Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c9.6

c9.6

The question of nexus between *darśana* and *dharmaśāstra* arises here. Were the intellectuals soaring in the heights of philosophical spaces unmindful of the social and moral considerations? How far they considered the cultural values of the community and the social order? Navjivan Rastogi initiates a thought-provoking discussion on this question. He rightly points out that “growth of Indian philosophy had essentially been conditioned by the idea of liberation, i.e. *mokṣa*” whereas the *lokavyavahāras* — social practices and norms — were defined and regulated by the authors of Dharmaśāstras. This leads to a dichotomy between *pravṛtti* (empiricism) and *nivṛtti* (renunciation). The psycho-spiritual pursuit (*sādhanā*) looses the social context. Rastogi convincingly tries to argue for the restoration of social context by the non-orthodox systems leading to an alignment between liberation and life. He concludes that the Tantra succeeded in establishing a real nexus between the two truths — *paramārtha* and *vyavahāra*.³