VEDANTA is a school of universal thought encapsulating the concepts and precepts of the greatest literature in the world, with nine primary goals, one of which is that no person should be left without modern educational equipment, merely for want of funds.Another is that the impartation of knowledge should take into account not only the full growth of a student’s academic personality, but also the existential development, to the highest plane of which he or she is capable, through the nurturing of their immortal soul. In other words, great intellectual achievement without full self-realization of the ultimate capabilities for goodness and capacities for love and tolerance for the human world, with all its imperfections, is unfulfilled and incomplete education.
Vedanta reaches beyond Man-made concepts and precepts, and is a quest to light the universe with intellectual and spiritual knowledge that would elevate Mankind to an existential plane that could very well evolve into a universal family, where each being recognizes that every living creature was created by God, and thus everyone has the same rights to the earth’s bounties.
It’s, however, a school of thought that also teaches that those bounties must be striven for, and that food on the table, and the fulfillment of material needs must be achieved through honest toil, and not by covetous greed for the fruits of someone else’s toil and sacrifice.
It is a universal school that transcends religion to encapsulate the sphere of humankind in totality, while recognizing and respecting the individuality of religion and the sovereignty of global nation states.
But Vedanta teaches that Man also has a greater responsibility; and that is to explore the divinity within his own soul, and to nurture that divinity to its fullest potential for enlightenment and self-realization, and then, as the light of one candle can be applied to other candles to create an incandescence to rival sunlight, likewise one evolved in spiritual thought can guide others to achieving their own potential for divinity.
Within the Guyana context, great good is evolving out of the greatest acts of evil, as the light of day follows the darkness of night, which is the coming together of religious leaders of varying faiths under the spearhead of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO); not of varying religions, but of one common faith, because the philosophies of every religion is based on a common threadwork of faith, which is that God’s goodness resides within every soul, and that the potential for glory is greatest when one embraces the concept of the brotherhood of Man.
However, this quest for self-realisation must be a genuine attempt to evolve into a better person in word, thought and deed, instead of under the pretext of being godly while yet one’s actions and utterances are counter-productive to the fostering of good to Mankind and promoting, instead of the Brotherhood of Man, divisiveness within the society.
Regular attendance at church, and the ability to quote from the scriptures without the attendant goodness of heart and caring for the welfare of one’s fellow Man degrades instead of uplifts individuals, and ultimately degrades the society, because the implications and consequences are extensively destructive.
The multi-stakeholder forums also evolved out one of the most heinous acts: The wanton killing of the innocents, in a wholesale way. If there are genuine attempts at conciliation in the nation that transcend the egoistic machinations and utterances that initially created the miasma within the society, then those acts of evil would have served a divine purpose: That of bringing together the nation, politically, religiously, and socially, in a cohesive unit that could very well catalyze a healing of the wounds on the soul of the nation, and eventuate in an unprecedented framework for co-existence and national unity.
But for the leaders to suppress ambition and ego to attain a common national good would entail embracing the school of thought of Vedanta, so as to realise the divinity within oneself and then strive to explore that potential for enlightenment within others, where self-interest is subsumed for the greater good of families, of society, of nation states and, ultimately, of the world.
The teachings of Vedanta is being posted on the World Wide Web so as to enable international linkages of the universal family, and encourage exploration of the individual being towards elevation to a higher plane, where one can realise his own potential for self-realization and spiritual growth, and an expansion of that growth to embrace universal Mankind.
As our country faces a crisis that could determine our collective future, may the spirit and precepts of Vedanta prevail, and evil not hold sway over it.