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The Inner Revelation-Fire

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Why do we appreciate the teachings of the Vedas? We appreciate the teachings of the Vedas because they inspire us to rise and go beyond the body-consciousness. The Rig Veda inspires us to make the world great and perfect. The Sama Veda inspires us to become one with the divine Melody and cosmic Rhythm. The Yajur Veda tells us, “May our lives be successful through self-sacrifice. May our life-breath thrive through self-sacrifice.” The Atharva Veda inspires us to go forward along the path of continuous progress. It tells us that Brihaspati, Guru of the cosmic gods, is leading and guiding us.

The Vedic seers saw fear in the outer world. They felt freedom in the inner world. They wanted to bring to the fore the freedom of the inner world through aspiration. In the Atharva Veda, the seers have offered us a significant prayer: “May we be fearless of those we know not, and of those we know.”

        Fear of darkness is fear of the unknown.
        Fear of Light is fear of the known.
        Fear of the unknown is stupidity.
        Fear of the known is absurdity.

What we need is the soul-will. Soul-will is God-Freedom.

        Uru nastanve tan
        Uru ksayaya naskridhi
        Uru no yandhi jivase

The Rig Veda’s fiery utterance means: “Freedom for our body. Freedom for our home. Freedom for our life.”

The Vedic way of life cannot be separated from ritual. In Vedic times, rituals were an integral part of life. In performing rituals seekers in the Vedic era made remarkable progress. In the Rig Veda, however, we see more emphasis on mental and inner philosophy than on ritual. This combination of ritual and philosophical wisdom is the wealth of the Vedic culture. Devotion and dedication loom large in ritual. Aspiration and meditation loom large in philosophical wisdom. In those days ritual disciplined and regulated life. Inner philosophy illumined and liberated life. In the heart of philosophy the Light was discovered. In the body of ritual the Light was manifested.

The Vedas specifically speak of three worlds: /Prithivi,/ the earth; Antariksha, the sky; Dyaus, the celestial region. On earth, matter is all. In the sky, divine activity is all. In Heaven, sentience is all.

Poetry and philosophy run abreast in the Vedas. Philosophy illumined the minds of the Vedic seers. Poetry immortalised their hearts. The philosopher is a poet in the mind. The poet is a philosopher in the heart. The philosopher likes outer religion and inner science. The poet likes outer art and inner literature. The philosopher says to the poet, “I give to you my precious wealth: wisdom, which is the constant and conscious instrument of intuition.” The poet says to the philosopher, “I give to you my precious wealth: my devoted oneness with the life of Light.”

Many seers have seen the Truth, but when they reveal the Truth, quite often their revelations are not identical. What is really deplorable is that on different occasions, under different circumstances, their own revelations of the same Truth are found to be anything but identical. Here we must know that the differences exist only in the realisation and revelation of the Truth. There can be no difference in the Truth itself. Why do the differences occur? The differences occur because human individuality and personality do not see the Truth the way it has to be seen. When the human personality and individuality are dissolved, the Truth remains one in realisation and one in revelation. Needless to say, the Vedas are the direct revelation of the seers’ illumination, and not gifts from the unknown skies above.

There are people who think that the Vedas deal only with spirituality, and not with science. They are mistaken. Advanced seekers and spiritual Masters are of the opinion that in the Yajur Veda there are many scientific truths which modern science has not yet discovered or acknowledged. The scientific knowledge of the Atharva Veda cannot be looked down upon either. The Vedic seers were aware of the process of cloud formation. They were fully aware of the different seasons. They knew the science of arithmetic, and worked with figures in the millions, billions and trillions. In the Yajur Veda there is something even more striking. There we see evidence of the existence of airplanes. The Vedic seers used to make actual non-stop flights for hundreds of miles. They also knew the secrets of geology, medicine and other sciences. All this, four thousand years ago!

The Vedas have been translated into many languages and admired and appreciated by many foreigners. The great German philosopher Schopenhauer considered the Upanishads to be the consolation and illumination of his life. We know that the Upanishads are the most powerful and most illumining children of the Vedas. But there is much truth in the saying that a translation cannot do full justice to the original. In the case of the Vedas this is certainly true. Many people have translated the Vedas, but no matter how sincerely or devotedly they worked, a considerable amount of the Vedic beauty was lost.

