Practical Vedanta
Practical Vedanta Practical Vedanta
Practical Vedantais all one. Therefore in the Advaita philosophy, the whole universe is all one in theSelf which is called Brahman. That Self when it appears behind the universe iscalled God. The same Self when it appears behind this little universe, the body, isthe soul. This very soul, therefore, is the Self in man. There is only one Purusha,the Brahman of the Vedanta; God and man, analysed, are one in It. The universe isyou yourself, the unbroken you; you are throughout the universe. "In all hands youwork, through all mouths you eat, through all nostrils you breathe through allminds you think." The whole universe is. you; the universe is your body; you arethe universe both formed and unformed. You are the soul of the universe and itsbody also. You are God, you are the angels, you are man, you are animals, you arethe plants, you are the minerals, you are everything; the manifestation ofeverything is you. Whatever exists is you. You are the Infinite. The Infinite cannotbe divided. It can have no parts, for each part would be infinite, and then the partwould be identical with the whole, which is absurd. Therefore the idea that you areMr. So-and-so can never be true; it is a day-dream. Know this and be free. This isthe Advaita conclusion. "I am neither the body, nor the organs, nor am I the mind;I am Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss absolute; I am He." This is true knowledge;all reason and intellect, and everything else is ignorance. Where is knowledge forme, for I am knowledge itself! Where is life for me, for I am life itself! I am sure Ilive, for I am life, the One Being, and nothing exists except through me, and inme, and as me. I am manifested through the elements, but I am the free One. Whoseeks freedom? Nobody. If you think that you are bound, you remain bound; youmake your own bondage. If you know that you are free, you are free this moment.This is knowledge, knowledge of freedom. Freedom is the goal of all nature.We find that man, as it were, is always surrounded by something greater thanhimself, and he is trying to grasp the meaning of this. Man will ever [seek] thehighest ideal. He knows that it exists and that religion is the search after thehighest ideal. At first all his searches were in the external plane — placed inheaven, in different places — just according to [his grasp] of the total nature ofman.[Later,] man began to look at himself a little closer and began to find out that thereal "me" was not the "me" that he stands for ordinarily. As he appears to thesenses is not the same as he really is. He began to [search] inside of himself, andfound out that . . . the same ideal he [had placed] outside of himself is all the timewithin; what he was worshipping outside was his own real inner nature. Thedifference between dualism and monism is that when the ideal is put outside [ofoneself], it is dualism. When God is [sought] within, it is monism.First, the old question of why and wherefore . . . How is it that man becamelimited? How did the Infinite become finite, the pure become impure? In the firstplace, you must never forget that this question can never be answered [by] anydualistic hypothesis.Why did God create the impure universe? Why is man so miserable, made by afile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selv...ksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (106 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:34 AM
Practical Vedantaperfect, infinite, merciful Father? Why this heaven and earth, looking at which weget our conception of law? Nobody can imagine anything that he has not seen.All the tortures we feel in this life, we put in another place and that is our hell . . . .Why did the infinite God make this world? [The dualist says:] Just as the pottermakes pots. God the potter; we the pots. . . . In more philosophical language thequestion is: How is it taken for granted that the real nature of man is pure, perfect,and infinite? This is the one difficulty found in any system of monism. Everythingelse is clean and clear. This question cannot be answered. The monists say thequestion itself is a contradiction.Take the system of dualism — the question is asked why God created the world.This is contradictory. Why? Because — what is the idea of God? He is a beingwho cannot be acted upon by anything outside.You and I are not free. I am thirsty. There is something called thirst, over which Ihave no control, [which] forces me to drink water. Every action of my body andeven every thought of my mind is forced out of me. I have got to do it. That iswhy I am bound . . . . I am forced to do this, to have this, and so on . . . . And whatis meant by why and wherefore? [Being subject to external forces.] Why do youdrink water? Because thirst forces you. You are a slave. You never do any. thingof your own will because you are forced to do everything. Your only motive foraction is some force. . . .The earth, by itself, would never move unless something forced it. Why does thelight burn? It does not burn unless somebody comes and strikes a match.Throughout nature, everything is bound. Slavery, slavery! To be in harmony withnature is [slavery]. What is there in being the slave of nature and living in a goldencage? The greatest law and order is in the [knowledge that man is essentially freeand divine] Now we see that the question why and wherefore can only be asked[in ignorance]. I can only be forced to do something through something else.