lectures of swami vivekananda

8/11/2019 Lectures of Swami Vivekananda

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF ISHVARA(od!

"#o is Is#vara$"#o is Is#vara$

Janmadyasya yatah -- "From whom is the birth, continuation, and dissolution of theuniverse," -- He is Ishvara -- "the Eternal, the Pure, the Ever-Free, the Almighty, the All-nowing, the All-!erciful, the eacher of all teachers"# and above all, $a Ishvarahanirvachaniya-%remasvaru%ah -- "He the &ord is, of His own nature, ine'%ressible &ove("hese certainly are the definitions of a Personal )od( Are there then two )ods -- the "*ot this,not this," the $at-chit-ananda, the E'istence-nowledge-+liss of the %hiloso%her, and this )odof &ove of the +hata *o, it is the same $at-chit-ananda who is also the )od of &ove, theim%ersonal and %ersonal in one( It has always to be understood that the Personal )odworshi%ed by the +hata is not se%arate or different from the +rahman( All is +rahman, the.ne without a second# only the +rahman, as unity or absolute, is too much of an abstraction

to be loved and worshi%ed# so the +hata chooses the relative as%ect of +rahman, that is,Ishvara, the $u%reme /uler( o use a simile0 +rahman is as the clay or substance out of whichan infinite variety of articles are fashioned( As clay, they are all one# but form or manifestationdifferentiates them( +efore every one of them was made, they all e'isted %otentially in theclay, and, of course, they are identical substantially# but when formed, and so long as theform remains, they are se%arate and different# the clay-mouse can never become a clay-ele%hant, because, as manifestations, form alone maes them what they are, though asunformed clay they are all one( Ishvara is the highest manifestation of the Absolute /eality, orin other words, the highest %ossible reading of the Absolute by the human mind( 1reation iseternal, and so also is Ishvara(

In the fourth PAda of the fourth cha%ter of his $utras, after stating the almost infinite%ower and nowledge which will come to the liberated soul after the attainment of !osha,2yasa maes the remar, in an a%horism, that none, however, will get the %ower of creating,ruling, and dissolving the universe, because that belongs to )od alone( In e'%laining the$utra it is easy for the dualistic commentators to show how it is ever im%ossible for asubordinate soul, Jiva, to have the infinite %ower and total inde%endence of )od( hethorough dualistic commentator !adhvAchArya deals with this %assage in his usualsummary method by 3uoting a verse from the 2arAha PurAna(

%oes sameness wit# &ra#man 'ive t#e ower of Is#vara$

In e'%laining this a%horism the commentator /amanu4a says, "his doubt being raised,whether among the %owers of the liberated souls is included that uni3ue %ower of the$u%reme .ne, that is, of creation etc( of the universe and even the &ordshi% of all, or whether,without that, the glory of the liberated consists only in the direct %erce%tion of the $u%reme.ne, we get as an argument the following0 It is reasonable that the liberated get the &ordshi%of the universe, because the scri%tures say, 5He attains to e'treme sameness with the $u%reme.ne and all his desires are reali6ed(5 *ow e'treme sameness and reali6ation of all desirescannot be attained without the uni3ue %ower of the $u%reme &ord, namely, that of governing


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the universe( herefore, to attain the reali6ation of all desires and the e'treme sameness withthe $u%reme, we must all admit that the liberated get the %ower of ruling the whole universe(o this we re%ly, that the liberated get all the %owers e'ce%t that of ruling the universe(/uling the universe is guiding the form and the life and the desires of all the sentient and thenon-sentient beings( he liberated ones from whom all that veils His true nature has beenremoved, only en4oy the unobstructed %erce%tion of the +rahman, but do not %ossess the

%ower of ruling the universe( his is %roved from the scri%tural te't, "From whom all thesethings are born, by which all that are born live, unto whom they, de%arting, return -- asabout it( hat is +rahman(5 If this 3uality of ruling the universe be a 3uality common even tothe liberated, then this te't would not a%%ly as a definition of +rahman, defining Himthrough His ruler shi% of the universe( he uncommon attributes alone define a thing#therefore in te'ts lie -- 5!y beloved boy, alone, in the beginning there e'isted the .newithout a second( hat saw and felt, "I will give birth to the many(" hat %ro4ected heat(5 --5+rahman indeed alone e'isted in the beginning( hat .ne evolved( hat %ro4ected a blessedform, the shatra( All these gods are shatras0 2aruna, $oma, /udra, Par4anya, 7ama,!rityu, Ishana(5 -- 5Atman indeed e'isted alone in the beginning# nothing else vibrated# He

thought of %ro4ecting the world# He %ro4ected the world after(5 -- 5Alone *ArAyana e'isted#neither +rahma nor IshAna, nor the 8yAvA-Prithivi, nor the stars, nor water, nor fire, nor$oma, nor the sun( He did not tae %leasure alone( He after His meditation had one daughter,the ten organs, etc(5 -- and in others as, 59ho living in the earth is se%arate from the earth,who living in the Atman, etc(5 -- the $hrutis s%ea of the $u%reme .ne as the sub4ect of thewor of ruling the universe( ( ( ( *or in these descri%tions of the ruling of the universe is thereany %osition for the liberated soul, by which such a soul may have the ruling of the universeascribed to it("

In e'%laining the ne't $utra, /amanu4a says, "If you say it is not so, because there are direct

te'ts in the 2edas in evidence to the contrary, these te'ts refer to the glory of the liberated inthe s%heres of the subordinate deities(" his also is an easy solution of the difficulty( Althoughthe system of /amanu4a admits the unity of the total, within that totality of e'istence thereare, according to him, eternal differences( herefore, for all %ractical %ur%oses, this systemalso being dualistic, it was easy for /amanu4a to ee% the distinction between the %ersonalsoul and the Personal )od very clear(8oes sameness with +rahman give the %ower of Ishvara

Sankara's views 9e shall now try to understand what the great re%resentative of the Advaita $chool has tosay on the %oint( 9e shall see how the Advaita system maintains all the ho%es and

as%irations of the dualist intact, and at the same time %ro%ounds its own solution of the%roblem in consonance with the high destiny of divine humanity( hose who as%ire to retaintheir individual mind even after liberation and to remain distinct will have am%leo%%ortunity of reali6ing their as%irations and en4oying the blessing of the 3ualified +rahman(hese are they who have been s%oen of in the +hagavata Purana thus0 ". ing, such are theglorious 3ualities of the &ord that the sages whose only %leasure is in the $elf, and fromwhom all fetters have fallen off, even they love the .mni%resent with the love that is forlove5s sae(" hese are they who are s%oen of by the $anhyas as getting merged in nature in


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this cycle, so that, after attaining %erfection, they may come out in the ne't as lords of world-systems( +ut none of these ever becomes e3ual to )od :Ishvara;( hose who attain to thatstate where there is neither creation, nor created, nor creator, where there is neither nower,nor nowable, nor nowledge, where there is neither I, nor thou, nor he, where there isneither sub4ect, nor ob4ect, nor relation, "there, who is seen by whom" -- such %ersons havegone beyond everything to "where words cannot go nor mind", gone to that which the $hrutis

declare as "*ot this, not this"# but for those who cannot, or will not reach this state, there willinevitably remain the triune vision of the one undifferentiated +rahman as nature, soul, andthe inter %enetrating sustainer of both -- Ishvara( $o, when Prahlada forgot himself, he foundneither the universe nor its cause# all was to him one Infinite, undifferentiated by name andform# but as soon as he remembered that he was Prahlada, there was the universe before himand with it the &ord of the universe -- "the /e%ository of an infinite number of blessed3ualities"( $o it was with the blessed )o%is( $o long as they had lost sense of their own%ersonal identity and individuality, they were all rishnas, and when they began to thin ofHim as the .ne to be worshi%ed, then they were )o%is again, and immediatelytAsAmAvir+h


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the world has ever nown, +hagavan a%ila, demonstrated ages ago that humanconsciousness is one of the elements in the mae-u% of all the ob4ects of our %erce%tion andconce%tion, internal as well as e'ternal( +eginning with our bodies and going u% to Ishvara,we may see that every ob4ect of our %erce%tion is this consciousness %lus something else,whatever that may be# and this unavoidable mi'ture is what we ordinarily thin of as reality(Indeed it is, and ever will be, all of the reality that is %ossible for the human mind to now(

herefore to say that Ishvara is unreal, because He is anthro%omor%hic, is sheer nonsense( Itsounds very much lie the occidental s3uabble on idealism and realism, which fearful-looing 3uarrel has for its foundation a mere %lay on the world "real"( he idea of Ishvaracovers all the ground ever denoted and connoted by the word real, and Ishvara is as real asanything else in the universe# and after all, the word real means nothing more than what hasnow been %ointed out( $uch is our %hiloso%hical conce%tion of Ishvara(

"#at is Re*i'ion $

A huge locomotive has rushed on over the line and a small worm that was cree%ing u%on oneof the rails saved its life by crawling out of the %ath of the locomotive( 7et this little worm, soinsignificant that it can be crushed in a moment, is a living something, while this locomotive,so huge, so immense, is only an engine, a machine( 7ou say the one has life and the other isonly dead matter and all its %owers and strength and s%eed are only those of a dead machine,a mechanical contrivance( 7et the %oor little worm which moved u%on the rail and which theleast touch of the engine would have de%rived of its life is a ma4estic being com%ared to thathuge locomotive( It is a small %art of the Infinite and, therefore, it is greater than this%owerful engine( 9hy should that be so How do we now the living from the dead hemachine mechanically %erforms all the movements its maer made it to %erform, its

movements are not those of life( How can we mae the distinction between the living and thedead, then In the living there is freedom, there is intelligence# in the dead all is bound and nofreedom is %ossible, because there is no intelligence( his freedom that distinguishes us frommere machines is what we are all striving for( o be more free is the goal of all our efforts, foronly in %erfect freedom can there be %erfection( his effort to attain freedom underlies allforms of worshi%, whether we now it or not(

