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Kanada (also known as Uluka) was a philosopher who founded the school of Vaisesika. He is considered as the father of the atomic theory. According to some accounts he probably lived around c.1300 BCE. It is believed that he was born in Prabhasa-ksetra in Gujarat, India.
His area of study was rasavatam, considered to be a type of alchemy. In his text, the Vaisesika-sutras, he describes an atomic theory more than a century before Democritus developed one in ancient Greece.
Basically the Vaisesika philosophy can be explained as the analysis of the aspects of reality.
Vaisesika is allied to Nyaya since both systems accept the liberation of the self as the main goal, both view ignorance (avidya) as the root cause of suffering, and both accept that liberation is attained through knowledge of reality. However, unlike Nyaya that accepts four sources of knowledge (perception, inference, comparison and testimony), Vaisesika only accepts perception and inference. Also, whereas Nyaya maintains that all of reality is comprehended in sixteen categories, Vaisesika accepts only seven –
- Dravya (substance)
- Guna (quality)
- Karma (action)
- Samanya (generality)
- Visesa (uniqueness)
- Samavaya (inherence)
- Abhava (non-existence)
1) Dravya (Substance)
Kanada believed that all objects were comprised of nine elements (dravya): earth, water, light, wind, ether, time, direction, mind and consciousness. The first five of these are called physical elements because they possess a specific quality that is perceived by the external sense facultiess. These five physical elements comprise of atoms (known in Sanskrit as paramanu). This is not to be confused with the modern scientific definition of atom because an atom as described in nuclear physics is itself composed in many parts. Kanada defines an atom as the most indivisible state of matter. The atoms of water, earth, fire and air are eternal because an atom is part less and cannot be produced or destroyed. The common elements of air, water, fire and air are noneternal because they are produced by a combination of atoms and therefore can disintegrate and change. The existence of atoms is proved by inference not by perception. All composite parts of the world can be broken into smaller parts. But when one comes to the part that cannot be broken further that minutest part in Vaisesika is called an atom. Atoms can neither be produced nor destroyed – they are eternal.
2) Guna (Quality)
Kanada says that the quality of a substance cannot exist by itself, but only within a substance. Therefore quality by itself cannot be the constituent cause of the existence of anything.
3) Karma (Action)
Karma, according to Kanada, refers to the physical, perceivable movement of a substance. Whereas some actions of perceivable substances can be perceived, other actions of inperceivable subsatnces cannot – they can only be inferred (ie. the rotation of the earth).
4) Samanya (Generality)
Samanya is the essence of the common characteristics that unite different entities into one class. Vaisesika recognizes three divisions of samanya – high, intermediate and low.
5) Visesa (Uniqueness)
Uniqueness is that characteristic of a thing by virtue of which it is distinguished from all other things. Everything in the world regardless of whether it is existent or nonexistent is accompanied by uniqueness.
6) Samavaya (Inherence)
All things have two kinds of relations – nearness and inherence. Nearness is temporary, allows two more things to exist together without being affected by each other. This nearness is an external relationship existing as an accidental quality of the substances related to it. Inherence, on the other hand, is a permanent relation between two entities, one of whom inheres in the other.
7) Abhava (Non-existence)
Unlike the first six categories, abhava is negative by nature. Non-existence does not exist in the above six categories, yet according to the Vaisesika philosophy, non-existence also exists.
According to Vaisesika, there is no creation or annihilation but rather an orderly and morally systematized composition and decomposition of materialcompounds. An individual unit of consciousness is involved in the universe because of adrsta (the natural universal law) and each individual unit is responsible for his own fate.
SOURCES:
A History of Indian Philosophy – S. Dasupta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaisheshika
