जीवनमार्ग व विश्वचैतन्य: Human Life and Cosmic Life (An Old and Rare Book)

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Philosophy of life to me, means evaluating the world and man, and then deciding what a man ought to do in life.

Every man needs philosophy to devise his programme of life. Humanity as a whole needs it to live meaningfully and to uplift itself. Philosophy for a life programme samyak ayurmarg must be comprehensible to all, since it is created by man, even as it is created for him. It must also begin and end with him.

Every philosophy is eclectic in method, in the sense, no man however great, forms a system of thought all his own, absolutely unaided by previously developed thought. Everybody stands on the shoulders of the earlier thinkers. My effort is similar.

I believe that informed understanding, natural human insight and common sense are real, dependable and rational, and they will be my guide in the present effort.

The first part of the book elucidates the main principles of the three great philosophico-religious thought streams. viz., Western, Indian, and Chinese Japanese. While doing so, I have indicated my agreement or disagreement with many points therein. The last chapters are my construction and my conclusions.

The philosophical streams are assessments of God, World, and Man. It is natural therefore that we must begin by evaluating these well entrenched assessments before we can form our own personal conclusions. I, therefore, have given an account of the established philosophies first, before stating my personal opinions and conclusions. In a way, therefore, this book is a layman's personal evaluation of some salient features of established philosophies, and religious beliefs.

The fundamental principles and conclusions of those philosophies which have been effective in guiding man in his belief and behaviour will be my concern. We cannot conceive of any other life form in the world making use of, or even being aware of a consciously designed life programme. It follows that every philosophical thought and system has to have man as the center of the whole scheme. It also follows that the chief criterion for evaluating, and accepting or rejecting or partially accepting a philosophy or a religious doctrine, should be its guidance value for human behaviour.

Almost all of us tie our faith to some identifiable set of beliefs; usually one of the great religions of the world including the great non-religious faith of Marxism. All religions are not god-based. In fact, Hinduism, Buddhism as followed in India, and all systems in China and Japan are non-God based. There are many people who profess that they do not belong to any group. In their case, their very declaration of not belonging to any sect only means they cannot accept all the premises of any one particular sect.