Where does the proof of mystic statements of Vedanta come from?

What is the scientific proof of the metaphysical statements of Vedanta?
Where does the proof come from?
The answer to this question is the grandest feature of
Religion in general, and Hinduism in particular.
It explains why Hinduism does not depend,
for establishing its truth,
on some event or the life history of some person or persons;
why the progress of Science can never be
inimical to the principles and pursuit of Hinduism
which holds that its essential truths
can be experienced by one's own intuition.
Once you have disciplined yourself spiritually
and experienced Divine Communion
you can tune yourself to remain in that state
even though you go about your worldly activities,
playing your part in society.
In this sense Hinduism gives you the privilege
of 'seeing' for yourself what the scriptures are talking about.
There is no better proof than seeing for yourself.

In Science, on the other hand, if you do not have expensive equipment, you may have to trust the printed report that such and such a result was noted in such and such an experiment conducted with that equipment. In the field of Vedanta the equipment is yourself and everything is in your individual power and effort. So every statement that others may make regarding the Inner Self is verifiable by yourself.

In this respect Vedanta is like Mathematics. Mathematics is perhaps the only science in which the confirmation of every statement you make is one hundred per cent. in your hands, because even though you use other people's results or theorems you can reconstruct for yourself, in your mind, all the steps in the proofs of those results and theorems. (Since 1976, however, this statement has exceptions. Click here) This is what all sound mathematicians do. On the other hand, in other sciences, much of the confirmation of statements that even a great scientist makes may depend on experiments which he himself cannot perform or has not ever performed.

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February 2, 1999