Philosophy Articles

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Sunday, 17th August 2008 @ 4:59 PM

Through reading a variety of vedic books individuals are able to gather knowledge about a great many things. Some of things include how to give of yourself selflessly to others, but learning how to devote yourself to others without being taken advantage of is another. There are a variety of vedic books available on the market today that deal with a great number of subjects. One of these is how to deal with not getting taken advantage of so easily. There is one person who gets called every... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Nathan F. Shaw @ Friday, 4th April 2008 @ 12:53 PM

Ayn Rand valued Aristotle's philosophy and developed her own philosophy of reason called Objectivism. Aristotle's philosophy adhered to the logic of A 'is' A, but Alfred Korzybski took 'is' away. Frank R Wallace replaced it all with Neo-Tech Objectivism. Frank R Wallace quoted Ayn Rand saying 'save me from the Radians'. Ayn Rand was her self repulsed by the cult-ish obsession coming from Objectivists at that time. Ayn Rand, the founder of... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Wednesday, 2nd April 2008 @ 2:54 AM

Imagine a share advertisement declaring, "A 100% guarantee: you will lose every single penny invested here!" And if you found millions of people investing all their life's savings in such a share, wouldn't you lament their misfortune and imprudence? But isn't this what almost all of us are doing? We are born with a death sentence written on our bodies. Despite all scientific advancement, the death rate was, is and will always be 100%; everyone who is born has to di... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Wednesday, 2nd April 2008 @ 1:42 AM

The concept of destiny has fascinated humans since time immemorial. Is our success predestined? Or is it in our hands? Most modern thought has deemed that our endeavor alone determines our success. But with competition intensifying, changes accelerating and many unpredictable and uncontrollable factors determining results in today's complex world, many people are re-examining this belief. For example, a brilliant student, despite diligent studies, gets average marks, whereas a medio... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 1st April 2008 @ 5:23 AM

As soon as we are born the learning process begins. First we learn to eat, talk, walk etc from our parents. Then we learn from our neighbors about certain social norms and the wider world outside our immediate home. Our school teachers then put the icing on the cake, by giving us knowledge of different subjects. As we progress up the academic ladder, we acquire more and more knowledge in a particular field. Finally graduating from college and university with a degree, we think we achieved what o... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 27th March 2008 @ 8:31 PM

Money, they say, is sweeter than honey! With money everything is at ones beck and call. Hence the inordinate desire of everyone in this material world to amass unlimited wealth, whether fair or foul. However, little consideration is given to the capacity of the body to enjoy so-called material pleasures. Man can only eat as much as his stomach can contain, even if he is the wealthiest man, and can afford the most delicious, sumptuous meal. Similarly man can occupy only as much space as his body... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Friday, 29th February 2008 @ 4:37 AM

There exists considerable evidence from the field of psychiatry to indicate a definite relationship between the sex gland and the brain. Spermatozoa may have an internal function that is necessary for the normal metabolism of the brain, and dementia praecox (schizophrenia) may be due to an alteration of deficiency of their production due to degeneration of the seminiferous (pertaining to the formation of semen) tubules of auto-intoxication (due to having been poisoned). This may result from mast... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Carmellita Brown @ Monday, 4th February 2008 @ 2:35 PM

Your well-being can affect your ability to live in abundance, because your well-being affects your ability to attract abundance in your life. If we want to live well, live wise, and live wealthy, we must pay close attention to our well-being. Many people do not understand what is meant by the concept well-being or how to achieve it. And most people honestly do not feel that their well-being can affect their ability to prosper or attract abundance in their lives. Our well-being is always ... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Frederick Gimino @ Monday, 14th January 2008 @ 11:11 PM

Many people relegate psychics and clairvoyants to an age long gone. The dark ages were full of magical and mystical explanations for both common place and unexplained phenomenon. What has changed that we no longer look for divine answers to mundane questions? Simply put we now define our existence using the scientific method. The modern technocratic society we live in full of electronic gadgets and products that create their own need to exist has taken the divinity out of our lives. We h... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Wednesday, 10th October 2007 @ 11:44 AM

The following is a compilation of inmate's quotes about their experience reading Bhagavad Gita As It Is and Srila Prabhupada's books. The first I knew of Bhagavad Gita As It Is was from word of mouth and then from the quotes from books and magazines. When Bhakta Bill sent me a copy of Bhagavad Gita, I fell in love with the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Even though I have lot to learn, while I am reading Bhagavad Gita I feel content and it seems that all I need. I like the ... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 17th July 2007 @ 1:27 PM

