Introduction to the Bhagavadgita- Part 1: Post-2.: Swami Krishnananda

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Sunday 09, June 2024 :06:50.
Article
Scriptures
Introduction to the Bhagavadgita- Part 1
POST-2
Swami Krishnananda
(Spoken on March 3rd, 1974)

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As I mentioned, the Vedas and the Upanishads particularly are regarded, in this country especially, as specimens of the highest type of spiritual revelation. They are called Prabhu Samhita in ancient Sanskrit technical parlance, by which what is meant is the Vedas and the Upanishads go directly into the heart of Truth without mincing matters, without telling us stories, without giving us comparisons, analogies, anecdotes and diversions of any kind. They give us a command as to the nature of Truth, and this command aspect of their approach is what designates them as Prabhu Samhita. Prabhu is a lord, a master. He does not tell us stories. A master is very strict, and he immediately tells us what he requires of us. “Do this. Go here.” That is all. It is a direct instruction and a mandate upon us. The Vedas and the Upanishads give us a mandate, a command and an order, like a medical prescription which is direct and precise, scientific.

But we live in a world of varieties. We see many things which we do not understand, but which attract our attention and demand an explanation of us. We have to confront them. When we are ready to follow the mandate of the Vedas and the Upanishads, we are also faced with certain side issues which arise on account of certain peculiarities in our own individual nature. We have a psychological setup. We are psychological beings. Man is especially a unit of an immense psychological complex, and thus needs to be approached from the point of view of this complex of which he is made.

The Vedas and the Upanishads are great masters indeed, no doubt, but we seem to be in need of a person, a type of guidance which will not only instruct us, direct us or order us to do certain things, but also appreciate the position in which we are. There are difficulties which are purely personal, which each one knows for one's own self. A master has his own problems, and a servant has his own problems. Apart from the fact that we are a master or a servant, we are also human beings, individuals with a private life of our own. When we live a purely scientific life of precision, a life which is strictly in obedience to law, regulation and rule as the Vedas and the Upanishads would expect of us, we have, at the same time, very silent whisperings from within our own selves speaking in a tone that is mild and yet is incapable of being neglected. We have what is called an emotional aspect in our personality, apart from the purely psychological constitution which has created a setup of its own which goes by such names as society, the world of nature, family, personality, and the like.

This very important aspect of human nature was taken notice of by our ancient masters, and they, to our great advantage, condescended to present this masterly wisdom of the Vedas and the Upanishads in a manner that is humanly appreciable and intelligible. We have three strata of knowledge, which we call the prasthana-traya. Traya means a triple or threefold text, and prasthana is a stage. We have a threefold stage of philosophical and spiritual learning. One aspect of this threefold approach to knowledge is constituted of the Vedas and the Upanishads. That is one of the stages, or the prasthanas—the rungs, we may call it—of this integral knowledge. Another rung—another aspect or facet of this knowledge, another approach to it—is constituted of what is traditionally known as the Vedanta Sutra or the Brahma Sutra, whose approach is rationalistic, intellectual, logical, polemic, argumentative, the purpose of which is to establish by polemical argumentative methods the intuitive declarations of Truth as recorded in the Vedas and the Upanishads. These are two aspects of this triple approach: the Vedas and the Upanishads on one side, and the polemical Vedantic literature represented by the Brahma Sutras on the other side.

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Continued

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