Assignment on Self and Personality

1. Upanishadic view

 According to the Upanishads, the atman is the self is the personality which is eternal
blissful. It is the same as the brahman or the ultimate universe.
 Bhriger, in the Taittiriya Upanishad, Ananda is the ultimate essence of life, self and
personality using the method of reasoning and observation.
 Brihadaranayaka Upanishad claims that the self is the vijnana.
 Katha Upanishad claims that the atman is the one that cognizes, thus is the avijneyam.
 Aitareya Upanishad states that the prajnana is the brahman.
 However, this led to the question on how one can know oneself when they are depending
on their own consciousness, knowledge and pure thoughts. Which then forced the ancient
thinkers that the ultimate the self is neti or “not this”. That it is not perceivable, it is not
an object, or an organ, nor is it any senses.
 It is beyond time, space and causality as it is the only phenomenological reality and is a
witness, not something that can be known as it is the knower.
 However, the thinkers believe that the self and the atman can be known through Darshana
or meditation.
 Further, the Upanishads (Mundaka and Svetasvastara) preach that there exists a lower and
a higher self. Both are limited by attachment and action. The lower self is fully involved
in attachments and actions, and the higher self is merely an observer. Thus, concerned
detachment is possible by the higher self.

2. The Gita on Self

 Gita is also an Upanishad and has its own view about the self and that the self is built on
the image of the Brahman but that the ego is not permanent.
 It also teaches that the ego changes from moment to moment and that it (the centre) is not
immortal.
 It details as to how the man who knows the truth understands that his interaction with the
external world are merely reactions to the stimuli and that the real self does nothing at all.
 It also states that the man who has let gone of his attachments to the material world and
the environment can attain happiness with just the self.
 Drawing on these conclusions, the man can also learn to love everyone around him
(similar to the humanistic view of the self-actualisation process).
 The dual view of the self, according to the Gita describes the higher self (or the knower)
to be a friend and the lower self (or the field) to a foe and the self that triumphs
determines the nature of the self.
 Once the higher-self triumphs, man is free from emotional bonds, sensations and
transcends beyond the three gunas as the true self.
 Consequently, the lower self is reactive to the environment, has bodily needs, is bound by
emotions and dissipates when the higher-self gains a level of awareness about his
limitations and reaches self-actualization and empathy even with friends and enemies.
 The jnana yoga teaches that this transcendence to lower self to higher self is possible by
following the ashtanga yoga’s eight-fold principles.

3. Buddha’s Doctrine of Anatma

 The Buddhists believe that since nothing is permanent, the concept of reaching
blissfulness and any personal identification (I am this, this is me, etc) is incorrect and so
is binding to something impermanent.
 They believed that there are 5 constituents (skandas) which make up the personality: rupa
(corporality), vedana (feelings), samjna (perception), samskara (disposition) and vijynana
(consciousness) which are all devoid of bliss either separately or cumulatively.
 The Buddha also believed that having attachments is a shallow perspective as they are too
impermanent and assigning feelings or wants to such things is meaningless. Assigning
importance through identity to one of them would mean that the others are also used for
the identity of the self.
 He also believed that sensations, perceptions, consciousness and thoughts are also not of
the self.
 The doctrine states that perception is because of the skandas and it occurs due to
manifestations caused by vibrations but not by the ataman as it does not exist (the
anatma).
 Thus, the Doctrine of the Anatma states that the there does not exist any core of the self
as there is no such thing as an essence at the core unlike the Upanishads.

4. The Nyaya-Vaiseshik views

 The Nyaya believe that the personality is the composite of the self (cognitions feelings
and actions), the atman and the mind (manas) and the body.
 It is believed that the self is capable of cognitions, feelings and actions. It has five
indicators (lingas): desire, aversion, effort, pleasure, pain and cognitions.
 The self or the atman can thus be assessed by these lingas through the efforts, feelings
and knowledge.
 The self is distinct and individual but is eternal and can be reincarnated through different
lives.
 The self is not an object of perception. Self-consciousness has the body as its object and
not the self. The self is only established through inference.
 The feeling of atman, I, as a direct awareness of the self which supports the inference and
can be an object of direct perception through meditation.
 By examining the various processes, it can be asserted that the self has many properties
and should not be confused with the manas:
i. Cognitions and Actions: The self is the conductor between the mind and the body and
synthesizes cognitions and actions.
ii. Thoughts: Manas is different from the self as manas can only hold one thought at a
time, and so it is the self that can combine multiple thoughts and ideas from the manas
and the body.
iii. Consciousness: Consciousness is thought to only arise when the manas is in touch
with the self, but the Nyaya philosophers believe that the self and the consciousness
are separate, as the self is merely a witness.
iv. Perception: Perception is also not a part of self but is consolidated by the self as the
sensations are transmitted through the manas and then reaches the self using attention.
But for understanding feelings, the self perceives within the manas.
v. Memories: The self may not remember details of its past lives but rather it does
remember sensations and intuitive actions and that emotions such as sorrow, love and
anger are all due to experiences from the previous life and future anticipation.
vi. Biological needs: defects such as desires (grouped sex love, selfishness, longing for
acquiring in a lawful manner, greed for acquiring in an unlawful manner), aversion
(anger, jealousy, envy, and resentment) and delusions (error, suspicion, pride and
negligence) are due to the self and not the body or the manas.
vii. Behaviours: Nyaya thinkers believe that the behaviours are usually governed by these
defects because of the nature of ahamkara or egoism (the identification of “I”)
through the body, sense organs and cognitions which is false as they are anatma. This
wrong identification is false knowledge and it is believed that by uncovering the true
knowledge about the atma and anatma, the notion of “I” can be stopped.

