Swami Vivekananda says Puranas are authoritative only when they agree with vedas

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THE RELIGION WE ARE BORN IN

Volume 3, Lectures from Colombo to Almora

 

Now let us consider what are the common grounds of agreement in the religion

we are born in. At first sight we undeniably find various differences among

our sects. Some are Advaitists, some are Vishishtâdvaitists, and others are

Dvaitists. Some believe in Incarnations of God, some in image-worship, while

others are upholders of the doctrine of the Formless. Then as to customs

also, various differences are known to exist. The Jâts are not outcasted

even if they marry among the Mohammedans and Christians.

 

They can enter into any Hindu temple without hindrance. In many villages in

the Punjab, one who does not eat swine will hardly be considered a Hindu. In

Nepal, a Brâhmin can marry in the four Varnas; while in Bengal, a Brahmin

cannot marry even among the subdivisions of his own caste. So on and so

forth. But in the midst of all these differences we note one point of unity

among all Hindus, and it is this, that no Hindu eats beef. In the same way,

there is a great common ground of unity underlying the various forms and

sects of our religion.

 

Now as to the Vedas, the Hindus believe that they are not mere books

composed by men in some remote age. They hold them to be an accumulated mass

of endless divine wisdom, which is sometimes manifested and at other times

remains unmanifested. Commentator Sâyanâchârya says somewhere in his works —

" Who created the whole universe out of the knowledge of the Vedas " . No one

has ever seen the composer of the Vedas, and it is impossible to imagine

one. The Rishis were only the discoverers of the Mantras or Eternal Laws;

they merely came face to face with the Vedas, the infinite mine of

knowledge, which has been there from time without beginning.

 

I have no faith in the theories advanced by Western savants with regard to

the Vedas. They are today fixing the antiquity of the Vedas at a certain

period, and again tomorrow upsetting it and bringing it one thousand years

forward, and so on. However, about the Puranas, I have told you that they

are authoritative only in so far as they agree with the Vedas, otherwise

not. In the Puranas we find many things which do not agree with the Vedas.

 

As for instance, it is written in the Puranas that some one lived ten

thousand years, another twenty thousand years, but in the Vedas we find: —

" Man lives indeed a hundred years. " Which are we to accept in this case?

Certainly the Vedas. Notwithstanding statements like these, I do not

depreciate the Puranas. They contain many beautiful and illuminating

teachings and words of wisdom on Yoga, Bhakti, Jnâna, and Karma; those, of

course, we should accept.

 

Here I should ask you to remember that Hindus, from time immemorial, knew

the Atman as separate from Manas, mind. But the Occidentals could never soar

beyond the mind. The West knows the universe to be full of happiness, and as

such, it is to them a place where they can enjoy the most; but the East is

born with the conviction that this Samsara, this ever-changing existence, is

full of misery, and as such, it is nothing, nothing but unreal, not worth

bartering the soul for its ephemeral joys and possessions. For this very

reason, the West is ever especially adroit in organised action, and so also

the East is ever bold in search of the mysteries of the internal world.

 

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Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prashant Jalasutram