COMMON FEATURES OF THE INDIAN

PHILOSOPHY

SUBMITTED BY:
RADHIKA CHATURVEDI
19/BAP/175
BA PROGRAM (SEMESTER 3)
PAPER: INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

SUBMITTED TO: DR. U. M. YOGI

 Common features of Indian Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and

existence. It is a theory or attitude and acts as a guiding principle for behaviour. It
can be said to be an activity of thought which we become a way of life. It is a
critical and comprehensive enquiry in the ways in which what we know can be
used to obtain what we value. Philosophy is one of the most distinctive of all
human activities and may continue to be of importance in the life of humans
around the world.
From the Indian viewpoint the word philosophy suggests observing and surveying
existence. In Sanskrit philosophy is referred as darśana which has its root in dṛś
that means to look to view or to see. Thus darśana is a whole view revealed to the
inner self (what we term as the soul of the spirit). Thus, according to Indian view
the word philosophy is concerned with the relation of nature of reality or the
vision of ultimate truth and reality.

The philosophy of a country is the cream of its culture and civilization. It springs
from ideas that prevail in the atmosphere and bears its unconscious stamp.
Though different schools of Indian philosophy present a diversity of views we can
discern even in them the common stamp of an Indian culture. The most striking
and fundamental point of agreement is that all the systems regard philosophy and
the practical necessity and cultivated in order to understand how life can be best
led.
Every system, pro-vedic or anti-vedic, is moved to speculation by a spiritual
disquiet at the sight of the evil that cast of gloom our life in this world and it
wants to understand the source of these evils, the nature of the universe, and the
meaning of human life in order to find some means for completely overcoming
life's miseries. Indian philosophy has been criticized as Pessimistic and therefore
pernicious in its influence on practical life. One general point should be noted
here in Indian philosophy is pessimistic in the sense that it works under the sense
of discomfort and this quiet at the existing order of things. If Indian philosophy
points relentlessly to the miseries that we suffer through shortsightedness it also
discovers a message of hope. Pessimism in the Indian systems is only initial and
not final. The influence of such pessimism on life is more wholesome than that of
critical optimism.
An eminent American teacher rightly points out: “optimism seems to be more
Immoral than pessimism, for pessimism warns us of danger while optimism lulls
into false security.”
All the Indian schools of philosophy strongly believe that if any account of reality
fails to do justice to reason ( canons of formal reasoning and inductive inquiry)
and experience ( everyday commonsensical experience, scientific experience and
extraordinary states of consciousness) , it cannot be accepted. Notably, all schools
believe that man contains within himself, the secret of all existence, and thus it
can be said that humans are infinitely perfectible.
The firm faith in an eternal moral order dominates the entire history of Indian
philosophy barring the solitary exception of the Cārvāka materialists. It is the
common atmosphere of faith in which all the systems move and breathe. The
fatih in an order - a law that makes for regularity and righteousness and works in
the gods, the heavenly bodies in all creatures- await the poetic imagination of the
seers of the rigveda which caused this inviolable moral order, Ṛta. General
conception of Karma is accepted by all Indian systems. In general, the law of
Karma or action means that all actions good or bad produce that proper
consequences in the life of the individuals who act provided they are performed
with the desire for the fruit thereof.
The word Karma means both, this law and also the force generated by an action
and having the potency of bearing fruit. All actions, of which the most is a desire
for certain gains here or hereafter are governed by this law. Disinterested or
passionless actions, if any, do not produce any fettering effect or bondage just as
a fried seed does not germinate. The law therefore holds good for individuals
who work with selfish motives and a swayed by the ordinary passions on impulses
of life and hanker after worldly or other worldly gains. The performance of
disinterested action not only produces no fettering consequences but helps us to
exhaust and destroy the accumulated effects of past done under attachment
hatred and infatuation or of interested hopes and fears and thereby leads to
liberation. With the attainment of liberation from bondage, the self rises above
the law of Karma and lives and acts in an atmosphere of freedom.
Indian Philosophy is based on psychological facts. Therefore, Indian philosophers
have minutely and vividly explained human psychology. From Buddha to Patanjali,
Śankara and Ramanuja, all of them have considerably emphasised the
psychological aspects of philosophy. There has been a synthesis of religion and
philosophy which can be inferred by the fact that the problems of religion and
those of philosophy have not been divided into watertight compartments. For
example Dharma has been used in its widest sense, so much so that the
transformation of life and emancipation from worldly misery constitutes the
common goal of both, dharma and darśana. It is noteworthy that the Indian
philosophical systems had their aim as not only individual salvation but also the
spiritual transformation of the society. Notwithstanding their logical approach to
problems, all the Indian philosophical systems have an opinion about the Vedas,
Upanishads and Gita. All Āstika darśanas regard the Vedas as authority. In all
Indian philosophical systems we find a strong faith in ancient wisdom, accounting
for a particular order which reinstates that they consider Shruti (intuitive truth) as
Pramana or a valid source for knowledge.

Another common view held by all Indian thinkers is that ignorance of reality is the
main cause of bondage and suffering and liberation from these cannot be
achieved without the knowledge of reality i.e. the nature of the world and the
self. Liberation ( mukti or mokṣa) is the state of perfection and according to some
thinkers, this state can be obtained even in this life. Indian thinkers never
believed that a mere acquaintance with truth would at once remove
imperfections. Two types of disciplines were thought necessary for making such
understanding permanent as well as effective in life, namely, continued
meditation on the accepted tools and practical life of self control. The necessity of
concentration and meditation lead to the development of an elaborate technique
fully explained in the Yoga system. In order to instill right belief in our mind we
have to do meditation over the various implications by which wrong beliefs were
established in us. This requires a long intellectual concentration on the truths
learned. Self-control (saṁyama) also is necessary for the concentration of the
mind on the truth and for making them effective in life. this truth is recognised by
all the Indian system except perhaps the Cārvāka. Lastly all Indian systems accept
the idea of liberation as the highest end of life.