Practical Vedanta

Practical Vedantadark fifteen days, then to the six months when the sun goes to the south, and fromthat they go to the region of their forefathers, then to ether, then to the region ofthe moon, and there become the food of the gods, and later, are born as gods andlive there so long as their good works will permit. And when the effect of the goodwork has been finished, they come back to earth by the same route. They firstbecome ether, and then air, and then smoke, and then mist, then cloud, and thenfall upon the earth as raindrops; then they get into food, which is eaten up byhuman beings, and finally become their children. Those whose works have beenvery good take birth in good families, and those whose works have been bad takebad births, even in animal bodies. Animals are continually coming to and goingfrom this earth. That is why the earth is neither full nor empty.Several ideas we can get also from this, and later on, perhaps, we shall be able tounderstand it better, and we can speculate a little upon what it means. The last partwhich deals with how those who have been in heaven return, is clearer, perhaps,than the first part; but the whole idea seems to be this that there is no permanentheaven without realising God. Now some people who have not realised God, buthave done good work in this world, with the view of enjoying the results, go,when they die, through this and that place, until they reach heaven, and there theyare born in the same way as we are here, as children of the gods, and they livethere as long as their good works will permit. Out of this comes one basic idea ofthe Vedanta that everything which has name and form is transient. This earth istransient, because it has name and form, and so the heavens must be transient,because there also name and form remain. A heaven which is eternal will becontradictory in terms, because everything that has name and form must begin intime, exist in time, and end in time. These are settled doctrines of the Vedanta, andas such the heavens are given up.We have seen in the Samhitâ that the idea of heaven was that it was eternal, muchthe same as is prevalent among Mohammedans and Christians. TheMohammedans concretise it a little more. They say it is a place where there aregardens, beneath which rivers run. In the desert of Arabia water is very desirable,so the Mohammedan always conceives of his heaven as containing much water. Iwas born in a country where there are six months of rain every year. I should thinkof heaven, I suppose, as a dry place, and so also would the English people. Theseheavens in the Samhita are eternal, and the departed have beautiful bodies and livewith their forefathers, and are happy ever afterwards. There they meet with theirparents, children, and other relatives, and lead very much the same sort of life ashere, only much happier. All the difficulties and obstructions to happiness in thislife have vanished, and only its good parts and enjoyments remain. But howevercomfortable mankind may consider this state of things, truth is one thing andcomfort is another. There are cases where truth is not comfortable until we reachits climax. Human nature is very conservative It does something, and having oncedone that, finds it hard to get out of it. The mind will not receive new thoughts,because they bring discomfort.file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selva...oksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (15 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:33 AM