Thephilosophyof Indianculture
Thephilosophyof Indianculture
Thephilosophyof Indianculture
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Sribas Goswami
Serampore College
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Sribas Goswami
Serampore College, West Bengal, India
A b s t r a c t : Western thinkers have defined philosophy as the science of all phenomena of the universe with
reference to their ultimate causes. The Indians seers, on the other hand, viewed philosophy as the search and
accomplishment of the whole truth of life and being. According to them it is not only a mental or intellectu-
al inquiry but also encompassed a conscious investigation of life. The purpose of Philosophy is to guide and
fulfil life. However, the fulfillment of life is not attained merely contemplating on truth and being. The Ve-
dic lore is replete with assertions that the philosophical urge ultimately culminates in the realization of Truth.
It may appear somewhat strange that India as a nation should be secular one while our culture is deeply
rooted in spiritual values. In India religion signifies the inner experience which reveals to the mind the real
meaning and purpose of life, it is the very soul of our culture. This paper indicates the central characteristics
of Indian culture as it has grown from its beginning to its present positions.
Keywords: Indian culture, spiritualism, materialism, consciousness, truth.
Introduction
The materialism of life in the West has been built on the extrovert as-
sumption that man is merely a compound of intellect and the senses. The en-
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Sribas Goswami
tire endeavourer of the Western intelligentsia has been devoted to the acquisi-
tion of the relative knowledge of Nature and provision of the material means
of living. Philosophy follows science there and has restricted its field of inves-
tigation mainly to the perceptible nature. But relative knowledge is incomplete,
and even delusive, if it ignores the absolute values. This error has been com-
mitted by the West with the result that chaos and unrest have been increas-
ing there inspite of its sophisticated mode of living and opulence.
The West has no solution to this problem because; according to the
Western psychological conception the attainment of perfect inner peace is
practically impossible. On the other hand the relative knowledge of nature has
been almost lacking in the way of life of the East, which is based on intro-
vert values. In course of time the Eastern knowledge of the absolute degener-
ated and the mode of living became deformed. And of late the tide of West-
ern relative knowledge, which has swept over the East, has made human life
in this hemisphere confused and disharmonious, like that of the West (Avi-
nashalingam 1974).
So the solution of the present psychical problem of the world is that the
field of inquiry of the philosophy of life should be the whole being and the
absolute Truth. Scientific research, which is based on the relative knowledge
of the relative phenomena of nature, should be coupled with the quest of the
absolute Being. Many Indian Philosophers and social scientists have offered
a unique thesis, based on the synthesis of the creative faculty of the Indian
philosophy and the relative knowledge of the West, to fulfil this universal need.
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The “philosophy” of Indian culture…
these four great cultures evolved various aspects of the human personality-
the Greeks, the modern Europeans and the ancient Chinese and the Indians
developed aesthetic sense, living conditions, social environment and the psy-
chic force respectively. Their synthesis would provide a basis for one integral
culture of humanity (Burke 1984).
Swami Vivekananda for example advanced his spiritual research on these
lines. Although his entire philosophical literature was written in English, its
style is purely Indian. It is based on the Veda, Upanishads, Bhagawad Gita and
Tantra Shastra, and includes Western scientific thought. His integrated system
of philosophy is universal (Bhargava, 1998). Being spiritual and Yogic, it recog-
nizes the utility of intellectual pursuits and does not encourage renunciation of
worldly life. It is not merely a collection of the principles of different systems
of philosophy but has its own tenets, the chief of which are (Bhargava 2005):
1. Self-preservation, self-repetition and self-multiplication are the predom-
inant instincts of all material existence. Life is the animated association
of matter, mind and spirit. Spirit is eternal entity. Matter and mind are
its workings. Spirit is concealed and has to revealed in the process of
cosmic evolution. Mind and matter are the means by which it seeks to
reveal itself. This is the yogic relationship among matter, mind, spirit
and life.
2. There is perpetual evolution in the cosmos. From matter to vegetation,
from vegetation to animal and from animal to man, in this sequence the
creation evolved. But vegetation could not have emanated out of mat-
ter had life not been inherent in the latter, because it is not possible for
consciousness to evolve from unconsciousness. The evolution of life in
matter and of mind in life.
