Introduction to Vedanta - Part III

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What it means and what it doesn't - ...FAQs contd

Last weekend, I had been to a workshop on 'Vedas and Education' organised by the Web of Life Makers group (WEBOLIM) at Madurai. It is heart warming to see that the interest in learning Vedic knowledge is growing amongst the public, particularly amongst the youth. In fact, many youngsters keep away from spirituality because of misconceptions shrouding it, some of which we tried to address in the previous article. We will conclude with a few more FAQs that are often encountered.

1. Vedantic texts are subsets of the Vedas and hence cannot be revealed or taught to everybody.
Vedantic teachings deal with universal and timeless truths and are open to one and all, irrespective of caste, religion, sex, age or any other barriers. However, any system of knowledge or teaching requires a commitment from the teacher and the taught. You need to enrol into a university and commit yourself for four or five years to become engineer or a doctor. Imagine the amount of effort, time and concentration that goes into gaining even materialistic knowledge. Similarly, Vedanta cannot be taught to those who are not prepared to receive it. We will see what kind of preparation is needed to grasp Vedantic knowledge in the next article. But, this psychological preparation has nothing to do with material, social or religious qualifiers.

2. If the goal of Vedanta is the perception of an impersonal Self or Brahman, does it imply that Vedantic seekers are forbidden from worshipping a personal deity?
The Advaita school of Vedanta does emphasise on the impersonal Self whereas the Dvaita and Visishta Dvaita schools of thought are dualistic in their approach. In fact, Adi Sankara himself, the propounder of Advaita, established the shat sampradayas (traditional system of worship of the six primary deities Ganesha, Subrahmanya, Siva, Shakti, Vishnu and Surya) and sang hymns to them. So, there is no bar on worship or rituals and it is entirely left to the seeker to choose and follow his own mode of worship compatible with his family tradition or by choice.

3. Does Vedanta teach that the world is illusory and so all worldly pursuits and relationships should be considered as such?
This perception is born out of an erroneous interpretation of Sankara's teachings like 'Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya' etc. Neither does Sankara claim that the world is an illusion nor does the word mithya mean 'illusion.' The attitude of looking at the world as illusory is more a Buddhist doctrine. Vedanta only says that the world is as real as we are (relative truth) and doesn't try to dismiss our problems or relationships as illusory. There is an interesting anecdote about how Sankara demonstrated this truth to his students. Sankara was once crossing a dense forest with a group of students when a mad elephant charged at them. Sankara was the first to run away and quickly climbed on to a tall tree! The students were disappointed and asked him, "Having taught us that the world is mithya, why did you run away from the mithya elephant?" Sankara retorted, "How is it that you perceive only the charging elephant as mithya but cannot perceive my running away also as mithya?!"

If readers have other questions, which can be added to this list of FAQs, please post them here or email them to us.

Next Week: Preliminary Preparations for students of Vedanta

"While appreciating the article, flippancy as evidenced by "Gleefully, no Vedanta doesn't try to awaken any hidden snakepower or monkeypower within you" and "Sorry folks, but if you expect a salary hike because you read the Bhagavad Gita or attend lectures on the Upanishads, then Ill have to disappoint you" could have been avoided. I am not against humour but this attempt didn't work out You wrote: "Going by some recent news reports, some nerds in the corporate circles are trying to apply the teachings of Bhagavad Gita to management practices. Ill be reserved and adopt a policy of wait watch till they succeed."

If they really apply Gita's precepts properly The person who was teaching is certainly qualified but those who are listening may or may not be, they are bound to succeed, since minds freed from the shackles of selfish egoistic thinking will always take better decisions."

My comments were neither flippant nor avoidable. They were aimed at two distortions which have crept in: 1. The booming Kundalini yoga business which spurious gurus are packaging to cheat gullible westerners and ignorant Indians alike. 2. Gita & Management - the primary motive of the management gurus seems to be to use the Gita teachings to make more money and be professionally successful. While we may feel smug about an Indian scripture being recognised by them, I am very concerned about the trivialisation and distortion it involves of the Gita's profound message.