These Upanishads are our Scriptures. They have been differently explained, and, as I have told you already, whenever there is a difference between subsequent Pauianic literature and the Vedas, the Puranas must give way. But it is at the same time true that as a practical result we find ourselves ninety per cent. Pauranic and ten per cent. Vaidik, even if so much as that. And we all find the most contradictory 72 LECTURES -FROM COLOMBO TO ALMORA iisa;j:cs pievailinj; in our midst, and also religious opinions prevailing in societies, which scMicely have any aulhoiily in the Sciiptuies of tlie Hindus; and in many cases, we lead in books and see with astonishment, customs of the counliy that neither liave their authoiity in the Ve<las, nor in the Smritis or Puranas, but aie simply local; and yet each ignoiant villager thinks that if that little local custom dies out, he will no moio lemain a Hindu. In his mind Vedantism and these little local customs have been indissolubly idenlifieil. In leading the Scnptuies it is hard for him to undeisland, that what he was doing has not the sanction of the vScripluies, and that the giving up of them will not hint him at all, but on the otlier hand will make him a better man. Sectindly, there is the olliei (hnicnlty, 'I'liese Sciiptures of ours have been vety vast. We lead in the Mahabhash}a of Patanjali, that gieat philo- logical w'oik, that the Sama Veda had one thousand blanches. Wheie aie they all? Nobody knows. So with each of the Vedas; the in.ijoi poilion of these books has dis- ajipeaicd, and it is only the minoi poilion that icmains to us. They were all taken chaigo of by jiailiciilai families; and cithei these families died out, or were killed under foreign iiciseculion, or somehow became c.\tinct; and with them, that bianch of the leai ning of the Ved.is they took charge of, became extinct also. This fact we ought to lemeinbe', as it alwa ys foi ms the sheet-anchor in the h.ands of those who want to i)ieach an) thing now, oi to defend anything, even against the Vedas. Whenever in India theie i.s a discussion between local custom and the.Siulis, and whenever it is poinlcel out that the local custom is ag.\mst the Sciijilures, the aigu- ment that is foiwatded is, th.U it is not, that the custom existed in the branch of the Siutis which has become extinct; this has also been a custom. In the midst of all these vaiymg methods of leading and commenting on our Sciiptures, it is veiy dilhcLilt Muleed to find the thread th.U luns through all of them; for w’e become con- vinced at once th.il there must be some common giound undei lying all these vaiymg divisions and sub-divisions; iheie must be haiinony, a common jilan, upon winch all these little bits of buildings have been consliucted, some basis common to this appaiently hopeless m.iss of confusion which we call our leligion. (^iheiwise it could not have stood.so long, it could not liave endured so long.
Coming to our commentators again, W'c hnd anolher diHiculty. The Advailic commenlatoi, whenever an Advaitic text comes, pieserves it just as it is; but the same comiricntator, as soon as a Dualislic text picscnts itself, loiluies it if he can, and biings the most qneei meaning out ot it. Sometimes the “Unborn” becomes a “goal,” such aie the woiideifiil changes elfected. 'J'o s.:’t the commentator, “/lyVi” the “ Unborn ” is cxplamctl as “ J/V/ ” a shc-goat. In the same way, if not in a still woise fashion, the texts aie handled by the Dualislic comrnenUior. Kvery Dualislic text IS piesci ved, and cveiy text that speaks of non-dualistic philosophy, is tortuicd m any fashion he likes. 'Plus.Sanskiit langn.age is.so mtiicatc, the.Sanskrit of the Vedas IS so ancient, and the Sanskiit philology.so peifcct that any amount of discussion can be earned on forages in regard to the meaning of one word. If a Pandit takes it into his head, he can render anybody’s jii.altlc into coirect Sanskiit by foice of aigument and quotation of texts and lules. These are the difliculties in our way of undei standing the Uiianishads. It was given to me to live with a man who was as aident a Dualist, as ardent an Advaitist, as aident a lihakta, as a Jnani. And living w'ilh this man, fust pul it into my liead to understand the Upaiusliads and the texts of the Scriptures from an independent and better basis than by blmdl) following the comincntalors; and in my opinion, and in my rcscaichcs.
