André Couture Alors que Descartes entendait par sagesse, non seulement la prudence dans les affaires, mais une parfaite connaissance de toutes les choses que l’homme peut savoir pour la conduite de sa vie, la conservation de sa santé et l’invention de tous les arts, l’enquête menée ici dans le Ṛgveda, les Upaniṣad, le Mahābhārata et la Bhagavad Gītā, de même que dans quelques contes à visée didactique, montre clairement que l’on trouve dans les anciens textes hindous des conduites et des (...) attitudes qui relèvent de ce que nous appelons sagesse comme l’intelligence, le discernement, la perspicacité, la maîtrise de soi, mais qu’il n’y a aucun terme équivalent et aussi englobant. On a constaté que les hindous, en s’appliquant à réfléchir aux conditions d’une action juste et féconde, ont été amenés peu à peu à faire de la sagesse une science des moyens. Ce qui veut dire que la sagesse vivante est une intelligence qui se vit dans la fluidité des circonstances et qui ne devrait jamais se figer en une possession même spirituelle. (shrink)

This article recasts the biblical theme of the Good Shepherd by suggesting an analogy between shepherding and kingship in the Ancient Near East, and by comparing the use of the theme in that context to its use in the Indian world where the god Kṛṣṇa is known to have spent his childhood as a cowherd. The author arrives at three conclusions : 1) the term “shepherd” necessarily implies a relationship with grazing animals which are considered to be a major source (...) of wealth in both the Near East and India ; 2) the practice of herding creates a link between an interior space and an exterior space, that is, the herder protects the animals living inside the fold from enemies that threaten them from without (wild animals, thieves) ; and 3) the activity of the shepherd changes over time, that is, the herder moves from one grazing land to another according to the seasons and the quality of the grazing lands ; more importantly, the different shape which the activity of the herder takes at night (as he rests with his wife while the animals return to the fold) can be interpreted in an eschatological sense. (shrink)

Sāṃkhya and yoga are normally discussed either as topics in philosophy or as subjects of historical and philological inquiry. In this paper, I will attempt to demonstrate that, before separate developments appeared in the areas of both sāṃkhya and yoga, at least some brahmins seemed to have espoused the idea that any physical exertion or harnessing to a specific task had to be preceded by an intellectual approach to reality and possibly by a thorough enumeration of its principles. I come (...) at this question from three different angles. I first analyze Kapila’s actions in the Sagara episode. The double presence of a yogācārya and a sāṃkhyācārya in certain cosmogonies provides a second approach to the question. The third angle will be a study of the significance of a coordinated emphasis on kratu and dakṣa in the Vedic context. These apparently disconnected themes actually point in a single direction, and they contribute to an understanding of sāṃkhya and yoga as linked together as a binary pair of complementary attitudes. (shrink)

André Couture ,Claudia Nadeau-Morissette.