Consciousness is the primary issue in human life. Indeed, without consciousness, there are no other issues. Consciousness and its corollaries are fundamental to every thought, word and action. Yet how strange it is that no universally accepted, comprehensive theory of consciousness exists in Western science. The reason for this is clear: until recently, science intentionally restricted its domain to empirical investigations of the manifest objective world, while consciousness is intrinsically subjective and immanent.

However, without a practical theory of consciousness, science cannot adequately explain the world in which we live. Consciousness is the most basic experiential fact of existence. Without a theory of consciousness, Quantum Mechanics in particular has nowhere to turn but to mathematical theories of probability and chance to explain observations of subatomic energy transactions. Einstein famously expressed his discomfort with this by saying, “God does not play dice with the Universe.” Quantum Mechanics cannot predict the behavior of a quantum system until a macroscopic conscious entity interferes with it, decohering the indeterminate superposition of the quantum wave function into a definite classical result by the process of measurement and observation.

Clearly, Quantum Mechanics is missing something; just as clearly, what is missing is a workable theory of consciousness. The sometimes bizarre concepts and calculations of quantum theory all depend on the existence and actions of an observer. Any observer must be conscious, and therefore the consciousness of the observer is critical to the outcome of any quantum experiment. However, so far Quantum Mechanics still treats the observer’s consciousness as a ‘black box,’ as if consciousness were proscribed from serious scientific inquiry. Whether this is a consequence of Western science’s origins as a weapon against the intellectual repression of the Church, or because of materialistic empirical bias of theorists and researchers, is not the issue here. The intent of this work is to present and explore an extant theory of consciousness from an ancient tradition of vital, living importance to hundreds of millions of adherents and practitioners all over the world, and to evaluate its potential value to modern science.

Translating Vedānta

With recent developments in Quantum Mechanics and the philosophy of science, the dialogue of Western scientific thought has advanced to the point where its cutting edge exposes many issues equivalent to those discussed in Vedānta. Now that this has occurred, the timeless principles of VedāntaVedānta address the same philosophical object: the inconceivable, immeasurable and immanent nature of Absolute Reality, of which the observable phenomenological cosmos is but a tiny subset. The two disciplines approach the subject from widely divergent points of view and use vastly different language to treat it. Nevertheless, the commonality of subject between Western science and Vedānta makes it possible to reconcile them without diminishing the importance or subtlety of either. Scientific Vedanta is the first attempt to translate the enduring wisdom of Vedānta can be expressed in the technical language of Quantum Mechanics and the philosophy of science, with little or no attenuation of meaning. Quantum physics and into the new scientific language of Quantum Physics.

The insights of Vedānta philosophy and practice provide tremendous theoretical and practical advantages over a strictly Western scientific approach to the mysteries of life and existence. The keys to these advantages are that Vedānta recognizes the transcendental nature of consciousness, and the practical ability of directed consciousness to act, in effect, as co-creator of the universe to realize its full potential. Vedāntic consciousness theory provides a workable interface between the individual and the Universal Quantum Wave Function, which contains all possibilities of all possible universes. Through this interface, one can enter into a direct personal relationship with the Infinite and engage in an eternal, ecstatic dance of mutual reciprocation. Translating the recondite philosophy and practical methods of Vedānta into accessible Western scientific language opens profound possibilities of expanded consciousness to millions of scientific-minded people all over the world.

What is Vedānta?

The term Vedānta is a compound of veda + anta. Veda can refer to the Vedas, the sacred sanātana-dharma tradition of Bhārata (India), or in a more general sense it simply means true knowledge. Anta means the conclusion or end. So Vedānta can be interpreted either literally, as the ultimate conclusion of the voluminous literature of the Vedic tradition; or more figuratively, as the ultimate knowledge, once knowing which, there is nothing further to be known. Vedānta appears herein in both meanings, but chiefly in the latter sense. In other words, Vedānta is the highest knowledge of the Vedic tradition, exactly as Quantum Mechanics and allied fields are the most advanced subjects in Western science.

