The Vedanta Way of Life

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:05:25 EST

The religions of the world are not contradictory orantagonistic. They are but various phases of one eternal religion. That oneeternal religion is applied to different planes of existence and is applied tothe opinions of various minds and various races. There never was my religion oryours, my national religion or your national religion; there never existed manyreligions, there is only the One Infinite religion that existed all througheternity and will ever exist. And this religion is expressing itself in variouscountries in various ways. Now, by religion is meant the Vedanta; theapplications must vary according to different needs, surroundings and othercircumstances of different nations,' in the words of Swami Vivekananda.

In other words, Vedanta is the essence of all religions.It is not a new religion. It is as old as God Himself; it is not confined toany time and place; and it is now everywhere. The word ‘religion', in itsoriginal meaning, is something that binds, and it is literally true in respectof Vedanta.'

Reduced to its elements, Vedanta philosophy consists ofthree propositions. First is that man's real nature is divine. Second is thatthe aim of human life is to realize this divine nature. Third is that allreligions are essentially in agreement with the first two elements.

As to the real nature of man being divine, Vedanta assertsthat the universe, which is perceived by our senses, is only in appearance. Itis not what it seems. It is other than its outward aspect, which is subject toperpetual change. The hills, says Tennyson, are only shadows.

Vedanta asserts that, beneath this appearance, there is anessential, unchanging Reality, which it calls the Brahman, the Godhead. TheBrahman is existence itself, consciousness itself. The Brahman is also said tobe that indefinable quality called Ananda. This corresponds to ‘thepeace of God, which passeth all understanding' of the Bible. Ananda isnot only ‘peace' but also ‘bliss', which alone give the only permanent kind of happiness.

No one can explain the Brahman as the Brahman is beyondall sense perception. IT is beyond scientific analysis as such analysisnecessarily depends upon the evidence of the five senses.

The Brahman, being an essential Reality, is omnipresent. ITis, therefore, within each one of us, within every creature and object. Inother words, the Brahman is our real, essential nature. The Brahman isGod-transcendent. IT is same as the Atman - God-immanent.

According to Vedanta, the aim of human life is to realizethe Atman, our essential nature, and hence our identity with the one underlyingReality. To seek to realize my essential nature is to admit that I amdissatisfied with my nature as it is at present.

It is to admit that I am dissatisfied with the kind oflife I am now leading.

The way to realize this essential nature is stated to beby ceasing to be oneself. If one introspects, one realizes that one is but aconstellation of desires and impulses, reflecting one's environment. One mimicsthe social behavior of one's community. Those around one condition one'sactions, and one is subject to suggestion, climate, disease, etc. One ischanging all the time, and has no essential external reality.

One's Reality, the essential nature, is clouded and hiddenfrom one because of one's egotism, which is asserted and reinforced by hundredsof daily actions. One feels one is separate and a unique individual every timeone desires, fears or hates; every time one boasts or indulges in vanity; everytime one struggles to get something for oneself. One is assertive in one'sdaily actions only because of egotism.

In truth, one is not apart from anything else in thisuniverse. The scientist agrees that every living creature and every object areinterrelated biologically, psychologically, physically, politically andeconomically. They are all of a piece.

To believe that one is not apart from everything else inthe universe is not easy. To overcome this possessive attitude towards one'sactions, one is to stop taking credit for one's successes. One is to stopbemoaning one's failures and making excuses for them. One is to stop worryingabout one's results. One is to work for the sake of the work. One is to thinkof one's body as an instrument of action of the Atman, and no more. All workdone in this spirit is symbolic, like ritual. Then it becomes a form ofworship.

Vedanta is both specific and universal. It has itsall-embracing, universal aspect and also its specific aspect, and is thedistilled wisdom of the Hindu spiritual tradition. A Vedanta way of lifeapplies to both the dimensions duly integrated.

The Vedanta way of life is a seamless whole, a unifiedendeavor that moves smoothly, resolutely and joyfully toward the goal ofspiritual awakening. This goal is what keeps our lives anchored. It is whatenables us to make daily decisions. It is what enables us to engage or not toengage in activity.

In this integrated Vedanta life, our actions are in tandemwith our words and our words do not betray our heart. Our subconscious state ofmind does not conflict with a conscious mind, and the conscious mind does notengage in internal conflict. This way of life, as it is lived in private and inpublic, reflects our most deeply held, cherished beliefs about the ultimate Realityand our relation to It. As a necessary corollary, it is our relation built withall other beings around.

