The Vedas are said to be not a human creation (apauruṣeya), but Revelation imparted to the Vedic sages who have put it down in inspired verses. Vedas’ words are therefore divine and eternal, and thus extensively praised. Vāc, the Vedic word, is eulogised in several hymns, among which Vāk Sūkta (X.125) is by far the most illustrative of all. In some teachings of the Upanishads, Vāc is equated to Brahman alongside other interpretations. When analysing the nature of the word, (...) centuries later, philosophers and grammarians refer to it as śabda, and no longer as Vāc, the latter remains somehow confined to a rather poetical and mystical reality. Yet, the idea of the eternal and divine character of the scriptures is superimposed on the Sanskrit language also, despite certain historical change remarks on the grammarians' side. In the 5th century CE, Bhartṛhari displays a genuine linguistic and philosophical thought of the folding and unfolding of Reality and its understanding as Word-Principle (brahman śabda-tattva). From an auxiliary science of preserving the correct forms of the Vedas, Sanskrit grammar acquires a hermeneutical role and empowers itself as a way to salvation, an idea supported by previous evidence of grammar's role in producing celestial happiness (abhyudaya), merit and righteousness (dharma). I seek in this paper to analyse and point out the strongholds that underpin Sanskrit as a divine language and how continuity and change coexist to support over millennia this undaunted approach. (shrink)

The literature of Bhartṛhari and Maṇḍana attention in contemporary times. The writings of the prominent linguistic philosopher and grammarian Bhartṛhari and of Manḍana, an encyclopedic scholar of later seventh century and most likely a senior contemporary of Śaṅkara, shape Indian philosophical thinking to a great extent. On this premise, this study of the influence of Bhartṛhari on Maṇḍana’s literature, the scope of this essay, allows us to explore the significance of Bhartṛhari’s writings, not only to comprehend the philosophy of language, (...) but also to understand the contribution of linguistic philosophy in shaping Advaita philosophy in subsequent times. This comparison is not to question originality on the part of Maṇḍana, but rather to explore the interrelationship between linguistic philosophy and the monistic philosophy of the Upaniṣadic tradition. Besides excavating the role of Bhartṛhari writings on the texts of Maṇḍana, analysis this will reveal the interrelatedness of the Advaita school of Śaṅkara often addressed as ‘pure non-dualism’ (Kevalādvaita) and the Advaita of Bhartṛhari, identified as ‘non-dualism of the word-principle’ (Śabdādvaita). (shrink)

