Review of Philosophical Systems
(Darsana-Samīksā)
The darṡana ṡastrā (Philosophy) is defined as the intellectual medium through which the thatness of entities is ascertained.
It is stated also :
On this basis, the philosophy is logical examination and consideration which may lead to ascertain the accurate nature of realities or entities. For example, there are certain questions like:
- (a)Whether the world is eternal ?
- (b)Whether there is creator of the world ?
- (c)What is the nature of Soul ?
- (d)Does the soul have the rebirth ?
- (e)Does the God exist ?
The objective of philosophy is to answer these questions in a proper way.
Two Divisions of Philosophy
There are two divisions of philosophy: (a) Indian Philosophy and (b) Western Philosophy.
The Indian philosophy has also two systems : (a) Vedic philosophy, and (2) Non-Vedic philosophy.
The Vedic philosophies include six philosophies like Sānkhya, Vedānta, Mīmānsā, Yoga, Nyāya and Vaiṡeṣika. These philosophies admit Vedas as authority. The Jaina, Buddha and Cārvāka philosophies are admitted as non-Vedic philosophies as they do not subscribe to the authority or validity of the Vedas.
Some scholars opine that the philosophies of Nyāya, Vaiṡeṣika, Sānkhya, Yoga, Mīmānsā and Vedānta are theistic philosophies while the rest three above are a-theistic ones. However, this is not correct. In fact the Jainas admit the existence of Soul, God and rebirth.
And, therefore, they are not a-theists. They are theists only. Some systems object that the Jainas are a-theists as they do not admit the concept of creator God. This is also not correct because the Jainas admit infinite number of Gods (in terms of liberated souls) despite non-admitting the monastic concept of God creating and controlling the universe. With this point of view, the Jainas are theists only.
We will describe here the basic concepts of major Indian philosophical systems and, then, review them in relation with the Jaina system.
Cārvāka Philosophy
The Cārvakas postulate the tetrad of elements (Bhūtas) in terms of earth, water, fire and air. They propound that a critical combination of these four elements generates consciousness just as the scorpions etc. are bom in the cowdung etc. This philosophy admits the body only as the soul.
There is no entity like soul prior to birth or after the death. There is nothing like the other-world, rebirth, God, hells and heavens etc. There is nothing else except what is perceptible to the senses. Hence, perception (Pratyakṣa) is the only valid organ of knowledge. This philosophy does not even admit the existence of omniscient persons. Hence, it is an a-theist (or non-believer) philosophy.
In review of this system, the Jaina saint-scholars state a beginninglessly conscious living being takes birth as subhuman and three- sensed being due to the fmition of the physiquemaking karma of genus etc. The existence of the living being and of the other world is proved by the memories of earlier births etc. Thus, when the existence of the soul is proved, other related phenomena of omniscience etc. are also proved.
Buddhist Philosophy
The basic dictum of Buddhist philosophy is that every thing in the world is momentary as it is in the form of existence. Tord Buddha is the founder and Venerable for the Buddhists. They do not admit independent existence of the soul.
However, they have admitted that the soul is only the pentadic aggregate or assembly of form (Rūpa), feeling (Vedanā), instincts (Sanjnās), latency (Sanskāra) and consciousness (Vijnāna). There are four schools of Buddhism :
(1)Mādhyamikas (Doctrine of Voidness or Relative non-existence): This school admits all the external and internal entities as void.
(2)Yogācāra (Doctrine of Non-admittance of External Objects): This school admits the non-existence or absence of external objects (and admits the existence of internal objects).
(3)Sautrāntika (Doctrine of Cognition): This school admits that the external entities are the objects of knowledge like inference etc.
(4)Vaibhāṣika (Doctrine of Perceptibility of External Objects): This school admits that the external objects are subject of sense-perception.
All the four schools presume all the entities as momentary. They last for one moment or Samaya only.
