--The Philosophy of Socrates is founded on the Upanishads. Two thousand and four hundred years ago, one man in Greece tried to understand the meaning of life. His search was so radical, original and charismatic that he became famous throughout the Mediterranean. Men, particularly the youth, flocked to hear him speak. Some were even inspired to imitate his ascetic habits. They wore their hair long, their feet bare and their clocks torn. He charmed the entire city of Athens and all would come to listen. As the famous Roman orator Cicero put it “He brought philosophy down from the skies”. Who was this man? The man was Socrates, the philosopher from ancient Athens and arguably the true father of Western thought. Socrates was born in Athens in 499 B.C. as the son of a stone mason. In a city like Athens that made a cult of physical beauty [it was thought that an exquisite face revealed an inner nobility of spirit], the philosopher was disturbingly ugly. Socrates had a pot belly, a weird walk, swiveling eyes and hairy hands. Right from his boyhood, Socrates had no desire to possess material things. He always relied on what he called as “inner voice” to guide his life. This ‘inner voice’ would come to him during strange episodes when the philosopher stood still, staring for hours. At the time when Socrates was born in Athens and grew up, there was a great deal of intellectual traffic between the great civilizations of the times. Historical records prove that there was a two- way intellectual and trade traffic between India and Greece. In the sixth century B,C. Greece and India were brought together and closer by Persia as the two wings of the empire of Darius and Indian thoughts led to the growth of new ideas in Greek thought. A good number of philosophers and thinkers from India went to Greece by boats and ships and discussed concepts of philosophy with their counterparts in Greece. According to Aristotle’s music pupil Aristoxenus, Indian philosophers were seen in Athens interviewing Socrates. This is made amply evident because in Plato’s [Socrates’ pet pupil] book “The Republic”, we get clear echoes of Karma, Punarjanma, Varnashrama etc. In his book “The Message of Plato”, the famous British writer Urwick says you can never understand Socrates, Plato and Aristotle without understanding the Upanishads. Study the Upanishads and all these three early Greek philosophers become clear to you. So, it is evident that India did influence some of these foreign countries throughout history, in the world of thoughts, in the world of ideas, in the world of culture It may be recalled that in our ancient system of learning in the gurukulas, a system of learning by name ‘Pariprashna’ was in vogue. This involved imparting spiritual education to the students through a series of questions and answers. The teacher pretended ignorance in order to lead the students into a display of supposed knowledge. The use of dialogues to generate an understanding of difficult philosophical insights was common in all the gurukulas and was a specialty of India. We have Sri Krishna instructing Arjuna in the Bhagavadgita and Yama answering Nachiketa’s questions in the Kathopanishad, to give two examples. For the first time in the history of Western philosophy, it was Socrates who emulated this system and introduced it in Greece nearly 2,400 years ago, influenced by his knowledge about the system through contact n with Indian philosophers. Today this system has become so popular in the West that it is specially designated as the Socratic Method and has been defined as ‘method of teaching by a series of simple questions by revealing to the interlocutors their own ignorance’ Commenting on the problem of life, death and rebirth, Socrates contends that death is nothing more than the separation of the soul from the body. After death, the soul separated from the body, exists by itself away from the body. Socrates further says that after death, a true philosopher should have his concern not for the body, which is just a prison and a corrupting prison at that, but for the soul which needs to be set free. The body is an obstacle and a hindrance to a true philosopher in search of wisdom. The soul reasons best when it is left undisturbed by the senses, the sight, hearing, pleasure and pain. The contempt for the body that Socrates held is evident by the way he drank, even on the throes of death, when he drank hemlock as if he was drinking a cup of tea. According to Socrates when a man dies, he discards his body as he would do it with a torn cloth and does not grieve over it. This is exactly an echo of the teaching of the Upanishads and the teaching of the Bhagavadgitha when it says “Vasamsi jeernani yatha vihaya navani grihnathi naroparani Tatha shreerani vihaya jeernanyani samyathi navani dehee” Geetha 22.2 meaning, “just as a man shedding out worn-out garments, takes other new ones, likewise the embodied soul, casting off worn-out bodies enters into other new bodies”. According to Socrates when a man dies, the soul departs from the body but it has some ‘power and sense’. The soul of the dead goes to Hades [abode for the departed spirit] and will wait there for sometime and then return to the world to enter a fresh body. The process thereafter repeats. This, Socrates says, confirms his conviction that the soul never dies and is immortal and occasionally gets separated from the body. This is another resounding echo of our Upanishadic declaration and reminds one of Acharya Shankara’s famous shloka in his composition ‘Bhaja Govindam’ where he says “Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam Punarapi janani jathare shayanam”. Socrates was a sophist. To him eternal happiness could be found only in true religion and ‘Self-Realization’ and not in the study of secular subjects which at best