Vaishnava Philosophy The Ultimate Philosophy of Krishna Consciousness "Philosophy without religion unavoidably leads to dry mental speculation, and religion without philosophy unavoidably leads to sentimentalism and fanaticism." "Science does nor know how we learn and remember, nor how we think and communicate, nor how the brain stores information, nor what the relationship between language and thought is. Science does not know how living cells interact with nonliving matter. It does not know what the origin of the universe is, nor how old the universe is, not what the ultimate fate of the universe will be." [Charles M. Vest, professor, president of MIT, in the International Herald Tribune, January 16, 1996, p.8] The timeless wisdom of India is expressed in the Vedas, ancient Sanskrit texts that touch upon all fields of human knowledge. Originally preserved through oral tradition, in this cycle of ages the Vedas were first put into writing 5000 years ago by the great sage Srila Vyasadeva, the "literary incarnation of God." In addition to the compilation of the Vedas the sage also wrote down the Mahabharata, the Upanisads, the Puranas and the Vedanta-sutras. As evident from these Vedic scriptures, the knowledge they contain was originally given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead at the beginning of creation. Thereafter it was handed down through the ages in an unbroken chain of spiritual masters, expanded to fit the ever-changing times, places and circumstances, but never altered in essence or conclusion. The philosophy of Krishna consciousness, being the ultimate conclusion of all Vedic knowledge, is therefore as old as time itself. Yet, it is never stale or boring. Human life is the same no matter what time setting it manifests in, hence its problems remain the same as well: birth, death, old age and disease. The root cause of these problems is our false identification with this material world and forgetfulness of our original position in relationship with the Supreme. The Vaishnava philosophy addresses all of these issues and thereby guides us to the very roots of existence, while simultaneously displaying an amazing freshness in understanding the problems of "modern" life.

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