3 26 14 Indian Philosophy Indus Civilization begins around 3000 BCE around the Indus river in what is now Pakistan o Indus is the source of modern terms like Indian and Hindu Vedic Tribes move into the Indus river valley and the peoples co mingle o At this point that Vedic sanskrit becomes the standardized written language o So we don t really have texts from the Indus civilization prior to the introduction of Vedic Sanskrit o We do have the texts that evolved after the Vedic integration Theses texts are called the Vedas Vedic Thought o Vedas 1500 BCE 1200 BCE These are the oldest texts in the Indian tradition Even though they are written focus a great deal on language oral tradition and sound in describing religious ceremonies Hymns prayers ceremonies etc that Brahmin priests perform Despite this religious context the vedas focus a great deal on metaphysics and ontology o Vedas are supposed to be the revealed world of reality itself So in terms of philosophy the emphasis is on renewing these teachings rather than innovating new teachings This also leads to a focus on the inner self the mind and the There are four classical collections that we consider the Vedas general life of a thinker o The Texts Yajurveda Samaveda Atharvaveda Rig Veda Dated shortly before 1500 BCE Oldest of the vedic texts most influential supposedly written by reality itself Looking Inside the Rig Veda The Hymn of Man o Purusha Translated in our text as man but notoriously hard to translate o Presents an origin story different interpretations lead to different ontologies Ontology Theory about what there is in reality o One interpretation of the Hymn of Man Monism A Monist theory claims either that there is ultimately only one sort of things in reality or that there is only one thing ultimately existing The above distinction is between qualitative monism and numerical monism Both of these positions are supported by that claim that purusha is all that is whatever has been and whatever is to be The Vedanta Darshana supports a monist view o Another interpretation Dualism A dualist theory supports the view that there are only two sorts of things versus one quarter This sort of view is indicated by lines 3 and 4 about three quarters This is the distinction between purusha where this is understood as pure consciousness and prakriti the thoughtless stuff in the world Analogy Purusha is like a flashlight that shines on prakriti which is like water We think we see changes in the world because of the way the light reflects off the water This leads to problems in Indian philosophy How can we turn the flashlight in on itself to view itself Dualism is supported by the Sankhya darshana o A final interpretation Pluralism A pluralist theory claims that there are more than two ultimate sorts of realities there are a plurality of things Strongly supported by line 14 where things start sprouting out of navels The Mimamsa darshana promotes this interpretation Creation Hymn in the Rig Veda Lines 1 2 Begin with the problem of the origin of existence o If we pick out something that exists as the source of existence then we ve made a mistake Because it already exists it is not the source o But non existence also makes no sense For how can we get something out of nothing o So we are unable to talk coherently about the origin of existence AND YET we still wonder how the motion of the universe came about Because we cant get a handle on this source of existence the author resorts to speaking in paradox o The author thinks we can conceive of one thought which although we cant speak about it is the source of all things If we can talk about distinctions now we can understand them as being cut from some primordial whole o The author uses the term THAT ONE but this is probably just a turn of phrase as well Yet somehow from this primordial oneness of which we can only speak in paradox all the myriad things came from The Hymn closes with the concern that we might never know the source of existence 3 28 14 Upanishads The Up Are the continuation of the Vedic tradition o Contain more explicit investigation of philosophical problems that arise in the Vedas o Sometimes referred to as the Vedantas meaning end of the Vedas o Generally the Upanishads are less authoritative in the sense that they are commentary on the direct revealed word of reality rather than the direct knowledge itself Vedic Worldview Upanishadic Worldview Focus on this world Primary values virtue success and Focus on the other spiritual world Primary Value Liberation enjoyment Key to perfection Ritual Emphasis on community Prayer is important No mention of rebirth karma not important Key Texts Vedas and a few other books Emphasis on plurality of existence Self refers to mind body moksha Key to perfection Knowledge Meditation yoga is important Samsara cycle of life and death is seen as a fundamental problem Karma is all important Key Texts Upanishads Self refers to Atman Emphasis on the unity of existence Logic is still in its infancy here Upanishads should primarily be understood as the testimony of Seers describing their vision of the World o Still there is room for disagreement regarding clearly conflicting doctrines Contents of the Upanishads Atman Samsara o Many of the Upanishads were concerned with the problem of suffering More specifically they wanted to find the true self that was free of this suffering o This true self is called atman What does it look like Who am I in my deepest existence o The atman is persistent unchanging and without suffering o The problem of suffering is compounded by samsara the cycle of birth death and rebirth that everyone is subject to We are literally trapped in an endless cycle of suffering o Karma literally means action Karma refers to all actions thoughts words deeds etc as well as the multitudinal effects of those actions These effects are taking place in a different view of causation where things like bad intentions are preserved through effects So one goal becomes reducing the store of karma in order to achieve moksha Moksha o The quest to know atman is also the quest to escape samsara o By truly understanding the nature of reality we can use that knowledge to escape samsara and thus achieve liberation from suffering Discipline and knowledge exhaust the store of karma and liberate a person from samsara o This liberation is called moksha Brahman o Literally means that which makes great o The term really refers to all of fundamental reality