Vedanta Vani
May 2025
From Swami Turiyananda’s letter…
A devotee of God has no fear or anxiety. I mentioned this to you when I quoted from the Gita, where Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: “Proclaim it boldly, O son of Kunti, that my devotee never perishes.” Pure devotion is rare even amongst gods. Is it so easy to attain that supreme love which puts God at the beck and call of the devotees? The Master used to sing with intense feeling [this song of Sri Krishna]:
Though I am never loathe to grant salvation,
I hesitate indeed to grant pure love.
Ramprasad said: “The source of spiritual life is devotion and liberation is only a byproduct.” Truly if one can develop love for God, one achieves everything.
It is the duty of the householder to talk about religious matters with his wife. As you and your wife are studying The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna together, it will definitely do you good.
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Sri Ramakrishna’s Method of Choosing Disciples….
Sri Ramakrishna said to Keshab Chandra Sen, when the Brahmo Samaj was divided over the Cooch Bihar marriage: “It is no wonder that your Samaj has broken up. You accept everyone as your followers without testing them. But I accept no one without testing them.” It was indeed wonderful in how many different ways the Master examined the devotees who came to him. He had no formal education but he had acquired many wonderful methods of measuring human character. We always found that when someone came to him for the first time, he would look at him with special attention. If he felt attracted to the visitor, he would talk to him about spiritual things and ask that person to visit him occasionally. As the days passed and the visits continued, unknown to the visitor himself, Sri Ramakrishna would observe the shape of his body and limbs, the nature of his thoughts, the intensity of his sensual desires and the extent of his love for the Master. From these minute observations he would arrive at a certain conclusion about his latent spirituality, and before long he would understand the character of the person well. And if he felt the need to know hidden facts about the inner nature of the person, he would learn about them through his keen yogic vision.
About this he once said to us: “In the early morning hours, while I am awake and alone, I think of your spiritual well-being.
The Divine Mother shows me how far a person has progressed on the spiritual path, why another cannot advance, and so on.” Let us not, however, conclude from this that his yogic power was active only at that moment. From his conversations at other times we gathered that he could ascend at will to higher states of spiritual consciousness and receive similar visions.
For he said: “Just as by looking into a glass case one can see all its contents, so I can know the innermost thoughts, tendencies and everything of a person by merely looking at him.
[from: Sri Ramakrishna as They Saw Him]
Selection and contribution by Mevrouw Mary Saaleman
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Mary Saaleman is devoted to Sri Ramakrishna since several decades. She spends her time in the study of Sri Ramakrishna-related literature, prayer, etc.
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Your Duty is to Fight
स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि |
धर्म्याद्धि युद्धाच्छ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते || 31||
sva-dharmam api cāvekṣhya na vikampitum arhasi
dharmyād hi yuddhāt shreyo anyat kṣhatriyasya na vidyate
Svadharma! Your duty to yourself, your family, your society, your nation and to the world. You may always think of your rights. You may demand that you have the right to speech etc. But you also have a duties to perform. Why do you forget that? What is your duty? A If some virus attacks you, you duty is to fight it and remove it. You must not say, “Oh, that’s okay. They also must live, let them enjoy.” This is not liberalism. It is abject stupidity, madness and cowardice. If some enemy invades your family, society or nation, you must not behave like a mad monkey, saying “Oh, we are brothers, we are one and the same because both of us eat the same fish.” They will eat you and your family. Your duty is to fight. Vedanta teaches freedom in all senses: physical, intellectual, mental and spiritual. Other religions teach you slavery. A householder should be a kshatriya, a hero, when it comes to the performance of duties. Krishna says, “There can be no other greater virtue for a kshatriya than the righteous war for establishment of freedom from slavery.”
