Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 192)

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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 192

 

e) The Permeation of the West by Vedantic Thought Met Fear of the Unknowable,

Adherence to the Finite, and Mystery-Mongering

 

1. The Revolutionary Changes in World Thought Due to Vedanta

 

Schopenhauer, the great German sage, foretold that " The world is about to see a

revolution in thought more extensive and more powerful than that which was

witnessed by the Renaissance of the Greek literature " , and today his predictions

are coming to pass. Those who keep their eyes open, those who understand the

workings in the minds of different nations of the West, those who are thinkers

and study the different nations, will find the immense change that has been

produced in the tone, the procedure, the methods, and in the literature of the

world by this slow, never-ceasing permeation of Indian thought.(32)

 

Influencing German thought, Vedanta has produced almost a revolution in the

regions of philosophy and psychology.(33)

 

At different periods Spain, Germany, and other European countries were greatly

influenced by Indian thought. The Indian prince, Dara-Shuko, translated the

Upanishads into Persian, and a Latin translation of the same was seen by

Schopenhauer, whose philosophy was moulded by these. Next to him, the philosophy

of Kant also shows traces of the teachings of the Upanishads.(34)