part VI - Astika Systems and Brahma Vaada

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To recollect what has been said so far,

 

Srimad Acharya does not give importance to the Nastika and Astika

classification that we are familiar with.

In his view, whichever is opposed to Brahma-Vaada is Naastika.

The schools of thought which have been refuted by Baadaraayana in SamayaPaada,

under the name

of " Samayas " those are the ones which oppose Brahma-Vaada. He showed

that in this world, any school of thought that is not Brahma-Vaada that was

there in the past,

that is there at present and that might be there in future, will all come under

one of these Samayas. These

Samayas will always be there, and will be brought to prominence

by those who do not follow BaadaraayaNa completely, and thus negating Veda

itself,

and that is why he considers all of them as Naastika.

 

The Charuvaka, Bouddha and Jaina systems started

off with the Upadesha of their respective thinkers, and not with

Pramaana-Parikshaa, and if they had started with proper Pramaana-Parikshaa

their schools of thought would not be born.

 

With this background in mind, let us examine the Astika Schools.

 

Astika systems are also known as " Shad-Darshana " under the name of Nyaya,

Vaisheshika, Samkhya,

Yoga, Poorva-Mimamsaa, and Uttara Mimamsaa - these six systems are the Astika

Schools of thought.

Among these Uttara Mimamsaa is also known as Vedanta.

 

 

Nyaya-Vaisheshika : There were Nyaya and Vaisheshika - two independent schools

of thought in the beginning.

There was Nyaya which dealt with mainly " Pramaana vichaara " and Vaisheshika

which dealt with " Prameya vichaara "

mainly and in the course of time, because of their similarities the two became

one school of thought ,

under the name Nyaya-Vaisheshika. In what took shape in these three forms,

" Pramaana " was established in the light of empirical experience and

in accordance with that Veda was accepted as Pramaana. Attempt was made to

understand the

" para-tatva " with the help of such a Pramaana,

and what came out as Siddhantha thus turned out to be Empirical i.e., Loukika

as well.

 

Like the experience that Potter is the cause for the making of the Pot, so also

Iswara is the

cause for portion of this world that is " made " .

Iswara is one of the many among the portion that is not " made " like time, space

etc.

But still as maker of this world, Ishwara is Sarvajna.

They imagined that Veda was made by the Ishwara thus conceived. This

imagination ruled their " Pramaana-Pariikshaa " and though their reasoning

appears to be quite terse,

it turns out to be a

mere imagination.

The main reason for this imagination is their

conclusion without Vichaara or enquiry that " Ishwara is the lord of this world

and veda is pramaana " .

The proof for this is in the fact

that this school of thought goes all out in establishing " what is believed to

be Ishwara " and " what is believed to be Veda " .

 

Sammkhya:

The Samkhya school agrees with the fact that this world comprises of Chetana

and Achetana,

they call the Achetana as Prakriti and Chetana as Purusha and start out with

the belief that,

 

" Prakritihi Kartree purushastu pushakarapalaashavat nirliptaha "

 

(Prakriti is the doer and Purusha is unattached, aloof like the lotus leaf)

 

 

To establish this position which it believed in, it starts out with

pramaanas. In doing so, although there is a place for Veda and

although Veda is described to be Apourusheya, the defect in this

school of thought is that Veda is used to as supportive to establish the above

said imagination.

If this school had not started out with

the above conclusion, and instead had started out with pure Pramaana-

pariikshaa, then Purusha who is Jnaatr ( Jnana-vishaya or to be known)

would not be known as Nirlipta and this school would not have a chance to start

with the

conclusion that Prakriti has kartrtva. THis whole school of thought would not

be born,

if the knowledge had set in thro Pramaana-Parikshaa that Purusha who is

Jnaatr, alone is the Kartr also.

The " aloofness " as defined by Samkhya as the state of Purusha

being left to itself is inconceivable.

 

So, having started with an imagination, the whole Samkhya school

turns out to be a mere imagination.

 

In the next email, we will examine the Yoga and PoorvaMimaamsaa schools.

 

Harihi Om Tatsat,

 

Jayakrisha Nelamangala

 

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