VEDAl^TA IN ITS APPIICATION TO INDIAN LIPS 7} I came to the conclusion, that these texts are not at all contradictory. So we need have no fear of text-tortuiing at all I The texts are beautiful, aye, they are most wonderful, and they are not contradictoiy, but wondeifully harmonious, one idea leading up to the otlier. Bui the one fact I found is, that in all the Upanishads, they begin with Dualistic ideas, witli woiship and all that, and end with a grand rtourish of Advaitic ideas.
Therefore, I now lind, in the light of this man's life, that the Dualist and the Advaitist need not light each olhci; each has a place, and a great place in the national life; the Dualist must remain, for he is as much pail and pai cel of the national leligious life as the Ad\auist, one cannot exist without the other; one is the fulfilment of the other; one is the building, the other is the top; the one the root, the other the fruit, and so on. Theiefore,any attempt to torture the texts of the Upanishads appears to me very lidiculous. I begin to find out that the language is wonderful; apait tiorn all its meiits as the greatest philosophy, apart from its wonderful merit as theology, as showing the path of salvaliori of mankind, the Upanishadic literature IS the most wondc'ihil painting of sublimity that the world has. Here, conies out m full foice that individuality of the human mind, that introspective intuitive Hindu niiiid. We have paintings of snblimtly elsewhere in all nations, but almost without cMeplioM, yon will (iiui that their ideal is to grasp the sublime in the muscles. Take foi instance,.Milion, Dante, Homer or any of the Western poets. There are wonder- fully sublime* ji.issages in them, hut there, it is always grasping for the senses, the muscles getting the ideal of infinite expansion, the infinite of space. We find the same atlernpls imule iii the.Samhita poition You know.some of those wondeiful liiks, wfieie creation fs desetihed, the very heights of expression of the sublime in expansion, and the nihniic in space ate attained; but they found out very soon that the Infinite cannot be leached ni that way, that even infinite space and expansion, and inlinilt* exieinal natuie could not ex|)ress the ideas that w-ere struggling to find expression in then mmds, and so they fell back upon othci explanations. The language became new' in the Upanishads; U is almost negative, it is sometimes chaotic, soinetime.s taking }ou beyond the scn^es, pointing out to you something which you cannot giasp, w'hich you cannot.sense, and at the same time you feel certain that It IS theie. What p.issage ni the world can compare with this.^—?r rR" >Trf?r »r l ‘‘ ’I'heie the sun cannot illumine, nor the moon, nor llie stais, the Hash of lightning cannot illumine the place, what to speak of tins mortal lire." Again, where can you find a more perfect expres- sion of the whole philosophy of the world, the gist of what the Hindus ever thought, the whole dream of human salvation, painted in language more wonder- ful, in figuie moie niaivollous than this?
