Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 42)

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Parts 1 to 41 were posted earlier. This is part 42. 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 42

3. The Authority of the Upanishads Is Based on Verification by Seeing Truth Directly, Which Anyone May Do

In matters of religious duty the Vedas are the only capable authority... The authority of the Vedas extends to all ages, climes and persons. (11)

The Veda is our only authority and everyone has the right to it. (12)

The Upanishads teach us all there is of religion. (13)

The Upanishads treat alone of [attaining life and becoming immortal]. The path of the Upanishads is a very pure path. Many manners, customs, and local allusions cannot be understood today. Through the Upanishads, however, truth becomes clear. (14)

One has to believe in the Vedas. The Vedas contain the truths experienced by the sages and seers of old who went beyond the range of duality and perceived unity. Depending on mere reasoning, we cannot pass any judgment as to whether the waking state or the dream state is the true one. How can we know which of the two is true so long as we cannot take our stand on something beyond both of them, from where we can look at them objectively? All that we can say now is that two different states are experienced. When you are experiencing one the other seems to be false. You might have been marketing in Calcutta in your dream, but you wake up to find yourself lying in your bed. When the knowledge of unity will dawn, you will see but One and nothing else; you will then understand that the earlier dualistic knowledge was false. But all that is a long way off. It won't do to aspire to read the Ramayana and the Mahabharata before one has hardly begun to learn the alphabet. Religion is a matter of experience, and not of intellectual understanding. One must practice it in order to understand it. Such a position is corroborated by the sciences of chemistry, physics, geology, etc. It won't do to put together one bottle of oxygen and two of hydrogen and then cry, "Where is the water?" They have to be placed in a closed container and an electric current passed through them so they can combine into water. Then only you can see water, and you can understand that water is produced from a combination of hydrogen and oxygen. If you wish to have the unitive experience, you must have that kind of faith in religion, that kind of eagerness, diligence, and patience; and then only you will succeed. (15)

Disciple: I am living now by believing in something, but I have the Shastras for my authority. I do not accept any faith opposed to the Shastras.

Swami Vivekananda: What do you mean by the Shastras? If the Upanishads are the authority, why not the Bible or the Zendavesta equally so?

Disciple: Granted these scriptures are also good authority, they are not, however, as old as the Vedas. And nowhere, moreover, is the theory of the Atman better established than in the Vedas.

Swami Vivekananda: Supposing I admit that contention of yours, what right have you to maintain that truth can be found nowhere except the Vedas?

Disciple: Yes, truth may also exist in scriptures other than the Vedas, and I don't say anything to the contrary. But as for me, I choose to abide by the teachings of the Upanishads, for I have very great faith in them.

Swami Vivekananda: Quite welcome to that, but if somebody else has "very great faith" in any set of doctrines, surely you should allow him to abide by that. You will discover that, in the long run, both he and yourself will arrive at the same goal. (16)

Obey the scriptures until you are strong enough to do without them; then go beyond them. Books are not an end-all. Verification is the only proof of religious truth. Each must verify for him- or herself; and no teacher who says, "I have seen, but you cannot", is to be trusted - only that one who says, "You can see, too." All scriptures, all truths are Vedas in all times, in all countries, because these truths are to be seen, and anyone may discover them. (17)

to be continued.....

=======================Special message==============

Sister Gayatriprana is due to visit London at the end of March. She is due to give a talk on "Vivekananda's Yoga for the West". If any list member wishes to attend please contact us for further details.