to Siva'. (III.143) 26 It is the unselfishness & unattachment which leads to the final goal. It makes a man a Buddha, a Christ! He said, 'When you would be able to sacrifice all desires for happiness for the sake of society then you would be a Buddha, a Christ, then you would be free'. (IV.49) 27 He advised path of action associated with knowledge. It is jianottara karma. It is like seeing action in inaction & inaction in action of the Geta 4.18. He condemned the attempts of running away from work as weakness & cowardice. He stated, 'This world is not for cowards. Don't try to fly. Look not for success or failure. Join yourself to the perfectly unselfish will & work on. Know that the mind which is born to succeed joins itself to a determined 303

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will & perseveresH.Live in the midst of the battle of life. Anyone can keep calm in a cave or when asleep. Stand in the whirl & madness of action & reach the Center (Divinity)'. (6.83.84) 28 According to him Bhakti is also enlightening. He made devotion dignified & love of God heroic. He made moral life indispensible to a devotee. According to him, a devotee should be free from passions & desires (vimoha), should be free from ignorance & maintain purity of means, methods & food (viveka), should keep on reminding him/herself of Divinity abhyasa & should do good to others (kriya). It results into universalization as it sees everything as divine. It is good, selfless action full of love. Prayer, silent meditation & realization of Divinity are the important aspects of bhaktiyoga. While talking about bhaktiyoga, he has always emphasized two aspects (1) unselfish love & (2) sacrifice of everything belonging to oneself. He says, 'Throughout the history of the world you find great men make great sacrifices and the mass of men enjoy the benefit. If you want to give up everything for your own salvation, you are nothing, but if you want to give up even your own salvation for the good of the world, you are God, think of that!' (6.280) 29 Just as he equated action with selfless unattached action, so also he equated devotion with selfless service to Divinity & said that even this leads to freedom & liberation. He said, 'After so much austerity, I have understood this as the real truth. God is present in every jiva, there is no other God besides that who serves jiva, he serves God indeed' (VII.247) 30 On bhakti & service with utter humility & gratitude, the writes, 'Blessed are we that we are given the privilege of working for Him; not of helping Him. Cut out this word 'help' from your mind. You can't help; it is blasphemy. You are here yourself at His pleasure. Do you mean to say you help Him? You worship'. (4.246) 31 'You can't help anyone, you can only serve, serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself if you have the privilege. Blessed you are that privilege was given to you when others had it not. Do it only as worship'. (III.246)32 'This is the gist of all worship - to be pure & to do good to others. He who sees Siva in the poor, in the weak & the diseased really worship Siva'. (III.141-142) 33 It is this dignified devotion which leads to freedom. Through the practical Vedanta & through the emphasis on practice of selflessness, egolessness, love, service & goodness he gave a positive dimension to the Advaita notion of Dharma. It may be said that he tried to establish the unity of pravhtti & nivhtti. Saikara accepted the framework of varnashrama as a part of pravhtti leading to abhyudaya i.e. worldly wellbeing. But Vivekananda did not accept 304

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the notion of chaturvarnya. He emphatically stated that it is obligatory on everyone to serve the poor, the needy & especially obligatory to educate untouchables. He declared that the truth sarva khalu idam brahma can be realized only if it is practiced in the empirical plane. This social dimension of religion was emphasizing the path of action, selfless action & was also assuming final freedom. It was a step, bold step taken by him in reinterpreting the Truth to enable society to realize it. The two religions pravhtti & nivhtti in Saikara can be said to form a unity by pravhtti merging into nivhtti through cittashuddhi becoming bhramajiana; a stage going beyond any duality or plurality. It is this stage which is described by Saikara more in negative terms as nivhtti. Even Vivekananda maintained the Unity of pravhtti & nivhtti. But it was through placing pravhtti on the high pedestal of Divinity & not by creating an impression that pravhtti is of secondary importance. This is the way of transcending all sectarianism. He wrote, 'The watch word of all wellbeing, of all moral good is not 'I' but 'Thou'. Who cares whether there is a heaven or a hell, who cares if there is a soul or not? Here is the world & it is full of misery. Go out it as Buddha did & struggle to lessen it or die in the attempt. Forget yourselves; this is the first lesson to be learnt, whether you are a theist or an atheist, whether you are an agnostic or a Vedantist, a Christian or a Mohammedan'. (II.353)34 The paper can be concluded by putting this idea of unity transcending the religious sects as follows: "We want to lead mankind to the place where there is neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran; yet this has to be done by harmonizing the Vedas, the Bible & the Koran. Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of The Religion which is Oneness, so that each may choose the path that suits him best'. (6.416)36 No Book Author Page No . 1. Geta Bhashya of Saikara CV Ramchandra lyer P2 Ibid P584-585 Ibid P573 Ibid P5 Ibid P193 Geta Shastra P6 P70 Ibid Geta Bhashya of Saikara 8. P120 Ibid P77 305

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10. Ibid (Geta 2.54) comm. 11. Ibid (18.49) 12. 13. Ibid (2.71) Ibid (3.20) P120 = 14. Ibid P121-122 P121-122 = = P121-122 15. Ibid (3.25) 16. Ibid 17. Complete works of Vivekananda Vol II P84-85 Vol IV P314-15 18. 19. Ibid Ibid Vol I P215 Vol V P409 Ibid Vol II P62-63 Ibid Vol II P63-64 Ibid Vol I P425 24. Ibid Vol I P110 25. Ibid Vol V P1 26. Ibid Vol III P143 27. Ibid 28. Ibid Vol IV P491 Vol VI P83-84 Vol VI P280 29. Ibid 30. Ibid Vol VII P247 31. Ibid Vol IV P246 32. Ibid Vol III P246 33. Ibid Vol III P141-142 34. Ibid Vol II P353 35. Ibid Vol I P117-18 36. Ibid Vol VI P416 306

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1. 2. 3. Reference: Geta Bhashya of Saikara, translation CV Ramchandra Iyer, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Brahmasutra Shankar Bhashya, translation Abhyankar Complete works of Swami Vivekananda, Mayavati Ashram 307

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SHARING WISDOM IN SEARCH OF INNER AND OUTER PEACE - Dr. Geeta Mehta While discussing on this subject, I would like to emphasize the role of Mahatma Gandhi in his disinterested service to humanity. Gandhi's approach to life is fundamentally characterized by integral approach to life. Hence he thinks of inner and outer peace together. PEACE AT MICRO LEVEL: Peace has both individual and social aspects, micro as well as macro aspects. Peace at the individual level is the inner peace or peace of mind, a state in which there is perfect harmony among the various psychic forces which otherwise pull in different directions and become a source of conflict and tension. It is a psychological state when mind is free from tension, stress and strain, the different passions and desires and the conflicts that arise from them. It thus signifies a tranquil composure, a peacefulness of temper. At the individual level, it indicates a state in which the sense of being full or complete is experienced when all the faculties of an individual are in full harmony or in total, orderly alliance with one another. Gandhi gives us the criteria of Spiritual experience in man. It is the super sensuousness of experience that constitutes its reality and value. It is only that which rises above our sensuous experience that is entitled to the name of the Real. "Sense perceptions can be, often are, false and deceptive, however real they may appear to us. Where there is realization outside the senses it is infallible.' Again, he says that it is only when we find a change and development in the character and conduct of a man that we are entitled to say that he has lived a spiritual life. It is the transformed character and conduct of a man, says Gandhi that constitutes the real index to his spiritual development. 2 Gandhi believes that the spiritual law does not work on a field for its own, but expressed itself only through the ordinary activities of life. It thus affects the economic, the social and the political.fields.3 Gandhi does not know religion apart from human activity, nor does he consider religion as one of the many activities of mankind. Gandhi taught that there are some values of life which are eternal and unchangeable. One should have complete faith in them. Among them are non-violence non-possession, truth etc All the great religions of the world emphasize on values such as observing truth in thought, words and deeds, living a life of self-restraint, having unilateral love for others etc. It is necessary for man to develop altruistic qualities which are essential for the promotion of peace as they help in developing a sense of solidarity and identity of interests. 308

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In an article on 'Adding Gandhi to Galtung for Peace Work'; Theodore Herman writes, Gandhi made at least four contributions to individual peace work that are worth incorporating into our own Western peace research and education programs: A principled or ethical emphasis on the link between means and ends that guided his whole life. 2. Constant testing of beliefs by one's own actions. The steady growth or transformation from personal views to a wider world view of peace. 4. The constant use of publicity as to motives and actions. Even for those who find it difficult to understand Gandhi's cultural roots and intense personal discipline, these four contributions of methodology can be applied in any society. Really, we have to dive through diversity to the depths of the basic unity. In all affairs Personal, Social, National and International, Success is possible, only if in spite of all social or political dissimilarities and differences in ideologies and religious beliefs, we sacredly and unreservedly stick to the principles of peace-ful co-existence and friendly cooperation. PEACE AT MACRO LEVEL: The individual and society are two inseparable aspects of man's life and both influence each other. The individual has to realize his peace as part of the whole which is society and not isolated from it. Gandhi's approach was both organic and total. Peace when viewed in the context of social and cosmic interrelationship, also exhibits harmony, wholeness, completeness as the characteristics of the social inter-relationship. . At the social level, it indicates a harmonious community as peace is the natural or moral condition of man in relationship to others enjoined most intimately in the family, and extended to others by a societal bond. Social peace is a state of harmonious relationship between individual as well as groups with varied interests. It is a state in which there is absence of conflicts and presence of cooperation in spite of differences. It is a state of harmony between parts and the whole. Gandhi saw the integral relationship between the individual and the society, the microcosm and the macrocosm, and held that the peace of the individual and that of the society were not merely inter-dependent but the path to peace was identical for both the individual and the society. 309

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OUTER PEACE THROUGH JUSTICE To attain a peaceful world, Peace has to be constructed from below. To ensure a peaceful world, societies or states constituting the world order must themselves be peaceful or peace-loving, peaceful societies in their turn must be ones based on peaceful constituent parts, peace cannot be imposed from above. Peace can be constructed only through peaceful and just means. The Gandhian concept of Ahimsa and Satyagraha, Buddha's Samyak Ajivika - correct living or Christ's concept of love can be the effective means to build up peaceful societies. Only such peaceful societies as integral parts, can ensure a peaceful world order. One cannot talk of peace without justice in a social context. The interplay of peace, justice and community is more intriguing in the postmodern world -the world we live in. In social Morality, Justice does not cover the whole field of principles and actions that are considered right. Justice is the foundation of social Morality and without it the rest would collapse. In the modern days, because of wide spread inequalities and inequities which prevail in the society the concept of Justice has gained great importance. Aristotle maintained that to enable individuals to secure what is best- the state should make a best arrangement of society where there is some sort of economic equality. Economic equality will ultimately bring about Justice. But equality does not mean only equal treatment, it also means providing equal opportunity and in certain cases preferential treatment, if necessary. It is in this context that the concept of corrective and distributive Justice has been evolved. Freedom, Equality and Justice are the concepts which deal with welfare of society and outer Peace. IT'S RELATION WITH EQUALITY: como in so 1. To The concept of Justice and Equality are so closely related that one can't be separated from the other. It can be said that one is incomplete without the other. Unless there is some sort of equality in social and economic matters it can't be said that it is a Just society. To understand the concept of Justice we should understand the concept of Equality. The term Equality has several facets and it cannot be described in one way. Equality is also a democratic ideal which has been understood in many ways. To some, equality stands for Political Equality, for some it is equality before the law, others who understand it in the wider sense bring Political equality, Social equality, Civil equality and Economic equality under the general heading of equality. The ideal of Equality is fundamentally a leveling process. Equality is 310

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closely connected with liberty, for without liberty people cannot have equality and liberty will be poor without the basis of equality. For Gandhi, independence was meant for the protection and promotion of the interests of the down-trodden and starving millions. He wanted independence based on democratic ideals and values. He said: The Swaraj (independence) of myour-dream recognizes no race or religious distinctions. Nor is it to be the monopoly of lettered persons nor yet of moneyed men. independence is for all, including the former but emphatically including the maimed and the blind, the starving toiling millions" 5 Gandhi wanted to have a just social order, where justice should be there in every department of life. In order to establish justice in the society, Gandhi fought against racialism, imperialism, communalism, untouchability and other kinds of injustices, tyrannies and oppressions. According to Gandhi, every believer in non-violence should rise against social injustices. He worked out for the social upliftment of women, untouchables, other suppressed and weak classes by upholding the values of equality and justice. Hence, his noble crusade for the liberation of the suppressed lower class and the downtrodden people in India shows his great concern for the social and economic justice., His concept of Sarvodaya (welfare of all) and his ideals of constructive programme lead to the maintaining just social and economic order in the society. REMOVAL OF SEVEN SOCIAL SINS WILL BRING JUSTICE: Gandhi wanted people to put into practice morality or moral code in the seven main fields of life for Justice and Peace. As a practical idealist, he said, 'Peace cannot be established through mere conferences, peace is being broken, as we all see even while conferences are being held. 6 Moreover, Peace is an integrated concept and deals with all fields of life, thus Gandhi says, 'Peace is unattained by part performance of conditions, even as a chemical combination is impossible without complete fulfillment of the conditions of attainment thereof.? He enumerated following SEVEN SOCIAL SINS, which wear out the moral fibre of the society. Politics without Principles. II. Wealth without work. Commerce without Morality. Knowledge without Character. Pleasure without Conscience. IV. V. VI. II. Science without humanity. Worship without sacrifice.8 311

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Gandhi's first social sin 'Politics without principles' suggests spiritualization of Politics and therefore he introduced the method of Satyagraha. Satyagraha purifies both the parties and there by the whole of our social and cultural life. Gandhi uses the weapon of Satyagraha on political level for which Einstein remarks, "Revolution without the use of violence was the method by which Gandhi brought liberation in India. It is my firm belief that the problem of bringing peace to the world on supranational basis will be solved only by employing Gandhi's method on a large scale."9 His second dictum "Wealth Without Work" also points out at Justice. Gandhi himself experimented to earn his bread by his sweat of brow at Tolstoy Farm, Phoenix Asrama and Sabaramati as well as Sevagram Asrama. He also included Bread-labour as one of the vows of his Asrama prayer. Swadesi or self sufficiency in respect of the use of indigenous technology as the observance was enriched by Gandhi for sustaining the millions of people of India. The third dictum 'Commerce Without Morality' was developed into the idea of Trusteeship by Gandhi. Businessman has to act only as a trustee of the Society for whatever he has gained from the society. Everything finally belongs to the Society. The fourth dictum "Knowledge Without Character" deals with knowledge. Gandhi States, "The truest test of civilization, culture and dignity is character and not clothing.10 The fifth dictum is "Pleasure Without Conscience". Conscience of a Rational Self is evolved with great consideration of whole mankind and particularly the poorest of all. The sixth dictum is "Science Without Humanity". Gandhi has used this worldly expression and held that Science without the thought of the welfare of humanity is also a great sin. Science and humanity together ought to pave the way for welfare and peace for all. In fact, technology and ideology go together. Hence, if we want culture of Peace and harmony, we must have a technology of peace.11 The seventh dictum is 'Worship without Sacrifice'. Gandhi's God is Daridranarayan, God in the form of the poor as Vivekananda named them. He says, "I claim to know my millions. All the 24 hours of the day, I am with them. They are my first care and last because I recognize no God that is not to be found in the hearts of the dumb millions H.. And, I worship the God that is Truth or Truth which is God through the service of these millions.12 Gandhi did not hesitate to risk his life even to serve the suffering humanity. Thus, Gandhi was a social scientists. For a peaceful society, he showed the way to develop social order where there is Justice. 312

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POSITIVE PEACE: Peace is far more than absence of war. It requires a positive and constructive world order, where individuals, groups and nations eschew the desire to dominate or exploit each other and live in co-operation and mutual aid. It is something more since it is also a positive state of mind as well as a constructive goal of person, society and mankind. It is true that peace will be achieved by removing all kinds of violence such as war, poverty, starvation, environmental destruction, violation of human rights, cruelty against women and children and so on, yet it has a positive side too. The basic meaning of peace is a harmonious socially adjustable mutually cooperative peaceful lifestyle. Nevertheless, even the positive ideas of peace in this nuclear age must not be understood as national security and survival. It should be taken as "the survival of mankind as a whole". This means peace needs a new life style based on justice. The constructive programmes suggested and experimented by Gandhi leads us to the Just Social Order. If one feels that one has not got justice, the inner feeling of injustice will not allow the individual or nation to be in real peace 13 We have to show that peace within and without is not only a preferable condition for progress but also it is an essential one. We must know that "Peace cannot be brought about by fine phrases and nice lectures, but by hard work and sacrifice". 14 RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE: REQUISITE FOR PEACE It is to be remembered that "no action is worthy of human effort, if it degrades man, even if the outcome is a spectacular success":15 Kant's formula of categorical imperative emphasizes this point by instructing to treat human beings as ends in themselves. Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism and all types of humanism appeal to have reverence for life. From time immemorial, man has been striving for peace which is reflected in his attempt at eliminating areas of conflict, tension, discord and disharmony thereby converting them into areas of agreement and harmony. The oldest literature of Sanatana dharma i.e. Vedas have many y ?anti mantras which form the beginning as well as the end of each Upanisad. Every Upanisad starts with Pantimantra and also ends with ?anti mantras in vocation to peace. This shows the keenness of the people for peace in the world. . An urge for peace is seen in man's striving for harmony, wholeness, completeness in individual and social life by eliminating the areas of conflict and widening the areas of harmony. The urge for peace in terms of harmony is one of the truths of human life. It will therefore continue to govern human life as long as the nature of human life continues to be the same. This urge is both realistic and idealistic. 313

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INTEGRAL DISCIPLINE FOR PEACE : True to his belief in the integral relationship of the peace of the individual and that of the society, Mahatma Gandhi prescribed a code of conduct consisting of eleven Vows for disciplining the mind of the individual towards peace and non-violence and an eighteen point constructive programme for the transformation of the society. . In the integral philosophy of Gandhi, each and every field is connected with the other. He says: "If the recognized leaders of mankind, who have control over the engines of destruction, were wholly to renounce their use, with full knowledge of its implications, permanent peace can be obtained. This is clearly impossible without the Great Powers of the earth renouncing their imperialistic designs. This again seems impossible without great nations ceasing to believe in soul-destroying competition and to desire to multiply wants and therefore increase their material possessions".16 PRE-REQUISITE FOR WORLD PEACE: Vinoba Bhave, the spiritual heir to Gandhi's life and works in independent India effectively demonstrated the efficacy of Non-violence in the sphere of the land problem of India. Vinoba states poetically that Peace can be built only on spirituality, science and trust. Vedanto vijnanam visvasah ceti?aktyah tisrah| Ya?am sthairye nityam ?antih sam?ddhi bhavi?yato jagati||17 (There are three powers- Spirituality, Science and Trust-If they are stabilized in the world, then there shall be peace and prosperity). All religions preach peace, but in fact religion has been one of the major sources of violent conflict down through the centuries and remains so even today. To facilitate and motivate the people for the study of the essence of all religions, Vinoba Bhave studied the original scriptures of all religions and gleaned the essence of them. CONCLUSION: Man's quest for peace is as old as man himself. "Peace which has its base in the existential truth of human life offers humanity a faith that kingdom of peace will be a reality one day, even though that day may be the remotest in the history of mankind". 18 Gandhi claimed that the Sarvodaya (welfare of all) Social order would be free from moral degradation, economic exploitation and political subjugation. He had a definite conception of classless, casteless and stateless so M 314

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ciety based on non-violence, cooperation, and non-centralization of economic and political power. Gandhi could perceive the need for a coordinated human being, not coordinated merely in body, mind, feeling, and soul but coordinated with his fellow human beings. The Gandhian Concept of Peace is not only Panacea for internal Peace and Tranquility but also is assurance for Social, Economic and Political peace. 315

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1. 2. 3. 4. Young India 3.9.0925. Digumarti Bhaskara Rao, Editor, Global Perceptions on Peace Education, New Delhi: Discovery Pub. House, 1996, p. 488. 5. Young India, I.5.1930. 6. Harijan 17.11.1946. 7. Harijan 16-5-1936 p. 109. 8. Young India, 22.10.1925. o 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. REFERENCES: 18. Young India, 11-10-28. Ibid. Kothari D.S.,Science and Ahimsa Culture; Ahmedabad: Navjivan Publication, 1963, p.3. Quated from "Einstein on Peace" by Nathan H. Nordan, p. 584. The Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol. XXXVI, Govt. of India Publication, p.258. Singh Ramjee, Gandhi and the Twenty-first Century;; New Delhi: Peace Publishers 1993, p.20.,Quotation from Truth and Non-violence, Ed. By Mahadevan T.K., New Delhi : Gandhi Peace Foundation 1970, an article by Prof. Arne Naess; p.88. Harijan 11-03-1939 p. 54. Singh Ramjee; Gandhi and the Twenty First Century; New Delhi; Peace publishers, 1993, p. 20. K.S. Murty; The Quest for Peace, Delhi: Ajanmta Publications, 1986, Introduction, p. XXVIII. Dr. Anima Bose ;Dimensions of Peace and Non-violence: The Gandhian Perspective, Delhi: Gian Publishing House, 1987, p. 22. J.B. Kripalani; Gandhian Approach to world Peace; Anti NuclearArms convention Paper Four, New Delhi; Gandhi Peace Foundation p.23-24. Maitri, a Hindi monthly, Vinoba Bhave, Nov. 1985 p.56. The Verse was composed on 18.8. 1959. Licy Bharucha ;An inquiry into the concept of Peace; Mumbai, Bharatiya Vidya Bhuvan, 2001; Foreword, p. IX by S. Ramakrishanan. 316

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"TRUTH IN PHILOSOPHY" (Absolutism versus/and Relativism) - Dr. Hemant Shah Introduction : The title of this essay 'Truth in Philosophy' has been supplied a sub title 'Absolution versus/and Relativism' to clear the fact that the complete discussion is about Absolutism and Relativism as we find in western philosophy and about Non-Dualism(Advait) and Pluralism or Non - Absolutism (Anekant) in Indian Philosophy.It has been taken for granted that the reader is a student or lover of Philosophy, who has a sufficient background of certain approaches and conclusions which are technical or Philosophical. In discussing the issue nothing has been presupposed except the open mindedness of the reader, its object is to survey and understand the issue through the words spoken about by some of the greatest among the intellectual leaders of mankind. In analyzing the issue, I have deliberately avoided certain preliminary discussions on meaning and definitions of Truth. "Truth'- the most exciting and engaging issue in the whole of Philosophy, is also an age old war of ideas and attitude. Prof. Simon Blackburn expresses "Truth' as 'one of the knottiest Philosophical Issues.' It is also one of the key questions of philosophy which most of the philosophers and theorists, while solving the issue, have further strengthened the knots without dissolving them. This essay is an attempt to picture the approach and attitudes to understand "Truth', mainly the nature of Truth, in west as well as in East, since the dawn of mankind till Post-Modernism. It is more about the war of ideas between the 'Absolutists' and 'Relativists' in the western philosophy and between the Orthodox schools of Indian philosophy who accept the authority of Vedas and thus talk about Advait Vedanta theory and the Heterodox schools who refute Advait and talk about the pluralistic position of Truth. In fact ,Truth and the conflict about the nature of Truth is not only between two groups of thinkers or two group of schools, but, as Prof. Blackburn writes, "it grumbles within the breast of each individual" as we find a voice within ourselves pulling us to one side or the other. Moreover the conflict is also about our conceptions of ourselves and our world, about meaning of our activities and lives. There is an attempt to sketch some of the difficulties faced by mankind who wants to understand, apprehend and realize 'Truth' and the significance of the perennial differences, unresolved even till today. Although my main interest, as earlier mentioned, is to note the Absolutists stand as well as the Relativists stand in understanding and interpreting "Truth', I have also 317

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been interested to include the approach as seen in the Indian philosophy. The discussion will not be complete excluding the Indian philosophy that has much to contribute specially Jainism's theory of Anekant and Syadvas(a theory of many-sidedness of reality) and Gandhi's concept of Truth both quite relevant in today's world. As mentioned above the essay deals with both the sides (positions) in both the philosophies (western and Indian). In part-1 I deal with the western philosophy .I deal the issue of Truth or Absolutism versus Relativism in its historical as well as philosophical perspective. The front line of this war: On one side are those 'who believe in Plain, Unvarnished facts, rock-solid Truths 'that can be found through reason and objectivity that science leads to Truth, for instance. The other side, their opponents who mock this idea. They see 'the dark faces of Language, Culture, Power, Gender, Class, Ideology and Desire'-all subverting our perceptions of the world, and clouding our judgement with false notion of Absolute Truth. The two sides of Indian philosophy have been discussed in part-II of this essay. In Indian philosophy we find philosophy an integral part of relizion .We must not forget that 'the spirit of the western civilization (and so western philosophy) is the spirit of enquiry.Its dominant element is the Logos. Nothing is to remain undiscussed.Everybody is to speak his mind. The exchange of ideas is held to be the path to the Realisation of the potentialities of the race. "The spirit of Indian civilization and so Indian philosophy is the spirit of reverence and acceptance,spirit of devotion and self sacrifice. The firm faith in an eternal moral order dominates the entire history of Indian philosophy." Its dominant element is morality and faith. Nothing is to remain questioned before morality and faith. The total surrender to the divine with devotion is the path to the Realisation of the potentialities of the race. But then here also we have two sides .On one side we have Absolutionists strongly believing in Advait - Vedanta's theory of Truth (the One or the Brahman).On the other side, we have pluralistic or non Absolutists believing everybody's Truth, not one but many. Both part-I and part-II, I have put critical comments at the end as its conclusion. My own comments are purely in the background of the underlying current of the spirit behind the issue. Specially I have tried to show, how the issue transcends in Indian philosophy. It is not Absolutism versus Relativism as it is in western philosophy, but it is Absolutism and Relativism in Indian philosophy. Part-I Absolutism and Relativism in western Philosophy Western philosophy, according to the historians of western philoso 318

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phy, in its distinct sense, had its start in the early sixth century B.C. in Asia minor under the Greek power .Both science and philosophy took their Rise, and great philosophers like Thales, Anaximander, Pythagoras, Heracleitus, Zeno, Democritus, Protagoras etc.contributed mainly to the theoretical solution of the.cosmological problems that are connected with processes in nature .The further development ,chiefly under the political conditions of the time , the appearance of the sophists was significantly important. In fact, through great sophists varied learning of different branches of knowledge was available.' We get an interesting picture of what the sophists and their activities were like in Plato's dialogue, the Protagoras.' The sophists were pluralists, and according to Prof.A.K.Rogers, the doctrine given by Heracleitus, 'Fire lives the death of Earth, and Air lives the death of Fire; Water lives the death of Air, and Earth that of Water' was the first philosophic statement of the famous doctrine of Relativity. On the other side, the refutation of this we find in Parmenides whose philosophy 'is based on the Absolute denial of change and multiplicity in the world, and their reduction to the pure illusion. To him, only the One exists and that one is external, immutable, immovable, and indivisible. With these philosophers and sophists of the pre-Socratic period, some pluralists and with a number of innovative thinking as well as effective rhetoric, there was refutation, a strong denial to the very fundamental stand point regarding Truth or reality. And it is at this point we see Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, who are to decide the fate of future of western philosophy for the next two millenniums .None of these three could be just summarized in few pages. Plato, mainly out of the three, is the most relevant to our topic. Even then let us see what they have to say about the Absolute or reality or Truth. Socrates :( 469-399B.C) We should always remember that Socrates was a moralist who was dissatisfied with the explanations of the physicist and so he turned to mind. But this too disappointed him and then he was led to strike out a new path. Instead of looking to the physical world, he turned his gaze within to the intellectual essences which the mind itself reveals. Against all the Pluralist and Relativists, against the sophists, Socrates comes out with an argument of some traditional doctrines including 'a realm of true reality above the world of senses to which the soul aspires to attain to the final consummation of a unity with God. "Through Plato's account of Socrates intellectual development we know, "his conviction that behind the flux of sensible appearances, and somehow (he is) capable of explaining it, there lies a most real world, which we can at least be assumed is the abode of perfect goodness." All the virtues will be, as he continues, one at the bottom: for it is only the oneness (Absoluteness of the universal good that makes particular good things possible. 319

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Plato and Aristotle:-Plato (427-347B.C) was still under thirty when Socrates was put to death. Socrates' execution seems a great blow to him and left him not quite certain of his personal safety; he left the city. At about the age of forty Plato was back in Athens. Plato's greatest contribution is in his ethical and social philosophy as reflected in the Republic. With firmness and complete consciousness about the title of this essay, I leave a lot about Plato's philosophy. But then let us talk about the general presupposition that underlines the treatment by Plato. The starting point, both in Socrates and Plato, is the certainity that Truth exists, and that Truth is steadfast and abiding. Various counter currents and doubts were there. There was the 'flowing philosophy 'of Heracleitus emphasizing the relativity of knowledge, even Protagoras's utterance that 'man is the measure of all things' strengthened the Relativists' position. At this stage, to such philosophies regarded as final word, Plato opposed. "Why", so he asked in his dialogue the Theatetus, "should the 'Truth' that all Truth is relative be more true than its opposite?"In admitting that the opinions of all men are true, we mean opinion of opponents is true. We cannot accept this; "a consistent skepticism would have to be completely speechless. And knowledge implies fixity, an abiding nature somewhere; for it would no longer be knowledge if a transition were going on in it continually." According to Socrates the fixity is to be looked for is in present, and not in the flux of sense experience, but in thought. Against the phenomenal world which is not the world of true being, Plato talks about the world of idea and form ------- Absolute, abiding, without variableness or shadow of turning, which sensation never can attain to, but thought alone." Over against that world of flux, 'where nothing is, but all things seem.' Thus Plato is out to set up a standard unchangeable reality Plato's approach to find the highest 'Truth 'in 'universals 'has always had to meet with strong opposition from popular as well as scientific thinking. The doctrine of Protagoras and of Heracleitus leads to Relativism which makes knowledge impossible; 'we find nothing on which to rest our feet till we pass beyond sensations to those common attributes------unity and difference, sameness and otherness, and the like - which we reach not through the sense but by thought.' Aristotle :(384-322B.C) There is a remarkable change of atmosphere, from Plato to Aristotle. In Aristotle we see a scientific type of mind though he is a metaphysician. Aristotle, through his thorough detailed discussion about matter and form says that 'True existence is something not apart from the phenomenal world, but realized in it.' An important change in philosophical standpoint would seem to involve in Aristotle's philosophy; it would substitute a reality which is changing or dynamic. But there is another side to Aristotle's theory. Ultimately we find in Aristotle, through his examples, that 'what lies is no longer Relative but Absolute; It is pure form beyond which there is nothing to which it can stand in the relation of matter. The following lines will clear Aristotle's position:even in the supra sensible realm pure form 320

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does not exist as such. It is Aristotle's doctrine that nothing can exist which is not an individual substance; and form is by definition not individual but universal and abstract. But while it cannot exist in its own right it may exist, even without matter, if we can find an immaterial substance to embody it. Such an individual substance is God (the Truth or Absolute)." Thus we find in the ancient period of the western philosophy, sophists on one side strongly propagating the relative aspect of the Truth and thus believing 'man is the measure of all things'; reality or the Truth or Absolute is not one but is in relation to things or person.They were pluralists .On the other side we find the moralists like Socrates and the scientific thinkers like Plato and Aristotle strongly refute the pluralist by denying the relative aspect of the Absolute Truth. To them the Truth is One and that is Absolute. Then comes the middle ages and a transition to modern philosophy. The source (Historical Background) One of the sources of the philosophy of Absolute is the literature about Spinoza's view about God. Another source is Kant's doctrine of the reason 'as the faculty that aims at unified knowledge of the unconditioned' -Kant distinguishes between what is great and what is Absolutely great. Schilling writes about "an Absolute" that "there is no philosophy except from the standpoint of the Absolute" and "Reason is the Absolute". In Hegel 'Absolute' is constantly referred to. Hegel, while contrasting Absolute with appearance writes, "Division and conflict is the source of the need for philosophy, and in the form of the culture of the age, is it's unfree, merely given aspect. What is merely an appearance of the Absolute has isolated itself from the Absolute and set itself up as independent." In 1803, Schelling argues that philosophy as concerned with first principles, must be "an Absolute science," that it is therefore concerned with what is Absolute, and that since all things are conditioned, philosophy must be concerned with the activity of knowing rather than with things or objects. "Philosophy" he writes. "Is the science of the Absolute, "and the Absolute is the identity of the lack of knowledge and what is known. Schelling regarded the Absolute as intellectual intuition revealed as the identity of the knower and the known. According to him the Absolute is manifested not only in nature but also in human history, in works of art, in philosophy and religion. Commenting on Schelling, Hegel found Schelling's Absolute had no positive ascertainable features .Hegel gave various definations of the Absolute. But ultimately Hegel, while talking about the philosophy of mind, writes that "the Absolute is mind: that is the highest definition of the Absolute."Hegel, in fact, wanted to define Absolute as infinite and yet comprise the finite within itself; to be real and yet contain the apparent. His intention was too ambitious resulted into ambiguity. Hegelian Absolute was criticized by many 321

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front line thinkers as 'a single -self in which finite selves are lost, or as "a society of individual, non temporal selves, or as equivalent to God." The philosophy in U.K and in U.S.A, in the 18th and 19th century was much influenced by the Absolutism. A concept of pluralistic Absolutism, "minds-together-with-that-which-they-apprehend", and Absolute Existence which is strictly 'necessary'-these were discussed by J.S.Ferrior in 1854. But the most influential version of Absolute idealism was published by Bradley in his "Appearance and Reality" (1893).Here Bradley argued that more appearances are 'conflicting' and 'self-contradictory and that reality or the Absolute must therefore be harmonious and consistent. The self-contradictory character of appearances is due to their relatedness, and therefore the Absolute must not contain relations. Talking about the "immediate experience", Bradley writes, "the prereflective experience from which the world of distinct and related things emerges as we learn to talk and to judge. In this prereflective experience, subject and object are not yet differentiated, and there is diversity without numerical plurality. From such an experience of unity below relations, we can rise to the idea of a superior unity above them." As we saw sophists like Heracleitus and Protagoras as well as Absolutists like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in the ancient time, as we saw Kant, Schelling, Hegel and Bradley; In the 17th and 18th century, we have to mention William James, Michel Foucault and Richard Rorty from whom the relativists' temperament descends from the Greek sophists. One of the very significant papers which William James wrote between 1879 and 1907 was "pragmatism's concept of Truth.' When William James wrote this paper Darwinism was twenty years in the Air. This was the period when Darwin and Spencer, Newman and Huxley, Arnold and Pater, Tolstoy and Dostoievsky, Ibsen and Zola, Marx and Nietzsche formed the climate of opinion within which James ideas took shape. The most testing question before James pragmatism was "what is Truth? He addresses himself to that question and provides an answer along humanistic line. Truth (or falsity) is a property of beliefs, judgements, assertions, ideas. The question is not "what beliefs are True?"But "what do we say of a belief when we say that it is true?"The usual answer is in terms of the notion of agreement with its object: "True" means it agrees. But James does not agree in this sense. He says, "a true idea is one which, in the final analysis, agrees with 'the mind which holds it." Thus James pragmatism is a theory about the nature of Truth which is Relativism as it is in relation to the mind that holds it. Critical comments: The philosophical battle in west, an age old war over Truth, reflects a 322

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war of ideas and attitude; a record of confusing conflict. Each one, right from Socrates till post-modernism philosophies tried to meet the difficulty with a doctrine of nature of Truth. "Today, the stakes in this war are enormous. Relativism in the ancient world typically issued in scepticism, whose main result was to be the suspension of all judgment. Today, this is not the way it goes. Today's Relativists persuading themselves that all opinions enjoy the same standing in the light of reason, take it as a green light to believe what they like with as much conviction and force as they like. So while ancient scepticism was the sworn opponent of dogmatism, today dogmatists feed and flourish on the desecrated corpse of reason. Astrology, Prophecy, Homeopathy, Feng-Shui, Conspiracy Theories, Flying sources, voodoo, crystal balls, Miracle-working, Angel visits, alien abductions, management nostrums and a thousand other cults dominate people's minds, often with official backing. 'Faith education' is encouraged, while Biblical fundamentalism, creationism and Astrology alike salk the White House. We might be reminded of G.k.Chesterton's remark that the problem with people who lose belief in God is not that they end up believing nothing, but that they will believe in anything." Having gone through the issue, the issue is a philosophic one and 'it is about the source of reason and control of belief by fact.' What then, is the conflict about? When we are Absolutist 'we stand for Truth', 'plain unvarnished objective fact', we like it 'open, transparent and unfiltered.' We may not like it everywhere, confining Truth to some area: scientific Truth or moral Truth etc. But somewhere the Absolute Truth can be found. Relativists mock these ideas. To them there is nothing anywhere like plain unvarnished, objective, facts, open, transparent and unfiltered. They see everywhere what William James called 'the trail of the human serpant.'Nietzshe said, 'there are no facts only interpretations. Relativism in contrast to Absolutism, chips away our right to disapprove of what anybody says. "Its central message is that there are no asymmetries of reason and knowledge, objectivity and Truth.' Relativism thus goes beyond counselling that we must understand those opinions that are different; not merely we must try to understand them but also we must accept as our own. In our final critical estimation we can say that both the sides descend from ancient period: the Absolutists from Plato to modern writers such as Iris Murdoch or Thomas Nagel; the Relativists descend from Greek sophists such as Protagoras to William James and Michael Foucault. There are ways in which two sides tend to talk past each other -as classical philosophers liked to say, you give something with the right hand but it may be taken by the left. "The Absolutist trumpets his plain vision; the Relativists sees only someone who is unaware of his own spectacles. The Absolutist parades his good solid grounding in observation, reason, objectivity, Truth and fact; the 323

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Relativist sees only fetishes. The absolutist takes himself to speak to the ages, with the tongue of angels, but the relativists hears only one version among others, the subjectivity of the here and now. The Absolutist takes himself to read nature in her own language, but the relativist insists that nature does not speak, and we hear only what we have elected to hear. The Absolutist lays down the low, but the Relativist hears only roaring and bawling." "This war still goes on and when the war of words can often turn into a dialogue of the deaf, and this too is a part of its power to arouse outrage and fury. PART II TRUTH IN INDIAN PHILOSOPHY INTRODUCTION: I would like to open my introduction to Indian philosophy by Prof. Chatterjee and Prof.Datta from their book. The author says, "Though the problems (issues) of philosophy have been the same in East as well as in West and the chief solutions have striking similarities, yet the methods of philosophical enquiry differ in certain respects and the processes of the development of philosophical thought also vary." Unlike western philosophy Indian philosophy discusses different problems of metaphysics, ethics, logic, epistemology etc.not separately but jointly. This is what we call a synthetic outlook of Indian philosophy. In Indian philosophy the term, very commonly used by all, is not the 'knowledge of Truth', as we have in western philosophy; but it is termed as 'the vision of Truth' (darsana).Every school of Indian philosophy, in its own way, accepts that there can be a direct realisation of Truth and one who has a direct realization is free from the world. Besides, the Indian philosophy being not separate from religion and springs from spiritual disquiet, 'Truth' and the realisation of Truth is significantly important. History of philosophy, in one sense, is nothing but an account of man's incessant efforts to realize Truth. Realisation of Truth or the experience of Truth is not that easy. It requires tremendous efforts and an uncomprising sincerity which a very few have. Besides, there is nothing like "readymade'Truth.Truth is to be found, to be experienced and ultimately to be realised. It is not a subject of knowledge or information. It is a spirit of realisation, an issue highly personal, inner experience. There is no science, no religion or no philosophy higher than Truth; they, infact, are all in search of Truth. Absolute Truth is the highest, the greatest and the perfect, and so it is equivalent to God or Logos. The unresolved issue in Indian philosophy is the nature of Truth: whether Truth is one or many? Whether Truth is Absolute or relative? But then the issue as handled in Indian philosophy is in a different way. There is a discussion on both the sides, not as opposites to each other but as complementary to each other. Let us fully acquaint ourselves with the concept of Truth in Indian philosophy through a brief sketch as seen in Vedanta philosophy, in Jain philosophy and in Gandhian philosophy. 324

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Vedanta: We all know Vedanta is the ending portion of Vedas, also known as 'Upanishads' and the Vedanta system emerges out of Upanisads. The Vedas talk about one Supreme Person(Purusa) who pervades the whole universe and all objects of the universe are parts of that person. Thus we find a unity of all existence into One. This 'One' is an impersonal reality. In Vedanta the reality is 'sat'-from which satya i.e. Truth word comes. The soul or God is the Reality i.e. Satya; the only and only one Truth. We get the philosophy of Truth, and Truth as the only Absolute through Sankara's commentary on Brahma-Sutra. In Indian philosophy and mainly in Vedanta, Truth is God and God is the only reality. There is a strong denial of plurality of truth. If there is a plurality, then what about the world and objects of the world? According to Vedanta the many-which are the creations of one, these many (objects) are not real but the appearances. So behind all the objects, men and women, Gods and Goddesses there is only One and that One is Truth (sat) which is Absolute. Vedanta comes with a strong argument that in all the appearances or illusions (snake) there is always a substratum or truth or reality (e.g. rope) and it is ignorance which does not allow to see the Absolute Truth. Without knowledge of Truth, the One cannot be realised and what is otherwise realised is illusion. The different schools of Vedanta, though each one agreeing 'Absolute One' they have the dialectical unfolding of the inherent contradictions due to confusion about the status of matter, souls and God, each one a reality and all the three make an Absolute. The relations or identity of the three with the Absolute is not uniformly agreed by these schools and so we find Ramanuja's interpretation differing from Madhava's school and similarly Vallabha's school differs from Nimbarka's Vedanta; and so on. Vedanta says, Brahaman is Truth, and it is the only Truth. Brahaman means Truth-------pure Truth or complete Truth. In Upanishads complete Truth is described as Truth of the Truth (satyasya satyam). Complete Truth means Absolute Truth. The Truths of the world are relative Truths.Brahaman is the only Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth except being Absolute does not need any attribute. It is by its own nature Truth and unlike the relative Truth; it is not a qualified Truth. Relative Truth according to Vedanta is always Truth in relation to its condition and therefore it is not Truth in its real sense. The objects of dream are true only in the dream and not in the conscious world. The world and all the objects of the world, according to Vedanta are relative. Only Brahaman is Absolute, and therefore Brahaman is the only Truth which is true at all times, in all states and situations. According to Vedanta the Brahaman is characterless being beyond time, space, attributes, movement, form, colour or shape. Brahaman, the Absolute Truth is pure Existence. Pure Existence is the only Absolute Truth. Everything is in Existence and nothing is outside the Existence. The Exist 325

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ence is infinite; what is not in it is nowhere. Existence means Absolute Truth. One cannot deny or disagree with it. One cannot even doubt it. Absolute Truth, according to Vedanta is infinite existence which is beyond mind, intelligence and speech. It cannot be conceptualized and therefore it is expressed in negation. It can be known which means it can be experienced and once one knows the Absolute Truth 'by knowing one he knows everything.' The concept of truth as emerges from Vedas and Upanishads was refuted by Jainism and Buddhism. Even Sankhya School, though accepting the authority of Vedas, talk about Duality i.e. God and Nature (Purush and Prakriti) as Absolute. The Absolutism of Vedant though seemed Idealistic, highly philosophic and not convincing to Pragmatists, is in itself very sound logically. Truth in Jainism: The concept of Truth in Jainism is its doctrine or philosophy of many fold aspects. Jainism is a realistic school of Indian Philosophy. It does not accept the authority of Vedas but is certainly not atheistic. The theory of knowledge in Jainism is known as Anekantvada. 'Anekantvada' consists of three terms: 'Anek', 'anta' and 'Vada'.The term 'Anek' means many, 'anta' means aspects or attributes and 'Vada' means ism or theory. In its simple sense, to Jainas, it is a theory of many fold aspects of Truth or reality. Prof.S.N.dasgupta expresses as 'Relative pluralism' against Extreme Absolutism' of Vedanta.Dr.Chandradhar Sharma translates it as 'Doctrine of manyness of reality'.Dr.Satkari Mookerjee expresses it as philosophy of 'doctrine of non- Absolutism.' It is associated with 'Syadvada' which means a theory of conditional prediction or theory of relativity of propositions. The Jainism's approach to ultimate reality can be expressed in two words: Realistic and Relativistic. The universe has innumerable objects and each object has innumerable aspects of its own or infinite number of characteristic of its own. Thus according to Jainism a thing with infinite characters exists independently. The Jaina term for 'Existent' is 'Sat'; it recognizes the objectivity of the material universe. Reality according to Jainism is not merely multiple, but each real in its turn, is manifold or complete to its core. According to Jainism we cannot and we do not know any object completely. Our knowledge of an object is always limited and so whenever we know an object or reality we know that partially. Partial knowledge means relative knowledge and relative knowledge will give relative Truth. Absolute Truth is possible only if we have Absolute knowledge. According to Jainism Absolute knowledge is possible by attaining right vision, right knowledge, and right character through penance and austerities. Again Relative knowledge is always conditional and Relative knowledge is expressed in Relative judgement. Thus according to Jainism Relative statements means condi 326

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tional statements and so its validity is also conditional. The Relative statement in Jainism is called 'Naya'. Keeping myself to the theme, I avoid a long discussion about the 'Syadvad' and 'Nayavada'. In short, the Jainism in Indian philosophy gives a theory of Non-Absolutism and talks about the Relativism against Absolutism of the Vedanta theory of reality. Gandhi's Truth: To understand the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi it is necessary to know that his personal life, his family, his education and youth-activities represent the cultural, social and political situation of three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe: Leaving a vast spectrum of his activities and ideas, I will deal here, with his philosophical ideas about Truth. In fact Gandhi's life and deeds, his discussions and decisions, his approaches and attitudes all these are based on his concept of Truth; and thus it becomes significantly important. We all know he gave his own biography a title: 'My Experiments with Truth' which suggests a lot more. Mahatma Gandhi, in his own writing about the issue of Truth, uses the words, Advaitist', 'Dvaitist' and 'Anekantvadi or Syadvadi'. Sometimes, like Shankara, he speaks and says the world is unreal, sometimes like a Pragmatist or Relativist he talks about the reality. We here want to note Gandhi's concept of Truth because his concept leads to 'Non - violence' and 'Satyagraha' (insistence for Truth) movement. Let us note what Gandhiji wrote in 'young-India' in 1931: "I would say with those who say God is love, God is love. But deep down in me I used to say that though God may be God, God is Truth above all----- but two years ago, I went a step further and said Truth is God ------ I then found that the nearest approach to Truth was through love. But I also found that love has many meanings in the English language at least and that human love in the sense of passion could become a degrading thing also. I found, too, that love in the sense of 'Ahimsa' (non-violence) had only a limited number of votaries in the world. But I never found a double meaning in connection with Truth and not even the atheist had demurred to the necessity or power of Truth. But in their passion for discovering Truth the atheist have not hesitated to deny the very existence of God -------- from their own point of view rightly. And it was because of this reason that I saw that rather than say God is Truth; I should say Truth is God." Mahatma Gandhi is a theist, he believes in God. He accepts the moral governance of the Supreme Power which is beyond time, space, attributes and characters. To this power Gandhiji calls God. Supreme power, to him, means God; and God to him means Truth. The real name of God is Truth. According to Gandhiji, life is not a mere chance or accident. It has a definite purpose. The aim or goal of life is to attain the Truth which is God. The ultimate aim is God Realisation or Truth-Realisation; and for that one has to try throughout his life. He further says that to realise Truth, one has to be 327

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free from illusions, or unreal which means one has to be free from false - knowledge. Experiments with Truth, to him, are experiments to remove ignorance or illusions. If the ignorance or illusions is removed, then only knowledge of True reality is possible. If the total ignorance is removed, total or 'pure' knowledge will be attained. In our philosophic terms we can say that experiments with Truth are Epistemological; the moment ignorance goes Truth (reality) is realised and so it results in to an ontological experiment. The passing away of ignorance and the attainment of knowledge is not in succession or one after the other. It becomes simultaneously. According to Gandhi removal of ignorance is attainment of knowledge. Let us see something more about what Gandhi says. According to him one cannot attain the whole solid block of Complete Truth, one attains it step-by-step. 'I cannot get my Truth all at a time. Here Gandhiji accepts Jainism's Syadvad. He in fact, gets the answer to a question why others think about Truths contradictory to my Truth? According to him, everyone realises Truth at his own level and so what is Truth for one is not necessarily Truth for others (Relativistic approach). Regarding the Relativistic or Pluralistic approach he also says that Truth cannot be insisted or forced to others. The others may have a different Truth or no Truth. And it is here Gandhi says that one whose Truth differs from you, you should have compassion (sympathy or love) for him and not hatered or anger; one requires patience. Truth is to be realized and to make others realize. This according to Gandhi is possible through non-violence. Truth is, according to him, always with nonviolence and it should be. Truth is the end and non-violence is the means. End cannot be attained without its pure means. Non-Violence, according to Gandhi, is the only pure means to realise Truth, and all other means are not pure. In Gandhiji we find more about the status of Truth or Reality from its Ontological point of view. Besides he does not go much about the nature of Truth but talks about the ultimate attainment of Truth. He is actually more concerned about practicing Truth in the prevailing situation where opinions and counter views need to be attended sympathetically and not violently. Student of "Truth' cannot afford to ignore Mahatma Gandhi's concepts about Truth. Critical comments: All the systems of Indian philosophy, including the heterodox (avaidic) schools, accept the ontological status of Truth. For all, Truth exists. Even those who do not believe in God, even those who do not accept the authority of Vedas, accept the existence and power of Truth. We have in Indian philosophy, like the pragmatists of western philosophy, the pluralist advocating the Relativity of Truth in accordance with the mind that holds. Instead of refuting Absolutism they say Realisation of Absolute Truth or Truth of an object in totality is not possible. In 'Anekantavad' and 328

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'Syadvada' of Jainism as well as Gandhi's concept of Truth we find a practical approach towards peaceful co-existence by respecting a different opinion or Truth. In the modern world, when on one side terrorism and fundamentalism has made life insecured, the political issues, leading to violence and killing of innocent people, the Relativistic approach not of destruction but discussion, not of fights and wars but respect and solution through compromise, has proved a need of the day. I personally feel, in Indian philosophy there is Absolutism and (not versus) Relativism. Even the Absolutists accept the Relativity at an initial stage when there is ignorance and lack of knowledge. To them the ultimate position is Absolutism. On the other side even in Jainism, in state of transcendence or the soul in its perfection, one can prove Absolutism logically. Besides Relativism is always in relation to something which is fixed, unchanging and rock-solid. Relativism is a lower stage and Absolutism is a higher stage. The realisation of Absolute Truth requires higher degree of knowledge; for common people the Relative Truth is possible with the limitations of the sensuous knowledge. Arguments and counter arguments are seen in Indian philosophy between the two groups but the place of Truth as the highest power is accepted by all the schools. PART-III Conclusion: Having gone through a long journey of Absolutism and Relativism, both, in East as well as in West, from ancient period till postmodern period, we have found some of the following important features of this never ending battle. Though all the groups, at all times, in east as well as in west, have accepted the Truth as a dominating power in our life and even in our lifeafter-life (for these who believe in it), we found both, absolutists and relativists have engaged very actively to refute the other. Second, one of the major discussions about Truth in the 19th century was more regarding Truth with reference to Faith, Conviction, and Reason. It was William Clifford, who is remembered in philosophy mainly for one classic essay, 'The Ethics of Belief and that in return is famous because of the reply to it by the American philosopher William James. The issue of Faith, without ignoring Reason, known as 'genuine faith' and the faith without reason as blind faith, lead to discussion about 'right to belief, 'will to believe and belief out of 'forced-option' etc.,ofcourse, these have not been included here to stick to Absolute and Relative aspects only. Third, we find the Absolutists are having a religious temperament but religious life can be full of doubts and worry, and in the today's world we find even the Relativists belonging to the same cults. Activists are not merely suffering from a religious ambition, they want Communion with a higher 329

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authority. On the other side we see that "in the intellectual world, toleration is the disposition to fight opinion only with opinion". Relativism by contrast, chips away at our right to disapprove of what anybody says. Fourth, this paper simply provides a background, in historical or philosophical perspective, to make the reader think or reflect rather than becoming a slave of simplistic Relativism or of equally simplistic Absolutism. Irrespective of our temperament, can we at least know where we are and what we can say on the other side? Of course, while referring the books, records and facts as mentioned in standard books and encyclopedias I have found that the war or the battle has emotions run high. This is more so in the West. In the East, fortunately it is not the intellect but the faith being at the centre, compromise is never an ego or prestige issue. Fifth, referring to the Indian philosophy, I have found much to be learnt, not only by students of philosophy but even by the scholars of the West. In Indian philosophy, instead of attacking the Absolutism, we find the Relativists arguing that the senses can give only relative knowledge. Therefore Absolute propositions are not recognized by Jain logic. What we find that the issue between the two is not one opposite to other but one and then the other. In other words, every common man in day-to-day worldly affairs has knowledge which is relativistic. There is always a possibility of relative with reference to Absolute. Therefore the initial stage is relative knowledge through senses and then by developing higher faculties of mind and soul one can realize the Absolute Truth. This is the reason why in my subtitle of the essay I have written 'versus/and'. In west it may be versus but in Indian philosophy if we study the issue with 'and', things will be more transparent. Sixth, we also take a serious note at the Gandhi's Truth which is always with Non-violence. Truth & non-violence always go together. I feel Gandhi's truth is something that offers a solution to world peace and mutual co-existence. It provides a ground for religious tolerance and political generosity. I am sure, the reader will find, in Gandhi's Truth, this essay a meaningful one. Finally, at the end, having gone through a glimpse, if not at the issue in full details, we do conclude that the sides have merit, and 'neither has exclusive ownership of truth.' To put Francis Bacon's thought in simple words, the talks, the words, the definitions and explanations with which the learned men have been accustomed to protect and in some way liberate themselves, do violence to the understanding, and confuse everything; 'and betray men into countless empty disputes and fictions." Under the situation, what is important is that whichever side we embrace, we should know where we stand and what is to be said for our oppo nents. 330

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I would quote, before ending this essay the following two thoughts about Truth worth brooding over: "The assertion that the human senses are the measure of things is false; to the contrary, all perceptions, both of senses and mind, are relative to men, not to the universe. The human understanding is like an uneven mirror receiving rays from things and merging its own nature with the nature of things, which thus distorts and corrupts it." ------Francis Bacon, "The New Organon, XLI P-41 "Truth is a pathless land. Man cannot come to it through an organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, nor through any philosophic technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection." 331

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CITTASUDDHI AND JIVANMUKTI - DR. B.R. SHANTHA KUMARI Although we all live in the same "setting", the physical phenomenal world, we differ in our views about it, our standpoints of understanding, and the meaning we ascribe to experience. For example, the world is real (vastavi) to an ignorant person, a paradox (anirvacaniya) to a logician, and illusory (mithya) to a seer. These fundamental differences in the response of individuals is due to difference in the mental "set" or the limiting adjunct - the mind (antahkarana) - through which the world is perceived, and which possesses different degrees of purity in different individuals. According to Advaita - a metaphysics of experience, whose claims are made with reference to experience (anubhava) and not the impossibilities or the possibilities of reason (yukti) - the greater the mental - purity (citta-suddhi), the easier it is to apprehend the Self. Advaita provides concepts for analyzing human experience and physical phenomena, and unfolds a new relation between "facts" and experience. Advaita upholds that every act of cognition or "mental-episode" is a blend of two aspects (1) the not-this (anidam, asmad) which is the invariable pure consciousness constituting the subjective aspect, and (2) the this (idam, yusmad) which is the variable objective aspect. By inquiry through the method of agreement in presence and agreement in absence (anvayavyatireka), pure consciousness must be isolated from the cognitive-episode for intuiting the Self. For inquiry to be fruitful, latent impressions (vasanas) which generate mental modifications and inhibit inquiry must be incapacitated and eliminated for attaining Self-realization. The mind then becomes no mind (amanas). In this way, the obliteration of latent impressions (vasanaksaya) and destruction of the mind (manonasa) result in intuition of the Self. In the mind of an individual, there are two states as the forerunner of all religious pursuits. They are an awareness of misery and finitude, and a deep yearning to overcome it. Therefore, the mind not only experiences misery but also strives consciously to free itself permanently from the trauma it undergoes. Since in Self-realization an irrevocable transformation takes place in the mental attitude of the individual towards (wo) men and matter, and the "lived world", the paper examines the phenomenon of transformation from the standpoints of the science of psychology and the philosophy of Advaita, keeping in view the fact that neither psychology nor philosophy can account for transformation because Self-realization is a transformative experience which transcends both psychology and philosophy. These can only give a general description of what happens in transformation for the when, 332

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why, and how of transformation is a psychological, a philosophical, and a theological mystery. According to William James, the mind is a system of ideas, wherein ideas mutually check or reinforce one another. Each aim "awakens a certain specific a kind of interested excitement, and gathers a certain group of ideas together in subordination to it as its associates."1 Therefore, the ideas form different, relatively independent groups or systems. When one group predominates and pre-occupies the individual's interest, the other ideas and their allies get obscured from the mind. The mental infra-structure of ideas is sustained by the force of habit. As the individual grows, there are mental rearrangements due to changes in one's habitual outlook. Ideas and aims which were once peripheral or marginal in consciousness can become central. It is very important as to which set of ideas are central and which, peripheral in consciousness. In religious life, spiritual ideas which were earlier marginal in consciousness migrate to the centre, and spiritual aims become the keynote or the habitual centre of one's energy. By "habitual centre of energy" is meant a group of ideas which engage a person's attention and from which the individual works. Habits and established groups of ideas affect mental rearrangement, whereas "explosive emotions". e.g. happiness, hope, resolve, etc. - catalyze changes. Explosive emotions can destabilize the interstitial structure of the mind sustained by habit and, thereby, initiate a mutation of the mental outlook and transformation of the personality of an individual. Shifts in the centers of energy are due to the subconscious incubation or maturation of ideas, and partially due to the conscious effort of thought and will. If habits and established ideas of life retard rearrangement, new information accelerates changes in habits and personality. The influence is subconscious. According to psychology, the subliminal, or trans-marginal, or mystical, or super-natural region is the storehouse of the impressions of sense-experience. It is the source of all non-rational activities and spiritual experiences - e.g. superstitious beliefs, convictions, presuppositions, dreams, intuition, etc. In a religious person, this region is said to be very wide. William James is of the view that the higher power with which one communicates in religious experience operates through this region. According to psychology, the subconscious impressions on attaining maturity or "tension", "enter consciousness with something like a burst."2 All inexplicable changes in consciousness are the outcome of the tension of the subliminal memories reaching the bursting point. The invasions from the subliminal assume objective appearances, and suggest to the individual an external control. Therefore, the "other" higher power with which one interacts is only a subconscious continuation of the conscious life of the individual. In religious experience the change from tension, responsibility, and 333

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anxiety to equipoise, passivity, and peace is the blessed outcome of the change in inner equilibrium or the personal centre of energy. William James upholds that in mystic experience the subconscious maturation of the higher emotion and the exhaustion of the lower emotion simultaneously produce the edifying experience; whereas, according to Starbuck, in terms of a change in equilibrium, "the movement of new psychic energies towards the personal centre and the recession of old ones towards the margin (or the rising of some objects above and the sinking of others below the conscious threshold) are only two ways of describing an indivisible event."3 Transformation or conversion can be enacted in two ways by: (a) eliminating the undesirable emotions, e.g. anger, fear, worry, etc., by culti vating their opposites; and (b) remaining indifferent to the undesirable emotions, because as long as "egoistic worryH guards the door, the expansive confidence of faith gains no presence."4 There are two types of conversion: (a) volitional or conscious conversion where transformation is gradual; and (b) non-volitional or unconscious conversion where transformation is sudden. The difference between the two is only relative. It is not due to a divine miracle, but rather due to "a simple psychological peculiarity."5 A sudden convert possesses "a large region in which mental work can go on subliminally, and from which invasive experience, abruptly upsetting the equilibrium of the primary consciousness may come."6 A slow convert gradually acquires a well developed subliminal region, through the practice of religion. Let us, now, see how the above discussed psychology is implicit in the philosophy of Advaita characterized as a metaphysics of experience. According to Advaita, the finite personality of the transmigrating soul is what it is because of its adjunct (upadhi) the mind, which is a totality or system or bundle of dormant subconscious impressions. As mentioned earlier, the latent subconscious impressions on attaining maturity, flower into experience in the mind of the individual. In bondage, the empirical life of the finite personality (jivatva) of an individual evolves from four kinds of impure subconscious impressions.7 They are: (a) Loka-vasana causes concern for social opinion. It kindles dislike for disrepute, and desire for name and fame. (b) Sastra-vasana gives rise to the ego of erudition in three ways. The individual has a passion for study, or is attracted to too many branches of knowledge, or blindly, adheres to the injunctions of scripture. (c) Deha-vasana generates conceit in the body. Its three effects cause wrong identification of the body with the Self, desire for physical charm, and effort to rid physical disorders through impermanent remedies. These three kinds of latent impressions constitute manasavasanas or impressions of mental desires. (d) Visaya-vasanas pertain to the residual impressions born of the actual experience of objects. The notions of 334

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doer-ship (kartrtva), knower-ship (jnatrtva), enjoyer-ship (bhoktrtva), and plurality (bheda) responsible for bondage and transmigration, are implicit in these subconscious impressions. Therefore, these impure impressions which give rise to the feeling of finitude and the personality of an individual must be obliterated and the mind annihilated, if bondage is to be terminated and liberation attained. According to Advaita, the impure impressions of the life of the lower self can be eliminated from the mind by the implantation of the pure impressions of the life of the higher self, e.g. discrimination (viveka), dispassion (vairagya), meditation (dhyana), desireless action (niskama-karma), fortitude (titiksa), equanimity (uparti), control over the senses (sama), restraint over their activity (dama), etc. The virtues of the life of the higher self are encompassed by the fourfold preliminary discipline - sadhana-catustaya, and the threefold final discipline of sravana, manana, and nididhyasana. In this way, the inferior and binding emotions of the lower life are substituted with, and sublimated by, the cultivation of their opposites - the superior and liberating emotions of the higher life. Thus, substitution and sublimation of ideas, through the entertainment of their opposites adopted in psychology, to rid the mind of its unwholesome tendencies, are implicit in the ethical preliminary and the final disciplines of Advaita. The preliminary and the final disciplines are the stipulated intellectual and spiritual exercises which psychologically prepare a seeker for intuiting the subtle Self. In a seer (sadhaka) striving for liberation, desire for liberation or knowledge of the Self (jijnasa) becomes the habitual centre of energy with the virtues of the life of the higher self as its allies. Just as the lotus and the pond in which it grows cater to mutual well-being, so also desire for the knowledge of Reality and the virtues of the higher life strengthen each other.8 According to Sankara, virtues and edifying thoughts flourish in a mind where dispassion and desire for liberation (mumuksutva) are intense (tivra), and erelong fructify in realization of the Self.9 When the impressions of the life of the higher self are implanted in the mind, the impressions of the life of the lower self which conduce to wickedness and vice fade away from the field of consciousness, and desire for the Self gets strengthened and occupies the individual's undivided attention. According to Ramarayakavi, "the desire to know Brahman, which arises when one fulfils the fourfold means to eligibility is intense, it ceases to exist only when Brahman, the object of desire, is realized. So the intense desire, to know Brahman (brahma-jijnasa), which is the motivatory force, impels the eligible candidate not only to undertake the inquiry into the Vedanta but also to pursue it till the goal is reached."10 In the mind of a bound individual, the complex of plurality and the edifice of personality are founded on ignorance sustained by he bricks of the loka, sastra, and deha-vasanas responsible for the attitude of agency, knower 335

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ship and variety, and strengthened by the cement of ancient (anadi) nondiscrimination (aviveka). This mental structure is sustained by non-inquiry (avicara). The new (apurva) knowledge of the soul's identity with Brahman initiates a change in the mental structure of accustomed (naisargika) finitude. Through the practice of the final discipline - sravana, manana, and nididhyasana - the bricks of agency, knower-ship, enjoyer-ship, and difference get destabilized, the foundations of ignorance get gradually undermined and uprooted by mediate knowledge of the oneness of the soul with Brahman. When this knowledge of Self - Brahman identity matures, it activates the dormant spiritual consciousness of infinitude (brahmatva) to enlarge and expand. A seeker who is on the threshold of liberation abandons all pursuits (karmas), secular (laukika) and sacred (vaidika), and remains in an attitude of indifference to all stimuli - external and internal, like a witness (saksin). This attitude of indifference towards undesirable feelings is also a stance of psychology to overcome unwanted mental-modes. When the aspirant finally abides as Brahman, the latter which is infinite (ananta) becomes the individual's object (visaya) of consciousness. According to the kita-bhramara nyaya or the tat-kratu nyaya, the mind becomes that which it constantly meditates on. In contemplation, the notion of infinitude matures, or is incubated, in the cocoon of the mind. The mind, being finite, can neither arrest nor accommodate the expanding consciousness of infinitude. Therefore, finitude drops off, and the soul metamorphoses into Brahman. The complex of illusory plurality and the edifice of personality collapse like a deck of cards. Like a butterfly emerging from the pupa, the soul outgrows the wrong identification (adhyasa) with its empirical vesture - the five sheaths (panca-kosas) - veiling and b(l)inding it. Once this is accomplished, no new mental structure needs to be raised; for, when the barriers blocking the effulgent Self are negated, the self-luminous (svaprakasa), blissful (ananda-svarupa), and ineffable Self reveals itself. The caterpillar - soul, is essentially a butterfly - Brahman; only the name and form are different, because of the association with the limiting adjunct - the cocoon in the case of the caterpillar, and the mind in the case of the soul. When the adjunct is outgrown, the real nature (svarupa-sthiti) is "attained". The fruit of the plantain tree destroys the tree itself, so also when mediate knowledge - a finite mode (khanda-vrtti) of the mind - fruitions in immediate intuitive knowledge - an infinite mode (akhandakara-vrtti) of the mind, it destroys the tree of the mind, which perpetuates the life-cycle of transmigration. Theoretical knowledge gets translated into experiential knowledge. The individual is freed from the finitude and misery of bondage and attains the infinitude and misery of bondage and attains the infinitude and bliss of liberation. The butterfly cares only for the honey of flowers, and ignores their various names and forms; so also a knower perceives only the essence of Brahman in the variety of name (nama) and form (rupa). The knower 336

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floats in the infinite expanse of the self, neither seeking nor rejecting that which comes to one through destiny (prarabdha). Apparently enjoying the pleasure afforded by the objects (visayanada), the knower sports in the Self (atma-krida) relishing the nectar of immortality and eternality; and revels ever-after in the incomparable (niratisaya) bliss of Brahman. In this way, transformation is ushered in the mind by a revolutionary change in the individual's accustomed approach to the gross external physical world of public particulars, i.e. material bodies and persons, and the subtle internal psychical world of private particulars, i.e. feelings and emotions. According to Advaita, the elimination of ignorance and thereby of bondage, and the attainment of Self knowledge and thereby of liberation, are simultaneous. Transformation can be sudden as in the case of Janaka, Ramana, and others; or slow as in the case of many seekers. The difference between the two, which is relative, is due to inequalities in mental maturity, or psychological preparedness, for liberation. A sudden convert inherits a refined and well developed psyche or subtle body permeated by the latent impressions of virtues acquired in the previous lives, which makes it easy for him to enact the transformation with minimal effort. A gradual convert slowly trains the mind through the constant practice of austerities to make it fit to intuit the Self. According to William James, the effects of transformation are: (a) loss of worry, (b) perceiving new and unknown truths, (c) apprehension of novelty in the external world, and (d) attainment of bliss. 11 The above mentioned results of transformation cited in psychology are contained in the philosophical concept of liberation-in-life (jivanmukti) as formulated in Advaita. According to Advaita when Self-knowledge is attained, the individual is liberated forever from the travails of transmigration. The knower perceives everything as Brahman (sarvam khalvidam brahma)12, and realizes that the Self is the reality in all phenomena. The liberated soul discerns a "family-resemblance" in the phenomenal universe, in as much as all existents infinite Brahman. With the dawn of Self-knowledge, the mist of plurality and personality, which confounded the soul, vanish without a trace. Transmigration gets terminated, and the individual awakes to the sublime and infinite bliss (paramananda) of liberation-in-life. 337

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NOTES William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, New York: The Modern Library, 1929, p.194 Ibid., p.231 Ibid., p.211 Ibid., p.208 Ibid., p.232 Ibid., p.231 S. Subrahmanya Sastri, and T.R.Srinivasa Ayyangar (Ed.& Tr.), The Jivanmuktiviveka of Vidyaranya, Madras: The Adyar Library and Research Centre, 1978, p.238 Ibid., p.238 9. Vivekacudamani, v. 29 Ramarayakavi cited by R. Balasubramanian (Ed. & Tr.), The Taittiriyopanisad -bhasya-vartika of Suresvara, Madras: University of Madras, 1984, pp.55 - 56 William James, Op.cit., pp. 242 - 249 Chandogya-upanisad, 3.14.1 11. 12. 338

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(1) (II) (III) Application of Indian Philosophical Concepts - Dr. Dilip Charan In the western tradition it is knowledge that dictate and determine management. To manage is to control, or to empower. Hence knowledge in western tradition is an empowering exercise. Change in knowledge system implies change in management system. In the western system of knowledge, knowledge system is a kind of circuit. Basically in the western world there are three knowledge circuit, which has an interdependibility. Hence mutual interdependence qualifies the circuit. These circuits can be classified into : Truth To Modern Management Theological circuit of knowledge. Scientific circuit of knowledge. Post modern circuit of knowledge. These circuits can be figuratively presented as under. Figure-1 Theological circuit of knowledge. Order + Theological Interpretation 339 Divinity Faith

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Figure-2: Scientific circuit of knowledge. Scientific Method Reason Truth Progress Humanilities Figure-3 : Post modern circuit of knowledge. Narrative Interpretation Meaning Plausibnility Contingence Complexity Theological circuit of knowledge has developed a theocratic management system. Scientific circuit of knowledge has given a scientific modelknowledge based management system. Both the management systems are the sufferer of their own dictates. Their management system is rooted in ideology either religious or scientific. Their intention was to empower the system and bypass man or humanity. Both the system of management, are not human centric. Man is not at the center, it is the system that dictates man and society, their pattern of behaviour, interest and intention. This system oriented mechanism brings neurosis. Time 6 June 1983. "Our mode of life itself, the way we live, is emerging as today's principal cause of illness. The upheaval in society's most basic values adds greatly to the general level of anxiety". In modern management system speed is important for efficiency and effectiveness. System believes, people work under competition, for that there must be pressure. Obviously it need not be a voluntary choice but an involuntary choice, which leads to "a doctrine of endless war". 340

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Modern management system has an inbuilt mechanism for resistance. Tension and stress has become a natural outcome of modern management. Today we are obliged to think about management differently for theoretical and practical reason. With the rise of subjectivism, phenomenalism, existentialism, hermeneutics, the choice theory, philosophy of science, the scientific circuit of knowledge has been broken. Figure-4: Total Breaking of Scientific Circuit of Knowledge Scientific Method Reason Truth F t Progress - Humanilities It's credibility and universality is shaken with the rise of globalization and free market economy and technological revolution has obliged us to think differently. The human condition has changed. We live in a post modern world, and in a post secular society. Where the knowledge, circuit can be figured as under. Figure-5: Post Modern Circuit of Knowledge : Narrative Interpretation Plausibnility fi Meaning Contingence Complexity Theoretical and practical necessity has obliged us to think about man centric management system. Man being meaning giving animal must stress upon language, culture and every day discourse. 341

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Figure -6: Present day knowledge domain of human sciences Culture Language Man & Society Pettiness Discourse Management has to consider the study of culture, language and discourse- discourses of men and society. Management must keep 'man' in center. That neither man nor society is monolithic. We live in a plural society encompassing all complexities and contingencies governed by the Hermeneutics of plausibility. In order to confront such human condition and manage it, is a Herculean task. Philosophically oriented management system must be meaningfully constructed. Indian concept of Man - The Self According to Indian Philosophical tradition there are two types of self. (1) Lower self- empirical self as an ensemble of Upadhis and functions through pettiness, meanness and smallness. The lower self is ensembled through Raga, Dvesh, Kaam, Krodh, Lobha, Moha and Darpa. The Higher self is constant and is unmoved by the outer crisis, a stable anchorer from within, serene and confident having nobility, dignity and generosity as it's function. This can be figured as under. Figure -7: The Self Nobility Dignity Higher Self 0 Lower Self Meanness 342 Generosity Smallness

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Man understood with this dimension will give a spiritual management system. A system not governed by existential impurities, miseries and stress because basically it is management without oppression 'Samatva' is the hard core of governance. Mahatma Gandhi, the craftsman of 'Anasaktiyoga' and trusteeship has preached and executed. Man is only a trustee of his own being and society. If management functions on this philosophical foundation can not only revolutionize Indian society but the globe. This can bring harmonious living condition for not only the present day society, but for the generations to come. It can establish 'VASUDHAIV KUTUMBKAM' not only as an ideal but in practice too. This would revolutionize 1. The use of technology, 2. Organizational structure 3. Power hierarchy, 3. Decision making, 5. Training practices and 6. Method of communication. Indian ethos will bring in management system the following features, as shown by Dr. G.R. Krishnamurti in his article "Effective Management tools from Indian ethos. Figure-8 : Essential Features of Indian Ethos * Ego sublimation and humanity . Adjustment and adoptability than dominating Synthesising and synergizing approach Emphasis on duty / dharma Emphasis on the flexibility / change. * . Focus on the team approach Self control (control from within) Total understanding of life than mere job understanding 1. Harmonious living with nature * Highest value accord to sacrifice. Conclusion: The modern management system is a mythification of a utopia of empowerment. It is as Gandhi says apocalyptic to man and society. To save man and society from such apocalyptic utopia of modern management Indian management system and their values are to be executed not in a peace meal way but in its totality and temper. It can give a new human centric dimension to the present day management system. It can remove the black mask of modern management system and will compel us to become a trusted trustee of the glob and civilization. The only hope for the humanity to survive, the way is 'viveka'- 'pragna' followed through Karuna. 343

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A lonely freedom cannot satisfy A heart that has grown one with every heart I am a deputy of the aspiring world My spirit's liberty I ask for all. - Savitri References Chakruborty S.K. 2003. "Against the tide : The Philosophical Foundation of Modern Management" New Delhi : Oxford Uni. Press. Chakraborty S.K., and Chakraborty Debangshu, 2008. "Spirituality in management, means or End ? New Delhi : Oxford Uni. Press. Chakraborty S.K., 2001. "The Management and Ethics Omnibus". New Delhi : Oxford Uni. Press. Rao P.S. and Mehta Ms. Ketna (Edit). 2008. "Nurturing Thought Leadership Through Management Education". Mumbai : Association of Indian Management Schools (AIM) Gray John, 2008 : "Black Mass" Penguin Books. 344

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Living in Harmony with Nature Religious Philosophical Perspective of India - Prof. Purnima Dave Science governed by its materialistic assumptions regarded Nature as simply an object to be dominated, controlled and exploited; it provided us not only with this motive but also instruments for domination, control and exploitation of nature. Consequently, the environment has so vigorously been exploited that natural recovery could not keep pace with the destructive processes. In trying to find solutions for the environmental crisis, two things occur to our mind. Can resacralization of nature solve the problem? Or should we turn to science to find a solution? Babbitt, the secretary of the union of concerned scientists said, "As a politician, I cannot present any programme to the people to solve the environmental problem because it would mean too much sacrifice from my voters." He then added that only the religionists can bring about the large-scale changes of values which are needed now to reverse the process of environmental degradation. Dr. Henry Kendall, Professor of Physics at MIT and the president of the union of concerned scientist said, "Science can point out the dimensions of the environmental problem but it cannot solve the problem. Science has no silver bullet, no technological fix for the environmental crisis." He recognised over-consumption as the cause of environmental degradation and appealed to religion, as the only force in the world capable of generating the changes in values needed to restrain humanity's destructive urge to overproduce and over-consume. Earlier in 1990, at the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary leaders held in Moscow, 32 scientists had signed a joint declaration appealing to the world religions to use their immense influence to preserve the environment. It was acknowledged that in all efforts to safeguard and cherish the environment, a vision of the sacred is important. How ironical! A particular brand of science eliminated the SACRED from their vision of the universe and now it is the scientists who acknowledge its importance. These statements are somewhat ironical, for a particular brand of science is largely responsible for eliminating the SACRED from their vision of the universe. However, one should not forget the other side of the story, i.e. technological Prowess and the good it has done to mankind, particularly in eradi 345

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cating poverty, imparting a certain quality of life and democratizing to a great extent even their life style. It is interesting to quote Daniel Bell, "It is because of technology; today the 'flower girl' and the Queen can buy the same pair of stalking." So one cannot keep an ambivalent attitude towards science and technology; and yet the fact remains that the world is facing the major issues: The two words of man - the bio-sphere which is man's inheritance and technosphere which is man's creation - are out of balance. It clearly shows that we have progressed but progress is in one direction; ignoring all side effects. Alfred North Whitehead rightly said, "The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order." The ancients in India perceived cosmic energy in its triple aspects of creation, preservation and destruction and the task respectively performed by Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. When one reads wonder expressed by Vyasa in this verse of Bhagavata, "Having created by Yourself this most astonishing universe with its diverse forms, You entered into them to pulsate life in them," one is reminded of the same kind of wonder expressed in this statement: If we could transport someone who lived in 1900 to our world today, his surprise would be equal to that of someone of us who will be set down in the world of the year 2020. Indeed science created amazing new man-made materials and may claim, as if, to have been able to perform the role of Brahma, the Creator. On the other hand, by providing the fatal instruments and with these instruments being able to do damage and destruction, he may also claim to be able to perform the role of Siva! However, unfortunately, man failed to perform the role of Vishnu, God of Love, the Preserver and the Sustainer of life. Vedic tradition laid stress on the sanctity and sacredness of Nature and extolled its benefits. It finds divinity in everything, especially in things which uphold, sustain and nourish life. It is, therefore, the natural phenomena such as rivers, mountains, trees etc. are worshipped and deified. Atharvaveda (12.1.35) says, "Cutting of a green tree is a crime and planting a tree is a charity." Moreover, we know that Miniature Evergreen Forests are valuable bio-diversity hotspots and repositories of rare and engendered medicinal plants, insects and birds. They provide vital eco-system to local people. They help in water and soil preservation. Do we know that these Miniature evergreen forests are called sacred groves and are dedicated to local deities and these sacred groves are nurtured and sustained on account of religious beliefs and sacred practices of the tribes who live in the forests? Do we know that they are now under threat because of over-exploitation and erosion of traditional beliefs and practices? 346

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Fortunately, it is slowly being acknowledged that traditional beliefs and sacred practices are important elements in conservation of environment. The opening verse of the Vedanta sutra of Badarayana is "athato Brahma jijnasa" (Here begins the inquiry of Brahman) which says, The purpose of human life is cultivation of consciousness, which includes cultivation of loving relationship between the individual self and the Supreme Self, and in this process matter is also included, i.e. matter is not ignored; but seen in its connection with the Supreme Self. We have recently heard the Gaia principle, i.e. the idea that the earth is in some sense an organism - has long been recognised in Vedic philosophy. Further, in trying to ponder on the fundamentals of our increasingly complex nature, it is also realized that the real issue is not overpopulation; it is overproduction and overconsumption that is the underlying cause of most environmental problems. The principle of 'aparigraha' in Indian thought rightly points out that people are bound by a network of hundreds and thousands of desires and the anxiety for desires is immeasurable until the end of life; more we try to fulfil desires, they keep multiplying ( na jatu kamah kamanam upabhogena samyate). So we must draw a line in having wants and desires. Similarly the sublime and fundamental principle of 'Ahimsa' (non-violence) teaches us 'Harmlessness to all creatures' and also 'Respect for all life'. Such is the wonderful message of philosophy and religion to mankind. Thus today what we need is to consider and combine the wonderful aspects of science and religion. Science may not be a sufficient condition for wisdom, but it can with adequate philosophical understanding guide us to act wisely. On the other hand as Lao Tze said, "A good merchant even if he has rich treasure hoarded in the ground is no better situated than a pauper. The currency of ancient learning is meant to be taken out from its hoarding place and to be circulated until it reaches the coffers of humanity." So let us recover the rich heritage of knowledge in every religion and learn the art of living with nature and growing with evolution. "Survival" and "Growth" should be the twin goals of all systems whether in India or abroad. Putting the wisdom and teachings of the great traditions of the world into practice is though difficult, is not impossible. Alan Durning, a senior researcher at World Watch Institute wrote, "It would be hopelessly naive to believe that entire population will suddenly experience a moral awakening, renouncing greed, envy and avarice. The best that can be hoped for a gradual widening a circle of those practising voluntary simplicity." 347

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GOD vs. EVIL: THE HUMAN DILEMMA - Prof. P.Seshadri "What, if life be full of scare, With time only to stand and stare." I am unable to recall when I read these lines some time while schooling; I do not even know if I have reproduced these correctly. One thing that stands out in everyone's daily life is the fact that the word 'scare' is as much part of it as 'care'. People who are cared for and loved sense a feeling of belongingness, a sense of feeling wanted and find life worthy of living despite its ups and downs.. Those who lack or are devoid of love and care feel unwanted, frustrated and find life unworthy. Either way no one wants to get rid of life, if one could; and the race begins to carry forward in life by whatever means human ingenuity invents and allows. One problem that every one faces is the fact of suffering and pain - it is only in degree and kind that it varies from one individual to another. 'Pain', 'suffering', 'anxiety', 'worry', 'restlessness', 'monotonous', 'fear' are all synonymous with something that one would like to avoid if one had it within him. All these can be subsumed under the term 'evil'. 'Good' is what is appropriate and desirable; 'bad' is something inappropriate and undesirable. 'Evil' has more serious overtones and undercurrents than 'bad'. It is something that is repugnant to human existence, much beyond the physical, social, moral and cultural planes. Not only human, it is repugnant to all things 'alive'. And man being endowed with the capacity to reason and the ability to think, has to necessarily deal with evil. Animals (conscious) can deal with it at their instinctive level purely with the aim of survival; plants (semi-conscious or non-conscious) make their adjustments depending on their cellular potential; and it is only man (self-conscious) who can deal with it rationally and with circumspection. We may define evil as any kind of suffering, some thing unpleasant and painful in a man's life, something he would like to avoid or escape from, if he had the option. We always desire to possess and enjoy what is pleasant and sweet, and avoid what is bitter or sour. (Some people do enjoy what is 'hot', bitter or sour! They are rare exceptions). It is a matter of personal experience, with, without or despite one's choice. It is very rare that we see a person who has never seen any pain in his life. Happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain go hand-in-hand, like an object and its shadow. What is predominant depends on the situation and circumstances at the material time. The only people who seem to have no evil in their life are the true saints, mystics and hermits whose 'other-worldliness' makes them either immune or indifferent to evil. One thing is for sure - even if we do not personally encounter any pain in our life, there is definitely a feeling of dejection or 348

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unpleasantness when we see some one else suffering. It could be any of the living things, known and /or unknown to us. Do we not feel for the victims of earthquakes and other calamities in locations other than our own? Evil may be classified into three categories: (i) Physical evil that arises from outside over which one has no control - in the form of disease/ailments, anatomical defects or weakness due to hereditary/genetic factors (handicaps/disabilities at birth) or bodily injury due to incidents arising from one's own ignorance and apathy or accidents caused due to others' negligence. How many people suffer from chronic illhealth due to environmental degradation, alcoholism, addiction to tobacco or over-eating to just keep their taste buds happy? A law-abiding person of good character may fall victim to cheap synthetic colours (allergies, blindness) thrown at him by others during Holi, or he may just get knocked down while walking on a foot-path due to a drunken truck driver or an over-speeding motorist. There are people who suffer serious head and/or irreversible eye-injury due to stones thrown from the sidelines at moving trains by ruffians who get vicarious pleasure out of it. And there are those who become victims of mistaken identity. (ii) Some persons become paupers and refugees overnight due to man-made or natural calamities like war and civil strife, building-crash, terrorist attack, earthquakes, cyclones, floods, drought, famine, plague and epidemics. People who live in isolated pockets in inhospitable mountainous terrain or forests suffer due to their peculiar geographical conditions and a lack of communication, transport, educational and health facilities. We have to also accept and come to terms with wild animals and criminal tribes on the prowl, for they have nothing else to do. These are categorized as natural evil. (iii) Moral evil is not outside us; it arises from within each individual. The feeling of greed, vanity, jealousy, hatred, ego, vengeance, aver'sion, ill-will, etc. is of one's making that leads to acts of cheating, stealing, violence, brutality, destruction, rape, burglary, murder and wanton killing. One cannot fully control physical and natural evil, but only make 'damagecontrol' adjustments; but moral evil is something that an individual can definitely overcome by altering his perspective. That is why a soldier who is trained to capture or kill the enemy is different from a terrorist, whatever his ideology may be. The fact of evil in the world is one of the easiest and most convenient arguments that the atheist raises against the very conception of divinity and the theist's faith in the existence of God. All religions have their mythology that shows a continuous struggle between the good spirits (divine/godly/ saintly) and the evil spirits (devilish/wicked/asura). Ultimately, good is shown 349

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to be victorious over evil. Be that as it may, the atheist finds the very concept of a theistic God suspect. His argument is simple: the theists believe in an alljust (moral governor), all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient) and ever-present (eternal/omnipresent) God who is also the architect (designer), creator (builder/maker) and sustainer (maintainer) of this universe and all living and non-living things. How can such a God create a world in which suffering is a reality? How can a 'good' God produce a 'bad' world? Why is it that some people suffer more than others, and some people are always suffering ('born to suffer')? Why did God (the eternal father) differentiate among His children when it comes to happiness and suffering? Do we not see some potentially and truly bad people enjoying life fully and truly good people suffering? Why this dichotomy, favouritism? Why should innocent children suffer, when they have not had even the breathing time to know the world around them? Why should old people suffer when they are physically and mentally unable to take anything more? Why should anyone be born with defects? The atheist will argue that all these show that either there is no God at all or that our conception of God is misplaced and hence to be rejected. "If the universe or the world is created by God as per His will, why did He not create it without any evil in it?" is the question of the disbelieving atheist that the theist has to answer. That is to say, the theist has to reconcile two viewpoints: The presence of evil means there is no God; and if God is and He is good, then what He wills to create must be equally good. A 'good God' and 'an evil world' cannot co-exist. From a philosophical and ethical point of view, it can be said that there is nothing evil about creation; for, the very design of the universe shows such a high degree of order, regularity, uniformity and consistency that it could not just happen (as the evolutionists posit). There has to be a highly intelligent designer who made it possible. That designer we refer to as God. And if it is not the personalized God of religion, it at least is a highly intelligent principle (Cosmic law or rta in vedic thought) that governs the universe. Man only needs to use his reason to discover and understand this principle. All the religions have specific answers to the atheist's questions. 'Right' and 'wrong' are relative and present in every form since creation. 'Right' is freedom from suffering and 'wrong' is suffering as a consequence of one's immorality or going against the divine or natural laws. That means, God created a good world, and He also gave man the freedom of choice. This freedom is a tool, along with his physical capacities, for man's progress from being a mere organism to realizing himself as a complete person. The world outside provides the conditions under which man's inner being develops. The material existence (body) and the inner existence (self) have to work in harmony for the good of both. In our school-days we were taught how prakriti, 350

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vikriti and sanskriti differed from one another. It is only sanskriti that checks the tendencies of prakriti and vikriti and helps man to create and nurture a culture and civilization to support and assist posterity to progress and become more perfect. God cannot be blamed if man misuses the freedom that God has bestowed on him. For the advaitin, evil exists only in the context of an individual's thoughts, attitudes and actions. Rta, the cosmic law, governs the order in the physical, social and moral world. Happiness is the result of living according to the principles of rta and evil/suffering is the consequence of going against it. The law of karma governs everything and good or evil is as per one's conscious or unconscious making. Man's ignorance about his self leads to evil. The only way to deal with evil is by destroying the ignorance of knowledge of the nature of Ultimate Reality (Brahman). Come of out maya (illusion) and avidya (ignorance) to know the true nature of one's self that is not different from the supreme Self. So long as we live in the empirical world governed by maya and are influenced by the temporal factors, we will continue to suffer. Once we transcend to the highest spiritual level, the identity of the individual self with the cosmic self will be realized. This is the true knowledge denoted by "Tat tvam asi'. Therefore evil is illusory and unreal. Buddhism accepts suffering as one of the four 'noble' (fundamental) truths, but also suggests that it can be removed. Buddhism believes in 'kshanikavada', momentariness of the world and its things. Nothing is permanent, everything is constantly changing. All living and non-livings things are temporal, for the time being, and everything is what it is because there is a cause for it. The doctrine of dependent origination says that every consequent can be traced to a definite cause. So if evil is to be removed, then its cause has to be identified and eliminated. The only reason why we suffer is because we are attached to this life and things that are all impermanent and we knowingly cling on to these. Not the actual loss, the very thought of losing what we are attached to (persons, animals, material things, money, wealth and other possessions) makes us unhappy. Buddha spoke of the fourteenspoke wheel that gave rise to birth, life, death and rebirth. The most significant spokes in the wheel are desire, thirst and attachment and the wish to be born again. Break the spokes and the wheel will stop moving. So, the only way to stop suffering is to come out of the cycle of birth and death. Nirvana is the state when there is no more desire or attachment, a state of no-suffering, equanimity and bliss. One can attain it by following the ashtangamarg, the eight-fold path of righteous living. Jainism believes that man is a conscious spirit, a spiritual soul that shines brightly by its very nature. But its sheen is lost or reduced due to pudgala or karmic matter. This pudgala is the source of wrong-doing or evil. The soul is like a sheet of glass, but our karmas allow dust/dirt to settle on it 351

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and pollute it. Over a period of time, it loses its sheen because of the accumulated dirt. But when cleaned it begins to shine again. In the same manner, the soul is pure and clean by its very nature, a source of happiness and fulfilment, but over different cycles of birth and rebirths, the accumulated karmic matter makes it suffer bondage. We attain liberation or moksha from birth and rebirth by destroying the pudgalic influence on the soul by following the three jewels (triratna) right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. Zoroastrianism, followed by the Parsis, treats evil as a challenge given by God (Ahura Mazda, the 'wise Lord') for man to overcome his limitations. The world is a stage where man has to perform and act his role as defined by God. Good is ultimate because it is the very nature of God. Life is a constant struggle between good (represented by Ahura Mazda) and evil (prompted by Ahriman, the evil spirit). This life is a bridge that man has to walk, through pleasure and pain, to reach the divine kingdom and enjoy bliss. Ahriman will entice him with a more attractive world away from the bridge and his down. fall begins. The freedom given by God should be exercised to promote good and avoid evil. 'As you sow, so shall you reap'; therefore if one does good, one gets good; and if one does wrong, then he has to face evil sooner or later. God gives man the chance to correct himself. Christianity advocates the doctrine of 'original sin'. God took six days to create the world and only at the end of it did He create man, in His own image. He definitely wanted man to enjoy this paradise. But man went against the divine will and fell into the trap of Satan, the embodiment of evil. Due to the evil influence of Satan, man digressed from the path of good and began to indulge in all that was against divine will. The original sin of Adam and Eve is transmitted to all mankind, is the source of all suffering and will remain so till saved by Christ. God being good, there is scope for redemption if one comes back to God with faith and devotion. Faith, confession, devotion and service are the modes through which one attains God's grace. Evil is a corrective measure to make man think of God and make him participate in the service of mankind. According to Islam, the evil spirit Iblis misguides man from the path of ibadat (devotion) to God. Allah, the merciful and kind, is also full of love and compassion, and takes care of those who truly follow the path of good. But man falls to the evil influence of the shaitan (Iblis, the evil-monger) and strays from the path of good and rebels against God, inviting God's anger. Suffering is meant to bring man back to devout submission before Allah so that he can repent and come out of evil influences. Those who follow the 'Five Pillars' of Islam cannot suffer evil. Judaism, the forerunner of Christianity, advocates the message of Jehovah as given by the prophet Moses in the Ten Commandments. The "To 352

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rah" is a covenant, a solemn agreement between man and God whereby man acts as a partner of God in realizing His vision on the earth. Man's mission is to follow the Torah and live a life of commitment to the Ten Commandments to reach the 'Promised Land'. If man plays well his part of the contract, there is no way God can back out. So man and God are partners in the divine mission of the Promised Land. Any infringement of the Torah will result in suffering. Sikhism considers evil as something that resides within the individual due to his own creation. God who created the world will remain a mystery that man will continuously try to unravel. The enlightened Guru, who has realized God, is the living God in the temporal world and man has to follow the Guru's teachings in letter and spirit. But because of his ignorance, man turns away from being a 'Gurmukh' (facing God) to becoming 'manmukh' (facing himself/self-centered). Haumai (egotism) makes a man consider only himself as good and great and does not let him think of others positively. Ego leads a man to project himself at the cost of others and dominate over others, crystallizing anger, lust, infatuation, greed and possessiveness. The cause of suffering is ego; so destroy ego to overcome suffering. Man has to surrender himself to the Guru and, thereby, to the will of God. Suffering therefore leads to the path of God-realization by destroying ego and vanity. The atheist will still have some questions: 11 Why should a man undergo pain (sadness) to know what pleasure (happiness) is? Or, can not happiness be experienced without any element of sadness interpolating it? Was God so helpless when creating the world that he had to use pain as a tool to save the world from suffering disorder due to man's indiscretion and to keep mankind under control? In sum, how much evil should suffice to know what is divine, good and glorious? Why should evil be looked upon as a blessing in disguise to make man more moral and religious? Is there no other alternative? The only answer seems to be that the world is better with evil than without it, whether one accepts theism or follows atheism. Mankind would have become extinct but for the scientists, technologists and medical personnel who took up the challenge of neutralizing the diseases that man suffered in the past. Many societies would have ceased to be had not the human intellect discovered the laws and principles that govern the coming into to being, 353

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growth and going out of being of man, vegetation and animals. To be born is to face all that is pleasurable and painful for any organism that's the price we have to pay for being a part of nature. As I said earlier, man has the intellectual ability to choose and cope with what he chooses or wants to be. That is the charm of being human. We can work towards well-defined objec tives and this life provides the wherewithal of a great trial-and-error game to realize those objectives. A more healthy diet, a more healthy environment, a more valuable culture, a more civilized and more peaceful society, a healthier state of personal, professional and social human relationships, a more Godloving, than a God-fearing, society - these are some of the goals that religion sanctifies. There are innumerable sages, saints and prophets through human history (Zoroaster, Mohammed, Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Jaina Tirthankaras, Acharyas, Sikh Gurus) who were bestowed with the knowledge of all that is divine or sublime; and mystics (following the Bhakti or Sufi tradition) like Meera, Andal, Ramakrishna Paramhams, Vivekanand, Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, Rumi, Mother Theresa, Ramana Maharshi, Narayana Guru all of whom had a message for all mankind how to cope with the vicissitudes of mortal life. They were catalysts of intellectual and moral reawakening. Their life is an embodiment and expression of love, devotion, compassion and service. Does it mean that life will be entirely free from pain only if we become saints and mystics? The answer is 'no', for the law of karma operates at all stages of creation and dissolution. Worldly life is a mixture of pleasure and pain, happiness and sadness. Like iron that gets purified and stronger by fire but rusts when exposed to the elements, suffering makes an individual come out stronger to face the realities of existence and protect himself from evil. Evil makes a man determine for himself what is moral and immoral. So the world and the gift of life come to be looked upon as a training ground for building a world-view, for building character. With stress and anxiety breathing down their neck most of the time, many people in contemporary world feel very insecure despite the high levels of a comfortable living in the materially productive and progressive environment We cannot, and should not, therefore wish away evil - it is meant to discipline us, to improve, rather than punish, us. Evil is not meant to make us unhappy (as people who are skewed in their thinking believe) but an opportunity to investigate and explore the meaning and purpose of life. The atheist has his logic, as much as the skeptic. Evil is homogenous and universal - it affects all those who have to encounter it. But the theist is better placed to reorient and reorganize himself in the face of pain and suffering than the atheist, for there is something to fall back on for the theist that the atheist does not have - faith, hope and grace that lead to affirmative action. The true believer also has an ideal system of values. All developed religions provide the foundational values for a good living (as different from 354

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enjoying the 'good things' of life) and a purposive life, a life that is good for me as well as others. Religion concerns itself with man's salvation and can provide a framework to deal with the general situations in life and with specific problems in particular. 'Good' and 'evil' can be taken as points of reference in an ethical sense applied to perfections and imperfections in human character. A morally perfect individual can live with, without, and inspite of a belief in God, as much as a theist or an atheist. So I have to accept the events in my life - the good, the bad and the ugly gracefully and learn to live with and enjoy. pleasure and pain, happiness and suffering, ups and downs. For, if there is no evil within, there can be no evil without. The dilemma gets resolved if we remember the following quotes: "For every evil under the sun, There is a remedy or there is none; If there is one, try and find it, If there is none, never mind it." (William Hazlitt) "I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God." (Helen Keller) 355

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References: 1) 2) 4) John Dr. Bhagwandas : ESSENTIAL UNITY OF ALL RELIGIONS. Yakub Masih : PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. Ninian Smart : GLIMPSES OF WORLD RELIGION. John Hick : PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan : EASTERN RELIGIONS AND WESTERN THOUGHT. K.N.Tiwari : A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGION. H.J.Paton : THE MODERN PREDICAMENT. 7) Encyclopedia of Religion. 356

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MAKING SENSE THE RETURN OF RELIGION - P.K. Sasidharan What may be simply called the 'fact of religion' ('religious-fact') seems continuing to be a bete noir for intellectuals. For, its status and mediation in the affairs of human life appear to be refusing any easy explanation and approach. Hence, most of the general assumptions that have been made in this regard, at the behest of philosophical as well as modern social scientific studies, are not found corroborated by the happenings in the world. It is equally applicable to both cases of making positive and negative accountings on religion and the matters related. There is hardly any agreement on the way it shapes and influences human relations, behaviours, ideologies, moral consciousness, social actions, political decisions, etc. Same is the case with the way religion gets itself changed or responds to the changing situations. The present attempt is to understand the general ways in which academic scholars and popular intellectuals perceive some of the trends that have been taking place in the domain of religion in recent decades. Especially, this wants to look at the specific way of understanding a process of change in religion, which can be termed as 'return of religion' as it has been implicitly suggested by some of the dominant models of talk-of-religion. The implicated way of perceiving changes that are taking place in religion in terms of the notion of 'return' might lead to a suppression of certain ideological force carry with it, if sense of the term 'return' is being stipulated against its possibility of variance according to specific situations and contextual relationships. Thus, it wants to go into the possibilities of seeing multilayered explanations, which are inherent in the ways of seeing religious changes in terms or notion of return. In recent decades, it is found to have occurred a phenomenal growth in religious belief and other faith related practices and activities all over the world. It is such an increase that has often been characterized as the emergence of religious revivalism, fundamentalism, communalism, fanaticism, extremism, or terrorism etc that has become a great cause of concern for the present-day world affairs. Especially since the worldwide campaign against religious terrorism, which began as consequence of 11/9 incident (the attack on the World Trade Centre of USA in 2001) religious phenomena in general have drawn much attention of intellectuals and socio-political leadership across the cultures. Even though it has prompted a very serious rethinking on the potential of religious consciousness for providing a greater force of action for people, it has been noticed that there prevails an imbalanced assessment in finding fault with particular religious tradition. Since the 11/ 9 is not an isolated event occurred all on a sudden in the history of man, there is felt unfairness in making it a civilizational fault line and paying 357

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undue focus on non-western cultures in general and Islamic religion in particular. It is noted that there is an inherent attempt in this campaign to equate the Islam and the religious fundamentalism in unqualified terms. Thus the worldwide war against Islamic terrorism is projected to be a 'war for world peace'. Asian countries are specifically being portrayed as the breeding ground for fundamentalist groups. Instead of targeting particular faith, it would serve a great purpose if this instance is taken to debate, on the various aspects of religion as such being a generating force of human action, in a greater depth and wide. Despite the derogatory sense of the terms like fundamentalism, revivalism, terrorism, it has become an admitted fact that there is an unprecedented increase in religious/spiritual phenomena world over since the third quarter of twentieth century, especially when it is compared to the postenlightenment experience of the west. It may be a fact that the recent spate of political violence has an ambit of religious cause. The growing influence of the so-called religious fundamentalism and terrorism in the contemporary world affairs is posited to be the single most threat that humanity faces. Here it may be pertinent to ask whether the political violence perpetrated at the behest of religion has got any theological ground or it is being used for carrying out some non-theological goals. Does religion really need to become political? Violence being a political means for the acquisition of power, why there should be a theological/spiritual justification for coalescing of religion and politics? Does it amount to say that the questions of religion are inherently political and social in nature? Whatever it is, the unprecedented violence carried out in the name of religious freedom or justice is worthy of getting serious attention to ponder about how religious-fact becomes an influential force of action in the life of people and their societal affairs. In opposition to the case of the contemporary wave of Islamic resurgence, there are divergent ways of explanation from within the Muslim community or religion itself. The interpretation of Islam as essentially a political religion has been challenged on political as well as theological grounds. It is shunned as being instrumentalising religion for the perpetuation of power motivation which has nothing to do with the divine logic of religious spirituality. As the argument goes, if the militancy is done in the name of religion, it is nothing but a case of making religion as an ideological coverage for the pursuit of mundane causes. Nevertheless it is being a case of aberration of Islam or religion per se, it is nothing but the scripture and its ideals that are invoked by the so-called terrorists to justify their actions. And it is by going back to the scriptural sources themselves that the opponents within the religion want to defend it against the extremism. The dispute on the justification of resurgence of Islamic militancy is not the focus of present concern. Instead, it wants to raise a question that whether it is possible to construe the sense of the perceived phenomenon of 'return of religion' only in view of 358

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the Islamic resurgence? Or is it possible to seek different layers in which the religious/spiritual factors make sense of their presence? It may also be pertinent to ask, taking cue from the dispute on the political ambience of Islamic ideology, what makes a religion, if it is something essentially antithetical to politics, getting drawn to the realm of political intervention. Why is it the case of violence in Islam, a religion which is termed or vouched by itself an ideology and morality of peace? If there is a felt-presence of a return of religion, is only in the case of Islam that the presence becomes a problem at all? If the return of religion becomes a nagging problem, is it only so because it assumes the form of political violence? Who is actually responsible for it? Or whose problem at all it is? Why is the Question, 'Why Religion Again?? At the outset, the present-day western societies seem to be opening up more and more to the other cultures, and thereby they began to adopt an inclusive approach towards non-western beliefs and practices, making themselves pluralistic and multicultural. There has wide acceptance for non-western religious and spiritual practices. The phenomenon of so-called 'New Religious Movement' shows an emerging trend in the west in receiving religious and spiritual traditions from the east. However, it appears that the west is not only witnessing the growing presence of religion and cultures from Africa and Asia, but also being challenged by them in many ways. It is also found that many of the so-called religious revivalist movements have been taken their origin either within the territory of the west or indirectly with its support from outside. Many of the Islamic militancy are found to be creation of its own geopolitics. What the west now calls as revivalism and fundamentalism, which are perceived as being persistent threat to it, were creations of its imperialistic ambitions over the east. Sometimes, it is also viewed that, what it is being encountered by religious terrorism is nothing but a retaliation to the legacy of colonialism and imperial dominance of the west over the rest of the world. The theory of clash of civilizations must have * sprung from such crises of the west. And this could be the historical context in which the western political powers have united to combat religious terrorism. In this sense, even though the west shows much indifference to religion or sometimes turns to civil religions, the intellectual context of the west is also marked by the preoccupation with religion. Perhaps, it might be in relation to such an intellectual context that the very perception of return of religion becomes a viable problem at all. Apart from the dimensions of global religious wars, international political affairs, or 'clash of civilizations' of Islamist politics and the 9/11 incident, they might be taken to raise many other issues related to religion and life or culture of people. It might be taken to be provoking a rethinking on the prevalent ways of looking at the significance of religious or spiritual 359

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beliefs and practices in the societal and individual life of people. If we pursue on this line, an understanding of religion as a homogeneous category seems to be at shake. A glimpse of the historical evolution of the so-called 'world religions' alone would reveal us the inadequacy of linear or uni-dimensional approach. What would be thereby revealed seems to be the fact that there exists heterogeneity in the ways of conceiving the divine reality, in the method of propitiating gods, in the codes of morality and life style, in the path ways of territorial expansion, in the modes of articulation in other cultures, and so. Then what is often presented as religious, spiritual, or sacred could be deciphered as the historical notions, which are conceptualized as signifying some essential reality. Viewed from this point, the indifference of the west towards the institutionalized religions and its enthusiasm towards the so-called civil religions would appear to be suspicious and problematic. The intellectual context of the west is predominantly religious, in the sense it shows a kind of unconscious obsession with certain other religions and cultures. Despite much positive reconsideration or critical thinking from certain intellectual corners, the major thrust of the western discourse and political policies still remain to follow some models, which are characteristically antithetical to religious consciousness in general and obsessive to other non-western religions in particular. This would be the same case with ideological formations, which adopt or follow the western models. It is this context that the increase of religious phenomenon is perceived to be somewhat astonishing and surprising. This has obviously aroused a feeling of wonder, if not despair, among the people who have been very enthusiastic about the coming of a historical period of enlightenment wherein scientific thinking and rational behavior of humanity would be prevailing rule, instead of irrational superstitious belief in religious dogmas and rituals. The wonder in the loss of optimism about the 'secular culture' has often been articulated in the expressions like 'again religion! In the present circumstances, the general apprehension that prevails on the religious-fact seems to be conveying a sense of anachronism. The anachronism about religion is raised in view of the emergence of a socialworld, which makes religion trivial. The modern social-world is characterized with the conditions where the process of historical disappearance of religion as a socio-political force and cultural expression is put on the track. When this process of replacement of elimination of religion is seen to be on the way, as evidenced by the high-modern societies in the west, manifestations of any primordial urges of faith cannot sustain or stabilize their pace in longer time. However, when the primordial instincts are not manifested in their innocuous purity and simplicity, the enthusiasm of the mundane can no longer pin its hopes in progress and development. The modernity gets in dilemma when it is encountered by its own brain-Childs. Of course this may 360

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be moment of surprise and astonishment. This could be the moment of getting wonder, about by the expression 'again religion!' It may also be seen as implying a question: 'why religion again?' Such skeptical responses might be stemming from an unwelcome occurrence of something which is thought to be improbable in an age of society where the process of transformation is under way. But when the aberrations of modernity are on the hold, the direction of transformation seems to on the counter-path. The dominance or influence of religious voinces in determining the socio-political affairs in an age of modernity, which is defined by irreligious traits, is taken to be bearing an internal contradiction. The nature of the change that happens in the domain of religion in general has often been characterized as the 'return of religion'. Thus, the present perception of religious change in terms of its return might clearly points to a historical context wherein religious-fact had become a thing of the past. Philosophical and sociological proclamation of death of god', 'end of religion', 'end of theocracy', 'end of theology', 'death of savior', 'religion without god', 'spirituality without religion', 'secular religion', 'humanistic religion', 'civic religion', 'natural theology', 'political theology', 'liberation theology', 'green theology', 'eco-spirituality', 'feminist theology', 'anthropologic god', and the like could be seen as some of the representative notion or expression which would bear the mar of spirit of that context. Thus, the perceived apprehension on the return of religion clearly points to a historical context wherein religious-fact had become a thing of the past. Hence an apprehension of the reappearance of religion might be following (conveying) from the occurrence of something that was thought to be dead or eliminated. Can the present surge of religion be taken to mean (the return of particular religion?) its possibility of being persist forever? Or is it only saying that time has yet to be matured for a total extinction of religion, because the process of the reach of rational consciousness requires a longer period of time in the history? The term 'return' may simply mean an occurrence of coming back or going back of something. It may also signify the coming back or revival of something, which has come to non-existence or dysfunction. However in the case of the expression 'return of religion', it may be difficult to construe the sense of the term 'return' entirely to an event or process of making presence of religion from a condition of its total invisibility or non-existence. If that is the case of understanding or usage of the term 'return of religion' it requires a critical appraisal the ways in which the 'return of religion' would be making sense. In order to locate the intellectual source of the problem of return of religion, we shall now draw here an instance of an intellectual, rather philosophical, discussion on the theme of religion in our world', which took place at the Italian Institute for Philosophical Study, in 1994. While capturing the context or the 'sprit of the time' in which such a theme has assumed the centrality of intellectual attention, Gianni Vattimo, Italian Philosopher, 361

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has given the following facts by way of circumstantial remarks. When the Italian Philosophical Yearbook project was planning to extend it by creating a European Yearbook, in 1992, the task was entrusted to Vattimo and Derrida. As its theme was left to their choice, firstly, Vattimo had his thought on religion. When the matter was put before Derrida, he had also the same subject. Regarding what might have led to such an unity of thought in them, Vattimo has said the following: This coincidence, which, lying as it does halfway between pre-established harmony and pure chance, is known as the 'spirit of the times', seemed sufficient reason to accept the centrality of that thematic argument. Times have doubtless changed since Hegel wrote that the basic sentiment of his time was expressed in the proposition 'God is dead'. But is 'our' time (which, like that of Hegel, begins with the birth of Christ) really so different? And is the phenomenon, known rightly or wrongly) as the 'religious revival' (though more in parliaments, terrorism and the media than in the churches, which continue to empty), really other than 'the death of god"? That is the question we asked ourselves, as no doubt everyone else is doing today, and it is the question we put to the friends and colleagues we invited to collaborate with us' What is relevant here for the present purpose is that, it in the context of resurgence of religious revivalism that the leading critical reflective minds of Europe (critics of the west, to be precise) have come to have a unanimous thinking on the primacy of the subject of religion. In these circumstantial remarks, Vattimo seems to perceive two-three levels in which the 'return of religion' occurs. They are, firstly, as against the context of modern philosophy, which declared the death of god, there is coming back of religion in the form of revivalism and terrorism. Secondly, it may be taken in the sense that now religions are returning to their fundamentals, which he sees elsewhere as tantamount to death of god itself. Perhaps, thirdly, there may find a different sense of the term 'return' here because the subject 'religion' has come back as a major concern of thinking and preoccupation. However, in the case of Derrida, the perception of 'return of religion', there seems to be having a critical angle in the occurrence of return of religion in the form of resurgence of religion. He says, 'Now if, today, the 'question of religion' actually appears in a new and different light, if there is an unprecedented resurgence, both global and planetary, of this ageless thing, then what is at stake is language, certainand more precise the idiom, literality, writing, that forms the element of all revelation and of all belief, an element that ultimately is irreducible and untranslatableH'. "Why is this phenomenon, so hastily called 'return of religions', so difficult to think? Why is it so surprising? Why does it particularly astonish those who believed naively that an alternative opposed Religion, on 362

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the one side, and on the other, Reason, Enlightenment, Science, Criticism (Marxist criticism, Nietzschean Genealogy, Freudian Psychoanalysis and their heritage), as though the one could not but put an end to the other? On the contrary, it is an entirely different schema that would have to be taken as one's point of departure in order to try to think the 'return of the religious'. Can the latter be reduce to what the doxa confusedly calls, 'fundamentalism', 'fanaticism', in French, 'integrism'? Here perhaps we have one of our preliminary questions, able to measure up to the historical urgency. And among the Abrahamic religious, among the 'fundamentalisms' or the 'integrisms' that are developing universally, for they are ar work today in all religions, what, precisely, of Islam?' (opcit, p.6) ... 363

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BIOPESTICIDES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - Dr. Kale A. P. Sustainable development involves successful management of resources that can satisfy the changing human needs while maintaining or enhancing the quality of the environment and conserving the natural resources. With the ever growing world population, to fulfill the food, fiber and feed requirement the conventional agriculture practices are falling short. The price of inputs is increasing continuously. The use of more and more chemicals to prevent the damages to crop by pests, in order to increase the crop yield is not producing results. In fact it is generating pesticide resistant insects, which is leading the farmer to apply more potent toxic substances on their crops, thus leading to environmental contamination, unpredicted effects on human health, wildlife and non target organisms in the ecosystem. The use of biopesticides is a major step towards sustainable development. Biopesticides, originate from the living system and can either repel, inhibit or destroy the pest that would cause economic loss. They are an excellent alternative to toxic substances and a means to reduce the hazardous effects on human health and environment. The goal of all the sciences and all the philosophies is to provide a healthy environment and allow sustainable development. The paper endeavors to highlight the philosophy behind biopesticides and sustainable development. The twentieth century has been an unprecedented century of population growth, economic development and environmental change. Since 1900 to 2000 world population grew from 1.6 to 6.1 billion (United Nations, 2001). Increase in food production, at present fall short of demand to feed the human population. More than 800 million people do not have adequate food and 1.3. billion live on less than $1 per day (Strange and Scott, 2005). The global area under crop production is approximately 1.5 billion hectares. However, far from being expanded, the area under cultivation is reducing in developing countries. In addition to the diminishing land, diseases, insects and weeds together annually interfere with the production of, or destroy between 31 and 42% of all crops produced worldwide. It has been estimated that of the 36.5 % average of total losses, 14.1 % are caused by disease, 10.2% by insects and 12.2% by weeds. The total annual crop loss from plant diseases is about $ 220 billion (Agrios, 2005). Since the beginning of human civilization, there has been going on a tug of war between the crop pests and diseases on one side and the efforts and techniques farmers have been devising to control them for protecting 364

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their crop on the other. The development of pesticides along with the use of fertilizers has, however, made possible to enhance the crop yield. The word "pesticide" is synonymous with crop protection agents such as herbicides, insecticides, nematicides and bactericides. The popularity of chemicals for controlling crop pests increased only after the discovery of pesticidal properties of dichlorophenyltrichloroethane (DDT). The synthetic pesticides are the principal means of crop protection. Chemical pesticides mainly aldrin, endosulfan, organophosphates, arsenicals etc. were valued for their uniform and rapid effectiveness against pest, ease of transport and relatively longer shelf life under proper storage conditions. Similarly the "miracle drugs" antibiotics were explored for controlling plant diseases. Like with most biologically active substances, the use of pesticides or antibiotics is not with drawbacks. Unforeseen side effects such as toxicity to non-target organisms, including human health hazards and environmental contamination with the potential to affect the food chain (Norris, 1982) have been observed. In developing countries further problems are due to high prices, improper storage conditions and non- availability of safe and suitable application equipments. At present, over 4000 pesticide formulations are available in the global market, and organic chemicals account for the vast majority of active ingredients in these preparations. It is a known fact that various pests and disease causing microorganisms have an inherent tendency to develop quickly resistance to the pesticides in use and search for new pesticides have ever been going on for protecting our crop and crop produce (Bennet, 1960;). It has been reported that at least 447 species of insects and mites, 200 species of plant pathogens are now resistant to chemical pesticides (Barak and Edginton, 1984). This scenario has led to a total re-evaluation and radical revision of the basic underlying principles of pest control philosophy in the last 10 years, envisaging the concept of old pest management for suppression of pest populations below the levels capable of not causing economic injury rather than total eradication. A distinct propensity towards "trek back to nature" has become evident in the field of pesticides and pharmaceuticals. For sustainable development a successful management of resources that can satisfy the changing human needs while maintaining or enhancing the quality of the environment and conserving the natural resources is of utmost importance. Natural products and chemical compounds discovered as a result of basic search into the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis and biological control have led to the development of "bio-rational" or "biopesticides" (Chet, 1987) The use of biopesticides is a major step towards sustainable development. Biopesticides, originate from the living system and can either repel, inhibit or destroy the pest that would cause economic loss. 365

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Certain metabolites obtained from microorganisms have shown application in plant pest management (Arima et al., 1965). Also antibiotics obtained from microorganisms are successfully used in crop protection. As depicted in the great epic Mahabharata "Jivo Jivasya Jivanam", the microorganisms are accepted to be most prolific sources off pest management (Anke et al., 1977). Over the past one hundred years, research has repeatedly demonstrated that phyllogenetically diverse microorganisms can act as natural antagonists of various plant pathogens. The use of microorganisms (bacteria) such as Pseudomonas fluorescenes and Bacillus subtilis in combination with chemical substances is well documented .Also the application of fungi Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma viride for control of fungal diseases is broadly dealt with .The use of bacterial poison obtained from Bacillus thuringeinsis for pest control is well known and the transgenic crop produced using this bacteria is widely applied. The medicinal properties of plants mentioned in the oldest repository "Rigveda", "Charak Samhita" and "Sushruta Samhita" are generating knowledge base even for the development of pesticidal chemicals from plants. Over the past 50 years, more than 2,000 plant species have been reported to contain toxic principles and effective against plant pests; neem is a classic example (Ahmed and Grainge, 1982). The benefits of biopesticides on sustainability have been studied worldwide. The major advantage arising from its use is that they give a more viable alternative solution to pest problem as compared to the chemical counterparts; thus saving some resources. The statement made by Bruntland Commission that 'sustainable development is conceived as a process, in which society is becoming less unsustainable, rather than an end state which we would describe as a blue print'(Achterberg, 1996;158); is important. Another contribution to sustainability made by biopesticides is the complementary nature, where they can be applied in combination with other biological control measures like use of friendly beetles. The development of the biopesticides are not as expensive as other chemical inputs; where a single chemical molecule costs a billion $ expenditure. Biopesticides come with a zero residue property which play a major role in post harvest and sale of crop produce (Knight, 2007).The on farm manufacture of pesticides from plants like neem, tobacco, garlic are also envisaged complementary. The advancements in the field of science, instrumentation, product formulations, education, communication, awareness towards environment conservation along with the biodiversity and the philosophies underlying all these; shall surely help in the application of biological inputs for agriculture and thus help the sustainable development movement. 366

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References: Achterberg, W. (1996) 'Sustainability and associative democracy' in W.M.Lafferty and J.Meadowcroft (eds.) Democracy and the Environment (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar), 157-74. Agrios G.N. (2005). Plants and diseases. In: Plant pathology, Pub.:Elsevier Academic press, 5th ed., pp. 4 Ahmed S. and M. Grainge (1982) Some promising plants for pest control under small-scale farming operations in developing countries. Resource sys. institute, Honululu, Hawai, pp. 45-46. Anke T., F. Oberwinkler, W. Steglich and G. Schramm (1977) The strobilurins- new antifungal antibiotics from the basidiomycete Strobilurus tenacellus. J. of Antibiotics, 30:806-810. Arima K. H., M. Imaraka, A. Kousaka, A.Fukuda and G. Tamura (1965) Studies on pyrrolnitrin K: Isolation and properties of pyrrolnitrin. J. of Antibiotics, 18: 210-214. Barak E. and L.V. Edginton (1984) Glutathione synthesis in response to captan: A possible mechanism for resistance of Botrytis cinerea to the fungicide. Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology, 21: 412-416. Bennet J. (1960) A comparison of selected methods and a test of the pre-adaptive hypothesis. Heredity, 15:65-77. Chet I. (1987) Innovative approaches to plant disease control. Pub; John Wiley, New York, pp. 71. Knight, A. (2007) 'Food that talks?', Food Ethics, 2(2): 13-14. Norris R. (ed.) (1982) Pesticides. IN ; Pills, pesticides and profits. Pub.; North river press. Inc. Croton-on Hudson, NY. PP. 20-21. Strange R. N. and P.R Scott (2005) Plant disease: A threat to global food security. Annual review of phytopathology 43: 83-116. United Nations (2001) World population prospects: the revision highlights (ESA/P/WP.165). HTTP//www.un.org/esa/population/publications/ wpm/wpm 2001.pdf accessed on 31.3.2006. Acknowledgement : I am grateful to the support extended by the management of Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd.(A Government of India Undertaking), Mumbai -400 074. 367

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ETHICS IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF RELIGION - Dr.B.V.S.Bhanusree The term 'Religion' is derived from the Latin words Re+Ligaro - which means to bind back-bind back the soul with God. It is the 'way' by which the Supreme Divine Current descends here and by getting hold of which we can ascend back to him. Let us have a look, at the outset, the present plight of religion. Several atrocities have taken place in the name of religion. Wars were waged. Some men became weak and some strong. Some turned anti-religious and some are engrossed in following all sorts of rituals. But, the real meaning of religion was faded away, behind all the above happenings. Consequently, the material development has become predominant all over the world. Accumulation of material wealth and subsequent acquisitions of positions and power have become the great task of man, today. Men became wild while acquiring the above mentioned things and falling back to the primitive stages which fighting with and killing one another. He is not in a position to realize that mere material advancement will not provide happiness, satisfaction, peace and security. He blames religion as the root cause of all prevailing evils. But, how can we assert the statement that religion is responsible for such a critical situations? If religion is misused, misunderstood, misconceptualized and mishandled - whose faulty it is? Is religion such a hardnut to crack and so harsh towards humanity? No, it is due to man's ignorance, selfishness and greed the intellectual arrogance the conditions of the world are fallen down to the worst? Religion is not a bundle of rituals, nor a set of principles, nor even superstitions. Then, what is religion? "True Religion is the path which leads from this tank of pebbles, i.e. the world, to the Manasasarovara Lake i.e. the Pure Spiritual Religion" Man by nature is enthusiastic in searching for truth. Originally, he is not a sinner. Indian Philosophy explains this fact as the human form is made up of matter, mind and spirit. The evil tendencies of mind are Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha and Ahankara. Under the influence of these tendencies man commits all sorts of crimes. So, it is very necessary to understand what is right and what is wrong and regulate one's conduct in accordance with the rules laid down. Here comes the role of ethics. Indeed, it is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with what is morals good and bad, right and wrong. It is often used as a synonym for mordls. It has a clear etymological basis - both ethos (Greek word) and mores (latin word) mean habits or customs. Ethics is a set of moral principles, precepts to be followed. It is the means to achieve the end. One should not get confused with the idea of precepts themselves - 368

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is religion. Moral principles are to regulate human life and human behaviour. But either ethics or religion cannot act by themselves. "Good behaviour can be acquired if one has right understanding and can also be acquired by following the teachings of religion. Good behaviour is however, only means or the way of attaining the real object of religion, but it is not the ideal or the object of religion." Adherence of the ethics and religion separates man from rest of the animal world. He is considered as the highest product of the evolutionary process. "An evolved human being is an awakened spirit, with a sound mind in a sound body, and endowed with wisdom, intelligence and health. For the development of such a personality, it is necessary to train the body, mind and spirit properly". Without inculcation of ethical and moral values, one cannot be considered as a complete person in the true sense. Mere development of intellect or physical strength is simply not sufficient. In ancient Indian Society Varnasrama dharma was maintained. Initially Initially, this division was on the basis of their inborn gunas or attributes, and vrithis i.e., tendencies. It was believed that the three gunas viz., sattva, rajas and tamas - were present in different proportions in different individuals, resulting in different vrithis or tendencies i.e. Satvika, Rajasika and tamasika. It was a capability based division of labour in early society. But, in due course, the membership of each varna came to be determined by the lineage of the child rather than by his special attributes. Gradually, it led to rigid caste system. In the ancient period, there was not only division of labour but also division of attributes or values. Thus, different values were confined to different varnas. But, in the present times of democracy, the ancient model of personality is unsuitable, not only on socio-political grounds, but also from the ideological perspective. Now, it is not irrelevant to mention about the concept of superman of the Radhasoami satsang of Dayalbagh - (Religion of * Saints) a well suited need of the hour. It is the personality that imbibes the best qualities of all the four varnaas, i.e. Brahmins, kshatriyas, vaisya and sudras, in an integrated manner. He should be physically fit, mentally alert, and well skilled in some vocation and should feel proud in performing any manual work with the dignity of labour. He is the one who is able to discriminate between right and wrong, who is able to take right discussion in different circumstances leading to his own good as well as that of others. This can be done only through ethical integration in the human being. Now, humanity is passing through the age of science and technology. This age requires the explanation of religion on scientific lines. A change of a very marked character is taking place now and there is universal demand that everything be reduced to practicability and definition. Proper reason should be adduced in support of all matters - temporal or religious. 369

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This inquisitiveness of the times is not antagonistic to spiritual pursuits. On the contrary, it requires a presentation of religions revelations in such a form as would leave no doubt of its acceptance at any time. Maxmuller is called the father of Scientific Study of religion in modern times. He said that religion springs from the basic religious nature of man, which cannot be reduced to any rational thinking or philosophical en. quiry. His attempt was to make religious enquiry free from petrified dogmatic perspectives and understand religion as a unique element of human existence. It is true that science investigates truths of the outer world whereas religion looks into the inner being of man. Both form the part of the cosmos and are interrelated. Methodologies applied to study and investigate into the nature of spirit and matter cannot be independent, exclusive and uncon nected. Observation, induction, and deduction, experiment and proof are as much relevant to the study of religious beliefs as they are to scientific truths. Conversely, inner perceptions, and flashes of intuition are also equally applicable in scientific investigation. Newton's discovery of gravitation was more because of an intuitive flash than a reasoned out conclusion. The study of the human cosmos would be the most practical and convenient method for a comprehension of the universal cosmos and for determining roughly the various parts into which the creation has been divided and for finding out the region of Supreme bliss. The main basis for a compassion of the highest goals of spiritual evolution as propounded by different religions has been the scientific analysis of the microcosm and macrocosm into different regions and the natural corre spondence and the communicative system between the two. The body, mind and spirit correspond to the material, mental and spiritual regions in the creation. A spirit entity embodied in a human form is capable of establishing contact with the different regions of the cosmos through the proper gateways provided in it. The disembodied spirit on being completely dissociated from the body and mind gets submerged in the ocean of spirituality. If we take a deeper view of life, we will find that religion is woven into the very texture of human life. Man loves to attain pleasure and avoid pain. Religion promotes man's moral, aesthetic, social and cultural values develops his sensibilities and thus leads to wholesome development of his personality. True religion makes man broadminded, objective and systematic in his approach to life. It is pertinent to understood religion scientifically so that a correct vision of human life and nature of universe can be obtained. Religion helps to develop man's mental powers. Through meditation 370

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man's powers of concentration increase and he develops chittarrithinirodha and better control on mind, so essential for personal growth. Once man attains the high sense of satisfaction all the luxuries and comforts of the world appear trivial and worthless to him. So, to conclude, it is suggested that the benign natune of religion will be realized and proper place will be given to religion in human life and activities in the present age. It will also be realized that religion has no conflict with science and philosophy and that religious life can be harmonized with modern scientific outlook and technological usage, giving it all a meaning and a devotion. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. References: Diary of Sahabji Maharaj Part III, Radhasoami Satsang Sabha, Dayalbagh, Agra - 1974. Dr. S.Radhakrishnan, The Present Crisis of Faith, Orient Paper Backs, New Delhi, 1970. Jadunath Sinha, A Manual of Ethics, New Central Book Agency, Calcuta, 1996. Writings and Speaches of Param Guru Huzur Sahabji Maharaj (19281937), Radhesoami Samvat 188, Published by Radhasoami Satsang Sabha, Dayalbagh, Agra, 2006. Theology, Science and Technology: Ethics and moral Values Editors: Prem K. Saxsena, Devendra K.Chaturvedi, Vikas Publishing House, Mumbai, 2005. ... 371

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GANDHIAN IDEALS OF RELIGIOUS HARMONY AND WORLD PEACE - PROF DR. M. RAMACHANDRA Religion is a universal phenomena .It is the most profound form of human activity. Religion is the art of living through right action, how to live our daily life in harmony within ourselves and with others to lead a life of peace and happiness. It is not only confined to practices some religious rites, ceremonies, rituals. Religion extolled the sense of unity, equality, peace, harmony and brotherhood among human community. Religion is a principle of unification and harmonization. The term religion has been derived from the word 'religere' which signifies bond. Etimologically therefore religion means a bond which units the human life as well as the social life. Religion is essentially a principle of life, the feeling of a living relation between the human individual and the power of which the world is a manifestation. Religion is the expression of the external and indestructible metaphysical craving of human nature. The impulse of religion is an essential part of mans discovery. Any society of the world without religion is inconceivable. Religion has been defined from the aspect of cogni tion, affection and conation. Herbert Spencer defines religion as a hypothetical concept, which makes the universe intelligible to us. Compte and Buddhism identified religion with humanity, which is a religion without god. Thus religion involves thought and activity as well as beliefs and values. Religion manifests itself in society in many ways. It shapes the domestic, economic, Political and social institutions. Religious rites performed on many occasions as birth, initiation, marriage, death, hunting, agriculture etc. Mahatma Gandhi described religion as a force that keeps one true in the face of greatest adversity. The religious institutions like church, temple and mosques etc. play an important part in world peace and harmony. Religion is a universal phenomenon. It is permanently embodied in mans psychology. Religion involves an element of feeling, according to Rudolf Otto, religion is an outcome of the "a priori numinous feeling". Otto describes it as "mysterium Tremendum et fascinans". These three words gives in a nutshell. Otto's insight into the non-rational elements in our religious consciousness. The moralist's emphasis the moral aspect of religion. Mathew Arnold defines religion as nothing but "morality touched with emotion ". Kant emphasizes the primacy of moral will and brings god only as a moral postulate. Religion is a growing and dynamic subject. The essential presupposition of religion is the cosmic order. The soul of man strives for harmony or identity with the world order. The great mystics, philosophers and prophets of the world admit this analysis of religion. This order is rationalized as Reason, or God or Being "Peace". On the other hand means freedom from warrior violence. Religion never takes a man to involve in war or violence. Religion never takes a man to involve in war or violence. Thus there is an inti 372

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mate relation between religion and world peace. 'World' here means the earth with all its countries and people. Peace means the two communities live together in peace with one another. It sometimes signifies a treaty of ending a war. Religion involves a subject and object and an intimate relation between the two. On the subjective side it includes man's psychological junction, feeling, willing and thought. On the objective side it has reference to Trans subjective diving Reality, It aims at the complete unification of life. Religion is the individual's Conscious aspiration for the realization of an Ideal, which can be felt intuitively. God is the highest Being. He is both supreme value as well as ultimate existence. Religion therefore may be defined as faith in the realization of God. It attempts to manifest what lies deepest in our being and tries to have contact with that To have a notion of God isn't enough for religion. Religion finds out the deepest layer of man's being which is spiritual ultimate Reality. Radhakrishnan defines religion as the insight into the nature of Reality or Experience of Reality. Religion is the self-manifestation of the ultimate Reality in man. A true religious soul will identify with the social and human evolution and guide mankind for a better and fuller life. According to Vivekananda, Religion consists in man's capacity for self-transcendence Each soul is potentially divine and religion is the enfoldment of this latent divinity. To Vivekananda religion 'it consists in doctrines and dogmas, or rites and rituals but in realizations. It doesn't mean any institutional religion, but that religion which underlies all religions. According to Vivekananda, "Religion. is the greatest motive power for realizing infinite energy which is the birth right and nature of every man", To Rabindranath Tagore, the only form of religion is the religion of love. As Kalidasa Bhattacharya puts it, "Rabindranath's God is thus, Grand Humanity in man the universal man, one who is wholly or even partly, outside of us", According to religion, science no doubt has conquered nature but it has not conquered the inner core of man himself. Without religion the beast in man may use science and technology to destroy man and life itself. Improper use of the weapons will violate the peace of the society and mankind will be destroyed. True religious judgments have reference to values, traditionally known as Truth, Beauty and Goodness. Religion leads mankind towards peace. Both religion and science are complementary and aren't opposed. Science raised to the status of religion is known as scientisms, which accept the methodology and result of science as absolute. At present any discipline to gain any adherence has to put on garb of science, thus religious knowledge is always necessary to maintain peace among the nations. Gandhi gave a practical color to the lofty principles of religion not only for the sake of individual peace but also for the world peace. Gandhi cannot be regarded as the founder of any new religion. Gandhi was influ 373

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enced by the greatest traditional and religious teacher of the " world .From them he took the principle of eternal truth. He applied this principle not only in his personal life, but also to social, political, economic problem. In this sense Gandhi was a practical philosopher, Gandhi accepts vaisnavism, which is full of love and sympathy for mankind Thus he learnt the truth that salvation could be attained by devotion to God and service to humanity. He was also influenced by the Ramayana, the Bhagavad-Gita and other religious scriptures. Gandhi referred the Gita as his mother. Gandhi writes, "Today the Gita isn't only my Bible, or my Koran, it is more than that, it is my mother. "He was influenced by Buddhism and Jainism along with Hinduism. He was also influenced by Jesus Christ. He was also impressed by the Persian and Islamic teachings to a great extend. Besides, these, Gandhi was influenced by Tolstoy's famous book "The kingdom of god is within us"and Ruskin's famous book "Unto this last". These two books offered his belief in ahimsa and sarvodaya respectively. As a seeker after truth Gandhi was influenced by Socrates and Thoreau, the American anarchist. Thoreau's civil disobedience was transformed by Gandhi into civil resistance or non violent resistance. Thus the concept of tolerance, which is found in Gandhian thought occupies an important place to maintain world peace and harmony. Gandhi defines Hindu creed as "Search after Truth through non violence means "Hinduism is a relentless pursuit after truth. It is the most tolerant of all religions. Its creed is all embracing. Non-violent is common to all religions, but if has found the highest expression and application in Hinduism. Gandhi includes Jainism and Buddhism under Hinduism. Hinduism believes in the oneness not of merely all human life but in the oneness Of all that lives. The discovery of the law of Varnashrama is a magnificent result of the ceaseless search for truth. The fundamentals of Hinduism are unchangeable. According to Gandhi, "I can no more describe my feeling for Hinduism than for my own wife. She moves me as no other women in the world can". The feeling of an indissoluble bond binds me to accept Hinduism though it has some faults and limitations. By religion Gandhi means self-realization. There is one reality that is God, which is nothing else, but truth. If truth is God then sincere pursuit of Truth is religion. Gandhi says, "Let me explain what I mean by religion. It is not the Hindu religionHH. But the religion, which transcends Hinduism, which changes one's very nature, which binds one indissolubly to the truth with in and which ever purifies It is the permanent element in Human nature". Thus first religion is the expression of the permanent nature of man. Goodness is present in every man. Secondly, religion has the capacity for purifying and elevating one's nature. True religious spirit is capable of changing man's nature because it is the expression of the good element present in man. Thirdly, religion has the power of arousing in man a sense of spiritual rest 374

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lessness-a kind of thirst, which enables him a true moral man. Fourthly, the religious aspiration is based on a desire and a cognitive urge to know the beyond, which means the realization of god. Fifthly, religion involves a conscious and sincere love and striving for truth. For Gandhi there is no religion higher than truth. Religion is practical because it pervades social, political, and moral aspects of our life. If everyone in the world treats religion in Gandhian thought then there cannot be any war in the name of religion. According to Gandhi, there is an underlying unity among the religions of the world. That under lying unity is the truth and non-violence. Truth is God, Non-violence is the means of realizing him. Thus belief in one god is the corner stone of all religions, which is necessary to maintain world peace. Gandhi primarily based all his social and political doctrines on the religious and spiritual view of human life. According to him politics devoid of religion is a deathtrap because it kills the soul. In Young India he wrote, " At the back of every word that I have uttered, since I have known what public life is and of every act that I have dine, there has been a religious consciousness and a down-light religious motive". For him there was no religion apart from human activity, He did not believe in any particular religion and his religion was the service of the whole humanity. Religion when particularized gives a partial outlook of life but in reality, it is a passion for love, which sees the whole world. There is one and one truth only, although it is put in different ways-"Ekam sad Vipra Bahuda Vadanti". God lives even in the smallest atom. To love god is to love His creation. Hence, Gandhi was justified to love and extended his sympathy to the lowest creature and combine religion and politics for world peace. His idea of combining religion with politics is a challenge to those political thinkers who take a partial view of human life. He admits that the thinkers and the people all over the world may differ on the conception on religion and god, they may also deny the existence of god and religion, and religion of them may appear some loathsome, but no one denies the idea of truth. That is why Gandhi inverted the phrase and said, "Truth is God", in place 'God is Truth. And truth, according to him can be realized in perfect sense through ahimsa. Our Indian history has been primarily made by spiritual individualities. His idea was of a new social order based on universal love and ahimsa. Under his thesis of new social order he discussed the idea of establishing a non-violent society and related to it his conceptions of stateless society, democracy, decentralization of economic and political powers, vama-vyavastha, and trusteeship and so on. All these ideas of Gandhi are related to the world peace and harmony. Gandhi did not formulate any philosophical principles and religious doctrine of his own. The aim of human life is to realize the spiritual basis, which is the attainment of moksa. According to him life is a unity. It cannot 375

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be divided into water tight compartment called social, political, and of religious, all act and react upon one another. Service to man is service to god. Religion is not other worldly nor does God lives in the other world. For him religion is the law of life and god is the living power. He emphasized religious and spiritual values for dynamic fulfillment of life. For Gandhi, God is truth and love, ethics and morality. Identification with God is impossible without self- purification. Moral life is necessary for spiritual purification. The idea of self-purification is a good lesson for world peace in Gandhian Thought. According to Gandhi prayer is the essence of religion. It is nothing other than the inward communication with the Divine, Gandhi said that prayer is the only means of bringing about orderliness, peace and response in our daily acts. Science has given tremendous power in the hands of man but unless it joins its hands with religion, it will wipe out the human civilization science and spirituality must go hand in hand. Mere science cannot give us real peace or happiness. Gandhi's conception of religion is capable of standing the scrutiny of science and reason on the one hand and guiding us to the new dimension of the spirit in man on the other. He has made religion revolutionary enough to meet the challenges both of science and social change. To Gandhi a free and peaceful world will emerge only when the spirituality irrigates man's personal and social life. Gandhi's religion opens his heart for his Country men. He had a dynamic and positive attitude to life. It was a synthesis of contemplation and action, of individual salvation and social concern. But there are some critics of religion. For, example, Karl Marx was highly critical of religion. According to him, "Religion the sole of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people". He says, "Kill religion. God will dead". Thus according to the Marxioan theory man has created religion for the exploitation of other human beings. Lenin also says that religion is one of the aspects of spiritual oppression. Nietzsche is an avowed atheist, an anti-Christ. He says that God is dead. In this way we find some critics of religion. Of course Marxist's view on society was true for a certain society, which prevailed in Europe at a certain time. Any extension of his view to the present society, which is a welfare society, is unwarranted. The deepest craving that religion quenches in man is the wish for cosmic peace. The social aspect of religion unites man to his fellow beings. The bond that units man to God strengthens also the bond of unity existing between man and man. This is described by Gilbert as "The basis of brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God". Moreover the various religious institutions like Church, Temple and Mosque etc established a centre of Peace among human fellowship. But in the present society the influence of religion appears to have diminished to a great extent. If every country admits the rule 376

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of truth and non-violence as taught by Gandhi then the world will run peacefully. There cannot be any war among nations if they have the feeling of tolerance and universal brotherhood. Gandhi freed India from foreign domination by the means of Truth and non-violence. His conception of God as truth is very much practical. According to Gandhi, every religion has some merits and demerits. Gandhi recommends that the attitude towards different religion must be one of tolerance and respect. He made a study of many great religious scriptures. Different religions are the different ways of apprehending the Truth. Gandhi believes that every religion contains good aspects and moral teachings. According to him all religions are good as well as bad, basically good- good in conceiving its ideal, but bad in giving rise to hatred, crusade4s and fanaticism. Gandhi's attitude towards all historical religions can be summed up by the following 3 conclusions - (1) All religions are true, (2) All religions have some error in it, (3) All religions are almost as dear to me as my own Hinduism. But Gandhi condemns some basic points of Hinduism. For ex, condemning untouchability. He says that Hinduism has sinned in giving sanction to untouchability. Again speaking against animal sacrifice he says that such acts are against the fundamental principles of Truth and Non-violence. In fact, the attitude of tolerance is derived from Hinduism especially from the Gita. Morality becomes the essence of religion. For Gandhi religion is a personal quest and a way of life. Just as a man is free to choose his own way of life, similarly a man is free to choose his own religion. Gandhi considered all religions to be equal and that formed the foundation of world peace and Harmony. Thus religion and peace go hand in hand. One cannot be imagined without the other. 377

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(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) NOTES AND RE4FERENCES Datta, D.M- The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. Patil, V.T-Studies on Gandhi. Srivatsava, R.S- Contemporary Indian Philosophy. Hick John H- Philosophy of Religion. Sen, N.B (ea) Glorious Thought of Gandhi. P. 230-231 Gandhi. M- What is Hinduism, P.1 Gandhi. M- In Search Of the Supreme. Vol.III, P.210 Vivekananda. S- The Complete Works Of Swami Vivekananda, Vol.II, P.67 Mahadevan. T. M. P, Saroja G- Contemporary Indian Philosophy. P.243 (10) Gandhi.M- Young India 378

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INDIAN CONCEPTION OF VALUES Dr.T.K.BADRINATH Man has a lot of desires. These desires are endless and of different kinds. When we make efforts to fulfill it, it is called a value. So, we are said to have "values" in life. These values play an important role in our lives. They are the foundations of our character. Values occupy a very important place in our life. "One of the distinguishing features of Indian philosophy is that, throughout its long history, it has consistently given the foremost place to values." Indian philosophy may also be described as essentially a philosophy of values. The meaning of value can be best understood by comparing it with that of another, viz. fact. The object that is seen directly or known indirectly is what we mean by a 'fact'. It is the satisfaction of desire or the achievement of ends, as the result of knowing facts that is to be understood as 'value'. The object of liking' (ista), is the Sanskrit word used for denoting the word 'value' and therefore the term 'value' may be defined as 'that which is desired'. Values have their reality only in their fulfillment, and therefore needs to be actualized before it becomes a value. It is the cognition of a fact that suggests the idea of some value. It is this idea which, through awakening a desire, leads to its realisation. "In fact, a value is entitled to be called so only when it is thus prized or appreciated by us." Value may also be defined as the object or content of desire. It is not always the end (ista) aimed at which is termed as 'value'; the means namely ista-sadhana are also described so. They can only be 'instrumental' in value, and not 'intrinsic' in value. The term 'value' is not only applied to the ends but also to its means. Thus for example, wealth is an instrumental value and the fulfillment of any of life's needs to which it leads, is an intrinsic one. Money, which is commonly taken as a means, becomes an end in itself in the case of a miser. Similarly, the satisfaction of hunger, which is of intrinsic worth, may come to be valued as a means to bodily health or power. It is very clear that the notions of fact and value are closely connected with each other. Modern pragmatism, tries to explain these facts in terms of values and pure science does the reverse. Strictly speaking science does not deny values; it only assumes a neutral tendency or attitude towards them. The truth is that both the conceptions are needed for a proper explanation of the world and the life we lead in it. Human activities are consciously directed to an end. They are values in the fullest meaning of the term and we confine our attention to them, which are described in Sanskrit as Purusarthas or what are desired by man. All these four namely, Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksha, put together are known as the Purusarthas, and they may roughly be translated in English as 'wealth', 'pleasure', 'virtue' 379

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and 'self-perfection'. We may call the former pair secular or empirical values, and the latter spiritual. Philosophy is generally concerned with the two higher values of Dharma and Moksha and the correct means to realise them; at the same time, it also considers the nature of the other two values in order to show how they are inferior. Philosophy, as conceived in India, may also be defined as a criticism of values. The Hitopadesa says that hunger, sleep, fear and sex are common to man and beasts. It is jnana that specially characterises man; and when they lack it, they become one with the beasts. Whenever man sets about the satisfaction of his needs, he necessarily knows beforehand about it. A child is not aware of the need for its food, but yet is seeks satisfaction from its mother's breast. "The presupposition of knowledge is only the distinguishing mark of values sought by man, as such, and it is they that are to be understood by the term Purushartha," says Hiriyanna. It is this idea of perfection along with that of Purushartha that makes man a spiritual being. But the awareness of it does not necessarily mean that he will work for its realisation. There is always a normative relation between the final good and a self-conscious agent.. Consciousness of higher values are lacking in most persons who cling to their lower self and instincts. It is in determining the true nature of the self that the idea of truth' and of the higher values, arises. Often the words value and ideal are thought to be similar but it is not the case so. Ideals are merely the constructions of the mind and they may or may not be achieved. On the other hand, values express an actual relationship to the purpose of the person thinking of them. The Indians speak of four fundamental values of life-namely, Kama, Artha, Dharma and Moksha. Let us explain each of these in detail. Kama means pleasure arising out of the satisfaction of sex instinct and of aesthetic taste. Life in the absence the pursuit of Kama is a burden. All Kama-desires are biological urges, which demand their satisfaction at proper times of the development of human beings. If it is not enjoyed it leads to frustration. In cases of repression, they generate various mental problems. Western psychologists like Freud and others believe that such urges are important sources of our active social life and must be given proper place in the scheme of human living. All Kama pleasures have certain emotions. When these emotions get organized they become things of satisfaction or pleasure for us. Anger, jealousy, etc., are some of the emotions which arise in our minds when the objects are not acquired by us. Kama or pleasure may be of various kinds. To cite an example we may get pleasure from listening to music, looking at a piece of art or seeing a good dance performance. "All that is beautiful is pleasant. Pleasure arising from the enjoyment of beautiful objects is Kama." 380

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There are desires that relate to the sense of beauty. Even a rustic has his own idea of beauty. The Indians believe that the idea or desire for beautiful objects is very much essential for a balanced life. "If there is no beauty in life there is no beauty in the world." But the pursuit of such desires must be within the control of man. A man, who cannot control his desires, is almost an animal. It is said that men and animals are alike in certain respects. A feeling or sense of sex, sleep, fear and eating are common to both men and animals. Already we have seen that man has different kinds of desire. There are certain desires that aim at acquisition of material objects, such as property, wealth, etc. All such desires are desires for Artha. These are desires for economic goods. If we have desires for sexual pleasure, music, and art we also have desires for getting material objects. These material objects are useful for making our lives more happier and richer. In the absence of material goods one cannot enjoy any of the pleasures of life. For example, one cannot realize his dream of building a beautiful bungalow if he does not have enough money. Kama and Artha always go together. Poverty is said to be a curse. A poor man's pleasure may sometimes be so simple that one may laugh at him. On the contrary, the rich man's pleasures are so costly that the poor man hates them. Their resources and tastes limit the pleasures of both. What is pleasure for the rich may be pain for the poor and vice-versa. For instance, drinking wine or liquor may be a necessary part of a rich man's pleasure. But the poor may hate it. The reason for this may be that the poor man has not got used to its consumption because of the lack of money. But if at a later stage he also becomes rich, he may also take to its consumption. Our tastes, values, attitudes and outlook change with circumstances. Our material resources determine all changes. On growing rich the poor man may come to like those things, which he disliked before. Kama and Artha are the values, which an ordinary man cannot give away. These relate him to the physical universe. Balbir Singh says that man in his ordinary life is the play of both Kama and Artha. The most distinguishing feature of man is his spiritual nature. It is by virtue of this nature that man differentiates himself from the animals. All animals have its purposes set for it by nature, but man alone is gifted with the capacity of conceiving different ends and acting accordingly. Eating, sleeping, a sense of fear and sexual pleasures, are all common to both man and animals. It is the sole principle of Dharma that distinguishes man from animals. Dharma came from root "dhr"- which means to uphold or to support. Therefore when we uphold a moral principle and act upon it we are said to 381

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follow Dharma. "Dharma is, then, the unconditional principle of morality," claims Balbir Singh. It is objective in appeal and universal in application. If we believe that pleasure alone is the good of our life then morality for us would simply mean the discipline as recommended by our natural self. But if the good is considered as something that is not accountable then it must be believed to consist in the realization of self. If the end is self-realization, then the means must equally be accounted for in terms of the activity. Dharma is the command or the order which the pure self (Atman) dictates to the human will. This runs very closely to the Categorical Imperative of Kant where he says that the moral worth of the action performed is to be judged by the motive with which it has been performed and not by its ends or consequences. All those actions are then representatives of Dharma, which have been motivated by the notion, or a sense of duty. The Manu speaks of two kinds of Dharma namely relative Dharma and common Dharma. The former relates to one's station of life and the latter to one's cast (varna) or stages of life (ashrama). Another distinction is recognized between general and special duties. The former are those which have a binding on all human beings alike; the latter have a binding on people of a certain class or station of life. However, the ideas behind both classifications are almost the same. It is common belief among the Indians that every man has a goal or end in life and the highest goal consists in its realization. Such a goal when attained is believed to be full of bliss and is called as Moksha. When a man reaches this state he becomes totally free from the cycle of births and deaths. He becomes immortal and is free from worldly pain and suffering. There are four main views about Moksha. They are: Moksha is reached when the soul finds itself as the very essence or truth of Brahman. In another sense Moksha is attained when the soul realizes its own inherent truth whereby it remains itself. Moksha is also attained when the soul attains the status of god. Finally the view, of Moksha as held by the Buddhists, that the highest is achieved when all that is not-self is given up. This however is a negative view. It tells us when Moksha is attained or reached. It does not tell us what it is in reality as well as in actuality. Uddyotakara considers the attainment of pleasure (sukha-prapti) or the avoidance of pain (duhkha-prapti) as a value, that is pleasure or absence of pain is the only value according to him. According to Uddyotakara, "What is desired is always pleasure or freedom from pain." Pain or the loss of pleasure is always considered as a 'disvalue'. Moksha is the summum bonum of life and is the highest good. It is the ultimate experience that a man can get. Although all Indian philosophers agree that Moksha can be attained, they differ in an important aspect. Some, like Ramanuja, take the view that it can be attained only after this life, while others like Shankara asserts that it is attainable even here in this present world and not necessarily after death. 382

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This is a distinction, which is of great importance in the history of Indian thought which is to be borne in our mind. There can be no doubt that, like so much else in the world, the conception of value also has undergone important changes in the course of time. There is something unique in the constitution of human nature. This something is the conception of the ideal life, which, as already stated, is intrinsic to the nature of man, and accounts for all his feelings. Whatever is the means of satisfying any of the needs of man is said to have instrumental value and the number of such values are almost infinite. All of them can be brought under the head of Artha; and the ends they serve to, under that of Kama. Both are useful and represent what we have classified as lower values. Instrumental values are precarious and intrinsic values are unstable according to an old Sanskrit work, which however is debatable. Dharma and Moksha are two values that occupy a higher level in every man's life. One never fails to fetch its fruit; and the other is, in itself, eternally satisfying. Reference 1. M.Hiriyanna, Indian conception of values.p.1 Ibid.p.3 If we describe this appreciation as a value judgement, it is clear that it is not the same as a judgement in the purely logical sense. To say, e.g. that sugar is sweet is not the same as saying 'I like sugar'. Ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam ca samanyam etad pasubhir naranam jnanam hi tesam adhiko visesah jnanena hinah pasavo bhavanti. Jnana here stands for 'reflective consciousness'. Dharma is a variant reading, which implies the same capacity. Indian conception of values, op.cit.p.7 Balbir Singh, Principles of Ethics p.274. Ibid.p.275. Ibid. Ibid.p.276. For the sake of simplicity of treatment, we shall hereafter speak only of pleasure and not of the absence of pain also; but what is said of the one will, with appropriate changes, apply also to the other. 383

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CONFLICT RESOLUTION - THE GANDHIAN WAY - Dr. S. Indira Humanity has entered into the new millennium. The important task before the humankind is maintaining tolerance and keeping the world at peace. In fact Twentieth century is the era of wars, revolutions, violence and crises. This is because of the unending quest for power among the individuals and nations. The competition for power is an undeniable part of human existence in the modern world. It is in the process of transition from the industrial civilization to the post-industrial civilization with its heavy emphasis on science and technology. In spite of significant material advancement made by man, crisis and instability have become the order of the day. The quest for peace has become the continuous process. This is mainly due to the differences of opinions and also due to the aberrations in the thinking and attitudes of the individuals. The differences between the individuals lead to the quarrels between the groups in society led to civil war and between the states led to war. It became one of the paradoxes of the present century. Conflicts are inherent in a rapidly changing society. The history of the world reveals that it has been the aim of every monarch to wage war, expand his dominions with a view to establish an empire and to be called emperor. Wars have been conducted for the sake of wealth and material profit. Even the twentieth century has seen the treacherous greed of nations and their leaders to conquer and rule over others. With the advancement of science, wars have become more and more brutal and devastating. Various attempts made for the abandonment of wars and establishment of peace also found in the history. The Buddha preached the message of ahimsa and compassion. Ashoka followed Buddha's path of peace. Jesus Christ also preached the message of love, forgiveness and peace. In addition to this, the persistence of terrorism, nationalism and consumerism have emerged as challenges facing the entire global community. The modern international terrorism with its complex network of funding, arms purchase and supply, training and planning makes the life of the people more miserable. It has provoked a global consensus condemning terrorism in all its forms. Almost thirteen international conventions agreed to work against terrorism. In fact international cooperation is the key to combat terrorism as a global problem. With multinational entities like European Union and other regional and global organizations also started working against terrorism. The United Nations was established with the hope of eliminating war and terrorism and ushering the global cooperation of freedom, peace and human rights. The dangers arise from the support for terrorism by some countries or groups lead to the international rivalries. It can also be self-destructive as terrorist groups created for specific purpose may strike back even at their own creators. The Taliban financed by CIA against the 384

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Soviet invaders in Afghanistan, transformed themselves into ne extremist force and harboured Bin Laden and incubated global terrorism against U.S.A and others. With in South Asia, Indira Gandhi's short sighted policy of encouraging Bhindranwale as a counter to the Akali Dal's dominance in Punjab led to Sikh terrorism and her own assassination. Like this there are many examples, but the lessons are not learned properly. The unbridled nationalism of some countries is in conflict with the common interest of stamping out terrorism in terms of UNO's strategies. Terrorism and extremism are not confined only to Sri Lanka. It's a growing menace witnessed in the region over the past three and half decades. Regional cooperation among the South Asian nations were sought to resolve many issues. Today, terrorism is the main issue that should be put on the top of the agenda. The fifteenth SAARC Summit in Colombo is an opportunity to give priority to find ways and means to eliminate the menace of terrorism. At the inaugural Summit in Dhaka, 1985, all leaders of the seven nations declared, "Leaders of the South Asian countries reaffirmed their commitment to the UN charter and the principles governing sovereign equality of states, peaceful settlement of disputes, noninterference in internal affairs and non-use or threat of use of force. Terrorism is defined as 'criminal' according to SAARC declaration. After SAARC was born, the region has lost leaders who represented SAARC summits due to extremist or terrorist acts. The first to go in an unexplained air crash was the Pakistani President General Zia UL Haq popularly known as Gen. Zia. The late Pakistani President was a member of the British Indian Army Cavalry Regiment who served the Second World War in 1943. Rajeev was the Indian architect of the Indo-Srilanka accord with the President Jayewardene in July 1987, that paved the way for the presence of Indian troops on the soil to battle the LTTE at a later stage. The killing of Gandhi was a warning to India by the LTTE. But the main culprit, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran who masterminded the killing of Gandhi, also killed thousands of troops. He is still hiding in the thick jungles of Mullaitivu, in the small island of Srilanka. After killing Rajeev Gandhi in 1991, the LTTE assassinated the second executive President of Srilanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa who was inspecting his May day rally in 1993. Premadasa also served his nation as the eleventh prime minister for eleven years. President Premadasa at the time of his tragic death was battling the LTTE after peace talks with the terrorist group failed a year before his death. The LTTE as usual made its military build up using the peace talks and the ceasefire to the Premadasa's administration. The second woman leader in the SAARC region and also the first woman Prime minister of a Muslim country, who killed by the extremists at an election. rally in the last December was the former Pakistan Prime minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto. Ms. Bhutto represented her country at the SAARC summit. She weathered the political storm in her country for three decades, went into exile and returned in November 2007 only to be killed a month later. So terrorism and extremism have taken the lives of four prominent leaders who represented 385

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SAARC. The year 1991 and the Colombo declaration were of significance to the region. Sri Lanka President Ranasinghe Premadasa, whose Nation badly hit by LTTE terrorism focused on the danger posed to the region by terrorism in the respective member states. Thus all the Heads of states or the governments expressed serious concern on the spread of terrorism in the region, that affecting the security and stability of all member states and unequivocally condemned such acts, methods and practices of terrorism. They recognized that cooperation among SAARC nations was vital if terrorism was to be prevented and eliminated from the region. In this regard they urged the member states to take all necessary measures to give full effect to their obligations under the SAARC regional convention on suppression of terrorism. They stressed in particular, the urgent need for expeditious enactment of enabling legislation by those member states which had not yet done so, for the implementation of convention and the need for a constant dialogue and interaction among the concerned agencies of member states, including the submission of periodic recommendations to the council of ministers. The leaders of the seven nations of SAARC who met in Dhaka in 1993 for the seventh summit stressed the need to give high priority to the enactment of enabling legislation at the national level to give to the SAARC convention of the suppression of terrorism urging all members states to make every effort to finalize the matter before the eighth SAARC summit. The eighth summit was held in New Delhi (May 2-4), 1995. Though two years lapsed after expressing grave concern calling for the urgent enactment of the convention for suppression of terrorism, all member states appeared to have overlooked that the urgent call made by the leaders at the previous summit. Once again at the New Delhi summit, the leaders called for the urgent need to have it done. All leaders were aware of the growing menace of terrorism in the region which had claimed the lives of a Pakistani President, an Indian Prime minister and also the Sri Lankan President who represented their respective nations at SAARC summits. They were also aware of the threat posed on all incumbent leaders of SAARC nation as a result of terrorism. In the tenth SAARC summit, all leaders once again stressed the need to observe and implement the SAARC Regional convention for the suppression of terrorism. In the eleventh summit, all leaders reiterated their support to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 of September 28, 2001 and affirmed their determination to redouble efforts, to collectively as well as individually to prevent and suppress terrorism in all its forms. All declarations issued and conventions signed should not be allowed to look dormant. It is an urgent and appropriate that SAARC should adopt a practical system to address urgent issues confronted by member states if all eight nations are to uphold the policy of peace in the region. No member or the state should turn a blind eye when the security of another member state is threatened by terrorism. The SAARC convention of terrorism, should not be confined to the cupboard. There is an urgent need to transform the South Asian region into a zone of 386

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peace. For that, all member states should work collectively to eradicate terrorism. It is the time that all SAARC leaders make a meaningful, practical and worthy contribution to face the challenge of terrorism in this region. Ways to create Sustainable Culture of Peace: Generally peace begins with the harmony among the people. It is a relationship among the people and also between the nations. Perhaps, it can be considered as one of the techniques to solve the conflict resolution. Efforts have been started in the nineteenth century to resolve the conflicts. Besides political factors, other factors like spiritual, moral and intellectual factors also stimulated the search for a practical solution to the problem of International peace. In this context, I propose some options to establish permanent peace. They are: 1. Limitation of the destructive and anarchical tendencies of International politics. 2. Transformation of international politics by eliminating its destructive tendencies altogether. 3. Accommodation of divergent interests in respect of international politics with rational objectives. The establishment of peace is possible through other devices like disarmament, collective security and judicial agencies. Diplomacy has also served the purpose of conflict resolution. Collective security assumes that the community of nations would provide its members with security through collective action. Perhaps there are certain difficulties in the collective action. Collective security presupposes a moral transformation which makes the individual nations to forego their national egoism. The first attempt of disarmament agreement occurred in 1816 between the Tsar of Russia and the British Government. Throughout nineteenth century many such moves were made. Judicial agencies have been devised as the means to preserve peace. A permanent court of international justice was established in 1919. These agencies came into existence basing on the assumption that these will be available for arbitration between opposing parties in conflict and war. How ever, experiences proved that these judicial agencies were unable to cope with the issues relating to change of legal order and the incidence of war could not be reduced by their effort. The UNO Security council and league of Nations etc., were set up to facilitate peaceful change in the national systems as well as in the international scene. But they are also proved to be ineffective. Only the world government seems to be the plausible alternative. The key to world peace lies in the development of an economy which is peaceful by nature, which does not produce the stress and lead to war. It's essence is co-operative living. It transforms every human and social function and 387

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gives rise to an economy, which fulfils the needs of the man and also the whole humanity. The major causes of the international friction in the modern world could be removed by the through understanding and also by the counseling. Peace can be built among the individuals or groups on the basis of mutual trust and respect. The peace treaties should born with trust rather than fear. If the nations truly aspire for peace, they ought to build themselves on the principles of non-violence. Because, non-violent nations do not require peace treaties. They are the very basis of peace from which peace spreads and pervades the rest of the world. The possibility of the permanent peace depends upon the human nature. Human nature is essentially peace loving. The way of world peace lies in cultivating the spirit of non-violence and peace in the hearts of the people. As the individuals are built, so the nations are built. As the nations are built, so the world is built. Because, "There is not one law for the atom and another for the universe". 1. Bibliography Karl Jaspers, The future of Mankind (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961) p.28. Kingsley Martin, War, History, and Human Nature(Bombay:Asia Publishing house, 1959) P. 77 K.S.Murthy and A.C. Bouquet, Studies in the problems of peace, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1960, p.65 M.K. Gandhi, Non-violence in Peace and War, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, p.82&83 4. 5. M.K: Gandhi, Non-violence in Peace and War, Vol.2, p.93 388

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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL RELIGION - Dr. H.L.CHANDRASHEKARA I take this opportunity to extend my deep thankfulness to Acharya Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri Felicitation Volume Committee, for giving me a privilege to contribute this small article on the occasion of Prof. Y.S. Shastri's felicitation. Acharya Prof. Shastri is known for his deep scholarship both in eastern and western philosophy and also his broad mindedness and benevolence, a very rare blend to watch these days. Hence I express my immense gratitude to the committee for involving me in whatever minute way the great job of felicitating Acharya Prof. Y.S. Shastri. The paper is a humble attempt to bring out Swamy Vivekananda's views on religion. The problem is highly intricate one in the wake of unsavoury incidents happening in the name of religion. Hence a modern man sees irrelevancy in the very religion itself and for him religion is the other word for superstition and irrationality leading to all sorts of social conflicts. Swamiji himself is aware of the problem. According to him no other human motive has deluged the world with blood so much as religion. Similarly no other force has influenced humanity as religion has done. Hence the question is whether we should totally discard religion itself. Or is it possible for us to totally do away with religion? Swamiji's answer to this question is in the negative. According to him religion is so much deeply rooted in man as he cannot discard it all of a sudden. To expect one to give up religion is as good as expecting Ganges to return to its origin and flow in a new path. Both are impossible. Swamiji says, "For good or bad the ideal of Dharma has been flowing in our country continuously from time immemorial. It has pervaded our blood and environment and is vibrating in our nerves". Now if one cannot do away with religion, this obviously leads to another question as to what religion is and as to what form of it is needed to man. Swamiji views religion in two ways viz. religion as an end and religion. as means. That means according to him religion is both Sadhya and Sadhana. By religion as end he means the Supreme experience or the highest realization of oneself as identical with Supreme self. In short, according to Swamiji Religion is Realization. By religion as means, Swamiji means different paths or sects leading to self-realisation. According to Swamiji there cannot be any single path to self-realisation and any attempt to bring the entire humanity to one sect would be futile. Because one cannot think in the same way as other does. If it were so, there would be no new thought at all. Motion is produced only when two or more forces come into collision. Whirls and eddies occur only in a living stream and not in stagnant water. Similarly it is clash of different thoughts that awakes new thought. 389

