Fundamentals of Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika - An Introduction through the Works of JC Chatterjee and Chittaranjan Naik - Part 3

The Synthetic Aspect: The Doctrines

This article is the third in a series on Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika - read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

The doctrines of the creation of the universe with the nine Realities are as follows:

1. No first beginning of things.

The beginning of a universe refers solely to the creation of a system. Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika posits that there is never the first or only one to exist but only one of the beginningless series. The beginningless series is saṃsāra. An absolutely first beginning can mean one of the three:

• it was the first molding of already existing ingredients
• such eternally existing entities required an intelligent being, or
• it was created out of nothing by an intelligent being.

In the first, stuff has existed forever; in the second, both the being and stuff existed forever; and in the third, it is the intelligent being that has existed forever. In any case, something had existed prior to the creation of the universe. Now, the age of the universe, however long, is limited. This beginning, however remote, is insignificant when compared to the infinite or eternal duration of the stuff, or a being called God. Thus, none of the three alternatives can be maintained as the first beginning of creation.

The first, meaning an absolute beginning, is impossible since there cannot be self-movement of inert matter. Is this moulding of stuff by God essential to God or merely accidental? In the 2nd and 3rd propositions, if essential, then it has existed eternally with God. We need to elucidate the process by which a potentiality transformed into an actuality. Creation is impossible if activity is accidental to God. There is hardly a reasonable way to show how a being perfectly satisfied without activity from all eternity could suddenly start creating a universe.

Even if we concede a sudden resolve, we cannot maintain, without contradiction, that God, who is a moral and just being, could have created a partial and suffering world. Nor is the contradiction removed if we say that God created everything equal but endowed them with a free will, which tends to give wickedness in the world. Omniscient beings know all time periods and would not create something that would have disastrous consequences if given free will.

Nothing that is created or produced can be eternal. How can God produce such everlasting souls or Ātmans? The contradictions are completely removed from an unjust and partial god if we accept that the universal manifestation never began, but it is simply an eternal process going on forever. We refer to this endless cycle of universes as saṃsāra.

2. Saṃsāra consists of various orders of experiencing beings inhabiting the sensible and super-sensible world of beings.

The sensible are obvious. But the originating sources of the sensible are the super-sensible realities themselves. In a sensible world, there are many varieties and grades of beings forming a series, of which man is the peak, having a wider range of experiences than the beings in the preceding order. However, there must be a higher being because man is limited, and he is sometimes helped out of frustrations and limitations by unseen powers. These unseen forms must exist in supersensible states of being. Thus, there are different orders of experiencing beings; man belongs to one of them.

3. A human consists of:

a body and senses that are produced from the four classes of the paramāṇus and the conditioned ākāśa,

manas, by which awareness of different things and memory are possible on the part of the Ātmans. It is eternal but without any magnitude, and

the Ātman, which is eternal and infinite.

Ātman is the experiencer, and it gains its experience through the manas. Ātman, as the real experiencer, must also be the agent of activities that are at least voluntarily performed. There are two-fold results of Ātman’s activities:

• certain tendencies, faculties, or character (saṃskāras)
• certain potentialities of relational or moral worth (adṛṣṭa).

Saṃskāra is the bent of mind due to previous impressions. A mathematician employed later in any profession would not leave the mathematical mind in the profession. This is a saṃskāra, a general memory, or a general impression of the activities despite the disappearance of the specific and the particular aspects of that experience or activity. The details of the experience, though forgotten, are not entirely lost. They can be brought back from memory. Forgetfulness of past experience does not prove its non-existence in the past. The Ātman retains these memories.

The second class of results produced by the experiences of the Ātmans are those of the adṛṣṭas. When a person is born in a particular body and a situation, there are always concepts of right conduct and wrong conduct that would promote happiness and misery in them. There are cases when he meets the consequences immediately, and sometimes there is a wait for the consequences of the conduct. Sometimes there might be instances of showing positive acts and yet with negative results. The results of our conduct — right or wrong — wait for fulfilment. The potential relations are those results that are the future possibilities in the person. The potential worth, different from the actual worth, is the adṛṣṭa of the person.

A human constantly produces by his experiences:

• saṃskāras or tendencies
• adṛṣṭa or potential worth.

The Ātman acquires them when they are in a relationship with the body. A body has a beginning, and thus the experience of the Ātman with the body through the manas also has a beginning. We call the Ātman incarnate because of its relationship to the manas and the body. The concept of the Ātman’s beginning is solely figurative. It means the beginning of the relationship between the Ātman and the body. Death of the body is death of the association of the Ātman with the body. The period during which the body lasts is the period of rebirth of Ātman in that sense.

4. The eternal Ātman of man, together with the eternal manas, which is its primary and immediate instrument of gaining experience, is born and dies not once but countless times. It has been doing this forever without a beginning, in an equally beginningless series of universes.