Evolution and Altruism
Kees Boukema
How should you act when your own interests conflict with the interests of others? According to the philosopher Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677), everything, including humans, strives to persevere to its own existence, as far as it lies within its power. He called this striving ‘conatus’ and does not arise from one’s own will, but is part of the striving of God/Nature, who urges everything and everyone to maintain itself [Ethics, III, 6 et seq.]. That one’s own survival is both the driving force and the guideline for human action is also evident from the findings of natural scientist Charles Darwin (1809-1882). Darwin practiced science according to the principles of Francis Bacon [1561-1626]: Human knowledge should not rest on faith or on authority, but on the actual study of nature and a good use of reason. [Francis Bacon, Thoughts and Conclusions, p. 80]. In ‘The Origin of Species’, by means of natural selection or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life [1859, Dutch translation 2000], Darwin writes that biological species can change and that ‘selection’ is the cornerstone of success. Only those characteristics evolve that the individual bearers are better off with than without these characteristics. This conclusion of his research was contrary to the teaching of the church. It assumes that species are unchangeable, because the universe, the earth, plants, animals and man were created by God.
At the start of his studies in Cambridge in 1828, the twenty-year-old Darwin had no doubts about the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible. “It had never struck me how illogical it is to believe in something that I cannot understand and that was also incomprehensible,” Darwin wrote fifty years later in his autobiography. His participation in a study voyage from 1831 to 1836 with the research vessel H.M.S. ‘Beagle’ had shaken his religious convictions.
It all started with him being laughed at heartily by his scientific colleagues when he cited the Bible as an irrefutable authority on moral issues. Darwin could not ignore the fact that the Old Testament contains demonstrable inaccuracies regarding natural phenomena. Moreover, attributing the feelings of a vengeful tyrant to God, in his view, “made the Bible no more trustworthy than the sacred books of the Hindus, or the beliefs of any barbarian.” “The more we know of the immutability of the laws of nature, the more incredible are the miracles by which the Christian faith is sustained. This is all the more so because the descriptions of them in the various Gospels differ too much in many respects to be attributed to the inaccuracies of eyewitnesses,” Darwin wrote. “Slowly but surely disbelief crept into me. I lost my faith in Christianity so gradually that I felt no sorrow. I can hardly understand now that anyone would wish that Christianity told the truth. For if so, then the plain language of the Bible shows that people who do not believe, including my father, my brother, and almost all my friends, will be punished for eternity. And that is a repulsive doctrine.”
According to Darwin, inner convictions cannot be of any weight as evidence for what really exists. The state of mind aroused by impressive landscapes, or the exalted feelings sometimes aroused by music, can – even though their origin is difficult to explain – not be adduced as evidence for the existence of God. The existence of God in relation to reason made more of an impression on him, “because it is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive that this immense and beautiful universe, to which man also belongs, could be the result of blind chance or inevitability.”
Considering all this, Darwin, in the days when he was working on his book “The Origin of Species,” felt compelled to trust in a creator with an intelligent mind, comparable to that of man. Later, however, he had doubts about the existence of such an “intelligent design.” Can the human mind, which has evolved from a mind as simple as that of the lowest animal species (and which he is convinced will be a much more perfect creature in the distant future) be trusted when it draws such conclusions? Does not insight into the necessity of the connection between cause and effect depend on inherited experience, and might not the constant inculcation of a belief in God exert a hereditary influence on the still undeveloped brains of children? To free itself from belief in God might be as difficult for a child as it is for a monkey to free itself from its instinctive fear and aversion to snakes. His conclusion: “The mystery of the beginning of all things is beyond our comprehension. I shall be content to remain an agnostic.” (The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, London, 1876, Nl. trans. 2000, p. 86). “A man without belief in a personal God, or in a future existence with retribution and reward, will in his life act only on those impulses and instincts which are strongest, or in his opinion the best,” according to Darwin. “A dog behaves in this way. A man, however, looks both forward and backward, and sets his various feelings, wishes, and memories against each other. He will then discover, in accordance with all wise men, that the greatest satisfaction is derived from following the social feelings. If he does something for the good of others, he will receive approval from his friends and love from those with whom he lives. This latter is undoubtedly the greatest pleasure on this earth. Step by step, the obedience to his sensual instincts will give way to higher drives, which might almost be called social instincts. The realization that he has followed his inner guide, his conscience, will give him great satisfaction. I myself feel no remorse for any great sin, but I have often regretted that I have not been good to my fellow creatures in a more direct way.” [ibid. p.86 et seq.]. Darwin did not seek the origin of altruism and human morality in general in human biology, but in the dynamics of human society as a cultural counterf-orce to human selfishness. The physicist and defender of ‘Darwinism’, Thomas Henry Huxley, agreed with this; see ‘Evolution and Ethics’, Oxford, 1894. Darwin knew two essential links for evolution: Hereditary variation and natural selection. But he had insufficient insight into the third essential link for evolution, the inheritance of genes and thus the passing on of selected characteristics to the next generation. In the previous century, Darwin’s insights into natural selection were combined with the theory of heredity of his contemporary Gregor Mendel. The discovery of DNA as a carrier of hereditary material gave a new impetus to evolutionary biology. DNA not only provides evidence of common descent, but also of relationships between species. When the English scientists Watson and Crick discovered the three-dimensional structure of the DNA molecule in 1953 and thus the way in which hereditary characteristics are passed on, traditional genetics (crossing of species) could develop into molecular genetics [See De betacanon, Amsterdam, 2009, p.41 and 149].
