Nyaya-Vaisheshika (critical and historical study) by Aruna Rani; 1973

INTRODUCTION 

Philosophy--its Concept and Aim. Ever since the dawn of civilization, man has been constantly engaged in the pursuit of unravelling the mystery of nature with a view to arriving at the fundamental values of life. Today, the world is in a state of turmoil, the causes of which seem to be beyond man's comprehension and capabilities. Paradoxically enough, man seems to be lost in the world of plenitude. His soul is starved in the midst of unbounded materialistic pleasures and comforts that science and technology of today have placed at his disposal. Now man Now man every where is bedevilled by complex and complicated moral, cultural and social issue s. The harder he strives to extricate himself out of the web of these problems, the more he is caught and involved in it. Underneath the morass of conflicting values lies man's quest for the real meaning of life and the destiny to which it leads. With all the scientific and technological revolutions that humanity has achieved so far, we have not risen above the level of satisfying the bare physical needs of man. Science does not help us to discuss the fundamental moral and spiritual values of life or 'how to live' and here, we see that the advancement of science has led to mankind's lopsided growth and development. A large number of questions pose themselves for an answer: What is the meaning and purpose of life? What is the real nature of man? What is the end of this life? What is the nature of the world in which he lives? Is there any creator of this world? How should man live in the light of his knowledge of himself, the world and God? These are some of the many problems taken at random which we find agitating the human mind from the very dawn of civilisation. The modern science has failed to answer some of these vital questions. Indian philosophy, on the other hand, has addressed itself to the solution of these vital problems. Indian philosophy is essentially a philosophy of values. A philosophical system in India is called moksa-sastra, the science of liberation, including the art of realizing it. A turn towards spiritualism is the greatest need of our age. It is only spiritualism which can save the suffering humanity. Philosophy had from the earliest days two different objectives which were believed to be closely inter-related. On the one hand it tried to discover structure of the world, on the other hand it 8 tried to discover and inculcate the best possible way of life. But, this should not mislead us to arrive at the conclusion that science and philosophy are two different paths. The truth is that philosophy is related to science. However, this relationship does not mount to complete dependence, semi-independence or independence of one upon the other. In the ultimate analysis, all knowledge, whether of science or philosophy, leads to the benefit of mankind. That is why, many contemporary philosophical schools, and not only the openly scientific minded ones, have greatly contributed to the classification of what Kant called 'the factum of science'. Philosophy implies a natural and basic urge in human beings to know about themselves and the world around them. It is an attempt to investigate the nature of the concept of Reality pertaining to Nature, Soul, and God. Bertrand Russell in his essay on 'Philosophy" s Ulterior Motives' states: "To the completely unintellectual, general doctrines are unimportant; to the man of science, they are hypotheses to be tested by experiment; while to the philosopher they are mental habits which must be justified somehow if he is to find life endurable." Thus, philosophy implies the enquiry into the phenomenon of life and its various permutations and combinations. It is rather impossible for man to live intelligently without a sound knowledge of philosophy. An eminent English writer, while emphasizing the importance of philosophy stated: "Men live in accordance with their philosophy of life, their conception of the world. This is true even of the most thoughtless. It is impossible to live without a metaphysic. The choice that is given us is not between some kind of metaphysic and no metaphysic; it is always between a good metaphysic and a bad metaphysic. 