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Indian PhilosophyOS

beginner · 18 steps

I know nothing about Indian philosophy

A gentle first walk through the big ideas that recur across Indian thought, anchored in the Bhagavad Gita. By the end you will know the core vocabulary and be ready to explore the individual schools.
Editorial overview
18 steps
  1. 1Question · How do we know something is true?What is philosophy here?Indian schools are called darshanas, 'ways of seeing'. Each begins with how we know things (pramana) — a good first question.
  2. 2Gita verse · Bhagavad Gita 2.7Philosophy begins with a real questionThe Gita opens with Arjuna confused about what is right and asking for guidance — philosophy as a response to a lived crisis.
  3. 3Concept · DharmaDharmaOrder, duty, right conduct: the word that frames how one should act in the world.
  4. 4Gita verse · Bhagavad Gita 3.35One's own dutyThe Gita's teaching that one's own path, imperfectly followed, is better than another's.
  5. 5Concept · KarmaKarmaAction and its consequences — and the Gita's twist: the problem is attachment to results.
  6. 6Gita verse · Bhagavad Gita 2.47Work without clinging to resultsThe single most quoted teaching of the Gita.
  7. 7Question · Who am I?Who am I?Almost every school asks what the real self is; their answers divide them.
  8. 8Gita verse · Bhagavad Gita 2.13The body changes, the experiencer continuesA simple observation that launches the inquiry into the Self.
  9. 9Concept · YogaYogaFar more than posture: in the Gita and Patanjali, a discipline of mind and action.
  10. 10Concept · Moksha — liberationMoksha — liberationThe highest aim for most schools, understood very differently by each.
  11. 11Concept · Bhakti — devotionBhakti — devotionThe path of love for God, which shaped much of Indian religious life.
  12. 12Gita verse · Bhagavad Gita 9.26A leaf, a flower, fruit or waterDevotion needs nothing elaborate, only sincerity.
  13. 13Tradition · VedantaExplore the schools: VedantaThe schools built on the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and Gita.
  14. 14Tradition · SankhyaSankhyaA dualist map of consciousness and nature.
  15. 15Interactive · 25 Tattvas ExplorerThe 25 principlesExplore Sankhya's model of reality interactively.
  16. 16Tradition · Buddhist philosophyBuddhismA major tradition that denies a permanent self.
  17. 17Tradition · Jain philosophyJainismNon-harm and many-sided reality.
  18. 18Interactive · Many-Sided RealityMany-sided realityTry the Jain method of standpoints.