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It is in this context Swamiji criticizes religious conversion. Because it tries to suppress man's individuality of thinking. Normally man resorts to two ways while converting one to his own religion. One, the way of savage viz violence and bloodshed. Swamiji quotes in this context a preacher in New York, saying that Fillipinos should be conquered because it is the only way of teaching Christianity to them. The second way is still more terrible viz social ostracism. Both are horrible and irrational. Swamiji says, "If I am a rational man, I should be glad that others do not think as I do". Thus Swamiji not only affirms the necessity of religion or sect, but also varieties of sects. Because according to him variation is the sign of life and absence of it the sign of death. In this regard he thanks God for the existence of many religions and even prays that there would be as many sects as human beings. However one thing should be remembered. When Swamiji stresses the importance of collision he does not mean physical collision. Diversity according to him should not lead to social conflict. Swamiji is in favour of sects, but he is not in favour of sectarianism. Because sectarianism involves narrow feeling that one's religion is great and that others' are low. Swamiji feels a sense of urgency in eliminating this unwanted and equally dangerous element from religion. Ofcourse every religion has its own book, rituals and mythology. But these are only external encasements in which great thoughts are embedded. Every religion has a soul behind it. For instance renunciation constitutes the soul of Hinduism. Service to downtrodden constitutes the essence of Christianity. Islam emphasizes the spirit of brotherhood. An ideal or universal religion should assimilate all these features within itself. It should include within itself Shankara's Advaita, Ramanuja's Bhakti and Buddha's humanism. In this context Swamiji's observation on Hinduism and Buddhism may not be out of place. He gives two reasons for misunderstanding between Hindus and Buddhists. Firstly Hindus did not develop catholic attitude towards Buddhists. Secondly Buddhists themselves did not understand Buddha's teaching properly. According to Swamiji Buddha was a great Vedantin who brought Advaita to masses. He taught no God, but gradually Buddhist converts corrupted his teachings by bringing their own gods and devils to Buddhism. Swamiji compared Hindus and Buddhists to Jesus and Christians. Jesus was a Jew whereas Buddha was a Hindu. Both came to continue the glorious tradition of Sanatana Dharma. Both of them had a constructive purpose of uplifting the downtrodden. But there was one difference. Jews rejected Jesus whereas Hindus included Buddha within their fold and glorified him as an incarnation. In any case, an ideal religion should include within it the merits of all religions and reject demerits. Broadly it should avoid two things viz weak excitement and superstition. Both are dangerous. But the latter is more dan 390

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gerous than former. Because excitement is only momentary, but blind superstition eats up the very root of a community. Swamiji calls such religions shop-keeping religions. Here God instead of becoming the goal of man's life, becomes means of man's selfishness. There are various grades of mind. A philosopher for instance may feel shallowness in external rituals and may like only such things as appealing to his intellect. A man with aesthetic bent of mind may need a great deal of art in his worship viz colours, flowers, forms, lights etc. A Mohammeden may be against all sorts of idolatries. However each one has a place in religion. An ideal or universal religion must be capable of supplying intellectual strength to a philosopher, marvelous symbolism to a ritualist and imagination to a poet. Swamiji's watchword is acceptance and not exclusion. By acceptance he means heartful worshipping of all religions. He does not even relish the word "religious toleration". For, the latter implies accepting wrongness of a religion with great reluctance. It signifies, "you are wrong, yet I am allowing you to live". Such a cold acceptance of a religion for the sake of courtesy and rejecting it in mind is according to Swamiji, blasphemy. For no religion in its true spirit can be wrong. All religions represent varied perspectives of approaching the same reality. We look at the reality in accordance with our environment and dispositions, but the reality is same. There is difference in perspective, but not in the thing in itself. The paper can thus be concluded with a great saying of Swamiji. "We take in all that has been in the past, enjoy the light of the present and open every window of the heart for the future. Salutation to all the prophets of the past, all the great ones of the present and to all that are to come in the future". 391

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Comparing and Contrasting the Representation of Women in the Works of Select Black Male Writers and Black Female Writers - Dr. Nutan Damor I would like to begin my paper by saying that we are living in the best of times. Even in the midst of natural and man-made disasters like cyclones, earthquakes, global warming and terrorism, there are moments of triumph for the people living in the margins of the mainstream cultures. It is the time for these marginals to claim their stake at the center. The PostColonial world has opened up the possibilities for the downtrodden people to speak out and establish their identities. Every nation, society, community and even family has its own marginals. Hence, all these units have witnessed some kind of resistance in the last century. Women have been marginalized not only within the society and community but also within the four walls of the family system. Patriarchy has systematically confined women within the walls of the family using religion and culture as its major tools. Women and their representation in the works written by male authors has been an area of debate since a long time. Women have felt that men have not made any conscious effort to depict the true picture of womenkind in their literature. Most of the times women characters are represented quite marginally, that too, only in relation to the male protagonists. Like in all the walks of life, the world of literature was also male-dominated. Whether it is Shakespeare or Hemingway women are almost invisible. Women are a marginal group without whom no literature is possible but yet their representation is far from true. Black women in American Literary world have fared no better. It was only towards late 1960's that Black women writers began to challenge the stereo-typical representation of the American Black women. Till then Black women were written about by either the White writers or the Black male writers. Black women were presented either as "mammies"- an allloving, all caring, untouched or rather appreciative of the highly oppressive racist environment- or as a mere secondary presence in the lives of the Black men. Neither of these representations gave the real picture of the Black women. Her life was never chronicled in its entirety, her pains, her losses, her triumphs, her survival tactics found no expression. Black male authors like Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, and Alex Haley have no strong women characters. They have been concentrating only on racism and its ill-effects on the entire Black community, and women being a part of the community their presence was also felt but not highlighted. Women were present only to be raped and murdered. A classic example of this kind of portrayal is James Weldon Johnson's novel titled The Conjure Woman, 392

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though the title has a 'woman' in it the protagonist is a Black man named Uncle Julius, who entertains a white couple from North with his horror stories, and the funny part is that the evil is essentially a Black woman. Authors like Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright have described in detail the invisibility of Black man in White America and have assumed that they have expressed all the ailments of their community. They have vehemently refused to acknowledge the existence of sexism in the lives of the Black women. Their target audience was White, and so there was no need for them to please the Black women. Henry Louis Gates Jr. quotes Anna Julia Cooper who writes: One muffled strain in the Silent South, a jarring chord and a vague and uncomprehended cadenza has been and still is the Negro. And of that muffled chord, the one mute and voiceless note has been the sadly expectant Black WomanH. The "other side" has not been represented by one who "lives there". And not many can more sensibly tell the weight and fret of the "long dull pain" than the open-eyed but hitherto voiceless Black Women of America (Gates 01). The era in which most of the Black Protest literature was produced was the beginning of the Black Aesthetics movement. It coincided with the Black Power Movement which tried to establish the identity of the Black men as powerful men in contrast to their image of powerless non-entities. This movement tried to not only established the Black men in the White world but also mark the supremacy of the Black men over the Black women. It was only the coming of Black women writers that gave the true picture of their unsung sisters. Women writers like Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Ann Petry, and Toni Cade Bambara have beautifully brought out the pain, the struggle and the triumphs of Black women in America. It was not only sexism that they portrayed in their works but also the racism suffered by them. Black women writers are the most prolific group of writers in today's literary world. Zora Neale Hurston was a name not known till lately because there was no effort to fid out whether there were any Black women writers. It was Alice Walker who brought Zora out of oblivion. Zora's work titled Their Eyes were Watching God (1937) deals with the story of a woman called Janie who refuses to comply with the role decided for her by the Patriarchy. Janie decides her own fate and is ready to bear the consequences. She knew that her marriage was not working out and so she dreamt of some other unseen man: She found that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him, and numerous emotions she had never let Jody know about. Things packed up and put away in parts of her heart where he could never find 393

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them. She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an inside and an outside and suddenly she knew how not to mix them (Hurston 113). Black women as actual live human-beings with a hoard of feelings were presented way back in 1937, but this portrayal was conveniently lost by both the White and Black literary traditions. It was upon the later Black women writers like Alice Walker to bring out the magnificence of such hidden gems. In recent times writers like Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou have given us true picture of the life of the Black women. Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye is truly worthy of the Nobel Prize for literature as it does not only break the Beauty Myth but also expresses the anguish of the Black women in their own homes. Alice Walker is one writer who has successfully depicted the Black women in her works. All her works beginning for Third Life of Grange Copeland to her last fiction titled Now is the Time to Open Your Heart chronicles the various stages of growth of the Black women during the last four decades. Walker's The Color Purple gives us the picture of the Black women living the rural areas. Celie is representative of all those women who have not been able to express their horrors at being made to face atrocities at the hands of their own men. Hurston's and Walker's protagonists have been able to survive because they have fallen back on the shared knowledge of their female predecessors. Emma J. Waters Dawson writes: Yet, in both novels the black female protagonist's principal source of strength appears to be the knowledge, gained through experience, that suf fering seems the maternal legacy of the African-American woman, and that survival is effective revenge for the pain (Dawson 70). The Black male writers have not been able to see the power of their women folks so they have missed out in depicting it in their works. Just as Blacks have been invisible to the Whites in the same way Black women have been invisible for the Black men. Black female writers had to first prove that they existed and then they could talk about their lives. Alice Walker's Womanist theory was also a part of this effort, wherein she not only gave the Black-Feminist theory but also traced the long-lost creative tradition of the Black American women. Black women created literature that brought them out of their homes and put them up for the contemplation of the entire world. Mary Washington writes: Their literature is about black women; it takes the trouble to record the thoughts, words, feelings, and deeds of black women, experiences that make the realities of being black in America look very different from what men have written. There are no women in this tradition hibernating in dark 394

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holes contemplating their invisibility; there are no women dismembering the bodies or crushing the skulls of either women or men; and few, if any, women in the literature of black women succeed in heroic quests without the support of other women or men in their communities. Women talk to other women in this tradition (Washington 7) This quotation from Washington perfectly brings out the reason for the Black women to become writers and do justice to their Black sisters. Upcoming writers like Rebecca Walker bring with them the promise of taking the work of their literary mothers to another level. Black women's voices are no longer going to remain silent and their stories are going to be heard and appreciated by many more people the world over is a sure sign of the present times. The best part about these writers is that they are now writing not to please anybody but themselves. They are not concerned whether they are accepted or not they write what they wish to write not what others wish to hear. Works Cited: Dawson, Emma. "Redemption Through Redemption of the Self" in Lillie Howard ed. Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston: The Common Bond. Westport. Connecticut, 1993. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Urbana: University of Illinios Press, 1978. Gates, Henry Loius Jr. The Signifying Monkey. Theory of Afro-American Literacy Criticism. OUP. New York, 1988. Washington, Mary Helen. "An Essay on Alice Walker in Roseann Bell., Bettye J. Parker and B. Guy Sheftall Ed. Study Black Bridges : Vision of Black Women in Literature. Anchor Books. New York. 1979. 395

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SUFI SPIRITUALITY AND UNIVERSAL HARMONY: A RATIONAL APPROACH IN SOCIO-CULTURAL VIEWPOINT - Dr. Md. Sirajul Islam It is generally believe that the present age is an age of science. But I am not at one in this view. In my opinion, the present age is an age of science and humanism both. It seems to me that the later one is much more important in this ultra modern society because it is related to our existence. The former one is related to our progress where as the later is keenly entangled with our existence and our existence are much more rudimentary than our progress because our progress presupposes our existence. It is also true that without progress the development of this world seems nullification and futile. Therefore, now there is an enormous debate between the two terms, i.e. science and human harmony and people are thinking deliberately, which one is much more radical? Some say science and human harmony are antagonistic to each other and one is pole apart from another. Hence, one is entirely different from the other. I think it is not correct, rather both are complementary to each other. Although human harmony has diversified forms, however, religious humanism becomes popular day by day due to its harmonious appeal. In my viewpoint it is the last hope to save the humanity. Religious humanism does not mean a prayer in the lonely cell or embracing monastic life. Religious humanism stresses upon the inner abysses of religion that is the cream of religious harmony which is deeply associated with human harmony. There is a tremendous crisis of human harmony in our present society. People are much more fascinated to the superficial strueture of religion and generally the inner propensities of religion are eluded. This inner abyss signifies trans-empirical outlook of religion which is purely transcendental and spiritual too. Spirituality in not the monopoly of religion only rather it is continuous movement of human heart. Many scientists discarded spirituality as a subject of dogmatism and claim that it indulges pessimism. But the world famous scientist Albert Einstein says: there are many dazzling instances in the universe which are not easily apprehend able those are highly mystical, hence their interpretation need specific understanding which can be treated as spiritual for their specific understanding. Some others say spirituality is inevitable because materialism and spiritualism are the two sides of the same coin. Every element of the universe has two sides, i.e. external and internal. Science deals the external side of this element associated with the matter, where as spirituality is mainly conscious for internal aspect of that element which is basically related with the spirit. Therefore, they believe, spirituality possesses a universal character like science. There is no basic difference between these two, both are interrelated and the quest for knowledge and truth. However, their approaches are different. Scientist is mainly concerned for worldly satiation and aspiration, 396

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where as spiritualist are concerned about individual tranquility, physical balance in maintaining disciplined life as well as the global peace and harmony for all that are the essential needs of our present society. Though both science and spirituality are the seeker of truth, however, their methodologies, practices, motivations and mode of thinkings are varied but their goal is same. Meanwhile, it will not be illegitimate to say that the range and scope of spirituality is much wider than that of science. Spirituality encompasses all elements in its fold, it is not restricted in any particular range of geography rather it is perennial, universal and global. Even at present most of the scientists are agreed that spirituality is unavoidable, it mainly concerned about the spirit as opposed to the matter. It is not merely an occasional or sporadic experience but vast and global possession of knowledge or wisdom without any limit. Generally it is obvious to us that each and every particle of the universe is composed of two elements, i.e. spirit and mater. Science activities are basically related to matter but spirituality is conscious mainly about the spirit and at the same time it bridges the gulf between these two. Spirituality does not mean a complete dissociation from the matter and the material life, rather spirituality achieved consciousness after following the systematic research on the subject. It is generally believe that spirituality means a complete detachment from the mundane life and society but is fully an erroneous decision. If it is accepted as true then spirituality will be totally valueless and it will not be beneficial for human being and the society. Spirituality is a process of universal harmony where different religions and scientific approaches are work harmoniously. Now the people are aware that inner aspect of the element is much more important than the external aspect of the things. Spirituality is something deeper and beyond matter, mind, life and intellect but at the same time it integrates all these in a single knot. Yajnavalka in the Upanisahads probably claim first concerning the spirit and proclaims: "the spirit (self) my dear, has to be actually perceived - it has to be heard about reflected on and meditated upon". (ii;iv-5) 1 Scientifically it is proved that knowledge can be attained through many ways, like, common sense, perception, inference, comparison, testimony, reason, intuition, revelation and so on. But the superiority of the last two is much more vivid. Intuition is the direct apprehension, acquired by the spiritualists after elimination of ego and doubt and revelation is the voice of the Reality, gifted to some chosen persons to emancipate entire humanity and establish perfect harmony in the universe. In Indian Philosophy the intuitive knowledge is called Sakshyat jnanam (direct knowledge) as Para or Adhyatma Vidya and the knowledge gained by the science is called Apara or Bhautika Vidya. The spiritual tradition of India rests on the well-known system of sravana (hearing), manana (reflection) and nididhyasana (meditation). Intuitive knowledge is related to the last and playing its role in the society in cater ting the needs of the global harmony. There is another erro 397

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neous belief that spirituality is the sole property of religion, but it is no true. Spirituality whenever understood as a sole property of religion is contaminated and fiercest fanaticism, persecution, apathy and imprisonment. Religion in its true form must be understood on spiritual aspect, but it does not mean that spirituality is the monopoly of religion. In broader sense spirituality means an inner uplift for the individual as well as the entire humanity. It helps to attain perfection in human life. Spirituality deals for pious and well disciplined life, where knowledge is free from all bias, mind is without fear and the notion of each for all and all for each are deeply entangled with its nature to establish harmony in the society. Universal harmony is not possible until and unless the people become good. It is the inherent propensity of human being to live in peace and perfect tranquility. Now the world is over crowded but there is an enormous crisis of good human being. Spirituality teaches us, how you will be a good human being? A spiritual personality never confined itself for his own benefit rather his utmost endeavor is to discharge love, fellow feelings and philanthropic attitudes towards all in the global way. Though science has made unimaginable inventions and discoveries for the service of mankind and also to enrich limitless altruism, however, it supplies monstrous weapons for total destruction of human civilization. Therefore, it is now well recognized that the development of science should supplemented by discharging unsurpassed love as well as the tremendous development of human goodness. In India, the cardinal principles of spirituality are the limitless pleasure (Bhumaiva Shukham) and peace for all (Sarvam Sukham), it is not merely an individual pleasure and peace but for global peace and pleasure. Before the discussion on Sufi spirituality and universal harmony it is needful to delineate something about Sufism. Therefore, at the out set we will discuss in nutshell about Sufism and then we will proceed to the other points of the topic. Sufism : Sufism is a mystico-philosophical trend in Islam. A Sufi is always aspiring to attain knowledge of the Reality through the unsurpassed love and friendship with Him. It believes that the main intention of the human being is to attain Divine wisdom (marifah) that elevates him to acquire Truth (Haq) and harmony in the life. Sufis claim these are highly metaphysical in nature. Like Socrates they propagate the view that knowledge of self-means to know thy-self and that is the most valuable saying of them. In the course of time for establishing universal harmony Sufism extended its wings and mixed up with other faiths, philosophy and literatures that ultimately changed the shape of Sufism. In the Western region, many people accepted Islam those who were belonged to Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhists etc. and 398

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they inhabited in the various towns of Persia, Syria, Egypt and Mesopotamia. At that period these regions were the main centers of Neo-Platonism. The influence of Greek and Christian thoughts and philosophies are discernible in the sayings of the reputed Sufis. It is worthy to mention that the Greek wisdom flowed towards the Muslim east through Harran and Syria. The Syrian took special initiative to accept Greek speculations, i.e. Neo-Platonism has transmitted to the Muslim society. Both Plato and Aristotle are popular in Muslim community even today. Now we perceive through the Arab chronicles where they recognized the superiority of thoughts on Indian medicines, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. Sufis are not satisfied only for these thoughts they are similarly interested to gather know ledges on metaphysical subjects and that are the main concern of them. Ba Yazid al Bistami, a celebrated Sufi learnt metaphysics and spirituality from his teacher Abu Ali Sindi who was Indian in origin. The pantheistic concept (hama ust) is originally Vedantic concept and the Sufi concept of Fana is highly resembled to Buddhist Nirvana. Sufis are very much conscious to attain the know ledges on metaphysical elements, like God, soul, concept of love, mystery of the life and the Universe etc. They say the ideas of God's grace, goodness, beauty, truth etc. are metaphysical characters and the sole basis of our realization and apprehension. The concept of love is beautifully epitomized as "Love is not to be learned from me, it is one of God's gifts and comes of His grace". 2 Therefore, Sufis are falling in dichotomy in defending their faith in one hand and on the other; they are reconciling it with Islam which is a very difficult task for them. The spiritual aspect of Islam is based on simplicity and good deal of life. Here a spiritual anchorite is aspiring for absolute communication with divine Reality for attaining Truth and harmony of life. The hypothesis on which it rests is the human soul and divine soul becomes united with unflinching transcendental pleasure or bliss. In Arabia, Islamic spirituality was generally known as "Tasawwufa", which later on popularly acquainted as "Sufism" in Persian land. After the admixture of Sufism with Islam it has got special impetus in the Islamic fold and became popular among the common Muslim masses. The traditions of Prophet Muhammad(s) made some special impact upon them in addition to their specific codifies and principles and Sufis were wanted to exist within the protection of Islam so that they can avail same status in it. The emergence of Prophet Muhammad(s) changed the socio-religious life of entire Middle East and took a new shape disparaging irrational bigotries in human life and society as well. He worked and served for all and propagated his messages towards all without any discrimination of caste, creed and culture. Before the emergence of Islam, almost the whole Persia was of the Zoroastrian faith although there were some Jews, some Christians and some spiritual mystics. According to some scholars that the people of last section were engaged in esoteric practices which followed 399

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the inner truth in every Semitic religious traditions. During the period o devotion an anchorite is come nearer to God. The supreme goal of a Sufi mystic is same as the mystics of other religions. Their utmost call for God basically an establishment of unsurpassed loving relationship between Divinity and devotee, which is highly resemble to the premalila of the Vaisnavite cult of Hinduism. The summum bonum of the Sufi anchorite is to unite his finite soul with the infinite Entity, which is called in Sufi terminology, as 'Fana - Fillah' (annihilation in God) and 'Baga - Billa' (persistence in God) as an everlasting fellowship. Therefore, Sufism is an inner (batin) movement of soul by which the finite/ carnal soul becomes pure and perfect through the systematic training and exercises. He believes, God shows His majesty upon him in order to test the sweetness of the spiritual faith and love. In broader aspect, Sufism has four successive stages, like- shariat, tariqat, marifat and haqiqa and one stage is sharply distinct to another. Shariat is the starting point but not final. In the final stage the distinction between divinity and devotee is not apprehend able just like the intense love of the lover and beloved, in this stage a Sufi is unable to catch their difference because in ecstatic moment he completely dye in the color of the Divinity and as a result of that the distinction between creature and creator is being disappeared and the anchorite feels perfect harmony in his mind. In this stage a Sufi is conscious for inner and transcendental aspects of life not superficial an external aspects. This notion is perceived in the sayings of the notable Sufi of Persia Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi as - "ekhtelaf-e khala aj nam uftad chun be ma'anyraft aran uftad aj nazar gah ast aye magaz ujud ekhtelaf - e- mumin wa gabar wa yahud" i.e. The difference among creatures comes from the outward form (nam) When we penetrate into the inner meaning (ma'na) there is peace. Oh! Marrow of existence! It is because of the point of view in question that there has come into being differences among the Muslim, Zoroastrian and Jew. Sufism is spiritual journey; it is a journey from mundane sphere to the heavenly sphere. It is therefore, necessary to examine man's relation with the Reality that surrounds him in the light of the question of change and permanence. His process of becoming is self-evident. Contemporary man bewildered concerning the sense of permanence in relation to the universe and Reality. 400

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A Sufi is a human being. They believe that Man is the highest creation of the universe; hence he has some greater responsibilities towards all creatures. Man and his position in Islam as well as in Sufism is a subject of endless controversies. Some say man is considered as the vicegerent of God (khalifah tullah) in the world. Some others also are saying that man is a slave of God (bandah), 5 hence, he is nothing but an instrument of eternal fate. According to the holy Quran man was created by the hands of God (khalaqal Adama beyadehi) and he gave him life and spirit by breathing into him with His own breath (nafaktu mirruhi alal adama).' He (God) created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood. In another verse He again depicts the same idea as Man We did create from a quintessence of clay then We placed him as a (drop of) sperm in a place of rest firmly fixed; then We made the sperm into congealed blood; & then of that clot we made a (fetus) lump; then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh. The lowly origin of the animal in man is with the high destiny offered to him in his intellectual, moral and spiritual nature by his most bountiful creator. Again the holy Quran says, and we will show them Our signs in the horizons and in themselves. 10 In the Tradition the Prophet maintains, He (God) created Adam in His image (Khalaqal Adam' ala suratihi) 11 and He taught Adam the names and became master of all creatures. He is composed of body, mind and soul and each need to be integrated on its own free will, love and the power of individuation. Although, the body is a most outward aspect of man, having its own objective existence and mode of action, it is not the greatest obstacle to obtain integration. Man is usually contemplative as well as active creatures that possess spiritual and phenomenal capabilities. Both state that man is a microcosm in the universe. Islam has indeed assigned a very high place to man and Sufism, however dwelt intently upon the various aspects of man. They believe the operations of divine omnipotence are carried out on man. Moreover, he comes to realize the eosmic dimension of his being, not in quantitative but in a qualitative and symbolic sense. Generally, Sufis apprehend world as a veil (hijab) it needs unfold through will power, experience and self-awareness. According to Sufism, existence of human being is therefore, harmonious order that is endowed with life, will, sensation and purpose, just like a vast and absolute man (man accompanied with the attributes of God). To put it differently, if we take a man endowed with awareness, creativity and purpose, exemplary to the utmost degree in all of his aspects, and then enlarge him to the utmost degree, then he will appears to us as a pious personality. Since Human being is a combination of two elements, such as phenomenal element and transcendental or spiritual element. This notion is also supported by the holy Quran as the Quran say" laqad khalaqnal insane fi ahsane taqwim, shumma radadnahu asfala safelin'i.e. surely we created man of the best stature, and then we reduced him to the lowest of the low. 12* 401

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Man whenever attains divine attributes becomes Godlike and then his all activities are to be considered as the activities of God. Generally, the relationship of man with God is natural and meta-natural and same as that of light with lamp that emits it. It is also the same as the relationship between individual's awareness of his limb and the limb itself; his perception is not separate from limb, and still less, the limb itself. At the same time, the limb itself, without his consciousness of it, it is meaningless corpse. So Sufis does not believe in pantheism, polytheism, Trinitarians outlook or dualism, but only in strict monotheism (Tawhid). Tawhid represents a particular view of the world that demonstrates a universal unity in existence, a unity between three separate hypotheses - God, nature, and man- because the origin of all there is the same. All have the same direction, the same will, the same spirit, the same motion, and the same life. The Prophet Muhammad says, God resides in the hearts of the faithful and that is the real throne of Him (qulubul mumenina arsh Allah). Another popular tradition is 'God says, heaven and earth contain Me not, but the heart of my faithful servant contains me. 13 In cosmological viewpoint, Tawhid being divided into two relative aspects: a) the unseen and b) manifest. These two terms correspond in current usage to the sensible and the supersensible. The supersensible object is beyond observation and experiment and is hidden from our sense perception. This does not indicate the form of dualism; rather it is a relative classification. It is an epistemological and logical interpretation, not only accepted but also applied by science too. Man is what he has always been and always will be, an image of the Absolute in the relative that cast into the wave of becoming in order to return this becoming itself to Being. The ontological existence of man in the total scheme of things is forever the same and all other aspects of him in the universe as studied in the cosmology may change either apparently or violently. The perfect man is he who is realized in himself all the possibilities of being and becomes the model of everybody. The descent of the universal spirit into matter and the purgative ascent of man out of matter have been the beliefs of the Sufis throughout the ages. Jili says, a successive stage of divine manifestation is ahadiya (oneness), huwiya (he-ness) and aniya (Iness). In essence man is a cosmic thought, which assumes flesh and connects Absolute Being with the universe. The perfect man is present at all times under different names. He is intermediate between the creator and the creatures, in him all divine attributes are manifested and become a pure soul ( ruh al quds). 14 Sufi spirituality is keenly related to Sufi psychology, because various spiritual states and stations of Sufism are basically the mental modifications of human being. Therefore it is needful to mention something about the Sufi psychology 402

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Sufi psychology and practices: Sufism integrated various doctrines like- metaphysics, cosmology, sociology, eschatology, psychology etc. As we have said earlier that according to Sufism man is a composition of two elements phenomenal and spiritual. The phenomenal element is keenly related to the gratification of body (jism) and the second one is related to our soul (ruh). The second part of man is inevitably related to his psychological and divine elements. The life of a man will not be considered as a complete until and unless we discuss something about his psychological aspects. Moreover, his psychical structure helps to realize the soul from its own knots after illuminating its darkest aspects through rigorous practices in the inner journey of his soul. Hence, the term "Sufi psychology" is probably a deceptive one, because it implies that there is relatively homogeneous doctrines of the psyche that majority of the Sufis believe as an important factor. As for the doctrinal aspect of Sufi psychology, the human soul is the faculty of many planes that united systematically. However, one can point out the terms most frequently used and expound on the meanings of these notions drawing from Quranic verse, virtually all Sufis distinguished Latif-e-Sitta (The six subtleties) that are most pertinent parts of Sufi psychology. The latif-e-sitta is related to Nafs, Qalb, Sirr, Ruh, Khafi, and Akhfa. These lataif (sing: latifa) designate various psycho-spiritual "organs", or sometimes, faculties of sensory and super sensory perception .In general, Sufic development involves the awakening of soul in a certain order of these spiritual centers of perception that lies absolute peace in the mind of the devotee as well as the whole universe. In Sufism, the term "muta qabla an tamuto" i.e. die before you die is an important slogan, where carnal soul, (al-nafs al-ammarah) elevated man in the state of spiritual stage. The second category of soul in Sufism is called al-nafs al lawwamah (the soul which is higher than the former one). The third category of soul is called al-nafs al mutmainna, i.e. the satisfied or purified soul. In the Quranic terminology this soul is also called al-ruh. Through latifa a Sufi can fit himself to attain divine knowledge (marifat) and then he become familiar as an arif (Gnostic). Sufi psychology elevates man beyond the empirical, earthly self that helps him to apprehend the wholeness of human state as integrated whole. The goal of a spiritual man is a journey through the cosmos and ultimately beyond it. From the psychological point of view, it must be remembered that Sufism contains a complete method of curing the illness of the human soul. They believe, only the higher can know the lower; only the spirit can know the psyche and illuminate its dark corners and crevasses. Only the man whose soul and psyche becomes integrated and illuminated has the right to cure the others. 15 Sufi Concept of Soul : The main intention of Sufism is to attain spiritual knowledge of the 403

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Reality as we mentioned earlier. Sufis are human beings and the object of human being is to acquisition of knowledge about Reality. The knowledge of the soul and the things of the world is an essential step to acquire divine knowledge. How this knowledge can be obtained? There are some proce. dures for attaining knowledge, such as, common sense, tradition, revelation, observation, logical reasoning, contemplation etc. They also believe, human being possess two elements, material and immaterial. The material element of human being is related to his body and the immaterial element is basically associated with his soul. Generally a question can be emerged, we is able to know? Body is material in nature not possessing any ability to know, the multiplicity of the bodies is due to the multiplicity of the material forms but does not indicate the multiplicity of the soul. Body is a composi tion of various parts and elements hence its nature is compound. Dissolution and decay is a property of compound object and not the simple element. Soul is simple and fully devoid from any part and conscious. Therefore, soul is only remains and he is able to know the things. Soul is immediately selfconscious, he is self conscious through itself and its essence is quite indepen. dent of any physical accompaniment. Sufis also graded soul primarily into two kinds, i.e. Animal soul (nafs) and the rational soul (Ruh). The nafs is associated with the material life and carnal desires of human being where as the Ruh is potentially Divine intelligence and related to inner aspect of human being. The rational soul in its essence is potentially divine and good as well as pure and therefore it always motivated to kill the carnal soul. One of the important mottos of the Sufis as we mentioned before is "muta qabla antamuta" i.e. die before you die. 16 Sufis are like the mujahids, they engaged in the constant struggles against their evil soul. In their eyes, there are two types of struggles in Islam, i.e. aljihadal akbar (greatest warfare/struggle) and al-jihad al- asghar (the lowest warfare). Those who slain for the sake of religion is called al-jihad al-asghar and those who always engaged in the inner struggle against of his evil soul is called al-jihad-al akbar. This means a Sufi gain power to control over his nafs and able to regulate it. This helps to establish link between the divinity and psycho-cosmic dimension of human being, through it an man can aware concerning the cosmic dimension of his being-ness in a qualitative and symbolic sense but not in a quantitative sense. These correspondences restructure his nafs and elevate it to the Ruh. In this process a finite soul becomes unite with its origin. In the Quranic aspect human being possesses three types of soul, like al -nafs al- ammara (evil soul), al- nafs -al lawwamma (soul in the state of purity), al-nafs- almutmainna (satisfied soul) (Quran). Sufis believe the pure and satisfied soul is the illuminated soul and only the illuminated soul has the right to cure the soul of others. Any one who demands to have this right is an ignorant. The men who have achieved illumination possess certain metaphysical powers that are capable to emancipate other soul. Moreover, such a man does not live in a compartmentalized existence; rather, his thoughts and actions are 404

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based on the series of immutable principles that reflect upon everybody like the rays of the sun. In this stage he does not act or think but contemplate and meditate upon all things with his most intense and purest activities so that the other soul may enjoy its fragrance and beauty. Sufis proclaim,one cannot do well unless he himself is good, nor one can save others unless he saved himself first. Hence, the illuminated personality acts not only for the sake of individual but works for all those who affected and casts its light upon the entire mankind. The illuminated soul means the realization of One and the transmutation of the many in the light of the One. 17 Sufi metaphysics has some distinctive characteristics, means it is to be practiced within the society and not in the monastic life. In support of this we can mention the Prophetic Hadith that bears the attestation, as- "la ruhbaniyata fil Islam", i.e. there is no monasticism in Islam. Here the spiritual and the worldly life both are integrated in a systematic order. Sufis faqr(spiritual poverty) within him elevate himself in the richest position of the world. Sufism can guide the people from phenomena to noumena, from the forms to the essences where alone a religion can truly understood and be appreciated. Sufism and universal harmony: At present the entire globe is searching for universal harmony. All thinkers, philosophers, religious leaders, politicians, anchorites are unanimously talking and working relentlessly for establishing universal peace and harmony in life and society as well. Though Sufism is an indispensable part of Islam, but it is not for particular community, rather, it is for all human being and in establishing this attitude they embraced all and sundry and hate none. In their eyes sinner & virtuous, believer & disbeliever, monotheist & idolater, black & white, mumin (pious) & kafir (impious), badshah (king) & faqir (beggar), lover & beloved all are equal. This notion is much more prominent in India. When Sufism penetrated in India they call all human being to assemble in one platform as a result, higher and lower, superior and inferior barrier became disappeared and they opened the door of love * and faith towards all and established khangah for maintaining universal harmony. Hadrat Nizam al din Aulia in extending his eclectically outlook uttered- "inn Hindu berathar-e- man ast" i.e. this Hindu is my brother. 18 Amir Khurau , tota-e-Hind (the parrot of India) says-"aai ke taneh zibut be Hindu barry, ham amuz az wai parastish gari", i.e. Oh you! Who sneer of the idolatry of the Hindu, learn also from them how worship is done.19 Sufis are highly conscious for human rights and dignity. They extended their loving friendship to all whether they Hindus or Muslims, Jains or Buddhist, Christians or Jews. According to their intention all human beings are tied up in one relationship like the different flowers of the same garland. Therefore, Sa'adi, the reputed poet of Iran wrote which is still recognized as the masterpiece of humanism an in apprehending its value the UNO written this message for all, 405

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which is: "Bany adama fazayi yak digarand Keh dar afrinish zik zowharand Chun azuwi bedard award rozekar Digar 'azuha ra na mande karar Tu kij mehnat digaran bigmy Nashayad keh namat nehanad admi" i.e. All human beings are like the limbs of the single body because they are born of the same essence. When a limb of the body is afflicted to pain in the daily life, the other limbs/ organs of the body feel equally hurt. You who do not realize woe of your fellow beings Do not deserve to be called a human being.20 Sufis believe that no religion is sublime than the religion of love. Therefore, Rumi says "millate ashiq az hameh millate zuda ast fashiqan ra mazhabe wa millate khuda ast" i.e. The religion of love is different from all religions for the lovers, only God is religion. 21 Their concept of love naturally led them towards inter religious harmony and helped them enormously to disparage fanaticism. In this context the utterance of Umar Khaayyam is highly significant , as he stated: "butkhaneh wa ka'abe khane bandegist Naqus ,zidane taraneh bandegist mehrab kalvisa wa tasbih salib haqqa keh hameh nishane bandegist." i.e. temple and mosque both are the places of Worship. Blowing the conch-shell is the melody of worship. Arch, church, rosary and cross By God, all are the sign of worship". 22 Apart form this notion Sufis also propagate moral teachings because they staunch supporters of Equality of the mankind, integrity and social solidarity. They propounded not only the unity of religion but at the same time they were highly conscious for human unity, for this they preached that to give pain to a heart is worse than to demolish thousands of mosques: 406

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"Dil badast aur keh hajj-e-akbar ast Az hazaran ka'abe yak dil behtar ast Ka'abeh bandegah e khalil azar ast Dil guzargah-e- zalil akbar ast". i.e. Give solace to a heart as it is the greatest pilgrimage. A heart is better than thousands of Ka'aba Ka'ba is the edifice of Abraham, Heart is the abode of almighty God. 23 Sufis dislike any discrimination between one man to another. They advised all to become an egalitarian human being and stated: Yak chirag buthkhaneh wa ka'be khaneh rawshan karde ast..." i.e. One earthen lamp may enlightened both the temple and mosquel with out any discrimination.Oh people! why you can not do this?) Therefore, the notable Sufi of India Khwajah Muin al din Chishti Ajmeri says "Awwal sakkhawati chun sekhawat-e- darya Doam shafqati chun sefqat-e- aftab Tewazu-e- chun tewaze-e- zameen" i.e.at first you should discharge- a generosity , like that of the ocean Secondly mildness like that of the sun and thirdly, modesty like that of the earth.24 In India the tenet of universal brotherhood was based on "khidmat-ekhalq"( service to humanity). And it is elucidated by the couplet of the venerable Sa'adi; "tariqat bajuz khidmat-e- khalq nist batasbih wa sujadeh wa dilaq nist" i.e. the path of Sufi is nothing but the service of humanity. It is neither in rosary, nor on the prayer carpet, nor on the garment of the Sufi dervish 25 The present world is in a crucial stage, every moment we are in the nerve tension and severe dread for total destruction. Therefore, the primary quest for us is not for bread but for existence. Hence, the scholars of all circles are thinking 'How this present world is to be saved?" Utilization of deadly weapons invented by science never is considered as the clue of peace and happiness in the society. In the crisis of the society a scientist may ap 407

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pealed to the people on the humanitarian ground for preserving peace, solidarity and unity of the society. Science does not have within itself any inherent leverage by which it can prevent its exploitation by human impulse and passion. Since science can produce great results, its exploitation can also be great. It is now well recognized that the development of science should be supplemented by enormous development of human goodness. Now, the present world is searching for universal unity, integrity and solidarity. Material prosperity of the science provides us enormous comfort and utility but not universal good and peace. It has no mechanism for generating peace and goodness independent of religion. Similarly religion has no technology to create machine or computer for generating peace and goodness independent of science and it has no technology to avoid agony and misery of the people of the universe with out any help of scientific investigation. Science cannot afford to be value neutral; it can build a bridge between knowledge and value. Sufism is one of the important gates by which science and spirituality can enter into the domain of ethics to save the world. From the above discussion it is vivid to us that the following utterances of Diwan-i- Shams of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi are very relevant for present humanism and global spiritualism: What is to be done oh Muslims? For I do not recognize myself: I am neither Christian, nor jews, nor Magian, nor Muslim I am not the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea; I am not of nature's mint, nor of the circling heaven. I am not of earth, nor water, nor of air, nor of fire; I am not of the Emirian, nor of the dust, nor of the existence, nor of entity. I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulgeria, nor of Suqsin I am not of the kingdom of Iraqi an, nor of the country of Khurasan; I am not of the world, nor of the next, nor of the paradise, nor of hell. I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and Rizwan, My place is placeless, my trace is the traceless, (I am Infinite). He sends open invitation to all mankind and said: Come, come where ever you are Wonderer, idolater, worshipper of fire Come though you have broken your vows a thousand times Come, and come yet again Our is not a caravan of despair (It is the caravan of hope and love). I think, here deserves the success of Sufi notion of spirituality and universal harmony. Therefore, Sufism is not a religious movement but at the same time it is a socio-cultural awakening to establish perfect harmony in this world with out any reluctance. 408

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References 1. ni Bani Sengupta, "Spirituality, Science and Technology for world Peace and Prosperity", Spirituality, Science and Technology, Edited by Arun Mishra, Indian Philosophical congress, 2000, New delhi, p.48. S.R. Sharda, Sufi Thought, (Munshiram Monoharlal Publishers Ltd., New Delhi, 19980), p.17. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Sufi Essays, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, 1972), p- 123. Ibid, pp.43-44. Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, (The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1975), p187. i oso o The Holy Quran, xxxviii: 75. ibid., p. xv:29, xxxviii:72. ibid., xcvi:2. 10 ibid., xxiii:12-14. ibid.,xli:53. ibid., ii:31. 11. 12. Ibid, xcv:4-5. Annemarie Schimmel, op. cit., p.190. A.M.A. Shustury, Outlines of Islamic Culture, (Bangalore, 1954), p. 405. 15. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, op. cit, pp. 46-47. 6. Ibid, p.47. Ibid, p. 51. 17. 18. Md. Sirajul Islam," National Integration in the Light of Sufism", National Integration Problems in Perspective, edt. By P. Jash, (Indira Gandhi Centere for National Integration, Visva Bharati , 1995),p. 78. And vide also Sufism and Bhakti- A Comparative Study, (The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, Washington, D.C., 2004), p.5-55. ibid. pp. 78-79. N.H. Ansari, "The Relevance of Sa'di to the Modern Times" (article), 19. 20. 409

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Indo- Iranica, Shaikh Sa'di Number, Vol- 36, nos-1-4, March to December, 1983, p. 24. Impact of Sufism, Santiniketan, 2003.p.41. Rubaiyat-i-Umar Khayyam, ed. Abdul Bari Aasi, Matba Munshi Tej Kumar, (Lucknow, 1955.) P. 18; vide also Hafiz .Md. Tahir Ali, p. 41. Hafiz .Md. Tahir Ali, op. cit., p. 17. Md. Sirajul Islam," National Integration in the Light of Sufism", op. cit., p.77. ibid. p. 78. 25. 410

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Four Pillars of Education - A True Philosophy In The Field of Education - Dr. R.S. Patel Education plays an important role in the life of human-beings. It is time high that we should recognize its importance and start thinking about its necessity.Nowdays also, education is taken in narrow sense rather understanding its broader meaning to the people itself as well as its need to be comprehending the basic four pillars of education. In the changing world, education is the only centre point from which all other streams can be channelized. Education doesn't mean only to acquire knowledge but it should be such that it helps the mankind to develop his/her attitude, interest and aptitude thereby making him/her always curious in learning the things more. To match the steps with the changing scenario of the world, man should understand first the basic pillars of education from which he can develop concrete start of new vision. Towards the end of the 20th century, in the year 1999, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization have set up a new commission with the name The International Commission on Education for Twenty First Century in which the representatives from 146 countries had participated. The chairman of this Commission was Prof. Jacques Dellors. From India, Dr.Karan Singh was the representative in this event who presented the report on how Education should be?, and delivered the necessary implications. The name of this report was "Learning: The Treasures Within". In this report he mentioned the perennial need of learning in human life and the basic four pillars of Learning. Learning to know Learning to do Learning to live together Learning to be Learning to know: This type of learning is concerned less with the acquisition of structured knowledge than with the mastery of learning tools. It may be regarded as both a means and an end of human existence. Looking at it as a means, people have to learn to understand the world around them, at least as much as is necessary for them to lead their lives with some dignity, develop their occupational skills and communicate with other people. Regarded as an end, it is underpinned by the pleasure that can be derived from understanding, knowledge and discovery. That aspect of learning is typically enjoyed by researchers, but good teaching can help everyone to enjoy it. Even if study for its own sake is a dying pursuit with so much emphasis now being put on the acquisition of marketable skills, the raising of the school-leaving age and an 411

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increase in leisure time should provide more and more adults with opportunities for private study. The broader our knowledge, the better we can understand the many different aspects of our environment. Such study encourages greater intellectual curiosity, sharpens the critical faculties and enables people to develop their own independent judgements on the world around them. From that point of view, all children - no matter where they live - must have a chance to receive an appropriate science education and become friends of science throughout their lives. However, since knowledge is multifarious and capable of virtually infinite development, any attempt to know everything becomes more and more pointless. In fact, after the basic education stage, the idea of being a multi-subject specialist is simply an illusion. The initial secondary and university curricula are therefore partly designed around scientific disciplines with the aim of giving students the tools, ideas and reference methods which are the product of leading-edge science and the contemporary paradigms. Such specialization must not exclude general education - not even for future researchers who will work in specialized laboratories. A truly educated person nowadays needs a broad general education and the opportunity to study a small number of subjects in depth. This two-pronged approach should be applied right through education. The reason is that general education, which gives pupils a chance to learn other languages and become familiar with other subjects, first and foremost provides a way of communicating with other people. If specialists rarely set foot outside their own scientific circle, they are likely to lose interest in what other people are doing. Regardless of the circumstances, they will find working with others a problem. On the other hand, general education, which forges spatial and temporal links between societies, tends to make people more receptive to other branches of knowledge. While the history of science is written by historians, scientists find it useful. By the same token, lawyers, sociologists and political scientists increasingly need basic economics. Lastly, some breakthroughs in the advancement of human knowledge occur at the interface of different specializations. Learning to know implies learning how to learn by developing one's concentration, memory skills and ability to think. From infancy, young people must learn how to concentrate - on objects and on other people. This process of improving concentration skills can take different forms and can be aided by the many different learning opportunities that arise in the course of people's lives (games, work experience programmes, travel, practical science activities, etc.). The development of memory skills is an excellent tool for countering the overpowering stream of instant information put out by the media. It would be dangerous to conclude that there is no point in people's improving 412

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their memory skills because of the vast amount of information storage and distribution capacity available. While some selectivity is undoubtedly required when choosing facts to be "learned by heart", there are numerous examples of the human memory's ability to outperform computers when it comes to establishing connections between memorized facts that apparently have very little to do with each other. The specifically human ability of associative memorization is not something that can be reduced to an automatic process; it has to be carefully cultivated. Furthermore, specialists in this field agree that memory skills have to be developed from infancy and that it is dangerous to discontinue various traditional exercises in schools simply because they are considered to be boring. Thinking is something children learn first from their parents and then from their teachers. The process should encompass both practical problemsolving and abstract thought. Both education and research should therefore combine deductive and inductive reasoning, which are often claimed to be opposing processes. While one form of reasoning may be more appropriate than the other, depending on the subjects being taught, it is generally impossible to pursue a logical train of thought without combining the two. The process of learning to think is a lifelong one and can be enhanced by every kind of human experience. In this respect, as people's work becomes less routine, they will find that their thinking skills are increasingly being challenged at their place of work. 2. Learning to do: This question is closely associated with the issue of occupational training: how do we adapt education so that it can equip people to do the types of work needed in the future? Here we should draw a distinction between industrial economies, where most people are wage-earners, and other economies where self-employment or casual work are still the norm. In societies where most people are in paid employment, which have developed throughout the Twentieth century based on the industrial model, automation is making this model increasingly "intangible". It emphasizes the knowledge component of tasks, even in industry, as well as the importance of services in the economy. The future of these economies hinges on their ability to turn advances in knowledge into innovations that will generate new businesses and new jobs. "Learning to do" can no longer mean what it did when people were trained to perform a very specific physical task in a manufacturing process. Skill training therefore has to evolve and become more than just a means of imparting the knowledge needed to do a more or less routine job. From certified skills to personal competence 413

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The major part played by knowledge and information in manufacturing industry renders obsolete the notion of specialist skills on the part of the workforce. The key concept now is one of "personal competence". Technological progress inevitably changes the job skills required by the new production processes. Purely physical tasks are being replaced by tasks with a greater intellectual or cerebral content such as the operation, maintenance and monitoring of machines and design and organizational tasks, as the machines themselves become more intelligent. There are several reasons for this increase in skill requirements at all levels. Instead of being organized to perform specified tasks in juxtaposition in accordance with Taylor's principles of scientific labour organization, manufacturing workers are often divided into work teams or project groups on the Japanese model. This approach represents a departure from the idea of dividing labour into similar physical tasks which are essentially learned by repetition. Furthermore, the idea of personalized tasks is taking over from that of employee interchangeability. There is a growing trend among employers to evaluate potential employees in terms of their personal competence rather than certified skills which they see as merely demonstrating the ability to perform specific physical tasks. This personal competence is assessed by looking at a mix of skills and talents, combining certified skills acquired through technical and vocational training, social behaviour, personal initiative and a willingness to take risks. If we add a demand for personal commitment on the part of employees in their role as change agents, it is clear that this kind of personal competence involves highly subjective innate or acquired qualities, often referred to as "people skills" or "interpersonal skills" by employers, combined with knowledge and other job skills. Of these qualities, communication, team and problem-solving skills are assuming greater importance. The growth of the service industries has resulted in an increase in this trend. The shift away from physical work - the service industries In advanced economies there is a shift away from physical work. The implications of this trend for education are even clearer if we look at the development of the service industries in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Most of the active population (60 - 80 per cent) of the industrialized countries is employed in the service sector. The main defining characteristic of this extremely broad category is that it covers activities which are neither industrial nor agricultural and which, despite their diversity, do not involve any tangible product. Many services are defined primarily in terms of the interpersonal relationship involved. Examples of this are found both in the rapidly expanding private service sector which is benefiting from the growing complexity of 414

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economies (every kind of expertise imaginable, security services or high-tech consultancy services, financial, accounting and management services) and in the more traditional public sector (social services, health and education services, etc.). In both these cases, information and communication play a vital role. The key aspect here is the personalized acquisition and processing of specific data for a clearly defined project. In this type of service, both the provider and the user influence the quality of the relationship between them. Clearly, people can no longer be trained for this sort of work in the same way as they learned how to plough the land or make a sheet of steel. These new jobs are about interpersonal relationships; workers' relationships with the materials and processes they are using are secondary. The growing service sector needs people with good social and communication skills - skills that are not necessarily taught at school or university. Lastly, in the ultra high-tech organizations of the future, where relational inadequacies might cause serious dysfunctions, new types of skills will be required, with an interpersonal rather than intellectual basis. This may provide an opportunity for people with few or no formal educational qualifications. Intuition, common sense, judgement and leadership skills are not confined to highly qualified people. How and where are these more or less innate skills to be taught? The problem is akin to that raised by the idea of vocational training in developing countries. Educational content simply cannot be inferred from a statement of the skills or abilities required for specific tasks. Work in the informal economy The nature of work is very different in the economies of developing countries where most people are not wage-earners. In many sub-Saharan African countries and some Latin American and Asian countries, only a small proportion of the population is in paid employment. The vast majority works in the traditional subsistence economy, where specific job qualifications are not required and where know-how is the fruit of tacit knowledge. For this reason, education cannot simply be modelled on the types of education that seem to fit the bill in post-industrial societies. Besides, the function of learning is not confined to work; it should meet the wider aim of achieving formal or informal participation in development. This often involves social skills as much as occupational skills. In other developing countries, a thriving unofficial modern economy based on trade and finance may exist alongside a small official economic sector and agriculture. This parallel economy indicates the existence of business communities capable of meeting local requirements. In both these cases, there is no point in providing the population with high-cost training (since the teachers and the educational resources have to 415

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come from abroad) either in conventional industrial skills or in advanced technology. On the contrary, education should be brought into endogenous development by strengthening local potential and the spirit of empowerment. We then have to address a question that applies to both developed and developing countries: how do people learn to act appropriately in an uncertain situation, how do they become involved in shaping the future? How can people be prepared to innovate? This question is being asked in developing and developed countries. It basically comes down to knowing how to develop personal initiative. Paradoxically, the richest countries are sometimes restrained in this respect by the excessively coded and formal way they are organized, particularly as regards their educational systems, and by a certain fear of risk-taking which may be engendered by the rationalization of their economic model. Undoubtedly, sport, club membership and artistic and cultural activities are more successful than the traditional school systems at providing this kind of training. The discovery of other societies through study and travel may encourage such behaviour. From this point of view in particular, a great deal may be learned by observing the economies of developing countries. In all countries, lastly, the growing importance of small groups, networking and partnerships highlights the likelihood that excellent interpersonal skills will be an essential job requirement from now on. What is more, the new working patterns, whether in industry or in the service sector, will call for the intensive application of information, knowledge and creativity. All things considered, the new forms of personal competence are based on a body of theoretical and practical knowledge combined with personal dynamism and good problem-solving, decision-making, innovative and team skills. 3. Learning to live together : Violence all too often dominates life in the contemporary world, forming a depressing contrast with the hope which some people have been able to place in human progress. Human history has constantly been scarred by conflicts, but the risk is heightened by two new elements. Firstly, there is the extraordinary potential for self-destruction created by humans in the twentieth century. Then, we have the ability of the new media to provide the entire world with information and unverifiable reports on ongoing conflicts. Public opinion becomes a helpless observer or even a hostage of those who initiate or keep up the conflicts. Until now education has been unable to do much to mitigate this situation. Can we do better? Can we educate ourselves to avoid conflict or peacefully resolve it? While the idea of teaching non-violence in schools is certainly praiseworthy, it seems quite inadequate if we look at what is really involved. The 416

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challenge is a difficult one since people have a natural tendency to overestimate their own abilities or those of the group to which they belong and to entertain prejudices against other people. Moreover, the general climate of competition that prevails in both domestic and international economies tends to turn competitiveness and personal success into modern values. In fact, this competitiveness is nowadays translated into a relentless economic war and a tension between rich and poor that breaks apart nations and the world and exacerbates historic rivalries. Regrettably, with its incorrect interpretation of what is meant by competition, education sometimes helps to sustain this state of affairs. How can we do better? Experience shows that it is not enough to set up contacts and communication between people who are liable to come into conflict to reduce this risk (for example, in inter-racial or inter-denominational schools). If the different groups are rivals or if they do not have the same status in the same geographical area, such contact may have the opposite effect to that desired - it may bring out hidden tensions and degenerate into an opportunity for conflict. If, on the other hand, this kind of contact is organized in an egalitarian setting and common aims and projects are pursued, the prejudices and latent hostility may give way to a more relaxed form of co-operation, or even friendship. The conclusion would seem to be that education should adopt two complementary approaches. From early childhood, it should focus on the discovery of other people in the first stage of education. In the second stage of education and in lifelong education, it should encourage involvement in common projects. This seems to be an effective way of avoiding conflict or resolving latent conflicts. Discovering other people One of education's tasks is both to teach pupils and students about human diversity and to instil in them an awareness of the similarities and interdependence of all people. From early childhood, the school should seize every opportunity to pursue this two-pronged approach. Some subjects lend themselves to this - human geography in basic education, foreign languages and literature later on. Moreover, whether education is provided by the family, the community or the school, children should be taught to understand other people's reactions by looking at things from their point of view. Where this spirit of empathy is encouraged in schools, it has a positive effect on young persons' social behaviour for the rest of their lives. For example, teaching youngsters to look at the world through the eyes of other ethnic or religious groups is a way of avoiding some of the misunderstandings that give rise to hatred and violence among adults. Thus, teaching the history of religions or customs can provide a useful reference tool for moulding future behaviour. 417

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Lastly, recognition of the rights of other people should not be jeopardized by the way children and young people are taught. Teachers who are so dogmatic that they stifle curiosity or healthy criticism instead of teaching their pupils how to engage in lively debate can do more harm than good. Forgetting that they are putting themselves across as models, they may, because of their attitude, inflict lifelong harm on their pupils in terms of the latter's openness to other people and their ability to face up to the inevitable tensions between individuals, groups and nations. One of the essential tools for education in the twenty-first century will be a suitable forum for dialogue and discussion. Towards common goals When people work together on exciting projects which involve them in unaccustomed forms of action, differences and even conflicts between individuals tend to pale and sometimes disappear. A new form of identity is created by these projects which enable people to transcend the routines of their personal lives and attach value to what they have in common as against what divides them. In sport, for example, the tensions between social classes or nationalities can eventually be welded into a spirit of solidarity by the commitment to a common cause. In the world of work, too, so many achievements would not have been possible if people had not successfully moved beyond the conflicts that generally arise in hierarchical organizations through their involvement in a common project. Formal education should therefore set aside sufficient time and opportunity in its curricula to introduce young people to collaborative projects from an early age as part of their sports or cultural activities. But this approach should also get them involved in social activities: the renovation of slum areas, help for disadvantaged people, humanitarian action, senior citizen help schemes and so on. Other educational organizations should take over these activities from the schools. Another point is that, in everyday school life, the involvement of teachers and pupils in common projects can help to teach a method for resolving conflicts and provide a valuable source of reference for pupils in later life. 4. Learning to be : At its very first meeting, the Commission powerfully re-asserted a fundamental principle: education should contribute to every person's complete development - mind and body, intelligence, sensitivity, aesthetic appreciation and spirituality. All people should receive in their childhood and youth an education that equips them to develop their own independent, critical way of thinking and judgement so that they can make up their own minds on the best courses of action in the different circumstances in their lives. In this respect, the Commission embraces one of the basic assump 418

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tions stated in the report Learning to Be:. the aim of development is the complete fulfilment of man, in all the richness of his personality, the complexity of his forms of expression and his various commitments - as individual, member of a family and of a community, citizen and producer, inventor of techniques and creative dreamer'. This human development, which begins at birth and continues all through a person's life, is a dialectic process which is based both on selfknowledge and on relationships with other people. It also presupposes successful personal experience. As a means of personality training, education should be a highly individualized process and at the same time an interactive social experience. In its Preamble, the report Learning to Be (1972) expressed the fear of dehumanization of the world, associated with technical progress and one of its main messages was that education should enable each person to be able to solve his own problems, make his own decisions and shoulder his own responsibilities.' Since then, all progress in different societies, particularly the staggering increase in media power, has intensified those fears and made the imperative that they underpin even more legitimate. This dehumanization may increase in the twenty-first century. Rather than educating children for a given society, the challenge will be to ensure that everyone always has the personal resources and intellectual tools needed to understand the world and behave as a fair-minded, responsible human being. More than ever before, the essential task of education seems to be to make sure that all people enjoy the freedom of thought, judgement, feeling and imagination to develop their talents and keep control of as much of their lives as they can. This is not simply a cry for individualism. Recent experience has shown that what could appear merely as a personal defence mechanism against an alienating system or a system perceived to be hostile, also offered the best opportunity for making social progress. Personality differences, independence and personal initiative or even a task for upsetting the established order are the best guarantees of creativity and innovation. The rejection of imported high-tech models, the harnessing of traditional implied forms of knowledge and empowerment are effective factors in endogenous development. New methods have evolved from experiments at local community level. Their effectiveness in reducing violence or combating various social problems is widely recognized. Thin: In a highly unstable world where one of the main driving forces seems to be economic and social innovation, imagination and creativity must undoubtedly be accorded a special place. As the clearest expressions of human freedom, they may be hreatened by the establishment of a certain degree of uniformity in individ i vehaviour. The twenty-first century will need a var 419

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ied range of talents and personalities even more than exceptionally gifted individuals, who are equally essential in any society. Both children and young persons should be offered every opportunity for aesthetic, artistic, scientific, cultural and social discovery and experimentation, which will complete the attractive presentation of the achievements of previous generations or their contemporaries in these fields. At school, art and poetry should take a much more important place than they are given in many countries by an education that has become more utilitarian than cultural. Concern with developing the imagination and creativity should also restore the value of oral culture and knowledge drawn from children's or adults' experiences. References A Report of UNESCO (1999) "Learning: The Treasure With in", A report to the UNESCO of "The International Commission on Education" For the Twenty First century. (Chairman Jacques Dellors: 1999) Aggarwal, J.C. (2005): Education for Values, Environment and Human Rights, Shipra Publications, Delhi-92.2-11. Ahuja, M. (2007): Preferences of teachers on social values according to their experience and subject area, University News, Vol.45(17),23 April, 2007. Christie F (2007), Classroom Discourse Analysis : A functional Perspective, Viva Continuum Edition, London. 177. Debra, Hayes et.al. (2007): Teachers and Schooling Making a Difference: Productive pedagogies, assessment and performance, Allen and Uniwin, NSW, Australia. Goel A and Goel S.L. (2005) Human Values and Education, Deep and Deep Pub., New Delhi.241-269. Tay, B.and Y.Kassim( 2009): Parents' Views regarding the values aimed to be taught in social studies lesson, in educational science: Theory and Practice, Vol.9, No.3, Summer 2009. Tiwary, V.R. (1982): Principles of Education as depicted in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit texts, Annotated Bibliography of Value Education in India (2002), NCERT, New Delhi. 674. 420

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PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTURBANCE AND YOGA PRACTICE - Dr. Ashwin Jansari INTRODUCTION Yoga is increasingly becoming popular in the world. Like, Yoga is a part of the curriculum at the University of Seoul in South Korea and is compulsory for its students. Every Korean youth now wants to learn this ancient Indian science (Ghos, 2010). The fast and highly competitive life in South Korea is the reason why people here have adopted Yoga so enthusiastically. It helps them keep fit, both physically and mentally, with the minimum of effort (Soni, 2010). Yoga is a Sanskrit word. Its meaning is 'to join' or 'to unite'. According to Swami Shivananda (1984), 'Yoga' is an integration and harmony between thought, words and deed, or integration between head, heart and hand. Patanjali defines Yoga as controlling the activities of the mind. Yoga has two aspects; first, it encompasses virtually all the mystical and ascetic practices of India, including meditation, physical discipline, and devotional chanting. Second, Yoga is a specific school of Indian Philosophy Systematized in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and it was first mentioned in 3000 years old Vedas, the world's oldest recorded literature. The roots of Yoga practice undoubtedly go even further back of Indian pre history. One of the goals of Yoga practice is to increase the Sattvic elements in the individual, which support the process of self-realisation. Emotions (Rajas) and Bodily drives (Tamas) distort the focus and clarity of pure sattvic experience. The goal of Yoga practices is to decrease Rajas and Tamas, and to increase and intensify Sattvic awareness. Another goal of Yoga practiced is to bring the different bodily functions into perfect co-ordination so that they work for the good of the whole body. From the physical body, Yoga moves on the mental and emotional levels. The goal of Yoga practices is self-realization, which occurs when consciousness is turned within and united with its source, the self. Yoga also means 'method'. It embraces both the goal of union and the wide variety of yogic. techniques meant to accomplish this end. In this sense, Yoga is the technology of self-realization or ecstasy. PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTERBUNCE According to Ayurveda the psychological problems arise at the level of the physical world of things (Venkoba, 2007). Psychological factors and social networks are linked in a long chain that connects stress and illness. Somatisation disorder is relatively common among patients in primary medical care setting around the world (Gureje, et al. 1997). 421

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Somatoform disorders are those in which psychological problems are manifested in physical disorders (or complaints of physical disorders) that mimic medical conditions but for which there can be no evidence of corresponding organic pathology (Carson, 2004). These problems are often accompanied by other psychiatric disorders as well, notably depression and anxiety disorders (Ebert, 1994). Research has sought links between psychological factor and illness, chronic anger particularly in the form of cynical hostility, is related to heart disease. Chronic depression seems to be a risk factor in heart disease as well, but its link to other illness remains unclear. The psychological disturbances are resulted when the elements in the mind are in a state of disequilibrium. Troubles for the mind are mainly from within and not due to the surroundings. Let a man raise himself by his own self, let him not debase himself. For he is himself his friend, himself his foe (6.5, Gita). Neufeld (1990) has pointed out: stress is a by product of poor or. inadequate coping. YOGA EXERCISE: Yoga is the master key for all the suffering human being. Yoga revitalizes and rejuvenates our body, enriches our mind and elevates our spirit. It is one key factor in maintaining a good balance in human's physical and psychological world and gradually it leads to better adjustment. The major emphasis in Yoga lies in the practical effectiveness of the techniques. Experience, rather than theoretical knowledge, is at the heart of Yoga (Frager, 2007). Yoga can certainly be proved as a big blessing to provide mental, physical, and spiritual health and complete well being. Its provides an individual with refreshing positive thinking, self-confidence, analytical approach, smooth and calm mental stage with emotional stability and strong will power. Effects of Yoga exercise is no doubt very wide and it influences every activity of an individual (Bajwa, 2008). According to the literature review, it was identified that the practice of Yoga significantly increases the physical, mental, and social values of individual there by promoting quality of life. From the experimental method it was found that Yoga practices improve the quality of life. It was also observed that executives from large scale organization who practice Yoga have shown better quality of life than their counter parts. Further the study also revealed that quality of life is decreased when the age increases for the nonyoga practitioners, whereas the quality of is maintained for the Yoga practitioners (Pragadesswarn, 2005). Yoga training helps to remove academic stress and more effectively helps the students to gain academic achievement (Lakhanpal, 2003). Bisht (2003) in her study concluded that yoga exercise helps to improve the level of adjustment and reduce the level of anxiety among the stu 422

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dents. Kumarica (2003) in her study reported that training in yoga exercises was found more effective in improving the mental health and academic achievement of students as compared to those who did not have any formal training in yoga exercise. Rani (2004) exmined the effect of yoga exercise on the mental health and adjustment of hostel girls and concluded that yoga exercises help to improve the mental health and adjustment of hostel girls. Bajwa (2008) concluded that yoga training is helpful for the emotional, family, health, school, sexual, and social adjustment of students. Yoga training also improves students' performance in academic achievement. CONCLUSION: As healthy mind lives in healthy body, being psychophysical in nature, yoga leads to both mental and physical health. Yoga can increase the efficiency of performing a task and the achievement level as well. It helps in harmonious development of body and mind. Today, its role in achieving physical fitness, mental stability, emotional maturity and social adjustment has been recognised all over the world. A corrective appearance of result of yoga, is a good human life away from tension, despair etc. 423

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REFERANCES 1. Bajwa, S. And Sharma, Veena (2008) Effect of yoga exercises on academic achievement and adjustment of school children. Recent research in Education and Psychology. Vol 13, Nos. III-IV, p. 71-77. Bisht, S. L. (2003) Effect of yoga exercises on adjustment and anxiety of secondary school students. Unpublished M. Ed. Dissertation, Punjab University, Chandigarh. Carson, R. C, Butcher, J.N and MIneka, S. (2004) Abnormal Psychology and modern life. Delhi, Pearson Education. Ebert, D., and Marus, P. (1994) Somatisation as a core symptom of melancholic type depression. J. Affect Dis., 32 (4), 253-256. Ghosh, Abhijit (2010) In Soni Nikunj, Indian rules hearts of yoga crazy South Koreans, shining abroad. DNA, Ahmedabad edition, Monday, October, 18, 2010. P1. Gureje, et (1997) Somatisation in cross cultural perspective: A world health organization study in primary care, Amer J. Psychiat, 154 (7), 989-995. Kumari, M. J (2003) Effect of yogik exercises on mental health and academic achievement of secondary school students. Unpublished M. Ed. Dissertation, Punjab University, Chandigarh. Lakhanpal, A. (2003) A study of yoga training on academic stress and achievement of secondary students. Unpublished M.Ed. dissertation, Punjab University, Chandigarh. Neufeld, R. W. (1990) Coping with stress in inter construct redundancies stress medicine, 6, 117-125. Pragadesswaran, S and Panchnatham, N (2005) Executives' quality of life and yoga. Souvenir-cum-abstracts of papers, 9th International and youth National conference of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 7-9 march, Psychology Department, Mugadh University, Bdhgaya (Bihar). Rani, T. (2004) Effect of yoga exercises on the mental health and adjustment of hostel girls. Unpublished M.Ed. Dissertation, Punjab University, Chandigarh. Saraswati, Swami Satyanands (1990) Yoga Education for children Munger Bihar School of yoga. Sivananda, Swami (1984) Yoga Samhita, Delhi, Divine Life Society P 95-99. Soni, Nikunj (2010) Indian rules hearts of yoga crazy South Koreans shining abroad. DNA, Ahmedabad Edition. Octobar 18, 2010. P1 Venkoba, Rao. A (2007) Some ancient Indian concept of mind, Insanity, and mental hygiene. First World Congress of Asian Psychiatry, Goa, India 2 to 5 August, 2007 compiled by Dr. Mrs. Parvathi 10. 14. 15. 424

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Shri Shankara Bhagavatpada: The Master Harmoniser - H.H. Gangadhavanndra Swamiji His Holiness Shri Shankaracharya was a Samanvayacharya, a Master Harmoniser in seven different senses: 1. Harmoniser of Deities, 2. Harmoniser of Spiritual Schools, 3. Harmoniser of Philosophical Schools, 4. Harmoniser of the Ancient and the Modern, 5. Harmoniser of Bhakti (Devotion), Jnana (knowledge) and Rajayoga, 6. Harmoniser of Castes, 7. Harmoniser of Geographical areas. The word 'harmony' is much in vogue in modern days. What is the meaning of the word 'Samanvaya'? Certain things in this world appear to be mutually opposed. Blending or Harmonizing even such apparently opposite elements is "Samanvaya". For instance, cat-dog, snake-mongoose, all these are enemies by birth. If they stay in an ashram of a great sage they forget their in-born enmity and live together. "Ahimsa Pratisthayantat sannidhou Vairatyagah". If, "Ahimsa", one of the elements of the first principle (Yoga Sutra - 2, 3, 5) of Asthanga yoga - "Yama" is mastered fully, at the feet of a great yogi, all creatures lose their mutual enmity in his presence. This kind of harmonizing ability is "Samanvaya". Shri Shankara Bhagavatpad was a "Samanvayacharya". The reason for choosing this topic is the context today, it is the fifth day of Vaishakha (Vaishakha Shuddha Panchami), the birthday of Shri Shankaracharya, it coincides with the birthday of Shri Basaveshwara. The birthday of Shri Ramanuja does also occur in Vaishaka. Still more birthdays of great souls occur in that month. But the more known ones are those of Shri Basavanna and Sri Ramanuja. Shri Basaveshwar was a Veerashaiva, Shri Ramanuja was a VeeraVaishnava. They haven't used the word "Veera" - brave warrior, with their names. But it is we who have used that adjective with them. The reason is that their devotion to their Deities - Lord Shiva / Lord Vishnu is so austere. But Shri Shankara was a harmoniser of Hari and Hara. His devotion to Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva was strong and unshakable. He had not lagged behind in either of them. He was such a harmoniser. 425

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Let us analyse, one by one, the seven ways of harmonising in Shri Shankara's teachings. I. Harmonising of Deities : Why only harmonising of Hari and Hara? Those who follow the tradition of Shankara Peetha all over the country say that he was called the "Shanmatha Vyavasthapanacharya", the organizer of the six schools of theology. We believe that it has come to us from Shri Shankara only. That he established six schools of theology means he reorganized the worshipping of six Deities. The "Panchayatana Pooja" (The worshipping of five Deities) in all Shankar mathas is very famous. The five deities worshipped are - Sun, Ganapati, Ambika, Shiva and Vishnu. Shri Shankar viewed them from the philosophy of harmonising principle. In South India, along with the five Gods, God Subrahmanya is also included according to the customs. Shri Shankara , has written several hymns (stotras) on them. All the religious places of God Subrahmanya, which Shri Shankara visited and composed hymns, have become very famous. The places are all full of spiritual vibrations even today. Thus by including Subrahmanya, the six deities are reveredly looked upon by Shri Shankara from the philosophy of harmonising principles. All Gods are different manifestations of the Absolute, i.e. Parabrahman. Parabrahma is only one. For the well-being of devotees and Sadhakas, he has appeared in different shapes and forms. Or, the only One God has assumed different forms and shapes for the sake of different works in the world. While creating, he is Brahma, while nourishing Vishnu, while destroying Rudra and while blessing Sadashiva. Ultimately God is only One, but He has appeared in different shapes and forms. Shri Shankara has told it in almost all his hymns. For example - Sun: The hymn composed on God Sun by Shri Shankar is not that famous. But in his interpretative texts on Vedanta he has clearly stated that the Sun is the God. Look at the following verse (from Kathopanishath): haMsaH zuciSadvasurantarikSasat hotA vediSat atithidurgaroNasat / nRSadvarasadRtasadvyomasat abjAgojA RtajA adgijA RtaM bRhat / / This mantra is found in the Rigveda and the Yajurveda. Shri Shankara has interpreted this shloka, initially in the sense of "Parabrahma" only. But later he interprets it as Sun also. Shankara says that there is no contradic 426

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tion in ascribing the meaning 'Sun' to the above verse as the scriptures proclaim Sun as the soul (Atma) of the universe and thus the Supreme Being. (yadApi Aditya eva mantreNa uphacyate tadApi Atma svarUpatvaM Adityasya iti aGgIkRtatvAt G&CC Sa 3RTE" (028: R..P.) In several other contexts also it is clear that Shri Shankara has regarded the Sun as the Parabrahma. Ganapati : Shri Shankara has prayed to God Ganapati considering Him to be the Parabrahma. One can see this in several hymns on Ganapati. Look at these in the hymn "Mahaganesh Pancharatnam". Sureshwaram, Nidheeshwaram, Gajeshwaram, Ganeshwaram, Maheshwaram Tamashraye Paratparam, Nirantaram. It is clear that here the word "Paratparam" refers to "Parabrahma". The fundamental cause of the world is "Prakriti" or Nature. That is 'para'. The power, which is still greater than this 'para' or nature, is the 'Parabrahma'. It comes repeatedly in the hymns on Ganapati. Hence Shri Shankara prays God Ganapati considering Him as the Parabrahma. Ambika : We get many instances wherein Shri Shankara has considered "Ambike" as the "Parabrahma" while praying Her in his hymns. In the "Soundarya Lahari" tanIyAMsaM pAMsuM tavacaraNapaGkehabhavaM viriJciH saMcinvan viracayati lokAlavikalam // vahatyenaM zauriH kathamapi sahasreNa zirasAM hara saMkSudyainaM bhajati bhasitodbhUlana vidhim / / "O ! Mother compassionate, Brahma creates this world by contemplating on the wet subtle dust particles that rest on your tender wet feet. These dust particles are carried on the head by adishesh who is carrying all the worlds on his hood. God Shiva has smeared these dust particles of your feet on His forehead considering it as holy ash." The depth and breadth of this shloka of the hymn is great. Presently we can emphatically say that the Brahma is the one with which the creation, protection and destruction are carried out. Even Upanishath says this: "yatovA imAni bhUtAni jAyante, yena jAtA jIvanti, yat prayaMtyabhisaMvizanti ..... tad Here also, meaning is the same. In the terminology of Vedanta it is termed as "Karana Brahma" or "Ishwara". Brahma is not simply the cause, He is beyond the cause. That is how Shri Shankara has explained Him. The 427

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Brahma who is 'beyond cause" is Parabrahma, Nirguna Brahma. 'Ambike' is described as the "Parabrahma" in the stanza of the hymn. Because all the three- the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer take shelter in Her. That means the fundamental cause of creation, preservation and destruction is Parabrahma i.e. Ambike". Not only Shri Shankara, several other great spiritualists and sages have praised the mother universe in the same way. "Sachchidanda Swaroopini" "Sarvoponishadudgustha" etc. are the terms used in "Shri Lalita Sahasranama Stotra." The ultimate essence of the message of all Upanishaths which they proclaim as Brahma is "Ambika". Further she is Sachchidananda roopini. Whenever the terms "Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma", "Vijnanam anandam Brahma", "Sat Chit Ananda" occur, they refer to the Parabrahma. Thus Shri Shankar's philosophy of harmonizing principle has seen the Parabrahma, even while praying the Goddess of Energy and Power. Shiva: Shri Shankara's devotion to God Shiva is quite distinctive. All hymns composed by Shri Shankara are not available. Of the hymns available, maximum hymns are on the Mother. Still, hymns on God Shiva and God Vishnu are good in number. One instance wherein he has seen the Parabrahma in God Shiva is in Naxatra Malika stotra- "Shrimadatmane Ganaika Sindhave Namah Shivaya". This is how it begins. Further he says mUlakAraNAya kAlakAla te namaH zivAya "O! God Shiva, you are the cause fundamental, and you are the bringer of end to the God of Death". The word Moolakarana (The fundamental cause has a special meaning. In Sanskrit, the meaning of 'moola' is the 'cause'. The literary meaning of the word is 'root'. Here he has used along with Karana (the cause) the word "moola" (the root). That means God Shiva is the principle behind the cause. That principle means the Parabrahma. This is how he prays God Shiva. Vishnu : Shri Shankara was a Veera Vaishnava also. He has composed several hymns on God Vishnu. Of hisbooks on Vishnu the important one is his interpretative text on the Vishnu Sahasranama. He goes on interpreting the thousand names of God Vishnu in terms of Vedanta philosophy. There he states that God Vishnu is the root cause of this world. Vishnu himself is the Parabrahma. At the end, he prayfully calls Him "Sarvapraharnayudhah" that He is the destroyer of everything. Shri Shankara thus interprets every name of God Vishnu in the sense that He is the Parabrahma. 428

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Subrahmanya : lows: Addressing Subrahmanya Shri Shankara prays in his hymn as fol na jAnAmi zabdaM na jAnAmi cArtham na jAnAmi padyaM na jAnAmi gadyam cadekA SaDAsyA hRdi dyotate me mukhAnssarante girazcApi citram // "I don't know either words or meaningss, either poetry or prose; the God with six faces radiates in my heart; mysterious poetic utterances come out from me". Here Shri Shankara sees Subrahmanya or Shanmukha as the Absolute power, God. You can take any God, Shri Shankara sees in Him the Parabrahman, and that is the distinctive feature of Shri Shankara. This is the sublime attitude of Acharya Shri Shankara. The Harmony of Spiritual Philosophies: Before the incarnation of Shri Shankara, Indian Philosophical schools - such as school of Vishisthadvaita, school of Dvaita, school of Shakti Vishisthadvaita" etc. were not existent. There may be a lot of controversy over his place of birth, date of birth etc., But all historians, clearly agree that only after the incarnation of Shri Shankara, these schools of philosophy came into existence. Then comes a question- "How could then he be the harmoniser of different schools of philosophy ?" But in his philosophical works, one can notice the ideas of Dvaita philosophy and that of Vishisthadvaita. But they have come in his books as only passing thoughts while presenting his philosophy of Advaita. Consequently no historian thinks that these schools of Dvaita and Vishisthadvaita were present in is time on the basis of these passing thoughts. When a philosopher of extraordinary sharp intellectual calibre thinks on Ishwar (God), Jeeva (Being) and the world, he sees the phase of Dvaita Vedanta, and also the phase of Vishisthadvaita Vedanta. Hence he has narrated them in his philosophical discourses. There is no contradiction in his narration. In this sense also, Shri Shankara is a master harmoniser. Several of Shri Shankara's works reflect the Dvaita philosophy. Major part of his devotional literature is replete with Dvaita philosophy. "Bhaj Govindam" there is a Lord by name Govinda. O Mind! serve Him". The meaning of "Bhaj" is "to render service". When we use the term 'serve' it implies that the recipient of the service is a Lord, and one who renders service is a servant. This is the 'difference' of Dvaita School. In the amshadhikarana" of Brahmasutra interpretation we can notice the spirit of Vishisthadvaita. Nanavyapadeshat Anyatha Chapi (Ansho 429

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Dashakitavaditvamadhiyata [ke." Self or 'Jiva' is the part of Paramatma, the God. The reason is that in Upanishath both difference and nondifference between Jivatma and Paramatma (Self and God) are explained here and there. (Br. Su. 2. 3. 43). The essence of Vishisthadvaita philosophy is as follows - all living creatures are the part of God. For instance, there is a tree; the tree has leaves, flowers, fruits, nuts, sprouts, twigs and branches. A leaf is not tree. And likewise the tree is not the leaf. That means there is no nondifference between a leaf and the tree. That is there "is" difference. That means, each element such as leaf , flower is a part of the tree. But isn't the tree totally one ? In this sense there is non-difference. Similarly all living, non-living things on the earth are a part of His existence. That means each one of them is a part of His physique. But in total they together form One single entity i.e. He. As, both the separation and non-separation of "self" (Jiva) and the Absolute (Paramatma) are attributed in Upanishaths, we have to interpret them in this way. Shri Shankara argues this in his adhikarana. In the Bhagavadgita, Lord Krishna says mamaivAMzo jIvaloke jIvabhUtaH sanAtanaH / manaH SaSThAnIndriyANi prakRtisthAnikarSati // (The living being (Jiva) who is from the time immemorial wandering in the world of animals, is part of Ishwar or the Absolute being. When the living being moves from one body to another he carries along with him senses such as mind and others, which are under the control of Nature or Prakriti) In this context also Shri Shankara while interpreting the Geeta, argues the same point explained above. In the "Vishnu Shatpadi" stotra, Shri Shankara tells as follows : sanyapi bhedApagame nAtha tavAhaM namAmakInastvam / sAmudrohi taraGga vacana samudro na tAraGgaH // There are innumerable waves in an ocean. They are not different or separate from the ocean. Similarly there is the ocean of God. Every wave of the ocean is a living being or Jiva. These living beings are not separate from God. The unification of living beings and God is just as a wave becomes one with the ocean or the ocean with waves. We can't fill an ocean in a wave. Just like that, God is the Ocean. We, a part of Him, are the waves. This is what is clearly narrated in the above quotation of Shri Shankara. As long as one has the consciousness of being a 'self or a separate living being, the living being is a part of the Absolute Being. The following is quoted by many a learned scholar as what Shri Anjaneya told Shri Ramachandra. 430

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dehadRSTyAtu dAso'haM jIvadRSTyA tvadaMzakaH AtmadRSTyA tvamevAhaM ... / If one is very proud of the physical entity, if one is unable to think one's self as different from one's physical body, then one is a servant of God. When one is able to realise this - "I am a Jivatma or living being different from this physical body. I live in this body. I am going to leave this body and enter another body in future. I had left a lot of physical bodies in the past and have assumed this body now." When one understands oneself well on this line of thinking, he has understood "Jiva-Bhava" "Selfconsciousness" state excellently well. At this stage one has the realisation of 'self' being the part of God. There are several special phases in the life. The self or living being has several faculties such as mind, ego, etc. (which are boundaries also). When one acquires strength to cross these boundaries, there remains the pure spirit which is the Absolute being or Brahma. Then one experiences "atma drasthya Tvamevaham" the truth of the real meaning of these utterances. This is Advaita. Shri Shankara has described in his interpretation of the seventh mantra of the Mandukyepanishath, the qualities of nondual, and pure form of the Absolute being. Even though Shri Shankara has argued the Non-Dualism (Advaita) philosophy he seems to opine that all three, the Dvaita (Dualism), the Vishisthadvaita (Non- Dualism with distinction) and the Advaita (Non-Dualism) have their own rightful places on the path of spiritual realisation. This is the harmonising philosophy of Shri Shankara found in his works. The Harmonising of Schools of Philosophy (Darshana Samanvaya) Mainly there are two divisions in philosophy: 1. Theistic Philosophy, and, 2. Atheistic Philosophy. We respect theists in our country. Similarly we respect atheists also. For, basically, in one sense all human beings are atheists. 'Basically' means at the first stage. That physical body is the soul, is the philosophy of charvakas the atheists. This is the first stage of philosophical speculation. Ordinary man cannot understand and experience beyond their physical body. He might have read several books of scientific discourse. His experience confirms that "I am body". When you ask a scholar listening to a discourse, "Are you sitting ?" he would naturally reply - "Yes, I am". If he replies, "I am not sitting, but my body is sitting", the world would laugh at him, At the level of ordinary people, the worldly knowledge is 'I am this body'. This is the basis for atheistic philosophy. Hence at the first stage of our learning, all of us are atheists. Later, as we go higher and higher, saying that I am not body, not - 431

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senses, not mind, not ego, we reach the final stage of Vedanta, the spiritual knowledge. Whether the philosophy is theistic or atheistic, they are all steps towards spiritual enlightenment. At each level, that particular experience is correct. For instance, imagine a high mountain and the steps to reach its top. At every step of climbing the mountain, the climber has a different scene around him. By climbing one kilometer high mountain, one can see an area of nearly 4-6 Km. By climbing higher and higher, the climber sees a vaster area. At every stage, the visual experience of the reality he gains is true and right. That is why various schools of philosophy or sub-branches of philosophy are different stages on way to reach the highest peak of spiritual enlightenment. Charvaka philosophy is the most basic one. All of them would reach ultimately the same and single destination. As this harmonising principle was there in the philosophical approach of Shri Shankara and in his Advaita Philosophy, even after him the other schools of philosophical thought continued as an undercurrent in our tradition. As a result of this, every branch of Indian philosophy - the six theistic branches viz. Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Pervamimamsa and Vedanta, and the six atheistic branches of philosophy viz Charvaka, Jaina, Madhyamikad Yogachara in Bouddha, Sautrantika, Vaibhashika - has retained its respectable status. Shri Shankara's harmonising philosophical attitude is clearly visible in his commentaries on "Adhyasa". This is the zenith of the philosophical writings in the world. While writing commentaries on the Brahmasutra, Shri Shankara writes at the beginning an introduction. The title of the introduction is "Adhyasa Bhashya". There were atheists in his period who didn't respect and believe the Vedas and the Upanishaths. For them without quoting from and referring to the Vedas and the Upanishads, he had to provide the initial foundation for his philosophy. He wrote with divine vision and sharp logical power an introduction to the Brahmasutra. This introduction (Adhyasa Bhashya) is even today a great wonder and is given a high place in the philosophical writings of the world. Here Shri Shankara shows the harmonising philosophical attitude. Aha ko'yamadhyAso naam| smRtirUpaH paratra pUrvadRSTAvabhAsaH // What is 'adhyasa'? It is the illusion hidden in the experiences of all. For instance, when we travel in a vehicle we feel that the trees on either side are running. This illusion is, in terms of philosophy, 'adhyasa'. The illusion of running is imposed on the standing tree. This is because the impression of the experience of having seen the running animals is there in mind. Because of this influence of past experience, the traveller forgets that he is sitting in a 432

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running vehicle, and he feels that the trees are running. Thus by the conditioning of the past experience of mind and the defect of ignorance, experiencing of an unreal thing as if it is really existing, is 'adhyasa'. Here Shri Shankara gives examples from every school of philosophy and harmonises. "DofEGRE RRETH sfa af" Some thinkers explain this illusion in the following way. * "375 37RTETHETA:" The act of running is imposed on trees that are not really running This act of running, which was observed elsewhere, (may be in a deer, or some other animal) is, due to the defect of the observer, seen in a tree. This is the explanation given by the 'anyatha khyativadigal' for "illusion". The 'anyatha khyativadigal' are Naiyyayikas. Some Buddhists say that whatever is there inside us is seen in the external world. In their view, everything comes into existence only if it is understood or recognized. If it is not recognized and understood, it has no existence. Hence understanding or awareness itself is being'. The internal knowledge or Vijnana' itself has appeared in the form of external world. In the present example, their explanation is that the trees are conceptualised by intellect; and going in a moving vehicle is also conceptualised by intellect; similarly the running of the trees is also conceptualised by intellect. These thinkers are called atma khyativadigal. The Naiyyayikas argue that a thing which is found somewhere else is seen here; but that which is seen is not the one which is found nowhere. Hence Shri Shankara refers to the statement of both Bouddhas and Naiyyayikas. Thus, further, kecitu yatra yadadhyAsaH tadvivekAgraha nibandhano bramaH / / Illusion is explained by Purvamimamsakas in a different way. In their view nothing in this world is an illusion. Illusion is non-existent. But we see illusions. When we sit in a vehicle, trees appear to be running; oasis is seen in a desert; when we revolve a fire-brand it looks like a circle. Are not these illusions ? For this Shri Shankara presents explanation as follows. While going in a vehicle when we look outside, trees are seen. This is the direct knowledge of trees. Similarly as we are sitting in a moving vehicle, we experience the act of motion. This is yet another direct knowledge. Though these two experiences are different, as we have not become conscious of them separately, we feel that both of them are one and the same. Further, both of this direct knowledge has two different objects or things of experience. As the differences between the two experiences - the knowledge of trees and the knowledge of movement are mixed up and taken as one experience, we have the illusion of trees running on both sides. When we look at 433

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the two experiences and knowledge separately, they are not illusion. Similarly when we look at the objects of two experiences, individually they are not imagined. In spite of this, there is the affair of illusion. This is the opinion of the Akhyativadi and Mimamsakas.Shri Shankara refers to this in his commentaries on "Adhyasa Bhashya" and later achieves harmony. Further : "anyetu yatra yadadhyAsaH tasya eva viparIta dharmatvakalpanAM AcakSate" This is the statement of atheists. i.e. Nihilist Buddhists. They argue that even the non-existent things appear to be existing. In the present example, the quality of running which is not at all there in trees, is found in the trees. Thus, Shri Shankara without distinction of Theism and Atheism, takes all schools of philosophy together and gives at the end, the distinction of Harmony to all the schools. "sarvathApi tu anyasya anyadharmAvabhAsatAM na vyabhicarati" Reality is one, but it appears differently. This aspect is a common element of all schools of philosophy. In reality the trees are immobile. But they appear to be running. That which is something in reality, appears to be something else. This is the common element found in all schools of philosophy. Each school's ideas are different. But grasping accurately those ideas and understanding their essence and the soul of the arguement, and later showing the commonality of all such thoughts is what constitutes the philosophy of harmonising. From this point of view, Shri Shankara has the aptitude of harmoniser of philosophy. Many do not agree at once that Shri Shankara viewed and treated different disciplines of knowledge and the scholars of such disciplines with an attitude of harmonising philosophy. The reason for this is rooted in the narration of historical events related to him. Shri Shankara had argued and debated with Mandana Mishra, later Shankara did argue with another scholar, and he emerged victoriously everywhere. But this is not so. The idea that Shri Shankara travelled all over India to conquer in religious debates is not at all correct. His aim was not to defeat other scholars. In those days many, including scholars, had forgotten the essence of the Vedic religion. Only some had knowledge, but they were unable to impart the qualitative essence of the Vedas and religion. In such a situation Shri Shankara visited many scholars and convinced them that the "essence of Vedas is spirituality". And further, he motivated them to carry this truth to common people. For this purpose, he walked all over our country and visited all kinds of scholars. It is quite obvious that in such contexts the scholars presented their ideas or views to Shri 434

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Shankara. Naturally Shri Shankara gave reply to them. Consequently there started religious or philosophical debates. The ultimate aim was not victory. If a debate is conducted with the intention of victory, it is called "Jalp". But if a debate is carried on to convince the truth of a subject to others or to know one's own self, then it is called 'argument' in the discourses of any philosophical or scientific discipline. The purpose of Shri Shankara was to enthuse and empower all scholars in the country; it was neither 'jalpa' nor unending debate. Shri Shankara moved all over Indian subcontinent, dragged the scholars for argument to understand the essence of all philosophical schools and showed the harmonising element in them. Hence he is the 'Samanvayacharya' of all philosophical schools. The Harmoniser of the ancient and the modern The old and the new: To put it in the words of D.V.G., the famous Kannada poet, "the tree is beautiful with its old roots and new sprouts". This is found in Shri Shankara also. The old means the people before Shri Shankara. Their influence is seen on Shri Shankara. He refers to several of them in his works. He respects them. He condemns some of them with respect to some aspects of their thoughts. He respects the rest of their thoughts. This is a special feature of Shri Shankara. He refers to several predecessors of his time like Upavarshacharya, Goutama who wrote the Nyayasutra, Kanada of Vaisheshika Sutra, Patanjali, Vyasa Maharshi, Jaimini of Mimamsa philosophy, Shabaraswami who wrote commentaries on Mimamsa philosophy, Shri Goudapada. He refers to Goutama with great dedication. He refers to as follows: duHkha janma pravRtti doSa mithyAjJAnAnAM uttarottarApAye tadanantarApAyAdapavargaH // In the "Samanvayadhikarana" at the beginning of his commentaries on Brahmasutra, he refers to the Mimamsa philosophy in the Samanvayadhikarana. He respects the Mimamsakas and at times he condemns them also. Which aspect of the Mimamsa does he condemn ? In the Vedas the portion of karmakanda (ritualistic religious practices) has come for the sake of rituals, Karma. He accepts this. But the Mimamsakas tell that even the Upanishaths also have come for ritualistic purposes. Shri Shankara condemns this. At this juncture, he respectfully refers to the Mimamsa Sutra and the commentaries thereon and analyses them prudentially. Both Jaimini and Shabara Swami tell that the ultimate meaning of Vedas is in rituals and this is limited to the part of Vedas which are called Karmakanda or the first half of the Vedas. The essential meaning of Upanishaths is in the spiritual enlightenment. Thus he has shown that the statements of honest and pious predecessors of his time are not at all against the Vedas. Thus he has harmonized the ideas of all his predecessors. 435

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How does he harmonize various schools of philosophy of the future? Naturally such questions crop up in the mind of readers. This has a reply. Shri Shankara was a master Yogi (Yogeshwar) the meaning of which is elaborately explained later here. Unscientific things would never be uttered by such yogis. A famous scholar from Karnataka is intimate to me. He is very intelligent, thoughtful and a person with very vast reading. He was with us for some time. While touring in the North India, we were discussing several things. Once he said "I haven't seen anything unscientific uttered from the master-yogis". Immediately I said nothing unscientific would be uttered by the master yogis. Unscientific means things which are beyond clear analysis and explanation, beyond any brilliant person's experience, and beyond any research process. Such unscientific things would never come from yogis. If anywhere such things are found, they would be proved as "true" - this is what we believe. Last year (in May, 2000) on the day of Shri Shankar Jayanti, there was a seminar in our "Shrimatha". Multi-facets of Shri Shankara's personality and life were discussed elaborately. In the seminar scientists narrated the similarities found in Shankara's Advaita philosophy and modern physics and mathematics. A scientist in physics made a lot of references to Shri Shankara. Wherever we find scientific discussion, there is relation to modernity. Discourses on factual reality is always eternal. As Shri Shankara's philosophical discourses abound in such narration of truth, he is much fascinated by the modernists. In this sense, he is a harmoniser of both the ancient and the modern disciplines. The Harmoniser of Bhakti, Jnana and Rajayoga Shri Shankaracharya is the greatest among the devotees; he is the most enlightened, and he is the greatest among Yogis. We get clear evidences from his own works for this statement. If we take the devotional literature, all know about "Devyaparadh Kshamapana Stotra". That whether it is composed by him or not, is still under debate among scholars. Even today it is not settled. But we have heard the elderly knowledgeable persons and great ones stating that nobody, except Shri Shankar, could ever write like this. jagadamba vicitramatra kim| paripUrNA karuNAsticenmayI // aparAdha prmpraavRtm| nahi mAtA samupekSate sutam // 0, Mother, Aren't your perfectly compassionate ? The mother would never ignore her child even if he is surrounded by innumerable offences. As such, there is no wonder in the fact that you would forgive me and protect me. You would forgive me undoubtedly and protect me without fail. 436

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matsama pAtakI nAsti pApani tvatsamA nhi| evaM jJAtvA mahAdevI yathA yogyaM tathA kuru "O, great Goddess, there is no sinner like me. Neither is there destroyer of sins like you, you know better than me my sinful nature and your sin-destroying power. Hence you see what is right (whether you excuse me or not) I have surrendered myself completely to you." What a fantastic arration ! This kind of narration of deep devotional feelings can never be presented by anybody except Shri Shankara. In other words, his perfect narration of deep devotional feelings has made him the greatest of the devotees. This is seen in all his hymns. In his "Viveka Choodamani", Shri Shankara tells about Bhakti or devotion to God. mokSa kAraNa sAmagyAM bhaktireva griiysii| svasvarUpAnusa,dhAnaM bhaktirityabhidIyate // Several ways are there for salvation. Several means are also there. Of all the means, devotional path is the great one. Shri Shankara has made this statement in a scientific spirit. What is Bhakti ? or devotion ? He defines it there immediately. "Bhakti" means contact with the God who is beyond our mental conscience. Shri Swami Vivekananda says - "When devotion reaches its highest point, it is called "Parabhakti". Parabhakti is 'Parajnana' the knowledge of the Other. Enlightenment or knowledge and devotion become one here. In the following sloka Shri Shankara describes the Parabhakti. In the "Shivananda Lahari", we get another instance of his narration of Bhakti or devotion to God. aGkolaM nijabIja santataraya skAntopalaM suucikaa| sAdhvI naijavibhulatA kSitiruhaM sinduH saridvallabham // prApnotIha yathA tathA pazupateH pAdAravindadvayam / / cetovRttirupetya tiSThati sadA sA bhaktirityucyate // He interprets devotion by giving an excellent simile. There is a statement "3441 Totalte. We can use the same statement for Shri Shankara also. He gives such wonderful similes here. The first simile for devotion is "Ankolam". 'Ankola' is a tree. The special feature of the seeds of the tree is that however much they might be spread out here and there, they get collected around the tree overnight. Similarly, however much our mind is indulged in material affairs, all aspects of mind should come and rest at the feet of God. It is possible to bring all facultiesof mind to the feet of God in some way or other. 437

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The second example is "344** Kluci 1997. All iron particles come speedily and get surrounded around a magnet. As it is quite natural for the iron particles to be attracted by a magnet, different moods and aspects of mind also reach naturally the feet of the God and rest there. The third example is " fa ". A dedicated wife always thinks about her husband. Similarly in one way or other mind should always think of God. The fourth example is a fore". A creeper can never leave the support of a tree. It is stuck to a tree. If the tree falls down, the creeper does the same. If tree dies, it also dies. In all ways it is dependent on the tree. Just like this, our mind should be surrendered to Lord Pashupati with the feeling of "Anyatha Sharanam Nasti". Mind should take shelter in God. The fifth example is "fH: HREF". As river always flows towards an ocean, our mind also should move towards God. On some day, it finally reaches the feet of God and finds rest. This is devotion. Thus he praises intensely the divine greatness of devotion and composes one more sloka. mArgAtivartitapAdukA pazupateraGgasya kUrcAyate gaNDUSAmbuniSecanaM puripodivyAbhiSekAyate // kiJcit bhakSita mAMsazeSakabalaM navyopahArAyate / bhaktiH kiM na karotyaho ! vanacaro bhaktAvataM sAyate / / This is the story of Hunter Kannappa. You might have heard the legend of Bedara Kannappa or Hunter Kannappa. This historical incident of a great devotee of Shiva took place at Shri ka ahasti. "Koorcha" is an instrument used to cleanse the dust and dirt on the idol of God. The hunter Kannappa came there and saw. The worship was not offered for a long time to Lord Shiva. The body of Shiva was covered with dust. "Ayyo, Shiva", thus uttered Kannappa and swept the dust from the body. He offered pooja to Shiva with sincere devotion and faith. Shiva became very happy. "Shiva was very hungry. Poor fellow. Worship is not offered to Him for a pretty long period. I should offer something to Him for eating. What shall I give ?" He pondered for a while, and gave his own food to Shiva. Shiva was completely pleased. What made it happen ? bhaktiH kiM na karoti; All this happened because of real devotion. 376) TRT ad ard I Because of his honest and candid devotion, the hunter of forest became the greatest devotee. Here Shri Shankara has praised the sacred glory of devotion. Let us take up "Shri LaxmiNarasimha Stotram" with its deep tender sorrow. "Laxmi Narasimha Mamad[hi Karavalambam". If one understands the in-depth meaning of it, even the stone-hearted fellow becomes soft and tender. Lord Narasimha appears be 438

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fore us. His rich contribution to the world of devotional literature is the proof of the maturity of his inner devotion. If we take up the knowledge aspect, Shri Shankara is the most enlightened of all. Shri Shankara says: kurute gaMgAsAgara gamanaM vrataparipAlanamathavAdAnam / jJAnavihInaH sarvamatena muktiM na bhavati janmazatena // Religious activities such as a holy dip in the Ganges or in an ocean, or in holy lakes, performance of some vritas, charity, etc, will not directly give us salvation or moksha. All of them can liberate the soul only when they are accompanied by knowledge or enlightenment. If such religious rituals are not clubbed with enlightenment, even after several hundred births with constant religious performances, one doesn't get salvation or liberation. "Higa q ary" "and fafaral sifa rafa FPI: Tren faud 3 Hry" Realisation of God is spiritual enlightenment. Without that one cannot get salvation. This is what Shri Shankara proclaims loudly in several contexts. His commentaries on the Brahmasutra, the Bhagavadgeeta, the Upanishaths reveal his highly disciplined philosophical narrative style and the height of his knowledge also. Shri Shankar explains what is 'self' or 'Jeevatma' and what is Almighty or Paramatma in crystal clear style. It is not easy to understand the 'self or Jeevatma' since we think superficially. Who is Jeevatma ? or self ? We all, you and I, are Jeevatmas. We haven't understood ourselves. Some ask - What? Do you think I don't know myself? We have to ask them like this. "If you know yourself well, how were you when you were an eight month old infant ? When did you eat sugar candy and when did you eat dates ?" Nobody remembers childhood experiences. The mother can tell it. Suppose that the mother replies like this - "you could not get adjusted with dates. Hence I used to give you sugar-candy." On listening to such statements of mother, one has to imagine one's own childhood days. That is what anyone will do. That's all. But did not one spend one's own childhood days here? Is it a lie ? No. The life before the present birth is still mysterious. If we go a step back, and tell, nobody remembers that he/she was in mother's womb before birth. But is it a lie that she/he came from mother's womb ? The life before the present birth is still more obscure. Thus nobody has his/ her own complete knowledge. We know things only after our mind got developed. Still we don't know everything. Ultimately we have to accept that our mind is limited. The things connected with the 'self" are very deep and mysterious. How were we born? How will we die ? How will we go to different worlds ? What are the principles ? Like this there are very subtle and 439

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delicate things in the treatises. To narrate such topics in his commentaries on the Brahmasutra he has devoted a separate chapter. When we read the clear and specific narration of Shri Shankar on such topics, we understand the height, depth and gravity of his knowledge and enlightenment. Hence Shri Shankara is the greatest among enlightened people. Shri Shankar is the main leader of Yogis. To know his glory in Yoga, we should read his book "Yoga Taravali" and his commentaries on "Rajayoga" of the "Brahmanopanishath." In "Yoga Taravali" he has presented the final stages of Yoga. When yoga' reaches its final and lofty level, it is called "Rajayoga". "THI TTET START" There Shri Shankara says - nAdAnusandhAna namo'stutubhyaM tvAM sAdhanaM tatvapadasya jAne / bhavatprasAdAt pavanena sAkaM vilIyate viSNupade manome // The meaning of nAdAnusandhAna is praNavAnusandhAna, ie practicing the utterance of Om. Heart is called "Anahata Chakra". From Anahata Chakra or heart of a yogi incessantly comes the sound of Om. It is thus called "Anahata Nada". There are different phases in "Anahata Nada". There are several types of sound. There are varieties of sound like the musical sound of cloud (Meghanada) the musical sound of kettledrum (Bheri Nada), the musical sound of tabour (Mridanga Nada), the musical sound of flute (Ko*alu Nada), the musical sound of cymbal (Tala Nada) etc. Upanishaths say that according to the progress made by the yogic achiever, he hears different sounds. If a yogic achiever continues with this kind of realisation through musical sound, by the time he hears the musical sound of clouds, he experiences the Almighty. Shri Shankar tells in the above sloka about the ways of uttering of omkara for realisation or attainment of God. O, the way of uttering of omkara, you are sufficient to get the vision of God. Please, you be with me always. By your grace, my life-breath mingles with the Divinity at His feet. He writes on "Kumbhaka" Pranayama like this ohyANa jAlandhara mUlabandhaiH anidritAyAM urgaaNgnaayaam| pratyaGmukhotpAt pravizan suSumnAM gamAgamo muJcati gndhvaahH|| 440

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How is the state of 'Kumbhaka'? To tell in brief, inhaling or taking breath inside is 'pooraka', exhaling or leaving breath outside is "rechaka". Without the two, if breath is sustained, it is "Kumbhaka". If air is stopped out, it is "Bahir Kumbhaka" and if it is stopped inside, it is "Antah Kumbhaka". "Antah Kumbhaka" is very important one. In 'Antah Kumbhaka' the air is stopped at the neck/vocal chord and sustained. That is 'Jalandhara Bandha'. If the air inside the body is so contracted that it won't go out from the anus, it is then called "moola Bandh". When air is pushed down by 'Jalandhara Bandha, and the air is pushed up by Moolabandha, the state of maintaining breath is called 'Kumbhaka'. But it is not over, still more things are to take place. Just by controlling breath like this it won't become 'Kumbhaka'. If you start doing such things, you shall have to be admitted to hospital. Health will be upset. This is to be practised under the guidance of an experienced teacher. If this is practised in a disciplined way for a long period, air enters the hole of 'Sushumna'. So far the Pranavayu or breath used to move in the adjacent 'nadis' : 'ida' and 'pinga*a'- of 'sushumna' (the left nostril is the route of 'ida' nadi and the right nostril, the route of 'pinga a'.) When we breathe, the inhaling air moves into 'ida' and 'pinga*a' and causes fickleness of mind. Only when the inhaling air enters the middle route "sushumna", leaving aside both 'ida' and 'pinga*a', the fickleness of mind will go way. The practice of "Kumbhaka' should go to such an extent that the dormant or sleeping serpent-like kundalini energy should be awakened and it should enter the hole of 'sushumna'. Then the inhaling air leaves aside the routes of 'ida' and 'pinga*a' and enters 'sushumna'. He has, in several other slokas, described many more things about Kumbhaka. He describes there several higher achievements of Yogic practices also. For the time being this much is sufficient. Thus Shri Shankara Bhagawatpada is the greatest among the highly famous masters of yoga' Harmonising of castes All of us desire that there should be a harmony among allcastes in our society. In Shri Shankar we notice at two contexts the feeling of harmony. First of all, we get a reference to this in a small book, the "Maneesha Panchakam". Once when Shri Shankara was returning after bath from the Ganga in Kashi, an outcaste (chandala, a pariah), came on the way. Eventhough he was asked to leave the path for Shri Shankara, he was not ready. Lord Shiva from Kailasa had come in disguise to test Shri Shankaracharya. The pariah asked questions to Shri Shankara : "Oh, great brahmin twice born man, what do you tell ? Do you ask me to maintain distance between one physical body and another ? Or do you mean to leave distance between one soul and another ? When there are reflections of the sun both in the waters of the Ganga and in a drainage, is not the sun aloof of both good and bad aspects of them (water)? Is there any difference between the spaces inside of a golden urn or an earthen urn? Similarly, can there be 441

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in the matters of inner soul, which is an ocean of spiritual bliss, any differences on the ground that one is a brahmin and the other is an outcaste ?" On hearing this, Shri Shankara understood that the person before him in the form of an outcaste was not an ordinary pariah, but Parashiva Himself who had come to test him. On the spot, the following divine utterances came from Shri Shankara. jAgrat svapna suSiptiSu sphuTatarA yA saMvidujjRbhate yaa| brahmAdi pipIlikAntatanuSu protA jagat sAkSiNI / saivAhaM na ca dRzyavastitvati dRDhaprajJApi yasyApicet / cANDAlo'stu satu dvijo'stu gururityeSA manISA mama / / (Brahma Chaitanya - or the Absolute Divine Power is at the back of all living beings. That flows incessantly in all three stages - 1. fully awakened state. 2. dream state, and 3. the deep sleep state. Further, it is there at the back of all - from the first living being (Brahma) to the last and tiniest living creature. Anyone who has realised and experienced that "I am a divine soul, not this physical body", -whether by birth he be a brahmin or an outcaste, it is immaterial - he is my real teacher.) God, who is behind all living creatures, has no caste. The sense of caste and creed is that of body and mind. This is how the world is. At superficial level there appear ups and downs, differences in the world. But behind them, there is an Indivisible Unique Principle which is free from differences, ups and downs, lower and higher, etc. When one reaches great height in his achievement, one realises how all these castes and creeds get dissolved and harmonised. In this sense, the "Maneesha Panchaka" of Shri Shankara expresses the principle of harmonisation of castes. Secondly, all are permitted and welcomed to know the essential meaning of the Vedas through history and mythologies. Any person from any caste can become enlightened. Though by birth a person is shudra, he can get enlightenment by the accumulated rewards and achievements of previous births, and doubtlessly he gets salvation through spiritual enlightenment. Shri Shankara tells these words at the end of the chapter on "Apashudradhikarana". It means, all kinds of people, irrespective of their castes, should move towards the realisation of Parabrahma or God, and it is a process of harmonisation of all castes and creeds. Harmonising of geographical differences of our country Our country now extends from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Gujarath to Assam. But in the past, the whole of this region was not politically a single nation. Inspite of this, the solid reason for recognizing the boundaries of our country is based on Shri Shankara's visits to these places. To a 442

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great extent, even today there are several indications of his visit to every nook and corner of our nation. He established in all states of our nation, monasteries, amnyaya Peethas, etc., in such a way that they speak of his inner vision of the integration and harmonisation of the geographical differences of our nation. "Harmonising means - the process of organising heterogeneous - sometimes even mutually opposing - elements, at a place or in a person, in an orderly way allotting each one of them a due place in the whole. This quality is found as a natural feature in people with multifacet genius. Shri Shankar was a unique kind of genius. The great personality of Shri Shankara is described so far with respect to seven aspectsof his achievements. It is only an effort to look at the Jagadguru Shri Shankara from a different angle. His was a splendorous personality with all encompassing features. Only a very few indications remain today to understand him. It is difficult to have an indepth understanding of his personality with the few things that are remaining. Even then I have tried to narrate the glory of Shri Shankara's contributions and by this I have rendered services at his feet. He had a universal vision and an epoch making personality. He guided us basically for all our religious practices. Hence he is the acharya. If our people remember Shri Shankara respectfully on these grounds, my efforts here would be fruitful. lokAH samastAH sukhino bhavaMtu nArAyaNa nArAyaNa nArAyaNa 443

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Arhat Vardhamana's Attitude Toward 'Ahimsa' - M.A. Dhaky Arhat Vardhamana, who soon after, and later much more frequently, was to be addressed by his epithetical nomen 'Jina Mahavira', is well-known in Jainism as well as in the history of Indian religions for his resolute insistence on ahimsa, non-violence. Since his days, ahimsa has remained the pivotal doctrine around which Jainism had revolved. For Mahavira, it was an invarial ethical and moral principle of conduct that led to one's spiritual well-being, advancement, and uplifting. It is the very first of the five great and inalienable vows a Nirgrantha friar/nun took, and still takes, at the time of initiation in the ecclesiastical order and has to follow it as an unswerving practice for the rest of his/her life. Vardhamana's personal attitude toward ahimsa can best be culled out from his own utterances which undoubtedly, just as unambiguously, are preserved in their original form and content only inside a single work, the first book of the Acaranga-sutra ("Skandha" I, c. B.C. 507-477 and, in part B.C. 200 as well as c. 1st cent. B.C.-A.D.)' which, by the consensus of the non- Digambara Jaina scholars as well as non-Jaina Jainologists including Western is the earliest Nirgranthian canonical work. In the relatively more ancient agamas next in time, such as the Dasavaikalika (c. B.C. 400-375, the date applicable only to the first two which are the earliest surviving chapters, and later in c. B.C. 200 for the remaining eight chapters and appendices)3 and the Acaranga's second book ("Skandha" II, c. 1st cent. B.C.-A.D.), what is stipulated within the corpus of the monastic rules for the permissible food for the Nirgratha recluses, as also what is attributed to Mahavira in the Vyakhyaprajnpti (c. 1st- 3rd cent. A.D.), has to be closely as well as carefully looked into and critically examined vis-a-vis what Mahavira himself had said and firmly believed. This main issue apart, one must keep in mind a significant and vital fact that the dogmatical and the scholastic part of the extant canon, derives from and represents a further development of the preachings of Arhat Parsva. These presumably were embodied in an undeveloped and succinct form in what in the tradition were called the Purva or 'former/ anterior texts, anterior in the sense they preceded the canonical works composed within the fold of the sect of Arhat Vardhamana. These are for long lost. The huge mass of the dogmatic/scholastic literature available in Vardhmana's sect, in point of fact, could not have originated from Arhat Vardhamana, judging from his own utterances which in part exhibit the colour and flavour of the teachings of the early upanisads minus Brahman". Arhat Vardhamana's own utterances are strongly individualistic an at once recognizable. They are couched in a very archaic mould and phrasing, yet lucid and forceful. These are cast either in the form of concise 444

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dvandvadilemmas or just direct statements that fully reflect his wisdom and power of conviction. The style of phrasing in Vardhamana's utterances is as distinctive as is singular in that it is unparalleled in the entire Nirgrantha canonical corpus, unknown alike in the Buddhist Pali canon. That Arhat Vardhamana was totally opposed to all types of violence, unexceptionally indeed toward all kinds of life forms-macro as well as micro-is very clear in the very first chapter of the Acaranga Book I, where he unequivocally and, in serially arranged identical sutra passages, states that the destruction of living beings*-- in three ways, namely by doing (samarabhati ), by getting it done through others (annehim samarabhavati), or lending consent to it (samarabhamane samanujanati) is detrimental (tam se ahitae) just as it consequences in nescience (tam se abodhie ) 7. Vardhamana's consideration of, and compassion toward, all beings and respect for their basic instinct to be in comfort and to have dislike for pain / misery, their shunning (the thought of) being killed and desire to liveremain alive-is reflected in the undernoted statements : savve pANA piyAtagA sukhasAtA dukkhapaDikUlA appiya vadhA piya jIvino jIvita kAmA / savvesiM jIvitaM payaM / - AcArAMga 1.3.78 "All beings are fond of life; (they) love pleasure, shun pain, dislike being killed, love life (and) desire to live. To all (beings) life is dear. " Now, this observation becomes further meaningful by the undernoted statements, the second negating the first : AvaMtI ke AvaMtI logAMsi samaNA ca mAhaNA ca puDho vivAdaM vadaMti se diTTaM ca ne sutaM ca ne vinnAyaM ca ne uDDuM ahaM tiriya disAsu savvato supaDilehitaM ca ne- 'savve pAmA savve jIvA savve bhUtA savve sattA haMtavvA ajjAvetavvA paridhettavvA paritAvetavvA uddavetavvA / ettha vi jAnaha natthottha doso' / anAriyavacanameyaM / tattha je te AriyA te evaM vadAsI - se duhidvaM ca me dussuyaM ca me dummayaM ca me duvvinnAyaM ca uDDuM ahaM tiriyaM disAsu savvato duppaDilehitaM ca me jaM naM tubbhe evaM Acakkhaha evaM bhAsaha evaM patraveha evaM paruveha - 'savve pANA savve bhUtA savve jIvA savve sattA haMtavvA ajjAvetavyA paridhetavvA paritAvetavvA udvetavvA / ettha vi jAnata natthettha doso / ' anAriyapavanameyaM / vacaM puna eva mAcikkhAmo evaM bhAsAmo evaM patrapemo eM paruvemo- 'savve pANA savve bhUtA savve jIvA na haMtavvA na ajAvetavyA na paridhettavvA na pariyAvetavvA na uddavetavvA / ettha vi jAnata natthettha doso | AriyavacanayaM / - AcArAMga 1.4-136-138 "Many and several in this world, Sramanas or Brahmanas, enter into this discussion: 'We have seen, heard, acknowledged, thoroughly understood in the upper, nether, and sidelong directions, and in all ways exam - 445

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ined it: all sorts of living beings may be slain, or subjected to violence, or abused, or tormented, or driven away. Know about this (i.e. these actions): there is no wrong in it.' That is the doctrine of a barbarian. "Then there are (some) teachers who have said: You have wrongly seen, wrongly heard, wrongly acknowledged, wrongly understood, in the upper, nether, and sidelong directions, in all ways wrongly examined it, when you say thus, speak thus, declare thus, explain thus: 'All sorts of living beings may be slain, or treated with violence, or abused, or tormented, or driven away. Know about this: there is no wrong in it. That is a doctrine of the unworthy. But we say thus, speak thus, declare thus, explain thus : 'All kinds of living beings should not be slain, nor subjected to violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away. Know about this, there is no wrong in it.' This is the doctrine of a civilized person." In another context, after referring to a friar who is civil, knows civil manners, and believes in civility, neither accepts impure food (the one involving violence/sin) nor does he make other to accept it, nor concurs with the act of one who accepts such food 10 : se nAtie nAti Avae na smnujaante| savvAmagaMdhaM paritrAya nirAmagaMdha parivvae // AcArAMga 2.5.88 "Such a friar shuns all kinds of impurities (amagandha) and moves around for getting food devoid of impurities (niramagandha)." Since Vardhamana, in this way, strongly advocates purity of food which does not involve violence and, by implication, includes strictly vegetarian and excludes non-vegetarian food. He arguably must be practicing what he was preaching. This inference is indirectly endorsed by a statement in the hymn 'Mahavira-stava' or 'Vira-stuti' praising Mahavira in the Sutrakrtanga, the hymn may be dated latest to the 3rd-2nd century B.C. There, it is said" : se svadaMsI abhibhUta nANI nirAmahaMghe ghikimaM tthitppaa| anuttare savvajagAMsi vijjaM gaMdhAtIte abhae anAU // sUtrakRtAMga 1.6.5 "He (Mahavira) perceives everything; his knowledge has gone beyond the four stages; hence he is omniscient; he is totally pure (sinless) in regard to his activities (niramagandhe) and is virtuous and stable." The term niramagandha, figuring here, as in the Acaranga, it should be once more emphasized, also includes avoidance of non-vegetarian diet12. 446

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Varadhamana's own attitude towards non-violence including his foodpreference thus is very clear and beyond the pale of doubt. The doubt, of course, has been cast in the past because of an episode figuring in a work that was composed about five to six centuries posterior to the Jina's time. I have in mind the well-known and tragic episode of Gosalaka-Mahavira encounter included in the conglomerated corpus of the anga-agama work, the Vyakhyaprajnpti13, the subsequent (may be consequent) visitation of a serious ailment, and the Jina, for curing it, permitting himself non-vegetarian food intake. Much discussion had ensued on this knotty point and a separate long paper is needed in view first of the ancient writings and next reviewing their controversial interpretations done by various scholars, Western and Indian Jaina, and the positions they had adopted on this issue. In any case, this late record of an anecdote cannot prejudice the position clarified and established by his own utterances of conviction and admonition. Annotations : 1. After carefully studying the language, form, content, and style of its different chapters and the strata within each chapter, I have fixed the above-cited temporal bracket for the Acaranga Book 1. Vardhamana's own words is the oldest component therein and must go to c. B.C. 507-477, provided the nirvana of the Jina occurred in B.C. 477 as Jacobi had determined several decades ago. All of them recognize that, the agamas inherited (not composed) by and preserved in the Svetambara sect, even when these are of differing dates, revealing as they also do strata and laminae in their fabric and are thus neither homogeneous nor of the same period, nor are they complete nor well-organized, they still happen to be sufficiently ancient and by and large authentic. It is too well-known a fact that the Digambara sect, having its origin and earliest prevalence in ancient times in extreme South, lost the agamas (which must then be in primordial shape and style) at a very early date and at much later dates had composed other works labelled by the German Jainologists as 'secondary,' 'substitute,' or 'surrogate' canon and by the present day Svatambara sub-sects as agamavat or agamasthaniya (isoagamic). In its corpus, the surrogate canon has very few works, a couple of works from among them relating to karma-prakrti are the earliest and apparently had derived from those of the Parsvapatya sect : these may have been borrowed/adopted from the Yapaniya sect. Some texts like the Aradhana of Sivarya, Mulacara of Va-kere, and even plausibly the Triloka-prajnpti are the borrowals from the Yapaniya sect. For the discussion on the historical origin and date of the different 3. 447

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chapters of this Sutra, see my article, "The Earliest Portions of the Dasavaikalika-sutra," Researches in Indian and Buddhist Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Prof. Alex Wayman, Ed. R. K. Sharma, Delhi 1993, pp. 179-193. Mahavira apparently substituted 'atman' for 'Brahman.' As examples may be cited the following: je guNe se AvaDhe je AvaTe se gunne| - 1.1.541 je accatthaM jAnati se bahiyA jAnati je vahiyA jAnati se jajjatthaM jAnati - 1-1.7.56 ja guNe se mUladvAne ja mUladvAne se guNe / 1-2.1.63 jathA aMto tathA bAhiM jajhA bAhiM tathA aNto| - 1-2.5.12 je anatradaMsI se anatrArAme je anatrArAme se anatradaMsI - 1-2.6.101 jathA puNNassa katthati tathA tucchassa katthati jathA tucchassa katthati tathA puNNassa katthati - 1-2.6.102 sutA amuni munino sadA jAgaraMti - 1-3.2.106 sutA amuni munino sadA jAgaraMti - 1-3.2.106 je pavvajAtasatthassa khetatre se asattharasa kheto je asattha kheto se paccajAta satthassa khetaH // 1-3.2.109 je egaM jAnati se savvaM jAnati je savvaM jAnati se egaM jAnati - AcArAMga 3.4.128 je AtA se vitrAtA je vitrAtA se AtA - AcArAMga 15.6.171 448

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6. Cf. the Acaranga I. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, pp. 4-15. For reference, I have used Shri Mahavira Jain Vidyalaya edition, Jaina Agama Series 2, Pt. 1, Ayaranga-suttam, Ed. Muni Jambuvijaya, Bombay 1976. N.B. This paper in its original form was read by the author at the Seminar on "Mahavira and Ahimsa" organized in early 2001 at the B. L. Institute, Delhi. The present is the revised version. 449

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VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM' (THE UNITED HUMAN FAMILY) - THE UNIVERSAL MESSAGE OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE Prof. M.V. Ramana India is a pluralistic nation from the social , linguistic, cultural and religious points of view. The plurality does not merely signify diversity but highlights the intent and intensity of each component. When diverse components co-exist within a geographical area with acommon administration, there is bound to be conflict in intent andinterest. Hence an effort to bring in harmony and integration i.e unity through diversity is a necessity. The Atharva Veda rightly points out this! - janaM bibhratI bahudhA vivAcasAm / nAnAdharmANAM pRthvI yathokasAm / / It is a well-known fact that Sanskrit is not a mere communicative language. In the long history of our country, Sanskrit is the greates binding force of integration and a perennial source of universal message crossing the barriers of different races and cultures. It is this universal message that makes Sanskrit unique among other languages of the world. An attempt is made here to show how the concept of united human family' has been the central nucleus of the Sanskrit literature right from the Vedas down to the Kavyas. Vedas are universal and the message conveyed by them is beyond the limits of caste , creed or time. It is unanimously accepted by the scholars that the supremacy of the Vedic texts lies in its capacity to disclose the various means to enjoy the pleasures of the world as well as to teach the highest ultimate goal of humanity, viz., the eternal salvation and the means to attain it. The idea of harmony or integration was the central nucleus of the Vedic texts and it was emphasized in many an occasion. To mention a few, in the Rgveda the Mantra ajyeSThAso akaniSThAsa ete| sambhrAtaro vaavRdhussaubhgaay|| which means elders should treat the young with affection and similarly the young should respect the elders. In the Yajurveda too it was emphasized thus: ' have equal rights, share food and drink and coexist peacefully as if the whole universe is one family'. samAnI prapA saha vo anna bhAgaH / samAne vokatre vo yunjmi| 450

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Even in the Atharvaveda, in one of the Mantras of 12thAnuvaka it was pointed out that "the whole Earth is my mother and I am the son of mother earth" HTAT PF#: YETISE YFZ4T: I Besides these fragmentary passages that occur in different contexts in the Scriptures, there are some full-length hymns viz. 1.The.Sanjnana' Sukta in the Rg-Veda, 2.the 'Sivasankalpam' Sukta in the Yajurveda and 3.the "Sammanasya' Sukta in the Atharvaveda which ultimately subscribe to the idea of national integration with the underlying principles of harmony and peaceful existence. A few Vedic hymns (Suktas) are given here which bear ample testimony to the fact how the Vedic seers have visualized the entire universe as a single United human family. 1. The Sukta "Sanjnana' of Kg-Veda (X.191) This Sukta Consists of only four verses. The first one is addressed to the fire-God and the remaining three verses are addressed to worshippers. But they can as well be extended, insofar as they convey a message to all the people. The secular aspect of the hymn is very clear. These three verses were selected among the songs for national integration. The Hymn 'Sangacchadhvam' purports the idea - "Go together, speak together, let your minds be of one accord. As the ancient gods with one accord accept their sacrificial share, so also you too accept your share of life with one accord". The caution behind this verse is 'not to be envious at other's profits or losses' - but share their life with a single mind, speech and action. Similarly the following verses - samAno mantraH samitaH samAnI samAnaM manaH sahacittameSAm / samAnaM mantramabhimantraye vaH samAnena vo haviSA juhomi // 3 samAnI va AkUtiH samAnA hRdayAni vaH / samAnamastu vo mano yathA vaH susahAsati // 4 means - 'Be your intention the same, your hearts the same, your mind the same that it may be a good company for you'. In this verse, the Vedic sage advises people to keep their mind, speech and action united, so that they become a united society which certainly proves to be a good company for one and all. 451

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2. The Sukta 'Sivasankalpam' in the Yajurveda (XXXIV): The Sukta 'Sivasankalpam'in the Yajurveda (XXXIV) is another instance in point. The very name Siva means auspicious and Sankalpa means resolution. As the title itself indicates, in this Sukta the Vedic sage describes the greatness of mind and wishes that such a great mind be always filled with auspicious resolutions - All the Verses end with the same phrase 'tan me manah Siva Sankalpamastu'in a significant manner. Mind is superior to any other sense organ. So one should keep the mind pure and pious inorder to have noble thoughts. 3. The Sukta - Sammanasya' in the Atharvaveda (III.30): The Sukta - Sammanasyal unity of mind) in Atharvaveda contains seven verses. In this Sukta the Vedic sage advises people to live in harmony and never quarrel among themselves. This is one of the many secular hymns. Maintaining harmony is emphasized in the following verse : 'Be the son obedient to his father, be the mother like-minded with her children; let the wife speak sweet words (full of honey) with her husband'. 3Faa: fog: , HITTA 406 HAT: jAyA patye madhumatIM vAcam vadatu zantivAm // The same idea that 'brothers and sisters should lead a life of good movements, good understanding and doing good to one another is emphasized in another verse in the same Sukta.5 Thus one must have unity of thought, word and deed, all being auspicious. mA bhrAtA bhrAtaraM dvikSat, mA svasAramuta svsaa| samyaJca savratA bhUtvA vAcaM vadata bhadrayA // In the Verse 'Jyayasvantacittino'.... etc., the sage having explained how to lead a happy family life, extends it to the society at large. Meaning of the verse: 'Having superior virtues in them of like intent, do not be divided. Accomplishing together and moving on with joint labour, speaking lovely words to one another, come hither. I make you going together and like-minded. The purport of this verse is - one must follow men of auspicious thought, word and action. The well-known Santi mantra - om saha nAvavatu / saha nau bhunaktu / saha vIryaM karavAvahai / tejasvinAvadhItamastu / A falgaranti 3114 Pfa: fat: mfa: 11 Which emphasizes harmony and understanding between the preceptor and the disciple for enriching their knowledge', deserves more than a 452

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passing notice. As a resume of the above, it is clear that the Vedic hymns proclaim universal brotherhood, harmony and integrity to achieve the goal of 'United human family'. The concept of united human family was much more popularised in the post-Vedic classics. For, the two epoch-making sages Valmiki and Vyasa blessed the human race with the two monumental epics - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; which have eternal social values. The dictum - 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' ayaM nijaH paro veti gaNanA laghucetasAm / udAracaritAnAM tu "vasuthaivakuTumbakam" // -would suffice to prove the universality of the epics, and it gainedsuch a wide popularity in the later classics that the anthologies of Subhasitas like Subhashita ratnakara, Subhashita sudhanidhi, Padyaracana, Saduktikarnamrita, Sanngadhara Paddhati and the works like Hitopadesa have incorporated this verse in some context or the other. Conclusion: We are in the new millennium, an age of the emerging world society. As Dr. S. Radhakrishnan rightly observes, 'Buddhists proclaim that they wish to see a brotherhood established on earth. Christianity tells us of one family on earth. So does Islam - one God and one brotherhood on earth'. Our ancient seers and prophets have long before spoken of one family on earth." mAtA ca pArvatI devI pitA devo mahezvaraH / bAndhavAH mAnavAH sarve svadezo bhuvanatrayam // (Goddess Parvati is the mother and Lord Siva, the Father. We are children of the same parents, and therefore we belong to one family). The world as Dr. S. Radhakrishnan rightly remarks, 'craves for fellowship. The spirit of India from the time of Rgveda till today, asks to move together to develop common ideals and purposes" 'Sangacchadhvam'... as already given above in the Sanjnana Sukta. The advancement of science and technology could of course succeed in bringing about a physical unification of the world. But there should be a cultural unity. The world has become one today. The feeling of belonging to one whole' should be instilled in the minds of young people. For, it is the ideas that move the world. To conclude with the words of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, "it is the right ideas and the right kind of indoctrination will mean the betterment of the world".8 ... 453

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1. 2 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. REFERENCES Atharvasamhita XII 1-45 Rgveda V-60.5 Atharvasamhita XII-12 Rgveda X.191.2-4 Atharvasamhita III.30..4 'Towards A New World'. p.9 Ibid,p.60 'Towards A New World, op.cit.p.12 454

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Psychology of 'The Gita' - RAGHUNANDAN PRASAD Most of us are mortals with ordinary psycho-somatic capabilities. We tend to buckle down under the impact of every other mediocre difficulty in life. But we might feel surprised to see that a great, experienced warrior, of the stature of Arjuna of Mahabharata, also succumbed to the pressure of the holy-war, the Mahabharata! Let us try to figure out how it happened; #ret: 3421: A Teixent A 3474al.1 (3/38) yotsyamAnAnavekSe ajh ye ete atra samAgatAH / dhArtarASTrasya durbuddheH yuddhe priya cikIrSavaH / / (1/23) ....qef 484-Takt - 44001-28 57-5fa II (2/34) 'Arjuna' requests 'Lord Krishna' to place his chariot midway between the two armies of Kaurava's & Pandava's. He wanted to see the soldiers who had come, ready to fight for the pleasure of the son of Dhritrastra, the wickedminded 'Duryodhana'. It was obviously an important strategic move to figure out the important faces on the enemy - side. The Lord complies. Arjuna looks at the facing army that consisted of many of his relatives, friends & the members of the Kaurava family. Next moment Arjuna experiences something, unprecedented! dRSTvAimam svajanaM kRSNa yuyutsaM smupsthitm| HICRA HA Efo Ha a ufyufa II (1/28) ... usta werd stilla-r9105 #aufged II (1/29) ... Yhdita a HA: 1 fafitif aurin fauztaifa- ra 11(1/30) Arjuna says, "O Krishna, looking to my own people (relatives and friends), ready to fight (with me), my limbs have become languid & my mouth, dry. I am not able to hold the Gandiva (the famous bow of Arjuna) & it is slipping out of my hand & my skin is giving an intense burning sensation. My mind is confused & I only see the bad omens." What has happened? Clue can be seen in the phase "seeing my own people present, desirous to fight". This describes dilemmatic situation facing Arjuna: His own people taking the position as his enemies. This happened for the first time. The ground conflict of 'Kurukshetra' translates into psychological one for Arjuna, posing the twin options of 'Flight' or 'Fight'. As is usually the case with human psychology, Arjuna is choosing the 'Flight' option. He gives is 455

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series of arguments as to why he should not fight the battle & withdraw from it, altogether. He says; na ca zeyaH anupazyAmi hatvA svajanam - Ahve / 1/31) "I do not see any good in killing my own people in the opposite Army!). But if they were not his 'own people'? If only Duryodhana, along with few of his likeminded brothers, was there in enemy lines? Then Arjuna would have been most satisfied to kill them, as he saw Duryodhana as his greatest enemy! He did destroy his enemies in many battles previously. But at the moment if Arjuna wishes to fight and kill his enemy he also has to kill the adorable relatives & dear friends. Which way to go? He does not know. pApam eva Azyeta-asmAn - hRtvA-etAn-AtatAyinaH / (1/36) yadyapi - ete na pazyanti lobha-upahata cetsH| kula kSaya kRtaM doSaM mitradrohe ca pAtakama // (1/38) He says further that if he killed those felons (standing in the opposite Army), there will be destruction of family and that is a 'sin'. He explains that those people in the opposite army, do not see the evil in destruction of family & friends, Pandavas were wiser and hence they should withdraw from the battle & stop the 'sin'. He goes on why it was important to avoid commissioning of the said 'sin'; kula kSaye praNazyanti kuladharmAH sanAtanAH / (1/39) adharma-abhibhavAta kRSNa praduSyanti kulastriyaH / strISu duSTASu vASNaya jAyate varNasaMkaraH // (1/40) patanti pitaro hi-eSAm lupta-piNDa-udaka-kriyAH // (1/41) utsanna kula-dharmANAm manuSyANAm janArdana / narake niyataM vAso bhavati-iti-anuzuzuma (1/43) "Destruction of family leads to destruction of long established familytraditions & duties (Kul-dharma). That causes (moral) corruption of the woman of the family, leading to intermingling of castes and birth of illegitimate children. Such children stop oblations to the fore-fathers & they fall in disgrace. All people in such family live in hell." Arjuna appears to say that he does not want to be held responsible for such further disgrace to family hence he would not like to fight the battle. There is quite a truth in what Arjuna is hinted at. The women & the younger ones suffered immeasurable miseries as a result of any major war that has taken place any where any time. yadi mAm - apratikAram - azaztram zaztra pANayaH / dhArtarASTrA raNe hanyuH tat-me kSema-taram bhvet|| (1/45) 456

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He is therefore convinced that even if the sons of 'Dhritrastral kill him, unarmed, unresisting, it will be more graceful to him. This sounds to be the limit of dejection that Arjuna is relinquishing even his ultimate duty of self-defense! He could surely make a more reasonable, law-abiding, righteous ruler, much superior than the sons of Dhritrastra. The psycho-somatic fit of Arjuna is making him blind to his social duty as a king, which is much greater & larger than duty to his family only. He slumps powerless, in his chariot, Gandiva (the bow) dropped. I think, when dilemma sets in deep, dejection becomes strong, similar reactions exhibit, for any individual. I experienced lack of confidence in the face of certain difficulties of my work-place 1988. I submitted resignation from Group - A service of Govt. of India! My superior authority asked me if I would like to tear off the (resignation) paper myself or he should do it. I could only reply, "Sir, I have not submitted the paper to withdraw it"! I had no other job, no finance to support me! Logical faculty had stopped functioning, completely. Arjuna had given-up. He was in complete dejection with tears in his eyes. This state of pitiable incompetence at the critical moment was obviously shocking. The Lord argues with Arjunaa, probably to keep him involved in conversation, to save him from falling into a bottomless psychological abyss. I believe, to keep such a person involved in constructive argument, is the first & most important requirement! The Lord argued; kulaHtvA kazmalaM idaM viSame smupsthitm| 3777f-1124-3491277 - 370 lait-024-37of7 11(2/2) klaiyaM mA sma gamaH pArtha na-etata-tvami upapadyate / G4 -atam44 747 91 3fa8 94-7911 (2/3) "Arjuna, whence did you get such weakness of nerves, at this critical moment? The behavior of yours' is not compatible with 'Aryan' standards. O sun of 'Kunti', do not fall into this mean-importance, it does not befit you. O scorcher of foes; reject this weakness of heart & get up to fight)". Arjuna responds to the friendly rebuke and that is most important thing at the moment. kathaM bhISmam-ahma saMkhyai droNaM ca madhusUdana / fufen uforineft 451-376 37f-4G7 II (2/4) guruna hatvA hi mahAnu bhAvAn zeyo bhoktuM bhaikSyam - api iha loke (2/5) Arjuna replies, "O Mudhusudan, how can I attack with arrows, the adorable people like Bhishma (his grandsire) & Drauna (his teacher)?" The root of his dilemma is now clearly expressed by himself. He is a warrior, he leaves the option of war, he will invite disgrace if he fights he has to kill adorable people; unfortunately because they are standing on the enemy side. 457

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Arjuna is a thinking man, he feels concerned about even those who are standing in the enemy. Every thinking man is very likely to come across such conflicting situations in life, sooner or later. Incidentally Duryodhana has no such conflict as he had not come to be a thinking being like Arjuna, Lord Krishna has no conflict & dejection as he has gone beyond the level of thinking. Arjuna, feeling helpless, confused & perplexed, asks Krishna; .... youlli cai 14446 #a: 1 T-912: PG-fifera i fer a A ll (2/7) na hi prapazyAmi mama-apanudyAt yata-zoka-ucyoSaNam indriyANAm (2 / 8) ..... 7 zire sfa" mfa-c4 - 34611 young aya . || (2/9) "I do not know my duty, I ask you to tell me what is proper for me to do. I am unable to see what can remove my distress that is drying up my senses. I shall not fight." Arjuna becomes silent, depression is complete. The teacher, the psychologist, Lord Krishna, takes up the treatment of disciple Arjuna. It is important to note how the Lord initiated to address Arjuna who is in deep delusion & dejection; tama-uvAca hRSIkezaH prahasan-iya bhArata / het:-34271: a faute-74-57Qa: II (2/10) azocayAn-anyazoca-tvam prajJAvAdAn-ca bhaassse| Tal7-37 ALF-a 7-39131afa yfusa: 11 (2/11) Some commentators opine here that the Lord addressed Arjuna 'mocking as it were'. It does not appear to be correct. I write from personal experience. When one of my Master once remarked about me, with smile on his face & in presence of other disciples, that I slipped into depression frequently, I felt almost instantaneously that my depression has deepened further. The remark got perceived as with sarcastic intent. I never felt encouraged to meet the master anymore. Contrarily, I had a wise superior of mine, with the name Randhir Singh. I had worked with him previously. On hearing about my resignation in 1988, out of deep dejection, he called me over telephone in a concerned compassionate voice, "I know you are an outstanding worker, capable of handling any given responsibility. Tell me what exactly is the reason behind your resignation?" He eventually succeeded in bringing me out of the devastating crisis of my life! I, therefore, choose to say that the Lord made a piercing observation, but with great compassion, reflected in smile on His face that Arjuna spoke wise words but grieved for those who did not so deserve. There is no scope to suggest any 'mocking' or 'sarcastic' gesture here. 458

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Arjuna appears to raise his dilemma in the form of four related apprehensions and the Lord clarifies it systematically; (i) Krishna shares His own knowledge: Arjuna cannot kill (soul) even if he kills (the body). na tyevAhaM jAtu nAsaM na tvam na-ime janAdhipAH / na caiva na bhaviSyAmaH sarve vayamataH param // (2/12) dehvi-asmina yathA dehe kaumAraM yauvanaM jraa| tathA deha-antara-prAptiH dhIraH - tatra na muhyati / / (2/13) nAsato vidyate bhAvo nAbhAvo vidyate sataH / (2/16) vAsAMsi jIrNAni yathA vihAya navAni gRhyAti naro'parANi / tathA zarIrANi vihAya jIrNAni-anyAni saMyAti navAni daihI // (2/22) The Lord testifies to the friend-disciple Arjuna, based on this own knowledge. Lord says, "Arjuna, there was no such time when I was not there, or you or all these kings were not there. There will be no time in future when we will not be there. The holder of the body (Dehi, the soul) holds the body in childhood, moves to youth & old-age and similarly moving on further, leaves the body. Hence wise do not get attached to it (the body). The unreal cannot come into existence & the real can never become non-existent." What is, it 'was' and 'will remain'; what is not', it 'was not' & 'will not be'. "The holder of body leaves old body & acquires a new one as a man discards old cloth & puts on the new ones." The arguments appear rational. Arjuna is listening intently. (ii) Krishna allows Arjuna to go by his own belief: If Arjuna can kill well, than that is nature's way, why mourn?. atha cainaM nitya-jAtam nityam vA manyase mRtama / tathApi tvam mahababAhye na enam-zocitum ahesi // (2/26) jAtasya hi dhruvo mRtyuH - dhruvam janma mRtasya ca / tasmAt -aparihArye-arthe na tvam zocituma ahirsa (2/27) avyakta-AdinI bhUtAni vyakta madhyAni bhArata / avyakta-nidhanAni-eva tala kA parivedanA / / (2/28) Lord says to Arjuna, "If you believe that the 'dehi' (the soul) dies (with 459

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body), it should not cause you sorrow (then it is the law of nature!). Then everyone born has to die & the dead are sure to be born. When it is inevitable why feel sad? A being is un-manifest in the beginning, manifest in the middle and again un-manifest in the end. Soul goes to where it came from, so why feel so much pain?" (iii) Arjuna's 'duty' in the society as a Warrior, as a Protector: Fight and kill if he has to. na. If he rejects and hence will teland in 'sin' 19-774-34f9a-3 a faan 4g4-3fet Enferra-Fe JeaTa - 514: Rq-erupa faed II (2/31) atha ceta-tvam-imama dharmya saMgrAmaM na krissysi| Ma: Tae dicta fecal 444 370144f II (2/33) bhayAt -raNAt - uparatammaMsyante tvAM mhaarthaa| maiera 64a Rei M1494|| (2/35) One can perform at his best in a skill that he/she has been practicing all the life. For a warrior, 'Kshatriya' it is not appropriate to be scared & exhibit weakness of nerves. To fight the holy-war was therefore the most sacred social duty for Arjuna. If he rejects this idea he would go against his own intrinsic nature and lifelong practice and hence will remain in perpetual self-criticism & conflict. He would lose his reputation & land in 'sin'. What Arjuna wants to avoid by running away from war, he eventually & surely would land there. 'Sin' is that which brings the state of division of mind that makes you restless. People will say Arjuna has run away from battle field due to fear & will remember him as a disgraced warrior. This loss of esteem will make him look-down upon himself. Low self-respect again would mean restlessness in the mind; hence living in 'sin' (applies to any individual). If one does not do what he is supposed to do or does what he is not supposed to do, a self questioning appears in mind, restlessness sets in, that leads to sinful feeling. In the social context, then it was best to fight the battle of righteousness. The Lord further explains; hato vA prApyasi svarga jitvA vA bhokSyase mahIm / A rq-3fas atata giar o afasta: 1(2/37) If Arjuna died in battle, he would get heaven, being satisfied that he lived & died according to his own nature. He will not suffer division in psychology & with unified mind one is in a state of restfulness, peace and that is heaven. If Arjuna wins the battle he would rule the world. Here more than enjoyment of the pleasures of world, it is important that people, society, would then be managed by a more rational & righteous ruler. The concept of gen 460

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eral good of society appears to be in the background of this expression. Hence the definite advice, "Get up Kauntey and fight with determination." (iv) While forced to fight & kill in battle, how Arjuna can avoid sin. Ultimately, if Arjuna still felt that there was a possibility of committing 'sin' in doing what needs to be done (including killing of those people), the Lord gives a solution that would eliminate the ground for any sinful feeling: sukha-dukhe same kRtvA lAbha - alAbhaujayA jayau / tato yudhdAya yujyasvana - evam pApam - avApsyasi // (2/38) . budhdayA yuktau yayApArtha karmabandha (2/39) "Engage in the battle, seeing victory & defeat, gain & loss, happiness & sorrow, with equanimity. Then 'sin', (that feeling of restlessness in mind) will not haunt you." "Yet again if you perform action with unified mind, results of such action will not bind you". This equanimity, when practiced even in our mundane situations of our work place, leads to greater satisfaction, sense of accomplishment & peace of mind. yAmimAM puSpitAm vAcaM pravadanti-avipazcitaH / veda-vAda- ratAH pArtha na anyataH asti iti vAdina: / (2/42) viSayA vedA nistraiguNyo bhava - arjuna (2/45) Those undiscerning people who are attached to the flowery words of the 'Vedas', (perform this rite to get that material result), say that there is nothing else. Arjuna appears to be influenced by such talks when he exhibits his worries about the destruction of 'Kuldharma' and fall of fore-fathers in disgrace. The Lord explains to Arjuna that the Vedic Rites are about the 'triplequalities' of 'Nature' & deal with material things, primarily. He is advised to strive to go beyond these 'gunas'. But how? The Lord directs: karmaNyeva-adhikAraste mA phaleSu kadAcana / mA karmaphala hetuH bhUH mAte saMga- astu-akarmaNI (2/47) Whatever is the action (work) presented (to you), do it with the best of your intentions as that is solely within your rights. Remember, you cannot choose the very action (work), you can only choose to do it with the best or worst of your intentions. One does not have right over the fruit of action. It is a statement of fact; one can control & decide only that which is in hands whereas the result is always at a future moment. It is not feasible to have right over fruit of action. Hence there is no point in keeping, result as motive for the action. Arjuna must fight the battle before him, with best of his ability, whatever may be the outcome! The direction holds for each one of us, in our own areas of activities. 461

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yogasthaH kuru karmaNi saMga tyakatvA dhanaMjaya / sidhdAau asidhdayoH samo bhUtvA samatvaMyoga ucyate // (2/48) buddhiyukto jahAti-iha ubhe sukRta-duSkRte / tasmAt-yogAya yujyasva yogaH karmasu kauzalam // (2/50) The description of the way, leading beyond 'trigunas' of 'Nature, to defragmentation of mind, continues. Sri Krishna says, "Seeing success & failure as of equal value, be free of attachment (to fruit of action) and thus perform action. Such 'equanimity is yoga'. Acting with unified intellect, you stand delivered from the bandage of good & evil deeds, this is also called 'perfection is action (Karma-Yoga)'. zuti-vipratipannA te yadA sthAspati nishclaa| samAdhau-acalA buddhi-tadA yogam avaapsysi|| (2/53) Acting like this one will go beyond the field of 'trigunas' of Nature & flowery language of Vedic-Rivals will not disturb one's (human) discrimination. One will remain unshakable & steadfast in one's 'self. sthita prajasya kA bhASA samAdhisthasya kezava / sthitathIH kiM prabhASeta kimAsIta jeta kima / (2/54) Happy moment: After landing into the state of deep dejection, Arjuna now makes his first thoughtful query. He says, "O Keshava, what is the description of the man of steady wisdomH.." He is in desired communication with the Lord now. Rest would just be a matter of time! May everyone get one's 'Krishna' when one needs Him. 462

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SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF 'FORGIVENESS' AS DEPICTED IN THE PRATIKRAMAN A SUTRA - Dr.Raksha J.Shah INTRODUCTION "To err is human, but to realize one's faults, repent, confess, rectify and be determined not to repeat the same again is superhuman!" The whole idea of forgiving and getting forgiven has several implications in this world and hereafter. It is for this reason that most of the world's religions promulgate and identify periodic atonements. Call it 'Confession of the Christians, the 'Vedic Sandhya', the 'Namaaz' of the Muslims, 'Upasana' of the Buddhists, 'Khordeha Avesta' of the Parsis or 'Pratikraman?a' of the Jains. The basic purpose of these observances on the face of it is to purify one's soul and bring it back from unrighteousness to the righteous path. Could this highest virtue- ks?am? -forgiveness prove to be useful in all walks of life? Could efforts put in to bring about social consciousness with this non-violent tool help to solve the present day problems? An inquiry into these questions is the purpose of this paper. Let us first look into the problems that lie before us, the difficulties that we have been facing. THE PRESENT SCENARIO We are living in a tumultuous situation wherein the gravity of problems that we face today, has never been seen before. History stands testimony to the fact that most wars in the past and even today are waged for just trivial matters. Why talk about wars alone? Even at home, at the office, workplace and all other associations there are bound to be differences in opinions, disagreement in understanding issues, deviation in finding solutions to some of the small and the so-called big problems. The outcome of all of this disagreement ends up in nothing but quarrels, fights, battles and even wars! We need to realize, that these small and big incidences leave their reminiscences behind. There are some occasions where the incident is supposed to have been forgotten by forgiving the person. At times the issue is settled by the consent of both the parties. On the other hand, if the resentment is too deep it may appear to have been temporarily wiped off from the minds of the person in question. In several instances although one feels that things are settled, it is seen that unless and until, efforts are made to wipe off the bitterness - the scars, these impressions, are carried along with the 463

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self. They are found to be embedded within the sub-conscious mind. These traces are eventually responsible for several unexpected good and evil consequences. The question that lies before us is, do we have a solution to this pitiful situation? Can animosity, grievances, hatred ever be washed off without violence, or shedding a drop of blood? An attempt has been made to answer these queries. The first part of the paper will highlight the definition and world views on forgiveness as comprehended in general. The second part will deal with the definition and discussion of the significance of forgiveness which is supposed to be the highest virtue according to Jainism, and technically observed as a very important daily ritual wellknown as 'Pratikramana'. At the outset, let us have a glimpse of some historical, social illustrations that revolve around Forgiveness: SOME REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES AND ILLUSTRATIONS FORGIVENESS IN ACTION OR PRACTICE 1. On the 12th of March, in the year 2000, Pope John Paul II (from a note left by the Pope at the Western Wall in Jerusalem) made a comprehensive apology for the sins committed by the Roman Catholic Church and its members against groups of people and it worked wonders. The resentment that was seen literally vanished". 2. In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission submitted its Final Report to President Nelson Mandela and this helped grant amnesty to qualified perpetrators being as a gesture of peace and reconciliation. 3. So also, according to the news in "The Independent', dt.2nd June 1997, Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, sought forgiveness for England's role in the Irish Potato Famine 1. One of the reasons responsible for the Mahabharata war was the insulting words uttered by Draupadi the queen of the Pandavas. When Duryodhana fell into the water, having been illusioned by the appearance of the floor, Draupadi laughed and uttered: "After all a blind man's son! These disrespectful humiliating words pierced his heart and made him restless. He swore to take revenge for this insult. The harsh words remained embedded in his sub-conscious mind only to take planned revenge and punish not only his sister-in-law but all of the Pandavas. 464

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He defeated Yudhisthira- in a game of ludo and used this opportunity to avenge the insult thrown at him by Draupadi. The end result was the great devastating war of Mahabharata that took toll of lakhs of innocent lives. LORD MAHAVIR Here, I would like to bring up two incidences that took place, in the life of Lord Mahavir, the 24th Tirthankara when he was contemplating in the forest. At one instance the cow herders nailed his ears for not looking after their livestock and at another instance when he was bit by Chandkaushik - a serpant. He had not even been directly involved with the two instances, yet instead of reciprocating angrily and retaliating, he remained calm and serene. In fact he forgave both the cow-herders and the serpent for their acts and set an example to the world that anger cannot be met with vengeance. It is the attitude of forgiving the wrong doer that incites love and honor. WORLD VIEWS ON FORGIVENESS Science and technology have been a great boon in providing evidences to many questions that crop up into the minds of people. That forgiveness is beneficial in improving health; and reducing stress has been proved by many Universities in the West. Here is a glimpse of the world views on forgiveness, its definition, its benefits derived by experimentation with some illustrations on forgiveness in action. DEFINITIONS OF FORGIVENESS According to the Word Dictionary, forgiveness is: a. Compassionate feelings that support a willingness to forgive or b. The act of excusing a mistake or offense? The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as: to grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offense or debt. While, Wikipedia defines it as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, and/or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. Katheryn Rhoads Meek in her book 'Science of Forgiveness" goes to say that today, 465

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"The concept of forgiveness no longer falls solely under the umbrella of religious thought. Social scientists are beginning to recognize the powerful practical and therapeutic benefits that forgiveness offers in a broken and isolated world 20" I fully agree with her and will talk about the experimented and proven facts about the innumerous benefits of this significant virtue. Apart from the above mentioned examples here are a few political instances that reveal the significance of Forgiveness. FORGIVENESS AND HEALTH Can there be a connection between forgiveness and health? A growing body of research reveals that those who are forgiving not only have improved relationships, but fewer health problems and lower incidence of the most serious illnesses. A GLIMPSE ON RESEARCH CARRIED OUT ON FORGIVENESS Carl Thoresen Ph.D Professor of Education, Psychology and Psychiatry at Stanford University It was observed that those who maintained grievances, hurts, resentments and negativity within - projected alterations in the psychological and physiological processes. In fact they evidenced the personal benefits of "letting go" attitude towards grievances!l. Dr.Thoresen states that people who replace anger, hostility, and hatred with forgiveness will have better cardiovascular health and fewer longterm health problems. Dr. Everette 1. Worthington A clinical psychologist in Virginia opines, "Forgiveness has long been extolled by religions, but only recently has it become the focus of medical research. Not only does the act of forgiving bring about an ease of mind, but also a myriad of positive physical effects, such as reduced blood pressure and the lessening of depression and anger, all of which ease pressure on the heart.12 Dr.Frederic Luskin A researcher at Stanford states," Holding on to anger for too long, or even keeping revengeful attitude can affect a person's emotional as well as physical health. Anger produces stress that affects the Blood Pressure and successively the Cardiovascular System. He explains and adds, "When the body releases certain enzymes during anger and stress, cholesterol and blood pressure levels go up. 13 466

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As seen above, the importance of forgiveness has been recognized, investigated and appraised by Medical Personnel's and Scholars of the West. They have put in efforts to bring out the benefits of forgiveness and carried out several experiments to prove the worth of forgiveness They have shown that one needs to forgive not for the well being of others alone, but for the tremendous benefit one can actually receive in terms of personal physical and mental well-being. JAINISM AND FORGIVENESS As far as Indian Philosophy is concerned, perhaps Jainism is a religion that has analyzed and emphasized the significance and role of FORGIVENESS, in the life of an individual in the most subtle way. Truly enough, the mental, psychological, physical, therapeutic benefits do accrue to the forgiver and the forgiven. However, these are perhaps the secondary benefits or by -products of Forgiveness. The PRIME objective according to Jainism is its specific objective of 'Spiritual Advancement'. The Jains do not just wait for the occasions or instances where a grave offence has been done; the person is hurt and the offender needs to be forgiven. They believe that knowingly or unknowingly at several occasions we do commit errors and intentionally or unintentionally we do harm, hurt, injure, torture, incite fear, torment or even kill innocent beings. Whatever be the reason, the self thus keeps on binding karmas, which is the sole cause of our transmigration. It is for this reason that one needs to observe the Six Essentials or duties so that the soul is not burdened with karmas that form a hindrance in spiritual elevation. Yes, this is a unique feature of Jainism. It is perhaps the only religion that talks about forgiving not only human beings but forgiving and asking for forgiveness from all of the small and big creatures of the Universe. Indeed, a laity is supposed to perform this rite each and every day in order to ask for forgiveness and forgiving the wrong-doers. The rite is technically known as Pratikramana. The main purpose behind its observance is to cleanse the soul - so as to not burden it with impediments. Again for further purification of the left over karmas, this rite is taken up fortnightly, quarterly and on the last day of the most important seven day [or ten days] Jain festival - "The Paryushana'. The last day called 'Samavatsari is celebrated as 'FORGIVENESS DAY', wherein all of the creatures are forgiven and forgiveness is asked for from all of the creatures of the Universe with the utterance of the words, 'Michchhami Dukkadam?'. THE DEFINITIONS OF PRATIKRAMANA The Etymological meaning of Pratikramana 467

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is simply to go back14, or retracting the steps from wrong to right approach15. Pratikramana is an amalgamation of two words: Prati + Kramana The word 'Prati' means towards' while 'Kramana is 'to go 16. Thus Pratikramana means to move towards the true self, the Atman In Sanskrit the word Ksama is used for forgiveness. The word ksama is made up of Ksa + ma Where , Ksa means to destroy and ma is to protect from destroying the true nature or virtues of soul. According to Jainism it is the highest virtue and the very nature of the pure soul. WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO FORGIVE? Normally, we misuse our valuable time in this precious human realm and waste time in unnecessary analysis of the incidents that take place in our lives, as also planning to take revenge -little realizing that all this ends up into a great loss to our own self. We are the main losers as we waste our energy in such investigations which deprives us of our happy moments. It is necessary to forgive to remove the ill-feelings. In order to scrape out the old memories that have left traces of past impressions on our soul. The auto suggestive technique can help bring orientation and awakening and help us behave rationally with one and all and thereby improve relationships. SIGNIFICANCE The significance of the act lies in bringing about a gradual transformation of the self by the methodical and ongoing process of Purification and Perfection by Purgation of the negativities and simultaneous inculcation of the positive virtues that can eventually help in realizing the sole quest of the soul,- that of attaining Eternal Bliss. This rite is Unique because there is perhaps, no parallel act of this kind found elsewhere in any religion. The place of each of the Essentials/ Avasyakas in the whole act has a specific scientific base. These essentials have been designed for a very special and specific purpose and the seers have systematically and very thoughtfully formulated it. It comprises of the scientific sequential method of purification that begins with: a. The Samayika, which imparts equanimity, 468

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b. C. d. e. f. Pratyakhyana renunciation This process of recollecting one's faults, confessing, repenting and expiating is a scientifically laid down process which brings about the required feeling of guilt and sorrow. The criticism or self-censure in turn excites the brain and it is this emotional state that helps release the energy required to gather the filth of karmas. The next activity of kayotsarga, wherein one is steady and calm, helps purge out the negativities and eliminates karmas by the process of Catharsis. "utilizing the energy released during the core act of pratikramana. The last essential is pratyakhyana involving renunciation, which helps maintain the positive state attained by the previous acts18. The Caturvimsati stava that energizes and instills good qualities, The Vandana which infuses modesty and humility The Pratikramana, which helps in the collection/eradication of the impediments of karmas in a highly systematized manner. Kayotsarga-mediation that helps purge out the impediments This observance is Universal as it has no restrictions or pre-requisites based on caste, creed, gender, sect or race for its observance. It is beneficial to the one who practices it with the true motive of self-emancipation. The repeated auto- suggestive technique and efforts put in to forgive help with the process of purification of the soul. It helps the embedded scars to be wiped off, be more tolerant, calm and composed and this is what helps relieve stress and strain. Eventually the reduction of stress keeps one away from the fear of Blood Pressure, Cardio-vascular problems, Cancer and Aid and keep one healthy. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FORGIVENESS AND PRATIKRAMAN?A - As we have seen in the general definition - forgiveness is ceasing to demand restitution or compensation from the offender. The case is different with Pratikramana. The offender himself asks for penalty/punishment willingly from the religious leader in order to repent for his wrong and make up his mind not to commit such an act in the future. It is a feeling of shame on the part of the offender who feels sorry for behaving in such a contemptible way, hurting his own self. 1. Pratikramana is not just meeting and saying sorry but: an in-depth feeling of sorrow for the offence, an inquiry into the state of mind that made the person behave accordingly, self-introspection of one's own qualities, 469 2. 3.

