By Anuj Ghai
Knowledge can pave the way for a coherent understanding of even the most unintelligible object or theory. Depending on the motive behind its usage, knowledge can be both the liberator and the exploiter, it can help society advance or inhibit its progress. Let us not preoccupy ourselves though, with the potential pitfalls of greater knowledge; I stand by the general proposition that knowledge, utilised wisely, can enhance our understanding of the world around us. In so doing it allows for an effective progression in our conception of this often mysterious and impenetrable world. How, though does one understand that which is incomprehensible? Surely, comprehension requires the existence of a comprehensible object. In this essay I contend that knowledge cannot, so long as it traces its source to the inductive method of acquiring information, grant us access to the transcendent.
Two terms require clarification here. Firstly, what is meant by the inductive method of acquiring information? H. H Sivarama Swami in a recent debate with Dr Stephen Law at University College London defined this method in the following words: ‘knowledge that we acquire through our own experimentation or empirical process’. The inductive method then is concerned with the employment of our cognitive faculties in the search for knowledge. The Western approach to epistemology can be characterised by its predominant association with this method. By transcendent I mean that realm or entity which exists on a realm transcendental to material time and space. Its nature implies then, that without some assistance or the employment of a medium, that realm is for present purposes imperceptible to the common man. Such a proposition, however, does little to solve the problem of that sphere’s general inaccessibility. I argue that in order to allow us to progress in understanding that transcendent realm, we must engage in a process that provides for our effective engagement with that realm. This can only be achieved however; by making use of knowledge that has its origin in that transcendence itself. This transcendence or the transcendent being that I speak of is of course God and his spiritual kingdom. The problem, I believe, with Western methods of knowledge is its heavy reliance on the inductive method of acquiring information. Over reliance on this method can create a false impression that leads us to believe in the infallibility of the procedures and tools we employ to acquire information. We begin to place so much faith in the empirical process that we fail to recognise its obvious limitations. The defects inherent in the inductive method of acquiring information will be examined in due course. For now, it suffices to say that we must recognise the limitations and imperfections of our present method of acquiring knowledge and invest our reliance on more authoritative and reliable sources of transcendental knowledge. Such a source must have its origin in God himself and must be free from the defects that plague mundane knowledge. It is submitted that the Vedas having provided an ‘extraordinarily sophisticated process by bypassing human limitations’ is the perfect knowledge-source that can provide authoritative testimony of God and his realm.
The word veda literally means knowledge; In its entirety the Vedas represent the body of knowledge first revealed by God to mankind. It is said that prior to the creation of this phenomenal world, the creator god, Lord Brahma, engaged in the performance of various austerities in order to inquire into the nature and extent of his duty. After being instructed on his role as creator, Lord Krishna imparted Vedic wisdom unto the heart of Brahma and in so doing set in motion a disciplic succession or parampara that continues to this day. The purpose of a disciplic succession is to ensure the survival of millennia-old knowledge and to increase its accessibility to society in large. So as to ensure the preservation of such knowledge, certain requirements and conditions must be met before participation in the disciplic succession is confirmed formally through the process of initiation or diksha. For example, in his Upadeasmrta, Srila Rupa Goswami enumerates the qualities necessary for both the guru and the disciple. A spiritual master lacking any of these necessary qualities is fit to be abandoned and a wayward disciple who demonstrates little faith in the instructions of his spiritual master is not entitled to the blessings of the guru. By ensuring both that the guru is fit to instruct and that the disciple is fit to be instructed, the purity of the Vedic message remains intact; the transmission of knowledge through this process is not relegated to a ‘Chinese-whisper’ exercise, where interpolation and interpretation are the unwelcome symptoms. A rationalist would question the faith a Vedantist places in the instructions of the spiritual master; shouldn’t such knowledge first be subject to critical scrutiny and challenged for its potential limitations? Such a question, I believe, is a reasonable one to ask. Moreover, the Vedas are full of precisely such cautions; an aspiring devotee is warned to place his faith only in that teacher who is competently able to lead one from ignorance to truth. The Vedas should not be misunderstood as merely being a self-proclaimed authority. The literatures that comprise the Vedas outline several methods by which a practitioner can reach the Ultimate; it is up to the devotee in question to employ one or more of these methods and assess them for their claims. Indeed spiritual life, the Vedic way, can be compared to a scientific experiment. One begins with the drafting of a hypothesis and proceeds by conducting an experiment so as to test the initial hypothesis and examine its accuracy. In the same way, the instructions of the Vedas can be likened to the hypothesis stage of the experiment while the execution of spiritual life is analogous to the performance of spiritual life. If the injunctions of the Vedas prove futile in producing any tangible spiritual result then they are open to rejection. Of course, I have adopted a simplistic approach to the issue in question and this topic will be subject to greater discussion later.
