Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
(1980), 22 19—31
India is an ancient and a great cultural, Health and the Indian Psychiatric Society.
spiritual and an anthropological labora- That amongst his students are the Directors
tory. She has been the nursery of saints of the Institutes, Superintendents of Mental
and sages, scientists and founders of world's Hospitals, Professors in the Medical Colleges
major religions and promulgators of pro- and the Universities, who have contributed
found philosophy. Nevertheless, to be satis- to the advancement of research, teaching
fied with the glory of the past is to turn into and organising services in psychiatry in the
a fossil ; but to interpret the old from a country is a great tribute to the art and
new point of view is to revitalise the past science of his teaching, as well as to his
and bring in a current of fresh air into the character.
monotonous present. I have chosen to
GITA : I N T R O D U C T I O N
speak on "Gita and the Mental Sciences"
this day as my humble offering and tribute Rabindranath Tagore once said, " I love
to the memory of my late teacher, Dr. D. India not because I have cultivated an
L. N. Murti Rao. To Dr. Murti Rao formal idolatry for geography, not because I have
religion and academic spirituality meant been born in its soil but it has saved through
little However, he was a great yaganik the ravages of time the words of its illumined
in search of truth in the true spirit of Gita. conscious ones". Vyasa as a Colossus and
The wards in the hospital, the lecture halls, Gita as his mighty creation stand out pre-
and various academic meetings with the eminently in India's sculptural history.
students were the Tagnyasalas for him and he Together with Upanishads and Brahmasutra,
practised the "Vtdyadhan"—propagation and Gita forms the "prasthana trayi" (scriptural
transmission of knowledge, generously and trinity).
freely. He used to call himself, at times Warren Hastings, the first Governor-
a Cromwell although this was only his General of British India in his preface to the
exterior. Cromwellian indeed he was in first English translation of Gita by Charles
inculcating discipline but within this ex- Wilkins (1785) two hundred years ago
terior was a man who was considerate, prophetically remarked : "The writers of
kind, understanding affable and easy of Indian philosophies will survive when the
access to all. Combining in himself the British Dominion in India shall long have
passion of a scientist and compassion of a ceased to exist and when the sources which
saint, he wore his learning lightly. As it yielded of wealth and power are lost to
though to prove the saying that those remembrance". Called 'The song celestial'
whom the Gods love die young, Murti by Sir Edwin Arnold, this Vyasa's 'quin-
Rao died too prematurely to deny himself tessence of scripture' has interested and
the vision of the blossoming forth of the influenced men and women down the
two institutions that he fondly nurtured, centuries. To name a few : Emerson and
namely, the All-India Institute of Mental Walt Whitman, Carlyle and Thoreu, Max
1
Dr. D . L. N. Murti Rao oration for 1980 delivered during the 32nd Annual Conference of the Indian Psy-
c i h t r i c Society, Bangalore, 9th December, 1979.
' Professor and Head, Institute of Psychiatry, M a d u r a i Medical College and Govt. Rajaji Hospital, M a d u r a i
—525020,
20 A. VENKOBA RAO
Muller a n d Aldous Huxley, Tilak and one strives for perfection, a n d of those w h o
Gandhi, Vivekahanda and Aurobindo, strive a n d succeed, scarcely one knows M e
Tagore a n d R a d h a k r i s h n a n and several in t r u t h . "
others high and low. T h e great Acharyas T h e p a t h of realisation of the Absolute
—Sankara, R a m a n u j a and M a d h v a , Nim- has been described in Upanishads as t h a t of
barka, Vallabha saw in Gita an echo of walking on t h e razor's edge.
their own philosophical thoughts, namely, Taking these verses of ha as the m a i n
Advaita, Vishishtadvaita, D v a i t a , Dviat- strands, G i t a weaves t h e m into an ela-
advaita, S u d d h a d v a i t a and incorporated the b o r a t e a n d a beautiful web of a masterly
Gita concepts into their philosophical frame work. Borrowings are also seen from
work. I n this respect Gita is like a K a t h o p a n i s h a d , and the philosophical sys-
Rorschach inkblot. T o Aldous Huxley tems of K a p i l a ' s Sankhya a n d Yoga.
the Gita "is one of the clearest a n d most T h e eighteen chapters with their seven
comprehensive summaries of the perennial h u n d r e d a n d odd verses form a n inset in
philosophy ever to have been m a d e . Hence, t h e Bhishma parva of Mahabharata. Its com-
its e n d u r i n g value, not only for the Indians position has been speculated by some to be
but for all m a n k i n d " . Among o a r Psy- in the fourteenth century and by others
chiatric fraternity, the names of Govinda- a r o u n d fifth century before the Christian
swamy, Vidyasagar, Satyanand a n d Surya e r a . T h e consensus appears to be t h a t
stand o u t as the ones considerably in- Gita's d a t e is interpolated between the
fluenced by Gita. e n d of the U p a n i s h a d i c period a n d the ela-
Theistic in n a t u r e , psychological in boration of Saddharshanas—-(the six systems
import, simple in its teaching, universal in of Indian philosophy—Sankhya and Yoga,
its message, practical though difficult in N y a y a a n d Vaiseshika, M i m a m s a and
application, spiritual in its content a n d V e d a n t a ) i.e., a r o u n d the 3rd a n d 4th
temperament and philosophical in its infra century B.C.