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an inquiry into the lapses that occurred, realization of the fault, criticizing it, censuring it, repenting for it and 6 to determine and be alert, of not repeating it again. There is also an emotional factor that works, together with the psychological and physical involvement. The process is so designed that the doer is relieved of the burden and feels light and relaxed after the act. SOLUTIONS TO BRING ABOUT SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS ABOUT FORGIVENESS There is need to 1. Bring awareness about the holistic benefits of forgiveness Work individually and collectively 2. Take the help of media- the press, radio, television, the internet, to spread the word through documentary films, serials etc. Impart value-based education by including lessons of courage, for giveness, tolerance from past history together with more recent near real life incidences Conduct workshops, seminars, debates, discussions, at various pos sible levels and places CONCLUDING REMARKS 5. Thus, the act of forgiveness as per the Six Avasyakas plays a vital role in 1. Removing the adventitious impurities, Transformation of the individual Helping him identify with the value of duty, service, support to the society Inculcating the spirit of equality, equanimity, tolerance, and univer sal love, brotherhoodness and friendship towards all and sundry. Helping building bridges, improving relationships at all levels Theoretically speaking, the observance of this act will go a long way in providing its benefits in this world and beyond. However, practically it may not be possible for all of them to do so. Yet, if we thoughtfully try to be more tolerant, compassionate and alert about our actions we can surely prevent the scourge of adverse situations and wars too. 470

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KHAMEMI SAVVE JIVE SUTRA KhAmemi Savve Jave, Savve Jiva Khamantu Me, Metti Me Savva Bhayesu, Verama Majhama Na Kenai. I ask forgiveness of all living being of the universe, May all living beings also grant me forgiveness. References Pratikraman?a A Step towards Eternity- Raksha Shah -Jain Digest, Fall 2003, pg 11. Essence of Jainism-Pandit Sukhlalji-pg-129 Pratikraman?a -A Way to Enlightenment-Dr.Raksha Shah-pg-228 Wikipedia www.nelsonmandela.org/wikipedia "The Independent',-Kathy Marks-12 March 97, www.indepenent.co.uk Word dictionary Oxford English Dictionary Wikipedia Science of Forgiveness- Katheryn Rhoads Meek Forgiveness-Theory, research and Practice-Carl E. Thoresen The Power of Forgiveness- Everette Worthington Forgive for Good - Frederic Luskin Concept of Pratikramana -Pg -7 Jaina Acara aur siddhanta-pg-273 Jainism and the New Spirituality, pg- 43 Catharsis Pratikraman?a -A Way to Enlightenment-Dr. Raksha Shah pg 136 18. Shri Panca Pratikraman?a s?tras , pg-17, Jinwani, Pratikraman?a Visheshank, pg.94 471

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The Upanisads and Their Philosophy - Prof. S.P. Dubey The Upanisads contain fundamental spiritual experiences of the mankind. They are virtually the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands. They are the products of the highest wisdom. They represent perennial philosophy. In the Indian context, the philosophy of the Upanisads, in the words of Paul Deussen, is the culminating point of the Indian doctrine of the universe. He also states that the thoughts of the Vedanta (the Upanisads) became for India a permanent and characteristic spiritual atmosphere, which pervades all the products of the later literature. The original idealism of the Upanisads holds its ground and remains a living force. The term 'Upanisad' is derived as a substantive from the root 'sad' (to sit) associated with two prefixes 'upa (nearby) and 'ni (below) and 'kvip pratyaya (suffix or termination). The first preposition indicates, in contrast to 'parisad or 'samsad, a private sitting with utmost nistha. The term suggests surrender (sarana), dejection (avasadana) and movement (gati). Sankara, in his Katha-Sambandha-bhasya, writes: saderdhatorvisaranagatyavasiadanarthasyopanipurvasya kvip-pratyayantasya rupamUpanisaditi. The term is also taken as the means to obtain Brahmavidya: 'Upanisadyate prapyate Brahmavidya anaya iti Upanisad'. Brahmavidya itself is called 'Upanisad because it destroys the bonds of conception, birth, aging and death, gets rid of ignorance (ya imam Brahmavidyam... upanipurvasya saderevamarthasmaranat, Sambandhabhasya of Mundaka by Sankara). Further, the Upanisads are so named as they destroy inborn ignorance which is the root cause of the phenomenal existence (cf. Sankara on Brhadaranyaka Upanisad Sambandha-bhasya: sa hetoh samsarasyatyantavasadanat) or they destroy the cause of the basis of karma (karmopadana hetu pariharaya brahmavidya prastuyate; Sankara on Taittriya Upanisad Sambandha-bhasya). The Upanisads belong to the srauta-prasthana of the Advaita Vedantic Prasthana-trayi (the other two being the Smarta-prastho$na - the Bhagavadgita, and the Daruanika-prasthana - the Vedanta-sutras of Badarayana). The Upanisads, by and large, are taken to be rahasya-vidya (secret science, secret sign, secret word, secret formula and secret instruction). The Nssimha Up.(8) repeats four times 'iti rahasyam instead of 'ityupaniat, as found in Taittiriya Up. (2,9,1; 3.10.5). The Chandogya Up. (III, 11.5) tells us that the father shall communicate this only to his eldest son (idas vava tajjyesthaya putraya pita brahma prabruyat pranayyaya vantevasine). The 472

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Svetauvatara Up. (VI, 22) forbidst to impart it to one who is not of a composed mind, a son or a pupil: Vedante paramam guhyam purakalpe pracoditam, naprauantaya datavyam naputrayasisyaya va punah. The Chandogya Upanisad (III, 11,6), further, says that this knowledge is to be imparted to none else, even if the whole of this earth is offered to him, as this is greater than that : nanyasmai kasmai cana, yadyapyasma imam adbhih parigrhitam dhanasya purnam dadyad, etad eva tato bhuya ityetad eva tato bhuya iti. The Upanisads contain accounts of the mystic significance of the syllable aum and explanations of mystic words like tajjalan (Chand. Up., III.14.i), which are intelligible only to those who belong to the tradition and are initiated. They are guhya adesa (Chamd., III,5.2), paramam guhyan (Katha Up., 1,3,17), vedaguhyam, vedaguhyopanisatsu gudham (Svet.Up., V,6). Yajnavalkya takes his pupil Artabhaga aside and whispers to him the truth (Brh. Up., III,2,13). In a good number of cases the teacher imparts the secret knowledge only after severe testing. There is a difference of opinion about the total number of the Upanisads. The traditional number is 108 ( 10 from Rg Veda, 19 from Sukla Yajurveda, 32 from Krsna Yajurveda, 16 from Sama Veda, and 31 from Atharva Veda). The Muktika Upanisad (I, 30-39) says that salvation may be attained by a study of the 108 upanisads. Friedrich Max Muller (1823-1900) translated and published 12 Upanisads in two different editions of The Sacred Books of the East (in 1879 and 1884). The 1896 edition of Nirnaya Sagar Press, Mumbai contains the standard number, i.e., 108. The Adyar Press (Madras) has printed 179 Upanisads including 108. Dr. F. O. Schrader brought out, in 1912, the first volume on the Minor Upanisads. His successor, Pt. A Mahaveva Sastri, came across the commentary of Sri Upanisad-BrahmaYogin of Kanchi Advaita Math on all the 108 Upanisads. He, on his part, edited and published, in the Second Volume of the Adyar Library, 20 Yoga Upanisads (in 1920), and the next volume on the Samanya Vedanta Upanisads (1921) containing 24 Upanisads with the commentary of Sri Yogin. Sri G. Srinivasa Murti edited the saiva Upanisads of the Adyar Library containing fifteen Upanisads. The Upanisad-vakya-mahakosa of Gujrati Printing Press, Mumbai mentions 223 names of the upanisads. However, eleven, commented upon by Sankara, namely, isa, Kena, Katha, Prauna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Svetasvatara, Chandogya and Brhadaranyaka are treated to be the standard ones. At times the commentary of Acharya on some of these is doubted. The commentary on the Svetasvarara Upanisad is 473

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doubted most. The Muktikopanisad (1,30), enlisting ten Upanisads having commentaries of Sankara, excludes Svetasvatara : Isakenakathaprasnamundakamandukyatittirih, Aitareyam ca chandogyam Brhadaranyakam tatha. Sankara's commentaries on Bshadaranyaka and Taittiriya Upanisads are treated as most authentic, as they have the Varttikas of Suresvara, a direct disciple of the master, on them. The name of Prince Dara Shikoh (1615-59) cannot be forgotten while talking about the Upanisads. In fact it is he who is mainly responsible for making the Upanisads known to the outside world, as he got 52 Upanisads translated into Persian around 1657. A couple of Persian manuscripts could be obtained by the French traveller Anquetil du Perron (1731-1805) who prepared a French translation (unpublished) and also a Latin translation of these texts and published them in 1801-2 with the title Oupnek'hat. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was enchanted by the philosophy of the Upanisads and thus, Europe, and later on in America (after Swami Vivekananda), became acquainted with this treasure of ours. Albrecht Weber has presented a five-fold classification of the Upanisads and that seems relevant here. The classification, also adopted by Dr. Paul Deussen (1845-1919), is as follows: 1. Pure Vedanta Upanisads : Mundaka, Prasna, Mandukya (with the Karikas of Gaudapada), Garbha, Pranagnihotra, Pinda, Atma-prabhodha, Sarvopanisatsara and Garuda. II. Yoga Upanisads : Brahma-vidya, Ksurika, Culika, Nadabindu, Brahmabindu, Amrtabindu, Dhyanabindu, Tejobindu, sikha, Yogatattva and Hamsa. III. Sannyasa Upanisads : Brahma, Sannyasa, Aruneya, Kanthasruti, Paramahamsa, Jabala and Asrama. IV. Siva Upanisads : Atharvasiras, Atharvasikha, Nilarudra, Kalagnirudra and Kaivalya. V. Visnu Upanisads : Maha, Narayana, Atmabodha, Nrsimhapurvatapaniya, Nrsimhottaratapaniya, Ramapurvatapaniya and Ramottaratapaniya. The Upanisads can be classified in various manners, as per the subject 474

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matter. One such categorization is knowledge (jnana), the science of Brahman (Brahma-vidya) and means (sadhana). Most of the Upanisads commented upon by Sankara, may belong to the first category. Brahmopanisad, Yogatattva and the like may represent the second group and Dhyana-bindu Upanisad and Krsnopanisad the third set. The classification of the Upanisads is as per prose or metrical narrations as well. Some of the prose-Upanisads are also treated to be older than those found in metrical style. For example, Brhadaranyaka, Chandogya and Aitareya are treated to be older. The Kena is supposed to be a border-line case, as it combines both, prosaic and poetic styles. Katha, isa, Svetasvatara and Mundaka have metrical presentations. The two prosaic Upanisads, namely, Prasna and Mandukya, are supposed to be composed after the metrical ones. The popular view that all the Upanisads belong to the last portions of the Vedas (the Aranyakas), is not true in many cases. For instance, Isa Up. belongs to the Yajurveda Samhita (mantra portion). Likewise, the Mundaka belongs to the Samhita portion of the Atharva Veda. Other Upanisads belong either to the Brahmana or to the Aranyaka parts. Kena Upanisad, for example, belongs to the Talavakara Brahmana of the Samaveda. The Brhadaranyaka, as the very name of the Upanisad suggests, belongs to the Aranyaka part of the White Yajurveda. The Brhadaranyaka, again, as per its name, is the largest of the Upanisads. Suresvara says that it is not only largest volume-wise, but also content-wise (brhattvad granthato'rthacca Brhadaranyakam matam (Sambandha-varttika, 9). The commentary of Sankara on The Brhadaranyaka is supposed to be the best, as it is comprehensive as well as thoroughly analytical. The Bshadaranyaka Upanisad has six chapters of which 2nd, 3rd and 4th chapters are of philosophical significance. The second chapter includes the dialogues between an arrogant Brahmin named Gargya and cool-headed Ksatriya Ajatasatru and between Yajnavalkya and his two wives. In chapter three Yajsavalkya has discussions with the philosophers of the assembly of King Janaka of Mithila. In chapter four Janaka himself has discussions with Yajnavalkya. Janaka is deeply influenced by Yajnavalkya and proposes to give his entire kigdom to this greatest Upanisadic philosopher. It shows that the Brahmins were the major custodians of the higher knowledge in those days. But this is not true in all cases. It is interesting to note that this Upanisad has a special varna-system prevailing for gods. The Absolute Reality first created gods of sreyas ksatriya category to which belong Indra, Varuna, Soma, etc. Dissatisfied with it he created gods of Vaisya category to which belong Aditya, Vasu, Maruta and the like. Next he created gods of the sudra category. Pusana represents this category. Not happy with all these categories, he created dharma which coordinates these three categories. At the end he 475

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assumes the form of Agni who is the Brahmin of gods. The phenomenal division is just a shadow of the divine system, like the Platonic ideas and their shadows. The next large one, the Chamdogya, also belongs to the Brahmana part of Samaveda, namely, Talavakara Brahmana. The first two chapters of this Brahmana deal with sacrifices and other forms of worship. The other eight chapters constitute the Chandogya Upanisad. The term 'chanda means singing the Sama: chando sama gayati iti chandogyah. This Upanisad, as noted above, has got eight chapters. The 6th, 7th and gth chapters are of philosophical importance. Its expository style is rational and successive. Towards the end of the 1st chapter there is a satire about the chantation of hymns by dogs for getting food. We find the Raikva-Janasruti episode, Satyakama-Jabala episode, Aruni-Uddalaka Svetaketu episode, IndraVirocana episode and Narada-Sanatkumara dialogue in it. King Janasruti is imparted samvarga-vidya by the cart-man Raikva in spite of humiliation. This shows that the higher knowledge could be obtained even from a person belonging to lower caste. Likewise, Uddalaka goes, with five saints, to King Asvapati for the knoledge of Vaisvanara Atman. It also enumerates five types of patits (fallen in moral sense) who are not worthy of such knowledge, namey, steno hiranyasya suram pivansca gurostalpamavasanbrahmaha saite patanti catvarah pancamascacarastairiti (Chand. Up. V.10, ix) Aruni of this Upanisad is a great Upanisadic philosopher only next to Yajnavalkya (his disciple) of the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad. We shall discuss, very briefly, other remaining upanisads of the group of the eleven Upanisads having commentaries by Sankara, and also the Bhagavadgita, which is also designated as an Upanisad, although categorized as a Smrti text. Isa is called Mantropanisad (Prayoga Kalinartha Smarakatvam Maitratvam, Sayana-bhasya-bhumika), since it is the only Upanisadic text that belongs to the Samhita (hymn) portion of the Veda-trayi ( Rg, Sama and Yajuh). It is called Vajasaneyi Upanisad, as it belongs to the Vajasaneyi Samhita. Kena and Brhadaranyaka (and also the Bhagavadgita) are virtually commentaries on it. Therefore, it has a great value for the Vedic tradition. Gandhi is said to have made a comment on it that even if all other texts of the Hindu tradition are lost and only the first verse of the Isa Upanisadis retained in our memory, not much will be lost and the tradition will remain alive for ever. That verse runs as follows: 476

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Isavasyamidah sarvam yatkinca jagatyam jagat, tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma gridhah kasyasviddhanam. (All this, whatever moves on earth, is to be enveloped in the Lord. Therefore find your enjoyment in renunciation; do not covet what belongs to others). The Bhagavadgita (VII, 7) virtually adopts the above verse as follows: mattah parataram nanyat kincidasti Dhananjaya, mayi sarvamidam protam sutre manigana iva. (There is nothing whatever that is higher than I, O Winner of Wealth! All that is here is strung on me as rows of gems on a string). The anasakti-yoga of the Song Divine is a paraphrasing of 'tyaktena bhunjitha'and 'na karma lipyate nare of the second verse of this Upanisad. The Isa Upanisad has two recensions, Kanva and Madhyandin. Most of the scholars, including Sankara, follow the Kanva version. As the name of Isa Upanisad is derived from the first word of the first verse, likewise, Kena Upanisad also derives its title from the first word of its first verse, i.e., Kenesitam patati presitam manah, kena pranah prathamah praiti yuktah. Kenesitam vacamimam vadanti, caksuh srotram ka u devo yunakti. (By whom willed and directed does the mind light on its objects? By whose command does life the first, move? At whose will do people utter this speech? And what god is it that prompts the eye and the ear?) This Kena Upanisad belongs to the Talavakara Brahmana of the Sama Veda. Hence it is also known as Talavakara Upanisad. In four parts the nature of the Ultimate Reality has been stated in the Upanisad. The first two parts are in verses and the latter parts are composed in prose. The Upanisad is treated to be very important as Acarya Sankara has written two commentaries on it: pada-bhasya (word-commentary) and vakya-bhasya (sentence-comm.). Probably the former one was written earlier. Anandagiri says, in the beginning of his notes on the vakya-bhasya, that most likely the Acarya was not satisfied with the pada- bhasya, as it could not explain the texts as argued to favor the Advaitic position, hence he takes recourse to the 477

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vakya-bhasya (abhihitanvaya-vada, as propounded by the Mimamsaka Kumarila Bhatta). For instance, while commenting upon the first verse of the first part he says that the nature of the Self cannot be explained in Karmakanda, as the latter is opposed to the former. The Mundaka Upanisad belongs to the mantra portion of the Atharva Veda. Though it is written in verse, it is not, like other mantras, to be used for sacrificial purposes. Its only object is to teach the highest knowledge, the knowledge of Brahman, which cannot be obtained either by sacrifice or by worship (upasana). It distinguishes between para and apara vidyas. The title of the Upanisad is derived from 'mu??; suggesting that the one who becomes at home with the teachings of the Upanisad becomes a 'mundi, free from ignorance. Its three chapters are called 'mundakam'. The title of the Upanisad is a bit strange, because 'mundaka', in its popular sense, is used as a term of reproach for Buddhist mendicants, in opposition to the Brahmins, who dress their hair carefully. Perhaps it was the work of a person who was a'mundaka', and yet faithful to the Brahmanic order. The Prasna Upanisad belongs to the Brahma?a portion of Atharva Veda and expands the teachings of the Mundaka. The name of the Upanisad is derived from the episode of six sons of Rsis asking questions from Pippalada. The first question has been asked by Katyayana Kaba?dhi about the birth of praja' (the offspring). The second one is asked by Bhargava of Vidarbha about the primary deities of the 'praja. Asvalayana Kausalya asks the third question about the origin and movement of prana. Gargya, the grandson of Sun, asks about the sense-organs and their states in the body. Satyakama, the son of Sibi, asks about the region attained by worshipping the Sun. The last question is asked by Sukesa, son of Bharadvaja, about the Person to whom belong the sixteen kalas The Prasna Upanisad has enumerated four foundation-stones for the attainment of Brahmanhood. They are - faith (sraddha), celebacy (brahmacarya), penance (tapa) and patience (dhairya). The Aitareya Upanisad forms chapters 4 to 6 of the second aranyaka of Aitareya Brahmana of the Rg Veda. The preceding chapters deal with sacrificial ceremonies. The purpose of this Upanisad is to lead the mind away from the outer ceremonial to its inner meaning (Brahma-vidya). All true sacrifice is inward. The first chapter of the Upanisad tells us that in the beginning there was one Atman. It thought to be many. The second chapter advocates self-knowledge to be the lone path for salvation. The third chapter tells us about the nature of Brahman as knowledge - prajnana? Brahma. This upanisadis said to be the work of an inspired Rsi called Mahidasa Aitareya who descended from Itara (extra) or Itara, one of the many wives of a sage 478

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named Visala. Sankara calls this Upanisad by the name 'Bahvrika-Brahmana -upanisad'. The Svetasvatara Upanisad belongs to the Taittiriya school of the Krsna Yajurveda. It has been handed down to us as one of the thirty-three Upanisads of the Taittiriyas. The name of the Upanisad is derived from the sage who taught it (sveta, pure, asva, sense-organs), or the seer who has had a while mule or an old cow (jarad-gavah). As against the name of a Vedic sage Syavasva (black horse), it is also called svetasva, for the sake of the metre only (cf. Vacaspatyam, p. 1222). It is sometimes called Svetasvataranam Mantropanisad, and is frequently spoken of in the plural, as Svetasvataropanisadah. It is a theistic Upanisad and identifies the Absolute with Rudra (II, 17; III,2), Hara (1,10), Siva (III, 14) and other Vedic gods like Agni, Aditya, Vayu etc. It teaches, in six chapters, the unity of the soul and the world in one Supreme Reality. It also tries to reconcile different religiophilosophical views prevalent during its composition, namely, Yoga, Samkhya, theism, dualism, absolutism etc. It has not been quoted by name by Badarayana in the Vedanta-sutras but has been referred to as sruta or revealed, and the like (cf. Vedanta Sutras, 1,1,1 and 1,4,8). It is one of the twelve Upanisads chosen by Vidyaranya in his Sarvopanisad-arthanubhutiprakasa, and it has been singled out by Sankara as worthy of a special commentary. Mandukya is the smallest of the Upanisads. It belongs to the Atharva Brahmana and comprises twelve mantas, the second one containing one of the Mahavakyas, namely, 'ayamatma Brahma. It explains the three syllables of Om as gross, subtle and causal bodies grounded in Visva, Taijas and Prajna, and manifested in waking, dream and dreamless states. The 'bindu'of the Omkara is explained as the fourth state (turiya) which transcends the three stages of our life. Gaudapada, the grand-teacher of Acarya Sankara, has written karikas (215 in number), known as Agama-sastra, being the first systematic composition of the Advaita school. Since Sankara has commented upon these karikas (the only commentary of the Acarya on a human composition, known as agama-sastra-vivarana), they have been given the status of an Upanisad. Since the karikas have several expressions akin to the Mahayana Buddhism, scholars like Vidhushekhara Bhattacharyya suggest a substantial impact of Buddhism on Gaudapada (and indirectly on Sankara). But scholars like T.M.P. Mahadevan controvert such views and hold that common terminology does not implicate the influence of the one upon the other. Terminology is the common property of the academics. The Upanisads are said to be the flowers of the Vedas. The Taittiriya is one of the best among such flowers. The Taittiriya begins with a chapter on siksa, a subsidiary Vedic discipline which teaches the art of correct chanting of Vedic hymns with proper intonation. But this discipline is given a new 479

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dimension in this Upanisad. It is revalued and sublimated so as to be fully meaningful in the context of the wisdom of Vedanta. The first chapter ends with a detailed practical instruction given by the teacher to the disciple who is about to leave the gurukula after completing his education, which education culminates in Brahmavidya: 'satyam vada, dharmam cara...' In case of any doubt, one should follow a knower of Brahman who is aluksa (not harsh) and dharma-kama (lover of virtue) and the like. The instruction is meant for leading an ideal worldly life shows that Brahmavidya or Vedanta is not an escapism. Rather it insists on making the life in this world perfect with the guidance of the Vedantic wisdom. It may be noted here that in later literature we find some advancement in such a moral situation. Kalidasa, in his great literary drama Abhijnana Sakuntalam, makes his hero self-decisive. King Dusyanta, in case of perplexion, maintains that a noble person's thought cannot be obversive; in such cases inner voice or conscience is the moral standard: satam hi sandehapadesu vastusu, pramanamantahkarana-pravrttayahs. The second chapter of this Upanisad begins with a statement about the ultimate value of the wisdom of Brahman- 'Brahmavid apnoti param. A definition (cosmological) of Brahman has also been given. Brahman is that from which this world is born, upon which is sustained and into which is dissolved (yato va imani bhutani jayante...) Then it says that Brahman is to be directly perceived by one in his own being, as the Self. Subsequently, there is a search for the Self which becomes interiorized, from the gross to the subtle (as found in the kosa or the sheath theory). One factor for the importance of this Upanisad is that in the beginning of the second chapter it prescribes for anterior position (purva-paksa or daksina-pakna) and siddhanta (or uttara-paksa). And Sankara follows this method while refuting the Mimamsa theory of karma (yajna) for getting heaven (I, xi). In the second chapter of the Upanisad, known as Brahmananda Valli (II, vi, ii), a subsidiary question (anu-prasna) and its answer are interesting. Since it was said in the beginning that the knower of the Brahman obtains the Ultimate, the disciple asks: "Does an ignorant person attain the yonder world after death or does the wise one alone reach that"? The question, although a single one, implies several such subsequent questions, as the term here is used in plural number - anu-prasnah. Implicit in the question is the preconceived notion that the attainment of the Supreme happens after one's death. The Upanisads never teach that the enlightened one reaches the supreme 480

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after leaving this world. The answer, given here indirectly, suggests that the very question is due to a lack of proper understanding of the nature of Reality. The teacher (s) describes the nature of life in its global context where there is no discrimination between the ignorant and the wise. The same ananda (value) runs through the entire gamut. We can not demarcate the line where one world ends and another begins. All are different forms of the same ananda in graded fashion, as per the kosa theory. The third chapter of the Taittiriya is called Bhrgu Valli. Here it has been stated that the crux of the problem is not attaining Brahman after death. We must realise that it is in Brahman that what we call creation, sustenance and dissolution take place. The Taittiriya Upanisad forms part of the Taittiriya Aranyaka as its seventh, eighth and ninth sections (prapathakas). The Taittiriya Aranyaka, on its part, is the concluding part of the Taittiriya Brahmana, which, in turn, is appended to the Taittiriya Samhita of the Krsna Yajurveda. It may be noted here that, unlike the other three Vedas, the Yajurveda has two recensions, the sukla (white) and the Krsna (black). As per a legend (cf. the Mahabharata 12, 319 and also the Visnu Purana, 3,5), Vyasa authorised four of his senior disciples to convey the Vedas to posterity. Vaisampayana was in-charge of the Yajurveda. Once he could not attend the assembly of the seers in the Mahameru and was, therefore, cursed. He directed his twenty-seven disciples for performing the expiatory act on his behalf. Yajnavalkya, a nephew of the seer, offered to do the ritual by himself. Vaica?payana took it as an offensive display of egotism and asked Yajnavalkya to return whatever he had gained from the teacher. The former vomitted all the hymns of the Yajurveda. Other disciples, at the behest of Vaisampayana, took the form of black partridges (tittara) and ate the vomit. Thus the name Taittiriya Samhita (or the Krsna Yajurveda). Yajnavalkya, on his part, worshipped Sun who appeared to him in the guise of a white horse and taught him the hymns of the Yajurveda in another form. This recension is known as the sukla Yajurveda or the Vajasaneyi Samhita. It is said that Vajasana was the name of the father (or the teacher) of Yajnavalkya. The Brhadaranyaka and Isa Upanisads belong to this Samhita. The table appended to the paper/lecture shows the distribution of the Upanisads as per the Vedas and their relevant parts. The Isa and Brhadaranyaka upanisads have two recensions, as per the Kanva and Madhyandini branches of Sukla Yajurveda, derived from the two sages, namely, Kanva and Madhyandin. The latter was one of the chief disciples of Vajasana. The group of fifteen disciples included Jabala and others. The Madhyandin branch of the Vajasaneyi Samhita is quite popular. The above-noted Upanisads belong to the Brhad Aranyaka of Satapatha Brahmana of both the branches. There are some differences in two versions. For instance, 481

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the Kanva version of the Isavasyopanisad has 18 mantras, whereas the Madhyandin recension has only 17 (excluding the 16th of the former). The sequence (krama-bheda) of some of the mantras is different. For example, verses 12 to 14 (concerning sambhuti-asambhuti) are earlier in the Madhyandin recension and verses 9 to 11 (concerning vidya-avidya) are later. There are differences in readings as well (patha-bheda). For instance, in ma?tra 3 the Madhyandin recension has 'pretyapigaccanti as against pretyabhigaccanti of the Kanva version. There are svara-bhedas (differences in pronunciation) also in the two recensions. Arya Uvata (fl. 1150 AD; cf. his mantra-bhasya) and Mahidhara (1550 A.D.) are important commentators of the Madhyandin branch of the Vajasaneyi-samhita. The latter, in his Vedadipa-bhasya, makes several important statements pertaining to the sequence of karma and jnana. He tells us that isa Upanisad (the 40th chapter of the Vajasaneyi-samhita) preaches knowledge to a person whose inner organs (antah-karanas) have been purified by good karmas. We may also note here that some of the verses are found in both these Upanisads. For instance, the 17th verse of the Isavasya Up. is found in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad (V,15,i) as well. The four Mahavakyas (great sentences, belonging to four Vedas, prove the unitary nature of the Reality. The tattvamasi (Chandogya Up. VI,8,7, Sama-Veda) identifies the thou and the That. The aham-Brahmasmi (B?h. Up., 1.4,10; Yajurveda) identifies the I and the Brahman. Thus the identity between the finite and the infinite is established in first as well as second person. The Prajnanam Brahma tells us that consciousness is one with the Absolute (Aitareya Up., V,1; Rg Veda. This consciousness is the basic nature of the Atman (Self). The fourth Mahavakya, namely, ayamatma Brahma (Mandukya, 2; Atharva Veda), identifies the Self with Brahman. These two Mahavakyas underline the unity in third person. Acarya Sankara, while instructing his successors of the four seats in his Mahanusasana, mentions these vedanta-vakyas as representatives of the four Vedas. Vidyaranya, in his Panca-dasi (Mahavakya-viveka) classifies them under two types. Thus, tattvamasi and ayamatma Brahma are upadesa-vakyas (teachings), while the remaining two are anubhuti-vakyas (experiential). There are other sentences in different upanisads that are treated to be the Mahavakyas. Altogether, the following additional statements also have come to be treated as Mahavakyas: (1) 'sarvam khalu idam Brahma, Chand. Up., III, 14,1); (2) 'ekamevadvitiyam, Chamd. Up., 6,2,1); (3) 'satyam jnanam anantam Brahma, Taitt. Up., 2,1); (4) 'vijnanamanandam Brahma, Brh. Up., 3,9,38); (5) 'sa ekah, Taiit. Up., 2.8) and (6) atma antaryamyamrtah, Brh. Up., 3, 7, 23) Thus the total number of the Mahavakyas goes up to ten or eleven. The earliest Vedantin who has made use of the term 'mahavakyas' is Drav(m)idacarya (fl. 525 A.D.), a pre-Sankara Advaitin (cf. Anandagiri's comm. on the Brh. Up. II, 1. 9). 482

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The most important Mahavakya is tattvamasi and is found in the Aruni Uddalaka-Svetaketu episode of the Chandogya Upanisad (V1,8-16), where it has been repeated nine times. In fact it is the repetitive factor of such sentences that qualifies them to be called a Mahavakya. In the Bible this is the case with the term 'holy', repeated thrice "Holy, holy, holy be Thy name," We may note here that Sankara does not use the term 'mahavakya' in any formidable sense; he rather calls these sentences 'vedanta-vakyas'. The only place where he has made use of this term is Brahma-Sutra-Bhasya, (I, 3,33) as a purva-paksa, and not in the vulgate sense. His commentator Suresvara also does not employ this term. It is Sarvajnatman (second half of the ninth and the earliest part of the tenth cent.; a disciple of Suresvara) who has introduced the term with a strong view that understanding of all else in the Advaita system is incidental to the proper understanding of such statements which incorporate within them the whole truth of the system itself. He makes a clear and central distinction between Mahavakyas and avantaravakyas (e.g., neti neti, Brhadaranyaka Up. II, 3, vi). The avantaravakyas contribute to the understanding of the meaning of the Mahavakyas. These are of two types, one is of positive import - the vidhi-mukha (e.g., satyam jnanam anantam Brahma, Taitt. Up., II, 1) and the other is of negative import - the nisedha-mukha (not this, not this). He is also responsible for introducing the implication theory, Jahadajahallaksana for the hermeneutics of the Mahavakyas (cf, his Pancaprakriya). The unitary meaning of the Mahavakyas is derived by making use of laksana. It is bhaga-tyaga (or jahadajahad) laksana that is able to explain the identity or non-difference of the finite and the infinite. Sarvajnatman holds that the acceptance of laksanavrtti with only the secondary usage (implication) which is partially noninclusive and partially inclusive is applicable to interpret the mahavakyas. It is jahadajahallaksana which indicates an impartite sense (akhandartha) without contradiction, and not other laksanas, namely, identity of case (samanyadhikaranya) or indirect indication (visesana-visesyata). . The primary meaning (vacyartha) of 'tat' is consciousness associated with ignorance as well as dissociated (turiya). Both these aspects manifest together as is the case with hot iron (tapta-lauha-pinda). While making use of laksana in the context, the remoteness (paroksatva) and the causal parts of 'tat are discarded and the substance (consciousness) is retained. Likewise, 'tvam includes ignorance, the three stages of prajna, taijas and visva caitanya as well as the fourth (turiya), as in the case of hot iron. While making use of laksana in the case of 'tvam, ignorance, finitude (aparoksatva) and the three states of consciousness are discarded and the turiya caitanya is retained. Thus there is the identity of the two (akhanda-caitanya-bodha). The unity of Brahman and Atman, as expressed in the compound word 'brahmatmaikyam is taken to be the fundamental dogma of the Vedanta system. Sankara, in his commentary on the fourth aphorism of the Vedanta-sutras (tattu samanvayat) 483

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exhaustively discusses the point and establishes that all the major utterances of the Upanisads suggest this unity. At times it is maintained that by simply hearing these sentences, if one's case is ripe, one gets rid of ignorance and attains salvation. Sankara and Suresvara (cf., latter's Naiskarmya-siddhi, II, 9) hold this view. The example of the 'tenth man' (dasamastvamasi; Vidyaranya, Pancadasi 7, 58-77) is given in the context. Sarvajnatman, in his Panca-prakriya (2), tells us that the very knowledge of the Mahavakyas gives salvation (moksa) to those desirous of it: 'mahavakyartha-jnanadeva mumursunam mokso bhavati. But the other view is that one requires manana (reflection) and nididhyasana (meditation) after their listening in order to be liberated. Mandana Misra and Vacaspati Misra belong to the second group. Sarvajnatman tells us that he who knows the meaning of the sentence tattvamasi, through a knowledge which is nothing short of direct experience, just as with the perception of the amalaka fruit in his hand, such a one is indeed liberated as according to the Sruti passage: He who possesses a teacher knows that, so long will he remain (acaryavan puruso veda, Chand. Up., VI, xiv, 2). In the Jabala Upanisad (4), in his reply to a question from Janaka of Videha Yajnavalkya tells that After completing the life of a student, let one become a householder; after completing the life of a householder let one become a forest dweller; after completing the life of a forest dweller, let one renounce, otherwise (if a suitable occasion arises) let one renounce even from the state of a student or from the state of a householder or from that of a forest dweller... on whatever day he has the spirit of renunciation, that very day let him renounce (and become a recluse).one can go for sannyasa the moment one feels strong sense of renunsiations: yadahareva virajettadahareva pravrajet. There is a theory that Indian philosophy begins with the idea of death and the secret of overcoming it. The Katha and Brhadaranyaka upanisads directly deal with the question of death. In the former Naciketas confronts the Lord of Death (Yama) and asks, for his third boon, about the state of the individual soul after death. He also refuses to be allured by gifts and satirically tells Yama to retain them for himself the chariots, the dance and song: tavaiva vahah tava nritya-gite (1,1.26). Yama, forced by the inquisitiveness of the boy tells about the two ways of the good (sreya) and the pleasant (preya). He narrates (I, 2. 18) the immortal nature of the Atman as inborn, eternal, smaller than the small, greater than the great and the like (found in the Bhagavadgita, II, 20 also). This Self cannot be visualized by instruction or intellectual power. It is attained only by the one whom It chooses and to such a one It reveals Its own nature (1, 2, 23). The latter Upanisad presents the essential nature of the Atman in the dialogue between Yajnavalkya and 484

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his wife Maitreyi. She is told that even the wealth of this entire earth will not give her immortality. Then she tells her husband as to what shall she do with that which does not give immortality 'yenaham namrta syam kimahan ten kuryam?' (Brh. Up., II, iv. 3). She is, subsequently told that worldly things do not have intrinsic value it is the Atman which is of utmost value. And this Self can be known through sravana, manana and nididhyasana. By knowing the Self through sravana, manana and vijnana everything else is known. And, for the sake of Self, verily, all things are dear to us: 'Atmanastu kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati; Atma va're drastavyah, srotavyo matavyo nididhyasitavyah (Brh.Up., II, iv, 5); Atmani khalvare drste srute mate vjnate idam sarvam viditam (Brh.Up., IV.v.6). The Upanisads are very clear about the fact that theoretical knowledge is not sufficient for the realization of the Ultimate. The Svetaketu and the Narada episodes of the Chandogya very clearly present this position. When Svetaketu returns home from the Gurukula at twenty-four after twelve years of education, the father finds him greatly conceited (mahamana), thinking himself well-read (anucanamani) and arrogant (stabdha). And Aruni Uddalaka asks his son whether he got instructed in that science by which the unhearable becomes heard, the unpercievable becomes perceived, the unknowable becomes known. Svetaketu asks as to how it is possible? He tells the father that perhaps his teachers also did not know this, for, had they known it, they should have told it to the dear disciple. The father takes the son to the practical labs and makes home that just as by one clod of clay all that is made of clay becomes known, just as by one nugget of gold all that is made of gold becomes known, the essence of all this world is the Self. That is the truth; that is the Self and That thou art (tattvamasi, Svetaketo; Chand. Up., VI, 1-16)). The other episode relates to two extremely leaned brothers (sons of Brahma). Brahmarsi Narada approaches Sanatkumara and asks the brother to teach advanced courses. Sanatkumara requests him to narrate what sciences he has comprehended so far so that he could go further. Narada tells him that he knows the Rg Veda, the Yajurveda, the Sama Veda, Atharvan, the epic and the puranas, grammer, mathematics, logic, ethics and politics, the science of weapons and the fine arts. And he further says, with great pains, that he, at this stage, is only like the knower of words (mantra-vid) and not a knower of the Self (Atma-vid, because it is said that the knower of the Self is free from sorrow (tarati sokamatmavit) and he is still under the sway of sorrow. Sanatkumara tells him about the nature of things in heirarchic order, namely, nama (name), vak (speech), mana mind), saskalpa (will), citta (thought), dhyana (contemplation), vijnana (understanding), bala (strength), anna (food), jala (water), teja (heat), akasa (ether), smarana (memory), asa (hope), prana (life), satya (truth), mati (thought), sraddha 485

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(faith), nistha (steadfastness), kriti (activity), sukha (happiness) and bhuma (the infinite) where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, understands nothing else. This infinite is the same as the immortal (Chamd. Up., VII, 24,1). The Upanisads tell us about the unique nature of the Brahman or the Atman (Self). Here the Self is not understood through thought, as we find in the West (cf. Descartes and Kant). It is the eternal prius of everything in the world (ya Atma sarvantarah, Br. Up. 3, 4, i). The true nature of the Atman is revealed in the Upanisads, hence it is significantly called the Purusa of the Upanisads (aupanisadam purusam, Bsh.Up.,3.9.26). Atman of the Upanisads is not purely inward. All the outer manifestation, too, are this Atman (idam sarvam yad ayamatma, Beh. Up. 2.4.6). Is it both, inward and outward? No. The Manaukya (7) tells us that it is neither, and transcends both (nantah prajnam, na bahisprajnan...). It is not void or sunya. It is the essence of the concept of the unitary Self (ekatma-pratyaya-sarah, santan, sivam advaitam, Manlukya Up., 7). The fourth (turiya) includes as well as transcends. The three states of waking life, dream world and deep sleep are not cast off, nor taken in, but simply transcended. The Atman, though in touch with all the three states, remains untouched by them all. It is this uniqueness of the Absolute that is found in the Upanisads. The final solution of almost all problems relating to the individual and the absolute lies in this unique conception. By providing us with this solution the Upanisads prove their unerring wisdom. The Bhagavadgita is also treated to be an Upanisad. At the end of each chapter of the text is mentioned 'Srimadbhagavadgitasu upani?atsu...' Thus, by its official designation, as per the colophon, it is an Upanisad. It derives its main inspiration from the Upanisads. The popular verse from the Vaisnaviya Tantrasara makes out that the Bhagavadgita restates the central teachings of the Upanisads: sarvopanisado gavo dogdha gopalanandanah partho vatsah sudhir bhokta dugdham gitamrtam mahat. (The Upanisads are the cows and the cowherd's son, Krsna, is the milker; Arjuna is the calf, the wise man is the drinker and the nectar-like Gita is the excellent milk). The Bhagavadgita is 'srimat - full of spiritual splendour. It is also a 'sahvada or a dialogue, a communion of souls, between Krsna and Arjuna. Further, it is one of the greatest works on mysticism that the world has ever seen. God-realization constitutes the apurvata - novelty or the supreme contribution of the text. The philosophy of God-realization is the End and Yoga-sastra (the Path of Yoga) is the Means. 486

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As the colophon indicates, the Bhagavadgita is both - a metaphysics and an ethics, brahmavidya and yoga-sastra or the science of reality and the art of union with reality. The Song Divine is an epitome of the essential teachings of the Vedas. It tells us about the origin of existence, the nature of happiness and its source, the energy pervading the universe and its existence inside us, the lasting nature of energy, the sustenance of life by this energy, and so on. The knowledge of Om is virtually Brahma-vidya. Om includes Brahman and the universe created by Brahman. Om is sat (existence), cit (knowledge) and ana?da (Bliss). The Bhagavadgita is also a scripture teaching the union (yoga) of the soul with the Supreme. In a nutshell, it tells us that 'we are that.' In other words, it explains the famous mahavakya, namely, tattvamasi (That Thou Art). In some form or the other this idea is contained in all the scriptures. That book which does not deal with this supreme idea is no scripture. The Bhagavadgita is, virtually, from beginning to end, a grand commentary on the sublime statement - Thou Art That. There are eighteen chapters in the Bhagavadgita. They are conveniently called three-sixes (tri-satkam). The first six chapters of the text, roughly, elucidate the word 'tvam (thou, the jiva or the person) of the Mahavakya, the next six chapters describe the nature of 'tat (that, Brahman) and the last six chapter underline their unity through the predicate 'asi (are, the identity or the oneness of the Lord and the individual). In the first set (of first six chapters) the nature of the individual is depicted. Arjuna gets perplexed in the beginning of the war. In chapter Two the Lord tells him that he should not behave like a fool. The soul is eternal, only the body perishes. The death is like changing the old clothes. But such wisdom is not easily grasped. Hence, in chapter Eleven, belonging to the second set (chapters Seven to Twelve), the Cosmic Form (Visva-rupa) of the Lord is presented. The third set comprises chapters thirteen to eighteen. It asks the individual to realize its unity with the 'paramatmar. The inviolable relationship between the Cosmic Reality and the individual soul is well established in this part of the book. Verse twenty-seven of chapter Thirteen tells us that the Lord pervades all beings. In verse fifteen of chapter Fifteen Sri Krsna tells that He is existing in the heart of all. And yet he transcends all, being Purusottam. This is the most secret knowledge of the scripture revealed to Arjuna in the text. Verse sixty-one of chapter Eighteen repeats this fact as the secret of secrets: 'The Lord sits in the heart of all beings' (isvarah sarva bhutanam hrddese'rjuna tisthati). Thus the three aspects of the Maha-vakyam have an equal number of chapters allotted for their elucidation. It is the speciality of the Bhagavadgita to give equal weight to all the three aspects. It has been planned for the purpose of the exposition of the maha-vakyam. A knowledge of the teachings of the text leads to the realization of all human aspirations, says Sankara in his Introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita-bhasya: 487

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'samastavedarthasarasamgrahabhutam...samastapurusarthasiddhas In a sense each chapter of the Bhagavadgita may be called an upanisad, as it has been opined by several scholars (notably, Rudolf Otto) that the Divine Song is a composition of several hands. Since the Bhagavadgita is mainly the utterance of the Lord himself (ya svayam padmanabhasya mukha-padmat vinisritah), it has been given the status of an Upanisad, although it belongs to the Mahabharata, a Smrti text, hence belonging to the Smarta-prasthana. In fact, in the Bhagavadgita, the sruti and the smrti get themselves blended. Because of its being an exhaustive collection of spiritual laws, it is a sruti. These laws, when applied to life, are called Sanatana Dharma (eternal order righteousness), which is the subject matter of the Codes. The Bhagavadgita is the master-key to the spiritual and the applied order. It reveals the noumenal and the phenomenal. Hence it is called Ceruti as well as Smrti. In the technical sense also the Bhagavadgita is an Upanisad par excelence. As the etymology of the term 'Upanisad suggests, it is a discourse betwwn the teacher (jagadguru) and the disciple (sisysteham). Even in the middle of two armies ready to overpower each other, the dialogue takes place only between the two. Arjuna is sitting on the back side of the chariot and Krsna is teaching him the nature of the spirit (Atman). The commentary of Sankara on the Bhagavadgita, at times, is taken to be not so authentic, as the popular view about the Master is that he subscribes to ekayana-school, whereas the Bhagavadgita has accommodated a number of principles. It may be mentioned here that the Upanisads propound ekayana or the monistic theory (cf. Chand., Up. VII, 1. ii, iv; VII.2.1; VII.5.ii; VII.7.i; and the Brh. Up., 11,4,xi). Here we may not enter into the controversy and may be happy with the view we are helpless in the matter: Sankarah Sankarah saksat, Vyaso narayanah svayam, tayorvivade samprapte, na jane kim karomyahan. Before we conclude, we may mention about a misgiving regarding the Upanisads that we do not have any commentary upon them by a Visistadvaitin. It is not true that Ramanuja did not comment upon the Upanisads. Ramanuja has commented upon Brhadaranyaka, Chamdogya, Katha and Kena Upanisads. They have been printed by the Anandasrama Press. He is also ascribed Isavasyopanisad-bha?ya, Mu??akopani?ad-vyakhya, Praunopani?ad-vyakhya and vetauvataropani?ad-vyakhya. He has written a much known work on the Upanisads, namely, The Vedartha-samgraha, where he uses the term 'srutyartha-paryalocana, an equivalent of hermeneutcs. This book is a short but very brilliant lecture delivered on the 488

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meaning of the Vedas and the Upanisads. His follower Vedantadesika (or Venkatanatha, A.D. 1268-1369) has also commented upon some of them. His commentary on the Isa Upanisad has been published from Kanjeevaram (in 194-41). He also has, to his credit, the tika on Taittiriya Upanisad, known as 'panjika. After this brief and somewhat unsystematic survey of some of the major Upanisads (and the Bhagavadgita), we may say that the unitary principle is their foremost concern. The non-difference of the individual and the Absolute is the principal teaching of these upanisads. Although we find theistic overtones also in some of the upanisads (e.g., The Svetasvatara Upanisad and the Bhagavadgita), the close relation, nay, the identity, between the self and the Brahman is stated and underlined in unambiguous terms in most of the texts discussed here. 489

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Select Bibliography Deussen, Paul, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, Tr. into English from German by Rev. A.S. Geden, Dover, NY, 1966 Kocmarek, I., Language and Release (Pancaprakriya of Sarvajnatman) Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1985 Max Muller, F., The Upanisads (2 vol.,), Eng. tr. ; Dover, NY, 1962 Mukhopadhyaya, Govindagopal, Studies in the Upanisads, Sanskrit College, Calcutta, 1960 Nath, P.V., Tat Tvam Asi (The Universal Message in the Bhagavadgita),. 2 Vols., Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1998. Prasad, Swami Muni Narayana, The Taittiriya Upanisad, D.K. Printworld, New Delhi, 1994 Radhakrishnan, S., The Principal Upanisads, Allen & Unwin, London, 1953 1986 Sastri, Pt. A. Mahadeva, The Yoga Upanishads, Adyar, 1920 Tiwari, Shashi, Isavasyopanisad, Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan, Delhi, 490

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A Table of the Upanisads Veda Sakha Brahmanas Aranyakas Upanisads Rg Veda Sakala Aitareya Brahmana Aitareya Aranyaka Aitareya Upanisad Vaskala Kausitaki Brahmana Sankhyayana Aranyaka 1. Kausitaki Upanisad 2. Vaskala-mantropnisad Sama Veda Kauthuma Mantra Brahmana XX Cha?dogya Upanisad Jaiminiya Talavakara Brahmana XX Kenopanisad Krsna Yajur Veda Taittiriya Taittiriya Brahmana Taittiriya Aranyaka 1. Taittiriya Upanisad (Taittiriya Samhita) 2. Mahanarayana Upanisad Maitrayani Maitrayani Brahmana XX Maitrayani Upanisad Katha Kathaka Samhita Brahmana XX Kathakopanisad svetasvatara X X XX svetasvatara Upanisad Sukla Yajurveda Kanva satapatha Brahmana Brhadaranyaka 1. Isavasyopanisad (Vajasaneyi Samhita) 2. Brhadaranyakopanisad Madhya?dini Uatapatha Brahmana Brhadaranyaka 1. Isavasyopanisad 491 2. Brhadaranyakopanisad Madhya?dini Uatapatha Brahmana Brhadaranyaka 1. Isavasyopanisad 2. Brhadaranyakopanisad

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A Table of the Upanisads Veda Sakha Brahmanas Aranyakas Upanisads Atharva Veda Pipplada XX XX 1. Prasnopanisad saunaka Gopatha Brahmana XX 1. Mundakopanisad 2. Mandukya Upanisad 492 Note : The symbol (X) in the table shows that the Brahmana or the Aranyaka of the branch concerned is not

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Paul Hacker's Philosogical Confrontation - Professor S. V. Bokil Acharya Yajneshwar Shastri is an internationally known figure in the field of Indology and Indian philosophy. Naturally, I was immensely pleased and felt rather greatly honoured in receiving invitation to contribute a paper when a felicitation volume is being contemplated and published in his honour. Suddenly my mind went back to the seminar on East and West held at Goa University a few years ago when I had presented my reflections in a talk. I had given on Paul Hacker, the German Indologist and a scholar of Indian Philosophy, especially of Advaita Vedanta. I had based my reflections mainly on the book which was edited and published in 1995 by late professor Wilhelm Halbfass, professor of Indian philosophy then at the University of Pennsylvania '(1). The book contained Paul Hacker's essays duly translated in English from original German text and thus made accessible easily to all of us 2 (2). Among the thinkers who have had their roots in Christian thoughts but who were involved in serious studies of classical Indian philosophy, Paul Hacker is an interesting figure worth our serious attention. Though, an Indologist and an 'uncommon Orientalist, his passage to India is of a significant note for philosophers and scholars of Indian philosophy. As an Indologist, his major interest was in Vedanta thought, more specifically, in Advaita Vedanta school of Shankaracharya. All his work being in German, remained rather unknown to Indian scholars, until recently, i.e. until 1995 when the book I mentioned was published. Realizing the importance of the book and myself being the Chief Editor of Indian Philosophical Quarterly at that time, I managed to get review of the book published in IPQ' (3) in order to bring the book to the attention of the scholars. Later on as stated above, I spoke on the book at Goa University. I know that what I had said at that time was rather vague and almost unsystematic. This paper tries to say what I want to say, more systematically with as much clarity as is possible. I expect les of success and more of criticism in this task. I do not know even whether my paper will contribute anything to 'Harmony' which this volume aims at. Before I get to the contents of the Essays, I shall mention how importantly this work has been received in the academic circles. Lambert Schmithausen of the University of Hamburg thinks that, "this collection of Paul Hacker's essays contains all those which I personally consider to be his most brilliant and fascinating ones. They have been translated in here from German for the first time and will thus receive, at last, the attention they highly deserve, now that they will be accessible to a larger public". Professor Eliot Deutsch from Hawaii considers, "It to be a very useful collection of the writings of one of the most important 20th century Indologists". He adds that the editor's introduction is especially helpful, placing 493

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as it does Paul Hacker's work in the context of cross-cultural studies in general. I shall finally quote Francis X, Clooney, SJ of Boston College, "Hacker's work is indisputable for anyone who would like to understand Vedanta and related strands of Indian intellectual traditions, both ancient and modern. The content of his essays is important, many of the articles are ground breaking; Hacker's style of scholarship is paradigmatic; philologically expert; historically and critically attuned, capable of handling the philosophical issues raised by the text, sensitive to broader and deeper religious and theological issues". Given these scholarly evaluations, one certainly develops fairly high expectations about Hacker's enterprise as a whole. These assessments are available in the Foreword to and elsewhere in the Book itself. The book is divided into three important sections; each on dealing with very important issues concerning Vedanta thought, traditional and modern. The first section which contains five essays evinces the importance of philological analysis which Hacker undertakes as a methodological tool for determining the authenticity of works that can be claimed as truly Shankara's works. We are told that at the beginning of his career as an Indologist, Hacker studied the works ascribed to Shankara and was greatly intrigued by the problem of their authenticity. In order to solve that problem, he developed a method based primarily on internal criteria. He counterchecked this method against the works of other representatives of Advaita Vedanta- those of Shankara's own disciples. This philological approach to Advaita Vedanta is further supplemented by comparative studies which co-relate and contrast Advaita Vedanta with western, especially, Christian philosophy and theology. All the five essays in the first part, viz. on Shankara and Advaitism, relations of early Advaitins to Vaishnavism, Shankaracharya and Shankarabhagavatpada, distinctive features of the doctrine and theology of Shankara and finally, Shankara the Yogin and Shankara the Advaitin are philological explorations into such questions as : can Shankara's times (date usually stated as 788 to 820 A.D.) be confirmed? Whether Shankara can be regarded as incarnation of Shiva? Whether commonly accepted view that Shankara established a monistic order and founded many cloisters (mathas) is authentic? It is obvious that for want of any definite historical trustworthy evidence, these questions cannot be answered in definite terms. But one can see in these essays the hypothetical but certainly reasonable explanation as to the way of the prevalence of today's tradition regarding Shankara. Like Nietzsche's philological investigations, Hacker goes to the roots of the matter and unfolds several mysteries that envelop Shankara's life. Hacker attributes the work of establishing a monistic order and founding of several cloisters (mathas) to Madhva's cultural, political imaginations. The most striking assertion of Hacker is that there is not the slightest indication in Shankara's authentic works that he was the great 494

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champion of Hindu unity contrary to belief entertained by many a scholar. He draws our attention to the fact that Shankara'energetically attacked the non-Advaitic religions and philosophical systems of Hinduism prevalent in his day; there is no trace of the consciousness of the unity of Hinduism to be noticed there. He then gets us to the authenticity of authorship of works attributed to Shankara. In deciding this issue, Hacker goes into the minutest of the detail philologically and comes up with his own decision as to the authentic works of Shankaracharya. He says: "authorship problem cannot of course be solved by the superficial method of examining colophons; the contents of the work require attention also." Further he claims that, "on the other hand it will not be difficult to prove the spuriousness of many of the works that pass as Shankaracharya's production or are alternately attributed to the Bhagavat and to the Acharya if the phraseology and doctrines of the Brahmasutrabhashya are taken as a standard of comparison."4 (4) Hacker considers the cases of the Sanatsujatiya Bhashya and the Sarvadarshanasiddhantasangraha in support of the latter point and discards the two as unauthentic works of Shankara. In the fourth essay of the first part, Hacker draws our attention to distinctive features of the doctrine and terminology of Shankara, especially Avidya, Namarupa, Maya and Ishvara. The reason for choosing these four concept- areas is that it is especially with regard to these ideas that the peculiarities of Shankara's thoughts and expressions are evidently recognized by the scholars in the field. Such a study would be a pre-requisite for solution to the problem of authenticity of authorship of the works. Whether one is able to decide the issue conclusively, I cannot say. But I must admire the industry so arduously undertaken and the insights Hacker evinces in studying these specific areas. The whole discussion is illuminating and thought provoking. Consider, for example, what he concludes about 'Avidya'. Shankara does not materialize about 'Avidya'. The adjective 'jada' which is constantly added to 'Avidya' from Padmapada onward is missing in Shankara. Even the epithet 'bhavarupa' is missing. Avidya for Shankara is not something 'insentient and having the form of being. Even the theory, already current among Shankara's contemporaries that Avidya possesses power of dispension (Vikshepashakti) and the power of concealment (avaranashakti) is foreign to Shankarabhashya. Consider again his reflections on 'Namarupa'. He considers 'Namarupa' as prying matter (avyakrite namarupe), Namarupa' as the phenomenal world (vyakrite namarupe) to be peculiar to Shankara. In respect of 'Anirvacaniyata' also Hacker has to say many new things. Regarding 'Mayavada' which is supposed to be central to Shankara's philosophy, Hacker's findings are unusually distinct and he is not prepared to attribute such a 'Vada' to Shankara. Other Advaitins may talk of 'Mayavada' but not certainly Shankara. He examines the relationship and identification of these terms in depth and concludes that for Shankara, 'Avidya' and 'Maya' are one and the same thin g, coinciding with 'Namarupa' only when they are explicitly referred as the 495

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prime matter of the universe. S(5). Regarding concept of Ishvara also, hacker draws our attention to many points but nevertheless holds to view that 'intuitive theism' has joined with an intellectual monism to form an illogical, but for that matter much more lively, combination. The purpose of all this study, Hacker assures us, is to lay some groundwork for answering the question: Which of the numerous writings ascribed to Shankara were really composed by him? One will have to think, of course, how to avoid vicious circle in this procedure. 'Shankaca the Yogin and Shankara the Advaitin' is an essay which tries to construct the intellectual biography of Shankara as an individual thinker. Hacker draws our attention to the problem of argumentation is Shankara and says that although Shankara's method is mainly interpretative claiming that the authoritative texts do not brook any contradiction in maintaining the main tenets of Advaita Vedanta, argumentative passages are also not rare. Purely argumentative, for example, is the second chapter of the prose part of Upadeshasahasri where the doctrine of self as self sufficient (svartha), self given (svayamsiddha), free (svatantra), unalterably permanent (kuthasthanitya) - i.e. subsisting light of spirit, is developed solely on the basis of rational grounds in that didactic dialogue: It is the most systematic exposition of Atmalogy in the works of Shankara. Hacker thinks however, and rightly so, that the sole argument for the type of rigorous monism of his time, Shankara's argument is very weak. He is surprised by this feature viz; why is monism so weakly developed on the basis of arguments in Shankara despite his emphatic avowal of it? Further Hacker thinks again on right lines that even the illusionism, which constantly serves to complement the monism of spirit, is very weakly developed in Shankara. It is striking, he contends, that in a thinker who normally in the least fight shy of providing rational grounds, the course of argument here breaks of, just when it is faced with the central thesis of the system: "we have here a characteristic trait of Shankara's personality: he wants to lead us to experience, not to argumentation" (6). How is this trait to be explained? The chapter deals with Shankara's transition from yoga to Advaita. Wherever Shankara thinks independently, he again and again inserts yoga concepts in his speculation and argumentation. It is true that in the new context they become somewhat different from what they were in the yoga system. Since, however, they were unmonistic, they were helpful in permitting Shankara to disregard or live in suspense rather unknowingly the obligatory monism of his school, when, with eye on the matter in hand he philosophize on the self. Hacker opines that the original creation of the illumination theory thus come about in the fruitful encounter between the Upanisads, yoga and Mimamsa in which self is acknowledged without much argumentation as such, as the luminous principle of the inner unity of the person. Elsewhere Paul Hacker notes that the sole argument for monism is: "the light of the self is without a second 496

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follows from the fact that it is not absent any of the various mental modifications". (Atmajyotisah advaitabhavasca sarvapratyayabhedeshu avyabhicarat). One can see that the argument is weak. From sameness of essence one cannot build a bridge to the identity of existence. The argument will have to face the same problem which the ontological argument for the existence of God faces in the west. On the basis of these philological investigations, Hacker wants to establish the identity of the authorship of Yogasutra- Yogasutrabhashyavivarana with Shankara, the author of Brahmasutrabhashya. Having dealt with the problem of authenticity of the authorship of Shankaracharya's almost hundred works, Hacker, towards the end of this essay enlists only thirteen works which can be genuinely ascribed to Shankara-the advocate of very rigorous form of Advaita Vedanta. These are philological explorations and the author of these explorations (Hacker) first established a number of criteria which seem to work as sieve with a mesh wide enough to let pass spurious works and close enough to retain the authentic ones. Our problem will be complicated further if we turn to the interpretations which Shankara himself gave of the three foundational works, viz. Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita and Brahmasutras from which according to him followed the doctrines of Advaita Vedanta. Hacker, therefore, sounds logical enough when he extends his philological considerations and explorations to the doctrinal parts of Shankara's system. That forms the second division of this important treatise. II The second part has the title: Non-Dualism and It's ImplicationsUnderstanding and Confrontation, and contains another lot of five essays by Paul Hacker. The titles of the essays run as follows: 1. The Theory of Degrees of Reality in Advaita Vedanta; 2. The Idea of the Person in the Thinking of Vedanta Philosophers; 3. Shankara's Conception of Man; 4. Being And Spirit in Vedanta and 5. Cit and Nous (Concept of Spirit in Vedantism and In NeoPlatonism). There is a lot that can be said essays-wise in this part in support of what Hacker says, but also by way of critique of what he holds. Philosophical concepts are and have been always controversial but most of them have lost their relevance and significance because of the new developments in fields of natural sciences and mathematics. I assume that most of the philosophy scholars in India are aware of this. But since I am interested in the concept of 'person' as such, I shall deal with only one of these essays, viz. "The Idea of The Person In The Thinking of Vedanta Philosophers' with a view to highlighting Hacker's approach (-philological confrontation)- in coming to terms with the concept of person as viewed by Vedantins. Hacker's focus is, however, on Shankara. Paul Hacker tells us: "What I am concerned with here is indicated by the choice of the word person. Every European translation of an Indian term, after all includes, to a greater or lesser degree, an equation with a term of our thought. Often, or more often than not, this happens 497

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unreflectedly; it is an (unavoidable) source of permanent misunderstandings on the part of such readers who do not read the texts in original. By choosing the word 'person' in this essay, not equation but invitation to comparison is intended. By speaking of the concept of 'person' in Vedantic thought, I consciously and, in part explicitly confront this term with the concept of person as it has been presented using Christian presuppositions by Max Scheler" Hacker is more confident when he says further that "this isa possible way not only to bring the Indian terms close to us, but also to clarify the question of the suitability of Vedanta terms for expressing Christian thought. Scheler's distinction of the mental from the spiritual person (Geistperson) can render substantial aid toward an understanding which is ready to appropriate, as well as confront the Vedantic concept of Atman".8. On the face of it, Hacker's procedure seems to be quite plausible and laudable as well. But, obviously, there are few difficulties. I only draw readers' attention to them. Discussion of all of them will perhaps, I am afraid, will land us in several digressions. I shall be therefore, brief in my statement. Hacker, it seems to me, assumes that the account of the concept of person given by the Vedantins is quite intelligible. This assumption is highly questionable. The Indian scholars themselves have great difficulties in comprehending the Vedanta concept of person, firstly because what is before them at present is, to use Hacker's own phrase 'anonymous literature in Indian philosophy and secondly, because the Vedantic account is rejected by the Non-Vedantic strands of thought on the concept of person that are numerous and equally lost in anonymous literature in Indian philosophy. Further Hacker is however aware that there are innumerable hermeneutic, logical and linguistic difficulties and hurdles. Charvakas are materialists, but all other schools who regard human beings as bodies and souls haven't given a single argument to prove existence of soul in me, nor in others. Hacker fails to see that in the West as well, the story of soul is not very much different. Descartes certainly used his 'Cogito ergo sum' to argue for the existence of spiritual substance in himself but all of us now know that, that was an illogical move to establish the proverbial dualism in Christianity. Dualism cannot avail of any recourse to establish other spirits, nor does Monism of Shankarite Advaitic type. If one carefully studies the history of the philosophy of Mind in the West, one realizes that there is no problem in philosophy which is more important than the problem of other minds. In Indian philosophy there does not seem to be even awareness of such problem. Hacker's further assumption that Scheler's account of the concept of person is so intelligible as to leave no ground for any doubts or hurdles for the understanding of European scholars, must be taken with a pinch of salt. There is a reason as to why I say this. Ernst Cassirer has an Essay on Max Scheler in which Cassirer strongly opines that Scheler's reflections on human 498

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person can be comprehended only on the background of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, which by itself is a formidable task. Standing against the Hegelian Phenomenology, there is the Phenomenology of person in Scheler, which according to Cassirer, results into a very pessimistic understanding of man's openness to world outside. My intention in citing Cassirer's abovementioned essay (which is exclusively on Max Scheler in contradiction with Hegel), is to point out that Scheler's own views of the concept of person are themselves very debatable and that to use them to comprehend Vedantic concept of person is to argue something as follows: "If you cannot peep into something in the darkness of the East, come and peep into something similar in the darkness of the West. If you understand the West, you surely understand the East". Whether Scheler or Advaita Vedanta, I think the basic issue is: how do we comprehend the differences in the different objects in the world? What do we do with the differences between material objects and living animals and further with the differences between animals and human beings? Most difficult issue is: How do we understand the differences amongst the different human individuals? Can we in our philosophical confrontations and not only in philological ones- dissolve all these differences into some mythical and pseudo-identities? How are we, as philosophers going to cope up with the accounts of world, both animate and inanimate, that are being preposed with rational confidence by disciplines of Natural Sciences and the scientific theories advanced by thinkers from Descartes, Galileo and Newton down to Maxwell, Lerens, Minkowski and Einstein? I understand philosophical anxieties of Paul Hacker. His anxieties do not seem to be confined merely to the understanding of Indian philosophical thought- especially Advaita Vedanta of Shankaracharya. He visualizes the possibility of extending the range of at least a few of its concepts to facilitate expression of the Christian thought in the West. It should be noted however that Christian thought is basically dualistic and theistic and one wonders whether Indian Vedanta would be able to provide a conceptual framework to appropriate it. Shankara's Advaita Vedanta is, strictly speaking, non-theistic and non-dualistic. How can one build up linkages between thought-currents that are diametrically opposed to each other? Indian philosophical thought of classical times has predominantly remained non-theistic, but it has been unsuccessful in arresting the tendency of Indian psyche to embrace pluralistic theism or what is usually referred to as poly-theism, more a feature of tribal religion than of reflective one. With the development of civilization we are getting less and less poetic and religion has ceased to be a personalized faith than becoming a matter of social rites and rituals. One must however endorse Halfbass's observation that again and again, Hacker's arguments revolve around what he consider to be the great challenges but also fatal flaws of radical nondualism; above all the devaluation and ultimately, elimination of idea of person as well as the personal God. None-the-less, Hacker continued his 499

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search for fundamental rapport and the potential for a dialogue in this most crucial but problematic area of religious thought. One of Hacker's essays brings forth his comparison of Shankara's notion of cit' with the concept of soul in Aquinas and with 'nous' in Plotinus. These comparisons are indicative of an intense need to understand Christianity in the West. Or to put it differently, "whatever Hacker's disagreements with classical, traditional Advaita Vedanta may be, he certainly respected it in its genuine authentic otherness as a challenge against which he had to rediscover and reaffirm his own identity." 10. When Hacker turns to what he calls Neo-Hinduism and to NeoVedantins like Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan in the remaining five essays included in the third part, the respect which he showed in the part II for Shankaracharya and other classical Advaitins despite his differences with them, seems to be absent. The third part covers the following five Essays: i. Aspects of Neo-Hinduism as contrasted with Surviving Traditional Hinduism; ii. The Concept of Dharma in Neo-Hinduism; ii. Schopenhauer and Hindu Ethics; iv. Vivekananda's Religious Nationalism, and v. A Prasthanatrayi Commentary of Neo-Hinduism - Remarks on the work of Rashakrishnan. With these essays, I think that Hacker has raised several controversial issues on which people may take different stands, and one is likely to think that it is quite possible that there may be something vicarious and not entirely genuine in Hacker's own philological and historical denunciation of the authenticity of Neo-Vedanta. All these essays are characteristically thought-provoking. As a feature of colonial history and Indian renaissance he attempts to see if Indian thought since 1900 A.D. could be shown to be integrally and internally related to ancient Indian heritage as interpreted by Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan- the two stalwarts who claimed themselves to be Advaita Vedantins. Both these thinkers are great in their own ways; one as social worker interested deeply in the removal of evils of ignorance and abject poverty of Indian masses, the other absorbingly interested in historical documentation of ancient Indian heritage and glory. We cannot overlook the fact that Vivekananda's social reform movement was rooted in India's tradition and intellectual heritage as also the fact that Radhakrishnan was interested in building bridge between the East and the West. The phenomena of Indian Renaissance since 1900 needs to be distinguished from the phenomena of Indian Freedom struggle, although they are not totally unrelated. Both those phenomena have taken place in the midst of several social, political and intellectual changes which have brought about revolutions in our philosophical understanding of man and his world. 20th century has witnessed unprecedented revolutions in the field of Logic, Linguistics, Knowledge and communications with the result that ancient and modern philosophies, especially metaphysical systems and moral ideologies have 500

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disappeared and their place has been taken by pragmatism and sophisticated technologies. It is possible that collapse of philosophy in general of academic sort and of Advaita Vedanta in particular has occurred because of these new interests and irresistible forces. It has therefore become a big challenge and that the intellectuals have nothing from the past to live with and nothing new to live by. Hacker himself described his work as a 'field of rubble of unfinished projects' and expressed the hope that others might use these fragments for their own work, either in a positive way or through critique. Halbfass disagreed with this characterization by Hacker of his own work because he believed that there is more finished architecture in it than Hacker's own metaphor would seem to suggest. But there can be little doubt in thinking that Hacker has left us a rich supply of precious building material replete with some major stumbling blocks." Halbfass visualized these Essays of Paul Hacker as important document in the history of Indology. I think that they are also important critique of Advaita Vedanta, quite impossible for its defenders and promoters. Halbfass further looked upon them as exemplary statements in the encounter between India and Europe because in more than one sense, he maintained, they continued to be a living challenge. Reference Halbfass, Wilhelm (Ed.): Philology and Confrontation - Paul Hacker on Traditional and Modern Vedanta, Albany (NY), 1995, State University of New York Press, pp. viii - 369 (referred to as PC below). For the benefit of readers I give here a few biographical details of Paul Hacker (1930-1979), the German Indologist who studied Indology and various philological disciplines at the Universities of Bonn, Heidelberg, Frankfurt and Berlin since 1932. He also studied Indo-European Linguistics, theology and Philosophy as well. He received Ph.D. from Berlin University in 1940. But it was only after II World War was ever that he resumed his academic career at the University of Bonn, where he had the support of Willibald Kirfel, the well known Purana scholar. In 1950, Hacker started teaching at University of Munster. In 1954, he accepted Professorship in India at the Mithila Post Graduate Research Institute in Darbhanga, Assam, for a brief period of one year. In 1955, he was invited to take Chair in Indian Studies at Bonn- indeed a rare honour because that was the oldest 501

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Chair founded in 1818. In 1963, he became Director of newly established Institute of Indology where he worked until 1978. For a brief period of one year he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania (USA). Hacker had to his credit several books and papers in Indology but was greatly interested in Samkara's Advaita Vedanta. Refer to the Review by R.S. Dalvi in Indian Philosophical Quarterly, vol. XXIV, January 1997, pp. 114-118. PC, p. 50. PC, p. 85. PC, p. 104 PC, p. 154. PC, p 154 Cassirer, Ernst :'Spirit and Life in Contemporary Philosophy included in The Philosophy of Ernst Cassirer, edited by P.A. Schilpp, NWU Press, Evaston, 1949. This would be a good example of 'How not to do comparative philosophy. PC, p. 8. I have indicated how stumbling blocks arise, in my discussions of Tattvamasi' and 'Argument from Illusion' that were published in Indian Philosophical Quarterly, vol. XXVII, no. 3 (July 1999, and vol. XXXII, no. 1-2, Jan-April 2005. 502

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Bhakti: A Philosophical Discourse - Prasant R. Dave We live in a 'Post-Secular' Society. The age of globalization confronts us with ironies than the sources of clarity. The triumph enlightenment, - With its secularization al manifest action in political and economic structures has relegated the 'Sacred' to a strictly circumscribed 'Private Sphere'. It is parochialism. The chanting of Secular Humanism, resolute atheism the religion is no more than Whistling in the dark. The specter of 'religion' Through the political landscapes of the modern world, will go 3 away. The ordering of society with the unanswerable authority and in universal terms. Now appears as Utter misconception in a 'Post-Secular World Separation of the public and the private sphere as defining characteristic of modern democracies, seem to be contested both de jure and de facto. Harlan Cleveland and Mark Luyck (European Commission April, 1998) Remark. It is clear that the wall between religion and government is now so porous as to be unreliable guide to attitudes and actions. A Collective effort aided by intellectual tools, aided by inter disciplinary methods and inquires which is historically, culturally, conceptually, analytically even ontologically and metaphysically reach is demanded. We have to understand and examine the claim of religions beliefs. We have to understand the credibility of religions traditions in shaping the structures of autehority, social cohesion and cultural integration. II A priori support canvas, We must set 'the philosophical discourse on Bhakti. Bhakti is a cognitive experience. Cognition being the basic stuff upon which humanly constructed worlds become possible as a higher order Phenomena. Cognition sets the limit and boundary condition for social, cultural and religions activities of thought and action. Human cognition has an 'inbuilt mechanism of self-reflexivity by choice. Human cognition has the capacity to dethrone the tradition and its dictates. The Phenomena of Bhakti as a cognitive cionstruct is a world -3 Phenomena of cultural construct. World - 1 is physical world, World- 2 is psychological world and World-3 is cultural world. The Phenomena of Bhakti 503

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being a cultural construct, it is a 'meaning giving activity and has a sociocultural semantic realm. Humans are powerful semantic engines. Humans also have a high level of inferential potential cultural content do provide the possibility of the evolution of cognition as they are not just readymade product of our brain nor of a fantacy. We owe our rational and ethical stance, to something, other than the mechanism of perception. It is poly- Ontological with different validity claims for different realms. Bhakti bing a socio-cultural phenomena, has the potential to transcend the religious and cultural properties or dictates of tradition. The congnitive revolution in Bhakti provides the ontological change in the status of mental representation. Ontological change in perception provides the change in the interpretation of the world. The Phenomena of Bhakti is a meaning constructing process. It is a' process of World making Through cognitive and cultural revolution or transcendence. Bhakti has the potential to create virtual world. This virtual world created by Bhakti has substantial influence upon human history and has the potential to construct the new Archeology of knowledge. Gandhijee's 'Prarthna Sabha' is a Galant episode which has changed, liberated and revolutionized India through Bhakti. Bhakti as 'The cybernatics of the Holy has the potential to regulate, correct, govern and qualitatively transcend Humanity. 504

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RELIGION AND MORALITY Basant Kumar Dass Most of the scientific thinkers of the world put the concepts 'Religion' and 'Morality' under two separate categories on the ground that religion is concerned with the relations between man and the God whereas morality is concerned with the relation between man and the society. But keen understanding reveals that 'religion' and 'morality' are neither antagonistic nor exclusive to each other, rather they are inseparable for smooth functioning and the integral development of the relation between the individual, society and God. In order to establish the close relationship between religion and morality, I shall address myself to the following questions (i) what is religion? How is it different from dharma? What is morality? and different views of relation between religion and morality explicated by both western and Indian philosophy. Religion : The term religion signifies to a set of beliefs, certain kind of rites and rituals, to a particular institution, mode of prayer, set of prescriptions and prohibitions, concept of holy and profane and a world view. Belief in God is central to almost all religion except, Buddhism and Jainism. So religion is said to be theo-centric. Every religion owes its origin to a preceptor or profounder and has a scripture containing the sayings and divine revelation, considered as infallible and sacrosanct. But this is very restricted meaning of religion, which may rightly be called sect: This is the reason for which most of the oriental scholars and philosophers say that such religion ought to be thrust away, from the world. Because it has a very little place in the progressive civilized world, since it very often gives rise to fanaticism which we witness at present global scenario. Indeed religion, if understood in the sense of certain hard and fast rules of conduct and ceremonial observances has very little place in the progressive world. This may be called religion in its surface meaning, which causes religions differences and conflicts. But religion involves something more. It implies the conception and concrete realization, of the supreme being i.e. reality which is the immanent regulator of the universe of being, by the individual soul in the manner laid down by the scriptures. Its religion in true sense of the term implies a faith in, and devotion to, the Absolute Being. Thus it implies a relation between the individual soul and the Absolute Being. It implies further an element of distinction as well as one of unity. Such a conception of religion what is exactly understood by Indian terminology "Dharama". Thus religion in sense of dharma constitute its core meaning. 505

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Dharma : Dharma is derived from the root word 'dhr' which means to uphold' or to sustain, (dharayati iti dharma) or (dhriyate anena iti dharma). Thus it is that which upholds or sustains a thing or Being. Ontologically it refers to Rta (cosmic order). In different contexts it refers to satya, custom, culture, virtue etc. In Indian tradition dharma' as a virtue, in the scheme of purusartha acts as the controller of 'kama' and 'artha' for the attainment of moksa. Manu defines dharma in terms often virtues (1). Similar description is also found in Vishnu stuti where dharma is explained in terms of twelve attributes.(2) We find dharma performs two functions i.e. primary and secondary. In its primary function dharma seeks to release and redempt man from world process is liberation by self-realisation. But secondarily dharma' can not but imply certain sacraments or duties incumbent upon men in their mutual relation with reference to the affairs of the world. Such duties mainly consist of what are called moral duties and moral obligations. Thus we find a close relation between religion and morality. Dharma and Religion : Religion is not the proper synonym of dharma claim the oriental philosophers for which they make a distinction between dharma and religion on the ground that dharma is ethico-centric but religion is mostly theo-centric. Morality is the defining characteristic of dharma and thus value centric. Religion is value neutral. But such a distinction between dharma and religion falls flat if we analyse the concepts going deep to their root. For this purpose let us concentrate upon certain important definitions of religion. Webster New World Dictionary defines religion as "belief in a divine or supreme human power or powers to be obeyed and worshiped as the creation(s) and ruler(s) of the universe and expression of this belief in conduct and rituals".(3) Similarly the comprehensive dictionary of psychological and psychoanalytical terms defines religion a "a system of beliefs by means of which individual or community put themselves in relation to God or to a super natural world and often to each others and from which the religios person derives a set of values by which to judge evenly in the natural world". (4) For Gandhi religion is the true and sincere pursuit of the Reality. He defines "It is not Hindu religion... but the religion which transcends Hinduism, which changes one's very nature, which binds one indissolubly to the truth within and which ever purifies. It is the permanent element in human nature which counts no cost too great in order to find full expression and which leaves the soul utterly 506

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restless until it has found itself, known its maker and appreciated the true correspondence between the maker and itself.(5) Swami Vivekananda says "Religion is realisation, not talk, not doctrine, not theories, however beautiful they may be. It is being and becoming, not hearing and acknowledging. It is the whole soul becoming changed in to what it believes".6) (Religion is the manifestation of divinity already in man'. Radhakrishnan says "All seers whatever be their sects or religion which they belong, ask us to rise to the conception of a God above Gods, who is beyond image and concepts, who can be experienced but not known who is the vitality of human spirit and the ultimacy of that exists. This is the highest kind of religion the practice of the presence of God".() Let me quate the definition of religion from the writings of Sri Aurobindo which reveals its clear and significant meaning. "The innermost essence of religion...... is the search for God and finding of God. Its aspiration is to discover the infinite, the Absolute, the one, the Divine who is all these things and yet no abstraction but a Being. Its work is a sincere giving out of the true and ultimate relation of unity, relation of difference, relations of illuminated knowledge and ecstatic love and delight, and absolute surrender and service, a casting of every part of our existence out of each normal status in to uprush (ascend) of human towards Divine and a decent of the Divine in to man". Thakur Ankul Chandra a spiritual leader of 20th century defines dharma or religion as "To live and let others to live". On analysis of the above definitions we find that religion possesses following significant characters such as faith in God as the Highest reality, expression of the permanent nature i.e. (spirituality) of man enables the individual to cultivate and develop morality. With the cognitive urge of knowing beyond the individual proceeds towards the Reality by following religious practices. Thus religion manifests itself from man's social tendencies like love, sacrifice, service etc. Thus the distinction between dharma and religion as ethico-centric and theo-centric falls flat of since both are value-centric and aim at the realisation of individual as well as social good. So dharma is religion in an important sense i.e. in its core or inner sense. Both are the vehicles of morality. Both share with the religious concepts like soul, immortality, God, rebirth, mukti, rituals, worship to God etc. Morality : Morality like religion is a value-centric principle which governs the human actions. Human action may be good or bad depending on 507

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the nature of action. It presuppose the Highest good as the supreme goal of human life. Human activities are therefore performed inconsonance with certain moral principles for the attainment of that supreme goal. The moral principles determine the human actions as moral or immoral. Moral actions gradually lead us to attain the ultimate goal i.e. (Height good) and the immoral actions lead one to suffering through the process of death and birth. Thus morality consists in both individual and social good. For Gandhi morality consists in the act of self-transcendence to realise the essential unit of God in everything. So he says if the good consists in doing good to others, it would involve sacrificing one's personal motives for the good of others. In other words self-transcendence or love constitute the essence of morality. Thus for Gandhi morality is nothing but discovering God in His creation which would be possible only loving all and serving all. D. M. Dutta observes, "The path to the realisation of the True self or God, lies through the love of others and the performance of duties towards others as love demands. Morality thus becomes the essence of religion.") Religion and Morality : From deep observation, we find religion and morality do share with some common points. Both share the postulates concerning the existence of God and the immortality of soul. Both of them give autonomy i.e. freedom of will to individuals. Thus the fact that there is a close relation between religion and morality has been discussed by all philosophy, European and Indian. We come across three views pertaining to the interrelation between religion and morality, i.e. (i) religion precedes morality, (ii) morality precedes religion and (iii) religion and morality are interdependent. Western philosophers like Destartes, Locke, Pale and others hold that religion precedes morality, because it is religion that leads to morality. Other philosophers like Kant and Martineau stress upon morality which precedes religion, since it is morality that leads to religion. Mathew Arnold going one step ahead and say that religion is nothing but morality touched with emotion. Thus we find a close relationship between religion and morality claimed by both western and Indian philosophers particularly the theists. In order to have a clear idea of this deep relationship between religion and morality let me analyse the view points with definite characters of these two concepts. It has already been pointed out that morality is interpreted in terms of self-realisation which consists in the reconciliation of the apparently 508

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conflicting claims of both the rights of reason and of the right to sensibility. Here the term 'self does not mean the individual self rather the total self or divine self. But this self-realisation can not be really attained so long as our act is confined to the phenomenal world, without the knowledge of the supreme All-pervading identity, which is provided by religion. So it is quite evident that morality abstracted from religion gives us nothing concrete. So if morality is to be crowned with the final end called self-realisation, it must have a religious and hence metaphysical basis. Such close relation between religion and morality has been upheld by all theistic philosophers of west like Prof. Green and others. This too is the keynote of all Hindu systems of thought. Deeper insight reveals that religion is not simply the basis of but serves as the surest guarantee for all true morality. This is clearly depicted in the Gita thus: Sarvadharman paritejya mamekam saranam vraja, Aham tvam sarvapapebhya mokshayishyami ma suchah. (10) Hence God calls upon all beings to resort to Him alone even at the sacrifice of all other dharmas (duties) and He promises to save them from all sorts of transgression. Hence it follows that if one has recourse to the highest duty as the aim of one's life i.e. the devotion to God' as the supreme function of one's own self then it implies the systematic practice of true morality. Thus religion gives rise to morality but not vice versa. Thus religion being the foundation of morality is to be accepted by all, because non of the virtues can by itself be regarded as an absolute moral standard of rightness and wrongness of action. Some of the European moralists in general and Kant in particular regard, moral principle as categorical imperative which is binding upon all under all circumstances irrespective of the consequences thereof. Kant imagines God as the postulate of morality. This is a controversial point. But analysis shows that there can be no universal moral standard as claimed by Kant independent of situation. For example the duty of truth speaking is regarded as a cardinal virtue. But it can not be accepted as absolute morality or it can not be elevated into a definite moral maxim without any reference to the affairs of the actual world. Because our scriptures like Mahabharata and other puranas allow the exception that speaking a lie in the shape of suppressioveri or suggest fals might be allowable when the object is a noble one. Thus we may conclude that the virtue of truth telling by itself can not be regarded as an absolute standard of morality. Morality in any form must have a touch of religion. Similar is the case with another accepted cardinal virtue i.e. 'ahimsa'. Ahimsa means non-killing in literal sense. But positively it means not wishing 509

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ill of others Physically, mentally and not even speech. Our scriptures allows himsa i.e. killing in certain circumstances e.g. for existence, food etc. is virtuous. So we are now in a position to state that a true religion i.e. sincere devotion to God is always followed by morality. This is clearly stated in Bhagavata that "All good qualities exist in a harmonious way in him who is fervently devoted to Bhagavan." Morality is often extended to the love for humanity which is not restricted to mankind only, but to the whole body of created beings. Relating religion to morality Gandhiji has rightly observed that true religion and true morality are inseparable. Religion is to morality what water is to seed that is sown in the soil. Just as water causes the seed to sprout and grow so religion causes moral sense to grow and develop. Conclusion: Now from above discussion it is clearly established that true religion consists in a comprehensive form of religion which does not conflict with morality. Religion and morality are neither independent nor contradictory, rather they are complementary to each other. Religion is the ideal basis of morality and morality is the outward manifestation of religion, in our social relations and spiritual consciousness. Truly religious person sees the entire world, manifested by God, Religion is concerned with the relation between God and the individual for spiritual freedom while morality depends upon religion for the spiritual progress of the individual and the society. So it is said that religion and morality are inseparably blended together, preaching two cardinal doctrines of universal love of God and universal love of the whole universe. So both religion and morality are inseparable for a complete and integral development of the relation between the individual, society and God. 510

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REFERENCES 1. dhiti ksama damahsteyam indriyanigrahah dhi vidya satyamakrodhah dasakam dharmalaksanam. (Manusamhita) 2. "ksama, satyam, dmah, saucam danamindriya samyamah ahimsa, gurusrusrusa tathanusaram daya. anjam basatvamalovahahcha devabrahmana pujanam adabhya svayacha dharmah samanvatah prachaksate". Stuti) (Vishnu 3. Webster New World Dictionary. The comprehensive dictionary of psychological and psychoanalytical terms, 1958. 5. Gandhi, M. K. - Young India, 12-5-20. 6. Vivekananda - Complete work, Vol-IV, Eighth Ed., Page-35. 7. Radhakrishanan Occasional speeches and writings (1952-57), Reli gion and its place in human life 12th Aug. 1954. 8. Aurobindo - The Human Cycle, P-160. 9. Dalta, D. M. - The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Page-83. 10. The Gita, Ch- 18-66. 11. yasyasti bhaktirbhagavatyakichana sravairgunairstatra samasate surih. (Bhagavata Purana, XVIII-12) 511

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The Sakti-worship as Depicted in the Saundaryalahari - Prof. Dr. M .L. Wadekar The text ascribed to Sankaracarya : Adi Sankaracarya, generally believed to have flourished in the 8th Century has written commentaries on the Prasthanatrayi the ten Upanisads, the Bhagavadgita and the Brahmasutras. He is also believed to have composed several Stotras and the Prakarana granthas of the Vedanta. The Stotra Saundaryalahari is also ascribed to Sankaracarya and is traditionally handed down in his name. The Saunadaryalahari is really a unique piece of poetic composition, though having only 100 verses in praise of the goddess. It is the most popular not only among the devotees and worshippers of the Sakti-cult, but also among general devotees as an excellent Stotra in praise of the Goddess. It is no doubt interspersed with numerous details of Tantric worship, still for a general admirer/ relisher of a poetry, it is a poetic work par excellence. It is a Stotra of Sakti or Goddess, which is ascribed to Sankaracarya, a great devotee of the goddess, who describes himself to be a dravidasisu (Dravida child ) dayAvatvA dattaM draviDazizurAsvAdya tava yat, kavInAM prauDhAnAmajani kamanIyaH kavayitA / 4. On some evidences, like Nasavamsa, nine Rasas, mention of Dharanagari etc., Researchers opine it to be of Some later Sankaracarya, but not of Adya Sankaracarya, as supposed by the tradition and probably composed after 1000 A.D. No more deliberation is necessary here about the poet Sankaracarya and his date. There are more than 60 -commentaries on the text, of them nearly 13 are published and many others are still in manuscript form. This reflects upon the popularity and the importance of the text in the Sakta worship. Description of the Goddess : The Stotra begins with specific declaration about exclusive power of Sakti as the Highest Principle. Siva is not able even to stir without Her. zivaH zaktyA yukto yadi bhavati zaktaH prabhavituM na cedevaM devo na khalu kuzala: spanditumapi / atastvAmArAdhyAM hariharaviravyAdibhirapi praNantuM stotuM vA kathamakRtapuNyaH prabhavati 1 // With the atomic particle of Her feet, Brahma creates the entire world, Visnu protects it on his Sahasraphana Sesa and Siva destroys it and applies 512

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its ashes to his body. Brahma, Visnu, Siva perform their duties of creation, sustenance and dissolution of the world under her direction and are subordinate to Her. Paramasiva is superior to Siva and Goddess is reclining upon Him as if on a paryanka. She is Ahopurusika \.e.Ahambhava of the Lord. She is described as Sarasvati-the wife of Brahma by some, while some know Her as Laksmi-the spouse of Visnu or as the mate of Siva. In fact, she is a Supreme Goddess, who is the partner of the Supreme Brahman, the Mahamaya, evolving the entire cosmos. All gods and other things in the world perish at time of the great dissolution, but only Siva, being Her husband remains permanent. girAmAhurdevIM duhiNagRhiNImAgamavido hareH patnI padmAM harasahacarImadritanayAm / turIyA kApi tvaM duradhigamaniH sImamahimA mahAmAye vizvaM bhramayasi parabrahmamahiSi // 98 // The first part of verses 1-41 is sometimes designated as Anandalahari. It describes the Supreme nature of the Goddess, as Sakti or Supreme Feminine Power In this world. She is also described as Devi, Aruna, Parvati, Aparna, Candi, Uma, Bhavani, Sati, Mata, Amba. She is Himogirisuta or Tuhinagirikanya and Harasahacari or Haramahisi. She is the mother of two sons, Ganesla and Kartikeya, who due to relishing the nectar like milk of Her breast which infuses the Sattvika temperament, have remained celibate, who have never indulged in the physical dalliance with their wives. She is sometimes identified with Sarasvati-the wife of Brahma (Virancipreyasi), but Sarasvati is also said to distinct from the Goddess and praising Her. Thus through out the text, the Goddess is Parvati- in Her Turiya form, with equilibrium of qualities and Sarasvati - the Sattvika form, in rare cases. But She is never referred to as Mahakali or Laksmi or Renuka or Mahisasuramardini or Sakambhari or other forms of Saptamatrkas. This shows that She is not described in any of Her fierce /terrific forms, which represent Her Rajasa or Tamasa character. Her worship as delineated here is in Her Turiya form, for emancipation or in Her Sattvika form, bestowing Supreme wisdom. The text describes the beauty of the Goddess from the head to the foot (kesadi- padanta). The beauty of each part of Her body is vividly narrated with poetic fancies in verses 42 to 92 and the greatness of the Goddess in general is emphasized. E.g. Her diadem(42), hair(43), the parting of Her hair(44), Her lotus like smiling face ( 45), forehead(46), eye-brows( 47), three eyes(48), glance( 49), ears( 50), nose( 61), lips, Smile, Tongue, chin, four arms, hands, breasts, navel, slender waist, hips and buttocks, Two feet. 513

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The Tantric Description : There are two sects namely Samayacara or Daksinacara, also called Srstikrama and Kaulacara or Vamacara, also known as Samharakrama. The word Samaya is explicitly used in two verses ( 39, 88). There are several verses in which Tantric doctrines are elucidated. It is the main aim of the devotee to accomplish the Highest level of oneness with the goddess. This is possible by the grace of the Goddess, obtained through her devotion with the help of Mantras and Yantras, which constitute the Srividya or Sricakra. The most celebrated and important is the description of Sricakra in the verse Caturbhih Srikanthaih (11). caturbhiH zrIkaNThaiH zivayuvatibhiH paJcabhirapi prabhitrAbhiH zambhonavabhirapi mUlaprakRtibhiH / trayazcatvAriMzadvasudalakalAzratrivalaya trirekhAbhiH sArdhaM tava caraNakoNAH pariNatAH // 11 // The four Siva triangles, five Sakti triangles, Nine Mulaprokrtis, forty three and lotuses of eight and sixteen petals, three circles and three lines this is the Sricakra. This is in fact entire cosmos. The Trikona, Astakona, Dasakona, Dvitiya-Dasakona, Caturdasakona, Astadala in one petal and Sodasadala in the other petal, three mekhalas and lastly binduthe all pervading element of united Siva-Sakti - all this constitutes the Sricakra. All other six cakras of the body and the cosmos are also conceived in it. The verse Mahim muladhare(9) clearly refers to the six cakras - namely Ajnacakra (between the eyebrows-Jnanatattva), Visuddhi (in the throat - Akasa-tattva), Anahata (in the Heart-Vayutattva), Svadhisthana (navel- Agni-tattva), Manipura( at the base of the Sex organ-Jalatattva) and Muladhara (anus or the base of spine- Prthvitattva). mahIM mUlAdhAre kamapi maNipUre hutavahaM sthitaM svAdhiSThAne hRdi marutamAkAzamupari / mano'pi bhrUmadhye sakalamapi bhittvA kulapathaM __sahastrAre padme saha rahasi patyA viharase // 9 // Above all these is the Sahasraracakra, in which the Supreme Feminine Element remains united with the Sivatattva. The poet has made one divergence here from the usual tradition in interchanging the positions of the Svadhisthana and Manipura cakras. In the subsequent verses, these Cakras are separately and specifically elucidated. The Kundalini(10) and Pasupasa(99) are also referred to in different verses. While describing the aroha and the avaroha, She is said to ascend by the Kulapatha to Sahasrara lotus, causing Her Kundalini power to go 514

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through the Six Cakras. She also descends down the same path and sleeps in the form of a serpent in three and a half coils (10). This may be called the process of evolution (Srstikrama) and dissolution (Samharakrama) of the cosmos. Though this is described in respect of the Goddess as forming the Samasti, the six cakras are also to be viewed from the Individual point of view(vyasti), forming the parts of human body. Man is a creature -Pasu- with bonds(pasa) of Karma. The Iconographical Description : kvaNatkAJcIdAmA karikalabhakumbhastanabharA parikSINA madhye pariNatazaraccandravadanA / dhanurbANAnpAzaM sRNimapi dadhAnA karatalaiH purastAdAstAM naH puramathiturAhopuruSikA // 7 // Here the Goddess is described to be having four arms, each holding bow, arrow, noose and goad respectively, with tinkling girdle, breasts like temples of young elephants, with slender waist, with face like that of autumnal Full moon. She is not required to make covert expression of Abhaya and Varada by hands like other gods, since Her feet are enough to grant these, but Her form as Sarasvati is depicted as having Varada and Abhaya mudras. Her form as Sarasvati is described as bright like the Autumnal Moonlight, having Moon in Her crest of long coiled Hair, with four hand respectively bearing Varada and Abhaya mudras and crystal rosary and a book. The fruit of bowing down this form of the Goddess is sweetness in speech. zarajjyotsnAzubhrAM zaziyutajaTAjUTamukuTAM varatrAsatrANasphaTikaguTikApustakakarAm / sakRtra tvA natvA kathamapi satAM sAnnidadhate madhukSIradrAkSAmadhurimadhurINA bhaNatayaH // 15 // One may meditate upon Her form, reddish like the rising Sun and with Her Red glow, covering the entire earth and the heaven. kavIndANAM cetaHkamalavanabAlAtaparuciM bhajante ye santaH katicidaruNAmeva bhavatIm / viriJcipreyasyAstaruNatarazRGgAralaharI gabhIrAbhirvAgbhividadhati satAM raJjanamamI // 16 // tanucchAyAbhiste taruNataraNizrIsaraNibhi divaM sarvAmurvImaruNimanimagnAM smarati yaH 515

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bhavantyasya trasyadvanahariNazAlInanayanAH sahorvazyA vazyA: kati kati na gIrvANagaNikAH // 18 // The meditation of Her Hrim Bija containing the syllables Ha and Ra, i.e. Her form with Siva, forming Her half part of the body, i.e. Her form as Sivardhangini is narrated in two different verses. By meditating on Her form, from the limbs of which are spreading rays of nectar like an image of Moonstone, oozing out coolness, One soothes the person, tormented with fever, like the Garuda- eagle pacifiying the pride of serpents. mukhaM binduM kRtvA kucayugamadhastasya tadadho harAdhaM dhyAyedyo haramahiSi te manmathakalAm / sa sadyaH saMkSobhaM nayati vanitAA ityatilaghu trilokImapyAzu bhramayati ravIndustanayugAm // 19 // The Poetic Description : The students of the poetics know the three kinds of divisions of poetry in Uttama, Madhyama and Adhama as described by Mammata. The kavya which is full of Vyangyartha or Dhvani is considered to be Uttoma kavya. From this point of view, each verse of the Saundaryalahari contains Vyangyartha or dhvani in great amount than its Vacyartha. The commentators have taken great pains in explaining the Vastudhvani or Alankaradhvani found in each verse, commented upon by them. Each verse has one or more alankaras -samsrsti or sankara of them, though Upama, Utpreksa, Rupaka, Atisayokti and Vyatireka are in great abundance. While commentating on the verse Nisarga etc., the commentator Laksmidhara remarks - The great poet is expert in using some such words, which are delighting to the interested and are result of the study and the training received by the great poets. Madhyasyetyevamadiprayogah sahrdayahladakarino mahakavisiksabhyasa - samasaditah etadrsaprayoganipunah mahakavirityucyate. Some erotic verses of the text are at times criticized by the commentators. With the grace of the side-glance of the Goddess, even to the old person with his limbs not capable of sexual dalliance, hundreds of Young ladies with their garments etc. slipped off from their breasts and body chase him. It may be suggested that even the old becomes powerful due the grace of the Goddess. The mention of chin, as being lifted upwards repeatedly by Siva, impatient to kiss Her lower lip is mentioned. This is not proper like description of dalliance of the parents. Moreover, Sankaracarya himself is traditionally considered to be the incarnation of Sankara/Siva itself. 516

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The commentator Kaivalyasrama in his commentary Saubhagyavardhani remarks Atra muhuRadharapanakulatayeti pitroh suratavarnanavad anucitam, Bhagavatah Sankaravatarasya Sahkaracaryasya P. 127. The commentator has pointed out here that the statement that romavali of the Mother Goddess is visible to all wise persons is not proper. We should take the variant sudhiyah for sudhiyam, in which case it can be interpreted as applicable to Siva, since He alone is the person, who alone is fit for the visualization of Her Romavali. The next verse (78) also mentions properly Girisanayanariam -to the eyes of Siva only and not to the any other person (tena ca nabheh girisanayane' travisayatvam vyajyate - Arunamodini p. 179). atra 'janani tava taddevi girise' iti patho yuktah. jaganmatuh romavali sarvesameva bhatiti vaktumanucitam athava sudhiya ityekavacanam va kalpaniyam. Sudhiyo mahadevasyetyarthat paryavasyati. Anyasya lokajanasya romavali darsanasyayog-yatvat Saubhagyavardhani on- 77 p. 174. The commentator has a point to discuss. How can Parvati, who like Uttama nayika is expected to behave, should beat Her husband at his forehead with Her feet? She is such a chaste lady, embracing Her is not possible to be obtained even by Kurabaka tree, what to speak of others. Conclusion: The texts elaborating the worship of the Goddess are called Tantras, while those dealing with the worship of 'Siva and Visnu are called Agamas. The Tradition of Sakti or Tantra also expound some Tantric Mantras and their corresponding Yantras, containing Geometrical diagrams for worship. The text has not only expounded the devotional aspects of the goddess through the praise in the form this superb Stotra, but the commentators have also found each verse, incorporating some esoteric Mantra and its corresponding Yantra for accomplishing our worldly desires and also bestowing salvation, if one aims at it. The goddess also entangles one in the bondage of the world and offers the discriminating knowledge for liberation. By reciting her secret Mantra and this Stotra, one can get the endless and supreme bliss. In modern terminology, Technology is science in practical application. Tantra is spiritual technology i.e. Spiritual science in practical application, with Mantra and Yantra, giving the inner and outward practical result of spiritual endeavour. By arousing Kundalini, following Mantra and Tantra, with the grace of Goddess, one can reach higher level in the Six cakras and ultimately culmination is in the sahasraracakra, where there is union of Siva and Sakti- the main primordial principle behind the entire existence. 517

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References 1. Bapat Jayant Bhalachandra and Lan Mabbett, The Iconic Female - Goddess of India, Nepal and Tibet, Somaiya Publications Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, 2008 2. Brown W. Norman, The Saundaryalahari or Flood of Beauty, Hardvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1958 Paranjape K.B., Saundaryalahari, Sundara mantra ani niscita tantra, Rucha Prakashan, 9 Gajanan Nagar, Nagpur, 2008 Bhatt Chunilal, Parambavilasa, Surat, 1996 4. 5. Saundaryalahari, with comm.. of Laksmidhara, Saubhagyavardhini, Arunamodini, Anandagiriya", Tatparyadipini, Padarthacandrika, Dindimabhasya, Gopalasindari and Anandalaharitika, English Trans. And notes, Tamil Trans. Hindi and Tamil rendering of verses, Pub. Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, Government of India, I st ed. 1976, ed. And pub. By A. Kuppuswami, Madras. 518

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SAKTI-PATA, A PRACTICAL YOGIC PROCESS Prof. (Dr.) Narayan Manilal Kansara The ultimate goal of human life, according to Hindu religious philosophy is the final liberation (rnoksa) from the infinite cycle of rebirths (punar-janma). That is why the most respected Sri Adi Samkaracarya prayed to Lord Krsna: "O Murari ! (One has) to be born and to die again and again, has to sleep in the womb of a mother again and again, in this unfathomable (ocean of) transmigration. O Murari! Kindly save me from this endless cycle of births and deaths).' The forces governing the cosmos on the macro-level govern the individual in the micro-level. According to Tantra, the individual being and universal being are one. All that exists in the universe must also exist in the individual body. One of our major limitation in discovering the essential unity between the microcosm and the macrocosm is that we are accustomed to analyze the world into separate parts, with the result that we lose sight of the inter-relationship of these parts, and their underlying unity. The way to fulfillment is recognition of the wholeness linking man and the universe. In recognizing this unity, on the one hand, this "norm extends our ego-boundaries and liberates us from a limited attitude towards the external world. As this feeling develops, the external and internal are no longer polarized: they do not exclude one another nor are they actually separate, but are integrated into a cohesive whole. The Kundalini Sakti, the coiled and dormant cosmic power, is at the same time the supreme force in the human body. It remains unmanifest within us and is a latent reservoir of psychic power as a central pivot upon which our psychophysical apparatus is based. The transformation and reorientation of this dormant energy is only possible through what is called the arousing of the Kundalini, activating its ascent through the psychic centers (ca/cras) in the central channel, called the Susumna-nadi, of the spinal cord of the human body. While the Kundalini remains sleeping, man is aware of his immediate earthly circumstances only. But, when she awakes and rises to the higher spiritual planes, the individual is no longer limited to his own perception, but instead participates in the source of light. Thus, in her ascent, the Kundalini absorbs within herself all the kinetic energy with which the different psychic centers are charged. By awakening the Kundalinis dormant force, otherwise absorbed in the unconscious and purely bodily functions, and directing it to the higher centers, the energy thus released is transformed and sublimated until its perfect unfolding and conscious realization is 519

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achieved. In the modern scientific terms, it means the activation of the vast dormant areas of the brain, which possesses around to billion brain cells, in relation to 25,000 others. Once these areas are completely active, we have begun to communicate with our own higher consciousness. The opening of the lowest psychic center, called the Muladhara-cakra in the Susumna-nadi, to its fullest capacity enables the Kundalini to ascend to the highest psychic center, called the Sahasrara-cakra, the place of the Cosmic Consciousness, symbolized by a lotus having a thousand- petals, just above the top of the head, where the aspirant realizes in at transcendental experience, his union with Siva-Sakti. However, the process of arousing the Kundalini and of making her ascend to the highest psychic center, the Sahasrara-cakra, is very rare, since it can be accomplished by a proficient Yogi only who has acquired the supernatural power (siddhi) for accomplishing it in the case of the aspirant devotees. Fortunately, I have had the good luck, in August 1964, to get such an accomplished master Guru, who was residing in a Hanumanaji temple in Bandhawad, where the Sarpamca of the village had respectfully entrusted him the temple. He was a Siddha-yogi, in that he had seen. with his own physical eyes Hanumanaji in person. And, he used to invoke Hanumanaji in that set of the Mantras to help him arouse the Kundalinis in the bodies of the aspirants sitting in the meditation sessions held by him. The name of that Siddha-guru was the adorable Shri Madhsudanadasaji of Bandhawad, a village situated in the Banasa- kamtha district in North Gujarat, used to make the devotees sit in meditation, and he recited a set of the Mantras. The details about the daily program use to be as follows: The session was held in the evening at the time of the twilight, say at about 6.30 p.m. or so. All the aspirants, like me and my wife, about fifty people, were gathered in a small hall of about 20 x 20 feet, which was the drawing room of the empty bungalow of Sheth Shri Hiralal Panchal. They were made to see in systematic rows, side by side and one behind the other. Then the door was closed, and the lights, except a zero bulb, were put off. Then, the aspirants were asked to inhale very slowly, while mentally uttering "Rama" and exhale very slowly, while mentally counting one, two, three, and so on, consecutively, till one forgot the counting itself. During that time Pujya Dhana-yogi Sri Madhusudanadasaji Maharaja sang melodiously and rhythmically the set of seven Mantras, thrice each, as follows: 520

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0..m! 0..m! 0..m! 0..m! Yam brahma-varuedra-rudra-marutas stunvanti divyai stavair Vedaih sanga-pada-kramopanisadair gayanti yam samagah/ Dhyanavasthita-tad-gaten manasa pasyanti yam yogino Yasyanram na vidu: surasura-gana devaya tasmai namah /11// (1) I bow down to the God, to whom Brahma, Varuna, Indra, Rudra, and the Maruts have been praying with divine hymns, whom the Sama-singers have been singing to with the Vedas, and (Yajurveda) with its Pada and Krama (versions) along with the Upanisads, whom the Yogis visualize by devoting their minds steadied in meditation, and the groups of gods and demons do not know whose extent. 0..m! Jaya hanumanta santa-hitakari Suna lijai prabhu araja hamari / Jana-ke kaja vilamba na kijai Atura daura maha-sukha dijai //2/1 (2) Victory (to you), O Hanuman, whose acts are beneficial to the saints. O Master! please listen to, our entreaty. Please do not delay for this person. Please, rush and give us great happiness. 0..m! Jaya amjani-suvana hanumana Dharata carana ura samtasujana / Hdmka sonata kotina duhkha nasai Hanu hanu kahata jnana parakasai //3// (3) Victory (to you), O Hanuman, the son of Anjani, well-knowing good men hold your feet to their heart. On calling Hanu.. Hanu.., the knowledge brightens up. 0..m! Yajjagrato duram udaiti daivam Tadu suptasya tathaivaiti/ Duramgamam jyotisam jyotir ekam Tan me manah Siva-samkalpam astu //4// (4) That which goes far off in the waking state, and which goes out in the same way in the case of the sleeping one, that which the light of the lights, that mind of mine, become the one entertaining good thoughts. 0..m! Bhuta-srgatat susumna-pathena jiva-sivam parama-pade yojayami svaha / 0..m! Limga-sariram sosaya sosaya svaha / 0..m! Samkoca-sariram daha daha svaha 521

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0..m! Parama-siva susumna-pathena mulasrmgatam ullasa ullasa jvala jvala prajvala prajvala soham hamsah svaha // (5) Om ! From the cross-way of the gross elements, to the head, through the path of Susumna, I join (my) Siva-soul with the status of the Supreme Siva (in the lotus having a thousand petals), svaha; Om ! Dry up, dry up, the astral body, svaha; Burn out, burn out the contracted (i.e. the causal) body, svaha; Om! O Supreme Siva, through the path of Susumna, please make the cross-way (of the gross elements) at the bottom (of the spinal cord) blossom, make it blossom, enkindle it enkindle it, enkindle it brightly, enkindle it brightly, svaha. In my case, while I was busy with the slow breathing as per the instructions, the moment the respected Guruji started uttering the mystic syllable Om, suddenly, my body started shaking and bending forward and backwards, and perform various Yogasanas. Later on, various scenes started appearing mentally. Guruji explained that it was the process of emptying the past latent mental impressions, to cleanse the gross elements (bhuta-buddhi). And, as days and months passed, after the Maharashri left Ahmedabad and went to another place, we were asked to practice dhydna daily at our residence in the evening. And, both of us, myself and my wife, used to sit regularly for meditation daily in the evening at the twilight time. Later on, in the year 1969, (near Deesa, in North Gujarat), he proposed to perform the sacrifice called the Maha-visnu-yaga, and asked us to go with him to Bandhawad, stay with him in his Ashram there for about a month, and supervise the store for the sacrifice. We obeyed him. Thereafter, next year, i.e., in 1970, there was a famine in the Banaskantha District, and Maharajshri asked us (me and my wife Niranjana) to go with him to Bandhawad to supervise, on his behalf, the famine-relief work of digging the village tank, started by the P.W.D. people. At the end of a month, when we were to return home, at Visnagar, I requested him to bless me with his Dhyana-mantras, and also a secret Guptaa-calisa hymn of Hanumanji. He joyfully blessed the three of us, viz., Jadadishbhai Dave, myself and Sankalchand Patel, saying that when any one of us will recite these Dhyana-mantras before the gathering of his aspirant devotees sitting for meditation, the Shakti-pata will automatically take place in the case of the aspirants. When we returned to Visnagar, we tested this new capability of each of the three of us on our friends by making them seat for meditation, and it proved right. The ones on whom the experiment was done by us individually were Arjuna Vaghela, Bhikhu Ravala, Manu Prajapati, 522

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Motirama Prajapati, Bhavana Soni and Lina Pandita. When I was transferred to the Gujarat College, Ahmedabad in 1970,1 used to utilize this faculty for the benefit of the local devotees of Pujya Shri Maharajshri and recite the mantras during the weekly sessions of meditation at the residence of Shri Bhanubhai Mehta near Swastik crossroads in Ahmedabad. However, when, after going abroad. Pujya Shri Maharajshri gave the inheritance of the Sakti-pata power to Kum. Asabahena (now known as Anandima), I have stopped using that faculty in due deference to Pujya Shri Maharajshri. After a few years of my receiving the Saktipata, once Shri Guruji came to Ahmedabad, lodged in the house of Shantilal Panchal in Shahibag, and started the religious vow of performing the Navaratra, during the first nine months of the month of Cairtra. I went to have the holy darsana of Guruji and, on my way back home, I suddenly decided to myself take up a vow of performing the Navaratra ceremony devoted to Bhagavan Ramacandraji and Hanumanaji. For that I purchased a coconut and installed it in the inner room of my residence (No. J/3) in the Ten Bunglows Government Colony at the Gulbai Tekra in Ahmedabad. I used to start the anusthana at 0.15 a.m. and continued it till about 2.30 a.m. during which I muttered the Rama-mantra to the extent of 108 malas, and the Gupta-calisa 12 times. This went on as usual for the first eight days. But, on the ninth day as I was about to finish the last two of three recitations of the Gupta-calisa, there was a sudden and strange change in the atmosphere that permeated with strange magnetism and I felt the very presence of Hanumanaji at my back, sitting in the room with his head touching the ceiling! I expected that Hanumanaji would appear in front of me the next day. But, at the moment Hanumanaji appeared with the change of the atmosphere, there arose a sharp scream from the next room, where my wife Niranjana and my elder daughter Hasmita were suddenly awakened. And, I at once got up from my seat leaving the anusthana incomplete, to just console and help my wife and daughter. And, that was all! Even then, I continued my daily devotion as usual, which included the adoration of Ganesa, Sarasvati, Gayatri, Ramacandraji and Hanumanaji. After some time, I happened to meet with the famous Aghori saint named Ramanatha Aghori, the celebrated Guru of king Mahendra of Nepal. He initiated me with the Aghora-mantra, and taught me the system of the adoration of Siva. Later on under the guidance of my friends Jagadhishbhai Dave and Atmaram Prajapati, I performed the vow of reading the Candlpatha 1008 times, by performing one patha daily for three years. In about 1979, I was serving as a Professor of Sanskrit (G.E.S. Class I) and the Head of the Sanskrit Department in the Gujarat College, 523

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Ahmedabad, and two research students were studying for the Ph.D. degree of the Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. At that time I was also giving my honorary services as a Regional Office Secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, at Ahmedabad. One day, there came to see me in my office in the Gujarat College, Ahmedabad, a Swaminarayan Satsangi named Janakbhai Dave, to request me to teach Sanskrit to the Swaminarayan Sadhus at the Shahibag Swaminarayan temple in Ahmedabad. I accepted the offer, and started going to the temple and teach the Sadhus for about a month. On reaching the temple, I used to take bath change clothes, done the white dress of a Swaminarayan Parshad consisting of a Dhoti as the lower garment and another Dhoti as the upper one. In 1983,1 retired voluntarily, on completion of twenty-five years of the Government service and joined as the Director of the Maharshi Veda Vijnan Academy, Ahmedabad, run by a Trust headed by Shri Ishwarbhai Patel, the Ex. Vice Chancellor of the Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. I served there for about a decade, say up to 1993. Thereafter, I was living the life of a retired Government pensioner, occasionally teaching Sanskrit to the Jain Sadhus, and doing job-works of translating Gujarati lectures of the respected famous Jain Acharya Vijay Ramchandrasuriji Mharak Saheb. To my surprise, one day, in the year 1997, there came to see me a B.A.P.S. saint with some other person to inform me that I have been appointed as the Director, of the Akshardham Centre of Applied Research in Social Harmony (AARSH), in the Akshardham at Gandhinagar, managed by the Bochasanvasi Akshar-Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (B.A.P.S.) headed by Highly Respected Shri Pramukhswami Maharaj. At that time I was not a follower of the Swaminarayan sect. I was informed that I would have to go there once in a week, and guide the Swaminarayan saints studying for the research degree of Vidyavaridhi (equivalent to Ph.D), and that the arrangements shall be made for my going to, and returning from, the B.A.P.S. destination at Gandhinagar. And, finally, in year 2001, I was blessed by the highly respectable Shri Pramukh Swami Maharaj with an initiation (technically known as Vartmana) making me a Satsamgi by favoring me with a wonderful Kanthi with his own holy lotus-hands, and grant me entrance into the lucky Satsamgi Samaja, the very doorway of the Akshardham, the divine abode of the Supreme Bhagavan Swaminarayan. Jay Swaminarayan! 524

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1 Reference Punar api jananam punarapi maranam Punar api janani-jathare sayanam / Iha samsare khalu dustare Krpayapare pahi muraare // Ajay Mookerjee & Madhu Khanna The Tantric Way: Science Ritual, p. 21. 2 Art 3 Ibid., pp. 21-22. 4 Ibid., p. 23. 525 -

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THE CONCEPT OF YOGA - Dr. Pratima Joshi Yoga is derived from Sanskrit root "Yuj" means to join, unite or bind. Union of an individual soul with the cosmic consciousness is Yoga. Naturally, to be one with the divine, as name itself suggest, individual consciousness has to be purified and needs to be transcended from the ego consciousness. Here come the eight limbs of yoga, yama, niyama ensuring ethical development and purification measures. Asana taking care of disciplining the body, Pranayama helps in regulating breathe and pratyahar withdrawal of senses and opens the doors of inner awakening, Dharana leads to increased concentration and then meditation and samadhi attunes sadhaka with the divine, thus these limbs clearly constitutes the distinguishing characteristics of yoga. Yoga is beyond religions, though methods of yoga help all religious followers equally to practice their religious code of conduct. Because religion means "to go back to his real self. Religion ensures ethical development by offering code of conduct for a small section of human race, while yoga offers universal code of conduct in form of yama and niyama, to entire human race. Occultism speak of acquiring siddhi or miraculous powers, but, an aspirant of yoga has to surpass the stage of acquiring siddhi to attain higher goal hence, it is far beyond the occultism. Like all sciences it is (bunded on facts investigated through analysis and synthesis of thought. Yoga consists of analysis of both subject and object, while all other sciences analysis object only. Yoga is a spiritual science of the human psyche and human life and of the reality itself. Yoga sutras of Patanjali have been accepted as darsana. "Drishyate Anena iti Darsanam". That with which we see is called Darsana. Yoga enable us to visualize the discriminating between Purusa and Prakrti, that is between the pure consciousness and inert matter. It, therefore, stands tall among the darsanas. Sankara in Brahmasutras (2.19) speaks, "Atha Tattvadarsanopayo yogah" means, now, onward tattvadarsana starts with the key of yoga. Hence, yoga becomes the master key of all darsanas. Moreover, philosophy means Darsana which means, to see. Yoga means to be one with the divine. Hence, yoga renders greater services to philosophy but in itself it is much more than a darsana. Philosophy is thinking while science is a search as truth conerete Yoga combines both philosophy and science. Yoga teaches an art of life but it is not merely an art. True yogi 526

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represents the state of perfect divinity, then at that stage all 64 arts of life are incorporated. Hence it is more than an art. Yoga offers the technique of mastering mind. Besides mastering mind, it takes care of ethical development also, hence it is higher then technology. Yoga is a psycho-philosophic system and has dynamism of its own. It provides a technique for the search of reality by all psychic means. In scriptures we speak of the two kinds of knowledge by different terms like "higher" (Para) & Lower (apara), simply knowledge (vidya) and non-knowledge or ignorance (Avidya). Yoga is a . exercise of consciousness on consciousness itself and attempts to find keys to peep into the inner recesses of the unconsciousness too. Yoga heightens the consciousness and tries to get rid of Avidya by making everything in psych fully conscious. Thus, yoga is meant for understanding Avidya and eliminates it by bringing in Avidya and finally transform it to para vidya. Thus, yoga is a science par excellence, Yoga unfolds, human psyche, enlivens it, expands it, strengthens it, makes it dynamic and thereby transforms it completely by means of meditation, spiritual ethics and special inner process. Patanjali has mentioned in ch-3, siddhi as mystic or supernormal powers. Aspirant of yoga acquire these power as a by-product of his yogic sadhana. He has to surpass the siddhi and pursue the ultimate Goal of Yoga. Sri Aurobindo has clearly explained the difference between yogic experience and yogic realization. According to him experience is a word that covers almost all the happenings in yoga; only when something gets settled then it is no longer an experience but part of the siddhi, e.g. peace. When it is settled and goes no more is siddhi. Realization is different; it is when something for which you are aspiring becomes real to you, e.g. you have the idea of the divine in all but it is only an idea, a belief when you see or feel the divine in all it is realization. Hence, Yogi is one who is already established in realization, the sadhak is one who is getting or still trying to get realization. Hence, it can be said that an aspirant of yoga when he is settled internally at higher plane of consciousness then he starts realizing siddhis depending upon his advancement in sadhana. If a yogi stops and settles at that particular point of sadhana then he reaches to that state of realizing that siddhi. In yoga sadhana, there are eight major siddhis which only comes to great yogi who is in the last stage of liberation. 527

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But, Purna Yogi surpasses these stages of siddhi. His ultimate goal is to merg with divine and he himself becomes siddha. At this stage siddhis were past experiences for him, he becomes a realized yogi. All yogas are transformation of an ordinary intellect based life to higher form of spiritual life. To suit different human nature, man adopts various paths leading to self realization like Jnani finds realization through Jnana yoga, Active man finds realization through Karma yoga - a path of selfless action, Emotional man finds realization through Bhakti Yoga, Meditative man finds realization through Raja Yoga or Hatha Yoga. On contemplation of relation between yoga and life we find the key role of sahaja yoga practiced by mother nature in a natural way. This Sahaja yoga as name 'Sahaja' itself indicates naturality of it's process, is based on constant self realization, thereby self improvisation is constantly going on in natural way. Here man has to evaluate his action daily and find out his defects and try to rectify them through constant efforts is the method adopted by Mother Nature in Sahaja Yoga. In this Yoga, man is exposed to various situations like ups and downs occurring abruptly in life, so that he can learn lessons from his experiences, which may help him to evolve gradually. He meets varieties of people in the form of relatives, friends, colleagues and neighbors, to make him aware of different types of attitudes of different people and also to judge his capacity in tackling them. Every moment, one or other desire crops up in man's heart, to keep him working throughout his life. This is a continuous process. All these factors are meant to push one towards the search for eternal peace and happiness. In the words of Sri Aurobindo "Indeed adversity, suffering may be regarded as reward to virtue than as a punishment for sin, Since it turns out to be the greatest help and purifier of the soul struggling to unfold itself." Mother Nature works on the principle of truth, justice and equality. Man being part and parcel of Nature has to obey these rules, otherwise he is bound to be punished through suffering and unhappiness. Relation between Mother Nature and man is governed by Sacred rules of Sahaja yoga. Hence, in Sahaja Yoga main work assigned to man is to develop right conduct and to remain in harmony with Nature. Thus, in Sahaja Yoga; life plays a vital role of teacher. Small-Small events of life unravels pathos of human existence in a way that onerous spiritual discourses can seldom do. What one needs is to put out one's sensitive antenna to grasp the subtle meaning and message of life. Thus, in Sahaja yoga to acquire peace and happiness man has to engage himself constantly in sincere endeavour of self-improvisation with sincere practice of right conduct. During this struggle, he passes through a process of gradual qualitative change, which is reflected in development of samskara 528

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yoga, with this, man evolves gradually with the improvement in feelings, which in its turn is reflected in his thoughts, behaviour and actions. Nature puts him in such environment and company of people which will help him in his spiritual evolution. Hence, Yoga does not mean rejection of life but it really means acceptance of all life events with positive attitude. Life is based on breathing. We breathe in and breathe out. We eat and excrete out. According to this natural phenomena. Yoga becomes complete when yogi shares his achievements for the welfare of others. Sri Aurobindo states that "Yoga is purna only when yogi becomes as perfect as divine. After attaining perfect divinity, he works to bring all mankind to the same divine perfection. According to him, main motto of yogic life should be to work for the upliftment of fellow beings".? Thus, after attaining highest goal of yoga, Sahaja Yogi lives in the society like lotus in muddy water. Man being an evolutc of Nature, it teaches him selfless dedication. Definition of seva (selfless service) and confidence of rendering it one learns from a Sadguru. For starting and completion of all Yoga. Role of Guru is Cardinal. Hence, men needs to spend his precious moments of life between birth and death besides fulfilling their social domestic and social duties, in serving selflessly to others, and this is the household yoga. Where man while living in the world develops the state of internal detachment by surrendering at the holy feet of a sadguru. All yogas are like cross roads, which meet at the junction of Gurudisciple yoga. Guru is the source of knowledge, hence aspect of Jnana Yoga is incorporated. For a disciple Guru is an epitome of love and devotion, hence aspect of Bhakti Yoga is incorporated. Disciple performs all actions with the agya of Guru, hence aspect of Karma yoga is incorporated. Raja yoga and Hatha yoga as disciplinary measures are incorporated in disciple's sadhana at Gurukul. Thus Guru-disciple yoga is the gist of all yoga. Practice of it may bring solution to todays world problems. Bibliography 1. Sri Aurobindo, "The Problems of Rebirth", Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1969, P-18. 2. Sri Aurobindo, " The Hour of God"; Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1970, Sec II, P-42. 529

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PLACE OF SCEPTICISM IN QUINE"S NATURALISED EPISTEMOLOGY Dr. R. Lakshmi The problem of scepticism, is perhaps, the most widely discussed but unsolved philosophical problem. Its silent but profound influence is felt throughout the course of western epistemology. Traditionally, skepticism is considered as a problem arising within epistemology proper and thus classical epistemologists tried to find a solution to it from within those fields. But during the contemporary times, the course of western epistemology itself is changing where we can find new ways of thinking like naturalized epistemology whose approach to the problem of skepticism is also unique. This paper tries to find whether naturalized epistemology can offer solutions to the problem of scepticism and if so to what extent. Generally, scepticism is the denial that we have some kind of knowledge or more precisely, the denial that we have some kind of knowledge one might sensibly suppose we have. The rejected body of knowledge might be identified by subject matter ie ; scepticism about the external world, scepticism about the past or by mode of acquisition (perception, induction). Knowledge requires justification, so that the denial that we have justification for a body of belifes implies the denial that those belifes count as knowledge. We take ourselves, for instance, to know a lot about the world and to deny that we enjoy such knowledge is to endorse scepticism about the external world. In this paper, I will be discussing more or less this kind of scepticism) "The sceptic is a hard - nosed person who claims that most people allow themselves to be persuaded by what is really rather weak evidence, but that he needs more than to convince him.... But in order to become philosophically interesting, rather than simply an intellectual freak) he must do more than assert that higher standards of evidence are better" The search for finding an answer to the question, what makes knowledge has been the occupational disease of traditional epistemologists from Socrates and Plato through Descartes, Locke and Hume to Kant. Analytic Philosophers and logical positivists also made a critical study of what epistemology could be. The new orientation in the pursuit of critical epistemology in the twentieth century, especially by the analytical thinkers, is necessitated by the redefining of the skeptical question itself. It is no doubt that sceptism has always been the negative source of inspiration for thinkers like Descartes, Hume & Kant. Analytical thinkers have developed a different view of scepticism in the sense that they tried to understand the sceptic 530

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and offer explanations as to why it can be shown that knowledge is possible despite scepticism. The sceptic is externally dissatisfied with the possible methods of proof of the truth of our knowledge claims. He not only says that there are no foundations of human knowledge but also that there could never be such foundations in the logical sense ".....his ( the sceptic's) charge against our standards of proof is not that they work badly; he does not suggest there are others which would work better. The ground on which he attacks is they are logically clefective;or if not defective, at any rate logically questionable".3 The sceptical doubt is global as far as the logical grounds of knowledge are concerned. However, the nonsceptical philosophers have always defended themselves in establishing the possibility of knowledge. There are two ways in which they have reacted to the sceptic's challenge :(1) to show that the sceptic is wrong, because our knowledge of the world has foundations in our cognitive capacities and (2) to show that what the sceptic says is meaningless because to doubt all that we know is impossible and is also inconsistent." There are many philosophers, especially analytic thinkers who have tried to give an account of what knowledge is which would suffice to undermine crucial sceptical moves. Hence they have confirmed the possibility that some of our beliefs are justified. The two approaches to the nature of justification include foundationalism and coherentism. Perhaps the most influential position in epislemology is classical foundationalism. Discussion of justification, of what it is for a belief to be justified begins with this theory. Foundationalism is a research programme which sets out to show how it is that our beliefs about an external world, about science, about a past and a future, about other minds etc. can be justified on a base which is restricted to infallible beliefs about our sensory states. It is suggested that if we can do this the demands of epistemology are satisfied. If not we relapse into scepticism. The faith in the ultimate basis of knowledge in reason led rationalists like Descartes ( innate, self- evident ideas) to investigate the foundations of knowledge just like empiricists were inspired by the idea that sense - experience can provide the needed foundations to scientific knowledge regarding the world ( thinkers like John Locke).Kant through his discovery of the apriori foundations of human knowledge offered a foundationalist response to the sceptic. Among the analytic thinkers, Rudolf Carnap and A.J.Ayer are strong advocates of foundationalism who have given the lead to analytic epistemology in the domain of senseexperience. 531

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The foundations theory of knowledge presupposes that knowledge has a hierarchical structure, that it has a base and an apex, such that the base-level beliefs provide the foundations for the apex- level beliefs. These beliefs are taken to be self justified beliefs which provide the required epistemic stability to the system of knowledge. In a sense, it has been able to defend against the sceptical challenge by showing that there are directly evident beliefs regarding the external world. There is a strong tradition in philosophy which holds that we start from knowledge of our own sensory states and build up from there. Descartes never questioned his beliefs about how things seemed to him at the time. John Locke perhaps set the classical pattern. He held that a person is directly aware only of the nature of his or her own ideas; everything else is known indirectly if at all. There is in fact a sceptical tendency in foundationalism of this sort, just because it leads us to see as problematic everything other than our knowledge of our own sensory states; it acknowledges the danger that we might be unable to construct the superstructure which the foundations are intended to carry. Foundationalism offers such a structure in its assertion that the direction of justification is all one- way. The notion of inference from fixed points clearly embodies tie relevant asymmetries. Hence what is needed is a symmetrical relation which can be found in the notion of coherence, on which a more completely holistic theory is based. The coherentists point out that the knowledge- system works in the pattern of coherence rather than in a form of hierarchy. The idea of self-evident truths as was held by Descartes, Locke, Kant, Ayer and Russell has been a philosophical ideal rather than an actual situation in human knowledge. As Wittgenstein says "there are no self- evident truths in logic and mathematics since logical propositions are of equal status". Besides there are no foundational truths as such on which science rests, rather scientific knowledge functions as a system. Among the contemporary analysts, W.V.O. Quine, Strawson and many others have argued against the idea of opinion that there are no privileged beliefs that can claim superiority over others. The search for self-justify ing truths in the classical epistemologists sense is based on a philosophical prejuidice. Quine has called classical epistemology "the first philosophy" that searches for the ideal norms of knowledge in a transcendental sense. In his view, this is the source of its failure because the ideal conditions of knowledge can be located only in the ongoing practice of knowledge and science. Therefore epistemology must bid good bye to its foundationalist and transcendental outlook and should give way to naturalization within the framework of human activity and forms of life. Quine rejects logical necessity in favour of natural necessity. He . 532

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then revives the distinction between necessary and contingent within the natural world, rather than as a distinction between the natural and the logical. The shift from transcendentalism to naturalism has invited the dissolution of the distinction between science and epistemology or to be more specific, science and philosophy. Naturalised epistemology seeks to demolish the philosophical doctrine that epistemology provides foundations to science. In his articles "Epistemology Naturalised" Quine has argued for the fact that the classical type of epistemology seeking the apriori fouadations of knowledge and science is dead and that in its place must be installed a new epistemology called naturalised epistemology. Quine's project gives a new turn to epistemology in contemporary times which brings epistemology on par with science as it is practiced by mankind. Quine argues that epistemology is a part of science especially of phychology and physiology which demonstrates how knowledge grows over a period from the rudiments of sensory irritation on the human body In other words, epistemology gets submerged in the empirical science of collecting the phychological and physiological data of sensory experience. In the process, the details of the accumulation of sensory evidence provide us with how knowledge as a theoretical activity takes place. Quine is here suggesting that naturalized epistemology does not involve a change of subject. The old problem was the gap between meagre input and torrential output. Now this gap can be more directly studied by the study of the relation between the physical input received by the human subjectretinal disturbance for instance constitutes the information received by the eye-and the beliefs which the subject is there by caused to form, those beliefs being studied physicalistically, that is by studying the neurophysiology of the brain activity which constitutes them. Quine identifies the above approach as the most characteristic feature of naturalized epistemology. The relation between the meagre input and the torrential output is a relation that we are prompted to study for somewhat the same reasons that always prompted epistemology, namely in order to see how evidence relates to theory, and in what ways one's theory of nature transcends any available evidence" 9. Thus the epistemic enquiry now becomes part of the broad area of science that includes cognitive psychology, neurophysiology etc. Putnam observes Quine's position as sheer epistemological eliminationism. As a result of this he concludes that we should according to epistemological eliminativist abandon the case for justification of knowledge and reconstrure the notion of evidence so that the evidence becomes the sensory stimulations that cause us to have the scientific beliefs we have. Perhaps Quine would not see the epistemic notions of 533

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justification, good reason and so on in the same light in the sense of their not all being equally culpable from a naturalistic point of view. Now some epistemologists argue that naturalisers of epistemology ignore all sceptical challenges. But Quine argues that naturalized epistemologists does not by nature disallow sceptical challenges. The sceptical issue of science versus science arises; science provides the context and content of it. Quine is of the opinion that traditional epistemologists have always looked to science for the context of their work. He claimed that both Berkeley and Hume drew on the findings of science in their work. It involves circularity when these epistemological underpinnings provide foundations for science. This perceived circularity becomes most vivid in the case of scepticism according to Quine. He further adds that all the traditional sceptical challenges to epistemology arose within science itselfnot internally to epistemology or philosophy generally. If that is the case, then the naturalized epistemologist can use the findings and methods of science in response to sceptical challenges. There are two standard sceptical moves which are ruled out by Quine in advance that the sceptic work from within science". The first is any version of the argument from error which states from the claim that it is logically possible at any time and in any circumstance)! that ones present belief should be false. Quine refuses any of such argument by disallowing the notion of logical possibility which it uses, the physical possibility, that which science admits. In a similar way the sceptic might try to argue that our knowledge of the external world may be distinct from the way the world in reality is. But with Quine's account of the relation between epistemology and science, this supposition is senseless. The only world of reality is that which the science describes. Though the two possible sceptical arguments are ruled out the one that uses science to confute science is methodologically acceptable. Quine himself provides us with one. For he takes it to be a deliverance of science that we receive a meagre input from which there is somehow generated a torrential output. This contrast is what is needed for the sceptic to mount an argument against the possibility of any theoretical knowledge. Here one can see the pragmatist in Quine when he says that the sceptic is overreacting. Instead of leaping immediately to enormous sceptical conclusions one should wait and see what the naturalistic study of the relation between input and output turns up.Barry Stroud is of 534

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the opinion that naturalized epistemology, because of its excessive reliance on phychological processes, fails to account for how knowledge is possible. "The naturalist epistemologist is least bothered by the fact that sceptical challenge to the possibility of knowledge can arise against cognitive evidence itself. Here we can not say that naturalist epistemologist meets the sceptic squarely. Reference 1. Mathians steup and Ernest Sosa,ed. Contemporary Debates in Epistemology ( U.S.A Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005) p.81 Jonathan Dancy. Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology (U.S.A Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1985) p.8 A.J.Ayer, The problem of knowledge (London: Penguin 1950),p.40 R.C PRadhan, Recent Developments in Analytic Philosophy (new delhi: ICPR, 2001) P450 The Foundations theorist wants to place the propositions in such a way that they are true and yet there is no way in which their truth can be proved except that they are self- presented. Wittgenstein, Tractatus logico-Philosophicus trans D.F pears and B.T Mcguiness (London: Routledge 1961)4.112 R.C PRadhan op.cit p.456 Jonathan Dancy op.cit,p236 W.V.O Quine. Ontological Relativity ( New york Colombia Univer sity press 1969) p 83 10. Jonathan Dancy op.cit p236 11. Barry StroudT/H? Significance of Philosophical scepticism cited in R.C PRadhan op.cit, p.459 535

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Secularization of Man and the Ecological Crisis - Dr. S.G.Nigal Introduction For centuries, man has been trying to understand himself and the universe in which he lives and by which he is sustained. For the sake of the gratification of the biological needs such as hunger and thirst, the Homo sapiens have to depend upon Nature. Of course it has not been always easy for man to satisfy his bodily or physiological wants. So man had to struggle for his existence. He had to strive for food and shelter. This involved resistance to some environmental factors such as famine, epidemics, earthquakes, floods, wild animals, etc. Many a time the human race had to adjust itself to Nature. But man, being rational and inquisitive, has been making attempts to understand the natural world and the laws governing the natural phenomena in order to control them. To put it more frankly and bluntly, man has been trying to conquer Nature. The scientific knowledge of various natural facts and events was applied to satisfy man's major ambition to be the conqueror and the master of the external nature. Aided by science and technology, this desire to conquer outer nature was immensely whetted. As a result of this, man has totally forgotten the factual truth that Nature is indispensable, that he himself is in Nature, and even today he badly needs it. Ecology Nowadays we talk of ecological imbalance or disequilibrium. So we come across slogans and phrases such as conservation of nature, save the planet, conservation from oil to soil, planetary planning, preserve wild life, grow more plants, trees for life, quest for survival, speaking for nature, etc. These words of warning and wisdom suggest that man reflects upon his own achievements and failures. He reviews what he has done to the environment and biosphere. This human attack on the natural environment is sometimes referred to as 'ecological rape'. Hence the rightful concern for ecological problems. There is a special portfolio called Ministry for Environment in the Central Government of India. Likewise, we also come across posters even at countryside with messages like "Grow more trees and get released'. This paper is mainly concerned with the modern Western thought, its logical implications and practical consequences on the minds of the people and thereby on the ecological factors such as water, air, soil, and other natural resources. Ecology is the scientific study of the interrelationship between organisms and the natural environment. So we have human ecology that deals with the interrelationship between man and the environment. Presently, there is intense 536

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concern about the effects of human activities on the natural environment. The most glaring fact to be noted in this connection is the horrible incidence of pollution of air, water and other natural resources, and also the phenomenon called-global warming. So it is rightly warned that the continued pollution of the earth, if unchecked, will eventually destroy the fitness of this planet as a place for humanlife. Conceptual Environment Man lives in two environments viz. the external physical environment., which includes living ecological factors like plants and animals, and the conceptual environment, consisting of man's view of the universe and his attitude towards it. The latter includes man's universe of his desires and aspirations. One may for instance have purely commercial and exploitative orientation towards nature, while a few others may have reverential attitude towards it. It is these attitudes which motivate man to do certain activities which affect both man and the environment. So these attitudes make a vast difference in man's relationship to others and his surroundings. Man is not a passive being subject only to the principles of physics, chemistry and Darwinian natural selection. He has been resisting environmental pressures for the last several millennia. As a creator, he has been making tremendous progress in scientific knowledge and technological know-how. At present, man has not remained a helpless victim of the original environment. Strangely but surely, he has become, so to say, a victim of his own scientific and especially technological achievements and innovations. The human conquest of Nature appears to be moving in the direction of the abolition of man as man and the elimination of the very existence of the human beings from this planet. If he fails to pay heed to ecological problems and disasters, it is not to voice a pessimistic note of a prophet of the doom. But man will have to think over these issues sincerely and seriously. Besides, it is not enough to ponder over such problems merely from the standpoint of utilitarianism. Man will have to take a wider and philosophical perspective of his ecological niche in the universe. A Brief Story of Western Thought Modem science and technology are mainly developed by Westerners. It was Francis Bacon, a great British populariser of science and scientific outlook, who made a pithy but a very meaningful statement: "Knowledge is power." This sentence became a motto for those who aspired to conquer Nature. But Bacon has also gave a warning which was gradually forgotten. The Baconian warning is very realistic and rational. He had admonished: "Nature can be conquered only by obeying 537

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her." This is a very significant sort of ecological warning which can be neglected only at the cost of the very fate of human survival on this tiny planet. So far as western society is concerned, its conceptual environment, or its ethos, was dominated by Judeo-Christian ethics, which was anthropocentric. In the Genesis story, the Bible advises to fill the earth and subdue it; to have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and with every living thing that moves upon the earth. This theological model was also a teleological one. According to this scheme, Nature is ordered by the transcendent God's design; man is, therefore, superior to Nature. God created all things for man's sake. So man should have dominion over Nature. The Earth is in the centre of the Universe and man is in the centre of the whole creation. Descartes, a 16th century philosopher and the Father of Modern European philosophy, averred: Nature is a great machine to be manipulated by man to suit his own ends. Moreover, according to him, the animals have no soul, no minds, and therefore no feelings. During the second half of the 19th century, evolutionists like T.H. Huxley and Herbert Spencer preached and propagated the doctrine of war between man and Nature. Man and Environment As a result of the above mentioned thoughts, the relation between man and Nature came to be conceived in terms of hostility and even enmity. Thus Nature became the enemy of man and therefore it must be conquered by any means. Wild animals were hunted down. Forests were recklessly destroyed. A virtual competition emerged in exploiting natural resources. The only goal is material wealth. Everybody is mainly concerned with raising the standard of living but none bothers about the standard of life. It is this exploitative attitude towards the environment that is creating ecological disasters. If man has a capacity to make changes in Nature, which he has amply demonstrated in scientific and technical progress, then he is responsible for his varied acts and their unhealthy and harmful consequences to the environment. So man has a responsibility towards Nature, its flora and fauna, as well as to the future generations of mankind. Hence, the questions are rightly asked: are we not heading towards mass suicide? Are we not defrauding the future human generations? Are we not bringing about major ecological catastrophe? Any well-informed and responsible person will answer these problems in the affirmative. Yes! We are responsible for the ecological imbalance; and it is up to man to restore the ecological balance. We pollute the Ganges river and then try to purify it or clean it. We can take two measures in this regard: one preventive and the other corrective. Moreover, though, we must reflect on this problem more deeply. Such 538

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thinking reveals that what is more important and more fundamental is the human attitude or outlook towards Nature. Is Nature a matter of material utility only? If the answer is yes, then we cannot stop the mindless exploitation of Nature. Of course, even from this standpoint man will have to take a more serious and a deeper view of his relation to Nature. One tiling is doubtlessly certain that man exists in the natural world and humans have to live together with nature. Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to this issue reveal the intimate relationship between mankind and environment. How then we can condemn Nature as the enemy of man? However, the most horrible truth is-man himself is being thingified or commodified in technological society. This is the result of secularisation of both man and Nature. According to one view, secularization of man is de spiritualisation of man. It is a process of making man this worldly. Secondly, it means to separate man from his religious connection or influence. This leads to reductionism or nothing-buttery approach. Thus, secularization of man means making and treating man no more than a this-worldly animal. This leads to the monodimensional concept of man. Such a man treats nature as nothing but the material for the life of pleasures. This attitude degenerates into an exploitative attitude towards others and more so towards Nature. It is true that the policy of environmental control once was, and even today in many cases is, adopted (and rightly so) as the means of self-preservation. But the times have changed considerably. Man must take stock of what he has done to the external nature and thereby to humanity at large. We are not Leibnizean monads, each living in its enclosed existence apart from all others and Nature. The basic fact about the things and events in the universe is that they are interrelated. "To be is to be related is the law of existence. Moreover, all things and facts seem to be relevant to one another. In this connection, Rene Debos, a microbiologist, in his book titled 'A God Within' writes: "The fundamental law of ecology, it is often said, is that everything is relevant to everything else." Shelly poetically expresses this truth: Nothing in the world is single; by the law Divine, all things mingle. Thus we have to accept the fact not only of interconnectedness but also of interdependence. The greatness of man is that only he can understand this universal interrelatedness as well as the relevance of each to all and vice a versa. So the attitude of mindlessly manipulating and exploiting nature is dangerous and even suicidal. Nowadays this truth can be very convincingly demonstrated by the findings of biologists, ecologists and other scientists. So the real question then is: What should be our attitude towards 539

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external Nature and also towards the future generations of human beings? Egoistic hedonism has no answer to this major problem. On the contrary, the doctrine of selfish materialism is creating havoc in modern society. This situation is producing all-round cynicism. Oscar Wilde once defined cynic as a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. So crassly materialistic and commercial attitude must be replaced by a more responsible, humane and even spiritualistic orientation towards oneself, others and the whole of creation. Anthropocentrism and consequent arrogance of man must be replaced by an attitude of humility, gratitude and reverence. The phrase 'man's dominion over nature should give way to "man's stewardship of the environment. Man is great because he has the capacity to understand his responsibility towards Nature and to act as the steward of the environment. The humans therefore have a self-imposed obligation to respect animals, plants and Nature. Man will have to use natural resources; but he has no right to misuse or spoil Nature and far less to destroy it. "Our mother earth has a plus value which cannot and should not be measured in terms of material utility," rightly pleads Shri Pandurang Shastriit Athawale. Mother ought to be respected even though she ceases to be useful in her old days. She serves her children but she should never be treated as a merely useful housemaid. Of course, even a servant must be treated as a respectable human being. Even a cow is treated as mother in India. It is heartening to note that the sane voices in different societies on this globe have started talking the language of 'Mother Nature' or 'Mother Earth'. There are hymns on this theme even in the holy Vedas, the most ancient texts of the world. Fortunately even some scientists are upholding this reverential concept of the Mother Earth. In this context, Debos very aptly defends this perspective and writes: "Above and beyond the economic and ecological reasons for the conservation, there are aesthetic and moral ones which are even more compelling. The statement that the earth is our mother is more than a sentimental platitude, since, as I said earlier in this book, we are shaped by the earth."4 All these considerations demonstrate an urgent need to save the planet and to maintain the variety in nature and the harmony between it and man. Morally developed human beings should gratefully recognise the debt they owe to society and Nature or to the "cosmic intelligence (God) who is immanent in the universe and also transcends it. It is only man who can appreciate and respond to beauty and sublimity in natural phenomena such as landscapes, sunrise and sunsets, certain birds and animals. Only man praises a rose for its scent and beauty and extols certain birds for the singing quality of their songs. Man also has an aesthetic need which the beauty of Nature or of the Earth satisfies. It is true that man creates a second world within the world of Nature. But he still needs Nature for his survival and his growth as a human being. So human creativity should be so promoted 540

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that the beauty in the environment is not damaged. To use a new phrase, we should not harm the environmental health and thereby the health and happiness of the humanity at large. The Way Out There can be no two opinions about the truth that there should be a cordial and harmonious relationship between humans and the environment. This harmony can be maintained only if we take a reverential attitude towards all of Nature and life, particularly human life. But this attitude must be rooted in a philosophical standpoint of the spiritual Advait type or Ishavasyamidamsarvam.5 The Divine Reality that resides in me is the reality that dwells in Nature. In the language of the Gita and devotionalism, the Reality underlying both man and Nature is God who may be called by any name. This sort of philosophy engenders love for both God and the Universe. However, the responsibility of the acts of man is not of God's but is of ours. We are free to maintain or mar the harmony between man and Nature. The above mentioned type of outlook or attitude is found in the ways of thinking and living of the true saints like Saint Francis of Assist and Saint Tukaram and a host of others. For such souls the universe is friendly. Moreover, the world is to be understood as a series of opportunities to be utilised for the allround development of human beings. There is a note of optimism in this outlook for every difficulty is a sort of opportunity. This view is not against the value of utility. But utility is only one of the several values such as beauty, love, gratitude, justice, truth and so on and so forth. Besides man must also take a holistic approach to the world, both human and nonhuman, living and non-living. Narrow outlook distorts the view of the world and the vision of human life. Philosophy aims at synoptic view of the universe and life. Of course, it must also inspire the way of living which is based upon such a view of life and the world. Understood in this sense, the Nature is not a totally alien and hostile something that needs to be defeated and conquered. Moreover man has also to look within and get at the greed and lust which equally need to be understood and controlled. It is this greed or what is correctly dubbed as 'greedy capitalism that generates the possessive and exploitative attitude in man. Self-understanding and selfcontrol therefore are essential to stop the dehumanisation or brutalization of man. Similarly, the individual man, society and non-human existents in this universe are to be conceived not as concentric circles but as constituting the spiral systems in which anything in the world is continuous with the totality of things and beings in the cosmos. The damager or the destroyer of the ecological balance can be linked to the man who cuts, on the wrong side, the branch of a tree on which he 541

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sits. The wholesale felling of trees for utterly selfish purposes is both ethically and ecologically wrong. The same can be said about the hunting of birds and wild animals for sheer enjoyment. Whether the earth requires our existence or not, we do need the earth with all its beauty, variety and wealth. According to some thinkers, 'the bigger is the better'. But there are others like Schumacher who stand for the dictum 'small is beautiful'. Whatever may be the modicum of truth contained in these theses, the truth is that man needs the earth both for his biological existence and for his growth as an integrated personality. He is neither the maker nor the master of this planet. Yet it is his responsibility to respect and protect this rich and beautiful earth. Even Julian Huxley, an evolutionist thinker and biologist, is not prepared to leave the course of future development of the Homo sapiens to the natural process of biological evolution with its natural selection. Instead he rightly opts for rational selection regarding man's future survival; and man's evolution, he remarks, is not biological but psychological; it operates by the mechanism of cultural tradition which involves cumulative self-reproduction and self-variation of mental activities and their products. Accordingly, major steps in the human phase of evolution are achieved by breakthroughs in the new dominant patterns of mental organisation of knowledge, ideas and beliefs-ideological instead of biological or physiological organisation. Further, he writes: "Man's destiny is to be the sole agent for the future evolution of the planet." This view of a worldrenowned biologist, suggests human responsibility towards Nature in general. Sometimes, it is said that the earth is a superorgamsm. So the phenomenon of pollution is not a serious threat to life in general and human life in particular on this globe. It is argued that the living earth will always react in such a way as to restore the environment or Nature to its original state. This view is based upon James Lovelock's controversial scientific Gaia hypothesis about the earth (The Ages of Gaia, 1988). Gaia refers to the Greek goddess of Earth. This supposition is very much similar to Greek hylozoism. This guess implies that man need not worry about the damage he has done to the environment. Moreover, it also suggests that to say "we have damaged nature" makes no sense for everything that we do is natural. But this I think is too much. Our historical experience of the bombing of twin Japanese cities during the Second World War, explosion of Chernobyl plant in Soviet Russia, Bhopal tragedy in India, pollution of planetary resources such as climate, ponds, rivers, and even sea, go counter to the above mentioned thesis. We are rightly warned that if man continues to be recklessly exploitative towards nature, one day he will have to repent for his suicidal misdeeds. Lovelock, the formulator of the Gaia hypothesis, was the first scientist to measure chemicals in the air. It is he who showed that these chemicals were widespread and persistent in the earth's atmosphere; but he had concluded 542

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that their presence did not constitute any conceivable hazard. However, according to McKibben, Lovelock later on changed his earlier views regarding the danger of the chemical pollutants. He also accepted his mistake and called it "one of my greatest blunders." The theoretical way out is the development and adoption of a philosophy of life and the universe which generates and promotes a reverential attitude towards man and Nature. And the practical way out is to stop deforestation, to plant and grow more and more trees and to stop the inflow of pollutants into the rivers. Religion can play a very significant role in this regard provided, as Dr. R Sundar Rajan has suggested, that religion has remained a hermeneutics of soul and should become the hermeneutics of man. In this connection, he writes: "A fundamental transformation of our social consciousness of the natural world will come about only when the principle for reverence and responsibility for non-human life becomes a moral regulative." Sundar Rajan also mentions the fact that some Christian theologians are trying to revive the philosophical thoughts of Jacob Boehme (1575-1624), a German uneducated mystic, and F.W.J. Schelling (1725-1854), a German idealist. These thinkers advocate a philosophy of Nature which comes very close to spiritual non-dualism of Advaita Vedanta. For instance, Boehme said: "In all the processes of Nature, God is concealed; only in the spirit of Man. He is recognized. God is not sundered from Nature but is related to it as the soul to the body."' Schelling also writes: "Nature is visible spirit and spirit invisible Nature." At one place he remarks, "Nature herself is a great poem." What Boehme and Schelling want to support is that Nature is not merely dead material substance. Religion will have to stress multidimensional nature of man and preach the doctrine of integralism in regard to empirical, social, moral and spiritual values. Surprisingly, such a doctrine is supported by both Vedanta and Sankhya philosophies. Prakriti (Nature), according to Sankhya, strives for both material enjoyment (Bhogartha) and spiritual liberation (Mokshaitha) of the individual soul. Moreover, Vedanta asserts that the Universe is the manifestation of the Divine and so there is harmony between man and Nature. To sum up, man is a moral entity for only human actions are capable of being characterized as moral or immoral, rational or irrational. So it is his responsibility to preserve the earth's fitness for the existence. In this connection, Bruce Allsopp rightly asserts, "Man has become a major force in the ecology of the Earth. He can be creative or destructive...Man has trusteeship for nature. The exercise of this trusteeship depends upon his recovering the sense of respect which has become depraved in utilitarian industrial societies." To put it in a current journalistic jargon, the ball is in mankind's court. It is heartening to note that many institutions, organisations, and even eminent individuals are engaged in 543

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the creation of ecological awareness in the minds of the people and their leaders. There is an explosion of knowledge but what is scarce is wisdom. Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers. Pollution is surely a global phenomenon. While thinking globally is good, yet acting locally is better. Let us hope that man becomes wiser by experience, yet acts like a responsible trustee and steward and saves this planet from man-made calamities and thereby preserves life on this lovely planet. Let us also hope that man realises the Divine Truth that God helps those who help themselves. : 544

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ONOMASTICS : UNCONVENTIONAL Source for Social Sciences - DR. RASESH JAMINDAR Alphabates exclusively human wedth : Earth is the place where animate species live. Amongst them man enjoys different and unparalleled significance for two reasons : one, Man is a social animal, for individual constitues society and in the society individual gets developed. Both are thus mutually dependable. Two, Gift of intellect dignifies man is generally not found in other species of the animate world. This special element helps man to speak, read and write. Hence, syllabics and syllable are therefore the prerogative privilege of man only. Animals, no doubt, can imitate man in some ways to some extent but they cannot speak, read and write. Thus, alphabates are the exclusive wealth of human beings. Identification needs name Since the down of civilisation man needed naming features around him for identification and communication. This means identification needs name. Names, thus, are connected with the problem of identity and distinctive qualities of places, persons and objects. Therefore, names are the hidden treasures of human struggles, trials, tribulations and achievements. Speech as rope and name as knot A verse in the Rugveda suggests that the name does constitute the basic structure of languages : 4918 aia 30 ya da TRD GEN: 1(90.98.3); i.e. the primary speech which those who are bearing the name initially motivated. This is just profoundly true at the primary stage of the formation of speech because every word be it a denominator of class, quality action or individual is basically a sign and therefore it is a name. This idea is profusely expressed in the Aitareya Brahmana (2.1.6), thus : archifa: THI Guf angel ud fadi TITI meaning thereby that speech is rope while while names are knots. So by his speech as rope and by names as knots all this is bound. Name Leads from known to unknown Universally and understandable, prime facie, it is an established fact that nothing can be identified without name. Thus, name is everything. Without it nothing is possible to know and identity its character. Name helps us in knowing which is so for unknown. 545

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When History ceases, place name speaks The history of onomastics is so ancient that no one knows the beginning of it. Since written history began as for back as oral source reaches, people had had names. Thus, the study of onomastics, or place name and person name, has a very important role to play in pursuing historical research at micro level. Hence, it is said that where history keeps silence, place name does speak. What is Onomastics ? Onomastics literally means a study of ONOMA/ONOMATOS i.e. name or nominal word but by convention it is restricted to the study of proper names. The onoma>nomen>name is identical with speech itself. Onomastics is a recognised science that studies names, their origin and their history. It is divided into two streams : One, Anthroponomastics - a science that studies personal names and two, Toponomastics - a science that studies names of places. Here, we are concorned only with Toponomy or Toponomastics or Toponomatology. Utility of Studying place names Onomastics or a study of place names is fraught with enormous probabilities for a proper understanding of the cultural history of our country. This is particularly true of ancient place names as they threw light on a period for which we have comparatively fewer documents, for names are just not jumbles of meaningless words. Thus, place names of a region speak about its geographical pecularities and historical as well as cultural activities of a people. Thus the utility of the study of place names is the reconstruction of the cultural history of any region in the given period can hardly by over-emphasised; for every place has its own personality. It has its own language and grammer. Its way of communication is all together different. Place names study is universal Place name is a silent spectator of the events taking place in different periods and tell us about the reasons behind its names, causes of its existence, changes caused during its Lifespan, the time-factor involved in its continuity and change it any etc. Hence, historical cultural and linguistic studies cannot be said to be complete without the application of the results of place name studies. Thus, it is an expression of the intellectual genius and cultural tendencies of the people. We must thus know that names of the places are as old as human beings. So to 546

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say, place names disclose the pages of not and varied knowledge, profuse interest and world of wonders not only for a keen observer or a reseacher of nature and environments but to the layman too. This has no barrier or distinction of dialect, region and time. Thus, its study is universal. Place names and archaeological layers Place names do reflect the various vicissitudes as settlement has passed through the ages. From this particular angle, its behaviour is very similer to those of stratified layer of an archaeological excevation. Thus, in words both vertically and horizontally; while the verticality is most useful in knowing the chronology, horizontally it helps in understanding the historical, geograpical and settelement pattern. Importance of Studying place names Names whether of places or persons or objects are simple in nature prima facie and straightforward in character as well as always continuous with full of meaning and significance, but take us deep into historical context and cultural phenomena. Somehow, because of our ignorance, indifference and inadequacy to know them and interpret them we have made its use complicated. Not only this, but due to several reasons, such as political, social and religious changes and upheavals, place names get changed beyond recognition. Hence, to trace the origin and etymology of a place name several sources like geography, chronicles, epigraphy, literature and traditions come to our aid. Our knowledge of history, geography, sociology etc. can be brodened by the studies of toponomy of a particular region. Three groups of place names Place names include the names of habitational sites like hamlets, villages, towns, cities, hills, rivers, mountains etc. Some place names are in current usage and found in written records such as archival materials, epigraphical sources. They constitute one group of place name. The second group includes place names that are found only in current usage but not available in written records. Place names that are traced only in written records but not in current usage form the third group. Obsolete place names found in inscriptions, Literature and other records come under this group. Immense is the scope of onomastics Any area of land, where people settle down to live in, is identified with a name. Therefore the study of them provides us a glimpse into the economic, social and political conditions of the time. Thus, the 547

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evalution of names are as romantic and wonderous as human history. It is a fascinating subject matter to social scientists in particular and to other sciences in general. Topographic surveyors are keenly interested not only in the names of places but also in the names of physical features and geographical areas. Thus, immense is the scope of onomastics in the context of our national culture in which linguistic elements were fused and forged together. It is a tag which gives us deep insights into our past. As a signifying lable they have an important role in all humen transactions and communications. So to say, names are pivotal spinal cord of human life. They are, therefore, considered as fossilised evidence for the history of places, however, small they may be. Many names and many confusions It is an estaltished rule that in geographical naming there should be onlyone name for a place. However, it is our all time experinece that in practice we are all aware that in many cases different names are in vogue, contributing there by to possibleconfusion and putting us in ambiguous situations in various spheres of our activities ranging from polotical planning and administrative compulsions to historical, educational, scientific and commercial aspects. Naming a place a turning point Names are a product of man's linguistic attribution to a given object. It is thus not a meaningless entity but cultural neassity to communicate ideas or express its significance or draw the interest or interpret its meaning. Thus, naming a place marks a turning point in the annals of the development of human civilisations. Three issues in naming a place There are three main issues pertaining to the place names: One, Selection of a name at the outset. Two, Standardisation of a name at a later stage and Three, of need be arises change of a name. Thus, the importance of these three points needs no emphases. This is particularly of immense magnitude for a big country like ours where there are large number of dialects, scripts, languages, customs, mores and milieus. Local versions of place names, therefore have their own warmth and this fact cannot be ignored. Need of an hour to formulate place-name studies syllebus Though the analysis of and study in as well as research in place names have been giving clues to all such scientists linguist, ethnographers, 548

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epigraphists, archaeologists, sociologists, geographers, topographers, mappers etc, - somehow it has not attracted scholars to the desired extent or yet to receive serious attention. Most educated persons are not even familior with the words like toponymy and onomastics. So to say,it is found as a subject of special study neither in literature, nor in archaeology or nor in history or nor in the discipline of architecture. Therefore it is a need of an hour that indifferent attitudes for the study of place names should be changed and efforts must be made at least at the higher level of education to introduce onomastics and toponymy as the topics of studies along with the environmental studies. The Place Names Society of India should take initiative and help the educational institutions to formulate the syllabus and see that it is implemented. What does place name serve to social scientists ? Thus the study of place names serves the linguists by providing with old and else where otherwise extinct forms and suffixes; the ethnographers by providing with local information about heroes, settlements and other topographical details; the epigraphists and archaeologists by providing with clues is the royal families and places of historical interest; the historians by providing the so far not available informations from traditional and conventional sources as well as variegated cultural contours and the architects by providing multifaceted informations regarding structures, monuments and habitats. What are to be followed ? To understand any place name correctly and clearly there are certain definite rules or processes involving the analysis or classification of the names based on prefixes and suffixes as well as their body proper in order to obtain the form or structure or pattern. They are to be followed. There is no place name without meaning; because name is given on the basis of the local environment or feature or event or Hora-founa or important person or caste etc. This means every name carries a specific meaning. This can be possible by knowing the meaning of both prefix and suffix. The place names are to be studied among other names of similar type or nature or structure and corroborate the data thus obtained with the literary works, geographical data, archaeological excavations and epigraphical evidences wherever possible if need be. That the place names must be studied along with the material available from other sources, other sources mentioned just now and not just in isolation. We can only then trace the culturcal history of any given 549

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region properly. In other words, we will say that the data thus obtained are to be related with the culture or cultures in which the name is found. Then only one can claim to have followed the grammer of the name correctly. Several factors for determining names Thus, each name, be it of an individual, a location, a locality, an area, a town, has some foundation that has linkage with hostorical background, culture religion, customs and even whims and fancies. A name of a place is determined by several factors such as socio-economic, historic, religious, cultural, geographical, environmental, regional etc, that basically involve the changes of the names of the places. Sometimes, rulers, emperors, conquerors, colonialsand political leaders of different shades would be tempted to find new places or give new names to existing places.. Thus, each place name is a world in its own right and feelings. Place names have the potential to find out the mentle state of the people concerned. They also play an important role in moulding the character and culture of masses. They do indicate the relations between cultures, their mutual obligations and influences; attempt to revival, reform and innovation. Even though it is a pity that such an important discipline has so long been neglected. It is our all time experience that the human tendency of pronouncing and spelling the names according to their own convinience and knowledge, which result into frequent changes. Form the study of the Survey of India Maps and Atlases and Various other pultications; it is often seen that even within a State itself certain places are referred to differently even within same local language. Other disciplines for place name study Historical geography is another discipline in which historians are normally interested. It seems that generally epigraphs are of great help in understanding the historical geographical of a given area, but the place name study linckr many issues which otherwise cannot be analysed, interpreted and understood. This requires extensive fieldwork. unfortunately, hardships across the field-work make young scholars shy of undertaking it. Though toponomy along with topography is an independent discipline with its own methodology, approach, fieldwork and interpretation, its main theme or the goal or the object is the man or social, or civilisation of which it forms an indivisible part. Thus it is civilizational or social history with altogether a different setting with emphasis on place name. Hence, toponomy is regarded as the fossilised behavior of a people 550

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at a given geographical area or settlement. That is why for the study of human culture and civilisation place names contribute as an important source. Certainly, they tell the story of the past. They are quintessence of the past fossils of culture. Every place name, therefore, is a fossilised philological fact. Inner relation to be worked out There is an inner relation between the events that occur and the places where they occur. If events have names, such as Satyagrah, treaties, movements, personalities etc. the places where they occur have also names such as Bardoli, Vasai, Dandi, Porbandar respectively. It is no doubt a hard job to link inner relation between the events and the places. That is what exactly the field of onomastics and hence the importance of this discipline. Materials to be identified In short, places, areas, features etc. are identified by name and position. Maps are essential reference material for this but access to them is difficult and tedious phenomenon. It only the name is known and not the location for which an alphabatical list or directory becomes necessary. There are thousands and thousands of place names in our variegated country ranging from villages and towns to rivers and mountains. Hence, a standard geographical name reference is needed at all levels of government and other organisations involving a variety of people from every walk of life. The need, therefore for integrated comprehensive dictionaries or gasetteers of geographical names is thus desideratum. These not only enable us for speedy and ready reference but also are complimentary to the usage of maps. A gasetteer helps to know the location and feature while geographical dictionaries present more extensive information on names, their origin, meaning and history. Neglected discipline but an important field Though recently place names have been added to the list of sources useful for reconstruction of our ancient past, it is somehow really unfortunate that an important field, such as this, has been very much neglected. Names are the salient spectator of events taking place and tell us about the reasons behind their names, causes of their existence, changes caused during their lifespan, the time factor involved in their continuity and changes etc. Place Name Studies in our Country This discipline, it is said, entered in our country in the 19th contury 551

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and was pursued here and there with no cordination and under no organisation. But we fail to notice that we do have this concept in our cultural traditions. We know that our life in this land is embodied in 16 Sanskaras, which has no doubt enhanced our lives, right from impregnaion through ascending to heaven. Of these one is Namakarana Sanskara i.e. ceremony of giving name to infant. This one aspect. Secondly, interest in place name in our country is definitely traced is the Sthalapuranas i.e. Puranas which describes places or say topography. These Puranas contain legendary stories about the places, sometimes about the mythology and sometimes about imaginary incidents. In our cultural tradition Namamahima, Namasmarana, Namajapa, Sahastranama have attained a pivotal place. These are not thoughtless activities. This shows that each place in our country has more or less some story to call our attention. This means that studies of the names of places are not alien to our thiought process. But one thing is certain that this discipline somehow has not attracted the academic world in our country for which reasons are not known to us and hence one may say that it is still in its infancy. It is also evident from the fact that this has not been employed as a sourcematerial in any book on early history of our country. Works published on place names Of late this discipline has drawn our attention of some of our scholers. Mecdonald and Keith have published in two parts the Vedic Index of Names and Subjects' in 1958. Sorrens has to his credit 'Index to the Names in the Mahabharat' in 1963. Mallalcesskar published 'Dictionary of Pali Proper Names in two parts in 1960. 'Prakrut Proper Names' in two parts was prepared by Mohanlal Mehta and K.R. Chandra in 1970. These are just few examples. Along with place names the studies on personal names, family names, surnames, pseudonym were also taken up. Sunitikumar Chatterjee has discussed the origin and growth of place names in his book The Origin and Development of Bengoli Language.' Shree Krushnapad Goswami furthered the concept of Sunitikumarji. R.C. Heremothe has done some studies on the place names of Karnataka. Kunduri Ishwardatt has tried to established the 'Indian Place Name Society in 1945 but did not materialised. At last "The Place Name Society of India' was founded in 1978 at Mysore. This author was the member of the Executive committe of this society in its first decade. General apathy towards this science Considering that though the onomastic is a science by itself, unfortunately it has yet to get due recognition from scholars across varied disciplines. Without doubt, though it is certainly a very useful non 552

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traditional and unconventional source material for reconstructing history of any given time of any given region, especially fo our multifaceted multicoloured, multi-religious and more so multi-lingual country, teachers of modern history in Gujarat, and they outnumbered indologists and archaeologists, do not consider this branch of sourcematerial worthy of employing for they do not have purspective understanding of the usefulness and utility of onomastics, onomathesia, onomasiolog, onomasticon and onomastology. Those who have indological background and archaeological aptitude do appreciate this science and use it frequently. There are a few teachers of architecture, of Linguistics and social-anthropology who are immensely inclined to employ this discipline in their studies and researches. State of the study of place names in Gujarat As such some knowledgable and knowable teachers enthusiastically dared to start an organisation way back in 1957 in Vadodara namely Gujarat Sthalanama Sansad; of course the precursor organisation of the 'Place Names Society of India. The poineers of this Sansad were stalwarts like Professor (DE) B.J.Sandesara, the reputed Sanskritist and indologist, and Professor (DR.) R.N.Mehta, the eminent and seasoned archaeologist and indologist. Ten lectures were delivered under the auspices of this Sansad during 1957 and 1963 and were later on published in a book-form as Gujarat Sthalanama Sansad Vyakyanmala (Part one) in 1965. But it was Professor (DE.) H.D. Sankalia, an internationally known archaelogist, who has given a special status to the study of place names premirely, prominently and profusely in the forties of the 20th century. Of course, his is not the seperate study to offer us, but he did certainly take the laudable initiatire by giving us couple of profuse and comprehensive chapters in two of his important works on Gujarat viz, the Archaeology of Gujarat (1971) and the Studied in the Historical and cultural Geography and Ethnography of Gujarat (1949). Thus he showed the direction specifically and offered us its usage us a source tool for writing cultural history. Though directly not associated with the earlier mentioned society but who has done inspiring work independently is none other than the known indologist, orientalist and sanskrutist Professor (DR.) H.C. Bhayani and under his esteemed guidance and consultation the 'Gujarat Sahitya Akadami has published a work entitled as Gujarat Gama-Nama-Suchi in 1996 and the last 60 pages the compilator Professor (DR.) Chandrakant Sheth has comprehencively given classification and analysis of the places from literary perspective. Also under DR. Bhayani's supervision DR. Girish Trivedi has done his Ph.D. thesis on Madhakalin Gujarati Vyaktinamonun Adhyayan, Which was later on published in book-form in 1996 by Forbes 553

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Gujarati Sahitya Sabha, Mumbai. On the basis of 1971 census the then director of the university Grantha-nirman Board of Gujarat Professor I.J.Patel has published one book Nakshaman Gujarat in 1973 which is an authentic compendium of the place names of Gujarat in alphabetical order with necessary information regarding geography, topography, agricultural activities, rivers mountains economy etc., of each district as preamble along with maps and tables. It was reprinted in 1999 with some useful additions. Puranoman Gujarat by Professor Umashankar Joshi in 1946 and Jaina Agama Sahityaman Gujarat by Professor B.J. Sandesara in 1952 are books of different nature but they are to the extent very very useful to scholars of varied interests and more so to researchers in this field i.e. onomastics. Bhagvadgomandal by Bhagavatsinhji - the then Maharaja. of the erst while Gondal State in Gujarat - is an unparalleled monumental work in nine volumes. It was published in 1954 and reprinted in 1986. Delhi - namamala by Acharya Hemchandra, Bhaugolik - Kosha by and Pauranik - Katha - Kosha by Dahyabhai P. Derasari are also works of this nature. This author along with Professor R.N.Mehta had undertaken a minor research project, under the U.G.C. Scheme, for studying the names of places of the city of Amdavad in the year 1984-1985, and its results in a book-form entitled as Amdavadnon Sthal Namono Abhyas in 2001 by the Gujarat Vidyapith. under the guidance of this author and so also of the then visiting faculty Professor R.H.Mehta nearly forty dissertations were prepared on the place names of different districts and Talukas of Gujarat by the Post-Graduate students of the Department of History and Culture of the Gujarat Vidyapith between 1985 and 1994. This author has undertaken one major project with the financial support of the Department of Youth and Cultural Activities through Gujarat Rajya Abhilekhagar - Gujaratno Gamanamono Sarthakosh in the beginning years of this century and submitted its results running into nearly 1200 pages to the Department in 2003 which yet to see the light of the day. Recently, the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology Institute (now a deemed university known as (CEPT UNIVERSITY) of Amdavad has purposefully introduced one course on 'Settlement and Place Names' Since 2007 for its third semester students of the Masters Programmes in Architectural Settlement and Conservation. This author teaches this course since then. 554

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In the End It seems from the foregoing discussion that the life of settlement is very interesting, unique, variegated and like rainbow colours and capricious like water-waves. More importantly, we get knowledge that generally the settlements take place and grow where natural settings is conducive and geographical situations are mostly favourable and comprehensive such as availability of water-resources and possibility of food accumulation. This means habitats get easily developed near water streams and natural reservoirs. Occasionally, constuction of man-made reservoirs or water - place are being made ahead of the foudation of settelments.* *Special note to thank. This elaborate resume is based on some of the thoughts and ideas expressed in the Presidential Addresses given before the august audiences of the Place Names Society of India in its annual conferences and some important articles published in the Studies in Indian Place Names Volumes. My thankes are due to all those Presidents and Authors of the Place Names Society of India and its publication. I take this moment to whole-heartedly congratulate them for their novice ideas and contributions to make this field more interesting and this society to grow. It is not possible to name them all at this moment. Once again I am thankful to the society, its authors, its presidents and members. 555

