Episode Details

📎 Main topics in this episode:

- The evolution of spiritual understanding

- Lord Buddha - Sunyavada (nihilism)

Who is Siddhartha?

His philosophy

Rejecting the Vedas

Nirvana

Buddha, the avatar

- Sankaracarya - Advaita-Vedanta (non-dualism)

Who is Sankaracarya?

Life and teachings

The Advaita philosophy

What is Brahman?

Why he did that?

An example

Mayavada

The most horrible philosophyThe main ideas:The evolution of spiritual understanding

- A famous story: Once, six blind men started touching an elephant. The first bumped against its belly and concluded that the elephant was just like a wall. The second touched its tusk and concluded that the elephant was just like a spear. The third touched his trunk and concluded that the elephant was similar to a snake. The fourth touched one of his legs and concluded the elephant was just like a tree. The fifth, who touched its ear, concluded the elephant was like a fan, while the last touched its tail and concluded the elephant was just like a rope. The six blind men thus started arguing about who was correct.

- Similarly, there are many different philosophical systems in India: The teachings of Lord Buddha, the philosophy of Sankaracarya, and finally the four great Vaishnava acaryas.

- These different systems represent an evolution of philosophical thinking, in which each acarya has built on top of the philosophy propounded by the previous.

- This created a chain that brings us to the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who revealed the science of the eternal relationship of the soul with the Supreme Lord in its totality.

Lord Buddha - Sunyavada (nihilism)

- We all know that 5000 years ago, Vyasadeva compiled the Vedas, the Puranas, the Mahabharata, etc. organizing and categorizing all the knowledge.

- However, with the start of Kali-yuga, the essence of the Vedic knowledge compiled by Vyasadeva was gradually lost. About 2,500 years later, ritualism and hedonism had become prevalent in India.

- People were mostly using passages in the Vedas that mentioned animal sacrifices as an excuse to kill animals and eat their flesh.

- We can see that Narada Muni had alerted Vyasadeva about this in the Srimad Bhagavatam:

"The people in general are naturally inclined to enjoy, and you have encouraged them in that way in the name of religion. This is verily condemned and is quite unreasonable. Because they are guided under your instructions, they will accept such activities in the name of religion and will hardly care for prohibitions." (SB 1.5.15)

- Observing the sad situation, the Lord advent as Lord Buddha to teach ahimsa or non-violence, the most basic of spiritual principles.

- Buddha taught the path of Nirvana, attracting people's attention to something superior to mere materialistic life.

Who is Siddhartha?

- Lord Buddha appeared as Siddhartha, a prince born in the province of Gayā, in what is now the state of Bihar, in the north of India.

- The appearance of Lord Buddha was predicted in the Srimad Bhagavatam:

"Then, in the beginning of Kali-yuga, the Lord will appear as Lord Buddha, the son of Añjanā, in the province of Gayā, just for the purpose of deluding those who are envious of the faithful theist." (SB 1.3.24)

- When the prince was just five days old, astrologers predicted that he would become a renunciant and seek the path of enlightenment after seeing four signs: an old man, a sick man, a dead body, and a mendicant.

- The king was anxious to keep his son tied to materialistic life. He became very ca