2 Philosophy in its widest etymological sense means 'love of knowledge'. Western philosophy has remained more or less true to the etymological meaning of philosophy, in being essentially an intellectual quest for abstract truth. Western philosophy is guided by theoretical interest. In the West, it is generally understood by philosophy, in so far as the latter is only a rational demonstration of what a man should do to truly better himself or of ultimate verities which are already 1. Bertrand Russell: Unpopular Essays, Unwin Books, Lomon, 1968, Page 48. 2. Aldous Huxley, Ends and Keans, Page 252. realized by experience, as facts. Independent reflection untrammelled by authority is the foundation of Western philosophy. This view has been expressed by Plato in his dialogue with his disciple Glaucon in the following words: "You see, then, Glaucan that this study is really indispensable for our purpose, since it forces the mind to arrive at pure truth by the exercise of the pure thought."1 Indian philosophy, on the other hand, does not 80 wholly with the etymological meaning of philosophy. It goes beyond it--it is not merely speculative but it has both theoretical and practical aspects. We Indians, unlike the western philosophers, think that philosophy does not mean puszling out intellectual thought and problems; but it is a light with which we should illuminate all the dark corners of our being and realize in this life the ideals that are set up before us by our thought and wisdom. Indian attitude towards philosophy emphasizes that philosophical endeavours should not stop at the intellectual discovery of truth alone--it should inspire a man to reach a stage of enlighterment there by transforming his behaviour and outlook upon the world. The object of Indian philosophy 1. Plato, The Republic, Book VII. is not merely to be able to agree with wisdom, but to transform ourselves into perfectly wise beings, enjoying absolute freedom from all bondage and the bliss that follows from it. Indian philosophy believes that the world about us is a moral world and that by following a moral life both objectively and subjectively we are bound to attain perfection at some time or other. The philosophy in India began with a quest after the truth--truth not as mere objective certitude but as one which was closely linked up with the development of our personality for the attainment of the highest freedom, bliss and wisdom. To achieve this end, Indian philosophy aims at the direct realization of the Atman, which alone will bring absolute cessation of miseries and establish perfect peace and manifest bliss. sruti says: "Atman should be visualized. It is the Atman of which we should hear from the srutis, it is the Atman of which we should reason, and upon which we should meditate; O Maitreyil it is through the direct realization of the Atman, achieved through gravana manana and nididhyasana that everything is known. The idea of realization of Atman is born out by the 1. Brahdarnakya Upanisad, 2.4.5. Use of the word 'darsana' for a system of philosophy in India. 'Darsana' means vision. This may be either physical or intuitive. But in the present context, it should be understood in the latter sense. It stand for the direct, immediate and intuitive vision of the Reality as a whole. Thus, it is clear from the above that the use of the word 'philosophy' for 'darsana' is quite misleading unless we bear in mind the fundamental difference between the concept of 'darsana' and that of 'philosophy'. But for want of But for want of a more appropriate word, we are constrained to retain the term 'philosophy', but we must not lose sight of the distinction mentioned above. To achieve the highest end, 1.e., vision of Atman, most systems of Indian philosophy are associated with some form of monastic life which the highest spiritual aspirants may adopt for a fuller realization of their goal. Accordingly, almost all the systems of Indian philosophy aim at the true knowledge of the Atman according to their own angles of vision for achieving their end. Before we take up a historical, critical and synthetic study of the Nyaya-Vaisesika system (the subject of our study in this monograph), it would be useful to examine in brief all the systems of Indian philosophy. This would help us in understanding and evaluating the place of this system of philosophy vis-a-vis the other system of Indian philosophy.

