Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 27)

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Parts 1 to 26 were posted earlier. This is part 27. Your comments are welcome... Vivekananda Centre London

Earlier postings can be seen at http://www.vivekananda.btinternet.co.uk/veda.htm

 

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON THE VEDAS AND UPANISHADS

By Sister Gayatriprana

part 27

 

2. To Be a Prophet Is the Birthright of Every Living Being

The rishis of old attained realization, and must we fail? We are also men and women. What has happened once in the life of an individual must, through proper endeavor, be realized in the life of others. History repeats itself. (32)

There were times in olden days when prophets were many in every society. The time is to come when prophets will walk through every street in every city in the world. In olden times, in particular, peculiar persons were, so to speak, selected by the operations of the laws of society to become prophets. The time is coming when we shall understand that to become religious means to become a prophet; and none can become religious until he or she becomes a prophet. We shall come to understand that the secret of religion is not in being able to think and say all these thoughts but, as the Vedas teach, to realize them, to realize newer and higher ones than have ever been realized, to discover them, bring them to society; and the study of religion should be the training to make prophets. The schools and the colleges should be the training ground for prophets. The whole universe must become prophets; and until someone becomes a prophet, religion is a mockery and a byword for him or her. We must see religion, feel it, realize it in a thousand times more intense a sense than that in which we see the wall....

In olden times, many did not understand what a prophet meant. They thought it was something by chance, that just by a fiat of will or some superior intelligence someone gained superior knowledge. In modern times we are prepared to demonstrate that this knowledge is the birthright of every living being, whosoever and wheresoever he or she may be; and that there is no chance in this universe. Every one who, we think, gets something by chance, has been working for it slowly and surely through ages. And the whole question devolves upon us: "Do we want to be prophets?" If we want, we shall be.

This, the training of prophets, is the great work that lies before us; consciously or unconsciously, all the great systems of religion are working towards this one great goal, only with this difference, that in many religions you will find they declare that this direct perception of spirituality is not to be had in this life, that humans must die and after their death there will come a time in another world when they will have visions of spirituality, when they will realize things which they now must believe. But Vedanta will ask all people who make such assertions, "Then how do you know that spirituality exists?" And they will have to answer that there must always have been certain particular people who, even in this life, have got a glimpse of things which are unknown and unknowable.

Even this makes a difficulty. If they were peculiar people, having this power simply by chance, we have no right to believe in them. It would be a sin to believe in anything that is by chance, because we cannot know it. What is meant by knowledge? Destruction of peculiarity.... Our knowledge is knowing the principle. Our non-knowledge is finding the particular without reference to the principle. When we find one case or a few cases separate from the principle and without any reference to the principle, we are in darkness and do not know. Now, if these prophets, as they say, were peculiar persons who alone had the right to catch a glimpse of what is beyond and no one else has the right, we should not believe in these prophets, because they are peculiar cases without any reference to a principle. We can only believe in them if we ourselves become prophets.... We must reason; and when reason proves to us the truth of these prophets and great men and women about whom the ancient books speak in every country, we shall believe in all of them. We shall believe in them when we see such prophets among ourselves. We shall then find that they were not peculiar people, but only illustrations of certain principles. They worked, and that principle expressed itself naturally; and we shall have to work to express that principle in us. They were prophets, we shall believe, when we become prophets. They were the seers of things divine. They could go beyond the bounds of the senses and catch a glimpse of that which is beyond. We shall believe that when we are able to do it ourselves, and not before. (33)

If God had spoken to Christ, Muhammad, and the rishis of the Vedas, why does he not speak also to [us, His children]? (34)

 

3. Manifest the Power of Supersensuous Perception

This rishihood, this power of supersensuous perception of the Vedas, is real religion. And so long as this does not develop in the life of an initiate, so long is religion a mere empty word to him of her, and it is to be understood that he or she has not yet taken the first step in religion. (35)

