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Wk 01 Wed, Jan 6Wk 01 Wed, Jan 6

By Friday Introduce yourself to the class in the

discussion thread on Canvas. Sign up for a 5-min slot to get acquainted

between W-F. Have your feedback at hand F during

section to raise your unansweredquestions, discussion points.

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Next Class, Mon Papers for Monday:

– Potter 2001, Parametric typology of Karma– Bhattacharji 1982, on Fatalism– Ghosh Dastidar 1987, on Freedom / Autonomy– Reincarnation Aklujkar 2001 Optional: Perrett 1987, inductive proof of rebirth

Next Wed Karma, Rebirth, and the Problem of Evil

– Kaufman (2005)– Chadha & Trakakis (2007) Kaufman (2007)

– Sharma (2008)

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Today Eastman on academic philosophy, ultimate

purpose Perrett on Indian Philosophy Potter on Karma

– 1964: Naturalistic Principle of Karma– 1980: Details for Yoga & Advaita theories

Lippner’s overview of karman (= karma)

Eastman on (Western?) Philosophy

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Philosophy vs. Metaphysics Understanding the human predicament

– Why do I exist?– What has meaning?

Question of ultimate human fulfilment– What’s my purpose?

Philosophy ought to be a tool to answer this question– Critical thinking

Eastman on Metaphysics “As human beings, we have a physical

capacity, a psychological capacity, an intellectual capacity; and a metaphysical capacity which transcends the other capacities in its ability to witness, reflect and explore every aspect of these other capacities without itself being incorporated into them (5).”

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Similar Sentiments?“Science is organized common sense. Philosophy is organized piffle.”

-- Bertrand Russell, philosopher and mathematician.

“That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins--all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.

-- Bertrand Russell, The Free Man's Worship, 1903

Perrett Is Indian Philosophy comparable to

Western?What is “Philosophy”?

– Descriptive v. Evaluative– Necessary Conditions: Secularity Argumentation ✓ Historicist Lexical Equivalence

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Perrett, cont’dWestern perception

– Magisterial– Exoticist– Curatorial– Interlocutory = questioning, critical, cross-

cultural Periodization

– Our focus: Ancient Period (900 BCE-200 CE) + early Classical (200-400 CE)

Eastern “Philosophy” Is Different

Primary purpose is:● Freedom from bondage / karma● = Liberation

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Diff. from Western Philosophy West: “pure theory”

– knowledge for its own sake– excludes religious practice, theology, dogma, tradition– critical thinking

East: soteriological orientation – focus on liberation, mokṣa– advocates transcendence of everyday world– critical of mere theory– “apologetics” for acceptance of Vedas, tradition

Is this a valid distinction?

Critique of reason/argumentation Use of reason to scorn orthodox Vedic

tradition– by heterodox opponents (Buddhists, Jains,

materialists) Logician = heretic! Analytic reasoning alone cannot provide

truth of ātman.– logic useful in refuting opposing views

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Potter (1964)Naturalistic Principle of Karma

Law v. Principle (39-40) Naturalism = belief that only natural (as

opposed to supernatural or spiritual) laws and forces operate in the world. (OED)

“paradox of human freedom (44)”– Freedom = overcoming “habit” saṃskāra, vāsanā, bhāvanā Freedom from suffering (49)

– habituation1 v. habituation2 (46)

Potter (1965), cont’d “we will have renounced choice because

we will have renounced all desires arising from the not-self (47)”

Corollaries to karmic principle:– Doctrine of reincaranation– Principle of beginninglessness

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Setup for Potter (1980) Yoga Advaita Vedānta Terms

– Brahman– Dharma– Caste, varṇa x Life stage, āśrama– Vāmadeva myth

Yoga Every action →

1. karma-āśaya, karmic residue1. dharma → meritorious, puṇya2. adharma → unmeritorious, pāpa

2. saṃskāra-s, dispositional tendencies [can be part of 1 above]

– vāsanā-s, traces, which when activated produce1. kleśa-s, afflictions2. smṛti, recollection / memory

At death, the karmāśaya determines1. jāti, birth genus for new body2. āyus, length of new life3. bhoga, affective tone of experiences in this new life

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Yoga Aṣṭāṅga yoga – Eight-limbed yoga

– Weakens the karmic residue that causes rebirth1. restraint, yama2. observance, niyama3. posture, āsana4. breath control, prāṇāyāma5. sense-withdrawal, pratyāhāra6. concentration, dhāraṇā7. meditative absorption, dhyāna8. enstasy, samādhi

5 kleśa-s, (causes of) affliction1. ignorance, avidyā2. egoism, asmitā3. attachment, rāga4. aversion, dveṣa5. the will to live, ābhiniveśa

Karma Theory in YogaFriday section

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Next: Setup for Advaita Vedānta 2nd karma theory in Potter 1980, p. 249 ff.