There are four Vedas: the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda. The Rig Veda deals mainly with the forms of prayer. The Yajur Veda deals with sacrificial formulas. The Sama Veda deals with music. The Atharva Veda deals with medicine, science and magic formulas. In the Rig Veda the message of human evolution begins. The Rig Veda tells us the meaning of existence, and of man’s contribution to the world. The Yajur Veda teaches us how to perform the sacrifices correctly, and how to control the universe. This Veda gives more importance to the mechanical side of sacrifices than to their spiritual aspect. The Sama Veda teaches us how divine music can elevate our aspiring consciousness into the highest realm of Bliss and make us conscious channels of God the Supreme Musician for the transformation of human darkness into divine Light, human imperfection into divine Perfection, human impossibilities into divine Inevitabilities and human dreams into divine Realities. The Atharva Veda teaches us how to control the spirits and lesser deities, and how to protect ourselves from evil spirits and destructive beings.

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Published in The Vedas: Immortality's First Call

 

Publishing Marathon

51 of Sri Chinmoy’s books are published in 15 days (1-15 November) in Jamaica, Queens, New York

 

1.  Aspiration-Flames

2.  Astral Journey, The

3.  At the Doors of Time and Delight Opportunity Knocks

4.  Canada Aspires, Canada Receives, Canada Achieves Part I

5.  Canada Aspires, Canada Receives, Canada Achieves Part II

6.  Consciousness: God-Journey to Man, Man-Journey to God

7.  Cry Within, Yours Is the Goal

8.  Dance of the Cosmic Gods, The

9.  Eternity’s Soul-Bird Part I

10. Eternity’s Soul-Bird Part II

11. Galaxy of Saints, A

12. God the Supreme Humourist

13. God the Supreme Musician

14. God-Life: Is It a Far Cry?

15. God-Lover’s Earth-Heaven-Life, A

16. Height of Silence and the Might of Sound, The

17. Hunger of Darkness and the Feast of Light Part I, The

18. Hunger of Darkness and the Feast of Light Part II, The

19. I am Telling You a Great Secret: You Are a Fantastic Dream of God: Children’s Questions on

God

20. Illumination of Life-Clouds Part I, The

21. Illumination of Life-Clouds Part II, The

22. Is God Really Partial?

23. Life-Tree Leaves

24. Master’s Self-Appointed Emissary, The

25. Meditation: God Speaks and I Listen Part I

26. Meditation: God Speaks and I Listen Part II

27. Meditation: God’s Blessing-Assurance

28. Meditation: God’s Duty and Man’s Beauty

29. Meditation: Humanity’s Race and Divinity’s Grace Part I

30. Meditation: Humanity's Race and Divinity's Grace Part II

31. Meditation: Man’s Choice and God’s Voice Part I

32. Meditation: Man’s Choice and God’s Voice Part II

33. My Rose Petals Part 4

34. My Self-Giving Is My God-Becoming

35. Prayer-World, Mantra-World and Japa-World

36. Problems! Problems! Are They Really Problems? Part I

37. Problems! Problems! Are They Really Problems? Part II

38. Purity: Divinity’s Little Sister

39. Purity-River Wins

40. Realisation-Soul and Manifestation-Goal

41. Service-Boat and Love-Boatman Part I

42. Service-Boat and Love-Boatman Part II

43. Sleep: Death’s Little Sister

44. Surrender’s Unlimited Power

45. Three Strangling Sisters: Fear, Jealousy and Insecurity

46. Two Devouring Brothers: Doubt and Ego

47. Vision of God’s Dawn, The

48. Golden Boat Part 17, The

49. Golden Boat Part 18, The

50. Golden Boat Part 19, The

51. Golden Boat Part 20, The

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Published online by Sri Chinmoy Library

 

Cosmic gods and goddesses

Sri Chinmoy answers a question
during a bus trip from Cardiff to London

 

Question: We learn about the Greek gods in school and I was wondering if they exist in some realm the way the Indian gods and goddesses do? And also I was wondering if new gods and goddesses are created or if there is only just one set of them.

Sri Chinmoy: Let us deal with the subject of Indian mythology and Greek mythology. My outer knowledge of Greek mythology is next to nothing. But Indian mythology I have studied and studied and studied. In my oneness-heart with God’s infinite Wisdom-Light, I wish to say that the Greek gods and goddesses, unfortunately or fortunately, are no match for the Indian gods and goddesses.