Religion is not in books, nor in theories, nor in dogmas, nor in talking, not even in reasoning. It is being and becoming. Ay, my friends, until each one of you has become a rishi and come face to face with spiritual facts, religion life has not begun for you. Until the superconscious opens for you, religion is mere talk, it is nothing but preparation. (36)

Whoever realizes transcendental truth, whoever realizes the Atman in his or her own nature, whoever comes face to face with God, sees God alone in everything, has become a rishi. And there is no religious life for you until you have become a rishi. Then alone religion begins for you; now is only the preparation. Then religion dawns upon you; now you are only undergoing intellectual gymnastics and physical tortures. (37)

We must, therefore, remember that our religion [Vedanta] lays down distinctly and clearly that every one who want salvation must pass through the stage of rishihood - must become a mantra drashta, must see God. That is salvation, that is the law laid down in our scriptures. Then it becomes easy to look into the scriptures with our own eyes, understand the meaning for ourselves, to analyze just what we want and to understand the truth for ourselves. This is what has to be done. At the same time, we must pay all reverence to the ancient sages for their work. They were great, these ancients, but we want to be greater. They did great work in the past, but we must do greater work than they. They had hundreds of rishis in ancient India. We will have millions - we are going to have; and the sooner every one of you believes in this, the better for India and the better for the world. Whatever you believe, that you will be. If you believe yourselves to be sages, sages you will be tomorrow. There is nothing to obstruct you. For if there is one common doctrine that runs through all our apparently fighting and contradictory sects, it is that all glory, power and purity are within the soul already. (38)

We have to bow down to [the memory of the rishis]. So, be you all rishis and sages; that is the secret. More or less we shall all be rishis. What is meant by a rishi? The pure one. Be pure first, and you will have power. Simply saying, "I am a rishi" will not do; but when you are a rishi you will find that others obey you instinctively. Something mysterious emanates from you, which makes them follow you, makes them hear you, makes them unconsciously, even against their will, carry out your plans. That is rishihood. (39)

4. Be Real Men and Women, Be Rishis for Your Own Salvation and That of Others

The aim of this institution [the Ramakrishna Order] is to make men and women. You must not merely learn what the rishis taught. Those rishis are gone, and their opinions are gone with them. You must be rishis yourselves. You are also men as much as the greatest men that were ever born - even our incarnations. What can mere book-learning do? What can meditation do, even? What can the mantras and Tantras do? You must stand on your own feet. You must have this new method - the method of man-making. The true man is he who is as strong as strength itself and yet possesses a woman's heart. You must feel for the millions of beings around you, and yet you must be strong and inflexible and you must also possess obedience; though it may seem a little paradoxical, you must possess those apparently conflicting virtues. (40)

Have faith in yourself. You people were once Vedic rishis. Only, you have come in a different form, that is all. I see it clear as daylight that you all have infinite power within you. Rouse that up; arise, arise - apply yourselves heart and soul, gird up your loins. What will you do with wealth and fame, which are so transitory? Do you know what I think? I don't care for mukti [liberation] and all that. My mission is to arouse within you all such ideas; I am ready to undergo a hundred thousand rebirths to train up a single man. (41)

The rishi, as he or she is called in the Upanishads is not an ordinary man or woman, but a mantra-drashta. He or she is a true human being who sees religion, to whom religion is not merely book-learning, nor argumentation, nor speculation, nor much talking, but actual realization, a coming face to face with truths which transcend the senses. This is rishihood, and that rishihood does not belong to any age, or time, or even to sects or caste. Vatsayana says that truth must be realized; and we have to remember that you, and I, and every one of us will be called upon to become rishis; and we must have faith in ourselves, we must become world-movers, for everything is in us. We must see religion face to face, experience it, and thus solve our doubts about it; and then, standing up in the glorious light of rishihood, each one of us will become a giant, and every word falling from our lips will carry behind it that infinite sanction of security; and before us evil will vanish by itself without the necessity of cursing anyone, without the necessity of abusing anyone, without the necessity of fighting anyone in the world. May the Lord help us... to realize rishihood, for our own salvation and for that of others! (42)