Hayagriva dasa: Plotinus, as well as Origen, studied philosophy in Alexandria under the supposed founder of Neo-Platonism, Ammonius Saccas. Plotinus ascribed to a theory of emanation, which holds that the soul emanates from the intelligence just as the intelligence emanates from the One. The intelligence (nous) is multiple and yet one at the same time. The … Read more
Hayagriva dasa: Berkeley seems to argue against objective reality. For instance, three men standing in a field looking at a tree could all have different impressions or ideas of the tree. The problem is that although there are three different impressions of the tree, there is no tree as such. Now, how does the tree … Read more
Hayagriva dasa: For Schopenhauer, happiness is inactive satisfaction, inactivity, nirvarya. Since the will to live is the irrational urge that brings about all suffering, he advocates the extinction of this world. In The World As Idea, he writes: “The Vedas and Pural)as have no better simile than a dream for the whole knowledge of the … Read more
Hayagriva dasa: For Plato, the spiritual world is not a mental conception; rather, truth is the same as ultimate reality, the ideal or the highest good, and it is from this that all manifestations and cognitions flow. Plato uses the word eidos (idea) in order to denote a subject’s primordial existence, its archetypal shape. Doesn’t … Read more
Syamasundara dasa: Hegel sought to synthesize other philosophies to arrive at the truth, and in so doing, he concluded that everything that exists is reason; what is real is rational, and what is rational is real. Srila Prabhupada: This means that he wanted to arrive at the Absolute in whom there is no duality. That … Read more
Hayagriva dasa: When a student of Socrates once said, “I cannot refute you, Socrates, ” Socrates replied, “Say, rather, that you cannot refute the truth, for Socrates is easily refuted.” He thus considered the Absolute Truth transcendental to mental speculation and personal opinion. Srila Prabhupada: That is correct. If we accept Krsna, God, as the … Read more