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A passage for editorial review. L.B.S National Academy of Administration MUSSOORIE LIBRARY araTfenr^rr Accession No. Class No. _ Book No. \ Oo“l 4,0 GL 181 DAS 2N[ 100760 LBSN A STUDY OF THE VEDANTA A STUDY OF THE VEDANTA (SREEGOPAL BASUMALLIK FELLOWSHIP LECTURES FOR 1929) BY SAROJ KUMAR DAS, m.a. (cal.), ph.d. (lond.) PREMCHAND ROYCHAND SCHOLAR, POST-GRADUATE LECTURER IN PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA SECOND EDITION PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA 1937 PRINTED IN INDIA PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY BHUPENDRALAL BANKRJEE AT THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY PRESS, SENATE HOUSE, CALCUTTA. Reg. No. 7‘10E—July, 1037—750 TO THE REVERED MEMORY OF SIR ASUTOSH MOOKERJEE “. better youth Should strive through acts uncouth , Toward making , than repose on aught found made." —Browning. FOREWORD Dr. Saroj Kumar Das’s Sree Gopal Basumallik Lectures on Vedanta Philosophy are now in their second edition. This fact is a sufficient testimony to the value of the work. The wide range of the book makes even a brief outline of its argument quite impossible within the limits of this Foreword. The author employs the com¬ parative method for which he offers a justification, if one were needed, in the Preface. As one guilty of the same practice, my commendation of the method is needless. The striking clarity of the exposition is to a large extent due to the employment oif his method. Samkara’s views are compared and contrasted with those of other Indian thinkers and many interesting parallels are drawn between Indian and Western views. Though some of the problems like grades of experience, maya and avUlyd, are of an abstract and highly controversial character, the author shows a sound and balanced judgment and the sense of the essential in dealing with them, and nowhere are we left in doubt about the writer’s conclusions and the reasons for them. It is often the case that clearness is secured at the expense of depth ; but it is not true of the present work. There is no attempt to gloss over difficulties or treat light¬ ly doubtful issues. Students of Indian Philosophy X FOREWORD will gain from this book a clear idea of Samkara’s system as it combines careful scholarship, literary distinction and philosophical acumen with a deep and sincere enthusiasm for Samkara’s philosophy. S. Radhakrishnan. PREFACE The following pages embody the course of twelve lectures on Vedanta Philosophy which, as the Sree Gopal Basumallik Fellow for the year 1929, I was called upon to deliver at this University. According to the terms of the Fellowship I was enjoined to deal ‘ especially with the place occupied by the Vedanta in the philosophical systems of the world and of its merits as compared with the Western schools of thought.’ The conditions, while mapping out the course of my treatment of the subject and offering a chartered freedom in the mode of presentation, were none the less welcome to me. Far from proving a handicap, they provided just the official sanction for the method which I have instinctively followed in all my writings since my student days. It is the early inspiration which I received, during my academic career, from our revered teacher Dr. (now Sir) Brajendra Nath Seal that has taught me to believe that a philosophical study, worth the name, must be either comparative or nothing. It is not the place to attempt a detailed examination of the grounds of that belief; nor need I be apolo¬ getic for having employed the method in question. The only remark, however, I shall allow myself to make in this connection is that the comparative method does not, and assuredly need not, impair or belittle, as some think it invariably does, the dis- Xll PREFACE tinctive trait or individuality of Indian thought. The so-called comparative method, which makes out its sole concern to pick out the points of affinity to the utter neglect of the points of divergence between differing systems of thought, Eastern or .Western, may surely be said to have missed its vocation. A comparative study, that commits itself ab initio to the discovery of the points of agreement only, even¬ tually ends by bringing down all systems of thought to the dead level of a barren uniformity, and thus stultifies itself under the spell of that Night ‘ in which all cows are black.’ The enormity of the situation is heightened all the more when the affinities in question are sought to be explained as cases of conscious or unconscious borrowing. Believing, as I do, however, in fundamental human unity and solidarity, I am persuaded to think that every such discovery of close parallelism furnishes just the evidence needed for a belief of this kind— a unity which, as respecting differences, exhibits itself as a unity in variety, and not as a colourless uniformity. On the other hand, I do believe, and in that belief I yield probably to none, that Indian philosophic thought has, down the course of ages, maintained a well-marked individuality, which claims initial recognition from all its critics and interpreters. I use the term ‘ individuality ’ advisedly, and to me it connotes simply ‘ indepen¬ dence of growth.’ Accordingly, in substantiating this much-prized individuality of Indian thought, one need not go so far as to claim, on its behalf, an awful isolation that even defies comparison with all PREFACE X1J1 else. Indian thought has unduly suffered m the past under the pressure of an embarrassing charity and extravagant enthusiasm on the part of its well- meaning apologists. But we forget so often that moderation is a virtue that has its efficacy here as elsewhere. In the execution of my task I have not pre¬ tended to be in any sense ‘ original,’ but have addressed myself to the more modest task of ‘ inter¬ pretation,’ adopting as far as possible the technique of European philosophy. In getting up this course of lectures I have, accordingly, drawn freely upon the materials furnished by the two notable volumes of Indian philosophy by Sir S. Radhakrishnan, and the System of Vedantic Thought and Culture by Dr. Mahendra Nath Sircar. To others I have also acknowledged my indebtedness at their proper places; but my obligations to Dr. M. N. Sircar’s book, particularly in my tenth lecture, are too numerous to mention. The first edition of the book which had been published by me towards the end of September. 1931, was exhausted by April, 1933. Thereupon I approached the authorities of the Calcutta Univer¬ sity for the reprint of my book as one of Calcutta University publications. My request was readily granted and the book is now reprinted with little modification in the body of the lectures except the removal of typographical errors, thus dispensing with the list of Corrigenda appended to its first edition. In deference to desires expressed in many quarters I have inserted herein topical headings of each hREFACk xiv lecture in the table of contents and an index at the end. This edition has its value further enhanced by the insertion of a Foreword by Sir S. Radha- krishnan, Kt., for which I place on record iriy grateful appreciation. Calcutta University, S. K. Das CONTENTS LECTURE I INTRODUCTION Page The Vedanta in what sense 4 the native philo¬ sophy of India '—Inaccuracy of advance labelling of Vedanta as an art of life, as a purely intellectual or moral discipline—Autonomy of the Spirit as the central message of the Vedanta—Vedantic 4 free man's worship ’ and its spiritual implications—The literal and the conventional meaning of the term 1 Vedanta '—What the Vedanta primarily stands for—Importance of Sutras in the making of Indian philosophy, and of the Vedanta in particular— Their strength as well as weakness—Pre-requisites of a systematic study of the Vedanta: (1) Selec¬ tion, and not merely arbitrary preference, of a commentator in consideration of the vertical con¬ sistency of his logic of comprehension, (2) Illumina¬ tion, and not mere accumulation, of facts in defer¬ ence to the needs of comprehension ... ... 1-33 LECTURE II THE VEDANTA IN THE MAKING The Rgveda as the philosophic ancestor of the Vedanta in its growing 4 dissatisfaction with the gods of tradition ' and fche 4 assertion of the unity of the gods and of the world ’—The myth-making of the Rgveda not necessarily subversive of its truth-claim—Danger of exaggerating this truth- $lai m in non-recognition of levels of truth in the XVI CONTENTS Pack tfgveda —Its threefold stratification into Naturalis¬ tic Polytheism, Monotheism and Agnostic Monism along with Pantheism, Henotheism and Panen- theism as their varying adjuncts—The meaning of the Devas in the Rgveda —The anthropomorphic method and its importance in establishing a paral¬ lelism between the microcosm and the macrocosm —Evidences of a growing sense of the One in the Many, suggestive of a transcendence of the original Polytheism in favour of Monotheism—The concep¬ tions of a transcendent world and of Rta as contri¬ butory factors in promoting this advance—From Rta as an impersonal Law or Order to Puruslia as the Supreme Being—From Religion to Philo¬ sophy in Rgveda , from the Supreme Person or God- creator of Monotheism to the One Existent of * Agnostic Monism under the controlling lead of the logic of speculative thought—The substantiation of Self or Ego together with ego-centric worship as the culminating point of Rgvedic speculation— Recapitulation of results, and determination of the significance of the Rgveda in the making of the Vedanta ... ... ...