ABSTRACT
The comparative method has shown that besides the scant references on salvation we have from Candrānanda’s Vṛtti, salvation in Indian philosophy has some typical characteristics that can be encountered in other traditions, both in the Subcontinent, as well as outside it (Greek Classical and Hellenistic literature). I have highlighted the importance of Candrānanda’s VSc, and how this commentary managed to create, through key concepts (dharma, and yoga) a synthesis between knowledge and devotion, between the path of renunciation (nivṛtti) and the path of activity (pravṛtti). Through dharma, VSc brings together mundane elevation (abhyudaya) and absolute liberation (niḥśreyasa), not as opposite factors, but on the contrary, as complementary, as they can be worked out together through the medium of dharma, knowledge, and yoga. One final conclusion is that soteriology in Vaiśeṣika is built upon two major pillars, ontology and epistemology, and that, as far as comparative philosophy method is concerned, there is much fruitful reflection that could come out from the study of ontology which is the most basic an yet the most widespread science that can bond not only scientific issues with existential themes, but also can bring into conversation Greek Classical with Indian philosophy and beyond.
