universality of vedanta

8/7/2019 Universality of Vedanta

1/24


2/24

GIFT OF


3/24

UNIVERSALITYOF VEDANTA9ySWAMI PRAKASHANANDA


4/24

THE VEDANTA SOCIETY of SanFrancisco is an institution based onbroad and universal principles. Itaims at expounding the philosophy of lifein a simple, rational and practical way.It has a vital and helpful message for per-sons in all walks of life.You are cordially welcome to the lect-

ures by Swami Prakashananda of India,delivered every Sunday at 11 A. M. and8 P. M.Tuesday and Thursday class lecturesand individual lessons are for the mem-

bers. Any sincere truth-seeker is eligibleto membership.For further information please inquireor write to the Secretary.


5/24

UNIVERSALITYOF VEDANTA9,

SWAMI PRAKASHANANDA

Delivered at the Congress of Religious Philosophies, held underthe auspices of P. P. I. E. at San Francisco in 1915

Published byTHE VEDANTA SOCIETYOF SAN FRANCISCO2963 Webster Street

San Francisco, CaliforniaU. S. A.


6/24

Copyright, 1922,by

Vedanta Society of S. F.


7/24

THE UNIVERSALITY OF VEDANTAOur Motherland, India, and our religion, have

not infrequently been grossly misrepresented.People in Western countries seldom go to theright sources for information. There are, forinstance, the orthodox Christian missionaries,who, carried away by their enthusiasm to bringlight to the so-called benighted heathen, wouldnot hesitate to exaggerate or misstate the condi-tions of India and misinterpret the variousphases of Hinduism.

Then, again, there are the foreign travellerswho skim over the country, stop in hotels andcome in contact with their Anglo-Indian friends.They see only the squalor 'and the famine, orthe gorgeous temples and other superficialthings, and thus fail, in not a few cases, to touchthe inner spring of Indian religious life. Andthese people write books on Indian religion andthe socio-moral principles of the people ! Whatcan you expect but a caricature of one of thesublimest religions in the world? If the tour-ists passing through the different countries ofEurope and America, judge the western peoplesand their religion sweepingly by observing theslums, the graft and reckless sacrifice of highmoral principles in socio-political life, they un-


8/24

t)F'VEI)ANTA

doubtedly do injustice, like those shallow andsuperficial observers and writers of Indian lifeand religion.But when we turn our eyes to those great

savants, who have, with unprejudiced minds,studied the religio-philosophical systems of In-dia, we receive an altogether different messageand interpretation. Well has it been said byProfessor Mav Muller : "If I were to look overthe whole world to find out the country mostrichly endowed with all the wealth, power, andbeauty that Nature can bestow in some partsa very paradise on earth I should point toIndia. If I were asked under what sky thehuman mind has most fully developed some ofits choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered onthe greatest problems of life, and has foundsolutions of some of them which well deservethe attention even of those wTho have studiedPlato and Kant I should point to India. Andif I were to ask myself from what literature wehere in Europe, we who have been nurtured al-most exclusively on the thoughts of Greek andRomans, and of one Semetic race, the Jewish,may draw that corrective which is most wantedin order to make our inner life more perfect,more truly human, a life not for this life only,but a transfigured and eternal life again Ishould point to India." Vict|or Couslin, the


9/24

UNIVERSALITY OF VEDANTA 5

greatest among French historians of philosophy,while lecturing at Paris in the year 1828-29,spoke in the following terms to an audience oftwo thousand people : ' ( When we read withattention the poetical and philosophical monu-ments of the East, above all, those of India,which are beginning to spread in Europe, wediscover there many a truth, and truths soprofound and which make such a contrast withthe meanness of the results at which the Euro-pean genius has sometimes stopped, that weare constrained to bend the knee before thephilosophy of the East, and to see in this cradleof the human race the native land of the highestphilosophy." Reverend R. Heber Newton, aneminent Western divine, said in one of his ad-dresses: "What we may reasonably expect isnot the coming of a new religion from the Eastto supercede Christianity, but the coming ofinfluences from the East to renew and restoreChristianity. Our lamps burn low, but weneed not cast them away; we should simplyopen them to the sacred oil of the East, whichthe High Priest of the Temple is even nowpouring in upon the wicks when, lo ! a newflame in which we shall see and rejoice. Thequalities which the Western world lacks theEastern holds in excess. We might then lookfor the ordering by Providence of an infusion


10/24

6 UNIVERSALITY OF VEDANTA

of the essence of the East; the balm of Gileadfor the wounds of England, the cordial of In-dia for the tire of America. ' '

Students of religion sometimes become con-fused over the different names applied to thereligion of the Hindus. The word 'Hindu'originated from the name of a river, Indus,in the Northwestern part of India, which inSanskrit is called Sindhu. The Persian inva-ders often pronounced 'S* as 'H', so the peopleliving beyond the river were designated bythem as Hindus, and their religion was called'Hinduism/ Now, people of all classes in dif-ferent faiths such as Christians, Jews, Par-sees, Mohammedans, etc., are living in differentparts of India, so the term 'Hinduism' cannot berightly applied to the religion of the variousclasses of people. The term), 'Brahmanism'given by the foreign missionaries and scholarsto the religion of the Hindus has also lost itssignificance. Undoubtedly, there was a timewhen the Brahmans were the custodians of thereligions of the Hindus, 'but now-a-days theBrahmans represent the priestly class who haveceased to bej the true leaders of religion. Theproper name for the religion of the Hinduswould be 'Vedic Religion' or 'Vedanta'.In order to understand a religion, we shouldknow its founder as well as its scriptures. The


11/24


question can be rightly asked, "who is the foun-der of Hinduism?" In reply we are proud tosay that Hinduism is not built around the per-sonality of a founder, as Christianity is foun-ded on the divine personality of Christ, or asMohammedanism is based on the personality ofMohammed. Hinduism, on the other hand, isbased on the impersonal and eternal verities oflife and creation.

Just as the law of gravitation existed beforeits discovery, and would exist if all humanityforgot it, so it is with the laws and principlesthat govern the universe. The moral, ethicaland spiritual relations between soul and soul,and between individual spirits and the universalSpirit, were there before their discovery andwould remain even if we forgot them. The dis-coverers of these principles are called Rishis orseers of truth. They are honored and wor-shipped as God-men and perfected souls. Itwould be interesting to know that some of thevery greatest of them were women.Though Hinduism is based on the eternal and

impersonal truths underlying creation, still itaccepts personal founders and recognizes thenecessity of personal ideals,. Here lies the trueuniversality of Vedanta. Those God-men whodiscover and also represent in their life the im-personal divine principles are accepted by Hin-


12/24


duism. Hinduism accepts all that existed in thepast and will accept those who will come in thefuture.As Christians have the Bible ; Buddhists, the

Tripitaka; Mohammedans, the Koran; so haveHindus the Vedas. In order to get an insightinto the Hindu religious philosophies, one muststudy three Prasthanas (pathways to knowl-edge) : theUpanishads, which are the cream ofthe Vedas; Gita, which has been translated as'Song Celestial' by Sir Edwin Arnold; Vyasa-Sutras or Vedanta Aphorisms, by BadarayanaVyasa. Well has it been said by Paul Deussen ;"On the tree of Indian Wisdom there is nofairer flower than the Upanishads, no finer fruitthan the Vedanta Philosophy." The great Ger-man philosopher, Schopenhauer, said in appre-ciation of the Upanishads : * ' In the whole worldthere is no study so beneficial and so elevatingas that of the Upanishads. It has been thesolace of my life, it will be the solace of mydeath." Professor Max Muller says: "Therewas one religion only, or one religious philoso-phy, that of the Vedanta, which .... placedthe highest happiness of the soul in the discov-ery and recovery of its true nature as frometernity to eternity one with God. It theVedanta has room for almost every religion;nay, it embraces them all."


13/24


Not a few scholars have an erroneous notionthat Vedanta Philosophy is only monistic. Inreality, Vedanta includes dualism, qualified non-dualism, and monism. Sankaracharya wrotecommentaries on Vedanta Aphorisms and estab-lished the monistic school of thought. Raman-uja wrote commentaries on the same aphorismsand expounded the qualified non-dualistic sys-tem. Madhvacharya also wrote commentarieson these aphorisms and established the dualis-tic school of thought. There are other bookswhich are called Turanas' and 'Smritis'. Smri-tis are ethical codes and Puranas try to incul-cate the sublime teachings of the Upanishadsthrough historical records of the life deeds ofthe sages and saviours and mythological stories.While the Upanishads form the basis of all thesevarious scriptures, the Gita has become the Bibleof the Hindus. Besides these, there are six sys-tems of philosophy which time will not permitme to explain in detail. Professor Max Mul-ler's "Six Schools of Vedanta Philosophy" willgive the reader some idea about these wonderfulsystems. But the Hindus do not reject or con-demn the other bibles of different religions."Those who realize the Truth become one withIt. Their words are the Vedas or scriptures.Expressed in Sanskrit or any other language,they will dispell the doubts of our hearts."


14/24


Thus declared Nischaldas, the celebrated authorof the book, called Vichar-Sagar (Ocean ofDiscrimination) .