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Religious Harmony and Fellowship of Faiths : A Jaina Perspective - PROF. SAGARMAL JAIN Among the most burning problems, the world is facing today, religious fundamentalism and intolerance is the most crucial. The miraculous advancement in science and technology, provided us lightlegged means of transportation and communication. As a result physical distances have no bars to meet the peoples of different nations, cultures and religions. Our world is shrinking, but unluckily and disdainfully the distances of our hearts are widening day by day. Instead of developing mutual love, co-operation and faith, we are spreading hatred and hostility and thus ignoring the values of harmonious living and co-existence. The blind and mad race of nuclear weapons is a clear indication that the human race is proceeding towards its formidable funeral procession. Rabindranath Tagore rightly observed "For man to come near to one another and yet to ignore the claims of humanity is the sure process of suicide." In the present circumstances, the only wayout left for the survival of mankind is to develop a firm belief in mutual co-operation and co-existence. Religious harmony and fellowship of faiths is the first and foremost need of our age. Humanity as a Binding Force Undoubtedly, we belong to different faiths, religions and cultures. Our modes of worship as well as way of living also differ to some extent. There is also no denying the fact that our philosophical approaches and viewpoints are divergent, but among these diversities there is a common thread of unity which binds all of us, and it is nothing except humanity. We all belong to the same human race. Unfortunately, at present, humanity as such is largely shoved into the background and differences of caste, colour and creed have become more important for us. We have forgotten our essential unity and are conflicting on the basis of these apparent diversities. But we must bear in our mind that it is only humanity, which can conjoin the people of different faiths, cultures and nationalities. Jaina acaryas declared the human race as one (ego manussa jai)2. The difference of caste, culture and creed are not only superficial but mostly the creation of man. What is True Religion The ultimate end in view of all religions is to ensure peace and happiness for the individual and to establish harmony within human society. However, as is known from history, countless wars have been 556

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fought in the name of the religion. The religion thus remains accused for the inestimable amount of bloodshed of mankind. Of course, it is not of the so-colled men of religion responsible for this horrible consequences. Al present religion as such is largely shoved into the background oral best used in the service of political ideologies. If one belives that only his faith, his mode of worship and his political ideologies are the right means for securing peace and happiness for mankind, he cannot be tolerant to the view-points of his opponents. The immediacy, therefore, is to develop tolerance to and friendship for others. It is the only approach by which we can generate peace and harmony inside human society. Can religion as a category, of which Jainism is a part, meet with this challenge of our times? Before this question can be answered we must make a distinction between a true and a false religion. Because a true religion never supports violence, intolerance and fanatical outlook and is cannot per se be made responsible for the ignominious acts committed in the name of religion by such religious leaders who want to serve their vested interest. The barbarity committed in the past and perpetrated in the present in the name of religion is due very largely to the intolerance and fanaticism of the so-called religious leaders and their ignorant followers. The only way of freeing oneself from this sordid situation is to comprehend to the true nature, indeed, to grasp the "essence" of religion and to develop tolerance toward and respect for other's ideologies and faiths. For the Jainas, a true religion consists in the practice of equanimity and its foundation is the observance of non-violence. In the Acarangasutra, the earlies Jaina text (c. late 4th cent. B.C.) we come across these two definitions of religion : Equanimity is the essence of religion, while the observance of non-violence is its external exposition or a social aspect of religion. The Acaranga mentions that practising of non-violence is the true and eternal religion. Jainism, since its inception, believes in and preaches for peace, harmony and tolerance. It has been tolerant and respectful toward, other faiths and religious ideologies throughout its history of existence. In Jainism one hardly comes across instances of religious conflicts involving violence and bloodshed. At most one meets with instance; of disputations and strongly worded debates concerning ideological disagreements. The Jaina men of learning while opposing the different ideologies and religious standpoints, fully paid regard to them and accepted that the opponents' convictions may be valid from a certain standpoint. 557

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Huminity as a true form of religion First of all we are human being and then any thing else i.e. Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Muslimes, Sikkhas, Jainas and the like. To be a real human being, is a pre-condition for being a real Hindu etc. Our prime duty is to be a human in its real sense. This spirit is echoed in one of the earlier Jaina text Uttaradhyayaua wherein Lord Mahavira has laid down four conditions for a true religious being, viz-1. Humanity 2. true faith 3. control over senses and 4. efforts for self-purification". Thus we see that among these four conditions of a religious being, humanity occupies the first and the foremost position. In Jainism religion is defined as a true nature of a thing (Vatthu Sahavo Dhammo4) and in the light of the above definition it can be said that humanity is the true religion of mankind. For, it is its essential nature.. As a human being if we fail to behave like a human being, we have no right to call ourselves a religious being or even a human being. Bertrand Russell, the eminent philosopher and scientist of our age, suggests "I appeal as a human being to the human beings that remember your humanity and forget the rest. If you can do so the way lies open to a new paradise. If you cannot, nothing lies before you but universal death". And thus, I want to emphasize that humanity is our first and the foremost religion." What is Humanity ? The question may be raised what we mean by the term humanity? The simple answer is, humanity is nothing but the presence of self awareness, reasonableness and self-control. These three qualities are accepted as distinguishing features between a human being and animal being by all the humanist thinkers of our age. These three basic qualities are comprehended in Jaina concept of three jewels, i.e. Samyak-Darsana (right vision) Samyak Jnana (right knowledge) and Samyak caritra (right conduct) respectively, which also constitute the path of liberation. The presence of these three makes a being a perfect human being. Fellowship means Unity in Diversity Jaina thinkers assert that unity implies diversity. For them unity and diversity are the two facets of the same reality. Reality itself is unity in diversity. Absolute unity i.e. monism and absolute diversity i.e. pluralism, both of the theories are not agreeable to Jainas. According to them from the generic view point reality is one, but when viewed from modal view-point, it is many. Once a question was asked to Lord Mahavira, O Lord! whether you are one or many. To this, Mahavira replied," From substantial view point I am one, but if viewed from 558

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changing conditions of mind and body I am different each moment and thus many. This view is further elaborated by Acarya Mallisena. He says "what so ever is one, is also many?." Really, unity in diversity is the law of nature. Nature every where is one, but there is diversity in it, as the natural phenomena differ from each other, so is the case with human beings also. Though all the human beings have some common characteristics and features, yet every individual-being differd from others has some specific qualities, It is also true about religions. All the religions have some common characteristics sharing with others as well as specific qualities of their own. Universal virtues such as non-violence, friendliness , service to the needy, truthfulness, honesty, control over senses, etc. are Gommonly shared by all the religions of the world. Unfortunately, at present, these common universal virtues, which are the essence of religious practices have been shoved into the background and external rituals, which are divergent in their nature, have become more important. Thus we have forgotten the essential unity of all the religions and are stressing their diversities. Though I am emphasizing the essential unity of all the religions, this does not mean that I am a supporter of one world religion or undermining the specialities and diversities of them. What I intend to say is that the absolute unity and absolute diversity, both are illusory concepts and fellowship of faith means unity in diversity. Co-operation as Essential Nature of Living Beings For Jainas co-operation and co-existence are the essential nature of living beings. Darwin's dictum- 'struggle for existence and the Indian saying. Jivojivasya bhojanam, that is 'life thrives on lifel are not acceptable to them. They maintain that it is not the struggle but the mutual cooperation is the law of life. Umasvati (4th century A.D.) in his work Tattvarthasutra clearly maintains that mutual co-operation is the nature of living beings (parasparopagraho Jivanam)8. Living beings originate, develop and exist with the co-operation of other living beings. So is the case with the human society also, its existence also depends on mutual co-operation, sacrifice of one's own interest in the interest of other fellow beings and regard for other's life, ideology, faith and necessities. If we think that other's services are essential for our existence and living, then we should also co-operate to others living. If we consider taking the help of others in our living as our right, then on the same ground it is our honest duty to help others in their living. The principle of equality of all beings means that every one has a right to live just as myself and therefore one should not have any right to take other's life. 559

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Thus for Jainas the directive principle of living is not 'living on other's or "living by killing', but 'living with others' or 'living for others'. They proclaim that co-operation and co-existence are the essential nature of living beings. If it is so, then we must accept that religious tolerance and fellowship of faiths are such principles to be followed at the bottom of one's hearts. One World-Religion : A Myth Though in order to eradicate the conficts and stop violence in the name of religion from the world some may give a slogan of one world religion but it is neither feasible nor practicable. So far as the diversities in thoughts and habits, in cultural background and intellenctual levels of the human beings are in existence, the varieties in religious ideologies and practices are essential. Jaina pontiff Haribhadra rightly maintains that the diversity in the teachings of the Sages is due to diversity in the levels of their disciples or the diversity in the standpoints adopted by the Sages themselves or the diversities in place and time i.e. ethinic circumstances, in which they preached or it is only apparent diversity. Just as a physician prescribes different medicines according to the condition of patients, his illness and the climatic conditions, so is the case with the diversity in religious preachings also'. Therefore, unity, as well as diversity both are equally essential for the fellowship of faiths and we should not undermine any one of them. Just as the beauty of a garden consists in the variety of flowers, fruits and plants, in the same way the beauty of the garden of religions depends on the variety of thoughts, ideals and modes of worship. Equal Regard to all Religions According to Jainas equal regard to different faiths and religions should be the base of religious harmony and fellowship of faiths. Jaina Acarya Siddhasena Divakara remarks "just as emerald and other jewels of rare quality and of excellent kind do not acquire the disignation of necklace of jewels and find their position on the chest of human beings so is the case with different religions and faiths. What ever excellent qualities and virtues they possess unless they are catenated in the common thread of fellowship and have equal regard for others, they can not find their due place in human hearts and can be changed for spreading hostility and hatred in mankind 10." Therefore, one thing we must bear in our mind that if we consider other religions or faiths as inferior to ours or false, real harmony will not be possible. We have to give equal regard to all the faiths and religions. Every religion or mode of worship has its origination in a particular social and cultural background and has its utility and truth value accordingly. 560

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As the different parts of body have their own position and utility in their organic whole and work for its common good, so is the case with different religions. Their common goal is to resolve the tensions and conflicts and make life on earth peaceful. For this common goal each an every one has to proceed in his own way according to his own position. Every faith, if working for that particular common goal has equal right to exist and work, and should be given equal regard. According to Jainacarya Siddhasena Divakara (5th Century A.D.) the divergent view points/faiths may be charged as false only when they negate the truth value of others and claim themselves exclusively true. But if they accept the truth value of thers also, they attain reghteousness. He further says, 'Every view-point or faith in its own sphere is right but if all of them arrogate to themselves the whole truth and disregard the views of their rivals, they do not attain right-view, for all the viewpoints are right in their own respective spheres. Similarly if they encroach upon the province of other view points and try to refute them, they are wrong?'. For Jainas lightness of particular faith or viewpoint depends on the acceptance of lightness of other. Siddhasena further maintains that one who advocates the view of synoptic character of truth never discriminates the different faith as right or wrong and thus, pays all of them in equal regard12. Today when fundamentalism is posing a serious threat to communal harmony and equilibrium, unity of world religions is not only essential but the only way out to protect the human race. Jainas do believe in the unity of world religions but unity according to them does not imply omnivorous unity in which all lose their entity and identity. They believe in that type of unity where in all the alien faiths will conjoin each other to form an organic whole without losing their own independent existence and given equal regard. In other words they believe in a harmonious existence and work for a common goal i.e. the welfare of mankind. The only way to remove the religious conflicts and violence from the earth is to develop a tolerant out look and to establish harmony among various religions. Now we shall discuss the causes of intolerance and devices suggested for the development of a tolerant out look and religious harmony by the Jainas. I have discussed these points in one of my papers, "The Philosophical Foundation of Religious Tolerance in Jainism. "Here, I am dealing those points accordingly. True Meaning of Religion So for as the leading causes responsible for the growth of fundamentalism and intolerant outlook are concerned, in my humble 561

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opinion, the lack of the true knowledge and understanding of the real nature and purpose of religion is prime. By religion generally we mean to have some uncritical beliefs in supernatural powers and performance of certain rituals as prescribed in our religious texts, but it is not the true and whole purpose of religion. Haribhadra in his work Sambodha Prakarana' (1/1) clearly remarks that the people talk about the path i.e. religion but they do not know that what is the path or religion in its true sense. In the famous Jainatext, Kartikcyanupreksa(41&), dharma (religion) is defined as the real nature of the things. If it is so, then question arises what is the real nature of human being? In a Jaina text known as Bhagavati Sutra (I/ 9), it is clearly mentioned that the nature and ultimate end of the soul is equanimity. Lord Mahavira has given two definitions of religion. In Acaranga Sutra (1/8/4) he says "worthy people preach that the religion is mental equanimity" Equanimity is considered as the core or essence of religion, because it is the real nature or essence of all the living beings, including human beings also. Equanimity is the state in wihich consciousness is completely free from constant flickering, excitements and emotional disorders and mind becomes pacific. It is the core of religion. Haribhadra says whether a person is a Svetambara or aDigambara or a B auddha or belongs to any other religion, whosoever attains equanimity of mind, will attain the liberation (Sainbodha Prakarana, 1/2). Thus, the attainment as equanimity or relaxation from tensions is the essence of religions. Secondly, when we talk of social or behavioural aspect of religion, it is nothing but the observance of non-violence. In Acaranga, (1/4/1) Lord Mahavira propounds, "The worthy man of the past, present and the future will say thus, speak thus, declare thus, explain thus, all breathing, existing, living and sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented" This is the pure, eternal and unchangeable law or the tenet of religion. Acarya Haribhadra maintains that performance of rituals is only the external form of religion. In its real sense religion means the eradication of passions and lust for material enjoyments as well as the realization of one's own real nature. Thus, for Jainas the true nature and purpose of religion is to attain equanimity and peace in individual as well as in social life. Whatsoever disturbs equanimity and social peace and spreads hostility and violence is not a true form of religion, instead it is Saitana in the cloak of religion. But now-a-days, the essence of religion have been shoved into the background and dogmatism, uncritical faith and performance of certain reUials have got precedence. Thus, we have forgotten the end or essence of religion and stuck to the means 562

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only. For us it has become more crucial point that while performing prayer, our face should be in the east or in the west, but we have forgotten the purpose of prayer itself. The religion aims at having control over our passions, but unfortunately we are nourishing our passions in the name of religion. Actually, we are fighting for the decoration of the corpse of religion and not caring for its soul. If we want to maintain relgious harmony and ensure peace on the earth, we must always remain aware of the end and essence of the religion, instead of external practices and rituals. The English word religion is derived from the root 'religio' wihch means 'to unite'. On the basis of its etymological meaning we can say that whatsoever, divides the mankind, instead of uniting it, cannot be a true form of religion. We must be aware of the fact that a religion in its true sense never supports violence, intolerance and fanatical outlook. A true form of religion is one which establishes harmony instead of hostility, affection and kindness instead of hatred. Blind Faith the Root of Intolerance Among the causes that generate fanaticism and intolerance, blind faith is the principal; it results from passionate attachment and hence uncritical or "unexamining" outlook. Attachment (Murcha) according to the Jainas is the cause of bondage. It causes perverse attitude. In Jainism various types of attachments are enumerated. Among them darlanamoha/ drstiraga (blind faith), due to its very nature has been reckoned "paramount", In point of fact, it is considerad as a central element in religious intolerance. It leads one's attitued towards a strong bias for one's own and against other's religion. Non-attachment is therefore considered as pre-condition for the right attitude or perception. A perverse and hence defiled attitude renders it impossible to view the thing rightly just as a person wearing coloured glasses or suffering from jaundice is unable to see the true colour of objects as they are. Attachment and aversion are the two great enemies of philosophical thinking. Truth can reveal itself to an impartial thinkers. Non-attachment, as Jainas hold, is not only essential it is imperative in the search of truth. One who is unbiased and impartial, can perceive the truth of his opponents's ideologies and faiths and thus can possess deference to them. Intense attachment unfailingly generates blind faith in religious leaders, dogmas, doctrines and rituals and consequently religious intolerance and fanaticism.come into existence. The religions which lay more emphasis on faith than reason are narrower and fundamentalist. While the religions according to due impprtance to reason also are more conciliatory and harmonious. It is the' reason or critical outlook which acts as check-post in religious faiths and rituals. 563

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Jainism holds that the uncritical outlook and even pious attachment, towards the prophet, the path and the scripture is also an hindrance to a seeker of truth and aspirant of perfection. Attachment results in blind faith and superstition and repulsion consequences into intolerant conduct. The real bondage, as Jainas confirm, is the bondage due to attachment. A person who is in the grip of attachment cannot get rid of imperfection. Gautam, a chief disciple of Lord Mahavira, failed to attain omniscience in the life time of Mahavira on account of his pious attachment towards Mahavira. Same was the case with Ananda, the chief disciple of Lord Buddha, who could not attain arhathood in the life-time of his "Sasta" Once Gautam asked Mahavira :" Why am I not able to attain the perfect knowledge, while my pupils have reached the goal. "Lord answered: "Oh, Gautam, it is your pious attachment towards me which obstructs you in getting perfect knowledge and emancipation"4. The Jainas therefore laid stress on the elimination of attachment, the root cause of bias and intolerance. Reason - the Check-Post of Blind Faith In Jainism right faith, one of its three Jewels' plays an important role in emancipation of the soul. On the contrary the blind faith, causes intolerance. Jainism therefore, does not support blind faith. Jaina thinkers maintain that the right faith should be followed by right knowledge. The faith followed by right knowledge or truthful reason cannot be blind one. According to Jaina thinkers, reason and faith are complementary and actually there is no contention between the two. Faith without reason, as the Jaina thinkers aver, is blind and reason without faith is unsteady or vacillating. They hold that the religious codes and rituals should be critically analysed. In the Uttaradhyayana-Sutra, Gautam, the chief disciple of Mahavira, strongly supports this view before Kesi, the pontiff of the church of Jina Parsva. He said : "the difference in the Law must be critically evaluated through the faculty of reasoning. It is the reason which can ascertain the truth of Law"16. If one maintains that religion has to be solely based on faith and there is no place for reason in it, then he will unfailingly develop an outlook that only his prophet, religion and scripturs are true and other's prophets, religions and scriptures are false. He will also firmly believe that his prophet is only savior of mankind; his mode of worship is the only way of experiencing the bliss and the laws or commands of his scripture are the only right ones and thus he remains unable to make critical estimate of his religious prescriptions. While one who maintains that reason also plays an important role in the religious life, will critically evaluate the pros and cons of religious prescriptions, rituals and dogmas. An "attached" or biased person believes in the dictum 'Mine is true', while the "detached" or unbiased person believes in the dictum Truth is mine.' 564

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Gunaratnasuri (early 15th cent. A.D.) in his commentary on the Saddarsanasamuccaya of Haribhadrasuri (c. 3rd quarter of the 8th cent. A.D.) has quoted a verse, which explains: "a biased person tries to justify whatever he has already accepted, while unprejudiced person accepts what he feels logically justified". Jainism supports 'rational thinking'. Supporting the rational outlook in religious matters Acarya Haribhadra syas : "I possess no bias for Lord Mahavira and no prejudice against Kapila and other saints and thinkers. Whosoever is rational and logical ought to be accepted 17". While describing the right faith Amrtacandra (c. early 10th cent. A.D.) condemns three types of idols namely superstitions relating deities, path and scriptures18. Thus when religion tends to be rational there will hardly by any room for intolerance. One who is thoroughly rational in religious matters, certainly would not be rigid and intolerant. Non-Absolutism the Philosophical Basis of Tolerance Dogmatism and fanaticism are the born children of absolutism. An extremist or absolutist holds that whatsoever he propounds is correct and what others say is false, while a relativist is of the view that he and his opponent both may be correct, if viewed from two different angles and thus a relativist adopts a tolerant .outlook towards other faiths and ideologies. It is the doctrine of 'Anekantavada' or non-absolutism of the Jainas on which the concept of religious tolerance is based. For the Jainas non-violence is the essence of religion from which the concept of nonabsolutism emanates. Absolutism represents Violence of thought, for, it negates the truth-value of its opponent's view and thus hurts the feeling of others. A non-violent search for truth finds non-absolutism. Jaina thinkers are of the view that reality is a complex one!9. It has many facets, various attributes and various modes. It can be viewed and understood from different angles and thus various judgments may be made about it. Even two contradictory statements about an object may hold true. Since we are finite beings, we can know or experience only a few facets of reality at one time. The reality in its completeness cannot be grasped by us. Only a universal-observer-Sarvajna can comprehend it completely. Yet even for an Ommiscient it is impossible to know and explain it without a standpoint or viewpoint20. This premise can be understood form the following example. - Take it for granted that every one of us has a camera to clic a snap of a tree. We can have hundreds of photographs but still we find most portion of the tree photographically remains uncovered, and what is more, the photographs differ from each other unless they are taken from the same angle. So is also the case with diversified human understanding and knowledge. We only can have a partial and relative view of reality. It is impossible for us to know and describe reality without an angle or viewpoint. While 565

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every angle or viewpoint can claim that it gives a true picture of reality but each one only gives a partial and relative picture of reality. On the basis of partial and relative knowledge of reality one can claim no right to discard the views of his opponents as totally false. According to Jaina thinkers the truth-value of opponents must be accepted and respected. Non-absolutism of the Jainas forbids to allow the individual to be dogmatic and one-sided in approach. It pleads for a broader outlook and openmindedness, which alone can resolve the conflicts that emerge from differences in ideologies and faiths. Satkari Mookerjee rightly observes that Jainas do not believe in the extremist a priori logic of the absolutists. Pragmatically considered, this logical attitude breeds dogmatism and if carried a step further, engenders fanaticism, the worst and the vilest passion of human heart. For non-absolutism the views of the opponent are also true. As Siddhasena Divakara (5th Cent. A.D.) remarks" All schools of thought are valid when they are understood from their own standpoint and so far as they do not discard the truth-value of others.22 Hemcandra was a Jaina saint he composed his works in the praise of Siva. This liberalism is also maintained by later saints, who composed their works in Hindi or Gujarati like Anandaghana and many other, till these days. In a Hindi couplet J.K. Mukhtar says: buddha Vira Jina Harihara Brahma ya usako svadhina kaho/ bhakti bhava se prerita ho, yaha cirr usi me lina raho // Door of Liberation Open to all Jainism holds that the followers of other sects can also achieve emancipation or perfection, if they are able to destroy attachment and aversion. The gateway of salvation is open to all. They do not believe in the narrow outlook that "only the follower of Jainism can achieve emancipation, others will not". In Uttaradhyayana there is a reference to anyalinga-siddhas i.e. the emancipated soul of other sect23. The only reason for the attainment of perfection or emancipation, according to Jainas, is to shun the vectors of attachment and aversion. Haribhadra, a staunch advocate of religious tolerance remarks : "One, who maintains equanimity of mind will certainly get emancipation whether he may be a Svetambara or Digambara or Buddhist or any one else. 24 It is this broad outlook of the Jainas which makes them tolerant to the non-violence of thought. About the means of liberation, the Jainas are also broad minded. They do not believe that their mode of worship or their religious practice only represents the way to reach the goal of emancipation. For them, not external modes of worship, but the right attitude and mentality are the things that makes religious practices fruitful. The Acaranga-sutra 566

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mention that the practices which are considered to be the cause of bondage may be the cause of liberation also.25 It is the intrinsic purity not the external practices, which makes the person religious, Haribhadra propounds that neither one who remains without clothes nor one who is white clad, neither a logician not a metaphysician, not a devotee of personal cult will get liberation unless he overcomes his passions26. If we accept the existence of the diversity of modes of worship according to the time, place and level of aspirants and lay stress on the intrinsic purity in religious matters then certainly we cannot condemn religious practices of a non-absolutist does not divide them into the catergory of true and false. They becomes false only when they reject the truth-value of others27. It was this broader outlook of non-absolutism which made Jainas tolerant. While expounding this tolerant outlook of the Jainas, Upadhyaya Yasovijaya (17th cent. A.D.) maintains a true non-absolutist does not disdain any faith but treats all the faiths equally as a father does to his sons, for, a non-absolutist does not have any prejudiced and biased outlook. A true believer of Syadvada' (non-absolutism) is one who pays equal regard to all the faiths. To remain impartial to the various faiths is the essence of being religious. A little knowledge which induces a person to be impartial is more worth while than the unilateral vast knowledge of scriptures28 Non-personalism, A Keystone for Tolerance Jainisrn opposes the person-cult (person-worship) for it makes the mind biased and intolerant. For the Jainas, the object of veneration and worship is not a person but perfectness i.e. the eradication of attachment and aversion. The Jainas worship the quality or merit of the person not the person. In the sacred namaskara-mantra of the Jainas, veneration is paid to the spiritual-posts such as arhat, siddha, acarya and not the individuals like Mahavira, Rsabha or anybody else. In the fifth pada we find that the veneration is paid to all the saints of the world. The words 'loye' and 'Savva 'demonstrate the generosity and broader outlook of the Jainas29. It is not person but his spiritual attitude which is to be worshipped. Difference in name, is immaterial since every name at its best conotes the same spiritual perfection, Haribhadra in the Yogadrstisamuccaya remarks that 'the ultimate truth transcends all states of worldly existence, called nirvana and is essentially and necessarily 'single" even then it is designated by different names like Sadasiva, Parabrahman, Siddhatma, Tathagata, etc. 30 Not only in the general sense but etymologically also they convey the same meaning. In the Lokatattva-nimaya he says, "I venerate all those who are free from all vices and filled with all virtues, be they Brahma, Visnu, Siva of Jina"31. This is further supported by various Jaina thinkers of medieval period as Akalarika, Yogindu, 567

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Manatunga, Hemcandra and many others. While worshiping Lord Siva the Jaina pontiff Hemcandra says: "I worship those who have destroyed attachment and aversion, the seeds of birth and death, be they Bramha, Visnu, Siva or Jina". It is important that though other as false. This liberalism of the Jainas on the methods of worship can be supported by the legends of the previous lives of Mahavira. It is said that Mahavira in his previous existences, was many times ordinated as a monk of other sects, where he practiced austerities and attained heaven. As for scriptures, the Jainas outlook is like wise liberal. They firmly believe that a false scripture (Mithya-Sruta) may be a true scripture (Samyak-Sruta) for a person of right attitude; and true scripture may turn false for a person of perverse attitude. It is not the scripture but the attitude of the follower which makes it true or false. It is the vision. of the interpreter and practitioners that counts. In the Nandisutra this standpoint is clearly explained. Thus we can say that the Jainas are neither rigid nor narrowminded in this regard. References of Religious Tolerance in Jaina Works References to religious tolerance are abundant in Jainas history. Jaina thinkers have consistently shown deference to other ideologies and faiths. In the Sutrakrtanga the second earliest Jaina work (c. 2nd cent. B.C.), it is observed that those who praise their own faith and views and discard those of their opponents, possess malice against them and hence ramain confined to the cycle of birth and death. In another famous Jaina work of the same period, the Isibhasiyaim, the teaching of the forty five renowned saints of Sramanical and Brahmanical schools of thought such as Narada, Bharadvaja, Mankhali-Gosala and many others have been presented with due regards". They are remembered as arhatrsi and their teachings are regarded as an agama. In the history of world religions there is hardly any example in which the teachings of the religious teachers of the opponent sects were included in one's own scriptures with due esteem and honour. Evidently, it indicates the latitudinarian and unpreju diced outlook of the earliest Jaina thinkers. We also have areference to religious tolerance in the Vyakhyaprajnapti, one of the early works of the Jainas, When an old friend of Gautama, who was initiated in some other religious sect, came to visit him, Mahavira commanded Gautama to welcome him and Gautama did so. Accroding to Uttaradhyayana, when Gautama, the chief disciple of Mahavira and Kesi, a prominent pontiff of Parsvanatha's sect met at Kosambi, both paid due regard to each other and discussed the various problems dispassionately and in gentle and friendly manner about the differences of both the sects". Haribhadra has not only maintained this latitudinarian outlook of earlier Jainacaryas, but lent new dimension to it. He was born in. 568

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the age when the intellectuals of the India were engaged in hair-splitting philosophical discussions and in relentless criticismof one other. Though he also critically evaluated the other philosophical and religious systems, his outlook was fully liberal and attempted to see the truth of his opponent's logic also. In the Sastravarta-samuccaya, which is one of the foremost works illustrating Haribhadra's liberal outlook, it is mentioned that the great saint, venerable Lord Buddha preached the doctrine of momentariness (ksanikavada), non-existence of soul (anatmavada), idealism (vijnanavada) and nihilism (Sunyavada) with a particular intention to vanish the mineness and desire for worldly objects and keeping in view the different levels of mental development of his followers, like a good physician who prescribes the medicine according to the disease and nature of the. patient38. He has the same liberal and regardful attitude toward Samkhya and Nyaya schools of Bhrahmanical philosophy. He maintains that naturalism (Prakrtivada) of Samkhya and Isvara kartrttvavada of the Nyaya school is also true and justified, if viewed from certain standpoint". Further, the epithets such as the great saint (mahamuni), the venerable (arhat), the good physician (Suvaidya) used by him for Buddha and for Kapila shows his generosity and deference to other religious leaders. Haribhadra's crusade against sectarianism is unique and admirable in the history of world-religions. Alongwith these literary evidences there are some epigraphical evidences of religious tolerance of the Jainas also. Some Jaina Acaryas such as Ramkirti and Jaymangalasuri wrote the hymns in the praise of Tokalji and goddess Camunda.40 Jaina kings such as Kumarpala, Visnuvardhana and others constructed the temples of Siva and Visnu alsong with the temple of Jina". Finally, I would like to mention that Jainism has a sound philosophical foundation for religious tolerance and throughout the age, it practically never indulged in aggressive wars in the name of religion nor did they invoke divine sanction for cruelities against the people of alien faiths. They have always believed in religious harmony and fellowship of faiths. Though generally Jainas do classify religions in the heretic view (mithya-drsti) and non-heretic view (samyak-drsti) yet, mithya-drsti according to them, is one who possesses one-sided view and considers others as totally false, while samyak-drsti the one who is unprejudiced and sees the truth in his opponents views also. It is interesting to note here that Jainism calls itself a union of heretic views, (micchadassanasamuha). Siddhasena (5th cent. A.D.) mentions "Be glorious the teachings of Jina which are the union of all the heretic views i.e. the organic 569

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synthesis of one sided and partial views, essence of spiritual nectar and easily graspable to the aspirants of emancipation.42 Anandaghana, a mystic Jaina saint of the 17th cent. A.D. remarks that just as ocean includes all the rivers so does Jainism all other faiths. Further, he beautifully expounds that all the six heretic schools are the organs of Jinaand one who worships Jinaalso worships them.3 Historically we also find that various deities of other sects are adopted in Jainism and wrshipped by the Jainas. Acarya Somadeva in his work Yasastilakcampu remarks that where there is no distortion from right faith and accepted vows, one follow the tradition prevailing in the country." As we have already said that Jainas believe in the unity of world religions, but unity, according to them, does not imply omnivorous unity in which all the alien faiths will conjoin each other to form a organic whole without loosing their own independent existence. In other words it believes in a harmonious co-existence or a liberal synthesis in which all the organs have their individual existence, but work for a common goal i.e. the peace of mankind. To eradicate the religious conflicts and violence from the world, some may give a slogan of "one world religion" but it is neither possible nor practicable so far as the diversities in human thoughts are in existence. In the Niyamasara it is said that there are different persons, their different activities or kannas and different levels or capacities, so one should not engage himself in hot discussions neither with other sects nor one's own sect.45 Haribhadra remarks that the diversity in the teachings of the Sages is due to the diversity in the levels of their disciples or the diversity in standpoints adopted by the Sages or the diversity in the period of time when they preached, or it is only an apparent diversity. Just as a physician prescribes medicine according to the nature of patient, its illness and the climate, so the case of diversity of religious teachings.46 So far as diversity in time, place, levels and understanding of disciples is inevitable, variety in religious conflicts is to develop a tolerant outlook and to establish harmony among them. At last I would like to conclude my paper by quoting a beautiful verse of religious tolerance of Acarya Amitagati - Sattvesu maitri gunisu pramodam Klistesujivcsu krpaparatvam / Madhyasthyabhavm vipanta vrttau Sada mamatma vidadhatudeva. 47// Oh Lord! I should be friendly to all the creatures of world and feel delight in meeting the virtuous people. I should always be helpful to those who are in miserable conditions and tolerant to my opponents. 570

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References 1. David C. V. The Voice of Humanity, (Manikachand Depot. Ujjain) p.1. 2. ekka manussa Jai-Gatha (compiled by Yuvacaraya MahaPrajana, Jaina Vishwa Bharati Sansthan, Ladnun, 1993, 1/26. - Uttaradhyayana Sutra, (Translated by Sadhvi Chandana, Sanmati Jnanpeeth, Agra, 3/1. Kartikeyanupreksa, Edited by A.N. Upadhye, Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram, Agas 1960, - 470. David C.V. The Voice of Humanity. 7. 8. Tattrvarthasutra, Umasvati, Translated by Pt. Sukhlalji, P.V. Research Institute, Varanasi-5, 1/1/1. Bhagavatisutra, 18/10. Tattvarthasutra, 5/21. Yogadrstisamuccaya, Haribhadra, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1970,133. 10. Sanmtitarka, SiddhasenaDivakara, editedby Pt. Sukhlalji Sanghavi, Jaina Shvetambara Education Board, Bombay, 1939, 38. 11. Ibid Am. 12. Ibid. 1/28. 13. N.M. Tatia, Studies in Jaina Philosophy, P.V. Research Institute, Varanasi-5, 1958, p.22. 14. (a) Bhagavati-Abhayadeva's Vrtti, Rishabhadeva Kesarimal, Ratlam, 1937, 14/7, p. 1188. (b) mukkhamagga pavannanam sineho vajjasimkhala vire jivamtae jao Goyamam jam na kevali -Quoted in Abhidhanana Rajendra, vol. II p. 959 and Kalpasutra Tika-Edited by Vinayavijay, 127, p.120. 15. panna samikkhac dhammaih/ tattam tatta vinicchayaiii // - Uttaradhyayana, Sammati Jnanapitha, Agra, 1972, 23/25. 16. Ibid-23/25 17. agrahivata ninisati yuktim yatra tatra matirasya mvista/ paksapatarahitasya tu yuktiryatra tatra matireti nivesam // Quoted in 'Saddarsanasamuccaya' Gunaratna krta tika, Edited by 571

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Mahendra Kumar Jain, Bhartiya Jnanapitha, Delhi, 2nd edition, 1981,p.461. 18. paksapato na me vire, na dvesah Kapiladisu // Yuktimadvacanamyasya, tasyakaryaparigrahahLokamattvanimaya Haribhadra, Jain Granth Prakasaka Sabha, Ahmedabad, v 1964, verse 38. 1 19. loke Sastrabhase samayabhase ca devatabhase / nityamap tattvarucina kaitavya-mamudhadrstitvam /26 Purusartha Siddhyupaya -Amartacandra, The Publishing House, Ajitasram, Lucknow, 1933. - 20. anantadharmatmakamevatattvam.. Anyayogavyavacchcdadvatrimsika, Hemacandra. 22 21. (i) nathi nayehivihunam suttam attho ya Jinamayekimci-Avasyaka Niryukti, Editor, Sh. Vijay Jinesuri shvara, Harshapuspamrit granthmala Lakhabavak, Shantpuri Saurastra, 76. (ii) Visesavasyaka Bhasya, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1968, 2748. Central Jaina 22. Prof. Satkari Mookerjee, Foundation of World Peace, Ahimsa and Anekanta, Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin No. 1, p. 229. 23. itthi purisiddha yataheva ya napumsaga/salimge annalimgegihilimge taheva ya - Uttaradhyayana, 36/49. 24. seyambaro va asambaro va buddho va taheva annova / samabhavabhaviyappa lahai mukkham na samedeho-// - Haribhadra, Quoted in Jaina, Bauddha aur Gita ke Acaradarsano ka Tulanatmaka Adhyayan, by. Dr. Sagarmal Jaina. p. 5, Vol. II, 1st Ed. 25. je asava te parissava. je parisava te asava -Acarangasutra. 1/4/2. 26. nasambaratve na sitambaratve, na tarkavade na ca tativavade/ na paksasevasrayena mukti Kasaya mukti kila muktireva// - Upadesatarangini, Haribhadra, Bhurabhi Harsacandra, Varanasi, V.S. 2437. 1/8, p. 98. 27. niyayavayanijjasacca, savvanaya paraviyalane moha / te una na ditthasamao vibhayaisacce va aliye va // - Sanmati Prakarana, 28. Siddhasena, Jnanodaya Trust, Ahmedabad, 1963. 572

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28. yasya sarvatra samata nayesu tanayesviva / tasyanekantavadasya kva nyunadhikasemusi // tena syadvadamalambya sarvadarsanatulyatam / moksoddcsavi (dvi) sesena yah pasyati sa sastravit //70/ madhyasthyameva sastrartho yena taccaru siddhyati/ sa eva dharmavadah syadanyadbalisavalganam //71// madhyasthyasahitam hyekapadajnanamapi prama / astrakotih vrthaivanya tatha coktam mahatamana //73/ -Adhyatmopanisat-Yosoviisiya., Sri Jaina harmarprasaraka Sabha Bhavanagar, 1st Ed., Vikram, 1965. 29. namo Arahamtanam namo siddhanam /namo Ayariyanam/ nomo Uvajjhayanam/namo loye savva sahunam/ -- Vyakhyaprajnapti, Mahavira Jaina Vidyalaya, Bombay, 1/1. 30. sadasivah param brahma siddhatma tathateti ca/ sabdaistad ucyate'na varthad ekam evaiyamadibhih // - Yogdrstisamuccaya- Haribhadra, Lalbhai Dalapatbhai Bharatiya Sanskrit! Mandir, Ahmedabad, 1st Ed. 1970, 130. 31. yasyanikhilasca dosa na santi sarve gunasca vidyante / brahma va visnurva harojino va namastasmail -Lokatattvaninaya, Haribhdra, Sri JainagranthaPrakasaka Sabha, Ahmedabad, Vikram 1994, 40. 32. bhavabijankurajanana ragadyah ksayamupagatayasya/ brahma visnurva harojino va namastasmai/ - Mahadeva stotra, 44 (Published in Paramarsa Svadhyaya Granth Samgraha). 33. er eyaim micchaditthissa micchattapariggahiyam micchasuyam, eyani ceva sammadditthissa sammattapariggahiyaim, Sammasuyam, ahava micchaditthissavi sammasuyam, Kamha ? sammattaheuttanno, Jamha te micchaditthiya, tehim ceva amachim coiya samana kei sapakkhaditthio vamenti, settam micchasuyam. vrti-etani bharatadini sastrani miwyadrsteh mithyatvaparigrhitani bha vanti, tato viparitabhinivesavrddhihetutvam mithyasrutam etanyeva ca bharatadini sastrani samyagdrsteh samyakivaparigrhitani bhavanti- Nandisutra, Sri. Mahavira Jaina Vidhyalaya, Bombay, 1st ed. 1968, 72, p. 30. 573

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34. sayam sayam passamsamta garahamta paraih vayam / je utatlha visussamti, samsaram te viussiya // * Sutrakrtanga 1/1/2/23. 35. dcvandradena Arahata isina buiyam/ -Isibhasiyam, 1/1, See also the names of its various chapters, edited by Dr. Walther Schubring, L.D. Instt. of mdology, Ahmedabad 9, 1974. 36. he khamdaya! sagayam, Khamdaya! Susagayam - Bhaga vati, 211. 37. kesikumara samane goyamam dissama gayam / padiruvam padivattim samma sampadi vajjal // - Uttaradhyayana sutra, Sanmati Jnanpitha, Agra, 1st Ed.23/16. 38. Sastravartasainuccya, L.D. Instt. Ahmedabad, 1 sted., 1969.6/464, 65, 67. 39. Ibid. 3/207 and 3/237. 40. Jaina SilalekhaSamgraha, vol. III, Introduction by G.C. Chaudhari. See also epigraphs of above mentioned book vol. I, II and III, No. 181, 249, 315, 332, 333, 356, 507, 649, 710. 41. Jaina Silalekha Samgraha, vol. III, Introduction by G.C. Chaudhari. See also epigraphs of above mentioned book vol. I, II and III, No. 181, 249, 315, 332, 333, 356, 507, 649, 710. 42. Sanmatitarka- Prakarana jnanodaya Trust, Ahmedabad, 1963.3/69 43. Nainijinastavaii - Anandaghana Granlhavali, Sri Jaina sreyaskara Mandal, Mehesana (1957). 44. Yasastilaka-campu, Somadevasuri, Nimay Sagar, Press, Bombay, p. 373. 45. Niyamasara, Kundakunda, 155, The Central Jaina Publishing House, Lucknow, 1931. 46. Yogadrstisamuccaya, Haribhadra, L.D. Instt. Ahmedabad, 1970. 47. Samayika Patha 1 - Amitagati, Published in Samayikasutra, Sanmati Jnanapitha, Agra. 574

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Philosophy of Dinakara Bhatta: Some Contributions - Raghunath Ghosh A commentary known as Dinakari or Prakasa is written by Dinakar Bhatta on Visvanatha's Nyayasiddhantamuktavali. In fact initially it was started by Sri Mahadeva Bhatta and completed by Sri Dinakara Bhatta and hence it is known as Dinakari (Prakasa). Sri Dinakara Bhatta is more known as an author of the commentary, who has a tremendous contribution to the development, understanding and clarification (pariskara) of the Navya Nyaya theories. Let us make some points, which highlight his original thinking and contribution. Logical excellence of Dinakara is evidenced from his critique of the existence of God, which is found in the commentary of the initial verse of Bhasaparichheda. First he raised the problem of salutation to God. To him it is a futile exercise. to salute God, because there is no proof in favour of the Divine existence. The existence of God cannot be proved through external perception (pratyaksa) due to not having the qualities like colour etc. (arupidravyatvena vahyapratyaksavisayatvat). 1 God's existence cannot be proved through internal perception due to not having some states capable of being known by mind. In the same way, inference also fails to reveal God due to the lack of proper sign (hetu). If it is argued that the statement made in the scripture is the proof for the existence of God, it would lead us to another problem. It has already been stated that the Scripture is taken to be authoritative as it is authored by God. If the statement of Scripture is quoted to prove the Divine existence in order to reply to the queries of a skeptic, the Scripture itself would turn into an unauthoritative one (srutinamisvaroccaritatvena pramanyadisvarasandehe srutipramanyasyapi sandigdhatvat). That is why, the syllogistic argument is put forth, which runs as follows: - 'As the effects like jar etc. are caused by an agent, the earth (ksiti) and dyads (ankura) etc. must have been caused by an agent. The agency of it, being not possible in persons like us having limited knowledge and power, remains in God (yatha ghatadikaryam kartrjanyam tatha ksityan-kuradikamapi). The above-mentioned argument is the main one forwarded by Visvanatha. Dinakara has various problems in accepting the inference as a valid one, but ultimately justified that it is acceptable. In support of this he has put forth a series of inferential arguments, which are very much interesting and at the same time convincing. Let us look at the forms and nature of these arguments. 575

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The activity found in the conjunction in a dyadic compound at the time of initial creation (after dissolution) is caused by an effort, as it is a kind of activity. This world is originated from the combination of atoms. These atoms cannot be conjoined with each other automatically without being guided by a conscious being due to their inanimate character. This conscious being, which is responsible for conjoining atoms, is no other than God (sargadikalinad-yanukaprayojakam karma prayatnajanyam karmatvat). The lack of falling down of a weighty substance is caused by an effort which becomes an obstacle to its falling downwards, as it is endowed with steadiness, as in the case of the absence of falling of a bird (gurutvavatam patanabhavah dhrtitvat, paksipatanabhavavaf). This world having weight is not falling down due to having some effort to fix it, which can exist alone in God. The destruction of this universe presupposes the existence of an effort, as it is a destructive activity, as in the case of the destruction of a jar (Brahmandanasah prayatnajanyah nasatvat ghatanasavat). This effort from which the destruction of the universe follows belongs to God. The initial verbal usages like jar etc. are done by an independent person, as it is a verbal usage in character as in the case of the usages of the scripts introduced in modern age. This independent person who an agent of initial verbal usage is God (Ghatadivyavaharah svatantrapurusaprayojyah vyavaharatvat adhunikalipyadivyavaharavat). The Vedas are introduced by a being who is other than an individual who entangles in the worldly affairs, at it has the property of being the Veda (Vedatvat). That which is not of this type would not be of this type, as in the case of a piece of literature. This Asamsari Purusa ( an individual being who is not entangled with the worldly affair) is God (Vedah asamsaripurusapranitah vedatvat, yannaivam tannaivam yatha kavyam). The Vedas are introduced by a person (pauruseya) as they possess sentences as in the case of the Mahabharata etc. This author is no other God (Vedah pauruseyah vakyatvat bharatadivat). All these arguments which are original and convincing have been put forth by Dinakara apart from the main causal argument given by Visvanatha. While discussing the nature of Paramaria Visvanatha has pointed out that the knowledge of the relation of an object having the invariable concomitance with the subject of inference (paksa) is the cause of the inferential cognition. This cognition will be in the form - The pervaded 576

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exists in the subject of inference' (pakse vyapyah) or in the form - "The subject is the locus of the pervaded" (pakso vyapyavan). In this connection a rejoinder is given by Dinakara in order to avoid certain type of philosophical complication. To him it cannot be said that there would arise a question of deviation (vyabhicara) with each other. In other words, one type of consideration (Paramarsa) cannot be overlapped with the another type. Because one inferential cognition is differentiated from another by the limitor of effectness (karyatavacchedaka).10 The limitor of effectness existing in a particular type of inferential cognition caused by a particular type of consideration (paramarsa) does not exist in another type of inferential cognition caused by another consideration (paramarsa). The question of overlapping or extension of one inference to another does not arise at all because one inference caused by a particular form of paramarsa is distinct from another one. In this case a particular form of paramarsa becomes a distinguishing mark from others. If in an inference paramarsa remains in the former form (pakse vyapyah), the inference is itself distinguished through this. If anumana (inference) is an effect, the paramarsa of the first type, which distinguishes it from another one, is the limitor of effectness (karyatavacchedaka). In the same way, an inference having second type of paramarsa becomes distinguished from the earlier one due to have another type of paramarsa. This is the limitor of effectness in the second inference. Due to having different limitors of effectness (karyatavacchedaka) there does not arise any question of deviation or overlapping Dinakara has raised another problem in connection with consideration (paramarsa). To him it may be argued by the opponents that the uncommon causality (karanatva) of the knowledge of invariable concomitance (vyapti) is not possible in the case of the paramarsa (consideration) in the form of recollection (smaranatmakaparamarsasthale)." As this type of paramarsa is recollective in nature which has its existence in the memory alone, it is produced from the impression (samskara) of the knowledge of vyapti alone. To depend on the impression (samskara) alone leads to the land of risk in the realm of logic. As this type of paramarsa is generated through impression (samskara) alone, the real existence of the perceptual cognition of Vyapti is non-verifiable and hence uncertain. Hence, it would not work as an uncommon cause (karana) of the knowledge in the form of paramarsa. In other words, such type of paramarsa in the form of recollection is generated through impression even when there is the absence of the knowledge of invariable concomitance (vyapti) leading to the impossibility of its special causality (karanatva). 577

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! The above-mentioned problem may be solved in a different way as suggested by Dinakara. To him the knowledge of invariable concomitance (vyapti) in the form of recollection must be the uncommon cause (karana) in the context of the consideration in the form of recollection (smaranatmaka-paramarsasthale) to the inferential knowledge through the help of impression (samakaradvara).12 The uncommon causality (karanatva) of the knowledge of vyapti to the inferential cognition can be substantiated through the relation of consideration generated out by the knowledge of invariable concomitance (svajanyaparamarsasam bandhena). Now what is to be understood by the term 'svajanyatvd (i.e., the property of being generated through self), which is inserted as a qualifier of paramarsa ? The property of being produced by self (svajanyatva) is in the form of effectness determined by causeness which is limited either by itself or by the relation of inherence existing in it (svanistha-samavayasvajanyasamskaranyatara-sambandhavacchinna-karanatani-rupita karyatarupam).3 In other words, the knowledge of vyapti may be uncommon cause to the inferential cognition (where there is paramarsa in the form of recollection) through the relation of impression produced by the knowledge of vyapti. If there is paramarsa in the actual world, but not in the level of recollection, the knowledge of vyapti may be an uncommon cause to such inferential cognition through the relation of inherence existing in the knowledge of vyapti itself. When the knowledge of vyapti exists actually, but not in the memory, it remains through the relation of samavaya or inherence. Hence it is not proper to say that the uncommon instrumentality or causality (karanatva) of the knowledge of vyapti is not possible to the inferential cognition generated by a consideration (paramaria), which is really perceived. It has been said by Visvanatha that, when a reason remains in the non-locus of the probandum, it is called uncommon inconstant reason (asadharanah sadhya-samanadhikarano hetuh). In this case the apprehension of the co-locusness of sadhya with hetu is hampered with the probans employed here (tena sadhya-samanadhikaranyagrahah pratibaddhyate).14 In this context Dinakara has given a clarification of the above mentioned point. What is to be understood by the term - 'pratibadhyate i.e., obstructed or impediment? What is hampered or obstructed here? How is it obstructed ? It is said that the apprehension of the coexistence (samanadhikaranyagrahd) which is the precondition of being an invariable relation (vyaptighatakibhuta) has become an impediment to the knowledge of vyapti. In this way, common (sadharana), uncommon (asadharana) and inconclusive (anupasamhari) become the faulty reasons by virtue of being their impediments the ascertainment of vyapti or invariable relation. In the case of common (sadharana) there is an 578

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impediment to the ascertainment of non-deviatedness (avyabhicaragraha), in the case of uncommon (asadharana) the impediment to the ascertainment of the coexistence between hetu and sadhya (samanadhikaranyagraha) and in the inconclusive reason (anupasamhari) an impediment lies on the ascertainment of vyapti based on the method of difference (vyatirekavyaptigrahd). In three cases there are three types of impediment lying on the way of ascertaining the non-deviated relation between hetu and sadhya, the co-existence between hetu and sadhya and the vyapti based on the method of difference. Hence all of them are treated as faulty reason or fallacious reason (hetvabhasa).15 Visvanatha has cited the view of the old Naiyayikas in this context. To them an uncommon reason (asadharana) becomes fallacious if it does not exist in the similar instances (sapaksavrttirasadharano hetuh), because similar instances (sapaksa) are those where there is definitely the existence of sadhya (sapaksasca niscitasadhyavan). Dinakara says that the uncommon fallacy occurs only in those places where there is the doubt of the existence of sadhya (sadhyasandeha-dasayam), but not in those cases where its existence is certain (na tu niscayadasayam). In the example already cited i.e., Sabdah anityah sabdatvat (sound is noneternal, as it has got soundness in it) the minor term or the subject of this inference (i.e., sound) is a sapaksa (i.e., surely existing in the similar instances). As paksa or subject of inference certainly contains the sadhya, uncommon reason does not occur here." Hence it is not a fallacy in the true sense of the term. This is the new insight shown by Dinakara. It is said by Visvanatha that the cognition of invariable relation is the instrumental cause (vyaptijnanam karanam) and consideration (paramarsa) is the intermediate operative process (paramarso vyaparah).18 In this context Dinakara is of the opinion that Visvanatha is trying to the context of elaborating inference (anumanam vyutpadayati) on account of the fact that inference is dependent on perception, the first pramana. By this statement, Dinakara feels, Visvanatha wants to point out that between perception and inference there is the dependence of inference on perception which is independent and capable of providing support (upajivyopajivakabhava). That is, perception can provide support to inference, which is dependent on it.19 Though in the Karika the mention of instrumental cause (karana) comes later and the operative process is mentioned before, the question of instrumental cause is mentioned initially in the Siddhantamuktavali, because the logic is such that the question of operative process arises in one's one if and only if one is acquainted with the instrumental cause.20 It may be argued that consideration (paramarsa) may be taken as an 579

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operative process (vyapara), if there is the property of being a generator of something, which is generated by it, and it is caused by the earlier cause. Among x, y and z, y may be treated as operative process or vyapara if y is the generator of z caused by y and if y is caused by x (tajjanyatve sati tajjanyajanako vyaparah). In other words, contact (sarmikarsa) can be taken as an operative process if it can generate the object caused by contact and again the contact is caused by the sense organ. Normally, the cognition in the form of paramarsa can be considered as vyapara because it can produce the inferential cognition caused by it and it is generated by the cognition of vyapi or invariable relation. The form of consideration (paramarsa) is 'the mountain is possessing smoke pervaded by fire (vahni-vyapyadhumavan parvatah). It is a type of intermediate cognition, which can generate inferential cognition being generated by the knowledge of vyapti. Hence there is no doubt that it is an operative process. Dinakara raises another problem and tries to show that the above-mentioned characteristic does not remain in this cause. To him the cognition in the form of paramarsa is not a vyapara because it lacks the property of being generated by the knowledge of vyapti : In the instance of paramarsa 'Mountain possesses smoke pervaded by fire' (vahnivyapyadhumavan parvatah) there is the absence of the cognition of the invariable concomitance of the kitchen-fire (mahanasiya-vahni). Though there is the knowledge of the invariable concomitance of the mountain-fire (parvatiya-vahni), there is the lack of such knowledge of vyapti of the kitchen fire. In order to remove this problem it is said that the perception of smoke is taken as the cause of the recollection of vyapti awakens the impression of vyapti. When a particular type of smoke is known, we have to see the adjuncts associated with smoke i.e., whether it is kitchen-smoke or mountain-smoke etc. This type of smoke can alone be an awakening factor of the recollection of vyapti. If smoke is known as related with mountain, it can alone arouse the recollection of vyapti of fire existing in mountain. In order to indicate this Visvanatha has said that one can recollect vyapti in the form 'smoke pervaded by fire' (dhumo vahnivyapyah) if one sees the line of smoke having uninterrupted connection with the surface of the mountain.21 - Dinakara has given a beautiful solution to the problem whether comparison (upamana) will really be taken as a distinct form of means of knowing (pramana) or not. It may be argued by the opponents that there is no concrete proof behind the fact that comparison (upamana) is a distinct pramana. As the cognition attained through upamana is not distinct from the cognition attained through perception etc, there is hardly any reason to consider it a separate distinct pramana or way of knowing rightly. If this be the contention of the opponents, it is wrong as emphasised by Dinakara. Because, the cognition through upamana arises even if there is no function of the sense organs like eye etc. and hence such cognition attained through upamana is not capable of being 580

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perceived visually or any other ways (caksusatvadyasambhavat). This type of cognition through upamana cannot described as a mental fact because the awareness like I am knowing through comparison' (upaminomi) is possible in us through it is not originated just after some mental activities. Moreover, the awareness in the form - I am directly perceiving' (saksatkaromi) does not arise at all just after the attainment of the cognition through comparison and hence there is no evidence in favour of its consideration as a perceptual one. We cannot take something granted if there is no evidence in its favour. Otherwise, an inferential cognition would have been taken as a mental one. Such type of cognition called upamiti cannot be incorporated under inferential cognition due to its origination without the help of the knowledge of vyapti etc. This cannot be included in testimonial cognition due to its non-origination from the knowledge of words and sentences. It cannot be taken as memory, because the object which is not directly realised cannot be remembered. In such cases we are having cognition of something (e.g., gavayd), which is not at all seen or realised earlier. Hence upamana has be admitted as a form of distinct pramana.22 The classification of implicative meaning called Laksana as jahatsvartha (a word while giving implicative meaning forsakes its own primary meaning) and ajahatsvartha (a word does not forsake its own primary meaning while referring to a secondary or implicative meaning) is categorically mentioned by Dinakara in his commentary and made some comments on them, which are worth-pondering. In the famous case of laksana - 'Gangayam ghosah' (The milkman colony is on the Gangatiratiratvena bodha) or simply understood as 'a bank' (tiratvena bodha). If the form is accepted then this case will lose its character as an implication in which the primary meaning is totally rejected (jahatsvarthatvahanih). If the latter is taken for granted then it would lose its character as laksana in which the primary meaning is not totally rejected (ajahatsvartha). In fact, if the term 'Ganga' is interpreted as 'a bank' alone (tiratvena), it would be accepted a jahatsvartha (an implication rejecting its primary meaning). It would be accepted by all because it is obvious that the primary meaning of the term is totally rejected. But if the term 'Ganga' means 'the bank of Ganga it would be a case of ajahatsvartha' i.e., an implication where the primary meaning is retained but extended. In this case the meaning of the term 'Ganga' is retained as well as extended to the bank also. Such type of extension of meaning is also available in the following cases of implication. When it is said 'Let the sticks enter' (Yasthih pravesaya) or 'The platform is crying (mancah krosanti), both the terms 'sticks' and 'platform' have retained their meaning and extended to 'the holders of the stick' and 'someone occupying the platform' respectively. Hence these are also the 581

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instances of ajahatsvartha laksana. A case may be treated as jahatsvartha or ajahatsvartha after looking into the fact how it is represented.23 In the Siddhantamuktavali Visvanatha has given an account of the apprehension of intention of the speaker (tatparya) in three types of sentences : (a) Ambiguous sertence; (b) Vedic sentence and (c) Sentences by a parrot. Dinakara has analysed the concept in the context of nonambiguous sentence. Intention (tatparya) is the intention of the speaker of conveying the sentences like 'Bring a jar (ghatam anaya) in which jar' has become a qualifier (prakara), the property of being an object (karmatva) attached to it has become a qualificand (visesya) and superstratumness (adheyata) has become a relation. When there is the awareness of the sentence - 'Bring a jar (ghatamanaya) there is the knowledge of a jar, the property of being an object (karmatva) is denoted by the word ghatam'and this, being a property, remains in the substance jar. In this case the jar is the substratum (adhara) and the property of being an object (karmatva) is the superstratum (adheyd). This is the nature of awareness which is the intention of the speaker. In other words, the intention of the speaker is known from the suffix attached to a word denoting karma as found in ghatam etc. when a particular sentence is uttered in order to convey a particular intention, the knowledge of such intention of the speaker is the cause of verbal comprehension.24 Such an awareness of intention serves as the main factor for apprehending the meaning. If there is the doubt or confusion as to the intention of the speaker or if there is the ascertainment of that which is not intended by the speaker, the verbal comprehension from the sentence is not at all possible. Hence the knowledge of intention has to be taken as the cause of the same (tatparyasamsaye vyatirekaniscaye va sabdabodhanudayacchabdabodhe tatparyajnanam karanam).25 It is said by Visvanatha that the Divine knowledge of intention (tatparya) can be said to be the cause of the verbal understanding of the sentence uttered by a parrot without any intention of its own and revealing the true picture of reality (samvadi). The knowledge of the intention of the trainer is the cause of the verbal understanding of the sentence (uttered by a parrot) which does not correspond to the reality (visamvadakatva). For, the property of being non-correspondent to the reality (Visamvadakatva) lies on the intention of the trainer, but not on that of god, as visamvaditva i.e., non-correspondence to reality is not possible for a god (Isvarecchayam visamvaditvabhavat).26 582

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REFERENCES wonoa 1. Dinakari on Siddhantamuktavali on Bhasapariccheda, Verse No. 1, Edited by Hari Rama Shukla, Chowkhamba, p. 18, 1951 Henceforth Dinakari. 2. Ibid, pp. 18-19. Ibid, p. 29. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Siddhantamuktavali on Verse No. 68. Dinakari, p. 212. Ibid, p. 175. Ibid. 13. Ramarudri on Dinakari on Siddhantamuktavali on Ibid. 14. Siddhantamuktavali on Verse No. 71. Dinakari on Siddhantamuktavali under Verse No. 71, p. 246. Siddhantamuktavali on Verse No. 71. Dinakari on Siddhantamuktavali under Verse No. 71, p. 246. 18. Bhasapariccheda, Karika No. 66. 19. Dinakari on Siddhantalaksana under Verse No. 66, pp. 209-210. Ibid, p. 209. Ibid. Ibid on Verse - 80, p. 263. 23. Ibid on Verse - 82, pp. 285-287. 24. Dinakara on Siddhantalaksana under on Verse No. 84. Ibid. 26. Ibid. 15. 16 17. 22. 583

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NEO-VEDANTIC CONCEPTION OF PHILOSOPHIZING - By R.C. Sinha The present paper entitled 'Neo-Vedantic Conception of Philosophizing' attempts to streamline contemporary Indian conception of Philosophizing. K.C. Bhattacharya is primarily a neo-Vedantic philosopher of contemporary India. His method of philosophizing is the method of "Neo Vedantic Conception of Philosophizing". I have made a distinction between philosophy and philosophizing. Philosophy is a system or trend. Philosophizing is a process. Krishnachandra Bhattacharya is profoundly original in his exposition of philosophical problems. The classical German Philosophy and the traditional Advaita Vedantic exercised a major influence in shaping his philosophical views. The powerful impact of Kant on his philosophy is evident, though he does not subscribe to Kantian agnosticism. Krishnachandra agrees with Kant in fixing the limits of reason, but he does not confine all knowledge to reason. The self, according to Krishnachandra, can be known but it cannot be made an object of thought. Distinguishing his position from that of Kant in respect of self, he observes, "With regard to the knowability of the self as a metaphysical entity, Kant holds that the self is a necessity of thought and is the object of moral faith but is not in itself knowable. My position is, on the one hand, that the self is unthinkable and on the other that while actually it is not known and is only an object of faith, though not necessarily only of moral faith, we have to admit the possibility of knowing it without thinking, there being a demand, alternative with other spiritual demands, to realize such knowledge. This is practically reopening the entire epistemological question of the meaning of thought and knowledge.". He makes a significant distinction between thinking and knowing. Thought the self is unthinkable yet it is knowable. He observes, "In taking the self to be unthinkable, I understand Kant's 'Ideas of Reason' to be not only not knowledge, but not even thought in the literal sense. The socalled extension of thought beyond experience and the possibility of experience means to me only the use of the verbal forms of thought as a symbol of unthinkable reality, such symbolizing use not being thinking." For Kant, the self is a necessity of thought and is the subject of moral faith. It is not knowable in itself. But Bhattacharya does not deny the possibility of knowing the self. Though Krishnachandra shows a considerable influence of Kant and the Vedanta on his thought, yet one finds a good deal of originality in his approach. According to Gopinath Bhattacharya, Krishnachandra's method of study is one of "Constructive Interpretation". As he observes, 584

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".... from a consideration of his actual procedure it would appear that by "Constructive Interpretation" the author means more of construction than of interpretation." His philosophy cannot be characterised in terms of any 'ism'. It is neither agnosticism nor Vedantism; neither pragmatism nor existentialism. The appropriate description of his philosophy can be given by calling it "transcendental Idealism". It is idealism in the sense of ideal-ism and not idea-ism. Idea-ism is mentalism. But Krishnachandra's philosophy is not mentalism but idealism. Mentalism apprehends subject and object distinctly but idealism comprehends them in one whole. It is transcendental because no exact description of the ultimate reality can be given by human reason. Krishnachandra relates everything to experience. Reality becomes the ultimate pre-supposition of experience. This experience of the ultimate is neither subjective nor objective. To relate the subject and object in knowledge is the function of reason. The Ultimate Reality transcends the duality of subject and object as it transcends reason. It is apprehended not by reason but by intuition or spiritual consciousness. Krishnachandra holds that "knowledge is a kind of awareness."4 He contrasts knowledge with mere awareness. According to Krishnachandra, awareness is of two types (i) awareness in the objective attitude (ii) awareness in the subjective attitude. The former is primarily awareness of physical objects. Here, we have distinction between the object of awareness (what one is aware) and the subject that has the awareness. The awareness in the subjective attitude is illustrated by one's awareness of oneself and of one's 'knowing'. In such awareness, there is no distinction between object of awareness and the subject that has the awareness. In other words, in the former, a distinction is made between the subject of awareness and the object of awareness; in the latter, it is difficult to make such a distinction. Gopinath Bhattacharya says, "of the two types of awareness, it is one in the objective attitude that the author primarily takes to be what is signified by the term knowledge".5 But he himself admits that "even one's awareness of himselfan awareness in the subjective attitude also has been called knowledge at times". Following this difference in attitudes, we understand awareness in the objective attitude and also that in the subjective attitude. Theories of knowledge and metaphysics of the subject usually fall under the former class. Krishnachandra makes departure from this prevailing view. He holds that any study about knowing and the subject must be carried on in the subjective attitude. He speaks of a 'cultivation of the subjective attitude. Gopinath Bhattacharya observes, "He goes even further and appears to hold that awareness in the subjective attitude is far more 585

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authentic than the other kind of awareness. The subjective attitude, in his view, yields the self-evidencing truth." Krishnachandra conceives that the term "knowledge" primarily signifies the awareness in the objective attitude. It does not mean that the other type of awareness is altogether denied of the name of knowledge. The awareness of the subject is an awareness in the subjective attitude. It is certainly taken to be a case of knowledge. According to Krishnachandra, the awareness of the knowing "function" and other functions of freedom like feeling, willing etc., are definitely not knowledge. Knowledge is chiefly awareness in the objective attitude. Krishnachandra further makes a distinction between knowledge and belief. Knowledge involves belief but it is in one sense distinct from mere belief. Belief may turn to be imaginative but knowledge is definite awareness. There is a distinction between knowledge and illusory apprehension and imaginative belief. Gopinath Bhattacharya observes, "Thus it appears that the word 'knowledge in the author's usage stands primarily (and not exclusively) for a valid and certain awareness in the objective attitude, having intuition for one of its factors and involving the distinction of the object known from the knowledge itself. Primarily, because the author is quite categorical that one's awareness of oneself is an instance of knowledge, even though it is neither objective awareness nor intuitional in character." Further he observes, "one thing is not clear, however, and that is whether the author would agree to describe what he calls 'knowledge as a state or as 'function'. That would perhaps depend on whether he would like to designate awareness itself as a 'state' or 'function." If knowledge were to be regarded as a "state", it is required to come before the knowing function. If, however, it is a function, it becomes the function of knowing itself. There is not surely a knowledge function over and above the knowing function. "Certain trends", observes Gopinath Bhattacharya, "in the author's mode of thinking would seem to favour the assumption that, according to him, knowledge and knowing function are one and the same thing. But editor is not at all sure on the point."10 Knowing, according to Krishnachandra, is a function and not a passive state of the object. It is a sort of an activity. It is an activity of a free reference of the subject to the object. If this is the meaning of knowing, science cannot claim to know because it believes in facthood and the objectivity of the object Function appears to be a sort of activity. To know is to act or to do something. But it is activity neither in a physical nor in the volitional way. It appears to be sui-generis. Krishnachandra says that it is activity in a symbolic sense. Knowing activity is a "free reference of the subject to the object." It represents, according to 586

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Krishnachandra, a "positive mode of freedom of the subject to relate to object without getting related to it." The freedom of the subject lies precisely in the fact that it is known by itself and mat in relating to the object, it does not get related to the latter. Such type of freedom of the subject is a matter of immediate certainty to Krishnachandra. It might be suggested that the position is paradoxical, for if A relates itself to B (freely may be) it cannot but get related to B. To Krishnchandra, this does not pose a paradox. The subject has an immediate feeling of relating itself to the object without having a feeling of getting related to it. A free reference of the subject to the object might mean (i) free reference of the subject to the object: in the objective attitude or (ii) free reference of the subject to the subject as object. It means free reference of the subject to the object in the subjective attitude. In the former, the subject relates itself to the object freely without itself getting related to it. The subject is aware of his experiences and thoughts of the object without in any way identifying himself with them. This may be called knowledge in the objective attitude. The object of this knowledge may be either a physical fact or psychic fact. It may be a psychic fact because a psychic fact is not purely a mental event, but always an aspect of the object. The object has certain modes of relatedness, to the subject, e.g., knownness, feltness etc. This relatedness viewed as a character of the object is a psychic fact. This knowledge may be called "awareness through psychological introspection in the objective attitude." It is necessary at this stage to refer to Krishnachandra's theory of introspection. Gopinath Bhattacharya observes, "Introspection is usually taken to be internal perception or the non-inferential awareness of a mental fact, and so far as its character of immediacy is concerned, it is placed on a par with the sense perception of the physical object"?2 It is quite pertinent to distinguish "psychological introspection" from "spiritual introspection". Spiritual introspection consists in distinguishing the functions of knowing etc., as other than the character of knownness etc. A function like knowing represents a mode of freedom from the psychic fact of knownness. To Krishnachandra, the consciousness of modes of freedom like knowing is as direct as that of a psychic fact like knownness. This spiritual introspection is explained as the enjoying understanding of the subject or the T. Here introspection is awareness in the subjective attitude. Krishnachandra is quite definite that "introspection proper is a form of theoretic consciousness that implies an abjuration of the objective attitude."13 According to Krishnachandra, spiritual introspection is the introspection proper. It is an awareness in the subjective attitude. In other 587

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words, it is a free reference of the subject to the subject in an enjoying consciousness. In the psychological introspection, there was an awareness of a relatedness of the object to the subject. In spiritual introspection, this has to be negated. This is understanding as knowing by enjoying. Bhattacharya says, "....it is enjoying understanding of the object. I"4 This, therefore, is knowledge in the realm of philosophy of spirit. That is why this knowledge is described as a free reference of the subject to the subject itself in an enjoying consciousness. But if we analyse this enjoying consciousness still further, we find that in the act of enjoying itself something over and above the self is also enjoyed. That something else may be either a body-physical or mental, or other selves with whom the self stands in some relationship. It may also be an over personal self to which a reference is made in religious consciousness. In the enjoying consciousness of I in which body is also enjoyed, there is, hi a sense, an enjoyment of individuality. Such a consciousness is expressed in our saying, "I am such and such". The consciousness of individuality somehow gives to the self an objectivity; his subjectivity, therefore, becomes infected with objectivity and as such does not remain pure subjectivity. Likewise, when I am conscious of otherselves in my enjoying consciousness of I, I am aware of myself in relation to others. This is not pure subjectivity. A higher type of subjectivity would be consciousness of an overpersonal reality. The reason is obvious. In the first two cases, subjectivity is affected either by the awareness of objects or by the awareness of otherselves. It is true that in both these cases 'the body' or 'the other self is a shadow of I because it is felt in the l-consciousness. This also is true that the shadow also does have its effects on the I-consciousness. But in the enjoying consciousness where the subject as I has an awareness of an over-personal reality. The I itself becomes a shadow. Malkani has described "this knowledge as knowledge by self-abnegation and not by self-denial". When I is denied, we get pure subjectivity - the Absolute. Now before we proceed to discuss the nature of philosophizing of Krishnachandra, we find it advisable to throw light on his method of philosophizing which helps us in having a correct understanding and appreciation of his approach to conception of philosophizing. Vedantic method of philosophizing can be at best characterised as 'Neo-Vedantic Conception of Philosophizing'. Gopinath Bhattacharya observes, "Philosophy is the elaboration of different kinds of spiritual experiences. The abstractions of the high-grade metaphysics are based on spiritual experience and derive their whole value from the experiences which they symbolise. No metaphisical concept is entirely intelligible without reference to the spirit."15 Mere rational consistency is no guarantee for ontoiogical certainty. The task before the 588

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philosopher is to develop a method for the realisation of Reality as well as an appropriate logic to explain it. Krishnachandra's method of philosophizing at best can be called "a method of cognitive inwardising."16 This method involves an analysis of the subject or different grades of human subjectivity. It enables one to go deeper from the surface to the deeper levels of existence and ultimately reveals the subject which is ultimate and free from all change and duality. The method of 'Neo Vedantic Conception of Philosophizing' culminates in the attainment of spiritual consciousness or intuition. At this stage man realizes himself as essentially free from all traces of objectivity. The goal of philosophy is reached when man attains spiritual consciousness and realises himself as subject and as free from all objectivity. Krishnachndra conceives different grades of cognitional freedom. He proceeds to analyze the nature of the subject and explains bodily subjectivity, psychic subjectivity and spiritual subjectivity. Man realises freedom when he attains spiritual subjectivity. The spiritual progress of man lies in the growing realisation of the higher and higher grades of subjectivity. It results in the growing realisation of man's freedom. Krishnachandra observes, "spiritual progress means the realisation of the subejct as free."17 The method of 'Neo Vedantic Conception of Philosophizing' attempts to dissociated the subject from the object This ultimately results in the complete freedom of the subject from its relations to the object. "The subject", according to Krishnachandra, "is thus known by itself, as not meant but speakable and not as either related or relating to the object. It is, however, believed as relating to object and symbolised as such by objective relations. The modes of relating are at the same time the modes of freeing from objectivity, the forms of the spiritual discipline by which, it may be conceived, the outgoing reference to the object is turned backwards and the immediate knowledge of the I as content is realised in an ecstatic intuition."18 The realisation of self as free involves a specific activity of the subject. There is a demand for some kind of activity of the subject towards itself. There is the demand that the subjective function of knowing which is only believed and not known as fact has to be known as the self evidencing reality of the subject itself Krishnachandra says, "This would be the supreme method of cognitive inwardising." In the process of self-realisation, one has to recognize a specific discipline or consecutive method of activity for such realisation. The consciousness of perfection, freedom or salvation as the end is to them a demand for some kind of activity of the subject towards itself. Philosophical method involves the cult of the subject It also involves an awareness of the subject as what the object is not. Krishnachandra observes, "The specific activity demanded is primarily in the inwardising direction."20 Further he observes, 589

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"The cult of the subject par excellence, a spiritual discipline of the theoretic reason, a method of cognitive inwardising, the possibility of which, as indeed of any method of realisation, is not ordinarily recognised,"21 A philosophical method implies a sereies of consecutive steps for the realisation of an end. The steps in Krishnachandra's philosophical method correspond to a gradation of subjctive functions, of modes of freedom from the object. We usually identify ourselves with body, our freedom from the perceived object is actually realised only in our bodily consciousness. This bodily consciousness is also imperfectly realised. The next stage of freedom is suggested by the distinction of the perceived object including the body from the ghostly object in the form of the image-idea and meaning which may be all designed "presentation". Consciousness as undissociated from such presentation, but dissociated from the perceived and felt body may be called presentational of psychic subjectivity. The dissociation of the subject or consciousness from this presentation conceived as a kind of object would be the next stage of freedom which may be called non-presentation or spiritual subjectivity. According to Krishnachandra, "The elaboration of these stages of freedom in spiritual psychology would suggest the possibility of a consecutive method of realising the subject as absolute freedom, of retracing the felt positive freedom towards the object into pure intuition of the self."22 In Krishnachandra's philosophy, a great emphasis is put on the subject. He deals elaborately with "the cult of subject" and "the subject as freedom." The cult of the subject involves abstraction from the object. The way to understand the word "subjective is to call it "non-objective." Krishnachandra observes, "The modes of subjectivity are the modes of freeing oneself from the modes of objectivity."23 The cult of the subject involves a feeling of dissociation of the subject from the object. It is a sort of an awareness of the subject as what the object is not. The most important characteristics of subjectivity, therefore, is the subjects awareness of its distinction from the objects. IV There are two basic terms in ontology, e.g., subject and object Subject and object involve each other. Krishnachandra makes it a point that the subject has always an awareness of its distinction from the object The object, at best its defined as "what is meant." Object has always a "meant content". The awareness of the subject is definitely different from meaning awareness. The meaning awareness involves relation. It is exclusively the function of reason to give meaning awareness. Subject awareness entails withdrawal from the object. It is a sort of "Neo-Vedantic Conception of Philosophizing." This "cognitive inwardisation" is a sort of consciousness which may be taken here as "intuition". It is not meaning 590

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awareness but realisation. The meaning awareness involves duality but the "cognitive inwardisation" is a sort of self-realisation. Krishnachandra observes,"object as meant is distinguished from the subject or the subjective of which there is some awareness other than the meaning awareness."24 At best, the subject can be termed as "significant speakable." The object can be pointed as 'this!. The subject can be indicated by the word I. Krishnachandra suggests that the word 'this is the symbol of the object. Bradley also holds that this can stand for the object Every object can safely be called 'this'. But the subject can call itself as I. The pronouns 'hel and you' can claim to stand for the object. K.C. Bhattacharya has given original definition of the subject. The word I stands for the subject I appears to be more basic because he' and you' can also call themselves I. Two speakers may use the term 'this'. This may stand for the same object. But two speakers cannot use the word I in the same sense. The word 'this' as used by speaker means primarily what he perceives. The hearer may use this' of some other object as well as he can use it of the same object. One speaker uses it for the object that he perceives. Another may use it for a different object. He can also use "this" for the same object. This is possible because in the realm of object, "what the speaker means by a word must be capable of being meant by the hearer if he were to use it."25 This is not the case with the word I. If I use this word, I mean myself and if any body else uses it, he uses it for himself and not for me. This clearly shows that there is a basic difference between the subject and the object. There is again a difference between object-consciousness and self-consciousness. Object consciousness is understood through the meaning of the word. Object consciousness involves meaning of the word and self-consciousness is enjoying understanding of the subject or I. The meaning awareness involves relation. Reason can serve as an efficient instrument to give meaning awareness. For example, when somebody from a control room reports that "a fighting jet" is approaching, it is "jet" as approaching that is understood and the self as speaking. In case, self-consciousness is communicated, it is not only the self that is understood, but the self as speaking, communicating or expressing itself is understood. Therefore, "what then is meant is expressible as this is not what is conveyed by the word 1.26 Object may be an individual object or a group or a class. Object may be described as individual or general. But subject can neither be described as singular nor general because the world I is neither singular nor general. On the other hand, in some sense, it is singular and in other sense, it is general. It is singular because everybody uses it for himself only. It is general in the sense that everybody uses it. As used, the term has a uniquely singular reference. But as understood, it is general in the sense the term 'uniquel is general. 591

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Sometimes, subject may be spoken of as the object though not meant as object. But the object can never be spoken of as subject. Suppose one says, "I am a leader". There is an objective reference of the subject here, in so far as the subject appears to be something. Here I appears to be 'this'. In other words, I appears to be an object. But no object can ever be referred to as a subject Krishnachandra makes this point clear when he says, "The statement this is I is false, while the statement 'I am this' cannot be denied."27 This leads to one controversial point concerning subject and object. The question arises: when the subject is spoken of as an object, why should it be not treated as an object? Krishnachandra says that even when subject is objectified, that objectification is not a determination of subject That the subject is spoken as the object, is no argument for assuming that there is similarity between the two. Even while the subject is referred to as 'this' or 'that', it does not become object On the other hand, the subject is felt to be dissociated from the object as being prior to object logically. Krishnachandra defines object as 'what is meant'. The 'meant' involves doubt, where the question of doubt is involved, the question of its correction is also involved This derives one to the point that object can always be doubted The 'meaning awareness' cannot be taken for granted If the nature of object is doubtful, it cannot be known with the same assurance as the subject The subject is not the meant content. Therefore, it is not subject to doubt. It is known more intimately than the object. Its knowledge is more assured than the object only because its awareness is direct and not through the medium of a meaning or reference to something outside itself! The above distinction between subject and object has been drawn with a significant purpose. Metaphysics according to K.C. Bhattacharya, is primarily a study of these two basic concepts. Its essential function is to distinguish subject from object and know the reality which transcends them both. This 'negative function' is done by reason. Reason negates what is not real. It points ultimately to the subject. In the Advaita Vedanta, ontology is taken as the science of Being. Reason, as conceived by the Vedanta, does not give the knowledge of 'Being.' It gives the knowledge of what is non-Being. Krishnachandra like the Advaita Vedanta, conceives that the real subject cannot be apprehended by reason. It is 'cognitive inwardisation' or 'intuition vision' which realises subject as free from subjectivity. V The aim of Vedantic conception of philosophizing is to attain legitimate destiny of human being. According to K.C. Bhattacharya, it is self-transcendence or the realisation of subject as freedom. The fulfilment of human destiny lies in the realisation of the Absolute or utter freedom. 592

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According to Bhattacharya, man cannot realise utter freedom on rational plane. Reason moves in the realm of duality between content and consciousness. This duality can be resolved in higher consciousness. The higher consciousness is spiritual realisation of pure-subjectivity. Freedom can be realised when the subject is completely dissociated from the object. In the states of bodily subjectivity and psychic subjectivity, there is a definite connection with the object that is meant When man enters the realm of spiritual subjectivity, this connection is transcended. It is seen there is no connection with the object as meant even in feeling, which is the first and the lowest expression of spiritual subjectivity. At the stage of feeling, if there is any reference to meaning, it is only to meaning as felt. This shows that 'spiritual', according to Krishnachandra, means detachment from the objective. The cult of the subject involves dissociation of the subject from the object. The subject is self-evident. K.C. Bhattacharya observes, "The intuited subject is not only revealed but revealing : it is directly known as self-expressing in the spoken word I without being meant by I."28 Spiritual consciousness is fundamentally different from rational knowledge. Spiritual consciousness transcends both meantcontent and felt-content. Spiritual life lies in 'inwardness'. The objects and animals of the world do not have any 'inwardness'. The inner or conscious life of man is much more fundamental and basic than his outward life. K.C. Bhattacharya says that man, in the way of the realization of his true nature, steadily moves away from the external and objective to the inner and subjective. This progress toward inner life has been given a name 'spiritual progress'. Spiritual progress implies the realization of the subject as free. The demand is for the intuition of the subject as absolute freedom. Freedom lies in dissociation of the subject from the object. K.C. Bhattacharya believes that freedom is the basic nature of man. Pure freedom, which has no definite content, is the goal of man. In intuitive experience or spiritual consciousness, man gets awareness of freedom from all 'contents'. He realises a state of freedom in intuitive awareness of the subject as free from the object. Krishnachandra's account of the progression of man is an account of the gradual realisation of freedom. While discussing Kant's view as freedom and morality, K.C. Bhattacharya thinks about two kinds of freedom, the freedom of the elective will, which is more or less the freedom of choice and the noumenal freedom. The noumenal freedom characterises the true nature of man. Man has got power to realise the Indefinite. Reason cannot realise the Absolute. Intuition transcends reason and resolves the duality between content and consciousness. Man has got power to go beyond reason and realise the Absolute in intuition. The possibility of self s transcendence of the introspective self 593

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make free and the des shows that man's destiny lies in the realisation of that possibility. The subject as I is, somehow, aware of an urge, almost an absolute demand, to go beyond itself This shows that hi the satisfaction of that demand, he will attain his final status. To make it more clear, Krishnachandra makes a distinction between 'subject being free' and 'subject as freedom'. According to K.C. Bhattacharya, 'subject as freedom' is the destiny of man. This sort of freedom can be attained by the denial of I or subject. Bhattacharya observes, "I am never positively conscious of my present individuality, being conscious of it as what is or can be outgrown...."29 By subject being free' is meant that there is a relation between individual and his freedom. The individual seems to be aware of his freedom. This awareness points to a state that is beyond individuality. In the final stage of 'subject as freedom', freedom does not belong to subject. In the words of Bhattacharya, ...."freedom... is de-individualised...."30 In his state, subject and freedom are not related to each other. Subject itself is freedom and freedom is the subject. It is complete freedom. That is the final stage of subjectivity. Here the I-consciousness vanishes. The individual subject of I is negated. The true subject is unrelated and absolute. There is no awareness now of an actual introspector or even of a possible introspector. This is what Krishnachandra calls, a de-individualised freedom' or 'the subject as absolute freedom'. The negation of I leads to the real and transcendental subject. In the introspective stage, man has an awareness of freedom from all content, meant or felt. In the final stage of subjectivity, this consciousness is no longer there. There is freedom without any consciousness of it. I think that this may be remembered that the final stage of subjectivity - the stage of the subject as Absolute freedom is only a possibility to be realised. Man with his present capacities cannot have an idea of this stage, because this is not yet an actual stage of his subjectivity. In a sense this stage is completely indefinite because it is beyond comprehension. K.C. Bhattacharya says, "What is neither contemplated in the objective attitude, nor understood subjectively hi the enjoying attitude"31 can only be the self-revealing subject to which no attitude is possible. Spiritual consciousness cannot give us any idea of the 'subject as freedom'. This is possible only in a transcendental consciousness. In spiritual consciousness, there is enjoying consciousness of I. At this stage individuality is not completely transcended. There is a relation between 'subject as free' and 'freedom' itself. In transcendental consciousness I is negated. In this stage, even the enjoying consciousness of I or subject is negated. There remains pure-consciousness. Man is the inner subjective self that expresses itself in the speaking of I. The subject always strives to realise the stage of complete freedom which is legitimate destiny. Thus, 594

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K.C. Bhattacharya adopts method of 'Neo-Vedantic Conception of Philosophizing' as legitimate methodology of philosophizing to attain absolute freedom. 1. 2. References Bhattacharya, K.C. : Studies hi Philosophy, Vol. II, (Ed Gopinath Bhattacharya), Progressive publishers, Calcutta, May, 1958, p. 100. Loc. cit. Bhattacharya, K.C. : Studies in Philosophy, Vol. I, (Ed. Gopinath Bhattacharya), Progressive Publishers, Calcutta, August, 1958, (Introduction by Gopinath Bhattacharya), p. xi. 3. 4. Bhattacharya, K.C. : Studies in Philosophy, Vol. II (introduction by Gopinath Bhattacharya), p. xvi. Ibid, p. xvii. 5. 6. Loc. cit. 7. Loc. cit. 8. Loc. cit. 9. Loc. cit. 10. Ibid p. viii. 11. Bhattacharya, K.C. : The Subject as Freedom, (Indian Institute of Philosophy, Amalner, 1930, p. 13. 12. Ibid, p. xxii. 13. Ibid, p. xxii. 14. Malkani, G.R. : Some Points in K.C. Bhattacharya's Concept of Philosophy, pp. 54-57. 15. Bhattacharya, K.C. : Studies in Philosophy, Vol. II (introduction by Gopinath Bhattacharya), p. xvi. 16. Ibid, p. 32. 17. Bhattacharya, K.C. : Studies in Philosophy, Vol. II, p. 32. 18. Ibid, pp. 31-32. 19. Ibid, p. 7. 595

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20. Ibid., p.32 21. Loc. cit. 22. Ibid, p. 33. 23. Bhattacharya, K.C. 10 The Subject as Freedom, (Indian Institute of Philosophy, Amalner, 1930, p. 29. 24. Ibid, p. 1. 25. Ibid., p.2. 26. Ibid, p. 4. 27. Ibid, p. 5. 28. Ibid, p.88. 29. Ibid, p. 92. 30. Loc. cit. 31. Bhattacharya, K.C. : The Subject as Freedom, (Indian Institute of Philosophy, Amalner, 1930, p. 58. ... 596

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Some peculiar Etymologies from (2) Goraksasahasranamastotratika Prof. Dr. Siddharth Y. Wakankar Inching towards happiness is the basic instinct of all living beings and the man is not an exception to it. He finds happiness in worshipping his favourite Deity by means of two basic ways, viz. (1) Japa or silent repetetion of a mantra or a single Divine Name and Stotra-which is generally uttered aloud and it may take the form of chanting verses, conveying the attributes and the glory of the Divine. A stotra consists of six characteristics as under: (1) Salutataion; (2) Benediction; (3) Statement of the Doctrine; (4) Praise of the Deity and His/Her attributes; (5) Description of His Her valour, form and deeds and (6) Prayer for His/Her Grace to get Liberation. Japa and stotra enable a devotee to have inward concentration which is the esrence of the devotional practice. In the vast Stotra-literature in Sanskrit, the Sahasranama is a special feature of the Hindu Devotional Poetry. The above-mentioned six characteristics are seen in the Sahasranama also through the selection of the meaningful names of the Deity, which are couched in metres of various length, especially. Anustup-which is supposed to be a very simple metre to handle and memorise too. In it, the poet-devotee expresses his feelings, theological beliefs and the philosopny of life through the different names which he coins for his Deity. In it, the poet is supposed to have brevity as well as clarity in his diction. The metre also requires precision .Failure in this regard at times gives way to ambiguity or obscurity. Moreover, coining one thousand names without repeating any epithet is not always possible for a poet due to many reasons and thus the poet is obliged to coin some fanciful or far-fetched names and the commentators have to ransack their brains to explain them away-convincingly, meaningfully or otherwise. Consequently, it gives rise to word- jugglery and sometimes illogical connection. These defects are generally found in the Sectarian Sahasranamas, because, when the deeds of the Deity and the philosophy of the Cult are exhausted in five hundred or six hundred names, the poet tries to complete the required number of one thousand names by parading his pedantry and enumerating names which all are not much convincing. He is almost forced to do this intellectual exercise to satisfy his unflinching faith in his favourite Deity. 597

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In this short paper, I intend to bring to the notice of the scholars one such Sectarian Sahasranama which is found in the form of a manuscript and is not much known to the scholars as it is still not printed. Only a few instances of the peculiar etymologies found in the commentary on this Sahasranama will be brought to fight for the first time. The Natha-sampradaya has a hoary past. In fact, its origin is shrouded in mystery. It will be wise not to enter into any controversy regarding its place and time of origin. It has a great following, esp.in Maharashtra and northwards. Among the Nathas, the most popular figure is that of Goraksanatha and many compositions in Sanskrit and other Indian languages are attributed to him. Keeping aside his contribution in this regard, we intend to focus our attention on his Sahasranama, which is supposed to be a part of the Kalpadruma-mahatantra. It is a dialogue between Krsna and his Preceptor, Gargamuni. This anonymous work has a commentary, composed by one Pandit Visvarupa, who was patronized by the famous Maharaja Man Sinha of Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The Maharaja flourished in the latter half of the eithteenth century and earlier half of the nineteenth century. He was a staunch follower of Ayasanatha. During the reign of the Maharaja, the Natha-sampradaya literally blossomed in Jodhpur, because of the three-pronged activity of the Maharaja, mentioned below, (1) The Maharaja himself commented on some of the famous Sanskrit Texts like the Mundakopanisad, interpreting it from the point of view of the Natha-philosophy; (2) He ordered his Pandits in the Court to write Sanskrit commentaries on Sanskrit works from the angle of Natha-philosophy and (3) He got some of the works on Natha-philosophy, copied and preserved them in his Maharaja Man Simha Pustaka Prakash Kendra, which was established in the year 1805 A. 0. Such was the deeprooted faith of the Maharaja in the Nathasampradaya. Visvarupa also was a staunch follower of the Nathas which goaded him to write a commentary on this rare and important Sahasranama. He, however, finds it difficult at times to convincingly explain all the epithets and seems to be at pains while explaining away certain names. As is said earlier, the background of this Sahasranama is the Gurusisyasamvada of Gargamuni and Krsna, who are the two main characters in this literary composition, praising Goraksanatha. Some of the epithets are common to other famous Gods like Visnu, Siva Indra. I shall start with the interpretation and different aspects of the word Natha and his Forms, which were current in different periods of time and then turn my attention to the fanciful and peculiar etymologies of some of the names of the Natha. 598

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Herein, the word Natha is used for the Ultimate Reality, the Highest Principle, underlying the Universe, corresponding almost exactly with the traits of the Brahman of the Advaita Vedanta. All the attributes of the Brahman are herein applied to the Natha and this Natha is traditionally supposed to have assumed different forms in different Yugas to accomplish some feats for the benefit of the mankind at large. I would like to briefly describe them here,so that, one can fcget a fairly clear idea of what exactly Natha is supposed to stand for in their tradition. "The Natha is supposed to have assumed five forms as under: (1) Goraksanatha-The Cause of the origin and sustenance of the Gods like Brahma, Visnu, Siva etc. as well as of all the other living entities. The second svarupa is the Avinasi Goraksa that existed in the Satyayuga. Niranjana Goraksa in the Dvapara Yuga Maha Goraksa in the Treta Yuga and (5) Gopala Goraksa in the Kali Yuga. The other meaning of the Natha is given as follows: The Natha is of two kinds, viz. Upasya-to be worshippped by his devout devotees and Upasaka-who loves and worships His devotees. The author also gives a third variety of Natha having six divisions like this: (1) Dvaitadvaitavilaksana Natha. (2) Nirakara Nirguna Natha. Anandavigraha Natha. Guru Natha. (5) Atyasrami Natha and (6) Bhupala Natha. These were the forms assumed by the Natha in different environments to carry out various activities for the betterment of the society at large for the upliftment of his devotees. Such an Omnipotent and All-pervading Natha is the subject-matter of the present Sahasranama,wherein the author tries to coin certain epithets that could give justice to the over-all imposing and towering personality of the Natha and the commentator follows suit by accepting the challenge of assigning meanings and offering interpretation or 599

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explanation as per his understanding with a view to proving the superiority and greatness of the Natha.. In order to get the blessings of this eminent Natha, in fact, Goraksanatha, Krsna questions his Guru Gargamuni about the origin of Goraksanatha, His mantra, the technique (Tantra} to worship him, His greatness and other deeds or feats etc. To his various queries, Gargamuni gives reply in the form the Goraksasahasranama. As I said earlier, the traits of the Natha, as described herein, are a clear reflection of the similar traits of the major Gods like Visnu, Siva etc. described in devotional texts extolling these Gods to the skies. This tendency is definitely influenced by the traditionally assigned qualities of the Highest Gods. In the present Sahasranama, the poet/devotee has tried his best to coin one thousand names of the Natha to complete the necessary number of epithets. He has, however, had to take recourse to certain imaginary ideas to carry out this difficult task and hence, herein peeps the clumsiness, ambiguity and far-flung or far-fetched and fanciful and sometimes meaningless letters for coining the names, to which now I turn my attention. One peculiarity of the composer of this Sahasranama is that from verse no.88 onwards, he suddenly starts enumerating the names of the Natha, according to the alphabetical order of the Devanagari script, for reasons best known to him. Firstly, he coins the names that begin with the vowels and from verse 98 onwards, he coins words beginning with the consonants. Consequently, he has coined certain names without bothering to know whether they carry any significant meanings or not. Thus, he unknowingly fails to escape the evident pitfalls, due to this typical tendency and that is the raison detre for this short paper. Owing to the shortage of space and time, I shall deal with only a few such names and their etymological explanations offered by the equally devout follower/commentator. I give the Sanskrit Text or such examples, which could be easily multiplied, but, space and time prevent me from dilating on this topic. It is hoped that this brief paper will throw light on the scholarship of the commentator who tries to do justice to the Text on which he is commenting to bring out the Tenets of the Philosophy of the Natha and His greatness, reflecting his deep-rooted faith. The Sanskrit Text follows: 600

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(1) khaGkanAthaH kakhatIti khaGkaH / 'kakha hasane' iti dhAtoH kartRpratyayAntasya pRSodarAditvena varNavyatyAsAt khaGka iti zabdaH / mAyAviSayakahAsyakArI nAthaH khaGkanAtha ityarthaH / gharghanAtha: (2) (3) (4) (4) (6) atra atihAsajanyazabdavizeSAnukaraNabhUto gharghazabdaH / tathA ca mAyA bahumanyamAnAnprAkRtajanAn dRSTvA atattvabhUtaprApyatayA yanmohitAsyAH taccitram ityevaM tAn boghAyitum atihAsyajanyagharghazabdakArI nAtho gharghanAtha ityarthaH // - dandodaradayAparaH dedas zabdo dantaparaH tathA ca dandasi viSayayuktatayA darajanakA: bhayajanakA: ye te dandodarAH sarpAH teSu dayAparaH sarvabhUSaNa ityarthaH / dAmada: dAma saMsArarUpabandhanaM dyati khaNDayatIti dAmadaH // lalAzrayaH lalA: lalanAH tAsAmAzrayaH / lalanAnAM yatheSTaphalapradaH iti bhAvaH // SantAsana: atra SantazabdaH zabdandhvAdizikSokta catuHSaSTivarNopalakSakaH / tathA ca SaH SakAra: ante yeSAM te SantAH catuHSaSTivarNA:, teSAmAsAnabhUtaH AdhAraH / avyaktanAdabrahmasvarUpaH ityarthaH / evaM ca akArAsanaH kakArAsanaH ityAdi catuHSaSTinAmaparaH SantAsanazabdaH iti bodhyam // 601

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The Twilight Language - The Mystic Language of the Siddhas 1. Prof. Dr. T.N.Ganapathy The Background : This is a highly technical subject. Like other mystics throughout the world the Siddhas also express their mystical experience in a paradoxical language, called the twilight language or sandhya - bhasa or to use Tirumular's expression sunya sambhashanai. This language is characterized by a deceptive simplicity. Using the common language of the people, the poems are written for both the uninitiated, common people and also for the initiated. The meaning of the poems operates at two levels one, the exoteric and the linguistic, the other, the esoteric and the symbolical. The poems are noted for using pedestrian symbolism, that is, symbols and words used by ordinary common people. They really conceal the spiritual doctrines and the mystical aspects of Kundalini-Yoga from the uninitiated. The esoteric meaning can be understood only by the initiated. The twilight language is a clothed language in which the highest truths are hidden in the form of the lowest, the most sacred in the form of the most ordinary, the transcendent in the form of the most earthly and the deepest knowledge in the form of the most grotesque paradoxes. For example in one of the verses, Tirumular uses the following paradoxical Tamil expression whose literal translation is: those who possess a lizard eat the snake knowingly'. Its significant meaning is: "those who have firmness of mind (those who possess a lizard, i.e., varamamus), flourish high in Kundalini-Yoga (eat the snake knowingly). It is a language, which is not literal but suggestive, epigrammatic, and enigmatic, discernible only to those who have been initiated to the secret lore. The essential characteristic feature of the twilight language is its polysemantic nature, its multivalence, its capacity to express at the same time a number of meanings both at the level of ordinary experience and at the level of transcendence. The Siddhas are very particular that there is no use in giving the secret treasures to people who do not have a control over their senses, that is, those who not deserve them. They are very particular that great truths should not be given to the agnostics, the cynics and the indisciplined. Kabir, the mystic poet of India, used to say: Do not display one's diamonds in the vegetable stall. There is a Sanskrit expression, acarya-musti, which means the "closed fist". This is an expression, which has been applied to gurus who withhold their teachings from others so that they are not misunderstood and misapplied. The maintenance of secrecy is not due to the opprobrium of orthodoxy. It is only a protection 602

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Tha both against the vulgarizing or institutionalizing of a habit of thought only proper to those who understand it and against accusations of hereby. In this connection it is worthwhile to mention a palm-leaf manuscript available in the Kerala University MSS library, Tiruvananthapuram (India), called Jnana-bodhagam in which it is said that some who have made an attempt to study Siddha poetry have left it as a "nuisance," because they could not decipher the meaning. It speaks of the dual meaning of the language of the Siddhas as a "merciless language" since in it they conceive one thing and express another. It warns people not to take the language of the Siddhas at its face value and if one were to do it, it will be like a farmer who wants to plough one's fields on the support of the mist-formation. In short, sandhya-bhasa entails a sort of systematic ambiguity. 2. Sandhya-bhasa - Two views The Sanskrit term for sunya - sambhasanai (as used by Tirumular) is sandhya-bhasa. There are two views about the correct form of the term sandhya-bhasa. One set of scholars use the term sandhya-bhasa meaning twilight language and another set of scholars use the term sandha-bhasa, meaning intentional language. Hariprasad Shastri uses the term sandhya - bhasa to mean the "language of light and darkness, partly light and partly darkness; some part can be understood while the other cannot?. "Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya (Sastri), says that sandhya is a wrong spelling and it must be sandha-bhasa and interprets it as abhiprayikavacana or neyartha-vacana meaning "intentional speech". He says that it is wrong to call it "twilight language." Intentional language is a purposelycreated mode of communication having a concealed meaning. Following Vidhushekhara Sastri, P.C. Bagchi, Burnouf, Kern, Max Muller, Mircea Eliade and Agehananda Bharathi, use the term sandha-bhasa. Eliade informs us that Burnouf translated it as "enigmatic language," Kern as "mystery," and Max Muller as "hidden sayings" and that he himself prefers as "intentional language." But Lama Angarika Govinda in his Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, Snellgrove in his translation of The Hevajra Tantra (Vol 1) and Alex Wayman in his The Buddhist Tantras: Light on IndoTibetan Esotericism, use the term sandhya-bhasa and its literal meaning is "twilight language", which is said to bear a double meaning, the ordinary and the mystic. It is the great riddle of the yogins, which the disciples and others cannot unravel. Hence Snellgrove translates the term sandhya-bhasa as "secret language". The term "twilight language" is an approximate one to refer to the Siddha writings. According to Buddhadasa, the Thai-Monk, scholar-meditator, certain aspects of Gotama's teachings as we find them in the Tri-pitaka are couched in a kind of symbolic language. This he terms "dhamma 603

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language" as opposed to everyday language. He assumes that certain aspects of Buddhist teaching are unintelligible unless they are assumed to be symbolic. He cites as an example the attempt by Mara and his daughters to distract Buddha in his meditations. Mara is a personification of unwholesome thoughts. The three names of his daughters are Tantra, Arati, and Rati which Pali terms stand for craving, discontent and desire. The story of Mara and his three daughters represents symbolically the events that occur in the mind of the meditator. As Buddhadasa says this account of Mara symbolizes the arising of distracting thoughts or any mental state opposed to spiritual progress. Similarly he identifies the various hells and heavens of the Buddhist cosmology with states of consciousness. In short, the necessary information for the meditator is there in the unintelligible teaching of the Tri-pitaka, but concealed in symbolic language. The Zen Buddhists use a term koan to refer to a paradoxical expression or question or action of the master. 3. The Purpose of the Twilight Language Twilight language is a purposely created mode of communication. Its purpose is to seek, to search for, to enquire after the meaning behind the hidden language. In fact, it is a sort of technical language, whose technique is to express in words that which is beyond expression. The purpose of rendering great truths in symbolic, yet simple language is: 1. To prevent the uninitiated from comprehending the hidden meaning by making them satisfied with the superficial meaning; to preserve the real message intact by making the people sing them in popular folk song forms so that the message may survive beyond any breaks in the line of oral transmission and to facilitate rediscovery at a later time; that is, to ensure against the loss of the precious teaching; to make the message reach anyone who is interested in it without discrimination of sex, or caste; to camouflage such instructions as may be resented by the orthodox publice; to express the highest experiences of the mind since common parlance is not adequate?; to entice people from orthodox observance and to lure them into the Tantric webR; to use it as a mnemonic device"; 6. 7. 604

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8. to annoy the orthodox, that is teasing the orthodox religious bourgeois; perhaps a sort of linguistic catharsis10; 9. to project the yogin into the paradoxical situation indispens able to his training"; 10. to provide the yogin with a means of describing supernormal experiences for which ordinary language is inadequate; 11. to provide a working basis for the interpretative analysis of the mandalas and the cakras used in secret meditative transmission to be revealed to the initiated disciples only; 12. to ensure that knowledge about advanced practices would remain concealed from all those known to be incapable of applying those practices effectively12; 13. to supplement and illustrate the instructions given by.gurus, each symbol suggesting in vivid graphic form some essential characteristic of the technique to be practiced13; To understand the twilight language requires a total hermeneutic of reading, awareness, in fact, of the total religious and philosophical structures, which infuse into it. How the twilight language of the Siddhas originated is a problem that scholars have yet to confront. Let us note some of the suggestions regarding its origination without entering into a discussion. 1. The twilight language may be due to the love of paradox common to all spiritual traditions. It may be viewed as a special extension of mantric language. The twilight language may perhaps have been merely another of the many diagressions from the path of mediation!"; It originated because the common parlance is inadequate to express the highest experience of the mind. 4. 4. An interpretation of the five 'm's In Tantric literature and in Siddha poetry we come across the panca-makara which refers to the five rites which all begin with the letter 'm' madya, mamsa, matsya, mudra, and maithuna. Panca-makara admits of literal or mukhya reading and metaphorical or gauna reading. Mukhya reading would imply vamacara. or left hand practice of Tantra and metaphorical reading would imply daksinacara or right hand practice of Tantra. 605

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We cannot deal with the five 'm's here, but we can bring out briefly a few aspects and peculiarities of them. We can safely start by saying that the five 'm's are not mere ceremony or ritual but reminders of the yogic process. In the right hand Tantric ritual practice madya (wine) becomes the symbol of intoxicating knowledge, mamsa (meat) implies the control of speech; matsya (fish) represents the two vital currents moving in the Ida and pingala; mudra (parched grain) symbolizes the yogic state of concentration and maithuna (sexual union) symbolizes samadhi. In some cases the sadhaka used material substitutes for the five 'm's, Wine is substituted by coconut juice, meat by ginger, mudra by rice, wheat or grain, maithuna by two types of flowers, the linga - puspa and aparajitha (the first resembling the linga and the second resembling the yoni) In the Kularnava Tantra it is stated that wine and meat are the symbols of Sakti and Siva respectively, the Goddess having pierced all the kula-paths (the ways of a kaula) - in the muladhara (earth), manipura (fire) svadisthana (water), anahata(air), visuddhi (space) and ajna (mind) - enjoys the company of her consort in the sahasrara. Dr. N.Bose and Hiralal Haldar in their book Tantras : Their Philosophy and Occult Secrets, say that these terms may be taken in the sense of the five chief asuras of the Sri Sri Chandi, viz Madhu, Kaitabha, Mahisasura, Sumba, and Nisumba 15 The Tantra-sara traces the practice of the five 'm's to mantras in the Rg. Veda. (Mantra in Rg Veda, 154.2 to be used in connection with meat; RV VII, 59.12 with fish; RV 122.20-21 with mudras RV IV, 40.5 with wine and RV X, 184.1.2 for sexual intercourse). The madya though literally stands for wine, refers to the intoxicating knowledge of God attained by Yoga by which one becomes senseless of the outer world. It stands for the nectar that is said to ooze from the thousand- petalled lotus in the brahmarandhra. Almost all people in Tamil Nadu sing the following song from Kudambai-c-cittar: To those who have climbed the top of the hill and drunk the juice of fresh mango fruits 0! earthern ear-ring, what is the use of coconut milk? When a yogin has got the celestial ambrosia, why should he go in for some thing less than that like the coconut milk? This nectar has got several names in Tamil Siddha literature like ucci-p-pal, ccmacalam, madi-y-amudhu, karavap-pal, mangay-p-pal, kaya-p-pal, arulamudu, etc. The effort of the yogins to get at this nectar is called by the Tamil Siddhas, as begging at the top. Madya also stamds for the yogic process of bhutasuddhi by which the sadhaka turns towards and unifies the kundalinisakti with Pramasiva. In Tantra this wine is called kulamrta, and the Natha Siddhas called it soma. In primitive thought wine was regarded as a life-giving principle. Debiprasad Chattopadhayaya shows that in 606

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ancient India liquor was resorted to for the purpose of overcoming death16. One of the commonest names for wine is mrta-sanjivini, that which restores life, a name very frequently used in Siddha and Ayurvedic medical traditions. Mamsa (flesh, meat) does not signify the physical flesh, which the aspirant should eat. It is the symbol of the flesh of the ego which must be cut with the sword of knowledge, that is, freedom from 'I and 'mine is mamsa. It stands for mastery over carnal pleasures and the destruction of the beast' in man. It has been enjoined that the sadhaka should kill the beast in him, constituted by merit and demerit with the help of the sword of knowledge and devour its flesh. In the Hatha-yoga-pradipika the tasting of the amrta that is produced in the sahasrara is called the flesh of the cow that the yogin eats!?. This expression eating of the cow's meat is used just to show that a true Siddha, as a participant in transcendence, goes beyond the Hindu prohibitions (eating cow's meat), that he is no longer conditioned by 'ethics' that he is no longer in this world of 'mine' and 'thine'. Matsya literally means 'fish' but it symbolically signifies the inhalation and exhalation of breath. It has been said that the two nadis, Ida and pingala, have two fish, viz, inhalation and exhalation, moving constantly up and down. It is enjoined that a sadhaka should stop their erratic movement by performing kumbhaka through pranayama, so that the blocked channel of the central nadi, viz, susumna, could be opened for the ascent of the kundalini-sakti. This is symbolically called 'the eating of fish', matsya-bhaksana and such aspirants are known as matsyasadhaka. Mudra literally means positioning of fingers in prescribed posture but in the context of Tantric sadhana, it signifies relinquishing of association with evil. The parched grain also stands for the burning away of the karmic particles in the sadhaka. In the left hand practice of Tantra, mudra is a term applied to the girl in the sexual rite. Even here the girl referred to is merely symbolic, whose body is compassion, and whose form is pure bliss. The sadhaka has to enjoy her in order to experience this great bliss maha-sukha. This takes us to the last of the five 'm's that is maithuna. It means that the sadhaka has no more a separate existence other than the all embarrassing Reality. Though maithuna literally means sexual intercourse, in the Siddha tradition it signifies the union pf kundalini -sakti with Siva existing in the sahasrara. About this maithuna Sankaracaraya writes: the bride (the kundalini) entering into the royal way (the central nadi) meets and embraces the supreme bridegroom (Siva) and by this embrace they make floods of nectar flow. (Refer Chintamanistava.). 607

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The employment of sex imagery is frequent in the tantric lore. It works both ways - making it adorable and making it abominable, although sex is employed in tantra not for direct gratification but for reversal and restraint. Unfortunately we live in an erotic age of 'sex affirming culture where for better or worse the lid is off the Id. Special care must be taken in deciphering sexual metaphors and symbols used by the Siddhas and the tantrics who divinized sex in order to take away sex-mindedness. It is very true that in this imperfect world the way to hell is paved with very good intentions. As a washerman makes a dirty cloth clean with some matter which itself is dirt, or as some water accidentally goes into one's ears is taken out by the help of some additional water itself, the Siddhas and the tantrics feel that one can get rid of the kama by kama itself. Kama becomes a bondage only when it is resorted to by the foolish and not by the wise in whose case it serves as the cause of emancipation. It is said that the joy of sexual union is a foretaste of heaven. It is also observed that when an animal's sexual instinct is over whelmingly strong its instinct for self-preservation or selfidentity is reduced practically to zero. During sexual union one loses one's sense of individuality and merges oneself into a greater whole. Sexual union is the obscure silence where all lovers lose themselves. Tirumular calls sexual union as yoga and terms it as pariyankayogam, which has been translated by Zvelebil as 'bedstead yoga?8. It may also be noted in this context that the familiar symbol of sexual union in Tibetan iconography Yab-Yum does not mean merely 'male-female' more specifically it means 'father-mother and therefore, sexual union is actually a reverential expression. According to H.V. Guenther, the symbolic Yugananddha points to the unique harmony and interpenetration of masculinity and feminity. Sexual union is the best expression for the most intimate relation between the opposites. We may end our discussion of the five 'm's, by saying that there exists a big gap between the literal, substitutional and symbolic meanings of them as used in the tantras. 5. An example from Tirumular's sunya sambhasanai. We may refer to the oft-quoted verse of Tirumular!'. The superficial meaning of the verse as it stands is: I sowed brinjal and got bitter gourd; I dug the dust but the pumpkin flowered. After seeing this perversion, the gardeners ran away from me. Then the plantain fruit became ripe." But the implied meaning is: I undertook the practice of kundalini yoga ("sowed brinjal"), because of it I got the vairagya (got bitter gourd). I examined the tattvas of the self (digging the dust or philosophical speculation). Because of it, I found Sivatattva in me (pumpkin flower: Civam manifesting itself). Once Sivatattva was discovered in me all my indriyas kept quiet (the gardeners, i.e., the sense organs ran away from 608

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me). Then I enjoyed the fruit of Sivanubhava (the plantain fruit is the spiritual gain). The symbolic twilight language of the Tamil Siddhas has the advantage of precision, concentration, secrecy, mystery and esoteric significance in that symbols are objective shortcuts to subjective states of bliss. The symbols at the hands of the Siddhas, become a form of artistic expression into their unexpressed reference. The use of the symbolic language is not merely a protection against the profanation of the sacred by the ignorant; but also suggests that language however enriched, is incapable of expressing the highest experience of the spirit. In Sufi technology, any attempt to convey the inner meaning of one's spiritual experiences in a conventional language is like 'sending a kiss by a messenger'. Conclusion: We may conclude our understanding of the nature and significance of symbol in spiritual enterprise by quoting a passage from Mircea Eliade20: "Finally it is necessary to underline the existential value of religious symbolism, that is the fact that a symbol always aims at a reality or situation in which human existence is engaged. It is above all this existential dimension that marks off and distinguishes symbols from concepts. Symbols still keep their contact with the profound sources of life; they express one might say the "spiritual as lived..." This is the why symbols have, as it were, a "numinous aura": they reveal that the modalities of the spirit are at the same time manifestations of life, and consequently they directly engage human existence. The religious symbol not only unveils a structure of reality or a dimension of existence, by the same stroke it brings a meaning to human existence. This is why even symbols aiming at the Ultimate Reality conjointly constitute existential revelations for the man who deciphers their message. ...because of the symbol, the individual experience is "awakened", and transmuted into a spiritual act. To 'live' a symbol and decipher its message correctly implies an opening towards the Spirit and, finally access to the universal." Notes: 1. Tirumandiram, 293. 2. Hariprasad Shastri, Buddha Gan 0 Doha. 3 Vidhushekara Bhattacharya (Sastri), "Sandabhasa",Indian Historical Quarterly vol IV, 2, pp 287-296. 609

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4. 5. Buddhadasa, Two kinds of Language, pp 20-24. Refer also Per Kvaerne, An Anthology of Buddhist Tantric Songs, pp. 5 - 7 for a brief account of the range of opinion on sandhyabhasa. Refer also the "unacceptable view" of P.K. Banerjee. Banerjee says that the term sandhya is the proper name of a dialect system in a region of this name called the Sandhya country (Quoted by V. Bhattacharya, op.cit., p-288). 6. Hariprasad Shastri, p-46. 7. Lama Govinda's view in The Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, p-46. 8. D.N. Bose's view in Tantras-Their Philosophical and Occult Secrets, P-137. 9. Aghehananda Bharati's view in The Tantric Tradition, p-170. 10. Ibid, p-171. 11. Mircea Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, p - 250. 12. Tirumandiram. 748. 13. Buckwell and Stuart Fox, The Twilight Language, p - 34-35. 14. Ibid, p-35. 15. N. Bose and Hiralal Haldar, Tantras: - Their Philosophical and Occult Secrets, p -186. 16. Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Lokayata, p - 309. 17. The Hatha - Yoga - Pradipika, III, 47-48. 18. Kamil Zvelebil, The Poets of the Powers, p - 78. 19. Tirumandiram, 2869. 20. Mircea Eliade, The History of Religions, pp. 102 -103. 610

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2. Select Bibliography 1. Aiyar. A.V. Subramania, The Poetry and the Philosophy of the Tamil Siddhas., Tirunvelveli: S. Mahadevan, 1957. Bagchi, Prabodh Chandra, "The Sandhabhasa and Sandhavacana". Indian Historical Quarterly, V1,2 , 1930. pp 389 - 96. (Reprinted in Studies in the Tantras, pp 27 - 33). 3. Bharati, Agehananda, The Tantric Tandiram, New Delhi: BI, Pub lications, First Indian Edition, 1976. Bhattacharya, Vidhushekhara. "Sandhabasa". Indian Historical Quarterly. Vol. IV.2,1928, pp. 287 - 96. Bose D.N. and Halder Hiralal. Tantras: Their Philosophy and Occult Secrets, Calcutta Oriental Publishing Co., 1956 Buckwell, Roderick S. and Stuart Fox, Martin, The Twilight Language, explorations in Buddhist. Medidation and Symbolism. London, Curzon Press, 1986 Buddhadasa. Two kinds of Language, (tr.) Ariyananda Bhikku, Bangkok: Sublime Life Mission, 1974. Chattopadhyaya Deviprasad, Loyakata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism. New Delhi: People's Publishing House, Third Edition, 1973. 9. Elder George R. "Problems of Language in Buddhist Tantra" History of Religions, 15.(1975-76), pp.231-50. 10. Eliade, Mircea, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, (tr). W.R. Trask, New York: Bollingen Series LVI, Panthean Books 1958. 11. Eliade, Mircea The History of Religions: Essays in Methodology, Mircea Eliade and Joseph M. Kitagawa, (ed.) The University of Chicago press, 1959. 12. Ganapathy. TN The Philosophy of the Tamil Siddhas, New Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical. Research, 1993 13. Govinda Lama Angarika, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, London: Rider and Co., 1959. 14. Guenther, Herbert V. Yuganaddha: The Tantric View of Life. Poona, The Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Studies Vol III. 15. Hess Linda. "The Cow is sucking at the Calfs Teat: Kabir's Upside Down Language". History of Religions, Vol.22,1982-83, pp.313-37. 611

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16. Kvaerne, Per. An Anthology of Buddhist Tantric Songs: Oslo: Norwegian Research Council, 1977. 17. Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. Sexual Metaphors and Animal Symbols in Indian Mythology, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, Third Indian Edition, 1981. 18. Sinh, Pancham, (tr.) The Hathya Yoga Pradipika, New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 2-Medn., 1975. 19. Stein.O. The Numeral 18". The Poona Orientalist, Vol. 1,No.2, Oct, 1936, pp-1 - 37. 20. Zvelebil Kamil V. The Poets of the Powers, London, Rider&Co., 1973. 612

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STAGES OF LIFE (ASRAMA) IN JAIN TRADITION - Dr. Dinanath Sharma Eversince the dawn of the Vedic civilization, Indians, in general, codifide the way of their life. They divided themselves into four groups according to their duties to two society so as to maintain the harmony and smooth functioning of the society. Likewise, they divided they span of their life into four stages, viz. Brahmacarya asrama, grahastha asrama, vanaprastha asrama and Samnyasa asrama. It was the natural process of life in India hence the kings and emporers were supposed to ensure it in the society, as the Raghuvamsa says. Saisave byastavidyanam yauvane visayaisinam, Vardhakye munivrttinam yogenante tanutyajam //' (i.e. The kings of the Raghu clan used to get education in childhood, they used to strive for material gains like, marriage, earning money etc. in youth, in old age, i.e. after fifty years of age, they used to live in a hermit and in the end of their life a they used to leave their body in a state of meditation.) In Brahmana tradition, a boy, having been purified by upanayana samskaram enters, the stage of studentship (brahmacarya). He goes to the teacher in a Gurukula and Studies Veda and others sciences upto the age of twenty five years. After the completion of education in Gurukula, he enters the life of a houseolder in which he marries and ext ends his generation ahead. After that when he reaches the age of fifty years, he assigns all the responsibilities to his son ! and goes to live like a hermit with his wife in past. Where he performs sacrifices and takes vegetables and fruits in his food till the age of 75 years. Thereby he abolishes the attachment and aversion. He, then, renounces the world for ever and becomes saint till the end of his life. Of all these four stage of life in Vedic tradition the second stage (i.e. grahasthasrama) is most important. Sarvesamapi caitesam vedasmrtividhanatah/ glhastha ucyate sresthah sa trinetan bibharti hi // - Manusmrti - 6-88 (i.e. As Vedas and smrtis (law books) have said, the life of a housholder is the most prominent, because, a housholder takes care of the other three stage brahmacaryasrama, vanaprasthasrama and sannyasa asrama, 613

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yatha nadinadah sarve sagare yanti samsthitim / tatthaivarraminah sasuce grhasthe yanti samsthitim // Manusmrti 6-89 As the she rivers and she rivers become estable in the sea, the same way all the asramas (stages) depend upon the grhasthasrama. Jain tradition on the other hand has only two stages of life one is that of a housholder and the other is of a mendicant. Acarya Ravisena in his Padmacaritam, says - asramasca samutpannah sagaretarabhedatah These two stages were started at the time of Rsabhadeva, the first Tirthankara of the Jainas. Of these two, the second one, i.e. life of a mendicant is supreme Parivajjadu samannam jadi icchadi dukkha parimukkham Pravacanasara - 201 If you want to get rid of miseries or grivences, accept the life of a monk. In the life of a householder, one is bound to have bondages of many, worldly things, like wife, children, wealth etc. In order to maintain the householder's life, one is bound with the responsibility for killings of many creatures knowingly or unknowlingly, which leads to the bondages of many Ghati Karmas and Aghati Karmas and consequently he remains in this world by way of rebirth. In order to pave the way for imancipation, the Jain tradition has codified the five small scale vows (anuvratas) As is said before, it is difficult for the housholder to avoid injury to life totally in daily routine of cultivating land, cooking food, grinding corn, cleaning to toilet and so on. To accommodate this, it is recommendaded to deserve the first small vow, i.e. ahimsa anuwrata in which a Jain householder should not injure the mobile beings which have two or more senses. He should avoid intended killings of the beings. Similarly, as the householder cannot always refrain from all kinds of falsehood, he takes the second small vow of truthfulness to avoid false statements out of extreme affection for people or property, hatred and deluded outlook which might lead to destruction of homes and villages. The third small vow of the householder is to refrain from taking anything without the owner's consent, including something which has been abandoned by another person and may lead to punishment by the king or to ensured by the people. 614

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The fourth small vow of the householder is to desist from sexual activity with anyone other than one's spouse. The fifth small vow of the household is to voluntarily limit the possession of cattle, corn, land and so on. There are seven other vows, that are to be observed by the householder 1. Dig virati vrata : Refraining from moving outside a limited area requires the householder to restrict his sphere of activity as the only way to avoid all harmful activities beyond the specified area. 2. Desavirati vrata: The householder is required to restrict himself from the movement outside the smaller area stipulated for Digvirati as to expand the area of immunity from his exploitative activities. This commitment grants fearlessness of him to all beings outside that area. 3. Anarthadandavirati vrata: It is wanton destruction of consumable and non consumable necessities of a householder's life. There are five varieties of wanton destruction - (1) evil thoughts of conquest, subjugation, killing, mutilating, harting and so on, (2) evil counsel to torture animals and indulge in harmful activities (3) negligent conduct such as recklessly cutting trees, digging or flooding fields, (4) supplying lothal weapons (5) malicious sermons. 4. Samayika : Keeping aloof from sinful conduct for a set period means resistience from all injurious activities during that time. 5. Pausadhopavasa: The sacred days for fasting are prescribed as the eighth, fourteenth or fifteenth day of the fortnight. During the fast period, the householder obstains from bathing and using cosmetics and ever refraining from violence and so on, remains constantly aware of his vows. Fasting on sacred days should be observed at clean places occupies by monks, temples or one's own place of religions practice. 6. Upabhogaparibhogaparimana : Limiting use of consumable and non consumable goods refers to 615

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food, drinks, cosmatics, rich clothes and jewellary, beeds, chairs, vehicles and so on. 7. Atithisamvibhaga : Offering alms to ascetics must be undertaken with care to follow the strict prescriptions of the script was. The ascetics should be offered suitable food and drink with devotion and humility benefiting the custom and etiquette of the place and occasion. A householder should offer food, religious equipments, medicine and shelter to monks. When the householder, practitioner of the small vows perceives clear sign of approaching death or feels his uetter incapability to fulfill his religious vows, then he/she should shant reducing his diet, then fasts regularly for progressively longer periods, adopts the observance of the ascetic's self restraint and finally gives up all food and drink to fast to death while engaged in reflection and meditations. This is called Samadhimarana. The second stage of life, in Jain tradition is the life of a mendicant. As is said before, Jain tradition gives more importance to the second one unlike the Vedic tradition. It says, if one wants to attain emancipation, one aught to renounce the world so as to observe the code of conduct in full leading to the ultimate goal. There are five great vows laid down in scriptures to observe for literation. They are as follows : 1. Abstinence from violence (ahimsa) 2. Abstinence from falsehood (Satya) 3. Abstinence from stealing (asteya) 4. Abstinence from carnality (brahmacarya) 5. Abstinence from possessiveness (aparigraha). Taking life away out of passion is voilance. A monk must obtain not only from such kiling in actual sense but also from the passion of such killings. passion of any act is more important that the act itself. Because even if one does not kill any creature, but has the strong passion to do so, one is volnerable to influx of karmas. Speaking untruthfully out of passion and preaching false doctrines are both falsehood. But even speaking out truthfully is despicable when it leads to violance. Harsh words and back biting, no matter they are true of false are worthy of blame. A monk is supposed to obstain from it. To take anything, even a blade of grass, without permission of the 616

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owner, is called stealing. This contaminates the mind, hence it is avoidable. The desire to touch each other, which arises in the minds of two persons charged with lust, is called coupulation. Celibecy promotes the virtures of non-violence, truth and so on, while coupulation augments their opposites because it is bound to involve billing mobile and immobile beings, speaking falsely, commiting theft and indulging in possessiveness. Possessiveness is clinging to the animate and inanimate. It may refer to clining to something in the external world or to feeling within the self. There are five supportive practices for estabilizing each of the great vows. They are - controlling speech, controlling the mind, moving about carefully, handling implement carefully, inspecting food and drink properly to ensure that they are acceptable. Jinasena and other thinkers have recognised four stages of life in Jaina tradition, but their nature is quite different from that of Vedic tradition. They call Vanaprastha as naisthika sravaka, in which a householder adopts the vows of Ksullaka and ailaka and purifies his soul. When, he practices successfully the part of the samyama, he becomes enlightened and starts annihilating karmas by more efforts in that. The fourth stage is called bhiksu, in which he take initiation under a guru and starts complete observance of all the tenets and doctrines, that are laid down by scriptures'. In Vedic tradition, a man in Vanaprastha stage, is allowed to keep his wife with him or he can keep his wife in his sons caretaking, whereas a Jain in vanaprastha stage can not keep his wife with him. Vedic Vanaprasthi can take food once a day or night, but a Jaina Vanaprasthi can take only one food, that too in day time. Dinner at night is strictly prohibited for him. Vedic Vanaprasthi can store food items for one day, one month or one year", whereas, a Jaina Vanaprasthi has to depend upon the alins only. He cannot store his food materials for a single day. A Vedic Vanaprasthi has to perform Pancagni penance." Jaina considers that as falsc hood. Vedic tradition recommends only three castes to become vanaprasthi i.e. Brahmana, ksatriyal and vaisya Jaina has no such bar. Anybody can become vanaprasthi. There was a fraction of vanaprashi in Vedic tradition, who were called utovasikta. They used to eat the meat of those creatures which were killed by tigers, wolves and eagles, whereas the Jaina at any stage, can not eat meat or flash of any creature at all. Thus, we see that Jainas have different kind of the stages of life. 617

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Mainly, they have only two stages - the stage of a householder and the stage of a monk. The main purpose of their life is to get emancipation, so the monk hood is most prominent. Reference 1. Raghuvansam 1.6 2. Jaina Dharma Ki Maulika Visesatayem, p. 63 3. Dharmasastra ka Itihasa, Part I, P. 485 4. Ibid P. 486 5. Ibid. P. 486 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Raghuvansam Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, 1998 Manusmrti Chaukhambha Sanskrita Pratisthan, Varanasi 3. Tattvarthasutra, Tr. Dr. Nathmal Tatia Institute of Jainology, London, 2004 Dharmasastra ka Itihasa P.V.Kane Hindi Samiti, Information Deptt. Lucknow. 4. 5. Jaina Dharma Ki Maulika Visesatayem Dr. Rameshchandra Jain Digambara Jaina Sramana Samskrti Samsthan Sanganera, 2005 618

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The Contribution of Indian thought towards the Philosophy of Environment and Ecology in the emerging age of Global Society. - Prof. S. N. Chaudhary The Philosophy of environment and ecology has gained great momentum in the emerging age of global society, which shows man's concern for the maintenance of environment and eco-system as it is much needed for his own survival on this planet in the present era of science and technology. Man's untiring sincere efforts to conquer space and time and his other limitations by exploiting nature and its resources have made the life of human race much more comfortable and remarkable success has been achieved in the direction of the evolution of the globalcommunity. The developed sources of transportation and communication have brought the persons of different races, religions, culture and geographical regions much closer, as a result of which, the different societies are trying to understand, embibe and share the experiences, ideas and problems of each other in a better way. But as a side effect, it has also contributed a lot towards the global-race of uncared industrialisation, urbanisation, arms-race and careless over-exploitation of nature and it resources, which has resulted into grave damage to the environment and eco-system. Due to the critical level of pollution in the atmosphere and hydrosphere great heath-hazards are being faced by the living creatures including man, resulting into incurable diseases leading even to the extinction of so many creatures. The list of endangered species are getting bigger. In this context serious concern for maintaining the purity of environment and eco-system (of recent origin) has down upon humanrace, which proves that the strong "will to survive" is still vibrant in human-race. The slogans of "narture nature" and "save the earth" are echoing throughout the length and breadth of the world and ways and means are being sought out to preserve the environment, which is considered to be the only way to maintain the 'eco-system'. The term 'environment1 originates from the words 'environ1 and 'ment' which mean 'encircle' or 'around', and it ultimately denotes the surroundings that encircle us from all sides. The World-Dictionary defines environment as "the sum of all conditions, agencies and influences which affect the development, growth, life and death of an organism, species or race". The environmental ethics is almost synonymous to the term 'ecology', which has its root in the Greek words 'Oikos' and 'Logos', meaning 'study of home or habitat." Hence, ecology has been defined as "the study of organism in relation to their environment.1 To be more 619

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precise "ecology is the pattern of relationships between plants, animals, people and their environment".? Charles H. Southwick in his book "Ecology and the Quality of our Environment" has tried to enlarge the canvas of the definition of environment and has said that "Ecology is the scientific study of the relationship of living organism with their environment". This view is shared by other thinkers as well who regard ecology not merely as scientific discipline but the natural development of everything affecting life and environment, including that which is relevant to human society and activity. Prominent Russian scholar Lestsin observes "The prime purpose of human ecology is to find through research into interaction between man and his environment, the optional conditions necessary for man to survive and develop his physical and spiritual ability". But inspite of man's realisation of the puzzling problem of environment and ecology, his efforts seem to be only moles before the mountains. B. Dubos rightly holds- "Human Ecology is at present in cricis almost everywhere in the modern world because man seems to be unable to adjust to the change in the environment and the mode of life which he has himself created." Components of Environment and Eco-System: In order to have a proper understanding of Environment and Ecosystem, a brief analysis of their components in needed, which can be classified broadly in four categories:- (i) Abiotic substance (ii) Producer organism (iii) Consumer organism (iv) Decomposer organism. Under the category of Abiotic substance come the carbonic and non-carbonic substances both like water, gases like cabon-di-oxide, nitrogen, oxygen etc., soils, minerals, salts, acids, sunlight, heat, eather and others. Producer organisms are mainly vegitation and Bacteria which are called 'Autotroph'. They prepare their own food by transforming the carbonic substances into non-carbonic substances through the process of Photo-Synthesis of the energy recieved from the sun-light and also by taking the nitrogen, minirals and other elements through their roots from the soil. Thus, the Consumer organisms depend upon the abiotic substances, but they are the producer of their food themselves. Under the third category come the consumer organisms like herbivores animals and human beings both, who have to depend upon the vegitation and their products for their food. They are called 'Primary consumer', upon whom depend the secondary consumer like Tigers, Lions and other carnivorus animals for their food. Man comes under the category of "Tertiary Consumer", who are 'Omnivores' as they consume vegitational products and meat both. Under the fourth category come the Decomposer organisms like fungus, paracites etc., which transforms the dead matter like wastages, refuses etc. in to the primary Abiotic substances of nature. These four components of environment and eco-system maintain the cyclic order of the Environment 620

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and Eco-system around which evolves and sustains all the organic and inorganic objects of nature and this amply shows that all these components are interrelated and inter dependent. Hence, the systematic and balanced presence of all these four components are the essential ingredients of maintaining the whole invornment and eco-system which is the primary condition of the existence and sustenance of all the objects both organic and inorganic including human being on this planet earth. Phases of Man's evolution and his relation with environment Though the exact period of the evolution of human beings on this planet is still shrouded in mystry but if the accounts of archeologists are to be relied upon including the social scientists, it takes us to millions of years back. But there is complete unanimity among the thinkers that man has transformed himself to his present status through the utilisation of his reason, which he is gifted with and in his long journey he has passed through different phases of his evolution, which are chiefly four in number. I. Food fathering primitive period : In the primitive period of his existence human beings used to gather or take food directly from the vast and abundant natural resources like monkeys and other herbivores animais. I would not like to contribute to the opinion of those thinkers, who hold that in this primitive period he started with hunting and consuming animal meat along with fruits and other vegitational products as the mechanism of human body does not permit it to take uncooked raw meat and man had no knowledge to ignite fire at this stage. As a matter of fact man is born 'herbivores' who turned to be 'Omni-vores' in the succeeding period of his development, most probably after his discovery of the science of fire tools and weapons. Besides, the idea of hunting animals by the armless human beings at this stage with his teeth and nails like other carnivores animals seems to be rediculous. At this priminitive stage there would have been no conflict with nature as he would have taken the least from nature that it compensated and also taking in view of his scanty population. The only problem would have been about their safe shelter, which he would have taken in natural caves and large trees of dense forests always fearing from the fierce animals and natural phenomena in different seasons. This helpless primitive period might have cultivated the feeling of wonder and 'awe' towards nature in human beings and would have sowed the seed of their metaphysical leaning towards the natural objects and phenomena. 621

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II Pastoral period and domestication of animals During his primitive period man developed affinity with some of the animals that he domesticated latter on for their future use and started rearing them. In this period also human beings had no conflict with nature and its resources. The social scientists are rightly of the opinion that Pastoral period downed upon human beings after his invention of fire and stone weapons in the stone age, which later on paved the way of his agricultur or food producing stage. During the Pastoral period human beings took the form of nomadic tribal stage in searcn of their food and also for the animals that they reared. III. Food producing period : Human being moved from food procuring stage to food producing stage after his long experiments with nature, spread over thousands of years. In this state he waged his conflict with nature and forests were his first casuality. He started deforestation for his agricultural purposes as he had learnt by then the science of sowing consumbale seeds and also started domestication of congenial fruits bearing trees. This latter on lead to the formation of human family, society and latter on the technology of making his own stationary shelter. It is this period when the concept of property, state and human values were established by the human society to promote them. It was a period of the deification of the objects of nature also to control them by establishing a communion with them. It was the golden period of the origin of Religions, ethical codes and social, political, economic and other laws. In this age the reigns of human civilisation were in the hands of human - value oriented philosophy consequently value based science with its technology was under its governance. IV. Scientific Technological and Industrial period : The modem developed period of Science, Technology and Industry is of recent origin though the foundation of this grand and gigantic structure was laid down by human race in the different phases of social and cultural evolution. Though most of the western thinkers trace back the origin of Science as we call it today, to 7th B.C. and give this credit to Greeks, but the archeological evidences collected in the different locations go quite contrary to this claim. The contribution of the prehistoric races of human beings in discovering the science of igniting fire and its management, the discovery of astronomical phenomena, the technic of making tools, utencils and different metals, mathematical calculation, agriculture, architecture, chemicals ay the ancient people in 622

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India, China, Arabia, Bebilone etc. can not be dismissed from the domain of science and technology that have paved the way of modem human race to achieve greater heights in the modem era. It began with the copernical revolution in the 17th century A.D., and was nourished by the scientific method of Becon which changed the scinario all together. Previously Philosophers dominated the field of science now scientists, mathematicians and geometrician entered into the domain of Philosophy where hearty welcome awaited them. Science, which took its birth from the womb of Philosophy, the mother of all branches of knowldege established its own settlements and the process of its alianation from the value based philosophy started. In the long run science became valuenutral' and adopted the path of radical materialism, utilitarianism and pragmatism from which the value oriented philosophy of east and west had maintained a distance. The concept of common good, altruism and ultimately the human values established throughout the human history were declared as myth and Utopian ideas also along with the metaphysical postulates. During this period science and technology transformed human society from the stage of worshipper of nature to its conqurer and exploiter, without caring for the consequences that have overtaken human race in the form of Environmental and Ecological crisis as a result of which, the very existence of all objects of nature both organic and inorganic including human beings are at stake. Though the modern men have brought so many revolutions like industrial revolution, technological revolution, green revolution, white revolution, space revolutions etc., but the human values established after arduous experiences of human race spread over millions of years have been the sole casuality due to which science and technology have become grear-free and every now and then a dooms day is being predicated. We have no answer as to why we are still producing the weapons of mass-distruction or why we are spending so much on wandering in space without solving the earthly problems of hunger, mal-nutrition, safe drinking water, affordable sheltors to the millions of have nots, energy, alternative sources of renewable energy, population control, health-care, flood-control, irrigation, education, human rights, justice, transportation and other countless problems challenging the human society ? Why are we not addressing to the alarming problem of the safe disposal of atomic and other wastes, air-pollution, sound-pollusion, water-pollution, ecoogical-imbalance in the form of global warming, Tsunami, earth-quake on a war footing? Is it not a shame on us that still starvation-deaths are taking place on earth and we are boasting of conquring moon, mars and other planets ? Exactly these questions and a lot more have no reasonable answers. The only answer is that science and technology has become hostile to the humanvalues that were established by the human society for common good of the human being at large and it is the pious duty of the philosophers 623

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to awaken modern men to arouse from their dogmatic slumber and find out ways and means to set the modern science and technology on the cherished path of human-values that would guarantee the peaceful and meaningful existence of mankind on this only wonderful planet gifted with all the congenial conditions of living being, including human species. Indian thoughts on environment and ecology The scientific study of environment and ecology is of recent origin, but as a Philosophical thought it is very old and it has to be safely admitted that it has its deepest roots in the ancient Philosophy of the east. Under this background, it would be interesting to study the contribution of Indian thought towards the Philosophy of Environment and Ecology, which may prove to be an impetus and a paradiam to the modern scientific study for their preservation. The Vedas It is unequivocally and universally accepted that the Vedas, which mean 'knowledge', is the oldest treasure-house or lighthouse of the supreme knowledge that includes the world with all its objects, available to the human-race. The history of the origin of the Vedas is still so much shrouded in mystry that the excercise to unravel it seems to be miserably insufficient biosed orbitray conjectures." Same is the case with the actual import or the real meaning leading to the mystic supreme knowledge for which they are known, as they are hidden in the garb of their surface meaning.The 'Arsha Vyakaran.(Grammer of the Rishies) have unfortu nately been lost, as a result of which it becomes very difficult to decode them. The famous grammarian and interpreter Yask admits about his ignorance of 400 words of the Vedas. Hence, while most of the Western thinkers have tried to underestimate while a host of Indian thinkers have over estimated them. However, the Vedas which reflect the most ancient culture of the civilised human-race called "The Aryans" (Arya), lay considerable stress on the preservation of environment and eco-system as it has been their focal point. The Vedas hold that origination of all the objects of nature has only 'one' source in which all the objects have equal status and man is not endowed with any special power or position to be considered as superior to the objects of nature and has not been authorised to control/ or exploit them carelessly and orbitrarily in his own favour. The 'Purush Sukta" and 'Nasdiya Sukta of the Rig Veda give an interesting account of the 'Virata Purusha' or 'Parama Purusha' (ultimate cause) from which originate and evolve all the different objects of the universe, including man and his surroundings in the form of environment and eco-system. As a matter of fact the Vedas regard nature as living-force and with their living presence, they could have communion 624

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with it. Dr. Radha Krishnan rightly holds that "this worship of nature as such is the earliest form of Vedic religion." According to them 'Rita'10 is the natural principle of the governance and maintenance of all objects of the universe. Hence, they often call it as the father or maintainer or the harmony of universe and nature, which includes Gods as well because even the Gods can not transgress it. The whole universe is founded in 'Rital and moves in it and nothing can overstep its bounds.11 The world according to them is no more a chaos representing the blind fury of chance elements, but is the working of a harmonious purpose."12 This concept of 'Rita' can be safely regarded as the foundation of the modern concept of 'eco-system and the maintenance of its harmony. This reminds us of the concept of 'Monads' and the principle of "Pre-established harmony" propounded by the modern Western Philospher Leibenitz latter on. In the zeal of love towards nature, environment and eco-system, the Vedas show great reverence to them as devine objects and the forces of universe and worship them as God. The sun, stars, moon, earth, water, air, fire, earth, mountains, stones, animals, birds, rivers, oceans, grains etc. are given the status of God and Goddess. The earth'13 is regarded as the mother of Gods, 'fire'l4 as the God of creation, Varuna'15 as the God of sky, 'Sun'16 as a form of Lord Vishnu, which supports all the world as the author of all light and life in the world and the beholder of the conduct of man." It reminds us of the sun-worship of the Greeks and Plato's idealised concept of sun-worship as detailed in his famous work Republic'. God ' Mitral has been given the status of the companion of the Sky-god Varuna' and is regarded as the upholder of the natural law 'Rita!. The famous "Gayatri hymn is addressed to the God 'Savitral Surya (Sun) and he has also been regarded as the form of God Vishnu, the sustainer of the universe, which latter on formed the basis of the sect of Vaishnavism that is often regarded as the true representative of 'Sanatana Dharmal of the Aryans. "Pushana' is another solar God who is regarded as the pastoral God and the guardian of the cattles. 'Usha, the Goddess of dawn, is regarded as the bestower of light and life. The inseparable twins 'Ashvins' are the brothers of 'Usha' who are the God of down and dusk and 'twilight is their material basis. They gradually take the status of the Physicians of Gods and men, protectors of conjugallove and the deliverer of the oppressed from sufferings. 'Aditi' which means boundless', has been described as the invisible, infinite God, who surrounds the world from all sides and is all pervasive even beyond the earth, clouds and sky. Aditi from whom several Gods called 'Adityas' are born, is what ever has been born and whatever shall be born.18 Aditi corresponds to the all-pervading and all-producing nature, having all the potentiality, which reminds of all-inclusive and all pervasive 'Parkriti' 625

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of Sankhya Philosophy from which evolves the entire universe and its multiplicity. It reminds us of the concept of 'Infinite propounded by the great Greek Philosopher Anaximander (611 -547 B.C.) of the Ionic school. Agni (Fire) one of the most important Gods of the Vedas, who has been addressed in about 200 hyms, including the first hyms of the Rig Veda, latter on gets the status of the medeator between Gods and men20 and is adored as the father, brother, Kinsman and friend.21 Agni (Fire) takes the central position of the Yajna-culture of the Aryans who establishes man's communion with Gods. 'Soma', the God of inspiration and betower of immortal life occupies an important place in the Vedas. The intoxicant 'Soma' latter on takes the status of having medicinal powers helping even the blind to see and the lame to walk.22 In a hymn addressed to 'some they pray - "Where there is eternal light in the world, where the sun is placed, in that immortal and imperishable world place me, O Soma."23 Some thinkers are of the opinion that 'Somais "analogous to the 'Haoma of the 'Avesta' and 'Dinysos' of Greek, the God of wine and grapes. "24 But we are not enclined to accept this suggestion in its totality, as 'Soma' inspite of possessing intoxicant qualities, is devinised to the exalted status of the best ower of infinite immortality and enternal knowledge (light). 'Parjanya! is another god of sky and has been called the father25 and the 'mother-earth' as 'wife 26 Parjanya' has been also regarded as the God of rain and cloud 27 who rules over the whole world and all creatures rest in it as it is the life of all that moves and rests.28 Maxmuller is of the openion that "Parjanya' is identical with the Lithuanian thunder-God 'Parkunas? 29 But the analogy seems to be too week as 'Parjanya' possesses a far greater aura and is regarded as the God of the whole environment and eco-system. Indra30 is another God of environment who assumes the mightiest position after killing the demons who had captured the sources of water (seven streams), as a result of which all the creatures were at the point of extinction. Several environmental deities like Vata' or 'Vayu' (wind), Maruts (storm) and 'Rudra' (millitant dreaded deity) are his companions. "Rudra31 latter on becomes 'Shiva"32 (the benignant), around whom the 'Shaivism' School of Sanatana Dharma originated and developed latter on. Vishwakrman' (maker of the world), 'Prajapati (Lord of creatures), Vishvedeva (God of the world), "Manya, 'Shraddhal etc. are all adored as the God and Goddess of environment. River 'Sindhu33 is worshiped and 'Saraswati' got the position of Goddess. Latter on 'Saraswati is elevated to the status of the Goddess of learning.34 'Aranyaki' is the Goddess of the forests and Vaka' is the Goddess of speech. These Goddesses became the prime basis of the 'Shakta' School of Sanatana Dharma as these Goddesses have been regarded as unperishing energy of the one ultimate 626

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reality Brahman.36 These naturalistic or environmental God and Goddess are often classified into three categories of the God and Goddess of the spheres of earth, air and sky and are said to be 333 in number.37 Even the 'Pitaras? (dead Kins) are invoked together with these devas (Gods).38 But within this politheistic tendency there was the inherent idea of the underlying unity among all the objects and forces of nature as a result of which ultimate regard for all of them was paid. Their devotion and concern for the environment and eco-system was so great that they gave clear commandments for their preservation.39 A clear instruction to avoid the cutting of trees even for the purpose of 'yajna' has been given and they regarded the trees as their friends.41 The Vedas takes the earth and its environment as the affectionate mother and the height of their devotion can be visualised from the the hymns contained in the Atharvaveda praying mother earth for its forgivenes for touching it with feet. 42 Similarly, the Vedas establish the relationship of mother and son between water and man. In Taitareya Samhita43 and Maittayani Samhita44 detailed description of the medical values of water and its peace-giving nature are given. The air (vayu) has been considered as the father, brother and friend of men45 and human beings have been asked to maintain its purity, as pure air is the bestower of health, long life and happiness. 46 Similar accounts are available about the prime importance of the different objects, creatures and forces of nature for maintaining human-life and grattitude has been expressed to them for providing the human-race with all the ingredients needed for its preservation. Hence, the Vedic-society was very much conscious about the preservation of the purity of environment and showing reverence to all the objects of the eco-system. The famous 'Shanti Mantra' (hymn of peace) contained in the Yajurveda (Om Dyauh Shantih Antariksham Shantih.....) in which peace is invoked in the different objects of nature, speaks a lot about their earnest desire for the maintenance and preservation of environmental and ecological balance.47 This was also cheifly due to the fact that according to them all the objects of nature including man have a common source of origin. The Vedas declare that the Ultimate Reality is 'One' and the learned call by many names (Ekam Sad viprah bahudha vadanti)48. Accepting this great contribution of the Vedas about the "One Supreme Being" as the primary source of the origin of all beings Maxmuller Observes that in course of the collection of Rig Veda Samhita the conviction had been formed that there is but One Being ..........which even at present is beyond the reach of many who call themselves Christains.949 This basic concept of "One Supreme Spirit" as the underlying force in all beings, whether living or non-living, echoed in almost all the 627

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succeeding Philosophical, ethical and religious throughs of India, including the Upanishads, Puranas, Epics, Darshanas, Schools of Sanatana Dharma and even contemporary Indian Philosophy. Hence, almost all the thinkers of India laid considerable stress on the maintenance and preservation of environment and eco-system. THE UPANISHADS The Upanishads, which are taken to be the concluding portion of the Vedas, (preceeded by Mantra or Samhita (hymn) and Brahman (elaboration), are often regarded as its (Vedas') culmination or essense and are called Vedanta (Veda-anta) which are often interpreted as gist (conclusions) or climax of the Vecdas.Hence, almost all the 108 Upanishads in general and cheifly 10 most popular of them put tremendous emphasis on the "Oneness of spirit" as the underlying force in all beings of the universe. Dr. S.. Radha-Krishnan rightly holds - "The Upanishads are decisive about the principle that Brahman is the sole source of life, the single thread binding the whole plurality into a single unity."50 The Ishavasya Upanishad holds that entire universe is the manifestation of the Supreme Being (Ishavasyamidam Sarvam....)51 Similar declarations are found in abundance in Svetasvatara52, Taittiriyas3, Chhadogya54, Mundaka55, Brihadaranyaka" and almost all the Upanishads, which ultimately form their focal point. Hence, they seem to be more emphatic in treating the whole universe as a family (Vasudhai va Kutumbakam) and in exhibiting greater reverence to all the objects (living or non-living) in nature. Describing the evolution of the universe from the One ultimate cause 'Sat' (Existence as such) Chhandogya Upanishad says that when the 'Sat' willed to expand and multiply Tejas' (light) or 'Agni (fire) evolved. Again the spirit in Tejas' willed to multiply and from it evolved 'Jala(water) and so on all the living and non-living objects of the universe originated and developed.57 The will' or 'wish might be understood and explained as the 'inherent time-frame' contained in the ultimte unmanifested formless 'Sat' which is considered as the one ultimate cause of the universe. The Upanishads are so much serious about the maintenance of environment and eco-system that they even go to extent of decrying the latter Vedic 'Karm-Kanda'58 (rituals and rites) most probably because it made room for violence in the form of animal-sacrifices. Hence, 'AtmaJnana (Self-realisation) became its primary concern, which are widely expressed in its commandments like Tatvamasis9 (that art thau), 'Ayamatma Brahman%60 (Soul is Brahman), 'Aham Brahma' (I am Brahman)61 etc. Thus, the Upanishads lay greater stress on showing compassion to all the creatures of nature as it advocated with all seriousness its message of non-injury to any creature, purity of food in the form of strict 628

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vegetarianism which inspired the latter Philosophical and religious schools that took their shape in India including even the non-vedic systems of Jainism and Buddhism as a result of which every revival of Indian thought tries to trace its ancestry to the teachings of the Upanishads. THE PURANAS The Puranas (eighteen in number) which paved the way of the transformation of the age-old 'Sanatana-Dharma' of the Aryans into an organised religious creed that came to be known as 'Hinduism at the latter stage), having so many rivalets of sects like Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Shaivism etc. carried out their ancestral message about the maintenance of the purity of environment and the preservation of the eco-system with greater devotional zeal and fervour. Supporting the Vedic and Upanishadic doctrines of the origin of the universe from one prime source they came out with the concept of trinity' (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva with Shakti as their force) and 'Avataravada' (Theory ot incarnations) which included even the non-human creatures like fish, tortoise, boar and combination of lion and man. They deified the animals and birds like Brishabha (bull) Mushika (rats), Shesha Naga (snake), Airavata (elephant), Go (Cow), etc. and birds like Garuda (eagle), Hansa (Swan), Mayura (Peacock), Ulooka (owl) etc. and glorified most of them as the Vahana' (conveyance) of Gods. They worshiped the trees like Asvattha, Pipal, Varagada, Shami, Kalpa-briksha, Parijata, Kadamba etc. and plants like Tulasi and so on. Seas, rivers mountains etc. are regarded by them as the abode of Gods. The Prakriti (nature), Grahas, Nakshatras (stars), Dika (space), Kala (Time), Bhoot (elements) and even the atoms of nature were devinised by them.62 Hence, they put far greater stress on showing reverance to all the objects of nature and for the maintenance of the purity of environment and eco-system. With this end in view, they propogated ethical concept of Vegetarianism with foundamentalist zeal in which the sect of Vaishnavism has been most rigid. THE MAHAKAVYAS (THE EPICS) The two great Mahakavyas (epics) of this age namely Valmiki's "Ramayana' and Vyasa's 'Mahabharata' are cheifly based upon the two most dreaded wars fought out on this land in the Treta and 'Dvapara? age for the eradication of evil and for the re-establishment of good. Both of them re-affirm their unqualified conviction in the Vedic and Upanishadic doctrines of the oneness of the ultimate cause of the universe and the concept of the omnipresence of spirit in all beings. Hence, in the Ramayana the non-human creatures like Monkeys, bears, vultures, crows, eagle (Garurda) etc. have been given the status of devinity and they cooperate with fullest dedication to fight out the evil forces for bringing order and peace in the world. It mythical depiction about the captivation 629

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of the different Gods of nature by the evil designs of the demon king Ravana leading to the alarming disturbance in social and ethical order and resulting into the environmental and ecological disturbance, which were re-established by Rama after killing him in the battlefield.63 Similar accounts available in the Mahabharata exhorts man-kind to maintain the environmental and ecological-balance by self-control and holds that human beings, animals, birds, plants, natural elements, planets, the whole environment and eco-system and even Gods are the parts of the One whole (Purna)64" In the BHAGAVAT GITA65 contained in the Mahabharata a detailed account of this 'unity in diversity' has been described with such a metaphysical and Philosophical brilliance that has given it the status of the true representative-religious scripture of the Sanatana Dharma which came to be known as Hinduism in course of time. Holistic apprach of Mahabharata regards the purity of environment as the essential engredient for maintaining the order in the world and it considers any type of impurity as 'sin.' With this end in view it exhorts man-kind to co-exist peacefully with all the living beings and to desist from committing any type of vice or injury to them. 56 In the post-Mahabharata works like Manusmriti, Panchatantra, Hitopadesha and others the same spirit resounds clearly. Manusmriti is dead against water-pollution by way of easing, urinating and throwing any object that could contaminate it. It clearly states that even the trees have the feeling of pleasure and pain as life and consciousness are very much present in them too, which was latter on substantiated by the great Indian Scientist Sir Jagdish Chandra Basu through his scientific 'experiments. Similarly the great thinker Kautilya was so much serious about the maintenance of environment and eco-system that he prescribed stringent punishments for the violators or offenders and included the preservation of enviromental purity under the duty of the state67 Almost all the scriptures 'Niti' (ethical-codes) and religious works of the age carry on this spirit with all seriousness as a result of which no problem of atmospheric pollution and ecological imbalance arose upto this period of history. THE DARSHANAS (SCHOOLS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY) The different Philosophical schools of ancient Indian thought, known as "Darshana' were though like the two parallel streams flowing in quite divergent directions, namely 'Astika (Pro-vedic) and "Nastika' (anti-vedic), showed marvellous unity in their firm commitment for environmental purity and ecological balance. In their fanatic effort to rationalise Vedic and Upanishadic Idealism through original different unrebuttable logical arguments, the six Pro-Vedic orthodox systems, 630

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known as 'Shad-Darshana? followed the holistic approach of their predecessors (Rishies called Seers) and tried to re-affirm their unqualified support to the basic concept of the essential unity of all beings of the universe. The theistic logical realism of Nyaya(Propounded by Maharshi Gautama) makes a clear-cut division between countless Jivatmas (individual self) and one omniscient and omnipresent Parmatma (God) who are combined under the affectionate relationship of "Father and Children'.68 The same Jivatmas get the different bodies of different living beings under the cycle of birth and rebirth according to their past deeds till their final redemption Moksha (liberation). Thus, all the beings of the world are related under the bonds of one family, which undoubtedly gives a positive impetous towards their co-existence and the concept of the preservation of the whole eco-system and environment. The atomistic pluralism of Maharshi Kanada and his followers, the Philosophy of Maharshi Jaimini's Purva Mimamsa, Maharshi Patanjali's Yoga system and finally the lofty idealism of Vedanta with all its different branches like the Advaita system of Shankara, the Vishishistavadita school of Ramanuja, Shudhadvaita of Vallabha, Dvaitadvaita of Nimbarka etc. and the subsequent Neo-Vedantians give their assent and support to this line of thought in their own different ways. The dualist Samkhya Philosophy of Maharshi Kapiia (who is glorified even in the tenth chapter of Bhagavadgita) regards Prakriti', which literaly means nature, as the ultimate cause of the universe alongwith all its objects inharing in it the unmanifested state. Prakriti gains momentum by the mere 'Drishti' (beholding) of 'Purusha', the conscious 'Drashta? (Spectator or witness).69 Shamkhya philosophy was so much committed to the concept of the preservation of all the beings of the world that it vehementally opposed animal-killing even in the name of some of the Yajnas and declared in categorical terms that Moksha (liberation) is not attainable through such unethical practices.70 Perhaps under this spirit Shamkhya deliberately avoided to mention any role of God in the world, in whose name these violent oblations came to be offered in the latter Vedic age. The hetrodox Philosophy of Jainism and Buddhism, inspite of being anti-vedic, are fully committed to the fundamental Aryan ideals of Samyak charita'(right conduct), which includes Ahimsa (non-violence), vegitarianism, compassion to all the living beings and internal and external purity (including environmental). Jainas committment to its focal concept of "Ahimsa Pramodharmah" (non-violence is the ultimate virtue) was so great that the Jaina-monks still adhare to the rituals like covering mouth and nose to avoid any injury even to the imperceptable living beings present in the atmosphere in the process of inhaling, taking strictly vegetarian meal before sun-set and taking utmost care to avoid injury to any creature while walking. The materialist Philosophy of Carvaka even in their crazy zeal of advocating the Philosophy of atheism and hedonism based on their concept of "eat 631

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drink and be merry" (Yavat Jivet Sukham Jivet) favoured order and peace as the essential ingredient for derriving maximun pleasure. CONTEMPORARY INDIAN THOUGHT The glorious tradition of environment and ecological ethics based upon the Vedic, Upanishadic, Puranic and basically spiritualistic ancient Indian Philosophy is thoroughly maintained in the contemporary Indian Philosophy. The neo-vedantian thoughts of Swami Vivekanand, Aurobindo, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Radhakrishnan; the Vaishnavite Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and the Islamic Sufism of Iqbal give sufficient impetus to the concept of the preservation of environmental-purity and ecologicalbalance. The ardent advocate of the concept of essential unity of everything in the universe, Vivekanand regards the whole universe as a poem with rhymes and rhythmes." The Poet-Philosopher and lover of nature, Tagore advocated the concept of love for all the objects of nature and said. "Thou (Absolute) art the sky and thou art the nest as well","2 Describing the evolution of the universe Aurobindo says that He creats Himself in Himself and is Himself the play, Himself the player and Himself the playground." The true devotee of satya Truth and 'Ahimsa'(nonvoilence), Mahatma Gandhi believes in the essential unity of all the beings of the world. Hence, he advocates the concept of love and co-existence with all that lives.74 Radhakrishnan holds that the whole world is the affirmation of the Absolute. Hence, he advocates the concept of 'infinite in finite" and "Spiritual environment", similarly for Iqbal God is immanent in all the objects of nature. CONCLUSION Thus, right from the most ancient age of human history, the thoroughly spiritual and value-based Indian thought has been fully committed towards environmental-purity and ecological-balance, as a result of which no such problem ever arose on this land before the dawn of the prevailing globalised western modern civilization. It has to be admitted that in the western thoughts also the references about their knowledge of environment and eco-system are found in the writings of some of the Greek thinkers like Hippocrates, Aristotle, Theoprastus etc, but subsequent western thought could not carry on that spirit. After a long gap of centuries and after the advent of the science of Biology, the post-seventeenth century thinkers like Reaumer (1683-1757), George Buffon (1707-1788), August Grisebach (1838), K. Mobius (1877), Stephen. Forbes (1877), J. Warming (1895) and a host of contemporary thinkers have been taking great interest in this regard. These scientific studies have deeply impressed the elites but are yet to penetrate among the commonmass like India, where even the illeterate villagers regard environment 632

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as devine. In their daily Puja (ritual) performed before taking any food, they worship the Sun, Moon, Stars, Planets, Cow etc. and offer water to Tulasi plant and Pipal tree. They offer a part of their, food as 'Naivedya' (which are consumed by the different creatures) before taking each meal and regard vegetarianism as a 'Punya' (virtue). It is cheifly because the value-based basically spiritualistic Philosophy in India, which was first lived by the propounder himself before preaching, has a mass acceptance, support and participation unlike the highly intellectual research-oriented thoughts of the west miserably lacking moral fervour and spriritualistic dedication. But it is to be noted that the emmerging global society is showing serious concern in this regard and has engaged itself in finding out the curative measures for this deeply penetrated grave malady of atmospheric-pollution and worsening ecological-balance, which is taking the shape of a global-movement day by day. The declaration of Stockhome International Conferance on environment, with the participation of fifty countries, including India in 1972, the Belgred Conference in 1975, the Narobe Conference in 1982 etc. are welcome-steps in this regard. But the task is so gigantic that these efforts seem to be like digging the Himalayas with a few blunt pins. If the global community is actually serious about the eradication of this most dangerous problem challenging the very existence of man-kind owing to uncared industrialization, urbanization, arms-race etc. based on the anti-spiritualistic and antemoralist attitude of the modern science, it has to appreciate and embibe the most valuable contribution of Indian thought regarding its dedicated devotion towards maintaining atmospheric-purity and ecological-balance which they have been unfortunately dismissing as utopian myth and should accept these value-oriented, thoughts as the paradigm of environmental and ecological ethics. 633

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. B. Dubos - Human Ecology, 1969. Please see Author's article Published in the proceedings of 74th session of I.P.C. as its sectional president under the title The place of Indian thought in the History of Philosophy" PP. 35-43 also see Author's article published in the Journal "Darshanik Traimasiki" - Jan-June 1999 (Joint edition) under the title "Vedik Darshana....." as the Sectional President of vedic Darshan section PP. 25-35. Rig Veda X.90. Ibid-X. 129. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, vol.l. Oxford university Press, P.78 10. Ibid-IV. 21.3. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Reference Manorama year Book, 1992, P. 109. Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary, university of Birmingham, London, P. 448. 20. Charles S. Southwick D. Van No. Straud Company. New york 1972, P. 12 - Yuri Lisitsin Some Methodological Problems of Man's Environment, where we live and work, Progress Publications, Moscow, 1981. Rig veda IV. 23.9. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, vol.1, P.80. Rig Veda-1.160. Ibid -1. 67.3. Ibid-VIII. 41. Ibid-1. 21.154. Ibid VII. 60. Ibid -1. 89. Ibid-1.1.1. Ibid-X.70.11. - 634

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21. Ibid - X.7.3. Ibid-VII.68.2,X.25.11. Sacred Books of The East Part-l. also see Rig Veda - X.14. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan - Indian Philosophy, vol. I. P.83. AtharvaVeda-XII.1.12. lbid-XII.1.42. Rig Veda - V.83.1.164, VII.61. lbid-VII.101.6. 30. 31. Max Muller - India; what can it Teach us. Lecture-VI. Rig Veda - II. 12, IV.42, V1.33.2, IV.29.6. Ibid -1. 64.2. Ibid-V1.46.3,1.114.1.1.114.10. Ibid - X.75.2,4,6. 33. Ibid-IV.61. Ibid-X.146. 36. 37. Taitereya Aranyaka - X.34.52. Rig veda - Hl.9.9. Ibid-X. 15. 38. Shukla Yajurveda -11.45 Shukla Yajurveda Samhita - 43. Shukla Yajurveda - 6.22. 42. Atharva veda (Prithvi Sukta) - 12. 43. Taitareya Samhita -1.7.7.4. Maitrayani Samhita - 3.1.6. Rig Veda-X.137.186. 45. 46. Ibid-X. 186.1-3. 47. Yajurveda-36.17. Rig veda -1.164.46 see also Yajurveda - XXX.2.4 and Yaska NiruktaVII.5. 635

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49. Max Muller - Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, P. 13. S. Radhakrishnan - Indian Philosophy, vol.I, P. 193. 52. 53. 59. Ishavasyopanishad -1, 2, 6, 7. Svetasvatara Upanishad -1-8,10, IV. 1-4, IV. 17, IV.20. Taittiriya Upanishad - III.2,111.7.10. Chhandogya Upanishad - VI-( 14)-1 -3, IV. (12)-1 -3. Mundukopanishad - II (1)-4-5, II (1)-9-10, II (2)-3-4, II (2)-5, III (1)-4. Brihadaranyaka -11.4.10, IV.3.6. IV.3.32. Chhandogya Upanishad - 1.2.3.4. Chhandogya Upanishad-V.3.10, See Briha.Up.3.51,1V.4.21.Kausitaki Up-1, Mundaka-l. 1.4-5, Maitrayana - IV.21. Chhandogya Upanishad - V1.7.8. Ibid-11.5.10. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad -1.4.10. Shrimad Bhagavat - U.S. 111.12-13,18, VIII.19, 24; also see Vishnu Purana, Shiva Purana and others. Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda, X. 14-21, 108.32. Mahabharata Shanti Panrva - Ch. 143. Bhagavat Gita - VI. 29-32., VII. 5-12, X.8-42.XJ. 10-39. Mahabharata - Ashvamedhika - ch. 93, Shanti Parva- ch. 143. Kautilya - Arthasashta, II. 1.22.24. Vatsyayana - Nyaya Bhashya - IV.1.21, See Nyaya Sutra -IV,1, 1921, Nyaya Kandali, CP. 88 Samkhya Karika"- 19, See Samkhya Pravachana Bhashya- VrittiVI. 59; Yoga Bhastiya-11.19,1V.13. 62. 63. 65. S. RadrJakrishnan - Indian Philosophy, VOL-II, P.307. 71. 72. Swami Vivekanand - Jnana Yoga. P. 48. Rabindra Nath Tagore - Gitanjali, P.67, See also the Religion of man. P-80; Personality, P.66. Sadhana, PP. 114-15; Creative Unity, P.-35. 636

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13. Aurobindo -Life Divine, P.-96. Mahatma Gandhi - Young India- 4.12.26. Radhakn'shnan - An Idealistic view of Life, P.333; see The Reign of Religion in contemporary Philosophy, P.443. 637

