Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda - Vol-8
Writings: Prose
STRUGGLE FOR EXPANSION
(Written by the Swami during his first visit to America in answer
to questions put by a Western disciple.)
The old dilemma, whether the tree precedes the seed or the seed
the tree, runs through all our forms of knowledge. Whether
intelligence is first in the order of being or matter; whether the
ideal is first or the external manifestation; whether freedom is
our true nature or bondage of law; whether thought creates matter
or matter thought; whether the incessant change in nature precedes
the idea of rest or the idea of rest precedes the idea of change -
all these are questions of the same insoluble nature. Like the
rise and fall of a series of waves, they follow one another in an
invariable succession and men take this side or that according to
their tastes or education or peculiarity of temperaments.
For instance, if it be said on the one hand that, seeing the
adjustment in nature of different parts, it is clear that it is
the effect of intelligent work; on the other hand it may be argued
that intelligence itself being created by matter and force in the
course of evolution could not have been before this world. If it
be said that the production of every form must be preceded by an
ideal in the mind, it can be argued, with equal force, that the
ideal was itself created by various external experiences. On the
one hand, the appeal is to our ever-present idea of freedom; on
the other, to the fact that nothing in the universe being
causeless, everything, both mental and physical, is rigidly bound
by the law of causation. If it be affirmed that, seeing the
changes of the body induced by volition, it is evident that
thought is the creator of this body, it is equally clear that as
change in the body induces a change in the thought, the body must
have produced the mind. If it be argued that the universal change
must be the outcome of a preceding rest, equally logical argument
can be adduced to show that the idea of unchangeability is only an
illusory relative notion, brought about by the comparative
differences in motion.
Thus in the ultimate analysis all knowledge resolves itself into
this vicious circle: the indeterminate interdependence of cause
and effect. Judging by the laws of reasoning, such knowledge is
incorrect; and the most curious fact is that this knowledge is
proved to be incorrect, not by comparison with knowledge which is
true, but by the very laws which depend for their basis upon the
selfsame vicious circle. It is clear, therefore, that the
peculiarity of all our knowledge is that it proves its own
insufficiency. Again, we cannot say that it is unreal, for all the
reality we know and can think of is within this knowledge. Nor can
we deny that it is sufficient for all practical purposes. This
state of human knowledge which embraces within its scope both the
external and the internal worlds is called Mâyâ. It is unreal
because it proves its own incorrectness. It is real in the sense
of being sufficient for all the needs of the animal man.
Acting in the external world Maya manifests itself as the two
powers of attraction and repulsion. In the internal its
manifestations are desire and non-desire (Pravritti and Nivritti).
The whole universe is trying to rush outwards. Each atom is trying
to fly off from its centre. In the internal world, each thought is
trying to go beyond control. Again each particle in the external
world is checked by another force, the centripetal, and drawn
towards the centre. Similarly in the thought-world the controlling
power is checking all these outgoing desires.
Desires of materialisation, that is, being dragged down more and
more to the plane of mechanical action, belong to the animal man.
It is only when the desire to prevent all such bondage to the
senses arises that religion dawns in the heart of man. Thus we see
that the whole scope of religion is to prevent man from falling
into the bondage of the senses and to help him to assert his
freedom. The first effort of this power of Nivritti towards that
end is called morality. The scope of all morality is to prevent
this degradation and break this bondage. All morality can be
divided into the positive and the negative elements; it says
either, "Do this" or "Do not do this". When it says, "Do not", it
is evident that it is a check to a certain desire which would make
a man a slave. When it says, "Do", its scope is to show the way to
freedom and to the breaking down of a certain degradation which
has already seized the human heart.
Now this morality is only possible if there be a liberty to be
attained by man. Apart from the question of the chances of
attaining perfect liberty, it is clear that the whole universe is
a case of struggle to expand, or in other words, to attain
liberty. This infinite space is not sufficient for even one atom.
The struggle for expansion must go on eternally until perfect
liberty is attained. It cannot be said that this struggle to gain
freedom is to avoid pain or to attain pleasure. The lowest grade
of beings, who can have no such feeling, are also struggling for
expansion; and according to many, man himself is the expansion of
these very beings.
THE BIRTH OF RELIGION
(Written by the Swami during his first visit to America in answer
to questions put by a Western disciple.)
The beautiful flowers of the forest with their many-coloured
petals, nodding their heads, jumping, leaping, playing with every
breeze; the beautiful birds with their gorgeous plumage, their
sweet songs echoing through every forest glade - they were there
yesterday, my solace, my companions, and today they are gone -
where? My playmates, the companions of my joys and sorrows, my
pleasures and pastime - they also are gone - where? Those that
nursed me when I was a child, who all through their lives had but
one thought for me - that of doing everything for me - they also
are gone. Everyone, everything is gone, is going, and will go.
Where do they go? This was the question that pressed for an answer
in the mind of the primitive man. "Why so?" you may ask, "Did he
not see everything decomposed, reduced to dust before him? Why
should he have troubled his head at all about where they went?"
To the primitive man everything is living in the first place, and
to him death in the sense of annihilation has no meaning at all.
People come to him, go away, and come again. Sometimes they go
away and do not come. Therefore in the most ancient language of
the world death is always expressed by some sort of going. This is
the beginning of religion. Thus the primitive man was searching
everywhere for a solution of his difficulty - where do they all
go?
There is the morning sun radiant in his glory, bringing light and
warmth and joy to a sleeping world. Slowly he travels and, alas,
he also disappears, down, down below! But the next day he appears
again - glorious, beautiful! And there is the lotus - that
wonderful flower in the Nile, the Indus, and the Tigris, the
birth-places of civilisation - opening in the morning as the solar
rays strike its closed petals and with the waning sun shutting up
again. Some were there then who came and went and got up from
their graves revivified. This was the first solution. The sun and
the lotus are, therefore, the chief symbols in the most ancient
religions. Why these symbols? Because abstract thought, whatever
that be, when expressed, is bound to come clad in visible,
tangible, gross garments. This is the law. The idea of the passing
out as not out of existence but in it, had to be expressed only as
a change, a momentary transformation; and reflexively, that object
which strikes the senses and goes vibrating to the mind and calls
up a new idea is bound to be taken up as the support, the nucleus
round which the new idea spreads itself for an expression. And so
the sun and the lotus were the first symbols.
There are deep holes everywhere - so dark and so dismal; down is
all dark and frightful; under water we cannot see, open our eyes
though we may; up is light, all light, even at night the beautiful
starry hosts shedding their light. Where do they go then, those I
love? Not certainly down in the dark, dark place, but up, above in
the realm of Everlasting Light. That required a new symbol. Here
is fire with its glowing wonderful tongues of flame - eating up a
forest in a short time, cooking the food, giving warmth, and
driving wild animals away - this life-giving, life-saving fire;
and then the flames - they all go upwards, never downwards. Here
then was another - this fire that carries them upwards to the
places of light - the connecting link between us and those that
have passed over to the regions of light. "Thou Ignis", begins the
oldest human record, "our messenger to the bright ones." So they
put food and drink and whatever they thought would be pleasing to
these "bright ones" into the fire. This was the beginning of
sacrifice.
So far the first question was solved, at least as far as to
satisfy the needs of these primitive men. Then came the other
question: Whence has all this come? Why did it not come first?
Because we remember a sudden change more. Happiness, joy,
addition, enjoyment make not such a deep impression on our mind as
unhappiness, sorrow, and subtraction. Our nature is joy,
enjoyment, pleasure, and happiness. Anything that violently breaks
it makes a deeper impression than the natural course. So the
problem of death was the first to be solved as the great
disturber. Then with more advancement came the other question:
Whence they came? Everything that lives moves: we move; our will
moves our limbs; our limbs manufacture forms under the control of
our will. Everything then that moved had a will in it as the
motor, to the man-child of ancient times as it is to the child-man
of the present day. The wind has a will; the cloud, the whole of
nature, is full of separate wills, minds, and souls. They are
creating all this just as we manufacture many things; they - the
"Devas", the "Elohims" are the creators of all this.
