What is Vedanta

What is Vedanta?

Vedanta is not a proselytizing religion. It says what it has to say to whomever wants to listen, but it does not wave flags or blow trumpets. While its teachers know that its message is life transforming, they also know that very few people want their lives to be transformed—however miserable and painful those lives may be. When a person is ready for change, he or she will come to the right spiritual teacher in his or her own time and way. That is all. Vedantists believe that there is a sort of cosmic law about it and that the teacher will wait for the student to come of his or her own accord. When the student finally does come, generally the greeting is, “What took you so long?”

Vedanta has been on this earth for thousands of years. It is the philosophical basis of Hinduism and, in its breadth and depth, encompasses all the great religions of the world. It was born in the forest retreats of ancient India, where sages and seers had retired to seek the utmost reality of existence. Now and then, one or another of those seers (rishis) would find through inward search what he (or sometimes she) sought and would proclaim that indescribable truth to his or her disciples in approximate words that could be easily memorized, for those were days before writing was known. A teacher’s terse revelations were collected and became known as Upanishads, a Sanskrit word meaning, roughly, “a teaching given to one sitting near,” that is, to a disciple. The Upanishads form the last books of the Vedas, the earliest extant scriptures on earth. The Sanskrit word Vedanta means “the end of the Vedas”—“the end” in the sense of the culminating truths as well as the last books. Those Upanishadic, or Vedantic, utterances have survived intact through millennia. So highly have they been revered in India that to change a single word would be sacrilege. India’s history is aglow with commentators on and teachers of the Upanishads, great shining souls who have realized the truths discovered and sung by the Vedic rishis and who have taught them to others with meticulous accuracy. Thus Vedanta has flowed in unbroken streams from teacher to disciple down through countless generations.

Sri Ramakrishna  

In our own times, Sri Ramakrishna, an untutored priest and a disciple of an enlightened Vedantic monk, manifested in his life and words every aspect of Vedantic wisdom. He followed, one after another, each religious path that was known to him, and at the end of each he experienced the same essential truth—thus verifying once for all the ancient Vedic saying: “Truth is one; sages call it by various names.” Christians, Muslims, and of course Hindus of various sects sat at his feet, as though at the feet of their own prophets and saviors, and there found the reality and the peace they sought.

Swami Vivekananda

Sri Ramakrishna’s illustrious monastic disciple, Swami Vivekananda, was the first Hindu monk to bring Vedanta (which he equated with the universal message of his Master) to the West—not as a missionary, but as a teacher of spirituality. Swamiji (as Swami Vivekananda is usually called) came first to the Parliament of religions, held in Chicago in 1893, and stayed for two or three years to lecture in America and England. Four of his brother disciples (Swamis Abhedananda, Saradananda, Turiyananda and Trigunatitananda) followed in his wake. Then, in the early decades of the twentieth century, came the next generation of monks, to which Swami Ashokananda belonged. Today (April 14, 2003) there are thirteen Vedanta societies in America, many with retreats, and others throughout the world, each headed by a monk of the Ramakrishna Order.

Some of Swami Ashokananda's sayings on Mind, its nature and behaviour

The mind is a slave of the body. It just repeats what the body says and what the body wants.

Where do you think the mind is? In the average man it is a little in the mind, a little in the heart, but 90 percent in the muscles, in the mouth, and below the waist—on the purely physical level.

Our mind takes the character of that on which it dwells. If the mind thinks of material things all the time, it will become as gross as matter.

The mind is a miserable stenographer who keeps a record of what the senses and the body do. But when you rise above the body, the mind also rises up.

The mind is the sense of otherness.

The mind is nothing but ignorance continually vibrating.

We get ideas and these ideas get frozen into attitudes.

The mind is so hard that an atomic bomb will not make a dent in it, but meditation will.

Despair and discouragement are two of the luxuries in which the mind indulges.

One becomes identified with the states of the mind. We dance to the tune of the mind.

When the mind takes an unhappy turn you say, “I am unhappy.” You are not unhappy; the mind is unhappy.

Against the calm, luminous soul, the mind dances its dance—and we identify with the mind.

When the mind becomes calm, you see deep into everything.

The finite and the Infinite will never shake hands.

