Vedanta will be the Future

Swami Vivekananda very emphatically envisioned Vedanta to be the religion of the future. While dogma-based religions which acted as emotional support for mankind once upon a time, ceased to function again and again from the World Wars to the Cold War to the pitiful state of nature and animals it can be seen now from every aspect how the spiritual teachings of Vedanta make it well equipped to fill the void in the modern world and meet the challenges of science. While some delusional minds today have been clouded by sheer arrogance and perceive the Hindu Philosophy as a backward and primitive one and see the one’s following it as targets for conversion to either Abrahamic faiths or newly erupted spiritual ideologies, it is important to establish that the Vedanta which is one of the six schools of Hinduism is the most rational and logical way forward. When more and more human beings across the globe decide to start putting reason over irrationality, and science and logic over blind belief they will silently but surely be followers of nothing else but the Vedanta philosophy. 

Vedanta is the founding philosophy of Hinduism based on the Vedic shastra broadly referred to as Vedas. Vedic Shastras include the Upanishads, Vedanga-s, Itihasa-s, Purana-s, and Smriti-s. Often the Sanskrit word shastra is wrongly translated to scriptures however it is important to understand that it is one of the many non-translatable Sanskrit words. Scriptures are books belonging to Abrahamic religions which were revealed, realized, or dictated by God to a chosen one at some point in history. While scriptures are history, Shastras on the other hand are ahistorical and eternal and are perceived through supranormal means by the Rishis. Hence it would be wrong to refer to Hindu Shastras as Scriptures and Abrahamic scriptures as shastras as at some point in time in history mankind was bereft from these scriptures.

The word Vedanta roots from a combination of two words, “Veda”( knowledge) and “Anta”(goal of). While Hinduism also includes the Hindu culture, Vedanta has a universal application irrespective of religion, culture, and country. Vedanta affirms strongly the oneness of existence, the divinity of one’s soul, and peace and harmony amongst religions. It isn’t a proselytizing faith trying to impose the belief of one God or a Spiritual ideology that erupted a few decades ago it is rather the oldest and most comprehensive spiritual philosophy of the world. It’s not something you read and believe or understand but rather it goes a step further to something you experience, a way to explore nature and reality and hence is correctly referred to as the science of spirituality. The teachings of Vedanta cannot be uprooted by science unlike dogma-based religions for Vedanta is based on the scientific aspect of internal and external knowledge it covers the spiritual and material knowledge. A lot of modern scientific discoveries are like echoes to those who’ve studied the Vedic shastras from the atomic theory to Newton’s law to military science in the Dhanur Veda and architecture knowledge in the Sthapatya-Veda the list goes on science and logic has undeniably been an inseparable part.

Vedas not only have an immense impact on science but also on the mental makeup of how we grow to understand our life, goals, and divine nature. Going by the teachings of Vedanta there are four paths to do so; 

• Bhakti Yog the path of devotion and love.
• Jnana Yog the path of knowledge where the seeker castes off all the unrealistic illusions with the help of reason to discover the divine within.
• Karma Yog the path of selfless service and work.
• Raja Yog the most important one, the path of mediation as it allows the seeker to connect with the higher state of consciousness. While talking about this Swami Vivekananda had emphatically explained the importance of mantra-based meditation.

While the scientific aspects linked to the Vedas have gained attention worldwide, there is still a section of the comatose population in India that continues to mock and dismiss the Hindu philosophy due to either the colonial hangover or lack of proper knowledge and insight into its true essence. The Vedas, belonging to the core of Vedanta philosophy, has been misinterpreted, mocked, and denounced time and again in attempts to uproot the Hindu Civilisation. The mark of a civilization is set when the young people take it upon themselves to wear their identity on their sleeves and hold pride in their heart for belonging to a country as great as ours. And through whichever means when young people will spread the importance of logic over blind belief across the world will set a rolling stone to make Swami Vivekananda’s vision of Vedanta as the religion of the future a reality, where blood will not be shed because of differences in ideology and children won’t be living in the trauma of war as an enlightened world will live by the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.