Guest guest Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 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 211 3. The Grand Idea of the Spiritual Oneness of the Whole Universe Will Save the Masses of the West from the Hideous Abyss of Materialism There is a mass of thought which is at the present time struggling to get expression. This new thought is telling us to give up our dreams of Dualism, of a good and evil in essence, and the still wilder dream of suppression. It teaches us that higher direction and not destruction is the law. It teaches us that it is not a world of bad and good, but good and better - and still better. It stops short of nothing but acceptance. It teaches that no situation is hopeless and, as such, accepts every form of mental, moral or spiritual thought where it already stands; and without a word of condemnation tells it that so far is has done good, now is the time to do better. What in olden times was thought of as the elimination of bad, it teaches as the transfiguration of evil and the doing of better. Above all, it teaches that the kingdom of heaven is already in existence if we will have it, that perfection is already in human beings if they will see it. (32) The great idea that the world wants from India today - the thinking parts of Europe, nay, the whole world (more, perhaps the lower classes than the higher, more the masses than the cultured, more the ignorant than the educated, more the weak than the strong) - is that eternal, grand idea of the spiritual oneness of the whole universe…. The modern researches of the West have demonstrated through physical means the oneness and the solidarity of the whole universe;…. physically speaking, you and I, the sun, the moon and the stars are but little waves or wavelets in the midst of an infinite ocean of matter, the samashti; and,… going one step further, it is also shown in the Vedanta that behind that idea of the unity of the whole show, the real Soul is one. There is but one Soul throughout the universe, all is but one Existence. (33) Millions in every civilized land are waiting for the message that will save them from the hideous abyss of materialism into which the modern money-worship is driving them headlong, and many of the leaders of the new social movements have already discovered that Vedanta in its highest form can alone spiritualize their social aspirations. (34) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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