Practical Vedanta

Practical Vedanta"This life is Brahman, Brahman is the ether, and Brahman is happiness. KnowBrahman." "I know, sir," the boy replied, "that life is Brahman, but that It is etherand happiness I do not know." Then it explained that the two words ether andhappiness signified one thing in reality, viz. the sentient ether (pure intelligence)that resides in the heart. So, it taught him Brahman as life and as the ether in theheart. Then the fire taught him, "This earth, food, fire, and sun whom youworship, are forms of Brahman. The person that is seen in the sun, I am He. Hewho knows this and meditates on Him, all his sins vanish and he has long life andbecomes happy. He who lives in the cardinal points, the moon, the stars, and thewater, I am He. He who lives in this life, the ether, the heavens, and the lightning,I am He." Here too we see the same idea of practical religion. The things whichthey were worshipping, such as the fire, the sun, the moon, and so forth, and thevoice with which they were familiar, form the subject of the stories which explainthem and give them a higher meaning. And this is the real, practical side ofVedanta. It does not destroy the world, but it explains it; it does not destroy theperson, but explains him; it does not destroy the individuality, but explains it byshowing the real individuality. It does not show that this world is vain and doesnot exist, but it says, "Understand what this world is, so that it may not hurt you."The voice did not say to Upakosala that the fire which he was worshipping, or thesun, or the moon, or the lightning, or anything else, was all wrong, but it showedhim that the same spirit which was inside the sun, and moon, and lightning, andthe fire, and the earth, was in him, so that everything became transformed, as itwere, in the eyes of Upakosala. The fire which was merely a material fire before,in which to make oblations, assumed a new aspect and became the Lord. The earthbecame transformed, life became transformed, the sun, the moon, the stars, thelightning, everything became transformed and deified. Their real nature wasknown. The theme of the Vedanta is to see the Lord in everything, to see things intheir real nature, not as they appear to be. Then another lesson is taught in theUpanishads: "He who shines through the eyes is Brahman; He is the BeautifulOne, He is the Shining One. He shines in all these worlds." A certain peculiarlight, a commentator says, which comes to the pure man, is what is meant by thelight in the eyes, and it is said that when a man is pure such a light will shine in hiseyes, and that light belongs really to the Soul within, which is everywhere. It is thesame light which shines in the planets, in the stars, and suns.I will now read to you some other doctrine of these ancient Upanishads, aboutbirth and death and so on. Perhaps it will interest you. Shvetaketu went to the kingof the Panchâlas, and the king asked him, "Do you know where people go whenthey die? Do you know how they come back? Do you know why the other worlddoes not become full?" The boy replied that he did not know. Then he went to hisfather and asked him the same questions. The father said, "I do not know," and hewent to the king. The king said that this knowledge was never known to thepriests, it was only with the kings, and that was the reason why kings ruled theworld. This man stayed with the king for some time, for the king said he wouldfile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selva...oksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (13 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:33 AM