Tulsi Badrinath
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199465187
- eISBN:
- 9780199086511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199465187.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
In this essay Badrinath says that the character of Bhishma in the Mahabharata is undoubtedly the greatest political philosopher of all times. The Mahabharata is, of all times, the most ennobling ...
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In this essay Badrinath says that the character of Bhishma in the Mahabharata is undoubtedly the greatest political philosopher of all times. The Mahabharata is, of all times, the most ennobling philosophy of the state, although, Badrinath believes, it is much more than that. The main concern of this epic is to demonstrate, through numerous parables, how power without caring must turn into violence and tyranny, and that a caring in which there is no strength becomes a luxurious ground of exploitation. A strong state is the first condition of social peace and that it must also be a self-critical state. For that is the way to truth and the truth for the state is to limit the conflicts among the people, for nothing is settled by violence, and the victory that is gained by war is indeed of low quality.Less
In this essay Badrinath says that the character of Bhishma in the Mahabharata is undoubtedly the greatest political philosopher of all times. The Mahabharata is, of all times, the most ennobling philosophy of the state, although, Badrinath believes, it is much more than that. The main concern of this epic is to demonstrate, through numerous parables, how power without caring must turn into violence and tyranny, and that a caring in which there is no strength becomes a luxurious ground of exploitation. A strong state is the first condition of social peace and that it must also be a self-critical state. For that is the way to truth and the truth for the state is to limit the conflicts among the people, for nothing is settled by violence, and the victory that is gained by war is indeed of low quality.
Tulsi Badrinath
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199465187
- eISBN:
- 9780199086511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199465187.003.0019
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
In this essay Badrinath states that a different kind of violence is created by perceiving man and the world in the logical framework of either/or. It is in this framework that all political ...
More
In this essay Badrinath states that a different kind of violence is created by perceiving man and the world in the logical framework of either/or. It is in this framework that all political ideologies of the West were located, like the modern western thought in its entirety up to the advent of the quantum theory, but also after that. In the Mahabharata there is familiarity of the logic of either/or, but it demonstrates that that logic does not belong to the true nature of reality, which enfolds within itself many seemingly contradictory attributes. That position is expanded theoretically further in the Jaina anekanta-vada, the philosophical theory of the many-sidedness of truth in Jainism. Badrinath informs the reader that attitude to wealth is a central issue in the Mahabharata.Less
In this essay Badrinath states that a different kind of violence is created by perceiving man and the world in the logical framework of either/or. It is in this framework that all political ideologies of the West were located, like the modern western thought in its entirety up to the advent of the quantum theory, but also after that. In the Mahabharata there is familiarity of the logic of either/or, but it demonstrates that that logic does not belong to the true nature of reality, which enfolds within itself many seemingly contradictory attributes. That position is expanded theoretically further in the Jaina anekanta-vada, the philosophical theory of the many-sidedness of truth in Jainism. Badrinath informs the reader that attitude to wealth is a central issue in the Mahabharata.