The systems of Indian philosophy are divided into two broad classes, namely, orthodox (astika) and heterodox (nastika). To the first group belong the six chief philosophical systems (popularly known as saddarsana), namely, Mimamsa, Vedanta, Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, and Vaisesika. These are regarded as orthodox (astika), not because they believe in God but because they accept the authority of the Vedas. The Mimaisa and the Samkhya do not believe in God as the creator of the world, yet they are called orthodox (astika) because they believe in the authoritativeness of the Vedas. Under the heterodox, there are three schools, viz., the Carvaka, the Bauddha and the Jaina. Out of these three heterodox schools, the Carvakas are materialists. They believe in the reality of matter only. They do not recognize the reality of the soul and God. The Bauddhas are phenomenalists. They believe in the reality of phenomena, changes, or impermanance; they the indian philosophical systems orthodox (recognizing the authority of the ve das) schools directly based on vedic texts mimamsa (emphasising the ritualistic aspect of the vedas) vedanta (emphasising the speculative aspect of the vedas) prabhakar school kumarila school schools based on independent grounds advaita visistadvaita vedanta vedanta hetrodox (rejecting the authority of the vedas) carvaka bauddha jaina vaibhasikas sautrantikas yogacaras madhyamikas t sam khya yoga nyaya vaisesika do not recognize the reality of permanence. There are different schools of Bauddhas. The Vaibhasikas and the Sautrantikas are realists. They believe in the reality of external objects. The former advocate direct realism, and maintain that external objects are directly perceived. The latter advocate indirect realism, and maintain that impermanent external objects are inferred from their ideas in the mind. The Yogacaras are generally subjective idealists. They hold that there are no external objects; they are nothing but cognitions of the percipient mind which is a strem of consciousness. The Madhyamikas hold that there are neither external objects nor internal cognitions; they are mere appearances; the reality is essenceless, predicateless, undefinable and incomprehensible. The Jainas are dualists. They believe in the reality of souls and non-soul. The non-soul includes matter. The Jainas are atheists. They do not believe in God as the creator of the world. Reality for the Jainas is not merely many, but manifold (anekanta); the formulation of it in thought is, therefore, manifold (syadvada, sapta-bhangi-naya). The Jainas cannot, therefore, subscribe to the logic of pure identity or difference, but accepts a disjunction of all modes. Among the orthodox schools, the Mimasa (or Purva-Nimamsa) School was founded by Jaimini. It is also called 'Karma-Mimem sa' because it lays stress on the performance of duties prescribed by the Vedas. In its view, individual souls can attain liberation by action (karma) and knowledge (jnana). There are two schools of Mimesa founded by Prabhakar and Kumarila. Both the schools admit the self-validity of knowledge, eternity of the Vedas, and eternity of sounds, and reject the concept of God as the creator of the world and the composer of the Vedas. But But there are essential differences between the two schools in connection with their epistemology and ontology. Prabhakar school of Mimama admits five premanas, viz., perception, inference, comparison, testimony and postulation; while the Kumarila school adds non-perception and thus admits six promanas. In connection with the ontology, Prabhakara recognizes the categories of substance, quality, action, generality, inherence, force and similarity. He rejects the Vaise sika categories of particularity and non-existence. Kumarila admits the categories of substance, quality, action, generality and non-existence. He rejects the Vaise sike categories of particularity and inherence. He rejects the categories of force and similarity recognized by Prabhakara. The Mimamsa philosophy is realistic as it admits the reality of the world and the finite souls. But it is atheistic as it does not believe that there is a Supreme Soul or God who has created the world. It believes that the world is composed of matter in accordance with the karmas of the souls. The law of kama is a spontaneous moral law that rules the world. The Vedanta School deals with the nature and knowledge of Bratman. The teachings of the Upanisad s are systematized in 'Brahma-Sutra' of Badarayana. Subsequent writers have written commentaries on the se Sutras. As a result of the interpretation of the sutras by different scholars, there arose two main schools of the Vedanta system: (1) the Advaita Vedanta founded by Samkara, and (2) the Visistadvaita Vedanta founded by Ramanuja. Sankara denies duality. kara denies duality. He regards the indeterminate Brahman as the ontological reality; and God, the individual souls and the world as phenomenal appearances which have only empirical reality. The world-appearance is false; it is a modification of 'May a' which is mither existent nor non-existent, but