Contemporary Vedanta Philosophy 02 - Book Summary

This text, "Contemporary Vedanta Philosophy, II" by George Burch, is an exploration of the philosophical work of T. R. V. Murti, a prominent Indian philosopher. The article delves into Murti's intellectual background, his philosophical system, and its connections to Vedanta and Buddhism.

Here's a comprehensive summary of the key points:

1. Introduction to T. R. V. Murti:

Influence and Development: Murti is presented as a key figure who developed the second phase of Professor K. C. Bhattacharya's philosophy, focusing on epistemological, metaphysical, and religious aspects of "alternation" rather than purely logical ones.
Biographical Details: Born in Madras in 1902, Murti had a diverse educational background, including early involvement in the Congress Party, followed by intensive Sanskrit studies in Benares. He was associated with the Indian Institute of Philosophy at Amalner, where he came under the influence of K. C. Bhattacharya and was recognized for his understanding of the professor's teachings. He held significant academic positions, including professor at Benares Hindu University and visiting professor at Oxford.
Personal Characteristics: Murti is described as an orthodox Brahmin, a Saivite, and an Advaitin in philosophy. He is characterized as having a striking appearance, forceful personality, scholarly depth (D.Litt. and Acharya), and a vigorous, though digressive, oral style. He is noted for his argumentative yet non-dogmatic approach, welcoming criticism, and his tolerance for other philosophical views.
Major Works: His seminal work is "The Central Philosophy of Buddhism," praised for its erudition and clarity. Other important articles are mentioned, with a caveat that his fluid thought means earlier articles may not fully represent his current doctrines.
Contrast with Contemporaries: Murti is contrasted with G. R. Malkani and R. Das, representing speculative, critical, and scholarly philosophy respectively in contemporary India.

2. Murti's Core Philosophical Principles:

Motivation for Philosophy: Philosophy, according to Murti, arises not from wonder but from the desire to escape suffering. Theoretical research (philosophical or scientific) is ultimately for practical welfare.
Disillusionment and Cosmic Suffering: Philosophy begins with disillusionment – a recognition of something wrong in the world. This distress is cosmic, not merely personal, and can only be cured by understanding it as illusory.
Reflection and Revelation: This recognition leads to reflection. Rational criticism of experience can lead to antinomies, which in turn prompt critical reflection and apprehension of a higher reality. Faith in revelation (from Veda, guru, tradition, or even non-Hindu sources) is seen as necessary, as reasoning alone does not provide insight. Revelation has a supernatural origin.
Role of Scripture and Experience: Scripture provides a suggestion, but its cognitive value depends on experience. Vedanta's cue comes from Brahman as revealed in the Veda, while Buddhism relies more on unaided human reason.
Spiritual Progress (Vedanta): Murti outlines three steps in spiritual progress: faith, understanding (philosophy), and vision. Faith and vision are essential; understanding is only necessary to dispel intellectual doubts.
Philosophy as Regressive and Science as Progressive: Philosophy is a regressive movement of consciousness criticizing its own standpoint, while science is a forward movement of building, predicting, and speculating.
Philosophy vs. Religion: Philosophy and religion are alternative paths to the same result. Religion is synthetic, objective, innate, universal, and easy; philosophy is analytic, subjective, harder, and requires abstraction.

3. The Three Conscious Functions and Three Absolutes:

Three Conscious Functions: Murti identifies three fundamental conscious functions:
- Knowing: Content determines consciousness (consciousness is passive).
- Willing: Consciousness determines content (object willed has no being apart from willing).
- Feeling: Both consciousness and content determine each other (e.g., artistic apprehension of beauty).
Confusion and Illusion: Ordinary experience is a confusion of these three functions, making it illusory.
Purification of Functions: Each function can be purified by negating the influence of the other two, leading to "pure knowing," "pure willing," and "pure feeling."
Three Alternative Absolutes: These pure functions lead to three distinct, incommensurable, and equally valid "alternative absolutes":
- Absolute Truth (Pure Knowing): Attained through freeing knowledge from subjective elements.
- Absolute Freedom (Pure Willing): Attained through freeing willing from objective elements.
- Absolute Bliss (Pure Feeling): Attained through freeing feeling from separateness.
Compatibility and Choice: These absolutes are incompatible and cannot be reduced to each other. Choice among them is psychological, based on individual temperament (intellectual for knowing, active for willing, artistic for feeling).

4. Murti's Specific Philosophical Positions:

Realism: Murti is an uncompromising realist, criticizing subjective idealism.
Equivalence of Falsity and Subjectivity: He emphasizes this equivalence as the fundamental principle of K. C. Bhattacharya's philosophy, his own, and Vedanta. Subjectivity implies falsity because we reflect on experience to question it, and falsity implies subjectivity because the unreal object exists only in our awareness.
Dialectical Process: The philosophical journey involves a dialectical passage from appearance to reality, characterized by the rejection of illusions and the continuous search for a deeper reality.
Nature of Reality and Appearance: Reality is universal, indefinite, free, being, and self-evident. Appearance is not a part of the real but implies the real and is to be rejected as unreal.
Rope-Snake Metaphor: This metaphor is central to Vedanta, illustrating mistaken identity and the unreality of the perceived object.
Brahman: Murti's Advaita Vedanta views Brahman as the absolute being, described as "being-consciousness-bliss" (sat-chit-ananda). He argues for a realistic and pluralistic Vedanta, accepting both theism and absolutism. Brahman is the ground of appearance and ignorance, while the individual soul (jiva) has knowledge.
Ishvara (God): Ishvara (Brahman limited) does not create the illusory world but helps beings escape it.
Historical Manifestations of Absolutes:
- Philosophy of Knowing: Manifested in Advaita Vedanta, culminating in Absolute Truth (Brahman).
- Philosophy of Willing: Manifested in Vignanavada Buddhism, culminating in Absolute Freedom (Nirvana).
- Philosophy of Feeling: Murti variably identified this with Vignanavada, Chaitanya Vaishnavism, Rasavada, and Hegelianism, highlighting its less clear historical manifestation.

5. Higher-Level Philosophy and Madhyamika:

Second-Level Philosophy: Beyond specific philosophies is a higher level of critical reflection on the alternation and opposition among philosophical systems themselves.
Prajna-Paramita and Sunyavada: This leads to the awareness of the indefinite underlying all systems, culminating in absolute Indefinite (prajna-paramita) or the theory of the void (Sunyavada). This is not nihilism but the understanding that phenomena are void and reality is devoid of attributes.
Madhyamika Buddhism: Murti identifies Madhyamika, founded by Nagarjuna, as the historical exemplar of this higher-level philosophy. It is a critique of all theories, aiming for a "Middle Way" that avoids dogmatic views.
Transcendence of Vedanta and Buddhism: Murti sees Madhyamika as transcending both Vedanta and Buddhism, providing a basis for a potential world-culture.
Logical Structure: The abstract logical structure of these philosophical dialectics consists of four steps: given, later given, reality of both, and reality in itself.

In essence, George Burch's article provides a detailed overview of T. R. V. Murti's sophisticated philosophical system, which builds upon Advaita Vedanta and Madhyamika Buddhism. Murti's work is characterized by a focus on the subjective and epistemological dimensions of philosophical inquiry, the identification of three fundamental conscious functions leading to three alternative absolutes, and a profound engagement with the dialectical critique of all philosophical positions.