The Goal and Uniqueness of Vedanta-1

The purpose of Vedanta is one and only one: To help cognize in oneself by oneself the
one unchanging conscious principlethe Universal Witnesswhich is the real Self
within all and everything. This unchanging principle is one, without a second ( ).
Vedanta is practical in the sense that it has a methodology to enable us cognize its
truths within ourselves. And it uses our day to day common experience to point to our
true nature. That is what makes it universal.
The subject-matter of Vedanta is our very own Selfsomething that is the most closest
to us.
How do we know what we know?
Now, in order to know something, we need appropriate means of knowledge. For
example, if we want to know form and color, we need eyes; if we want to hear
something, we need ears and so on. These means of knowledge have their strict field of
operation. For example, we cannot use our eyes to hear and our ears to know form and
color. We have been given five senseseyes to see the forms and colors, ears to hear
various sounds, nose to smell, tongue to taste, and a sense of touch that is distributed
throughout our body. These direct means of perception/knowledge (see, hear, smell,
taste, and touch) are perfect to know objects that are separate from us. All such
knowledge naturally involves the subject-object division.
Science uses direct perception (pratyaka ) primarily to know about the physical
universe, supplemented by another means of knowledge called inference (anumana
). Please note that inference is also based on prior perception. We know that
where there is a fire, there is a smoke. So, when we see smoke rising up at a distant hill,
we infer that there must be some fire. But if we have not seen fire and smoke together
before, we will not be able to infer fire from seeing smoke later on. There are further
refinements of inference that science uses, but basically it uses perception and
inference as the only two means of knowledge to know the external phenomenon.
Can we know the Self through Perception and Inference?

As we just indicated, perception and inference serve as means of knowledge when the
object to be known is out there, separate from us. Is our Self such an object? Definitely
not! No, our Self is not out there, unless of course, we are talking about a character in
James Joyces collection of short stories called Dubliners where he speaks about a
certain Mr. Duffy who lived a short distance from his body.
Therefore, it is logical to conclude that our Self cannot be known through perception and
inference, the two pet means of knowledge used by science. Hence, the discovery of
Self does not fall within the purview of science. Lately, looking at the observations of
some quantum physicists/thinkers (Neil Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Penrose,
Bohm1, Pribram, Kak, Stapp, to name just a few) one senses that science is finally
warming up to the possibility of consciousness, beyond the pass that matter is energy.
I Am, therefore I Think
At this stage of our inquiry, Vedanta drops a great bombshell. It tells us that we already
experience our Self; it is just that we are not aware of it, as we should. When you ask
someone, Do you know your true nature? The person may say, I do not know it. S/he
will never be able to say, I do not experience it. This is a fundamental point. It turns the
Cartesian logic upside down. Ren Descartes said, I think, therefore I am (cogito ergo
sum). Vedanta makes a friendly amendment to it: I am, therefore I think (sum ergo
cogito). There is only one fact that we know first-hand that can never be denied: the fact
1 It is well-known that David Bohm worked with J. Krishnamurti. In 1957, in a Landon library
where he was browsing for some titles for light summer reading, he chanced upon a book
called, First and Last Freedom by K in the new arrivals section. He opened it at random and his
eyes fell on the sentence: The observer is the observed. He could not believe that a nonphysicist could garner this insight. He inquired about the author. K happened to be in town at the
time. Both met. Mr. Bohm immediately knew who is the master and who is the student. Their
association lasted for good part of 25 years. K was hopeful that Mr. Bohm, if any one, would
understand. During the last years of their association, one senses that K was disappointed that
the great physicist did not make the final plunge. Such are the ways of Divinity. One has to give
oneself, body, mind and soul, to fathom its secrets. If one retains even an iota of ones self, the
me notion, one may miss the boat entirely. In this sense at least, with a tip of the hat to George
Bernard Shaw, a miss is mile indeed!

that we exist. No one as yet has been able to deny their own existence, for to say that I
do not exist proves the existence of one in the first place to deny it.
Vedanta calls this felt sense of our knowing-presence as I am. By logic, It is the only
absolute Subject, which, by definition. cannot be objectified. This is the most important
point to keep in mind on our journey to understand Who Am I, our true nature.
Vedanta builds its whole edifice on the foundation of this inalienable conscious-principle
thatsense of I Amthat inheres and enlivens all our experience. It is a fact-based
inquiry that requires no faith on the part of the explorer.
All that is required beforehand is the trust in the teachings, pending verification.
During the next series of essays, we will consider the methodology of Vedanta to
discover our true nature.
To be continued.