upon the same iiee there aie two biids ot beautiful plumage, mo.st friendly to each other, one eating the fruits, the other sitting there calm and silent without eating; the one on the lower branch eating.sweet and bitter fruits in turn and becoming happy and unhappy, but the other one on the top, calm and majestic; he eats neither sweet nor bittei fiuits, cares neither fc)r happiness nor misery, immersed in his ow’n glory. This is the picture of the human soul. Man is eating the sweet and bitter 74 LEC7CRES FROM COLOMBO TO ALMORA frmts of this life, pursuing gold, pursuing his senses, pursuing the vanities of life, hopelessly, niavlly caiecmig he goes. In other places the Upanishads have com- pared the human soul to the cliaiioteer, and the senses to the mad hoiscs unrestrained. Such is the caieer of men pursuing the vanities of life, childien dreaming golden di earns only to find that they are but \ain, and old men chewing the cud of their past deeds, and yet not knowing how to get out of this nct-w’ork. 7'his is the world. Yet in the life of every one there come golden moments; in the midst of the deepest soiiows, nay, of the deepest joys iheie come moments w'hen, a pait of the cloud lhal hides the sun-light moves away as it weic, and w'e catch a glimpse, in sjjite of oursehes, of sometlnng beyond, — away, aw'ay beyond the life of the senses; awMy, away he)ond its vanities, its joys and its sorrows; away, away beyond nature, in our imaginations of happiness here or hcieafter; away beyond all thirst for gold, or for fame, oi for name, or for [losterily. Man stops for a moment at this glimpse, and sees the other bud calm ami maiestic, eating neither sweet nor biltei fiuils, but lmmcl^ed in Ins own gloiy, scll-coiUtnt, self-satisfied. As the Gita says, I ^ ^ ll “He whose devotion is to the Atman, he who does not want anything beyond Atman, he who has become satisfied in the Atman, w'liat woik is theic foi him to do Why should he drudge? Man catches a glimjise, then again he foigeis, and goes on eating the sweet and bitlei fruits of life, and again he foigels; jxnhajis after a time, he catches another glimpse, and the lower bud goes ncaici and neaier to the higher bud as blow's after blow’saie leceived; if he be fortunate to receive hard knocks, then he comes nearer and nearer to his companion the other bud, his life, his fiiend, and as he ajipioaches him he finds that the light fiom the higher bud is placing lound his owai plumage, and as he comes neaicr and neaici, lo! the liansformalion IS going on. The neaier and neaier he comes, he finds himself melting away, as it we-rc, until he has eniiiely disnppcared. He did not really exist, it was but the reflection of the other biid, who was there calm and majestic amidst the moving leaves. It was all his glory, that uppei biid’s. He remains without fear; perfectly satisfied, calmly serene. In this figure, the Upani- shads take you flora the Dualislic lo the utmost Advailic conception.
Endless examples can be cited, but w'e have no lime in thus lecture to do that, or to show the marvellous poetry of the Ujcinishads, the painting of the sublime, the grand conceptions. Hut one other idea I must note, that the language and the thought and cvcrylliing come diicct, they fall upon you like a swoid-blade, strong as the blows of a hammer they come. Theie is no mistaking theii meanings. Every lone of that music is firm and produces its full efTect; no gj iations, no mad words, no intricacies in which the brain is lost. No signs of degiadalion are there; — no attempts at too much allegorising, loo much piling of adjectives after adjectives, making it more and more intricate, till the whole of the sense is lost, and the biain becomes giddy, and man does not know his w^ay out from the maze of that literature. There was none of lhal yet. If it be human litciaturc, it must be the production of a lace which has not yet lost any of its national vigour.
Suength, strength is what the Upanishads speak lo me from every page. This is the one great thing lo remember; it has been the one great lesson I have been taught in my life; sliength, it says, strength, oh man, be not w^eak. Are theie no human weaknesses, says man? There are, say the Upanishads, but will more weakness heal them, would you try lo wash diit with dirt? Will Bin cure sin, w'cakness cure weakness? Strength, oh man, strength, say the DA. VTA W ITS APPLICATION TO INDIAN LIFE 75 Upanishads, stand up and be strong; aye, it is the only liteiatuie in the woild where you find the word, “ “ fearless,'’ used again and again; in no other scnpiure in the world is this adjective applied either to God or to man. “Ahhih *' “ feaile.ss 1” And m my mind rises from the past, the vision of the great Emperor of the West, Alexander the Great, and 1 see, as u were in a pictine, thegieat monaich standing on the banks of the Indus, talking to one of our Sannyasins in tlie forest; the old man he was talking to, perhaps naked, staik naked, silting upon a block of stone, and the Emperor astonished at his wisdom templing him wilh gold and honoi, to come over to Gieece. And this man smiles at his gold, and smiles at Ins temptations, and lefnscs, and then the Empeioi standing on his authority as an Eanpeioi, sa)s, “I will kill you, if you do