In review, the Jaina saint-scholars state that only the indistinct mode of an entity lasts for a moment with respect to the Rju-sūtra naya. The Buddhists have taken this point of view on absolute basis and have postulated the whole entity as momentary. This view is wrong.
Sānkhya Philosophy
Some of them are only spiritualist or a-theists who do not admit the concept of God. In contrast, some are theists who admit God as a super-deity. Both the schools of Sānkhyas admit twenty-five basic elements (Tattvas) in general.
The Prakṛti (Nature) is the equilibrated state of the three attributes of goodness (Sattva), activity (Rajas) and ignorance or inertia (Tamas).
The Sānkhyas postulate that the Puruṣa(Atmā or Soul) is non-mattergic, conscious, eternal, omnipotent, fine and enjoyer of actions but it is inert, non-actor and devoid of qualities (Nirguṇa). The creation of the world occurs due to the combination of Prakṛti and Puruṣa. Some Sānkhyas admit God also as the creator of the universe.
Twenty-five Elements
The Sānkhyas admit that the Prakṛti begets intelligence, intelligence begets ego-ism and egoism begets sixteen qualities or entities like.
| (1-5) five senses | (6) anus of men |
| (7) genital organ of women | (8) speech |
| (9) hand | (10) feet |
| (11) mind | (12) colour |
| (13) taste | (14) smell |
| (15) touch | (16) sound) |
Out of them, the five primary elements (tan-mātrās) beget the five gross elements (Maha-bhūtas). Thus, the Sānkhyas have one basic element which is transformed into Prakṛti etc. 24 elements. The Puruṣa (soul) is the twenty-fifth element of Sānkhyas.
The Sānkhyās postulate that the liberation is the separation or dis-union of Prakṛti (from the Puruṣa). This is acquired by the metaphysical knowledge about the science of the duet and the differentiation of Praṛkti and Puruṣa.
In review, the Jaina saint-scholars postulate that if the Puruṣa or soul (of Sānkhyas) is absolutely non-actor, quality-less and inert, it can not have any relationship or conjunction with the Prakṛti. There can be no order of worldly wandering and liberation of the soul in the theory of etemality.
There are many more such flaws in the Sānkhyan concept. The Sānkhyas postulate every entity as eternal only which may be correct with the standpoint of substantivity. Thus, the Sānkhyan concepts are defective due to absolutistic and obstinate nature.
The Nyāya Philosophy
The Nyāya Philosophy postulates sixteen reals (tattvas) as below :
| (i)Organs of knowledge (Pramāṇa) | (ii)Obj ects of knowledge (Prameya) |
| (iii)Doubt (Sanṡaya) | (iv)Objective (Prayojana) |
| (v)Iustration (Dṛṣtanta) | (vi)Theory (Siddhānta) |
| (vii)Components of logic (Avayava) | (viii)Inductive or deductive reasoning (Tarka) |
| (ix)Conclusion or decision (Nimaya) | (x)Debate (V āda) |
| (xi)Prattling (Jalpa) | (xii)Wrangling (Vitandā) |
| (xiii)Fallacies / fallacious reasons (Hetvābhāsa) | (xiv)Casuistry (Chala) |
| (xv)Similarity / dis-similarity (Jāti) | (xvi)Censure (Nigraha) |
All of these are related with intellectualism of logical nature.
The Nyāya philosophy postulates that there is an omnipresent, omniscient, knower, eternal, God of gods and ever-benevolent God (īṡvara) who is the creator and destroyer of the world. In other words, this school admits God as the creator.
The Jainas counter question on the concept of God. They ask why the God has created the people with suffering when He has created them. If it is contended that these living beings were sinners, then, why has He created the sins as he is said to be supremely compassionate.
He should not have created the world of sins and sinners. The Jainas, therefore, postulate that the living beings are under karmic bondage from beginningless time and they can destroy the karmas from their own exertions. On doing so, they become the Gods or the liberated ones. Once accomplished, they never fall into the troubles of creation etc.
