The study of Indian Philosophy has emerged, with the slow publication of hitherto obscure texts and with the gradual widening of interest in original research, from its general and rudimentary stage of the previous century into a critical and systematized form today. The following pages represent a brilliant attempt of this kind and the writer is to be heartily congratulated on how he has made his learning bear on the subject.
The subject chosen for a special study is the Conception of Matter in Indian Philosophy. It is an interesting theme and as it covers a wide field the writer has done well to restrict himself to a single system only, viz., that of Nyaya- Vaisesika, though he has taken the liberty of going afield on occasions for purposes of comparison and illustration. It may be hoped that other writers will, in due course, supplement the work, bringing together in a systematized way all that other thinkers have got to say on the problem of Matter.
The Conception of Matter is elastic as a study of the history of Western Philosophy will show. And even in science, the conception has gone through a series of rapid developments into its recognized meaning in present-day physics. Before going further into the question it would be proper to take into account the meaning the writer himself attaches to the term in dealing with the subject. It seems that in his opinion the entire world is divisible into Self or Atman and things other than Self or Acetana. What he understands by Matter is the entire Not-Self, with all that it implies. The implications of the Not-Self of course differ according to the difference in the system of thought.
Every school of thought has had to tackle this question in its way. The Prakrti of Sankhya, the Maya of Sankara- Vedanta, the Bindu of Southern Saivaism, and the Acit of Ramanuja- Vedanta are only the diverse views on this very question. Everywhere except in the extreme views of Monistic Materialism and Monistic Spiritualism, there is a sort of dualism between Spirit and Matter. The Carvakas who admit nothing but matter in its densest form are monists in the sense that to them everything else, including conscious and other psychic Phenomena-indeed the whole paraphernalia of the so-called spiritual Iife,-is a function of matter. Being advocates of the Doctrine of Chance and opponents of Causality they find no room for a transcendent principle in their outlook on Reality. What is believed to be immaterial has either no existence at all or is, in fact, reducible to a function of matter. Spiritual Monism, on the other hand, entertains a different opinion, viz. that matter is only a passing semblance and that pure consciousness alone is real. The Buddhist Idealists, the Advaita of Sankara's school, and the monistic thinkers of the Kashmira Saivagama-though widely divergent in their general outlook-agree in this that nothing but Caitanya is real in the true sense, whether it is conceived as Vijnana which is momentary or as Brahman or as (Siva-$akti (Prakasa- VimarSa) which is eternal. There is therefore no true parallelism of Matter and Non-matter here. But even in these systems, the Conception of Matter is not everywhere the same. To the Yogacara, the material is only a byproduct of Vijnana appearing spontaneously through its internal potency under the stress of Vasana. To Sankara Matter in its primordial form is nothing but a synonym of the Original Nescience which erroneously but mysteriously attributes itself to the Supreme Intelligence or Pure Spirit. To the Trika Matter is nothing but the Veiling Power of the Spirit through which the Pure Self conceals itself and projects forth the universe as an objective reality. It is the Power in the Subject using which it can objectify itself.
In the dualistic systems, however, the material principle has an independent existence as distinct from spirit, so that in whatever manner it is conceived its eternal character is vouchsafed. If, for instance, in Sankhya Purusa is eternal, Prakrti is no less so. Similarly in Sri- Vaisnavaism Acit is as real as Cit and Isvara, and in Southern Saivaism Bindu is co-eternal with Siva and Sakti The other schools including Nyaya- Vaisesika are similar. Consequently, even when the Self is freed from the limitations incidental to its mundane existence and becomes restored to its pristine purity the material principle-Prakrti, Acit, or Bindu-persists as before. Only the association between the two which caused all the trouble disappears.
It is clear that in every system of thought Hindu, Buddhist, or Jaina, except Carvaka, the material principle is recognized as evil. Conceived as a power or potency only or even as an entity it is the source of all misery and tribulation. Every school advocates therefore that the Self to be released from the bondage of the world must be freed in every way from its association with matter. Moksa is impossible so long as Matter sways the Spirit through its functions. Every code of ethics-spiritual discipline is so designed as to ensure gradual purification of the Self from the dominating effects of accumulated matter in the form of error, doubt, vasana, karmas, etc. and, guarding the purified Self against further inroads of the latter.
It is very difficult to define Matter in its widest sense and to differentiate it from the Self. In the Sankhya, system spirit is all consciousness and matter is the universal background, eternally existing in a state of stable equilibrium as a potentiality of multiple phenomena and sometimes also as a light-medium for the expression as it were of the Conscious Principle endowed with the properties of motion and resistance. If it veils, it also unveils, and both functions are affected through motion. The Ramanuja--all the panacaratrites -conceive of matter as pure and impure; and they hold impure matter (that is, Prakrti) to be responsible for the conscious souls' limitations, but pure matter or suddha Sattva is compatible with the pure spirit (Cit and vara), so that it is believed to persist on the spiritual plane-which plane itself is made of pure matter. This form of matter does not obstruct knowledge and bliss and attaches to the Self forever. The necessity of assuming such matter is that of extension-as without this there could be no space or objective existence. All the Vaisnava philosophies have had to admit this. The Tantrists also-Saivas, Saktas etc.-admit this. Southern Saivaism believes in Bindu which is as pure as Mahamaya and as impure as Maya. Mahamaya is pure matter-the constitutive substance of the pure planes. The Advaitins-Aupanisada, Sakta, Saiva, or Buddhist- conceive of Matter as an obscuring or limiting the power of Reality that has therefore to be transcended.
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