could give temporary happiness. In other words, he believed in the Upanishadic message of the Kathopanishad which states : Naayamatmaa pravachanena labhyah , meaning “This Atman as Eternal Truth cannot be attained by mere study of scriptures”. For the first time in the history of Western philosophy, this bold declaration about true happiness startled the thinkers in the West. Besides, this new approach to happiness as propounded by Socrates drew the attention of quite a few youngsters in Athens towards Socrates. He advised them not to waste their time in seeking worldly happiness but to dedicate themselves to the pursuit of Truth. Like Bhagavan Ramana Mahrshi, he showed them that the simplest way towards eternal happiness consisted in following the principle of “Know Thyself” or the Upanishadic Mahavakya “ Tat Tvamasi”. [Thou art That] . Socrates wrote nothing himself but his most brilliant and noteworthy pupil Plato [424-347 B.C.] was His Master’s Voice. Plato had set up a school of philosophy in an olive grove on the outskirts of Athens known as “Academy’, remembered the words and teachings of Socrates and wrote several books which contains Socrates’ thoughts on philosophy. Two of the most important books of Plato are ‘The Republic’ and ‘The Dialogues of Plato’. These books of Plato are the only authentic sources of information on the thoughts and philosophy of Socrates. In fact “The Dialogues of Plato” remains even today as one of the priceless treasures of world literature Among our scriptures,. The Rig Veda is the oldest among the four Vedas and in the Rig Veda the Purusha Sukta is considered the quintessence of Vedic wisdom. A particular hymn in the Sukta dealing with the creation of the world says “His [Para atman’s] face or the mouth became the Brahmin; His two arms became the Kshatriya; His two thighs became the Vysya; and Shudra was born from his feet”. The meaning of this hymn is to be construed symbolically and not literally. As the Brahmins were the custodians of Vedic knowledge and culture, they were depicted as having been born from the face or the mouth of Paramatman. Similarly, the birth of Kshatriya from the arms indicated physical strength and military skill. The Vysyas were the main segment of the society who sustained the society b their economic activity and they were described as having been born out of the thighs. As the body requires feet to support itself, the Sudras supplied the necessary support by their physical labour. In fact, all the four limbs were considered equally important which supplemented each other’s activities. None was superior or none was inferior. It was just an analogy to define the division of labour among the various segments of the society for its smooth running and the division entirely depended on one’s ability and aptitude. Now, let us compare with what Plato says in Passage 415 of the “Dialogues of Plato”; “Citizens, you are brothers; yet God has framed you differently. Some of you have the power of command; and these He made of gold; wherefore they have the greatest of honour ; others of silver, to be auxiliaries ; some others who are to be husbandsmen and craftsmen, He made them of brass and iron ; and the species will generally be preserved in the children. But as you are of the same original family, a golden parent will sometime have a silver son or a silver parent a golden son. And God proclaims—that if the son of a golden or a silver parent has an admixture of brass or iron then nature requires a transportation of ranks, and the eye of the ruler must not be pitiful towards his child because he has to descend in the scale to become husbandsman or an artisan just as there may be others sprung from the artisan class who are raised to honour and become guardians and auxiliaries. For an Oracle says that when a man of brass or iron guards the state, it will be destroyed” -- Dialogues of Plato, Passage 415. The comparison of human beings with metals like gold, silver, brass and iron probably refer to the difference in their aptitudes and qualities based on the three Gunas—Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. This is exactly similar to what the Lord says in the Bhagavadgitha: “Chaturvarnyam maya srishtam gunakarmavibhagashah” Geetha 4. 13 meaning ‘the four castes [Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vysya and Shudra ] were created by me according to the diversities of one’s nature and actions’. Hence Plato’ demarcation of duties among the various sections of the society is wholly based on the sprit of the Purushasuktha. In one of the other ‘Dialogues’ Socrates clearly says – “ And if so, we must infer that all things are produced more plentifully and easily and of a better quality when one man does one thing which is natural to him and does it at the right time and leaves other things to other men” Dialogue No.369. On the day of his punishment, Socrates went to bathe and did not return till late evening. No one knows where he went. He sent away the women because they would weep when he drinks poison. He was completely calm and composed since he never bothered about death. At last they gave him a cup containing hemlock. Socrates drank. He was told to walk for the poison to take effect. He did. He sank slowly and sank into history. There have been many great men and women in history of mankind. We respect and honour them. But some become symbols for all times since they stand for certain great ideals. In our own country Gandhiji is the symbol of non-violence and Buddha is the symbol of compassion. Socrates has become the symbol of Dedication to Truth, for he would never give up what he regarded as Truth. He drank poison for the sake of Truth.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 09:41:53 +0000
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