Nyaya / Vedanta - The Philosophy of Logic and Reasoning
Nyaya - The Philosophy of Logic and Reasoning
The nyaya system of philosophy was established by the sage Gautama. As he was also known as Aksapada, this system is also sometimes referred to as the aksapada system. Nyaya philosophy is primarily concerned with the conditions of correct knowledge and the means of receiving this knowledge. Nyaya is predominantly based on reasoning and logic and therefore is also known as Nyaya Vidya or Tarka Sastra -- "the science of logic and reasoning", Because this system analyzes the nature and source of knowledge and its validity and nonvalidity, it is also referred to as anviksiki, which means "the science of critical study." Using systematic reasoning, this school of philosophy attempts to discriminate valid knowledge from invalid knowledge.
This philosophy asserts that obtaining valid knowledge of the external world and its relationship with the mind and self is the only way to attain liberation. If one masters the logical techniques of reasoning and assiduously applies these in his daily life, he will rid himself of all suffering. Thus, the methods and conditions of determining true knowledge are not the final goal of nyaya philosophy; logical criticism is viewed only as an instrument that enables one to discriminate valid from invalid knowledge. The ultimate goal of nyaya philosophy, like that of the other systems of Indian philosophy, is liberation -- the absolute cessation of pain and suffering. Nyaya is a philosophy of life, even though it is mainly concerned with the study of logic and epistemology.
The Nature of the Physical World
The nyaya system groups all the objects of the world into twelve major categories: soul, body, senses, objects of the senses, cognition (buddhi), mind (manas), activity, mental modifications, rebirth, feelings, suffering, and absolute freedom from all sufferings. Not all these objects of knowledge are found in the physical world because the physical world is composed only of the four gross elements -- earth, water, air and fire . Although the soul and the mind are involved in the physical world, they are not physical elements. Likewise, time and space are completely nonmaterial, but they nonetheless belong to the physical world. Ether and time and space are also eternal and infinite substances, each being one single whole. All in all, the nyaya theory of the physical world is very similar to that of the vaisesika school, and a more detailed discussion of this world view will be provided in the next chapter.
The Concept of the Individual Soul
There are many apparently different concepts of the soul among the various schools of Indian philosophy. The carvaka system states that the soul consists of the living physical body and its attributes. According to Buddhist philosophy, there is no soul. Buddhism teaches that the stream of ever-changing thoughts and feelings is the ultimate reality. This may be termed soul, but it is not considered to be a permanent entity, as is maintained by other philosophies.
According to the concept of soul held by the nyaya and vaisesika systems, the soul is a unique substance, of which all desires, aversions, pleasures, pains, and cognition are qualities. There are different souls in different bodies. The soul is indestructible and eternal, and its attribute is consciousness. Because it is not limited by time and space, the soul is also seen as infinite or all-pervading. There are many souls, because one person's experiences do not overlap those of another person; one's, experience is completely distinct from any other's.
Nyaya gives numerous arguments to prove the existence of the soul. It first argues that the body is not the soul because immaterial consciousness cannot be said to be an attribute of the material body, which in itself is unconscious and unintelligent. Neither can the functioning of the senses explain the process of imagination, memory, and ideation -- none of these functions depends on any external sense. The mind can also not be the soul because the mind is considered to be an imperceptible substance. Nor can the soul, as the Buddhists maintain, be identified as the ever- changing series of cognition. The soul cannot be said to be an eternal and self-effulgent consciousness because consciousness cannot subsist without a certain locus. At the same time, the soul is not mere consciousness or knowledge but is the knower of knowledge and the enjoyed of objects. In sum, the soul is not consciousness but is a substance having consciousness as its attribute.
