The Message of Sri Ramakrishna Swami · PDF fileThe Message of Sri Ramakrishna Swami...

383 MAY - JUNE 2015

With Swami Turiyananda at KurukshetraSwami Atulananda

The Message of Sri RamakrishnaSwami Bhuteshananda

continued on the inside back cover

Swami Shivananda

`The Master used to say The breeze of divine grace is everblowing Simply hoist the sail The grace of God is ever present butone must make an effort to deserve that grace Of course we areblessing you You also sincerely call upon the Lord You will see howgreat His mercy is He is ever ready to shower His grace Take Hisname worship Him remember Him constantly and call upon Himvery earnestly You will see how gracious He is So much grace willdescend upon you that you will be overwhelmed your life will beblessed Nothing can be accomplished without His grace It is He whohas kept this world enchanted by His Maya That is why one shouldalso pray O Lord Do not keep me ignorant with your world-bewitching Maya Give me pure devotion to your lotus feet May mylife be glorified

Unless the Lord casts His compassionate glance upon a soulhow can he cross this illusion In the Chandi there is a line TheMother the Giver of all boons being pleased bestows emancipationupon souls That is to say being pleased with the prayers anddevotions of men the Mother gives spiritual emancipation as a boonBeing freed from Maya they realize their divine nature It is verydifficult to snap the bonds of Maya without the grace of God but it isalso true that if a person sincerely prays to Him He listens to thatprayer and lifts the veil He will listen to your prayer all-the morebecause you are in the world He is especially gracious to youhouseholders because He knows that you carry a heavy load on yourshoulders You are being scorched by the sorrows and bereavementsof this world That is why if you pray a little He will be pleased andcome to your rescue quickly removing the load from your shouldersBut that prayer should be sincere and earnest

But in the midst of all your duties you will have to make a littletime to call upon the Lord in seclusion otherwise you will come togrief There is not so much danger if one can hold on to God It is verynecessary to remember Him

Divine Wisdom

Contents

383 MAY - JUNE 2015

98 Editorial

101 The Message of Sri RamakrishnaSwami Bhuteshananda

113 With Swami Turiyananda at KurukshetraSwami Atulananda

119 An Introduction to Hindu Theology-3Swami Sunirmalananda

135 The musings of a Chinese mystic

138 Leaves from an Ashrama 50 Sacrifice in Social Service

Swami Vidyatmananda

140 The Value of FaithJnanada

144 Programme

ISSN 1355 - 6436

98

EditorialWill power

(Continued from last issue)

Do we need willpower

T he difference between men and men is the difference inwill power Those who have more willpower are seen to

lead a happier better and a more meaningful life The more thewillpower the better onersquos life can be Those who have a weakwill are likely to be failures and remain unhappy andunfulfilled The stronger our will power the better chance wehave of leading a life of fulfilment (There is however one important point to be notedhere There are two uses of willpowermdashthe good and the evilRevered Yatiswaranandaji used to warn that without a strongmoral foundation and a noble character mere power of willcan lead to disaster and tragedy Evil geniuses in history suchas Hitler who inflicted on humanity unspeakable sufferinghad very strong willpower But it was misdirected) Evidence indicates that willpower and self-control areessential for a happy and successful life The effects of weak orstrong will power were clearly demonstrated through themarshmallow experiment It was a series of studies on delayedgratification in the late 1960s and early 1970s conducted bypsychologist Walter Mischel then a professor at StanfordUniversity In these studies a child was offered a choicebetween one marshmallow given immediately or twomarshmallows if they waited for a short period of say15minutes during which time the tester left the room and thenreturned In follow-up studies the researchers found thatchildren who were able to wait longer for the preferredrewards tended to have better life outcomes as measured bySAT scores (a test taken by school students as part of the

99

national curriculum) job attainment and other life measuresthose who in Mischels experiment held out for twomarshmallows later ndash grew into healthier happier andwealthier adults Those with low willpower the studydiscovered fared less well academically Nowadays we all realize that willpowermdashthe ability tocontrol our emotions behaviour and desiresmdashinfluences ourphysical and mental health our finances relationships andsuccess in life Yet for lack of definite goals in life training anddirection many of us feel like failuresmdashin control one momentbut overwhelmed the next Many of us also feel guilty aboutletting down ourselves and others Many people are slaves totheir thoughts emotions and cravings their lives dictated bystrong impulses Without willpower nothing can be achieved

What is willpower Willpower is a special faculty of our mind which helpsus overcome conflicts It is a reaction to an internal conflictWhen we want to do one thing but know that we shouldnrsquotwe know we should do something but we do nothing it is hereour willpower comes in We have many common names for willpowerdetermination drive resolve self-discipline self-control etcWillpower can be defined also as The ability to delay gratification resisting short-termtemptations in order to meet long-term goals The capacity tooverride an unwanted thought feeling or impulse Consciousregulation of the self by the self Willpower is the ability tomake a conscious choice Willpower means the capacity to actat any time of onersquos choosing without hindrance The power ofwill is more manifest when the situations are complex Greaterwillpower is needed when there are conflicts and hindrances

100

Willpower is closely linked with self-improvementThere is not a person who does not desire to improve in his orher life yet many people fail due to lack of sufficient willpower Many of us hope and believe that we could improve ourlives if only we had more willpower With more self-control wewould all eat right exercise regularly stop procrastinatingand improve our lives in every way

Do I have willpower Yes all of us have willpower Like knowledge andhappiness it is inherent in every soul Not only do all of us havewillpower we are in fact exercising it all the time albeitunconsciously We feel weak not because we have nowillpower but because we are scattering it in countless uselessways What we need is to set definite goals in our life and striveto attain them slowly but surely We have to realise that successcannot be achieved overnight The Buddha used to say that hewas born hundreds of times before he attained illuminationWe too can develop a strong will following definite steps

Development of willpower Many want to improve their lives but report that lack ofwillpower is the most significant barrier to change Mostpeople believe that willpower is something that can belearned Recent research also suggests some ways in whichwillpower can be strengthened with practice The development of willpower requires that weunderstand its nature Willpower has four components ndash astrong desire a definite goal concentration and self-disciplineWhen we develop all these four limbs we have strongwillpower

(To be continued)

101


(Talk delivered by Srimat Swami Bhuteshanandaji Maharaj then Vice-President Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission on Sunday 16 February1986 at Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama Bangalore)

T he message of Sri Ramakrishna is so vast and deep that it isimpossible to expound it in detail I can only touch upon a

few salient points of it here Whatever fell from the lips of SriRamakrishna or whatever he did was for the good of the worldTherefore I believe that whatever of his teachings that I share withyou will be helpful to you in your life From the early days of his life Sri Ramakrishna was mad afterGod God realization was his only concern in life other thingswere absolutely secondary for him He said Verily I tell you Iknow nothing but God He lived for God realization howeverhe wished to have this realization not for his own enjoyment butfor the joy of sharing it with others Let me give you anillustration One day he was in a mood of deep samadhi The moodwas persisting but he was trying to keep it under control Whena man enters samadhi and gets completely absorbed in God it isimpossible for him to communicate with others So SriRamakrishna prayed to the Divine Mother of the universe lsquoOMother do not make me forgetful of the external world I want totalk to the devotees Ordinary people cannot understand the deepsignificance of this utterance Samadhi is a state for which allfollowers of spiritual life aspire it is the culmination of the pursuitof spiritual life For Sri Ramakrishna samadhi had become naturaland habitual But when he was in the company of devotees hetried to avoid getting absorbed in samadhi lest he should forgetthe world and therefore the people assembled before him would

102

be deprived of the great truths which he was eager to share withthem He was an unending fountain of the eternal wisdomderived from his various experiences of the ultimate Reality Atthe same time he was also a keen observer of the external worldwhen he was not absorbed in samadhi There are some points that Sri Ramakrishna particularlyemphasized First according to him God realization is the onlyaim of human life Without God realization everything else isincomplete and with God realization nothing more remains tobe attained here or hereafter Now what did Sri Ramakrishna mean by God-realizationTo put it briefly it means an intuitive experience of the ultimateGround of all existence in which the seer and the seen becomeone God realization does not merely mean the vision of variousdivine Forms or having some higher feelings which may bedescribed by different people in different ways Completeabsorption of the individual self in the Absolute that is what SriRamakrishna meant by God realization As it has been beautifullydescribed in the Upanishads Just as pure water falling into a vastsheet of pure water becomes one with it so also becomes the selfof a contemplative man who has realized God1 That is to say inthat state the individual ceases to be an individual any more Heis not lost rather he becomes the Absolute himself Thisexperience of unity is the real meaning of God realizationHowever there are various other forms of spiritual realizationand Sri Ramakrishna accepted all of them That was the catholicityand breadth of vision that Sri Ramakrishna had about Godrealization The second salient message of Sri Ramakrishna is that notonly we should have that realization in our soul but also it shouldbe shared with others Sri Ramakrishna used to say that therewere some people who when they got any good thing to eatwould eat it themselves wipe their lips and remain mum Theyhave no wish to share it with others Sri Ramakrishna condemned

