The unbiased scholars of all times held the view that Vedanta proper is a pure philosophy of universal significance. Nonetheless, people in general refer to the Vedanta texts as Hindu religious scriptures. Presented here are a few considered views of scholars and mystic-philosophers on Vedanta along with the meaning of the terms Hindu and religion as we interpret. Then we will leave it to the readers to decide where to place Vedanta and its significance.

The names “India” and “Hindu” are not of Indian origin. The land now known as India was part of the subcontinent stretching from the Himalayas to the sea on the other three sides. Its ancient name was Bhārata-Varsha, the land of Bharata, an illustrious king of the Purānas, known for his staunch adherence to righteousness (dharma). The reliable historians of India, such as R.C. Majumdar, H.C. Raychaudhuri and Kalikinkar Datta, in their Advanced History of India, recorded, ‘The name “India” was applied to the country by the Greeks. It corresponds to the “Hindu” of the old Persian epigraphs. …it is derived from the Sindhu (the Indus), the great river which constitutes the most imposing feature of that part of the sub-continent which seems to have been the cradle of its earliest known civilization (alluding to the Indus Valley civilization). Closely connected with the “Hindu” are the later designations “Hind” and “Hindusthan” as found in the pages of mediaeval writers.’ Obviously, in the ancient days, the term Hindu referred to the country!

We cannot find the origin of the words India or Hindu in any of the Indian languages. A millennium ago, the visitors to the subcontinent called the country and maybe the people as well by the name of Hindu.

The Oxford History of India (Fourth Edition) authored by Vincent A. Smith and edited by Percival Spear remarks, “The most essentially fundamental Indian unity rests upon the fact that the diverse peoples of India have developed a peculiar culture or civilization utterly different from any other type in the world. That civilization may be summed up in the term Hinduism.”

The Oxford historian wanted to distinguish “Hinduism” from the organized, dogmatic religions with which he was familiar. He understood that what the world called Hinduism was too broader to be called a religion, so he called it a civilization. That explains why Hinduism is free from the kinds of rigidities associated with the dogmatic religions. In fact, within the vast country, the civilization has ways of life and practices that vary partly from place to place. Yet, inherent in the unique cultural and spiritual foundation of the civilization is an underlying unity.

Arthur Osborne, a London-born, Oxford-educated disciple of Ramana Maharshi, an Indian mystic of the twentieth century, says in his book, Be Still, It Is The Wind That Sings, “Hinduism is not a proselytizing religion. Indeed, it is by no means easy for any one not born a Hindu to become one, since it is not only a religion but a social structure into which a new comer could not easily fit. The religion of a Hindu consists of two elements: a pattern of life and worship, and a path to Beatitude (Self-realization).” Arthur Osborne was convinced that Hinduism was not comparable with any of the conventional religions and that it never had an organization or a working philosophy to attract people to ‘immigrate’ from other faiths.

Osborne includes “a path to Beatitude” (a path to Self-realization) as an essential part of the religion of a Hindu. He means the religion of “every” Hindu includes a path to Self-realization. This is another distinction between Hinduism and the dogmatic religions, whether every Hindu treads the path to Self-realization or not.

We can understand better Osborne’s assertion that the religion of every Hindu has a path to Self-realization by revisiting a note we have included in an earlier article:

“Vedanta teaches Brahman is the non-perceivable ‘substance’ that presents Itself as the cosmos and life. An underlying self-operating system supports the ‘upkeep’ of the cosmos. Since the cosmos is the manifest form of the non-perceivable Brahman, it is right to say that the self-operating system we have just mentioned belongs to Brahman. That system which holds the entire cosmos in order and supports life is dharma. The root of the Sanskrit word dharma is dhṛ, which means to support. Learners of Vedanta should visualize dharma as the capability that exists in the domain of Brahman. The dharma system supports life and all the phenomena that we experience. If we understand and align our life completely with the system of dharma, we are said to be leading a righteous life.”

