If all of the world´s cultural heritage was

contained in a time capsule, what would

you include to demonstrate the legacy of
your country?

Vedanta
Ancient Indian scriptures on philosophy and
spirituality

Divy Malik
IE Application
Why include Vedanta in the time capsule?

Across the world, India is best known for three things… Focus of discussion

Taj Mahal Indian food Spirituality

▪ Architectural ▪ One of the most artistic ▪ Morality and spirituality

masterpiece, one of the
seven wonders of the
world
▪ Limited sustainable
value add to human life
and sophisticated becoming important in
cuisines wake of recent events
▪ Everyone can‟t handle (civil wars, corruption,
spicy food  excesses by bankers)
▪ Limited sustainable ▪ Vedanta, bedrock of
value add to human life Indian spirituality, offers
a sustainable way of life

SOURCE: Wikipedia; The Roots of Vedanta (translated by Sudhakshina Rangaswami) 1

What is Vedanta?

▪ Vedas, dating back to ~1700-1100 BCE (around the beginning of Iron age in India), are
a collection of prayers and hymns which continue to be part of the current Hindu
religious practices
▪ Vedanta literally means the end or the appendix (anta) of the Vedas which contain the
philosophical goals of Vedas
▪ Vedanta comprises of three main scriptures: Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and
Bhagavad Gita. It‟s moral teachings are also explained through analogies in the great
Indian epics: Ramayana and Mahabharata. They are the foundation of the Indian
philosophy of life

Rig Veda

Sama Veda
Essence
Vedanta
of Vedas
Yajur Veda

Atharva
Veda

SOURCE: Wikipedia; The Roots of Vedanta (translated by Sudhakshina Rangaswami) 2

Why only Vedanta?

1 It complements science 2 It connects science,

philosophy and
practice
There are several Vedanta goes beyond
similarities between laws of physical world
modern physics and and lays down some
Vedanta universal philosophies
for leading a
sustainable life e.g.,
belief in action and
consequences rather
than wrong or right
actions

“I find a solace in the Bhagavadgītā...when disappointment stares me in the

face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back (to it)...find a verse…I Mahatma
immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies” Gandhi
3
1 Vedanta complements science
Vedanta and classical physics

Vedanta Scientific theories

▪ Law of Karma: Karma means an
action or a deed. Simply put, the law
states that, the world is a cycle of
cause and effect. One has to face the
consequences of one‟s actions, in one
form or the other
▪ Newton’s third law: Every action has
an equal and opposite reaction
▪ Law of conservation of energy:
Energy can neither be created nor
destroyed but can only be
transformed from one form to another

SOURCE: Wikipedia; Bhagavad Gita 4

1 Vedanta complements science
Vedanta, Einstein and quantum mechanics

Vedanta Scientific theories

▪ The material world is Maya, an ▪ e=mc2: Einstein‟s famous equation which

energy field created from perception says that equates matter with energy
due to nescience ▪ Schrodinger’s cat: a thought experiment
▪ Maya’s existence depends on the that explains quantum mechanics‟
observer. The observer is key to what principle of superimposition, i.e., the act
is being observed (Maya), observer‟s of observation of an object is
nescience is the cause of Maya but independent of the reality of the object
for the wise, Maya does not exist. (cat is both alive and dead until we
E.g., amount of money is real but observe the box and determine its state)
value of money is Maya, i.e., value of “Schrodinger and
money depends on the observer Heisenberg and their
followers created a universe
based on super-imposed
inseparable waves of
probability amplitudes. This
new view would be entirely
consistent with the Vedantic
concept of All in One”
- Walter J. Moore

SOURCE: Wikipedia; The Roots of Vedanta (translated by Sudhakshina Rangaswami); Speech by Swami Jitatmananda 5
1 Vedanta complements science
Vedanta and unified field theory
Vedanta
▪ Non-dual nature of world:
“praanaave satyam”, the world is
made of a single form of energy called
„Prana‟
▪ There is no duality in object and
subject, everything is part of Brahman
(absolute reality which is nirguna i.e.,
without any characteristics)
SOURCE: Wikipedia; The Roots of Vedanta (translated by Sudhakshina Rangaswami); Speech by Swami Jitatmananda
Scientific theories
▪ Earlier, modern scientists believed in
5 fundamental forces: electric,
magnetic, gravitational, strong nuclear
and weak nuclear. Later, Maxwell
discovered that Electric and magnetic
forces interact with each other which
left 4 fundamental forces
▪ In 1970s, Abdus Salam, Sheldon Lee
Glashow and Steven Weinberg
combined electromagnetic and weak
nuclear forces and brought us to 3
fundamental forces
▪ Scientists continue to work on a
unified field theory to combine
electromagnetic, strong nuclear and
gravitational forces
6
2 Vedanta goes beyond science and connects it to philosophy of leading
a sustainable life
From science… … to philosophy…
 Karma in itself is not good or
Karma theory bad, its characteristics are
determined by the context and
the intentions; Selfless karma
is superior to selfish karma
Material  Maya or the material world
world is Maya comes from nescience and the
(energy field) only way to realize the absolute
truth (Brahman) is through
knowledge that helps you look
beyond the material world
Non-dual  Since world is considered to be  Seeing unity in multiplicity
nature of made of a single form of
world energy, there is god in
everything and everyone
SOURCE: Wikipedia; The Roots of Vedanta (translated by Sudhakshina Rangaswami)
… to practice
 Belief in karma makes non-
violence a virtue of life which
includes non-violence
towards animals and
environment
 Equating materialism with
nescience has built a society
which promotes intellectual
enquiry and spiritualism
has kept Indian society
united in such diversity of
beliefs, cultures and
behaviors
Vedantic
philosophy is
universal
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From the thousands of verses overwhelmed with wisdom, for me, the most
important verse from Vedanta is…

“ You are what your deep driving desire is

As your desire, so is your will
As your will, so is your deed
As your deed, so is your destiny”
… Brihadaranyaka IV.4.5

SOURCE: The Upanishads (translated by Eknath Easwaran) 8