YOGA, GANDHI'S BELIEFS, VEDANTA, SANKARA.   Term Paper ID:21732 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Compares Eastern philosophies on reality, nature of universe, human nature, human motivation.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Compares Eastern philosophies on reality, nature of universe, human nature, human motivation. Paper Introduction: The purpose of this research is to examine three assumptions about the nature of the universe, of man, and of human motivation, with reference to Yoga, Gandhi's beliefs, Vedanta, and sankara. The plan of the research will be to examine each philosophy relative to the assumptions that only the present moment exists; that man starts life fresh, except for limitations set on him by his genetic inheritance, cultural environment, and accidental happenings, all modified by his reactions to them; and that the primary motivations affecting people are desires for power and for sexual pleasure, along with the avoidance of pain. To discuss assumptions about the nature of man and the universe with reference to Indian philosophies is to understand that they overlap and converge in various ways. The reason for this is that each philosophy can be found in various aspects of Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. (1982). pp. In Samkhya doctrine, he says,the psychic soul must "arrive at the knowledge that the immaterial soul isindependent of the psychic soul and of matter. 5 ). Yogananda, Paramhansa. (1962). 87), but the point is that satyagraha isassociated with the idea of nonviolence on one hand and direct action inthe face of injustice on the other. Italso exalts the idea of the difficulty of apprehending the real nature ofthe universe side by side with the spiritual impulse to uncover thatnature. In other words, all human experience divorces humanexperience from access to the divine and indeed from access to authentichuman experience, which is above all things sensual. 77).What is essential to understand about the Vedas is they are considereddivinely inspired or even divinely dictated to the human race that theytherefore "Possess nityatva, 'timeless finality'" (p. Vedanta for ModernMan. Suffering. 49-55. This is consistent withthe negation of the world, to the degree the self can be identified withthe imperfect unity with the spirit. stands in undivided Being through the universal Self, he indeed has reached a deliverance. seek the bliss of Being in the Self, toiling with strong effort (Acharya, 1964, p. But how can grasping after sensuous things cease in him who identifies himself with the body, whose heart is set on the enjoyment of sensuous things, who is working the works of the body? If this is thecase, it follows that "world and life negation is valid for man as man" (p.37). Edited by LouisFischer. 365). Hinduism. In all cases, however, the content of spiritual experienceis unfamiliar to that of Western philosophy. He continues: No Hindu religious or social ideal is merely negative. After overcoming the inward greedfor food, a satyagrahi must continue to follow a rational vegetarian diet"(Yogananda, 1981, p. In other words,the resources for overcoming the vicissitudes of the world and of the humanexperience of the world are to be found within the human organism itself.This argues a metaphysics of unity, although it acknowledges tension as afundamental fact of existence. For example: "The first cause of liberation isdeclared to be complete detachment from all things that are out of theEternal; then quietude, control, endurance; then the renouncing altogetherof all works done through personal desire (Acharya, 1964, p. One after another, then by almost geometric progression, things slipped away from me. I understood the Gita teaching of nonpossession to mean that those who desired Salvation (union with God, the attainment of freedom from birth and death) should act like the trustee who, though having control over great possessions, regards not an iota of them as his own . The plan of the researchwill be to examine each philosophy relative to the assumptions that onlythe present moment exists; that man starts life fresh, except forlimitations set on him by his genetic inheritance, cultural environment,and accidental happenings, all modified by his reactions to them; and thatthe primary motivations affecting people are desires for power and forsexual pleasure, along with the avoidance of pain. (1964). It is to be accomplished by those who . Translated by Charles Johnston. Such concerns must be simply avoided as a matter of personal policy,it appears, for they are not really aspects of the Self: "The Self who isunchanging is alone worthy to be the knower of all changes of things thatchange. . 