Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda - Vol-8
WOMEN OF THE EAST
(As many women as could crowd into Hall 7 yesterday afternoon
flocked thither to hear something as to the lives of their sisters
of the Orient. Mrs. Potter Palmer and Mrs. Charles Henrotin sat
upon the platform, surrounded by turbanned representatives of the
women of the East.
It may interest the readers to know that the published addresses
of Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago are
not exhaustive and many addresses, specially those delivered at
the Scientific Section of the Parliament were not all reported.
The Scientific Sessions were conducted simultaneously with the
open session at the Hall of Columbus. Swami Vivekananda spoke on
the following subjects at the Scientific Section:
1. Orthodox Hinduism and the Vedanta Philosophy.
- Friday, September 22, 1893, at 10-30 a.m.
2. The Modern Religions of India.
- Friday, September 22, 1893 afternoon session.
3. On the subject of the foregoing addresses.
- Saturday, September 23, 1893.
4. The Essence of the Hindu Religion.
- Monday, September 25, 1893.
The Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean of September 23, 1893 published the
following note on the first lecture.
"In the Scientific Section yesterday morning Swami Vivekananda
spoke on 'Orthodox Hinduism'. Hall III was crowded to overflowing
and hundreds of questions were asked by auditors and answered by
the great Sannyasin with wonderful skill and lucidity. At the
close of the session he was thronged with eager questions who
begged him to give a semi-public lecture somewhere on the subject
of his religion. He said that he already had the project under
consideration.")
(Report of a lecture in the Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean,
September 23, 1893)
Swami Vivekananda, at a special meeting, discussed the present and
future of the women of the East. He said, "The best thermometer to
the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women. In ancient
Greece there was absolutely no difference in the state of man and
woman. The idea of perfect equality existed. No Hindu can be a
priest until he is married, the idea being that a single man is
only half a man, and imperfect. The idea of perfect womanhood is
perfect independence. The central idea of the life of a modern
Hindu lady is her chastity. The wife is the centre of a circle,
the fixity of which depends upon her chastity. It was the extreme
of this idea which caused Hindu widows to be burnt. The Hindu
women are very spiritual and very religious, perhaps more so than
any other women in the world. If we can preserve these beautiful
characteristics and at the same time develop the intellects of our
women, the Hindu woman of the future will be the ideal woman of
the world."
CONGRESS OF RELIGIOUS UNITY
(Report of a lecture in the Chicago Sunday Herald, September 24,
1893)
Swami Vivekananda said, "All the words spoken at this parliament
come to the common conclusion that the brotherhood of man is the
much-to-be-desired end. Much has been said for this brotherhood as
being a natural condition, since we are all children of one God.
Now, there are sects that do not admit of the existence of God -
that is, a Personal God. Unless we wish to leave those sects out
in the cold - and in that case our brotherhood will not be
universal - we must have our platform broad enough to embrace all
mankind. It has been said here that we should do good to our
fellow men, because every bad or mean deed reacts on the doer.
This appears to me to savour of the shopkeeper - ourselves first,
our brothers afterwards. I think we should love our brother
whether we believe in the universal fatherhood of God or not,
because every religion and every creed recognises man as divine,
and you should do him no harm that you might not injure that which
is divine in him."
THE LOVE OF GOD - I
(Report of a lecture in the Chicago Herald, September 25, 1893)
An audience that filled the auditorium of the Third Unitarian
Church at Laflin and Monroe streets heard Swami Vivekananda preach
yesterday morning. The subject of his sermon was the love of God,
and his treatment of the theme was eloquent and unique. He said
that God was worshipped in all parts of the world, but by
different names and in different ways. It is natural for men, he
said, to worship the grand and the beautiful, and that religion
was a portion of their nature. The need of God was felt by all,
and His love prompted them to deeds of charity, mercy, and
justice. All men loved God because He was love itself. The speaker
had heard since coming to Chicago a great deal about the
brotherhood of man. He believed that a still stronger tie
connected them, in that all are the offsprings of the love of God.
The brotherhood of man was the logical sequence of God as the
Father of all. The speaker said he had travelled in the forests of
India and slept in caves, and from his observation of nature he
had drawn the belief that there was something above the natural
law that kept men from wrong, and that, he concluded, was the love
of God. If God had spoken to Christ, Mohammed, and the Rishis of
the Vedas, why did He not speak also to him, one of his children?
"Indeed, he does speak to me", the Swami continued, "and to all
His children. We see Him all around us and are impressed
continually by the boundlessness of His love, and from that love
we draw the inspiration for our well-being and well-doing."
THE LOVE OF GOD - II
(A lecture delivered in the Unitarian Church of Detroit on
February 20, 1894 and reported in the Detroit Free Press)
Vivekananda delivered a lecture on "The Love of God" at the
Unitarian Church last night before the largest audience that he
has yet had. The trend of the lecturer's remarks was to show that
we do not accept God because we really want Him, but because we
have need of Him for selfish purposes. Love, said the speaker, is
something absolutely unselfish, that which has no thought beyond
the glorification and adoration of the object upon which our
affections are bestowed. It is a quality which bows down and
worships and asks nothing in return. Merely to love is the sole
request that true love has to ask.
It is said of a Hindu saint that when she was married, she said to
her husband, the king, that she was already married. "To whom?"
asked the king. "To God", was the reply. She went among the poor
and the needy and taught the doctrine of extreme love for God. One
of her prayers is significant, showing the manner in which her
heart was moved: "I ask not for wealth; I ask not for position; I
ask not for salvation; place me in a hundred hells if it be Thy
wish, but let me continue to regard Thee as my love." The early
language abounds in beautiful prayers of this woman. When her end
came, she entered into Samâdhi on the banks of a river. She
composed a beautiful song, in which she stated that she was going
to meet her Beloved.
Men are capable of philosophical analysis of religion. A woman is
devotional by nature and loves God from the heart and soul and not
from the mind. The songs of Solomon are one of the most beautiful
parts of the Bible. The language in them is much of that
affectionate kind which is found in the prayers of the Hindu woman
saint. And yet I have heard that Christians are going to have
these incomparable songs removed. I have heard an explanation of
the songs in which it is said that Solomon loved a young girl and
desired her to return his royal affection. The girl, however,
loved a young man and did not want to have anything to do with
Solomon. This explanation is excellent to some people, because
they cannot understand such wondrous love for God as is embodied
in the songs. Love for God in India is different from love for God
elsewhere, because when you get into a country where the
thermometer reads 40 degrees below zero, the temperament of the
people changes. The aspirations of the people in the climate where
the books of the Bible are said to have been written were
different from the aspirations of the cold-blooded Western
nations, who are more apt to worship the almighty dollar with the
warmth expressed in the songs than to worship God. Love for God
seems to be based upon a basis of "what can I get out of it?" In
their prayers they ask for all kinds of selfish things.
Christians are always wanting God to give them something. They
appear as beggars before the throne of the Almighty. A story is
told of a beggar who applied to an emperor for alms. While he was
waiting, it was time for the emperor to offer up prayers. The
emperor prayed, "O God, give me more wealth; give me more power;
give me a greater empire." The beggar started to leave. The
emperor turned and asked him, "Why are you going?" "I do not beg
of beggars", was the reply.