103

such an attitude The great realization that one achieves in thespiritual path has to be shared with others Only then will lifeattain full maturity By sharing that realization with others byhelping others reach the same experience our experience becomesfulfilled in the real sense of the term One day Sri Ramakrishnaasked his dearest disciple Narendra (who later on became SwamiVivekananda) about his goal in life Narendra replied It is mydesire to remain absorbed in Samadhi continually for three orfour days only once in a while coming down to the sense planeto eat a little food Hearing this Sri Ramakrishna said You area small-minded person There is a state higher even than thatAll that exists art Thou it is you who sing that song2 The Masterfurther said that he wanted him to be like a banyan tree with itsbranches spread all around giving shelter to thousands of wearytravellers This incident shows the general trend of the thoughtof Sri Ramakrishna He himself took great pains to disseminatespiritual ideas among the people and to help them in pursuingthe highest goal If the first half of his life was spent in gatheringthe treasures of spiritual experience its second half was spent insharing that wealth with other people We now come to the third message of Sri Ramakrishna Ashe put it yato mat tato path As many faiths so many paths Allpaths lead to the ultimate goal of God realization This was not amere intellectual conviction but a fact that he himself hadexperienced through the pursuit of different religious paths Hewas a great experimenter in this respect After he had had Godrealization in one way he wanted to know how other peoplefollowed their paths how they reached the goal and what thatgoal might be So he followed each path paying scrupulousattention to all the injunctions and traditions concerning it andhe invariably found that every path led to the same goal namelyGod realization The realization itself is somethingincommunicable because it is ones own innermost experiencewhich is beyond the reach of words But as far as words would

104

go he tried to describe his experiences in his own unique waybeing endowed with all the knowledge of the different paths Hecan thus be of immense help to the followers of different pathsThat is the unique feature of Sri Ramakrishna In the history of world religions we never find any teacherdoing spiritual experiments in the manner Sri Ramakrishnadid We find expressions of great catholicity in the scriptures ofHinduism and perhaps of other religions as well The ancientVedas declare Truth is one sages call It by various namesDivine Incarnations and prophets have made similar statementsBut history has no record that any of these great teachers actuallypractised the different paths and ultimately realized the samegoal through each of them As far as we know Sri Ramakrishnaalone did it and this is what makes his life unique The catholicitythat he taught was not just an expression of a broad mind orphilosophical outlook but had a deep experiential content It wasone of the most valuable experiences that he gained through hisexperiments When he spoke of other paths it was about his ownexperiences of those paths that he spoke He respected every pathand never criticized any path Tremendous faith is necessary for strict adherence to aparticular path to the end We must have unflinching faith in thegoal But if we can have equal respect for the paths that othersare following it is so much better Sri Ramakrishna did not askus to accept the truth of the harmony of all paths even on the basisof his own experiments Rather he asked us to go onexperimenting on our path as well as on other paths He hastaught us not to talk of the superiority or inferiority of any pathbefore we are in a position to evaluate properly the worth of thesepaths If we can follow the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna we canlook upon the followers of different paths as fellow-travellers tothe same goal as ours This message of Sri Ramakrishna is ofutmost importance particularly in these days of communal hatredand conflict It is usually the lack of proper understanding of your

105

own religion that makes you pass judgement on other religionsHave respect for other faiths if you can otherwise do not passany judgement What is really important is sincerity Regardingthis Sri Ramakrishna said

Whatever path you followmdashwhether you are a Hindu aMuslim a Christian a Shakta a Vaishnava or a Brahmomdashthe vitalpoint is aspiration God is our Inner Guide It doesnt matter ifyou take a wrong pathmdashonly you must have longing for HimHe Himself will put you on the right path3

The grace of God falls alike on all His children learned andilliteratemdashwhoever longs for Him The father has the same lovefor all his children Suppose a father has five children One callshim lsquoBaba some Bap and some `Pa These last cannotpronounce the whole word Does the father love those whoaddress him as Baba more than those who call him lsquoParsquo Thefather knows that these last are simply too young to say Babacorrectly4

May be a person is not able to follow the right path eventhen if he is sincere to the backbone God will see and guide himalong that path until he reaches the goal This is SriRamakrishnas view on different faiths The differences betweendifferent religions can be eliminated and all communal conflictscan be resolved if we take this teaching of Sri Ramakrishnaseriously Only then can we really be humble and tolerant and beable to accept the different paths as equally valid This kind ofhumility born of introspection is of utmost importance in our livestoday For God realization we must identify ourselves with spirituallife only and everything else should be regarded as secondaryWe should concentrate all our energies in a systematic mannertowards that goal which is God This earnestness this one-pointedness born of living faith in ones goal is absolutelynecessary for progress in spiritual life Sri Ramakrishna never

106

said that spiritual life must be pursued in one uniform way Hesaid that there is infinite variation in human temperament andso there must be variety in the paths which can enable all peopleto reach the goal If you rigidly insist on one path only most ofthe people will have to go without spiritual life That is absurdand should never be done God has created the universe inmultiple ways with an infinite variety of forms Similarly Godhas created various paths for the realization of the highest Truthso that everybody may find a path suitable to him This is thesimple understanding that Sri Ramakrishna insisted upon Hewanted to make spiritual life natural to everybody and he taughthis disciples never to try to impose their own ideas on anybody Once Swami Vivekananda who had already accumulatedsufficient spiritual power wanted to test it by transmitting it toone of his brother-disciples He did it and the result was that thebrother-disciple to whom his power was transmitted underwenta complete change The brother-disciple had originally beenfollowing the path of duality that is maintaining the relationshipof the worshipper and the worshipped with God But whenSwamiji transmitted his power to him he became immersed inthe idea of the unity of the universe and the souls identity withGod Sri Ramakrishna called Swami Vivekananda and said Whatis this Dont you see what harm you have done to him byinjecting your attitude of mind to him He has been progressingwell till now with a particular mental attitude the whole of whichhas now been destroyed What is done is done Dont act sothoughtlessly from now on The boy however is lucky thatgreater harm has not befallen him5 Swamiji remembered thisteaching throughout his life and emphasized it in several of hislectures Sri Ramakrishna was a man of complete renunciation whichhe regarded as a spiritual aspirants most valuable asset Throughrenunciation alone have people attained immortality7 says the

107

Upanishadslsquo Sri Ramakrishna used to say Nothing can beattained without whole-hearted renunciation But at the sametime Sri Ramakrishna said that renunciation did not mean thesame thing to everybody A monk who has renounced worldlylife can renounce inwardly as well as outwardly However ahouseholder cannot do that and for him it will be enough if hepractises renunciation only inwardly He can meet therequirements of normal social life and discharge his dutiestowards his family and society But at the same time he must havecomplete detachment in his mind Detachment is whatrenunciation really means It should be noted that this sort ofdivision of renunciation into outer and lsquoinner does not reducethe importance of either Inner renunciation alone is not sufficientfor a sannyasin He is supposed to uphold the example of totalrenunciation to the world and so he has to be a man ofrenunciation inwardly as well as outwardly A householder neednot renounce externally but he must practise internalrenunciation This is another important message of SriRamakrishna Sri Ramakrishna knew that all people are not equally anxiousfor God realization He divided mankind into four groups thosewho live in bondage those who are trying to get rid of thatbondage those who have achieved freedom from bondage andthose who never got involved in bondage but remained ever freeExplaining this classification he said lsquoSuppose a net has beencast into a lake to catch fish Some fish are so clever that they arenever caught in the net They are like the ever-free But most ofthe fish are entangled in the net

Some of them try to free themselves from it and they are likethose who seek liberation But not all the fish that strugglesucceed A very few do jump out of the net making a big splashin the water Then the fishermen shout Look there goes a bigone But most of the fish caught in the net cannot escape nor dothey make any effort to get out On the contrary they burrow into

108

the mud with the net in their mouths and lie there quietlythinking We need not fear anymore we are quite safe here Butthe poor things do not know that the fishermen will drag themout with the net These are like the men bound to the world7

Most of the people are in bondage and remain ignorant of thatfact A disciple asked Sri Ramakrishna Sir is there no way outfor such people The Master at once replied with great emphasisCertainly there is He then pointed out the different ways opento bound souls8 What are these ways Taking Gods namekeeping the company of holy men constantly thinking of Godand now and then retiring to solitude It is good to get away oncein a while from your usual environment where people remainentangled in worldliness and think about God in solitude Thatway you will learn to cultivate dispassion towards the world aswell as an intense desire for God realization Thus SriRamakrishna has given hope to the people who are supposed tobe always in bondage Sri Ramakrishna was the greatest optimist anyone can thinkof He never thought that a person could be doomed for everThere is always hope for everybody he spoke only about thathope and never had a word of condemnation for anyone SriRamakrishna saw even in the worst sinner the living presence ofGod He recognized potential divinity and the latent power tomanifest it in all people only the sinner and the ignorant are notaware of it Inner struggle is necessary to become aware that youhave the possibility the innate capacity to realize your ultimategoal This consciousness of the goal will make you constantlydiscontented wherever you may be so much so that you cannever be at peace until you have reached the goal