The atoms of matter are a dynamic congregation of electric charges, like
solar system. Their fundamental principle is electronic energy. Inertness
is merely their apparent characteristic. And the basis of that electron-
ic energy is some conscious force. In accordance with the Law of Invo-
lution that conscious force adopts self-forgetfulness voluntarily. In due
course such self-forgetfulness becomes the basis of self-fulfillment and
evolution progresses. ‘Brahman’ (‘the Divine’ in the terminology of Sri
Aurobindo) is the ultimate principle of the universe. He manifests Him-
self in the cosmos-in matter, in vegetation, in animals, and in man. Mat-
ter is insert, vegetation is endowed with vital consciousness in a dormant
stage, the consciousness of animals is characterized by sensitivity only,
and that of man by the additional mental faculty of contemplation. But
as yet the consciousness of man is extrovert and imperfect. The goal of
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Sribas Goswami
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The “philosophy” of Indian culture…
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Sribas Goswami
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The “philosophy” of Indian culture…
light of the Illumined Mind nor the isolated flashes of the Intuitive
Mind, but “an ocean of stable lightning”, as the Veda describes it.
e) The Supermind
This highest level is attained when the mind is completely transcend-
ed. It is the Supramental Truth-consciousness which is fully aware
of the infinite possibilities of the ‘Sat-Chit-Ananda’ and works them
out. It has never before been brought into action in the world, al-
though in individual cases human consciousness has reached this
level.
The various fields of consciousness and their relation with human per-
sonality have been illustrated in the following paragraph.
9. There are eight levels of Being- viz. (i) matter (ii) vital (‘Prana’) (iii)
mind (iv) psychic (v) Supermind (vi) ‘Ananda’ (bliss) (vii) ‘Chit’ (knowl-
edge) and (viii) ‘Sat (Truth). They are indicative of evolution in the as-
cending order from (i) to (viii) and of involution in their reverse or-
der from (viii) to (i). The being of the animal is its vital body. In it the
mind is in a very elementary state. In the normal evolution of man the
mind has reached a high state. In the next stage the psychic will be re-
vealed. After psychicization will come the stage of spiritualization and
then eventually of supramentalization. This order of the human evolu-
tion is ‘sin qua non’. Nature itself is striving for it. However, through the
discipline of Integral Yoga the evolution of the entire humanity, along
with one’s individual evolution, can be accelerated.
10. The human personality is an evolutionary entity. It is not a blank sheet
even at the time of birth. It appears in the world with many inclinations
and aptitudes, from its past incarnations. It then vanishes for eventu-
al rebirth after some more evolution in life. Once a psychic (individu-
al soul) takes birth as a human being its rebirth also normally occurs
in the human race. On leaving the physical body the psychic rests for
a certain specified period (which varies for different individual souls)
in its inner realm, after passing through vital and mental regions along
with its subtle body. There it digests its experiences of the past life and
chalks out the outline of the new personality to be adopted by it in the
next life. In the meantime, due to some special pull it can again enter
the vital region may be full of unmitigated suffering if its vital carvings
are still strong.
Sri Aurobindo wrote several books on his system of philosophy, the chief
of which are ‘The life Divine’ and the epic ‘Savitri’. Although Sri Aurob-
indo had denied that he was a philosopher and the Mother said that
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Sribas Goswami
his teaching is not philosophy but “a decisive action direct from the Su-
preme,” the Truth revealed by him in these two master-pieces are termed
as ‘philosophy’ in common usage. Sri Aurobindo has defined ‘philoso-
phy’ thus: “All philosophy is concerned with the relations between two
things, the fundamental Truth of existence and the forms in which ex-
istence presents itself to our experience.” The gist of his philosophy is
that in the cosmic evolution life initially became manifest in inert mat-
ter and some consciousness was evolved. Thus vegetation came into be-
ing. Then oviparous and subsequently viviparous creatures were brought
into existence. Eventually man appeared on the cosmic arena. Howev-
er, the process of evolution continues and man is not its final stage.
In the great drama of the creation consciousness of the physical body
was first evolved, then vital-consciousness and then mind-consciousness.
The man of mind-consciousness behaves with the sense of ego, but the
being of the enlightened consciousness of Supermind will act only for
the good of the collectivity with an egoless attitude.
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The “philosophy” of Indian culture…
to the apex of the head, the human personality acquires tremendous power-
physical, mental and spiritual. For this purpose the Yogis devised special tech-
niques, e.g. ‘Shirsasana’ and other postures for the blood, ‘Pranayama’ for the
vital force and Yogic disciplines for the consciousness. By constant yogic prac-
tice the individual consciousness not only rise upward but can expand beyond
the gross physical body. On the other hand, consciousness is capable of being
evolved, in quality so to say, upto the highest Supramental level, within the
human body or outside it, in a infinite silence. And then peace, power, free-
dom, knowledge and bliss become manifest. Therefore the yogis came to the
supreme conclusion that the true evolution of man does not lie in becoming
more and more intelligent or more and more saintly, but in being more and
more conscious.
