Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) was one of the most recognized and
influential Indian thinkers in academic circles in the 20th century.
Throughout his life and extensive writing career, Radhakrishnan sought
to define, defend, and promulgate his religion, a religion he
variously identified as Hinduism, Vedanta, and the religion of the
Spirit. He sought to demonstrate that his Hinduism was both
philosophically coherent and ethically viable. Radhakrishnan's concern
for experience and his extensive knowledge of the Western
philosophical and literary traditions has earned him the reputation of
being a bridge-builder between India and the West. He often appears to
feel at home in the Indian as well as the Western philosophical
contexts, and draws from both Western and Indian sources throughout
his writing. Because of this, Radhakrishnan has been held up in
academic circles as a representative of Hinduism to the West. His
lengthy writing career and his many published works have been
influential in shaping the West's understanding of Hinduism, India,
and the East.
1. Biography and Context
a. Early Years (1888-1904)
Rather little detail is known of Radhakrishnan's earliest childhood
and education. Radhakrishnan rarely spoke about his personal life, and
what he does reveal comes to us after several decades of reflection.
Radhakrishnan was born in Tirutani, Andhra Pradesh into a brahmin
family, likely smarta in religious orientation. Predominantly Hindu,
Tirutani was a temple town and popular pilgrimage center, and
Radhakrishnan's family were active participants in the devotional
activities there. The implicit acceptance of Śaṅkara's Advaita by the
smarta tradition is good evidence to suggest that an advaitic
framework was an important, though latent, feature of Radhakrishnan's
early philosophical and religious sensibilities.
In 1896, Radhakrishnan was sent to school in the nearby pilgrimage
center of Tirupati, a town with a distinctively cosmopolitan flavor,
drawing bhaktas from all parts of India. For four years, Radhakrishnan
attended the Hermannsburg Evangelical Lutheran Missionary school. It
was there that the young Radhakrishnan first encountered non-Hindu
missionaries and 19th century Christian theology with its impulse
toward personal religious experience. The theology taught in the
missionary school may have found resonance with the highly devotional
activities connected with the nearby Tirumala temple, activities that
Radhakrishnan undoubtedly would have witnessed taking place outside
the school. The shared emphasis on personal religious experience may
have suggested to Radhakrishnan a common link between the religion of
the missionaries and the religion practiced at the nearby Tirumala
temple.
Between 1900 and 1904, Radhakrishnan attended Elizabeth Rodman
Voorhees College in Vellore, a school run by the American Arcot
Mission of the Reformed Church in America. The mandate of the Mission
was to preach the gospel, to publish vernacular tracts, and to educate
the "heathen" masses. It was here, as Robert Minor points out, that
Radhakrishnan was "introduced to the Dutch Reform Theology, which
emphasized a righteous God, unconditional grace, and election, and
which criticized Hinduism as intellectually incoherent and ethically
unsound." At the same time, the Mission demonstrated an active concern
for education, health care, and social uplift through its
participation in famine relief, the establishment of hospitals, and
education for all irrespective of social status. Such activities were
not inconsistent with the mandate of the Mission as they often served
as incentives for conversion. In was in this atmosphere that
Radhakrishnan encountered what would have appeared to him as crippling
assaults on his Hindu sensibilities. He also would have witnessed the
positive contributions of the social programs undertaken by the
Mission in the name of propagation of the Christian gospel.
Thus, Radhakrishnan inherited from his upbringing a tacit acceptance
of Śaṅkara's Advaita Vedanta and an awareness of the centrality of
devotional practices associated with the smarta tradition. His
experiences at Tirupati brought him into contact with Lutheran
Christian missionaries whose theological emphasis on personal
religious experience may have suggested to him a common ground between
Christianity and his own religious heritage. In Vellore, the presence
of a systematic social gospel was intimately bound up with the
religion of those who sought to censure Radhakrishnan's cultural norms
and religious worldview.
Radhakrishnan was married to his wife of over 50 years, Sivakamuamma,
in 1904 while living in Vellore. The couple went on to have six
children: five daughters and a son.
It is in this historical and hermeneutic contexts and with these
experiences informing his worldview that Radhakrishnan encountered a
resurgent Hinduism. Specifically, Radhakrishnan encountered the
writings of Swami Vivekananda and V.D. Savarkar's The First War of
Indian Independence. The Theosophical Society was also active in the
South Arcot area at this time. The Theosophists not only applauded the
ancient wisdom they claimed to have found in India, but were
persistent advocates of a philosophical, spiritual, and scientific
meeting of East and West. Moreover, the Society's role in the Indian
nationalist movement is evidenced by Annie Besant's involvement with
the Indian National Congress. While Radhakrishnan does not speak of
the Theosophists presence at this time, it is unlikely that he would
have been unfamiliar with their views.
What Vivekananda, Savarkar, and Theosophy did bring to Radhakrishnan
was a sense of cultural self-confidence and self-reliance. However,
the affirmation Radhakrishnan received from this resurgence of
Hinduism did not push Radhakrishnan to study philosophy nor to
interpret his own religion. It was only after Radhakrishnan's
experiences at Madras Christian College that he began to put down in
writing his own understanding of Hinduism.
b. Madras Christian College (1904-1908)
In 1904, Radhakrishnan entered Madras Christian College. At this time
Radhakrishnan's academic sensibilities lay with the physical sciences,
and before beginning his MA degree in 1906 his interest appears to
have been law.
Two key influences on Radhakrishnan at Madras Christian College left
an indelible stamp on Radhakrishnan's sensibilities. First, it was
here that Radhakrishnan was trained in European philosophy.
Radhakrishnan was introduced to the philosophies of Berkeley,Leibniz,
Locke, Spinoza, Kant, J.S. Mill, Herbert Spencer, Fichte, Hegel,
Aristotle, andPlato among others. Radhakrishnan was also introduced to
the philosophical methods and theological views of his MA supervisor
and most influential non-Indian mentor, Professor A.G. Hogg. Hogg was
a Scottish Presbyterian missionary who was educated in the theology of
Albrecht Ritschl and studied under the philosopher Andrew Seth
Pringle-Pattison. As a student of Arthur Titius, himself a student of
Albrecht Ritschl, Hogg adopted the Ritschlian distinction between
religious value judgments, with their emphasis on subjective
perception, and theoretical knowledge, which seeks to discover the
nature of ultimate reality. Religious value judgments give knowledge
which is different from, though not necessarily opposed to,
theoretical knowledge. For Ritschl, and subsequently for Titius and
Hogg, this distinction led to the conclusion that doctrines and
scriptures are records of personal insights and are therefore
necessary for religious, and specifically Christian, faith. This
distinction left its mark on Radhakrishnan's philosophical and
religious thinking and resonates throughout his writing.
A second key factor shaping Radhakrishnan's sensibilities during this
time is that it was at Madras Christian College that Radhakrishnan
encountered intense religious polemic in an academic setting.
Radhakrishnan later recalled: "The challenge of Christian critics
impelled me to make a study of Hinduism and find out what is living
and what is dead in it… I prepared a thesis on the Ethics of the
Vedanta, which was intended to be a reply to the charge that the
Vedanta system had no room for ethics" (MST 19).
c. Early Teaching and Writing (1908-1912)
Upon the completion of his MA degree in 1908, Radhakrishnan found
himself at both a financial and professional crossroads. His
obligations to his family precluded him from applying for a
scholarship to study in Britain and he struggled without success to
find work in Madras. The following year, with the assistance of
William Skinner at Madras Christian College, Radhakrishnan was able to
secure what was intended to be a temporary teaching position at
Presidency College in Madras.
At Presidency College, Radhakrishnan lectured on a variety of topics
in psychology as well as in European philosophy. As a junior Assistant
Professor, logic, epistemology and ethical theory were his stock areas
of instruction. At the College, Radhakrishnan also learned Sanskrit.
During these years, Radhakrishnan was anxious to have his work
published, not only by Indian presses but also in European journals.
The Guardian Press in Madras published his MA thesis, and scarcely
revised portions of this work appeared in Modern Review andThe Madras
Christian College Magazine. While Radhakrishnan's efforts met with
success in other Indian journals, it was not until his article "The
Ethics of the Bhagavadgita and Kant" appeared in The International
Journal of Ethics in 1911 that Radhakrishnan broke through to a
substantial Western audience. As well, his edited lecture notes on
psychology were published under the title Essentials of Psychology.
d. The War, Tagore, and Mysore (1914-1920)
By 1914, Radhakrishnan's reputation as a scholar was beginning to
grow. However, the security of a permanent academic post in Madras
eluded him. For three months in 1916 he was posted to Anantapur,
Andhra Pradesh, and in 1917 he was transferred yet again, this time to
Rajahmundry. Only after spending a year in Rajahmundry did
Radhakrishnan find some degree of professional security upon his
acceptance of a position in philosophy at Mysore University. This
hiatus in his occupational angst would be short lived. His most
prestigious Indian academic appointment to the George V Chair in
Philosophy at Calcutta University in February of 1921 would take him
out of South India for the first time only two and a half years later.
