Philosophy

How do we understand when different Vaishnava acharyas give different meanings of the same scriptural verse?
By Chaitanya Charan - 15.9 2023 From Revati Vallabh Pr: Sometimes different Vaishnava acharays give different meanings of the same scriptural verse. Which is the original, actual meaning of the verse? If the same verse can have multiple interpretations, then how can some...Read more...
The Post is Paramahamsa
BY: SUN STAFF - 15.8 2023 A lecture by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, New Vrindavana. So every Vaisnava, every devotee of Krsna, pure devotee of Krsna, is a paramahamsa. We are teaching people to become immediately paramahamsa, the highest stage of sannyasa. The...Read more...
Reincarnation: A Simple Explanation
By Stephen Knapp - 30.6 2023                Reincarnation is called samsara in the classic Vedic texts of India. The word samsara is Sanskrit and means being bound to the cycle of repeated birth and death...Read more...
Two Energies Choices
By Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami - 22.6 2023   Which way does one go in moments of despair? LORD KRSNA HAS TWO ENERGIES, material and spiritual, but they can be used interchangeably if one knows how. Just as the same electricity can be used to heat or cool a building, so Krsna’s...Read more...
Dialectical Spiritualism: John Stuart Mill
BY: SUN STAFF - 15.3 2023 Conversations wtih HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, excerpted from  Dialectical Spiritualism: A Vedic View of Western Philosophy. IX. UTILITARIANISM AND POSITIVISM John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) Hayagriva dasa: In Essay on Nature, Mill writes:...Read more...
Shankaracarya's Misinterpretation of Krsna's Personal Form
BY: SUN STAFF - 9.2 2023 Vasudeva–Narayana "Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha constitute this second quadruple. They are purely transcendental." "Purport: Sripada Sankaracarya has misleadingly explained the quadruple form (catur-vyuha) in his...Read more...
Personal and Impersonal Realization
BY: SUN STAFF - 8.2 2023 Lord Caitanya Defeats the Mayavadi Philosophers. "The Puranas are called supplementary Vedic literatures. Because sometimes in the original Vedas the subject matter is too difficult for the common man to understand, the Puranas explain matters simply by the...Read more...
Sanātana Dharma: The Eternal Religion of the Soul
By editor - 6.1 2023 – Śrīla Prabhupāda: “What is known in India as sanātana-dharma, or “the eternal religion,” is meant for this living spirit. That is to say, real spiritualism is transcendental to the various religions that focus on the gross material body or...Read more...
Six Schools of Indian Philosophy, Part 6
BY: SUN STAFF - 2.1 2023 The last in a six-part summary of the primary schools of classic Indian philosophy. The Vedanta School "In summary it should be understood that all these materialistic philosophers have tried to avoid the Supreme Personality of Godhead by putting forward...Read more...
Six Schools of Indian Philosophy, Part 5
BY: SUN STAFF - 31.12 2022 Adi Sankaracarya Samadhi murti, Kedernath Temple A six-part summary of the primary schools of classic Indian philosophy. The Mayavada School "According to Mayavada philosophy, this manifested world or the material world is mithya or maya, false. Their...Read more...
Six Schools of Indian Philosophy, Part 4
BY: SUN STAFF - 29.12 2022 Sage Kapila, founder of Sankhya School Patna, 19th c. A six-part summary of the primary schools of classic Indian philosophy. The Sankhya School "There are actually two Kapilas: one Kapila, the son of Kardama Muni, is an incarnation of God, and the...Read more...
Six Schools of Indian Philosophy, Part 3
BY: SUN STAFF - 29.12 2022 Fruitive Activities A six-part summary of the primary schools of classic Indian philosophy.   The Karma-Mimamsa School "The Mimamsaka philosophers, following the principles of Jaimini, stress fruitive activity and say that if there is a God, He...Read more...
Which of our emotions are material and which are spiritual?
