Philosophy in Vedic Phase

Indian philosophy, with a distinctive character of its own, originated in the speculations of Vedic sages
and reached its fruition in the Advaita Vedanta of Shankaracharya.

• Among the remaining six systems of philosophy there is some similarity and affinity between Nyaya and
Vaisesika, Samkhya and Yoga, and Mimamsa and Vedanta.

The Mimamsa recognises the Vedas as the final authority in determining the duties of man, and the Vedantists in gaining true knowledge about
Man and the Universe. One is concerned with the Kar, makanda and the other with the Jnanakanda of
the Vedas, that is, the Samhitas and the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads respectively.
• In the Vedic age, the forces of Nature were personified as gods, as living on the earth, in the sky and
in the heaven. Men offered oblations to the gods and asked for cattle, crops, wealth, prosperity, health,
longevity, progeny, victory, peace and happiness and heaven after death.

• The Bhagavad-Gita embodies the teachings of Lord Krishna. It is highly valued all over India and the
world, and has been translated into a number of languages. It says one should remain balanced both in
happiness and sorrow, in profit and loss and in victory and defeat. It tells that Atman is indestructible,
neither weapons can pierce it nor fire can burn it.

• According to the doctrine of karma one’s present birth and condition is determined by the karma of his
previous birth. Belief in karma does not necessarily involve fatalism. Most thinkers have said that though
our present condition is due to karma in previous birth, but by our foresightedness and righteous deeds
in the present life we can change these conditions of us.

• The continuous quest by the sages gave birth to great philosophical systems, which looked upon man and
the universe with an unbiased, free and rational mindset. The important systems are Charvaka, Jaina,
Buddha, Vaisesika, Nyaya, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta.

• The first three systems are nastika do not believe in the authority of the Vedas and the God, while all
others are astika, i.e. believe in the Vedas and the God. The Charvaka system (also called Lokayata)
believes only in materialism. The physical body composed of material elements is the only essence of man.

• Death only is the end of man and enjoyment of pleasures are the only objects in life. There is no life
beyond death, no heaven or hell, no law of karma, and no rebirth. The Charvaka system does not believe
in soul, god, or any other life beyond the present one.

• Death is always that of body and not of Atman which takes another body as its abode. The god incarnates
himself with a view to punish the wicked and protect the good people. One can attain moksha in three
ways – by acquiring highest knowledge (Janan), by devotion to God (bhakti) and by action, i.e. selfless performance of one’s duties (karma) without caring for reward.

• Among the remaining six systems of philosophy there is some similarity and affinity between Nyaya and
Vaisesika, Samkhya and Yoga, and Mimamsa and Vedanta.One is concerned with the Kar, makanda and the other with the Jnanakanda of
the Vedas, that is, the Samhitas and the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads respectively.

1.Vaisesika
The Vaisesika system is a realistic, analytic, and objective philosophy of the world. It tries to distinguish
between the various kinds of ultimate things and to classify all the objects under five elements – Earth, Water,
Air, Fire, and Ether – existing in the form of Atom, Time, Space, Minds and Self.
• The creation of the world begins when the atoms of these five elements start to combine, and when they disintegrate, the world comes to an end. Vaisesika, thus postulates a dualism of the matter and soul, and
declares that salvation depends on fully recognising the atomic nature of the universe, and its difference
with the soul.

Nyaya
• The Nyaya system accepts all the categories recognised by the Vaisesika system and adds one Abhava (negation). It also accepts all the substapces admitted by the Vaisesika system, and considers God to be the creator of the world.

• He is a soul (atman) free from the ‘Law of karma’ and rebirth. The ‘Law of karma’ operates independently
of Him. In the state of praZaya (cosmic dissolution) and Apavarga (moksha) or freedom from the life of
samsara (birth and death) there is no consciousness in the soul. Nyaya makes a detailed study of the
sources of knowledge (pramana). According to Nyaya school there are four pramanas, namely perception
(pratyaksha), inference (anumana), comparison (upamana) and verbal testimony i.e. “words” (sabda).

Samkhya
• The Samkhya is the oldest of all six systems of philosophy. It teaches the existence of twenty-five basic
principles (tattva). Of these twenty-five tattvas, first is Prakriti i.e. “matter”. The Samkhya system
believes that the evolution of universe is not due to God but due to the inherent nature of the Prakriti.
It is from Prakriti that all things like air, water, akasa, intelligence (buddhi), self conciousness,
sight, touch, hearing, speech, etc. develop.