While Westerners usually think of Vedānta as a religious work, its tone is actually closer to a terse mathematical or scientific analysis. VedāntaVedānta is available in the West primarily through religious interpreters has perhaps skewed our evaluation of its relevance to scientific concerns. examines evidence, asserts hypotheses, quotes established authorities both pro and con its thesis, and closely reasons its way to a well-substantiated conclusion. That

Certainly, Vedānta-sūtra requires substantial exegesis to be intelligible to those uninitiated in its arcane mysteries. It is essentially the class lecture notes of Śrīla Vyāsadeva, a great teacher of Vedic philosophy about 50 centuries ago in Bhārata (India). Various schools of interpretation exist, muddying the clear original meaning of the work. This is quite unnecessary, since the author himself explains the meaning of Vedānta-sūtraŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The following statement of Garuḍa Purāṇa, one of the oldest Purāṇas (Vedic histories), confirms that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the commentary on Vedānta-sūtra: elaborately in his epic work

artho ‘yam brahma-sūtrānām

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the commentary on Vedānta-sūtra.

In researching and preparing Scientific Vedanta, we made extensive reference to the Govinda-bhāṣya of Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, a great author and interpreter of Vedic works, well situated in the direct lineage of both Vedānta-sūtra and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Differing interpretations

Vedānta is chiefly known in the West as a vehicle for the theory of impersonalism: that the Ultimate Reality is somehow devoid of all qualities, energies and activity, and that self-realization consists of merging one’s existence with Brahman. In other words, self-realization equals self-annihilation. However, this interpretation is not supported by Vedānta-sūtra itself, or by its author in his commentary. Śrīla Vyāsadeva confirms the personal nature of the Absolute and His potencies in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam [1.7.4-6] in the following words:

bhakti-yogena manasi samyak praṇihite ‘male
apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ māyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayam

“Thus he fixed his mind, perfectly engaging it by linking it in directed consciousness [bhakti-yoga] without any tinge of materialism, and thus he saw the Absolute Personality of Brahman along with His external illusory energy, which was under full control.”

yayā sammohito jīva ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam
paro ‘pi manute ‘narthaṁ tat-kṛtaṁ cābhipadyate

“Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes unwanted reactions of material miseries.”

anarthopaśamaṁ sakṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje
lokasyājānato vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitāṁ

“The unwanted material miseries of the living entity, which are superfluous to him, can be directly mitigated by the linking process of directed consciousness. But the mass of people do not know this, and therefore the learned Vyāsadeva compiled this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is in relation to Vedānta-sūtra.”

We will also see in our scientific analysis that, in order for the Vedāntic practices of directed consciousness to be effective, one must conceive of a personal interface to the Absolute. Even if the Absolute actually is ultimately impersonal (which is impossible to know because the Absolute is unobservable by definition in both Quantum Mechanics and Vedānta), we must relate to the Absolute as a person simply because we are persons. Since all possible qualities and states of existence and energy are contained within the Universal Quantum Wave Function in unlimited potential, this is not a theoretical problem. It is a well-substantiated observation that the impersonal practice of transcendental consciousness is much more difficult, and its followers seldom achieve the success they desire. This very important issue will be discussed elaborately in the text.

Expressing Vedānta in scientific language

Those who approach Vedānta from a spiritual or religious viewpoint should not be dismayed by this work. Vedānta and Quantum Mechanics describe the same subject—ultimate reality—from two widely divergent points of view. Since the subject in both cases is identical, there is scope to demonstrate many parallels between the two disciplines. While this book is written chiefly for Western readers trained in scientific thought, it is equally valuable to students and teachers of the Vedic tradition, for it shows how the timeless Vedic tradition remains relevant, and easily can be expressed in terms of contemporary scientific concepts or any sufficiently sophisticated frame of reference.

My Vedic guru Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Prabhupāda often spoke of Vedānta as a great science, global in scale and application, and encouraged his students to speak and write about it to the scientific community. He wrote, “Vedānta is the medium of philosophical interpretations, and thus Vedānta cannot be the absolute property of any particular class of philosopher. A sincere seeker of the Absolute Truth is called a Vedantist. Veda means ‘knowledge.’ Any department of knowledge is a part of Vedic knowledge, and Vedānta means the ultimate conclusion of all branches of knowledge. As philosophy is called the science of all sciences, Vedānta is the ultimate philosophy of all philosophical speculations.” He would be delighted to see this work, as would his predecessor Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, who wrote the inspired Govinda-bhāṣya Vedānta commentary on which much of this book is based.

Mysticism generally is troublesome to the Western mind, which makes great efforts to avoid it. However, the findings of Quantum Mechanics, and philosophical theories such as the Anthropic Principle, highlight the central role of consciousness in the human existential situation, opening the door to a constructive dialogue between Eastern and Western modes of thought. This book is not meant to be the last word on the subject, and the future contributions of thoughtful and intelligent readers—from both Vedic and scientific perspectives—will certainly enrich the dialogue begun here.

