Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16

Author(s): Ramesh S Betai, Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 50

4
DR. RADHAKRISHNAN ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE UPANISADS
Dr. R. S. Betai
"Knowledge of Brahman is called Upanisad because in the case of those who devote themselves to it, the bonds of conception, birth, decay etc., become unloosed, or because it destroys them altogether, or because it leads the pupil very near to Brahman, or because therein the highest God is seated." (Samkara)'
The Upanisads that record and give expression to the philosophical experiences of seers of different strata of intellect and intuition as also the consequent realization, that are written not precisely at one time, have posed several problems. One of the problems is that even though most later philosophers run to the Upanisads as the highest proof" - parama pramaņa-for philosophical speculation and systematization, we cannot derive one single unified philosophical system, very often even from the same Upanisad, much less from different Upanisads. There are apparent repetitions, contradictions and varied approaches in the Upanisads. More than one reason have led to this state of affairs. One basic reason is that they are an expression of the intuitive experience of different scers, keen on not only knowing but experiencing Reality; they are experiences of many and therefore varied. That leads Dr. Radhakrishnan to state that:
6
though the Upanisads are essentially the outpourings or poetic deliverance of philosophically tempered minds in the face of the facts of life, not being systematic philosophy, or the production of a single author, or even of the same age, they contain much that is inconsistent and unscientific; but....they set forth fundamental conceptions which are sound. and satisfactory, and these constitute the means by which their own innocent crrors, which through exclusive emphasis have been exaggerated, can be corrected."2
But all will agree that there is unity in the midst of diversity in the philosophy of the Upanisads, and it is possible with the derivation of some fundamental concepts, to derive this philosophy, at least in broad outline. Even the commonest of the common in India have atleast some conception of these basic principles of the Upanisadic philosophy. Dr. Radhakrishnan analyses this philosophy. He states: