Manila, Philippines - February 12, 2006

ﾒVedanta, The Universal Religionﾓ
A talk by Swami Medhasananda

Swami Medhasananda began his discourse in a cheerful mood commenting about the nice warm weather of Manila, a welcome, if brief, relief from Japanﾕs cold February. He also pointed out how Manilaﾕs climate and fruit trees reminded him of India and expressed his happiness at visiting once again.

Departing from the topics of his discourses over the past four years, he stated that todayﾕs subject would probably sound quite new to them: a new approach to religion. He invited the audience to listen carefully to the explanations regarding Vedanta, especially now that some devotees were trying to establish a Vedanta Society in the Philippines, as it is important to understand the meaning of 'Vedanta'.

What Vedanta Means

"Although the concept of Vedanta is probably unknown to most in the Philippines, this is not the case for many other countries, such as, for example, U.S.A. and Europe, where since a hundred years ago many people have become familiar with it. He explained that the term 'Vedanta' means 'goal of the Vedas'. It is formed by two words: 'Veda' which comes from Indiaﾕs ancient scriptures, and 'Anta', which means 'end' or 'goal'."
 
" 'Veda' further means 'knowledge of God, or divine knowledge'. The Veda scriptures are not just a record about a particular incarnation of God, like the Bible recording the teachings of Jesus Christ, or the Koran the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. The Vedas have no specific author; they are the result of revelation and are as eternal as the spiritual truths represented in them."

"Such truths are revealed in the hearts of sages at the birth of a universe, and when a cycle is completed and such universe is dissolved, the Vedas abandon their gross form and assume a subtle form."
 
Swami underlined to his audience that according to Hindu philosophy, the universe is not 'created' or 'destroyed' but only changes its condition from subtle to gross and then back to subtle or, in other words, it is 'projected' at the beginning and later on 'dissolved'. The universe goes through repeated cycles being projected, sustained and dissolved.

The Vedas
 
"Vedas have three portions," continued Swami. "The first portion is about rituals and it is aimed at obtaining satisfaction of desires by performing different rites, offerings and sacrifices (every religion, including Christianity, has its rituals). The second part of the Vedas is about 'mantras', or holy words, aimed at worshipping deities. The third part of the Vedas is about philosophy, knowledge and is called 'Upanishad'."

"Vedanta philosophy is based on the Upanishad. 'Upanishad' means 'near a teacher' and implies that knowledge cannot be achieved through books, but only by being in the company of a teacher, who imparts such spiritual truth to his disciples."

"The age of the Vedas goes back at least five thousand years. During this long period some of the Upanishads were forgotten and lost. The remaining ones are very famous and form the basis for Vedanta philosophy."

Swami then called the attention of his audience to the main difference between Western philosophy and Indian or Eastern philosophy. "While both philosophies seek the truth, Western thinkers try to reach the truth by using only the intellect or intelligence, whereas in the East and in India, truth is sought with oneﾕs whole being. Western philosophers are satisfied by intellectually understanding truth. In India and the East truth has to be perceived, realized through oneﾕs whole being and life. So the West establishes a difference between practice (equivalent to religion) and understanding (philosophy)."
 
Vedanta both Religion and Philosophy

"For Eastern seekers, in Vedanta there is no such difference and philosophy and religion are the same, truth is pursued through both practice and understanding; truth should be realized. In the West a philosopher may be very much advanced intellectually, while not necessarily leading a very moral life. That would not be possible in India and the East where one seeks truth through both intelligence and a pure life."

"Vedanta, the most famous of the six Indian philosophies, has strongly influenced Indian society and history for thousands of years and has allowed India to withstand many foreign invasions. While elsewhere foreign invaders completely destroyed the local religions of the countries they invaded - think of the native religions of the inhabitants of the Americas and Australia, for example - and replaced them with their own, the long invasions of Muslims and British in India did not succeed in destroying Indian culture and religion. Vedanta was the reason behind Indiaﾕs resilience."

Swami then reminded his listeners that Vedanta may not be so well known in the Philippines, but has met with deep interest in many parts of the world, such as America, Europe and other Asian countries, where people of different religions are very fond of Vedanta and study it actively, even as they maintain their original religion. "Many Christians, Muslims and Buddhists are doing this. Many churches in the West invite Swamis to give speeches about Vedanta for their congregations; hopefully this will happen some day also in the Philippines."

