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Diversity is the essence of the experiential world. No thing is the same and each thing has its own particularity, which differentiates it from the rest. Thus this system, which gives an objective classification of the world based on its particulars, derives its name from the word 'visesha' or particularity.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF VAISHESHIKA THOUGHT
The Vaisheshika system is next only to the Saamkhya in terms of antiquity and is definitely older than both Jainism and Buddhism. The founder of the system is the sage Kashyapa, who wrote the Vaisheshika Sutra. He is also called Kanaada as he was an ascetic who lived on grains picked up in the fields and Kanabhuk or atom eater in reference to the character of his system, which is atomic pluralism. In the later traditions however, none other than Lord Shiva is said to be the founder of this system and he is said to have composed the primordial Sutra text of the school. Some Sutras of this primordial test are actually found quoted in some medieval works of Vaisheshika. Whether this tradition is true or not cannot be decided. One thing however is certain- that most of the followers of Vaisheshika, at least from Prashastapaada (the author or the celebrated compendium Paadarthadharmasamgraha) onwards, were definitely devotees of Lord Shiva.
The development of the Vaisheshika thought from Sage Kanaada to Prashastapaada is shrouded in mystery, primarily because all the intervening texts of this school written between the Sutras of Kanaada and the Sangraha are lost, and are encountered only in quotations. According the indications available, a brief commentary called 'VAkya' was composed on the Sutras, and a brief gloss named 'Katandi' was composed on this VAkya in turn, probably by a scholiast named Raavana. Taking the Sutras, the Vaakya and the Katandi together, at least two scholars - Prashastapaada and Atreya, wrote their independent commentaries. All these works are lost for several centuries now.
Prashastapaada also composed a compendium on the Vaisheshika school called the Paadarthadharmasangraha, also called the Prashastapaadabhaashya. This work is a mature, systematic and an independent work on the subject rather than a mere commentary on the Sutras. Prashastapaada (4th century CE) is considerably influenced by Nyaaya views and is later than the Nyaaya logician Vaatsyaayana. Since the Sutras of Kanaada themselves deal with the teachings of the school in a rather haphazard manner, the Paadarthadharmasangraha almost cast the Sutras into oblivion, so much that the text of the Sutras became uncertain. In fact, after a long time, Shankara Mishra (15th cent. C.E.) authored the first commentary on the Sutras, called the 'Upaskara'. In the introduction of his commentary, Shankara laments that there is no good older commentary on the Sutras for his guidance. In fact, for almost a century, the Upaskara was the oldest commentary known on the Sutras, when two anonymous Bhaashyas were published from Darbhanga. And finally, the long forgotten gloss, called the 'Vrtti' of Chandrananda, (dated around the 6th cent. C.E.), was published with the complete Sutra text in 1961 C.E. Both, Chandrananda, and Shankara quote an anonymous Vrttikara in their works, who might be the 'Vrttikara Bharadvaja' who is cited in other ancient works of Nyaaya and Vaisheshika. In the appendix, we have collected these citations from the Upaskara.
There exist many treatises on the system based on Prashastapaada's work. The extant commentaries on the Prastapaadabhaashya are Vyomashekara's Vyomavati, Shridhara's Nyaayakandali (9th century CE), Udhyana's Kiranavali (10th century CE) and Shrivatsa's Leelaavati (11th century CE). Laugaakshi Bhaaskara's Tarkakaumudi is another important work based on Prashatapaada's treatise. A work presenting both the Vaisheshika and its sister system, the Nyaaya, as one whole is Shivaaaditya's Saptapaadarthi.
Other important works following the same line and written between the 15th and the 17th century CE are Vishvanaatha's Bhaashaapariccheda and Siddhaantamuktaavali, Jagadisaa's Tarkaamrta, Jayanaaraayanaa's Vivritti and the works of Annam Bhatta. It should be noted that in the medieval times, Vaisheshika ceased to be an independent school and merged with the Nyaaya school of thought.
