________________
Law of Karma
other countries followed one after another. During this period he also founded the Indian Congress with otber eminent men of Philosophy in India.
By that time, he had established himself as one of the greatest intellectuals of the country. His vast knowledge of ancient Indian Religion and Philosophy along with his extensive acquaintance with the wisdom of the West, created the image of beingge the only brid-builder between the east and the west. He was given the Chair of Oxford University and then he gained an all-round recognition. After that, he passed through various phases of life, taking upon himself the one after the other the responsibilities of a Professor, a Vice-Chancellor, an Ambassador, the Vice-President of India and lastly the highest office of the land, viz., the President of the Indian Union.
Radhakrishnan's fundamental convictions are deeply rooted in Indian traditions. The root notions of his own Philosophy are generally taken from ancient Indian Philosophy-particularly from the Vedāntic tradition, but he has presented these ideas into the models of Western thought. Joad, in his book, describes Radhakrishnan's metaphysical standpoiot thus, ... the function, the unique function which Radhakrishnan fulfils to-day is that of a liaison officer. He seeks to build a bridge between the traditional wisdom of the east and the new knowledge and energy of the west."1
His basic philosophical position is of a sort of synthesis of Advaita Vedānta and the philosophy of Absolute Idealism. He takes up the munistic character from Vedānta and combines it with some of the important aspects of Absolute Idealism. Like Vedānta, he believes that the Reality is one, like Absolute Idealism he shows that everything is a necessary aspect of that One. Consequently, one finds it difficult to jeduce his philosophy to any of the current metaphysical models. It can be broadly described as a Philosophy of Monistic Idealism. It is monistic because reality is one and it can be idealism because he believes that there is a spiritual ideal towards which the entire world-process is progressing. His Philosophy is nothing but an attempt to illustrate that the ultimate nature of the universe is spiritual, and that unless the spiritual sense is awakened, man's life will remain chaotic. On account of such a tremendous
