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Tat Tvam Asi: You Are That Swami Vedapurushananda

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Tat Tvam Asi: You Are That Swami Vedapurushananda Tat Tvam Asi: You Are That Swami Vedapurushananda am: Hey Shyam! How are you? I haven’t They were divided into four by Vyasa. They Rseen you for a long time. are Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Shyam: I am fine. But the happenings Atharva Veda. The Rig Veda mainly contains in our country depresses me of late. verses in metrical form. The text of the Yajur R: Do you mean the unending antics of our Veda is in prose. The Sama Veda has songs set to politicians? music. All the three forms of metre, prose, and S: No. That’s always there. But the mindless song are found in the Atharva Veda. killings of innocent civilians by terror attacks, Each Veda is broadly divided into three parts: that too in the name of religion, is nauseating. It x Samhitas: They contain prayers to creates an aversion in my mind towards religion. different deities. Is there not a religion that is universal and x Brahmanas: They deal with rituals to tolerant, that can unite all these warring religions attain desired results. in love and peace? x Aranyakas: They deal with knowledge R: No Shyam, don’t blame religions for these and contemplation. heinous crimes. They are not at fault. It is we Upanishads are texts containing knowledge humans who use religion for our selfish ends. For leading to the realisation of one’s true nature. that matter, no religion asks its followers to kill These texts are found in any of the three parts innocent people. As to your second query, there mentioned earlier, but mostly in the Aranyakas. is a philosophy that has the potential to become S: Interesting! What are these Upanishads? I a universal religion. It is called Vedanta, Advaita am hearing about them for the first time. Vedanta. Have you heard about it? R: Upanishads primarily stand for the sacred S: Vedanta? I know a company by that name. and secret knowledge that is capable of removing R (laughing): Oh no! I don’t mean that. our primordial ignorance, leading to liberation. Vedanta is the comprehensive philosophy based Etymologically the word may also mean the on the Vedas, the oldest book of humanity. knowledge that is gained by sitting at the feet S: Vedas! The name sounds exotic. Can you of the guru. Secondarily it denotes the book. tell me something about it? Its other name is Vedanta for it appears at the R: Vedas are the bedrock of Indian culture end, -anta, of the Vedas. There are hundreds and civilisation. By Vedas, we primarily mean of Upanishads, of which eleven Upanishads the eternal spiritual laws that were discovered by commented by Acharya Shankara are considered ancient rishis in their meditations. Since these important. laws were not the product of any person, they are S: What is the place of Upanishads in called apaurusheya and as they were transmitted Hinduism? orally, they are also called ‘Shruti’. R: They occupy a very high place. They are PB October 2019 709 42 Prabuddha Bharata one of the foundational texts of Hinduism. In S: Your description of Advaita is interesting fact, the Sanatana Dharma is based on the secure and at the same time quite intimidating. I fear I foundation of three prasthanas or paths. They are: don’t have it in me to understand its teachings. x Shruti prasthana: The Upanishads. R: Don’t worry. I will tell you the essence of x Smriti prasthana: The Bhagavadgita. Advaita in simple words. Listen. x Nyaya prasthana: The Brahma Sutra. Acharya Shankara presented Advaita in S: Tell me more about the Upanishads. What a nutshell in the following shloka: ‘Brahma do they contain? satyam jagat mithya, jivo brahmaiva na aparah; R: You see Shyam, Upanishads are a veritable Brahman is real, this universe is unreal, and the mine-house of religious and philosophical ideas. individual soul is nothing other than Brahman.’1 They have been systematised and interpreted to It has three propositions: give out a single coherent teaching by several 1. Brahman alone is real. acharyas according to their philosophical 2. The world is unreal. leanings. Thus, we have three main philosophical 3. Jiva, the individual soul, is none other than schools of Dvaita, Vishishtadvaita, and Advaita. Brahman, the universal Self. They all believe in: We shall study them in detail now. x Vedas and in its characteristic features ‘Brahman is Real’: It means that Brahman that are already enumerated. is the only Reality. But what is this Brahman? x Cyclical nature of creation, that is, the Advaita defines Brahman both positively and universe was not created out of nothing negatively. but