First and foremost, our very life is our gospel.What we say about religion or spirituality does not carry conviction unless welive by what we say. People judge what we say by what we are.

If there is wide disparity between our philosophy and ouraction, we need to mend the fissures in our personality so that we can live asdeeply integrated a spiritual life as we are capable of.

We see many persons talking the most wonderfully finethings about charity, equality and the rights of other people; but it is onlyin theory. Rarely do we come across some one who is able to carry theory intopractice. The one who has such faculty of carrying everything into practicewhich he thinks is right harmonizes thoughts, words and actions. The Vedantaway of life is not just in talking the talk, but also in walking the walk. Ifthere is any deficiency in this approach, we are only parrots, not genuinespiritual seekers.

The light of truth illumines the Vedanta path. One needhave great love for truth, and that much reckless abandon in seeking it. Greatsages like Sri Ramakrishna renounce everything except truth. ‘Through trutheverything is attained‘. Truth is both the way and the goal; it is direction tothe destination and the destination itself.

A true person alone can have true knowledge. A true personis one who, having attained oneness with the Divine, does not mind havinglittle, does not boast of accomplishments, is not concerned with success orfailure or with his or her own life or death. Above all, a true person is onewho is wholly detached and utterly free.

Detachment, an essential quality of Vedanta life, is notsynonymous with indifference. Detachment is not the opposite of love andconcern. On the other hand, it is detachment that produces true love andselfless concern. Detachment means identifying with our real nature. It meansreally being ourselves in the highest sense of the term. It is acknowledgingand responding to our innate purity, joyfulness, freedom and wisdom.

Detachment is considered the cornerstone of a committedspiritual life. It is a state of deep calm, arising from the full andharmonious integration of the emotional life under the influence of love. It isnot coldness or indifference.

Detachment and love for God are intertwined in a Vedantaway of life. Real detachment is freedom from the lower desires, which pull usaway from realizing our true nature and from attaining oneness with the Divine.Unless checked, the desires will prevent us from giving ourselveswholeheartedly to spiritual life. Sri Ramakrishna often says, ‘a thread cannotpass through the eye of a needle if it has the smallest fiber sticking out'. AVedanta way of life means having the determination to continue struggling inour spiritual quest so that our carefully threaded life can enter into the eyeof the needle of divine Reality.

Another important attribute is the patience to persevereagainst what appear to be obstacles most of which are self-imposed. Thispatience is what we call steadfastness. It means that we have to keep ourspiritual goal always in our mental foreground.

Otherwise, we just get distracted. Once distracted, onegets disinterested. Anyone who does things lukewarmly is close to falling andfailing.

As is said, the true person is one who has true knowledge.True knowledge is the integrated vision of wholeness, the experience of the Onethat is all existence. There is no place where the One does not exist. Thesubjective experience is that I am one with all Existence. This experience is,indeed, the crown of the Vedanta way of life.

This is best illustrated in what Mr. Merton, a Trappistmonk, writes of his sudden experience on a street corner: ‘...it was as ifI suddenly saw the secret beauty of (everyone's) heart, the depths of theirhearts... the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes...It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is ineverybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points oflight coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all thedarkness and cruelty of life vanish completely... I have not programmed for thisseeing; it is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.'

This realization (vision) only corroborates what LordKrishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita: ‘One who, established in unity, worships Mewho dwells in all beings, abides in Me.'

If the highest expression of spirituality is seeing Goddwelling in the hearts of all, then to worship God is nothing but offeringservice to humankind. As Swami Vivekananda says, ‘he who sees Shiva in thepoor, in the weak, and in the diseased really worships Shiva; and if he seesShiva only in the image, his worship is but preliminary.'

To sum up, the Vedanta way of life always means startingfrom where we are, and starting itself is a triumph. Secondly, it means thatsuccess is inevitable in the sense that we are only discovering our real nature.We are attaining what is ours by our very nature of our being human beings. Inthe end, all of us, every one of us shall attain to the goal of life.

Whether we attain to the goal quickly or whether we attainto it over a prolonged period of time depends on our own sincere efforts. Thecrucial issue is that when once we embark on our journey in the rightdirection, we find it difficult to halt. The way of leading a Vedanta life istoo difficult to resist. We find that our tenacity pays off with happiness andmeaning pouring over our entire life, from the smallest detail to its highestgoal. We experience that the Vedanta way of life is the best and the mostjoyful life a human being can ever have. We find our life truly blessed, andour life will be a blessing to others around us.

K. R. Paramahamsa is an author of book Living in Spirit.

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The Vedanta Way of Life