Sri Ramakrishna holds the hope of salvation for everybodyFor him there is no such thing as eternal damnation because Godresides in every being There cannot be a being in whom God isnot in whom Divinity is not hiding itself as it were and waiting

109

for its expression Sri Ramakrishna asked people never to thinkof their sins but to think of the glories of God and of the waythey might realize Him and to have abiding faith in theultimate victory of spiritual struggle There is not a singlesoul for whom there is no ray of hope for whom there is noprospect of God realization This boundless faith in man isa most striking feature of Sri Ramakrishnas message Hewas always a prophet of hope a prophet of the ultimatevictory of good over evil Indeed this is to be consideredthe main message of Sri Ramakrishna This message of theMaster is not meant only for any particular sect or particularreligion It is meant for everybody who has eyes to see andears to hear Sri Ramakrishna spread broadcast the idea thatwherever you may be the Divine Spirit is throbbing in youand waiting for an opportunity to manifest through youYou are all the children of God Not only that you aresimply the essence of God Only the veil of ignorance thatcovers the soul has to be removed and the inner light willshine at once Suppose says Sri Ramakrishna there is aroom which has been dark for a thousand years It nowneeds only the striking of a match for the darkness to go Itgoes at once it does not go bit by bit although the darknesshad been there for a thousand years Similarly a man mayhave been apparently sinful for many years But that doesnot matter It is only a dream he has been dreaming that heis doomed He has to be awakened from that bad dreamJust shake him help him to break the dream Then he willawaken and realize that the experience of the state ofdownfall was merely a bad dream and that he is eternallyfree

110

Sri Ramakrishnas message gives you hopeencouragement and an immense amount of inspiration sothat you never feel satisfied with the condition in which youare It makes you feel divine discontent and yearning forgoing ahead Never remain satisfied with where you are goahead and stop not till the goal is reached says SriRamakrishna To illustrate this point he gave a fine parableA wood cutter once entered a forest to gather wood ABrahmachari said to him Go forward He obeyed theinjunction and discovered some sandal-wood trees (byselling which he got a lot of money) After a few days hewent still farther and discovered a gold-mine and nextmines of diamonds and precious stones With these hebecame immensely rich9

The idea is that we should not feel satisfied if we getsome experience of joy in our pursuit of spiritual lifeSpiritual life has endless possibilities The more we advancethe higher will be our experience The higher our experiencethe greater will be our ability to solve our problems and themore we will find peace and joy in life This spiritual questmust go on until our death Only when we completelymerge ourselves in the Absolute and cease to be individualsand become free from all limitations can we claim to haveachieved the goal of life We have to reach that one ultimateReality which is the Absolute without which nothing existsand beyond which there is nothing more to be attained asthe Gita says10

It is the ultimate goal which we have to seek followwithout wavering without slackening our pace of enquiryundeterred by any circumstances Whatever that state maybe the ultimate experience is beyond words It is so deep

111

and transcendent that it cannot be communicated throughwords In fact the question of communicating it does noteven arise because in that state other people cease to beseparate entities You become the whole world and the soleexpression of that one ultimate Reality That is the goal wehave to seek This goal may be experienced by people indifferent ways do not be confused by that Take it forgranted that there are different kinds of experience becauseof the differences of the experiencing mind But ultimatelyall these experiences are meant to lead you towards theultimate goalmdashthe realization of infinite absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss sat-cit-ananda Beyond this no attempt hasbeen made in the scriptures to describe the ultimate goalSri Ramakrishna used to say that everything in the worldhad been defiled by the mouth but Brahman alone had notbeen defiled in that way All the knowledge that peopleboast of is in fact different kinds of ignorance because theyfall short of the ultimate Truth True knowledge is thatwhich removes all distinctions between you and theultimate Reality It is attained through complete purificationof the mind I pray to Sri Ramakrishna that through his blessings wemay all proceed towards the same goal show respecttowards others who are following different paths and alsobe considerate towards those who remain forgetful of Godand feel it our duty to help them get rid of their worldlydream

112

Foot-notes1 Katha-Upanishad 4142 Cf Life of Swami Vivekananda revised edition (Calcutta Advaita Ashrama 1979) Vol 1 p 1623 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (New York Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center 1942) P 6734 ibid p 4075 Life of Swami Vivekananda Vol 1 p 1676 Mahanarayana Upanishad 12147 The Gospel p 86-878 ibid p 879 ibid p 10910 Bhagavad-Gita 622

The Master used to say Childrens feet slip whilewalking along the high pathways across fields Thechild who holds his fathers hand may sometimes losehis balance and fall down But the child whose hand isheld by his father is not in danger of falling Similarlywe too are treading the narrow and crooked path ofthis world and there is great danger of our fallingdown But there is no danger of our falling if theMaster holds us by the hand The Master is certainlyholding us by the hand otherwise who knows whereand when we would have fallen

Swami Shivananda

113


A lthough the sun eclipse of 1907 was still a few days offKurukshetra was already crowded with fifty thousand

pilgrims from all over India when Swami Turiyananda alightedfrom a packed train that halted at the little railway station It wasevening of the first day of the great religious festival The resthouses and temporary shelters and tents were filled with menwomen and children all huddled together like sheep in theirfolds We went from place to place but could find no shelter andthere remained nothing to do but spread our blankets with otherpilgrims under the protecting branches of a magnificent banyantree So using our little bundles as pillows we sat down and rested Presently a woman approached us and with palms foldedasked whether we had had supper When the Swami answeredthat we had not yet eaten she hastily retreated and from her owncamp brought us milk wheat cakes and a vegetable curry Simpleas the meal was we both enjoyed it heartily Then we rolledourselves in our blankets and lay down to sleep I was watchingthe brilliant stars through the branches of the tree when after awhile I saw the Swami sit up What is the matter Swami I asked Gurudas he answered now you are a true Sannyasin Thatis what I want to be Swami I responded and I quoted fromSwamijis The Song of the Sannyasin Have thou no home What home can hold thee friend The sky thy roof the grass thy bed and food What chance may bring well-cooked or ill judge not No food or drink can taint that noble Self Which knows itself The rolling river free Thou ever be Sannyasin bold Say Aum tat sat Aum That is it That is it the Swami exclaimed We are Motherschildren we have nothing to fear She gives and She takes Blessed

114

be Her name Then followed one of his familiar eulogies ofSwamiji He was the true Sannyasin In luxury and poverty hewas the same He knew that he was the Atman the witness everfree Weal or woe meant nothing to him The world was his stageAnd how well he played his part He lived for the good of othersThere was no selfishness in him He had no axe to grind He livedand preached the Masters message Our Master used to say lsquoHecan do anything he pleases Nothing can spoil himrsquo Then after a little pause But we have to be careful Maya isso powerful We are so easily caught and deluded But I interposed Mother can protect us You are right Gurudas never forget that Always trust inHer What is life without Her It is all sham and humbug Shealone is real Another pause and then Now try to sleep a little Tomorrowwe may find a better place I tried to sleep but could not The experience was so noveland thoughts came rushing into my mind The Swami was lyingdown again but I dont think he slept any more than I did It musthave been long after midnight when I saw him get up Gurudas it is raining he said We must get sheltersomewhere I had not noticed the sudden change in the sky butas I listened I heard rain drops falling on the leaves of the treeWe got up and with our blankets over our heads went in searchof shelter But as before we found every place filled The Swamihowever was determined to get in somewhere And so againstthe loud protests of the pilgrims we pushed our way into one ofthe open sheds There was a great hubbub loud voices and sleepyvoices abuse and discussion of which I understood very little Ithought they would throw us out bodily But suddenly the noisequieted down and a little room was made for us We laid downwedged in between other pilgrims like sardines in a box We wereout of the rain anyhow and presently I fell asleep When I awoke

115

in the morning I found that a child was using my legs for a pillowI was sore all over for I had been lying on a hard earthen floorwhich was none too smooth As I said before we were in an open shed that is it had onlythree walls And now the sun was shining through the openspace Many of the pilgrims had already gone out to washthemselves at the well nearby We followed their example andwhen we returned we found the shed half empty for many of thepilgrims had gone in search of better lodgings I asked the Swami how he had succeeded in getting insidethe shed when the opposition was so strong He laughed and saidYou dont know us yet We make a big noise but there is nothingback of it You in the West take everything so seriously Hereyou will see two men talking and gesticulating as if they weregoing to murder one another But five minutes later they sit andsmoke together and talk as if they were old friends That is ourway These people are not educated but they have good heartsWhen they saw that we were really in trouble they made roomfor us even though it inconvenienced them I told them that youwere a stranger in a strange land and a sannyasin At once theybecame curious and wanted to know all about you Then theysaid `Come brothers we will make room for you You willalways find it so Sannyasins are respected all over Indiaespecially by the poor They are simple and kind-hearted notsophisticated like some of our educated people Swamiji lovedthe poor His heart bled for them They are my gods he used tosay That is why our Mission works so much among the poor Allover India we have centres for them We educate them and givethem free medical treatment We serve God in the poor After a while he said We are on the battlefield ofKurukshetra where Sri Krishna preached the Gita Then he beganto chant from memory the second chapter A few pilgrims came

