SWAMI ANANYANANDA RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

The Religion We Need

SWAMI ANANYANANDA

wo great forces have been exerting physical existence of man. But science, with their powerful influences on the all its gifts to humanity, has not touched Tminds of men during the past few even the fringe of the life of the spirit. The decades. They are science and humanism. soul of man is hungering for spiritual solace. Science and humanism have become the dominant features of the modern age. The other side Science has achieved astounding results for Look at the other side of the picture of the happiness of man and, let us hasten to science, its dreadful and destructive side. add, also for the unhappiness of man. Humanity today is at the mercy of science. Humanism has led mankind in two different Man has created a Frankenstein’s monster directions: proletarian socialistic which is threatening to destroy its very authoritarianism, on the one hand, and creator. Science has placed in the hands of secularized democratic governments and man such deadly instruments of death and institutions, on the other, both of which, destruction which, if let loose in a moment working purely on secular humanistic of miscalculation or misunderstanding, will principles, have betrayed man and robbed make short work of all our boasted human him of his spiritual essence. civilization. This is a possibility which The progress that science has made science has created for man today. Is this to today is the symbol of man’s untiring efforts be the end of all human culture, its to conquer nature and to make it serve his civilization, and its proud achievements? own ends. In this, he has taken amazing What is the drawback in our scientific strides which are nothing short of a miracle. culture? The answer is that while man is Applied science has conferred on man extending the frontiers of his knowledge, he innumerable benefits, making his life more is not correspondingly growing in wisdom comfortable and less burdensome. In every that comes from spiritual culture. Man today sphere of activity, science and the things of is losing faith in the higher values of science have got mixed up so inextricably religion; he lacks a spiritual basis for his life. with our lives that we can hardly realize Secularized humanism, in one direction, what would have happened to us without has gradually led to the formation of them. Science is still probing deeper into the totalitarian socialistic States, where all secrets of nature. What will yet be possible human endeavour is turned towards the for science in this realm is beyond one’s glorification of the State. In the opposite imagination or guess. That is the picture of direction, secularized humanism has led to science we get when we look at its the establishment of democratic beneficent aspect, its constructive side, governments and institutions, where the which has brought ease and comfort to the dignity and worth of the individual are

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recognized and respected, and where interference. True, the concept of mankind- individual efforts and State endeavours are as-a-whole is taking a realistic form on the directed towards the welfare of the physical plane. Science and technology have community. made the physical integration of humanity a In totalitarian countries, the State is reality today; but for its emotional supreme; the individual, his good and integration, which is so very essential for its welfare, all must fit into the pattern of the future progress, humanity is lacking the State. The State is the new god of these requisite spiritual approach and basis. socialistic countries. At the altar of this mighty god of the monolithic society, the The tragedy high priests are the handful of men at the The tragedy of our times is that, with all summit of the social pyramid, in whose the progress achieved by science and hands are concentrated all forms of power, humanism, mankind is nowhere near the social, economic, and political, and who goal of peace. Mankind has arrived at the ‘know all, do all, and decide all’. Their word crossroads; it is facing a crisis in civilization. is law, and no opposition to it is ever Neither science nor humanism can restore it countenanced. The individual’s interests to a settled condition. It is only the must be subservient to the interests of the understanding of the spiritual values and State—the will of the government that is. bringing them to work in all the spheres of In the democracies, however, the human activity that can restore man’s lost individual occupies the supreme position. equilibrium. What is needed at this juncture The government is a servant of the people. is a widening of horizons, a spiritual The government in a democracy is ‘of the awakening, a recovery of faith, to go beyond people, by the people, and for the people’. the merely physical and the psychological The State is a Welfare State, which works and recognize the spiritual, which is the for the happiness and progress of the deepest core and the real basis of the whole individual and the community. These two universe. Far deeper than any social, forms of society, socialistic and democratic, economic, or political readjustment, both purely humanistic in approach and mankind is in need of a readjustment on the working in two different directions, are spiritual plane. Mankind should recover its contending for leadership in the world today. faith in things spiritual. Science and There is yet another feature of the humanism must work with a new spiritual modern world. In the international sphere, vision and shed their secular character. It is humanism is finding expression in the then that these two forces will find laudable efforts of men and nations for the fulfilment and be a blessing to humanity. advancement of mankind through world Nurtured for decades in the thought and organizations, not only in the political, atmosphere of science, men in general had social, and economic spheres, but also in the forgotten to believe in the spiritual order of educational, scientific, and cultural fields. things. But, today, when they have arrived at These organisations are working on the the crossroads, they are willing to believe. principle that the whole of humanity is one As Kingsley Martin says: ‘Men and women vast family, and that every nation should be are now unable to face the loneliness and helped to preserve its peculiar characteristic aridity of the gospel of science, and and practise its beliefs without hindrance or therefore, though without any settled faith in

