Indian swami relates universal laws

In a draped chair, dressed in a long robe and with a long white beard, Swami Chinmayananda looked properly mystical for a leader of a Far Eastern religion. He was seated next to an altar on a low table and spoke to his followers and interested listeners about science, God and the universe. He spoke firmly and clearly, using simple examples, and, on occasion, humor, to illustrate the points of his religious philosophy. Swami Chinmayananda, a Hindu spiritual leader born in Kerala, India, spoke last Monday night at the University Museum. His lecture, part of a college tour, was entitled, "The Vision of Vedanta: Its Logic and Practicality." It was presented by the Chinmaya Mission Tri-state Center and the University's South Asia Society. According to the Chinmaya Mission literature, Chinmayananda was involved with India's independence movement. Later inspired by Swami Sivananda, he changed his name and went from "a skeptic to a renunciate monk." Chinmayananda discussed scientific inquisitiveness as inherent to humankind. He said that people are always "trying to understand the outer world of happenings." "From the known, slowly you creep forward to the unknown," he said. Chinmayananda discussed three laws describing the relationship of cause and effect as pertaining to the universe and to life. "Number one, an effect can never be without a cause. A clay pot can never remain without clay," he said. "Number two, effects are nothing but the cause itself in different form," he said. "Cup, saucer, plate, jug have different shapes, different use, different names. And yet, all of them are clay." The third law expanded on the first two principles. "From the effect when the cause is removed -- nothing," Chinmayananda said. "From the clay pot, when the clay is removed, nothing remains," he illustrated. Swami Chinmayananda said that the discoverers of these philosophical laws "had the audacity of applying [them[ to the universe." "If there is a cause for the world, the universe is nothing but that cause in different form," he said. "So, the universe that you and I are perceiving is nothing but that cause." "You too are an expression of that infinite self," Chinmayananda said, quickly adding that, "No, you are not God!" University students who listened to the talk came away with different impressions of Swami Chinmayananda's philosophy. Wharton sophomore Amarish Mehta has been a follower of Chinmayananda for eight years. "I've heard his talks before," he said. "This time, it was very specific on why you should believe in a religion and also on why man and society in general should try to think that they're one, because when we have differences is when we have wars, trouble." College sophomore Srilaxmi Tumuluri said she is Hindu and grew up both in India and Chicago. She said she found the lecture "very relevant to anything, not just Hinduism or Vedanta." "He made it seem so simple," she said. "Like the three laws that he put down. You could derive the whole meaning of life from those three laws. Any question that I have I could answer from those three laws." "The greatness of him is that he can make something so complicated seem so simple," Tumuluri said. Claudia Hardy, a College senior from Mexico, said she is taking a class on Indian philosophy. She described the lecture as a "pretty basic introduction to teachings of Vedanta." "It wasn't a scholarly approach," she said. "It was more of a people's approach. The guy is charming and his voice is beautiful." She described Chinmayananda's teachings as "non-dualism -- everything is one with God." "You are an effect of God," she said. "You are one with God." The hour-long lecture was followed by an Indian dance recital, and Swami Chinmayananda's books were sold in the lobby. These included the Bhagavad Gita, the holy bible of the religion.

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