excerpts from vedanta (1)

just finished reading vedanta: the voice of freedom and found it deeply empowering. how apt that the virtue of this month is unity. i post some excerpts here (from chapters 1-6) to summarize some of the high points of the first half of this reading for me.

If the room is dark, do you go about beating your chest and crying, "It is dark, dark, dark!" No. The only way to get light is to strike a light, and then the darkness goes. The only way to realize the light above you is to strike the spiritual light within you, and the darkness of sin and impurity will flee away. Think of your higher self, not of your lower.

And here is the test of truth: Anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually, and spiritually, reject as poison. There is no life in it; it cannot be true. Truth is strengthening. Truth is purity; truth is all-knowledge. Truth must be strengthening, must be enlightening, must be invigorating... Strength, strength is what the Upanishads speak to me from every page. This is the one great thing to remember.

My salutation goes to the feet of the good, the saintly, and to the feet of the wicked and the devilish! They are all my teachers, my spiritual fathers, all are my saviors. I may curse one and yet benefit by his failings; I may bless another and benefit by his good deeds.

Tat Tvam Asi, "Thou Art That"
To every man this is taught: Thou art one with this Universal Being, and, as such, every soul that exists is your soul, and every body that exists is your body. And in hurting anyone, you hurt yourself. In loving anyone, you love yourself. As soon as a current of hatred is thrown outside, whomsoever else it hurts, it also hurts yourself. And if love comes out from you, it is bound to come back to you. For I am the universe. This universe is my body. I am the Infinite, only I am not conscious of it now. But I am struggling to get this consciousness of the Infinite, and perfection will be reached when full consciousness of this Infinite comes.

We have no theory of evil. We call it ignorance.

"Why weepest thou, my friend? There is no fear nor death for thee. Why weepest thou? There is no misery for thee, for thou art like the infinite blue sky, unchangeable in thy nature. Clouds of all colors come before it, play for a moment, and pass away. It is the same sky. Thou hast only to drive away the clouds."

We have to open the gates and clear the way. The water will rush in and fill in by its own nature, because it is there already.

Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give. It will come back to you - but do not think of that now. It will come back multiplied a thousandfold, but the attention must not be on that. Yet have the power to give. Give, and let it end there. Learn that the whole of life is giving, that nature will force you to give. So give willingly. Sooner or later you will have to give up. You come into life to accumulate. With clenched hands you want to take. But nature puts a hand on you throat and makes your hands open. Whether you will it or not, you have to give. The moment you say, "I will not," the blow comes; you are hurt.

Let stars come. What harm is there? If a star disturbs my life, it would not be worth a cent. You will find that astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind. Therefore, as soon as they become prominent in our minds, we should see a physician, take good food, and rest.

Stand upon the Self. Then only can we truly love the world. Take a very, very high stand. Knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all the panorama of the world. It is but baby's play, and we know that, so cannot be disturbed by it. If the mind is pleased with praise it will be displeased with blame. All pleasures of the senses or even of the mind are evanescent, but within ourselves is the one true unrelated pleasure, dependent upon nothing. It is perfectly free. It is bliss. The more our bliss is within, the more spiritual we are. The pleasure of the Self is what the world calls religion.

Hold yourself as a witness and go on working. My Master used to say, "Look upon your children as a nurse does." The nurse will take your baby and fondle it and play with it and behave toward it as gently as if it were her own child. But as soon as you give her notice to quit, she is ready to start off, bag and baggage, from the house. Everything in the shape of attachment is forgotten. It will not give the ordinary nurse the least pang to leave your children and take up other children. Even so are you to be with all that you consider your own. You are like the nurse. If you believe in God, believe that all these things which you considered yours are really His.

The desire to do good is the highest motive power we have, if we know all the time that it is a privilege to help others. Do not stand on a high pedestal and take five cents in your hand and say, "Here, my poor man!" But be grateful that the poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver. Be thankful that you are allowed to exercise the power of your benevolence and mercy in this world, and thus become pure and perfect.