5. The Samkhya-Yoga view

 According to Samkhya system, the individual has thirteen instruments, trayodasa karana.
There are three internal, constituting the antahkarana—buddhi, ahamkara and manas.
 Secondly, ten bahyakarana which have the five jnanendriyas (the five organs of sensation
or perception—ear, skin, eye, tongue, and nose) and five karmendrivas organs of action,
which are the reactive response which the self makes to sensation — namely, mouth,
hands, legs, anus, and genitals.
 The five sensory organs are the gate-ways of knowledge, while the five motor organs help
in reacting and affirming to the situation.
 The knowledge obtained by them is checked by manas, appreciated by ahamkara and the
decision is arrived at by buddhi where cognition would occur.
 The purusha is the self who has these thirteen instruments and the physical body made up
of the five elements (jnanendriyas).
 The self is made up of two bodies: the physical body and the subtle body. The latter
consists of mental instruments, the past experiences but cannot function without the
physical body.
 In this process of forming cognitions, two events take place simultaneously which give
rise to knowledge:
i. First, there is the modification of buddhi because of the new perception.
ii. Second, the modification is reflected in purusha, so that he experiences the same.
 The purusha is more sentient which is changeless, eternal and omnipresent, but it is
restricted by the physical world which is not sentient.
 Buddhi, being restricted by the material world would in turn restrict the self who cannot
directly experience but can observe, that is, the buddhi would command actions and the
purusha or the self would witness.
 The manas transforms sensations and arranges them in a definite pattern by relating it to
its properties through reflection or discrimination.
 The ahamkara or the egoism can consolidate the sensations into experiences in an
appropriate fashion so as to utilise it for the self. It does so by assimilating the
information given by the manas in a wise and meaningful way using buddhi which further
develops the purusha (the self).

6. The Mimamsa view

 The Mimamsas are known to be realists as they believe in the existence of the self and the
body (dualists).
 They believe that the self senses pleasure, pain and witnesses experiences. Knowledge is
one of its properties and in this sense, it is a cognising agent, the entity in action and the
entity which feels emotions.
 The self is the vehicle for consciousness since consciousness is formless.
 Cognition is a major ability of the self, its sole purpose and has three bases (tripti): the
knower, the object known and the knowledge.
 Knowledge is the bridge between the knower and the object. It is believed that there is
always some knowledge of the self but not always of the object.

7. Personality Types – Trigunas

 The trigunas are personality typologies described in the Gita basing on mortality and
social classification.
 In the Gita, the three gunas or threads or qualities are: the sattva, rajas and tamas. These
qualities are usually a mixture in a man with varying quantities causing different qualities.
Although, it states that it is the ego and not the self that is manifested by these three
qualities.
 Tamas is the principle of inertia, it is passive and response from it would cause
disintegration of the action and relations. Thus, it is to be channelled by rajas, a kinetic
power which is then controlled by the sattva.
 Tamas dominated individuals confused and delusional. They lack energy and
enlightenment and are prone to inattention and are unempathetic.
 The rajas, dominated people, on the hand, are energetic, are materialistic, greedy, lustful,
emotional, impulsive and may even be hostile when he is denied of what he wants.
 The sattva guna is identified with intellect, clarity, enlightenment and in control of their
emotions, desires, altruistic and moralistic.
 The charvakas believe that all living beings can be classified using the three gunas.
Although stereotypical, and not basing on observation, they categorized many traits
within these personalities.
 According to the charvakas, there are three major personality types of being dominated by
the tamas:
i. Animal type: these are unintelligent and uncultured.
ii. Fish type: they are greedy for food and are nomadic.
iii. Plant type: are catatonic and languorous.
 Charvakas also believe that there are six kinds of rajas:
i. Asura: are valiant but despotic, pitiless in his dealings with others.
ii. Rakshasa: are cruel and gluttonous.
iii. Pisacha: they hate cleanliness and usually bully.
iv. Sarpa: are too sensitive and causes fear in others.
v. Preta: are very envious and jealous.
vi. Sakuna: are fickle minded and lack patience and tolerance.
 Finally, the Charvakas believe that there are seven kinds of sattvas:
i. Brahman: pure, devoted to truth, self-controlled, with good memory and
understanding, free from desire, anger, greed, conceit, infatuation, envy and equally
well-disposed to all.
ii. Rishi: is one who is devoted to study, pajnas, celibacy.
iii. Indra: endowed with lordship and is authoritative in speech, who is brave and
energetic.
iv. Yama: whose actions are governed by considerations and prosperities.
v. Varuna: he is valiant, courageous and has a liking for water.
vi. Kubera: controls status, honour and luxuries.
vii. Gandharva: is fond of dancing, music, legends, and is an addict to perfumes, garlands,
fine clothes and recreation.

References

Kuppuswamy, B. (1985). Elements of ancient Indian psychology. Vikas Publishing House

Private.

Kuppuswamy, B. (1993). Source Book on Ancient Indian Psychology. Konark Publishers.

Sinha, J. (2018). Introduction to Philosophy. New Central Book Agency.