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Indian Philosophy v1: Volume 1

Indian Philosophy v1

Language
English

Contents

Volume 1

Front matter

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INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

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Muirhead Library of Philosophy

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LONDON : GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

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SOME PRESS OPINIONS

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“The work gives a clear and rational account of the highest conceptions of Hinduism. The happy blend of Eastern conceptions with Western terminology makes the book intelligent even to the inexpert, and it need hardly be added, instructive. Professor Radhakrishnan has shown that in their perception of the goal, in the acuteness of their reasoning, and in the boldness of their conceptions, the Indian thinkers are second to none.”—*Times Literary Supplement.*

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“Comprehensive and authoritative. No such adequate account of Hindu thought has appeared in English. The spirit, motive, and method of this great book are admirable.”—*Church Times.*

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Second Edition Seventh Impression

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INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

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MUIRHEAD LIBRARY OF PHILOSOPHY

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An admirable statement of the aims of the Library of Philosophy was provided by the first editor, the late Professor H. J. Muirhead, in his description of the original programme printed in Erdman’s *History of Philosophy* under the date 1890. This was slightly modified in subsequent volumes to take the form of the following statement:

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“The Muirhead Library of Philosophy was designed as a contribution to the History of Modern Philosophy under the heads: first of different Schools of Thought—Sensationalist, Realist, Idealist, Intuitivist; secondly of different Subjects—Psychology, Ethics, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy, Theology. While much had been done in England in tracing the course of evolution in nature, history, economics, morals and religion, little had been done in tracing the development of thought on these subjects. Yet ‘the evolution of opinion is part of the whole evolution.’

“By the co-operation of different writers in carrying out this plan it was hoped that a thoroughness and completeness of treatment, otherwise unattainable, might be secured. It was believed also that from writers mainly British and American fuller consideration of English Philosophy than it had hitherto received might be looked for. In the earlier series of books containing, among others, Bosanquet’s *History of Aesthetics*, Pfleiderer’s *Rational Theology since Kant*, Albee’s *History of English Utilitarianism*, Bonar’s *Philosophy and Political Economy*, Brett’s *History of Psychology*, Ritche’s *Natural Rights*, these objects were to a large extent effected.

“In the meantime original work of a high order was being produced both in England and America by such writers as Bradley, Stout, Bertrand Russell, Baldwin, Urban, Montague and others, and a new interest in foreign works, German, French and Italian, which had either become classical or were attracting public attention, had developed. The scope of the Library thus became extended into something more international, and it is entering on the fifth decade of its existence in the hope that it may contribute to that mutual understanding between countries which is so pressing a need of the present time.”

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The need which Professor Muirhead stressed is no less pressing today, and few will deny that philosophy has much to do with enabling us to meet it, although no one, least of all Muirhead himself, would regard that as the sole, or even the main, object of philosophy. As Professor Muirhead continues to lend the distinction of his name to the Library of Philosophy, it seemed not inappropriate to allow him to recall us to these aims in his own words. The emphasis on the history of thought seemed to me also very timely; and the number of important works promised for the Library in the near future augur well for the continued fulfilment, in this and in other ways, of the expectations of the original editor.

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H. D. LEWIS

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LEWIS

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MUIRHEAD LIBRARY OF PHILOSOPHY

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General Editor, Professor H. D. Lewis Professor of Philosophy, University College, Bangor

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THE ANALYSIS OF MIND By Bertrand Russell 6th Impression ANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGY By Prof G. F. Stout Two Vols 5th Impression ATTENTION By Prof W. B. Pillsbury 2nd Impression COLERIDGE AS PHILOSOPHER By Prof J. H. Muirhead CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY Edited by Prof George P. Adams and Prof Wm Pepperell Montague Two Vols CONTEMPORARY BRITISH PHILOSOPHY Edited by Prof J. H. Muirhead Two Vols in One 3rd Impression CONTEMPORARY INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Edited by Radhakrishnan and Prof J. H. Muirhead DIALOGUES ON METAPHYSICS By Nicholas Malebranche Translated by Morris Ginsberg ELEMENTS OF CONSTRUCTIVE PHILOSOPHY By Prof J. S. Mackenzie 2nd Impression ETHICS By Nicolai Hartmann Translated by Stanton Coit Three Vols GOD AND PERSONALITY By Prof Clement C. J. Webb 3rd Impression THE GOOD WILL: A STUDY IN THE COHERENCE THEORY OF GOODNESS By Prof H. J. Paton THE GREAT PROBLEMS By Bernardino Varisco Translated by Prof R. C. Lodge HEGEL’S SCIENCE OF LOGIC Translated by W. H. Johnston and L. G. Struthers Two Vols 2nd Impression HISTORY OF ÆSTHETIC By Dr B. Bosanquet 4th Edition 5th Impression HISTORY OF ENGLISH UTILITARIANISM By Prof E. Albee HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY By J. E. Erdmann Vol. I ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL 5th Impression Vol. II MODERN 6th Impression Vol. III SINCE HEGEL 7th Impression HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY By Prof G. S. Brett Edited by R. S. Peters Abridged one volume edition HUMAN KNOWLEDGE By Bertrand Russell A HUNDRED YEARS OF BRITISH PHILOSOPHY By Dr Rudolf Metz Translated by Prof J. W. Harvey, Prof T. E. Jessop, Henry Sturt 2nd Impression IDEAS: A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO PURE PHENOMENOLOGY By Edmund Husserl Translated by W. R. Boyce Gibson IDENTITY AND REALITY By Emile Meyerson Translated by Kate Loewenberg INDIAN PHILOSOPHY By Radhakrishnan Two Vols Rev 2nd Edition THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD: METAPHYSICS AND VALUE By Prof W. M. Urban INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL PHILOSOPHY By Bertrand Russell 2nd Edition 8th Impression KANT’S METAPHYSIC OF EXPERIENCE By Prof H. J. Paton KNOW THYSELF By Bernardino Varisco Translated by Dr Guglielmo Salvadori LANGUAGE AND REALITY By Wilbur Marshall Urban MATTER AND MEMORY By Henri Bergson Translated by N. M. Paul and W. S. Palmer 6th Impression MODERN PHILOSOPHY By Guido de Ruggiero Translated by A. Howard Hannay and R. G. Collingwood MORAL SENSE By James Bonar NATURAL RIGHTS By D. G. Ritchie 3rd Edition NATURE, MIND AND MODERN SCIENCE By E. Harris THE NATURE OF THOUGHT By Brand Blanshard, B.Sc., Ph.D. 2nd Impression THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIND By G. W. F. Hegel Translated by Sir James Baillie Revised 2nd Edition 3rd Impression PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY By J. Bonar 4th Impression THE PLATONIC TRADITION IN ANGLO-SAXON PHILOSOPHY By Prof J. H. Muirhead THE PRINCIPAL UPANISADS By Radhakrishnan SOME MAIN PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY By G. E. Moore A THEORY OF DIRECT REALISM; AND THE RELATION OF REALISM TO IDEALISM By J. E. Turner THE WAYS OF KNOWING: OR, THE METHODS OF PHILOSOPHY By Prof W. P. Montague 4th Impression TIME AND FREE WILL By Prof Henri Bergson Translated by F. G. Pogson 6th Impression by Radhakrishnan