The soul experiences the external world through the mind and senses. All the cognition and conscious states arise in the soul when the soul is related to the mind, the mind to the senses, and the senses to external objects. It is because of this sequential contact or relationship that the whole process actuates; otherwise there would be no consciousness in the soul. In its disembodied or disintegrated state, the soul has no knowledge or consciousness. How then can one know whether there is such a thing as an individual soul? The nyaya system answers that the soul is not known by sensory perception but rather by inference or testimony. The existence of the soul is inferred from the functions of desire, aversion, and volition, from the sensations of pain and pleasure, and from memories of these. These memories cannot be explained unless one admits a permanent soul that has experienced pain and pleasure in relation to certain objects in the past. The process of knowledge based on memory requires the existence of a permanent self that desires to know something and then desires to attain certain knowledge about it. Desire, volition, pain, and pleasure cannot be explained by the body, senses, or mind. Just as the experiences of one person cannot be remembered by another person, the present states of the body or the senses or the mind cannot remember their past states. The phenomenon of memory must depend upon a permanent entity -- the soul. One's own soul can be known through mental perception, but someone else's soul in another body can only be inferred.
The Concept of Liberation
Like all the other systems of Indian philosophy, the nyaya system maintains that the ultimate goal of human life is to attain liberation. By liberation is meant absolute freedom from all pain and misery. This implies a state in which the soul is completely released from all bondage and from its connection with the body. It is impossible for the soul to attain the state of complete freedom from pain and misery unless the soul is totally disconnected from the body and senses. In liberation, the soul is unconditionally and absolutely freed from all shackles forever.
To attain the state of liberation, one has to acquire true knowledge of the soul and of all the objects of experience. This knowledge is called tattva-jnana, which means "to know reality as completely distinct from unreality." Nyaya philosophy prescribes a three-stage path for reaching the goal of liberating knowledge. The first step is sravana, the study of the scriptures. One has to study the spiritual scriptures and listen to authoritative persons and saints. Following this, one must use his own reasoning powers to ponder over what he has learned. This process of rumination is called manana. Finally, one must contemplate on the soul, confirm his knowledge, and practice that truth in his life. This is called nididhyasana. Through the practice of sravana, manana, and nididhyasana, a person realizes the true nature of the soul as being totally distinct from the body, mind, senses, and all other objects of the world. The truth realized within dispels the darkness of self-identification and misunderstanding (mithya-jnana) concerning "I-ness" and "Thy-ness." When this happens, a person ceases to be moved by his passions and impulses and begins to perform his duties selflessly without having any desire to reap the fruits of these actions. The fire of true knowledge roasts one's past karma like seeds, thereby making them unable to germinate. Thus, true knowledge leads a person to the state where there is no cycle of birth and death. This state is called liberation.
The Concept of God
According to nyaya, God is considered to be the operative cause of creation, maintenance, and destruction of the universe. God does not create the world out of nothing or out of himself but rather out of the eternal atoms of space, time, mind, and soul. The creation of the universe refers to the ordering of these eternal entities, which are in coexistence with God, into a mortal world. Thus God, as the first operative cause of the universal forces, is the creator of the world. And God is also the preserver, as he causes the atoms to hold together and continue their existence in a particular order that maintains the physical universe. God is also called the destroyer of the universe, because he lets loose the forces of destruction when the energies of the mortal world require it. God is one, infinite, and eternal, and the universe of space and time, of mind and soul, does not limit him. God is said to possess six perfection's: infinite glory, absolute sovereignty, unqualified virtue, supreme beauty, perfect knowledge, and complete detachment.
Nyaya provides a few arguments to establish the theory of God. The first is the causal argument. According to this line of reasoning, the entire universe is formed by the combination of atoms. Mountains, fields, rivers, and so on must have a cause, for they are made up of parts, possess limited dimensions, and are not intelligent. This being so, they cannot be the cause of themselves; they require the guidance of an intelligent cause. That intelligent cause must have direct knowledge of all matter and of the atoms that underlie all matter. He must be omnipresent and omniscient. This intelligent entity cannot be the individual soul because the knowledge of the soul is limited -- a soul, for instance, does not have the knowledge of other souls. Therefore, there must he an ultimate intelligent entity, which is termed God.
