A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1Dasgupta, Surendranath
Religion
A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1
Dasgupta, Surendranath
Hindu philosophy; India -- Religion
There was no self or soul, no
virtue or vice. The Sus'ik@sita Cârvâkas held that there was
a soul apart from the body but that it also was destroyed with
the destruction of the body. The original work of the Cârvâkas
was written in sûtras probably by B@rhaspati. Jayanta and Gu@naratna
quote two sûtras from it. Short accounts of this school may be
found in Jayanta's _Nyâyamañjarî_, Mâdhava's _Sarvadars'anasa@mgraha_
and Gu@naratna's _Tarkarahasyadîpikâ_. _Mahâbhârata_ gives
an account of a man called Cârvâka meeting Yudhi@s@thira.
Side by side with the doctrine of the Cârvâka materialists we
are reminded of the Âjîvakas of which Makkhali Gosâla, probably
a renegade disciple of the Jain saint Mahâvîra and a contemporary
of Buddha and Mahâvîra, was the leader. This was a thorough-going
determinism denying the free will of man and his moral
responsibility for any so-called good or evil. The essence of
Makkhali's system is this, that "there is no cause, either proximate
or remote, for the depravity of beings or for their purity. They
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become so without any cause. Nothing depends either on one's
own efforts or on the efforts of others, in short nothing depends
on any human effort, for there is no such thing as power or energy,
or human exertion. The varying conditions at any time are due
to fate, to their environment and their own nature [Footnote ref 1]."
Another sophistical school led by Ajita Kesakambali taught
that there was no fruit or result of good or evil deeds; there is no
other world, nor was this one real; nor had parents nor any
former lives any efficacy with respect to this life. Nothing that
we can do prevents any of us alike from being wholly brought to
an end at death [Footnote ref 2].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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