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religious dogmas, seek a personal religion to mythology. It is a way of life founded on give them inner comfort. They do not certain fundamental truths that are eternal believe but they desire to believe. I see very and universal. It is a way of life in God and clearly every day . . . that the will to believe for God. It is the practice of the presence of cannot be overcome.’ It was Blake who said: God. It is a way in which one lives, moves, ‘Man must and will have some religion. If he and has one’s being in God. It is a conscious has not the religion of Jesus, he will have the effort to manifest the divine qualities that are religion of Satan.’ That is precisely what has in man, and to make them permeate his happened in the realms of science and thought, word, and deed. It is a life by which secularized humanism. Mankind is in one becomes divine and helps others become despair today. A sense of spiritual divine, too. It is a life which enables man to homelessness is growing strong in the minds pierce through the veil of matter and to of men. It cannot continue for long. To live behold the self-effulgence of the spirit, in without faith is impossible. Even as nature whose light all things are illumined and by abhors a vacuum, the soul of man has a whose presence everything lives and moves. horror of emptiness. It is a life of universal consciousness, where Sectarian religion, ritual ridden and all petty notions of individuality, of ‘me’ and dogmatic, with inflexible beliefs and steel- ‘mine’, disappear. Spirituality is ‘a flight of framed doctrines, does not and cannot the alone to the Alone’. In the final spiritual satisfy the free spirit of the modern man. He realization, the individual consciousness is needs, and is in search of, a rational faith. merged with the universal Consciousness. We must present him, in the words of There is complete absence of all duality. In Dr Radhakrishnan, with a religion that is the words of the Upanishad: ‘distinctive, universally valid, sufficient, and authoritative, one that has an understanding Yatra nànyat pashyati nànyat shrinoti nànyat vijànàti sà bhumà— of the fresh sense of truth and the awakened (Chàndogya Upanishad, VII.xxiv.1) social passion, . . . which does not mock the free spirit of man by arbitrary dogmas or It is a state ‘in which one sees nothing else, hesitating negations, a new vision of God in hears nothing else, understands nothing whose name we can launch a crusade against else’. It is a life that is infinite and immortal. the strange cults which are now competing It is not possible for man to live without for mastery over the souls of men’ (Recovery faith. He must have some kind of faith to of Faith, p. 74). Vedanta offers a religion live on. If his faith is not in spiritual things, which fulfils all these conditions; it is it will be in material things. If it is not in rational and universal, non-dogmatic and all- God and things divine, it will be in the world comprehensive, intensely human and and things worldly. He will need something profoundly spiritual. for which he has to live and function. He will seek to have some ideal, some goal, for A way of life in God which he can work and to attain which he True spiritual life has no concern with will bend all his energies and resources, superstitious beliefs and elaborate physical and mental. Vedanta offers to man ceremonials. It has nothing to do with rites a faith which pertains to the innermost and rituals. It has no set conventions to be reality of his being. It says that the soul of observed. Spirituality is not belief in man is essentially divine. It urges man to

