Mental speculation (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"mental speculation" |"mental speculations"

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Bailey -- Allahabad 2 October, 1951:

The Western philosophers mostly of the Sankhya school have less aquaintance with the Vedanta Darsana and philosophers like Kant, Mill, Aristotle or Schopenhauer etc all belong to either of the above five Darsanas except Vedanta because limited human thinking power cannot go beyond that stage. But Vedanta Darsana is far beyond the limited mental speculation of the human brain conditioned by material nature. Unfortunately Sankara who belonged to the Mayavada school made a misinterpretation of the Vedanta for his own purpose to convert the Buddhists in India.

Letter to Sri Padampat Singhania -- Kanpur 7 May, 1957:

The powerful Mantras have such potency if they are sounded in the right direction. And by chanting the Mantras only one can spiritualise the whole existence as heat can expand on the spherical objects. Mantra Siddhi means complete liberation. Therefore, there is no difference between the holy name and Mantra. Man means mind and tra deliverance. That which delivers one from mental speculation is called "Mantra". "Mantra Siddhi" is to transcend the gross and subtle mental plane.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Purusottama -- Los Angeles 2 February, 1968:

Krishna is so sublime and transcendental that He cannot be realized by mental speculation or by personal endeavor, education, or material acquisition. He can only be approached and understood clearly by our service attitude, engaging all our senses in His service. The beginning of service is to engage our hearing organs, and receive the transcendental message by aural reception. And whenever we are mature in receiving the transcendental message from books like Bhagavad-gita, and Srimad-Bhagavatam, via media the transparent bona fide Spiritual Master, then we are able to chant or engage our tongue in the service of the Lord, being engaged in the service of the Lord.

Letter to Sivananda -- New York 19 April, 1968:

Krishna is the Supreme Controller of all controllers and therefore, He is the Origin of everything including the Brahma Energy. This Govinda is the cause of all causes, and He is without any cause. This is the beauty of the sastras, that one sloka finishes billions of years hard labor of mental speculation. Just try to give evidence like this.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Upendra -- Los Angeles 1 February, 1969:

In the relative prospective it is very difficult to understand what is the Absolute. From the material point of view, one cannot understand that one plus one equals one, and one minus one equals one. It requires a little time to understand this axiomatic truth. But in time such truths will become revealed to you without any mental speculation.

Letter to Robert Hendry -- Los Angeles 3 August, 1969:

In the Bhagavad-gita we understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna as He is explaining Himself. We cannot understand the position of Godhead by our mental speculation because God is beyond our mental, bodily and speaking capacity. But when we are sincere in service mood, just like Arjuna, who surrendered himself to Krishna, then we are able to understand who Krishna is.

Letter to Raktaka -- Hamburg 6 September, 1969:

Pure Vaisnava is free from all material contamination of fruitive activities and mental speculation. The pure Vaisnava is simply, purely disposed to transcendental loving service to Krishna. The pure Vaisnava rejects anything which has no pure idea of serving the Personality of Godhead.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Dinesh -- Los Angeles 22 January, 1970:

You simply read our books and if you simply reproduce the purport of Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita, people will take it very seriously. So, of course, you must understand the purport and reproduce it in your own language. That will be very good, but someway or other if in some way you present the purport of Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita that will be also very good. The idea is that we should not make any addition or subtraction of mental speculation, but we should endeavor, even if we do not fully understand from our present platform, to present simply the philosophy as we have received it directly and realized it by practical experience.

Letter to Dindayal -- Los Angeles 2 February, 1970:

Please, therefore, chant regularly sixteen rounds of beads daily, always be engaged in Krishna work in a humble state of mind, follow the regulative principles of no eating of meat, fish or eggs, no intoxicants, no illicit sex life and no gambling or mental speculation and study our literatures and be strictly trained up in Krishna Consciousness with the help and guidance of Jaya Pataka Prabhu.

Letter to Hanuman Prasad Poddar -- Los Angeles 5 February, 1970:

I chant Hare Krishna Mantra on the 108 beads and then the beads are offered to the disciple with a change of name as Krishna das. He is advised to strictly follow the regulative principles of 1. no eating of meat, fish, or eggs; 2. no taking of intoxicants including coffee, tea, and tobacco; 3. no illicit sex-life; and 4. no gambling or mental speculation.

Letter to Manmohini -- Los Angeles 21 February, 1970:

You know that as my initiated disciple you must chant regularly sixteen rounds of beads daily and follow the four restrictions; namely no eating of meats, fish or eggs; no illicit sex life; no taking of any kinds of intoxicants; and no gambling or mental speculation. If you stick to these principles and chant the Holy Name avoiding the ten offenses in the matter of chanting you will become steady and rapidly advanced in Krsna Consciousness.

Letter to Dinadayadri -- Los Angeles 26 February, 1970:

I am very glad to accept you as my initiated disciple, and I have already returned your beads duly chanted upon by me. Your spiritual name is Dinadayadri Dasi. Please be very careful to follow the four basic restrictive principles of no eating of meat, fish or eggs, no taking of any kind of intoxicants, no illicit sex-life, and no gambling or mental speculations. Always chant at least sixteen rounds of beads daily without fail, and be happy in Krsna Consciousness life.

