"Our people never understood the Gita as a guide to practical Vedanta until now. Swami Vivekananda wants us to understand it now. The best commentary on the Upanisads you have is the Bhagavad Gita, said Swami Vivekananda.
When Vedanta becomes practical in everyday life, tremendous social transformations will take place. Human dignity, human freedom, human equality, spirit of service, capacity for efficient team work, all these will become heightened in society. This philosophy is comprehensive. All of life is taken into account.
Much of later religious ideas were one-sided, narrow, and occasionally intolerant of other faiths and religions. But this great philosophy of Vedanta, in its Advaita Vedanta form, has tremendous strength and it confers strength on others as well. It can stand scrutiny by any science, physical or other.
But such a Vedanta was confined by our people to mere books and to the worship room!
When Vedanta becomes practical in everyday life, tremendous social transformations will take place. Human dignity, human freedom, human equality, spirit of service, capacity for efficient team work, all these will become heightened in society. This philosophy is comprehensive. All of life is taken into account.
Much of later religious ideas were one-sided, narrow, and occasionally intolerant of other faiths and religions. But this great philosophy of Vedanta, in its Advaita Vedanta form, has tremendous strength and it confers strength on others as well. It can stand scrutiny by any science, physical or other.
But such a Vedanta was confined by our people to mere books and to the worship room!
We never tried to LIVE the practical Vedanta taught by the Gita. We worship the Gita, piously recite it, and do everything else except to LIVE its teachings…..
During my extensive lecture tour of Andhra Pradesh in 1949, from Bobbili in the north to Vijayawada at the center, and then on to Hyderabad on my way to Delhi to take charge of that Ramakrishna Mission Center, I had occasion to meet General J.N.Chowdhury, Military Governor of the State, on the last day of my five-day lecture program in Hyderabad-Secunderabad in October.
He received me cordially, we were meeting for the first time, and during the first half hour, he did all the talking and I listened. Later, when I saw a copy of the Gita on his table, I asked him: ‘General Chowdhury, do you read the Gita?’
‘Oh yes,’ he said, in a casual way, ‘when I feel the need for a little peace and consolation during my heavy and responsible work!’
Immediately I said: ‘That is not the purpose of the Gita; for peace and consolation there are plenty of other books.’
In utter surprise, General Chowdhury asked me: ‘Do you think that the Gita has a message for me in my field of work as the Military Governor of this State?’
I replied straight: ‘Yes, it has; you must know it is a dialogue between two ksatriyas in a battlefield; the fourth chapter begins with the statement that this philosophy of yoga, expounded in the previous two chapters, was known to several generations of rulers and administrators, rajarsis, the text is: ‘rajarsayo viduh’; but had become diluted and lost in course of centuries and was being taught by Krsna to Arjuna now.
Rajarsi means a person who combines raja (power) and rsi (spirituality) in oneself; it means that all who exercise power over others must be spiritual, not just religious in the ordinary sense of the term, by manifesting, more or less, the Divine within, by which they will use that power for the good of the people, to serve the people.
A Collector, a clerk, a police constable, a school teacher, and every other type of social functionary, all are handling some power or other, even a little spiritual growth will make them use that power to serve the people better and better.
This is the meaning of the combination of raja and rsi in one. Everyone must strive to combine in oneself the values of raja, power, and rsi, spirituality, expressing itself as service. Chinese philosophy calls it sagely within and kingly without. What a beautiful expression! All power, of ordinary or extraordinary levels, must have this touch of the spiritual which is the birthright of all, says Vedanta.
Sankaracharya, in his commentary on these verses, says that this yoga philosophy and spirituality was lost by falling into the hands of durbalan and ajitendriyan, ‘weaklings in body and will and bereft of discipline of the sensory energies’, and adds that it was taught for ‘bringing strength to the holders of power’, ksatriyanam baladhanaya, ‘endowed with which they would be able to protect and serve the people.’ "
- Swami Ranganathananda in “Practical Vedanta and the Science of Values’, pp.47-49.
“Practical Vedanta and the Science of Values” by Swami Ranganathananda, Published by Advaita Ashrama (Publication Department), 5, Dehi Entally Road, Kolkata-700014, 158 pages, Rs.30/-
During my extensive lecture tour of Andhra Pradesh in 1949, from Bobbili in the north to Vijayawada at the center, and then on to Hyderabad on my way to Delhi to take charge of that Ramakrishna Mission Center, I had occasion to meet General J.N.Chowdhury, Military Governor of the State, on the last day of my five-day lecture program in Hyderabad-Secunderabad in October.
He received me cordially, we were meeting for the first time, and during the first half hour, he did all the talking and I listened. Later, when I saw a copy of the Gita on his table, I asked him: ‘General Chowdhury, do you read the Gita?’
‘Oh yes,’ he said, in a casual way, ‘when I feel the need for a little peace and consolation during my heavy and responsible work!’
Immediately I said: ‘That is not the purpose of the Gita; for peace and consolation there are plenty of other books.’
In utter surprise, General Chowdhury asked me: ‘Do you think that the Gita has a message for me in my field of work as the Military Governor of this State?’
I replied straight: ‘Yes, it has; you must know it is a dialogue between two ksatriyas in a battlefield; the fourth chapter begins with the statement that this philosophy of yoga, expounded in the previous two chapters, was known to several generations of rulers and administrators, rajarsis, the text is: ‘rajarsayo viduh’; but had become diluted and lost in course of centuries and was being taught by Krsna to Arjuna now.
Rajarsi means a person who combines raja (power) and rsi (spirituality) in oneself; it means that all who exercise power over others must be spiritual, not just religious in the ordinary sense of the term, by manifesting, more or less, the Divine within, by which they will use that power for the good of the people, to serve the people.
A Collector, a clerk, a police constable, a school teacher, and every other type of social functionary, all are handling some power or other, even a little spiritual growth will make them use that power to serve the people better and better.
This is the meaning of the combination of raja and rsi in one. Everyone must strive to combine in oneself the values of raja, power, and rsi, spirituality, expressing itself as service. Chinese philosophy calls it sagely within and kingly without. What a beautiful expression! All power, of ordinary or extraordinary levels, must have this touch of the spiritual which is the birthright of all, says Vedanta.
Sankaracharya, in his commentary on these verses, says that this yoga philosophy and spirituality was lost by falling into the hands of durbalan and ajitendriyan, ‘weaklings in body and will and bereft of discipline of the sensory energies’, and adds that it was taught for ‘bringing strength to the holders of power’, ksatriyanam baladhanaya, ‘endowed with which they would be able to protect and serve the people.’ "
- Swami Ranganathananda in “Practical Vedanta and the Science of Values’, pp.47-49.
“Practical Vedanta and the Science of Values” by Swami Ranganathananda, Published by Advaita Ashrama (Publication Department), 5, Dehi Entally Road, Kolkata-700014, 158 pages, Rs.30/-
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