Question: When did you study philosophy?

Sri Chinmoy: I studied philosophy at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram where I grew up. Between the ages of nineteen and twenty-three I studied, or you can say devoured, all the Western philosophers in considerable depth. The Ashram library is my witness. When I was studying Immanuel Kant’s 800-page book, Critique of Pure Reason, my professor came up to me and said, “What are you doing?” I said by way of joke, “I want to enjoy sleep. When I read these works, I fall asleep!”

Among the philosophers that America has produced, I sincerely appreciate, admire and adore Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson had an illumined mind. He studied our Indian Vedas and Upanishads. From there he got a higher wisdom and he was able to go very deep. His philosophy is mine.

Before Emerson was Thoreau. Thoreau was a nature-worshipper. He brought in another approach. Each philosopher has a different approach. Sometimes the philosophers do not know that they are borrowing from a previous philosopher. Truth is, after all, one. So each philosopher tries to decorate the truth in a different way.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Philosophy: wisdom-chariot of the mind, Agni Press, 1999
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/pwc