Atheism in Hinduism
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Atheism (Sanskrit: nir-īśvara-vāda, lit. "statement of no Lord", "doctrine of godlessness") or disbelief in God or gods has been a historically propounded viewpoint in many of the Hindu philosophies.[1][2]
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[edit] Astika atheism
The term Sanskrit Āstika ("pious, orthodox") is sometimes translated as "theist" and Nāstika as "atheist". Sanskrit asti means "there is", and Āstika per Panini 4.2.60 is derived from the verb, meaning "one who says 'asti', one who believes in the existence [of God, of another world, &c.]"[3] When used as a technical term in Hindu philosophy the term Āstika refers to belief in the Vedas, not belief in the existence of God.
There are six schools of thought within Hinduism addressed as the Shat (Astik) Darshana (darshana meaning "viewpoint.") Within the Astika schools of Hindu philosophy, the Samkhya and the early Mimamsa school did not accept a God in their respective systems.
The atheistic viewpoint as present in the Samkhya and Mimamsa schools of Hindu philosophy takes the form of rejecting a creator-God. The Samkhya school believed in a dual existence of Prakriti ("nature") and Purusha ("spirit") and had no place for an Ishvara ("God") in its system. The early Mimamsakas believed in a adrishta ("unseen") that was the result of performing karmas ("works") and saw no need for an Ishvara in their system. Mimamsa, as a philosophy, deals exclusively with karma and thus is sometimes called Karma-Mimamsa. The karmas dealt with in Mimamsa concern the performance of Yajnas ("sacrifices to gods") enjoined in the Vedas.
The Vedanta philosophy had its practitioners advocating a Nirguna Brahman of which the most prominent example is Adi Shankara.
[edit] Nastika Atheism
In Indian philosophy, three schools of thought are commonly referred to as Nastikas: Jainism, Buddhism and Cārvāka for rejecting the doctrine of Vedas. Nastika refers to the non-belief of Vedas rather than non-belief of God. However, all these schools also rejected a notion of creationist god and so the word Nastik became strongly associated with them. Cārvāka, an atheistic school of Indian philosophy, traces its origins to 600 BCE. It was a hedonistic school of thought, advocating that there is no afterlife. Cārvāka philosophy appears to have died out some time after 1400 CE. Buddhism and Jainism also have their origins before 300 BCE but are not hedonistic. It is debated whether the ancient followers of the Jain and Buddha paths were Hindu or non-Hindu because they, like Hinduism, discussed the Arya Sangh, karma, brahman and Moksha.
[edit] Hindu atheists in recent times
The Indian Nobel Prize-winner Amartya Sen, in an interview with Pranab Bardhan for the California Magazine published in the July-August 2006 edition by the University of California, Berkeley states:[4]
| “ | In some ways people had got used to the idea that India was spiritual and religion-oriented. That gave a leg up to the religious interpretation of India, despite the fact that Sanskrit had a larger atheistic literature than exists in any other classical language. Even within the Hindu tradition, there are many people who were atheist. Madhava Acharya, the remarkable 14th century philosopher, wrote this rather great book called Sarvadarshansamgraha, which discussed all the religious schools of thought within the Hindu structure. The first chapter is "Atheism" - a very strong presentation of the argument in favor of atheism and materialism. | ” |
[edit] Prominent Hindu atheists
There have been some prominent personalities who espoused atheism and Hinduism at the same time.
- Well-known personality, Veer Savarkar, who was president of Hindu Mahasabha, was an atheist.[5] He is credited for developing a Hindu nationalist political ideology he termed as Hindutva (Hinduness).
- The first Hindu woman in British politics was Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather of Windsor and Maidenhead. She described herself as a "Hindu atheist". Broadly, she is an atheist with affinity to secular aspects of Hindu culture such as dress and diet.[6]
- Bal Thackeray, the founder and president of the Shiv Sena, has publicly proclaimed himself an atheist after the death of his wife.[7]
- K. Shivaram Karanth- Jnanapita award winner was an atheist. He reflects his beliefs in his novel Mookajjiya Kanasugalu.
- Poornachandra Tejaswi - prominent Kannada writer was an outspoken atheist.
- S. Nijalingappa - Former chief minister of Karnataka.
- A. N. Murthy Rao - Prominent Kannada writer who wrote acclaimed book Devaru(God) rejecting the concept of god.
- Goparaju Ramachandra Rao, called Gora, atheist activist, along with his wife Saraswathi Gora[citation needed]
- G. A. Kulkarni - a famous Marathi writer has expressed his atheist views through his correspondence with other famous literary figures like Sunitabai Deshpande, Jayawant Dalvi, Shri.Na. Pendse, et al.[8]
- Dr. Shriram Lagoo - a famous film and theatre actor, who also is a rationalist & atheist activist
- Vijay Tendulkar[9] - a famous Marathi writer and dramatist who is also known to be Atheist.
- Kamal Haasan, world acclaimed film actor and a self-professed atheist, is known for making films having themes of both atheism and brahminism.
- Beechi -- the great Kannada humourist-philosopher was a known atheist, whose 'positive atheism' is similar to that of Douglas Adams
[edit] References
- ^ THE SPEAKING TREE
The Atheistic Roots of Hindu Philosophy-Editorial-Opinion-The Times of India - ^ Atheism in Hinduism
- ^ Monier-Williams (1899)
- ^ California Magazine
- ^ * Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Savarkar Samagra: Complete Works of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 10 volumes, ISBN 81-7315-331-0
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/features/hindu_lives/script1.shtml
- ^ The Rebirth of Shiv Sena: The Symbiosis of Discursive and Organizational Power, 'Mary Fainsod Katzenstein, Uday Singh Mehta, Usha Thakkar','The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 56, No. 2 (May, 1997), pp. 371-390', http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-9118(199705)56%3A2%3C371%3ATROSST%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C
- ^ G.A.-chi Nivadak Patre: Khand 1 & 2 (Selected Letters of G.A. : Part 1 & 2), Mauj Prakashan
- ^ http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/756176.cms
