The volumes of the project on the history of science, philosophy and culture in Indian civilization aim at discovering the main aspects of India’s heritage and present them in an interrelated way. These volumes, in spite of their unitary look, recognize the difference between the areas of material civilization and those of ideational culture. The project is not being executed by a single group of thinkers and writers who are methodologically uniform or ideologically identical in their commitments. In fact contributions are made by different scholars with different ideological persuasions and methodological approaches. The project is marked by what may be called ‘methodological pluralism. In spite of its primary historical character, this project, both in its conceptualization and execution, has been shaped by many scholars drawn from different disciplines. It is for the first time that an endeavour of such a unique and comprehensive character has been undertaken to study critically a major world civilization like India. Vedic vision of consciousness and reality is an attempt at a systematic presentation of the visions of Vedic seers concerning consciousness in relationship to reality. The relevance of this attempt has got enhanced to day due to latest discoveries in quantum physics tending to accord some sort of substantiality to consciousness. This is the position Vedic seers held long ago as is evident from the Vedanta. The Vedanta, however, has ignored the Vedic Samhitas on metaphysical issues including consciousness. The present work has come in fulfillment of this lacuna in the tradition of Vedic thought. It has been shown here strictly on the basis of textual evidence how the Vedic seers were involved in the search for consciousness in its purest form coinciding with reality. The coincidence of the modern science in its latest developments with the Vedic viewpoint in this regard, suggests the necessity of a paradigmatic shift in the human thinking at this juncture from matter to consciousness as the most fundamental mental reality. These issues have been discussed here from various viewpoints including scientific, philosophical, psychological, theological and epistemological.
There are no reviews yet.