Indian Knowledge System

Gyan Prakash, Ph.D. (IIT Bombay)

Associate Professor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
IIT (ISM) Dhanbad
Email id: gyan@[Link]
Indian Knowledge System
• The system of oral transmission
• Very vast knowledge system
• Significance of the discussion
Identity :
Culture: Set of idea and customs
Received wisdom: Ancient Knowledge, wisdom
Economic Value: value of knowledge

GYAN PRAKASH
Shruti (hearing): Eternal, Self evident and divinely revealed. The entire Vedic
literature is shruti.

Smriti (recollection): Vedangas, Darshanas, The Ramayana, the Mahabharata

including the Bhagvad Gita, the Upanishads and Dharmashastras represent the finest
examples of the smriti tradition.

GYAN PRAKASH
 Rig Veda
Veda:

• The Veda contains the highest spiritual knowledge Sama Veda

(Para Vidya) as well as the knowledge of the world
(Apara Vidya).

• The text of the Veda is preserved in its pure and Yajur Veda
original form without any alteration.

Atharva Veda

GYAN PRAKASH
Vedas
Samhitas (Compilation of knowledge): Collection of mantras or hymns

Brahmanas: Prose commentaries on Vedas with detailed observations on prayers and

ceremonies, religious duties

Aranyaka: Texts to be read by Rishis in forests as they deal with mystic meanings of
Samhita texts

Upanishads: Philosophical aspects which are to be taught by Acharyas to their

trusted students

GYAN PRAKASH
Upanishads

• Upanishads deal with the fundamental questions about existence, life, creation,
death etc.

• Upanishads deal with nature of soul, universe and God and their relationships

• The various systems of philosophy namely Advaita, Vishishta advaita and Dvaita
refer to the Upanishads as their source material.

GYAN PRAKASH
Vedangas
• Vedangas means the limbs of the Vedas.
• Complimentary tools to recite, comprehend and apply knowledge of Vedas.
• Shiksha: Phonetics, Phonology and Pronunciation (Ashtadhyayi by Panini, 4th BCE)
• Vyaakaran: the study of grammar. (Ashtadhyayi by Panini)
• Nirukt: Discussion of the etymology of Vedic literature. (Yask)
• Chhand: The study of rhythm. Its ensure the form of the Mantra.
• Kalp: Ceremonies associate with Vedic ritual practice
• Jyotish: Vedic astrology/astronomy

GYAN PRAKASH
 Chaturdasa-vidyasthanas

14 Major Division

• Four Vedas
• Six Vedangas
• Puranas
• Dharma-sashtra
• Nyaya
• Mimamsa

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Upavedas
•Ayurveda or Indian Medicine

• Dhanur Veda

•Arthasastra

•Gandharva veda

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Darsanas
Philosophical school
Nyaya (Gautama, 200 B.C.)
Vaisesika (Kanada, 300B.C.)
Samkhya (Kapila)
Yoga (Patanjali)

Poorva Mimamsa (Jaimini 400 B.C.)

Uttar Mimamsa: Brahma Sutra

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Other Darsanas
•Carvaka

•Buddhism

•Jainism

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GYAN PRAKASH
 Prasthana Trayi

•The Upanishads are the sruti prasthana, the revealed texts (sruti - that which is heard)

•The Bhagavad-Gita is the smriti prasthana.

• The Brahma Sutra is the nyaya prasthana, the logical text that sets forth the philosophy
systematically (nyaya - logic/order)

No study of Vedanta is considered complete without a close examination of the

Prasthana Trayi.

GYAN PRAKASH
Who am I?
Personhood: What is it to be a person, as opposed to a nonperson?
What have we people got that nonpeople haven’t got?

Persistence: What does it take for a person to persist from one time to
another—to continue existing rather than cease to exist?

Evidence: How do we find out who is who? What evidence bears on

the question of whether the person here now is the one who was here
yesterday?

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 Dualism
• According to substance dualism, the mind is an entirely different sort of thing to
the body.

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Functionalism

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Functionalism
Chinese Room

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BRAHMA SUTRAS
(Badarayana)

GYAN PRAKASH
BRAHMA SUTRAS
Identify your self with the body.
‘I am fair, dark, thin. I am a Brahmin, I am a Kshatriya, I am a doctor.

