Let us first see briefly about
Vedanta, the philosophy of the Upanishads. Hindus, in spite of their differences in
rituals, forms of worship and philosophical doctrines have a common factor i.e.
their allegiance to Vedas, which is believed to be eternal and revealed by God
to a few Rishis who could divine it through their refined mind. The Upanishads generally form the end portion
of Vedas and contain the theological truths revealed by the Vedas. The philosophy expounded in the Upanishads is
known as Vedanta and this term can be
interpreted as 1) the end and goal of Vedas or 2) the essence of the Vedas and also as 3) the
end portion of Vedas. Speaking of
Upanishads, Swami Vivekananda says, “Bold, brave, beyond the conception of the
present day, stand the giant minds of the sages of Upanishads, declaring the
noblest truths that have ever been preached to humanity, without any
compromise, without any fear.....Truly it has been said of the Upanishads by
Ramanuja that they form the head, shoulders, the crest of the Vedas” (Lahore
address,1897) ). (Hereafter volume no.
and the page no. of collected works only will be given in brackets, when quoting
Swami Vivekananda).
The term Vedanta also denotes the major group
of surviving schools of Hindu philosophy,
Dvaita, Visishtadvaita and Advaita, although by usage this term
denotes Advaita Vedanta only now. In expounding his philosophy of practical
Vedanta, Swami Vivekananada, enunciated that these three are not contradictory
systems though Dvaita, Visihtadvaita and Advaita differ in their
interpretation of Upanishads in defining God, Universe and individual and
their relationship to each other. He stated
that in the three systems there is the gradual working up of human mind towards
higher and higher ideals till everything is merged in the wonderful unity which
is reached in the Advaita system, the unity of everything in and as
Brahman and Brahman as and in everything.
He pointed out that one system is based on another and there is gradual
unfolding of the theme. It is like advancing from truth to greater truth to
ultimate truth. “The old idea was to develop
one at the expense of all the rest. The
modern way is harmonious development. ---- He who gets the whole must have the
parts too. Dualism is included in Advaitism”
(7,87)”
Acharya Sankara summed up Advaita philosophy as
“Brahma Satyam, Jagan Mithya, Jivo Brahmaiva na apara”-Brahman
only is real, Universe is only mithya, apparently real, Individual’s
Athma is not different from Brahman”. Swami Vivekananda in his interpretation, gave
more emphasis to the part that individual’s Athma is same as Brahman,
Jiva-Brahma ikyam, to emphasise the divinity of each individual soul, Athma,
with no emphasis on the part about the mithyatvam of the Universe. He wanted the wisdom of Upanishads to be no
more the Rahasya, kept screened from the weak downtrodden masses of
India who were in the grip of superstitions, in the name of religion and
resigned to their miserable lot conditioned by centuries of social taboos. So wherever he talked he made it a point to
emphasise their divinity, reminding people of Upanishad calling them “Amrtasya putrah”, heirs to immortal bliss. He
wanted the people to develop “muscles of steel and nerves of iron” to meet the
challenges of life and to banish fear from their hearts. A few quotations from his speeches, to this end I am
giving below:
Religion is the manifestation of divinity already existing in man.(3.482).
Superstition is a great enemy of man.(1.15).
Man stands on the glory of his own soul, the infinite, the eternal, the deathless—that soul which no instruments can pierce, which no air can dry, no fire burn, no water melt, the infinite, the birthless, the deathless, without beginning and without end, … before whose glory space melts away into nothingness and time vanishes into non-existence. This glorious soul we must believe in. Out of that will come power. (3.130)
We want Shraddha, we want faith in our own selves. Strength is life, weakness is death. ‘We are the Atman, deathless and free; pure, pure by nature. Can we ever commit any sin? Impossible!’—such a faith is needed. Such a faith makes men of us, makes gods of us. It is by losing this idea of Shraddha that the country has gone to ruin. (5.332)
The conceptions of Vedanta must come out, must remain not only in the forest, not only in the cave, but they must come out to work at the bar and the bench, in the pulpit, and in the cottage of the poor man, with the fishermen that are catching fish, and with the students that are studying. … If the fisherman thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be a better fisherman; if the student thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be a better student. If the lawyer thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be a better lawyer, and so on. (3.245).
When talking about Brahman as the only Reality, he
emphasised also the oneness of all with Brahman. So the Universe being one with Brahman is
also Real, as it is pervaded by Brahman.
The Universe is only apparently real, when you see it as different from Brahman. For him Brahman is the
noumenon, the unchangeable and Universe is the phenomenon, the changeable. Swami Vivekananda states that the Vedanta does not
in reality denounce the world. What it seeks to teach is the deification of the
world and not its annihilation - giving up the world as we ordinarily think of
it, as it appears to us and to know what it really is. He stated that world is
to be deified quoting the opening mantra of Isavasyopanishad which says "ईशा वास्यमिदगं सर्वं यत्किञ्च
जगत्यां जगत् “ (Isavasyam idam
sarvam yat kim ca jagatyam jagat) - All this, whatsoever moves on the earth,
should be covered by the Lord." He amplified this idea when he stated: “The central ideal of Vedanta is oneness. There are
no two in anything, no two lives. There is but one life, one world, one
existence. Everything is that One, the difference is in degree and not in kind.
It is the same life that pulsates through all beings, from Brahman to the
amoeba, the difference is only in the degree of manifestation. We must not look
down with contempt on others (2,299)”. And in emphasising all is Brahman, he also tried to emphasise the unity of
personal God, Iswara and Impersonal God, Brahman calling the
latter Absolute and the former relative.
He felt all the views of Brahman being based on genuine spiritual
experience of the Acharyas should be accepted as true of Brahman,
the Ultimate Reality.
The same harmonious approach he adopted in defining the paths to reach the
goal of Realisation of one’s True Self. For him, each one of the yogas, karma yoga,
bhakthi yoga, raja yoga and jnana yoga
is capable of serving as direct means for the attainment of Moksha.
In support he quotes Gita where Sri Krishna’s talks about karma, dhyana,
Bhakthi and jnana and also talks of yoga buddhi in their performance to reach
Him. Yoga buddhi is the intense desire
seeking union with God. He also defined Maya not as illusion but as a triad of space, time and causation, which are
only ideas or concepts in our mind and has no place in Brahman. Swami Vivekananda
himself gave a capsule summary of his
practical Vedanta philosophy in one of his speeches as: “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this
divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by
work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy—by one, or more, or all of
these and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines or dogmas, or
rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.” (1.257). This incorporates the harmony and humanism he always
emphasised along with the essence of Upanishads as revealed in the Mahavakhyas
like “तत् त्वं असि Tat Tvam Asi” (you are that only) spelling
out Jiva-Brahma-Ikyam.
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