CHAPTER -IV RADHAKRISHNAN : HIS PHILOSOPHICAL STANDPOINT

Transcription

1 I j CHAPTER -IV RADHAKRISHNAN : HIS PHILOSOPHICAL STANDPOINT Radhakrishnan surveyed Indian Philosophy and placed Indian philosophy on the philosophical map of the world. He has given a touch of reorientation and reconstruction to the traditional Indian thought. He clearly and comparatively expounds all the Indian Philosophical schools. We find an almost perfect reconciliation of the oriental and occidental traditions of thought in,, his philosophy C.E.M Joad, says,... the function, the unique function which Radhakrishnan fulfills today is that of a liasion officer. He seeks to build a bridge between the traditional wisdom of the east and the new knowledge and energy of the west. 1 The philosophical standpoint of Radhakrishnan may be discussed under the following heads : IV. 1. Epistemology : Radharksihnan gives a modem interpretation of epistemology. The epistemology of Radhakrishnan s philosophy enquires the nature, sources, validity, test and extension of knowledge. According to Radhakrishnan, knowledge is a movement brought about by the activity of the self, which results in producing consciousness of objective things. An act of knowledge has four elements in it - (1) Knower ( Jnata); (2) the object of knowledge ( Jneya); (3) the instrument of knowledge ( Jnanakarana) ; and (4) the results of knowledge, or the cognisedness of the object ( Jnatata). Radhakrishnan holds that all cognitions are self luminous ( Svaprakasa). He admits that the relation 159

2 between the self and the not-self involved in knowledge is an object of internal perception. According to Radhakrishnan, knowledge is inseparable from self existence. It is knowledge which transcends the differentiation of subject and object. For him knowledge pre-supposes unity or oneness of thought and being. Radhakrishnan says, knowledge is concealed in ignorance and when the latter is removed the former manifests itself. 2. Radhakrishnan divided knowledge into two kinds - direct knowledge and indirect knowledge. For him intuitive knowledge is direct knowledge and sensual knowledge and intellectual knowledge are indirect knowledge. Radhakrishnan s epistemological study is an exploration into the possible sources of knowledge. According to him there are three possible sources of knowledge. These are - (1) Sense experience (2) Intellectual cognition and (3) Intuitive Apprehension. Radhakrishnan says, There are three ways of knowing reality : Sense experience, discursive reasoning and intuitive apprehension. 3. Through sense experience we know the sensible qualities of the object. Through it we know the external features of the object. The function of sense experience is that it gathers impressions of the physical objects - both outer and inner. It provides material for every kind of study and thought. Intellectual knowledge is obtained by a process of analysis and synthesis. The data supplied by the senses are analyzed by the intellect and a new synthesis is perceived. This knowledge is indirect and symbolic. It is representative in its nature. From the senses it receives only the representations of the objects. Intellectual knowledge rests on the duality of the subject and object- knower and known. Both sensual knowledge and intellectual cognition are inherently limited. 160

3 Radhakrishnan develops intuition as the third source of knowledge. Intuition is the direct realization of its object. It is the source of the insight of reality. Intuition is absolutely immediate knowledge. Here the knower i and the known are one: to know reality is here to be reality. Radhakrishnan says, It is not fancy or make believe but a bonafied discovery of reality. 4 According to Radhakrishnan spiritual apprehension or the kind of awareness of real values which are neither objects in space and time nor universals of thought is called intuition.5 Intuition is also called samyakjnana. For him, intuition is the inner most realization of the soul. He says, Intuition is the ultimate vision of the profoundest being 6 From this it is clear that intuition is the ultimate criterion of truth. Radhakrishnan conceives the Absolute as indeterminate, pure consciousness, freedom and possibility. According to him the Absolute can be known only by intuitive knowledge not by discursive logical knowledge. He says, Intuition is self established ( Svafhsiddha), self evidencing ( Svatahsamvedya), self luminous (svayamprakash),7 It has the character of revelation. It is spontaneous and immediate. It comes to us a vision. It is above reason. According to Radhakrishnan, intuitive knowledge is the highest knowledge. The innermost realization of the soul can be possible by perfect living, leading a moral life. To realize reality one must be himself fully real. Radhakrishnan says, Intuition is not only perfect knowledge, but also perfect living. The consecration of the self and the knowledge of the reality grow together. The fully real can be known only by one who himself fully real. 8 In the epistemology of Radhakrishnan intellect has been subordinated to intuition. Intellect is preserved here as a function of intuition. Intuition is not antagonistic to intellect. The two are not only incompatible but vitally united.9 Radhakrishnan regarded intuition as the integral whole. In the integral whole all the aspects of mind properly 161