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realize the truth of his being and manifest it conclusions of modern science are the very in his life. It emphasizes that the purpose of conclusions the Vedanta reached ages ago; life is to experience Divinity here and now, only, in modern science, they are written in both within and without, by disciplining the language of matter.’ The affirmations of one’s life and conquering one’s baser Vedanta are made in the language of the propensities. Irrespective of race or religion, spiritual world, while the conclusions of class or community, Vedanta invites one and modern science are made in the language of all and throws open its doors to its spiritual the material world. treasure. Science has proved the unreality of Today, man is in search of a religion space and time, as well as the inadequacy of which should satisfy not only his heart and the assumptions of uniformity and causality. soul, but his intellect as well. It should be in Space-time is a single concept, according to harmony with the spirit of the times. It modern science. It is viewed as a continuum should be rational enough to stand the and spoken of as the fourth dimension of scrutiny of modern thought. It should ‘not objects. The myth of matter is exploded. mock the free spirit of man by arbitrary Matter is now looked upon as congealed dogmas or hesitating negations’. It should be energy. The theory of relativity, which has non-exclusive, non-dogmatic, and universal, revolutionized our concept about the to embrace all humanity in its fold. It should mysterious and ever-expanding universe, the negate nothing that is progressive. It should quantum theory pertaining to the infinitude be all-inclusive and accept all forms of and indeterminate nature of the minutest earnest religious endeavour. It should be atoms, the concept of matter as energy, extremely human in its approach, so that it which is the ultimate constituent of every can tackle all human problems and object in the universe, and whose nature and situations. It should be deeply spiritual to characteristics are yet to be determined, all touch and transform the very essential being these go to substantiate the fundamental of man—to make man realize that he is theories of Vedanta relating to the universe divine. That is the type of religion that around us. Science speaks of one and the humanity is in need of today. Vedanta offers same energy that is hidden behind both the such a religion. infinitely small atoms and the infinitely large stars and planets. Vedanta uses a different Claims of Vedanta language to express the same truth; its Let me now proceed to examine, point language is of the spirit, of the Self: by point, this claim made on behalf of Anoraniyàn-mahatomahiyàn Vedanta. Vedanta is rational. The àtmà’sya jantornihito guhàyàm— conclusions of Vedanta are scientific, (Katha Upanishad, I.ii.20) inasmuch as they exactly harmonize with the aspirations of the age and with the ‘The Self that is subtler than the subtle and conclusions to which modern science is greater than the great is lodged in the heart coming at the present time. The difference of every creature.’ between the two, if any, is only in the mode Vedanta speaks of the highest Reality as of expressing their respective conclusions. spiritual, which is one and all-pervading. All As Swami Vivekananda said: ‘The existence is only its manifestation. The

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universe we see is our mental projection, Ekastathà sarvabhutàntaràtmà rupam cittaspandana. It is only an appearance; it rupam pratirupo bahishca— has no absolute reality. Its substratum is (Katha Upanishad, II.ii.9) Brahman, the supreme Reality, which is ‘Just as fire, though one, having entered the beyond space, time, and causation. That is world, assumes separate forms in respect of the changeless Reality behind all the different shapes, similarly, the Self inside all changeful phenomena. Behind the many, beings, though one, assumes a form in One alone is real, and all is that: Sarvam respect of each shape; and yet it is outside.’ khalu idam Brahma. Echoing, as it were, the Vedantic view Relatively speaking, Vedanta accepts of the spirit as the abiding witness of all three degrees of reality: vyàvahàrika or actual or possible states of consciousness, empirical, pràtibhàsika or apparent or Sir Arthur S. Eddington makes a significant illusory, and pàramàrthika or statement: ‘What is the truth about transcendental. Modern science also accepts ourselves? We may incline to various the empirical reality of the objective world, answers. We are a bit of star gone wrong. and on this basis it proceeds with its We are complicated physical machinery— investigation. At the same time, it knows puppets that strut and talk and laugh and die that the final truth of the objective world is as the hand of time turns the handle beneath. one infinite mass of energy, whose intrinsic But let us remember that there is one nature science has not yet been able to elementary inescapable answer: We are that know. According to Vedanta, the spirit is the which asks the question.’ The Upanishad fundamental and final reality behind every asks: object in this universe. This is true of both the external nature of the universe and the Vijnàtàram are kena vijàniyàt— internal nature of man. From the (Brihadàranyaka Upanishad, II.iv.l4) transcendental standpoint, there is no ‘Through what should one know the difference whatsoever between the Knower?’ macrocosm and the microcosm. Vedanta does not ask anyone to believe Vedanta says that drishya, ie all that is anything blindly. It does not ask anyone to seen, the objective world, is illusory. The take anything for granted. It asks everyone only reality is drik, the seer, the subject, the to experiment for himself personally to test witness. The witness, sàkshin, cannot the truths it enunciates, and to accept only become the object of any knowledge. It is then what is found to be reasonable and the witness of all change. For facility of acceptable both to the head and the heart. understanding, the same reality, expressing Yukti, reasoning, and anubhuti, personal itself as the macrocosm, is called Brahman; experience, are the chief criteria for the and, expressing itself as the microcosm, is understanding of truth, according to called âtman. Brahman and âtman are not Vedanta. What is learnt through shruti, ie two realities. They are one and identical. It is hearing from the teacher and learning from the same spirit, which is infinite and all- the scriptures, should be subjected to pervading. The Upanishad says: reasoning and experienced personally. The Agniryathaiko bhuvanam pravishto rupam Vedantic sàdhanà consists of the threefold

