Ras Bihari Das, “The Falsity of the World” (1940)

Abstract

This chapter presents Ras Bihari Das's 1940 essay, “The Falsity of the World,” in which he offers a distinctively realistic interpretation of Vedānta. Das specialized in Advaita Vedānta studies and the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. He was influenced by Hiralal Haldar, B. N. Seal, and K. C. Bhattacharyya. In his essay, Das explores the claim made advaitism that “the world is false.” In particular, he comments on the argument that “All are appearances and since appearances are known to be false, everything that is an appearance must be false.” He then considers three different ways in which to make the notion of the falsity of the world intelligible. Finally, he explains how religion expressly draws our mind away from all visible things to an invisible, and argues that our spiritual nature certainly gains in strength through activities of art, morality, and religion.