5 ). It is important to note that access to the higher truth, or Brahman-divinity, is by way of mystical experience and not according to ethics.That is, the appropriate reaction of man to the cultural environment or theaccident of birth is to seek out mystical union or positive escape fromaccidental existence. Unity with that higher order is the state of perfect bliss,from which no earthly illusion it is necessary to abstract. Schweitzer describes the ethical implications of helping others toavoid injury in terms of the psychic soul. . From this lower state of bliss they then at some later period withoutfurther ado attain to the state of real absorption in the pure Brahman.For at the end of every period of the Universe the Brahman-divinity, alongwith the Universe that proceeded from him, returns into the Universal Soul. The primary motivations that so affectpeople's experience of the world are to be considered a sham, and areindeed not primary but secondary or accidental. The present moment, in this view, is the absolute unity of man, andit is the enterprise of man to engage in meditation that seeks that unity.The state of such unity is known as samadhi, which is the bliss that is theaim of mystical experience. A denial to the self of attachments tovulgar reality is an important aspect of this. 2 -1). Indian thought and its development.Translated by Mrs. Charles E.B. Sankara, whichrejects divine-human dualism, will be treated hereafter. one must conquer the palate before he cancontrol the procreative instinct . The Gandhi reader: A source book of his life andwritings. Prabhavananda, Swami. Ahisma, "non- injury," called "virtue entire" (sakato dharma) in the Mahabharata [Hindu mythology], is a positive injunction by reason of its conception that one who is not helping others in some way is injuring them (pp. In particular, Gandhi differentiatedbetween satyagraha and so-called passive resistance, which he said impliesweakness rather than strength. Gandhi'sunderstanding that only the present moment exists is connected with arenunciation of the things of the world, which makes it consistent withYoga. . The idea that man starts fresh in life and determines his lifesubject to certain limitations placed on him by his cultural and physicalenvironment is in Yoga associated with the Samkhya system, in which theform that consciousness of the world takes is decisive for the formulationof personality and life experience. Indeed, the universe itself rises and fallswith higher and lower orders of existence, which is consistent with an ideaof cycles of universal existence that manifest greater and lesserattraction to the universal one. When, and why, does man seek religion? In this way does the Yogic doctrine ofmotivation return to the doctrine about the nature of the universe. . It is the renunciation of self-indulgence, or more exactly arenunciation of the things of the world, that results in the highestachievement of the self. The emphasis is on the goal and the way ofachieving a goal, the Vedantic approach to life's problems. It is the manner of transcendence andthe consciousness with which such transcendence is achieved that is atissue. Vedanta for Modern Man. Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith. There arecertain methods of knowledge, whether perceptual, non-perceptual, ortranscendental, according to Vedanta awareness. But in denying afundamental dualism to existence, Sankara doctrine asserts the primacy anddefinitiveness (so to speak) of the Self, and the Self as the sole andprincipal reality of the universe. . Russell. Yoga therefore contains the concept of harmonious andcreative living on one hand, and in its practice contains specific methodof reintegration with the unconditional in the universe. Gandhi, Mahatma. References Acharya, Shankara. Here again one can see the connection between ethical concepts anda conception of the universe, and an appeal to mankind to put ethical andspiritual values back in their rightful place in human life. Vedanta thought also gives prominence to the Brahman,which is associated with the divine. Straight came the answer. Thus the hypothesis of successive periods of the Universe derivedfrom the Samkhya doctrine enables Samkara to change the provisional blissof deliverance from reincarnation during the current period of the Universeinto the permanent bliss of union with the Brahman (Schweitzer, 1977, p.161). Curiously,concern with such matters is a matter of the mind, just as freedom fromsuch concern is: "mind is the cause of his bondage, and in turn of hisliberation; when darkened by the powers of passion, it is the cause ofbondage, and the cause of liberation when pure of passion and darkness"(acharya, 1964, p. NewYork: Macmillan. Yogananda refers to maya as the cosmic delusion (Yogananda,1981, p. As Schweitzer describes it, Sankara(Samkara) posits a "twofold truth," whereby the experience of perfection ofthe lower order of truth inheres in access to the higher truth. In this way they are reunited to the Universal Soul. Jack. 7 ). The idea that the only reality is of the present moment in Yoga takesthe form of a tendency toward negation of life by way of meditation and anassociation or unity with absolute spirit. 