Practical Vedanta

Practical Vedantabetween the pure religion of Christ and that of the Vedanta. You find there theidea of oneness; but Christ also preached dualistic ideas to the people in order togive them something tangible to take hold of, to lead them up to the highest ideal.The same Prophet who preached, "Our Father which art in heaven", also preached,"I and my Father are one", and the same Prophet knew that through the "Father inheaven" lies the way to the "I and my Father are one". There was only blessingand love in the religion of Christ; but as soon as crudeness crept in, it wasdegraded into something not much better than the religion of the Prophet ofArabia. It was crudeness indeed — this fight for the little self, this clinging on tothe "I", not only in this life, but also in the desire for its continuance even afterdeath. This they declare to be unselfishness; this the foundation of morality! Lordhelp us, if this be the foundation of morality! And strangely enough, men andwomen who ought to know better think all morality will be destroyed if these littleselves go and stand aghast at the idea that morality can only stand upon theirdestruction. The watchword of all well-being, of all moral good is not "I" but"thou". Who cares whether there is a heaven or a hell, who cares if there is a soulor not, who cares if there is an unchangeable or not? Here is the world, and it isfull of misery. Go out into it as Buddha did, and struggle to lessen it or die in theattempt. Forget yourselves; this is the first lesson to be learnt, whether you are atheist or an atheist, whether you are an agnostic or a Vedantist, a Christian or aMohammedan. The one lesson obvious to all is the destruction of the little self andthe building up of the Real Self.Two forces have been working side by side in parallel lines. The one says "I", theother says "not I". Their manifestation is not only in man but in animals, not onlyin animals but in the smallest worms. The tigress that plunges her fangs into thewarm blood of a human being would give up her own life to protect her young.The most depraved man who thinks nothing of taking the lives of his brother menwill, perhaps, sacrifice himself without any hesitation to save his starving wife andchildren. Thus throughout creation these two forces are working side by side;where you find the one, you find the other too. The one is selfishness, the other isunselfishness. The one is acquisition, the other is renunciation. The one takes, theother gives. From the lowest to the highest, the whole universe is the playgroundof these two forces. It does not require any demonstration; it is obvious to all.What right has any section of the community to base the whole work andevolution of the universe upon one of these two factors alone, upon competitionand struggle? What right has it to base the whole working of the universe uponpassion and fight, upon competition and struggle? That these exist we do not deny;but what right has anyone to deny the working of the other force? Can any mandeny that love, this "not I", this renunciation is the only positive power in theuniverse? That other is only the misguided employment of the power of love; thepower of love brings competition, the real genesis of competition is in love. Thereal genesis of evil is in unselfishness. The creator of evil is good, and the end isalso good. It is only misdirection of the power of good. A man who murdersfile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selva...oksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (37 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:33 AM