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CONCEPT OF BHAKTI IN THE VEDAS - Prof. Dr.Shashiprabha Kumar The present paper proposes to expound and examine the idea of bhakti as available in the four Vedic Samhitas. I The word Veda literally connotes knowledge and it is usually held that the Vedas follow the path of knowledge and do not have much to offer in the field of bhakti. This view is also supported by the fact that the term bhakti is not explicitly mentioned in the Vedas. But on a closer study, it becomes very clear that besides and beneath the shell of Vedic ritualism, there is ample material in the Vedas which reflects bhakti in its various aspects. Etymologically bhakti is the loving faith in God and surrender to him. It means either 'the highest form of bhakti is affection fixed on God' or bhakti is the highest affection fixed on God"? It is also explained as the state of mind having the Supreme being as its object. According to Narada, bhakti consists in intensive love directed towards God, It is blissful in character and on its fruition the devotee attains perfection and immortality, being thoroughly satisfied. The concept of bhakti' or celestial love is in fact foundational and underlying in all the Vedic prayers. The triple manifestation of Vedic smhitas known as trayi denotes three types of verses, namely Rk, Yaju and Sama. The etymological derivation of these three terms signifies that all of them imply prayers to the Divine expressed in following ways: rg arcani yajuh yajateh gitisu samakhya i.e., the rk verses are meant for eulogizing, yaju verses are employed in the sacrificial act while sama verses are for singing/chanting. 11 The very basic idea of bhakti presupposes that there is a deity or a personal god being addressed or adored and a bhakta who is the devotee. The idea of bhakti as available in the Vedas expresses supreme celestial love between an impersonal God and the many jiva-sas devotees. From this point of view, prayer is the essential expression of bhakti and almost all the Vedic verses are evidently prayers, so it goes without saying that the inherent sources of bhakti are abundantly available in the Vedic philosophy. But it must be emphasized that the God described or suggested in Vedic verses is not a per 638

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sonal one while there are various names and several epithets used for addressing Him. Therefore the Vedic view of bhakti first needs to be explored from this angle, i.e., the nature of God. The Vedic concept in this regard is unique in the sense that the devotee first seeks to know the deity to be worshipped. In other words, "It is typical of Vedic worship that the worshipper seeks the knowledge of the object to be worshipped. His devotion is not blind, but is based on enlightenment." ' It is only after his quest for knowing the deity is fulfilled that the devotee can have full faith in the divine. The same is beautifully expressed through the Vedic word sraddha (srat=truth, dha=to hold)19, i.e. faith or conviction which leads to the realization of truth: Sraddhaya satyamapyate (YV, 19/30). It is not without reason then that the very sequence of Vedic samhita-s points to this fact in order of priority as follows: RK=Jnana Yajuh=Karma Sama=Upasana Atharva= Vijnana In other words, the Vedic view of bhakti is inclusive and is well integrated with jnana and karma. Obviously, the post-vedic triple manifestation of human endeavour, namely jnanamarga, karmamarga and bhaktimarga is based on this very inherent Vedic foundation. III The Vedic notion of bhakti reflects a firm faith in the existence of a Supreme, Divine principle invoked through various names of deities which may be taken as various forms of personal gods and addressed by several seers as seekers or devotees. The divine is addressed as Agni, Indra, Varuna, Yama, and Matarisva etc. in the Vedas; it is contemplated as the Supreme Lord as also called in affectionate terms as Father, Mother, Brother, Friend, Guest and so on. The seeker prays for divine grace, bliss, help, protection, mercy, benediction, benevolence and love. The Vedic conception of God presents both the dimensions of the divine: nirguna as well as saguna: Sa paryagacchukramkayamvranamsnaviram suddhamapapaviddham Kavirmanisi paribhuh swayambhuryathatathyato farthan vyadadhacchasvatibhyah samabhyah. (YV, 40/8) i.e. He [the man who knows) has attained the bright, the unbodied, 639

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the unwounded, the unsinewed, the pure, attained. That which evil has not penetrated. He, the Poet, the wise, the (all) encompassing, the self existent, has prescribed aims, according to fundamental principles, unto the everlasting years. The divine is enunciated as Sat (=ever existent) Cit (=all knowing) and Ananda (=pure bliss) in the following verses: (i) Ever Existent and All knowing (=sat and cit) Anuttama te maghavannakirnu na tvavdi asti devata vidanah Na jayamano nasate na jato yani karisya krnuhi pravrddha. (RV, 1/165/9) O bounteous self, nothing done by you is unavailing. No nature's force could be as effective. No one that is to be born, nor any one that has been born could surpass you in these deeds which you have achieved, O exceedingly mighty self. (ii) Pure Bliss (=ananda) Yo bhutam ca bhavyam ca sarvam yascdhitisthati, Svaryasya ca kevalam tasmai jyesthaya brahmane namah. (AV, 10/8/1) i.e., Let our homage be to him, the Lord supreme, who superintends all that ever was, and all that ever will be, and all (that now exists); His only is heavenly bliss. Akamo dhiro amstah svayambhu rasena trpto na kutascanonah Tameva vidvanna bibhaya mrtyoratmanam dhiramajaram yuvanam. (AV, 10/8/44) i.e., Desireles, firm, immortal, Self-existence, contented with the essence, lacking nothing, is He. One fears not death who has known Him, the Soul (Atman)-serene, ageless, youthful. (iii) Only One : Moreover, the Supreme is stated to be only one: Yo devanam namadha eka eva. (AV, 2/13) i.e., The deities are many, but the Supreme Deity, who is the goal of devotion, is one and one only. 640

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(iv) One in Many : Even though God is one, he is addressed by numerous names and expressed through several features. Namani te satakrato visvabhir girbhir imahe Indra abhi matisahye. (RV, 3/37/3) i.e., Operformer of hundred selfless deeds, we recite your many names in all our hymns for strength and for the triumph over evils. Eka evagnir bahudha samiddha ekah suryo visvam anu prabhutah Ekaivosah sarvam idam vi bhatyekam va idam vi babhuva sarvam. (RV, 8/58/2) i.e., One is Agni kindled in many a spot; One is Surya shining over all; One is Ushas illumining all this. That which is one has become this All. (v) Multifaceted: Further, there are various other aspects of the divine so beautifully expressed in several Vedic hymns such as follow: (a) Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer: Hiranyagarbhah samavartatagre bhutasya jatah patireka asit Sa dadhara prthivim dyamutemam kasmai devaya havisa vidhema, (RV, 10/ 121/1) i.e. In the beginning was the Divinity in his splendor, manifested as the sole Lord of creation, and he upheld the earth and the heavens. Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings? (b) Saviour: Yo visvabhi vipasyati bhuvana sam ca pasyati Sa nah pusavita bhuvat. (RV, 3/62/9) i.e., He who sees all from above and aside, sees all living things together, May He, Pushan, be our Saviour. (c) Omnipresent: Tvam hi visvatomukha visvatah paribhur asi Apa nah sosucad agham. (RV, 1/97/6) 641

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i.e., Thy face is turned on every side, thou pervadest everywhere. Shining bright, drive away our sin. (d) Omnipotent: Hamsah sucisad vasur antariksasaddhota vedisad atithir durosasat Nrsad varasad rtasad vyomasad abja goja rtaja adrija stam. (YV, 10/24, 12/14) i.e. He is the Swan seated in the midst of light; the Lord of wealth seated in the mid-region; The Priest seated by the altar, the Guest seated at the house; The Dweller among men, the Dweller in the noblest place, The Dweller in Eternal Law, the Dweller in the infinite sky; Born of water, born of light, bom of Eternal Law, bora of the Mountain, He is the Eternal Law. IV As regards the nature and eligibility of a bhakta or devotee, the Vedic verses enunciate numerous aspects which can be interpreted to be the attributes thereof: (i) Piety (=sucita) Anarvano hyesam pantha adityanam Adabdhah santi payavah sugevrdhah. (RV, 8/18/2) i.e., The paths of these sun-rays are unobstructed and unopposed; may they yield us security and augment our happiness. (ii) Sinlessness (=nispapata) Apa nah sosucad agham agne susugdhy a rayim Apa nah sosucad agham. (RV, 1/97/1) e., Shining brightly, Agni, drive away, our sin, and shine thou wealth on us. Shining bright, drive away our sin. 642

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(iii) Sacrificing nature (=yajniyata) Stomasca yajusca rk ca sama ca brhacca rathantaram ca Svardeva aganmamrta abhuma prajapateh praja abhuma vet swaha. (YV,'18/ 29) i.e., 0. enlightened ones, we (the devotees) have reached the world of bliss. We have become immortal. We have become the children of the creator Lord. Vet Swaha. (iv) Charitableness (=danasilata) Moghamanna vindate apracetah satyam bravimi vadha it sa tasya Naryamanam pusyati no sakhayam kevalagho bhavati kevaladi. (RV, 10/ 117/6) i.e., The unwise man obtains food grains to little purpose; I tell you the truth-it is as good as his death. He feeds neither a friend nor a comrade. And one who feeds all by himself sins all by himself. (v) Friendship (=maitri) Dste drmha ma mitrasya ma caksuna sarvani bhutani samiksantam Mitrsyaham caksusa sarvani bhutani samikse Mitrasya caksusa samiksamahe. (YV, 36/18) i.e., May all beings look on me with the eye of friend; may I look on all beings with the eye of friend; may we look on one another with the eye of a friend. (vi) Compassion (=karuna) Prniyad innadhamanaya tavyan draghiyamsam anu pasyeta pantham O hi vartante rathyeva cakranyamanyam upa tisthanta rayah. (RV, 10/117/5) i.e., It is expected of every rich man to satisfy the poor implorer; let the rich person have a distant vision (for a rich of today may not 643

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remain rich tomorrow). Remember that riches revolve from one man to another, as revolve the wheels of a chariot. (vii) Joyfulness (=mudita) Visvadanim sumanasah syama pasyema nu suryam uccarantam Tatha karad vasupatir vasuna devam ohano 'vasagamisthah. (RV, 6/52/5) i.e., May we, at all seasons be possessed of healthy minds: and may we behold the Sun, when he arises. May the affluent Lord of riches, observant, conveyer of our oblations to Nature's bounties, make us worthy of these rewards. (viii) Fearlessness (=abhaya) Abhayam mitrad abhayam amitrad abhayam jnatad abhayam puro yah Abhayam naktam abhayam diva nah sarva asa mama mitram bhavantu. (AV, 19/15/5-6) i.e., May I be fearless of the friend, fearless of the foe; fearless of the known, fearless of the unknown; May our nights be without fear, our days without fear. May all the directions be may friends. (ix) Good conduct (=saccaritrata) Parima agne duscaritadbadhasva ma sucarite bhaja Udayusa svayusodasthamamra anu. (YV.4/28) i.e., Bar me, O Agni ! against evil conduct, make me a sharer in good conduct. I have risen up with life, have risen up with good life, Following the immortals. It is also rewarding to delineate upon the subjective, mental modes of a devotee as suggested through the following Vedic verses: 644

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(i) Restlessness (=vyakulata). Uduttamam varuna pasam asmad avadhamam vi madhyaman srathaya Atha vayam aditya vrate tavanagaso aditaye syama. (RV, 1/24/15) i.e., O venerable Lord, loosen the bonds that hold me, loosen the bonds upper, middle and lower. We shall obey your eternal laws, faithfully follow your command and thereby avoid sin. (ii) Affliction (=dainya, karpanya) Imam me varuna srudhi havam adya ca mrdaya Tvam avasyur a cake. (RV, 1/25/19) i.e., I invoke you, O venerable Lord, to make this day a happy one. I implore you for your helpful blessings. (iii) Goodwill (=sivasamkalpa) Yajjagrato duramudaiti daivam tadu suptasya tathaivaiti Durangamam jyotisam jyotirekam tanme manah sivasamkalpamastu. (YV, 34/1) i.e., May the divine essence that goes far away, from the waking, and likewise from the sleeping, and that one far-travelling Light of lights, may that my Mind resolve on what is good. Yena karmanyapaso maisino yajne krnvanti vidathesu dhirah Yadapurvam yaksmantah prajanan (YV, 34/2) i.e., May that by which wise men, skilful in rituals, and steady in assemblies, perform their tasks, that peerless Spirit that lies in all creatures, may that my Mind resolve on what that is good. 645

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Yatprajnamuta ceto dhrtisca yajjyotirantaramrtam prajasu Yasmanna rte kincana karma kriyte tanme manah sivasamkalpamastu. (YV, 34/3) i.e., May that which is deep knowledge, intellect, memory, that which is the deathless Flame in living beings, without which nothing whatever is done, may that my Mind resolve on what that is good. Yenedam bhutam bhuvanam bhavisyatparigrhitamamrtena sarvam Yena yajnastayate saptahota tanme manah sivasankalpamastu. (YV, 34/4) i.e. May that immortal Essence by which all the past and present world is comprehended, by which the ritual spreads with the seven priests, may that my Mind resolve on what is good. Yasminrcah sama yajunsi yasminpratisthita rathanabhavivarah Yasminsicittam sarvamotam prajanam tanme manah sivasamkalpamastu. (YV, 34/5) .e., May that in which the Ric, the Saman, the Yajus are held firm, like spokes in the nave of a chariot-wheel, in which all thoughts of living beings lie interwoven, may that my Mind resolve on what is good. Susarathirasvaniva yanmanusyanneniyate bhisubhirvajina 'iva Hrtpratistham yadajiram javistham tanme manah sivasamkalpamastu. (YV,34/6) i.e., May that which guides men like a good charioteer who controls fleet-footed horses with the reins, that which abides in the heart, most swift and active, may that my Mind resolve on what that is good. (iv) Firm faith in the divine power (=prabhu-viswasa) A gha gamadyadi sravat sahasrinibhir utibhih vajebhir upa no havam. (RV, 1/30/8) i.e., When He listens to our invocations, He assuredly comes to us with thousands of generous bounties and benedictions. 646

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(v) Self surrender (=atmaniksepa) Yam agne manyase rayim sahasavannamartya Tarn a no vajasataye vi vo made yajnesu citram a bhara vivaksase. (RV, 10/21/4) i.e., O powerful and immortal fire divine, may you give us precious wealth which you deem best for our sustenance, in our various benevolent works. Verily, you are great. (vi) Contemplation (=vicarana) Vi me karna patayato vi caksur vidam jyotir hrdaya ahitam yat Vi me manas carati dura adhih kim svid vaksyami kim u nu manisye. (RV, 6/9/6) i.e., My ears open to hear, my eyes to see this Light within my spirit that shines beyond; My mind roams with its thoughts in the distance; What shall I speak, and what, verily, shall I think? (vii) Identification (=tanmayata) Yad agne syam aham tvam tvam va gha sya aham Syus te satya ihasisah. (RV, 8/44/23) i.e., If, O God! I were Thou and Thou were I, Thy prayers should have their due fulfillment here. (viii) Realization (=siddhi/prapti) Tvayed indra yuja vayam prati bruvimahi sprdhah Tvam asmakam tava smasi. (RV, 8/92/32) i.e., Supported by Thee O God! may we answer all who defy us. Thou art ours and we are Thine. VI In this process, the devotee establishes several sorts of relationships with the Divine and while addressing Him, seeks love and benediction of God in various expressions such as the following ones: 647

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(i) As a Father to the son: Tvam hi nah pita vaso tvas mata satakrato bauvitha Adha te sumnam imahe. (RV, 8/98/11) i.e., Bounteous One! Thou art our Father; and our Mother, O Lord, Thou hast been. Now we pray for Thy bliss. Agnim manye pitaram agnim apim agnim bhrataram sadam it sakhayam. (RV, 10/7/3) i.e., The Deity I deem my Father, my Kinsman, my Brother, deem Him my Friend for ever. Sa nah piteva sunave 'gne supayano bhava Sacasva nah svastaye. (RV, 1/1/9) i.e., Lord, be unto us easy of access, as a father is to his son, May you be ever-present with us for our sake. Yo nah pita janita yo vidhata. (RV, 10/82/3) i.e. He is our father, our begetter, our creator. Trata no bodhi dadrsana apirabhikhyata mardita somyanam Sakha pita pitrtamah pitrnam kartemulokam usate vayodhah. (RV, 4/17/17) i.e. May you be our preserver, watching and blessing all and bestowing felicity on those who are worthy and offer libations. May you be a friend, a sire, most fatherly of fathers, giver of food, bestowing heavenly bliss upon him who desires it. Sakrt su no maghavannindra mrdayadha piteva no bhava. (RV, 10/33/3) i.e. Show Thy mercy on us once, O Gracious Lord! Be like a Father to us. 648

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(ii) As a Mother to the Child: Yas te stanah sasayoyo mayobhur yena visva pusyasi vdryani Yo ratnadha vasuvid yah sudatrah sarasvati tarn iha dhatave kah. (RV, 1/164/49) i.e., Saraswati! That exhaustless breast of Thine which is the source of well being, With which Thou nourishes all good things, Which contains treasure, possesses wealth, confers good gifts, That Thou lay bare here for our nourishment. Prati me stomam aditir jagrbhyat sunum na mata hrdyam susevam Brahma priyam devahitam yad astyaham mitre varune yan mayobhu. (RV, 5/42/2) i.e., May the infinite and indivisible Lord accept my affectionate and delightful praise, as a mother welcomes her son. I address this inspired, bliss-giving prayer to the virtuous and friendly Lord, which he surely would love to accept. Vayam syama matur na sunavah. (RV, 7/81/4) i.e., May we be like sons of Thee, the mother. (iii) As a Friend to the friend: Bhava nah sumne antamah sakha vrdhe. (RV, 8/13/3) i.e., Be Thou most near to us for bliss, a friend to aid. Makirna ena sakhya vi yausus tava cendra vimadasya ca rseh Vidma hi tepramatim deva jamivad asme te santu sakhya sivani. (RV, 10/23/7) i.e., Never may this friendship be severed Of Thee, o deity, and of the sage Vimada. We know O God! Thy brother like love; With us be Thy auspicious friendship. Tvam jamirjananam agne mitro asi priyah 649

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Sakha, sakhibhya idyah. (RV, 1/75/4) i.e., O foremost fire-divine, indeed you are alone your kin amongst men, you are their beloved friend, a friend whom friends may supplicate. (iv) As a Lover to the beloved: Apaghnannesi pavamana satrun priyam na jaro abhigita induh Sidan vanesu sakuno na patva somah punanah kalasesu satta. (RV, 9/96/23) i.e., O flowing elixir, eulogized, you come chasing our foes, as a lover to his darling, or as a bird flies back to her nest. You finally settle in the reservoirs, having been mixed with water. Jarah kanina iva caksadana rjrasvah. (RV, 1/117/18) i.e., As a youthful gallant, has given me a hundred and one privileges for personal use. (v) As a Husband to the wife: Pari svajante janayo yatha patim maryam na sundhyum maghavanam utaye. (RV, 10/43/1) i.e., (may the poems) embrace just as women embrace men, their husbands free from defect, for the sake of protection. Patir iva jayam abhi no ny etu dharta divah savita viavavarah. (RV, 10/149/4) i.e. As a husband proceeds to his wife, so may the blessings of the supreme creator, the upholder of the cosmos, whom every one reveres, hasten to us. (vi) As a Guest to the host: Visvesam aditir yajniyanam vimavesam atithir manusanam Agnir devanam ava avrnanah sumrdiko bhavatu jataveda. (RV, 4/1/20) 650

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i.e., The universal fire-divine is the mother of all those divine powers, to whom the worship is offered. May He be dear like a guest to all men. Receiving the offered homage, may He, the knower of all that is born, be gracious to us. Prestham vo atithim stuse mitram iva priyam Agnim ratham na vedyam. (RV, 8/84/1) i.e., I adore fire-divine dear as a guest and loving as a friend who brings us riches as if laden on a chariot. Viso-viso vo atithis vajayantah purupriyam Agnim vo duryam vaca stuse susasya manmabhih. (RV,'8/74/1) i.e., O adorable Lord, desirous of strength and food, we glorify you with hymns for the attainment of happiness. You are dear and familiar friend and dear like the guest in every home. (vii) As a Preceptor to the disciple: Imam dhivam siksamanasya deva kratum daksam varuna samsisadhi. (RV, 8/42/3) i.e., o All-pervading Deity! sharpen the intelligence, wisdom and insight of him who is striving for enlightenment. Acarya upnayamano brahmacarinam krnute garbhamantah. (AV,'11/5/3) i.e., The Acharya(teacher) initiating the Brahmacarin (pupil) makes him (as it were) a (spiritual) child within him. VII It is also worth mentioning here that there are three layers of prayer suggested through the Vedic verses, namely stuti (= adulation, eulogising) prarthana (= solicitation, seeking) and upasanas (=waiting, worshipping or approaching respectfully). Out of these, stuti is simply singing the attributes of the divine, preferably in musical chants, while prarthana is an earnest urge for divine benediction which is sought after exhaustion of human endeavour. Last but not the least, upasana signifies coming close to the divinity, not in a physical sense but in an intrinsic and essential manner. 651

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(i) Eulogising (= stuti): Mahir asya pranitayah purvir uta prasastayah Nasya ksiyanta utayah. (RV, 6/45/3) i.e., Vast are His designs, manifold are His praises, and His protections are never withdrawn. Ya eka it tarn u stuhi krstinam vicarsanih Patir jajne vrsakratuh. (RV, 6/45/16) i.e., May you glorify that resplendent Lord, who, alone and on His own, supervises, and is the Lord of each and everyone-, the showerer of blessings. Ma cid anyad vi samsata sakhayo ma risanyata Indram it stota vrsanam saca sute muhur uktha ca samsata. (RV, 8/1/1) i.e. O friends, do not worship anybody but Him, the divine one. Let no grief perturb you. Praise him alone, the radiant, the showerer of benefits. During the course of self-relization, go on repeatedly uttering hymns in his honour. Accordingly, there are ample verses in the Vedas which not only make mention of stuti or eulogy in clear terms but also exhort the seeker/devotee to address and invoke the divinity in various names so as to please it and attain the desired goal: Yanme chidram caksuso hrdayasya manaso vatitrnnam Brhaspatirme taddadhatu. (YV, 36/2) i.e., Whatever defect I have of eye, of heart, of mind, or whatever excess there is, may Brhaspati remedy it. (ii) Seeking (=prarthana): There are several statements in the Vedas which invoke the divine for bestowing the best upon his seekers: Ime ta indra te vayam purustuta ye tvarabhya caramasi prabhuvaso Nahi tvad anyo girvano girah saghat ksonir iva prati no harya tad vacah (RV, 1/57/4) 652

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i.e., Much praised and most opulent soul, we, the sense-organs belong to you; we glorify you alone Accept our offerings.None other than you is entitled to receive our devotion. May you love and cherish our prayers as the mother-earth cherishes its creatures. Manye tva yajniyam yajniyanam manye tva syavanam acyutanam Manye tva satvanam indra ketum manye tva vrsabham carsaninam. (RV, 8/96/4) i.e., Ideem Thee as the Holiest of the holy, I deem Thee as the Shaker of the unshaken; I deem Thee, O god! As the Banner of heroes, I deem Thee as the Chief of the people. Sam no bhavatu bhuvanasya yaspatih. (YV, 36/2) i.e. Whatever distressing lacuna I have in my vision, in my heart or in my thought, may the lord Supreme remove that, May gracious to us be He, who is the lord of the whole universe. (iii) Approaching (=upasana): The Vedic word upasana is in fact the original appellation for the idea of bhakti. Several usages of the verb upa+ Oas and its equivalents are scattered in all the four Vedas such as follow: (a) Tava sarman priyatame daahana Upa stheyama saranam na vrksm. (RV, 7/95/5) And placing us under Thy protection, Thou most beloved! May we approach Thee as a tree for shelter. (b) Ambho amo mahah saha iti tvopasmahe vayam. (AV, 13/4/50) i.e., We worship you as fruit-fullness, as strength, as might, as over powering force. Ambho arunam rajatam rajah saha iti tvopasmahe vayam. (AV, 13/4/51) 653

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i.e., (d) i.e., (e) i.e., We worship you as ruddy strength as silvery emotion and as overpowering force. Uruh prthuh subhurbhuva iti tvopasmahe vayam. (AV, 13/4/52) We worship you as excellent, huge happy, and becoming. Pratho varo vyaco loka iti tvopasmahe vayam. (AV, 13/ 4/53) We worship you as vast, the cest, pervading, and the overlooker. As mentioned above, the very notion of upasana presupposes a basic duality between the deity and the devotee. But it needs to be reiterated that the Vedic view of celestial love does not offer a structured theory of a personal god and the individual devotee; rather it suggests a broad, impersonal idea of emotional intensity of love between the human and the divine. More significantly, the Vedas reflect a sense of divinity lying within the heart of the devotee himself which elevates and inspires him into noble thought and lofty activity so as to enable him for reaching out to the Divine. VIII This brings us to the goal of bhakti. The Vedic view proclaims that the deity being invoked is not essentially the destination, it is just a direction to the final goal of divine bliss lying within the heart of each soul. The ultimate aim of all mortal aspirations is therefore the attainment of immortality, but there are other mediate and moderate objects as well which are sought through prayers such as follows: (i) Bodily health: Ayuto hamayuto ma atmayutam me caksurayutam me srotramayuto me prano yuto me 'apano yuto me vyano 'ayuto aham sarvah. (AV, 19/51/1) i.e., Undivided I am my soul, undivided my sight, undivided my hearing; undivided my in-breathing, undivided my out-breathing undivided my diffusive breath; undivided the whole of me. Vanma asannasoh pranascaksumksnoh srotram karnayoh Apalith kesa asona danta bahu bahvorbalam. Urvorojo janghayorjavah padayoh pratistha aristani me sarvatmanibhrstah. (AV, 19/60/1-2) 654

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i.e., May there be voice in my mouth, breath in my nostrils, sight in my eyes, hearing in my ears; may my hair not turn grey or my teeth turn purple; may I have much strength in my arms. i.e, May I have power in my things, swiftness in my legs, Steadiness in my feet. May all my limbs be uninjured and my soul remain unconquered. (ii) Intellectual strength: Maho arnah sarasvati pra cetayati ketuna Dhiyo visva vi rajati. (RV,V/3/12) This speech-divine sets in motion all the energies of the soul and intellect. It enlightens the wisdom of all who are seekers of truth. (iii) Mental well-being: Sahrdayam sammanasyamavidvesam krnomi vah Anyo' nyambhi haryata vatsam jatamivaghnya. (AV, 3/30/1) i.e., The union of hearts and minds and freedom from hate I'll bring you. Love one another as the cow loves the calf that she has borne. (iv) Release from suffering and sin: Visvani deva savitar duritani parasuva Yad bhadram tan na asuva. (RV, 5/82/5) i.e., Remove from us, O divine creator all the ills and evils and bestow upon us that, what is good and beneficial. (v) Acquisition of wealth: Indra sresthani dravinani dhehi cittim daknasya subhagatvam asme 655

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Posam rayinam aristim tanunam svadmanam vacah sudinatvam ahnam. (RV, 2/21/6) i.e. O resplendent Lord, bless us with the best of treasures, the spirit of ability and fortune. May we obtain from you an abundance of wealth, security of person, sweetness of speech and auspiciousness of days. Prajapate na tvad etanyanyo visva jatani pari ta babhuva Yatkamas tejuhumas tan no astu vayan syama patayo rayinam. (RV, 10/121/10) i.e., O Lord of people, there is none other than you who has given existence to all these beings; may our aspirations for which we dedicate ourselves to you be ours; may we be the possessors of grand riches. (vi)Victory over enemies, physical as well as mental: Uttisthata pra tarata sakhayo 'samanvati nadi syandata iyam Atra jahita ye asannasivah sivantsyonanuttaremabhi vajan. (AV, 12/2/27) i.e., Stand up, pass over, O friends; the stony river here runs; quit ye here them that are unpropitious; may we pass up unto propitious pleasant powers. (vii) Divine protection or grace: Yo nah svo'rano yasca nisthyo jighamsati Devastam sarve dhurvantu brahma varma mamantaram Sarma varma mamantaram. (SV, 1872) i.e. Whoever, whether an unfriendly relative or a stranger, desires to kill us, may all the divinities destroy him: prayer is my best armour. 656

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(viii) Accomplishment of happiness/joy: Giribhrajo normayo madanto brhaspatimabhyarka anavan. (RV, 10/68/1) i.e., Like joyous streams bursting from the mountain, To Brhaspati, our hymns have sounded. IX As already stated, the ultimate aim of Vedic bhakti is nothing less than immortality, which is so frequently being aspired for in the Vedic prayers as follows: Yatra jyotir ajasram yasmin loke svar hitam Tasmin mam dhehi pavamanamrte loke aksita indrayendo pari srava. Yatranandas ca modas ca mudah pramuda asate Kamasya yatraptah kamas tatra mam amrtam krdhindrayendo pari srava. (RV, 9/113/7,11) i.e., Where eternal lusture glows, the realm in which the light divine is set, place me, Purifier, in that deathless, imperishable world. For Indra, flow thou on, Indu! Make me immortal in that relam Where beatitude and joy and cheer and transports of delight abound, where the highest desire have filled. For Indra, flow thou on, Indu ! The following verses from the Vedas beautifully express this ultimate and the highest level of bhakti, i.e. the experience of enjoying infinite bliss of the Supreme: Apama somamamrta abhuma agama jyotiravidama devan Kim nunamasman krnavadaratih kimu dhurtiramsta martyasya. (RV, 8/48/3) i.e. As we drink the elixir of divine love, we become immortal; we attain the heavenly 657

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light, we have known the secrets of divine forces. Now that would the malignant do to Harm us? O immortal, what man's deception Now to us? After the dawn of divine inspiration, the devotees start paying obeisance to him, not once or twice, but on all days and at all times: Upa tvagne dive dive dosavastardhiya vayam Namo bharanta emasi. (RV, 1/1/7) i.e., Day and night, we approach you, Lord, with reverential homage through sublime thoughts and noble deeds. In this state of ecstasy, the devotee bows down to the divine and exclaims: Divo nu mam brhato antariksadapam stoko bhyapatadrasena Samindriyena payasahamagne chandobhiryajnaih sukstam krtena. (AV, 6/124/1) i.e., From the vast sky, or from the midspace, a drop of water with pleasure fall upon me. O adorable Lord, may I be united with Power of my sense-organs, with milk, with sacrifices and with the fruit of pious deeds. At this advance stage of bhakti, the devotee desires nothing but the extreme, eternal friendship with the divine: Dunasam sakhyam tava gaur asi vira gavyate Asvo asvayate bhava. (RV, 6/45/26) Your friendship, O brave resplendent Lord, is not easily lost. You give wisdom to him who aspires for wisdom and vitality to him who aspires for vitality. In fact, the bhakta has now realized the value of divine benediction and so he does not want to lose it at any cost: 658

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Mahe ca na tvam adrivah para sulkaya deya Na sahasraya nayutaya vajrivo na sataya satamagha. (RV, 8/1/5) i.e., O God! I would not sell Thee for the highest price Not for a thousand, nor for ten thousand, O Mighty one, nor for an infinite amount, O Lord of Countless wealth! It is also noteworthy here that it is not only the devotees who seek the divine, the divine himself seeks them and urges upon them to sing his own eulogies: Arcata prarcata priyamedhaso arcata Arcantu putraka uta puram na dhrsnvarcata. Ava svarati gar gar o godha part sanisvanat Pinga pari caniskadad indraya brahmodyatam. (RV, 8/69/8-9) i.e., Sing you all and sing O priyamedhas! sing your songs Let children, too, sing Sing to him, who is a refuge like mighty fortress Let the gargara (violin) sound Let the godha (lute) send its resounding voice Let the string send its tunes around To God is our hymn unpraised. What follows from the above description is that the Vedic prayers are a fine expression of bhakti- intensive as well as extensive. To quote, "It is interesting to find that in the Veda itself there are prayers of the typically bhakti type, containing sentiments and ideas associated with the cult. The very kirtana form of prayer with its mass appeal appears in the Veda."14 e.g. Trataram Indram avitaram Indram have have suhavam suram Indram Hvyaami sakraD puruhutam Indram svasti no maghva dhatvindrah. (RV, 6/47/7) 659

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i.e., (I invoke ) God, the rescuer, God, the Saviour, Mighty God, happily invoked at each invocation. God, Powerful, invoked by many, I invoke May God, the Bounteous, confer on us blessing. (i) On the basis of above delineation, the Vedic view of bhakti can be summed up in the following five aspects: Bhakti as a prayer signifies the ritual aspect of singing eulo gies to the divine, (ii) Bhakti as a means to the goal, both mundane as well as su preme, has been well-reflected in the Vedas. Bhakti as a moral principle motivates the seeker for selfupliftment and encourages him to practice self elevation as well, while praying to the higher powers for help, (iv) Bhakti is a gesture of reciprocation wherein the devotee prays and seeks something from the divine while offering the best of his own. Last but not the least, bhakti in the form of prayer is an expression of inner satisfaction experienced by the seeker after attainment of his desired goal. The most remarkable feature of bhakti in the Vedas is that it is not just effortless seeking, rather it is an earnest quest of the devotee for winning the battles of life and attaining happiness with a full sense of determination and self-participation. It prays for divine help but insists on maximum effort by oneself: Icchanti devah sunvantam na svapnaya sprhayanti Yanti pramadam atandrah. (RV, 8/2/18) i.e., Nature's bounties favour those who are active in work and do not indulge in sleep. They bless those who are not drowsy and who realize the ecstasy of joy. Na rte srantasya sakhyaya devah. (RV, 4/33/11) i.e., Not without toil, the divines get friendly with men. Ordinarily, bhakti is associated with sentimentalism and deep sense 660

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of pain or deprivation on part of the seeker. But significantly, the more numerous and characteristic Vedic prayers express the feelings of joy and fulfillment in the mind of the seeker when he is immersed in the thoughts of the deity. It is not without reason then that the most typical devotional prayers in the Veda are the songs which appear to be flowing forth from a heart filled with sheer ecstasy: Agnim mandram purupriyam siram pawakasocisam Hrdbhirmandrebhirimahe. (RV, 8/43/1) i.e., We worship with joyous hearts the joyous deity dear to all, effulgent, holy, purifying. From this point of view, the Vedic idea of bhakti is unique in the sense that herein the devotee not only invokes divinity in its various manifestations but also enkindles the latent divinity lying in the heart of his own being: Vayam gha te tve idvindra vipra api smasi Nahi tvadanyah puruhuta kascana maghavannasti mardita. (RV, 8/66/13) i.e., Truly God! We are Thine, we worshippers depend on thee. Except Thee, O much-invoked, there is none, O Mighty one, to show us grace. It is due to this very aspect of Vedic bhakti that the devotee is inspired to have noble thought and undertake good action so that he not only comes closer to the deity he worships but also feels a strong bond of love and fellowship with all beings of the universe. The genuine celestial love elevates the bhakta and he rises above all selfish desires, his bhakti results in altruistic, aspirations such as the following: (i) i.e., Yansca pasyami yansca na tesu ma sumatim krdhi. (AV, 17/1/7) Among those, whom I see and those, whom I do not see, may you cultivate friendship for me. Sam no bhava dvipade sam catuspade. (RV, 7/54/1) 661

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i.e., O Lord! bestow bliss on our bipeds and quadrupeds. The most characteristic feature of Vedic bhakti is its genuinely collective and universal spirit. It is therefore that most of the Vedic prayers are in the first person plural like the following ones: (i) Agne naya supatha raye asman. (RV, 1/189/1) i.e., O adorable God, may you lead us along the wholesome path for our prosperity, (ii) Suviryasya patayah syama. (RV, 10/131/6) May we be lords of hero vigour ! (iii) i.e., Nrbhir nrvantah syama. (RV, 7/41/3) May we be rich herpes. Jiva jyotir asimahi. (RV, 7/32/26) i.e., May we live and have light. In brief, a seeker in the Vedic view of bhakti is not only eulogizing the divine but is also engaged in his own inner quest for exploring the divinity ; within himself. All his prayers are an expression of the same intense sense of bonding with the divine which binds him to other manifestations of the divine as also radiates within him and the outside world: Venas tat pasyan nihitam guha sadyatra viuvam bhavatyekanidam Tasminnidam sam ca vi caiti sarvam sa otah protasca vibhuh prajasu. (YV, 32/8) i.e., The loving sage beholds that Mysterious existence wherein the universe comes to have one home Therein unites and therefrom issues the whole The lord is wrap and woof in all the created beings. To sum up, it would be appropriate to quote the following words of a poet critic: The Rgvedic hymns constitute not only the profoundest expression of the feeling of devotion to a personal Deity, but the wealth of devotional mood and attitude here, as well as their literary expression, far outshines Anything in the best examples of later devotional poetry. Not only did the Vedic poets approach their deities as friends, as sons and as servants, i.e. in sakhya, vatsalya and dasya as the later devotional schools would say, but they gave expression also to what has been considered as later develop 662

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ment, the Madhurabhava, the approach in which God is the lover and the devotee the beloved...'15 Lastly, one would like to conclude with a Vedic prayer which characterises the essence of Vedic bhakti: Gayanti tva gayantrino frcantyarkamarkinah Brahmanastva satakrata udvamsamive yemire. (SV, 1344) i.e., O Lord with hundred names, The chanters chant of thee, and to thee the singers sing their song, and those who pray, raise thee O Lord, as they raise a beam to the house. 1. 2. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY (Primary Sources) Rgveda (RV) with English translation by Svami Satya Prakash, Sarasvati and Satyakam Vidyalankara, New Delhi: Veda Pratishthana, Arya Samaj Mandir Marg, 1996. Yajurveda (YV) with English translation by Svami Satya Prakash, Sarasvati and Udaya Vir Viraj, New Delhi: Veda Pratishthana, Arya Samaj Mandir Marg, 1996. Samaveda (SV) with English translation by Svami Satya Prakash, Sarasvati and Satyakam Vidyalankara, New Delhi: Veda Pratishthana, Arya Samaj Mandir Marg, 1995. 3. Atharvaveda (AV) with English translation by Svami Satya Prakash, Sarasvati and Udaya Vir Viraj, New Delhi: Veda Pratishthana, Arya Samaj Mandir Marg, 1996. Satapatha Brahmana (SB): according to the text of the Madhyandin School, translated by Julius Eggeling, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas, 1978. 6. Nighantu and The Nirukta by Lakshman Sarup, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2002 (Reprint). Mimamsasutras of Jaimini, Translated in English by N.V. Thadani, Delhi: Bharatiya Kala Prakashan, 2007. 7. (Secondary Sources) 663

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(i) For English Translation of most of the Vedic verses quoted herein: 1. Bose, A.C., Hymns from Vedas, Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1951. 2. _ , The Calls of the Vedas, New Delhi: Asia Publishing House, 1966. (ii) For Hindi equivalents quoted at pages 3-4 and 6-11 of the paper: 3. Sharma, Munshiram, Bhakti ka Vikas, Varanasi: Chaukhamba Vidyabhavan, 1979. 664

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Reference 1 4 Kaviraj, Gopinath, Bharatiya, Samskrti aur Sadhana, Part-II, p. 183. Kumar, Shashiprabha, Self, Society and Value : Reflections on Indian Philosophical Thought, Vidyanidhi Prakashan, Delhi:2005, p.128. Bhattacharya, N.N., A Glossary of Indian Religious Terms and Concepts, Manohar Publications, New Delhi: 1990, p.35. Sa paranuraktirisvare. -Narada Bhaktisutra, 1.1.2 (i) Yasmadrco apataksanyajuryasmadapakasan Samani yasya lomanyatharvangiraso mukham Skambhama tam bruhi katamah svideva sah. AV, 10/7/20 (ii) Evam va are mahato bhutasya nihsvasitametad-yadrgvedo yajurvedah samavedo'tharvangirasah. SB, 14/5/4/10 Nirukta,1/8 Ibid. 7/12 Jaimini, Mimamsasutra, 2/1/36 10 Bose, A.C., The Call of the Vedas, p.80 Vacaspatyam, vol.vi, p.5149 and Sabdakalpadrumah, vol.v, p. 154 Saraswati, Dayananda, Rgvedadibhasyabhumika, Vedavisayavicarah, Kuruksetra: 2008, p.60. Plott, J.C., A Philosophy of Devotion, Delhi:1974, p.1 Saraswati, Dayananda, Svamantavyamantavyaprakasa, 48-50, appended in Satyarthaprakasa, Delhi: Samvat 2031, p.397 Bose, A.C., Hymns from the Vedas, p.233 V. Raghavan, The Indian Heritage, (1956), p. xxxi Quoted by A.C. Bose in Hymns from the Vedas, p.234 13 14 15 665

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CULTURE, UNIVERSALITY AND FREEDOM Dr. Shantinath Chattopadhyay I Man on Earth, cultivates land, procures material objects through his Interaction with physical environment and in this way he introduces some unique ways or patterns for enriching this programme. Sometimes these ways may be crude as these are for mere material fulfilment and sometimes are refined when man communicates his mental attitudes by writing books composing songs or organising different religious/political and social programmes. All these ways, wether material or mental, are characterised as cultural processes of life which, in the observations of modern thinkers are the forms of 'Culture' and thus it, in the 'Democracy and Education' of Dewey, is evaluated as at least something cultivated'. Thus in this modern age of scientificand technological developments man in the cultivation of something as cultural communication, becomes multidimensional with the expression and expansion of his potent creativity through different socio-cultural activities in different directions. This type of cultural analysis of human life and existence may be regarded as the philosophical study of the creative man as an expansion of creativity in human personality situation. In this context, the significance of the term creativity lies in the expression of the potent universality in man in different degrees in a transcendent experiential process. This may be observed as the manifestation of the transcendent value of universality in different individual states of existence, developing an experiential form of socio-cultural relation of unity. In this process we get the proper sociological meaning of culture which is explained by Gisbert, a sociologist," Culture is the direct expression of our nature, in our ways of thought and action, in art, religion, morality and recreation. It deals with interests and values concerned with ends, to which various actions and objects are directed as means".! This type of Sociological and humanistic analysis of culture examines man as creative unity which in the observation of Taoism in China, is "...both human and divine". Same idea is expressed through the different systems of both Eastern and Weste-rn Cultures which, in the context of the transcendent-experiential programme of advancing unity of humanity and divinity, may be treated as the expression of individuality and universality. In this background the traditional idea of God in different cultures of the world is to be examined as the divine value of godness which, in the humanistic sense, is to be recognised as the creative universality in man as transcendental value or ideal/ 666

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"conceived as ends" and is manifested through various actions and objects are directed as means', in different experiential states of human relations. Regarding the nature of this relation of humanity and divinity as relation of individuality and universality, expressing socio-cultural union in human existence, there is a controversy among different system of thoughts and cultures in the world. Some put an importance on the personal and emperical or mere experiential aspects that make this relation finite or limited. Some others emphasise the impersonal or infinite aspect and explain this relation as transcendent or absolute. Sometimes this type of absolutistic idea can be compared to the extreme absolutistic or non-dualistic concept which emphasises the negative aspects of reality and explain the human relation as negative or apparent. Shankara, the Indian Absolutist or Non-dualist, takes human existence and human relation as unreal as these are mere products and thus are not finally real. But as human life and humanistic relation in this world, are taken as real with the expression of universality which is the impulse for human beings towards perfection, the socio-cultural programme in modern society puts less emphasis upon the idea of empty Absolute or Abstract Idealism. So there is a development of concrete Absolutism in Culture that accept the organic relation between individuality and universality. This is a concrete programme of manifesting universality as divinity in human situation, so in turn is realising it beyond individuality. But both are operative in a transcendent - experiential milieu, where the relation between the two as confronted orders are found together as functional. If the inner essence of culture is carefully examined it is observed that this type of humanistic relation of individuality and universality can be possible when the individual man, through disinterested-works in uncondititonal love and service for others, can manifest his potential universality and thus realises universal man in him. This state of manifestation of universality in man, expresses his humanist nature in a very concrete form and establishes an organic relation in and through the human beings and the finite world. This idea of organic relation between the manifest universality in the individual, and the adventure of the individual towards it in a concrete form, reconciles concrete and dual processes in confornted human situation where the universality is fully manifest with possibilities. Regarding this programme, Hegel, following idealistic view, presented through the western culture, also points out that there is a dialectic movement of universal reason in and through the finite existences and this movement is the evolutionary progress of universal ideal, manifested 667

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in different stages of life and existence through the process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. So Hegal's Absolute as the unity of highest selfconsciousness contains the whole logico-dialectical process that reveals the life and world in the objective order where contradiction is taken at the root of all existences and every thing opposes each other and is reconciled in the higher unity. Similarly the thought of an individual contradicts the other and proceeds dialectically towards the highest unity through absolute thought. But it should be noted in this connection that concrete idea of the development of universality is not a conceptual abstract idealism as suggested by Hegel or of the absolutist stands of the post Hegelians unless they presuppose the transcendent-experiential process as basic confronting all manifest orders as illuminated processes towards infinite possibilities, outmoding western conceptual abstract idealist processess of Hegel and post-Hegelian Absolutists, and touching the concrete realist-evolutionist beginning with Bergson and going beyond Bergosonian limitations. Pringle Pattison, a post-Hegelian, also points out that the form of relation of divinity and humanity is an organic one. It can be explained that the nature of organic relation in the from of love is a concrete on confronted phenomenon in day to day human situation, where the finite individuals are the loved objects of the Divine and the Divinity in turn is perfectly manifested in human life in the form of love, as their eternal guide and possibility. If the nature of this relation is carefully examined from the contexts of advanced Culture, it will be found that it is expressed in human life in different forms in different states. Thus we find the manifestation of love as absolute ideal in different forms in the true spirit of humanistic process with the universalistic insight and through the expression of this ideal, the relation of individuality and universality becomes more and more intimate in and through the different stages of world culture. In this connection different systems of culture puts much importance on love about which Shinto of Japan speaks, "love is the representative, of Lord", Hinduism in India also expresses the same view and explains, "one can best worship the Lord through love". Similarly jainism, Sikhism, Vaisnavism, Vedanta systems of India, evaluate its humanistic significance in life and existence. In the same way, Buddhism, Christianity, Mohammedanism, Judaism, Zorastrianism in different countries, advancing different systems of culture/ emphasise upon this humanistic idea of culture. This according to Confucianism, in Chinees Culture, is "............ peaceful home of man" 668

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In the background of these observations, it may be said that the development of universal ideal through the establishment of a more intimate relation of love is the organic relation between the individual and transcendent. In this stage, the human life cannot be taken as distinct and unreal, it is indentical with the confronted and ever changing reality where the transcendent universality exists in and through the other. III It may be observed thus that the evolution of finite nature of the individual man and the confronted nature in different forms, the transcendent infinite nature of man in its aspiration to realise the transcendent eternal human value of universality in the form of the infinite ideal of unity in love is developed. In this connection we may refer to the ideas of some western thinkers like Green and Bosanquet and Indian thinker like Rabindranath Tagore who put much emphasis upon the finite-infinite nature of men in several cultural backgrounds. For the unfoldment of infinite potentiality of man and for its systematic development in human existence/ Green refers to the potential urge of the individual "to make himself what he has the possibility of becoming". This form of developing infinitness in man, is evaluated by Rabindranath Tagore in a more comprehensive cultural form as to become Infinite. In 'Sadhana? he explains this state as the state of realising 'highest perfection that there is.' This state of "highest perfection' in concrete human situation is to be regarded as the final stage of developing transcendent consciousness in love, which, in the context of this advanced cultural programme, is the devine union in the human orders and social processes. It may be noted in this connection that Man, through the realisation of eternal human value of love, feels the existence of universality or infiniteness in him. In this state of existence, man through the development of the relation of love with the Infinite, in the different states of life and society, finally develops the relation of reciprocity, and becomes infinite or Universal. Thus in the context of this analysis of human existence expressed through the inner process of world culture, it may be observed that universality as ideal is eternal, man is eternal in concrete human situation, and the relation of love also is eternal, which is a perfect organic relation in a concrete form in social relations in developing world view in culture This type of highest state of human life and existence is to be recognised as the final state of human freedom or the salvation through unity. The salvation is not the superimposition of something on human nature/ but is the natural expression or self-manifestation of human 669

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existence in its highest state of unity in contradictions. Thus it may be noted that the final idea of salvation which is in the form of universal nature, cannot reveal itself in an individual in a particulars process, but it is revealed as the eternal or universal union of individual man with all human beings that is a perfect unity with Universal Man. IV In the context of this socio-cultural analysis of the total nature and existence of man towards the achievement of his final freedom, the modern socio-political development in the form of the Marxian analysis of human existence may also be referred to. Marx accepts man as the centre of history and also observes that proper essence of man lies in the expression of his idea of freedom. In the analysis of human essence, Marx puts much emphasis upon his material existence where his natural demand of life is the fulfilment of the material needs of life. Hunger, according to Marx, is the objective need of body which expresses the essential nature of man that fundamentally determines his existence in history. The real significance of this type of humanistic approach to the true individuality in the state of freedom, may be said, lies in the natural existence of man which finally is the self-transcendence of material contradictions and self-manifestation of potential universality in the harmonious development of his existence in freedom. So the development of the highest state of human freedom is the manifestation of 'his universal that is potential in his material existence in this world. nature In this connection it may further be noted that the true significance of universality as the explanation of the infinite potentiality of human beings, is purely socio-cultural, because it lies in the expression of creative universality in different states of social existence of man through the development of the cultural relation of unity with all, This type of sociocultural approach to the idea of universality, it may be said, examines its different states of manifestations through the realisation of sociocultural value of creative humanity in different degrees. This may be evaluated by Mackenzie, a modern sociologist, in the following way. He writes, "If we are right in thinking that the ultimate good for man lies in the perfection of the higher elements of his nature, on the control of the lower by means of them, it is evident that it is in the various forms of culture that we find the gradual realization of this".5 In the background of this observation, different philosophical explanations on man expressed through different cultures, may also be evaluated. Naturalism treats man as a natural event and puts less emphasis on human values. Again Absolutism emphasieses the divine spirit and denies the separate existence of man and his freedom. 670

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However, in the present age, through the canges of outlook and thought the idea of old Naturalism and Absolutism have undergone great changes. Today Neo-Naturalism accepts the human value and the personality of man. Again the idea of concrete universal established by modern Absolutists supplies the opportunity for the development of human personality. In the background of this changing outlook if we explain different modern ideas of Humanism in culture/ we may get its two forms either anthropocentric or divine. The former accepts individual man as his own centre and the centre of everything. But special emphasis on individual man increases his ego which is responsible for the dualism of self and not-self or different limitations, contradictions and imperfections of cultures. For this emphasis upon the individual interest is denounced and the importance of collective interest in the form of creative universality as the expression of divinity in man is accepted. Work for one's own interest creates ego that creates contradictions in life and society. But work for others through unconditional love develops a selfless feeling or disinterested outlook in man that urges him to be related to all intimately and thus he realises his potential universality, which, in the real state of freedom, expresses a creative socio-cultural unity in life and existence. Here lies the true nature or social significance of culture which projects, the universal view of socio-culture unity. Culture has both individual and social or material and non-material significance. Too much emphasis upon individuality or materiality, creates conflicts or contradictions. History provides many of such antagonisms. But the Social or non-material culture which is 'to develop the personality of man' is to develop his infinite or spiritual nature that helps him to transcend the conflicts or contradictions in existence. In art, literature, music and philosophy, as non-material programmes, man can reveal his infinite nature through which he can cross the limits or differences and can reconcile the differences or contradictions through the development of inter-cultural perspective in the form of developing the creative spirit of unity in diversities. In this background it may be noted that culture has an universal appeal to transcend the limits of space and time and for this particular culture can appeal to another culture or community in spite of political differences. Political rivalry can not increase cultural rivalry and that is why the finer creation of art, music and philosophy, in particular culture, are universally appreciated by other cultures and finally become the properties of all cultures or nations. For this the Socio-cultural exchange through the intercommunications of ideas and outlook, promoting social and international unity, becomes an intercultural process f fostering international understanding and peace. 671

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In this process, culture developes man's mind, tastes and manners and thus through the expansion of the sense of values, it can regulate the Social behaviour. In this way it can cultivate the sense of 'Wefeeling in the form of realising the human value of unity in expanding socio-cultural relation of oneness. This programme of expanding oneness or unity, unfolding cultural universality in man, influences or enriches civilization. In this context it may be pointed out that different thinkers of the world have distinguished between culture and civilization on different grounds. Kant, the German Idealist, considers that morality is the essence of culture and so it has relation with inward state of mind and on the other hand civilization has reference to external conduct only. Similarly Maclver and Gisbert, the modern Sociologists are also of opinion that the distinction between culture and civilization is a distinction between end and means. , For this civilization, in the background of these observations is external, mechanical and utilitarian' and culture is internal organic and final'. But cultural universality in man, being the expansion of unity or oneness, organises civilization in a more creative form when cultural education and intercultural understanding can cultivate the proper human spirit and value for the acquirement of graceful conduct of realising the harmonious order of civilised humanity. In this state Robert Bridge emphasises the proper socio-cultural process of education as to draw out or to educate the inborn love of beauty as expanding unity and universality in human existence. In this humanistic process the fundamental ends of both modern culture and modern Science become also more effective and fruitful. As a matter of fact that the socio-cultural development of man is the fundamental end of culture and similarly Science also tends to promote such development in civilization. The true significance of this development lies in the cultivation of human value through the expansion of human relation of unity in a state of human freedom. This state of freedom in unity, may philosophically be treated as peace in creativity. So it may be noted in this connection that this humanistic state of freedom as freedom in peace is finally be recognised as the cultural truth of man. This truth as the unity and interrelation of all through humanistic ways of selfless love and service for mankind in a transcendent-experiential process, manifests the creative states of universality in peace in harmony of cultures. This may be recognised as the Inner essence of World Culture which is a harmonious developmen of human life as the creative unity of ideals or values with proper expressions or activities that may be regarded as well-balanced, well conducted and well regulated cultural life. This programme of uni 672

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versality in Culture, may be said to develop a creative form of "Sociocultural Humnism" that may be evaluated as "........... The philosophy of integration, preparing an international and intercultural programme for reailising creative humanistic value ......... beyond modern evils"6 This intercultural approach to the idea of universality in man as the realisation of freedom in peace, beyond contradictions or evils, introduces a new social system of world order of intimate relation among men developing the new-idea of unity as world culture or community which in the observation of Maciver and Page, well known sociologists is ".................the historical expansion of community to the dimensions of the nation and perhaps the world." This progress of "historical expansion" is nothing but the humanistic process of developing socio-cultural relation of unity which makes the human civilisation more true and significant. For this Radhakrishnan a great contemporary Indian thinker observes that "......................... there is only one history, the history of man. All national histories are merely chapters in the larger one ..........". In the background of these observations on the historical development of human unity as "larger one", we may evaluate the significance of universality in the humanistic development of world culture. The true meaning and significance of this development lies in the process that our national cultures expand essentially the universal spirit of world culture in the advancement of an interculturalperspective in world order'. Here we find the proper expansion of creative spirit of unity in diversities that may be treated as the realisation of cultural universality in the worldly state of freedom in peace. In the observation of Dr. S. Radha Krishnan, a celebrated humanist, we may finally examine this state in the following manner: "The way of peace requires that men and nations should recognize their common humanity and use weapons of integrity, reason, patience, understanding and love. There are many forces at work which give us hope and assurance. Even if we fail, we should not give up our efforts. Failure we have with us always, but man possesses an unconquerable self that through failure and tragedy may rise to higher reaches of spiritual victory by the transcendence of evil."8 673

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Some Indirect Reference 1. Bana Banerjee, N.V., The concept of Philosophy, University of Calcutta, India, 1968. Bosanquet, B., The Value and Destiny of the Individual, Macmillan & Co., Ltd., London, 1913Chattopadhyaya, D.P., What is Living and What is Dead in Indian Philosophy, People's Publishing House, New Delhi, India, 1977. + 1 o noso Chattopadhyay, S. N., The Spiritual Man, Minerva Associates, Calcutta, India, 1993Dasgupta, S. N., History of Indian Philosophy, Vol-1-V, Cambridge University Press, 1922-1956. Marx- K., Economic and Philosophic Manuscript of 1844, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977. Paton, H.J. , The Categorical Imperative, A study in Kant's Moral Philosophy, Hutchinson of London, 1970Slater, R. L., World Religions and World Conmunity, Columbia University, Columbia, 1963. Swami Vivekananda, Addresses at World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, USA, 1893, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1993. Sri Aurobindo, The Ideal of Human Unity, 2nd Edn, India, Dec., 194411. Tagore, R.N., The Religion of Man, Unwin Books, London, 1970 12. Webb, C.C.J., Divine personality and Human Life, George Alien & Unwin, London, 1920 674

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Referemce Gisbert, P., Fundamentals of Sociology, Orient Longmans, Calcutta, India, 1959, p.187. Pringle - pattison, A.S. The Idea of God, In the light of recent philosophy. Academic publishers, India, 1967, Ghai, O.P., Unity in Diversity, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India, 1986, p. 90. Bottomore, T.B. (ed), Early Writings, K. Marx, New York, U.S.A., 1967. Mackenzie, J.o., Outlines of Social contd,..?/!!. philosophy, George Alien & Unwin Ltd., London, 1961, p.240. Chattopadhyay, S.N- The Universal Man, Tagore's Vision of the Religion of Humanity. Naya Prokash, Calcutta, India, 1987, p. 154. Maciver, R.M. and Page, Charles H, Society, An Introductory Analysis, Macn.illan & Co. Ltd. London, 1962Dr. Radhakrisnnan, S., Religion and Culture, Hind Pocket Books (P) Ltd. Delhi, India, 1968, pp. 88-89 675

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ESSENTIALS OF UNIVERSAL RELIGION - Dr. Veneemadhavshastri Joshi There are no two opinions on the gracious point that the aim of all religions is to move from imperfection to perfection; from darkness to light and from mortality to immortality. Good many common features in all the religions of the world are nicely found to point out how all the Religions aim at one Truth. Every citizen of the world seeks one or the other way of perfection or religion, but the final reaching point of junction is God, like ocean to all rivers. Swami Vivekananda, on the Chicago Parliament of Religions stressed this point with all the emphasis at his command by quoting a verse from the Mahimnastotra of Puspadanta as follows - trayI sAMkhyaM yogaH pazupati mataM vaiSNavamiti prabhinne prasthAne paramidamadaH pathyamiti ca / rUcInAM vaicitryAd RjukuTila nAnA pathajuSAM nRNAmeko gamyastvamasi payasAmarNava iva // ma. sto. -7 Now it is the time to reconsider the above verdict in view of the Globalization. There is least doubt that the modern technology has developed to that extent that it goes beyond our imagination. Yet there is a dire need for something which may lead humanity towards perfection and that gap can be filled effeciently by Religion alone. Dr.S.Radhakrishna puts the same thus "Our age is still in need of that which religion alone can give." 2 That is why the religion is defined as that power and capability to bear and to feed the whole world. It is styled by Vyasa Maharsi as dhAraNAt dharma ityAhuH dharmo dhArayate prajAH / yat syAt dhAraNasaMyuktaH sa dharma iti nizcayaH // 676 The world comprises a majority of common people. A man in street does not have the capacity to understand the big words like Salvation, Self-realization, Emencipation or Mukti. Therefore this Religion takes care of feeding that food what is easy of digestion to a layman to whom money, food, house, family etc. are more important. Liberty (i.e. Mukti) in its true sense is completely outside the run of everage humanity. That is why Religion provides simple system of rules by which it will be easy for a man to cherish confidence in himself for the betterment of his spiritual life. Religion thinks of that which a man does in his mind. He thinks of those points which are accessible to him. By one or the other

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means he confirms that mere house and money would not bring him real peace of mind. It is only by resorting to the power beyond these worldly materials that a man gets a good gain of mental peace. Thus, he comes to Religion which alone assures him with good quantity and quality of tranquility. In the pretty olden days the definition of Religion was totally handed over to the members of Roman Catholic Church in the western countries. The oxford dictionary defines it that "Religion is a state of life bound by monastic vows the condition of one who is a member of a religious order specially in the Roman Catholic Church. In the passage of time, the same definition was refined thus, "Recognition of the part of man of some higher unseen power having control of his destiny and as being controlled to obedience, reverance and wordship the general mental and moral attitude resulting from this belief with reference to the effect upon individual or community person or general acceptance of this feeling as thousand of spiritual and practical life." The Sufi saints put the same with a different angle. "No body can liberate himself without self-realization. We are rotating regularly where soul is the central point like water in a whirl-pool. The underlaying current of love alone is taking us to the pathway to morality. Nothing emerges without the good will of God, as such one has to seek the inner most part of our heart which is a throne of God. For that control over sense is a must. We hope we may see Him there." gaihare juja khudazinAsI nIsta dara bahare bujUda / mA vargide khveza bhI gadebha cU girdAbahA / rahe izka juja peca dara peca nIsta / vare 'ArikAM' juja khudA he ca nIsta / cazma baMdo moza vando laba vi banda / gara na bInI ruyi hakavara mA dikhaMda / / This is technically called "the vision of God or in Sufism it is styled as "ga frast 547 " In Hinduism it is self-realization or Brahmajnana. A man in a street of the world knows something about values of life, laws and orders of the state and code of ethics. But when he enters the threshold of Religion he finds a synthetic amulgamation of all these fair points and as such nourishes good thoughts towards this Religion. He will be convinced that the values and laws go hand in hand in the code of ethics and that, not only refines our life but also reshape 677

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the future of a state. He will realize that these values and laws are rich sources of healthy guidelines on the pathway to perfection. For this vigourous reason the code of law aims at the perfect maintainance of the values or human goals viz., Dharma, Artha , Kama. The Mukti, as already noted above, is given to the care of a seperate branch, technically known as Darsans. Hence, the Trivarga i.e. the first three aforesaid points have become the core of Religion. Thus, a man in the world thinks of initiating himself to the practices of Religion, because it covers a bright exposition of both worldly objects and the power beyond them. For these human values one need not resort to a specific Religion. Every religion has these values as its core. Hence, these common features of all religions constitute as universal religion of which every man is a member knowingly or unknowingly. There are good few features found common in all religions but a small group of ten is considered to be the most acceptable one. They are as follows - dhRtiH kSamA dayA'steyaM zaucaM dAnaM ca nigrahaH / zraddhA ca satyamakrodho dazakaM dharma saMgrahaH / / There cannot be any religion in the world which does not welcome with open arms these vital points of good character. These essentials of Universal Religion endorse the highness of magnimous character. These points seem to be very simple and easy going, but they are very hard to practice in our fast running life. Great religious thinkers parade their brilliance to bring them to the doors of common people. The first virtue is courage. It is required at every step in all walks of our life. That is why a Subhasita insists this with a great deal of emphasis and says " HTTT". More courage is required to perform good things than to do evil things. It is much more required to move fast on the pathway to God, than to move on the worldly ways of life. Anybody can have this quality to lead a successful life. The second lifely virtue is endurance. This virtue is a vital virtue of sages. A saint or a Muni cannot be so called unless he possesses this quality of patience. It is only on the basis of this quality that the highness of a personage is counted. The followers of Jina, Buddha and Christ give more and more importance to this endurance. The Ramayana insists the adoption of endurance for, it is a kind of strength to those who are weak; it is grace a point to those who are powerful or strong. It can very well bring the world under its control. Thus what not is achieved by this forbearance? Certainly it is more powerful than the weapons. 678

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The third one is compassion. It is a gracious desire to find solutions to the miseries of others. Forberance and compassion are the two faces of the same coin. It is the mother of Ahimsa (non-violance). It impells to have soft corner to a good desire to free a man from his sufferings. Mere desire can also do a great deal of help. Sri Shankaracarya earnestly prays to God to bestow upon him this virtue and to increase the same. The Bhagavata Purana extols this virtue to sky and says that God likes this very much.' Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity and a good few other religions give much importance to this. A sincere saint of Subhasitas made no bones to advise not to hesitate to give up that religion which does not give room to compassion.10 The fourth one is non-steeling. Taking anything without the permission of the owner is steeling. For this one has to control over one's desires. It is very simple that non-steeling is a very good virtue that maintains the healthy balance of the society. Steeling is an evil that poisons the health of the society. Hence it is a sin. Every religion warns against this evil of the society. The fifth one is cleanliness. From the point of health cleanliness is the vital point of a sound body. It stands back to the maintainance of the health of both body and mind. It is also counted among the cardinal virtues of Yoga. Every man in the world aspires after the good health of his body. Hence it is one of the lifely virtues that shapes the health of society too. This "Sucitva" is also counted with regard to money, nature, character etc. The next one is Dana, giving in charity. This includes friendly help (Paropakara) too. The quality of Dana has twofold benefit. It helps a great deal the person who receives it, and him who gives it, by associating with Punya that removes the sin. This quality of charity attracts people, it does away with enimity, an unknown person becomes a friend by this and thus it is capable of yielding anything which seems to be difficult to achieve. 12 One should help others to the best of one's capacity. The receiver must be a deserving or a needy person. Then only the face value of Dana (Charity) is increased. No religion in the world denies the significance of charity in our life. The seventh one is control over sense organs or self-control (Indriya Jaya). One need not be necessarily adopt this virtue to its fullest extent. But minimum control over senses is necessary for every body to maintain his health. It will be beneficial even to the society. An aspirant marching on the pathway to realization must have this control over senses. But a common man should also try to develop this quality to maintain the balance of his surroundings. 679

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The next one is faith. It plays a key role in the life of a man. Faith is the essence of Religion. It includes devotion, good thoughts, descipline etc. Religion bereft of faith is like a flower deprived of its fragrance. Prof.Advard clearly puts this point that "the essence of Religion is faith in the conservation of values." Another scholar, George Geloway, puts the definition of Religion that Religion is "man's faith in a power beyond himself whereby, he seeks to satisfy emotional needs and gain stability of life and which he expresses in acts of worship and service."13 Because of this good faith in the words of sages, the words of God, the words of religious thinkers a man starts cherishing good desires towards others which ultimately leads to the deep service to Humanity. He nourishes good thoughts in his minds for the society, for the Humanity, if only he stands on the bedrock of faith. That is why Bhagavan Krisna says - "I accept their (devotees) gifts because they are offered to me in truth, in sincerity and in earnestness. I do not care what words they mutter; I see into their hearts. I try to find out what exactly it is that they offer."14 It is this faith that accelerates our interest to seek for the services to Humanity. Swamy Vivekananda says - "we should not accept any kind of religion .which did not believe in service to humanity." (Our Heritage - Dr. S. Radhakrishnan - p.88) Thus, faith constitutes a sound foundation for religion. The next one is Truthfulness. Some people may not believe in God, but they do believe in Truth. The words of Mahatma Gandhi anent Truth endorse the niceitis of Religion with special reference to Truth. "I used to say 'I believe in God', now I say 'I believe in Truth'. God is Truth" that is what I was saying and today I say Truth is God. There are people who deny God. There are no people who deny Truth." A member of universal religion must rely upon these true words of Upanisad. "Truth alone conquers, not untruth. By truth is laid out the path leading to the Gods, by which the sages who have their desires fulfilled travel to where that supreme abode of truth is."15 Jesus supports the same and says - "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." (John-VIII-32) It is this magnanimous virtueous point that helps us a great deal to approach fast the God; to reach Him and to realize His peculiar nature. It also refines our speech, bread and brain. The last one is non-hatred. Generally, people are in the habit of hating neighbours, enemies, relatives etc. They try to nourish evil thoughts against some people. This is indicated by anger. Anger is an emotion to which everybody, in this world, becomes victim every now and then or in one or the other context. It kills the face value of a man whereas abstaining from anger increases the face value of a man. The Akrodha can partially be included in endurance. But, the teaching behind using this as a seperate virtue is "not to get angry". It is to advise that anger 680

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is the root of sins.16 It may arise to the extent of killing even the elderly person. Valmiki insists this with all the force under his control and puts that nothing is inaccessible to this anger. To an angry man no words of the whole dictionary become redundunt and nobody becomes a friend." Hence one has to give up this anger, at least gradually. Thus, all these ten virtues can very well shape the future of not only a man but also of a state. These virtues constitute a sound meaningful life. The values behind these are exuberantly valuable. These are reflected in so many ways in all the branches of world literature. Regularity is the must in the practice of these religious high-grounds. Whatever little we impliment sincerely these essentials of universal religion the soft effect will be nicely experienced in our life for religion is an experience of truth. As a result of the practice of religion, it is sure, that it will never go unawarded. The Bhagavad Gita is very serious in highlighting this point that even a little practice of Dhrama would save the mankind from a greater danger. (svalpamapyasya dharmasya trAyate mahato bhayAt 27.11. 2-80) || In other words the partial implimentation of Dhrma or these essentials of universal religion does not suffer from any disadvantage as we find in our worldly objects. Even Bhasa puts the same hutaM ca dattaM ca tathaiva tiSThati / - Karnabharam - 12 Now-a-days the world is enormously purterbed by the hatred nourished by the militants. They are spoiling the lives of others for no profit. Bhartrhari rightly calls them demons who kill the lifely graces of others, but there are no words in the dictionary of any language to name them who kill the healthy future of others for no gain at all. That is why great religious thinkers give an importance to non -anger (Akrodha) which imbibes non-violence too. They give a vigours call to us to be solicitous for the human welfare. Standing on the platform of religion - these are selfsufficient to provide plain guidelines to a good way of life. Readers of all the times are impelled to appreciate the simplicity of these virtues and the vigour behind them. These are impressive beyond comparison. Poets and preachers emphasise here to adopt these virtues at the expense of our life. These constitute a sound personality full of pleasing characteristics. These virtues, when found in their respective religions of the world exercise remarkable influence on the minds of the followers by their powerful impacts. Every virtue is a soft vehicle that carries the mission of globalization as they are acceptable and appealing to all in the world. The universal ideas hidden in these aspects are the 681

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part and parcel of the universal religion. They try to bring into the spotlight the dream of globalization cherished by the Upanisadic seers that the whole world is like a nest of birds (fairs). People of all the religions find themselves to be at home with these virtues and values. Thus, these are preaching the advice of emotional globalization with all the more emphasis. "The spirit of this land, from the time of the Rgveda till today asks us to move together to develop common ideals and purposes Meet together talk together May your minds comprehend alike; Common be your action and achievements Common be your thoughts and intentions; Common be the wishes of your hearts So may there be union amongst you.19 ... 682

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o n o0 Reference 1. asato mA sadgamaya tamaso mA jyotirgamaya mRtyormA amRtaM gamaya B.r. Up. III-28 Dr. S. Radhakrishnan - Recovery of Faith - I Mahabharata - Karna Parva - 69-45 ___Bhagavandas * Darshanka Prayojan - p.51 Originally the verse is as follows - dhRtiH kSamA dayAsteyaM zaucamindriya nigrahaH / dhIvidyA satyamakrodho dazakaM dharma lakSaNam // Manusmrti - 6-92 6. paraduHkhaprahaNecchA dayA - Comn. Br.Sutra Bhusya bhUtadayAM vistAraya - Stpadi stotra-1 - Shri Sankaracarya kSamAbalamazaktAnAM zaktAnAM bhUSaNaM kSamA / kSamA vazIkRtiloke kSamayA kiM na siddhyati || Ramayana : II Quoted in the Subhasita Ratna Bhandagara - Chapter II - p. 21 9. dayayA sarvabhUteSu ... tuSyatyAzu janArdanaH / Bhagavat Purana - 4-31-19 10. tyajed dharmaM dayAhInaM - Subhasita Sangraha dayA mUlo bhaveddharmo dayA prANyanukampanam / dayAyAstu parIkSArthaM guNAH zeSAH prakIrtitAH // - Satyavrata shastri, Subhasita Sahasri - 524 11. dAnena pApamapanudati dAnenAzatInapAnudanti dAnena dviSanto mitrA bhavanti dAne sarvaM pratiSThitaM tasmAt dAnaM paramaM vadanti / Mahanarayanopanisad - 98 dAnena bhUtAni vazIbhavanti dAnena vairANyapi yAnti nAzam / paro'pi bandhutvamupaiti dAna rdAnena sarvavyasanAni hanti // Subhasita Ratna Bhandagara - 11-26 13. Quoted by- Dr.Meera Dvivedi - Dharmadarsana - p. 2 2 683

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14. patraM puSpaM phalaM toyaM yo me bhaktyA prayacchati / tadahaM bhaktyupahataM anami prayatAtmanaH // Bhagavadgeeta - 9-26 15. satyameva jayate nAnRtaM satyena panthA vitato devayAnaH / ye nA kramanti RSayo hyAptakAmAH yatra tat satyAsya paramaM nidhAnam // Mundakopanisad- III- 1-6 Cp. satyaM paramaM vadanti I - Mahanarayanopanisad - 98 16. krodho mUlamanarthAnAm / Subhasita Manjari - II-2 kruddha pApaM na kuryAt kaH kruddho hanyAdagurunapi / kruddhaH paruSayA vAcA naraH sAdhUnadhikSipet // vAcyAvAcyaM prakupito na vijAnAti karhicit / nAkAryamasti kruddhasya nAvAcyaM vidyate kvacit / saH samutpatitaM krodhaM kSamayaiva nirasyati / yathoragastvacaM jIrNAM sa vai puruSa ucyate // Ramayanam -5-55-5,6,7 18. te'mI mAnuSarAkSasAH parahitaM nighnanti svArthAya ye ye tu ghnanti nirarthaka parahitaM te kena jAnImahe // - Bhartrhari -Nitisataka - 12 19. saM gacchadhvaM saM vadadhvaM saM vo manAMsi jAnatAM / samAno mantraH samitiH samAnI samAnaM manaH sahacittameSam / samAnIva AkUtiH samanA hRdayAni vaH samAnamastu vo mano yathAva: su sahAsati / - Rgveda-10-192 684

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THE UNMOVED MOVER AND THE NON-DOING DOER - PROF. R.A. MALAGI (An Essay on Madhvacharya's concept of the Divine-Human Relationship with special reference to jivakartrtva, the doership of man.) As you could bisect humanity into two genders, so could you bisect it into two variegated groups : that of the theists and that of the nontheists. While the theists might believe in the God of their choice, the nontheists would like to pursue their own ways, including the humanist. To borrow the idea of Pascal, the theists gamble in favour of a God of their choice as the sole arbiter of reality. Their gamble is their conviction, their faith, their salvation. In the Indian tradition again, you could divide the religious, spiritual or philosophical thinkers into two broad groups, again : the Vedic and the non-Vedic. Yet, again, among the Vedic makers of thought, we have three broad divisions, the Advaita, (monist) the doyen of which is sankaracharya (788-820 C E), The 'qualified' Advaita of Ramanujacharya (1 1th/12th cent.), and the absolute dualism of Madhvacharya, (1199-1278 to 1238 to 1317 CE).' Madhvacharya had the privilege of assessing and evaluating the two schools of thought which preceded his and claiming his own to be definitive, the decisive Vedanta, clinching the whole progressive debate about the nature of reality and the Vedic God. II The entire metaphysics of Madhvacharya hinges on his basic intuition about the nature of reality. His formulation in Tattvasankhyanam swatantramasvatantram ca dvividham tattamisyate swatantro bhagavan Visnuh........2 is the guiding principle of his entire philosophy. The truth is two-fold : the Independent Reality and the dependent reality; Lord Visnuh is the sole Independent Reality and all else is dependent on Him. It is a powerful answer to the famous statement by his early predecessor Sankaracharya. 'Brahma satyam, Jaghanmithya, jivo brahmaiva naparah' (Brahma is the [sole) truth; the world is unreal; the human, the sentient being is none other than Brahma himself. Further, Madhvacharya sees a unique relationship between God and man. It is one of an inseparable relation between bimba and pratibimba, the original and its image. While an ordinary relationship between a physical object and its image is transient and terminable, this 685

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divine-human relationship is eternal and indissoluble. He bases his intuition on the statement in the Madhuvidya of the Brihadaranyaka Upanisad (II.5.19), which in turn is based on the Rgvedic utterance: Rupam rupam pratirupo babhuva, tadasya rupam praticaksanaya Indro mayabhih pururupa iyate, yukta hi asya harayah sata dasa iti (VI. 47.18) [Every being remains the image of the divine being which enables it to realize itself; this Lord, by his power, is known to be the original of all the infinite beings. His forms are infinite: tens, hundreds, etc. are the forms of Hari]. This is echoed in the Kathopanisad (II.2.9-10). This phenomenon of self-multiplication harmonises with the entire process of creation itself: So' kamayata, bahusyam prajayeyeti. Sa' tapo 'tapyata. So' tapastaptva. Idam sarvamasrajata. Yadidam kim ca. Tat srstva tadevanupravisat... [He desired to create the many. He thought. Having thought, He created all this Whatever exists here. Having created, He entered into the [manifold] creation itself. Taittiriya Upanisad (II.6.1) : It is significant to note that the above passages reveal the primal umbilical cord which eternally binds the creator and the created. It is necessary to realize that all action of the individual is inevitably rooted in this divine-human relationship. God first brings the creation into being, and then enters into everything to sustain it. He creates and supports, and rules, as its eternal archetype. The intuition of Madhvacharya, from the passages cited above, is as epoch-making as Plato's theory of archetypes which posits the existence of a ruling archetype for every copy, or as the Christian conception of God making man in his own image and likeness. An illusionist model has no opportunity or concern to conceive an archetypal relationship between God and man or God and creation, since in such a world-view man himself is a misnomer, a God in bondage, shackled in/by ajnana/maya.4 The Visistadvaita view stops short of fashioning the concept of a God assuming a unique divine form for each individual and controlling each form from within, from the initial moment of creation to the final moment of consummation. The intimate mutuality of the divine-human relationship is maintained to the perfect extent of seeing the individual's salvation as a unique possession of his own archetypal God, the bimbaparoksa. The God is supremely independent, sarvatantra svatantra, chooses to be inalienably wedded to an abjectly dependent, asvatantra jiva in a unity of relationship which celebrates divine love. This voluntary and spontaneous interlocking of God 686

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with jiva, this umbilical bond, is a mystical relationship and Madhvacharya has absolutely no doubt, as an apostle of divine love, about the appropriateness and plenitude of his conception of the bimba-pratibimba bhava. III Though the entire body of the Vedic lore and with it, the Brahmasutras, is concerned essentially with the expounding of the divinehuman relationship, the second adhyaya, named by Madhvacharya as avirodha adhyaya (the section concerned with the removal of all arguments against the main thesis) has as its core the analysis of the nature of jiva as doer and God as motivator. The kartritvadhikarana (II.3) in the third section of the adhyaya is almost at the centre of the corpus of the sutras in a bid to rehabilitate the jiva as a valid doer despite his utter dependence on God for his being and movement. The jiva's absolute (or fictional) doership is rejected, to facilitate a fuller understanding of the umbilical phenomenon, by the process of logic, in the very first section, in the itaravyapadesadhikrana ((II.1.22-27) in the Yuktyavirodha (removal of logical obstacles) context. Unless the jivakartrtva in an absolute sense is squarely disproved by the process of logic, here itself, the Isakartrtva, the absolute doership of God, would remain naggingly in doubt. It is significant that the objection is based on an apparently valid experience of a full doership of the jiva, jivasyaiva kartrtvanubhavat (the feeling of the sole doership of the jiva) as Jayatirtha puts it in his Tattvaprakasika" If there is an argument against divine motivation, isapreritatvam, with a misguided feeling of kalpanagaurava, cumbrousness of thought, based on the notion that the existence of that motivating God is itself yet to be proved. If one goes literally by the grammatical implication of Panini's formulation svatantrah karta (Ashtadhyayi, 1.4.54) and argues that a doer who is not free cannot be called a 'doer', you have to put the implication in the right perspective. If the jiva is an unfettered doer, he has no business not to be able to do as he pleases or as it benefits him (hitakarana), or be obliged to do what never pleases him (ahitakarna). If the jivakartrtva is a matter of 'universal experience', the jiva 's regular dilemma of not being able to make himself happy or prevent doing any wrong to himself, is an even more validly universal experience. That itself reduces the notion of a totally free agency of jiva to an evident misconception. The next sutra, adhikam tu bheda nirdesat (II. 1.23) sets out to show, in contrast, God, who on the contrary, is not afflicted, like any jiva, by toil or anxiety (sramachintadi} when He is creating or acting as the scriptures clearly state that he is the srota, manta, drsta, desta, ghosta, prajnata, sarvesam bhutanamantara purusah (Aaitareya Aranyaka 687

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III.2.4). (He is the hearer, the thinker, the seer, the commander, the proclaimer, the knower, the intense understander, and the interior person within all beings). The Brihadaranyaka Upanisad also mentions him to be Yo' sanayapipase, sokam moham jaram mrtyumatyeti (5.5.2) (He transcends hunger and thirst, sorrow and delusion, old age and death). In short, the divine doership is a perfect phenomenon since God is not afflicted by shortcomings of the body or the mind or even the disabling handicap of ageing and even death itself on the one hand and is omnipotent and omniscient, ruling the entire creation from within, on the other. The jiva 's doership pales into insignificance before the overarching presence of God. The next sutra, asmadivat ca tadanupapatteh (II.1.24) (even if he is a cetana, a sentient being, he is like a piece of stone [dependent], it does not logically follow that he be a free doer.) Madhvacharya cites a sloka from the Mahabharata, 'O king, these beings are like the wooden dolls whose limbs are being moved by the puppeteer'. Though the analogy of the puppet and puppeteer is rather misleading or even derogatory, it effectively brings out the dependency of the jiva for the accomplishment of any action on a higher force. One may still insist that jivas do accomplish their tasks and hence are fully independent agents. To give a more genuine background to any action performed by the jiva, the next sutra, upasamhara darsanat neti chet, ksirvaddhi (II. 1.25). If one 'argues that since jiva does accomplish actions, and hence a free agent, he is not so, as for example, though milk is apparently from the cow, it is the product of not merely the cow. The milk, indeed, is produced not by the visible cow, but by the invisible force of God which transforms gross food into its essence. The cow cannot claim the full credit for its milk, though we keep calling it the cow's milk. The next sutra corrects the seeming empirical impression or experience, by giving a telling analogy, upasahmaradarsanat neti cet, ksirvaddhi (II.i.26) (Even like the milk which seems to be produced by the cow all by itself, the task is not indeed completed by the jiva himself. The milk is produced, in fact, not by the visible quadruped, but by the invisible force of God which transforms gross food into its final essence. The cow can never claim the fullest credit for its milk, though we keep calling it the cow's milk. Incidentally, one is reminded of the same analogy, in a similar context, given in Gita Tatyparya by Madhvacharya quoting a passage from Brahmatarka : .... Yasmat svatantra kartstvam Visnoreva ca nanyagam tadadhinam svatantratvam svavarapksaivtu 688

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jivasya viketirnama kartrtvam jadasamsrayam puman dogdhaca, gowrdoghdhri, stano doghdhetivat kramat iti Brahmatarka vacanat Isvarajivaprakrtyadinam kartatvam akartstvam ca vibhagena jnatavyam sarvatra? (..........so free agency belongs to Visnu alone and to none else; the jiva's independence is subservient to Him. The notion of independence is relative to the nature of each only. The agency of jiva is a suitably modified one; he is independent vis-a-vis a non-sentient material (e.g. a stone). The milkman is a 'milker, the cow is a 'milker', the teat is a 'milker', i.e. each one is a 'milker' with reservations. As the Brahmatarka says the agency and the non-agency of God, jiva, nature (i.e. the cow, etc.) should be understood everywhere appropriately). The 'cow/milker analogies, both in the sutra and the quotation, want us to distinguish the appearance from the reality, and to penetrate beyond the seeming into the deeper causes themselves. If an objection is raised, again, that one should not speak of the human agency being subservient to the divine, since the very God on whom the whole solution turns, is nowhere to be found and one is charged with kalpana gaurava, excess of thought, the next sutra, 'devadivadapi loke* (II. 1.26) answers it : one cannot deny the existence of God owing to His invisibility or 'inaccessibility when, in the world, the 'gods' or even spirits are capable of being invisible, and they are not denied existence. The supreme God himself cannot be without this power, and fade out of existence. The logician must know how long logic can work and when it ceases to be any valid epistemological tool. One may use one's logic to reconcile two apparently opposed scriptural statements but cannot invalidate a scriptural statement by a stroke of wilful logic. If he keeps fencing with his logic, he is asked a simple question : If the jiva is an independent agent, what kind of an agent is he? When he acts, what is the mode? Does he employ his total strength to lift a blade of grass? Obviously, "no", is the answer. If "no", it means inevitably that he uses a slight portion of his strength. In the Vedic tradition, the jiva, is anu one unit and indivisible (anucchitti dharma). How does this miracle, the use of a partial force by an indivisible unit happen? The jiva left to himself would not perform this miracle of discriminatory exercise without dividing himself, which is an impossibility. The last sutra in the sections is kritsnaprasaktih niravayavatvakopo va II.i.27) (If you accept the exercise of partial strength only for a trifle, you face the problem of contradicting the scripture which says that jiva is indivisible and cannot act by parts). You have to accept the mystery of divine intervention when 689

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a jiva is able to accommodate his power to the task on hand. God enables him to lift a blade of grass with an iota of his energy, and also to move a mountain when necessary. Jiva's claim to free dynamism falls to pieces at every moment of action. One has to accept that the god-likeness of human action is owing to the actual operation of God himself even when jiva acts, for all practical purposes. IV The jivakartatvadhikarana of the third pada, of the second adhyaya, which happens to be almost the middle of the opus, addresses itself to the task of putting the picture straight, without just resorting to the mere gymnastics of logic or flourish of rhetoric. In this section, the procedure is more straightforward. While in the itaravyapadesadhikarana of the first pada, is a dialogue with a sceptic, with the tools of logic, here the issue is placed on a higher plane, the framework of the srutis, the traditionally Vedic framework. The earlier discourse is an appeal to a rational mind; the present one is a discourse that reaches beyond the realm of reason. The realm of the Srutis is one of sovereign certainty but it may have its own apparent impediments to truth. The huge body of utterances or insights has to be seen as a consistent one, transcending apparent inconsistencies. As the utterances are honoured as absolute testimonies to truth, you cannot oppose one truth to another : you have to see the samanvaya, the harmonization that is a consummation of the whole truth. The first sutra, karta sastrarthavatvat" (II.3.33) makes a definitive statement. It says the jiva also is an agent, if the sastra, the Vedic lore, has to be meaningful, since the sastra exists for the destiny of the jiva also. Madhvacharya's bhasya brings out the meaning of the sutra unambiguously. Jivasya kartrtvabhave sastrasya aprayojakatva prapteh jivo 'pi karta' (if the jiva has no agency, the sastra would be purposeless, and so the jiva is also an agent] The jiva has to be moved to the centre again, since, though God himself is the sovereign agent, according to the Vedic lore which implicates the jiva in action, since the whole lore is concerned about the entire career of the jiva from the moment of creation to the consummation in either mukti (salvation), or tamas (damnation) also. The Paramatman and the Jivatman form an indivisible (sayuja) dyad. The God of the Vedic tradition does not blot out what is not God. He is an all-inclusive Being and the perfect fruition of the individual jiva lies in the final unification of jiva with God. Madhvacharya considers that the issue concerned is with reference to the Brhadaranyaka passage which culminates in Yatkarma Kurute tadabhisampadyate (He indeed attains the fruit of what he does). The Sarirabrahmana in which this passage occurs is about the way the jiva's avidya (nescience) is abolished and then he is purified like gold at the time of his final death and is made ready for the ascent, utkranti, on his way to moksa. The very next mantra 690

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(6) in the Upanisad is about the states of the jiva entangled in desire (kamayamano), going up and returning to this earth, and the other sort of jiva unentangled in unworthy desires (akamayamano), finding his consummation in God, resurrected in his fullness, enters the plenitude of Parabrahma. The whole context affirms the significance of the Upanisadic utterance. It is indeed about jivatma who attains the fulness appropriate to himself, and enters the beatitude of Paramatma squarely on the basis of what karma he has performed. At the same time, the splendid description of Parabrahma which precedes the role of the jiva, should undoubtedly impress on us the inalienable relation between the Jivatma and Paramatma who shapes his fulfilment. This phenomenon again, inevitably reminds us of the bimba-pratibimba relationship which persists in the state of earthly existence, the process of karmic evolution and ascent, as also the final attainment of moksa. It is the Paramatma who works from within to sculpt the soul according to its svarupa (the innate self-hood), the jiva translating itself into action, God helping the worthy soul perfect itself through good action, the ugly soul degrade itself progressively towards total ruin. The worthy or the ugly soul becomes what it does. Here, the simultaneous dynamism of paramatma and the jivatma is portrayed. God does not operate on the inert mass of a passive jiva. Nor is the jivatma left alone to toil in vain. There is a mutuality of response which is a lovely mystery. Why God, who is so lofty, descends into the human soul is as mysterious as why the human agent who is so low, aspires to ascend.10 The next sutra reinforces the jiva's agency by drawing our attention to his agency in the state of liberation. His bliss is so real that he sports in joy: Viharopadesat (the Upanisad says that he moves in joy [with ladies, vehicles, with his relatives, ... eating, sporting, enjoying, etc.] (II.3.34). Jayatirth rightly notes that the agency of the jiva is not imaginary but absolutely real since devoid of all illusions, he is said to sport himself [as an active agent]." What in the first sutra is stated with reference to the Brihadaranyaka Upanisad is complemented by the utterance in Chandogya Upanisad (8.12.3) here. One who works towards bliss, enjoys his bliss in the state of liberation. If you look closely into the two passages, you cannot but conclude that, initiated by the supreme spirit, the jiva works towards beatitude, and then, on the state of liberation, beatified by the Supreme Spirit, he harvests joy which is entirely his own (swena rupena nispadyate). If one argues that you may concede agency to the jiva in the state of moksa, it is illusory in the state of samsara, life on this earth, the third sutra clarifies the position further. Upadanat (II.3.35) clarifies the picture by a simple act of logic, sadhanadyupadana pratisedhat ca. That is, the ways of the cultivation of the soul are evidently known, the jiva 691

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is indeed a doer. The cultivation leads to liberation; liberation does not spring from a vacuum. The moksa, comes as a culmination of the jiva's sustained efforts through lives, which is a matter of universal testimony. The agency of the jiva is real in both the states, the life here and hereafter. The next sutra vyapadesat ca kriyayam na cet nirdesa viparyayath (II.3.36) Since the statement atmanameva lokamupasit (Brihadaranyaka Upanisad 1.4.15) is clearly made, if the jiva is not a doer, the entire injunction would be futile. Also, the word atmanam is in the accusative and thus the object of cultivation and the subject, jiva must be the upasaka or sadhaka, the spiritual cultivator. When one closely reads the relevant upanisadic passage, one realizes how the jiva has to be a knower of God, loko (the luminous one) and work out his salvation. If all this is taken into account, it is impossible to deny real agency to the jiva. After affirming that the jiva is also a doer, the next three sutras explain in what sense is God said to be the sole doer, Isvarasyaiva Kartstvam, even when retaining the doership of the jiva. In a very telling analogy, the sutra Upalabdhivad aniyamah (II.3.37) shows how the jiva's doing is perpetually imperfect. The bhassya interprets the sutra : yatha jnane idam jnasyami iti aniyamah pratiyate, evam karmanyapi jivasya.12 As a jiva can never say confidently "I will certainly know this much, in the same way, he can never say "I will perform this action" (with absolute perfection).13 Human actions-are congenitally crippled by imperfection and indecision. It is almost invariably, the case of 'Man proposes, God disposes'. The sankalpa, the decisions, the targets are hardly fulfilled since he happens to be asvatantra, never a total master. The jiva can do as far as he goes, but he never goes far enough. Bsihadaranyaka Upanisad (3.7.1) says ya atmanam antaro yamayati, who controls the jiva from within, meaning thereby that the operations of the jiva are controlled, guided, by God, of course, as per the intrinsic substance of the jiva. The next sutra clarifies further the jiva's handicap, saktiviparyayat (II.3.38) by a kind of reversal, faltering of strength, the goal is never perfectly reached. Madhyacharya glosses the sutra, alpasaktitvat jivasyal4 because of the scantiness of human strength. Jayatirth further elucidates the statement by saying, isvarasya purnasaktivat svatantryam, jivasya tadviparyayat asvatantryam pratiyate iti bhavah. God is omnipotent and so free. Jiva is otherwise, and so experiences his lack of freedom. The next sutra, samadhanabhavat ca (II.3.39) which Madhvachaiya glosses, samadhanabhavat ca asytantryam pratiyate.16 The jiva experiences his dependence since he is never fully satisfied with what he accomplishes. Jayatirtha explains further that God has no problem with satisfaction since he is purnakama, one whose desires, intents are fully satisfied.17 One may glance at the Taittiriya Upanisadic statement here : Yadvai tat sukrtam, raso vai sah (II.7.1) : what He has made is well done, He is quintessential bliss, which contrasts with the congenital anxiety of the jiva. 692

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The next three sutras in the section negotiate a theological, philosophical or metaphysical impasse. If God is the absolute doer, then what is the jiva's own status as a doer? Since the answer lies in reconciliation or the harmonization of the two apparently contrary positions, the next sutras, the concluding ones, reveal the kind of concurrence of and the coordination between the two. The sutra yatha ca taksobhayatha (II.3.40) begins to break the ice and lets us see the whole situation not in terms of antinomies or polarities but in terms of a working and genuine complementarity. Madhvacharya explains the sutra in his bhasya, yatha taksnah karayitr niyatattvam kartstvam ca vidyate, evam jivasyapi"18. As a carpenter/craftsman is at once an agent, but a subordinate agent, under the guidance of the master, so is the jiva, a subordinate agent. They jiva is at once an agent, and even while being so, is controlled from within and above by God. It is vain to argue that Panini's sutra 'Svatntrah karta (Astadhyayi 1.4.54) is the final truth about agency and if you say that jiva is asvatantra, he can never be an agent. We need not reduce the position to an unredeemable contradiction. There can be, and there are indeed, many orders of acting, and action, and it is unreasonable to seal the issue with one grammatical fiat. Panini's own next sutra makes the whole matter clearer, Tat prayojako hetuscha (1.4.55) : 'that which is the mover thereof, i.e. the independent source of action, is called hetu or cause, as well as karta or agent. One should note that in any event in the cosmos never is there a solitary cause of anything. There is always a plurality of causes. The Bhagavadgita (XVIII. 13- 18) makes the point amply clear. There are five factors involved in any action, be it physical, vocal, or mental, be it right or wrong. There is a karta and also a daiva which is the final mystery, None can arrogate any sole agency to oneself when at least five fundamental factors are involved. Any unifocal approach is doomed to falsification. Only a multifocal approach alone where God has the ultimate role would set the matter right. We should not reduce jiva to a puppet, nor should we inflate God into a despot. The next sutra 'parattu tat sruteh (II. 3.41) adjusts the balance. Jiva is a karta but his kartrtva, agency, is derived from God. Madhvacharya explains the matter thus : 'sa ca kartrtva Saktih paradeva. Kartstvam karanatvam ca, svabhavah cetana dhritih, yatprasadadime santi, na santi yadupeksaya, iti Paingisrutih' 19 Jiva indeed is an agent but the fount of his agency is God himself. As the Paingisruti states, agency, instrumentality, innate nature, dynamism, firmness, all these are there when God's grace is there, not when out of his favour. God has to be seen as the ultimate Reality by whom all realities are sustained. The real agency of the jiva is at the pleasure of God. The last sutra sums up the entire Vedantic position. 693

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'krtaprayatnapeksastu vihita pratisedhavaiyarthadibhyah' (II. 3. 42) God is not a heady despot. The Vedic commands and prohibitions are valid and meant for the jiva who is a valid karta. At the same time God has his own just procedure. Madhvacharya cites Bhavisyatparva : Purvakarma prayatnam ca samskaram ca apeksya tu Ishwarah karayet sarvam, tat ca Ishwarkrtam svayam. Anaditvat adosascha purnasaktitvato Hareh20. God bases his motivation of jiva on his previous karma, his effort, his samskara, which Jayatirtha aptly glosses as yogyata21 the innate worth, and gets jiva into action. There is no infinite regress about the jiva's karma since it is anadi, beginningless (and not pre-determined by God). That is, God does not do anything unilaterally or arbitrarily but on the objective basis of the innate standing of each jiva. This particular scheme shows that jiva is not fatalistically compelled by karma into action. It is God who empowers the entire cluster of constituents of any action and makes it possible for jiva to perform. The jiva has to bear his cross but God enables him to do so. God also cannot be charged with partiality (vaisamya) or ruthlessness (nairghranya) when he moves a worthy or unworthy soul to appropriate course of action, since he works on the datum that lends itself to specific action. Michelangelo is reported to have said, 'I do not carve a figure. I am like a midwife. I only deliver a figure which is already embedded in the stone' 22 God simply facilitates the career of a jiva to evolve himself to his telos. In a sense the jiva is a karta, but under the guardianship of God. In the latter sense you can even call him a non-doer as he cannot do anything unless he is moved by God. Similarly, God is the true doer, since they jiva is impotent without his impulsion. He is also a non-doer, since he is only a detached facilitator. All said and done God is the Unmoved Mover and the jiva is the nondoing doer. V The construction of argument in a work like the Brahmasutra is necessarily an act of logical and metaphysical system-building. The deepest of convictions could sound sectarian and partisan. But Madhvacharya's systematic defence of his intuitions permeates his entire oeuvre and becomes the backbone of a world-view which sees God as the sovereign providence and man as the willing agent in a cosmic purpose. Samples of his thoughts in his other works like Bhagavata Tatparya Nirnaya, Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya, Gita Bhasya and Gita Tatparya show how he elucidates the great metaphysical tenets to focus the entire body of his thought on the ultimate destiny of the human soul on the one hand and the efficacy of the Divine purpose on the other. Commenting on Sririmad Bhagavata, XI.7.8, he writes: 694

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Welcome acquisitions like the gaining of svarga (the heaven of pleasure) etc., and all undesirable things, etc. (the various narakas/births) emanate from the illusion of kartrtva (on the part of the jiva). He who knows God alone to be the sole karta is released from this samsara. (The cycle of birth/death, svarga/ naraka etc.) and goes to God', says the Mahabharata. "I do this", "I do not do this", "I do this wrongly", such notions are misconceptions. The illusion is caused by the rajas and tamo gunas. God does everything.23 When Madhvacharya talks of the bhrama or 'illusion', it is the confusion in the human agent who mistakenly arrogates total agency to himself and errs, and the error leads him on to heaven or hell depending on the nature of the action performed. He sees jiva's absolute surrender of kartrtva, agency, to God alone as the key to salvation. Commenting on the Bhagavadgita (III.40-31) in the Gita Tatparya, he writes "I am not the doer, Hari is the doer. All actions are acts of worship. Even then, my worship is owing to His grace. The devotion to Him, the fruit of that devotion is mine, by His grace, again and again." The surrender of all action to God in this way is always pleasing to Him. Therefore all independent doership is always His, none else's. The jiva's independence is subject to Him, and is so when compared to any person/entity inferior to him. Jiva's doership is vikrati, a modified one, only in respect of the things inferior, like the inanimate things...24 Again, "All the actions are motivated by Him, I have no independence." This should be the attitude, and realizing this he should remain detached. Thus will the Lord be pleased with him.25 Madhvacharya also describes, God's akartrtva, 'inaction' in Bhagavata Tatparya Nirnaya (1.3.35) He is called akarta (non-doer) because of his effortlessness, independence, detachment to the fruit, and also because He is not different from his acts. Those who do not know the truth, call God's kartrtva illusory. His kartrtva is a manifestation of his lordliness, so do they know who know the truth. The Padmapurana says so... His kartstva is because of his total ease. It is also because of his omnipotence. Thus says, the Tantrasara26 That is, even when jiva is described as karta, he is indeed akarta; even when God is described as akarta, he is indeed the karta. Unless this profound conviction is seen as the true incandescence of a soul ignited 695

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by bhakti, the role of a jiva would be wrongly construed as falsely and heroically free or abjectly passive. Or, again, this sense of the absolute doership of God may get closer to a statement like sarvam khalu idam brahma (All this indeed is Brahma) precariously bordering on unintended pantheism. But Madhvacharya sees God in everything, everything in God, and as everything in every thing. God alone matters and nothing else. This indeed is the consummation of God-intoxication, to borrow Spinoza's famous term. VI Madhvacharya's fascination with an overarching sovereign God may tempt one to ask, to save a shrunken jiva, whether he had anything to say on the intrinsic and indestructible worth of a jiva. An all-pervading God need not wipe out the vibrant jiva, who is described as anucchitti dharma ayamatma, indestructible by nature by the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad (4.5.13). Since, in his scheme, the entire reality is five-fold, where God, the world, and the various jivas are eternal entities, the dimming out of a flickering jiva before an all-consuming splendour of God need not threaten his very existence. In his comprehensive work, Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya, chapter 22, there is a very crucial passage which emphasizes the intrinsic paurusa (the andrea) of a jiva. When, in the Vanaparvan of the Mahabharata, Yudhishtira keeps harping on the value of ksama (forgiveness) as the highest dharma (right course of action), Madhvacharya's Draupadi says: Of course, Visnu is the mover of everything, along with Lakshmi and Caturmukha Brahma and the other chief deities, and all are in their control like wooden puppets, even so paurusa (andre'a] is never in vain (71). Under their command a person acts, then he reaps the fruit of good or ill actions as per his acts and not otherwise, and the person, though controlled, is indeed a karta (72). If this is not so, what use is the paurusa and the commands and bans of Vedas? If the commands and the bans are not addressed to the person, they have to be applicable to God! He has to be tainted with the merit and the sins, which is absurd since he is supremely free. So the jiva is a karta even when he is under God. (74)27 The argument that Draupadi places before Yudhisthira is exactly the one that forms the substance of the jivakartstva section of the Brahmasutra, chapter II, Section II. Draupadi tells Yudhisthira that man is a karta, though subservient to God, otherwise the Vidhi-nisedhas (the do's and the don'ts) of the Vedas would affect God himself. She repeats karta puruso 'pi vasyah (man is the doer, though dependent) thrice in 696

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her argument. Vadirajatirtha in his commentary glosses Draupadi's term paurusa as "purusaprayatna (verse 71)28 human effort. Yudhisthira is rendered niruttara (answerless) and she retires. Then Bhima takes over and explains the matter more fully to him (77-116). The crucial verses are : 'O King, Visnu indeed is the all-doer, none else; everything else is under Him, He indeed is svatantra (free). Even so, man must perform the right actions, and must reject the actions which are improper (77). Man's action is evident, from that you have to imagine that he is moved by God. The wise one does understand that one's duty is motivated by Him. (78) By doing so he attains to the right end; the wrong-minded ones blame on daiva (fate) and abandon karma. That is the first cause. The second one is the beginningless (anadi) karma (i.e. the basic fund); the third one is the effort of the person (jivaprayatna) which is called paurusa. All these three are subservient to God, always (85). This hatha hierarchically exists from the highest Brahma to Kali (86). All actions take place as per the hatha, efforts follow it and as per karma. Without effort hatha does not operate and even karma is inoperative. God awards the fruit of everything as per the procedure. God's sovereignty lies in choosing to award the fruit as per the scheme. (88) That does not detract from the sovereignty of God; His omnipotence is not reduced. So one must perform the duty set for him in the service of God (89). 29 The passage above is an existential application of a philosophical/ metaphysical truth in a concrete situation. Though in the original Mahabharata Draupadi takes the lead in the exposition of the agency of God, here Bhima does it and Madhvacharya identifies himself with him and clinches the issue. Madhvacharya invests the term hatha with a unique technical sense. Monier Williams in his dictionary glosses it as 'absolute or inevitable necessity and deduces the meaning from the Mahabharata itself ; Madhvacharya gives an ontological significance to the term hatha and makes it the irreducible, ultimate substratum of the existence of every being. Hatha, anadikarma, and paurusa the duty proper to him, are also under divine power. One's duty must, then, be performed. He must realize his subservience to God and perform the duty enjoined. The kartrata (the doership) is implanted in the jiva (jivasamstha) and is universally evident (pratyaksaina), and so logically cogent (anumanat) and enjoined by the Vedas (agamat) (80), Vadirajatirtha clarifies in his commentary the operative terms: The doership is implanted in the jiva evidently, i.e. stands proved by actual experience (pratyaksa pramana siddha). Through his 697

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own inner sense (saksi) everyone experiences "I do this"? The Veda [lsavasya Upanisad] says one should live a hundred years performing actions regularly. The logic is 'They jiva himself is the performer of Yajnas and other actions since he enjoys the fruits of those actions...' Vadiraja's perception that one's kartratva is a saksi anubhava or pratyaksa (evident to the inner sense) is crucial to the understanding of the issue.30 Bhima then continues : "The ignorant one rejecting the actual experience believes his action to be caused by fate, abdicates his duty, while the wise one constantly performs his duty knowing that it to be under God's dispensation (83). The yogyata (worthiness) is known as svabhava (one's own innate nature), is also called hatha (the irreducible core) which is implanted in all the jivas from eternity (anadisiddha, sarvajivesu nitya) are an indivisible triad, a basic I AM, aham, which is a counterpoint to God - Brahma, in the ultimate drama of human existence. Madhvacharya defines the jiva in his Visnutattvaniraya thus : ahamityeva yo vedyah sa jiva iti kirtitah sa dukhi sa sukhi caiva, sa patrascha bandha-moksayoh (He is jiva who is known as I am; he is miserable or happy, worthy of bondage or salvation)31 The Bshadaraanyaka Upanisad too states that the person knew Himself to be I AM (1.4.1) which reminds us of the 'I AM THAT I AM of Exodus (3.14) We must also connect the idea of ahamkaratattva (the principle of individuation) in the Indian metaphysics with the jiva's irreducible sense of his unique existential status which makes him act as a unique self. The jiva's identity is ineradicable whether in the state of samsara (life here, and moksa (the life above) and his interior experience (saksi jnana) of being a doer is also ineradicable. The amsadhikarana of the Brahmasutra, significantly following the jiva kartrtva section shows how the two primal entities, the jiva and paramatma are wedded together in a multiplicity of mutual relationships. Further, as Chhahdogya Upanisad well notes that action defines a jiva and the jiva acts as he enjoys doing 32 God too acts since He rejoices in acting and He acts as He enjoys. Indeed He is bliss itself: raso vai sah33 The jiva does, as doing is the key to bliss. He mirrors God, bliss 698

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answering bliss. The Taittiriya Upanisad describes the final state of bliss where the jiva embraces the anandmaya Brahma : "He indeed is one who makes him (jiva) blissful. Only when he enters into the invisible, the not-self, the indescribable, the infinite and obtains his final rest, he is totally free from fear.... He penetrates the Blissful" (III. 5-8). By doing, the jiva imitates God. By this imitation he divinizes himself and participates in the very person of God. He perfects himself by the grace of God and enters Him, as the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad puts it, brahmaiva san, brahmapyeti (4.4.5). Being full he enters Fullness. 1. NOTES The dates, as mentioned in The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, Ed. John Bowker, OUP, 1977, Tattvasankhyanam, Sarvamulagranthah, vol. vii.725. All references to Madhvacharya's works are from Sarvamulagranthah- Collected works of Sri Madhvacharya, Edited critically with an Introduction, explanatory notes, Appendices by Dr. Vyasankere Prabhanjanacharya, M.A., Ph.D [seven volumes) Bangalore, 1999. Note also Bertrand Russell's critique of Plato's theory of appearance: 'any attempt to divide the world into portions of which one is more real than the other is doomed to failure.' A History of Western Philosophy, London, 1946, p. 144. Madhvacharya does not divide reality into compartments of the true' and 'the false'. He sees God as the supremely Real overseeing the derivatively real and asserts that the individual, sentient being, is intrinsically and eternally the other. The 'dependent reality is real precisely because the Supreme Reality and His creation is immediately and ultimately real. The existence of his God is not a product of Brahma, the sole reality and "maya' (illusion) or 'ajnana' (ignorance). You cannot wed light to darkness and produce a third entity, since, to borrow a statement from Rgveda apedu hasate tamah (X.127.3) 'light ridicules/mocks darkness'. You can call your God a mystery, but never an incredible hybrid.The illusionist school of thought is raised on shaky foundations. Madhvacharya pithily puts it: because of the utter impossibility of ignorance (ajnana) affecting the [luminous] Brahma, the school stands totally rejected (Ajnanasambhavadeva tat matamakhilam apakstam, op. at. vii.42). 699

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5. See Sri Brhmasutrabhasyam (with seven commentaries in seven volumes) Ed. Prof. K.T. Pandurangi, Bangalore, 1997, iii.140. See Shakespeare, Hamlet: "Our wills and fates do so contrary run That our devices still are overthrown: Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own' (III.31.2068) and also There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come! (V.ii.215-218). Sarvamulagranthah : i. 308. Hamlet : 'What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god...' (II..303ff). Brahmasutrabhasyam, iv. 232. 9. See Job, 'What is man that thou shouldst magnify him' (7.17) and Psalms, 'What is man that thou art mindful of him (8.4) Brahmasutrabhasyam, iv. 238 Ibid., iv. 243. 12. 13. T.S. Eliot: 'Between the idea/And the reality/Between the motion and the act/Falls the Shadow... Between the conception/And the creation; Between the emotion/And the response/ Falls the Shadow. ("The Hollow Men') Brahmasutrabhanyam, iv. 246 Brahmasutrabhasyam, iv. 246-7 K * Brahmasutrabhasyam, iv. 248. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Brahmasutrabhasyam, iv. 248. Brahmasutrabhasyam, iv. 249-50. Brahmasutrabhasyam, iv. 251. Brahmasutrabhasyam, iv. 253. Brahmasutrabhasyam, iv. 254 Michelangelo by Elena Capretti 22. 700

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23. David and Charles, Devon, 2006, p. 109 See also Krishna by Osho, Jaico Books, Mumbai, 2009, pp.!27/8 Sarvamulagranthah, vi.484. Bhagavadgita Tatparya Nirnayah, ibid., 1.308. Ibid., i.309. Bhagavadgita Tatparya Nirnayah, Sarvamula-granthah, vi. 15. Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnayah, 22.71-74,Sarvamulagranthah, v. 421 Ibid, v. 421. Ibid., v. 422-23. Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya, with Vadirajatirtha's commentary), ed. Dr. Vyasanakere Prabhanjanacharya, M.A. Ph.D, Bangalore, 1998, p.634. Sarvamulagranthah, vii. 116 Chandogya Upanisad, 7.22.1 Taittiriya Upanisad, 2.7.1 28. 31. 32. . 701

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AcaraNa evaM vyavahAra zrI zubhakaraNa surANA vyakti aura samAja - ye do vAstavikatAe~ hai / manuSya samAja meM praveza karane ke pUrva vyakti vizeSa hai / ve apanI saMpatti, adhikAra, jIvana kI surakSA kI pUrti ke lie sAmAjika vyavasthA kI sthApanA karate haiM / vyakti meM vaiyaktikatA aura sAmAjikatA donoM ke mUla tattva sannihita hote haiM kSamatAoM kA honA vyakti kI vaiyaktikatA hai, unakA abhivyakta honA vyakti kI sAmAjikatA hai / isalie vyakti aura samAja bhinna-bhinna hai / vyakti kI vaiyaktikatA kabhI khaMDita nahIM hotI / usakA kabhI vinimaya nahIM hotA / vyakti samAja kA abhinna aMga banakara bhI vyakti hI rahatA hai / vyakti apanI AkAMkSA, apekSA aura karma kA vistAra karatA hai, vinimaya . aura parasparatA kA saMbaMdha sthApita karatA hai / vyakti kI sImA saMvedana hai / eka vyakti ko prema, harSa, bhaya aura zoka kA saMvedana hotA hai, vaha nitAMta vaiyaktika hai| usakA vinimaya nahIM hotaa| vaha dUsaroM ko diyA nahIM jA sakatA / vinimaya vyakti aura samAja ke bIca kA setu hai / usake isa ora vyakti hai aura usa tarapha samAja vyakti kA mUla AdhAra hai saMvedana aura samAja kA mUla AdhAra hai vinimaya / samAja sAmAjika saMbaMdho kI eka paddhati hai, jisake dvArA hama jIte hai| samAjazAstrI grIna ke anusAra 'samAja eka bar3A samUha hai jisase hara vyakti saMbaddha hai / ' samAja-vyavasthA ke AdhArabhUta tattva do haiM - kAma aura artha / kAma kI saMpUrti ke lie sAmAjika saMbaMdho kA vistAra hotA hai / artha kAma-saMpUrti kA sAdhana banatA hai / dharma (vidhi-vidhAna)ke dvArA samAja kI vyavasthA kA saMcAlana hotA hai / kAma aura dharma kA mUla 'artha' hai| isalie isa trivarga meM artha hI pradhAna hai / Adhunika samAjavAdI samAja-vyavasthA meM bhI artha kI pradhAnatA hai| vaha artha para hI AdhArita hai| arthAdhArita samAja-vyavasthA meM vyakti kA svataMtra mUlya nahIM ho sakatA vyaktigata svataMtratA niyaMtrita kie binA samAjavAdI vyavasthA phalita nahIM ho sktii| vyakti apane saMvedano ko jitanA mUlya detA hai, utanA dUsaroM ke saMvedano ko nahIM detA apramANikatA, anaitikatA, zoSaNa aura bhraSTAcAra jaisI burAiyAM panapatI haiM / vyaktivAdI samAja-vyavasthA meM sAmAjika viSamatA phalita hotI hai / unameM kucha loga sampanna hote haiM aura jana-sAdhAraNa vipanna rahatA hai| sampanna loga bhoga-vilAsa meM Asakta rahate haiM / ve apanI sukha-suvidhA kI hI ciMtA karate haiM, dUsaroM ke hitoM kI ciMtA nahIM karate / unakI indriyaparaka AvazyakatAeM bar3ha jAtI hai / ve bhoga se haTakara anya viSayoM para vicAra ke lie samaya hI nahIM nikAla pAte / vipanna logoM ko indriyaparaka AvazyakatAoM 702

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kI pUrti ke lie atyaMta zrama karanA hotA hai / unheM vicAra kA avasara hI nahIM milatA / jaina darzana samAja-vyavasthA kA sUtra nahIM detA, kAma aura artha kA dizA-nirdeza nahIM detA, jIvana kI samagratA kA darzana nahIM detA / jaina darzana meM mokSa kI mImAMsA pradhAna hai / mokSavAdI darzana kA mukhya kArya dharma kI mImAMsA karanA hotA hai / isa saMdarbha meM dharma kA artha bhI badala jAtA hai / kAma aura artha ke saMdarbha meM dharma kA artha samAja vyavasthA ke saMcAlana kA vidhividhAna hotA hai / mokSa ke saMdarbha meM usakA artha hotA hai cetanA kA zodhana / mahAvIra ne jitane nirdeza die ve saba cetanA kI zuddhi ke lie die / una nirdezo se artha aura kAma prabhAvita hote haiM / 1 naitikatA vyakti kA apanA guNa hai, isa apekSA se vaha vaiyaktika hai, kiMtu vaha dUsare ke prati hotI hai, isalie sAmAjika bhI hai| samAja kI AcAra saMhitA deza-kAla meM bheda se bhinna-bhinna parivartanazIla aura samAja kI upayogitA ke AdhAra para nirmita hotI hai / naitikatA deza aura kAla kI dhArA meM eka rupa, aparivartanazIla aura dharma se prabhAvita hotI hai / dharma aura naitikatA ko zAzvata satya kI zreNI meM rakhA jA sakatA hai, samAja kI AcAra saMhitA ko usa zreNI meM nahIM rakhA jA sakatA / ve donoM vyakti kI AMtarika avasthA hai / samAja kI AcAra saMhitA samAja kA bAharI niyamana hai / yaha zuddha artha meM sAmAjika hai / naitikatA udgama meM vaiyaktika aura vyavahAra meM sAmAjika hai / dharma zuddha artha meM Atmika aura vyavahAra meM vaiyaktika hai / 1 ahiMsA kA sarvocca dhArmika mUlya hai / unakA sUtra hai ahiMsA dharma hai, dharma ke lie hiMsA nahIM kI jA sakatI / dharma kI rakSA ahiMsA se hotI hai, dharma kI rakSA ke lie hiMsA nahIM kI jA sakatI / - - I manuSya jAti eka hai / jAtIya bhedabhAva, ghRNA aura chUAchUta ye hiMsA ke tattva hai / ahiMsA dharma meM inake lie koI avakAza nahIM hai / - mahAvIrane dharma ke tIna lakSaNa batalAe ahiMsA, saMyama aura tapa / ye tInoM Atmika aura vaiyaktika hai inase phalita hone vAlA caritra naitika hotA hai / rAgadveSamukta cetanA ahiMsA hai / yaha dharma kA AdhyAtmika svarUpa hai / jIva kI hiMsA nahIM karanA, jhUTha nahIM bolanA, corI nahIM karanA, brahmacarya kA pAlana karanA, parigraha nahIM rakhanA yaha dharma kA naitika svarUpa hai / rAga-dveSa-mukta cetanA Atmika svarUpa hI hai / vaha kisI dUsare ke prati nahIM aura usakA saMbaMdha kisI dUsare se nahIM hai / jIva kI hiMsA nahIM karanA yaha dUsaroM ke prati AcaraNa hai / isalie yaha naitika hai / naitika niyama dharma ke AdhyAtmika svarUpa se hI phalita hotA hai / isakA udgama dharma kA AdhyAtmika svarUpa hI hai / isalie yaha dharma se bhinna nahIM ho sakatA / dharma apane meM aura naitikatA dUsaroM ke prati ina donoM 703 -

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me yahIM aMtara hai| kiMtu inameM itanI dUrI nahIM hai, jisase eka hI AcaraNa ko dharma kA samarthana aura naitikatA kA virodha prApta ho / vyakti aura samAja - donoM kA samanvaya sAdhakara yadi vyavasthA ko Age bar3hAyA jAtA hai to vikAsa sahaja hotA hai / vyakti aura samAja kI pragati kA AdhAra hai, parasparopagraha, saMvedanazIlatA, svAmitva kI sImA, svataMtratA kI sImA, bhASA, cittana, zilpa, kalA, sAhitya zikSA, vyavasAya aura udyoga kA vikAsA pragati kA pahalA caraNa haiM - saMkalpa aupara dUsarA caraNa hai puruSArtha / ataeva hamAre saMsAra kI pragati kA mukhya sUtrakAra vyakti hI hai| samAja kA bhraSTAcAra (Corruption) se mukta honA bhI utanA hI anivArya hai / anyathA sAmAjika stara kA bhraSTAcAra pragati ke mahala ko dharAzAyI karane ke lie paryApta hotA hai 704

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mUlagAmI bhAratIya naitika dRSTi - prophe. ambikAdatta zarmA prophesara e.je.eyara ne naoNvela smitha kI prasiddha pustaka 'ethiksa' kI prastAvanA likhate hue naitika-upadezaka aura nIti-dArzanika meM spaSTa antara ko prastAvita kiyA thA isa antara ko dhyAna meM rakhate hue AcAra-saMhitA mUlaka naitika cintana aura dArzanika naitika cintana ke svarUpa meM bhI mahattvapUrNa antara ko rekhAMkita kiyA jA sakatA hai / upadezAtmaka naitika cintana vaha hai jo hamAre samakSa vidhi-niSedha paraka eka vistRta aura vyApaka AcAra-saMhitA ko prastAvita karatA hai aura sAtha hI usake pAlana ke lie hameM protsAhita bhI karatA hai / aise naitika vicAra kisI dharmaguru athavA mahApuruSa dvArA upadiSTa deza-kAla aura saMskRti sApekSa hote hai| yaha bAta alaga hai ki isa prakAra kA saMskRtisApekSa naitika vicAra bhI kucha aMzo meM sArvabhaumikatA ko liye raha sakatA hai / isake viparIta naitika-dArzanika cintana hamAre samakSa na to kisI prakAra kI AcAra-saMhitA kA prastAva karatA hai aura na hI usa para amala karane ke lie hameM protsAhita hI karatA hai yahA~ taka ki naitika-dArzanika cintana kA kArya hamAre karmo ke aucityAnaucitya para nirNaya denA bhI nahIM hai / vastutaH naitika-dArzanika cintana apane svarUpa meM vimarzAtmaka aura vizleSaNAtmaka prakRti kA hotA hai jisakA mukhya kArya naitika nirNayoM ke svarUpa kA vivecana karanA hai / adhika mUlagAmI rupa se kaheM to yaha naitika - nirNayo ke svarUpa kA vivecana karate hue prakaTataH una viziSTa mAnakoM kI khoja-bIna bhI karatA hai tathA una AdarzoM aura mUlyoM kI vyAkhyA bhI karatA hai jo una viziSTa mAnakoM ko sambhava banAte hai / ___ aba yadi uparyukta dRSTi se naitika cintana kI bhAratIya paramparA para vicAra kiyA jAya to kahA jA sakatA hai ki bhArata meM AcAra-saMhitA mUlaka naitika cintana kA eka lambA aura samRddha itihAsa rahA hai / gRhasUtroM, dharmasUtroM, aura dharmazAstrIya paramparA ke vibhinna smRtiyoM evaM nItigranthoM meM vidhi - niSedha mUlaka AcAra-saMhitA ke vyApaka sandarbha prApta hote hai / bhAratIya paramparA meM ise 'dharma' kahA gayA hai aura yaha dharma pada isa vizeSa sandarbha meM 'nyAya' saMjJA se bhI abhihita huA hai| yahA~ nyAya se tAtparya usa AcAra-saMhitA se liyA gayA hai jisakA pratipAdana vibhinna samayoM meM manu Adi smRtikAroM ne varNa vyavasthA, Azrama vyavasthA aura puruSArtha vyavasthA ko dhyAna meM rakhate hue kiyA haiM (dharmo nAma nyaayH| kima nAma nyAyaH? manvAdika pratipAdita AcAro nAma nyaayH)| paranta. dasarI ora. bhAratIya paramparA meM naitika-dArzanika cintana usa rupa se vyavasthita rupa meM nahIM huA hai jitanA ki vyavasthita rupa meM isa prakAra kA cintana grIka dArzanikoM aura Adhunika pAzcAtya naitika cintakoM ne kiyA hai / aisA aksara hI kahA jAtA hai ki bhArata meM yadyapi tattvacintana bahuta utkRSTa koTi kA aura vyavasthita rupa meM huA hai lekina svAyatta rupa meM naitika dArzanika 705

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cintana usa prakAra se nahIM huA hai / yadi isa tathya ko prathama dRSTayA svIkAra bhI kara liyA jAya to bhI itanA to kahA hI jA sakatA hai ki yadyapi bhAratIya paramparA meM AcArasaMhitA mUlaka naitika cintana kA prAdhAnya rahA hai lekina usake pIche bhI eka dArzanika dRSTi rahI hai / kisI bhI AcAra - vidhAna kA nirdhAraNa gatAnugatika rupa se yA samudAcAra ke AdhAra para nahIM kiyA gayA hai / punaH rAmAyaNa, mahAbhArata aura gItA ityAdi mahAkAvyo meM karttavyAkarttavya ke svarupa ko lekara gahana cintana-manana huA hai aura unameM anekoM aise saMvedanazIla arthagarbha sandarbha prApta hote haiM jinake mAdhyama se bhAratIya paramparA kA naitika dArzanika cintana andara se jhAMkatA huA pratIta hotA hai / draSTavya hai ki pAzcAtya paramparA kA nIti- dArzanika cintana bhI usa paramparA ke katipaya mahAn granthoM jaise dI eDipasa, DivAyana kaoNmeDI, dI kiMga liyara aura pairADAyaja laoNsTa ityAdi ke mAdhyama se utkRSTa abhivyakti pAtA rahA hai / isa prakAra ke granthoM kA aitihAsika mahattva isa bAta meM nihita hotA hai ki inake mAdhyama se eka bahuta bar3e jIvanAnubhava kA avalokana eka bAhya - darzaka kI bhUmikA. meM na kiyA jA kara tAdAtmya athavA aMtaraMga cittabhUmi para sambhava hotA hai aura isa kAraNa sAMskRtika-sAmAjika jIvana ke antarvirodhoM evaM jaTilatAoM kA Adarza samAdhAna usa saMskRti kI vizvadRSTi ke samagra pariprekSya meM sambhava hotA 1 bhAratIya nIti dArzanika cintana para vicAra karate hue prathamatayA eka mahattvapUrNa bAta ko dhyAna meM rakhanA Avazyaka hai ki yahA~ samasta sRSTi ko hI eka naitika vyavasthA ke rupa meM dekhA gayA hai / Rta aura yajJa kI vaidika avadhAraNA ke mUla meM yahI dRSTi rahI hai / isIlie 'RtambharA prajJA' arthAt Rta ko dhAraNa karanevAlI, usake sAtha pracodanAtmaka sambandha meM rahanevAlI prajJA ko mAnava-buddhi kA Adarza kahA gayA hai (dhIyoyonaH pracodayAt) / yahI kAraNa hai ki bhAratIya paramparA meM naitika karma kA vivecana eka vizvadRSTi viSayaka tattvacintana ke aMgabhUta hokara prastuta huA hai / yadi bhAratIya aura pAzcAtya naitika cintana kI prakRti para tulanAtmaka rupa se vicAra kareM to kahA jA sakatA hai ki bhAratIya naitika cintana jahA~ dharma kI vyApakatara saMkalpanA ke pariprekSya meM vikasita huA hai vahIM pazcima meM naitikatA kA vicAra adhikAMzataH kAma aura artha puruSArtha kI anumata sImA meM huA hai / punaH bhAratIya naitika dRSTi jahA~ cetanA - kendrita rahI hai vahIM pAzcAtya naitika dRSTi ko mAnava-kendrita kahA jA sakatA hai / mAnava-kendrita naitika dRSTi meM manuSya eka ora jahA~ sabhI vastuoM kA mApadaNDa (homomenasurA) banatA hai to dUsarI ora jIvana kI samasta arthavattA kA nirdhAraNa deha-viziSTa cetanA kI vRttiyoM kI sImA meM hI kiyA jAtA hai / isa dRSTi kA Adarza 'mukta-cetanA' kabhI ho hI nahIM sakatI, kyoMki cetanA sadaiva sApekSa cetanA hai / dRSTavya hai ki isa dRSTi meM cetanA sadaiva indriya sApekSa, buddhi sApekSa, karma sApekSa aura viSaya sApekSa hI hotI hai / ataeva cetanA kI anya kI apekSA se mukta hone kI koI sambhAvanA hI nahIM banatI hai / yaha dRSTi pazcima kI dhArmika dRSTi meM bhI isa kadara nigur3ha hai ki yahUdI, IsAI aura islAma paramparA meM 'jajameMTa' ke dina bhI jIvoM ko apanA pUrva 706

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deha dhAraNa kara hI Izvara ke samakSa upasthita honA par3atA hai / dUsarI ora hama dekheM to cetanA-kendrita bhAratIya dRSTikoNa meM yaha sampUrNa jagat cetanA kA hI jagadbhAva meM pravartana hai aura usI ke prakAza meM jIvana kI samasta arthavattA aura astitva ke sAre AyAma eka AdhArabhUta sAmaMjasya evaM vaizvaniyAmakatA meM prakaTa hote haiM / vanaspati jagat aura pazu jagat meM cetanA pUre taura se prakRtastha hotI hai lekina mAnavIya stara para cetanA 'Atmacetana' hokara jIvana aura jagat ke apAra artharAzi kA sRjana aura avagAhana karate hue apane ko ina saba se pare 'Atmastha' bhI pAtI hai / Atmacetana cetanA ke Atmastha hone meM hI usakI mukti kI sambhAvanA nihita hai / bhAratIya paramparA meM cetanA ke isa sambhAvya aura prayatna se labdha makti kI na kevala bahavidha vyAkhyA kI gaI hai balki bhAratIya jIvanadRSTi ke cUr3Anta Adarza ke rupa meM ise sarvAtizAyI mahattva bhI pradAna kiyA gayA hai / isa taraha bhAratIya paramparA meM 'mukti' ko jIvanAdarza ke rupa meM svIkAra kiye jAne ke kAraNa katipaya pAzcAtya vidvAn aura unase prabhAvita loga yaha mAnate hai ki bhAratIya dArzanikoM ne paramArtha-vicAra ko adhika mahattva pradAna kiyA aura gambhIra nIti-mImAMsA se yA to bacate rahe yA phira use loka-saMgrAhaka smRtiyoM ke lie chor3a diyA yaha bAta UparI taura para sahI bhI pratIta hotI hai kyoMki koI yaha kaha sakatA hai ki bhAratIya darzanoM kA paramArtha-vicAra yA to nIti-nirapekSa hai yA phira naitikatA kA atikrAmI udAharaNa ke lie chAndogya upaniSad meM kahA gayA hai ki brahmavettA vyakti to pApa-puNya se Upara uTha jAtA hai| ye sabhI usakA sparza taka nahIM karate / saMnyAsI aura AtmajJAnI ke lie bhI isI prakAra kI bAteM kahI jAtI haiM ki una para dharma-adharma kI kasauTiyA~ lAgU nahIM hotI / svayaM bhagavad gItA meM bhI yahI dRSTi dekhI jA sakatI hai jabaki karma kA vivecana usakA pradhAna viSaya rahA hai / zrIkRSNa arjuna ko spaSTa nirdeza dete hai ki yadi tuma sabhI dharmo ko chor3akara merI zaraNa graho to sabhI pApoM se mukta ho jAvoge / (sarvadharmAn pArityajya mAmekaM zaraNaM braja / ahaMtvAma sarvapApebhyoH mokSisyAmi mAzucaH // ) isI taraha yadi dekhA jAya to niSkAma karmayoga kI dRSTi bhI antata: naitikatAtikAmI dRSTi hI pratIta hotI hai * eka ora niSkAma bhAva se kiye gaye karma para ucita - anucita ke sAdhAraNa mAnadaNDa lAgU nahIM hote to dUsarI ora niSkAmatA kI paribhASA hI 'nistraiguNya' ke rupa meM kI jAtI hai| hamAre zarIra. mana. baddhi aura ahaMkAra kA sArA karmakSetra trigaNAtmikA prakati kI kriyAzIlatA kA kSetra hai aura gItA ina saba kA atikramaNa kara nistraiguNya bhAva meM manuSya kI parAtpara vizrAnti dekhatI hai / sAMkhya darzana meM bhI isI dRSTi kA samarthana prApta hotA hai, kyoMki usake anusAra prakRti kA sampUrNa kriyA-vyApAra puruSa ke kaivalyArtha hai (kaivalyArtha pravRtezca) aura yaha kaivalya puruSa kA nistraiguNya bhAva meM pratiSThA hI hai| ___aba yadi uparyukta AlocanAtmaka pUrvapakSa ke pariprekSya meM bhAratIya naitika dRSTi para mUlagAmI rupa se vicAra kiyA jAye to ye sabhI AlocanAyeM samajha kI bhrAnti hI pratIta hotI hai / isa taraha se dekhane para vAstava meM bhAratIya naitika cintana kA jo bhUSaNa hai 707

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vahI dUSaNa ke rupa meM dikhAI par3ane lagatA hai / yaha bAta sahI hai ki nIti aura anIti kA sambandha vyavahAra-jagat se hai lekina paramArtha kI niyAmakatA meM vyavahAra jagat kA niyamana usako eka uccastarIya pratiSThA pradAna karatA hai / yadi nIti aura anIti ke nirdhAraNa ko eka tattvamImAMsIya AdhAra pradAna na kiyA jAye to una sabakA kevala vyavahAraparaka nirdhAraNa antataH suvidhApekSI samudAcAra bana kara hI raha jAyegA / isa sandarbha meM sarvAdhika mahattvapUrNa bAta yaha hai ki bhAratIya darzanoM kA paramArtha-vicAra manuSya ke svarupa-vicAra se AdhArabhUta rupa meM sambandhita hai / sAmI paramparA ke dharmo kI taraha bhAratIya paramArtha cintana na to kisI prakAra kA rahasyavAda hai aura na hI kisI vizvAtIta Izvara jaisI sattA ko kendra meM rakha kara kiyA gayA hai| yaha Adyanta rupa se AtmAkendrita hai / bhAratIya paramparA meM 'AtmAnaMviddhiH' ko hI nikaSa banAkara sabhI prakAra ke priya-apriya, zreya-preya kA nirdhAraNa kiyA gayA hai (Atmanastu kAmAya sarva priyaM bhavati) / ataeva bhAratIya paramparA kA naitika cintana yadi manuSya ke svarupa kA paryavasAyI hai to isameM doSa kyA hai ? hA~, yaha bAta alaga hai ki manuSya kevala hAr3a-mAMsa kA putalA hI nahIM jo akasmAt pahalI bAra janma letA hai aura antima bAra maratA hai / manuSya Atmaupamya hai aura bhAratIya naitika dRSTi meM yaha AtmaupamyatA 'Atmavat sarvabhUteSu' taka vistAra pAtI hai / draSTavya hai ki bhAratIya naitika cintana cU~ki manuSya ke svarupa kA paryAyasAyI hai, isalie yahA~ 'dharma' arthAt naitikatA ko manuSya ke avaccheka lakSaNa ke rupa meM svIkAra kiyA gayA hai / ahAra, nidrA, bhaya, maithuna ityAdi pravRttiyA to manuSya mAtra meM pAye jAne vAle pazu-sulabha lakSaNa hI haiM lekina 'dharma' hI eka aisA lakSaNa hai jo manuSya kA vyAvartaka lakSaNa hai / yahA dharma se tAtparya sadasad viveka sampanna honA hai| isIlie manuSya ucitaanucita ke viveka se pAribhASita hotA hai / bhAratIya paramparA meM isa dharma zabda ko aneka sandarbho meM vibhinna tarIke se vyAkhyAyita kiyA gayA hai lekina una sabhI sandarbho meM dharma zabda 'sadasad viveka' ke artha se kabhI vyabhicarita nahIM hotA / apanI sampUrNa arthavattA aura niSpattiyoM ke sAtha dharma zabda vAstava meM bhAratIya paramparA ke aucitya-vidhAna kA dyotaka hai jo kisI vizeSa AsthA-praNAlI kA aMgabhUta nahIM ho kara Adyanta rupa se vivekamUlaka hai / manuSya kI cetanA jaba jaiva sthiti aura tajjanya bubhukSAoM upara se Upara UThatI hai tabhI yaha dharma padavAcI 'viveka' eka vyApaka aucitya-vidhAna kA rupa letA hai / jaiva sthiti se Upara uThe binA mAnava cetanA apane hone ke artha aura gaMtavya kI jijJAsA ke sAtha aucityAnaucitya ke anveSaNa meM pravRtta hI nahIM hotI / aura jaba pravRtta hotI to manuSya kI jaiva stara kI pazu-sulabha vRttiyA~ bhI usa viveka se anuprANita hokara rupAntarita ho jAtI hai| udAharaNa ke lie bhAratIya puruSArtha vyavasthA meM kAma aura artha dharma se anuzAsita hokara hI puruSocita banate haiN| anyathA kAma aura arthaparaka lAlasAyeM to pazu-sulabha vRttiyA~ hI haiM / gItA meM zrIkRSNa kA yaha kathana ki 'dharmAviruddho kAmoma' isI dRSTi ko pramANita karatA hai| 708

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isa prasaMga meM yahA~ una do prakAra kI tattvamImAMsIya dRSTiyoM ko rekhAMkita kiyA jAnA Avazyaka pratIta hotA hai jo vyApaka taura para bhAratIya naitika cintana ko AdhAra pradAna karatI haiM / yadyapi ye donoM dRSTiyA~ manuSya ke svarupa kI paryavasAyI dRSTiyA~ hI haiM lekina manuSya ke svarupa ke sambandha meM donoM ke vicAra paraspara eka dUsare ke virodhI rahe haiM / isalie donoM tattvadRSTiyoM ke dvArA do bhinna prakAra kI naitika dRSTiyoM kA prastAbuA hai| isameM pahalI dRSTi kA pratinidhitva cArvAka karatA hai to dUsarI dRSTi kA pratinidhitvhameM IzAvAsyopanipad meM milatA hai| cArvAka kI naitika dRSTi jisa tattva dRSTi ko AdhAkhanAkara prastAvita huI hai vaha nimnalikhita zloka meM paryApta vidagdhatA ke sAtha vyaMjita huI hai yAvajjIvet sukhaM jIvat RNaM kRtvA ghRtaM pIvet / bhasmIbhUtasya dehasya punarAgamanaM kutaH // isa zloka kI dUsarI paMkti eka tattvamImAMsIya pratijJA hai jisake anusAra dehaviziSTa caitanya hI AtmA hai / dehAtirikta koI caitanya tattva nahIM jise zAzvata AtmA kahA jA sake aura deha jisake lie mAtra bhoga yoni ho / punaH isa zloka kI pahalI paMkti eka naitika abhikathana hai jisake anusAra kevala aura kevala daihika sukha hI mAnava jIvana ke lie ekamAtra zreya hai / isa taraha isa zloka meM eka vizeSa prakAra kI naitika dRSTi ko prastAvita kiyA gayA hai jisake AdhAra meM manuSya ke svarupa viSayaka saMkalpanA ke AdhAra meM vaha bhautikavAdI tattvadRSTi hai jisake anusAra saba kucha antataH bhautika tattva meM hI samAhArya hai| eka dUsarI tattva dRSTi jo bhAratIya naitika cintana ko apekSAkRta vyApaka AdhAra pradAna karatI hai vaha hai 'IzAvAsyamidaMsarvam' kI dRSTi / yaha dRSTi atyanta sAragarbhita aura bIja rUpa se IzAvAsyopaniSad ke prathama maMtra meM hI isa prakAra vyakta huI hai - 'IzAvAsyamidaM sarva yatkica jagatyAM jagat / ' / tena tyakten bhuMjIthA mA gRdhaH kasya sviddhanam // arthAt - isa saMsaraNazIla saMsAra meM jo kucha bhI hai, vaha saba usa parama caitanya Izvara se antarvyApta hai| isalie isa jagat kI samasta bhogya vastuoM ko usa paramezvara kA prasAda mAnakara hI grahaNa karanA cAhie / yaha dhana, ye bhogya vastuyeM, svayaM apane meM prasAdaka nahIM haiM, isalie unameM Asakti ucita nahIM / tAtparya yaha hai ki paramAtmA dvArA tyAga kI gaI sampadA ko hameM dUsaroM ke lie tyAga karate huye bhoganA cAhie / yaha parivartanazIla aura anitya jagat apane Apa meM sAdhya nahIM, yaha sAdhana arthAt bhogya hai / parantu bhogya rupa meM bhI yaha lipta hone lAyaka vastu nahIM balki isakA bhoga tyAgapUrvaka honA cAhie isa taraha dekhA jAya to uparyukta maMtra kA prathama bhAga astitva mAtra ke adhiSThAna tattva ke 709

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svarupa viSayaka hai aura manuSya bhI svarupataH usI kA eka aMza mAtra hai athavA dUsare zabdoM meM vaha adhiSThAna tattva manuSya ke svarupa kA hI mahad rupa hai / punaH isa maMtra kA dUsarA bhAga sIdhe-sAdhe manuSya ke karttavya ke svarupa viSayaka hai aura kartavya kA vaha svarupa usa parama tattva ke svarupa se sIdhe nigamita hotA hai| ___ isa prakAra uparyukta donoM tattvamImAMsIya dRSTiyA~ do sarvathA bhinna prakAra ke naitika cintana ko dArzanika AdhAra pradAna karatI hai / isameM cArvAka kI dehAtmavAdI, bhautikavAdI tattva dRSTi ko svIkAra kiyA jAya to usa para AdhArita naitika dRSTi ghora sukhavAda ke atirikta aura kucha ho hI nahIM sakatI / vaha bhI aisA sukhavAda jisameM aindrika sukha ke atirikta kisI anya prakAra ke uccatara sukhAvabodha ke lie koI sthAna hI na ho / aise ghora sukhavAda kI parAkASThA cArvAka paramparA ke hI nIlapaTa sampradAya ke eka vaktavya meM dekhA jA sakatA hai / 'nIlapaTa' apanI AkAMkSAo ko vyakta karate hue kahatA hai ki nIlapaTa tabhI sukhI raha sakatA hai jaba sabhI parvata mAMsala ho jAyeM, sabhI nadiyA~ surAvahinI ho jAyeM aura saMsAra kI samasta striyA~ cirayauvanA ho usake bhoga-vilAsa ke lie prastuta hoM / kumArila bhaTTe ne cArvAkIya sukhavAda, jisameM sukhoM ke bIca parimANAtmaka antara to sambhava hai lekina guNAtmaka antara ke lie koI sthAna hI nahIM; para kaTAkSa karate hue ucita hI kahA hai ki - krozato hRdayenApi gurudArAbhigAminaH / bhUyAn dharma prasajyeta bhUyasi hi upakAritA // draSTavya hai ki pazcimI naitika cintana bhI bahulAMza meM sukhavAdI dRSTi ke hI cAroM ora ghUmatA hai / yadyapi svArthapUrNa manovaijJAnika sukhavAda ko pariSkRta karane ke prayAsa meM pazcimI naitika cintana kA vikAsa upayogitAvAda, sAmAjika hitavAda aura sUjhapUrNa svArthavAda kI ora huA hai tathApi apane svArtha se Upara parArtha kI ora bar3hane ke lie unake pAsa jo yukti hai vaha yahI ki merA adhikatama sukha anyoM ke adhikatama sukha ke sAtha hI surakSita aura nirApada raha sakatA hai / isa dRSTi se tathAkathita parArtha bhI vAstava meM svArtha kA hI saMvardhana hai / sukhavAdI naitika cintakoM kA isa ora dhyAna hI nahIM gayA ki apane sukha kI tRSNA ko gauNa banAkara athavA tyAga kara dUsaroM ke sukha ke lie prayatna karane meM 'sukha' kA artha hI maulika rupa se badala jAtA hai / isameM pahale kA sambandha saMvedana se aura dUsare kA parakalyANa se hotA hai / puna: pahale kA sambandha aMhakAramUlaka sva se to dUsare kA ahaMkArAtikramaNa se hotA hai / pahale meM sukha eka jIva-sulabha eSaNA hai to dUsare. meM vaha atijaivika aura alaukika hotA hai / isa taraha apane sukha kI eSaNA kA tAtparya apane vaiyaktika sandarbha meM jagat ko dekhanA hai jabaki dUsaroM ke sukha ke liye prayatna karane meM jagat kI vyApakatA meM apane ko dekhanA hai / pazcimI aura cArvAkIya naitika cintana meM uparyukta antara ke lie koI avakAza hI nahIM kyoMki unakI manuSya ke svarupa 710

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kI avadhAraNA hI vaisI hai / IzAvAsyopaniSad kI tattva dRSTi jisa prakAra kI naitikatA ko prastAvita karatI hai usameM hI uparyukta sabhI kI samyak vyAkhyA ho sakatI hai| yaha bAta sahI hai ki sukha kAmanA jIvamAtra kI jaiva AkAMkSA hai aura isalie yaha svAbhAvika pravRtti bhI hai parantu naitikatA kA mUla to svAbhAvika pravRttiyoM ke nirodha meM hai (pravRttireSA bhUtAnAM nigrahastu mhaaphlaa)| ataeva sukha jo sahaja pravRtti mAtra meM sAdhya rahatA hai vaha ucita-anucita, kartavyAkarttavya kI kasauTI nahIM bana sktaa| bhAratIya darzanoM meM bhI saMsAra ko duHkharupa mAnA gayA hai aura usa duHkha nivRtti meM hI sukha prApti kI kAmanA nihita hai lekina yaha sukha deha aura indriyoM kA sukha nahIM balki AptakAma, AtmArAma, AtmasvarupAnudhyAyI sukha haiM jo bhautika koTi kA nahIM balki nitAnta AdhyAtmika hai / bhAratIya paramparA meM jisa dharma vizeSa arthAt sadasad viveka se manuSya ko paribhASita kiyA gayA hai usakA nihitArtha jaivastara kI svAbhAvika pravRttiyoM ke pazusulabha anudhAvana ke nirodha meM hI nihita hai| svArthamUlaka pravRttiyoM kI anumata sImA meM AtmabalidAna paraka mAnavIya pravRttiyoM kA jise kArla paoNpara ne 'supara airogenTa DyUTI' kahA hai, usakI samyak vyAkhyA nahIM ho sakatI / Atma prema aura AtmarakSA se upara uThakara manuSya koI aise karmo ko sampAdita karatA hai jo apane sva ke atikramaNa yA phira dUsaroM meM bhI apanA hI sva dekhane se sambhava ho sakatA hai / bhAratIya naitika dRSTi kI yaha viziSTatA adholikhita zloka meM paryApta vidagdhatA ke sAtha vyaMjita hote hue dekhI jA sakatI hai - upakAriSu yaH sAdhu sAdhutve tasya ko guNaH / apakAriSu yaH sAdhu sa sAdhu sadbhirucyate // ataeva sukhavAdI naitikatA kI vipannatA vAstava meM usake dvArA svIkRta manuSya ke svarupa kI hI vipannatA hai / isIlie cArvAkIya sukhavAda ko bhAratIya paramparA meM kabhI sAMskRtika svIkaraNa prApta nahIM huA / yaha sadaiva eka pUrvapakSa athavA bhraSTa naitika dRSTi ke * rupa meM hI Alocita hotA rahA hai / vAstava meM dekhA jAya to bhAratIya naitika dRSTi ko vyApakatara dArzanika AdhAra IzAvAsyopaniSad kI tattva dRSTi meM hI prApta hotA hai aura usI ko yahA~ vyApaka sAMskRtika svIkaraNa bhI prApta huA hai / yadyapi tattvadRSTi viSayaka bhAratIya darzanoM ke ApasI matabheda bahuta gahare haiM lekina dharma-nIti viSayaka matabheda utane gahare nahIM hai / isalie kahA jA sakatA hai ki IzAvAsyopaniSad kI tattva dRSTi bhAratIya naitika cintana ko eka sAmAnyIkRta samagratAvAdI AdhAra pradAna karatI hai aura isa dRSTi se isakA avAntara tattvadRSTiyoM se matabheda naitika cintana ke svarupa ko prabhAvita nahIM karatA hai / bhAratIya dharmanIti ke mUlabhUta tattva jo yama, niyama aura dharma ke bahuvidha lakSaNoM meM prApta hote haiM, una sabhI kI saMgati IzAvAsyopaniSad kI tattvadRSTi se dekhI jA sakatI hai / bhAratIya jIvana daSTi meM svIkata Azrama vyavasthA. RNa vyavasthA aura paMcamahAyajJoM ke mAdhyama se karttavyAkarttavya kA jaisA vidhAna kiyA gayA hai, usameM dharma-nIti ke uparyukta mUlabhUta tattvoM kA saphalatApUrvaka viniyoga huA hai| 711

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___ isa prakAra hama dekhate haiM ki bhArIya naitika dRSTi eka tattvadRSTi meM mUlita hokara apane ko caritArtha aura pramANita karatI hai / yahI dRSTi hameM gItA meM bhI milatI hai jo eka vikaTa naitika dandra ke samAdhAna meM prastata haI haiN| usakA udadezya karttavyAkartavya ke dvandva meM nimagna arjuna ko usa duvidhA se nikAlane ke lie mArga nirdeza meM nihita hai / draSTavya hai ki vaha mArga nirdeza pradatta paristhiti meM vyAvahArika prakAra kA aura Arthika, rAjanaitika lAbha-hAni para bhI AdhArita ho sakatA thA / parantu gItA vicAra ke usa dizA ko nahIM apanAtI hai jo kAma aura artha puruSArtha mUlaka mAnadaNDoM se nirdhArita hotI ho gItA mArga-nirdeza kA prArambha hI eka tattvamImAMsIya pratipatti se karatI hai ki "he arjuna tU karttavya nirNaya ke lie jisa pratijJA ko AdhAra banA rahe ho, arthAt kauna mareMge aura kitane mareMge, vaha karttavya nirNaya ke lie AdhAra banane yogya hI nahIM hai / prajJAvAna vyakti ke lie jIvana-mRtyu ke vicAra kA vAstava meM koI mahattva hI nahIM hotA" (azocyAnanva zocastvaM prajJAvAdAMzca bhASase / gatAsunagatAtUMzca nAnuzocanti pnndditaaH)| III ' aba yahA~ vicAraNIya hai ki tattvadRSTi yadyapi naitikatA ke lie eka saiddhAMtika AdhAra prastuta karatI hai lekina vyakti ke samakSa viziSTa naitika paristhiti utpanna hone para usake nirNaya ko prabhAvita karanevAle anyAnya ghaTaka bhI hote haiM / aksara hama cetanA ke sAdhAraNa dharAtala para hI ucita-anucita ke dvandva kA sAmanA karate haiM / yadi hamArI tattva dRSTi hamArI jaiva bubhukSAoM ke anurupa hotI hai (jaisA ki cArvAkIya tattvadRSTi) to usake anurupa naitikanirNaya ke anusaraNa meM kaThinAI nahIM hotI lekina IzAvAsyopaniSad athavA gItA kI tattva dRSTi ko sAmane rakha kara jaba hama karttavyAkarttavya kA nirNaya lenA cAhate haiM to hameM sAdhAraNa cetanA ke jaiva dharAtala se Upara uThakara cetanA kI ucca avasthA meM avasthita honA par3atA hai / vastutaH cetanA ke do bhinna dharAtala para eka hI prakAra ke karma kyoM na kiye jAyeM aura donoM Upara se dekhane para eka hI prakAra ke kyoM na lageM, donoM karmo kI karmavattA aura arthavattA meM antara A jAtA hai / isa bAta ko eka udAharaNa dvArA acche tarIke se samajhA jA sakatA hai / gautama buddha rAta ke andhere meM apanI patnI aura bacce ko chor3akara satya kI khoja ke lie jaMgala cale gaye / isase unakI patnI aura bacce ko kaSTa huA citrakAra paoNla gaoNgina bhI aise hI ghara chor3a kara calA gayA thA / aba Upara se dekhane para donoM ke dvArA lagabhaga eka jaisA hI kArya kiyA lekina gautama buddha ke usa karma ko naitikatA kI parAkASThA meM dekhA gayA aura use 'mahAbhiniSkramaNa' kahA gayA lekina paoNla gaoNgina ke kArya kA naitika mUlyAMkana usa rupa meM nahIM kiyA gayA / aisI sthiti meM donoM ke karmoM kA naitika antara kevala cetanA ke nimna aura ucca dharAtala ke sandarbha meM hI samajhA jA sakatA hai / vastutaH cetanA ke jisa stara para aise karma akarttavya kI koTi meM Ate haiM, gautama buddha cetanA kI usase bahuta ucca bhUmi para sthita the jabaki paoNla gaoNgina vaisA nahIM thA / 712

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isa prakAra kahA jA sakatA hai ki cetanA kI avasthA-vizeSa se kisI karma kI karmavattA aura arthavattA donoM prabhAvita hotI hai / parantu cetanA kI sAdhAraNa avasthA meM kiye jAne vAle anyAya prakAra ke karmoM kA naitika mUlyAMkana karane ke lie hamAre pAsa kucha sAmAnyIkRta AdhAra bhI hone cAhie / bhAratIya naitika cintana ke itihAsa meM aise sAmAnyIkRta AdhAroM kI carcA vyakta rupa meM usa taraha se nahIM kI gaI hai jaisA ki sukhavAdI, upayogitAvAdI pAzcAtya naitika vicArakoM ne kiyA haiM / aisA isalie ki bhAratIya naitika cintana meM karma ke Antarika pakSa para usake aucitya nirdhAraNArtha adhika mahattva diyA gayA hai / pAzcAtya naitika cintana meM karma kA vaisA kucha bhI nahIM jise usakA Antarika pakSa kahA jA sakeM karma sarvAzataH bAhya-AyAmika hai| AtmacetanA se adhyUSita hokara koI karma apane Antara AyAma ko avApta karatA hai / pAzcAtya abhimata meM jaba cetanA kI vyAkhyA hI eka bhautika kriyA ke rupa meM kI jAtI hai to AtmacetanA se yukta karma kA tAtparya Antara ke hI bAhya kriyAnvayana ke rupa meM avadhAraNa kA prazna hI nahIM uThatA / isa sandarbha meM kAlidAsa kI yaha ukti bahuta prasiddha hai ki sajjana vyakti ke dvArA kiye gaye kArya se yadi kisI kA apakAra bhI ho jAya to use apakAra nahIM samajhanA cAhie aura durjana vyakti ke dvArA kiye gaye kArya se yadi kisI kA upakAra bhI ho jAya to use upakAra nahIM samajhanA cAhie (yAJcAmoghAvaramadhaguNe nAdhamelabdhakAmA) / aba yadi kisI karma kA svarupa kevala bAhyAmika hI hai aura usakA mUlya usase utpanna kevala aindrika sukha aura upayogitA meM hI hai to kAlidAsa kI uparyukta bAta kA koI artha aura mahattva hI nahIM ho sakatA paraMtu kAlidAsa kI bAta arthavAn aura mahattvapUrNa donoM hai / vastutaH sukha aura upayogitA ke parimANa ko jaba hama aucitya kA mAnadaNDa banAte haiM to vAstava meM hama 'kriyA' kA malyAMkana kara rahe hote haiM, karma kA nahIM / kriyA se bhinna karma kI karmavattA to isa bAta meM nihita hotI hai ki kartA karma kA ananya sAkSI hotA hai| isalie karma sadaiva Atma cetana karma huA karatA hai / isa dRSTi se karma sadaiva kartA ke AtmakriyAnvayana rupa hI hote haiM / isa dRSTi se karma kI karmavattA usakI arthavattA se adhika AdhArabhUta ho jAtI hai| yahI kAraNa hai ki bhAratIya naitika cintana meM karmavattA se arthavattA ke anuprANita hone aura nirdhArita hone kI dRSTi apanAyI gaI hai jabaki pAzcAtya naitika cintana meM arthavattA se karmavattA pramANita hotI hai / dUsare zabdoM meM kaheM to pahale meM karma kA naitika mUlya svataHprAmANya hotA hai jabaki dUsare meM parataH prAmANya / vastutaH zuddha aura sudRr3ha cittabhUmi para zubha saMkalpa se kiye gaye karma kI karmavattA hI svAyatta rupa meM svataHprAmANya hotI hai| isa rupa se kiye gaye karma kI pariNAmonmukhI arthavattA yadi sandarbha vizeSa meM zubhotpAdaka na bhI ho to usase usa karma kI karmavattA kutsita nahIM ho jAtI (samyaksaMkalpajaH kAmo dharmamUlamidaM smRtamyAjJavalkya smRti) / yahA~ eka bAta jo isa sandarbha meM gahare taura se vicAraNIya hai vaha yaha ki zuddha aura sudRr3ha cittabhUmi para zubha saMkalpa ke sAtha kiyA gayA karma bhrAnta ho sakatA hai athavA nahIM ? vAstava meM dekhA jAya to isa prakAra kI bhrAnti kI sambhAvanA ko eka bAragI nakArA bhI nahIM jA sakatA / itihAsa meM bar3e-bar3e RSi-muni isa prakAra 713

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kI bhrAnti ke zikAra hue haiN| ataeva kahA jA sakatA hai ki zuddha aura sudRr3ha cittabhUmi para karma kI karmavattA kA naitika prAmANya bhale hI svataH ho lekina yadi vaha bhrAnta hai to usakA aprAmANya parataH hI siddha hotA hai / yadyapi isa prakAra kI bhrAntiyA~ hamArI vyaktigata cetanA athavA sAMskRtika saMskAroM ke itane gahare stara para praviSTa hote haiM ki unakA nirAkaraNa koI virale hI buddha puruSa kara pAtA hai / vyaktigata jIvana meM kaba hama apanI udAratA pradarzita karate hue vAstava meM apane ahaMkAra ko saMtuSTa kara rahe hote haiM aura kaba parArtha ke AvaraNa meM svArtha ko siddha kara rahe hote haiM, yaha nirdhAnta rupa se jAnA pAnA bar3A hI duSkara hotA hai / gItA karma, akarma aura vikarma kI vivecanA karate hue bhI 'karmaNA gahano gati' kaha kara dharmAdharma bodha kI isI duSkaratA kA saMketa karatI hai / IV bhAratIya paramparA meM yatra-tatra jahA~-kahIM bhI kartavyAkarttavya ke nirNaya hetu sAmAnyIkRta AdhAroM ko sunizcita karane kA prayAsa kiyA gayA hai vahA~ antata: karma kI karmavattA ko hI zuddha aura sudRr3ha karane ke prayAsa dikhAI dete haiM / karma-cetanA kI yaha vizuddhi bhAratIya naitika cintana ke lie AdhArabhUta aura Adarzopamya donoM hai| manu ne dharma kA strota batAte hue karttavyAkarttavya ke nirNaya ke lie zruti, smRti, sadAcAra aura 'svasya ca priyamAtmanaH' nAmaka caturvidha AdhAroM ko prastAvita kiyA hai / vastuta: ye cAra prakAra ke pramANa haiM jinakI sahAyatA se koI vyakti naitika nirNaya le sakatA hai / parantu inameM se cauthA pramANa pahale ke tIna pramANoM se bilakula bhinna prakAra pahale tIna meM hama sampAdita hue karmo kI parIkSita arthavattA ke aitihAsika anubhavoM ko dRSTAnta banAkara hama unake anukaraNa se apane ko pramANita karate haiM / ataeva pahale ke tInoM pramANoM ko anukaraNAtmaka yA phira paramArthAtmaka kahA jA sakatA hai / parantu antima cauthe pramANa kI vilakSaNatA isa bAta meM nihita hai ki isameM hama binA kisI kI sahAyatA ke karma meM svataH pravRtta hote haiM / yaha karma kI mAnavI-prasthiti ke sarvathA anukUla bhI hai kyoMki karma kI pratyeka paristhiti apane Apa meM bahuta vilakSaNa hotI hai aura usa paristhiti kI jaTila saMracanA meM 'kartA' svayaM eka ghaTaka hotA hai jo svarupataH nitAnta ananya hai| Upara se dekhane para yaha pramANa bar3A bhayAvaha dikhatA hai kyoMki "jo jisako acchA lage vahI usake lie pramANa hai"-eka prakAra se svecchAcAra jaisA hai| pAramparika vyAkhyA ke anusAra manu nirdiSTa cAroM pramANoM meM saMdeha kI sthiti utpanna para pUrva-pUrva kI apekSA utara - uttara kA prAmANya sabala mAnA jAtA hai / udAharaNa ke lie yadi zrutiyoM meM virodha ho to smRti se anumodita vikalpa kA prAmANya, yadi smRtiyoM meM virodha ho to sadAcAra se anumodita vikalpa kA prAmANya aura yadi sadAcAra meM bhI virodha ho to 'sva' ko jo priya lage usa vikalpa meM prAmANya kA grahaNa kiyA jAnA cAhie / parantu cauthe pramANa para usakI svAyattatA meM vicAra kiyA jAya to vAstava meM yaha eka aisA pramANya hai jo hameM kisI udAharaNa ko dekara chuTTI pAne kA avasara nahIM detA balki sampUrNa uttaradAyitva hamAre Upara hI chor3a detA hai| ataeva 'svasya 714

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ca priyamAtmanaH' kA artha AtmasAmukhya kI sthiti meM karma-cetanA hai jo karma ke kriyAnvayana kI pUrva bhUmi hotI hai / isI bhUmi para karma kI karmavattA svataH prAmANya hotI hai / ataH manu dvArA prastAvita cAroM pramANoM meM 'svasya ca priyamAtmanaH' hI sarvopari pramANa hai| mahAkavi kAlidAsa ne bhI dharmA-dharma nirNaya meM zuddha citta vyaktiyoM ke antaHkaraNa kI pravRtti ko hI antima aura sarvopari pramANa mAnA hai (satAM sandeha padeSu vastuSu pramANamantaHkaraNa prvRttyH)| bhAratIya naidika dRSTi meM cetanA kI zuddhatA athavA antaHkaraNa kI pavitratA ko bahuta adhika mahattva diyA gayA hai / buddha kA 'appa dIpo' aura gA~dhI kI 'antarAtmA kI AvAja sunane' meM bhI isI dRSTi ko akSuNNa rakhA gayA hai / vastutaH kartA aura kartRtva kI ananyatA meM svataH prAmANya karmavattA kA isase behatara koI dUsarA mArga ho bhI nahIM sktaa| parantu yahA~ draSTavya hai ki citta kI zuddhatA aura antaHkaraNa kI pavitratA koI sahaja-prApta sthiti nahIM hai / isake lie kucha AvaraNoM kA uccheda karanA hotA hai aura unameM sabase pahalA AvaraNa hai "ahaMkAra" / hama ahaMkArayukta kartRtva meM bhI ananya hote haiM aura nirahaMkAra kartRtva bhI ananya hotA hai, lekina donoM sthitiyoM meM antara itanA hotA hai ki pahale prakAra kI ananyatA meM vyakti aNu hotA hai jabaki dUsare prakAra kI ananyatA meM vyakti samagra, eka brahmANDa hotA hai / isa dUsare prakAra kI ananyatA meM apane prati uttaradAyI hone kA matalaba pUre saMsAra ke lie, pUrI mAnavatA ke lie uttaradAyI honA hai / yadyapi yaha eka Adarza sthiti hai phira bhI mAnavIya kriyA-kalApoM ke vibhinna sandarbho meM nyUnAdhika rupa se yaha kaise caritArtha hotA hai, isa bAta ko nimna zloka meM pUre artha aura AcaraNa kI gambhIratA meM dekhA jA sakatA hai - tyajet ekaM kulasyArthe, grAmasyArthe kulaM tyajet / grAmaM janapadasyArthe, AtmArthe sarva tyajet // bhAratIya naitika dRSTi meM "svasya ca priyamAtmanaH" aura "pramANa antaHkaraNapravRtayaH" para adhika bala dene kA matalaba yaha nahIM ki zruti, smRti, aura sadAcAra ityAdi pramANa nahIM hai| ye sabhI pramANa mAne jA sakate haiN| kyoMki AkhirakAra ve bhI aise RSi-muniyoM ke kriyAnvita karma cetanA ke AdhAra para diye gaye parAmarza haiM jinheM Atma-darzI pada se abhihita kiyA jA sakatA hai / sadAcAra bhI isI prakAra ke kriyAnvita aura parIkSita karmacetanA janya parAmarza kI koTi meM Ate haiM / parantu ina sabhI pramANoM kI bhUmikA eka sahAyaka pramANa ke rupa meM hI svIkAra kI jA sakatI hai| udAharaNa ke taura para hama apane pratyakSa ko anyoM ke pratyakSa se puSTa karate haiM athavA apane svArthAnumAna ko paMcAvayava vAkyoM ke mAdhyama se jaba pArArtha banAte haiM to paMcAvayava ko sunane vAlA vyakti use zabda pramANa ke rupa meM grahaNa nahIM karatA balki usameM 'parvato vahnimAn' kI svataMtra pramiti utpanna hotI hai, usI prakAra zruti, smRti aura sadAcAra mUlaka parAmarza hamArI karma-cetanA aura naitika bodha ko pronnata karate haiM / yadi gItA ke sandarbha meM ina sahAyaka pramANoM para vicAra kareM to unakI bhUmikA pUre taura se taba spaSTa ho jAtI hai jaba zrIkRSNa arjuna ko saba prakAra 715