THE CATEGORIES
The Vaisheshika represents a scientific attempt to bring the diversity of the world under one scheme, without losing the particularities. In its objective classification of the world the Vaisheshika reduces the entire universe into seven categories or paadarthas. Paadartha literally means the meaning of the word. Paadarthas are objects of knowledge, not merely physical but mental objects too, which can be thought (jneya) and named (abhidheya). The seven categories are
Draavya or Substance
Substance forms the basis of an object. It's the substratum in which qualities and actions inhere. It is what gives an object its identity and distinguishes it from others. While it forms the basis of predicating an object's attributes it itself can never be predicated. Substances are of two types : eternal and compounded. While the compounded substance, which is the product of the coming together of the eternal substances, is subject to production and destruction and hence impermanent, the eternal substances are not. Eternal substances are eternal, individual and are either infinite or infinitesimal. The nine eternal substances are 1. earth or prithvi, 2. water or Apah, 3. fire or tejas, 4. air or vaayu, 5. ether or aakaasha, 6. time or kaala, 7. space or dik, 8. spirit or Atman and 9. mind or manas.
The first four - earth, water, fire and air - are supersensible, part less, unique atoms which are infinitesimal. Ether is not atomic, but one homogenous material substance which is eternal and infinite. These five are the bhutas or elements and each has a particular quality, which distinguishes from the others. The particular qualities of earth, water, fire, air and ether are smell, taste, color, touch and sound. The sense organs which grasp these qualities are constituted by the respective elements i.e., the sense of taste is constituted by the element of water and so on. Ether is not to be confused with space and is the substratum of sound. It has the qualities of conjunction and disjunction and is the connecting tissue, which binds together the atoms.
Time and space, like ether are one, eternal, all pervading (vibhu), part less, infinite and indivisible substance. It is due to time that we are able to cognize the past, present and future. Year, month, hour, minute and seconds are but conventional notions that are derived by abstraction of concrete time. While time deals with things produced and destroyed, space deals with visible objects. Space helps us to cognize direction or present physical position like 'here', 'there', 'far' and 'near'. Space is what holds things together.
Self or soul is a spiritual substance. The existence of the Self is proved by the scripture and by the inference that consciousness is not a property of the body or the senses or the mind. The multiplicity of Selves is inferred based on the status, condition, individuality of experience of the Selves and also on scriptural authority. Selves are innumerable, independent, individual, eternal and all pervading. They are the substratum of the quality of consciousness. But the essence of the Self is not consciousness. As the Self doesn't possess consciousness during deep sleep, consciousness is not considered as an inseparable quality of the Self. It is at best an adventitious attribute possessed by the Self. Desire (ichchhA) and volition (yatna) are other qualities of the Self.
Manas or mind is atomic, innumerable, eternal and imperceptible. There are as many minds as there are Selves and for all practical purposes the mind gives the Self its individuality. As the same mind accompanies the Self throughout its career there's possibility for the survival of character. The Self comes into contact with objects through the mind. Since the mind is atomic it can only interact with one sense at any point in time. It synthesizes the objects experienced through the senses and allows the Self to experience them one by one.
Guna or Quality
Qualities are what inhere in substances and do not exist independently of substances. But it can be called an independent reality because it can be conceived (prameya), thought (jneya) and named (abhidheya) independently of the substance in which it inheres. Kanaada defines quality as, "that which inheres in a substance, which doesn't possess quality or action, which doesn't produce any composite thing and which is not the cause of conjunction and disjunction like an action". Qualities are both material and mental in nature. The Vaisheshika recognizes twenty four qualities like smell is the quality of earth, color of fire, sound of ether, cognition and desire of Self etc
Karma or Action
Action too like quality belongs to and inheres in a substance and has no independent existence of its own apart from the substance. But unlike the quality, which is permanent and static, action is a dynamic and transient feature of a substance. Action is also the cause of conjunction and disjunction. Five kinds of action are listed by the Vaisheshika : 1. utkshepana or upward movement, 2. avakshepana or downward movement, 3. Akunchana or contraction, 4. prasaarana or expansion and 5. gamana or locomotion.