[You say] God is free. Again you ask the question why God creates the world.You contradict yourself. The meaning of God is entirely free will. The questionput in logical language is this: What forced Him, who can never be forced byanybody, to create the world? You say in the same question, What forced Him?The question is nonsense. He is infinite by His very nature; He is free. We shallanswer questions when you can ask them in logical language. Reason will tell youthat there is only one Reality, nothing else. Wherever dualism has risen, rnonismcame to a head and drove it out.There is only one difficulty in understanding this. Religion is a common-sense,everyday thing. The man in the street knows it if you put it in his language and not[if it is put] in a philosopher's language. It is a common thing in human nature to[project itself]. Think of your feeling with the child. [You identify yourself with it.Then] you have two bodies. [Similarly] you can feel through your husband's mindWhere can you stop? You can feel in infinite bodies.Nature is conquered by man every day. As a race, man is manifesting his power.Try in imagination to put a limit to this power in man. You admit that man as afile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selv...ksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (107 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:34 AM
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<strong>Practical</strong> <strong>Vedanta</strong>perfect, infinite, merciful Father? Why this heaven and earth, looking at which weget our conception of law? Nobody can imagine anything that he has not seen.All the tortures we feel in this life, we put in another place and that is our hell . . . .Why did the infinite God make this world? [The dualist says:] Just as the pottermakes pots. God the potter; we the pots. . . . In more philosophical language thequestion is: How is it taken for granted that the real nature of man is pure, perfect,and infinite? This is the one difficulty found in any system of monism. Everythingelse is clean and clear. This question cannot be answered. The monists say thequestion itself is a contradiction.Take the system of dualism — the question is asked why God created the world.This is contradictory. Why? Because — what is the idea of God? He is a beingwho cannot be acted upon by anything outside.You and I are not free. I am thirsty. There is something called thirst, over which Ihave no control, [which] forces me to drink water. Every action of my body andeven every thought of my mind is forced out of me. I have got to do it. That iswhy I am bound . . . . I am forced to do this, to have this, and so on . . . . And whatis meant by why and wherefore? [Being subject to external forces.] Why do youdrink water? Because thirst forces you. You are a slave. You never do any. thingof your own will because you are forced to do everything. Your only motive foraction is some force. . . .The earth, by itself, would never move unless something forced it. Why does thelight burn? It does not burn unless somebody comes and strikes a match.Throughout nature, everything is bound. Slavery, slavery! To be in harmony withnature is [slavery]. What is there in being the slave of nature and living in a goldencage? The greatest law and order is in the [knowledge that man is essentially freeand divine] Now we see that the question why and wherefore can only be asked[in ignorance]. I can only be forced to do something through something else.[You say] God is free. Again you ask the question why God creates the world.You contradict yourself. The meaning of God is entirely free will. The questionput in logical language is this: What forced Him, who can never be forced byanybody, to create the world? You say in the same question, What forced Him?The question is nonsense. He is infinite by His very nature; He is free. We shallanswer questions when you can ask them in logical language. Reason will tell youthat there is only one Reality, nothing else. Wherever dualism has risen, rnonismcame to a head and drove it out.There is only one difficulty in understanding this. Religion is a common-sense,everyday thing. The man in the street knows it if you put it in his language and not[if it is put] in a philosopher's language. It is a common thing in human nature to[project itself]. Think of your feeling with the child. [You identify yourself with it.Then] you have two bodies. [Similarly] you can feel through your husband's mindWhere can you stop? You can feel in infinite bodies.Nature is conquered by man every day. As a race, man is manifesting his power.Try in imagination to put a limit to this power in man. You admit that man as afile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selv...ksBySwami/<strong>Practical</strong><strong>Vedanta</strong>/<strong>Practical</strong><strong>Vedanta</strong>PDF.html (107 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:34 AM
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