“You may build a temple in which to worship God, and that may be good, but a better one, a higher one, already exists: the human body.”

“What we call God is really only the Self, from which we have separated ourselves and which we worship outside us; but it is our true Self all the time, the one and only God.”

Vedanta is a universal religion and philosophy based on discoveries made by ancient sages in India who searched for Truth through self-discipline and meditation. Their realizations and experiences were later recorded in the Upanishads (or Vedanta) which form the concluding portions of four ancient scriptures called the Vedas. In Sanskrit veda means knowledge; anta means end or conclusion. Vedanta literally means culmination of knowledge. Records such as these are still being recorded.

Timeless Search for Truth

Perhaps very few people would consider Vedanta to be a common word. Yet, what is called Vedanta is found everywhere, because it is the basis of the spiritual quest. Those ancient sages were spiritual scientists seeking Truth. They asked themselves the same questions that have absorbed men and women throughout the ages. Who am I? What is this world? Why are we here? What is our purpose? What happens when we die? Is there a higher principle? A higher being? Through their deep meditation, they found answers which form the teachings, the highest teachings, known as the Vedanta or the Upanishads.

Vedanta is the philosophical basis of Hinduism, but cannot be confined to any one religion or culture. Vedanta is all-inclusive and embraces universal spiritual principles. Nurtured by Vedanta's insights, one recognizes it as the essence of religion.

Teachings of Vedanta

Four tenets of Vedanta are:

• The divinity of the soul.
• The unity of existence.
• The oneness of Godhead.
• The harmony of religions.

Vedanta teaches that there is one Ultimate, Supreme Reality, which is Absolute Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss. It is One without a second. All beings and all things are pervaded by this divine Reality – this Pure Consciousness -- and all religions are different paths leading to the same Reality. Our goal in life is to realize our own divinity and then see it everywhere. Vedanta says that we are spirit and have a body, not the other way around. Vedanta calls the Absolute Supreme Reality by the name Brahman, but regards It as inexpressible. Through Its own power, Brahman creates, preserves, and destroys, and It manifests from time to time in human incarnations such as Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and many others who have come in the past or who will come in the future.

Vedanta teaches the harmony of religions, as the same basic truths underlie all religions of the world. Vedanta recognizes the necessity and the beauty of having many different religious traditions and spiritual paths available to us to suit different temperaments.

Modern Sages

The Rig Veda states: “Truth is One. Sages call it by various names.” Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) wanted to test the truth of this statement. Through his own severe series of spiritual disciplines, covering a twelve-year period, he proved to himself the truth of that statement. Practicing all disciplines contained in Hinduism and Vedanta, he found that they all led him to the same God-realization. He then practiced the paths of Islam and Christianity, and found that they also led him to the same God-realization. He then declared: “As many faiths, so many paths.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, taught Vedanta in the West and organized the first Vedanta societies. He said: “Religion is realization. The one central idea of all the Upanishads is realization. Religion is neither talk, nor theory, nor intellectual consent. It is realization in the heart of our hearts; it is touching God.”

Living with Vedanta

As aids to realizing our own divinity, Vedanta teaches four basic yogas. Yoga means union with God. Karma yoga (the path of unselfish action, dedicating one's actions to God); bhakti yoga (cultivating devotion and love for God); raja yoga (self-control and meditation); and jnana yoga (discrimination between the Real and the unreal). Vedanta teachers emphasize the need for balancing these four yogas in daily life. To that end, students establish a room or space in their home for daily prayer and meditation. In addition, other disciplines are practiced throughout daily activities.

In his commentary on Raja Yoga, Vivekananda declared: “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy – by one or more or all of these -- and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.”