Committment to vedanta

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This is selected from Swami Dayanandaji's satsang, published in a

souvenir at the Arsha viDya Gurukulam.

 

The content of the post is available in www.avgsatsang.org.

 

 

Satsang with Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Arsha Vidya Gurukulam

Commitment to Vedanta

 

Question:

 

Swamiji, how does one know that it is Vedanta that one should commit

oneself to and study? How does one know that it is the answer? In

other words, how does one know the truth without actually knowing it".

 

Answer:

 

Knowing that Vedanta is the correct pursuit is very difficult. For

one thing, there are so many alternatives available in the sense that

a lot of people claim to have various techniques, methods, and paths

to reach the truth. Therefore, to say, "This one is the

right one," is very difficult.

 

Vedanta, however, is different from everything else in that it

says, "you are the whole. You are the problem and you are the

solution. There is no problem, in fact". "You are the problem" is

only because you do not understand. All that you require to be free

is to know yourself. Vedanta says that you are already free. It does

not condemn you and call you a sinner. It says, "You are a free

person; you are totally free. In fact,you are the only person and

everything else is centered on you". Since you are the whole

creation, you are essentially identical with the Lord.

 

Vedanta, then, has a vision to unfold. It does not promise anything.

It does not promise liberation or salvation. It says only that "You

are the solution". This means that you do not need to do anything to

become free because you are already free.

 

The very fact that you are struggling, choosing, and searching in

order to become free indicates that you have committed an error about

yourself. No other tradition tells you this. They say only that you

will be saved if you follow this or that. Vedanta does not say this.

It says you are already saved and you do not know it. Because Vedanta

does not promise anything, it cannot be challenged or dismissed.

Something can be dismissed only if it makes itself available for your

choice. For example, if there are two products, you can dismiss one

and choose the other. If Vedanta promised something, like a cure,

something else could present itself as a cure, too. Then you could

choose between the two, depending on your preferences. One may be

cheaper,sweeter, or be packaged more attractively. Or you may choose

the more costly of the two, thinking that it will be more effective.

If Vedanta held out a promise of some kind, the possibility of choice

would always be there.

 

But Vedanta holds out no promises and thus allows you no choice. It

says that you are free. What choice is there here? "You are free! You

are the whole!" Who or what is going to better that? Any other

tradition that says, "You are the whole", is also Vedanta, regardless

of what it may be called. Vedanta need not be in Sanskrit. It can be

in Latin, Greek, English, French or German. It can be in an ancient

book or a new book. It need not be taught by an Indian, either. The

only difference here is that to unfold the message known as Vedanta,

a particular method of teaching has evolved.

 

To unfold the fact, "You are the whole", the teacher must have some

method. The teaching reveals, "You are the whole", and there is a

particular method of unfolding this revelation for your recognition

that no one else may have. Whatever reveals this fact is Vedanta. To

look at Vedanta as something Indian, creates problems; whereas,if you

look at it, as a body of knowledge that is maintained in India, there

is no problem.

 

In fact, like the pyramids, Vedanta is too ancient for any

geographical limitations to be placed on it. If the Egyptian

government decided to remove one of the pyramids and erect a housing

complex in its place, using all of its stone, humanity would raise a

great hue and cry. It would not allow such a thing to happen. The

pyramids do not belong to Egypt; they just happen to be in Egypt. The

Egyptian people are only trustees. They cannot claim ownership

because the pyramids are too ancient to belong to any country or

group of people.

 

Once a certain point of time has been reached, the pyramids of Egypt,

the redwoods of California, and the Vedanta of India become the

property of humanity. Certain old buildings become monuments in the

same way. Society will not let them be torn down to be replaced by

high-rises, no matter what the circumstances. Why? Because they are

ancient. A building may only be a hundred years old, but to some

people, it is ancient, it no longer belongs to the owner; he or she

has no say about it. Even if it belongs to the state, the state

cannot do anything about it either.

Vedanta is the most ancient body of knowledge available to humanity

today. It is a living tradition that has flowed down from generation

to generation. The Veda happens to be in India, but its knowledge

belongs to no one group of people. Even if the Indian people were to

disown the Veda, it would not be lost. The Vedic recitation would be

lost, but the wisdom that is Vedanta would prevail.

 

This wisdom will always be with humanity because it has already

become part of humanity's store of knowledge. It has entered the

minds of people in so many different ways—through literatures, for

example—and can never be destroyed.

__________________

1 From "Selected Satsangs with Swami Dayananda" as published in Arsha

Vidya Gurukulam 3rd anniversary souvenir, 1989