Beyond illusion & Doubt

BEYOND ILLUSION AND DOUBT

Western philosophy has relied on individual speculation,which involves taking evidence from our senses and evaluating it with our minds and this method leaves us with great deal of uncertainty.After all, our senses are imperfect, and our mind is subject to illusion,mistakes, and the propensity to cheat , to pretend we know something when we really don’t and one who uses this method can never achieve certain perfect knowledge ,free from illusion and doubt because of pesky imperfect mind and senses. In the early 1970’s,Srila Prabhupada,decided to analyze Western philosophy in the light of Vedic philosophy. The Knowledge of vedic philosophy comes from the supreme intelligence ,God,known by the name Krishna. This knowledge, originating with Krishna, has been passed down through the chain of spiritual masters since the beginning of time. And this knowledge is not the product of imperfect human senses and it is beyond illusion and doubt. 

In a series of tape recorded conversations,his scholarly disciples Hayagriva dasa and Syamasundara dasa presented to srila prabhupada selections from the teachings of prominent western philosophers,Socrates,Plato,Aristotle,Origen,Augustine,ThomasAquinas,Kierkegaard,

Schopenhauer,Darwin,John Stuart Mill,Marx,Nietzsche,Frued,Sartre,Carl Jung.and Srila Prabhupada commented upon them .Beyond Illusion and Doubt is based on those conversations .All but one of the chapters of Beyond Illusion and doubt —the one dealing with the philosophy of John Stuart Mill – originally appeared as articles in Back to Godhead, the magazine of Hare krishna movement. Srila Prabhupada founded this magazine in India in 1944,and since then it has become the world’s foremost journal dedicated to the teachings of Lord Sri Krishna.We are under no illusion that Beyond Illusion presents an exhaustive treatment of Western Philosophy. 

You’ll  read how Srila Prabhupada applauds Socrates’ opposition to the Sophists view that morality is relative —that there is no absolute standard of right and wrong.”The highest duty of man is to care for his soul”Socrates declared;Srila Prabhupada agrees and explains how.Excerpts from Plato’s republic provide Srila Prabhupada with a context to explain the Vedic social system, while Aristotle’s speculations on God and man come in sharp criticism.Srila Prabhupada shows how ridiculous is Augustine’s statement “Reincarnation is ridiculous” but he approves Aquinas’s five proofs for the existence of god.Almost two decades before the fall of the Soviet Union cast Marx’s atheistic philosophy into the dustbin of history, Srila Prabhupada points out the fatal flaw in the communist doctrine:everything belongs not to the state but to the God, and therefore everything should be used in His service.From Socrates to Sartre, Western philosophers have grappled with the ultimate questions”What is the meaning of life?””Does God exist?”In the series of conversation Srila  Prabhupada , one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century,gives an insight and critique of the salient ideas of some of the eminent Western philosophers, as from a Vedic perspective.