Hiranyaksa means one who has his eyes always on gold. Many years ago when I first joined the movement I would feel a definite antipathy towards persons like Hiranyaksa. Now I feel quite different (hopefully I have not become a demon!). When I read about Hiranyaksa and his ilk I feel sorry for how they are suffering due to their great desires and needs. So what we did today in class is to analyze the needs that Hiranyaksa had that caused him to have such emotional outbursts against God. T... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Friday, 13th July 2007 @ 9:04 PM

Yesterday one devotee was commenting that on each level of ISKCON management we find devotees blaming the persons on the level just above them for their problems. That is if one is a cook in the temple for example, one will blame the temple commander, if one is the temple commander one will blame the vice president, the VP will blame the President, and the president will blame the GBC or guru. The standard way of dealing with this blaming situation (the one which leaders use now) is to sa... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 10th July 2007 @ 1:02 PM

Also we find in the Gita that on the brahman platform cravings are non-existent, and one is qualified to transcend this world and perform pure devotional service. Also one experiences true happiness of the self. I personally experienced this with my diet. I was thinking that life without cheese would be miserable, a life-a life not worth living! But, for sake of serving Srila Prabhupada for a longer period of time in this body, I gave it up. In the beginning it was difficult as the body ... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 10th July 2007 @ 1:01 PM

Autonomy is an interesting concept. It is defined as: "independence or freedom, as of the will or one's actions." It is a basic need of the soul to be autonomous, which basically means the soul needs to be free to express itself. Outside of Krishna consciousness autonomy is not possible for the soul. Why is this? Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami explains this quite nicely in the Caitanya Caritamrta:"Because a devotee of Lord Krsna is desire less, he is peaceful. Fruitive wor... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 10th July 2007 @ 12:59 PM

That's an interesting title for a Krishna conscious blog-"Love Yourself." Many devotees are under the impression that we should love Krishna and denigrate ourselves! It is understandable that they think this way because there is many statements that one may misunderstand such as: Thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street, the soul is one ten thousandth the tip of the hair in size, the individual soul is tiny, one should be selfless and Etc. Also we may come in conta... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 10th July 2007 @ 12:59 PM

It's been a few days since I wrote my blog, and I have really been missing the writing. For the last few days I have been at the GBC meeting in New Vrindavan so time has been short. But I have learnt a lot about myself during these meetings. Some people picture the meetings as a time that the GBC gets together and decides gleefully how to control the movement and the people in the movement. Actually management in this day and age is a real sacrifice and in and of itself is not an ext... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 10th July 2007 @ 12:58 PM

This morning in Bhagavatam class we discussed anger and how to deal with it. This discussion was in the context of the description of Lord Boar speaking in such a way as to make Hiranyaksa angry. "The Personality of Godhead said: Indeed, We are creatures of the jungle, and we are searching after hunting dogs like you. One who is freed from the entanglement of death has no fear from the loose talk in which you are indulging,for you are bound up by the laws of death." In this parti... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 10th July 2007 @ 12:57 PM

So, the person who is desiring to get a new sports car, beautiful wife, etc. is simply exhausting the fruits of his previous pious activities. If he knew this he would be more careful about his desires! This is the same concept Krishna describes in the Gita when he describes the plight of the souls who go to the heavenly planets because their good karma has bought them a vacation there. When their good Karma runs out they get kicked out of heaven and have to come back here. But, what abou... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 10th July 2007 @ 12:57 PM

There is a philosophy going around that if you desire something enough in a positive way, and you visualize it continually the universe will deliver the fruits of that desire. There are some instances depicted where a man really wants something like a new sports car and he meditates on it (don't try this!), sees it in his minds eye, tries it out in his imagination, surrounds himself with picture of it, etc; and low and behold this sports car manifests one day on the gross plane and he is ab... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 10th July 2007 @ 12:56 PM

Hiranyaksa means one who has his eyes always on gold! What a name. Many years ago when I first joined the movement I would feel a definite antipathy towards persons like Hiranyaksa. Now I feel quite different (hopefully I have not become a demon!). When I read about Hiranyaksa and his ilk I feel sorry for how they are suffering due to their great desires/needs. So what we did today in class is to analyze the needs that Hiranyaksa had that caused him to have such emotional outbursts agains... more...