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Written by Sri Swami Chandrashekarendra
Saraswati |
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Vaisesika takes up the thread of inquiry from where Nyaya leaves it with
its pramanas. According to the great sage Kanada, the founder of
Vaisesika, everything ultimately is made up of atoms. Isvara created the
world by different combinations of atoms. In both Nyaya and Vaisesika,
the cosmos and the individual self are entities separate from Isvara.
As we inquire into the origin of conscious life and the insentient atom
and
go step by step ahead in our inquiry, we realise in the end the monistic
truth that everthing is the manifestation or disguise of the same
Paramataman. Nayaya is an intermediate stage to arrive at this truth.
Naya or Tarka (logic) gives rationalism its due place, but this does not
lead
to materialism, atheism or the Lokayata system. Through intellectual
inquiry, Nyaya comes to the conclusion that, if the world is so orderly
with so many creatures in it, all of them interlinked, there must be an
Isvara to have created it. Nyaya recognises that there are areas that
cannot be comprehended by human reason and that the truths that
cannot be established rationally must be accepted according to how the
Vedas see them. This means that Nyaya takes every care to see that
reasoning does not take a course that is captious (remember what I told
you about the Acarya's view that tarka should not become kutarka) and
that it leads to the discovery of truth.
To examine something with the instrument of knowledge is to purify that
very knowledge. It is also a means of obtaining intellectual clarity.
When
there is lucidity the truth that is beyond the reach of this very
intellect
will appear to us in a flash. [In other words there will be an intutive
perception of the truth].
It is indeed commendable to have faith in the Lord and in the sastras
even
without carrying out any intellectual inquiry. But are we able to have
such
complete faith that will take us across worldly existence? Instead of
idling
away one's time, without making any intellectual effort to discover the
truth, would it not be better to keep thinking even if it be to arrive
at the
conclusion that there is no God? A person who does so is superior to the
idler who has no intellectual concern whatsoever. Perhaps the athesit,
where he to continue his inquiry, would develop sufficient intellectual
clarity to give up his atheism. But the idler has no means of advancing
inwardly.
This is one reason why even "Carvakam" was accepted as a system in
India. "Caru-vakam"="Carvakam”: that which is pleasing to the ear.
Carvakam believes that there is no need to worry about God or any Sprit
or to observe vows and fasts or to control one's senses. Live as you
please
according to your whims and according to the dictates of your senses.
Sorrow, however, is inevitable even in a life in which we consciously
seek
pleasure. Indeed sorrow will predominate. The purpose of religion is
overcoming sorrow. |
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