World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 480

देहदृष्ट्यातु दासोऽहं जीवदृष्ट्या त्वदंशकः आत्मदृष्ट्या त्वमेवाहं ... ।
If one is very proud of the physical entity, if one is unable to think one's self as different from one's physical body, then one is a servant of God. When one is able to realise this - "I am a Jivatma or living being different from this physical body. I live in this body. I am going to leave this body and enter another body in future. I had left a lot of physical bodies in the past and have assumed this body now." When one understands oneself well on this line of thinking, he has understood "Jiva-Bhava" "Selfconsciousness" state excellently well. At this stage one has the realisation of 'self' being the part of God.
There are several special phases in the life. The self or living being has several faculties such as mind, ego, etc. (which are boundaries also). When one acquires strength to cross these boundaries, there remains the pure spirit which is the Absolute being or Brahma. Then one experiences "atma drasthya Tvamevaham" the truth of the real meaning of these utterances. This is Advaita. Shri Shankara has described in his interpretation of the seventh mantra of the Mandukyĕpanishath, the qualities of nondual, and pure form of the Absolute being. Even though Shri Shankara has argued the Non-Dualism (Advaita) philosophy he seems to opine that all three, the Dvaita (Dualism), the Vishisthadvaita (Non- Dualism with distinction) and the Advaita (Non-Dualism) have their own rightful places on the path of spiritual realisation. This is the harmonising philosophy of Shri Shankara found in his works.
The Harmonising of Schools of Philosophy (Darshana Samanvaya)
Mainly there are two divisions in philosophy: 1. Theistic Philosophy, and, 2. Atheistic Philosophy.
We respect theists in our country. Similarly we respect atheists also. For, basically, in one sense all human beings are atheists. 'Basically' means at the first stage. That physical body is the soul, is the philosophy of charvakas
the atheists. This is the first stage of philosophical speculation. Ordinary man cannot understand and experience beyond their physical body. He might have read several books of scientific discourse. His experience confirms that "I am body". When you ask a scholar listening to a discourse, "Are you sitting ?" he would naturally reply - "Yes, I am". If he replies, "I am not sitting, but my body is sitting", the world would laugh at him, At the level of ordinary people, the worldly knowledge is 'I am this body'. This is the basis for atheistic philosophy. Hence at the first stage of our learning, all of us are atheists. Later, as we go higher and higher, saying that I am not body, not
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