Some people find it really difficult to understand the frenzy of
religious fervour which moved the heart of Mohammed. He would
grovel in the dust and writhe in agony. Holy men who have
experienced these extreme emotions have been called epileptic. The
absence of the thought of self is the essential characteristic of
the love for God. Religion nowadays has become a mere hobby and
fashion. People go to church like a flock of sheep. They do not
embrace God because they need Him. Most persons are unconscious
atheists who self-complacently think that they are devout
believers.
INDIA
(Report of a lecture delivered at Detroit on Thursday, February
15, 1894, with the editorial comments of the Detroit Free Press)
An audience that filled the Unitarian Church heard the renowned
monk, Swami Vivekananda, deliver a lecture last night on the
manners and customs of his country. His eloquent and graceful
manner pleased his listeners, who followed him from beginning to
end with the closest attention, showing approval from time to time
by outbursts of applause. While his lecture was more popular in
character than the celebrated Address before the religious
congress in Chicago, it was highly entertaining, especially where
the speaker diverted from the instructive portions and was led to
an eloquent narration of certain spiritual conditions of his own
people. It is upon matters religious and philosophic (and
necessarily spiritual) that the Eastern brother is most
impressive, and, while outlining the duties that follow the
conscientious consideration of the great moral law of nature, his
softly modulated tones, a peculiarity of his people, and his
thrilling manner are almost prophetic. He speaks with marked
deliberation, except when placing before his listeners some moral
truth, and then his eloquence is of the highest kind.
It seemed somewhat singular that the Eastern monk, who is so
outspoken in his disapproval of missionary labour on the part of
the Christian church in India (where, he affirms, the morality is
the highest in the world), should have been introduced by Bishop
Ninde who in June will depart for China in the interest of foreign
Christian missions. The Bishop expects to remain away until
December; but if he should stay longer he will go to India. The
Bishop referred to the wonders of India and the intelligence of
the educated classes there, introducing Vivekananda in a happy
manner. When that dusky gentleman arose, dressed in his turban and
bright gown, with handsome face and bright, intelligent eyes, he
presented an impressive figure. He returned thanks to the Bishop
for his words and proceeded to explain race divisions in his own
country, the manners of the people, and the different languages.
Principally there are four northern tongues and four southern, but
there is one common religion. Four-fifths of the population of 300
million people are Hindus and the Hindu is a peculiar person. He
does everything in a religious manner. He eats religiously; he
sleeps religiously; he rises in the morning religiously; he does
good things religiously; and he also does bad things religiously.
At this point the lecturer struck the great moral keynote of his
discourse, stating that with his people it was the belief that all
non-self is good and all self is bad. This point was emphasised
throughout the evening and might be termed the text of the
address. To build a home is selfish, argues the Hindu; so he
builds it for the worship of God and for the entertainment of
guests. To cook food is selfish, so he cooks for the poor; he will
serve himself last if any hungry stranger applies, and this
feeling extends throughout the length and breadth of the land. Any
man can ask for food and shelter, and any house will be opened to
him.
The caste system has nothing to do with religion. A man's
occupation is hereditary: a carpenter is born a carpenter; a
goldsmith, a goldsmith; a workman, a workman; and a priest, a
priest. But this is a comparatively modern social evil, since it
has existed only about 1,000 years. This period of time does not
seem so great in India as in this and other countries. Two gifts
are especially appreciated - the gift of learning and the gift of
life. But the gift of learning takes precedence. One may save a
man's life, and that is excellent; one may impart to another
knowledge, and that is better. To instruct for money is an evil,
and to do this would bring opprobrium on the head of the man who
barters learning for gold, as though it were an article of trade.
The government makes gifts from time to time to the instructors,
and the moral effect is better than it would be if the conditions
were the same as exist in certain alleged civilised countries. The
speaker had asked through the length and breadth of the land what
was the definition of civilisation, and he had asked the question
in many countries. Sometimes the reply had been given: What we
are, that is civilisation. He begged to differ in the definition
of the word. A nation may control the elements, develop
utilitarian problems of life seemingly to the limit, and yet not
realise that in the individual the highest type of civilisation is
found in him who has learnt to conquer self. This condition is
found in India more than in any country on earth, for there the
material conditions are subservient to the spiritual, and the
individual looks for the soul manifestations in everything that
has life, studying nature to this end. Hence that gentle
disposition to endure with indomitable patience the flings of what
appears unkind fortune, the while there is a full consciousness of
a spiritual strength and knowledge greater than those possessed by
any other people; hence the existence of a country and a people
from which flows an unending stream that attracts the attention of
thinkers far and near to approach and throw from their shoulders
an oppressive earthly burden. The early king, who in 260 B.C.
commanded that there should be no more bloodshed, no more wars,
and who sent forth instead of soldiers an army of instructors,
acted wisely, although in material things the land has suffered.
But though in bondage to brutal nations who conquer by force, the
Indian's spirituality endures forever, and nothing can take it
away from him. There is something Christlike in the humility of
the people to endure the stings and arrows of outraged fortune,
the while the soul is advancing towards the brighter goal. Such a
country has no need of Christian missionaries to "preach ideas",
for theirs is a religion that makes men gentle, sweet,
considerate, and affectionate towards all God's creatures, whether
man or beast. Morally, said the speaker, India is head and
shoulders above the United States or any other country on the
globe. Missionaries would do well to come there and drink of the
pure waters, and see what a beautiful influence upon a great
community have the lives of the multitude of holy men.
Then marriage condition was described; and the privileges extended
to women in ancient times when the system of co-education
flourished. In the records of the saints in India there is the
unique figure of the prophetess. In the Christian creed they are
all prophets, while in India the holy women occupy a conspicuous
place in the holy books. The householder has five objects for
worship. One of them is learning and teaching. Another is worship
of dumb creatures. It is hard for Americans to understand the last
worship, and it is difficult for Europeans to appreciate the
sentiment. Other nations kill animals by wholesale and kill one
another; they exist in a sea of blood. A European said that the
reason why in India animals were not killed was because it was
supposed that they contained the spirits of ancestors. This reason
was worthy of a savage nation who are not many steps from the
brute. The fact was that the statement was made by a set of
atheists in India who thus carped at the Vedic idea of non-killing
and transmigration of souls. It was never a religious doctrine, it
was an idea of a materialistic creed. The worship of dumb animals
was pictured in a vivid manner. The hospitable spirit - the Indian
golden rule, was illustrated by a story. A Brâhmin, his wife, his
son, and his son's wife had not tasted food for some time on
account of a famine. The head of the house went out and after a
search found a small quantity of barley. He brought this home and
divided it into four portions, and the small family was about to
eat, when a knock was heard at the door. It was a guest. The
different portions were set before him, and he departed with his
hunger satisfied, while the quartette who had entertained him
perished. This story is told in India to illustrate what is
expected in the sacred name of hospitality.
The speaker concluded in an eloquent manner. Throughout, his
speech was simple; but whenever he indulged in imagery, it was
delightfully poetic, showing that the Eastern brother has been a
close and attentive observer of the beauties of nature. His
excessive spirituality is a quality which makes itself felt with
his auditors, for it manifests itself in the love for animate and
inanimate things and in the keen insight into the mysterious
workings of the divine law of harmony and kindly intentions.
