IndiaPost.com - Practical Vedanta is a living experience

Wholesale preaching of Vedanta to the Masses is not advisable. It will result in chaos, bewilderment and stagnation. Grasping of Vedantic principles and a right understanding of the philosophy and Sadhana are very difficult.

Vedanta is for a select few who are equipped with the four means of salvation or Sadhana Chatushtaya and who have removed the impurities of their minds and mental oscillation through constant practice of Nishkama Karma Yoga and Upasana.

The path of Vedanta is not so easy as it is generally supposed to be. It is a sharp razor-edge path. Therefore, those who preach Vedanta to the masses do more harm than any good. They are misleading the people. It is very, very easy to say, "Soham—I am He, Sivoham—I am Siva, Aham Brahma Asmi—I am Brahman" like a parrot, but to live in the very spirit of Vedanta, to feel the oneness or unity of consciousness, to become ‘That’ in reality and to radiate the Brahmic Bliss, Joy and Peace is an extremely difficult affair.

While repeating ‘Soham’, if his mind is easily upset when another utters a single harsh word, and if he begins to fight with that man vehemently, there is no use at all in that repetition. It is mere hypocrisy. He will not be able to influence others.

People will take him for a cheat. Vedanta is not merely a concept or a dogma. It is neither a theory nor a dry philosophy for contention and argumentation. It is the actual life of perennial joy in Brahman or Truth. A single practical Vedantin like Sankara could move the whole world. A practical Vedantin will outweigh a thousand and one Sandows when weighed in a balance.

A practical Vedantin possesses tremendous inner spiritual strength. The whole world rejoices at the sight of a real practical Vedantin. Practical Vedanta is a living experience, the melting of the individual self in the ocean of consciousness or the Supreme Self. The experiencer exclaims with inexpressible joy, "All indeed is Brahman. All differences, distinctions, qualities have vanished. I see Brahman and Oneness everywhere. I am Brahman."

The idea of Brahman, when judged from the viewpoint of intellect, is an abstraction, but it is concretely real for those who have the direct vision to see it (Aparoksha Anubhuti or Sakshatkara). Therefore, the consciousness of the reality of Brahman has boldly been described to be as real as the consciousness of an Amalaka fruit held in one’s palm. Even intellect can grasp only a little of the Truth. Brahman has positive attributes such as Sat-Chit-Ananda, purity, perfection, Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam, etc., They are not really attributes.

They are all synonymous terms for Truth or Brahman. Sat-Chit-Ananda also is a mental Kalpana (imagination). These are the highest qualifications of Brahman which the human intellect can grasp. Generally Brahman is described by negation of qualities such as Nirakara (formless), Nirguna, Nirvikalpa (without modification of mind), etc.

If the root cause Ajnana (ignorance of the Self) is removed by Atma-jnana or knowledge of the Self, the other links will be broken by themselves. From ignorance, non-discrimination is born; from non-discrimination, Abhimana (egoism); from Abhimana, Raga-Dvesha; from Raga-Dvesha, Karma; from Karma, this physical body; from the physical body, misery. If you want to annihilate misery, you must get rid of embodiment.

If you want to get rid of embodiment, you must not perform actions. If you wish to cease to act, you must abandon Raga-Dvesha. If you want to free yourself from Abhimana, you must destroy Aviveka and develop Viveka (discrimination) or discrimination between the Self and non-self. If you want to get rid of Aviveka, you must annihilate Ajnana.

If you want to get rid of Ajnana, you must get knowledge of the Self. There is no other way of escaping this chain. Brahman is otherwise known as ‘Svarupa’. "Then by what should he see whom?" (Bri. Up: 11-4-13). This passage intimates that there is neither an agent nor an object of action, nor an instrument.

There is neither enjoyment, nor enjoyer, nor enjoyable, (Bhoga, Bhokta, Bhogya) in Brahman. There is neither seer, sight, seen (Drashta, Drik and Drishya) also in Brahman. There is neither knower, knowledge or knowable, (Jnata, Jnana, Jneya).