H E VE DAN TA SOCI E TY of S an F rancis co i s an institution bas ed on u nlvers al broad and principle s . It aims at expoun ding the philo sophy of life s in a imple , rational and practical way . It h as a vital and helpful mes sage for per n s in s so all walk of life . Y ou are cordially welcome to the lect u s S P rak ashan an d re by wami a of India , d S 11 A elivered every unday at . M . and 8 P . M . Tues day and Thurs day cla ss lecture s and individual lesso ns are for the mem s An s - is ber . y incere truth seeker eligible to membership . F or further information pleas e inquire or write to the Secretary . U N IVERSALITY ’ OF V E D A N T A ‘ By S( AMI PRAKASHAN AN DA D r at the C n r o f R l u Phil h h ld und r elive ed o g ess e igio s osop ies , e e e of P P I E S in 1 1 the auspic s . at an Francisco 9 5 Published by VE D AN T A S OCI E TY OF S AN FRAN CI S CO 2963 ( ebster Street C r h 1 2 2 opy ig t, 9 , by V dan a S cie of S F e t o ty . THE UN I V(E RSALI TY OF VE D AN TA Our Motherland , India , and our religion , have not infr equently been gro ssly mi srepre sented . People in We stern countri es s eldom go to the right source s for information . There are , for i s C s ss s n tance , the orthodox hri tian mi ionarie , us s r who , carried away by their enth ia m to b ing - light to the s o called benighted heathen , would not he sitate to ex a ggerate or miss tate the condi tions of India and misinterpret the various phas es of Hinduism . s Then , again , there are the foreign traveller s i m r s s who k over the count y , top in hotel and - c ome in contact with their Anglo Indian friends . s e e s a n d They only the qualor th e famine , or the gorgeo us temple s and other superficial s s n ot s s thing , and thu fail , in a few ca e , to touch s And the inner pring of Indian religi ous life . “ thes e people write b ook s on Indian religi on and the s ocio - moral principles of the p eople ( What can you expect but a caricature of one of the sublime st reli gions in the world ? If th e tour i st s p assing through th e difierent countries of E A h urope and merica , judge t e we stern people s and their religion sweepingly by ob s erving the s s ss s lum , the graft and reckle acrifice of high moral principle s in s ocio -political life,they nu h Q ‘ l fVfiRS ALI ’I ’E? ‘OF ‘ VEbA N TA s s s doubtedly do inju tice , like tho e hallow and s uperficial ob s ervers and writers of Indian life and religion . But when we turn our eyes to tho s e gr e at s n s t s ava t , who have , wi h unprejudiced mind , - I n stu died the religi o philo s ophical systems of. f ss dia , we receive an altogether di ferent me age h as and interpretation . Well it been s aid by “ Profe ss or Mav Muller ( If I were to look over th e whole world to find out the country mos t richly endowed with all the wealth p ower and — , , bea uty that N ature can bestow in s ome parts — a very paradi s e on e arth I should point to s k India . If I were a ked under what s y the human mind h as mo st fully developed s ome of it s c s s h as s hoice t gift , mo t deeply pondered on a s s l h as n th e gre te t problem of ife , and fou d s olutions of s ome of them which well des erve the attention even of those who have s tudied K —I An Plato and ant should point to India . d if I were to ask mys elf from wh at literature we E u h al here in rope , we who ave been nurtured mo st exclus ively on th e thoughts of Greek and Ro s o f S emeti c s man , and one race the Jewi h , may draw that corrective which is mo st wanted in order to mak e our inner life mo re perfect , m l s more truly hu an a ife not for thi life only , , — but a t ran sfigu r e d and eternal life again I ” ( Vi ct or s h sho uld point to India. l Cou in, tt e UN IVE RS AL ITY or VE DA N TA 5 s greates t among F rench historians of philo ophy, e 1 828 - 29 while lecturing at Pari s in the y ar , spoke in the following terms to an audience of “ two thous and people( When we read with attention the poetical and philo s ophical monu s E s h s i ment of the a t , above all , t o e of Ind a , n s e a E whi ch are begi ning to pr d in urope , we s s s o di cover there many a truth , and truth profound and which make s uch a contrast with the meanne ss of the result s at whi ch the E uro( s h as s st o pean geniu ometimes pped , that we are cons trained t o b end the knee before the s E as a n d s e e s philo ophy of the t , to in thi cradle of the hum an race the native land of the high-est ” s R R e N philo ophy . everend . H ber ewton , an n s , s his a d emi ent We tern divine , aid in one of “ dre ss e s ( What we may reas onably expect i s not the coming of a new religion from the E ast s C s to upercede hri tianity, but the coming of in( uence s from the E ast to renew and re store C i s . Our s hr tianity lamp burn low , but we need not cast them away ; we shoul d simply s o f E s open them to the acred oil the a t , which the High Prie s t of the Temple i s even now s — ( n e w pouring in upon the wick when , lo a ( s l s e e ame in which we ha l and rej oice . The q ualitie s which the We s tern world lacks the r E as te n holds in exce ss . We might then look for the ordering by Providence of an infusion 6 UN IVE RS AL ITY or VE DA N TA of the e ss ence of the E ast ; the balm of Gilead E for the wounds of ngland , the cordial of In Am dia for the tire of erica . Students of religi on s ometimes b e come con fused over the different n a mes applied to the d ‘ ’ reli gi on of the Hin us . The word Hindu r r the a e s o iginated f om name of riv r, Indu , N s i c in the orthwe tern part of Ind a , whi h in ‘ S anskrit is called Sindhu . The Persian inva ‘ ’ ‘ ’ o c S so ders ften pronoun ed as H , the people living beyond the river were des ign ated by a s s and was them Hindu , their religion called ‘ ’ n N ow s . ss s Hi dui m , people of all cla e in dif ferent s —s a s C s s s faith uch hri tian , Jew , Par ( f s e s s . e , Mohammedan , etc , are living in di ferent ‘ ’ s so t he s n be part of India , term Hindui m ca not rightly applied to the religion of the var ious ‘ ’ s ss s o e . m s cla e of p e pl Th e ter , Brahmani m given by the foreign mi ss ionaries and s cholars to the religion of the Hindus ha s als o lost it s s . was im ignificance Undoubtedly, there a t e when the Br-ahma us were the cus todia ns of the ‘ s s n ow- a- reli gion of the Hindu , but days the Brahmans repres ent the prie stly class who have s to b t he r e s cea ed e t ue l ader of religi on . The proper name for the religion of the Hindus ‘ R ’ ‘ ’ would be Vedic eligion or Vedanta . o n s In rder to u der tand a religion , we s hould it s s i know founder as well a ts s criptures .