116

and listened He chanted in a loud voice with much feeling I wasthrilled with the beauty and rhythm of the Sanskrit text Just as the Swami finished chanting a man approached usHe scowled and said What are you doing in my shed Swamireplied We are Sannyasins we are taking shelter here Who isthe Sahib he asked (We learned later that he suspected me ofbeing an English spy in disguise) Swami told him who I was andthat I had come to see the religious festival and bathe in the holywaters of Kurukshetra At this he became quite amiable and saidYou may both stay here as my guests I will supply you withfood He called a servant and told him to place some straw underour blankets Then saluting us very humbly he went away When he had gone Swami said to me See how Mother playsNow we can be at peace Do you think you can stand it Yes Swami I replied I am sure I can A little later a servant brought us food mdash unleavened wheatcakes and molasses He brought this every morning And everyevening for nine days we had wheat cakes and lentil soupSometimes our host would come and ask how we were gettingalong There were other pilgrims in the shed but we had sufficientroom to spread our blankets These pilgrims cooked their simplemeals on little earthen stoves built against the inner wall As therewas no outlet for the smoke the air often became suffocating andit made my eyes smart But we did not complain since it couldnot be remedied We got along very well except that I sufferedfrom fever now and then I was however able to move aboutOn the days when I had fever I could not eat the coarse food andSwami full of tender solicitude for my health would buy me acup of milk In the evening many would come to converse with the Swamiand to receive spiritual advice from him He would talk for hourstill late in the night never tiring He was always ready to speakon religion After our morning bath and meal we would go about

117

among the pilgrims visit other Sannyasins and holy places Wewere shown the exact spot where Sri Krishna delivered the Gitato Arjuna the place where Bhishma expired at his own will hisbody resting on a bed of arrows and many other places sanctifiedby tradition There was an enormous banyan tree in whosebranches Sadhus lived in little shelters made of leaves and twigsMost interesting of all was the great concourse of different monksof different sects There were naked monks and those who woreonly clouts the rest of their bodies besmeared with ashes fromthe sacred fire Others wore salmon-coloured robes and turbansSome had long shaggy hair bleached by the sun and hangingdown their shoulders or coiled like a little tower on top of theirheads Then there were shaven monks and Brahmacharins inwhite tunics It was the most motley crowd I had ever seen Erudite pundits and Sannyasins held discussions or read andchanted from the Vedas while sitting cross-legged under the treesor in front of their little tents or straw huts One monk had takenthe vow of perpetual silence another took food only when it wasoffered to him One monk in a red robe had taken the vow toremain standing in one place for nine days his arms resting on atrapeze attached to the limb of a tree There was something tointerest us wherever we went Then came the day of the eclipse when everyone must batheduring the auspicious hour when twilight enfolded us Thecrowds were so vast and the rush so great that though thereservoirs were of enormous dimensions it was difficult to enterthe water But we succeeded in dipping three times when theeclipse was full It was a grand spectacle this bathing in the sacredwaters by thousands of enthusiastic devotees Afterwards we discussed the merit of bathing and otherreligious performances Swami said It all depends on our mentalattitude on our faith and belief Where there is true devotion theresult is good It purifies the mind We must try to see Mother in

118

everything That will make us spiritual Then he quoted fromthe Chandi To that Divine Mother who dwells in all livingbeings in the form of Consciousness we bow down again andagain She is in everything and She is everything She is the riverShe is the mountain She is all That is a grand vision Our Masterhad that He did not see the Ganges he saw only Brahman When the festival was over we separated The Swamiremained at Kurukshetra for a few days as the guest of a manwho took him to his home at Anup Sahar and I left for Delhi andother places on my way to the Belur Math

(Reprinted from Vedanta And The West September-October 1961)

Let us surrender ourselves to him and pray (withfolded hands) Master may we grow in renunciationand dispassion Make us pure May we grow in loveand sympathy May you hold us by the hand `Calumny gossip and things of that nature are verybad They drag the mind down As long as one canone should practise meditation worship and studythe rest of the time one should keep silent thinkingabout God It is a good practice Organization has itsnecessity and usefulness That is why Swamiji foundedthis Order and introduced works of service for self-purification

Swami Shivananda

119

An Introduction to Hindu Theology-3Swami Sunirmalananda(Continued from the last issue)

Branches of Theology

C hristian Theology has developed into a great science downthe centuries Theology in the earliest stages meant the

study and interpretation of the teachings of Jesus Christ his lifeand the Old Testament The topics included (this has beenmentioned already) God the Holy Spirit and Jesus Jesus and theearlier prophets and their prophecies angels heaven and hellsin and salvation and so on During the Middle Ages and thesubsequent modern period several other subjects (like saintsmiracles etc) came to be studied while earlier subjects becamesciences in themselves Thus the study of sin becameHamartiology the study of salvation became Soteriology thestudy of all things dealing with spirits was called Pneumatologythe study of angels became Angelology and so on Websites giveseveral ways in which Theology is classified However StanfordMurrellrsquos excellent work Introductory Study of Systematic Theologysays that there are five streams of theological studies NaturalTheology Revealed (Biblical) Theology Dogmatic Theology

Practical Theology and Theology Proper1

1 Natural Theology Natural Theology is the study of GodrsquosmanifestationmdashHis nature Now theologians say that Hisuniverse reveals the fact that He exists Though Natural Theologycovers a vast area of study it has its limitations

2 Revealed Theology The Lordrsquos word is the revealed wordOr what is contained in the Biblemdashboth the Old and NewTestamentsmdashis revealed Revealed Theology is perhaps the

120

strongest of all the currents of theological thought since itdiscusses revealed words

3 Systematic Theology Also called Dogmatic Theology itdiscusses Virgin birth resurrection Christrsquos sinlessness and soon These are certain dogmas held by the Church DogmaticTheology stresses and studies them

4 Practical Theology (Pastoral Theology) This is what is calledsacircdhanacirc in other faiths The practice of spiritual life in order toattain to Heaven is discussed here

5 Theology Proper This final part of Theology studies thenature of God There are other ways of classifying Theology Wikipediamentions the various disciplines of Theology in detail It saysand we quote in its entirety Oslash Apologeticspolemics ndash studying Christian Theology as itcompares to non-Christian worldviews in order to defend thefaith and challenge beliefs that lie in contrast with Christianity Oslash Biblical hermeneutics ndash interpretation of the Bible oftenwith particular emphasis on the nature and constraints ofcontemporary interpretation Oslash Biblical studies ndash interpretation of the Bible often withparticular emphasis on historical-critical investigation Oslash Biblical Theology ndash interpretation of the Bible often withparticular emphasis on links between biblical texts and the topics

of systematic or dogmatic theology[6] Oslash Constructive Theology ndash generally another name forsystematic theology also specifically a postmodernist approachto systematic theology applying (among other things) feminist

121

theory queer theory deconstructionism and hermeneutics totheological topics Oslash Dogmatic Theology ndash studying theology (or dogma) as itdeveloped in different church denominations Oslash Ecumenical Theology ndash comparing the doctrines of thediverse churches (such as Eastern Orthodox Roman Catholic andthe various Protestant denominations) with the goal of promotingunity among them Oslash Exegesis ndash interpretation of the Bible Oslash Historical Theology ndash studying Christian Theology via thethoughts of other Christians throughout the centuries Oslash Homiletics ndash in Theology the application of generalprinciples of rhetoric to public preaching Oslash Moral Theology ndash explores the moral and ethicaldimensions of the religious life Oslash Natural Theology ndash the discussion of those aspects ofTheology that can be investigated without the help of revelationscriptures or tradition (sometimes contrasted with positiveTheology) Oslash Patristics or patrologymdashstudies the teaching of the ChurchFathers or the development of Christian ideas and practice in theperiod of the Church Fathers Oslash Philosophical Theology ndash the use of philosophical methodsin developing or analysing theological concepts Oslash Pragmatic or practical Theology ndash studying Theology as itrelates to everyday living and service to God including servingas a religious minister Oslash Spiritual Theologymdashstudying Theology as a means toorthopraxy ndash scripture and tradition are both used as guides forspiritual growth and discipline

122

Oslash Systematic Theology (doctrinal Theology dogmaticTheology or philosophical Theology)mdashfocuses on the attempt toarrange and interpret the ideas current in religion This is alsoassociated with constructive Theology Oslash Theological aesthetics ndash interdisciplinary study of Theologyand aesthetics the arts Oslash Theological hermeneutics ndash the study of the manner ofconstruction of theological formulations Related to theological

methodology 2

Charles Hodge classifies Theology into the followingcategories Theology Proper (discussion on the attributes of Godof the threefold personality of the Godhead or that the FatherSon and Spirit) anthropology (the origin and nature of man hisoriginal state and probation his fall) Soteriology (the salvationof man) Eschatology (the state of the soul after death) andEcclesiology (the idea or nature of the Church its attributes itsprerogatives its organisation)A simpler classification is by Rev James Petigru Boyce in hisSystematic Theology He says lsquoRegarded as a science Theologymay be classified in various forms1 According to the method of revelation into natural andsupernatural Theology2 According to the purpose which it contemplates into SystematicTheology also called Didactic or Dogmatic Polemic orControversial Theology and Practical or Experimental Theology3 According to the main religious idea associated with it asAntheistic Theology Deistic Theology Rationalistic Theologyetc

