Acquiring Perfect Knowledge
Logic and reason are useful in the search for the Absolute Truth. But they’re not enough to obtain perfect knowledge, we must overcome four basic human defects.
On the Constitution of the Soul
The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be moistened by the water, nor withered by the wind. This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can neither be burned nor dried.
The Process of Surrender in God Realization
Surrendering all unto the Supreme Lord is a difficult if not impossible task for must people. This is because they are not aware of the peace such surrender brings.
Fate, Free Will and You
The philosophical question of fate versus free will is an old one. Are our thoughts and actions completely determined by forces over which we have no control? Or, are we free to decide for ourselves, to be the captains of our fate?
Flip Out and Stay
Realization is not something we learn in a book or hear in a lecture. Realization is living the life for which man is intended. Realization does not imply withdrawal; realization is leading life and meeting destiny with opened eyes.
Existentialism — The Hidden God
In recent years there have been many philosophies based around the premise of the nonexistence of God. One such philosophy, existentialism, which emerged in a shattered France during World War II, maintains that the universe is purposeless and that there is no supreme controller.
Freedom from All Miseries
I have strong evidence to support the fact that there is no happiness in the material world and I have equally strong evidence to prove that any human being can achieve total, lasting happiness in this lifetime.
Philosophy: The Quest for Certainty
A frequent criticism of the Krsna consciousness philosophical tradition is that it places too much emphasis on authority. This is not surprising, seeing as how philosophy in the modern world is based on a revolt against authority.
Sufferings of Humanity — Is Providence responsible for it?
No. Providence is not responsible for the sufferings of humanity. The suffering of humanity is the result of its misuse of discriminative power or the little independence which is given to the individual soul.
Philosophical Problems Within Social Awareness
In the relative truth everything can be known within the purview of time, space and thought but in the realm of the Absolute no such method of scientific thought can work. The Absolute Truth can therefore be known by the transcendental method of thinking.
Devotion and Rationalism
Truth cannot be realized by unremitting study of the Scriptures, by passing examinations, testing scholarly knowledge, by dint of intellectual power, or by outwitting unsophisticated folk in verbal jugglery by enmeshing them in the cobweb of sophistry.
A Study in Mysticism
What is ego? I am pure soul, but with my intelligence and mind I am in contact with matter, and I have identified myself with matter—and this is false ego. I am pure soul, but I am identifying falsely.
Om, Kundalini, Reincarnation, the Astral World, and More
Om is a manifestation of the Supreme Lord in the form of sound vibration. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. So, Hare Krsna and om have practically the same value, but chanting Hare Krsna is easier.
Theosophy Concluded
The Theosophist knows, by his knowledge of the pattern, that men have not come together to form communities because of greed or for the purpose of self-protection; but that they have together primarily because they are to be mutually helpful.
Theosophy Concluded
The Theosophist believes in a Personalised Consciousness or a Directing Will behind the operation of the universal activity. This conclusion is logical as we see in every field of our activities. Nothing in the world is possible to perform without a directing Will.
Are You Free?
Many people are under the illusion that they were really happy in their youth. But once the fourfold miseries of material life—birth, disease, old-age and death—manifest themselves, the evanescence of that previous happiness becomes apparent to them.
The Logic of the Absolute
People often ask us, “Can you prove the existence of God?” Proof indicates a conclusive demonstration that establishes the validity of an assertion, in this case the assertion that God exists.
Three Features of the Absolute
One class of transcendentalists are the devotees, who have realized the Absolute Truth to be the Supreme Person. A second class are the yogis, who have realized the Supersoul. And the third class are philosophers, who can only realize the impersonal feature of the Absolute.
Service or Slavery—The Choice Is Yours
This material nature is constituted in such a way that we have to suffer; it is God’s law. And we are trying to relieve the suffering by patchwork remedies. Everyone is trying to get relief from suffering; that is a fact. The whole struggle for existence is aimed at getting out of suffering.
John Berryman — “The Dream Songs” & Krsna’s Song
The poet John Berryman was my teacher at the University of Minnesota the year he jumped from a bridge over the Mississippi and killed himself at the age of fifty-seven. In some respects, his suicide puzzled me.