We are not desperate. We are not followers of despair philosophy. We are hopeful philosophy. We are going back to home, back to Godhead to live eternally blissful life

Expressions researched:
"So we are not desperate. We are not followers of despair philosophy. We are hopeful philosophy. We are going back to home, back to Godhead" |"to live eternally blissful life"

Philosophy Discussions

We are not desperate. We are not followers of despair philosophy. We are hopeful philosophy. We are going back to home, back to Godhead to live eternally blissful life.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: But because he doesn't see any purpose in the universe, then he thinks that...

Prabhupāda: That is his blindness. He has no sufficient knowledge; he has no sufficient seeing power. There is a plan. That is stated in the Sixteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, asatyam apratiṣṭham, that the word is there is no truth, there is no creator. These are the decisions of the demons. We don't say. We say janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) the Supreme. Not that everything that we want to try to understand is the truth. That is our philosophy. This philosophy is demon philosophy—there is no plan, there is no truth, everything is happening accidentally. This is demon's philosophy.

Śyāmasundara: Because he doesn't see any purpose, that he sees all of our efforts...

Prabhupāda: There is purpose, but because he is foolish, therefore he does not see anything as purpose. There is purpose. Just if like I am hungry, this philosopher says accidentally I am hungry, I eat something. No. I am hungry when there is purpose. My bodily limbs are exhausted, they require energy, so therefore I am hungry, I must take some food. The foodstuff will be converted into energy. There is a plan. It is not blank. Everything is going on by plan. The sun is rising under some plan. The moon is rising under some plan. Seasonal changes under plan. Everything is plan. But those demons, they cannot see. They say, "No, there is no plan here."

Śyāmasundara: They see all activity as in vain. All activity is a useless struggle, a vain struggle.

Prabhupāda: That is for him. Because he is confused and without any direction, he thinks like that.

Śyāmasundara: So his emphasis is not on the activity itself—because it's all vain—but how you do it.

Prabhupāda: We don't say how it is all vain. That I have already explained: everything has got a plan. Just like we are moving this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. There is a plan. There is an objective. (indistinct) vainly we are doing that. Nothing is done in that we or you or anyone. There must be some plan. There is a plan. That plan may be right or wrong—there is a plan.

Śyāmasundara: This is actually the major issue with people, especially today, that is there really any purpose to all my work, or anyone's work, or for anyone's activity? Is there any ultimate meaning or purpose to it?

Prabhupāda: It's quite clear. Just like if you make a decision to do something criminal, the plan is already there—you will be arrested and punished. If you make a choice that "I must do it. This is my decision. I must kill that person," you can do that, but there is already a plan that you will be hanged. That is less intelligent. They are not intelligent.

Śyāmasundara: They say that man is nothingness.

Prabhupāda: Why is nothingness? If he is nothingness, why is he speaking so much nonsense?

Śyāmasundara: You said yesterday it was a philosophy of despair.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: That's what they also say.

Prabhupāda: So we are not desperate. We are not followers of despair philosophy. We are hopeful philosophy. We are going back to home, back to Godhead...

Śyāmasundara: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: ...to live eternally blissful life.

Śyāmasundara: He says that we are alone in the world but we can be a "being for others."

Prabhupāda: Why he was alone? Why he would become being for others? He remained alone; let them remain alone.

Śyāmasundara: He says that we require other people for our self-realization, if we want to understand who I am.

Prabhupāda: That means he requires a guru.

Śyāmasundara: That is what he means.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes he means that it is blind, there is no end, there is no plan, again he wants to have a guru?

Śyāmasundara: He doesn't say guru, but he says other people.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Guru is also another man.

Śyāmasundara: We interact with other people in order to understand ourselves.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So why not the best man-guru? If we require other men to understand, then why not take the best man?

Śyāmasundara: He says because there are other people, that in the presence of others we feel ashamed.

Prabhupāda: No. There are many other people, many people, but we have to take help from others, and I must take help from the best man, who knows things.

Śyāmasundara: He has observed that if I am acting in bad faith, that I will be ashamed in the presence of others.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore you should take advice from a man who can give you right direction, so at the end you may not be ashamed; you may be glorious. That is the injunction of the Vedas: tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). In order to be conversant with that science, transcendental science, one must approach a bona fide guru.