Philosophy is an outcome of the impulse of an interrogative mind to know the reality of the world. Thus, it is termed as darsana, "The vision of Truth", in Indian literature. But in its widest etymological sense philosophy means 'love of knowledge'. Globally 'castern' and 'western' are two broader categories of philosophy. Metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and aesthetics are the main branches of western philosophy. Eastern or Indian philosophy denotes the philosophical thoughts of ancient and modern Indian thinkers, therefore Indian philosophy could be categorized under classical Indian philosophy and modern Indian philosophy. Modern Indian philosophy refers to the philosophical thoughts of modern minds like Gandhi, Aurobindo, Vivekananda, etc. Classical Indian philosophy denotes nine classical systems. They are six astika-darsana or orthodox schools of Indian philosophy, viz. Mimamsa, Vedanta, Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya & Vaisesika, and three nastika-darsana or heterodox schools of Indian philosophy, viz. Carvak, Bauddha & Jaina. These aforementioned six chief orthodox philosophical schools are called ustikas, because they accept the authority of Vedas and the other three do not believe in the authoritativeness of the Vedas, thus called nāstikas. Among six orthodox schools, Samkhya school is the oldest and was founded by the sage Kapila. It is a philosophy of dualistic realism, in that purusa and prakrti are two ultimate realities. Including these two, there are altogether twenty-five principles in Samkhya, viz. mahat, ahaṁkāra, five jñānendriyas, five karmendriyas, mind, five tanmatras and five mahabhutas. The Yoga school was founded by the sage Patanjali, and his Yogasutra is the authoritative text of this system. Yogasutras are divided into eight limbs, they are yama, niyama, āsana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samādhi. Sage Jaimini is the founder of this school the Mimämsä/ Pürvamīmamsa school. The main objective of this school is to interpret and establish Vedic ritualism. According to this, it requires unquestionable faith in the Vedas and the regular performance of the Vedic fire sacrifices to sustain all the activity of the universe, and salvation can only be attained by acting in accordance with the prescriptions of the Vedas. The Vedanta/Uttaramimaṁsa school concentrates on the philosophical teachings of the Upanisads, the last part of the Vedas. Thus, it is rightly called Vedanta, and this school is separated into six sub-schools, viz. Advaita, Visişțādvaita, Dvaita, Dvaitādvaita, Suddhadvaita, and Acintya Bhedabheda. The Brahmasutra of Badarāyaņa, and commentaries written on these sutras by many subsequent writers like sankara, Rāmānuja, etc. are authoritative texts of the school. Nyaya school is based on the Nyayasutras, written by Akşapāda Gautama. Its methodology is based on a system of logic that has subsequently been adopted by the majority of Indian schools. Its followers believe that obtaining valid knowledge through perception (pratyaksa), inference (anumana), comparison (upamana), and testimony (sabda) is the only way to get release from suffering. Sage Kanada also known as Uluka is the founder of the Vaisesika school. It is closely associated with the Nyaya school, because both have the same end in view, i.e. liberation of the individual self, and except few differences both have closely related metaphysical theories. It is atomist and pluralist in nature. The basis of the school's philosophy is that all objects in the physical universe are reducible to a finite number of atoms, and Brahman is regarded as the fundamental force that causes consciousness in these atoms.
Vedas (1182)
Upanishads (493)
Puranas (624)
Ramayana (741)
Mahabharata (354)
Dharmasastras (165)
Goddess (496)
Bhakti (242)
Saints (1503)
Gods (1290)
Shiva (370)
Journal (187)
Fiction (60)
Vedanta (362)
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