If we were to e'amine the various sorts of worshi% all over the world, we would see that therudest of manind are worshi%%ing ghosts, demons, and the s%irits of their forefathers-ser%ent worshi%, worshi% of tribal gods, and worshi% of the de%arted ones( 9hy do they do

this +ecause they feel that in some unnown way these beings are greater, more %owerfulthan themselves, and limit their freedom( hey, therefore, see to %ro%itiate these beings inorder to %revent them from molesting them, in other words, to get more freedom( hey alsosee to win favor from these su%erior beings, to get by gift of the gods what ought to beearned by %ersonal effort(

.n the whole, this shows that the world is e'%ecting a miracle( his e'%ectation never leavesus, and however we may try, we are all running after the miraculous and e'traordinary(9hat is mind but that ceaseless in3uiry into the meaning and mystery of life 9e may say


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that only uncultivated %eo%le are going after all these things, but the 3uestion still is there09hy should it be so he Jews were asing for a miracle( he whole world has been asingfor the same these thousands of years( here is, again, the universal dissatisfaction( 9e maean ideal but we have rushed only half the way after it, when we mae a newer one( 9estruggle hard to attain to some goal and then discover we do not want it( his dissatisfactionwe are having time after time, and what is there in the mind if there is to be only

dissatisfaction 9hat is the meaning of this universal dissatisfaction It is because freedom isevery man5s goal( He sees it ever, his whole life is a struggle after it( he child rebels againstlaw as soon as it is born( Its first utterance is a cry, a %rotest against the bondage in which itfinds itself( his longing for freedom %roduces the idea of a +eing who is absolutely free( heconce%t of )od is a fundamental element in the human constitution( In the 2edanta,$atchitananda :E'istence-nowledge-+liss; is the highest conce%t of )od %ossible to themind( It is the essence of nowledge and is by its nature the essence of bliss( 9e have beenstifling that inner voice long enough, seeing to follow law and 3uiet the human nature, butthere is that human instinct to rebel against nature5s laws( 9e may not understand what themeaning is, but there is that unconscious struggle of the human with the s%iritual, of the

lower with the higher, mind, and the struggle attem%ts to %reserve one5s se%arate life, whatwe call our "individuality"(

Even hells stand out with this miraculous fact that we are born rebels# and the first fact of lifethe in rushing of life itself against this we rebel and cry out, "*o law for us(" As long as weobey the laws we are lie machines, and on goes the universe, and we cannot brea it( &awsas laws become man5s nature( he first inling of life on its higher level is in seeing thisstruggle within us to brea the bond of nature and to be free( "Freedom, . Freedom>Freedom, . Freedom>" is the song of the soul( +ondage, alas, to be bound in nature, seems itsfate(

9hy should there be ser%ent, or ghost, or demon worshi% and all these various creeds andforms for having miracles 9hy do we say that there is life, there is being in anything heremust be a meaning in all this search, this endeavor to understand life, to e'%lain being( It isnot meaningless and vain( It is man5s ceaseless endeavor to become free( he nowledgewhich we now call science has been struggling for thousands of years in its attem%t to gainfreedom, and %eo%le as for freedom( 7et there is no freedom in nature( It is all law( $till thestruggle goes on( *ay, the whole of nature from the very sun to the atoms is under law, andeven for man there is no freedom( +ut we cannot believe it( 9e have been studying laws fromthe beginning and yet cannot nay, will not believe that man is under law( he soul cries ever,"Freedom, . Freedom>" 9ith the conce%tion of )od as a %erfectly free +eing, man cannot rest

eternally in this bondage( Higher he must go, and unless the struggle were for himself, hewould thin it too severe( !an says to himself, "I am a born slave, I am bound# nevertheless,there is a +eing who is not bound by nature( He is free and !aster of nature("

he conce%tion of )od, therefore, is as essential and as fundamental a %art of mind as is theidea of bondage( +oth are the outcome of the idea of freedom( here cannot be life, even inthe %lant, without the idea of freedom( In the %lant or in the worm, life has to rise to theindividual conce%t( It is there, unconsciously woring, the %lant living its life to %reserve the


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variety, %rinci%le, or form, not nature( he idea of nature controlling every ste% onwardoverrules the idea of freedom( .nward goes the idea of the material world, onward movesthe idea of freedom( $till the fight goes on( 9e are hearing about all the 3uarrels of creeds andsects, yet creeds and sects are 4ust and %ro%er, they must be there( he chain is lengtheningand naturally the struggle increases, but there need be no 3uarrels if we only new that weare all striving to reach the same goal(

he embodiment of freedom, the !aster of nature, is what we call )od( 7ou cannot denyHim( *o, because you cannot move or live without the idea of freedom( 9ould you comehere if you did not believe you were free It is 3uite %ossible that the biologist can and willgive some e'%lanation of this %er%etual effort to be free( ae all that for granted, still theidea of freedom is there( It is a fact, as much so as the other fact that you cannot a%%arentlyget over, the fact of being under nature(

+ondage and liberty, light and shadow, good and evil must be there, but the very fact of thebondage shows also this freedom hidden there( If one is a fact, the other is e3ually a fact(

here must be this idea of freedom( 9hile now we cannot see that this idea of bondage, inuncultivated man, is his struggle for freedom, yet the idea of freedom is there( he bondageof sin and im%urity in the uncultivated savage is to his consciousness very small, for hisnature is only a little higher than the animal5s( 9hat he struggles against is the bondage of%hysical nature, the lac of %hysical gratification, but out of this lower consciousness growsand broadens the higher conce%tion of a mental or moral bondage and a longing for s%iritualfreedom( Here we see the divine dimly shining through the veil of ignorance( he veil is verydense at first and the light may be almost obscured, but it is there, ever %ure and undimmed,the radiant fire of freedom and %erfection( !an %ersonifies this as the /uler of the


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the stars( 9herever anything shines, whether it is the light in the sun or in our ownconsciousness, it is He( He shining, all shines after Him(

Sou*+ od and Re*i'ion

hrough the vistas of the %ast the voice of the centuries is coming down to us# the voice of thesages of the Himalayas and the recluses of the forest# the voice that came to the $emitic races#the voice that s%oe through +uddha and other s%iritual giants# the voice that comes fromthose who live in the light that accom%anied man in the beginning of the earth the light thatshines wherever man goes and lives with him for ever is coming to us even now( his voice islie the little rivulets that come from the mountains( *ow they disa%%ear, and now theya%%ear again in stronger flow till finally they unite in one mighty ma4estic flood( hemessages that are coming down to us from the %ro%hets and holy men and women of all sectsand nations are 4oining their forces and s%eaing to us with the trum%et voice of the %ast(And the first message it brings us is0 Peace be unto you and to all religions( It is not a message

of antagonism, but of one united religion(

&et us study this message first( At the beginning of this century it was almost feared thatreligion was at an end(


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And another fact I find in the study of the various religions of the world is that there are threedifferent stages of ideas with regard to the soul and )od( In the first %lace, all religions admitthat, a%art from the body which %erishes, there is a certain %art or something which does notchange lie the body, a %art that is immutable, eternal, that never dies# but some of the laterreligions teach that although there is a %art of us that never dies, it had a beginning( +ut

anything that has a beginning must necessarily have an end( 9e, the essential %art of us,never had a beginning, and will never have an end( And above us all, above this eternalnature, there is another eternal +eing, without end, )od( Peo%le tal about the beginning ofthe world, the beginning of man( he word beginning sim%ly means the beginning of thecycle( It nowhere means the beginning of the whole 1osmos( It is im%ossible that creationcould have a beginning( *o one of you can imagine a time of beginning( hat which has abeginning must have an end( "*ever did I not e'ist, nor you, nor will any of us ever hereaftercease to be," says the +hagavad-)ita( 9herever the beginning of creation is mentioned, itmeans the beginning of a cycle( 7our body will meet with death, but your soul, never(

Along with this idea of the soul we find another grou% of ideas in regard to its %erfection( hesoul in itself is %erfect( he .ld estament of the Hebrews admits man %erfect at thebeginning( !an made himself im%ure by his own actions( +ut he is to regain his old nature,his %ure nature( $ome s%ea of these things in allegories, fables, and symbols( +ut when webegin to analyses these statements, we find that they all teach that the human soul is in itsvery nature %erfect, and that man is to regain that original %urity( How +y nowing )od(Just as the +ible says, "*o man can see )od but through the $on(" 9hat is meant by it hatseeing )od is the aim and goal of all human life( he son-shi% must come before we becomeone with the Father( /emember that man lost his %urity through his own actions( 9hen wesuffer, it is because of our own acts# )od is not to be blamed for it(

