Philosophy Articles

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 28th June 2007 @ 4:49 PM

There are three basic methods of obtaining knowledge, two of which are faulty, and one which is faultless when properly applied. The two faulty methods are: 1. Direct perception, and 2. Induction (making general conclusions from limited experience). The faultless method is the descending process by which one hears from the proper authority who is faultless (Krishna or His pure devotees). The two faulty methods are known as the "ascending process." "Ascending" means to go ... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 28th June 2007 @ 3:08 PM

A devotee realizes that the source of his miseries in this world, the senses, can also be the cause of his liberation and perfection in Krishna consciousness. Generally it is thought that sense control means severe austerity or joyless puritanism, but there is no need to negate the senses or ignore the senses in Krishna consciousness. One simply has to engage the senses in Krishna's service, recognizing that Krishna is the proprietor of the senses. The spiritual master and the Vedic ... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 28th June 2007 @ 3:07 PM

Our nature is spiritual--different from the material body that we are inhabiting. We can never become happy by attempting to satisfy the body. The soul must be satisfied. Srila Prabhupada gave an example of the "Bird in the Cage" to illustrate this point. If the owner of the bird only pays attention to the cage, polishing it carefully, and neglects the inhabitant of the cage (the bird), the bird will die. In the same way, if we simply pay attention to the body, neglecting its inha... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 28th June 2007 @ 3:02 PM

There are positive and negative injunctions for those wishing to be successfull in spiritual life. For example, if one wishes to start a fire he must apply heat(positive injunction) as well as avoid pouring water(negative in junction) which would hurt his recovery. There are four pillars of sinful life: the eating of meat, fish and eggs; the taking of intoxication;the attempt to enjoy illicit sex(sex outside marriage); and gambling. These activities pollute the consiousness, where as devo... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 28th June 2007 @ 3:01 PM

What do we call material love in our world? What we call "love" in this world is simply the self-centered desire to enjoy the "beloved" object. So our love for something or someone is dependent upon whether or not our senses are being pleased. For example, people generally love animals such as cats because of the sensual attraction to soft fur, or dogs because of the dog's desire to please the master. But, very few people are interested in embracing a cockroach, becau... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 28th June 2007 @ 3:00 PM

Krishna's Body is Spiritual. Krishna is non-different from His body. His body is eternal, full of bliss, and knowledge. He never changes His body, but in His selfsame body appears in different ways, according to His desires, in His various incarnations .This is the same as a dramatic artist who can expertly assume different roles according to the scripts which he is called upon to perform. It is stated in the Vedic literatures, that when we see God in His original manifestation, He is known... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 28th June 2007 @ 2:56 PM

In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna states that He comes to this world whenever there is a rise in religion and a decline in religion. He comes to re-establish religious principles, annihilate the miscreants, and protect the devotees.By the phrase "rise in irreligion," Krishna indicates that irreligious activities such as meat eating, illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and Godlessness in general are widespread. In the modern age, we not only find the majority of the populace performing these ... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 28th June 2007 @ 9:36 AM

Krsna-nama-maha-mantrera ei ta svabhava Yei jape, tara krsne upajaye bhava "It is the nature of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra (the great mantra of deliverance) that whoever chants it immediately develops loving ecstasy for krsna." (Chaitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 7.83) Unadulterated love for Krsna is eternally present in dormant state in the hearts of all living entities. When hearing and chanting purify the heart, the living entity naturally awakens. The processes of hearin... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Tuesday, 29th May 2007 @ 1:10 AM

Srila Prabhupada did not present Shastra as a dry academic subject to be theorized and armchair-philosophized about. Instead of giving abstruse explanations, he spoke and more importantly lived the essense of shastra. He repeatedly emphasized the point of all sastra: "You are not this body. Surrender to Krsna." Srila Prabhupada repeatedly said that by reading his books we get in touch with the previous acaryas. Indeed, his purports to the sastra draw on the realization of the prev... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 28th May 2007 @ 7:08 PM

To start with, let us assume that reincarnation indeed takes place. What do the Vedic literatures tell us as to why it does take place? Two reasons have been given: Firstly, we're being given a chance to live out our desires. Secondly: We're being given repeated opportunities to attain spiritual realization, break free from material entanglement, and resume our eternal nature in the spiritual world. The Vedic writings are meant to guide us in achieving this goal. However, if we ... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Saturday, 26th May 2007 @ 11:51 PM

