I have earlier discussed the differences between two distinct ideas of free will: Self-control vs. other control. The central argument of that post was that the conception of free will in which we are free to control others is false, but the conception in which we can control ourselves is true. However, as anyone who practices meditation, self-control, or self-improvement will...
Toward the end of a recent conversation, someone asked me: “Is the universe causally closed?” For a moment I was stumped because I realized that what the person is really asking is whether God intervenes in the universe. If God intervenes in the universe, then the universe is not causally closed. If He doesn’t, then the universe is causally closed. I...
All physical analogies fail to correctly describe Bhedābheda philosophy. One such analogy is a drop in an ocean. The Bhedābheda proponent says: The drop is distinct from the ocean and yet one with it. The reductionist’s counter to that claim is that if you remove all the drops, there will be no ocean; hence the ocean is a fictional construct reducible...
Most people at present assume that religion is independent of logic. They insist that claims of religion must be “logical”—i.e., follow the principles of identity, non-contradiction, and excluded middle. This attitude is predominantly Western because alternative logical systems have either been formalized (e.g., in Buddhism and Jainism) or used informally (e.g., in Zen and Taoism) in Eastern philosophy. Nyāya, as one...
In a recent post, I discussed the four tiers of reality, called waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and transcendent. Each successive stage of reality is given greater importance, which means that dreaming is more important than waking. This surprises people—We dream when we sleep; how can sleeping be more important than waking? In this post, I will discuss why dreaming is more...
Recently an Indian politician commented that Bhagavad-Gita also teaches Jihad (a religious war). This post lists the differences between what Lord Kṛṣṇa teaches in Bhagavad-Gita (and what happened during the Mahabharata war) and religious war. It is important to have detailed answers to such questions. We will go through the historical background, the events that led to the Mahabharata war, how...
It is often said that Indians invented the zero, which then allowed the invention of negative numbers, complex numbers, and then modern mathematics and physics. The Roman numeral system (which followed the Greek system of counting) did not have zero. After all, zero represented “nothing”, which was purely conceptual but not physical. When zero is defined as nothing, then negative numbers...
I got invited to an atheist podcast. I’m reluctant to engage because my previous attempts have revealed gross levels of (a) ignorance about the fundamentals of modern science, (b) ignorance about the historical chain of events that led to current science, (c) ignorance of anything other than current mainstream Western thinking, (d) inability to grasp new concepts that are not based...
Truth in Vedic philosophy is defined quite differently than in Western philosophy. While Western philosophy talks about empirical and rational proofs of truth, Vedic philosophy gives the following peculiar conception of truth. If you reject the truth, then you will commit bad deeds; due to those bad deeds, you will suffer; when you suffer, then you will change what you call...
In an earlier forum response, I described some chicken and egg problems that arise while trying to construct the notions of space, time, and objects. I will use this post to elaborate on these problems further and then illustrate how they are solved in Sāñkhya philosophy, leading to the conclusion that whatever we call the “body” springs out of a succession...
There is a prominent misconception about religious equality under which all religions must be treated with respect. According to this misconception, sacredness is a private belief, and there is no objective sacredness in anything. Hence, either all religions must be rejected or all of them should be given equal respect. In this post, I will discuss why religions are objectively better...
Some religions argue against the Vedic system that its followers worship “idols”. An “idol”, or a deity, as most of us call it, is a symbol of God, like symbols in a book communicate meaning. If you burn a book, you don’t burn the ideas denoted by the book; you only remove one way of accessing those ideas. Conversely, if you...
