Lectures of Swami Vivekananda

Excerpts from- Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

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P-.lis/ed .0
President &dvaita &s/rama
1a0avati Pit/ora2ar/ !imala0as
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ISHVARA(od!
"#o is Is#vara$"#o is Is#vara$
Janmadyasya yatah -- "From whom is the birth, continuation, and dissolution of the
universe," -- He is Ishvara -- "the Eternal, the Pure, the Ever-Free, the Almighty, the All-
nowing, the All-!erciful, the "eacher of all teachers"# and above all, $a Ishvarah
anirvachaniya-%remasvaru%ah -- "He the &ord is, of His own nature, ine'%ressible &ove("
"hese certainly are the definitions of a Personal )od( Are there then two )ods -- the "*ot this,
not this," the $at-chit-ananda, the E'istence-nowledge-+liss of the %hiloso%her, and this )od
of &ove of the +ha,ta- *o, it is the same $at-chit-ananda who is also the )od of &ove, the
im%ersonal and %ersonal in one( It has always to be understood that the Personal )od
worshi%ed by the +ha,ta is not se%arate or different from the +rahman( All is +rahman, the
.ne without a second# only the +rahman, as unity or absolute, is too much of an abstraction
to be loved and worshi%ed# so the +ha,ta chooses the relative as%ect of +rahman, that is,
Ishvara, the $u%reme /uler( "o use a simile0 +rahman is as the clay or substance out of which
an infinite variety of articles are fashioned( As clay, they are all one# but form or manifestation
differentiates them( +efore every one of them was made, they all e'isted %otentially in the
clay, and, of course, they are identical substantially# but when formed, and so long as the
form remains, they are se%arate and different# the clay-mouse can never become a clay-
ele%hant, because, as manifestations, form alone ma,es them what they are, though as
unformed clay they are all one( Ishvara is the highest manifestation of the Absolute /eality, or
in other words, the highest %ossible reading of the Absolute by the human mind( 1reation is
eternal, and so also is Ishvara(
In the fourth PAda of the fourth cha%ter of his $utras, after stating the almost infinite
%ower and ,nowledge which will come to the liberated soul after the attainment of !o,sha,
2yasa ma,es the remar,, in an a%horism, that none, however, will get the %ower of creating,
ruling, and dissolving the universe, because that belongs to )od alone( In e'%laining the
$utra it is easy for the dualistic commentators to show how it is ever im%ossible for a
subordinate soul, Jiva, to have the infinite %ower and total inde%endence of )od( "he
thorough dualistic commentator !adhvAchArya deals with this %assage in his usual
summary method by 3uoting a verse from the 2arAha PurAna(
%oes sameness wit# &ra#man 'ive t#e (ower of Is#vara$
In e'%laining this a%horism the commentator /amanu4a says, ""his doubt being raised,
whether among the %owers of the liberated souls is included that uni3ue %ower of the
$u%reme .ne, that is, of creation etc( of the universe and even the &ordshi% of all, or whether,
without that, the glory of the liberated consists only in the direct %erce%tion of the $u%reme
.ne, we get as an argument the following0 It is reasonable that the liberated get the &ordshi%
of the universe, because the scri%tures say, 5He attains to e'treme sameness with the $u%reme
.ne and all his desires are reali6ed(5 *ow e'treme sameness and reali6ation of all desires
cannot be attained without the uni3ue %ower of the $u%reme &ord, namely, that of governing
the universe( "herefore, to attain the reali6ation of all desires and the e'treme sameness with
the $u%reme, we must all admit that the liberated get the %ower of ruling the whole universe(
"o this we re%ly, that the liberated get all the %owers e'ce%t that of ruling the universe(
/uling the universe is guiding the form and the life and the desires of all the sentient and the
non-sentient beings( "he liberated ones from whom all that veils His true nature has been
removed, only en4oy the unobstructed %erce%tion of the +rahman, but do not %ossess the
%ower of ruling the universe( "his is %roved from the scri%tural te't, "From whom all these
things are born, by which all that are born live, unto whom they, de%arting, return -- as,
about it( "hat is +rahman(5 If this 3uality of ruling the universe be a 3uality common even to
the liberated, then this te't would not a%%ly as a definition of +rahman, defining Him
through His ruler shi% of the universe( "he uncommon attributes alone define a thing#
therefore in te'ts li,e -- 5!y beloved boy, alone, in the beginning there e'isted the .ne
without a second( "hat saw and felt, "I will give birth to the many(" "hat %ro4ected heat(5 --
5+rahman indeed alone e'isted in the beginning( "hat .ne evolved( "hat %ro4ected a blessed