indefinable. The finite self is identical with Brahman, which is the eternal, undifferenced, pure consciousness and bliss. It realizes its real nature when it destroys avidya and acquires vidya or knowledge that has been imparted by the Vedanta. Ramanuja is the founder of the Visistedvaita Vedanta. He identifies Brahman with Isvara, and regards him as the creator, preserver and destroyer of the world, and the Lord of the Law of Karna. He conceives of God as endowed with excellent qualities and devoid of impure qualities. He recognizes internal difference within Brakman. According to Ramanuja, though God is the only Reality and there is nothing out side God, yet within God there are many other realities. Creation of the world and the objects created are all as real as God. It is, therefore, not unqualified monism (advaita), but a monism of the one qualified by the presence of many parts (Visistedvaita). The Samkhya is a philosophy of dualistic realism, attributed to the sage Kapila. It admits two ultimate realities, namely, Purusa and Prakrti, which are independent of each other in respect of their existence Purusa is conscious, inactive and immutable while the Prakrti is unconscious, active and mutable. There are different Purusas or individual selves related to different bodies, for when some men are happy, others are unhappy, some die but others live. Prakrti is composed of sattva, rajas and tamas, which are finer than atoms and modified into all physical, biological and psychical entities. The mind (manas), the intellect (buddhi), and egoism (ahaikara) are modifications of prakrti, which is the root evolvent of matter, life and mind. The theory of evolution has been propounded by the sankhya in a scientific manner. The souls are eternally pure and liberated. They are reflected in buddhi which is transparent, but erroneously identify themselves with it, and are bound to impirical life. They wrongly think themselves to be enjoying, suffering and acting agents. Non-discrimination is the cause of their bondage. Discrimination is the cause of their liberation. When they know themselves to be absolutely distinct from their minds and bodies, they realize their intrinsic freedom and absolute purity. This is state of liberation or kaivalya. Sankhya system rejects the notion of God as the creator of the world. According to it, the inherent teleology in prakrti is sufficient to explain the creation; and the intervention of God is superfluous and unnecessary. Thus, Samkhya system does not believe in That is why it has been called 'NirIgvara' (atheistic Saikhya). Some Samkhya commentators and writers, however, try to show that the system admits the existence of God as the supreme person who is the witness but not the creator of the world. God. The Yoga system, founded by sage Patanjali, is closely allied to the sankhya. It mostly accepts the epistemology and the metaphysics of the Samkhya, but admits also the existence of God. Hence it is called theistic Sakhya. The special feature of this system is the comprehensive treatment of the art of yoga, which is assumed to be one of the methods of achieving moksa by all other systems. According to this system, yoga consists in the cessation of all mental functions (cittavrttinirodha). Yoga seeks to uproot the unconscious individual and racial dispositions (samskara) of false knowledge (avidya) which is the cause of bondage. It is means to the intuitive realization of the self as an eternally pure and free spirit. The Nyaya and the Vaig sika schools founded by Gautama and Kanada respectively, though different in their origin and early develoment, were amalgamated later on into one syneretic school known as NyayaVaise sika system. Nyaya is primarily concerned with the conditions of correct thinking and means of acquiring true knowledge of reality; and the Vaise sika system formulates its ontological structure on the basis of seven padarthas, namely, dravya, guna, karma, samanya, videsa, samavaya and abhava. Whitehead correctly remarks, " Vaisesika attempts to exhibit in one system the characters and inter-relations of all that is observed." Thus, while the Vaise sika represents the positive, constructive or creative side of the combined school, the Nyaya represents its defensive side. In fact, the Nyaya and the Vaise sika supplemented each other in respect of their subjects and styles. Hence the two philosophies were called Samana-tantra or allied systems. The above mentioned systems of Indian philosophy are not contradictory; they are closely connected together and present an integrated development of thought. The six systems having sprung from a common bed--the Vedas, aim at the true knowledge of the Atman according to their own angles of vision just as the different rivers flowing from the common spring, flow in different directions. Dr. Radha Krishnan also supported this idea. He said, "They are regarded as the expression of a single mind, which has built up the great temple though it is divided into numerous walls and vestibules, passages and pillars." Score In the recent past, because of the establishment 1. Whitehead, The Concept of Nature, Page 185. 