1losely connected with these ideas is the doctrine which was universal before the Euro%eansmutilated it the doctrine of reincarnation( $ome of you may have heard of and ignored it( hisidea of reincarnation runs %arallel with the other doctrine of the eternity of the human soul(*othing which ends at one %oint can be without a beginning and nothing that begins at one%oint can be without an end( 9e cannot believe in such a monstrous im%ossibility as thebeginning of the human soul( he doctrine of reincarnation asserts the freedom of the soul($u%%ose there was an absolute beginning( hen the whole burden of this im%urity in manfalls u%on )od( he all-merciful Father res%onsible for the sins of the world> If sin comes inthis way, why should one suffer more than another 9hy such %artiality, if it comes from anall-merciful )od 9hy are millions tram%led underfoot 9hy do %eo%le starve who never

did anything to cause it 9ho is res%onsible If they had no hand in it, surely, )od would beres%onsible( herefore the better e'%lanation is that one is res%onsible for the miseries onesuffers( If I set the wheel in motion, I am res%onsible for the result( And if I can bring misery, Ican also sto% it( It necessarily follows that we are free( here is no such thing as fate( here isnothing to com%el us( 9hat we have done, that we can undo(

o one argument in connection with this doctrine I will as your %atient attention, as it is alittle intricate( 9e gain all our nowledge through e'%erience# that is the only way( 9hat we


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call e'%eriences are on the %lane of consciousness( For illustration0 A man %lays a tune on a%iano, he %laces each finger on each ey consciously( He re%eats this %rocess till themovement of the fingers becomes a habit( He then %lays a tune without having to %ay s%ecialattention to each %articular ey( $imilarly, we find in regard to ourselves that our tendenciesare the result of %ast conscious actions( A child is born with certain tendencies( 9hence dothey come *o child is born with a tabula rasa with a clean, blan %age of a mind( he %age

has been written on %reviously( he old )ree and Egy%tian %hiloso%hers taught that nochild came with a vacant mind( Each child comes with a hundred tendencies generated by%ast conscious actions( It did not ac3uire these in this life, and we are bound to admit that itmust have had them in %ast lives( he ranest materialist has to admit that these tendenciesare the result of %ast actions, only they add that these tendencies come through heredity( .ur%arents, grand-%arents, and great-grand-%arents come down to us through this law ofheredity( *ow if heredity alone e'%lains this, there is no necessity of believing in the soul atall, because body e'%lains everything( 9e need not go into the different arguments anddiscussions on materialism and s%iritualism( $o far the way is clear for those who believe inan individual soul( 9e see that to come to a reasonable conclusion we must admit that we

have had %ast lives( his is the belief of the great %hiloso%hers and sages of the %ast and ofmodern times( $uch a doctrine was believed in among the Jews( Jesus 1hrist believed in it( Hesays in the +ible, "+efore Abraham was, I am(" And in another %lace it is said, "his is Eliaswho is said to have come("

All the different religions which grew among different nations under varying circumstancesand conditions had their origin in Asia, and the Asiatics understand them well( 9hen theycame out from the motherland, they got mi'ed u% with errors( he most %rofound and nobleideas of 1hristianity were never understood in Euro%e, because the ideas and images used bythe writers of the +ible were foreign to it( ae for illustration the %ictures of the !adonna(

Every artist %aints his !adonna according to his own %reconceived ideas( I have been seeinghundreds of %ictures of the &ast $u%%er of Jesus 1hrist, and he is made to sit at a table( *ow,1hrist never sat at a table# he s3uatted with others, and they had a bowl in which they di%%edbread, not the ind of bread you eat today( It is hard for any nation to understand theunfamiliar customs of other %eo%le( How much more difficult was it for Euro%eans tounderstand the Jewish customs after centuries of changes and accretions from )ree, /oman,and other sources> hrough all the myths and mythologies by which it is surrounded it is nowonder that the %eo%le get very little of the beautiful religion of Jesus, and no wonder thatthey have made of it a modern sho%-ee%ing religion(

o come to our %oint( 9e find that all religions teach the eternity of the soul, as well as that its

luster has been dimmed, and that its %rimitive %urity is to be regained by the nowledge of)od( 9hat is the idea of )od in these different religions he %rimary idea of )od was veryvague( he most ancient nations had different 8eities, sun, earth, fire, water( Among theancient Jews we find numbers of these gods ferociously fighting with each other( hen wefind Elohim whom the Jews and the +abylonians worshi%ed 9e ne't find one )od standingsu%reme( +ut the idea differed according to different tribes( hey each asserted that their )odwas the greatest( And they tried to %rove it by fighting( he one that could do the bestfighting %roved thereby that its )od was the greatest( hose races were more or less savage(


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+ut gradually better and better ideas too the %lace of the old ones( All those old ideas aregone or going into the lumber-room( All those religions were the outgrowth of centuries# notone fell from the sies( Each had to be wored out bit by bit( *e't come the monotheisticideas0 belief in one )od, who is omni%otent and omniscient, the one )od of the universe( hisone )od is e'tra-cosmic# he lies in the heavens( He is invested with the gross conce%tions ofHis originators( He has a right side and a left side, and a bird in His hand, and so on and so

forth( +ut one thing we find, that the tribal gods have disa%%eared for ever, and the one )odof the universe has taen their %lace0 the )od of gods( $till, He is only an e'tra-cosmic )od(He is una%%roachable# nothing can come near Him( +ut slowly this idea has changed also,and at the ne't stage we find a )od immanent in nature(

In the *ew estament it is taught, ".ur Father who art in heaven", )od living in the heavensse%arated from men( 9e are living on earth and He is living in heaven( Further on we findthe teaching that He is a )od immanent in nature# He is not only )od in heaven, but on earthtoo( He is the )od in us( In the Hindu %hiloso%hy we find a stage of the same %ro'imity of)od to us( +ut we do not sto% there( here is the non-dualistic stage, in which man reali6es

that the )od he has been worshi%%ing is not only the Father in heaven, and on earth, but that"I and my Father are one(" He reali6es in his soul that he is )od Himself, only a lowere'%ression of Him( All that is real in me is He# all that is real in Him is I( he gulf between)od and man is thus bridged( hus we find how, by nowing )od, we find the ingdom ofheaven within us(

In the first or dualistic stage, man nows he is a little %ersonal soul, John, James, or om# andhe says, "I will be John, James, or om to all eternity, and never anything else(" As well mightthe murderer come along and say, "I will remain a murderer for ever(" +ut as time goes on,om vanishes and goes bac to the original %ure Adam(

"+lessed are the %ure in heart, for they shall see )od(" 1an we see )od .f course not( 1anwe now )od .f course not( If )od can be nown, He will be )od no longer( nowledge islimitation( +ut I and my Father are one0 I find the reality in my soul( hese ideas aree'%ressed in some religions, and in others only hinted( In some they were e'%atriated(1hrist5s teachings are now very little understood in this country( If you will e'cuse me, I willsay that they have never been very well understood(

he different stages of growth are absolutely necessary to the attainment of %urity and%erfection( he varying systems of religion are at bottom founded on the same ideas( Jesussays the ingdom of heaven is within you( Again he says, ".ur father who art in Heaven("

How do you reconcile the two sayings In this way0 He was taling to the uneducated masseswhen he said the latter, the masses who were uneducated in religion( It was necessary tos%ea to them in their own language( he masses want concrete ideas, something the sensescan gras%( A man may be the greatest %hiloso%her in the world, but a child in religion( 9hena man has develo%ed a high state of s%irituality he can understand that the ingdom ofheaven is within him( hat is the real ingdom of the mind( hus we see that the a%%arentcontradictions and %er%le'ities in every religion mar but different stages of growth( And assuch we have no right to blame anyone for his religion( here are stages of growth in which


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forms and symbols are necessary# they are the language that the souls in that stage canunderstand(

he ne't idea that I want to bring to you is that religion does not consist in doctrines ordogmas( It is not what you read, nor what dogmas you believe that is of im%ortance, but whatyou reali6e( "+lessed are the %ure in heart, for they shall see )od," yea, in this life( And that is

salvation( here are those who teach that this can be gained by the mumbling of words( +utno great !aster ever taught that e'ternal forms were necessary for salvation( he %ower ofattaining it is within ourselves( 9e live and move in )od( 1reeds and sects have their %arts to%lay, but they are for children, they last but tem%orarily( +oos never mae religions, butreligions mae boos( 9e must not forget that( *o boo ever created )od, but )od ins%iredall the great boos( And no boo ever created a soul( 9e must never forget that( he end ofall religions is the reali6ing of )od in the soul( hat is the one universal religion( If there isone universal truth in all religions, I %lace it herein reali6ing )od( Ideals and methods maydiffer, but that is the central %oint( here may be a thousand different radii, but they allconverge to the one center, and that is the reali6ation of )od0 something behind this world of

sense, this world of eternal eating and drining and taling nonsense, this world of falseshadows and selfishness( here is that beyond all boos, beyond all creeds, beyond thevanities of this world, and it is the reali6ation of )od within yourself( A man may believe inall the churches in the world, he may carry in his head all the sacred boos ever written, hemay ba%ti6e himself in all the rivers of the earth, still, if he has no %erce%tion of )od, I wouldclass him with the ranest atheist( And a man may have never entered a church or a mos3ue,nor %erformed any ceremony, but if he feels )od within himself and is thereby lifted abovethe vanities of the world, that man is a holy man, a saint, call him what you will( As soon as aman stands u% and says he is right or his church is right, and all others are wrong, he ishimself all wrong( He does not now that u%on the %roof of all the others de%ends the %roof

of his own( &ove and charity for the whole human race, that is the test of true religiousness( Ido not mean the sentimental statement that all men are brothers, but that one must feel theoneness of human life( $o far as they are not e'clusive, I see that the sects and creeds are allmine# they are all grand( hey are all hel%ing men towards the real religion( I will add, it isgood to be born in a church, but it is bad to die there( It is good to be born a child, but bad toremain a child( 1hurches, ceremonies, and symbols are good for children, but when the childis grown, he must burst the church or himself( 9e must not remain children for ever( It is lietrying to fit one coat to all si6es and growths( I do not de%recate the e'istence of sects in theworld( 9ould to )od there were twenty millions more, for the more there are, there will be agreater field for selection( 9hat I do ob4ect to is trying to fit one religion to every case(hough all religions are essentially the same, they must have the varieties of form %roduced

by dissimilar circumstances among different nations( 9e must each have our own individualreligion, individual so far as the e'ternals of it go(

