________________
Philosophy of Dr. Radhukrishnan
everything in a sense is the expression of the Absolute, but these expressions do not in any way affect the monistic character of the Absolute. He says : “The same Absolute reveals itself in all these but differently in each. The ultimate reality sleeps in the stone, breathes in the plants, feels in the animals, and awakens to self-consciousness in man”, and yet the ultimate reality in itself is the one Braham uneffected by all these inanifestations.
Dr. Radhakrishnan's monism has its roots in teleology. In fact, he realized that the world somehow or other expresses a unity within its processes. The processes of the world show that they are not casual processes; they reveal a unity. This unity cannot be explained unless the ultimately real is conceived as one. Plurality tends towards differentiation and diversity. Thus, Radhakrishnan's monism is teleological.
Dr. Radhakrishnan conceives Absolute as “Pure-consciousness" and "pure-freedom" and "infinite possibility". The first two characters have been described in Vedāntic manner whereas the third character has been described in the mapner of Hegel's Absolute Idealism. The Absolute is Pure-consciousness because consciousness is the most ineffectable and the constantly existing phenomenon. We cannot think of any stage of existence without relating it to consciousness. It is always there. It is an infinite possibility because infinite world could arise from it. This world is the only possibility of it. This world would not be but is due to this possibility. God is also one of the infinite possibilities of the Absolute. God is the Absolute with reference to this possibility, of which he is the source and creator. It is pure freedom because its act of actualising a possibility is not determined by anything, it is a free act. It could have created a world different in every detail from that which is actual. Why does the Absolute project this specific power and remain unknown and mysterious. The Absolute is free to manifest one power and reject others. It may also not express any of its powers. The Absolute could have projected another specific power, than this God out of its freedom. It is itself the sole determiner and its minifestation. If one power is projected and another one is denied, it is due to the freedom of the Absolute. We