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RECOVERY OF FAITH

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EAST AND WEST

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THE PRINCIPAL UPANIṢADS

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RELIGION AND SOCIETY

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THE BHAGAVADGĪTĀ

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THE HINDU VIEW OF LIFE

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AN IDEALIST VIEW OF LIFE

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EAST AND WEST IN RELIGION (George Allen & Unwin)

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EASTERN RELIGIONS AND WESTERN THOUGHT (Clarendon Press, Oxford)

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THE DHAMMAPADA (Oxford University Press)

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INDIA AND CHINA

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IS THIS PEACE?

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GREAT INDIANS (Hind Kitabs, Bombay)

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Edited by Radhakrishnan

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MAHATMA GANDHI: ESSAYS AND REFLECTIONS ON HIS WORK

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HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY EASTERN AND WESTERN (George Allen & Unwin)

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Edited by Radhakrishnan and J. H. Muirhead

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CONTEMPORARY INDIAN PHILOSOPHY (Library of Philosophy) (George Allen & Unwin)

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by A. N. Marlow

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RADHAKRISHNAN: AN ANTHOLOGY (George Allen & Unwin)

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BY

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RADHAKRISHNAN

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VOLUME I

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NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD

Preface to the Second Edition

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It is a pleasure to be able to publish a new edition of this book so soon after its first appearance. I have taken the opportunity to make a few minor changes in Indian philosophy. I have also added explanatory notes intended to clear difficulties and to answer criticisms which I have met with some of the controversial issues in the field of Indian thought raised by the first volume. My thanks are due to the Fellow of All Souls for his courtesy in permitting me to use in the Appendix the substance of an article which originally appeared in *Mind* (April 1921).

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In preparing this edition, I have been considerably assisted by the suggestions of my friend Professor M. Hiriyanna of Mysore.

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May 1929

Preface

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Though the world has changed considerably in its outward material aspect, means of communication, scientific inventions, etc., there has not been any great change in its inner spiritual side. The old forces of hunger and love, and the simple joys and fears of the heart, belong to the permanent stuff of human nature. The true interests of humanity, the deep passions of religion, and the great problems of philosophy, have not been superseded as material things have been. Indian thought is a chapter of the history of the human mind, full of vital meaning for us. The ideas of great thinkers are never obsolete. They animate the progress that seems to kill them. The most ancient fancies sometimes startle us by their strikingly modern character, for insight does not depend on modernity.

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Ignorance of the subject of Indian thought is profound. To the modern mind Indian philosophy means two or three “silly” notions about *māyā*, or the delusiveness of the world, *karma*, or belief in fate, and *tyāga*, or the ascetic desire to be rid of the flesh. Even these simple notions, it is said, are wrapped up in barbarous nomenclature and chaotic clouds of vapour and verbiage, looked upon by the “natives” as wonders of intellect. After a six-months’ tour from Calcutta to Cape Comorin, our modern æsthete dismisses the whole of Indian culture and philosophy as “pantheism,” “worthless scholasticism,” “a mere play upon words,” “at all events nothing similar to Plato or Aristotle, or even Plotinus or Bacon.” The intelligent student interested in philosophy will, however, find in Indian thought an extraordinary mass of material which for detail and variety has hardly any equal in any other part of the world. There is hardly any height of spiritual insight or rational philosophy attained in the world that has not its parallel in the vast stretch that lies between the early Vedic seers and the modern Naiyāyikas. Ancient India, to adapt Professor Gilbert Murray’s words in another context, “has the triumphant, if tragic, distinction of beginning at the very bottom and struggling, however precariously, to the very summits.”¹ The naive utterances of the Vedic poets, the wondrous suggestiveness of the Upaniṣads, the marvellous psychological analyses of the Buddhists, and the stupendous system of Śaṃkara, are quite as interesting and instructive from the cultural point of view as the systems of Plato and Aristotle, or Kant and Hegel, if only we study them in a true scientific frame of mind, without disrespect for the past or contempt for the alien. The special nomenclature of Indian philosophy which cannot be easily rendered into English accounts for the apparent strangeness of the intellectual landscape. If the outer difficulties are overcome, we feel the kindred throb of the human heart, which because human is neither Indian nor European. Even if Indian thought be not valuable from the cultural point of view, it is yet entitled to consideration, if on no other ground, at least by reason of its contrast to other thought systems and its great influence over the mental life of Asia.

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¹ *Four Stages of Greek Religion*, p. 15.