123

4 According to the name of its founder or the race in which itoriginated or flourishes as Christian Theology JudaisticTheology Mohammedan Theology etc5 According to the sources from which it is derived into BiblicalTheology Christian Dogmatic Theology and Ecclesiastical

Dogmaticsrsquo4

For our purposes we shall use the popular division ofTheology into five disciplines Natural Theology HistoricalTheology Systematic or Dogmatic Theology Practical Theologyand Theology Proper Our next part will deal with an introduction into HinduTheology

PART -2HINDU THEOLOGY

Introduction

Theology as we saw is apparently a Christian subjectmdashbothmonastics and lay people are studying this subject and arecontributing towards its enrichment However lsquotheologyrsquo or thescience of understanding Godrsquos nature and other related topicsis a natural trend of all religions and especially of Hinduism orSanacirctana Dharma Was there a Hindu Theology studied sincecenturies before Christ Of course there was and we shall showhow While reading the text below you will observe that we havealternated between the two names Hinduism and SanatanaDharma Though Sanatana Dharma is the correct name for thisancient religion it is popular as Hinduism and so we shall usethat name too The title ldquoHindu Theologyrdquo is owing to the

124

popular term Hindu for Sanatana Dharma Swami Vivekanandahas decisively stated that the ancient religion should have got thename Vedanta dharma or Sanatana Dharma

Name for Theology in Sanatana Dharma

The term lsquotheosrsquo (θεός) which is Greek means lsquoGodrsquo andsounds similar to Deva Ju (piter) Zeus (Zeuacutes in ancient Greek)Dieu (French) Deus (Portuguese) Dyu (Cornish) Dios (Spanish)Dio (Italian) Dius and other words with similar if not the samemeaning The word Jesus its Hebrew equivalent Jeshua (orJoshua) its Greek equivalent Iesous all sound similar to Deva orTheos Deva in Sanskrit (Iovis in Latin) means lsquoone who shinesrsquolsquoone who enlightensrsquo lsquoone who is the divine abodersquo etc There are numerous names for God in Sanskrit of whomDeva Dyaus Divija Dyupati etc are nearer to Theos Dyaus inSanskrit means several things heaven (the divine abode) thegods and so on However the most popular word for God isDeva and Icircsha or Icircshvara Theos meant divine to some ancientGreeks So all words point to someone or something not mortallike us something or someone unearthly but lsquoHe who is brilliantwho shines who gives lightrsquo In this both Sanatana Dharma andthe other paths are quite the same though the concept of Godwhich is theology proper may be different So much for ldquodevardquo or ldquotheosrdquo Now about ldquologosrdquo As wehave seen before the original Greek word ldquologosrdquo meantaccording to Wikipedia ldquogroundrdquo ldquoopinionrdquo ldquowordrdquo and so onSince Heraclitusrsquo time it came to mean knowledge or discourse

in philosophy5 Logos does not only mean God but also meansknowledge or the science of knowing So the knowledge or study

125

of God is theology There is one singularity about the Christianconcept of the word The word lsquoLogiarsquo has two or threeconnotations in Christianity of which ldquoCollection of Christrsquoswordsrdquo or ldquoSayings of Jesusrdquo are two So if Logos is knowledgeTheology is god-knowledge The online encyclopaedia says ldquoEtymologically the nameDyaus is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root wordmorpheme dyeu- (zero-grade forms dyu- and diw-) with the

meaning to shinerdquo6 That which shines is God Itrsquos to be notedhere that Ahura also means light or lsquoshiningrsquo lsquoZarathushtra inhis Gathas talks of Mazda as wisdom and Ahura asCreationCreator Mazda Ahura - the Wisdom in Creation and

Ahura Mazda the Creator of Wisdom-Godrsquo7 He who shines isDeva or Theos and to know his nature is Theology deva-jnacircna Can whatever shines be God The Sun too shines can he beTheos The shine or brilliance that is considered here is notmaterial or external It is different it is spiritual and internal Ina sense though the Sun is a symbol of the Divine for ourargument here the Sun is material He shall not shine for allEternity Not so the one who has been truly indicated by the wordDeva the supreme Lord His shine is spontaneous ever-increasing and self-sufficient His shine makes everything shineThis is Theos or Deva We are at the moment not consideringthe ldquogodsrdquo of Hinduism who are powers So what is the name that is used for theology in SanatanaDharma Sanskrit is a rich language and it has not one but manynames for almost everything So tattva vichara devatacirc-jnanabrahma-jijnasacirc and several other names can be given Here ishow

126

The Subject of Theology in Sanatana Dharma We shall first find out the words used for theology in SanatanaDharma In Sanatana Dharma there are many words other thanDeva which are similar to theos in significance For instance tatTat is used to indicate the Supreme Being or just lsquoThatrsquo The studyof tat is theology Tattva can mean Reality and tattva-jnacircna isGod-knowledge or the knowledge of the Reality Vichacircra isanother word used to mean study or enquiring into any subjectTattva-vichacircra is an enquiry into the Truth or the study of theknowledge of God Jijntildeacircsa is also enquiry Tattva-jijntildeacircsa is enquiryinto the Truth Prashna is another word which means questioning Shacircstra means scripture broadly Arthashacircstra is economicsjivashacircstra is biology and thus daiva-shacircstra could perhaps be thescience of the Divine or theology Next by the word Logosshabda (the primordial Sound or word) is also meant HoweverShabda-shacircstra is not theology but linguistics There is noparticular science called daiva-shacircstra but there is darshana-shacircstra(philosophy) The beauty of the Sanskrit language is in its richness Thesame object or subject may have many different names and thesame noun may mean several things too So though theology canbe translated as Tattva-jntildeacircna there could be one or two more ifnot several words for it It can be devatacirc-jnacircna tattva-vichacircradaiva-shacircstra and so on

There is one more word but that is based on a different fieldof knowledge mostly sense-based That knowledge is of thematerial and subtle worlds That knowledge is called pramacirc Whatis pramacirc Pramacirc is valid knowledge The means of attaining thisknowledge are six according to the Indian systems of philosophy

127

and they are called pramacircnas The person who knows is called apramacircta The object that is known or is to be known is prameyaHowever this is not exactly theology All these indicate theancient Indian interest in knowing God first intellectually andthen spiritually So for theology we shall use tattva-vichacircra or daiva-shastra asthe Hindu equivalents What are the subjects studied in theology Theology coversa vast area of the field of religion Yet some of the importanttopics dealt with are the following Please note that we are makinga comparative study of Christian and Hindu theologies So forthis we shall follow the system used in Christian Theology andcompare it with Hinduism Thus the topics dealt with in theologyare classified into four (a) God the nature of God and proof ofHis existence the question of whether or not God can be knownGodrsquos works as the human being sees them and answers toatheistic doubts (b) the Scripture revealed or human (c) studyof the human being (d) soteriology or the study of the conceptof salvation or the goal of human beings We shall not dealseparately with the topic of ldquothe Holy Spiritrdquo as in Christianityas we shall include it in the study of God Eschatology too comesunder soteriology Thus in our study of the Theology of Sanatana Dharma weshall see what the Vedantist says about God about the humanbeing about the universe and about the goal of life

When we come to this we must mention the Visistadvaita(qualified non-duality) concept of theology tattva or Reality hitaor the method and purushacircrtha or the goal of lifemdashthese are thefundamentals of religion according to Visistadvaita This systemof theology was put forth by the great Visistadvaita saint Vedanta

128

Deshika Thus within the broad structure of Sanatana Dharmathere have been not just one but several systems of philosophyseveral systems of knowledge and several systems of Theology Thus we now know that Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma hada system of study of theology since ancient times We know whatis studied under theology We also know the several names usedby the Hindus In Hinduism such a study is not limited just tomonastics but to everyone Though in the past owing to certainsocial constraints only the upper classes of society had access tothe study with time and with the advent of Sri RamakrishnaHoly Mother and Swamiji the study of theology and religion areopen to all

Before going to the study of theology proper we shall beginwith a small introduction into the history of Hindu Theology

History of Hindu Theology Hindu theology or the theology of Sanatana Dharma orVedanta had its beginnings and development in the soil ofAcircryavartamdashthe land of the Aryans This land is not limited to thegeographical land called India now It encompassed severalldquocountriesrdquo of today However the heart of the development oftheological thought was the Himalayas as it was on the Himalayasthat sages lived studied nature and themselves and discoverednumerous truths So geographically speaking Vedantic Theologyhad a vast motherland To say that Indian or Hindu Theology is as old as Indianhistory itself is to make a statement of fact This is becauseenquiry into the nature of Reality or Truth has been a practice ofthousands of followers of Sanatana Dharma since the beginningof the use of human intelligence Pre-Vedic literature is not

129

available but recent excavations and studies prove that theancient Hindus were an evolved race