form, the shatra( All these gods are shatras0 2aruna, $oma, /udra, Par4anya, 7ama,
!rityu, Ishana(5 -- 5Atman indeed e'isted alone in the beginning# nothing else vibrated# He
thought of %ro4ecting the world# He %ro4ected the world after(5 -- 5Alone *ArAyana e'isted#
neither +rahma nor IshAna, nor the 8yAvA-Prithivi, nor the stars, nor water, nor fire, nor
$oma, nor the sun( He did not ta,e %leasure alone( He after His meditation had one daughter,
the ten organs, etc(5 -- and in others as, 59ho living in the earth is se%arate from the earth,
who living in the Atman, etc(5 -- the $hrutis s%ea, of the $u%reme .ne as the sub4ect of the
wor, of ruling the universe( ( ( ( *or in these descri%tions of the ruling of the universe is there
any %osition for the liberated soul, by which such a soul may have the ruling of the universe
ascribed to it("
In e'%laining the ne't $utra, /amanu4a says, "If you say it is not so, because there are direct
te'ts in the 2edas in evidence to the contrary, these te'ts refer to the glory of the liberated in
the s%heres of the subordinate deities(" "his also is an easy solution of the difficulty( Although
the system of /amanu4a admits the unity of the total, within that totality of e'istence there
are, according to him, eternal differences( "herefore, for all %ractical %ur%oses, this system
also being dualistic, it was easy for /amanu4a to ,ee% the distinction between the %ersonal
soul and the Personal )od very clear(
8oes sameness with +rahman give the %ower of Ishvara-
Sankara's views
9e shall now try to understand what the great re%resentative of the Advaita $chool has to
say on the %oint( 9e shall see how the Advaita system maintains all the ho%es and
as%irations of the dualist intact, and at the same time %ro%ounds its own solution of the
%roblem in consonance with the high destiny of divine humanity( "hose who as%ire to retain
their individual mind even after liberation and to remain distinct will have am%le
o%%ortunity of reali6ing their as%irations and en4oying the blessing of the 3ualified +rahman(
"hese are they who have been s%o,en of in the +hagavata Purana thus0 ". ,ing, such are the
glorious 3ualities of the &ord that the sages whose only %leasure is in the $elf, and from
whom all fetters have fallen off, even they love the .mni%resent with the love that is for
love5s sa,e(" "hese are they who are s%o,en of by the $an,hyas as getting merged in nature in
this cycle, so that, after attaining %erfection, they may come out in the ne't as lords of world-
systems( +ut none of these ever becomes e3ual to )od :Ishvara;( "hose who attain to that
state where there is neither creation, nor created, nor creator, where there is neither ,nower,
nor ,nowable, nor ,nowledge, where there is neither I, nor thou, nor he, where there is
neither sub4ect, nor ob4ect, nor relation, "there, who is seen by whom-" -- such %ersons have
gone beyond everything to "where words cannot go nor mind", gone to that which the $hrutis
declare as "*ot this, not this"# but for those who cannot, or will not reach this state, there will
inevitably remain the triune vision of the one undifferentiated +rahman as nature, soul, and
the inter %enetrating sustainer of both -- Ishvara( $o, when Prahlada forgot himself, he found
neither the universe nor its cause# all was to him one Infinite, undifferentiated by name and
form# but as soon as he remembered that he was Prahlada, there was the universe before him
and with it the &ord of the universe -- "the /e%ository of an infinite number of blessed
3ualities"( $o it was with the blessed )o%is( $o long as they had lost sense of their own
%ersonal identity and individuality, they were all rishnas, and when they began to thin, of
Him as the .ne to be worshi%ed, then they were )o%is again, and immediately
tAsAmAvir+h<c1houriH smayamAnamuhAmbu4aH = %ItAmbara8haraH sthragvI
sA,shAnmanma"hamanma"haH == :+hagavata; -- "<nto them a%%eared rishna with a
smile on His lotus face, clad in yellow robes and having garlands on, the embodied con3ueror
:in beauty; of the god of love("
*ow to go bac, to our Acharya $han,ara0 ""hose", he says, "who by worshi%ing the
3ualified +rahman attain con4unction with the $u%reme /uler, %reserving their own mind --
is their glory limited or unlimited- "his doubt arising, we get as an argument0 "heir glory
should be unlimited because of the scri%tural te'ts, 5"hey attain their own ,ingdom5, 5"o him
all the gods offer worshi%5, 5"heir desires are fulfilled in all the worlds5( As an answer to this,
2yasa writes, 59ithout the %ower of ruling the universe(5 +arring the %ower of creation etc( of
the universe, the other %owers such as AnimA etc( are ac3uired by the liberated( As to ruling
