Socrates (469-399BC) was a thorn in the side of leaders of ancient Athens,who saw him as a corruptor of young men.The problem was that he was uncompromising in his search for an objective understanding of such moral virtues as justice,courage and piety,and he passed on this spirit to his students,most notably Plato.And in the process,the leaders contented,he neglected the gods of the state.He taught all who would listen to engage in self-examination and tend to their souls.Even today,many have heard of Socrates' instruction to "Know thyself," but what does it mean?,to really know the self one must know the supreme self.
Socrates strongly opposed the sophists,a group of speculators who taught that the standards of right and wrong and of truth and falsity were completely relative,being established solely by individual opinion or social convention.Socrates,on the other hand,seemed convinced that there was an absolute,universal truth or good,beyond mere speculation and opinion,that could be known clearly and with certainty.He was correct.For our part,we accept God,as the supreme authority,the Absolute Truth.
An individual citizen cannot manufacture laws,since laws are given by the government.Our perfection lies in following the orders of God cent percent.Those who have no conception of God or His orders may manufacture religious systems,but our system is different.
For Socrates,the goal of life is to rise by means of the intellect to a realization of this absolute good.A person who had attained such knowledge of the good would be self-realized in that he would always do the good without fail.A soul who had thus realized the good was said to be in a healthy or sound state,or to have attained wisdom.Socrates' name for the single absolute good was "Knowledge".
We are all part and parcel of God,yet somehow or other we have forgotten this.Previously,we rendered service to God,but now we are rendering service to something illusory.Whether we are liberated or conditioned,our constitutional position is to render service.
In the material world we work according to our different capacities-as a politician,a thinker,a poet,or whatever.
The absolute truth is true for everyone,and the relative truth is relative to a particular position.The relative truth depends on the Absolute truth.God is the Absolute Truth,and the material world is the relative truth.Because the material world is God's energy,it appears to be real or true,just as the reflection of the sun in water emits some light.But that reflection is not dependent of the sun,and as soon as the sun sets,that light will disappear.
We cannot separate heat from fire;heat is also fire,yet heat is not fire.This is the position of the relative truth.As soon as we experience heat,we understand that there is fire.Yet we cannot say that heat is fire.
Relative truth is like heat because it stands on the strength of the Absolute Truth,just as heat stands on the strength of fire.
Because the absolute is true,relative truth also appears to be true,although it has no independent existence.Similarly,this material world appears attractive because there is actually an all-attractive spiritual world.
Socrates held that "all the virtues are one thing-knowledge." He saw goodness and knowledge as inseparable.
According to the vedic conception,life is continuous.Since we are always acquiring experience,we cannot actually say that Socrates was self-taught.Rather,in his previous lives he had cultivated knowledge,and this knowledge was simply continuing.That is a fact.Otherwise,why is one person intelligent and another ignorant? This is due to continuity of life through the process of transmigration of the soul.
One may labor a long time under some mistaken idea,but when he finally comes to the proper conclusion,he becomes very happy.He thinks,"Oh,what a fool I was,going on so long in such a mistaken way!" Thus a self-realized person is happy.Happiness means that one no longer has to think of attaining things,so real knowledge means that one no longer hankers for anything.
Socrates could have avoided the death penalty if he had compromised his convictions.He refused to do this and so became a martyr for his beliefs.