Between 1914 and 1920, Radhakrishnan continued to publish. He authored
eighteen articles, ten of which were published in prominent Western
journals such as The International Journal of Ethics, The Monist, and
Mind. Throughout these articles, Radhakrishnan took it upon himself to
refine and expand upon his interpretation of Hinduism.
There is a strong polemical tenor to many of these articles.
Radhakrishnan was no longer content simply to define and defend
Vedanta. Instead, he sought to confront directly not only Vedanta's
Western competitors, but what he saw as the Western philosophical
enterprise and the Western ethos in general.
Radhakrishnan's polemical sensibilities during these years were
heightened in no small part by the political turmoil both on the
Indian as well as on the world stage. Radhakrishnan's articles and
books during this period reflect his desire to offer a sustainable
philosophical response to the unfolding discontent he encountered.
World War One and its aftermath, and in particular the events in
Amritsar in the spring of 1919, further exacerbated Radhakrishnan's
patience with what he saw as an irrational, dogmatic, and despotic
West. Radhakrishnan's 1920 The Reign of Religion in Contemporary
Philosophy is indicative of his heightened polemical sensibilities
during this period.
A more positive factor in Radhakrishnan's life during these years was
his reading of Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet. Radhakrishnan
joined the rest of the English-speaking world in 1912 in reading
Tagore's translated works. Though the two had never met at this time,
Tagore would become perhaps Radhakrishnan's most influential Indian
mentor. Tagore's poetry and prose resonated with Radhakrishnan. He
appreciated Tagore's emphasis on aesthetics as well as his appeal to
intuition. From 1914 on, both of these notions — aesthetics and
intuition — begin to find their place in Radhakrishnan's own
interpretations of experience, the epistemological category for his
philosophical and religious proclivities. Over the next five decades,
Radhakrishnan would repeatedly appeal to Tagore's writing to support
his own philosophical ideals.
e. Calcutta and the George V Chair (1921-1931)
In 1921, Radhakrishnan took up the prestigious George V Chair in
Philosophy at Calcutta University. As an honored, though hesitant,
heir to Brajendranath Seal, Radhakrishnan's appointment to the chair
was not without its dissenters who sought a fellow Bengali for the
position. In Calcutta, Radhakrishnan was for the first time out of his
South Indian element — geographically, culturally, and linguistically.
However, the isolation Radhakrishnan experienced during his early
years in Calcutta allowed him to work on his two volume Indian
Philosophy, the first of which he began while in Mysore and published
in 1923 and the second followed four years later. Throughout the
1920s, Radhakrishnan's reputation as a scholar continued to grow both
in India and abroad. He was invited to Oxford to give the 1926 Upton
Lectures, published in 1927 as The Hindu View of Life, and in 1929
Radhakrishnan delivered theHibbert Lectures, later published under the
title An Idealist View of Life. The later of these two Views is
Radhakrishnan's most sustained, non-commentarial work. An Idealist
View of Life is frequently seen as Radhakrishnan's mature work and has
undoubtedly received the bulk of scholarly attention on Radhakrishnan.
While Radhakrishnan enjoyed a growing scholarly repute, he was also
confronted in Calcutta with growing conflict and confrontation. The
events of Amritsar in 1919 did little to encourage positive relations
between Indians and the British Raj; and Gandhi's on again-off again
Rowlatt satyagraha was proving ineffective in cultivating a united
Indian voice. The ambiguity of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms with
their olive branch for "responsible government" further fragmented an
already divided Congress. The Khalifat movement splintered the Indian
Muslim community, and aggravated the growing animosity between its
supporters and those, Muslim or otherwise, who saw it as a side issue
to swaraj (self-rule). But the racial paternalism of the 1927 Simon
Commission prompted a resurgence of nationalist sentiment. While
Indian solidarity and protest received international attention, due in
no small part to the media coverage of Gandhi's Salt March, such
national unity was readily shaken. Indian political consensus, much
less swaraj, proved elusive. Communal division and power struggles on
the part of Indians and a renewed conservatism in Britain crippled the
London Round Table Conferences of the early 1930s, reinforcing and
perpetuating an already highly fragmented and politically volatile
India.
With the publication of An Idealist View of Life, Radhakrishnan had
come into his own philosophically. In his mind, he had identified the
"religious" problem, reviewed the alternatives, and posited a
solution. An unreflective dogmatism could not be remedied by escaping
from "experiential religion" which is the true basis of all religions.
Rather, a recognition of the creative potency of integral experience
tempered by a critical scientific attitude was, Radhakrishnan
believed, the only viable corrective to dogmatic claims of exclusivity
founded on external, second-hand authority. Moreover, while Hinduism
(Advaita Vedanta) as he defined it best exemplified his position,
Radhakrishnan claimed that the genuine philosophical, theological, and
literary traditions in India and the West supported his position.
f. The 1930s and 1940s
Radhakrishnan was knighted in 1931, the same year he took up his
administrative post as Vice Chancellor at the newly founded, though
scarcely constructed, Andhra University at Waltair. Sir Radhakrishnan
served there for five years as Vice Chancellor, when, in 1936, not
only did the university in Calcutta affirm his position in perpetuity
but Oxford University appointed him to the H.N. Spalding Chair of
Eastern Religions and Ethics. In late 1939, Radhakrishnan took up his
second Vice Chancellorship at Benares Hindu University (BHU), and
served there during the course of the second world war until
mid-January 1948, two weeks before Gandhi's assassination in New
Delhi.
Shortly after his resignation from BHU, Radhakrishnan was named
chairman of the University Education Commission. The Commission's 1949
Report assessed the state of university education and made
recommendations for its improvement in the newly independent India.
Though co-authored by others, Radhakrishnan's hand is felt especially
in the chapters on The Aims of University Education and Religious
Education.
During these years, the question of nationalism occupied
Radhakrishnan's attention. The growing communalism Radhakrishnan had
witnessed in the 1920s was further intensified with the ideological
flowering of the Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Bhai
Parmanand and his heir V.D. Savarkar. Likewise, Muhammad Iqbal's 1930
poetic vision and call for Muslim self-assertion furnished Muhammad
Jinnah with an ideological template in which to lay claim to an
independent Pakistan. This claim was given recognition at the Round
Table Conferences in London early that decade. If the
Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms had in the 1920s served to fracture already
fragile political alliances, its 1935 progeny as the Government of
India Act with its promise for greater self-government further crowded
the political stage and divided those groups struggling for their
share of power. During these years, the spectrum of nationalist vision
was as broad as Indian solidarity was elusive.
The issues of education and nationalism come together for
Radhakrishnan during this period. For Radhakrishnan, a university
education which quickened the development of the whole individual was
the only responsible and practical means to the creation of Indian
solidarity and clarity of national vision. Throughout the 1930s and
1940s, Radhakrishnan expressed his vision of an autonomous India. He
envisioned an India built and guided by those who were truly educated,
by those who had a personal vision of and commitment to raising Indian
self-consciousness.
g. Post-Independence: Vice-presidency and Presidency
The years following Indian independence mark Radhakrishnan's
increasing involvement in Indian political as well as in international
affairs. The closing years of the 1940s were busy ones. Radhakrishnan
had been actively involved in the newly incorporated UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), serving
on its Executive Board as well as leading the Indian delegation from
1946-1951. Radhakrishnan also served for the two years immediately
following India's independence as a member of the Indian Constituent
Assembly. Radhakrishnan's time and energy to UNESCO and the
Constituent Assembly had also to be shared by the demands of the
University Commission and his continuing obligations as Spalding
Professor at Oxford.
With the Report of the Universities Commission complete in 1949,
Radhakrishnan was appointed by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as
Indian Ambassador to Moscow, a post he held until 1952. The
opportunity for Radhakrishnan to put into practice his own
philosophical-political ideals came with his election to the Raja
Sabha, in which he served as India's Vice-President (1952-1962) and
later as President (1962-1967).
