Madhvacharya and Dvaita Vedanta
Hi everyone i am reading book on Madhvacharya by BNK sharma mahoday.
These are the first few lines from his book............i will expresss my views on it below in message section you also can........express your views.
This is about First chapter
The Functional Goal of Philosophy.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
CHAPTEK I THE FUNCTION AND GOAL OF PHILOSOPHY
There are no people who could be impervious to the demands of
this world for an explanation of its apparent chaos and contradictions. Only an all-embracing explanation of life consistent with experience
would satisfy the requirements of reason, man's highest instrument for
the regulation of life. For this reason, philosophy cannot be a mere
exercise of the intellect or a pursuit for sheer aesthetic interest or
curiosity. It must have a spiritual raison d'etre and must satisfy man's
spiritual needs. It must deal with problems which force themselves on
our thought and press for a solution, viz., what man is, why he is condi- tioned as he is, what his goal is and how he is to attain it. The question is not, therefore, merely one of philosophy or no
philosophy ; but one of good philosophy or a bad one. Every rational being, then, has a philosophy of his own, whether he knows it or not. It
is the business of an earnest aspirant to go thro' the entire process of thought, under proper spiritual guidance and find a solution of the problems which vex him. The Sastras are there to guide him on
right lines. 1
Philosophy asks for an imaginable unity in place of the mysterious
multiplicity. But neither a pure abstraction of being nor a mere totality or aggregate of beings can give us true unity. Some community or
reciprocity there must be. " The question is how little would suffice. It seems clear that either each must be connected with all, in at least one way; or that all must be connected with some one. There must be a
universal principle directly relating all ; or a Supreme Individual to which
all are related. The latter would imply the former insofar as thro' their
2 PHILOSOPHY OF SRI MADHVACARYA
common relation to the Supreme One, all would be related, tho' only
indirectly, to each other." l
Madhva finds such a principle of unity in the unity of govern- ment, sustenance and control of the Universe, by Brahman. He finds
this idea tellingly expressed in the Sruti text
:
The Supreme and Independent Brahman is not so much the cause
in time of the dependent realities as the logical and metaphysical
explanation of all else that is. Hence the definition of the principle
of Independence in Madhva's system
;
Reality presents, to an inquiring mind, three primary data : the thinking self, a world of external realities and indications of an Infi-
nite Power rising above them. Tho' these three data are commonly
postulated as distinguishable essences, terms like 'reality', 'substance'
or ' existence ', are not applied to all of them, in the same sense, by
all persons, in all stages of spiritual or philosophical development.
It has happened time and again in the history of Philosophy, both in the East and in the West, that the one or the other of them has been
raised to a position of greater prominence than the rest. Such shifting of emphasis has led to the emergence of several forms of Materiali-
stic, Panegoistic and Monistic heresies which, in the history of specu-
lation, are quite familiar. Justifications for each point of view could
easily be found. The Self is the immediate starting point of all experience. It is so borne in upon us as to easily usurp the place of honor. The existence of things outside of us in time and space and
even the reputed existence of a Deity are, after all, secondary, being
reached only thro' acts of private consciousness and may, for aught we know, be illusory or at any rate, not so irrefragably real as the
self. From an opposite point of view, Matter which can be moved
and measured and is therefore tangible, could be set up as a sterner
reality than either God or the souls, who seem to shrink into shadowy
abstractions by its side.
These are the first few lines from his book............i will expresss my views on it below in message section you also can........express your views.
This is about First chapter
The Functional Goal of Philosophy.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
CHAPTEK I THE FUNCTION AND GOAL OF PHILOSOPHY
There are no people who could be impervious to the demands of
this world for an explanation of its apparent chaos and contradictions. Only an all-embracing explanation of life consistent with experience
would satisfy the requirements of reason, man's highest instrument for
the regulation of life. For this reason, philosophy cannot be a mere
exercise of the intellect or a pursuit for sheer aesthetic interest or
curiosity. It must have a spiritual raison d'etre and must satisfy man's
spiritual needs. It must deal with problems which force themselves on
our thought and press for a solution, viz., what man is, why he is condi- tioned as he is, what his goal is and how he is to attain it. The question is not, therefore, merely one of philosophy or no
philosophy ; but one of good philosophy or a bad one. Every rational being, then, has a philosophy of his own, whether he knows it or not. It
is the business of an earnest aspirant to go thro' the entire process of thought, under proper spiritual guidance and find a solution of the problems which vex him. The Sastras are there to guide him on
right lines. 1
Philosophy asks for an imaginable unity in place of the mysterious
multiplicity. But neither a pure abstraction of being nor a mere totality or aggregate of beings can give us true unity. Some community or
reciprocity there must be. " The question is how little would suffice. It seems clear that either each must be connected with all, in at least one way; or that all must be connected with some one. There must be a
universal principle directly relating all ; or a Supreme Individual to which
all are related. The latter would imply the former insofar as thro' their
2 PHILOSOPHY OF SRI MADHVACARYA
common relation to the Supreme One, all would be related, tho' only
indirectly, to each other." l
Madhva finds such a principle of unity in the unity of govern- ment, sustenance and control of the Universe, by Brahman. He finds
this idea tellingly expressed in the Sruti text
:
The Supreme and Independent Brahman is not so much the cause
in time of the dependent realities as the logical and metaphysical
explanation of all else that is. Hence the definition of the principle
of Independence in Madhva's system
;
Reality presents, to an inquiring mind, three primary data : the thinking self, a world of external realities and indications of an Infi-
nite Power rising above them. Tho' these three data are commonly
postulated as distinguishable essences, terms like 'reality', 'substance'
or ' existence ', are not applied to all of them, in the same sense, by
all persons, in all stages of spiritual or philosophical development.
It has happened time and again in the history of Philosophy, both in the East and in the West, that the one or the other of them has been
raised to a position of greater prominence than the rest. Such shifting of emphasis has led to the emergence of several forms of Materiali-
stic, Panegoistic and Monistic heresies which, in the history of specu-
lation, are quite familiar. Justifications for each point of view could
easily be found. The Self is the immediate starting point of all experience. It is so borne in upon us as to easily usurp the place of honor. The existence of things outside of us in time and space and
even the reputed existence of a Deity are, after all, secondary, being
reached only thro' acts of private consciousness and may, for aught we know, be illusory or at any rate, not so irrefragably real as the
self. From an opposite point of view, Matter which can be moved
and measured and is therefore tangible, could be set up as a sterner
reality than either God or the souls, who seem to shrink into shadowy
abstractions by its side.
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