One of the most important tattva in all this is Purusa, the “soul”. As in Jainism the Samkhya believes that there are infinite number of souls and Purusa is not dependent on Prakriti nor Prakritiis dependent on Purusa. Yet Purusa is involved in some way in the Prakriti i.e. the matter and salvation lies in recognising their differences.

• A very important feature of Samkhya is the doctrine of three qualities (guna).

• These are virtue (Sattva), passion (Rajas) and dullness (Tamas).

It is said that in the beginning these
three gunas are present in all human beings in equilibrium, but as they evolve, one or other of these three gunas come to dominate.

The Sattvaguna represents the truth, wisdom, beauty and goodness; the Rajas signifies fierceness, activeness, violence, energy and; while the Tamas is darkness, foolishness, gloomy, unhappy
etc. However, the distinction between the Purusa (soul) and Prakriti (matter) was modified in Tantricism
which developed in later days. In Tantricism Purusa came to signify “man” and Prakriti “woman”.

Yoga
Yoga is probably the best known Hindu philosophical system in the world. In this system the self-control and selfmortification is supreme. Anyone who has mastered the various aspect of this doctrine is known as yogi.

According to yoga the god is not the creator but an exalted soul which has existed all through without ever
having merged with the matter. The salvation in this system is by practicing the following eight things:

(i) Yama (self-control): yama means the practice of five moral rules which are truth, non-violence, chastity,
not stealing and no greed.

(ii) Niyama (observance): complete and regular observance of five more moral rules which are purity,
contentment, austerity, study of Vedas and devotion to God.

(iii) Asanas (postures): sitting in certain prescribed postures which are an essential part of yoga. These are known as yogasanas. The most famous is Padmasa’na in which gods and sages are commonly depicted.

(iv) Pranayama (control of breath): the control of breath at will is another step in this doctrine. This is
considered to be of great physical and spiritual value.

(v) Pratyahara (restrain): in which the sense organs are trained in such a way that they do not take notice
of their own perceptions and feelings.

(vi) Dharana (steadying the mind): concentrating on a single object such as tip of the nose or a sacred symbol.

(vii) Dhyana (meditation): by concentration the mind can be filled only by that object on which concentration is being made and completely emptied of all other things.

(viii) Samadhi (deep meditation): in which it is only the soul which remains and the whole personality is temporarily disolved.

A person who has mastered yoga can live a very long life, hold his breath for a long period without suffering
injury, can control the rhythm of his own heartbeat and can withstand extremes of heat and cold. In yoga, it is through Samadhi the soul gets released from the life cycle and joins the exalted soul i.e. the God.

Mimamsa

The Mimamsa system is a philosophy of interpretation, application and use of the texts of the Samhita and Brahmana portions of Vedas. The Mimamsa system recognises the Vedas as the final authority in determining the duties of man, and the Vedantists in gaining the true knowledge about man and universe. It recognises two paths of salvation. One is concerned with the karmakanda (ritualism) and other with the jnanakanda (pursuit of knowledge) of the Vedas i.e. the Samhitas, Brahmanas, and the Upanishads respectively.

Vedanta
• The ancient Indian thoughts on philosophy reached its peak in the philosophy of Vedanta. Sankara’s
commentaries on Upanishads, Brahmasutra and Bhaguada-Gita are important for understanding the
Vedanta Philosophy. Sankara held that all works teach the Ultimate Reality i.e. Brahma is One.

• The vedanta philosophy expanded by Sankara is known as Advaita Vedanta. The Brahma has an infinite
number of powers (shakti) and the creative power (Maya) is one of them. The power is not separate from the powerful and hence there is no duality. The world as a whole and in all its parts has purpose.

• For the purpose of carrying out the work of creation, preservation and destruction, God (Iswara) assumes
three distinct names and forms, namely, Brahma, Visnu and Rudra (also known as Siva or Mahesha).

• The doctrine clearly recognises that the highest level of truth is that the whole world and all that exists
is Maya- an illusion, a dream, a mirage and a figment of imagination. Ultimately, the whole Universe
is unreal, i.e. Maya.

• The only reality is Brahma (the Universal Soul) with which the individual soul is identical. The salvation of the individual soul is possible only by merging it with Brahma.

• The post-Sankara period saw the elaboration of the doctrines of all the above mentioned schools of
thoughts, and the evolution of each system in its own way in the light of criticism by others. There was a
great development of dialectics in each school which led to highly technical and systematic works being written by thinkers. One of the great sages who differed with Sankara was Ramanuja, who wrote his own commentaries on the Upanishads, Brahmasutras and Bhagavad-Gita.