not come,” and the man buists into a laugh, and says, “ You never told such a falsehood in your life, as you tell just now. Who can kill me } Me you kill, Kmperoi of the mateiial world ' Nevei ^ Eoi I am.Sjiint uiiboin and undecaying, never was I born and ne\er tlo 1 die, I am the Infnnte, the OmnipieseiU, the Omniscient; and you kill me, child that youaic!" That is strength, that is stiengtli ’ And the moie I lead the Upanishads, my fiiends, mv countiymeri, the more I weep for you, for ihciein is the gieat piactical application. Siiengih, strength for us. What we need is slieuglh, who will give us siiength? Theie are thousands to w'eaken us, and of stories wc have had enough Every one of oui Puran.is if you press It, gives out stcnics enough to fill ihiee-fouiths of the Iibiaiies of the woihL E\en thing that can weaken us as a lacc we have had loi the last tliou'^and yeais. It seems as if during tliat period the national lile had this one end in view, 7>iz., how to make us weaker and weaker, till we have become leal earth-worms, crawling at the feel of oveiy one w'ho daies to put his fool on us. Tbciefoie my fi lends, as one of your blood, as one that lives and dies with )Ou, let me tell you that wc want.slicnglh, stiength, and every time sticnglh And the Upanisliads aic the gical mine of siiength. Thciein lies stiength enough to invigoiale the whole woild; the whole woild can be vivified, made strong, energised thioiigh them. They will call with trumpet voice upon the weak, die miserable, and the down-tiodtlen ol all laccs, all ciccds, and all sects, to stand on their feet and be free, ficcdom, physical fieedom, mental fieedom, and spiiilual fieedom aie the watchv.oids of tlie Upanisliads.
Aje, this is tlae one.Sciiptuie in the woild, of all othcis, that does not talk of salva- tion, but of fieedom. Be fiee from the bonds oi nature, be free fiom weakness! And it shows to you that you have this freedom already in you. That is another pcculiaiity of Its teachings. You are aDvaitist; nevermind, you have got to admit that by it.s veiy natuie the soul is peifect; only by certain actions of the soul has it become contuicled. Indeed Ramanuja's tlieoiy of contraction and (^xpansion is exactly what the modern evolutionists call Evolution and Atavism, The soul goes back, becomes conliacted as it were, its pow-ers become potential, and by good deeds and good thoughts it expands again and reveals its- natuial perfection. With the Advailist the one difference is, that he admits evolution in nature and not in the soul. Suppose there is a screen, and there is a small hole In the scieen. I am a man standing behind the screen and looking at this giand assembly. 1 can only sec vciy few faces here Suppose the hole increases; as it increases moie and moie, all this assembly is revealed to me, until the hole has become identified with the screen, "llieie is nothing between }ou and me m this case; neither )Oli clianged noi 1 change.l. all the change was in the screen. You were the same from fii-t to last; only the screen changed. This is the Advaiiist’s position with regard to Evolution evolution of nature and mani* 76 LECTURES— FROM COLOMBO TO ALMORA festation of the Self within. Not that the Self can by any means be made to con- tiact It is unchangeable, the Infinite One. It was coveied, as it were, with a veil, the veil of.Alaya, and as this Maya veil becomes thinner and thinner, the inborn, JKitnral j^loiv of the Soul comes out and becomes inoie manifest. This is the one gieal (lociiine which the woild is wailing to leant fioin India. Whatever they may talk, howc\ci thev may try to Itoast, they will find out day after day, that no society can stand without admitting this. Do you not find how cveit thing is being levolu- tioniscd } Do you not see how it w’as the custom to take for granted, that every- thing is wicked until it pioxcs itself good In education, in punishing criminals, in tie.tiing lunatics, in the tieatincnt of common diseases even, that w^as the old law'. What IS the modem law? 'J'hc modern huv says, the body itself is healthy; it cures diseases of its owm natuic. Med'cine can at the best but help the storing up of the l>est m the body. What sa} sit of criminals? It takes for gianled that how'cyei low a ciiininal may be, iheic is still the divinity w'lthin, w'liich docs not change, and we must Iteal ciiminals atcoidingly. All these things are now changing, and rcfoi inatoiies and penitentiaries aie established. So with eveivlhing; consciously oi unconsciously, that Indian idea of the duinity w'illnn eveiy one is expressing itself even in othei countries. And in youi books is the explanation, which othci nations have to accept, 'i'be tiealmeiit of one man to another will be entiiely revolutionised, and these old old ideas of pointing to the weakness of mankind w ill have to go. They will have iccejved then death-blow within this ceiituiy. Now people may stand up and criticise us. 1 have been ciiticised fiom one end of the w'oild to the other, as one wdio jircaches the diabolical idea that thoie is no sin! Veiy good. The clescendaiUs of these very men will bless me as the preachei of virtue, and not of sin. I am the teacher of virtue, not of sin. 1 gloiy in being the preachei of light, and not of daikness.