If our studies begin with the Vedas the antiquity of the originof theology will be quite evident Enquiry into the nature of Godand His creation was the natural and principal occupation of theVedic peoples whom we shall call the Acircryas Who were theseAcircryas Acircryas were those evolved races of extended India wholived initially on the banks of the River Saraswati and spread allover Acircryavarta (the extended India) and who were well-knownfor their spiritual knowledge and intellectual acumen The landof the Acircryas as it was called in the past Acircryavarta studiedtheology with intensity and dedication and there are ample

proofs for this in archaeological excavations8 in the Vedas etc9

ldquoko veda jacircnam eshacircmhellipwho knows the origin of the godsrdquo10 was theusual question of the seeker Since when did the sages begin to discover the truths Sincethe beginning of human civilization perhaps The ancient lawsof Manu and the ancient literature show that the very system inancient Acircryavarta or in all places where Sanacirctana Dharma waspractised was to seek knowledge as the one and the ultimate goalof life The system of those races taught them to dedicate the firstquarter of life for gaining knowledge then living as householdersfor some time without giving up the ideal and then during thethird and fourth quarters of their lives dedicating themselvescompletely for God knowledge That is the whole of an Aryanrsquoslife was dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge to know God tounderstand His nature A number of accounts of such pursuitshave been left behind However there is no count of the number

130

of works that were lost with the passage of time So Indiantheology or Tattva vichara has a long history While speaking of the history of theology we must not forgetstudies in Indian history European scholars and Orientalistsdedicated as they were to the study of ancient Indian literatureentertained limited concepts of creation and time For many ofthem God created the world some 5000 years ago For want ofany substantial evidence either for or against their theories theimagination of such scholars had decided that the Vedas wereborn some three thousand years ago They fixed the dates tooAnd the world believed As if the whole of the Vedas wereldquowrittenrdquo by some poets within some three-four hundred yearsrsquotime This biased and limited view has done a great deal ofdamage in history However later scholars have rectified the error with avengeance recent technological developments have given ampleproof and all have shown that the Vedas were beyond time andat least ten thousand years old to satisfy the date-loving historianFor ldquoThe genetic link between early Europeans and even earlierAsians has surprised researchershellip (The DNA of an early humanwho died about 400000 years ago and who was an) earlyEuropean was more closely related to a much earlier species of

human living in Siberia about 700000 11 years agordquo So humanbeings were even considering these scientific researches to befinal at least 80000 years old Now just imagine how old theVedas could be since the ancient peoples of Aryavarta wereknown to be living on these lands since times unknown In theRig Veda itself there are many verses which indicate the antiquityof the study of God lsquoIn the days of old our ancient Fathersthrough the work of holy worship sought pure light and

131

devotion singing praises They cleft the ground and made red

Dawns (perhaps crude oil) apparentrsquo 12 The Institute of ScientificResearch on the Vedas conducted a national seminar on thescientific dating of the ancient events before 3000 BC It was saidthere ldquoThe astronomical dates calculated so far indicate thedevelopment of indigenous civilization in India from the dateseven prior to 6000 BC Astronomical references in Rigvedarepresent the sky view of dates belonging to the period 8000 BCto 4000 BC and those mentioned in Valmikirsquos Ramayana refer tosky views seen sequentially on dates around 5000 BCAstronomical dates of some of the planetary references inMahabharata on planetarium software work out to be around

3000 BCrdquo 13 If the ancient Fathers or forefathers of Vedic sagesknew all this they were indeed ancient Some researchers haveproved that Sri Rama was born on 10 January 5114 BC It is ascientific calculation based on planetary movements That meansRama walked on earth some 7000 years back The Vedas were farmore ancient than this period We may infer from all the available

studies that Hindu theology is at least 10000 years old if not earlier Vamadeva Shastri (David Frawley) remarks ldquoIt is unfortunatethat this approach has not been questioned more particularly byHindus Even though Indian Vedic scholars like DayanandaSaraswati Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Arobindo rejected it mostHindus today passively accept it They allow Western generallyChristian scholars to interpret their history for them and quitenaturally Hinduism is kept in a reduced role Many Hindus stillaccept read or even honour the translations of the Vedas doneby such Christian missionary scholars as Max Muller GriffithMonier-Williams and H H Wilson Would modern Christians

132

accept an interpretation of the Bible or Biblical history done byHindus aimed at converting them to Hinduism Universities inIndia also use the Western history books and Western Vedictranslations that propound such views that denigrate their own

culture and countryrdquo 14

The Harvard studies of the myth of the Aryan invasion isanother example to prove the antiquity of theology in India ldquoApath-breaking study by Harvard and indigenous researchers onancestral Indian populations says there is a genetic relationshipbetween all Indians and more importantly the hitherto believedldquofactrdquo that Aryans and Dravidians signify the ancestry of north

and south Indians might after all be a mythrdquo 15 Graduallyscientific research is pushing back dates as of the Buddharsquos birthfor instance So the truth will come out some day We can alsocompare the Jaina Tirthankaras and their history to see howancient Indian theology was One important characteristic of the Hindu theological methodis its practicability Hindu Theology was not for theorizing oracademic discussions alone It was for practice There is a bigdifference between the theology of the Acircryas of old and those ofthe later-day religions For the Acircrya whether Hindu BauddhaJaina or any other theology was essentially a spiritual pursuitThe theological study or tattva-vichacircra that was done in the pastand the intellectual search for God that was undertaken was allwith the spiritual ideal in mind For that matter any Indianscience in the past be it Vedic studies or grammar was destinedto lead to the supreme goalmdashthe knowledge of God or Self Thesystem was such The fundamental law of Sanatana Dharma isthat the goal of everyone whatever the way of life is the

133

realization of the Selfmdashor knowledge of God The idea of theacademic study of God was not there in ancient times For theAryans therefore there was no such thing called merelyintellectual knowledge of God for even an attempt at intellectualunderstanding of God would lead to spiritual enquiry and thatto illumination Principally there was no difference at all between practiceand dialogue Not just that The Vedic and post-Vedic records arebased on personal experience on revelations and illuminationThe goal as we have said of the sages who searched fortheological knowhow was to know God through direct experience(aparoksha anubhuti) and theory was only a consequence Vidalessays in his Methodological Issues in Liberation Theology lsquoA theologywith a sound historical dimension realizes that ldquotheoryrdquo andldquopraxisrdquo can be separated only for pedagogical andmethodological purposes that in reality they are two dialecticalmoments in one and the same dynamic all-encompassingprocess The practical application is a structural feature and phaseof truth itself In the modern view of truth it is not simply a matter

of interpreting the world but of changing it as wellrsquo 16 Whateverhis idea practice and theory could not be separated is an eternalfact so far as Hindu theology is concerned There have been somedry scholars all the time but their study of philosophy andtheology has been for secular survival alone The Vedas are the earliest sources of human knowledge Vidmeans to know and Veda means knowledge SwamiVivekananda says lsquoThe Hindus have received their religionthrough revelation the Vedas They hold that the Vedas arewithout beginning and without end It may sound ludicrous tothis audience how a book can be without beginning or end But

134

by the Vedas no books are meant They mean the accumulatedtreasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in

different timesrsquo 17 Those discoverers were the rishis (sages) Theywere the seers of mantras (mantra-drashtas) and not composers ofmantras These mantras are the repositories of all the knowledgeof God that they discovered from time to time They were likescientistsmdashdedicated to the pursuit of knowledgemdashmundane andspiritual Not all of them were necessarily monks and nuns Mostof them were householders

(To be continued)Foot Notes1 Stanford Murrell Introductory Study of Systematic Theology p 22-24

2 See wikipedia

3 Charles Hodge Systematic Theology Vol1 pp 41-2

4 Rev James Petigru Boyce Abstract of Systematic Theology (USA Southern

Baptist Theological Seminary 1887) p6

5 Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy6 From Wikipedia

7 Fariborz Rahnamoon The Meaning of Mazda and Ahura in the Gatha p 3

8 E J H Mackay Further Excavations at MohenjoDaro9 While the several undeciphered writings and images from archeologicalsites are evidences of symbolism of God there are numerous vedic hymnswhich show the eagerness of the sages to know the nature of God

10 Rig Veda 5531

11 The Independent December 4 2013 issue ldquoScientists sequence oldest humanDNA from fossilised leg bone found in Spainrdquo

12 Rig Veda 42-16

13 Servevedaorg14 David Frawley ldquoSolid Evidence Debunking Aryan Invasion Theoryrdquo15 From a website16 Vidales Raul Methodological Issues in Liberation Theology in ed Rosino

Gibellini Frontiers of Theology in Latin America London SCM 1980

17 Swami Vivekananda Complete Works vol1 pp 67

135

The musings of a Chinese mystic

T he mystic is Chuang Tzu who lived wrote wrangled andfished about 200 years before Christ He was a follower of