The Vedas does not confine itself to spiritual knowledge alone; there is a vast array of knowledge which is dedicated to the mundane as well. The compilers of Vedanta realised the existence of gradation even in spiritual awareness and realisation. According to the mode of nature one is situated in, one’s spiritual and religious inclinations are bound to differ; this helps to explain the apparently contradictory nature of Vedic writing. People’s preferences are bound to be different and so it goes without saying that the path to God should reflect this difference in mankind’s nature. The existence of different religions then, is simply recognition of how material conditioning is likely to influence religious and spiritual inclination. The Vedas are concerned to ensure that material or mundane knowledge is valued appropriately. Thus, it is not interested in denying the usefulness of mundane knowledge but rather is concerned with affording it its correct place. As Devamrita Swami so eloquently puts it:
“If the body is indeed secondary- incidental to the real self, the soul- wouldn’t it follow that knowledge of manipulating matter is inferior and auxiliary? Knowing the glories of spiritual science, who would want to overdose themselves with information on material transformations and permutations?”
If attachment to the material is the cause of our bondage in this material world, then spiritual knowledge serves as a means by which one can return to the spiritual world. The cycle of transmigration for the soul ceases to operate and the atman
(soul) is reunited with the paramatman (supersoul). I should add, that this reunifying process results in fellowship with the Supreme and not, as many would have you believe, identification with him. Even after liberation, the individual atman or jiva retains consciousness of his individuality and as such it is this consciousness which allows for fellowship with the Supreme Lord.
The Vedas, then, has as its main purpose the goal of imparting knowledge that can, if effectively applied, lead man to freedom. Freedom in the sense that through attaining self-realisation, one transcends the material and effectively liberates himself from the shackles of birth and death. A Vedantist has no particular inclination to acquire knowledge for its own sake but rather is concerned with that knowledge that shall make him free. In fact, the pursuit of liberation is the inalienable right of every individual and to consider such a path to be open only to the priestly class is unbefitting. In fact, as Satsvarupa dasa Goswami comments:
“If a person doesn’t cross the ocean and attain eternal liberation, he is considered unintelligent, for Vedic philosophy denies the importance of any knowledge that does not lead to the cessation of suffering.”
And further on this point, the Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad advises,
“yo va etad ak? aram aviditva gargy aviditvasmal lokat praiti sa k? pa? a?”
“He is a miserly man who does not solve the problems of life as a human and who quits the world like a cat or a dog, not understanding the science of self-realization”
The preeminent position accorded to spiritual knowledge in the Vedas does not, as stated above, do away with the need to improve our understanding of the material world in which we live. A better understanding of materialism can give rise to an effective and productive society that is able to co-exist in harmony with its neighbours. Devamrita Swami comments in this connection:
“Judging by the thousands of verses dedicated to explaining how a proper society functions, the Vedic texts obviously place great emphasis on civilization as a precise tool for both material and spiritual upliftment.”
Within the vast body of Vedic knowledge, considerable portions are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge which although appearing technically mundane, can prove conducive to spiritual life. So for example, from the Atharva Veda appears the Ayurveda, a treatise on medical science which provides directions by which people can lead healthy lives and includes various remedies for many common diseases.
a Dasa explains:
“Though Krsna Consciousness is chiefly about the soul in relationship to God we devotees recognise the body’s role in our day-to-day spiritual activities and understand that proper bodily care is fundamental to the spiritual quest. After all, if one doesn’t properly care for the body- the soul’s vehicle- performing even basic spiritual practices becomes increasingly difficult.”
The importance of spiritual knowledge is reflected in the great value accorded to scriptural revelations, both in terms of its inherent sanctity and its ability to educate on spiritual matters. Respect and reverence are therefore accorded to all the bona-fide scriptures of the world’s great religions which have guided mankind throughout its existence. One’s respect and reverence must not however, prevent one from legitimately questioning the practical significance of a religious text. One must be able to apply spiritual knowledge in one’s daily life and religious texts that fail to provide any practical benefit, in so far as they allow for an incorporation of those values and principles the text seeks to promulgate into the daily life of a practitioner, are fit to be discarded. This explains the Vedas’ emphasis on converting acquired knowledge, Jnana, to realised knowledge, vijnana.
