Presidential Address
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1 ABSTRACTS THE INDIAN PHILOSOPHICAL CONGRESS 84TH SESSION MUMBAI 2009 THEME Values Embodied in Indian Culture: Relevance and Reconstruction Date October 24 to 27, 2009 Venue Keshav Shrishti Complex, Essel World Road, Uttan Village, Bhayandar, Mumbai 401 106 Organised by Department of Philosophy, University of Mumbai Inaugural Lecture Indian Philosophy: Ancient and Modern PROFESSOR AMARTYA SEN Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University Senior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows Formerly, Master, Trinity College, Cambridge There is a much richer tradition of philosophy in India than what is celebrated in the contemporary world as quintessentially “Indian philosophy”. I hope to argue that viewing Indian philosophy in the light of contemporary concerns in the global world helps to bring out aspects of our heritage that have received far less attention than they deserve. While I shall be concerned primarily with practical reason, there will inescapably be connections also with Indian epistemological analyses. Presidential Address The Role of Aesthetics as a Branch of Philosophy PROFESSOR REKHA JHANJI General President, 84th Indian Philosophical Congress Retired Professor, Department of Philosophy, Panjab University, Chandigarh This paper is devoted to an exposition of the significance of aesthetics as a branch of philosophy. In its etymological sense philosophy means love of wisdom; but there is a multiplicity of definitions of philosophy. However, the different philosophical writings of the world make it clear that philosophy is an analysis of abstract concepts associated with fundamental problems of life. In the Indian tradition the term Darshan highlights the significance of a vision of reality in philosophical thinking. As a branch of philosophy aesthetics has been marginalised because it was initially viewed as study of sensory and emotional experiences. Sensory experiences are viewed in a negative way by rationalists as well as spiritualists. Aesthetics has also been defined as a philosophical study of beauty and art. As study of beauty and art aesthetics generates a detachment from desires because no aesthetic experience can be possible without being detached from personal interests, for then one would treat the aesthetic object as a means of giving vent to one’s personal emotions. Detachment of aesthetic experience has been emphasised both in Indian and Western thought. It creates a joyful living because all kinds of agonies are associated with desires and egoism. This awareness of the significance of detachment helps one to live a meaningful life, treating the whole world as an aesthetic object generates total peace and happiness in life. 4 Endowment Lectures ENDOWMENT LECTURES Pratap Seth Vedanta Lecture Professor G. C. Nayak Professor & Head, (Retired), Department of Philosophy, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Orissa Buddha Jayanti Lecture Professor Mangala Chinchore Department of Philosophy, University of Pune, Pune Jaina Lecture Professor Sohan Raj Tater Pro Vice Chancellor, Singhania University, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan Swaminarayana Theistic Vedanta Professor J. A. Yajnik Lecture Professor & Head (Retired), Department of Philosophy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad Saiva Siddhanta Lecture Dr. V. Chandrasekar Department of Philosophy, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Chennai Khwaja M A Hay Lecture on Dr. Shymal Krishna Banerjee Humanism Retired Principal, Lal Babu College (Calcutta University), Belur Math, Howrah, West Bengal Gujarat Vidyapeeth Lecture on Dr. Ramjee Singh Gandhian Philosophy and Peace Retired Professor, Department of Gandhian Thought Tilakamanjhi Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur Former Vice Chancellor, Jaina Vishwabharati, Ladnun, Rajasthan Endowment Lectures 5 Buddha Jayanti Endowment Lecture Towards Buddhist Philosophy of Life PROFESSOR DR. MANGALA R. CHINCHORE Department of Philosophy, University of Pune [email protected] Restricting to classical Indian Buddhism, I wish to highlight some of the salient features of Buddhist Philosophy of Life. Buddhism being naturalistic, empiricist and pragmatic in character, it is but natural that it is humanistic in its major concerns. Buddhism basically wants to understand humans and seeks to know how to live to ensure that man realises the supreme value that life affords. The sort of philosophy of life that Buddhism puts forth revolves around five main considerations. They are: (1) Problem of Human Life – The human problem is basically moral and/or spiritual, rather than social and political. It consists in knowing that human life is ridden with not merely pain and suffering (Dukkha) simplistically understood, but