Résumé L’intérêt pour le café ne date pas d’aujourd’hui, mais les discours promotionnels sur ce breuvage mythique ne cessent de se multiplier depuis l’arrivée d’Internet. Pour mieux comprendre le domaine spécifique des récits gustatifs (verbaux, gestuels ou visuels) qui se construisent autour de la passion pour le café, nous avons privilégié une démarche innovante en sciences du langage, la sémiotique du goût. Le site internet de la marque Carte Noire, en misant sur l’expérience gustative euphorisante et la tautologie du désir, (...) offre un corpus approprié pour cette nouvelle approche (slogans, images, films publicitaires, textes). L’objectif de notre article est double : il consiste, d’une part, à appréhender le processus de construction des significations du récit passionnel en acte, et, d’autre part, à conceptualiser le sensible, l’imaginaire gustatif et l’hédonisme sur lesquels se basent les stratégies discursives publicitaires adjacentes. (shrink)

Many contemporary authors argue that since certain Hindu texts and traditions claim that all living beings are fundamentally the same as Brahman (God), these texts and traditions provide the basis for an environmental ethic. I outline three common versions of this argument, and argue that each fails to meet at least one criterion for an environmental ethic. This doesn’t mean, however, that certain Hindu texts and traditions do not provide the basis for an environmental ethic. In the last section of (...) the paper I briefly outline and defend an alternative, according to which all plants and animals have intrinsic value and direct moral standing in virtue of having a good. (shrink)

Hindu religious and philosophical thought revolves around the basic metaphysical thesis that Atman, the individual self, is identical with Brahman, the Universal Self in which all things are sustained. With a few notable exceptions most Western philosophers have found this thesis too far removed from common sense to consider seriously. My purpose in this essay is to clarify and defend five theses about consciousness which, while formulated independently, have their closest collective affinities to the Advaita Vedanta view of consciousness.

Xeroxed drafts. The originals are held in the University Library, University of Lund, Sweden.

What sort of a thing is society which the social scientist so avidly studies? Is it something completely independent of the way human beings think about it and conceive it to be? Or is it affected in its very being by the way men think about it and conceive it to be? Has it, so to say, an essence of its own which men have only to find and discover? Or is it something like what the existentialists say about man; (...) that is, something that has no essence of its own, but something which is made and created out of the infinite choices of diverse men? What we confront as society is, on this view, not something given by nature but rather that which was created by men in the past and that which is being made and remade by men in the present. It is like the habits of a man’s own character, created by choices made in the past, but now confronting him and others as something ‘given’, something to be taken as ‘datum’, something to be worked with or worked against, but in any case inevitably to be taken into account. In this context, the chapter discusses two approaches to society, socio-centric and Atman-centric, and helps us go beyond the contemporary logic of a priori sociological determinism. (shrink)

The Author and the Editor invite us to Discern (viveka) between Real and non-real, between atman (Self) and non-atman (non-Self), between Infinite and finite, between Life and death. In Svami Nikhilananda's words: -This work, which contains only forty-six sloka (verses) is an excellent vade mecum (handbook) for students of advanced courses in Advaita philosophy-. Both Readers and Scholars will welcome the truly Monumental Bibliography. SHANKARA, the Author, has been one of the greatest philosophers of India, and has profoundly (...) influenced not only India's philosophical development, but that of the entire world. RAPHAEL, the Editor, is an author and a Master in the Western Metaphysical Tradition as well as in Vedanta. (shrink)

This volume of essays offers direct comparisons of historic Western and Buddhist perspectives on ethics and metaphysics, tracing parallels and contrasts all the way from Plato to the Stoics, Spinoza to Hume, and Schopenhauer through to contemporary ethicists such as Arne Naess, Charles Taylor and Derek Parfit. It compares and contrasts each Western philosopher with a particular strand in the Buddhist tradition, in some chapters represented by individual writers such as Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Santideva or Tsong Khapa. It does so in (...) light of both analytic concerns and themes from the existentialist and phenomenological traditions, and often in an ecumenical spirit that bridges both analytic and continentalist approaches. Some of the deepest questions in ethics, dealing with the scope of agency, value-laden notions of personhood and the nature of value in general, are intertwined with questions in metaphysics. One set of questions addresses how varying conceptions of selfhood relate to moral values ; another set of questions addresses how a conception of oneself or one’s selves should or should not affect how one thinks of happiness, or eudaimonia, or – in classical Indian terms – artha, sukha or nirvana. Western philosophy has featured discussion of both, but some would argue that certain traditions of Asian philosophy have offered a more sustained and even treatment of both sets of questions. The Buddhist tradition in particular has not only featured much discussion on both fronts, but has attracted many contemporary philosophers to its distinctive spectrum of approaches, and to what is – from many ‘Western’ points of view – a seemingly subversive analysis of ego, selfhood and personhood, whether in metaphysical, phenomenological or other incarnations. (shrink)

Commentary of the verse work with English explanation on the Atman and self-realization; includes text.