Identify your self with the senses

‘I am blind, I am dumb’

Identify your self with the mind

, ‘I know nothing. I know everything. I be came angry. I enjoyed a good meal.
I am suffering from this disease’.

GYAN PRAKASH
BRAHMA SUTRAS

• The entire object of the Brahma Sutras is to remove this erroneous

identification of the Soul with the body which is the root cause of your
sufferings and miseries, which is the product of Avidya (ignorance) and
help you in the attainment of the final emancipation through knowledge
of Brahman.

GYAN PRAKASH
Mind

▪There is one eternal consciousness. It is Brahman.

▪When it is determined by the internal organ, it is called subject-

consciousness (Self).

▪When the eternal consciousness is determined by mental modes, it is

called the knowledge-consciousness.

▪When it is determined by an empirical object, it is called the obejct-

consciousness.

GYAN PRAKASH
Mind

▪In external perception the mind goes out to an empirical object through
a sense-organ and is modified into its form.

▪This mental mode assuming the form of the object is called vrtti.

▪The avidya in the form of nacre in the object-consciousness which is identified with
the subject-consciousness, is transformed into the objective illusory silver and
subjective illusion of silver with the aid of the impression of silver revived by the
perception of brightness which is common to the nacre and the silver and a defect in
the visual organ

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 Annamaya kosha
Gross
Pranamaya kosha body

Manomaya kosha
Subtle
Vijnanamaya kosha body

Anandamaya kosha

Soul

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▪The theory of koshas recognizes the multilayered existence (Pancha
koshas) of human beings.

▪The outermost layer, the Annamaya kosha, the food sheath or ‘food
body,’ is a representation of the gross physical body, considered as
primitive and the least powerful part of the persona. This sheath is
regarded as the medium of enjoyment for gross objects through the
physical senses.

GYAN PRAKASH
▪The second covering of the Self is the pranamaya kosha or vital sheath
consisting of the five pranas or vital energies and the five karma indriyas
or organs of action. This level of being is associated with the breath, the
prana, and the fundamental life force. It is also associated with the
feelings, the emotions. This is a template of concentrated life force
(prana).

GYAN PRAKASH
The Five Pranas

▪Prana is very often misunderstood as breath. In philosophical terminology. Prana

stands for the manifested Life Energy which expresses itself in the various
physiological functions.

▪Perception (Prana), Excretion (Apana), Digestion (Vyana), Circulation (Samana) and

the thinking of thoughts (Udana).

▪Prana layer of the personality is that which holds the gross physical body and the inner
subtle body together. The sense-organ must be in contact with the inner equipment and
it is the prana that maintains the vital connection.

GYAN PRAKASH
▪ The manomaya kosha or the ‘covering of mind’, the emotional body or what Vedanta
calls the mind. The manas is the sensory-motor mind, which thrives on the material
gathered from the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. This sheath deals
with the emotional, mental or perceptual part of the body, which comprises not just the
mind, but also the organs within the body.

GYAN PRAKASH
▪ The Vijnanamaya kosha, represents not only ‘cognition’ but also ‘intellect’ and
‘wisdom.’ Vijnana means ‘‘certain knowledge’’; it includes the three mental activities
of feeling, willing, and knowing. It also represents the mind, skill and all the
intelligence behind human work.

▪Anandamaya kosha, the blissful sheath, is the most interior of the kosha, the first of the
koshas surrounding the Atman, the eternal center of consciousness. When one
transcends all the previous layers, one is bliss with life.

GYAN PRAKASH
Mind

▪ According to Vedanta, cognition is a fourfold operation. First, the deliberative faculty

of the mind (manas) asks: ‘What is this object?’ The memory (citta) attempts to recall
similar objects. Then, the determinative faculty (buddhi) is able to ascertain: ‘It is a
desk.’ Finally, the sense of egoism (ahamkāra) makes the association: ‘I am sitting at
the desk.’

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 Epistemology
▪ Epistemology is the study of our method of acquiring knowledge

▪ How do we know?

▪ It is required in order to be able to determine the true and the false, by

determining a proper method of evaluation.
Thank you

GYAN PRAKASH