Indian gods and goddesses came into being from the Supreme’s supreme Height. The Supreme Himself wanted to create these cosmic gods and goddesses, in the same way that a tree needs branches, leaves, flowers and fruits.

Apart from our main cosmic gods and goddesses, for example, Maheswari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati, there are many, many minor cosmic gods and goddesses whose names we may not know and perhaps do not need to know. A tree has countless leaves. If the owner of the tree wants to give a name to each leaf, he can, because he is at once omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. But for us to remember so many names will be impossible. We will become totally confused.

So, for our sake, we know that there are four cosmic goddesses whom I have just mentioned and, in addition to our trinity — Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva — we have Indra, Vayu, Agni and so forth. All of these Indian gods and goddesses have come right from the Supreme’s Transcendental Vision. They are descended from the Supreme Himself.

In the case of the Greek gods and goddesses, it is not like that. The consciousness of Greece and also the consciousness of the countries around Greece aspired and this aspiration ascended from the physical plane to the vital plane. The mental plane it did not reach so powerfully. This aspiration wanted to get something directly from Above. This aspiration was able to come up from the physical to the vital level, but from there it was unable to come up. But there was tremendous hunger to get power from Above. They cared mostly for power. Inside power, if there was light, wonderful, but they obeyed power more. Wisdom they did not care for. They wanted to separate wisdom from power. In their minds, the power aspect predominated. But it is not possible to separate them. Wisdom and power go together. While they were invoking power from Above, they were getting some wisdom as well.

So the Greek gods and goddesses are mostly formed from the aspiring vital, but we have to know that this vital is not the lower vital, or the lower elements, far from it. These are the dynamic, not aggressive, aspects of human aspiration. It went up and it went to the vital level — the vital that is dynamic, active and progressive.

At this point, the Supreme said, “My child, since you have taken so much labour to come up to this place, let Me come down and give you what you want.” So the Supreme brought down His Grace. Here, the aspiration which reached up to the height of the vital world, received the Blessings from Above, from the Supreme, and then this sublime aspiration took the form of gods and goddesses, or the form that was made eventually by the human mind into beings, which came to be called gods and goddesses.

But I wish to tell you that the Indian gods and goddesses are infinitely more tangible. You can talk to them infinitely more affectionately and lovingly. Although goddesses like Kali and Durga have tremendous power, you can deal with them more intimately than with the Greek gods and goddesses.

To be very frank with you, the stature or height of the Greek gods and goddesses and the Indian gods and goddesses is not the same. It is like comparing a hillock and Mt. Everest. I am saying this from my own realisation. Others may realise the truth in a different way. There will be people who will refute what I am saying, they may not accept it at all, but each one has to be satisfied with his own realisation.

To come to your second question. We cannot say that new gods and goddesses are being created. I see clearly that the new ones are only the old ones being manifested in new forms, new ways and with new light. The Supreme is not bringing into the world new gods and goddesses because these gods and goddesses do not believe in evolution. They do not participate in God’s Cosmic Game the way we participate in it. Their realisation, their capacity, everything, is fixed.

The cosmic gods and goddesses are like millionaires in terms of inner wealth, but they will remain millionaires. They are not going to become billionaires. Again, if they misuse their wealth, their power disappears. It is the same with human beings. If somebody has lots of wealth, we have to see whether he is misusing it or using it properly. If he uses it properly, he will get joy and gratitude from mankind.

But in the case of human beings, if they aspire only to become one with God’s Will, to please God in God’s own Way, then they will become the choicest instruments of God, the Supreme, and their earth-transformation-power will far exceed the powers of the cosmic gods and goddesses.

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Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 34

 

Occultism

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the American Centre for Arts, Paris, France

 

Occultism is a vast subject. If I am allowed to speak on this subject, I can go on talking for hours and hours. Since time is limited, I wish to give a short talk on occultism.

Occultism is an art. It is an inner art.

Occultism is a science. It is an outer science.

Occultism as an art awakens and inspires our inner life. Occultism as a science energises and stimulates our outer life. A great occultist is a dynamic athlete. He fights against doubt. He fights against impurity. He fights against imperfection.

