Serialized quotes from "The Hindu View of Life" By S. Radhakrishnan

"Hinduism does not distinguish ideas of God as true and false, adopting one particular idea as the standard for the whole human race. It accepts the obvious fact that mankind seeks its goal of God at various levels and in various directions, and feels sympathy with every stage of the search."

"Hinduism accepts all religious notions as facts and arranges them in the order of their more or less intrinsic significance."

"The bewilddering polytheism of the masses and the uncompromising montheism of the classes are for the Hindu the expressions of one and the same force at different levels."

Brahman

In Indian philosophy (shared across the Indic faiths - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism....), the concept of "Brahma" is a metaphysical idea and quite unique. Unlike a personal monotheistic god, the idea of Brahma is abstract and formless, nonjudgmental, and represents a descriptive unifying view of the highest Universal Principle and Universal Reality, including the existent and the nonexistent. This is an idea that has inspired theoretical physicists, mathematicians, philosophers, and poets across denominations.

"To admit to various descriptions of God is not to lapse into polytheism. When Yahnavalkya was upon to state the number of gods, he started with the popular number 3306, and ended by reducing them all to one Brahman. 'This indestructible enduring reality is to be looked upon as one only." (On "Brahman".......From "The Hindu View of Life by S. Radhakrishnan)


Brahman is a Vedic Sanskrit word, and it is conceptualized in Hinduism, states Paul Deussen, as the "creative principle which lies realized in the whole world". Brahman is a key concept found in the Vedas, and it is extensively discussed in the early Upanishads. The Vedas conceptualize Brahman as the Cosmic Principle. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman)

"The Hindu View of Life" by S. Radhakrishnan.

My friend, Saji Joseph, recommended to me a little book titled "The Hindu View of Life" by S. Radhakrishnan. It is only 95 pages, but dense and full of compact analysis and interpretation of a highly complex and unique world-view. I will share serialized quotes as I go along, but here is one to read and reflect on:

"The Hindu attitude to religion is interesting. While fixed intellectual beliefs mark off one religion from another, Hinduisim sets itself no such limits. Intellect is subordinated to intuition, dogma to experience, outer expression to inward realization. Religion is not the acceptance of academic abstractions or the celebration of ceremonies, but a kind of experience. It is insight into the nature of reality (darsana) or experience of reality (anubhava). This is not an emotional thrill, or a subjective fancy, but is the response of the whole personality, the integrated self to the central reality. Religion is a specific attitude of the self, itself and no other, though it is mixed up generally with intellectual views, aesthetic forms, and moral valuations."

Indian Philosophy

 

Last December, I worked through two volumes of “Indian Philosophy” by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, and more recently have been listening to a series of podcasts from King’s College London, and was very impressed by a succinct description of Indian philosophy and how it differs from Western philosophy.

 

Having evolved over a very long time, the Indian philosophical system is completely at ease with virtually any structure of spiritual thought - agnosticism, atheism, deism, monotheism, polytheism, animism, etc.  They can all co-exist. Reason has been used to develop multiple argumentative traditions (which are what the Upanishads are).  Several varieties of beliefs have coexisted with an acceptance of an abstract “Unity” and uncertainty have been in principle fundamental behind all of Indian thinking. 

 

The concept of "Brahman", unlike a monotheistic personal God, allows an encompassing worldview by its very abstract and non-concrete dimensions, inclusive of the existent and the non-existent. Nonjudgmental and detached, at that lofty level of "Unity" all diversity is simply part and parcel of that oneness as embodied in the Advaita thought.  There is no need to look anywhere other than within oneself – “Tat Tvam Asi” - You are IT!  That “IT” being all things “divine” – You, me, the universe, and all animate and inanimate beings, the existent and the non-existent. The non-existent is also important here.

 

Some readings…..

 

Interview with Professor Jessica Frazier - https://historyofphilosophy.net/hinduism-frazier

 

Podcasts from Kings College - https://historyofphilosophy.net/India

 

Oxford University Online courses - https://ochsonline.org/#courses

 

Indian Philosophy by S Radhakrishnan (2 serious volumes)

Hindustani Classical Music

 (Written by Sarayu Narayan and Venkat Narayan)


"The world by daylight stands for Western music which is a flowing concourse of vast harmony, composed of concord and discord and many disconnected fragments. And the night world stands for Indian music: one pure, deep and tender raga. Both, touches our heart, and yet both are contradictory in spirit. But this is natural. Nature, at the very root is divided into two, day and night, unity and variety, finite and infinite.”
– Rabindranath Tagore




One of the more complex and comprehensive of music systems, Indian classical music has roots that trace back to the 2nd millennium BC. There are two main traditions of Indian classical music: Carnatic, popular in the southern parts of India, and Hindustani, prevalent in the northern and central parts of the Indian subcontinent. These two forms, while sharing common roots, began to diverge around 13th century AD. Carnatic music flourished in relative isolation, retaining its purity in solely Indian roots. Hindustani music, much like plural India herself, ripened syncretically, as it met with and embraced the cultures of Persia and Central Asia.




In common with Western classical music, Indian music shares similar structural design, attention to detail, and instrumental variation, amongst other more “specific” categories. Standard pitch temperament is based primarily off of octaves that are divided into 12 semitones for both styles of music. There are ingrained scalar systems, rhythmic meters, composition styles in classical Indian music, similar to structural conventions of Western Music. Scales and meters in Western theory may be considered loosely analogous to ragas and taals in Indian music.




In contrast with Western music, however, the base frequency of the scale in Indian music is not fixed. As Tagore expressed, the primary focus of the two music forms differ - while Western classical music is the epitome of harmony, focused on chords and group arrangements, Indian classical music is the ultimate exponent of melody, focused on individual expositions of emotions and moods