Radhakrishnan saw during his terms in office an increasing need for
world unity and universal fellowship. The urgency of this need was
pressed home to Radhakrishnan by what he saw as the unfolding crises
throughout the world. At the time of his taking up the office of
Vice-President, the Korean war was already in full swing. Political
tensions with China in the early 1960s followed by the hostilities
between India and Pakistan dominated Radhakrishnan's presidency.
Moreover, the Cold War divided East and West leaving each side
suspicious of the other and on the defensive.
Radhakrishnan challenged what he saw as the divisive potential and
dominating character of self-professed international organizations
such as the League of Nations. Instead, he called for the promotion of
a creative internationalism based on the spiritual foundations of
integral experience. Only then could understanding and tolerance
between peoples and between nations be promoted.
Radhakrishnan retired from public life in 1967. He spent the last
eight years of his life at the home he built in Mylapore, Madras.
Radhakrishnan died on April 17, 1975.
2. Philosophy of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
a. Metaphysics
Radhakrishnan located his metaphysics within the Advaita (non-dual)
Vedanta tradition (sampradaya). And like other Vedantins before him,
Radhakrishnan wrote commentaries on the Prasthanatraya (that is, main
primary texts of Vedanta ): the Upanisads (1953),Brahma Sutra (1959),
and the Bhagavadgita (1948).
As an Advaitin, Radhakrishnan embraced a metaphysical idealism. But
Radhakrishnan's idealism was such that it recognized the reality and
diversity of the world of experience (prakṛti) while at the same time
preserving the notion of a wholly transcendent Absolute (Brahman), an
Absolute that is identical to the self (Atman). While the world of
experience and of everyday things is certainly not ultimate reality as
it is subject to change and is characterized by finitude and
multiplicity, it nonetheless has its origin and support in the
Absolute (Brahman) which is free from all limits, diversity, and
distinctions (nirguṇa). Brahman is the source of the world and its
manifestations, but these modes do not affect the integrity of
Brahman.
In this vein, Radhakrishnan did not merely reiterate the metaphysics
of Śaṅkara (8th century C.E.), arguably Advaita Vedanta's most
prominent and enduring figure, but sought to reinterpret Advaita for
present needs. In particular, Radhakrishnan reinterpreted what he saw
as Śaṅkara's understanding of maya strictly as illusion. For
Radhakrishnan, maya ought not to be understood to imply a strict
objective idealism, one in which the world is taken to be inherently
disconnected from Brahman, but rather mayaindicates, among other
things, a subjective misperception of the world as ultimately real.
[See Donald Braue, Maya in Radhakrishnan's Thought: Six Meanings Other
Than Illusion(1985) for a full treatment of this issue.]
b. Epistemology: Intuition and the Varieties of Experience
This section deals with Radhakrishnan's understanding of intuition and
his interpretations of experience. It begins with a general survey of
the variety of terms as well as the characteristics Radhakrishnan
associates with intuition. It then details with how Radhakrishnan
understands specific occurrences of intuition in relation to other
forms of experience — cognitive, psychic, aesthetic, ethical, and
religious.
i. Intuition
Radhakrishnan associates a vast constellation of terms with intuition.
At its best, intuition is an "integral experience". Radhakrishnan uses
the term "integral" in at least three ways. First, intuition is
integral in the sense that it coordinates and synthesizes all other
experiences. It integrates all other experiences into a more unified
whole. Second, intuition is integral as it forms the basis of all
other experiences. In other words, Radhakrishnan holds that all
experiences are at bottom intuitional. Third, intuition is integral in
the sense that the results of the experience are integrated into the
life of the individual. For Radhakrishnan, intuition finds expression
in the world of action and social relations.
At times Radhakrishnan prefers to emphasize the "mystical" and
"spiritual" quality of intuition as attested to by the expressions
"religious experience" (IVL 91), "religious consciousness" (IVL 199),
"mystical experience" (IVL 88), "spiritual idealism" (IVL 87),
"self-existent spiritual experience" (IVL 99), "prophetic indications"
and "the real ground in man's deepest being" (IVL 103), "spiritual
apprehension" (IVL 103), "moments of vision" (IVL 94), "revelation"
(IVL 210), "supreme light" (IVL 206), and even "faith" (IVL 199). But
it is the creative potency of intuition, designated by Radhakrishnan's
reference to the "creative center" of the individual (IVL 113),
"creative intuition" (IVL 205), "creative spirit" (IVL 206), and
"creative energy" (IVL 205), that is the lynchpin for Radhakrishnan's
understanding of intuition. As Radhakrishnan understands it, all
progress is the result of the creative potency of intuition.
For Radhakrishnan, intuition is a distinct form of experience.
Intuition is of a self-certifying character (svatassiddha). It is
sufficient and complete. It is self-established (svatasiddha),
self-evidencing (svāsaṃvedya), and self-luminous (svayam-prakāsa)
(IVL 92). Intuition entails pure comprehension, entire significance,
complete validity (IVL 93). It is both truth-filled and truth-bearing
(IVL 93). Intuition is its own cause and its own explanation (IVL 92).
It is sovereign (IVL 92). Intuition is a positive feeling of calm and
confidence, joy and strength (IVL 93). Intuition is profoundly
satisfying (IVL 93). It is peace, power and joy (IVL 93).
Intuition is the ultimate form of experience for Radhakrishnan. It is
ultimate in the sense that intuition constitutes the fullest and
therefore the most authentic realization of the Real (Brahman). The
ultimacy of intuition is also accounted for by Radhakrishnan in that
it is the ground of all other forms of experience.
Intuition is a self-revelation of the divine. Intuitive experience is
immediate. Immediacy does not imply in Radhakrishnan's mind an
"absence of psychological mediation, but only non-mediation by
conscious thought" (IVL 98). Intuition operates on a supra-conscious
level, unmediated as it is by conscious thought. Even so,
Radhakrishnan holds that there is "no such thing as pure experience,
raw and undigested. It is always mixed up with layers of
interpretation" (IVL 99). One might object here that Radhakrishnan has
conflated the experience itself with its subsequent interpretation and
expression. However, Radhakrishnan's comment is an attempt to deny the
Hegelian interpretation of Hinduism's "contentless" experience,
affirming instead that intuition is the plenitude of experience.
Finally, intuition, according to Radhakrishnan, is ineffable. It
escapes the limits of language and logic, and there is "no conception
by which we can define it" (IVL 96). In such experiences "[t]hought
and reality coalesce and a creative merging of subject and object
results" (IVL 92). While the experience itself transcends expression,
it also provokes it (IVL 95). The provocation of expression is, for
Radhakrishnan, testimony to the creative impulse of intuition. All
creativity and indeed all progress in the various spheres of life is
the inevitable result of intuition.
ii. Varieties of Experience
1) Cognitive Experience
Radhakrishnan recognizes three categories of cognitive experience:
sense experience, discursive reasoning, and intuitive apprehension.
For Radhakrishnan all of these forms of experience contribute, in
varying degrees, to a knowledge of the real (Brahman), and as such
have their basis in intuition.
Sense Experience
Of the cognitive forms of knowledge, Radhakrishnan suggests that
sensory knowledge is in one respect closest to intuition, for it is in
the act of sensing that one is in "direct contact" with the object.
Sense experience "helps us to know the outer characters of the
external world. By means of it we acquire an acquaintance with the
sensible qualities of the objects" (IVL 134). "Intuitions,"
Radhakrishnan believes, "are convictions arising out of a fullness of
life in a spontaneous way, more akin to sense than to imagination or
intellect and more inevitable than either" (IVL 180). In this sense,
sense perception may be considered intuitive, though Radhakrishnan
does not explicitly describe it as such.
Discursive Reasoning
Discursive reasoning, and the logical knowledge it produces, is
subsequent to sensory experience (perception). "Logical knowledge is
obtained by the processes of analysis and synthesis. Unlike sense
perception which Radhakrishnan claims to be closer to direct
knowledge, logical knowledge "is indirect and symbolic in its
character. It helps us to handle and control the object and its
workings" (IVL 134). There is a paradoxical element here.
Radhakrishnan seems to be suggesting that the direct proximity to an
external object one encounters in sense perception is compromised when
the perception is interpreted and subsequently incorporated into a
more systematic, though presumably higher, form of knowledge through
discursive reasoning.
For Radhakrishnan, discursive reasoning and the logical systems they
construct possess an element of intuition. The methodical, mechanical
working through of logical problems and the reworking of rational
systems cannot be divorced from what Radhakrishnan might call an
"intuitive hunch" that such a course of action will bear positive
results; "In any concrete act of thinking the mind's active experience
is both intuitive and intellectual" (IVL 181-182).
