[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021) › c11.s16 # Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c11.s16: Paramārthadarśanam Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c11.s16 - **Language:** English ### Paramārthadarśanam ### [c11.s16.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c11.s16.1) \*Paramārthadarśanam\* of Mahāmahopādhyāya Ramavatar Sharma (1887–1928), one of the most remarkable texts in the history of Indian philosophy and \*vāda\* tradition, came out in the first decade of the twentieth century. Surprisingly Wilhelm Halbfass who made a very exhaustive survey of recent philosophical works from India in his \*India and Europe\* nowhere mentions \*Paramārthadarśanam\* nor does he take any notice of great \*paṇḍits\* like Ramavatar Sharma. G.C. Pande calls Ramavatar Sharma “an original critical and modern philosopher” who “certainly produced a new and original system of philosophy which in part developed through the criticism and interpretation of traditional Indian schools. In this sense perhaps the system can be called a new Indian system.”¹¹⁰ (Wilhelm Halbfass is also not referring to G.C. Pande also, who raised fresh questions in Indian philosophy and aesthetics through his works like \*Bhakridarśanavimarśaḥ\* and \*Saundaryadarśanavimarśaḥ\*.) ### [c11.s16.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c11.s16.2) Aspiring to establish the seventh philosophical system, Ramavatar Sharma wrote the whole text including the aphorisms, \*kārikās\*, \*bhāṣya\* and \*vārttikas\* — all by himself. He accepts a reality that is Supreme Consciousness, but it is not Absolute, it is \*sākṣī\* (observer) and the world is observed by it. The observer and the object make one indivisible unity. He refutes the theory of \*vivarta\* (unreal effect), because the world to him is neither negated nor dissolved. Refuting the world-view of the rest of the philosophies, the author of \*Paramārthadarśanam\* presents his own system and conceptual framework with new definitions of \*jīva\*, \*ātman\* and \*viśva\* (world). He propounds the theory of Dehāntaravāda — accepting an inherent relationship between body and soul — but his propositions are neither akin to the Cārvāka philosophy nor Marxism, because he proposes distinct theories of a \*viśvātmakacaitanya\* (Universal Consciousness) and Viśvavaicitryavāda (queerness of the world). A \*jīva\* is like a bubble on the vast sea of the Universal Consciousness. The Universal Consciousness is both knowable and unknowable. It partially reflects itself in the limited psyche of the individual soul. ### [c11.s16.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c11.s16.3) Debating with traditional systems and orthodox philosophies, Sharma introduces some new concepts here. His idea of life involves dynamic concepts. Life to him has three levels — individual, social and universal. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c11.s16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c11.s16) · Pramāṇa