Practical Vedanta

Practical Vedantafor those who only see the gods outside. Man decided that he was nothing. He wasafraid that he could never be free; so he went to seek for someone outside ofnature who was free. Then he thought that there were many and many such freebeings, and gradually he merged them all into one God of gods and Lord of lords.Even that did not satisfy him. He came a little closer to truth, a little nearer; andthen gradually found that whatever he was, he was in some way connected withthe God of gods and Lord of lords; that he, though he thought himself bound andlow and weak, was somehow connected with that God of gods. Then visions cameto him; thought arose and knowledge advanced. And he began to come nearer andnearer to that God, and at last found out that God and all the gods, this wholepsychological phenomenon connected with the search for an all-powerful freesoul, was but a reflection of his own idea of himself. And then at last hediscovered that it was not only true that "God made man after His own image", butthat it was also true that man made God after his own image. That brought out theidea of divine freedom. The Divine Being was always within, the nearest of thenear. Him we had ever been seeking outside, and at last found that He is in theheart of our hearts. You may know the story of the man who mistook his ownheartbeat for somebody knocking at the door, and went to the door and opened it,but found nobody there, so he went back. Again he seemed to hear a knocking atthe door, but nobody was there. Then he understood that it was his own heartbeat,and he had misinterpreted it as a knocking at the door. Similarly, man after hissearch finds out that this infinite freedom that he was placing in imagination allthe time in the nature outside is the internal subject, the eternal Soul of souls; thisReality, he himself.Thus at last he comes to recognise this marvellous duality of existence: thesubject, infinite and finite in one — the Infinite Being is also the same finite soul.The Infinite is caught, as it were, in the meshes of the intellect and apparentlymanifests as finite beings, but the reality remains unchanged.This is, therefore, true knowledge: that the Soul of our souls, the Reality that iswithin us, is That which is unchangeable, eternal, ever-blessed, ever-free. This isthe only solid ground for us to stand upon.This, then, is the end of all death, the advent of all immortality, the end of allmisery. And he who sees that One among the many, that One unchangeable in theuniverse of change, he who sees Him as the Soul of his soul, unto him belongseternal peace — unto none else.And in the midst of the depths of misery and degradation, the Soul sends a ray oflight, and man wakes up and finds that what is really his, he can never lose. No,we can never lose what is really ours. Who can lose his being? Who can lose hisvery existence? If I am good, it is the existence first, and then that becomescoloured with the quality of goodness. If I am evil, it is the existence first, and thatbecomes coloured with the quality of badness. That existence is first, last, andalways; it is never lost, but ever present.Therefore, there is hope for all. None can die; none can be degraded for ever. Lifefile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selva...oksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (65 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:33 AM