LEVITY, THE SPOILSPORT IN VEDANTIC DISCOURSE
Message dilution from a concentrated mind? Never. Such dilution invariably comes from a weak personality who resorts to humouring the audience in his bid to win their approval when the onus ought to be on driving home the message with a thunderous call to the Atman.
No wonder it is the rare speaker who leaves a lasting impress on the minds of his audience and triggers a change in some characters for good in the divine direction. The rest of the speakers come and go, and the gibberish they elaborately utter is laid by the wayside in course of time as the energy of the hour wanes leaving no trace of such flippancy in the guise of superior talk. The old inertia has its last laugh as the listeners depart to their dusty lanes overlaid with desires and the puerile preacher returns to the pulpit to try his luck again with his next set of listeners.
But so long as the speaker is not himself empowered with the capacity to effectively articulate subtle spiritual truths to his audience and continues to pander to the worldly vanities of his flock, the message attempted to be imparted is either still-born or is nipped in the bud and the listeners merely go through the motions without gaining an inch in the spiritual evolutionary course.
Hence, a general instruction ought to go out from the headquarters of the concerned Order that the preachers abroad do not lose fire in their speech in trying to be ultra-soft and sweet to the audience. The latter would be better off hearing in stronger terms the virile truths of the Vedanta than in paralysing pulsations stemming from the attempt to harmonise the highest truths of the Upanishads with everyday western worldly life. Such a watering down of the spiritual essence, such a lowering of the lofty ideals to commonplace levels, such fun and frolic that raises idea-deflecting laughter ought not to be the induced conditions where these Vedantic truths are being discussed and attempted to be understood and assimilated. Rather, the personality of the preacher should lift the audience to a higher realm, help them dive to a deeper dimension where they can envision these ideas of the essence of existence, consciousness and bliss.
Hopefully someone will one day meditate on these words and render due justice to the rendition of the sacred scriptures of ancient India. In it will lie its proper representation, in it will lie the opening up of vast vistas for the religion (dharma) of the Rishis.
Written by Sugata Bose
Message dilution from a concentrated mind? Never. Such dilution invariably comes from a weak personality who resorts to humouring the audience in his bid to win their approval when the onus ought to be on driving home the message with a thunderous call to the Atman.
No wonder it is the rare speaker who leaves a lasting impress on the minds of his audience and triggers a change in some characters for good in the divine direction. The rest of the speakers come and go, and the gibberish they elaborately utter is laid by the wayside in course of time as the energy of the hour wanes leaving no trace of such flippancy in the guise of superior talk. The old inertia has its last laugh as the listeners depart to their dusty lanes overlaid with desires and the puerile preacher returns to the pulpit to try his luck again with his next set of listeners.
But so long as the speaker is not himself empowered with the capacity to effectively articulate subtle spiritual truths to his audience and continues to pander to the worldly vanities of his flock, the message attempted to be imparted is either still-born or is nipped in the bud and the listeners merely go through the motions without gaining an inch in the spiritual evolutionary course.
Hence, a general instruction ought to go out from the headquarters of the concerned Order that the preachers abroad do not lose fire in their speech in trying to be ultra-soft and sweet to the audience. The latter would be better off hearing in stronger terms the virile truths of the Vedanta than in paralysing pulsations stemming from the attempt to harmonise the highest truths of the Upanishads with everyday western worldly life. Such a watering down of the spiritual essence, such a lowering of the lofty ideals to commonplace levels, such fun and frolic that raises idea-deflecting laughter ought not to be the induced conditions where these Vedantic truths are being discussed and attempted to be understood and assimilated. Rather, the personality of the preacher should lift the audience to a higher realm, help them dive to a deeper dimension where they can envision these ideas of the essence of existence, consciousness and bliss.
Hopefully someone will one day meditate on these words and render due justice to the rendition of the sacred scriptures of ancient India. In it will lie its proper representation, in it will lie the opening up of vast vistas for the religion (dharma) of the Rishis.
Written by Sugata Bose
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