To
understand any society, civilization, culture, sect, or nation, it is essential
to first understand its philosophy. Greek philosophy was often born through
fragmented and incomplete knowledge brought by Indian religious, moral,
cultural, and trading influences. There is no evidence, indication,
possibility, or capability in Greece or the surrounding regions for the seeds
of philosophy to have germinated independently. Something cannot emerge from
nothing. Where there is no seed of a tree, the possibility of that tree growing
is zero. Western philosophy was born in Greece. The incomplete thoughts that
the Greeks received directly from India or through Arab and Egyptian
intermediaries were the foundation upon which Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
tried to construct a philosophical edifice. However, all these efforts remained
confined to philosophy and never evolved into true 'Darshan' (spiritual
vision), as the blood of the Greeks and their influenced nations was inherently
steeped in unrestrained hedonism, utilitarianism, and materialism. They were
highly influenced by the Indian philosophies of Mimamsa, Vaisheshika, and
Nyaya, but they could never accept Sankhya, Yoga, and Vedanta.
For over 5000 years, the
first three of the six classical Indian philosophical systems, namely Mimamsa,
Vaisheshika, and Nyaya, have been considered material philosophies, whereas
Sankhya, Yoga, and Vedanta are recognized as practical spiritual philosophies.
Arabs, Egyptians, Greeks, and Europeans, influenced by them, mostly accepted
the material aspects of Indian philosophy but could never adopt the spiritual
aspects, which they found incompatible. Thales, Aristotle, and others
extensively adopted the concepts of karma-dharma (action and morality),
substance-dharma (properties of matter), and pramana-dharma (means of
knowledge) from Mimamsa, Vaisheshika, and Nyaya, albeit in a crude and
incomplete form. Later writers refined these ideas, giving them coherence. Much
of Greek philosophy followed the ideas from these Indian systems. If they had
accepted Sankhya, Yoga, and Vedanta, then figures like the Sophists or the
Epicureans would not have emerged, and neither would the voice of free thought
have been suppressed by giving poison to Socrates.
From the Vedas to
contemporary philosophers like Osho and Krishnamurti, Indian philosophers have
universally acknowledged the concepts of the Supreme Being, the soul, nature,
and its derivatives—prana (life force), time, sound, mahat (cosmic
intelligence), ego, the three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas), mind, the five
senses of perception, the five organs of action, the five subtle elements, and
the five gross elements—earth, water, fire, air, and space. Indian philosophy
does not endorse evolution but rather a cyclic view of creation. The Greeks attempted
to express some of these Indian philosophical ideas in fragments, but their
efforts were incomplete. Indian philosophy is like diving into the ocean and
bringing out precious pearls, whereas Greek philosophy is akin to sitting
fearfully by a shallow pond and gathering shells, snails, and algae from the
muddy shore.
Thales considered water
the fundamental element of existence. Even a child can question how the entire
creation could emerge solely from water. Even within the water element, the
presence of earth, fire, air, and space is necessary. Thales must have heard
about the five great elements (Panchamahabhutas) from Indian traders or
scholars who traveled to their lands. Like a monkey finding a turmeric root and
imagining itself a grocer, Thales and his associates mistook fragments of
Indian knowledge for original thought. In the Vedas, water is referred to as
‘Apah,’ which became ‘Apo’ in the Avesta and ‘Ab’ in Persian. Words like
Punjab, Gulab, and Sharab originate from this root. The Rigveda contains an
entire hymn (10/9) dedicated to ‘Apah.’ Similarly, the Vedas offer hymns to
explain every element of creation. The Vedic seers, through their direct
intuitive vision, revealed the secrets of the universe and laid down moral
principles for human conduct through the concept of ‘Rta’ (cosmic order).
Two hundred years before Socrates, more than 1300 schools
of thought were prevalent in India. Adi Shankaracharya engaged with many of
these schools in philosophical debates and assimilated most of them into the
fold of Sanatan Dharma. However, those who refused to engage in peaceful
dialogue and sought to harm India by aligning with foreign invaders were dealt
with by rulers like Pushyamitra through force when necessary. Unlike in Greece,
India never suppressed free thought by brutally executing thinkers like
Socrates. Even atheistic and materialistic philosophies such as Lokayata,
Charvaka, the traditions of tantric philosophy, and others were allowed to
flourish. King Bhoja dealt harshly only with those tantrics who violated moral
boundaries and weakened India from within.
