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Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

* Lecture I

• Vedanta must be practical religion and the fictitious division between religion and life of the world must vanish. Some of the best parts of Vedanta philosophy were not outcomes of meditations in seclusion but of brains busy in thinking everyday affairs; Gita exposition on battlefield is an example. Vedanta wants intense activity combined with eternal calmness. Passionate mind ruins work as well as itself, while calm and peaceful mind, does greatest amount of work without getting disturbed.


• 'Practicality' and 'orthodoxy' are used by people to stick to their accustomed way of thinking and living; anything different from it is labelled as 'impractical' and 'heterodoxy'! Vedanta, though intensely practical, is always so in terms of the ideal; the ideal is not impossible though it is high enough, in essence it is "Thou art That" - we are in our real nature immortal divine and this is an ever-present fact and not theory or belief.


• 'The Vedanta recognises no sin, it only recognises error.' To think oneself weak and limited is the greatest error. Purity is not to be gained, it is already ours but the obstruction to its manifestation is to be removed. The actual should be raised to the ideal and not vice versa; fleshly vanities can never be reconciled with highest ideal. At the same time, condemning others for their apparent failings is totally wrong; all are but trying to reach the ideal in their own way.


• 'He is the atheist who does not believe in himself.' Do not make the path more difficult for those who are coming after you; know the Truth, practice It and proclaim It. 'This manifoldness is like a dream.' 'I' is known to all and it is infinite Self but it appears as fictitious limited 'i'.


• We need to understand the ideal intellectually first, though intellect is only the 'street-cleaner', it can't move ahead; it is the 'feeling', love which takes us to God. 'Our prophet-soul is the proof of their [Christ, Buddha] prophet-soul. Your godhead is the proof of God Himself.' To say we are weak is sin.

* Lecture II

• Story of Satyakama learning Brahman from nature and his disciple Upakosala Kamalayana (Chhandogya Upanishad). In these stories the idea of practicality of religion, spirituality is prominent. Vedanta does not destroy world or personality, but it explains them by showing the Reality behind them. Vedanta teaches to see Lord in everything. Story of Satyakama being taught by Panchala king. Invented symbols for worshipping God may be good but better and higher symbols already exists; temple and image is fine but living human being and his body already exists!


• Ideas about various spheres of existence and souls journey to them; it points to the realisation that no heaven is permanent without God-realisation; everything with name and form is transient. Ancient seers realised Truth by practicing it first and patiently investigating human mind; philosophy and books came later. By analysing journey to heaven and return to earth, they also grasped the idea that finite causes give only finite effects. Realise Self by transcending heaven and hell, good and bad.


• With Upanishads, the idea of fear, reward, punishment, personal God etc. vanish and impersonal idea takes over. Impersonality includes and transcends all personalities. The fear that teaching impersonal idea will lead to immorality is not justified as the opposite (personal idea, fear, duality approach) has been tried for centuries and the result is pathetic; whereas impersonal idea may have the danger of misinterpretation, but the world has witnessed the most gigantic workers, most gigantic moral powers from those who worshipped Impersonal Self. We are infinite but have apparently limited ourselves. We vainly hope from external throughout our lives; 'give up hope, says the Vedanta'. We are the God that we are searching everywhere and are not able to see.


• If we are free and pure, we can not but see freedom and purity everywhere; we can not call worshipping of God through ceremonials as an error; 'evil is less good; impurity is less purity'.

* Lecture III

• Chhandogya Upanishad story of Narada and Sanatkumara; Prana is higher than Akasha and everything is the work of Prana. Two principles of knowledge: particular explained by general, general by universal and explanation of things from their own nature. Monotheism, concept of Personal God does not successfully qualify the above two scientific criterions. In India, Buddhists gave blow to the Personal God idea on the basis of later of the above two principles. '... Buddhist says, "You have no ground for maintaining the existence of such substance; the qualities are all that exists; you do not see beyond them." This is just the position of most of our agnostics.' Does the duality of noumenon and phenomenon, of substance and qualities exist? Buddhists deny this and say only phenomenon exists while monistic Vedanta says only noumenon exists and phenomenon is illusory appearance like that of a snake appearing as rope in darkness.


• Impersonal idea does not destroy personal but explains it; we are that Impersonal God. Universal and rational basis of ethics come from monistic idea; old authority of ethics, namely some religious book, is no longer accepted to rational modern man. Better to become an atheist following reason than to follow blindly some god on the authority of someone. Power of authority is great and so also is its danger (e.g Kuran asking to kill infidels, rigid and complete authority of Veda on Hindus life etc.); it stunts the growth of humanity. Comfortable, consoling, personal religion & God is understood by monism and is accepted as necessary for the growth of many minds; He is the highest reading of the Impersonal by human perspective.


• When we get rid of the mind, our little personality we shall be come one with the Reality, our true nature. Infinite power, blessedness is our nature, we don't have to acquire it, only manifest it. All knowledge is within us; manifestation of infinite power is only question of being conscious of it.

* Lecture IV

• The argument for limited yet perfect individual soul is that of self-identity - 'I' am the same despite changes occurring to the body (ancient Vedantists, dualists); on the other hand Buddhists say that it is unnecessary to assume unchanging soul behind changing phenomenon and even if such a soul exists, it is impossible to grasp it in any way. Similar argument exists between religionists and idealists on one side and modern positivists and agnostics on the other.


• Argument of existence based on memory is very weak; it can not be proved that there is an unchanging limited individual soul to which changing qualities are attached. Buddhists argument is bit stronger. The Advaitist theory reconciles these two positions - it says that substance and qualities are not two things and the same noumena is seen as phenomena. 'None can get the perception of the Self without his perception of the body having vanished.'


• One appearing as many gives rise to cause-effect relationship and evolution idea. We are immortal and unchangeable as whole but we wish to be such as parts of the whole! We can characterise the limited soul as an individual, continuously expanding towards Infinite Individual. One major difference between Buddhist system and Vedanta was that while Advaita tried to harmonise the preceding systems of thought and allowed them the gradual evolution towards the highest, Buddhists had neither the faculty nor perception for this and hence rejected all other thought-systems as useless and harmful. Advaita accepts all preceding thought-systems, not in a patronising way but as true manifestations of the same truth.


• From dualist standpoint human being will necessarily be seen as composed of body and soul; body is gross and subtle while soul is described variously; but it is agreed that soul is eternal, blessed, and full of potential power and possibilities. The soul travels to various spheres of existence and liberation consists of going to highest heaven and staying with God. Advaitists reject this idea of body and say that only 'bodylessness' and 'thoughtlessness' can be infinite and our real goal. They say infinity is our real nature and we are already that.


• We should not judge others by our standards; if some people have no taste for little pleasures of this (or any other world) and wish to give it up then we should not bind them with our ideas. Story of sinking English vessel where men on deck cheered those who survived. Islam's clinging to dualism and hence tremendous bloodshed and cruelty. 'There is very little difference between the pure religion of Christ and that of the Vedanta.'


• Throughout creation two forces are always working side-by-side: selfishness and unselfishness, acquisition and renunciation. The motive power for whole universe is unselfishness, renunciation, love; selfishness, acquisition, evil is only the limitation and perversion of unselfishness, love. To get morality and ethics we should not lower our metaphysical ideal. Our essential nature being good and love, do not mope over mistakes but know that eventually the real will prevail. Always think of the God within you; realize your real nature and then teach it to all as it is their real nature too.

( Readers can go through the lectures fully by downloading the Vol II of Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda here )

----------- Om Tat Sat -----------