!any years ago, I visited a great sage of our own country, a very holy man( 9e taled of ourrevealed boo, the 2edas, of your +ible, of the oran, and of revealed boos in general( At theclose of our tal, this good man ased me to go to the table and tae u% a boo# it was a boowhich, among other things, contained a forecast of the rainfall during the year( he sage said,"/ead that(" And I read out the 3uantity of rain that was to fall( He said, "*ow tae the boo


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and s3uee6e it(" I did so and he said, "9hy, my boy, not a dro% of water comes out( " *o, rather let

us remind them of their divine nature( I will tell you a story( A lioness in search of %rey cameu%on a floc of shee%, and as she 4um%ed at one of them, she gave birth to a cub and died onthe s%ot( he young lion was brought u% in the floc, ate grass, and bleated lie a shee%, andit never new that it was a lion( .ne day a lion came across the floc and was astonished tosee in it a huge lion eating grass and bleating lie a shee%( At his sight the floc fled and thelion-shee% with them( +ut the lion watched his o%%ortunity and one day found the lion-shee%aslee%( He woe him u% and said, "7ou are a lion(" he other said, "*o," and began to bleatlie a shee%( +ut the stranger lion too him to a lae and ased him to loo in the water at hisown image and see if it did not resemble him, the stranger lion( He looed and acnowledgedthat it did( hen the stranger lion began to roar and ased him to do the same( he lion-shee%

tried his voice and was soon roaring as grandly as the other( And he was a shee% no longer(

!y friends, I would lie to tell you all that you are mighty as lions( If the room is dar, doyou go about beating your chest and crying, "It is dar, dar, dar>" *o, the only way to getthe light is to strie a light, and then the darness goes( he only way to reali6e the lightabove you is to strie the s%iritual light within you, and the darness of sin and im%urity willflee away( hin of your higher self, not of your lower(

Some questions and answers here followed.

?( A man in the audience said, "If ministers sto% %reaching hellfire, they will have no controlover their %eo%le("A( hey had better lose it then( he man who is frightened into religion has no religion at all(+etter teach him of his divine nature than of his animal(

?( 9hat did the &ord mean when he said, "he ingdom of heaven is not of this world"A( hat the ingdom of heaven is within us( he Jewish idea was a ingdom of heaven u%onthis earth( hat was not the idea of Jesus(

?( 8o you believe we come u% from the animalsA( I believe that, by the law of evolution, the higher beings have come u% from the lower

ingdoms(

?( 8o you now of anyone who remembers his %revious lifeA( I have met some who told me they did remember their %revious life( hey had reached a%oint where they could remember their former incarnations(

?( 8o you believe in 1hrist5s crucifi'ionA( 1hrist was )od incarnate# they could not ill him( hat which was crucified was only a


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semblance, a mirage(

?( If he could have %roduced such a semblance as that, would not that have been the greatestmiracle of allA( I loo u%on miracles as the greatest stumbling-blocs in the way of truth( 9hen thedisci%les of +uddha told him of a man who had %erformed a so-called miracle - had taen a

bowl from a great height without touching it, and showed him the bowl, he too it andcrushed it under his feet and told them never to build their faith on miracles, but to loo fortruth in everlasting %rinci%les( He taught them the true inner light the light of the s%irit,which is the only safe light to go by( !iracles are only stumbling-blocs( &et us brush themaside(

?( 8o you believe Jesus %reached the $ermon on the !ountA( I do believe he did( +ut in this matter I have to go by the boos as others do, and I amaware that mere boo testimony is rather shay ground( +ut we are all safe in taing theteachings of the $ermon on the !ount as a guide( 9e have to tae what a%%eals to our inner

s%irit( +uddha taught five hundred years before 1hrist, and his words were full of blessings0never a curse came from his li%s, nor from his life# never one from @oroaster, nor from1onfucius(

T#e Vedanta P#i*oso#,

&ecture to and subse3uent discussions at the )raduate Philoso%hical $ociety of Harvard


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which in course of time fell into disuse, while the


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im%ulses of light, must be united on something stationary to form a whole, so all the ideas inthe mind must be gathered and %ro4ected on something that is stationary--relatively to thebody and mind--that is, on what is called the $oul or Purusha or Atman(

According to the $anhya %hiloso%hy, the reactive state of the mind called +uddhi or intellectis the outcome, the change, or a certain manifestation of the !ahat or 1osmic !ind( he

!ahat becomes changed into vibrating thought# and that becomes in one %art changed intothe organs, and in the other %art into the fine %articles of matter( .ut of the combination of allthese, the whole of this universe is %roduced( +ehind even !ahat, the $anhya conceives of acertain state which is called Avyata or unmanifested, where even the manifestation of mindis not %resent, but only the causes e'ists( It is also called Prariti( +eyond this Prariti, andeternally se%arate from it, is the Purusha, the soul of the $anhya which is without attributesand omni%resent( he Purusha is not the doer but the witness( he illustration of the crystal isused to e'%lain the Purusha( he latter is said to be lie a crystal without any color, beforewhich different colors are %laced, and then it seems to be colored by the colors before it, butin reality it is not(

he 2edantists re4ect the $anhya ideas of the soul and nature( hey claim that between themthere is a huge gulf to be bridged over( .n the one hand the $anhya system comes to nature,and then at once it has to 4um% over to the other side and come to the soul, which is entirelyse%arate from nature( How can these different colors, as $anhya called them, be able to acton that soul which by its nature is colorless $o the 2edantists, from the very first, affirm thatthis soul and this nature are one( Even the dualistic 2edantists admit that the Atman or )odis not only the efficient cause of this universe, but also the material cause( +ut they only say soin so many words( hey do not really mean it, for they try to esca%e from their conclusions, inthis way0 hey say there are three e'istences in this universe--)od, soul, and nature( *ature

and soul are, as it were, the body of )od, and in this sense it may be said that )od and thewhole universe are one( +ut this nature and all these various souls remain different from eachother through all eternity( .nly at the beginning of a cycle do they become manifest# andwhen the cycle ends, they become fine, and remain in a fine state(

Advaita 2edantists--the non-dualists--re4ect this theory of the soul, and, having nearly thewhole range of the


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a%%arently( he celebrated illustration used is that of the ro%e and the snae, where the ro%ea%%eared to be the snae, but was not really so( he ro%e did not really change into the snae(Even so this whole universe as it e'ists is that +eing( It is unchanged, and all the changes wesee in it are only a%%arent( hese changes are caused by8esha, ala, and *imitta :s%ace, time, and causation;, or, according to a higher %sychologicalgenerali6ation, by *ama and /u%a :name and form;( It is by name and form that one thing is

differentiated from another( he name and form alone cause the difference( In reality they areone and the same( Again, it is not, the 2edantists say, that there is something as %henomenonand something as noumenon( he ro%e is changed into the snae a%%arently only# and whenthe delusion ceases, the snae vanishes( 9hen one is in ignorance, he sees the %henomenonand does not see )od( 9hen he sees )od, this universe vanishes entirely for him(

Ignorance or !aya, as it is called, is the cause of all this %henomenon--the Absolute, the


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ignorance falls away from him, and he will feel his own nature( Even in this life, he will feelthat he is one with the universe( For a time, as it were, the whole of this %henomenal worldwill disa%%ear for him, and he will reali6e what he is( +ut so long as the arma of this bodyremains, he will have to live( 9hen the 2eil Has 2anished

his state, when the veil has vanished and yet the body remains for some time, is what the

2edantists call the Jivanmuti, the living freedom( If a man is deluded by a mirage for sometime, and one day the mirage disa%%ears--if it comes bac again the ne't day, or at somefuture time, he will not be deluded( +efore the mirage first broe, the man could notdistinguish between the reality and the dece%tion( +ut when it has once broen, as long as hehas organs and eyes to wor with, he will see the image, but will no more be deluded( hatfine distinction between the actual world and the mirage he has caught, and the latter cannotdelude him any more( $o when the 2edantist has reali6ed his own nature, the whole worldhas vanished for him( It will come bac again, but no more the same world of misery( he%rison of misery has become changed into $at, 1hit, Ananda--E'istence Absolute, nowledgeAbsolute, +liss Absolute--and the attainment of this is the goal of the Advaita(

8iscussion

?( I should lie to now something about the %resent activity of %hiloso%hic thought in India(o what e'tent are these 3uestions discussed

A( As I have said, the ma4ority of the Indian %eo%le are %ractically dualists, and the minorityare monists( he main sub4ect of discussion is !aya and Jiva( 9hen I came to this country, Ifound that the laborers were informed of the %resent condition of %olitics# but when I asedthem, "9hat is religion, and what are the doctrines of this and that %articular sect" they said,

