VEDANTA AND THE BEATITUDES

Swami Prabhavananda regarded Christ with the same reverence as India’s greatest teachers, and in his lectures he often used Christ’s teachings to illustrate spiritual truths.  

In his book The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta, Prabhvananda discussed The Beatitudes, beginning with blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

What exactly does “poor in spirit” mean?  In Vedanta, it means transcending pride.  It means being humble, which is to say, a person must not be so distracted by himself as to be unreceptive to higher teachings.

Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted, concerns spiritual loss, spiritual loneliness.  It is crying for God, spiritual longing.  It is when we are haunted by loneliness for God.  Shedding even one tear for him invites God into our lives.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.  What is meekness?  Prabhavananda says that it is to live in self-surrender to God, free from the sense of “me” and “mine.”  

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.  What is the righteousness for which Christ wants us to hunger and thirst?  It is the righteousness of God himself. 

Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy, means that we should forgive those who wrong us. In the words of Patanjali, “Undisturbed calmness of the mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, mercy and compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference towards the wicked.”

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.  What is this purity that we must have before God reveals himself to us?  Our habit is thinking of everything other than God, so purity is ridding ourselves of this habit.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.  Vedanta teaches that when our hearts are uplifted by God’s presence, we no longer have any desire to quarrel.

And lastly, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  There are those in the world who will mock us, revile us even, and try to do us harm.  But we, the religious, must not react to this, keeping our minds solely on God.