Hegel, Kant – these are philosophers. Buddha, Kabir – these are not philosophers. Plato, Aristotle – these are philosophers. Heraclitus, Plotinus – these are not philosophers, although in the books of philosophy they are also called philosophers. They are not. To use the word philosopher for them is not right, unless you change the whole meaning of the word. Aristotle and Heraclitus cannot be called philosophers in the same sense. ]f Aristotle is a philosopher, then Heraclitus is not; if Heraclitus is a philosopher, then Aristotle is not.

I use a totally different word, philosia, instead of philosophy. Philosophy means, literally, linguistically, love for knowledge. Philosia means love for seeing, not only for knowledge. Knowledge is not enough for the real inquirer; he wants to see. He does not want to contemplate on God, he wants to encounter God. He wants to hold his hand in his own hands, he wants to hug and kiss God. He is not satisfied with the concept of God. How can the concept be of any help?

When you are thirsty you cannot be satisfied by the formula H20. Howsoever right it is – that is not my concern, that is irrelevant – right or wrong, the formula H20 cannot quench your thirst. You would like water, and whether you know about H20 or not does not matter. For millions of years man has been drinking water without knowing anything about H20, and it has been perfectly satisfying. Philosophy talks about water, religion drinks.

Talking about food is utterly stupid; you will have to prepare food. You will have to eat, you will have to chew, you will have to digest. Unless food becomes blood and bones and marrow, just talking about it is not going to help. Hence I am against philosophy.

A woman was going to a doctor for a physical examination before her fourth marriage. During the course of her examination the doctor was startled to discover that she was still a virgin.

He demanded an explanation, “How can this be? You are preparing for your fourth marriage and yet you are a virgin?”

“My first husband,” she replied, “I married for love, but as we were leaving the church to go on our honeymoon a tragic automobile accident occurred and he was killed.”

“My second husband,” she continued, “I married for money. He was very old, and so nothing ever happened between us.”

“My third husband,” she said, “was a great philosopher, and all he could ever do was sit on the edge of the bed and tell me how good it was going to be.”

Philosophy is pseudo-religion. Religion is true philosophy, because religion leads you into the world of seeing, knowing, experiencing.

Exactly in that sense, Pythagoras has coined the word philosophy. Sophy means sophia; philo means love: love for the ultimate wisdom. That was the meaning given by the man who coined the word philosophy; he was Pythagoras. He had traveled all over the world. He had been to India, he had conferred with great mystics of the East, he had met seers, enlightened people. It was he who first coined the word.