This paper offers a novel, phenomenological reinterpretation of the Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination (Paṭicca-samuppāda), departing from traditional linear and temporal readings. The author proposes a structural bifurcation of the chain: the first half (from Ignorance to the Six Bases) as the architecture of a "Fixed Subject" (Atman), and the second half (from Feeling to Old Age and Death) as the "Solidification of the Fixed Object." ​Central to this discourse is the author’s unique identification of the third link, Consciousness (...) (Viññāṇa), specifically as Manas-consciousness (말라식). In this framework, Manas acts as the "Hidden Architect" that misinterprets fluid reality to construct a permanent egoic center. By engaging in a "Regressive Inquiry" (환멸연기), the paper traces the roots of existential suffering back to this egoic pivot. The author argues that the dissolution of Manas leads to a spontaneous collapse of the entire chain—an "Automatic Extinction" of ignorance and volitional formations. ​Ultimately, this study defines the moment of liberation as a paradoxical "Leap" that is, in essence, a "Return" to the Ordinary Mind (평상심). By dismantling the artificial boundaries between subject and object, the individual transitions from ego-driven confinement to "Non-Egoic Action," reclaiming a state of original clarity and non-dual freedom. (shrink)

This adhyatma gyana is also a part of Ayurveda because it is related to human health especially with mental health; A group of diseases is described independently in Sushruta as adhyatmika dukha. Contemporary books also mention adhyatmika dukha and adhyatma has been described in details. The subject matter of adhyatma has been mentioned from different point of view, but in fact the adhyatma is related to atman, as it is knowledge of atman and its related subjects are the (...) knowledgeable materials of adhyatma. Here in thispaper is a brief review of adhyatma ,terminology and its different prospects in ayurveda. (shrink)

This chapter contains an exposition of the Buddhist philosophical interpretations of I-consciousness along with the internal differences among the thinkers of various schools of Buddhist philosophy with regard to their conceptualizations of the No-self stand. An overall view of the history of Indian Buddhism also shows why and how the Buddhist tradition has contrasted itself from the Upanisadic tradition that hails the ultimacy of the notion of self or Atman. The views of such Western philosophers as Hume, Nozick, and (...) Parfit have been referred to for demonstrating the various versions of No-self stand in their respective understanding of I-consciousness. (shrink)

On the concept of Atman in Hindu philosophy.

Buddhism enthusiasts that the tathAgatagarbha sources were themselves aware of the criticism that they simply taught an Atman in the same way that non- Buddhists did, and they rejected this accusation and defended themselves against the ...

I welcome the invitation of Eugene Freeman to contribute a paper on the subject of self, giving my own views. I have been devoted to comparative philosophy all my life, and I am naturally greatly influenced by Indian and Western thought. But I should warn both the Indian and Western readers against equating my views in their entirety with any of the past philosophies. It is also not possible to given an exhaustive theory of the self in a paper of (...) the present size. What is not given here may place my view in a wrong light and the reader may draw wrong conclusions. (shrink)

The Gita is a central text in Hindu traditions, and commentaries on it express a range of philosophical-theological positions. Two of the most significant commentaries are by Sankara, the founder of the Advaita or Non-Dualist system of Vedic thought and by Ramanuja, the founder of the Visistadvaita or Qualified Non-Dualist system. Their commentaries offer rich resources for the conceptualization and understanding of divine reality, the human self, being, the relationship between God and human, and the moral psychology of action and (...) devotion. This book approaches their commentaries through a study of the interaction between the abstract atman (self) and the richer conception of the human person. While closely reading the Sanskrit commentaries, Ram-Prasad develops reconstructions of each philosophical-theological system, drawing relevant and illuminating comparisons with contemporary Christian theology and Western philosophy. (shrink)

In the second decade of the new millennium, artificial intelligence (AI) became a catchword among senior politicians and the military officers of India. Indian military officers have raised concerns about the potential use of AI-enabled weapon systems by China and by insurgents supported by Pakistan in the subcontinent. This article portrays the complex interlinkages between AI, strategic planning about future warfare and the role of ethics in India. The article, divided into three sections, deals with the role of AI and (...) ethics in India’s grand strategy, in military strategy and in command culture. Finally, the article also offers some policy recommendations. For cultural reasons, India follows a defensive strategy. India is attempting to integrate the AI weapons within its dharmayuddha (just war) format. Indian military strategy emphasises that on no account should these intelligent machines be autonomous. Atman (self-consciousness) must not be subordinated to yantras (machines). (shrink)

A model of human consciousness is presented here in terms of physics and electronics using Upanishadic awareness. The form of Atman proposed in the Upanishads in relation to human consciousness as oscillating psychic energy-presence and its virtual or unreal energy reflection maya, responsible for mental energy and mental time-space are discussed. Analogy with Fresnel’s bi-prism experimental set up in physical optics is used to state, describe and understand the form, structure and function of Atman and maya, the ingredients (...) of human consciousness. A description of phases of mind in terms of conscious states and transformation of mental energy is given. Four states of consciousness and four modes of language communication and understanding processes are also given. Implications of above scientific awareness of Upanishadic wisdom to the modern scientific fields of physiological psychology, cognitive sciences, mind-machine modeling and natural language comprehension are suggested. -/- . (shrink)

