| Just as in
science, here too, deductions are made and conclusions are reached by a process of
reasoning from certain basic truths and observed facts and experience and insight arrive
at certain formulas are arrived at by experience and insight. BASIC FACTS
Man, essentially an animal
The first and foremost basic fact is that man is
essentially an animal. He possesses instincts, tendencies and desires in common with
animals. Sri Sankaracharya has beautifully expressed it in an aphoristic form in his Sutra
Bhashya, thus: (man is not different from animals). "Eating, sleep, fear and
copulation, these are common to man with animals. What is more in men is Dharma. Devoid of
Dharma they become equal to animals." The four
characteristics enumerated here are only illustrative. The instinct for cruelty, the lust
for power and the struggle for existence may also be mentioned as common to man and
animals. |