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se upadeza dene ke bAda yaha kahate haiM ki he ! arjuna aba tujhe jaisA ucita lage tU vaisA hI kara / isa prakAra spaSTa hai ki zruti, smRtyAdi pramANoM kI sUcI ko hama jitanA bhI kyoM na bar3hA leM, ve sabhI hamArI karmacetanA ko adhyuSita aura adhyArur3ha karane ke hI nimitta mAtra hote haiM / bhAratIya nIti-darzana meM naitika karttA (maoNrala ejenTa) kI svataMtratA aura usake kartRtva kI ananyatA kI dRSTi se yaha bAta atyanta hI mahattvapUrNa hai / yahA~ draSTavya hai ki bhAratIya paramparA kI aisI naitika dRSTi, vAstava meM, una saMskRtiyoM aura sabhyatAoM kI naitika dRSTi se ekadama bhinna hai jo kisI mahApuruSa athavA dharma grantha ko ekabAragI aura antima pramANa mAnakara calatI haiN| udAharaNa ke lie sAmI saMskRtiyoM kI naitika dRSTi meM 'naitika parAmarza' ke lie koI avakAza hI nahIM hai balki jo kucha bhI hai vaha sarvAMzata: analaMghya rupa se nirdezAtmaka hai| yaha analaMghya nirdezAtmakatA eka prakAra se IzvaraparAyattatAvAdI dRSTi hai jisameM IzvarIya niyama DemoklIja kI talavAra kI taraha naitika kartA ke upara laTakatI rahatI hai| pariNAma svarupa IzvarIya prema ke sthAna para, vAstava meM, IzvarIya bhaya hI naitika jIvana kA niyaMtA bana jAtA hai / kaThopaniSad meM ThIka isake viparIta eka dUsarI dRSTi milatI hai jisameM yaha kahA gayA hai ki "Izvara hamAre zIza para garajane vAlA mahAbhayaMkara vajra hai jise jAnane para hI manuSya amara ho sakatA hai kyoMki Aga jalatI hai, sUrya prakAzita hai, devendra, vAyu aura pA~cavIM mRtyu apane-apane vyApAroM meM saMlagna haiM, yaha saba kucha kyA usake bhaya ke kAraNa hI hai (mahaddhayaM vajramudyataM ya etadviduramRtAste bhavati / bhayAdasyAgnistapati bhayAttapati sUryaH / bhayAdiMdrazca vAyuzca mRtyurdhAvati paMcamaH / kaThopaniSad - // (6.3 - 20) / vastutaH bhAratIya naitika dRSTi meM AtmA-prerita niyama ke atirikta kisI parAyatta niyama ko naitikatA kA paryApta pramANa mAnA hI nahIM jA sakatA isIlie bhAratIya aura sAmI paramparA kI naitika dRSTi ke bIca mUlagAmI antara ko viveka mUlaka svAyatta aucitya - praNAlI aura dhArmika Adeza mUlaka parAyatta AsthA-praNAlI ke rupameM samajhA jA sakatA hai / bhAratIya paramparA meM to eka kadama aura Age bar3hakara yahA~ taka svIkAra kiyA jAtA hai ki - "tarko'pratiSThaH zrutayo vibhinnA, naiko RSiryasya mataM pramANam / dharmasya tattvaM nihitaM guhAyAM, mahAjanoM yena gataH sa panthAH // " arthAt - dharma - jJAna ke lie tarka apratiSThita hai / zruti aura smatiyA~ aneka aura paraspara bhinna haiN| koI aisA RSi-muni nahIM jise pramANa mAnA jaay| dharma kA tattva to guhA ke gahvara meM nihita hotA hai / isalie mahAjanoM ke dvArA cale mArga para calanA hI ucita hai / draSTavya hai ki yahA~ pauruSApauruSeya zruti-smRtiyoM kI dharma-jJAna ke prati nirNAyaka bhUmikA kA virodha karate hue eka ora dharma-nIti ke tattva ko guhA meM nihita banAyA jA rahA hai to dUsarI ora usase nikalane ke lie 'mahAjana' ke dvArA cale huye mArga ko dharmamArga kahA jA rahA hai / yahA~ yaha bhI vicAraNIya hai ki vaha 'mahAjana' kauna hai jise zruti 716

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smRtiyoM se bhI adhika mahattvapUrNa aura pramANika mAnA jA rahA hai / bhAratIya paramparA meM yadi zruti-smRtiyoM kI vibhinnatA socI jA sakatI hai to mahAjana bhI aneka aura paraspara bhinna dRSTi vAle kyoM nahIM ho sakate / ataH prakRta prasaMga meM mahAbhArata ke isa zloka kA tAtparya kucha aura hI hai aura use samajhane ke lie sarvaprathama 'mahAjana' paTa kA artha samajhanA yahA~ upayogI ho sakatA hai| ___Apastamba dharmasUtra jise dharmazAstrIya paramparA kA prAcInatama graMtha mAnA jAtA hai, usameM eka prazna upasthApita karate hue kahA gayA hai ki, "dharma aura adharma yaha kahate hue nahIM ghUmate-phirate ki dekho yaha hamArA svarupa hai / deva, gandharva aura pitara ityAdi bhI svayaM Akara yaha nahIM batAte ki yaha dharma hai aura yaha adharma / taba phira dharma ko kaise jAnA jAya ? Apastamba kahate haiM ki vaise kArya jo Aryo ke dvArA prazaMsita ho, vaha dharma hai aura vaise kArya jisakI Arya nindA kareM, vaha adharma hai / punaH Arya ke sAmAnya lakSaNe kA nirdeza karate hae kahA gayA hai ki" sabhI janapadoM meM hameM ziSTa samAhita. Atmastha. jitendriya, alolupa aura dambha rahita Arya vyakti ke AcaraNavRta ko apanAnA cAhie arthAt usake sadRza AcAraNa karanA cAhie / " isa prakAra spaSTa hai ki Apastamba dharma-nIti ke sAra ko ziSTAcAra ke AcaraNa meM dekha rahe haiM aura ziSTAcAra kA AdarzabhUta rupa hameM AryoM ke AcaraNa meM milatA hai| ataeva Arya dharmapramANabhUta hai / aba Apastamba dharma sUtra meM jise Arya kahA gayA hai vahI mahAbhArata meM 'mahAjana' pada se abhihita huA pratIta hotA hai / antara kevala itanA hai ki Apastamba jahA~ Aryo kI bAta (bahuvacanAnta) karate haiM vahIM mahAbhArata meM Arya kI bAta (ekavacanAnta) kI gaI hai| yadyapi prakata prasaMga meM bahavacanAnta 'Arya' aura ekavacanAnta 'mahAjana' ke prayoga se koI vizeSa antara nahIM par3atA hai kyoMki Arya athavA mahAjana ke sAmAnya lakSaNa meM donoM kA samanvaya ho jAtA hai / taittirIyopaniSad ke eka prasiddha avataraNa se bhI isa bAta kI puSTi hotI hai ki karmavicikitsA aura vRtavicikitsA kI sthiti meM hameM apane AcaraNa kA nirmANa unhIM ke AcaraNa ke Adarza para karanA cAhie jo hamase zreSTha haiM / aura apanI zreSThatA ko caritArtha karate hue hameM AcAraniyama pradAna karane kI sthiti meM haiM / yahA~ zreSThatA kI pahacAna sammazina (uttama vicAra vAle), yuktAH (parAmarza dene meM kuzala), AyuktAH (karma Ara sadAcAra meM pUrNatayA saMlagna), alUkSA (saumya svabhAva vAle) aura dharmakAyAH (ekamAtra dharma ke abhilASI) ityAdi cAritrika guNoM se kI gaI hai| aba dekhA jAye to Apastamba dharmasUtra se lekara mahAbhArata taka aura usake bAda jahA~ bhI ziSTa, Arya evaM mahAjana Adi padoM se jina cAritrika vizeSatAoM ko rekhAMkita kiyA gayA hai, ve sabhI RSi-muniyoM ke caritra para bhI samAna rupa se lAgU kiye jA sakate haiM / aisI sthiti meM mahAbhArata ke upayuddhRta zloka kA artha yaha kadApi nahIM ho sakatA ki RSi-muniyoM ko nakAra kara kevala-'mahAjana' ke AcaraNa-vRta meM hI dharma-nIti kA prAmANya grahaNa kiyA jAya / vastutaH mahAbhArata ke usa zloka kA nihitArtha 'dharmasya tatvaM 717

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nihitaM guhAyAm' batAne meM hai aura isa zloka meM dharma-nIti ke isI pakSa ko balapUrvaka prastAvita kiyA gayA hai / aba yadi yaha sahI hai to dharma-nirNaya ko eka mAtra srota usake AtmaprakAzita, appadIpa aura antaHsAkSya hone meM nihita ho jAtA hai| cUki yaha saba kucha 'mahAjana' kI karma-cetanA meM Avazyaka rupa se pAye jAte haiM, isalie use pramANa mAnA jA sakatA hai / parantu yahA~ draSTavya hai ki dharma-nirNaya meM mahAjana ke prAmANya ko usa artha meM sarvAMzata: anukaraNAtmaka nahIM kahA jA sakatA jisa artha meM sAdhAraNatayA anukaraNa zabda kA prayoga hotA hai / kAraNa yaha ki ve sabhI guNa-lakSaNa jisake calate koI vyakti mahAjana pada se abhihita hotA hai, usa vyakti ke AcaraNa ke bAhyapakSa nahIM balki usakI karmacetanA ke niyAmaka Antarika gaNa kahe jA sakate haiM / aise sabhI guNa cetanA ke jisa dharAtala para dRr3hatA ko prApta hote haiM vaha sva se upara uThI huI Atmacetana bhUmi hI ho sakatI hai / ataH mahAjana ke anukaraNa kA tAtparya mahAjana hone meM hai, usakI caritrika . vizeSatAoM ko AtmasAt karane meM hai| ___ isa prakAra hama dekhate haiM ki bhAratIya naitika darzana meM antaHprasuta svAyatta dharmabodha ko hI sarvAdhika mahattva pradAna kiyA gayA hai aura usake parAyatta srotoM ko sahAyaka pramANa kI bhUmikA meM svIkAra karate hue unheM 'parAmarza' se adhika mAnya nahIM kiyA gayA hai gItA meM arjuna kI karmavicikitsA aura vRttavicikitsA ke nivAraNArtha bhagavAn zrI kRSNa upadezoM kA itanA vyApaka upAkhyAna prastuta karane ke bAvajUda bhI samasta upadezoM ko 'parAmarza' kI bhUmikA meM sameTate hue 'yathecchasi tathA kuru' kaha kara arjuna ko AtmaprakAzita dharmabodha ke anusAra AtmanirNaya ke lie svataMtra chor3a dete haiM / parantu arjuna ko AtmanirNaya kI svataMtratA diye jAne se bhagavAn zrIkRSNa ke upadezoM kI nirarthakatA phalita nahIM hotI hai vastutaH AtmaprakAzita dharmabodha kI sthiti 'AtmasAmukhya' kI sthiti hotI hai aura usase anuprANita karmacetanA meM zruti, smRti aura sadAcAra ityAdi naitika parAmarza ke parAyatta srota vAstava meM 'sva' banakara sva ke saMkalpabhUta hokara prakaTa hote haiM sAmAnya vyaktiyoM kA dharmabodha prAya: Atma prakAzita dharmabodha nahIM hotA / unakI naitika dRSTi anya ke prakAza ke sahAre hI kartavyAkarttavya kA nirNaya le pAtI hai / arthAt AtmaprakAzita dharmabodha ke ayogya vyakti meM naitikatA ke parAyatta srota eka sAmAjika rur3hi banakara prakaTa hote haiM jaba kisI samAja athavA saMskRti kA naitika bodha adhikAMza meM rur3ha saraNiyoM meM caritArtha hone lagatA hai, to kAlAntara aura badalI huI paristhitiyoM meM pUrA pUrA samAja hI eka prakAra kI jar3atA yA pramAda se grasta ho jAtA hai / isa prakAra kI jar3atA to kabhI-kabhI yugabodha kA rupa dhAraNa kara letI hai. aura taba usa pare samAja kA bhrAnta athavA upahita dharmabodha hI AtmaprakAzita dharmabodha kA sthAnIya bana jAtA hai / bhAratIya paramparA meM zruti-smRtiyoM ke nAma para jAta-pAta, chuA-chUta ityAdi ke bheda-bhAva jo dikhAI par3ate haiM, unheM isa paramparA kA upahita aucityabodha hI kahA jA sakatA hai / jabaki zruti-smRtiyoM kI vaha tattvadRSTi jo bhAratIya saMskRti ke aucityabodha kA mUlagAmI rupa se nirdhAraka hai, usameM uparyukta 718

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prakAra ke sAmAjika-sAMskRtika vikAroM ke lie siddhAntataH koI avakAza nahIM hai| niSkarSataH AtmaprakAzita dharmabodha meM naitika anveSya kA artha hai manuSya ke svarupa viSayaka aisA mAnadaNDa jo usake karmo ko eka AdhyAtmika artha de, eka aisI Adarza Atma-pratimA de jisakI anukRti meM vaha apane prastuta svarupa ko DhAla sake aura usakA rupAntaraNa karane ke prayatna dvArA apane karma ko artha de sako aisI naitika dRSTi eka naitika kartA se apanI karma cetanA meM jaiva dharAtala se Upara uThane kI apekSA karatA hai jahA~ karma kI karmavattA apane Apa meM svataH prAmANya hotI hai| bhAratIya paramparA meM cAhe dhRti-kSamA ityAdi dharma ke dasavidha lakSaNa hoM, cAhe zruti, smRti, sadAcAra aura svasya priyamAtmana: jaise dharma nirNaya ke caturvidha srota hoM yA phira 'AtmanaH pratikUlAni pareSAM na samAcaret' jaisA dharma kA anaupAdhika svarupa batAyA gayA ho - sabake saba uparyukta apekSA ke pUrvagraha athavA hetu rupa se hI kahe gryo| 719

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ADHYASA IN BHAMATI (EPISTEMOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW) AND KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON Dr. V.N. Sheshagiri Rao Adhyasa is a a very significant concept for the study and interpretation of Adavita Philosophy, the finest flower of Indian thought. It owes a great deal to the architectonic genious of the great Sankara. Adhyasa is at the basis of endless difference. It explains the subtleties of Advaita metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics and its theology. If one fails to focus attention on the essential identity of the jivatman and the supreme, Brahman, and if one mistakes a shell for silver and if one is the agent of action, it is because of Adhyasa. However Advaita is of the view that once this Adhyasa is removed by true knowledge, the Jiva, shines in its pristine purity and realises that it is none other than Brahman. This paper is written in defence of Adhyasa. A comparative study of the concept of Adhyasa and the Kantian thought in the Western world is an interesting and philosophically rewarding exercise. It also helps to provoke Universal curiosity. More over such comparisons throw additional light on both. III Vacaspati Misra the author of Bhamati was a versatile genious, with encylopaedic learning. He had a wonderful expositional skill and presentation of whatever subject or system he chose to handle. He had a lifelong passion for truth. It appears, Vacaspati's search for truth culminated only in the metaphysics of Advaita Philosophy. He was the celebrated commentator on the Brahma-sutra-Samkara bhasya lovingly named as Bhamati. The Bhamati, like the Brahman-sutra - Samkara-bhasya, is known for its profoundity of spirit, vigour, of style, subtlety of thought and clarity of presentation. It represents one of the main streams of Samkarite interpretation. It expounds uncompromising non-dualism, setting forth its basic principles in cogent terms. IV Vacaspati's introduction to Adhyasa bhasya of Samkara is a model of its kind. He endorses Samakara's definition of Adhyasa viz.; "the apparent presentation to consciousness by way of remembrance of something previously observed in someother thing" Adhyasa is an apparent presentation in the sense that such knowledge is contradicted later. It belongs to lower order of reality. Superimposition takes palce when a lower order of reality is predi 720

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cated of a higher order of reality. To see a thief where there is only a trunk of a tree is a fine instance of Superimposition. The moment light is brought, the thief vanishes though before light was brought, there was the perception of thief. The two perceptions belong to two different levels of knowledge. What is experienced at a lower level is contradicted at a higher level. According to Vacaspati, Adhyasa is at the base of all perceptual knowledge. For the pure self perceptual knowledge is impossible. For the production of perceptual knowledge sense organs are necessary and senses have the body as the locus. If we do not superimpose the body, the sense organs and the mind on the self, knowledge will not arise. Thus the not-self should be superimposed on the self. Perceptual knowledge is thus founded in ignorance (avidya). Srutis, Smrtis etc. function only in the realm of avidya and hence presuppose the agency of Jiva. The functioning of the means of valid knowledge is unintelligible if one is devoid of the concept of 'l' and 'mine' in the body, senses etc., which are the result of superimposition. That is, to be a knower is to be an agent in respect of knowledge. Where there is no knowership, the means of knowledge (pramanas) cannot function. In this sense, all phenomenal knowledge is simply avidya or nescience. By making use of the concept of Adhyasa, Vacaspati satisfactorily explains perceptual error or bhrama. If we mistake a shell for silver or a rope for snake, it is because of mutual suprimposition (itaretara Adhyasa). The qualities of one are superimposed on the other and vice-versa. Now there is a question as to the nature of error. Is it 'Sat'(real) or 'asat' (unreal) or both sat and asat (real and unreal)? It cannot be sat, says Vacaspati because only Brahman is sat. It cannot be asat like hares' horns, the son of a barren woman, the sky flower etc., since it is experienced. It cannot be both sat and asat as it violates the law of contractional. The question as to the nature of error still persists. Vacaspati, endorsing Samkara, says that it is neither sat nor asat but different from both. It is sadasadvilaksana or durnirupa. It is anirvacaniya (inexplicable)(1)a VI Now metaphysical implications of the concept of Adhyasa may be analysed. Bhamati is of the view that Jivatva of the Jiva is due to Adhyasa. In the opinion of Vacaspati, the aggregate of body etc., appears as the real atman due to mutual superimposition (itaretara Adhyasa). Though the atman is manifest, yet by intermixture with objects like the intellect 'somehow becomes the concept 'l' the subject of I-ness. It is variously named as Jiva, jantu (creature) or the knower of the filed (kshetrajna)2 721

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Vacaspati stated the same thing in different words: It is because of superimposition of the qualities of the notself on the self, that the true self comes to be viewed as the Jiva or the individual self. The qualities of not-self like temporality etc., may be superimposed on the self, and the qualities of the self like eternity etc., in turn are, superimposed on the notself. Thus the self eventhough eternal appears to be non-eternal, conscious appears to be unconscious and permannent appears to be impermanent, because of the mutual superimposition of the qualities of the self and the not-self. That is how the true self comes to be viewed as the individual self (Jiva) --------points out Vacaspati. The Jiva, in its essence, is not at all different from Brahman but appears to be different. He is not an enjoyer, not an agent, not an object, but appears as if an agent, enjoyer and as the object of the concept 'l'. It is because of Superimposition. VII Defence of Adhyasa Now it may be objected that there cannot be the superimposition of the self on the not-self, for that which is unreal cannot be the substratum of superimposition. Vacaspati answer, this objection by saying that the body etc. (non-self) is neither real nor unreal, nor yet real and unreal, this being self-contradictory. It is, on the other hand inexplicable (anirvacaneeya) Alternatively a strong objection may be raised against the very feasibility of Adhyasa. It may be said that the object to be superimposed must have a real being somewhere. For instances in the case of the superimposition of the snake on the rope, the superimposition of the object(snake) is possible because it has a real existence in the jungle. Vacaspati rejects this objection as it is inadequate and defective. The objection does not hold water argues Vacaspati for, for superimposition to take place, the object to be superimposed need not have a real being (independent existence) elsewhere. Cognition of object (prateeti) alone is sufficient for its superimposition. It is enough if it exists somewhere and even that prior existence is itself a case of superimposition. Thus the object superimposed presupposes a series of beginningless false existences of itself. In short the superimposition does not presuppose the real existence of the objects superimposed. Again the very possibility of superimposition may be objected to on the ground that the non-self cannot be superimposed on the self, since the self is always manifest and is without generality or specific qualities and similarities etc., which is one of the conditions for the possibility of superim 722

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position. There can be no superimposition both when there is complete manifestation and complete non-manifestation. Vacaspati answers this objection by simply endorsing the view of Sankara that it is due to lack of discrimination (itaretara aviveka mithya jnana nimittah). Because of non-apprehension of difference thought, the act of coupling the true with the untrue, there occurs Adhyasa. Therefore nondiscrimination is the cause of illusory cognition-says Vacaspati. Again superimposition may be objected to on the ground that the self is a non-object as it is not other-dependent for its manifestation and being without parts. It cannot therefore be an object of oognition. Superimposition, thus does not stand to reason.? Vacaspati again, answers this objection by endorsing the view of Sankara, that non-objectness of the self, is not invarible. It is true, he points out, that if the intelligent self, were not an object, then indeed, there could be no superimposition thereon; but it is not invariably a non-object as it is the object of the concept 'l'. That is why though the inner self, being self manifest, is not an object and is without parts, yet having attained to the state of Jiva, appears as the object of the concept 'l' due to indeterminable beginningless nescience such as the intellect, the mind, subtle and gross bodies and the organs etc., Thus it is for the intelligent self which is self-manifest and undefined, Vacaspati points out, that there is the condition of the Jiva, through non-apprehension of the difference from the defined intellect etc., and the consequent superimposition of these.8 Again, there is another serous problem. If it is accepted that there is mutual superimposition between the self and the non-self, ie., when the existence of both the self and the not-self, is admitted, is not non-dualism going to be jeopardised? Vacaspati does not take this as posing a serious challenge to the Advaitic stand. He vehemently defends the Advaitic stand point by saying that for Adhyasa to take place, it is enough if there is just the knowledge of the superimposed, not necessarily the very positive existence of the 'superimposed'. In other words the superimposed (non-self) need not be transcendentally real. It is just anirvacaneeya (inexplicable) Furthermore, superimposition is objected to, on the ground of reciprocal dependence (anyonyasraya) which is a defect (dosa) that is to say, the self becomes an object only if there is superimposition and there can be superimposition only when the self becomes an object. Again, what does not appear cannot be superimposed. But the fact is, anything appears only after superimposition. 723

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This contention, Vacaspati points out, is absurd, as it is not a defect. It admits of a perfectly natural explanation. The chain of auxiliary factore is a fact and so is beyond the grip of logic. Their appearance goes on adinfiendtum, but this is a case of beginningless adhyasa, This unbroken continuity is a fact and logic cannot overlook it. The logician may strive hard to find a beginning for adiiyasa, but in vain. The beginninglessnees of adhyasa process must be accepted as a fact contends Vacaspati. Thus Vacaspati patiently replies to the above objection by saying that the appearance of Jiva is due to a previous false confusion. So each false confusion has for its cause, a previous false confusion and that another false confusion and so on in a beginningless series. It is only through such a beginningless series of confusion that all the later states of confusion are to be explained. Avidya according to Vacaspati operates, on the one hand in the individual self (Jiva) as its locus or support (asraya) and on the other, it has Brahman or pure self-revealing consciousness as its object (visaya) Avidya obscures the visaya and through it, makes false appearances to be expressed thereby giving them a fales semblance of Reality. Thus, illusion in Vacaspati's view, is a psychological one for which Jiva is responsible and it is caused, as already said, through a beginningless chain of illusions or confusions, where each succesding illusory experience is explained by a previous illusory mode of experience and that by another and so on. As soon as Brahman is realised the apperances vanish, for the root of all appearances is their illusory confusion with reality viz. Brahman. Vacaspati thus goes back to the old analogy of the beginningless process of the dependence of seed and sprout and points out that there is no inconsistency in every subsequent superimosition having for its object that which has been made the content of each earlier superimposition and its impressions.10 Whenever Vacaspati is faced and charged with the defect of reciprocal dependance, he repeatedly resorts to 'Bijankura' nyaya' through-out his Bhamati. 'Bijankura nyaya', so to say, is his sweeping epithet. Further, Vacaspati says that superimposition is something natural that evades itself to be rationally understood. It is so natural for the self and the not-self to have natural superimposition. Here Vacaspati appeals, as the great Sankara does to look into one's experiences without roaring and blatantly complexing the whole issue. Vacaspati, here completely accepts and endorses the view of Sankara that adhyasa is natural and empirical (naisargikoyam lokavyavaharah)). VII Kant (1724-1804) the great German Philosopher is whom currents 724

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and cross currents of Western Philosophy meet was very close to Advaita epistemology. His celebrated work viz. The critique of Pure Reason' may be regarded as a modern Western commentary on Adhyasa. The aim of this work is to analyse the nature of knowldge, its constituents, its limitations and the capacities of human reason. According to Kant, knowledge begins in sensations, that is, the sense data existing is space and time. They are technically called "Parcepts". Space and Time are thus the a priori forms of perception. They are applied to sensations by the mind. The spaced and timed sensations, that is 'percepts' are interpreted by the mind through certain instruments or categories of the understanding like, substance, quality, quantity, causality etc., These categories are technically called 'concepts. They are also a priori. It is the emphatic view of Kant that without a priori forms of perception and categories of understanding, knowledge is impossible. That is to say "percepts" by themselves are not knowledge, Similarly "concepts" by themselves are also not knowledge. His famous statment is "Percepts without concepts are blind and concepts without percepts are empty". Together they constitute knowledge. Knowldege, according to Kant is thus a harmonious blend of percepts and concepts. In the view of Kant, man is capable of uniting several judgements into a unity and is also capable of referring this unity as belonging to himself. This activity of unifying several judgments is called "synthetic unity of apperception." cepus. The percepts impinge on the mind. The mind imposes any category it chooses on the percepts. The result is judgement; but it is at variance with the nature of reality. Thus there is a gulf between our notion of things and things as they are in themselves. According to Kant our knowledge is strictly limited to the realms of sensations, forms of perception and catagories of understanding. What is beyond them is unknown and unknoawble. What lies beyond the sensible world, Kant calls the Noumenon and the sensible world, Phenomenon. So, Kanta makes a distinction between the phenomenal and the noumenal reality. Knowledge in the strict sense of the term, is always knwoledge of the phenomenon and it does not touch the Noumenon. Why is it, how is it so ? It is so, for the simple reason that the noumenon has our "concepts" and there are no corresponding "percepts". Hence the noumenon remains unknown for ever. Yet the noumenon could be believed in, as human reason cannot avoid conceiving it. Kant says that human reason (what Advaita calls tarka) is in an awkward plight. It is burdened by questions, which as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore. At the same time it cannot fully answer. 11 725

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Thus for Kant, the Phenomenon is a realm of knowledge and the noumenon viz. God, self etc., is a realm of faith. It may be asked. If the noumenon cannot be known where is the need to have faith in it. To make morality possible - says Kant. Though faith in the noumenon does not yeild knowledge, such a faith makes life perfectavers Kant. Now what remaing to be done is a brief comparision. All knowledge of the sensible world according to Advaita is the result of Superimposition or adhyasa. Knowledge is of two types absolute (Svarupa Jnana) and relative or empirical/pragmatic knowledge (Vrttijnana). The Absolute knowledge is transcendental and non-relational; it has no real relation with the sensible world in as much as the latter according to Advaita is the creation of Avidya. Infact we can talk of Advaita epistemology only in terms of Vrtti-Jnana, as the Svarupa Jnana is equated with Brahman. According to Vacaspati, Svarupa Jnana otherwise called pure consciousness is an independent and ever existing reality. It is not a product of anything. It is immutable (nirvikara), indivisible (akhanda). It is undifferantiated and indeterminate (nirvisesa). On the other hand, Vrtii-Jnana or empirical knowledge or mental knowledge is but the modification of the internal organ as illumined by the self. It may be correct or wrong. It is real because it is presented; it is false because it is denied in the end. It has a conditional status. All knowledge and all the sastras thus belong to the realm of nescience (avidya). How to come into grips with the ultimate reality? It is of course through antahkarana-Vrtti says Vacaspati. The antah-karana Vrtti, which is of the nature of intelligence residing in the agent, when carried on with relentless mediation on the ultimate truth, (Brahman) results in the intuition of Brahman. This view is technically called Prasamkhyana. According to Kant, there is only one kind of knowledge. And that is knowledge of the sensible world, which is a harmonious blend of percepts and concepts. No knowledge of the nomenon is possible. Thus the final out come of Kants Philosophy is agnosticism. We are for ever doomed and there is no way of knowing thing-in-itself, But according to Vacaspati, Brahman with Maya, is the cause of phenomenal reality viz., the universe. So is accordign to Kant when he says that the Noumenon is the cause of the Phenomenon.12 What appears is the Noumenon and what it appears is the Phenomenon. Therefore there should be a distinction between Reality (noumenon) and appearance (Phenomenon). According to Kant, we have no mens of correcting error. Hare Advaita comes in to correct Kant by saying that Brahman, the ultimate reality can be known by being it. 726

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Reference Smrtirupah Paratra Purvadrstaavabhasah Brahman-sutra-samkarabhasya Upodghata 1(a). Bha. Ca. Su. P. 17, See also the relevant portions of Kalpataru Bha. Ca. Su. P. 41 3. Bha. Ca. Su. P. 40 Sell also Bha II., 111-17 atmadhikarana - the siddhanta portion Bha. Ca. Su. PP. 22-23 Bha. P. 17 Ananthankrishna Sastri's edition Bha. Ca. Su. P. 14 Ibid, p. 38 Ibid, p.39-40 Ibid, p. 17 11. Ibid p. 41 N.K.Smith : Immanual Kant's critique of Pure Reason. (Macmillan & co. London 1929) preface to the first Edition, p. 7 Ibid, p. 38 12. 727

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GANDHIAN PARADIGM OF PEACE Dr.Ramji Singh Peace is perhaps the most desireble ideal of human. civilisation.However the term peace is given to different meanings and interpretations. For the spiritualists, it means internal peace of mind and soul, without which we cannot achieve happiness and bliss.Hence the Gita clearly says that without peace, happiness is impossible. To the Buddhists, the supreme state of bliss called Nibaan is the state of peace and tranquility, which is described as trenquil like the sea. Jain concept of Moksha is also similar. Even the Nyaya-Vaisesika concept of Moksha tends towards defining peace as a state of utter tranquility and bliss.In the Sankhya philosophy, the highest state is described as the state of supernegation as'nothing is mine', I am not a thing(f),I am not (Na Asmi) and I am not an individual (Na Aham-I am not the ego). In the eight fold path of yoga, the highest state is that of Samadhi, which is the state of super consciousness. In the Advaita Vedanta, the highest wisdom consists in the identification of the self with the Absolute or subject as the object (Tattvamasi- Thou art that or I am Brahman (3 af)-which is the state of super tranquility and peace. In short the highest state of spirituality is the state of internal peace and tranquility.Apart from Indian philosophy, even in different religious philosophies, we have almost a common emphasis upon internal peace apart from peace as a moral and spiritual phenomenon. Hence almost all religions of the world. have univocally and unconditidnally advocated the concept of peace. To the jews, it is 'Shalom' or grace flowing from the heaven',to the Semitic fathers.it is The blessing Justice of God'.The Roman peace (PAX) is different.It means a tranquil harmony "within the hierarchy of heaven; to The Hindus, the Vedic term 'Shanti is a prayer of peace universal-light, earth, water, vegetable kingdom, medicines and all others. In Islam, the word Salam means 'peaceful acceptance' of God, calm resignation or total surrender to the will of God. The Chinese, Huo' Ping means "Smooth or tranquil harmony within the hierarchy of heaven. After pursuing the different meanings of peace in different metaphysical and religious systems, I am constrained to believe that peace is regarded mostly as an internal affair, which is also justified because unless we have peace within, we cannot think of peace without or outside ourselves. However, this is a tragic evidence of history that during the last 7000 yeasr of religious history of mankind, at least 6500 small and big religious wars have taken place. Evan Christianity has witnessed 100 years of war between the Catholics and Protestants. The sword of Islam has had reached upto Spain and even now in the middle East there has 728

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been a savage fighting between the Islamic countries and Israel. Even the Hindus have not been a peaceful, social and religious system. In short, the record of religions has been seriously unfortuntae. This is why Marx has dubbed religion as an 'opium of the people'. It is therefore that there has been religions reformers of humanists and cosmopolitan outlook almost in all religions. In modern times, Swami Vivekanand has advocated the cause of 'universal religion', Tagore has emphasised upon 'religion of man' and Gandhi has adhered to the doctrine of equal respect for all religions. Many scholars like Dr. Bhagwan Das and other Theosophists have dwelt upon the idea of essential unity of all religions. In the western world, there has been no dearth of such persons spousing the cause of world religion along with the concept of world government. If we cannot mend the sectarian cult of religions in the religeous orders, there is no other way than to end it As we have learnt the doctrine of co-existence in world politics it is necessary to understand the velue of coexistence in all religions.If one thinks that his religion alone is the best or most superior, it naturally implies that religions of others than ours are inferior and downgraded. This is a very unhealthy frame of mind based on jealousy and ill-will. There is another improtant cause of global violence based on the prevalent doctrine of narrow nationalism. No doubt, patriotism is a noble human sentiment and nationalism had come as a safety valve against sectarian feudalism during the 17th and 18th centuries. People were the feudal Lords where they fought like tribal chiefs waging most cruel warfare but today nationalism has assumed the same tribal outlook and they have made the entire human civilisation as unsafe and insecure.Not less than 7000 wars have been fought in the name of nationlism during human history. Even our modern 20th century has witnessded the horrors of two world wars and also dropping of deadly nuclear weapons upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even the 21th century has been face to face most dangerous and inhuman acts of terrorism and human bombs.Needless to say, that there is a dangerous stockpile of 30,000 dreadful nuclear bombs stored in the nuclear Arsenals and if by chance due to human follies, there is a nuclear war , the entire human civilisation will be wiped out. Hence, Martin Luther King was right when he said that "if we can not abolish war, war will certainly abolish us."when somebody had asked the inventor of Atom Bomb, the great scientist Einstein that which weapon we shall be fighting the 3rd World War,Einstein modestly but most poignantly replied, "I do not know about the weapon with which we shall be fighting during the 3rd World War,but I am certain that during the 4th World War, if all we have to fight, we shall be fighthing with our nails and teeths. Therefore, Gandhi has most vehemently and uncondition 729

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ally denounced the manufacture and use of Atom bombs (The national Ganghi museum has collected 28 statements of M.Gandhi against Atom bomb.). Apart form the use of Atom bombs as a weapon of annihilation, the economics of Atom bomb and other tarditional weapons is staggering when at least half of the human population are hungry, illiterate and without medicine. In fact, the entrie economy of world development is unbalanced because of ruthless and tremendous expenditure on manufactare of war technology which is absolutely unproductive and also destructive. Therefore, Gandhi is against the manufacture of even all destructive weapons, not to speak about all wars. A world without war is certainly a Gandhian world. To Quote Him, I would not like to live in a world which is not a world of peace." After the war, the next enemy of mankind is the concept of modern development model based on the use of most sophisticated technology based on mechanisation,automation and cybernation. Gandhi was not against machinery but against the craze for machinery. He was not an enemy of technology but he wanted a rational use of technology. In fact, technology and ideology go together. A technology without a human face is likely to generate more problems than it can solve. The report of the club of Rome and The Limits to Growth' has shown the limits of blind exploitation of nature. It has resulted in acid rain, the heating of the sea and the earth and the dangerous holes in the ozone layers. This has created a poisoned atmosphere and a slow but certain death of the entire human beings. Hence, the question of peace is closely releted with the modern economics based on unlimited wants and unlimted exploitation of nature.At present, the USA has only 6% of the world population, but it consumes about 46% of the material resources. Such a national power necessarily requires a political control over natural resources of the world which means it must strengthen its military power the maximum.Hence, a world economy which is based on ruthless exploitation of natural resources and blind use of mechanisation and automation are most responsible for creating atmosphere for waging wars. Hence, today, war is not only a militery problim or simply a political problem but also as economic and ecological problem. We have to create economy of peace along with politics of peace for creating a peace for creating a peaceful world. But the problem is how can we fight the problem of war.It can not be done only through prayers and meditations, it requires to build a new psychology, a new asceticism and a new civilisation.We must start with the limitation of our wants and create economy of permanence and peace. An economics which depends upon exploitation of man creates 730

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inequality and discontent. This is the structural cause of global unrest. Peace is not only an absence of war, it is also negation of exploitation and inequality,blind and ruthless use of natural resources and creating a politics of power and domination. While dealing with the problem of peace, Gandhi was not an utopian but he was a practical idealist. He knew that war is the result of war politics and more of war economics. Hence, unless a complete overhaul of our entrie politicel and economic system are taken into considerations, peace will remain an impossibility. For this, he has emphasised the important pedagogy of peace, as war begins in the minds of men, the defences of peace can also be built in the minds of men. Unless, we change the mental set-up from the kindergarten upto the university students with the pedagogy of peace, we cannot achieve the ultimate result even in a century.Alexander Pope has rightly said, "It is education that forms the common mind, just as the twig is bent, the tree is inclined" the tree is inclined." It means to win a war against violence and war, we have to start from ABC of peace education, peace research and peace action. It may take not more than a decade to create a peaceful world because this is not a matter of utopian exercise but an urgency of supreme importance. This is a question of life and death and hence if we take up the cause of peace as a Gandhian Satyagrahi, we shall overcome all the obstacles in our way and peace will be at our doorsteps. Gandhi was a peace volunteer and also a peace commander. As a commander, he ordered for martyrdom and as a peace volunteer, he became a peace martyr. Indeed, "Blessed are the peace-makers." 731

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M.M.Pt. Gopinath Kaviraja's Contribution to Tantric Philosophy Dr. D.A. Gangadhar In the present context I have chosen the topic to present some of my thoughts and experiences with regard to M.M.Pt. Gopinath Kaviraj. Why I have chosen the subject, is not without reason. Pt. Kaviraji has been one of the great pillar among the modern interpreters of Tantric Philosophy. His concern is no less than Sir John Woodroff who has translated the best work on Tantra named as Kularnava Tantra. But Pt. Kavirajji went further to Woodroff, because he had a devine personality. In fact, I had the opportunity to see the holy feet of M.M. Pt. Gopinath Kavirajji in the year 1966, while I was doing my Master's Course in Philosophy at the Banaras Hindu University. My teacher Mrs. 'Sobharani Basu, a devout disciple of Kavirajji took me to his house at the Sigra place of Varanasi, where he was residing and blessing the scholars on the subject. When I entered his room following my teacher, he looked at me and was introduced by my teacher, he smiled with deep thought and directed me to sit nearby. Really those moments are immemorable in my life. I could see a divine and seriously knowledgeable person. The purpose of my visit was to be enlightened by this great pandit on a work, I was assigned to complete a dissertation on St. Kabir. Pt. Kavirajji suggested me to write some thing on Kabir's massage on "Way to SelfRealization", later this happened to be the topic of my dissertation in M.A. Course. I used to visit him to listen his views on Religious experience and the methods of Self-realization. He continued to solve some of my curiosities on the mysterious problems on self-realization and mystical experiences. I learnt a lot and made myself a humble student of comparative study of religions. I can say, without hesitation, that I found Pt. Kavirajji as a serious thinker with encyclopaedic knowledge of the original sources of all the systems of Indian philosophy and religions. I experienced him as a true Sadhaka, a great Rishi-like personality. His approach to Indian Philosophy, religion and Sadhana was the same as that of the great seers, sages and yogis of India. To quote the words of Prof. Arabinda Basu, a renowned scholar of Indian Philosophy and Religion, I must say that "The illustrious guardians of spiritual thought and practice were his guides in his lifelong search for the spirit of Indian culture. He was a most devoted and stead fast upholder of the hoary Indian traditional faith that there are diverse approaches to Truth and that it is need and proper that there should be different philosophies, religions and spiritual disciplines. All 732

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systems of thought are true and every yogic path leads to the goal." Pt. Kavirajji was not only a scholar but a true Sadhaka. He mastered over the mysteries of Tantra Shastra. He had full knowledge of the both the aspects of Tantra viz. theoretic as well as practical. He was, virtually a 'Sthitaprajna' in the words of the Bhagavadgita. But let me put Pt. Kavirajji's idea about Tantra and Agama. In fact, Indian wisdom has a systematic growth both from Nigam and Agama. Nigam is logically related with the Vedic Ritualism, and the philosophy of the Upanishads and the philosophy of Brahmsutra along with the six systems of Indian Philosophy. Agama is basically, the name given to intuitional revelation of Occult Truth because it clarifies vividly its real nature to an aspirant. 'A' means all round and gama' means understanding. Agama is thus an intuitional correct revelation of the Truth. The scriptural expressions of Truth as revealed through spiritual realization are made available by Tantric Yogins. The scholars have found the meaning of the word 'Agama' as intuitional self revelation of Truth and Tantra as continuously flowering on tradition. Tantra stands for expansion and it is the expansion of spiritual realization. Pt. Gopinath Kaviraj also look Agama and Tantra, as one and the sama type of Scriptures. Though the word 'Tantra' changed its meaning in due course for its use and practise. But tantra, in its real sense, aims at the attainment of all the Purusharthas. Tantra, in fact, is the path way of both Bhakti and Mukti, Pravratti and Nivritti. Pt. Gopinath Kaviraj acknowledged the total aspects of Tantra Shastra and had the opinion that Truth has many aspects and that its revelations are diverse. He had correct vision to Yoga Sadhana of Patanjali along with the idea of Kaivalya of Samkhya-System. He was a true seeker of Advaita-Sadhana. But his firm faith concerns much to Shakti-Sadhana of Shaktism. The concept of Shakti, of conscious force, was of paramount importance to him. Shakti is one as Shiva, the Supreme Reality: Our inadequate language separate Shiva from Shakti, but both are inseparable aspects of Reality. This is experienced through the Sadhana. But "Sadhana" has a definite meaning. He has clarified it by saying that sadhana is an appropriate academic practice or a study of certain goal of life. Therefore, in order to understand Tantric Sadhana, one has to get acquaintance with the vision of Tantric System. Such vision may be of two kinds-vizperfect and imperfect. An imperfect vision becomes meaningless after attaining perfect vision. In a sense, the maturity of Sadhana becomes possible by getting away the imperfections. Thus he propounded the concepts of three jewels called-Shiva, Shakti and Bindu. He explains that Agama is basically the path of non-difference and Shakta view is nodualism, Shaiva view admits duality and non-duality. These are the 733

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different views of Reality. But the three jewels, noted earlier are the fundamental essences. Bindu is pure essence and is the cause of dynamic Universe. Shiva is an agent, Karta and Shakti is the cause. Bindu is also called Mahamaya. Shabda Brahma, Kundalini, Vidyashakti, Anahata and Vyoma, these terms are used in the same senses and the world is manifestation of such essence. Bindu, on the one side expresses itself in the pure body and senses and is called Shuddha Adhva and on the other side it brings out Shabda. This Shabda is of three kinds - Subtle sound, Aksara and Varna. Subtle sound is the first manifestation. This is free from thought. Aksara is the foundation of sublte sound and has the from of knowledge. Bindu is called matter, but it is pure. Infact pure real is Bindu. Pt. Gopinath Kaviraja has opined about the closeness of Bindu or Mahamaya and Shiva. He presents two views on this point 1-Samavayini and 2- Parigraha rupa Samvayini Shakti is conscious, changeless, qualityless. This is Shakti Tattva. This is always with Shiva. Shiva and Shakti are identical. Parigrah Shakti is material unconscious and is subject to changes. This Bindu has two forms -pure and impure. Pure form is Mahamaya. But both are eternal. Thus Mahamaya has three states - Para, Suksma and Sthula (Supreme, Sublte and material). The supreme in known as Mahamaya. According to Pt. Gopinath Kaviraj the Ultimate Reality has the function of Sristi, Palana, Samhara, Nigraha and Anugrah but Shiva is always one with Shakti. The Bhoga State can not be enjoyed. By stating this, Pt. Kavirajji attempts to emphasis upon the transcendental status of Shiva and Shakti. Such state is described by Kaviraj as Samarasya, the oneness of Shiva and Shakti. Now let me present at this juncture the remarks made by Arabind Basu who puts forward that .. "In what does the dynamism, the Shakti, of Shiva consist? Shiva in his essential nature is never devoid of jnatvtva, subject hood and kartrtva, authorship. Shiva is both his own subject and object. As Shiva, he is subject, drasta, knower and as Shakti, he is drsya, known or object. But both coalesce in an inalienable intimate sense of full 'l-ness' in the very being of the Reality. This is not ahamkara, separative ego-sense but the identity of Shiva with all and everything. This is also from another point of view Svatantrya, freedom, since nothing can restrict Shiva in any way. For how can anything do sol since he is all? It is the expansion of his inherent shakti that is the making of the world svasaktivispharajagannirvanam. The finite existences are all Shiva who has assumed limitations of various kinds, including materiality, yet He ever remains Free and Absolute. This being the concept of Reality in Trika philosophy, its idea of liberation cannot be the same as that in Yoga philosophy or in Advaita 734

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Vedanta. Liberation is self knowledge and Shiva is the self. Thus to realise one's identity with all by recognising oneself as Shiva is true liberation. Parama-Shiva is what Jiva is in its unfettered essential state. And that is freedom and unrestricted enjoyment of perfect 'I-hood'. While Pandit Kaviraj evaluated Trika philosophy as the most comprehensive formulation of the nature of Reality, he was also deeply influenced by the acintya bhedabhedavada of Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy. The doctrine of the inconceivable identity-cum-difference of Bengal Vaishnavism was very dear to the heart of Pandit Kaviraj. This is primarily because the great emphasis given in this philosophy on the idea of the Supreme Reality as prema or Love. The individual spiritual soul is, in essence, one with the advaya-jnana-tattva, the Ultimate Reality according to this school. But the Supreme has three aspects-Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. Bengal Vaishnavism also accepts the concept of conscious Force which has three aspects - sandhini, samvit and hladini, respectively power of existence, consciousness and enjoyment. The criterion of the distinctions between the three aspects of the suprerne Reality is the manifestation of otherwise of conscious force in them. In the scheme of this school the lowest aspect is Brahman because here conscious force is not at all manifest. Brahman is purely passive; it is possible to realise identity of the individual soul by knowledge wilh this aspect. But spiritual seekers are not encouraged to seek this realisation. Paramatma, The Great Self is The Master of Maya which is the force of ignorance. It is possible to realise union with Paramatma by Yoga. Bhagavan is the highest aspect of the Reality. In this aspect conscious Force is fully manifest, especially as hladini sakti, the power of enjoying and sharing love. This idea of loving God and sharing the delight of Love with the Beloved deeply attracted Pandit Kaviraj. Pandit Kaviraj had implicit faith in the Scripture, the Veda, which according to him is not primarily a book but supra-sensuous and supra.intellectual Wisdom eternally existent in the inner heart of man. But the Vedas, records of the revelation of this Wisdom also claimed his reverence, Shraddha, yet he was constantly engaged in vicara, in intellectual appraisal of the truths contained in the Shastras not as a doubting Thomas but to understand as far as possible, those truths to make them clear to the mind, to show that though they were suprarational they were not irrational. But in the last analysis he put his trust in spiritual experience as the best means of realising Truth. Does this conflict with reverent acceptance of Veda or other revealed Scriptures? I would think Pandit Kaviraja's answer would be in the negative. For what is the Shastra but the records of spiritual experiences of intuitively gifted seers and mystics? So there is no contradiction between reverent acceptance of Shastra and personal experimental knowledge of Truth proclaimed in it. Shraddha 735

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matures into knowledge which is not mere intellectual conviction but direct experience, in which the votary of Truth and Truth become one, sraddhavan labhate jnanam. And Pandit Kaviraj was nothing if he was not sraddhavan, full of faith and reverence combined with critical intelligence working in conformity with faith leading on to that purification of buddhi which becomes enlightened and thus becomes transformed into intuitive insight. Pandit Kaviraj's was the seeing intelligence, not merely analytic and critical intellect but plastic, synthetic, harmonious and thus capable of reflecting and envisioning the Truth which is the Light of Lights, the supreme Prakasa, the Transcendent self luminous illumination, indwelling in everything that ever was, is and will be, indeed eternally unified with all its own self-manifestation in a bond of Love. Pandit Kaviraj had a dream-that universal Love would be the cementing bond of all, God and man and the world abolishing all differences but not abrogating harmonious distinctions. This love would lusher in a new world and a new life in which will be vanquished the last enemy to be conquered, Death, and manifest Immortality here on Earth. This is, in nutshell the contribution of Pt. Gopinath Kaviraj a to the Tantric Philosophy of India. References: 1. Arabind Basu : Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj's approaches to Indian Philosophy, Religion and Sadhana : (delivered at Banaras Hindu University). Pt. Gophinath Kaviraj : Bhartiya Samskriti Aura Sadhana- Bihar Hindi Rajya Academy, 1965. 2. 736

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Person and Consciousness: Different Perspectives Dr. D. Nesy The categories of Person and Consciousness have undoubtedly occupied the minds of not only philosophers but others as well. I quote two instances: David L Anderson while attempting to answer the question 'what is a person' mentions an episode of the Star Trek: the Next Generation. One of its main characters called Commander Data is about to be dismantled and subjected to experimentation. But Data refuses to go. He claims that he is a 'person' with rights including the moral right of self determination. Hence it is immoral to experiment on him without his consent. His opponent insists that he is a property, that he has no rights. The basic assumption is that it is morally wrong to buy or sell persons as properties or the way we do with pets dogs cats. A property is a kind of thing that can be bought or sold, something I can use for my interests. Also we buy or sell pets and we keep our pets 'locked up' in the house. Whereas person is a kind of entity that has the moral right to make its own life choices, to live its life without any interference from others, enjoys autonomy etc. In the trial the attorney was faced with the questions like: what is a person? Is it possible that a machine could be a person? Etc. Richard De Smet refers to the statement of Prof. TMP. Mahadevan at the 1973 seminar on the Concept of Person: that 'if Brahman of Sankara is anything, it is surely not impersonal'. It was rather unexpected from a strict adherent of Sankara's non-dualism like Prof. Mahadevan since the non-dualists assert that Brahman is impersonal. This important linguistic change is attributed to the better understanding of the idea of 'person' in the Indian philosophical circles. Concept of Person is understood in two ways: From the logical point of view, personhood is merely a convention of society attained through the process of law. People are persons who can claim the rights over their life and property when they are violated. The metaphysical understanding of person is more fundamental than that of the former requiring some kind of ontological investigation. This is the substantial view in which the self is assumed to be the basis or essence of human personality. It refers to the Indian pre-occupation with the self; self is what makes a person and hence contributes to his personhood. This finds expression in the classical Upanisadic manner of understanding personhood as atman taught in terms of the pancakoshas or five sheaths in the Taittiriya Upanisad (II: 1-8) along with other hundreds of passages in other Upanisads. 737

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Contrary to this view, the Buddhist understanding of person is psychological and moral. The human person, though without a basic self, possesses a set of psychological properties such as self-love, death-hatred, willingness to have a bright future etc. The transcendental self is something beyond our observation, but the grounds of personhood become more reliable with psychological factors. Moral precepts like killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying or taking intoxicants have nothing to do with the self or person but with the psychological properties. Thus Buddhism advocates a theory of personhood even though it denies the existence of self. The western ways of understanding the essence of human being is centered around the notion of human person. Originated as a theatre concept, it was later incorporated in to theology, metaphysics and legal traditions. The individual behind the mask came to be perceived as a person with legal rights and duties; a being of value and dignity - a citizen as opposed to a slave. The theological concept of person as 'Three - in - One Divine essence (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) or the One - inTwo' distinct natures as Jesus Christ - the Word made Flesh or Divine - and Human. The universality and uniformity of all persons irrespective of whether free or slave, citizen or foreigner followed from the Christian belief in the brotherhood of all men made Boethius remark: 'a person is an individual subject whose nature is rational'. On this basis the Schoolmen represented by Aquinas declared that person' means an integral and unitary self-subsistent subject characterized by intellectual consciousness, moral freedom and all the properties ensuing from these namely privacy, inalienability of end-in-itself, ownership of natural rights, moral responsibility, source of moral values and having the capacity of initiating interpersonal relationships. It was Jacobi who chose to restrict the term "person' to the category of human individuals. Kierkegaard's greatest existential category was the 'Single One', the central concept, the individual as the existing self. To exist meant decision, resolution and so on. And the self is not something given, but something always achieved and held. Heidegger engaging himself in huge discussions on self distinguishes between the inauthentic and everyday 'they-self and the primordial and authentic phenomenon which is included in 'care'. But it was Sartre, the Cafe Philosopher who developed a philosophy of existence around the conscious Being - Being -for- itself. The being of the objects of consciousness are independent of consciousness; themselves without consciousness; subject to causal laws; causally determined and without any freedom. Having no consciousness they exist solidly or 'massively as being-in-itself. In contrast, the Conscious Being is always conscious of objects 738

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as well as self-conscious. It is the being-for-itself confronting a kind of being which it is not, the being-in-itself. A conscious being has the power to separate itself from objects, to question, to doubt, to entertain possibilities or it is a being dissatisfied with itself with a desire to be what it is not. He says: 'being is what it is... the being of for-itself is defined as being what it is not and not being what it is... Sartre is weaving the picture of a human person, the being-for-itself around the notion of consciousness. The contemporary understanding of person is again in terms of consciousness in the sense of subjective experience. Thomas Nagel's challenge to the objective, physical or functional properties of the organism claiming to tell everything about it is a bold attempt to defend the position of subjective experience. Certain facts about the person that are genuine about the world cannot be provided by any objective description of a person's brain states, he argues. Yet it remains an open question.... Conclusion : The global relevance of the study of consciousness consists in its ability to foreshadow a new global renaissance to avert the increasing threat to human survival on this planet. The growing a-symmetry in the progress of the 'outer physical and 'inner' human sciences has pernicious consequences. Dr. Radhakrishnan wrote in 1929: 'science helps us to build up our outer life, but another discipline is necessary to strengthen and refine the living spirit. This discipline is the study of consciousness, the inner science'. The march of outer science far ahead of inner sciences is a serious threat to civilization. Look at the mind-boggling developments in the field of genetic science and biotechnology. We are in a position to alter genes and produce monsters, just as we capable of producing enormous energy by splitting the atom that is capable of destroying life on this planet. At the same time we appear helpless to feed humans with values of love and altruism. Human science as it stands now is of little help to understand and influence the mirds of those who have control over the forces of nature and not of themselves. This is a dangerous situation, utterly contemptuous and completely unacceptable. There is need for a judicial balance between our knowledge of nature and of us and between our ability to manipulate the outer forces and our felicity to cultivate inner abilities. As Dr. Radhakrishnan says: "the passion of the idea is not the same as the passion of the state or quality of mind. Ordinarily our intellectual concepts are divorced from the actual life. Our real motives are not our conscious ends. That we can become wise without conscious effort, by listening to a sermon, by reading a book is the most soothing dream; but it is only a dream. We must let the 739

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belief ripen and take possession of us by means of steady contemplation. It is an intimate and compelling process very like natural process, by which the mind that holds an idea becomes held by it". Radhakrishnan is referring here to the state of knowing by being, the nidhidhyasana aspect of learning, a powerful concept in Indian psychology of education. The need of the day is thus the development of the inner sciences as reflected in the Indian concept of consciousness. Indian thinkers have a far greater role to play in today's world. Sri Aurobindo has set the model in this direction. Consciousness entering in to matter transforming and elevating it to new heights of realization is the message of Sri Aurobindo. 740

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'trayambakamantra' kA tantrArtha -DaoN. harSadeva mAdhava tryambakaM yajAmahe sugandhi puSTi vardhanam / urvArukamiva bandhanAnmRtyomukSIya mAmRtAt / / (Rgveda 7-59-12) isa RcA ke draSTA vaziSTha maitrAvaruNi hai, anuSTupa chanda hai, aura rudra devatA hai| hama sugaMdhayukta zarIravAle, puSTivardhaka, traNa netroMvAle deva kA yajana karate hai vaha hamako pakI kakar3I (yA kharabujA) kI taraha mRtyu ke baMdhana se mukta kare, lekina amRta (amaratA) se alaga na kare - aisA bhAvArtha hai| yahA~ 'sugandhi puSTivardhanaM tryambakam' ye tIna zabda rudra ke vizeSaNa hai| meksamUlara tryambaka ke artha ke bAre meM sandeha vyakta karate haiM sAyaNa ke mata se tryambaka tIna deva brahmA, viSNu, maheza hai| jisa taraha kakar3I yA kharabujA paka jAne ke bAda apane Apa DAlI se alaga ho jAya isa taraha mRtyu yA saMsAra se mukta hone kI prArthanA hai|' aba yahA~ mantra ke pratyeka zabda kA artha samajane kI koziza kreNge| - tryambakam - Rgveda kI AvRtti meM isa RcA ke sAtha alaga artha prApta hai / DolararAya mAMkaDa ne isakI carcA kI hai| vayaM tryambakaM trilocanaM yajAmahe / tryambakaM trilokasya mAtRbhUtaM pAlakamityarthaH (MS E 1HZ 612) tryambakaMtrinetraM mahAdevaM yajAmahe puujyaamH| sAyaNa 'trayANAM brahmaviSNurudrANAmambakaM pitaraM / brahmA, viSNu aura rudra ke pitA aise tryambaka aisA artha dete haiN| tryambaka kA nirvacana 'trINi ambakAni yasya saH ziva, mahAdeva, traNa netrovAle ziva aisA bhI kiyA jAtA hai| 'tripurAtApinyupaniSat' meM tryambaka kA artha nimnalikhita hai - 'kasmAt tryambakamiti / trayANAM purANAmambakaM svAminaM tasmAducyate tryambakamiti' ziva sthUla, sUkSma evaM kAraNamaya tIna zarIra ke svAmI hone se 'tryambaka' hai| tAntrika dRSTi se trikoNa meM mahAkAmezvarI, mahAvajrezvarI aura bhagamAlinI ye tIna ambAoM ke sAtha tripurasundarI madhyabindu meM sthita hai| vahI tripurAmbA hai| tripurA ke sAtha sAmarasya meM sthita ziva hI tryambaka hai| 741

Page #791
yajAmahe - (1) vayaM yajamAna Rtvijo havirbhiH pUjayAmahe / 'tripurAtApinyupaniSat ' ke matAnusAra atha kasmAducyate yajAmaha iti / yajAmahe sevAmahe vastumahetyakSaradvayena kUTatvenAkSaraikena mRtyuJjayamityucyate tasmAducyate yajAmaha iti / yajAmahe kA artha hama Apake sevA karate hai athavA stuti karate haiN| kisakI stuti karate hai ? tryaM, ba ye do akSaro ke sAtha 'ka' yaha tisare kUTa- gUDha arthavAle ko mAnakara mRtyuJjaya kI stuti karate haiN| sugandhim - sAyaNa taittirIya bhASya meM sugandhi kA artha puNyakarma kI sugandhavAle aisA karate haiN| Rgveda 5-19-24 meM sAMbharI kANvane bhI sugandhi zabda kA prayoga kiyA hai / vahA~ sAyaNa 'zobhanagandhayuktena' aisA artha dete haiN| 1 sAyaNa 'tryambaka' maMtra meM 'sugandhi' kA bhASya karate hue likhate haiM zobhanaH zarIragandhaH puNyagandho vA yasyAyau sugandhi / I yathA vRkSasya saMpuSpitasya dUrAdgandho vAtyevaM puNyasya karmaNo dUrAdgandho vAti / (taittirIya AraNyaka 20 - 9) iti zrute: 'tripurAtApinyupaniSad' ke anusAra atha kasmAducyate sugandhimiti / sarvato yaza Apnoti tasmAducyate sugandhimiti / bhagavAn ziva aSTamUrti ke rupa meM sarvatra vyApta hai / unakI khyAti sarvatra hai aisA artha bhI yahA~ ho sakatA hai| 'lalitAsahasranAma' meM 'divyagandhADhayA' aisA bhagavatI kA nAma hai (631) bhAskararAya vahA~ likhate haiM - divi bhavA divyA devAdayazcetanAcetanAtmakapadArthasamUhAH teSAM gandhaiH sambandhairADhyA paripUrNA / na tu rAjAdibhiriva bhaumaiH padArthaiH parivRteti yAvat / .. .. divyagandho haricandanAdiparimalo vA tenADhyA gandhadvArA durAdharSAmiti zruteH / athavA zrotrAkAzayoH sambandhe 'saMyamAddivyamiti yogasUtre zravaNendriyAkAzayoH sambandhe kRtasaMyamasya yogino divyaM zrotraM bhavati tena divyazabda zravaNaM bhavatItyukttam / tulyanyAyena tatsarvendriyANAmupalakSaNam / tena divyagandhA ADhyAH sampannA yayA yat prasAdAt setyarthaH / yahA~ 'sugandhi' ke anya artha, prApta ho sakate haiM - 742

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(1) sugandha kA sambandha divya ghrANendriya ke sAtha ho sakatA hai| yaha bAta sarva indriyoM ke sAtha jur3I huI hai| (2) 'gandha' kA artha sambandha bhI hai - ziva divya sambandha yukta hai| arthAt parAmbA ke sAtha divya sambandha ke kAraNa vaha 'ziva' aura 'amRtadAtA' hai| ye bAta saundaryalaharI ke prathama zloka 'zivaH zaktyA yuktaH' meM bhI spaSTa hai, zaGkarAcAryane devyaparAdhakSamApanastotra meM 'bhavAni tvatpANigrahaNaparipATIphalamidam' kahakara bhavAnI ke sAtha ziva ke divyasambandha kI bAta kaha dI sthUla padArtha kI sugandha nAzavaMta hai| kIrti, yaza kI sugandha ciraMjIva hai aura AtmajJAna se prApta yA paramatattva kI anubhUti aura yoga dvArA anubhUta sugandha va divyasugandha zAzvata haiN| puSTivardhanam - puSTi zarIradhanAdiviSayA vardhayatIti puSTivardhanaH / tAdRzaM tryambakaM yajAmahe puujyaamH| hamAre namra mata se puSTi tIna prakAra kI hai| Adhibhautika - dhana, dhAnya, saMpatti kI vRddhi Adhidaivika - mAnasika zAMti kI vRddhi, ciMtAoM kA nAza, bhaya samApta honA AdhyAtmika puSTi - paramatattva kA ciMtana bhagavadgItA meM bhagavAna 'yogakSemaM vahAmyaham' kahakara bhakta ke poSaNa kI jimmedArI lete haiN| 'tripurAtApinyupaniSat' meM likhA hai ki - 'yaH sarvAn lokAn sRjati sarvAn lokA stArayati yaH sarvAn lokAn vyApnoti tasmAducyate puSTivardhanamiti / puSTa dhAtu se 'puSTi' zabda banatA hai, ziva puSTi kI bhI vRddhi karate haiN| ___ puSTi kA artha vallabhAcArya ko jo artha abhipreta hai, vaha bhI ho sakatA hai| jIvAtmA ko 'amRta' taka le jAnevAle bhI paramAtmA hI hai| (3) urvArukamiva - jisa taraha urvAruka phala bandhana se svayaM hI alaga ho kara gira jAte hai, alaga hone kI pIDA bhI nahI hotii| pakA huA phala apane Apa alaga hotA hai| mauta bhI sAhajika kriyA ho jaay| pake hue phala meM rasa pUrNatA ko prApta huA hotA hai| jIvana-rasa kI pUrNatA kA anubhava hote hue hI usase bichar3ane kA duHkha nahI hotA hai| bandhanAn mRtyormukSIya - 'tripurAtApinyupaniSat' anusAra saMlagnatvAdurvArukamiva mRtyoH saMsArabandhanAt saMlagnatvAd baddhatvAnmokSI bhavati mukto bhavati / yahA~ 'bandhanAt mukSIya' 'mRtyoH mukSIya' isa taraha bhI anvaya ho sakatA hai| jIvana yA saMsAra se mukti ho, itanA hI nahi, mRtyu se bhI mukti honI caahie| bhagavadgItA kahatI hai - jAtasya hi dhruvo mRtyudhruvaM janma mRtasya ca / ' bandhana se mukti ke bAda, dUsarI bAra bandhana na mile yaha bhI yahA~ sUcita hai| 743

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janma, bandhana va mRtyu ke bhI tIna prakAra ke haiM / janma - (1) mAtA ke udara se prApta janma kA bandhana (2) yajJopavIta se prApta dUsarA janma (3) pUrNAbhiSikta hone se prApta tIsarA janma mRtyu - (1) pratyeka janmadhArI ko anivArya rupa se prApta hai / (2) keza vibhAjana, roga, vRddhAvasthA, kSINatA ke kAraNa indriyoM kI zakti kA marane se nitya mRtyu kA ahesAsa (3) jisake bAda puna: mRtyu na ho aisA sthUla astitva kA nAza aura sarva icchAoM kA nAza bandhana bandhana ke bhI tIna prakAra hai / tAntrika dRSTi se zarIra meM tIna granthiyA~ hai / (1) mUlAdhAra cakra se svAdhiSThAna cakra kA prathama khaNDa hai| vaha agnisthAna hai| vahI rudragranthi hai| (2) maNipura se anAhata cakra kA dvitIya khaNDa hai| vaha sUrya sthAna hai| use viSNu granthi kahate haiM / (3) vizuddhacakra se AjJAcakra kA tRtIya khaNDa hai| vaha candrasthAna hai, vahI brahmagranthi hai / 12 1 yogI ina tIna granthi ke bhedana ke bAda amRta kA AsvAda prApta karatA hai| agni, sUrya aura candra hI zivajI ke tIna netra hai, ata eva ve tryambaka hai| mAmRtAt - sAyaNa ne mA + AmRtAt aisA anvaya kiyA hai / mA + amRtAt anvaya bhI ho sakatA hai| padapATha meM mAmRtAt pada hai| padAnukramaNI meM mA + amRtAt aisA anvaya hai / (1) amRtAt - dIrghajIvitAt / dIrgha jIvana se mujhe bacA lo aisA artha ho sakatA hai| (2) jisa mRtyu ke bAda puna: mRtyu kI prApti na ho aisA mRtyu aise mRtyu se bhI mujhe mukta karo aisA artha ho sakatA hai| (3) sAyaNa ke matAnusAra 'jaba taka sAyujya na ho taba taka jitane janma aura mRtyu Aye una saba se mujhe mukta karo aisA artha hai / 3 'tripurAtApinyupaniSat' anusAra atha kasmAducyate mAmRtAditi / amRtatvaM prApnotyakSaraM prApnoti svayaM rudro bhavati / (caturtha upaniSad - 9) tAntrika dRSTi se amRta ko trividha rupa se samaja sakate hai| - candra vAma nADI - iDA ke mArga se saMcaraNa karatA huA zarIra ko amRta se siMcita karatA hai| sUrya dakSiNa nADI - piMgalA ke mArga ke amRta ko zoSita karatA hai / jaba suSumNA mArga para kuMDalinI Age bar3hakara candra maNDala ko daMza detI hai taba sahasrAra ke jyotsnAmaya loka ke amRta kI anubhUti hotI hai / isa amRta bhI tIna prakAra kA hai (1) iDA mArga para candra ke saMcaraNa se jIvana ko poSaNa milatA hai| (2) mRtyu kI pIDA yA yAtanA kA anubhava na ho isa taraha dehamukti hai / parIkSita rAjA kA yahA~ udAharaNa hai / (3) sahasrAra 744

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ke sAtha kuNDalinI kA milana hone se avirata AnaMdaloka aura parama tRpti kA anubhava hotA hai| yaha amRta hI sAdhaka ko triguNAtIta banAtA hai| bhagavadgItA kahatI hai - guNAnetAnatItya trIndehI dehasamudbhavAn / janma - mRtyu - jarA duHkhaivimukto'mRtamaznute / / Aditya, candra aura agni kA teja paramAtmA kA teja hai| paramAtmA ojasa se bhUtoM ko dhAraNa karate hai, rasAtmaka soma se auSadhioM kA poSaNa karate haiM (puSTi) vaizvAnara hokara anna kA pAcana karate hai5 arthAt buddhi (vardhana) karate haiN| bhagavadgItA ke tIna zabda isa taraha samaje jA sakate hai| kSara - bandhana, mRtyu akSara - puSTi, vRddhi puruSottama - sugandhi, mRtyu se mokSa, amRta tIna prakAra se 'tryambaka' mantra (1) bhUrbhuvaH svaH vyAhRtioM se sampuTita mRtyuJjaya mantra (2) 'OM hauM jUM saH' se saMpuTita mRtasaJjIvanI vidyA (3) tIna vyAhRtiyA~ aura tIna bIja ke pratyeka akSara ko OM lagAkara jo mantra banatA hai vaha zukrAcArya ke dvArA ArAdhita mantra hai| kevala mRtyuJjaya mantra (85 akSara) OM bhUH OM bhuvaH OM svaH OM tryambakaM yajAmahe sugandhiM puSTivardhanam / UrvArukamiva bandhamAnmRtyormukSIya mAmRtAt OM svaH OM bhuvaH OM bhUH OM / 16 mRtasaMjIvanI mantra (52 akSarAtmaka) OM hauM jUM saH OM bhUrbhuvaH svaH OM tryabakaM yajAmahe ityAdi OM svaH OM bhuvaH bhUH OM saH jUM hA~ OM // 11. mahAmRtyuJjaya mantra (zukrArAdhita 62 akSarAtmaka) OM hauM OM jUM OM saH OM bhUH OM bhuvaH OM svaH OM tryambakaM yajAmahe ityAdi OM svaH OM bhuvaH OM bhUH OM saH OM jUM OM hA~ OM // isa mantra ke bAre meM kathana hai ki - Adau prasAdabIjaM tadanu mRtiharaM tArakaM vyAhRtIzca, proccArya tryambakaM yojapati mRtiharaM bhUya evetadAdyam / kRtvA nyAsaM SaDaMgaM sravadamRtakaraM maNDalAntaH praviSTaM, dhyAtvA yogIzarudraM sa jayati maraNaM zukra vidyAprasAdAt // 745

Page #795
zukropAsitA mRtasaJjIvanI vidyA kA anya prakArA - OM hauM saH OM bhUrbhuvaH svaH OM tryambakaM yajAmahe tatsaviturvareNyaM sugandhiM puSTivardhanam bhargo devasya dhImahi urvArukamiva bandhanAd dhiyo yo naH pracodayAt mRtyormukSIya mAmRtAt svaH bhuvaH bhUH OM sa: jUM hauM OM // 19 puSTikAraka veda meM do tryambaka mantra prApta hai| OM tryambakaM yajAmahe sugandhi puSTivardhanam / urvArukamiva bandhanAnmRtyormukSIya mA'mRtAt / / (Rgveda 7-59-12) rakSAkAraka tryambakaM yajAmahe sugandhi pativedanam / urvArukamiva bandhanAdito mukSIya mAmutaH // (yajurveda - 3-60) bRhad mRtyuJjaya mAlA mantra - "OM bhUH OM bhuvaH OM suvaH OM mahaH OM janaH OM tapaH OM satyaM OM tatsaviturvareNyaM OM ghRNiH sUrya Aditya OM tatsat OM haMsAtmako yo apAmagnestejasA dIpyamAnaH no matyostrAyatAM namo brahmaNe vizvanAbhiH hAhi hAhi hAhi hAvu hAvu hAvu OM harI haMsaH sohaM svAhA OM bhuvaH bhargo devasya dhImahi OM namo nArAyaNAya OM ugraM vIraM mahAviSNuM jvalantaM sarvatomukhaM nRsihaM bhISaNaM bhadraM mRtyumRtyu namAmyahaM bhrAjA bhrAjA bhrAjA vavra vavAyavoM AdhAtoraNyAya vo sahasrajvAlinI mRtyunAzinI svAhA OM suvaH dhiyo yo naH pracodayAt mAmadya OM harI OM namaH zivAya tryambakaM yajAmahe sugandhi puSTivardhanam urvArukamiva bandhanAnmRtyormukSIya mA'mRtAt vavAvaM vavavaM vavaM vevaM veveM vavaM va sa jajhadoM jha harI are vaMvaM mevaraya dhAvayA daM jaM OM jaM saH svau haMsaH mA pAlaya pAlaya halAdaya halAdaya mRtyormocaya mocaya sohaM svauM I haMsa: jUM OM I svau haMsaH mAM pAlaya pAlaya lAdaya lAdaya mRtyormocaya mocaya sohaM svauM / I saH jUM OM paro rajase sAvadoM Apo jyotIraso'mRtaM brahma bhUrbhuvaH svarom / "20 aSTottarazatAkSarI gAyatrI (tripurAmantra) (1) gAyatrI, tryambaka evaM jAtaveda mantra ko milAkara japa karane se pApa zAnta hote haiN| (2) tryambaka, gAyatrI, jAtaveda - isa krama kA japa AyuSya meM vRddhi karatA hai| (3) jAtaveda, gAyatrI aura tryambaka mantra ke japa se zatrunAza hotA hai| 'tripurA tApinyupaniSat' meM aSTottara zatA gAyatrI kA 'zrImahAtripurasundarImantra' kahA gayA hai| tatsaviturvareNyaM bhargo devasya dhImahi / 746

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dhiyo yo naH pracodayAt paro rajase'sAvadom // 2 // jAtavedase sunavAma somamarAtIyato nidahAti vedaH / sa naH parSadati durgANi vizvA nAveva sindhuM duritAtyagniH // 3 // tryambakaM yajAmahe sugandhiM puSTivardhanam / urvArukamiva bandhanAnmRtyormukSIya mAmRtAt // 4 // zatAkSarI paramA vidyA trayImayI sASTArNA tripurA paramezvarI / AdyAni catvAri padAni parabrahmavikAsIni / dvitIyAni zAktAni / tRtIyAni zaivAni // 5 // tryambaka mantra meM vizeSa caitanya ke lie viloma varNa ke japa kA vidhAna hai| dakSiNAmnAya kA mantra 'OM jUMsaH' bIja ke sAdi hai| UrdhvAmnAya kA mUla mantra mAtra hai| ubhayAmnAya meM OM hauM jUM saH bhUrbhuvaH svaH aura aMta meM svaH vaH bhUH bhuvaH saH jUM hauM OM aura bIca meM tryambaka mantra hotA hai| mantra mahodadhi ke anusAra tryambaka mantra 50 akSaroM kA hai| OM hauM OM jUM saH bhUrbhuva: sva: tryambakaM....... bhUrbhuvaH svaH OM jUM saH hauM OM isa mantra ke vAmadeva kahola aura vasiSTha RSi hai| paMkti, gAyatrI aura anuSTupa chaMda hai / 22 mantramahArNava - mantramahArNava meM kahA gayA hai ki tryambaka mantra ko bhajanevAle ke sAmane svayaM kAla bhI nahi dekhane ko samartha hai| vasiSTha RSi hai| anuSTupa chaMda hai| tryambaka pArvatI pati devatA hai| tryaMbIja hai, baM zakti hai, kaM kIlaka hai| sugandhiM yajAmahe - 'sugandhiM yajAmahe' se sUcita hotA hai ki sugandha yukta padArtho se yaha mantra kA homAtmaka prayoga honA caahie| nakSatra roga dravya azvinI buddhibhrama, anidrA, vAyu caMdana, kamalapuSpa, gUgala, ghI 747

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bharaNI kanera ke puSpa, candana caMdana, jUhI, ghI, gUgala kRttikA Alasa, jvara, vividha roga netra roga, pralApa, bukhAra, anidrA ziroroga, pArzva roga, pralApa rohiNI kamala puSpa, caMdana, dazAMga dhUpa mRgazIrSa kamalapuSpa, caMdana, dazAMga dhUpa raktavikAra, tridoSa, grahapIDA, ardhAMgavAta ArdrA caMdana, sugandhI puSpa dhUpa punarvasu bukhAra, anidrA sarvAMga pIDA bukhAra, ziroroga kamaradarda saMnipAta, mukharoga udararoga ziraHpIDA, kaMpavAta mahAkaSTa, mRtyu pralApa, kamaradarda udararoga pUrvASADhA haladI, kuMkuma, sevaMtI ke puSpa, aSTAMgadhUpa nIlakamala, caMdana, gUgala, ghI caMdana, zvetakamala puSpa, ghI, gUgala caMdana, kamala, ghI, gUgala caMdana, mAlatI,kapUra, uttarASADhA zravaNa atisAra, mUtraroga, saMsargaja roga gUgala, ghI dhaniSThA caMdana, kamala mUtrakRccha, dasta meM lahU AnA, jvara, kaMpavAta gUgala, ghI zatatArA vAtajvara pUrvAbhAdrapadA vamana, vyAkulatA, mRtyu agaru, kesara, kamala caMdana, kapUra, ghI zvetArka, puSpa, dhUpa, tridoSa, caMdana, kesara caMdana, kapUra, kamala bilvapatra, gUgala, ghI uttarA bhAdrapadA pIliyA, zUla, daMtaroga, vAtajvara 748

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zUla revatI cittabhrama, uraHzUla raktacaMdana, arkapuSpa, pittajvara ghI, gUgala isa prakAra sugaMdhI dravyoM kA homAtmaka prayoga roga va mRtyu se bacAte haiN| nakSatra roga dravya puSya bukhAra, sardI kamala, kuMkuma, caMdana, dhUpa AzleSA sarvAMga pIDA agastya ke puSpa, caMdana maghA maghA ziroroga, gAtrakaSTa caMpaka puSpa, zveta caMdana, ardhAMga vAyu, raktavikAra pUrvA phAlgunI bukhAra, ziroroga mAlatI puSpa, caMdana, bilvaphala uttarA phAlgunI ziroroga, pArzvazUla, arkapuSpa, gUgala kamara darda kapUra, kesara hasta udararoga, prasveda raktacaMdana, kamalapuSpa sarvAMgapIDA ghI, gUgala citrA vicitra roga vividha raMga ke puSpa, gaMdha kesara svAti jvara, aneka roga, caMdana, agaru, gUgala, ghI mRtyu vizAkhA pArzvazUla, vAtaprakopa, devadAru - kASTha, kamala karizUla ghI, gUgala anurAdhA zirodarda, tIvrajvara caMdana, kamala, gUgala sarvAMgapIDA jyeSThA vAtaroga, manoroga, caMpaka puSpa, dhUpa kaMpavAta, mRtyu kapUra, caMdana yaha maMtra paMcamI, dazamI yA paurNamAsI kI tithi para karane se avazya lAbha hotA hai| isa maMtra se abhimaMtrita jala pIne se asAdhya roga va mRtyu dUra jAne kI bAta sarvavidita hai / 25 749

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ziva kI aSTamUrti aura tryambaka mantra tryambaka maMtra meM 'sugandhim' pada dvArA pRthvIrupa ziva kA nirdeza hai| 'yajAmahe' ke dvArA agni va yajamAna kA sUcana hai| 'sugandham' pada soma - auSadhi aura 'puSTivardhanam' pada sUrya aura candra kA sUcana karate haiN| 'amRtam' kA sambandhI 'rasa' arthAt jala ke sAtha hai| 'tryambaka meM teja, vAyu aura AkAza tattva sUcita hai| samagra mantra - tryambakaM / yajAmahe | sugandhi / puSTivardhanam / urvArukamiva / bandhanAnmRtyoH / mukSIya / mAmRtAt / / isa taraha ATha khaMDo meM vibhAjita lagatA hai| 'sugandhi' aura 'puSTivardhana' ke rupa meM tryambaka 'bhava' hai, 'mRtyu' ke rupa meM bhIma aura rudra hai 'amRtadAtA' ke rupa meM sadAziva hai| mantra ke varNa tryambaka mantra meM mAtRkA ke svaroM aura vyaMjanoM kI alaga ginatI karane se 77 varNa hote hai| 7+7 = 14 = 1+4= 5 hotA hai| OM namaH zivAya' paMcAkSarI mantra hai, ziva paJcavaktra hai| aura tantra ke paJca AmnAya ke adhiSThAtA bhI ziva hai / lalitAsahasranAma va tryambakamantra ke padoM kI tulanA karane se lagatA hai ki icchA zakti, jJAnazakti aura kriyAzakti - trizakti rupa ambikA ke sAtha sAmarasya rahanevAle ziva hI mukti va amRta ke pradAtA hai / tantrazAstra meM tryambakamantra ko mantrarAja va mRtyumocaka mantra mAnA gayA hai| isa mantra kA agni meM homAtmaka prayoga karane vAle sAdhaka para sudhAplAvita deha vAle zaMkara saMtuSTa rahate haiM aura AyuSya, Arogya, sampatti, yaza aura putraprApti kA vara pradAna karate haiM / 6 750

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pAdanoMdha zrI rAmazarmA AcArya 'Rgveda saMhitA' bhAga - 3 haridvAra, 1995 pR. 50 Maxmuler, The Sacred Books of the East xxx11 P. 389 DaoNlararAya mAMkaDa 'pasi4 muninuM darzana' gujarAta vidyAsabhA vyAkhyAnamAlA, 1964 : pR. 38 10. vijaya hemaprabhasUrIzvarajI 'zabdaratna mahodadhi' amadAvAda - 1, 1988 : pR. 1040 'tripuratApinyupaniSat' 'devIstotrANi' bhAga - 2 aMtargata, aMbAjI devasthAna vyavasthApaka samiti, aMbAjI, saMvat 2032, caturthopaniSat - 3, 4 tripurAtApinyupaniSat - caturthopaniSat : pR. 102 DolararAya mAMkaDa 'pasi muninu darzana' pR. 37 tripurAtApinyupaniSat - caturthopaniSat - 6 brahmAnanda tripAThI 'lalitAsahasranAma' caukhambA saMskRta pratiSThAna, dillI, 1989 : pR. 412 devyaparAdhakSamApanastotram - 7 tripurAtApinyupaniSat, caturthopaniSat - 7 ; pR. 103 11. bhagavadgItA 12. DaoN. jAtuSa jozI 'saundaryalaharI' pArzva pablikezana, amadAvAda 2007, pR.78 13. si4 muninu darzana' pR. 37-38 14. bhagavadgItA 14.20 15. bhagavadgItA - 25-12 se 14 16. DaoN. rudradeva tripAThI 'rudrayAmalatantra' raMjana pablikezana, dillI, 1994 : pR. 156 17. vahI pR. 157 18. vahI pR. 159-160 19. 'tripurAtApinyupaniSat' prathama upaniSad pR. 59 rudrayAmalatantra- pR.158 21. vahI pR. 158 751

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22. mantramahodadhi, khemarAja zrI kRSNadAsa, bambaI, 1995, SoDaza: taraGgaH pR. 137 23. mantramahArNava, khemarAja zrI kRSNadAsa, bambaI, 1996 : pR. 95-96 24. 25. 26. cUnI bhAI bhaTTa 'mantropacAra' samAjazikSaNabhavana, surata, 1990; pR. 146-155 maMtropacAra pR. 266 zAradAtilakatantram - aSTAdazapaTale punarmudraNa 1996, pR. 732 aura RgvedasaMhitA sAyaNabhASya, tilaka mahArASTra yuni, 1941 dvitIya khaMDa - 111 - 114, motIlAla banArasIdAsa, dillI, ... 752

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Selected Paper of Acharya Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri

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DOCTRINE OF MAYA-A CRITICAL STUDY Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri Adi Sankaracarya is one of the most outstanding philosophical personalities in the history of world-thought. There is no second opinion among the scholars that in metaphysical profoundity, logical acumen and spiritual insight, he is unparalleled among Indian thinkers. His Advaita philosophy is a rare contribution to mankind. Sankarathe chief exponent of Advaita, adopting absolutistic approach to Reality maintains that the real is Existence, Consciousness and Bliss.1 It is one without a second.2 It is attributeless, beyond space and time, indeterminate, real being, but it appears to be non-being to dullminded people.3 It is the highest universal in which all the particulars merge. 4 He declares in clear terms that, Brahman is the only ontological Reality and except it everything else is just name and form. For Sankara, Brahman is all-pervading energy. "The most outstanding feature of Sankara is that he proclaims the ultimate identity of the individual self (Jiva) or consciousness with the universal Principle of consciousness-Brahman." He also advocates the nondifference of the entire world with the Brahman-Absolute existence,? but by that non-difference he does not mean the same kind of identity as that of the self with it. Vacaspati Misra rightly points out that, nondifference to Sankara is merely a denial of difference or independent reality, and not an affirmation of identity in the strict sense. And it is, according to him, only, when a person has directly realized his own identity with Brahman, that can have a fully convincing experience of the universal non-difference.8 Again, it is most essential to know the definition of 'real' (Satya) and 'unreal' (anrta) given by Sankara to understand his philosophy. Without giving the notice to this fact, critics of Sankara have missed the essence of Advaita philosophy of this great genius. Sankara maintains that 'a thing cannot be said to be real simply because it is perceived, for, perception is common to both the real and the unreal things. Real is something which is never non-existent, something uncontradicted in triple-time (i.e. in past, present and future). It is not subject to change, is unalterable in its essential nature. That object, which essentially remains what it is, is truly real. Thus, Sankara has defined the real as 'that the ascertained nature of which does not undergo any change' or as 'that about which our understanding does not vary'.10 In this sense only the Brahman is real which is unchangable, 754

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immutable and infinite. The unreal is that whose nature varies, changes and is subject to destruction.' Name and form world is, subject of change and destruction. Though it is real for all practical purposes, it is 'Mithya, apparent existence and anrta. The mundane world, thus, cannot be called real in the ultimate sense of the word. It is the only Brahman which is real in true sense. Now, if reality or Brahman, is non-dual, uncaused, uncreated, unchanging and the phenomenal world is mere appearance (mithya), then the question naturally arises how this non-dual pure consciousness, i.e. Brahman appears as unreal manifold world of phenomena? How from the pure Brahman, the impure world of men and things came into existence? Advaitin has to explain how the one became many ? How this absolute is related to phenomenal world ? If Brahman be the cause of the world, will not the blemishes of the latter pertain to the former also ? will not Brahman cease to be truth, intelligence and bliss ? Will not the non-difference of Brahman be destroyed ? By merely stating that Brahman illusorily appears as the world will not satisfy the curiosity of inquirer into truth. Advaitins have to answer how the real appears as the transitory world. To attribute any kind of causality in an absolutely real sense to the immutable uncreated and transcendental Absolute will be logically absured. Sankara-the Advaita stalwart, thought that without the assumption of an extraneous principle, (which is already found in seedling form in the Upanisads)", it is not possible to account for the world-appearance. There must be admitted some principle or power which superimposes the manifold of sense on the supersensuous supreme Brahman- This extraneous principle is called Maya by Sankara. This doctrine is specially introduced by Sankara as an explanatory factor and to satisfy the natural curiosity to know the why and how of appearances. This doctrine is a logical necessity for all the Absolutists to explain the otherwise inexplicable relation between the universe and the Absolute. Owing to this Maya, the Brahman though itself absolutely non-dual, appears to be holding up diverse, discrete and finite appearnaces as innumerable, animate and inanimate objects of the universe. It is Maya which gives rise to all kinds of phenomenal appearances recognised as various empirical entities (Vyavaharika) and also to further appearances some times known as illusory objects (Pratibhasika). So, besides one, non-dual Absolute Reality-Brahman, 755

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there has to be assumed a universal diversifying factor or effectuating principle. This principle is called Maya. It must be accepted, however illusory in its ultimate nature, as explanatory factor of all the appearances of the phenomenal world. An assumption of it is the only solution to the question which unavoidably arises as to how this nondual Reality is to be related to the complications of diverse becomings, pseudo realities in the form of innumerable appearances as multiple empirical or illusory entities. In other words, to solve the vexed problem of relation between appearance and Reality, One and many, Noumena and phenomena, this doctrine of Maya is introduced by Sankara. The concept of Maya is not a fabrication of Sankara's mind as some critics think. The word Maya is of very great antiquity and had been in considerable use in orthodox literature much before the times of Sankara. It is at least as old as Rgveda and it occurs number of times in Rgveda.13 It is said that 'Indra assumes many forms through mysterious powers. 14, It is also said that by overcoming the Maya of the demons Indra won the Soma."15 It is also found in Atharvaveda, 16 earlier Upanisads, Bhagavadgitals and Yogavasistha. In all these texts, this word is used primarily in the sense of mystical power, or cover, veil or ignorance. An indepth study of these scriptures reveals that Sankara's interpretation of this word is more faithful to the intended purpose of these scriptures than the views of anti-Sankaraites. As in Rgveda and other ancient scriptures, so in Sankara's works too, 'Maya' has been used in varied senses. At places, it is used in the sense of illusory appearances, it is also used to connote the mysterious power of the almighty creator and Lord of the world.20 It is through and by dint of this his indescribable power that the supreme Lord of all, assumes, unaffectedly, the creatorship of the entire universe. This power, says Sankara, has got to be posited, or without it the highest Lord could not be conceived as creator, as he could not become active, if he were destitute of the potentiality of action'.21 This Maya or causal potentiality has for its substratum or support the highest Lord and it is denoted by the term avyakta 22 It is this very 'Maya' of the supreme Lord which in the scriptures has some times been designated as 'akasa' and some times as aksara' (indescribable).23 What has been called Prakrti'in the Sruti and Smrti is this 'Maya' itself, and the names and forms which belong to the self of the omniscient Lord as it were and which constitute the seed 756

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of the entire phenomenal world and cannot be defined as either real or unreal are also the same as this Maya24 Prakrti, according to Sankara, is nothing but this Maya' of the Lord which is the causal potentiality of all the effects and has the three gunas as its constituents.25 It is called "avyakta, for it cannot be described either as real or as unreal-26 This Maya of Sankara should not, however, be mistaken for the 'Prakrti' or 'Pradhana' of Sankhya. No doubt, like Prakrti of Sankhya, it is something material and unconscious. But like Prakrti of Sankhya, it is neither real nor independent reality. Maya is entirely dependent on and inseparable from the supreme Lord, and as such, has no being of its own. It is a power of Lord-So, all power is nondifferent from its possesor, so also Maya, being power of supreme Lord is not different from it.27 Isvara creates the world out of his this Mayasakti which is the matrix of names and forms.28 It's activity and inactivity is on account of Maya.29 He is, in his essential nature, inactive. But becomes active in relation to his Maya.30 It is called Mahamaya and Isvara is called Mahamayin.31 Maya is existent but not real like 'Brahman. Brahman is both sat and positive, Maya is positive but not sat. So, there is no two ultimate categories in Sankara's philosophy. According to Sankara the world is Maya, means that it is an appearance of Reality in a form which is not its essential and ultimate nature and has no being after the dawn of the right knowledge.32 Maya is a power of God, indistinguishable from him, just as the burning power of fire is from fire itself. It is neither real like Brahman nor unreal like son of a barren woman. It is not real, for it vanishes at the dawn of knowledge, it is not unreal, for it is true as long as it lasts. Sankara beautifully states in his Vivekacudamani that 'this Maya is neither real nor unreal, nor is it essentially both, it is neither differentiated nor is it un-diferentiated, nor is it essentially both, it is of the most wonderful and indescribable form.'33 On the ground that it is indescribable, Maya cannot be denied. It is felt fact and is to be inferred through its effects by our intelligence.34 Sankara quotes a verse from Suryapurana to support his anirvacaniyatva of Maya.35 Maya is the material cause of the world in conjunction with isvara. Maya, the creative power does not affect God, does not deceive him, like magician who is not affected by his magical power. The relation of Maya and Brahman is unique. It is neither identity nor difference, nor both. It is energised and acts as a medium of the projection of this world of plurality on the non-dual ground of Brahman. Really, it can do no harm to Reality, just as mirage water 757

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cannot make the sandy desert muddy. It is something positive (bhavarupa} though not real. It is called positive in order to emphasize the fact that it is not merely negative. The main functions of Maya is two fold:-it superimposes and conceals the real nature of the object and shows up in its place some other object. These two powers of Maya are called 'Avarana' and 'Viksepa' respectively.37 It conceals Brahman from our knowledge point of view and shows up in it's place the universe and world of souls. It not only makes not apprehend Brahman, but creates some other thing in its place. It is its speciality that it projects something in the place it conceals. In this sense Maya is considered as a positive. Everything is play of Maya, just appearance of Brahman. How Brahman appears is very difficult to explain, but we can only say that Brahman appears as the world, even as the rope appears as the snake. It is very difficult to give logically satisfactory account of doctrine of Maya. Suresvara, a direct disciple of Sankara, admits that there is a core of unintelligibility associated with the doctrine of Maya.38 But on this basis it cannot be denied. It is a felt fact. It is basis of our intellectual, religious, moral and social activities. In fact every one of our activity is the work of Maya.39 It is a simple statement of facts, it is what we are and what is around us. 'It is co-eval with our life. We do not know how or when we got into it. Nobody walks into an illusion consciously. We can only know how to get out of it. Really it is the result of a false identification of the real and the unreal. It is a nature of man's experience.40 For common man the world of Maya is real. The learned, man thinks that it is unreal and for the metaphysician, it is neither real nor unreal.41 This causal potentiality or the cause of the world appearance be understood from the two stand points. For isvara, or God, Maya is only the will to create the appearance. It does not affect God, does not deceive Him. For ordinary ignorant people like us, who are deceived by it and see maniness here instead of one Brahman, Maya is an illusion producing ignorance. In this aspect Maya is also called, therefore, Ajnana, or Avidya and is conceived as having the double function of concealing the real nature of Brahman, the ground of the world and making him appear as something else, viz., the world. But for those wise few who are not deceived by the world show, but who perceive in it nothing but Brahman, there is no illusion, nor therefore, illusion producing Maya. Brahman for them is not therefore, the wielder of Maya. 758

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MAYA AND AVIDYA : It seems that Sankara does not make any difference between Maya and Avidya. He uses them as synonymous terms. Even Ramanuja took Maya in the sense of Avidya and criticises it in his Sribhasya mostly using the word Avidya. It is of the nature of Avidya.43 Sankara, quite clearly states that Maya is Avidya. 44 The word has also some times been spoken of by Sankara as being constituted of Avidya, imagined by Avidya, presented by Avidya45 and so on. We feel that the terms Maya and Avidya are interchangable in Sankara's philosophy. But opinion is divided with regard to these two terms among Sankara's followers. In Advaitic works like, Sarksepasariraka, Siddhantamuktavali and Vivaranaprameyasangraha, no distinction is drawn between Maya and Avidya. In Prakrtarthavivarana Maya has been described as the beginningless and indescribable, origin of all objects which is associated with (the infinite) cosmic consciousness, while Avidya is viewed as a finite unit of this cosmic Maya.4. So, also in Pancadasi, Maya is held to be the adjunct (Upadhi) of Isvara, while Avidya is maintained to be adjunct of the finite individual souls (Jivas) only.48 Vacaspati Misra recognises original nescience (Mulavidya) and fragmentary nescience (tulavidya)" Beginningless positive root nescience is the cause of the world. It is the adjunct of Isvara. Individual nescience is the adjunct of the Jiva. The Brahman, the object of nescience subsisting in the Jiva, is perverted in to the world with the aid of materiality of Maya subsisting in Brahman.5o Vidyaranya regards Maya as made up of pure Sattva, and Avidya as made up of impure sattva. Isvara is the reflection of Brahman in Maya. The Jiva is reflection of Brahman in Avidya. Maya is adjunct of isvara. While, Avidya is the adjunct of the Jiva.51 Mahadevanandasarasvati 2 states that one Ajnana-which is positive nescience composed of Sattva, rajas and tamas, neither real nor unreal, but indefinable and capable of being annulled by right knowledge, is divided into two fold : Maya and Avidya. Like Vidyaranya he says that Maya is made up of pure Sattva while Avidya is made up of impure Sattva, Maya is adjunct of Isvara while Avidya is the adjunct of the Jiva. He further states that Maya has predominance of the power of projecting plurality of appearance while Avidya has predominance of the power of veiling the nature of Brahman. In this way, only one Ajnana is called Maya and Avidya according to the pridominance of the power of projection (Viksepasakti) and that of the power of veiling (Avaranasakti). Sadananda in his Vedantsara53 divides nescience (Ajnana) into 759

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collective (Samasti) and individual (Vyasti). The collective Ajnana with pure sattva predominates in it is the adjunct of isvara and it is Maya. The individual Ajnana with impure Sattva predominates in it is the adjunct of Jiva and it is Avidya. Maya is cosmic nescience and Avidya is individual nescience. Praksatman states that Maya and Avidya are identical but, on practical level they are to be treated as different. Viksepasakti is predominent in Maya which projects the world appearance, while Avaranasakti is predominent in Avidya which conceals the nature of Brahman.54 LOCUS OF MAYA : Locus of Maya or Avidya is a matter of great controversy and even Sankara's followers have divided themselves into two main. groups. There are some who hold that the same pure Brahman is both the object and locus of Avidya or Maya; whereas there are others according to whom the Ajnana or Avidya has not pure consciousness or Brahman, but Jiva or individual soul, for its locus or support. There are difficulties involved in holding either of these views. As far as first view is concerned, Maya or Avidya, cannot be attributed to Brahman. Brahman is selfluminous and pure, while Mava is impure by nature i.e. ignorance. There is some sort of antinomy between them as there is between light and darkness. It is beyond our comprehension to see how they can exist together. If we accept second view, that, Jiva is the locus of Maya or Avidya, then there is the question as to how, prior to the functioning of Maya. there are Jivas. Jivas are products of Maya. How can Avidya or Maya have for its locus a Jiva which itself is a product of Avidya ? There is the defect or reciprocal dependence i-e. for Maya to function we require the existence of souls and for the existence of souls (Jivas) there is the necessity of the functioning of Maya. For the upholders of first view, though locus of Maya is pure Brahman, it is not affected by its impurity like magician is not affected by his own magical power, and mirage water cannot make the sandy desert muddy. So, there is no harm in accepting the view that locus as well as content of Maya is the Brahman. Vacaspati Misra56 and his followers disagree with this first view and uphold that the Jiva is the locus of Maya or Avidya. They have tried to overcome objections raised against it by means of the analogy of a tree and its seed.57 Apparently a tree cannot come into being without its seed exactly as a seed cannot be conceived without there being a tree to produce it. All the same the seeds and 760

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the trees are both there, similarly it has been said, the individual soul and its Avidya or Ajnana have been there from beginningless time, because no beginning can be assigned to both by the finite mind- As far as Sankara is concerned, at certain places he seems to say that, supreme Lord is locus and content of Maya (Paramesvarasraya) and at certain places, it is Jiva which is locus of Maya or Avidya. There is nothing wrong in accepting either of these views. If we take first view, then the Isvara-the locus of Maya, is unaffected, like a magician who is not affected by his own magical power. 59 As far as latter view is concerned Sankara is very clear. Answering the question whose is this ignorance, Sankara says that "It is of you who puts this question". Card your page a cfa),60 "Avidya belongs to that very person in whom it appears"; he who sees it, has it" (TB EP 21). He also states, that, Avidya is something which can be experienced by one's own self (91449"R) and something which has one's own self for its support of locus (592).62 Maya and The World : Closely allied with the doctrine of Maya is the nature of the world. Maya is the causal potentiality of the world. World is creation of Maya, just name and form. It is real for the all practical pursposes, but not real like a Brahman, in the ultimate sense. Sankara never denies the pragmatic or relative reality of the empirical objects of the world - When he calls them 'Unreal it is always from the ultimate point of view that he does so. Whenever, Sankara says that world is Maya or Mithya, it means, he wants to emphaisze the ultimate unreality of the world. His recognition of the three fold existence (Sattatraya)Pratibhasika, Vyavaharika and Paramarthika, is a point that needs to be borne in mind in this connection. The world is Vyavaharika reality, but it becomes sublated when right knowledge dawns.63 So, long as we are in this world, we cannot take it to be unreal. This phenomenal world and worldly objects exist because we all experience them.64 Ignorant critics declare that for Sankara this mundane world is mere illusion, dream and thus, he is an illusionist. But this criticism is far from the truth. For Sankara, the world is not an empty dream. It is objective and not creation of individual fancy. It has common objective reference. The world of object is not on par with dreams. 761

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The dream world is private and personal. The world of experience is public and has an objective reference. It also satisfy the pragmatic test. Far from condemning this world to be unreal, Sankara claims some sort of reality even for error and dillusion. It is the real which appears and hence every appearance must have some degree of truth in it, though none can be absolutely true. Objects, seen in a dream are quite real as long as the dream losts. The water in dream can quench the thirst in a dream. It is only when we are awake that we can realize the falsity of the dream states. So long as rope is mistaken for a snake, it is sufficient to frighten the person who mistakes it. Similarly, so long as we are engrossed in ignorance, the world is quite real for us. It is only when true knowledge dawns that the world becomes sublated. This world becomes ontologically less real when Brahman is realized.65 Sankara rightly points out that the world of waking state cannot be reduced to the level of dream objects though it resembles dreams in certain respects. "An object will not lose its real nature and acquire that of another, merely because it resembles that other in certain respects." This manifold world is taken to be real as long as the essential unity of the Jiva with Brahman is not realized. As long as this unity with Brahman, the supporting ground of all phenomena is not realized, the world with all its difference is perfectly real. It is only from the absolute stand point when right knowledge is attained that the Advaita Vedanta declares the world to be unreal. Criticism of Mayavada Sankara's doctrine of Maya, is unfortunately, misunderstood and misrepresented by many thinkers. For certain thinkers the word Maya connotes nothing but the utter illusoriness of the world. This doctrine has been the target of much adverse criticism, even by the eminent philosophers, all down the ages, from Bhaskara to Sri Aurobindo. Even great Jain thinkers, like Vidyanandi and others criticise the Mayavada. Bhaskaracarya, is the first thinker to criticise Mayavada, who was either contemporary of Sankara or flourished just after his death. Bhaskara thinks that Mayavada is due to the influence of Mahayana Buddhism67 and it is an unwarranted hypothesis; Quoting a verse from Pudmapurana, he states that, Sankara's Mayavada is asat 'Sastra' and it is hidden Buddhism with its roots cut assunder.68 While criticising the doctrine of Maya Bhaskara argues, that so called Maya or Avidya, which projects the sensible world of 762

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plurality and practical life, cannot be said to be indescribable. It is self-contradictory to hold that Maya or Avidya is both existent and non existent. If it is mere negation, it cannot cause bondage. It must he positive entity, since it causes bondage. So, it must exist along with Brahman. This is dualism. If it is beginningless, it must be endless. Then, there can be no liberation, because Advaitins claim that without destruction of Avidya no liberation is possible. If the knowledge of duality or difference is false, the knowledge of unity or identity, also must be false, because it is knowledge, knowledge of the world cannot be false, like the knowledge of dreams, since dreams are not absolutely false like hare's horns. So, doctrine of Maya is irrational concept.69 Vidyanandi, a first rank thinker of Jainism who flourished in 9th Century A. D., argues, that, if Brahman is the only Reality and on acconut of Maya or Avidya, this apparent world exist, then it is impossible to prove, either existence of Maya or Mithyatva (illusory nature) of the world by any means of valid knowledge.70 The fundamental objection raised by Jain thinkers against Advaitins, whether the doctrine of Maya (Cosmic illusion) adopted to explain this multiplicity of the phenomenal world is real or unreal. If it is real, then it destroys the non-dual nature of Brahman and leads to an inevitable duslism. If it is unreal, then this world which is caused by Maya will not be possible. To say that Maya is unreal and still it creates this world is as absurd as to say that a woman is barren and that she is mother.71 And the advaitins themselves accept the theory that the real thing cannot be produced from unreal thing. Again, the very statement that Maya is indescribable, i.e. neither existent nor non-existent on account of being existent in the state of mundane life and no more at the state of realization, indicates, that it is describable in terms of either existent on the phenomenal level or non-existent in the state of liberation. To say that Maya is indescribable is self-contradictory like saying that I am silent throughout the life and my father is bachelor.72 Vidyanandi further, argues that, if we grant that Maya exists, then where does it exist. Neither Brahman nor Jiva can be locus of Maya. It cannot exist in supreme Brahman which is pure consciousness by nature. If it exists in Brahman, then cannot be called pure consciousness on account of being associated with Maya. Even individual self is pure consciousness by nature and in essence, it is not different from Brahman and this free from all taint of Maya. If Maya is an independent reality like Brahman and co-eval with it from the beginningless time, then it will be an 763

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impossible task to annihilate it by any means of liberation and the consequence of this indestructibility of Maya is an eternal bondage of the soul. It is argued that Maya exists (bhavarupa) but it cannot be eternal like Brahman nor it be an independent entity. Though it is not capable of being determined by logic, still the denial of its existence would be contradiction of a felt fact and without adopting, this doctrine of Maya, it is not possible to solve the problem of relation between the Absulute and the phenomena, Individual self and the Brahman, the real and the unreal. Here, again, one may argue why should such kind of illogical and irrational concept be accepted at all ? Instead of postulating this kind of unreal principle (Maya) as the cause of the world, it is better to accept the view that the world is both different as well as non-different from the Brahman. The. relation between the Absolute and the world is to be identity-cumdifference. An advantage of accepting this view is that there is no necessity of denying any one of the felt facts, the world and its causethe Absolute.73 Ramanujacarya's seven important objections (anupapattis) against Mayavada of Sankara are well-known. In his criticism of Maya or Avidya, he seemes to be influenced by Jain philosopher-Vidyanandi of 9th century A.D. Some of his arguments are very similar to that of Vidyanandi. Ramanuja's first objection is, what is the locus or seat of Maya or Avidya. It connot be Brahman, who is full of perfections. It cannot be the individual, who is the product of Avidya. It cannot exist in Brahman, for then the unqualified monsim of Brahman would be break down. Avidya means ignorance, it cannot reside in pure, self-luminous or consciousness i.e. Brahman. Hence Maya or Avidya cannot exist either in Brahman or in Jiva, it is illusory concept, a figment of Advaitins' imagination.74 (Asrayanupapatti). Secondly according to Advaitins, Avidya conceals nature of Brahman. But it is not at all possible, because, Brahman is of the nature of self-luminosity, self proved and pure knowledge. Avidya, ignorance cannot veil or conceal its essence. Veiling the selfluminosity of Brahman consists in either obstruction of the production of manifestation of Brahman or the destruction of its existing manifestation. The mainfestation of Brahman is eternal, it is not produced. So concealment is not possible. It is absurd to say that darkness can hide light or that night can acts as a veil on day. If veiling means destruction of existing 764

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manifestation, that would mean the destruction of very nature of Brahman. But it is not acceptable to any one. So Avidya is incapable of concealing the nature of Brahman75 (Tirodhananupapatti). Thirdly, what is the nature of Avidya: Is it real or unreal, positive or negative ? If it is real, there would be duality the other reality being Brahman. If it is real, positive how can it be Avidya? Avidya means ignorance and it is absence of knowledge. If it is unreal, negative, then, how can it project this world-illusion on Brahman? To say that Avidya is both positive and negative is to embrace self-contradiction. So reality of Avidya cannot be proved76 (Svarupanupapatti). Fourthly, to say that Maya is neither real nor unreal but indescribable is illogical. How can a thing be neither real nor unreal? A thing must be either real or unreal. All our cognition relate to either entitites or nonentities. There is no third alternative. To maintain a third alternative is to reject the well established canons of logic-the Law of contradiction and the Law of excluded Middle" (Anirvacaniyanupapatti). Fifthly, no means of knowledge (Pramanas) testify to the existenance of Maya. Avidya cannot be perceived, for perception can give us either an entity or non-entity. It cannot be inferred, for inference proceeds through a valid mark (Linga) which Avidya lacks. In the Scriptures. Maya or Avidya is used to indicate the wonderful power possessed by God, who has nothing to do with an eternal unreal Avidya78 (Pramananupapatti). Sixthly there is no remover of Avidya. Advaitins believe that Maya or Avidya is removed by right knowledge of the unqualified, attributeless Brahman. But Ramanuja says that such knowledge is impossible. Discrimination and determination are absolutely essential to knowledge. Pure identity is a mere abstraction. Hence, there can be no knowledge of undifferentiated attributeless Brahman. And in the absence of such knowledge, there can be no remover of Avidya." (Nivartakanupapatti). Advaitins maintain that realization of identity between individual self and Brahman removes Avidya. Really, removal of Avidya is not possible. Avidya is said to be positive by Advaitins. A thing which positively exists cannot be removed from existence by knowledge. The bondage of the soul is due to karma which is a concrete reality, not apparent, as it is actually experienced, and so cannot be destroyed by the integral knowledge of the identity of Brahman and the self. Cessation of bondage can be acquired by devotional meditation on God through his grace. The duality of Brahman and Jivas and the world is real and known by valid knowledge. So, the knowledge of identity contradicts the real 765

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nature of duality, and is therefore false. In other words, the knowledge of identity, which seeks to terminate Avidya, is itself false80 (Nivrttyanupapatti). By all these arguments, Ramanuja concludes that the doctrine of Maya creates more problems than solutions. So, it is not at all helpful in solving philosophical problems. Parthasarathi Misra, a follower of Kumarila school of Mimamsa, thinks that the concept of Maya or Avidya, is irrational. His main question against the concept of Avidya is : 'Is Avidya false knowledge ? or is its cause different from it ? If Avidya is false knowledge, it either belongs to Brahman or Jivas. It cannot belong to Brahamn because Brahman is of the nature of eternal knowledge. Jivas are also non-different from Brahman in their essential nature, So, they cannot have false knowledge. Thus, Avidya, the false knowledge does not exist. Therefore, its cause, which is different from it, cannot exist. If Avidya, the false knowledge or its cause be said to exist, separate from Brahman, then Advaita is undermined. If Avidya exists in Brahman, what is its cause? It cannot be anything different from Brahman, nor can it be Brahman since it is of the nature of right knowledge. It cannot contradict its nature. So, existence of Avidya cannot be proved. 81 Even Vijnanabhiksu, in his introduction of Sarkhyapravacanabhasya, like Bhaskara, quotes a verse from Padmapurana, and says Mayavada is hidden Buddhism. Criticism of Mayavada is found in the works of Madhva, 83 Vallabh84 and in other Vaisnava philosophers. There arguments against Mayavada are more or less similar to those of Bhaskara, Vidyananda and Ramanuja. In defence of Mayavada Bhaskaracarya quoting a verse from Padmapurana was the first philosopher to apply the term Mayavada to Sankara's philosophy. Bhaskaracarya's terming Sankara's philosophy as Mayavada is unjustifiable, because, it is not Maya but Brahman with which Sankara is concerned. Maya, the mysterious power of the supreme Lord is not the last word with Sankara. It is not the goal of human aspiration. It is something that deserves to be discarded and got rid of. Throughout Sankara's writings, it is realization of the Brahman, and not of the Maya that is really aimed. And whenever Maya is brought in, it is not with a view to make his reader realize its importance or value, but in order to direct his mind towards the realization of his all important Brahman. "Brahman, with Sankara, is the only true 766

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Reality, Brahman with Sankara is the whole and sole ultimate ground and support of all, and Brahman with Sankara is the only worthy end of human life."85 Again, Sankara's Mayavada is not hidden Buddhism as Bhaskara thinks. We have already pointed out that, the word Maya is of very great antiquity and this concept has its roots in Rgveda and in major Upanisads. In fact, it is Mahayana Buddhism which has developed this concept taking idea from Upanisadic philosophy.86 No doubt, in respect of his method of discussing philosophical problems, Sankara, certainly influenced by Buddhist writers. But influence does not mean acceptance of their principles. Really speaking, he was a formidable opponent not only of Vijnanavada and Shunyavada Buddhism, but of all Buddhists alike, and he left no stone unturned in criticizing them.,87 One more important thing to remember is that no Bubdhist thinker, while criticizing Advaita of Sankara has mentioned, that he owes to Buddhism for his doctnne of Maya or Advaita. Even Santaraksita, 88 a great Mahayana thinker and critic of Advaita Vedanta does not mention Sankara's indebtedness to Buddhism. It is, therefore, very unfair to call Sankara as criptoBuddhist or to regard his philosophy as Mayayada. Other objections raised against the doctrine of Maya by Bhaskara, Vidyanandi, Ramanuja and others are more or less similar. In reply to all those objections, one thing can be clearly said that, all of them are based on misunderstanding of the doctrine of Maya. All these philosophers, it seems, took Maya in the sense of something 'real' and demand a seat and Pramana for it. However, there is no difficulty in accepting either Brahman or individual self as locus of Avidya. If we accept first alternative, i.e. Brahman as the seat of Maya, Avidya being not real, the Advaita of Brahman is not destroyed, Brahman is not really affected by it. The rope is not really affected if it is mistaken as a snake. The Shell does not become silver if it is mistaken as that. Mirage water cannot make the sandy desert muddy. Maya in Brahman is ignorance only in the sense of the power of producing ignorance and illusion in individuals; it does not affect the Brahman any more than the magician's power of creating an illusion affects his own knowledge. We may also agree with Mandana89 Misra and Vacaspatio Misra that the individual self and Avidya go on determining each other in a beginningless cycle. Avidya comes from the Jiva and the Jivas from Avidya. It does not involve the logical flaw of Interdependence or Pititio-Principle because, this process is beginningless, as in the case of the seed and the sprout. So, no fault should be found with this 767

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explanation. The difficulty arises only if we regard the one as preceding to other. But if we regard ignorance and individuality as but the two interdependent aspects of the same fact as a circle and its circumference or a triangle and its side, the difficulty does not arise. Ramanuja himself, when he fails to explain the cause of bondage of the pure soul, falls back upon the notion that the relation of Karma and ignorance with the soul is beginningless. Again, Maya or Avidya does not really conceal the real nature of Brahman. Concealment does not mean destruction of essential nature, as Ramanuja and others think. The ignorance conceals Brahman in the sense preventing the ignorant individual from realizing his real nature, just as a patch af cloud conceals the sun by preventing a person from perceiving a sun. So, ignorance does not do any harm to the nature of Brahman just as cloud does not destroy the self-manifesting nature of the sun. The Sun does not cease to be self-revealing because the blind cannot see it. 91 It is also said that, nature of Avidya canot be proved. It is neither positive, nor negative. If it is positive, it cannot be destroyed and there would be Advaita, the other reality being Brahman. If it is merely negative it cannot produce world illusion. It is also said that, if the Nirguna Brahman has to restore to Maya, or Avidya to account for something, Brahman would cease to be one without a second. But, Maya is germinal power of Brahman which is neither the very nature of Brahman nor something different form it. Nature of Brahman is not affected by it. Brahman is untouched by blemishes of Maya. Just as the face is not affected by any blemishes associated with the mirror in which it is reflected, Brahman does in no way lose its nature in any circumstance. Avidya is felt, fact thus. it cannot be denied. It is destroyed after right knowledge, so, it is not real. This self controdictory nature is realized only when one rises above it and not before. Again, Maya is said to be indescribable owing to a genuine difficulty.92 In so far as it appears to be something, an illusion or illusory object cannot be said to be unreal like a square circle or the son of a barren woman, which never even appears to exist. Again, in so far as it is sublaied or contradicted afterwards by some experience, it cannot be said to be absolutely real like Brahman whose reality is never contradicted. Maya and every illusory object have this nature and compel us to recognise this nature as something unique and indescribable in terms of ordinary reality or unreality. To say that Maya is anirvacaniya is only to describe a fact, namely our inability to bring it under any ordinary category, and it does not 768

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mean any violation of the law of contradiction. Real means, absolutely real and unreal means "absolutely'non-existent, and Maya or Avidya is neither. These two terms are not contradictories and hence the Law of contradiction and excluded Middle are not overthrown. The Law of contradiction is fully maintained since all that which can be contradicted is said to be false. The Law of excluded Middle is not overthrown, since absolutely real and "absolutely unreas are not exhaustive. Mandana Misra, a contemporary of Sankara rightly pointed out while defending anirvacaniyattva of Maya or Avidya, that "Maya is false appearance. It is neither existent ror non-existent. If it were the characteristic nature of anything, then whether one with it, or different from it, it would be a real thing and could not then be called Avidya. If it were utterly non-existent, it would be like the sky - flower and would have no bearing on practical experience as Avidya has. Thus, Avidya has to be recognised as indescribable. This is an explanation which should be accepted by adherents of all the different schools of thought.93 Really, the word Maya signifies what is inconsistent and inexplicable, had it been consistent and explicable it would not be Maya but would be real.94 It is also unwise to say that, existence of Maya or Avidya cannot be proved by any accredited means of knowledge. Avidya is perceived in the forms of 'I am ignorant', I do not know myself or any body else'. Here negation of knowledge is not perceived, since negation implies the object negated, 'I do not know', this perception apprehends general nescience. If does not apprehend negation of a particular object. Perception of nescience is different from perception of negation of a particular object. It can be known by non - apprehension. In dreamless sleep general nescience is perceived. It leaves an impression behind. On waking from sleep it is revived, and brings about the recollection''I do not know anything during deep sleep.' "Thus, nescience is perceived. Even we perceive snake on a rope. Maya is also inferred through its effects, (karyanumeya). It is already pointed out that even scriptures speak of Maya, which can be get rid of. Prakasananda, an Advaitic thinker gives different picture. He states that Ajnana or Avidya cannot be established by any of the Pramanas for the two are as opposed as darkness and light. Ajnana is vouched for by the witness so, it is superfluous to ask how it can be proved.96 It is argued by the Ramanuja that, there is no remover of Avidya, because, knowledge of attributeless and undifferentiated Brahman is not at all possible. But Sruti speaks of Nirguna Brahman. Nirguna 769

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Brahman is often spoken of as pure bliss. We cannot describe what Ananda is, but we can directly experience it, like sweetness of sugar. It is not a subject of logical demonstration but matter of experience. It is expressed by the words like 'Neti-Neti.'98 in Upanisads. Experience of this Nirguna Brahman is a remover of Avidya. Again, Avidya is not 'real' but only a superiomposition, it vanishes when the ground relity is known. The rope-snake vanishes when the rope is known. It is only the direct knowledge, or intuitive knowledge of Reality which is the remover of Avidya and hence, cause of liberation. It is also argued by the critics of Maya or Avidya that ignorance (Avidya) means want of knowledge, and thus cannot to be positive. If it is positive, how can it be destroyed by the khowledge of Brahman? Avidya is called positive only to emphasize the fact that it is not merely negative.. The illusion producing ignorance is not merely an absence of the knowledge of the ground of illusion, but positively makes this ground appear as some other object. It is properly described as positive in this sense. In our daily experience of illusory objects, like the serpent in a rope, we find that the object positively appears to be there and yet it vanishes when we have a clear knowledge of the ground of the illusion, viz., the rope.99 When identity of Brahman and Atman. (self) is realized, there is no Maya or Avidya, no bondage. Avidya is removed by right knowledge. Some modern critics have condemned, Sankara's Mayavada as illusionism. This misunderstanding is on account unwarrented and incorrect English rendering of the word Maya as 'illusion.' Maya is false appearance. The false can never be equated with illusory or the non-existent. Something which is false must exist, its falsity consists in its appropriating to itself properties which do not really belong to it. What is called 'illusory', in the English language is called Pratibhasika in Advaita Vedanta. Whenever Sankara says that the world is Maya or Mithya, he does not mean it as entirely baseless illusory appearance. Sankara, never was confused between subjective and objective existence. He did not regard the objective world as unreal for practical and moral purposes, and carefully distinguished it from dreams and other illusory appearances. The world has a Vyavaharika reality. Brahman is absolute existence, whereas the world has a relative existence, and the silver seen in a shell has illusory existence. The world is called unreal or Maya, because it does not conform to the criterion of reality upheld by him. Real according to Sankara, is that which is self-existent, changeless or uncontradicted. Anything that 770

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has a dependent existence, or is subject to change or contradiction, must ipso-facto, be unreal. The unreal for Sankara, therefore is not only that which is absolutely non-existent, or illusory, like a skyflower, but also that which is ordinarily believed to be real. Though not absolutely non-existent or illusory, the objects of our common experience are certainly neither self-existent or immutable. They are all effects of some cause or the other, and have as such a beginning, as well as an end. An effect or changing thing has no nature of its own which it can be said never to part with. Sankara, therefore, maintained that no effect is a real thing. World and its objects are dependent on cause, hence changing. What is finite cannot be selfexistent. It must be an effect of something101 and hence, unreal. In this sense, world is called Maya or Unreal. Thus Mayavada should be understood as asserting that the external world of our waking experience has its limited and conditioned reality in the sphere of the Vyavaharika experience and cannot 'usurp' the reality of the Paramarthika experience. Thus, Mayavada is not illusionism, we may call it certain kind of relativism. Sankara, upholding Mayavada, maintained the non-duality of Brahman. He points out the truth that there is unity behind diversity. There is unity between Brahman-world and man. Prof. Hiriyanna rightly pointed out that 'the unity of the Absolute Brahman may be compared to the unity of painting, say of a landscape. Looked at as a landscape, it is a plurality, hill, valley, lake and streams, but it's ground-the Substance of which it is constituted is one, viz., the canvas. 771

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (a) (b) NOTES satyaM jJAnaM anaMtaM brahmeti brahmaNo lakSaNArtha vAkyam / Taittiriyopanisadbhasya, II- 1, Ten Principle Upanisads withsankarabhasya (S. B.), Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, 1978. brahma saccidAnaMdalakSaNam - Aparoksanubhuti, 24. Works of Sankaracarya, Vanivilas Press, Srirangam. ekamevAdvitIyam - Chandogyopanisad-VI-II, 1-2 ekameva hi paramArthasatya brahma. SB Tait, Up. II-6 digdezaguNagatiphalabhedazUnyaM hi paramArthasat advayaM brahma mandabuddhinAM asadiva pratibhAti / SB. Chandogyopanisad-VIII-I-I, Introduction, (b) aneke hi vilakSaNA: cetanAcetanarUpAH sAmAnyavizeSAH / teSAM pAramparyagatyA ekasmin mahAsAmAnye'ntarbhAvaH prajJAnaghane / -SB. Br. Up. II-IV-9. brahma eva satyaM, sarva tadatiriktaM nAmadheyamAtramanRtam / -SB. Mand, Up. II-II-11. (a) jIvo brahmaiva nApara: / - Brhmajnanavalimala-20 Works of Sankaracarya, p. 224, Vol. 16, Vanivilas Press, Srirangam. - Brahmasutra sankarabhasya(BSB).-I-III-19, with Ratnaprabha, Bhamati and Anandagiri Vyakhya, Ed. Mahadevashastri Bakre, Nirnayasagar Press, Bombay, 1909. (c) ekasyaiva tu bhedavyavahAraH upAdhikRtaH / BSB, I-II-20. (d) (a) eka eva hi kUTasthanityo vijJAnadhAturavidyayA mAyayA / mAyAvivad anekadhA vibhAvyate nAnyo vijJAnadhAturastIti / BSB, -II-III. brahmaivedaM vizvam samastamidaM jagat / -SB. Mund- Ip.-II-II-11 . (b) kRtsnasya jagato brahmakAryatvAt tadanyatvam BSB. II-I-20. Bhamati. II-I. 14; Siddhantalesasangraha. (SLS ) - I-24, Ed. with Hindi translation by M. S. Vyasa, Acyutagranthmala Karyalaya, Kashi, V. S. 1993. 772

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9. na tAvat pratipannatvena satyatvaM vaktuM zakyate pratipatteH satyatvamithyAtvayoH samAnatvAt -SB.Svetasvataropanisad- I, Introduction. 10. (a) satyamiti yadrUpeNa yanizcitaM tadrUpaM na vyabhicarati tatsatyam...........ataH satyaM brahmeti brahma vikArAnnivartayati - SB. Tait, Up. II.I. (b) ekarUpeNahyavasthito yo'rthaH sa paramArthaH / - BSB-II-I-II. (c) yadviSayA buddhirna vyabhicarati tatsat / - Sankara's Gitabhasya (SBG) -II-16, Srimadbhagavadgita __ with Sankarabhasya, (Hindi tr.) Gita Press, Gorakhpur, V.S. 1995. 11. yadrUpeNa yanizcitaM tadrUpaM vyabhicarat anRtamityucyate, / - SB-Tai. U; II-1. Kathopanisad-I-II-5; Isavasyopanisad-15; Prasnopanisad-1-16; Chandogyopanisad-VIII III. 1-2; Brhadaranyakopanisad-II-V-19; Svetasvataropanisad-IV-9, 10,11,14-17; V-6, 13, 14. 13. Rgveda-VI-47-18; VII-XCVIII-5; VII-CIV-24; I-XXXIX-2; V. II-9; VI-LXI-3; LXXXII-4; VI-XCIX-4. 14. indro mAyAbhiH pururUpa Iyate / - ibid. VI-47.18. 15. Ibid-VII-XCVIII-5. Atharvaveda-XII-II, 11; VII-XXXI-1; VIII-IX-5; IV-XXXVIII-3. See foot-note no. 12. Bhagavadgita -IV-6; V-15; VII-15, 14, 25, Srimadbhagavadgita with Sankarabhasya (SBG) Gita Press, Gorakhpur-V.S. 1995. Yogavasistha-IV-21 ,36-37. V-13,87-90; VI-2-86, 14; VI-2, 84, 6; III-67-2; VI-1-125-1; V-49-40. Izvarasya mAyAzaktiH prakRtiH - BSB-II-I-14. 21. Bhagavadgitabhasya - Introduction - SBS 1-4-3 22. SBG-XII-3-BSB-I-4-3. 773

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23. BSB-I-2-22; I-4-3. 24. BSB II-I-14. BSG-VII-4; XIII-19-29. _BSB-I-IV-3. 27. "sA zaktiH brahma e......zaktizaktimato ananyatvAt" - SBG-XIV-27. 28. na hi tayA vinA paramezvarasya sRSTatva sidhyati, zaktirahitasya tasya pravRtyanupapatteH- BSB-I-IV-3. 29. Izvarasya mahAmAyatvAt pravRtyapravRttI-BSB-II-II-4. 30. paramAtmanaH (Izvarasya) svarUpavyapAzrayaM audAsInyaM, mAyAvyapAzrayaM ca pravartakatvam / / ___BSB. II-II-7. 31. sarvazaM sarvazaktimahAmAyaM ca tad brahma. B.S.B. II-I-37. 32. Tait. Up. I. VIII. 1-4. 33. (a) sannApyasannA ubhayAtmikA no bhinnApyabhinnA ubhayAtmikA no / saGgApyasaGgA ubhayAtmikA no mahAdbhutA anirvacanIyarUpA // - Vivekacudamani-Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay. (b) mAyA nAma bahiranyathAtmAnaM prakAzyAnyathaiva kAryaM karoti sA mAyA mithyAcArarUpA SB. Prasnopanisad-I-16. 34. kAryAnumeyA sudhiyaiva mAyA - Vivekacudamani-llo. 35. nAsadrUpA na sadrUpA mAyA naivobhayAtmikA / sadasadbhyAM anirvAcyA mithyAbhUtA sanAtanI / - Suryapurana. 36. (a) yathA svayaM prasAritamAyayA mAyAvI triSvapikAleSu na saMspRzyate avastutatvAt, evaM paramAtmApi saMsAramAyayA na saMspRzyate iti / BSB. II-I-9 (b) na ca mithyAjJAnaM paramArthavastu dUSayituM samarthaM, na hyUparadezaM snehena paGkIkartuM zaknoti marIcyudakaM tathA'vidyA kSetrajJasya na kiJcit kartuM zaknoti ISBG. XIII-2. 37. zaktidvayaM hi mAyAyA vikSepAvRttirUpakam / vikSepazaktiliGgAdi brahmANDAntaM jagat sRjet / 774

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antadRgdRzyayorbheda bahizca brahmasargayoH / AvRNotyaparA zaktiH sA saMsArasya kaarnnaat| Drkdrsyaviveka, 13/15, Quoted in Sri Sankaracarya, Baldeva Upadhyaya, Hindustani Academy, Alhabad, 1963, p. 294 38. seyaM bhrAntinirAlambA sarvanyAyavirodhinI / sahate na vicAraM sA tamo yadavad divAkaram / - Naiskarmyasiddhi II-26. Tutorial Press, Girgaon Back Road, Bombay, 1925. 39. avidyAvatvenaiva jIvasya sarvavyavahAraH santato vartate / - BSB. I-IV-3. 40. (a) satyAnRte mithunIkRtya "ahamidaM" mamedaM" iti naisargiko'yaM lokavyavahAraH BSB/Intro. (Adhyasabhasya). vato'vidyA - Sambandhavartika - 177. ed. Kashinathshastri Agashe., Anandasrama Press, Pune, 1982. 41. (a) tucchA'nirvacanIyA vAstavI cetyasau tridhA / jJeyA mAyA tribhirbAdhaiH zrautayauktikalaukikaiH / - Pancadasi - VI-130. Pub. Bhargava Pustakalaya, Gaya Ghat, Kashi, 1942. (b) SLS. P. 178. 42. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy, S.C. Chatterji and D.M.Datta, 6th edition, Uni. of Calcutta, 1960 P. 371. 43. avidyAtmikA hi sA bIjazaktiH, BSB. - I.-IV-3. 44. (a) eka eva...kUTasthanityo vijJAnadhAtuH avidyayA mAyayA...- I-III-19. (b) avidyAlakSaNA anAdi mAyA - Mandukyakarika-IV-36. 45. avidyAtmaka, avidyAkalpita, avidyApratyupasthApita...- BSB. II-I-14. 46. (a) Sanksepasarirakam-1-20-Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series, Benaras, 1924. (b) Siddhantamuktavali-pp 38-39, with English Translation by C.A. Venis, E.J. Lazarus and Co. Benaras, 2nd edition, 1922. 775

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52. Vivaranaprameyasangraha-I-I, P. 133-134, with Hindi translation by Lalitaprasad-Dabral, Achyutagranthamala Karyalaya, Kashi, V.S. 1996. 47. SLS, I. 29. 48. Pancadasi (PD)-I, 15-17. Bhamati-I. 50. SLS. P. 96-97. 51. PD. I. 14-15. Advaitacintakaustubha, P. 27-34, 38. 53. Vedantasara. Ed. G.A.Jacob, 4th edition, Nirnayasagar Press Bombay, 1925. ekasminnapi vastuni vikSepaprAdhAnyena mAyA AcchAdanaprAdhAnyena avidyA iti vyavahArabhedaH - Pancapadikavivarana-P. 32. 55. zuddhabrahmAzrayaviSayamekamevAjJAnaM - SLS-I-7. - P. 126. 56. (a) nAvidyA brahmAzrayA kiMtu jIve, sA tvanirvacanIyetyuktaM, tena nityazuddhameva brahma - Bhamati-I-I-4 and ajJAnAzrayIbhUtaM ca jIva iti vAcaspatimizrA : Siddhantabindu, P. 29-P.C. Diwanji, G.O.S. Baroda. (b) nAjJAnaM zuddhacaitanyAzrayaM kiMtu jIvAzrayam - SLS. P. 128. 57. bIjADkuravadanAditvAt. Bhamati. I. I. - 1. 58. BSB. I. IV. 3. 59. BSB. II. I. 9. 60. kasya punarayamaprabodha iti cet yastvaM pRcchasi tasya ta iti vadAmaH / BSB. IV. I-3. 61. sA avidyA kasyeti / yasya dRzyate tasyaiva / kasya dRzyata iti / atrocyate avidyA kasya dRzyate iti prazno nirarthakaH / kathaM ? dRzyate cedavidyA tadvantamapi pazyasi na ca tadvatyupalabhyamAne sA kasyeti prazno yuktaH / - SBG. XIII-2. 62. Sveta. UP. Sambandhabhasya. 776

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63. (a) prapancAravyaM mAyAmAtram - SB. Mandukyakarika - I-17. (b) tAvat satyaM jagadbhAti zuktikArajataM yathA / tAvanna jJAyate brahma sarvAdhiSThAnamadvayam // Atmabodha. 7. 64. prAk cAtmaikatvAvagateH avyAhataH sarvaH satyAnRtavyavahAro laukiko vaidikazcetyavocAma BSB II. I. 14. 65. yadyapi svapnadarzanAvasthasya sarvadaMzanAdikasnAnAdikAryaM anRtaM tathApi tadavagatiH satyameva phalaM, pratibuddhasyApyabAdhyamAnatvAt....na ceyamavagatiH anarthikA bhrAMtireva zakyaM vaktuM avidyAnivRtiphaladarzanAt bAdhakajJAnAnantarAbhAvAcca. BSB-II-I.14. 66. na ca yo yasya svato dharmo na sambhavati so'nyasya sAdharmyAt tasya sambhaviSyati, ___na agniruSNaH anubhUyamAnodakasAdharmyAt zIto bhaviSyati / BSB. II-II-29. 67. mahAyAnabauddhaghAtitaM mAyAvAdam- Bhaskara's Brahmasutrabhasya - I-IV-25 Chowkhamba Sanskrit Book Depot, Benaras, 1903. mAyAvAdamasacchAtraM pracchannaM bauddhameva ca / mayaiva kathitaM devi kalau zaGkararUpiNA / - Padmapurana, quoted in Sankara's Brahmavada, R.S. Naulakha, Kitab Ghar, Kanpur, 1964, P.12 Philosophy of Bhedabheda, Ch. V, History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. III, S.N.Dasgupta, Cambridge University Press, P.4-5. 70 (a) Astasahasri (A.S.) Ed. by Vansidhar, Pub. Nirnayasagar ___ Press, Bombay, 1915, P. 161-163. (b) Satyasasanapariksa (SSP) ed. by Gokulcandra Jain, Bharatiya Jnanapith, Kashi, 1964, P.3-4. Syadvadamanjari. ed. A.B. Dhruva, Pub. Bombay Sanskrit and Prakrit Series, 1933, Verse 13, Commentary. (a) Mandukyakarika with Sankarbhasya-Advaita prakarana, Verse-28, P.164-165. (b) Nyayakumudacandra, Part I. Ed. Mahendrakumar Shastri, Pub. Manikachandra Jain Granthamala, Bombay, 1938, P.63. SSP. P. 8. Ibid. P.8. 777

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73. (a) AS. P. 9, 163. (b) SSP. P. 8-9. 74. sA hi kimAzritya bhramaM janayati iti vaktavyam / na tAvajjIvamAzritya avidyAkalpitatvAjjIvabhAvasya / nApi brahmAzritya, tasya svayaM prakAzajJAnarUpatvenAvidyAvirodhAt / sA'pi jnyaanbaadhyaabhimtaa| Sribhasya of Ramanuja, Part I, Catussutri I. 1.-1, Para 59, ed..R.D. Karmarkar, Uni. of Poona, 1959. 75. avidyayA prakAzaikasvarUpaM brahma tirohita iti vadatA svarUpanAza evokta syAt / prakAzatirodhAnaM nAma prakAzotpattipratibandhaH, vidyamAnasya vinAzo vA prakAzasyAnutpAdyatvAbhyupagamena prakAzatirodhAna prakAzanAza eva / Ibid. - I. I-1. .....kimayaM svAzrayadoSaH paramArthabhUtaH iti vivecanIyam / na tAvatparamArthaH anbhyupgmaat| nApi aparamArthaH / 76. Ibid 1.1.1. Para 60. 77. anirvacanIyatva ca kimabhipretam / sadasadvilakSaNamiti cet tathA vidhasya vastunaH pramANazUnyatvenAnirvacanIyataivasyAt / etaduktaM bhavati sarvaM hi vastujAtaM prtiitivyvsthaapym| sarvA ca pratItiH sadasadAkArAyAH pratIteH sadasadvilakSaNaM viSaya ityabhyupagame sarva sarvapratIteviSayaH syAt iti / Ibid I.I.1-Para 60. 78. Ibid. I.I.1. Para 62-71. ___ yaduktaM nirvizeSabrahmajJAnAdevAvidyAnivRttiM vadanti zrutayaH iti, tadasat....... Ibid I.I.1 Para - 72-78. yatpunaridamuktaM brahmAtmaikatvavijJAnenaiva avidyA nivRttiH yukta iti tadayuktam bandhasya pAramArthikatvena jJAnanivRrtyatvAbhAvAt - Ibid. I.I.1. Para 79. Sastradipika P.P. 313-314, Nirnayasagar Press Bombay, See also History of Philosophy Vol-II, Jadunath Sinha, Central Book Agency, Calcutta, 1952. 82. Sankhyapravacanabhasya-Introduction, ed. by R.G.Bhatta, Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series, Benaras. 83. Anandatirtha (Madhva) : Mayavadakhandanam. T.K. 778

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84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. Venkatacharya, Srividya Printing Press, Kumbhakonam, 1929, P.P. 1-15. suddhadvaitamartanda - P. 22-24 See also History of Indian Philosophy Vol-II, J.N.Sinha, P. 713. Sankara's Brahmavada-R.S. Naulakha, P. 15. Mahayanasutralankara-a study in Vijnanavada Buddhism, Y.S.Shastri, Indian Books Centre, New Delhi, 1989, P.P. 122137. BSB II-II-18-31. Tattvasangraha-P. 328-331 Vol. I. ed. pt. k. Krishnamacharya, G.O.S. 1926. Brahmasiddhi P. 10. (a) (b) bIjAGkuravadanAditvAt - Bhamati-I-I-1. ajJAnaviSayIbhUtaM caitanyamIzvaraH ajJAnAzrayIbhUtaM ca jIva iti vAcaspatimizrAH / Siddhantabindu P. 29. ghanacchannadraSTiH ghanacchannamarkaM yathA niSprabhaM manyate cAtimUDhaH / Sambandhavartika. 175-181. ed. by Kashinath Shastri Agashe, Anandashrama Press, Pune, 1982, P. 55-57. atrocyate nAvidyA brahmaNa: svabhAva: nArthAntaram / nAtyantamasatI nApi satI / evameveyamavidyA mAyA mithyAvabhAsa ityucyate / svabhAvazcet kasyacit anyo'nanyovA | paramArtha eveti nA'vidyA / atyantAsatve khapuSpasadRzI na vyavahArAGgam tasmAdanirvacanIyA / sarvapravAdibhizcetthamiyamAstheyA / - Brahmasiddhi P. 9. nAsiddhaM vastu vastvantaraniSpattaye'lam / na mAyAmAtre / nahi mAyAyAM kAcidanupapattiH / anupapadyamAnArthaiva hi mAyA / upapadyamAnArthatve yathArthabhAvAnna mAyA syAt / Ibid. P. 10. (a) Vivaranaprameyasangraha. P. 16-17. (b) Pancapadikavivarana. P. 12-13. tathA ca pramANaprazno'narthaka evAjJAnasya sAkSiNaiva siddhatvAt / na cAjJAnaviSayAjJAnanivRtyarthaM pramANaprazno yukta iti vAcye, tadabhAvAt / ajJAnasya pramANena jJAtumazakyatvAcca tena tasya virodhAt / tadayaM tamodIpanyAyaH / tathAhi 779 -

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97. 98. 99. 100. ajJAnaM jJAtumicchedyo mAnenAtyantamUDhadhIH / sa tu nUnaM tamaH pazyeddIpenottamatejasA // -Siddhantamuktavali. P. 125. (a) (b) (c) - Tait. Up. JV. 1. neti neti ityAtmA agrAhyaH .... -Br. Up. IV. IV. 22; IV. V. 15. (a) iti / dvAveva brahmaNo rUpe mUrtaJcaivAmUrtaJca nirguNo kevalazca / yato vAco nivartante aprApya manasA saha. (b) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) - BSB. II.I.9. sarvo'vidyAmAtro rajvAmiva sarpapratyayaH / SB. Mund. U.P. II. II.11. (c) nAnAtvapratyupasthApikAyA avidyAyA nivRttatvAdihabrahmaNi nAnA nAsti kiJcanANumAtramapi Br. Up. III. II-6. mAyAmAtra hi etat paramAtmano'vasthAtrayAtmanAvabhAsamAnaM rajvA iva sarpAdibhAvena S.B.Kath. Up. II. 11. Tait. Up. II. 1. BSB. II. I. 11. SBG II. 16. sato'nyatve anRtatvam- SB. Chand. Up. VII. II. 2. na hi vastuvRttena vikAro nAma kazcidasti / BSB III.14. and also ato vikAro'nRtam. SB Tait. Up. II. 1. 780 101. sarve vikArAH kAraNavyatirekeNAnupalabdheH asat - SBG. II. 16.

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RECONCILIATION OF DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWPOINTS-AN ATTEMPT MADE BY JAINA PHILOSOPHERS Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri * Jainism is one of the three major religions of India. Since 2500 years, it has made manifold contributions to human society through its literature, religion and philosophy. On account of its liberal, catholic and reciprocal attitude towards Brahmanism and Buddhism, it is the only non-Vedic creed that has survived to the present day in India out of many that are preached in the 5th century B.C. in opposition to the Vedic rituals. Principle of non-violence (ahimsa) is the dominant trend in Jainism. Lord Mahavira emphasized the doctrine of ahimsa towards every living being in practical life. This principle, embodied in the respect for the life of others was transformed by the Jaina philosophers at the intellectual level into respect for the views of others. This attitude of toleration, which is hall-mark of this system inspired Jaina philosophers to make a unique attempt to harmonise, reconcile, all conflicting view-points in the field of philosophy. Learned Jaina thinkers thought that various systems of philosophy being dogmatic in their assertions, created bitterness amongst the followers of different philosophical schools. The age-old philosophical disputes and controversies between the various schools of thought are on account of their conditional assertion in regard to philosophical propositions. On account of this rigid attitude each school asserts its view to be true and thus, philosophers of these schools do not really try to understand the view-points of others, which resulted in hatredness and rivalry towards other systems of thought. This is also a kind of violence in the realm of thought. To avoid this kind of intellectual violence, Jaina thinkers adopted a unique, synthetic, philosophical methodology, technically known as anekantavada (i.e. doctrine of many-sidedness of reality, which consists of dual doctrine viz. nayavada (the doctrine of different view-points) and syadvada (the theory of relativity of truth) which is also known as-saptabhangi (the seven-fold predication). This doctrine is accepted to co-ordinate, unify and harmonise the divergent, seemingly disagreeing philosophical view-points into a practicable whole. It is better to have clear idea about this great doctrine which is misunderstood and misrepresented by many scholars, before we start our actual thesis. 781

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Traverses on less trodden path... History of Jainism tells us that, although scratches of anekanta are found in Mahavira's teachings, its all round development took place only when Sanskrit language came to be used by the Jaina writers. This doctrine, being itself a synthetic philosophy presupposes the existence of various well-developed philosophical schools on the Indian soil. In the works beginning from Angas and the Curnis in Svetambara literature and in Pravacanasara and other works of Digambara literature, there is no attempt at the synthesis of anekanta with the Upanisadic monism and other currents of Vedic thought. This attempt to reconcile different philosophical view-points is found first in a slight degree in the works of Siddhasena Divakara (Circa 5th century A.D.) and Samantabhadra (7th century A.D.). In the Sanmatitarka (Prakrit text) of Siddhasena a distinct synthesis of the doctrines of Bauddha, Sankhya and Nyaya-Vaisesika is found.' But reconciliation of some philosophical schools such as Brahma-dvaita, Sabdadvaita and others are not found in the Jaina Prakrit literature.' In the subsequent Jaina Sanskrit literature an attempt is made to reconcile the doctrines of all these philosophical systems. This unique attempt, started by Siddhasena and Samantabhadra, is found clearly on a large scale in the works of Haribhadra (8th century A.D.), Akalanka (8th century A.D.), Vidyanandi (9th century A.D) and Abhayadeva Suri. (10th century A.D.). The same attempt to synthesize all these systems is carried out on an extensive scale by Hemacandra (12th century A.D.), Mallisena (12th century A.D.), Vadideva Suri (13th century A.D.), Gunaratna Suri (15th century A.D,) and Yasovijaya (17th century A.D.). Jaina theory of anekantavada is really an offshoot of vibhajyavada (a theory of analysis and differentiation) of Buddhism, Literally, the term anekantavada means the theory of the manysidedness of reality. This term is used in two soses in the Jaina philosophical literature. First of all, this term denotes the Jaina philosophical doctrine i.e. the theory according to which reality is manifold and each entity consists of maniforms and modes of innumerable aspects. Reality is one and many. Secondly, it indicates the Jaina philosophical method which allows for reconciliation and integration of conflicting philosophical views. In the first place, it claims that everything in the world is complex in its structure and as such has many aspects. All kinds of sources of valid knowledge, mediate 782

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Reconciliation of different philosophical view-points and immediate, prove only one thing that every object has innumerable aspects. Each entity is one in many, we are all imperfect human beings. We cannot comprehand an object in its totality and our view of it is limited. We are really wrong when we emphasize and say that our view is perfect and final. An object or reality is to be understood in its totality. To view a thing, thus, not only from a single point of view, but to examine it from all possible points of view is the real meaning of the doctrine of anekantavada. The notion of reality is a characteristic example of Jaina anekantavada. Reality (substance) consists of production, destruction and permanence. A substance is permanent in respect of its essential qualities and also subject to generation and destruction in regard to its changing modifications. When a substance, conscious or unconscious originates without leaving its own nature, it is called origination. Destruction is loss of existence in a thing that had it before. Permanence is the essential characteristic of substance, which remains unchanged in both the conditions, viz. in origination and decay. To cite an example, a jar, originates from clay without leaving the nature of clay; clay leaves its former mode or shape when it becomes a jar and the essential nature of clay remains unchanged in both the conditions. These three, differ in their nature but they are not mutually independent. Change and permanence, modes and substance exist together, neither is possible without the other. But permanence and change are not applied to a thing in one and the same capacity but in different capacity. There is no contradiction involved and no violation of law of contradiction in applying opposite predicates to the same thing in different capacities, because, they are applied to its different aspects such as matter, state, space and time. It is seen that mutually contradictory elements can exist in one and the same thing in different capacity such as, the same man is a father to his son, son to his father, husband to his wife, and so on.? In fact, the positive and negative aspects must both belong to everything. If only the positive aspects belong to it, there would be nothing to distinguish it from another and all things would become one 'sat.'If instead, only the negative aspects belong to a thing, it would have no intrinsic nature. So many-sided characteristic of substance, is the basis of anekantavada. Jaina thinkers following this doctrine of many-sidedness of 783

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reality, state that philosophers of other schools of thought emphasize only one aspect of reality-describing it as either one or many, real or unreal, universal or particular, thus represent partial truth and the anekantavada, according to which reality is neither absolutely real nor unreal, neither one nor many, neither particular nor universal, neither identical nor different, but both real and unreal, one and many, particular and universal, unity and diversity, from different points of view, reveals complete truth. To obtain complete truth, there is no other way, except admitting the anekanta path. It reconciles and assimilates all the partial view-points of other schools of thought. The word anekanta itself indicates its style of reconciliation. This word makes it very clear that 'many' is not diametrically opposite of 'one', for many includes one. It means different one-sided views (ekanta) are, thus, only constituents of the anekanta only. It is a philosophy of synthesis and emerges out of the examination of the partial truths of other systems. 10 Reconciliation of divergent philosophical view-points is not an easy task and it poses many problems. To solve this difficult problem, Jaina thinkers have developed nayavada in which views of different philosophical systems are individually accommodated and syadvada which reconciles all of them giving complete picture of reality. Both these doctrines are the two faces of the same coin, viz. anekantavada. 'As a philosophical methodology, it takes its flight on the two wings of nayavada, the doctrine of stand-points and saptabhangi, the doctrine of seven-fold predication.'11 Philosophical understanding is generated by both pramanas and nayas.12 Syadvada reveals the thing as a whole, thus, it is called pramanavakya (sakaladesa) while naya reveals only a portion of it (vikaladesa).13 A pramana is like an ocean while naya as are simply like ocean-water kept in different pitchers A pramana can be reached through aggregation of all the constituent stand-points.14 Naya means the points of view which gives only partial truth about reality.15A When we present only one aspect of many-sided reality supressing others, then it falls under the nayavada, the doctrine of view-points. Traditionally, the Jainas mention seven or six kinds of nayas, taking into account, the different philosophical views, prevalent in ancient India They are : naigama, samgraha. Vyavahara, rjusutra, sabda, samabhirudha and evambhuta.15B Again these nayas are fundamentally divided into two main categories viz. dravyastika, 784

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according to which substance is the fundamental reality and the modifications are nothing apart fiom it and paryayastika, which states that, modifications are the only reality, the substance being nothing apart from them.16 The first one may be called, view-point of generality and the second one, the view-point of particularity. These different kinds of nayas or standpoints represent views of different schools of thought, which are partially true. Naigama naya recognises both the universal and the particular. Nyaya-Vaisesikas are the followers of this naya because they recognise both the universal and the particular, in an isolated and non-relative sense. Samgraha naya, unholds the universal only. Advaitins and Sankhyas, represent this naya, because former merges all particulars in the universal, 'sat' and the latter to the cause prakrti. Vyavahara is a point of view of commonsense view, which does not penetrate below the surface of things. The Materialists (Carvaka) way of looking at things is that of vyavahara. Rjusutra refers to changing modes only and states that reality is always in constant flux. Buddhist view of ksanabhargavada is a very good example of this naya. Sabdanaya accepts single object denoted by variants of synonymous terms. Samabhirudha goes a step further and accepts different meanings or synonyms based on their etymology. Evambhuta takes the word signifying an object, which possesses the action, connoted by etymology. The Grammarians and the Mimamsakas represent the sabda and other nayas, because they emphasize the grammatical, etymological importance of words.11 In this way, nayavada comprises views of all others. These views are right in their own respective spheres but if they are taken in absolute sense they are wrong and become fallacious (durnaya). 18 The doctrine of syadvada or saptabhangi entertains within its fold every possible theory. It welcomes in it, all nayas and thus is like a necklace of pearls wherein every system has its proper place like a pearl. 19A In this doctrine discordent notes are blended so as to make a perfect harmony. As rivers mingle in the ocean, so do all the systems mingle in the syadvada. 19B The doctrine of syadvada is nothing but systematic description of many-sided nature of reality in words. Jaina thinkers claim that no philosophical proposition can be true if it is simply asserted without condition. If it is asserted, then, it becomes one-sided (ekanta) view. It also excludes ether rival possibilities. To avoid this shortcoming, syadvada makes use of the convenient particle syat' (=in certain 785

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respect) in all the seven varieties of a particular predication. The particle syat' indicates the many-sided nature of a proposition It is a doctrine of relativity of truth, according to which affirmative and negative statements can be made in regard to one and the same things in the following way : 1. Relatively the pot does exist. 2. Relatively the pot does not exist, 3. Relatively the pot does exist and does not exist, 4. Relatively the pot is indescribable. 5. Relatively the pot does exist and is indescribable. 6. Relatively the pot does not exist and is indescribable. 7. Relatively the pot does exist, does not exist, and is indescribable:20 Each philosophical proposition is subjected to this sevenfold formulation in order to remove the danger of one-sidedness (ekantavada). This is also called saptabhangi, because, it consists of seven kinds of expression regarding one and the same thing with reference to its particular aspects, one by one, without any inconsistancy, by means of affirmation and negation, made either separately or together.21 This is also called 'anekantavada, since it expresses the object that possesses many characteristics.22 The Jainas upholding this doctrine of anekartavada, state that the theories of other schools of philosophy being but partial views of the comprehensive reality are naturally at variance with each other and that they would find their final reconciliation in the syadvada or anekantavada. On the basis of this doctrine, therefore, the Jainas try to reconcile some of the fundamental doctrines of non-Jaina school of thought, such as, the doctrine of causality, the problem of universal and particular, the problem of reality, the doctrine of self, the theory of sounds and so on. Siddhasena Divakara, probably, is the first man in the Jaina philosophical history, who has laid down the foundation stone of reconciliation of other schools of thought by synthesizing the Sankhya, the Buddhist and the Vaisesika's views with that of anekantavada. He observes that the system of philosophy taught by Kapila is a repre 786

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sentation of the 'only substance exists' view-point and that which is taught by the Buddhist is an exposition of 'only modification exists' view-point. Although Vaisesikas employ both view-points, they employ each independently of the other. So, all these view-points are partial and can be reconciled with the help of anekantavada.23 The doctrine of causality is one of the important doctrines in the development of the early philosophical thoughts in India. Most probably, taking the hint from Nasadiyasukta of the Rgveda, about the origin of the Universe, different systems proposed diametrically opposite views. The Sankhya philosophers upholding the satkaryavada claim that, the effect pre-exists in the cause before its production, while the Naiyayikas admit asatkaryavada, according to which, effect does not exist in the cause before its production. Effect is a new beginning. The Sankhyas believe in the real transformation of prakrti. Origination is explained as the unfolding of the hidden potentialities. The Naiyayikas hold that only such things come into existence as did not exist before. Some of the Buddhists uphold the same view and state that change is order of nature. The Advaita Vedanta maintains that, there is no real change in the cause, change is only an appearance (vivarta). It is the cause which was reality and that what is called the effect is indescribable i.e. neither pre-existent nor not pre-existent and thus, ultimately false. The Jainas try to reconcile, these opposite views on causality by applying anekanta method. They point out that the Sankhya view is correct in some respects, for, so far as the substance underlying the effect and the cause is concerned, it is the same; it persists in its immutability through the cause and the effect, which are two modes of its expression, therefore, in a very real sense, the effect is existent even before its emergence as an effect. On the other hand, effect is also a new creation ( as Naiyayikas and some Buddhists hold) in some respects, because it has its own significance, own practical efficiency and all those features which pertain to a real effect were not in evidence before its emergence.25 The Jainas, thus, admit the partial validity of both the Sankhya and Nyaya-Vaisesika views. From the stand-point of its underlying substance, the effect exists in the cause before its production; from the consideration of the effect as a mode, it is new creation, not existent before its actual production. To cite an instance, a 'jar' is separate from as well as identical with the cause, i.e. 'clay'. It is identical with clay because, clay has a potentiality to 787

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produce a "jar' and 'jar', when it is produced, is not without the essence of clay. It is also different, because, before its production as a 'jar', there was merely clay and the 'jar' was not in a manifested form. It has no practical efficiency to carry out work as a "jar'. Thus Siddhasena rightly pointed out that, the Nyaya-Vaisesikas and the Bauddhas are right in so far they point out the faults and fallacies of the Sankhya view of causality and the Sankhyas are correct in so far as they criticise the Nyaya-Vaisesikas and Bauddhas. But when these two views of causality are adjusted together in compliance with the anekanta method, the result will be the true insight. 26 Even Advaita Vedantins' views of causality is one-sided and it can be reconciled with the help of anekanta. It is true as Vedantins hold that effect cannot be described in language, it is inexpressible. But indescribability does not mean, unreal or false. Indescribability of the effect is not absolute, it is indescribable only in some respects. Effect is neither, absolutely real nor absolutely unreal. It is both real and unreal.27 The problem of universal and particular is, again, one of the most controversial problems in the field of philosophy. According to Advaita Vedanta, there is only one highest universal (mahasamanya) in which everything is included. 28 Some of the Buddhists claim that, particulars are the only reals. Nyaya-Veisesikas give equal treatment to both samanya and visesa as principles of reality, but recognise them as absolutely distinct entities 29 But all these views are partial representation of truth. Reality is neither absolutely universal nor absolutely particular. Suppose if we accept that there is nothing except the general and that there is no such thing as particular, (as Vedantins maintain) then we should be forced in everyday activity to give up all the particulars of a thing and to accept only its general aspect. For instance, all the transformations of gold, such as ear-rings, bracelets, necklace etc., that are real in our daily life and that are actually experienced by us shall have to be given up and everytime we shall have to deal with gold as gold and nothing else--no varieties of transformations of it. If on the other hand, we accept only the particulars of gold such as ear-rings, bracelets, etc. and eliminate the underlying substance gold from our daily exchange, then we have to face great confusion and inconvenience in our daily experience. The truth is that exclusive acceptance of the general only or particular only would land us into utter confussion. We thus, have to accept, 788

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both universal and particular, but not as independent categories, as Nyaya-Vaisesika philosophers hold. Nyaya-Vaisesikas hold that universality or generality consists in a group of features common to a number of individuals and as such, is absolutely different from the particularities which are peculiarities characterising each of the individuals. The Jainas state that, both these are not different but really inseparable. Neither of the universal and the particular has real existence, independent of the other. In the individual of our experience, the generality manifests itself through the particular and the particularity appears as the particular mode of the generality. When we see a cow, we apprehend a certain unity of animal form, such as belongs to all individuals, we call cows, but at the same time we apprehend its distinction from other animals such as buffalo, horse, etc. Moreover, when, we speak of 'brindled cow', thus referring to the particular character (visesa) of the animal, we also recognise the fact that the animal is a cow, we, thus, notice, the generality and the particularity, the two-in-one. Similarly, 'brindledness' too has a variety of forms So, when we speak of 'a brindled cow', we do not refer to any brindled colour of the animal, but the particular brindled colour which we see in the cow before us. So, here again, the perception of the generality is at the same time a perception of the particularity. The two are neverexperienced separately from each other anywhere. Things are themselves co-ordinated with things of their own class and differentiated from things of other classes and consequently, there is no need to accept these two as independent categories as Nyaya-Vaisesikas think. They are two relative aspects and aspects only of one and the same thing.30 Accepting this view only, an apparently inexplicable contradictions involved in the doctrine of the generality and particularity is to be solved. With respect to the ultimate reality the Advaita Vedanta upholds the non-dualistic view, stating chat it is one without a second." The Sankhya-Yoga, holds a dualistic view, claiming prakrti and purusa as two independent realities32 and the Nyaya-Vaisesika system admits pluralistic view. And each of these schools opposes the others. The truth is, each of these views, is right to certain extent and each suffers from one-sided partiality. From the anekanta view-point, the ultimate reality is one in some respects, it is dual in some respects and is manifold in some respects. The Vedantin's view that the reality is one is certainly correct, by reality (or substance) we are to mean that which is the basis of all phenomenalities. But in consideration of the 789

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fundamental differences in their nature i.e. that between the conscious and the unconscious, a dualism between the psychical and unpsychical realities is to be accepted. In view, again, of their exclusiveness af each other the material atoms, time, etc. are reals, as held by the Nyaya-Vaisesikas. The difference, between the three views about the ultimate reality is, thus a difference of stand-points (nayas) only. In anekantavada, the validity is attached to the views of the three schools to some extent and their mutual oppositions are avoided.33 34 Advaita Vedantins, hold that, changes, modes or forms are unreal while the Nyaya-Vaisesikas state that modifications are real. The Jainas reconcile these two opposite views by stating that a mode is real as well as unreal. A mode is the form in which the substance is presented, it is real in this sense. It is unreal because, it has no existence, apart from its underlying substance. Thus, it is real in certain respects and that it is unreal also in certain respects. The attitutde of Vedanta and Sankhya philosophy and that of Buddhist towards soul is that of eternalism and non-eternalism respectively. Eternalism claims that, soul is absolutely eternal, thus it is never tied to wheel of samsara, while non-eternalism states that soul is absolutely transcient -unreal. Both these views are partially true and can be reconciled on the basis of doctrine of relativity. The soul is eternal, never changing from the view-point of substance and it is everchanging, non-eternal on the ground of modification point of view. Viewed from the transcendental stand-point, it is unchanged, but viewed from the phenomenal point of view, it is chained. In its own nature it is real, but as matter it is unreal. It is one from the stand point of atmatva. It is many from the point of view of samsara. If atman be exclusively eternal, the experience of happiness and misery, will be impossible. For, to be eternal means to be unchangable, and there cannot be experiences of pain and pleasure one after another unless atman could pass (or change) from one state to another. Again, merits and demerits, liberation and bondage are, not possible. Similarly absolute non-eternality of atman is untenable. If atman is absolutely non-eternal, everchanging, then, it means an end to the law of retribution which requires personal identity of doer and enjoyer. Again merits and demerits, bondage and liberation become meaningless.35 So, atman is eternal with change. We have to accept parinaminityatva of atman -- the doctrine of identity-in-change, of unity-in-difference, of one-in-many. 790

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Again, the doctrine of sound is one of the most debated topics among the Mimamsa and Nyaya philosophers. The Mimamsakas maintain the theory of eternality of sound, while the Naiyayikas upholds the impermanent character of sound37 and state that, sounds have beginning and an end. These two extreme views about sounds are partial and they be reconciled, following the path of anekanta. The Naiyayika's view is right in some respects. Sound is obviously produced by human efforts. Whatever is produced is impermanent. So, sound is non-eternal in this sense. Sound is also eternal in respect of its basic substance. Sound is a mode of matter, the substratum underlying sound is a pudgala (matter) which as a substance is eternal. From this point of view, the Mimamsaka's view is correct. So, considering the aspect of modifications in sound, it is unreal, while on account of its everlasting substantial basis, it is eternal. In this way, both these irreconcilable theories can be reconciled.38 Similarly, Advaita Vedantin's negative approach in respect of the existence of the world, i.e. the world is neither absolutely real like Brahman, nor absolutely unreal like son of a barren woman, but indescribable (anirvacaniya) and ultimately this is to be treated as unreal can be reconciled with that view according to which the world is absolutely real; by accepting the view that the world is real in some respects i.e. in respect of its basic substance and in respect of the changes of the phenomena it is unreal. Even the Sunyavadi Buddhists view of absolute negativism, i.e. 'an object is neither existent nor non-existent, nor both nor-neither', can be reconciled, by accepting the path of anekanta, i.e, these statements are true in some respects only. In this way the Jainas point out that, applying this anekantavada, to each and every problem of philosophy, a sound harmony can be established in the field of philosophy. This attempt to reconcile different philosophical doctrines is unique contribution of Jainas to Indian philosophy. In respect of reconciliation it is said that, there is no philosophical method superior to anekantavada. But not much attention has been given to this praiseworthy attempt in the field of philosophy. It is also very important to note that, this doctrine of anekantavada which tries to reconcile different philosophical viewpoints, is not the sole monopoly of Jainism. It is right that, this doctrine became central philosophy of Jainism and its systematic exposition is found only in this system, but this doctrine was existent in ancient 791

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Indian literature and is traceable here and there in all the non-Jaina works such as Nasadiyasukta of Kgveda, Taittiriya Brahmana, Upanisadas, Bhagavadgita, Mahabharata and so on. In fact, even Jaina thinkers themselves maintained that every system of philosophy has accepted anekanta in one way or the other1 The Materialists (Carvakas) view that, consciousness is product of combination of different material elements which is neither identical or different from each of these, is acceptance of manysided aspects of consciousness only. It really means, in some respects, it is identifiable with material elements and in some respects, different from them. Madhyamamarga or Madhyamapratipat of the Buddhists, which is accepted as middle way between two extreme view of eternalism and non-eternalism, bears the same significance as the word anekanta. Madhyamika philosopher's view of reality, that, it is neither existent nor nonexistent, nor both nor neither', is a form of anekantavada only.42 Even, the view of Vijnanavada Buddhists, according to which this world is transformation of eternal, non-dual consciousness (vijnana), is ac ceptance of parinaminityata of anekantavada. The Nyaya-Vaisesika philosophers apply this anekantavada without being aware of it. These philosophers in stating that atoms constituting a material 'pot are eternal while the pot as a product and a passing phase of matter is non-eternal, are practically admitting the anekanta position, which is that a 'pot' is non-eternal in some respects (as a mode of matter) and that it is eternal also in some respects.44 (i.e, in respect of its constitutive substance). Again, while describing anyonyabhava, the Vaisesikas point out like Jainas that 'pot' is real as 'pot' not as cloth.*45 Earth, (prthivi) is both eternal as well as non-eternal. Citrarupa is a conglomeration of several mutually exclusive rupas which belong to a single substance.46 Even though Nyaya-Vaisesikas have accepted the generality and particularity as two idependent categories, they are not able to discard the path of anekanta. Vatsyayana mentions that both contradictory elements can exist in one and the same place.47 Jati is, again, both general as well particular.48 Amongst the two kinds of universals, (i.e. para and apara) aparasamanya is both, general as well as particular. 49 The Sankhya doctrine of evolution of prakrti according to which Prakriti is neither absolutely eternal nor absolutely changing, but eternal-cum-change is in no way different from the Jnana doctrine of parinaminityata. The difference between the two view is that the Sankhya doctrine is applicable only to non-sentient prakrti, while the 792

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anekanta of Jainas has its application to all the fundamental things, sentient as well as non-sentient.50 Vyasa and Vacaspati Misra followed the path of anekanta in their commentaries on Patanjala Yogasutra in many places. Both of them admit the eternal-cum-non-eternal nature of the phenomenal world and substance. Even, things are always both general and particular. In respect of prakrti-purusa relation, Vyasa clearly admits the identity-cum-difference like the Jainas. Purusa is not absolutely different from intellect (i.e. product of prakrti), nor absolutely identical with it. The relation between the two is identity-cum-difference.51 The Mimamsa school practically admits the anekantavada by stating that substance has three characteristics of origination, decay and permanence.52 Kumarila Bhatta, while discussing the part and whole (avayava and avayavi), clearly states that, both are not absolutely different from each other. Their relation is identity-cum-difference.53 Parthasarathi Misra upholds the same position, A thing is real as well as unreal, universal as well as particulars4 Again, the view, that the same eternal word (vak) manifests itself in the evanescent phases of the vaikhari, the madhyama and the pasyanti is very similar to anekantavada.55 Anekanta method has place in all the schools of Vedanta philosophy. Even, sankara the great critic of anekantavada, has applied this doctrine in some places. Sankara, while criticising the prakrtikaranavada of Sankhya, states (like Jainas) that both pravrtti (activity) and nivrtti (inactivity) which are contradictory, can exist in isvara." The Advaita Vedantins' view that the same immutable self appears in the changing states of waking, dreaming and dreemless sleep, is basically, anekantavada only." Influence of anekantavada is found in the latter Vedanta works such as works of Ramanuja, Bhaskara. Vijnabhiksu, Nimbarka, Srikantha Sivacarya and Vallabha.se It shows that, anekantavada the doctrine of reconciliation is acceptable to all the systems of philosophy. Yasovijaya, the great 17th century Jaina stalwart, keeping all these views in his mind, makes a beautiful statement that every system of Indian philosophy has accepted this anekantavada, which harmonises all the conflicting views, and sees unity in diversity. There is really no reason to reject this doctrine.59 793