본고는 인도 산스크리트 문법학 전통을 대표하는 철학자인 바르뜨르하리(Bhartṛhari, 450-510 CE)의 대표작 『문장과 단어에 관한 책』(Vākyapadīya)의 제 1장 「브라흐만에 관한 챕터」(Brahmakaṇḍa)에 나타난 ‘말’(śabda 혹은 vāc) 개념을 분석하고 해당 개념의 인식론적, 존재론적 함의를 세 가지 측면에서 살펴본다. 바르뜨르하리에게 있어 ‘말’이란 의식적･무의식적인 정신적 활동을 관통하는 원리이다. 그는 말이 가진 세 가지 층위를 구분한 후 그것이 단순히 물리적인 실체로서 구체화된 음성에 국한된 것이 아니라 인간 인식 전반을 꿰뚫고 있다고 주장한다. 하지만 그의 ‘말’ 개념은 인식 주체를 규율하는 기제를 넘어선다. 그는 ‘말’을 구체적으로 ‘베다’와 등치시키며 (...) 베다로부터 모든 사물이 창조되었다는 브라흐마나(Brāhmaṇa)군의 텍스트에 보이는 사고방식을 적용하여 모든 사물이 ‘말’의 힘에 의해 산출된 것이라 주장한다. 이와 같이 인식의 주체와 객체 모두를 ‘말’의 원리로 환원시킨 후, 바르뜨르하리는 인식 주체와 객체가 관계 맺는 방식인 인간의 지식체계 역시 태초의 ‘말’인 ‘베다’로부터 기인하기에 인도의 모든—비-베다 혹은 반-베다적 전통을 포함한—종교적 그리고 철학적 학문 전통은 베다로 구체화된 ‘말’이라는 공통의 기원을 가지고 있다는 세계관을 도출한다. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Diasporic Impulses:Sikh Philosophy as an AssemblageArvind-Pal S. Mandair (bio)Let me begin this response by thanking the editors of Philosophy East and West for generously allowing space for this review forum on my recent book, Sikh Philosophy: Exploring Gurmat Concepts in a Decolonizing World (Bloomsbury, 2022), and thanking the reviewers Monika-Kirloskar Steinbach, Ananda Abeysekara, and Jeffery Long for their careful readings of this work. "Sikh Philosophy" names the modern academic (...) discourse that crystallized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a result of the encounter between modern Western philosophy and gurmat, a mode of thought-praxis deriving from and associated with Sikhi (lit. "the path of learning"), a spiritual-philosophical tradition hailing from India, which most readers may only have encountered through the modern knowledge system's categorization of it as the religion known as Sikhism. To avoid complicating the discussion, I will be referring interchangeably to gurmat and Sikh philosophy, even though they represent quite different entities. Gurmat represents a tradition of thought-praxis that goes back to Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhi, whereas Sikh philosophy is a modern formation that emerged from the encounter between gurmat and European thought, which is why I prefer to regard it as an assemblage. The book examines some of the key concepts of Sikh philosophy and how they inform its vision of life, what they tell us about the nature of reality, and whether it is possible to discern a distinct logic, epistemology, and ontology based on the principles of gurmat. In their reviews, Kirloskar-Steinbach, Abeysekara, and Long have provided critical readings and insightful questions, which I address below.Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach asks about the relationship between Sikh philosophy and Indian philosophy, noting that my book does not explicitly engage Indian philosophy. Specifically, she raises two questions: (1) whether Sikh philosophy should or potentially could be part of the broader field of Indian philosophy, and (2) whether I would be inclined to contribute to that field, particularly in light of recent efforts to diversify philosophical practices within Indian philosophy by scholars like Jonardon Ganeri in his Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy (2017) and Purushottama Bilimoria and Amy Rayner in their History of Indian Philosophy (2018). My immediate response would be "yes," but with an important caveat. In that vein, I applaud Ganeri's and Bilimoria/Rayner's efforts to open up philosophical inquiry within Indian traditions and take them beyond darśanic framings that narrowly positioned different thought-practices of South Asia either within or [End Page 364] in relation to the Brahmanical/Vedic/Sanskritic paradigm. Ganeri's "multiperspectival" narrative about practices might well enable discussions about Sikh philosophy to flourish, given that the lexicon of gurmat (the teaching, logic, practice of the Guru) is replete with concepts that have cognate terms in the main Hindu philosophical schools including Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedānta; the Jain and Buddhist traditions; and perhaps most importantly, within the Islamic, especially Sufi, traditions. It is the seeming parity between cognate terms such as the Punjabi dharam (Skt. dharma), karam (Skt. karma), yoga, śabad (Skt. śabda), guru, hukam, and many more, which has given rise to the misperception that Sikh philosophy is a purely syncretic thought system parasitic on earlier Indic systems. A similar misperception might be that Sikhi is more primarily a mode of lived praxis or dharam than it is a philosophy (Bhogal 2018) and therefore has less to do with thought than with spiritual attainment. But this approach is far too narrow in that it opposes "philosophy"/"thought" to spiritual praxis without asking whether there might be a broader definition of thinking at play within Sikhi or gurmat. Such an approach fails to extricate itself from the legacy of imperial categorizations of Indic traditions as essentially religious and therefore unrelated to what is called "thinking." By doing so, it falls prey to another misconception many have, that the closest Indians have come to philosophical thought are the darśanic schools, not realizing that most Indian philosophers and thinkers were at the same time devotees and spiritual adepts who developed rigorous modes of discipline and practice.Having said this, I would premise any... (shrink)

