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Wk 4Mon, Jan 23

Wed

Bhagavad Gītā– Loose ends

Read Ch. 7, "The Witness and the Watched" – In Hamilton 2001. Indian philosophy: A Very Short

Introduction.

Edwin Bryant’s Ch. 1, “Agency in Sāṅkhya & Yoga” – In Dasti, Matthew and Edwin Bryant, eds. 2014. Free

Will, Agency and Selfhood in Indian Philosophy (FWASIP).

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Term Paper

Through Wk 04– Karma, Dharma, Free Will, the BG, Sāṅkhya Synthesis of what learned thus far Fold in Wk04 reflection, no need for separate

submission

– 6-8 pages + Notes, Bibliography

Due Sat. 9 am ?

Today

Bhagavad Gītā Papers

– White 1984. “The Bhagavadgītā's Conception of Human Freedom.

– MacKenzie 2001. "The Five Factors of Action and the Decentring of Agency in the Bhagavad Gītā."

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Intro to BG

The Mahābhārata Epic

Disagreement over succession to throne: Pāṇḍu’s sons → 5 Pāṇḍavas

– Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva

Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s 100 sons → Kauravas– Duryodhana, Duḥśāsana, etc.

Other figures:– Bhīṣma: patriarch, great-uncle– Kṛpa, Droṇa: Martial arts teachers– Sanjaya: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s charioteer, play-by-play– Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva: prince, cousin, brother-in-law,

charioteer, …

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Some Visuals

Bhīṣma Pāṇdvas & Draupdi Duryodhana Saṃjaya & Dhṛtarāṣṭra

On the verge of war…

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Arjuna’s despair

1. “As a Kṣatriya, my duty is to fight this war; not doing so is wrong.”

2. “But in fighting, I will kill my elders, my teachers, my kin →social chaos, wrong.”

The Bhagavad Gītā itself

200 BCE? 100 CE? Composite vs. Unitary? Integral to MB vs. Interpolation?

– Timing in plot, Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa’s relationship.

Interpolations to BG? Revelation?

– śruti, un-authored, beginning-less– smṛti, tradition, Veda, orthodoxy

Sāṅkhya basis?

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Challenges to Orthodoxy

Orthodoxy = Vedas, Brahmins; stresses karma(rituals)

Newer heterodox systems (Jaina, Buddhist, folk) – Karma → endless rebirths– Renunciation, asceticism– Rejection of caste hierarchy– Royal patrons: Aśoka, Chandragupta Maurya– Direct worship & intercession of gods → bhakti

Need to counter destabilization of ordered world & society…

Kṛṣṇa to the rescue!

Critical of śruti – BG 4.1 Reveals to kṣatriya-s – 3.20, Arjuna

– non-Brahmin = new

Expounds new ideas disguised as old:– 4.2-3: lost tradition of ancient Yoga

Personal revelation – 7.25-26, 9.1-2, 10.1, 11 Upholder of dharma – 4.7-8 God of bhakti – 11.54-5, 18.66

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BG – Brief Outline

Nature of ātman1. Arjuna’s despondency2. Kṛṣṇa’s response3. Karma-yoga4. Jñāna-yoga5. Brahman, meditation6. Ātman, meditation

Nature of supreme deity7. Theistic Sāṅkhya8. Meditation9. The Sublime Mystery10. God’s powers11. Theophany12. Bhakti-yoga

BG Outline, cont’d

Relation between ātman & supreme deity13. The field & knower14. The three guṇa-s15. Puruṣa(-s?)16. The divine & demoniac within17. Three-fold faith18. Recap, conclusion

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Sāṅkhya & Yoga

6 Schools (darśanas) of ‘Hindu’ Philosophy

1. Sāṅkhya, Dualistic Discrimination– 900 BCE – 1000 CE

2. Yoga, translation?– 200 BCE →

3. Nyāya, Logic & Empiricism– ~250 CE →

4. Vaiśeṣika, Atomism, Particularism– 200 BCE – 1 CE, 550 – 1000 CE

5. Mīmāṃsā, Vedic Exegesis– 200 BCE – 700 CE

6. Vedānta, Upaniṣads – ‘Later’ Vedic Exegesis– 200 BCE →

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Sāṅkhya View (in brief)

“Radical Dualism” Two basic ontological principles underlie the

manifest universe1. pure consciousness, puruṣa2. matter, prakṛti

Final purpose:– Attainment of isolation, kaivalya, for puruṣa– Disentanglement from material world

Not a rejection of reality of the world

Qualities, guṇa-s

All matter composed of 3 qualities– sattva, goodness / intelligence / subjectivity /

illumination / purity / harmony– rajas, energy / passion / motion & agency /

activity– tamas, inertia / objective or determinate

aspect / dullness / ignorance / torpor

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David White on BG & Freedom No “freedom in action” (296) Be free from guṇa-s BG 2.45

Causation of acts not “simple, linear, 1:1 process of cause & effect (300).”– Multiple stimuli

Freedom– Of the individual– To choose alternative courses– For whom one acts– From limitations

Matthew MacKenzie on BG & Action and Agency

Five Factors of Action (BG 18.13-15)1. locus, adhiṣṭhānam2. agent, kartā3. instruments, karaṇāṇi4. effort, ceṣṭā5. divine fate, daivam

Three Constituents of Action– Action stimulus: Knower, Known, Knowledge– Action: Instrument, Object, Agent

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MacKenzie, cont’d

Interpreters Considered:– Madhusūdana Sarasvatī, advaitin, c. 1540–1640 CE

– Rāmānuja, Qualified non-dualist, theist 1017–1137 CE

– Aurobindo Ghose, Nationalist & philosopher 1872-1950 CE

MacKenzie, cont’d

Autonomy? (144-6)– BG 18.16, 18.61

Responsibility?