rupam pratirupo babhuva, method of shravana, manana, and

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nididhyàsana—hearing the spiritual truths principles which were realized by highly from the teacher and learning about them evolved spiritual souls. They are like from the scriptures, reflecting and reasoning scientific laws which are eternal and about them, and personally experiencing the universal. They relate to the undying, divine truths thus ascertained. nature of the soul and the oneness of the To arrive rationally at the unreality of spiritual Being that underlies all manifold the objective world, Vedanta resorts to an manifestations. These truths have been analysis of the avasthàtraya—the three shining before humanity ever since they states of human experience, namely, waking, were first spoken to man. They have been dream, and deep sleep. By means of a shining before every generation, beckoning thorough-going analysis, it shows that just as man to understand them, to live up to them, the dream world, with all its experiences, is and to realize them. They are there before us found to be unreal on waking, similarly, the today, calling us to discover our real nature world that is perceived in our waking state, and to tread the path of divine life. Despite with all its objects and experiences, is the passage of centuries, despite the realized to be unreal from the transcendental vicissitudes of history, despite the rise and standpoint. Even as the dream objects are fall of civilizations, despite the emergence our mental creations, the objective world of and fading out of multitudes of religious the waking state is projected by the cosmic faiths and cults, the immortal teachings of mind. The objects of both the dream world Vedanta have come down to us in their and the waking world have no reality from undimmed glory. These eternal truths shine the standpoint of the Absolute. In this beyond history, beyond all human situations. connection, it is interesting to note what Yet they live and vibrate in history and Bertrand Russell says with regard to the through human situations. In every era, in nature of the external world: ‘We do not every generation, men of spiritual insight ever see what we think we see. . . . In have caught the glimpse of the shining light metaphysics, my creed is short and simple. I of Vedanta, followed its path, and realized think that the external world may be an the goal of life. illusion, but if it exists, it consists of events, Vedanta explains the universal laws that short, small, and haphazard. Order, unity, govern spiritual life. It clarifies the universal and continuity are human inventions, just as principles underlying all religions and truly as are catalogues and, encyclopaedias.’ creeds. Speaking about its universality, Max Thus we find that the ultimate Müller writes: ‘The Vedanta philosophy affirmations of Vedanta are in complete leaves to every man a wide sphere of real harmony with the aspirations of the present usefulness, and places him under a law as age, and give a fillip to the conclusions of strict and binding as anything can be in this modern scientific thought. transitory life. It leaves him a deity to worship as omnipotent and majestic as the Universal Vedanta deities of any other religion. It has room for Vedanta is universal. The religion and almost every religion, nay, it embraces them philosophy of Vedanta are universal in their all.’ concept as well as application. They are not Vedanta does not denounce any built around personalities, but on universal religious faith or creed. Its basic philosophy