4 cultivated will develop and will also be merged. Intellect, emotion and will are the fragmentary manifestation of the spiritual energy of man. Intuition makes man one with the spirit. Intuition is the basis of every great religion. Religious life consists in the culture of intuition through the harmonious perfection of emotion, intellect and will. According to Radhakrishnan, intuition is the root of all creative works. The root of all creative work is not due to mechanical activity of reason. By this Radhakrishnan emphasizes spirituality as the true basis of all our activities in life. Radhakrishnan says, creative work is not blind imitation or mechanical repitition. It is synthetic insight, which advances by leaps, A new truth * altogether unknown starting in its strangeness, comes into being suddenly and spontaneously owing to the intense and concentrated interest in the problem. 10 Accordingto Radhakrishnan, certainty and non communicability is the truest test of knowledge.intuitive experience has this sense of certainty. There is no need for logical test. Radhakrishnan accepted self knowledge as valid knowledge. Self knowledge is valid in itself. All intuitions are involved in self knowledge. We can not deny the possibility of self knowledge. In his philosophy self evident knowledge of reality is sought for the purpose of attaining spiritual wisdom. He accepts the view of satahpramanya. For him cognitions by themselves are valid. He accepts the view of self validity of knowledge. He recognizes the intrinsic validity of knowledge. The doctrine of self evidence ( Svatahpramanya) holds that cognitions by themselves are valid, and their validity can set aside only by the contrary nature of their objects or by the recognition of discrepancies in their causes.11 The validity of knowledge arises from the essential nature of its causes untainted by defect, and its known by the knowledge itself, and it is not validated by any other 162

5 knowledge is valid in itself, and is not validated by any other knowledge. According to Radhakrishnan validity is a property of knowledge. The self evident character of knowledge merely restates the character of apprehension and it is of its nature valid. All knowledge bears immediate witness to its own validity. The reality of a thing depends on the thing itself, not on human notions. According to Radhakrishnan the invalidity of a conception is never inherent. For him the invalidity of conception is due to extraneous means. Cognitions are externally invalidated either by the discovery through other means of the real character of the object, or by the discovery of the defects in the instruments of cognition. Every cognition * due to one of the recognized modes of knowledge is to be regarded as valid so long as there are not any special reason for doubt. According to Radhakrishnan all cognitions are self luminous. Cognitions are said to be self luminous in the sense that they are object of their own apprehension. For him all knowledge is true knowledge. Knowledge is known to be valid directly i.e. by the same instrument by which it is known as knowledge. Logical knowledge is a mixture of truth and error. Error according to Radhakrishnan is non-thought. For him we can not think what is not true. If we can, then truth will be unatainable, for any standard of truth we can adopt will be unable to supply the intrinsic deficiency of thought itself, since the apprehension of the standard will itself be an act of thought. Thus it will suffers from the natural uncertainty of thought. Radhakrishnan says,... We must grant that there is no thought which is not a true thought, and error is only privation due to the passions and interest of men which cloud the intellect. For Radhakrishnan, even sruti does not compromise the individual and the intrinsic character of truth. Sruti refers only to a kind of experience ( anubhava) and this may be accepted as provisionally true. 163