The object is to free the mind from the body.

Ride the body and mind; do not let the body and mind ride you.

If you are not the body or the mind, nothing can set a limit to you. The sense of limitation comes only from the body and the mind.

The mind is not a sovereign thing; it is the instrument of the soul.

The natural tendency of the mind is toward God, not toward evil. If we take off what is imposed on the mind, it will fly to Truth.

It is better to evoke the higher mind than to wrestle with the lower mind. How? By dwelling on that which makes the mind higher. Infinite love and dignity are there.

I will make a wild speculation: modern people do not delve into the unconscious in order to understand the mind; they do so because the conscious state has become unbearable.

It is a highly dangerous game to try to probe into your own mind. You must not do it.

“Don’t dig too deeply in the ground lest a cobra come out.”—Bengali saying.

Until you have great control of your mind, don’t study it. Dwell on God.

With the conscious mind alone we can reach the highest, without the use of the unconscious mind.

If you want to commune with God, it is done with the enlargement and expansion of your conscious mind. This very mind becomes superconscious.

"They Said it" - About Swami Ashokananda

“For almost twenty years I sat at the feet of Swami Ashokananda. I learned from him, was amazed by him, enchanted by him—and often left in profound awe.”

-- Sister Gargi (Marie Louise Burke)

Then one day in August of 1950, when I was sitting in Swami’s office, he said: “Go and wash your hands and rinse your mouth.” When I returned, he gave me two mantras, and I knew I had been initiated. Just like that.

-- P.12, A Disciple’s Journal

Spiritualizing Everyday Life

Spiritualizing Everyday Life

· First of all, a strong philosophical conviction.

· Second, an effort to change one’s outlook in practice.

· Every time anybody passes by remind yourself, ‘Here is God Himself
passing in the form of this person.’

· Afterwards, you will not even say ‘in the form of this person’,
but just ‘God Himself passing by’.

· Hearing a voice you will say, ‘God Himself is speaking.’

· Looking at the face, looking into the eyes, you will say, ‘God
Himself is looking through

· these eyes at me.’

· ‘It is God who is shaking my hand.’

· You will have to persuade yourself of these things.

· Next, you should destroy all the opposite tendencies, opposite
convictions and instincts. …

· A time comes, after the period of struggle is over, when a new
quality reveals itself in the smile of the mother, and the children dote on
her.

· She talks to them in a new way and there is something in it that
goes deep into their hearts.

· The husband feels it, too, and so do the relatives and friends.

· True, it is not fun in the old way, but to all it is a source of
attraction, and all find it good to be with her.

Swami Ashokananda

Swami Ashokananda (1893-1969) was a much-venerated monk of the Ramakrishna Order. He was ordained into sannyasa by Swami Shivananda, and was the editor of Prabuddha Bharata, an English monthly of the Ramakrishna Order brought out from the Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati in Uttaranchal. He was an outstanding writer and speaker and the leader of the Vedanta Society of Northern California (San Fransisco) from 1931 until his passing away in 1969.

"Swami Ashokananda was a brilliant and accomplished spiritual teacher in the West." - Huston Smith, author of 'The World's Religions' and 'Why Religion Matters'.

Swami Ashokananda was the guru of Sister Gargi (Marie Louise Burke) - the great author of Swami Vivekananda in the West - New Discoveries. Her biography of her Guru (A Heart Poured Out) and her journal (A Disciple's Journal) are very inspiring reading.

Just one of innumerable experiences of his life: (I plan to add more later)

1. When he (Swami Ashokananda) was near trees, his mind would sometimes grow very quiet, and his ordinary consciousness, human consciousness, would be obliterated, as it were, and tree consciousness would take its place, a consciousness entirely unlike our own—a different time sense, a different way of knowing and feeling, indescribable in terms of human consciousness. He felt at one with trees, just as we feel at one with human beings. He knew trees to be very happy, peaceful beings. He could almost hear their laughter. It was, he said, like the laughter of young girls around sixteen or seventeen years old, and yet restrained.

