Don’t neglect the study of
Sanskrit and Vedic culture
In past ages, Indians performed their daily rites, sat
in purified places, surrounded by sacredness, and immersed themselves in the
study and practice of the teachings of the Vedas and the Upanishads. They
recorded their experiences in order to guide others to bring those experiences
back again into their own consciousness. But their children and grandchildren
placed the books on the altar and duly worshiped them. Neglect reduced them to
dust or lumber; the palm leaves disintegrated, and rats ate into them.
Eager students from the West have sought out this
lumber, realising that it enshrines incomparable sources of illumination and
priceless pearls of wisdom. They lift it reverentially above their heads and
acclaim it as the precious gift of the continent of Bharath (Bharatha-khanda)
to themselves and their children. They carry it across the seas with joy in
their eyes and thankfulness in their hearts.
Shall I reveal what the children of India have been
doing? They don’t open the pages, peruse the contents or even concern
themselves with them. Only one in a million reads them, but even he is
ridiculed as a fool and a crank. People laugh at the books as a conglomeration
of lies and legends and argue about the historicity of the books and their
authors. They dismiss Sanskrit as “very hard to learn” and pass on the treasure
to scholars from other lands. What a sad spectacle this is! It would have been
some compensation if they attended carefully to the study of their mother tongue,
but even this they fail to do. It is neglect; neglect everywhere.
No. I don’t condemn worldly happiness. I feel glad
when people are happy. But, please don’t believe that this happiness is
permanent. I want you to study all the arts and sciences for acquiring worldly
happiness, but I want you to remember that this happiness is not everlasting.
Permanent happiness can be secured through only one
knowledge (vidya), the Upanishad knowledge. That is the science of
God-realisation, the teaching of the sages (rishis). Only that can save one and
grant one peace.
There is nothing higher than that; this is an
indisputable fact. Whatever your joy and sorrow, whatever the subject you have
specialised in for a living, rivet your eyes on knowledge of Brahman. If only
intelligence is sharpened, without the growth and practice of virtues, and if
mere information is stored in the brain, the world cannot progress and its
welfare will be in jeopardy.
But people now seem to be losing faith in virtues, for
the educational system does not assign any place to spiritual teaching or
training. True education does not mar or pervert the beautiful virtues of boys
and girls, it does not content itself with filling the brain with cumbersome junk. Only education that gives
full scope for the blossoming of all the virtues that distinguish people is
beneficial.
Don’t mistake appearance for
reality
Actually, people see the shadow and take it to be the
substance. They see length, breadth, height, and thickness and jump to the
conclusion that they have an object before them. They experience a series of
sensations and memories and, adding them all up, infer that some objects
produce them. This mistaking of appearance for reality is misnamed spiritual
wisdom (jnana). How can it ever be spiritual wisdom? Can the image of a person
ever be “he”? If the image is taken to be “he”, can we call it knowledge? Such
is the nature of all knowledge now; what is cognised as an object is not real
at all; its reality is not cognisable.
Nondualists (a-dwaithins) believe “I am Brahman (Aham
Brahmasmi)”. How do they acquire that conviction?
Ask one of them, and the reply is, “The scripture
(sruthi) declares it so; the guru taught it like that.” But learning it from
these sources does not entitle one to make that profound statement. Do people
who are masters of these three words: “I am Brahman (Aham Brahmasmi)” attain
unity with Brahman? No, ceaseless striving through countless births, loyal
performance of scriptural duties —these purify the mind. In such a mind, seeds
of devotion sprout and, when tended with care and knowledge, grow into blooming
flowers; fruits appear and ripen and get filled with sweetness and fragrance.
When the fruit is eaten, a person becomes one with the Supreme —the power that
permeates all things and all regions and that is eternally present, conscious,
and blissful.
People may enunciate the formula, “I am Brahman (Aham
Brahmasmi)” correctly; their etymology may be perfect; but when they are
ignorant of the “world”, unaware of “I”, and completely in the dark about
“Brahman”, how can they ever taste the rare joy of the wise (jnani)? It is not
mastery of words and their meanings that counts: it is awareness, experience
—these are the fundamentals.
No comments:
Post a Comment