Now in the meanwhile society was growing up. In society there was
the king - why not among the bright ones, the Elohims? Therefore
there was a supreme "Deva", an Elohim-Jahveh, God of gods - the
one God who by His single will has created all this - even the
"bright ones". But as He has appointed different stars and
planets, so He has appointed different "Devas" or angels to
preside over different functions of nature - some over death, some
over birth, etc. One Supreme Being, supreme by being infinitely
more powerful than the rest, is the common conception in the two
great sources of all religions, the Aryan and Semitic races. But
here the Aryans take a new start, a grand deviation. Their God was
not only a supreme being, but He was the Dyaus Pitar, the Father
in heaven. This is the beginning of Love. The Semitic God is only
a thunderer, only the terrible one, the mighty Lord of hosts. To
all these the Aryan added a new idea, that of a Father. And the
divergence becomes more and more obvious all through further
progress, which in fact stopped at this place in the Semitic
branch of the human race. The God of the Semitic is not to be seen
- nay, it is death to see Him; the God of the Aryan cannot only be
seen, but He is the goal of being; the one aim of life is to see
Him. The Semitic obeys his King of kings for fear of punishment
and keeps His commandments. The Aryan loves his father; and
further on he adds mother, his friend. And "Love me, love my dog",
they say. So each one of His creatures should be loved, because
they are His. To the Semitic, this life is an outpost where we are
posted to test our fidelity; to the Aryan this life is on the way
to our goal. To the Semitic, if we do our duty well, we shall have
an ever - joyful home in heaven. To the Aryan, that home is God
Himself. To the Semitic, serving God is a means to an end, namely,
the pay, which is joy and enjoyment. To the Aryan, enjoyment,
misery - everything - is a means, and the end is God. The Semitic
worships God to go to heaven. The Aryan rejects heaven to go to
God. In short, this is the main difference. The aim and end of the
Aryan life is to see God, to see the face of the Beloved, because
without Him he cannot live. "Without Thy presence, the sun, the
moon, and the stars lose their light."
FOUR PATHS OF YOGA
(Written by the Swami during his first visit to America in answer
to questions put by a Western disciple.)
Our main problem is to be free. It is evident then that until we
realise ourselves as the Absolute, we cannot attain to
deliverance. Yet there are various ways of attaining to this
realisation. These methods have the generic name of Yoga (to join,
to join ourselves to our reality). These Yogas, though divided
into various groups, can principally be classed into four; and as
each is only a method leading indirectly to the realisation of the
Absolute, they are suited to different temperaments. Now it must
be remembered that it is not that the assumed man becomes the real
man or Absolute. There is no becoming with the Absolute. It is
ever free, ever perfect; but the ignorance that has covered Its
nature for a time is to be removed. Therefore the whole scope of
all systems of Yoga (and each religion represents one) is to clear
up this ignorance and allow the Âtman to restore its own nature.
The chief helps in this liberation are Abhyâsa and Vairâgya.
Vairagya is non-attachment to life, because it is the will to
enjoy that brings all this bondage in its train; and Abhyasa is
constant practice of any one of the Yogas.
Karma-Yoga. Karma-Yoga is purifying the mind by means of work. Now
if any work is done, good or bad, it must produce as a result a
good or bad effect; no power can stay it, once the cause is
present. Therefore good action producing good Karma, and bad
action, bad Karma, the soul will go on in eternal bondage without
ever hoping for deliverance. Now Karma belongs only to the body or
the mind, never to the Atman (Self); only it can cast a veil
before the Atman. The veil cast by bad Karma is ignorance. Good
Karma has the power to strengthen the moral powers. And thus it
creates non-attachment; it destroys the tendency towards bad Karma
and thereby purifies the mind. But if the work is done with the
intention of enjoyment, it then produces only that very enjoyment
and does not purify the mind or Chitta. Therefore all work should
be done without any desire to enjoy the fruits thereof. All fear
and all desire to enjoy here or hereafter must be banished forever
by the Karma-Yogi. Moreover, this Karma without desire of return
will destroy the selfishness, which is the root of all bondage.
The watchword of the Karma-Yogi is "not I, but Thou", and no
amount of self-sacrifice is too much for him. But he does this
without any desire to go to heaven, or gain name or fame or any
other benefit in this world. Although the explanation and
rationale of this unselfish work is only in Jnâna-Yoga, yet the
natural divinity of man makes him love all sacrifice simply for
the good of others, without any ulterior motive, whatever his
creed or opinion. Again, with many the bondage of wealth is very
great; and Karma-Yoga is absolutely necessary for them as breaking
the crystallisation that has gathered round their love of money.
Next is Bhakti-Yoga. Bhakti or worship or love in some form or
other is the easiest, pleasantest, and most natural way of man.
The natural state of this universe is attraction; and that is
surely followed by an ultimate disunion. Even so, love is the
natural impetus of union in the human heart; and though itself a
great cause of misery, properly directed towards the proper
object, it brings deliverance. The object of Bhakti is God. Love
cannot be without a subject and an object. The object of love
again must be at first a being who can reciprocate our love.
Therefore the God of love must be in some sense a human God. He
must be a God of love. Aside from the question whether such a God
exists or not, it is a fact that to those who have love in their
heart this Absolute appears as a God of love, as personal.
The lower forms of worship, which embody the idea of God as a
judge or punisher or someone to be obeyed through fear, do not
deserve to be called love, although they are forms of worship
gradually expanding into higher forms. We pass on to the
consideration of love itself. We will illustrate love by a
triangle, of which the first angle at the base is fearlessness. So
long as there is fear, it is not love. Love banishes all fear. A
mother with her baby will face a tiger to save her child. The
second angle is that love never asks, never begs. The third or the
apex is that love loves for the sake of love itself. Even the idea
of object vanishes. Love is the only form in which love is loved.
This is the highest abstraction and the same as the Absolute.
Next is Râja-Yoga. This Yoga fits in with every one of these
Yogas. It fits inquirers of all classes with or without any
belief, and it is the real instrument of religious inquiry. As
each science has its particular method of investigation, so is
this Raja-Yoga the method of religion. This science also is
variously applied according to various constitutions. The chief
parts are the Prânâyâma, concentration, and meditation. For those
who believe in God, a symbolical name, such as Om or other sacred
words received from a Guru, will be very helpful. Om is the
greatest, meaning the Absolute. Meditating on the meaning of these
holy names while repeating them is the chief practice.
Next is Jnâna-Yoga. This is divided into three parts. First:
hearing the truth - that the Atman is the only reality and that
everything else is Mâyâ (relativity). Second: reasoning upon this
philosophy from all points of view. Third: giving up all further
argumentation and realising the truth. This realisation comes from
(1) being certain that Brahman is real and everything else is
unreal; (2) giving up all desire for enjoyment; (3) controlling
the senses and the mind; (4) intense desire to be free. Meditating
on this reality always and reminding the soul of its real nature
are the only ways in this Yoga. It is the highest, but most
difficult. Many persons get an intellectual grasp of it, but very
few attain realisation.
CYCLIC REST AND CHANGE
(Written by the Swami during his first visit to America in answer
to questions put by a Western disciple.)
This whole universe is a case of lost balance. All motion is the
struggle of the disturbed universe to regain its equilibrium,
which, as such, cannot be motion. Thus in regard to the internal
world it would be a state which is beyond thought, for thought
itself is a motion. Now when all indication is towards perfect
equilibrium by expansion and the whole universe is rushing towards
it, we have no right to say that that state can never be attained.
