1. Indian philosophy & यग (yoga)
1.1. The Tradition of Indian philosophy
1.1.1. बहन - brahman
1.1.2. ईशर - isvara
1.1.3. AUM
1.1.4. The three गण [guṇa]
1.1.5. पक त [prakṛti] & परष [puruṣa]
1.1.6. ससर samsāra & ṃमक mokṣa
1.2. The Hindu trinity
1.3. वद : the Vedas
1.4. Astika – the six orthodox systems
1.5. Nastika - the three heterodox systems

1.Indian philosophy & यग (yoga)

1.1.The Tradition of Indian philosophy

1.1.1. बहन [brahman]

“With his hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and faces on all sides, with ears on all sides, He dwells in the world, enveloping all.”

Arjuna, CH-XIII : The Field & the Knower of the Field, Bhagavadgita

On the contrary to our philosophies that place God beyond all, far away and above, the Indian philosphies consider that God is everywhere, lying in every object and especially within our soul. This supreme concept of God is named बहन [brahman].

1.1.2. ईशर īśvara

“Isvara is a distinct, incorruptible form of pure awareness, utterly independent of cause and effect, and lacking any store of latent impressions.”

Patanjali, CH-I, The Yoga Sutra

The materialisation and manifestation of the pure concept of बहन [brahman] in objects and souls is called ईशर [īśvara].

 

“Isvara is represented by a sound, om.”
“Through repetition its meaning becomes clear. “

Patanjali, CH-I, The Yoga Sutra

 

1.1.3.AUM

 

“ He who utters the single syllabe AUM which is Brahman, remembering Me as he departs, giving up his body, he goes to the highest goal.”

Krsna, Chapter – VIII : The Course of Cosmic Evolution, Bhagavadgita

 

According to Sri Vinoba Bhave, the Latin word ‘Omne’ and the Sanskrit word AUM derive from the same word meaning ‘all’. In fact, the philosophical concept of AUM has hundreds of signification that cannot be translated. All of them refer to the duality between the reality and the divine included in AUM.
A popular sense of AUM is the door to the divine. In the Mundakopanisad, the mystic syllabe of AUM is compared to a bow that sends the arrow of the undistracted self (Atma) in the target of Brahman (the divine).
The word AUM conveys the concepts of omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence. My philosophy teacher at IIT Madras, the Pr. N. Shreekumar, used to tell me that Aum is past, present and future and even more. AUM consists of three letters signifying the three periods of time and three state of consciousness. The syllabe ‘A’ stands for the past and the waking state, the syllabe ‘U’ for the present and the dreaming state and the syllabe ‘M’ for the future and the deep sleep state. The whole sound AUM symbolises the divine which is beyond all and the state of समतध [samādhi] in which the soul unifies with the divine.

In other words, the letters A, U and M stand for the मन [mantra] “Tat Twam Asi” (“That Thou Art”), the realisation of man’s divinity within himself. The entire symbol stands for this realisation, which liberates the human spirit from the confines of his body, mind, intellect and ego.

The philosophical concept of AUM being too vast and abstract to focus on it, the यतगन [yogin] unifies his senses by meditating on the मन1 [mantra] composed of AUM followed by the name of the divinity he worships.

1.1.4.The three गण [guṇa]

 

“Deluded by these threefold modes of nature (gunas), this whole world
does not recognize Me, who am above them and imperishable.”

Krsna, Chapter – VII : The Yoga of Wisdom and Knowledge, Bhagavadgita

According to the Indian philosophy, consciousness is made of three different qualities called गण [guṇa] :

· सतव [sattva] : white in color, this quality leads to clarity and mental serenity. My philosophy teacher, doctor N. Shreekumar, often ilustrated this quality with Mahatma Gandhi.

· रजस [rajas] : red in color, this quality makes a person active, energic and wilful.

· मस [tamas] : dark in color, this third and last quality opposes the positive forces of the two first.

The three गण [guṇa] are found in different proportions in each individual.

“The three gunas born of (prakrti : nature) bind down in the body, O Mighty-armed (Arjuna), the imperishable dweller in the body.”

