Vedanta is Living Experience
VEDANTA is today a much abused
term. All sorts of vanity, hypocrisy and self-conceit have been masquerading in
its name. It has become the fashion of the day to pass for a Vedantin as it is
then convenient to give up all sorts of responsibilities, rituals and
restrictions of the Varnashrama Dharma and enables one to lead a happy-go-lucky
life to ease, lethargy and inertia. Most people take great pride in calling
themselves Vedantins, whether or not they understand the philosophy, whether or
not they do any practice. All retired officers who have not done any selfless
service or any Sadhana or worship or charity take to Vedanta as a sort of
fancy.
Thus Vedanta has become a very
comfortable philosophy, because one can do whatever he chooses and eat whatever
he likes. Licentiousness is mistaken for a life of expansion. If a man can eat
anything in any hotel in any part of the world, if he can move socially with
any man or woman, that does not mean, he is a Vedantin. There is much tall talk
of Vedanta now-a-days. There is idle Vedantic gossiping. But there is no
practical Vedanta. Nobody wants to do any real solid Vedantic Sadhana. Man
feels ashamed to call himself a Bhakta, but he takes great pride in calling
himself a Yogi or a Vedantin, because he foolishly imagines he will respected
by the public. Many ignorant Vedantins have mistaken the body for Brahman and
hence there is corruption amongst the so-called loose Vedantins. This is not
only lamentable but also highly deplorable.
Wholesale preaching of Vedanta
to the Masses is not advisable. It will result in chaos, bewilderment and
stagnation. Grasping of Vedantic principles and a right understanding of the
philosophy and Sadhana are very difficult. Vedanta is for a select few who are
equipped with the four means of salvation or Sadhana Chatushtaya and who have
removed the impurities of their minds and mental oscillation through constant
practice of Nishkama Karma Yoga and Upasana. The path of Vedanta is not so easy
as it is generally supposed to be. It is a sharp razor-edge path. Therefore,
those who preach Vedanta to the masses do more harm than any good. They are
misleading the people.
It is very very easy to say,
Soham - I am He, Sivoham - I am Siva, Aham Brahma Asmi - I am Brahman like a
parrot, but to live in the very spirit of Vedanta, to feel the oneness or unity
of consciousness, to become 'That' in reality and to radiate the Brahmic Bliss,
Joy and Peace is an extremely difficult affair. While repeating 'Soham', if his
mind is easily upset when another utters a single harsh word, and if he begins
to fight with that man vehemently, there is no use at all in that repetition.
It is mere hypocrisy. He will not be able to influence others. People will take
him for a cheat.
Vedanta is not merely a
concept or a dogma. It is neither a theory nor a dry philosophy for contention
and argumentation. It is the actual life of perennial joy in Brahman or Truth.
A single practical Vedantin like Sankara could move the whole world. A
practical Vedantin will outweigh a thousand and one Sandows when weighed in a
balance. A practical Vedantin possesses tremendous inner spiritual strength.
The whole world rejoices at the sight of a real practical Vedantin. Practical
Vedanta is a living experience, the melting of the individual self in the ocean
of consciousness or the Supreme Self. The experiencer exclaims with inexpressible
joy, All indeed is Brahman. All differences, distinctions, qualities have
vanished. I see Brahman and Oneness everywhere. I am Brahman.
Excerpts from:
Vedanta is
Living Experience by Sri Swami Sivananda
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