Samaanya or Generality
It is a class concept or the common character of things, which fall under the same class - a universal. It's like "cow-ness" - a universal factor, which inheres in all cows. Vaisheshika defines it as eternal, one and residing in many. Though it is relative to thought, it is not a subjective concept but an objective reality. The universals reside in substances, qualities and actions. Sattaa or being is the higher level of generality, which includes everything and is itself not included in anything. The lower levels of generality cover only a limited number of things and not everything.
Visesha or Particularity
Particularity is what enables us to distinguish one thing from another and makes a thing unique. While generality is inclusive and is the basis of assimilation, particularity is exclusive and is the basis of discrimination. Like generality the Vaisheshika considers particularity too to be an objective reality. But particularity is not used to distinguish compound objects, which can be easily identified based on the parts that constitute it. The Vaisheshika uses particularity to identify simple eternal substances. Not only are simple substances quantitatively different, but even qualitatively. Each part-less, eternal substance has an original peculiarity, an non-derived uniqueness of its own which is called its particularity or visesha. Inhering in substances, not only do they distinguish the substance from other substances, they also distinguish themselves from other particularities.
Samavaaya or Inherence
Inherence is the inseparable eternal relation. Prashastapaada defines it as, "the relationship subsisting among things that are inseparable, standing to one another in the relation of the container and the contained and being the basis of the ideal, 'this is in that'". Inherence is imperceptible and inferred from the inseparable relation of two things like part and whole, substance and quality, substance and action, universal and particular.
Abhaava or non-existence
While the first six categories are positive, abhaava is negative. As a realist, the Vaisheshika considers knowledge of negation as different from the thing negated and necessarily points to some object which is negated. There are four kinds of non-existence:
ATOMISM
All compounded objects are divisible into small parts and the latter are divisible into still smaller parts. By this logic we have to accept the minutest particle of matter, which cannot be divided further. This indivisible, part less and eternal particle of matter is the paramAnu or atom. Things are produced by the coming together of atoms. Creation is just the combination of atoms, while destruction is the dissolution of such combinations. But the atoms themselves are neither produced nor destroyed. They are eternal.
Earth, water, fire and air are the four kinds of atoms. Differing from each other both quantitatively as well as qualitatively, each has a particularity of its own and has a separate reality. The atom of air has the quality of touch, fire has the quality of touch and color, water has the quality of touch, color and taste, earth has the quality of touch, color, taste and smell. The qualities of compounded substances reflect the qualities of the atoms, which make up the former.
Atoms are said to be globular (parimandala) and are the material cause of the world. Though they possess the quality of velocity, they are incapable of motion by themselves. Based on the merit (dharma) and demerit (adharma) accumulated by the individual souls, adhrshta or the unseen power sets the atoms into motion to provide enjoyment or suffering. Akaasha or Ether is the medium in which the movement of atoms occurs. Acted upon by adrhsta, the atoms begin to vibrate (parispanda) and immediately change into dyads, which is a combination of two atoms (dvayanuka). A dyad is minute and imperceptible. Three dyads form a triad (tryanuka), which is long and perceptible. By such geometrical progression the gross elements of earth, water, fire and air arise and evolution results.
Unlike the Saamkhya the Vaisheshika believes in the doctrine of asatkaaryavaada i.e., the effect doesn't pre-exist in the cause. The effect is neither implicit in the cause nor is it identical with the cause - the effect is a new beginning, a fresh creation.
When a hundred years by the measure of Brahma are at an end, it is the time for the end of a world cycle. For the deliverance of Brahma and the beings of the world caught up in samsaara, the Supreme Lord desires to reabsorb all creation. The rise of this desire means the cessation of the workings of the unseen power (adhrshta), which causes disruption in the combination of the atoms constituting the bodies and sense organs. The result is the destruction of the grouping of atoms followed by the destruction of the things produced by such groupings. The ultimate material substances - earth, water, fire and air - reabsorb into themselves and stand isolated. The Selves are isolated permeated with the potencies of their past virtue and vice.