If you want to be an occultist, a divine athlete, then your life-boat has to ply between the shores of self-observation and self-correction in the river of emotion. That is to say, the human emotion has to curbed, perfected. But the divine emotion has to be practised, enlarged. This divine emotion makes us feel that we are in God, with God, and for God. Human emotion is otherwise. It binds us, and with the help of this emotion, we try to bind others. Here we play the game of possession — to possess and be possessed. But the divine emotion is something else. Here we enlarge our consciousness. We transform our earth-bound life into the infinite expanse of light.

An occultist has a universal mind. This mind is his watchtower, and he has an eye, which we call the “third eye”. Apart from the two eyes, we have a third eye which is in between the eyebrows, a little above. This eye is the eye of vision. This eye an occultist uses as a dynamic, successful and effective weapon.

An occultist has two names, an inner name and an outer name. His inner name is unwavering, unswerving Concentration. His outer name is Dynamic Revelation.

In our spiritual life we notice two brothers: occultism and spirituality. Occultism teaches us how to be brave and quick in the battlefield of life. Spirituality teaches us how to be pure and sure in all spheres and activities of life. Occultism wants to conquer time and space. Spirituality wants to conquer darkness and ignorance. When occultism wants to conquer time and space, it wants to do it in the twinkling of an eye. When spirituality wants to conquer darkness and ignorance, it does it at God’s chosen Hour.

Occultism has no time for idle dreams. An occultist has no time for idle daydreams, but he has all the time to see the face of will-power, adamantine will-power within us. He has all the time to see victory’s crown here on earth.

Now, there are various types of occultists, but we can put them into three major categories: an ordinary occultist, an occultist who is a little bit higher, and an occultist who is of the highest type. An ordinary occultist will do many things contrary to the divine law, the divine dispensation. For name and fame he will do quite a few things which are damaging and destructive. Here I wish to tell you of an instance.

There were three occultists. One occultist lived near a restaurant and he didn’t have enough money to buy anything. Every night he used to threaten the proprietor of the restaurant occultly. He used his occult power, threatened him and commanded him to send him, three times a day, the most delicious meals. It went on for months and years. The proprietor used to send meals three times a day to this occultist because he was being ruthlessly threatened at night.

Now, the second occultist used to live near a courthouse. Every day he used to see hundreds of people coming out of the court. He used to tell them what was happening in the farthest corners of the globe. They were all wonder-struck to know what was happening in distant countries, and the following morning in the newspaper, everything proved to be true, just as the occultist had said.

Now, the third occultist used to live near a church. Every day when the sincere seekers used to go to the church, he used to pray to the Lord Supreme to increase their aspiration, to expedite their salvation. Then after they had prayed, and as they came out of the church, he used to have the same prayer to the Almighty:

“Oh Father, I pray to You to give them illumination. With my occult power I wish to expedite their spiritual journey. This is my prayer to You. You have given me occult power. I wish to use it for their salvation. I don’t want them to wallow in the pleasures of ignorance. These are my brothers and sisters. They are crying for light and illumination and I wish, with Your kind permission, to use my power to expedite their life’s inner journey.”

Now, when these three occultists passed away, left their bodies, passed behind the curtain of eternity, God said to the first occultist, “I don’t need you. I don’t want you. The world of greed needs you. You go away. You are meant for the world of greed and temptation.”

To the second one God said, “I don’t want you. I don’t need you. The world of curiosity needs you. You are a miracle-monger. You have to go to the world of miracles. I don’t need you.”

To the third one who helped the sincere seekers in their spiritual pursuit, God said, “I need you. I need you badly. You have served Me. You have served the divinity in humanity. I need you. You are Mine.”

Occultism deals with power. Unfortunately in the West, occultism has been a victim of misunderstanding. Here in the West you have seen that black magic has taken the role of occultism. Proper occultism will never destroy anyone, will not create any calamity for anybody. But black magic, which you see here in the lowest form of occultism, has created millions and millions of problems. I knew personally six or seven persons who were victims of black magic. They came to me for help; I did help them and they are now free. In merciless ways they were attacked by some black magicians. Now, many people will be under the impression that all this was done by real occult power. Real occult power would not create this kind of problem. It is the black magic in the lowest vital plane that creates all these problems.

So, when an occultist lives in the soul and works for the soul, he is a divine occultist. But when an occultist lives in the vital and for the fulfilment of the vital, lower vital, emotional vital, impure vital, then he is not living for the soul. He is living to satisfy his own ego, which is undivine, unrefined, obscure, impure and evil.

