The six Darshanas - 1

Nyaya,Vaisesika, Sankya and Yoga

Darshana is the name given to ancient systems of Indian philosophy as they were the visions of Self acquired by Indian mystics searching within rather than outside. The six Darshanas, grouped as ‘Shaddarshanas’ are those that belong to the orthodox group that accept the authority of Vedas and are also called  Asthika systems. They are; Nyaya, Vaisesika, Sankya, Yoga, Purva Mimamsa and Uttara Mimamsa.  Each Darshana was codified by a great Vedic sage -- Nyaya by Gautama, Vaiseshika by Kanada, Sankhya by Kapila, Yoga by Patanjali, Purva Mimamsa by Jaimini and Uttara Mimamsa by Vyasa. They all deal with Brahman or God, Jiva or individual soul, Jagat or world and Moksha or liberation, All the systems believe in the law of karma and consider this world as one created for providing us with a platform for performing our roles conforming to Vedic code of Dharma, thereby gradually improving our spiritual fibre to reach the final goal of liberation. Let us see each one of them briefly.

Nyaya – The Nyaya school of philosophy is based on texts known as the Nyaya Sutras, which were written by Sage Gautama. Nyaya Darshana is the basis of all Sanskrit philosophical studies. The followers of Nyaya Darshana believed that obtaining valid knowledge was the only way to obtain release from suffering. They therefore took great pains to identify valid sources of knowledge and to distinguish these from mere false opinions. The Nyaya Darshana accepts four Pramanas (means of knowledge) viz. Pratyaksha, Anumana, Upamana and Sabda. The Nyāya system accepts Isvara or God as the srshti, sthithi, laya karanam for the world. However, God does not create the world out of nothing or out of Himself, but out of the paramanus,-the smallest particles of earth, water, fire and air, and substances- space, time, ether, minds and souls.  God is thus the efficient cause only and not the material cause for its creation. According to Nyāya Darsana, the jivas or individual souls are infinite in number. They are eternal and indestructible. The primary aim of life, according to the Nyāya school is the attainment of mokṣa, liberation from the cycle of birth and death. He can get this liberation only by acquiring tattvajnana or true knowledge of his soul as distinct from the body and the mind as also the senses. For this he should undergo the threefold sadhana of sravaṇa, manana and nididhyasana to destroy all mithya jnana and acquire tattvajnana. This system has provided a firm basis for the development of vast polemic literature by the later writers of many schools, especially of Vedanta.

Vaiseshika - The basic text is the Vaiseṣika Sūtras of Sage Kaṇāda. Vaisheshika system is closely associated with the Nyaya system. It states that the universe has two aspects, one eternal and one non-eternal. The eternal constituents of the universe are Paramanus, the four kinds of atoms - earth, water, fire, and air; and the five substances – space, time, direction, mind and souls. These are not subject to change and cannot be created or destroyed. Another part of the universe is non-eternal, subject to creation and destruction in a particular time and space. They accept the existence of God called Ishwara or Maheshwara which is the Supreme Intelligent Being under whose will and guidance this world is created, sustained and dissolved. He is the karmaphaladhata in respect of all living beings, The Vaiseshika concepts of God, liberation of soul, and of the path to liberation are all basically the same as the Nyaya concepts that have been discussed  earlier. Over the centuries, the school merged with the Nyaya system of Indian philosophy to form the combined school of Nyaya-Vaisesika because of their closely related metaphysical theories.

Sankhya - Sankhya  philosophy  is regarded as the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems and its basic text is Sankhya Sutras of Sage Kapila. The Sānkhya accepts only three Pramāṇas; Pratyakṣa, Anumāna and Sabda.  Its philosophy regards the universe as consisting of two eternal realities: Purusha (souls) and Prakrti (matter). The Purushas are many, conscious and devoid of all qualities. They are the silent spectators of Prakrti which is composed of three gunas: satva, rajas and tamas. When the equilibrium of the gunas is disturbed, the world order evolves. This disturbance is due to the samyoga or effective contact between the Purusha and Prakrti.  The totality of the karmas of the Puruṣas disturbs the balance of the guṇas in Prakṛti and sets in motion the process of evolution.  The main cause of bondage of the Purusha and his consequent suffering in the world is aviveka or ignorance of his own identity as pure consciousness leading to continuous cycle of birth and death. Kaivalya or liberation can come only from vivekakhyati or right knowledge. The Sānkhya Darsana accepts both Jivanmukti and Videhamukti. However, since Chaitanya or consciousness is his essence, he will ever remain in his own state. The Samkhya system has been closely associated with the Yoga school of philosophy. 