"9e do not now# we go to church(" In India if I go to a %easant and as him, "9ho governsyou" he says, "I do not now# I %ay my ta'es(" +ut if I as him what is his religion, he says, "Iam a dualist", and is ready to give you the details about !aya and Jiva( He cannot read orwrite, but he has learned all this from the mons and is very fond of discussing it( After theday5s wor, the %easants sit under a tree and discuss these3uestions(

?( 9hat does orthodo'y mean with the Hindus

A( In modern times it sim%ly means obeying certain caste laws as to eating, drining, andmarriage( After that the Hindu can believe in any system he lies( here was never an

organi6ed church in India# so there was never a body of men to formulate doctrines oforthodo'y( In a general way, we say that those who believe in the 2edas are orthodo'# but inreality we find that many of the dualistic sects believe more in the Puranas than in the 2edasalone(

?( 9hat influence had your Hindu %hiloso%hy on the $toic %hiloso%hy of the )rees

A( It is very %robable that it had some influence on it through the Ale'andrians( here is some


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sus%icion of Pythagoras5 being influenced by the $anhya thought( Anyway, we thin the$anhya %hiloso%hy is the first attem%t to harmoni6e the %hiloso%hy of the 2edas throughreason( 9e find a%ila mentioned even in the 2edas0 "He who :su%%orts through nowledge;the first-born sage a%ila( "

?( 9hat is the antagonism of this thought with 9estern science

A( *o antagonism at all( 9e are in harmony with it( .ur theory of evolution and of Aashaand Prana is e'actly what your modern %hiloso%hies have( 7our belief in evolution is amongour 7ogis and in the $anhya %hiloso%hy( For instance, Patan4ali s%eas of one s%ecies beingchanged into another by the infilling of nature# only he differs from you in the e'%lanation(His e'%lanation of this evolution is s%iritual( He says that 4ust as when a farmer wants towater his field from the canals that %ass near, he has only to lift u% his gate so each man is theInfinite already, only these bars and bolts and different circumstances shut him in# but assoon as they are removed, he rushes out and e'%resses himself( In the animal, the man washeld in abeyance# but as soon as good circumstances came, he was manifested as man( And

again, as soon as fitting circumstances came, the )od in man manifested itself( $o we havevery little to 3uarrel with in the new theories( For instance, the theory of the $anhya as to%erce%tion is very little different from modern %hysiology(

?( +ut your method is different

A( 7es( 9e claim that concentrating the %owers of the mind is the only way to nowledge( Ine'ternal science, concentration of mind is %utting it on something e'ternal# and in internalscience, it is drawing towards one5s $elf( 9e call this concentration of mind 7oga(

?( In the state of concentration does the truth of these %rinci%les become evident

A( he 7ogis claim a good deal( hey claim that by concentration of the mind every truth inthe universe becomes evident to the mind, both e'ternal and internal truth(

?( 9hat does the Advaitist thin of cosmology

A( he Advaitist would say that all this cosmology and everything else are only in !aya, inthe %henomenal world( In truth they do not e'ist( +ut as long as we are bound, we have to seethese visions( 9ithin these visions things come in a certain regular order( +eyond them thereis no law and order, but freedom(

?( Is the Advaita antagonistic to dualism

A( he


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to a higher state, %artial non-dualism( And at last he finds he is one with the universe(herefore the three do not contradict but fulfill(

?( 9hy does !aya or ignorance e'ist

A( "9hy" cannot be ased beyond the limit of causation( It can only be ased within !aya(

9e say we will answer the 3uestion when it is logically formulated( +efore that we have noright to answer(

?( 8oes the Personal )od belong to !aya

A( 7es# but the Personal )od is the same Absolute seen through !aya( hat Absolute underthe control of nature is what is called the human soul# and that which is controlling nature isIshvara, or the Personal )od( If a man starts from here to see the sun, he will see at first a littlesun# but as he %roceeds he will see it bigger and bigger, until he reaches the real one( At eachstage of his %rogress he was seeing a%%arently a different sun# yet we are sure it was the same

sun he was seeing( $o all these things are but visions of the Absolute, and as such they aretrue( *ot one is a false vision, but we can only say they were lower stages(

?( 9hat is the s%ecial %rocess by which one will come to now the Absolute

A( 9e say there are two %rocesses( .ne is the %ositive, and the other, the negative( he%ositive is that through which the whole universe is going that of love( If this circle of love isincreased indefinitely, we reach the one universal love( he other is the "*eti", "*eti""notthis", "not this"sto%%ing every wave in the mind which tries to draw it out# and at last themind dies, as it were, and the /eal discloses Itself( 9e call that $amadhi, or su%er

consciousness

?( hat would be, then, merging the sub4ect in the ob4ect>

A( !erging the ob4ect in the sub4ect, not merging the sub4ect in the ob4ect( /eally this worlddies, and I remain( I am the only one that remains(

?( $ome of our %hiloso%hers in )ermany have thought that the whole doctrine of +hati:&ove for the 8ivine; in India was very liely the result of occidental influence(

A( I do not tae any stoc in that the assum%tion was e%hemeral( he +hati of India is not

lie the 9estern +hati( he central idea of ours is that there is no thought of fear( It isalways, love )od( here is no worshi% through fear, but always through love, from beginningto end( In the second %lace, the assum%tion is 3uite unnecessary( +hati is s%oen of in theoldest of the


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A( hat is very good( he 2edanta will tae in every one( 9e have a %eculiar idea in India$u%%ose I had a child( I should not teach him any religion# I should teach him breathings the%ractice of concentrating the mind, and 4ust one line of %rayer not %rayer in your sense, butsim%ly something lie this, "I meditate on Him who is the 1reator of this universe0 may Heenlighten my mind>" hat way he would be educated, and then go about hearing different

%hiloso%hers and teachers( He would select one who, he thought, would suit him best# andthis man would become his )uru or teacher, and he would become a $hishya or disci%le( Hewould say to that man, "his form of %hiloso%hy which you %reach is the best# so teach me(".ur fundamental idea is that your doctrine cannot be mine, or mine yours( Each one musthave his own way( !y daughter may have one method, and my son another, and I againanother( $o each one has an Ishta or chosen way, and we ee% it to ourselves( It is between meand my teacher, because we do not want to create a fight( It will not hel% any one to tell it toothers, because each one will have to find his own way( $o only general %hiloso%hy andgeneral methods can be taught universally( For instance, giving a ludicrous e'am%le, it mayhel% me to stand on one leg( It would be ludicrous to you if I said every one must do that, but

it may suit me( It is 3uite %ossible for me to be a dualist and for my wife to be a monist, andso on( .ne of my sons may worshi% 1hrist or +uddha or !ohammad, so long as he obeys thecaste laws( hat is his own IshtA(

?( 8o all Hindus believe in caste

A( hey are forced to( hey may not believe, but they have to obey(

?( Are these e'ercises in breathing and concentration universally %racticed

A( 7es# only some %ractice only a little, 4ust to satisfy the re3uirements of their religion( hetem%les in India are not lie the churches here( hey may all vanish tomorrow, and will notbe missed( A tem%le is built by a man who wants to go to heaven, or to get a son, orsomething of that sort( $o he builds a large tem%le and em%loys a few %riests to hold servicesthere( I need not go there at all, because all my worshi% is in the home( In every house is as%ecial room set a%art, which is called the cha%el( he first duty of the child, after hisinitiation, is to tae a bath, and then to worshi%# and his worshi% consists of this breathingand meditating and re%eating of a certain name( And another thing is to hold the bodystraight( 9e believe that the mind has every %ower over the body to ee% it healthy( Afterone has done this, then another comes and taes his seat, and each one does it in silence($ometimes there are three or four in the same room, but each one may have a different

method( his worshi% is re%eated at least twice a day(

?( his state of oneness that you s%ea of, is it an ideal or something actually attained

A( 9e say it is within actuality# we say we reali6e that state( If it were only in tal, it would benothing( he 2edas teach three things0 this $elf is first to be heard, then to be reasoned, andthen to be meditated u%on( 9hen a man first hears it, he must reason on it, so that he doesnot believe it ignorantly, but nowingly# and after reasoning what it is, he must meditate


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u%on it, and then reali6e it( And that is religion( +elief is no %art of religion( 9e say religion isa su%er conscious state(

?( If you ever reach that state of su%er consciousness, can you ever tell about it

A( *o# but we now it by its fruits( An idiot, when he goes to slee%, comes out of slee% an

idiot or even worse( +ut another man goes into the state of meditation, and when he comesout he is a %hiloso%her, a sage, a great man( hat shows the difference between these twostates(

?( I should lie to as, in continuation of Professor 5s 3uestion, whether you now of any%eo%le who have made any study of the %rinci%les of self-hy%notism, which theyundoubtedly %racticed to a great e'tent in ancient India, and what has been recently statedand %racticed in that thing( .f course you do not have it so much in modern India(

A( 9hat you call hy%notism in the 9est is only a %art of the real thing( he Hindus call it

self-hy%notisation( hey say you are hy%noti6ed already, and that you should get out of itand de-hy%noti6e yourself( "here the sun cannot illume, nor the moon, nor the stars# theflash of lightning cannot illume that# what to s%ea of this mortal fire> hat shining,everything else shines" :atha