HINDUS AND CHRISTIANS
(A lecture delivered at Detroit on February 21, 1894, and reported
in the Detroit Free Press)
Of the different philosophies, the tendency of the Hindu is not to
destroy, but to harmonise everything. If any new idea comes into
India, we do not antagonise it, but simply try to take it in, to
harmonise it, because this method was taught first by our prophet,
God incarnate on earth, Shri Krishna. This Incarnation of God
preached himself first: "I am the God Incarnate, I am the inspirer
of all books, I am the inspirer of all religions." Thus we do not
reject any.
There is one thing which is very dissimilar between us and
Christians, something which we never taught. That is the idea of
salvation through Jesus' blood, or cleansing by any man's blood.
We had our sacrifice as the Jews had. Our sacrifices mean simply
this: Here is some food I am going to eat, and until some portion
is offered to God, it is bad; so I offer the food. This is the
pure and simple idea. But with the Jew the idea is that his sin be
upon the lamb, and let the lamb be sacrificed and him go
scot-free. We never developed this beautiful idea in India, and I
am glad we did not. I, for one, would not come to be saved by such
a doctrine. If anybody would come and say, "Be saved by my blood",
I would say to him, "My brother, go away; I will go to hell; I am
not a coward to take innocent blood to go to heaven; I am ready
for hell." So that doctrine never cropped up amongst us, and our
prophet says that whenever evil and immortality prevail on earth,
He will come down and support His children; and this He is doing
from time to time and from place to place. And whenever on earth
you see an extraordinary holy man trying to uplift humanity, know
that He is in him.
So you see that is the reason why we never fight any religion. We
do not say that ours is the only way to salvation. Perfection can
be had by everybody, and what is the proof? Because we see the
holiest of men in all countries, good men and women everywhere,
whether born in our faith or not. Therefore it cannot be held that
ours is the only way to salvation. "Like so many rivers flowing
from different mountains, all coming and mingling their waters in
the sea, all the different religions, taking their births from
different standpoints of fact, come unto Thee." This is a part of
the child's everyday prayer in India. With such everyday prayers,
of course, such ideas as fighting because of differences of
religion are simply impossible. So much for the philosophers of
India. We have great regard for all these men, especially this
prophet, Shri Krishna, on account of his wonderful catholicity in
harmonising all the preceding revelations.
Then the man who is bowing down before the idol. It is not in the
same sense as you have heard of the Babylonian and the Roman
idolatry. It is peculiar to the Hindus. The man is before the
idol, and he shuts his eyes and tries to think, "I am He; I have
neither life nor death; I have neither father nor mother; I am not
bound by time or space; I am Existence infinite, Bliss infinite,
and Knowledge infinite; I am He, I am He. I am not bound by books,
or holy places, or pilgrimages, or anything whatsoever; I am the
Existence Absolute, Bliss Absolute; I am He, I am He." This he
repeats and then says, "O Lord, I cannot conceive Thee in myself;
I am a poor man." Religion does not depend upon knowledge. It is
the soul itself, it is God, not to be attained by simple
book-knowledge or powers of speech. You may take the most learned
man you have and ask him to think of spirit as spirit; he cannot.
You may imagine spirit, he may imagine spirit. It is impossible to
think of spirit without training. So no matter how much theology
you may learn - you may be a great philosopher and greater
theologian - but the Hindu boy would say, "Well, that has nothing
to do with religion." Can you think of spirit as spirit? Then
alone all doubt ceases, and all crookedness of the heart is made
straight. Then only all fears vanish, and all doubtings are
forever silent when man's soul and God come face to face.
A man may be wonderfully learned in the Western sense, yet he may
not know the A B C of religion. I would tell him that. I would ask
him, "Can you think of spirit as such? Are you advanced in the
science of the soul? Have you manifested your own soul above
matter?" If he has not, then I say to him, "Religion has not come
to you; it is all talk and book and vanity." But this poor Hindu
sits before that idol and tries to think that he is That, and then
says, "O Lord, I cannot conceive Thee as spirit, so let me
conceive of Thee in this form"; and then he opens his eyes and see
this form, and prostrating himself he repeats his prayers. And
when his prayer is ended, he says, "O Lord, forgive me for this
imperfect worship of Thee."
You are always being told that the Hindu worships blocks of stone.
Now what do you think of this fervent nature of the souls of these
people? I am the first monk to come over to these Western
countries - it is the first time in the history of the world that
a Hindu monk has crossed the ocean. But we hear such criticism and
hear of these talks, and what is the general attitude of my nation
towards you? They smile and say, "They are children; they may be
great in physical science; they may build huge things; but in
religion they are simply children." That is the attitude of my
people.
One thing I would tell you, and I do not mean any unkind
criticism. You train and educate and clothe and pay men to do
what? To come over to my country to curse and abuse all my
forefathers, my religion, and everything. They walk near a temple
and say, "You idolaters, you will go to hell." But they dare not
do that to the Mohammedans of India; the sword would be out. But
the Hindu is too mild; he smiles and passes on, and says, "Let the
fools talk." That is the attitude. And then you who train men to
abuse and criticise, if I just touch you with the least bit of
criticism, with the kindest of purpose, you shrink and cry, "Don't
touch us; we are Americans. We criticise all the people in the
world, curse them and abuse them, say anything; but do not touch
us; we are sensitive plants." You may do whatever you please; but
at the same time I am going to tell you that we are content to
live as we are; and in one thing we are better off - we never
teach our children to swallow such horrible stuff: "Where every
prospect pleases and man alone is vile." And whenever your
ministers criticise us, let them remember this: If all India
stands up and takes all the mud that is at the bottom of the
Indian Ocean and throws it up against the Western countries, it
will not be doing an infinitesimal part of that which you are
doing to us. And what for? Did we ever send one missionary to
convert anybody in the world? We say to you, "Welcome to your
religion, but allow me to have mine." You call yours an aggressive
religion. You are aggressive, but how many have you taken? Every
sixth man in the world is a Chinese subject, a Buddhist; then
there are Japan, Tibet, and Russia, and Siberia, and Burma, and
Siam; and it may not be palatable, but this Christian morality,
the Catholic Church, is all derived from them. Well, and how was
this done? Without the shedding of one drop of blood! With all
your brags and boastings, where has your Christianity succeeded
without the sword? Show me one place in the whole world. One, I
say, throughout the history of the Christian religion - one; I do
not want two. I know how your forefathers were converted. They had
to be converted or killed; that was all. What can you do better
than Mohammedanism, with all your bragging? "We are the only one!"
And why? "Because we can kill others." The Arabs said that; they
bragged. And where is the Arab now? He is the bedouin. The Romans
used to say that, and where are they now? Blessed are the
peace-makers; they shall enjoy the earth. Such things tumble down;
it is built upon sands; it cannot remain long.
Everything that has selfishness for its basis, competition as its
right hand, and enjoyment as its goal, must die sooner or later.
Such things must die. Let me tell you, brethren, if you want to
live, if you really want your nation to live, go back to Christ.