This article explores the philosophical significance of the sacred syllable Om (Aum) in Indian though tradition, with a focus on the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the works of Shankara, Swami Vivekananda, and Swami Sivananda. Special attention is given to the Mandukya, Prashna, and Chandogya Upanishads, where Om is identified with Brahman, the Absolute Consciousness. In the Bhagavad Gita, Om is identified with Krishna, providing guidance on the proper use of consciousness and the role of Om as a means of (...) achieving liberation (moksha). These three classical and modern Indian philosophers discuss the metaphysical dimensions of Om, integrating it into practical experience. Through this semantic synthesis, the article concludes that in Indian philosophy, Om represents a primordial principle for realizing the unity between the individual soul (Atman) and the ultimate reality (Brahman). (shrink)

In this paper, perhaps the first of its kind, an attempt is made to elucidate and examine the Vedantic theory of soul constructed on the basis of the experience of dreamless sleep which, being radically and qualitatively different from waking and dreaming states, is considered by the Vedantins as a state of temporarily purified individual soul (atman), a state of pure substantial consciousness. They take the experience of dreamless sleep as a model experience of the soul's final liberation from (...) the body and its internal as well as external faculties. The ultimate liberation, according to the Vedantins, is a state of total identification of the individual soul with the Universal Soul (Brahman), the summum bonum of every Vedantin. The paper also includes a critique of the Vedantic soul theory by the Buddhists who vehemently deny any autonomous and substantial soul whose essence is unchangingly permanent, pure consciousness and self-illuminating knowledge. The soul is instead interpreted by the Buddhists as a product of the functioning of a person's psycho-physical organism and a mere subject of knowing, thinking, desiring, etc. The analysis further shows that the Vedanta, especially the Advaita Vedanta, metaphysics of soul is inadequate in many respects and mainly based on a priori and scriptural arguments and emotive appeals, whereas the Buddhists deny any kind of autonomous and permanent agent of knowing, thinking and desiring by successfully reducing substantial consciousness to mere acts of knowing. (shrink)

v. 1. The spectrum of consciousness ; No boundary ; Selected essays -- v. 2. The Atman Project ; Up from Eden -- v. 3. A sociable god ; Eye to eye -- v. 4. Integral psychology ; Transformations of consciousness ; Selected essays -- v. 5. Grace and grit : spirituality and healing in the life and death of Treya Killam Wilber. 2nd ed. -- v. 6. Sex, ecology, spirituality : the spirit of evolution. 2nd, rev. ed. -- (...) v. 7. A brief history of everything ; The eye of spirit -- v. 8. The marriage of sense and soul ; One taste. (shrink)

What is Brahman? What is its relationship to Atman? What is an individual's place in the cosmos? Is a personalised god and ritualistic worship the only path to attain moksha? Does caste matter when a human is engaging with the metaphysical world? The answers to these perennial questions sparkle with clarity in this seminal account of a man, and a saint, who revived Hinduism and gave to Upanishadic insights a rigorously structured and sublimely appealing philosophy. Jagad Guru Adi Shankaracharya (...) (788-820 CE) was born in Kerala and died in Kedarnath, traversing the length of India in his search for the ultimate truth. In a short life of thirty-two years, Shankaracharya not only revived Hinduism, but also created the organisational structure for its perpetuation through the mathas he established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri, and Joshimatha. Adi Shankaracharaya: Hinduism's Greatest Thinker is a meticulously researched and comprehensive account of his life and philosophy. Highly readable, and including a select anthology of Shankaracharya's seminal writing, the book also examines the startling endorsement that contemporary science is giving to his ideas today. A must-read for people across the ideological spectrum, this book reminds readers about the remarkable philosophical underpinning of Hinduism, making it one of the most vibrant religions in the world. (shrink)

The western philosophical tradition has been abidingly occupied with the duality of the mind and the body. The soul is substantially the same as the mind for this tradition. In the Indian tradition, however, there is no duality between the mind and the body. The mind is an organ of the body, and I-consciousness is nothing but the ego which is a construct of the mind. For Gandhi, the human body is central to the articulation of the moral life. Concepts (...) like brahmacharya, sacrifice, fearlessness, moral purity would not make sense if the body was not crucially involved in imagining the life of morality. Action is firmly in the domain of the body. The soul is atman and is not involved in action at all. Moral authority derives from Truth conceived as God. Modern politics is deeply involved in the ideality (future) of political action, and, as such, cannot extricate itself from the notion of the instrumentality of the ethical. Gandhi is firmly opposed to this idea, and many of his criticisms of modern civility follow from this. (shrink)

