A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume IThe old civilisation of India was a concrete unity of many-sided developments in art, architecture, literature, religion, morals, and science so far as it was understood in those days. But the most important achievement of Indian thought was philosophy. It was regarded as the goal of all the highest practical and theoretical activities, and it indicated the point of unity amidst all the apparent diversities which the complex growth of culture over a vast area inhabited by different peoples produced. It is not in the history of foreign invasions, in the rise of independent kingdoms at different times, in the empires of this or that great monarch that the unity of India is to be sought. It is essentially one of spiritual aspirations and obedience to the law of the spirit, which were regarded as superior to everything else, and it has outlived all the political changes through which India passed.
The Greeks, the Huns, the Scythians, the Pathans and the Moguls who occupied the land and controlled the political machinery never ruled the minds of the people, for these political events were like hurricanes or the changes of season, mere phenomena of a natural or physical order which never affected the spiritual integrity of Hindu culture. If after a passivity of some centuries India is again going to become creative it is mainly on account of this fundamental unity of her progress and civilisation and not for anything that she may borrow from other countries. It is therefore indispensably necessary for all those who wish to appreciate the significance and potentialities of Indian culture that they should properly understand the history of Indian philosophical thought which is the nucleus round which all that is best and highest in India has grown. Much harm has already been done by the circulation of opinions that the culture and philosophy of India was dreamy and abstract. It is therefore very necessary that Indians as well as other peoples should become more and more acquainted with the true characteristics of the past history of Indian thought and form a correct estimate of its special features. |
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... thought, dominant will and selfdenial. NOTE ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF TRANSLITERATED SANSKRIT AND PÂLI WORDS The vowels are pronounced almost in the same way as in Italian, except that the sound of a approaches that of o in bond or u in ...
... thought and form a correct estimate of its special features. But it is not only for the sake of the right understanding of India that Indian philosophy should be read, or only as a record of the past thoughts of India. For most of the ...
... thought. But at the same time I considered it quite undesirable to put any pressure on Indian thoughts in order to make them appear as European. This will explain much of what might appear quaint to a European reader. But while keeping ...
... thought, that they can hardly ever be accurately translated. It is therefore very difficult for a person unacquainted with Sanskrit to understand Indian philosophical thought in its true bearing from translations. Pâli is a much easier ...
... thought. Thus in the absence of a book which could give us in brief the main epistemological, ontological, and psychological positions of the Indian thinkers, it is difficult even for a good Sanskrit scholar to follow the advanced ...
Contents
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Section 24 | |
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Section 28 | |
Section 29 | |
Section 30 | |
Section 9 | |
Section 10 | |
Section 11 | |
Section 12 | |
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Section 14 | |
Section 15 | |
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Section 17 | |
Section 18 | |
Section 19 | |
Section 20 | |
Section 21 | |
Section 22 | |
Section 31 | |
Section 32 | |
Section 33 | |
Section 34 | |
Section 35 | |
Section 36 | |
Section 37 | |
Section 38 | |
Section 39 | |
Section 40 | |
Section 41 | |
Section 42 | |
Section 43 | |
Other editions - View all
A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 2 (Classic Reprint) Surendranath Dasgupta No preview available - 2016 |