{{short description|Indian philosophy concept}} {{italic title}} {{Hindu philosophy}} '''''Vichāra'''''<ref>IAST: vicāra, so there is no aspirated consonant in the Devanagari form विचार.</ref> (Pāli: vicāra) in Indian philosophy means deliberation; it is the faculty of discrimination that discerns the Real, Brahman, from the unreal.
==Etymology== ''Vichāra'' ({{langx|sa|विचार}}) means deliberation; its root is वि (prefix to verbs and nouns it expresses) – चर् (to move, roam, obtain knowledge of).<ref>{{cite book|title=the Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary|author=V.S.Apte|publisher=Digital Dictionaries Of South Asia|page=1422|url=http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/search3advanced?dbname=apte&query=%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0&matchtype=exact&display=utf8|archive-date=2016-01-19|access-date=2014-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119220651/http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/search3advanced?dbname=apte&query=%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0&matchtype=exact&display=utf8|url-status=dead}}</ref>
It is the faculty of discrimination between right and wrong; it is deliberation about cause and effect, and the final analysis.<ref>{{cite book|title=Before the Beginning and after the End|author=Rishi Kumar Mishra|date=June 2001|publisher=Rupa Publications|page=421|isbn=9788171675012|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ML3p93Eju9gC&q=Vichara+vedas&pg=PT421 }}</ref>
The Sanskrit word, ''Vichāra'', does not have a corresponding word in English.
==Textual references== Aitareya Aranyaka (II.iii.2.5) of the Rig Veda tells us that in man alone is the ''Atman'' ('Self') most manifest, for man is best endowed with intelligence and discrimination, and who knowing the higher and the lower worlds aspires to achieve immortality through mental things. Taittiriya Upanishad tells us:- :यो वेद निहितं गुहाया परमे व्योमन् | that all should know Brahman as existing in the intellect in which, Shankara explains, are hidden – a) 'knowledge', b) 'the knowable' and c) 'the knower', as also enjoyment and liberation.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Illumination of Knowledge|publisher=GBD Books|page=82|oclc=470877223}}</ref> The relationship between the Individual self and the Universal Self reveals the actual source of thought and action; it reveals Brahman; ''vichāra'' (reflection and contemplation) results in disinterest in that which is not the source of anything in this world.<ref>{{cite book|title=Living Traditions in Contemporary Contexts|author=Vasudeva Rao|year=2002|publisher=Orient Blackswan|page=197|isbn=9788125022978|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-utNEpTZWUkC&q=Vichara+vedas&pg=PA197 }}</ref>
Vedanta ( the eternal path) activates ''vichāra'' ('inquiry') to increase '' viveka '' ('discrimination') to deconstruct '' vivarta '' ('false superimposition') to destroy '' vasanas '' ('root desires') and thus establish '' vairagya '' ('detachment'), become a '' vidvan '' ('wise person') and attain '' vijnana '' ('self-realization'); these factors combined facilitate in the human aspiration and Divine Dispensation working harmoniously together.<ref>{{cite book|title=Nectar#11: The Pearl of Great Price|date=30 April 2004|publisher=Sarada|page=1|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw-hAwAAQBAJ&q=Vichara+vedanta&pg=PA1 }}</ref> ''Vichāra'' is ''Atma-vichāra'' in Advaita Vedanta, but Samkhya is more concerned with ''Tattva-vichāra'', about the nature of the tattvas.<ref>{{cite book|title=Nectar#23: Divine Mother Transmission|date=9 September 2007|publisher=Sarada|page=9|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=x-37AwAAQBAJ&q=Vichara+vedas&pg=PA9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Yoga and Ayurveda|author=David Frawley|year=2000|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=315|isbn=9788120816992|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HmTs6uraIGgC&q=Vichara+vedas&pg=PA315 }}</ref>
==Interpretation== ''Vichāra'' is reflection and contemplation upon the meaning of Vedantic truths, and leads the individual to true knowledge, it leads to Brahman, the Universal Self.<ref>{{cite book|title=Vedanta, the Science of Life|author=Swami Chinmayananda|year=1980|publisher=Chinmaya Mission|pages=494, 710|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iOMYAAAAIAAJ&q=Vichara+vedanta }}</ref> It is also the enquiry into the nature of the Atman, Satya, Ishvara and Brahman.<ref>{{cite book|title=How to Meditate, Focus and Concentrate|author=Swami Sivananda|publisher=Comet Content|page=236|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5Aa5BQAAQBAJ&q=Vichara+vedas&pg=PA236 }}</ref>
===Vedanta=== ''Vichāra'' or discriminating reasoning is one of the five ''Vedanta'' methods for awakening spiritual consciousness. Contrary to faith, which is concerned primarily with the essence of a thing and not merely with its appearance; reason, which begins with doubt, relies on appearance of things and not on their essential nature. There are three types of reasoning – ''vada'' or academic reasoning, ''jalpa'' or reasoning in a dogmatic and negative way whether rationally or irrationally, and ''vitanda'' or reasoning that seeks only to lay bare defects of or confuse the opponents.
