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Vedanta, Science and Religion By the word Vedanta is meant the end of all knowledge. The Sanskrit word Vedanta breaks in two: Veda, the knowable; and anta, the end. Vedanta recognizes two worlds of human investigation – the external and the internal. The external world is what is revealed to us by the five senses.Today, biologists tell us that we still do not know enough of the human body. However, in the Indian tradition, adhyatma vidya, or the science of spirituality proclaims that behind the body-mind complex there is a vast, infinite reservoir of energy which you can unfold and manifest. Religion has another aspect too – the scientific. A God Shorn of Worship, and Still the All Due to their mystical nature and intense philosophical bent that does away with all ritual and completely embraces principles of One Brahman and the inner Atman (Self), the Upanishads have a universal feel that has led to their explication in numerous manners, giving birth to the three schools of Vedanta. Upanishad is a Sanskrit term broken in three: upa- (near), ni- (down), sad- (to sit). It means to sit near the guru. The term thus emphasizes the esoteric nature of the texts, not intended for public teaching, but restricted to the confidentiality of personal instruction. How Self-Analysis is Integral to Success If you are asked to define what success is, you will fall into great difficulty. Because success, to different people, have different connotations altogether. To the ambitious, no success is good enough, whereas to a man of unhurried temperament, withdrawn and non-energetic, satisfied as he is in his own world of ignorance, non-discontented, success hardly assumes any meaning Is the Dark Night of the Soul of the Physical or of the Universal? When the body dies the mind continues as a wavelength of memories with the conscious soul. The soul, when it allows itself to be tyrannized over by the appearances of Nature, the mind, it misses itself and goes whirling about in a cycle of births and deaths of the bodies. Entering new bodies, it gathers more experiences, sufferings, joys. But slowly, slowly, when it repeats the same pain, misery, agony, it becomes habitual and cannot draw back to the possession of its blissful state of its impersonal and unborn self-existence. Lapis Lazuli - Transmutation of Tragic Defeat into Tragic Joy W. B. Yeats' poem, Lapis Lazuli has for its themes the recurring rise and fall of civilizations, the impending end of our civilization, and the triumph of art and philosophy over the tragedy of events.The opening stanza focuses on modern times. Even worse than the impending destruction are those hysterical women who reject painting, music and poetry, all "gay" art, in favour of politics. These arts are called gay since they have the power of transfiguring tragedy into tragic joy. The hysterical women are tired of the artist's gaiety because they prefer action to contemplation, politics to art. When the Mind Stops, Time Stands Still In the case of an average person, in whom the mind is constantly active, desires and thoughts pour out without a stop, the time between two thoughts is very small, very very small. For those who are not so often assailed by desires, the thought traffic being less, kshana is extended. In the case of an enlightened being, who is in a state of no-mind, in whom there are no thoughts, kshana is infinite. What is "It", After All, That We are Searching? While the out and out materialist looks upon man as a body – a combination of cells – and the psychologist as an integrated body-mind, the spiritually illumined regards man in his essential nature as a soul having the mind and body as its coverings or instruments. What is This Luminosity of the Spirit that All Religions Talk About? God said: Let there be Light, and there was light – a simple statement denoting that Intelligence illumines. All matter is illuminated through intelligence. The body, as it were, being matter, cannot and does not have any luminosity of its own. Let us now explore whether the mind is intelligent, or simply matter. A Vision of the Inhuman Character of Human Life Wuthering Heights is so terrifying and powerful a novel that its final impress is one of tragedy. The concerted operation of its setting, characters and events releases an intensity that is undoubtedly tragic. Unless You Have Passion, You Cannot Have Compassion Passion is the energy without which nothing can be achieved. Pursuing one's passion therefore is the only way, the driving force. But it has to be given a conscious direction, so that it frees you from the throes of attachment. How many times we have known that our passionate attachments have led to unhappiness. So