The Basics of Vedanta
The Search for the Self
Lesson – 1

Teacher:  Write down as many colors you can think of in two minutes and tell me their names.

Student (after two minutes): There are hundreds of colors. But, in two minutes I wrote down the following colors which came to my mind: Red, Green, Purple, Chocolate, Amber, Blue, Apricot, Beige, Black, Pink, Brown, Burgundy, Peach, Yellow, White, Violet, Gold, Orange, Crimson, Lilac, and Maroon.

Teacher:  Excellent. You wrote names of many colors. Now, I have a Yellow color and if I mix it with Blue color, then what happens?

Student:   It will be green.

Teacher:  What if I mix Red and Yellow?

Student:   It will be an Orange color.  Are you talking about the primary and secondary colors? I have learned that in one model Red, Yellow, and Blue are primary colors and Green, Orange, and Purple are secondary colors which are made from the combination of the primary colors. There are also tertiary colors which are made from the primary and secondary colors.

Teacher:  Very good. Now, who told you that Red, Yellow, and Blue are the primary colors and all other colors are made from these colors?

Student (after some thinking):   I guess, my school teacher.

Teacher:  Who told that teacher?

Student:   I guess, her teacher.

Teacher:  Now, let me sing a couple of bhajans and dhoons.

(After singing a couple of bhajans and dhoons, the teacher continued)

Teacher:  What are all these made from?

Student:   I think they are made from tunes.

Teacher:  What are the tunes made from?

Student:  Musical notes.

Teacher:  How many musical notes are there?

Student:   There are seven main notes: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni in Indian Music and in Western Music, they are Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, and Ti.

Teacher:  You are right. All music made from these seven notes. Do you know what all the sounds made from?

Student:  There are so many kinds of sounds. How can we find a sound from which all sounds are made?

Teacher:  Try to remember if you have learned about this in some class.

Student:  Oh yes, I remembered Swami Vivekananda talked about the sound of Om in his lecture on “The Mantra: Om”.

Teacher:  I am glad you remembered this. Swami Vivekananda said that the Lord first becomes conditioned as the Sphota (or Word) and then evolves Himself as the yet more concrete sensible universe. This Sphota has one word as its only possible symbol, and this Word is  Om.

Swami Vivekananda further said that these three Sanskrit letters –  – pronounced in combination as Om, may well be the generalized symbol of all possible sounds.

The letter covers all the sounds that originate and starts at the navel level and goes up to the end of the mouth, the letter covers all the sounds that start at the beginning of the mouth up to the lips, and the letter covers all the sounds that end with closing the lips.

(The teacher pauses.)

Okay! Now, let me write a positive integer 47,589,013,726. I don’t want you to read that number. But, I want you to tell me what this integer is made from?

Student:  Yes, it is made from the integers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0.  I can say that every positive integer is made from these 10 integers.

Teacher:  Let us go further. What these 10 integers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0) made from?

Student:  I did not understand the question. These are 10 integers and all positive integers are made from these integers.

Teacher:  How the number 2 is made?

Student:  Yes, it is 1 plus 1.  Now, I know that integers 1 through 9, each one is made from 1. But, what can we say about 0?

Teacher:  Excellent answer and the question. One can think that 0 as the absence of 1. Thus, all positive integers are made from 1.

Now, suppose someone asks you, “Who are you?” What would you say?

Student:  I will tell my name, my birthdate, my grade, my residence, the name of my parents and family members, my achievements, my dreams, my thoughts and many other things of myself.

Teacher:  Suppose you can write all this information down on papers, like writing down your resume, would that resume capture all of you?

Student:  I guess not.

Teacher:  Why not?

Student:  Because I am more than whatever I write down about myself.

Teacher:  Suppose I ask this question “Who are you?” to Jack, Jane, Vrinda, and Yogesh, and many others and suppose they all write something about themselves, would you be able to find any common thing or things among them?

Student:  Maybe they have similar interests or maybe they have nothing in common among themselves.

Teacher:  What are all these people made of?

Student:  I guess the body and mind.

Teacher:  Well, their bodies and minds will be different. Even twins and triplets have differences among themselves. Is there anything common among them?

Student:   I think ‘life’ is common among them.

Teacher:  Very good. Now, you see, the way human beings searched and found that (1) all colors are made from three primary colors, (2) all music is made from seven notes, and (3) all positive integers are made from 1, the same way “Rishis” who were scientists of the inner world of our mind searched for the true identity of human beings and found out through their reflections, introspections, and meditation that all beings have one common thing and it is consciousness. They called this “Pure Consciousness” or “Brahman” compare to the individual consciousness that we commonly refer to. They realized that all beings, animals, fish, trees, vegetation, and even all matter is made of this Pure Consciousness or Brahman. Many Sages, Saints, and great teachers directly experienced or vision that the same Pure Consciousness is being expressed through various forms.

