Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 76)

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Parts 1 to 75 were posted earlier. This is part 76. 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 76

 

2. As Heaven Is Finite, Even for the Gods, Humanity Must Attain Liberation Here on This Earth

As soon as philosophy came people found that [the idea of a heaven of enjoyment only] was impossible and absurd. The very idea of an infinite in place would be a contradiction in terms, as a place must begin and continue in time. Therefore they had to give up that idea. They found out that the gods who lived in these heavens had once been human beings on earth, who through their good works became gods; and the godhoods, as they call them, were different states, different positions; none of the gods spoken of in the Vedas are permanent individuals.

For instance, Indra and Varuna are not the names of certain persons, but the names of positions as governors, and so on. The Indra who had lived before is not the Indra of the present day; he has passed away, and another man from earth has filled his place. So with all the other gods. There are certain positions which are filled successively by human souls who have raised themselves to the conditions of gods, and yet even they die. In the old Rig Veda we find the word immortality used with regard to these gods, but later on it is dropped entirely, for they found that immortality which is beyond time and space cannot be spoken of with regard to any physical form, however subtle it may be. (14)

Heavens are only other states of existence with added senses and heightened powers.

All higher bodies are also subject to disintegration as is the physical. Death comes to all forms of bodies in this and other lives. Devas are also mortal and can only give enjoyment.

Behind all devas there is the unit Being - God, as behind this body there is something higher that feels and sees. (15)

[Vedanta] also has heavens and hells, but these are not infinite, for in the very nature of things they cannot be. If there were any heavens they would be only repetitions of this world of ours on a bigger scale, with a little more happiness and a little more enjoyment, but that is all the worse for the soul. There are many of these heavens. Persons who do good works here with the thought of reward, when they die, are born again as gods in one of these heavens, as Indra and others. These gods are the names of a certain state. They also had been men and by good works have become gods; and these different names that you read of, such as Indra and so on, are not the names of the same person. There will be thousands of Indras. Nahusha was a great king and when he died he became Indra. (16)

Brahma is the name of a high position among the devas to which every one can aspire by virtue of meritorious deeds. (17)

[The gods] mean certain states, certain offices. For instance, Indra, the king of gods, means a certain office. Some soul which was very high has gone to fill that post in this cycle; and after this cycle he will be born again as man and come down to this earth, and the man who is very good in this cycle will go and fill that post in the next cycle. So with all these gods; they are certain offices which have been filled alternately by millions and millions of souls who, after filling those offices, came down and became men. Those who do good works in this world an help others, but with an eye to reward, hoping to reach heaven or to get praise from their fellow humans must, when they die, reap the benefit of those good works - they become these gods. (18)

The devas are like your angels, only some of them from time to time become wicked and find that the daughters of humans are good. Our deities are celebrated for this sort of thing. What can you expect of them? They are simply hospital-makers here [on earth] and have no more knowledge than other people. They do some good work with the result that they become devas. They do their good work for fame or name or some reward, and they get this reward, dreaming that they are in heaven and doing all these things. Then there are demons who have done evil in this life. But our books say that these dreams will not last very long, and then they will either come back and take the old dream again as human beings, or still worse. Therefore, according to these books, it behooves every sensible, right-thinking person, once for all, to brush aside all such foolish ideas as heavens and hells. (19)

[Godhood] is a position; one soul become high and takes Indra's position, and remains in it only a certain time; then he dies and is born again as a human being. But the human body is the highest of all. Some of the gods may try to go higher and give up all ideas of enjoyment in heavens; but, as in this world wealth and position and enjoyment delude the vast majority, so do most of the gods become deluded also; and, after working out their good karmas, they fall down and become human beings again. This earth, therefore, is the karma-bhumi; it is this earth from which we attain to liberation. So even these heavens are not worth attaining to. (20)