Terminology and definitions

In view of the many parallels between Vedānta and Quantum Mechanics, we find many pairs of terms with equivalent meanings. We consider these terms synonyms, and use them as appropriate to the context. That is, when explaining Vedāntic texts we generally use the Vedic terms, and when discussing parallel scientific issues we use Western terms. The following table lists the principal synonymous terms used in this work (additional technical terms and definitions are listed in the Glossary):

Vedic Term	Scientific Term	Functional Definition
Satyam param	Absolute, Absolute Truth	The unconditioned, infinite, immanent and unknowable source and context of everything; the ground against which everything exists, is measured, and finds its destiny.
Avatāra	Personification of the Absolute	A terminal self-manifested by the Universal Quantum Wave Function to facilitate communication with humans.
Brahman	Universal Quantum Wave Function	The unobservable, immanent, immeasurably potent origin and reservoir of all possibilities, energies, space-time continua, universes, beings, consciousness etc. (See Absolute)
Ātmā	Conscious individual living entity	A fundamental atomic particle of consciousness found in all living bodies; the individual person or soul.
Dhyāna	Directed consciousness	The science and art of concentrating the attention, mind and consciousness on a single transcendental object.
Paramātmā	Superconscious individual living entity	The all-pervading, all-cognizant form of Brahman, the sum total of all consciousness.
Bhagavān	Personality of Brahman	The personal form of Brahman preferred by the practicing Vedantist to communicate with, and influence the decoherence of, the Universal Quantum Wave Function. (see Avatāra)
Sūtra	Aphorism	A short, telegraphic statement implying a much larger context and significance.

The problem of existence

One day we awaken to find that we are born into a strange and often uncomfortable world. If we desired or asked to take birth here, we certainly don’t remember doing so. A few of us are born into relatively benign circumstances, while most have to cope with difficulty and privation from the start. In any event, as soon as we are able, we begin to develop theories about why life is the way it is. Theories are useful because they often give us insights into how to make our lives better. They also reassure us that we have some small measure of control over our existence, and give us hope that we can make our future better than our past.

While our research and inquiries enrich us with insight and help us explain the world to ourselves, they also force us to confront the stark limits of our ability to control our fate. No one can avoid being born, growing old, or dying. We are thrust into this world without our consent, forced by circumstances to participate in various activities and struggle for survival, watch helplessly as the years pass by, our body withers and sickens, and at last we go the way of our ancestors into death.

Our precious knowledge and security are surrounded on all sides by impenetrable mysteries: Where did this astonishing universe come from? How is it constructed and maintained? Why the amazing variety and complexity of life? Is there life on other planets? What are time, life and consciousness, and why do we have to die? What will happen in the future? We know a little about these things, but the explanations we have are incomplete and unsatisfying, because they seem little help in controlling our fate.

Nevertheless, the insoluble problems of life drive us to perfect our knowledge, even against seemingly insuperable odds, and we have had some small success in doing so. We can point to our success in economic development and technology, our knowledge of the atom and the universe, global travel by jet planes, ever-faster computers and genuinely useful software, instant worldwide communications and so on. These rewards are enough to encourage us to continue to invest substantial human time and energy in scientific research and technological development, including theoretical and philosophical speculations that may not be immediately useful, but whose value we may realize in some future we cannot yet glimpse.

In fact, our collective wisdom places great value on ideas and concepts: “The pen is mightier than the sword.” For we have seen how concepts that seem far out or impossible today often become harbingers of great power and prosperity when their time finally arrives. The gleam in some visionary theorist’s eye may become tomorrow’s better energy source or gigantic global industry. These visions of the future encourage us to stay the course of progress, and advance the cause of understanding toward a future of greater knowledge and felicity.

Emboldened by success, every so often scientists try to tackle the really big questions of life: Where do we come from? What is life? How did it begin? How did the universe come into existence? Why is the universe designed the way it is? What is consciousness and what role does it play in the physical world? Scientific method’s insistence on empirical proof for any theory means that these kinds of questions will always be more philosophical than scientific in the strictest interpretation of the terms. However, that will not stop people from asking them; it just makes us less certain of the answers we have for them.

However, it is much harder to prove a theory than to disprove it. In scientific method, a single observation or experimental result can falsify an existing theory and spark the search for a new and better explanation of the facts. Through many iterations, this scientific method of observation, hypothesis, prediction and experimentation results in constantly improving theories and resulting applications.

