Dialectical Spiritualism: Immanuel Kant, Part 2

BY: SUN STAFF - 27.3 2017

Conversations wtih HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, excerpted from  Dialectical Spiritualism: A Vedic View of Western Philosophy.

VII. GERMAN IDEALISM 
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Hayagriva dasa: In Critique of Judgement, Kant writes: "Absolutely no human reason...can hope to understand the production of even a blade of grass by mere mechanical causes. That crude matter should have originally formed itself according to mechanical laws, that life should have sprung from the nature of what is lifeless, that matter should have been able to dispose itself into the form of a self-maintaining purpose — is contradictory to reason."

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, and therefore we have to learn from an authority, from one who is cognizant and knows things as they are. Matter certainly cannot combine itself without a brain behind it, and that brain is the Supreme Lord, God. It is unreasonable to think that matter automatically combines independent of intelligence to form the sun, moon, and other planets.

Syamasundara dasa: If we are unable to receive knowledge from a higher authority, is it possible to have it innately inside of us?

Srila Prabhupada: Innate knowledge is knowledge that is already there. We say that Krsna is the caitya-guru because Krsna is within. Krsna is everything both inside and outside. Within, He is the Paramatma, the Supersoul, and outside He is the spiritual master and the sastra, the scripture. Krsna is trying to help the conditioned soul in both ways: from within and without. It is therefore said that the spiritual master is the representative of Krsna because Krsna appears outside as the spiritual master. Inside, He is personally present as Paramatma.

Syamasundara dasa: For Kant, the second knowledge-attaining process is the transcendental analytic. First, the mind applies the concept of time and space. Then it applies the categories of quantity, cause and effect, quality, modality, and so on.

Srila Prabhupada: That is all right.

Syamasundara dasa: The third process is the transcendental dialectic, whereby the human mind seeks to understand everything. But since sensory information is inadequate, the mind tries to go beyond sense experience.

Srila Prabhupada: How is that?

Syamasundara dasa: The mind is aware that there is an ultimate reality, a thing in itself, a noumenon, which produces each phenomenon. But because the mind is not equipped to sense this ultimate reality, the mind must forever remain agnostic.

Srila Prabhupada: Why agnostic? He should go to higher authorities. If we hear a sound on the roof, we may speculate that the sound is this or that, but with our imperfect senses we cannot ascertain what made the sound. But if someone is actually on the roof, he can tell us, "The sound was made by this." Why should we remain satisfied with an agnostic position? We should satisfy ourselves by asking, "Is there someone on the roof?" If someone says, "Yes, I am here," then we can ask him what made the sound. Therefore the Vedas enjoin: tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet (Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.12). In order to understand what is beyond the senses, we must approach a spiritual master who can impart information. When we actually want to understand transcendental subjects, we must approach a guru. And what is a guru?

tasmad gurum prapadyeta 
jijnasuh sreya uttamam 
sabde pare ca nisnatam 
brahmany upasamasrayam

"Any person who is seriously desirous of achieving real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. A spiritual master must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and arguments and thus be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities who have taken complete shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters." (Bhag. 11.3.21) A guru is one who is well versed in the Vedic literatures, sruti. And how can we understand that he is? Brahmany upasamasrayam. One who knows the Vedas forgets everything material and concerns himself only with spirit soul.

Syamasundara dasa: Kant was just exploring the possibility that although we cannot know ultimate reality by our senses, the mind nevertheless wants to know it.

Srila Prabhupada: But that is misleading. No one can ascertain the Absolute Truth by mental speculation. That is impossible. The sastras state: panthdstu koti-sata-vatsara-sampragamyah (Brahma-samhita 5.34). Even if we travel at the speed of mind for thousands of years, we cannot find Krsna. If this is the case, a man, who lives the utmost for only a hundred years, cannot understand Krsna through his material senses. The material attempt will be futile. The Vedas say that the devotee who has received a little grace from Krsna's lotus feet can understand Him. Others will speculate for millions of years to no end. Krsna can be understood only through the grace of Krsna. Because the devotee is engaged in Krsna's service, Krsna reveals Himself.

Hayagriva dasa: Kant would also say that we cannot experience God through our senses but only through faith and intuitive reason. Speculative reason is unable to attain to a sure or adequate conception of God.

Srila Prabhupada: That is correct: it is not possible to understand God by mental speculation. When God explains Himself, we can understand Him. The devotees can accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His instructions, but a nondevotee or atheist, unable to understand, simply speculates. It is not possible for a speculator to reach the vicinity of God. We can understand God only by God's mercy, which is bestowed by a pure devotee surrendered to God. In Bhagavad-gita, Krsna explicitly states:

naham prakasah sarvasya 
yoga-mayd-samavrtah 
mudho yarn nabhijanati 
loko mam ajam avyayam

"I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them, I am covered by My eternal creative potency (yoga-maya ); and so the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible." (Bg. 7.25) Revelation means that God opens the curtain for His devotee. The sun is in the sky all the time, but at night it is obscured. By God's mercy, the sun rises in the morning, and everyone can immediately see the light. At night, we may speculate about the sun, but when the sun rises in the morning, we can immediately understand what the sun is.