जीवन विद्या एक परिचय

They worried, "He rejects everything in a self-proclaimed manner; how far can this be right?" This became the cause of my second question. Now, what could I do? With no other way left, I chose to study Vedanta, which they believed to be the supreme knowledge.

The first stage is Vedanta – which is the karma of Vedic ideology. According to the Vedic ideology, karma is that which begets heaven, and all the rest is called something else. Upasana refers to the rituals and ceremonies for becoming deities, known as Vedic worship. In the third aspect, it is said that knowledge alone is supreme. When I asked, "What is knowledge?" The answer was “Knowledge of Brahma.” "Then what is Brahma?" I inquired. They replied, "You won’t understand." Without understanding, how will we overcome it? They assured that adhering to the dictates and sanctions of the scriptures is the way. My elders then assured me that one gets the answers to all questions in the state of samadhi. Thus, I concluded that I must see the state of samadhi for myself. There was no other option left for me. There was no point in arguing anymore. Agreeing or disagreeing with them now was of no consequence. I had to find the answers to my questions. After thoroughly listening to Vedanta, the first question that formed in me was: What is bandhan (bondage) and what is moksha (liberation)? They say that we live in bandhan due to maya. Moksha is the dissolution of atma into Brahma. Where did atma come from? They say, "Brahma itself resides in the heart of jeeva in the form of atma." If atma has to ultimately dissolve into Brahma for the liberation of jeeva, ending the cycles of birth-death and its trips to heaven and hell, then why did Brahma bother to go and sit in the hearts of jeeva in the first place? When the first jeeva came into existence, it had no atma in it, so what was the need for Brahma to go and sit inside it? My questioning seemed like being the devil’s advocate. As I didn’t echo my elders, they called me the devil’s advocate. I said, "You may be right, but you should still answer my questions." But I didn’t get the answer to these questions. After this, I was told that the answers would also be found in the state of samadhi. What else could be done? I gradually began to prepare my mind for samadhi. All of this began in 1944, and by 1946 I had become mentally prepared to pursue samadhi. It was also the time when the conditions for Indian Independence were becoming ripe. Then, as many of us had anticipated, the power got transferred from the British to the Indian people in 1947. There were some great visionaries and thinkers involved in the independence movement, but I also observed some detrimental changes that happened in them along with this success. This, too, caused me pain. After that, one more hope got kindled. It was the hope that we (the Indian Nation) would now have our own Constitution, and perhaps that Constitution would provision evaluation of an authentic human.