My Search for Truth: religion, God, the aim of philosophy and the modern crisis

1. Religion as experience

For Radhakrishnan religion is not a set of beliefs one accepts on authority, nor a code of rituals. It is an autonomous form of experience, rooted in the depths of the human spirit, deeper than intellect, feeling or will. It is distinct from morality, though it always expresses itself in moral conduct: a religious man cannot be indifferent to the good.

• Its test. A religion must be judged by what it does to life: whether it gives meaning to existence, secures the higher values and gives a man confidence to live, lifting him above aimlessness and despair. Its purpose is spiritual certainty.
• Its expression. Spiritual values are realised in ordinary life: in family love, friendship, loyalty and reverence. For the truly religious person all life is a sacrament.
• Dogma is secondary. Creeds and doctrines are guides and aids, not the thing itself. They change from age to age, and this does not destroy religion.

2. God and the plurality of religions

Radhakrishnan holds that no formula can confine God. Doctrines about God are attempts to describe what lies beyond description, so they differ according to the needs and temperament of the worshipper.

• Tolerance. Respect for all creeds is deeply rooted in the Hindu tradition. He cites the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita that even those who worship other gods with faith worship, in effect, the one Supreme.
• No monopoly of revelation. He rejects the claim of any religion to a unique and final revelation, or of any people to be chosen. God has left witness of himself among all peoples. Religions are fellow labourers in the same great task.
• The teacher’s role. A true teacher of religion deepens our insight; he does not compel us to change our view. Conversion by pressure has no value.
• The new world order. As the world draws together, claims of spiritual monopoly have no place; religions must learn to live together and learn from one another.

3. The aim of philosophy

In the Indian tradition philosophy is darshana, a vision of reality, and is not separate from religion. Radhakrishnan’s view can be put in five points.

1. Insight into the whole. Philosophy seeks to understand the meaning of life and the universe as a whole, not a single department of knowledge.
2. Reason and intuition. It uses reason, but the deepest truths are grasped by intuition or integral experience, in which the whole man, not the intellect alone, knows. Reason prepares the way; intuition completes it.
3. A way of life. Philosophy is not an intellectual game. Its test is a transformed life; it must issue in right conduct.
4. Unity with religion. Philosophy gives religion its rational basis; religion gives philosophy its living content. This is why he treats the two as integral parts of life.
5. Reconciliation. His own work aimed to interpret Eastern and Western thought to each other and to show that the spiritual vision of the Upanishads answers modern needs.

4. The lack of spiritual note in modern civilization

This is the question set in both January 2026 papers. Radhakrishnan’s diagnosis:

1. Progress of means, not of ends. Science and technology have given man enormous power over nature, speed and comfort. But this outward progress has not been matched by inward growth. We know how to do things; we have forgotten why.
2. Decline of faith. Scientific method and the critical spirit have weakened belief in traditional creeds. Dogmas that conflicted with reason have lost their hold, and nothing has taken their place.
3. Substitutes for religion. Men have turned to secular faiths: nationalism, material prosperity, and political creeds that promise a perfect society. These demand a religious devotion but cannot satisfy the spirit, and they divide men instead of uniting them.
4. The mechanisation of life. Life has become hurried, crowded and external. There is little room for silence and reflection, so the inner life withers. Restlessness, fear and a sense of emptiness follow.
5. Outer unity, inner division. The world has been brought together by communications and trade, but without a common spiritual outlook this physical unity produces conflict and war.

The remedy. Not a return to old dogma, but a religion of the spirit: personal experience of the divine, tolerance of other faiths, and the expression of spiritual values in social life. Such a religion can give modern civilization the centre it lacks.

5. Model answer: “What is the aim of philosophy as brought out by Dr. Radhakrishnan?” (10 marks)

In My Search for Truth Radhakrishnan treats philosophy not as an academic exercise but as a search for the meaning of life. Its aims are: (1) to give a vision of reality as a whole, the Indian idea of darshana; (2) to use reason but to go beyond it to intuition, the integral experience of the whole person; (3) to issue in a better life, since a philosophy that leaves conduct unchanged has failed; (4) to provide the rational foundation of religion, so that philosophy and religion together become integral parts of life; and (5) to bring the thought of East and West together. He found in philosophy the answer to the challenge of his missionary teachers: an honest inquiry into what is true in his own tradition. The aim, finally, is spiritual certainty, a life lived in the light of the spirit.

How this is examined

One question from this note appears in Section A of every paper. In January 2026 both versions asked about the lack of spiritual note in modern civilization; in 2025 and 2023 the aim of philosophy and his views on religion and God. Learn section 4 and section 3 as numbered lists and open each answer with one line placing the essay (“In his autobiographical essay My Search for Truth, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan…”).