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À SOURCÉ-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
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The Upanişads developed contemplative philosophy and presented rich and varied philosophic theories. There are 108 Upanişads. Of them, eleven are important on which Sri Sankarācārya has written commentaries. The Upanişads state the divine and mystic contemplation about the ultimate principle of life. The idea of one God, a supreme and the principle of Rta were helpful in the development of philosophic thought in the monistic and absolutist direction. The fundamental philosophical concept of the Upanişads is the identity with the ātman and the Brahman, all else is the appearance. This is the cardinal principle of the Upanişads. The idea of self has been discussed in different Upanişads in different aspects. In the dialogues between Yājāavalkya and Janaka and between Prajāpati and Indra, we find the progressive development of the definition of the self. Similarly, in the Katha Upanişad we find the description of the self as the charioteer and the body as the chariot. Similar idea is to be found in Plato's conception of the soul.
In the Bhagavadgitā, we get a beautiful synthesis of the triple path of knowledge (jñāna), performance of duty (karma mārga) and devotion (bhaktimārga) for the attainment of the highest and selfrealisation. The Bhagavadgitā also gives the encyclopaedic information about the duty and responsibilities of the secular life. It is, therefore, a compendium of the harmony of the secular and the spiritual.
CĀRVĀKA DARŠANA . Cārvāka darśana is non-Vedic in its tradition. It is materialistic in approach. It refutes the arguments for the existence of God and of the authority of the Vedas. Its fundamental approach is secular, as this is worldly. It is difficult to give a list of authentic documents of the Cārvāka darśana, as the description of this school of thought is mainly found in other schools of Indian philosophy. The fundamental epistemological stand of the Cärvāka is : Pratyakşa is the only pramāna. Sense experience is the only source of knowledge. All other sources of knowledge are not valid. Therefore, what is available through the sense-organs and what can be verified through the sense experience is alone real. All else is illusion. Therefore, the
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