6 To emphasize the self evident character of knowledge, Radhakrishnan says that all knowledge bears immediate witness to its own validity. For him the self evident character is hidden by our psychological prejudices. According to Radhakrishnan, true knowledge is that which is not contradicted to other knowledge. Knowledge which is not contradicted is truth. 14 For Radhakrishnan, insight into reality is the highest knowledge since there is no other knowledge that can contradict it. Hence the knower and the known are ultimately one real. It is the immediate witness of reality to itself. In the empirical level this knowledge is obscured by avidya, according to Radhakrishnan. Logical proofs enable us to break down the obstructing veils. It helps us to reveal the self evident character of truth. Logical rules are working tools. They serve as negative checks by which we break down our prejudices. VI.2. Metaphysics : Radhakrishnan is a philosopher of life. His central interest is the problem of human life. For him metaphysics is only a rational preparation for the solution of life s problem.15 For him the foundation of metaphysics lies on basic awareness of what is implied in experience.16 Radhakrishnan holds that metaphysics is a penetration behind the limited knowledge and it is an interpretation of the nature of the world by the means of general ideas. He raises some problems of metaphysics. These are - Does the world reveal another beyond itself? If it does, what is its relation to the process itself? Is this process purposeful? 17 Radhakrishnan s metaphysical quest searches an articulations of ultimate presuppositions about the world. The metaphysics of Radhakrishn is confined to the interpretation of the ultimate reality,i.e Brahman, Jlva, World, Maya. 164

7 A c c o r d i n g t o R a d h a k r i s h n a n, m e t a p h y s i c s c o n s t r u c t a t h e o r y o f R e a l i t y. I t h a s l o g i c a l c o n s i s t e n c y a n d e m p i r i c a l a d e q u a c y. R a d h a k r i s h n a n c o n c e i v e s t h a t R e a l i t y i s w h a t i s i d e a l l y i n t e l l i g i b l e. 18 T h i s r e m i n d s u s B r a d l e y. B r a d l e y s a y s t h a t w h a t m a y b e, i f i t m u s t b e, i t i s. T h e m e t a p h y s i c a l v i e w o f R a d h a k r i s h n a n i s m o n i s t i c. F o r h i m r e a l i t y i s o n e. T h e A b s o l u t e i s t h e o n l y r e a l i t y. T h e m e t a p h y s i c s o f R a d h a k r i s h n a n c o n t a i n s i n i t t h e e l e m e n t s o f b o t h t h e A d v a i t a V e d a n t a a n d t h e H e g e l i a n t r a d i t i o n. I t i s a l s o b a s e d o n t h e U p a n i s h a d s. S p i r i t i s t h e r o o t c o n c e p t o f, m e t a p h y s i c s o f R a d h a k r i s h n a n. R a d h a k r i s h n a n c o n c e i v e s s p i r i t a s l i f e. H e s a y s, S p i r i t i s t h e l i f e, n o t t h i n g, e n e r g y, n o t i m m o b i l i t y, s o m e t h i n g r e a l i n * i t s e l f a n d b y i t s e l f a n d c a n n o t b e c o m p a r e d t o a n y s u b s t a n c e, s u b j e c t i v e o r o b j e c t i v e. 19 T h e s e l f, G o d, a n d A b s o l u t e a r e a l l n a m e s o f t h e u n i v e r s a l s p i r i t i n h u m a n c e n t r e, t h r o u g h t h e b o d y a n d m i n d o f m a n. G o d i s t h e s p i r i t c o n c e i v e d a s t h e r e a l i t y m a n i f e s t e d i n t h e w o r l d a t l a r g e. A b s o l u t e i s t h e s p i r i t c o n c e i v e d a s t h e i n f i n i t e p o s s i b i l i t y o f w h i c h t h e p r e s e n t w o r l d i s o n l y o n e a c t u a l m a n i f e s t a t i o n. E v e r y t h i n g o f t h e u n i v e r s e i s t h e e x p r e s s i o n o f t h e A b s o l u t e. H e s a y s t h a t t h e U l t i m a t e R e a l i t y s l e e p s i n t h e s t o n e, b r e a t h e s i n p l a n t s, f e e l s i n t h e a n i m a l s a n d a w a k e s t o s e l f c o n c i o u s n e s s i n m a n. F o r R a d h a k r i s h n a n t h e A b s o l u t e i s P u r e c o n s c i o u s n e s s, P u r e f r e e d o m, a n d i n f i n i t e p o s s i b i l i t i e s A c c o r d i n g t o h i m t h e A b s o l u t e i s r e a l i t y, c o n s c i o u s n e s s a n d f r e e d o m - S a t, c i t a n d a n a n d a. H e v i e w e d t h a t t h e r e a r e f o u r p o i s e s o f R e a l i t y ; t h e A b s o l u t e B r a h m a n, t h e c r e a t i v e s p i r i t, I s v a r a, t h e w o r l d s p i r i t H i r a n y a g a r b h a a n d t h e w o r l d, t h e V i r a t - S v a r u p a. T h e s e a r e t h e f o u r s i d e s o f o n e w h o l e. T h e R e a l i t y i s a p p r e h e n d e d i n t w o w a y s - p e r s o n a l a n d i m p e r s o n a l. G o d i s p e r s o n a l w h i l e A b s o l u t e i s i m p e r s o n a l. G o d i s p e r c e i v e d r e a l i t y p r e s e n t i n e a c h m a n. H e i s t h e g u i d e a n d s a v i o u r o f m a n k i n d. G o d i s 1 6 5