this kind of passion is of the negative kind, which one has to be able to differentiate. This is what we call soul-searching, meditation, Dhyana, call it by any name - focusing on the aspect which identifies oneself to be responsible for our misery. No Impurity Can Affect One's Primary Nature A glorious illustration of how even the most sinful man can become righteous and attain the highest illumination and peace though the grace of the Supreme Spirit is seen in the life of Girish Chandra Ghosh, the famous actor-dramatist and a great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. When There Are Impressions - No God-Realization Is Possible The father's eyes are sad, and Swetketu is unable to understand the reason. He asks of his father. "Is something wrong? Why are you unhappy?" And the father said, "One question: have you learnt that one, knowing which everything is known, and forgetting which all knowledge is futile, just a burden – not a help, but a harm?" Nature: The Anchor, The Guardian and The Nurse Wordsworth came to view Nature in its profoundest depths with a philosophical mind. He now realized that so deeply can Nature affect our heart and mind that we can be "laid asleep in body and become a living soul" and with the eye quieted "by the power of harmony and the deep power of joy" we can "see into the life of things." He now became aware of something that permeated the entire universe. When It Comes To Management - There Is No Better Teacher Than Satan In Paradise Lost Milton deals with the story not merely one of individual God or man, not merely one incident, a Nativity (birth) or a Crucifixion (death), but with a whole host of characters and an immense cycle of events. There is a war in Heaven; angels without number are defeated hurled through space, falling for nine days before reaching Hell. They are giants in stature, heroes by nature. Spiritual Rebels: Their Name Fit the Character A Portrait is the story of the nets and the escape from them to freedom, and the name of the hero is full of sympathetic significance. Stephen is the name of the first Christian martyr. He protested that God’s message to the people had been misinterpreted. He was accused of blasphemy and cast out of the city and stoned to death. Indeed, Stephen thinks of St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin as his green. Love! We all know, is Dialectical: But Hegelian; Or, Aristotelian? If I am with you only when you are happy and I am not with you when you are unhappy, this is not involvement; this is exploitation. If you have not learnt to love the defects, limitations and frailties that a human being is prone to, then such a love is not strong enough. It is fictitious. Just Act Out the Dark Side of Your Life to See the Light of Good The theme of Keats' Ode on Melancholy is the fragility and impermanence of Beauty and Joy. The Melancholy is the subtlest in sweetness of thought and feeling of Keats' odes. Our Creative Imagination has the Power of Transcendence In the Ode to a Nightingale (Stanza 1): Keats describes his reaction to a nightingale’s song while sitting in a garden. So intense is his happiness that it paradoxically produces pain and a dull feeling, and he longs to be united with the bird’s song. Can We Be A Hero Despite Our Worldly Failure? A company of a grammarian's pupils are bearing their master's coffin for burial at the summit of a mountain. One of them tells his story and dilates on the praises of the departed scholar. They cannot fittingly bury their master on the plain with the common folk. He shall rest on a peak whose height excels the rest. God is 'Right There' When You have Removed Yourself, the Obstruction Have you ever wondered why so many things we desired in life never seem to come true? Because, desires are like shadows. And a Shadow is that which is not. It is either the not that is chasing you or you are chasing the not. True Seekers Can Never Never be Serious Perfectionists! I somehow find serious people often have their hearts almost closed to humour and are, therefore, in a way, quite pitiable. Once, during the course of a discussion about how some people have this repelling quality about their very presence, I quoted a witty remark from someone I had heard or picked up, and in line with the topic of the discussion saying, "Yes sir, there are people who cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." Existential Unity and Harmony of All Religions "In her (India's) literature, philosophy, art and regulated life there is much that is worthless, much also that is distinctly unhealthy; yet the treasure of knowledge, wisdom and beauty which they contain are too precious to be lost."