A genuine seeker of truth and light will not cry for occult power. Everybody has to realise God, but if one says that occult power is necessary in order to realise God, then I wish to say that one is committing a deplorable mistake. There are many occultists who have not realised God. Yes, in the far distant future, everybody has to realise God. No son of God, no human being will remain unrealised.

What is of paramount importance is God-realisation. When one realises God, if God wants to give him occult power, he will not be able to misuse God’s occult power. A sincere seeker will cry only for God’s Light, God-realisation and God-fulfilment. He will never cry for occult power.

You all know of the great spiritual Master, Sri Ramakrishna. His dearest disciple was Swami Vivekananda. Once the great Master said to his dearest disciple, “Naren, I have all kinds of occult powers. I want to give you some of my occult powers.”

Immediately the disciple said to his Master, “Please tell me, will these occult powers help me in my God-realisation?”

The Master said, “Oh no. Occult power has nothing to do with God-realisation, but if you want to do some work here on earth, at that time occult power can be of some use.”

Then Vivekananda said, “No, I want to realise God first — first things first.”

So in the spiritual life, a real spiritual seeker will not cry for this kind of occult power. He will only cry for God-realisation, and if God wants that particular person to work for Him, naturally God will give him spiritual power, inner power, to manifest Him on earth.

If one really wants God, if one really wants the transcendental Truth, then one must enter into the realm of Yoga. Yoga means “union with God”. Once we become consciously inseparable with our divine consciousness, unlimited consciousness, then we can see, feel and grow into our highest Reality, and the manifestation of this Reality is our birthright.

There are two things we always observe: the power of love and the love of power. When we enter into the lowest form of occultism, we see the love of power; and we do not have to go very far to see the love of power in politics; and in our daily activities also we are exercising our love of power. But the power of love is something different. In the power of love, it is love that exercises power, sweetly, divinely and unconditionally. That is the power of love.

Now a spiritual man, a sincere seeker after the truth, will only care for the power of love and not the love of power. When he is one with God, with the Infinite Consciousness, he will see the power of love; and those who want to show the world their capacity, those who want to exercise their power of ego, will naturally cry for love of power.

We know that when the power of love divinely replaces the love of power, man will have a new name: God.

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Published in My Rose Petals, part

 

The Vedic Bird of Illumination

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Wellesley College, Massachusetts

Dear sisters and brothers, I shall be giving seven talks on the Vedas at the Seven Sister colleges. Interestingly, the Rig Veda itself deals with seven special sisters. It tells us that there is a divine chariot with only one wheel, and that this chariot is drawn by one horse with seven names. Seven sisters sing spiritual songs while standing before the chariot. While singing, the seven sisters reveal the concealed message of life’s Liberation and humanity’s Perfection.

Seven is an occult number. In the spiritual world the number seven has a most special significance. In the hoary past there were seven great Indian sages who saw the Truth, lived the Truth and became the Truth.

There are seven important rivers in India. A river signifies movement; water signifies consciousness. The movement of consciousness is a continuous progress towards the farthest Beyond.

There are seven notes in the musical scale. Each note has a special value of its own. Music is the mother tongue of humanity. God is the Supreme Musician. It is through music that we can enter into the universal harmony. It is through music that God’s Beauty is being manifested in His all-loving creation.

There are seven colours in the rainbow. These colours indicate the stages of our spiritual journey towards the ultimate Goal. Here we all know that a rainbow is the sign of good luck and future progress. In the spiritual world, each colour of the rainbow is the harbinger of a new dawn.

There are seven higher worlds and seven lower worlds. An aspiring human being enters into one of the seven higher worlds and makes progress in the inner life. Like a bird his aspiring consciousness flies from one world to another, until finally he finds himself in the seventh world, satchidananda, the world of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. There he becomes consciously and inseparably one with the Supreme Pilot. But when a human being deliberately and knowingly does wrong things, heinous things, he is compelled to enter into one of the seven lower worlds, which are the worlds of darkness, bondage and ignorance.

Mother India is an aspiring tree. This aspiring tree has the Vedas as its only root. The root is Truth, the tree is Truth, the experience of the tree is Truth, the realisation of the tree is Truth, the revelation of the tree is Truth, the manifestation of the tree is Truth.