Again it is impossible that there should be any variety whatsoever
in that state of equilibrium. It must be homogeneous; for as long
as there are even two atoms, they will attract and repel each
other and disturb the balance. Therefore this state of equilibrium
is one of unity, of rest, and of homogeneity. In the language of
the internal, this state of equilibrium is not thought, nor body,
nor anything which we call an attribute. The only thing which we
can say it will retain is what is its own nature as existence,
self-consciousness, and blissfulness.
This state in the same way cannot be two. It must only be a unit,
and all fictitious distinctions of I, thou, etc., all the
different variations must vanish, as they belong to the state of
change or Mâyâ. It may be said that this state of change has come
now upon the Self, showing that, before this, it had the state of
rest and liberty; that at present the state of differentiation is
the only real state, and the state of homogeneity is the primitive
crudeness out of which this changeful state is manufactured; and
that it will be only degeneration to go back to the state of
undifferentiation. This argument would have had some weight if it
could be proved that these two states, viz homogeneity and
heterogeneity, are the only two states happening but once through
all time. What happens once must happen again and again. Rest is
followed by change - the universe. But that rest must have been
preceded by other changes, and this change will be succeeded by
other rests. It would be ridiculous to think that there was a
period of rest and then came this change which will go on forever.
Every particle in nature shows that it is coming again and again
to periodic rest and change.
This interval between one period of rest and another is called a
Kalpa. But this Kalpic rest cannot be one of perfect homogeneity,
for in that case there would be an end to any future
manifestation. Now to say that the present state of change is one
of great advance in comparison to the preceding state of rest is
simply absurd, because in that case the coming period of rest
being much more advanced in time must be much more perfect! There
is no progression or digression in nature. It is showing again and
again the same forms. In fact, the word law means this. But there
is a progression with regard to souls. That is to say, the souls
get nearer to their own natures, and in each Kalpa large numbers
of them get deliverance from being thus whirled around. It may be
said, the individual soul being a part of the universe and nature,
returning again and again, there cannot be any liberty for the
soul, for in that case the universe has to be destroyed. The
answer is that the individual soul is an assumption through Maya,
and it is no more a reality than nature itself. In reality, this
individual soul is the unconditioned absolute Brahman (the
Supreme).
All that is real in nature is Brahman, only it appears to be this
variety, or nature, through the superimposition of Maya. Maya
being illusion cannot be said to be real, yet it is producing the
phenomena. If it be asked, how can Maya, herself being illusion,
produce all this, our answer is that what is produced being also
ignorance, the producer must also be that. How can ignorance be
produced by knowledge? So this Maya is acting in two ways as
nescience and science (relative knowledge); and this science after
destroying nescience or ignorance is itself also destroyed. This
Maya destroys herself and what remains is the Absolute, the
Essence of existence, knowledge, and bliss. Now whatever is
reality in nature is this Absolute, and nature comes to us in
three forms, God, conscious, and unconscious, i.e. God, personal
souls, and unconscious beings. The reality of all these is the
Absolute; through Maya it is seen to be diverse. But the vision of
God is the nearest to the reality and the highest. The idea of a
Personal God is the highest idea which man can have. All the
attributes attributed to God are true in the same sense as are the
attributes of nature. Yet we must never forget that the Personal
God is the very Absolute seen through Maya.
A PREFACE TO THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
(Translated from an original Bengali writing of the Swami in 1889.
The passage is the preface to his Bengali translation of The
Imitation of Christ which he contributed to a Bengali monthly. He
translated only six chapters with quotations of parallel passages
from the Hindu scriptures.)
The Imitation of Christ is a cherished treasure of the Christian
world. This great book was written by a Roman Catholic monk.
"Written", perhaps, is not the proper word. It would be more
appropriate to say that each letter of the book is marked deep
with the heart's blood of the great soul who had renounced all for
his love of Christ. That great soul whose words, living and
burning, have cast such a spell for the last four hundred years
over the hearts of myriads of men and women; whose influence today
remains as strong as ever and is destined to endure for all time
to come; before whose genius and Sâdhanâ (spiritual effort)
hundred of crowned heads have bent down in reverence; and before
whose matchless purity the jarring sects of Christendom, whose
name is legion, have sunk their differences of centuries in common
veneration to a common principle - that great soul, strange to
say, has not thought fit to put his name to a book such as this.
Yet there is nothing strange here after all, for why should he? Is
it possible for one who totally renounced all earthly joys and
despised the desire for the bauble fame as so much dirt and filth
- is it possible for such a soul to care for that paltry thing, a
mere author's name? Posterity, however, has guessed that the
author was Thomas à Kempis, a Roman Catholic monk. How far the
guess is true is known only to God. But be he who he may, that he
deserves the world's adoration is a truth that can be gainsaid by
none.
We happen to be the subjects of a Christian government now.
Through its favour it has been our lot to meet Christians of so
many sects, native as well as foreign. How startling the
divergence between their profession and practice! Here stands the
Christian missionary preaching: "Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. Take no thought for the morrow" - and then busy soon
after, making his pile and framing his budget for ten years in
advance! There he says that he follows him who "hath not where to
lay his head", glibly talking of the glorious sacrifice and
burning renunciation of the Master, but in practice going about
like a gay bridegroom fully enjoying all the comforts the world
can bestow! Look where we may, a true Christian nowhere do we see.
The ugly impression left on our mind by the ultra-luxurious,
insolent, despotic, barouche-and-brougham-driving Christians of
the Protestant sects will be completely removed if we but once
read this great book with the attention it deserves.
All wise men think alike. The reader, while reading this book,
will hear the echo of the Bhagavad-Gitâ over and over again. Like
the Bhagavad-Gita it says, "Give up all Dharmas and follow Me".
The spirit of humility, the panting of the distressed soul, the
best expression of Dâsya Bhakti (devotion as a servant) will be
found imprinted on every line of this great book and the reader's
heart will be profoundly stirred by the author's thoughts of
burning renunciation, marvelous surrender, and deep sense of
dependence on the will of God. To those of my countrymen, who
under the influence of blind bigotry may seek to belittle this
book because it is the work of a Christian, I shall quote only one
aphorism of Vaisheshika Darshana and say nothing more. The
aphorism is this: आप्तोपदेशं शब्द: - which means that the
teachings of Siddha Purushas (perfected souls) have a probative
force and this is technically known as Shabda Pramâna (verbal
evidence). Rishi Jaimini, the commentator, says that such Âpta
Purushas (authorities) may be born both among the Aryans and the
Mlechchhas.
If in ancient times Greek astronomers like Yavanâchârya could have
been so highly esteemed by our Aryan ancestors, then it is
incredible that this work of the lion of devotees will fail to be
appreciated by my countrymen.
Be that as it may, we shall place the Bengali translation of this
book before our readers seriatim. We trust that the readers of
Bengal will spend over it at least one hundredth part of the time
they waste over cart-loads of trashy novels and dramas.
I have tried to make the translation as literal as possible, but I
cannot say how far I have succeeded. The allusions to the Bible in
several passages are given in the footnotes.
Writings: Poems
AN INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE
(In order to truly appreciate this correspondence, the reader has
to be informed of the occasion which gave rise to it and also to
remember the relation that existed between the correspondents. At
the outset of the first letter the Swami speaks of "the hard raps"
that he gave to this correspondent. These were nothing but a very
strong letter which he wrote to her in vindication of his position
on the 1st February, 1895, which will be found reproduced in the
fifth volume of the Complete Works of the Swami. It was a very
beautiful letter full of the fire of a Sannyâsin's spirit, and we
request our readers to go through it before they peruse the
following text. Mary Hale, to whom the Swami wrote, was one of the
two daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Hale whom the Swami used to address
as Father Pope and Mother Church. The Misses Hales and their two
cousins were like sisters to him, and they also in their turn held
the Swami in great love and reverence. Some of the finest letters
of the Swami were written to them.
