Part 2 - The History of Indian Philosophy (theoretical background)

The main schools of Indian Philosophy were formalized chiefly between 1000^B.C. to the early centuries^A.D. Competition and integration between the various schools was intense during their formative years, especially during 800^B.C. to 200^A.D. Some like the Jain, Buddhist, Saiva and Advaita schools survived, while others like Samkhya and Ajivika (heterodox school) did not, either being assimilated or going extinct.

The period between 5^th and 9^th century was the most brilliant epoch in the development of Indian Philosophy as Hindu and Buddhist philosophies flourished side by side. Of these various schools of thought the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta emerged as the most influential and most dominant school of Philosophy. The major philosophers of this school were Gaudapada, Adi Sankaracarya and Vidyaranya. Vyasbhasya of Patanjala Yogasutra and Samkhyakarika were composed during this period.

The main divisions as per their periods of popularity of Indian Philosophy are as under:

1. The Vedic period.
2. The Epic period.
3. The Sutra period.
4. The Modern and Contemporary period.

1. The Vedic era (around 8000-4000B.C.)^[1] :

There are four Vedas, the oldest literature of Vedas, namely Rgveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda. Each Veda consists of samhita (Prayers and Mantras), brahmanas (rituals of yajna), aranyaka and upanisad (philosophy). Rgveda includes collection of 1028 devotional mantras. Yajurveda describes rituals of yajna in details. Samaveda is a melody, supreme in music and chantings. Atharvaveda describes mysterious techniques of Tantra and magical powers. Upanisads are collection of knowledge received by intuition and written in the form of dialogues. Main Upanisads are eleven, namely Isa, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Chandogya, Aitareya, Brhadaranyaka and Svetasvatara.^[2]

Indian Philosophy has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to the composition of the Upanisads in the later Vedic period. According to Radhakrishnan, the earlier Upanisads constitute "...the earliest philosophical compositions of the world." Upanisads guide us in crisis and therefore are included in world literature.

2. The Epic era (4000-3000B.C.):

The next period in Indian Philosophy was the epic period, during which great poetries like Mahabharata and Ramayana were created. In this era, two great philosophies Jainism and Buddhism also came into existence.

3. Sutra-era:

The third era from 500 to 1000^B.C. was Sutra-era. The most important philosophical literature created in this era in terms of sutras like Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta. The entire philosophy of life and its mysteries are explained in condensed form in sutras with minimum words. And these were further explained by other commentators or bhasyakaras in details in the later periods. Sutras are short aphorisms, free from doubts. Sutras are not work of one thinker or of one age but a succession of thinkers spread over a number of generations.

The word sutra can be defined as under–

alpākṣaramasandigdhaṃ sāravadviśvatomukham |
astobhamanavadyañca sūtraṃ sūtravido viduḥ ||

A sutra (means thread in Sanskrit) is very concise form of composition in minimum words, consists of aphoristic statements that together furnish the reader with a thread which strings together all the memorable ideas characteristics of that school of thought.^[3]

4. The Modern era:

The fourth era since last 200 years produced commentaries and reformulations continuing up to as late as the 20^th century by Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Swami Vivekananda and Iqbaal among others.

Having the same or rather intertwined origins, all of these philosophies have a common underlying theme of dharma and karma, and similarly that attempt to explain the attainment of emancipation.

Vedanta is Upanisads which means to sit close to Guru with faith. According to Dr. Dasgupta, “In the whole world, there is no study so beneficial and as elevating as that of Upanisads. It has been the solace of my life; it will be the solace of my death”.^[4]

These Upanisads classifiy atman (the supreme self as against jiva, which is an individual self) into four types namely: bodily (saririka), empirical (anubhavika), transcendental (visvatita) and absolute (nirapeksa). There are four states of an individual (jivatma) as per Mandukya Upanisad, and they are jagrt, swapna, susupti and turyavastha. Process of acquiring knowledge is done by hearing (sravana), meditation (manana) and practice (nididhyasana).^[5]

Advaita Vedanta rejects theism and dualism by insisting that “brahman (the Ultimate Reality) is without parts or attributes…one without a second.” Since, brahman has no properties, contains no internal diversity and is identical with the whole reality it cannot be understood as God. Brahman though being indescribable is at best described by Sankaracarya as saccidananda (merging of sat + cit + ananda, i.e., Existence, Consciousness and Bliss). Advaita ushered a new era in Indian Philosophy and as a result, many new schools of thought arose in the medieval period. Some of them were Visistadvaita (qualified monism), Dvaita (dualism), Dvaitadvaita (dualism-non-dualism), Suddhadvaita (pure non-dualism), Acintya Bhedabheda (inconceivable one-ness and difference) and Pratyabhijna (the recognitive school).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Swami Anand Rishi, Patanjalayogadarsana, Yoga Vidya Niketan, Navi Mumbai, 2015, p.273.

[2]:

S.H.Dixit, Bharatiya Tattvajnana, Phadke Prakashan, Kolhapur, 2009, p.56

[3]:

G.Feuerstein, The Yoga Traditions, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt.Ltd., Delhi, 2002, p.286.

[4]:

Dasgupta Surendranath, History of Indian philosophy, vol.I, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt.Ltd., Delhi, 1992, p.40

[5]:

Ibid, p.41