Contemporary Indian Philosophy: Ten Thinkers and Their Key Ideas

Practice questions (17)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

1. Which idea is central to Swami Vivekananda's Practical Vedānta?

   1. Liberation demands complete withdrawal from social life into solitary contemplation, because action only deepens bondage
   2. Human effort is secondary, because a supramental power will descend of its own accord and transform earthly life without any need for service
   3. The divinity of the self must be lived out in practical work, so that serving human beings is itself a form of worshipping God
   4. The finite self must be strengthened as an ego, through action and love, so that it can eventually win a personal immortality of its own
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   Answer: C — The divinity of the self must be lived out in practical work, so that serving human beings is itself a form of worshipping God

   Practical Vedānta turns the Advaitic truth that the self is divine outward: the realisation is to be expressed in service of humanity, which is worship of God. Withdrawal into solitary contemplation is the tempting misreading of Advaita as world-denying, which Vivekananda set out to correct. Descent of a supramental power is Aurobindo, and strengthening the ego (Khudi) is Iqbal.

2. A thinker holds that the Divine first involved itself in matter, that evolution is its gradual re-emergence through life and mind, and that a supramental consciousness above mind must be brought down to divinise earthly life. Which thinker is this?

   1. Swami Vivekananda, for whom the soul is already free and immortal and the goal of life is to manifest that inborn divinity
   2. Sri Aurobindo, whose method for this task is Integral Yoga
   3. S. Radhakrishnan, for whom intuition is an integral experience that completes intellect and grasps reality as a whole
   4. Rabindranath Tagore, for whom the divine is to be found and realised within humanity, in relationship and creative joy
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   Answer: B — Sri Aurobindo, whose method for this task is Integral Yoga

   Involution of the Divine in matter, evolution through life and mind, the Supermind above mind and Integral Yoga are all Aurobindo's. Vivekananda is the tempting alternative because he is also Vedāntic, but he holds that the soul is already divine and free and needs only to manifest that divinity; he has no evolutionary ascent to a Supermind to be brought down.

3. Which of the following statements about Vivekananda and Aurobindo are correct?

   1. Aurobindo held that mind is the final summit of evolution, beyond which nothing higher can emerge
   2. Vivekananda treated religion as realisation, the direct experience of the divine, rather than as doctrine or ritual
   3. Vivekananda held that the soul is inherently sinful and gains its divinity only from an external source
   4. Aurobindo's Integral Yoga aims to bring the supramental power down to transform earthly life, not merely to secure personal escape
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   Answer: B — Vivekananda treated religion as realisation, the direct experience of the divine, rather than as doctrine or ritual; D — Aurobindo's Integral Yoga aims to bring the supramental power down to transform earthly life, not merely to secure personal escape

   Vivekananda made religion a matter of realisation, and Aurobindo's Integral Yoga aims at the descent of the supramental power to divinise life. Aurobindo placed the Supermind above mind, so mind is not the summit; and Vivekananda taught that the soul is already divine and free, not sinful and dependent on an outside source.

4. In Iqbal's philosophy, Khudi, the central term of his thought, refers to:

   1. The self or ego, which is to be strengthened and affirmed rather than dissolved
   2. The dissolution of the individual self into an all-embracing divine whole
   3. The collective will of the political nation, to which the individual must be subordinated
   4. A pure witness-consciousness that is inactive and attributeless
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   Answer: A — The self or ego, which is to be strengthened and affirmed rather than dissolved

   Khudi is the self or ego, and Iqbal's point is that it is to be strengthened through action, desire and love, not dissolved. Dissolution of the self into a divine whole is the tempting answer because it is the aim of some mysticism, which Iqbal explicitly opposes; the inactive attributeless witness is Sānkhya's puruṣa.

