Indian Philosophy.
One of the major trends of Indian philosophy is a kind of mysticism. The desire for union of the self with something greater than the self, whether that be defined as a principle that pervades the universe or as a personal God.
Hindu mysticism includes both these forms and a great many that lie in between. At one extreme is the realization of the identity of the individual self with the impersonal principle Brahman, the position of the Vedanta school of Indian philosophy, and at the other is the intensive devotional aspect to a personal God, called by a variety of names, that is found in the bhakti sects.
There are four things common to most mystical thought.
First, it is based on experience, the state of realization, whatever it is called, is both knowable and communicable, and the systems are all designed to teach people how to reach it.
It is not, in other words, pure speculation.
Second, it has as its goal the release of the spirit-substance of the individual from its prison in matter, whether matter be considered real or illusory. Matter is the cause of the suffering.
Third, all the systems recognize the importance or the necessity of the control of the mind and body as a means of realization. This takes the form of extreme asceticism and mortification, and sometimes, at the other extreme, it takes the form of the cultivation of mind and body in order that their energies may be properly channeled.
And, finally, at the core of mystical thought is the functional principle that knowing is being. Thus, knowledge is something more than analytical categorizing: it is total understanding. This understanding can be purely intellectual, and some schools equate the final goal with omniscience, as does yoga.
Knowing can also mean total transformation, if one truly knows something, he is that thing. Thus, in the devotional schools, the goal of the devotee is to transform himself into a being who, in eternity, is in immediate and loving relationship to the deity.
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