Category:Empiric Philosophers
Theme Analysis
In the pursuit of the Absolute Truth, there are various classes of transcendentalists, but they are not all equal. Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently analyzes the position of the empiric philosophers (often synonymous with jñānīs and Māyāvādīs), who attempt to understand God through rigorous mental speculation, sensory observation, and logical deduction. The fundamental flaw in their approach is that the tools they use—the material mind, intelligence, and blunt senses—are inherently imperfect and contaminated. Because their process and instruments are material, their philosophical conclusions can never capture the supreme, unlimited spiritual reality. Śrī Kṛṣṇa reserves the right not to be exposed to the sensual speculations of such mundane thinkers.
When empiric philosophers do achieve some measure of success after many, many births of laborious research, they can only reach the impersonal Brahman effulgence. Because they negate the material world, they imagine a spiritual reality that is completely void of form, personality, and pastimes. Furthermore, they harbor a subtle, selfish demand: the desire to merge and become one with the Supreme. Because they lack pure affection and harbor this malicious desire to usurp God's position, they cannot become paramahaṁsas. Consequently, despite their high intellectual achievements and adoption of sannyāsa, their position remains insecure, and they frequently fall back down into material existence.
Śrīla Prabhupāda vividly contrasts the dry, tedious path of the empiric philosopher with the joyous, perfect path of the pure devotee. While the empiricist tastes the dry process of philosophical knowledge, the devotee regularly drinks the nectar of love of Kṛṣṇa through bhakti-yoga. The pure devotee has no selfish demands—not even for liberation—and is simply satisfied serving the Lord. Ultimately, until the so-called man of knowledge abandons his dry speculation and comes to the platform of unalloyed devotional service, his knowledge remains impure, imperfect, and unable to grant true spiritual emancipation.
- Imperfect Instruments: Empiric philosophers try to grasp the infinite Absolute Truth using the finite, imperfect tools of the material mind and blunt senses, rendering their conclusions inevitably flawed.
- The Impersonal Limit: Through mental speculation, empiricists can only reach the impersonal Brahman effulgence; they remain entirely ignorant of Kṛṣṇa's transcendental form and loving pastimes.
- The Subtle Motive: Unlike pure devotees who only wish to serve, empiric philosophers harbor the selfish, malicious desire to merge and become one with the Supreme.
- The Risk of Falldown: Because their knowledge is devoid of the hlādinī (pleasure) potency and pure affection, empiricists frequently fall from their elevated positions back into material entanglement.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Empiric Philosophers - The Futility of Mental Speculation.
Pages in category "Empiric Philosophers"
The following 69 pages are in this category, out of 69 total.
A
- A gross materialist, whether he be an empiric philosopher, a scientist, a psychologist or whatever, cannot attain such success (in mystic perfection and merging of oneself in the activities of the soul & Supersoul) through blunt efforts and word jugglery
- A pure devotee is neither a needy man, a man fallen into difficulty, nor an empiric philosopher who tries to approach the Divinity on the strength his own imperfect knowledge
- According to the empirical philosophers, simply by adopting sannyasa, or retiring from fruitive activities, one at once becomes as good as Narayana. But Lord Krsna does not approve this principle. BG 1972 purports
- All of them (the demigods, semi-demigods, Gandharvas, humans and asuras) have their respective conceptions and estimations of the Absolute Truth, as does the scientist or the empiric philosopher in human society
- An empiric philosopher in search of spiritual knowledge may endeavor most laboriously for many, many births in mental speculation, but it is not possible for him to know that everything emanates from the Personality of Godhead Vasudeva
B
- Because of the empiric philosopher's unclean state of mind he glides down again into material existence, even after having ascended to the highest stage of liberation. This falldown takes place due to his want of a locus standi in the service of the SL
- Bhakti-yoga is the only process by which one can become competent to know Him (Krsna). The empiric philosophers & mystic yogis cannot conceive of the Personality of Godhead, He is called anupalaksya-vartmane, God of the inconceivable way, or bhakti-yoga
- By expanding His internal potency, the Lord enjoys His spiritual paraphernalia. In the highest spiritual realization, therefore, the Lord is not impersonal or void, as empiric philosophers conceive Him to be
- By practicing genuine jnana-yoga, even an empirical philosopher will develop a taste for hearing purely spiritual topics from the scriptures
- By practicing genuine jnana-yoga, even an empirical philosopher will develop a taste for hearing purely spiritual topics from the scriptures. Eventually he will come to understand the Supreme Lord's transcendental position and potency
