Indo – Greek Philosophy – A Brief Comparative Study – 01
While studying Plato, I felt like he was influenced by Upanishadic concepts of Advaita.
His theory of Idea (प्रत्ययवाद) was however criticized by other philosophers for whatsoever reasons but in so far as I could think, he was trying to reflect the idea of Upanishad.
In case of Idealism (प्रत्ययवाद) one can have a comparative study of Plato and Mandoukya Upanishad Mantra (……एकात्म्यप्रत्ययसारम्……)
Today, I was studying about “Parmenides of Elea” (515 BCE) and it can be found the effect of “Advaita Vedanta” (and Upanishad) on his thoughts and concept of “Being”, very similar to “Sohamasmi” (सोहमस्मि, अस्मि)। Briefly, he can be termed as “Acharya Shankara of Ancient Greece”.
Even timeline of existence of these two personalities are also near about same in the 5th Century BCE. (Dateline for Acharya shankara I am referring to here, is as per Govardhan matha astronomical and scriptural calculations, i.e., 507 BCE., can be cross checked at http://govardhanpeeth.org )
Similarly, at the Temple of Delphi a cryptic message is inscribed on the wall, which states simply, “Thou Art”, which can also be correlated with “Tattvamasi” (तत्वमसि, Thou Art That).
And so on…..
To be contd…..
Inviting more thoughts over this….
Thank You,
Chandan Priyadarshi