235-6). --- (1975). 364). 36). To varying degrees, each of these philosophies is based on an idea oftranscendence of phenomenal reality. How was one to treat alike insulting, insolent and corrupt officials, co-workers of yesterday raising meaningless opposition, and men who had always been good to one? Prabhavananda describes this in termsof a liberation from such limitations, a getting-beyond the "surface lifeof man, bounded on each side by birth and death (Prabhavananda). 77). Thisrequires a commitment to spiritual exercise, chiefly through humanmeditation, with a view toward overcoming "opposite and antagonisticinstincts or drives: the life instinct (which the Vedantist sees as leadingtoward bondage) and a motive which the Freudian terms the death wish,viewed by the Vedantist as the will to liberation (Yale, 1951, p. The Vedanta are the thoughts contained inthe Vedas, or sacred songs and chants of Hinduism (Yogananda, 1981, p. Autobiography of a Yogi. In this regard, Yogananda refers tothe idea that "precise classifications are made, in the Sankya and Yogasystems, of the various links in normal mental modifications and of thecharacteristic functions of buddhi (discriminative intellect), ahankara(egoistic principle), and manas (mind or sense-consciousness) (Yogananda,1981, p. The primary fact of existence in Yogathought, as expressed by the later Upanishads, or mystical teachings, is aworld view that seeks "freedom of the soul from the world of sense" and aconsciousness that man "carries infinite Being within himself" (Schweitzer,1977, p. There is a circularity or an ironicization of the human experience ofthe world, a philosophy that seeks to destroy the "I" of the Self, which isconsidered to be entirely grasping for the accidentals of comfort in humanexperience, while at the same time reaching for a condition in which theSelf is wholly integrated with the universe in its highest order ofexperience. According to Schweitzer, theUpanishads reject the doctrine of maya, which is associated in Sankaradoctrine with the illusory world of the sense. To the degree man remainspsychologically bound by these forces in their physical manifestation, heis dissociated from the absolute unity of the universe. . Yogananda says that "sex sensations"in particular lead humanity to "enmesh itself in the inferior animal methodof propagation" (p. Gandhi develops theargument in this way: [To] me the Gita became an infallible guide of conduct . Indeed, within, say, Yoga, thereare multiple disciplines and divergent doctrines. What is really primary iswhat is universal. It is the spiritual reality of the self that makes the self real.Thus the present moment exists as something above which the self issupposed to rise, and the great moment is the experience of unity with thehigher order of existence. 23 -36.----------------------- 3 However, it may bemisleading to be sidetracked by whether Yoga doctrine does or does not"believe in" reincarnation. To the degree hecan free himself, he moves toward unity with the ultimate. One could say oneneeds to destroy the Self in order to save it. 365). Yet that very self is of a lower orderof reality than the highest reality, which is of the Brahman or thedivinity. How was one to divest oneself of all possessions? To thedegree man can realize Atman, or the eternal being as the fact of his life,he achieves ultimate selfhood, ultimate knowledge, and ultimate unity withthe divine. . Through strength, Gandhi argued, man cantranscend the vicissitudes of the world. (1981). The ultimate reality of the wisdom of the Vedas is the decisivefactor. This is thus at once completely self-abnegatingand completely selfish, for the focus is entirely on the self and entirelya denial of the self. --- (1956). LosAngeles: Self-Realization Fellowship. Elsewhere, Yogananda describes various sensory stimuli towhich human beings react in terms of vibrations, which are regulatedthemselves by prana or life forces. Watkins. London: John M. This argues that the appropriate reaction of man to the limitationsof his life is a negation of them. The object of human existence is tosubordinate human experience into Brahmanic or mystical experience. . (1951). 55). What is crucial is that the nature of man'sexistence on earth is conceived as an opportunity to achieve an experienceof existence that transcends the vicissitudes of life. Quoting Gandhi, Yogananda writes: "Because I advocatecomplete continence for satyagrahis, I am always trying to find out thebest diet for the celibate. New York: Vintage, 1962. . 