Post No. 15,142
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Scholars are attracted to the topic Plato and the Upanishads and there are three books published with the same topic in the past 50 years.
I read all the three books recently and almost similar topics are discussed by the three authors. Indian authors on Upanishads also compared them.
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Plato and the Upanishads by Vassilis Vitaxis was published by Arnold Heinermann Publishers (India) Private Limited New Delhi at the price of Rs 20 in 1977.
The review in The Weekly Mail said,
“It has been established that there was contact between India and Greece even long before Alexander’s campaign. Eusebius (315 CE) speaks of a tradition which he attributes to Aristoxenus, the well known wrier on harmonics and a pupil of Aristotle that certain learned Indians actually visited Athens and conversed with Socrates. The similarities between the Greek philosophy and early Indian thought are very close.
The attempt of the author is to show how the philosophy of Plato has much in common with the philosophy of the Upanishads. The quest of the leaders of the Eleatic school for ONE REALITY underlying material phenomena is very much the same as the metaphysical quest of the Upanishadic seers of that ‘knowing which everything else becomes known.’
The Socratic irony may be matched by a passage in the Kena Upanishad which declares with reference to the TRUTH “it is not understood by those who understand; it is understood by those who do not understand”.
1
The author finds many parallels between the Upanishads and Plato both in method and substance; the dialogue forms are used by both the Upanishads and Plato. Moreover, this serves as a suitable instrument or vehicle of teaching.
2
Indian philosophy insists that the sphere of logical thought is far exceeded by that of the mind’s possible experience of reality. Similarly, Plato sees ‘Supreme Truth cannot be orally thought or committed to writing. It can only be an object of some inner experience.
3
In the Phaedrus, the image of the chariots used by Plato is almost the same as in Katha Upanishad. Both the Upanishads and Plato use sleeping state as a metaphor to signify the conditions of life lacking philosophy or enlightenment.
4
The sun is used by the Upanishads and Plato as the cause of light and so of vision and visibility. The light of the sun directed at man that is a beam turned towards the inner self, is platonic. This principle “know thyself“ was the foundation on which Plato erected his theories. It is needless to add that it is Upanishadic method also.
5
There are however several differences between Plato’s object and that of the Upanishads. One of them is that Plato seems to believe in the existence of many souls. His is in consonance with certain schools of India philosophy like Sankhya , but not with Advaita which is the major principle expounded by the Upanishads.
6
Further there are many passages in Plato’s RUPUBLIC wherein he refers to God as if He were a person. Nevertheless, he has also evidence that this is only an image or a way of speaking and His true concept about the Absolute and infinite, that Real Being is anything but a personal God .
7
Both Plato and the Upanishads regard self -perception as a source of purity in information, and stress the importance of thought and need for reflection and contemplation.
8
Plato also speaks of two kinds of knowledge, the lower leading to opinion and the higher leading to knowledge, which is similarly mentioned in the Mandukya Upanishad and the Katha Upanishad.
9
There is also the touch of the principle of MAYA in Plato who states that the empirical world is thought of as a shadow of reality. “our senses perceive only ghosts and appearances, which are in a state of continuous flux. Only the mind (NOUS) can reach the TRUTH by the communion of the soul through whatever immortal quality it possesses with the unchangeable and the real within the world of form which exist in a super celestial state beyond the substance. Both Plato and the Upanishads agree about the impossibility of defining the Absolute.
10.
These and many other parallels, quoted by the author, are of great interest to the students of comparative religion and philosophy. The ultimate emphasis of Indian thought has always been liberation or Moksha. The ultimate emphasis of Greek thought has always been to expand the norms and forms of life in whatever manner possible.
–Mail Newspaper Interview by S Y K.
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Two more books
Plato and Vedic Idealism
Swami Paramananda
Anmol Publications, New Delhi, 1990
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Hindu Influence on Greek Philosophy
J Lomperis, Department of Political Science, Duke University
All the three books mentioned here are available at University of London Library at SOAS, London.
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My old articles on the same subject
Plato used Hindu Microcosm and Macrocosm!
Research paper No 1944; Date: 20th June 2015
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Forty-Six Hindu Discoveries and Indianization of Greek Philosophy (Post No.3837)
Date: 21 APRIL 2017; Post No. 3837
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Science and Religion in Upanishads
Article No.1925; Date :11th June 2015
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31 Beautiful Quotations on Upanishads (Post.12,206)
Post No. 12,206; Date – 30 June , 2023
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AUROBINDO’S QUOTATIONS ON THE VEDAS AND THE UPANISHADS (Post No.8000)
Post No.8000; Date– 18 May 2020
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List of 121 Upanishads
Post No 1471 ; Dated 9th December 2014
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यत् पिण्डे तत् ब्रह्माण्डे’ “Your Body is a Miniature Universe” : Upanishad and Charaka Samhita (Post No.14,418)
Post No. 14,418; Date– 21 April 2025
–subham—
Tags- Plato and the Upanishads, three books
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