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Presidential Address
Swan (CE) who is the emblem of discriminating Reason. Next take the story of Arjuna ('OT' the Man ) and his divine friend ( artITTU ), the sakhā of "द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया" and the charioteer who guides his chariot through the thick of the battlefield but does not directly take part in the fight between the forces of Good and Evil. Does this not represent all the philosophy of Free Will and its limitations which a later schoolman-Váchaspati-Miśra-discusses under the Vedānta-Sūtra Bhāsya of "ITTITIETOT" where he says "T&Sett: sagatqaa ya Arah gadgeyfa
AYTATTETAVAT MIETEITIE". I need not multiply examples to illustrate my contention. But I earnestly plead for recognition of this larger meaning of the word Philosophy, not because India has little to show in the narrower sense of the word, but because I wish to emphasize that we should not allow our mind to be obsessed by the Western conception of the nature of philosophy and consequently, we have every right to save from unmerited exclusion all the rich ore of philosophical thought that lies embedded in the symbols, allegories and legends of the Veda, the Mahābhārata, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Purānas and the Tantras.
The alliance of Philosophy with Poetry has produced one remarkable result in India; it has made us realize, as Dr. Tagore said at the last session of our Congress, that the mission of Philosophy was "to occupy the people's life and not merely the learned scclusion of scholarship." The fertilizing seeds of thought growing on the heights have been wasted on the wings of l'ousy to the lowliest field, and we have