Letter to Patita Uddharana -- Los Angeles 19 March, 1970:

I am very glad to know that your pen is inspired to create, because we are in need of many intelligent writers who can express our Krishna consciousness philosophy nicely just following exactly the transcendental words and purports of our vast Vedic scriptures according to the previous Acaryas of our Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya. And if you continue to work in this writing and publishing of our literatures with steady enthusiasm and sincerity, your success in Krishna Consciousness is certain. Therefore to keep your spiritual strength, always observe the regulative principles strictly and chant at least sixteen rounds of beads daily without fail. This is essential for understanding our philosophy practically to advance in Krishna Consciousness. And we should always avoid mental speculations.

Letter to Krsna dasa -- Calcutta 6 October, 1970:

The next point is philosophy without religion is mental speculation. No one can manufacture a system of religion. Religion is the Law of God and no one but God or empowered representatives of God can put forward religious formulas. Therefore, because every living entity is the eternal fragmental part and parcel of God, it is practical that by simply accepting the authorized statements of bona fide scripture without mental speculation or fashionable interpretation one fulfills the mission of human life very easily and goes back to home, back to Godhead.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Chaturbhus -- Bombay 21 January, 1972:

s for the difference between mental speculation and philosophical speculation, we take it that everything is known by the psychological action of the mind, so that philosophical speculation is the same as mental speculation if it is merely the random or haphazard activity of the brain to understand everything and making theories, "if's" and "maybe's." But if philosophical speculation is directed by Sastra and Guru, and if the goal of such philosophical attempts is to achieve Visnu, then that philosophical speculation is not mental speculation. It is just like this: Krishna syas in Bhagavad-gita that "I am the taste of water." Philosophical speculation in the accepted sense then means to try to understand, under the direction of Sastra and Guru, just how Krishna is the taste of water. The points of Bhagavad-gita, though they are simple and complete, can be understood from unlimited angles of vision. So our philosophy is not dry, like mental speculation. The proper function of the brain or psychological activity is to understand everything through Krishna's perspective or point-of-view, and so there is no limit to that understanding because Krishna is unlimited, and even though it can be said that the devotee who knows Krishna, he knows everything (15th Chapter), still, the philosophical process never stops and the devotee continues to increase his knowledge even though he knows everything. Try to understand this point, it is a very good question.

Letter to Niranjan -- Honolulu May 5, 1972:

Throughout the Gita, Krishna describes the different processes of spiritual realization to Arjuna - karma yoga, jnana yoga, samkhya yoga - but at the end He says to give up all the different religious systems and just surrender to Him. This is the topmost yoga system, and is the goal of all the others. So this is our process. We don't perform any ritualistic ceremonies for some material gain or economic development, nor do we waste our time in mental speculation to try to find out the Lord with our tiny brain, nor do we perform so many difficult penances and austerities or gymnastic exercises for becoming one with God. We simply surrender to Krishna and His representative, and serve Him with the consciousness that "My Lod, I am Yours. Please always keep me engaged in Your service and protect me from maya." This is real religion, and is the natural position of the living being.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Sriji -- Bombay 7 November, 1974:

The Lord is the original spiritual master, and a person in the disciplic succession can convey the message of the Lord as it is to his sincere disciple. We cannot manufacture our own process, therefore mental speculation does not at all help us in spiritual life. One simply has to surrender himself to his guru and everything will be revealed to him.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Punjabi Premanand -- Bombay 16 April, 1976:

The Bhagavad-gita is the standard book of knowledge in India and many eminent persons like Gandhi, Aurobindo, Dr. RadhaKrishnan, etc. they tried to understand the Bhagavad-gita, but could not do it. They were themselves misled and on account of their big position they misled so many followers. Our system, the Vedic system, is to approach the right person and hear from him exactly as Arjuna listened from Krishna. Mental speculation will not help. Hearing is the main point. In the Bhagavad-gita, it is written, dharmaksetre kuruksetre . . . when you hear from a realized soul, a person who knows things, he'll explain that Kuruksetra is a place where religious ritualistic ceremonies are performed from time immemorial, from the time before the Battle of Kuruksetra. But, if you read the books of some cunning politician, he'll mislead you and you'll learn that Kuruksetra means this body which is not actually the fact. That is the difference, hearing from devotees, the sound vibration coming from the realized person. Reading the book is the same thing . . . tattva-darsana—hearing from one who has seen the truth. Reading or hearing from the realized person there is no difference, but hearing the sound vibration from the realized soul is still more effective, better.

Letter to Mr. Raja Sajid Husain -- Los Angeles 4 June, 1976:

"All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge, and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavour of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can such a man possess any good qualities?"

1977 Correspondence

Letter to Charles Gold -- Bhuvanesvara 29 January, 1977:

Krsna Consciousness is based on perfect information received from Krsna in Vedic literatures like Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Our method is not the so-called research conducted by imperfect beings by their imperfect senses and mental speculation. It is difficult to understand why this inductive process is being credited as the highest form of knowledge, since the material scientists who follow this method are not able to do anything towards solving the basic problems of humanity.