Sapiens and Sthitaprajna

A Comparative Study in Seneca's Stoicism and the Bhagavadgita

Ashwini Mokashi

• Publisher: D.K. Printworld
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9788124609637
• eBook ISBN: 9788124610558
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism for Comparative Literature
• Index: Literature

About the Book
Sapiens and Sthitaprajna studies the concept of a wise person in the Stoic Seneca and in the Bhagavadgita. Although the Gita and Seneca's writings were composed at least two centuries apart and a continent apart, they have much in common in recommending a well-lived life. This book describes how in both a wise person is endowed with both virtue and wisdom, is moral, makes right judgements and takes responsibility for actions. A wise and virtuous person always enjoys happiness, as happiness consists in knowing that one has done the right thing at the right time.
Both Seneca and the Gita demand intellectual rigour and wisdom for leading a virtuous and effective life. They provide guidelines for how to become and be wise. Both systems demand a sage to be emotionally sound and devoid of passions. This leads to mental peace and balance, and ultimately tranquillity and happiness. While surveying these similarities, this study also finds differences in their ways of application of these ideas. The metaphysics of the Gita obliges the sage to practise meditation, while the Stoics require a sage to be a rational person committed to analysing and intellectualizing any situation.
This comparative study will be of interest to students of both Ancient Western and Ancient Indian Philosophy. Practitioners of Stoicism and followers of the Gita should find the presence of closely-related ideas in a very different tradition of interest while perhaps finding somewhat different prescriptions a spur to action. About the Author
Ashwini Mokashi was educated at the University of Pune and at King's College, London. She taught Philosophy at Pune in Wadia and Ferguson colleges and as a guest lecturer at the University of Pune, she taught a comparative course in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit during 1993-95. She now lives in Princeton, New Jersey and works on her writings in philosophy as an independent research scholar. She has served two terms as President of the Princeton Research Forum. Her next project is a personal and philosophical account of a meditational community in Pune and Nimbal.

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Introduction

This book is a comparative work between ancient Western and Indian philosophy. It is a comparison of the concept of the “wise person”, as it appears in both the philosophies of Stoic Seneca and the Bhagavadgītā (Gītā). The wise person is referred to as the Sapiens in Seneca and as the Sthitaprajña in the Bhagavadgītā. Both texts were written sometime around the first century bce. The Gītā was written in Sanskrit and the Stoic texts of Seneca were written in Latin. The thesis makes several references to various Sanskrit, Latin and Greek concepts while explaining the terminology in detail. Both writings have had an impact on philosophical literatures of many languages, such as German, Marathi, Sanskrit and literature in English. The genesis of the concept of the wise person dates to the Greek philosophy of Socrates and Plato in the Western tradition; in the Indian tradition, it dates to the Upaniṣads. The writings of Seneca and the Gītā display many similar philosophical insights. The Sapiens and the Sthitaprajña clearly display a “family resemblance” in their internal structure as well as outward manifestation. In this book, we will subject the resemblance to closer scrutiny.

Comparative Philosophy

In general, comparing two similar ideas from distant cultures serves many purposes:

1. It gives one a chance to examine these ideas from two different perspectives.

2. It allows a re-examination of their successes and failures.

3. It focuses attention on their common elements and hence points to universal imperatives.

4. It brings two different lines of thoughts together in the mainstream of philosophical thinking, allowing one a greater field for experimentation with different ideas and schools of thought.

5. It underscores the consequences of a philosopher’s role in identifying and addressing ethical problems across periods and cultures.

In addition, comparing the idea of the wise person has the following advantages:

a. It allows us to see the possibility as to how some people can actualize their potential in ethical and moral terms, whereas most others focus on mundane pragmatic requirements.

b. It will introduce certain notions of Stoicism to the students of Indian philosophy as well as introduce certain notions of Indian philosophy to the students of Stoic philosophy.

The concept of a wise person is attractive to the students of religious studies, because its impact was seen among religious followers.

Plan of Action

We will begin this chapter by introducing Seneca and the Gītā. The section on Stoicism recounts the beginnings and discusses the life and writings of Seneca. The Gītā section discusses the genesis, sources, authorship, social acceptance and religious importance of the Gītā. It discusses the teachings of the Gītā, compares it with the Upaniṣads and six darśanas to place it in the Indian philosophical context.

Chapter 2 discusses Seneca’s concept of the sapiens. It describes who the Sapiens is and how a person becomes one and concludes with a philosophical critique of the concept. For Lucius Annaeus Seneca, happiness consists in experiencing tranquillity and peace of mind, which results from a constant practice of virtue, and intellectual exercise required to perform morally right actions. The integrity of thoughts and actions results in tranquillity leading to happiness. The chapter further describes Seneca’s views about Dialectics to show how the Sapiens justifies his/her actions as right actions, no matter whether his/her choice of action is conventional or unconventional. The chapter discusses Seneca’s views on psychology, especially his treatment of emotions, such as anger and grief. Seneca finds useful and important to understand various emotions and treat them as a part of therapy for encouraging people to be detached from passions and be virtuous. We find that the Sapiens embodies the ethical tenets of Stoicism; only a wise and virtuous person enjoys permanent happiness. Scholars criticized this concept as being elitist, as it denies happiness to common folk and expects the Sapiens to be a model of perfection. Seneca’s great contribution is to make this concept open to everyone by understanding their emotions and giving them directions instead of merely asking them to rise to the high standard of ethical expectations of Stoicism.

Chapter 3 describes the concept of sthitaprajña and the sage of the Gītā, as it evolves in the second and the third chapter of the Gītā. The discussion is divided into three parts: description of the sthitaprajña, process of becoming a sthitaprajña and philosophical critique of the concept of sthitaprajña. The genesis of the concept of the sthitaprajña lies in the Upaniṣads. The sthitaprajña is endowed with wisdom, virtue and is blessed with permanent happiness. We discuss the process of becoming a sage by invoking the analogy of the chariot, mentioned in the Kaṭhopaniṣad.

A comparative analysis of the Sapiens and the sthitaprajña is offered in Chapter 4. The chapter speculates at how similar circumstances in the two societies led to the rise of this notion and how it was the need of the time to imagine an ideal human being at the ethical frontiers. The chapter examines similarities between the two systems, such as the concept of virtue, wisdom and emotive understanding. It also examines the differences, subdivided roughly among metaphysical, conceptual, ethical conceptualizations and emotional understanding therapeutically.

Chapter Layout

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the comparative merits of the notion of the ideal human being.

In Sect. 1 on Stoicism, we review the chronological data of Stoic school. We proceed to understand the history of the Stoic school, to which Seneca belonged. We explore some background information about the life of Seneca, as he is our focus, followed by Seneca’s style of writing. Then we review the influence of Stoicism and Seneca, and briefly discuss the Stoic scholarship.

In Sect. 2 on the Bhagavadgītā we start with a brief background of the Gītā. Then we discuss the issues of its genesis, sources, authorship, social acceptance and religious importance. Further we delve into the Upaniṣads as the source of the Gītā, followed by a comparison of the Gītā with the six systems of Indian philosophy.

The introduction to the two systems (the Gītā and...

Table of contents

• Foreword – Sharad Deshpande
• Prologue – Shivaji Sondhi
• Preface
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Seneca’s Sapiens
• 3. Sthitaprajña : The Sage of the Gītā
• 4. Philosophical Comparison between Seneca and the Gītā
• 5. Conclusion
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index