Forum for higher wisdom

 A GOD INTOXICATED ATHEIST 1.Are you amused at the oxymoronic title of this post ? I am talking about Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), the Dutch philosopher. He was born in a Jewish family. He is a very prominent name in Western Philosophy. He is studied along with Descartes and Leibniz in Continental Rationalism. He is very famous for his seminal work “Ethics” which was published posthumously. This work looks like Euclid’s Elements of Geometry. A very forbidding work which abounds in axioms, definitions, propositions, theorems, proofs etc. I am not going to enumerate all of them. This work has five parts. The first part is entitled “Concerning God” “Does he say that there is no God? Not at all. On the contrary, after defining “Substance”, he establishes that there is only one Substance and that is God. No wonder that some people describe him as God intoxicated! 2. In that case, why some others call him as an atheist? Surely there are reasons for it. So let us try to understand Spinoza‘...

  Teachings of Ramanujacharya Teachings of Ramanuja blend philosophical discussions along with devotional worship. His teachings bring together the intellectuals and the simple religious. Ramanuja had the responsibility of carrying spiritual teachings of the Vaishnava teacher Yamunacharya though the disciple did not meet the Guru. He achieved the purpose during his lifetime. He sought Guru Goshtipurna and got initiated in the Narayana Mantra (Ashtakshara) that grant salvation. He was very compassionate towards mankind that  he taught this to all despite the Guru warning him to keep it as a secret.  The force of Ramanuja`s teaching is to submit oneself to God and give up apprehension. He taught people that their present situation is due to past Karma. This would go away and the future can be shaped by a life sticking to Dharma. One should avoid the company of the worldly people. Ramanuja`s teachings help to strengthen the Visistadvaita theory of Ved...

  Teachings of Shankaracharya Shankaracharya was an early 8th century Indian philosopher who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. It is a Hindu philosophy which focuses on Brahman, atman, vidya (knowledge), avidya (ignorance), maya, karma and  moksha. It refers to the idea that the soul or Atman is the same as Brahman. It has roots in the oldest Upanishads. Shankara , also called  Shankaracharya , (born 700?, Kaladi village?, India—died 750?, Kedarnath), philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of the  Advaita   Vedanta  school of philosophy, from whose doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are derived. He wrote commentaries on the  Brahma-sutra , the principal  Upanishads , and the  Bhagavadgita , affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality ( brahman ) and the  illusion  of plurality and differentiation. It is very likely that Shankara had many pupils, but only four are known (from...