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In the absence of accurate chronology, it is a misnomer to call anything a history. Nowhere is the difficulty of getting reliable historical evidence so extreme as in the case of Indian thought. The problem of determining the exact dates of early Indian systems is as fascinating as it is insoluble, and it has furnished a field for the wildest hypotheses, wonderful reconstruction and bold romance. The fragmentary condition of the material from out of which history has to be reconstructed is another obstacle. In these circumstances I must hesitate to call this work a History of Indian Philosophy.

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In interpreting the doctrines of particular systems, I have tried to keep in close touch with the documents, give wherever possible a preliminary survey of the conditions that brought them into being, and estimate their indebtedness to the past as well as their contribution to the progress of thought. I have emphasised the essentials so as to prevent the meaning of the whole from being obscured by details, and attempted to avoid starting from any theory. Yet I fear I shall be misunderstood. The task of the historian is hard, especially in philosophy. However much he may try to assume the attitude of a mere chronicler and let the history in some fashion unfold its own inner meaning and continuity, furnish its own criticism of errors and partial insights, still the judgments and sympathies of the writer cannot long be hidden. Besides, Indian philosophy offers another difficulty. We have the commentaries which, being older, come nearer in time to the work commented upon. The presumption is that they will be more enlightening about the meaning of the texts. But when the commentators differ about their interpretations, one cannot stand silently by without offering some judgment on the conflict of views. Such personal expressions of opinion, however dangerous, can hardly be avoided. Effective exposition means criticism and evaluation, and I do not think it is necessary to abstain from criticism in order that I may give a fair and impartial statement. I can only hope that the subject is treated in a calm and dispassionate way, and that whatever the defects of the book, no attempt is made to wrest facts to suit a preconceived opinion. My aim has been not so much to narrate Indian views as to explain them, so as to bring them within the focus of Western traditions of thought. The analogies and parallels suggested between the two thought systems are not to be pressed too far, in view of the obvious fact that the philosophical speculations of India were formulated centuries ago, and had not behind them the brilliant achievements of modern science.

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Particular parts of Indian philosophy have been studied with great care and thoroughness by many brilliant scholars in India, Europe and America. Some sections of philosophical literature have also been critically examined, but there has been no attempt to deal with the history of Indian thought as an undivided whole or a continuous development, in the light of which alone different thinkers and views can be fully understood. To set forth the growth of Indian philosophy from the dim dawn of history in its true perspective is an undertaking of the most formidable kind, and it certainly exceeds the single grasp of even the most industrious and learned scholar. Such a standard encyclopædia of Indian philosophy requires not only special aptitude and absolute devotion, but also wide culture and intelligent co-operation. This book professes to be no more than a general survey of Indian thought, a short outline of a vast subject. Even this is not quite easy. The necessary condensation imposes on the author a burden of responsibility, which is made more onerous by the fact that no one man can attempt to be an authority on all these varied fields of study, and that the writer is compelled to come to decisions on evidence which he himself cannot carefully weigh. In matters of chronology, I have depended almost entirely on the results of research carried on by competent scholars. I am conscious that in surveying this wide field, much of interest is left untouched, and still more only very roughly sketched in. This work has no pretensions to completeness in any sense of the term. It attempts to give such a general statement of the main results as shall serve to introduce the subject to those to whom it may not be known, and awaken if possible in some measure that interest for it to which it is so justly entitled. Even if it proves a failure, it may assist or at least encourage other attempts.

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My original plan was to publish the two volumes together. Kind friends like Professor J. S. Mackenzie suggested to me the desirability of bringing out the first volume immediately. Since the preparation of the second volume would take some time and the first is complete in itself, I venture to publish it independently. A characteristic feature of many of the views discussed in this volume is that they are motived, not so much by the logical impulse to account for the riddles of existence, as by the practical need for a support in life. It has been difficult to avoid discussions of, what may appear to the reader, religious rather than philosophical issues, on account of the very close connexion between religion and philosophy in early Indian speculation. The second volume, however, will be of a more purely philosophical character, since a predominantly theoretical interest gets the upper hand in the darśanas or systems of philosophy, though the intimate connexion between knowledge and life is not lost sight of.

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It is a pleasure to acknowledge my obligations to the many eminent orientalists whose works have been of great help to me in my studies. It is not possible to mention all their names, which will be found in the course of the book. Mention must, however, be made of Max Müller, Deussen, Keith, Jacobi, Garbe, Tilak, Bhandarkar, Rhys Davids and Mrs. Rhys Davids, Oldenberg, Poussin, Suzuki and Sogen.

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Several valuable works of recent publication, such as Professor Das Gupta's *History of Indian Philosophy* and Sir Charles Eliot's *Hinduism and Buddhism*, came to hand too late for use, after the MS. had been completed and sent to the publishers in December 1921. The bibliography given at the end of each chapter is by no means exhaustive. It is intended mainly for the guidance of the English reader.

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My thanks are due to Professor J. S. Mackenzie and Mr. V. Subrahmanya Aiyar, who were good enough to read considerable parts of the MS. and the proofs. The book has profited much by their friendly and suggestive counsel. I am much indebted to Professor A. Berriedale Keith for reading the proofs and making many valuable comments. My greatest obligation, however, is to the Editor of the Library of Philosophy, Professor J. H. Muirhead, for his invaluable and most generous help in the preparation of the book for the press and previously. He undertook the laborious task of reading the book in the MS., and his suggestions and criticisms have been of the greatest assistance to me. I am also obliged to Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, Kt., C.S.I., for his constant encouragement and the facilities provided for higher work in the Post-Graduate Department of the Calcutta University.

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November 1922.

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Minor gods and goddesses—Classification of the Vedic deities—Monotheistic tendencies—The unity of nature—The unifying impulse of the logical mind—The implications of the religious consciousness—Henotheism—Viśvakarman, Bṛhaspati, Prajāpati and Hiraṇyagarbha—The rise of reflection and criticism—The philosophical inadequacy of monotheism—Monism—Philosophy and religion—The cosmological speculations of the Vedic hymns—The Nāsadīya Sūkta—The relation of the world to the Absolute—The Puruṣa Sūkta—Practical religion—Prayer—Sacrifice—The ethical rules—Karma—Asceticism—Caste—Future life—The two paths of the gods and the fathers—Hell—Rebirth—Conclusion.

