Re-looking Indian Philosophy for the 21st Century - Lecture Notes - Indian Philosophy - Dr. S. Panneerselvam, Study notes of Indian Philosophy

Download Re-looking Indian Philosophy for the 21st Century - Lecture Notes - Indian Philosophy - Dr. S. Panneerselvam and more Study notes Indian Philosophy in PDF only on Docsity! Joshi - Bedekar College, Thane / website : www.vpmthane.org National Seminar on Indian Philosophy: It’s Relevance in the 21st Century - 18th & 19th January, 2008 7 Philosophy consists of reflection on man’s experience in relation to himself. But a reflection on one’s experience is based on what type of philosophy one is subscribing to. By “type of philosophy”, we mean whether one is rooted in one’s own tradition or rooted in “borrowed tradition” of the west. If a person develops his reflection on a borrowed tradition, then one must also see how far this will help. K. Satchidananda Murty in his book, Philosophy in India,1 argues that there were three different conceptions of philosophy prevailed in India at different periods. (i) Philosophy as the rational, critical and illuminating review of the contents of theology, economics and political science and also as the right instrument and foundation of all action and duty, which helps one to achieve intellectual balance, (dnvikãiki), (ii) Philosophy as a system of ideas comprising epistemology, metaphysics and ethics, (darsana) and (iii) Philosophy as the intuitive network of views regarding man, his nature and destiny, nature and the Ultimate Reality or God (popular philosophy). Of these, the second conception is found in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit sources and the third is expressed in other Indian languages. Philosophers in India are concerned with all the three conceptions of philosophy though philosophers choose their conceptions based on their interest. But a total understanding of Indian philosophy becomes complete only through the understanding of all three conceptions of philosophy taken together. When Indian philosophy was dwindling under the yoke of British rule, and English missionaries with a view to exposing weakness of Indian thought and culture and establishing superiority of their own, writing books and translating a number of religious and philosophic works in Sanskrit, a new wave of consciousness was created in India. The coming of the Europeans and the establishment of a vast British Re-looking Indian Philosophy for the 21st Century Department of Philosophy, University of Madras, Chennai sps@md4.vsnl.net.in Empire on Indian soil in the 19th century, no doubt, opened a new chapter in the cultural and political history of India. The Orientalists have made an attempt to revive Indian philosophy. The western knowledge based Indian intellectuals had their visions coloured by the western world. They began to judge Indian concepts in western terms. The dynamic civilization of the west began to break the age-old Indian traditions and ideals. At one stage, it was even felt that the ancient Indian civilization would just be replaced by the western. Rammohun Roy, the father of Modern India emerged during this period, followed by Swami Vivekananda, Swami Rama Tirtha and others. These western educated Indians were appalled at the plight of their countrymen who were reluctant to leave their ancestral heritage and embrace the alien cultural patterns and values imposed on them. The translation of many ancient Sanskrit texts into English by the Orientalists and their publication by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, under the general title “Sacred Books of the East” helped the Indians to know the significance of their rich spiritual heritage. They felt the need to defend it. But they also understood the necessity of accommodating and absorbing certain trends of western civilization, into the fabric of Indian culture, without affecting the essential root bases of the ancient past. In order to suit modern conditions, they sought to revise their ancient pattern of thoughts. They interpreted for example, the Vedanta texts in the light of the ideas stemmed from the west by means of their intuitive experiences and offered the necessary ethos best suited to the Indian mind in the modern context. The west is a symbol of the new age as well as new knowledge to Roy and Vivekananda. Roy who had his spiritual roots firmly in the Vedanta also had profound knowledge of the great philosophical thoughts of the west. Different western movements were familiar to him. It was he who had put India on the march towards progress and freedom. In the works of Roy, Aurobindo, Dr. S. Panneerselvam National Seminar on Indian Philosophy: It’s Relevance in the 21st Century - 18th & 19th January, 2008 Joshi - Bedekar College, Thane / website : www.vpmthane.org8 Radhakrishnan and others we find a conscious attempt to reverse the direction in which the western-oriented intellectuals had previously studied Indian thought. Instead of assessing Indian ideas in western terms, they assessed western ideas in Indian terms. Contemporary Indian philosophy took an important dimension in 1917 and scholars classify the development of contemporary Indian philosophy into two periods: (1) The period from 1917 to 1947 and (2) from 1947 onwards. During 1917-1920, two important events took place in Indian history. Gandhi became the leader of the national liberation movement in 1917 and Aurobindo’s philosophy became prominence. Aurobindo was dissatisfied with the traditional as well as the western Indologists’ way of understanding the Vedas. He made a significant contribution in shaping the contemporary Indian philosophy. For this reason, some consider him as the father of contemporary Indian philosophy. Similarly, Radhakrishnan as an interpreter of Indian thought gave a new direction to Indian philosophy. His commentaries on the texts were always refreshingly original. He firmly believed that his role as a commentator was to disclose the relevance and the topicality of the central truths of the scriptures to our nuclear age. During the post-independence period, three important works on contemporary Indian philosophy were published by the modern scholars teaching in different Universities. They are as follows: 1. Current Trends in Indian Philosophy, (1972) (eds.) K. Satchidananda Murty and K. Ramakrishna Rao, 2. Contemporary Indian Philosophy (second series) (1974) (ed.) Margaret Chatterjee and 3. Indian Philosophy To-day, (1975) (ed.) N.K. Devaraja. It has been generally viewed that the above works published during 1970-80, mainly examine western philosophical thinking. The articles published in these books deal with western philosophical issues and discussions on Indian philosophy is comparatively less. Hence there has been a criticism that Indian Philosophy has lost its direction and if at all it has to survive, there must be some direction. Why did this problem occur? The problems that are faced by Indian philosophers are partly due to lack of Sanskrit knowledge and also partly due to the influence of the anti-metaphysical trend in Anglo-American analytical philosophy has produced a rift, a sort of crisis of communication among traditional scholars. We can classify philosophers in India into three major groups: (1) Group of philosophers who are well trained in classical Indian tradition but lack both the knowledge of any foreign language and the tools of philosophizing. (2) Group of philosophers who are basically trained in western philosophy, especially in existentialism, phenomenology and analytical philosophies. These philosophers altogether reject Indian philosophy and they believe that Indian philosophy has nothing to contribute and (3) The group of philosophers who are good both in western and Indian philosophy; these philosophers try to apply the western models or tools to Indian philosophical problems. It is the third group of philosophers who could bring a real change in Indian philosophy. How far we are productive? How are our indigenous methods or techniques acceptable? Are we prepared to accept something from other culture to suit us? What does translation of western ideas into our own native idea mean? All these questions can be addressed to the third group of philosophers, as they alone are capable of answering and solving the problems of philosophy. The Sanskrit pundits, belonging to the first group are not in a position to translate their ideas into any of the foreign of languages and hence the outsider finds it difficult to understand them. The western philosophers living in India, i.e., the second group of philosophers write mainly for the Indian scholars in India. Suresh Chandra points out that Indian scholars writing on western literature is not taken seriously by the west.2 Thus the future of Indian philosophy depends on the synthetic and assimilative approach of Indian philosophers towards contemporary western philosophy. The Indian philosopher of to day must, widen his perspective and sharpen his philosophic tools through a thorough and careful study of a balanced assimilation of the movements of contemporary western philosophy. In other words, “we must become philosophically alive and active”.3 1 . K. Satchidandana Murty, Philosophy in India, Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi and Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, 1991, p.vii. 2 . Suresh Chandra’s Report, in Philosophy in India , Ibid., p. 151. 3 . Ibid., p. 152.