To understand the history of Indian philosophy, it is necessary to connect together all the various systems of thought that existed contemporaneously, and that gives us the sixth system of Hindu Philosophy, Purva Mimansa, commonly believed to be an introduction to Vedanta, but really a connecting link between all systems and an introduction to all of them.
The rule of Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka are a connecting link between all systems of Religion. Chandragupta’s minister and mentor, and indeed the chief architect of the Mauryan empire, Chanakya promoted the harmony of all religious systems. Vishnugupta or Kautilya as he was also known spearheaded Chandragupta’s campaign against Menander, Alexander’s general who had taken over Bactria on the Indian subcontinent’s northwestern frontier. But once the war was over, the Greeks were welcomed into the empire, and Chandragupta married one of Menander’s daughters. This has been explained previously.
In Indian philosophical thought, we see that the only difference between Nature and God is that the former is conceived as a blind and fortuitous force, while the latter is characterized by Sacrifice, understood as creative power accompanied by moral Law, goodness, selflessness, impartiality, and self-restraint. In fact, both in the Arthashastra and the Chanakya Niti, Chanakya says: “God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple.”
We notice that it is Sacrifice that connects together all systems of thought. The Sankhya, by denying a place to God, denies all Sacrifice; Nyaya, by giving a small place to God, admits but a small measure of Sacrifice; the Vaiseshika, by giving a larger place to God, admits a larger measure of Sacrifice; Yoga accepts it still more, while Vedanta, by holding that it is God alone who creates, accepts nothing but Sacrifice. It is in this way that the ancients have examined the universe from different points of view, and conceived of the solution of the problem of life from diffcrent angles, giving us different ideals of conduct in the light of each, so that we might live and act and be happy at whatever stage of evolution and development we arc. But all Philosophy is an abstraction,- an attempt to get at the essence of Truth in a mass of matter and life. But if it be really an expression of Truth, it must be related to the work-a-day life of the average man. It must make the abstract concrete again, transform the universal into the individual, the ideal into the actual, and set it before us as a guide for daily practice. This can be done through all the materials of Art, Architecture and Sculpture, Painting, Music, and Poetry. In other words, Philosophy must be transformed into Religion, with all its pageantry of Art,-imposing edifices and imagery, the mys tery of colours and sounds, and the inspiration of Poetry, with all its beauty of form, sweetness of speech, variety and interest of narrative, personification and figures of speech, and above all sincerity and love of Truth. This too has been done by the ancients.