The six Darshanas – 2

Purva Mimamsa and Uttara Mimamsa

Mimamsa means to analyze and understand thoroughly.  Purva Mimamsa emphasises the teachings of Veda in the light of rituals (Karma kanda), while Uttara Mimamsa emphasises the teachings of the Veda in the light of knowledge (Jnana kanda). We shall hereafter refer to Purva Mimamsa as Mimamsa only and to Uttara Mimamsa with its emphasis on anta bhagha of Vedas as Vedanta only. 

Mimamsa 
 The Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini is the basic text of this system. The main objective of this school was to establish the authority of the Vedas. Its adherents called Mimamsakas believed that:

(1) there is a soul which survives the death of the body and enjoys the fruits of the rituals in heaven;

(2) the Vedas are infallible;

(3) this world is real;

To justify the supreme authority of the Vedas, the Mimamsa school has developed an elaborate epistemology which has been accepted by other schools also, including the Vedānta Darshana. It accepts all the six Pramanas; Pratyaksha, Anupalabdhi, Anumana, Upamana, Arthapathi, Sabda or Apta-vakhya and lays down the following three conditions for knowledge to be valid:

(1) It should yield some new information previously unknown.

(2) It should not be contradicted by any other knowledge.

(3) The conditions which generate that knowledge should be free from defects.

The Mimamsa school believes in the reality of the world with all the myriad objects in it. This world, according to it, comprises the living bodies, wherein the souls (Jivas) reside temporarily to reap the effects of their karmas, good or bad. The various other objects of the world serve as the fruits to be suffered or enjoyed. The souls are infinite and eternal but undergo transmigration due to their karmas performed when encased in bodies in the world. The soul has no consciousness of its own. Consciousness only rises in it due to its association with the mind, the sense-organs and the sense-objects, especially when the organs come into contact with their respective objects and cites the absence of consciousness in the deep-sleep state as the proof. A ritual is to be done because the Vedas command it and none has the choice not to do it or to do it in a different way. Such duties are classified into two broad groups: nitya or daily obligatory duties and naimithika or occasional (but obligatory) duties. These help in the purification of the soul through moral improvement. The ultimate goal for a person is to get mokṣa or liberation which is defined as total cessation of transmigratory existence. In this state the soul is permanently free from all pain and suffering though there is no consciousness or bliss!  Since all the materials that make up the physical world are eternally existing and since the karmas of the souls impel these materials in the process of creation, there is no need to accept any God as the agent or author of creation. So this system that champions the supremacy of the Vedas has no place for its Source! This system also discusses the science of sound and Mantra in detail.  Its influence can be seen in the performance of Hindu rituals and in observance of religious practices even today.  It was also influential and foundational to Vedanta school.

Vedanta 

  The Vedanta system is based on Upanishads, Brahmasutras and Bhagavad Gita, referred to as Sruthi-prasthana, Nyaya-prasthana and Smrithi-prasthana respectively and Prasthanathraya collectively. While Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini tries to reconcile the various Vedic texts that seem to give different directions with regard to the same ritual system, Brahma Sutras of Vyasa attempts to make out a coherent philosophy of Brahman from the apparently conflicting statements in the Upanishads. But Brahma Sutras and the Upanishads themselves were variously interpreted by Vedanta scholars giving rise to many sub-schools. We shall see here briefly the three popular sub-schools of Vedanta viz. Advaita of Sri Sankara, Visishtadvaita of Sri Ramanuja and Dvaita of Sri Madhva

Advaita of Sri Sankara – Sri Sankara sums up his Advaita philosophy in a nutshell as “Brahma satyam jagan mithya jivo brahmaiva naparah” - Brahman alone is Real; this world is not Real and the Jiva is verily Brahman only and is not different from Him. Apart from Brahman, which only is the absolutely Reality, all others are only transactional Realities i.e. Real only under certain conditions and circumstances and not at all times. In his essential nature which is Pure Consciousness, Jiva is one with Brahman which is Pure Consciousness infinite. Brahman has no limiting adjuncts and is Nirguna. Maya is a unique concept of this philosophy.  Maya is the power of the limitless Lord. It is anadhi (beginningless) avidya and is of the nature of three Gunas viz. Satva, Rajas, and Tamas and is superior to their effects. With His power of Maya manifest, Brahman is Saguna and is called Iswara and it is Iswara who is the, srishti, sthithi laya karanam and also the upadhana karanam (material cause) and nimitha karanam (efficient cause) for the world, without undergoing any changes Himself, like the spider for its web and ourselves for our dream-world. The multiplicity of names and forms is only an appearance, due to avidya or ignorance, even as a snake is perceived in a rope in insufficient light. This is called `adhyasa' or `adhyaropa' (superimposition). Through Vidya or discriminative knowledge, `apavada' or desuper-imposition takes place, giving the true knowledge of the underlying Reality of all objects seen and experienced as Brahman only.  Liberation is the realisation of one’s true Self as Brahman only, which is one without a second, that can be attained even when alive.  This state of liberation while alive is termed Jivanmukthi. 

