[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] What is Vedanta? (by Swami Dayanada Saraswathi)

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Satsang with Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Arsha Vidya Gurukulam

 

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Vedanta 1

Question: Swamiji, what is Vedanta?

I would say that Vedanta is a solution to the problem of taking myself to be a

mortal, imperfect, and subject to various limitations. These are the conclusions to

every individual. Vedanta is the teaching which solves this problem. In its vision,

you are the solution to the very problem from which you suffer. "I am Brahman,

the whole" is Vedanta. Therefore, Vedanta is the solution.

Vedanta does not offer a solution. The solution is Vedanta. Wherever there is a

solution, that solution is Vedanta. A solution can only be in the form of "I am the

whole. I am free." Anything that unfolds this particular piece of knowledge is

Vedanta, whatever else it may be called.

Because Vedanta is the knowledge found at the end of the Veda, it is called

Vedanta (anta, meaning end). The Veda is a body of knowledge handed down

 

from one generation to another. It has no authorship in that it has not been

authored by any given individual. It is a body of knowledge said to have been

revealed to the ancient sages who, in turn, handed it over to the next generation,

which handed it over to the next one, and so on, right down to our own time.

This lineage is called karna-parampara in Sanskrit, meaning "ear to ear." The

 

knowledge is heard through one pair of ears and, having been retained, is passed

on to another pair of ears. In this way, the whole Veda is maintained intact.

 

 

 

The Veda is divided into four – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda

, Sama Veda, and Atharva

Veda. These four Vedas are again divided into two parts according to subject

matter. The first part of each of the four Vedas is called karma-kanda and the last

portion is called jïäna-kanda.

Karma-kanda is the section dealing with rituals and prayers, whereas the jïänakanda

deals with only with realities – the nature of the self, the world, and God;

how these three are interconnected; and whether there is a difference between them

or not. This knowledge of realities liberates the person because Vedic vision is

that you are the whole and there is no difference whatsoever between you, the

world, and God.

 

The teaching is generally in the form of dialogues between a teacher and a student.

One particular dialogue or a few dialogues together makes up one upaniñad.

Therefore, Vedanta, otherwise known as the upaniñad, forms the body of

knowledge which is the solution to the fundamental human problem. This is why

we do not say Vedanta offers the solution. We say the solution is Vedanta because

the solution is in the form of knowledge, which is Vedanta.

Courtsery: Swami Dayanada Saraswathi of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam /PA/Anaikkati/Rishikesh..

Swamiji is one of the great Sanyasin who is living now. which explores Vedanta. and teaches it in layman's language.

You can buy mp3 cd's hard disk of Swamiji and his Disciple Swami Paramarthanandaji from

http://www.sastraprakasika.org/home.asp

With Love & OM!

Krishna Prasad

 

 

 

On 10/21/06, Veena A. Nair <veeus18 wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

Om Namo Narayanaya.Shri Menonji, namaskaram.Thank you for giving me this opportunity to address this question. Here are some aspects that I found interesting during the course of my readings:Vedanta includes the Vedas and all the teachings of the Indian scriptures;so the Bhagavad Geeta, teachings of Shankara all are included in this body of scriptures. Swami Vivekanada said this about our scriptures: " The Hindus have received their religion through revelation, the Vedas (so the basis of our oldest scriptures are the Rishis who heard or realized the spiritual truths in their hearts/or their heads). The Vedas are without beginning and without end. By the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery, and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so is it with the laws that govern the spiritual world. The moral, ethical, and spiritual relations between soul and soul and between individual spirits and the Father of all spirits, were there before their discovery, and would remain even if we forgot them. The discoverers of these laws are called Rishis, and we honor them as perfected beings. The Vedas teach us that creation is without beginning or end....creation and creator are two lines, without beginning and without end, running parallel to each other. God is the ever active providence, by whose power, systems after systems are being evolved out of chaos, made to run for a time and again destroyed. "

At its core, Vedanta has 3 basic principles:Man's real nature is divine.Aim of human life is to realize this divine nature.All religions are essentially in agreement.I. Man's real nature is divine:

This means that beneath everything around us there is an essential unchanging reality, which Vedanta calls Brahman, the Godhead, Consciousness itself. (Note: here Brahman is God the one omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent reality; not Brahmin as in the caste). This Brahman or Consciousness is that which is also known as " Ananda " or loosely translated meaning " bliss " , a peace that Christians call 'passeth all understanding'. An absolute peace that gives the only kind of permanent happiness. A practical person or a scientist might object that if this Brahman or God permeates or is in everything then why can't we see it? why can't we measure it through some real apparatus? And the answer is that all these analyses depends on our senses, and God being beyond senses or being beyond the range of sense perception cannot be seen by ordinary means. If Vedanta says that God is everywhere, within every thing that we see around us, then it follows that God is also within us. This God-within-us is known as Atman, The God-without or outside of us is Brahman.The Atman within and God without are one.

II] Vedanta also says that Man's true aim is to realize the Atman, our essential nature, and thereby our identity with the one unchanging reality. The question is why this should be so? Since hundreds of years the Buddha or Shankara or even Tolstoy and Shakespeare have pointed out that death brings an end to all human desires, the need for a house, a car, relations, money, the never ending desires come to a halt with death. All these saints/poets/philosophers, in their own ways, have pointed out that the body decays, ambitions are pricked like an inflated balloon, and the activity of humans seem like that of patients in a madhouse. We relentlessly go after things even though we know they do not get us permanent happiness. We do not want to accept this fact. We want to be left to get on with our life, atleast to get on with the next little thing that will bring us pleasure, however fleeting. Then if we are very honest, we will at some point pause and agree with the phiolosophers that indeed human life at best can gives us fleeting moments of happiness or at worst leaves us with a feeling of acute emptiness or boredom. Then what is the solution? How am I to realize my true nautre? Vedanta says stop thinking of yourself as this Mr X. Mr X thinks that I am a separate individual. I am unique, and stand apart from everything else. Science tells us that every living creature are interrelated biologically, psychologically, politically, economically. They are all of one piece. So Mr X can stop thinking that he is the reason for all his actions/achievements, stop taking credit for everything in life, and start working for work's sake. Start working as an instrument of the Atman. Then the question is why should Mr X work for the Atman? does the Atman need his help?

The Atman does not need our help. The creator and sustainer of the world cannot be 'helped' by one simple Mr. X. So then what is the motive that Mr X should work for the Atman? And that should be out of 'love' for the Atman. This is difficult, how can I love something that I have never seen? For that, Vedanta says:- pray, meditate, cultivate qualities such as truthfulness, charity. This will make you less egoistic, your motives will be less mixed with vanity and a desire to gain praise, and with time, a reassurance and peace will flow from you that will be of far greater use to your friends and neighbors than anything else that you could do for them. So then the practical Mr. X might say, all this is good assuming that the one unchanging reality or God exists. To which Vedanta says, of course it does, and this can be known only through experience. For this we can work from the outside, by reading the scriptures and the lives of great saints, as well as from the inside, by following rituals and practices laid down in the scriptures. In every religion, there are thousands of examples of people, men and women, who have left us records of their experiences. From their lives we know that at some point when the ego-sense has become very weak, the saint becomes aware that the Atman does exist, and he experiences the nature of the Atman as his own Atman, and he knows that he is nothing but that one underlying Reality, and this is the state which Vedantists call " samadhi " . III] Vedanta's third principle that all religions say the same thing is easily accepted by the practical scientist. It is an important principle because Vedanta offers a phiolosophical basis for all religions. It teaches there is one Reality. " The creature is the Atman, the Atman is the Brahman. The ceature in his ignorance (our own little selves) thinks that he worships the creator " . Vedanta says that is fine. You can think that. This is but only a step, a necessary step, in spiritual progress; first personify the Atman, worship and love the Atman in whatever form you choose. And eventually this will lead to the knowing of the impersonal Brahman. Vedanta also says that just as different travellers towards a mountain have different views of the mountian and admire it differently, so do different people have their own ways of approaching this one Reality. Finally Vedanta says that when samadhi is attained, that is when the Law of karma ceases to operate. Until then we are in a continuing cylce of births and deaths to exhaust our Karmas, but for one who has realized his oneness with God, there is no more re-birth, such a one always remains in the Atman. So now time to practice some of this :-)References: From the book " Vedanta for the western world " edited by Christopher Isherwood. The quotes of Swami Vivekananda are from his speeches in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Warm Diwali wishes to all members.Om MahaLakshmi-cha vid-mahey,Vishnu-patni cha dhee-mahiTanno Lakshmi Prachodayat.Om Namo Narayanaya.Chandra Menon <chandrasmenon2002@

> wrote:

 

 

Ohm Narayanaya Namah

Veenaji, I totally agree with your posting and as my G said again and again Nama japa has its merit and value and the end result will definitely be good.

