The six schools of Hindu
philosophy are: (1) Sankhya, (2) Yoga, (3) Nyaya, (4) Viseshika, (5) Mimamsa
and (6) Vedanta.
Sage Kanada Kashyapa founded Viseshika
and wrote Viseshika Sutra. Later it got blended with the Nyaya
and transformed to Nyaya-Vaisesika.
The Viseshika Sutra says: "Dharma
is that from which results the accomplishment of exaltation -the Supreme Good. The Supreme Good results from knowledge
produced by a particular Dharma."
Viseshika accepts two
means to knowledge: (1) Perception and (2) Inference based not on conjecture or
authority but analogy.
Viseshika admits the
reality of spiritual substances -the Soul and God.
Viseshika embraced
God on the rationale that without the will of God the aggregation of atoms and
the act of Karma alone would not have produced the orderly universe.
The
Soul -The Self
The Soul is the Self
-Atma. It exists in the body-mind
complex of every being.
When Ego -Ahangkar,
the I-factor co-existing with Self is burnt, what remains is the Soul.
Consciousness is not
considered as the essence of the Self, or even an inseparable quality of the
Self, because the Self does not possess consciousness during deep sleep.
Consciousness is rather
viewed as an adventitious attribute of the Self.
The Self, because it
is intertwined with Ego, it possesses qualities such as Ichchha -affection and
desire, Yatana -volition, and Jnana -cognition.
By means of Manas -mind, the Self knows not only
external things, but also its own qualities.
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Viseshika advocated the concept of
Atomism.
Based on the concept
of Atomism, Viseshika postulated that all physical objects are reducible to Param-aṇu or Parmanu -the Atom, which is Nitya
-indestructible and eternal.
Atomism
Effect does not
preexist to its cause. It is a fresh
creation resulted from its cause.
Effect is not
contained in its cause, nor is it identical with the cause.
All material objects
are aggregates of parts which are divisible into smaller parts. The minutest particle which cannot be further
divided is partless.
Creation is the
combination of atoms in different proportions, and destruction is the
dissolution of such combinations.
Atoms and their
combinations are the cause of the material world. They are and are co-eternal with the Soul.
Atoms are inactive in
themselves. They are activated by the
unseen power of the merit -Dharma
and demerit -Adharma, which
resides inherently in the individual Self.
The unseen power is
the cause of the material world, while atoms are its inherent cause.
Viseshika admits the
spiritual substances: the Soul and God, and the Law of Karma; therefore, the theory
of atomism
of Viseshika is not materialistic.
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Everything that human
beings experience as a whole is a function of atoms and their compositeness.
Viseshika has
categorized the objects of experience into seven categories:
1. Dravya
-Substance
All the compounded
substances arise from simple substances.
They are transient, impermanent and subject to production and
destruction.
Soul is eternal spiritual
substance and it is all-pervading. It is
one at the same time innumerable.
Time is the cause of perception
of past, present and future.
Space is the cause of
perceptions of relative location.
2. Guna -Quality
Quality cannot exist
independently. It is inherent in a
substance, and depends for its existence on that substance.
A quality is a static
and permanent feature of a substance
3. Karma
-Action
Actions are the cause
of conjunction and disjunction.
While a quality is
static and permanent, an action is dynamic and transient, and continues to be
the cause of merit and demerit.
4. Samanya
-Generality
Samanya reside in substances,
qualities and actions. It denotes omnipresence
and eternality.
Samanya inheres in
many individuals. Though the individuals
in whom Samanya inheres are subject to birth and death, production and
destruction, it is eternal.
The universal and the
particular qualities are objective realities.
5. Vishesa
-Particularity
Vishesa allows us to
perceive things as different from one another.
Every individual is a
particular, single, unique and different from all others.
6. Samavaya
-Inherence
Samavaya is one and
eternal relationship subsisting between two things inseparably connected.
7. Abhava
-Non-Existence
There are four kinds
of non-existence: antecedent non-existence; subsequent non-existence; mutual
non-existence; and absolute non-existence.
