FREE online courses on Concepts of Ayurveda - The Concrete and Abstract

 

The universe and all it contains - comprising of the living and non-living - which can be recognised with the aid of our senses is the concrete. It is the opposite of abstract, which means "to draw away;" "to separate" "a nation," "considered or thought of;" and "treated apart from any particular object." Colour for example, is an abstract notion. In other words, the phenomenal world perceivable by the senses and conceivable by the mind which impress us as possessing form, mass, occupying a measurable space, undergoing changes as could be judged in terms of time, is the concrete. For that matter, Time and Space are considered to be abstractions of the mind even though, as far s our experience goes, they are felt as ‘Reals'. On the other hand, a tree, an elephant, a hill, the cloud, gold, diamond, man, etc., are concrete. A flower, for example, is a mass formed by parts, growing and changing. Growth is a change in Space and Time. Its colour, smell, and taste experienced by the subject or the person who sees, hears, touches, smells and tastes it, are the abstracts, (i.e.) notions in the mind of the person who experiences them. If this person is asked to describe the particular colour, smell and taste of the flower, he will often find it extremely difficult to state what they are in exact terms. We may, however, assume for our purpose, that the concrete and the abstracts are both ‘Reals,' the former demonstrable and the latter experienced and understood. They do not posses mass and the rest. According to the ancient Indian doctrines, both the abstract and the concrete of the universe are Padarthas. The term Padartha means an object which can be thought of or ‘Artha,' and named, or ‘Pada.' In other words, the term Padartha comprehends all things which exist, can be cognised and named. In short, all objects of experience and not merely the things of the physical world (i.e., the world of matter) are Padarthas. This term world, therefore apply to the concrete as to the abstract.

 

We have already noted that the modern Western physical and biological sciences have been mainly concerned with the investigation of the concrete with their tools. Their methods of investigation are essentially analytical. Thus, the phenomenal universe has been classified into two groups viz., the inorganic representing the living systems or things which arise out of them. The former includes solids, liquids and gases and the latter comprises of substances which are associated with the play of life, or arise in consequence of the association of matter with life. All forms of matter, whether the living or non-living, have been shown to be composed of basic or fundamental units of matter known as atoms, and each atom in its turn has been shown to be composed of still smaller units of matter known as elementary particles charged variously with electricity. The living matter or protoplasm is itself composed of about 14 such non-living atoms. It is from the combination and recombination of the atoms of chemical elements that concrete substances or Padarthas arise. The atoms and the elementary particles are adrisya, in view of their extreme subtlety. They apparently possess mass and motion and are susceptible to change or transformation. The state of matter beyond the elementary particles is a subject of speculation or in other words, abstractions of the mind. These conclusions are reached by a process comparable to the climbing of a ladder, rung by rung, the first rungbelow representing the concrete and the top-rung representing the abstract. The ancient Indian way of approach represents the descent from the top-most rung i.e., the abstract, to the lower rungs representing the concrete. The modern Western way is an ascent from the lower to the top-rung (i.e.) from the concrete to the abstract. In this process, the two approaches to the problem have, for all intents and purposes, met at the level of the elementary atomic particles.