An offering in deep learning that extends courses on some of the greatest ancient and contemporary philosophers (draṣṭās) and schools of thoughts (darśanas).
What ultimately differentiates a culture are its ways of looking and seeing. How we see ourselves and the world is extremely important to our identity and to the way the world perceives us. But to Hindu civilization seeing was not merely a physical act of looking at saṃsāra using our external eyes. The focus of our civilization was as much on our internal journey.
Read Moreabout draṣtā
The Rṣīs of Bhāratavarṣa never neglected saṃsāra and developed objective sciences and disciplines to their heights, but at the same time they were always careful to peg that intellectual activity to a deep inner anchor.
The word darśana is more than the act of seeing. It has a universal significance in Hindu cosmology. Hindu philosophy is also called darśana; because Hindu philosophy is not 'what you think'; it is 'what you see' - darśana.
It is the witness of the truth that is the objective of all Hindu philosophy. Similarly, the act of going to a temple is also called darśana, the act of witnessing truth in the form of the divine.
In Hindu civilization its worldview was guided by the inner compass of sādhanā. It is only when the act of looking and seeing is elevated and sanctified by deep sādhanā, does it become darśana. For understanding this deep darśana and to witness saṃsāra in truthful light, an able draṣṭā - the one who is capable of looking deeply - is needed.
One who is on this inner path of sādhanā (darśana) is a draṣṭā. That is how our rṣīs became draṣṭās. They were not called 'inventors of knowledge', but the draṣṭā of truth.
Read more about Darśanas and Draṣṭās.