My Personal Journey into Vaisheshika Darshan - First Question - Dharma

Hindu Philosophy is unique in its way that it includes Samkhya (rationalism and atheism), Yoga (focusing on mental as well as physical study) and Nyāya (logic/rules) as part of its six philosophies.

While world debates on monotheism, atheism, iconoclasm, superiority, equality, proselytization and other such subject which are bound to create controversy and divisiveness, Hinduism is comfortable in the diversity of thoughts from ancient time and is still evolving.

As author, Prafull Goradia in his book Hindu Masjids, says 'it is well known that the conceptual purpose of every Hindu is self actualisation". Some call it moksha, mukti, nirvana or bhagwat prapti. Although the goal sounds a simple enough endeavour yet for a logical mind there needs to be a rationale that helps you to identify this as a goal one needs to focus & strive for.

I think Hinduism is the only religion (or way of life) which believes in self-critique, debates, logical analysis and takes considerable effort to look at the ultimate objective from various perspectives. I already mentioned the six school of philosophies that form the basis of Hindu spiritualism. And it will definitely require multiple lifetimes to explore the depths of Samkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaisheshika, Mimansa and Vedanta.

I began my personal journey on Vaisheshika this year, or as it is referred to as more formally, Vaisheshika Darshan. A humble disclaimer, I'm not a scholar or an expert in these philosophies, so I'll present it as plainly as possible, avoid any colours that may reflect a self-interpretation and may malign the original intended meaning of various sutras (aphorisms) of this Darshan.

I would also suggest readers to go through lectures on Vaisheshika Darshan by Acharya Satyajit Ray on YouTube to learn about the original meaning of Vaisheshika, without any adulteration by yours truly.

We can all agree, we all are seekers, looking for something that elevates us, whether we call it truth, realization, knowledge, or happiness. It's the same sentiment that bothers us when we are searching for answers to question like, who am I? As the external causalities that causes turmoil in our mind are ignored, we as human beings have a tendency to find ways to elevate our state of being, whether materially or metaphysically.

In Hinduism philosophy we are given the liberty to explore this endeavour via various means of knowledge (प्रमाण or Pramana) and come to a conclusion without taking any part of the entire reasoning for granted. Self and material exploration with logic and deduction is a natural part of six philosophies of Hinduism.

One such means of knowledge is Vaisheshika Darshan founded by Rishi Kanada at least two thousand years ago. It sets the stage for the treasure of knowledge to follow in subsequent chapters by stating in its first sutra, "from here onwards we will discuss dharma".

It begs one to curiously question; what is this 'dharma' (धर्म). After all we need to find a way to see this knowledge of self-realization or an answer to our existence. The author clarifies further, dharma is something that helps us to find the meaning of success for this mortal life (अभ्युदय or abhyudaya - reaching an elevated state in the material life with righteous means) and quest for knowledge of oneself as well (निःश्रेयसम् or nishreyasa - self-knowledge leading to emancipation from material world).

To understand this knowledge we will have to break down everything around us to its most fundamental element. We will talk about substances, attributes, action, generalities (commonalities), differences, motion and lot's of concepts that will help us to realize our true potential and true identity. And author will guide us each step of the way, our own Rishi Kanada.

Vaisheshika means special and darshan means to see or to experience. So it's a experience of something special, literally. Hopefully, much more to come as I walk (and a lot of times crawl) in my personal journey of Vaisheshika Darshan.