Visishtadvaita of Sri Ramanuja – As per Sri Ramanuja’s Visishtadvaita philosophy, all the three, Brahman, Jivas and Jagat, are Real. Jagat and Jivas form part of Brahman as His body.  Brahman is similar to a tree with branches, leaves and fruits. The several parts like leaves, branches etc., differ from one another while the tree itself remains as ‘one’ only. Brahman is the only one with independent Reality, while Jivas and Jagat have only dependant Reality, their Reality depending on Brahman. As per this philosophy, Lord Vishnu is the supreme Brahman who has three aspects: Ishvara (Vishnu), Cit (soul) and Acit (matter).  So Lord Vishnu is the only independent Reality, while souls (Jivas) and matter enjoy dependant Reality only.  Jivas are of three types; Nitya, eternally free, Muktha, free now but once were in Samsara and Baddha, in Samsara and not free. Jivas retain their identity even after Moksha and live in Fellowship with Lord Vishnu, either serving Him or meditating on Him.  Moksha is attained through liquidation of one’s karmas achieved through total devotion to Lord Vishnu, characterised by Saranagathi.  Visishtadvaita recognises only Videha Mukthi. 

Dvaita of Sri Madhva – As per Dvaita of Sri Madhva also Brahman is Lord Vishnu and He only is independently Real.  Jivas, sentient souls and Jada, insentient matter, are also Real but their Reality is dependant Reality, dependant on Brahman; but they do not form part of Brahman as in Visishtadvaita. The  differences between Brahman and Jiva, jiva and jada, jada and jada, jada and Brahman, jiva and jiva, termed Panchabheda, are an eternal fact. It also accepts three Pramanas only: Pratyaksha, Anumana and Sabda.  Jivas are of three clsseses; mukthi-yogas, eligible for Moksha, nitya-samsarins, subject to eternal Samsara, tamo-yogyas, condemned to eternal hell, the third group being unique to this system. Liberation is attaining the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu and this can be attained only through pure devotional service to Lord Vishnu. 

Most of the present sects of Hinduism are directly or indirectly influenced by the thought systems developed by Vedantic thinkers. So it is no exaggeration to say that Hinduism to a great extent owes its survival to the formation of the coherent and logically advanced systems of Vedanta.

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The six Pramanas

Pramana means “means of knowledge”.  In respect of any knowledge three things are present. They are called Prameya, Pramata and Pramana respectively. Prameya is the object of knowledge, Pramata is the knower and Pramana is the means of knowledge. When Pramata in the right state of mind employs right Pramana in respect of a Prameya, right knowledge, Prama, arises; otherwise there is only delusion or wrong knowledge, Brama. As per Advaita Vedanta philosophy there are six Pramanas which we employ consciously or unconsciously to gain the knowledge of various things we come across.  They are Pratyaksha, Anumana, Upamana, Arthapathi, Anupalabdhi, and Sabda. Let us see each one of them in a little more detail.

Pratyaksha (Perception) - This stands for direct, immediate cognition. This can be external and internal.  The external perception implies cognition of sense objects through our sense organs. The internal perception means the direct & immediate cognition of emotions like pain, pleasure etc., and knowledge or ignorance of various objects etc. in our minds. External perception arises from the interaction of five senses with worldly objects. Each of our five sense organs has a unique and exclusive field of application: In the visual field, eyes have the unique capability to give information and knowledge of colours and forms and of all things visual. Similarly, ears have the sole and exclusive right in the field of sound, nose in the field of smell and fingers in the field of touch. All the five sense organs work as a single team and provide complementary information/knowledge of objects that we encounter, and they do not work at cross-purposes. In direct perception the knowledge is extremely clear but its scope is very limited. What we can directly see not only constitutes an extremely small iota of the wide spectrum of things existing in this universe, but many a times that which is directly cognized is far from truth. But this is the most important and common tool at individual level to obtain knowledge in an unfamiliar field.

