A Pocket Guide to the Six Systems of Indian Philosophy

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This book seeks to introduce various concepts of Indian philosophical thought through the ages, to the general reader. The current socio-political milieu in our country has fuelled a latent desire to know more about our psychological and philosophical moorings. Most of the debates and discussions have centred around faith, belief, and theological manifestations of these. Hardly anybody in the public sphere speaks about the foundational philosophies which constitute Indian thought.

This attempt is to put forth in simple language the constituent elements of the six systems of Indian Philosophy-Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Purva Mimamsa, Vedanta. All the six systems are derivatives of Vedic and Upanishadic thought. Literature available in English on the six systems is rather dense and may put off the common reader. This book is a humble contribution to the existing literature by explaining Indian Philosophy in a simple (but not simplistic) question-answer format. These are questions which naturally arise in the minds of most people to which explanations are given in simple language.

Moloy Bannerjee is one of the earliest graduates from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He had a stint of nine years at TELCO (now TATA Motors) as a Manager in the Computer and Materials Department. He then taught Operations Management at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore for five years. For more than four decades, Moloy has been a Software entrepreneur based in Bangalore.

Moloy's interest in Philosophy was re-kindled when he met (late) Prof S. K. Ramachandra Rao, with whom he studied the Upanishads, the various systems of Indian Philosophy and Buddhism, for 25 years. Moloy has published in the Indian Philosophical Quarterly. He has also authored a book 'Start-up City-Ten Tales of Exceptional Entrepreneurship from Bangalore's Software Miracle'.

He lives in Bangalore with his wife and two sons.

When I was eighteen (way back in 1964), I first heard J. krishnamurtu lecturing Then I in the majestic surroundings of the J.J. School of Arts in Bombay. His basic theme was 'think for oneself and discard all knowledge of philosophy, theology and other assorted mumbo-jumbo.

Being a curious sort, I reckoned that to discard something, I needed to find out what I am discarding. A couple of years later while I was at Business School, I had several occasions to browse through books on philosophy, cultural anthropology and history of religion. A decade later when I quit my corporate job to take up teaching, my colleagues presented me with Radhakrishnan's book, Indian Philosophy. Reading that book stoked my desire to know more about matters philosophical. As a faculty member at a Business School, I was at liberty to order books for the library which opportunity I availed to order books on philosophy and comparative religion, as also books which dealt with the inter-section of philosophy with systems theory and physics.

By an act of synchronicity, I was introduced to a profoundly erudite scholar, the late Prof. S.K. Ramachandra Rao. In my association with him stretching over more than two decades, I got introduced to the wealth of Indian thought and culture.