Dialectical Spiritualism: Rene Descartes, Part 6

BY: SUN STAFF - 30.1 2017

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

V – RATIONALISM 
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Syamasundara dasa: Descartes also gives two arguments for the existence of God. First, an innate idea of an infinite being necessitates the existence of that infinite being because a finite being could not possibly create such an idea. In other words, because I can think of the infinite, the infinite must exist. The infinite must have put that thought in my head.

Srila Prabhupada: There are many ways of thinking of the infinite. The voidists think of the infinite as zero, void. Descartes may be thinking in one way, but someone else may be thinking in another.

Syamasundara dasa: Descartes argues that because we can conceive of perfection, perfection must be there.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, but just because I am thinking of something does not mean that it exists. Everyone is thinking in his own way. Who will decide which way of thinking is correct? Who will judge? Therefore we ultimately have to accept the confirmation of authorities. If our thinking is confirmed by the authorities, it is all right; otherwise it cannot be accepted.

Syamasundara dasa: Descartes was thinking more in terms of mathematics. If we begin counting, we can conceive of numbers stretching to infinity. So the fact that one can think of infinity necessitates the infinite.

Srila Prabhupada: But the voidists are thinking that the infinite is zero. Some mathematicians calculate that infinity means zero.

Syamasundara dasa: Secondly, God is an absolutely perfect being, and perfection necessarily implies existence. Since God's existence is the same as His essence, He must exist.

Srila Prabhupada: That is our proposition. We say that Krsna is the sum total of all wealth, knowledge, fame, power, beauty, and renunciation. Because these opulences are attractive, and Krsna has them in full, Krsna is all-attractive. All these attractive qualities must be there in Krsna in totality. That is Parasara Muni's definition of God.

Syamasundara dasa: This is similar to Descartes's contention that perfect beauty and wisdom must exist somewhere because we can conceive of the fact.

Srila Prabhupada: Isvarah paramah. krsnah (Brahma-samhita 5.1). No one is richer, more famous, wiser, more beautiful, or more powerful than Krsna. Krsna is the sum total of all qualities; therefore He is complete. Because we are part and parcel of the complete, we can think of the complete. Because I am the son of my father, I can think of my father. Similarly, Krsna is the Father of all living entities, and every living entity has the power to offer his respects to God. Unfortunately, the living entity is artificially educated by society not to obey God, and that is the cause of his suffering.

Syamasundara dasa: When Descartes inspects reality, he concludes that reality consists of substances. He defines substance as "a thing which exists in such a way as to stand in need of nothing beyond itself." He says that there is only one absolutely independent substance — God. All other substances are created by Him. There are also two types of substances — matter and spirit.

Srila Prabhupada: This is all described in Bhagavad-gita. The summum bonum substance is Krsna, and everything emanates from Him. All these emanations can be divided into two categories: inferior and superior. The inferior energy is matter, and the superior energy is spirit. Everything that we see or experience is a combination of the inferior and superior energies. Since these energies emanate from Krsna, Krsna is the origin of everything, the cause of all causes.

Syamasundara dasa: Descartes states that the chief attribute of this or soul is consciousness. Prabhupada: That is so.

Syamasundara dasa: And the chief attribute of the body is extension. Both the body and mind are finite and depend upon God for their existence, whereas God is completely independent.

Srila Prabhupada: Jivera 'svarupa' haya-krsnera 'nitya-dasa' (Caitanya- caritamrta, Madh. 20.108). Therefore every living entity is the eternal servant of God, or Krsna. Since we all depend upon Krsna for our existence, it is our duty to please Him. That is the process of bhakti. In the material world, we see that we depend upon our employer for our salary. Therefore we always have to please him. Eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman (Katha-upanisad 2.2.13). God is providing everything for everyone. So why not please Him? Our only duty is to please Him, and that process is perfectly manifested in Vrndavana. It is in Vrndavana that everyone is trying to please Krsna, and because they are trying to please Him, they are happy. Krsna in turn is pleasing them.

jay a radha-madhava kunja-bihari 
gopi-jana-vallabha giri-vara-dhari 
jasoda-nandana braja-jana-ranjana 
jamuna-tira-vana-cari

"Krsna is the lover of Radha. He displays many amorous pastimes in the groves of Vrndavana. He is the lover of the cowherd maidens of Vraja, the holder of the great hill named Govardhana, the beloved son of mother Yasoda, the delighter of the inhabitants of Vraja, and He wanders in the forests along the banks of the River Yamuna." (from Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Gitavali) Krsna engages in pleasing the gopijana, and the gopijana is engaged in pleasing Krsna. That is the perfect relationship. In a perfect family, the head of the family tries to please all the members by providing them with food, shelter, clothing, and everything else. Therefore he works hard to please them, and their duty is to please him. When the father comes home, the wife and sons try to please him, and that makes the perfect home. Similarly, God is the original creator, and we are all subordinates maintained by Him. Our only duty is to please Him, and if He is pleased, we will all remain pleased. If we pour water on the root of a tree, all the parts of the tree — the leaves and flowers and branches — are nourished. The process of bhakti-yoga is the process of pleasing the Lord. This is our only business, and as long as we take to some other business, we are in maya. We have no other business. The living entity who does not serve Krsna is in maya and is diseased, and the living entity who is constantly engaged in Krsna's service is liberated and situated in his constitutional position. If anyone within the creation is not cooperating with God or not satisfying the senses of the Lord, he is not in his normal condition. It is the function of this Krsna consciousness movement to engage everyone in Krsna's service and bring everyone to his normal condition. People are suffering because they are in an abnormal condition.

Syamasundara dasa: Descartes believed that God's truth is the basis for our knowledge of the truth, and that God is truth.

Srila Prabhupada: Since God is truth, everything is emanating from the truth. We are trying to employ everything in the service of the truth. Because God is truth, we do not say that the world is false. The Mayavadis claim that the world is false, but we say that it is temporary. For instance, this flower is the creation of God. It therefore cannot be false; it is truth. It should therefore be employed in the service of the truth, and that is our reason for offering it to Krsna. Suppose you work very hard to make something beautiful, and then you bring it to me, and I say, "Oh, it is all false." Will you be pleased with me? You will say, "What is this nonsense? I have travelled so far and have made such a beautiful thing, and he says it is false. " Similarly, since God has created such a wonderful universe, why should we say that it is false? Our philosophy is that the universe is God's creation and therefore should be employed in God's service. For instance, we are using this tape recorder to record this conversation. It is being used for Krsna. We do not say, "Oh, it is false. It is material. We won't use it." That is the position of the Jains, who do not take advantage of these things. We say, rather, that we can use these devices, but not for our personal sense gratification. That is real vairagya, detachment.