the universe, that belongs to the eternally %erfect Ishvara( 9hy- +ecause He is the sub4ect of
all the scri%tural te'ts as regards creation etc(, and the liberated souls are not mentioned
therein in any connection whatsoever( "he $u%reme &ord indeed is alone engaged in ruling
the universe( "he te'ts as to creation etc( all %oint to Him( +esides, there is given the ad4ective
5ever-%erfect5( Also the scri%tures say that the %owers Anima etc( of the others are from the
search after and the worshi% of )od( "herefore they have no %lace in the ruling of the
universe( Again, on account of their %ossessing their own minds, it is %ossible that their wills
may differ, and that, whilst one desires creation, another may desire destruction( "he only
way of avoiding this conflict is to ma,e all wills subordinate to some one will( "herefore the
conclusion is that the wills of the liberated are de%endent on the will of the $u%reme /uler("
Is Is#vara )nrea*$
+ha,ti, then, can be directed towards +rahman, only in His %ersonal as%ect(
,leshoad8hi,ataraste$hAmavya,tAsa,tachetasAm -- ""he way is more difficult for those
whose mind is attached to the Absolute>" +ha,ti has to float on smoothly with the current of
our nature( "rue it is that we cannot have any idea of the +rahman which is not
anthro%omor%hic, but is it not e3ually true of everything we ,now- "he greatest %sychologist
the world has ever ,nown, +hagavan a%ila, demonstrated ages ago that human
consciousness is one of the elements in the ma,e-u% of all the ob4ects of our %erce%tion and
conce%tion, internal as well as e'ternal( +eginning with our bodies and going u% to Ishvara,
we may see that every ob4ect of our %erce%tion is this consciousness %lus something else,
whatever that may be# and this unavoidable mi'ture is what we ordinarily thin, of as reality(
Indeed it is, and ever will be, all of the reality that is %ossible for the human mind to ,now(
"herefore to say that Ishvara is unreal, because He is anthro%omor%hic, is sheer nonsense( It
sounds very much li,e the occidental s3uabble on idealism and realism, which fearful-
loo,ing 3uarrel has for its foundation a mere %lay on the world "real"( "he idea of Ishvara
covers all the ground ever denoted and connoted by the word real, and Ishvara is as real as
anything else in the universe# and after all, the word real means nothing more than what has
now been %ointed out( $uch is our %hiloso%hical conce%tion of Ishvara(

"#at is Re*i'ion $
A huge locomotive has rushed on over the line and a small worm that was cree%ing u%on one
of the rails saved its life by crawling out of the %ath of the locomotive( 7et this little worm, so
insignificant that it can be crushed in a moment, is a living something, while this locomotive,
so huge, so immense, is only an engine, a machine( 7ou say the one has life and the other is
only dead matter and all its %owers and strength and s%eed are only those of a dead machine,
a mechanical contrivance( 7et the %oor little worm which moved u%on the rail and which the
least touch of the engine would have de%rived of its life is a ma4estic being com%ared to that
huge locomotive( It is a small %art of the Infinite and, therefore, it is greater than this
%owerful engine( 9hy should that be so- How do we ,now the living from the dead- "he
machine mechanically %erforms all the movements its ma,er made it to %erform, its
movements are not those of life( How can we ma,e the distinction between the living and the
dead, then- In the living there is freedom, there is intelligence# in the dead all is bound and no
freedom is %ossible, because there is no intelligence( "his freedom that distinguishes us from
mere machines is what we are all striving for( "o be more free is the goal of all our efforts, for
only in %erfect freedom can there be %erfection( "his effort to attain freedom underlies all
forms of worshi%, whether we ,now it or not(
If we were to e'amine the various sorts of worshi% all over the world, we would see that the
rudest of man,ind are worshi%%ing ghosts, demons, and the s%irits of their forefathers-
ser%ent worshi%, worshi% of tribal gods, and worshi% of the de%arted ones( 9hy do they do
this- +ecause they feel that in some un,nown way these beings are greater, more %owerful
than themselves, and limit their freedom( "hey, therefore, see, to %ro%itiate these beings in
order to %revent them from molesting them, in other words, to get more freedom( "hey also
see, to win favor from these su%erior beings, to get by gift of the gods what ought to be
earned by %ersonal effort(
.n the whole, this shows that the world is e'%ecting a miracle( "his e'%ectation never leaves
us, and however we may try, we are all running after the miraculous and e'traordinary(