Ever since some traditional protagonists made the intriguing claim that the Vedas (canonical Brahmāṇical texts) are an inviolable resource of authority on significant matters, extensive debate has raged in Indian thought as to whether word can rightfully be accepted as pramāṇa or autonomous mode of knowing; in western epistemological terms, as testimony? At the mundane level the doctrine underscores the capacity of language, i.e., words and sentences (sabda), to disseminate knowledge from speaker/author to hearer/audience; at a transcendental level it adverts (...) to wisdom-texts delivering knowledge about supramundane matters. Unlike the former, the words of the latter may be literally authorless: truth is begot from what the sages of yore simply ‘heard’, somehow, and came to know. But J. N. Mohanty has rejected this doctrine, arguing that sentences can certainly generate linguistic meaning or intentionality – understanding that p. But since this does not come stamped with evidential warrant (‘fact’), it may not amount to knowledge that p; at best it may generate belief about injunctions and imperatives (‘ought’ but not indicatively ‘is’, nor objective moral knowledge). The chapter is a response to what I call the Mohanty-Gettier Paradox, and a case is argued for the viability of śabda-based testimony, drawing on phenomenology of language and hermeneutics. (shrink)

The proposed study aims to explore the concepts of self and identity in the philosophy of Śamkarāchārya, the Vedantic philosopher. This critical study seeks to foreground Śamkara, the account of the self that overcomes the limitations of the physicalist and the mentalist accounts of the human self. It focuses on the questions of the ownership of the self, the stability of identity despite the change, the consciousness and its relation to the self. It explains the notion of self by equating (...) the self with the body or with the mind, which does not explain our sense of owning or possessing a body or a mind. The idea of self can be philosophically analyzed at two different conceptual levels: 1) one can deal with the notion of self at a metaphysical level attempting to understand the meaning and significance of this notion in general; 2) one could also deal with the notion of self along with its contextualities and particularities where one would want to understand particular conceptualization that the individual self undergoes depending upon its contexts and particularities of its situation. I would try to analyze the notion of self and Identity in Śamkara in both these senses. Other questions that arise with regard to self and identity are as follows: what kind of relationship the self bears with its identity, pre-given or constructed? Is there anything essential about the identity of the individual self? If we take up these questions, then the question of caste and gender also surface in this debate significantly. Conceptually, the self, in Śamkara’s thought, is explained concerning the ‘not self’. He argues that neither the body, nor the senses, nor even the mind can be equated with the self. That is why Brahman has been described negatively as “neti neti-not this not this”. What is the natural self and identity that one is experiencing here and now? How do we identify one self? What does it consist of? These are some of the questions that I will explicate in this paper. (shrink)

Non-dualistic Vedanta insists on the importance of knowledge rather than action for attaining liberation. Knowledge is regarded as the direct and immediate means of liberation. The cause of the bondage is ignorance and the latter can be removed by knowledge. Non-dualistic Vedānta advocates that the individual is ignorant of the truth that his Self is none other than the Brahman and gets involved in the chain of transmigration. Knowledge of the Self leads to liberation. However, this position leads to (...) a debate between Non-dualistic Vedānta and Mīmāmsā School of thought with reference to understanding whether knowledge itself is a mental action. The objective of the present paper is to examine whether knowledge can be regarded as a mental action. (shrink)

In explaining the reasons for sustained existence of tolerance in Indian philosophical mind and continuation of tolerant practices in socio-political life, Amartya Sen argues that tolerance is inherently a social enterprise, which may appear as contingent, but for all intents and purposes is persistent. Basing his thesis that is opposed to Cartesian dualism, which makes a distinction between mind and body, Sen submits that Indian system of universalizing perception finds a subtle form of connection between mind and body. He expands (...) the ancient core worldview, Vasundhara kutumbakam as a secular tolerant civil code,1which makes a connection between the transcendental and the pragmatic planes of consciousness, and reconstructs a thesis about tolerance around human consciousness, which is collectivized and anchored in an acknowledged public space in society that is joined together psychologically as well as philosophically. Tolerance as consciousness can be regarded a necessary condition for playing the role of intentionality as stipulated by classical philosophy. Aware of this ancient wisdom that accepts relativism as an impasse over some evaluative matter, Sen avoids the pitfalls of cultural relativism in tolerance by offering an argument that is based on the metaphysics of Advaita Vedanta and other religious and secular literature, and epitomizes an internationalizing virtue in tolerant traditions. I would examine some interconnected issues, such as the ethical “perimeter” of Sen’s philosophical observation of totalized value system and Indian tolerant attitudes in real life, etc., raising the broader question about the location of cultural identity in relation to supranational state organization. My chief argument is that Sen has been able to observe a connection between the Advaita Vedantic moral philosophy that informs that viewed from the Brahmanic perspective of absolute knowledge in unity, the apparent subject of duality is not the ultimate subject. My conclusion is that valuing of tolerance, individual liberty as well as civil rights is a particular contribution of Western thinking and philosophy; the Western advocates of these rights often provide ammunition to the non-Western critics of tolerance and human rights. (shrink)