49). The unreality of things that change, and of their changes, isclearly seen again and again, in thoughts and dreams and in deep sleep"(Acharya, 1964, p. It may seem ironic, in view of the advocacy of spirituality thattranscends vulgar reality, that Yoga could concern itself particularly withhuman motivation. Gandhi believed in the capacity of manto resist evil: "His emphasis on the individual and progress are rooted inthese principles, which furnished the inspiration and energy for hisactions" (Koller, 1982, p. 49). More exactly, one mustdestroy the temporal/corporal self, or the lower self, in order to save itseternal essence, its higher self, and in particular in order to release theSelf from the bondage of its body. Gandhi's beliefs derive from the Hindu thought that is grounded inthe Bhagavad-Gita, translated as the Song of God, which overtakes andabsorbs elements of Yoga and Samkhya ("Hinduism" 1975). . The philosophical undercurrent here is that theavoidance of (momentary) pleasure implies an association with the moreimportant question of the avoidance of pain in the world. . Rather, Vedanta thoughtdifferentiates between worldly and divine reality, with the human soul anaspect of the human experience of the world. [A] great burden fell off my shoulders, and I felt I could now walk with ease and do my work also in the service of my fellow men with greater comfort and still greater joy (Gandhi, 1962, pp. Koller, John M. 21). 61-2). The Indian way: Asian perspectives. . Never againdo they enter earthly existence, not even in future periods of theUniverse. Those, then, who regard the world of the senses as real, and believe the Brahman to be a divinity according to the lower truth, through right worship of this Brahman-divinity can attain to this-that after their death they will not be born again "but will enter into the lower Brahman", that is to say, will lead a blissful existence in the company of the Brahman-divinity. The crudity of life expression is associatedwith sex, and the very intensity of the experience is the less to bepreferred for its attachment to the things of the world. However, Yogananda asserts that Yogic practice is notmerely negative. 5 -51). Editedby Christopher Isherwood. To thedegree access to the higher order is attained, the individual is lesslikely to be obliged to undergo reincarnation on the lower plane ofexistence. But it only becomes capableof this through freeing itself from all obscure and low desire that is inmatter, letting itself be entirely governed by what is pure and luminous init--the Sattva--and so attaining rest. This end is reached by the practiceof Yoga" (Schweitzer, 1977, p. 177). At thecenter of all his efforts at reform was the conviction that freedom,justice, and human dignity could be achieved only through the active forcesof truthfastness and love and that these required personal purification,sacrifice, and faith on the part of every individual" (Koller, 1982, pp.365-7). Schweitzer, Albert. Koller summarizes the categories of the Vedas: These "wisdom collections" or Vedas have four integral parts: (1) the hymns themselves (Mantra samhita); (2) ritually oriented commentaries (Brahmanas), which provide explanations for the ritual use and meaning of the hymns; (3) ritual and theological speculation (Aranyakas), which explain the deeper truth of the symbols and images of the rituals; and (4) the Upanisads, which approach the great mysteries of spiritual existence through concentrated mental effort, meditation, and philosophical reflection (Koller, 1982, pp. That explainsKoller's comment that Gandhi's idea about realizing Truth "is to alsorealize God and fulfill the inner law of one's own being . Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, s.v. . In regard to a conception of man's reactions to the universe, Kollercites Gandhi's commitment to ahimsa and to satyagraha, which he defines as"truthfastness" (Koller, 1982, p. Kollersays that Gandhi was preoccupied with changing the world and perfectinghimself (Koller, 1982, p. I could not follow Him unless I gave up all I had . Hollywood, Calif.: Vedanta Press. . Vivekachudamani: The crest jewel ofwisdom. 182). (1951). When grasping after sensuous things ceases, this oneness with the universal Self is attained by standing ever in the true Self. The purpose of this research is to examine three assumptions aboutthe nature of the universe, of man, and of human motivation, with referenceto Yoga, Gandhi's beliefs, Vedanta, and sankara. I saw I had to throw overboard many other things which I used to consider as mine, and a time came when it became a matter of positive joy to give up those things. The reason for this is that each philosophy canbe found in various aspects of Hinduism. The Vedanta philosophy dominates Hindu thought in the modern period.Vedanta has three schools: Sankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva. This can be read as a preoccupation withfinding ways to achieve absolute unity of his "self" with the ultimate andincreasing the transformation of vulgar reality so that it more clearlyresembles absolute perfection. In Vedanta thought that is not specifically concerned with Sankara,there appears to be a certain reliance on the Upanisads (Upanishads) and onthe Brahmins, which in general terms can be associated with the priestlycaste of Hinduism. The most one can hope foris for an experience of peace in the