Consciousness is a central topic in Hindu philosophy. This is because this philosophy understands reality in terms of brahman or atman (typically translated as the self), and consciousness is conceived as the essential marker of self. The prominent Hindu text Bhagavad Gita offers an exception. Self is conceived in the Gita not in terms of its essential identity with pure or transcendental consciousness. But the question remains, does the Gita still offer us a theory of consciousness? The goal of (...) my paper is to show that the Gita can be taken as offering an interesting empirical theory of consciousness. My paper focuses on determining the nature of attention in the Gita's understanding of yoga, and to articulate the role of such attention in the Gita's theory of consciousness. My working conclusion is that what differentiates an ordinary person's consciousness from a yogi's consciousness is the nature of their attention both in terms of its manner and its object. I argue, further, that exploring the Gita's theory of consciousness, especially in conjunction with the nature of attention, is immensely fruitful because it allows us to see the Gita's potential contribution to our contemporary philosophical discussion of consciousness and attention. This is because bringing the Gita into discussion allows us to appreciate a dimension of the metaphysics of attention–namely, the dimension of manner of attending and its cultivation, and the moral and social implications in the proposed redirection of one's attention--not often recognized in the contemporary Western discussion. (shrink)

Countering the general reading of Confucian ethics as a form of virtue ethics or humanistic ethics, this essay reads Confucian ethics as a form of ethical personalism. Doing so, it examines the ethical orientations in the Confucian classics, The Analects, Da Xue, and others, pointing out that the touchstone concept of Confucian ethics taught in these classics is the person, recalling the Confucian motto of ethical cultivation,?inner sagehood and outer kinghood?. It demonstrates that only the name of personalism describes well (...) the substance of Confucian ethics and captures its essence. It indicates that Confucian personalism is characterized by its starting not from the concept of the person or personhood as a divinely or naturally given, something akin to the Hindu Atman, but from the concept of the person or personhood that must be substantialized in ethical cultivation, e.g., cultivating a personhood after the image of the sage. (shrink)

Sankaraachaarya popularized the advaita thought among students of philosophy and seekers of knowledge of the Self or Brahman or Atman. But he is criticized by Indian theistic schools like Visistaadvaita and dvaita philosophies as “prachchnna bouddha – follower of the Buddha in disguise”. This comment of theistic schools makes it worthy of comparing the advaitic and Buddhist schools of thought in relation to consciousness, world, Soonya, and other expressions between the two thought systems. This paper does such a comparison (...) from cognitive science point of view and how the elements of Buddhism and Advaita thought enrich the modern scientific field of cognitive science. Also, a brief analysis is presented how the supplementary and complementary nature of the Upanishads, the Buddhism, the Jainism and the Shaddarsanas of Indian philosophic systems can be used to further the understanding of form, structure and function of human consciousness, mind and their functions. (shrink)

Parmenides and Śaṅkara are two ontological non-dualists who regard any division—for instance, between everyday objects or individuals—as conventional. Both Parmenides and Śaṅkara, by arguing for the undividedness of absolute reality, provide a vantage point from which to consider the possible arbitrariness of all divisions, which originate from human distinctions, rather than reflect gaps between different joints of reality. Human distinctions—and words used to draw them—are secondary to a reality that cannot be cut at its natural joints, since it does not (...) have such joints. Reality can only be cut in useful pieces, according to the cutter’s perspective and purpose—thus no individual, science, or discourse can claim to know the allegedly real divisions of reality. In spite of this, Parmenides and Śaṅkara regard distinctions as both useful for everyday life and necessary for doing philosophy. I visualize their non-dual reality as an undivided background that can be both known immediately and non-dually, and foregrounded by means of distinctions, such as being and not-being, atman and non-atman —while they make it clear that such distinctions are just useful words. Epistemological dualism might be a useful tag for both of their philosophies. A reflection on these two philosophers is an example of borderless philosophy: an inquiry into conceptual tools that come from different philosophical traditions, and that provide a vantage point for reflection on our practices—in this case, our use of words that create distinctions rather than divisions. (shrink)

The article examines the philosophical and theological concept of American thinker David Bentley Hart regarding the relationship between mind and the supernatural. The author analyzes Hart's critique of “post-metaphysical theology”, which became prominent in continental philosophical theology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The article demonstrates how Hart, starting from a critique of Jean-Luc Marion's counter-intentional phenomenology and the concept of “saturated phenomenon”, develops an alternative approach that combines metaphysics and phenomenology in understanding the nature of mental life. (...) The central thesis of Hart's thought is the understanding of mind as having two “supernatural poles”: a transcendental horizon “from above” (orientation toward the Infinite) and the unity of the apperceptive “I” “from below”. Hart argues that both the nature and teleology of mind are rooted in God, who is simultaneously its foundation and ultimate goal. This leads to the assertion that the Mind is essentially God seeking not only to see Himself but to become Himself – infinite knowledge of infinite being, beyond any distinction between the knower and the known. To substantiate his position, Hart draws upon both Western Christian tradition (Nicholas of Cusa, Meister Eckhart) and Eastern contemplative teachings, particularly Indian philosophy with its thesis “Atman is Brahman”. In the Christological dimension, the Incarnation is viewed as the perfect realization of the unity between human and divine nature, and theosis is understood as the natural destiny of finite minds. Hart's philosophical theology thus presents a radical vision where the transcendent foundation of rational life and its transcendent goal are ultimately one and the same – an understanding that overcomes the modern divide between natural and supernatural through a renewed metaphysics of mind. (shrink)