You are not Christians. No, as a nation you are not. Go back to
Christ. Go back to him who had nowhere to lay his head. "The birds
have their nests and the beasts their lairs, but the Son of Man
has nowhere to lay his head." Yours is religion preached in the
name of luxury. What an irony of fate! Reverse this if you want to
live, reverse this. It is all hypocrisy that I have heard in this
country. If this nation is going to live, let it go back to him.
You cannot serve God and Mammon at the same time. All this
prosperity, all this from Christ! Christ would have denied all
such heresies. All prosperity which comes with Mammon is
transient, is only for a moment. Real permanence is in Him. If you
can join these two, this wonderful prosperity with the ideal of
Christ, it is well. But if you cannot, better go back to him and
give this up. Better be ready to live in rags with Christ than to
live in palaces without him.
CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA
(A lecture delivered at Detroit on March 11, 1894 and reported in
the Detroit Free Press)
"Vive Kananda spoke to a crowded audience at the Detroit Opera
House last night. He was given an extremely cordial reception and
delivered his most eloquent address here. He spoke for two hours
and a half.
Hon. T. W. Palmer, in introducing the distinguished visitor,
referred to the old tale of the shield that was copper on one side
and silver on the other and the contest which ensued. If we look
on both sides of a question there would be less dispute. It is
possible for all men to agree. The matter of foreign missions has
been dear to the religious heart. Vive Kananda, from the Christian
standpoint, said Mr. Palmer, was a pagan. It would be pleasant to
hear from a gentleman who spoke about the copper side of the
shield.
Vive Kananda was received with great applause." . . .
I do not know much about missionaries in Japan and China, but I am
well posted about India. The people of this country look upon
India as a vast waste, with many jungles and a few civilised
Englishmen. India is half as large as the United States, and there
are three hundred million people. Many stories are related, and I
have become tired of denying these. The first invaders of India,
the Aryans, did not try to exterminate the population of India as
the Christians did when they went into a new land, but the
endeavour was made to elevate persons of brutish habits. The
Spaniards came to Ceylon with Christianity. The Spaniards thought
that their God commanded them to kill and murder and to tear down
heathen temples. The Buddhists had a tooth a foot long, which
belonged to their Prophet, and the Spaniards threw it into the
sea, killed a few thousand persons, and converted a few scores.
The Portuguese came to Western India. The Hindus have a belief in
the Trinity and had a temple dedicated to their sacred belief. The
invaders looked at the temple and said it was a creation of the
devil; and so they brought their cannon to bear upon the wonderful
structure and destroyed a portion of it. But the invaders were
driven out of the country by the enraged population. The early
missionaries tried to get hold of the land, and in their effort to
secure a foothold by force, they killed many people and converted
a number. Some of them became Christians to save their lives.
Ninety-nine percent of the Christians converted by the Portuguese
sword were compelled to be so, and they said, "We do not believe
in Christianity, but we are forced to call ourselves Christians."
But Catholic Christianity soon relapsed.
The East India Company got possession of a part of India with the
idea of making hay while the sun shone. They kept the missionaries
away. The Hindus were the first to welcome the missionaries, not
the Englishmen, who were engaged in trade. I have great admiration
for some of the first missionaries of the later period, who were
true servants of Jesus and did not vilify the people or spread
vile falsehoods about them. They were gentle, kindly men. When
Englishmen became masters of India, the missionary enterprise
began to become stagnant, a condition which characterises the
missionary efforts in India today. Dr. Long, an early missionary,
stood by the people. He translated a Hindu drama describing the
evils perpetuated in India by indigo-planters, and what was the
result? He was placed in jail by the English. Such missionaries
were of benefit to the country, but they have passed away. The
Suez Canal opened up a number of evils.
Now goes the missionary, a married man, who is hampered because he
is married. The missionary knows nothing about the people, he
cannot speak the language, so he invariably settles in the little
white colony. He is forced to do this because he is married. Were
he not married, he could go among the people and sleep on the
ground if necessary. So he goes to India to seek company for his
wife and children. He stays among the English-speaking people. The
great heart of India is today absolutely untouched by missionary
effort. Most of the missionaries are incompetent. I have not met a
single missionary who understands Sanskrit. How can a man
absolutely ignorant of the people and their traditions, get into
sympathy with them? I do not mean any offense, but Christians send
men as missionaries, who are not persons of ability. It is sad to
see money spent to make converts when no real results of a
satisfactory nature are reached.
Those who are converted, are the few who make a sort of living by
hanging round the missionaries. The converts who are not kept in
service in India, cease to be converts. That is about the entire
matter in a nutshell. As to the way of converting, it is
absolutely absurd. The money the missionaries bring is accepted.
The colleges founded by missionaries are all right, so far as the
education is concerned. But with religion it is different. The
Hindu is acute; he takes the bait but avoids the hook! It is
wonderful how tolerant the people are. A missionary once said,
"That is the worst of the whole business. People who are
self-complacent can never be converted."
As regards the lady missionaries, they go into certain houses, get
four shillings a month, teach them something of the Bible, and
show them how to knit. The girls of India will never be converted.
Atheism and skepticism at home is what is pushing the missionary
into other lands. When I came into this country I was surprised to
meet so many liberal men and women. But after the Parliament of
Religions a great Presbyterian paper came out and gave me the
benefit of a seething article. This the editor called enthusiasm.
The missionaries do not and cannot throw off nationality - they
are not broad enough - and so they accomplish nothing in the way
of converting, although they may have a nice sociable time among
themselves. India requires help from Christ, but not from the
antichrist; these men are not Christlike. They do not act like
Christ; they are married and come over and settle down comfortably
and make a fair livelihood. Christ and his disciples would
accomplish much good in India, just as many of the Hindu saints
do; but these men are not of that sacred character. The Hindus
would welcome the Christ of the Christians gladly, because his
life was holy and beautiful; but they cannot and will not receive
the narrow utterances of the ignorant, hypocritical or
self-deceiving men.
Men are different. If they were not, the mentality of the world
would be degraded. If there were not different religions, no
religion would survive. The Christian requires his religion; the
Hindu needs his own creed. All religions have struggled against
one another for years. Those which were founded on a book, still
stand. Why could not the Christians convert the Jews? Why could
they not make the Persians Christians? Why could they not convert
Mohammedans? Why cannot any impression be made upon China or
Japan? Buddhism, the first missionary religion, numbers double the
number of converts of any other religion, and they did not use the
sword. The Mohammedans used the greatest violence. They number the
least of the three great missionary religions. The Mohammedans
have had their day. Every day you read of Christian nations
acquiring land by bloodshed. What missionaries preach against
this? Why should the most blood-thirsty nation exalt an alleged
religion which is not the religion of Christ? The Jews and the
Arabs were the fathers of Christianity, and how they have been
persecuted by the Christians! The Christians have been weighed in
the balance in India and have been found wanting. I do not mean to
be unkind, but I want to show the Christians how they look in
others' eyes. The missionaries who preach the burning pit are
regarded with horror. The Mohammedans rolled wave after wave over
India waving the sword, and today where are they?