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CHAPTER III

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TRANSITION TO THE UPANIṢADS

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The general character of the Atharva-Veda—Conflict of cultures—The primitive religion of the Atharva-Veda—Magic and mysticism—The Yajur-Veda—The Brāhmaṇas—Their religion of sacrifice and prayer—The dominance of the priest—The authoritativeness of the Veda—Cosmology—Ethics—Caste—Future life.

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CHAPTER IV

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE UPANIṢADS

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Introduction—The fluid and indefinite character of the teaching of the Upaniṣads—Western students of the Upaniṣads—Date—Early Upaniṣads—The great thinkers of the age—The hymns of the Ṛg-Veda and the doctrine of the Upaniṣads compared—Emphasis on the monistic side of the hymns—The shifting of the centre from the object to the subject—The pessimism of the Upaniṣads—The pessimistic implications of the conception of saṃsāra—Protest against the externalism of the Vedic religion—Subordination of the Vedic knowledge—The central problems of the Upaniṣads—Ultimate reality—The nature of Ātman distinguished from body, dream consciousness and empirical self—The different modes of consciousness, waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep and ecstasy—The influence of the Upaniṣad analysis of self on subsequent thought—The approach to reality from the object side—Matter, life, consciousness, intelligence and ānanda—Śaṃkara and Rāmānuja on the status of ānanda—Brahman and Ātman—Tat tvam asi—The positive character of Brahman—Intellect and intuition—Brahman and the world—Creation—The doctrine of māyā—Deussen's view examined—Degrees of reality—Are the Upaniṣads pantheistic?—The finite self—The ethics of the Upaniṣads—The nature of the ideal—The metaphysical warrant for an ethical theory—Moral life—Its general features—Asceticism—Intellectualism—Jñāna, Karma and Upāsana—Morality and religion—Beyond good and evil—The religion of the Upaniṣads—Different forms—The highest state of freedom—The ambiguous accounts of it in the Upaniṣads—Evil—Suffering—Karma—Its value—The problem of freedom —Future life and immortality—Psychology of the Upaniṣads—Non-Vedāntic tendencies in the Upaniṣads—Sāṃkhya—Yoga—Nyāya—General estimate of the thought of the Upaniṣads—Transition to the epic period.

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PART II

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THE EPIC PERIOD

Chapter V

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MATERIALISM . . . . . . 271

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The epic period 600 B.C. to A.D. 200—Intellectual stir—Freedom of thought—The influence of the Upaniṣads—The political conditions of the time—The many-sided philosophic activity of the epic period—The three chief tendencies of ethical revolt, religious reconstruction and systematic philosophy—Common ideas of the age—Materialism—Its antecedents—Lokāyata—Theory of knowledge—Matter the only reality—Body and mind—No future life—No God—Hedonistic ethics—The repudiation of the authority of the Vedas—The effects of the theory—Later criticism of materialism.

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CHAPTER VI

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THE PLURALISTIC REALISM OF THE JAINAS . . . 286

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Jainism—Life of Vardhamāna—Division into Śvetāmbaras and Digambaras—Literature—Relation to Buddhism--The Sāṃkhya philosophy and the Upaniṣads—Jaina logic—Five kinds of knowledge—The Nayas and their divisions—Saptabhaṅgī—Criticism of the Jaina theory of knowledge—Its monistic implications—The psychological views of the Jainas—Soul—Body and mind—Jaina metaphysics—Substance and quality—Jīva and ajīva—Ākāśa, Dharma and Adharma—Time—Matter—The atomic theory—Karma—Leśyās—Jīvas and their kinds—Jaina ethics—Human freedom—Ethics of Jainism and of Buddhism compared—Caste—Saṅgha—Attitude to God—Religion—Nirvāṇa—A critical estimate of the Jaina philosophy.

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CHAPTER VII

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THE ETHICAL IDEALISM OF EARLY BUDDHISM . . . 341

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Introduction—The evolution of Buddhist thought—Literature of early Buddhism—The three Piṭakas—Questions of King Milinda—Visuddhimagga—Life and personality of Buddha—Conditions of the time—The world of thought—The futility of metaphysics—The state of religion—Moral life—Ethics independent of metaphysics and theology—The positivist method of Buddha—His rationalism—Religion within the bounds of reason—Buddhism and the Upaniṣads—The four truths—The first truth of suffering—Is Buddhism pessimistic?—The second truth of the causes of suffering—Impermanence of things—Ignorance—The dynamic conception of reality—Bergson—Identity of objects and continuity of process—Causation—Impermanence and momentariness—The world order—Being and becoming in the Upaniṣads and early Buddhism—Aristotle, Kant and Bergson—Śaṁkara on the kṣaṇikavāda—The nature of becoming—Is it objective or only subjective?—External reality—Body and mind—The empirical individual—Nairātmyavāda—Nature of the Ātman—Nāgasena’s theory of the soul—Its resemblance to Hume’s—The nature of the subject—Śaṁkara and Kant—Buddhist psychology—Its relation to modern psychology—Sense perception—Affection, will and knowledge—Association—Duration of mental states—Subconsciousness—Rebirth—Pratītyasamutpāda—Nidānas—Avidyā and the other links in the chain—The place of avidyā in Buddha’s metaphysics—The ethics of Buddhism—Its psychological basis—Analysis of the act—Good and evil—The middle path—The eightfold way—Buddhist Dhyāna and the Yoga philosophy—The ten fetters—The Arhat—Virtues and vices—The motive of moral life—The inwardness of Buddhist morality—The charge of intellectualism—The complaint of asceticism—The order of mendicants—Saṅgha—Buddha’s attitude to caste and social reform—The authority of the Vedas—The ethical significance of Karma—Karma and freedom—Rebirth—Its mechanism—Nirvāṇa—Its nature and varieties—The Nirvāṇa of Buddhism and the Mokṣa of the Upaniṣads—God in early Buddhism—The criticism of the traditional proofs for the existence of God—The absolutist implications of Buddhist metaphysics—The deification of Buddha—Compromises with popular religion—Buddhist theory of knowledge—Buddha’s pragmatic agnosticism—Buddha’s silence on metaphysical problems—Kant and Buddha—The inevitability of metaphysics—The unity of thought between Buddhism and the Upaniṣads—Buddhism and the Sāṁkhya theory—Success of Buddhism.

