DARSHAN

Sanskrit Darsana (auspicious viewing), in Hindu worship, the beholding of an auspicious deity, person, or object. The experience results in a blessing of the viewer. The rathayatras (car festivals), in which images of gods are taken in procession through the streets, enable even those who in former days were not allowed to enter the temple to have darshan of the deity. The capability of darshan is also imparted by a guru (spiritual leader) to his followers, by a ruler to his subjects, and by objects of veneration such as pilgrimage shrines to its visitors. Darshan, as a point of view in Indian philosophy, refers to the different systems, each with its own way of looking at things and each with a particular exposition of the sacred scriptures, the Vedas. The traditional account is that there are six such darshans, all of them orthodox: sankhya, yoga, nyaya, vaisheshika, mimamsa, and vedanta. But other darshans are also mentioned, such as the heterodox ones of Buddhism, Jainism, and the materialistic Carvakas.