We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2009
A Student of ethics cannot but be struck by some fundamental difference of outlook in the ethics of the East and the West. This has a particular bearing on the problem of the relation of the individual to society. In practice this has given rise to a question of supreme importance to every thinking man: is an individual completely subservient to society, or is society completely subservient to the demands of individuality? I.e., is the moksha (salvation) of any individual impossible till all the needs of society have been completely satisfied, or is an individual free to use or not to use society as a field for his own spiritual expansion? There is no doubt a fundamental discrepancy in these outlooks as thus conceived, and the problem is : can we reconcile them ?
page 208 note 1 This interpretation may be challenged by some sects of Hindus, who repudiate the ascetic ideal altogether, but I think it will hold on the whole.
page 209 note 1 Cf. Mundaka Upaniskad S 1b.
page 210 note 1 The founder of Jainism.
page 210 note 2 The founder of Advaitism.
page 210 note 3 The founder of Visisthadvaitism.
page 210 note 4 The greatest Indian mystic, who, born a Mahommedan, yet imbibed the highest truths of Hinduism.
page 210 note 5 The founder of the Sikh religion.
page 210 note 6 The founder of the Arya Samaj, a reforming Hindu organization.
page 210 note 7 The teacher of Swami Vivekananda.
