Reflections of Modern Dialectical Philosophy of Hegel and Marx in Vediic Philosophy By K.Narayanan Potti

 The Paper "Reflections of Modern Dialectical Philosophy of Hegel and Marx in Vediic Philosophy"

By K.Narayanan Potti

                      The root of the European Modern Dialectical  Philosophy lies in the Greek Dialectical Philosophy of Heraclitus who said that, " everything is constantly changing i.e coming  in to being and going out of being."

The three basic laws of the Dialectics of Hegel and Marx are:

1.  The Principle of Change 

      2)    Law of the unity and conflict of the opposites and 

      3)    Transformation of quantity change into qualitative change

The purpose of this present article is to show that in in the cognition of philosophical thinking of vedic seers the operation of all these abstractions of thought used in these two schools of Dialectics could be seen .But Vedic Rushees in their philosophy gave more importance to the 

"Aadhyatmica Prakriya",the internal  spiritual change of man for thedevelopment of society.

 

Rigveda 1-6-1 says:

"yunjanti bradhnamarusham/caharantam parita sthu.sa"

"

" യുഞ്ജന്തി ബ്ര ധ്ന മരുഷം ചരതം പരിത സ്ഥുഷ: "

Here this Vedic verse tells that every boodhaani i.e. those things created  in  the material and spiritual world are in eternal motion.In the Commentary on this we see the following explanation.

"bradhnamiti aadityena roope.na vasthitam….aru.samiti ag.ni roopena vasthitam….vaayuroopne saravatha prasaranam...paritasthu.sa is parito vasthita and lokatrayavartit.na

..sarva moorti vi"se.sabhootaa.ni...roca.naani .nak.satraani dyu loka vartante…"

" ബ്ര ധ്ന മിതി ആദിത്യേ രൂപേണാ വസ്ഥിതം അരുഷ മിതി അഗ്നി രൂപേണാ വസ്ഥിതം വായു രൂപേണ സർവ്വത പ്രസരണം പരിത സ്ഥുഷ : പരിതോവസ്ഥിതാ: ലോക ത്രയവർത്തി ന: സർവ്വ മൂർത്തി വിശേഷ ഭൂതാനി രോചനാനി നക്ഷത്രാണി ദ്യുലോക പ്രകാശന്തേ "

Ag.ni is converted to vaayu which represents motion and then to glowing light in the sky, the upper atmosphere representing development and motion in the higher plane.

In Pra"snopa.ni.sat 11/5/6, (Prane Sarvam Prati.shtam )CHD 6/5,(  Praa. no haivai taa.ni sarvaa.ni bhavati)(

RV 10/123/5  vidyut roopam paramevyoman bibrati yo.nista chara.n)we see the description of vidyut having the characteristics of vaayu as  the category of universal motion.)

Taitareeyam 3/9/4/1 we see the vaakya "vayur vai caran"

like another verse, In K B 814 " vayur vai praa.na" Similarly in Vedic verses allusions of constant motions are made to praa.na,ratha,and vaayu

AB 5/32 says:

'sarvaani bhootaa.ni pra.nayati...pra.na ityaacak.sate'

GPB 2/10/11 says,"praa.napaa.noubrahma.h"

Here praa.na and apaa.nas are described as motions of opposite nature since praa.na represents the motion going in to a system and apaa.na represents a motion going out.Again,SB 14/8/14/3 says,"praa.na sarvaa.ni bhootaa.ni samyaci";Here praa.na or motion is attributed as the quality of all things that are eternally coming in to being and going out of being.

vaa  the root with u.nn pratyaya converts to V...vee and we gets vaayu which is  vaata vaateeti.h sat.h,the root vaa also has the meaning ,gati ga.nta.nayo.h,which means that it is always in motion.the word .ni.spatti  നിഷ്പത്തി itself tells that vaayu represents universal eternal motion.

RV 3/54/8 says,"caratapata trivi.s.nunaam vijaatam" meaning of it is given in the commentary as this "sarvaa.nyapi bhoota jaataa.ni ja.ngamaatmakam,staavaraatmakam sa.ncharal pata tri vi.s.num vijaatam vi"svamekam caral"

 In the following quotations from  Shruti we can see the attribution of the existence of duals in the Vedic Philosophy

AB 3/50 says, " dvantam vai mithunam"; RV 8/33.18 depicts 

"mithunam vahato ratham";KB tells "dvantam vai veeryam";

TA1/6/7  says," yajnasya mithunaani";SB in 1/6/22 says,"praa.naapaa.nou ag.nisomou";

SB in 1/6/341 says," yat"suklo tad aag.neyi tat kri.snam tat soumyam" Soma and Ag.ni here are viewed as colours of opposite nature i.e black and white.In Gopathabrahma.nam pu 1/32/33 we see a discourse between Moudgalya and Maitreya which gives an account of twelve fundamental mutually opposite dual entities.

SB emphatically says,"dvayam vaa idam .na triteeyam"TS1/6 says,"mithu.nam roopakrut","yaj.nasya mithu.nam","prajaapatir mithu.ne prajaayata",5/6/25 "pa"subbir mithu.nai jaayate"  T S 1/69/3 says "dvaada"sa dva.ntaa.ni" ..Nirukta classifies so many groups of dual words which themselves  have opposing features.

In RV 8/5/8 like this:

" Oshadhee pratimodadhvam/pushpaavatee prasoovatee/

aswaiva sajitvareeruru/veerudha parayishnava"

Other similar verses from Shruti are:

AV 6/32/20 says, "veerudhvam viswato veerya";AV 6/133/2 again says,"o.sadhayo boota bhavtam";

In similar verses the word etymology shows that o.sadhaya and veerudha represent development  motion and opposition to that motion respectively..veerudham and vairudyam are words having same etymology.and o.sadhi is the  development which acts against veerudham.AV 6/32/20 says,"veerudhvam viswvato veerya"i.e opposition of things is the universal one.AV 2/8/0/30 tells that "veerut ks.setriyaa.niyani"AV 8/8/14 tells " o.sadhe uta veerudha" 

SB2/2/45 and 1/7/4/1 describe u.sas and divam are created by the act of opposing forces as Aitareyam 2/4 says "ahoraatrovaa u.sa".

Here unity of opposing  forces and their importance in motions or development in nature are  implied.

The idea of interpenetration of the opposites are depicted in the following Vedic verses:

RV 10/86/10 says," vedha .rutasya v.runee",and in RV9/102/4,

AV says in 5/5/204," vedha cetruu.nam kriyai":R V 9/101.15 mentions about" vedhe.na yo.nim asada.n";in AV 5/5/204 we sees a description of dyaava p.ruthivi as "dyaava p.ruthivya sva vedha aachalk.sat".Here we can see the idea of interpenetration and influence of duals.

Similar verses in Veda through the word vedha says about the action of opposing forces and their interpenetration  in different processes of nature.

Thus we can see the  philosophical ideas of of constant incessant  motion ,unity of the opposites and their interpenetration of opposites  in many Vedic verses  used to express the above ideas through the words like veerudhvam,vedha,mithunam,dvantam,and veerudha.

In RV 10/117/6 we can see that the word "kevala "  is used to express the formation of the idea of abstraction in human perceptions. Here . risi says " അപ്രചേതാ സ്സത്യം ബ്രവീമി കേവലാ ഘോ ഭവതി കേവലാ ഭീ ….. യഥാർത്ഥ മേ വേദമിത്യ ഹം വദാമി ഭുഞ്ജാനേ നന ചോഷയതി സാധാരണോപയോഗം ന

