Abstract

This is a doctoral thesis in the Department of Philosophy of the Madras University. Central to Indian philosophical thought is Mukti or liberation from the present state of ignorance and bondage. But the positive meaning of this liberation is not conceived in the same way by all Indian schools. In the first part of the book the author examines the opinions of various Indian schools other than Vedanta, including Buddhism and Jainism. The second part explains the point of Advaita Vedanta, the chief exponent of which is Sankara. For Advaita or Non-Dualism Brahman is the unique, infinite and immutable reality; Finite beings are maya or unreal beside the absolute reality of Brahman. They have only a relative and practical reality for human life until Mukti or liberation is attained in the realization that Brahman is the real self of all and the world of finite beings ceases to have any further meaning. All religious exercises are only means towards this final realization. On the whole the book is a synthesis of metaphysics from the Indian, especially non-dualistic, point of view. Twelve pages of Errata at the end of the book do little honor to the printers and publishers of the Madras University Philosophical Series.—J. K.