a n d suprastructural levels, Gita upholds W h e t h e r Gita is a historical work or
the thesis on the ethics of desireless a n d merely an impressive allegory has b e e n
incessant action. Gila's theism a n d the labouring the minds of m a n y a serious
call for action are expressed in t h e opening student. Sri Aurobindo advocates t h a t the
verses of one of the earliest of Upanishads, work should b e considered as a real h u m a n
Isavasyopanishad : eventful d r a m a , Gandhiji, on the other
"Isavasyam idamsarvam Tatkinchajagatyamjagat h a n d discarding its historicity upholds " t h a t
Tyene tyaktena bunjitha ma gridhaha kasya- u n d e r the guise of physical warfare, it de-
svid/ianam" scribed the duel t h a t perpetually went on
Kurvanneveha karmani jijivisat satam samah in the h e a r t s of mankind, a n d the physical
Evam twai : na anyathatoshti na karma lipyata warfare was b r o u g h t in merely to make
nare the description of the internal duel more
"By A b a n d o n m e n t thou shalt enjoy". alluring". Sankaracharya speculates t h a t
"Performing verily work in this world one Lord K r i s h n a must have given a few words
should desire to live a full h u n d r e d years. of advice a n d encouragement to Arjuna on
T h e r e is no other w a y . " the eve of the battle, b u t later Vyasa ela-
T h a t the perfect state of m i n d recom- borated t h e m into w h a t has come d o w n to
mended in Gita is difficult to achieve a n d us as " G i t a " . However, w h a t should m a t t e r
has been brought out in the verse : most is not the mythology b u t the message
manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye a n d the spirit of G i t a r a t h e r t h a n its his-
yatatam api siddhanam kascin mam vetti tattvatah toricity. Like m a n y g r e a t philosophical
" A m o n g thousands of m e n scarcely works, G i t a is in t h e form of a dialogue
GITA AND MENTAL SCIENCES 21
describes different types of activity, food, uniqueness is its view of the origin of m i n d
behaviour, t e m p e r a m e n t and knowledge as form a physical basis. It is as i m p o r t a n t
belonging to the three types of gunas. T h e as the discovery that the brain is t h e seat of
mental types are thus classified into Sattvik, mind, a Hippocratic a n d Bhcla's observa-
i Rajasik and Tamasik. I n keeping with tion. Gita gives a theistic colour to the
i the Sankhian theory mind is classified as Sankhian doctrine. Besides, it combines
i belonging to the lower n a t u r e , namely, the speculative theories of Sankhya with
' derived from material prinicple, namely, practical aspects of yoga analogous to the
earth, water, fire, ether and air. O n e need synthesis of vedas a n d upanishads as men-
not enter into the philosophical aspects tioned earlier.
! of Kapila's contribution. T h e theory of T h e quest for m a n ' s mental equipoise
I gunas has enriched the understanding of a n d his physical and social well-being has
the types of h u m a n personalities, the tem- been the endeavour of the philosophies of
perament a n d behaviour. At the mental all lands—from the spiritually oriented
level, sattvik represents purity a n d clarity, Vedas and U p a n i s h a d s to the materialistic
Rajas represents agitation a n d misery a n d schools of E u r o p e a n Epicureanism a n d
Tamasik torpidity. Ethically, they represent I n d i a n Carvaca. Ataraxy, S h a n t i and
pure, alloyed and m i p u r e state respectively. Sthithaprajna, although terms from different
Gita states that those with sattvik rise u p - schools of Philosophy, have a c o m m o n
ward, Rajas stay at the earthly level and meaning indicating tranquility. Vedic
Tamasik go downward. T h e ultimate Saints, p e r h a p s the most ancient a m o n g
goal of m a n is to overcome involvement t h e class of thinkers, perceived a n order
with the gunas and to become free for pur- in N a t u r e which they called R i t a . Wor-
pose of release from bondage. T h e gunas shippers of n a t u r e , they named a m u l t i t u d e
lend their colour to the senses, to the mind, of divinities w h o presided over every aspect
to the intellect and determine their ultimate of the Universe. V a r u n a is t h e i r deity
nature. T o a t t a i n the state of " a t a r a x y " , w h o controlled the cosmic order. ' H e was
the individual has to overcome the gunas. the custodian a n d chief executor of this
Gita adds to a n d embellishes the Sankhian's eternal Law. R i t a : this was at first the
concept of gunas, accepting its theory of L a w t h a t established a n d m a i n t a i n e d starts
evolution a n d placing a theistic superior in their course ; gradually it b e c a m e also
power to control over the earlier godless the L a w of right, the cosmic a n d moral
Sankhian view of Prakriti and Purusha. r h y t h m , which everyman must follow if h e
T h e Sankhian system, propounded by Kapila would not go astray a n d get destroyed
is pre-buddhistic a n d conceived two basic ( R a d h a k r i s h n a n , 1927). I t will be a myopic
primordial principles, prakriti a homogenous vision of history if we were to c o n t e n t our-
physical m a t t e r and the p u r u s h a . A state selves with the names of Claude B e r n a r d ,
of equilibrium exists in Prakriti as long as Sigmund Freud a n d W a l t e r Gannon, while
there is a h a r m o n y of gunas. By the action discussing any aspect of homeostasis.
of Purusha a state of disequilibrium sets T h e d i a r y of m a n k i n d is not w i t h o u t
in and with it evolution starts on two p a r a - entries of w h a t the Russian writer Sorokin
llel lines—macro cosmic a n d micro cosmic. preferred to call the "Columbus c o m p l e x "
Prakriti gives place to m a h a t of macrocosm namely t h a t each new discovery is in fact a
and buddhi of microcosm which individual- rediscovery. A m e n t a l attitude t h a t a
ises into self. Later m i n d , five senses of law of constancy or order ruled t h e ani-
perception and five organs of action emerge m a t e a n d i n a n i m a t e world has come down
with five subtle, a n d gross elements. to us from the beginning of h u m a n cogni-
Sankhian philosophy is the earliest a n d its tion. Vedic seers saw a parallel between
26 A. VENKOBA RAO