In ''Vedanta'', rational reasoning is ''vichāra'' that discriminates between the real and the unreal; it dispels prejudices such as irrational doubts, preconceived notions/ideas and personal sentiments to scrutinize the meaning of Truth. Shankara in his commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad explains that Vedantic reasoning reveals the essential meaning of scriptural statement in the context of its goal, proves the logical untenability of all contrary concepts so as to establish the intelligibility of non-dualism and expose the mutually contradictory nature of dualistic views about Reality. The process of Vedantic reasoning is three-fold viz; through'' shravana'', ''manana ''and ''nididhyasana'', with the aspirant, endowed with ''shraddha'', reasoning with an open mind.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Vedanta Way to Peace and Happiness|author=Swami Adiswarananda|year=2008|publisher=Jaico Publishing|isbn=9788179927786|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5WocujrSu_sC&q=Vichara+vedanta&pg=PT92 }}</ref>
===Atma-vichara=== ''Vichara'', Self-inquiry, also called ''jnana-vichara''{{sfn|Sadhu Om|2005|p=136}} or ''{{IAST|ātma-vichār}}'' by devotees of Ramana Maharshi, is the constant attention to the inner awareness of 'I' or 'I am'. It was recommended by Ramana Maharshi as the most efficient and direct way of discovering the unreality of the ‘I'-thought, and then discovering one's identity with its source.
According to David Frawley, "atma-vichara" is the most important practice in the Advaita Vedanta tradition, predating its popularisation by Ramana Maharshi.<ref group=web name="Frawley">[http://www.swamij.com/frawley-self-inquiry.htm David Frawley, ''Self-Inquiry and Its Practice'']</ref> It is part of the eighth limb of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, which describes the various stages of samadhi. Meditation on "I-am-ness" is a subtle object of meditation.{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=178}} It is also described in the ''Yoga Vasistha'', a syncretic work which may date from the 6th or 7th century CE, and shows influences from Yoga, Samkhya, Saiva Siddhanta and Mahayana Buddhism, especially Yogacara.{{sfn|Chapple|1984|p=xii}}
Ramana taught that the 'I'-thought will disappear and only "I-I"<ref group=web name="I-I1">[http://davidgodman.org/rteach/iandii1.shtml David Godman (1991), '''I' and 'I-I' — A Reader's Query'', The Mountain Path, 1991, pp. 79–88. Part one]</ref> or Self-awareness remains. This results in an "effortless awareness of being",<ref name=Self-enquiry /> and by staying with it<ref group=web name="deathexp2">[http://sri-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.nl/2008/06/more-on-bhagavans-death-experience.html David Godman (23 June 2008), ''More on Bhagavan's death experience'']</ref> this "I-I" gradually destroys the vasanas "which cause the 'I'-thought to rise,"<ref name=Self-enquiry /> and finally the 'I'-thought never rises again, which is Self-realization or liberation.<ref name=Self-enquiry>{{cite web|title=Self-enquiry|url=http://www.hinduism.co.za/self-enq.htm|access-date=29 December 2012}}</ref>
===Yoga Sutras of Patanjali=== In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, ''Samprajnata Samadhi'', also called ''savikalpa samadhi'' and ''Sabija Samadhi'',<ref group=web name="Dive Life">[http://www.sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection§ion_id=932 Swami Sivananda, ''Samprajnata Samadhi'']</ref>{{refn|group=note|The seeds or samskaras are not destroyed.<ref group=web name="Dive Life" />}} is meditation with support of an object.<ref group=web name="50+">[http://www.swamij.com/meditationtypes.htm#categories Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati, ''Integrating 50+ Varieties of Yoga Meditation'']</ref>{{refn|group=note|According to Jianxin Li ''Samprajnata Samadhi'' may be compared to the ''rupa jhanas'' of Buddhism.{{sfn|Jianxin Li|n.d.}} This interpretation may conflict with Gombrich and Wynne, according to whom the first and second ''jhana'' represent concentration, whereas the third and fourth ''jhana'' combine concentration with mindfulness.{{sfn|Wynne|2007|p=106; 140, note 58}} According to Eddie Crangle, the first ''jhana'' resembles Patnajali's ''Samprajnata Samadhi'', which both share the application of ''vitarka'' and ''vicara''.{{sfn|Crangle|1984|p=191}}}} ''Samprajata samadhi'' is associated with deliberation, reflection, bliss, and I-am-ness.{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=177}}{{refn|group=note|Yoga Sutra 1.17: "Objective ''samadhi'' (samprajnata) is associated with deliberation, reflection, bliss, and I-am-ness (''asmita'').{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=156}}}} Deliberation and reflection form the basis of the various types of ''samapatti'':{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=177}}{{sfn|Whicher|1998|p=254}} * Savitarka, "deliberative":{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=177}}{{refn|group=note|Yoga Sutra 1.42: "Deliberative (''savitarka'') ''samapatti'' is that ''samadhi'' in which words, objects, and knowledge are commingled through conceptualization."