The Vedic Rishis discovered that the fundamental components of the en-
tire creation are two, viz., ‘Akasha’ (ether or space) and ‘Prana’ (energy). Out of
Prana all forces of the universe have emerged. Motion and thought are man-
ifestation of Prana. The ultimate source of Akasha and Prana being the same
primeval power (‘Maha Shakti’, the dynamic aspect of the Divine, in the ter-
minology of Sri Aurobindo), these two are mutually convertible, i.e., Akasha
into Prana and vice versa. And consciousness is the manifestation of that pri-
meval Power in the universe, as on the physical plane sunshine is manifesta-
tion of the sun. According to the Mundaka Upanishad (I,8) “By energism of
consciousness Brahman is massed, from that, matter is born and from mat-
ter, life and mind and the worlds”. Consciousness can be evolved to act on
matter and transform it. The ultimate conversion of matter into conscious-
ness and of consciousness into matter is the aim of Sri Aurobindo’s Internal
Yoga (Dhar 1975).
Modern science has also arrived at the similar conclusion that atom,
which is the most minute indivisible from of all substances is composed of
space, in which electronic charges move with tremendous velocity. Einstein
has proved that matter and energy are mutually convertible and that matter
is condensed energy.
According to Sri Aurobindo and eminent Indian Scholar, Consciousness
is the self aware force of existence. It is a universal dynamic and creative en-
ergy, a presence without which nothing exists in the universe. In inert and in-
sentience matter consciousness exists in the dormant state of nescience or un-
awareness, although matter appears to be inconscient. In vegetation and plants
it exists in a sleeping or subconscious state. In animals it is the primary stage
and in man in a further evolutionary stage. But man is not the last rung of the
ladder of evolution and is heading towards the next stage, that of Supramen-
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Sribas Goswami
tal being or Supermind. The further evolution (or transformation, in Sri Au-
robindo’s terminology) of the consciousness of man to the Supramental con-
sciousness can be accelerated by the ‘Sadhana’ of Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga.
In relation to the human body the various functions of consciousness are:
1. As inner conscious-force within the body
According to the Swami Vivekananda mind is an instrument of action
and formation, and not an instrument of knowledge. Spiritual life is
a vast field of the evolution of consciousness. Knowledge comes from
a higher consciousness which is evolved from the depth of the soul.
All great discoveries and inventions in the fields of spiritual and materi-
al sciences, all great works of poetry, literature, art, philosophy, admin-
istration etc. have been possible through the evolution of higher con-
sciousness in man. This truth had been established by the Vedic Rishis
(Monks). Modern science has stumbled upon the same fact without rec-
ognizing the role of consciousness in the evolutionary process of the hu-
man race. Albert Einstein, the originator of the Theory of Relativity, has
said: “The mind can proceed only so far, upon what it knows and can
prove. There comes a point upon a higher plane of knowledge, but can
never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such
a leap.”
With the ascent of the inner consciousness to higher planes the intellect
becomes more and more subtle and refined. The Vedic Rishis have de-
scribed the ascending grades of intellect (‘Buddhi’) as ‘Dhi’, ‘Medha’, ‘Pra-
jna’ and ‘Ritambhara’. The mind also mounts to higher planes of super
consciousness, viz., Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuitive Mind, and
Overmind. Ultimately, after crossing the barriers of the mind, one enters
the realm of the Truth-consciousness or Supramental consciousness.
2. As a protecting envelope of the body
In this form it is termed “Environmental consciousness” or ‘Circumcon-
scient’. Various Yogic have also described it as ‘Aura’ and ‘Etheric body’.
According to Sri Aurobindo, if one becomes aware of the consciousness
one can erect a protective envelope around oneself, so that any vibrant
(of lust, enger, violence etc.)gets dissolved in it like smoke, instead of
entering one’s body and harming it or moving it to action. Even the up-
lifted arm of an assassin or the leap of a snake or tiger can be stopped
by it, as was witnessed on several occasions in the life of Gautama Bud-
dha. The circum-conscient can also be evolved as sufficiently sensitive to
disclose to us a person’s approach before hand or make us avoid a mis-
hap just at the moment it is going to overtake us.
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The “philosophy” of Indian culture…
37
Sribas Goswami
Conclusion
Human has created a system of civilization which has become too big
for his limited mental capacity and understanding. Indian culture still con-
tains in her culture and philosophy the key to reconciliation. The real import
of a culture is revealed by the orientation it gives to the way of life and the
type of men it moulds by its manifold creative facets. The essence of spiritual
dimensions of Indian culture is wisdom (Sheth, 1999). The concept of spirit-
ual unity of all existence in Indian culture broadened the religious outlook of
India people and fostered inter religious harmony. The Iranians, Greeks, the
Arabs, the Mongols and finally the Europeans – all have contributed to the en-
richment of Indian culture. All major religions of the world have also poured
their ideas and visions into the stream of the cultural heritage of India. A sci-
ence oriented spiritualized culture of India will help to make a room for new
field of research on physical sciences and social sciences.
Nothing but a radical change of consciousness can deliver the world
from its present obscurity. Indeed this transformation of the consciousness is
not only possible but certain. First consciousness must be transformed, then
life, then forms, that’s how Indian culture shows the path to new generation.
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