Religion, according to the Hindus, does notconsist in believing in doctrines or dogmas,neither in book learning nor in intellectual un-derstanding, but in living the life. Religion isrealization. The object of religion is to leadyou to a plane of development where 'Vedasbecome no Vedas,' i.e., scriptures become insuf-ficient and fall short. You have to come faceto face with the Supreme. You must attain thedirect realization. Books have value in so faras they stimulate in us the desire to realize.From the highest idea of absolutism to thelowest idea of symbolic worship, each has founda place in Hinduism. God is one, infinite andabsolute Being, but has different aspects. As-pirants at different stages of growth have dif-ferent conceptions of the same indivisible Being.The highest aspect is called 'Nirguna Brahman/(unqualified Absolute Spirit). The Infinitecannot be properly expressed through attri-butes. By attributes, we qualify and limit theUnlimited. Even words are not adequate toexpress the glory, grandeur and sublimity of theInfinite. "Whence words shrink back with themind unable to reach It." Thus sang theSages of the Upanishads.


15/24

UNIVERSALITY OF VEDANTA - 11

So there is a lower aspect of G-od which iscalled 'S'aguna Brahman/ (Qualified, or Godwith attributes) . But when we try to think ofGod who is the essence of blessed abstractqualities, we find it almost impossible to do sowithout associating God with some personality.Qualities or attributes are so indissolubly con-nected, that without corresponding personalitywe fail to comprehend the corresponding attri-butes. Hence, arose the necessity of a personalGod. Then the idea of a personal God is incom-prehensible to the majority of people withoutsome concrete form or Grod-man, such as Jesus,Buddha, Krishna, etc. Again, through associa-tion of ideas, some symbols, statues and imagesenable the aspirant to grasp the higher idealmore quickly and satisfactorily. Image-worship,or symbolic worship, has not infrequently beencondemned as idolatry. But when forms andsymbols are taken as aids to grasp the highertruths and principles, they are not only harm-less, but beneficial and necessary. If we go ondecorating and nourishing our body withoutremembering the embodied soul, we becomeidolaters. Why is the cross holy ? Why is thecrescent sacred? Why do we go to churchesfor worship? Why do we kneel before altars?We cannot enclose God within four walls, norcan we limit Him to an altar. These are all


16/24


symbols and attempts of the undeveloped mindto grasp the higher and higher truths. TheHindus assert that it makes no difference where-from help comes. Hindus can go to a church,a mosque, or a temple and accept any symbols,as long as it would lead them on to higher andhigher realization. We never travel from errorto truth, but from lower truth to higher truth.The highest aim of religion is to go to the Infin-ite, through different steps.

All religions begin with dualism, but end inmonism. In the dualistic state, God is an extra-cosmic Being. We ascribe human relationsunto Him. Hindus not only understand thefatherhood of God, but also the motherhood.In fatherhood there is a tinge of fear, but mo-therhood is a sweeter and closer relation. Thetrue divine love must be without fear. Thefatherly conception of God can be traced backto the Vedic conception, Dous Pitar, or 'Fatherin Heaven' and Greek worship of Jupiter, ZeusPitar. But the Hindu mind did not stop there.They discovered that these relations of indivi-dual souls to the Divine Spirit may be grand,but they are undoubtedly human and make theDivine Spirit anthropomorphic.The higher aspect of God was gradually re-vealed to them. God is no longer distant andextra-cosmic, but intra-cosmic. He is the all-


17/24


immanent Spirit energizing everything. Weare all part and parcel of that 'one stupendouswhole'. We are in constant touch with That,but we are ignorant of the fact. Still we growand evolve, until it is discovered that the rela-tion of son to father, that of the beloved to thesource of love, even that of the part to thewhole will not satisfy the soul. Nothing shortof oneness or merging will bring that perfectcontentment. The spiritual oneness is the finalrealization of religious life, when, with Jesus,we would say, "I and my Father are one;"when we shall say with Krishna, "I am thatunborn and all-pervading Supreme Being; andwith the Vedic sages we would declare, "So-ham," (I am That)."Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is

to manifest this divine within, by controllingnature, external and internal. Do this eitherby work, or worship, or psychic control, orphilosophy, by one, or more, or all of these andbe free. This is the whole of religion. Doc-trines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, ortemples, or forms, are but secondary details."Swami Vivekananda.

So there is a chance for all. The differencebetween a saint and an ordinary soul lies not inkind, but in degree. The divine light of thesoul cannot be destroyed, only covered, as thesun is covered by the clouds. Accordingly,


18/24


Hinduism never teaches any absurd doctrinelike eternal damnation. Sooner or later, eachsoul will reach the Universal Source.