It is an hazardous undertaking to arrange the meanings of an ancient Indian term like brahman in such a manner that a definite process of evolution may be read off from the very arrangement, because all that is connected with such power-concepts or represents them can in principle bear the same name and, further, because many meanings given in our dictionaries owe their existence only to the fact that our languages are not able to express the Indian concept by (...) one word. Unlike other Western scholars the present author preferred to test the probability of the Indian tradition which always regarded brahman as a derivative of the root brh- « to be strong or firm, to support ». The sense of the term in various periods of Indian literature, viewed in the light of the outcome of modern research in the domain of Indian philology, comparative linguistics and the history of religions, have led him to the conviction that the Indian interpretation has not been duly considered by modern scholars. (shrink)

Critical study of Tattvārthādhigamasūtra, work on Jaina philosophy, ethics and doctrines by Umāsvāti.

Comprehensive commentary on Tattvārthādhigamasūtra, work on Jaina doctriners and philosophy by Umāsvāti ; includes complete text.

Study of Tattvārthādhigamasūtra, aphoristic work on Jaina doctrines and philosophy by Umāsvāti, ca. 135-ca. 219.

Abstrak: Dari pengamatan, tidak banyak tulisan teologis tentang sakramen tobat atau sakramen rekonsiliasi di lingkungan bahasa Indonesia selama ini. Begitu pula, ada kesan bahwa pemahaman umat Katolik mengenai sakramen tobat cukup terbatas. Dari sinilah artikel ini ingin memberi sumbangan pemikiran teologis melalui kekayaan dan kedalaman pandangan teologis Karl Rahner mengenai sakramen tobat. Dari penelitian penulis, sabda pengampunan Allah menjadi inti pemikiran Rahner tentang sakramen tobat. Dengan metode teologi transendental sebagaimana dikembangkan oleh Karl Rahner, penulis mengupas secara kritis pemahaman sabda pengampunan (...) Allah melalui alur pemikiran sakramental Rahner. Rahner berpendapat bahwa manusia memiliki pengalaman dasar akan dosa-kesalahan yang tak dapat dihapus oleh diri sendiri, dan justru karena itulah manusia senantiasa mendambakan sabda pengampunan Allah sebagai pemberian diri Allah (Selbstmitteilung Gottes) yang berpuncak pada wafat dan kebangkitan Kristus. Melalui Gereja, sabda pengampunan Allah itu dihadirkan melalui aneka macam bentuk, sedangkan yang khusus dan istimewa melalui sakramen tobat. Tulisan ini ditutup dengan penyampaian poin-poin relevansi pandangan Rahner tersebut bagi Gereja sekarang ini. Kata-kata kunci: Sabda pengampunan Allah, sakramen tobat, sakramen rekonsiliasi, teologi sakramental, teologi transendental, belas kasih Allah. Abstract: Theology of Sacrament of reconciliation has not been widely written and developed in Indonesia, and therefore the general understanding among the faithful. This article is to contribute, particularly by presenting Karl Rahner’s theology on the sacrament of reconciliation. Rahner focused on the forgiving word of God. Employing his transcendental method, this article is presenting a critical study on the understanding of Rahner’s forgiving word of God as well as his sacramental theology. Rahner showed that human beings themselves aware and know of their experience of sin or guilt and could not just get out of it, and because of that human beings themselves are longing for forgiveness and God’s forgiving word (Selbstmitteilung Gottes) revealed per exellentiam in the death and resurrection of Christ. Disciples of Christ gathered as people of God or church make present God’s forgiving word here and now in various forms, yet especially in the sacrament of reconciliation. The article shall conclude with points of relevance for the church today. Keywords: God’s forgiving word, sacrament of penance, sacrament of reconciliation, sacramental theology, transcendental theology, mercy of God. (shrink)