Student:  But, when I close my eyes and think of myself, I feel that I am my body and my mind. I do not see anything beyond!

Teacher:  You are right. Most people think that they are nothing but their body and mind. But, think for a while.

If your parents have taken your photos from the time you were born till now and if I lined them up chronologically, what will you find? You look different at various stages of life. Ten or twenty years from now you will look different than you are now. Our body is constantly changing. Our body cells are changing. But, we feel that we are the same people! If you were just the body, then you are not the same person. But, why do you feel that you are the same person?

Now, let us talk about our mind. Our interests are changing. You might not be playing with your toys that you enjoyed playing with when you were a child. Youngsters have different kinds of toys to entertain themselves and so do the grownups.  Thus, our interest and thoughts, our likes and dislikes and our views of many things change, but amazingly we feel that we are the same!

Rishis with their introspection and logical and scientific inquiry realized that we are not our body and mind. We are something beyond our body and mind which does not change and having it in the background we see all the changes of our body and mind. This true identity is the same in all beings which they called it “Pure Consciousness” or “Brahman”.

Student:  Wow! I have never thought it that way. How do we know that these Rishis found this out?

Teacher:  Good question. As I told you, these Rishis were the scientists and they realized that the common thing behind all beings and things is “Pure Consciousness” or Brahman. They even realized that “Pure Consciousness” or Brahman has become everything. After their realization, they taught these truths to their students and later these truths were collected into books called the Vedas. These Rishis did not claim that they found the truths, but they said that they realized or directly experienced these truths and therefore no Rishi claimed to be the founder of the truth or the author of the book.

Do you know how many Vedas are there?

Student:  Yes, I have learned their names. They are Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda.

Teacher:  Good that you remembered their names. Now, know more about them. It is good to know how Swami Vivekananda talked about these Vedas to the American audience on September 19, 1893, in his lecture “Hinduism” as one of the famous Chicago Lectures delivered at the World Parliament of Religions.

Swami Vivekananda said, “They (the Vedas) mean the accumulated treasure of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so it is with the laws that govern the spiritual world. The moral, ethical, and spiritual relations between soul and soul and between individual spirits and the Father of all spirits were there before their discovery and would remain even if we forgot them.

The discoverers of these laws are called Rishis, and we honor them as perfected beings. I am glad to tell this audience that some of the very greatest of them were women.”

Here spirit means the “Pure Consciousness” or Brahman and the spiritual means everything related to the “Pure Consciousness” or Brahman.

Student:  Please tell me more about Brahman or Pure Consciousness.

Teacher:  As I told you before, Rishis, Sages, and Saints realized that Brahman or Pure Consciousness alone appears as the whole universe. The following analogies can give you some idea of that expression.

Imagine an ocean. In the ocean there are various kinds of waves arise and merge back into the ocean. All these waves are nothing but the water of the ocean. Similarly, the Brahman or Pure Consciousness is appearing as various things of the universe; the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars, the earth, and all beings and the matter on the earth.

On a beach of an ocean, kids make various things from the sand. They look different and one can give them different names, but they are nothing but the sand.

 

Let us see another analogy.  Several ornaments are made from gold like a necklace, ring, earrings, bracelet, and others. All the ornaments look different and have different names, but they are nothing but the gold. The gold appears as different ornaments.

From clay, one can make the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars, the earth, people, animals, houses, mountains, the whole universe, but it is all clay. Children make many things out of Play-Doh. These things look different and we can give them different names, but it is all Play-Doh!

Have you seen a wax museum? It has varieties of people, but it is all wax. Similarly, One Brahman is appearing as varieties of objects and beings of the universe.

Student:  Wow! What an experience! Whoever had such an experience feels that the whole universe is “One”.  With that experience, one feels that he/she is related to all. More correctly, one can feel that “everything in the universe is the extension of Myself”. Such a person feels connected with everyone. If I find out that a boy or a girl whom I meet is a son or a daughter of my beloved Uncle or Aunty, then I feel great joy meeting him or she and I feel a loving bondage between two of us.  With that experience, no one remains a stranger in the universe.

Can I have that experience?  Is it true that such experience is exclusively for Rishis, or Sages, or Saints and not for all people?

Teacher:  Rishis, Sages, and Saints who had experienced this fact tell us that anyone who follows a proper guideline that they had followed can have that experience. It is not exclusively for selected people.  In science books, it has been described that a certain way hydrogen and oxygen are combined then it produces water. If anyone anywhere in the world follows this method, then he/she can produce water. Similarly, if one follows proper guidelines, then one can have that experience. There are people living now who have such an experience. They do not advertise about their experience. Such people are humble. Only people who had such experience or those who are sincerely trying to have that experience can know them.

Sri Ramakrishna had an intense desire to realize this truth through the worship of Mother Kali. He spent days and moths worshipping Mother Kali, singing Her glories, meditating, and crying like a child who was separated from his mother in order to have Her vision. One day he even thought that his life is useless without this vision. Then, he realized this truth.

