Question: I am somewhat
amazed that Vedanta is not intellectual ...
Swamiji: How can
it be? You are seeing me now. Tell me, are you ‘theorizing ‘ about me or “practising
“ me when you are seeing me? I am not an object of any theory or practice. You
open your eyes and if I am here, you see me. Similarly, when I say that you are
the subject, that you are Brahman and I am able to help you to see the fact of
what you are when I negate what you are not, my words are like your eyes. So is
it theory or practice? It is neither theory or practice.
Question: Are you
saying that it is showing me what I am? Now I already have the experience of
what I am.
Swamiji: You do not know the dimension of yourself. You
are dimensionless. You do not know that. That means you do not know the truth
of yourself. You know that you exist, that you are a conscious being, but it is
all put together in this concept of “I”. I have to strip what you are not from
the concept of “I” and make you see the content of “I” being Brahman.
Unlike other means of knowledge where you can figure out by
yourself what is to be known through perception, inference and so forth.
Vedanta is a means of knowledge which requires a teacher to wield the words
properly.
Question: And
that is why the Guru is praised?
Swamiji: Yes. The Guru and the teaching are the means
of knowledge. If you fix up your misconceptions, have studentship and listen,
it works very well. Then there is teaching. And once you know, that knowledge
is not going to change; you will not be shaken.
Om Tat Sat