Intuitive Apprehension
Radhakrishnan argues against what he sees as the prevalent (Western)
temptation to reduce the intuitive to the logical. While logic deals
with facts already known, intuition goes beyond logic to reveal
previously unseen connections between facts. "The art of discovery is
confused with the logic of proof and an artificial simplification of
the deeper movements of thought results. We forget that we invent by
intuition though we prove by logic" (IVL 177). Intuition not only
clarifies the relations between facts and seemingly discordant
systems, but lends itself to the discovery of new knowledge which then
becomes an appropriate subject of philosophical inquiry and logical
analysis.
Claiming to take his cue from his former adversary Henri Bergson,
Radhakrishnan offers three explanations to account for the tendency to
overlook the presence of intuition in discursive reasoning. First,
Radhakrishnan claims, intuition presupposes a rational knowledge of
facts. "The insight does not arise if we are not familiar with the
facts of the case…. The successful practice of intuition requires
previous study and assimilation of a multitude of facts and laws. We
may take it that great intuitions arise out of a matrix of
rationality" (IVL 177). Second, the intuitive element is often
obscured in discursive reasoning because facts known prior to the
intuition are retained, though they are synthesized, and perhaps
reinterpreted, in light of the intuitive insight. "The readjustment
[of previously known facts] is so easy that when the insight is
attained it escapes notice and we imagine that the process of
discovery is only rational synthesis" (IVL 177). Finally, intuition in
discursive reasoning is often overlooked, disguised as it is in the
language of logic. In short, the intuitive is mistaken for the
logical. "Knowledge when acquired must be thrown into logical form and
we are obliged to adopt the language of logic since only logic has a
communicable language." This last is a perplexing claim since
elsewhere Radhakrishnan clearly recognizes that meaning is conveyed in
symbols, poetry, and metaphors. Perhaps what Radhakrishnan means is
that logic is the only valid means by which we are able to organize
and systematize empirical facts. Regardless, according to
Radhakrishnan, the presentation of facts in logical form contributes
to "a confusion between discovery and proof" (IVL 177).
Conversely, Radhakrishnan offers a positive argument for the place of
intuition in discursive reasoning. "If the process of discovery were
mere synthesis, any mechanical manipulator of prior partial concepts
would have reached the insight and it would not have taken a genius to
arrive at it" (IVL 178). A purely mechanical account of discursive
reasoning ignores the inherently creative and dynamic dimension of
intuitive insight. In Radhakrishnan's view the mechanical application
of logic alone is creatively empty (IVL 181).
However, Radhakrishnan holds that the "creative insight is not the
final link in a chain of reasoning. If it were that, it would not
strike us as "inspired in its origin" (IVL 178). Intuition is not the
end, but part of an ever-developing and ever-dynamic process of
realization. There is, for Radhakrishnan, a continual system of
"checks and balances" between intuition and the logical method of
discursive reasoning. Cognitive intuitions "are not substitutes for
thought, they are challenges to intelligence. Mere intuitions are
blind while intellectual work is empty. All processes are partly
intuitive and partly intellectual. There is no gulf between the two"
(IVL 181).
2) Psychic Experience
Perhaps the most understudied dimension of Radhakrishnan's
interpretations of experience is his recognition of "supernormal"
experiences. As early as his first volume of Indian Philosophy (1923),
Radhakrishnan affirms the validity of what he identifies as "psychic
phenomena". Radhakrishnan accounts for such experiences in terms of a
highly developed sensitivity to intuition. "The mind of man,"
Radhakrishnan explains, "has the three aspects of subconscious, the
conscious, and the superconscious, and the 'abnormal' psychic
phenomena, called by the different names of ecstasy, genius,
inspiration, madness, are the workings of the superconscious mind"
(IP1 28). Such experiences are not "abnormal" according to
Radhakrishnan, nor are they unscientific. Rather, they are the
products of carefully controlled mental experiments. In the Indian
past, "The psychic experiences, such as telepathy and clairvoyance,
were considered to be neither abnormal nor miraculous. They are not
the products of diseased minds or inspiration from the gods, but
powers which the human mind can exhibit under carefully ascertained
conditions" (IP1 28). Psychic intuitions are not askew with
Radhakrishnan's understanding of the intellect. In fact, they are
evidence of the remarkable heights to which the undeveloped, limited
intellect is capable. They are, for Radhakrishnan, accomplishments
rather than failures of human consciousness.
As highly developed powers of apprehension, psychic experiences are a
state of consciousness "beyond the understanding of the normal, and
the supernormal is traced to the supernatural" (IVL 94). Moreover, in
what Radhakrishnan might recognize as an "intuitive hunch" in the
articulation of a new scientific hypothesis, psychic premonitions, as
partial or momentary as they may be, lend themselves to the "psychic
hypothesis" that the universal spirit is inherent in the nature of all
things (IVL 110). For Radhakrishnan, psychic intuitions are
suprasensory: "We can see objects without the medium of the senses and
discern relations spontaneously without building them up laboriously.
In other words, we can discern every kind of reality directly" (IVL
143). In a bold, albeit highly problematic, declaration, Radhakrishnan
believes that the "facts of telepathy prove that one mind can
communicate with another directly"(IVL 143).
3) Aesthetic Experience
"All art," Radhakrishnan declares, "is the expression of experience in
some medium" (IVL 182). However, the artistic experience should not be
confused with its expression. While the experience itself is
ineffable, the challenge for the artist is to give the experience
concrete expression. "The success of art is measured by the extent to
which it is able to render experiences of one dimension into terms of
another. (IVL 187) For Radhakrishnan, art born out of a "creative
contemplation which is a process of travail of the spirit is an
authentic "crystallization of a life process" (IVL 185). At its
ultimate and in its essence, the "poetical character is derived from
the creative intuition (that is, integral intuition) which holds
sound, suggestion and sense in organic solution" (IVL 191).
In Radhakrishnan's view, without the intuitive experience, art becomes
mechanical and a rehearsal of old themes. Such "art" is an exercise in
(re)production rather than a communication of the artist's intuitive
encounter with reality. "Technique without inspiration," Radhakrishnan
declares, "is barren. Intellectual powers, sense facts and imaginative
fancies may result in clever verses, repetition of old themes, but
they are only manufactured poetry" (IVL 188). It is not simply a
difference of quality but a "difference of kind in the source itself"
(IVL 189). For Radhakrishnan, true art is an expression of the whole
personality, seized as it was with the creative impulse of the
universe.
Artistic intuition mitigates and subdues rational reflection. But
"[e]ven in the act of composition," Radhakrishnan believes, "the poet
is in a state in which the reflective elements are subordinated to the
intuitive. The vision, however, is not operative for so long as it
continues, its very stress acts as a check on expression" (IVL 187).
For Radhakrishnan, artistic expression is dynamic. Having had the
experience, the artist attempts to recall it. The recollection of the
intuition, Radhakrishnan believes, is not a plodding reconstruction,
nor one of dispassionate analysis. Rather, there is an emotional
vibrancy: "The experience is recollected not in tranquility… but in
excitement" (IVL 187). To put the matter somewhat differently, the
emotional vibrancy of the aesthetic experience gives one knowledge by
being rather than knowledge by knowing (IVL 184).
Art and Science
There is in Radhakrishnan's mind a "scientific" temperament to genuine
artistic expression. In what might be called the science of art,
Radhakrishnan believes that the "experience or the vision is the
artist's counterpart to the scientific discovery of a principle or
law" (IVL 184). There is a concordance of agendas in art and science.
"What the scientist does when he discovers a new law is to give a new
ordering to observed facts. The artist is engaged in a similar task.
He gives new meaning to our experience and organizes it in a different
way due to his perception of subtler qualities in reality" (IVL 194).
Despite this synthetic impulse, Radhakrishnan is careful to explain
that the two disciplines are not wholly the same. The difference turns
on what he sees as the predominantly aesthetic and qualitative nature
of artistic expression. "Poetic truth is different from scientific
truth since it reveals the real in its qualitative uniqueness and not
in its quantitative universality" (IVL 193). Presumably, Radhakrishnan
means that, unlike the universal laws with which science attempts to
grapple, art is much more subjective, not in its creative origin, but
in its expression. A further distinction between the two may lend
further insight into Radhakrishnan's open appreciation for the poetic
medium. "Poetry," he believes, "is the language of the soul, while
prose is the language of science. The former is the language of
mystery, of devotion, of religion. Prose lays bare its whole meaning
to the intelligence, while poetry plunges us in the mysterium
tremendum of life and suggests the truths that cannot be stated" (IVL
191).
