Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16

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

Page 60

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theories of liberation in the days that followed. However, Radhakrishnan summarizes the central concept of mokṣa in the Upanisads in these words:"
"Mokṣa literally means release, release from the bondage to the sensuous and the individual, the narrow and the finite. It is the result of self-enlargement and freedom.. The path of deliverance is the path of soul growth. The Reality in which we are to abide transcending our individuality is the highest, and that is the reality asserted by the Upanisads."
Ethics
In his Introduction to 'The Principal Upanisads,' Radhakrishnan starts with the importance of ethical life to the Upanisads because practice of moral virtues and good acts is necessary. Man's ego has no self-sufficiency and to a great extent man shapes his present and future life. In his 'Indian philosophy' he starts his discussion of the Ethies in the Upanisads by referring to objections raised against the possibility of Ethics in philosophical discussion and system. The objections are mainly these:
(i) If all is one as the Upanisads state, how can there be moral relations ? (ii) If the absolute is perfection, what is the need to realize the accomplished?
(iii) If man is divine in nature, there is no room for any ethical endeavour.
Radhakrishnan answers these objections from the viewpoint of the Upanisads and then discusses the nature of Ethics of the Upanisads. The ethical doctrines accepted and described by the Upanisads are based on the fundamental concept of the Upanisads that the final aim and end of life of man is self-realisation, that is also realisation of the universality of the Supreme Principle that is Brahman. Man also realises the identity of Atman with Brahman that leads to Mokṣa. Though divine, man in his finite state has an element of non-being that exposes him to evil, to Avidya etc. (Principal Upanisads, p. 104 onwards). The Upanisads accept that all living beings, conscious or unconscious though they may be, are on their march to spiritual uplift. Man who feels finite and imperfect has an inner urge and push that make his Self struggle for the Infinite and Perfection. That stresses the need of sublimation and here the ethical principles step in. The ideal of ethical principles is thus so high that all ethical principles are subsidiary to man's highest goal in life as man. Only he moves consciously towards the Divine. Radhakrishnan analyses in his scholarly discussion the following ethical principles of the Upanisads that follow the ideal stated above.