Who am I?.... What am I? Notes
Introduction We seldom or in fact never ask ourselves, ‘who am I?’. When we come across a stranger, an obvious question that comes to our mind is, ‘who is this person ?’ We may even ask “May I know who are you?” The other person may also ask the same question in return. Neither of us get baffled by these questions! Rather we introduce ourselves to each-other. This introduction can be a lengthy one including name, place, education, occupation, likes, dislikes, hobbies etc. or it can be a short one by mentioning just the name. We usually carry a college identity card or even the card. This identity card provides specific information about us and also a photograph.
This identity is necessary and even sufficient in order to get access to certain places or for the bank and government office related work. However, just a formal introduction is generally not enough for the relationship between two individuals. For example, a relation develops between fellow travelers. In addition to the formal introduction, other aspects such as understanding each-other’s personalities, opinions, habits, manner of speaking etc. are also included in this relationship. Many a times we find that even in a short meeting we learn a lot about a person. At times we face such situations where we doubt whether we have really understood the person we have known for years. Moreover, we may sometimes even surprise ourselves by what we speak and the way we behave. We say, ‘I never thought I would do that or behave like that’.
If that is so, doesn’t it mean that we have not really been acquainted with ourselves? We do not know ourselves well. We may be able to respond to the question ‘who are you?’ in such a way that the other person understands, accepts and is satisfied with the given information. Nevertheless, this information that is provided to the person is in a way superficial. That is because we have never asked the question ‘who am I?’ to ourselves and have never tried to find its answer. We all know that grammatically the ‘I’ is a first person, singular pronoun. Every individual uses the pronoun ‘I’ while talking about oneself.
That means everyone’s ‘I’ is different from the others ‘I’, it is unique. At times we say ‘I am not like you to speak/ act/behave in this way’. Our sense of ‘I’ is our ‘distinctness’ from others. The information provided in any identity certificate mostly introduces us on the basis of caste, religion, age, gender, class and education. It gives a fair idea of our social, cultural and economic status. There may be many people who have the same economic and social status.
That means according to the above mentioned consciousness. However, the materialists assert that the consciousness necessarily emerges from matter/material substance only. The obvious question that is asked here is, if the material substance is fundamentally devoid of consciousness how can consciousness emerge from it? Charvakas answer this with the help of some analogies. Just as the combination of green betel leaf, brown betel nut and white lime if chewed together produces red color which does not exist in any one of them; peculiar combination of the various material elements produces consciousness. Charvakas define soul as ‘the conscious living body’. They would always state “Chaitanya vishishta deha eva atma”. As a result, they explicitly rejected all the then existing philosophical views and common beliefs, that the soul is immortal, that it goes to heaven or hell after death or that it takes re-birth and enters a new body etc. This view of Charvaka is known as ‘Bhutchaitanyavada’ or ‘Dehatmavada’. This metaphysical standpoint of Charvakas is logically consistent with their epistemological perspective which accepts perception as the only valid source of knowledge.
We shall study their epistemology in the coming chapter. Find out the examples suggesting ‘Consciousness emerges from the material substance devoid of consciousness’. Let’s search! Jaina Darshan Jainas are realists; they believe that every living organism is a combination of two independent substances viz., the material body and consciousness. According to Jainas, not only animals, but plants and even dust particles also have souls; however, the level of awareness or consciousness differs. Jainas have systematically classified the jivas (living beings) on the basis of following criteria: their ability to move, the number of senses they use to experience the world, whether they are liberated or bound.