it is only a projection with periodic Positively it says: evolution and involution. x Brahman is absolute Existence, x That there is a divine core within all of us Knowledge, and Bliss. that is eternal. x It is undifferentiated Consciousness. However, they differ in the relationship of the x Brahman is that which is known directly individual soul with God, on the nature of the and intimately and through which world, concept of liberation, and in few other everything is known. minor matters. Negatively, Advaita defines Brahman as that S: Well Ram! You mentioned about Advaita which remains after negating everything else as Vedanta. Where does it fit in all this? ‘not this, not this’. Brahman is not a concept to R: Advaita is the fairest flower in the garden be defined. It is nirguna, devoid of all qualities; of Indian philosophical thought. A complete nirvikara, without any modifications;nishkriya , system of great intellectual daring and logical free from all actions; nirvishesha, which cannot acumen, Advaita is the pinnacle of the spiritual be characterised, and so on. thought attained anywhere in the world. S: I have a question, Ram. What is the cri- According to Swami Vivekananda, it is the terion for Reality? On what basis do you claim religion for the future. If a person wants to be that Brahman is Real and the world is unreal? rational and religious at the same time, Advaita R: Good that you asked this question. The is the religion. A comprehensive system that can basic axiom in Advaita is: that which is eter- harmonise all the warring sects and religions—it nal and unchanging at all times is Real and is the final word in religion. that which changes and perishes is unreal. This 710 PB October 2019 Tat Tvam Asi: You Are That 43 phenomenal world of name and form is always snake and are frightened. This superimposition changing, hence it is unreal, even though it is of a non-existent snake on a rope is due to our experienced. It disappears on the rise of true ignorance. When the truth is known, the snake knowledge. We can also say that the world is ap- vanishes. But there is no change in the nature of parently real and Brahman which is the substra- the rope at any time. Similarly, Advaita claims tum is Real because it always remains the same. that the world is the illusory projection on Brah- S: Two questions crop up in my mind. Shall man caused by maya and it vanishes when this I ask them? maya is destroyed by true knowledge. R: Feel free to ask questions, Shyam. Advaita Maya is also defined as the power of Brah- encourages its listeners to analyse, think, debate, man. Brahman associated with maya is called and question. It does not thrust any dogmas on ishvara. its adherents, to be believed blindly. S: I hope you will enlighten me more on S: Wow! That’s refreshing to hear. Okay. Now ishvara. tell me how can the unreal world and the real R: The supreme Brahman with attributes is Brahman coexist? And if Brahman is the only called ishvara. It is omniscient, omnipotent, pos- Reality, wherefrom did this world come up? sessor of all good qualities to the fullest measure, R: Yes. That’s a key point to understand in bestower of the fruits of our actions, and the cre- Advaita: How did the One become the many? ator, preserver, and destroyer of this universe. They say that we don’t experience both the Ishvara is the controller of maya. Personal gods One and the many at the same time and so the are various aspects of this ishvara, who also in- question of the relationship between them does carnates in human form as Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, not arise. When we ‘see’ the One, the many does Christ, Buddha, and so on from time to time. not exist and when we deal with the many, the In fact, ishvara, the universe, and the individual One is not perceived. The world is related to souls or jivas are apparent manifestations of the Brahman in the same way as the wave is related nirguna Brahman caused by maya. They are all to the ocean. co-existent. Also, a relation can be only between two dis- S: Just now, you mentioned about the jivas. tinct items. But Brahman is not distinct from the Tell me, how are these jivas related to Brahman? world. It is Brahman alone, which appears as this R: Yes. Now we come to the climax of our universe and all the things in it. It is just like the discussion. I would like to recall what I stated relation between the gold and the ornaments earlier: ‘Jivo brahmaiva na aparah’. We are not a made out of it. Ornaments differ in their name, part, modification, product of, or different from form, and use, but they are all made of gold Brahman but we are Brahman.
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