The Significance of Vai

eshikas Prgabhva
Kanchi Vijay Srinath,
Asst. Professor (Philosophy) & Librarian,
Moolji Jaitha College, Jalgaon-425 002
Maharashtra, India
vskanchi@gmail.com
Mob:9403673618
and
Dr. Sunil Vasantrao Salunke,
Associate Professor,
Department of Philosophy, Dayanand College, Latur

ABSTRACT
The Vaieshika philosophy presents an interesting concept called Abhva. Owing to its extraordinary
significance, the later Vaieshikas accorded the status of a category on par with its much reputed six
categories. However, Abhva is always projected as a concept that suits the subject of metaphysics and its
real application to other branches of knowledge is never properly explored. This paper makes an attempt
to apply the concept of Abhva as a tool to explain various aspects of political philosophy, quantum
physics, etc., and provides a rough sketch on how it can be applied to the emergence of any great iconic
leader on the worlds political canvas. The present paper also invokes the concept of Prgabhva to
explain the making of the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as one of the emerging statesmen
of the world.

KEY WORDS
Abhva, prgabhva, pradhwamsbhva, Vaieshika, Narendra Modi.

1. INTRODUCTION

Narendra Modi while addressing a huge gathering in Ahmedabad on the occasion of his
stupendous victory on May 16th credited his achievement to the political vacuum rather
than to the anti establishment sentiment. He said an anti-establishment sentiment arises
when there is an establishment. In the last five years, one did not feel the existence of any
establishment. There was a vacuum period. Political analysts will have to leave aside the
old tools of analysis1. He wanted the political pundits to coin a new nomenclature that
best described this ontogenesis, a new beginning that resulted out of a vacuum. He was
right. This was not an antithesis to a thesis, - the angst against the congress rule or
misrule or whatever you call it - like the antimatter and the matter; it was not something
whose ontology relied on the existence of its antagonist or adversary and which would
vanish once the opponent is annihilated; rather it was a real beginning- a germination that
has the potential to grow into a full tree. It is not the case of matter and antimatter, thesis
and antithesis or establishment and antiestablishment - it is preconditioning of the
ecosystem that happens at a subtle level - the evolution of propitious conditions for the

new coming. But is there a nomenclature, a philosophical explanation to this effect as

Mr. Modi wanted? Certainly there is.

2. ABHVA IN VAIESHIKA DARANA

In the Vaieshika darana, one of the six systems of Indian Philosophy, the concept of
abhva is both significant and unique. In the Vaieshika school, an attempt had been made
to categorize every conceivable object of the universe, that has existence either in the
physical, mental or spiritual planes. Kada called every such conceivable object as
padrdha. Further he classified all such padrdhas into six categories: 1. Dravya 2. Gua
3. Karma 4. Smnya 5. Viesha 6. Samavya. The earlier Vaieshika as propounded by
Kada did not seem to have accorded the status of an independent category to abhva
like the rest of the six categories of his system. However, the later Vaieshikas, realizing
its significance and its innate potential to explain the metaphysical aspects concerning
production, distinct existence, destruction and impossibility of existence of an object in a
particular form, preferred it to be part of the main categories of the system and from then
the Vaieshika system soon began to be reckoned as a system propounding seven
categories.
Even the bhva is further categorized into four main concepts - prgabhva,
pradhwamsbhva, anyonbhva, atyantbhva.

3. PRGABHVA AND THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

The Vaieshika darana of Kada, has a definite term to the effect for which Prime
Minister Modi wanted a suitable nomenclature - prgabhva. Kada defines it as
non-existence of a thing before its production. But there is more to it than just a mere
absence of a yet to be born entity. A vacuum or a space though, outwardly may seem as
just an empty void is indeed a provision, a container for a future being to exist. It is the
precondition for the existence. Existence demands that there be a provision, an empty
space so that the object could fit in. A bigger object, even if it is larger only in one
dimension, cannot fit in a space smaller than itself. It requires a three dimensional space
that befits the yet to be born object. Further, absence of other things of equal dimensions
(stature) in that space is also a stipulation. But is the necessity of void limited just to the
space? Not really. In this four dimensional world of Einstein, time and space are
intimately intertwined and an object or a void requires four dimensions for its existence.
That is to say there requires absence of such an object even in that particular time frame.
Where does this all lead to?
In the political philosophy, a leader is born when there is a political vacuum that is
awaiting arrival of someone to fill that void. A Mahatma Gandhi, a Nelson Mandela, a
Hitler is created when there is a paucity, a dearth in the political arena. So is the case
with Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, a Buddha or a ankarchrya.

