Indian and western knowledge system

 On the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima, My sashtang pranaam to all Gurus and the unbroken line of transmission of highest knowledge which started from Sadashiv himself 

🙏🙏

सदाशिव समारम्भाम् शंकराचार्य मध्यमाम्। 

अस्मद् आचार्य पर्यन्ताम् वंदे गुरु परम्पराम्।।

In any discourse on knowledge of any kind in Indic traditions, salutations are offered to the line of Gurus through which this knowledge has descended, starting from either Sadashiv or Brahma himself. Like in the above shloka the line of Gurus starting from Sadashiv with Shankaracharya being in the middle to my own Guru is remembered and offered pranams . This is done to keep in mind that the knowledge of any kind is eternal and inherent in the nature and nobody can lay a claim of being the inventor or originator of any knowledge . This also leads to the natural corollary of knowledge being free and not for commercial purposes . This was true for all kinds of knowledge. Not only religious knowledge but more practical knowledge like Ayurveda, Architecture, music dance all had similar descending lineage of gurus through whom that particular knowledge descended. 

For example the Charaka samhita describes the following line of Gurus 

Sūtrasthāna 1.3–5 (Guru-paramparā)

भरद्वाजो हि दीर्घजीवितमिच्छन्नमरेश्वरमुपजगाम।

ब्रह्मा स्मृत्वाऽयुर्वेदं प्रजापतये प्रोवाच।

प्रजापतिरश्विभ्यां, अश्विनाविन्द्राय, इन्द्रो भरद्वाजाय॥

Sage Bharadvāja, desiring the knowledge that leads to long life, approached Indra, the lord of the gods.

The lineage of transmission is then stated:

Brahmā first recollected and taught Āyurveda to Prajāpati (Dakṣa).

Prajāpati taught it to the Aśvinī Kumāras.

The Aśvins taught it to Indra.

Indra taught it to Bharadvāja.

Brahmā → Dakṣa Prajāpati → Aśvinī Kumāras → Indra → Bharadvāja → Punarvasu Ātreya → Agniveśa → Charaka → Dṛḍhabala

Another important aspect was that knowledge not only descended from past to present it also diminished in quality and content . Brahma has the full knowledge of everything. He being the creator of universe, is also the source of all kinds of knowledge. Subsequent Gurus have incomplete knowledge and they access only parts of that knowledge.

In Mundakopnishad , Shaunak, a householder asked rishi Angiras about that one thing knowing which everything else becomes known , Rishi Angiras told him about two types of knowledge.

Para and apara. ( Absolute and relative) Para being the knowledge of self and apara knowledge of everything else.

 But before that he enumerated the line of Gurus through whom the knowledge has descended in the following shlokas 

ब्रह्मा देवानां प्रथमः सम्बभूव

विश्वस्य कर्ता भुवनस्य गोप्ता ।

स ब्रह्मविद्यां सर्वविद्याप्रतिष्ठाम्

अथर्वाय ज्येष्ठपुत्राय प्राह ॥

अथर्वणे यां प्रवदेत् ब्रह्माथर्वा

तां पुरोवाचाङ्गिरे ब्रह्मविद्याम् ।

स भारद्वाजाय सत्यवाहाय प्राह

भारद्वाजोऽङ्गिरसे परावराम् ॥

From Brahma to Atharva , his eldest son . From Atharva to Angira to Bharadwaj to Angiras was the line of transmission of the knowledge. Thus establishing the authority of the knowledge. 

Similarly for other streams also the line of transmission is presented , salutations offered and then the actual discourse starts. 

On the other hand in the western system ignorance of previous generations is emphasised. Previous generations either did not have the knowledge or bad, incomplete or faulty knowledge which gets improved upon by latter generation. One of the reason for this is technological nature of most of the western knowledge. So there is the concept of ascending nature of knowledge 

The concept of ownership of knowledge and its monetization is also totally western concept. This obviously leads to all kinds of problems. Transmission of knowledge is linked to money involved. Ideas of intellectual property rights and patents are established. 

Indian system also had clear goals for any kind of knowledge established in the four purusharth 

( Dharma, artha, kama, moksha) Moksha being the ultimate aim of all knowledge and all activities of any individual being. So there was a coherence in attaining any kind of knowledge and the Guru being always on a higher pedestal because he was supposed to be enlightened or Jeevan mukta. 

May we be always blessed with Gurus like Shankaracharya who have made k

nowledge of Brahma accessible to us