6
- - - - -- -
STATEMENT
~
~
Drsti-Srsti vada of Kevaladva1 ta Vedanta represents
•
•
•
•
#.
the culmination of Idealistic thought.Ideallsm, IOOted
in the Upani ~ad1C era, has reached 1 ts zen! th in the
Drsti-Srstivada finallY established in the sixteenth
• ••
• t.
contury A. D. by praka~ananda. Drsti-srsti
."
. . . vada totally
.
denounces the reality of the w:lrldly phenomena and puts
them on a par with the dreaminq world. This theory
emphasizes that the l«>rld of appearance has no substant1allty but exists only. whE!;D it ls ~r:ce1ved.
In other
tX)rcl5 J! s~l!~ and D~E!~ are both identical. Thus, the
Dratl-SrsUviida nullifies the unapprehended existence of
.
..
. ..
'
the \'~rld. In short, Drsti-Srstivada ls·
#
•
•
•
•
•
a uniqUe theory
of solving the riddle of th&1\oJOrld appearance. even while
upholding the Absolute Reality of the one ultimate
Reality.
.
In this thesis entitled "Drsti-Srstivada
ln Indian
. . . ..
Philosophy". I have tried to present systematically the
7
deve lopm ent of Drst 1-sr
. sti vida fmm 1 ts emer gence up to
. ..
..
its estab lishm ent. 'Ibis is an attem pt to show how the
Idea listi c thou ght of a prim ary stage reach ed its aane
step by step .
In the intro duct ory part I have expl ained what Idea lism
sign .ifie s1n its diffe rent sh.ad es with spec ial refer ence
to the Idea listi c s'cho ols of India n philo soph y. Then in
the span of eleve n chap ters I have treat ed the rise and
grow th of Idea listi c thou ght fzom the vedi c time s to the
fina l estab lishm ent of Drst i-Srs t1 vida in Kova ladva i ta
•
II
,
•
...
ol.
veda nta vis-a -vis the SrsU -Drs t:l vada of the same scho
,
I
At the end I have 91 ven the Resume
of 'my findi ngs.
'rhe eleve n chap ters of my thes is are as follo ws ,
(1)
.
,
Idea listi c thou ght in the Veda s and in the U$Pan18ads
.
The
~veda
repr esen ts a very prim ary stage of Idea lis-
SUkt a
tic thou ght. Some philo soph ical hymn s" e.q. the Nasa d1ya
etc. have expr essio ns whic h can lead towa rds I de ali sm.
Glimpse~
~ads"
of Idea lism are certa inly found in the Upan 1-
whic h asse rt in clea r tems the real ! ty of the non-
dual senti ency .
the
Of cour se, in the earl ier Upan isads
•
1.-/
8
concept of the unrea11 ty of the phenomenal world is not
expressed.
On the other hand, some minor Upan1sads
•
which
are much later, emphasise the subjective trend of thinking
which can lead towards the type of Idealism which demolishes the reall ty of the phenomenal world.
(2)
Idealistic thought in the Brahma:Siitra
presenting a systematic study of the
I
Upani~ads,
the
Brahma-sutra declares the one noli-dual seilt1ency as the
ultimate Reality.
It may be said that it does not have
any expression whidl can lead towards that type of Idealism,
which asserts the unreal! ty of the world of appearance.
(3)
Idealistic thought in
the
Madhvamika and the
Vi1nanavada (Yogac';ra) Schools of Buddhism
I
It was seen that some minor upan1sads reveal subject1•
v1st1c views, pexnaps under the influence of Buddhistic
thought. So going astray from the vedan1:1e trad1 tion, a
study of the Idealistic Views of the Buddhistic schools is
put forth.
Both the Madhyamika as well as the V1jnanavada schools
do not regard the objective W)rld as real. The Madhyam1ka
9
r1scho ol po1n ts out the faul tines s of each one of our emp1
f.
cal conc epts end the unre ality of the orga ns of proO
know them lCb
Hence the worl d and its deal ings as we
stand the test of rea.so n and cann ot be real .
no~
The vijn ina-
vada scho ol on the othe r hand says that our cons cious noss
d
appe ars as 1f it were outs ide and henc e no obje ctive Wlrl
apar t from cons ciou snes s exls ts.