About the Book: - Brahman and Person is a collection of essays by the late Richard De Smet (1916-1997) on the topic of person in Indian thought. Overturning the current interpretation, De Smet proposes that the nirguna Brahman can be regarded as properly personal, provided person is understood in the original and classical sense that emerged in the Christian effort to speak abut the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation. The Rendering of saguna and nirguna Brahman (...) as personal and impersonal, instead originated with the Western translators of Sanskrit works, who were influenced by an individualistic idea of the person and the consequent restriction of its application to the human being. De Smet also dedicated attention to the question of the human person in Indian and Western thought over a number of essays, proposing that a properly holistic and organic notion of the human person can be found especially n the thought of sankara. This collection of essays by an eminent Indologist constitutes and important contribution not only to Indological studies but also to cross cultural and interreligious dialogue. About the Author:- Richard De Smet taught Indian Philosophy at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune. Born in Belgium in 1916, he joined the Jesuits in 1934 and came to India in 1946. He earned a Ph.D. in 1953 from the Gregorian University, Rome, for his thesis on the theological method of Sankara, proposing both that sankara was srutivanadin, and that he used the method of analogy in his interpretation of the Upanisadic mahavakyas. De Smet was a life member of the Indian Philosophical Congress and the Indian Philosophical Association and Founder-President of the Association of Christian Philosophers of India and in these capacities carried out an ongoing dialogue with Indian philosophers and religious personalities. He died in 1997. Ivo Coelho is Reader in Gnoseology and Metaphysics at Divyadaan: Salesian Institute of Philosophy, Nashik, and editor of Dvyadaan: Journal of Philosophy and Education Born in 1958 at Mumbai, he studied under De Smet at Pune, and went on to specialize in the hermeneutical thought of the Canadian Philosopher theologian and economist Bernard Lonergan. He is interested in issues of cross-cultural and interreligious understanding, dialogue and collaboration. He is the author of Hermeneutics and Method: The Universal Viewpoint in Bernard Lonergan (Toronto, 2001). (shrink)

The encounter of Alexander the Great with the Indian Brahmans or Oxydorkai/Oxydracae forms an important episode of the Alexander Romance as well as featuring in all the extant Alexander historians. The purpose of this paper is to consider how far the various accounts reflect genuine knowledge of India in the sources in which they are based, and to what extent the episode in the Alexander Romance diverges or adds to them and to what purpose. A future paper will consider the (...) development of the episode in later works, Geneva Papyrus inv. 271 andPalladius De gentibus Indiae et Bragmanibus, as well as theCollatio Alexandri et Dindimi. (shrink)

Although there are various studies comparing Greek and Indian philosophy and religion, and Chinese and Western philosophy and religion, Brahman and Dao: Comparatives Studies in Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion is a first of its kind that brings together Indian and Chinese philosophies and religions. Brahman and Dao helps close the gap on a much needed examination on the rich history of Buddhist transmission to China, and the many generations of Indian Buddhist missionaries to China and Chinese (...) Buddhist pilgrims to India, including the legendary Bodhidharma, and Faxian and Xuanzang. (shrink)

Although there are various studies comparing Greek and Indian philosophy and religion, and Chinese and Western philosophy and religion, Brahman and Dao: Comparatives Studies in Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion is a first of its kind that brings together Indian and Chinese philosophies and religions. Brahman and Dao helps close the gap on a much needed examination on the rich history of Buddhist transmission to China, and the many generations of Indian Buddhist missionaries to China and Chinese (...) Buddhist pilgrims to India, including the legendary Bodhidharma, and Faxian and Xuanzang. (shrink)

Contributed articles on semantics philosophy of vedic literature and poetics presented earlier at a seminar honoring Kapil Kapoor, Indian Indologist.

