Hinduism (also known as Sanātana Dharma) is one of the world's oldest existing religion and is considered to be the first Dharmic religion. Though characterized by a diverse array of belief systems, practices and scriptures, the Vedas form the basic essence of Hinduism. The Hindu philosophy is one of the main divisions of the Indian philosophy and forms an integral part of the Indian culture. Hindu philosophy is difficult to narrow down to a definite doctrine because Hinduism itself, as a religion, resists identification with any well worked out doctrine. However, it is traditionally seen through the prism of six different systems (called Darshanas in Sanskrit) that are listed here and make up the main belief systems of Hinduism.

Hindu Philosophy: The Six Main Schools of Thought

The philosophic and theological diversity of Hinduism is limitless, being nurtured by the fundamentally eclectic and liberal universalism that is its defining characteristic. It is impossible to summarize all the schools of thought and inquiry produced or harboured over the millennia by the peoples of India. Some of the more ancient and long-established philosophies are elaborated upon below, all of which accept the Vedas and God to various extents.

Samkhya

Hinduism preaches that the material world is responsible for all of man's sorrows. Shown here are two men being offered both liberation and bondage. One looks up towards the supreme-consciousness and follows the path towards spiritual wisdom while the other goes behind the material pleasures. Drawn by ropes which are held by the personifications of lust, greed, and anger, he glides towards hell.Samkhya is regarded to be one of the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems in Hinduism. Its philosophy regards the universe as consisting of two eternal realities: purusha and prakrti. The purushas (souls) are many, conscious and devoid of all qualities. They are the silent spectators of prakrti (matter or nature), which is composed of three gunas (dispositions): satva, rajas and tamas (steadiness, activity and dullness). When the equilibrium of the gunas is disturbed, the world order evolves. This disturbance is due to the proximity of Purusha and prakrti. Liberation (kaivalya), then, consists of the realisation of the difference between the two.

This was a dualistic philosophy. But there are differences between the Samkhya and Western forms of dualism. In the West, the fundamental distinction is between mind and body. In Samkhya, however, it is between the self (purusha) and matter, and the latter incorporates what Westerners would normally refer to as "mind". Samkhya was originally atheistic, but in confluence with its offshoot Yoga later, it accepted God.

Nyaya

The Nyaya school of philosophical speculation is based on a text called the Nyaya Sutra. It was written by Aksapada Gautama at an indeterminate date, but probably in the second century BCE. The most important contribution made by this school is its methodology. This is based on a system of logic that has subsequently been adopted by most of the other Indian schools (orthodox or not), much in the same way that Western science and philosophy can be said to be largely based on Aristotelian logic.

But Nyaya is not merely logic for its own sake. Its followers believed that obtaining valid knowledge was the only way to obtain release from suffering. They therefore took great pains to identify valid sources of knowledge and to distinguish these from mere false opinions. According to the Nyaya school, there are exactly four sources of knowledge (pramanas): perception, inference, comparison and testimony. Knowledge obtained through each of these can of course still be either valid or invalid, and the Nyaya scholars (Naiyanikas) again went to great pains to identify, in each case, what it took to make knowledge valid, in the process coming up with a number of explanatory schemes. In this sense, Nyaya is probably the closest Indian equivalent to contemporary Western analytical philosophy. The later Naiyanikas gave logical proofs for the existence of God (see Ishvara) and also for his uniqueness, especially during their arguments against the Buddhists who at that time were fundamentally atheistic. An important later development in Nyaya is the system of Navya Nyaya (New Logic).

Vaisheshika

The Vaisheshika system, which was founded by the sage Kanada, postulates an atomic pluralism. In terms of this school of thought, all objects in the physical universe are reducible to a certain number of atoms. God is regarded as the fundamental force who causes conscioussness in these atoms.

Although the Vaishesika system developed independently from the Nyaya, the two eventually merged because of their closely related metaphysical theories. In its classical form, however, the Vaishesika school differed from the Nyaya in one crucial respect: where Nyaya accepted four sources of valid knowledge, the Vaishesika accepted only perception and inference as being such.

Yoga

According to the Bhagavad Gita, outwardly performing all actions but inwardly renouncing their fruits, the wise being, purified by the fire of transcendental knowledge, attains peace, detachment, forbearance, spiritual vision and bliss.The Yoga system is considered by some to have arisen from the Samkhya philosophy. Its primary text is the Bhagavad Gita, which explores the four primary systems: Karma-Yoga; Buddhi-Yoga; Dhyana-Yoga; and Bhakti-Yoga. In the Bhagavad Gita itself the Yoga system is described as being many millions of years old (See Chapter 4.1). It is essentially described as a universal method of union with The Supreme. There has been much debate on the personal/impersonal nature of the Supreme by various Yoga practitioners over the years (see below).

