Studies in Indian Philosophy

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 64

Materialism, Idealism and Dualism
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rejected all such causation. Here belief in the dogma of transmigration of mind was a clearest case of belief in supersensuous causation and this dogma was subscribed to by all the religious sects of ancient India, so much so that even those who declared the world to be an illustory show somehow - that is, through some shifting of ground - found room for this dogma within the body of beliefs entertained by them. Thus defending the dogma of transmigration of mind was one great occasion when the anti-materialist philosophers - all religious minded-would undertake a more or less elaborate refu. tation of materialism. And this alliance of philosophy and religion forged by the anti-materialist philosophers proved the greatest hindrance in the path of propagation of materialism. For in those ancient times religion was a much more mighty social force than it is in our days, and hence opposi: tion to religion was then an act of great courage undertaken by but few doughty souls. This partly explains why in ancient India materialism as a full-fledged school of philosophy remained a pretty much stunted growth. On the other hand, the reason why a particular religious sect lent support to dualism, idealism or nihilism remains rather obscure. For all religious belief is a combination of an ontology, an ethics and a ritual, but there seems to be no ready explanation as to why in ancient India this or that ontology went with this or that ethics or this or that ritual. For example, Mahāyāna Buddhism endorsed a rabid idealist or nihilist ontology, an altruistic ethics and a ritual of idol-worship, but there is observable po logical nexus between these three aspects of its religious belief. More or less similar, though not so strikingly obvious - was the case with other religious sects prevalent in ancient India. What was common to them all was their antimaterialism and their belief in the dogma of transmigration of mind - which were in fact two aspects of the same ideological phenomenon while for the rest they could well differ from each other as widely as earth from heaven and for no cognisable reason. Be that as it may, the most striking feature of the ancient India's religious life