This doctrine connects the dots in Osborne’s statement. Perfect adherence to that system of dharma of Brahman is possible only on attaining Self-realization. The Hindu or Indian way of life has had Self-realization as an implied goal since the ancient times; the revival of that awareness took place whenever it was at a low ebb, as history records. Although the ultimate liberation may not be easy for everybody to achieve, a lifestyle with the full awareness of the goal has its tremendous advantage, both to the individual and to the society. Readers may recollect the transformation we discussed elsewhere.

The way of life now called Hinduism was earlier referred to as Sanātana Dharma, which was a lifestyle that aided in the “path to Beatitude”. This is the implied fact in Osborne’s statement. Sanātana means eternal. The foregoing discussion thus establishes that dharma does not mean religion in any narrow sense; it is the self-driven system of Brahman that supports the universe and life. In the transactional world, dharma also means the way of life followed to conform to the dharma of Brahman. With passage of time, the term Sanātana Dharma was more or less replaced by one of foreign origin ̶ Hinduism.

If life conforming to Sanātana Dharma or the eternal Dharma is termed a religion, it should be the purest form of its kind! The core elements of Sanātana Dharma are only:

• The individual (the individuated or embodied self)
• Brahman (Consciousness, which modern science tends to take as the lone Reality)
• Dharma (Living in conformance with the absolute dharma of Brahman, one progresses towards Beatitude, that is, Self-realization or brahma-jñāna)

• Beatitude, the state of Yoga or oneness with Brahman

To the Self-realized, Kṛshna says in the Gita, even the scriptures are of no value. Sanātana Dharma has no encumbrances, such as church, books, founder, creed and priest; significant among these factors is that no appointed priests enforce any obligatory duties, nor does anyone promote the Dharma asking others to switch faith. The reason is dharma, as we have seen, is not a faith. We refer to a lifestyle and culture that involves the conscious effort to live according to the laws of Nature—the same functional laws that keep the cosmos in operation; when life is in sync with the cosmic system, humans achieve perfection and experience Beatitude, as discovered by the ṛshis. Dharma or Sanatana Dharma has only that one goal‒the ultimate goal of human beings as taught by the Science of the Absolute (Brahma-vidya). If one suspects any misrepresentation of dharma, fall back to pure Vedanta advised by a Self-realized master or rely completely on the Upanishads and/or the Bhagavad Gita. He/she is then secure on the right philosophical footing.

[A related question is how to be aware of the principles of the self-driven dharma system of Brahman in order to apply them in life. In the ancient times, the ṛshis, the knowers of Brahman, directly played a significant role in shaping the way of life of the nation. The ruling kings committed themselves to observe dharma based on their advice. Further, the teachings of the ṛshis (the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, etc.) have the essential instructions recorded mostly in the form of dialogues between a guru and a disciple.]

True Vedantins do not identify themselves with any religions, for they cannot discriminate against human beings based on their faiths or any other factors. In their eyes, every living being is of equal value! This is the touchstone for anyone who claims to be a Vedantin. All the same, many true Vedantins of the past referred to the Upanishadic doctrine as Hindu philosophy, since to them the word Hindu meant nothing but Indian.

Vedanta is, thus, the branch of learning that points us to the “path to Beatitude” Osborne had in mind; it comprises not only the path to Self-realization but also the entire philosophy of the Self or the philosophy of life.

Fritjof Capra wrote in The Tao of Physics, “Indian mysticism‒and Hinduism in particular‒clothes its statements in the form of myths, using metaphors and symbols, poetic images, similes, and allegories. Mythical language is much less restricted by logic and common sense. It is full of magic and paradoxical situations, rich in suggestive images and never precise, and can thus convey the way in which mystics experience reality much better than factual language…. The rich Indian imagination has created a vast number of gods and goddesses whose incarnations and exploits are the subjects of fantastic tales, collected in epics of huge dimensions…. The Hindu with deep insight knows that all these gods are creations of the mind, mythical images representing the many faces of reality. On the other hand, he or she also knows that they were not merely created to make the stories more attractive, but are essential vehicles to convey the doctrines of a philosophy rooted in mystical experience.” This understanding is now largely missing among the critics of the epics and Purānas who barely scratch the surface and make grotesque remarks about the countless gods of the Hindus.