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is that Truth is one, and it appears in diverse the mode of approach. All radii must forms according to the needs and moods of converge at the centre of a circle. God is the the votaries of different religions. All centre of the universe. He is the source and religious endeavours are attempts to catch a the sustaining power of the world. He is the glimpse of the selfsame Reality. Every one, goal of every path. Vedanta does not fight in according to his inner culture and spiritual the name of religion. It has no place for worth, is proceeding towards the same goal. dogmatism, fanaticism, and sectarianism. The final destiny of every one is the same. This Vedantic view of all religious The Upanishad says: endeavours finally culminating in the Yato và imàni bhutàni jàyante, yena jàtàni realization of God has been beautifully jivanti, expressed in a well-known Sanskrit verse, Yat prayantyabhisamvishanti, tadvi- which says: jijnàsasva, tad Brahma— Rucinàm vaicitryàd riju kutila nànà- (Taittiriya Upanishad, III.1) pathajushàm, ‘That from which all these beings take birth, Nrinàm eko gamyah tvamasi payasàmar- that by which they live after being born, that nava iva— towards which they move and into which (Shivamahimnah-stotra, 7) they merge—desire to know that; that is ‘As the different streams, having their Brahman.’ sources in different places, all mingle their Vedanta lends a helping hand to waters in the sea, so, O Lord, the different everyone and encourages everybody to paths which men take through different proceed on the spiritual path until the goal is tendencies, various though they appear, reached. To help man to manifest his divine curved or straight, all lead to Thee.’ nature is the main purpose of Vedanta. How This verse typically embodies the it is to be realized, by what method, or universal spirit of Vedanta, as it has been through which religious path, these are of lived and practised by generations of secondary importance. Modes and methods devoted people in this hallowed land of vary from man to man. Each one will India. develop according to his intellectual, moral, Vedanta is intensely human. Shri and spiritual capacity and equipment. This Gaudapàda describes the knowledge of fact is recognized in Vedanta as a basic Vedanta as sarva-sattva-sukha, a giver of concept of spiritual life. Hence it is not bliss to all beings. Vedanta has no dispute impatient. It does not coerce people into with anyone. It views Reality as a whole. It ways that are alien to their nature and understands Reality in its all-comprehensive temperament. To each one according to his nature, and as free from all relationships, need, and to help each one from where he internal or external. Vedanta leads to stands, is the aim of Vedanta. universal toleration. A correct understanding There may be as many modes of of all religious effort in the light of Vedanta, approach as there are individuals. One as a matter of fact, of all endeavour directed method may not suit all. One religion may towards human welfare and happiness, will not appeal to all. One form of God may not tend towards better relationships between inspire devotion in the hearts of all. So human beings. It will remove all sources of Vedanta accepts variety and multiplicity in fear and hatred among people and help in

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bringing them together in harmony and nature. This great idea of the spiritual fellowship. Under the hegemony of Vedanta, solidarity of the whole universe can form the there will be no fanaticism of any kind. solid foundation of many a humanistic The spirit of universal toleration, which movement, based on love and sympathy, is the message of Vedanta, must permeate all charity and compassion, sacrifice and the spheres of human activity today, if our service. civilization is to survive. No civilization can Love of self is the greatest incentive to last long unless this idea enters into its all human activity. In the light of Vedanta, heart’s blood. No culture or civilization can the very concept of self undergoes a change. progress unless fanaticism of every kind— It becomes part and parcel of the universal religious or cultural, social or political—dies Self. The person whom I love, and whom I out. Bloodshed and brutality, which wish to serve, is none other than myself invariably accompany a dogmatic spiritually, but placed only in a different set propagation of ideas, are not the marks of a of external circumstances. He and I are one progressive civilization. They besmirch the in spirit. By serving him, I serve myself; I fair face of humanity; they are a blot on ennoble myself and discover the spiritual human nature. No civilization can raise its bond that unites us both. Vedanta says that head unless human beings learn to look upon none helps another; one helps oneself. It is one another charitably. Nay more, not only for the sake of the Self that everything to be charitable and sympathetic, but to be exists. It is for the sake of the Self that positively helpful to each other are the signs everything becomes beloved and dear: of human progress and civilization. That is âtmanastu kàmàya sarvam priyam what Vedanta teaches us. That attitude is the bhavati— crying need of the modern world. (Brihadàranyaka Upanishad, II.iv.5) Spiritual oneness One loves oneself most. It is a patent fact. Another great idea that the world can None can gainsay it. Vedanta lifts this take with advantage from Vedanta is its notion of Self to a higher level, and makes grand concept of the spiritual oneness of the man perceive his own Self in all beings and whole universe. Modern researches in the all beings in his own Self. The Upanishad field of physics have shown how, physically says: speaking, every object in the universe—the Yastu sarvàni bhutàni àtmanyevànu- sun, the moon, the star, all human beings, all pashyati, animate and inanimate objects—every object Sarvabhuteshu càtmànam tato na in the universe is but a little wave or wavelet vijugupsate. . . . in the infinite ocean of energy. Vedanta goes Tatra ko mohah kah shokah one step further and says that behind all ekatvamanupashyatah— manifestation there is but one Soul, one (Ishà Upanishad, 6, 7) Existence, which is spiritual. Vedanta ‘For the seer of oneness, there can be no designates It as Sat-Cit-ânanda, Existence- sorrow or delusion; such a one is free from Consciousness-Bliss Absolute. It says that all hatred.’ these are not the attributes of the supreme There cannot be a greater inspiration Reality, but its very essence and intrinsic than this life-giving ideal of Vedanta to

