It is very
surprising that similar philosophical thought processes evolved in India and Greece
around the same time, even though they were separated by great distance.
Based on what we know conclusively from history, at least as of now, there was
not much of an exchange of ideas between these two cultures until Alexander's
invasion of India in 325 BCE. For now we will have to leave to speculation
whether there was an actual flow of thoughts between the two cultures or they
just happened to develop independently with similarities in thinking patterns.
Let us look at the
Greek philosopher Plato, who is believed to have lived at least a century
before Alexander. A disciple of Socrates, Plato is undoubtedly considered to
have laid the foundations of western philosophy. In his most famous book
Republic, Plato discusses (through the dialogues of Socrates) the social
structure of an ideal city where three classes of people exist, namely,
Guardians, Soldiers and Merchants. The Guardians led by a Philosopher King
rules the city, the Soldiers provide protection to the city and enforce the
rules and the Merchants manage the economic activities. He then extends this
concept to an individual and says the soul has three parts, pictorially
represented as a chariot driven by two horses, one white and other black. The
lowest part is called 'Appetitive' and is represented by the black horse. The
Appetitive part concerns itself with material desires, pulling the person
towards more and more sensual experience.
The next higher part is the 'Spirited' represented by the white horse.
The Spirited part of the soul concerns itself with emotional satisfaction like
honor, recognition etc. And, the third
and highest part is 'Reason' which is represented by the charioteer controlling
the chariot driven by the white and black horses. The Reason part of the soul
seeks education and knowledge. According to Plato, for a soul to flourish (
i.e., to have the virtues of Courage,
Wisdom, Justice and Temperance fully manifest), the Reason has to be in charge, Spirited
should work as an ally to Reason and Appetite has to be subservient to both
Spirit and Reason.
Now let's look at
two texts from India, the Kathopanishad which is not dated and the Ramayana
which is believed to be 6th century BCE or earlier. Kathopanishad is from the
Yajur Veda and has the same antecedents as the Taithiriyopanishad that I
discussed in an earlier blog. In the Kathopanishad the teacher is Yama, the God
of death and the student is the young boy Nachiketa who happened to seek Yama
out for receiving the teaching on what is the ultimate truth. In the course of
his instruction, Yama paints the picture of a chariot: "Know the
individual self as the master of the chariot and the body as the chariot. Know
the intellect to be the charioteer and the mind as verily the bridle. They call
the sense organs the horses. The man who
has as his charioteer a discriminating intellect and who has under control the
reins of the mind, attains the end of road." (Translation from Sanskrit
are from the book "Eight Upanishads" by Swami Gambhirananda,
published by Ramakrishna Mission Advaita Asrama)
So, here is an
improved picture over Plato's, adding a rider to the chariot! We see a repeat
of the same imagery later on in the Bhagawad Gita also.
Now, let us look at
Ramayana which has the status of being the primary epic of south Asia with its
influence not limited by the borders of India. The author of Ramayana is Sage
Valmiki. Though Ramayana is popular for the divinity of the central character,
Lord Rama, we shouldn't overlook the fact that this is a story written by one
of the greatest sages of India. He could have very well buried the gems of his
philosophical insights under the covers of the story he renders!
In the Ramayana,
Valmiki presents the three demonic brothers Ravana, Kumbakarna and
Vibheekshana. Ravana, is the ten headed monster who traumatizes the world, has
no propriety and chases after anything and everything that he likes to have,
whether that was Kubera's flying chariot Pushpaka, the heavenly damsel Rambha
or Sita the chaste wife of Rama. Metaphorically the ten heads of Ravana are
said to represent the five sense organs (Eyes, Ears, Nose, Touch and Taste) and
five organs of action (Hands, Legs, Speech, Sexual and Excretory) and Ravana
himself stands for the forceful, impulsive nature of mind that craves for
experiences through the sense organs and organs of action. The parallels of
this to Plato's concept of Appetitive party of soul is very evident. Kumbakarna
is the giant who sleeps for most of the time and wakes up once in a while to
fill his stomach or fight a war for Ravana. Called into war, Kumbakarna is
unstoppable and fearsome with his strength. The
parallels of characterization of Kumbakarna to Plato's spirited part of
soul again is somewhat evident. The name Kumbakarna, in Sanskrit means one with
pot shaped ears indicating that he collects what he hears. And, Kumbakarna is
asleep most of the time but ferociously unstoppable when he wakes up. Both this
are indicative of the nature of subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind is
listening all the time, collecting impressions as it listens. Generally asleep
but when awakened, the subconscious mind's influence is unstoppable. The third
brother Vibheeshana is knowledgaable, full of wisdom and tries his best to
dissuade Ravana and Kumbakarna from their evil deeds but unfortunately gets no
listening. Again, the Sanskrit name Vibheeshana means one who is unafraid, a
poetical way of saying he is always objective in his reasoning. The tale of the
three brothers ends with Rama's slaying of Ravana and Kumbakarna and making
Vibheeshana the King. With Reason established as King, virtues return to the people
of Lanka.
Though similar in
their praise of reason, there are obvious differences between the Greek and
Indian thinking of what exactly the soul is. While Reason, Spirit and Appetite are
parts of soul for Plato (at least in The Republic - there are few variations in
other books), the soul is different from these and 'a master of chariot' in the
Indian philosophy. However, Plato, Valmiki and the Rishi of Kathopanishad, all
of them have the same message for us: establish Reason as the King in our minds and develop the virtue of moderation to keep appetite and spirit in restrain.
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