8 immanent in the world and He is transcendent to it. According to Radhakrishnan, God is truth, love and justice. God is the perfect and the highest moral being free from all evils. God helps us to resist the force of evil and error and uplift human life by discarding sin and malicious feelings. God pours fourth. Radhakrishnan writes, the whole wealth of his love to actualize his intensions for us. He takes us the burden of helping us to resist the forces of evil, error and ugliness and transmute them into truth, beauty and goodness. 21 He says. God loves us, creates us and rules us. Creation, redemption and judgment are different names for the fact of God. God satisfies the religious sentiments of man. Radhakrishnan believes in the emergent theory of evolution. According to him, there is one underlying dynamic and creative reality out of which gradually body, life, consciousness and self consciousness emerge. The world has passed through different phases of evolution namely, matter, Life and mind. The emergence of life in matter, mind in life and self consciousness in the human mind is the process of cosmic evolution by which God attempts to manifest himself in the world, tries to realize the potential ideal of the universe, tries that is to say, to attain values like truth, goodness and beauty which are potentially contained in the Absolute. Man is a rational being. Man can rise to the God through spiritual experience. The rational man has to grow to the spiritual man, to the God man. 24 In the metaphysics of Radhakrishnan we find a concept of Brahma-loka, Brahma-loka according to Radhakrishnan is not another world than samsara, it is the world of safnsara redeemed. 25 Radhakrishnan develops the concept of the world as a process. He says, the world we know, which science studies is a process. 26 It is a process in the sense that it is not complete in its present situation. It derives 166