In the present correspondence the Swami is seen in a new light,
playful and intensely human, yet keyed to the central theme of his
life, Brahmajnâna. The first letter was written from New York,
15th February 1895 - Ed.)
Now Sister Mary,
You need not be sorry
For the hard raps I gave you,
You know full well,
Though you like me tell,
With my whole heart I love you.
The babies I bet,
The best friends I met,
Will stand by me in weal and woe.
And so will I do,
You know it too.
Life, name, or fame, even heaven forgo
For the sweet sisters four
Sans reproche et sans peur,
The truest, noblest, steadfast, best.
The wounded snake its hood unfurls,
The flame stirred up doth blaze,
The desert air resounds the calls
Of heart-struck lion's rage.
The cloud puts forth its deluge strength
When lightning cleaves its breast,
When the soul is stirred to its inmost depth
Great ones unfold their best.
Let eyes grow dim and heart grow faint,
And friendship fail and love betray,
Let Fate its hundred horrors send,
And clotted darkness block the way.
All nature wear one angry frown,
To crush you out - still know, my soul,
You are Divine. March on and on,
Nor right nor left but to the goal.
Nor angel I, nor man, nor brute,
Nor body, mind, nor he or she,
The books do stop in wonder mute
To tell my nature; I am He.
Before the sun, the moon, the earth,
Before the stars or comets free,
Before e'en time has had its birth,
I was, I am, and I will be.
The beauteous earth, the glorious sun,
The calm sweet moon, the spangled sky,
Causation's laws do make them run;
They live in bonds, in bonds they die.
And mind its mantle dreamy net
Cast o'er them all and holds them fast.
In warp and woof of thought are set,
Earth, hells, and heavens, or worst or best.
Know these are but the outer crust -
All space and time, all effect, cause.
I am beyond all sense, all thoughts,
The witness of the universe.
Not two or many, 'tis but one,
And thus in me all me's I have;
I cannot hate, I cannot shun
Myself from me, I can but love.
From dreams awake, from bonds be free,
Be not afraid. This mystery,
My shadow, cannot frighten me,
Know once for all that I am He.
Well, so far my poetry. Hope you are all right. Give my love to
mother and Father Pope. I am busy to death and have almost no time
to write even a line. So excuse me if later on I am rather late in
writing.
Yours eternally,
VIVEKANANDA.
Miss M.B.H. sent Swami the following doggerel in reply:
The monk he would a poet be
And wooed the muse right earnestly;
In thought and word he could well beat her,
What bothered him though was the metre.
His feet were all too short too long,
The form not suited to his song;
He tried the sonnet, lyric, epic,
And worked so hard, he waxed dyspeptic.
While the poetic mania lasted
He e'en from vegetables fasted,
Which Léon had with tender care
Prepared for Swami's dainty fare.
One day he sat and mused alone -
Sudden a light around him shone,
The "still small voice" his thoughts inspire
And his words glow like coals of fire.
And coals of fire they proved to be
Heaped on the head of contrite me -
My scolding letter I deplore
And beg forgiveness o'er and o'er.
The lines you sent to your sisters four
Be sure they'll cherish evermore
For you have made them clearly see
The one main truth that "all is He".
Then Swami:
In days of yore,
On Ganga's shore preaching,
A hoary priest was teaching
How Gods they come
As Sitâ Râm,
And gentle Sita pining, weeping.
The sermons end,
They homeward wend their way -
The hearers musing, thinking.
When from the crowd
A voice aloud
This question asked beseeching, seeking -
"Sir, tell me, pray,
Who were but they
These Sita Ram you were teaching, speaking!"
So Mary Hale,
Allow me tell,
ou mar my doctrines wronging, baulking.
I never taught
Such queer thought
That all was God - unmeaning talking!
But this I say,
Remember pray,
That God is true, all else is nothing,
This world's a dream
Though true it seem,
And only truth is He the living!
The real me is none but He,
And never, never matter changing!
With undying love and gratitude to you all. . . .
VIVEKANANDA.
And then Miss M.B.H.:
The difference I clearly see
'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee -
That is a proposition sane,
But truly 'tis beyond my vein
To make your Eastern logic plain.
If "God is truth, all else is naught,"
This "world a dream", delusion up wrought,
What can exist which God is not?
All those who "many" see have much to fear,
He only lives to whom the "One" is clear.
So again I say
In my poor way,
I cannot see but that all's He,
If I'm in Him and He in me.
Then the Swami replied:
Of temper quick, a girl unique,
A freak of nature she,
A lady fair, no question there,
Rare soul is Miss Mary.
Her feelings deep she cannot keep,
But creep they out at last,
A spirit free, I can foresee,
Must be of fiery cast.
Tho' many a lay her muse can bray,
And play piano too,
Her heart so cool, chills as a rule
The fool who comes to woo.
Though, Sister Mary, I hear they say
The sway your beauty gains,
Be cautious now and do not bow,
However sweet, to chains.
For 'twill be soon, another tune
The moon-struck mate will hear
If his will but clash, your words will hash
And smash his life I fear.
These lines to thee, Sister Mary,
Free will I offer, take
Tit for tat" - a monkey chat,
For monk alone can make.
THOU BLESSED DREAM
(Written to Miss Christine Greenstidel from Paris, 14th August
1900.)
If things go ill or well -
If joy rebounding spreads the face,
Or sea of sorrow swells -
A play - we each have part,
Each one to weep or laugh as may;
Each one his dress to don -
Its scenes, alternative shine and rain.
Thou dream, O blessed dream!
Spread far and near thy veil of haze,
Tone down the lines so sharp,
Make smooth what roughness seems.
No magic but in thee!
Thy touch makes desert bloom to life.
Harsh thunder, sweetest song,
Fell death, the sweet release.
LIGHT
(From a letter to Miss MacLeod , 26th December 1900 (Vide Vol.
VI.))
I look behind and after
And find that all is right,
In my deepest sorrows
There is a soul of light.
THE LIVING GOD
(Written to an American friend from Almora, 9th July 1897.)
He who is in you and outside you,
Who works through all hands,
Who walks on all feet,
Whose body are all ye,
Him worship, and break all other idols!
He who is at once the high and low,
The sinner and the saint,
Both God and worm,
Him worship - visible, knowable, real, omnipresent,
Break all other idols!
In whom is neither past life
Nor future birth nor death,
In whom we always have been
And always shall be one,
Him worship. Break all other idols!
Ye fools! who neglect the living God,
And His infinite reflections with which the world is full.
While ye run after imaginary shadows,
That lead alone to fights and quarrels,
Him worship, the only visible!
Break all other idols!
TO AN EARLY VIOLET
(Written to a Western lady-disciple from New York, 6th January
1896.)
What though thy bed be frozen earth,
Thy cloak the chilling blast;
What though no mate to cheer thy path,
Thy sky with gloom o'ercast;
What though if love itself doth fail,
Thy fragrance strewed in vain;
What though if bad o'er good prevail,
And vice o'er virtue reign:
Change not thy nature, gentle bloom,
Thou violet, sweet and pure,
But ever pour thy sweet perfume
Unasked, unstinted, sure!
TO MY OWN SOUL
(Composed at Ridgely Manor, New York, in 1899.)
Hold yet a while, Strong Heart,
Not part a lifelong yoke
Though blighted looks the present, future gloom.
And age it seems since you and I began our
March up hill or down. Sailing smooth o'er
Seas that are so rare -
Thou nearer unto me, than oft-times I myself -
Proclaiming mental moves before they were!
Reflector true - Thy pulse so timed to mine,
Thou perfect note of thoughts, however fine -
Shall we now part, Recorder, say?
In thee is friendship, faith,
For thou didst warn when evil thoughts were brewing -
And though, alas, thy warning thrown away,
Went on the same as ever - good and true.
THE DANCE OF SHIVA
(Translated from a Hindi / Bengali song.)