The sage Patanjali wrote an extremely influential text on Raja Yoga (or meditational) entitled the "Yoga Sutra". The most significant difference from Samkhya is that the Yoga school not only incorporates the concept of Ishvara (a personal God) into its metaphysical worldview, which the Samkhya does not, but also upholds Ishvara as the ideal upon which to meditate. This is because Ishvara is the only aspect of Purusha that has not become entangled with prakrti. It also utilizes the Brahman/Atman terminology and concepts that are found in the Upanishads, thus breaking from the Samkhya school by adopting concepts of Vedantic monism. The Yoga system lays down elaborate prescriptions for gradually gaining physical and mental control and mastery over the "personal self", both body and mind, until one's consciousness has intensified sufficiently to allow for the awareness of one's "real Self" (the soul, or Atman), as distinct from one's feelings, thoughts and actions. Realization of the goal of Yoga is known as moksha, nirvana and samadhi. They all speak to the realization of the Atman as being nothing other than the infinite Brahman. See the articles on Yoga and History of Yoga for an in-depth discussion.

Purva Mimamsa

The main objective of the Purva ("earlier") Mimamsa school was to establish the authority of the Vedas. Consequently this school's most valuable contribution to Hinduism was its formulation of the rules of Vedic interpretation. Its adherents (Mimamsakas) believed one must have unquestionable faith in the Vedas and perform the fire-sacrifices or yajñas regularly. They believe in a magical power of the mantras and yajñas which sustains all the activity of the universe. In keeping with this belief, they laid great emphasis on dharma, which they understood as the performance of Vedic rituals. The Mimamsa accepted the logical and philosophical teachings of the other schools, but felt that these paid insufficient attention to right action. They believed that the other schools of thought, which pursued moksha (release) as their ultimate aim, were not completely free from desire and selfishness. In Hinduism, we are all illuminated under the light of god. When we have moksha, we believe that we become closer to god. According to the Mimamsa, the very striving for liberation stemmed from a selfish desire to be free. Only by acting in accordance with the prescriptions of the Vedas could one attain salvation (rather than liberation) - which includes a belief in the varna and ashrama system. At a later stage, however, the Mimamsa school changed its views in this regard and began to teach the doctrines of God and mukti (freedom). Its adherents then advocated the release or escape from the soul from its constraints through what was known as jnana (enlightened activity). While Mimamsa does not receive much scholarly attention these days, its influence can be felt in the life of the practising Hindu. All Hindu ritual, ceremony and religious law is influenced by it.


Uttara Mimamsa: The Three Schools of Vedanta

The Uttara ("later") Mimamsa school, more commonly known as the Vedanta, concentrates on the philosophical teachings of the Upanishads rather than on the ritualistic injunctions of the Brahmanas.

While the traditional Vedic 'karma kanda' (ritualistic components of religion) continued to be practiced as meditative and propitiatory rites gearing society (through the Brahmins) to Self-knowledge, more jnaan (knowledge) centered understandings began to emerge, mystical streams of Vedic religion that focused on meditation, self-discipline and spiritual connectivity rather than more practical aspects of religion like rituals and rites. The more abstruse Vedanta (meaning literally the end or the goal of the Vedas) is the essence of the Vedas, encapsulated in the Upanishads which are commentaries on the four original books (Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva). Vedantic thought drew on Vedic cosmology, hymns and philosophy. The first Upanishad, the Brihadaranyaka, appeared as far back as three and a half thousand years ago. While thirteen or so Upanishads are accepted as principal, over a hundred exist. The most influential Vedantic thought, advaita vedanta, based on the Upanishads, considers the consciousness of the Self - Jivatma - to be continuous with and indistinguishable from the consciousness of the Supreme Spirit or Brahman - Paramatma.

The Upanishads are acknowledged by scholars and philosophers from both East and West, from Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and Aurobindo Ghosh to Erwin Schrödinger, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, to be beautiful in poetry and superlatively rich in philosophy. But they do not form a unified system or set of writings.

The upanishads are traditionally classed into twelve or thirteen primary Upanishads, perhaps the oldest of which is the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, believed by some to have been first written down as early as c.1500 BCE.

The cryptic way in which the aphorisms of the Vedanta sutras are presented leaves the door wide open for a multitude of interpretations. This led to a proliferation of Vedanta schools in six sub-schools. Each of these interprets the texts in its own way and has produced its own series of sub-commentaries - all claiming to be faithful to the original. Four of them are given here.