Based on the work of Darwin and Mendel, evolutionary biologists were not only able to demonstrate the genetic equality of the sexes, but also gained more insight into the symmetry and logic underlying social relationships. The ethologist Richard Dawkins describes how, – over countless millions of years – an evolutionary process developed from the lowest, molecular level, where [to] briefly summarize: From simple molecules, under the influence of the sun, more complicated molecules emerged. Some of these complex molecules appeared to be able to copy themselves. One of these was the DNA molecule. This copying did not always go correctly, but it was precisely the ‘variants’ that came into circulation as a result, which made evolution possible. A struggle for existence arose between the different ‘replication variants’. The variants with the highest level of stability were preserved and were able to multiply by breaking down the competition and using them for their own replication or by building a protective wall of protein around themselves.
Replicas were also able to learn. Replicas that could learn by anticipating had an advantage over replicas that could only learn by trial and error. This culminated in a certain form of ‘self-awareness’. Usually, selfishness leads to egoistic behaviour, but under certain circumstances it turned out that a gene served its own selfish purposes best by promoting a certain degree of altruism in individual behaviour and by cooperating with other genes. (Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gen, Oxford, 1976).
In his study ‘On the Origin of Good and Evil’, ethologist Frans de Waal agrees: ‘Man and all other animals were created by genes that have managed to hold their own in a world of fierce competition. But progress at the expense of others as a fundamental driving force has also created in them a capacity for care and compassion.’ [Frans de Waal, Van nature goed, 1996 p. 13.]
Mr Kees Boukema is a scholar in Vedanta and Comparative philosophy. His brilliant and thorough-going articles on various philosophical and spiritual subjects are being published since the first issue of the magazine. His latest work is De Beoefening van Meditatie.
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Teachings
Paulo J. S. Bittencourt
Professor of the History Course at UFFS – Erechim Campus
Ever since I began teaching, I have never stopped questioning the existential meaning of pedagogical practice.
Throughout this journey, the act of teaching, at least in terms of “content,” has always seemed to me to be an inadequate means of substantiating it, rather than being insufficient. Yes, I have adopted here – and continue to do so – Paulo Freire’s noble motto, a principle that, unfortunately, the automatism of verbal trivialization has relegated to the most thoughtless realm of commonplaces: “Nobody teaches anyone anything.”
It was then that, not long ago, I began to think more about Paulo Freire’s subsequent argument to his own principle stated above: “Nobody teaches anyone anything, but people also do not learn alone.” In fact, the great Brazilian educator conceives of education as a dialogical practice, through which we educate ourselves mediated by the world. Precisely for this reason, it occurred to me that a possible ethical foundation for the pedagogical process lies in the notion of gift. Let us look at the terms of the question.
Now, no one knows anything more than anyone else. One may have enjoyed experiences of knowledge that the long passage of years has provided. For me, sharing this trajectory of experiences of reading and studying that constituted us as a collective network is what seems, today, to justify in a noble way the exercise of teaching. It is not a matter of arrogating to ourselves the position of a pedestal of authority. It is, therefore, a matter of sharing experiences. It is true that the experience of knowledge only makes sense when it is organically assimilated by the mind and the heart. I have always seen, for example, the act of reading as a way of life through a dialogical relationship that transcends the terrain of time and space on which our feet stand. This example is opportune to explain that participation in the teaching-learning process involves two fundamental movements. The first of these is to share the existential web of knowledge that one follows, in its paths and detours.