Lo, the God is dancing
- Shiva the all-destroyer and Lord of creation,
The Master of Yoga and the wielder of Pinâka. (Trident.)
His flaming locks have filled the sky,
Seven worlds play the rhythm
As the trembling earth sways almost to dissolution,
Lo, the Great God Shiva is dancing.
SHIVA IN ECSTASY
(Translated from a Bengali song.)
Shiva is dancing, lost in the ecstasy of Self, sounding his own
cheeks.
His tabor is playing and the garland of skulls is swinging in
rhythm.
The waters of the Ganga are roaring among his matted locks.
The great trident is vomiting fire, and the moon on his forehead
is fiercely flaming.
TO SHRI KRISHNA
(A song in Hindi )
O Krishna, my friend, let me go to the water,
O let me go today.
Why play tricks with one who is already thy slave?
O friend, let me go today, let me go.
I have to fill my pitcher in the waters of the Jumna.
I pray with folded hands, friend, let me go.
A HYMN TO SHRI RAMAKRISHNA
(In Sanskrit)
ॐ ह्रीं ऋतं त्वमचलो गुणजीत् गुणेड्यो
नक्तंदिवं सकरुणं तव पादपद्मम्।
मोहङ्कषं बहुकृतं न भजे यतोऽहं
तस्मात्त्वमेव शरणं मम दीनबन्धो ॥१॥
1. Om! Hrim! Thou art the True, the Imperturbable One,
transcending the three Gunas and yet adored for Thy virtues!
Inasmuch as I do not worship day and night, with yearning, Thy
compassionate lotus feet which destroy all ignorance, therefore, O
Thou friend of the lowly, Thou art my only refuge.
भक्तिर्भगश्च भजनं भवभेदकारि
गच्छन्त्यलं सुविपुलं गमनाय तत्त्वम्।
वक्त्रोद्धृतन्तु हृदि मे न च भाति किञ्चित्
तस्मात्त्वमेव शरणं मम दीनबन्धो ॥२॥
2. Spiritual powers, reverence, and worship which put an end to
this cycle of birth and death are enough indeed to lead to the
greatest Truth. But this while finding utterance through the mouth
is not at all being brought home to my heart. Therefore, O Thou
friend of the lowly, Thou art my only refuge.
तेजस्तरन्ति तरसा त्वयि तृप्ततृष्णा:
रागे कृते ऋतपथे त्वयि रामकृष्णे।
मर्त्यामृतं तव पद मरणोर्मिनाशं
तस्मात्त्वमेव शरणं मम दीनबन्धो ॥३॥
3. If devotion is directed to Thee, O Ramakrishna, the way of
Divine Truth, then with desires all fulfilled in Thee, they
forthwith cross over this sea of Rajas: for Thy feet are like
nectar to the mortals, quelling the waves of death. Therefore, O
Thou friend of the lowly, Thou art my only refuge.
कृत्यं करोति क्लुषं कुहकान्तकारि
ष्णान्तं शिवं सुविमलं तव नाम नाथ।
यस्मादहं त्वशरणो जगदेकगम्य
तस्मात्त्वमेव शरणं मम दीनबन्धो ॥४॥
4. O Thou dispeller of illusion, Thy name ending in "shna", pure
and auspicious, converts sinfulness to purity. Because, O Thou the
only goal of all beings, shelter have I none, therefore Thou art,
O friend of the lowly, my only refuge.
A HYMN TO SHRI RAMAKRISHNA
(In Sanskrit)
आचण्डालाप्रतिहतरयो यस्य प्रेमप्रवाह:
लोकातीतोऽप्यहह न जहौ लोककल्याणमार्गम्।
त्रैलोक्येऽप्यप्रतिममहिमा जानकीप्राणबन्धो
भक्त्या ज्ञानं वृतबरवपुः सीतया यो हि रामः ॥१॥
1. He who was Shri Rama, whose stream of love flowed with
resistless might even to the Chandâla (the outcaste); Oh, whoever
was engaged in doing good to the world though superhuman by
nature, whose renown there is none to equal in the three worlds,
Sitâ's beloved, whose body of Knowledge Supreme was covered by
devotion sweet in the form of Sita.
स्तब्धीकृत्य प्रलयकलितं वाहवोत्थं महान्तं
हित्वा रात्रिं प्रकृतिसहजामन्धतामिस्रमिश्राम्।
गीतं शान्तं मधुरमपि यः सिंहनादं जगर्ज
सोयं जातः प्रथितपुरुषो रामकृष्णस्त्विदानीम् ॥२॥
2. He who quelled the noise, terrible like that at the time of
destruction, arising from the battle (of Kurukshetra), who
destroyed the terrible yet natural night of ignorance (of Arjuna)
and who roared out the Gita sweet and appeasing; That renowned
soul is born now as Shri Ramakrishna.
नरदेव देव जय जय नरदेव।
शक्तिसमुद्रसमुत्थतरङ्गं दर्शितप्रेमविजृम्भितरङ्गम्॥
संशयराक्षसनाशमहास्त्रं यामि गुरुं शरणं भववैद्यम्।
नरदेव देव जय जय नरदेव ॥३॥
3. Hail, O Lord of Men! Victory unto You! I surrender myself to my
Guru, the physician for the malady of Samsâra (relative existence)
who is, as it were, a wave rising in the ocean of Shakti (Power),
who has shown various sports of Love Divine, and who is the weapon
to destroy the demon of doubt.
Hail, O Lord of Men! Victory unto You!
नरदेव देव जय जय नरदेव।
अद्वयतत्त्वसमाहितचित्तं प्रोज्ज्वलभक्तिपटावृतवृत्तम्॥
कर्मकलेवरमद्भुतचेष्टं यामि गुरुं शरणं भववैद्यम्।
नरदेव देव जय जय नरदेव ॥४॥
4. Hail, O Lord of Men! Victory unto you! I surrender myself to my
Guru the Man-God, the physician for the malady of this Samsara
(relative existence), whose mind ever dwelt on the non-dualistic
Truth, whose personality was covered by the cloth of Supreme
Devotion, who was ever active (for the good of humanity) and whose
actions were all superhuman.
Hail, O Lord of Men! Victory unto You!
NO ONE TO BLAME
(Written from New York, 16th May, 1895.)
The sun goes down, its crimson rays
Light up the dying day;
A startled glance I throw behind
And count my triumph shame;
No one but me to blame.
Each day my life I make or mar,
Each deed begets its kind,
Good good, bad bad, the tide once set
No one can stop or stem;
No one but me to blame.
I am my own embodied past;
Therein the plan was made;
The will, the thought, to that conform,
To that the outer frame;
No one but me to blame.
Love comes reflected back as love,
Hate breeds more fierce hate,
They mete their measures, lay on me
Through life and death their claim;
No one but me to blame.
I cast off fear and vain remorse,
I feel my Karma's sway
I face the ghosts my deeds have raised -
Joy, sorrow, censure, fame;
No one but me to blame.
Good, bad, love, hate, and pleasure, pain
Forever linked go,
I dream of pleasure without pain,
It never, never came;
No one but me to blame.
I give up hate, I give up love,
My thirst for life is gone;
Eternal death is what I want,
Nirvanam goes life's flame;
No one is left to blame.
One only man, one only God, one ever perfect soul,
One only sage who ever scorned the dark and dubious ways,
One only man who dared think and dared show the goal -
That death is curse, and so is life, and best when stops to be.
Om Nama Bhagavate Sambuddhâya
Om, I salute the Lord, the awakened.
Notes of Class Talks and Lectures
NOTES OF CLASS TALKS
WHEN WILL CHRIST COME AGAIN?
I never take much notice of these things. I have come to deal with
principles. I have only to preach that God comes again and again,
and that He came in India as Krishna, Râma, and Buddha, and that
He will come again. It can almost be demonstrated that after each
500 years the world sinks, and a tremendous spiritual wave comes,
and on the top of the wave is a Christ.