I have a doubt...Please pardon me for raising this now since it is bothering me for sometime in the past..

What is Vedanta ? Veda, I can understand. Is Vedanta - the end of Veda or Veda that is blind?

Appreciate your input and hope I will have peace of mind for getting rid of this doubt

Thanks

Ohm Narayanaya Namah " Veena A. Nair " <veeus18 wrote:

 

 

Om Namo Narayanaya.Below are some excerpts from the book 'Vedanta for the western world' published in 1948. This book contains essays that appeared in the Voice of India, a bi-monthly newsletter of the American Vedanta Society, Los Angeles center. The American Vedanta Society was founded by Swami Vivekananda first in New York city; later several branches were also founded in other cities. This book, edited by Christopher Isherwood, is a collection of articles/essays (or speeches of) of the disciples of Ramakrishna Paramhamsa including among others Swami Prabhavananda, Vivekananda, Yatiswarananda, and plus Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood. ----The free will with which I make choices, react to situations and people is the sum total of my past deeds, thoughts and feelings. The subconscious mind carries the record of many many past lives and is an influential factor in our present lives. With experience we gain an understanding of good and evil. But sometimes we find oursleves helpless and are compelled to act in a certain manner. A thief wishes to reform himself and resolves not to steal. He then goes somewhere and sees that he can steal something very easily without being caught. So even though he knows better than to steal, he still does it. Similarly with any of us with any bad habit. We are thus slaves to our own sub-conscious minds, to our own characters. So then what is the solution?

In Patanjali'sYoga sutras the first aphorism or principle is " Yoga-schitta-vritti nirodha " . Which means Yoga is the complete control of the modifications in the mind. Modifications meaning thoughts and contents of the mind. And how do we go about doing a complete overhauling of the mind?

By the regular practice of doing japam the mind becomes calm. We can always find excuses for not doing japam, but once we get into the habit, the namam itself will take hold of the mind. The power of the naamam works even while one is asleep. One who practices japam continues to recite the name in all states of consciousness, whether waking or dreaming or in deep sleep. Just as the body breathes while asleep, so does the mind recite the name in sleep.

After their return from Lanka, Rama gave Hanuman a pearl necklace. Hanumanji accepted it and then examined each pearl, and then with his teeth opened one of the pearls, looked inside and threw the necklace away. Laxman, watching Hanumanji, was really upset and complained to Rama about this incident. Rama smiled and said go ask him why he did that. Hanumanji replied that he wanted to see if Rama's name was etched inside the pearl. Because if Rama is not in them, then Hanuman has no need of pearls. It is said that Hanuman recited Rama naamam even when Rama was around.--------------------------If we had to clean an ink bottle stuck to a table, we cannot do it by throwing out the ink. The solution is to pour clean water in and the ink and the dirt will spill out. We will have to keep pouring water in until all the dirt and ink have washed out and finally the bottle will contain only clean water. Similarly it is not possible to empty the mind by throwing out the contents of consciousness and making the mind blank. What we can do is to pour into the mind the water of God until all the dirt spills out. In the beginning it is like all the dirt within us comes to the surface just like the dirty ink; all that dirt needs be got rid of. With patience and determination we need to continue pouring the water of God thought into our minds. Struggle to bring back the thought of God into the mind again and again

---------------------------Meditation does not mean making your mind blank. Trying not to think of anything is not going to help. Mediation requires a great strenous effort to concentrate the mind upon God and it doesn't matter what the form is. But we must concentrate on something positive. We have to think of that one form to the exclusion of everything else. Never try to make your mind blank--then you will remain a blank! 'This is what the Hindu means by meditation, a constant flow of thought towards one ideal. In other words you walk with God, you sleep with God, you eat with God, you live with God' (p. 141).

----------------------------I think there is a prayer by Shankaracharya? and I don't know the exact words...but the approximate meaning is " ..let my walking be a pradakshina around You, let the food that I eat be an offering to You, let my sleep be a namaskaram to You... " something to that extent. But when we are constantly thinking of God by doing nama japam we are saving our energies which otherwise is wasted in endless worry about things that are in the future or about stuff that happened in the past. So let us put our heads down and focus on God,

like KVGji suggested maybe an hour every day. Or like Shyamalaji suggested while travelling and walking. So much time is spent in that. Om Namo Narayanaya.Veena.

 

 

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