5. In Iqbal's view, God is best conceived as:

   1. An impersonal, attributeless reality with which every finite self is finally identical
   2. A distant first cause that set the universe in motion and thereafter takes no part in it
   3. A material principle from which consciousness emerges when the elements combine in a living body
   4. The Ultimate Ego, the supremely creative individual whose continuing activity is the universe
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   Answer: D — The Ultimate Ego, the supremely creative individual whose continuing activity is the universe

   Iqbal conceives God as the Ultimate Ego, a perfect, creative individual whose dynamic activity is the universe, which is why finite egos are real and can grow in relation to Him. An impersonal attributeless reality is the Advaitic Brahman, a remote first cause is deism, and emergence from matter is Cārvāka materialism.

6. On Tagore's critique of nationalism, which statement is correct?

   1. He holds that a strong, centralised Nation-state is the indispensable vehicle for India's spiritual mission in the world
   2. He argues that political independence is meaningless unless Indians first win intellectual freedom from borrowed Western categories
   3. He contrasts a people's living culture with the Nation as an organised, power-seeking mechanism, and sets universal humanism above it
   4. He holds that aggressive nationalism is the highest form of ethical life, because it binds individuals to a larger good
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   Answer: C — He contrasts a people's living culture with the Nation as an organised, power-seeking mechanism, and sets universal humanism above it

   Tagore distinguishes the living people and culture from the Nation as an organised, mechanical, power-seeking structure, and criticises the latter as dehumanising. The tempting alternative is the argument about intellectual freedom from borrowed Western categories, which sounds like a critique of colonial thinking but is K. C. Bhattacharyya's 'Swaraj in Ideas'. The other two options praise the Nation-state or aggressive nationalism, which Tagore rejects.

7. Which of the following statements about Iqbal and Tagore are correct?

   1. Iqbal takes intellect and intuition to be complementary: reason masters the outer world, while intuition gives direct contact with reality and with God
   2. Iqbal's Perfect Man is a godless superman who creates his own values without reference to God
   3. Tagore's Religion of Man seeks the divine within humanity, in human relationship and creative joy
   4. Tagore's educational ideal favours rote learning under strict discipline over freedom and creativity
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   Answer: A — Iqbal takes intellect and intuition to be complementary: reason masters the outer world, while intuition gives direct contact with reality and with God; C — Tagore's Religion of Man seeks the divine within humanity, in human relationship and creative joy

   Iqbal sees intellect and intuition as complementary, and Tagore's Religion of Man locates the divine in humanity. Iqbal's Perfect Man is God-conscious, a vicegerent of God, in contrast to a godless superman; and Tagore's Santiniketan rejects rote learning and rigid discipline in favour of freedom, creativity and harmony with nature.

8. K. C. Bhattacharyya's 'Swaraj in Ideas' calls for:

   1. Freedom of thought from unconscious subjection to borrowed Western categories, so that Indians think afresh from their own standpoint
   2. Disciplined non-violent mass resistance as the chief means by which political independence is to be won from colonial rule
   3. A return to the Vedic ritual tradition, with the rejection of all foreign learning as a corrupting influence on Indian life
   4. Complete reliance on Western concepts and methods, since intellectual freedom is irrelevant to political freedom
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   Answer: A — Freedom of thought from unconscious subjection to borrowed Western categories, so that Indians think afresh from their own standpoint

   Bhattacharyya argues that political freedom is hollow without intellectual freedom: Indians must stop thinking only in borrowed Western categories while still engaging other traditions. Non-violent mass resistance is Gandhi's satyāgraha, the tempting answer because it is also called a form of swaraj; and he neither rejects all foreign learning nor treats intellectual freedom as irrelevant.

