Nothingness conclusion is out of despair. So that is not intelligence

Expressions researched:
"So that is not intelligence" |"So this nothingness conclusion is out of despair"

Philosophy Discussions

The ocean is a superior power, and if you put yourself under the superior power, you are carried away by the waves. Therefore you say "I am nothing." But you are something. Your something will be very much exhibited when you are put on the land. So this nothingness conclusion is out of despair. It is out of despair. So that is not intelligence. That is not intelligence.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: Just like moods. For instance, today I may be happy, tomorrow I may be unhappy. So I'm not definite. There is no definite nature that I have.

Prabhupāda: That can be admitted to some extent, that it has not cause. Just like if you are put into the sea, so there you have no control and you are moving according to the waves. That means you have controlling power, but you are put in a certain condition where you lose your controlling power. So it is to be admitted that you are in an awkward position; therefore you cannot ascertain what change is going to take place next. That means you are not in a good situation. Just like a man, when he is on the land, he has got control. If a car is coming, he can take care. He can save from the accident. But when he is put into the ocean, the waves are floating him. So it is circumstantial, not accidental. Śyāmasundara: Oh, circumstantial but not accidental. Prabhupāda: Yes. So if you put yourself in better circumstances, then this uncontrolling feature will not be there. He cannot control himself. Everything is accident for him, because he is mad. But if he is cured to a sane man, there is no question of accident. Śyāmasundara: Supposing today I am happy and my tomorrow is completely within my hands to choose. Prabhupāda: Yes. Because you are under different conditions. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). You have put yourself under the control of material nature; therefore, according to the modes of the material nature, your position is there. You cannot... When you shall be happy or unhappy, you cannot control. Śyāmasundara: His idea is that we have the freedom to control it. Prabhupāda: Yes. You have the freedom, but your freedom is now choked up, being conditioned. Just like you have freedom to move, but if you are thrown into the ocean, your freedom is choked up. Therefore your duty is how to get yourself released from the condition where your freedom is choked up. Śyāmasundara: Ah, I see. This is one reason why he says that we are nothing, because... Prabhupāda: Because he cannot explain, he has no such knowledge; therefore it is very easy to say nothing. Śyāmasundara: Because today we are one thing, tomorrow we are another thing. So therefore we are nothing. Prabhupāda: Nothing, of course, nothing in this sense, that you are under the full control of a superior power, carried away by the waves. The ocean is a superior power, and if you put yourself under the superior power, you are carried away by the waves. Therefore you say "I am nothing." But you are something. Your something will be very much exhibited when you are put on the land. So this nothingness conclusion is out of despair. Śyāmasundara: Yes. That's his whole philosophy. Prabhupāda: It is out of despair. So that is not intelligence. That is not intelligence. Śyāmasundara: Intelligence doesn't come from despair. Prabhupāda: No. Śyāmasundara: He says that a man chooses himself. He creates his own nature. Prabhupāda: Yes. That's a fact. That we admit. He creates his nature. So now you have created your nature as nothing, but you can create your nature as something. But a poor fund of knowledge cannot do that. Therefore he has to take lessons from a higher personality. Before philosophizing, he should have taken some lessons from persons who are in the knowledge. That is the Vedic injunction: tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). In order to learn that transcendental science one must approach a bona fide spiritual master. Śyāmasundara: He says that our essence, or our nature, is always in the making. It is continually becoming... Prabhupāda: It is not in the making. It is changing. He is thinking it is making. But in the sense making, it can be taken, when he comes to his senses, that "I don't want change. Why the change is taking place?" So when this inquiry comes to him, and if he inquires, "What is the reason of this changing although I do not want?" that is the point where making takes place.