ഭവി ഷ്യ തി In RV verse of 1/70/10  we see " i.ndram vo visvatapari havamahe janebhya : asmaakamastu kevala" meaning of which is ," indram va yushmatartham,  sarvebhya: uparivasitam itarebhyo adhikam asaadhaara.na artham graha.no kurvaanamastu" and in1/3/10 say's " ഇഹത്വഷ്ടാരമഗ്രിയം വിശ്വരൂപ മു പഹ്വയേ അസ്മാകമസ്തു കേവല : " meaning is , " ശ്രേഷഠം ബഹു വിധ രൂപോ പേതം ത്വഷ്ട്രു നാമക മഗ്നിം ഉപാഹ്വയാമി അസാധാരണ ഇതരേഭ്യോ : അനുഗ്രഹം പ്രയോജനം കരോതു " here also we can see  the using of the very same concept by saying that unusual meaning of higher level is obtained by considering different qualities  which being put together  to form abstract meanings.

Aitaraya Aranyaka says in 5/21," anto vai paramam"; TDB 21/4/6 says,"anto vi.snur devataanaam" in many Vedic aphorisms like this here  we can see the concept of formation of absolute ideas in perceptions.SB says,"paramam uttamam ime lokah:paramam vyoma",JU 1/27/6 says,"sa sarva roopaa.ni ayetasmin roopaa.ni";in RV 1/22/20 we see this "tat vi.s.no paramam padam sadaa pasya.nti soorya:diveeva cak.suraatam" RV1/22/21 says,"vi.s.no paramam padam".Like these many instances , forming  the category of  absolute idea can be shown from the  "sruti.

In the following Vedic verses we can observe the using of the  formation of concrete idea.in Rv 1/162/19  by using the word " pi.ndam". Commentary of which says " .rututa k.runomi pi.ndaa.naam madhye"

" ദീപ്ത സ്വാശ്വസ്യ വിശ നമ്പ്യ കർത്താ ഏക ഏവ ഏതദുപ ലക്ഷിത: കാലാത്മാനിയ മിതാരൌ അഹോരാത്രേ ദേവ്ഔകാലേ കാലേ ഛിനദ്‌മി താനി താനി യാ ഋതു ഥാ കൃണോമി പിണ്ഡാ നാം മദ്ധ്യേ അഗ്ന് ഔ പ്രജു ഹോമി " .

 . RV 1/162/19;TS 2/3/82 and 4/9//9/3; In the commentary we see 

gaaatre.na ya .Ruta k.ru.omi stands for an objective body which constitute the concrete nature.In commentary of the above mentioned parts  again we see the following words,udutvam jaatavedasam saptatva hariri rathe chitram devaa.namuda gaada.neekammit pi.ndaan prayachati chak.surevaasmai prayachati...na pindatrayam" .Here the subject matter is the formation of abstract idea from the concrete. The famous aphorism "yatha brahma.nde ta tha pi.ndaa.nde " also shows the importance of material and concrete aspect in vedic thoughts. 

About the Concret concepts in thinking process  BU 2/3/1 says

"d ve va va brahmano roope moortam ca moortam ca ".concrete and abstract are the fundamental category of human thinking.

In following verses   we can observe the using of the idea of relative concepts formation:.

RV 5/44/11; says that " the knowledge of different nature experienced by different .r.sees are different since their experience differ. and 6/47/15; Here the relative nature of different ideas experienced or formulated  by different persons who undergo through different situations or of a similar one are depicted.In RV 10/117/5 says that "draagheeyesmsa pa.nthaam" which depicts that in the long run in the path for getting knowledge like the wheel of a chariot in the path of  chariot ratha ,the upper part of which getting downwards and again regains the upper position  in the same way the cyclic process repeats but advances forward at different locations according to the position of the wheel and the  distance elapsed.The idea that knowledge at different stages of it's development and situations  are different is here implied.

.

In RV 2/13/8  says:  that thei.ndra the igniting force determines the nature of a previous process operating and then ultimately negates the old process by saying " sahavaasa asuram dasyum naa"sa.naaya " The word Vajra is described as the power got by the new force indra to defeat the old process.