An Indian mystic of the twentieth century, Sri Aurobindo in the following words distinguishes the spiritual from the religious:

The spiritual life (adhyatma-jivana), the religious life (dharma-jivana) and the ordinary human life, of which morality is a part, are three quite different things and one must know which one desires and not confuse the three together.

The ordinary life is that of the average human consciousness separated from its own true self and from the Divine and led by the common habits of the mind, life and body which are the laws of the Ignorance.

The religious life is a movement of the same ignorant human consciousness, turning or trying to turn away from the earth towards the Divine, but as yet without knowledge and led by the dogmatic tenets and rules of some sect or creed which claims to have found the way out of the bonds of the earth-consciousness into some beatific Beyond.

The religious life may be the first approach to the spiritual, but very often it is only a turning about in a round of rites, ceremonies and practices or set ideas and forms without any issue.

The spiritual life, on the contrary, proceeds directly by a change of consciousness, a change from ordinary consciousness, ignorant  and separated from its true self and from God, to a greater consciousness in which one finds one’s true being and comes first into direct and living contact and then into union with the Divine. For the spiritual seeker this change of consciousness is the one thing he seeks and nothing else matters. [Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga-vol 1, page 419]

God or the Divine Sri Aurobindo refers to in the spiritual life is what we have been referring to as the ultimate Reality, which is Brahman (the Absolute). It is so because he outright discourages the ‘entry of religion’ into spirituality. And in the pursuit of spirituality, he does not find any significant value in performing religious rites, rituals, and ceremonies. Being the science of Consciousness or Brahman, pure Vedanta does not advocate any of them. In Sri Aurobindo’s definition of the spiritual life, the only worthy goal is the “union with the Divine (Brahman)” and such union is yoga.

Let us examine what Nataraja Guru, a twentieth-century philosopher-sannyasin, had to say on this topic:

“Vedanta is not meant to be a surrogate of any religion, but on the other hand could advantageously be utilized for the correction of lopsided accentuations or one-sided exaggerations that might creep into any religion owing to strains or stresses of history or necessity.”

Pure Vedanta philosophy, known as Brahma-vidya (The Science of the Absolute) in the wisdom-teaching context, does not profess a theory of creation unlike the established religions do. Indeed, there are vedantic texts that carry descriptive stories of creation. Nataraja Guru explains, “Although, strictly speaking, Vedanta adheres to ajata-veda (theory of non-creation) yet there is, in popular Vedantic works, under a chapter known as utpattiprakarana (chapter on genesis), reference to how, in the beginning, the world originated. … When the story of creation and the survival of the soul, with its progress in the spiritual world are brought into the scope of philosophy it begins to resemble theology or religion.”

We find references to the names of gods, mythical characters, etc. in the vedantic texts, because Vedanta developed as India progressed from earlier Vedism, which had a pantheon of gods representing the powers of nature, such as the wind, the rain, the sun, etc. Again, Nataraja Guru clarifies, “Though coloured somewhat by Vedism, it is not to be thought in terms of any genetic fallacy stemming from its origin and growth on the Indian soil. Advaita Vedanta or more simply Advaita philosophy, when revalued and restated, can give us the norm and reference, both theoretical and practical, of a way of life and certitude that can claim a fully scientific status….”

He further wrote, “(Indian) Scriptures like the Puranas and Itihasas (epics), as meant for the unintelligent (he means, the uninitiated students of Vedanta), give graphic pictures of creation-genesis, presenting sacred or ritual based life-values of obligatory, sin-merit, or holy-profane contexts of endless variety. Pure Vedanta accepts no creation and adheres to the mental origin of the universe in the collective mind. When darkness or ignorance is banished, all birth, life here, gods and men, merge in the unified light of the Absolute. In this sense all evolution is only for material substances, while the world has only a phenomenological reality as eidetic appearances…. Heavenly life and relativistic versions of life hereafter are all discredited in thoroughgoing Vedanta, although vestiges of such persist in lower Vedantic texts always, however, in a mystical-cum-mythical language capable of suggesting some of the highest secrets of Vedanta proper.”