Again for the sake of experience to be gained by living beings, the Supreme Lord sets the atoms into motion and sets off creation.
GOD
Detractors of the Vaisheshika like the author of the Yuktidipika, an ancient Saamkhya text, allege that the Vaisheshika was atheistic and began believing in God only under the influence of the Pashupata school. Though Kanaada doesn't directly refer to God except in accepting the authority of the Veda where he says, "The authority of the Veda is due to its being His (or their) word", (even here the "His/their" might be a reference to the Seers rather than God) later Vaisheshika authors are openly theistic. But this doesn't make Kanaada an atheist, as he believes in spirituality and subordinates the material world to the moral order. Questions regarding the first cause - as to how the atoms would initially start to combine, seem to have forced later Vaisheshika authors to introduce the Divine principle. God is omniscient, eternal and perfect. It is he, guided by the law of karma, who first sets the atoms to evolution. While the atoms are the material cause of the world, God is the efficient cause. But he is not the creator of the atoms or the Selves. They are coeternal with him.
BONDAGE AND LIBERATION
For the Vaisheshika, like the other early schools of ethical philosophy, liberation is the cessation of suffering experienced in the world. Bondage or suffering is due to ignorance of the true nature of things and liberation is effected when true knowledge dawns. Due to ignorance, the Self gets attached or averse to objects and performs actions (karma) aimed either at obtaining pleasure or avoiding pain. Actions sanctioned by the Veda leads to merit while those prohibited leads to demerit. As one has to reap the fruits of ones action, adrshta or the unseen power guided by God sets the atoms in motion leading to creation either for the enjoyment or the suffering of the Self. Performance of actions only leads to ensnarement in samsaara or worldly life, while absolute cessation of it leads to cessation of the accumulation of karma and also unshackles the bonds of previous karma. With this knowledge is liberation or absolute cessation of suffering achieved and the Self rests in its own pure nature apart from the body and mind.
The true nature of the Self is beyond knowledge. Consciousness, bliss, pleasure and pain are but qualities of the Self when it is in samsaara. When released, the Self is just pure substance devoid of qualities but still maintaining its particularity from other Selves - knowing nothing, feeling nothing and doing nothing.
APPENDIX : Citations from the Vrittikara in the Upaskara of Sankara Misra
The Vaisheshika tradition mentions a Vrttikara who wrote a commentary on the Vaisheshika Sutras. Little is known about him. Extracts from the Vrtti of this Vrttikara are found scattered in works of Vaisheshika and Nyaaya school. In fact, a Bharadvajavrttibhasya has been published long back in 1869 C.E. by Gangadhar Kaviratna Kaviraj from Calcutta, but printed copies of this work are scarce and the text has again fallen into oblivion. Extracts from the Vrittikaragrantha are encountered in the Vrtti of Chandrananda of the Vaisheshika Sutras and also in the Upaskara of Shankara Misra. We have collected the later below:
1. On Sutra 1.1.2: The Sutra reads - "Dharma is that which results in the accomplishment of 'Abhyudaya' and 'Nihshreyas' ". Shankara Misra gives here the following extract from the Vrtti - "The Vrttikara however says: " ' Abhyudaya' is happiness and 'Nihsreyas' the simultaneous annihilation of all particular attributes (i.e., modifications) of the Soul. The proof is that in the case of dharma, the body, etc., of Devadatta are made up of elements so directed by the particular attributes of the enjoyer or sufferer, and as they are products or effects, they are, as the means of his enjoyment or experience, like a garland made by himself."
2. On Sutra 1.2.3: The Sutra reads- "The notions Genus and Species are relative to the Understanding. " On this, Shankara Misra quotes the Vrttikara as "The point in dispute, namely, cognitive understanding, because it is an unobstructed, recurrent consciousness, is explained by a recurrent property, as the consciousness, 'garland flowers' (covers all the flowers making up a particular garland and is explained by the common property of belonging to that garland, which recurs in every one of these flowers)."
