Death - Greek and Hindu Philosophy - Case Study Example

DEATH: GREEK & HINDU PHILOSOPHY Death is the final destination of life. However, upon closer examination of its content, one can see the relationship between the two, especially their message or point of view on death, particularly in Western or Greek philosophy. It is true that death, like life, can bear its own meaning and if projected particularly vividly, as during the Renaissance period in Italy, it can well translate into the manifestation of a signal that the person or family intends to convey to others. In the context of Greek philosophy, death is seen as a means of achieving honor. Death becomes the path where an individual, depending on his status in life or what he did, would have a funeral suitable to the honor that he is worth. In addition to this, death is also seen as a means of showing power and ambitions of an individual. Greek philosophy was able to provide examples to support these claims and is able to infuse the readers with the symbolisms or of a different perspective about death. On the other hand, as a background of Hinduism as a philosophy it should be mentioned that it lacks a uniting belief system. In other words, Hinduism is actually many beliefs and practices labeled as a single philosophy. Thus, it can well be enumerated that Hinduism is more of a compilation of different conflicting school of thoughts unlike more modern traditional philosophies like Christianity or Islam. Hinduism can be compared to sociological or artistic theories like expressionism or surrealism or for that matter modernism or post modernism. Here the concept of death is wide spread and the general belief states that death is the beginning of the other world. Greek philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, viewed death in a more practical manner. They considered it as the opposite of life and thus symbol of evil. Plato commented, “Death is not the worst that can happen to men.” (Plato) Here, though the context is different it is obvious that he indicated that death is ramification of life and that the position of death must be well developed. In a way, the notion of pride and nobility is at stake if the death comes in an inglorious manner. An example would be the observations done on the mourning clothes that were worn during funerals of the Hellenic period by the patricians, where wealthy people would have finer, more elegant mourning clothes. Moreover, death is observed as a means of understanding kinship or relationships between families, including their allegiances and affections. Somehow, the audience or readers would understand or see that death does not stop the life of a person, but it actually extends it to the other individuals. However, from the parameters of Hinduism it can be stated that no such alignments have been observed in connection to death. Furthermore, the basic of Hinduism is based on six parallel theories, the Shadadarshan or the ‘Six Philosophies’. These are Shyankhya, Yog, Patanjjal, Dbytabad, Adbytabad and Mimansa. Out of these six, only two believe in the existence or the need of existence of God. Furthermore, the saints of Hinduism never referred to these schools as philosophies. Rather they called it Dharma- the way of life, or how a ‘life’ should be led. Dharma is a code of conduct for citizen more in the pattern of Capitalism or Communism. It is this place, in the entire world, where we find that people are free to choose their own philosophy as practice. The government or even the society is most reluctant about this choice. Death in this context is a part of life and a common existence. In general, it would be relevant to state that audiences or readers would see through the great details provided by Aristotle that indeed, people, through their pride, connections and social position, can stay alive for eternity by simply manipulating where they would be buried, the number of perpetual masses conducted in their funeral decorations and items. Through the works of Greek philosophers, readers would really see that death is not that morbid at all, but a fascinating perspective about life. This perspective is clearly visible in the works of Aristotle. Aristotle stated in his work “Educated men are as much superior to uneducated men as the living are to the dead.” (Laeritius) The Hindu desire for liberation, or death, from earthly existence is found in Yog and Dbytabad, the only two segments that believe in the existence of God. However, majority of the population of Indian subcontinent believe in these two segments, their subdivisions, and these two philosophies favors the reincarnation of the human soul. These reincarnations are called the devotional phases of spiritualism where the ultimate goal is achieving the ‘Moksha’ or the singularity of existence. However, ‘Moksha’ one can be aligned with the ‘Paramatma’ or the ultimate entity of existence. This process takes several cycle of birth, death and rebirth till the ‘Moksha’ is achieved. Thus, death in accordance to the composite Hindu philosophy is a transition period than an ultimate result. It can be mentioned that there are widely misunderstood conceptions about Hinduism as it is unique in the entire world only Taoism and Confucianism comes close to Hinduism as concepts. It also would be impractical to recommend a wide spread of Hinduism for a better understanding rather it could be mentioned that the basic concepts of Hinduism should be taught in universities for students to be acquainted with Hinduism and its true nature thus nullifying the regular misconceptions and the concept of death remains a stepping stone of life rather than an element of mourning. Greek philosophy, in accordance to the Homeric epics, states that Hades is the god of death and after a person die his or her breath leaves the body and enters the kingdom of Hades. This last breath is referred to as psyche and it is, an image that is, untouchable. During the time of Socrates, this myth was turned into a philosophical context and it was believed that the psyche was deemed to be blessed, or punished, in accordance to the deeds of the individual. Hinduism and the philosophy of death have an often-overlapping quest for the ultimate end in life- Enlightenment. The concept of death in Hinduism is called Nirvana, a Sanskrit word that connotes extinction or extinguishing (of passions). It is a state of mind and existence that is free from emotions and thoughts of desire, lust or cravings- the ‘Kileshas’, and is marked by inner peace, contentment, and freedom from sorrows or ‘Dukha’. This state of “the highest happiness” as defined by the Hindu philosophy in ‘Dhammapada’, is not a ephemeral, material happiness, but an enduring and transcendental one integral to the calmness attained through enlightenment (Skilton). The Hindu philosophy elucidates immersion into Nirvana as achieving ‘deathlessness’ ( in Pali amata or amaravatai) or ‘ the unconditioned’ and the highest spiritual attainment, which can be acquired through following a life of virtuous conduct in accordance with ‘Dharma’ (Bechert). Thus, from a different perspective death is the alignment of the higher soul. Hinduism, again, approaches the concept of enlightenment through a sense of the higher and inner Soul or the “I” in contrast to Dytva school of Hindu philosophy that describes the notion of void and selflessness. In Hinduism, as per Shyankha philosophy, death, ‘Moksha’, or salvation happens when the soul or ‘jivatman’ recognizes its union with the source of all phenomenal existence – the Brahman. Advaita Vedanta says that the Self or Supreme Soul is formless, beyond being and non-being, beyond tangibility and comprehension (Bhaskarananda). An analogy is that the soul is like a drop of water, which upon salvation, merges with the ocean or the Supreme soul. The concept of non-duality through enlightment is best summed through the Sanskrit phrase – ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ or ‘Thou Art That’. The quest of life is to break free of separation of the ‘me’ and ‘you’ and see everything as ‘I AM’ (Bhaskarananda). The ‘I’ here is not the ego but the ‘True Self’. Everything is part of this larger ‘I’ and when awareness shifts from the egocentric ‘me, mine and I” to the real ‘I’, you actually see all that is just you and break free from all duality (Bhaskarananda). Thus the path to selflessness is a deep, truthful understanding of the self rather than creating a void. Moksha is seen as a final release from one’s worldly conception of the self and breaking free of the shackle of experiential duality and re-establishment of one’s own fundamental nature (Sinha). The state of salvation is seen differently from each ones’ perspective depending on the inner soul. It is stated in Karmasutra that death, atman is “Na Hanyate hanyamane sharire”, or there is no death to death. It is universal but it is a temporary position in the circle of life. In this context, it is relevant to mention the views of Plato in relation to death. Plato mentioned in his famous work “The Republic” that “There is another motive in purifying religion, which is to banish fear; for no man can be courageous who is afraid of death, or who believes the tales which are repeated by the poets concerning the world below. They must be gently requested not to abuse hell; they may be reminded that their stories are both untrue and discouraging.” (Jowett) Thus it is clear that Plato accepted the truth that it is admissible to be afraid of death and it is human nature to fear death. But, it should be respected in order to respect life and live in the fullest mode. The Bodhyan School of philosophy in Hinduism, on the other hand, considers the world as a place of sorrows and pain and the objective of human life as defined by the religion is to end this sorrow. It calls for joining the Order or quest for the ultimate death or ‘Nirvana’, i.e., enlightenment at any stage in life depending on individual spiritual preparedness. The ‘Four Noble Truths’ point towards preparation of Nirvana. Bodhyan School of philosophy also defined an Eightfold path of Dharma, which was a middle way between materialism and idealism (Skilton). Avisatta School in contrast sees life as having four ‘arthas’ or aims, which every human being should pursue. These include the pursuit of ‘Dharma’ or right actions aligned with highest inner principles and religious duty, ‘Artha’ or wealth and material possessions, ‘Kama’ or desires or passions and ‘Moksha’ or salvation (Bhaskarananda). It also prescribes stages in human life or ‘Ashramas’ to follow each of these pursuits. The path to ‘Moksha’ is achieved through both justice to each phase and dedication to achieving it in the last phase of life and the beginning of death. Nirvana is accessible to men and women alike (Smith). Moksha is also attainable for both men and women though the responsibilities that are part of earlier stages in life are different and must be fulfilled virtuously to reach the path of Moksha (Smith). Though Hinduism sees the human form as supreme against all other living creations, the cycle of birth and death and Moksha is open to all forms of being and animals (Sinha). Buddhism also supports the idea of Nirvana being attainable by any living being, which follows a life of virtue (Bechert). Thus while Hinduism schools share the concept of enlightenment as the ultimate goal in life, they differ in the approach of attaining non-duality or shift of awareness based on egocentric perception to the one true reality, which leads to enlightenment and death is the carrier. While Bodhyan sees non-duality as the absence of a sense of separate ego, Hinduism finds it in the unification of the self with everything around in the purest, truthful form. The best way to define this difference is “If you are experiencing the natural working of the organism, without any sense of separation, you are enjoying a Buddhist enlightenment experience, while if you feeling the expanded sense of the Oneness with everything, you are experiencing enlightenment from the Hindu perspective (Bhaskarananda).” Thus, it is obvious that two different cultures saw the aspects of death in two different notions. While the Greeks considered it as a part of achievement of glory if death is achieved in a proper way the Hindu way of life took death as a transit point of beginning of a new birth. References: Bechert, Heinz & Richard Gombrich. 1984. The World of Hinduism. Thames & Hudson Bhaskarananda, Swami. 1994. The Essentials of Hinduism: a comprehensive overview of the worlds oldest religion. Seattle, WA: Viveka Press, Jowett, Benjamin; trans. 2000; The Republic by Plato; Dunedin: Orion Laeritius, Diogenes; 2006; Lives of Eminent Philosophers, book V; Auckland: Polity Press Plato; 2001; Works; Wellington: Churchill Publications Sinha, H.P. 1993. Bharatiya darshan ki ruparekha (Features of Indian Philosophy). Motilal Banarasidas Publication Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Hinduism. Windhorse Publications, 1997. Smith, Huston. 1991. The Worlds Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions. San Francisco : Harper: San Francisco Read More