________________
Prilosophy of Dr. Radhakrishnan
89
emphasis on the ultimate spirituality of everything, Radhakrishnan at times appears to be a mystic. But his mysticism is mysticism only to the extent to which idealistic thought of the monistic variety tends towards it.
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan has the rare qualification of being well-versed in the great traditions of both the east and the west. His early education made him familiar with the knowledge of the cast, and his own scholarly adventure acquainted him with the west. Naturally, he combines the two traditions, and is able to evolve a Philosophy of Synthesis.
With regard to the nature of the ultimate reality, Radhakrishnan leans heavily on Vedānta. He synthesises the views of Sankara as well as Rāmānuja. His idealism assimilates Sankara's Absolute and Ramanuja's God in one dynamic conception. Dr. Radhakrishnan writes : "Sankara and Rāmānuja are the two great thinkers of the Vedānta, and the best qualities of each are the defects of the other.". The ultimate reality of Radhakrishnan may be explained fully under the Vedāntic conception.
In fact, Vedānta conceives the ultimate as the Brahman, which is the logical price of the world. According to Vedānta Philosophy, Brahman has not to be proved or established; it has got to be accepted because without presupposing it nothing can even be thought of. More or less in the same Vedāntic fashion, Radhakrishnan also says that the ultimate reality is the Brahinan-the Absolutewhich is the logical ground of everything real and existent.
Naturalists may raise an objection here that there is no need of posting any supernatural or spiritual principle for the explanation of this universe in view of the fact that everything can be given a naturalistic explanation. Radhakrishrap feels that the naturalistic explanation is based on the presupposition of the reality of time. In his words, “It looks upon the world as a sort of an automatic inachine which goes on working in a blind haphazard way. It reduces the temporal world to unconscious forces, makes life, consciousness and value mere by-products. It believes that the world machine needs only to be taken to pieces to be comprehended." Therefore, Radhakrishnan asserts that the naturalistic explanation fails to