Vaisesīka Philosophy
The Vaiṡeṣīkas postulates seven categories of substances :
| (1)Realities (Dravya) | (2)Attributes (Guṇa) |
| (3)Actions / motions (Kriyā) | (4)Generality (Sāmānya) |
| (5)Particularity (Viṡeṣa) | (6)Inherence (Samavāya) |
| (7)Non-existence or Absence (Abhāva) |
The reality is called the Atmā (soul) where the knowledge exists inherently because the knowledge exists in the soul by inherence (or nature).
There are two kinds of souls :
| (i) Individual soul (Jīvātmā) | (ii) Supreme soul (Parmātmā) |
The supreme soul is one only. However, the individual soul is different in each living body. It is pervasive and eternal.
The Vaiṣeṡkas admit that their categories of substances are mutually different from each other. Of course, they may have the relationship of inherence.
The Vaiṣeṡkas also postulate the creator God like the Nyāya school. There are minor difference between the Nyāya and Vaiṣeṡkas schools. Most of their doctrines are nearly similar. Sometimes, both these philosophies are designated by a joint name of ‘Nyāya-Vaiṡeṣika’ one.
The Vaiṣeṡkas define liberation as the total destruction of nine attributes of
| (i) intellect | (ii) happiness |
| (iii) suffering | (iv) desire |
| (v) aversion | (vi) effort |
| (vii) religiosity | (viii) nonreligiosity |
| (ix) latency or impressions |
The Jaina saint-scholars have refuted almost all the concepts of the Vaiṡeṣkas. In fact, it is a folly to admit destruction of knowledge and bliss in the state of salvation. The people make effort for them only, for these are the salvation-based effects.
Mīmānsā Philosophy
The term ‘ Mīmānsā’ means thorough investigation (Vivecanā).
This system has two schools :
- (i) Karma- mīmānsā (Karma-basedinvestigations, Pūrva- mīmānsā)
- (ii) Jnāna- mīmānsā (Knowledge – based investigation, Uttara- mīmānsā).
The description of undertaking of oblationary rituals (Yajnas), ceremonial rites etc. are the subjects of Karma- mīmānsā. In contrast, the knowledge-based investigation (Jnāna- mīmānsā) deals with the living beings, the universe and the nature of God etc.
Currently, the Jnānā Mīmānsā is termed as ‘Vedānta’ (End-of-the-Veda or Upaniṣadic (sitting near the supreme soul) philosophy. The aphorist founder of earlier Mīmānsā philosophy is Acārya Jaimini. The disciples of Kumārila Bhatta are called ‘Bhāttas’ and the disciples of Prabhākara are called ‘Prābhākaras’.
The Mimansakas postulate that there is no omniscient and omni-visioned individual. The ultra-sensual entities are known and perceived through the vedic sentences only. They assume the Vedas as non-human or divine creation and, therefore, all-time valid.
However, the Jainas have logically (and scripturally) proved the existence of omniscient persons and, thus, they have refuted the superhuman character of the Vedas. They argue that if the Vedas are taken as valid due to their divine origin, the sermons on theft and adultery etc.
which have not been described by human beings, may also become valid. Secondly, the Vedas have descriptions supporting the violence etc. Hence, they can not be taken as valid.
Vedānta Philosophy
“All this world is of the nature of Brahma. There is nothing else in the world. All people observe Brahma’s splendour but nobody can see him.’ ’ All the animate and non-animate entities like the villages and towns etc. in the world are originated from the Brahma and are his modes.
The Vedāntins proclaim, “O devotee, you percieve the soul, listen to the soul, admit the existence of the soul and meditate upon the soul.’ ’ The same Brahma is glittering in every living being. Though it has a nature of unity, still it is located in every entity. The followers of non-dualist Brahmism designate all the world as Avidyā (ignorance) or pastime of Māyā (or illusion) except the Brahma.