The adṛṣṭa and the saṃskāra of the previous incarnation determine each birth. The adṛṣṭa and saṃskāra determine

• the locality, time, environment, circumstances, and possible associations in the new birth;
• the family and parentage, the subjective aspect of his living meant by heredity; and
• the possible longevity of the body.

The saṃskāras also make up for the differences in the character of children born in the same family.

The saṃskāras show up as innate tendencies, capacities, and possibilities of character. These saṃskāras may be from a distantly previous birth and not from the previous birth. Daily activities accumulate worths and tendencies incompatible with each other in the short run. When we actualise one set, it could lead us to a rich life from birth, while another could lead us to a poor life from birth. In such cases, the actualisation waits for the right conditions, like a seed that has been sown and needs the right conditions to germinate in the future. Hence, all adṛṣṭas do not manifest at the same time. What is true of adṛṣṭas is also true for the saṃskāras.

Saṃskāras and adṛṣṭas wait for a long time before manifesting themselves in future births. However, the “subliminal self,” as used in modern psychology, remains intact. They manifest at various rebirths, with some appearing immediately in the next birth and some much later. Capacities and tendencies in a child are not “gifts” but are things acquired in the past. The above ideas constitute the ideas of “karma” and “punar janma”, rebirth.

Rebirth is an accepted doctrine in Hindus and Buddhists as a presupposition and a truth. When the individual Ātman dies with any adṛṣṭa, it must get reborn in the same state where it acquired the adṛṣṭa. Another argument states that the body of an Ātman has a beginning and an end. The Ātman is eternal. If God only associates the individual Ātman with the body once, we could accuse him of injustice. He associates one Ātman without any reason with a body where a man cannot but be happy, who is many times born in misery and surrounded by vices. Why then does God associate Ātman with different kinds of bodies? We cannot refer to this as heredity. The question is not how offspring resemble their ancestors or how they inherit their circumstances. The question is why and how a Ātman comes to associate with a family as their progeny.

The explanation that we get different bodies is that we DESERVE to inherit them. This is the result of our past worths, or the adṛṣṭas in the Ātmans. Rebirth removes the difficulties of the first and only one-birth-of-man theory. The Ātman thus is ceaselessly repeating its births in a beginningless series of Universes (saṃsāras). The Ātman’s births are completely and totally determined by what they did in their last incarnation. This includes their nature, their genes, their environment, and even how long they live. The Ātman experiences the consequences of the actions of its associated body and mind.

The objection against rebirth of multiple life theory is that we do not remember our past lives. First, the saṃskāras are actually some memories of the past actions. The adult forgets memories of even infancy. Therefore, the claim that the memory of past incarnations is absent is incorrect. A lack of memory does not mean its absence. However, a man of the highest type, a ṛṣi or a Buddha, can remember all the previous births. By rebirth, an Ātman may be born not only as a human but as sub-humans too or as superhumans in the super-sensible worlds.

Adṛṣṭas of similar types manifest in human life, but those of different types can manifest as lower or higher orders of life. A human being is in contact with not only the humans but also the whole world at all times. Hence, he gains adṛṣṭas with respect to how he behaves with the human world but also the non-human world. Even as humans, they are born of different grades depending on their adṛṣṭas.

5. A hierarchy of beings exists where the higher orders control the lower. Adṛṣṭa or worth creates this.

This gives unity to the multiplicity and infinite variety of beings. They form a system and an organic whole.

6. Ātmans create the adṛṣṭas with their own karma. The acts of experiencing beings create the universe. The universe exists for a moral purpose.

The universe exists for a moral purpose, supplying situations and spheres of influence for the experiencing beings. Joy, suffering, and sorrow are according to what the Ātman deserves by way of the adṛṣṭas. The universe is a manifestation of the potential worth of beings, shaped by the actions and experiences of Ātmans. It is created with the help of other ingredients and the powers and forces that have existed eternally.

7. The series of universes are also infinite and ever happening for the realization of the adṛṣṭa of the highest being, Brahma (not to be confused with Brahman), and the beings who have not attained the results of their karma in the present universe.

The series of universes is infinite, beginningless, and endless. The universes are alternating between phases of chaos and cosmic creations. In the process of alternation of universal energy, a period of complete explication followed by a potential phase is called kalpa. The two phases are sṛṣṭi and pralaya. Kāla, or time, urges them on in this process, and dik holds them in position in the ākāśa.

8. In this series of universes, there is absolute justice. Nothing is undeserved. This cannot be said of a universe if a god has created it for the first and only time. Ātmans are eternal. All ideas and impressions are retained and remembered by the ṛṣis.