There is a certain amount of faith involved in accepting any theory that cannot be conclusively demonstrated by experiment. Barring the invention of time travel, theories of the origin of the universe, of life or of the human species must remain just intriguing possibilities. However, even an unproven theory can have an important role as a catalyst for innovation. A new theory that lets us see familiar phenomena in fresh ways can open previously inaccessible possibilities in engineering or applied science, even if the theory is unconfirmed or unprovable. So even unprovable theories can be profitable by expanding our conception of what is possible.

The reader should approach Scientific Vedanta with this mindset. Experienced practitioners of Vedānta assert that the proof of its theories of consciousness and reality is in the experience of its practice. This may well be, but not every reader will have the time or inclination to personally test and confirm them. Those who do will be better served by taking the traditional path of initiation and discipleship. Then the best value of this work may be to convince the scientific reader that Vedānta is more than philosophy or mythology: the authors and practitioners of the Vedāntic tradition have experienced something subjective and intuitive, though real, that can profoundly expand our knowledge of the world of consciousness, and more accurately map its relation to physical reality and our understanding of the design of the universe.

The Theory of Everything

According to the ‘many worlds’ interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, all possible states and outcomes of the Universal Quantum Wave Function have equal probabilities of existence. Thus by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, there are a very large—possibly infinite—number of worlds, all slightly different, coexisting simultaneously in the same possibility space. Following Schrodinger’s famous paradox, the many possible worlds are reduced to one actual world by quantum decoherence when viewed by a conscious observer.

According to the Strong Anthropic Principle, we observe the universe as it is because it is the only universe that can produce us exactly the way we are. If the structure and parameters of the universe were substantially different, we human beings would not exist to observe it. It follows, by the Self-Selection Assumption, that of all possible universes, we live in the one best suited to our needs. If it seems that the parameters of this universe are fine-tuned to the needs of human beings, it is precisely because the nature of our senses and consciousness decrees that we will bring exactly that kind of universe into manifestation from the ‘quantum soup’ of all possible manifestations of the primordial Universal Quantum Wave Function.

The role of consciousness is thus central and pivotal. We see how observers in every field tend to emphasize data that confirms their expectations, and ignore data that contradict them. Anyone who has sat through a morning in court can understand that no two witnesses see an event in the same way. Each conscious observer gets the universe that he or she creates by causing the decoherence of the indeterminate Quantum Wave Function of all possible worlds by contacting, observing and measuring it with the mind and senses. If the universe we observe seems tailor-made for us, it is because the universe we observe is the one that we bring out of the universal wave function by our very nature and state of consciousness.

Consciousness is absolute, thus each conscious observer observes himself or herself at the center of the universe, and tends to interpret everything in the observed universe in relation to, or in terms of, the meaning it acquires for that observer. This is why consciousness is not an observable in the empirical universe—it has to be outside the universe because it selects the observed universe from the infinitude of possible universes contained in the Universal Quantum Wave Function.

The immanence of Absolute Reality

We see that all comprehensive theories of reality, both religious and scientific, require the existence of an unobservable factor. Vedānta has Brahman, and Western science has the Universal Quantum Wave Function. This common unobservable factor is due to the certainty that limited human consciousness is incapable of universal awareness. Indeed, another common factor of all-embracing theories is the quest for simplicity; as Einstein said, “[Theories] should be made as simple as possible—but no simpler.” The unobservable factor is also an artifact of all ontological and semantic systems, since they all rest on certain assumptions that are unprovable because they are outside the domain of the system.

Even a relatively small amount of information—the contents of the telephone directory, for example—overwhelms the human mind. In this age of the Internet, we suffer from information overload and complain of email burnout. Even if we had immediate access to all the information in the universe, there is no way we could assimilate it. We must accept that the capacity of the human mind and consciousness is finite and limited.

Yet we still desire to know all about life, the world and everything, because we intuitively understand that it will improve our life to do so. This intuition and the resulting thirst for knowledge constantly drives us to learn everything we can about the questions that interest us. If we find that knowing everything is impossible, then we look for a theory that packages an equivalent understanding into a symbolic form that we can digest. Thus cosmological theory becomes the ontological background, the set of unprovable assumptions against which we perceive and evaluate the foreground of our everyday experioences and actions.

Some early and largely inadequate theories of the cosmos invoke an all-powerful God or Goddess to explain away the vast excess of information and complexity embodied by the real world. Later theories call upon unknown, but mechanical natural laws; still later ones blame chance for inexplicable observations. All these are simply different names for an unknown, unobservable and unknowable infinite reality that transcends our limited ability to perceive, process and understand information.