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effectively work for the upliftment of all Paramàtman becomes crystal clear, then, people, socially as well as spiritually. There wherever the mind alights, there it gets cannot be a more lofty, a more truly spiritual samadhi (superconscious state).’ ideal than this for the expression of love and That is the highest state of spiritual compassion in human relationships. Neither realization in Vedanta, where One alone can ethics and morality find a more stable shines, and all duality is absent. This and sound basis than this grand concept of realization brings supreme joy, as the Self is Vedanta—the spiritual solidarity and the source of all ànanda. That is oneness of all beings. Brahmànanda, beyond which there is no Vedanta is profoundly spiritual. Indeed, greater ànanda, and of which all mundane such a statement is redundant. Vedanta is joys and pleasures are but feeble and nothing if not spiritual. Its chief concern is infinitesimally small reflections. with things spiritual. Its basic truth is If religion is to lead man to eternal joy spiritual. Its way of life is spiritual. Its and happiness, the path shown by Vedanta is message is for the spiritual awakening of straight and easy. Vedanta is the fountain of humanity. It speaks of the divine nature of spiritual knowledge. It is founded on man and matter, and exhorts everyone to spiritual truths which are eternal and wake up to that spiritual consciousness. It universal. Its nectarous waters are available urges everyone to get free from the clutches for anyone who wishes to have his fill and of màyà, which is concealing the truth from attain immortality. Religion, according to the vision of man and projecting the illusory Vedanta, must culminate in realization. As appearance of this world. the Upanishad puts it: Vedanta offers man the method and the Sa yo ha vai tatparamam Brahma veda means by which he can get liberation from brahmaiva bhavati . . . taratishokam tarati the bondage of matter. By self-discipline and pàpmànam by cultivating moral and ethical virtues, man Guhàgranthibhyo vimukto’mrito bhavati— is enabled to develop purity of heart and (Mundaka Upanishad, II.ii.9) shed his lower identifications with body, mind, intellect, etc. When the heart becomes ‘Anyone who knows that supreme Brahman completely pure, there shines the resplendent becomes Brahman indeed. . . . He light of the Paramàtman, the supreme Self. overcomes all grief and rises above all Vedanta says: aberrations; and becoming freed from the knots of the heart, he attains immortality.’ Dehàbhimàne galite vijnàte paramàtmani, Thus Vedanta is supremely suited to Yatra yatra mano yàti tatra tatra play the role of a universal religion, as it not samàdhayah— only meets the demands of the present age of (Drig-drishya-viveka, 30) science and reason, but also satisfies the ‘When the attachment to body etc has deeper spiritual urges of the human soul. disappeared, when the perception of the Vedanta is the religion we need today. 

* Swami Ananyananda was for some years the Joint Editor of Prabuddha Bharata. Previously he was closely connected with the Institute for a number of years, working on the Institute’s encyclopaedic publication The Cultural Heritage of India. This article is based on a lecture Swami Ananyananda gave at the Institute on 7 August, 1962.

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