This prerogative, evidently, involves an intriguing paradox, namely, that the genuinely personal sharing of knowledge, in its unmistakable fingerprint of experience, in no way constitutes a prescription to be followed at the expense of the particular being with whom one dialogues and the time that builds it. Each person must follow his or her own existential path of knowledge, which is unique and non-transferable. Sharing these experiences, however, can be of invaluable contribution, since many of their elements potentially emerge as an inspiration to be sought or avoided. Perhaps the paths and detours of the teacher can help, in some way, in resolving some deviation or stumbling block in relation to the path along the passable path that constitutes the other, even if our resolutions have only been structured by the unavoidable path of our own experiences. I am referring here to the sharing of what initially appears to be non-transferable, although virtually communicable.
The second movement concerns the fact that I share what constituted me, and which, however, is not mine. The unique personality of what I experienced entails a certain impersonality of the whole that was bequeathed to me. In this way, pedagogical practice is intuited as the extension of the network that collectively constitutes us. Everything is a shared inheritance of experiences. Everything is a mandala that we ritually create and unmake as a form of detachment from what structured us.
Thus, if the experience of knowledge is given to us through the mediation of the collective networks of the present and of ancestry, sharing what is not our property, even though it makes us unmistakably who we are, has been, for me, a generous principle of Sisyphean strength in education.
Perhaps we are always ready to fulfill this task, without becoming attached to the work.
By bequeathing the gift with kindness, we honor both the gift of the legacy and those who will follow us.
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Health
Fruits and Greens: the Way to Health
Carla Peeters Article in The Optmist
Contributor: Francis van Schaik
Prevention, nutrition and lifestyle to make the Netherlands healthier is trending. From influencers, experts to activists, everyone has an opinion about it, often contradictory, especially about organic or not. However, eating 450 grams of fruit and vegetables every day appears to be much more important to strengthen the immune system than – due to the call to mainly eat organic – to consume less of organic or biodynamic origin because of the costs. Vegetables and fruit available and affordable and VAT-free is urgent for a healthier Netherlands and restoring confidence in Public Health.
In 2050, 12 million Dutch people will have a chronic disease
In recent years, the number of people experiencing chronic diseases (complaints that last longer than 3 months) has increased among all ages. The fastest rising diseases are cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, mental illnesses (especially among young people), COPD and musculoskeletal disorders. More young people are entering the IVA or are not going to school or are not working.
In the healthcare sector, the number of people who have been ill for 2 years or longer will have doubled in 2024 compared to 2019. There are also higher mortality rates than before.
According to the VTV 2024, the number of people with a chronic illness in the Netherlands will have risen to 12 million by 2050, 64% of the population will be overweight, and 1.5 million elderly people will be ‘frail’. The strongest increase is expected for osteoarthritis and the highest disease burden for dementia. The number of people with 3 or more conditions (multimorbidity) will increase to 4.3 million and will increase more strongly than the number of people with 1 or 2 chronic conditions.
Despite an increase in life expectancy to 86.5 years, the number of unhealthy years of life is increasing in proportion. Health differences between low- and highly educated people are increasing. There is already a difference for low-educated/low-income people: living 13.7 years in poorer health and dying 5 years earlier.
More fruit and vegetables for a resilient immune system
Many scientific studies show that eating fruit and vegetables helps strengthen the immune system and prevents cardiovascular diseases, cancer, depression, neurodegenerative diseases, infections and can reduce the risk of premature death. Fruit and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals, fibers, polyphenols and antioxidants. Substances that are essential for the physiology and metabolism of the human body and nourish and build a resilient immune system to lead a healthy life and function optimally.
70-80% of the immune system is located in the intestines. The microbiome consists of billions of bacteria, viruses and protozoa, most of which are non-pathogenic. The biodiversity of the microbiome in the intestines is complex and can be influenced by a change in diet.
