S.S. Cohen - Guru Ramana - Memories & Notes, Danger of Philosophy

[Guest guest]

Danger of Philosophy

 

 

 

10th April, 1937

 

 

 

A highly learned visitor whose chief interest was man

 

and his constitution, wanted Sri Bhagavan to explain from

experience man's various bodies, his koshas and their functions,

his atma-buddhi-manas, etc.

 

 

Bhagavan: (after a brief explanation added) The intricate maze of

 

philosophy of different schools claims to clarify matters and

reveal the Truth, but in fact they create confusion where no

confusion need exist. To understand anything there must

needs be the understanding being. Why worry about his

bodies, his ahankar, his buddhi, creation, God, Mahatmas,

world – the not-Self – at all? Why not remain yourself and

be in peace? Take Vedanta, for instance: it speaks of the

fifteen pranas, the names and functions of which the student

is asked to commit to memory. Will it not be sufficient if

he is taught that only one prana does the whole work of

maintaining life in the body? Again, the antahkarana is said

to think, to desire, to will, to reason, etc. Why all these

details? Has anyone seen the antahkarana, or all these pranas?

Do they really exist? They are all conceptual divisions

invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis.

Where do all these concepts end? Why should confusion

be created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man

who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy,

but goes straight to the Source from which they all rise.

 

 

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http://www.ramanamaharshi.info

 

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