Socrates was the first
victim of ideological suppression in human history. He was poor and was killed
for speaking the truth. No one protested against this cruelty. Plato, belonging
to an elite class, was not subjected to such persecution. Even Plato’s
philosophy was tainted with narrow notions of caste and was confined to the
upper classes. In India, even an illiterate villager from rural areas knows and
respects the ideas that the earth is our mother, water is life, fire is sacred
and used in yajnas, trees purify the air and deserve reverence, and the sky is
honored as the father.
Thales’ concept of water
as the basic element, the prediction of eclipses, Heraclitus’ doctrine of change,
Anaximander’s idea of an infinite element, Anaximenes’ air element, Parmenides’
theory of permanence, Democritus’ atomism, and Pythagoras’ reverence for
numbers—all these ideas were derived from Babylon and Egypt. They are shallow
and incomplete, lacking the depth, maturity, and brilliance of Indian thought.
Indian philosophical concepts that were thousands of years older can be found
even in the folk songs and oral traditions of uneducated poets from Haryana,
such as Baje Bhagat, Lakhmichand, Mangeram, Dhanpat Singh, Kheema, and Chataru.
Their ragas and narratives contain far deeper philosophical insights than Greek
philosophy ever did. Ideas about bondage, liberation, karma, the four stages of
life, the varna system, yoga practices, and the duties of rulers—all these
details, found in the oral traditions of Haryana’s folk literature, are absent
in Greek philosophy.
It is often said that Western
philosophy is like a blind man searching for a black cat in a dark room when
the cat is not even there. Even the renowned Indian philosopher Chandradhar
Sharma quietly admitted that some twentieth-century excavations and discoveries
have proven that ancient Greece was undoubtedly influenced by Egypt and
Babylon. It is also quite possible that Indian ideas, passing through Iran,
Egypt, and Babylon, eventually reached Greek colonies and from there spread to
Greece.
The concept of the seven
sages in Greek philosophy seems to be a mere imitation of the s zeven revered
sages of the seventh Manvantara in Indian tradition—Vashishta, Bharadwaj,
Kashyap, Atri, Jamadagni, Vishwamitra, and Gautama. The first Greek
philosophers, such as Thales, Anaximenes, and others, are counted among the
seven sages of Greece. It is claimed that fragments of Anaximenes’ book On
Nature have been found, but much of what is said about them is mere
speculation. Placing these figures in the category of philosophers is almost
laughable.
Empedocles’
acceptance of the four elements—earth, water, fire, and air—shows the clear
influence of Nyaya and Vaisheshika philosophy. The Indian thinkers Gautama and
Kanada, who wrote the Nyaya Sutras and Vaisheshika Sutras, lived about 3000
years before Empedocles. Despite this, Greek thought remained rooted in
materialism. The Sophist school of thought reflects the influence of Charvaka
and Kautilya’s Anviksiki. However, Charvaka and Kautilya predated the Sophists
by a thousand years.
Socrates’ ascetic
life was influenced by Indian sanyasis. He occasionally heard the voice of his
conscience, similar to the concept of ‘anahata nada’ in Indian thought.
Materialistic Greeks could never understand such mystical experiences. As a
result, Socrates was put to death for speaking the truth. Had Socrates been
born in India, he would have completed his spiritual quest and attained the
status of a sage.
Greece condemned
its greatest sage, the most virtuous, and the noblest of men to death. After
Socrates’ execution, Greece, Rome, and other regions produced thinkers who
lived in constant fear. For 1500 years after Socrates, no one in these regions
dared to engage in independent thought. It was only in the 13th and 14th
centuries that a new wave of free thinking began in Europe, but during the next
200 years, many thinkers were burned alive, hanged, or executed in various
other ways on charges of blasphemy.
— Acharya Shilak Ram
Department of Philosophy
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra – 136119
.jpg)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)