Lao Tzu but speculated amid abstractions and contradictionswhere Lao Tzu was content to be homely and practical But he isone of Chinas great men ndash for all that one of its anti- materialisticsages and perhaps its greatest writer The centre and pivot of Chuang Tzus teaching was Tao Nowthis Tao was a very wonderful thing It originally meant road orway and developed into right road or way and then into theright way of Heaven or of the all-pervading Life of the UniverseThis may mean God in our conventional use of the word or itmay mean the Stream of tendency which makes for stabilitypeace and righteousness According to this mystic everythinghas Tao in it especially when it acts out the law of its being Thesteadfast earth has it so have the unerring revolving suns andstars The tip of a blade of grass has it If metal and stone werewithout Tao they would not be capable of emitting sound

What the Sage calls the lsquoHeavenly equilibrium is Tao and hewho holds the scales is God and God is passionless a kind ofcelestial mathematician who destroys and is not cruel whobenefits and does not count it charity who was before allantiquity and is not old who supports the universe and does notthink of it as skill He is the great the supreme the ever-abidingInevitable From this Chuang Tzu deduced what may be called a line orlaw of life The Prince of Chu wishing the Sage to take charge ofhis State sent two high officials to see him about it They foundhim fishing and gave him the princes message Without turninghis head he quietly said ldquoI have heard that in Chu there is asacred tortoise which has been dead some three thousand yearsand that the prince keeps this tortoise carefully enclosed in a chest

136

on the altar of his ancestral temple Now asked he ldquowould thistortoise rather be dead and have its remains venerated or be aliveand wagging its tail in the mudrdquo ldquoIt would rather be alive andwagging its tail in the mudrdquo replied the officials ldquoBegonerdquo saidthe Sage I too will wag my tail in the mudrdquo lsquoFollow the path of least resistance seems to him to be asufficient gospellt is bad to have passions they `disturb theinternal economy lsquoLive then the natural lifersquo he says lsquoOnce upon a time peoplewere naturalrsquo

lsquoSee what you have gotrsquo he says lsquoa crowd of commandmentswhich seem like the beating of a drum after a fugitive Get rid ofsmall wisdom and great wisdom will shine upon you Put awaygoodness and you will be naturally good A child does not learnto speak because taught by professors of the art but because itlives among people who can themselves speak May there not after all be some method in this mans`madness Our strenuous conventionalities and artificialities mayhave done more to lead us wrong than right The main thing indeportment is to be manly and womanly with natural self-possession and not to put on airs learnt from a dancing masterSo with goodness the main thing is to be good and not to seemso and it cannot be denied that what we call civilization hassubstituted a great deal of seeming for being lsquoLook at your finephilosophersrsquo he says lsquowhat claim have they to praise Their nicedistinctions simply amount to knocking a hole in a wall in orderto stop it up with brambles to combing each individual hair tocounting the grains for a rice pudding How in the name ofgoodness do they profit their generation The real truth is that this mystic was as one who sat above theworld regarding it as a noisy drum-beating show at the fair andreflecting upon the vanity of it Nay as one who wonderedwhether it was not all illusion lsquoHow do I knowrsquo he says lsquothat

137

love of life is not a delusion after all How do I know but that hewho dreads to die is as a child who has lost the way and cannotfind his home lsquoFoolsrsquo he said lsquothink they are awake now andfancy they are princes or peasants The little dream-play will soonbe over Once upon a time I Chuang Tzu dreamt I was abutterfly fluttering hither and thither to all intents and purposesa butterfly Suddenly I awaked and there I lay myself againNow I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was abutterfly or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a manrsquo

(Reprinted from Prabuddha Bharata December 1906)

Devotee I made this pilgrimage once before toobut it was at an inauspicious time Many haveexpressed the opinion that pilgrimages at aninauspicious time do not bring good fruit

Mahapurushji Well my child we do not believein those things To see the Lord (ie inside a temple)does not require an auspicious time All times aregood The moment you see the Lord even aninauspicious time becomes auspicious God is theSupreme Good always How can harm ever come toone by seeing the LordSaying this he started singing Blessed is Thy name and blessed Thy abode Blessed are Thy actions blessed Thy dispensation

Swami Shivananda

138

Leaves from an Ashrama 49Sacrifice in Social Service

Swami Vidyatmananda

Swami Vivekananda once remarked that if the Western peopledid not tone down their passion for material satisfactions they

would turn into a nation of idiots But the pursuit of personalgratification has not diminished and Swamijis prediction seemson the verge of coming true Mental illness is a gigantic problemin Europe and the United States and there is now the newmadness of drug addiction Why It seems to me that there is acorrelation between self-concern and mental health--between egoand psychological well-being The more self-concern the lessmentally healthy I am the more my ego asserts itself the moreabnormal I shall be The wisdom of our language is revealed inthe term insane with jealousy The psychotic we know is totallybound up in himself For him no one else exists I am NapoleonThey are doing bad things to me I am right all others arewrong At one time (when I was not living up to my idealssufficiently) I conceived the idea that I was being intriguedagainst Out of a few coincidences I discovered a plot aimed atme Later when I got hold of myself I found that there had beennothing in it But for the time being I had been on the borderlineof paranoia This scared me and showed me how easy it is to gooff if one gets bound up in oneself Freuds harm was not in hisstress on sex His offense was that he introduced a new idea--orrather put forward an old idea with apparent scientificendorsement--that self-expressioon is my right and privilegeIndeed I shall be sick if I do not express myself

If it is a fact that the more I think of myself the worse mymental health conversely it should be true that the less self-concern I have the better off I shall be mentally This must bewhat Swamiji had in mind in his reference to materialistic

139

civilization for sacrifice is the basis of the old Hindu moralityThe duty of the householder is to give up his life (that is selfishmotives) for othersndashwife children community The duty of themonk is the same but broader His duty is to give up his life forGod and all mankind

When we forget ourselves we are mentally healthy andinwardly happy Is there anyone more ecstatic than the doer ofsome heroic action whose attention at that moment isconcentrated on the well-being of another Each of us hasexperienced the delight that comes when we make some gesturethat is utterly selfless

I know all this let me practise it Let me cultivate the habit ofsacrificing myself every day Let me believe that I am doing it forothers or for God In the final analysis though I am doing it onlyfor myself The Western spirit is materialistic as Swamiji saidBut Westerners can also be utilitarian and nothing is more usefulfor ones eventual benefit than self-forgetfulness

If the mind has a natural leaning towards God one canmake time and opportunity for spiritual practice What isessential is earnestness If you cannot carry on yourspiritual practice here you wont be able to do so anywhereThe Master used to say He who has it here has it theretoo That is a statement full of truth my child Call uponGod and pray to Him with great sincerity He will give youan abundance of devotion and faith Why should you goYou are doing the Lords work Is it a small matter

Swami Shivananda

140

The Value of FaithJnanada

T he importance of faith in spiritual life is oftenunderestimated in this country We as a nation are just

emerging from an era of agnosticism Coincidentally with therise of importance and respect for science we experienced adecline of confidence in religion This movement reached aclimax shortly after Charles Darwins ORIGIN OF SPECIES andDESCENT OF MAN electrified the nation For a short time itseemed that religion and science were doomed to be warringfactors Many religious groups of the time felt that this theoryof evolution was a direct attack on their creeds andconsequently condemned it and forbade their followers tosympathize with it The scientists of the time were moreinclined to accept the facts of a fellow scientist than the wordsof a priest or preacher Large numbers of people becameestranged from spiritual life over this very issue Youthparticularly subscribed to the new theories and it becamefashionable to be agnostic People grew almost ashamed toadmit that they attended church or believed in God At thesame time those who still clung to their religious beliefs grewlax in fulfilling them Mediocrity was the theme of religionThis country was still called a Christian nation but few of itscitizens followed the commandments of Christ Gradually however this movement died down Theadvocates of religion discovered that science was not in itselfa challenge to their creeds The scientist in his laboratory foundthat there was one missing element and came to suspect thatthe element was God The agnostic youth grew into a mansearching for something permanent unchanging in a world of

141

flux and change The nation as a whole has begun to delve intospiritual matters Thus today many of us are beginning to feel that sciencedoes not offer a solution to the problem of life In our searchfor the answer to this problem we have started to look to GodIt is usually a gradual change As we study variousphilosophies we become more and more interested in thosebooks which deal with spiritual matters Finally we are forcedto admit somewhat grudgingly that religion has something However in spite of the fact that we are commencing to seethe true value of religion we still maintain our old prejudicesagainst faith We still connect it with ignorance and fanaticismWe are willing to study religion and cautiously to apply theteachings to ourselves but we are afraid as it were to letourselves believe that we can reap the harvest of such activitiesWe tend to pride ourselves on the fact that religion with us ispurely a matter of logic We accept God because it seems logicalthat God exists We try to realize Him also because our reasontells us that that is the basic goal of man This attitude ischaracteristic of us to a degree that we are inclined to feelsuperior to the person who has faith and devotion We say Soand so is too emotional He is a typical Bhakta I could never belike that We do not realize how much we are denying ourselves inthe non-acceptance of faith Actually we cannot accomplish athing in spiritual life unless we have a firm foundation of faithon which to build Without faith in God we cannot mobilizeourselves for action Spiritual life is not childs play it requirescourage persistent effort and the ability to concentrate Itwould be impossible to apply any of these qualities to spirituallife unless we had faith in the goal

