Introduction To Vedanta

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Introduction to Vedanta

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Vedanta philosophy, based on my understanding, has two main concepts.

The first is the human's real nature is divine and the second concept

is that the aim of human life is to realize this divinity.

 

Let us try to examine each of the concepts separately. Vedanta

asserts

that the universe perceived by the senses is not real. This is called

Maya. Unfortunately, maya has been confused to be really illusion

leading to questions like, 'Wouldn't blood flow out if I slit my

wrists?.' Maya just means out that the perception of a person not

'self-realized' is not real because such a person associates himself

with his emotions, and his ego. Since we are unable to perceive the

world as a superimposition of the One reality (which is unchanged in

time and space) and thus that all beings are inter-related, the

vedantist says that the world we perceive is an illusion. Thus what

the vedantist implies is that the world is not unreal like the

existence of an offspring of a barren woman, but the world is unreal

like the mistaking of a rope to be a snake.

 

Having said that, it is difficult to imagine that a lotus, the marsh

where it resides, and the rock nearby are all made up of identical

units. But, an scientist will agree with this statement, saying that

it is indeed true.

 

Vedanta goes on to assert that beneath this outward changing

appearance lies an fundamental reality which is supreme, called

Brahman. This is the 'Sat-chit-ananda (being- consciousness- bliss)'

and 'the peace of god which passeth all understanding'according to

the

Bible. The scientist protests this contention, saying that he cannot

measure this underlying reality, if any. The vedantist is not

surprised, he adds that since Brahman is beyond the senses, not being

able to detect an underlying reality does not prove anything. Now, we

are at crossroads, we can either agree with the scientist or the

Vedantist. But in order to examine the next concept carefully, we

have

to have to agree with the Vedantist for a moment, and come back and

question him later.

 

The vedantist goes on to say that the purpose of human life is to

realize this underlying reality. He refers to the essential nature

present in every human being as Atman (which is called God Immanent).

A few vedantists differ on whether that this Atman is essentially the

same as Brahman. This led to many philosophies including the three

main ones, Advaita, Dvaita etc.. as mentioned in the Hinduism

section.

Advaita philosophy says that everything is Brahman and that only maya

prevents us from seeing that. The other philosophies differ from this

contention. But we will not worry about that, since all of the

Vedantists seem to agree that Atman and Brahman are 'related' and the

aim of the human life is realization of this. A good contention is to

realize this Atman for ourselves, and investigate how the Atman is

related to Brahman.

 

We are prone to ask why do we want to realize Atman ? To answer why,

we have to find an alternate purpose unless one contends that life is

of no real purpose. Of course there is no need to seek a new purpose

if one is satisfied with his present life. Let us see what the

majority do: get a education, get a job, make money, be beautiful,

become strong, have children, and preferably, become famous. But,

does

one become satisfied with any of this ? Of course not, one always

wants more since the desire is endless. Therefore desire can be

satisified only by the infinite. But a common person does have

periods

of happiness and periods of sorrow. But is this really happiness or

just pleasure ? Everyone would agree that sickness, death etc are

suffering. Not getting what we want or getting what we don't want is

also suffering. The only question is whether getting what we want

and not getting what we don't want is also suffering. Actually, they

are also suffering. Most of us when we get what we want don't really

enjoy it. It is like eating a small ice-cream cone. One eats it

hurriedly so that the ice cream won't melt and make a mess. The

pleasure from these objects are so fleeting, yet the mind tries to

repeat this experience and assumes it as happiness. When it so

happens

that we can't get this object, we experience sorrow and unhappiness.

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There is more to read about Duality in continuing paragraphs. Please

go to: http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/1415/veda.html