9hat is mind but that ceaseless in3uiry into the meaning and mystery of life- 9e may say
that only uncultivated %eo%le are going after all these things, but the 3uestion still is there0
9hy should it be so- "he Jews were as,ing for a miracle( "he whole world has been as,ing
for the same these thousands of years( "here is, again, the universal dissatisfaction( 9e ma,e
an ideal but we have rushed only half the way after it, when we ma,e a newer one( 9e
struggle hard to attain to some goal and then discover we do not want it( "his dissatisfaction
we are having time after time, and what is there in the mind if there is to be only
dissatisfaction- 9hat is the meaning of this universal dissatisfaction- It is because freedom is
every man5s goal( He see,s it ever, his whole life is a struggle after it( "he child rebels against
law as soon as it is born( Its first utterance is a cry, a %rotest against the bondage in which it
finds itself( "his longing for freedom %roduces the idea of a +eing who is absolutely free( "he
conce%t of )od is a fundamental element in the human constitution( In the 2edanta,
$atchitananda :E'istence-nowledge-+liss; is the highest conce%t of )od %ossible to the
mind( It is the essence of ,nowledge and is by its nature the essence of bliss( 9e have been
stifling that inner voice long enough, see,ing to follow law and 3uiet the human nature, but
there is that human instinct to rebel against nature5s laws( 9e may not understand what the
meaning is, but there is that unconscious struggle of the human with the s%iritual, of the
lower with the higher, mind, and the struggle attem%ts to %reserve one5s se%arate life, what
we call our "individuality"(
Even hells stand out with this miraculous fact that we are born rebels# and the first fact of life
the in rushing of life itself against this we rebel and cry out, "*o law for us(" As long as we
obey the laws we are li,e machines, and on goes the universe, and we cannot brea, it( &aws
as laws become man5s nature( "he first in,ling of life on its higher level is in seeing this
struggle within us to brea, the bond of nature and to be free( "Freedom, . Freedom>
Freedom, . Freedom>" is the song of the soul( +ondage, alas, to be bound in nature, seems its
fate(
9hy should there be ser%ent, or ghost, or demon worshi% and all these various creeds and
forms for having miracles- 9hy do we say that there is life, there is being in anything- "here
must be a meaning in all this search, this endeavor to understand life, to e'%lain being( It is
not meaningless and vain( It is man5s ceaseless endeavor to become free( "he ,nowledge
which we now call science has been struggling for thousands of years in its attem%t to gain
freedom, and %eo%le as, for freedom( 7et there is no freedom in nature( It is all law( $till the
struggle goes on( *ay, the whole of nature from the very sun to the atoms is under law, and
even for man there is no freedom( +ut we cannot believe it( 9e have been studying laws from
the beginning and yet cannot nay, will not believe that man is under law( "he soul cries ever,
"Freedom, . Freedom>" 9ith the conce%tion of )od as a %erfectly free +eing, man cannot rest
eternally in this bondage( Higher he must go, and unless the struggle were for himself, he
would thin, it too severe( !an says to himself, "I am a born slave, I am bound# nevertheless,
there is a +eing who is not bound by nature( He is free and !aster of nature("
"he conce%tion of )od, therefore, is as essential and as fundamental a %art of mind as is the
idea of bondage( +oth are the outcome of the idea of freedom( "here cannot be life, even in
the %lant, without the idea of freedom( In the %lant or in the worm, life has to rise to the
individual conce%t( It is there, unconsciously wor,ing, the %lant living its life to %reserve the
variety, %rinci%le, or form, not nature( "he idea of nature controlling every ste% onward
overrules the idea of freedom( .nward goes the idea of the material world, onward moves
the idea of freedom( $till the fight goes on( 9e are hearing about all the 3uarrels of creeds and
sects, yet creeds and sects are 4ust and %ro%er, they must be there( "he chain is lengthening
and naturally the struggle increases, but there need be no 3uarrels if we only ,new that we
are all striving to reach the same goal(
"he embodiment of freedom, the !aster of nature, is what we call )od( 7ou cannot deny
Him( *o, because you cannot move or live without the idea of freedom( 9ould you come
here if you did not believe you were free- It is 3uite %ossible that the biologist can and will
give some e'%lanation of this %er%etual effort to be free( "a,e all that for granted, still the
idea of freedom is there( It is a fact, as much so as the other fact that you cannot a%%arently
get over, the fact of being under nature(