The present and the new always replicate the past and old ways. There is nothing that is absolutely new. There is no time in the life of the universe when any phase of thought and experience is found wanting, though Ātmans of all types of thought and experience may not be found at the same time. Thus, there is no such thing as an absolute progress of things in the universe. Progress and evolution from a lower to higher stage is always with reference to individuals and groups of individuals, but never of the entirety of beings all starting at the same point from the lowest level.

9. Progress and evolution is never a blind and unaided groping.

Higher types and higher worlds are always present in the universe, although they may not always be visible to us. With their own adṛṣṭas, these are in touch with and guiding the lower beings by way of thoughts, intuitions, and sudden flashes. Ātmans in all incarnate and discarnate bodies are in touch with each other.

The history of progress is like that of a child who learns from people who know a bit more than they do. The history of the child is the assimilation on the part of the lower of the already existing thoughts, ideas, and achievements of higher beings. Knowledge comes from higher beings to lower by sensible means or as super-sensible experiences of a higher kind, which include ‘sudden flashes,’ inspirations, and ecstatic visions.

10. There is never a real beginning of any science or philosophy.

Some being or beings in the beginningless series of universes have always known

• true nature of things and
• proper conduct.

It is this two-fold knowledge of things in their reality and the rules of proper conduct that is the Veda. It has always been directly known and realised by some beings, either in its entirety or in part.

These beings are the ṛṣis — humans and superhumans of various grades. Ṛṣis have been perfect and imperfect. All classes have existed from the beginning, and the perfected ṛṣis, eternally existing, have taught men that aspect of the Veda, which lifts the latter from a lower state of existence to the higher.

The communicated knowledge of the rules and principles of conduct must be different in different cases according to the various natures and the circumstances of the persons taught. We refer to this as the varṇāśrama dharma, or simply dharma. This dharma may or may not be followed, and accordingly, humans rise or fall on the scale of beings depending on the adṛṣṭas they accumulate.

11. There is a constant rise and fall in states. In a higher rise, after the accumulated karma is over, the position gained is also lost.

Existence in any of the rungs of existence is never permanent, and man can never have abiding peace and happiness.

12. There is only one way out of the suffering of multiple births. The real independence and freedom from all grades of existence is mukti, mokṣa. Freedom can only be had if the Ātman is freed from any kind of activity or karma.

This freedom happens by the realization of the truth or the true nature of things by direct experience. How is the human being going to free himself? This cannot be achieved by ceasing all work and sitting idle, as this would be inconsistent with his specific duties of varna and dharma. Not doing dharma would lead to a lower adṛṣṭa and a lower type of birth. The realization of truth as a direct experience is the only way man can stop the adṛṣṭas from happening and leading to repeated births. Even action for oneself or one’s country leads to adṛṣṭa and not mukti. Activities for pleasure or desire for good things and activities to avoid pain and suffering beget adṛṣṭas and are rooted in ignorance. Realising true nature through direct experience of the formless and shapeless paramāṇus results in the abolishment of ignorance.

Similarly, when ignorance that the Ātman is the body is broken, the seeking of embodiments by the Ātman, to the advantage of oneself or disadvantage of others, disappears. A man who has realised that he is the Ātman, not the body, can never work to advantage himself in opposition to others. All Ātmans are alike. He cannot work solely to uplift a specific nation or land. All races are his. Motives for work cease, and this desireless action leads to the realization of the Ātman as the true reality and the embodiment as only an ignorance. With the ceasing of ignorance, both with the nature of things and in regard to the Ātman, all causes of birth are removed, and the Ātman becomes totally free.

13. A human seeks wisdom when the being is really tired of a specific form of existence as a deep-rooted saṃskāra.

Realised ṛṣis have also existed eternally, and they teach the worthy candidates to become truly free. Like the eternal Veda, the line of teachers and pupils has continued to date.

14. Pupils have learnt and realised mutki by following a definite method of three steps: śravaṇa (hearing), manana (reasoning), nidhidhyāsana or direct experience of the truth.

The first step consists of hearing the truths, like that kāla and dik exist, that Ātman is eternal, and so on. The second step involves reaching rational conclusions after assessing all the arguments, both for and against. The ṛṣis come to the aid of the person by showing the line of reasoning. Thus, ṛṣis Kāṇaḍa and Gautama taught the lines of reasoning to the worthy pupils with their philosophies of Vaiśeṣika and Nyāya respectively.

Philosophy is not reasoning and speculation with a view to discover metaphysical truths, but it is reasoning with a view to logically demonstrate and understand these truths, which are already given as facts of experience and as propositions enunciated in the words of the Veda.

Reasoning and speculation about transcendental truths, not already given as experienced truths, lead us only to a probability. What one establishes today, another demolishes the next day.