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CHAPTER VIII

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EPIC PHILOSOPHY

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The readjustment of Brāhmanism—The epics—The Mahābhārata—Date—Its importance—The Rāmāyaṇa—The religious ferment—The common philosophical ideas—Durgā worship—Pāśupata system—Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa cult—Vaiṣṇavism—Pāñcarātra religion—The suspected influence of Christianity—The Cosmology of the Mahābhārata—The Sāṁkhya ideas in the Mahābhārata—Guṇas—Psychology—Ethics—Bhakti—Karma—Future life—Later Upaniṣads—The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad—The Code of Manu—Date—Cosmology and Ethics.

Chapter IX

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THE THEISM OF THE BHAGAVADGĪTĀ

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The importance of the Gītā in Indian thought—Its universal significance—Date—Relation to the Mahābhārata—The Vedas—The Upaniṣads—Buddhism—The Bhāgavata religion—The Sāṃkhya and the Yoga—Indian commentaries on the Gītā—The Gītā ethics is based on metaphysics—The problem of reality—The real in the objective and the subjective worlds—Brahman and the world—Puruṣottama—Intuition and thought—Higher and lower prakṛti—The avatāras—The nature of the universe—Māyā—Creation—The individual soul—Plurality of souls—Rebirth—The ethics of the Gītā—Reason, will and emotion—Jñāna mārga—Science and philosophy—Patañjali’s Yoga—The Jñāni—Bhakti mārga—The personality of God—The religious consciousness—Karma mārga—The problem of morality—The moral standard—Disinterested action—Guṇas—The Vedic theory of sacrifices—Caste—Is work compatible with mokṣa?—The problem of human freedom—The integral life of spirit—Ultimate freedom and its character.

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CHAPTER X

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BUDDHISM AS A RELIGION

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The history of Buddhism after the death of Buddha—Aśoka—The Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna—Northern and southern Buddhism—Literature—Hīnayāna doctrines—Metaphysics, ethics and religion—The rise of the Mahāyāna—Its monistic metaphysics—The religion of the Mahāyāna—Its resemblance to the Bhagavadgītā—The ethics of the Mahāyāna—The ten stages—Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna ethics compared—Nirvāṇa—Decline of Buddhism—The effects of Buddhism on Indian thought.

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CHAPTER XI

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THE SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM

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Introduction—The four schools of realism and idealism—The Vaibhāṣikas—Nature of reality—Knowledge—Psychology—The Sautrāntikas—Knowledge of the external world—God and Nirvana—The Yogācāras—Their theory of knowledge—Nature of Ālayavijñāna—Subjectivism—Criticism of it by Śaṃkara and Kumārila—Individual self—Forms of knowledge—The Yogācāra theory of the world—Avidyā and Ālaya—Nirvāṇa—Ambiguity of Ālayavijñāna—The Mādhyamikas—Literature—The Mādhyamika criticism of the Yogācāra—Phenomenalism—Theory of relations—Two kinds of knowledge—Absolutism—Śūnyavada—Nirvāṇa—Ethics—Conclusion.

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APPENDIX . . . . . . 671

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The Method of Approach—The Comparative Standpoint—The Upaniṣads—Early Buddhism—The Negative, The Agnostic and the Positive Views—Early Buddhism and the Upaniṣads—The Schools of Buddhism—Nāgārjuna’s Theory of Reality—Śūnyavāda and the Advaita Vedānta.

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NOTES . . . . . . . 705

List of Abbreviations

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A.V. . . Atharva-Veda.

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B.G. . . Bhagavadgītā.

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E.R.E. . Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics.

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I.A.. . . Indian Antiquary.

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J.A.O.S. . Journal of the American Oriental Society.

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J.R.A.S. . Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

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Milinda . Questions of King Milinda.

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N.S. . . Nyāya Sūtras.

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O.S.T. . Original Sanskrit Texts.

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P. . . Pañcāstikāyasamayasāra.

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P.M. . . Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā Sūtras.

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R.B. . . Rāmānuja’s Bhāṣya on the Vedānta Sūtras.

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R.B.G. . Rāmānuja’s Bhāṣya on the Bhagavadgītā.

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S.B. . . Śaṃkara’s Bhāṣya on the Vedānta Sūtras.

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S.B.G. . Śaṃkara’s Bhāṣya on the Bhagavadgītā.

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S.B.E. . Sacred Books of the East.

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S.B.H. . Sacred Books of the Hindus.

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S.D.S. . . Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha.

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S.K. . . Śāṃkhya Kārikā.

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Skt. . . Sanskrit.

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S.S. . . Six Systems of Indian Philosophy by Max Müller.

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S. Sūtras . Sāṃkhya Sūtras.

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S.S.S.S. . Sarvasiddhāntasārasaṃgraha.

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Up. . . Upaniṣads.

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U.T.S. . . Umāsvāti’s Tattvārtha Sūtras.

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V.S. . . Vedānta Sūtras.

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W.B.T.. . Warren : Buddhism in Translations.

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Y.S. . . Yoga Sūtras.

