The Sages Of India - Part 1

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Swami Vivekananda

The Sages Of India - Part 1

 

The Hindu nation has been producing sage after sage during the thousands of years of its existence. But these sages or great incarnations are not the originators of our religion. They are only the exemplars and expounders of its truth. Our religion has got two sets of scriptures--the Sruti and the Smriti. The Sruti or the Veda deals with eternal principles of soul, the relationship between souls, the nature of God and the Supreme Being's relationship with the soul etc. The Smritis are compositions of men like Manu and Yajnavalkya. There are also the Purans and the Tantras. They work out the details of the principles laid down in the Vedas and deal with the lives of great personalities who have exemplified them. But it must be remembered that the principles contained in the Veda do not derive their authority from any personality.

 

Personalities are great according to the thoroughness with which they embody the principles of the Veda. Our first principle is that all that is necessary for the perfection of man and for attaining freedom is there in the Vedas. There is nothing new to be added to it, for when 'Tat Tvam Asi' was discovered the spiritual science reached perfect unity, which is the goal of all religions.

 

The work of the great teachers is only to guide the people in varying circumstances and environments and according to time and place on the lines laid down in the Vedas. The eternal principles stand upon their own foundations without depending upon any reasoning, much less on the authority of sages, however great. Thus Vedanta, being based upon universal principles, can alone be the universal religion and not any of those drawing their authority from personalities.