Editing Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (section)

===Education===
[[File:President John F. Kennedy with Indian President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, in the Oval Office (1).jpg|thumb|right|Indian President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan with US President [[John F. Kennedy]] in the Oval Office, 1963]] Radhakrishnan was awarded scholarships throughout his academic life. He joined [[Voorhees College (India)|Voorhees College]] in [[Vellore]] for his high school education. After his F.A. (First of Arts) class, he joined the [[Madras Christian College]] (affiliated to the [[University of Madras]]) at the age of 16. He graduated from there in 1907, and also finished his master's degree from the same college.

Radhakrishnan studied philosophy by chance rather than choice. He had wished to study mathematics. Being a financially constrained student, when a cousin who graduated from the same college passed on his philosophy textbooks to Radhakrishnan, it automatically decided his academics course.<ref>{{Cite book | last =Schillp | first =Paul Arthur | year =1992 | title =The Philosophy of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | publisher =Motilall Banarsidass | isbn=9788120807921|page=6}}</ref>{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=14}}

Sarvepalli wrote his bachelor's degree thesis on "The Ethics of the Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions".{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=16}} It "was intended to be a reply to the charge that the [[Vedanta]] system had no room for ethics."{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=112}} Two of his professors, William Meston and Alfred George Hogg, commended Radhakrishnan's dissertation.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} Radhakrishnan's thesis was published when he was only twenty. According to Radhakrishnan himself, the criticism of Hogg and other Christian teachers of Indian culture "disturbed my faith and shook the traditional props on which I leaned."{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=112}} Radhakrishnan himself describes how, as a student,{{blockquote|The challenge of Christian critics impelled me to make a study of Hinduism and find out what is living and what is dead in it. My pride as a Hindu, roused by the enterprise and eloquence of [[Swami Vivekananda]], was deeply hurt by the treatment accorded to Hinduism in [[Timeline of Christian missions|missionary institutions]].<ref name=brown153/>}}

This led him to his critical study of [[Indian philosophy]] and [[Indian religions|religion]]{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=112}} and a lifelong defence of Hinduism against "uninformed Western criticism".<ref name=brown153/> At the same time, Radhakrishnan commended Professor Hogg as 'My distinguished teacher,'<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishna |first1=Sarvepalli |title=My Search for Truth|page=19}}</ref> and as "one of the greatest Christian thinkers we had in India.'<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |editor-last=Schilpp |editor-first=P.A. |title=Reply to Critics, in, The Philosophy of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan|page=806}}</ref> Besides, Professor William Skinner, who was acting Principal of the College, gave a testimonial saying "he is one of the best men we have had in the recent years", which enabled him to get the first job in Presidency College. In reciprocation, Radhakrishnan dedicated one of his early books to William Skinner.{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=15}}

'''<big>The Spirit of ''Abheda''</big>'''

Radhakrishnan expresses his anguish, against the British critics, in The Ethics of the Vedanta.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Radhakrishnan|first=S.|date=1914|title=The Ethics of the Vedanta|journal=International Journal of Ethics|volume=24|issue=2|pages=168–183|doi=10.1086/intejethi.24.2.2376505|jstor=2376505|s2cid=143066187 |issn=1526-422X|doi-access=}}</ref> Here he wrote, "it has become philosophic fashion of the present day to consider the Vedanta system a non-ethical one." He quotes a [[German Confederation|German]]-born [[philologist]] and [[Oriental studies|Orientalist]], who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life, [[Max Müller|Max Muller]] as stating, "The Vedanta philosophy has not neglected the important sphere of ethics; but on the contrary, we find ethics in the beginning, ethics in the middle, and ethics in the end, to say nothing of the fact that minds, so engrossed with divine things as Vedanta philosophers, are not likely to fall victims to the ordinary temptations of the world, the flesh, and other powers."

Radhakrishnan then explains how this philosophy requires us (people) to look upon all creations as one. As non-different. This is where he introduces "The Spirit of Abheda".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Radhakrishnan|first=S.|date=1914|title=The Ethics of the Vedanta|journal=Ethics|volume=24|issue=2|pages=168|doi=10.1086/206804|issn=0014-1704}}</ref> He quotes, "In morals, the individual is enjoined to cultivate a Spirit of ''Abheda'', or non-difference." Thus he mentions how this "naturally leads to the ethics of love and brotherhood".

"Every other individual is to be regarded as your co-equal, and treated as an end, not a means."

"The Vedanta requires us to respect human dignity and demands the recognition of man as man."