basically by incompleteness that life always exhibits and by uneasiness, anxiety, restlessness etc. which do not leave even the most fortunate ones. This sort of problem is aggravated by over-looking impermanence and susceptibility to change (Anityata) on the one hand and cultivation of illusion of stability of things and lasting selves (Anatmata) on the other. (2) Factors Leading to Human Problems – Using the medical model in various aspects in its investigation, Buddhism discovers that human problems arise because of human thirst, desires, passion (Trusnā) for and attachment, emotional involvement with things, beings and persons, and can be overcome only through human efforts. (3) The Diagnostic Key to the Resolution of Human Problems – By way of amelioration, if not complete resolution, of the human problems, Buddhism prescribes life of detachment from and renunciation of the self with its passions, desires and hate, and of words and deeds by which they are expressed. (4) Therapeutic-way of Resolution of Human Problems – Buddhism therapeutically prescribes the eightfold path for the resolution of human problems consisting of a middle way between sensationalism and asceticism, between indulgence of the self and its mortification. (5) Two- pronged Limitless Growth of Human Beings – Buddhist philosophy of life envisages two-fold complementary boundless growth, viz. moral and spiritual. Morally it seeks to develop excellence of character (Shilla) exemplifying truly lived good-life; while spiritually it seeks to cultivate lasting peace (Shanti) through controlling the problem of the ego and culminating into service of humans, and compassion (Karuna) towards all sentient beings without discrimination. 6 Endowment Lectures Saiva Siddhanta Endowment Lecture Saiva Siddhānta in the Panniru Tirumurai DR. V. CHANDRASEKAR Lecturer in Philosophy Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Chennai Email: [email protected] The Saiva bhakti movement took place between the 7th and 10th centuries AD in Tamil Nadu. This movement was launched by the Saivaite saints to counteract the Jain and Buddhist movements. They combined their musical expertise with heart rendering lyrics. It is through this expertise that they were able to inculcate the devotional trait into the minds of the Tamil people which seems to have sustained till today. However, the Cankam literature (the earliest Tamil literature) testifies to the fact that Siva worship was prevalent in the land of the Tamils even during the pre-Christian era. Saiva Siddhānta in Tamil Nadu, we know, is based on the Āgamas, Upanisads along with the Tamil philosophical works like the Tirumurai and Meykanda Sāstra. The Tirumurai is said to be the corpus of devotional literature on Siva. This work is a compilation of poems by Nambiāndārnambi (as per the wishes of one of the Chola Kings of that time); it comprises of the poems of 63 leading saints scanning a period of 600 years. The rare concepts found in the Sivāgamas have been rendered by these saints in beautiful Tamil language. Hence, it is essential to understand the Tirumurai with respect to the ideas set forth by the Sivāgamās. The greatness of these saints is that they looked at all living creatures as ONE and considered all acts as His acts (as belonging to Siva). The songs of these saints have been given to us in the form of 12 books, called Panniru Tirumurai (the Twelve Tirumurais) The Twelve Tirumurais are: The first three Tirumurais comprise of the Tevāram of Sampantar in 4147 verses The 4th, 5th and 6th Tirumurais comprise of the Tevāram of Tirunavukkarasar in 3066 verses The 7th Tirumurai is Sundarar’s Tevāram in 1024 verses The 8th Tirumurai is Manikkavacakar’s Tiruvācakam and Tirukkovaiyār in 1056 verses The 9th Tirumurai comprises of Tiruvicaippa and Tiruppallāndu of 9 saints in 301 verses The 10th Tirumurai is the Tirumantiram of Tirumūlar in 3045 verses Endowment Lectures 7 The 11th Tirumurai is again a collection of songs by 12 saints consisting of 1391 verses and The 12th Tirumurai is the Periya Purānam of Sekkizhar in 4286 verses. Though the concepts have been rendered musically over a period of time, yet, it must be remembered that there are quite a few commonalities significant features in all these poems. They are: • Regarding the Supreme as formless (the Saivites use the name Sivan to denote the Absolute Reality), nameless and not pertaining to a single place • Stressing the oneness of the Supreme, having no beginning, middle and end; also beyond time • Emphasisng that there is only one God and one caste (especially by Tirumular) • Perceiving the Absolute as love (anbe sivam – understanding Sivan as nothing but love) • Portrayal of the divine as the hero and the individual as the heroine • Considering Absolute faith and surrender of the individual to the Divine as the prerequisite