Human consciousness, as dealt with in the Upanishads, modeled as a mechanical oscillator of infrasonic frequency (the Atman/Brahman), the result of breathing process, is further advanced to get an insight of functions of mind. An analytical approach is followed in parallel to and separette from quantum mechanical, quantum field and other theoretical propositions, approaches and presentations. Pure consciousness, unoccupied awareness and occupied awareness are identified, defined, classified and discussed together with fresh insight about time-space and time. A reversible transformation (...) (vivartanam) of virtual mental energy reflection (maya), creating various consequential / parallel / simultaneous conscious-states, phases, cognitive and communicative states, modes of language acquisition and communication, and kinds of function of human mind, which forms and facilitates human mental acquisitions, functions and communications, is proposed and discussed. Alternative analytical insight of human consciousness and mental functions to other theoretical approaches is given. All this is presented in brain wave modulation / demodulation terms. -/- . (shrink)

This paper explores the convergence of Vedantic philosophy and modern psychology, proposing a unified approach to self-understanding and well-being. Drawing from the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and key Vedantic philosophers such as Shankaracharya and Abhinavagupta, it examines core concepts like Atman (Self), Avidya (Ignorance), and Moksha (Liberation). These are contrasted with contemporary psychological frameworks including cognitive-behavioral therapy, transpersonal psychology, and mindfulness-based interventions. By addressing existential dimensions that Western psychology often overlooks, this paper argues for a holistic mental health paradigm that (...) integrates Vedantic self-inquiry with modern therapeutic insights. The study highlights the role of ego (Ahamkara) and its transcendence in psychological resilience, linking it with mindfulness and self-actualization practices. (shrink)

Ethics is a product of a long biological evolutionary process. The ethical principles might have helped adapt and survive during the harsh climate regime of the Pleistocene period. Thus, reason (science) and social behaviour (ethics) evolved together as primate brains enlarged. The evolution of ethics is an essential social trend and has touched upon all human beings’ social activities. The present article discusses the ethical content of Indian philosophy, as conceived by ancient seers and subsequent reinterpretation by social reformers of (...) the Middle Ages. The extent to which ethical values are embedded within the contemporary aspects of modern civilisation is touched upon. The importance of ethics in Indian philosophy can be traced to the theological belief and the form of ideals and principles that have directed human life in early society. The aim of ethics was to strengthen human society for survival and peaceful co-existence. The significance of the concept of ethics has changed with changing periods in history. The Upanishadic ethics are primarily atman-centric and exhort individual liberation, irrespective of other social and moral obligations. The central concept of ethics in Rig Veda is a unifying order pervading all things of the world. Bhagavat-Gita emphasises Karma-yoga (non-attachment to the fruits of the work) and Gnana-yoga (through devotion, renunciation, and self-surrender) for attaining Supreme Bliss. Also, some of the statements in Buddhist scriptures and treaties may be explained as embodying ethical claims. Ethical perception in Jainism stands for proper knowledge, right faith and right conduct. From the point of ethical consideration, the dangerous trend of institutional growth of large corporations that often transcend national boundaries, their assets and income exceeds that of many national governments, pose a threat to the sovereignty and monetary stability of many poorer countries. The new media technologies for social networking and online social networks have created a sense of universal availability and entitlement of information and are considered monolithic. Social media ethics needs a set of ethical guidelines to ensure that the platforms’ users conduct themselves responsibly and ethically. (shrink)

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

Although there is such a thing as Indian thought, it seems to play no role in the way social sciences and philosophy are practiced in India or elsewhere. The problem is not only that we no longer employ terms such as atman, avidya, dharma to reflect on our experience; the terms that we do indeed use—sovereignty, secularism, rights, civil society and political society, corruption—seem to insulate our experience from our reflection. This paper will outline Gandhi’s framing of our predicament (...) in Hind Swaraj. It will then discuss three very different examples taken from our peculiar life with concepts that will also serve to clarify and illustrate the framework I am outlining. It will then very briefly discuss how Gandhi saw the Gita as showing him a way out of the predicament. (shrink)

A biophysical and biochemical perspective of Brahmajnaana will be advanced by viewing Upanishads and related books as “Texts of Science on human mind”. A biological and cognitive science insight of Atman and Maya, the results of breathing process; constituting and responsible for human consciousness and mental functions will be developed. The Advaita and Dvaita phases of human mind, its cognitive and functional states will be discussed. These mental activities will be modeled as brain-wave modulation and demodulation processes. The energy-forms (...) and their transformations as ideas/moods/experiences/thoughts/feelings/utterances/knowing/perception/experience/mood; and a theory of human cognition and communication will be advanced. The sameness of these and processes taking place and steps involved in human language acquisition and communication processes will be highlighted taking ideas from Sabdabrahma Siddhanta and Sphota Vaada, for which the basis is Brahmajnaana only. In fine, a physiological psychological and neurological model of human consciousness and function of mind based on Indian spiritual thought will be derived and discussed using concepts from modern science and technology. The application of these derivations in the fields of physiological psychology, mind-machine modeling, natural language comprehension branch of artificial intelligence and neurology to model and imitate human mental functions will be hinted. -/- . (shrink)