-- A Heart Poured out, the biography of the Swami, by Sister Gargi, Page 63

Teachings (Randomly selected)

1. If the mind is gloomy, why are you gloomy?
2. Tranquility comes when the rubbish of the mind has been removed. Greed and self-indulgence must be vanquished. 
3. You become calm by eliminating the causes of mental disturbance. Find out what they are and get rid of them. It is as simple as that. All spiritual teachings are about how to remove disturbing things from your mind and your life.
4. All this emotional wealth of man is but a faint imitation of the exquisite,excruciating love of our infinite soul for the infinite God.
5. You have to be calm and quiet and examine every thing that arises in your mind. See that it is in accord with reason and not just accepted automatically by custom.
6. How to bring the mind under control? Direct it so that it cannot do anything on its own, that is how.
7. Only when the mind is under control and has become peaceful can you know what thw mind is. You can never know your own mind unless you practice self-discipline.
8. You have to be bold and persistent. Cut down the old thoughts again and again as they come to you again and again, and then the roots will die.
9. You have to examine all your motives. You will find that it takes a long time before your only motive is the realization of God.
10. Depth in meditation will not come without quieting the mind.
11. The mind is quieted best by unselfishness. There is no technique so good!
12. Out of the infinite calmness of mind, the knowledge of God comes.
13. The mind is coextensive with God, transparent and luminous when it reflects God alone. Do not cheat the mind by stuffing it with other thoughts.
14. Stop dragging the mind down to worldly thoughts and it will naturally rise on its own to reveal the Self.
15. When the mind is perfectly still, the soul becomes Spirit.
16. Concentration is nothing but attention. It requires a quiet mind, not a scattered mind.
17. Meditation is a slow, slow process like the opening of a flower—silent and graceful.
18. The soul is all-conscious, whereas the mind and body are totally unconscious.
19. Beautiful is the body of God, this universe, but its finer aspects are hidden from those who are blinded by the vanities of life.
20. The joy of the Spirit is infinitely superior to anything this body and mind can bring to you.
21. The body comes and goes like clouds against the sky; the eternal Spirit remains.We are seeing only part of the picture.
22. Do everything with full attention. Nothing should be done without reverence, for everything is really done unto God. You should not worship God carelessly. It is not that God will punish you, but that you will destroy your own fine sense of values. Don't trample on greatness in any form. One should have reverence for whatever one does, even if it is just an extraneous thing.
23. A man can have everything, but if he doesn’t have the cooperation of his mind, he has nothing.
24. The whole world is like Alice in Wonderland, a madhouse. As long as you see everything slide by in reasonable sequence, one thing firmly tied to another, you are a bound person. When you realize there is no sequence, no congruity, you are free.
25. If you ask, 'But how did this illusion come about originally? If there is only one reality, how could there be an illusion of manifoldness?' then they answer, 'In ignorance there is no consistency'. How do we mistake one thing for another ? Do we do it rationally ? If it were rational, then we would not have made any mistake. That we have made a mistake means that it is an irrational, an inexplicable something. If you then say, as some have, 'The illusion always exists as opposed to pure divinity,' then you are forced to accept the position of a dualist, although of a different kind, it is true. The answer is simply this – when you find the truth, ignorance vanishes. Then you do not say ignorance is one reality and truth is another reality; you never think that. Ignorance is ignorance, and you never put it under the same category as truth or the real.
26. Only the great can achieve the’great. Only the deep can achieve the deep… Try to be deep and profound and see if you cannot find deep and profound truth within yourself. You have to practise those things. If you become superficial, you will become like dust that is being scattered by the wind. You won’t be anything better than that.
27. Brave the danger of the mind. It has more power over you than a million atomic bombs. To control it makes you the master—fearless.
28. Until you have actually felt the mind at work within itself, you will not be able to control it.

Books by and on Swami Ashokananda

Avadhuta Gita of Dattatreya
Swami Brahmananda
SWAMI PREMANANDA
Swami Vivekananda in San Francisco
Spiritualizing Everyday Life & Worship of the Spirit by the Spirit
When the Many Become One: Three Lectures
Avadhuta Gita (Song of the Free)
The Soul's Journey to Its Destiny
Ascent to Spiritual Illumination
Meditation Ecstasy and Illumination: An Overview of Vedanta
Spiritual Practice: Its Conditions and Preliminaries
My Philosophy and My Religion.
Six lighted windows: Memories of the Swamis of the west