9. Which statement correctly distinguishes K. C. Bhattacharyya's account of the self from J. Krishnamurti's?

   1. For Bhattacharyya the observer is the observed, whereas for Krishnamurti the subject is realised as freedom through graded withdrawal from objects
   2. Both hold that the self is an object that can be known directly by introspection, as any passing mental state is known by the one who has it
   3. For Bhattacharyya the self is a stream of momentary aggregates, whereas for Krishnamurti it is the Ultimate Ego, the supremely creative individual
   4. For Bhattacharyya the subject is realised as freedom through graded withdrawal from objects, whereas for Krishnamurti the observer is the observed
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   Answer: D — For Bhattacharyya the subject is realised as freedom through graded withdrawal from objects, whereas for Krishnamurti the observer is the observed

   In The Subject as Freedom, Bhattacharyya holds that the subject cannot be known as an object and is realised as freedom by graded withdrawal; Krishnamurti's signature claim is that the observer is the observed, so no separate thinker stands apart from thought. The swapped pairing is the tempting distractor because both thinkers criticise treating the self as an object; the stream of momentary aggregates is Buddhist and the Ultimate Ego is Iqbal's God.

10. For Radhakrishnan, what is the relation of intuition to intellect?

    1. Intuition is a lower, merely emotional faculty that must be set aside once intellect has finished its proper work of analysis and argument
    2. Intuition is an integral experience that grasps reality directly and as a whole, and it completes intellect, not contradicts it
    3. Intellect alone is a valid source of knowledge, and intuition is only a private feeling that can never yield any real truth
    4. Intuition and intellect are opposed, so the seeker must reject reason entirely in order to know reality as it truly is
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    Answer: B — Intuition is an integral experience that grasps reality directly and as a whole, and it completes intellect, not contradicts it

    Radhakrishnan treats intuition as integral insight that completes intellect, since reason alone remains outer and partial. The tempting misreading is that mystical intuition opposes reason, which would make the seeker reject it; that is exactly what he does not say, nor does he reduce intuition to private feeling.

11. Which of the following statements about Radhakrishnan and K. C. Bhattacharyya are correct?

    1. Radhakrishnan held reality to be fundamentally material, with spirit as a by-product of matter
    2. Radhakrishnan's universal religion treats the many faiths as diverse approaches to one reality, so that tolerance and fellowship are central
    3. Radhakrishnan's Hindu View of Life presents Hinduism as an experiential, undogmatic way of life rather than a fixed creed
    4. K. C. Bhattacharyya held that political freedom is sufficient, so that intellectual freedom is unnecessary
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    Answer: B — Radhakrishnan's universal religion treats the many faiths as diverse approaches to one reality, so that tolerance and fellowship are central; C — Radhakrishnan's Hindu View of Life presents Hinduism as an experiential, undogmatic way of life rather than a fixed creed

    Radhakrishnan's universal religion and his reading of Hinduism as an undogmatic way of life are both standard. His Idealist View of Life makes reality fundamentally spiritual, not material, and Bhattacharyya's whole point in 'Swaraj in Ideas' is that political freedom is hollow without intellectual freedom.

12. Choiceless awareness, the observing of 'what is' without judgement, comparison or the interference of thought, belongs to which thinker?

    1. M. K. Gandhi, through satyāgraha and the discipline of non-violence
    2. J. Krishnamurti
    3. Sri Aurobindo, through the descent of the supramental power
    4. Muhammad Iqbal, through the strengthening of the self (Khudi)
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    Answer: B — J. Krishnamurti

    Choiceless awareness is Krishnamurti's term for seeing what is, instantly and without the mediation of thought, which for him is the only route to transformation. Gandhi's method is satyāgraha, Aurobindo's is Integral Yoga and Iqbal's is the strengthening of Khudi; each is a different practice.