Vedanta is Universal
 
"What makes Vedanta so interesting and acceptable to intellectuals, liberal Christians and Buddhists is that Vedanta has a very rationalistic approach, although at some point it transcends rationalism when the issue of realization is involved."
 
"Vedanta is also universal. An Indian monk of the Vedanta Society of Hollywood, California, once said regarding this: 'If you gathered Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and Krishna in the same room they would embrace each other, but if you assembled in that room four of their respective followers, they would begin to argue and possibly fight.' ﾓ
 
Swami underlined that quarrels arise when too much importance is given to the non-essentials of religion, rather than the essence of religion. "Similarly, when formalities and rituals are emphasized, rather than the spirit of religion, fights may arise."

Religious and Cultural Harmony

"And what is the spirit of religion? Love for God, purity of heart, and service to others. All these are there in any religion. Vedanta gives emphasis on the spirit of religion, not on the external aspects. Vedanta does not believe that only one religion is true and produces saints, whereas other religions are not true and may not generate saints. According to Vedanta every religion is a path to God realization, this is its universality. "

"Vedanta gives the following beautiful example: As different rivers flow to the ocean from different sources and merge their waters there, so people of different tendencies, various as they may appear, follow different paths, crooked or straight, all leading to God. Vedanta respects and accepts the Prophets and Incarnations of all religions. Vedanta also accepts different methods of God realization, such as devotion, selfless work and meditation. "

"In todayﾕs world of fast communication and globalization Vedanta indicates how to harmonize the relationship among different cultures and religions and at the same time accepts that differences are there and should be there. Vedanta says: 'In spite of all your differences you are all united in spirit' and share 'Unity in diversity'."

"Finally, Vedanta is very liberal and, especially, spiritual; placing realization as its first aim and not limiting itself to social activities, like some other religions do. Vedanta poses some basic questions such as: What is the true nature of God? What is the true nature of this universe? What is our true nature as human beings? What is the connection among these three elements; God, universe and us? The Upanishads impart a very important suggestion: 'Know thyself'. Vedanta has a very special approach to all these questions."

The Real and the Apparent

"First of all, it teaches that one has to understand the difference between the apparent and the real, also one has to understand the difference between the relative and the absolute. We say the sky is blue, but is blue the real colour of the sky? No, blue is only the apparent colour of the sky. We look at the sun and it appears to us like a small disk, but is the sun really small? No, in reality it is extremely large."
 
"Copernicus, was the first to state that our planet is revolving around the sun. Until then the concept generally accepted as 'real' was that the sun revolved around the Earth. Copernicus was initially challenged for declaring a truth that disregarded the apparent and identified the real. We can easily be deceived by appearance and ignore reality. Vedanta invites us to question and discriminate our perceptions, asking ourselves whether what we perceive is real or only apparent."

The Relative and the Absolute

"Likewise Vedanta invites us to discriminate between relative and absolute. Take as an example, life and death: on the relative plane we are born and we die, but on the absolute plane only the body is born and dies, our self, our soul is neither born nor dies."

"Basic questions posed by Vedanta include, What is the nature of God? According to Vedanta God is the Supreme Reality, Pure Consciousness, in Sanskrit: Brahman. According to the scriptures, God is infinite: smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest. Interestingly, Vedantaﾕs definition of infinity coincides with that given by science."

"God is 'Sat' 'Chit' 'Ananda', or absolute Knowledge, Existence and Bliss. This concept of the absolute, applicable to God, is opposed to that of the relative, applicable to humans."

"Human existence can last perhaps around a hundred years, but then it is bound to terminate. It is therefore a relative existence, conditioned by time and by space (a human body can only be in one place, but not somewhere else at the same time). Human knowledge is likewise limited (even Einstein, the great scientist, had knowledge limited to science, his literary talent, for instance, was not comparable to that of Shakespeare). Similarly human joy, or bliss, is relative and once again conditioned by time and other factors."
 
"Brahman is free from ignorance, bondage and delusion, opposite to humans. Brahman is also free from the three qualities that are always present in humans, in different combinations: sattva, the quality that reveals and induces balance and quiet; rajas, the quality that binds us through activity; and tamas, inducing indolence and inertia, a destructive quality."

