Concept of the Individual

The Indian mind is singularly dominated by one paramount conception: the divinity of life.

The ancient discovery of the divine within the human had tremendous impact on the future development of India's culture. Divinity, the essence of the individual, is distinguished from the psycho-physical complex which externally houses it but is not its real nature. Direct experience of this truth is the high prerogative of everyone. The individual is not the body, mind, ego, senses, or intellect; these are only instruments through which one manifests and acts in the world. Divinity, one's true nature, is immortal, pure, eternal, and non-dual. "He (man) is a child of immortal Bliss." (Svetasvatara Upanishad, II.5) The divine nature is also the true nature of animals, but they are incapable of thinking about it. It is only human beings with their unique physical and mental systems, aided by the spiritual environment created by themselves in the course of evolution, who are able to experience the truth. Persons are specially equipped for this great adventure. Human life is a union of spirit and nature, a complex of freedom and bondage, purity and impurity, light and darkness. These two opposite elements, joined together by the inscrutable power of God, produce the human body.

Divinity is in essence self-conscious, self-illuminating, the knowing subject, the organizer of experience, and therefore the principle of order. The body is animated by the divine essence.Our ignorance of our real self compels us to identify ourselves with our bodies, and so we suffer. As we gradually awaken to our divine nature and its glory, we become restless pilgrims among God's creatures. This philosophical attitude behind the Hindu view of life gives us the inspiration to wage relentless struggle in religious life. The search for the common source of life, continuous reflection to find out the higher self behind the psycho-physical organism, and intense longing to experience ultimate Truth are the motivations behind spiritual struggle.

Concept of Religion

Religion is vital, progressive, and dynamic. It is discipline which, when pursued earnestly, enables us to discover the spiritual dimension of our life. As Swami Vivekananda said, "Religion is the manifestation of the divinity already in man." (The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Mayavati Memorial Edition, Vol. 4, p. 358) It is not a creed, dogma, or scholarship but the subjective experience which transforms our life. Every religion has two aspects, the ethnic or sociopolitical, and the spiritual or universal. We are born to ethnic religion and most of us die in it by hugging certain creeds or dogmas in the name of religion. When real thirst after genuine spiritual experience comes in our life only then we enter into the higher phase of religion, the phase of pure spiritual adventure. Here religion means the entire scheme of self-improvement geared to the experience of ultimate truth. Disciplines are observed with a view to develop integrity of character, harmony of life, joy in fellowship, and sincere longing for the vision of truth within and without. This higher religious impulse comes from within. When our life is truly awakened to this quest, moral consciousness quickens and we feel spiritual progress in our lives. This is verifiable truth. It culminates in that plenary experience which enriches life, broadens our views, and purifies our vision. We become universal. Our thoughts and actions are in tune with Divinity. Then we truly enjoy life and can radiate peace and joy, says Vivekananda: "This is the real science of religion. As mathematics in every part of the world does not differ, so the mystics do not differ." (Ibid., Vol. 6, p. 81)

The scientific temper of the human mind cannot remain satisfied with superficial, dogma-ridden ethnic religion. Swami Vivekananda, lamenting over this great loss of human resources due to our stagnation in ethnic religion, remarked:

"My ideal indeed can be put into a few words and that is: to preach unto mankind their divinity and how to make it manifest in every moment of life. . . Religions of the world have become lifeless mockeries. What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love, selfless. That love will make every word tell like a thunderbolt." (Ibid., Vol. 7, p. 501)

Again Swami Vivekananda said:

"My master used to say that these names as Hindu, Christian, etc., stand as great bars to all brotherly feelings between man and man. We must break them down first. They have lost all their good powers and now stand only as baneful influences under whose black magic even the best of us behave like demons." (Ibid., Vol. 6, p. 301)

This teaching of the Eternal Religion of India has been expressed succinctly by Swami Vivekananda:

"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." (Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 124)

Spiritual life finds its fulfillment in this freedom. This alone will give us the cosmic vision which is the goal of religion.

Cardinal Virtues in Hinduism

Expansion of the heart being the rhythm of spiritual life, Hinduism asks its followers to cultivate certain godly virtues. Of all the religions of the world it is known that Hinduism---along with two other faiths, Jainism and Buddhism, which have originated from it---attaches maximum importance to non-violence. This has been taught time and again by the Hindu saints and sages and is related to the vision of unity in diversity. The science of religion calls for the spiritual development of life, and hence the necessity of cultivating truthfulness, spiritual austerity, simplicity, purity, self-control, non-violence, renunciation, and service is accepted as fundamental by the Indian mind.

  Part 4   Vedanta 101

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Books by Swami Tathagatananda:

1. The Vedanta Society of New York -- A Brief History, 2000
2. Mahabharat--Katha (Bengali), 1998
3. Ramayan Anudhyan (Bengali), 1996
4. Healthy Values of Living, 1996
5. Meditation on Swami Vivekananda, 1994
6. Meditation on Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, 1993
7. Glimpses of Great Lives, 1989
8. Shubha Chinta (Bengali), 1988
9. Smaran--Manan (Bengali), 1987

You can order these and other books on Vedanta from The Vedanta Society of New York.

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