{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=177}}}} The citta is concentrated upon a gross object of meditation,<ref group=web name="50+" /> an object with a manifest appearance that is perceptible to our senses,{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=179}} such as a flame of a lamp, the tip of the nose, or the image of a deity.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} Conceptualization (''vikalpa'') still takes place, in the form of perception, the word and the knowledge of the object of meditation.{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=177}} When the deliberation is ended this is called ''nirvitaka samadhi''.{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=178}}{{refn|group=note|Yoga Sutra 1.43: "When memory is purified, the mind appears to be emptied of its own nature and only the object shines forth. This is superdeliberative (''nirvitaka'') ''samapatti''."{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=178}}}} * Savichara, "reflective":{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=179}} the citta is concentrated upon a subtle object of meditation,<ref group=web name="50+" />{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=179}} which is not perceptible to the senses, but arrived at through interference,{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=179}} such as the senses, the process of cognition, the mind, the I-am-ness,{{refn|group=note|Following Yoga Sutra 1.17, meditation on the sense of "I-am-ness" is also grouped, in other descriptions, as "sasmita samapatti"}} the chakras, the inner-breath (''prana''), the ''nadis'', the intellect (''buddhi'').{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=179}} The stilling of reflection is called ''nirvichara samapatti''.{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=179}}{{refn|group=note|Yoga Sutra 1.44: "In this way, reflective (''savichara'') and super-reflective (''nirvichara'') ''samapatti'', which are based on subtle objects, are also explained."{{sfn|Maehle|2007|p=179}}}}
==Notes== {{reflist|group=note|35em}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources==
===Printed sources=== {{refbegin}} * Apte, V.S. (1890; rev. ed. 1957-59), ''The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary''. (Poona: Prasad Prakashan). * {{Citation | last =Chapple | first =Christopher | year =1984 | title =Introduction to "The Concise Yoga Vasistha" | publisher =State University of New York}} * {{Citation | last =Crangle | first =Eddie | year =1984 | chapter =A Comparison of Hindu and Buddhist Techniques of Attaining Samādhi | editor-last1 =Hutch | editor-first1 =R.A. | editor-last2 =Fenner | editor-first2 =P.G. | title =Under The Shade of the Coolibah Tree: Australian Studies in Consciousness | publisher =University Press of America | chapter-url =http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Articles/A%20Comparison%20of%20Hindu%20and%20Buddhist%20Techniques%20of%20Attaining%20Samadhi_Crangle_1984.pdf | access-date =28 November 2014 | archive-date =1 September 2021 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20210901060208/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Articles/A%20Comparison%20of%20Hindu%20and%20Buddhist%20Techniques%20of%20Attaining%20Samadhi_Crangle_1984.pdf | url-status =dead }} * {{Citation | last =Crangle | first =Edward Fitzpatrick | year =1994 | title =The Origin and Development of Early Indian Contemplative Practices | publisher =Otto Harrassowitz Verlag}} * {{Citation | last=Sadhu Om | year=2005 | title=The Path of Sri Ramana, Part One | place=Tiruvannamalai | publisher=Sri Ramana Kshetra, Kanvashrama | url=http://www.happinessofbeing.com/The_Path_of_Sri_Ramana_Part_One.pdf }} * {{Citation | last =Jianxin Li | date =n.d. | title =A Comparative Study between Yoga and Indian Buddhism | publisher =asianscholarship.org | url =http://www.asianscholarship.org/asf/AnnualFellows/July8_9/Li%20Jianxin,%20A%20Comparative%20Study%20between%20Yoga%20and%20Indian%20Buddhism.doc | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160304135225/http://www.asianscholarship.org/asf/AnnualFellows/July8_9/Li%20Jianxin,%20A%20Comparative%20Study%20between%20Yoga%20and%20Indian%20Buddhism.doc | archive-date =2016-03-04 }} * {{Citation | last =Maehle | first =Gregor | year =2007 | title =Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy | publisher =New World Library}} * {{Citation | last =Whicher | first =Ian | year =1998 | title =The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana: A Reconsideration of Classical Yoga | publisher =SUNY Press}} * {{Citation | last =Wynne | first =Alexander | year =2007 | title =The Origin of Buddhist Meditation | publisher = Routledge}} {{refend}}
===Web-sources=== {{reflist|group=web}}
{{Indian Philosophy|state=collapsed}}
Category:Hindu philosophical concepts Category:Vedas Category:Vedanta Category:Sanskrit words and phrases