Vedantic thought can be classified into three schools - Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita. “Tat tvam asi” or “Thou art that” is a sentence found in the Vedanta (literally means the end of the Vedas). The Advaitists take this as proof of the rightness of their philosophy that God and the self are one, there being no difference between the two. The followers of the Vishishtadvaita school interpret this statement to mean that the self is a part of the Supreme. The Dvaitists take the entire statement, split it appropriately as “sa atma-atat tvam asi” which would mean “Thou art not that” and contend that it is their philosophy which distinguishes between God and the self, which is right. Though these three schools of thought are prevalent in the Vedanta, they were resurrected a few centuries ago. Adi Sankara was a strong proponent of Advaita, Ramanuja advocated the philosophy of Vishishtdvaita while Madhwacharya founded the Dvaita tradition. There is a beautiful anecdote in the scriptures denoting the Dvaita, Vishishtadvaita and Advaita philosophies translated as dualism, qualified monism and non-dualism respectively. There have always been differences between these but Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa referred to this incident to point out that these philosophies may sound contradictory but are not actually so. ‘One day, Lord Rama asked Hanuman, in which form he saw Rama. Hanuman’s reply was “When I see myself as a physical being, you are the master, I am the servant. When I consider myself as an individual being, you are the whole, I am one of your parts. And when I perceive myself as the Atman, I am one with you.” So it is evident that there need be no clash between these seemingly different ideas. The same person may unwittingly follow these three different viewpoints at different times as indicated by Hanuman. It may also be a spiritual progression for a person who believes in a separate being called God, then feels that he is a part of Him and finally realises that he is one with God. “Philosophy I know not, Spirituality is not … [Read more...]
All in the name of God..
Religion, they say, has killed more people than all wars put together. Irrespective of whether this statement is accurate or not, one has to admit that organised religion has caused at least as many problems as it has solved ; and if it takes the credit of having saved many souls, the blame of a large number of deaths also lies at its door. Ironically, the word ‘religion’ is said to have roots in the Latin word ‘religare’ which means ‘to bind again’. The very reason man developed something called religion was to bind all his fellow-men by a common thread – God. What turned out was quite different however. Religion instead, formed the basis for turning man against man and for fighting on behalf of their respective gods. We consider God to be omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent but rush to pick up cudgels on His behalf. Is this all-powerful God not capable of taking care of Himself? The Rig Veda says –“Ekam Sadvipra bahudha vadanti” meaning ‘There is one truth, sages call it by different names.’ In the Old Testament when Moses asked God his name, the reply was “I am who I am”. So the Supreme Power pervading the universe has no name. But since ancient times, man has foolishly fought over the different names and forms which he has attributed to this Being. Leave aside history; we are committing the same mistake even now. We usually classify people on the basis of religion. We absurdly feel –“My religion is the best”, “my God” is better than yours or “my God” is the only God. We are quick to point out the shortcomings of other religions but not interested in reforming our own. We look down on people of other religions denouncing them as pagans, ‘kafir’, ‘mlechcha’ and so on. Many laws laid down in texts of various religions are archaic. They were probably suited for the times when the religion came into being and are not relevant today. Yet we wish to cling on to them and fight for them. Instead of doing our utmost to contribute positively to society, to meet the basic needs of the deprived, we would rather waste valuable time putting down other … [Read more...]