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A.B. — *Abhidharmakośa*. A.D. — *Abhidharmadīpa*. A.K.B. — *Abhidharmakośabhāṣya* of Vasubandhu. A.S. — *Abhidharmasamuccaya*. J.A.O.S. — *Journal of the American Oriental Society*. J.R.A.S. — *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society*. M.W. — *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary*. N.D. — *Nyāya-darśana*. P.D. — *Patañjala-darśana*. P.M. — *Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā Sūtra*. R.V. — *Ṛgveda-saṃhitā* or the *Vedas* generally. R.V.G. — *Rāmānuja's Bhāṣya on the Vedānta Sūtras*. S.B. — *Śaṅkara's Bhāṣya on the Vedānta Sūtras*. S.B.E. — *Sacred Books of the East*. S.B.H. — *Sacred Books of the Hindus*. S.D.S. — *Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha*. S.K. — *Sāṃkhya Kārikā*. S.S. — *Six Systems of Indian Philosophy* by Max Müller. S.S.S. — *Sāṃkhya Sūtras*. U.P. — *Upaniṣads*. U.T.S. — *Uttara's Tattvārtha Sūtra*. V.S. — *Vaiśeṣika Sūtras*. W.T. — *Warren, Buddhism in Translations*. Y.S. — *Yoga Sūtras*.

Introduction

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General characteristics of Indian philosophy—The natural situation of India—The dominance of the intellectual interest—The individuality of Indian philosophy—The influence of the West—The spiritual character of Indian thought—Its close relation to life and religion—The stress on the subjective—Psychological basis of metaphysics—Indian achievements in positive science—Speculative synthesis and scientific analysis—The brooding East—Monistic idealism—Its varieties, non-dualism, pure monism, modified monism and implicit monism—God is all—The intuitional nature of philosophy—Darśana—Śaṁkara’s qualifications of a candidate for the study of philosophy—The constructive conservatism of Indian thought—The unity and continuity of Indian thought—Consideration of some charges levelled against Indian philosophy, such as pessimism, dogmatism, indifference to ethics and unprogressive character—The value of the study of Indian philosophy—The justification of the title “Indian Philosophy”—Historical method—The difficulty of a chronological treatment—The different periods of Indian thought—Vedic, epic, systematic and scholastic—“Indian” histories of Indian philosophy.

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I

The Natural Situation of India

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FOR thinking minds to blossom, for arts and sciences to flourish, the first condition necessary is a settled society providing security and leisure. A rich culture is impossible with a community of nomads, where people struggle for life and die of privation. Fate called India to a spot where nature was free with her gifts and every prospect was pleasing. The Himalayas, with their immense range and elevation on one side and the sea on the others, helped to keep India free from invasion for a long time. Bounteous nature yielded abundant food, and man was relieved of the toil and struggle for existence. The Indian never felt that the world was a field of battle where men struggled for power, wealth and domination. When we do not need to waste our energies on problems of life on earth, exploiting nature and controlling the forces of the world, we begin to think of the higher life, how to live more perfectly in the spirit. Perhaps an enervating climate inclined the Indian to rest and retirement. The huge forests with their wide leafy avenues afforded great opportunities for the devout soul to wander peacefully through them, dream strange dreams and burst forth into joyous songs. World-weary men go out on pilgrimages to these scenes of nature, acquire inward peace, listening to the rush of winds and torrents, the music of birds and leaves, and return whole of heart and fresh in spirit. It was in the āśramas and tapovanas or forest hermitages that the thinking men of India meditated on the deeper problems of existence. The security of life, the wealth of natural resources, the freedom from worry, the detachment from the cares of existence, and the absence of a tyrannous practical interest, stimulated the higher life of India, with the result that we find from the beginnings of history an impatience of spirit, a love of wisdom and a passion for the saner pursuits of the mind.

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Helped by natural conditions, and provided with the intellectual scope to think out the implications of things, the Indian escaped the doom which Plato pronounced to be the worst of all, viz. the hatred of reason. "Let us above all things take heed," says he in the Phædo, "that one misfortune does not befall us. Let us not become misologues as some people become misanthropes; for no greater evil can befall men than to become haters of reason." The pleasure of understanding is one of the purest available to man, and the passion of the Indian for it burns in the bright flame of the mind.

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In many other countries of the world, reflection on the nature of existence is a luxury of life. The serious moments are given to action, while the pursuit of philosophy comes up as a parenthesis. In ancient India philosophy was not an auxiliary to any other science or art, but always held a prominent position of independence. In the West, even

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in the heyday of its youth, as in the times of Plato and Aristotle, it leaned for support on some other study, as politics or ethics. It was theology for the Middle Ages, natural science for Bacon and Newton, history, politics and sociology for the nineteenth-century thinkers. In India philosophy stood on its own legs, and all other studies looked to it for inspiration and support. It is the master science guiding other sciences, without which they tend to become empty and foolish. The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad speaks of *Brahma-vidyā* or the science of the eternal as the basis of all sciences, *sarva-vidyā-pratiṣṭhā*. "Philosophy," says Kauṭilya, "is the lamp of all the sciences, the means of performing all the works, and the support of all the duties."[¹]

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¹ See I.A., 1918, p. 102. See also B.G., x. 32.

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Since philosophy is a human effort to comprehend the problem of the universe, it is subject to the influences of race and culture. Each nation has its own characteristic mentality, its particular intellectual bent. In all the fleeting centuries of history, in all the vicissitudes through which India has passed, a certain marked identity is visible. It has held fast to certain psychological traits which constitute its special heritage, and they will be the characteristic marks of the Indian people so long as they are privileged to have a separate existence. Individuality means independence of growth. It is not necessarily unlikeness. There cannot be complete unlikeness, since man the world over is the same, especially so far as the aspects of spirit are concerned. The variations are traceable to distinctions in age, history and temperament. They add to the wealth of the world culture, since there is no royal road to philosophic development any more than to any other result worth having. Before we notice the characteristic features of Indian thought, a few words may be said about the influence of the West on Indian thought.

