As said earlier, the differences among them are in the intensity or the degree of their growth.ġ4.4. And, man naturally belongs to the animal world and is classed among the animals ( prani– the living).Īccording to Mahidasa, the distinction between the physical world and the organic could roughly be termed as that between the dead-matter and living-matter. Mahidasa regarded nature as a living form, an interconnected whole, having a unity in the midst of all changes.Īs regards the organic world, it included vegetable and the animal kingdoms. According to Mahidasa’s classification, all those shining gods – the sun, lightening, the moon, the planets, and the stars and all the five great elements ( maha-bhutani) – the earth, water, fire, air and the sky – belong to the physical world. That is to say as a naturalist Mahidasa perceived the difference subsisting between things of experience but as a philosopher he realized the unity underlying all existence ( AA 2.3.8.2)ġ4.3. The fundamental difference, if any, would be in the intensity or the degree of growth. For, there is no difference, in principle, between the physical world and the organic world or between the organic world and the man. He believed, ‘If we know one, we know the rest’. Of these, the visible world is a living thing and man is a living being and connecting the two is the organic world. The organic world included vegetable kingdom and the animal world, as also the Man.ġ4.2. By visible world Mahidasa meant the physical world as whole. As regards the conventional ( vyavaharika) or the physical world, Mahidasa considered it as a combination of the visible world, the organic world and the man. But those differences are not of kind but of intensity and degree.ġ4.1. The finite thing of experience is not only a part of the whole but is, in essence, the whole itself.īut that does not mean, he says, that the universal completely explains the particular. The whole of nature is a purposive-order, a system of ends. What is true in respect of man is also true of the universe. “whatever there is belonging to the son belongs to the father whatever there is belonging to the father belongs to the son” ( Aitareya Aranyaka: 2.3.1.1). Every individual is like an egg, very similar to the oval shaped spherical universe ( Brahmanda) curvilinear, bending around itself with no distinct boundaries. Man is a microcosm just as the visible world is universal man (yadvad brahma vistitam tatvati vagiti yatra ha kva ca brahma tad vaag, yatra va vak tad va brahmati – AA 1.3.8.9). In a philosophical perspective ( paramarthika), Man is conceived as the miniature universe. These could be termed as conventional ( vyavaharika) and philosophical ( paramarthika).ġ3.1. How does one explain such experiences ? According to Mahidasa, there are two methods of understanding or two levels of experience: objective and subjective. The term ‘gods’ in his statements is taken to mean the hymns ( ukta) or the elements ( bhutani).ġ2.2. The maxim that Mahidasa laid down for himself was : “I know the universe and myself as far as I know the gods and I know the gods as far as I know the universe and myself”( Aitareya Aranyaka-2.17.7 11.1.8.2). By ‘experience’ he perhaps meant a person’s relation and interaction with the rest of the world and with himself. To begin with, Mahidasa pointed out that the task of philosophy is to explain ones experience. The main problems that Mahidasa tried to grapple were the origin of life and the development of consciousness.īefore we get to that, let’s briefly see a few other subjects discussed by Mahidasa.ġ2.1. Those classifications are our own but, the concepts are of Mahidasa.ġ1.2. But, we can attempt to classify his views under some broad heads. There are no clear-cut divisions or grouping of his doctrines. But, we can attempt to glance at his views on certain subjects. We may not be able to discuss Mahidasa’s works thoroughly.
The concepts and explanations therein do not also proceed in an order. As mentioned earlier, Aitareya Aranyaka and Aitareya Brahmana are fairly lengthy texts.
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