Practical Vedanta

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Practical Vedantaanother is, perhaps, moved to do so by the love of his own child. His love hasbecome limited to that one little baby, to the exclusion of the millions of otherhuman beings in the universe. Yet, limited or unlimited, it is the same love.Thus the motive power of the whole universe, in what ever way it manifests itself,is that one wonderful thing, unselfishness, renunciation, love, the real, the onlyliving force in existence. Therefore the Vedantist insists upon that oneness. Weinsist upon this explanation because we cannot admit two causes of the universe.If we simply hold that by limitation the same beautiful, wonderful love appears tobe evil or vile, we find the whole universe explained by the one force of love. Ifnot, two causes of the universe have to be taken for granted, one good and theother evil, one love and the other hatred. Which is more logical? Certainly the oneforcetheory.Let us now pass on to things which do not possibly belong to dualism. I cannotstay longer with the dualists. I am afraid. My idea is to show that the highest idealof morality and unselfishness goes hand in hand with the highest metaphysicalconception, and that you need not lower your conception to get ethics andmorality, but, on the other hand, to reach a real basis of morality and ethics youmust have the highest philosophical and scientific conceptions. Human knowledgeis not antagonistic to human well-being. On the contrary, it is knowledge alonethat will save us in every department of life — in knowledge is worship. The morewe know the better for us. The Vedantist says, the cause of all that is apparentlyevil is the limitation of the unlimited. The love which gets limited into littlechannels and seems to be evil eventually comes out at the other end and manifestsitself as God. The Vedanta also says that the cause of all this apparent evil is inourselves. Do not blame any supernatural being, neither be hopeless anddespondent, nor think we are in a place from which we can never escape unlesssomeone comes and lends us a helping hand. That cannot be, says the Vedanta.We are like silkworms; we make the thread out of our own substance and spin thecocoon, and in course of time are imprisoned inside. But this is not for ever. Inthat cocoon we shall develop spiritual realisation, and like the butterfly come outfree. This network of Karma we have woven around ourselves; and in ourignorance we feel as if we are bound, and weep and wail for help. But help doesnot come from without; it comes from within ourselves. Cry to all the gods in theuniverse. I cried for years, and in the end I found that I was helped. But help camefrom within. And I had to undo what I had done by mistake. That is the only way.I had to cut the net which I had thrown round myself, and the power to do this iswithin. Of this I am certain that not one aspiration, well-guided or ill-guided in mylife, has been in vain, but that I am the resultant of all my past, both good and evil.I have committed many mistakes in my life; but mark you, I am sure of this thatwithout every one of those mistakes I should not be what I am today, and so amquite satisfied to have made them. I do not mean that you are to go home andwilfully commit mistakes; do not misunderstand me in that way. But do not mopebecause of the mistakes you have committed, but know that in the end all willfile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selva...oksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (38 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:33 AM
Practical Vedantacome out straight. It cannot be otherwise, because goodness is our nature, purity isour nature, and that nature can never be destroyed. Our essential nature alwaysremains the same.What we are to understand is this, that what we call mistakes or evil, we commitbecause we are weak, and we are weak because we are ignorant. I prefer to callthem mistakes. The word sin, although originally a very good word, has got acertain flavour about it that frightens me. Who makes us ignorant? We ourselves.We put our hands over our eyes and weep that it is dark. Take the hands away andthere is light; the light exists always for us, the self-effulgent nature of the humansoul. Do you not hear what your modern scientific men say? What is the cause ofevolution? Desire. The animal wants to do something, but does not find theenvironment favourable, and therefore develops a new body. Who develops it?The animal itself, its will. You have developed from the lowest amoeba. Continueto exercise your will and it will take you higher still. The will is almighty. If it isalmighty, you may say, why cannot I do everything? But you are thinking only ofyour little self. Look back on yourselves from the state of the amoeba to thehuman being; who made all that? Your own will. Can you deny then that it isalmighty? That which has made you come up so high can make you go higherstill. What you want is character, strengthening of the will.If I teach you, therefore, that your nature is evil, that you should go home and sitin sackcloth and ashes and weep your lives out because you took certain falsesteps, it will not help you, but will weaken you all the more, and I shall beshowing you the road to more evil than good. If this room is full of darkness forthousands of years and you come in and begin to weep and wail, "Oh thedarkness", will the darkness vanish? Strike a match and light comes in a moment.What good will it do you to think all your lives, "Oh, I have done evil, I havemade many mistakes"? It requires no ghost to tell us that. Bring in the light andthe evil goes in a moment. Build up your character, and manifest your real nature,the Effulgent, the Resplendent, the Ever-Pure, and call It up in everyone that yousee. I wish that everyone of us had come to such a state that even in the vilest ofhuman beings we could see the Real Self within, and instead of condemning them,say, "Rise thou effulgent one, rise thou who art always pure, rise thou birthlessand deathless, rise almighty, and manifest thy true nature. These littlemanifestations do not befit thee." This is the highest prayer that the Advaitateaches. This is the one prayer, to remember our true nature, the God who isalways within us, thinking of it always as infinite, almighty, ever-good, everbeneficent,selfless, bereft of all limitations. And because that nature is selfless, itis strong and fearless; for only to selfishness comes fear. He who has nothing todesire for himself, whom does he fear, and what can frighten him? What fear hasdeath for him? What fear has evil for him? So if we are Advaitists, we must thinkfrom this moment that our old self is dead and gone. The old Mr., Mrs., and MissSo-and-so are gone, they were mere superstitions, and what remains is the everpure,the ever-strong, the almighty, the all-knowing — that alone remains for us,file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selva...oksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (39 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:33 AM
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Page 7 and 8: Practical VedantaThe ideal of faith
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Page 13 and 14: Practical Vedanta"This life is Brah
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