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The question is frequently raised whether and to what extent Indian thought borrowed its ideas from foreign sources, such as Greece. Some of the views put forward by Indian thinkers resemble certain doctrines developed in ancient Greece, so much that anybody interested in discrediting this or that thought system can easily do so.¹ The question of the affiliation of ideas is a useless pursuit. To an unbiassed mind, the coincidences will be an evidence of historical parallelism. Similar experiences engender in men's minds similar views. There is no material evidence to prove any direct borrowings, at any rate by India, from the West. Our account of Indian thought will show that it is an independent venture of the human mind. Philosophical problems are discussed without any influence from or relation to the West. In spite of occasional intercourse with the West, India had the freedom to develop its own ideal life, philosophy and religion. Whatever be the truth about the original home of the Aryans who came down to the Peninsula, they soon lost touch with their kindred in the West or the North, and developed on lines of their own. It is true that India was again and again invaded by armies pouring into it through the North-Western passes, but none of them, with the exception of Alexander's, did anything to promote spiritual intercourse between the two worlds. Only latterly, when the gateway of the seas was opened, a more intimate intercourse has been fostered, the results of which we cannot forecast, since they are yet in the making. For all practical purposes, then, we may look upon Indian thought as a closed system or an autonomous growth.

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¹ Sir William Jones wrote: "Of the philosophical schools, it will be sufficient here to remark that the first Nyāya seems analogous to the Peripatetic; the second, sometimes called Vaiśeṣika, to the Ionic; the two Mīmāṃsās, of which the second is often distinguished by the name of Vedānta, to the Platonic; the first Sāṃkhya to the Italic; and the second of Patañjali to the Stoic philosophy; so that Gautama corresponds with Aristotle, Kaṇāda with Thales, Jaimini with Socrates, Vyāsa with Plato, Kapila with Pythagoras, and Patañjali with Zeno" (Works, i, 360-1. See also Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays, i. 436 ff.) While the opinion that Greek thought has been influenced by the Indian is frequently held, it is not so often urged that Indian thought owes much to Greek speculation. (See Garbe, Philosophy of Ancient India, chap. ii.)

II General Characteristics of Indian Thought

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Philosophy in India is essentially spiritual. It is the intense spirituality of India, and not any great political structure or social organisation that it has developed, that has enabled it to resist the ravages of time and the accidents of history. External invasions and internal dissensions came very near crushing its civilisation many times in its history. The Greek and the Scythian, the Persian and the Mogul, the French and the English have by turn attempted to suppress it, and yet it has its head held high. India has not been finally subdued, and its old flame of spirit is still burning. Throughout its life it has been living with one purpose. It has fought for truth and against error. It may have blundered, but it did what it felt able and called upon to do. The history of Indian thought illustrates the endless quest of the mind, ever old, ever new.

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The spiritual motive dominates life in India. Indian philosophy has its interest in the haunts of men, and not in supra-lunar solitudes. It takes its origin in life, and enters back into life after passing through the schools. The great works of Indian philosophy do not have that *ex cathedra* character which is so prominent a feature of the latter criticisms and commentaries. The Gītā and the Upaniṣads are not remote from popular belief. They are the great literature of the country, and at the same time vehicles of the great systems of thought. The Purāṇas contain the truth dressed up in myths and stories, to suit the weak understanding of the majority. The hard task of interesting the multitude in metaphysics is achieved in India.

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The founders of philosophy strive for a socio-spiritual reformation of the country. When the Indian civilisation is called a Brāhmanical one, it only means that its main character and dominating motives are shaped by its philosophical thinkers and religious minds, though these are not all of Brāhmin birth. The idea of Plato that philosophers must be the rulers and directors of society is practised in India. The ultimate truths are truths of spirit, and in the light of them actual life has to be refined.

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Religion in India is not dogmatic. It is a rational synthesis which goes on gathering into itself new conceptions as philosophy progresses. It is experimental and provisional in its nature, attempting to keep pace with the progress of thought. The common criticism that Indian thought, by its emphasis on intellect, puts philosophy in the place of religion, brings out the rational character of religion in India. No religious movement has ever come into existence without developing as its support a philosophic content. Mr. Havell observes: "In India, religion is hardly a dogma, but a working hypothesis of human conduct, adapted to different stages of spiritual development and different conditions of life."[¹] Whenever it tended to crystallise itself in a fixed creed, there were set up spiritual revivals and philosophic reactions which threw beliefs into the crucible of criticism, vindicated the true and combated the false. Again and again, we shall observe, how when traditionally accepted beliefs become inadequate, nay false, on account of changed times, and the age grows out of patience with them, the insight of a new teacher, a Buddha or a Mahāvīra, a Vyāsa or a Śaṃkara supervenes, stirring the depths of spiritual life. These are doubtless great moments in the history of Indian thought, times of inward testing and vision, when at the summons of the spirit's breath, blowing where it listeth and coming whence no one knows, the soul of man makes a fresh start and goes forth on a new venture. It is the intimate relation between the truth of philosophy and the daily life of people that makes religion always alive and real.

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¹ *Aryan Rule in India*, p. 170. See the article on *The Heart of Hinduism*: *Hibbert Journal*, October, 1922.

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The problems of religion stimulate the philosophic spirit. The Indian mind has been traditionally exercised over the questions of the nature of Godhead, the end of life and the relation of the individual to the universal soul. Though philosophy in India has not as a rule completely freed itself from the fascinations of religious speculation, yet the philosophical discussions have not been hampered by religious forms. The two were not confused. On account of the close connection between theory and practice, doctrine and life, a philosophy which could not stand the test of life, not in the pragmatistic but the larger sense of the term, had no chance of survival. To those who realise the true kinship between life and theory, philosophy becomes a way of life, an approach to spiritual realisation. There has been no teaching, not even the Sāṃkhya, which remained a mere word of mouth or dogma of schools. Every doctrine is turned into a passionate conviction, stirring the heart of man and quickening his breath.

