Mystical Realism in the Thought of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Abstract

WITH THE GROWTH of modern knowledge and philosophic insight, the older ways of classifying philosophers seem inadequate. For this reason it may be proper to suggest that Radhakrishnan's self-classification as an idealist in the mystical tradition ought to be changed to mystical realism. Although Radhakrishnan may prefer not to reclassify himself, this essay will try to show that, in the light of his later writings, he now favors a kind of mystical realism. The evidence comes mostly from his Fragments of a Confession, in which, without admitting the consequences in so many words, he reveals some influences which have entered into his own thinking.' In his two volume Indian Philosophy Radhakrishnan has given a sympathetic account of the development of Indian thought from the period of the early Vedic poems to modern times.2 Sometimes it is difficult to know when he is stating and restating the thought of the classical Indian writers and when he is expounding his own views. No one doubts that in this period Radhakrishnan should be classified as a mystical idealist. The fact that he is also sympathetic to the values of the Hebrew-Christian tradition means simply that his idealism is not provincial. More specific evidence of his traditional idealism is to be found in his An Idealist View of Life, which constituted the Hibbert Lectures for 1929.* Radhakrishnan is universal in his outlook. It is difficult to find any statement that would classify him as a Hindu rather than a Buddhist or something