4) Ethical Experience
Not surprisingly, intuition finds a place in Radhakrishnan's ethics.
For Radhakrishnan, ethical experiences are profoundly transformative.
The experience resolves dilemmas and harmonizes seemingly discordant
paths of possible action. "If the new harmony glimpsed in the moments
of insight is to be achieved, the old order of habits must be
renounced" (IVL 114). Moral intuitions result in "a redemption of our
loyalties and a remaking of our personalities" (IVL 115).
That Radhakrishnan conceives of the ethical development of the
individual as a form of conversion is noteworthy as it underscores
Radhakrishnan's identification of ethics and religion. For
Radhakrishnan, an ethical transformation of the kind brought about by
intuition is akin to religious growth and heightened realization. The
force of this view is underscored by Radhakrishnan's willing
acceptance of the interchangeability of the terms "intuition" and
"religious experience".
Of course, not all ethical decisions or actions possess the quality of
being guided by an intuitive impulse. Radhakrishnan willingly concedes
that the vast majority of moral decisions are the result of conformity
to well-established moral codes. However, it is in times of moral
crisis that the creative force of ethical intuitions come to the fore.
In a less famous, though thematically reminiscent analogy,
Radhakrishnan accounts for growth of moral consciousness in terms of
the creative intuitive impulse: "In the chessboard of life, the
different pieces have powers which vary with the context and the
possibilities of their combination are numerous and unpredictable. The
sound player has a sense of right and feels that, if he does not
follow it, he will be false to himself. In any critical situation the
forward move is a creative act" (IVL 196-197).
By definition, moral actions are socially rooted. As such the effects
of ethical intuitions are played out on the social stage. While the
intuition itself is an individual achievement, Radhakrishnan's view is
that the intuition must be not only translated into positive and
creative action but shared with others. There is a sense of urgency,
if not inevitability, about this. Radhakrishnan tells us one "cannot
afford to be absolutely silent" (IVL 97) and the saints "love because
they cannot help it" (IVL 116).
The impulse to share the moral insight provides an opportunity to test
the validity of the intuition against reason. The moral hero, as
Radhakrishnan puts it, does not live by intuition alone. The intuitive
experience, while it is the creative guiding impulse behind all moral
progress, must be checked and tested against reason. There is a
"scientific" and "experimental" dimension to Radhakrishnan's
understanding of ethical behavior. Those whose lives are profoundly
transformed and who are guided by the ethical experience are, for
Radhakrishnan, moral heroes. To Radhakrishnan's mind, the moral hero,
guided as he or she is by the ethical experience, who carves out an
adventurous path is akin to the discoverer who brings order into the
scattered elements of a science or the artist who composes a piece of
music or designs buildings" (IVL 196). In a sense, there is very much
an art and science to ethical living.
Radhakrishnan's moral heroes, having developed a "large impersonality"
(IVL 116) in which the joy, freedom and bliss of a life uninhibited by
the constraints of ego and individuality are realized, become
"self-sacrificing" exemplars for others. "Feeling the unity of himself
and the universe, the man who lives in spirit is no more a separate
and self-centered individual but a vehicle of the universal spirit"
(IVL 115). Like the artist, the moral hero does not turn his back on
the world. Instead, "[h]e throws himself on the world and lives for
its redemption, possessed as he is with an unshakable sense of
optimism and an unlimited faith in the powers of the soul" (IVL 116).
In short, Radhakrishnan's moral hero is a conduit whose
"world-consciousness" delights "in furthering the plan of the cosmos"
(IVL 116).
Radhakrishnan believes that ethical intuitions at their deepest
transcend conventional and mechanically constructed ethical systems.
Moral heroes exemplify Radhakrishnan's ethical ideal while at the same
time provoking in those who accept the ethical status quo to evaluate
and to reconsider less than perfect moral codes. As the moral hero is
"fighting for the reshaping of his own society on sounder lines [his]
behavior might offend the sense of decorum of the cautious
conventionalist" (IVL 197). The contribution of ethically realized
individuals is their promotion of moral progress in the world. "Though
morality commands conformity, all moral progress is due to
nonconformists" (IVL 197). The moral hero is no longer guided by
external moral codes, but by an "inner rhythm" of harmony between self
and the universe revealed to him in the intuitive experience. "By
following his deeper nature, he may seem to be either unwise or
unmoral to those of us who adopt conventional standards. But for him
the spiritual obligation is more of a consequence than social
tradition" (IVL 197).
5) Religious Experience
For the sake of clarity, we must at the outset make a tentative
distinction between religious experience on the one hand and integral
experience on the other. Radhakrishnan's distinction between
"religion" and "religions" will be helpful here. At its most basic,
religions, for Radhakrishnan, represent the various interpretations of
experience, while integral experience is the essence of all religions.
"If experience is the soul of religion, expression is the body through
which it fulfills its destiny. We have the spiritual facts and their
interpretations by which they are communicated to others" (IVL 90).
"It is the distinction between immediacy and thought. Intuitions
abide, while interpretations change" (IVL 90). But the interpretations
should not be confused with the experiences themselves. For
Radhakrishnan, "[c]onceptual expressions are tentative and
provisional… [because] the intellectual accounts… are constructed
theories of experience" (IVL 119). And he cautions us to "distinguish
between the immediate experience or intuition which might conceivably
be infallible and the interpretation which is mixed up with it" (IVL
99).
For Radhakrishnan, the creeds and theological formulations of religion
are but intellectual representations and symbols of experience. "The
idea of God," Radhakrishnan affirms, "is an interpretation of
experience" (IVL 186). It follows here that religious experiences are,
for Radhakrishnan, context relative and therefore imperfect. They are
informed by and experienced through specific cultural, historical,
linguistic and religious lenses. Because of their contextuality and
subsequent intellectualization, experiences in the religious sphere
are limited. It is in this sense that we may refer to experiences
which occur under the auspices of one or other of the religions as
"religious experiences". Radhakrishnan spends little time dealing with
"religious experiences" as they occur in specific religious
traditions. And what little he does say is used to demonstrate the
theological preconditioning and "religious" relativity of such
experiences. However, "religious experiences" have value for
Radhakrishnan insofar as they offer the possibility of heightening
one's religious consciousness and bringing one into ever closer
proximity to "religious intuition".
Much to the confusion and chagrin of readers of Radhakrishnan,
Radhakrishnan uses "religious experience" to refer to such "sectarian"
religious experiences (as discussed immediately above) as well as to
refer to "religious intuitions" which transcend narrow sectarian and
religious boundaries and are identical to intuition itself (taken up
in the section on "Intuition" above (B.I.) and revisited immediately
below).
Radhakrishnan is explicit and emphatic in his view that religious
intuition is a unique form of experience. Religious intuition is more
than simply the confluence of the cognitive, aesthetic, and ethical
sides of life. However vital and significant these sides of life may
be, they are but partial and fragmented constituents of a greater
whole, a whole which is experienced in its fullness and immediacy in
religious intuition.
To Radhakrishnan's mind, religious intuition is not only an autonomous
form of experience, but a form of experience which informs and
validates all spheres of life and experience. Philosophical, artistic,
and ethical values of truth, beauty, and goodness are not known
through the senses or by reason. Rather, "they are apprehended by
intuition or faith…" (IVL 199-200). For Radhakrishnan, religious
intuition informs, conjoins, and transcends an otherwise fragmentary
consciousness.
Informing Radhakrishnan's interpretation of religious intuition is his
affirmation of the identity of the self and ultimate reality.
Throughout his life, Radhakrishnan interpreted the Upaniṣadic
mahavakya, tat tvam asi, as a declaration of the non-duality (advaita)
of Atman and Brahman. His advaitic interpretation allows him to affirm
the ineffability of the truth behind the formula. Radhakrishnan
readily appropriates his acceptance of the non-dual experience to his
interpretation of religious intuition. Radhakrishnan not only claimed
to find support for his views in the Upaniṣads, but believed that,
correctly understood, the ancient sages expounded his interpretation
of religious intuition. Any attempt at interpretation of the intuition
could only approximate the truth of the experience itself. As the
ultimate realization, religious intuition must not only account for
and bring together all other forms of experience, but must overcome
the distinctions between them. Radhakrishnan goes so far as to claim
that intuition of this sort is the essence of religion. All religions
are informed by it, though all fail to varying degrees to interpret
it. "Here we find the essence of religion, which is a synthetic
realization of life. The religious man has the knowledge that
everything is significant, the feeling that there is harmony
underneath the conflicts and the power to realize the significance and
the harmony" (IVL 201).