9 from the past and moves into the future. It is not a never ending repition of a limited number of situation. Radhakrishnan says, The present adds significance to the character of the past and may pave the way for the realization of unexpected possibilities of the future. 27 Radhakrishnan conceives that the world is dynamic. Coninuity and change are the two features of the world. He says that nature is always active, never satisfied with the levels it has reached, it always aspires to others levels. 28 According to him the world process is purposeful. He offers a teleological explanation of the universe. He asserts that the world process is steadily trying to realize some purpose. It is progressing towards some goal. The continuous change of the world is gradually proceeding towards an end. In spite of little ups and downs of change there seems to be a compelling drift towards better things. Again he says, the meaning of the history is to make all men prophets, to establish a kingdom i n of free spirit... Ananda spirit... is the goal of evoluation. Radhakrishnan explains that the process of evoluation has been at work from the inorganic to the organic, from the organic to the sentient, from the sentient to the rational. 31 The human self is the latest and highest product of evolution according to Radhakrishnan. But he does not say that man is the last and supreme utterance of life. Radhakrishnan interpreted the world in terms of the activity of being. He says that there seems to be a continuing identity which endures through all changes of process. This identity finds expression in the world process. It expresses in the variations and changes of the process, in the potentiality of energy, in the direction of biological growth, in social change. According to Radhakrishnan, the human being is an image of the larger identity of the whole to which he is related. 32 Man participates in the 167

10 world process. The very effort of man is to know the secrets of nature. Man is also capable of participating in the longer spirit. Man s participation in the longer spirit is to be discovered in the whole process with its ordered, and progressive character. This reminds us Samkara. Samkara tells us that there is a fundamental principle behind and beyond the world process. He inspires and informs the world process. He is manifesting new values. Mva is an important content of the metaphysics of Radhakrishnan. Radharkishnan accept the Vedantic view of jlva. According to him jiva is to be in essence one with the Atman. 33 JTva is never merely a static unity. It is constantly in a process of self realization. The individual self is directed towards the universal self as a being that can say I ( I am Brahman). 34 According to Radhakrishnan the self as a subject is the problem for metaphysics. He says that the self is the persistent substratum. It makes all knowledge, recognition and retention possible. Metaphysics tells us of it as a principle of explanation. For him the nature of the self is constituted by the acts of remembering, thinking and willing. He distinguishes atman from jlvatman. Atman is the universal self which includes all. Jlvatman is the empirical self which is always correlated with a not se lf. Atman is the true subject. It is different from all objects, the body, the senses, the empirical self itself. 35 It is the basis of all relations. Without the universal self, there can be no empirical self. Due to this universal self operating in all the individuals are able to have common experience. They are able to know a real world as identical for all. According to Radhakrishnan the true subject is the simple, self subsistent, universal spirit. It can not be directly presented as the object. Here we can remember Plato, Aristotle and Kant Plato says that the mind in man is the offspring of the eternal world mind. Aristotle speaks of an active reason, at 168

11 the apex of the soul, which is divine and creative. Kant distinguishes the synthetic principle from the merely empirical self. All their views refer to the self as subject. The empirical self is finite, limited. According to Radhakrishnan when the empirical self realizes himself as limited then he has direct consciousness of something unlimited. Radhakrishnan says, the consciousness of limit involves the action of the greater unlimited self in us. 36 He says,... empirical self is the expression or focusing of something beyond itself. Similar line of thought is found in Professor IS. Haldane. He writes, Personality is not something confined and completed in itself separately from an environment in space and time, but extended over that environment. 38 Radharkishnan explains that the empirical self belongs to the human world. It interacts with individuals. He shares knowledge of one another. He has a social relation with one another. There is an integral relationship between the organism and its environment in the empirical self. Radhakrishnan says, Human individuals are not unchanging substrata of change with accidental qualities and are related to one another externally, but are elements in an interrelated system. 39 According to him human being is not absolutely individual. His world is equally real with himself. His interaction with the world influence the growth of his individuality. Radhakrishnan describes that the individual and the world co-exist and subsist together. Radhakrishnan holds that uniqueness ( each -ness) and universality ( all ness) are the two elements of selfhood. They grow together until at last the most unique becomes the most universal.40 Man strives for perfection. Man attempts to transform all occurrences into harmony. He attempts to make the external express the inward. All these expressions regarding man shows that he is one in line with the genius of reality. According to 169

