My Search for Truth.

-Dr S Radhakrishnan

Early Years
 He was born into a conventional family and his early childhood was spent in Tirupati
and Tirutani which are the pilgrim places.
 From the time he was able to understand and grasp things that was not material he
believed in an unseen force. A force that was not material but something that was far
beyond the world of the senses.
 Books were always his close companions and he found much joy in the fictional
aspects in the books
 He is considered as strong willed and cold he never expresses his emotions. He is
basically a nervous person. He had the ability to be social person when the situations
actually demanded and he feels that he was not like the other spiritual inclined
people who spent most of the time in seclusion
 He also feels that there is luck and that Luck has helped him in his life
 He believes that every choice he makes is guided by an unseen force.
 He is not trying to boast that he is the only one who is being helped.
 He is not blaming this luck and power for his failures and states that when something
actually goes wrong he actually takes the full responsibility in that aspect and feels
that only success can be attributed to this unseen force and not his failures
Home Life.

 He is basically praising the Indian Wives for the sacrifices, troubles and pain they endure to
keep their husbands happy.

 Men are usually caught up in the monotonous elements of business , careers and things
while he feels that women tend to be more closer to reality and thus appreciate life a little
bit more

 He feels that a man can be said to be having a reasonable life if he is having a wife whom he
loves and a job that suits him

 Indian women give greater importance to values and culture and thereby ensuring that they
do not always concentrate on what can be termed as material world

 He is also comparing these women to that of the supreme because when the devote sins
and comes back for forgiveness he is taken back with more love and care similarly the wife
waits for the husbands return.

 He talks about how child marriages were successful thereby giving credits that there were
few traditions that were positive to the society and that these are the things that can never
be questioned
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

 The poor and the illiterate are sometimes more familiar with the ethical and the
spiritual aspects than the rich and this can be due to the strong religious base thereby
stating that the money is not a factor in being spiritual or ethical
 The illiterate people were aware of the basic truths of life like death is certain ,life is
short , Happiness is uncertain , peace is important, Happiness is greater than riches
and so on
 Indians are raised in a religious ambience, mothers teach their children that one
should not sin and that there is God.
 The end of religion is the knowledge of God
 The different religions are the rivals but are the fellow labourers in the grand goal of
reaching the infinite
 He thus speaks that the chrisitian missionaries who propagated conversion were not
correct since all religion has the same goal which is reaching God
 Dr Radhakrishna prepares a thesis on the Ethics of Vedanta and feels that there is a
need to argue since there are a lot of criticism that the hindu philosophy is devoid of
any ethics
 Professor A Hogg appreciates the thesis and states that the maturity that Radhakrishna
showed to write a thesis like that was just remarkable
 He goes on to argue that religion is the concern of the inner life and that the aspect of
God can be realized by going beyond the senses since God is not the senses and he
exists far beyond the material senses
 To have vision of God one must have the heart of a child and it is only through that
purity that one can actually go closer to God
 Spiritual values can be achieved by man by following the basis of values like
love ,friendship and loyalty he feels that these are the elements that can actually take a
man closer to God
 He states that of all the poets that he has come across he had drawn great inspiration
From Rabindranath tagore and after having worked on a work by keeping Tagore as
inspiration, he impresses Tagore and is appreciated for the depth of the work and his
insights
 1921:He was appioned as the philosophy chair in India in the university of Calcutta
and Professor Muirhead also invites him to write a paper for his famous ‘Library of
philosophy’
 Humility is the most important element for an effective philosophical writing and
states that by works from people like him that the Hindu philosophy was more
accepted but it was previously called as bizarre
 The weakness of the Hindu religion is due to the fact that there is a confusion between
tradition and truth and states that God will not come and say ‘I am tradition but he
instead says that ‘I AM TRUTH’
 He speaks about how karma can be a factor but also states that individuals have their
own personal choices as well.
 He states that one of the main reasons that the civilizations find it difficult to progress
is because of the fact that they are not able to have the same ethical values as the
previous generations and that they are only advanced materially
 He states that on the other hand it does not actually mean that there should not be an
economic order , he states that economic man is not the whole man. He states that
along with the economic aspect one needs to grow spiritually as well
 Aldous Huxley in his work Brave New World states that the society is facing many
issues like disappearing of the family life , art and literature and death of the things
related to the spirit
 There are selfless souls who are ready to actually ensure that they can contribute to
the society but it is very clear that even they are manipulated
 He goes on to speak about the nations as well and states that the present organization
of the society is that the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must
showing that the people in power tend to dominate
 The dominant power nations tend to conceal their violent motives by stating that they
are doing the things for the love of the peace or for the nationalism
 He is particularly concerned about the violence caused by the wars that is a result of
the domination of the power and feels that this can be attributed to the fact that there
is no religious base
 He feels that supremacy of law should come into the society and that will enable
peace
 The trouble of the civilization is that they are trying to pursue things that are material
and they are neglecting the things that are eternal and enduring
 The way to actually change the society is to ensure that the individuals change and
that they become more spiritual.
 The civilization that can actually merge the scientific knowledge with the spiritual
ideals will prosper failing which the society may be not ethical in nature
 Modern civilization is suffering since it is soulless. The aspects of politics are in no
way linked to the religion , they do not take their inspiration form the ethics and the
religion
 Religion is the insight into reality
 The great saints did acquire the knowledge of the soul and this is something that has
enabled them to move towards God and also makes them authentic to propagate the
religion
 Spiritual knowledge can only be gained by the faculty of intuition
 Science helps to know about the knowledge of world but it can give no insights into
God
 The cosmic process can be attributed and realized by the faculty of intuition and states
that this faculty can enable a man to bring the hidden treasure out of himself
 Intuition is important since the rational aspects can be grasped by the aspects of
Intellect but the mystery aspects of life can only be grasped by the faculty of intuition
 Intuition and intellect should be a mutual combination to ensure that the society works
in harmony
 Intuition has the ability to grasp the unity of many elements.
 The ultimate goal of man is to ensure that he is experience his oneness with the spirit
and this can be achieved by losing one’s selfish ego
 Human nature essentially consists in the tension between hanging on to the material
things and the spirit and there a constant oscillation between these two forces.
 Earthly joys would be pale in front of the spiritual joys
 God is the Absolute spirit and he is a friend, judge and the redeemer of the mankind,
he is not the reflection and when there is ultimate unity with God and the world
manking finds peace and happiness
 He also gives a talk at Oxford and which was brought out as a small book East and
West in religion, The main theme addressed is that the man can find happiness in the
happiness of others , and justice and mercy are the integral elements in the process
 Love of humanity becomes one of the most important aspects
 Revolution through Suffering was the serom that Dr Radhakrishnan gave, Oxford
daily addressed it as uplifting and something that moved peoples hearts