Mahatma Gandhi wouldnt have occurred, if the Indian political scenario wasnt ready for
him. The political arena of India at that time lacked a decisive leader. A brief review
of history of Indian National Congress (INC) would reveal this fact. Though the INC
was founded in 1885 by the Scotsman A.O. Hume as an offshoot of Theosophical Society
movement, with the objective of obtaining a greater share in government for educated
Indians in British Raj, it hardly met once a year and never was serious about Indian
independence in its initial years. However, the partition of Bengal in 1905 created a deep
furor, arousing the demand for Indias independence. But under the leadership of
moderates, the INC was leading nowhere and there were voices of dissension rising
within the party and so by 1907 the INC split into two groups- the hot faction led by Bal
Gangadhar Tilak and the soft faction led by Gopala Krishna Gokhale. The soft faction of
INC was left atrophied and relatively powerless with all the major vociferous leaders
leaving the old INC with the new breakaway group and the Gokhale faction was left in
lurch, needing a strong leader. And by 1914 the First World War erupted on the world
scenario, creating a period of uncertainty and political instability. This was the time when
Mahatma returned to India in 1915 with a background of vehemently opposing the British
in South Africa. The demise of Bal Gangadhar Tilak also created a huge vacuum in the
political space of around that time. Thanks to his strong and unswerving personality
coupled with his novel idea of satyagraha, Gandhi soon emerged as just the right leader
the soft core Indian polity was waiting for. And the rest is history. A new statesman who
would dictate terms even to the inflexible British Raj was already rising on the horizons
of Indian polity who would eventually be called the Mahatma.
Just as prgabhva, upon the demise of a great leader also a vacuum is created. In the
absence of a suitable successor, that space is quickly occupied by multiple entities from
among the contemporary leaders from whom again a decisive leader emerges. This
vacuity caused due to the destruction of an object or an entity is termed
pradhwamsbhva in the philosophical parlance of Vaieshika.
Albert Einstein when asked by a journalist that what would have happened to the world if
he were not born is reported to have said that if it were not for him, the theory of
relativity would certainly have been discovered by someone else in the same period as the
time was just ripe and conducive for its discovery!
This process is well explained by the quantum mechanics. In his paper titled Why
There is Something rather Than Nothing Peter Lynds (2012) explains that according to
quantum theory, a vacuum is not actually an empty space, but is filled with a sea of
virtual particles that randomly fluctuate into existence for very short periods before
disappearing. In a way, they are able to do this by borrowing energy from the vacuum in
the form of vacuum energy, which is the lowest possible energy value a system can
have and hypothesized to exist everywhere in the universe, and as long as these particles
pay the energy back very quickly with their disappearance, they do not violate
conservation laws. Despite their name, such particles are very real if short lived; they can
interact with each other, and with the Casimir effect, their existence has been
experimentally confirmed.

Why are we witnessing such a great euphoria and rapture in the crowds when Mr.Modi is
paying visits as in the case of Madison Square event or Allphones arena event in
Australia? Or for that matter on his home turf? It is because India has not been able to
give the world political space any leader worth serious reckoning for decades together.
India has been a witness to a silent Prime Minister, an inactive government for ten years
and anybody with a strong persona with a promise for swift and decisive actions was
welcome to fill up the vacuity created. There was such a low ebb in every field
particularly in the last ten years, that high tide was imminent and inevitable. And
Narendra Modi just fitted the bill.
Modi is right, it is not just the resentment and umbrage against the previous government
that was at the fulcrum of his success. Thats only a part of the story. It is the void with its
inherent potential - that is created every time a significant personality or an event is about
to manifest on the world scenario - that is responsible for his stupendous glory.
Just as Paulo Coehlo (1988) puts it when you really want something to happen, the whole
world conspires to help you achieve it3.' It seems, in the present political environment,
the world is conspiring to promote Mr. Modi not just as a strong nationalist leader of
India but as a statesman with a potential to influence the world politics.

4. ABHAVA AND OTHER APPLICATIONS

Is abhva limited to just persons or is it related to events as well? Some researchers claim
the world prepares itself for global events. Terrence McKennas Timewave Zero and the
Global Conscious Project are attempts to read just when the world is ready for a big event
to occur. They say before a major event occurs there is a palpable shift, a sudden drop, in
the global consciousness that is measurable. Whether these projects merit the stature of
mainstream science is though debatable, proof for preparations before the actual event
occurring come from an entirely different quarter. The studies in precognition show
human mind prepares itself about three seconds before it comes across a grotesque
incident which it fears or dislikes. When a group of volunteers wearing a EEG headgear
were shown random images on a computer screen, some of which contained some
graphic and disturbing images, it was found that the participants showed a significant
variation in their EEG outputs about three seconds before they were actually shown such
images. They were indeed readying themselves to witness something unexpected4!
The concept of prgabhva is applicable not just to political philosophy, but is equally
well suited to the economics of scarcity, recession, devaluation of currencies, meltdown,
etc. The emergence of American dollar as global currency of exchange post Second
World War and Euro as a new currency post the fall of Berlin wall are some of the
examples of that can be best explained through the Vaiseshikas concept of prgabhva.

5.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/election-victory-a-mandate-for-development-plank-says-modi/ar
ticle6017657.ece
2. Lynds, Peter 2012, Why there is something rather than nothing: The finite, infinite and eternal,
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1205/1205.2720.pdf retrieved on 26th Dec 2014.
3. Coehlo, Paulo.(1988) The Alchemist, HarperTorch, ISBN 0-06-250217-4

4. Something Unknown is doing we dont know what, (2009), A Renee Scheltema film.