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wonderful things mentioned in all scri%tures in a scientific way( he 3uestion is, how theserecords of miracles entered into every nation( he man, who says that they are all false andneed no e'%lanation, is not rational( 7ou have no right to deny them until you can %rovethem false( 7ou must %rove that they are without any foundation, and only then have you theright to stand u% and deny them( +ut you have not done that( .n the other hand, the 7ogissay they are not miracles, and they claim that they can do them even today( !any wonderful

things are done in India today( +ut none of them are done by miracles( here are many booson the sub4ect( Again, if nothing else has been done in that line e'ce%t a scientific a%%roachtowards %sychology, that credit must be given to the 7ogis(

?( 1an you say in the concrete what the manifestations are which the 7ogi can show

A( he 7ogi wants no faith or belief in his science but that which is given to any other science,4ust enough gentlemanly faith to come and mae the e'%eriment( he ideal of the 7ogi istremendous( I have seen the lower things that can be done by the %ower of the mind, andtherefore, I have no right to disbelieve that the highest things can be done( he ideal of the

7ogi is eternal %eace and love through omniscience and omni%otence( I now a 7ogi who wasbitten by a cobra, and who fell down on the ground( In the evening he revived again, andwhen ased what ha%%ened, he said0 "A messenger came from my +eloved(" All hatred andanger and 4ealousy have been burnt out of this man( *othing can mae him react# he isinfinite love all the time, and he is omni%otent in his %ower of love( hat is the real 7ogi( Andthis manifesting different things is accidental on the way( hat is not what he wants to attain(he 7ogi says, every man is a slave e'ce%t the 7ogi( He is a slave of food, to air, to his wife, tohis children, to a dollar, slave to a nation, slave to name and fame, and to a thousand things inthis world( he man who is not controlled by any one of these bondages is alone a real man, areal 7ogi( "hey have con3uered relative e'istence in this life who are firm-fi'ed in sameness(

)od is %ure and the same to all( herefore such are said to be living in )od" :)ita, 2(BD;(

?( 8o the 7ogis attach any im%ortance to caste

A( *o# caste is only the training school for undevelo%ed minds(

?( Is there no connection between this idea of su%er consciousness and the heat of India

A( I do not thin so# because all this %hiloso%hy was thought out fifteen thousand feet abovethe level of the sea, among the Himalayas, in an almost Arctic tem%erature(

?( Is it %racticable to attain success in a cold climate

A( It is %racticable, and the only thing that is %racticable in this world( 9e say you are a born2edantist, each one of you( 7ou are declaring your oneness with everything each momentyou live( Every time that your heart goes out towards the world, you are a true 2edantist,only you do not now it( 7ou are moral without nowing why# and the 2edanta is the%hiloso%hy which analy6ed and taught man to be moral consciously( It is the essence of all


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religions(

?( $hould you say that there is an unsocial %rinci%le in our 9estern %eo%le, which maes usso %luralistic, and that Eastern %eo%le are more sym%athetic than we are

A( I thin the 9estern %eo%le are more cruel, and the Eastern %eo%le have more mercy

towards all beings( +ut that is sim%ly because your civili6ation is very much more recent( Ittaes time to mae a thing come under the influence of mercy( 7ou have a great deal of%ower, and the %ower of control of the mind has es%ecially been very little %racticed( It willtae time to mae you gentle and good( his feeling tingles in every dro% of blood in India If Igo to the villages to teach the %eo%le %olitics, they will not understand# but if I go to teachthem 2edanta, they will say, "*ow, $wami, you are all right"( hat 2airagya, non-attachment,is everywhere in India, even today( 9e are very much degenerated now# but ings will giveu% their thrones and go about the country without anything( In some %laces the commonvillage-girl with her s%inning-wheel says, "8o not tal to me of dualism# my s%inning-wheelsays 5$oham, $oham5 "I am He, I am He(" )o and tal to these %eo%le, and as them why it is

that they s%ea so and yet neel before that stone( hey will say that with you religion meansdogma, but with them reali6ation( "I will be a 2edantist", one of them will say, "only when allthis has vanished, and I have seen the reality(


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&oo at the boos written on India by 9estern %eo%le and at the stories of many travelerswho go there# in retaliation for what in4uries are these hurled at them

?( 9hat is the 2edantic idea of civili6ation

A( 7ou are %hiloso%hers, and you do not thin that a bag of gold maes the difference

between man and man( 9hat is the value of all these machines and sciences hey have onlyone result0 they s%read nowledge( 7ou have not solved the %roblem of want, but only madeit eener( !achines do not solve the %overty 3uestion# they sim%ly mae men struggle themore( 1om%etition gets eener( 9hat value has nature in itself 9hy do you go and build amonument to a man who sends electricity through a wire 8oes not nature do that millions oftimes over Is not everything already e'isting in nature 9hat is the value of your getting itIt is already there( he only value is that it maes this develo%ment( his universe is sim%ly agymnasium in which the soul is taing e'ercise# and after these e'ercises we become gods( $othe value of everything is to be decided by how far it is a manifestation of )od( 1ivili6ation isthe manifestation of that divinity in man(

?( Have the +uddhists any caste laws

A( he +uddhists never had much caste, and there are very few +uddhists in India( +uddhawas a social reformer( 7et in +uddhistic countries I find that there have been strong attem%tsto manufacture caste, only they have failed( he +uddhists5 caste is %ractically nothing, butthey tae %ride in it in their own minds(

+uddha was one of the $annyasins of the 2edanta( He started a new sect, 4ust as others arestarted even today( he ideas which now are called +uddhism were not his( hey were much

more ancient( He was a great man who gave the ideas %ower( he uni3ue element in+uddhism was its social element( +rahmins and shatriyas have always been our teachers,and most of the


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?( How does the 2edanta e'%lain individuality and ethics

A( he real individual is the Absolute# this %ersonalisation is through !aya( It is onlya%%arent# in reality it is always the Absolute( In reality there is one, but in !aya it isa%%earing as many( In !aya there is this variation( 7et even in this !aya there is always thetendency to get bac to the .ne, as e'%ressed in all ethics and all morality of every nation,

because it is the constitutional necessity of the soul( It is finding its oneness# and this struggleto find this oneness is what we call ethics and morality( herefore we must always %racticethem(

?( Is not the greater %art of ethics taen u% with the relation between individuals

A( hat is all it is( he Absolute does not come within !aya(

?( 7ou say the individual is the Absolute, and I was going to as you whether the individualhas nowledge(

A( he state of manifestation is individuality, and the light in that state is what we callnowledge( o use, therefore, this term nowledge for the light of the Absolute is not %recise,as the absolute state transcends relative nowledge(

?( 8oes it include it

A( 7es, in this sense( Just as a %iece of gold can be changed into all sorts of coins, so with this(he state can be broen u% into all sorts of nowledge( It is the state of su%er consciousness,and includes both consciousness and unconsciousness( he man who attains that state has all

that we call nowledge( 9hen he wants to reali6e that consciousness of nowledge, he has togo a ste% lower( nowledge is a lower state# it is only in !aya that we can have nowledge(

Reincarnation

he word JnGna means nowledge( It is derived from the root JnG--to now--the sameword from which your English word to now is derived( Jnana 7oga is 7oga by means ofnowledge( 9hat is the ob4ect of the Jnana 7oga Freedom( Freedom from what Freedomfrom our im%erfections, freedom from the misery of life( 9hy are we miserable 9e aremiserable because we are bound( 9hat is the bondage he bondage is of nature( 9ho is itthat binds us 9e, ourselves(

he whole universe is bound by the law of causation( here cannot be anything, anyfact--either in the internal or in the e'ternal world--that is uncaused# and every cause must%roduce an effect(

*ow this bondage in which we are is a fact( It need not be %roved that we are inbondage( For instance0 I would be very glad to get out of this room through this wall, but I


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It does not enter into this world with a "tabula rasa"--a blan mind u%on which nothing iswritten--as some of the old %hiloso%hers believed, but ready e3ui%%ed with a bundle ofnowledge( $o far so good(

+ut while modern science grants that this bundle of nowledge which the child bringswith it was ac3uired through e'%erience, it asserts, at the same time, that it is not its own--but

its father5s and its grandfather5s and its great grandfather5s( nowledge comes, they say,through hereditary transmission(

*ow this is one ste% in advance of that old theory of "instinct", that is fit only forbabies and idiots( his "instinct" theory is a mere %un u%on words and has no meaningwhatsoever( A man with the least thining %ower and the least insight into the logical%recision of words would never dare to e'%lain innate tendencies by "instinct", a term whichis e3uivalent to saying that something came out of nothing(

+ut the modern theory of transmission through e'%erience --though, no doubt, a ste%

in advance of the old one--is not sufficient at all( 9hy not 9e can understand a %hysicaltransmission, but a mental transmission is im%ossible to understand(

9hat causes me--who am a soul--to be born with a father who has transmitted certain3ualities 9hat maes me come bac he father, having certain 3ualities, may be onebinding cause( aing for granted that I am a distinct soul that was e'isting before and wantsto reincarnate--what maes my soul go into the body of a %articular man For the e'%lanationto be sufficient, we have to assume a hereditary transmission of energies and such a thing asmy own %revious e'%erience( his is what is called arma, or, in English, the &aw of1ausation, the law of fitness(

For instance, if my %revious actions have all been towards drunenness, I willnaturally gravitate towards %ersons who are transmitting a drunard5s character( I can onlytae advantage of the organism %roduced by those %arents who have been transmitting acertain %eculiar influence for which I am fit by my %revious actions( hus we see that it is truethat a certain hereditary e'%erience is transmitted from father to son, and so on( At the sametime, it is my %ast e'%erience that 4oins me to the %articular cause of hereditary transmission(