Tho Vijna nava da scho ol
clea rly supp orts the subj ectiv istic thou ght and this could
be said to have help ed the Idea listi c
of Veda nta
th~ght
that
in 1 ts onwa rd deve lopm ent. Besi des, 1 t 1s note\ llOrt hly
a)
the law of simu ltane ous appr ehen sion (Sahopalafnbhan1yam
..
. ti .
. . .i-Sr&
pres ents a theo ry whic h bx:l.ngs 1 t very near to Drst
vada .
(4)
Idea listi c thou ght in the Yoga -V8s istha
I
.
Though the Yoga -vasi stha
. . 1s a pura na, it 1s repl ete with
ty
Idea1 1 stic thou ght. Thi s wom forc efull y nega tes the real1
of
of the worl d and decl ares the wrld to be a proj ectio n
facto r
tho Mind. More over, conc epts of Av1dya, crea tion, the
.
resp onsi ble for crea tion etc. are discu ssed in this M>rk
.
Besi des, the actu al use of the tem 'Ors ti-Sr stJ. is found
I
••
•
••
throw s some ligh t on the
In shor t, the yoga -vas istha
"
.
.10
conc ept of "Drs ti-sr sti," and play s
...
••
-
8
lead ing part in
I'
-
prom oting the prog ress towa rds Drst
.. ti vada •
. .. " i-Srs
(~'(i~
(5) Idea listi c thou ght in the Gauda
, pada\
I
Unde r the influ ence of Budd histi c thou ght and its mode
.
and
of reaso ning , Gaud apada . anno unce s the ~rld as unre al
on of
puts it on a par with a dream . l-1ore over, the conf utati
of
the thoiy of caus ation and the emph asis on the doct rine
Acosm ism (Ajii tivad a) help the pIOg ress of Idea listi c
thou ght.
(6)
.
Idea listi c thou ght in the V!.vekac1idama
. ni
I
e
This veda nt.1c tt.'Ork pres ents the Idea listi c thou ght whil
-V!z .
decl aring the only real ity of the ultim ate senti ency
zical
Brahm an. l.4.ke the Gaud apad akir1 ka it compares the empi
.
ng
worl d with the dream worl d andi .lsse rts the mind 's leadi
s
role in the proj ectio n of the worl d. Th1s pos1 t:l.ve ly lead
towa rds sub j ectl. vi an.
I
(7)
a :
Idea listi c thou ght in the Brah ma-s iitra- SMk ara-B haqv
I
•
_
_
Sa.l'1kara· s Bha=?ya on the Brah rna-s utra 1s a "JOu nderf ul
m. So
comb inati on of Real ism and Idea lism , rath er Abso lutia
I
.....)
I
,
rts
far as the world -phen omen on is cxmc erned , Sanlt era asse
11
its objective reality fmm the empirical standpoint, but
emphasizes 1 ts unreality from the transcendental stand
point.
Even though sailkara considers everything as unreal
(m1 thya) apart ftom Brahman, he seems to be prefering the
roode of explanation that leads to\OTards &rsti-Drst1
. . .. .. ... Vada.
As
I
•
Sankara admits the unapprehended exLstence of the world,
he cannot be said to have prorroted Drst.f.-srst1 vade.
I
•
•
.
(e)
•
.
~ealist.1c thought 1n the BrahmaSMdhJ.-
••
•
Handana Misra, the autb:lr of the Bralunasicld hi is
••
.
.
(X)nsidered to be a pioneer of Drsti-St'".sti
,.
. , vada.
He is
the first vedantin who has boldly emphasized the jive as:
the locus of Andy-a. This revolutionary mode of thinking
.
has paved the way for Drsti-Srsti
. . .. . " vads.
(9)
Srsti-DrBt1 vada
4
•
...
"
,.
I
•
Rightly speaking, two cU.verse trends develClped after
,.
Sankera. some problems such as those pertaining to the
locus of Avidya. oneness end manyness of Avldya, jive etc.
were d1 scussed by the sahkarai tes. They were all agreed
~out the SOle real1 ty of the ~on-dual' Absolute Ul t1mate
'-'\
.12
lJOrl d
prin dlpl e. But they expl ained the appea ranc: :e of the.
1n diffe rent ways , each tryin g to be as a;>n slste nt as
Upani~ad1c
poss ible with the estab lishe d
doc1 :rine of the
one unch angin g sent tent prin ciple bein g the only Real ity.
those
Thus thei r thou ghts bifu rcate d in two direc tions viz.
of SfsU -Drs
. . .. i-Sr sti vada .