Mere reasoning cannot lead us to certainty regarding metaphysical truths. Reasoning is only a means to discover them. Therefore, in Hindu traditions, this type of reasoning is known as darśana, serving as a tool to uncover pre-existing and articulated truths. The object is not the performance of intellectual gymnastics but to aid the suffering man in understanding truth and becoming free of sorrows and suffering. Philosophy is not a dry intellectual exercise but of supreme practical value.

The third and final step is realization by direct experience, also called samādhi or yoga. The first is faith; the second is rational conviction, and the third is direct realization. The first two are akin to theoretical knowledge and indirect knowledge, which do not end suffering. With yoga, we pass beyond the limits of philosophy proper. Hence, philosophy is only the means to reach the highest truths, which would permanently end our suffering.

Main Principles Of Yoga

Greater attention to a thing brings more awareness of the object. This is true for physical objects, of which we are all aware. This is not so obvious for mental things. However, this is evident in many practical situations, such as solving puzzles or comprehending various subjects. Concentrating minds on different mental things in a one-pointed manner can thus lead to the acquisition of knowledge. The world amply demonstrates this.

Manas (mind) is the direct and immediate instrument of all experience and awareness. The senses assist in this operation. Indian philosophers say that the manas can gain knowledge even without the senses. Though the West is vaguely aware of this through phenomena like telepathy or hypnotism, the Indian philosophers take this as an elementary phenomenon. The manas can acquire knowledge about both physical and mental things without the aid of the senses. Both Buddhists and Hindus devoted themselves to concentrating the mind to absolute perfection, and such a perfected manas can lead to the real truth of the world and the true nature of man. The direct experience of the truth through a perfected concentration is called samādhi or yoga. Perfect concentration is akin to the unwavering light in a storm, exhibiting no flicker. It is a mind that is a combination of keenness and stillness both.

It is definitely not a state of a dead, dull stone. Hence, this cannot be achieved by staying in a dull state of zero activity. It is not idleness. The practice of yoga quietens the heart but sharpens the mental faculties. Only exercise, such as thinking through many deep problems or engaging in focused thought, sharpens the mental faculties. Thoughtfulness is the key to exercising the mental faculties.

Yoga cannot be achieved by leading a selfish life where the ego, or ahaṃkāra, remains intact for personal desires and possessions. To have calmness and keenness, an aspirant conducts his life with certain guidelines. Lack of selfishness is one. Desireless performance of duties is another. Excessive involvement in the work even after the person is off work is also not desirable. There should be no thought of personal gain and feelings of “I” and “mine.” The heart is filled with calm and is free from passions. Thus, by fulfilling his duty without ahaṃkāra and avoiding excessive entanglement, a human develops the two opposing qualities of keenness and calmness.

Keenness with selfishness and calmness without keenness (dullness and stupidity) does not work. This is precisely Karma Yoga that involves leading an active life, fulfilling duties without entanglement, and avoiding selfish motives that stem from the ego. This is the foundation of yoga. When done to a large extent, a man is fit for practical concentration. Once the basis is firm and moral perfection manifests itself, secondary aids come into play. The regulation of diet plays a crucial role in maintaining perfect health. Diet should not evoke feelings of dullness, stupidity, heaviness, or excessive restlessness. There should be occasional periods of seclusion to practice concentration. When the mind fully focuses on a thought, several realizations occur:

1. That things consist of paramāṇus, and he will know them by means of the mind.
2. That ākāśa and other realities exist. He will become aware of them similarly.
3. That the Ātman is different from the body. Separating the mind from the body will bring this realization. With this, he will come to experience things without means of the body.
4. That man is born and dies repeatedly. He will remember his past lives. He comes to realise all the previous adṛṣṭas. He comes to exhaust all the adṛṣṭas and end the cycle of repeated births after he realises the Yogi state.
5. That there are worlds and beings that are never perceived by the senses. He becomes aware of them.
6. Finally, he identifies as the Ātman and realises that he is eternally free from the mind and the body and becomes liberated. This is the third step in acquiring and realising philosophical truths. When following yoga, the third step is absent in Western philosophy. The learner realises the truth through direct experience and becomes ṛṣi, a free man and teacher.

The goal of all Indian darṣanas (except the Cārvāka darśana), and especially the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, is the absolute freedom and independence of the real in human. The being is free from every necessity and compulsion to be born in a specific form of existence. This knowledge can be gained without knowing secondary things about the nature of paramāṇus, ākāśa, Ātman, and so on. The human simply needs to be free of likes and dislikes, attachments, and aversions. At a certain stage, there is a realization that all things — the good, the bad, the ugly, the desirable, and the undesirable — are made up of the same paramāṇus and are all alike.

Once one realises that these are all paramāṇus, it matters little whether the individual knows them further as eternally existing or as derived things. By realising oneself as the Ātman, one does not need to enquire further whether there are others too. The individual being will identify with all Ātmans as being of the same essence, and will not associate with any individual adṛṣṭas or embodiments.

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