This chapter is a critical-creative evaluation of apophatic theology in Sankara's Advaita Vedanta. Sankara, the non-dualist philosopher of classical India, made a case for systematic negative theology for the superiority of negative language over positive. When Sankara explains ‘neti-neti,’ Brahman is not described positively. Sankara asserts that Brahman is the foundation [adhisthana] upon which the world-form is based; it serves as the foundation for all other Vikaras, or modifications. Four core Vedantic claims that indicate the nature of Brahmanubhava are examined (...) in this chapter. These statements—That art Thou (Tat Vam Asi), I am Brahman (Aham Brahmasmi), This Self is Brahman(Ayamatma Brahma), and Brahman is consciousness (Prajnanam Brahman)—are not just symbolic; they are fundamental assertions of the absolute identity between Brahman and Atman. Brahmanubhava must be direct and instantaneous since it is a non-dual, objectless experience. Consequently, it cannot be acquired through our senses, intellect, or mind, in contrast to empirical knowledge. The ultimate and absolute view of enduring Reality, or Paramarthika Satta, which is timeless, formless, unsurpassable, undifferentiated, objectless, and unchanging consciousness, Sankara contends, cannot support plurality and difference, which structure the empirical world of our senses that surges up in time and space. Thus, Advaita contains two fundamental teachings. The first is that subject-objectless consciousness, which is non-dual, is the ultimate Reality. The second lesson is that the empirical and transient objects—including the atman or self—are superimposed upon the subject-objectless consciousness. Advaitin identifies the Self with the body, the senses, or the objects of the senses, which is why it claims that all experiences begin and proceed in an error. According to Sankara, words like “sat” or “asat” cannot adequately convey the essence of Brahman because each word in an empirical language designates a genus, act, quality, or relation. Brahman, however, cannot be so designated since it is not a genus; it is qualityless and, as a result, it does not act or relate to other beings. Because Brahman is non-empirical, superimposed on what is observed, and transient, Sankara believes that language as an empirical tool is unsuitable for characterizing it. Thus, by consistently disclosing through apophatic techniques, Brahman can be expressed. Therefore, the indescribable is described in the Advaita literature using several negative attributes, such as nirguna (qualityless), nirvikalpa (changeless), nirvisesa (distinctionless), nirupadhi (unmediated), arupa (formless), Ananta (endless), aksara (imperishable), atindriya (supersensual), vikalpa-sunya (indeterminate), prapanca-sunya (non-plural), and anirvacaniya (inexpressible/indescribable). According to Sankara, the phrase “not this, not this” [neti, neti] itself affirms the self's identity. This is conceivable since the complete absence of any relations—which implies separateness—is the conceptual and formal definition of identity. Differentiating characteristics, species, and qualities affect separateness. As a result, the apophatic practice is fuelled by the suspicion that Reality is something that is beyond rational understanding. (shrink)

The development of philosophy in India has not been a dramatic departure from the mythic, but rather an ongoing, self-aware reflection on and improvement of the insights gained within it. This led to the philosophical endeavour taking the form of elucidating and unfolding the vision of the Universal One (ekam), the cosmic order of things (rtam), the Universal Self (Atman), etc. It is not comprehensible through speech, thought, or vision. “He is” is the only way to understand it. Up (...) to twenty-four different value contenders are identified in the first section of the chapter, which also examines the idea of self-realization as the top contender. These twenty-four value contenders are grouped under six tables: Values for creativity and enterprise, values for well-being, values for satisfying appetites, values for sensual pleasures, values for communal living, and values for fulfilment. Consequently, it is evident that the Upanishadic Rishis’ philosophical understanding and perspective on things and objects served as the foundation for their conception of value. Therefore, rather than pursuing self-advancement, the Rishis have aimed to promote the advancement of the self. Alternatively, they have aimed to move from the subjective individualism of phenomenally experienced entities to values that are held by the collective. They proposed that the Self, a higher entity, is the ultimate value candidate and that the highest metaphysical absolute is the realization of that Self. In their quest for the ultimate value, they implicitly applied a single, all-encompassing criterion that progressed from material belongings to moral excellences, intellectual (knowledge) excellences, and finally to self-realization as the ultimate desired value. According to the Upanishads’ transcendental axiology, all other values must be trans-valued in the Light of spiritual reality and integrated with it. As a result, the Upanishads’ description of Reality as a consciousness of Bliss known as self-realization has ramifications for its axiological significance in daily life. (shrink)