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Foot-Notes 1. Sanmatitarka, with a critical introduction and an original commentary by Pt. Sukhlal Sanghavi and Pt. Bechardas Doshi. ed. Pt. Dalsukh Malvania, Pub : Sri Jaina Svetambara Education Board, Bombay, 1939, p. 114 (Introduction). Nyayavataravartika-Vrtti of Santi suri, Introduccion, ed. Pt. Dalsukh Malvania, Pub: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Bombay, 1949, pp. 11-35. 3 + w o The Central Philosophy of Jainism, Bimal Krishna Matilal, Pub : L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1981, pp. 24-25. Tattvarthasutra, V-29, Part-I, ed. H. R. Kapadia, Pub : J. S. Javeri, Bombay, 1925. Syadvadamanjari (S.M.), XIV, ed. : A. B. Dhruva, Pub : Bombay Sanskrit and Prakrit Series, 1933, p. 92. (a) Ibid, XIV, p. 92. (b) Aptamimamsa-Vrtti by Vasunandi, 47, Devagama-Vitti, ed. and trans. K. B. Nitve. Kolhapur. (a) Sarvarthasiddhi, V-32, Pub : K. B. Nitve, Kolhapur, Sake 1839, p. 17. Tattvartharajavartika, 1-6, ed. Gajadharlal Jain, Pub. : SanatanaJaina Granthamala, Kasi, 1915, p. 26. S. M. XIV, p. 91. 8. o Saddarsanasamuccaya Tika by Gunaratna Suri, ed. Mahendrakumar Jain, Pub.: Bharatiya Jnanapith, Kasi, 1969, p. 34. Sodasaka of Haribhadra. XVI-13 Jaina Theories of Reality and Knowledge, Y. J. Padmarajiah, Jaina Sahitya Vikasa Mandal, Bombay, 1963. p. 173. 13. Pramananayairadhigama h. Tattvarthasutra, 1-6. (a) Laghiyastraya--Srutopayogapariccheda, 12, Laghiyastrayadisangraha, ed. Pt. K.B. Nitve, Pub : M. D. Jaina Granthamala Samiti, V. S. 1972, p. 83. 794

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(b) Pramananayatattvalokalankara (PNT), IV-44, ed. H. S. Bhattacharya. Pub : Jaina Sahitya Vikas Mandal, Bombay, 1967, pp. 350-354. 14. Tattvartharajavartika, 1-6, pp. 24-27. 15A. ekadesavisisto artho nayasya visayomatah, Nyayavatara, 29, ed, P. L. Vaidya, Pub : Jaina Svetambara Conference, Bombay. 1928, p. 64. 15B. P.N.T., VII-7-33, pp. 514-528 and also See T.S. I-34. 16. Sanmatitarka, 1-7-21. 17. (a) S.M. XXVIII. 161-165. b) Adhyatmasara, Jinamatastuti, 6, ed. Muni Nemicandra, Pub, Sri Nirgrantha Sahitya Prakasan, Delhi, 1976. p 429. 18. (a) Sanmatitarka 1-13, p. 18. (b) P.N.T., VII-2, p. 511. Aptamimamsa, 108, ed. Pt. Girdharlal Jain, Pub :Siddhanta Prakasini Sanstba, Benares, 1914. 19A. S.M., XXX, p. 174. 19B. Dvatrimsika, IV-15, Dvtarimsad Dvatrimsika, ed. P. Sushilavijaya Gani, Pub. : Vijayalavanayasurisvara Jnanamandir, Botad, Saurastra, V.S. 2012, p. 10 20. (a) S M., XXIII, p. 142-143. (b) P.N.T., V. 13-21. 21. (a) Tattvartharajavartika. I. 6, p. 24. (b) P.N.T., IV-14. 22. S.M., V. ppl 13-20. 23. Sanmatitarka. III. 48-49. 24. Rgveda. X. 129, Kksuktavaijayanti, ed. Pt. Velankar, Bombay. 25. Sanmatitarka, I. 27, pp. 29-30. 26. (a) Ibid., I. 795

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27. 28. 29. 30. 32. 34. 35. (b) Anekantavada, Harisatya Bhattacharya, Pub : Jaina Atmananda Sabha, Bhavnagar, 1953, pp. 177-178. Ibid., 178-180. Ekasmin mahasamanye antarbhavah prajnaghane.Brhadaranyaka Upanisad with Sankarabhasya, II. IV-9, The principle Upanisad, Pub. : Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, 1978, p. 762. S. M. IV, pp. 10-12 Ibid, pp, 10-12; and 84-89. Ekameva hi paramarthasatyam brahma.--Taittiriyopanisad with Sarkarabhasya, II. 8. Sankhyakarika, 3, ed. Sivanarayana Sastri, pub. : Panduranga Jawaji, Nirayasagara Press, Bombay. 1940. Anekantavada, pp, 175-76. Ibid., 177 (a) Haribhadra, Astakaprakarana. 4-7, ed. Vijayadeva Suri, Pub : Jaina Grantha Prakasaka Sabha, Ahmedabad, 1973. (b) Yasovijaya, Adhyatmasara, III 24-29, 38-39. (a) Sabdo nityah vyomamatragunatvat vyomaparimanavat, Prabhakara, quoted in Syadvadamanjari, ed. Jagadish Chandra Jain, Pub : R. C. Desai, Srimad Rajacandra Ashram. Agas, 1970, p. 340. Nyayadarsana with Vatsyayanabhasya, II. II-13. ed. Ganganath Jha. Pub : Chow-khamba Sanskrit Series, Benaras, 1929, p. 362. (a) S. M.. XI. pp. 69-70. (b) Anekantavada. pp, 180-181. Ayogavyavacchedika, 28, See S. M., ed. by Jagadish Chandra Jain, p. 276. Darsan aur Anekantavada, Pt. Hamsaraj G. Sharma, Pub : Atmanand Jain Pustak Pracarak Mandal, Agra, 1928, pp. 133149. 36. 37. 38. 40. 796

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41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. (a) (b) (c) Saddarsanasamuccaya-Tika by Gunaratna Suri, S. M. Appendices, pp. 318-322. Saptabhangitarangini. Pub: Manoharlal Raicandia Jain Sastramala, Bombay, V.N.S., 2442, pp. 90-92. S. M., XXX, p. 172-174. Sanmatitarka, Introduction, p. 138. Trimsika I, Vijnaptimatratasiddhi, ed. Svami Mahesvarananda, Pub Gitadharma Karyalaya, Varanasi, 1962, p. 3. S.M.V., p. 17. Vaisesikadarsana, with Upaskarabhasya, I-I-4-5, See Darsana aur Anekantavad, p. 82. S. M. V-20. Nyayadarsana, I-I-41, p. 160-162. Ibid., II-II-66, p. 424. Vaisesika Darsana, with Prasastapadabhasya, I-II-5; IX-II-3, see Darsana aur Anekantavad, pp. 78-80. Sanmatitarka, Introduction, pp. 139-140. Darsan aur Anekantavada, p. 28-45. Tasmadvastu trayatmakam, Mimamsa-sloka-vartika, quoted in Darsan aur Anekantavada, p. 16. Ibid., pp. 55. Sastradipika, Pub: Vidya Vikas Press, Kasi, V. S. 1964, pp. 387, 412. Anekantavada, p.187. Brahmasutra Sankarabhasya, Tarkapada, II-II-4, ed. with Gujarati translation, Pt. K. V. Abhyankar and Dr. J. M. Sukla, Pub: K. V. Abhyankar, Ahmedabad, 1958. Anekantavada, p. 187. Darsan aur Anekantavada, p. 94-119. Adhyatmopanisat-prakarana, I-44-53, and 61, 62, Adhyatmasara, Adhyatmopanisad, Jnanasara, Prakaranatrayi. Pub: Sanghavi. N. K. Jamnagar, V. S. 1994. 797

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REFUTATION OF ADVAITA VEDANTA IN MAJOR JAINA WORKS Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri History of Indian philosophy tells us that all the systems of Indian Philosophy developed in the atmosphere of freedom of thought. There was a tradition in Indian philosophical platform to present opponent's view first known as the Purvapaksa (prior view) and then establishment of one's own view by refuting opponent's stand point known as the Uttarapaksa or Siddhanta (conclusion). This kind of method inspired the Indian thinkers to study thoroughly views of all others prior to the establishment of their own system of philosophy and gave thoroughness, perfection and catholic spirit to their system. Jaina philosophers also following the same broad-minded tradition, presented views of all the systems of Indian thought with considerable care and established their own principles refuting opponent's view with logical rigour. But it is very interesting to note that just as great thinkers of other schools of thought such as Bhartshari, Kumarilabhatta,2 Prabhakara, 3 Jayantabhatta4 and Udayana, who treated only Advaita as the Vedanta system, similarly eminent philosophical personalities of Jainism presented and refuted only Advaita system of Vedanta in their writings. Even later writers who flourished after Ramanuja and Madhva mention neither Visistadvaita nor Dvaita system of Vedanta. Criticism of Upanisadic Atmadvaita or Brahmadvaita is found in early Jainagamas such as Sutrakrtangao and Visesavasyakabhasya. The line of presentation and refutation of Advaita is more or less similar in all the major works of Jainism. Certain common features are found in both Jainism and Advaita Vedanta such as liberation as the highest goal of life, ignorance of Reality as the cause of our bondage, Law of Karma, Jivanmukti etc., still in certain other matters both the systems are diametrically opposed to each other. Absolutism of Advaita Vedanta claims that, Reality is one without a second, this world is mere appearance and ultimately there is no difference between supreme Reality and individual soul. Jainism is a system of realism, dualism and pluralism. It is a realism, because it recognises the reality of the external world; it is a kind of dualism, because it advocates two fundamental realities; the Jiva (Soul) and the Ajivao (non-soul) which are obviously contradictorily related to each other; and a pluralism on account of belief in pluralities of substance.10 Advaita Vedanta believes in absolute non-dualism while Jainism advocates non-absolutism or many-sided theory of Reality 798

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(Anekantavada). It rejects both the extreme view of absolute eternality as well as absolute non-existence. It is a system of unity in difference, of one-in-many and of identity-in-change," According to Jainism Advaita Vedanta is one-sided theory which rejects particularities and emphasises only oneness of Reality. It gives only partial knowledge of Reality and falls under the sangrahanaya.12 Logical giants of Jainism such as Samantabhadra,13 Akalanka,14 Vidyananda,15 Prabhacandra,16 Hemacandra, Vadidevasuri, 18 Mallisena1 and others have severely criticised the Advaitic theory of non-dual Brahman, doctrine of Maya and oneness of individual Souls (Ekajivavada]. Criticism of Advaitic conceptions are scattered in different Jaina works. A humble attempt has been made here to size them in to unity in a very condensed form. Jaina thinkers argue that Advaitic doctrine of non-duality of Brahman and theory of Maya (i.e. illusory nature of the world) cannot be proved by any accredited means of knowledge. If it is provable by any means of knowledge then there is duality of Pramana and Prameya 20. First of all, existence of non-dual Brahman is contradicted by our perceptual experience. Perception reveals only the world of plurality. Daily experiences of duality or plurality of phenomena cannot be repudiated as false appearance or illusory, because this difference is clearly seen and felt. There is no proof against this duality or plurality which is cognised in our normal experience. Where is contradiction in saying that potter fashions a pot with his sticks and eats his food with his own hand. The difference (such as potter and his actions) between agent and action is even known by the ordinary people.21 If Advaitic view of non-dual Brahman is accepted, then, the difference observed between the agent and the action cannot be possible.22 The standpoint of the Advaitins that one absolute transforms into many such as agent and action etc., also indicates duality. This is because one absolute never transforms itself into many without the assistance of others, which means acceptance of duality between the assistant and assisted.23 The well-known example of shell and silver given by the Advaita Vedantins to prove the ultimate falsity of the phenomenal world and oneness of Brahman, itself proves the existence of the shell and the silver as two different entities. In the same way, the statement of Advaitins that Brahman is one without a second and the world is just appearance24 proves the duality of Brahman and the phenomenal world which is different from Brahman.25 It is also not tenable to argue that one unit or self-identical Brahman appears 799

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as the plurality of phenomena just as in dream a plurality of facts is experienced though it is one Consciousness that only exists and is felt and thus existence of one absolute Brahman is not contradicted by perceptual experience. This is because even in dream as in wakeful experience, the consciousness of action is different from that of the agent because dream contents are produced by different memory impressions.26 The viewpoint that the indeterminate (nirvikalpa) cognition which cognises existence of Brahman cannot be accepted as source of our experience, because we never perceive what is not determined by space, time and what is not other than the knowing self. On opening our eyes we perceive specific existence determined by space, time, otherness and the like.27 Granting that indeterminate cognition is a kind of valid source of knowledge, it must be accepted that, it will not only take note of what Brahman is, but, will also take note of what Brahman is not and thus, it leads to dualism of Brahman and non-Brahman28 Even the argument that perception has no power to deny the Reality, it only affirms, is baseless because affirmation always implies negation, a thing cannot be affirmed to be yellow without denying that it is black. Thus, affirmation and negation which are presented together are the positive and negative aspects of a single Reality. Our perceptual experience instead of proving one Brahman, proves difference to be as integral to Reality as identity.29 If perception only affirms Reality i.e. Brahman, then why not to state that it affirms this plurality of phenomenal world also. If it affirms both, then there is a dualism of Brahman and the world. Thus argument of the Vedantins that perception only affirms positive Reality, is not justified by our experience. If Brahman is only real and this world is false, then Brahman could have been known in the first case of our normal experience and not this pluralistic phenomenal world.30 Even the Non-duality of Brahman cannot be proved on the basis of pure logic also. When Vedantins argue that Atman is un-born, un bound and always freed and thus, in reality, there is neither bondage nor liberation, etc., this is purely fabrication of mind and to prove such kind of Atman by inference will be completely imaginary. The consequence of this is attainment of an imaginary liberation." Bondage and liberation are facts and both cannot be regarded as illusory. Denial of distinctions between them in definanee of experience is nothing but embracing the Scepticism or Universal nihilism.53 800

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If non-duality of Brahman is proved with the help of valid inference which involves the proban (hetu) and the probandum (sadhya), then there is clear admission of duality between the proban and probandum.54 The fact is that both cannot be identical because, inference will be invalid unless both are admitted as two distinct facts. Again it will not be possible to construct a syllogism which demands different members. In inference, one proves the probandum by means of proban, preceding from the known to the unknown which means inevitable dualism of the 'known and the un-known'. It is also illogical to argue that so far as the opponent's refutation is concerned the conditions of Inference, such as the proban, the probandum and the example, are accepted as true by the opponents and hence they are valid, because it will again lead to dualism of one's own acceptance and the acceptance of the opponent.35 If the condition of inference (the proban, the probandum and the example) are false and thus cognition of difference be considered as false, then that inference will be declared to be invalid, because no valid, conclusion can be drawn from false premises, If Advaitins prove their theory of non-duality on the basis ot false premises, then we may obtain real fire from to dream smoke. 35 In addition to all these difficulties, the word 'duality' which occures in the word Advaita itself indicates acceptance of duality. 'Advaita' means rejection of dvaita. Without acceptance of dvaita, its denial is also not possible. Nothing is contradicted unless it exists and thus, non-duality, which contradicts duality, from this very fact accepts the existence of duality. 37 Again, it is not plausible to argue that Brahman is supporting ground of all and is that principle of existence which runs through all things and unites them in one Reality, because it clearly involves the dualism of a principle that runs through the things (anvetr) and the things through which it runs (anviyamana).38 If the doctrine of Advaita is based on Scriptural testimony and not on pure logic, then, dualism or pluralism may also be said to be based on Scriptures on the same ground. Even acceptance of Scriptural testimony implies dualism of Agama (revelation) and Brahman i,e, dualism of vacya-vacakabhava, without which these Scriptures declare nothing. Ontologically, Scriptures cannot be identical with Brahman because the means of proof (Agama) and the object of proof must be different. Otherwise they can establish nothing. In fact, Scriptural statements such as "All that 801

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exists is Brahman", "Everything is that one Reality", etc., which Advaitins quote in their support, prove dualism between all existing things of the world and Brahman. Even Scriptures cannot be regarded as the essence of the Absolute, because, essence and possessor of essence must be numerically different. 41 Another important thing is that, as far as these Vedantic texts are concerned, Advaitin's interpretations are not to be accepted as final word. This is because there are other possible interpretations which are in harmony with dualism or pluralism as interpreted in Visesavasyakabhasya42 If Absolute Brahman is self-proved, then there is no harm in accepting duality or plurality or voidity as self-proved truth. Self intuition cannot be considered as proof for the existence of nondual Brahman, because, there is again an inevitable dualism between the proof (i.e. self-intuition) and the object of proof (i.e. Brahman).If self-intuition is identified with the Absolute, then it cannot be considered as a proof for the existence of Brahman.43 It is selfcontradictory to say that self-evident pure consciousness is the contradictor of our normal cognition of plurality, because, it means, again admission of duality of the contradicted and the contradictor.44 Even on the religious ground, the doctrine of non-dual Brahman cannot be accepted, because it means denial of distinctions between good and bad deeds, pain and pleasure, this world and the world hereafter, knowledge and ignorance, bondage and liberation. Thus, if this doctrine is accepted then the consequence is destruction of the moral fabric of human life.45 If it is said that, Brahman is the only Reality and on account of Maya or Avidya, this apparent world exists, then again it is impossible to prove, either the existence of Maya or Mithyatva (illusory nature) of the world by any means of valid knowledge.46 The fundamental objection against Advaitin's is, whether the doctrine of Maya (cosmic illusion) adopted to explain this multiplicity of the phenomenal world is real or unreal, if it is real, then it destroyes the non-dual nature of Brahman and leads to an inevitable dualism. If it is unreal, then, this world which is caused by Maya will not be possible. To say that Maya is unreal and still it creates this world is as absurd as to say that a woman is barren and that she is a mother. 47 And the Vedantins themselves accept the theory that the real thing (the world) cannot be produced from unreal thing. 48 Again, the very statement that Maya is indescribable i.e. neither existent nor non 802

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existent on account of being existent in the state of mundane life and no more at the state of realisation, indicates that it is descri-bable in terms of either existent on the phenomenal level or non-existent in the state of liberation.49 To say that Maya is indescribable, is self contradictory like saying that I am silent throughout the life and my father is bachelor. 50 If we grant that Maya exists, then where does it exist ? Neither Brahman nor jiva can be locus of Maya. It cannot exist in the supreme Brahman which is pure consciousness by nature. If it exists in Brahman, then Brahman cannot be called pure consciousness on account of being associated with Maya. Even individual self is pure consciousness by nature and in essence, not different from Brahman and thus free from all taint of Maya. If Maya is an independent reality like Brahman and co-eval with it from the beginningless time, then it will be an impossible task to annihilate it by any means of liberation and the consequence of this indestructibility of Maya is an eternal bondage of the soul.51 It is argued that Maya exists (Bhavarupa) but it cannot be eternal like Brahman nor cannot be an independent entity. Though it is not capable of being determined by logic, still the denial of its existence would be contradiction of a felt fact and without adopting this doctrine of Maya, it is not possible to solve the problem of relation between the Absolute and phenomena, individual self and the Brahman, real and the unreal.52 Here, again, one may argue why should such kind of illogical and irrational concept be accepted at all ? Instead of postulating this kind of unreal principle as the cause of the world, it is better to accept the view that the world is both different as well non-different from the Brahman. The relation between the Absolute and the world is to be identity-cum-difference. An advantage of accepting this view is that there is no necessity of denying any one of the felt facts, the world and its cause-the Absolute.55 Again, the unreality of the world cannot be proved. Argument of the Vedantins is that real is real always, remains constant at all the times and is free from origin and destruction, increase and decrease. But things of the world are subject to constant change, decay and death. Thus they are unreal. This Vedantic position can be put in the following syllogistic form : "world is unreal, because it is an apparent reality, that which is apparent is unreal (as for instance) silver on a shell, therefore, this world is unreal because of its apparent 803

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54 nature, This word, "unreality" of the Vedantins can be understood in three alternative ways :-absolute non-existence, mistake or one thing appearing as another and indescribable. The first two meanings are denied by the Vedantins because, the former view leads to asatkhyati, which is accepted by some Buddhists and latter view is Viparitakhyati, which involves two reals: the thing which is mistaken and the thing as it is mistaken. The third alternative that it means 'indescribability is also not plausible because everything has corresponding expression for it in language, for instance, 'this is a table', 'this is a sarala tree' etc. and what gives birth to an expression in language is either an object or a piece of knowledge. Again, an object must be either real or unreal; to deny both the alternatives to a thing is meaningless, only one of them can be denied. If indescribability of thing means nihsvabhavattva (i.e. unsubstantial) i.e. it is not what it appears to be, than it leads to viparitakhyati. If it is understood in the sense of un-knowability, then the very argument that a thing is un-substantial because it is unknowable indicates that the thing is not absolutely un-knowable. And again, this apparent world cannot be, talked about due to unknowability and it cannot be made the subject of the syllogism such as the 'world is unreal, because it is an apparent reality', etc. If the world is un-knowable, then it could not be predicated of the world. Thus, unknowability is inconsistent with the hetu i.e. pratiyamanatva. If unknowability means that a thing is not really as it appears to us, then it cannot be said as un-knowable, because, here, a thing is known differently if from what it is, which is again principle of Viparitakhyati, un-acceptable to Vedantins. Even direct perception of plurality of thing of the world such as 'Table', 'Chair'. 'Sarala tree' etc. disapproves the doctrine of indescribability of the world. This doctrine of unreality of the world of Advaitins can be refuted by providing counter arguments such as "world is not false, because it is different from a non-existing thing, that which is different from non-existing thing is not false, as for instance the soul, this world is so, hence, it is not false".56 This counter argument makes it very clear, that, it is irrational to accept the Vedantins view that the soul which appeals as a reality in our apprehension is only real and other things are unreal which also appear as real in our apprehension. If it is said that inference proves the unreality of the world then, it can be argued that "Is syllogism which is supposed to prove the unreality of the world is part of the world or is it separate from it? If it is 804

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separate, then is it true or untrue ? It cannot be true, otherwise the whole world will become true. It cannot be untrue, because, it proves nothing. If it is part of the world then, it is unreal like the rest of the world and cannot accomplish task of proving unreality of the world. 57 If it is said that an argument has a practical validity and serves well as a working theory, then we have to accept that an argument is real, and it will destroy the fundamental position of the Advaitins that nothing besides Braman is real.58 Even Scriptural texts such as 'Sarvam khalu idam Brahma'etc. instead of proving unreality of the world prove reality of the world and Brahman i.e. all existing things of the world and Brahman. Even Advaitic one soul theory is not tenable because this view is again contradicted by perceptual experience of plurality of individual selves. Like Sankhyas. Jainas argue that, if Atman is only one then birth and death, bondage and liberation, pain and pleasure etc. should be one for the whole universe, if one person is blind or deaf, all should be blind or deaf, if one acts, all should act in the same way, if one suffers or enjoys, all should similarly suffer or enjoy. If selves were one, bondage of one should have meant of bondage of all and liberation of one should have meant liberation of all. But what we find in the world is of a nature which is quite the opposite.61 If Atman is one then births of different kinds of beings such as hellish, human, Divine, etc., are not possible. If Atman is one and all pervading, then why is not consciousness seen in innert things such as pot, stone etc.? Again, there will be no difference between liberated and bound Soul, preceptor and pupil, child and wise and so on.62 Jiva is different in each body (pratiksetram Bhinnah)63 and thus, individuals are born and die at different times, their actions and experience are diverse in nature and so on. There cannot be absolute indentity between Jiva and Brahman because, in that case mundane world of different individual selves will be impossible to conceive on account of inseparability of Jiva from ever liberated supreme Brahman. It also cannot be said that Atman seems to be different on account of bodily adjuncts but essentially one, because, in that case, just as after destruction of pot its space is also freed, similarly, when body is destroyed every one will be liberated and no need of means of liberation, consequently no one will try to achieve this goal and whole science of liberation will become purposeless64 and theory of karma, rebirth etc. collapse to the ground. 805

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If it is said that, on account of Samskaras (impressions) every jiva is not freed immediately after destruction of the body and becomes object of transmigration then the question is whether these Samskaras of individual Jiva are specio-temporal or all-pervading like ether. If they are limited by space and time then the man died at particular place, to say at Citrakuta must born in the same place, because Samskaras cannot travel from one place to another being inactive and unconscious (because product of unconscious avidya), Samskaras cannot also be allpervading because in that case, no place and no soul, even liberated, will be free from clutches of all pervading Samskaras and these Samskaras might bring liberated man back to this mundane world. So, it is not possible to prove the oneness of souls and it is more wise and practical to accept the view of plurality of selves.65 To sum up, Jainas point out that Advaitin's arguments that reality is one without a second, on account of Maya this world appears as many (vivarta) and this apparent world disappears after destruction of Maya and realisation of Brahman, and Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana are the means of liberation, are meaningless like discription of the barren woman's son, because the existence of nondual Brahman or Atman cannot be proved by any available means of knowledge. Now, all these objections raised by Jainas are generally found in the writings of Ramanuja" and Madhva.68 Possible answers are found in the works of stalwarts of Advaita Vedanta such as Sankara69 and his followsers which certainly deserve separate treatment. It is also very important to note that, though Jainas criticise the some of the doctrines of Advaita, still some Advaitic trends are steeped into Jainism.?And there was trend to reconcile Jainism with Advaita and other systems of Indian Philosophy. For instance, Yasovijaya?1 a 17th century Jaina stalwart proclaims that Jainism has no quarrel with any other system of Indian thought. (ABBREVIATIONS used in Notes) A.S. -- Astasahasri A.M. -- Aptamimamsa N.K. - Nyayakumudacandra P.N.T. - Pramananayatattvalokalankara 806

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R.K.A. - Ratnakaravatarika S.M. - Syadvadamanjari S.R. - Syadvadaratnakara S.S.P. - Satyasasanapariksa S.V. - Siddhiviniscaya T.S. - Tattvarthadhigamasutra V.S.B. - Visesavasyakabhasya "Yatra diastaca drsyam ca darsanam cavikalpanam. tasyaivarthasya satyatvamahust-rayyanta vedinah"Vakyapadiyaed; J. M. Shukla; Pub. L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad1984. "Dvaitapaksat paranudya budhyasuddhisamasrayat, paramatmanamevaikam tattvam tattvavido viduhu"-Brhattika, quoted in 'Vedantadarsanam'(R. P.), Pt. S. Subrahmanya Sastri, Pub. Varanasiya Sanskrit Visvavidyalaya, 1967. "Yastu Brahmavadinamesa niscayo yadupalabhyate na tat tathyam, yannopalabhyate tattathyamiti namastebhyo" Brhati', Part-I, Pub. University of Madras. 1934, p. 239. "Atra tavat vedantina ahuh.... nityasukhamatmatto mahatvavadastityagamapramanyada-bhyupagamyatam. Tacca samsaradasayam avidyavaranavasena nanubhuyate"Nyayamanjari-II, Apavarga pariksa, Pub. Oriental Institute, Mysore, 1983, p. 431-2. Suddhabuddhasvabhava ityaupanisadah"-Nyaya Kusumanjali-I, Pub. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series, Benares, 1912, p, 4-5. Evamegeti jappanti manya arambhanissia. Ege kicca sayam pavam, tivam, dukkham niyacchai"-Sutrakrtanga I-10 and see 8, 9, 11, Ed. Ambikadatta Oza, Pub. Jaina Jnanodaya Society, Rajkot, V.S. 1993, p. 31-35. "Visesavasyakabhasya-II, Gatha 2036-2045, Pub. L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad-9, 1968. 807

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8. 9. 10. 2. (a) "Brahmasatyam jaganmithya. jivobrahmaiva naparah". Brahmajnanavalimala-verse 20. works of Sri Sankaracarya, Vol. 16, Vanivilas Press, Srirangam. p. 224. (b) Bhamati-mangala verse 1-Brahmasutra Sankarabhasya with Ratnaprabha, Bha-mati and Anandagirivyakhya, ed. Mahadev Shastri Bakre. Fub.: Nirnayasagara Press. Bombay, 1909. Tattvarthadhigamasutra with Siddhasenagani tika (T. S.) 11-4 Ed. H. R. Kapadia. Pub.: J. S. Javeri, Bombay, 1926. (a) T. S. I-V-2. (b) Pramananayatattvalokalankara-VII, 56, ed. H. S. Bhattacharya, Pub. Jaina Sahitya Vikas Mandal, Bombay. 1967. p. 560. Saddarsanasamuccaya with Gunaratnasuri tika. Ed. Mahendra Kumar Jain, Pub. : Bharatiya Jnanapitha, Kasi, 1969. p. 344. (a) Akalanka's Siddhiviniscaya with tika. Ed. Mahendrakumar Jaina, Pub, : Bharatiya Jnanapitha, Kasi, 1959. pt. II, p. 677-78. (b) P. N. T, VII-13, 15, 16, p. 518-520. Aptamimamsa 24-27. Ed. Pt. Gajadharlal Jain. Pub. : Bharatiya Jaina Siddhanta Prakasini Sanstha, Benares. 1914. S. V. II; p. 463-468; 494, 677, 678. (a) Astasahasri, ed. Vansidhar, Pub.: Nirnayasagar Press, Bombay, 1915, p.157-163. (b) Tattvartha slokavartika, Ed. : Manoharlal Shastri, Pub : Nirnayasagar Press Bombay, 1918. p, 25-26. (c) Satyasasanapariksa, Pub. ; Bharatiya Jnanapitha, Kasi, 1964. p. 1-9. Nyayakumudacandra part-I, p. 63-64; 147-155, Part II, p. 808, 812. 830-838, ed, Mahendrakumar Shastri, Pub. : Manikcandra Jaina Granthamala, Bombay, 1938, and 1941. Anyayogavyavacchedika with Syadvadamanjari-13. Ed. 13. 14. 16. 17. 808

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18. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. Jagdiscandra Jain, Pub ; Ravajibhai Chaganbhai Desai, Srimadrajachandrasrama, Agas, 1970. P. N. T. 1-15, VII. 13-17 and 56. Syadvadamanjari, ed. A. B. Dhruva, Pub : Bombay Sanskrit and Prakrit Series, 1933. p. 77-83. S. S. P. p. 7. A. S. P. 158. (a) Tattvartharajavartika, Pub. : Bharatiya Jnana Pitha, Kasi, 1953. p. 21, (b) A. M. 24 (c) A. S. P. 158. S. S. P. p. 6-7. "Anirvacyavidyadvitayasacivasya prabhavato vivarta yasyaite viyadanilatejo a vanayah, Yatascabhudvisvam caramacaramuccavacamidam namamastadbrahmaparimita sukhajnanamamrtam"-Bhamati-Mangala verse-1, quoted in S. S. P., p. 2. S. S. P. p. 2. A. S. P. 158. S. S. P. p-4, S. M. p. 82. S. M. P. 79. S. S. P. p.18 Mandukyopanisad with Gaudapadakarika and SankarabhasyaVaitathyaprakarana-Verse 32, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, V.S. 1993. p. 108. T. S.-V. p. 25-26. (a) A. S. P. 159. (b) S, S. P. p. 7. (a) A. M. 26. 25. 26. 28. 30. 31. 33. 34. 809

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(b) A. S. p. 160-161. 35. (a) A. M. 24. (b) A. S. P. 158. 36. S. S. P. p. 7. 37. (a) A. M. p. 27. (b) A. S. p. 162. 38. S. M. p. 83. 39. Vacyavacacakabhavalaksanasya dvaitasyaivatatrapi darsanat-S. M. P-83. 40. (a) S. M, P-83, (b) S. S. P, P-5, 41. S. S. P, P-6 42. V. S. B-II, gatha 2036-2045. 43. A. S. p-161. 44. A. S. P-158. 45. (a) A. M. 26. (b) A. S. p. 159. 46. A. S. p. 161-163. 47. Anyayogavyavacchedika with Syadvadamanjari verse-13. 48. Mandukyopanisad with Gaudapadakarika and sankarabhasya Advaita prakarana, verse--28, p. 164-165. 49. (a) N. K. Part-I, p. 63 (b) S. S. P. P. 8. 50. S. S. P. p. 8. 51. A. S. P. p. 9 52. Suresvara-Sambandhavartika-175-181, ed. Kasinatha Sastri Agase, Pub. Anandasrama Press, Pune, 1982, P. 55-57. 53. A. S. P. 163. 810

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54. (a) b) S. M. P. 78. Ratnakaravatarika, ed. Hargovindadas, Pub. Dharmabhudaya Press, Benares, Vira Samvat-2437, P. 34, 56. 57. (a) R. K. P. 34-35 (b) S. M. P. 78-79. (a) E. K. P. 34-35. (b) S. M. P. 80, S. M. p. 80. S. M. p. 80. (a) A. S. p. 161. (b) S. M. p. 83. Sankhyakarika-verse-18, Pub : Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series, 1963. Syadvadaratnakara-V. Pub : Motilal Ladhaji; 27, Bhavanipeth, Pune, Vira Samvat 2457. P-1094. Silanka-Sutrakrtangatika ed. Ambikadatta Oza, Mahavira Jaina Jnanodaya Society, Rajkot, V. S. 1993, P. 30-35. P. N. T. VII-56. 64. 65. S. R. P-1095. S. R. P-1095-6. S. S. P. P-7. Sribhasya-part-I, ed. Vasudev Shastri Abhyankar, Nirnayasagar Press, Bombay 1914. P-77-135 Anandatirtha (Madhva)--Mayavadakhandanam, Pub : T. K. Venkatacarya, Srividya Printing Press, Kumbhakonam, 1921, P1-15. (a) Works of Sankaracarya. (b) Sambandhavartika (c) Advaitasiddhi, ed. Anantakrishna Shastri, Nirnayasagar Press, Bombay, 1917. (d) Madhvatantramukhamardanam-ed. Pt. Ramanatha Diksit, Hanumanghat, Benares 1941. 69. 811

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70. (a) "Samalam nirmalam cedamitidvaitam yadagatam. Advaitam nirmalam Brahmata-daikamavasisyate", Yasovijaya-Adhyatmopanisat prakarana, II-40, p. 152. Adhyatmasara, Adhyatmopanisad, Jnanasaraprakaranatrayi, Pub. Sanghavi Nagindas Karmacanda. Jamnagar, V. S, 1994. (b) "Advaitic Trends in Jainism"--The Jaina Antiquary. Vol. XXIII 1965. p. 6Abaddham paramarthena paramarthena baddhanca vyavaharatah. Bruvanobrahmavedan nanekantam pratiksipet"Adhyatmopanisat prakarana-l p-50, and 45-49 and 51. 71. 812

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The Vaidikadharma and Its Holistic Approach - Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri India has been the originating ground for many great religions, like Vaidikadharma, Bauddadharma, Jainadharma and Sikhadharma. The Vaidikadharma is the oldest of them all. The history of Vaidikadharma goes back to remote past, where determination of its date has become impossible for the scholars. Vaidikadharma, in fact, is the oldest of all great religions of the world. It is called Vaidikadharma because it is based on the universal truth and knowledge taught by the Vedas, which are foundational Scriptures of Vedic civilization. Vaidikadharma is not a religion, not a dogma, not a cult in narrow sense. It is a culture. It is a great civilization. It is also called 'Sanatanadharma'. The word Sanatana means 'etenal', and 'Dharma' means eternal truth, righteousness, moral law, faith, religion and duty. It is embodiment of eternal truth, so it is called Sanatanadharma." This is mighty law of the life, great principle of human evolution, a body of spiritual knowledge and experience" [Sri Aurobindo, Uttarapara Speech, p.5]. In the context of Vaidikadharma, it is necessary to analyse the word 'Dharma'. In Vedic culture, the word 'Dharma' does not just mean 'religion' [ as often translated], it is far more comprehensive and different from the term 'religion', which is governed by the taboos, commandments and dogmas laid down for all time. The word 'Dharma' is derived from the Sanskrit root dhr, which means 'to uphold', 'to support', to sustain', 'to nourish' and in the broadest sense, this word is used for the universal laws of nature that uphold the cosmos. It is the firm foundation on which the entire universe is established [Dharmo visvasya jagatah pratisthaMahanarayana Upanisad. 79.7] Dharma basically means the principle, the discipline, the way which helps to sustain the life of individual and life of society. The meaning futher broadens to the degree that it becomes the principle that sustains the system of this universe. It is that fundamental universal principle which upholds the people, brings people together, irrespective of their religion,race,sex and creed. [Dharanat dharma ityahuh dharmo dharayati prajah Mahabharata).Dharma, in its deeper sense means, Sat - the existence, that 'tat' the very essence of one's being. Dharma, as a path implies righteous path, 'righteous behaviour, and way of life, which helps us to reveal this fundamental principle in us. In this sense, Dharma implies such concepts as justice, virtues, morality, religious rites, ceremonies, observances, duties and obligations of men and women, laws, customs and even manners of society. In other words, it is righteous path, righteous behaviour and way of life which helps us to progress in life and realize fundamental truth in us. Dharma is that principle which is the means 813

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of both worldly prosperity, happiness and ultimate freedom abhyudayanissreyasasiddhih dharmah - Vaisesikasutra ). It is righteous path, righteous behaviour of individual and society based on truth and knowledge of unity, in spite of diversity and capable of bringing highest good to the whole creation. Duties, obligations. justice, rules of conduct and guidelines for actions come under the dharma since they are essential to the protection and perpetuation of the individual towards himself and the society. It reminds the duties and obligations of the individual towards himself and the society,as well as those of the society towards the individual. Thus, it is dharma,which makes it possible for men and women to live and function harmoniously in thier society by fulfilling their goals and at the same time contribution to the society at large. Thus the concept of 'Sanatanadharma' or Vaidikadharma in its implications and applications is basically governed by the truth and is directed primarily towards the welfare and perfection of mankind and indeed of the whole universe. The concept of dharma involves the keen sense of duty. This evolved from a constant thinking on right and wrong of one's actions, doing what is good for oneself and for people around oneself or for the society as a whole, not only in the present or in the immediate future, but for all time to come, is right action, and it is duty of an individual. The reverse of it is wrong action and it is not to be resorted to, that is what the dharma teaches. Dharma consists of many characteristics, such as, truthfulness, non-violence, non- stealing, purity of conduct, control of senses, wisdom, knowledge, non-anger, fearlessness and non-envy etc. Dharma establishes a stable foundation as the integration of internal and external, individual or social aspects of human life and existence. Here lies the true significance of dharma in social and humanistic sense. That means valuation leading to the development of harmony in individual and the society. It is also divine law, the inner voice of conscience. Therefore, ancient Indian seers asked us to be faithful to this moral law, that which binds the members of the human family together amd gives us a new sense of responsibility for the safety and happiness of the whole human family.It is Dharma-righteousness, nobility, proper conduct, a philosophy of life, which makes man or woman a worthy citizen of this world, cultured human being of the society. The word Dharma is sometimes used in the sense of power of discrimination, choosing the path of right and wrong. Man is the roof amd crown of creation. He has capacity to discriminate and analyze his feeling as and when they arise and allow his actions to be guided and directed by his power of discrimination, instead of being driven and carried away 814

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by momentary impulses and feelings. Vaidikadharma rightly points out and distinguishes human beings from animals on the basis of dharma, that it, power of discrimination. Otherwise, animals and human beings are common in the respect of food, sleep, fear and sex (ahara-nidrabhayamaithunam ca samanyametad pasubhirnaranam). In case if human beings, it is dharma - power of discrimination, duty consciousness , and righteousness,morality that is an added peculiar trait. The dignity, culture of the mankind lies in the exercise of this faculty.When this wondrous equipment is neglected, human being is bound to deteriorate to the status of an animal and suffer the consequences thereof. Sometimes, our actions are based on feelings rather than guided by discrimination. Such action, depending upon the whims and fancies of feelings are detrimental and dangerous to our welfare and prosperity. Dharma as the righteous path offers the technique of development of this faculty and leaves to man to make or mar himself and his progress. It helps us to keep our intellect alert and apply its faculty of discrimination to the choice of right action at every moment of our life. Being guided by proper discrimination, sach actions are dynamic and productive and they bring about and cheer in the society. Thus, the Dharma is that principle which keeps human beings above animalism,sustains him in his humanity and supports him in his progress towards the Divine. The main aim of religion is establishment of unity of all existence.Vaidikadharma strives for the integration of personality, which reconciles individual to his/her own nature, his/her fellow men and women and the supreme Self or Spirit. The reality which is to realized through religion is, the soul of the truth, delight of life, the fullness of peace and immortality (Satyatmapranaramam anandam, samtisamrddham amstam.Taittiriya Upanisad. VI.2.].Religion means re-uniting oneself with original source of creation, i.e., Superme Self or Consciousness or God. Upanisads proclaim that the pure consciousness is a source of all these things, living and non-living, everything is sustained by this and going to merge in it in the end. [Yato va imani bhutanijayante, yena jatani jivanti, yat prayantyabhisamvisanti, tad vijijnasasva tad brahma-Taittiriya Upanisad, Bhrguvalli, 1.1]. Swami Vivekananda summarizes essence of Vaidikadharma in nutshell as 'each soul is potentially divine. The goal of human life is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature external and internal. Do this either by work or worship or psychic control or philosophy by one, or more, or all of these- and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas,rituals or books or temples or forms are but secondary details'[ Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol.I. p.124]. Religion as a path is a definite science of living. By faithfully adhering to its precepts and following its practical suggestions, one can make his/ 815

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her world a better and happier place to live in. It sincerely followed, helps us to live the life of harmony and gain poise of personality. Religion is an experience or attitude of mind-principles tested in life. It is an experience, which affects our entire being, ends our disquiet and anguish, the sense of aimlessness of a futile and fugitive existence. Religion helps us to grow from world of intellect, world of divided consciousness with its discords, dualities, to a life of harmony, of freedom, of love and peace. The main purpose of religion is to discipline our whole being, body, mind, intellect, heart and will. By prayer, worship, meditation and self-control, we can integrate our personality that is what religion as a path shows us. Religion is to be understood as a science of living, so that we may cull out it a set of it a set of desirable values of life, upon which we can rebuild wisely our day-to-day existence. Therefore, Vaidikadharma provides not only metaphysical principles or theories, but also mechanism to operate them and have exhorted people to test these theories in practical life. The Vaidikadharma is a universal religion, which welcomes all noble thoughts from every corner of the universe [Ano bhadrah kratavo yantu visvatah- Rgveda. 1.89.7.].It forsakes all kinds of malignant thoughts and deeds in life [Hinam ca dusayatyesa hindurityabhidhiyate-Foundations of Hinduism Y .S. Shastri. p.1.]. It strives for unity of all existence, individual self with universal Self. [a] ayamatma brahma-Mandukya Upanisad. 2. [b] Tattvamasi- Chandogya Upanisad VII. 7; [c] Jivo brahmaiva naparah Brahmajnanavalimala Sankaracarya, verse.20]. - The Vedic religion conceives of man as spiritual in nature and is interested primarily in his spiritual destiny and relates him in some way to a universe, which is also spiritual in essential character. It points out the unseen string that holds together the heterogeneous phenomena; it makes man understand what he is now and what he should really be. It gives him the key to open the kingdom of heaven, that is within. Vaidikadharma is an outcome of thousands of enlightened and elevated souls of India. It is a thing that has not so much to be believed as lived. Its teachings are universal. The eternal truth, the eternal virtues and values preached by it transcend religious and denominational barriers and give them universal relevance. They are to bring harmony and everlasting peace in this modern nuclear age of competition and conflict. The system of Vaidikadharma is multifarious and activated on various levels. It instructs the simple and powerful command for the future generations, like, 'speak the truth', 'respect elders', 'treat parents as the god', 'follow the path of duty' etc. On the highest intellectual level, it reaches the finest minds to the unity of creation, concept of one god, concept of Supreme Reality from which the creation emerges. For the householders, its express message is, 'never shun from the duty towards 816

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family and society'. A householder pays his debt by taking care of parents and creates safety of his future by investing the proper education with proper samskaras in his children. The texts on code of conduct tried to imbibe how well-being of the society is achieved through the channel of each house-holder. It recognizes, householders as the basis of the society. Instructions for householders are purely on mundane level. Householder enjoys the joys of family life and struggles to retain them. Vaidikadharma allows him all the mundane pleasures as long as he has to perform his duties. The moment one's role as the householder is over, he is expected to look for higher goals and learn about how to detach himself from wordly ties and resort to the non-attachment to worldly affairs. Here, Vaidikedharma walks with individual and prepares him for the path of liberation. Even at this stage, liberation is very high goal.Aranyaka texts are the discussions and instructions for such householders to wean them from the worldly ties. The ashrama system tells us, if ideal life of man is one hundred years, then a householder's duration in the Vanaprastha is twenty five years, from the age of fifty to age of seventy-five years.During these twenty-five years, he is taught to live with least possessions and less attachment and repeated reflection. After these twenty-five years, when one is mentally prepared to receive the highest truth in this universe, ready to renounce the world, to seek the Supreme, one is ready to don the robes of monk. The students are introduced to these principles during their education. They carry the samskaras and the knowledge of these principles throughout their life as householders, Vanaprastha life and the fourth stage of life.When they reach the stage of renunciation and realize the truth regarding the oneness of this creation and its creator, their new duty begins from that point. These realized persons become the instructors in turn. They come down to the mundane level to transmit/transfer their experience and knowledge to next generation. This goes on perpetually. Intention behind all these great utterances, such as the creaction is not different than the creator', 'everything is the manifestation of the same divine' etc. carry very definite intention at its outset. They mean and want and expect to transfer this reality to the last level of the verious walks of life. That is why, the proper education with the samskaras at the earlier stage, dutiful life in the second stage, delegating the duties to others and start learning spiritual truth and finally to attain them is instructed. It is worthy to be noted that to inculcate and realize these highest principles stage wise instructions to be followed are given. The convocation speech in the Taittiriya Upanisad has the highest moral value from the viewpoint of the whole mankind.Its teaches,'speak the truth'treat mother as the god' and 'treat the guest as the god'. why the Upanisad says 'as the god? When one prays, one never has the thought 817

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of betraying the god; similarly, one should not betray these all. Mother and father are the sacred you into a worthy human being, thus teacher's value is equivalent to god. A guest one receives and a guest one becomes at the times and needs shelter, food and love from the host and not the hostility. Therefore, the guest is equally respected in the tradition. It instructs not to break the lineage. Here, concern is shown about the continuty of the society. It again stresses about 'never deterring from the truth'. The repeated use of the word "truth' conveys the mandate of an expectant society. "Never deter from your dyty', this duty, though expressed one in one small statement reaches to every part of society connected with the individual. One should not deter from the welfare'. Whose welfare is this? Again, one individual is connected to his family, society, nation and finally with the whole mankind and further with the whole creation. One wrong doing affects one's own self, family,society,nation and the creation. Therefore, it becomes necessary that, one knows one's Dharma(duty) towards every other being and thing for the good. This is holistic approach and not individualistic (Taittiriya Upanisad -I. 1.2.). Smrtis being the legal texts, ordain the code of conduct in very clear terms. Smrtis tell about the behaviour of every member in the society, they also tell about how the balance of environment should be preserved. Smrtis do not stop at instructing, but there is definite punishment for the wrong committed. The ways Smrtis have adopted to implement their message, is amazing. Smritis are divided into three parts. The first part deals with the instructions about behaviour. The second pert ordains punishments for the obvious crimes. There are many breaches of conduct where law cannot catch you, like, breaking the branch of a tree, killing small animals or insects, insulting elders and gurus in the angry mood etc. The list could be endless. The smrtis erect a barrier within an individual. On the exterior it ordains riztuals of atonements and within it imbibes the fear of sin. The reward of good conduct is merit, which brings happiness in this life, helps one to attain good life hereafter and liberation. Sin incurred brings you birth in lower plane like insects and animals and may one be punished rigorously in the hell. The simple sayings like, 'one's behaviour speak about his family, style of language tells about one's region, haste in receiving the guests shows affection and respect', show how one should behave in the society (Acarah kulamakhyati, desamakhyati bhasanam. Sambhramah snehamakhyati,vapurakhyati bhojanam.- Sanskrit for Beginners, p.129). Another statement tells that,'a person is tested by his selflessness, character, virtues and actions (Yatha caturbhih kananam pariksyate nigharsanacchedanatapatah.Tatha caturbhih purusah pariksyate tyagena silena gunena karmana-Ibi.p.129).Such statements tell about the kind of behaviour expected in the society. 818

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Holistic approach is the speciality of the Vedic religion from the beginning of its history. This holistic attitude is beautifully expressed in many hymns of Vedas, passages of Upanisads, Epics, Bhagavadgita, Smrtis and other sacred and secular literature of Vedic culture. The Vedic Religion always upholds the unity of all existence in the universe. The Vedas reflect the vibrance of an encompassing world view which looks upon all objects in the universe - living and so called non-living objects as being rooted in and pervaded by the one Divine power which is rescognized as Pure Consciousness by the ancient seers (Rsis). Rgvedic conception one Supreme Reality of God behind all changing phenomena of the universe is the basis for this holistic approach of the Vedic culture. Several statements of Rgveda such as "The reality or the God is one, but wise call it by different names [Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti1.164.46]; The real essence of the God is one' (Rgveda.III.55.); 'He is the custodian of Rta [truth or moral order], the binding Soul of the universe, the unity-in-difference in the cosmic and the moral order (Rgvada, X 190-1); 'We offer sacrifice to the ultimate Lord of the Universe, who runs through the every particle of universe blissful and indescribable' (Rgveda X. 121.) and so on are the best examples of holistic attitude. Nasadiyasukta (hymn of Origination) of Rgveda traces the Single source of the whole universe. This hymn states that before origination of this universe), neither death nor immortality, no sign of day and night divider, but That one' (Tadekam] breathed calmly, self sustained; naught else beyond it lay Nasdasinno sadasit tadanim nasidrajo no vyoma paro yat. Kimavarivah kuha kasya sarmannambhah kimasit gahanam gabhiram. Na mrturasidamrtam na tarhi na ratrya anha asit praketah Anidavatam svadhaya tadekam tasmaddhyayanna parah kincanasa. (Rgveda.X.129.1-2] This hymn of origination gives us the concept of the Indeterminate Absolute.For the first time in the human history, a statement is made here by the seer of the Vedas about the one beyond the categories of thought--- the primary cause of all. The indscribable is the ground of all names and forms, the support of all the creation. The reality underlying all existence, all changing phenomena, the Primal one, From which everything originates, cannot be described, either as existent or as nonexistent. This hymn also states that, creation is concerned, there is no external agency, and everything in the universe is spontaneous outcome of this Divine, suprasensible, Impersonal Absolute. This conception is wholly impersonal. Again, the epithet'that one' (tadekam), suggests that, there is nothing beyond that unitary principle. In the Vedic religion, the ultimate Reality or pure Consciousness 819

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pervades the whole universe and all are within it. The magnificent hymn purusasukta[the hymn of Great Cosmic person) of Rgveda clearly brings out the organic unity of the whole universe. It states the Cosmic person has thousand heads, thousand eyes, thousand feet. He covered the earth on all sidses and stretched ten fingers length beyond it. The Great Cosmic peason was all that is and all that will be........, such was His greatness and the person was greater still, this whole world is a fourth of Him, three fourth of Him are immortal in the sky. For with three fourths the person went high, but a fourth of Him remained here, and then spread on all sides, over the living and lifeless world.' [Sahhasrasirsa purusah sahasraksah sahasrapat. Sa bhumim visvato vrtva atyatisthaddsangulam. Purusa evedam sarvam yabdhutam yacca bhavyam. Utamotatvasyesanah yabannenatirohati. Etavanasya mahima ato jyayansca purusah. Pado asya visva bhutani tripadasyamotam divi. Tripadurdhva udait purusah pado asyehabhavat punah. Tato visvam vyakramat sasananasne abhi. X.190.13-14). In this hymn perhaps for the first time in human history, the organic unity of the whole universe is visualized by the Vedic Seers. In this hymn, the Divinity, the ultimate Reality, is symbolically conceived as a Great Cosmic Person [Purusa] and all existence--- the Earth, the sky, the heaven, the stars, Planets, living and non-living things are conceived as manifestations and part of that one Great Cosmic Person, who pervades the whole universe and also remains beyond it. In Him all that is, has been and will be are united. In other words, the ultimate Reality pervades the whole universe and all are within it. It explicitly says that the Divinity or God is not exerior to creation, but expresses itself through natural phenomena. In Vedic religion, the earth is considered as Mother, not just a material substance, a ball of mud, stone and lava to be exploited. She is a universal mother from whose womb all life forms are born. She is worshipped as Mother, which has nurtured the consciousness from the time immemorial, sustained the human race for countless centuries. The hymn on Earth (Bhumisukta] of Atharvaveda, while praising the Mother Earth talks in terms of holistic attitude. It treats Mother Earth as a common abode of all living and non-living, black and white, Easterner or Westerner.It says "The Earth is our Mother and we are all her children [Mata bhumih putro aham prthivyah XII.1.12.),irrespective of race, religion, sex and creed.' 'She is the abode of all, though we live in different regions, speak different languages and follow different religions and social 820

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customs. [Janam bibhreti bahudha vivacasam nana dharmanam prthivi yathaukasam.XII.1.44]. Upanisads are the expression of Vedic vision and thought. They reveal the most profound spiritual truth. According to Upanisadic literature, everything in the universe is rooted in pure consciousness and pervaded by pure consciousness. It declares the spiritual unity of all existence in the universe in categorical terms by stating that 'All this is Brahman [Sarvam khalu idam Brahma.'-Chandogya Upanisad III.14.1,] In this cosmos, whatever exists-living and so-called non-living, all that is pervaded by one Divine Consciousness'[Isavasyamidam sarvam yatkinca jagatyam jagat- Isa Upanisad-1]. All things are connected together to one common background known as the Brahman, which is all pervading pure consciousness. This divine consciousness indwells in every entity in the world of objects, permeating everywhere in its homogeneous, all- pervasiveness. It is inside if all and also outside of all' [Tadantarasya sarvasya tadusarvasyasya bahyatah-Isa Upanisad-5; Antarbahisca tat sarvam vyapya narayanasthitah-Mahanarayana Upanisad]. This all pervasive nature of ultimate Reality [Brahman] the pure consciousness is beautifully described in various Upanisads. The Mundaka Upanisad states that 'In front is Brahman, benind is Brahman, It is to the right and to the left. It spreads forth above and above and below. Verily, Brahman is this effulgent universe.' [Brahmaivedamamrtam purastad brahma pascad brahma daksinatascottarena.Adhascordhvam ca prasrtam brahmaivedam visvamidam varistham. Mundaka Upanisad. II. 11]. The Aitareya Upanisad declares that "The Reality behind all these things of the universe, is the Brahman, which is pure consciousness. All things are established in consciousness, work through consciousness, and their foundation is consciousness' [Yatkincedam prani jangam ca patatri ca yacca sthavaram sarvam tat prajnanetram, prajnane pratisthitam, prajnanetrolokah, prajna pratistha, prajnanam Brahma.III.V.3] Taittiriya Upanisad state that 'Everything in this universe is originated from this One Divine Consciousness, sustained through It, and going to dissolve in It in the end' [Bhrguvalli.II.16.]. It also says that, all things are bound to one thread; all are connected together to one common background known as the Brahman, which is Absolute Existence, Absolute Consciousness and Absolute Bliss.[ Satyam, jnanam,anantam Brahman.- Brahmanadavalli1.1]. Everything in the universe is connected together to one common whole. The great Absolutist sage Yajnavalkya in Brhadaranyaka Upanisad beautifully describes this inseparable whole; 'everything exists in space or unmanifested ether, the space exists in imperishable Brahman- the ocean of consciousness. This Reality, O Gargi, has interpenetrated the whole universe; everything exists in this imperishable Brahman [Sa hovaca 821 -

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Yadurdhvam Gargi divo yadavak prthivya yadantara dyavaprthivimme yad bhutam ca bhavacca bhavisyaccaetyacaksate akase tadotam ca protam ceti... Etadaksaram gargyadrstam drastrsrutam Srotramatam mantrvijnatam vijnatl nanyadato asti drastr nanyodato asti Srotr, nanyadatosti mantr, nanyadatosti vijnatr, etasminnu khalu aksare Gargi ! akasah otasca protasca.III.8.4.6.9]. The great forces of the universe-- - the sky, the wind, the fire, the water, the earth, mountains the rivers, as well as various orders of life including human being, plants, trees, forests, animals and birds, all are bound to each other within the great rhythm of this one pure Consciousness [Mundaka Upanisad II.1.4; Taittiriya Upanisad. II.1.; Svetasvatara Upanisad.IV.2-3.) These Upanisadic statements imply that the entire universe exists only in the ocean of consciousness, just as all kinds of waves, bubbles, and foam exist only in the ocean. Without the ocean, there would be no waves or bubbles. In fact, waves and bubbles are nothing but parts of the ocean. It is the same consciousness, which indwells in the cosmos as a whole and in each being and in the force or object. It is One Supreme Consciousness, which pulsates in human beings, animals, birds, plants and trees and so-called non-living things. This consciousness is active in living organisms and dormant in so-called non- living things. The distinction between living and non-living ceases to exist for a person, who has attained the ultimate vision of this truth. The statement like, 'Even the world of the non-living have within them the dormant of feeling of sorrow and joy, testifies to this highest state of mystic realization [Antah sanjnah bhavantyete sukha- duhkhasamanvitah]. There is close relationship, close kinship, between the nature, human beings and the divinity. This idea is beautifully described in Taittiriya Upanisad. It is said that, 'From the Atman or Brahman[ Pure consciousness) first arose subtle element ether; from the ether the air; from air the fire and from fire the water, from water ether the air; from air the fire and from fire the water came the earth, from earth plants, trees and from these food and from food [from mixture of all] human beings[ Taittiriya Upanisad II.1). Anothor important conclusion can be drawn from these Vedantic statements that, there is a fundamental unity behind everything. Though the diversity is the felt fact, it is not ultimate. There is unity behind diversity. All are knit together as parts of the same undivided universe.Upanisads emphatically tell us that, he goes from death to death[ Passes through cycle of birth and death],who takes diversity as ultimate truth (a.Brhadaranyaka Upanisad. IV.4.19;b. Katha Upanisad. II.4.10.11;]. Katha Upanitad says that, 'Eternal peace belongs to them, who see one [unity) in all the changing modifications of this universe.' (II.5.12-13). To see, just the superficial diversity without perceiving unity behind all, is falsehood; it is darkness of ignorance, cause of birth and death. Thus, 822

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the immortal prayer of the Upanisad is: 'O, Supreme Reality (God), From the unreal lead me to the Real, From the darkness lead me to the Light. From the death lead me to the Immortality'. [Asato ma sadgamaya, Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, Mrtyorma ametangamaya- Brhadaranyaka Upanisasd 1.3.28] Vedic religion declares the essential unity of all human beings. The Divine power, which permeates the entire universe, is found in the heart of every human being[isvarah sarvabhutanam hrddeserjuna tisthatiBhagavadgita - XVIII.61). The Divinity is inheret in every individual and thus all are born divine. Every individual who is born with human consciousness partakes of this great divine potential. There is essentially, no difference between individual to individual, because same divine consciousness flows in all. Similarly, there is no difference between individual self and universal Salf, ultimateiy, because essential nature of both is pure consciousness and same divine power is inside and outside of all. The Upanisadic statements such as 'That thou art' [ Tattvamasi - Chandogya Upanisad. VIII.7); "I am the Brahman',( Aham Brahmasmi.Brhadaranyaka Upanisad.1.3.10); "This atman is Brahman' [Ayamatma Brahma.- Mandukya Upanisad.-2), make it very clear that at spiritual height there is essentially no difference between individual self and Universal Self. The holistic attitude towards the universe and all living beings naturally lead the Vedic culture to conceive the idea that the whole world is an exended family. Manu clearly says that,' To the large hearted, entire universe is one famlily (Udaracaritanam tu Vasudhaiva kutumbakam - Manusmrti). All living beings are the members of a single world family on account of common spirituality. We are all children of that glorious one Supreme Consciousness (Amstasya putrah]. We are all brothers and sisters in blood. Entire universe is a nest to live in (Visvam Bhavatyekaneedam - Rgveda). This idea of belonging to one whole family eliminates the possibility of sense of separateness or duality, which is root cause of fear, conflict and hatred [ dvitiyadvai bhayam bhavati]. Feeling of unity, feeling of oneness generates love and brotherhood and brings everlasting peace. This is the reason why one of the oldest Upanisadic texts --- isavasya Upanisad asks us to see one's own self in everything and everything in one's own self. Once this unity is realized, there is no sorrow, no grief, no delusion, and no hatred. Peace Prevails in the heart of every being. [Yastu sarvani bhutani atmanyevanupasyati. Sarvabhutesu catmanam tato nuvijugupsate. Yasmin sarvani bhutani atmaivabhud vijanatah. Tatra ko mohah kah sokah ekatvamanupasyatah - Isavasya 823

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Upanisad-6-7]. Vedic religion tells us to love all beings; by loving others we love ourselves, by hating others we hate ourselves, because same divinity, same divine consciousness resides in every being and everything. * The real seer is he, who sees all as his own self ', says the Bhagavadgita [Atmavat sarvabhutesu yah pasyati. sa pasyati-V1.32; XIII.2]. The golden rule taught by Vedic religion is : 'one should never do that to another which one considers undesirable for oneself [Atmanah pratilulani paresam na samacharet. - Mahabharata.V.XV.17]. Still, The picture in this world is paradoxically opposite to the highest ideals of the scriptures. People know the fruit of merit is good, even then they commit sin and though they know that the fruit of sin is bad and there is punishment in the world herefter, still, they knowingly never try to attain merit. Therefore the Vaidika religion has tried to reach the mind of each individual through the system of education combined with samskaras, the code of conduct. in the Dharmasastra literature (Smrtis).through the system of Varna and Asrama and through the walls of merit and sin erected within. The concept of Supreme Reality or God as Absolute Existence, Absolute Consciousness and Absolute Bliss, which - pervandes entire universe and noting is without is its presence, is very high ideal, which is beyond the grasp of common people. Common people cannot worship or meditate on abstract all pervading pure consciousness. Some kind of symbol or image is required for the mind to worship or to meditate. So, Vedic religion gave freedom to its followers to imagine God in any form. One can worship him or meditate on Him, in any form, by any name, according to one's own temperament and liking. We can worship Him in any form such as through idols, images or pictures as imagined by us. These are just symbols of God token for the supreme. The many names and forms of God suit the multifarious tastes of people and their different levels of spiritual evolution, but the God is one in spite of many names and forms. Followers of Vaidikadharma, thus worship different forms of 'God, Such as Lord Ganesa Siva, Visnu, Sakti (universal Mother], Saraswati, Laksmi,Sun and so on. This multiplicity is due to different levels and interests of aspirants, but there is oneness behind it. Not only this, each of these Gods is known by thousand names. Each God is praised as creator, sustainer, destroyer, Absolute existence, consciousness and bliss, because,every god worshipped is expression of one universal Consciousness. It is firm belief of every follower of Vaidikadharma that as the rain water fallen form the sky, ultimately reaches the ocean, similarly worship offered to any god, gods or golddesses finally reaches the same one God or the ultimate Reality.[Akasat patitam toyam yatha gacchati sagaram. Sarvadevanamaskarah kesavam prati gacchati.- Quoted in Foundations of Hinduism - Y.S.Shastri,p.157). The Vaidikadharma does not assign an unalterable or rigidly fixed form or name to the Deity. 824

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since, all minds cannot accept single form on account of variety of human nature. This ides is basis for worshipping various of the God in Vedic culture. Vedic religion believes in the harmony of all religions. Vedic religious thinkers have developed some basic fundamental values about human life, which they have practiced and upheld throughout the ages. They believed that essential divinity is inherent in all life, so manifestation of this divinity, which is already in human beings, is religion. The different religions are different paths to reach the same goal. Every religion, in essence, preaches the same universal truth, love, brotherhood and peace, in different way. The plurality of religion is only on the surface. At the spiritual core, there is an essential unity behind all of them. Each faith or religion should be understood, appreciated and discovered in its own context, not in comparison with another religion. The Vaidikadharma mentions that different religions are like different rivers, which reach the ocean in the end [Rucinam vaicitryat rujukutilananapathajusam nrnam eko gamyah tvamasi payasamarnava iva. - Sivamahimnastotra). It means we should respect all religions as different ways, to reach the same goal. There should, thus,be no hatred or distrust towards another religion or another point of view with respect to ultimate truth or Reality. The concept of spiritual unity of all existense, led the Vedic culture to consider welfare of all happiness of all. Its daily prayer is : May all be happy in this universe, May all be free from inflictions, May all see auspicious things, and May no one suffer [ Sarve atra sukhinah santu sarve santu niramayah. Sarve bhadrani pasyantu ma kascit duhkhabhag bhavet.- Prayers - Dr.Y.S shatri.p.72]. The peace invocation of Vedic tradition reveals that it keeps whole universe in the picture even while praying to Almighty. It talks about peace in all directions of the Universe. Ancient Vedic prayer is : "Peaceful be heaven, peaceful be the earth, Peaceful be the broad space between, Peaceful be for us the running waters, Peaceful be the plants and herbs, Peaceful be all the divine beings, peaceful be the Brahman [ Supreme Being), Peaceful be entire universe, May peace and only peace prevail and, 825

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May that peace come unto me, Peace,peace,pease." [Dyauh santih antariksagun santih - Atharva-Veda -XIX.9] The concept of sacrifice, sharing and charity in Vedic religion is meant for well being of all. Statments like, 'whatever you get, you get it from nature and God, so enjoy the life by sharing it with others' [Tena tyaktena Bhunjithah-Isa Upanisad-1], 'He who eats or enjoys by himself, without sharing with others is a great sinner' (Kevalagho bahvati kevaladi -Rgveda) . 'One who enjoys without sharing which he gets from society is a great thief' [ Yo bhunket stena eva sah - Bhagavadgita - III.12], indicate importance of sharing and gratitude towards the society. It is ordained in the Vedic tradition that, householders should not take their daily food without sharing with poor, animals and birds. it is known as vaisvadevayajna, one of the daily observance that must be observed by all householders, which is still practiced by many adherents of Vedic tradition. Ethical virtues and moral values are preached by the Vedic tradition, keeping whole mankind in the mind. From the vedic religious point of view the physical, the mental, the intellectual and the spiritual personality constitute human being. Moral values are prescribed for regulating these aspects of human personality. The cardinal virtues such as non-violence, truthfullness, non-stealing, control of senses, non-acquisition, purity, charity, compassion tolerance,courage, honesty,rectitude, fellow-feelings are universal virtues which are to be cultivated and practiced by one and all, irrespective of distinctions of caste, creed, race, sex and religion, for the creation of healthy, cultured and peaceful society [Ahimasa-satyam-asteya-brahmacarya -aprigrahah niyamah Yogasutra - II.30-32 : Dhrtih ksama damo asteyam saucamindriyanigrahah. Dhirvidya satyamakrodho dasakam dharmalaksanam - Manusmrti. VI.92 ; Ahimsa satyamasteyam saucamindriyangrahah. Danam damo dayaksantih sarvesam dharma-sadhanam.- Yajnavalkya smrti, 1.122]. One has to avoid vicious and sinful acts, bad intensions abusing, and falsehood, gambling debt,egoistic enjoyment, cruelty and adultery. A text of the Vedic religion mentions six main evils or enemies or human beings, which are to be avoided or to be controlled. Too much sleep, indolence, fear, anger, softness, procrastination and such other habit-forming evils should be avoided ( Nidraalasya-bhaya-krodha-mardava-dirghasutrata. - Salient Features of Hinduism - Y.S.shastri. p.35]. Mahabharata gives list of twelve positive virtues to be cultivated, twelve defects to be avoided and seven pitfalls of human mind to be abandoned. Twelve positive virtues are : 1. knowledge, 2. truth , and 3. selfcontrol. 4 scholarship, 5. tolerance, 6: shame for vices, 7. patience, 8. absence of jealousy, 9.sacrifice, 10.charity,11.courage,and 12. Calmness. 826

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Twelve vices to be avoided are: 1. Wrath, 2.lust, 3.greed, 4. delusion,5.to much desire for worldly pleasure ,6. non-compassion, 7. jealousy,8. shamelessness, 9. sorrow, 10. excessive desire, 11. envy, and 12. disgust. Seven pitfalls of human mind to be abandoned are : 1. Seeking only sensual pleasure, 2. being immersed in trivialities, 3. regretting after giving, 4. miserliness and 5. feeling of weakness, 6. vanity about lineage, and 7. hate or distrust for women. ( Mahabharata - Sanatsujatiya. Ibid. p.35]. The listing of all these virtues and vices is not given in vain. All these virtues, to certain extent, are required to live normally in the society. It is obvious that, nobody can become a perfect human being just by reading the list of virtues, nor can one become bad by knowing the names of vices, A person having only vices is not fit to live in a normal society, because his mental inclinations are faulty and harmful to the society. Repeated instructions of virtues is to keep a person on the right track and imbibe the definition of right and wrong behaviour on his mind. The Bhagavadgita, keeping in mind the entire humanity, talks about divine and demonic qualities and asks us to develop divine qualities. No individual is bad by origin or by birth.Divine and demonic qualities are in the person only and it is a matter to developing either of them. It is completely in human hands to become godlike or demon like. It enumerates twenty-six divine qualities and six demonic qualities in human beings. The divine qualities which are to be cultivated and practiced are : featlessness,mental purity, persistence in the practice of knowledge, charity, control of senses, sacrifice, self study, penance [ austerity), uprightness,non-violence,truthfulness, non-anger, renunciation, tranquility, absence of envy, compassion for all living beings, uncovetousness, gentleness, modesty,dignity,splendor, patience, vigor or courage, cleanliness or purity, benevolence and non egoity. ( Abhayam sattvasamsuddhih jnanayogavyavasthitih. Danam damasca yajnasca svadhyayastapa arjavam. Ahimsa satyamakrodhah tyaga santih apaisunam. Daya bhutesvaloluptvam mardavam hriracapalam. Tejah ksama dhrtih saucam adroho natiamanita. Bhavanti sampadam daivim abhijatasya bharata. [Bhagavadgita XVI.1.1-3] These divine qualities are universal and not restricted to any particuler religious community or people. These virtues humanize men/ women. Hypocrisy, arrogance, pride, anger, harshness and ignorance are the demonic qualities (Dambho darpo abhimanasca krodhah parusyameva ca. Ajnanam cabhijatasya partha sampadamasurim. ( Bhagavadgita.XVI.4] One has to develop divine qualities detrimental to demonic qualities. These immortal values make one's life, the life of human being. Jah ketesvalo. Odhah svadb. anayoga 827

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They save the human being from degenerating into animalism and help him/her to prepare his/her personality for the higher pursuits of life. In fact, edifice of life must be based on these principles. These values are the life force of Vaidikadharma. in fact, the Vaidikadharma stands for these immortal ideals and values of life, not for many other things such as superstitions, external marks, caste systems, different kinds of religious rites, rituals and ceremonies, temples for which it is mistaken. Social structure of vedic calture shows its holistic approach. The society was divided into four classes on the basis of their intrinsic qualities and vocational aptitudes, which is known as the Varna system. The underlying principle of this system is divison of work. This division was to provide work and bread to all, according to their mental, physical capacity and skill. It was aimed at welfare of all the members of society, providing social justice, proper opportunity to earn livelihood and get shelter according to each individual's skill and ability. This system was evolved to keep the social fabric in harmonious condition. This system also wanted the perpetuation of accumulated bulk of knowledge in the from of vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanisads, Vedangas, Smotis, Puranas, epics and so many other branches of knowledge. Initial flexibility invited all the best of intellectuals to preserve the knowledge through oral system. Thus, the living university of knowledge was created. Due to rigidity of lesser men, it took later on rigid trun, which is most unfortunate. it was also mandatory that one should procreate sons and they should be trained in the exactly same way as the father. One should also train worthy disciples. So the tradition of knowledge continues anbroken and uinterrupted. The holistic approach of the vedic religion, if properly understood and practiced will certainly make healthy and beneficial changes in the attitude and outlook of an individual towards his/her fellow beings and entire animate and inanimate environment. The individual will start realizing unity with all, oneness with all. This feeling of unity will help reduce or eliminate possible cause of conflict between individual - to individual, individual and animals, individual and nature. Once, an individual realizes that whatever he does,for or against others, he will be doing for or against himself, because, he, together with all those other things are knit together as parts of the same undivided universe. He will loose his aggressive nature against his fellow beings and nature. His/ her vision will be widened. Once, this holistic attitude of the universe is developed in a person, and he/she begins realizing it in his/her mind, thought and action, which will lead to his/her inner transformation of broader prespective with love, sympathy, and feeling of equality towards all. 828

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In vaidikadharma, we have a universal religion, which cuts across the barrier of hatred and separation that have been built in the name of religion. Each living being inheres divinity within. So, unity of all living beings, oneness of mankind and of all existence must be main aim of every one and true religion. This essential unity of all beings gives rise to the sense of whole world as one family. When, we rise to this higher level of oneness of humanity and then only true peace will prevail in individual as well as in human society. This is the true message of vaidikadharma. Therefore,immortal massage of Rgveda is: "Meet Together,talk together, May your minds comprehend alike. Common be your actions and achivements, Common be your thoughts and intentions, Common be wishes of your hears. So, may there be union amongst you" (Sam gacchadhvam sam vadadhvam sam vo manansi janatam. And Samani va akutih samana hrdayani vah. Samanamastu vo mano yatha vah susahasati. [ Rgveda, X. 192.2 ;4.] 829

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Bibliography Atharvaveda. Trans. Whiteny, W.D., Ed.Charles Rockwell, London. Harvard University Press, 1905. Bhagavadgita, Gita press, Gorakhpur, N.D. Constructive Survey of Upanisadic Philosophy, R.D. Ranade, Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, Bombay, 1968. Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy, C.D. Sharma, Motilal Banarassidas, Dehli, 1973. Foundations of Hinduism, Dr. Y.S. Shastri, Yogeshwar Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 1993. Hindu View of Life, S.Radahakrishanan, George, Allen and Unwin, London, 1927. History of Dharmashastra, P.V. Kane, Volume-I-V, BORI,Pune. History of Indian Philosophy, Volume-I and II, S.N. Dasgupta, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1951. Indian Philosophy, Volume I and II, S. Radhakrishanan, George Allen and Unwin Ltd. London, 1922 and 1927. Isadi Astottarasatopanisadah, ed. Vasudevsharma Panashikar, Nirnayasagara Press, Mumbai, 1917. Manusmrti, ed. P.H. Pandya, Gujarat Printing Press, Bombay, 1913. Naradasmrti - Historical, Sociological, Political and Legal study, Dr. Sunanda Y. Shastri, Bharatiya Kala Prakashan, Delhi, 2002. Rksuktavaijayanti, ed H.D. Velankar,Vaidika Samshodhan Mandal, Pune, 1965. Salient Features of Hinduism, Dr. Y.S. Shastri, Yogeshwar Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 1994. Sanskrit For Beginners, II edition, Dr. Sunanda Y. Shastri, Yogeshwar Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 1998. Yogasutra of Patanjali, tr. Dr. Christopher Key Chapple, Indian Book Center, Delhi, 1990. Ten Principal Upanisads, Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, 1978. Teaching of Upanisads, Dr. Sunanda Y. Shastri, Sharada jnanapeetham, Pune, 2004. 830

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NAGARJUNA IS MAHAYANIST Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar's Shastri Nagarjuna is one of the most outstanding philosophical personalities in the history of Buddhism. There is no second opinion among the scholars that in metaphysical profoundity, logical acumen and spiritual insight, he has few equals among Indian thinkers barring perhaps Sankara. But it is quite interesting to note that some of the modern scholars either expressed doubt about the very existence or historicity of Nagarjuna or questioned the authenticity of Nagarjuna being a Mahayanist. Prof. M. Walleser, thinks that a person known as philosopher Nagarjuna might not have existed on this earth. He states that, the systematic development of thought of voidness laid down in the Prajnaparamitasutras is brought into junction with the name of whom, we cannot even positively say that he has really existed, still less that he is the author of the works ascribed to him this name is Nagarjuna. Dr. A. K. Warder, known scholar of Buddhism of our present day, questioned the authenticity of Nagarjuna being a Mahayanist.? As per my knowledge, there is no question about Nagarjuna's historical personality. The great minds of Buddhism like Aryadeva (Nagarjuna's direct disciple), Kumarajiva, Huiyacin, Candrakirti and others hold him in high esteem in their writings. Lankavatarasutra spoke of him as glorious and renowned monk of Mahayana Buddhism. The writings through which he made an extraordinary impact on the development of Buddhism and religious thought in the East and the images of him formed by the generations of Asians constitute his historical personality. Many Jaina and Hindu texts mention his name as propagator of Sunyavada. The followers of Buddhism of China, Tibet and Japan, in fact actually did consider him to be the second Buddha who had once again set in motion the wheel of Dharma (i.e. truth and righteousness). It is true that there is no authentic biographical data, no reliable historical account of Nagarjuna is existent. In fact it is difficult to draw satisfactory picture of him because his figure is obviously overlaid by many legends and myths, many of which had nothing to do with him. And no where Nagarjuna himself gives his historical account. But on this basis to carry doubt about Nagarjuna's very existence, indicates ignorance about Indian tradition. In India even the greatest poets, philosophers and writers, were not used to write about themselves. They were so humble in their nature that they tbought writing about themselves amounts to self-praise. These renowned masters were known through their disciples and followers. There was a Guru-Sisya tradition in India. Nagarjuna belongs to this great tradition. He was known through his works and 831

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disciples. So his historicity is undeniable and he represented a movement and a school as much as a personality.8 Dr. A. K. Warder, in his Paper 'is Nagarjuna Mahayanist', questioned the authenticity of Nagarjuna being Mahayanist and through this shaking the common belief of Nagarjuna's affiliation to Mahayana opened the new arena of research in the tield of Indian philosophy in general and Buddhism in particular. Dr. Warder, ascribes only six books to Nagarjuna viz., Mulamadhyamakakarika, Vigrahavyavartani, Sunyatasaptati, Yuktisastika, Vaidalyasutra and Prakarana. He does not accept Nagarjuna's authorship of Suhrllekha, Ratnavali and others. To prove his thesis, the learned author is completely dependent on only one major work of Nagarjuna i.e. Mulamadhyamakakarika (M.K.). Only on the basis of this single work he tried to negate Nagarjuna's affiliation to Mahayana, His arguments can be summarised in the following manner: "Nagarjuna neither mentions nor quotes any Mahayanasutras in his Mulamadhyamakakarika to prove his contents, instead of quoting Mahayanasutras he quotes many early Buddhist Pitakas without naming the sutras and mentions Katyayanavavadasutra" by name, which again belongs to early Buddhism. Sources of his work is Tripitakas but not Mahayanasutras. There is no evidence that Nagarjuna had ever seen any Prajnaparmita. Again there are no terms peculiar to Mahayana in M.K.. and nowhere the term Mahayana is used by Nagarjuna in this work. His criticism in M.K, is not against early Buddhism but against Sarvastivada Buddhism which is developed from Abhidharma. His faithfulness to early Buddhism clearly questions the authenticity of Nagarjuna being Mahayanist." This thought-provoking issue raised by the learned author must be re-examined in a critical and analytical perspective. It is easy to say from particular angle that, Nagarjuna is not Mahayanist. I think that, before passing any judgement on Nagarjuna, it is very essential to study Buddhist works which are existent prior to Nagarjuna, and his own works, works of his disciples and predecessors, biographers and points of view of historians. First of all it seems that the learned scholar taking advantage of atmosphere of chronological uncertainty of early Mahayana literature and not finding any direct quotation from it in M.K. draws a conclusion that there is no evidence that Nagarjuna had ever seen any Prajnaparamita texts, thereby assuming that Prajnapaiamita literature itselt is posterior to Nagarjuna. But this is logically untenable, because Nagarjuna flourished in 2nd century A.D., and Mahayana was developed, far early i.e. four or five centuries prior to Nagarjuna. The root of Mahayana is found in 3rd century B.C. in Mahasanghikas10. Progressive thought of 832

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Mahasanghikas are the basis for development of Mahayana. At the time of Nagarjuna, i.e. in 2nd century itself some of the Prajnaparmita sutras were translated into Chinese language. The Astasahasrika Prajnaparmita (Asta.) was translated into Chinese by Lokaksema in 170 A.D. At this time not only Asta but even Pancavimsatisahasrika Prajnaparamita was known to Chinese because on some occasions the text of Lokaksema is nearer to that of the large Prajnaparamita, than to Astia." That means these some of the Prajnaparamita were introduced to China long before, their translation took place. They must have been existent in India longlong before they were introduced to China. Therefore, safely we can say that -Prajnaparamita literature was existent atieast one or two centuries earlier to Nagarjuna. Secondly, a close study of the language and style of some of the Prajnaparamitas, especially Asta. reveals that it was composed in 1st century (circa) or latest by beginning of the Christian era. The style, language and phraseology of Prajnaparamita literature is very much similar to Pali pitakas and seems to be just rendering into Sanskrit of Pali-pitakas. This Prajnaparamita literature is also written in a repetitious style like Pali Canon. It seems that no other style was known to that period except the canonical style. Prajnaparamita, like Pali Cannon appeared in prose form and did not enter into philosophical discussion until its ideas were systematically formulated by later writers. Like Pali canon it lacks refined form and logical regour. Not only this, in the Prajnaparamita literature like Pali Canon, philosophical principles are mixed with religious dogmas and ethical conduct. All these indicate that, at the time when Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita was composed, the Mahayana was in the early state of its history. While, Nagarjuna's style and language are very much refined, there are no repetitions, doctrines are systematically presented and defended with sharp logical argumentation. On this basis also, we can say that Prajnaparamita Mahayana literature was existent prior to Nagarjuna. Thirdly, a comparative study of the development of Sunyavada reveals that some of the Prajnaparamita were definitely existent prior to Nagarjuna. The term 'Sunya' is found in Buddhism since the beginning of its history, but its meaning has not been defined beyond its being identified with nothingness or emptiness in the sense of absence of content. Hinayanists accepted only the pudgalanairatmya (non-substantiality of soul). They did not try to go into its depthness. The Mahasanghikas, for the first time took this word in a broader sense and maintained Pudgalanairatmya as well as Dharmanairatmya i.e. un-substantiality of all dharmas. According to them, empirical knowledge could not give to us an insight into reality, only Sunyata which transcends all worldly things can give to us a vision of the real.12 The Prajnaparamita literature has concentrated on this conception of Sunyata' of the Mahasanghikas. It 833

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teaches us non-substantiality of all dharmas.13 The Phenomena, being dependent on conditions are devoid of substantial reality, hence they are Sunva. Nirvana, being transcendent to all categories of thought is Sunyaemptiness itself. Both Samsara and Nirvana, the conditioned and unconditioned are mere thought-construction and are so devoid of reality (Sunya). Sunya transcends all impirical determinations and thoughtconstruction. It is thus equated with ultimate reality. Thus Sunya and Prajna became synonymas.14 So, these Mahayanasutras made it (Sunya) mean the same thing as suchness which is indescribable.15 But this doctrine of Sunya is treated in a laconic and desultary manner. Nagarjuna, thinking that this doctrine dealt in Prajnaparamita might be misunderstood as mere nothingness, tried to defend it with logical rigour in M. K. and Vigrahavyavartani. His sharp logical mind found that the Prajnaparamita literature, though profound, was wanting in logic, for they did not prove what they thought. Thus his main aim in M. K. is not to defend Mahayana sect, but to establish the doctrine of Sunyata propounded by Prajnaparamita literature, in the light of reasoning. Thus quoting Mahayanasutra is not a criteria in judging Nagarjuna's affiliation to Mahayana or non-Mahayana, but it lies in the logical assessment of the development of the doctrine of emptiness (Sunyata) in early Buddhism and in Nagarjuna's works. Again, there is a close similarlity of the general structure between M. K. and Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita. The doctrine of Sunya, conception of Nirvana, the doctrine of Dependent Origination, the conception of personality and two kinds of truths that found logically developed form in M. K. are certainly based on Asta and purely Mahayanistic in nature. 16 The similes which are peculiar to Mahayana in general and Asta in particular are used in more than 11 places in M.K. by Nagarjuna."? It is also not proper to say that there are no terms peculiar to Mahyana in M.K. In fact the term "Sunyata' itself is peculiar to Mahayana literature because, it stands for doctrine, not for mere nothingness of the early Buddhism. Again, the conception that everything is like dream, like illusion, thought construction, Gandharva Nagar and thus unreal, is the special feature of Prajnaparamita Mahayana literature. 18 To explain the doctrine of Sunya' Nagarjuna has used the same terms and similes used by Asta.' We can find numerous examples from M.K. to prove that Nagarjuna has developed most of his conceptions from Asta.20 It is true that many important, peculiarly Mahayanists ontological and religious terms found in Asta are not occur in the M.K. such as Prajna, Tathata, Advaya, Dharmadhatu, Paramita, etc., even the term Bodhisattva occours only once in the M.K. But it is important to note that the choice of the authors, words depends on what he is talking about and whom he is talking to. Mulamadhyamakakarika is not written to 834

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defend Mahayana. To defend Mahayana, Nagarjuna has written many other works such as Ratnavali and Suhrllekha. In M. K. Nagarjuna is not talking to Mahayanists who are familiar with those peculiar Mahayanistic terms but talking to and criticising Hinayanists who did not accept Mahayana doctrines and also by reasoning on solid grounds, he points out that they have misunderstood the Buddha's teachings. In M. K. Nagarjuna refutes Hinayanists in their own terms. He persuades them by quoting directly or indirectly early Tripitakas, using those terms which were familiar to Hinayanists. This seems to be the main reason in not using many terms in M. K. which are peculiar to Mahayana. It is again illogical to argue that, the term Mahayana is not used or Mahayana is no where mentioned in M. K., thus, Nagarjuna is not Mahayanist. Always we have to keep in mind that characteristics of the work and doctrines are important factors rather than particular terms. The Diamond Sutra (before 400 A.D.) is one of the most profound, sublime and influential of all Mahayana scriptures. Its main aim is to establish the doctrine of Sunya! But the term Sunya is not even once mentioned, nevertheless the doctrine of Sunya is established in an onto-logical, psychological and logical forms.22 Is it possible to say that since it does not use the term Mahayana, thus it does not propagate Sunyavada and does not belong to Mahayana? Again, history of Indian literature reveals that, many great writers of different schools of thought did not mention in their writings to which school they belong, still they propagate doctrines of particular school of thought. Similarly Nagarjuna also without naming or mentioning the Mahayana propagated the doctrines of Mahayana in M.K. It is also important to note that the ideas of Mabayana are all to be found in the Nikayas. Early Tripitakas are like Vedas and Upanisads for all the schools of Buddhism. Just as the Vedanta schools quote Vedas and Upanisads to defend their views, similarly all the schools developed within the Buddhism quote early Tripitakas to defend their view point and claim that their interpretation is real teaching of Buddha. Nagarjuna also quotes early Tripitakas to show that his school of thought is also founded on solid foundation of the teachings of Buddha. Thus quoting from Tripitakas does not substantiate to prove that he was not Mahayanist. Nagarjuna, quoting from Tripitakas in M.K., tried to convince the Hinayanists that Mahayana is not a new teaching, from Buddha's teaching but it represents the real spirit of Buddha's teachings. It is true that Nagarjuna does not refer to any Mahayanasutras in M.K. by name but has derived his ideas from Mahayanasutras. Candrakirti in his commentary on M. K. tried to show from which Mahayanasutra Nagarjuna has drawn his ideas." 835

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Again, Dr. Warder triad to prove Nagarjuna's non-affiliation to Mahayana' on the basis of only one work viz., Mulamadhyamakakarika. It is certainly not proper to draw a conclusion only on the basis of one work. At present substantial volume of Nagarjuna's authentic writing is available and we can know something of his thought by making a careful study of it. Before we come to the conclusion, whether Nagarjuna is Mahayanist or not, it is in fitness of things to consider some of those authentic works of Nagarjuna. Many works have been attributed to Nagarjuna. All of them may not be his, but on the basis of style, language, subject matter, systematic presentation of the doctrines, we can definitely say that, Mulamadhyama-kakarika, Vigrahavyavartani. Sunyatasaptati. Yuktisastika, Vadalyasutra, and Prakarana, Ratnavali and Suhrllekha24 are the works of Philosopher Nagarjuna. If we accept Nagarjuna as the author of M. K. then there is no reason to doubt about authorship of Nagarjuna's other works mentioned above, because their content, style and language agree with that of the M. K. In addition to these, Catustava, Pratityasamutpadahrdaya and Bhavanasankranti are attested by quotations in Candrakirti's Prasannapada.25 The Suhrllekha was translated into Chinese twice shortly after 430 A. D. Once by Gunavarma and once by Sanghavarma.26 Both these treat this work as work of great Nagarjuna. If we accept Ratnavali and Suhrllekha as the works of Nagarjuna then there is no question about Nagarjuna's Mahayanisthood, because these two works are written to propagate Mahayana in clear terms. The Chinese and Tibetan sources clearly mention that Nagarjuna was a great Master of Tripitakas and Mahayanasutras.27 These sources are not historically very very authentic on account of their legendary form, but they.cannot be completely turned as mere fabrication of Chinese and Tibetan minds. They show some positive truth and indicate that Nagarjuna was a historical person and the great Mahayanist. The Lankavatarasutra, one of the profound Mahayanasutras predicts that after preaching Mahayana Nagarjuna would go to the Sukhavatiloka.28 This protion of Lankavatara seems to be a later addition but it tells us that he was Mahayanist. Again, we cannot easily dismiss the views of post Nagarjuna Buddhist writers, Biographers, commentators and historians, who considered Nagarjuna as the great Champion of Mahayana Buddhism. Nagarjuna's followers such as Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, Bhavaviveka, Candrakirti and Santideva, treat him as the great Mahayanist. Kumarajiva, who flourished in the 4th century A.D. (343-413 A.D.) and translated biography and many other works of Nagarjuna into Chinese states that "Nagarjuna wrote a number of works and fostered the practice of Mahayana."29 Hui-Yuan, who flourished in 5th century AD., states that "Nagarjuna considered the Prajnaparamita to be the sublime gate to the 836

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numinal treasury, the way to the ideal unit." 30 And "there was a Mahayana Bodhisattva named Nagarjuna...From his time the enterprise of the Mahayana flourished again." 31 The preface to the Chinese translation of Asanga's Madhyamakasastranusara states that the Master Nagarjuna who comprehended the Dharma wrote M.K. on the basis of the Mahaprajnaparamita. Asanga's commentary says that " in confirmity to valid reasoning he entered the meaning of the Mahaprajnaparampita in order to lead living being to.." Candrakirti (6th century A.D.), a wellknown scholar and commentator of M.K. believes that Nagarjuna was the Master of Prajnaparamita. He states in clear terms that Nagarjuna knowing the correct meaning of the class of works going under the name of Prajnaparamita, out of compassion, in order to enlighten others composed the Mulamadhymakakarika. The statements of all these writers and commentators clearly show that Nagarjuna was familar with Prajnaparamita literature and was a great Mahayanist. Views of all these great minds of the Madhyamikas cannot be easily dismissed as false or result of blind traditional faith as Dr. Warder thinks. Even modern writers and Buddhist Historians like Taranath, Buston, D. T. Suzuki, Keith, Robinson, S. Bagchi, Nalinaksa Datta and others consider Nagarjuna as a great Mahayanist on the basis of solid ground. H. Kern rightly pointed out that Nagarjuna's name was not only that of the first eminent leader of Philosophical school, but also became simply a comprehensive name of the activity of Mahayana in the first phase of its onward course.34 To sum up, from all these evidences we can safely say that in the history of Mahayana the sutra class came into existence first and Nagarjuna and others took Prajnaparamita literature as their sacred source and there is no doubt about Nagarjuna's affiliation to Mahayana school of thought. 1. 2. 3. 4. ... References The Life of Nagarjuna from Tibetan and Chinese Sources. M. Walleser. Nag Publishers. New Delhi, 1979, p. 1. Is Nagarjuna Mahayanist-A. K. Warder. Pub. Two truths in Buddhism and Vedanta. Edited by M. Sprung. Holland. 1973. p. 78-88. Saddharma Lankavatarasutra X-165, ed. P. L. Vaidya,Pub. : IvJithila Institute, Darbhanga, 1963, p. 118. Nagarjuna. Part I-K. Satcidananda Muni, pub National Book Tru J of Ipdia, New Delhi, 1971: p. 1. 837

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Sarvadarsanasangraha-Madhavacary: Ed : Umasankar Sharma, Chowkhamba Vidya Bhavan, Varanasi. 1964. Nagarjuna-K. S. Murti, p. 1. Ibid-P. 2. Hinduism and Buddhism--Sir Charles Eliot, London, 1957. Is Nagarjuna Mahayanist A. K. Warder, p. 80. Pub. Bharatiya Conception of Bnddhist Nirvana-Stcherbatsky, Vidya Prakashan, Varanasi, p. 7-15. Prajnaparamita literature-Epward Conze, Quoton and panies Gravenhaga, London. 1960, p. 26. Conception of Buddhist Nirvana-Stcherbatsky, p. 9-11. 14. Sarve dharma anatmanh-Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita-ed. P. L. Vaidya, Pub. Mithila Institute Darbhanga pp 20, 121, 136, 1567, 201, 203. (a) Prajnaparamita hi subhute 5unya-Asta, p. 201. (b) sunyatvat duranubodhyeyam Prajnaparamita Early Madhyamika in India and China-Richard H. Robinson, Pub. Motilal Banarasi Dass. Delhi, 1976, pp. 177-78. Madhyamika schools in India Peter Delia Santina. Pub. Motiial Banarasi Dass, Delhi. 1986. pp 919. Madhyamakasatra-VII-8, 31, 34, XIII-5, 6, XVII-7, 14, XXIV-17, 15, XXV-14, XXYII-22--ed. P. L. Vaidya, Mithtla Institute, Darbhanga. 1960. Asta-pp. 20, 121. 230, 254, 265 etc. Madhyamakasastra--Ed. P. L. Vaidya, Mithila, Darbhanga, 1960. Madhyamika schools in India--Peter Delia Santina pp. 9-14. Madhyamakasastra-XXIV-32 p. 223. Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita--Ed. Santibhiksu Sastri and Sanghasena Sinha Delhi University, 1978, p. 9-25. Madhyamakasatra with Prasannapada-Ed, P. L. Vaidya, Early Madhyamika in India and China--Robinson, pp. 26 8. Central Philosophy of Buddhism-T. R. V. Murti, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, 1960, pp. 90-91. 838 10 25.

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26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. Ibid-90-91. Life of Nagarjuna from Tibetan and Chinese Sources. M, Walleser pp. 1-23 and 23-37. respectively. Daksinapathavedalyam bhiksuh Sriman Mahayasah, nagahvayah namna tu sadasat paksadharakah. Prakasya loke madyanam mahavanamanuttaram, asadya bhumim muditam yasyate' sau Sukhavatim-Lankavatarasutra-X.165 p. 118. Early Madhyarnika in India and China-Robinson p. 22. Ibid-p. 62. Ibid-p. 201. Ibid-p. 62. Madhyamakasastra with Prasannapada-Ed. P. L. Vaidya, p. 1. Manual of Indian Buddhism-H. Kern. Strassburg, Verlag von Kart J, Trubner, p. 123. ... 839

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UPANISADIC INFLUENCE ON MAHAYANASUTRALANKARA Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri The Upanisads indeed occupy a unique place in the development of Indian thought. The seeds of almost all the systems of Indian philosophy are to be found in the Upanisads. The Upanisads are the original source of Indian philosophy as a whole. They can be termed as Himalayas of Indian philosophy. Just as different rivers having origin in the Himalayas flow in different directions; similarly, all the schools of Indian thought including Carvaka, Buddhism and Jainism have their roots in and, are influenced by Upanisadic philosophy. Upanisads are regarded as the fountain-head of different schools of Indian philosophy. Dr R. D. Ranade rightly pointed out that the Upanisads supply us with various principles of thought and may thus be called the Berecynthia of all the later systems of Indian philosophy. Just like a mountain which from its various sides gives birth to rivers which run in different directions, the Upanisads also constitute that lofty eminence of philosophy which from its various sides give birth to rivulets of thoughts which as they progress towards the sea of life, gather strength by the inflow of inumerable tributaries of speculation which intermittently join these rivulets, so as to make a huge expanse of waters at the place where they meet the ocean of life. There are many direct and indirect evidences to prove that Buddhism has its roots in the Upanisads. Buddha's utterances about Reality such as unborn, unmade, non-becoming and uncompounded, and the word immortality3 etc., show that his conception of Reality is the same as that of the Upanisadic thinkers. In the Mattavilasaprahasana' written by King Mahendra Vikramavarma (7th C. A.D.) we find a statement of a Kapalika saying that in the matter of thieving tbe Buddha was a greater hand than Kharapata (the promulgator of the science of theft) as he has built his Pitakas and Kosas with the things stolen from the Upanisads and the Mahabharata. This statement may be an exaggerated one but it throws some light on Upanisadic influence on Buddhism. Most of the Mahayanists were learned Brahmins before conversion to Buddhism. It is, thus, not surprising, if these philosophers, viz., Madhyamikas and Vijnanavadins brought Buddhism closer to the Upanisadic thought. Buddhism undoubtedly owed a great deal to Upanisads and influenced in its turn the later Vedantic school. We are here, mainly concerned with Asanga's Mahayanasutralankara and Upanisadic influence on it. Mahayanasutralankara is one of the most important works on Mahayana Buddhism. This work represents Vijnanavada school of thought. Here, the author has discussed almost all the topics of Buddhism. In fact this work is a landmark in the development of Mahayana Buddhism. We can see tremendous 840

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influence of Upanisadic thought on it. We can see clearly Upanisadic influence on his conception of the Absolute and phenomena, theory of ignorance, doctrine of truth, the conception of Moksa or Nirvana (liberation), on the doctrine of Bodhisattva and the disciplines. When we talk of Upanisadic influence on Asanga, we have to keep in our mind. that it is ideological influence rather than terminological. Now let us see how Upanisadic thinkers describe the Absolute and how Asanga has been influenced by that conception. We are told in the Mandukya Upanisad that the Supreme Reality is that which cannot be seen, which cannot be described, which cannot be grasped, which has no distinct marks, which cannot be thought, which cannot be designated, that of which the essence is the knowledge of the oneness of the self, that in which the world ceases to exist, the peaceful, the benign, the non-dual." Katha Upanisad tells us that the Reality is neither born nor does it die. it is unborn, eternal, everlasting and primeval. Again, it is said in the same Upanisad that the Reality can not be reached by speech, by mind, and by sight.' This knowledge of Reality cannot be obtained simply by argument or reason. Brahman or the Absolute is that from which all speech within the mind turns away unable to reach it. Brhadaranyaka Upanisad declares that the Atman (Reality) can only be described by 'not this', 'not this'. He is incomprehensible for he can never be comprehended. He is indestructible. He is unattached for he does not attach himself. He is unfettered. He does not suffer. The intended meaning of this statement is that the Absolute is characterless and indefinable. That which may be predicated of it falls outside of it and thus fails to define it. The Absolute is described in positive terms also. Taittiriya Upanisad describes it as 'Existence, Consciousness and Infinity." Reality is eternal, all pervading, omnipresent and extremely subtle.12 We are also told in the Brhadaran-yaka that this great Being infinite and boundless is only a mass of consciousness. 13 This consciousness itself is Absolute.14 Emphasising knowledge, the Katha Upanisad states that by his light all this is illumined. Mundaka also tells us that he who knows Supreme Brahman becomes Brahman himself. In Taittiriya Upanisad also it is said that the knower of Brahman reaches the Supreme.17 Asanga in his Mahayanasutralankara, describes Reality in positive as well as in negative terms like the Upanasadic thinkers. It is non-dual, inexpressible and indeterminate.18 It is neither exsstence nor nonexistence, nor both nor neither.19 It cannot be obtained by reason or logic. It is neither production nor destruction.21 It is unimaginable, immeasurable and all pervading.22 It is pure self-luminous consciousness. It is the universal soul. Like the Upanisads, he describes Reality as pure Existence (sat).25 It means that though the highest Reality cannot 841

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be grasped by the category of existence, we can describe it from the phenomenal point of view, but we must avoid dangerous nihilism and say that the Reality exists by itself and in its own right because it is self-luminous consciousness. He agrees with the Upanisads in maintaining that Reality is absolute consciousness which is the permanent background of all changing phenomena and which ultimately transcends the trinity of knowledge, knower and known.26 It is indescribable because all categories of the intellect fail to grasp it fully. His Visuddha Tathata or Citta or the Suddhatman or the Mahatman or the Dharmadhatu is the same as the Atman or the Brahman of the Upanisads which is pure and permanent self luminous consciousness. Like Upanisadic thinkers, Asanga emphasises on the path of knowledge27 and he even identifies pure knowledge with Absolute Reality.28 He says that by the knowledge of True Buddha (Reality) everything immediately becomes known like a world which shines through the light of sun.29 We are told in the Chandogya Upanisad that the world is merely a name and a form; the truth is that everything is Brahman only 30 Just as by a clod of clay, all that is made of clay is known, the difference being only a name arising from speech, while the truth is that it is just clay only. 31 Everything besides the Atman or Brahman is merely a word, a mode and a name. The implication of this statement is that everything that exists is Brahman or Atman only.32 Everything that is besides Brahman is an appearance; that all causation is ultimately due to Brahman. It is clearly stated in the Kathopanisad that it is the Atman who makes his one form manifold'.33 Atman is eternal among the transient, the Consciousness of conscious beings.34 Mundaka Upanisad declares that everything here is verily Brahman.35 Again in the Aitareya Upanisad we are told that everything in this world is guided by Brahman, based on Brahman. Whatever breathing thing that is here, whether moving or flying, and whatever is stationary, all this is guided by selfconsciousness (Prajna). They are rooted in self-consciousness. It is the basis of the world.36 We are also told in the Katha Upanisad that there is no multiplicity or plurality whatsoever. He goes from death to death who sees only multiplicity here.37 The Brhadaranyaka Upanisad tells us that 'as a spider moves along its threads, and as from a fire tiny sparks in all directions, even so from this Atman, come forth all organs, all worlds, all deities, and all beings.38 Asanga also says that pure consciousness appears39 as this manifold world of phenomena on account of ignorance. There is no subject-object, knower and known, in the Absolute consciousness. This distinction is only an error.40 Phenomenal things are taken to be real by ignorant people. 41 They are only name and form.42 Pure consciousness transcends everything but it appears as subject-object duality owing to 842

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the influence of ignorance.43 It is only consciousness which appears as manifold world of phenomena.44 The Reality (Tattva) or Citta (pure Consciousness) is one only and it is by its very nature self-luminous consciousnesses.45 All dharmas i.e., elements of existence, worldly experiences, phenomenal world of subject-object, etc., are merely relative, dependent. They are ultimately unreal because they are neither existence nor non-existence, nor both, nor neither. They are like that of magical figures created by a magician. They are thus, indescribable, mere appearances. The very fact that they are appearances implies that there must be reality of which they are mere appearances. The theory of momentariness applies to phenomena only. Reality is above phenomena and is indescribable absolute Consciousness. Asanga's doctrine of ignorance or illusion is also rooted in the Upanisads. The impartial examination of Upanisadic ideology makes it very clear that there are definite traces of doctrine of Avidya or illusion in the Uqanisadic literature. Isavasya Upanisad states that truth is veiled in this Universe by a vessel of gold and it invokes the grace of Sun God to lift up the golden vessel and allow the truth to be seen.46 Kathopanisad tells us that we are not able to see the truth because we are blinded by illusion. 'Fools steeped in ignorance, wise in their own conceit and regarding themselves as learned go about staggering like blind men led by the blind.47 Similar idea is found in the Chandogya Upanisad also. It states that a cover of untruth hides the ultimate truth from us, just as the surface of the earth hides from us the golden treasure that is hidden inside it.48 The word anrta (untruth) is used here in the sense of ignorance or illusion. Again, Chandogya makes this idea very clear by stating that everything besides the Brahman or Atman is merely a word, a mode and a name.*9 Prasna Upanisad tells us that without removing ignorance in us, we are not able to see the truth as it is. 'One cannot reach the world of Brahman unless we have shaken off the crookedness in us, the falsehood in us, the illusion (Maya) in us.So Asanga develops the same doctrine of ignorance (Avidya) or illusion (Maya) which is already found in the Upanisads, though not in a full-fledged form. Avidya or ignorance hides the truth. Therefore, it is called Samvrtisatya. The one truth or non-dual reality is seen in the form of a world of subject-object duality through force of Avidya. This subjectobject duality is an illusion. It is an appearance. Really there is nothing in the world, except this reality, in the true sense of the word.51 Except this pure consciousness, everything is name and form (namamatra) and imaginary.59 The elements of existence, subject-object duality etc., are mere appearance, superimposed on reality like magical figures created by tbe magician.53 The magical figures do not exist in reality but they appear to exist. Like Upanisadic thinkeis he says that, realising all things 843

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to be illusion or maya, removing ignorance, one attains this supreme Reality. 54 The doctrine of truth is also traceable to the Upanisads. Brhadaranyaka speaks of Brahman as the real of the reals and even as the Sole Reality S5 This statement is clearly an indication of plurality of truths understood by the Upanisadic sages. We are told in the Katha Upanisad that the reality is eternal among the transient 56 it is implicitly mentioned here that except Brahman or Supreme Reality everything else is empirical, transitory and not real. The isavasya Upanisad tells us that the face of truth is covered with a golden disc. Here the word 'apihita' is used in the sense of cover (Samvrti). The real truth is covered by the phenomenal truth. The word 'sahvrti' satya is used by Asanga in the same sense as understood by the 'apihita' by the Upanisadic thinkers. This phenomenal world is Samvrti Satya (empirical) not real, ultimately; only Paramartha Satya is real and it is the only reality. In the Upanisads, the two terms Atman and Brahman are used as synonyms. Mandukya clearly mentions the identity of Atman with Brahman by saying that this Atman, is Brahman." Brhadaranyaka states that this is indeed the Atman, the immortal and the Brahman.58 Chandogya tells us that Atman is indeed all this, 59 There are many statements which show that Atman is identified with Brahman in the Upanisads and these two words are used as synonyms in the ultimate sense.60 Asanga's notion of pure consciousness is nothing but Atman or Brahman of Upanisads, even though he criticises Atman of the Upanisads understanding it in the narrow sense of ego. Really, he does not deny the existence of Atman, i.e., Reality of the Upanisads. His Tathata-Thatness is the same as Atman or Brahman of Upanisads. He even calls this Tathata as Atman of the Buddhists.61 He calls reality as Suddhatman i.e. pure Soul. His notion of reality is the same as that of Atman of Upanisads. Only he denies the ego of the individual. Asanga says that everyone has a germ of Buddha hood in his heart. 62 It is to be realised. This idea is the same as the notion of Atman of the Upanisads which is within us.63 The word Vimoksa is used in the Upanisads for liberation. In Brhadaranyaka, we find a statement saying that. Sir, please, instruct me further, for the sake of my liberation. This state of realisation of reality is described in the Katha Upanisad as, indescribable highest happiness. It is also called the state of eternal happiness. It is a state of eternal peace. It is called the highest state. Katha Upanisad tells us that when the five instruments of knowledge stand together with the mind, and the intellect does not stir, that they say is the highest state. Having known 844

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this great reality which is omnipresent, the wise man does not grieve. When all the desires that dwell in the heart are cast away then does a mortal become immortal, attain 'Brahman even here. It is a state of oneness with the Absolute Brahman. The realised one sees oneness everywhere. It is the final merging with the Absolute. Just as rivers which flow into the ocean, disappear in it after having thrown away their name and form, the sage after having thrown off his name and form, enters the highest reality. The knower of Brahman becomes an ocean of consciousness without any duality." He lives in a world of freedom. Katha Upanisad tells us that being liberated, one becomes free indeed. Asanga also speaks about the state of liberation in the same manner. In the state of liberation (Moksa) there is no place for duality, contradiction. It is that state in which positive and negative are one and the same.74 It is a state of Samata-state of mind in which one cannot distinguish himself from any other thing of the universe,75 it is the state of paramartha satya (highest truth). He uses the same word for Nirvana as used by the Upanisads by saying that it is the state of perfection 76 it is the state of unlimited happiness.77 Asanga, like Upanisadic thinkers, says that just as rivers which lose their individuality merge with the ocean leaving their names and forms; similarly, realising Buddhattya or Nirvana, a seeker becomes one with the Absolute consciousness, losing his name and form.78 The conception of the ideal of Bodhisattva also has, definitely, its root in the Upanisads. In the Katha Upanisad' it is said that when all the desires that dwell in the heart are cast away then does a mortal become immortal and attain the Brahman even here." Similar view is expressed by the Mundaka Upanisad also. It states that for those whose desires are fulfilled and who have realised the Satya, all desires vanish even here on this earth.80 The realised person is called Vimukta-liberated soul on the earth. This conception of liberated soul is called 'Bodhisattva' by the Buddhists and Jivanmukta by the Advaita Vedantins. Liberation on this earth means nothing but a state of mind "which" is completely free from every kind of passion, desire and worldly attachment. It is reaching a state of total passionlessness and desirelessness. Realised persons become perfect in their Soul, tranquil and free from passion.81 Brhadaranyaka Upanisad tells that the eternal glory of the knower of Brahman is not increased by work nor is it diminished. Therefore, one should know the nature of that alone. Having known it, one is not tainted by evil action. Thus, he who knows it as such becomes calm, selfcontrolled, withdrawn, patient and collected, sees the Self in his own self, sees all in the Self. Evil does not burn him, he burns all evil. Free from evil, free from taint, free from doubt, he becomes the true knower of Brahman.82 He who realises Brahman is a really freed man in the true 845

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MLD. JL. sense. Chandogya tells us that, he who realises the Atman, has unlimited freedom in all worlds.83 isavasya Upanisad explains, the state of perfect tranquility gained by a Self-realised sage. Realisation of one's own Self is nothing but to realise its oneness with the Universal Self. He who constantly sees everywhere, all existence in the Self and the Self in all beings and forms, thereafter shrinks from nothing.84 Again it says that when, to the khower, all beings have become one in his own Atman, how shall he feel deluded thereafter ? What grief can there be to him who sees oneness everywhere85 In realising this reality, the individual becomes free from all his mental ideas of repulsion, shrinking, dislike, fear, hatred and such other perversions of feeling. He becomes one with all beings. He does not see any difference between himself and other beings. He is free from all types of attachment. In this state, a father is no father, a mother is no mother.86 He is not affected by good and evil. He performs actions without any attachment. He is not affected by good, nor is he affected by evil, be has passed beyond all the sorrows of the heart. 87 He is beyond good and evil. Now Bodhisattva ideal of Asanga is not different from the realised person on earth of the Upanisads. He is a perfectly realised soul on earth. He universalises himself and lives for others. 89 He acts not for himself but for others. He is above all selfish and abiding acts as he has no more attachments and aversions and is immune from all governing motives, conceptions aad considerations of empirical life. Bodhisattva state is a state of sameness with all beings. It is realisation of a state of universality. Individuality vanishes here. He lives and acts not for himself but for the upliftment of others. He sees no difference between himself and others, 90 Upanisads emphasise on certain disciplines for the realisation of Supreme Reality. Upanisads mainly emphasise on a life of tranquility, truth, penance, insight and right pursuit. Unless these conditions are fulfilled the aspirant after spiritual life may never hope to realise the Self. The Katha Upanisad declares that unless a man has stopped from doing wrong, unless he is entirely composed himfelf, it may not be possible for him, however highly strong his intellect may be, to reach the Atman by force of mere intellect." The Mundaka Upanisad insists upon truth and the life of penance, right insight and the life of celibacy as essential conditions for the realisation of Atman." Katha Upanisad criticises the life of impurity, ignorance and uncontrolled mind by saying that he who has no proper insight or understanding, who has no control over his mind, and who is ever impure, does not reach that place. 93 It emphasises on proper understanding, self-control and purity. 94 Upanisads also emphasise the moral aspect of the individual for realisation of Reality. In the Katha Upanisad we are told that it is only 846

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when the whole moral being is purged of evil that one is able to realise the greatness of God." After purification of mind and body one realises the Atman and becomes one with the Brahman as pure water poured into pure water becomes the same.96 Mundaka Upanisad declares that it is only when a perfect catharsis of the whole moral being takes place by the cleanness of illumination that one is able to realise the immaculate God after meditation, for, he can be attained neither by sight nor by word of mouth, nor by any other senses, nor by penance, nor by any actions whatsoever.97 Asanga, we have already seen, also points out that to attain Supreme truth, one must practise nine principles of self-perfection (Atmaparipaka) and Paramitas. These spiritual disciplines are meant for self-purification or removal of defilement that cover up the real. He emphasises the paths of perfection known as six paramitas. Practice of dana (Charity), Sila (good conduct), ksanti (tolerance) are the necessary steps on the path of spiritual attainment. Like Upanisadic thinkers he emphasises on philosophical wisdom (Prajna). In the major Upanisads, we find some hints for the practical realisation of the reality by means of Yoga. The steady control of the senses is considered as Yoga.98 We also come to know from Mundaka Upanisad, that Yoga is required for purification of mind and pranas. After purification of mind only Atman reveals himself. In the Mundaka Upanisad, we are told that the mind for its purification is dependent on the pranas and that it is only when the mind is purified after an initiated control of the Pranas that the Atman reveals himself.99 We also find in the celebrated passage of the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad that Yajnavalkya tells Maitreyi to meditate upon Atman.100 Mundaka Upanisad tells us that one is able to realise the immaculate God after meditation.101 We are also told in the Katha Upanisad that Naciketa learnt Yogavidhi (method of Yoga) from Yama.102 It is true that Yogic stages are not mentioned in the Upanisads but the yogic practices were not unknown to them. Asanga emphasised the Yogic practices as important methods for attaining the state of Nirvana. He mentioned ten stages in the yogic practice. Asanga was not only influenced by the ideology of the Upanisads but also has bodily lifted certain words from them. He uses many words of the Upanisads in their original Upanisadic meaning. For example, the words 'dhirah' and 'balah' are used for wise and ignorant respectively in the Upanisads. Asanga also uses them in the same sense104 Upanisads used the words like 'sukham* (happiness), santam' (peaceful) for the state of liberation.103 Asanga uses them in the same sense.106 The Reality is not born, says Katha Upanisad.107 Asanga also says it is not born.108 Reality 103 847

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is called ever-abiding or constant (dhruva), eternal (nitya)and allpervading (vibhu) in the Upanisads.109 Asanga also describes reality in similar words.110 The freed man is known as Kamacara i.e. who has unlimited freedom in all worlds in the Chandogya Upanisad, 111 The same word is used by Asanga in the same sense. 112 Upanisadic influence on Vijnanavada in general and Mahayanasutralankara in particular was observed by critics of Vijnanavada. They pointed out that Vijnana or pure consciousness of the Vijnanavadins is nothing but Atman of the heretics-tirthankaras in disguise. Reference Ranade, R. D.: A Constructive Survey of Upanisadic Philosophy. Pub : Bharatiya-vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1568, p. 131. Ajatam, aketarn, abhutam, asamskstam. Udana. Amrtamadhigam.-Vinayapitaka, Mahavagga, 1.1.7. Kharapatadapyasmim adhikare Buddha eva adhikah-kutah : vedantebhyo grahitvarthan yo mahabharatadapi. Vipranam misatatmeva krtavan kosasancayam. Mattavilasaprahasana. ed. by T. Ganapathy Shastri (1917) p. 15. Adrsyam, avyavaharyam, agrahyam, alaksanam, acintyam, ekatmapratyayasaram, prapancopasamam, santam, sivamdvitam, Mand. Up. 7. Isadi astottarasatopanisad, ed. Vasudev Sharamapanasikar, Nirnayasagar Press, Bombay, 1917. Na jayate mariyate va vipascinnayam kutascinna babhuva kascit. Ajo nityah Sasvatoyam puranh, Kath. Up. I-II-18. o i Naiva vaca na manasa praptum sakyo na caksusa Kath. Up. IIVI-12. Naisa tarkena matirapaneya, Kath. Up. I-II-9. o Yato vaco nivartante aprapya manasa saha. Taiit. Up, II-4 and 9. Sa esa neti neti ityatma agrahyo na hi glhyate, asiryo nasiryate, asango na hi sajyate, asito na vyathate, na risyati. Beh. Up. IV. 1V-22 and 1V-V-15. Satyam jnanam anantam Brahma. Taitt. Up. II-l. 11. 848

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2. 13. Nityam vibhum sarvagatam susuksmam. Mund. Up. I-I-6, Vijnanaghana eva. Beh. Up. 1-IV-12. Prajnanam Brahma. Ait. Up. HI-3. Tasya bhasa sarvamidam vibhati. Kath. Up. Ili-V-15. Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati. Mund. Up. HI-II-9. Brahmavidapnoti param. Taitt. Up. H-1. Mahayanasutralaikara (MSA) XI-13, ed. S. Bagchi, Mithila Institute, Darbhanga, 1970. MSA. JX-24. MSA. 1-12. MSA. VI-J. MSA. IX-40. MSA. XIII-19. MSA, IX-23. Adrsyam, avyavaharyam, agrahyam. alaksanam. acintyam, ekatmapratyayasaram, prapancopasamam, santam, sivamadvaitam. Mand. Up. 7. ISadi astottara Satopanisad, ed. Vasudev Sharamapanasikar, Nirnayasagar Press, Bombay, 1917. MSA. XI-14. MSA. XIV-28. MSA. IX-12. MSA. XIV-28. MSA. 1X-33. Sarvam khalvidam brahma. Cha. Up. III-X1V-1. Vacarambhanam vikaro namadheyam mittiketyeva satyam. Cha. Up. VI-I-4. Brahamaivedam visvam. Mund. Up. II-II-11. Ekam rupam babudha yah karoti. Kath. Up. II-V-12. Nityo anityanam. Kath. Up. II-V-13. Sarvam hi etad Brahma. Mund. Up. l-l. 849

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36. Yatkinicedam prani jangamam ca patatrica yacca sthavaram sarvam tat prajnanetrarn, prajnane pratisthitam, prajnanetro lokah, prajna pratistha, prajnanam brahma. Ait. Up. II-V-3. Neha nanasti kincana. Mrtyoh sah mrtyum gachhati ya iha naneva pasyati. Kath. Up. II TV-11 Yathornanabhih tantunoccaret, yathagneh ksudrah visphulinga vyuccaranti, evam eva asmadatmanah sarve pranah, sarve lokah, sarve devah, satvani vyuccaranti Brh. Up. II-I-20. MSA. XIX-53 MSA. XI-15. 42. MSA. XIX-53. MSA. XI-38, 39 and 48. MSA. XI-34. Cittam citrabhasam citrakaram pravartate, MSA. XI-35. MSA. VIII-19. Hiranmayena patrena satyasyapihitam mukham. Tattvam pusan apavrnu satyadharmaya drstaye. Isa. Up. 15. Avidyayam antare vartamanah svayam dhirah panditam manyamanah dandramya-mana) pariyanti mudhah andhenaiva niyamana yathandhah. Kath. Up. I-U-5. Ta ime satyah kamah anrtapidhanah tesam satyanam satam antamapaidhanam. Cha. Up. VIII-III-i-2, Cha. Up. VI-I-4. Tesam asau virajo brahmaloko na yesu jihmam anstam na maya ceti. Pra. Up, 1-16. MSA, XI-15. MSA. IX-81. MSA. XI-15. MSA. IV-24. Satyasya satyam--Brh. Up. 11-1-20. Kath. Up. II-V-13. Ayam atma brahma. Mand. Up. 2 and Brh. Up. II-V-19. 54. 55. 56. 57. 850

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63. 6'4. 65. Sa yoyam atmedam amstam idam brahma. Bih. Up. II-V-19. Sarvam khalvisdam brahma. Cha. Up. III-XIV 1. Tattvamasi. Cha. Up, VI-XVI-3. and, ayamatma brahma. Mand. Up. 2. Tathata buddhanam atma. MS A. IX-23. Commentary. Tathagata garbhah sarvadehinah, MSA. IX-37. Atma, sarvantarah. Bih. Up. HI-V-1. Atha urdhvarn vimoksaya bruhi iti. Beh Up. IV-112-14-16. Anirdesyam paramam sukham. Kath Up II-F-14. sasvatam sukham. Kath. Up. II-V-12. santih, sasavti. Kath. Up. 7/-V-13. Yada pancavatisthante jnanani manasa saha. Buddhisca na vicestati tamahuh paramam gatim. Kath Up. II-VI 10. Mahantam vibhumatmanam matva dhiro na socati. Kath. up. II1V 4. 66. 70. Yada sarve pramucyante kamah ye asya hrdi srita). Atha martyo amrto bhavati atra brahma samasnute. Kath. Up. II-VI 14. Yatha nadyaly syandamanah samudre astam gacchanti namarupe vihaya. Tatha Vidvan namarupadvimuktah parat param purusamupaiti divyam. Mund, Up. IH-II 8. Salila eko drasta advaito bhavati, Brh. UP, I Vimuktasca vimucyate. Up. II-V 1. MSA. XI-41. 74. 77. MSA. IX-70., MSA. XVIU-81. MSA.V-8. Samudravistasca bhavanti sarvah ekasraya eka mahajalasca. Buddhatvavistasca bhavanti sarve ekasraya ekamahavabodhah. MSA. IX-83 and 85. Kath. Up. IJ-VI-14. Paryaptakamasya krtatmanastu ihaiva sarve praviliyanti kamah. Mund. Up. III-II-2. 79. 80. 851

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81. 82. Samprapyainamssayo jnanataptah kstatmano vitaragah. Mand.Up. III-II-5. Esa nityo mahima brahmanasya na vardhate karmana, no kaniyan. Tasyaiva syat padavittam viditva na lipyate karmana papakeneti Tasmadevam vicchanto danta uparatah titiksuh samahito bhutva, atmanyevatmanam pasyati, sarvamatmanam pasyati. nainam papma tarati, sarvam papmanam tarati, vipapo, virajo, avicikitso brahmano bhavati. Brh. Up. IV-11-13. Sarvesu lokesu kamacaro bhavati. Cha. Up. VII-XXV-2. Yastu sarvani bhutani atmanyevanupasyati. Sarva bhutesu catmanam tato na vijugupsate. Isa. Up. 6. 83. 90. Yasmin sarvani bhutani atmaivabhut vijanatah. Tatra ko mohah kah sokah ekatvanamupasyatah Isa. Up. 7. Ananvagatam punyena ananvagatam papena tirnoti tada sarvan sokan hrdayasya bhavati Brh. IV-III-22. Drstasatyah. MSA. XII-8, MSA. XIX 65, MSA. V-2 and XIV-31. Navirato duscaritat nasanto na samahitah, Nasanta Manaso vapi prajnanenainamapnuyat. Kath. Up. I-II-23. . Satyena labhyah tapasa hyesa atma samyak jnanenabrahmacaryena nityam. Mund. Up. HI-1-5. Yastu avijnanavan bhavati amanaskah sada sucih. Na sa tatpadamapnoti. Kath. Up. I-IH-7. Yastu vijnanavan bhavati sa manaskah sada sucih. Sa tu tat padamapnoti. Kath. Up. I-HI-8. Tamakratuh vitasoko dhatuprasadanmahimanamisah. Kath. Up. I11-2Q. Yathodakam suddhe suddhamasiktam tadrgeva bhavati. Kath Up. H-IV-15, Jnanaprasadena visuddha satvah tatastu tam pasyate niskalam dhyayamanah, Mund Up. III-I-8. 98. Tam Yogamiti manyante sthiram indriya dharanam. Kath. Up. IlVI-11. 852

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Pranaiscittam sarvametam prajnanam yasamin visuddhe vibhavatyesa atma, Mund Up. III-I-9 100. Atma nididhyasitavyah. Brb. Up. IV-V-6. 101. Mund. Up. IU-1-8. 102. Yogavidhim ca kitsnam. Kath. Up. II VI-18* 103. Kath. Up. 11-IV-20. 104. MSA, 1-12, V-8, VI-10, XIX-53. 105. Kath. Up. II-V-12, 13. 106. MSA. V-8, XIX-81. 107. Kath. Up. I-II-18. 108. MSA. VI-1. 109. Kath. Up. I-H-10, II-V-13. 110. MSA IX-40. 111. Cha. Up. VII-XXV-2. 112. MSA. XI-18. 853

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PLACE OF SUICIDE IN INDIAN CULTURE AND RELIGIONS Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri Indian Philosophical point of view, suicide or atmaghata is not possible in the real sense of the term. Atman or self is indestructible because it is unborn, uncaused, it has neither beginning nor an end. Bhagavadgita clearly stales that, self cannot be killed either by any weapon or water or wind or fire.2 Killing or destruction is possible only in the cause of those things which are produced by causes and conditions. Atman is beyond causation. Atmaghata or Atmahanana is used mainly to denote destruction of the body. Some times, the word Atmaha, is used in the philosophical writings to indicate a person who does not try to realise one's own Atman after acquiring this precious human body. The destruction of body or suicide, according to one's own sweet will or suicide on account of cause is condemned in philosophical texts. Isavasyopanisat clearly warns that one, who commits suicide, can never see the light of knowledge. He reaches after death, the sunless, lightless regions covered by impenetrable darkness. His fate is to remain in the world of ignorance 5 The reason behind such kind of opposition to suicide is that according to Indian tradition (except Carvaka) highest aim of life is realization of one's own self (atmanam viddhi) which is pure bliss, untouched by worldly pain and pleasure. This is highest state which is called freedom, Moksa or Nirvana. Body is the means to achieve this highest goal of life. If this body is destroyed, how can one achieve this goal ? Destroying one's body means harming one's own achievement. Therefore, Indian Philosophy tells us that you are born here as human beings to attain this final goal of undivided Bliss and do not miss this opportunity killing one's own body. Life is not worthless but store-house of abundant energy. It should be utilized in right direction. It should not be wasted by destroying one's own body. The word suicide is also understood in general sense which is comman to all civilizations of the world. It prevailed in India and other civilized countries since time immemorial. Almost all the ancient civilizations of the world such as Indian, Greek, Latin and others were familiar with this tragic act. It was also practised in China, Japan, Burma, Russia and other Asiatic countries. Human nature being the same everywhere, the causes of suicide have been almost identical all over the world. Most of the causes leading to suicide are, disappointment in love affair, jealousy, fear of punishment, shame or wounded pride, anger, extreme poverty, family unhappiness, feeling of inferiority, etc. It is seen that frequent repetitions of situations which bring about feelings of disappointment, depression, mental and emotional conflicts, irresistably drive the victim to the extreme step of suicide. It is normally a misfortune 854

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of one's own making. A victim of suicide is either a victim of his own mental weakness or of external circumstances which he is not able to circumvent. Modern social scientists, such as, Henry Morselli, Westermark, Emile Durkheim and others, who have made substantial contribution to the study of suicide, listed various cauees and influences which drive a person to end his precious life.13 Even causes of suicide mentioned by Kautilyalla are very much similar to these modern thinkers. This fact reveals that the causes are more or less similar throughout the ages. The area of this research paper is restricted to the study of place of suicide in Indian culture and religions right from Vedic times down to the present day. Suicide means, destroying one's self by means employed by one's self. The corresponding word in Indian religions is atmaghata or atmahanana. This word atmaghata (-suicide) is used in two different senses. First of all, it means voluntary self-killing or selfdestruction which is committed out of pure melancoly, disappointment in love, unhappiness in one's life and on account of other worldly considerations. 12 Secondly, it is used by the ancient philosophers in the sense of not caring for realisation of one's own self.13 Indian culture and religions viz. Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism have approved many other kinds of voluntary deaths (either religious or social ) in certain circumstances such as mahaprasthana (the great journey), prayopavesana (fasting unto death ); jalasamadhi (drowning in sacred river); agnipravesa (entering fire); bhrgupatana (falling headlong from a cliff); sati, jauhur etc., which are not included in the category of suicide or atmaghata. Thus the word suicide is used in a limited sense. All kinds of voluntary deaths are not called suicides by followers of Indian culture and religions. The reason is that suicide or self-sacrifice for a cause is different from suicide on account of frustration. If one commits suicide for a frustration, he succumbs to weakness which is condemmed by society. If a person kills one's self for a noble cause, i.e. lays down one's own life for religious cause or for the benefit of entire society, his act is approved by the religion or society. But the word suicide is losely used for social and religious sacrifice by certain Western and Indian scholars14 which may not be cent percent true in the context of Indian culture and religions. In fact they are not suicides but self-sacrifices for higher cause. Let us examine the place of suicide and other kinds of voluntary deaths or self-immolations in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism to find out the truth of this matter. Ordinary suicide is denounced by all these three religions of India as an absolutely degrading act. We have already noted that the lsavasyopanisat (1200 B.C. to 600 B.C.) bitterly attacks those who indulge in heinous act like suicide. It is condemned to postmortuary penalties which 855

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follow the soul. It states that those who commit suicide reach after death the sunless regions covered by impenetrable darkness. They will not be able to see the light of knowledge anymore. In later ancient and mediaeval periods, suicide was considered to be a vicious crime and various punishments are laid down in this direction. Kautilya, (3rd century B.C.) in his monumental work Arthasastra condemns those men and women who, under the infatuation of love, anger, or other sinful passions, commit or cause to commit suicide by means of rope, arms or poison, According to him, such kind of suicider's body be dragged by means of rope along the public road by the hands of an untouchable (candala). For such persons neither cremation rites nor any obsequies, usually performed by relatives shall be observed. In fact any relative who performs funeral rites of such self-murderers, shall either himself be deprived of his own funeral or be abandoned by his kith and kin.16 Kautilya, being a great social thinker, has gone to the root of this problem of suicide and suggested a proper method to investigate the cause of death to decide whether it is a suicide or murder, which is known as kantakasodhana." In his method of investigation, the magistrate, dealing with criminal cases, takes hold of the dead body and examines it to ascertain the causes and circumstances of death. If it is a case of suicide, then, the dead man's or women's body is exposed in the public thoroughfare. The treatment of the bodies of such persons was subjected to insult and indignities. In the age of Dharmasutra and Puranas also suicide or an attempt to commit suicide came to be condemned as a great sin. Vajasaneyisamhita states, "Whoever destroy their selves, reach after death demonworld that is shrouded in blinding darkness."18 Vasistha Dharmasutra (3rd century B.C.) ordains that whoever commits suicide becomes guilty of mortal sin (abhisapta) and his relatives have to perform no death rites for him. It also prescribes punishment for merely resolving to kill oneself, even though when no actual attempt is made. 19 Manu (circa 200 B C.200 A.D.) the great ancient Indian Lawgiver, says that no water is to be offered for the benefit of the souls of those who commit suicide.20 Brahmapurana declares that those who commit suicide by poison, hanging, fire, drowning or falling from cliff or a tree, should be considered as great sinners, such persons should not be cremated, nor should useful funeral rites be performed for them.21 The Visnusamhita. (1st-3rd century A.D.) has also nothing but condemnation for such persons.22 The Mahabharata also states that one who commits suicide does not reach blissful worlds.23 The Yamasmrti (6th-7th century A.D.) prescribes harsh punishment and declares that, when a person tries to do away with himself by such methods as hanging, if he dies, his body should be smeared with impure things and if he survives, he should, along with his friends 856

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and relatives be fined.24 Parasara (7th century A,D.),25 Samvarta26 and Likhita Smrtis? (8th century A.D.) denounce such self-killing outright. Suicides are generally censured with few exceptions. If a Brahmin is overtaken by disease or great misfortunes, he is permitted to walk straight on in a north-easterly direction subsisting on water and air until his body sinks to rest.28 Atri approves this view of Manu and states that "if, one who is very old, cannot observe the rule of bodily purification (owing to extreme weakness): one who is so ill that no medical help can be given, kills himself by throwing himself from a precipice or into water or fire or by fasting, mourning should be observed for him for three days and death rites should be performed for him.29 We have seen that in general, suicides were universally condemned throughout the ancient and mediaeval times in Hindu law-books and society. Not only this brutal treatment to the bodies of suiciders were prescribed by ancient and mediaeval law givers to check the cases of suicide in society. Ancient and mediaeval Hindu society as a whole, disapproved the suicidal tendency. Brutal treatments to the bodies of suiciders where prescribed to prevent this tendency to commit suicide. In modern Indian society, this ordinary suicide is increasing on a remarkable scale on account of frustration, emotional conflicts and family unhappiness. In the eyes of modern Indian Law, suicide is a crime which is punishable under section, 309, of Indian Penal Code. Here again, as in ancient societies, what is actually punished is the unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide but not a successful attempt, because if the attempt is successful, there is nobody to be punished. If the attempt is unsuccessful and the person survives, he will not be allowed to go unpunished. In suicidal tendency either man punishes himself by successful attempt or is punished by Law. In either case, this tendency is punished. Again, according to Hindu thinkers, the person being a part and parcel of social system, his body naturally belongs to society as a whole. He is not owner of his own body, in real sense. It is the property of the society. Destroying one's own body means destruction of public property which is again a great offence. So,Hindu society has considered suicide as offence and strong law is prescribed to check it. A similar example is found in mediaeval Europe. The self-murderer was deprived of his rights which were granted to all other criminals.30 Jainism also considers suicide to be a great sin. It declares that he who is actuated by passions, puts an end to his life by poison, weapons, by water,fire, or by stopping breath, is certainly guilty of suicide?land such kind of suicider is reborn as a demon 32 Buddishm, upholds the same view and maintains that generally dire miseries are in store for the suiciders and the society look upon him as one who must have sinned deeply in a former state of existence.33 It declares that a monk 857

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who encourages or preaches suicide is no monk at all.34 I-tsing, the chinese traveller, tells us that, Indian Buddhists abstained from suicide and in general from self torture.35 From these abovementioned accounts, We can conlude that, all the three religion of India condemned suicide as unethical and opposed to religion. It was disapproved by Indian calture and religions, because, suicide involves self-condenmnation or self-hatred. Unless you hate yourself, you cannot kill yourself. This is what is disapproved and prohibited by Indian society. But there are many kinds of self-immolations or voluntary deaths, prevalent in ancient and mediaeval India which were approved by religion and society as a whole. Religiously and socially approved kinds are death by drowning at the confluence of the Ganga and yamuna, and at other sacred rivers; self- cremation at one of the places of pilgrimage: hanging head-downwards over a blazing fire, cutting upon one's flesh and offering it to birds as prey; entering self-lit fire at Benaras, death by fasting, Mahaprasthana (the great journey), sati (selfimmolation of widows), jauhar (self-immolation to save the honour of community, culture and land from enemies). These kinds of voluntary deaths are not considered to be suicide, because, these are committed for religious or some noble cause. Laying down one's own life for religious or social cause is whole-heartedly approved by the society because, as we have already pointed out, self-immolation or killing one's own self for a noble cause, is different from suicide on account of frustration. The self-immolation for religious cause involves some spiritual attainment. It is dying for religious value. Similarly, self-immolation for noble social cause, involves self-glorification (instead of self-condemnation in the case of suicide on account of frustration). The moment the person lays down his life for social cause, he becomes a national hero and is worshipped. On religious grounds, in ancient period in India, people were allowed to commit self-immolation by drowning with the desire of securing release from this mundane world, at extremely holy places like Varanasi and Prayaga. From the very ancient times Varanasi is considered as holiest place and leaving one's body there is considered to be a means of liberation.36 Death at Prayaga is highly commended from the Vedic times downwards. It is said in the Rgveda that whoever leaves his body at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna, obtains immortality.37 During the Vedic period, self-immolation or self-sacrifice was practised, but it was very rare. In the eariy Upanisadic period, self-immolation was considered irreligious and foolish.38 In the later Upanisadic period, religious sanction was given for self-immolation to only ascetics who acquired full insight. They are allowed to enter upon the great journey (Mahaprasthana), or choose death by voluntary starvation, by drowning, by fire or by a hero's fate 39 We find ample evidences of self-immolations 858

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40 to be committed at the various places of pilgrimage in the Ramayana," and Mahabharata.41 In the Ramayana itself, it is said that Rama, along with hundreds of his subjects drowned in the water of Sarayu.42 Self immolation by fire, or water or by falling headlong from a cliff (bhrgupatana) at Amarakantaka is highly extoled. It is said that, he who throws himself down from the peak of Amarakantaka, never returns to mundane world (samsara) 43 These methods of self-immolation are considered as means of salvation. Mahaprasthana is another kind of self-immolation approved by ancient authorities as a means of release from the miseries of the world. Mahabharata states that one who has realised the transitoriness of life should end it in the Himalaya.44 It is further said that if a man, knowing the Vedanta and understanding the ephemeral nature of life, abandons life in the holy Himalaya by fasting he would reach the world of Brahman.'45 According to Mahabharata the Pandava brethren and their wife Draupadi followed this path of Mahaprasthana.46 We get many instances of self-imm loation from ancient literature and epigraphic records, in the Mrcchakatika (.Gupta period, 5th century A.D) it is said that, king Sudraka entered fire.47 kalidasa in his Raghuvamsa (5th century. A.D.) tells us that king Aja, in his old age, resorted to fasting (prayopavesana) and drowned himself at the confluence of the holy rivers-the Ganga and the Sarayu.48 Kumaragupta (554 A.D), the later Gupta Emperor, is also said to have entered fire of a dried cowdung cakes.49 This kind of death is regarded as most meritorious in the Puranas,50 In the mediaeval age, the position was more or less the same as in ancient times. From Ain-e-Akbari we learn that death by starving, entering self-lit fire, burrying one self in snow, and death by drowning in sacred rivers, and cutting one's throat at Prayaga, were prevalent and considered as meritorious by Hindus in the mediaeval period as in the ancient times.51 In addition to these, dying under the wheels of Jagannatha's car at puri and throwing oneself down from certain rocks or tree at Prayaga, etc., were also practised in mediaeval age, 52 From the Khairh plates53 of mediaeval period we learn that, Yasahkarandadeva obtained salvation together with his five hundred wives at the famous banyan tree of Prayaga in 1040 A.D. Jayapala, a king of Kabul and Lahore, is also said to have entered fire in 1001 A.D.54 Kadambadeva of Vedi (1042 A.D,) had ended his life in the waters.55 Calukya king Somesvara Anavamalla drowned himself in the Tungabhadra river in 1068 A.D.56 Many such instances are found in mediaeval inscriptions.57 The statement found in Rajatarangini (llth century A.D.), that there were certain officers, appointed by the king to supervise prayopavesana indicates that, death by fasting was practised on a large scale in mediaeval period.58 859

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It is important to note that, only those who were possessed of high ascetic power and detached to worldly desires were permitted to undertake all these kinds of voluntary acts. The ordinary persons lacking in high ascetic power was generally denied resorting to such kinds of methods. Again, there were protests against all these kinds of voluntary deaths from certain corners of ancient, mediaeval and modern Hindu texts. These texts state that, these voluntary deaths are strictly forbidden in Kali-era." Banabhatta (6th century A,D.), vehemently condemns these voluntary deaths. Writers of 16th and 17th centuries denounced it as an inferior way of death.61 But history tells us that this prohibition was never strictly followed or enforced. Jainism has also approved the selfimmolation by fasting, which is known as sallekhana. This is a religious vow, which is given a very high place in Acarangasutra, one of the earliest Jaina Agamas.62 Umasvati Vacaka (5th century A.D.), also in his monumental work Tattvarthasutra, refers to this vow.63 Sallekhana is a vow to be adopted for seeking liberation of the soul from the body as a religious duty during a calamity, severe famine, old age or illness from which there is no remedy. 64 In this ceremony many kings, men and women alike took part and devoted themselves to contemplation of the divinity for days without food or water. Sravanabelagola inscriptions are full of such instances. But all are not authorised to follow this path. Only those who have acquired the highest degree of perfection in the spiritual path are allowed to choose this religious vow. Except death by fasting, all other kinds of speedy methods of voluntary deaths are denounced as vulgar and evil by the Jainas. 66 Even Buddhist literature, notwithstanding the opposition of the Buddha, is full of stories of various kinds of self-immolation. The Majjhima-Nikaya states that a husband threatened with separation from his beloved wife, kills her and also himself in order that they may be united as husband and wife in their next birth. There are many stories which prove beyond doubt that, Buddhism, in certain cases and in certain circumstances, approved self-immolation. The stories relating to selfimmolation attempt of Siha, Sappadasa, Vakkali and Godhika are good examples of this fact. The stories of a future sakyamuni who gave his body to feed a starving tigress and the legend of Bhaisajya-raja who filled his body with all sorts of oil and set it on fire are worth noticing. Santidasa in his Siksasamuccaya? (a compendium of the rules of the disciple of the Great Vehicle), prohibits only those from self-immolation, who are just beginners on the path of spirituality, implying that, the spiritually advanced may resort to this method of self-immolation under certain circumstances. We have also several examples of men and women, who adopted self-immolation, out of devotion to tbeir masters, mothers and for other 860

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sacred causes. Monuments are erected in memories of those brave and devoted persons. Mostly members of royal families resorted to selfimmolation, purely from personal affection and devotion, on a mass scale. When there was enough attachment to persons or even to ideas, people lost their interest in life and resorted to this method. Harsacarita of Banabhatta tells us that, before and after the death of king Prabhakaravardhana, many of the king's friends, ministers, servants and favourite killed themselves. Kumara Laksmana, the general of Vira Ballala, with his wife Suggala Devi and the army-men attached to him, resorted to self-immolation, purely from personal affection towards the king."5 Sati or self-immolation of widows was a very important form of voluntary death. It means entering the funeral pyre of ones husband to reunite with him in the next birth or to acquire innumerable religious merits. As regards this kind of self-immolation or sati, there is no explicit reference in the Vedas. In fact, remarriage of the widow was allowed in the Vedic period and she was asked to enjoy the bliss of children and wealth. We do not find any explicit reference about sati in the Brahmanas (c.1500 B.C.-700 B.C.), Aranyakas and Grhya-sutras'" (600300 B.C.). Even in oldest Buddhist literature there is no reference to it. Moreover, we do not find any particular reference to this kind of selfimmolation either in Kautilya's Arthasastra, or in the ancient Dharmasutras, or in the early Smrti literature like Manusmrti and Yajnavalkyasmrti though these deal with an elaborate discussion of the duties of women and widows as well as suicide in general. During the 4th century B,C. and earlier, few cases of sati are recorded and the widows of king. Kantirasa and Varisyanta are stated to have ascended the funeral pyre.76 We have, the earliest, historical instance of sati in the wife of the Hindu general Keteus who died in 316 B.C., while fighting against Antigones. The Greek historians tell us that one of his two wives was led to the pyre by her brother and that she was all gleeful even when the flames enveloped her person." But this was a rare occurance in the ancient times. It is only in the early Christian era that this practice gradually started gaining popularity and the Visnusmrt (c. 100 A.D.), contains reference to it. References are also found in the works of Bhasa, Kalidasa, Sudraka, Bana and in Agnipurana and Angirasasmrti. After 700 A.D., this practice was defended by some law-givers declaring that innumerable merits flow from the performance of sati. This practice became very popular among the Ksatriya caste from 4th century A.D. onwards and after 1000 A.D., became common to Brahmanas, Ksatriyas and Vaidyas. 81 In the 11th century A.D., this practice of sati was extended to 861

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relations (besides widow of the dead) such as mothers, sisters,, servants and nurses. The Rajatarangini and the Kathasaritsagara (1100 A.D.) are full of such instances. We have also numerous epigraphic records referring to the practice of sati in ancient and mediaeval times. The earliest one is 191 of the Gupta era (510 A.D,) in the Gupta inscription.88 Nepal inscriptions of saka 979 of the time of Rajendra Coladeva89 and several other inscriptions clearly point out that this practice was in general use, at least among the ruling class, in India, under the Guptas, the Vardhamanas and their successors. Some stone monuments, called Mahasatikal, erected in memory of satis, indicate that this kind of self-sacrifice was highly honoured by the society and some sati- memorial stones were worshipped as goddesses. In modern Indian history, we find few instances of this practice in the history of Rajputs, Marathas and Peshwas.92 It became highly respected and held in high esteem by the Hindus in the mediaeval age, But it was a purely voluntary affair and whenever it took shape of purely a social custom and widows were compelled to practice sati, strong protests were made, declaring it as non-religious and not in accordance with the sastras throughout the ancient and mediaeval periods. 93 But unfortunately, in later times, this practice took different shape and became purely cruel social custom and British rulers have stopped it. Jauhar is another kind of self-immolation prevalent in the mediaeval period among the brave Rajputs of Rajasthan. It is a story of a glorious chapter of heroism and splendid sacrifice of Rajputs, Jauhar was in a sense, a spontaneous out-burst of violent reaction against the barbarous atrocities perpetrated by the brute conquerors who felt no scruples in molesting even womenfolk.94 It is a heroic type of sacrifice, resorted to, to avoid intolerable shame and dishonour to culture and community at the hands of victorious enemies. In India its origin can be traced as far back as the 4th century B.C. At the time of Alexander's invasion of India, many defeated kings along with their wives and subjects, resorted to this method of selfimmolation to avoid dishonour at the hands of foreigners. It is said that in one city alone, some twenty thousand males, females and children embraced flames to escape captivity and dishonour.95 In the early centuries of the Christian era, when the Sakas and the Hunas invaded India, created terror and played havoc with lives of the people, the royal families resorted to this method to save the honour of their womenfolk. 9 In classical literature, it is found that, Daksayani ( daughter of Daksa ), or Sati 862

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insulted by her own father, resorted to self-immolation. The Rajput history is a living example of this great sacrifice in the mediaeval period. 98 Thousands of the Rajput ladies, when they came to know that their kings were defeated or captured or killed on the battle-field by the enemies. willingly and gladly embraced the rising flames to avoid captivity, sexual dishonour, and to save the honour of their royal blood, community, and culture from the hands of the victorious enemies, specially the Muslims. In memory of these glorious sacrifices, stone-monuments were erected, the performers of jauhar being duly honoured as gods and goddesses and worshipped in their households or in temples and shrines.99 In the west also, such kinds of voluntary deaths have taken place in order to "procure martyrdom or to avoid aspostacy or to retain the crown of virginity". Tbese are allowed or approved by the earlier Christian. fathers, though ordinary suicide was denounced by them. We have, again several instances of Christian women putting an end to their lives when their chastity was in danger and their acts are spoken of with tenderness and even admiration. Some of them were admitted into the calender of Saints. 101 Self-immolation for a noble cause has always been bailed by all nations. We have seen that all the major religions of India and Indian society as a whole denounced the ordinary suicide but, self-immolations for noble cause, either religious or social, were approved or highly praised. Indian people believed that man is the architect of his own future, the master of his destiny. Self-immolations were considered to be a means or release from the fetters of suffering, gate-way to Nirvana. For this great religious cause thousands of people sacrificed their lives. In religious self-immolation, contrary to the suicidal intention, there is no desire to put an end to life, due to escaping from any difficult problem, frustration or emotional excitement. The person adopting the religious death wants to be liberated from the bondage of karma which has been responsible for all his ills in the world. Again, religious self-immolation is a conscious and planned act for self-realisation. A person committing suicide is weighed down wholly by mundane considerations. It is a circumstantially forced act rather than of free will. It is committed in a fit of emotional stress, mental imbalance or sense of frustration. Again, this act of suicide is due to a cause, rather than, death for a cause. Thus, in Indian religions and culture, voluntary deaths or self immolations for religious faith, patriotic fervour or other lofty motives, are not considered as suicide in the real sense. In it, facing death in war is also applauded as an act of heroism (viramarana). Dying for one's own nation, culture, community is called martydom (or atmahuti). The moment the person lays down his life for a noble cause, he becomes a national hero and worshipped with great reverance. These kinds of voluntary deaths are not called 863

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suicides, but self-sacrifice (atmatyaga). Is it therefore proper to call (even loosely) all kinds of voluntary deaths as suicide ? 1. Reference Na jayate mriyate va vipascinnayan kutascinna babhuva ka'scit. Ajo nityah sa'svatoyam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire. - Kathopanisad, Il-18. Isadidasopanisad. Pub.Motilal Banarassidas, New Deihi-1978. (b) Bhagavadgita--II-20. Gita press, Gorakhpur-1969. Nainam chindanti sastrani nainam dahati pavakah. Na cainam kledayantyapo no sosayati marutah-Bhagavadgita-11-23-63. Hanyamane sari re-- Ibid-11-20. also Katha. p. 11-18. Vivekacudamani of Sankaracarya, -4, works of Sankaracarya, vol. XIV, Pub. Vanivilas Press, Srirangam, Isavasyopanisat-3. nir + Oll a : Priyapriye na sprsatah. Henry Morseli, Suicide, pp, 2 ff, quoted in History of Suicide in India by Upendra Thakur, Pub ; Munshi Ram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1963, p. 1, Ibid., pp, 186-193. Westenmark, Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, Vol. II, 1908, pp. 232 ff. T. K. Tukol, Sallekhana is not Suicide, Pub. L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1986. p. 71. (a) Suicide : Origin aud Development of Moral Ideas, Vols. 1II, 1906 and 1908. Emile Durkhem, Suicide : A study in sociology. (b) Kautilya's Arthasastra, ed. Shamasastri, Sanskrit Series, IV-7. vyapadayet vsthatmanam svayam yo agnyudakadibhih. Avaidhenaiva margena atmaghata sa ucyate-quoted in Vacaspatyam; Kautilya's Arthasastra IV-7; 'Amrtacandra, Purusartha Siddhyupayo, ed. Ajit Prasad, Sacred Books of the Jainas, Vol. IV, Pub. Central Jaina Publishing House, Lucknow, 1933, verse 178. Isavasyopanisat, Ten Principal Upanisads with sankarabhasya Pub. 12. 13. 864

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14. 15 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 22220 23. 21. History of Suicide in India, p. 54, 24. 25. 26. 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Motilal Banarasidass. New Delhi, 1978, 3; Vivekacudamani, Works of Sankaracarya, Vol. XIV, Pub. Vanivilas Press, Srirangam, 4. See History of Suicide in India. 32 Asurya nama te loka andhena tamasavrtah. Tamste pretyabhigacchanti ye ke catmahano janah-Isavasyopanisat, 3. Kautilya's Arthasastra, IV-7. Ibid., IV-7. Vajasaneyasamhita, ed. Weber, 39-3. Vasistha Dhatmasutra, ed. Fuller, XXIII-14-16, 18. Manusmrti with Medhatithibhasya, ed, and Pub Gharpure, Bombay, 1920, verses 88-89, pp. 426-28. 33. Manusmrti, VI-31, p. 467. Atrismrti, 218-19, qoted in History of Suicide in India, p. 89. Hiatory of suicide in india, pp.118-121,198. purusartha siddhyupaya, p.178 History of suicide in india, p.101. Ibid, p. 106. 34. Sacred books of the East, XIII-4. Visnusamhita, ed. Jolly, Calcutta, 1881, XIX-8-9; XX-6-7; XXXIII 1-2. Mahabharata. Adiparva, Pub Bhandarkar Oriental Institute, Poona, 179-80, Yamasmrti, 20-21, quoted in History of Suicide in India, p. 57. Parasarasmrti, ed. Vamanasastri IslamPurkar, Bombay Sanskrit Series 1898, Vol. II, Part I, IV-1-2, pp. 18-19. P. V. Kane, History of Dharma Sastra Pub. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona. 1941, Vol. II, Part-I. Ibid. 35. History of suicide in india,p.110. 36. Kasyam tu maranan muktih.-History of Suicide in India, p. 81. 865

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37. 38. 39. 42. 44. 16. Sitasite sarite yatra samgate tatraplutaso divamutpatanti. Ye vai tanum visrjanti dhiraste janaso amrtatvam bhajante, - Rgveda, ed. Maxmuller X-10. 6, 8. History of Suicide in India, pp.- 50-51. Ibid., p. 51, Valmiki Ramayana, ed. Chinnaswami Sastri, Pub. Ramaratnam. Madras 1958, Aranyakanda, Uttarakanda. Mahabharata, Salyaparva, 39, 33-34. Ramayana, Uttarakanda, Sargas 109-110, pp. 1093-94. Tirthavivecanakanda of Krtyakalpataru (TK), ed. Laksmidhara, Bhatta, K. V. Rangaswami Aiyangar, Pub. Anandasrama Press, Poona, 1942, p. 2; Matsyapurana, pub. Nandalal Mor, Calcutta, 1954, adhyaya 185, verses 28-36. Mahabharata, Svargarohanaparva, Ibid, Anusasnaparva 25, 62-64. Ibid, Svargarohanaparva. Mrcchakatikam, pub. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series, varanasi, Samvat 2011; 1-4, pp. 5-6. Raghuvamsam, VIII--94-95. History of Suicide in India, p. 96. Ibid., p. 91. History of Suicide in India, p. 92. Ibid., pp. 92-98. Epigraphia Indica-ll, pp. 1-7; XII, p. 211. TK, P. 259. History of Suicide in India, p. 101. Epigraphia Curnatika, Vol. II. verse 136. History of Suicide in India, p. 98-101. Rajatarangini. ed. P. R. Shastri, Pub. Pandita Pustakalaya, Kasi. 1960. VII-1411. History of Suicide in India, p. 88. 47. 49. 50. 51. 54. 56. 57. 58. 59. 866

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61. Kadambari, ed. and pub. P. V. Kane, Girgaum, Bombay, 1920Purvabhagah, para 177. Narayana Bhatta (c. 1560 A.D.) - Tristhalisetu, pub. Anandashrama Press. Poona, 1915. pp. 290-316; Mitra Mishra (c. 1620 A.D.), Tirtha prakasika in Viramitrodaya, Benaras, 1917; p. 354. AcarangaSutra, Sacred Books of the East-XXII, I-VII 5-8, pp. 7478. Tattvarthadhigamasutra, Vol. II, ed, H. R. Kapadia, Pub. J. B, Javeri, Bombay 1930, VII-32. Samantabhadra, Ratnakarandaka Sravakacara, Pub, Jivaraja. G. Doshi Sholapur 1954, verse 122. Sallekhana is not Suicide , pp. 18-63. Kathakosa, translated by C. H. Tawney, London, 1895, p. 8. 7. Majjhima-nikayal p. 109. History of Suicide in India, pp. 107-109. A Study of the Jatakamala, ed. K. K. Misra, Pub. G. N. Jha Kendriya Sanskrit Vidya Peetha, Allahabad, 1977, pp. 230-231. Saddharmapundarika, Sacred Books of the East-XXI. Bibliotheca Buddhica - I, Petrogard, 1902. Harsacarita, V, Pub : Vidyabhavan Sanskrit Granthmala, Varanasi, 1958, pp. 250 etc. Indian Antiquary, XXXV, p. 130 History of Suicide in India, pp. 128-130. A. S. Altekar, Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, Benaras, 1938, p. 137 ff. 76. History of Suicide in India, p. 137. . 77 History of Suicide in India, pp. 139-40. 78. Ibid., p. 140. Dutaghatotkaca, pub : Chowkhamba Vidyabhavan, Varanasi, 1960; Urubhanga, pub : C. V. Bhavan,. Varanasi, 1962. 80. Kumarasambhavam, IV. ed, S. R. Sehgal, Pub : Munshi Ram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1959, pp. 35-36. 867

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81. Mrcchakatikam, x. Kadambari, Purvabhagah, Para 177, History of Suicide in India, p. 140. Angirasasmrti, Medhatithi on Manu, V, 157. History of Suicide in India, pp. 140-141. Ibid., pp. 140-159. Rajatarangini, VI. 107, 195; VII, 103, 478; VIII: V. Indian Antiquary, IX, 164; Fleet, Corpus Inscriptions Indicarum, Vol. II, p. 91, Indian Antiquary, IX. p, 163 ff. (Nepal Inscriptions); Epigraphica Indica, VI, p. 213. History of Suicide in India, pp. 96-103 Indian Antiquary, XXXV, pp. 129-30. 'History of Suicide in India', pp. 141, 157, 160, 170, 171. Manusmrti with Medhatithi commentary. V-157; Brahmandapurana quoted in Parasara Samhita, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 58 etc ; Jaimini Sutra with sabarbhasya, I-I-2. 'History of Suicide in India', pp. 168-69. Ibid., p. 162. "History of Suicide in India', pp, 161-168. Kumarasambhavam, I, 21-22. Todd. Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. II, Madras, 1880, pp.29, 370-73, 393-94. Ibid., II. p. 609-610. Divine Institution, VI, quoted in History of Suicide in India', p. 197. Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, II, p. 251. fn. 6 100. 101. 868

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CONCEPTION OF REALITY IN MAHAYANA BUDDHISM Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri Buddhism has produced outstanding Philosophical personalities who made substantial contributions not only to Indian Philosophy but to the world thought. Gautama, tne Buddha, who was founder father of this School, has not built any particular sect or school of thought. He was not much concerned about metaphysical problems, such as 'existence of self,' 'nature of the world and Reality etc. In fact he had warned against metaphysics. He has emphasised on the moral aspects of human conduct; his approach was mainly ethical. He was not interested in establishing any philosophical system as such. But his followers, taking inspiration from his teachings became divided on the grounds of metaphysics and established many Philosophical Systems. Buddhism is divided into two important sects, Viz., Hinayana (lower vehicle) and Mahayana (greater vehicle). Vaibhasika (Sarvastivada), Sautrantika, Madhyamika (Sunyavada) and Vijnanavada (Yogacara) are the four famous schools in the history of Buddhism. The first two belong to Hinayana and the other two to Mahayana, Vaibhasika School is so called because this school gives more importance to the commentaries called Mahavibhasa and Vibhasa on Abhidharma treatise. They are also called as Sarvastivadins, because they believe in existence of all things (sarvamasti), physical as well as mental. This school is radial pluralism erected on the denial of Soul-Substance (Pudgalanairatmya) and the acceptance of discrete momentary entities. According to this school, everything is momentary, there is nothing human or divine, that is permanent. For these philosophers seventy five dharmas are the ultimate elements of existence, which are momentary and yet real. Vaibhasikas believe in theory of direct perception (bahyapratyaksavada). These thinkers argue that there is no permanent Reality as such and thus realisation (Nirvana) is also not realising something permanent spiritual entity but extinction of all desires, passions and miseries. The Sautrantikas, (the followers of Sutrapitaka) uphold most of the doctrines of Vaibhasika school, such as non-soul theory, doctrine of momentariness and liberation as mere extinction of miseries, etc. But according to these Philosophers external objects are not directly perceived as Vaibhasikas believe, but only indirectly inferred (bahyanuneya). They admit the extramental existence of the world. We do not know the thing in itself. We can only know ideas which are copies or mental pictures and from these copies we infer the existence of the originals. Thinkers of this school of Hinayana, cut down the numbers of seventy five dharmas 869

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(i.e. elements of existence of the Vaibhasika to forty three and treat the rest as subjective or mental construction and hence unreal. These two schools of Hinayana are the upholders of theory of momentariness. (Ksanabhangavada). The ultimate aim of these two schools of Hinayana is attainment of individual Nirvana (liberation) which is negative (i.e. extinction of miseries). Mahayana is revolt against the feeble mindedness and selfishness of the Hinayana Buddhists. The Mahasanghikas revolted against the Sthavira's narrow mterpretation of Buddha's teachings. They have interpreted them in a broader sense. To show greatness or superiority of their system, practice and conduct, they coined the term Mahayana (the great vehicle) and dubbed Sthavira's (olders') view as Hinayana (lower vehicle). Asvaghosa, Nagarjuna, Asanga and Vasubandhu are the first rank thinkers of the Mahayana Buddhism. All these Philosophers unanimously criticised the Hinayanists for not understanding the deepest meaning of Buddha's teachings. Asvaghosa (circa 1st A.D.) is the Chief exponent of Mahavana Buddhism. His Mahayanasraddhotpadasastra (The Awakening of Faith) plays very important role in the development of Mahayana Buddhism. All the important principles of latter schools are found in this work, though not in a full fledged form. The special contribution of this work of Asvaghosa to latter schools of Mahayana is its absolutistic approach towards reality. Asvaghosa declares in clear terms that Hinayanists being feeble minded are unable to grasp the deeper meaning of Buddha's teachings about Reality and his aim is to unfold fundamental teachings of the master as against the errors of the Hinayanists.? As against the Hinayanists, who have maintained the elements of existence ( dharmas) as real entities, he defines Reality as 'that which is ultimately indescribable beyond all the categories of intellect and hence it cannot be said neither existence nor non-sxistence, nor both, nor neither, neither one or nor many, neither affirmation nor negation. It is formeless. Once we penetrate beyond forms, it is discovered that all the different forms of the universe are not real differences of the soul at all, but different manifestations of One Real Power, hence it has always been impossible to speak, adequately, to name correctly or to think correctly of this One Soul, the real essence of things, which is unchangable and indestructible. We therefore name it the True Essence or the True likeness' or the 'True Reality'." Asvaghosa like Upanisadic thinkers believes that this reality is 870

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essence of all things and originally anly one. This Reality has no attribute and it can only be somehow pointed out in speech as "Thatness'. Describing the relation between this Absolute Reality and Phenomena (world), Asvaghosa. declares that they are not two different realities posited against each other. In the ultimate analysis they both are one and the same. Phenomena is nothing but appearance of Reality. Absolute has two aspects viz. conditioned and unconditioned. The un-conditioned Absolute tainted with ignorance manifests itself as a conditioned suchness. This phenomenal world of subject-object duality is the result of this conditioned suchness. Absolut itself owing to inffiuence of ignorance appears as this manifold world of Phenomena. The relation between them is like that of the ocean to its waves. Asvaghosa says that " just as calm waters of the ocean on account of wind, appear as waves, so does consciousness on account of ignorance appears as finite intellect. Just as clay is transformed into various kinds of pottery, one consciousness manifests itself as so many finite intellects." The Absolute is non-dual hut the phenomenal world of objects is appearance or illusory. This manifold world of Phenomena arises on account of ignorance. Ignorance is cause for all such confusion. This ignorance colours this true Reality in the finite mind. As there is an influence at work there arise false imperfect ideas. Asvaghosa, beautifully illustrates the influence of ignorance in the following manner : "clothes have no scent but if any one smoked them with incense, the clothes would then be perfumed like the incense, so it is with influences. The True Reality is pure and has really no confusion colouring it, but ignorance in man colours his views, so there is confused state".' Asvaghosa accepts two kinds of truth, one conditioned by ignorance (empirical) and the othor unconditioned (transcendental) which is free from impurities caused by ignorance. Purified conditioned suchness is unconditioned suchness. Really speaking ultimately, there is no difference between Absolute and phenomena. Phenomena arise from false notions of the mind. If the mind is independent of these false ideas then phenomena disappear. When true knowledge dawns, we realise that we are no more finite things but absolute suchness. This is the self existent, immortal Reality, Calm and Blissful, which must be realised. 8 This absolutistic way of thinking of Asvaghosa, remarkably influenced the later thinkers of Mahayana Buddhism. Inspired by the uttereness of Asvaghosa, some of the Mahayanists emphasised the negative aspect and other positive and therby established their own schools of thought within the Mahavana school, known as Sunyavada (Madhyamika) and Vijnanavada (Yogacara) respectively. Nagarjuna (2nd A.D.) is a systematic expounder of sunyavada (Madhyamika) Buddhism. He refuted the Hinayanists on the basis of of dialectics. Hinayanist denied only Pudgala (existence of self) but accepted 871

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the substantiality of dharmas (elements). For them dharmas exist objectively and independently. For Nagarjuna there is nothing which exists obsolutely and objectively. Everything that exists is relative, dependent and thus, unreal. Dharmas of the Hinayanists are subjective and unreal, Nagarjuna argues that if a thing were objective and real, it would be able to exist by itself, it must not be in need of being understood through something else. But nothing is found in thought which is not relative, everything is relative to everything else. Relativity is the mark of the unreal, of the subject. For Nagarjuna, our entire experience is purely subjective; things have only an apparent existence (samvrti) in reality. They are imaginary and unreal. Entire phenomenal world is unreal. He interpretes pratityasamutpada (Dependent origination) in terms of relativity and proves the dependent unreal nature of all elements. He says that there is no real independent existence of entities (pratyaya), since, there is no elements of existence (dharma) which comes into manifestation without conditions, therefore there is no dharma which is not Sunya i.e. devoid of real independent existence.11 Thus Phenomenal objects are unreal. The ground of phenomena can never be met within reason as reason by its very nature leads to insoluble antinomies. He, thus, comes to the conclusion that the Absolute Reality is Sunya. It is Sunya in the sense that it is transcendent to thought, it is indescribable, nondeterminate and non-dual (advayam tattvam). It is neither subject nor object. It is free from this duality. Subject-object duality indicates relativity and whatever is relative, dependent is unreal. He adopts more negative approach and says that this Reality is indescribable and it cannot even be equated with pure consciousness. Nagarjuna defines Reality as 'that which can only be directly realised, that which is quiescent, inexpressible, that which is non-discursive and non-dual.12 For him, Reality is indescribable, non-determinate thus it is Sunya. When he says that reality is Sunya, his idea is not different from that of Asvaghosa. Reality is Sunya in the sense of non-describability, free from all empirical predicates. The word sunya is understood in two senses in Nagarjuna's system. Firstly, it is sunva from the point of view of phenomena. It means Svabhavasunya, i.e. devoid of independent substantial reality of its own. Secondly, from the absolute point of view, it means Prapancasunya i.e. devoid of verbalization, thought construction and plurality. It is indescribable in human language. It is transcendent to thought. It does not mean absolute blank. Nagarjuna makes it very clear by saying that it cannot be called void or not void, or both or neither, but in order to indicate it, it is called void.13 His stand is more negative than that of Asvaghosa. He emphasizes the transcendental aspect of the Absolute. His dialectical approach does not allow him to identify this Absolute with even pure consciousness. 872