"According to Vedanta our own consciousness is possible through the consciousness of Brahman, in the same way as His consciousness allows the universe and all natural phenomena (such as the sun, light, water, etc.) to exist and operate. As the moon 'borrows' its light from the sun, so the consciousness of the human beings is a reflection of Brahmanﾕs consciousness."

God is Everything
 
"The scriptures say: 'It is not that God is in everything: God is everything.' But how can Brahman, pure consciousness, something so subtle, create a universe so material? A banyan is a huge tree. A teacher once instructed his student to break the small fruit of the huge banyan tree in two. The teacher then asked the student if he saw anything inside. 'Only seeds, Sir', was the studentﾕs answer. At that the teacher instructed his student to take one seed, break it and tell what he saw. The student answered that he saw nothing. But the teacher explained that inside the very small seed of that enormous banyan tree there was the subtle essence of the tree itself."
 
"Why cannot we see Brahman in the universe? 'Name' and 'form' are the elements that give us the impression of differences between objects or between human beings. If we managed to remove name and form then we would be able to see the underlying same consciousness permeating everything and everyone: Brahman. One example is that the differences between golden ornaments such as earrings, nose-rings, necklaces and bracelets is only the result of the shape and name of such ornaments. If a goldsmith melts them then the underlying essence of these ornaments will result in gold."
 
"So the method to find Brahman is in analyzing and eliminating names and forms. Going back to Vedantaﾕs basic question of what is the true nature of ourselves, human beings, apply this same method of analysis, elimination, and discrimination. If we do that we finally find out that we are not the body, we are not the vital energy, senses, mind, intellect, ego; we are pure consciousness. Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is within you.' His words did not refer to the body, but to the spirit."

"In conclusion Vedanta believes in the oneness of existence: the Supreme Reality that exists in the universe also exists in our selves. So the answer to the questions about the true nature of God, the universe, us and what the connections among them are, is that we are all united in spirit, pure consciousness. Why do we not understand this?"

Turiya (Awakening)

"Vedanta believes that we all experience every day three stages: waking stage, dreaming stage and deep sleep. There is however a fourth stage called Turiya or knowledge, realization, eternal awakening. According to Vedanta the waking and dreaming states are equivalent, because during the waking state we are deluded by wrong perceptions of the apparent and the relative. By reaching the Turiya state, through spiritual practice, we then realize that our present waking state is a dream in reality, and that we attain to wisdom, freedom, perfection or, in other words, we reach heaven in this life."

"There are three steps to achieve the state of Turiya. First we must listen to spiritual truth, our true nature being pure consciousness. Secondly, we have to reason about it, to apply our thinking, questioning and analysing so that we can become intellectually convinced about it."

"In the third step is to practice it, through meditation (by pointing our mind towards the spiritual truth in the same way as an arrow is aimed at a target) and through negation/affirmation - denying our identification with body, mind, ego, etc., and identifying ourselves with pure consciousness."

Why We Forget

"Finally, the question of why we forget that we are pure consciousness arises. According to Vedanta, Maya, or spiritual ignorance, is the reason and from that comes our suffering. Vedanta has a classic example to explain this spiritual ignorance, the example of the snake and the rope. "

"A farmer was walking down a village path at dusk, when it was almost dark. He saw a snake in front of him, became scared and started shouting for help. Some villagers came with a lantern and sticks to kill the snake, but when they projected the lanternﾕs light onto the snake they could see it was only a piece of rope lying on the path, not a snake. In this example the farmerﾕs fear was generated by ignorance, a wrong perception of reality: the rope had always been a rope, but was perceived as a snake. Similarly, we are pure consciousness, but, out of ignorance and wrong perception of reality, we identify ourselves with the body and mind."

"One may ask at what point and how one became subject to the spell of Maya and forgetful of oneﾕs own perfect, pure nature. Vedantaﾕs answer to that question is that the question itself is irrelevant: the problem is not so much identifying at what point one became subject to Maya, but rather how to get out of that spell and avoid the suffering that Maya causes."
 
"Here is an example given by the Buddha: Suppose an arrow pierces your body, what is your priority: ask yourself who shot the arrow and why and how and from where? No, your first priority is to remove the arrow from your body and get medical treatment, your first priority is to take care of the suffering. So, though it is a pertinent question at what point Maya cast its spell on us, Vedanta does not give a clear answer, but urges us to direct our efforts towards escaping the spell and terminating the suffering, through spiritual practice. ･