This article is about the Hindu and Buddhist meanings of the term. For the Jewish lay leader also called Darshan, seeDarshan (Judaism). For the Bangladesh border township, seeDarshana, Chuadanga.
Adarshana literally means a 'sight' or 'view'. In aHindu temple, the term refers to viewing thegarbhagriha 'inner sanctum' of the temple, which hosts themurti 'image of a god'. Devotees takingdarshana of the godVishnu in the inner sanctum of theChennakeshava Temple, Belur.
The worddarshana, also in the forms ofdarśana ordarshanam, comes from theSanskrit root of दर्शनdṛś 'to look at', 'to view',vision, apparition or glimpse.[1]
InHindu worship, it refers to seeing a deity (especially in image form), or a very holy person or artifact. One can receivedarshana or a glimpse of the deity in the temple, or from a great saintly person, such as a greatguru.[4] One can also takedarshana of a sacred places likeKashi,Yamuna orMount Kailash.[5]
In Hindu practice, adherents often refer to their temple visits as going fordarshana rather than simply worship. Darshana, often translated as the "auspicious sight" of the divine, involves seeing the deity's image (murti). This visual experience is charged with religious significance, as the deity is believed to be present in the image, allowing worshippers to receive divine blessings through their gaze.[6]
The termdarshana also refers to the six systems of thought, calleddarshanam, that comprise classicalHindu philosophy.[7][8] The term therein implies how each of these six systems distinctively look at things and the scriptures in Indian philosophies.[8][4] The six Hindudarshana areNyaya,Vaisheshika,Samkhya,Yoga,Mīmāṃsā, andVedanta. Buddhism and Jainism are examples of non-Hindu darshans.[4]
On the significance ofdarshana inMahayana thought, Paul Harrison writes: "By the second century CE... the vision of theBuddha (buddha-darśana) and the accompanying hearing of theDharma (dharma-śravaṇa) are represented as a transformation experience of decisive importance for practitioners, be they who have renounced (mundane life) 'ascetics' or householders."[9]
Nagarjuna, a prominent philosopher of theMadhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism, wrote that the wise person perceivestattva-darshana, true reality.[12][13]
Darshana also sometimes has a more mundane meaning. For example,Sivananda Saraswati wrote in his bookThe Practice of Brahmacharya that one of the eight aspects ofbrahmacharya (celibacy) is not to look lustfully at women: "You should carefully avoid ... Darshana or looking at women with passionate resolve".[14]
Scholar of religion Richard H. Davis has said thatdarshana (viewpoint, philosophical school) is one of three terms in classical Indian discourse that could be considered roughly analogous to what today's English-speakers understand as "religion." The other two terms aredharma (duty, morality, a code of proper conduct) andmarga (route, spiritual path). According to Davis, "most Hindu texts accepted that religious paths (marga) are relative to the points of view (darśana) and moral responsibilities (dharma) of practitioners, whose individual circumstances may make one or another course of action more appropriate in their particular situations."[15]
It's a gift; it's like there's a moment in which the thing is ready to let you see it. In India, this is calleddarshan. Darshan means getting a view, and if the clouds blow away, as they did once for me, and you get a view of the Himalayas from the foothills, an Indian person would say, "Ah, the Himalayas are giving you their darshana"; they're letting you have their view. This comfortable, really deep way of getting a sense of something takes time. It doesn't show itself to you right away. It isn't even necessary to know the names of things the way a botanist would. It's more important to be aware of the "suchness" of the thing; it's a reality. It's also a source of a certain kind of inspiration for creativity. I see it in the work ofGeorgia O'Keeffe..."[16]
Darshan is also a part of the name of India's public broadcasterDoordarshan combining the word दूरdūra 'far' altogether making दूरदर्शनdūrdarśan 'television'.[citation needed]
^Eck, Diana L. (1998).Darśan: seeing the divine image in India. Translations from the Asian classics (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Columbia Univ. Press. p. 3.ISBN978-0-231-11265-9.
Davis, Richard H. (2008). "Tolerance and hierarchy: accommodating multiple religious paths in Hinduism". InNeusner, Jacob;Chilton, Bruce (eds.).Religious tolerance in world religions. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press. pp. 360–376.ISBN978-1599471365.OCLC174500978.
Flood, Gavin D. (2011). "Miracles in Hinduism". In Twelftree, Graham H. (ed.).The Cambridge Companion to Miracles. Cambridge University Press.
Gyatso, Janet, ed. (1992).In the mirror of memory: reflections on mindfulness and remembrance in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.ISBN0791410773.OCLC24068984.
Harrison, Paul (1992). "Commemoration and identification in Buddhanusmṛti". In Gyatso, Janet (ed.).In the mirror of memory: reflections on mindfulness and remembrance in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.ISBN0791410773.OCLC24068984.
Klostermaier, Klaus K. (2008).Hinduism: A Beginner's Guide. Oneworld Publications.ISBN978-1851685387.
Nicholson, Andrew (2013).Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History. Columbia University Press.ISBN978-0231149877.
Unno, Taitetsu (1993). "San-lun, T'ien T'ai, and Hua-yen". In Takeuchi, Yoshinori;Bragt, Jan van (eds.).Buddhist spirituality: Indian, Southeast Asian, Tibetan, and early Chinese. World spirituality. New York: Crossroad. pp. 343–365.ISBN0824512774.OCLC27432658.
DuPertuis, Lucy (1986). "How people recognize charisma: the case of darshan in Radhasoami and Divine Light Mission".Sociology of Religion.47 (2):111–124.doi:10.2307/3711456.JSTOR3711456.
Grimes, John A. (2004). "Darśana". In Mittal, Sushil; Thursby, Gene R. (eds.).The Hindu world. The Routledge worlds. New York: Routledge. pp. 531–552.ISBN0415215277.OCLC54103829.
Purdom, C.B., ed. (1955).God to Man and Man to God: the Discourses of Meher Baba. London: Victor Gollancz.
