The Six Schools or visions Darsana of Hindu Philosophy

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The Six Schools (or visions Darsana) of Hindu
Philosophy
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The six traditional (astika) philosophical
schools developed on the basis of the Vedas,
Upanishads, etc. They also responded to the
three unorthodox (nastika) movements of
Carvaka, Jainism, andBuddhism.
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• The six orthodox viewpoints
• 1. Nyaya Logicism the school of logic and
  syllogistic reasoning.
• 2. Vaise?ika Atomism all objects consist of a
  finite number of atoms.
• 3. Sa?khya Dualism the ennumeration of the
  various cosmic principles (tattwas), which are
  considered separate from the true self or
  consciousness (purusha).
• 4. Yoga Dualism techniques for purification,
  meditation, and transcendence in relation to a
  personal god (Isvara).
• 5. Mima?sa Ritualism techniques of
  interpreting and defending Vedas.
• 6. Vedanta can be Monistic or Dualistic,
  Panentheistic and personal theism ultimate
  identity of worldly and divine.

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• Yoga has a long history and a variety of uses in
  Indian thought (as we have begun to see).
• It can mean "Yoking, Vehicle, Equipment,
  Discipline"
• As a philosophical school it is based on the Yoga
  Sutras of Patañjali (2d cent. BCE).
• It accepts Sa?khya metaphysics to explain the
  validity of yogic processes and the concept of an
  Isvara, a supreme personal God.

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• Yoga is defined as cessation of the
  modifications of consciousness and is achieved
  by an eight-stage discipline of self-control and
  meditation.
• It involves Practical methods for direct
  experience. Yoga systematically deals with all of
  the levels of one's being and involves systematic
  explorations of ones inner states, so as to
  experientially go beyond all of them to the
  center of consciousness. Yoga is often called
  Sankhya-Yoga, as Yoga contains the practical
  methods to realize the truths of Sankhya
  philosophy in direct experience.

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• Sankhya was founded by Kapila (6th cent. BCE),
  admits two basic metaphysical principles, purusha
  (soul) and prakriti (materiality). Prakriti
  consists of three gunas or qualities sattva
  (light or goodness), rajas (activity or passion),
  and tamas (darkness or inertia). When these
  constituents are in equilibrium, prakriti is
  static. However, disturbance of the equilibrium
  initiates a process of evolution that ultimately
  produces both the material world and individual
  faculties of action, thought, and sense.

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• The purusha appears to be bound to prakriti and
  its modifications and may become free only
  through the realization that it is distinct from
  prakriti. Early versions of Sankhya, now lost,
  may have been theistic, but the classical system
  does not include a personal God.

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Sankhya philosophy offers a framework for all the
levels of manifestation, from the subtlest to the
grossest. Sankhya comes from samyag akhyate,
which literally means that which explains the
whole. Sankhya deals with prakriti (matter),
purusha (consciousness), buddhi or mahat
(intelligence), ahamkara (I-am-ness), three gunas
(elements of stability, activity, and lightness),
mind (manas), cognitive and active senses
(indriyas), and the five subtle and gross
elements (earth, water, fire, air, and space).
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• Vedanta literally means "end (or culmination) of
  the Vedas". 
• The three most important sources for Vedanta are
  the Upanishads (commentaries and reflections on
  the Vedas), the Brahma-Sutras of Badarayana
  (c.200 BCE200 CE), and the Bhagavad Gita.
• The original philosophical text of the Vedanta,
  the Brahma Sutras of Badarayana, is purportedly a
  condensation and systematization of Upanishadic
  wisdom, and it is so concise and abbreviated as
  to be completely incomprehensible. 
• This ambiguity allowed a large number of schools
  and sub-schools to develop, each one based on
  commentaries on the Upanishads, Brahma sutras,
  Gita, and other authoritative texts.  Different
  interpretations of the fundamental texts of
  Vedanta have given rise to three main schools

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Brahma SatyamJagan MithyaJivo Brahmaiva Na
Parah.God alone is real,The world is
unreal,The individual is none other than
GodSa?kara
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• Three Vedanta Schools
• Advaita Vedanta (monistic or nondual) of
• Gaudapada and Shankara (8-9th CE)
• The Qualified (or modified) Monism or
• Vishishtadvaita Vedanta (theistic monism) of
• Ramanuja (11-12th CE)
• Dvaita Vedanta (theistic dualism) of Mahdva
  (13th)
• Only the first is absolute or true monism, seeing
  reality as totally unitary and identifying all
  things with Brahman. 
• The second teaches a multiplicity or plurality
  within unity. Souls and matter are considered
  "the body" of Brahman but are not identical with
  his essence.
• The third teaches the idea of a Personal God
  (Bhagavan) totally separate from souls and cosmos.

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• Vedanta generally deals with four basic topics,
• but each school explains them differently
• Brahman (God or the Absolute)
• Jivatman (the individual self)
• Creation of the world
• Moksha (liberation), the final goal of human life.

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• Shankara's monistic philosophy God, matter and
  souls have qualified reality but are ultimately
  unreal, and only the Absolute Brahman is real is
  known as Advaita Vedanta (literally) "non-dual
  Vedic commentary").  It is often considered the
  the most orthodox of the orthodox Hindu
  philosophies.
• Ramanuja's theology, although little known in the
  West, had a very strong effect upon the
  development of Vaishnavite thought and popular
  devotionalism in India.
• Mahdva, through a succession of followers such as
  Vallabha and the 16th Century saint Chaitanya,
  influenced popular Vaishvanite culture, including
  A.C. Prabupada Bhaktivedanta, the founder of the
  Hare Krishna movement.

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• Vaisheshika School of Pluralistic Metaphysics,
  atomism or individual Characteristics, was
  founded by Kanada in the 3rd century BCE.
• It analyzed reality into six categories
  substance, quality, activity, generality,
  particularity, and inherence.
• The universe is made up of nine kinds of
  substance earth, water, light, air, ether, time,
  space, soul (or self), and mind.
• Like Jainism and early Buddhism, it maintained an
  infinite number of atom-like entities distinct
  from souls.

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• Nyaya, traditionally founded by Akshapada Gautama
  (6th cent. BCE), is a school of logic and
  epistemology that defined the rules of debate and
  canons of proof. Its views were accepted with
  modification by most of the other schools.
• Nyayas focus was the examination of the objects
  of knowledge and formulation of the criteria of
  valid knowledge.

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• It was the Nyaya who first developed the notion
  of the pramanas, the means by which human beings
  can gain true and accurate knowledge, and also
  codified the rules and procedures for applying
  them. The Nyaya recognized four such pramanas
  perception (pratyaksha), inference (anumana),
  analogy (upamana), and authoritative testimony
  (shabda). The ideas about these four were
  accepted with modification by virtually all
  Indian philosophical schools.

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• Mima?sa or Purva Mima?sa ("Prior Interpretation)
  school, founded by Jaimini (2d century BCE), set
  forth sophisticated principles for interpreting
  the Veda, which was regarded as entirely composed
  of injunctions to ritual action. Its epistemology
  and theory of meaning were constructed to show
  that the words of the Veda had eternal and
  intrinsic validity.
• The doctrine of the eternity of the Vedas was
  argued by this school and it mostly confined
  itself to promoting the sanctity and power of the
  Vedas. The school later was practically absorbed
  into Vedanta.

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• "In religion, India is the only millionaire. The
  One land that all men desire to see and having
  seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that
  glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the
  globe combined". -- Mark Twain (1835-1910)
• What are the similarities and differences between
  Hindu and non-Hindu Indian philosophy?
• How are these similarities and differences taken
  up in western popular culture?

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