The great value of Vedānta philosophy is that it also posits an immanent, unobservable Absolute Reality—Brahman—but also asserts that it is possible to establish a channel of communication with Brahman. Vedānta refers to ancient histories, the Purāṇas, that recount occasions when Brahman chose to appear as a person, the better to communicate with humans. These personifications of Brahman are communication terminals called avatāras that make it possible to communicate with Brahman directly, even today. A vast assortment of mental disciplines, collectively known as yoga (linking) details the practice of transcendental communication with the immanent Brahman, or the Universal Quantum Wave Function.

Someone may object, “Come now. How is it possible to communicate with the Universal Quantum Wave Function? Even if it were possible, certainly some scientists would have noticed by now.” I reply: “We are constantly immersed in, and penetrated by, the Universal Quantum Wave Function. Can a fish communicate with the ocean? A better question might be to ask, ‘How is it possible that anyone could avoid communication with the Universal Quantum Wave Function?’ ”

When the Universal Quantum Wave Function is posited as an unobservable, that means although it is an objective, empirically accessible phenomenon, it is simply, by definition, outside of our semantic and ontological framework. The only obstacle to our interacting with it in a subjective framework is our own disbelief that such a thing is possible. If our mental constructs and the semantic structures of our theories do not allow us to conceive of such a possibility, then we will not be aware of it even if it is going on all around us all the time. For example, no one was aware of cosmic rays, even though they penetrate us constantly, until 1912 when Victor Hess noticed certain anomalous behavior in the discharge of an electroscope, and took the trouble to hypothesize their existence and search for them.

Thus belief in the existence of a possibility is often prerequisite to realizing it. For example, if I do not believe that I can learn French, no one can teach it to me with any amount of time and effort. In fact, we interact with the Universal Quantum Wave Function at all times; Vedānta simply provides a theoretical framework that allows us to observe this interaction, albeit subjectively. We request the reader to keep an open mind on this point.

It is easy to lose sight of the fact that theories are metaphors. For example, electrons exhibit wave behavior under certain circumstances, and particle behaviors under other circumstances. This does not mean that electrons are either waves or particles, but that their behavior can be described by equations similar to those describing waves and particles. We do not have to believe that electrons are waves or particles to use the wave or particle equations to calculate their behavior. Wave-like behavior and particle-like behavior are both simply metaphors that help us predect the behavior of electrons. Similarly, we do not have to believe that the Universal Quantum Wave Function is a person to use the theories of Vedānta as metaphors to understand, design experiments or predict its behavior as a person. We can use any theory or metaphor to advantage, simply by suspending our disbelief in it long enough to understand and apply it properly.

The tremendous advantage of the Vedāntic theory of communication with Brahman is that through this relationship we can directly influence the local decoherence of the Universal Quantum Wave Function in much more powerful ways. This makes it possible to address certain classes of formerly inaccessible and insoluble problems, such as the purpose of existence, the directed evolution of consciousness, the mechanism of intuition, the condition and destination of consciousness after death, the mechanism of the Anthropic Principle and many others. The potential power of the new theoretical possibilities opened by Vedānta—whether immediately experimentally verifiable or not—alone makes its theory a worthwhile field for scientific study. The purpose of this work is to facilitate this study by exploring the connections of Vedānta with existing scientific theory.

The role of consciousness

Consciousness is the central fact of existence. The attempt of materialistic science to restrict the domain of human inquiry to so-called 'objective' phenomena is more or less a cheating process, since without consciousness all observations, and thus the process of empiricism itself, are impossible. Just as consciousness is a precondition of empicial investigation, so is an ontology or semantic domain. Reductionism has tried to eliminate subjectivity from the domain of scientific semantics, although the symbology of mathematics and the philosophy of science, concepts of truth and untruth, logical proof and so on are highly subjective.

Every working scientist or philosopher, if he is honest, will have to admit that the actual process of scientific advancement occurs in intuitive leaps that transcend the dry process of formal logic. Solutions to intractable problems, such as James Watson's discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, often come in dreams or intuitive visions. Many great scientists have had luminous moment of transcendent insight, such as Albert Hoffman's youthful vision of the interconnectedness of nature, consciousness and God.

Consciousness itself is transcendental, immanent and subjective, therefore being conscious is itself a spiritual experience. But because most of us subscribe to a materialistic explanation of the world and phenomena, we miss this profound dimension of our own experience because of a crippled ontological background. Thus the quality of our consciousness, and thus the quality of our experience of life, is predicated on our ontological commitment, because in general, people do not see what they do not acknowledge to exist.

