Indian Philosophy v2.c21: Preface
Indian Philosophy v2.c21
- Language
- English
Preface
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IN this volume, which is devoted to the discussion of the six Brahmanical systems, I have adopted the same plan and method of treatment as in the first. I have tried to adopt, what is acknowledged to be, the true spirit of philosophical interpretation, viz., to interpret the ancient writers and their thoughts at their best and relate them to the living issues of philosophy and religion. Vācaspati Miśra, who commented on almost all the systems of Hindu thought, wrote on each, as if he believed in its doctrines. In presenting intelligently tendencies of thought matured long ago and embodied in a number of difficult works, it has been necessary to select, emphasise and even criticise particular aspects, which naturally betrays the direction in which my own thinking runs. Involving as the work does so many decisions on points of detail, it is, perhaps, too much to hope that the book is free from errors of judgment; but I have endeavoured to give an objective treatment and avoid playing tricks with the evidence.
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I should repeat here that my discussion is not to be regarded as complete in any sense of the term, for almost every chapter deals with a subject to which a fully equipped specialist devotes a lifetime of study. Detailed discussions of particular systems require separate monographs. My task is the limited one, of sketching in broad outlines the different movements of thought, their motives and their results. I have made practically no attempt to deal with secondary variations of opinion among the less important writers of the various schools. My treatment of the Śaiva, the Śākta and the later Vaiṣṇava systems, which belong more to the religious history than to the philosophical development of India, has been brief and summary. I shall be thoroughly satisfied if I succeed in conveying an idea, however inadequate, of the real spirit of the several phases of Indian speculative thought.
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If this volume is slightly more difficult than the previous one, I hope it will be felt that the difficulty is not entirely of my making, but is to some extent inherent in the subject and in the close thinking which its study involves. To condense a mass of facts into a clear narrative which can be followed by the reader without bewilderment or boredom is a task which I felt to be more than what I could compass. It is for the reader to judge how far I have succeeded in my attempt to steer a middle course between looseness and pedantry. To help the general reader, the more technical and textual discussions are printed in small type.
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In the preparation of this volume I have found, not only the Sanskrit texts of the different schools, but also the writings of Deussen and Keith, Thibaut and Garbe, Gaṅgānāth Jhā and Vidyābhūṣaṇ, very helpful. I am greatly indebted to my friends, Mr. V. Subrahmanya Aiyar and Professor J. S. Mackenzie, for their kindness in reading considerable parts of the MS. and the proofs, and making many valuable suggestions. Professor A. Berriedale Keith was good enough to read the proofs, and the book has profited much by his critical comments. My deepest thanks, however, are due, as in the case of the first volume, to the General Editor, Professor J. H. Muirhead, who gave to the work much of his time and thought. But for his generous assistance, the defects of the book—whatever they may be—would have been very much greater. The printing of the work involved considerable trouble, and I am glad that it has been extraordinarily well done.
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December 1926.
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experience—Causation—Creation—Ethics and religion—Relation to Buddhism—General estimate of Gauḍapāda’s position—Bhartṛhari—Bhartṛprapañca—Śaṃkara’s relation to the Upaniṣads and the Brahma Sūtra—Relation to Buddhism and other systems of philosophy—The reality of Ātman—Its nature—Theory of knowledge—Mechanism of knowledge—Perception, its nature and varieties—Inference—Scriptural testimony—Refutation of subjectivism—Criterion of truth—Inadequacy of logical knowledge—Self-consciousness—Adhyāsa—Anubhava—Scriptural authority—Higher wisdom and lower knowledge—Śaṃkara and Kant, Bergson and Bradley—The objective approach—Reality and existence—Space, time and cause—The world of phenomena—Brahman—Saguṇa and Nirguṇa—Īśvara—Personality—Creation—The phenomenal character of Īśvara—Being, not-being and becoming—The phenomenality of the world—The doctrine of māyā—Avidyā—Is the world an illusion?—Avidyā and māyā—The world of nature—The individual self—Sākṣin and jīva—Brahman and jīva—Avacchedavāda—Bimbapratibimbavāda—Īśvara and jīva—Ekajīvavāda and Anekajīvavāda—Ethics—Charges of intellectualism and asceticism considered—Jñāna and Karma—Karma and freedom—Mokṣa—Future life—Religion—Conclusion.
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THE THEISM OF RĀMĀNUJA . . . . . . . . . 659
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Introduction—The Purāṇas—Life—History and literature—Bhāskara—Yādavaprakāśa—The Pramāṇas—Implications of Rāmānuja’s theory of knowledge—God—The individual soul—Matter—Creation—Ethics and religion—Mokṣa—General estimate.
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CHAPTER X
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THE ŚAIVA, THE ŚĀKTA AND THE LATER VAIṢṆAVA THEISM 722
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Śaiva Siddhānta—Literature—Metaphysics, ethics and religion—The Pratyabhijñā system of Kashmir—Śāktaism—The dualism of Madhva—Life and literature—Theory of knowledge—God—Soul—Nature—God and the world—Ethics and religion—General estimate—Nimbārka and Keśava—Vallabha—Caitanya, Jīva Gosvāmī and Baladeva.
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B.G. . . . Bhagavadgītā.
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B.S. . . . Brahma Sūtra.
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D.S.V. . . . Deussen's System of the Vedānta--E.T.
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I.P. . . . Indian Philosophy, Vol. I.
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N.B. . . . Nyāya Bhāṣya.
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N.S. . . . Nyāya Sūtra.
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N.V. . . . Nyāyavārttika.
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N.V.T.T. . . . Nyāyavārttikatātparyaṭīkā.
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P.P. . . . Padārthadharmasaṃgraha of Praśastapāda.
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M.S. . . . Mīmāṃsā Sūtra.
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R.B. . . . Rāmānuja's Bhāṣya on the Brahma Sūtra.
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R.B.G. . . . Rāmānuja's Bhāṣya on the Bhagavadgītā.
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S.B. . . . Śaṃkara's Bhāṣya, or the Brahma Sūtra.
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S.B.G. . . . Śaṃkara's Bhāṣya on the Bhagavadgītā.
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S.K. . . . Sāṃkhya Kārikā.
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S.P.B. . . . Sāṃkhyapravacana Bhāṣya.
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S.P.S. . . . Sāṃkhyapravacana Sūtra.
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S.D.S. . . . Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha.
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S.S.S.S. . . . Sarvasiddhāntasārasaṃgraha
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S.V. . . . Ślokavārttika.
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V.S. . . . Vaiśeṣika Sūtra.
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Y.B. . . . Yoga Bhāṣya.
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Y.S. . . . Yoga Sūtra.
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* *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad*
* *Chāndogya Upaniṣad*
* *Indian Philosophy*, Vol. I.
* *Yajur Veda*
* *Ṛg Veda*
* *Nyāya Sūtra*
* *Nyāya-vārttika*
* *Padārthadharmasaṃgraha* of Praśastapāda
* *Mīmāṃsā Sūtra*
* *Rāmānuja’s Bhāṣya on the Brahma Sūtra*
* *Rāmānuja’s Bhāṣya on the Bhagavadgītā*
* *Śaṅkara’s Bhāṣya on the Brahma Sūtra*
* *Śaṅkara’s Bhāṣya on the Bhagavadgītā*
* *Sāṅkhya Kārikā*
* *Sāṅkhya-pravacana Bhāṣya*
* *Sāṅkhya-pravacana Sūtra*
* *Sarva-darśana-saṃgraha*
* *Ślokavārttika*
* *Vedānta Sūtra*
* *Yoga Sūtra*
* *Yoga Bhāṣya*