ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY: INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

There is no unifying element or any comprehensive philosophical doctrine in Indian

philosophy that is shared by all Hindus in the Indian setting. What do we have in Indian
philosophy is the study of the diverse culture and religion in India which somehow
discusses their belief on metaphysics, epistemology, ontology, theology, ethics, etc.
However, there are some beliefs that are common but are not really that common to all –
the belief on Karma and polytheism. First, Karma means “action,” it is an Indian belief that
a person’s life is determined by his actions. One’s action in the past determines his future
because of the power of karma. It is a manifestation of the psychological, moral, spiritual,
and physical causal relativity of Hinduism. We can see that Buddhism and Jainism also
believe in karma. In Filipino philosophy, karma manifests as the Filipino centripetal
morality in which one’s action must be based on the self. What good we want to ourselves
must also be done to others. Vice-versa. It is known as the golden rule or golden precept.
Since karma is not shared by every Hindus, there is no such thing or even the golden
precept in the Vedas. Another thing that many Hindus share about is the belief on
Polytheism. Not all Hindus are polytheistic, some of them believe only on one God, but
also believes on exalted gods. This part is complex. For example, the Buddhists do
acknowledge other gods like Brahma, and so is the Jainists. Some worship only Vishnu,
some on Shiva. Some do believe that other gods are genuine gods but has weaker
powers compared to others. Third, the Indian core values or Purusarthas: dharma, artha,
kama, and moksa. Dharma is all about the ethics or moral of a person, Artha for one’s
economic wealth, kama for carnal pleasures, Moksa for the theological liberation from
rebirth and imperfection (to be able to reach back to God). Not all Hindus accept the
purusarthas especially the kama and the moksa. Many have argued that carnal pleasures
are not really from the gods and it will not help man from liberation as carnal pleasures
attracts wrongdoings. Some also argued that it is impossible for man to have liberation.
They say that life is unending and no good can bring you to the end or no good can end
the loop of life. Some also argued that seeking God can liberate man from his unending
life. Others argued that only God can stop the loop for everyone and some argued that
there is no need for the loop to end. We can see, they believe in the common set of gods,
they believe in one purusarthas but have opposing views on it. There is no unity among
Indian philosophers. This is caused by the differencing cultures and religion that lies on
India itself. If I were to relate this to Filipino philosophy, even Filipinos have diverse
culture. We have many ethnicities and groups that differ in beliefs and way of thinking.
But what do Filipinos have in common? We have our golden precept. It is nature to the
Filipinos to think for others as their own selves. With or without religion, we have our
centripetal morality. I will now have my reflection on the P.K.. First thing first, aliens are
aliens because we do not really know them. They are unfamiliar to us. Hence, I have no
right to claim that aliens are fictitious. However, the story is. Now, to cite the things I have
reflected upon on the film PK, I would like to make it clear that my observation is done
only to the things that were portrayed on the film. First, the Sarfaraz-Jaggu registrar
incident. It happened that Jaggu mistakenly believed the message given to her by the boy
which later on led their break-up. Prior to that, Jaggu’s father asked for his Holiness a
prophecy about the lovers. His Holiness prophesied that Sarfaraz will abandon Jaggu
because of his religious affiliation. Jaggu patterned her life to the prophecy, making her
impossible to escape from it. This shows that essence was given prior to existence. Thus,
a man would simply accept what others told him ought to do. This is what Nihilists are
ranting about. Man should not confer to what the society says. He should find the meaning
all by himself. In the end of the film, Jaggu discovered that Sarfaraz did not really betrayed
her. Her belief on his Holiness prophecy made her wrong decisions. Second, the question
of the Right Number. We can see that different gods has their own rules of do’s and
don’ts. PK then realized that it is not the gods themselves who made these rules, but their
managers. People mistakenly believe that these managers are the voice of gods. Is man
a creation of god? Or god is a creation of man? When do gods intervene? When will they
not? What is the assurance of man for their help? Later on, PK argued that fear fuels man
to incline more to a god. The so called “authorities” of gods or managers harness man’s
fear to twist his mind and make him more religious. It is only the managers that create
conflicts among men. Thus, man should have more personal faith to gods rather than to
religion.