The furthest that all religions can see is the existence of a
spiritual entity. So no religion can teach beyond that point. In
every religion there is the essential truth and the non-essential
casket in which this jewel lies. Believing in the Jewish book or
in the Hindu book is non-essential. Circumstances change; the
receptacle is different; but the central truth remains. The
essentials being the same, the educated people of every community
retain the essentials. If you ask a Christian what his essentials
are, he should reply, "The teachings of Lord Jesus." Much of the
rest is nonsense. But the nonsensical part is right; it forms the
receptacle. The shell of the oyster is not attractive, but the
pearl is within it. The Hindu will never attack the life of Jesus;
he reverences the Sermon on the Mount. But how many Christians
know or have heard of the teachings of the Hindu holy men? They
remain in a fool's paradise. Before a small fraction of the world
was converted, Christianity was divided into many creeds. That is
the law of nature. Why take a single instrument from the great
religious orchestra of the earth? Let the grand symphony go on. Be
pure. Give up superstition and see the wonderful harmony of
nature. Superstition gets the better of religion. All the
religions are good, since the essentials are the same. Each man
should have the perfect exercise of his individuality, but these
individualities form a perfect whole. This marvelous condition is
already in existence. Each creed has something to add to the
wonderful structure.
I pity the Hindu who does not see the beauty in Jesus Christ's
character. I pity the Christian who does not reverence the Hindu
Christ. The more a man sees of himself, the less he sees of his
neighbors. Those that go about converting, who are very busy
saving the souls of others, in many instances forget their own
souls. I was asked by a lady why the women of India were not more
elevated. It is in a great degree owing to the barbarous invaders
through different ages; it is partly due to the people in India
themselves. But our women are any day better than the ladies of
this country who are devotees of novels and balls. Where is the
spirituality one would expect in a country which is so boastful of
its civilisation? I have not found it. "Here" and "here-after" are
words to frighten children. It is all "here". To live and move in
God - even here, even in this body! All self should go out; all
superstition should be banished. Such men live in India. Where are
such in this country? Your preachers speak against "dreamers". The
people of this country would be better off if there were more
"dreamers". If a man here followed literally the instruction of
his Lord, he would be called a fanatic. There is a good deal of
difference between dreaming and the brag of the nineteenth
century. The bees look for the flowers. Open the lotus! The whole
world is full of God and not of sin. Let us help each other. Let
us love each other. A beautiful prayer of the Buddhist is: I bow
down to all the saints; I bow down to all the prophets; I bow down
to all the holy men and women all over the world!
THE RELIGION OF LOVE
(Notes of a lecture delivered in London on November 16, 1895)
Just as it is necessary for a man to go through symbols and
ceremonies first in order to arrive at the depth of realisation,
so we say in India, "It is good to be born in a church, but bad to
die in one". A sapling must be hedged about for protection, but
when it becomes a tree, a hedge would be a hindrance. So there is
no need to criticise and condemn the old forms. We forget that in
religion there must be growth.
At first we think of a Personal God, and call Him Creator,
Omnipotent, Omniscient, and so forth. But when loves comes, God is
only love. The loving worshipper does not care what God is,
because he wants nothing from Him. Says an Indian saint, "I am no
beggar!" Neither does he fear. God is loved as a human being.
Here are some of the systems founded on love. (1) Shânta, a
common, peaceful love, with such thoughts as those of fatherhood
and help; (2) Dâsya, the ideal of service; God as master or
general or sovereign, giving punishments and rewards; (3)
Vâtsalya, God as mother or child. In India the mother never
punishes. In each of these stages, the worshipper forms an ideal
of God and follows it. Then (4) Sakhya, God as friend. There is
here no fear. There is also the feeling of equality and
familiarity. There are some Hindus who worship God as friend and
playmate. Next comes (5) Madhura, sweetest love, the love of
husband and wife. Of this St. Teresa and the ecstatic saints have
been examples. Amongst the Persians, God has been looked upon as
the wife, amongst the Hindus as the husband. We may recall the
great queen Mirâ Bâi, who preached that the Divine Spouse was all.
Some carry this to such an extreme that to call God "mighty" or
"father" seems to them blasphemy. The language of this worship is
erotic. Some even use that of illicit passion. To this cycle
belongs the story of Krishna and the Gopi-girls. All this probably
seems to you to entail great degeneration on the worshipper. And
so it does. Yet many great saints have been developed by it. And
no human institution is beyond abuse. Would you cook nothing
because there are beggars? Would you possess nothing because there
are thieves? "O Beloved, one kiss of Thy lips, once tasted, hath
made me mad!"
The fruit of this idea is that one can no longer belong to any
sect, or endure ceremonial. Religion in India culminates in
freedom. But even this comes to be given up, and all is love for
love's sake.
Last of all comes love without distinction, the Self. There is a
Persian poem that tells how a lover came to the door of his
beloved, and knocked. She asked, "Who art thou?" and he replied,
"I am so and so, thy beloved!" and she answered only, "Go! I know
none such!" But when she had asked for the fourth time, he said,
"I am thyself, O my Beloved, therefore open thou to me!" And the
door was opened.
A great saint said, using the language of a girl, describing love:
"Four eyes met. There were changes in two souls. And now I cannot
tell whether he is a man and I am a woman, or he is a woman and I
a man. This only I remember, two souls were. Love came, and there
was one."
In the highest love, union is only of the spirit. All love of any
other kind is quickly evanescent. Only the spiritual lasts, and
this grows.
Love sees the Ideal. This is the third angle of the triangle. God
has been Cause, Creator, Father. Love is the culmination. The
mother regrets that her child is humpbacked, but when she has
nursed him for a few days, she loves him and thinks him most
beautiful. The lover sees the beauty of Helen in the brow of
Ethiopia. We do not commonly realise what happens. The brow of
Ethiopia is merely a suggestion: the man sees Helen. His ideal is
thrown upon the suggestion and covers it, as the oyster makes sand
into a pearl. God is this ideal, through which man may see all.
Hence we come to love love itself. This love cannot be expressed.
No words can utter it. We are dumb about it.
The senses become very much heightened in love. Human love, we
must remember, is mixed up with attributes. It is dependent, too,
on the other's attitude. Indian languages have words to describe
this interdependence of love. The lowest love is selfish; it
consists in pleasure of being loved. We say in India, "One gives
the cheek, the other kisses." Above this is mutual love. But this
also ceases mutually. True love is all giving. We do not even want
to see the other, or to do anything to express our feeling. It is
enough to give. It is almost impossible to love a human being like
this, but it is possible to love God.
In India there is no idea of blasphemy if boys fighting in the
street use the name of God. We say, "Put your hand into the fire,
and whether you feel it or not, you will be burnt. So to utter the
name of God can bring nothing but good."
The notion of blasphemy comes from the Jews, who were impressed by
the spectacle of Persian loyalty. The ideas that God is judge and
punisher are not in themselves bad, but they are low and vulgar.
The three angles of the triangle are: Love begs not; Love knows no
fear; Love is always the ideal.
"Who would be able to live one second,
Who would be able to breathe one moment,
If the Loving one had not filled the universe?"
Most of us will find that we were born for service. We must leave
the results to God. The work was done only for love of God. If
failure comes, there need be no sorrow. The work was done only for
love of God.
In women, the mother-nature is much developed. They worship God as
the child. They ask nothing, and will do anything.
The Catholic Church teaches many of these deep things, and though
it is narrow, it is religious in the highest sense. In modern
society, Protestantism is broad but shallow. To judge truth by
what good it does is as bad as to question the value of a
scientific discovery to a baby.