12 Radhakrishnan, the thought of the self, the will of the self are themselves the expression of a deeper whole which includes the self and its object. The status of the world leads to the concept of Maya. Radhakrishnan accepts the Mayavada of Samkara with some new interpretation. He accepts the Upanisadic view of the world. In the Upanisad creation has been described as the Lila of the Absolute. Like the Upanisad, according to Radhakrishnan, creation is Lila. But he adds that this Lila is real. Radhakrishnan advocates Maya as the power of devatma. He says, The whole world proceeds from the imperishable Brahman. The actual creator is Isvara, the personal God, who is acting through his power of Maya, devatmasakti 41 For him the all embracing power that creates is called maya. Maya is the creative power of God. Radhakrishnan tires to explain the nature of the world in the light of the basic metaphysical standpoint of maya. Radhakrishnan places maya in between Absolute Being and Non- Being when he says. While the world is dependent on Brahman, the latter is not dependent on the world. This one sided dependence and the logical inconceivability of the relation between the ultimate reality and the world show are brought out by the word, Maya. The world is not essential being like Brahman, nor is it non-being. It can be defined as neither being nor non-being. 42 It is clear that what is called Avidya from the subjective standpoint is called maya from the objective standpoint. When the world is called Maya people gets the idea that the world is an illusion. But Radhakrishnan writes, The ecstasy of divine union, the bliss of realization tempts one to disregard the world with its imperfections and look upon it as a troubled and unhappy dream. The actual fabric of the world, with its 170

13 loves and hates, with its wars and battles, with its jealousies and competitions as well as its masked helpfulness, sustained intellectual effort, intense moral struggle seems to be no more than an unsubstantive dreams, a phantasmagoria dancing on the fabric of pure being. 43 Vivekananda adopts a similar line of thought when he says, when the Hindu says the world is Maya, at once people get the idea that the world is an illusion. This interpretation has some basis - But the maya of the Vedanta, in its last developed form, is neither Idealism nor realism, nor is it a theory. It is a simple statement of facts - what we are and what we see around us. 44 Radhakrishnan finds out many difficulties of logical positivist s denial of metaphysics.45 He shows that metaphysical theory can be verified indirectly. It can be verified by its adequacy to account for the observed fact. Speculative metaphysics is a tenable enquiry with a field of its own.46 In Radharkishnan s thought religion and metaphysics are not divorced from each other. He says that metaphysical efforts gives to religious thought, dignity and strength.47 Man has infinite longings. He has potential infinity. So he becomes aware of his finitude and dissatisfied with it. He wants to maintain absolute standard as he participate in the nature of the Absolute. He becomes aware of the power of Being. Man lives in the world with the perspective of the eternal. According to Radhakrishnan, the transition from Becoming to Being is an attempt at the restoration of metaphysics. He says, Religious life is the life lived in the power of Being. It fosters and develops the metaphysical urge and ministers to the in need in man for adoration. The Religious man submits his will to the transcendent. By his submission his soul becomes both acting and acted. His activities have religious significance. His whole activities is directed towards an end. The end is the union of all human beings. According to 171

14 Radhakrishnan metaphysics is not the enemy of faith. It alone can restore to man the spiritual wholeness. Radhakrishnan says, No culture can last unless it supports this effort and encourage the confidence that man is capable of insight into the nature of the process in which he participates.49 VI.3. Ethics Radhakrishnan revives the ethical principles and moral values in the present context and he reestablished the foundation of enduring human civilization. He pointed out that ethical principles are the rules for the guidance of human conduct. Radhakrishnan says that there is a necessity of deep synthetic unity for giving man proper meaning of life. This unity can be attained by the realization of the moral and spiritual values. Radhakrishnan states that moral life is the precondition for the attainment of the spiritual goal. He says, moral life is essential condition for the pursuit of wisdom. 50 Ethics disciplines human nature and leads him towards perfection. Radhakrishnan lays emphasis on ethical values. Ethical values enrich man s life. For him, human beings strives for truth, beauty and goodness as human mind is value seeking. He interprets the ethical discipline which are the means to attain the spiritual goal. Ethics is the art of living good life. Radhakrishnan explains the essence of good life. According to him truth is the supreme virtue. Truth can be known by controlling narrow feeling, selfish motive, by transcending ego centricity. Radhakrishnan gives a modem interpretation of the ethical doctrines the law of Karma, freedom of will, Dharma and liberation. He develops the Indian, Doctrine of Karma. The doctrine of karma follows from the concept of l^ta. Rta means the course of things, an order in the objects of the universe. The external world is the manifestation 172