Anumana (inference) –  Anumana literally means ‘knowing after’.  It means the method by which knowledge is derived from another knowledge. So the knowledge thus gained is not direct, immediate and is gained from the prior knowledge of invariable relationship between two things.  On the basis of the earlier direct knowledge the present knowledge is deduced.  For example we have the direct knowledge from kitchen that smoke arises from fire and that where there is smoke invariably fire is also there as its cause.  So when we see smoke coming from a distant hill we deduce that there must be fire in the hill causing the smoke.  This is inferential knowledge or the logical deduction. In this case Vyapthi, the universal statement of invariable concomitance, is; ‘Where there is fire there is smoke.’  On this basis we make the Anumana that there must be a fire in the distant hill when smoke is Prathyaksha in the distant hill.  Thus Anumana is made on the basis of Pratyaksha based on Vyapthi

Upamana (Comparison) – Upamana means comparison and analogy.  Upamana is the process by which the knowledge of B is gained from the perception of B’s similarity to A, which has been noted elsewhere.  The subject of comparison is formally called upameyam, the object of comparison is called upamanam, while the attribute(s) are identified as samanya. For example when a person going to Australia is told that Dingo is a wild dog found in Australian outback, and he goes to an outback area and finds a creature similar to dog in the wild, he by comparison has the knowledge of that as Dingo.  Upamana is a distinct means of knowledge, and is not clubbed under Anumana.

Arthapathi (Postulation) - Arthapathi means postulation, supposition or presumption of a fact.  It is knowledge arrived at by circumstantial implication. The classic example of this method of knowledge is: a fat person says that he never eats in the day, then we can easily postulate that he eats in the night, for the simple reason that without this assumption his fatness & also his getting fatter cannot be explained. Arthapathi can either be from what is seen or from what is heard.

Anupalabdhi (Non-apprehension) - Anupalabdhi literally means ‘non-perception’. Non-existence of a thing is apprehended by its non-perception. By not seeing a jar on a table one knows that it is not there. We use this method of knowledge also very often, and this is evident from statements like : ‘There is no teacher in the class-room’, There is no sound here’, ‘This flower has no fragrance’ etc.  It is different from Anumana as there is no concomitant relationship between non-perception and non-existence, as in the case of non-perception in the dark. However, it is to be noted that if a thing would have been perceived under given circumstances, but not perceived, then only it is Anupalabdhi.

Sabda (Verbal testimony) – Sabda Pramana is verbal testimony which is also called ‘apta-vakya’ (statement of a trust-worthy person’), and agama (authentic word). Hiriyanna explains Sabda Pramana as a concept which means reliable expert testimony.  A verbal statement conveying valid knowledge must have an authentic source which must be free from defects. Only a competent person possessed of knowledge can impart accurate knowledge. Such a knowledge needs no verification, unless of course there is doubt about its reliability. It is man’s most potent instrument for transmitting and gaining knowledge.  Books, magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, phones etc. all use or depend on words

Advaita Vedanta accepts all the above six as valid Pramanas while Visishtadvaita and Dvaita subsets of Vedanta school accept only Pratyaksha, Anumana and Sabda as valid Pramanas. Vaiseshika school considers only Pratyaksha and Anumana as valid Pramanas, while Nyaya school accepts four Pramanas viz. Pratyaksha, Anumana, Upamana and Sabda as valid.  Sankhya and Yoga schools rely on the same three Pramanas as Dvaita and Visishtadvaita.

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Athma - One and Many

Sanathana dharma i.e. Hinduism has six systems of philosophy based on Vedas, which are known as Shad-darsanas. Each is a way of looking into the Truth.  One of them is Uttara mimamsa, also known as Vedanta, as the philosophy is based on Upanishads, which constitute the latter part of Vedas, i.e. Veda anta bhaga. Vedanta has three main subsects Advaita, Visishatadvaita and Dvaita. They all base their philosophy not only on Upanishads, but on Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad Gita as well and all these three together are called “Prasthana Thriam”, three authoritative texts.  The difference between the systems arises due to the difference in their interpretation of the texts.  Before going into a brief discussion of the three Vedanta schools of philosophy and their treatment of Athma, let me  at the outset explain that I will be referring in this blog,  Athma, the sentient force behind the body-mind complex, as Jeevathma and Brahman, the Cosmic equivalent of Athma, as Paramatma.  Jeevathma is what is commonly referred to as soul in all religious literatures.

Dvaita

Dvaita is a Sanskrit word that means "duality, dualism”. The Dvaita or "dualist" school of philosophy originated with Sri Madhvacharya who was born in Karnataka state in 13^th century. Madhvacharya called it Tattvavada and based his philosophy on Bhagavatha puranam as well along with Prasthana Thriam.  To Madhvacharya Lord Vishnu is the Paramathma and Paramathma is saguna and is different from Jeevathmas, which are many, and from the insentient objects, Jada.  Paramatma is a real eternal entity that governs and controls the universe.  According to Madhvacharya there are two orders of reality: 1. svatantra, independent reality, which consists of Paramatma alone and 2. paratantra, dependent reality, which consists of jeevathmas and jada.  So as per Dvaita philosophy, there are three realities Paramathma, Jeevathma and jada, one independent and two dependant on the one independent.