With this, the present discussion of intuition and the varieties of
experience has come full circle. Radhakrishnan identifies intuition —
in all its contextual varieties — with integral experience. The two
expressions are, for Radhakrishnan, synonymous. Integral experience
coordinates and synthesizes the range of life's experiences. It
furnishes the individual with an ever-deepening awareness of and
appreciation for the unity of Reality. As an intuition, integral
experience is not only the basis of all experience but the source of
all creative ingenuity, whether such innovation be philosophical,
scientific, moral, artistic, or religious. Moreover, not only does
integral experience find expression in these various spheres of life,
but such expression, Radhakrishnan believes, quickens the intuitive
and creative impulse among those it touches.
c. Religious Pluralism
Radhakrishnan's hierarchy of religions is well-known. "Hinduism,"
Radhakrishnan affirms, "accepts all religious notions as facts and
arranges them in the order of their more or less intrinsic
significance": "The worshippers of the Absolute are the highest in
rank; second to them are the worshippers of the personal God; then
come the worshippers of the incarnations like Rama, Kṛṣṇa, Buddha;
below them are those who worship ancestors, deities and sages, and the
lowest of all are the worshippers of the petty forces and spirits"
(HVL 32).
Radhakrishnan uses his distinctions between experience and
interpretation, between religion and religions, to correlate his brand
of Hinduism (that is, Advaita Vedanta ) with religion itself.
"Religion," Radhakrishnan holds, is "a kind of life or experience." It
is an insight into the nature of reality (darsana), or experience of
reality (anubhava). It is "a specific attitude of the self, itself and
not other" (HVL 15). In a short, but revealing passage, Radhakrishnan
characterizes religion in terms of "personal experience." It is "an
independent functioning of the human mind, something unique,
possessing and autonomous character. It is something inward and
personal which unifies all values and organizes all experiences. It is
the reaction to the whole of man to the whole of reality. [It] may be
called spiritual life, as distinct from a merely intellectual or moral
or aesthetic activity or a combination of them" (IVL 88-89).
For Radhakrishnan, integral intuitions are the authority for, and the
soul of, religion (IVL 89-90). It is here that we find a critical
coalescence of ideas in Radhakrishnan's thinking. If, as Radhakrishnan
claims, personal intuitive experience and inner realization are the
defining features of Advaita Vedanta , and those same features are the
"authority" and "soul" of religion as he understands it, Radhakrishnan
is able to affirm with the confidence he does: "The Vedanta is not a
religion, but religion itself in its most universal and deepest
significance" (HVL 23).
For Radhakrishnan, Hinduism at its Vedantic best is religion. Other
religions, including what Radhakrishnan understands as lower forms of
Hinduism, are interpretations of Advaita Vedanta . Religion and
religions are related in Radhakrishnan's mind as are experience and
interpretation. The various religions are merely interpretations of
his Vedanta. In a sense, Radhakrishnan "Hinduizes" all religions.
Radhakrishnan appropriates traditional exegetical categories to
clarify further the relationship: "We have spiritual facts and their
interpretations by which they are communicated to others, śruti or
what is heard, and smṛti or what is remembered. Śaṅkara equates them
with pratyakṣa or intuition and anumana or inference. It is the
distinction between immediacy and thought. Intuitions abide, while
interpretations change" (IVL 90).
The apologetic force of this brief statement is clear. For
Radhakrishnan, the intuitive, experiential immediacy of Advaita
Vedanta is the genuine authority for all religions, and all religions
as intellectually mediated interpretations derive from and must
ultimately defer to Advaita Vedanta . Put succinctly: "While the
experiential character of religion is emphasized in the Hindu faith,
every religion at its best falls back on it" (IVL 90).
For Radhakrishnan, the religions are not on an even footing in their
approximations and interpretations of a common experience. To the
extent that all traditions are informed by what Radhakrishnan claims
to be a common ground of experience (that is, Advaita Vedanta ), each
religion has value. At the same time, all religions as interpretations
leave room for development and spiritual progress. "While no tradition
coincides with experience, every tradition is essentially unique and
valuable. While all traditions are of value, none is finally binding"
(IVL 120). Moreover, according to Radhakrishnan, the value of each
religion is determined by its proximity to Radhakrishnan's
understanding of Vedanta.
d. Authority of Scripture and the Scientific Basis of Hinduism
Radhakrishnan argues that Hinduism, as he understands it, is a
scientific religion. According to Radhakrishnan, "[i]f philosophy of
religion is to become scientific, it must become empirical and found
itself on religious experience" (IVL 184). True religion, argues
Radhakrishnan, remains open to experience and encourages an
experimental attitude with regard to its experiential data. Hinduism
more than any other religion exemplifies this scientific attitude.
"The Hindu philosophy of religion starts from and returns to an
experimental basis" (HVL 19). Unlike other religions, which set limits
on the types of spiritual experience, the "Hindu thinker readily
admits of other points of view than his own and considers them to be
just as worthy of attention" (HVL 19). What sets Hinduism apart from
other religions is its unlimited appeal to and appreciation for all
forms of experience. Experience and experimentation are the origin and
end of Hinduism, as Radhakrishnan understand it.
Radhakrishnan argues that a scientific attitude has been the hallmark
of Hinduism throughout its history. In a revealing passage,
Radhakrishnan explains: "The truths of the ṛṣis are not evolved as the
result of logical reasoning or systematic philosophy but are the
products of spiritual intuition, dṛṣti or vision. The ṛṣis are not so
much the authors of the truths recorded in the Vedas as the seers who
were able to discern the eternal truths by raising their life-spirit
to the plane of universal spirit. They are the pioneer researchers in
the realm of the spirit who saw more in the world than their
followers. Their utterances are not based on transitory vision but on
a continuous experience of resident life and power. When the Vedas are
regarded as the highest authority, all that is meant is that the most
exacting of all authorities is the authority of facts" (IVL 89-90).
If the ancient seers are, as Radhakrishnan suggests, "pioneer
researchers," the Upaniṣads are the records of their experiments. "The
chief sacred scriptures of the Hindus, the Vedas register the
intuitions of the perfected souls. They are not so much dogmatic dicta
as transcripts from life. They record the spiritual experiences of
souls strongly endowed with the sense of reality. They are held to be
authoritative on the ground that they express the experiences of the
experts in the field of religion" (HVL 17).
Radhakrishnan's understanding of scripture as the scientific records
of spiritual insights holds not only for Hinduism, but for all
religious creeds. Correctly understood, the various scriptures found
in the religions of the world are not an infallible revelation, but
scientific hypotheses: "The creeds of religion correspond to theories
of science" (IVL 86). Radhakrishnan thus recommends that "intuitions
of the human soul… should be studied by the methods which are adopted
with such great success in the region of positive science" (IVL 85).
The records of religious experience, of integral intuitions, that are
the world's scriptures constitute the "facts" of the religious
endeavor. So, "just as there can be no geometry without the perception
of space, even so there cannot be philosophy of religion without the
facts of religion" (IVL 84).
Religious claims, in Radhakrishnan's mind, are there for the testing.
They ought not be taken as authoritative in and of themselves, for
only integral intuitions validated by the light of reason are the
final authority on religious matters. "It is for philosophy of
religion to find out whether the convictions of the religious seers
fit in with the tested laws and principles of the universe" (IVL 85).
"When the prophets reveal in symbols the truths they have discovered,
we try to rediscover them for ourselves slowly and patiently" (IVL
202).
The scientific temperament demanded by "Hinduism" lends itself to
Radhakrishnan's affirmation of the advaitic Absolute. The plurality of
religious claims ought to be taken as "tentative and provisional, not
because there is no absolute, but because there is one. The
intellectual accounts become barriers to further insights if they get
hardened into articles of faith and forget that they are constructed
theories of experience" (IVL 199).
