Indian Philosophy
I'm in Chennai, India on a business/pleasure trip. It's been wonderful connecting with friends and family.
The business discussions have been excellent and I've been getting sage advice from my senior trusted advisors.
A discussion today with family about Indian Philosophy and Hinduism ended in a recommendation to read the classic 'A Sourcebook of Indian Philosophy' by Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, erstwhile President of India.
The book travels from the vedas to the upanishads to the dharma shaastra (manu) to the arthashastra to the various schools of philosophy. These include Lokayata (the book includes an excerpt from the rare Jayarashi Bhatta's tattvopaplavasimha), Jainism (Syaadvaadamanjari etc), Buddhism (several of the suttas, chapters from Milinda and Visuddhimagga, last two chapters of the Mulamaadhyamika Kaarika, the whole of Vaasubandhu's Vijnaaptimaatrataasiddhi etc) and the so called orthodox schools (important verses from Ishvara Krishna's Samkya Karika with Gaudapada's commentary, Patanjala yoga sutra with Vyaasa's commentary, Nyaya and Vaiseshika sutras with their commentaries including some chapters from Udhayana's Kusumanjali, Mimamsa sutra with Kumarilla's Shloka/Tantra Vaarika, Shankara's, Ramanuja's and Madhva's commentary on on the Brahma sutras etc) important verses/passages are presented.
I especially enjoyed the chapters on the Yogasutras by patanjali, the Lokayatas and Nyaya. The treatise on the differences between Dvaita, Advaita and Vishishtha (as presented by Ramanuja, Shankara and Madhva are superlative. A wonderful introduction to those of us trying to learn more about Hinduism.
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