“I” is supposed to be the insentient body containing a sentient  jeevathma, which is different from the ever-powerful Paramathma, from other insentient objects that constitute the world and also from  other jeevathmas.  Madhvacharya outlines  pancabheda, the five-fold difference between

1.  Paramatma and Jeevathma

2.  Paramathma and Jada

3.  Jeevathma and jada

4. one jeevathma and another Jeevathma

5.  one jada and another jada

Jeevathma can never be one with Paramathma and Moksha, Liberation, is described as the realization that all finite reality is essentially dependent on the Supreme Paramathma.  Bhakthi yoga is the means for Liberation. Further Jeevathmas are divided into three grades.  One grade of Jeevathmas, mukthi-yogyas, only qualify for liberation, another, nithya-samsarins, are subject to the eternal  transmigration cycle of entry and exit in bodies while a third grade, tamo-yogyas, are condemned to eternal hell. 

So in a nutshell as per Dvaita philosophy, Jeevathmas are many and Jeevathma  is the servant of Paramatma and Jeevathma can never claim unity with Paramatma.

Visishtadvaita

The Vishishtadvaitic thought is considered to have existed for a long time and Ramanujacharya who accepts the Prasthana Thriam as well as the works of Alwars as the source of authority for his philosophy is now revered as the main proponent of Visishtadvaita philosophy.  Visishtadvaita is so called because it inculcates Advaita, oneness with Visesha,  attributes.  Like Dvaita, it holds Lord Vishnu as Paramathma and He is supreme as creator and redeemer. He is saguna, with qualities of omnipotence, omniscience and infinite love. He has no base attributes like sorrow, mortality, and change in Him.  

Ramanujacharya introduces a new concept “aprathak-siddhi” meaning “inseparability” to define the relation between Paramathma, Jeevathmas and Jagat.  All the three are Real but they are not separate Realities, as Jagat and Jeevathmas form part of Paramathma as His body.  Paramathma is Angi and Jeevathmas and Jagat are His Angas.  So all the three are eternal and inseparable but not the same. The three forming one is the non-duality part and Jagat and Jeevathmas inhering in Paramathma as attributes to a substance is the qualification part of non-duality.

Moksha is through Bakthi and Grace of Paramathma, that is attained through Prapatti or saranagathi  to Lord.  Karma and Jnana are only means to Bhakthi.  Moksha means giving up the worldly existence and passage to Vaikuntha to remain forever in presence of Lord Vishnu. The liberated Jeevathma attains to the nature of Lord but does not become identical with it. The Jeevathmas are classified in three groups :

1.   Nityas, or the eternally free Jeevathmas  who were never in Samsara
2.    Muktas, or the Jeevathmas that were once in Samsara but are now free
3. Baddhas, or the Jeevathmas  which are still in Samsara

So in a nutshell Jeevathmas are many and part of Paramathma but not Paramathma itself like a seed in the jackfruit which is not jackfruit itself. 

Advaita 

Though there had been earlier exponents of Advaita philosophy it is Sri Adi Sankara who perfected it and gave a finishing touch to it.  The Advaita philosophy enunciated by him is beautifully summed up in one line “Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya Jivo Brahmaiva Na Aparah – Parmathma (Brahman) alone is Real; this world is apparently Real and the Jeevatma is not different from Paramatma”   Here Mithya is the word used to describe the world.  Mithya is not false but something which appears true but on investigation revealed as not true.  For instance the blueness of sky that you can perceive ordinarily but on investigation is revealed as not true. Same way with sunrise and sunset for sun does not really rise or set.  As Swami Paramathmananda states "Mithya object can have experienceability, transactability and utility but has no Reality"  

In my blogs on Athma and Jeeva-Iswara Ikyam, advaitic view of Athma and its identity with Brahman have been discussed.  To sum them up, Reality is Paramathma only and everything else is manifestation of Paramathma with form and name and that Paramathma is same as Jeevathma, in terms of the idiom used in this blog. 

To revert back to the terms used in the earlier blogs; as per Dvaita, Athmas are many and Athma is different from Brahman that is Saguna; as per Visishtadvaita, Athmas are many and different from Brahman that is Saguna, but they have a special relationship of Angi and Anga with the Saguna Brahman;  and  as per Advaita,  Athma is one and identical with Brahman that is Nirguna, and is defined as “Existence, Consciousness, Bliss” which is its intrinsic nature.  Swami Jitadmananda while describing Swami Vivekanananda’s practical Vedanta says “By Vedanta Vivekananda always meant all the three schools of Vedanta; dualism ( Dvaita) leads by the process of reason to qualified monism (Visishtadvaita) and qualified monism culminating in the same way in Advaita.  Dualism, qualified monism and non-dualism (Advaita) are only three gradually ascending stages of vision which unfolds themselves as one develops finer and finer intelligence”.  A jnani with advaitic vision experiences Brahman as “isness” of his thoughts in the inner mind in meditation and as “isness” behind the many in the outer world when interacting with the outer world involving duality.

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