..ti vada and Drst
.
. ..
r
,
..
This chap ter cont ains a br.l.e f expo sitio n
of Srst.. !~
Drst ! vada , a .d. val theo ry of Drst i-Srs ti vada ,
..
".
•
•
•
•
#
•
valI
(10) Drst i-Srs ti Yada in' the VedM tCi-S iddha nta-M uktA
. ..
I
The main thes is of the Vedanta-Siddhanta-Muk.~vall is
work is
Drsti-S~sti vada .Prak asan anda , the auth or of this
•
...
•
•
1#
sti vida .
the expo unde r of Drst
" . , i-Sr.. . ,.
Thro ugh the estab lisbn ent of Ekaj lva-v ada, Ska Avid ya
vada , and throu gh the refu tatio n of the mean s of know ledge
:and the theo ry of caus ation he has very clev erly estab
lishe d the
~que
as well as revol ution aJ:Y theo ry of
Praka sana nda has vdry logi cally eluc idate d
Drst, !.Srs
..
.. , t1.
..
that
S~~"?1
take s plac e
s1mul~eously.
with its perc l.¢
the
(Drs ti), or that Srst ! and Drst i are iden tical . 'l'hu's
.. .. •
..
,. ")I.
e
unap prehe nded exis tenc e of the worl d is rejec ted. Whil
,
:~
e,
tryin g to expl ain the ridd le of the worl d of appe aranc
13
he has put the world on a par with a dream, and thus has
,
\
cxmsidered it as a projection of the drat! of the one soul
(Eka jIve).
(11)
..
Defence of Drsti- Srst! veda
.
.
I
We find Drst1-srsti vada as an estab11shed theory in
•
41
•
•
••
the \oJOrks of f-1adhUsUdana sarasvati and Appaya Dlkrp. ta.
In the AdVa1 tasic\d hi, Hadhusiidana sarasvat1 has
presented a defence of Drst1-Srsti
. . .. ' ... Vada. The objections ra1~
.
sed by the realists, esp. the Nyaya-Va1ses1kas are refuted
at lenqth and convincingly.
In the Siddhantalesasamqraha of Appaya D1k~ ta, DrsUsrat! vida is defined as a theory having the highest
valW3.
,
I
At the end I have given a Resume
of my findings in
the different chapters.
The above is a bird's eye view of the thesis. I may
mention here that I \-JC)uld had been handicapped 1n my task
without the help of books such as
I
( 1)
Indien Ideal! sn by Dasgupta S. N.
(2)
History of Indian Philosophy by Dasgupta S. N.
14
(3)
Idealistic thought OJ India by Raju P. T.
(4)
Avldya
by
I A problem Of Truth and
ReaUty
~
Solomon E.
But I have attempted to base my thesi s on the original
Sanskrit l-lltks and to support every important statement of
;line by a quotation from some original Sanskr1 t W)rks. Some
of the 'WOXks t.ha.t I studied vet1!f carefully are as followsl
( 1)
Upanif!ads
( 2)
Yoga-vis1stha
..
(3)
Gaudap adak arik a
(4)
Brahma_Sutra-Sahkara-Bhasya
(5)
Brallna sidd 'r'Ii
(6)
51 ddhanta '0 i:-n cl4
(7)
Adva! taSiclc\hi. -
(8)
Siddhantale.~a samsra'r\a
(9 )
Vedanta S1ddhanta Muktavall
.
I
,
.
.
( 10) Vi jnaptimatratas1ddh1 etc.
A
number of books have been written on different topics
and problems of Ke9'aladVa1 ta Vedanta.
.
The topic of Drst!. .
srst! vada also is referred to in most of the works on
I
•
sankera
vedanta.
I have read the article "Problems and
15
justi fications of the theory of Drsti-SrsU"
wr1 tten by
• .. •
• c •
Umeshchandra Das and published tn the Journal of Indian
philosophy (Vol.5, 1977).
'1'h1s article is written in
.
defence of the Drst1-Srsti
."
... , vade.
All the possible doubts
are attempted to be answered. This article is note\4'Orthy
1n the sense that it provides some material for the
.
expos! tion of Drst:l-Srsti
. ... . .... vada. Still I feel that I have
worked out a few points in my own way and may be allowed
to claim some origin ali ty here.
(1)
It is true that the Vedic thouqht dOes not assert the
phenomenal world as unreal. On the contrary it \t.Orships
Nature
in all 1 ts aspects.
still an expression Is found ~ch can be interpreted
as doubting the reality of the 'iJOrld.