This point is articulated well by Srila Prabhupada in his purport to Chapter 6, text
8 of the Bhagavad Gita:
“Book knowledge without realization of the Supreme Truth is useless. This is stated as follows: atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adah “No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Sri Krsna through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.” (Padma Purana) This Bhagavad-Gita is the science of Krsna consciousness. No one can become Krsna conscious simply by mundane scholarship. One must be fortunate enough to associate with a person who is in pure consciousness. A Krsna conscious person has realized knowledge, by the grace of Krsna, because he is satisfied with pure devotional service. By realized knowledge, one becomes perfect. By transcendental knowledge one can remain steady in his convictions, but by mere academic knowledge one can be easily deluded and confused by apparent contradictions. It is the realized soul who is actually self-controlled because he is surrendered to Krsna. He is transcendental because he has nothing to do with mundane scholarship. For him mundane scholarship and mental speculation, which may be as good as gold to others, are of no greater value than pebbles or stones.”
The point being made here is essentially that knowledge acquired simply through study alone, is unlikely to be as potent in sustaining one’s spiritual convictions as knowledge that is acquired through experience and association with realized souls. A superficial study of the Vedas, without the guidance and assistance of a spiritual teacher, will prove fruitless since one will encounter a vast body of often impenetrable knowledge that can take years and years of such study to decipher. The Mahabharata explains:
“tarko apratisthah shrutayo vibhinna nasav rishir yasya matam na bhinnam dharmasya tattvam nihitam guhayam mahajano yena gatah sa panthah”
“Dry arguments are inconclusive. One is not considered a great muni unless he puts forward a new opinion different from others. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, one should follow the path advocated by the mahajanas.”
On this point, H. H. Romapada Swami states:
“An axiomatic principle in understanding the Absolute Truth is that it is not possible to be ascertained through arguments, counter-arguments and debates! Then how are we to know? By following the mahajanas.”
By ensuring that only those scriptural injunctions that can be readily applied in one’s spiritual life are given serious consideration, outdated and antiquated scriptural texts that are simply not relevant can be left aside. Such texts are often seen to promulgate values that many would consider repugnant to contemporary standards of morality and ethics. Of course, we would be going too far if we labelled these texts as valueless in themselves; the point being made is that these injunctions were applicable only to previous periods in history when such societal practices and customs were conspicuously different to the norms today. As such, it would be inappropriate to try and apply these values today since they would yield no effective spiritual gain. Instead, by following in the footsteps of great devotees and spiritual thinkers, one learns how to incorporate only the most practical and spiritually potent principles. Such a method is not only efficient, but is a sure way to ensure gradual spiritual maturation.
Although I have already touched on the point of faith and knowledge, I believe more needs to be said on the matter. After all, the two are intricately intertwined; faith must be nurtured through knowledge and knowledge must be sustained and developed through faith. It follows then that faith is the means by which one begins to appreciate the value of scriptural knowledge; the limitless ocean of spiritual truths available through scripture are gradually revealed to the submissive inquirer who reposes his faith in the authority of scripture. Faith, in that respect then, is both a pre-requisite for spiritual practice and an extremely important quality to sustain and nurture as you progress in your spiritual development. Indeed, the Svetashvatara Upanishad provides the standard required to be eligible to receive Vedic wisdom:
“Only unto to those great souls who have unflinching faith in both the Lord and the spiritual teacher are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed”
The role that faith can play in developing spiritual wisdom should not, as a result, be overlooked. However, the extent to which faith is able to exercise positive influence in spiritual life depends in large part on the nature and substance of that faith. Ultimately, faith that lacks philosophical and theological grounding is little more than mere sentimentalism. During tough times, obstacles lead to periods of contemplation. It is during such times that we probe deep into our faith and any doubts or uncertainties that we may unconsciously have are exposed. Such exposure can have one of either two effects. Firstly, it may lead to the complete dissolution of our faith; our convictions were posited on frail ground and were always prone, as a result, to collapse under the weight of intense material disturbance. Secondly, such periods of contemplation can provoke serious and thoughtful responses that tend to arise out of spiritual reflection. We learn to confront our doubts and uncertainties through intellectual response and as a result we take recourse to scriptural philosophy to enhance our understanding of the problems that face us. The benefits of such an approach cannot be overstated; it results not only in the strengthening of our faith but allows us to adopt solutions to problems in an objective and focused manner as opposed to acting in the heat of the moment when our ability to form judgement is seriously impaired. Such solutions, having found their basis in spiritual thought, will prove comforting both to the disturbed mind and our soul.