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India is a culture with a very rich and various philosophical tradition. One specific feature of the philosophical system in India is their very close dependence on
religion. The borders between philosophy and religion are not as distinct as in the western tradition. The content of religious sources like the Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas are considered as an authoritative truth
and they are the basis for philosophical speculation. These characteristic marks maybe the most important difference between the philosophy of India and the western culture.
The speculations about the existence of an ultimate truth, or god, mankind and the world, as we find them in both cultures, receive a dominant
broadening in the Indian tradition. It is a central theme of all philosophical systems in India, to speculate about the existence of the transcendental and about possibilities to liberate the individual soul from
the material world. The liberation of the soul and its union with god can be considered as the main aim of Indian religion and philosophy.
Besides this common basis in Indian philosophy there are many different concepts about the nature of the ultimate truth, the individual soul, their
interrelation and their relation to the material world. One dominant distinction concerning the nature of god is the concept of nirguna (god without attributes) and saguna(with attributes). The
individual soul can either be absolutely separated from god (dvaita) or be identical with god (advaita).
Jnaneshvara was a popular Indian philosopher of the early medieval times, influencing the philosophy of that time in a very dominant way. B. P. Bahirat
presents in his article the philosophical concept of Jnaneshvara. In a short and succinct way he shows its most important features and furthermore gives inside into its interrelation with other philosophical systems
of India.
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back to "Universal Significance of Jnanadeva's Philosophy"
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