Yoga –  Though there are many schools of Yoga, the one that is counted as part of Shad-darshanas is the one systematized by Sage Patanjali, on the basis of his work, Yoga Sutras.  This Yoga system, also known as ashtanga-yoga (the yoga of eight parts), is closely allied to Sankhya system.  Indeed, ashtanga-yoga is the practical application of Sankhya philosophy for the attainment of liberation. While the Sankhya system accepts only Purusha, the individual soul and Prakrti, the nature or matter as the fundamental realities and does not accept Ishwara or God, the Yoga Darshana accepts all the principles of the Samkhya and also Ishwara or God, in addition. Also the Yoga system deals primarily with sadhanas or spiritual disciplines while the Sankhya system gives primary importance to tattvajnana or enquiry into the nature of truth. By following these sadhanas (eight steps of yoga) one realises his essential nature and is instantly freed from samsara, the cycle of transmigration, and attains kaivalya. Realization of this goal of Yoga is known as moksha, nirvana and samadhi. This realization of the Atma is nothing other than attaining the infinite Brahman. This system discusses the nature of mind, its modifications, impediments to growth, afflictions and the method for attaining the highest goal of life, Kaivalya and is highly practical. 

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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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Swami Vivekananda and Modern Physics

Swami Vivekananda was not only a monk of great sastraic erudition, a magnificent orator with an imposing appearance endowed with a keen, incisive mind and an incredible memory,  but also a great scholar in science.  It is his ability to interpret Vedic Science with the idioms of Modern Science that endeared him to the west and made them appreciate the great scientific truths enshrined in the Vedas.   We shall briefly see his vision in Modern Physics.  (I will be hereafter referring to Swami Vivekananda as Swamiji only.)

Science of Swamiji’s day swore by positivism, which refused to accept anything that was not verifiable by senses or experiments.  Swamiji stressed there is also place for intuitionism in quest of science for ultimate truth quoting the Vedas, where the rishis in their search for Truth turned inwards their thoughts and arrived at profound scientific conclusions.  He pointed out “The senses cheat you day and night.  Vedanta found that ages ago; Modern science is just discovering the same fact” (7,74)  He said that intuition is the natural culmination of reason. On instinct, reason and intuition, he said, “Reason is the vehicle one rides to reach a certain point beyond which one cannot move. Intuition goes beyond reason but reason with unbiased mind is the only guide to reach there. Instinct is like ice, reason is like water and intuition is the subtlest form like vapor and each one follows the other”.  Today, with the developments in particle physics which deals with sub-atomic particles like quarks and leptons that are only inferred and still not isolated to be studied separately and the vindication of uncertainty theory of Heisenberg, the limitations of experimental physics and positivism are exposed.  Einstein who started as a strong votary of positivism later declared, “In a certain sense, therefore, I hold it true that pure thought can grasp reality as the ancients dreamed”. 

