Hindu Schools of Thought

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       In the past there have many deviations from the mainstream Hinduism based on Vedas, Upanishads, etc. These have been called the heterodox schools of thought, at one time or other they had large followings but except two schools of thought none of them have survived. The word heterodox means that which is "characterized by departure from accepted beliefs or standards" During the Vedic period the brahmanical religion was characterized by sacrificial rituals, ³Homa´. Nowhere do the Vedas mention the idea of transmigration of soul that is the doctrine of birth, death and reincarnation, a doctrine that developed during the Upanishadic period. But somewhere as time went on this idea became central to Hindu religion, ultimate goal being salvation or deliverance from this cycle of birth, death and reincarnation. Buddhism must be considered as a belief that departed from mainstream Hinduism, There ar six others schools of thought that had their pro-pounders and one time or large followings. Briefly they are given below, it will be noticed that many of our current beliefs are embedded in these teachings, and derived from them of these unorthodox teachers. 1.| Ôurana Kasapa : he believed that virtuous conduct had no effect on man¶s karma. ³ He who performs and act or causes an act to be performed ........he who destroys life, the thief, the housebreaker, the plunderer....... the adulterer and the liar......... commits no sin. Even with a razor-sharp discus a man were to reduce all the life on earth to single heap of flesh he would commit no sin, neither would sin approach him..... ....From liberality, self control, abstinence, and honesty is derived neither merit nor the approach of merit. 2.| Makkhali Gosala: his sect was called the Ajavikas and perhaps survived for about 2000 years. He agreed with Ôurana that good deeds did not affect transmigration, which proceed according to preordained pattern, controlled by °
 fate, ³There is no deed performed either by oneself or by others [that can affect one¶s future births], no human action, no strength, no courage, no human endurance or human power[that can affect one¶s destiny in this life] All beings, all that have breath, all that are born, all that have life, are without power and strength, or virtue, but are developed by destiny, chance, and nature.......... There is no question of bringing unripe karma to fruition, nor of exhausting karma already ripened, virtuous conduct, by vows, by penance, or by chastity. That cannot be done. Y
  
                . It can be neither lessened or increased, neither is there any excess or deficiency of it. Just as ball of thread will, when thrown, unwind to its full length, so fool and wise alike will take their course, and make an end of sorrow.

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 3.| Ajita Kesakambala: a materialist had complete unbelief in the immaterial. ³There is no [merit in] almsgiving, sacrifice, or offering, no result or ripening of good or evil deeds. .....Man is formed of the four elements; when he dies earth returns to aggregate of earth, water to water, fire to fire, and air to air, while the senses vanish into space. Four men with the beir take up the corps; the gossip [about the dead man] as far as the burning ground, where the bones turn the colour of dove¶s wing, and his sacrifices end in ashes. They are fools who preach alms giving, and those who maintain the existence of immaterial categories speak vain and lying nonsense. ·

           They do not survive after death. 4.| Ôakudha Kacchayana : was an atomist, predecessor to Vaisheshika school of philosophy. He preceded by a century or more the Greek atomist philosophers. ³The seven elementary categories are neither made nor ordered, neither caused nor constructed; hey are barren, as firm as mountains, as stable as pillars. They neither move nor develop; they do not injure one another, and one has no effect onthe joy or sorrow. ......of another. What are the seven! The bodies of earth, water, fire, air, joy, and sorrow, with life as the seventh. .....No man slays or causes to slay, hears or causes to hear, knows or causes to know. G                     

  

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              5.| Niganta Nataputta pali (Nirgrantha Jnatraputra, sanskrit) ± Vardhaman Mahavir ³ The phenomenal individual consists of a soul closely enmeshed in matter, and his salvation is to be found by freeing the soul from matter, so that it may regain its pristine purity and enjoy omniscient self-sufficient bliss for all eternity.´ 6.| Sanjaya Belatthiputa : he denied the possibility of certain knowledge altogether. ³If you ask me ³Is there another world?´, and I believed that there was, I should tell you so. But that is not why I say. I do not say that it is so; I do not say that it is otherwise. I do not say it is not so; I do not say that it is not not so.´ Y   
   
   

                        

                        

 


The above are from Buddhist texts. 7.| Siddhartha Gautam -Buddha ± ³ Doctrine of four noble truths ±(1) That all life is inevitably sorrowful.(2)That sorrow is due to craving.(3)that it can only be stopped by the stopping of craving (4)that this can only be done by a course of carefully disciplined and moral conduct. The individual is made of five components, psychological emotions, propensities, faculties, condition of the individual, and conscious thought. Every individual is made combination of these five components, that are always changing and in a state of flux. The root cause of process of birth and death and rebirth is ignorance. The cycle can only be stopped by achieving Nirvana, first by adopting right views about the nature of existence, then by carefully controlled system of moral conduct, and finally by concentration and meditation. ³