What is Vedanta? by Swami Sarvapriyananda

Author:Swami Sarvapriyananda [Sarvapriyananda, Swami]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-04T18:30:00+00:00

7. Swami Vivekananda’s Practical Vedanta

Now let us ask this question one more time - What is Vedanta? Let us put this question to Swami Vivekananda. We have narrowed it down, drilling deeper and deeper, and we have reached the core idea of Vedanta. What we have been saying so far sounds rather abstract. Now let us back up, expand outwards, reconnecting with whatever we have left behind.

Swami Vivekananda taught Vedanta as a philosophy of life for all, and called it practical Vedanta. Vedanta has always been practical, and only then a philosophy. It is meant not just for a few monks or pandits, but for everyone who aspires to a high, noble and fulfilling life. The way to enlightenment is not only through philosophical inquiry, but also through meditation, love, and selfless service. Karma, bhakti and yoga, all of which we had left by the wayside, we now accept them back in. Swami Vivekananda says, using one or more of these - meditation, selfless service, devotion and knowledge, realize the divinity within and be free.

Swamiji actually uses the word philosophy for Vedantic enquiry. Philosophy has got a bad name as if it is some kind of intellectual game. But the deepest meaning of philosophy is Jnana Yoga, the inquiry into reality.

By philosophy, meditation, love or work - the four yogas, by practising one or more or all of these, be free. That is the whole of religion. Books, temples, doctrines, churches are secondary details.

In traditional Vedanta, be it Advaita Vedanta, Vishishta Advaita or Dvaita, all these yogas have been accepted. Shankaracharya teaches, Jnanad eva kaivalyam, by knowledge alone one gets enlightenment - but karma is required. It is the first step in spiritual life. Bhakti is also very helpful to the Advaitin. Ramanujacharya too accepts all the yogas. He agrees Jnana or knowledge is important. But first comes karma or action, then Jnana and ultimately Bhakti is central. According to him, devotion is what takes one to liberation. All the ancient masters included all the four yogas. They did not discard any of them, but they did put them in some hierarchical order. Either they put Bhakti as the highest or Jnana as the highest - that which ultimately leads to freedom. Swami Vivekananda flattens this hierarchy and holds that any one of them, or a combination of all of them, can lead you to enlightenment.

For Swamiji, Vedanta has two aspects - the divinity within us and the oneness of existence.

Consider once again the statement, ‘That thou art’. When you inquire into the ‘thou’, or the individual, you come to the divinity within yourself. You are not the body and not the mind, but are beyond body and mind. Chidananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham, I am the witness consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva. That is the divinity within each one of us.

But it is not that there are millions of divinities. According to Advaita Vedanta, it is one divinity. Sankhya says we are all separate selves, but Vedanta says the Self which is beyond body and mind, is one.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.