For example, it appears that consuming only vegetable juices for 3 days can change the intestinal flora to a more favorable composition for weight loss. Fibers and polyphenols, including anthocyanins and pigments in vegetables and fruit, have a beneficial effect on the ratio of certain bacteria (Fermicutes/Bacteroidetes), which means that unfavorable bacteria have less chance to multiply.
Unfavorable nutrition, malnutrition, and toxic substances entering the human body can cause dysbiosis (unfavorable composition of the bacterial flora), which allows pathogens such as pneumococci, meningococci, yeasts to gain the upper hand. This can cause inflammation that negatively affects the gastrointestinal tract, immune system, nervous system and endocrine system and ultimately lead to chronic diseases and/or infectious diseases.
It is all the more important to realize that a favorable composition of the microbiome of future mothers can influence the health of future generations. For example, it is common knowledge that for pregnant women, sufficient folic acid, especially from vegetables and fruit, is necessary for the development of a healthy baby (preventing spina bifida, cleft palate, cleft lip). By making responsible choices yourself, the composition of the microbiome can be improved.
Francis van Schaik is a coach of young people and also a student of human relationships with nature, the world and Truth. She regularly contributes to our online magazine. Francis is the regular contributor of articles in this page.
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Nag Mahashaya serves Sri Ramakrishna
from Nag Mahashaya’s life
Another day Nagmahashaya went to see Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. When he reached there, he saw the Master taking rest after his meal. It was the month of May and the day was very sultry. Sri Ramakrishna asked him to fan him and then went to sleep. Nagmahashaya fanned him long and his hands became tired but he could not stop without the Master’s permission. He consequently continued the task but his hands became very heavy and he could not hold the fan any longer. Just then Sri Ramakrishna caught hold of his hand and took the fan. Referring to this incident, Nagmahashaya said, “His sleep was not like that of ordinary persons. He could always remain awake. Excepting God, this state is not attainable for any aspirant or even a Siddha.”
On one occasion, Sri Ramakrishna asked the disciple what he thought of him (Sri Ramakrishna). In reply Nagmahashaya said, “Through Thy grace have I known that Thou art God.” On hearing this, Sri Ramakrishna attained Samadhi and placed his right foot on Nagmahashaya’s chest. The disciple at once felt a peculiar change within himself; he saw a Divine Light which, penetrating the animate and the inanimate objects, overflowed heaven and earth. Later, while expressing his ideas in regard to Sri Ramakrishna, he would say, “There is no necessity for praying to him for anything. He is Kalpataru. He will fulfill one’s desires as he knows one’s mind.
Since the advent of Sri Ramakrishna, there has been a deluge which will carry everything away. He is the full manifestation of the Lord and hitherto such a unique reconciliation of religions was not demonstrated by any other Incarnation.”
Meditations
[Meditations on the Self, from Viveka-chudâmani]
सर्वाधारं सर्व-वस्तु-प्रकाशं सर्वाकारं सर्वगं सर्वशून्यम्
नित्यं शुद्धं निश्चलं निर्विकल्पम् ब्रह्माद्वैतं यत्तदेवाहमस्मि ।।
“Who am I? I am the basis, the ground, the foundation of everything. I am the Light that reveals everything. I am all the forms. I am all-pervading. I am beyond everything. I am pure, divine, absolutely stable and beyond modifications. I am that One Supreme Brahman.”
सर्वात्मको’हं सर्वो’हं सर्वातीतो’हमद्वयः केवलाखण्ड-बोधो’हम् आनंदो’हम् निरन्तरः।।
“I am the Soul of everything and everyone. I am everything. I am beyond everything and yet I am One. I am that unique cognition of indivisible One. I am Bliss itself and I am beyond all separations.
न मे प्रवृत्तिर् न च मे निवृत्तिः सदैकरूपस्य निरंशकस्य।
एकात्मको यो निबिडो निरन्तरो व्योमेव पूर्णः स कथं नु चेष्टते। ।
I have no involvement in the world, nor is there renunciation. This is because I am eternally One, non-different and not a part of anything. I am the One pure Self and am always present. I fill the universe and beyond and so what ordinary thing can affect me?