Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c4.156

c4.156

The *Pūrvamīmāṃsā* and the *Uttaramīmāṃsā* (or *Vedānta*) represent orthodox Brāhman thought. The former teaches the eternity of the Veda and explains the meaning and value of the ‘Way of Works’, especially of sacrificial acts. The latter expounds the ‘Way of Knowledge’, and teaches that the All, or Brahman, alone truly exists and is one, and the soul is Brahman. The subject is synthesized with the object, ‘*Tat tvam asi*’ (‘Thou art That’). The *Sāṅkhya* philosophy is atheistic, and teaches a species of dualism, and that salvation, or release from matter, is attained by a clear knowledge of the distinction between soul and matter. The *Yoga* is closely connected with the *Sāṅkhya*, but postulates a personal God, and advocates an elaborate system of postures and ascetic exercises as helpful in enabling the soul to reach the highest truth. The *Nyāya* philosophy deals with logic, but it is not so much a treatise of formal logic as an exposition of the way that salvation can be attained by the removal of false knowledge. The *Vaiśeṣika* presupposes a knowledge of the *Nyāya*, and often goes over the same ground. It contains a theory of atoms. The smallest and invisible particles are eternal in themselves, but not eternal as aggregates.