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Nagarjuna, while speaking about the relation between Absolute Reality and phenomenal world, says that the universe viewed as a whole is the Absolute, viewed as a process, it is the phenomenal world. In other words, the same thing when it is viewed through the glasses of causality is phenomenal world and when causality is discarded it is the Absolute or Nirvana." Really there is no difference between Phenomena (samsara) and Noumena (Nirvana)." He criticises Hinayanist's conception of Nirvana (liberation) which can be attained only by realising pudganiratmaya (soullessness). He says that Nirvana is not merely extinction of miseries but, it is tbe extinction of all conceptions of our productive imagination. It is beyond all categories of thought, it cannot be defined. Nirvana is giving up all views, stand points and predicaments,10 For Nagarjuna there are two levels from which truth may be envisagedthe paramartha ard samvrti, the absolute and relative, the transcendental and the empirical. He says that the teachings of Buddha are based on two kinds of truth, viz., the empirical and the transcendental.18 These two kinds of truth, are accepted by the Hinayanists also.18 But according to Nagarjuna, Hinayanists have misunderstood these two kinds of truth. He severely criticises the so called truths of the Hinayanists, viz., dhatus ayatanas, skandhas, aryasattyas, etc, as matters of conventional, empirical and ultimately they are not truth at all. Paramartha satya is the truth relating to the Absolute Reality, that which is beyond all categories of thought. Samvrti satya is the Pseudo-truth which relates to the world of Phenomena that which is concerned with empirical usage (loka vyavahara). This distinction between the empirical, and the transcendental which is epistemic does not however, import a difference into Reality. The Real is one and non-dual, beyond the categories of thought and can only be directly realised. 10 Shortly after Nagarjuna some among the Mahayanists who were not satisfied with the negative approach of Nagarjuna, adopted revolutionary way of thinking. They have started thinking in positive manner calling the Absolute Reality as pure consciousness. They have accepted the theory of Sunya of Nagarjuna and interpreted it in an idealistic manner. Pure consciousness is sole Reality for them and it is Sunya. This pure consciousness is free from subject-object duality. non-dual and indescribable in terms of human language. Asanga (circa 270-350 A.D.) is one of the great thinkers who raised voice against Nagarjuna's doctrine and propagated Vijnanavada. He is a very prominent and dominating thinker in the lines of VijnanavadaBuddhists. He agrees with Nagarjuna in criticising the Hinayanists by saying that not only pudgala (self) is non-substantial but all the dharmas (elements) are also non-substantial and unreal. Everything is appearance 873

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and unreal ultimately. Pure consciousness is the sole Reality and it is one only. He questions the very foundation of Sautrantika's logic that if Vaibhasika's seventy-five real dnarmas can be reduced into forty-three rejecting others as subjective and unreal, why not on the basis of same logic other dharmas are also be discarded? Other ones also can be turned as subjective and unreal on the basis of same logic. On the basis of theory of causation, i.e., dependent origination (Pratityasamutpada) he proves the unreality of dharmas (elements). 20 He, thus, proclaims pudgalanairatmya as well as dharmanairatma. This criticism of realism of Hinayanist led him to accept Idealism. He accepts ideal Reality, i.e., pure consciousness. Asanga's main attack against Nagarjuna is his extremism. As far as the conception of Reality is concerned, he differs from Nagarjuna. For Nagarjuna, we have already seen that, Reality is indescribable, transcendental and cannot even be called as pure consciousness. Asanga, a speculative thinker, is not satisfied with such type of negative attitude of Nagarjuna. He identifies this Absolute with pure consciousness which is also free from subject - object duality, indescribable, beyond determination of thought categories and non-dual. He is not ready to accept the claim of Nagarjuna that phenomenal world is merely conceptual and lacks any basis. His aim was to reach the ground of phenomena, the apparent world. Unlike the Madhyamika he thought that phenomena though unreal, must be rooted in some reality. There must be some basis for this worldly appearence. It must not be baseless. Asanga, thinking on this line, came to the conclusion, that the base or the ground for this phenomenal world is nothing but pure consciousness. Consciousness itself appears as subject - object duality, this appearance is on account of transcendental illusion. The appearance of a form of consciousness as something objective and independent is illusary. But that which is ground for this appearance is real, it is the Reality, i.e., Pure consciousness. Asanga's view is not only idealism but it is Absolutism. He was aware that mere idealistic position will not be the final goal for 'speculative system'. Nagarjuna has already shown through his rigorous logic that Absolutism can only be reached through dialectical apdroach. Nagarjuna has mentioned that the subject and the object are relative dependent and thus unreal. The subject and the object both are co-relative categories and that one cannot be had without the other. Consciousness without an object is un-thinkable Thus, Reality cannot be called as Pure Consciousness. The Reality is above all these thought categories and inexpressible. For Asanga, Consciousness is the only Reality, true existence. This is idealistic standpoint. Reality is ideal and it is pure onsciousnass. But he does not stop here. For him, from the ultimate 874

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standpoint, pure subject ceases to be subject. It becomes something non conceptual.21 This dialectical awareness compelled him to transcend his Idealism to Absolutism. Adopting Nagarjuna's dialectic method, he came to the conclusion that ultimate Reality, i.e., Pure Consciousness is something that cannot be called as a subject in the ultimate analysis. Owing to influence of transcendental illusion, consciousness itself appears as the subject and the object. The objectivity is only mode of consciousness. When this illusory idea of objectivity is removed the subject-consciousness also ceases to exist. When there is nothing to know, consciousness also ceases to exist.22 At the transcendental level pure consciousness alone exists. This is ultimate Reality, the essence of everything. Consciousness free from the false duality of subject and object is the Absolute. Asanga defines Absolute Reality (Tattva) as "That which is free from duality; ground for illusion, indescribable and non-determinate'.23 It is called dvayarahita' (free from duality) because in it there is no room for subject and object, positive and negative. The highest Reality transcends all opposites and in it, the positives and negatives are one and the same.24 Reality is indescribable and non-determinate.25 It is indescribable because words are not capable of describing it. It is non-determinate, beyond all thought descrimmations. Thought descriminations imply duality. Duality is ignorance and it is unreal but Reality is non-dual, free from all types of duality. It is beyond the grasp of intellect. Reason or intellect has its own limit. The reason cannot lead us to Realijy.26 It cannot be described positively or negatively. It is Self existent (sat) and non-relative. Thought categories are emperical. Thought cannot go beyond these categories of existence and non-existence. Reality cannot be conceived by any thought category. Asanga, therefore, denies the positive as well as negative predicates to Reality by saying that "rise above the categories of thought-existence and non existence, as both or neither is Reality.27 Asanga calls this Absoluse Reality in dilferent terms such as Paramarthasatya (the highest truth), Dharmadhatu (essence of all things), Sunya, (beyond thought determination), Buddhatva (Buddhahood), Nirvana (Liberation), Suddhatman (Pure Soul) and Mahatman (Universal Soul). Asanga identifies highest Reality with Paramarthasatya saying that, highest truth is that which is neither such nor otherwise, neither born, nor destroyed, neither increase nor decrease, neither pure nor impure.28 Reality is also called as Dharmadhatu, i.e., essence of all elements. It is substratum of all phenomena, the permanent background of world of phenomena. It is the principle of unity underlying the entire phenominal world. It is essentially identical with all elements and yet cannot be defined in terms of any elements, it transcends all of them.29 875

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It is like akasa (sky) which pervades everything and is affected by nothing. 30 The word 'Sunya' is used for Reality to indicate indeterminate nature of Reality in terms of subject-object duality. The Reality by its very nature has no characteristic of its own to describe it.31 It is also called Suddhatman and Mahatman. He says that realising the nonsubstantiality of and that of elements, understanding the real meaning of Sunyata, the enlightened ones transcend the individual existence and realise pure Soul (Suddhatman) and become one with that universal Soul.32 It is also identified with Nirvana (Liberation).33 Nirvana is nothing but realising Dharmadhatu i.e. the essence of everything. For Asanga, everything is in essence, the same as Dharmadhatu. Nirvana neans realisation of this potentiality. Asanga thought that, Nagarjuna emphasising the transcendental aspect of the Absolute failed to show the proper relation between Absolute and Phenomena. It is true that Nagarjuna accepted the Dharmadhatu as the underlying ground of phenomena and did not treat it as an entity separate from the Phenomenal World. But, he did not make clear how this Dharmadhatu or Absolute, immanent in empirical experience constitutes the very soul of all things. Asanga, to show the relation between the Absolute and phenomena speaks of double process of the Absolute, viz. defilement and purification (Sanklesa and Vyavadana). Phenomenal world is defiled aspect of the Absolute only. He believes in certain kind of parimmavada (theory of transformation). Owing to powerful influence of ignorance, the Absolute becomes defiled and transformes itself into phenomenal world. But this defilment is not a permanent feature of the Absolute. It is foreign to it. Therefore, it can be purified by realising pure consciousness. Really, Phenomena are not different from the Absolute. The relation between tham is like that of pure and muddy water. The water is the same whether, it is muddy or pure. Pure water is the muddy water from which the mud is removed. Similarly Reality is nothing but the world from which subject-object duality is removed.34 The things of the manifold world are taken to be real by common men.35 They think that the phenomenal world exists independently by its own. To remove this misunderstanding, Asanga like his previous thmkers, says that it is wrong to think that there is a difference between Naumena and Phenomena, Nirvana and Samsara, apparent and the real. They are not two different realities posited against each other. Reality, viewed as dependent, relative as governed by causes and conditions, constitute the world (samsara) and the Pnenomenal world viewed as free from all conditions is the Absolute, 36 The Absolute is the only real, it is identical with Phenomena. Reality lies at the very heart of Phenomenal world. It is identical with Phenomena in the sense that it is the basis or ground and inner most essence of all phenomenal things. Absolute is in 876

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phenomena as essence of it but is itself not Phenomena. It transcends phenomena. It is basic conception in the philosophy of Asanga that Dharmadhatu, the non-determinate Reality is the ground of the determinate entities of the Phenomenal World. This non-determinate Reality is only the ultimate nature of the determinate phenomenal entities and not other entity apart from them. Thus, that the Absolute transcends phenomena does not mean that it is another reality which lies outside the world of Phenomena. There are no two sets of the real. The Absolute is the reality of the apparent phenomena and it is their nature. Nagarjuna, emphasising transcendental aspect of Reality, categories the whole Phenomenal existence as samvrti (empirical) Satya and does not analyse the empirical experiences in detail. 37 Asanga, being a great speculative thinker is not ready to accept Nagarjuna's extreme view of bringing all Phenomenal, empirical experiences under one category i.e. under Samvrtisatya. He tried to give constructive theory of phenomena advocating three kinds of truth unlike the Nagarjuna's doctrine of two truths. The Samvrtisatya of Nagarjuna is divided into parikalpita (imagined and paratantra (dependent) and Paramartha-Satya of the Nagarjuna is also called Parinispanna. According to Asanga, even in the phenomenal level, there are two kinds of experiences, one is utterly unreal or illusory and other is dependent, real for all practical purposes. Parikalpita" and paratantra are related to worldly things while Parinispanna is related to highest truth, Nirvana Were all klesas and imagination cease to exist.40 Vasubandhu, Younger brother of Asanga, Upholds the Asanga's view. He describes the Absolute Reality as Pure, undefiled existence which is beyond finite thought, the Good, the Eternal and Blissful. It is liberation, it is Buddha's body of pure existence. It transcends the category of thought as well as the plurality of Phenomenal world.41 This Phenomenal world is transformation of Vijnana only.42 It is clear from conception of Reality of Mahayanists that, they took very much pain to prove that the Absolute is indescribable and nondeterminate. It cannot be described positively or negatively. It is neither existence nor non-existence, neither both nor-neither. It cannot be called existence (bhava) because it is not subject to origin, decay and death. There is no empirical existence which is free from origin, decay-and death. Empirical existence arises from causes and conditions. Everything that which arises from causes and conditions is necessarily, unreal. Whatever is produced by cause and condition has beginning, decay and destruction. Reality is uncaused and unconditioned, hence it cannot be called as an existence. It cannot be called as non-existence also because the nonexistence (abhava) is a relative concept depending upon concept of bhava (existence). Disappearance of bhava is known as abhavo (non-existence). To call it being or non-being (bhava or abhava) is thus absolutely wrong. 877

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Reality cannot be called both existence and non-existence at the same time because these are contradictory terms and cannot be applied to the same thing at the same time, as light and darkness cannot remain at the same time and at the same place. If it is both existence and nonexistence it will not remain un-caused and unconditioned because both are dependent upon causality. But Reality is above causality. It is not dependent on any other thing for its existence. It is Self existent (sat). Reality cannot be caught in the trap of reason. It is catuskotivinirmukta i.e. 'is' and 'is not and both is and is not, and 'neither is nor is not'. Mahayanists, show how Hinayanist's conception that, dharmas (discrete elements of existence) are momentary and yet real, is bundle of controdictions. Hinayanists denied only the Pudgala (impermanence of self) and accepted discrete elements are real entities. Mahayanists, adopting dialectic method severely attacked the Hinayanists by saying that these being lower intellectuals, cannot see even impermanence of dharmas, existence of all elements (dharmanairatmya). Without realisation of both i.e. pudgalaniratmya (non-substantiality of soul) and dharmanairatmya (non-substantiality of all elements) it is not possible to reach the state of Nirvana. Again, Nirvana is not something which can be gained or achieved as Hinayanists believe. There is no difference between Nirvana and Samsara ultimately. Nirvana is not merely annihilation or extinction of misery but it is realisation of the germ of Buddhahood which is within one's own heart. It is nothing new but transcending the subject-object duality and giving up the all stand points. We have seen that, Mahayanists describe Reality in positive as well as in negative terms like Upanisadic thinkers. Nagarjuna emphasised the negative aspect of it, while Vijnanavadins describe Reality in positive as well as in negative terms. 878

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Reference (a) The Awakening of Faith by D. T. Suzuki, Chikago. 1900. (b) The Awakening of Faith by T. Richard, Ed. A.H. Walton. London, 1961. 'Awakening of Faith by D. T. Suzuki, P. 47.' Ibid., P. 59, Awakening of Faith by T. Rechard, Pp. 46-47. Ibid., P. 56. Ibid., pp. 51, 54. Ibid., P. 59 Santam sivam ksaumapadam acyutam tat-Saundarananda verse 26-27, Madhyamaka-karika (M.K.) -- X-10. Na hi svabhavo bhavanam pratyayadisu vidyate.-M.K.-1-5. Apratitya samutpanno dharmo kascana vidyate. Yasmat tasmat asunyo hi dharmo kascana vidyate. 12. ---M.K. XXIV-9. Aparapratyayam santam prapancairprapancitatn. Nirvikalpamananartham etat tattvasya laksanam. -M.K.-XXII-II. 13. Sunyamiti na vaktavyam asunyamiti va bhavet. Ubhayam no' bhayam ceti prajnaptyartham tu kathyate. -M.K.-XXII-II. 14. Ya ajavam javibhava upadaya pratitya va, So pratityanupadaya nirvanamupadesyate. -M.K. XXV-9. Na samsarasya nirvanadasti kncidvisesanam, 15. Na nirvanasya samsaradasti kincidvisesanam. ---M.K. XXII-19. 16. Muktistu sunyatadrsteh tadarthasesabhavana, 879

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17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Bhavabhavasamanata-M.S.A.-VI-41. Anabhilapyamaprapancatmakam ca parinispannasvabhavah.-M.S A.-XI-13. Comm Ato na tarkasya tadvisayah-M.S.A-I-12. Commentary. 27. Na bhavo napi cabhavo buddhatvam tena kathyate,-M.S.A.-IX 24. 22246 28. 29. 30. 2222222 31. 32. Dve satye samupasritya buddhanam dharmadesana. Lokasamvrti satyam ca satyam ca paramarthatah. -M.K. XXIV-8. Kathavastu, pp. 33-38. M.K.-XVIII-9. 33. 34. Mahayanasutralamkara. (M.S.A.) XVIII-82, Commentary, Grahyagrahakabhavena nirupayitumasakyatvat.-M.S.A., p. 182. Grahyabhave grahakabhavat.-M.S.A.-VI-8. Commentary. Satyam yat satatam dvayena rahitam bhrantesca sannisrayah, Sakyam naiva ca sarvathabhilapitum yaccaprapancatmakam. M.S.A, XI-J3. Na sat na casat na tatha na canyatha, na jayate na vyeti na cavahiyate, na vardhate napi visudhyate tat paramartha-laksanam,-- M.S.A.-VI-1. Sarvadharmasca buddhatvam dharmo naivaca kascana.-M S.A. IX-4. Yathambaram sarvagatam sadamatam tathaiva tat sarvagatam sadamatam. "M.S.A.-IX 15. Ibid.-XIV-34. Buddhah suddhatmalabhitvat gata at mamahatmatarn,--M.S.A;IX-25. Ibid.-1X-47; XVIII-66. Yathaiva toye luthite prasadite no jayate sa punaracchatanyatah. Malapakarsastu sa tatra kevalah svacittasuddhau vidhiresa eva hi M.S.A.-X111 18. 880

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Tattvam sanchadya balanam atattvam khyati sarvatah-Ibid. - XIX-53. Na cantaram kincana vidyate anayoh-Ibid.-VI-5. His followers (Aryadeva and Candrakirti) divided samyrtisatya into two types, viz. Tathyasamvrti and mithyasamvrti. M.S A XI-13, 39. Ibid, XI-4Q. Vikalopasamarthah santarthah parinispannalaksanam nirvanam,Ibid-XVIII-81, comm. Sa evanasravodhatuh acintyah kusalo dhruvah. Sukho vimuktikayo asau dharmakhyo ayam mahamunch- Vimsika30). Atmadharmopacaro hi vividho yah pravartate, vijnanaparinamo asau.. . . -Ibid-1. 881

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RELIGION AND WORLD PEACE Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri Peace is the desire of the human heart. It is something positive, which includes calmness or tranquility of mind and heart. It is the necessary requirement for the people, society and nations to grow and reach the height of their potential. Without peace of mind and peaceful atmosphere no individual or society can make any progress or positive contribution. Peace is the primary objective of every society and of national and international life. Everybody wants peace and talks about peace, but it would seem that peace has become rare thing or a mirage in our times. Twentieth century has been called bloodiest century in human history. It has seen the two world wars. After the experience of the two devastating world wars and on account of the apprehension of a third even more devastating war, every rational and thoughtful human being started believing that peace is indispensable and necessary for individual as well as social and collective personality and progress and general well-being. But genuine efforts have not been made to bring peace. It has remained in talk of the leaders. World has not learnt any lesson from previous wars and conflicts. Beginning of this century is also not far behind in this matter of violence, conflicts, and wars. At present days violent clashes, communal violence, acts of terrorism, racial conflicts, assassinations, massacre, and clashes between nations, civil wars and guerilla warfare are going on in some part of the Globe. Hardly does a day pass without human blood being shed by some one in the world. In such situation, if humanity has to survive, promotion of peace has to be given top priority. Academicians, intellectuals, religious leaders, statesmen, professionals and every human being ought to be concerned about peace promotion. Religion is a major dimension of human life. In fact, it is a way of life. Religion is to learn and understand one's duty towards self, family, and the society. It lays down the principles and laws for one to live and let others live a life of dedicated not only to one's freedom but also for establishing holistic society. It is a common knowledge that personal, domestic and social life of majority of people, is largely governed by rules of their religion. Each religion prescribes certain duties to its followers. It works as a guide, furnishing to its followers daily duties in the round of common occupations, works as lamplight along their road shows where to place their steps. It is also reuniting oneself with the Supreme Self. The religions that humanity has known extol peace and harmony, and explicitly speak about it. But ironically, religions have become major source of frictions, factionalism and violent conflict. Bloodshed and massacre are taking place in the name of religion. Fanatics and 882

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fundamentalists are killing hundreds of people in the name of particular religion. In such scenario, the fundamental question asked by the people is : if religions stand for peace and harmony, then why is there so much tension, violence and even war in the name of religion? Lots of debate is going on in intellectual circle whether religions, really help to promote peace and harmony in the society. Especially after September 11, 2001 attack on World Trade Centre, in New York, religion almost as in the medieval era has come to occupy the centre stage of global dialogue. Several interpretations about place of religion and its relevance in global affairs are being offered. To some, religion is fundamental source of discord, to some others; the emergence of religion to a place of primary in international affairs has come to denote clash of civilizations. Some people think that in the building up peace and harmony the religions of the world cannot help, they become part of the problem rather than finding solution. They give several arguments and instances to substantiate their view points: 1. Religion, instead of binding mankind together in ties of love and brotherliness has been cause of discord and strife between different groups of men, women community. 2. History tells that religions have caused tension, violence and war. Several times crusades and jihads fought in the name of religions but also persecution of individuals who had the courage to adopt and follow other religions or not conform to the tenets and practices of the orthodox within the fold of the same religion. 3. Religious differences often been and continue to be major cause of conflict, People in the name of one religion or another, sometimes brought distrust, discord, tension, conflict, pain and suffering to one another and to the wider world. 4. Religion offers a world view to a particular community and there by segregates it from the rest of humanity. It has thus, become a fertile ground or origin for prejudices, unilateral vision, intolerance and even antagonism. 5. Religion has served to fuel intolerance and discrimination in some cases of ethnic, racial and economic conflict. Sometimes misinterpreted or twisted religious considerations have been mixed with ethnic resentments and unhealed historical memories to generate or promote violence, tension and actual killings of fellow human beings. 6. The activities of religious extremists are seen as a proof that the promotion of peace does not come from religions. The religious extremists or fundamentalists do not hesitate to resort to repression, harassment, and blackmailing, kidnapping, even killing fellow human 883

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beings all in the name of their particular religion. Some times when their fundamental tendencies are used to feed nationalistic sentiments, the consequences become more serious or more negative still. 7. The religious unity or the unity of all religions propagated by so called few right thinking people, is obvious myth and that religions are born only to try to annihilate one another and to induce their respective followers to plague and murder each other. 8. In modern times, though religions may have lost some of its hold on the minds of millions of people, but its potentiality for mischief has not altogether disappeared. Therefore, considering all these points, religions should be excluded in consideration for peace building. Some peoples, disgusted with frequent religious conflicts, speak of abolishing religions from human society to allay those conflicts. There seems to be some truth in these arguments. But there is no meaning in blaming religions for all evils practiced or carried out by its followers. People without understanding the true essence of religion blame it for acts of its followers. All such things pointed out in above mentioned arguments, who oppose religion in consideration of promotion of peace, are not the fruit or result of true religion but of the evil human nature. It is the people behind who distort the religion and try to take an advantage of the resulting situation of chaos and confusion in the society to meet their own selfish, egoistic ends. Again, most of the people do not care to study and understand the fundamentals of different religions. Secondly, those who make study, instead of appreciating their essential teachings and unity, laid emphasis on differences of form. Appreciation of the beauties of the great religions is one of the most potent international understandings upon which the structure of enduring peace can be built. Prior to blame religions for violence, conflicts and wars, its is primary requisite to study and understand the true spirit of every religion. All religions down from the very ancient Vedic religion to the latest Bahaism, teach love, brotherhood, compassion and peace. There is no religion, which does not extol peace. Comparative study of world religions surprisingly reveals that they all favour peace. With admirable unanimity all the religions of the world preach the Golden Rule: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. Do not do to others which is painful to you'. Practice of this rule is key foundation for peace. Let us now explore in brief how different religions speak about and promote peaceful co-existence. Vedic or Hindu Religion : Vedic Religion or Hinduism states that Dharma is a uniting force of the society, not dividing one. It is a fundamental universal principle, 884

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which upholds the people, brings people together irrespective of religion, race sex and creed. It is basically the principle, the discipline, the way, which helps to sustain the life of individual and life of society (Dharanat dharma ityahuh dharmo dharayati prajah. -Mahabharata). Vedic religion (Hinduism) proclaims that we are all children of one Divine pureconsciousness, the Supreme Being, the God (Amrtasya Putrah). The God or Supreme Being is one; It is called by different names and worshipped in different names and worshipped in different forms (ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti-Rgveda). The divinity, pure consciousness is inherent in everything and every being. So every one is essentially divine. There is no meaning in quarrelling each other in the name of religion or God. It also speaks of unity of minds, hearts and actions. It tells us to come together, talk together and act with one mind for the benefit of mankind. The Rgveda, one of the oldest Scriptures of the mankind gives great message to human beings in the following way: "Meet together; talk together, may your minds comprehend alike. Common be your actions and achievements. Common be your thoughts and intentions, Common be wishes of your hearts. So may there be union amongst you." [Sangcchadhvam samvadadhvam sam vo manansi janatam. Samanivah akutih samana hrdayanivah. Samanamastu vo mano yatha vah susahasati Rgveda .x. 191.2-4] The sense of sepesrateness brings conflicts, grief and sorrow, while unity of minds brings peace and calmness of mind. Isavasya Upanisad - the one of the oldest Upanisadic texts tells us 'to see one's own self in everything and everything in one's own self. Practicing this you will not hate anyone" (Yastu sarvani bhutani atmanyevanupusyati. Sarvabhutesu catmanam tato nu vijugupsate. Isopanisad. 7] Its message is that loving others we love ourselves; by hating others we hate ourselves, because same divinity, same divine consciousness resides in every one and everything. "Real seer is he, who sees all as his own self", is the message of the Bhagavadgita satmaupamyena sarvatra samam pasyati yo arjuna, sukham va yadi va duhkham sa yogi paramo matah. Gita. VI. 32,29,30 and XIII.27]. The Golden rule taught by the Hinduism is: "One should never do that to another which one considers undesirable for oneself [Atmanah pratikulani paresam na samascaret-Mahabharata V. XV. 17]. Hinduism also speaks of one family on earth. Everyone is sisters and 885

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brothers in blood: to the large hearted entire universe is one family [udaracaritanam tu Vasudhaiva kutumbakam. Manusmrti.]. To bring peace at individual as well as social level, Bhagavadgita tells us to cultivate and practice divine qualities, such as purity of mind and heart, charity, compassion, fearlessness, truthfulness, non possession, etc. These qualities are real characteristics of true religion. These moral and religious principles humanize men and women and help to bring real peace at grass root level. In Hinduism, the word santi is used for peace. In every auspicious occasion, peace invocation is performed to maintain peace. It talks about peace in all directions of the universe. Ancient Vedic prayer is: " Peaceful be heaven, peaceful the earth, Peaceful be the broad space between, Peaceful be for us the running waters, Peaceful-be the plants and herbs, Peaceful be all the divine beings, Peaceful be the Brahman (Supreme Being), Peaceful be entire universe, May peace and only peace prevail and May that peace come unto me. Peace, Peace, Peace. Daily prayer of Hinduism is: "Let all be happy, let all be free from afflictions. Let all see auspicious things, let no one be unhappy.' [Sarvetra sukhinah santu sarve santu niramayah. Sarve bhadrani pasyantu ma kascid duhkhamaphnuyat] Buddhism wants to see brotherhood established on earth. Lord Buddha asks us to be compassionate towards all livings beings of the universe. Development of knowledge with wisdom, compassion with love and moral character only will lead to the well being of the entire humanity. True friendship, reverence, and respect for all living beings are the pathway for the well being of the mankind. Buddha's message was hate never ceases by hate, but ceases by love. Hurt not others in ways that you would find hurtful, says Buddhist text Udana varga (V. 18]. Buddhism through its five precepts (pancasila) viz., 886

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(a) abstaining from killing, (b) abstaining from lying, (c) abstaining from stealing, (d) abstaining from sensuality, and (e) abstaining from intoxication, wants to establish global peace. Jainism emphasizes on non-violence - Ahimsa. The principle of Ahimsa implies respect for all living beings including all life forms. Ahimsa is renouncing hatred, cultivating compassion towards all life forms. It is not just a theory, but way of life. All living beings have right to live on earth, it is not just monopoly of human beings. As a way of life, Ahimsa promotes an attitude of tolerance, of live and let live. Jainism firmly believes that global peace can be established through non-violence. It is not negative principle, but positive doctrine of love and friendship, equanimity and fraternity amongst all living beings of the universe. "I have friendship with all, enemity with none". [Maitri me sarvabhutesu] declares the Lord Mahavira. It is said in Jaina religious text that in happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self, and should therefore, refrain from inflicting upon others such injury as would appear undesirable to us if inflicted upon ourselves [Yogasastra]. Sikhism says, we all are children of same One God. Only in the name of Lord we find peace. As thou deemest thyself so deem others. Then shall thou become a partner in heaven [Kabir]. Key place is given in peace in Christianity. It says always treat others as you would like them to treat you, that is the meaning of Law [Mt. 7: 12]. Jesus praises the promoters of peace by saying that 'Happy the peacemakers they shall be called sons of God' [Mt. 5:9] Jesus himself often gave his disciples the peace greetings: peace be with you' [cf. In. 14: 27]. Christianity also preaches to love our neighbour as ourselves. Islam means surrender to Almighty, surrender to peace. Quran says 'No one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. In Islam 'peace' i.e. Salaam is one of the nineteen beautiful names of God. When Muslims greet another, at the time of prayer in daily life, they offer to their neighbour these divine qualities by saying Al-salaam-alayakum-i.e. peace be with you. Quran says God summons people to the 'abode of peace', [daral-salam] both in this life and life hereafter [Quran 10:26]. Mercy, compassion and peace are familiar concepts in the Quran. Some fundamentalists are misinterpreting and misusing the term Jihad. Jihad is taken popularly to mean holy war. But the experts tell us that, this is not the original Islamic sense of the 887

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term. The term originally means endeavor, striving and struggle. It is war against our own internal enemies, such as passions, anger, greed, jealousy, etc. It denotes efforts towards spiritual upliftment, struggle against one's own evil inclinations or efforts towards the moral uplift of society. Islamic pious and mystic people put the emphasis on spiritual moral Jihad. So Islam is for peace. Judaism states that what is hurtful to yourself, do not do to your fellow men. That is the entire Law, all the rest is commentary', go and learn it. [Talmud, Shabbat, 312] It also states that 'May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace' [Nm. 6:26]. The Talmud declares that The whole of Torah i.e the whole of Judaism is for the sake of the ways of peace? [Tractate hittin59B). Zoroastrianism says that 'All men and women should mutually love one another and live in peace as brothers and sisters, bound by the indestructible hand of humanity'. "The nature is only good when it shall not do unto another whatever is not good for its own self. (Dadistan - I - dink. 94.5] Confucianism preaches that seek to be in harmony with all your neighbours. Live in peace with your brethren. Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you' [Anaclects. Xv 23]. It says 'is there anyone maxim ought to be acted upon throughout one's whole life? Surely the maxim of loving kindness is such. Taoism says 'the good ruler seeks peace and not war and he rules by persuasion rather than by force'. Regard your neighbour's gain as your own gain and regard your neighbour's loss as your own loss [T'ai Shang kan Ying P'ien). Shintoism declares The earth shall be free from trouble and we shall live in peace under the protection of the divine'. Bahaism states Today there is no greater glory for men and women than that of service in the cause of the most 'Great Peace'. War is death, while peace is life'. The brief survey of these sayings of all religions show that their aim is to live in peace and Golden rule is the common principle of all religions. It can therefore, be safely concluded that the various religions of the world are in favour of peace. If the followers of various religions sincerely follow essence of their religion and live the Golden rule, one of the major foundations for peace would be laid. The promotion of violence to an innocent person is the very opposite of any religion. No religion preaches or encourages violence. The religion that teaches violence or war is to that extent a travesty; a negation of what religion is about. The only religion worthy of the name is the religion that leads to peace. A crime committed in the name of religion is a crime 888

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against religion. A religion must not become a pretext for conflict and violence. Religion and peace go together. To wage war in the name of religion is a blatant contradiction. Peace stands on the pillars of love, compassion, brotherhood, truth, freedom, justice and solidarity. No religion is against these principles. Violence, terrorism, the taking human lives and destruction of the properties are condemned by all genuine religions of the world. They are acts opposed to essence of every religion. A true follower of any religion is known by his kindness, compassion, love towards others and entire mankind, environment and by positive promotion of solidarity among people, cultures and religions. To the extent to which a person hates others and adopts violent measures against them, to that extent that person is not good member of any genuine religion. Some times, conflicts caused by ethnic rivalry, racial tensions, and quarrels over land and economic reasons are dubbed as conflicts caused by religions, which is wrong and malicious. Again, in several occasions, unscrupulous politicians use religions for their own ends and create dissensions among the people of different communities, so that political points can be made. When religion has been abused and exploited, people turn around and blame religion. Generally, common people of different religious communities love peace and harmony. They do not want disturbance in their daily life. But we are experiencing that it is some politicians and thugs who promote the violence and make systematic campaign to spread hatred against people of other religion. This is the sort of abuse of religion that all true religious followers have to strive to avoid. It also follows that followers of any faith must not allow themselves to be involved in acts of violence by people who have hidden agenda and not become tools in the hands of politicians. Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary general of the General of the United Nations rightly pointed out to the assembly of the Millennium World Peace summit of Religions and spiritual leaders: "Religion is equated with light. But we all know that the practice of religion can have its dark side too. Religious extremism has too often oppressed or discriminated against women and minorities. Religion has often been yoked to nationalism, stocking the flames of violent conflict and setting group against group. Religious leaders have not always spoken out when their voices could have helped to combat hatred and persecution or could have roused people from indifference. Religion is not itself to blame, the problem is usually not with faith, but with the faithful". Generally, action leading to tension, violence and war can be traced to some psychological problems, such as pride, intolerance, and the egoism of the individual or group, greed, envy and revengeful attitude. 889

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It is in such situations that religions are called upon to heal, taking care, not become their victim or worse still their tool. By the facts that religion unites people in a faith community, it can also inadvertently separate them from other groups, if care is not taken. This is more likely to happen where religious adherence is along lines of race, political power, social class or material wealth. Followers of religions must be careful that their religions must not be identified with political, economic or social powers, so as to remain free to work for justice and peace. Further, every religion, should also undertake some form of examination of conscience: how has it fared all through centuries? How has it treated people of other religions convictions? Does it accept the principle that every human being should be free from coercion in religious matters? Has it always condemned the use of violence? Has it upheld human rights? What has it contributed to local, state and world level peace? To establish peace through religions, the role of religious leaders is also very important. They can help to form, motivate and conscientize their co-religionists on what to do or not to do, so that each religion will always promote peace and not tension, violence or war. Religious leaders also have to admit that sometimes they have not always all lived in accordance with the high ideals that they preach. Leaders of various religious traditions have the necessary role of striving to encourage inter religious co-operation in works of peace promotion. Religious plurality is a growing fact in world today. There is hardly any country in the world where religious diversity is absent. People of different religious background live and work side by side, more than is any previous centuries in human history. The religious leaders should accept this fact and help and orient their co-religionists to accept and live with this fact. When interdependence is not just tolerated but is accepted and lived, it becomes the high moral value of solidarity. For inter-religious peace, one of the primary requirements is that believers accept the fact of religious plurality in the world. If there is no mutual acceptance among people of varying religious persuasions, peace in wider society will not be possible. Therefore, the followers of the various religions have to learn to work together to promote peace. Peace has no religious frontiers. All religions have no choice but work together to promote peace and harmony. Tolerance and respect for other religions is very important factor in peace building. If we look in to the ancient Indian history, this thought is found expression in Emperor Ashoka's Rock Edict. It reads: "The religions of all deserve to be honoured for one reason or another. By honouring them, one exalts one's own faith and at the same time performs a service to the faith of others". In modern times, Swami Vivekananda's 890

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views in his address to the Parliament of Religions in U.S.A. on September 1893 is worth noting: "The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth. If the parliament of religions has shown anything to the world is this: 'It has proved the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world and system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of own religion and the destruction of others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart and point out to him that upon the banners of very religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: Help and not fight, assimilations and not destruction, Harmony and Peace and not dissension". Mahatma Gandhi also said that the need of the moment is not one religion, but mutual respect and tolerance of the devotees of different religions". Religion is an important dimension of each people's culture. Every religion contributes something to the culture of the people who practice it. Indeed it is difficult to find a religion that has not somehow influenced culture. Therefore, the dialogue between various religions and cultures can assist peace process and by dismantling the structures of prejudices, promote peace, understanding and love. To meet several challenges of present day and prevent a clash between people of varying religious and cultural backgrounds, the religions of the world should make a great effort to educate their followers in the basic virtues such as love, brotherhood, charity, compassion, self control, honesty, benevolence, solidarity, and especially respect for the right of others. Specific religious and ethical values are needed in addition to economic and social structures to promote peace. These basic virtues can help peace building. One of the most crucial ways in which the religions of the world can help build peace is through inculcating attitudes that lead to peace and its preservation. To precipitate tension or war, a few people are enough, but to build a peace and maintain it, the co-operation of all is essential. Religions should make their followers more and more aware of the need to construct peace. Moral values and convictions shared by people of many religions can provide a basis for communities and nations to live together in peace and harmony. A universalistic religion should help people to see one another, not as enemies but as brothers and sisters across religions and national frontiers. This attitude is very positive for peace promotion. Inter religious dialogue will certainly help to understand essence of other religions. This understanding will help to cultivate positive attitude. towards followers of other faith.. All religions have a duty to educate their followers in principle 891

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of non-violence. Violence is not overcome by further violence. It can be overcome by love, compassion, kind hearted-ness and removal of the causes of violence such as selfishness, envy, greediness, egoistic tendencies and indifference to the sufferings of others. We should not forge Lord Buddha's message that "Hatred never ceases by hatred, hatred ceases by love" IDhammapada. 5]. Again, peace is greatly promoted by good and harmonious inter-religious relations. One of the practical ways in which religions can help to build peace is through nourishing happy relations among themselves. Primary requirement in this direction is correct information about essential teachings of other religions. People of one religion can become better informed on another religion by open-minded conversation with friends of that other religion or by reading authentic books and by more and more inter-religious dialogues. Correct information is needed to remove ignorance and misunderstanding towards other religion and also to overcome or reduce centuries old prejudices. Another important thing is, religions should educate women and youth to form their consciences in favour of peace to open themselves to dialogue and peaceful negotiation. We should not forget that peace and youth fall together. When violence or war breaks out, it is above all women and young people who suffer most. Again, to promote overall human development is to prepare for peace. Various religions join hands to uplift the poor, down trodden, and disinherited and help them, to help themselves. Religions will lay necessary foundations for peace, if they convince their followers that all life is sacred, it should be protected and respected in every moment of its existence. The edifice of peace at once so precious and precarious can only be grounded on the firm foundation of an ethic of solidarity, of a sense of belonging, of mutual love and respect for others. Religions have a potentiality to help to spread peace, because they all believe in love, compassion, brotherhood, charity, tolerance, avarice, etc. All our religions try to show us the path of righteousness and give us light and guide us to travel on that path. But one is not superior to another. This attitude alone would lead to equal respect for all religions, all paths and herald a creative relationship between faith and thought - an essential ingredient in pursuit of happiness. The beneficial influence of true religion on social life is undoubted. Many societies, including those hither to accustomed to a sharp separation between religious and state affairs are beginning more and more to appreciate and contribution of the religions in various areas of social life: education, health, conflict prevention or resolution, social healing, and reconciliation after conflict, work for refugees, help to the poor people, so that they can improve their level of life and all-round human development projects. All this is a contribution to peace building. 892

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Peace establishment is not so easy. There are several causes to disturb peace. First of all, the causes, which lie- at the root of conflicts, which disturbed peace between men and men, communities, nations, should be eliminated as far as possible. Through sympathetic, deep and open-minded comparative study of the sacred scriptures of all religions, which reveals essential unity, cause of conflict can be eliminated. To avoid conflicts, we have to emphasize the points of agreement between the religions, instead of highlighting the differences. It is a fact that so long as men and women of different religions are taught or encouraged to believe that religions essentially differ; they will continue to differ, fight to shed each others blood. Contrary, if they are encouraged and taught to believe that all religions are one is essentials, they will also surely become one in mind and heart, and realize their common humanity in a loving brotherhood. What happened is minute differences are always far too much stressed and acted on, to great harm of mankind, similar points are completely ignored to their loss. In the interest of peace and harmony difference are to be ignored, to their loss. In the interest of peace and harmony difference are to be ignored, to be regarded as superficial, non-essential and resemblances, similarities, commonness are to be considered as core and essence. Essential points on which all religions agree should be given far more importance and be regarded as very core of truth for practical purpose of promoting mutual good understanding and peace, all over the world. It is always better to see good points in all religions rather than the bad, better to understand and appreciate than to ridicule, better to see agreements more than differences. This will remove misunderstanding among followers of different faith and this attitude will eliminate that class of people, who think that their faith is unique, the one and only the best, the savior of mankind, there can never be another equally good. Instead of quarreling or arguing about superiority or inferiority of particular religion, we should promote religious brotherhood and peace among the common people by saying that all religions are equally derived from the universal, eternal, the One omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Supreme Reality or God. To remove misunderstanding among the different religious communities, what is very much needed is that, true representatives of all the great religions, with open mind should come together, bring out common text of universal religion expounding common points systematically and illustrating them amply and showing parallel passages from several scriptures of different religions. It is true that total unity of all religions is not possible, because the principle of multiplicity is beauty of nature. No two faces, bodies, voices, etc. are exactly similar. But all the same, there is a broad general similarity too, between all human beings. This general broad similarity 893

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alone will help human beings to understand one another and to live together as a civilized society. Similarly to recognize common unity in the essentials of all religions is to promote the cause of civilization. It is a duty of every responsible citizen, truth lovers to do their best to minimize and glorify the spirit of unity and subordinate the principle of multiplicity to it. Those who are well-wishers of mankind should work with all their might to minimize the spirit of disunion and discord. To establish peace and harmony through religions we have to keep in mind the following points : (a) Our attempts must be towards bringing of people of different faiths on the plane of mind and spirit. (b) We have to show that there is a transcendental unity of religions in spite of empirical diversity. (c) We have to show that, pursuit of wisdom, understanding of the nature of ultimate Reality (God] and the practice of love, irrespective of distinctions of caste, creed, sex, and community are the basic assumptions of all living religions, (d) Our attempt must make common people to know that right understanding of all faiths reconciles all religions, strips every one of its outward human garments and shows the root of each to be identical with that of every other great religion, (e) We have to convince the followers of different faiths that if the world is to be brought together it is only on the basis of mutual understanding especially in the matters of fundamental belief, (f) Attempt must be made to ring together resembling parallel passages from several scriptures to prove identities and similarities in essential teaching. We can conclude by saying that, Peace is possible through religions only when, religion is taken into its true spirit, Golden rule taught by it is sincerely practiced, if tolerance and respect towards all religions is cultivated and wrong propaganda against other religion is stopped. Religions also must grasp the realities of human life on earth at present situation. If religions do not try to meet the challenges of alienation and reconciliation of hearts and healings of war and peace, then religions would be marginalized in social life and it would be relegating itself to the background in society. 894

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Taoism and Vedanta (Upanishads)- A Comparative Study - Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S.Shastri Taoism and Vedanta (Upanishadic philosophy] are the two major philosophical traditions of Asia. Taoism is one of the important religio-philosophical traditions, which shaped (along with Confucianism and Buddhism] the Chinese civilization and life style since ancient times. The Vedanta especially Upanishadic philosophy is bedrock of Vedic civilization and influenced almost all philosophical systems of India. Philosophically, ethically and ecologically, there is lot of commonality between these two Asian traditions. Here, comparative study will be made only in respect of philosophical aspect of both these traditions. The Tao [Dao] - is the central theme of Taoism and the Brahman is the central metaphysical concept of Upanishads. The supreme Reality is designated as Brahman i.e. the all-pervasive, in the Upanishads and Tao or Dao by the Taoists. In terms of ultimate mystery, both the Brahman and Tao are similar. Lao Tzu- Grand Old Master (6th or 5th B.C.E.Jis considered as founder father of Taoism. His work 'Tao Te Ching' is a masterpiece and basic text of Taoism. The word "Tao' literarily means 'The Way' or 'The Path'. The text "Tao Te Ching' is translated as 'The Law (or Canon) of Virtue and it's Way'. Taoism is mystical in nature and greatly influenced by nature. The Tao is indescribable, indefinable and unnamable. The concept of 'Tao' (the Way) is the central theme of Taoism. It is a way of Ultimate Reality. For Lao Tzu , it is impossible to describe 'Tao' in human language, because it is beyond our sense perception and categories of thought. It is the beyond the realm of adequate description and conceptualization. Lao Tzu, in the beginning of his text "Tao Te Ching' makes it very clear by stating that "The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao, The name that can be defined Is not the unchanging name". [Trans: Shu Ta Kao). Tao is basically unnamable and hence indefinable. Lao Tzu, in 25th Chapter of his text states that - "I do not know its name. If I am forced to give it a name; I call it Tao and I name it as Supreme or Great". 895

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Again it is said "Tao was always nameless" (Chapter 32], " Tao while hidden, is nameless" [Chapt. 41). But nevertheless, it is ever unchanging, the same and infinitely profound [Chapt. 1 & 25). "From of old till now, it has never lost its ( nameless ] name" [Chapt.21). Wang Bi ( 3rd C.A.D.] one of the earliest commentators on the 'Tao Te Ching' [= Dao De Jing] explaining this idea says that "the Tao or Dao is unnamable, because it has no form and being formless, it is nameless. It is formless, so, it cannot be perceived, it beyond sense perception. It can be experienced through mystical insight, which cannot be expressed in human language. The eternal Tao cannot be put into words nor can the unchanging name be given a definition, for words are but symbols and a definition is based upon the relativity of things. How can they represent the all embracing, true Tao and nameless name? So, only for the convenience of speaking [ to indicate or to make others to understand] we call it Tao" [Trans- Shu Ta Kao. P.2.). Chuang Tzu [ 3rd B.C.), another Master of Taoism, explains the concept of Tao as "Tao has reality and evidence, but no action or physical form. It may be transmitted but cannot be received. It may be obtained but cannot be seen. It is based in itself. Rooted in itself. Before Heaven and Earth came into being, Tao existed by itself for all time. It gave spirit and rulers their spiritual powers. It created Heaven and Earth. It is abode, the zenith, but not high. It is beneath and nadir but is not low. It is prior to Heaven and Earth, but is not old. It is more ancient than the highest antiquity, but is not regarded as long age" Chuang Tzu). Chen Ku Ying states :" Tao cannot be basically identified by name, because, it is both inaudible and invisible. If we admit that Tao has a form, then the Tao would be subject to transformation of birth, growth and death, as are all constituents of the phenomenal worlds".[ Rhelt Young & Roger Ames: Introduction to Lao Tzu- Texts, Notes and Comments.p.3] . Young and Ames say that "This real entity ( Tao) does not have concrete form. Since designation follows from form in making its appearance, since the Tao has no definite form, it follows that Tao is unnamable [Ibid.p.3]. Tao is also called non-existence by Lao Tzu. He says "Non-existence is called, The antecedent of heaven and earth" (Chapt. 1]. Non-existence here is not used in the sense of 'naught or nothingness', but a state before existence of heaven and earth came into being. It is nameless, intangible, invisible, obscure, subtle, but its essence is very real and in its midst there is genuineness. To quote Lao Tzu, "this essence being invariably true" (Chapter 21). Ellen Chen writes, 'the Tao Te Ching points out the limitations of language, spoken or recorded, in conveying to us the nature of ultimate Reality. Language, as Burgson points out, is invented to express and deal 896

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with the determinate and immobile. The everlasting, transcending all determinations, cannot be spoken or named. (Tao Te Ching: A New Translation With New Commentary, p 52) It means Tao refers to inexpressible, invisible way of Reality of which no one can speak. This the ground of Being, the Absolute. He describes indescribability of Tao by stating that it cannot be seen, it cannot be heard or when one looks at it one cannot see it. When one listens to it, one cannot hear it. And yet it cannot be exhausted. Lao Tzu goes on with his metaphysical exposition to prove that Tao cannot be expressed in human language, because once we try to do, we loose it : "All the world says to me, Great as Tao is, it resembles no description (form), Because it is great, Therefore, it resembles no description. If it resembles any description It would have long since become small." (Tao Te Ching, chapter 67) It is formless, unfathomable, beyond imagination and indefinable. Taoists say: "Look, it cannot be seen- it is beyond form. Listen, it cannot be heard it is beyond sound. Grasp, it cannot be held- it is intangible. These three are indefinable, they are one. From above it is not bright, from below it is not dark: Unbroken thread beyond description. It returns to nothingness. Form of the formless, Image of the imageless, It is called indefinable and beyond imagination. Stand before it- there is no beginning. Follow it and there is no end. Stay with Tao, move with the present." (Lao Tzu: father of Taoism,p2). Po Chung-l, one of the famous poets of the ninth century points out that "Those who speak do not know. Those who know do not speak, This is what we are told by Lao Tzu." (quoted in Chung Chung Yuar, Creativity of Taoism- A State of Chinese Philosophy, Art and Poetry, p32). The Brahman- the ultimate Reality of the Upanishads is indefinable and indescribable. This concept of Tao, which is indescribable is very similar to concept 897

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of ultimate Reality- the Brahman of the Upanishadic philosophy. According to Upanishads, the Brahman- the Supreme Reality is indefinable, indescribable in human language, because it is beyond human intellect, thought and speech. Katha Upanishad clearly states that 'The Brahman cannot be attained or realized through speech, mind and by eyes' [nai va vacha na manasa praptum shakyo na chaksusha- II.VI.12.). 'It cannot be known through intellect and great learning' [ na medhaya na bahuna shrutena- Katha Up.) 'It cannot be grsped or apprehended by inference' (naisha tarkena matirapaneya' Kayha Up.].Speech cannot describe it and mind cannot think about It.Therefore it is said in the Taittiriya Upanishad 'whence the speech returns with the mind without attaining It'ya to vacho nivartante aprapya manasa saha -II.9]. Brahman cannot be described, because, It is attributeless [ kevalo nirgunascha- Shweashvatara Up.). BTBrahman cannot be grasped or perceived, since It is without the source, features, eyes and ears, nor does It has hands, nor feet. [Mundaka Up.I.1.6). Realization of Brahman is matter of direct mystical experience. The Brahman cannot be seen by the eyes and cannot be heard by the ears. It cannot be smellt nor it can be felt by touch, nor can be tasted. How can we know, how can we define such a thing which cannot be perceived through any sense organs- internal or external? Defining or describing the Brahman means bringing Brahman within the net of space -time limitation, making It finite which is infinite. Considering the difficulty in describing Brahman, Upanishadic Seers described It in negative terms as 'not this, not this' and which is inaudible, intangible, invisible, indestructible, which cannot be tasted, nor smellt, eternal without beginning and end' (Bruhadaranyaka Up.III. ]? Again I Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad says 'He, the Atman or Brahman is inconceivable, for he cannot be conceived, unchangeable, for he is not changed, untouched, for nothing touches him, He cannot suffer by a stroke of the sword, he cannot suffer any injury'. [Bru. Up.].Mandukya Upanishad describes It as 'unseen, beyond empirical dealings, incomprehensible by sense organs and mind, uninferable, unthinkable, and indescribable, and without any characteristics' (adrustam ---------- 7].In some places, due to indescribability of Brahman, Upanishads describe It in paradoxical terms such as' neither gross nor fine, neither short nor long, neither glowing like fire, nor adhesive like water's Bru.Up. III.VIII.8). This Brahman, the ultimate Reality, which is beyond space and time, and directions, is not non-existent, though it is indescribable and indefinable. To indicate its eternal existence, to convince others about Its true nature, It is described in positive terms also in the Upanishads, such as ' It is Absolute Existence, Absolute Consciousness , Infinite and Absolute Bliss' [ a)satyam, jnanam anantam brahma- Taittiriya Upanishad. B) anandam Brahma-Ibid]. The Brahman is also called 'bhuma-the Great, which is identified with permanent bliss' ( yo vai bhuma tat Sukham). It is mass of Consciousness 898

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[ prajnanaghana- Mundaka up.] and It is consciousness itself [ prajnanam brahma [Mandukya Upanishad). In the Upanishads the Brahman is described as smaller than the smallest atom and bigger than the whole of the universe[ anoraiyan mahato mahiyan ( Katha Up. I.II.20]? It is unborn, infinite, eternal and so on.[Katha Up.I.)? Mundaka Upanishad also describes it as 'eternal, all-pervading, omnipresent, subtle, and imperishable' (Nityan, vibhum-I.I. 6.). In the Upanishads the Brahman is described as One without a second [ekamevadvitiyam-] But it is not numerical one, because, it cnnot be called even by the term one, because it indicates two i.e. it becomes relative. Shankara - the great Advaita Philosopher rightly points out that! It is not really one, It isquite different, how can there be two ( na caikam tadanyat dvitiyam kutah syat]. This numerical one is spoken of only in the context of many. Negative descriptions convey that Brahman is not like any gross object which we find in the universe. It is something different and beyond them. These negative descriptions of the Upanishads also points out the limitations of gross external sense organs, speech and mind in grasping the Brahman.S.N.Dasgupta rightly points out that ' positive definitions were impossible. They (Upanishadic Seers) could not point out what Brahman was like, in order to give an utterance to that which was unatterable, they could only say that, it was not like ought that we find in experience ( History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1.pp.44-45.). The purpose of describing Brahman in positive terms is to confirm Its existence and not to attribute negative qualities to It.To say that Brahman is being Existence [Sat] means that It is not non being. Similarly when it is said that it is Consciousness or Knowledge (Cit), it means It is not inert. It is infinite [ Ananta] means, It is not like finite things. It is Bliss (Ananda), means, It is not subject to pain and suffering ( priyapriye na sprashatah). Realized seers of the Upanishads, by these positive and negative descriptions wanted to say that the Brahman- the ultimate Reality does exist, but cannot be logically demonstrated, cannot be described in human language, it can be felt within, it can be experienced. It same as experiencing sweetness of sugar. Sugar can be described as sweet, white, crystal like, etc, but sweetness of the sugar cannot be described in words. To understand sweetness of the sugar, one has to put a pinch of sugar on the tongue and experience it. Nagarjuna, the great Madhyamika Philosopher also speaks like Lao Tzu about ultimate Reality. The concept Shunya [ emptiness) of Nagarjuna 899

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is very similar to concept of Tao. For Nagarjuna, the ultimate Reality is inde'scribable, beyond categories of thought, nameless and calm. It is neither Shunya nor ashunya, nor both nor neither. But, to indicate its existence, to make others to understand (prajnaptyartham), it is called 'Shunya' (M.K.] Tao is all pervasive Lao Tzu says: "There is a thing inherent and natural, Which existed before heaven and earth. Motionless and fathomless, It stands alone and never changes, It pervades everywhere and never becomes exhausted." (chapter 25) Again, he says, 'the great or the supreme Tao pervades everywhere, both on the left and on the right'. (chapter 34) Yang Hsiung (53 B.C.E. to 18 A.D.) says, 'the supremely profound principle (Tao) deeply permeates all species of things, but its physical form cannot be seen -----Tao covers heaven and supports earth. It is the extent of four quarters of the universe and the dimensions of eight points firmaments. There is no limit to its height and its depth is unfathomable. It encloses heaven and earth and endorse things with there nature before they are being formed." It is said that once master Tung Kwo asked Chuang Tzu, 'Show me where the Tao is found'. In reply, Chuang Tzu said: "There is no where, it is not to be found. Tao is Great (Supreme) in all things, Complete in all, Universal in all, Whole in all. These three aspects are one, distinct, But the Reality is One. Therefore come with me, To the place of nowhere, Where all the many things are One. There at least we might speak Of what has no limitation and no end." (Taoism, p.238-239.). 900

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The Brahman is all-pervasive. Like Lao Tzu, Upanishadic seers talk about all -pervasive nature of Brahman. The ultimate Reality, the Brahman is all-pervasive. The Mundaka Upanishad beautifully describes all pervasive nature of Brahman: 'In front is Brahman, behind is Brahman. It is to the right and to the left. It spreads forth above and below. Verily, this Brahman is this effulgent universe' [II.11]. 'All this is Brahman' says Chhandogya Upanishad [III.XIV.1]. Ishavasya Upanishad states "In this cosmos, whatever exists, living and nonliving, moving and non-moving, all that is pervaded by, enveloped by one Divine Consciousness".[ Isha.Up.1]. This divine consciousness, the Brahman indwells in every entity in the world of objects permeating everywhere in its homogenous all pervasiveness. It is indside of all these and outside of all. (Isha Up. 5) "it moves and moves not. It is far away and yet very near. It is unmoving but faster than the mind." (Isha Up. 4) The brahman goes far away while sitting and goes everywhere while sleeping. (asino duram vrajati, shayano yati sarvatah- Kath. Up. II.21) It is Source of all Things Tao is the first cause of the universe and single source of all things. Lao Tzu says, 'First Tao and then the physical universe- heaven and earth and then ten thousand creatures arose from something else. Lao Tzu describes this something else as the nameless non-being. Anything that exists originates in nothingness (Wu), thus before it has form and when it is still named, it serves as the origin of the myriad things and once it has formed and is named, it grows them, rears them, ensures them in proper shapes and matures them as their mother. In other words, the Tao by being itself formless and nameless originates and brings the myriad things to completion. They are originated and completed in this way, yet we do not know how it happens. This is the mystery.' (Xuan: Beyond Mystery- the Classic Way and Virtue, a New Translation of the Tao Te Ching of the Lao Zi as Interpreted by Wang Bi, p 51, Trns. Richard John Lynn, New York, Columbia University Press, 1999) It is hidden and contains within it patterns of all we see. It is root of all things. The real Tao not only has an existence prior to the forma tion of heaven and earth, but further heaven and earth both, owe their very existence to the generative power of the Tao.' (Yung and Ames, Lao TzuTexts, Notes and Comments, p 5) it is the creator and sustainer of all things in the universe. Heaven and earth and human beings have originated from the same original source. In the words of Lao Tzu, it is the way of the universe, the driving power in nature, the order behind all life, the spirit which cannot be exhausted. (Chapter 25) Heaven and earth and men are inherently the same as original vital breath of oneness, which divided itself into three parts. (Wang Ming- A Whole Collection of the Book of Supreme Peace, p 236, Beijing, Zhong Hua Shuju Press, 1960) 901

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All things in the universe come from existence and existence from non-existence. (Chapter 40) In the words of Lao Tzu, "Tao begets one; one begets two; Two begets three; three begets all things". (Chapter 42) While interpreting this verse, Yen Fu says, 'Tao is the primordial, it is absolute. In its descent it begets one, when one is begotten, Tao becomes relative and two come into existence. When two things are compared, their opposite and three is begotten." The events of the world arise from the determinate (You), And the determinate arises from the indeterminate (Wu). It is regarded as the mother of all things. (chapter 40). Everything in the universe is manifestation of Tao. Tao is manifested in nature, in those sublime rhythms of the seasons, and in the perennial process of growth, decay, creation and death. The Brahman is the Source of All Things The Nasadiya sukta of Rgveda (Hymn of Origination) speaks of "That One' (tad-ekam), the primary cause of all, from which everything originates. It is indescribable. It cannot be described as existence or non-existence. Everything in the universe is spontaneous outcome of this divine, suprasensible, impersonal Absolute - the first cause. (Rgveda, X.129.1,2) another hymn states that everything in the universe is originated from the great cosmic person. (Rgveda, X.90) According to Upanisads the Brahman is the source of all things in the universe. Taittiriya Upanisad states that, "everything in this universe is originated from this one divine consciousness, sustained through It and going to dissolve into it in the end. (yato va imani bhutani jayante, yena jatane jivanti, yat-prayanti-abhisamvishanti. Taittiriya Up. II.16) Again, the same Upanisad traces the origin of everything in the universe from the Brahman or the Atman by stating that, 'from Atman, which is pure consciousness, the ether first originated, from ether air, from air the fire, from the fire the water, from water the earth, from the earth the plants, trees and herbs, from them food is produced and from food all living beings.' (Taittiriya Up.) Aitareya Upanisad says, 'the Brahman or the Atman was alone in the beginning of this universe. He desired to create this world. Then created this world. After creating all this, he entered unto the creation." Mandukya Upanisad says that 'the Brahman is the source of all'. (verse 6) The Mundaka Upanisad says, 'this world emanated from the supreme being, just like sparks emanate from the fire.' (yatha agneh visphulinga vyuccharanti.) Brhada-aranyaka Upanisad also makes similar statement. (II. 1.20) 902

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The Tao controls and regulates all things in the universe. Tao is the force that flows through all life. It refers to a power, which envelops and flows through all things - living and non-living. Taoism believes that behind all material things and all changes in the universe, there lie a fundamental principle Tao- the Way or path. This principle or Reality gives rise to all existence and governs everything. It regulates natural processes and maintains and nurtures balance in the universe. It embodies the harmony of opposites, like day and night, male and female, love and hate , life and death and light and darkness and so on. Huai Non Tzu ( 122 B.C.) states that " because of It, animals run and birds fly. The Sun and the Moon shine and the planets revolve by it, the unicorn emerges and phoenix soars" [ [1] 19-20.6B). The Brahman is the Inner Controller and Ruler of All In the Upanishads, Brahman or Atman is described as ruler of all and inner controller[ a) antaryamyeshah.-Mandukya. Up.6. ; b) ayamatma sarvesham bhutanamadhipatih. Bru.Up.II.v.15]. Yajnavalkya in Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad states that " Under the rule of this very Absolute, O Gargi, the Sun and the Moon are held in their own courses. Under the rule of this very Absolute, heaven and earth hold their own positions. Under the rule of this very Absolute, moments, muhurtas [minutes], days and nights, fortnights, months, seasons and years are maintained in their respective places. Under the rule of this Absolute, from the white mountains some rivers flowing east word, others flowing westward and still others flowing in different directions ] keep to their respective courses" (Bru.Up. III. VIII.9.). Taittiriya Upanishad says, under the rule of this Brahman, fear of Brahman, the wind blows and Sun rises in the east, the fire and the Indragod of gods function and god of death f runs.[bhishasmad vatah pavate, bhishodeti suryah, bhishasmadagniscendrasca, mruturdhavati[ II.8). Unity : Tao is that principle in which all dualities are resolved into unity. There is unity behind everything. Chuang Zu thinks that, it is imperative that we transcend all dualities of existence. Seeing nature'at work and the way in which it reconciles these polar opposites pointed the way to the Tao where all dualities resolved into unity. The universe is the unity of all things. If one recognizes his identity with this unity, then the parts of his body mean no more to him than so much dirt and death and life, end and beginning, disturb his tranquility no more than the succession of day and night. (Chuan Zu: The Next Voice, p3) Again, he states, 'when the self and the other (the This and the That) loose their contrariety, there we have the very essence of Tao.' (W.M. Theodore, Dey Barry et al, p68, 69). 'In the universe, there are these individuals and continuous transformations, each in its own natural 903

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way. Such universal process of rising and falling, of life and death, inevitably result in a world of differences and inequality, but all these are superficial, relative, often products of subjective points of view. Life and death cause each other and neither right nor wrong is absolute. This and that and possibility and impossibility mutually produce each other. In reality all things are one, for Tao embraces all of them and combines into a unity. Men of small knowledge cut things up, discriminate and make distinctions. Amen of great knowledge will be comprehensive, impartial and see Tao in all its unity. Ideal man will be a companion with nature and friend of both life and death. He makes oneness his eternal abode. He abandons selfishness of all descriptions, be it fame, wealth, bias or subjectivity' [The Quest of Serenity, p.46.]. Ivanhoe clarifies this idea of realizing unitary principle- Tao: "The Daodejing describes a mystical ideal in the sense that those who realize the Way lose a strong sense of themselves as distinct, autonomous agents and to some extent are thought to merge into the Dao's underlying patterns and processes. In such a state, one does not conceive of oneself as apart from and independent of the rest of the world". [The Daodejing of Laozi. P.xxxxi]. Wei Wu Wei, one of the great scholars of Taoism and Buddhism states that " Tai is the pathless way. Tao, the pathless way, has gateless Gate, which just as the equator separates northern from the southern hemisphere, illusorily separates and unites the phenomenal and noumenal, Samsara and Nirvana. It is the open road of escape from solitary confinement in the dungeon of individuality. It is the way of integration, in this, which we are and it is pure as-it-is-ness". [Wei Wu Wei- All Else Is Bondage, Hong Kong University Press, 2004.]. Taoism believes that bewildering multiplicity and contradictions of the world, lays single unity- Tao. Chuan Tzu rightly points out that " to regard the fundamental as the essence, to regard things as coarse, to regard accumulation as deficiency and dwell quietly alone with the spiritual and intelligence, here in lie the teachings of Tao of the ancients". Taoism considers heaven, earth and human beings as an integral unity. It claims that men is inherently a part of nature and attach much value to harmonious development between man and all things. The reason is, the nature and human being came into being from the same source Tao. the first cause of the universe. The Brahman is the Unitary Principle to which everything is connected. Seeking the One behind the many is core of spirituality since the time of Rugveda.The Rugvedic conception of one supreme Reality behind all changing phenomena of the universe is the basis of development of this idea of one behind the many. Several statements of the Rugveda such as ' The Reality is One, but wise call it by different names' [ekam sadH] The real 904

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essence of the God is One, the binding soul of the universe, the unity -in difference, in the cosmic and moral order', 'we offer our prayer to the ultimate lord of the universe, who runs through the every particle of the universe, who is blissful and indescribable, and so on indicate this spirit of holistic approach. The vedic philosophy talks about organic unity of the whole universe. The Purushasukta the Hymn on the Great Cosmic Person [of Rugveda] brings out this idea in clear terms. In this Hymn, the Divinity, the ultimate Reality is symbolically conceived as a great Cosmic Person and all existence, the earth, the sky, the heaven, the stars, the planets, living and non-living things are conceived as manifestations and parts of the One great Cosmic Person, who pervades the whole universe and also remains beyond it. In him, all that is, has been and will be,are united. Upanishadic Sages continued to carry out this idea and found that the Brahman is this unitary principle behind all diversity. Thousands of years ago, our Upanishadic seers have visualized the fundamental truth that entire universe is One Whole, interconnected and interdependent. Everything in the universe is connected together to one common whole- the Brahman, the Pure Consciousness. Aiteraya Upanishad clearly brings out this idea " The Reality behind all these things of the universe is the Brahman, which is Pure Consciousness. All things are established in this Consciousness, work through this Consciousness, and their foundation is Consciousness [III.V.3]. Chandogya Upanishad states that All this is Brahman [III.XIV.1]. 'There is a fundamental unity behind everything and which is the basis of all existence and the ultimate goal of all knowledge. Though, the diversity is felt fact, it is not ultimate. Upanishads emphatically tells us that' he goes from death to death [ passes through cycle of birth and death i.e. Samsara], who takes diversity as ultimate truth' [Bru.Up.IV.IV.19. Katha Up. II.IV.10-11]. There is no plurality whatsoever, there is unity behind diversity, peace belongs to those, who see unity behind diversity, says Katha Upanishad. [ neha nanasti kinchana, tesham shashwati shantih netaresham. [ Katha.UP.]. The Brahman or the pure consciousness is the single thread which unites all. The Sage Yajnavalkya, beautifully describes this unity by stating that "everything exists in space or ether. This space exists in imperishable Brahman- the ocean of Consciousness. This Reality has interpenetrated the whole universe, everything exists in this imperishable Brahman [ Bru. Up.III.VIII.4, 6-9]. Feeling of oneness, realization of unity, eliminates possibility of sense of separateness or duality which is root cause of fear, conflict 905

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and hatred [ dvitiyadvai bhayam bhavati]. Therefore Isha Upanishad says try to see yourself in all and all in yourself. Once you realize this unity, there will be no sorrow, no grief, no delusion, no sense of hatred, peace prevails in the hearts of every being. [ Isha. Up.6- 7].It talks about spiritual unity of all existence. Seeking one behind the many is core of Upanishadic thought. It is done by experiencing the all-pervasive Brahman in Vedanta. In the case of Taoism, it is by experiencing and imitating the Way or the Tao. In Upanishads, the purpose of finding one behind the many is to find something more real than what appears to the senses, but the purpose of Taoists is to find out constant way behind the changing and conflicting ways of life. The Lao Tzu like Upanishadic seers describes the Tao as existence, the Great, all pervasive, the Supreme, tranquility, peace but he does clearly say whether Tao is consciousness or not. But, Chuang Tzu, the second great Master of Taoism, makes statement that " Hdwell quietly alone with the spiritual and intelligence, here in lie the teachings of Tao of the ancients". From this statement we can assume that there is a trend to consider Tao as intelligence or consciousness. This comparative study clearly brings out that concept of Reality is more or less common to all Asian traditions. Similarly, lot of Similarity is also found between Upanishads and Taoism, in respect of morality and environment. : 906

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World Peace, War and Yoga - Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri The attainment of peace has been the objective of the all civilizations of the past and also the present. "May peace prevail on Earth' (Prithivi shantih] is the slogan of Vedic civilization. But it seems world peace is an illusive thing, nearer we try to reach it, farther it goes. Let us examine the present global scenario in the context of the world peace and harmony. Daily, we are confronted with the same sad news of violence, conflicts , wars, terrorist attack and disasters. When we think of world peace, first thing comes to our mind is the terrible violence and aggression of war. After reading daily news paper and watching T.V. news, we feel that, these days one's precious life is not safe. There is no single day without report of something terrible happening somewhere in the world. No previous generation has had to experience so much terrible news as we face today. This constant awareness of tension and fear should make any sensitive and compassionate person question seriously the progress of our modern civilization. During the past two to three decades, scientific and technological developments have taken place at a staggering rate. The information technology, space research, the large scale industrialization and all round growth have no doubt helped in the well-being of the people and raising standards of living, but in their wake have created numerous problems. Science and technology have certainly contributed immensely to the over all experience of human kind, to our material comfort and well-being and to our greater understanding of the world we live in. No one can deny the unprecedented material benefit of science and technology, but our basic human problems remain. Unfortunately, their contribution on the peace front is totally lacking. We are still faced with the same , if not more, tension, fear and suffering. In spite of enormous scientific and technological development, there is much fear, hatred, distrust, disharmony and discrimination among individuals, communities and nations. This has led to the build up of destructive weapons and the grave possibility of war. Again, the world is witnessing changing economic equations coupled with globalization, which are creating various problems including economic imbalances. Obviously, this has resulted in impoverishment and dissatisfaction amongst a large section of people the world over. With the large scale growth in population as well as in the industrialization and standard of living, there is a growing demand on the various natural resources like water, oil etc. These natural resources in the global context are very limited. Unfortunately, some of the conflicts are arising out of demand for more shares in the use of these resources. Another fall out of the present developments is the environmental hazards, which the entire world will have to face. We are aware that the global warming, green house effects, etc. are creating problems of unimaginable magnitude. 907

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Religious fundamentalism is raising its vulgar head which is another biggest threat to the world peace. It has created problems all over the world, giving rise to conflicts, violent clashes, bloodshed, and killing of thousands of people. The modern society is faced with conflicts, selfishness, struggles, competition, individualistic motives. Turmoil and military operations as well as guerilla war are prevailing in several parts of the world, because, our society is dominated by persons with individual interests. At present, we are on the brink of a global war that threatens to extinguish permanently all life on the planet. Certainly this will take place, when the collective selfishness of individuals, to pursue their own desires, greed, wealth, power, the venting of frustrations through anger, hatred ad brutal self-assertion, overcomes the collective compassion of individuals for others. War is not something abstract; war is waged between one group individuals and another. It is individuals who decide to wage war. Even if the war is global, its beginning can be traced back to the decisions of individuals. The peace we all desire so much has not been attained. There is must be something seriously wrong with our progress and development. If we do not check it in time, there could be disastrous consequences for the future of humanity. If we give too much emphasis only to science and technology, neglecting human values, we are in danger of losing touch with those aspects of human knowledge and understanding that aspire towards honesty and altruism. The present day world trend indicates that we are in a state of unbalanced development, lacking on the spiritual side. The basic cause of problem is that the general level of conscience and consciousness and other spiritual qualities has not evolved to the extent that science has. We have to accept that, age old humanitarian and spiritual values have largely shaped world civilization. Science and technology, though capable of creating immeasurable material comfort, can not replace these human values. Thus, it is necessary to strike a balance between material developments on the one hand and the development of spiritual, human values on the other. Humanitarian values are bedrock of all the great cultures of the world and universal humanitarianism is essential to solve the global problems. Wars begin because of the people of the country or at least their rulers have unfulfilled desires, they are greedy for benefits or wealth or power or they are angry, jealous or hateful. Either their desires have been thwarted or their pride, their sense of self has been offended. This can also manifest as racial or national arrogance .They wrongly think that the answer to problems, which are essentially within their own minds, a matter of attitude, can be sought externally through use of force. Force and violence, even to the level of killing never solves anything. Killing generates fear and anger, which generates more killing more fear, in vicious circle, without end. The emo 908

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tions of killing translate into more and more deaths as the weapons of killings become more and more sophisticated. When people of one nation invade and kill or subjugate the people of another country or nation, sooner or later, the opportunity will present itself for the people of the conquered nation to wreak their revenge upon the conquerors. History tells us that never been a war that has in the long run really solved any problem in a positive manner. War never helps to establish peace. War can not solve problems. In modern times the so-called 'war to end all wars' has only led to progressively larger and more destructive ways. If we think of causes of conflicts, violence and wars, we find that the reasons lie in the frailty of human mind and the darker side of the human character, which includes ego, greed, lust, hatred, jealousy, and anger, absence of any feeling or emotions and disregard for the human and other beings. Many a times, rulers of the nations and the persons who matter in the shaping the destiny of the nations are afflicted by the vices mentioned above. Really they are supposed to be above all these vices. The ego, greed and lust for power make them overambitious and as a result they succumb to various pressures and they push the nation and society towards the brink of war. Peace is not merely absence of war and hatred, but also the presence of co-operation, compassion and world wide justice. Peace of mind or inner peace is a state of consciousness or enlightenment that may be cultivated by various ways of training such as prayer, meditation and yogic practices. Peace of mind refers to a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress. Being at peace is considered by many to be healthy and opposite of being stressed or anxious. Many big nations think that destroying or subduing enemy nations will bring peace. Many a times, heads of the states think that punishing the peace-breakers will bring peace. The oppressed think that eliminating the oppressors will ensure peace. They all are wrong. In reality, ever enduring peace can never be obtained through external means. It can be obtained within. One who has found inner peace has indeed found peace that abides for ever. Through spiritual disciplines alone this inner peace can be acquired. One who has found inner peace within transmits peace to others by one's own life example, though one may not be aware of it. We have to remember that the only person that can make you peaceful or happy is yourself, others can help but like many solutions in life, the answer must come from within. Therefore the message of Yoga is that let all try to create peace within, before trying to create any temporary or superficial peace in the world through external means. 909

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Peace of mind is generally associated with bliss and happiness. The greatest thing in life is internal peace. We all want peace. Global peace, goodwill to all sounds simple, yet it has proved to be amazingly difficult to accomplish. We all have so many differences, such as race, religion, nationality, gender and so on. One of the key aspirations that almost all of us share is the desire for peace and happiness. This is the tie that binds almost every human being on the planet. The world peace may not mean that evil goes away from the surface of the earth; rather that good so overwhelms evil, that evil can not ruin the peace shared between all peace loving beings. Yoga and world peace: Yoga is certainly one of the important paths to promote peace culture. The fundamental goal of Yoga philosophy is peace, peace within and peace in outside world. Sage Patanjali follows the medical pattern to obtain tranquility, peace of mind. There is a mental disturbance, causes are traced, removal of causes are found and described and techniques are prescribed to remove causes of disturbances. Patanjali says Yoga is cessation of all kinds of mental modifications or fluctuations of the mind. It can be done through repeated practice and detachment. [Yogasutra. 12).Once this is achieved, the seer, the self abides in its own true or natural form [Yogasutra.1.2-3]. It is enlightenment. It is a state of wholeness, at being at one and therefore at peace. This enlightenment is not only the end of suffering, but also the end to the continuous conflict within and without and the end of the dreadful enslavement to the incessant thinking that goes on in our minds. The teachings of Yoga Philosophy are universal and impersonal. They consist of basic principles of spiritual life which can be experienced and tested by earnest seekers of every race, religion and creed. The first and foremost of these principle state that our true self is divine and pure consciousness. We are not what we normally think we are: a bundle of body, mind and ego whose pleasures and interests are to be served at all costs. The identification of us with the states of our body and mind has always been a mistake. Through spiritual practice we can discover our true self which is pure spirit, distance from the body and mind, perfect, free and one with the Divinity itself. This discovery is the ultimate goal of life. Having found the Divine Being within ourselves, we see It likewise in all living creatures and even in inanimate objects. We pour ourselves out in the service of others, regarding our fellow beings as the very embodiment of Divinity. Patanjali Yoga prescribes the path of ethical and moral disciplines, gives techniques of concentration, and meditation to realize our inherent divinity or spirit. By following these techniques under the guidance of a qualified teacher the aspirant can fully realize the existence of the divine reality as the very essence of oneself and the world. 910

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To promote peace we can take advantage of ancient teachings of Yoga and also promote a holistic life style for the benefit of all beings and the earth. The practice of Yoga is a path that increases peace and satisfaction while reducing violence, aggression and war. Violence or conflicts is fueled by many factors including desire, greed, selfishness, jealousy, fear, hate and lust for power. From the perspective of Yoga philosophy, these fuels for conflicts or violence are all caused by a clouding of our perception called 'avidya'ignorance. Because of this ignorance we do not recognize our true spiritual kinship with other people and we are porn to experience those fuels of conflicts. Experiencing any of these emotions or desires is done from an 'I 'perspective, i.e. from the individualistic point of view. People who feel these emotions want more or less of something for themselves as compared to what they see in other people. These people do not identify with others, but feel separate from them, left out or isolated. Yoga of Patanjali suggests two powerful means to reduce the effect of these emotions or fuels within ourselves. One, behaving in constructive ways and secondly, cultivating right attitude. Yamas - restraints and Niyamas- observances, and developing positive emotions, prescribed in Yoga Sutras of Patanjali consist of both these ways. Not only this, just even sincerely practicing Yamas and Niyamas, we can contribute lot to inner peace and world peace. Practicing constructive behavior includes both how we treat ourselves and how we treat others. To become more satisfied in our lives and more peaceful in our treatment of others, we should practice non-violence (ahimsa) , truthfulness ( satya) and non- stealing (Asteya). Practicing these behaviors towards others reduces our own tendencies toward violence and aggression. We have to practice cleanliness (shaucha) and self study (svadhyaya) in treating ourselves and become more peaceful within. These self directed behaviors show respect for ourselves and give insight into our mental and emotional states. These qualities help us become happier in our lives and less aggressive towards others. Similarly, we need to cultivate right attitude towards over selves as well as towards others. Some times we feel jealous or envious when we see another who is successful, happy or content. We feel disgust or even hatred at the sight of a cruel or bad person. In such case Patanjali suggests a change in attitude towards other people, a change that will help us purify our minds and become more peaceful. To become more peaceful, we should practice being pleased when we see another who is happy; we should strive to be compassionate for those in misery and joyful to see virtue in another. We should be indifferent when we encounter vice, not to accept it or validate those who are involved, so we do not become emotionally entangled with it. [Yogasutra .I.32].Cultivating these attitudes, we become more accepting of the world and more peaceful towards others. Non-possessiveness [Aparigraha) can be practiced as can contentment (Santosha). Enhancing these two quali 911

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ties leads to greater satisfaction with one's life. Patanjali, like Bhagavadgita suggests that more contentment or the greater increase in satisfaction comes from caring less about the outcome of our action. He calls this attitude as surrendering to the Lord [Ishvara-pranidhana]. In this way practicing constructive behavior and cultivating right attitude are powerful implements for improving our own state of mind. They help us to become happier and more peaceful. Really speaking, just Yamas- self restraints preached by Patanjali, are sincerely followed can solve several problems faced by modern world and they are powerful means to establish global peace. The first cardinal precept is Ahimsa- non violence, not to harm or not to kill but to cherish all life. It is not negative concept, but positive doctrine of love and friendship, equality and fraternity amongst all living beings of the world. It is giving up sense of separateness, selfishness and otherness and identifying oneself with all other beings. Violence is the beastly nature. In the humanization and divinization of human being, the first step is to eliminate his beastly nature. The predominant trait in beasts is cruelty. Ahimsa or nonviolence is antidote to beastly cruel nature. Therefore Sage Patanjali prescribes principle of Ahimsa to be followed by all. [Yogasutra.II.30-31). This is the most effective master method to counteract and eradicate completely the cruel, brutal beastly nature in man. Ahimsa is another name for universal love. Practice of Ahimsa develops this love. It also stands for compassion, selfless service and kind heartedness. Ahimsa is the noblest and best of traits that are found expressed in the daily life and activities of perfected souls. Ahimsa- refraining from causing pain to any living being is a distinctive quality emphasized by Indian ethos. This principle upholds peace. If we want peace we should choose path of peace. In contemporary world the need of non-violence has become more pressing than ever before, because of its manifold applications. It appears to be an efficient method of settling political, racial and other social problems. Mahatma Gandhi said that "non-violence is needed for lasting peace. Today owing to scientific development, mankind possesses new destructive weapons. The global security does not lie in natural science or technology. These circumstances have created a situation where man should make a choice between peace based on nonviolence and total destruction. War and Peace-I-II). Again, he says, "nonviolence is not weapon of weak person. The follower of non-violence will not allow evil forces to conquer society. He will not fight as the most ardent militant, but his method is different. His resistance is intellectual, moral and spiritual, not physical. He will not fight like animals." (Peace and War- I-II]. There are many false notions about non-violent action. But recent history tells that all kinds of tensions can be resolved through non-violent struggle. Non-violent strategies of social change have proven remarkably 912

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effective in numerous and divers situations in recent history. The rejection of British colonialism in India led by Mahatma Gandhi, the advances against racism during the civil rights movement in the United States led by Martin Luther King Jr., the movement to overthrow the Marcos regime in the Philippines led by Benigno Aquino and the revolutionary changes in South Africa, resulting in the abolition of the apartheid system led by Nelson Mandela. This principle of non-violence or abstaining from killing is very important from the point of view of ecology. Not to kill includes all kinds of killings of animals, environment, rivers, lakes, ocean and forest. We are decimating many species by killing the environment. There is no way that these life forms can ever return to earth. The vacuum their absence creates can not be filled in any other way and such vacuum affects everything else in the ecosystem, no matter how small it is. We are killing the lakes with acid rain, dumping chemicals in to rivers and oceans, so they can not support any life. We are killing or polluting our atmosphere, through industries, excessive use of cars, machinery, so our children choke on the air they breathe. So, we have to change our attitude towards nature and cultivate respect and love for nature and all life forms, which is true non-violence in real sense. The second precept is truthfulness, abstaining from lying, maintaining personal integrity. Truthfulness generates fearlessness. It has obvious relevance for every one working towards peace and justice. False propaganda must be stopped which spoils the mind of the people. There must be harmony between what we talk and act. Many leaders talk about world peace and conservation of nature, but in practice, act otherwise. Owners of Chemical companies, plastic manufacturers, all talk about their sensitivity towards the environment. This is lying which is to be stopped. The third precept is non-stealing, not taking that which is not given. It indicates not to posses too much wealth or property by using improper means. It stands for non-exploitation of others for our own sake. Economic justice is the broad social application of non-stealing. By possessing too much which is not needed for your essential use, you are taking away many things from society, which is essential for other needy people. Non-stealing really stands for giving up greediness and cultivating generosity, the sense of giving. Ecologically, exploiting the earth is stealing. Taking away trees, you are stealing the habitat of several birds, cutting mountains, you are stealing the habitat of the animals that live on the mountains. We have to stop it. Animals and birds have a right to live on this earth. The fourth Yama is sexual restraint. It repudiates the improper sexuality. Misguided indulgence and overindulgence in sex creates many social, physical and psychological problems and diseases. Our society is facing grave situations in the form of AIDS and other diseases on account of misuse of 913

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sexuality. Male dominated society is committing violence against women. The cases of molesting women, rape, pornography and prostitution are the inevitable outcome of systems that objectify women's bodies which are reduced to commodities on the market. It is misuse of sexuality. Again, this precept asks us to maintain healthy atmosphere , honour the body of nature. When we begin to interfere with the natural order of things, we throw off the whole ecological balance. When nature is exploited, whole atmosphere becomes polluted. We should not interfere extensively with the biological laws and their function. If we interfere, we have to pay heavy prize for that, which we are at paying in the form of facing global warming, Tsunami, etc. The fifth precept is non-possession. It teaches us to lead a simple life which gives tremendous happiness and peace. Man who lives in simple manner, does not need too much things and his wants are very limited. He will not exploit or heart anybody or anything for his sake. He is contended with whatever he has. So, these Yamas which are practiced whole heartedly certainly help to establish peace on earth. Practicing meditation is also known to reduce stress and increase happiness. It is proved beyond doubt that Meditation improves mental focus, independent of its spiritual content. Meditation is a useful tool for our life style. As we continue to meditate, we would not only gain the benefit, we expect greater mental focus and effectiveness, and we could become more peaceful as well. Meditation is also reduces mental stress. Stress reduction by itself makes room for spirituality, reduces tension and makes people less prone to anger and violence. Question is how to expand the impact of yoga on individuals to the larger context of creating a peaceful society? We all know that institutional violence and aggression appear in the form of conflict between political groups, between religions and between other groups. The goals of these conflicts include asserting dominance, gaining power, and gaining resources, seeking revenge or financial gain. The causes of institutional, national violence and wars are very similar to the seeds of conflicts within people i.e. greed, selfishness, jealousy etc. Nations and institutions are motivated by the same factors as are people, because, ultimately they are composed of people. Yoga tells us that changes within the individuals will eventually change the institutions that they make up. Transforming the people will eventually lead to transformation of institutions. Yoga contributes to the growth of non-violence. As violence reducing institutions grow in size and influence and personal psychology transforms, the major national, cultural and religious institutions will also transform. The practice of Yoga will be central to the transformation of individuals. Those transformed individuals will be creating institutions which will follow the path of non-violence. Practice of Yoga gives us a calmness and presence of mind. When 914

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faced with a calm and clear mind, problems can be successfully resolved. When instead, we lose control over our minds through hatred, selfishness, jealousy and anger, we lose our sense of judgment, our minds are blinded and at those wild moments anything can happen, including war. Thus, the practice of moral precepts, such as non-violence etc. is useful to all. They are meant for perfecting the functions of mind, body and speech. Patanjali 's teachings indicate unequivocally that a fundamentally moral life is necessary pre-requisite for ridding our minds of negative thoughts, emotions for transforming them in to selfless compassion for all. We can rid of our minds of those strong negative emotions that cause turbidity in our minds by developing opposite emotions (Yogasutra. II. 34). This path consists of the practice of giving as an antidote to desire, greed, anger etc. The practice of patience as an antidote for anger, kindness to hate etc. Yoga shows the necessity of controlling the undisciplined mind that harbors selfishness and other roots of trouble and teaches a path of spiritual state that is peaceful, disciplined, ethical and wise. The Patanjali's teachings clearly indicate that by constantly being mindful of our own thoughts, word and deeds and by constantly trying to purify them; we can become part of the force of peace rather than part of the force of war. Those of us who value peace and cooperation and who seek the spiritual growth available through Yoga can positively influence others. This influence is both through our own example and by offering Yogic tools that are useful to them. We must demonstrate the value of Yoga and then only we can offer it to others to take advantage of it. 915

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BibliographyYogasutras of Patanjali. M. Govindan. Babaj's Kriyayoga Order of Acharyas Trust, Banglore.2003. Yogasutras of Patanjali. Trns. Christopher Key Chapple, Indian Book Center, Delhi, 1989. Patanjala yoga darshana. Krishnaji Keshav Kolhatkar. 8th edition, Pub.D.B.Dhavale, Girgaon, Mumbai, 1992. Patanjala Yogadarshanam with Vyasabhashya, Dr.Ramashankara Tripathi.Krishnadas Academy, Varanasi, 1999. Non-violence to Animals, Earth and Self in Asian Traditions. Christopher Key Chapple, State University of New York Press, USA, 1993. 916

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Culture of Peace from the Veda-Vedantic Philosophical point of view - Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri. Peace is the desire of the human heart. It is the necessary requirement for the people, society and nations to grow and reach the height of their potential. But it would seem that peace has become rare thing in our times. Twentieth century was bloodiest century in human history. It has seen two world wars. Beginning of this century is also not far behind in the matter of violence, conflicts, and wars. We are witnessing violent clashes, horrible act of terrorism, communal violence, civil wars and guerrilla war fare in the world. Lust, greed and anger dominate the human life, which are the real sources of all our trouble. Modern civilization is in the grips of these tentacles which have turned it into a frightening void of spiritless beings, vulgarization of culture, aggression, violence, genocide, futile wars, strives, corruption, world wide tension, heightened by distrust and rationalized insanity. All these have brought life to shambles. In such deplorable condition of the world if humanity has to survive, promotion of peace has to be given top priority. Philosophers, intellectuals, academicians, statesmen and even every human being ought to be concerned about establishment of peace culture. It is, again, foremost duty of the Philosophers to reflect on this problem and try to find out, whether our philosophy or philosophical systems can provide some kind of guidelines to promote culture of peace .Importance of philosophy lies in its living contribution to global culture. Indian Philosophy Indian way of looking at philosophy is quite different from that of Western Philosophy. Philosophy is not just concerned with analysis of concepts or reasoning or just clear thinking processes In India, Philosophy is never viewed as merely an intellectual exercise for an educated elite. Arm chair philosophy is inconceivable in India. All philosophies of India are basically philosophy of life. Indian philosophers firmly believe that every acceptable philosophy should aid human being in realizing the basic ends of human life ( Purusharthas]. It must have practical application and work as a guide to eradicate the sufferings of men and women. It must help human beings to lead an enlightened life with foresight and insight. It is a demand of the Indian minds from the ancient times that ideas and ideals preached by the philosophy should be capable of being practiced and thus every philosopher is expected not only to paint a glorious picture of the ideal world but also to give the topography and route to it in all detail. Real philosophy should have the power to transform man's life from one of ignorance, darkness, misery and bondage to one of knowledge, light, wisdom, freedom, happiness and peace. A philosophy which makes no difference to the quality and style of our life 917

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is no philosophy but empty intellectual construction which may quench the thirst of the curious but is otherwise irrelevant. This is the reason why Indian society from the beginning took guidance from the philosophers to lead good life. The idea of Plato that philosophers must be the rulers and directors of society is practiced in India. The real philosopher is a living example of knowledge, freedom, tranquility, simplicity, wisdom and peace. Real philosophers are revered and admired as ideal men in Indian society and culture. Heinrich Zimmer rightly pointed out that "In India , Philosopher is not respected merely for his subtle dialectical powers and vast theoretical knowledge, he is respected and looked up to as an inspiration because of the wisdom his life reflects" ( Philosophies of India. P.50]. Indian way of looking at philosophical problems are quite different from that of Western philosophy. Philosophical problems are closely related to daily life of man. We can not separate these problems from life. Thus, Indian thinkers have adopted synthetic approach to philosophy and within it , they have included, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic and Ethics. The close relation of the spiritual and moral life has resulted in the unity of philosophy and religion in India Infact; both philosophy and Religion are inseparable from Indian life. Philosophy and Religion are two sides of the same coin. Philosophy is theoretical aspect and religion is practical side of the same. Philosophy, with its scientific and rational analysis elucidates the way and the wherefore of life and the universe and contains a coherent system of thought for interpreting the Reality. The religious injunctions laid down the spiritual practices to be followed for reaching the ultimate goal of life. Philosophy satisfies the curiosity of mind with reason and religion takes him nearer to truth. For Indian thinkers, Philosophy without practice is tantamount to an utopian myth and religion divorced from philosophy becomes a bundle of superstitions. So, the Religion in India is , an endeavor to translate the high philosophical principles, values and virtues of life to practical living. Philosophy and religion together help us to grow from world of intellect, world of divided consciousness with its discords, dualities, to a life of harmony, of freedom, of love and peace. Main aim of philosophy is the integration of personality, which reconciles individual to his/her own nature, his/her fellow men and women and the supreme spirit. The reality which is to be realized in life is the soul of the truth, delight of life, the fullness of peace and Immortality [ Satyatmapranaramam mana anandam shantisamruddham amrutam').Indian philosophers, keeping this great ideal in mind, provides not only metaphysical or philosophical theories, but also mechanism to operate them and has exhorted people to test these theories in practical life. Philosophy in India conceives of man as a spiritual in nature, is interested primarily in his spiritual destiny and relates him in some way to a universe which is also spiritual in essential character. According to Indian philoso 918

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phy.. man is born divine, each soul is essentially divine. Divinity or God is there in the inmost hearts of every being We must have the perception to see that He dwells there hidden. We have so many interests in life, so the supreme within us is unrecognized. The philosophy of Bhagavdgita states " the sage whose passions are at rest sees within himself the majesty of the great real". [ 11.70-71).The supreme goal of human life is to manifest this divinity within by controlling internal and external nature. To realize this goal, Indian Philosophy prescribes the different paths to different kinds of people such as path of action, path of knowledge, path of devotion, path of Raja yoga and so on. Philosophy is defined as 'love of wisdom'. The world philosophers must recover its true meaning of love of wisdom which is another word for spirituality. Veda or Vedanta Philosophy: In the Indian philosophical field the holistic approach of the Vedic or Vedantic philosophy certainly provides lots of material to promote peace. It talks about unification of the world, inner unification of humanity, spiritual unity of all existence, universal love and brotherhood. It tells us that expanding once own individual consciousness in to every being and everything you can bring unity and thereby ultimate peace and limitless happiness (ananda). The universality of outlook, the holistic approach, is specialty of Indian culture and its philosophy from the beginning of its history. Vedic philosophy talks about one family on earth by stating that 'the universe is a nest to live in[ vishvam bhavatyeka needam) i.e. universe is one family. The Rugveda, the oldest literary and religious document of the human race, talks about the unity of mind and hearts in the interest of humanity. It tells us to move together to develop common ideals and purposes for the benefit of mankind in the following terms: "Meet together, talk together, May your minds comprehend alike. Common be you action and achievements, Common be your thoughts and intentions, Common be the wishes of your hearts, So, may there be union amongst you." [Rugveda. X-191.2-4]. The Vedas reflect the vibrance of an encompassing world view which looks upon all objects in the universe. living and so-called non-living, as being rooted in and pervaded by the One Divine power. The Rugvedic conception of One Supreme Reality or God behind all changing phenomena of the universe is the basis for the holistic approach of the Vedic and Vedantic culture. Several statements of the Rugveda such as "The Reality or God is One but wise call It by different names' [ eked sat vipra bahudha vadanti); 919

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"The real essence of the God is one, the binding soul of the universe, the unity -in-difference, in the cosmic and moral order'; 'We offer our worship to the ultimate Lord of the universe, who runs through the every particle of the universe, who is blissful and indescribable' and so on indicate holistic approach of the Vedic culture. Again, single source of the whole universe is traced in the Nasadiyasukta [ Hymn of origination) of Rugveda which states " before creation or origination of the universe, there was nothing, neither existence nor non-existence, no realm of air, neither death nor immortality, no days and nights divider was there .But' That One was there', apart from It, there was nothing."[Tadekam, tasmaddhanyat na kincana asa]. Everything in the universe is spontaneous outcome of this Divine suprasensible impersonal Absolute. The Vedic philosophy talks about organic unity of the whole universe The Purushasukta - the hymn on the Great Cosmic Person brings out this idea in clear terms. In this hymn, the Divinity, the ultimate Reality is symbolically conceived as a great Cosmic Person and all existence, the Earth, the Sky, the Heaven, the Stars, the Planets, living and non-living things are conceived as manifestations and parts of the One great Cosmic Person, who pervades the whole universe and also remains beyond it. In Him, all that is, has been and will be , are united. The ultimate Reality or God pervades the whole universe and all are within It . The Hymn on Earth [ Prithivisukta] of Atharvaveda treats Mother earth as a common abode of all living and nonliving, indicating we all belong to one family of Mother earth ( XII.1.44). Vedanta philosophy proclaims spiritual unity of all existence by stating that in this Cosmos , whatever exists- living and non-living, moving and non-moving, all that is pervaded by One Divine Consciousness' [ Ishavasyam idam sarvam yat kinca jagatyam jagat). According to Upanishadic philosophy Vedanta] everything in the universe is rooted in Pure-consciousness and pervaded by Pure -consciousness known as Brahman.The Taittiriya Upanishad states that 'everything in this universe is originated from this One Divine Consciousness and going to dissolve in It in the end' ( Yato va imaniH.] In Aitereya Upanishad it is sais that' The Reality behind all these things of the universe is the Brahman, which is Pure Consciousness. All thing s are established in Consciousness, work through Consciousness, and their foundation is Consciousness (III.V.3].Chandogya Upanishad says 'All that is Brahman'[ III.XIV.1] . The Supreme Spirit or Divine Consciousness indwells in every entity in the world of objects permeating every where in its homogeneous all-pervasiveness. The seer [ Rushi] of the Mundaka Upanishad having direct experience of this all-pervading Reality (Brahman) , dances with supreme joy and proclaims "In front is Brahman, behind is Brahman. It is to the right and to the left.It spreads forth above and below. Indeed, Brahman is, this effulgent 920

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universe"(BrahmaivedamamrutamHH.II.II.11].This Divinity or Pure Consciousness is inside and outside of everything [Tadanatarasya sarvasya tadu sarvasyasya bahyatah- Isha Upanishad.5). These Vedantic statements indicate the spirit in all is one. It is the same consciousness which indwells in the Cosmos as a whole and in each being and in the object. It is One Supreme Consciousness which pulsates in human beings, plants and so-called non-living things. This consciousness is active in living organism and dormant in non-living things. The distinction between living and non-living ceases to exist for a person who has attained the vision of this Reality. Again, these Vedantic utterances indicate that all things in the universe, living and non-living, are connected together into one common background known as Brahman, which is Absolute Existence, Absolute Consciousness and Absolute Bliss [ Sat- Cit- Anandam Brahman) .The pure consciousness is the single thread which unites all. Everything in the universe is connected together is beautifully described by great Philosopher Yajnavalkya in Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad. He says 'Everything exists in Space or ether. This space exists in imperishable in Brahman, the Ocean of Consciousness. This Reality has inter-penetrated the whole universe, everything exists in this imperishable Brahman [ Br.UpH.] .There is fundamental unity behind everything. Though the diversity is felt fact, it is not ultimate, declares Katha Upanishad by stating that there is no plurality whatsoever [Neha nanasti kincana).Peace belongs to him, who sees unity behind diversity [Tesham shashvati shantih netaresham]. Thosands of years ago, our Vedantic seers have realized the fundamental truth that entire universe is One Whole, interconnected and interdependent. There is a fundamental unity which is the basis of all existence and the ultimate goal of all knowledge. Vedanta Philosophy declares in categorical terms the unity of each individual and essential unity of all human beings. The Divine power which permeates the entire universe is found in the heart of every human being. Divinity is inherent in every individual and thus all are born divine. The Bhagavadgita states' God dwells in the heart of every human being' ( Ishvarah sarvabhutanam hruddeshe Arjuna tisthati -). According to Vedanta Philosophy, there is no difference between individual to individual, because same divine power [ Consciousness) flows in all. Not only this there is also no difference between individual Self and the universal Self or ultimate Reality, because essential nature of both is the same i.e. Consciousness and secondly, same all-pervading supreme Consciousness is inside and outside of everything. The Vedantic statements like 'That thou art' ( Tattvamasi]; 'This Atman is Brahman' [ Ayam atma brahma); 'I am the Brahman' ( Aham brahmasmi]; 'I am That' [ So aham); clearly bring out the identity of individual Self and the Universal Self. The supreme goal of human life is to manifest this divinity within by controlling internal and external nature and by realizing unity with universal Self. 921

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The beauty of the Vedanta Philosophy is that, it shows the way to achieve the spiritual unity of all existence. It tells expansion of one's own individual Consciousness will lead to this unity. In this process first step is : every one should realize that I am spiritual being, my essential nature is spirit, pure consciousness, not just gross body and I am born divine , divinity is inherent in my nature. Second step is to realize that all human beings are divine, they also carry same divine consciousness. God dwells in each human being. So, there is essentially, no difference between myself and other human beings. We are all children of that glorious Supreme Being. Loving others we are loving ourselves and hearting others we are hearting ourselves, because same divinity resides in every one and every thing. The philosophy of Bhagavadgita tells that, the real Philosopher, Seer, is he, who sees all as his own self. Therefore, the Mahabharata, the greatest epic of Indian soil gives us a Golden rule , long before the Rabbinic and Christian era, that 'One should never do that to another which one considers undesirable for oneself' [Atmanah pratikulani paresham na samacaret].The sense of separateness should be given up. This sense of separateness is root cause of conflicts, grief and sorrow. Unity of minds brings peace and calmness mind. The Isha Upanishad, one of the oldest Vedantic texts decries erecting walls of separation between one's Self and other existence by advising us to see one's own Self in all existence and all existence in the Self. Once this spiritual unity is realized, there is no more conflict, hatred, grief and sorrow, peace will prevails within the hearts of every human being. ( Yastu sarvani bhutani atmnieva anupashyati. Sarvabhuteshu ca atmanam tato na vijugupsate). Third step is, realizing that , not only all human beings, but all living beings are divine, divinity is in all living beings. It is the same pure consciousness which flows in all living beings. All living beings are members of one extended family on account of common spirituality. Keeping this great idea of the Vedanta philosophy in mind it is said that 'To the large hearted, entire universe is one family, [Udaracaritanam tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam ]. Fourth step in this path of spirituality is , realizing that all things in the universe are Divine, because, everything is pervaded by same Divine Supreme Consciousness or God.Vedanta Philosophy again and again tells that expand yourself, your individual consciousness into everything. That brings you limitless happiness, tranquility of mind and peace. This kind of philosophical approach in life will certainly change the attitude and outlook of the individual. Once this holistic philosophical attitude is developed in a person, and he begins giving expression to it in his mind, thought and action, he will be transformed in to a personality, possessing broader vision and all-pervading feeling of equality with greater love and sympathy towards all. The feeling of unity helps to eliminate or reduce possible causes of conflict between man and man, other living beings and the nature. 922

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Oneness of mankind, unity of all living beings and all existence must be main aim of every philosophy and every one of us. This essential unity of all beings and all existence gives rise to the sense of whole world as one family. When we rise to this higher level of oneness of humanity then only, truce peace will prevail in individual as well as in human society. This is the true message of Vedanta Philosophy. The situation as it exists in the world today is quite alarming. It calls for a forthright spiritual and ethical intervention under the paradigm of the Vedanta philosophy. Vedanta has the power of creating an order of life under which the spiritual and material we-being of mankind can be ensured and which can liberate this strife riddled world from the peril of destruction. Vedantic spirit wants us to shun hatred, ill-will and animosity to our fellowbeings and instead develop attitudes of acceptance, regard, caring, sharing and love which is a vital aspect of righteousness. The same spirit also directs us to accept the principle of the unity of all beings or oneness of Existence, which ensures a lasting support to the spirit, on its part, ensures human well-being at large. The dualistic, divisive and inherently perverse thought -content has fragmented mankind into ferociously destructive racial, cultural, religious and national groups, which virtually subverted the supreme identity of man as the Human-Being-in wholeness. This state of affairs has surrounded us with devastating problems now manifest violence, terrorism and mass killing of civilian populations through armed conflict. In the present-day world, in a rapidly advancing Nuclear Age, the well-being of human is inconceivable in the absence of unity of all existence. Standing at the threshold of a new age or at the brink of disaster, it is now far us to see how teaching of Vedantic philosophy of unity of all existence, can, be implemented for the ultimate well-being of humanity. The survival of humankind on this planet is now bound up with its inner unification with a global society resting upon the federation of Earth- all intended to bring about a lasting peace. Let us hope the Vedantic notion that all things share a fundamental sameness, may work as a basis for establishing a world peace- culture and may contribute to the long elusive goal of unity among all humanity. 923

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Principles of Buddhist Management, Economy and Social Realm for Promoting Peace - Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri. Buddhism has its own principles in the fields of management, economy and social realm. But the fundamental question is whether age old principles of Buddhism are applicable in the age of technology, globalization and industrialization? For this question, some kind of positive answer can be given from the Buddhist perspective. Buddhist principles may not be completely applicable in modern times in all fields, but certainly we can work out ways in which we can apply the basic ideas that underlies those procedures and principles to establish healthy and peaceful atmosphere. In the area of Business management, administration and resource management Buddhism has its own unique management theory and practice, which has evolved over a long period of time. As early as Buddha's time, the Buddhist Sangha community has had a well developed administrative system. Over the time, the system endured numerous changes and evolved sophisticated methods of management and leadership. The Lord Buddha, commenting on the three refuges in the Avatamsakasutra states that "Taking refuge in the Sangha means one should make Sangha a well-administered and harmonious community for all sentient beings". From this statement of Buddha, it can be seen that Buddhist Sangha communities were organizations which excelled in management skills. The Lord Buddha's approach to management is very surprising. After Enlightenment, the Lord Buddha started teaching Dharma. The five Bhikshus became the members of the first Sangha- group. In time, the community grew into a congregation that included the seven groups of disciples. i.e. the Bhikshus, the Bhikshunis, the Siksammanas, the Saraamaneras, the Sramanerikas, the Upasakas, and the Upasikas. Among them, about 1250 monastics were usually at the Buddha's side. How the Buddha did manage such a huge group of people? He managed it very skillfully applying certain managerial principles, such as: i] equality, 2] decentralized leadership, 3] shared responsibility and support,4] mutual respect and harmony, 5] communication and interaction and 61 democratic governing. 1] Equality: The Buddha declared that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature [Buddhatva] and that all human beings are inherently equal under the Dharma. There is no caste, creed, race and gender discrimination. The Lord Buddha never considered himself a 'leader', rather he let the 924

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truth govern. In this regard the Buddha frequently made a following comments:" I myself am just a member of Sangha and I do not govern, the Dharma [the Law] governs." He states that all things arise from causes and conditions, not created by gods or God. True deliverance depends on the Four Noble Truths and the three Dharma Seals. The Sangha community, under the guidance of Buddha, was ruled by the members' respect for moral conduct. Upon admission each member has to give up his/her previous social status, wealth, fame and other privileges. All external classifications an differentiations were disregarded. The operation of the Sangha community was based on mutual respect and love and some times on the order of seniority. Thus, the Bhikshus, the Bhikshunis and others, each had their own rules. When dispute arose, the Seven Reconciliation Rules' made by the Buddha were followed to settle the conflict. 2] Decentralized Leadership: The Buddha himself, as the head of the Sangha community, on the basis of his own teaching established the precepts for the group. He selected knowledgeable and virtuous Bhikshus and Bhikshunis to be the "instructing monastics" to teach the Dharma and precepts. Among them further selected the eldest to counsel, to advise, and to monitor the progress of the monastics under their supervision. 3] Shared Responsibility and Support: In the initial stage of Sangha Four Principles of living' was laid down to guide the Sangha members toward virtuous living : 1] Eat only food from alms, 2] wear only cast off clothing, 3] abode only under trees and 4] take only discarded medicine. Further, the monastics were warned to shun eight evil possessions that were considered to be hindrances to their practice, i.e. housie and gardens, plants, grains and crops, servants and slaves, pets and animals, money and jewels, utensils and tools and decorated beds. As the size of the Sangha community increased rules were modified. To solve the problems of rainy seasons and to satisfy constant requests from their benefactors, receipt of donated clothes, food, houses and gardens were allowed. but [ communal?] form of living was maintained. The community [communal?] rule required that except for each monastic's own clothing and bowls, all other supplies, tools, bedding, houses and gardens were public goods, not to be individually possessed. Repair and maintenances of equipment and tools were distributed among the members. In each of Sangha residences, an elder was elected to lead the daily operation, teach Dharma, maintain the code of conduct and channel any speech and information delivered by the Buddha. Although the life style changed somewhat over time, all Sangha communities still followed the basic principles of an alms system as well a sharing support and responsibilities. 4] Mutual Respect and Harmony: To maintain mutual respect and harmonious living, the Buddhist Sangha community practices the 'Six points of reverent Harmony' in community living : 925

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1] Doctrinal unity in views and explanations to ensure common views and understanding.2] Moral unity in observing the precepts, to achieve equality for all under the rules.3) Economic unity in community of goods to effect fair distribution of economic interests.4] Mental unity in belief to provide mutual support in cultivation of spirituality. 5] Oral unity in speech to nurture compassion and love. 6] Physical unity in behavior to assure non-violence and harmonious living. 5] Communication and interaction :The Lord Buddha was great visionary person. He periodically convened all members of the Sangha community on the eighth and fourteenth or fifteenth of each month to recite the Precepts. Such gathering provided an excellent opportunity for interaction among the members and a way of fostering shared values for productive and harmonious living. 6] Democratic Governing : The ' Karma Assembly' was established to govern monastic life. It was the highest authority in governing monastic life. The goal of the system was to promote a democratic way of life. On the fifteenth of each month, meeting of 'Karma Assembly' was convened and members of the Assembly reviewed any violation of the precepts that occurred during the month, determined the appropriate discipline for the offender and decided how it would be carried out. There were two types of Karma cases: 1) cases involving disputes and violations and 2] cases not involving disputes and violations. The former dealt with disputes and disagreements among monastics or violations of precepts in which right or wrong had to be determined. The later dealt with the appropriateness of the monastics' daily behavior and their proper guidance or admission of a new member into the Sangha community. The Karma Assembly provided a formal and rigorous mechanism to promote fellowship, harmony and mutual support of the Sangha community. It enabled community to become an ideal moral society where the four all-embracing virtues of giving, affectionate speech, beneficial deeds and team work were always practiced. In Buddhist Tripitakas we find discussions related to management in several places, especially in 'Lotus Sutra' and 'Amitabha Sutra'. Amitabha Buddha and Avalokiteshwara were not only expert in ecological management but also experts in human resource management. Avalokiteshwara is a remarkable expert in management. He/She manages people by reliving their suffering, bestowing upon them virtues and wisdom and satisfying all their needs. He/She transforms himself/herself into thirty-two different identities to facilitate his/her edification of people. The chapter on 'Universal Gate' mentions that "Depending on what identity is most conducive to the deliverance of a sentient being, Avalokiteshwara will transform himself/herself into that image to elucidate the Dharma". With his/her great compassion, he/she relieves people from suffering and brings them joy: 926

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Again, the Western Pure-Land of ultimate bliss built by the Amitabha Buddha (mentioned in Amitabhasutra) is an exemplary model of management excellence. "In the Western Pure-land, there are seven levels of parapets and balustrades, seven layers of curtains and networks of precious stones, seven rows of spices trees, seven -storied pavilions decorated with seven jewels and eight lakes filled with pure water. The air vibrates with celestial harmonies. The streets are paved with gold, silver, lapis lazuli and crystal. The trees and flowers exude delicate fragrance and spices. All these numerous decorations and adornments make it the most beautiful land. In this wonderful land, there are no traffic accidents; all traffic moves smoothly. There are no quarrels or bickering; every one is well behaved. There is no private ownership; there is no need, given the perfect economic system. There are no crimes or victims, every one is absolutely safe and tries to live in peace and help each other. In this Pure- Land, the Amitabha Buddha guides the spiritual development of sentient beings, teaching them to receive his name with mindfulness. Every one in this Pure-Land is guaranteed to never recede from his/her practice. In this Land of ultimate Bliss, every one is respectful, compassionate, peaceful and joyful". After going through these beautiful descriptions one feels that mod ern Managers have to learn from Amitabha Buddha's skilful managing and building capacity and power of accommodating from Avalokiteshwara. A modern Manager has to be equipped with Avalokiteshwara's power of accommodating peoples' needs. He/She has to establish effective measures to solve problems in modern organizations. One can learn enormous amount from Avalokiteshwara's dedication to "responding to whoever is desperate and whenever there is danger" and forever delivering sentient beings from the sea of suffering". Buddhism strongly emphasizes a congenial relationship between an individual and the group. In the course of time, Buddhism travelled to China and the management of the Chinese monastery relies on principles such as Self- commitment, Self- monitoring and Self-discipline. The goal is to create a congruous Sangha community, so that the Dharma can dwell in this world permanently. The Chinese monastery thus places its management emphasis on shared responsibility and a harmonious group relationship. Chinese Buddhists such as the Chinese Master Bai Zhang, Guang Shan have added several principles of management to maintain Sangha community. They have added principles such as governing by virtue, equality in labour, shared responsibility, code of communal living, rules of proper conduct, no fixed association between disciples and masters, no private ownership of money or funds, mandatory relation of jobs and positions, promotion and performance evaluation system. Both of them, emphasized on shared vision and 927

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values. Shared vision and values are of utmost importance for an organization. The formation of shared vision and values' requires a great deal of communication within the organization. Productive meetings are essential to establish a convergence of ideas and opinions. Human resource management is another challenging aspect in management science. Traditionally, it received great attention in Buddhism. Following are the some of the principles which are applied by the humanistic Buddhism to human resource management: 1] Consider the strategic implication of the organization as a whole. 2] Divide responsibilities with well-defined job descriptions. 3] Know the importance of co-ordination. 4] Plan the details with best intentions. 5] Execute with full effort and determination. 6] Report frequently and timely to inform one's superior. 7] Take responsibilities and be accountable for them. 8) Evaluate performance and follow up, and 9] In addition to these principles, it is essential that between the superior and the subordinate, there should be honest communication, mutual respect, active participation, self-motivation and evaluation with sincerity, frankness and frequent consultation and co-ordination. The administrative system of Buddhist monasteries has evolved over a long period of time, with some unique variations exhibited in different time periods. The Sangha system originally established by the Buddha followed the Principles of respecting the Elders', while empowering the multitude. It gave the authority to the 'Karma Assembly', which has a role similar to a parliament in a democratic society. The Chinese monastery administrative system emphasizes personal management and division of labour to maximize the productivity of human resources. Both represent excellent models of management practice. In our search for a new management Science, we should enhance both systems by adopting them to the needs of our modern society. Modern management focuses on organizational interaction and coordination. Strong group dynamics synchronize the steps of upper management and operational employees, ensuring the formation consensus and shared valued, necessary to achieve the organizational mission and goals. Buddhism has emphasized the group dynamics as evidenced in the creation of "The Six Points Reverent Harmony',' the Code of Communal Living' and 928

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Bai Zhang Rules of Proper Conduct'. We have already noticed that Buddhist management relies on principles such as self-discipline, self-motivation, selfmonitoring and repentance. The goal of the management philosophy of the 'FO Guang Shan Order' (of China] is to give people faith, joy, hope and skillful means. Buddhism recommends "Vipashyana' meditative method to management people to increase their mental and physical efficiency. The report of the some of the executives, who have attended the 'Vipashyana Meditation camp', is very positive and encouraging. After attending the 'Vipashyana Camp', they experienced a positive change in their behavior, a consequent improvement in the work environment. They reported that there is new dimension of trust, commitment, and co-operation with others and a remarkable rise in goodwill. There is a decrease in hatred or strong dislike towards others, short-temperedness, mental fatigue, jealousy, negative feelings towards others and confrontation because of jealousy, ego, guilty-feelings, etc. A Manager in a known company, who is practicing 'Vipashyana' since ten years, reports that, his anger and short-temperedness have greatly lessoned and he has cooled down considerably. He thinks twice before answering anything now and does not give harsh replies to either seniors or juniors. His subordinates feel free to approach him and the atmosphere has become cordial both in the office and at home. His trust in people has increased and he feels comfortable ith all types of people. He also tells that time saving and increase in productivity in the company, is the result of "Vipashyana Meditation. He says, previously, projects used to reach a lot of ends, with new lines of action being chosen and work re-started. In this process a lot of time was wasted. Now, after learning Vipashyana', he chooses the direction of work in consultation with his colleagues, so that the risk of selecting a wrong direction is reduced and time is saved. The result is a direct increase in productivity i.e., more output in less time. All practioners of 'Vipashyana Meditation' agree that there has been a positive improvement in the atmosphere of the work place. An executive, who is practicing this meditational method, says that previously he had very high expectations of results from his subordinates. If these expectations were not fulfilled, then it gave rise to anger and tension. Now after he has learnt Vipashyana, he looks mistakes of subordinates objectively and gives guidance to them to correct those mistakes. His concentration and peace of mind have increased and tension has lessened, which has resulted in more work output each day. Buddhist Economy : The term " Buddhist Economy' was first used by E.F.Schumacher in his book "Small is Beautiful". Buddhist economy is based on moral values, such as truthfulness, honesty, contentment and maximum well-being of all. The Schumacher beautifully describes the difference between the 929

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markets oriented, benefit oriented modern economy (main stream economy] and Buddhist economy. He states that : "He, the modern economist is used to measuring the "standard of life' by the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who consumes more is' better off, then a man who consumes less. A Buddhist economist would consider this approach excessively irrational, since consumption is merely a means to human wellbeing', the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption" (E.F.Schumacher- Small is Beautiful: Economics as People Mattered, 1973]. Buddhist Economy is also known as Sustainable Economics or Sufficiency Economics. One of its characteristics is holistic systems of thinking. Economy must always be considered together with the two other Es: Ecology and Ethics. We can not look at just the percentage of growth in the form of GDP, without considering the ecological foot print and social frictions. Maximizing consumption is not and should not be our goal, maximizing the quality of life of people is. In Thailand the Buddhist economy model is adopted and its success in Thailand is reported in report of United Nations. Thai people have given positive answer to the question 'Is there anything in the teachings of religion taught 2500 years ago by the Lord Buddha which could influence modern economics? Thai People call this Buddhist economics as "Sufficiency Economics". Thai King Bhumibol, while explaining the concept of "Sufficiency Economics" says "Sufficiency is moderation. If one is moderate in one's desires, one will have less craving. If one has less craving, one will take less advantage of others. If all nations hold this concept, without being extreme or insatiable in one's desires, the world will be happier place". The United Nation's Development Programme [ UNDP) hailed this Thailand new 'Middle Path' development model as a key to fighting poverty, coping with economic risk and promoting corporate social responsibility. UNDP also describes 'Sufficiency Economics' as a set of tools and principles that help communities, corporations and governments to manage globalization, maximizing its benefits and minimizing its costs, by making wise decisions that promote sustainable development. In Shri Lanka also some NGO, are implementing Buddhist economy very successfully. In modern time several economists and scholars are seriously thinking about implementing Buddhist 'Middle Path' economy. In the end of 20th century [ on 19th December, 1999] more than a dozen Japanese Scholars, Economists, and Technocrats called for blending the Buddhist thought of Middle Path, self-sufficiency and co-existence with Capitalism for the principle economic theory for the 21st century. The participants underscored the loss of spirituality, environmental destruction and ever growing social violence on a global scale. 930

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Mr.Hideaki Teroshita, President of the Tokyo- based Buddhist Economics Forum said that come out from the economic crises' we need to actively apply Buddhist principles to management'. He recalled the teachings of the Buddha, which laid emphasis on balance, learning contentment and living with others. Masami Takahashi of Kibi International University, said "We should envision a community where we get over ethnic, political economic conflicts and come to live comfortably by sharing goods, and services on the basis of the Buddhist spirit of benevolence and tolerance". Akira Takei of Takasaki City University of Economics said "A Buddhist Economy could rectify the failings of the present market economy, such as 'mass sale, mass consumption and mass discard". Kazuo Yahuhara of Ashikaga Institute of Technology said that material well-being aside, the quality of life should be enhanced by attaining spiritual contentment and spiritual peace. This is something which we should try to get from economics based on the Buddhist Philosophy". Social Realm: In modern times the social implications of Buddhist practice have become well-known as ' Socially engaged Buddhism'. It is not new development in Buddhism, it goes back to the Buddha himself, who exhorted his disciples to get out and work for the welfare and happiness of all beings [bahujan hitaya and bahujanasukhaya]. The life of Buddha exemplified this spirit. He spent 35 years, after enlightenment, walking the pathways of northern India, going to people, guiding and helping them in whatever way he could. He was a great critic of social evils, wring forms of livelihood, unjust government and all kinds of violence and exploitation. He saw that the serious problem of Indian society is the alarming deterioration in moral and ethical values at all levels and in all sections of society. Therefore, he emphasized on pure code of conduct, right livelihood and five great precepts [Panchashila]. He gave importance to ethical values in one's life, on process of spiritual development. The process of spiritual development is described in Buddhism as consisting of the path of vision and the path of of transformation. Without a vision of higher life or a feeling for it, there is no possibility of inner transformation. For Buddhists, Lord Buddha's figure itself is symbol of great vision. The Buddha exemplifies what human being can do with his/her life, if they make the effort. In Buddhist religion, the Lord Buddha is shown some times meditating, teaching, giving courage and strength and walking mindfully. 931

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He is also shown as communicating peace, compassion and energy. In some Buddhist traditions, this vision includes other archetypal Buddha figures that represent various aspects of enlightenment, thus making this great vision of Buddhahood accessible to common people. There is also the vision of a Pureland where all beings are shown sitting on lotuses, listening blissfully to the Buddha's teachings. This vision encompasses the whole of humanity; it envisages a world in which life conditions support all humans in practicing Dharma. In Buddhism another important vision is of the glorious vision of Bodhisattva, the being who is devoted to welfare and enlightenment of others as to his or her own. For Bodhisattva, indeed, there is no ultimate difference between himself and others. His life shows the transformation of the individual and the world are inextricably inter-related, such that we can not work on ourselves without affecting society, we can not help society unless we are working on ourselves. But vision is not enough to realize it, we need to work on ourselves and follow the path of transformation. The Noble Eightfold Path, in which transformation consists of working on many fronts, our emotions, speech, actions, relationships, livelihood, awareness, energy and mental states. Meditation is the direct way of working on the mind. Through meditation, we develop skilful mental states. This skilful mental state make us more aware of our behaviour, speech and attitudes towards others, we become more ethically sensitive. This also makes us to realize that, we could not go from a gross or unethical state into meditation. Ethical base is must for meditation. In Noble Eightfold Path meditation is a last step. In Yoga of Patanjali, Yamas and Niyamas are the base for higher meditation. First step is ethical one. Meditation prepares the mind to cultivate wisdom or insight into the nature of reality. Ethics is inevitably bound up with how we relate to others. Meditation is concerned with culti vating awareness and highly positive mental states such as loving kindness and compassion. Wisdom involves understanding in a direct way that there is no ultimate difference between oneself and others. Ethics, meditation and wisdom, all three are intimately connected with how we relate to others. Path of six Paramitas [Path of perfections], involves the cultivation of generosity, ethics, patience, energy, meditation and wisdom. Following this path, one would be able to help others more effectively, minimizing one's weakness and maximizing one's strength. This path, no doubt, involves through transformation of body, speech and mind, necessarily involving one's behavior, speech and attitudes towards others. Buddhism believes that if we are producing anything that is directly or indirectly harmful to others, we are partially responsible for their suffering. The same goes for consuming things that involve exploitation of beings in their production. What one do must benefit others and certainly not harm 932

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ful. Effective social change will only come about through change within individuals, deep attitudinal and ethical changes. Sanghsrakshita, the great Buddhist Scholar rightly pointed out that " The greatest thing that the Buddha has done is to tell the world that the world can not be reformed except by the reformation of the mind of man and the mind of the world." 933

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Buddhism and Ecology - Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri Buddhism founded by the Gautama the Buddha in India twenty-five centuries ago is now practiced by millions all over the world. Buddhism has a potential to fulfill moral, social, spiritual and ecological need of the people of the globe. Buddhist literature provides lots of material to promote ecological sensitivity. Study of ancient Buddhist texts reveals a wealth of inspiration and vision within the Buddhist tradition that supports an ecological awareness. The fundamental Buddhist teachings around interconnectedness and interdependence, conditionality, five great precepts, compassion, loving-kindness, doctrine of Karma- all contribute to both a practice and understanding that augments and honour the ecological paradigms now arising. Buddhist philosophical insight into interconnectedness and interdependence of all conditioned things is supportive of environmental care. Buddhist theory of Dependent Origination [Pratityasamutpadavada] maintains that man, matter and nature are interconnected and interdependent. In fact all things in the universe are interconnected and interdependent. There is nothing in existence which exists as a separate, fixed, isolated entity. Things only exist in relationship and connection with other things. In fact, so much so that the boundaries between things are only useful conventions, provisionally true but by no means absolute. According to this doctrine, the factors of existence are interconnected by the laws of causality. All phenomena, all things, all beings are intimately related to each other. We are profoundly connected in a web of life and complex social relationships stretching across the globe. This view is also found at the heart of the ecological perspective, particularly as influenced by systems theory, which recognizes that everything in this world is woven into a subtle and intricate web of relationships. National Academy of Sciences Report [1975] also supports Buddhist world view. It states that "Our world is a whole in which any action influencing a single part of the system can be expected to have an effect on all other parts of the system". Buddhism does not separate humans from the natural environment. Neither does it see world as a collection of isolated objects, as much as Western Cartesian and mechanistic Science has assumed, but as a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent as the new systems theory growing out of the life sciences suggests. Donald Swearer, the great Buddhist Scholar, talking about this concept of Buddhist interdependence, remarks that "Many Buddhist practitioners have found in one of the central ideas of Buddhism- the principle of interdependence, an ecological vision that integrates all aspects of the ecosphere- particular and individuals and general species-in terms of the principle of mutual co-dependence. With this cosmological model individual entities are by their very nature relational, thereby 934

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undermining the autonomous self over against the 'other', be it human, animal or vegetable. This Buddhist world is a rejection of hierarchical dominance of one human over another, or humans over nature, and is the basis of an ethic of empathetic compassion which respects of bio-diversity and social justice." Buddhism recognizes intrinsic value of all living beings and views human as just one particular strand in the web of life. Humankind is a part of nature and no sharp distinction can be drawn between itself and its surroundings, as everything is impermanent and subject to the same natural laws. The awareness of the fact that humankind is subject to laws of causality must be seen as an important basis for a proper understanding of humankind's role in nature. Such awareness promotes humility and thoughtfulness. We must realize that everything in this universe is mutually dependent and co-operative. The Thai Monk Buddhadasa Bhikku clarifies this Buddhist idea by stating that 'The entire cosmos is a co-operative. The Sun, the Moon and the stars live together as a co-operative. The same is true for humans and animals, trees and the earth. When we realize that the world is mutual, interdependent, co-operative enterprise, than we can build a noble environment. If our lives are not based on this truth, then we shall perish". This doctrine of world view engenders a strong sense of humility towards nature and encourages 'loving kindness' in our interaction with it. The concept of interconnectedness and interdependence of all beings and all things helps humans go beyond anthropocentric consciousness. The personal self becomes an ecological self and comes to include all other beings and the planet itself. This breaks the illusion that we humans are separate from the rest of the nature. In Buddhist view, one cannot draw a firm distinction between 'self and the 'world'. In this respect Buddhism provides approaches to promote self-reflection and healthy relationship between oneself and others, including nature. We know that mankind has failed to take account of the intimate connections within the eco-system, between himself and the world, arrogantly and irrationally applying new found technological powers , destabilizing intricate systems of ecological organization, the complexity of which, we are only just beginning to realize. If we are to exist in a way which no longer perpetuates the damage done so far and begins to heal some of the ecological and social wounds we have created, we must appreciate more and more our own interconnectedness and the intimate relations which exist between things in the world around us. Buddhism believes that natural processes are affected by human morals. Several Sutras of Pali Canon show that there is a close relationship between human morality and the natural environment. In reality, Buddhism believes that environmental pollution is but the external manifestation of 935

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man's moral pollution, which has assumed alarming proportions and reached a crisis. When a moral degeneration becomes rampant in society, it causes adverse changes in the human body and in our environment.[ Dighanikaya.III.50,80; Anguttaranikaya.1.160, II. 75]. The moral consciousness, the human mind, the human body, the external world consisting of fauna and flora and society are intricately interconnected through all embracing net-work of cause and effect to make one whole psychologically sensitive and responsive eco-system. This idea has been systematized in the Buddhist theory of five natural laws or cosmic laws. These are called 'Pancha-niyam-dharma' by later Buddhist commentators. These five cosmic laws operate in the universe and shows the interdependence of man and nature. These five laws are: 1] Physical laws (utuniyama), 2] Biological laws [beeja niyama-lit. seed law], 3) Psychological laws [cittaniyama, laws of mind), 4] Moral laws [kammaniyama-law of action), and 5] Causal laws [dhammaniyama] [Samyuktanikaya.1125). Through these laws, dependence of humans and nature is reiterated. These cosmic laws interact with one another. This means that the physical environment of any given area conditions the growth and development of its biological component, i.e. fauna and flora. These in turn influence the thought pattern of the people interacting with them. Modes of thinking determine moral standards. The opposite process of interaction is possible. The morals of humankind influence not only the psychological make up of the people but the biological and physical environment of the area as well. Thus the five cosmic laws demonstrate that humankind and nature are bound together in a reciprocal causal relationship with. Changes in one necessarily bringing about changes in the other. The world, including nature and humankind stands or falls with type of moral force at work. If morality grips society, humankind and nature deteriorate, if morality regains the quality of human life and nature improves. The demonic qualities like greed, hatred and delusion produce pollution within and without. Divine qualities like generosity, compassion, love and wisdom produce purity within and without. Both these qualities are in the human mind. Human being is responsible for developing these either of the qualities. Therefore, the Lord Buddha declared that 'the world is lead by the mind' (Cittena niyate lokah - Samyuktanikaya I.39). The cosmic laws namely, physical, biological and moral laws when interact with one another then man experiences weal or woe, happiness or nhappiness according to the nature of moral energy he generates. If whole 936

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some moral energy is widespread, the peace in society and life is comparatively happy and comfortable. If unwholesome moral energy is widespread, strife in society is similarly rampant and life becomes more and more troublesome. Commentary on Dighnikaya (III.854] clearly states about the fate of the mankind in a morally bankrupt world. According to this, when mankind comes under the grip of greed, hatred and delusion, downfall is brought about by famine, fire/weapons and diseases respectively. The situation in the modern world is such that three morally unwholesome motivational roots seem to be active and man is receiving three pronged retribution for his own immoral actions. Lord Buddha's statement that 'the world operates through human ideas' is very significant. This statement is pregnant with true meaning. We are aware that human ideas have brought about vast changes in nature to such an extent that nature's purifying; rejuvenating and repleshing capacities have been outstripped by man's activity of exploitation, causing unprecedented pollution and impoverishment. The root cause, that is responsible for this crisis is man's greed for luxury, wealth and power. The human brain has developed without keeping pace with human heart and moral responsibility. Intellectually, modern man has become giant, but emotionally he is a dwarf, suffering with spiritual bankruptcy. The irony of modern man is that he is torn apart with conflicting desires and practical realities. Further, intellect is limited, he lacks the vision to see hoe far-reaching his behavior and actions are and how they affect positively or negatively his own well being. For example, in search of more food man changes his environment according to his technological skill. He uses the chemical fertilizers, insecticides herbicides in agriculture for better harvests. These destroy the natural bacterial balance which gives rise to adverse chain reactions, which in turn affect human health and well-being. When the atmosphere gets polluted, sentient beings are affected very badly and even Vegetation are sensitive to this type of pollution. It is experimentally proved that plants thrive much better in an atmosphere of peace and purity, but they tend to get stunted or they wither away in polluted environment, when they are harshly treated with violent actions or words. According to Buddhism man's moral disposition has direct deep-rooted relationship with the environmental crisis. According to scientists, air pollution with increased carbon-dioxide is due to fuel burning which in the long run would contribute to global warming with catastrophic effects on human well-being. It is now conjectured that the disappearance of the dint from the face of the earth is due to reduction of oxygen level and increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The present situation of environmental pollution is far more grave than that which caused the extinction of those enormous beasts, as carbon 937

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dioxide produced by machines unknown during the dinosaur age. While metal machines physically pollute the atmosphere, billions of human machines also add psychogenic toxins to carbon-dioxide they breathe out. Therefore we can say that pollution in the psycho-sphere is a crucial factor in the environmental crisis man is faced with today, the physical pollution caused by emissions from machinery and over exploitation of natural resources is the result of man's greed for luxury, wealth and power. Therefore Buddhism states that the environmental pollution is really the external manifestation of the internal moral pollution of modern man. As long as the human mind is motivated by morally wholesome intentions, man can lead a comparatively happy life and nature would be manageable hospitable. When the motivational roots are evil, man experiences misery. Now it appears that evil is so widespread, even nature has been adversely affected, rendering it more in-hospitable. The environmental crisis has to be treated as the result of moral crisis. Man has to cultivate morally wholesome attitude and life style for a change for better and this has to be accepted as a survival imperative. Buddhism, to avoid exploitation of natural resources and stop environmental pollution, emphasizes on simplicity in life. Happiness is to be found through the restraint of desire in a life of contentment rather than through. the proliferation of desire. Humankind must learn to satisfy it real needs and not desires. The resources of the world are not unlimited whereas humankind's greed shows neither limit nor satiation. Modern man's unbridled veracious greed for pleasure and acquisition of wealth has exploited nature to the point of near impoverishment. To increase positive thinking of the mind, Buddhism suggests 'Vipashyana' meditation. This meditation technique offers a relevant practical method to affect a wholesome attitudinal change in man to give him a sense of direction and goal in life and also teach him to restore the sustainability of nature. Vipashyana meditation cleanses man of his psychological impurities. Nature can cope up with the biological impurities produced by man, but nature can not help nor cope up with the psychological pollution produced by man. Hence the spread of crime, terrorism and the like an epidemic in society, pollution related diseases threatening human life. The Vipashyana'- the Buddhist meditational method teaches man to lead a simple life satisfying his needs. The ability to be satisfied with little is methodically cultivated as a virtue of great value; it is cultivated collectively by mankind, giving the present trend of consumerism by which the sting of the eco-crisis can be mitigated. All the ills of large scale deforestation, soil erosion, landslides, changes in weather pattern, draught, etc., are fundamentally related to consumerism. Without changing to a simple life style, effective solutions to these life threatening problems can not be worked out. Buddhism repeatedly advocates the virtue of non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion in all human pursuits. Greed breads sorrow and unhealthy 938

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consequences. Contentment is a much praised virtue in Buddhism. The person leading a simple life with few wants is upheld and appreciated as an exemplary character. The excessive exploitation of nature as is done today would certainly be condemned by Buddhism in the strongest possible terms. Loving - kindness (maitri) is a part and parcel of the meditative life of Buddhists. If one practices loving -kindness sincerely, one would refrain from over exploitation and over consumption. Out of sympathy for future generations too as non-renewable natural resources are fast diminishing due to demand made by the present consumerist life style. Practicing maitri [Loving-kindness) man would also have sympathy for other species and forms of life which are threatened by extinction. Today strategically important to remember that natural bio-diversity is extremely valuable for healthy balanced ecosystem. Thus, Buddhism prescribes the practice of loving-kindness towards all creatures in all quarters without restriction. The understanding of Buddhists doctrine of Karma and rebirth, too prepares Buddhists to adopt a sympathetic attitude towards animals and other living beings. According to this doctrine of Karma, it possible for human beings to be reborn in subhuman states among animals or birds due to our good and bad deeds. Therefore it is only right that we should treat animals and other living beings with kindness and sympathy. Out of a concern for the total living environment, Buddhist environmentalists extend lovingkindness and compassion beyond people and animals to include plants and the earth itself. Nature and natural surrounding, beautiful forest is much appreciated and given importance in Buddhist scriptures. Forest is considered as best place for high spiritual attainment. This is the main reason; the Buddhists monasteries and Viharas are mostly built in a forest or on mountain top. The Lord Buddha has stressed the need for close contact with nature and pointed out how advancement of mind leads to a greater appreciation of nature. The Lord Buddha in some places identified 'Dharma' with nature. He himself set under a Bodhi Tree to achieve enlightenment. Trees have special place in their world view for Buddhists. There is a reverential attitude in Buddhism towards all trees, especially long-standing gigantic trees, such as banyan, ironwood, the sala and the fig trees. For Buddhists ecologist, Buddha's life itself is an inspiration, because, the Buddha's life from birth to Nirvana was spent close to nature. He was born under a tree, attained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree (Pipal] and through-out his 45 years of teaching he resided and preached in the forest. Even when he was dying, he lay down under a tree. Nature is a great teacher. Man has to learn lot from nature. Thus, the Buddha advised his followers to learn from nature. Thus, conserving nature could be seen as the duty of Buddhists, a fulfillment of their responsibility to cherish source of wisdom. Moreover, Buddhists believe that, on a mundane level, nature provides us with the basic requisites for survival: food, clothing, shelter, medicine and most crucially oxygen and 939

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water. The quality of nature will define the quality of our lives. For us to see the all-encompassing benevolence of nature, we need to respect it as our mother, teacher and not regard it as material object for economic growth, senseless consumption and exploitation. Again, the well-known Five Precepts [Panchashila] form the minimum code of ethics to which every lay Buddhist should adhere. The first precept ' not to kill' [ahimsa or abstaining from killing] means respect for all life. This principle upholds the peace and non-violence in one's life. This principle is also very important from the ecological point of view. Not kill includes all kinds of killings, killing of animals, environment, birds, rivers, lakes, ocean and forest. We are decimating many species by killing the environment. There is no way that these life-forms can ever return to earth. The vacuum their absence creates cannot be filled in any other way and such a vacuum affects everything else in the ecosystem, no matter how small it is. In fact, we are killing the lakes with acid rain, dumping chemicals into rivers and oceans, so that they can not support any life. We are polluting, actually killing our atmosphere, through industries, excessive use of cars, machinery, so our children choke on the air they breathe. So, we have to change our attitude towards the nature and cultivate respect for nature and all lifeforms. The second precept is non-stealing. First of all it means giving up greed and cultivating generosity, the sense of giving. From the ecological perspective, exploitation of nature is stealing. By the taking away the trees for our selfish purpose, we are stealing the habitats several birds and cutting mountains, we are stealing the habitats of many animals that live on the mountain. Animals and birds have a right to live on this earth like human beings. The message of this precept is not to misuse forest and mountains for personal benefits. The third precept teaches us to honour the body of mother earth, non-exploitation of earth and non-interference of the natural order of things. We should not interfere extensively with the biological laws and their function. When we begin to interfere with the natural order of things, we through off the whole ecological balance. As a consequence, human beings have to pay heavy prize for that. Another precept, viz., abstaining fro lying tells that there must be harmony between what we talk and act. Politicians and Industrialists talk about conservation of nature, but in practice, act otherwise. Chemical companies and plastic manu-frcturers, talk about their sensitivity towards the environment. This is sheer lying and it should be stopped. The fifth precept is abstaining from intoxication that clouds the mind, thinking power. Drinks and drugs dull our perceptions and sensitivities towards everything including nature. We are witnessing at present one dominant global culture, an ever expansive and predatory industrial capitalism, valuing profit above life. It is system which reduces the entire natural world- mountains, rivers, forest, oceans, plants and animal species, including human beings, into resources 940

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to be ordered and controlled, used and exploited in the pursuit of material growth and economic development. This even more suffocating technocratic system is destroying the ecology of life. The current crisis arising over environmental pollution and the over-exploitation of natural resources has gripped the attention and aroused the concern of virtually every human being. The development of technology was spurred by the belief that applied science could eliminate all human wants and usher in a golden age of unlimited prosperity for all. Now having utilized technology to subjugate nature to serve human desire, we have doubtlessly succeeded in making life more comfortable and secure in many respects that it had been in an early era. However, our smog covered cities, polluted water ways, devastated forests and chemical dumps; remind us painfully that our material triumphs have been gained at terrible price. Not only is the beauty of the natural environment gradually being destroyed, but its capacity to sustain life is seriously threatened and in the process of vanquishing nature, man has placed himself in danger of losing his humanity. Technology alone can not solve the ecocrisis. More importantly it requires a transformation of values and life style. Buddhist ecologists argue that an understanding of mutually interdependent of all life forms, a mere cognitive recognition of interdependence is not enough for an ecological ethic. Emphasis must be given to training and practice in terms of the threefold path of ethic, meditation and wisdom in order to give rise to a just and sustainable world. The application of Buddhist insights to our current ecological and social ills constitutes one of the Buddhists most creative and dynamic response to the contemporary context. It is aptly pointed out by Sandell that "the Buddhist admonition is to utilize nature in the same way as a bee collects pollen from a flower, neither polluting its beauty nor depleting its fragrance. Just as a bee manufactures honey out of pollen, so man should be able to find happiness without harming natural world in which he lives" (Sandell.p28.1987]. 941

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WORLD PEACE- A BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE -Prof. Dr. Yajneshwar S. Shastri Buddhism has long been associated with peace. The fundamental goal of Buddhism is peace, not only in this world but peace in all worlds. The Lord Buddha himself was a great peace maker. In fact, the Lord Buddha's life itself is a massage of peace. To cite few incidents from Buddha's life will make it very clear. Four years after the Buddha's attainment of Enlightenment a war about to take place between the city-state of Kapilavastu [the Shakyans) and that of Kilivastu ( the Koliyans) over the use of water. The story runs like this: A severe draught hits the two Kingdoms viz., the Shakyans and the Koliyans. The Rohini River was flowing over both the kingdoms. Because of drought, water level was diminishing in the Rohini River. Both the kingdoms were not getting sufficient water for irrigation. This draught has triggered a dispute over who has the right to divert the rapidly diminishing waters of the Rohini into their respective fields, since the volume of water in the rivers' flow is insufficient to irrigate the crops of both kingdoms an agreement must be brokered. But neither the Koliyans nor the Shakyans are willing to relinquish their claim nor do they show any willingness to co-operate on a compromising plan. Two Kingdoms were about to wage war for the possession of Rohini water, which was very meager. The Kings and their armies were on the verge of fighting Hearing this news the Buddha himself came to the battlefield. At the sight of the Buddha- the world honoured one, solders threw their weapons, telling we can not fight; we can not shoot the arrows at our enemies. Then the Buddha called the chiefs of the two armies and listened to the allegations and counter allegations of the contending parties. The Buddha said, you are aware that hundreds of people will be killed in the battlefield and there will be a flow of blood of solders. The killed solders' families will face untolled pain and misery then he asked them, how much value do you think little water of River in comparison with lives of me? The Kings answered that the lives of the persons involved in the dispute were indeed priceless and the value of water is very slight. In that case, said the Buddha why do you destroy lives of men, which are very valuable for valueless [very meager] water. Then he explained them that people cause war through misunderstanding, thereby harming and killing each other. This is misunderstanding which leads all people to a tragic end. Listening the Buddha's words, the Kings soon came to their senses and a peaceful agreement was reached. So, violent conflict over environmental resources is successfully averted through skillful diplomacy by the Buddha. The Buddha helped those who were blinded by passion to see the folly of their thoughts and deeds. He did this through friendly discussions in whic he reasoned simply, coolly, clearly and logically. In his teachings there is no 942

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place for revenge and retaliation. He showed love and sympathy to his adversaries. A foolish man once came to the Buddha and started abusing him like anything. The Buddha listened abuses calmly and when a man had finished abusing him, then he asked him calmly 'if a person declined to accept a gift made to him, then, to whom would the gift belong? The man answered that the gift would then belong to the person who offered it. Then the Buddha said, "you have abused me, denounced me but I decline to accept your gift which is in the form of abuse and request you to keep it yourself." Then the Buddha narrated few incidents to that person to make him aware of his own foolishness. Once, a wicked man abuses a virtuous person and with uncontrollable anger looks up and spites at heaven. The spittle does not smear heaven but returns and soils his own person. Similarly, once a slanderer throws dust at another virtuous person when the wind was blowing in a contrary direction. The dust returned to him who threw it, whereas the virtuous person remained unheart. The abuser cannot help suffering for his misdeeds. It is recorded in the Buddhist texts that the abuser in this story went away ashamed of himself but returned later on to the Buddha, to take refuge in him and in his teachings. Buddhist texts reveal that because of the Buddha's towering personality people of different walks of life visited the Buddha to listen to his discourses At several occasions, The Buddha encountered malicious adversaries who derived a perverted satisfaction by abusing and ridiculing him. But the Buddha always acted with composure and dig. nity without loosing his temper in even the most trying situations. He often took pains to correct reform and instruct his hostile adversaries out of compassion and concern for their ignorance and suffering. The Four Noble Truths (chatvari aryasatyani] taught by the Buddha point out how we can play vital role in the well-being of the planet. The first Noble Truth, [there is suffering], is recognition of the reality of suffering which is universal. We all suffer; there is no distinction between the rich and the poor. Help should be given to all in the time of difficulties. If we acknowledge our suffering, then we understand others suffering and develop compassion towards others who suffer. Another important point of Buddha's personality is, he always emphasized the purity of conduct, action in one's life. Impure actions are harmful to an individual and to the society. Emotions like attachment with its forms such as anger, hate, malevolence and delusions are harmful to one's own life and to others. In fact, infatuation, greed, lust, craving, hatred, anger and aggression are the passions which spoil human life. They create unhappy situations. They can be won over or overpowered by opposite emotions such as disinterestedness, amity, true knowledge, friendship, compassion, love and sympathy with suffering. Mere external conduct does not suffice, purity of inner life is most important. Then only, there will be inner peace. For this, one has to cultivate virtues like kindness (maitri], compassion [karuna), sympathetic joy ( mudita] and equanimity (upeksha). 943

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The Noble Eight-fold Path preached by the Buddha gives in a nutshell the essentials of Buddhist path of morality which shows the way to humanity how to lead a life with foresight and insight and to maintain individual harmony and peace in the society. The Five Precepts (panchashila] preached by the Buddha under one of the Eight-fold paths (Right conduct], can work as a foundational basis for world peace. The Buddhism preaches that global peace can be established through non-violence. The first cardinal precept of Buddhism is not to harm or not to kill but to cherish all life. It is not a negative concept, but positive doctrine of love and friendship, equality and fraternity among all the living beings of the universe .It is giving up sense of separateness, selfishness, otherness and identifying oneself with all other beings. Suttanipata clearly states that "one should think that other living beings are like myself, and I am like them. Thus, regarding them like myself, he will not do violence to them, he will not cause harm to them". In Samyuktanikaya, it is said that "all beings fear violence, all fear death. Considering them like oneself, one will not do violence to others or cause them any harm" (P.T.S.p129-130]. Again it says "If you thoroughly search in ten directions with your mind, nowhere you will find anything more dear to you than yourself. In the same way, the self is extremely dear to others. Therefore, one who loves himself should cause no harm to others" P.T.S.p.76].In this precept the Buddha asks us to develop a sense of selflessness i.e. 'no-self.' The expression of 'no-self' refers to a state of consciousness in which the advancement of the self is subordinated to the principle of not harming others and self identity is actualized in accepting others as self. H.H. Dalai Lama, in this connection, clarifies the sanctity of all life: "In our approach to life, be it pragmatic or otherwise, a basic fact that confronts us squarely and unmistakably is the desire for peace, security and happiness. Different forms of life at different levels of existence make up the teeming denizens of this earth of ours. And no matter, whether they belong to the higher groups such as human beings or the lower groups such as animals, all beings primarily need peace, comfort and security. Life is dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Even the lowliest insect strives for protections against dangers that threaten its life. Just as each one of us wants happiness and fear pain, just as each one of us wants to live and not to die, so do all other creatures"[ Inner Peace, World Peace, p.57]. Not to kill means respect for all life. This precept 'not to kill' naturally calls for the settling internal and external conflict through non-violent means .In contemporary world, the need of non-violence has become more pressing than Ever before, because of its manifold applications. It appears to be more efficient method of settling political, racial, religious and other social problems. If we want peace, we should choose path of peace. Killing others will only lead to being killed. The only way of living harmoniously together is to act out of loving kindness. If we end killing the world will be at peace. The second precept, the prohibition against stealing, 944

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does not just mean not to take what is not given, but it means, not to exploit poor people, natural resources, animals and people at large. Stealing, whether it is by individuals or corporaters or nations, occurs because of selfish greed. Non-stealing, really is giving up greediness and cultivating generosity, the sense of giving. The third precept is not to misuse sexuality. It repudiates the improper sexuality. Misguided indulgence and over indulgence in sex creates many social, physical and psychological problems and diseases like AIDS. Human history tells us that several occasions; sexual misconduct has also been a cause of war, as has been lying. Abstaining from lying is manifesting truth which is very relevance for every one working towards peace and justice. There must be harmony between what we talk and act. At present, our national and international leaders, corporate houses lack this integrity, which is creating serious problems. The fifth precept prohibits taking intoxicating substances. National leaders whose minds have been clouded by drugs are not rare in the history. Alcoholic drinks and drugs dull our perceptions and sensitivities. Our youth is becoming victim of intoxicating stuffs. If we do not stop this increasing use of intoxicants, our future generations may become impotent and useless to human society. The international drug trade in itself has become a major impediment to peace in most parts of the world. Moral virtues preached by the Buddha such as loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, are very relevant in this age of unrest and hateredness. Loving kindness or universal love represents a warm hearted concern for well-being of others, feeling of friendship, affection towards whole creation, whole existence. The Buddha says love must not be restricted to one's nearest and dearest, it should ideally be extended outwards in ever increasing circles to ultimately embrace totality. This love is basis for the faith towards each other in the society. The lack of faith leads to suspicion, which ultimately leads to ill-feeling, hatred and war. Hatred does not cease by hatred any time, hatred ceases by love. Compassion [karuna) stands for altruistic or humanitarian service. Ego is root cause of intolerance. When ego breaks down, the division between one's self and others naturally disappears. Eventually, others' sufferings come to be regarded as one's own. If little consideration was given to compassion, the tragedies which happened in the world history, such as Hitler's massacring thousands of Jews, throwing Atom Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and many other violent conflicts, could not have taken place. At present also, this virtue of compassion can only save the world from third world war and total destruction. Mudita or sympathetic joy is another important virtue preached by Buddhism. Today what we see in the world is rise of feeling of hostility and jealousy at other success and achievements. This sympathetic joy is the antithesis of that hardhearted competitiveness that is so prevalent today. Mudita means feeling of success and achievements of others as one's own giving up sense of jealousy. The Buddha taught that the first step on the path of peace is under 945

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standing the causality of peace. When we understand what causes peace, we know where to direct our efforts. No matter, how vigorously we stir a boiling pot of milk on fire, the milk will not cool. When we remove the pot from the fire, it will cool on its own and our stirring will hasten the process. Stirring causes the milk to cool, but only if we first remove the milk from the fire. Similarly, we may take many actions in our quest for peace, that may be helpful, but if we do not first address the fundamental issues, all other actions will come to naught. It is very often said that 'wars begin in the minds of men'. It is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. Buddhism therefore tells us to turn inwards and asks ourselves whether or not our minds and hearts are pure and conducive to peace. Buddhism lays stress on inner peace of an individual. According to Buddhism the world is an endless net of causality, where every event sends ripples throughout the whole fabric of the universe. One individual's peace of mind contributes in a real way to peace far and near. A single person who experiences peace of mind is contributing to the peace of the world. One affects world peace first and foremost by the way one lives. Peaceful minds lead to peaceful speech and peaceful actions. If the minds of living beings are at peace, the world will be at peace. Through inner peace genuine world peace can be achieved. In the process of establishing a world peace, the importance of individual responsibility is quite clear. An atmosphere of peace must first be created within overselves. Than gradually expand to our families, our communities, nation and ultimately the whole planet. There is a strong reason to emphasize an individual peace to establish a world peace in Buddhism. Buddhism believes that the minds of all living beings are totally interconnected and interrelated, whether they are consciously aware of it or not. In this world each mind is a kind of transmitting and receiving station. Each being has his or her own transmitting and receiving station and is constantly broadcasting to all others his or her state of mind is constantly receiving broadcasts from all others. Even the most insignificant thoughts in our minds have some effects on all other beings. Each thought in the mind of each and every one of us brings the world either a little closer to the brink of global disaster or helps to move the world little farther away from the brink. If we concentrate on putting our own mind at peace, then we can broadcast peace mentally and generate peace through our actions. We should use a peaceful mind to act for peace in the world. If peaceful minds are more predominant, the world will tend to be at peace, if violent minds are more predominant, the world will tend to be at war. Again, Buddhism sees even the problem of war as a Karmic one, and the solution is seen as the practicing and teaching correct ethical behaviour. Good deeds lead to good consequences and bad deeds to bad. If we plant mango seeds, we get mango, if we plant poisonous seeds, we get poisonous fruits. Similarly, if we plant the seeds of the war, we get 946

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war, if we plant the seeds of peace, we get peace. Buddhism tells that plant and water the seeds of non-violence, which will yield fruits of peace. In conflict situation, non-violence is the desired end as well as the means to achieve it. When we make non-violence as part of our daily lives, we water the seeds of a non-violent society. Vimalakirtisutra beautifully states that with skilful means and practice, we can solve the world's conflicts non-violently: "In times of war, give rise in yourself to the mind of compassion, Helping living beings, abandon the will to fight. Where there is a furious battle, Use all your might to keep both sides strength equal, And then step into reconcile this conflict" In Majjhimanikaya, sutra104, the Samagamasutra sets out clearly, the causes of disputes, the ways to settle disputes and the way to promote harmony in a Bhikshusangha founded by the Buddha. Procedures are also developed for resolving disputes. These procedures may not be completely applicable in modern times, but we can work out ways in which we can apply the basic ideas that underlies those procedures: The first cause of dispute is anger or ill-will. Anger chases out all positive qualities. Angry person looks every one and everything with resentment, disliking and disagreement. He starts to stir up dissatisfaction to cause dispute. The next source of dispute lies in somebody being harsh and unmerciful. It is a negative mental state in which we just do not have any feeling for other people; we do not feel that we are hurting them. The third source of dispute is in the mind of individual. It felling of jealousy and grudging. In this state of mind, we see others as having things that we want and resent them for it. The fourth source of dispute is craftiness and deceitfulness. This is very selfish attitude, where some one thinks 'how can I get what I want?' This makes him crafty. People of this kind are also deceitful. They do not reveal their real harmful intentions. They disguise them under appearance of sincerity and sympathy. The fifth source of dispute is evil desires and wrong views. The sixth source of dispute is some one who is infected with too much worldliness. All these six sources of disputes cut us off from the spiritual vision. The Buddha makes it very clear where the resolution of disputes has to start. 947

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It has to start in us. We have to work on ourselves, if we are to overcome disputes. The source of disputes is within the heart and we must clean the heart of ourselves. Once we have done so, we ha to make sure, it does not come back again in future. Gladness, friendship, loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, truthfulness, dispel disputes and promote harmony. Negative emotions such as ill-will, anger, hatred are responsible for conflicts and disharmony. The Buddhaghosha in his Vishuddhimarga ten ways to overcome negative emotions such as ill-will, anger, resentment, hatred and so on: The first step is, concentrating on the Buddha's teaching that " you should not have ill-will towards others". Reflecting on this, one can reduce his anger or hatred towards others and gain calmness of mind. The second step is, seeing positive qualities in others. The third step is to develop compassion for other person, if positive qualities are not found in him. Feel pity for such kind of person. The fourth step is, try to win over or remove anger from your mind by cultivating opposite qualities like love and affection. The Step is if anger is still there then reflect on nature of Karma or ownership of Karma i.e. 'I own my actions, he owns his, so you ask yourself. Actions performed with anger will lead to pain and suffering. You need not punish him, because as per Law of Karma, he will be punished by his own. 1 Karmas. As a result you will realize, you should not get angry. The sixth step is, even this method does not work, still you are not able to control your anger, then you can reflect on the Buddha's own demonstration of lack of hatred. In Buddhist texts, in many ways the Buddha is shown as non-reactive. So, you can try to follow the example of Buddha. The seventh step is, if this also does not work, then reflect on cycle of births and deaths due to deeds of one's own. Bad deeds done with anger result in unhappy consequences. Fear of Suffering of births, death and rebirths reduce your anger towards others. The eighth step is, if still your anger persists then, reflect on advan tage of practicing Maitri- the loving kindness. If your mind is full of loving kindness, you will feel tranquility and peace of mind. The ninth step is, if this method also does not work, then reflects on 'no-self of others on whom you are angry, 'such as the other person has noself. Then on whom I am angry? Am I angry with his body, or some parts of his body? and so on. Realizing through this analysis that there is nothing fixed and unchanging that you can direct younger to. In this way, you use 948

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your analytical training to eliminate any idea of something you can be angry with The tenth and final is very beautiful and convincing one with which Buddhaghosha ends his suggestions .He states that, if you can not rid off anger in any of these ways, give the hatred person a gift. Even though you still feel anger and hatred, just give him something more. Giving is something that transforms your emotions. If you feel anger and hatred towards others develop opposite emotions of love and affection. When other person receives gift given by you, he will change his attitude towards you. This giving and developing love towards other person is very effective means of overcoming anger and hatred. Shantideva, a great Mahayana philosopher, suggests four-fold formula. If this formula is really implemented in practical life, then it certainly helps to establish peace: First of all he talks about equality of self [oneself] with others [ paratmasamata). Secondly, denouncing a fault of self-cherishing notion [atmasneha). Thirdly, realizing importance of loving others or cherishing others (parasneha). Fourthly, exchange of self with others. It is seeing one's own personality in others (atmaparivartana). By the nation of helping others and regarding them not different from oneself; the notion of 'T' and 'mine', gradually withers away. The practice of six Paramitas of dana, shila, kshanti, virya, dhyana and prajna leads to the widening of the circumference of mind. The life, centered on self, naturally tends towards the selfish. Selfishness poisons us with desire and greed. When they are not fulfilled, we tend to become angry and hateful. These basic emotional conditions cover the luminous depths of our minds and cut us off from our own intuitive wisdom and compassion. Our thoughts and action, then emanate from deluded superficial views. Buddhism aims to awaken people to the limitless potential and value of their own lives. The main aim of Practical Buddhism is to bring about a positive transformation in the depths of life, transforming fear into courage, deluded impulses into wisdom and egoism to compassion. If we study Buddhist literature, surprisingly we will find amazing agreement between certain Buddhist principles which are in accord with or at least share in spirit and in some cases even surpass many of the fundamental insights and humanitarian concerns of present day International Laws which are framed to establish peaceful and secure world. To cite some of the important principles such as concept of brotherhood, the universality of the human condition, the root cause of conflict and social disorder, the problems of violence at individual levels and its social implications, the need for active cultivation of non-violence and peace building, problem of common suffering, promoting 949

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welfare and security of all, including animals, caring for environment, the relation between economic justice and social stability, a consideration of internal and external notions of peace, the importance of meditation for peaceful resolutions of disputes and hostilities and so on are found in very old Buddhist literature. The fact that all these problems received the attention of the Buddha suggests that they are not as contemporary or as modern as we might otherwise think. The Buddha was deeply moved by inhumanities and political oppressions in his life time. The concept of good government aroused great concerns in him. Hence, he introduced the notion of 'Dasharajadharma' - ten duties of King, which are as valid and relevant today as they were 2500 years ago. The Buddhism has the potential to penetrate deeply to the very roots of the problem and to find lasting solutions rather than merely treat superficial symptoms and single issues. Buddhism tells that self-centered desire [ trashna), selfish craving is the root cause of all problems of today's society. This root cause lies in the individual human hearts. Some times we project the evil outwords and lay the blame on other people and groups. But in reality, it is our personal greed, hatred and delusion collectivized and amplified on a mass scale that cause our planet's grave problems. Buddhism tells that through awarness and understanding, by loving kindness, compassion, non-violence, selfless service and sympathetic joy, we can remove present day evils of human society. Mettasutta of Buddhism gives important message for peace : " May all beings be happy and secure, May their hearts be wholesome, Whatever living beings there may be, Feeble or strong, tall or medium, Short, small or large, without exception, Seen or unseen, those dwelling far and near, Those who are born or who are to be born, May all beings happy" 950

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Buddhism and Ecology, Ed. By Mary Tucker and D.R. Williams, Harward University Center for the Study of World Religions. Cambridge, U.S.A.1997. Buddhism, its Essence and Development, E.Conze, Oxford. U.K., Cassirer, 1960. Buddhism Thought in India, E.Conze, London, George Allen and Unuin, 1962. Buddhist Hand Book, John Snelling, Rochester, Vermont, 1991. Indian Buddhism, A.K.Warder, Motolal Banarasidass, New Delhi, India. Inner Peace, world Peace, Ed.by Kenneth Kraft. State Uni. Of New York Press, U.S.A.1992. In Quest of Peace, Ed. by Prof.Y.S.Shastri, Dr.Intaj Malek, Dr.Sunanda Shastri, Bharatiya Kala Prakashan, Delhi, India, 2006. Mahayana Buddhism, Paul Williams, London, Routledge, 1989. Mahayanasutralankara- A study in Vijnanavada Buddhism, by Yajneshwar S.Shastri, Indian Book Center, Delhi, 1989. Non-violence to Animals, Earth and Self in Asian Traditions, Christopher Key Chapple, State Uni. Of New York Press, U.S.A.1993. 951

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About the book 'The world of Philosophy: A Harmony' is a felicitation volume containing varieties of Philosophical papers by distinguished scholars from India and abroad. It encompasses in its ambit the flavour of the Vedas and the Upanishads along with the sermons of Mahabharata and the Geeta. India is a beautiful garden where flowers of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism blossomed in full glory that the aroma of these flowers filled the world with piety, religiosity and morality. This volume contains such fragrance of beautiful teachings of great seers explained in lucid language by scholars. The volume contains papers on Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islamic Mysticism, Gandhian Philosophy, Environment, Yoga, Psychology, Tantra and Modern Management as enshrined in Indian Shastras. About the Editors Prof. Dr. Christopher Key Chapple is Navin and Pratima Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology Department of theological studies Loyola Marymount University (LMU), Los Angeles, California. He teaches Religions of India, Comparative Religious Ethics, Religion and Ecology, World Religions, Asian American Religions in Los Angeles, Religions of East Asia, Religions of the Near East, Buddhism, Comparative Mysticism, Sanskrit, and American Cultures. He knows several languages such as Sanskrit, Tibetan, French, Spanish and German. Dr. Intaj Malek is an expert in English literature and Philosophy. He is an Assistant Commissioner in the Commercial Tax Department of Gujarat. He is an Honorary External PhD guide in the subject of Philosophy Gujarat University. He is expert in Vedanta, Jainism, Islamic Mysticism, comparative religious studies and Western Philosophy. Dr. Dilip Charan is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department in the Department of Philosophy Gujarat University. He is expert in Philosophy in Gujarat and Philosophy of Social Sciences.He has presented several papers in national and International Conferences. Dr. Sunanda Shastri is an Associate Professor in Sanskrit in the Department of Languages Gujarat University. She is M.A in Vyakaran and M.A in Vedanta. She has four books to her credit. She knows several languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi, English, Marathi, and Kannad, She was invited by Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, USA to teach Sanskrit in 1994. Prof. Prashant Dave former Head of the Department of Philosophy in Nalini and Arvind Arts College, Vallabh Vidyanagar is expert in Post Modern Western Philosophy. He is providing his expert services to the Government of Gujarat. 2011 Rs. 2500/ ISBN 978-93-81090-00-8 Correspondence Shanti Prakashan D- 19/220, Nandanvan Appartment, (Near. Bhavsar Hostel), Nava Vadaj, AHMEDABAD-380 013, (Gujarat) Ph. : 27646271 Fax : 079-27647001 E-mail : shantiprakashan1958@gmail.com SHANTI PRAKASHAN 911789381110 90008 ||