E
- Empiric philosophers may assume very important roles in the material world, but they are not necessarily eligible for liberation. BG 1972 purports
- Empiric philosophers who pursue the impersonal Brahman accept only the knowledge that the personality of the living entity is not different from the personality of the Supreme Lord. The absolute conception of a pure devotee, however, includes all others
- Empiric philosophers with a poor fund of knowledge imagine a spiritual picture that is impersonal
- Empiric philosophers, unable to go beyond these (24 material) elements (5 gross and 3 subtle), 5 knowledge-acquiring senses, 5 active senses, 5 objects of sense pleasure & mahat-tattva, speculate that anything beyond them must be avyakta or inexplicable
- Empirical, atheistic philosophers like Kapila spent innumerable tedious hours researching the material phenomena of this cosmic creation. Yet it remained beyond the grasp of their limited intelligence
- Even the greatest of the empiric philosophers speculating on becoming one with the Supreme Lord cannot become a paramahamsa because the malicious mind is there
- Everyone is searching for eternal peace or eternal life and with an aim to this destination everyone is studying the Vedas or other religious scriptures or undergoing severe austerity as empiric philosophers, as mystics yogis or as unalloyed devotees
H
- He (Lord Caitanya) taught him (Rupa Gosvami) about the human species. Out of them He selected the followers of the Vedic principles, out of them the fruitive workers, out of them the empiric philosophers, and out of them the liberated souls
- His (the empiric philosopher's) attachment to the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord makes him unfit to rise to that transcendental stage of vasudeva understanding
- However perfect an empiric philosopher may be in presenting a philosophical thesis, such knowledge is never perfect because it is produced by an imperfect mind
I
- In spite of their (empiric philosophers and yogis) strict adherence to the principles of yama, niyama, asana, dhyana, dharana and pranayama, the great yogis and jnanis are unable to enter into the internal potency of the Lord
- It is concluded that under certain circumstances one accepts something as real and under other circumstances he accepts the very same thing as unreal. These matters are the subject of study for the empiric philosopher or the sankhya-yogi
- It is out of nescience only that the empiric philosophers try to approach the Supreme Truth on the strength of their own intellect
K
- Karma-yogis, empiric philosophers, mystics, and devotees are all called transcendentalists, but one who is a pure devotee is the best of all. BG 1972 purports
- King Kulasekhara is a pure devotee, and as such he is not eager to improve himself by the standards of the empiric philosophers, distressed men, or fruitive workers of this world
O
- One aspect of Krsna's uncommon acts and attributes is presented in the scientific knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita, which is read and adored all over the world by all classes of scholars, with as many interpretations as there are empiric philosophers
- One has to understand this (although there are many transcendental forms of the Lord, they are still one and the same God) fact with conviction, although it is incomprehensible to mundane scholars and empiric philosophers. BG 1972 purports
- One may know at present that Sri Krsna is the friend of everyone, whether he be an ordinary worker, an empiric philosopher, or even a mystic - and what to speak of the transcendentalists who are cent-percent servitors of the Personality of Godhead
- Other false devotees think that studying books of the previous acaryas is unadvisable, like studying dry empiric philosophies
- Out of many hundreds and thousands of such empiric philosophers, only a handful actually attain liberation
- Out of many such persons who engage in righteous activities for sense gratification, only a few come to know about the Absolute Truth. These are called jnanis, empiric philosophers
- Over the course of time the Vedic path has been attacked by philosophers like the Vaisesikas, the Sagunists, the empiricists, the Pasupata Saivas, and many others - the list of non-Vedic speculators grows daily, without restriction
S
- So-called scientists, physiologists, empiric philosophers, etc., become dazzled by the glaring reflection of the sun, moon, electricity, etc., and deny the existence of the Supreme Lord
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu proved the impotence of fruitive workers, speculative empiric philosophers and mystic yogis. The realization of such men is simply a waste of time and energy
- Sri Krsna is the Personality of Godhead and is the Summum Bonum Cause of all Causes proved by fact and figures in the statement of Bhagavad-gita, but He reserves the right of not being exposed to the sensual speculations of the empiric philosophers
T
- The attempt of the empiric philosophers to understand the Absolute Truth by speculation is always futile because their process of understanding, their objective and the instruments by which they try to understand the Absolute Truth are all material
