Publisher’s Note We are pleased to share with you this reprint of the first of two vol- umes of VEDANTA, the quarterly journal published by Swami Yatiswarananda from Switzerland in 1937 and 1938— before his depar- ture for Sweden and thence to America owing to the outbreak of hostili- ties in1939 Europe. The reader will find excerpts from the Swami’s class-talks to Euro- pean spiritual aspirants, since his arrival at Wiesbaden in 1933, as well as a superb selection of inspiring compilations and quotes from the great spiritual traditions, which bear witness to the reality and universality of spiritual experience, and the world-wideness of the methods that lead to revelation of the Reality — Personal and Impersonal — through absorp- tion of the ego into its source. The material was scanned from the cyclostyled A4 originals, kindly shared with us by Kurt Friedrichs of Hamburg, a disciple of the Swami. The Swami’s Class-notes that appear in VEDANTA were published, among other Class-notes, in THE WAY TO THE DIVINE, by Sarada Sevika Mandali, Bangalore (1968, with 2nd edition 1989). —Publisher— Vedanta Study Circle, Athens, Greece. April, 2003. Published as a service by: John Manetta Beles 28 117 41 Athens, Greece Phone: [+30] 210 92346 82 E-mail: [email protected] VEDANTA — 1937 3 CONTENTS of Volume 1, 1937 HINDUISM Meditations ...................................................................................43 The Immanent and the Transcendent ..........................................47 The All-Pervading .........................................................................77 The One and the Many.............................................................. 124 Prayers......................................................................41, 76, 114, 180 The Eternal Message of the Indian Sages......................................12 Compilations from M’s Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna The Goal and Aspect of Vedanta .................................................49 The Place of Non-Attachment and Work ......................................78 The Essential Unity of Religions.................................................125 Holy Mother: The Necessity for Spiritual Striving..........................129 Swami Vivekananda: Seek God always..........................................................................15 No Difference between Supreme Knowledge and Supreme Devotion ........................................................ 15 The Highest Goal the Same — Methods Differ ............................17 Think of Death Always and New Life Will Come Within ...............55 Fragments of Conversations ........................................................86 The Song of the Sannyasin ..........................................................87 Extracts from Letters ..................................................................134 Brahman and Differentiation.......................................................135 Compilations from the Jñaneswari: The All-embracing Nature of the Divine........................................59 The Way to Realisation and Freedom ........................................137 Jñanadeva: Amritanubhava: The Absolute is Beyond Speech and Thought .............................58 Tukarama: Seek the Grace of God by Emptying the Heart of Desires ...........57 Ekanatha: From the Abhangas and the Bhagavatam .....................92 Ramadasa: From the Dasabodha...................................................95 Guru Nanak.....................................................................................14 Sankaracharya: Praise to the Divine the Destroyer of Darkness........................... 90 Nammalvar, Poygai Alvar, Dadu: Songs and Psalms.....................91 Swami Brahmananda: Meditation and Realisation .........................39 TAOISM Sayings of Lao-Tse.....................................................................140 Teachings of Lieh-Tsu ................................................................142 BUDDHISM The Five Precepts, the Meditation of Love .................................. 98 Dhammapadam: The Mind.......................................................................................99 4 VEDANTA — 1937 Affection......................................................................................145 Anguttara Nikaya: The Five Great Gifts .....................................................................99 The Wheelwright.........................................................................101 The Gold-Refiner ........................................................................146 Sutta Nipata: Consciousness and Individuality in Nirvana ...............................100 Udana: Nibbanam the End of Woe .........................................................144 From the Psalms of the Sisters.....................................................108 Hakuin’s Song of Meditation. ........................................................103 Yang-Shan-Hui-chi: A Sermon......................................................104 Dharmakaya: All Beings are Mothers and Fathers .......................105 Kobo Daishi: The Enlightened Mind..............................................105 Hymn to the Supreme Omniscience .............................................106 Pai-chang: The Practice of Meditation ..........................................148 Hakuin: The Koan Exercise ..........................................................149 THE OLD TESTAMENT Wisdom: Passages taken from Ecclesiastes (Jesus ben Sirach)....................................................150 CHRISTIANITY Albertus Magnus: Of Intimate Union with God..............................161 Diego de Estella: How the Love of God Is the Life of Our Soul .....23 Dionysius the Areopagite: Concerning the One............................155 Et Incarnatus est (St.John 1.1.) ....................................................154 Johannes Tauler: God the One Uncompounded Essence of All...............................21 It is Expedient for You that I Go Away..........................................22 Detachment and Prayer..............................................................160 John Scotus Erigena: The Nature of God .......................................18 Anonymous: Difference Between Men and Beasts.........................18 Richard Rolle: Of the Despising of the World .................................19 Julian of Norwich: The Eternal Presence of God Within Us............20 Louis Lallemant: How to Attain the Kingdom of God ......................26 Louis of Blois: Meditations on God ......................................................................28 Two Prayers ...............................................................................30 Meister Eckhart: In God there Is Neither Henry Nor Conrad .................................159 God is the Negation of Negation ................................................159 The Parable of the Loadstone and the Needles .........................159 St.Catherine of Genoa: A Chapter from the “Dialogue of Divine Love”............................157 Then at Christmas Christ Was Born. ............................................154 William Penn: The One Religion ...................................................155 VEDANTA — 1937 5 ISLAMIC SUFISM Al-Hujwiri: On Real Companionship................................................63 Al-Ghazzali: Some Teachings.........................................................65 Al-Muhasibi: True Love of God .....................................................168 Fariduddin Attar: The Parable of the Butterflies .......................................................64 From the Jawhar Al-Dhat............................................................166 Jami: From the Lawa’ih.................................................................165 Malik b. Dinar: Teachings .............................................................. 68 Mahmud Shabistari: From the Secret Rose-Garden.....................162 Rabi’a of Basra: Sayings.................................................................67 Class-Notes—Swami Yatiswarananda: Warnings and Hints for the Spiritual Aspirant...............................31 The Spiritual Path .........................................................................68 The Way to the Divine ................................................................108 Spiritual Struggle and Achievement ...........................................168 General The Ramakrishna Vedanta Movement—What it stands for ....... 8 Our Symbol.....................................................................................9 The Ideal of a Perfect Man ...........................................................10 Sri Ramakrishna Centenary .........................................................10 Sir Brajendranath Seal: Ramakrishna, a Cosmic Humanist in Religion....................... 119 The Universal Message of Religions: Passages from the Upanishads and other Scriptures ................117 Sayings of great God-Men and Prophets ...................................117 uu 6 VEDANTA — 1937 A contemporary photograph Paris, November 1937— Swami Siddheswarananda, Swami Yatiswarananda and Monsieur Marcel Sauton. NOTE: Monsieur Sauton was the host of Swami Siddheswarananda, who went to France in July 1937 in response to an earnest request ex- pressed to Swami Yatiswarananda during the Ramakrishna Centenary celebration in 1936 at the Sorbonne. The Gretz Centre was established after the War. (Picture due to the kindness of Meera [Maude Lallement])