There is a great change now coming all over the world, and this is
a cycle. Men are finding that they are losing hold of life; which
way will they turn, down or up? Up, certainly. How can it be down?
Plunge into the breach; fill up the breach with your body, your
life. How should you allow the world to go down when you are
living?
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND CHRIST
There is much difference in manifested beings. As a manifested
being you will never be Christ. Out of clay, manufacture a clay
elephant, out of the same clay, manufacture a clay mouse. Soak
them in water, they become one. As clay, they are eternally one;
as fashioned things, they are eternally different. The Absolute is
the material of both God and man. As Absolute, Omnipresent Being,
we are all one; and as personal beings, God is the eternal master,
and we are the eternal servants.
You have three things in you: (1) the body, (2) the mind, (3) the
spirit. The spirit is intangible, the mind comes to birth and
death, and so does the body. You are that spirit, but often you
think you are the body. When a man says, "I am here", he thinks of
the body. Then comes another moment when you are on the highest
plane; you do not say, "I am here". But if a man abuses you or
curses you and you do not resent it, you are the spirit. "When I
think I am the mind, I am one spark of that eternal fire which
Thou art; and when I feel that I am the spirit, Thou and I are
one" - so says a devotee to the Lord. Is the mind in advance of
the spirit?
God does not reason; why should you reason if you knew? It is a
sign of weakness that we have to go on crawling like worms to get
a few facts and build generalisations, and then the whole thing
tumbles down again. The spirit is reflected in the mind and
everything. It is the light of the spirit that makes the mind
sensate. Everything is an expression of the spirit; the minds are
so many mirrors. What you call love and fear, hatred, virtue, and
vice are all reflections of the spirit; only when the reflector is
base the reflection is bad.
ARE CHRIST AND BUDDHA IDENTICAL?
It is my particular fancy that the same Buddha became Christ.
Buddha prophesied, "I will come again in five hundred years", and
Christ came here in five hundred years. These are the two Lights
of the whole human nature. Two men have been produced, Buddha and
Christ; these are the two giants, huge gigantic personalities, two
Gods. Between them they divide the whole world. Wherever there is
the least knowledge in the world, people bow down either to Buddha
or Christ. It would be very hard to produce more like them, but I
hope there will be. Mohammed came five hundred years after, five
hundred years after came Luther with his Protestant wave, and this
is five hundred years after that again. It is a great thing in a
few thousand years to produce two such men as Jesus and Buddha.
Are not two such enough? Christ and Buddha were Gods, the others
were prophets. Study the life of these two and see the
manifestation of power in them - calm and non-resisting, poor
beggars owning nothing, without a cent in their pockets, despised
all their lives, called heretic and fool - and think of the
immense spiritual power they have wielded over humanity.
SALVATION FROM SIN
We are to be saved from sin by being saved from ignorance.
Ignorance is the cause of which sin is the result.
COMING BACK TO THE DIVINE MOTHER
When a nurse takes a baby out into the garden and plays with the
baby, the Mother may send a word to the baby to come indoors. The
baby is absorbed in play, and says, "I won't come; I don't want to
eat." After a while the baby becomes tired with his play and says,
"I will go to Mother." The nurse says, "Here is a new doll", but
the baby says, "I don't care for dolls any more. I will go to
Mother", and he weeps until he goes. We are all babies. The Mother
is God. We are absorbed in seeking for money, wealth, and all
these things; but the time will come when we will awaken; and then
this nature will try to give us more dolls, and we will say, "No,
I have had enough; I will go to God."
NO INDIVIDUALITY APART FROM GOD
If we are inseparable from God, and always one, have we no
individuality? Oh yes; that is God. Our individuality is God. This
is not real individuality which you have now. You are coming
towards that true one. Individuality means what cannot be divided.
How can you call this state - we are now - individuality? One hour
you are thinking one way, and the next hour another way, and two
hours after another way. Individuality is that which changes not.
It would be tremendously dangerous for the present state to remain
in eternity, then the thief would always remain a thief, and the
blackguard, a blackguard. If a baby died, it would have to remain
a baby. The real individuality is that which never changes, and
will never change; and that is God within us.
MAN THE MAKER OF HIS DESTINY
There was a very powerful dynasty in Southern India. They made it
a rule to take the horoscope of all the prominent men living from
time to time, calculated from the time of their birth. In this way
they got a record of leading facts predicted, and compared them
afterwards with events as they happened. This was done for a
thousand years, until they found certain agreements; these were
generalised and recorded and made into a huge book. The dynasty
died out, but the family of astrologers lived and had the book in
their possession. It seems possible that this is how astrology
came into existence. Excessive attention to the minutiae of
astrology is one of the superstitions which has hurt the Hindus
very much.
I think the Greeks first took astrology to India and took from the
Hindus the science of astronomy and carried it back with them from
Europe. Because in India you will find old altars made according
to a certain geometrical plan, and certain things had to be done
when the stars were in certain positions, therefore I think the
Greeks gave the Hindus astrology, and the Hindus gave them
astronomy.
I have seen some astrologers who predicted wonderful things; but I
have no reason to believe they predicted them only from the stars,
or anything of the sort. In many cases it is simply mind-reading.
Sometimes wonderful predictions are made, but in many cases it is
arrant trash.
In London, a young man used to come to me and ask me, "What will
become of me next year?" I asked him why he asked me so. "I have
lost all my money and have become very, very poor." Money is the
only God of many beings. Weak men, when they lose everything and
feel themselves weak, try all sorts of uncanny methods of making
money, and come to astrology and all these things. "It is the
coward and the fool who says, 'This is fate'" - so says the
Sanskrit proverb. But it is the strong man who stands up and says,
"I will make my fate." It is people who are getting old who talk
of fate. Young men generally do not come to astrology. We may be
under planetary influence, but it should not matter much to us.
Buddha says, "Those that get a living by calculation of the stars
by such art and other lying tricks are to be avoided"; and he
ought to know, because he was the greatest Hindu ever born. Let
stars come, what harm is there? If a star disturbs my life, it
would not be worth a cent. You will find that astrology and all
these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind;
therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we
should see a physician, take good food and rest.
If you can get an explanation of a phenomenon from within its
nature, it is nonsense to look for an explanation from outside. If
the world explains itself, it is nonsense to go outside for an
explanation. Have you found any phenomena in the life of a man
that you have ever seen which cannot be explained by the power of
the man himself? So what is the use of going to the stars or
anything else in the world? My own Karma is sufficient explanation
of my present state. So in the case of Jesus himself. We know that
his father was only a carpenter. We need not go to anybody else to
find an explanation of his power. He was the outcome of his own
past, all of which was a preparation for that Jesus. Buddha goes
back and back to animal bodies and tells us how he ultimately
became Buddha. So what is the use of going to stars for
explanation? They may have a little influence; but it is our duty
to ignore them rather than hearken to them and make ourselves
nervous. This I lay down as the first essential in all I teach:
anything that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness,
touch it not with the toes of your feet. Religion is the
manifestation of the natural strength that is in man. A spring of
infinite power is coiled up and is inside this little body, and
that spring is spreading itself. And as it goes on spreading, body
after body is found insufficient; it throws them off and takes
higher bodies. This is the history of man, of religion,
civilisation, or progress. That giant Prometheus, who is bound, is
getting himself unbound. It is always a manifestation of strength,
and all these ideas such as astrology, although there may be a
grain of truth in them, should be avoided.
There is an old story of an astrologer who came to a king and
said, "You are going to die in six months." The king was
frightened out of his wits and was almost about to die then and
there from fear. But his minister was a clever man, and this man
told the king that these astrologers were fools. The king would
not believe him. So the minister saw no other way to make the king
see that they were fools but to invite the astrologer to the
palace again. There he asked him if his calculations were correct.
