Vedanta - The final frontier of knowledge

Many of us have heard the term, “Vedanta” and somehow associate it with the Vedas. Based on our particular upbringing, where are told Vedas are holy books, we take Vedanta as something holy. As years go by and someone invites us to a talk/lecture on Vedanta, our past memories of holiness of the Vedanta come to us. We then realize we are intellectuals and cannot believe in the mumbo-jumbo of holiness or religion and avoid the offer to learn about Vedanta. I will try in my own humble way to give an introduction to what this is through a series of illustrations.

Let’s assume there is an infant which is wailing. Obviously it is in distress. Does it have a clue as to what the distress is? Impossible! It is only experiencing distress, probably hunger and is wailing. The mother guesses that the source of the distress is hunger and provides food as a solution to mitigate the source of the distress.

Let us go through the sequence again since it is very important in our discussion:

1. There is distress.
2. There is a root cause for the distress, which the infant is unaware.
3. There is a solution for the distress, which is provided by the mother.
4. Once the solution is administered, the distress is gone.

Let’s assume that the infant is now grown up and is a 3 year old child. Assume it is hungry. Obviously it is in distress. Does it have a clue as to what the distress is? Yes, it knows the source of the distress is hunger! . Can it do something to mitigate the distress? Probably not, since it cannot cook and cannot reach for the eatables wherever they are placed. It asks its mother for food and once it gets food, the distress is mitigated.

Let us go through the sequence again:

1. There is distress.
2. There is a root cause for the distress, which the child is aware.
3. There is a solution for the distress, which the child tells the mother.
4. Once the solution is administered, the distress is gone.

Let us now come to our situation:

We have several sources of distress. Obviously we have physical distress like hunger, pain, lack of sleep etc. We know the source of the distress. We also know the solution to mitigate the distress.

Let us go through the sequence again:

1. There is distress.
2. There is a root cause for the distress, which we are aware.
3. There is a solution for the distress and we can administer the solution.
4. Once the solution is administered, the distress is gone.

Think again, is the distress really gone? Today the distress is caused by hunger, pain etc. Tomorrow the distress is caused because I do not have a big car like my neighbor. Assuming we find a solution for that by buying a bigger car, my next distress is that my neighbor has a lovelier wife than me! Even assuming that this distress can somehow be solved, my next distress is that I became head of a 20 member team, whereas my colleague heads a 100 member team.  The list of distresses is like an unending list.

What is the cause of this distress? Smart as we are, we say, desire is the root cause of the distress! Can we think more? Is desire the root cause or is it caused by something else?  We are in an uncomfortable position now. We do not know what the root cause of the distress is. We are now like that little infant. We keep on wailing because we are in distress without a clue as to why the distress is.  I hope readers are enthused to find out the root cause of the distress.

This is where spiritual scriptures come into the picture. Be it the Bible, the Koran or the Granta Sahib, all the scriptures aim at informing us about the root cause of the distress. In the Hindu way of thinking, the unlocking of this source of distress comes from Vedanta. Vedanta which literally means the end of the Vedas is in the last portion of every Veda. As explained earlier, every Veda has 4 parts and the last part is the Vedanta or the Upanishad.

What is the secret that the Vedanta unveils? Vedanta boldly states that the root cause of our distress is ignorance of who are and the only cure for this distress is knowledge of the self. I am sure people will hit back telling, we are not ignorant.  Unfortunately, most of us are totally ignorant of our true self. The Vedanta proclaims that our essence is consciousness or completeness or fullness or bliss. We have everything for a blissful life because we are the life principle (Aham Brahmasmi).  Not knowing that we are complete, not knowing that we are an embodiment of bliss, we feel a longing for things from the material, emotional and intellectual fields to fill the gap and make us feel complete. But since this gap can never be filled and we are totally ignorant that this gap cannot be filled, the distress never ends.

We are like a prince in the following story. There was a prince who was lost when he was very young. He was brought up by a beggar and the child thought he was a beggar. He was totally ignorant of his true identity as a prince and hence went through the misery of a beggar. One day, one of the ministers saw the child’s birthmark and took him to the palace as a prince. Now that he knew he was a prince, the distress felt as a beggar was gone.

We too are kings of bliss. But we are totally ignorant and go begging for worldly objects. Only when we come out of our ignorance, will we know we are kings and not beggars. This is the objective of Vedanta. Vedanta is not religious dogma. It teaches the essential truth. It is highly enlightening and inspiring because it takes us from the depths of misery to the highest bliss.

Does this mean that just by reading Vedanta, we will reach bliss? Obviously not! Just because I read the cookery book thoroughly and can tell every recipe, it in no way helps mitigate my hunger unless I actually cook. Similarly, only by actually understanding the Vedantic principles and inculcating them in our daily life, we will be on the path to bliss.

Let us take the opportunity to thank the great masters or rishis of the Vedic period who did this thorough analysis and out of compassion for the distressed, gave us the priceless gifts of the Vedas and the included Vedanta and Upanishads. I invite people to get on to this highly fulfilling journey which will take us the kingdom of everlasting bliss.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality