Vivekananda on the Vedas -- Parts one, two (repeated) and three

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We are presenting the following work by Sister Gayatriprana.

Your comments are welcome. Part 1 and 2 have been repeated Part 3 included.. jay .Vivekananda Centre London

 

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON THE VEDAS AND UPANISADS

By Sister Gayatriprana

 

PREFACE

After fourteen years of continuous work, the compilation, Swami Vivekananda on the Vedas and Upanisads, is now ready to come to the light of day. It began, partially as a response to the current confusion over the coherency of Swami Vivekananda’s Neo-Vedanta and partially as a search for the essence of his message to contemporary humanity. As time went by, the volume of the work and a certain compelling pattern of inner organization built up a critical mass and momentum which swept the project forward to its present state of completion. A number of loose ends remain untied, however. Perhaps that is a good thing, for it provides opportunities for readers to make contributions and additions to the overall body of the work.

The invaluable nucleus for this work is Swami Yogeshananda’s Swami Vivekananda Quotes the Upanishads, an unpublished compilation made from the Complete Works in 1960, before much material now available appeared in the public domain. The swami’s work did not include the classical four mahavakyas, which have been researched and included in this compilation along with some other major mantras such as Saccidananda. I am very much indebted to Swami Yogeshananda’s pioneering work.

I sincerely hope that, by bringing this material to light on the Internet we shall, on the one hand, receive feedback from readers everywhere, improving and strengthening the work; and, on the other, will take a step towards establishing the Himalayan majesty of the Vedanta, particularly in its modern incarnation of the Neo-Vedanta of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda.

 

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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON THE VEDAS AND UPANISADS

COMPILER’S INTRODUCTION

Re-visioning the Message of Swami Vivekananda

 

a) The Need for a Reassessment of Swami Vivekananda and His Neo-Vedanta When we read about Swami Vivekananda, in most instances we hear of his charisma, his striking appearance, or his “cyclonic”, impetuous movement to effect change in both East and West. And, as often as not, it is conceded that he met with conspicuous success in his undertakings (though Western intellectuals, not keen to be beholden to the Orient, are less enthusiastic on this score than are the Indians) This much is in the common domain.

 

As the dust settles on the past hundred years, however, we are hearing more and more, even from the precincts of the Ramakrishna Order itself, that Swami Vivekananda was “not a systematic thinker” or, less generously, that he was “inconsistent”, “confusing”, and even “incoherent”. A rather strange string of epithets for a man who is, at the same time, touted as the eternal companion of the avatar Ramakrishna! Can we ascribe such exalted status to one whose thinking processes were, in the common estimation, inferior even to a merely normal, educated person?

More insidiously, there is also a movement afoot among orthodox, scholarly Hindus and traditionalists of other faiths which asserts that Sri Ramakrishna, as also Swami Vivekananda and the Order he founded are anti-intellectual and ultimately responsible for the contemporary breakdown of the Hindu tradition. Again, a rather odd evaluation of two personalities whose avowed mission in life was the re-establishment of the Eternal Religion and the culture which emanates from it!

To someone who has benefited immensely from the so-called new (Neo-) Vedanta of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, such assertions come as a surprise and, at the same time, a challenge. Why are such wild statements being made, even by swamis of the Ramakrishna Order? Are Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda merely “paper tigers” with no enduring substance to them? The testimony of one’s own life immediately cries, “No!” and a deep conviction arises that, no matter what contradictions and inconsistencies may appear on the surface of Neo-Vedanta, there must be a coherency, meaning and a profoundly supportive and nurturing structure to Neo-Vedanta that, as yet, is not fully apparent.

 

The material you have before you is a first step towards an exploration of the structure of Neo-Vedanta, a response to the oft-repeated statement that “Swami Vivekananda was not a thinker, merely a Hindu reformer.” The possibility that he is a Vedantic acarya in the line of the Vedic rsis, Buddha and Sri Sankaracarya is not entertained, far less explored; and therefore the pronouncements on his “inadequacies” are self-fulfilled.

However, to be fair, it is indeed true to say that the materials of Swami Vivekananda’s teaching, as extant today, do not readily lend themselves to the sort of systematization that is needed to see the inner structure of his thought. The primary reason for this situation is that he died at the age of 39, worn out by his Herculean labors to awaken the spiritual currents of both India and the West. Although he yearned for the quiet and solitude to write a systematic treatise on Sri Ramakrishna’s new approach to the Vedanta, his hectic schedule of travel and reform made it impossible for him to live a full span of life, far less to write a philosophical magnum opus. In the absence of such a blueprint from the swami himself, the organization of his copious works has proven to be challenging. His published Complete Works are proverbially a thicket in which it is all too easy to get lost and hopelessly confused! One begins to see how his detractors have arrived at their position, but not to give up hope of finding a method by which the inner structure of his work can at last be demonstrated.

 

b) A Basic Point of Reference for the Assessment of Neo-Vedanta At this juncture, what seems to be necessary is to establish a reference point to which the whole project of revisioning Swami Vivekananda’s message can be related. Almost certainly the most basic and obvious one is that he perceived himself as a Vedantin and that he believed his message to be a commentary on Sri Ramakrishna’s re-living and re-interpreting the Upanisads in the contemporary era. This is the matrix from which everything else emanated. Such a view is, from one standpoint, Swami Vivekananda’s “application” to be taken seriously as a Vedantic acarya or teacher, his “position statement” for any further evaluation. It provides the basis, not only for a rational and systematic assessment of his work, but also for the process of his acceptance as a Vedantic teacher. Traditionally, any person who calls himself a Vedantic teacher is expected to accept the Upanisads as the source of truth and to comment upon them and their two auxiliary texts, the Bhagavadgita and the Brahma Sutras. From that standpoint, Swami Vivekananda could be readily dismissed as a Vedantic acarya., because he failed to produce a written and systematic commentary on these texts.

We have already mentioned how the swami was cheated of time to carry out this basic work, despite his desire to do so; but not of infinite opportunities to introduce the Upanisadic worldview into every nook and cranny of his vision of contemporary life. We find, therefore, in the catacombs of the Complete Works, as well as in the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature generally, a wealth of comments by Swami Vivekananda on the Upanisads, Gita and Brahma Sutras, gems lying strewn helter-skelter as the swami responded spontaneously - and gave his very life - to the crying needs of East and West.

 

to be continued.....