A famous historical example of this was when the first colonists arived in what is now the United States, the local inhabitants literally could not see their sailing ships mooed just off the coast, because after all, sailing across the ocean on a rickety bucket made of fragile wood is impossible. In a related and even more tragic example, the entire Incan army, hundreds of thousands of men, were defeated by a few hundred Spanish cavalry at Mexico City because the Incans had never before seen mounted soldiers. Thus they regarded them as undefeatable divine manifestations, panicked and fled.

Similarly, although we are used to magical appliances such as television and computers, we cannot understand the immense possibilities of our own consciousness simply because our world view, whether by accident or design, excludes subjectivity from the domain of reality. Many people even deny that consciousness exists except as an epiphenomenon of brain electrochemistry. Thus they denigrate the most important and vital part of their own self to the status of an illusion, focusing obsessively on the material body as the only reality.

We refuse to accept such a crippling view. Our own experience confirms that consciousness can change, and that the quality of our consciousness determines the quality of our experience of life. Real happiness or fulfillment is impossible in the limited, conditional consciousness provided by the reductionistic ontology; to attain the optimum state of being and full enjoyment of life requires full acceptance of our qualitative identity with Brahman, the transcendental source of all energies. Changing our consciousness requires opening our minds to the higher, more abstract and inclusive ontology derived from Vedic sources. When we accept this Vedantic ontology and begin to work with it, our empirical investigations take on a new dimension, the dimension of transcendental consciousness. This changes everything, because it changes how we look at the world and ourselves.

Changing consciousness

Changing our consciousness requires, first of all, accepting that it is possible. The next necessity is knowledge of consciousness: the characteristics, qualities, functions and potential of individual consciousness within the context of consciousness in general. Then we need practical methods of changing our consciousness in predictable, beneficial ways. Finally there must be some stable criterion of the optimal state of consciousness to serve as a goal. All this and more is provided by the Vedānta philosophy and ancillary works.

The methodology for changing our consciousness is also given in the literature of Vedānta: it is constant engagement of the attention and awareness in subjects of transcendental quality. Constantly hearing, repeating, remembering and serving the Vedānta philosophy itself and the sacred subjects in relation to it is the prime methodology for advancing in the transcendental science. Therefore Vedānta is supremely self-referential, another quality that we would expect from a truly transcendental science; it does not require any knowledge outside of itself for its complete implementation and realization.

But actually changing our consciousness requires more than just theoretical knowledge, belief in an alternate Vedic cosmology or even a transcendental methodology; it also requires personal discipline and training by an experienced teacher who has already made the journey from conditioned to absolute consciousness, and can impart guidance from his own experience. This practical apprenticeship is commonly accepted as a requirement for professional performance in many less deamanding fields, for example medicine, law or even blacksmithing; how much more it must be true in the esoteric realm of consciousness enhancement.

Yet we see that most ostensible students of transcendental philosophy and Vedānta remain unwilling to take this final and actually, most important step. But it is precisely this total commitment that distinguishes the armchair speculator from the successful aspirant. It is a consistent observation over many years' experience that those who are unwilling to give up their so-called independence and subject themselves to the discipline of a Master are unable to make any tangible advancement in the actual science of Vedānta.

Conclusion

To properly understand the profound subject of Vedānta, then, requires a paradigmatic shift from the context of reductionistic materialism to that of Vedic transcendentalism. Otherwise accurate understanding and complete realization of the profound benefits of Vedānta will remain elusive. Any treatise, no matter how extensive, is only words. In and of itself, it cannot change our consciousness or lead to liberation from the existential suffering of material existence. We can describe the qualities and characteristics of Vedānta from now to the end of the universe; but unless one puts its principles and methods into practice in his life, he cannot taste the results. Certainly, knowledge and study are required; but so are good character and integrity. The glib student who recites his lessons perfectly but cannot apply them in practice will not find favor in the esoteric school of Vedānta.

Vedānta is a laboratory science, but the laboratory is our own mind and consciousness. Those who make superficial external changes in their lives, but who remain fixed in materialistic viewpoints will find little success, as will those whose studies remain theoretical and cannot bring themselves to practice. Each sūtra, each item of the doctrine of Vedānta has a corresponding practice and realization. So considering these caveats, anyone who applies themselves well to the discipleship of Vedānta can make significant progress in mitigating the sufferings of life.

 

< Prev		Next >