Society must be outgrown. We must crush law and become outlaws. We
allow nature, only in order to conquer her. Renunciation means
that none can serve both God and Mammon.
Deepen your own power of thought and love. Bring your own lotus to
blossom: the bees will come of themselves. Believe first in
yourself, then in God. A handful of strong men will move the
world. We need a heart to feel, a brain to conceive, and a strong
arm to do the work. Buddha gave himself for the animals. Make
yourself a fit agent to work. But it is God who works, not you.
One man contains the whole universe. One particle of matter has
all the energy of the universe at its back. In a conflict between
the heart and the brain follow your heart.
Yesterday, competition was the law. Today, cooperation is the law.
Tomorrow there is no law. Let sages praise thee, or let the world
blame. Let fortune itself come, or let poverty and rags stare thee
in the face. Eat the herbs of the forest, one day, for food; and
the next, share a banquet of fifty courses. Looking neither to
right hand nor to the left, follow thou on!
The Swami began by telling, in answer to questions, the story of
how Pavhâri Bâbâ snatched up his own vessels and ran after the
thief, only to fall at his feet and say:
"O Lord, I knew not that Thou wert there! Take them! They are
Thine! Pardon me, Thy child!"
Again he told how the same saint was bitten by a cobra, and when,
towards nightfall he recovered, he said, "A messenger came to me
from the Beloved."
JNANA AND KARMA
(Notes of a lecture delivered in London, on November 23, 1895)
The greatest force is derived from the power of thought. The finer
the element, the more powerful it is. The silent power of thought
influences people even at a distance, because mind is one as well
as many. The universe is a cobweb; minds are spiders.
The universe equals the phenomena of one Universal Being. He, seen
through our senses, is the universe. This is Maya. So the world is
illusion, that is, the imperfect vision of the Real, a
semi-revelation, even as the sun in the morning is a red ball.
Thus all evils and wickedness are but weakness, the imperfect
vision of goodness.
A straight line projected infinitely becomes a circle. The search
for good comes back to Self. I am the whole mystery, God. I am a
body, the lower self; and I am the Lord of the universe.
Why should a man be moral and pure? Because this strengthens his
will. Everything that strengthens the will by revealing the real
nature is moral. Everything that does the reverse is immoral. The
standard varies from country to country, from individual to
individual. Man must recover from his state of slavery to laws, to
words, and so on. We have no freedom of the will now, but we shall
have when we are free. Renunciation is this giving up of the
world. Through the senses, anger comes, and sorrow comes. As long
as renunciation is not there, self and the passion animating it
are different. At last they become identified, and the man is an
animal at once. Become possessed with the feeling of renunciation.
I once had a body, was born, struggled and died: What awful
hallucinations! To think that one was cramped in a body, weeping
for salvation!
But does renunciation demand that we all become ascetics? Who then
is to help others? Renunciation is not asceticism. Are all beggars
Christ? Poverty is not a synonym for holiness; often the reverse.
Renunciation is of the mind. How does it come? In a desert, when I
was thirsty, I saw a lake. It was in the midst of a beautiful
landscape. There were trees surrounding it, and their reflections
could be seen in the water, upside down. But the whole thing
proved to be a mirage. Then I knew that every day for a month I
had seen this; and only that day, being thirsty, I had learnt it
to be unreal. Every day for a month I should see it again. But I
should never take it to be real. So, when we reach God, the idea
of the universe, the body and so on, will vanish. It will return
afterwards. But next time we shall know it to be unreal.
The history of the world is the history of persons like Buddha and
Jesus. The passionless and unattached do most for the world.
Picture Jesus in the slums. He sees beyond the misery, "You, my
brethren, are all divine." His work is calm. He removes causes.
You will be able to work for the good of the world when you know
for a fact that this work is all illusion. The more unconscious
this work, the better, because it is then the more superconscious.
Our search is not for good or evil; but happiness and good are
nearer to truth than their opposites. A man ran a thorn into his
finger, and with another thorn took it out. The first thorn is
Evil. The second thorn is Good. The Self is that Peace which
passeth beyond both evil and good. The universe is melting down:
man draws nearer to God. For one moment he is real - God. He is
re-differentiated - a prophet. Before him, now, the world
trembles. A fool sleeps and wakes a fool-a man unconscious; and
superconscious, he returns with infinite power, purity, and love -
the God-Man. This is the use of the super conscious state.
Wisdom can be practised even on a battlefield. The Gitâ was
preached so. There are three states of mind: the active, the
passive, and the serene. The passive state is characterised by
slow vibrations; the active by quick vibrations, and the serene by
the most intense vibrations of all. Know that the soul is sitting
in the chariot. The body is the chariot; the outer senses are the
horses; and the mind the reins; and the intellect the charioteer.
So man crosses the ocean of Maya. He goes beyond. He reaches God.
When a man is under the control of his senses, he is of this
world. When he has controlled the senses, he has renounced.
Even forgiveness, if weak and passive, is not true: fight is
better. Forgive when you could bring legions of angels to the
victory. Krishna, the charioteer of Arjuna, hears him say, "Let us
forgive our enemies", and answers, "You speak the words of wise
men, but you are not a wise man, but a coward". As a lotus-leaf,
living in the water yet untouched by it, so should the soul be in
the world. This is a battlefield, fight your way out. Life in this
world is an attempt to see God. Make your life a manifestation of
will strengthened by renunciation.
We must learn to control all our brain-centres consciously. The
first step is the joy of living. Asceticism is fiendish. To laugh
is better than to pray. Sing. Get rid of misery. Do not for
heaven's sake infect others with it. Never think God sells a
little happiness and a little unhappiness. Surround yourself with
flowers and pictures and incense. The saints went to the mountain
tops to enjoy nature.
The second step is purity.
The third is full training of the mind. Reason out what is true
from what is untrue. See that God alone is true. If for a moment
you think you are not God, great terror will seize you. As soon as
you think "I am He", great peace and joy will come to you. Control
the senses. If a man curses me, I should still see in him God,
whom through my weakness I see as a curser. The poor man to whom
you do good is extending a privilege to you. He allows you,
through His mercy, to worship Him thus.
The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith
in themselves. That faith calls out the divinity within. You can
do anything. You fail only when you do not strive sufficiently to
manifest infinite power. As soon as a man or a nation loses faith,
death comes.
There is a divine within that cannot be overcome either by church
dogmas or by blackguardism. A handful of Greeks speak wherever
there is civilisation. Some mistakes there must always be. Do not
grieve. Have great insight. Do not think, "What is done is done.
Oh, that 'twere done better!" If man had not been God, humanity
would by this time have become insane, with its litanies and its
penitence.
None will be left, none destroyed. All will in the end be made
perfect. Say, day and night, "Come up, my brothers! You are the
infinite ocean of purity! Be God! Manifest as God!"
What is civilisation? It is the feeling of the divine within. When
you find time, repeat these ideas to yourself and desire freedom.
That is all. Deny everything that is not God. Assert everything
that is God. Mentally assert this, day and night. So the veil
grows thinner:
"I am neither man nor angel. I have no sex nor limit. I am
knowledge itself. I am He. I have neither anger nor hatred. I have
neither pain nor pleasure. Death or birth I never had. For I am
Knowledge Absolute, and Bliss Absolute. I am He, my soul, I am
He!"