For Radhakrishnan, the marginalization of intuition and the
abandonment of the experimental attitude in matters of religion has
lead Christianity to dogmatic stasis. "It is an unfortunate legacy of
the course which Christian theology has followed in Europe that faith
has come to connote a mechanical adherence to authority. If we take
faith in the proper sense of truth or spiritual conviction, religion
is faith or intuition" (HVL 16). The religious cul de sac in which
Europe and Christian theology find themselves testifies to their
reluctance to embrace the Hindu maxim that "theory, speculations,
[and] dogma change from time to time as the facts become better
understood" (IVL 90). For the value of religious "facts" can only be
assessed "from their adequacy to experience" (IVL 90). Just as the
intellect has dominated Western philosophy to the detriment of
intuition, so too has Christianity followed suit in its search for a
theological touchstone in scripture.
e. Practical Mysticism and Applied Ethics
Radhakrishnan's appeal to intuition underlies his vision for an
ethical Hinduism, a Hinduism free from ascetic excesses. The ethical
potency of intuition affirms the validity of the world. "Asceticism,"
Radhakrishnan emphasizes, "is an excess indulged in by those who
exaggerate the transcendent aspect of reality." Instead, the rational
mystic "does not recognize any antithesis between the secular and the
sacred. Nothing is to be rejected; everything is to be raised" (IVL
115).
Radhakrishnan's ethical mystic does not simply see the inherent value
of the world and engage in its affairs. Rather, the ethical individual
is guided by an intuitive initiative to move the world forward
creatively, challenging convention and established patterns of social
interaction. For Radhakrishnan, this ethically integrated mode of
being presents a positive challenge to moral dogmatism. The positive
challenge to moral convention, according to Radhakrishnan, is the
creative promotion of social tolerance and accommodation. Just as
Radhakrishnan's Hinduism rejects absolute claims to truth and the
validity of external authority, so too has Hinduism "developed an
attitude of comprehensive charity instead of a fanatic faith in an
inflexible creed" (HVL 37).
i. Ethics of Caste
Radhakrishnan affirms that the caste system, correctly understood, is
an exemplary case of ethical tolerance and accommodation born out of
an intuitive consciousness of reality. "The institution of caste
illustrates the spirit of comprehensive synthesis characteristic of
the Hindu mind with its faith in the collaboration of races and the
co-operation of cultures. Paradoxical as it may seem, the system of
caste is the outcome of tolerance and trust" (HVL 93) Based not on the
mechanical fatalism of karma, as suggested by Hinduism's critics, but
on a recognition of Hinduism's spiritual values and ethical ideals,
caste affirms the value of each individual to work out his or her own
spiritual realization, a spiritual consciousness Radhakrishnan
understands in terms of integral experience. Just as Radhakrishnan
sees his ranking of religions as affirming the relative value of each
religion in terms of its proximity to Vedanta, the institution of
caste is a social recognition that each member of society has the
opportunity to experiment with his or her own spiritual consciousness
free from dogmatic restraints. In Radhakrishnan's eyes, herein lies
the ethical potency and creative genius of integral experience. Caste
is the creative innovation of those "whose lives are characterized by
an unshakable faith in the supremacy of the spirit, invincible
optimism, ethical universalism, and religious toleration" (IVL 126).
[For a discussion of the democratic basis of caste in Radhakrishnan's
thinking, see Robert Minor, Radhakrishnan: A Religious
Biography(1989).]
3. Criticism
There are numerous criticisms that may be raised against
Radhakrishnan's philosophy. What follows is not an exhaustive list,
but three of the most common criticisms which may be levied against
Radhakrishnan.
a. Epistemic Authority
The first is a criticism regarding the locus of epistemic authority.
One might ask the question: Does the test for knowledge lie in
scripture or in experience? Radhakrishnan's view is that knowledge
comes from intuitive experience (anubhava). Radhakrishnan makes this
claim on the basis of scripture, namely the Upaniṣads. The Upaniṣads,
according to Radhakrishnan, support a monistic ontology. Radhakrishnan
makes this claim on the basis that the Upaniṣads are the records of
the personal experiences of the ancient sages. Thus, the validity of
one's experience is determined by its proximity to that which is
recorded in the Upaniṣads. Conversely, the Upaniṣads are authoritative
because they are the records of monistic experiences. There is a
circularity here. But this circularity is one with which Radhakrishnan
himself would likely not only acknowledge, but embrace. After all,
Radhakrishnan might argue, intuitive knowledge is non-rational. An
intuitive experience of Reality is not contrary to reason but beyond
the constraints of logical analysis.
b. Cultural and Religious Constructions
A second criticism of Radhakrishnan's views surrounds his
characterizations of the "East" and the "West." Radhakrishnan
characterizes the West, as well as Christianity, as inclined to
dogmatism, the scientific method whose domain is limited to
exploration of the outer natural world, and a reliance upon
second-hand knowledge. The East, by contrast, is dominated by an
openness to inner experience and spiritual experimentation. The West
is rational and logical, while the East is predominantly religious and
mystical. As pointed out by numerous scholars working in the areas of
post-colonial studies and orientalism, Radhakrishnan's constructions
of "West" and "East" (these categories themselves being constructions)
accept and perpetuate orientalist and colonialist forms of knowledge
constructed during the 18th and 19th centuries. Arguably, these
characterizations are "imagined" in the sense that they reflect the
philosophical and religious realities of neither "East" nor "West."
c. Selectivity of Evidence
A separate but related criticism that might be levied against
Radhakrishnan's views has to do with his theory of religious pluralism
and his treatment of the religious traditions with which he deals.
First, Radhakrishnan minimizes the contributions of the monistic
philosophers and religious mystics of the West. While Radhakrishnan
acknowledges the work of such thinkers as Henri Bergon, Goethe, and a
variety of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim mystics, he seems to imply
that such approaches to religious and philosophical life in the West
are exceptions rather than the rule. In fact, Radhakrishnan goes so
far as to suggest that such figures are imbued with the spirit of the
East, and specifically Hinduism as he understands it.
Second, while Radhakrishnan readily acknowledges the religious
diversity within "Hinduism," his treatment of Western traditions is
much less nuanced. In a sense, Radhakrishnan homogenizes and
generalizes Western traditions. In his hierarchy of religions (see
Section 2c above), one or another form of Hinduism may be located
within each of his religious categories (monistic, theistic,
incarnational, ancestoral, and natural). By contrast, Radhakrishnan
seems to imply that the theistic (second) and the incarnational
(third) categories are the domains of Unitarian and Trinitarian
Christianity respectively.
4. List of Abbreviations
HVL - The Hindu View of Life (1927)
IP1 - Indian Philosophy: Volume 1 (1923)
IVL - An Idealist View of Life (1929)
MST - My Search for Truth (1937)
5. References and Further Reading
a. Primary Sources by Radhakrishnan
* The Ethics of the Vedanta and Its Metaphysical Presuppositions.
Madras: The Guardian Press, 1908.
* "Karma and Freewill" in Modern Review. (Calcutta) Vol. III (May
1908), pp. 424-428.
* "Indian Philosophy: The Vedas and the Six Systems" in The Madras
Christian College Magazine. III (New Series), pp. 22-35.
* "'Nature' and 'Convention' in Greek Ethics" in The Calcutta
Review, CXXX (January 1910), pp. 9-23.
* "Egoism and Altruism: The Vedanta Solution" in East and West
(Bombay) IX (July 1910), pp. 626-630.
* "The Relation of Morality to Religion" in The Hindustan Review
(September 1910), pp. 292-297.
* "Morality and Religion in Education" in The Madras Christian
College Magazine. X (1910-1911), pp. 233-239.
* "The Ethics of the Bhagavadgita and Kant" in The International
Journal of Ethics. XXI, Number 4 (July 1911), pp. 465-475.
* Essentials of Psychology. London: Oxford University Press, 1912.
* "The Ethics of the Vedanta" in The International Journal of
Ethics. XXIV, Number 2 (January 1914), pp. 168-183.
* "The Vedanta Philosophy and the Doctrine of Maya" in The
International Journal of Ethics. XXIV, Number 4 (April 1914), pp.
431-451.
* "A View of India on the War" in Asiatic Review. (London), VI
(May 1915), pp. 369-374.
* Religion and Life, Leaflet No. 15, The Theistic Endeavor Society
of Madras. November 1915.
* "The Vedantic Approach to Reality" in The Monist. XXVI, Number 2
(April 1916), pp. 200-231.
* "Religion and Life" in The International Journal of Ethics.
XXVII, Number 1 (October 1916), pp. 91-106.
* "Bergson's Idea of God" in The Quest. (London), VII (October
1916), pp. 1-8.
* "The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore – I" in The Quest.
(London) VIII, Number 3 (April 1917), pp. 457-477.
* "The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore – II" in The Quest.
(London) VIII, Number 4 (July 1917), pp. 592-612.
* "Vedantamum Mayavadamum in Cittantam" in Siddhantam: Journal of
the Saiva Siddhanta Association. V, pp. 159-163.
