Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 47)

[Guest guest]

(The last paragraph of this posting is very relevant Specially those who

somehow feel that 'Advaita is the real thing' and 'Dvaita' is somehow 'old

and unnecessary' should read and re-read this posting ..It generates real

humility towards the whole process of spiritual progress at all levels. What

a masterful posting....jay)

 

Parts 1 to 46 were posted earlier. This is part 47. 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 of the San Francisco Vedanta Centre

part 47

INTRODUCTION

 

PART II: THE TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES OF THE VEDAS AND VEDANTA

 

 

Section 4: The Evolution of the Vedantic Teachings on God

 

 

Chapter 10: How the Evolution of the Teachings of the Vedas Developed the

Idea of God

 

Chapter 11: The Atman

 

Chapter 12: The Last Word of the Vedas: Abstract Unity

 

 

PART II, SECTION 4: THE EVOLUTION OF THE VEDANTIC TEACHINGS ON GOD

 

 

Chapter 10: How the Evolution of the Teachings of the Vedas Developed the

Idea of God

 

 

a) Studying the Vedas through the Eyeglass of Evolution

 

1. The Vedas Contain the Essence of All Religion

 

The religion of the Vedas is the religion of the Hindus and the foundation

of all Oriental religions; that is, all other religions are offshoots of the

Vedas; all Eastern systems of religion have the Vedas as authority. (1)

 

The Vedas are a series of books which, to our minds, contain the essence of

all religion; but we do not think that they alone contain the truths. (2)

 

One point of difference between Hinduism and other religions is that in

Hinduism we pass from truth to truth - from a lower truth to a higher

truth - and never from error to truth. (3)

 

The Sruti takes the devotee gently by the hand and leads him or her from one

stage to the other through all the stages that are necessary to travel to

reach the Absolute; and as all other religions represent one or other of

these stages in an unprogressive and crystallized form, all the other

religions of the world are included in the nameless, limitless, eternal

Vedic religion.

 

Work hundreds of lives out, search every corner of your mind for ages - and

still you will not find one noble religious idea that is not already

embedded in that infinite mine of spirituality [the eternal Vedic religion.

(4)

 

All the religious thoughts that have come subsequent to the Vedas, in

whatever part of the world, have been derived from the Vedas. (5)

 

 

Cross reference to:

 

Gita 3.26

 

 

b) We Find the Whole Process of the Growth of Religious Ideas in the Vedas

 

The Vedanta means the end of the Vedas, the third section, or Upanishads,

containing the ripened ideas which we find more as germs in the earlier

portion. The most ancient portion of the Vedas is the Samhita, which is in

very archaic Sanskrit, only to be understood by the aid of a very old

dictionary, the Nirukta of Yaska. (6)

 

[The Vedanta philosophy] is not philosophy in the sense that we speak of the

philosophy of Kant or Hegel. It is not one book or the work of one person.

Vedanta is the name of a series of books written at different times.

Sometimes in one of these productions there will be fifty different things.

Neither are they properly arranged; the thoughts, as it were, have been

jotted down. Sometimes in the midst of other extraneous things we find some

wonderful idea. But one fact is remarkable, that these ideas in the

Upanishads would always be progressing. In that crude old language, the

working of the mind of every one of the sages has been, as it were, painted

just as it went; how the ideas were at first very crude; and they became

finer and finer until they reach the goal of Vedanta, and this goal assumes

a philosophical name. (7)

 

The Vedas were not spoken by any person, but the ideas were evolving slowly

and slowly until they were embodied in book form, and then that book became

the authority. Various religions are embodied in books; the power of books

seems to be infinite. The Hindus have their Vedas, and will have to hold on

to them for thousands of years more, but their ideas about them are to be

changed and built anew on a solid foundation of rock. (8)

 

The Vedas should be studied through the eyeglass of evolution. They contain

the whole history of the progress of religious consciousness, until religion

has reached its perfection in unity. (9)

 

Our ancient philosophers knew what you call the theory of evolution; that

growth is gradual, step by step, and the recognition of this led them to

harmonize all the preceding systems. Thus, not one of the preceding ideas

was rejected. The fault of the Buddhist faith was that it had neither the

faculty nor the perception of this continual, expansive growth; and for this

reason, it never even made an attempt to harmonize itself with the preceding

steps towards the ideal. They were rejected as useless and harmful.

 

This tendency in religion is most harmful. Someone gets a new and better

idea, and then he or she looks back on those he or she has given up and

forthwith decides that they were mischievous and unnecessary. Such a person

never thinks that, however crude they may appear from his or her present

point of view, there were very useful, that they were necessary for him or

her to reach his or her present state, and that every one of us has to grow

in a similar fashion, living first on crude ideas, taking benefit from them.

and then arriving at a higher standard.....

 

With blessing, and not with cursing, should be preserved all these various

steps through with humanity has to pass. Therefore, all these dualistic

systems have never been rejected or thrown out, but have been kept intact in

Vedanta; and the dualistic conception of an individual soul, limited yet

complete in itself, finds its place in Vedanta. (10)

 

In the Vedas we find the whole process of the growth of religious ideas.

This is because, when a higher truth was reached, the lower perception that

led to it was preserved. This was done because the sages realized that, the

world of creation being eternal, there would always be those who needed the

first steps to knowledge; that the highest philosophy, while open to all,

could never be grasped by all. In nearly every other religion, only the last

or highest realization of truth has been preserved, with the natural

consequence that the older ideas were lost, while the newer ones were

understood only by the few and gradually came to have no meaning for the

many. We see this result illustrated in the growing revolt against old

traditions and authorities. Instead of accepting them, men and women of

today boldly challenge them to give reasons for the claims, to make clear

the grounds upon which they demand acceptance. Much in Christianity is the

mere application of new names and meanings to old pagan beliefs and customs.

If the old sources had been preserved and the reasons for the transitions

fully explained, many things would have been clearer. The Vedas preserved

the old ideas and this fact necessitated huge commentaries to explain them

and why they were kept. It also led to many superstitions, through clinging

to old forms after all sense of their meaning had been lost. In many

ceremonials words are repeated which have survived from a now-forgotten

language and to which no real meaning can now be attached. (11)