INDIAN PHILOSOPHY.

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.

But despite the fact that these are both ways of knowing, the difference between them is significant. In the first instance, the individual has the responsibility to train and use his own intellect. The love relationship of the second, on the other hand, is one of dependence, and the deity assists the devotee through grace. The distinction is generally made by the analogy of the cat and the monkey. The cat carries her young in her mouth, and thus the kitten has no responsibility. But the young monkey must cling by its own strength to its mother's back.           It is usual for writers on the subject, following Surendranath Dasgupta, the historian of Indian philosophy, to list five major varieties of Hindu mysticism, the five having arisen in historical order as follows.

The sacrificial, based on the Vedas and Brahmanas.

The Upanishads, in which are found the beginning of both monistic concerned with a unitary principle of reality, immanent in the world and theistic systems.

The yogic, relating to physical and mental discipline; the earliest known text of this school is the Yoga-sutra of Patañjali, dated variously between the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD. According to yogic mysticism, man realizes union by means of physical and mental control of himself, which in turn leads to control of both natural and divine forces.

The Buddhism, in which enlightenment is the realization of the four Truths--the fact of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the means of arriving at these three truths: the Eightfold Path. The ultimate state, the culmination of one path of the Eightfold Path, is nirvana, "the blowing out," the extinction of desire.

The devotional, or bhakti, type of mysticism comprises a range of theistic systems, with a conception of absolute dualism between man and God on the one extreme, and a conception of qualified non-dualism on the other. Although there are traces of this devotional aspect throughout the history of Indian religion, it began to develop in earnest in South India in the 7th through 10th century AD with the hymns of the poet saint Alvars.