The Cultural Heritage of India, Volume III: The Philosophies

The volume is structured into five principal thematic divisions. Part I: The Philosophical Systems surveys the rise of Indian philosophical schools and studies Sāṃkhya, Yoga psychology, Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, Navya-Nyāya, Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā, and materialist, sceptical, and agnostic traditions, thereby establishing the doctrinal foundations and intellectual rivalries of classical Indian thought. Part II: The Vedānta forms the central body of the book, presenting Brahma-Mīmāṃsā, essentials of Vedānta, Advaita, Śaṅkara’s philosophy, the spiritual significance of Advaita, post-Śaṅkara Advaita, the Bhāgavata tradition, Viśiṣṭādvaita of Rāmānuja, Madhva’s Brahma-Mīmāṃsā, Nimbārka, Vallabha, Bhedābheda, and Acintya-bhedābheda, thus mapping the major Vedāntic interpretations of reality, God, soul, world, devotion, and liberation. Part III: The Religious Philosophies studies Śaivism, the path of Yoga in the Gītā, Yogavāsiṣṭha, Tantra, mysticism, and philosophy in popular literature, showing how philosophical concepts operate within religious imagination and practice. Part IV: The Problems of Philosophy moves from schools to core issues, including religion in Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, the soul, the physical world, mind, and extra-sensory or superconscious experience. Part V: The Philosophical Sciences examines Indian theism, epistemology, philosophical disputation, psychology, types of human nature, ethics, and values, giving the reader a broad framework for understanding Indian philosophy as a discipline of knowledge, conduct, debate, and spiritual realization.