+ondage and liberty, light and shadow, good and evil must be there, but the very fact of the
bondage shows also this freedom hidden there( If one is a fact, the other is e3ually a fact(
"here must be this idea of freedom( 9hile now we cannot see that this idea of bondage, in
uncultivated man, is his struggle for freedom, yet the idea of freedom is there( "he bondage
of sin and im%urity in the uncultivated savage is to his consciousness very small, for his
nature is only a little higher than the animal5s( 9hat he struggles against is the bondage of
%hysical nature, the lac, of %hysical gratification, but out of this lower consciousness grows
and broadens the higher conce%tion of a mental or moral bondage and a longing for s%iritual
freedom( Here we see the divine dimly shining through the veil of ignorance( "he veil is very
dense at first and the light may be almost obscured, but it is there, ever %ure and undimmed,
the radiant fire of freedom and %erfection( !an %ersonifies this as the /uler of the <niverse,
the .ne Free +eing( He does not yet ,now that the universe is all one, that the difference is
only in degree, in the conce%t(
"he whole of nature is worshi% of )od( 9herever there is life, there is this search for freedom
and that freedom is the same as )od( *ecessarily this freedom gives us mastery over all
nature and is im%ossible without ,nowledge( "he more we are ,nowing, the more we are
becoming masters of nature( !astery alone is ma,ing us strong and if there be some being
entirely free and master of nature, that being must have a %erfect ,nowledge of nature, must
be omni%resent and omniscient( Freedom must go hand in hand with these, and that being
alone who has ac3uired these will be beyond nature(
+lessedness, eternal %eace, arising from %erfect freedom, is the highest conce%t of religion
underlying all the ideas of )od in 2edanta, absolutely free E'istence, not bound by anything,
no change, no nature, nothing that can %roduce a change in Him( "his same freedom is in you
and in me and is the only real freedom(
)od is still, established u%on His own ma4estic changeless $elf( 7ou and I try to be one with
Him, but %lant ourselves u%on nature, u%on the trifles of daily life, on money, on fame, on
human love, and all these changing forms in nature which ma,e for bondage( 9hen nature
shines, u%on what de%ends the shining- <%on )od and not u%on the sun, nor the moon, nor
the stars( 9herever anything shines, whether it is the light in the sun or in our own
consciousness, it is He( He shining, all shines after Him(

Sou*+ od and Re*i'ion
"hrough the vistas of the %ast the voice of the centuries is coming down to us# the voice of the
sages of the Himalayas and the recluses of the forest# the voice that came to the $emitic races#
the voice that s%o,e through +uddha and other s%iritual giants# the voice that comes from
those who live in the light that accom%anied man in the beginning of the earth the light that
shines wherever man goes and lives with him for ever is coming to us even now( "his voice is
li,e the little rivulets that come from the mountains( *ow they disa%%ear, and now they
a%%ear again in stronger flow till finally they unite in one mighty ma4estic flood( "he
messages that are coming down to us from the %ro%hets and holy men and women of all sects
and nations are 4oining their forces and s%ea,ing to us with the trum%et voice of the %ast(
And the first message it brings us is0 Peace be unto you and to all religions( It is not a message
of antagonism, but of one united religion(
&et us study this message first( At the beginning of this century it was almost feared that
religion was at an end( <nder the tremendous sledgehammer blows of scientific research, old
su%erstitions were crumbling away li,e masses of %orcelain( "hose to whom religion meant
only a bundle of creeds and meaningless ceremonials were in des%air# they were at their wit5s
end( Everything was sli%%ing between their fingers( For a time it seemed inevitable that the
surging tide of agnosticism and materialism would swee% all before it( "here were those who
did not dare utter what they thought( !any thought the case ho%eless and the cause of
religion lost once and for ever( +ut the tide has turned and to the rescue has come what- "he
study of com%arative religions( +y the study of different religions we find that in essence they
are one( 9hen I was a boy, this s,e%ticism reached me, and it seemed for a time as if I must
give u% all ho%e of religion( +ut fortunately for me I studied the 1hristian religion, the
!ohammedan, the +uddhistic, and others, and what was my sur%rise to find that the same
foundation %rinci%les taught by my religion were also taught by all religions( It a%%ealed to
