Colombian Awakening of Rebirth and Rhetorical Knowledge of India

Nyaya: Logical Realism and Rhetoric

You are here. You are Guru in Colombia, who migrated from India. You are training Curanderos, healers to become shaman of the night, using Nyaya, India logical rhetoric. You are from the future, a researcher from Harvard. . .

You are giving a lecture:

Nyaya is "that by wish the mind is led to conclusion, "   "right or just, "  and   "the science of demonstration or correct knowledge" (Radhkrishnana and Moore 356).

 The learners who want to be shaman are listening to you

You continue to speak: "In knowledge we can distinguish four factors: subject (pramatr), object (prameya), the resulting state of cognition (pramiti), andthe means of knowledge (pramana)" (Radhkrishnana and Moore 356).

You continue to speak: "The Nyaya syllogism has five elements: (1) The proposition to be established (the hill is on fire); (2) the reason (because it smokes); (3) the example (whatever has smoke has fire, for example, a kitchen);(4) the application (so does this hill); (5) the statement of the conclusion (the hill is on fire)" (Radhkrishnana and Moore 357).

You are the spiritual warrior who learning in Harvard and time traveled back in time to Colombia.  You cite the source you used:

Work Cited

You provide the source. Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli and Charles A Moore. A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957.

The Rebirth of Indian Ethos

You continue to speak, "What is in a name? Here in America, it is strange to call Indians Indians as we mistakenly call Native Americans Indians. Many Indian Americans don't like to be called Native Americans. Some want to be called Indian Americans. Then what do we call Indians from India? Remember America was an accident. Explorers were looking for India when they stumbled upon the New World."

"India has one of the oldest histories. It has some of the earliest religious texts: for example, the Upanishads. Both Hinduism and Buddhism were born in India. Islam would later become an important part of its history. Today Buddhism is hardly practiced in India but thrives in Asia just as Christianity is not popular in its birthplace of Israel but thrives in Europe and America."

"India would withstand some 200 years of British rule. 'For a long time, the English-educated Indians were apparently ashamed of their own philosophical tradition . . .' and were instead proud to show their knowledge of European traditions   (Radhkrishnana and Moore xxii)."

Your look at your audience of Colombians and lecture: "Its population is now nearing 1,000,000,000. English is one of the official languages of that country and acts as a unifying role. In recent years, the number of Indian immigrants in America along with those in Canada has risen."

You confess, "Many 'American Indians' are professionals such as doctors or computer programmers. Television shows about doctors like ER seem to avoid this fact because one rarely sees Indian doctors on the show. There are many in Oklahoma. I am sure you have noticed. They are starting to be seen in commercials because of a recognition of the monetary market they represent. Bollywood, the Indian Hollywood, is one of the largest producers of films in the world; indeed, it even out produces Hollywood's annual production. Now India has much pride in its long history of knowledge, philosophy, and rhetoric."

Rhetoric and Hindu Philosophy

 You are there. You explain the power of Indian Philosophy:

"According to Indian tradition there's only one ultimate reality, but there are six fundamental interpretations of that reality . . .Together they form a graduated interpretation of the Ultimate Reality, so interrelated that the hypothesis and method of each is dependent upon the other" (Bernard 17).

"Six classic philosophies of Hindu: 1) Nyaya, 'logical realism, 'Vaisesika,' realistic pluralism, 2) Samkhya, 'evolutionary dualism,' 4) Yoga, 'disciplined meditation,' 5) Mimamsa, 'earlier interpretative investigations of the Vedas,' and 6) Vedanta, 'later investigations of the Vedas' (Radhkrishnana and Moore xx)"

"All systems of Hindu Philosophy are in complete agreement that the purpose of philosophy is the extension of sorrow and suffering and that the method is by the acquisition of knowledge of the true nature of things which aims to be free man from the bondage of ignorance which all teachers agree is the cause of human suffering" (Bernard 14). "

"Basically, all forms of knowledge are connected, you continue. 'In India -at least, this is the general contention—metaphysics, religion, ethics, social philosophy, political philosophy, psychology, and methodology, and epistemology are all parts of one substantial and total problem; they are all therefore essentially interrelated'(Moore 14).

You are there listening, "Therefore, rhetoric should also be added as an interrelated aspect of knowledge."

The Internal Source of Truth

You speak and start to rise into the sky, floating, and singing, "In Western terms, truth can be thought of something as objective or scientific. Or we fight for truth in a court of law. Rhetoric then is the art of arguing and proving that one side has the truth. However, not all cultures have that viewpoint. For India,"[p]hysical science, though developed extensively in the Golden Age of Indian culture, was never considered the road to ultimate truth; truth is to be sought and found within" (Radhkrishnana and Moore xxiv). Basically, '[r]eason can demonstrate the truth, but reason cannot discover or comprehend the truth" (Radhkrishnana and Moore xxvi).

The audience starts to float as they listen, "The philosophy of India takes its stand on the spirit which is above mere logic, and holds that culture based on mere logic or science may be efficient, but cannot be inspiring" (Radhkrishnana and Moore     354).

You stop speaking, and start mind to mind lectures as they read your mind, "According to Klaus Klostermaier, 4th era Hindu academic Vātsyāyana clarified Dharma by juxtaposing it with adharma. Klaus Klostermaier, A study of Hinduism,, SUNY Press, ISBN 0-88706-807-3, Chapter 3: Hindu Dharma Vātsyāyana proposed that Dharma is not only in one selves activities, however as well in terms one talks either records, and in thought. According to Vātsyāyana:Jha, Nyayasutras with Vatsyayana Bhasya, 2 vols, Oriental Books (1939)

You continue, "According to Klaus Klostermaier, 4th century Hindu scholar Vātsyāyana explained dharma by contrasting it with adharma.[49] Vātsyāyana suggested that Dharma is not merely in one's actions, but also in words one speaks or writes, and in thought. According to Vātsyāyana:[49][50]"

You are there. . . .They float higher listening with the eye of the heart, "Adharma of body: himsa (violence), steya (steal, theft), pratisiddha maithuna (sexual indulgence with someone other than one's partner).

"Dharma of body: dana (charity), paritrana (succor of the distressed) and paricarana (rendering service to others).

"Adharma from words one speaks or writes: mithya (falsehood), parusa (caustic talk), sucana (calumny) and asambaddha (absurd talk).

"Dharma from words one speaks or writes: satya (truth and facts), hitavacana (talking with good intention), priyavacana (gentle, kind talk), svadhyaya (self study)

"Adharma of mind: paradroha (ill will to anyone), paradravyabhipsa (covetousness), nastikya (denial of the existence of morals and religiosity)

"Dharma of mind: daya (compassion), asprha (disinterestedness), and sraddha (faith in others)

Buddhism and the Art of Argument

You are there. . . .Everyone is reborn to awakening, "Buddhism is not one of the orthodox philosophies of Hindu. It is the unorthodox system. "For the great Buddhist thinkers, logic was the main arsenal where were forged the weapons of universal destructive criticism. Buddhism served as a cathartic in clearing the mind of the cramping effects of ancient obstructions" (Radhkrishnana and Moore   349).

Works Cited

Bernard, Theos. Hindu Philosophy. Mumbai: Jaico Publishing House, 1998. Print.

Moore, Charles A. Editor. The Indian Mind: Essentials of Indian Philosophy and Culture. Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1967.

Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli and Charles A Moore. A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957.

You are heare as everyone is high, taking "ayahuasca" to free the mind. You and everyone floats with angels into the heavens and are reborn enlighten healers of the night." You are now a healer, a curandero.