A review of the translation of Uttara Gita by Minati Kar published by the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, India. Though brief, the Uttara-gita clearly explains the nature of the Atman and the method to realize it,primarily through yoga. This book serves as a supplementary text to the Bhagavadgita. It is a text that inspires aspirants to intensify their spiritual practices. A Sanskrit commentary on the main text ascribed to Gaudapadacharya has also been provided. A glossary of Sanskrit (...) terms would come in handy for those unacquainted with Indian philosophy as would the details of the seven yogic chakras taken from Tantric texts. This slim volume should be a welcome reading for all students of Indian philosophy and should act as a guide for spiritual aspirants. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Buddhist-Christian Studies 20 (2000) 191-216 [Access article in PDF] In the Beginning: Hebrew God and Zen Nothingness Milton ScarboroughCentre College, Danville, KentuckyIn the 1960s, during the heyday of the so-called "Marxist-Christian dialogue," Leslie Dewart, one of the participants in the exchange, delivered himself of what I took to be a stunning and memorable utterance: "To put it lightly: the whole difference between Marxist atheism and Christian theism has to (...) do with the existence of God." 1 Now, at the end of the millennium, we are several decades into a Buddhist-Christian dialogue, precipitated by a shrinking globe, the growing presence of Buddhist communities and institutions in the West, and the initiative of the Kyoto School of Zen Buddhism. The dialogue has occurred along a variety of fronts. In terms of monastic life, for example, monks from the two traditions have discovered that they often feel a more powerful bond with each other than with laypersons of their own faiths. Some years ago I was a retreatant at Gethsemane Abbey in central Kentucky. Looking down from the sanctuary's balcony, where laypersons and other guests were required to sit, I noticed three Tibetan Buddhist monks in the choir, surrounded by Trappists and engaged in chanting the liturgy, something I, as a Christian, was not, at the time, permitted to do. In the domain of ethics, similarities and differences between Buddhist compassion (karuna) and Christian love (agape) have been carefully noted. In soteriology, comparisons have been made between Christ as savior and the bodhisattva as savior. Nevertheless, when it comes to an examination of ultimate reality in the two religions, the differences are obvious and stark. Traditionally, and still today for the most part, Christians are committed to some variety of theism. On the other hand, Masao Abe observes, "Unlike Christianity, however, Buddhism is fundamentally not theistic and does not accept one personal God as the ultimate reality but sunyata.... In Buddhism there is nothing permanent, self-existing, and absolutely good." 2 In this regard, I am tempted to parallel Dewart's comment by saying, "The whole difference between Buddhist atheism and Christian theism has to do with the existence of God." 3The parallel, however, is not entirely accurate because more recently some members of the Kyoto School of Zen have shown a willingness to speak of God, most notably, Masao Abe himself. 4 On the other hand, they contend that God might be described better in conceptual categories other than 'being,' which is habitually used in the West. Abe, for example, has proposed a reformulation of the idea of God in [End Page 191] terms of sunyata. 5 Like many other participants in the Buddhist-Christian dialogue, he finds an initial justification for such a reconceptualization in Philippians 2:5-8, where Christ's self-emptying (kenosis) has its biblical grounding. According to traditional Christian theological understanding, between the incarnation and resurrection Christ either abandoned, concealed, or restrained--these words represent variant interpretations--his divine nature, such as his attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence, in order to condescend to his humanity and, hence, to ours. This leads to the heart of Abe's proposal, which consists of bringing to bear on the trinitarian view of God Mahayana Buddhism's ample resources for critiquing the idea of substance, in which the traditional version of the doctrine is cast. Just as the Buddha attacked the Brahmanical doctrine of the atman, a spiritual substance underlying the self of all things, and Nagarjuna attacked the Sarvastivadins' notion of svabhava, a material substance underlying all Dharmas or fundamental elements constituting reality, so Abe provides a critique of the Christian view of God as three persons in one ousia or substance. 6 Both the three persons of the trinity, on the one hand, and the relation of the trinitarian God to the rest of the universe, on the other, he understands as interdependent and co-existent rather than as independent and self-existent. Thus, the theory of the trinity is purged of the Greek concept of substance and its implications.Abe's proposal represents... (shrink)

The concept of the unity of existence finds resonance in both Islamic philosophy, particularly in the Transcendental philosophy of Molla Sadra, and the Advaita Vedanta school of Indian philosophy, notably championed by the mystic philosopher Sankara. Molla Sadra's philosophical framework is rooted in the intertwining principles of Multiplicity within Unity and Unity within Multiplicity, (Kathrat fil Wahdat, Wahdat fil Kathrat) elucidated through two key theories: (I) Gradational unity of existence, (Al Wujud Al Tashkiki) and (II) Individual unity of existence. (Wahadat (...) al Shkaksi) Sankara, a mystic philosopher within the Vedanta tradition, expounds upon the unity of existence through non-dualism, positing that Atman (individual soul) is identical to Brahman (universal consciousness). His philosophical stance involves dismantling the perceived realm of multiplicity by invoking the concept of cosmic illusion, referred to as the doctrine of Maya. This paper delves into an exploration of the perspectives of Molla Sadra and Sankara regarding the unity of existence. While both thinkers share the notion that a singular reality is concealed by a metaphorical veil, they each draw inspiration from their respective sacred texts-the Quran for Molla Sadra and the Vedas for Sankara. Consequently, they have formulated comprehensive systems of thought grounded in principles and assertions that invite scrutiny. However, it is essential to note that some disparities exist in their ideas. This paper aims to elucidate the commonalities and divergences between Molla Sadra's and Sankara's philosophies, shedding light on the similarities and polarities inherent in their conceptualizations of the unity of existence. (shrink)