Krsna, XIV : The Yoga of the differenciation of the three gunas, Bhagavadgita

1.1.5. पकत [prakṛti]

& परष [puruṣa]

 

पक त [prakṛti] is the material nature made of the combination of three essential qualities, whereas परष [puruṣa] is the pure and unmaterial consciousness. According to the yogic philosophy, the cause of all desires and pains is the false identification of the परष [puru ṣa] with पक त [prak ṛti]. From this wrong knowledge rise false knowledge, pleasures and desires. The aim of yoga is to discriminate the परष [puruṣa] from पकत [prakṛti] in order to overcome the three qualities and get a true knowledge of objects.

“Prakrti and purusa, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and the object of kowledge, these I should like to know, O Kesava (Krsna).”

Arjuna, CH-XIII : The Field & the Knower of the Field, Bhagavadgita

1.1.6. ससर samsāra

& ṃमक mokṣa

“Men who have no faith in this way, not attaining to Me, O oppressor of the foe (Arjuna), return to the path of mortal living (samsara).”

Krsna, Chapter – IX : The Lord is more than his creation, Bhagavadgita

 

ससर [saṃsāra] is the cycle of birth, life, death and re-birth. The ultimate goal of the Indian philosophies is to attain मक [mokṣa], which is the state of vibration and liberation from ससर [saṃsāra].

“When the embodied soul rises above these three gunas that spring from the body, it is freed from birth, death, old age and pains and attains life eternal.”

Krsna, XIV : The Yoga of the differenciation of the three, Bhagavadgita

 

1.2.The Hindu trinity

 

· बह [brahma]

बह [brahma] is the four-headed creator god. His heads pronounces the वद [veda] in different directions. He has created the whole universe so that his creation job is finished and few devotees and temples worship him.

· तवषण [viṣṇu]

Narayana is another name of तवषण [viṣṇu], the preserver of the world. His energy maintains the order of the universe created by बह [brahma]. तवषण [viṣṇu] is Laksmi’s husband. He regularly incarnates under अवर [avatāra] on earth in order to benefit mankind. क षण [kṛṣṇa] and रम [rāma] both are अवर [avatāra] of तवषण [viṣṇu].

· तशव [śiva]

तशव [śiva] symbolises the positive destruction, in the sense of rebirth and evolution of the universe. He is for that reason one of the most feared and worshipped deity. He is often represented as a cosmic dancer presiding over the destructive energies which break up the universe. He is also represented sitting legs crossed, on a tiger skin with snakes around his neck. His accessory is a trident, each branch standing for one of the three गण [guṇa]. He is the lord of ascetics and recluses.

 

1.3. वद : the Vedas

वद [veda] literally means knowledge. The वद [veda] are the most ancient scriptural texts of India. Their origin is unknown, but it is said that they were given through inspiration of the holy men who sat meditating upon God. There are four वद [veda] : Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharve. The Indian philosophy is rich with nine philosophical systems that are often classified following their position regarding the vedic authority. The philosophical systems that recognises the authority of the वद [veda] are called orthodox or vedic systems. The others are classified as heterodox.

1.4. Astika – the six orthodox systems

In A primer of Indian Logic, K. Sastri defines Astika as ‘one who believes in the infaillibility and supreme authority of the Veda’. The six vedic systems are the following :

मीमांसापूर्व	उत्तरमीमांसा	सांख्य	योग	न्याय	वैशेषिक
Pūrva mīmāṃsā	Uttara mīmāṃsā	Sāṃkhya	Yoga	Nyāya	Vaiśeṣika
Mimamsa	Vedanta	Dualist	Citta-vrtti-nirodha	Questions on logic	Question on reality

Of these six, only the ममसपव [Mimamsa] and the उतरममस [Vedanta : end of the Veda] are considered to be in direct continuity with the vedic literature.
According the Advaita Vedanta, the ultimate reality is identical with the Self, as pure consciousness and the material world is thereby unreal and a product of मय [māya : illusion]. Advaita literally means non-dualism. Besides बहन [brahman] which is pure consciousness, it recognises nothing as real. The Brahma-sutra are recognised as fundation of the Vedanta philosophy.

1.5.Nastika - the Three heterodox systems

The materialistic philosophy Teachings of the Buddha From ‘jina’, the victor Buddhism and Jainism are also two of the four religions born in India, the two other being Hinduism and Sikhism. Buddhism derives from the thoughts of Sriddharta Gautama who is better-known as the बद [buddha]. The essence of the buddhist philosopy lies in the consideration that nothing is real or permanent, just like a flame that seems continuous but never the same from one instant to another.
In addition to their distance toward the vedic thought Buddhism and Jainism developed their own scriptures.