13. According to J. Krishnamurti, what is thought?

    1. The response of memory, always old and limited, which builds the self and divides experience; freedom is thus freedom from the known
    2. A creative power which, properly disciplined under a qualified teacher, leads the self step by step to truth along a prescribed path
    3. The lowest grade of cognition, which intuition as an integral experience must finally complete and carry beyond itself
    4. An illusion projected by māyā, which vanishes as soon as the self realises its identity with the one Brahman
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    Answer: A — The response of memory, always old and limited, which builds the self and divides experience; freedom is thus freedom from the known

    For Krishnamurti, thought is the mechanical response of accumulated memory; it constructs the 'me' and splits experience, hence freedom is release from the known. A prescribed path under a teacher is the very thing he rejects (truth is a pathless land); intuition completing intellect is Radhakrishnan, and dissolving an illusion by identity with Brahman is Advaita.

14. Which of the following statements about Gandhi and J. Krishnamurti are correct?

    1. For Gandhi, truth is the end and ahiṃsā the means, and the two are so intertwined that they cannot be separated
    2. Krishnamurti holds that transformation requires a guru and a systematic method which the seeker obeys
    3. Gandhi's satyāgraha aims to defeat the opponent by superior force so that justice can be secured
    4. In Hind Swaraj Gandhi criticises modern civilization for seeking ever greater bodily comforts through machinery
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    Answer: A — For Gandhi, truth is the end and ahiṃsā the means, and the two are so intertwined that they cannot be separated; D — In Hind Swaraj Gandhi criticises modern civilization for seeking ever greater bodily comforts through machinery

    Truth as end and ahiṃsā as means, and the critique of civilization's pursuit of bodily comforts through machinery in Hind Swaraj, are Gandhi's. Krishnamurti rejects every guru and system; and satyāgraha seeks to convert the opponent through suffering and truth, never to defeat him by force.

15. In Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar's central claim is that caste is:

    1. A natural division of labour that needs only the removal of untouchability and of cruelty in practice to become harmless to society
    2. A purely economic arrangement that will disappear of itself as industrialisation and rising incomes weaken its hold
    3. A social order whose hierarchy is justified, because each caste has its own distinct duty fixed by its birth
    4. A system of graded inequality that cannot be reformed piecemeal and must be annihilated by rejecting its scriptural sanction
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    Answer: D — A system of graded inequality that cannot be reformed piecemeal and must be annihilated by rejecting its scriptural sanction

    Ambedkar treats caste as graded inequality, not a mere division of labour: it divides labourers rather than labour, so piecemeal reform fails and the scriptural sanction must be rejected. The division-of-labour defence is the tempting answer, but he rejects it; and he does not hold that caste is merely economic or that its birth-fixed hierarchy is justified.

16. Which of the following is one of the three myths that Daya Krishna attacks in Three Myths about Indian Philosophy?

    1. That Indian philosophy was borrowed wholesale from Greek thought and has no independent origin
    2. That Indian philosophy was transmitted only orally and was never committed to writing
    3. That Indian philosophy is essentially spiritual, a mokṣa-centred enterprise
    4. That Indian philosophy begins only with the Buddha and has no earlier phase
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    Answer: C — That Indian philosophy is essentially spiritual, a mokṣa-centred enterprise

    The first of Daya Krishna's three myths is that Indian philosophy is essentially spiritual and mokṣa-centred; accounts usually name the other two as the notion of Vedic authority as its defining test and the picture of it as a fixed set of schools. None of the other options is among the myths he is reported to attack.

17. Which of the following statements about Ambedkar and Daya Krishna are correct?

    1. Daya Krishna accepts that Indian philosophy is essentially a spiritual, mokṣa-centred enterprise rather than a tradition of argument
    2. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly
    3. Ambedkar held that political democracy is unsafe unless it rests on social democracy
    4. Ambedkar defined democracy chiefly as a periodic ballot, with no concern for social relations
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    Answer: B — Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly; C — Ambedkar held that political democracy is unsafe unless it rests on social democracy

    Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee and insisted that political democracy needs social democracy, a way of life of liberty, equality and fraternity beneath it. He defined democracy as a mode of associated living, not a mere ballot; and Daya Krishna treats the picture of Indian philosophy as essentially spiritual and mokṣa-centred as a myth rather than accepting it.