The article dealt with the question of the ratio of Yuri Mamleev’s I-utrism to Tradition. The problem is in the contradiction between two positions, which Mamleev notes in different places of “The Destiny of Being” – a view of the I-utrism as a new approach within the framework of Tradition, and as going beyond it with the introduction of extraneous elements. Based on the connection between the I-utrism and the “Last Doctrine”, which clearly lies outside the Tradition, the author of (...) the article concludes that the I-utrism should not be considered as a new approach within the framework of the Tradition, but as an autonomous construction to it. According to the author, the I-utrism due to its own radicalism contains two key problems that lead not only to a break with Tradition but also to a violation of the inner integrity of Mamleev’s philosophy itself. These two problems are defined as the radicalization of the Vedanta formula “Atman = Brahman” and the absence of the figure of the Other. I-utrism forms unified I, which the author of the article proposes to call “I-total”, because it displaces everything but itself, including the classical concept of the Absolute. Hence the lack of a topos for Mamleev’s concepts such as “Abyss” and “Eternal Russia”. It is compounded by the prevention of the metaphysical event of the Other, which is especially important for the idea of a metaphysical and mysterious Russia that requires intersubjectivity. In the process of analyzing these problems and issues, the article compares the philosophical positions of Stirner and Mamleev, as well as addresses the topic of demonic I-utrism. After all, the author concludes that the I-utrism needs to be revised and softened. This would allow it to exist organically in the overall picture of Mamleev’s worldview and not lose touch with Tradition despite the inevitable exit from it. (shrink)

This paper aims to revisit Wittgenstein’s notion of ‘higher’ from the understanding of Sankara’s conception of Jnana. According to Wittgenstein, values cannot be captured within the network of facts about living things or dead matters in the world; they are not the case in the world and are not relational, they are higher. That is why, we cannot call values natural in any sense of the expression. This compels Wittgenstein to appeal to the transcendental origin of the values. In this (...) way, the world is bereft of the values and subsequently the knowledge about the values can be attained when the self is to be seen not in the world, rather be experienced with the world. The knowledge that Wittgenstein speaks about is not the ordinary knowledge of the world which logic and science provide, but is the knowledge of the divine state where one can grasp the oneness of the life and world. Such knowledge of moral interaction between the self and world seems to be closer to Sankara’s conception of Jnana which gives the knowledge of the identity of Jiva and Brahman. According to Sankara, it is a paramarthika experience of the atman which can attain the knowledge of absolute value or Brahman while remaining engaged in the worldly pursuits. The knowledge of absolute value for him, is a form of realization or anubhava of the self or atman which is distinct from knowledge of an intellectual or logical kind. Keywords: Wittgenstein, Sankara, world, self, higher, Brahman. (shrink)

It is a well established fact that Arthur Schopenhauer was the first major Western thinker who was so much influenced by the Upanishads that he wrote, "In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death”. This view of Schopenhauer about the Upanishads not only shows his familiarity with the Eastern thought but also it reflects his (...) adoration for Indian philosophy, religion and culture, which influenced him in a significant way. Thus in the World As Will and Representation Schopenhauer clearly states that readers can understand his writings better with prior acquaintances with the philosophy of - Plato, Kant and that of Hindus. Unfortunately however, though some attempts have been made earlier by others to find out the links between Schopenhauer and the East, not much work has been done so far to find out the connection between Schopenhauer and Indian thought especially by Indian scholars. Being so motivated I propose to examine this relationship between Schopenhauer and Sankara, a great Vedantist of India in a comparative manner with a focus on the problem of the relationship between the ‘Will and the world as its representations’ in Schopenhauer and of the ‘Brahman and the world of multiplicity’ in Sankara’s philosophy of Monism. I do this in an analytical framework of interpreting the Ontology of the Absolute and its manifestation in the phenomenal world in the literatures of Schopenhauer and Sankaracarya and then I shall try to find out asolution to this problem through the application of the Vedantic notion of identity between the Brahman and the atman in both these thinkers. (shrink)

Largely unnoticed in textbook accounts of classical Indian philosophic schools is Nyāya's advocacy of yoga and its alliance with teachings of the Yoga-sūtra. Yoga and Nyāya differ sharply in how nature is viewed, its components and causal laws. But on the side of subjectivity, purusa and atman, there is more convergence than difference. The two world views have distinct theories of action, cognition, and the body, but concerning the subject or self himself or herself, including God or the īsvara (...) (and argumentation so directed), the conceptions advanced are surprisingly similar. Moreover, the traditions converge in the commen taries of the tenth-century philosopher Vācaspati Miśra who often shows influence from one or the other direction in his Yoga-sūtra and Nyāya-sūtra commentaries. The key bridge ideas are expressed in the Nyāya-sūtra literature under a substantial and remarkable stretch of sutras in the fourth chapter devoted to yoga practice and liberating self knowledge: NyS 4.2.38-51. Among other jewels, here we find an implicit assimilation of philosophic debate as a yoga practice. (shrink)