Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 195)

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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 195

Attempts have been made in Germany [by Hegel] to build a system of philosophy on

the basis that the Infinite has become the finite. Such attempts are also made

in England [by Herbert Spencer]. And the analysis of the position of these

philosophers is this: that the Infinite is trying to express itself in the

universe, and that there will come a time when the Infinite will succeed in

doing so. It is all very well, and we have used the words Infinite and

manifestation and expression and so on; but philosophers naturally ask for a

logical fundamental basis for the statement that the finite can fully express

the Infinite.(43)

 

[Again], at the beginning of this century, Schopenhauer, the great German

philosopher, studying from a not very clear translation of the Vedas made from

an old translation into Persian and thence by a young Frenchman [Duperron] into

Latin, says, " In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so

elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life, and it

will be the solace of my death. " (44)

 

[but] Schopenhauer stands on reason only and rationalizes the Vedas.(45)

 

I think Schopenhauer’s philosophy makes a mistake in its interpretation of the

Vedanta, for it seeks to make the will everything. Schopenhauer makes the will

stand in the place of the Absolute. But the Absolute cannot be presented as

will, for will is something changeable and phenomenal, and over the line drawn

above space, time and causation [between pp. 256-257] there is no change, no

motion; it is only below the line that external motion and internal motion

(called thought) begin. There can be no will on the other side; and will,

therefore, cannot be the cause of this universe. Coming nearer, we see in our

own bodies that will is not the cause of every movement. I move this chair; my

will is the cause of the movement, and this will becomes manifested as muscular

motion at the other end. But the same power that moves the chair is moving the

heart, the lungs, and so on - but not through will. Given that the power is the

same, it only becomes will when it rises to the plane of consciousness, and to

call it will before it has risen to this plane is a misnomer. This makes a good

deal of confusion in Schopenhauer’s philosophy. (46)

 

Just as you find the attempts of Hegel and Schopenhauer in German philosophy, so

you will find the very same ideas brought forward in ancient India. Fortunately

for the Indians, Hegelianism was nipped in the bud and not allowed to sprout and

cast its baneful shoots over their motherland. Hegel’s one idea is that the one,

the absolute, is only chaos, and that the individualized form is the greater:

the world is greater than the non-world, samsara is greater than salvation. That

is the one idea; and the more you plunge into this samsara, the more your soul

is covered with the workings of life, the better you are. They say: do you not

see how we build houses, cleanse the streets, enjoy the senses? Ay, behind that

they hide rancor, misery, horror - behind every bit of that enjoyment.(47)

 

Cross reference to:

 

Isha peace chant