Practical Vedanta

Practical VedantaEverything goes to show that this philosophy must be very practical; and later on,when we come to the Bhagavad-Gita — most of you, perhaps, have read it, it isthe best commentary we have on the Vedanta philosophy — curiously enough thescene is laid on the battlefield, where Krishna teaches this philosophy to Arjuna;and the doctrine which stands out luminously in every page of the Gita is intenseactivity, but in the midst of it, eternal calmness. This is the secret of work, to attainwhich is the goal of the Vedanta. Inactivity, as we understand it in the sense ofpassivity, certainly cannot be the goal. Were it so, then the walls around us wouldbe the most intelligent; they are inactive. Clods of earth, stumps of trees, would bethe greatest sages in the world; they are inactive. Nor does inactivity becomeactivity when it is combined with passion. Real activity, which is the goal ofVedanta, is combined with eternal calmness, the calmness which cannot beruffled, the balance of mind which is never disturbed, whatever happens. And weall know from our experience in life that that is the best attitude for work.I have been asked many times how we can work if we do not have the passionwhich we generally feel for work. I also thought in that way years ago, but as I amgrowing older, getting more experience, I find it is not true. The less passion thereis, the better we work. The calmer we are, the better for us, and the more theamount of work we can do. When we let loose our feelings, we waste so muchenergy, shatter our nerves, disturb our minds, and accomplish very little work. Theenergy which ought to have gone out as work is spent as mere feeling, whichcounts for nothing. It is only when the mind is very calm and collected that thewhole of its energy is spent in doing good work. And if you read the lives of thegreat workers which the world has produced, you will find that they werewonderfully calm men. Nothing, as it were, could throw them off their balance.That is why the man who becomes angry never does a great amount of work, andthe man whom nothing can make angry accomplishes so much. The man whogives way to anger, or hatred, or any other passion, cannot work; he only breakshimself to pieces, and does nothing practical. It is the calm, forgiving, equable,well-balanced mind that does the greatest amount of work.The Vedanta preaches the ideal; and the ideal, as we know, is always far ahead ofthe real, of the practical, as we may call it. There are two tendencies in humannature: one to harmonise the ideal with the life, and the other to elevate the life tothe ideal. It is a great thing to understand this, for the former tendency is thetemptation of our lives. I think that I can only do a certain class of work. Most ofit, perhaps, is bad; most of it, perhaps, has a motive power of passion behind it,anger, or greed, or selfishness. Now if any man comes to preach to me a certainideal, the first step towards which is to give up selfishness, to give up selfenjoyment,I think that is impractical. But when a man brings an ideal which canbe reconciled with my selfishness, I am glad at once and jump at it. That is theideal for me. As the word "orthodox" has been manipulated into various forms, sohas been the word "practical". "My doxy is orthodoxy; your doxy is heterodoxy."So with practicality. What I think is practical, is to me the only practicality in thefile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selvar...ooksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (2 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:33 AM