Here we see the description of the destruction of a previous process and creation of a new process the word "ni.hnave" is used to express the idea of negation of negation of modern Dialectical Philosophy . Similar descriptions in TS 7/5/10  says" devaa.naam parama.nnaadyama varundhe pade .nighnanti maheeyamevai.su dadhati vi"sve deva .r.saya: ". here the word .nighnanti is used to describe the process of negation and creation of the same on an higherplane.,In AV 7/18/18,10/1/27 and in AV 6/8/2. also we can see such thoughts.

Quantitative  change to qualitative change

RV 4/35/3 says " athaita vaaja am.rutasya pa.nthaam ga.nama devaa.naam m.rubhava ssuhasta.h"

   അഥൈത വാ ജാ അമൃതസ്യ പന്ഥാം ഗണ ന്ദേവാനാ മൃ ഭവ സുഹസ്താ:

But SB 6/3/1/19 says "prajaapatir va am.rta.h"

RV 8/35/15 :".rubhuva.nta v.r.s.novaajava.nta"

RV 1/117/3:"atrim mu.njato ga.nena"

RV 1/161/60:" .rbhur vidhvan vaaji devaan aagacata"

RV 6/50/10 : " atrim .namahstamaso mumuktam"

TS 3/1/8/2: " g.nanmeva vit.ru.saa.n"

Niruktam N 337 : " g.nao ga.nanaal gu.naca"

Commentary there says," sahi ga.nyate bahu samyogaal gu.naca by.nopi ga.nana deva asaa vapiga.nyata eva dvigu.nastri gu.na ita"

RV 10/77/01 : " ga.namastyo.saa.na.na"sobhase"

Commentary here says" meghaa.ni garjata udabindava iva preeta maruta.h dha.nam si.nja.nti .na asto.si ita poorvata stutavaa.nasmi"

In the above quoted verses we see allusions made out of the..relations...between...words..ga.nam,.rubhavam,am.rutam,vaaji,teja.h.by which the process of new qualities emerge out of change in quantity is alluded.Here we see the description of the  production of liquid state of rain out of gaseous state of maruth due to change in proportion of ga.na.

In Rigveda we can see the description of the development of maruth the water particles through a quantitative change transforming to produce light energy .or vidhyut.which is a qualitative change

The idea expressing the importance of practice of knowledge in to society and in changing the mental or spiritual nature of a man in developing a nation can be seen in the following verses:

In AV 19/41,AV 12/1/56,7/1/13.

AV 5/19/6 says that if practice of great ideas is devoid of 

commitment  to knowledge and  society the very same knowledge degenerates and which will further lead to the degeneration of a nation.Nirukta says that "bhaava pradhaan.nenaakhyaatam".or "kriyaa vai pradhanam" ,Vedic philosophy says that the  very existence of knowledge is based on  practice and activity.The dravya sidhaanta in Nirukta  explains  the formation of noun emphasising  the importance of  dependence of  human thinking to matter which is considered  as primary.The concept of categories of thoughts the idea of absolute and relative,concrete and abstract and unity of opposite duals and their interpenetration and influence and social application of knowledge to the history and social development and the mental health and spiritual development of each citizens were included and poetically  and symbolically expressed  in vedic  thoughts of the Rushees.

So in all aspects of describing the fundamental concepts of Modern Dialectical Philosophy as far as the fundamental methodologies are concerned Vedic Dialectical thoughts are superior and even compete with modern dialectics but  those Dialectical thoughts due to wrong interpretations of Veda  were discarded as a desideratum.

Only in quantity and voluminous nature due to the integration of the later development of different knowledge systems ,the Modern Dialectical Philosophy outwardly appears superior but in it's fundamental methodology Vedic Dialectical Philosophy stands more superior or competes with  it's the modern counter part.

Transliteration:Velthuis ISO 646 repertoiregenerally followed.

RV- Rigvedam

AV -Atharva Veda

TA-Taitatreeyam

AA-Aitareya aara.nyakam

TDB-Tandya Brahmanam

TS Taittireeya sa.nhita

BU Brihadaara.nyopa.ni.sat

CD Caandogopyopa.ni.sat

GB Gopatha brahma.nam

JB Jaimineeyopa.ni.sat