Skovoroda biography of mahatma

Skovoroda approaches metaphysics and anthropology not as a speculative thinker, but as a moralist: he does no more than outline those truths that are necessary for happiness.

Skovoroda biography of mahatma

His basic metaphysical doctrine is that there are two natures in everything: the ideal, inner, invisible, eternal, and immutable; and the material, outer, sensible, temporal, and mutable. The first is higher, for it imparts being to the second. This dualism extends through all reality—the macrocosm or universe, and the two microcosms of humanity and the Bible.

In the macrocosm the inner nature is God, and the outer is the physical world. In man the inner nature is the soul; the outer, the body. In the Bible the inner truth is the symbolical meaning; the outer, the literal meaning. This dualism extends through all reality—the macrocosm or universe, and the two microcosms of humanity and the Bible.

In the macrocosm the inner nature is God, and the outer is the physical world. Skovoroda's view on God's relation to the world is panentheist rather than pantheist. In man the inner nature is the soul; the outer, the body. In the Bible the inner truth is the symbolical meaning; the outer, the literal meaning. From this metaphysical scheme Skovoroda drew a number of fundamental conclusions for practical life.

Since the universe is ordered by a provident God, every being has been provided with all that is necessary for happiness. The assurance that what is necessary is easy and what is difficult is unnecessary for happiness brings peace of mind. It also serves as a criterion for the material conditions of happiness: we need only those goods that are necessary to health and are available to all people.

But to dispel anxiety about material security is not enough for happiness. Active by nature, humans must also fulfill themselves in action by assuming the congenial task or vocation assigned to them by God. To pursue one's task regardless of external rewards is to be happy, while to pursue wealth, glory, or pleasure through uncongenial work is to be in despair.

Furthermore, since vocations are distributed by God in such a way as to ensure a harmonious social order, to adopt an uncongenial task leads to social discord and unhappiness for others. The doctrine of congenial work is the central doctrine in Skovoroda's moral system. Although it is not metaphysically plausible, it expresses his faith in the creative potential of human beings and the possibility of self-fulfillment in this life for everyone.

He led the life of an itinerant thinker-beggar. In his tracts and dialogs, biblical problems overlap with those examined earlier by Plato and the Stoics. Skovoroda's skovoroda biography of mahatma book was issued after his death in in Saint Petersburg. Skovoroda's complete works were published for the first time in Saint Petersburg in Before this edition many of his works existed only in manuscript form.

Inat the age of 19, due to his uncle Ignatiy Poltavtsev he was taken from Kiev to sing in the imperial choir in Moscow and St. Petersburgreturning to Kiev in He spent the period from to in the kingdom of Hungary and is thought to have traveled elsewhere in Europe during this period as well. In he returned to Kiev. For Skovoroda, life was a voyage where one had to forge their own road, not knowing where or why they were going.

Skovoroda's background was humble, coming from a family corporeal Cossacks. He entered the Kyiv Academy and spurious lectures at universities in Italy, Germany, and Oesterreich. He later taught at the Kharkiv Collegium fairy story wrote fables.