[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: six schools of philosophies
>
> How do the six philosophies differ in terms of relationship of
> atma and parmatma, ways to attain mukti, and views on whether
> world is totally imaginary or manifestation of parmatma.
>
> Raja
There are six orthodox (Astika) schools of Indian
philosophy. The only reason they are orthodox is
that the accept the validity and preterpersonal
nature of the Veda, *not* because they say anything
about belief in an Absolute.
The six schools are:
sAnkhyA -- metaphysically analyzed reality into 24
principles. The 24th is the purusha,
the individual self, which realizes its
essential nature once the knowledge of
the distinction between the other 23
items and itself dawns.
Creation is caused by a confusion of
the purusha with the non-purusha. None
of this is imaginary. They are just
different. The three guNas are very
important in this philosophical system.
Mukti is isolation (kaivalya) of the
self and its contemplation on its blissful
essence.
God does not really exist in this system.
This differentiates it from the Gita's version
of sAnkhyA, where God is the 25th real.
yoga -- an eightfold discipline that was best systematized
in its classical form by Patanjali. Mukti is
similar to sAnkhyA, in that it is a sort of
kaivalya.
This yoga is reductionist, in that one shuts
off all contact with the senses-objects and tries to
limit external cognition to the point of reducing
consciousness to bare self-identity.
Once again, this system of yoga is to be distinguished
from the Gita's version of the same. That latter
is expansionist yoga, in that consciousness is
sought to be made infinite and all-inclusive.
Yoga does also not have a theory of illusoriness
of the universe. God is important, but only in
a marginal sense as a guide to self-contemplation.
nyAya / vaisesika -- two different schools which later
joined theoretical hands. Neither of these promulgate
a theory of the illusory nature of the universe.
God is once again only marginally important.
Vaisesika can be best described as atomism. The universe
is analyzed as a compound of minute atomic particles.
NyAya basically means logic.
I do not know too much more about these systems. Perhaps
Someone else would like to comment.
pUrva-mImAmsA -- Ritualistic interpretation of the Vedas.
The entire purpose of life is to perform the Vedic
rituals to reap benefits and to continue the existence
of the universe.
The existence of an absolute God is denied.
In this school, the universe is real. In essence,
the validity of the Upanishads as providing vital
knowledge is denied, as the only important parts
of the Veda are those that are injunctive of action.
There is no permanent moksha in this school. Upon
death, the self is reborn in svarga or regions below,
or on earth itself, and once the demerit or merit
acquired by the performance of rituals has been
exhausted, they return to earthly existence.
vedanta (uttara-mImAmsA) --
The dominant school of orthodox Indian philosophy.
The various subschools disagree about the illusory
nature of the universe, the status of God, the
nature of the individual self, and their
interrelatedness. The main surviving schools which
still philosophize extensively are Visishtadvaita,
Advaita, and Dvaita (TattvavAda).
All are agreed that there is an Absolute, that
there is a blissful state of release, and that release
from then on is eternal.
Mani
