The Hindu System Of Religious Science And Art

The present work, attempts a detailed, analytical study of the various systems of Indian philosophy and religion and argues that the chief source of Rationalism of the Hindus- the Upanishads ? far from repudiating the principles of Emotionalism, distinctly sanctions them and that a strain of Rationalism runs side by side through the texts wedded to the Emotional standpoint. The polemical discussions seeking to repudiate this view are nothing but the relics of the old scholastic age. ?A complete treatment of a particular religious system,? says the author, ?must involve a consideration of the science and art portion of that religious system.? The words science and art in context mean truths known and elaborated and truths felt and acted and correspond respectively to Rationalism-Knowledge purified by self-abnegation and abstraction ? and Emotionalism ? desire and action purified by indulging in them in a self-sacrificing spirit. ?In many systems the two factors are not distinctly recognised. But the Hindu system distinctly recognises the dual phase and this recognition is the distinguished feature of it.? In Hindu religion Rationalism corresponds to Jnana Kanda while Emotionalism means Karma Kanda which accoring to the author is synonymous with the expression Bhakti Kanda as used in the sacred books. In his learned introduction to the present edition. Dr. Ganga Ram Garg provides a broad survey of the whole terrain of Hindu religious system, which serves as a suitable preamble to the thesis the work attempts to propound. A unique book of the genre which sums up the loftiest religious an philosophical thought of the Hindus, as enshrined in one of the oldest literatures of the world, must be the proud possession not only of public and academic libraries but also of all private libraries in India and abroad.