Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 95)

March 26, 2002

Parts 1 to 94 were posted earlier. This is part 95. 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 95

All the various manifestations of religion, in whatever shape and form they have come to mankind, have this one, common, central basis:… the preaching of freedom, the way out of this world. They never came to reconcile the world and religion, but to cut the Gordian knot, to establish religion in its own ideal, and not to compromise with the world. That is what every religion preaches, and the duty of Vedanta is to harmonize all those aspirations, to make manifest the common ground between all the religions of the world, the highest as well as the lowest. What we call the most arrant superstition and the highest philosophy really have a common aim in that they both try to show the way out of the same difficulty; and in most cases this way is through the help of someone who is not bound by the laws of nature; in one word, someone who is free. In spite of all the difficulties and differences of opinion about the nature of the one free Agent, whether… a personal God, or a sentient being like human beings, whether masculine, feminine, or neuter - and the discussions have been endless - the fundamental idea is the same. In spite of the almost hopeless contradictions of the different systems, we find the golden thread of unity running through them all, and in this philosophy, this golden thread has been traced, revealed little by little to our view; and the first step to this revelation is the common ground that all are advancing towards freedom. (9)

Cross reference to:

Isha Up.,16b

Brih. Up., 2.3.6

b) The Practicality of the Vedantic Path to Freedom

1. Liberated Souls Are Found Only Where There Is the Vedantic Idea of Spiritual, Not Material, Freedom

Materialism says the voice of freedom is a delusion. Idealism says, the voice that tells of bondage is delusion. Vedanta says you are free and not free at the same time - never free on the earthly plane, but ever free on the spiritual. (10)

With [the Hindus] the prominent idea is mukti; with the Westerners it is dharma. What we desire is mukti; what they want is dharma. Here the word dharma is used in the sense of the mimamsakas. What is dharma? Dharma is that which makes human beings seek for happiness in this world or the next. Dharma is established on work; dharma is impelling humanity day and night to run after and work for happiness.

What is mukti? That which teaches that even the happiness of this life is slavery, and the same is the happiness of the life to come, because neither this world nor the next is beyond the laws of nature; only, the slavery of this world is to that of the next as an iron chain is to a golden one. Again, happiness, wherever it may be, being within the laws of nature, is subject to death and will not last ad infinitum. Therefore human beings must aspire to become mukta, they must go beyond the bondage of the body; slavery will not do. This moksha-path is in India only and nowhere else. Hence is true the oft-repeated saying that mukta souls are only in India and in no other country. But it is equally true that in future they will be in other countries as well; that is well and good, and a thing of great pleasure to us. (11)

The first principle [of Vedanta] is that all that is necessary for the perfection of humanity and for attaining unto freedom is there in the Vedas. You cannot find anything new. You cannot go beyond a perfect unity, which is the goal of all knowledge; this has been already reached there, and it is impossible to go beyond unity. (12)

Go through all the Upanishads, and even in the Samhitas - nowhere will you find the limited ideas of moksha which every other religion has. (13)Cross reference to:

Gita 12.13

Parts 1 to 94 were posted earlier. This is part 95. 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 95

All the various manifestations of religion, in whatever shape and form they have come to mankind, have this one, common, central basis:… the preaching of freedom, the way out of this world. They never came to reconcile the world and religion, but to cut the Gordian knot, to establish religion in its own ideal, and not to compromise with the world. That is what every religion preaches, and the duty of Vedanta is to harmonize all those aspirations, to make manifest the common ground between all the religions of the world, the highest as well as the lowest. What we call the most arrant superstition and the highest philosophy really have a common aim in that they both try to show the way out of the same difficulty; and in most cases this way is through the help of someone who is not bound by the laws of nature; in one word, someone who is free. In spite of all the difficulties and differences of opinion about the nature of the one free Agent, whether… a personal God, or a sentient being like human beings, whether masculine, feminine, or neuter - and the discussions have been endless - the fundamental idea is the same. In spite of the almost hopeless contradictions of the different systems, we find the golden thread of unity running through them all, and in this philosophy, this golden thread has been traced, revealed little by little to our view; and the first step to this revelation is the common ground that all are advancing towards freedom. (9)

Cross reference to:

Isha Up.,16b

Brih. Up., 2.3.6

b) The Practicality of the Vedantic Path to Freedom

1. Liberated Souls Are Found Only Where There Is the Vedantic Idea of Spiritual, Not Material, Freedom

Materialism says the voice of freedom is a delusion. Idealism says, the voice that tells of bondage is delusion. Vedanta says you are free and not free at the same time - never free on the earthly plane, but ever free on the spiritual. (10)

With [the Hindus] the prominent idea is mukti; with the Westerners it is dharma. What we desire is mukti; what they want is dharma. Here the word dharma is used in the sense of the mimamsakas. What is dharma? Dharma is that which makes human beings seek for happiness in this world or the next. Dharma is established on work; dharma is impelling humanity day and night to run after and work for happiness.

What is mukti? That which teaches that even the happiness of this life is slavery, and the same is the happiness of the life to come, because neither this world nor the next is beyond the laws of nature; only, the slavery of this world is to that of the next as an iron chain is to a golden one. Again, happiness, wherever it may be, being within the laws of nature, is subject to death and will not last ad infinitum. Therefore human beings must aspire to become mukta, they must go beyond the bondage of the body; slavery will not do. This moksha-path is in India only and nowhere else. Hence is true the oft-repeated saying that mukta souls are only in India and in no other country. But it is equally true that in future they will be in other countries as well; that is well and good, and a thing of great pleasure to us. (11)

The first principle [of Vedanta] is that all that is necessary for the perfection of humanity and for attaining unto freedom is there in the Vedas. You cannot find anything new. You cannot go beyond a perfect unity, which is the goal of all knowledge; this has been already reached there, and it is impossible to go beyond unity. (12)

Go through all the Upanishads, and even in the Samhitas - nowhere will you find the limited ideas of moksha which every other religion has. (13)Cross reference to:

Gita 12.13