142

It is of course easy to state the necessity of faith but it ismore difficult to prescribe the ways of acquiring faith The firststep would be a complete intellectual conviction that God isand can be realized This can be achieved by seriously readingthe works of the seers and saints The next step is a deepintellectual conviction that realizing God is more desirable thanenjoying worldly pleasures This can easily be arrived at byobserving how fleeting and unsubstantial these pleasures areA study of history will quickly persuade us that the world isindeed a dogs curly tail it can never be permanentlystraightened out A study of the various types of people in theworld soon gives the lie to the fairy story of And they livedhappily ever after Very few worldly people ever achievehappiness and those that do are constantly in danger of losingit by circumstances beyond their control such as the death of ahusband wife or child Then having been intellectually persuaded that realizingGod is the only worthy goal in life we must seek a teacher Itis the teacher who will inspire us with faith in God It is theteacher who gives us confidence that God can be seen not onlyby the saints of old but by ourselves From him we get thecourage to make our first effort and to persevere Thus throughthe teachers grace and our own effort we gradually obtain thefaith to struggle with ever increasing vigour Just as the child encouraged by its parents obtains thecourage to take its first tottering step and then another andanother until it gains the strength and faith to walk and runand jump so we encouraged by our teacher take our first stepin realizing God If we stumble and fall down we are told thatstrength is not the ability to stand upright but the determinationto get up again after having fallen

143

So our confidence grows and in addition to our intellectualbeliefs we attain an inner conviction that we are on the rightpath Many times events will challenge this knowledgeOccasionally doubts and deep discouragement will arise butas we struggle ahead we come to recognize them as passingmoods mirage-like in character and are not deceived by themEach time this happens we grow a little stronger Each time ourfaith in the ideal and in the teacher grows Many people ask us Is not this blind faith Where is thereany real proof that God exists But we answer Of course it isblind faith but it produces results Shall I refuse to use it merelybecause it holds no empirical proof of God Sri Ramakrishnatold the story of the milkmaid who giving the excuse that shehad to wait for the boat was told by the priest that if she tookthe name of the Lord she could walk across the river Severaldays later when asked how she managed to be on time she toldthe priest that she had carried out his instructions The priestwas amazed As she left for home he followed her and watchedher confidently stride across the water He started to follow butshe watching him said If you really have confidence in thename of God why do you gather up your robes before you stepon the water Faith is blind until one has realized God Real faith can onlycome after one has seen God just as the child gets realconfidence only after taking his first step Maharaj said Faithintense faith He who has acquired faith has seen God If youhave faith a penny has great value if you have no faith a goldpiece is worth nothing He who has no faith in God doubtseverything He who has faith in God overcomes all doubts

(Reprinted from Vedanta And The West November-December 1947)

144

Programme for May - June 2015Sunday discourses begin

at theRamakrishna Vedanta Centre Bourne End at 430 pm

Tel 01628 526464 - wwwvedantaukcom

May 3 Patanjali Yoga Sutras 70 Swami DayatmanandaMay 10 Patanjali Yoga Sutras 71 Swami DayatmanandaMay 17 Patanjali Yoga Sutras 72 Swami DayatmanandaMay 24 Patanjali Yoga Sutras 73 Swami DayatmanandaMay 31 Patanjali Yoga Sutras 74 Swami DayatmanandaJun 7 Patanjali Yoga Sutras 75 Swami DayatmanandaJun 14 Swami Vivekanandas

Contribution to ReligiousThought

Swami Tattwamayananda

Jun 21 Crest Jewel of Discrimination Swami ShivarupanandaJun 28 Day Retreat

Day RetreatWith Swami Dayatmananda and Swami Shivarupananda

at the Vedanta Centre Bourne End on 28th Junefrom 1000 am until 700 pm

Note Children are not allowed at the RetreatPlease bring (vegetarian) lunch to share

I am not the body and the sixfold change belongs only tothe body I am that eternal Supreme Being ever pure illuminedand free The Master has given me that knowledge in the fullestmeasure That is why it does not make any difference whetherthe body is well sick or old The body will certainly follow itsnature The realizations and experiences which I used to haveas a result of much effort are coming to me naturally withouteffort the Master is graciously bestowing upon me those highexperiences He has made clear to me the way to the abode ofimmortality Time place and person are categories that belongto the world of phenomena When the mind becomes absorbedin meditation one has no consciousness of these categories

Having once tasted of the joy of the Infinite earthlypleasures seem trifling That which is infinite is alone blissthere is no joy in things finite The Infinite is bliss itself Only aportion of that infinite God has manifested Itself as thisuniverse with its suns moons stars and countless spheres ofexistence The rest remains unmanifest No one has ever beenable or will be able to know Him How can man with hislimited understanding comprehend the infinite God

continued from the front cover

is a bi-monthly magazine published since 1951 by theRamakrishna Vedanta Centre Bourne End Buckinghamshire

SL8 5LF UKPhone (01628) 526464wwwvedantaukcom

Subscription rate for 6 issues pound9 or $1750 post free

Editor Swami Dayatmananda

Vedanta

pound150

A registered Charity

The moment you have a feeling of weakness or oflacking in anything tell the Master about it If you prayvery sincerely you are bound to get a response Repeat hisname often The repetition of his name will purify yourbody and mind washing away all impurities You haverenounced everything in order to be sadhus Therealization of God is the aim of your life my child Yourideal is to remain unaffected by praise or blame to besilent and contented with a little

Swami Shivananda

Editorial

The Message of Sri Ramakrishna

With Swami Turiyananda at Kurukshetra

An Introduction to Hindu Theology-3


Leaves from an Ashrama 49 Sacrifice in Social Service

The Value of Faith

Programme for May - June 2015

continued on the inside back cover

Swami Shivananda

`The Master used to say The breeze of divine grace is everblowing Simply hoist the sail The grace of God is ever present butone must make an effort to deserve that grace Of course we areblessing you You also sincerely call upon the Lord You will see howgreat His mercy is He is ever ready to shower His grace Take Hisname worship Him remember Him constantly and call upon Himvery earnestly You will see how gracious He is So much grace willdescend upon you that you will be overwhelmed your life will beblessed Nothing can be accomplished without His grace It is He whohas kept this world enchanted by His Maya That is why one shouldalso pray O Lord Do not keep me ignorant with your world-bewitching Maya Give me pure devotion to your lotus feet May mylife be glorified

Unless the Lord casts His compassionate glance upon a soulhow can he cross this illusion In the Chandi there is a line TheMother the Giver of all boons being pleased bestows emancipationupon souls That is to say being pleased with the prayers anddevotions of men the Mother gives spiritual emancipation as a boonBeing freed from Maya they realize their divine nature It is verydifficult to snap the bonds of Maya without the grace of God but it isalso true that if a person sincerely prays to Him He listens to thatprayer and lifts the veil He will listen to your prayer all-the morebecause you are in the world He is especially gracious to youhouseholders because He knows that you carry a heavy load on yourshoulders You are being scorched by the sorrows and bereavementsof this world That is why if you pray a little He will be pleased andcome to your rescue quickly removing the load from your shouldersBut that prayer should be sincere and earnest

But in the midst of all your duties you will have to make a littletime to call upon the Lord in seclusion otherwise you will come togrief There is not so much danger if one can hold on to God It is verynecessary to remember Him

Divine Wisdom

Contents

383 MAY - JUNE 2015

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The Value of Faith


Contents

383 MAY - JUNE 2015

98 Editorial






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ISSN 1355 - 6436

98

EditorialWill power





99



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(To be continued)

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144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


115


116


117


118




Swami Shivananda

119








120






121


122


methodology 2


123


Dogmaticsrsquo4



Introduction


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


116


117


118




Swami Shivananda

119








120






121


122


methodology 2


123


Dogmaticsrsquo4



Introduction


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


117


118




Swami Shivananda

119








120






121


122


methodology 2


123


Dogmaticsrsquo4



Introduction


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


118




Swami Shivananda

119








120






121


122


methodology 2


123


Dogmaticsrsquo4



Introduction


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


119








120






121


122


methodology 2


123


Dogmaticsrsquo4



Introduction


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


120






121


122


methodology 2


123


Dogmaticsrsquo4



Introduction


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


121


122


methodology 2


123


Dogmaticsrsquo4



Introduction


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


122


methodology 2


123


Dogmaticsrsquo4



Introduction


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


123


Dogmaticsrsquo4



Introduction


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


124





125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


125




126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


126



127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


127



128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


128




129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


129





130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


130



131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


131





132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


132





133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


133



134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


134




2 See wikipedia







10 Rig Veda 5531


12 Rig Veda 42-16




135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


135





136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


136



137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


137





Swami Shivananda

138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


138


Swami Vidyatmananda




139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


139





Swami Shivananda

140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


140




141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


141


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


142


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


143



144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


144


















Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith









Vedanta

pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


pound150



Swami Shivananda

Editorial






The Value of Faith


The Message of Sri Ramakrishna Swami · PDF fileThe Message of Sri Ramakrishna Swami...

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