Darsana and Sasthra

There are 6 darsanaas in India.The first is the chaarvaaka or lokayatha which is a naasthik one and says one can believe only those which one see directly.(direct perception alone is the pramaana for science).The others believe that the direct sensory perception alone is not enough and anumaana and aagama are also taken as scientific proofs(especially the nyaya schools of Bengal,assam and kerala)and this is the darsana of akshapaada and of Gouthama.
Anumaana are of 3 types.
1.poorvavath.(as observed before.)one has observed that if raincloud comes there will be rain .because of the previous experience one guess the presence of rain.If we follow only the sensory perception we can never predict a tsunami or a disease epidemic etc.so anumaana is important and thus the nyaya school refuted the lokayatha /charvaka view and thus the naasthik was converted to the aasthic /nyaya side.
2.Sheshavath.There is flood in a river.The inmference is either there is rain in the hills,or there is melting of a glazier or there must be a dam opened.Here also we don’t see the event with our eyes but we infer.
3.Saamaanyatho drishtam.When we see change in position of the planets ,we infer that it must be due to the fact that there is gathi(movement )to them.This is a general theory.All the 3 were accepted because the nyaya school gave adequate illustrations and argued their case logically.This method is used in all the other darsanaas and one can find this type of logical argument at its zenith in sankaraa’s commentaries.That is why all the other darsanaas were pushed to the background.Not that sankara was a autocrat who destroyed anything,he was a scientists who argued logically on his viewpoint and all others accepted his views because they were flawless (.If one can call this conversion,we can call it so. )Conversion on any other background(political,for money,power etc)cannot be called a free conversion by will.It is here that we have to consider the facts very critically.
The science of Pathology (which I follow ,)still uses the 5 steps which Nyaya school used.I will illustrate it thus:
Step 1:Prathigna .In this I state what I am going to prove,in front of a group of people who know the scientific language I speak(fellow doctors/pathologists).I just say that the diagnosis I have made is so and so.
2.Hethu:What are the reasons I have to prove my side/diagnosis.I have to be very thourough in my saubject and should have excellent communication skills to discuss this.
3.3.Udaaharanam:There are some lakshana(linga)for a disease and I should be able to state the relation between these and this comes from my previous experience with similar cases,(case studies)called swaanubhava and the references from others(paraanubhava)
The references are of 2 types.As you know even now in evidence based medicine and other modern sciences ,to be acceptable in a journal we have to cite the thought processes and experiences of other scientists .These may may be people who are still in the human memory with a specified time,space,specified book/journal etc called pourusheya(traceable to a thinker/reformer/scientist in timespace)or may be prehistoric people who have left their ideologies and thoughts for posterity ,but have disappeared from the memory of mankind and hence called apourusheya.(veda/scriptures/cave writings etc)and these are the precious things that we have to preserve for posterity without change.Whereas ,the scientific/logical thoughts and sciences are naturally changed with time and are dynamic(called smrithy )and in memory of man.For a proof ,these two types of references are used and since smrithy /science is dynamic and changes from time to time there is always scope for new discoveries and these has to be substantiated by every scientist.The sruthy(apourusheya)is to be kept for posterity as common heritage of mankind.
4.Upanaya is the 4th step.How I can apply the above said points into the specific case study of my patient(the present case)This is a discussion of the present case
5.Nethy nethy is a deduction/induction process or an exclusion diagnosis in which you exclude the other possibilities by negative findings
It is after these steps that we proceed to the final diagnosis or nirnaya(nigamana)and Akshapaada calls this thought process as Aanweekshiki (tharka/vaada)
Charaka is ver y specific about the two types of assemblies(parishads)and about the two types of discussions or conversations we make.I will briefly state his view thus.

The two types of sambhaasha (conversations)according to Charaka.
Sandhaaya sambhaasha
Vigrahyasambhaasha
Conversation with people who are learned in the particular subject,and are eager to know about the subject more.
Benefit of this:1.Increase of knowledge by 3 means.knowledge of things we have not known before,clearing of doubts,increasing the previous knowledge.
2.Lokakalyana.Benefit to the entire world and the human race.
Conversation with people who don’t know the subject and do not want to know at all.Such conversation is mere jalpa/vithanda.
Prayojana :nil.Just killing time .
Charaka asks to avoid such conversations and to conserve our bioenergy for better things.(this is one of the essential prerequisites of health)

The two types of assemblies(parishads)each consists of mithra(friend),sathru(enemy)and sannigda(neutral)