LIFE’S PROBLEMS

 He states that the people who are privileged must appreciate what they exactly have
and ensure that the people around them are happy and have the privileges that they
had atleast to some degree
 Philosophy can be a very important element in understanding about the life’s
problems and can be a very effective tool
 The aim of philosophy is to ensure that man rises above worldliness
 Philosophy can be a very important tool to counter failre,sorrow, boredom and
discouragement
 People must devote themselves in the concept of the silent hour and they must
ensure that they communicate with themselves and get in touch with their innate
self
 Religion is what we do when we are alone thus is related to the aspect of morality
also
 Worship may not be through fasts and prayers but it can be by offering the pure
heart
 God is in us and we have to only realize this truth
 The time that we give to ourselves that can be helpful since it can help us move
away from the routine and help us cleanse our thoughts
 Humanity is the most important thing and it far exceeds any material riches,
because God judges people by how kind and compassionate they have been on
earth and not the position or the material riches
 Suffering is crucial for the spiritual progress and feels that the greatest blows of life
can actually bring forth introspection and this may lead a person to progress
spiritually
 When one is anchored in the spirit then the suffering will turn into blessing
 Love can also be greater than justice
 During the darkest hours of life solace can be brought by love and friendship
 One needs to look for only the positive in others and therefor one must always look
for the positive elements in life , even in the worst villain there is divinity
 People who have committed the greatest of the crimes may be saved by
compassion and they can change
 Love is always hopeful and always patient
 True friend helps in the progress of the other and therefor may be a very important
element in ones life
 We must never lie to ourselves
 We may need to expose ourself in order to penetrate the aspects of truth though this
process may be difficult but it can be worth it
 Truth and reality are the foundations of lasting friendships
 Dr Radhakrishnan states that he practices it and he did exhibit the aspects of
sympathy , he feels happy that he has been brought to human contact with a lot of
fellow beings, he feels that he has learnt about himself by facing the circumstances
and encountering the situationsHe has had anxiety and trouble but feels that he also
had his own share of blessings as well , of all he feels that he had the affection and
kindnss of people, people around him have made him fulfil his destiny
 Spiritual attraction is true since we may never really know why one attracts the
other
 The real reason of our likes and dislikes may be hidden from us completely
 We must help the weak and comfort the unhappy
 One needs to appreciate the joys of life like a childs smile and ensure that the y
always comfort the other human soul and help them bring hope