Brahman vs. Brahmā Bráhman – Sacred

Utterance– Brahman – ultimate

reality, ground of all being

Brahmā – creator god, post-Vedic.

brāhmaṇa = brahmin– member of highest Hindu caste

texts explaining Vedic ritual, the Bṛāhmaṇas

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Scale of time The world passes through four

periods, yugas of declining virtue:• Krita-yuga 1,728,000 yrs• Treta-yuga 1,296,000 yrs• Dvāpara-yuga 864,000 yrs• Kali-yuga 432,000 yrs

Entire cycle is a mahāyuga,4,320,000 years.

At the end of a mahāyuga, a “minor” dissolution of world, followed by a mahāyuga of rest and return to cosmic non-differentiation.

Approx. 1½ “Brahmā-minutes”

A kalpa or 1000 mahāyugas, 4,320,000,000 years comprises one day for Brahmā!

Scale of time, cont’d At the end of each kalpa,

4.32 billion years, there is a “major” dissolution which lasts for a kalpa, a night for Brahmā

A year of Brahmā is 360 days and nights of Brahmā.

After 120 Brahmā-years everything, including Brahmā dissolves. (120 x 360 x 2 x 4.32 billion years = 373.248 trillion years!)– Currently in 51st Brahmā-

year

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SaṃsāraWe are in an infinite cycle of birth-aging-

death-rebirth, metempsychosis Purānic cosmology: 7 heavens, 21 or 28

hells These are merely stops on the endless

journey – reap the results of our actions Nature of birth determined by karma

The Four Castes, varṇa-s“Twice-born”1. Brahmin

– Vedic priests, scholars2. Kṣatriya

– rulers, warriors, landowners3. Vaiśya

– traders, merchants, farmers

4. Śūdra– laborers, indigenous

BG 4.13, cf. RV 10.90.12

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Four Stages, āśrama-s of life1. brahmacārī, student2. gṛhasta, householder3. vānaprasthī, forest-dweller4. sannyāsī, renunciate

varṇa & āśrama determine one’s dharma– specific, viśeṣa-dharma– common to all, sāmānya-dharma

Dharma1. Merit2. Duty (Miller)3. Law4. Virtue5. Morality6. Social order7. Right8. Nature, property/characteristic9. Yudhiṣṭhira!

The remainder to be reviewed Monday, Wk 02...

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Human Pursuits, puruṣārtha-s1. Dharma2. Artha, material wealth3. Kāma, sensory pleasures4. Mokṣa, liberation

Alt. ranking: kāma, artha, dharma, mokṣa

Advaita Vedānta Non-duality

– God, self, creation are identical Brahman = ātman / ātmā Three levels of reality

– Absolute– Empirical– Dream

Leading proponent: Śaṅkara, 8th cent. CE– Sureśvara, immediate disciple– =? Maṇḍana Miśra, contemporary

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Advaita Vedānta Triple Canon, prasthāna-trayī

1. Upaniṣads2. Brahmasūtras3. Bhagavad Gītā

Types of karma, [ritual] actsA. Prescribed, vidhi

1. regular rites, nitya-karman2. special occasion rites, naimittika-karman3. rites to attain specific desires, kāmya-karman4. rites for atonement, prāyaścitta-karman

B. Forbidden, niṣedha

Advaita Vedānta 3 types of stores of karma

1. prārabdha-karma, active in present life2. sañcita-karma, inactive, accumulated over

past lives3. āgāmī-karma, to be effective in the future =

kriyamāṇa-karman, in the making (Lipner 2012)

3 paths after death (Potter 1980, 251-2)

1. uttarāyaṇa, devāyana, Northern path2. dakṣināyana, pitrāyaṇa, Southern path3. saṃyamana, world of Yama, lord of death

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Liberation in Advaita Vedānta Achieved through knowledge of identity

– Brahman = ātmā Neutralizes sañcita-karma, āgāmī-karma

– Subsequent new karma doesn’t accumulate– Non-attachment

Only prārabdha-karma remains and mustbe worked out– Already launched arrow

Karma Theory in AdvaitaFriday in section

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Vāmadeva (Potter 1980, 255-6)

Vedic sage (ṛṣi), considered author of the fourthmaṇḍala of the RV, and of the Aitareya Upaniṣad.

Claimed knowledge of births of all the gods,while in his mother’s womb– As a result, became immortal, AiU 2 (4).5-6.

Vāmadeva also mentioned in BU 1.4.10 asknowing himself as Brahman:– tadhaitat paśyann ṛṣir vāmadevaḥ pratipede’haṃ

manur abhavaṃ sūryaś ceti. – On seeing [that one who realizes oneself as Brahman

becomes the All], the sage Vāmadeva affirmed, ‘I wasManu, and also the sun.’

Tension between Transactional & Philosophical

Traditions pravṛtti, engaging in action

– Transactional nivṛtti, withdrawal from action

– Philosophical

Karma = reconciliation?