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A Comparative Study 205 history of Western philosophy different schools came into existence successively, one being replaced by another. In India, different schools flourish together till today with their respective bands of adherents. Of the surviving schools we may refer to the Jains and the Vedāntists who have their own organisations, disciplinary codes, etc. There are even a few monasteries for the followers of the Sāmkhya. The basis of the so called synthetic outlook was formulated as early as the late-medieval period with the purpose of giving Vedānta a lead. Thus Vijañānavikşu and others fabricated the Sāmkhya in light of Vedānta, and following this tradition, great scholars like M.M. Jogendranath Tarka-sākhya-vedānta-tirtha or Candrakānta Tarkālankāra did not hesitate to say that “the different philosophical streams got mingled in a perfect homogeneity after reaching the great ocean of the one non-dual Brahman" or "there is no reason to imagine that the philosophical tenets of the Nyāya, etc. are really opposed to those of Vedānta; rather, we may say that the Vedānta view is what they really intended to imply.” More or less a similar view is shared by Radhakrishnan. The barrenness of such formulations can be detected at once if one takes the trouble of going to a Sāmkhya monastery and ask what the followers of the doctrine themselves think about all these. Samkhya-monasteries are indeed very few, but there is one in the village of Chandrahati, near Tribeni in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, in which the monks with their distinctive sectarian symbols, study and teach the Samkhya. In spite of the scholars' synthetic claims, they believe that their system has nothing to do with Vedānta. Thus it is impossible to overlook the basic differences among various philosophical schools and their followers, especially when such important philosophical systems as the Vedānta or Sāmkhya or Jainism are still living creeds of the country. The great Jain writer Gunaratna did not even fail to observe the sectarian marks, rituals etc., distinctive of different systems. According to him the Nyāya philosophers, after their morning oblations, thrice smeared their bodies with ashes; they were generally married, but better among them were without a wife. Exponents of each systems considered their own views as truth which formed the basis of their refutation of rival creeds. Notwithstanding all the twists of textual interpretation, displayed by the champions of the synthetic theory, it is impossible to conceal the real clash of ideas.
1TRD, 49.
| SR No. | 006569 |
| Book Title | Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Narendra Nath Bhattacharya |
| Publisher | Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi |
| Publication Year | 1976 |
| Total Pages | 242 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 15 MB |