me this way( 9hat is the truth- I as,ed( Is this world true- 7es( 9hy- +ecause I see it( Are the
beautiful sounds we 4ust heard :the vocal and instrumental music; true- 7es( +ecause we
heard them( 9e ,now that man has a body, eyes, and ears, and he has a s%iritual nature
which we cannot see( And with his s%iritual faculties he can study these different religions
and find that whether a religion is taught in the forests and 4ungles of India or in a 1hristian
land, in essentials all religions are one( "his only shows us that religion is a constitutional
necessity of the human mind( "he %roof of one religion de%ends on the %roof of all the rest(
For instance, if I have si' fingers, and no one else has, you may well say that is abnormal( "he
same reasoning may be a%%lied to the argument that only one religion is true and all others
false( .ne religion only, li,e one set of si' fingers in the world, would be unnatural( 9e see,
therefore, that if one religion is true, all others must be true( "here are differences in
nonessentials, but in essentials they are all one( If my five fingers are true, they %rove that
your five fingers are true too( 9herever man is, he must develo% a belief, he must develo% his
religious nature(
And another fact I find in the study of the various religions of the world is that there are three
different stages of ideas with regard to the soul and )od( In the first %lace, all religions admit
that, a%art from the body which %erishes, there is a certain %art or something which does not
change li,e the body, a %art that is immutable, eternal, that never dies# but some of the later
religions teach that although there is a %art of us that never dies, it had a beginning( +ut
anything that has a beginning must necessarily have an end( 9e, the essential %art of us,
never had a beginning, and will never have an end( And above us all, above this eternal
nature, there is another eternal +eing, without end, )od( Peo%le tal, about the beginning of
the world, the beginning of man( "he word beginning sim%ly means the beginning of the
cycle( It nowhere means the beginning of the whole 1osmos( It is im%ossible that creation
could have a beginning( *o one of you can imagine a time of beginning( "hat which has a
beginning must have an end( "*ever did I not e'ist, nor you, nor will any of us ever hereafter
cease to be," says the +hagavad-)ita( 9herever the beginning of creation is mentioned, it
means the beginning of a cycle( 7our body will meet with death, but your soul, never(
Along with this idea of the soul we find another grou% of ideas in regard to its %erfection( "he
soul in itself is %erfect( "he .ld "estament of the Hebrews admits man %erfect at the
beginning( !an made himself im%ure by his own actions( +ut he is to regain his old nature,
his %ure nature( $ome s%ea, of these things in allegories, fables, and symbols( +ut when we
begin to analyses these statements, we find that they all teach that the human soul is in its
very nature %erfect, and that man is to regain that original %urity( How- +y ,nowing )od(
Just as the +ible says, "*o man can see )od but through the $on(" 9hat is meant by it- "hat
seeing )od is the aim and goal of all human life( "he son-shi% must come before we become
one with the Father( /emember that man lost his %urity through his own actions( 9hen we
suffer, it is because of our own acts# )od is not to be blamed for it(
1losely connected with these ideas is the doctrine which was universal before the Euro%eans
mutilated it the doctrine of reincarnation( $ome of you may have heard of and ignored it( "his
idea of reincarnation runs %arallel with the other doctrine of the eternity of the human soul(
*othing which ends at one %oint can be without a beginning and nothing that begins at one
%oint can be without an end( 9e cannot believe in such a monstrous im%ossibility as the
beginning of the human soul( "he doctrine of reincarnation asserts the freedom of the soul(
$u%%ose there was an absolute beginning( "hen the whole burden of this im%urity in man
falls u%on )od( "he all-merciful Father res%onsible for the sins of the world> If sin comes in
this way, why should one suffer more than another- 9hy such %artiality, if it comes from an
all-merciful )od- 9hy are millions tram%led underfoot- 9hy do %eo%le starve who never
did anything to cause it- 9ho is res%onsible- If they had no hand in it, surely, )od would be
res%onsible( "herefore the better e'%lanation is that one is res%onsible for the miseries one
suffers( If I set the wheel in motion, I am res%onsible for the result( And if I can bring misery, I
can also sto% it( It necessarily follows that we are free( "here is no such thing as fate( "here is
nothing to com%el us( 9hat we have done, that we can undo(
