Vivekananda on the Vedas. (part 7)

August 27, 2000

We are presenting the following work by Sister Gayatriprana.

Your comments are welcome. Parts 1 to 6 were posted earlier this is part 7. jay..Vivekananda Centre London

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON THE VEDAS AND UPANISADS

By Sister Gayatriprana

part 7

PART I:

THE ORIGINS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE VEDAS AND VEDANTA

Section 1: Definition and Eulogy of the Vedas and Vedanta

Chapter 1: The Vedas in Swami Vivekananda’s Own Life

Chapter 2: Some Preliminary Definitions

Chapter 3: The Glory of the Vedas

PART I, SECTION 1: DEFINITION AND EULOGY OF THE VEDAS AND VEDANTA

Chapter 1: The Vedas in Swami Vivekananda’s Life

a) Sri Ramakrishna’s Training of Swami Vivekananda

Sri Ramakrishna would ask Naren to read those scriptures which treat solely of Brahman the Absolute. He did not ask the other disciples to do this. Theirs was a different path - theirs was the path of bhakti or love for God. But Sri Ramakrishna saw that his was the path of jnana, or transcendental insight. His main message was to be the incomparable glory of the Vedanta. Naren, however, would refuse to read them. The Master would say "Well Naren! Then do just read a little of them to me. I desire to hear them. You need not pay any attention to the text." Yes, in that sense he would read them to the Master. Many were the times when the Master pleaded thus, many were the times when the disciple read, and in the reading, the ideas would burn into his soul. He lost himself in the reading. Thus, the Yoga, the Adhyatma Ramayana, and some of the important Upanishads were read by Naren either in the presence of the Master or by himself.

"All this is Brahman; (Cha.Up.3.14.1); what is perceived and what is not perceived, what is known, and what is not known; these heaven-worlds, this mortal life, the Vedas and what are not the Vedas, the beginning and what is not the beginning, all this is Brahman. The soul is Brahman [Mand. Up.,2], the gods are Brahman, the universe is Brahman, truth is Brahman, and all is Brahman. There is nothing but Brahman. Whoso realizes this, verily attains unto the Highest. He is freed from the deceptions of the senses and the intellect. He sees nothing but Brahman. To him Brahman has become all in all. As a snake throws off its skin, so does he throw off all limitations and himself becomes the shining One. [brih.Up.4.4.7] He himself becomes Brahman." [Mund. .Up.3.2.9] Such is the spirit and the text of the Upanishads; and as Naren read sublime ideas like these, his soul would soar and soar like a great eagle, above the pettiness and the commonplaces of this world. And the soul of Sri Ramakrishna would soar higher and higher, beyond the confines of even the highest spiritual limitations. It would be beyond and beyond and Beyond, until his body would become rigid in spiritual ecstasy, and all thought was left behind and all sense-consciousness dimmed by the glory of that indescribable effulgence of that Absolute Brahman, which only they can know who have been utterly drowned to all objective life, and from whom all form, thought and personality have dropped off. And Sri Ramakrishna, entering this condition of being became a living God, become one with Brahman. What were the Upanishads but the utterance of that consciousness into which he had soared? Such was Naren’s training at the feet of his Master. And Naren breathed in the pureness of that air, feeling the freedom of the Infinite in the great depths of spiritual emotion. "Shivo’ham, Shivo’ham" (Nirvanashatkam) "Brahman is real, Brahman alone is real, the world is a myth. And verily, the soul itself is Brahman." [shankaracharya: Brahmajnanavali Mala 5.21] Thus rang the note in his soul.

Naren saw in the life of Sri Ramakrishna the full meaning and the ripe blossoming-forth of all that the Upanishads taught. The example of the Master, his own eagerness as a disciple, his own great power in the spiritual faculty of understanding - these were the factors in that making up of thought and insight which later burst forth, for him, into the blessedness of the highest Advaita realization. Aye, he attained that state himself where all is Brahman. And this was the greatest event in all his life. All other realizations and events led up to and were afterwards tributary to this. He came to accept all the gods, and "I believe in Brahman and the gods" was his luminous declaration.

In him who became the crown of the Vedanta, who became the spirit incarnate of the Advaita Vedanta and the living utterance of the Upanishads, whose message was to stir the world - verily in him, the Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, he saw the effulgence of Brahman, verily, he saw it as his own Soul. Verily he saw this in nirvikalpa samadhi, which is the awareness of the infinite Consciousness and the seeing of the infinite vision.

(to be continued......)