Find yourself bodiless. You never had a body. It was all
superstition. Give back the divine consciousness to all the poor,
the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the sick.
Apparently, every five hundred years or so, a wave of this thought
comes over the world. Little waves arise in many directions: but
one swallows up all the others and sweeps over society. That wave
does this which has most character at its back.
Confucius, Moses, and Pythagoras; Buddha, Christ, Mohammed;
Luther, Calvin, and the Sikhs; Theosophy, Spiritualism, and the
like; all these mean only the preaching of the Divine-in-Man.
Never say man is weak. Wisdom-Yoga is no better than the others.
Love is the ideal and requires no object. Love is God. So even
through devotion we reach the subjective God. I am He! How can one
work, unless one loves city, country, animals, the universe?
Reason leads to the finding of unity in variety. Let the atheist
and the agnostic work for the social good. So God comes.
But this you must guard against: Do not disturb the faith of any.
For you must know that religion is not in doctrines. Religion lies
in being and becoming, in realisation. All men are born idolaters.
The lowest man is an animal. The highest man is perfect. And
between these two, all have to think in sound and colour, in
doctrine and ritual.
The test of having ceased to be an idolater is: "When you say 'I',
does the body come into your thought or not? If it does, then you
are still a worshipper of idols." Religion is not intellectual
jargon at all, but realisation. If you think about God, you are
only a fool. The ignorant man, by prayer and devotion, can reach
beyond the philosopher. To know God, no philosophy is necessary.
Our duty is not to disturb the faith of others. Religion is
experience. Above all and in all, be sincere; identification
brings misery, because it brings desire. Thus the poor man sees
gold, and identifies himself with the need of gold. Be the
witness. Learn never to react.
THE CLAIMS OF VEDANTA ON THE MODERN WORLD
(Report of a lecture delivered in Oakland on Sunday, February 25,
1900, with editorial comments of the Oakland Enquirer)
The announcement that Swami Vivekananda, a distinguished savant of
the East, would expound the philosophy of Vedanta in the
Parliament of Religions at the Unitarian Church last evening,
attracted an immense throng. The main auditorium and ante-rooms
were packed, the annexed auditorium of Wendte Hall was thrown
open, and this was also filled to overflowing, and it is estimated
that fully 500 persons, who could not obtain seats or standing
room where they could hear conveniently, were turned away.
The Swami created a marked impression. Frequently he received
applause during the lecture, and upon concluding, held a levee of
enthusiastic admirers. He said in part, under the subject of "The
Claims of Vedanta on the Modern World":
Vedanta demands the consideration of the modern world. The largest
number of the human race is under its influence. Again and again,
millions upon millions have swept down on its adherents in India,
crushing them with their great force, and yet the religion lives.
In all the nations of the world, can such a system be found?
Others have risen to come under its shadow. Born like mushrooms,
today they are alive and flourishing, and tomorrow they are gone.
Is this not the survival of the fittest?
It is a system not yet complete. It has been growing for thousands
of years and is still growing. So I can give you but an idea of
all I would say in one brief hour.
First, to tell you of the history of the rise of Vedanta. When it
arose, India had already perfected a religion. Its crystallisation
had been going on many years. Already there were elaborate
ceremonies; already there had been perfected a system of morals
for the different stages of life. But there came a rebellion
against the mummeries and mockeries that enter into many religions
in time, and great men came forth to proclaim through the Vedas
the true religion. Hindus received their religion from the
revelation of these Vedas. They were told that the Vedas were
without beginning and without end. It may sound ludicrous to this
audience - how a book can be without beginning or end; but by the
Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of
spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times.
Before these men came, the popular ideas of a God ruling the
universe, and that man was immortal, were in existence. But there
they stopped. It was thought that nothing more could be known.
Here came the daring of the expounders of Vedanta. They knew that
religion meant for children is not good for thinking men; that
there is something more to man and God.
The moral agnostic knows only the external dead nature. From that
he would form the law of the universe. He might as well cut off my
nose and claim to form an idea of my whole body, as argue thus. He
must look within. The stars that sweep through the heavens, even
the universe is but a drop in the bucket. Your agnostic sees not
the greatest, and he is frightened at the universe.
The world of spirit is greater than all - the God of the universe
who rules - our Father, our Mother. What is this heathen mummery
we call the world? There is misery everywhere. The child is born
with a cry upon its lips; it is its first utterance. This child
becomes a man, and so well used to misery that the pang of the
heart is hidden by a smile on the lips.
Where is the solution of this world? Those who look outside will
never find it; they must turn their eyes inward and find truth.
Religion lives inside.
One man preaches, if you chop your head off, you get salvation.
But does he get anyone to follow him? Your own Jesus says, "Give
all to the poor and follow me." How many of you have done this?
You have not followed out this command, and yet Jesus was the
great teacher of your religion. Every one of you is practical in
his own life, and you find this would be impracticable.
But Vedanta offers you nothing that is impracticable. Every
science must have its own matter to work upon. Everyone needs
certain conditions and much of training and learning; but any Jack
in the street can tell you all about religion. You may want to
follow religion and follow an expert, but you may only care to
converse with Jack, for he can talk it.
You must do with religion as with science, come in direct contact
with facts, and on that foundation build a marvellous structure.
To have a true religion you must have instruments. Belief is not
in question; of faith you can make nothing, for you can believe
anything.
We know that in science as we increase the velocity, the mass
decreases; and as we increase the mass, the velocity decreases.
Thus we have matter and force. The matter, we do not know how,
disappears into force, and force into matter. Therefore there is
something which is neither force nor matter, as these two may not
disappear into each other. This is what we call mind - the
universal mind.
Your body and my body are separate, you say. I am but a little
whirlpool in the universal ocean of mankind. A whirlpool, it is
true, but a part of the great ocean.
You stand by moving water where every particle is changing, and
yet you call it a stream. The water is changing, it is true, but
the banks remain the same. The mind is not changing, but the body
- how quick its growth! I was a baby, a boy, a man, and soon I
will be an old man, stooped and aged. The body is changing, and
you say, is the mind not changing also? When I was a child, I was
thinking, I have become larger, because my mind is a sea of
impressions.
There is behind nature a universal mind. The spirit is simply a
unit and it is not matter. For man is a spirit. The question,
"Where does the soul go after death?" should be answered like the
boy when he asked, "Why does not the earth fall down?" The
questions are alike, and their solutions alike; for where could
the soul go to?
To you who talk of immortality I would ask when you go home to
endeavour to imagine you are dead. Stand by and touch your dead
body. You cannot, for you cannot get out of yourself. The question
is not concerning immortality, but as to whether Jack will meet
his Jenny after death.
The one great secret of religion is to know for yourself that you
are a spirit. Do not cry out, "I am a worm, I am nobody!" As the
poet says, "I am Existence, Knowledge, and Truth." No man can do
any good in the world by crying out, "I am one of its evils." The
more perfect, the less imperfections you see.
THE LAWS OF LIFE AND DEATH
(Report of a lecture delivered in Oakland on March 7, 1900, with
editorial comments of the Oakland Tribune)
Swami Vivekananda delivered a lecture last evening on the subject,
"The Laws of Life and Death". The Swami said: "How to get rid of
this birth and death - not how to go to heaven, but how one can
stop going to heaven - this is the object of the search of the
Hindu."