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It is untrue to say that philosophy in India never became self-conscious or critical. Even in its early stages rational reflection tended to correct religious belief. Witness the advance of religion implied in the progress from the hymns of the Veda to the Upaniṣads. When we come to Buddhism, the philosophic spirit has already become that confident attitude of mind which in intellectual matters bends to no outside authority and recognises no limit to its enterprise, unless it be as the result of logic, which probes all things, tests all things, and follows fearlessly wherever the argument leads. When we reach the several darśanas or systems of thought, we have mighty and persistent efforts at systematic thinking. How completely free from traditional religion and bias the systems are will be obvious from the fact that the Sāṃkhya is silent about the existence of God, though certain about its theoretical indemonstrability. Vaiśeṣika and Yoga, while they admit a supreme being, do not consider him to be the creator of the universe, and Jaimini refers to God only to deny his providence and moral government of the world. The early Buddhist systems are known to be indifferent to God, and we have also the materialist Cārvākas, who deny God, ridicule the priests, revile the Vedas and seek salvation in pleasure.

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The supremacy of religion and of social tradition in life does not hamper the free pursuit of philosophy. It is a strange paradox, and yet nothing more than the obvious truth that while the social life of an individual is bound by the rigours of caste, he is free to roam in the matter of opinion. Reason freely questions and criticises the creeds in which men are born. That is why the heretic, the sceptic, the unbeliever, the rationalist and the freethinker, the materialist and the hedonist all flourish in the soil of India. The Mahābhārata says: "There is no muni who has not an opinion of his own."

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All this is evidence of the strong intellectuality of the Indian mind which seeks to know the inner truth and the law of all sides of human activity. This intellectual impulse is not confined to philosophy and theology, but extends over logic and grammar, rhetoric and language, medicine and astronomy, in fact all arts and sciences, from architecture to zoology. Everything useful to life or interesting to mind becomes an object of inquiry and criticism. It will give an idea of the all comprehensive character of intellectual life, to know that even such minutiæ as the breeding of horses and the training of elephants had their own śāstras and literature.

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The philosophic attempt to determine the nature of reality may start either with the thinking self or the objects of thought. In India the interest of philosophy is in the self of man. Where the vision is turned outward, the rush of fleeting events engages the mind. In India “Ātmānam viddhi,” know the self, sums up the law and the prophets. Within man is the spirit that is the centre of everything. Psychology and ethics are the basal sciences. The life of mind is depicted in all its mobile variety and subtle play of light and shade. Indian psychology realised the value of concentration and looked upon it as the means for the perception of the truth. It believed that there were no ranges of life or mind which could not be reached by a methodical training of will and knowledge. It recognised the close connexion of mind and body. The psychic experiences, such as telepathy and clairvoyance, were considered to be neither abnormal nor miraculous. They are not the products of diseased minds or inspiration from the gods, but powers which the human mind can exhibit under carefully ascertained conditions. The mind of man has the three aspects of the subconscious, the conscious and the superconscious, and the “abnormal” psychic phenomena, called by the different names of ecstasy, genius, inspiration, madness, are the workings of the superconscious mind. The Yoga system of philosophy deals specially with these experiences, though the other systems refer to them and utilise them for their purposes.

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The metaphysical schemes are based on the data of the psychological science. The criticism that Western metaphysics is one-sided, since its attention is confined to the waking state alone, is not without its force. There are other states of consciousness as much entitled to consideration as the waking. Indian thought takes into account the modes of waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep. If we look upon the waking consciousness as the whole, then we get realistic, dualistic and pluralistic conceptions of metaphysics. Dream consciousness when exclusively studied leads us to subjectivist doctrines. The state of dreamless sleep inclines us to abstract and mystical theories. The whole truth must take all the modes of consciousness into account.

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The dominance of interest in the subjective does not mean that in objective sciences India had nothing to say. If we refer to the actual achievements of India in the realm of positive science, we shall see that the opposite is the case. Ancient Indians laid the foundations of mathematical and mechanical knowledge. They measured the land, divided the year, mapped out the heavens, traced the course of the sun and the planets through the zodiacal belt, analysed the constitution of matter, and studied the nature of birds and beasts, plants and seeds.¹ “ Whatever conclusions we may arrive at as to the original source of the first astronomical ideas current in the world, it is probable that to the Hindus is due the invention of algebra and its application to astronomy and geometry. From them also the Arabs received not only their first conceptions of algebraic analysis, but also those invaluable numerical symbols and decimal notation now current everywhere in Europe, which have rendered untold service to the progress of arithmetical science.”² “ The motions of the moon and the sun were carefully observed by the Hindus, and with such success that their determination of the moon’s synodical revolution is a much more correct one than the Greeks ever achieved. They had a division of the ecliptic into twenty-seven and twenty-eight parts, suggested evidently by the moon’s period in days and seemingly their own. They were particularly conversant with the most splendid of the primary planets; the period of Jupiter being introduced by them, in conjunction with those of the sun and the moon into the regulation of their calendar in the form of the cycle of sixty years, common to them and the Chaldeans."¹ It is now admitted that the Hindus at a very early time conceived and developed the two sciences of logic and grammar.² Wilson writes: "In medicine, as in astronomy and metaphysics, the Hindus once kept pace with the most enlightened nations of the world; and they attained as thorough a proficiency in medicine and surgery as any people whose acquisitions are recorded, and as indeed was practicable, before anatomy was made known to us by the discoveries of modern inquirers."³ It is true that they did not invent any great mechanical appliances. For this a kind Heaven, which gave them the great water-courses and abundant supplies of food, is responsible. Let us also remember that these mechanical inventions belong, after all, to the sixteenth century and after, by which time India had lost her independence and become parasitic. The day she lost her freedom and began to flirt with other nations, a curse fell on her and she became petrified. Till then she could hold her own even in arts, crafts and industries, not to speak of mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, medicine, surgery, and those branches of physical knowledge practised in ancient times. She knew how to chisel stone, draw pictures, burnish gold and weave rich fabrics. She developed all arts, fine and industrial, which furnish the conditions of civilised existence. Her ships crossed the oceans and her wealth brimmed over to Judæa, Egypt and Rome. Her conceptions of man and society, morals and religion were remarkable for the time. We cannot reasonably say that the Indian people revelled in poetry and mythology, and spurned science and philosophy, though it is true that they were more intent on seeking the unity of things than emphasising their sharpness and separation.

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