7’hc second great idea which the woild is waiting to receive from our Upani- shads is the solidaiily of this unlveise. The old lines of demarcation and differentia- tion are vanishing lapidly. Electricity and steam-power aie placing the difTerent paits of the world in iniei communication w'lth each other, and, as a result, w'c - Hindus no longei say that every countiy beyond our own land is peopled with demons and hobgob- lins; nor do the people of Christian countiles say that India is only peopled by cannibals and savages. When we go out of our country, w'e find the same bi other- man, with the same strong hand to help, with the same lips to say god-speed, and sometimes they are hettei than in the country in which we are horn. When they come here, they find the same brotherhood, the same cheer, the same god-speed. Our Upanishads say that the cause of all misery is ignorance; and that is perfectly true when applied to every state of life, either social or spiiitual. It is ignorance that makes us hate each other, it is through ignorance that we do not know, and do not love each other. As soon as we come to know each other love comes, must come, for, are we not one? I’hus we find solidarity coming in spite of itself. Even in Politics and Sociology, problems that were only national twenty years ago can no moie be solved on national grounds only. They aie assuming huge proportions, gigantic shapes. They can only be solved when looked at in the broader light of international grounds. International organisations, inlei nalional combinations, inter- national laws aie the ciy of the day. That shows the solidarity. In science, every day they arc coming to a.smular brt'ad view of matter. You speak of matter, the whole universe as one mass, one ocean of matter, in which you and I, the sun and 77 VEDANTA IN ITS APPLICATION TO INDIAN LIFE.
the moon, and everything, else, arc bill the names of difTcrent little whiilpools and nothing moic. Mentally speaking it is one uniwrsal otean of thought, in which you and I aie siinilai little whiilpools, aiui as spnit it inoveth not. it changeth not. It is the One Unchangeable, Unbioken, Ilomngeneoiis Atman, d'hc ci) for inoiality is coming also, aiul that is to be found in oiii l.ooks. 'I’he explanation of morality, the fountain of ethics, that also the woi Id w'ants: and that it will get here. What do we W'ant in India If fmeigneis «ant these things, we want them twenty times more. Because, in spite of the giealness of the Upanishads. ni spiie of our boasted ancestiy of sages, coniitaied i<* nianv oihei laces, ] must tell > on that we aie wCcak, \ei} weak. iMist of all, is otii plnsical weakness 'I'hat jilnsital weak- ness is the cause at least of onc-lhnd of otu miseiics We aic la/\, weiannot work; w-e cannot combine: w'e do not Io\e oath oilier wc aie inlmisel) selfish, not three of us can come logcthei wiihont hating each othei. wilhoiU benigljealous of each other. That is the state in wliuh we aie. -lio])elessl\ disoiganised mobs, immensely selfish, fighting each other foi ccnimie.s as to w hellier a ceiiain mail; is to be put on oui forehead this wa\ oi that wa\. willing \olmnes and volumes upon such momentous questions as to wlielhei the look of a man spcnls m^ food oi not ' This we have been doing foi the last few cenimics We tannot expect aintlimg high fiom a race whose whole biain cneigv has been occupied in such womlei fnlh beauti- ful pioblcins and icscaiches' And aie we not ashamed of iniiselves? Ave, some- times wc aie, but though w'c think these things liisolons. wc cannot give them up. We think inan\ things and nevei do ihem; paiioi-hke, thinking has become a habit with us, and never doing. What is the cause of that.=* fMnsual weakness. This soil of weak biain is notable to do am thing; we must strengthen it. Fir.st of all, our young men must he strong Religion will come afleiwaid.s. Be stiong my young friends, that is ni) advice to v>u. You will he nearei to llea\cn thiongh foot- ball than thiongh the study of the Ciia. These are bold w-oids, but 1 have to say them, foi 1 love you. I know where the shoe pinches. I have gamed a lillle cxpcnience. You will undei stand Gita bettei with youi biceps, youi muscles a little stionger. You will undeistand the might)’ genius and the mighty stiength of Kiislina better with a little of stiong blootl in you. \'ou will imdeisland the Upanishads belter and the glory of the Atman, w'hen your body stands linn upon )oiu feet, and you feel youi selves as men. Thus wc have to apply the.se to oui needs.
