Throughout the history there have been some remarkable individuals who used their life and intellect to progress human thought and understanding of universe. They devoted their time to seek answers to the eternal questions such as – What is existence? What is life? Why am I here? What is the nature of reality?

In both Eastern and Western traditions there have been luminaries who have struggled with these questions and have shared their understanding with the world.

As a group, these are called philosophers – Lovers of Wisdom. According to the classical definition of philosopher – they love wisdom and seek it earnestly. Attaining the objective, they become a Sage.

While a lot of philosophers devoted their lives in the pursuit of knowledge to the exclusion of everything else, there were some who had a very engaging personal life as well. I call them the gentleman philosophers. Typically, the quest for wisdom is a result of discontent with the perceived life. For example, Siddhartha was driven to seek knowledge and enlightenment because he was able to perceive life as suffering. However, the gentleman philosophers participate in life fully and still seek answers, for example Krishna. The gentleman philosophers in our history have below characteristics in common –

1. Contribution to the study and understanding of the human thought, thus philosophers.
2. Engagement in worldly pursuits and being reasonably successful on that front.
3. They did not need to worry about wealth or how to fulfil their own or their dependent’s worldly needs. 
4. They did not seek to glorify or vilify a particular thought system. All were seekers of knowledge in its truest sense and they either developed their own thought systems or enquired about the prevailing system of thoughts during their respective period.
5. They were fiercely independent in their pursuit – unencumbered by the need to supplicate to their superiors.

Some examples of the luminaries in this group are – Marcus Aurelius, King Janaka of Videha, Confucius, Laozi or in recent times Bertrand Russell. Study of philosophy is rich because of their contributions.

When I look at the contemporary discourse regarding the traditions of thought in India, I see that an objective evaluation is lacking. Majority of intelligentsia is reading the classical texts with an objective of either glorifying or vilifying what is written there. The glorification comes in the form of absurd claims of achieving technological feats in ancient times when we know that such technologies did not exist. The vilification comes in the form of calling everything as religious dogma and thus not trustworthy.

During these six months, as I study the classic philosophical texts – I will try to share my objective view in the current context. What I share will strictly be my view on the texts, readings, discourses or commentaries. I will try to keep it systematic. Through this effort, I hope to make the texts and thought traditions accessible in simple language fit for our times.

Dear reader, I will love to hear your thoughts on these posts as I publish them and you can use the comments section to contribute or to discuss anything. May our lives be richer because you took time to read the posts.

P.S. – There will be other pursuits apart from Philosophy, as befitting a gentleman. I will share them regularly as well.