Nataraja Guru is known for his plain non-theistic approach to Vedanta. He then underlines the value of Itihāsas and Purānas (lower Vedantic texts). His considered view is that the “mystical-cum-mythical language” used in them is “capable of suggesting some of the highest secrets of Vedanta proper” that are difficult to express in any factual language. We have seen that Fritjof Capra shares the same view too.

One last quote from Nataraja Guru: “As all beings are to be looked upon as equal in value to the Self (Brahman) in Vedanta, it can safely be said to be based on universal brotherhood….”

[Nataraja Guru was a twentieth-century philosopher-sannyasin and a direct disciple of Narayana Guru, the Indian saint-philosopher who carried out the last thoroughgoing revaluation of Advaita Vedanta. Nataraja Guru was a scholar equally well versed in all the branches of philosophies of the East and the West. The quotes are from his book Unitive Philosophy, D.K. Printworld, New Delhi.]

To sum up, Vedanta is pure spiritual science to the seekers of Truth. The Bhagavad Gita denounces the belief in heaven, accrual of merits (puṇya) to go to heaven, etc. that are typical of the dogmatic religions practised worldwide. Heaven signifies only the irrepressible human desire (kāma) for sensual pleasures whereas the Gita inspires everyone to seek the absolute value, ānanda, beyond the transient worldly pleasures.

In India, the methods to teach the spiritual science are many, the most popular one being mythological stories that attract the masses. Many gods and celestial characters of those stories are symbols to illustrate the less intelligible doctrines of Vedanta. But, where the understanding of the underlying philosophy is poor, we see mere rites and rituals to propitiate the gods occupying the place of genuine spiritual practices. Yet, peculiar is the fact that no dogmatic obligations to perform such rites and rituals have ever existed.

Pure Vedanta philosophy explicates the Truth behind the cosmos and life. Looking from that angle, the student of the philosophy finds it a super-doctrine, beyond all religious considerations.

This discussion has no intent to discourage any religious faith, including that of the Hindus. It aims to place the facts before the readers. And help them judge whether Vedanta is any faith-specific doctrine, or it is one of universal significance. Our goal is to understand Vedanta as the philosophy of life. A true Vedantin always stands, and selflessly strives, for the well-being of the world as one family.

A Brief Recapitulation of What Distinguishes Vedanta

‘The teaching of an Impersonal-Personal God points to the fact that Vedanta is founded on eternal principles, from which it derives its authority and “truth-character.” The message of Vedanta can be verified by all at all times ̶ irrespective of dogma, creed and race. Vedanta has no church, no books, no founder, no creed and no priest.^’ 1

‘Its (Vedanta’s) universality, catholicity and cosmopolitanism distinguish it from every other system of metaphysics and religion of the world.’ ²

‘No tinge of pessimism exists in Vedanta. The Vedic sages are practically silent on hellfire. The clear emphasis is on the triumph of spirit over matter. Man’s life in this world is conceived as a harmonious unit of spiritual and demonic tendencies. We are to struggle in the gymnasium of life to work out the unfoldment of the spirit through our gradual evolution.’ ³

‘From Vedantic spirit, peace, tolerance and non-aggression arise. These values will help to usher in a new climate of friendship for mankind.’ ⁴  [1, 2, 3 & 4: Swami Tathāgatānanda, Journey of the Upanishads to the West, Pages 37-40, Advaita Ashrama, Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Kolkata]

‘The infinite oneness of the Soul is the eternal sanction of all morality, that you and I are not only brothers ̶ every literature voicing man’s struggle towards freedom has preached that for you ̶ but that you and I are really one. This is the dictate of Indian philosophy. This oneness is the rationale of all ethics and all spirituality.’ [Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works-Vol III-Page 189]

The readers should have gained by now a decent but general awareness of what Vedanta philosophy stands for, and be able to profit from the svādhyāya that follows.

We will begin soon the Gita svādhyāya by posting a package of “bare essentials”. It will serve as preparatory notes. The first part of the notes is an encapsulated version of the Mahābhārata story.

[ To visit the Bhagavad Gita Self-Study page, click/tap on this link: Bhagavad Gita Svādhyāya]

You may now subscribe to receive notifications of the new posts.