The second argument is based on adrsta, which means "the unseen" or "the unknown," and may be translated as providence or fate. The philosophers of the nyaya system inquire as to why some people are happy and others are not, why some are wise and others ignorant. One cannot say that there is no cause, because every event has a cause. The causes of pain and pleasure must therefore be one's own actions in this life or in previous lives. People enjoy or suffer according to the merits or demerits produced by their past good or bad actions. This law of karma, which governs the life of every individual soul, requires that every human being must reap the fruits of his own actions.
There is often a long interval of time between an action and its effect, however, and many pleasures and sorrows cannot be traced to any action performed in this life. Likewise, many actions performed in this life do not produce fruits immediately. The subtle impressions of all one's actions persist long after the actions themselves and are collected in the soul in the form of credits or merits (punya) and deficiencies or demerits (papa). The sum total of all merits and demerits that are accrued from good or bad actions is called adrsta, fate, and this produces present pain and pleasure. Adrsta is not an intelligent principle, however, and it cannot inspire its own fructification. It must therefore be guided or directed by some intelligent agent to produce the proper consequences. The individual soul cannot be said to be the director or controller of adrsta because souls do not know anything about their adrsta. Thus, the almighty intelligent agent who guides or directs adrsta through the proper channels to produce the proper consequences is the eternal, omnipotent, and omnipresent supreme being termed God.
A third nyaya argument for the existence of God is based on scriptural testimony. According to this reasoning, the Vedas, Upanisads, and all other authoritative scriptures state the existence of God. These scriptures were not written by common people but were formulated by great sages who experienced truth from within. Thus, the authority of testimony depends on direct experience, which is the only source of knowledge about any and all facts. The fact of the existence of God is experienced directly by individual souls, and some of these individuals have expressed their God-realizations. The Veda expresses such direct experiences of God. Therefore, God exists.
Vedanta compared with the Christian view of creation
What about the final cause i.e. the purpose of creation? According to Augustine, God does not create to attain something, for He is infinitely perfect. He was not compelled to create, but His love inclined Him to create as an expression of His goodness. All creatures represent and participate in divine goodness. This doctrine has given rise to "the problem of evil" that has bedeviled European philosophers for centuries: if God is good and the creation is good, why is there evil? The Christian answer is that God did not create evil but permitted it to oblige man to choose between good and bad. By choosing good, man becomes more exalted that he could be in a world that was all-good.
The Vedanta-sutra takes up the question of the purpose of creation and the problem of evil in the second chapter, part one, codes 32-37. First it is established that God has no need to fulfill in creating the material world. The motive is lila, "play" -- not the play of a man who is bored or otherwise in need of recreation, but the play of exuberance of spirit (Here by the word lila we come, by the way, to the roots of our Glass Bead Game). This lila is natural to God, because He is full of self-bliss. But how can causing suffering to others by placing them in a world of birth, old age, disease and death be the sport of God? The answer is that the jivas (individual souls) who fall into the material world have their own motive for entering the creation; this motive is distinct from lila. Their motive is karma, action meant to fulfill material desires. It extends into the past even beyond the beginning of the universe to a previous universe, now destroyed, and universes before that one ad infinitum. Due to karma, some living entities are born into enjoyment and others into suffering. God is responsible for neither good nor evil, which are the fruits of the jivas' own work. Indeed, good and evil are merely dualities of material sense perception which, being temporary, are ultimately unreal. This duality arises from the souls' being divided from God. From the purely spiritual point of view, any condition in material existence is evil because it is the condition of the soul's selfish forgetfulness of God. The absolute good is love of God. God favors his devotees (or yogis) with His absolute goodness by delivering them from material realm of duality and endless karma and situating them in the spiritual realm of eternal loving service.
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