In Sri Ramakrishna’s biography, we can find such vision described in his own words: “…suddenly the blessed Mother revealed Herself. The buildings with their different parts, the temple, and everything else vanished from my sight, leaving no trace whatsoever, and in their stead, I saw a limitless, infinite, effulgent Ocean of Consciousness. As far as the eye could see, the shining billows were madly rushing at me from all sides with a terrific noise, to swallow me up!… What was happening in the outside world I did not know; but within me, there was a steady flow of undiluted bliss, altogether new…”

Later, on many occasions in the state of Samadhi (the same experience – Being One with Brahman) he realized that Pure Consciousness has become the whole universe. He guided his young disciple Narendra (later known as Swami Vivekananda) to have this experience and encouraged him to serve all beings seeing God (Pure Consciousness) in them.

Sri Ramakrishna’s experiences matched with what has been described in the Vedas.

Student:  Should I then study all the Vedas in order to have such an experience?

Teacher:  You can study the Vedas if you have time. But, know that each Veda consists of four parts (1) the Samhitas (consists of hymns), (2) the Brahmanas (deal with rituals), (3) the Aranyakas (theologies) and (4) the Upanishads (philosophies). The Upanishads deal with the fundamental questions of life, like “is there life after death?”, “By whose power, everything is working?”, “What is the most important knowledge?”, “What is the goal of life?”, “What is the Ultimate Reality?”, “What is the nature of an individual?”, “What is the nature of the universe?”, and others.

The culmination of the truths of the Vedas or we can say the essence of the Vedas is called “The Vedanta Philosophy”. Shri Shankaracharya wrote commentaries on the following books (called Prashtanatraya) and out of the truths of these books he systematically developed “Advaita Philosophy” which became the foundation of “The Vedanta Philosophy”.

(1) The Upanishads: In the Upanishads, we find the Vedic thought and quest for the Ultimate Reality reaches its culmination and is known as the Vedanta. Shri Shankaracharya wrote commentaries on the following ten Upanishads: Isha, Katha, Kena, Mundaka, Mandukya, Prashna, Brihadaranyaka, Chhandogya, Aitareya, and Taittiriya.  Some also include Svetasvatara Upanishad as the eleventh important Upanishad.

(2) Brahma Sutras: This book consists of 555 sutras or formulas. It systematized on a rational basis the various spiritual revelations and realizations of the Rishis that are recorded in the Upanishads and strings them together into a coherent philosophy of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality.

(3) The Bhagavad Gita: This book consists of 700 shlokas. It is a part of the great epic Mahabharata written by Shri Vyasa. It gives the practical expression to the Vedanta Philosophy by showing the paths to the realization of the Ultimate Reality. It also brings our everyday life into harmony with the truths of the Vedanta Philosophy.

Student:  Then, I must study the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Brahma Sutras.

Teacher:  Yes, you may study in that order. There are also several Saints and Sages who have realized the Ultimate Reality, and we can learn many things from studying their lives and teachings too.

I want to share my personal experience with you that the lives and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda helped me to understand the truths of the Vedanta Philosophy and made the philosophy more practical. From their lives, we can learn how to apply the truths of the Vedanta Philosophy in our day-to-day life and realize the Ultimate Reality. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, the teachings of Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda’s lectures help us understand the Vedanta Philosophy in the language of this time.

Student:  I love reading biographies. I will definitely read the lives and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda.

Teacher:  It will be good for you.

Student:  You told me that Brahman is the common ground of all beings and matter in the universe and that Brahman has become everything. Is there one word which can tell me about the nature of Brahman, the Pure Consciousness, or the Ultimate Reality?

Teacher:  It is very difficult to describe Brahman.

Sri Ramakrishna said that everything in this universe has become “Jutha”, meaning half-eaten by the mouth, but Brahman has not become “Jutha”. What he meant that we can describe limited things through our mouth, but infinite Brahman cannot be described by our mouth.

Sri Ramakrishna again said that one cannot put ten gallons of milk in a one-gallon container.  Whatever our mind grasps is limited. Our finite mind cannot comprehend something infinite. We can realize Brahman and become one with it, but that time we are not separate from Brahman. In order to comprehend an object, we have to be different from the object.

Knowing this difficulty in describing Brahman, the Rishis gave a hint to grasp a sense of Brahman. They said that Brahman is Sat-Chit-Ananda, the Existence Absolute, the Awareness (Knowledge) Absolute and the Bliss Absolute. We can say that Brahman is the support of our existence, the basis of our awareness which gives us knowledge, and the source of all our happiness.

Student:  Thank you for your guidance.

Teacher:  Now, reflect upon what you had learned today. We will continue to learn further about the Vedanta Philosophy and make our life meaningful and blissful.

(Thanks to Sheela Krishnan for editing this post.)