The whole of the premodern Indian world appears shot through with language. The analysis of language, first undertaken to preserve the sacred texts of the Brahmins, achieved such conceptual sophistication that it served as the model, directly or indirectly, for almost all traditions of systematic thought, regardless of religious affiliation. Language was implicated in all the most important philosophical debates, regarding the nature of reality and the foundations of knowledge, and became an object of philosophical debate itself. Given the enormous (...) tangle of sources that address these issues, spanning several traditions of thought, and given their complexity, if not abstruseness, it would be difficult for anyone to... (shrink)

Contributed articles on the philosophical concept of "other" as reflected in the culture of West Bengal, India.

Articles on aesthetics with special reference to India.

Interpretation of Tattvārthasūtra, work on Jaina doctrines and philosophy by Umāsvāti, 2nd century author.

History of eastern and western philosopy; translated from English.

Commentary on Tattvārthādhigamasūtra of Umāsvāti, ca. 135-ca. 219, on Jaina philosophy.

Ovaj članak predstavlja tragove ranoga vedāntskog tumačenja Maitreyī-brāhmane, jednog od najpoznatijih dijelova Brhadāranyaka-upanišadi u Brahma-sūtrama, temeljnom tekstu filozofske škole vedānte. Predmet diskusije je egzegeza Maitreyī-brāhmane prema trima starodrevnim komentatorima Āśmarathyi, Audulomiu i Kāśakrtsni. Cilj je ovog rada pokazati kakve se metode tumačenja upanišadskih tekstova koriste u različitim vedāntskim školama. Također možemo vidjeti tehnike tumačenja preuzete iz pūrva-mīmāmse, škole tumačenja vedskih tekstova, koje su preoblikovane za tumačenje upanišadi. Članak također pokazuje kako filozofsko stajalište o odnosu sopstva i apsoluta služi egzegetskoj svrsi (...) pomirenja različitih upanišadskih učenja. Učenje BS i starodrevnih komentatora je bhedābhedavāda, istodobna različitost i nerazličitost sopstva i apsoluta. Śankara tumači sūtre kao da poučavaju monistički iluzionizam. On na dvije razine istine razlikuje niži brahman i najviši brahman. Na ovaj je način mogao pomiriti sva upanišadska učenja, bilo da naginjuteizmu ili monizmu. Važna je i hermeneutička rasprava Śankarina s bhedābhedavādinom Bhartrprapañcom o prirodi znanja i djelovanja, odnosno prvenstvu upanišadi koje se bave znanjem brahmana nad brāhmanama koje se bave obrednim djelovanjem.This article presents some traces of early vedāntic interpretations of Maitreyī-brāhmana, one of the most famous parts of Brhadāranyaka-upanishad, in the Brahma-sūtras, the fundamental work of the philosophical school vedānta. Topic under discussion conveys the exegesis of Maitreyī-brāhmana according to three ancient commentators, Āśmarathya, Audulomi and Kāśakrtsna. The purpose of this article is to show the methods of interpretation of upanishadic passages in different vedāntic schools. Also, we can see some techniques of interpretation taken from pūrva-mīmāmsa, the school of vedic interpretation, and adapted for upanishadic interpretation. The article shows how the main philosophical standpoint on the relation of the self and the absolute serves the exegetical purposes. So the standpoint of the BS and the ancient commentators is bhedābhedavāda, teaching of both the difference and non-difference between the self and the absolute, like sparks and fire. Śankara interprets the sūtras as teaching monistic illusionism. He also differentiates between the two levels of truth and accordingly the lower brahman and the highest brahman. In this way he was able to reconcile all upanishadic passages, whether they inclined to theism or monism. There is also an important hermeneutical discussion of Śankara with bhedābhedavādin Bhartrprapañca on the nature of knowledge and action and priority of the upanishads, part of sacred canon dealing with knowledge of brahman over the brāhmanas, which are dealing with ritual action. (shrink)

Even though we encounter a common exchange between the categories of God and Īśvara or the Brahman in both scholarly works and faith communities, there are deeper and irreconcilable differences in these absolutes from two different cultures. A naive approach to flatten the cultural horizons has engendered more confusion than has created a cultural harmony. Any cultural acceptance based on misconceptions is destined to fail and if we seek to ground cultural understanding, we have to acknowledge their underlying differences. (...) This paper seeks to underscore the central difference in two cultures by examining their absolutes. (shrink)

Study of the Advaita system of Indian philosophy.

