A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"VEDANTA. 363.only they were mistaken. We need not gointo texttorturing, we need not go into any sort of religious dishotfesty,we need not go into any sort of grammaticaltwaddle, we need not go about trying to put our own ideasinto texts which were never meant for these ideas, but theworkis plain and it id easier once you understand the marvellous doctrine of Adhikara Vedas. It is true that thehave one theme before them. What is thatUpanishac!<6knowing which we know everything else ?" In modernlanguage the theme of the Upanishads like the theme ofevery other knowledge, is to find an ultimate unity ofthings, for you must remember that knowledge is nothingbut finding unity in the midst of diversity. Each scienceis based upon this ;all human knowledgeis based upon thefinding of unity in the midst t)f diversity and if it is the;task of small bits of human knowledge, which we call oursciences, to find unity in the midst of a few different phenomena, the task becomes stupendous when the theme beforeus is to find unity in the midst of this marvellously diversified universe, different in name and form, different inmatter and spirit, different in everything, each thoughtdiffering from every other thought, each form differingfrom every other form, how many planes, unending lokasin the midst of this to find unity, this is thetheme of theUpanishads that we understand. On the other hand, theold idea of Arundbati Nyaya applies. To show a man the1Pole Star one takes the nearest star which is bigger thanthe Pole Star and more brilliant, and leads him to fix hismind on that, until at last he comes to the Pole Star.This is the task before us, and to prove my idea I havesimply to show you the Upanishads, and you will see it.Nearly every chapter begins with Dualistic teaching,.upasana. Later on God is first taught as some one who is