Although there are such differences in the consciousness level of different jivas; every jiva is of the nature of consciousness. This jiva itself is the knower, the doer and the enjoyer. Every jiva has the potentiality to attain infinite knowledge, faith, power and bliss. However, there are obstacles that need to be overcome. The material body, to which the jiva is connected, causes these obstacles. The material body is formed from the minutest particles of matter, which are known as ‘Pudgala’ in Jaina darshana. ‘Pudgala’ means the particles or atoms that can be combined or disintegrated. The passions and desires present in jiva or soul originating from their past karmas, attract peculiar particles towards the jivas taking a particular form. Consciousness exists in each of these particles of the body. The body, the senses, the mind are all considered to be the obstacles in the path towards the perfection of the soul. Until this perfection is achieved, the soul remains bound with matter. It continues to move from one body to another after the death of the earlier one. Jainas believe that faith, knowledge and character are essential in order to get liberated from the cycle of re-birth. The Jaina answer to the question ‘who am I’ is that, I am the soul that can attain infinite wisdom, faith, power and bliss on liberation. Bauddha Darshana Other than Charvaka, the school that rejects the existence of soul in the Indian tradition is Buddhism. Their reasons behind this are much different from those of the Charavakas. We have seen that Buddhism does not believe in any kind of permanent or eternal substance. They believe that impermanence is the essential nature of Sat/ Reality. With reference to the ‘I’ or ‘Self’ this position implies that the ‘self’ is constantly changing. There is nothing in us which is constant from birth to death. We are different every moment. But we are not aware of this change that takes place from moment to moment. We do change, but it does not mean that every moment we become a completely different person. Many a times when friends meet after a long time they say, ‘You look just the same; you have not changed a bit.’ The experiences and memories that we have gathered since our childhood make us believe that we are the same person; it is the same ‘me’. If we are constantly changing, then why do we experience constancy or identity? The answer of the Buddhists is that, what we experience is a kind of continuum. However, continuity is not eternality or permanence. If we take a pot of oil and pour it slowly, we see a continuous stream of oil. But in reality it consists of several drops. Due to the succession of these drops we do not see that they are distinct. Every moment a new drop is poured out of the glass but we look at them as a single constant flow. Same is the case with our existence. It is made up of several changing constituents.
There is no constituent or substance which is present throughout. The arrangement of these constituents keeps changing; but their continuum is maintained, since there is no interruption. As a result, we start feeling that there is some never-changing, permanent principle in us. To clarify this further, Buddhists give an example of the flame of an oil lamp. The flame that burns in the lamp is different every moment, since every moment a different drop of oil burns along with a different particle of the wick using the oxygen in the air. But due to the rapid succession and continuity we experience it as one and the same flame. Similarly, our existence is composed of five components according to Buddhism.
Sankhya Darshana According to the Sankhya, ‘self’ means soul. It is completely different from the body, mind and intellect. The self is the purusha while the body, mind and intellect etc. are prakriti. In human beings both elements exist together. Generally, we identify ourselves with our body. We have also seen that Charvakas too believe so. Sankhya, however, propound that to identify the body with the ‘self’ is ignorance. Our self is in fact our soul. Consciousness is the very nature of the soul. It never changes or perishes. It has no joys and sorrows. It does not perform any action. Change, activity, pleasure and pain, desire and aversion, all these are present in the body and mind, meaning these are thus the attributes of prakriti.
Even though the self is not the doer or the enjoyer, it is the knower. Everything that manifests from prakriti can be an object of knowledge, but the purusha who exists independent of prakriti can never be the object of knowledge. Everyone’s self is different. It does not perish with the body. According to the Sankhyas, we are not the changing, perishable bodies; rather, our true nature is an immortal soul which is pure consciousness, that is what we truly are. Advaita Vedanta Since the Jaina and Sankhya schools of Indian philosophy are not materialists, they accept the independent existence of self, but at the same time they do not deny the existence of matter. The Advaita Vedanta darshana is essentially Idealist; hence it accepts the existence of self only and rejects the existence of material substance. Similarly, being monist, it does not accept the plurality of selves like the Sankhyas. We have studied that, for Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the one and only reality.
Just like Brahman I am without any attributes, formless, eternal, indestructible, non-moving and never changing. It is only because of the ignorance that we identify our self with the body and distinguish our self from others. It is true that our action and behaviour at practical level is in accordance with this belief. However, Advaita propounds that when we attain the knowledge of self that is the knowledge of Brahman, we experience ourselves as the all-pervading pure consciousness. Present a debate following the method of ‘vaad sabha’ beween the materialistic and the spiritualistic positions regarding the soul. Let’s do! Western philosophy It is observed that since pre-Socratic period western philosophy has been contemplating over the nature of human ‘Self’ or ‘I’. All of you must have studied the Pythagorean theorem in geometry. Did you know Pythagoras was an ancient Greek philosopher? Pythagoras considered philosophy as a way of life. He had even established a sect of those who followed this path. The Philosophy of Pythagoras and his sect is known as Pythagorean Philosophy. Like the Sankhya tradition of India, this philosophy too asserted that human being is a combination of body and soul. They accept both the notion of re-birth and the immortality of the soul.
They were of the belief that the body is as if a cage that traps the soul and the objective of soul is to free itself. On the contrary, Democritus being a materialist believed that the soul is essentially material in nature. According to his view the soul is created from the soft and round atoms of fire. However, he rejects the immortality of the soul. Plato Plato was also influenced by the view that the body and the soul are two independent substances. Pythagoras and Plato were the only two philosophers in the mainstream of
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