2. Dr. Radha Krishnan: Indian Philosophy, Vol. II, Page 769. of the Mohammed an supremacy and later the Christian missionary movement, there has been a decline in the propagation and research of the true ideals of the human life as have been enshrined in the Indian philosophy. These ideals were cherished in the past and were held in high esteem by the people in a great part of the world. Professor Liang Chi-Cho in his article on 'The Influence of India on Burma and Caylon' admits the contributions of India to Chinese literature and art, et Dr. B.N. Seal has also found that "Hindus' scientific ideas and methodology (e.g., the inductive method or methods of Algebraic analysis) have deeply influenced the course of natural philosophy in Asia--in the East as well as in the West--In China and Japan as de st--In well as in the 'Sarace an Empire c'. 2 22 1. India taught us to embrace the idea of absolute freedom, that fundamental freedom of mind, which enables it to shake off all the fetters of past tradition and habit as well as the present customs of a particular age--that spiritual freedom which casts off the enslaving forces of material existence.... Imia also taught us the idea of absolute love, that pure love towards all living beings which eliminates all obsessions of jealousy, anger, impatience, disgust and emulation, which express itself in deep pity and sympathy for the foolish, the wicked and the sinful--that absolute love which recognizes the inseparability between all beings." (Visha Bharati Quarterly, October 1924) 2. Dr. B.N.Seal, "Positive Sciences of the ancient Hindus, quoted in The Vaise sika sutras of Kanada (ed.) by Major B.D. Basu, Vijaya Press, 1923, Page 1.

 But today India is no longer playing her historie role as the vanguard of higher knowledge. Dr. Radha Krishnan has also remarked in this connection that the river that has flowed down the centuries so strong and full, is likely to end in a stagnant waste of waters. In order to revive the philosophical interest of the Indians particularly the academicians and scholars, we have studied in this monograph the Nyaya-Vaise si ka system, which on account of its advocacy of realism and common-genge in its outlook, is bound to have universal appeal to the modern mind. The approach of the Nyay aVaice sika system to the universe is purely a realistic one. This joint system reflects a more purely scientific and philosophical attitude towards world phenomenon than the other philosophical systems of Indian philosophy. Hence this system has been studied from all its angles. It has been examined in the context of its historical development as the system has been interpreted by the authors and commentators according to the values of life prevailing in their times. An attempt has been made to compare the main theories and concepts of this system with those of the other Indian philosophical systems, so as to bring about a critical analysis of the system. It has been already explained that the Nyaya and the Vaise sika were two independent systems in their origin but later on merged into one syncretic school, 1.0., Nyaya - Vaise sika system. In this monograph, the nature and extent of melgemation between the two systems has been exmined. A serious problem facing Indian philosophy today, is whether it is to be reduced to a cult, restricted in scope and with no application to the present facts or whether it is to be made alive and real, so as to become one of the greatest formative elements in human progress, by relating the immensely increased knowledge of modern science to the ancient ideals of India's philosophers. All signs indicate that the future is bound up with the latter alternative Recently, there has been a growing consciousness in the Government of Imia in this direction; it has se up a 'Research Institute of Ancient Scientific Studies' to go into the past philosophies of India in order to collect the knowledge that may be useful today. The director of this institute pointed out that there is a great wealth and variety of material in our literature and a great effort is needed to bring this ancient knowledge to the notice of scientists of the present day. Encouraged by such attempts, we have tried to go into the phenomenon of science and relate the scientific knowledge with that of Nyaya-Vaise sika system. Limitations: The writer of this thesis is basically a student of Sanskrit language with special aptitude and interest in Indian philosophy. The writer, though interested in basic sciences like Chemistry, Physics and Geology, etc., claims no special knowledge of these subjects. Hence, there was a great handicap in assimilating and comparing some of the common concepts existing in the Nyaya-Vales sike system under study and the basic sciences. However, with the assistance of scientific scholars, it has been tried to compare the worldly phenomenon between this philosophical system and the sciences. But, we think that this is a potential and fascinating area of research where the joint collaboration of Sanskrit, Philosophy and Science scholars can really contribute to the advancement of knowledge,