15 of Rta. It is antecedent to all objects. Rta in the cosmos corresponds to that of Karma in human life. The theory of Rta is applied to moral system. Then the Rta is regarded as the law of Karma. The world follows the course of Rta. Hence Radhakrishnan says that whole universe depends on Rta and moves with it. He also says It is law which pervades the whole world, which all gods and men must obey. 51 According to Radhakrishnan, human growth is an ordered one and its orderedness is governed by the law of Karma. What ever you sow that you will also reap. 52 All acts produce their effects and their moral effects are worked into the character of the self. Good produces good, evil produces evil. The law of karma says that is each individual will get the return according to the energy he puts forth. Brhadaranyaka Upanishad also states that As is his desires, such is his purpose, such is the action he performs, what action he performs that he procures for himself. 4*-5 According to Radhakrishnan the principle of karma has two aspects a retrospective and a prospective, continuity with the past and creative freedom of the self. Radhakrishnan supports Niskama Karma of Bhagavadglta. He says, Action done devotedly and whole heartedly without attachment to the results makes for perfection.54 Radhakrishnan explains the doctrine of Rebirth. Rebirth means survival, it is continuing to exist by assuming different bodies after death. Radhakrishnan says that the selves carry on past threads weave out something in the present and prepare for the future. 55 Radhakrishnan accepts the concept of freedom of spirit from the Bhagavadgita. He accepted the view of the Gita that Yatite icchsi tatha kuru. 56 He considers the problem of freedom in relation to moral decisions. Nobody denies man s capacity of distinguishing the right from the wrong. But the problem is, how is man able to do that? Radhakrishnan s answers is that it 173

16 is possible for man to do that. Because man is not a mere animal. Man has the power and freedom to take decisions, this power to make a choice makes him a man and distinguishes him from the animal and lends sacredness to human life. 57 Morality is inherent in all beings. Radhakrishnan s concept of freedom is spiritual. It distinguishes man from lower animals. It is the test of higher beings. Man has an aspiration for freedom or mukti as he is a spiritual being. He has an ever longing for the attainment of the state of liberation which transcends morality, suffering and attachment to worldly objects. Radhakrishnan says that man s existence includes the power, the determination to stand out of existence * and the truth of beingrffuman life is based on certain idealsvhphe ideals are invariably the ideals of Truth,^Goodness and Beauty.-Radhakrishnan s concept of freedom is depicted in his line of thought, when he says, the very effort of man to know the secrets of nature, to sit in judgment on it, indicates his participation in the creative process. 58 Here the view of Vivekananda is worth mentioning. Vivekananda also holds that the goal of human being is to reach freedom. He says, one conscious fact present in the midst of all our joys and sorrows, difficulties and struggles is that we are surely journeying towards freedom. 59 Vivekananda s replies of some metaphysical question is also relevant here. The metaphysical questions are - what is this universe? From what does it arise? Into what does it go? Vevekananda replied, In freedom it rises, in freedom it rests and into freedom it melts away. 60 Regarding the concept of liberation Radhakrishnan has accepted the Upanisadic as well as Samkara s view. He believed in Sarvamukti- liberatiori of all souls. The ultimate human destiny is not individual 174