Physics of Swamiji’s time is now called classical physics as compared to the present day’s Modern Physics.  In classical physics mass, energy, space and time were all considered independent entities.  Swamiji with his Vedantic knowledge declared that these four are not only inter-related but also that energy and matter are interchangeable in the space and time domains.  In the Raja Yoga lecture Swamiji  delivered in New York, he explained the oneness of matter and energy by defining them as Akasa and Prana, that are produced from the Universal mind, Mahat, using Sankhyan terminology.  All forces are expressions of one single force, Prana; and all matters are derived from one basic matter, Akasa and both come from Mahat, which itself  is a projection of Absolute, he declared.  Nicholas Tesla, the famous U.S. electrical engineer and inventor, was greatly impressed with the idea and later had discussions with Swamiji.   Swamiji later wrote to an English friend, “Mr. Tesla thinks he can demonstrate mathematically that force and matter are reducible to potential energy. I am to go and see him next week, to get this new mathematical demonstration”(5,77).  In this letter Swamiji has used the terms force and matter for energy and mass.  Tesla did not succeed and only ten years later Einstein came with the equation E=mc², to demonstrate the oneness of mass and energy.  It is to be noted here that after meeting Swamiji, Tesla who was struck by the resemblance between the Sankhya theory of matter and energy and that of modern physics, took great interest in Eastern Science and even started using the words Akasa and Prana for matter and energy.  Swamiji  later remarked during a lecture in India, "I myself have been told by some of the best scientific minds of the day, how wonderfully rational the conclusions of the Vedanta are. I know of one of them personally, who scarcely has time to eat his meal, or go out of his laboratory, but who would stand by the hour to attend my lectures on the Vedanta; for, as he expresses it, they are so scientific, they so exactly harmonize with the aspirations of the age and with the conclusions”

Regarding time,space and causation, let me quote Swamiji's words as expressed in the lecture in London in 1896. "The one peculiar attribute we find in time, space, and causation is that they cannot exist separate from other things. Try to think of space without colour, or limits, or any connection with the things around-just abstract space. You cannot; you have to think of it as the space between two limits or between three objects.  It has to be connected with some object to have any existence.  So with time; you cannot have any idea of abstract time, but you have to take two events, one preceding and the other succeeding, and join the two events by the idea of succession.  Time depends on two events, just as space has to be related to outside objects.  And the idea of causation is inseparable from time and space.  This is the peculiar thing about them having no independent existence.------ They have no real existence; yet they are not non-existent, seeing that through them all things are manifesting as this universe.  Thus we see that the combination of time, space, and causation has neither existence nor non-existence.-----This is Maya".  These words regarding time, space, and causation were revolutionary then but now with the theory of relativity and studies in particle physics, it is a common knowledge in science circles that there is no absolute time, space or causation.  Michael Talbot in his book ‘Mysticism and New Physics”  says ”Vivekananda further expresses a view that has become the backbone of the quantum theory.  There is no such thing as causality”

"Science is nothing but the finding of unity.  As soon as science would reach perfect unity, it would stop from further progress, because it would reach the goal" declared Swamiji in the paper on Hinduism he submitted in the Parliament of Religions in 1893.  This “unity” is expressed in Vedanta through the Mahavakya “Tat Tvam Asi” (Thou art That) which can be expressed as an equation Athma=Brahman, that can be interpreted as the identification of macrocosm and microcosm.  Swamiji referred to this unity with these words, “Though an atom is invisible, unthinkable, yet in it are the whole power and potency of the Universe.  This is exactly what the Vedantists say of Athma”(7,50);  “Man is the most representative being in the universe, the microcosm, a small universe in himself”(4,49).  The unity that Swamiji envisioned is now the goal of scientists can be seen from the Nobel laureate Dr. David Bohm’s words in his book “Wholeness and the Implicate order”; “science itself is demanding a new, non-fragmentary world view, in the sense that the present approach of analysis of the world into independently existent parts does not work very well in modern physics. It is shown that both in relativity theory and quantum theory, notions implying the undivided wholeness of the universe would provide a much more orderly way of considering the general nature of reality.”

Swamiji called Newton and Galileo 'Prophets of physical science’ and Upanishadic Rishis ‘Prophets of spirituality’ and declared that “the whole universe, mental and material, will be fused into one”(6,4). He prophesied the convergence of modern science with the Advaita Vedanta and the consequent spiritualization of religion and civilisation when he declared in Harvard in 1895, "Civilization is the manifestation of divinity in man".  No wonder A.D.Reincourt observed in his book 'The eye of Shiva',"From its modern awakening with Sri Ramakrishna  and Swami Vivekananda, Eastern mysticism has begun to adapt its revelations to the entirely different cultural framework provided by science and technology, without in any way sacrificing what is valid in its traditional understanding of the phenomenon itself ----Indian mysticism has evolved as the science of physics itself".

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