A sim%ly hereditary transmission theory will only touch the %hysical man and wouldbe %erfectly insufficient for the internal soul of man( Even when looing u%on the matterfrom the %urest materialistic stand%oint--vi6( that there is no such thing as a soul in man, and

man is nothing but a bundle of atoms acted u%on by certain %hysical forces and wors lie anautomaton--even taing that for granted, the mere transmission theory would be 3uiteinsufficient(

he greatest difficulties regarding the sim%le hy%othesis of mere %hysicaltransmission will be here0 If there be no such thing as a soul in man, if he be nothing morethan a bundle of atoms acted u%on by certain forces, then, in the case of transmission, the soulof the father would decrease in ratio to the number of his children# and the man who has five,


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si' or eight children must, in the end, become an idiot( India and 1hina--where men breedlie rats--would then be full of idiots( +ut, on the contrary, we find that the least amount oflunacy is in India and 1hina(

he 3uestion is, 9hat do we mean by the word transmission It is a big word, but, lieso many other im%ossible and nonsensical terms of the same ind, it has come into use

without %eo%le understanding it( If I were to as you what transmission is, you would findthat you have no real conce%tion of its meaning because there is no idea attached to it(

&et us loo a little closer into the matter( $ay, for instance, here is a father( A child isborn to him( 9e see that the same 3ualities which the father %ossesses have entered into hischild( 2ery good( *ow how did the 3ualities of the father come to be in the child *obodynows( $o this ga% the modern %hysicists %erfectly understandable( herefore we are able totae u% the conce%t of transmission of thought, and not of hereditary im%ressions of%roto%lasmic cells alone( 9e need not brush aside the theory, but the main stress must be laidu%on the transmission of thought(

*ow a father does not transmit thought( It is thought alone that transmits thought(he child that is born e'isted %reviously as thought( 9e all e'isted eternally as thought andwill go on e'isting as thought(

9hat we thin, that our body becomes( Everything is manufactured by thought, andthus we are the manufacturers of our own lives( 9e alone are res%onsible for whatever wedo( It is foolish to cry out0 "9hy am I unha%%y" I made my own unha%%iness( It is not thefault of the &ord at all(

$omeone taes advantage of the light of the sun to brea into your house and rob you(And then when he is caught by the %oliceman, he may cry0 ".h sun, why did you mae mesteal" It was not the sun5s fault at all, because there are thousands of other %eo%le who didmuch good to their fellow beings under the light of the same sun( he sun did not tell thisman to go about stealing and robbing(

Each one of us rea%s what we ourselves have sown( hese miseries under which wesuffer, these bondages under which we struggle, have been caused by ourselves, and noneelse in the universe is to blame( )od is the least to blame for it(

Powers Of T#e -ind

All over the world there has been the belief in the su%ernatural through the ages( All of ushave heard of e'traordinary ha%%enings, and many of us have had some %ersonal e'%erienceof them( I would rather introduce the sub4ect by telling you certain facts, which have comewithin my own e'%erience( I once heard of a man who, if anyone went to him with 3uestionsin his mind, would answer them immediately# and I was also informed that he foretoldevents( I was curious, and went to see him with a few fr iends( 9e each had something in ourminds to as, and, to avoid mistaes, we wrote down our 3uestions and %ut them in our


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%ocets( As soon as the man saw one of us, he re%eated our 3uestions and gave answers tothem( hen he wrote something on %a%er, which he folded u%, ased me to sign on the bac,and said, 58on5t loo at it# %ut it in your %ocet, and ee% it there till I as for it again5( And soon to each one of us( He ne't told us about some events that would ha%%en to us in thefuture( hen he s aid, 5*ow, thin of a word or sentence, from any language you lie(5 Ithought of a long sentence from $ansrit, a language of which he was entirely ignorant( 5*ow

tae out the %a%er from your %ocet5, he said( he $ansrit sentence was written there> Hehad written it an hour before with the remar, 5In confirmation of what I have written, thisman will thin of this sentence(5 It was correct(

Another of us who had been given a similar %a%er, which he had signed and %laced in his%ocet, was also ased to thin of a sentence( He thought of a sentence in Arabic, which itwas, still less %ossible for the man to now# it was some %assage from the oran( And myfriend found this written down on the %a%er( Another of us was %hysician( He thought of asentence from a )erman medical boo( It was written on his %a%er(

$everal days later I went to this man again, thining %ossibly I had been deluded somehowbefore( I too other friends, and on this occasion also he came out wonderfully trium%hant(

9ell, I saw many things lie that( )oing about India you find hundreds of similar things indifferent %laces( hese are in every country( Even in this country you will find some suchwonderful things( .f course there is a great deal of fraud, no doubt # but then, whenever yousee fraud, you have also to say that fraud is an imitation( here must be some truthsomewhere that is being imitated# you cannot imitate anything( Imitation must be ofsomething substantially true(

In very remote times in India, thousands of years ago, these facts used to ha%%en even morethan they do today( It seems to me that when a country becomes very thicly %o%ulated,%sychical %owers deteriorates( )iven a vast country thinly inhabited, th ere will, %erha%s, bemore of %sychical %ower there( hese facts, the Hindus being analytically minded, too u%and investigated( And they came to certain remarable conclusions# that is, they made ascience of it( hey found out that all these, though e e'traordinary, are also natural# there isnothing su%ernatural( hey are under laws 4ust the same as any other %hysical %henomenon(It is not a frea of nature that a man is born with such %owers( hey can be systematicallystudied, %racticed and ac3uired ( his science they call the science of /a4a-7oga( here arethousands of %eo%le who cultivate the study of this science, and for the whole nation it hasbecome a %art of daily worshi%(

he conclusion they have reached is that all these e'traordinary %owers are in the mind ofman( his mind is a %art of the universal mind( Each mind is connected with every othermind( And each mind, whenever it is located, is in actual communication with the wholeworld(

Have you ever noticed the %henomenon that is called thought-transference A man here isthining something, and that thought is manifested in somebody else, in some other %lace(


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9ith %re%arations- not by chance- a man wants to send a thought to another r mind at adistance, and this other mind nows that a thought is coming, and he receives it e'actly as itis sent out( 8istance maes no difference( he thought goes and reaches the other man, andhe understands it( If your mind were an isolated something there, and my mind were anisolated something here, and there were no connection between the two, how would it be%ossible for my thought to reach you In the ordinary cases, it is not my thought that is

reaching you direct# but my thought has got to be dissolved into ethereal vibrations and thoseethereal vibrations go into your brain, and they have to be resolved again into your brain, andthey have to be resolved again into your own thoughts( Here is dissolution of thought, andthere is a resolution of thought( It is a roundabout %rocess( +ut in tele%athy, there is no suchthing# it is direct(

his shows that there is a continuity of mind, as the 7ogis call it( he mind is universal( 7ourmind, my mind, all these little minds, are fragments of that universal mind, little waves in theocean# and on account of this continuity, we can convey our thoughts directly to one another(

7ou see what is ha%%ening all around us( he world is one of influence( Part of our energy isused u% in the %reservation of our own bodies( +eyond that, every %article of our energy isday and night being used in influencing others( .ur bodies, our virtues, our intellect, and ours%irituality, all these are continuously influencing others# and so, conversely, we areinfluenced by them( his is going on all around us( *ow, to tae a concrete e'am%le( A mancomes# you now he is very learned, his language is beautiful, and he s%eas to you by thehour# but he does not mae any im%ression( Another man comes, and he s%eas a few words,not well arranged, ungrammatical %erha%s# all the same, he maes an immense im%ression(!any of you have seen that( $o it is evident that words alone cannot always %roduce anim%ression( 9ords, even thoughts, contribute only one-third of the influence in maing an

im%ression, the man, two-thirds( 9hat you call the %ersonal magnetism of the manthat iswhat goes out and im%resses you(

In our families there are the heads# some of them are successful, others are not( 9hy 9ecom%lain of others in our failure( he moment I am unsuccessful, I say, so-and-so is the causeof the failure( In failures, one does not lie to confess one5s ow n faults and weanesses( Each%erson tries to hold himself faultless and lay the blame u%on somebody or something else oreven on bad luc( 9hen heads of families fail, they should as themselves, why it is thatsome %ersons manage a family so well and others do not( hen you will find that thedifference is owing to the man- his %resence, his %ersonality(

1oming to great leaders of manind, we always find that it was the %ersonality of the manthat counted( *ow, tae all the great authors of the %ast, the great thiners( /eally s%eaing,how many thoughts have they thought ae all the writings that h ave been left to us by the%ast leaders of manind# tae each one of their boos and a%%raise them( he real thoughts,new and genuine, that have been thought in this world u% to this time, amount to only ahandful( /ead in their boos the thoughts they have left to us( he authors do not a%%ear tobe giants to us, and yet we now that they were great giants in their days( 9hat made themso *ot sim%ly the thoughts they thought, neither the boos they wrote, nor the s%eeches


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they made, it was something else that is now gone, that is their %ersonality( As I have alreadyremared, the %ersonality of the man is two-thirds, and his intellect, his words, are but one-third( It is the real man, the %ersonality of the man that runs through us( .ur actions are buteffects( Actions must come when the man is there# the effect is bound to follow the cause(

he ideal of all education, all training, should be this man-maing( +ut, instead of that, we are

always trying to %olish u% the outside( 9hat use to %olish u% the outside when there is noinside he end and aim of all training is to mae the man grow( he man who influences,who throws his magic, as it were, u%on his fellow-beings, is a dynamo of %ower, and whenthat man is ready, he can do anything and everything he lies# that %ersonality %ut u%onanything will mae it wor(