There are different paths leading to the samegoal. Human nature may be approximatelyclassified under four heads : emotional, analyti-cal, meditative and active. Just as the kind andbenevolent mother prepares different dishes ac-cording to the various tastes and constitutionsof different children, even so has Hinduism laiddown different paths of God-realization accord-ing to the various spiritual tendencies and tem-peraments of persons placed in different stagesof evolution. These paths are called 'Yogas'such as Bhakti, Yoga, path of devotion; JnanaYoga, path of knowledge; Raja Yoga, path ofconcentration ; and Karma Yoga, path of action.We talk so glibly about universal religion.Religion, in order to be universal, must be asbroad as the heavens above and deep as theoceans beneath, and in its catholicity, wouldembrace and include all faiths and try to helpall natures. There is another way of establish-ing universal religion by seeing harmony in all.If we thoroughly understood the principles of'unity in variety/ and applied it in the religiousfield, there would be harmony of religions. Aslong as there will be diversified natures andtemperaments, different religions and sects are


19/24


inevitable. But that does not mean that theremust be sectarianism! Just as there are somany radii converging to the same center, sothe different religions and sects are many waysleading to the same God.

Those who think they cannot be devoted toy, their faith without condemning others, areentirely mistaken. We need devotion not

fanaticism! The dogmatic attitude that 'myreligion is the only religion; my saviour, theonly saviour' betrays not only narrowness, butformidable ignorance. Fanaticism, bigotry andnarrow-mindedness have often played a con-spicuous part in religion. The time has comewhen we should outgrow these, broaden ourviews and expand our vision. Let us be devo-ted to our -own, and at the same time give liber-ty to others to follow theirs.Harmony of religions does not mean that all

religions will be supplanted by one particularreligion. Notwithstanding our fanatical atti-tude toward other religions, those faiths whichare fed by the fountain of eternal light andwisdom, will remain for the betterment and up-liftment of humanity. As in an orchestra,various instruments, played properly, producea wonderful harmony, so let all the true reli-gions and faiths remain in their places and dotheir proper share, and let us bid adieu to all


20/24


uncharitable spirit by recognizing the unity ofpurpose and aim to be one and the same.The idea of universal harmony first arose in

the Vedic age, when it was declared; "Ekamsat vipra vahudha vadanti" (That whichexists is one, the sages call It by variousnames). Coming down through the corridorsof time to the fourteenth century B.C., we comeupon Sri Krishna, a mighty spirit, who de-clared; ''In whatever way men worship Me, inthe same way do I fulfill their desires. It isMy path, son of Kunti, men tread in allways." (Gita, chapter IV-11). In the Vedaswe see the germ and here we see the plant,but it was reserved for the ninetenth centuryto produce a wonderful soul in Sri Ramakrish-na who was the perfect embodiment of uni-versal harmony. Here the plant had grownto be a gigantic tree, under the shade of whichmen and women of different paths and reli-gions found rest.May He who is Ahura Mazda of the Zoro-astrians; Jehovah of the Jews; Father inHeaven of the Christians ; Allah of the Moham-medans; and Brahman and the Divine Motherof the Hindus and God of all nations and reli-gions, give us the true understanding and thestrength to carry the universal harmony intoour daily lives.


21/24

The Gospel of Sri RamakrishnaCloth, $2.00 ; Postage 10 cents.Paper, $1.50; Postage 8 cents.

Sayings of Sri RamakrishnaCloth, $1.25; Postage 10 cents.

The Life of Swami Vivekananda (4 Vols.)Each Vol., Cloth, $2.50 ; Postage 18 cents.Complete works of Swami Vivekananda

(5 Vols.)Each Vol., Cloth, $2.50 ; Postage 15 cents.Inner Consciousness, by Swami PrakashanandaPaper, 25 cents; Postage 2 cents.

Besides the above, many important books andpamphlets on Vedanta Philosophy by the Swamis,translations of Upanishads, etc., for sale at Societyheadquarters, 2963 Webster Street, San Francisco,Cal.

VEDANTA PERIODICALSPrabuddha Bharata Monthly.

$1.50 a year.Mayavati P. 0. Dt. Almora, U. P., India,Vedanta Kesari Monthly.

$1.50 a year.Mylapore, Madras, India.

Message of the East Monthly.$2.00 a year.1 Queensberry St., Boston, Mass.


22/24

THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATESTAMPED BELOWAN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTSWILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURNTHIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTYWILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTHDAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAYOVERDUE.

FEB IS iq^4


23/24

PhotomountPamphletBinder

Gaylord Bros.MakersSyracuse, N. Y.

PAT. JAM 21, 1908

YC 1556,4

481502

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY


24/24

universality of vedanta

Documents