Agna(ignorant)
Vigna(learned)
The mithra among agna can be slowly and steadily lead to knowledge ,but not through gnaanamaarga .By bhakthymarga or karmamaarga.(This is probably a type of conversion)
The other two(sathru and neutral)among agna has to be ignored and do not waste time in talking to them.
The mithra among vigna are the real rasika,sahridaya ,sishya,etc and they are the real valuable friends and a man with intelligence will not loose a chance to have contacts with them(sadsanga).
The enemy among the vigna just try to win you over and they make mere jalpa just for that purpose,not for increasing knowledge or for lokakalyana.therefore do not have contacts with them.
The neutrals among vignaas have doubts to be cleared.It is the duty of the learned scientist to clear their doubts with logic and intelligence.These clearing of doubts form treatises on each subjects and are known as the commentaries or saasthragranthaas etc used by posterity.
Here,you can see a change in your sentence” Every religion originates as an ideology, rather a Dharsana to uplift mankind both spiritually and materially, but in the course of time degenerates into an institutionalized hierarchy. This hierarchy then overpowers the ideology. Religion then becomes a tool of the hierarchy and the clergy. Religion looses its essence and becomes an institution wielding enormous powers. “
According to Indian darsana and science of Charaka,every science originate in this way,as a darsana for lokakalyana(upliftment of society)for perfect physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health but after sometime degenerates due to various reasons ,one of them being institutionalized hierarchy.These various reasons include increase in the number of agnaas(ignorant people)and the vignas who are selfish ,and the lack of genuinely interested unselfish people who are ready to do the saadhana for aquiring knowledge and to seek truth.(genuine scientists are less in kaliyuga).
Rather ,it would be correct in the Indian sense,that darsana is a perception only in the primary sense and it is science in the secondary sense.Only when a darsana is tested for a very long time ,Indians accepted it as a science.Long discussions and verifications (documented as treatises)can be sen before a darsana is accepted as a science by the assembly of learned people from Kashmir to Kerala.A scripture(A agama) is thus a darsana+saasthra,accepted by the learned parishads,verified over a long period of time by generations of people and for the sake of the god of society.(the world).
Without such a procedure no conversions can be possible.Individual preferences are what we call an opinion(in Sanskrit a matham which is translated as religion in English)and it can change ,since it is subjective to each person’s level of grasping and intelligence.But ,the values and the scientific methods accepted by generations of human beings (ancient and modern)makes what you really call as spirituality and in that realm whatever change is made has to come from prolonged discussions over the subject,by learned people ,and then verified by everyone and proven that it is for the good of society.Such a democratic conversion is good for society but it doesn’t happen som often because most of the change in opinion (religion)is for other reasons(other than ideology).

In spirituality of India there are two sides to the coin.(it should be there in spirituality of any country or of any individual since these are general things)
1.The logic and scientific methods of the darsanaas verified in the crucible of time by generations of scholars and documented as scriptures for future references.
2.The empathy or compassion originating in an individual mind which thinks about the world’s miseries and tries to find out a solution for alleviation of miseries and pain of the entire world(lokakalyana is a word originated in such a compassionate mind)
If there is only the first(logic )it is science or saasthra.If the second alone is there it becomes a dream or a mirage which we may not be able to put into practice.
But if we combine both,it is the real spirituality and Indians used this as a way of life.Hence,many of their scriptures does not even mention the name of the rishi who formulated a darsana or spiritual path.such selflessness is the hallmark of spirituality.This difference is there in spirituality and religion.The Indian culture and civilizations had this character ,until the period of the Gouthamabudha when there was the first attempt for institutionalization.

Spirituality is always within an individual consciousness.It can never be institutionalized.The personal qualities and charisma of a spiritual person attracts similarminded and learned people.and a sadsangha like that flourish as a gurukula and their ideas spread far and wide.When this is taken up by selfish groups of people to weild power over society ,religions form and they are actually political institutions(church was formed with this reason)and have nothing in common with the idea spread by the spiritual Guru (here ,Christ)To know Christ,one has to go deep into one’s own consciousness.Not into religious rites.For this the scriptures may help .But the best help comes from within your heart and from God’s grace.I just voiced the views of the Indian masters of darsana in brief.I think this is what every ideology will agree to,since human brain and its lateralisation has started during the prehistoric times and so far our brain structure and our hormones and our thinking prowess has not undergone any radical change.As a group human beings(homosapiens)are one race sharing the same characteristics of neuropsychoimmunology and nervous structures and gestalt neuronal assemblies.
For me,the best language which we can share with everyone in the world is musical language because music is universal and speaks the language of the heart and hence of compassion and everyone understands its universal language.That is why saamaveda and Raagachikitsa (music therapy)has healing effects on human species through neuropsychoimmunological effects.
Since I am at present involved with raagachikitsa,I find it a useful tool for generating a global awareness of peace and harmony,a new Mahaa advaitha for the present century.