3. On Sutra 1.2.6: The Sutra reads (The statement of Genus and Species has been made) with the exception of the final species." On this the Vrttikara states- "They are final species because they exist in eternal Substances, i.e., Substances that exist at the end of the production and destruction. They are really species only, the causes of the consciousness of differentiation, and not of the form of Genus also."
4. On Sutra 3.1.15: The Sutra reads- "The unproved is a false mark; the non-existent and the dubious are also false marks." On this the Vrttikara says- " The word ca has the sense of bringing forward badha (obstruction) and satpratipaksha (an equally valid argument to the contrary), and thereby follows the view of Gautama as expressed in the Sutra, "Fallacies are five, that which is accompanied with the non-existence, the contradictory, that which is identical with the paksha, that which is identical with the sadhya and that which is past in time (Nyaaya Sutra 1.2.14). But from statements as "The contradictory, the unproven, and the dubious, declare Kasyapa , are no marks," it appears that Kanaada himself was inclined to uphold the three-foldness of fallacy. The word ca however has the object of bringing forward what has been stated before.
5. On Sutra 4.1.7: The Sutra reads- "The non perception of air, inspite of there being 'substanceness' and magnitude, is due to the non-existence of the evolution of color." On this the Vrttikara states - "The word 'roopsamskar' is a compound of the words 'roopa' and 'roopasamskara' formed by the elision of one of the two 'roopas' and therefore the non perception of Air is in consequence of the non-existence of color in it, while the non-perception of the ocular light, etc., is due to the non-existence of the evolution of color."
6. On Sutra 6.1.5: The Sutra reads- "[Result (of action) indicated by the Sastra, (accrues) to the performer"], because there is no causality of the attributes of one soul in (the attributes of) another soul." On this the Vrttikara says- "Result (of action), indicated by the Sastra," etc., is really a rule without an exception. On the other hand, the fruit which accrues to the departed ancestor, etc., results from the influence of benedictory mantras pronounced by brahmins entertained at the sraddha, etc., the mantras in question being in the case of the sacrifice for the departed ancestor, "May the pitris or departed ancestors have their objects fulfilled," and in case of sacrifice for the son, "May a son be born unto thee, who will be vigorous, beautiful as the moon, and the feeder of all," in the same way as neutralization of the effect of poison on the body of a person bitten by a snake, is produced from the recitation of mantras or incantations by foresters."
7. On Sutra 6.1.12: The Sutra reads- "By this is explained reception of property from virtuous persons who are inferior, equal, or superior (to oneself)." On this the Vrttikara states- "The phrase 'taking of another's property by theft' is explained by the sruti- 'to save himself or his family, suffering from starvation, a man may steal the food of a sudra, when he has not obtained food for seen days. Similarly, when he has not obtained food for 10 days, or when he has not obtained food for 15 days, or when life is in danger, to steal food from a vaisya, a ksatriya or a brahmin respectively, does not tend to adharma or sin."
8. On Sutra 7.1.3: The Sutra reads- "By this is implied eternality o color etc. which reside in eternal substances." On this the Vrttikara states- "The reading is not 'eternality' but rather 'non-eternality' so that color etc. residing in terrene ultimate atoms, disappear on the conjuction of fire."
9. On Sutra 10.1.3: The Sutra reads- "The production thereof (i.e., if doubt and certainty) is by means of perception and inference." Shankara Misra adds- "The author of Vrtti on the other hand, explains the aphorism thus, that the origin thereof, i.e., of cognition and pleasure, is explained, 'pratyaksha-laingikabhyam,' i.e., by the explanations of perceptual and inferential cognitions, that is to say, that whereas perceptual cognition is produced by the senses, and inferential by the marks of dilation, it is not so with pleasure, etc."