But it should be understood that the philosophy taught by Vivekananda is
not strictly orthodox Hinduism. It bears the same relation to the old
religious systems of India that Unitarianism bears to orthodox Christianity
such as we find in Catholicism, and its off-shoots.
Vivekananda honored and revered and followed, according to his
interpretation of the message, Sri Ramakrishna, whom an increasing number
of Hindus regard as the latest incarnation of Aum--the Absolute. Not that
the reader is to understand, that Sri Ramakrishna's message contradicted
the essential character of the basic principles of orthodox Hinduism, as
set down in the Vedas and the Upanashads.
The same difference of _emphasis_ upon certain points, or interpretations
of meaning exists in the Orient, as in the western world, in regard to the
possible meaning of the Scriptures.
Sri Ramakrishna, who passed from this earth life at Cossipore, in 1886, was
a disciple of the Vedanta system, as founded by Vyasa, or by Badarayana,
authorities failing to agree as to which of these traditional sages of
India founded the Vedantic system of religion or philosophy.
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