Prashastapada (5th c.) was Padarthadharma sangraha's
author.
This commentary on Kanada's Vaisheshika Sutras, the
foundation book of the Vaisheshika school, one of the six schools of ancient
Hindu philosophy, is the most influential.
The Vaisheshika school believed that everything was made up
of a few fundamental component sub stances: the five elements (earth, fire,
water, wind, and akasha), as well as space, time, mind, and individual self
(atman).
Though selves were believed essentially different from
matter, the five components joined to make the objects in the world.
Prashna ("Question") is a Sanskrit word that means
"question." Upanishad One of the later and more developed upanishads,
the theoretical religious scriptures that make up the most recent layer of the
Vedas, the oldest Hindu holy texts.
The primary purpose of the Prashna Upanishad, like with most
of the upanishads, is to study ultimate concerns, particularly the essence of
the Self (atman).
The Prashna Upanishad, considered one of the later
upanishads, is comparable to the oldest upanishads, the Brhadaranyaka and the
Chandogya, but is significantly shorter and has a much more concentrated
content.
The Prashna, like the ancient upanishads, is written as a
conversation.
It takes the form of a dialogue between the wise Pippalada
and six interrogators.
Each part (called a prashna in the text) begins with a
question from one of the listeners, to which Pippalada responds.
The nature of time, prana as the most essential human force,
the nature of life after death, sleep, meditation, the sound Om, and the nature
of the Self are all covered in the six parts.
In this sense, it makes use of the older conversation format
to promote a far more developed and consistent philosophical viewpoint.
