Chapter Overview

Indian philosophy (भारतीय दर्शन) opens Part 1 of Mains Paper VI (GS-IV). The syllabus moves from the Vedas and Upanishads (Rta, Brahman, Atman) to the Bhagavad Gita (it names sthitaprajna, swadharma and karmayoga), the heterodox Charvaka, Jain and Bauddha schools, and the six orthodox darshanas with Advaita Vedanta.

This is a Mains-only chapter, so the aim is not to memorise every name. You need to define each concept precisely, compare schools in a table or a few lines, and connect the idea to public life: ethics, tolerance, ecology and administration. Each topic page ends with Mains questions and model answer outlines.

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Define Rta, Brahman, Atman and the four Mahavakyas, and explain karma, samsara and moksha
Explain sthitaprajna, swadharma, karmayoga / nishkama karma and lokasangraha with verse references, and apply them to a civil servant
State the core claims of Charvaka materialism, Jain anekantavada and karma theory, and Buddhist anatta, dependent origination and the four schools
Tabulate the six darshanas (founders, texts, core ideas), the pramanas and the theories of causation
Explain Shankara’s Advaita (maya, adhyasa, three levels of reality) and contrast it with other Vedanta schools, including Vallabhacharya’s Shuddhadvaita, whose founder was born at Champaran near Raipur
Write balanced 60-word and 150–200-word answers with a contemporary or Chhattisgarh angle

Prerequisites

The Vedic Age — the four Vedas and their layers (Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka, Upanishad)
Jainism, Buddhism and Religious Movements — the history of the two faiths; this chapter adds the philosophy

Learning Path

Follow the topics in this order:

graph TD
    A["1. Vedas and Upanishads
Rta, Brahman, Atman,
Mahavakyas, moksha"] --> B["2. Bhagavad Gita
Sthitaprajna, swadharma,
karmayoga"]
    A --> C["3. Charvaka, Jain, Bauddha
the nastika challenge"]
    B --> D["4. Six Darshanas and Advaita
pramanas, causation,
Shankara and Vedanta schools"]
    C --> D
    D --> E["5. Quick Revision
One-page sheet"]
    E --> F["Next chapter:
Indian Thinkers"]

Topics in This Chapter

#	Topic	What it covers
1	Vedas and Upanishads: Brahman, Atman and Rta	Vedic polytheism to monism; Rta, Satya, Dharma; principal Upanishads; Brahman (nirguna, saguna); Atman, pancha kosha, four states; the Mahavakyas; karma, samsara, moksha; Upanishadic ethics
2	The Bhagavad Gita: Sthitaprajna, Swadharma and Karmayoga	The text; nishkama karma (2.47); sthitaprajna (2.54–72); swadharma (3.35, 18.47) and its critique; lokasangraha; three yogas and gunas; Tilak, Gandhi, Aurobindo, Vinoba
3	Charvaka, Jain and Bauddha Philosophy	Astika vs nastika; Charvaka materialism; Jain dravyas, tattvas, anekantavada, syadvada; Buddhist anatta, pratityasamutpada, kshanikavada, four schools; comparison table
4	Six Orthodox Schools and Advaita Vedanta	Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga (Ashtanga), Mimamsa, Vedanta; pramana ladder; causation; Shankara’s Advaita; other Vedanta schools
—	Quick Revision	Every school, concept and text on one page

Where It Is Asked

Paper	What to expect
Mains P-VI (GS-IV), Part 1: Philosophy	Short answers (define Rta; who is a sthitaprajna; explain anekantavada, syadvada, maya, Ashtanga Yoga) and longer answers (compare Jain and Buddhist views of the self; Sankhya vs Advaita; relevance of karmayoga or swadharma to administration; is maya an obstacle to social action?)
Mains P-II (Essay)	Ideas such as “Yogah karmasu kaushalam”, anekantavada and “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”-type themes enrich essays on ethics, tolerance and governance
Interview	Boards often ask aspirants what the Gita or a philosophical idea means to them as a future officer

Exam focus

High-yield: the three Gita terms the syllabus names; Atman–Brahman and the Mahavakyas; anekantavada; anatta vs jiva; Sankhya’s dualism; Advaita’s maya and three levels of reality; the pramana ladder.
Common mistakes: reading nastika as “atheist”; writing that nishkama karma means indifference to results; saying Advaita denies that the world exists; confusing Yogachara with Madhyamika.
Chhattisgarh angle for Mains: Vallabhacharya (Shuddhadvaita) born at Champaran, Raipur district (1479); Buddhist Sirpur and Xuanzang’s account of Kosala; Jain Arang; Guru Ghasidas’s “मनखे मनखे एक समान” as a popular expression of the unity of all beings.

Quick Reference: Schools at a Glance

School	Type	Founder / key figure	One-line core idea
Upanishads	Shruti	Yajnavalkya, Uddalaka (teachers in the texts)	Atman is Brahman; liberation by knowledge
Gita	Smriti (in Prasthanatrayi)	Krishna to Arjuna	Do your own duty without attachment to fruits
Charvaka	Nastika	Brihaspati (trad.)	Only perception; only matter; enjoy this life
Jain	Nastika	Mahavira (24th Tirthankara)	Many-sided reality (anekantavada); karma as matter
Bauddha	Nastika	The Buddha; Nagarjuna, Asanga, Vasubandhu	No permanent self; everything dependently arises
Nyaya	Astika	Gautama	Logic; four pramanas
Vaisheshika	Astika	Kanada	Atoms and categories
Sankhya	Astika	Kapila	Purusha and prakriti; 25 tattvas
Yoga	Astika	Patanjali	Stilling the mind; eight limbs
Purva Mimamsa	Astika	Jaimini	Dharma is Vedic injunction
Vedanta (Advaita)	Astika	Badarayana; Shankara	Brahman alone is real; the world is mithya

Start Learning

Begin with the first topic:

→ Vedas and Upanishads: Brahman, Atman and Rta