One of the ph11oso-
phical hymns viz. the Nasadiya SUkta contains some doubts
that arise in the cur1osi·ty to solve the riddle of the
world-appearance - \1ilat was there before the creation of
the world?
There was neither 'Sat' nor 'Asat'. Then fmm
what has all this emerged? Who knows '1
The Almighty alone
knows this or pemaps he might not be knotdng.
16
!~
Mostly it is understood that this hymn suggests that
the creation is beginning1ess.
But at the sane time it
could be interpreted negatively also to say that the world
~las
never created. but is an unreal projection.
Attempts have been made to dig out the roots of mystici-
ern and scepticism from this hymn.
I have here tried to show
that this could be interpreted in the light of Idealism. It
cannot be stated that the unreality of the world is meant
here.
Yet the doubts presented here could be considered
later on as suggesting that the w:>r1d has never been created,
and so must be an unreal projection of some ;:.power.
Then comes the upani ~ad1c era.
The
~pan1 sads
•
very
clearly emphasize the non-dual sentiency as the Ultimate
Reality. And the
~a1.tty
Ultimate
~rld
is regarded as a creation of the
viz. Brahman. I have tried to be very
clear and careful in the interpretation of vpanisadic
•
statements and not jumped to conclusions which could clearly
favour Drsti-Srsti vada.
•
..
•
•
•
It
..
The statemEnt of the BdJadaranyaka Upan1sad
. - -Atmanastu kamaya sarvain priyam bhavati"
means that as everything
1s of the nature of Self-viz. existence, conSciousness,
17
can
blis s, a thing is expe rienc ed as dear . This expr essio n
also be inter pret ed in the ligh t of subj ect! vi an- a thing
,
is not dear or othe rwis e in itse lf, as the self proj ects
the thing appe ars acco rd1n g1y.
exte mal
~r1d
SO all the thing s of the
are rela tive by natu re.
This may indi cate
own.
that a thing does not poss ess any subs tant ialit y of its
eThe Upan isadi c sage may not have mean t this but this expr
.
,
ssion can be said to have led towa rds the type of Idea lism
that nega tes
~e
real ity of the worl d.
Anot her trace of the unre al! ty of the worl d has been
ogya
attem pted to be dete cted in the state men t of the chand
are
Up ani sad- whic h state s that the effe cts (name and £Om)
.
brou ght al)ou t by spee ch.
They are not real . Here , ther e is
the asse rtion of the theo ry, late r known as tl'eth eory of
trans~J:mat1on (par1~imavada).
Stil l this expr essio n coul d
d of
be :mte rprea ted as decl aring the unre ality of the worl
appe aranc e.
.
No doub t, the. main thes is of the Upan isads 1s to
emph asize the non- dual sent1 ency as the Ultim ate
~aal1ty.
end the worl d 1s decl ared to be a part and parc el of the
ing
supre me self . So they coul d not be cons idere d as prop ound
18
stray
the unre ality of the worl d. Stil l there are found S)me
al.
gl1m merin gs of Idea lism . whic h asse rts the worl d as unre
h
So I have tried to inte rpre t some of the state ment s" whic
thoug h indi rect ly can be said to decl are the
~rld
as
unre al.
(3)
The deve loped Maha yana tren d of the Budd histi c thou ght
very clea rly deno unce s the real ity of the lo.Orld.
Idea lism reve aled 1n the Midhyam1ka as well as in the
V1jn anav ada scho ols 1s cons picuo us.
I have tried to pres ent
hena stril dng simi larit y betw een the law of simu taneo us appre
show
sion (Saho palaf fibha n1yam a) and Drst i-Sr sti vada and to
tilt
•
•
•
•
_
on of the
how both these conc epts repr esen t the culm inati
Idea listi c thou ght.
(4)
Anot her conc lusio n I have deriv ed fmm my study is
.
, ra would not have
that ~ka
.,
favou~d
.
..
-
Drst
. . i-Sr sti vada and
~
. .
...
. . i-Sr sti
so cann ot be cons idere d to be the prop ound er of Drst
plac e
Vada . In the comm entar y on the Sidd hanta bind u, at one
I
.
•
_
jlva
p.c. Diva nj1 has rega rded Sank ara as a prop ound er of mea
vada or
D~~~-Srst1
vida .