*ow, we see that though this is a fact, no %hysical laws that we now of will e'%lain it bychemical and %hysical nowledge How much of o'ygen, hydrogen, carbon, how manymolecules in different %ositions, and how many cells, etc(, etc(, can e'%lain t his mysterious%ersonality And we still see, it is a fact, and not only that, it is the real man# and it is that

man that lives and moves his fellow-beings, and %asses out, and his intellect and boos andwors are but traces left behind( hin of this( 1om%are the great teachers of religion with thegreat %hiloso%hers( he %hiloso%hers scarcely influenced any body5s inner man, and yet theywrote most marvelous boos( he religious teachers, on the other hand, moved countries intheir lifetime( he difference was made by %ersonality( In the %hiloso%her, it is a faint%ersonality that influences# in the great %ro%hets it is tremendous( In the former we touch theintellect, in the latter we touch life( In the one case, it is sim%ly a chemical %rocess, %uttingcertain chemical ingredients together, which may gradually, combine and under %ro%ercircumstances bring out a flash of light or may fail( In the other, it is lie a torch that goesround 3uicly, lighting others(

he science of 7oga claims that it has discovered the laws, which develo% this %ersonality,and by %ro%er attention to those laws and methods, each one can grow and strengthen his%ersonality( his is one of the great %ractical things and this is the secret of all education( hishas a universal a%%lication(

Ra.a Yo'a(-enta* tec#ni/ue! 0 An Introduction

All our nowledge is based u%on e'%erience( 9hat we call inferential nowledge, in

which we go from the less to the more general, or from the general to the %articular, hase'%erience as its basis( In what are called the e'act sciences, %eo%le easily find the truth,because it a%%eals to the %articular e'%eriences of every human being( he scientist does nottell you to believe in anything, but he has certain results which come from his owne'%eriences, and reasoning on them when he ass us to believe in his conclusions, he a%%ealsto some universal e'%erience of humanity( In every e'act science there is a basis which iscommon to all humanity, so that we can at once see the truth or the fallacy of the conclusionsdrawn therefrom( *ow, the 3uestion is0 Has religion any such basis or not I shall have toanswer the 3uestion both in the affirmative and in the negative( /eligion, as it is generally


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taught all over the world, is said to be based u%on faith and belief, and, in most cases, consistsonly of different sets of theories, and that is the reason why we find all religions 3uarrelingwith one another( hese theories, again, are based u%on belief( .ne man says there is a great+eing sitting above the clouds and governing the whole universe, and he ass me to believethat solely on the authority of his assertion( In the same way, I may have my own ideas,which I am asing others to believe, and if they as a reason, I cannot give them any( his is

why religion and meta%hysical %hiloso%hy have a bad name nowadays( Every educated manseems to say, ".h, these religions are only bundles of theories without any standard to 4udgethem by, each man %reaching his own %et ideas(" *evertheless, there is a basis of universalbelief in religion, governing all the different theories and all the varying ideas of differentsects in different countries( )oing to their basis we find that they also are based u%onuniversal e'%eriences( In the first %lace, if you analy6e all the various religions of the world,you will find that these are divided into two classes, those with a boo and those without aboo(

hose with a boo are the strongest, and have the largest number of followers( hose without

boos have mostly died out, and the few new ones have very small followings( 7et, in all ofthem we find one consensus of o%inion, that the truths they teach are the results of thee'%eriences of %articular %ersons( he 1hristian ass you to believe in his religion, to believein 1hrist and to believe in him as the incarnation of )od, to believe in a )od, in a soul, and ina better state of that soul( If I as him for reason, he says he believes in them( +ut if you go tothe fountainhead of 1hristianity, you will find that it is based u%on e'%erience( 1hrist said hesaw )od# the disci%les said they felt )od# and so forth( $imilarly, in +uddhism, it is +uddha5se'%erience( He e'%erienced certain truths, saw them, came in contact with them, and%reached them to the world( $o with the Hindus( In their boos the writers, who are called/ishis, or sages, declare they e'%erienced certain truths, and these they %reach( hus it is clear

that all the religions of the world have been built u%on that one universal and adamantinefoundation of all our nowledge direct e'%erience( he teachers all saw )od# they all sawtheir own souls, they saw their future, they saw their eternity, and what they saw they%reached( .nly there is this difference that by most of these religions es%ecially in moderntimes, a %eculiar claim is made, namely, that these e'%eriences are im%ossible at the %resentday# they were only %ossible with a few men, who were the first founders of the religions thatsubse3uently bore their names( At the %resent time these e'%eriences have become obsolete,and, therefore, we have now to tae religion on belief( his I entirely deny( If there has beenone e'%erience in this world in any %articular branch of nowledge, it absolutely follows thatthat e'%erience has been %ossible millions of times before, and will be re%eated eternally(


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there is a )od if he does not see Him If there is a )od we must see Him, if there is a soul wemust %erceive it# otherwise it is better not to believe( It is better to be an outs%oen atheistthan a hy%ocrite( he modern idea, on the one hand, with the "learned" is that religion andmeta%hysics and all search after a $u%reme +eing are futile# on the other hand, with the semieducated, the idea seems to be that these things really have no basis# their only value consistsin the fact that they furnish strong motive %owers for doing good to the world( If men believe

in a )od, they may become good, and moral, and so mae good citi6ens( 9e cannot blamethem for holding such ideas, seeing that all the teaching these men get is sim%ly to believe inan eternal rigmarole of words, without any substance behind them( hey are ased to liveu%on words# can they do it If they could, I should not have the least regard for humannature( !an wants truth, wants to e'%erience truth for himself# when he has gras%ed it,reali6ed it, felt it within his heart of hearts, then alone, declare the 2edas, would all doubtsvanish, all darness be scattered, and all crooedness be made straight( "7e children ofimmortality, even those who live in the highest s%here, the way is found# there is a way out ofall this darness, and that is by %erceiving Him who is beyond all darness# there is no otherway( he science of /a4a 7oga %ro%oses to %ut before humanity a %ractical and scientifically

wored out method of reaching this truth( In the first %lace, every science must have its ownmethod of investigation( If you want to become an astronomer and sit down and cry"Astronomy> Astronomy>" it will never come to you( he same with chemistry( A certainmethod must be followed( 7ou must go to a laboratory, tae different substances, mi' themu%, com%ound them, e'%eriment with them, and out of that will come a nowledge ofchemistry( If you want to be an astronomer, you must go to an observatory, tae a telesco%e,study the stars and %lanets, and then you will become an astronomer( Each science must haveits own methods( I could %reach you thousands of sermons, but they would not mae youreligious, until you %racticed the method( hese are the truths of the sages of all countries, ofall ages, of men %ure and unselfish, who had no motive but to do good to the world( hey all

declare that they have found some truth higher than what the senses can bring to us, and theyinvite verification( hey as us to tae u% the method and %ractice honestly, and then, if wedo not find this higher truth, we will have the right to say there is no truth in the claim, butbefore we have done that, we are not rational in denying the truth of their assertions( $o wemust wor faithfully, using the %rescribed methods, and light will come( In ac3uiringnowledge we mae use of generali6ations, and generali6ation is based u%on observation(9e first observe facts, then generali6e, and then draw conclusions or %rinci%les( henowledge of the mind, of the internal nature of man, of thought, can never be had until wehave first the %ower of observing the facts that are gong on within( It is com%aratively easy toobserve facts in the e'ternal world, for many instruments have been invented for the %ur%ose,but in the internal world we have no instrument to hel% us( 7et we now we must observe in

order to have a real science( 9ithout a %ro%er analysis, any science will be ho%eless meretheori6ing( And that is why all the %sychologists have been 3uarreling among themselvessince the beginning of time, e'ce%t those few who found out the means of observation( hescience of /a4a 7oga, in the first %lace, %ro%oses to give us such a means of observing theinternal states( he instrument is the mind itself( he %ower of attention, when %ro%erlyguided, and directed towards the internal world, will analy6e the mind, and illumine facts forus( he %owers of the mind are lie rays of light dissi%ated# when they are concentrated, theyillumine( his is our only means of nowledge( Everyone is using it, both in the e'ternal and


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the internal world# but, for the %sychologist, the same minute observation has to be directedto the internal world, which the scientific man directs to the e'ternal# and this re3uires a greatdeal of %ractice( From our childhood u%wards we have been taught only to %ay attention tothings e'ternal, but never to things internal# hence most of us have nearly lost the faculty ofobserving the internal mechanism( o turn the mind, as it were, inside, sto% it from goingoutside, and then to concentrate all its %owers, and throw them u%on the mind itself, in order

that it may now its own nature, analy6e itself, is very hard wor( 7et that is the only way toanything which will be a scientific a%%roach to the sub4ect( 9hat is the use of suchnowledge In the first %lace, nowledge itself is the highest reward of nowledge, andsecondly, there is also utility in it( It will tae away all our misery( 9hen by analy6ing hisown mind, man comes face to face, as it were, with something which is never destroyed,something which is, by its own nature, eternally %ure and %erfect, he will no more bemiserable, no more unha%%y( All misery comes from fear, from unsatisfied desire( !an willfind th

lectures of swami vivekananda

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