In fact, this doctrine of their is itself the pastime of ignorance. It is totally wrong to assume the origin of conscious and non-conscious world from the Brahma who has the nature of consciousness. Moreover, it is also clear that the pains and pleasure of one do not belong to any other else.
Thirdly, it is not proper to assume a single soul in all the living beings. Of course, every soul could be called as of the nature of pure Brahma with respect to pure standpoint because every soul has the capacity of becoming supreme soul of the nature of Brahma.
It is said in Jaina scriptures, (All the living beings are pure with respect to pure standpoint). 19 However, if it is accepted absolutistically, there will be wrongness at large.
Jaina Philosophy
The Jaina religion is eternal. It has not been founded by any great personage like many other religious systems in the world. The Jaina philosophy has admitted
- (i)Seven spiritual reals (Tattvas)
- (ii)Nine spiritual categories of entities (Padārthas)
- (iii)Six substances or realities (Dravyas)
- (iv)Five Extensive Existents (Astikāyas)
The theory of Relativism (Syādvāda), Non-violence, Non -attachmental possessions etc. are its fundamental doctrines. It postulates that the right faith, right knowledge and right conduct together form the path of liberation.20 The dissociation of all the karmas from the worldly soul is called the liberation (Mokṣa).
Every worldly soul is bonded with karmas from the beginningless time. The worldly soul becomes the pure and supreme soul (Parmātmā) by his own efforts. Such supreme souls are infinite. The number of worldly living beings is infinite-times-infinite.
The Jaina saint scholars have refuted the different concepts and have proved the existence of the omniscients.
Substantiation of Omniscient (Sarvajna-siddhi)
The Englightened Venerables (Arihantas) are those personages who are omniscients, destroyers of the mountains ofkarmas and promulgators ofthe path of liberation. That is why, they are noted as the “Venerables for the saints.
” There are non-contradictable and definite logical proofs for establishing the existence of the omniscients. The God and others in alien concepts are not omniscients. That is why the fine, intervalised or interrupted and distant entities are directly perceived by the Englightened Venerables only because they are subjects of knowledge as the entities directly perceived by us. Hence, the omniscients are there. It has to be asked whether
Q. The Enlightened Jinas know the fine, intervalised or distant entities by sense-based knowledge or supra-sensory knowledge ?
A. It is impossible to know the whole tri-timal world through the sensed-based knowledge. Hence, the omniscient knows the whole tri-timal world simultaneously and at the same time through supra-sensual knowledge.
Q. How does this supra-sensual knowledge originate ?
A. The soul has the nature of knowledge. It has a covering of knowledge-obscuring karma. When this karma is completely destroyed, the omniscience is manifest.
Q. How the karmas of knowledge-obscuring are destroyed ?
A. The karmas of delusion, knowledge-obscuring, conation-obscuring and obstruction are destroyed when there are rival causes for their destruction.
Q. What are the causes of bonding of the karmas ? What are the rival causes for dissociation of the karmas ?
A. The three-the wrong faith, wrong knowledge and wrong conduct-are the causes of bonding of the four karmas. In contrast, the right faith, right knowledge and right conduct are their rival causes. These rival-causes destroy the causes of bonding like wrongness, non-abstinence etc.
On destruction of these karmas, the true nature of the soul is manifest. The rival for the future karmas is the real of stoppage (Samvara) and the rival for the accumulated karmas is the real of shedding off (Nirjara) due to austerities etc.
The stoppage is the obstruction of karmic influx (Asrava). It is affected by observance of Self-Guards (Guptis), Carefulnesses (Samitis), Religious duties (dharmas), Introspective reflections (Anuprekṣās) and winning over the Afflictions (Parīṣaha-jaya) etc.
The karmic shedding is affected by the austerities etc. When the four destructive karmas are dissociated from the worldly soul, it becomes omniscient (Sarvajna), detached (Vītarāgī) and beneficient instructor (Hitopadeṡī). When all the eight karmas are dissociated from the soul, it becomes totally pure and becomes liberated.
