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In the Western countries, we have very little contact with Vedic culture, Vedic spirituality and Vedic literature. This is by design. Western governments, going all the way back to the Roman Empire, have maintained a policy of denial toward Vedic culture in general, and Vedic spiritual life in particular.

Actually India was the jewel of ancient civilization, and even after the collapse of the worldwide Vedic Empire about 4,500 years ago, it had tremendous influence on early Western culture through the spice and silk trade routes. Vedic brahmanas often traveled to Egypt, Greece and other centers of Western culture to teach, and their influence shows up in many classical Greek works.

We aren’t sure exactly how much influence Vedic culture had on the Greeks, because the Romans went out of their way to destroy it. They burned thousands of Greek books containing references to Eastern wisdom; they destroyed the ancient Library of Alexandria—twice—and all this was part of a strategy to cover up the influence of India on their culture.

We only know about this because the Romans were such good administrators that they kept detailed records of the books they burned, and why. This anti-Vedic bias stains Western culture, politics and education down to the present day. As a result, Western students of spirituality are handicapped when it comes to understanding and interpreting the great significance of the Vedic spiritual ontological writings.

The Western materialistic culture generates an ever-increasing stream of information—but this growing flood of information has less and less significance. It is as though you are standing on the beach, looking deeper and deeper into a tiny tide pool, trying to find a fish. Of course, there are no fish in a tide pool; it’s too shallow. All the fish are in the ocean. But because you have blinders on, you cannot see the ocean, even though it is right before you.

So this is the situation. You have blinders on; therefore you are looking for wisdom and enlightenment in a field that is too shallow, because that is all you can see. There is plenty of wisdom and enlightenment available from the Vedic literature—more than you can imagine—but first you have to take off your blinders so you can see it.

I gave a lecture today on this same general subject, and afterwards, one lady came forward to discuss with me. She was shaking and sweating, and there were tears in her eyes. She said, “What you just said removed my blinders. Now I can understand how significant, how important these Vedic literatures are. I just want to run home and re-read them, knowing what I know now.”

This lady is not ordinary; she is very intelligent, with a Ph.D. She is an Initiate, and has been studying the Vedas seriously for several years. Why was she so affected? She realized that she had been approaching the Vedic literature with blinders on: she was trying to understand them with the wrong ontology.

You will experience the same profound effect as soon as you take your blinders off and see the Esoteric Teaching for what it really is. It is so valuable; it is so important that as soon as you understand how great it really is, you will also begin shaking, sweating and crying. The Esoteric Teaching is so meaningful.

As I am fond of pointing out, people with different ontologies will interpret the exact same experience differently. Ontology is the background information that we use to interpret and evaluate our experience.

For example, an ordinary person walking through the woods just sees a small red bird sitting on a tree. But a trained ornithologist will know the bird’s common and scientific names, its song, genetic phylogeny, its feeding, mating and migratory habits, ecological niche, relations with other species, and more. He will be able to understand whether the bird’s appearance is common or unusual, and if its behavior indicates anything special, such as a nearby nest. The ornithologist has a richer, more meaningful experience of the bird because he has a much more extensive ontology of birds.

Similarly, the depth of our spiritual ontology determines how much significance we derive from our spiritual experiences. If our spiritual ontology is shallow, like the tide pool, no matter how hard we try we will not be able to get the satisfaction we need from our spiritual life. But the Vedic ontology is deep like an ocean, and if we accept it, it will add whole new dimensions of meaning to our experience. The Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas will make our lives richer and more satisfying, and lead us quickly to ultimate self-realization and enlightenment.

The Vedic ontology is most concisely expressed in Vedanta-sutra. But Vedanta-sutra is so terse that it is impossible for ordinary human beings to understand. Therefore the author of Vedanta-sutra, Srila Dvaipayana Vyasa, also wrote a commentary on Vedanta-sutra entitled Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam contains a sophisticated spiritual ontology in the form of stories within stories of the ancient past. The same technique is used in Vyasadeva’s Mahabharata to convey spiritual values accurately, even to less educated individuals.

So one should begin by studying Bhagavad-gita, and then carefully read and study Srimad-Bhagavatam, Mahabharata, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu and other Vedic ontological works, such as Brhad-Bhagavatamrta. This will remove the blinders of Western materialistic ontology, and you will be able to clearly perceive the vast ocean of meaning that is Vedic spiritual culture. In this transcendental ocean you will find everything that you need to be happy eternally.

Next: Disconnected from the Source