— Swami Vireshananda — Vedanta speaks of a universe filled with the consciousness of Brahman, the Supreme Reality, whose conscious presence is felt in all the individual components, however small they may be. This idea is graphically described in the Mundaka Upanishad: तदेतत्सत्यं यथा सुदीप्तात्पावकाद्विस्फुलिङ्गाः सहस्रशः प्रभवन्ते सरूपाः । तथाक्षराद्विविधाः सोम्य भावाः प्रजायन्ते तत्र चैवापि […]
Category Archives: PB Editorials
— Swami Vireshananda — Sri Ramakrishna once remarked about Srimad Bhagavata: ‘Bhagavata is fried in the butter of knowledge and steeped in the honey of love [for the Divine].’1 The scholars echo this sentiment. They say that this great devotional work is a beautiful blending of jnana and bhakti; while karma yoga and yoga of […]
— Swami Vireshananda — What is the goal of philosophy and religion? We find different views in Eastern and Western civilisations regarding this. The goals of Western philosophy are said to be truth, rational necessity, and being good, while that of the East, especially Indian philosophy, is the realisation or Darshana of the eternal Truth. […]
A popular definition of meaningful life goes like this: ‘In positive psychology, a meaningful life is a construct having to do with the purpose, significance, fulfilment, and satisfaction of life. While specific theories vary, there are two common aspects: a global schema to understand one’s life and the belief that life itself is meaningful.’
Spirituality in Indian tradition is interwoven with daily life. Many spiritual aspirants call themselves religious. They read scriptures and holy books daily; practise Japa and meditation and develop faith in God. However, they feel the dilemma when applying spiritual principles to counter and solve the challenges that they face in their day-to-day life. The reason is simple: they are clueless in determining whether the noble principles enshrined in the Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita, and other scriptures would be able to give a lasting solution to the teething complications of mundane life.
Bhagavadgita is termed traditionally as Brahmavidyā, knowledge of Brahman, and also Yogaśāstra, the scripture of Yoga. The former indicates the goal of the Gita, that is, the Knowledge of Atman or Brahman, while the latter in general points out the method to be adopted to reach the goal as taught in the Gita, that is, yoga. In traditional language, Brahmavidyā is sādhya, which is to be attained, and the yoga is sādhana, the mode to be adopted.
Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual endeavour was centred on ‘Mother’—the Divine Mother, whom he considered to be ‘all in all’ in his life. It is the Mother, who operated (Yantri) the machine (Yantra) named Sri Ramakrishna. His personality had two dimensions—one is ‘himself’ and another is ‘his Mother’. The Mother is the essence of his being, his mind and heart being completely immersed in Her. He had no other desire other than acting according to Mother’s will; he had no goal in his life other than what was shown to him by the Mother.
History is the story of human life told in the collective sense. It is a saga of the triumph of the human spirit throughout the ages against all odds. Swami Vivekananda not only studied the history of global events thoroughly but he also could draw resultant deductions out of it, which are intuitive as well as universal. They form an inherent part of his innumerable innovative thoughts, which are part and parcel of his unparalleled contribution to the world culture.
The modern scientific age began when Nicholas Copernicus proposed that the earth revolves around the sun. His ideas were later improvised by scientists like Kepler, Galileo, and notably by Isaac Newton, who discovered laws that governed the motion of the physical bodies and the law of gravitation. Further, James Clerk Maxwell showed that magnetism and electricity too could be deduced by a set of equations. The philosophical implication of these scientific developments is that the whole universe is determined by physical laws. This is called the principle of determinism. This law was prevalent in scientific circles up to the end of the 19th Century.