But that does not seem to be
,.
prop er. On the cont rary, Sank ars seem s to be favo uring
s
Srst i-Dr st! vida as he acce pts the many ness of the jlva
•• #
.19
I
•
More over. Sank ara asse rts
from the emp irica l stand poin t.
agai nst
the emp irica l real ity of the t«)rl d whic h' goes tota lly
emp1r.1.cal
the Drst1
. . . -sr.s:, .ti.' vada wh1ch forc efull y nega tes the
.
real1 ty of the
-Brs
Henc e DrsU
. ti Vida is not a dire ct
" .
.
~rld.
I
. -
•
deve lopm ent of the view s of Sank ara.
(5)
Besi des, I have tried to make it clea r that
the
ikajl valla da is not. iden tical with 1>l:~-S~~t;1 vada . In
S1dd hanta bindu , Ekaj lvav ida is cons idere d as an iden tical
But. it seem s that. both are not
theo ry of Drst
... vida .
. . . i-Sr. sti
Drst 1-Sr ati vada is a theo ry relat ed to
qui te iden tical .
••
,
••
#
aring
crea tion and perc 1pl, wher eas Ekajl.v8vida 1s a theo ry decl
n of
the real ity of one soul . Of cour se, the fina l conc lusio
er to
both the theo ries 1s the same . Neve rthel ess, it is prop
...
. _t1
. . .i-Srs
cons ider Ekaj lvav ida as one of the aspe cts of Drst
vada , since DrsU .5rst 1 vada as eata blish ed in the Keva la•
•
•
,.
..
III
dvai ta scho ol emph asize s the nal1 ty of only one
Soul .
The abov e ment ioned are some of the poin ts c:onc lu.ed
fran my study .
I~
1NOUld not be out of pla: e to repe at that
ent
it is only an attem pt to thrOw some ligh t on the devel Opm
sti, of whic h. to my know ledge ,
.1.sr..
ue theo ry of Brst
of the uniq
... ...
.
. .
no sepa rate deta iled stud y has been attem pted as yet.
20'
SCHl:101E
a,
~-
¥
-u,
eli' - 0
"" -
k,
arr-
~
a,
~
- r,
~1
-
•
,-
khl
Cf
1-
t,
Q-
th,
. II -
t,
~-
th,
q -
p,
~-
..
Ph,
~-
Yf
1
n
,
C{ -
VI
,-
,- .
"
"
"
-1,
.
i - 1,
\r-
u;
l' - e
t -
ai,
ll-
it
Jf'-
9'
q' -
gh,
~-
j,
~_
jh;
~I
t -
"hi
~-
d,
~ - db,
1
if-
b,
"I' - bht
q
tt- l'
d5 - fl
oc1~
- lh;
•
- 8'
t
- h.
au,
ch,
~-
TRANSLITERATION
OF
"
.
81
,"
"
"
~
"15t - 81
•
. .
--m
or
m,•
.
'• - h.
,-
•
nf
....,
5L- n;
OJ"Ii
"
nJ
~
- m,
nt
I~'
21
ABBREVIATIONS
Ad. 51
_
Advaitas1ddhi
Ait-up
_
Aitareya UpanilfJad
Bra. Sid
-
Brahnasiddhi
Br. SU
-
Brahna-s.4tra
Br.
, Up
_
Brhadaranyaka
upanisad
.,
.
Br.sU.Sa.8~ Brahna sutra Sankara-Bhisya
•
.
Chanibgy8 'Upanisad
Cha. Up
-
G. K.
_ GaudapadaKari~a
.
s.
_
Laitkavataras~trd II'
M. K.
-
Madhyamaka Kanka
M.K. V.
•
Madhyamaka Ker.l.ki V~ti
P. D.
-
Pancadasi.
s.
-
S1ddhantalesaa.ngraha
81. 81. ...
_
Siddhantabindn
Sve-up.
_
Sveta~atara Upani~ad
Tai. Up
_
'l'a1ttidya - Upanisad
'l'ejo.Up
_
'l'ejobindU 'Open! ~d
L.
L. S.
...,
,-
•
22
.
Up
-
Upanisa6
Vi
-
VivekacU~am~
-
Vijnaptimatratisiddh1
V. M.
s.
V. P.
s.
V. S. H.
_ Vedanta. S1ddhinta Muktaval1.
Yoga-Up.
Y\I..
-
..
Yoga-Vas! stha
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