Practical Vedanta

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Practical VedantaThou art the young man walking in the pride of his strength." Thou art all thatexists, a wonderful living God who is the only fact in the universe. This seems tomany to be a terrible contradiction to the traditional God who lives behind a veilsomewhere and whom nobody ever sees. The priests only give us an assurancethat if we follow them, listen to their admonitions, and walk in the way they markout for us — then when we die, they will give us a passport to enable us to see theface of God! What are all these heaven ideas but simply modifications of thisnonsensical priestcraft?Of course the impersonal idea is very destructive, it takes away all trade from thepriests, churches, and temples. In India there is a famine now, but there aretemples in each one of which there are jewels worth a king's ransom! If the prieststaught this Impersonal idea to the people, their occupation would be gone. Yet wehave to teach it unselfishly, without priestcraft. You are God and so am I; whoobeys whom? Who worships whom? You are the highest temple of God; I wouldrather worship you than any temple, image, or Bible. Why are some people socontradictory in their thought? They are like fish slipping through our fingers.They say they are hard-headed practical men. Very good. But what is morepractical than worshipping here, worshipping you? I see you, feel you, and I knowyou are God. The Mohammedan says, there is no God but Allah. The Vedantasays, there is nothing that is not God. It may frighten many of you, but you willunderstand it by degrees. The living God is within you, and yet you are buildingchurches and temples and believing all sorts of imaginary nonsense. The only Godto worship is the human soul in the human body. Of course all animals are templestoo, but man is the highest, the Taj Mahal of temples. If I cannot worship in that,no other temple will be of any advantage. The moment I have realised God sittingin the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before everyhuman being and see God in him — that moment I am free from bondage,everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.This is the most practical of all worship. It has nothing to do with theorising andspeculation. Yet it frightens many. They say it is not right. They go on theorisingabout old ideals told them by their grandfathers, that a God somewhere in heavenhad told some one that he was God. Since that time we have only theories. This ispracticality according to them, and our ideas are impractical! No doubt, theVedanta says that each one must have his own path, but the path is not the goal.The worship of a God in heaven and all these things are not bad, but they are onlysteps towards the Truth and not the Truth itself. They are good and beautiful, andsome wonderful ideas are there, but the Vedanta says at every point, "My friend,Him whom you are worshipping as unknown, I worship as thee. He whom you areworshipping as unknown and are seeking for, throughout the universe, has beenwith you all the time. You are living through Him, and He is the Eternal Witnessof the universe" "He whom all the Vedas worship, nay, more, He who is alwayspresent in the eternal 'I'. He existing, the whole universe exists. He is the light andlife of the universe. If the 'I' were not in you, you would not see the sun,file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selva...oksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (18 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:33 AM
Practical Vedantaeverything would be a dark mass. He shining, you see the world."One question is generally asked, and it is this that this may lead to a tremendousamount of difficulty. Everyone of us will think, "I am God, and whatever I do orthink must be good, for God can do no evil." In the first place, even taking thisdanger of misinterpretation for granted, can it be proved that on the other side thesame danger does not exist? They have been worshipping a God in heavenseparate from them, and of whom they are much afraid. They have been bornshaking with fear, and all their life they will go on shaking. Has the world beenmade much better by this? Those who have understood and worshipped a PersonalGod, and those who have understood and worshipped an Impersonal God, onwhich side have been the great workers of the world — gigantic workers, giganticmoral powers? Certainly on the Impersonal. How can you expect morality to bedeveloped through fear? It can never be. "Where one sees another, where onehears another, that is Maya. When one does not see another, when one does nothear another, when everything has become the Atman, who sees whom, whoperceives whom?" It is all He, and all I, at the same time. The soul has becomepure. Then, and then alone we understand what love is. Love cannot come throughfear, its basis is freedom. When we really begin to love the world, then weunderstand what is meant by brotherhood or mankind, and not before.So, it is not right to say that the Impersonal idea will lead to a tremendous amountof evil in the world, as if the other doctrine never lent itself to works of evil, as ifit did not lead to sectarianism deluging the world with blood and causing men totear each other to pieces. "My God is the greatest God, let us decide it by a freefight." That is the outcome of dualism all over the world. Come out into the broadopen light of day, come out from the little narrow paths, for how can the infinitesoul rest content to live and die in small ruts? Come out into the universe of Light.Everything in the universe is yours, stretch out your arms and embrace it withlove. If you ever felt you wanted to do that, you have felt God.You remember that passage in the sermon of Buddha, how he sent a thought oflove towards the south, the north, the east, and the west, above and below, untilthe whole universe was filled with this lose, so grand, great, and infinite. Whenyou have that feeling, you have true personality. The whole universe is oneperson; let go the little things. Give up the small for the Infinite, give up smallenjoyments for infinite bliss. It is all yours, for the Impersonal includes thePersonal. So God is Personal and Impersonal at the same time. And Man, theInfinite, Impersonal Man, is manifesting Himself as person. We the infinite havelimited ourselves, as it were, into small parts. The Vedanta says that Infinity is ourtrue nature; it will never vanish, it will abide for ever. But we are limitingourselves by our Karma, which like a chain round our necks has dragged us intothis limitation. Break that chain and be free. Trample law under your feet. There isno law in human nature, there is no destiny, no fate. How can there be law ininfinity? Freedom is its watchword. Freedom is its nature, its birthright. Be free,and then have any number of personalities you like. Then we will play like thefile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selva...oksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (19 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:33 AM
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Page 3 and 4: Practical Vedantaworld. If I am a s
Page 5 and 6: Practical Vedantadifference is only
Page 7 and 8: Practical VedantaThe ideal of faith
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Page 13 and 14: Practical Vedanta"This life is Brah
Page 15 and 16: Practical Vedantadark fifteen days,
Page 17: Practical Vedantalife. This is the
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Page 55 and 56: Practical Vedantawe all go with ves
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Practical VedantaGod. We must learn
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Practical Vedantaexistence is limit
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Practical Vedantaindividuality, of
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Practical Vedanta

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