By Chaitanya Charan das - 28.10 2022   Question: Hare Krishna, how do we decide which of our emotions are material and which are spiritual, it is said that we have to give up material emotions and develop spiritual emotions. But often it is difficult to decided that a...Read more...
Four schools of Buddhism refuted by Vedanta-sutra
By Suhotra Prabhu - 10.5 2022 Srila Vyasadeva, being tri-kala-jna, foresaw 5000 years ago the rise of Buddhism. Therefore in his Vedanta-sutra (second adhyaya, second pada) he encapsulated a description and a refutation of each of the four main schools of Buddhist philosophy...Read more...
What are the six characteristics of pure devotional service?
By Purushottam Kumar - 2.2 2022   The six characteristics of pure devotional service are: klesaghni: Pure devotional service gives immediate relief from all kinds of material distress. subhada: Pure devotional service is the beginning of all auspiciousness. moksa –...Read more...
What exactly is the mind
  By Chaitanya Charan - 10.1 2022 Question: What exactly is the mind and where does it reside? Answer: Generally we think of two things-jada and chetan, so conscious and unconscious. They are referred to as things and beings. Things are those which exist but don...Read more...
Mayavadis
What is the difference between brahma of Mayavadis and shunya of voidists? By Chaitanya Charan - 10.1 2022   Question: What is the difference between the nirmal jyoti of the impersonalists and the void of the voidists? Answer: We can look at it in three different ways-...Read more...
The Tree of Vedic Literature
By Atmatatva das - 28.12 2021   An insight into the tree of Vedic literature in relation to Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Nectar of Devotion (Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu), Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrita. A complete explanation of: Vedas, Samhitas, Mantras, Brahmanas, Aranyakas,...Read more...
The Nyāya Conception of a Scientific Theory
By editor - 10.9 2021 Below is the translation and commentary on some of the Nyāya Sutras, which describe the nature of a scientific theory as comprised of four aspects. The first aspect represents the purpose of the system; the second, the functional parts that execute this purpose; the...Read more...
Impersonalism
Impersonalism and the Doomed to Fail Attempt to Judge Sadhus By Madhavananda Das - 9.8 2021 The proud practice of using our dull material senses to try to judge who is sadhu and who is not is the same as the neti neti endeavor of the impersonalists. The impersonalists try to understand...Read more...
Challenges Facing Science and Religion
By Sadaputa Dasa - 6.8 2021 While scientific discoveries test religious dogma, religious and  paranormal experiences challenge scientific theories. In the Vaisnava tradition of India, God is defined as Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan: the unlimited light of pure being...Read more...
Four schools of Buddhism refuted by Vedanta-sutra
By Suhotra Prabhu - 21.6 2021 Srila Vyasadeva, being tri-kala-jna, foresaw 5000 years ago the rise of Buddhism. Therefore in his Vedanta-sutra (second adhyaya, second pada) he encapsulated a description and a refutation of each of the four main schools of Buddhist philosophy...Read more...
Impersonalism vs demigod worship
Urmila (Devi Dasi) ACBSP - 18.6 2021 It is difficult to say which is "better."  In the Isopanisad it is stated that impersonalism is worse than demigod worship, and that demigod worship leads one to ignorance.  But in Bhagavad-gita demigod worship is described as being in...Read more...
Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Asana
Dr David Frawley - 10.6 2021   Raja Yoga commonly refers to the royal or higher Yoga of meditation. While the term is not specifically mentioned in the Yoga Sutras, the Yoga Sutra tradition has been commonly called Raja Yoga over time. Raja Yoga is an ancient term found in the works...Read more...
Make Progress Towards the Transcendence
BY: SUN STAFF - 14.4 2021 HDG Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, 'Colloquies With Foreigners'. Talk to Mrs. Nora Morell of Germany September 1, 1936 We should have firm faith in the Divinity. We are absolute infinitesimals, and it is only proper we should associate...Read more...
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