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| Vedanta and Indian Culture |
The Hindu
religious tradition is a vast and complex
confederation of religions which has no
founder, no defining creed, no centralized
authority. Nevertheless, it has maintained
overall coherence, vitality and far-reaching
influence for many centuries, mainly because
it is based on a dynamic philosophy of life
known as Vedanta. The Vedanta embodies the
teachings of the Upanishads, which form the
concluding message of the Vedas. The Vedas
are the oldest scriptures of the world and
of the Hindu Faith.
The ramifications of VEDANTA, can be
discovered in all the popular holy books of
Hinduism and are declared to be the most
potent antidote for the malady of modern
life, which is gross materialism. The
beginning of the 19th century saw the
glorification of reason and science which
led to the overwhelming growth of scientific
technology as we know, see, and feel it
today. As the Yuga-Avatara Sri Ramakrishna
indicated: Abandoning hallowed spiritual
values of the ancient Gurus has led modern
man to lose faith in himself, and his power
to manifest his nobler nature. Thinking of
gross objects the human being tends to
become inert and impotent spiritually.
Vedanta aims to help modern man to recover
his forgotten identity. He is a spark of the
Divine Being.
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The central message and prayer of
Vedanta,... "the one prayer, to remember our
true nature, the God who is always within
us, thinking of it always as infinite,
almighty, ever-good, ever-beneficent,
selfless, bereft of all limitations. And
because that nature is selfless, it is
strong and fearless; for only to selfishness
comes fear. He who has nothing to desire for
himself, whom does he fear, and what can
frighten him? What fear has death for him?
What fear has evil for him?..."
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"Bring in the light and the evil goes in a
moment. Build up your character, and
manifest your real nature, the Effulgent,
the Resplendent, the Ever-Pure, and call It
up in everyone that you see. I wish that
everyone of us had come to such a state that
even in the vilest of human beings we could
see the Real Self within, and instead of
condemning them, say, "Rise thou effulgent
one, rise thou who art always pure, rise
thou birthless and deathless, rise almighty,
and manifest thy true nature. These little
manifestations do not befit thee.
(From 'Practical Vedanta' by Swami
Vivekananda)
"Remember that great saying of the Sankhya, "The
whole of nature is for the soul, not the
soul for nature." The very reason of
nature's existence is for the education of
the soul; it has no other meaning; it is
there because the soul must have knowledge,
and through knowledge free itself. If we
remember this always, we shall never be
attached to nature; we shall know that
nature is a book in which we are to read,
and that when we have gained the required
knowledge, the book is of no more value to
us. Instead of that, however, we are
identifying ourselves with nature; we are
thinking that the soul is for nature, that
the spirit is for the flesh, and, as the
common saying has it, we think that man
"lives to eat" and not "eats to live". We
are continually making this mistake; we are
regarding nature as ourselves and are
becoming attached to it; and as soon as this
attachment comes, there is the deep
impression on the soul, which binds us down
and makes us work not from freedom but like
slaves.
"The whole gist of this teaching is that you
should work like a master and not as a
slave; work incessantly, but do not do
slave's work. Do you not see how everybody
works? Nobody can be altogether at rest;
ninety-nine per cent of mankind work like
slaves, and the result is misery; it is all
selfish work. Work through freedom! Work
through love! The word "love" is very
difficult to understand; love never comes
until there is freedom. There is no true
love possible in the slave. If you buy a
slave and tie him down in chains and make
him work for you, he will work like a
drudge, but there will be no love in him. So
when we ourselves work for the things of the
world as slaves, there can be no love in us,
and our work is not true work. This is true
of work done for relatives and friends, and
is true of work done for our own selves.
Selfish work is slave's work; and here is a
test. Every act of love brings happiness;
there is no act of love which does not bring
peace and blessedness as its reaction."
from "Karma Yoga" by Swami
Vivekananda
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