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325 CH APTER T W ENT Y-THR EE Hindu Structures of Thought The Ṣaḍdarśanas There are many different opinions, partly based on sound arguments and scripture, partly based on fallacious arguments and scriptural texts misunderstood. Those who embrace some of these opinions without previous examination will bar themselves from the highest beatitude and incur grievous loss. —Śaṅkara, Brahmasūtrabhāṣya I, 1 All cultures—as the languages associated with them reveal—have made attempts to transform their life experiences into abstract concepts and connect these into coherent mental world pictures. Indian culture has done so more than most others: coining words, translating reality into thought, elaborating systems of explanation on the basis of universal principles are some of the most prominent features of Indian civilization. The sheer mass of writing that we possess—probably only a fraction of what once existed—is eloquent testimony to this. In the enormous Indian religious literature one cluster of words and ideas stands out: words and ideas designating mind, consciousness, thought: terms like cit, caitanya, jñāna, vijñāna, buddhi, bodha. Indian religions have been consciousness conscious from a very early date on. Not all are going as far as the “consciousness-only” school of Vijñāna-vāda Buddhism or the “absoluteconsciousness -alone” teaching of Advaita Vedānta. But the awareness of mind as irreducible reality, radically different from nature and society, was a very important factor in the history of Hinduism as a whole. To consider the physical structures of the Hindus’ holy land as a support of Hinduism will be quite easily acceptable. After all, Hindus live and die in this sacred geography. To see in the specific societal arrangements that 326 PART III: THE STRUCT UR A L SUPPORTS OF HINDUISM Hinduism created a structural support of Hinduism will equally appear quite plausible. All Hindus are, in very important ways, affected by varṇāśramadharma that structures their lives in many ways. It may need some arguing, however, to prove that the ṣaḍ darśanas are structural supports of Hinduism of equal importance. HINDUISM: A TR ADITION OF LEAR NING Hindu tradition has always shown great respect for scholarship. It rested upon a book, the Veda, that was memorized, studied, surrounded by other books that were designed to protect it, explain it, and apply it. Not only had a Brahmin according to traditional Hindu law to devote the first part of his life to study, svādhyāya, study on his own, was one of the permanent duties imposed upon him for his whole life. Although the injunction to devote the first part of his day to study may not always have been literally followed by all Brahmins, study as a habit certainly characterized them throughout and formed the whole class. Study, according to Manu, was enjoined by the creator himself “in order to protect the universe” and it was also the most effective means to subdue sensual desires and obtain self-control. Manu quotes an ancient verse: ”Sacred Learning approached a Brāhmaṇa and said to him: ‘I am your treasure, preserve me, deliver me not to a scorner; so preserved I shall become extremely strong.”1 The learning that a Brahmin acquires is his only claim to eminence: “A man is not considered venerable because his head is grey; him who, though young, has learned the Vedas, the gods consider to be venerable.”2 Veda study, Manu says, has been declared the highest form of tapas (austerity, selfmortification ) of a Brahmin. Correspondingly the role of the teacher has always been important. “They call the teacher ‘father’ because he gives the Veda: for nobody can perform a sacred rite before the investiture with the girdle of muñja grass.”3 The teacher was compared to God—even placed above God: because he could not only convey the sacred knowledge but could also intercede on behalf of his pupils in case of their wrongdoing. The king, according to Kauṭilya, had the duty to see to it that no student and no teacher in his realm would be lacking the essentials. The prominence of the Brahmins, whose “natural” function was to learn and to teach, is a further indicator of the central place that study occupied in Vedic society. The true centers of Hinduism were always centers of study: be it the āśramas of classical India or the patha-śālas of later times, the private libraries of individual scholars or the large universitylike centers of major...

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