* The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore. London: Macmillan & Co., 1918.
* "James Ward's Pluaralistic Theism: I" in The Indian
Philosophical Review. II, Number 2 (October 1918), pp. 97-118.
* "James Ward's Pluaralistic Theism: II" in The Indian
Philosophical Review. II, Number 3 (December 1918), pp. 210-232.
* "Bergson and Absolute Idealism – I" in Mind. (New Series) XXVII
(January 1919), pp. 41-53.
* "Bergson and Absolute Idealism – II" in Mind. (New Series) XXVII
(July 1919), pp. 275-296.
* The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy. London:
Macmillan & Co., 1920.
* "The Future of Religion" in The Mysore University Magazine. IV,
(1920), pp. 148-157.
* "Review of Bernard Bosanquet's 'Implication and Linear
Inference'" in The Indian Philosophical Review. III, Number 3 (July
1920), p. 301.
* "The Metaphysics of the Upanisads – I" in The Indian
Philosophical Review. III, Number 3, (July 1920), pp. 213-236.
* The Metaphysics of the Upanisads – II in The Indian
Philosophical Review. III, Number 4, (October 1920), pp. 346-362.
* "Gandhi and Tagore" in The Calcutta Review. (Third Series), I
(October 1921), pp. 14-29.
* "Religion and Philosophy" in The Hibbert Journal. XX, Number 1
(October 1921), pp. 35-45.
* "Tilak as Scholar" in The Indian Review. XXII (December 1921),
pp. 737-739.
* "Contemporary Philosophy" in The Indian Review. XXIII (July
1922), pp. 440-443.
* "The Heart of Hinduism" in The Hibbert Journal. XXI, Number 1
(October 1922), pp. 5-19.
* "The Hindu Dharma" in The International Journal of Ethics.
XXXIII, Number 1 (October 1922), pp. 1-22.
* Indian Philosophy: Volume 1. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1923.
* "Islam and Indian Thought" in The Indian Review. XXIV (Novermber
1923), pp. 53-72.
* "Religious Unity" in The Mysore University Magazine. VII, pp. 187-198.
* The Philosophy of the Upanisads. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1924.
* "Hindu Thought and Christian Doctrine" in The Madras Christian
College Magazine. (Quarterly Series) (January 1924), pp. 18-34.
* "The Hindu Idea of God" in The Quest. (London) XV, Number 3
(April 1924), pp. 289-310.
* "Indian Philosophy: Some Problems" in Mind. (New Series) XXV
(April 1926), pp. 154-180.
* The Hindu View of Life. London: George Allen & Unwim, Ltd., 1927.
* "The Role of Philosophy in the History of Civilization" in Edgar
Shefield Brightman (ed.)Proceedings of the Sixth International
Congress of Philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1927. pp.
543-550.
* "The Doctrine of Maya: Some Problems" in Edgar Shefield
Brightman (ed.) Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of
Philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1927. pp. 683-689.
* Indian Philosophy: Volume 2. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1927.
* "Presidential Address" in Proceedings of the III Indian
Philosophical Congress. Calcutta: Calcutta University, 1927. pp.
19-30.
* "Educational Reform" in The Calcutta Review. (May 1927), pp. 143-154.
* The Religion We Need. London: Ernest Benn, Ltd., 1928.
* The Vedanta According to Śaṅkara and Ramanuja. London: George
Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1928.
* "Indian Philosophy (To the Editor of Mind)" in Mind. (New
Series) XXXVII (January 1928), pp. 130-131.
* Buddhism in Prabuddha Bharata. XXXIII, Number 8 (August 1928),
pp. 349-354.
* "Evolution and Its Implications" in The New Era. I (November
1928), pp. 102-111.
* Kalki or The Future of Civilization. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench
& Co. Ltd., 1929.
* An Idealist View of Life. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1929.
* "Indian Philosophy" in Encyclopedia Britannica. (14th edition)
Volume XII, New York, pp. 242-243.
* Prof. Radhakrishnan's Reply in The Modern Review. XLV, Number 2
(February 1929), pp. 208-213.
* Prof. Radhakrishnan's Reply in The Modern Review. XLV, Number 3
(March 1929), pp. 321-322.
* "Review of John Baillie's 'The Interpretation of Religion'" in
The Hibbert Journal. XXVIII, Number 4 (July 1930), 740-742.
* ""Foreword"" in Abhay Kumer Majumdar, The Sāṃkhya Conception of
Personality. Calcutta: Calcutta University Press, 1930. pp. ix-xii.
* "The Hindu Idea of God" in The Spectator. May 30, 1931 (Number
51370), pp. 851-853.
* "Intuition and Intellect" in Ramananda Chatterjee (ed.) The
Golden Book of Tagore: A Hommage to Rabindranath Tagore from India and
the World in Celebration of His Seventieth Birthday. Calcutta: Golden
Book Committee, pp. 310-313.
* ""Foreword"" in Nalini Kanta Brahma, The Philosophy of Hindu
Sadhana. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench & Co., pp. ix-x.
* "Presidential Address" in H.D. Bhattacharyya (ed.) Proceedings
of the Eighth Indian Philosophical Congress: The University of Mysore.
Calcutta: N.C. Ghosh, pp. v-xvi.
* "Sarvamukti (Universal Salvation) – A Symposium" in H.D.
Bhattacharyya (ed.)Proceedings of the Eighth Indian Philosophical
Congress: The University of Mysore. Calcutta: N.C. Ghosh, pp. 314-318.
* East and West in Religion. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1933.
* "Intellect and Intuition in Sankara's Philosophy" in Triveni.
VI, Number 1 (July-August 1933), pp. 8-16.
* The Teaching of the Buddha: Being the Inaugural Lecture under
the Alphina Ratnayaka Trust Delivered by Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
at Columbo, 2nd October, 1933. Columbo: The Public Trust of Ceylon,
1933.
* "The Teaching of the Buddha by Speech and by Silence" in The
Hibbert Journal. XXXII, Number 3 (April 1934), pp. 342-356.
* ""Foreword"" in Perviz N. Peerozshaw Dubash Hindu Art in its
Social Setting. Madras: National Literature Publishing Co. Ltd., 1934.
pp. iv-v.
* Freedom and Culture. Madras: G.A. Natesan & Co., 1936.
* The Heart of Hindusthan. Madras: G.A. Natesan & Co., 1936.
* "The Spirit in Man" in Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and J.H.
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* "The Supreme Spiritual Ideal" in A. Douglas Millard (ed.) Faiths
and Fellowship: Being the Proceddings of the World Congress of Faiths
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* "Spiritual Freedom and the New Education in New Era" in Home and
School. XVII (September-October 1936). pp. 233-235.
* ""Foreword"" in B.L. Atreya The Philosophy of Yoga-Vasistha.
Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1936. p. vii.
* "Progress and Spiritual Values" in Philosophy: The Journal of
the British Institute of Philosophy. XII, Number 47 (July 1937), pp.
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* "Education and Spiritual Freedom" in Triveni. (New Series) X,
Number 3 (September 1937), pp. 9-22.
* "Hinduism" in G.T Garratt (ed.) The Legacy of India. London:
Oxford University Press, 1937. pp. 256-286.
* "Introduction to the First Edition" in The Cultural Heritage of
India. Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, I,
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* "My Search For Truth" in Vergilius Ferm (ed.) Religion in
Transition. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1937. pp. 11-59.
* "The Individual and the Social Order" in Hinduism in E.R. Hughes
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* "The Failure of the Intellectuals" in The Indian Review. XXXVIII
(December 1937), pp. 737-739.
* ""Foreword"" in Saroj Kumar Das A Study of the Vedanta.
Calcutta: Calcutta University, 1937. pp. ix-x.
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Number 5 (November 1938), pp. 9-14.
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* "Convocation Address" (December 17, 1938) reprinted in Benaras
Hindu University News Letter. (Teacher's Day Special Number) 5th
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* "Letter to Madan Mohan Malaviya" dated 3/12/39 reprinted in
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* "Letter to Madan Mohan Malaviya" dated 20/8/39 reprinted in
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* "Letter to Madan Mohan Malaviya" dated 26/11 reprinted in
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* ""Foreword"" in T.M.P. Mahadevan The Philosophy of Advaita.
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* Eastern Religions and Western Thought. London: Oxford University
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* "Introduction: Gandhi's Religion and Politics" in Sarvepalli
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and Work. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1939. pp. 13-40.
* "Foreword" in S.K. George Gandhi's Challenge to Christianity.
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