The astrologer said that there could not be a mistake, but to
satisfy him he went through the whole of the calculations again
and then said that they were perfectly correct. The king's face
became livid. The minister said to the astrologer, "And when do
you think that you will die?" "In twelve years", was the reply.
The minister quickly drew his sword and separated the astrologer's
head from the body and said to the king, "Do you see this liar? He
is dead this moment."
If you want your nation to live, keep away from all these things.
The only test of good things is that they make us strong. Good is
life, evil is death. These superstitious ideas are springing like
mushrooms in your country, and women wanting in logical analysis
of things are ready to believe them. It is because women are
striving for liberation, and women have not yet established
themselves intellectually. One gets by heart a few lines of poetry
from the top of a novel and says she knows the whole of Browning.
Another attends a course of three lectures and then thinks she
knows everything in the world. The difficulty is that they are
unable to throw off the natural superstition of women. They have a
lot of money and some intellectual learning, but when they have
passed through this transition stage and get on firm ground, they
will be all right. But they are played upon by charlatans. Do not
be sorry; I do not mean to hurt anyone, but I have to tell the
truth. Do you not see how open you are to these things? Do you not
see how sincere these women are, how that divinity latent in all
never dies? It is only to know how to appeal to the Divine.
The more I live, the more I become convinced every day that every
human being is divine. In no man or woman, however vile, does that
divinity die. Only he or she does not know how to reach it and is
waiting for the Truth. And wicked people are trying to deceive him
or her with all sorts of fooleries. If one man cheats another for
money, you say he is a fool and a blackguard. How much greater is
the iniquity of one who wants to fool others spiritually! This is
too bad. It is the one test, that truth must make you strong and
put you above superstition. The duty of the philosopher is to
raise you above superstition. Even this world, this body and mind
are superstitions; what infinite souls you are! And to be tricked
by twinkling stars! It is a shameful condition. You are
divinities; the twinkling stars owe their existence to you.
I was once travelling in the Himalayas, and the long road
stretched before us. We poor monks cannot get anyone to carry us,
so we had to make all the way on foot. There was an old man with
us. The way goes up and down for hundreds of miles, and when that
old monk saw what was before him, he said, "Oh sir, how to cross
it; I cannot walk anymore; my chest will break." I said to him,
"Look down at your feet." He did so, and I said, "The road that is
under your feet is the road that you have passed over and is the
same road that you see before you; it will soon be under your
feet." The highest things are under your feet, because you are
Divine Stars; all these things are under your feet. You can
swallow the stars by the handful if you want; such is your real
nature. Be strong, get beyond all superstitions, and be free.
GOD: PERSONAL AND IMPERSONAL
My idea is that what you call a Personal God is the same as the
Impersonal Being, a Personal and Impersonal God at the same time.
We are personalised impersonal beings. If you use the word in the
absolute sense, we are impersonal; but if you use it in a relative
meaning, we are personal. Each one of you is a universal being,
each one is omnipresent. It may seem staggering at first, but I am
as sure of this as that I stand before you. How can the spirit
help being omnipresent? It has neither length, nor breadth, nor
thickness, nor any material attribute whatsoever; and if we are
all spirits we cannot be limited by space. Space only limits
space, matter matter. If we were limited to this body we would be
a material something. Body and soul and everything would be
material, and such words as "living in the body", "embodying the
soul" would be only words used for convenience; beyond that they
would have no meaning. Many of you remember the definition I gave
of the soul; that each soul is a circle whose centre is in one
point and circumference nowhere. The centre is where the body is,
and the activity is manifested there. You are omnipresent; only
you have the consciousness of being concentrated in one point.
That point has taken up particles of matter, and formed them into
a machine to express itself. That through which it expresses
itself is called the body. So you are everywhere; when one body or
machine fails, you, the centre, move on and take up other
particles of matter, finer or grosser, and work through that. This
is man. And what is God? God is a circle with its circumference
nowhere and centre everywhere. Every point in that circle is
living, conscious, active, and equally working; with us limited
souls, only one point is conscious, and that point moves forward
and backward. As the body has a very infinitesimal existence in
comparison with that of the universe, so the whole universe, in
comparison with God, is nothing. When we talk of God speaking, we
say He speaks through His universe; and when we speak of Him
beyond all limitations of time and space, we say He is an
Impersonal Being. Yet He is the same Being.
To give an illustration: We stand here and see the sun. Suppose
you want to go towards the sun. After you get a few thousand miles
nearer, you will see another sun, much bigger. Supposing you
proceed much closer, you will see a much bigger sun. At last you
will see the real sun, millions and millions of miles big. Suppose
you divide this journey into so many stages, and take photographs
from each stage, and after you have taken the real sun, come back
and compare them; they will all appear to be different, because
the first view was a little red ball, and the real sun was
millions of miles bigger; yet it was the same sun. It is the same
with God: the Infinite Being we see from different standpoints,
from different planes of mind. The lowest man sees Him as an
ancestor; as his vision gets higher, as the Governor of the
planet; still higher as the Governor of the universe, and the
highest man sees Him as himself. It was the same God, and the
different realisations were only degrees and differences of
vision.
THE DIVINE INCARNATION OR AVATARA
Jesus Christ was God - the Personal God become man. He has
manifested Himself many times in different forms and these alone
are what you can worship. God in His absolute nature is not to be
worshipped. Worshipping such God would be nonsense. We have to
worship Jesus Christ, the human manifestation, as God. You cannot
worship anything higher than the manifestation of God. The sooner
you give up the worship of God separate from Christ, the better
for you. Think of the Jehovah you manufacture and of the beautiful
Christ. Any time you attempt to make a God beyond Christ, you
murder the whole thing. God alone can worship God. It is not given
to man, and any attempt to worship Him beyond His ordinary
manifestations will be dangerous to mankind. Keep close to Christ
if you want salvation; He is higher than any God you can imagine.
If you think that Christ was a man, do not worship Him; but as
soon as you can realise that He is God, worship Him. Those who say
He was a man and then worship Him commit blasphemy; there is no
half-way house for you; you must take the whole strength of it.
"He that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father", and without
seeing the Son, you cannot see the Father. It would be only tall
talk and frothy philosophy and dreams and speculations. But if you
want to have a hold on spiritual life, cling close to God as
manifest in Christ.
Philosophically speaking, there was no such human being living as
Christ or Buddha; we saw God through them. In the Koran, Mohammed
again and again repeats that Christ was never crucified, it was a
semblance; no one could crucify Christ.
The lowest state of philosophical religion is dualism; the highest
form is the Triune state. Nature and the human soul are
interpenetrated by God, and this we see as the Trinity of God,
nature, and soul. At the same time you catch a glimpse that all
these three are products of the One. Just as this body is the
covering of the soul, so this is, as it were, the body of God. As
I am the soul of nature, so is God the soul of my soul. You are
the centre through which you see all nature in which you are. This
nature, soul, and God make one individual being, the universe.
Therefore they are a unity; yet at the same time they are
separate. Then there is another sort of Trinity which is much like
the Christian Trinity. God is absolute. We cannot see God in His
absolute nature, we can only speak of that as "not this, not
this". Yet we can get certain qualities as the nearest approach to
God. First is existence, second is knowledge, third is bliss -
very much corresponding to your Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Father is the existence out of which everything comes; Son is that
knowledge. It is in Christ that God will be manifest. God was
everywhere, in all beings, before Christ; but in Christ we became
conscious of Him. This is God. The third is bliss, the Holy
Spirit. As soon as you get this knowledge, you get bliss. As soon
as you begin to have Christ within you, you have bliss; and that
unifies the three.