The Swami went on to say that nothing stands isolated - everything
is a part of the never-ending procession of cause and effect. If
there are higher beings than man, they also must obey the laws.
Life can only spring from life, thought from thought, matter from
matter. A universe cannot be created out of matter. It has existed
for ever. If human beings came into the world fresh from the hands
of nature, they would come without impressions; but we do not come
in that way, which shows that we are not created afresh. If human
souls are created out of nothing, what is to prevent them from
going back into nothing? If we are to live all the time in the
future, we must have lived all the time in the past.
It is the belief of the Hindu that the soul is neither mind nor
body. What is it which remains stable - which can say, "I am I"?
Not the body, for it is always changing; and not the mind, which
changes more rapidly than the body, which never has the same
thoughts for even a few minutes. There must be an identity which
does not change - something which is to man what the banks are to
the river - the banks which do not change and without whose
immobility we would not be conscious of the constantly moving
stream. Behind the body, behind the mind, there must be something,
viz the soul, which unifies the man. Mind is merely the fine
instrument through which the soul - the master - acts on the body.
In India we say a man has given up his body, while you say, a man
gives up his ghost. The Hindus believe that a man is a soul and
has a body, while Western people believe he is a body and
possesses a soul.
Death overtakes everything which is complex. The soul is a single
element, not composed of anything else, and therefore it cannot
die. By its very nature the soul must be immortal. Body, mind, and
soul turn upon the wheel of law - none can escape. No more can we
transcend the law than can the stars, than can the sun - it is all
a universe of law. The law of Karma is that every action must be
followed sooner or later by an effect. The Egyptian seed which was
taken from the hand of a mummy after 5000 years and sprang into
life when planted is the type of the never-ending influence of
human acts. Action can never die without producing action. Now, if
our acts can only produce their appropriate effects on this plane
of existence, it follows that we must all come back to round out
the circle of causes and effects. This is the doctrine of
reincarnation. We are the slaves of law, the slaves of conduct,
the slaves of thirst, the slaves of desire, the slaves of a
thousand things. Only by escaping from life can we escape from
slavery to freedom. God is the only one who is free. God and
freedom are one and the same.
THE REALITY AND THE SHADOW
(Report of a lecture delivered in Oakland on March 8, 1900, with
editorial comments of the Oakland Tribune)
Swami Vivekananda, the Hindu philosopher, delivered another
lecture in Wendte Hall last evening. His subject was: "The Reality
and The Shadow". He said:
"The soul of man is ever striving after certainty, to find
something that does not change. It is never satisfied. Wealth, the
gratification of ambition or of appetite are all changeable. Once
these are attained, man is not content. Religion is the science
which teaches us whence to satisfy this longing after the
unchangeable. Behind all the local colours and derivations they
teach the same thing - that there is reality only in the soul of
man.
"The philosophy of Vedanta teaches that there are two worlds, the
external or sensory, and the internal or subjective - the thought
world.
"It posits three fundamental concepts - time, space, and
causation. From these is constituted Mâyâ, the essential
groundwork of human thought, not the product of thought. This same
conclusion was arrived at a later date by the great German
philosopher Kant.
"My reality, that of nature and of God, is the same, the
difference is in form of manifestation. The differentiation is
caused by Maya. The contour of the shore may shape the ocean into
bay, strait, or inlet; but when this shaping force or Maya is
removed, the separate form disappears, the differentiation ceases,
all is ocean again."
The Swami then spoke of the roots of the theory of evolution to be
found in the Vedanta philosophy.
All modern religions start with the idea," continued the speaker,
"that man was once pure, he fell, and will become pure again. I do
not see where they get this idea. The seat of knowledge is the
soul; external circumstance simply stimulates the soul; knowledge
is the power of the soul. Century after century it has been
manufacturing bodies. The various forms of incarnation are merely
successive chapters of the story of the life of the soul. We are
constantly building our bodies. The whole universe is in a state
of flux, of expansion and contraction, of change. Vedanta holds
that the soul never changes in essence, but it is modified by
Maya. Nature is God limited by mind. The evolution of nature is
the modification of the soul. The soul in essence is the same in
all forms of being. Its expression is modified by the body. This
unity of soul, this common substance of humanity, is the basis of
ethics and morality. In this sense all are one, and to hurt one's
brother is to hurt one's Self.
"Love is simply an expression of this infinite unity. Upon what
dualistic system can you explain love? One of the European
philosophers says that kissing is a survival of cannibalism, a
kind of expression of 'how good you taste'. I do not believe it.
"What is it we all seek? Freedom. All the effort and struggle of
life is for freedom. It is the march universal of races, of
worlds, and of systems.
"If we are bound, who bound us? No power can bind the Infinite but
Itself."
After the discourse an opportunity was afforded for asking
questions of the speaker, who devoted half an hour to answering
them.
WAY TO SALVATION
(Report of a lecture delivered in Oakland on Monday, March 12,
1900, with editorial comments of the Oakland Enquirer)
Wendte Hall of the First Unitarian Church was crowded last evening
with a large audience to hear the "Way to Salvation" from the
standpoint of the Hindu priest, Swami Vivekananda. This was the
last lecture of a series of three which the Swami has delivered.
He said in part:
One man says God is in heaven, another that God is in nature and
everywhere present. But when the great crisis comes, we find the
goal is the same. We all work on different plans, but the end is
not different.
The two great watchwords of every great religion are renunciation
and self-sacrifice. We all want the truth, and we know that it
must come, whether we want it or not. In a way we are all striving
for that good. And what prevents our reaching it? It is ourselves.
Your ancestors used to call it the devil; but it is our own false
self.
We live in slavery, and we would die if we were out of it. We are
like the man who lived in total darkness for ninety years and when
taken out into the warm sunshine of nature, prayed to be taken
back to his dungeon. You would not leave this old life to go into
a newer and greater freedom which opens out.
The great difficulty is to go to the heart of things. These little
degraded delusions of Jack So-and-So's, who thinks he has an
infinite soul, however small he is with his different religions.
In one country, all as a matter of religion, a man has many wives;
in another one woman has many husbands. So some men have two gods,
some one God, and some no God at all.
But salvation is in work and love. You learn something thoroughly;
in time you may not be able to call that thing to memory. Yet it
has sunk into your inner consciousness and is a part of you. So as
you work, whether it be good or bad, you shape your future course
of life. If you do good work with the idea of work - work for
work's sake - you will go to heaven of your idea and dream of
heaven.
The history of the world is not of its great men, of its
demi-gods, but it is the little islands of the sea, which build
themselves to great continents from fragments of the sea drift.
Then the history of the world is in the little acts of sacrifice
performed in every household. Man accepts religion because he does
not wish to stand on his own judgment. He takes it as the best way
of getting out of a bad place.
The salvation of man lies in the great love with which he loves
his God. Your wife says, "O John, I could not live without you."
Some men when they lose their money have to be sent to the asylum.
Do you feel that way about your God? When you can give up money,
friends, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, all that is in
the world and only pray to God that He grant you something of His
love, then you have found salvation.