People get disgusted many times at my jneaching Advaili^m 1 do not mean to pi each Advaili.sm, oi Dvaiiism, oi am in the wnild. The only mw tiiat we require now is this wonderful idea of the soul — il.s eternal might, its eternal stiength, its eternal purity, and Us eternal peifecUon If 1 h.ad a child 1 would fiom its vet) biith begin to tell it, '• Thou art the Pmc One.' Yon have read in one of the Pm anas that beautiful story of Queei^ MarUlasa, bow as soon as she has a child she puts her baby with her own hands in the ciadle, and how as the ciadle locks to and fio, she begins to sing, “ Thou ail the Pine One, tlic Stainless, Sinless, the IMighty One, the Great One." Aye, there is iniich m ihal. Feel tliat von aie gi eat ami )ou become great. What did I get as my expciicncc all ovet the w’oild, is ihe qiic'-tiou. They may talk about.sinneis; and if all F.nglishmen real!) believed that the) wcie sinneis, Englishmen would be no bolter than the Negiocs in central Afiica. God bless them that they do not believe it! On the olhoi hand, the F.nglishman believes he is born the lord of the world. He believes he is great and can do anything in the woild; if he wants to go to the sun or the moon, he believes he can, and that makes him LECrURKSi^FnOM COLOMBO TO AT.MOBA 78 great. If he had believed his priests that he was a poor miserable sinner, going tQ be b.iibccued thiough all eternity, he would not be the same Englishman that he is to-day. So I find in every nation that, in spile of priests and superstition, the divine within lives and assei Is Itself. We have lost faith. VV’ould you believe me, we have less faith than the lMii>lishman and woman, a thousand times less faith! These are plain wools, but I.say it, I cannot help it. Don’t you.see how Englishmen and women, when they catch oui ideals, become mad as it were, and although they aie the luling class, they come to India to preach oui own religion notwithstanding the jeers and liiliciile of their own countrymen? How many of you could do that? And why cannot you do that? Do you not know it? You know inoie than they do; you are more wise than is good for you, that is yoiii dilhcully! Simj)!)’ because your blood is only like waiei, youi biain is sloughing, your body is weak! You must change the body. Physical weakness is the cause and nothing else. You have talked of reforms, of ideals, and all these things, foi the last bundled years, and when it comes to piaclice, you are not to be fouml anvwbeic; — till you have disgusted the whole woild, and the vciy name of Refoim is a thing of liilitule! And what is the cause? Do you not know You know too well. The only cause is that you arc weak, weak, weak, your body is weak, your mind is weak, )ou have no faith m yourselves I Centuiies and centuiies, a thousand years of c iiisliing tvianny of castes, and kings, and foieigneis, and your own people, have taken out all your strength, my hrethien 1 Yoiir backbone is broken, you are like down-liodden woiins ' Who will give you strength? Lot me toll )ou,.sliongth, slienglh, is what we want. And the fiist step in getting strengih is to uphold the Hpanishads, and believe that " I am the Soul.” iMe the swoid cannot cut; no weapons pioicc; me the fne cannot bum; me the ail cannot diy, I am the Omnipotent, lam the Omniscient.” So repeat these blessed saving words. Do not say we are weak; wc can do anything and everything. What can we not do, everything can be done by us; we all have the same gloiious