lower order of existence. Hollywood, Calif.: Vedanta Press.pp. It is on this basis that Kollerdescribes ahimsa, or the practice of self-restraint, including sexual self-gratification at the expense of others in particular but more generallysexual activity that depletes the life forces that can encourage unity withthe absolute (Koller, 1982, p. Edited by Christopher Isherwood. On a continuum of spiritual experience, Gandhi's is the "most"socially oriented, while Sankara seems to be the most intensely personaland mystical. The pointis that only worship and meditation leading to quietude, control, andendurance, will achieve the goal of detachment from maya and access to theuniversal self. 42). (1977). . . Nevertheless, there arecertain lines of thought that may readily be discerned. 11). Were not wife and children possessions? Rather, the ethical motivation of Yoga appears to lie inthe negation of self, particularly at the expense of others, which can bemanifest in the relationship of self to others. It is the task of the Self in the world to becomedivorced from the grasping nature of the world: He who, through the Self discerning the Self within and without . But that is precisely thepoint, that authentic experience of the world transcends logic andtherefore creates an opportunity for an experience that is above logic,above experience, above irony, at once completely outside oneself andcompletely self-absorbed. . . Edited by Homer A. . Words like Aparigraha [Non-Possession] and Samabhava [Equability] gripped me . The souls that have entered into his state of bliss participate in thisreturn. It is mostprominent in Yoga doctrine having to do with the human being's being aninstrument for the alleviation of pain in the world. . The essential Gandhi. 444). Or, as Yogananda putsit: "Solitude [meditation] is necessary to become established in the self,but masters then return to the world to serve it" (p. Yogananda reports a conversation with Gandhi in regard to theconnection between the fulfillment of worldly appetites, including bothfood and sex. This supports the idea of an illusory quality to maya. When he becomes dissatisfied with his present condition of life; when he finds that he cannot overcome its limitations by any other means than by taking recourse to something beyond the knowledge of his senses (Prabhavananda, 1951, p. The relevantpoint is that Vedanta in general terms appears to have made the greatestinroads into Western thought. The highest level of consciousness inevitably avoids pain andavoids the problems associated with (for example) sexual frustration. The implication of sankara doctrine for assumptions about humanmotivations and attachment is that it is simply necessary to divorce theauthentic self from such matters as food, sex, and pain. . Inthis way, Vendanta points toward mystical transcendence and makes religiousexperience the aim of life: The Vedantic theory is that it [religion] springs from man's desire to transcend the limitations and bondages of life. Fischer describes it asnoncooperation (Gandhi, 1962, p. This points in the directionof a philosophical dualism. However, it is also more programmatically associated with anunderstanding of the potentiality for improvement of the future. The Sankara (Samkara) doctrine, named for a great teacher of the 9thcentury, is a special emphasis within Vedanta belief. It is in thisfact that is contained the Vedanta idea that only the present momentexists. For ifthe ultimate reality is the present, and if the present is never permanentbut is always passing by, the ultimate reality is immateriality.Schweitzer cites the doctrine of reincarnation as one solution offered byBrahmanism to the philosophical problem of resolving the tension betweenthe absolute reality of the immaterial soul and the inevitable tanglingwith vulgar reality that the soul encounters. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. What is religion? Transcendence placed in the service of truthfastness implies anasceticism. This isanother way of saying that good works accomplish nothing in particular, atleast as far as the higher truth is concerned. 234).Yale quotes a Vedantic philosopher to the effect that the thing to do aboutsuffering "is to exercise those techniques which are known to eliminate it:to pull up the incompatible motives root and branch, to seek the One, andby God's grace to find the One, to be the One" (p. . If this is the case, then human experience itself is anillusion, and this is the thought behind maya, or the illusory reality ofexperience. Indeed, Yoga is translated asunion or joining ("Hinduism" 1975). To discuss assumptions about the nature of man and the universe withreference to Indian philosophies is to understand that they overlap andconverge in various ways. Through the universal Self comes the cause of deliverance from bondage; nothing is greater than oneness with the universal Self. Yale, John R. 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