(Hymns of the Tamil Saivite Saints, Eds, F. Kingsbury & G.F. Phillips. Editorial preface). Let Us Break the Barriers of Our Small little Worlds I am a Hindu. I am sitting in my own little well, and thinking that the world is my well, and croak, "Turn him out." The Christian sits in his little well and the world is his well. "Turn him out." The Mohammedan sits in his well and thinks the world like that. "Turn him out." A Temple of Faith Constructed with the Material of Doubt The French philosopher Rene Descartes' search for an oasis of faith through the desert of doubt began with Cogito, ergo sum. I think therefore I am. "My very doubt proves my existence". Otherwise who will be the doubter? Doubt, in itself cannot exist.And so skepticism leads to one certainty. I am. Sin Exists Only in the Mind; Just Doubt 'Doubt the Evil', and Find God What is our definition of God? We call him Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent, meaning that the All-Powerful and the all-seeing is present everywhere. Present everywhere including in myself, including in yourself, including in other people also. But why can we not see Him then? Because God cannot be perceived if the mind is not with you in the present. You are not in the present because you are stressed. Utter Silence Alone is God: Nothing Else We worship the past. We have all praise for the past, the glorious past. Or, glorify something far away distant, something we cannot reach. The mind feels comfortable with ideals and things far away. When man’s sight goes far away into the future or into the past, he fails to recognize the Divine here, now, in the present, in his own heart. The Real Teacher is Always Available; All You Need Do is to Become a Receptacle In studying the scriptures we are deluded into believing that we are being spiritually helped; but if we analyze ourselves, we shall find that only our intellect has been helped, and not the spirit. Simon Lee, the Old Huntsman Gratitude is a capacity that is at the heart of what is naturally human and humane. Cold rationalism would not find room for such a humble (however profound) emotion. Withdrawal from the Outer is Necessary to Enter into the Inner The white robe ("habit") that symbolizes perfection, but also to the dedicated disciplined pursuit of perfection by renouncing and transcending the sensuous pleasures. Rousing Pity and Fear to Effect Purgation of Our Emotions Tess is cast in the role of a fallen woman, and yet Hardy regards her as "pure". He holds her only physically, but not morally, tarnished. She kills Alec under the impulse to return to Angel, her husband and only lover. Can Destiny be Recast by Intelligence? "As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities". Lyrics that Take Us from the "Slough of Despond" to Buoyant Hope The impulse from without and the awakened impulse within mingling in passionate embrace brought forth the poem. How to Turn Passion into Compassion? If you pay attention to the way you feel after you put someone down, you will notice that you feel worse than before the put-down. Coleridge’s Treatment of the Supernatural in The Ancient Mariner It is by drawing our attention to the terror-stricken feelings manifested on his face that the poet convinces us of the reality of the experience. We would certainly refuse to accept the supernatural details as real, but there is no mistaking the downright inevitable gush of frightful feelings and sensations evoked by the supernatural powers. Pleasures of Inactivity In these days of wanton materialistic atrophying, man has stopped listening. Somewhere, far away, our friends and relatives were humming and bustling, planning, disputing, getting, spending; but we were as gods, solidly occupied in doing nothing. Satyagraha (Yearning for Truth) - The Principle Operating Behind Nature and Creation It may appear paradoxical that consciously or unconsciously, in ninety-nine of our thousand acts, the governing principle is that of love. Even in the regulation of relations, we are bound to apply the propelling power of Satyagraha (a Truth Desire). The Jarring Note in the World's Beautiful Melody It is true that man is doomed to destruction if his relationship with Nature is one of struggle. He will never be able to use the language of conquering, because science can at no point of time claim that now there is nothing more to be conquered The Forgotten Language of Ecstasy If you can be more vulnerable, not prejudiced, not decisive, and let only experience be decisive, then prejudices will not become a screen and will allow you to see that which is. Learning To Ignore - Why Is It So Necessary Yes, fools do, and can, floor you with their sheer stupidity. A Few Words on Philosophizing! The journey is unknown; the journey is so unknown that you cannot even plan it.