Grihasta, or householder life is the second spiritual stage in the Varnasrama parampara. In this phase the grihasta lives along with his wife and children in their house and leads a religious (dharma) and productive (artha) life, which allows some resources of enjoyment (kama). This asrama is the only economically productive asrama and therefore the householders have to support other asramas by giving charity in exchange for spiritual knowledge. Srimad Bhagwatam (11.18.43) states "A househo... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 24th May 2007 @ 1:17 PM

Sex is the driving mechanism of modern society. Godless life induces people into lustiness long after the high of youth has subsided, causing them to stay emotionally immature throughout their lives. Forgetting the eternal relationship with the supreme personality of godhead, lord Sri Krsna, they absorb media propaganda and remain perpetually indulgent in lust, having no knowledge of the necessity to resist the itch of this basal sexual urge. Rampant sensual titillation however, increasin... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Saleem Rana @ Wednesday, 11th April 2007 @ 1:00 PM

Can you really create the life that you want? Furthermore, can you create it in an easy and relaxed way, unfolding gracefully? Is it possible to offer no resistance to life, to be in a state of elegance, effortlessness, and buoyancy while still getting what you really want? Can you move beyond being dependent on things being a certain way, good or ill, and gently move toward the life that makes you feel content, safe, and successful? I think the best answer to this question can come fr... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Saleem Rana @ Monday, 26th March 2007 @ 5:00 PM

What is the one reason that most societies don't work very well, since the start of Sumer, the cradle of civilization? Why is the history of humankind a miserable one? What keeps us from living lives full of hope, harmony, and flourishing success? It is domination. Western Civilization started in the squabbling little islands called Greece. This birthplace of democracy enforced its ideas through war and strife. Since then the history books have been written by ... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Nathan F. Shaw @ Monday, 26th February 2007 @ 7:51 PM

Neo-Tech Publishing is a 35+ year writing company integrating philosophy, objectivism, business, and love. The Nouveau-Tech Society is a semi-secretive group emerging out of Neo-Tech correlating with the release of a massive writing project called Pax Neo-Tech. Nouveau Tech is a major arm of Neo-Tech's mission to rid earth of mysticism and bring about the rise of a super-society, a world of super rapidly advancing new technology (Neo-Tech). The Nouveau Tech Society has emerg... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Saleem Rana @ Thursday, 18th January 2007 @ 12:04 PM

Sigmund Freud believed that human beings were motivated by two inner drives: eros and thanatos. Eros was the drive for life, for more of it, for the abundance and fullness of it. Thanatos was its opposite, the urge to overcome the disappointments of life by craving forgetfulness and, ultimately, oblivion through death. While most of Freudianism has been debunked because his ideas, although exciting to the imagination, lack self-consistency, observed verification, and close c... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Saleem Rana @ Tuesday, 16th January 2007 @ 1:59 PM

Your potential is not quite a thing, yet more than an idea. It awaits in a twilight zone between idea and reality, where all things are possible but none are actual. It took 15 billion years of evolution for you to be where you are now: a conscious being capable of self-consciousness. It is from the depths of this interior awareness that you can shape your destiny. With imagination alone, you can shape what has never been before. An act of imagination is the seeding of an idea that will b... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Saleem Rana @ Monday, 15th January 2007 @ 12:21 PM

If thoughts are things, then those who are familiar with the Law of Attraction should be living the life of their dreams. While a few may attain this enviable state, the majority do not rise to that level. Is it the Law of Attraction that is at fault or the person who uses it? Does it work for some and not for others? Does it work some of the time and not at other times? It is my contention, both from my study of it and from my many years of experience with it, that the Law ... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Saleem Rana @ Friday, 5th January 2007 @ 9:33 AM

People are often accused of being asleep. This assertion is made by people who believe that they are awake. Is this just a metaphor used to launch a pejorative statement? Or is it, like the difference between waking hours and sleeping hours, a condition where awareness is partially or completely absent? Actually, it appears to be more than a metaphor and also a part of the human condition to be asleep. Here are five ways we are all asleep. One, we fail to no... more...

Religion and Spirituality » Philosophy | By Saleem Rana @ Saturday, 23rd December 2006 @ 3:40 PM

It is not really clear whether humanity developed intelligence because it was curious or its curiosity developed its intelligence. It could very well be a combination of both, with our natural genetic capacity for inquiry stimulating more complex and interconnected neural nets and bigger brains. For a long time, psychologists believed that intelligence was fixed, but new evidence shows that the more we learn, the more neural connections are formed and the more we can learn. The ... more...