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The subject matter of today’s discourse is “Principles and Practice of Philosophy and Cult”.
Where principles emerge out of long practice, they can be materialized with little effort by anyone who has the sincerity of purpose and will to do so. Such principles are empirical and bound to succeed in practice. (The time factor may, however, depend upon the intensity of the effort.) The following four circumstances determine whether a set of principles will prove true and be materialized.
(1) Hypocritical psychology. Some principles are ab initio insincere and produced with hypocritical mental effort. They are never meant to be put into practice, they are only intended to exploit a situation, or a sentiment of the masses, and meant to befool the masses only. In the distant past, in the Middle Ages, and in modern times as well, we find many such theories in all the countries of the world. Coated in sweet and beguiling language, they are intended to confuse and befool the masses.
The main reason for the depressed psychic condition of people’s minds today is such hypocritical psychological intellectual extravaganza of the ages.
Such theories exist in the social, the economic and various other fields of human activity. This is the main reason for the crisis of civilization today.
Take a few examples of such theories:
a. Mixed economy – This is a pure bluff. This will never achieve practical application. It is only intended to befool the ignorant masses.
b. Peaceful coexistence – between opposing ideologists has never happened nor will it ever come about.
c. Democratic socialism – is like saying a “stone made of gold”. Why call it gold when it is actually only stone.
There are many such theories circulating all over the world today. Human civilization is in danger because of them.
(2) The second situation is where hypocrisy is not at work, but what is at work is theoretical psychology. The people [involved], while making principles, are utterly oblivious of the realities of the world. They are wanderers in a vacuum, having no touch with the hard realities of the surface of the earth. Such theories shine like lighted moths for a moment and then are lost forever.
In India, for instance, such a theory is Gaotamiiya Nyáya Darshan. (This is not to be confused with the logic of Kanada.) The logic of Gaotamiiya Nyáya is purely imaginary. Such a theory cannot result in a practical cult.
Great logicians were born in the world in the past. Many in India wasted [valuable time discussing] whether oil in a pot should really be called “a pot with oil as its base” or “oil with a pot as its base”.
In Pathan India and the first portion of Mughal India there were big scholars versed in such logic. They were great intellectuals, but could not mould the life of the people with their theories. The intellectual life of the country [became] obsessed with these differing logics and there was no progress.
Pure logicians have another noticeable defect. They do not recognize that life is trifarious, that is, physical, intellectual and spiritual. They only emphasize the intellectual side and ignore the physical and spiritual aspects. As such they lack the [will] to put their theories into practice. They make no efforts in that direction.
(3) The third circumstance is inefficiency or lack of power to put a theory into practice. The theory may be sincere and true, but due to a lack of experience or other defects, it cannot be materialized.
In India in the great logic age, there were great yogis, personally highly evolved and advanced, but they could not make a society full of such individuals. When these people were defeated by Shankaracharya in discussion, there was created in India a great intellectual vacuum, which was very dangerous. This position lasted until the arrival of the great Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who restored confidence and a practical cult and outlook once again.
(4) Environmental difficulty. This is another instance of theories which do not lack sincerity, but which were framed in a particular mental environment which does not exist in the practical world. Such theories are all right as far as they go on the psychic plane, but as the environment where they operate is different from the environment envisaged at the time of their making, they fail to materialize.(1)
Footnotes
(1) The typed notes end here in the middle of a page. –Eds.