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Vedanta is for freedom lovers || Acharya Prashant, with 'Virat Hindustan Sangam' (2021)
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4 years ago
Vedanta
Suffering
Non-duality
Dharma
Upanishads
Advaita
Shankaracharya
Ramanuja
Description

Acharya Prashant addresses the question of why the Vedantic thought of non-dualism is not widely accepted and how to promote it. He begins by revisiting the fundamentals, asking why Vedanta or Dharma is needed at all. The answer, he explains, is that human beings suffer. Unlike animals, who have no concept of or need for Dharma, humans suffer, and therefore, they require Dharma. Vedanta is useful because it practically and actually liberates us from this suffering. It is not a matter of pushing or converting someone to a particular belief, but of seeing what works. He likens Vedanta to a medicine for sickness, stating that it is the most fundamental medicine for the human condition, which he defines as misery. We are misery, and Vedanta is the medicine. Therefore, for our own welfare, we must go to Vedanta; it is not that Vedanta needs to preach or convert. He elaborates that while derivatives of this fundamental medicine can exist, its essential nature cannot be changed. The focus should not be on justifying or investigating Vedanta's effectiveness, but on finding people who understand how it works. Instead of putting Vedanta under scrutiny, we should examine ourselves to see if we truly understand it. He acknowledges that while non-dualism (Advaita) is the most logical and complete interpretation of Vedanta, other interpretations like Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita also exist, with proponents like Ramanuja and Madhvacharya holding high status. One can approach Vedanta through a dualistic path and, upon becoming intimate with the Upanishads, realize that their central message is one of non-duality. When asked about developing a Vedantic thought process, Acharya Prashant reframes it as a 'Vedantic attitude' of constant meditativeness. He explains that in Vedanta, concepts like 'meditation' and 'enlightenment' are not goals to be achieved but are taken for granted. The basic attitude is one of meditativeness—an attention towards Truth born from suffering and curiosity. Similarly, love for the Truth is also a given prerequisite. The Vedantic attitude is characterized by a continuous, free-floating inquiry, a constant state of 'I want to know,' without getting fixated even on the statement 'I do not know.' This inquiry is sustained by an unreasonable faith, not belief, that knowing is possible. It is this life-giving urge to know that elevates consciousness.