The Perennial Philosophy

May 1979, Summer Course 1979, Brindavan

Published English.

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Indian mysticism and the perennial philosophy of spirituality are based on the , which enshrines the quintessence of all the .

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In those ancient times when modern empirical science had not yet blazed a new trail, Vedic had gained an insight into nature. They had developed the tremendous faculties of the mind and even acquired control over natural phenomena. With the aid of their higher spiritual powers, they were able to harness the material forces of nature. They exemplified the triumph of mind over matter. India has inherited this spiritual tradition of the great and holy men of antiquity.

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Knowledge of the enabled our ancient to do good and to ward off evil. , the chapter on rituals, consists of or spiritual incantations. The also constitute an important part of the and deal with the correct procedures for performing and . Being ceremonial rites for acquiring mundane pleasures, such ceremonies, however, cannot offer or the pure bliss of the . They can only enhance sensory enjoyment and provide epicurean pleasures which are intrinsically transient. The search for the pure abiding bliss of the led the ancient to the solitude of forests. There they performed for enlightenment and liberation. These sages have communicated the spiritual wisdom revealed to them through the . These mystical revelations are known as the because they take one closer to the Divine.

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Many regard the as the end-portion of the and therefore designate them collectively as the , the essence and acme of Indian mysticism. There is an intimate relationship between (wisdom) and (education). Education can become an aid to wisdom. Education imparts information that is formally known as knowledge.

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Wisdom is the spiritualization and sublimation of this knowledge. Real education should not end with the acquisition of knowledge alone, but should transform it into wisdom. True education should lead to liberation from the world of sorrow. But, modern education has, instead, a paradoxical effect on the individual. It has led to the accretion of sorrow and not its elimination. As modern education has advanced, sorrow also has increased. With the explosion of education, the totality of misery in the world has increased enormously. Modern education is thus not conducive to redemption from or worldly sorrow. The cause for this multiplication of human sorrow may be traced to man’s lack of faith in the essential unity underlying the phenomenal multiplicity. Selfishness, the source of human sorrow, is a concomitant of or egoism. is extended egoism or selfishness extended to kith and kin and to personal belongings. The combination of and results in or attachment to the evanescent objects of the world.

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or spiritual wisdom is an immediate and intimate experience of the absolute, eternal and divine Reality. Truth is one. It becomes false and self-contradictory if it involves dichotomies and relativities. The universe is not composed of two ontologically distinct substances.

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“,” “.”

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means the undecaying, undying and imperishable substance. is the Absolute Reality. or spiritual wisdom is . or infinitude is also . The primordial is immanent in all . A vision of the primordial is vouchsafed to one who has acquired spiritual insight or to one who is endowed with the eye of spiritual wisdom. The trinity of , , and (truth, wisdom, and infinitude) should be visualised as an integral and inseparable Reality. The essence of spiritual wisdom lies in apprehending and experiencing the oneness of the trinity of , , and . This mystical experience can be acquired by cultivating or equanimity. is synonymous with the control of sensory organs.

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Control over sensory organs can be attained by constant, steady and systematic practice. It is the privilege of man alone to overcome his natural instincts and change his habits. The tiger in a circus can be taught many kinds of feats. However, it is by nature a carnivorous animal and can never be changed into a mild, herbivorous animal. The tiger wants meat when it is hungry. Can a tiger ever eat instead of meat? It is an instinct of the tiger to eat flesh. You cannot think of a vegetarian tiger. Instinct cannot be changed. You may feed a cat with milk and curds, but at the very sight of a rat, it will pounce on it and gobble it up. A cat’s instinct is to eat rats.

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Nevertheless, today we find man’s inhumanity to man everywhere. He has lost his capacity for pure and selfless love. If an ant sees a lump of , it will not eat it up selfishly. It brings all other fellow ants and eats the lump of in their company. It selflessly shares its food with others. An ant is instinctively unselfish. But man is selfish in all his activities. He seems to be habitually narrow-minded and selfish.

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Man does not live by bread alone. He lives by the . (devotion) and (surrender), and not (greed) and (deceit), should form the basis for man’s life and lead to the blossoming of spiritual wisdom in his heart.

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Saint was a great devotee of and he composed thousands of verses in His adoration. He wanted to know which of them really appealed to . However, he had no way of knowing and so he gathered the leaves of his manuscript and dropped them into the river . All but a few leaves, containing a hundred verses, sank in the water. Only a hundred appealed to as they were composed with sincerity of feeling and one-pointed attention. They were the greatest compositions of . They were spontaneous creations of a heart inspired by sincere devotion and absolute self-surrender. The verses which sank into the water were those composed by him with pride and for pomp. Sincerity is the essential criterion of devotional poetry. or devotion to God is not enough, it must be coupled with purity of heart.

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advised to follow the path of selfless love, implicit devotion and total self-surrender. The unity of divinity must be recognised, comprehended and experienced. The essential unity underlying the phenomenal diversity has to be perceived.

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is the imperishable reality. or spiritual wisdom is the essential nature of . The indestructible form is the refection of . It is the perfect primordial sound . The entire universe is vibrant with the sound of . It is erroneous to imagine that sound does not exist just because we cannot listen to it. Sound is a concomitant of all vibrations. Our hearing may not be sensitive enough to register the subtle sounds produced by subtle vibrations. All movements are accompanied by vibrations and vibrations are accompanied by sound. Even the winking of an eye causes subtle vibrations which produce subtle sounds.

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is the primordial sound of . It is the primal effulgence and the source of all knowledge. It is the ultimate, absolute and eternal Reality. imparted the esoteric knowledge of to with great love and affection.

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During , every sentence should be preceded by the utterance of . But some ignorant people utter at the end of each sentence as a matter of practice. is like a powerful engine which leads all the compartments - incantations and invocations. India is the country which has led other countries along the path of spirituality. She is the land of the , of the , the , and the . The have prescribed various ceremonial rites and rituals for the welfare of humanity. India is a , the land of or communion with the Godhead. India is a , the land of supreme self-sacrifice. India is a , the country destined to lead other countries along the path of spirituality. However, it is our sacred duty to see that spiritual decadence and degeneration are not allowed to change this great country into a , a land of diseases.

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is sacrifice. Indeed, life cannot exist without . The inhalation of oxygen and the exhalation of carbon dioxide and blood circulation in various organs of the body symbolise sacrifice. Thus, sacrifice is indispensable for the physical well-being of the human body. Similarly, sacrifice is of paramount importance for the spiritual well-being of man. Students should have the spirit of sacrifice for their physical, mental and spiritual welfare. The value of yaga has been emphasised by the in the most vivid manner and in the most picturesque language.