(These are excerpts from my understanding of Swami Tejomayananda Ji’s talks in Kenya in May 2016.)
Why should one try and live according to the “wisdom” of Vedanta? We think we are educated, intelligent and “know it all”. Conditioned by the prescribed school and university education, the mind tells us that we are wise, but from the Vedanta point of view we are otherwise. It tells us that we are not the body, it belongs to us. We can see and feel the body, so, the seer is not the seen. The knower is not the known, it’s simple. When we have never thought like this, ignorant of such knowledge, we spend our whole life pampering the body. In the beginning of such a realisation, early students of Vedanta stop looking after the body and some also try to put the body through harsh “spiritual” disciplines like starving the body etc. Both the pampering or the tampering of the body is wrong. By saying “you are not the body” Vedanta is only negating your sense of identification with the body. It is not negating the existence of the body.
In fact Vedanta texts never tire of telling you how rare and precious is the human body, and what a wonderful gift it is from the Lord. Hinduism believes that a human birth is the result of many lives of (punyas) good deeds. This is the language of spirituality, if you don’t believe in it, at least believe Darwin who says that the human body is the result of thousands of years of evolution. We should never take the body lightly. It should be looked after well so that it remains healthy and useful to you to achieve your purpose in life. The body is the most precious gadget you have. It is much more precious than your latest cell phone, your jewellery, your properties, or any other assets. You have to learn the correct use of this highly complex but very useful, precious instrument.
- Prarthna Saran is President, Chinmaya Mission, Delhi