- The devotee can see the Supreme Lord face to face, but the jnani, the empiric philosopher or yogi cannot. They cannot be elevated to the positions of associates of the Lord
- The devotees have no demands in their lives but to be obedient servants of the Lord, while all others, namely the empiric philosophers, the mystics and the fruitive workers, all basically have some demand, and as such they cannot be pacified
- The devotees who are not fully purified, as well as the empiric philosophers, become conditioned again during the next creation for further purification. Such conditioned souls become liberated by further progress of devotional service to the Lord
- The empiric philosopher who studies Brahman by negation of the external features has not yet learned the quality of the hladini potency of Brahman
- The empiric philosophers enjoy a transcendental quality of bliss by philosophical speculation on the Supreme Truth, but beyond that pleasure is the pleasure enjoyed by Brahman in His eternal form of the Personality of Godhead
- The empiric philosophers, despite their theoretical knowledge of Brahman, cannot utilize the mercy of the Supreme Brahman because they lack affection
- The empirical philosophers generally put forward the idea that human life is meant for achieving perfect knowledge. To them, knowledge means the ability to discern reality from illusion
- The empiricist philosophers, searching after the Absolute Truth, realize the importance of Vasudeva realization as all in all after many, many births
- The first and foremost concern of fruitive workers, elevationists, empiric philosophers and salvationists is to raise their material position. But devotees of Godhead have no such selfish desires. They serve the Supreme Lord only for His satisfaction
- The fruitive worker wants reward for his work, the mystic wants some perfection of life, and the empiric philosopher wants to merge in the existence of the Lord
- The impersonalists and empiric philosophers consider the unalloyed devotees of the Lord sentimental fools, and thus they deride them
- The impersonalists try to prove that the varieties in the vision of the empiric philosopher are false
- The materialist does not believe in the existence of the spirit self, and empiric philosophers believe in the impersonal feature of the whole spirit without individuality of the living beings
- The message was very gravely written, so that not only the gopis but all empiric philosophers might understand how pure love of God is intrinsically integrated with all the different energies of the Supreme Lord
- The sacrifices of the ordinary workers and the meditation and austerities of the empiric philosophers are all ordained and maintained by the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna
- The so-called empiric philosophers sometimes think that the path of bhakti is meant for the less intelligent, but unless the so-called man of knowledge comes to the platform of bhakti, his knowledge is certainly impure and imperfect
- The transcendentalists are the empiric philosophers, the mystics and the devotees of the Lord. Empiric philosophers aim at the perfection of merging into the being of the Absolute
- The yogis and empiric philosophers desire cessation of the process of birth and death, but a devotee is satisfied to remain even in this material world and execute devotional service
- There are many classes of human beings: the fruitive workers, the empiric philosophers, the mystic yogis, and ultimately, the unalloyed devotees. For all of them, one and the same process is applicable for achieving the desired success
- There are two classes of materialists, namely the fruitive workers and the empiric philosophers
- These empiric philosophers and logicians (who born of imperfect, material senses) cannot realize their imperfection by the vanity of material knowledge, and the ultimate conclusion of such materialistic philosophers is atheism
- These matters are the subject of study for the empiric philosopher or the sankhya-yogi. To come to the right conclusion, sankhya-yogis undergo severe austerities and penances, practicing control of the senses and renunciation
- This (a man attached to fruitive work shouldn't be discouraged from his occupation) is sometimes applicable for those who're only dry empiric philosophers without spiritual realization. But those who're in the devotional line need not be always so advised
- This perfectional stage is attained by a jnani after many, many births. The jnanis, or the empiric philosophers endeavoring for liberation, are thousands of times better than the fruitive workers & out of hundreds of thousands of jnanis one is liberated
- Those who are after the imitation peacock are the fruitive workers, and those who simply condemn the imitation peacock but are ignorant of the real peacock are the empiric philosophers
- Those who are legitimate or law-abiding persons may be divided into three transcendental divisions: namely, the lawful workers, the empiric philosophers, and the transcendental devotees. The lawful workers are again divided into two sections
- Those who are not motivated by material results include the empiric philosopher, the mystic pursuing the eightfold mystic perfections, and finally the mystic engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Personality of Godhead