The Vedanta school of philosophy views the world from an idealistic perspective; it dismisses the concrete realities in the world as mere illusions and promises afterworld to humans. Whereas the material school of philosophy compels the people to accept the concrete realities of the world and dismisses the theory of the afterworld - Debi Prasad
Coimbatore: In an age, where most students pursue education just for their survival, a classroom in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calcutta would have been so lively and exciting with hot debates between a student and a professor.The professor was Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, the teacher, who later became the President of India, and the student was none other than Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, who, at a later time, turned into a famed Marxist philosopher.
“Just imagine the interesting debates between the student, who had a material perspective of the world, and the teacher with an idealistic view of life” recalled S.Balachandran, a city-based Marxist educator, writer, and translator.
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, who was posthumously conferred the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian awards, was born in Calcutta in 1918. With a passion for Indian philosophy, he immersed himself in the subject and later authored the famed book Lokayuta: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism.
“Debi Prasad believed in the opinion of Karl Marx, the famed philosopher, that India had no perfect written history of itself. Therefore Debiprasad wanted to write the unwritten history of the subcontinent into written history. His wish, through his long years of study and research, bore fruit with his writing of the book Lokayata, a monumental work on the study of ancient Indian materialism” informs Balachandran.
Admiring the merits of Lokayata, Balachandran points out:
“Lokayata received worldwide acclamation soon after it came out in 1959. Joseph Needham, a British historian, and Sinologist, who dedicated a great portion of his life to researching the history and culture of China, once wrote that he wished to display Debiprasad’s Lokayata at the top of all the books in his library. Moreover, a humble Needham said that his research in Sinology should have been from a similar perspective as Debiprasad viewed the Indian society through his Lokayata”
On Debiprasad’s views on the two schools of philosophy – the Vedanta school and the material one, Balachandran compares:
“The Vedanta school of philosophy views the world from an idealistic perspective; it dismisses the concrete realities in the world as mere illusions and promises afterworld to humans. Even progressive thinkers of the Vedanta school from Saint Ramanuja to Swami Vivekanada viewed the world from an idealistic perspective. Whereas the material school of philosophy compels the people to accept the concrete realities of the world and dismisses the theory of the afterworld.”
“The conception called ‘God’ makes man believe that he is the creation of the Almighty, who is responsible for all his acts in life whether good or evil. Led by this false notion, man creates in him a ‘pseudo conscience' which licenses him even to do evil deeds to achieve his selfish goals. Nevertheless, when he is unable to escape from the stings of his real conscience, his resort is again the same ‘God’, to whom he confesses his evil deeds and receives pardon from Him. Thus Debiprasad discovered the dual roles of the concept called ‘God’ which makes him commit evil deeds and provides him pardon as well” says Balachandran.