17 redemption, but universl redemption - Sarvamukti as Radhakrishnan s calls it. Radhakrishnan s concept of dharma is a combination of ethics and religion. Dharma is the rule of life and the law of right living. Radhakrishnan clearly states, It is the complete rule of life, the harmony of the whole man who find a right and just law of living. 61.One of the function of ethics, according to Radhakrishnan is to effect right relationship between the individual and the society. It helps man to live in harmony with his fellow beings. The ethics of Radhakrishnan has reflected a new interpretation of the caste system of Hindu Society. VI.4.Religion : According to Radhakrishnan religion is a way of life. He says, religion, as way of life, is the seeking of the eternal. 62 He treated religion for metaphysical investigation. He also treated religion from ethical perspective. For him religion is more behaviour than belief. The two features of religion are Abhaya and Ahimsa - that is freedom and love. 63 According to Radhakrishnan God or the Ultimate reality is the object of man s religious experience. The Absolute reality is the essence of religion. Radhakrishnan says, Religion is not a creed or code but an insight into reality. 64 Religion implies a faith in the ultimacy of absolute spiritual values and a way of life to realise them. It helps man to manifest divinity of the spirit within himself. Radhakrishnan says that religion is that discipline or the way of life which enables man to make a change in his own nature to let the Divine in him manifest himself. 65 Radhakrishnan advocates a spiritual renewal, a true religious revival to save humanity. His ideal of religion is a harmonious development of the spirit in man. For him religion 175

18 gives a purpose to life. Religion speaks to the profound realities of our nature and satisfy the whole of our being. Radhakrishnan is one of the chief exponent of Hinduism. The basic faith in spiritual realization is the element of Hinduism. Hinduism has an appeal of the direct vision of God. The vision actually produced some godlike personalities. As he puts it, The essential interpretation of God and the world, ideals and facts is the cardinal principle of Hinduism and it required us to bring salvation to the world. 66 Radhakrishnan was impressed by the rationalist attitude of Hinduism in the matter of religion. He shows that the Hindu dharma inculcates not only respect for all men but 67 also respect for life and tenderness towards al forms of animal creation. Religion as conceived by Radhakrishnan is combative. It is a revolt against spiritual chaos, moral aimlessness and intellectual inconsistency. It is an active preparation for a new life by transforming the feelings and passions of man, by a discipline of our whole being. In Radhakrishnan s thinking religion starts with the individual but ends in fellowship. The discussion of the philosophical standpoints of Radhakrishnan reflects him as a man of rare qualities who grapples pilosophical issues of the East and the West. All the fundamental philosophical standpoints of Radhakrishnan are rooted in ancient Indian philosophy particularly the Vedic tradition. But he has novelized the ancient Indian philosophy with new approaches of life and has assimilated to the present world and its needs. His basic philosophical position is of a kind of synthesis of tradition and modernity. A monistic character of Vedantic reality is depicted in Radhakrishnan s Metaphysics. His concept of spirit is the old theme of the 176

19 Upanishads and it is the root concept of humanism also. But the speciality of Radhakrishnan is that he conceives the spirit as life.68 In explaining intution Radhakrishnan supports the different views propounded by the Western thinkers like Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Bradley, Bergson and ancient Indian thinker like Samkara. But Radhakrishnan adds something more by conceiving that intution is not antagonistic to the intellect. The brief schetch of Radhakrishnan ethical standpoint would be sufficient to show how ethics plays significant role in human life to attain spiritual freedom. With an ardent appreciation of eternal values, Radhakrishnan considers that the Hindu ideal is sufficiently ethical and it requires us to is integrate oureslves, to maintain a constant fight with the passions which impede the growth of soul. The religious standpoint of Radhakrishnan is free from secular interests, racial prejudices and political movies. A reconciliation of the ideal and real aspects of religion to speak the profound realities of human nature is essential and it is the foundation of Radhakrishnan s philosophy of religion. Like Buddha and Samkara,Radhakrishnan returned from the contemplation of ultimate reality to the care of practical life and he shared in his philosophy the social and civilizing function of religion. Harmony of the social order is an essential aim of the spiritual man

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