Jiva

MIND, MATTER AND GOD : JIVA, JADA AND ISVARA
M.M.NINAN
separate religions) in the classical period of Indian philosophy.
Materialists flourished from the 6th century BC until medieval times in India.
Carvaka school of
Like the modern day Rationalists, the Hindu rationalists were simply empiricists and
refused to believe anything beyond the sense perception. They were the scientists of
the era and were the most persecuted at all times. They were social reformers and
human right activists of their period. Although this school is widely acknowledged to
have been influential in the development of Indian thought over a considerable period,
Lokayata is now extinct. The original texts of this school are also lost to us, and the
knowledge that we possess of this philosophy is derived from the writings of its Buddhist,
Jain and Brahmanical opponents.
The Buddhist philosopher, Nāgārjuna (second century AD). quotes two versus from
Carvakas:
“Man (purusa) consists o f only as much as is within the scope of the senses . What
the vastly learned ones speak of is but similar to the statement): ‘Oh! Blessed one!
Look at the foot prints of the wolf. ’
‘Oh! The fair one, possessing beautiful eyes! Drink and eat. Oh! T he one with a
charming body! That which is past does not belong to you. Oh! The timid one! The
past never comes back. This body is only a collectivity y [of the four natural elements,
namely, earth, air, fire and water]. There are no gains beyond the temporal attainment
of pleasure, power and prosperity."
These materialists refused to accept anything beyond the sense perception since they
are the only source of human knowledge. Human kind can generalize and produce all
sorts of mental constructs to explain what is perceived by these senses. But their
validity is constrained within the experience of the person. They therefore focused on
the senses. Like the Greek and all other ancient scientists they defined the four
traditional elements of earth, water, fire, and air. These are the only realities.
Consciousness is only a modification of these elements in their relationships with each
other and arises out of the motion of matter. There exists no soul outside of the body.
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