The Vedic seers saw the Truth with their souls, in their heavenly visions and in their earthly actions.

        Satyam era jayate nanritam
        Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood.

This Truth teaches us how to be true brothers of mankind, conscious and devoted lovers of God and perfect masters of nature.

The Vedic teachings are universal. In the Yajur Veda we clearly observe that the teachings of the Vedas are for all — the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas, the Sudras, even the Chandalas, who are the degraded and the abandoned. Men and women alike can study the Vedas. God is for all. The Vedas are for all. In the Vedic church no one is superior, no one is inferior; all are equal, all are children of God. These children of God can live in the heart of Truth and become the veritable pride of God.

Each Vedic seer is a poet and a prophet. In the case of an ordinary poet, his poems are quite often based upon imagination. Imagination gives birth to his poetry. In the case of the Vedic poets, it was intuition that gave birth to their poems. This intuition is the direct knowledge of Truth. As regards the prophet, very often we see that an ordinary prophet’s prophecy is based on a kind of unknown mystery. But in the case of the Vedic prophets, it was not so. Their prophecies were based on their full and conscious awareness of direct and immediate Truth. They just brought to the fore this dynamic Truth to operate in the cosmic manifestation.

The present day world believes that the mind can offer the highest possible experience of Reality. The Vedic seers gave due importance to the mind. But they never considered the mind to be the source of the highest possible experience of Reality.

The Vedas have the eternal wisdom. It is for us. The Vedas are more than willing to illumine us if we dare to hearken to their message.

        Shrinvantu vishwe amritasya putra
        Hearken, ye sons of immortality.
        This is their generous invitation.

When we live in the mind and do not want to go outside the boundaries of the mind, we remain bound in the trammels of the body. We remain in bondage. It is only the Light from within and the Guidance from above that can liberate us from the teeming ignorance which has enveloped us. When we live in the mind we live in the fabric of form. When we live in the soul we enter into the formless and eventually go beyond both form and formlessness. We become, at that time, the individual soul universalised and the Universal Soul individualised.

The outer world is synonymous with the mind. The inner world is synonymous with the heart. The world of the eternal Beyond is synonymous with the soul. The outer world has past, present and future. The inner world has the glowing and fulfilling future. The world of the Beyond has only the eternal Now. When we live in the outer world, the ignorant “I” destroys us. When we live in the inner world, the illumined “I” satisfies us. When we live in the world of the Beyond, the Infinite “I” fondly embodies us, reveals us and fulfils us. When we live in the mind, we cannot go beyond the judgement of destiny. Our human will is at the feet of destiny. When we live in the soul we have free will. This free will is the Will of the Supreme. It is the will of the soul, which constantly identifies itself with the Will of the infinite Beyond.

Whether others believe it or not, the lovers of the Vedas know perfectly well that the Vedas are a significant contribution to the world of literature. These sublime literary scriptures are not just of national interest, for they have international inspiration and universal aspiration. Just because they are international and universal they fascinate and illumine sincere seekers in different countries at all times.

The Vedic mantras, or incantations, help us develop will-power in boundless measure. Even if we do not take the trouble of learning and repeating the mantras, we cultivate some will-power just by studying the Vedas devotedly. The paramount question is how we are going to use this will-power: to dominate the world, or to serve God in the universe. If we live in the body for the pleasures of the body, we shall want to dominate the world. But if we live in the soul for the transformation and illumination of the body, then we shall serve God, love man and fulfil both God and man.

To say that the Vedas are badly infected with asceticism and otherworldliness is to betray one’s own ignorance. The Vedas are divinely practical and their message is of constant practical value. Needless to say, a great many Vedic seers were householders, and most of their pupils at the end of their instruction went home and became family men. The teachers in the seers taught their students the secret of eternal life and not the secret of unending death, which we learn from some of the destruction-loving teachers of science.

The Vedas do not embody depression, repression, self-mortification, sin-awareness or hell-consciousness. The Vedas embody the divine duty of the earthly life and the ever-increasing beauty of the heavenly life. The Vedic seers accepted the heart of life to found the ultimate Reality upon earth. The Vedic seers accepted the body of death to carry it into the land of Immortality. Inspiration of the clear mind they liked. Aspiration of the pure heart they loved. Realisation of the sure soul they became.

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Published in The Vedas: Immortality's First Call