PRANAYAMA
First of all we will try to understand a little of the meaning of
Prânâyama. Prâna stands in metaphysics for the sum total of the
energy that is in the universe. This universe, according to the
theory of the philosophers, proceeds in the form of waves; it
rises, and again it subsides, melts away, as it were; then again
it proceeds out in all this variety; then again it slowly returns.
So it goes on like a pulsation. The whole of this universe is
composed of matter and force; and according to Sanskrit
philosophers, everything that we call matter, solid and liquid, is
the outcome of one primal matter which they call Âkâsha or ether;
and the primordial force, of which all the forces that we see in
nature are manifestations, they call Prana. It is this Prana
acting upon Akasha, which creates this universe, and after the end
of a period, called a cycle, there is a period of rest. One period
of activity is followed by a period of rest; this is the nature of
everything. When this period of rest comes, all these forms that
we see in the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars, all these
manifestations melt down until they become ether again. They
become dissipated as ether. All these forces, either in the body
or in the mind, as gravitation, attraction, motion, thought,
become dissipated, and go off into the primal Prana. We can
understand from this the importance of this Pranayama. Just as
this ether encompasses us everywhere and we are interpenetrated by
it, so everything we see is composed of this ether, and we are
floating in the ether like pieces of ice floating in a lake. They
are formed of the water of the lake and float in it at the same
time. So everything that exists is composed of this Akasha and is
floating in this ocean. In the same way we are surrounded by this
vast ocean of Prana - force and energy. It is this Prana by which
we breathe and by which the circulation of the blood goes on; it
is the energy in the nerves and in the muscles, and the thought in
the brain. All forces are different manifestations of this same
Prana, as all matter is a different manifestation of the same
Akasha. We always find the causes of the gross in the subtle. The
chemist takes a solid lump of ore and analyses it; he wants to
find the subtler things out of which that gross is composed. So
with our thought and our knowledge; the explanation of the grosser
is in the finer. The effect is the gross and the cause the subtle.
This gross universe of ours, which we see, feel, and touch, has
its cause and explanation behind in the thought. The cause and
explanation of that is also further behind. So in this human body
of ours, we first find the gross movements, the movements of the
hands and lips; but where are the causes of these? The finer
nerves, the movements of which we cannot perceive at all, so fine
that we cannot see or touch or trace them in any way with our
senses, and yet we know they are the cause of these grosser
movements. These nerve movements, again, are caused by still finer
movements, which we call thought; and that is caused by something
finer still behind, which is the soul of man, the Self, the Âtman.
In order to understand ourselves we have first to make our
perception fine. No microscope or instrument that was ever
invented will make it possible for us to see the fine movements
that are going on inside; we can never see them by any such means.
So the Yogi has a science that manufactures an instrument for the
study of his own mind, and that instrument is in the mind. The
mind attains to powers of finer perception which no instrument
will ever be able to attain.
To attain to this power of superfine perception we have to begin
from the gross. And as the power becomes finer and finer, we go
deeper and deeper inside our own nature; and all the gross
movements will first be tangible to us, and then the finer
movements of the thought; we will be able to trace the thought
before its beginning, trace it where it goes and where it ends.
For instance, in the ordinary mind a thought arises. The mind does
not know how it began or whence it comes. The mind is like the
ocean in which a wave rises, but although the man sees the wave,
he does not know how the wave came there, whence its birth, or
whither it melts down again; he cannot trace it any further. But
when the perception becomes finer, we can trace this wave long,
long before it comes to the surface; and we will be able to trace
it for a long distance after it has disappeared, and then we can
understand psychology as it truly is. Nowadays men think this or
that and write many volumes, which are entirely misleading,
because they have not the power to analyse their own minds and are
talking of things they have never known, but only theorised about.
All science must be based on facts, and these facts must be
observed and generalised. Until you have some facts to generalise
upon, what are you going to do? So all these attempts at
generalising are based upon knowing the things we generalise. A
man proposes a theory, and adds theory to theory, until the whole
book is patchwork of theories, not one of them with the least
meaning. The science of Râja-Yoga says, first you must gather
facts about your own mind, and that can be done by analysing your
mind, developing its finer powers of perception and seeing for
yourselves what is happening inside; and when you have got these
facts, then generalise; and then alone you will have the real
science of psychology.
As I have said, to come to any finer perception we must take the
help of the grosser end of it. The current of action which is
manifested on the outside is the grosser. If we can get hold of
this and go on further and further, it becomes finer and finer,
and at last the finest. So this body and everything we have in
this body are not different existences, but, as it were, various
links in the same chain proceeding from fine to gross. You are a
complete whole; this body is the outside manifestation, the crust,
of the inside; the external is grosser and the inside finer; and
so finer and finer until you come to the Self. And at last, when
we come to the Self, we come to know that it was only the Self
that was manifesting all this; that it was the Self which became
the mind and became the body; that nothing else exists but the
Self, and all these others are manifestations of that Self in
various degrees, becoming grosser and grosser. So we will find by
analogy that in this whole universe there is the gross
manifestation, and behind that is the finer movement, which we can
call the will of God. Behind that even, we will find that
Universal Self. And then we will come to know that the Universal
Self becomes God and becomes this universe; and that it is not
that this universe is one and God another and the Supreme Self
another, but that they are different states of the manifestation
of the same Unity behind.
All this comes of our Pranayama. These finer movements that are
going on inside the body are connected with the breathing; and if
we can get hold of this breathing and manipulate it and control
it, we will slowly get to finer and finer motions, and thus enter,
as it were, by getting hold of that breathing, into the realms of
the mind.
The first breathing that I taught you in our last lesson was
simply an exercise for the time being. Some of these breathing
exercises, again, are very difficult, and I will try to avoid all
the difficult ones, because the more difficult ones require a
great deal of dieting and other restrictions which it is
impossible for most of you to keep to. So we will take the slower
paths and the simpler ones. This breathing consists of three
parts. The first is breathing in, which is called in Sanskrit
Puraka, filling; and the second part is called Kumbhaka,
retaining, filling the lungs and stopping the air from coming out;
the third is called Rechaka, breathing out. The first exercise
which I will give you today is simply breathing in and stopping
the breath and throwing it out slowly. Then there is one step more
in the breathing which I will not give you today, because you
cannot remember them all; it would be too intricate. These three
parts of breathing make one Pranayama. This breathing should be
regulated, because if it is not, there is danger in the way to
yourselves. So it is regulated by numbers, and I will give you
first the lowest numbers. Breathe in four seconds, then hold the
breath for eight seconds, then again throw it out slowly in four
seconds. (This process is more difficult when the ratio is two,
eight, and four: for further remarks see later.) Then begin again,
and do this four times in the morning and four times in the
evening. There is one thing more. Instead of counting by one, two,
three, and all such meaningless things, it is better to repeat any
word that is holy to you. In our country we have symbolical words,
"Om" for instance, which means God. If that be pronounced instead
of one, two, three, four, it will serve your purpose very well.
One thing more. This breathing should begin through the left
nostril and should turn out through the right nostril, and the
next time is should be drawn in through the right and thrown out
through the left. Then reverse again, and so on. In the first
place you should be able to drive your breathing through either
nostril at will, just by the power of the will. After a time you
will find it easy; but now I am afraid you have not that power. So
we must stop the one nostril while breathing through the other
with the finger and during the retention, of course, both
nostrils.
The first two lessons should not be forgotten. The first thing is
to hold yourselves straight; second to think of the body as sound
and perfect, as healthy and strong. Then throw a current of love
all around, think of the whole universe being happy. Then if you
believe in God, pray. Then breathe.
In many of you certain physical changes will come, twitchings all
over the body, nervousness; some of you will feel like weeping,
sometimes a violent motion will come. Do not be afraid; these
things have to come as you go on practicing. The whole body will
have to be rearranged as it were. New channels for thought will be
made in the brain, nerves which have not acted in your whole life
will begin to work, and a whole new series of changes will come in
the body itself.