Comprehensive work on the fundamentals of Jaina philosophy.

In this article, I study the concept of brahman—the exhaustive formulation of truth about the world—in the early Upaniṣads. Based on close reading of two stories appearing in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, the Kauṣītaki and the Chāndogya Upaniṣads, I reconstruct two competing theories about brahman, namely the “theory of puruṣa ” and the “theory of ātman.” While the theory of puruṣa refers to the creation of human and divine beings as a result of duplication of the anthropomorphic form of the (...) universe, the theory of ātman traces the phenomenal reality in its various forms to the inner, formless self “made of consciousness” capable of creating and projecting forms out of itself. These two theories are discussed in the dialogue between Gārgya Bālāki and Ajātaśatru, the king of Kāśi appearing in two versions in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣads. Bālāki’s theory of puruṣa is further revised and modified in the light of Ajātaśatru’s criticism in the story from the Chāndogya Upaniṣads, in which the god Prajāpati teaches Indra and Virocana about the self. (shrink)

Basic tenets of Advaita school in Hindu philosophy.

PREFACE. THE Author of this very practical treatise on Scotch Loch - Fishing desires clearly that it may be of use to all who had it. He does not pretend to have written anything new, but to have attempted to put what he has to say in as readable a form as possible. Everything in the way of the history and habits of fish has been studiously avoided, and technicalities have been used as sparingly as possible. The writing of this (...) book has afforded him pleasure in his leisure moments, and that pleasure would be much increased if he knew that the perusal of it would create any bond of sympathy between himself and the angling community in general. This section is interleaved with blank shects for the readers notes. The Author need hardly say that any suggestions addressed to the case of the publishers, will meet with consideration in a future edition. We do not pretend to write or enlarge upon a new subject. Much has been said and written-and well said and written too on the art of fishing but loch-fishing has been rather looked upon as a second-rate performance, and to dispel this idea is one of the objects for which this present treatise has been written. Far be it from us to say anything against fishing, lawfully practised in any form but many pent up in our large towns will bear us out when me say that, on the whole, a days loch-fishing is the most convenient. One great matter is, that the loch-fisher is depend- ent on nothing but enough wind to curl the water, -and on a large loch it is very seldom that a dead calm prevails all day, -and can make his arrangements for a day, weeks beforehand whereas the stream- fisher is dependent for a good take on the state of the water and however pleasant and easy it may be for one living near the banks of a good trout stream or river, it is quite another matter to arrange for a days river-fishing, if one is looking forward to a holiday at a date some weeks ahead. Providence may favour the expectant angler with a good day, and the water in order but experience has taught most of us that the good days are in the minority, and that, as is the case with our rapid running streams, -such as many of our northern streams are, -the water is either too large or too small, unless, as previously remarked, you live near at hand, and can catch it at its best. A common belief in regard to loch-fishing is, that the tyro and the experienced angler have nearly the same chance in fishing, -the one from the stern and the other from the bow of the same boat. Of all the absurd beliefs as to loch-fishing, this is one of the most absurd. Try it. Give the tyro either end of the boat he likes give him a cast of ally flies he may fancy, or even a cast similar to those which a crack may be using and if he catches one for every three the other has, he may consider himself very lucky. Of course there are lochs where the fish are not abundant, and a beginner may come across as many as an older fisher but we speak of lochs where there are fish to be caught, and where each has a fair chance. Again, it is said that the boatman has as much to do with catching trout in a loch as the angler. Well, we dont deny that. In an untried loch it is necessary to have the guidance of a good boatman but the same argument holds good as to stream-fishing... (shrink)