"o one argument in connection with this doctrine I will as, your %atient attention, as it is a
little intricate( 9e gain all our ,nowledge through e'%erience# that is the only way( 9hat we
call e'%eriences are on the %lane of consciousness( For illustration0 A man %lays a tune on a
%iano, he %laces each finger on each ,ey consciously( He re%eats this %rocess till the
movement of the fingers becomes a habit( He then %lays a tune without having to %ay s%ecial
attention to each %articular ,ey( $imilarly, we find in regard to ourselves that our tendencies
are the result of %ast conscious actions( A child is born with certain tendencies( 9hence do
they come- *o child is born with a tabula rasa with a clean, blan, %age of a mind( "he %age
has been written on %reviously( "he old )ree, and Egy%tian %hiloso%hers taught that no
child came with a vacant mind( Each child comes with a hundred tendencies generated by
%ast conscious actions( It did not ac3uire these in this life, and we are bound to admit that it
must have had them in %ast lives( "he ran,est materialist has to admit that these tendencies
are the result of %ast actions, only they add that these tendencies come through heredity( .ur
%arents, grand-%arents, and great-grand-%arents come down to us through this law of
heredity( *ow if heredity alone e'%lains this, there is no necessity of believing in the soul at
all, because body e'%lains everything( 9e need not go into the different arguments and
discussions on materialism and s%iritualism( $o far the way is clear for those who believe in
an individual soul( 9e see that to come to a reasonable conclusion we must admit that we
have had %ast lives( "his is the belief of the great %hiloso%hers and sages of the %ast and of
modern times( $uch a doctrine was believed in among the Jews( Jesus 1hrist believed in it( He
says in the +ible, "+efore Abraham was, I am(" And in another %lace it is said, ""his is Elias
who is said to have come("
All the different religions which grew among different nations under varying circumstances
and conditions had their origin in Asia, and the Asiatics understand them well( 9hen they
came out from the motherland, they got mi'ed u% with errors( "he most %rofound and noble
ideas of 1hristianity were never understood in Euro%e, because the ideas and images used by
the writers of the +ible were foreign to it( "a,e for illustration the %ictures of the !adonna(
Every artist %aints his !adonna according to his own %reconceived ideas( I have been seeing
hundreds of %ictures of the &ast $u%%er of Jesus 1hrist, and he is made to sit at a table( *ow,
1hrist never sat at a table# he s3uatted with others, and they had a bowl in which they di%%ed
bread, not the ,ind of bread you eat today( It is hard for any nation to understand the
unfamiliar customs of other %eo%le( How much more difficult was it for Euro%eans to
understand the Jewish customs after centuries of changes and accretions from )ree,, /oman,
and other sources> "hrough all the myths and mythologies by which it is surrounded it is no
wonder that the %eo%le get very little of the beautiful religion of Jesus, and no wonder that
they have made of it a modern sho%-,ee%ing religion(
"o come to our %oint( 9e find that all religions teach the eternity of the soul, as well as that its
luster has been dimmed, and that its %rimitive %urity is to be regained by the ,nowledge of
)od( 9hat is the idea of )od in these different religions- "he %rimary idea of )od was very
vague( "he most ancient nations had different 8eities, sun, earth, fire, water( Among the
ancient Jews we find numbers of these gods ferociously fighting with each other( "hen we
find Elohim whom the Jews and the +abylonians worshi%ed 9e ne't find one )od standing
su%reme( +ut the idea differed according to different tribes( "hey each asserted that their )od
was the greatest( And they tried to %rove it by fighting( "he one that could do the best
fighting %roved thereby that its )od was the greatest( "hose races were more or less savage(
+ut gradually better and better ideas too, the %lace of the old ones( All those old ideas are
gone or going into the lumber-room( All those religions were the outgrowth of centuries# not
one fell from the s,ies( Each had to be wor,ed out bit by bit( *e't come the monotheistic
ideas0 belief in one )od, who is omni%otent and omniscient, the one )od of the universe( "his
one )od is e'tra-cosmic# he lies in the heavens( He is invested with the gross conce%tions of
His originators( He has a right side and a left side, and a bird in His hand, and so on and so
forth( +ut one thing we find, that the tribal gods have disa%%eared for ever, and the one )od
of the universe has ta,en their %lace0 the )od of gods( $till, He is only an e'tra-cosmic )od(
He is una%%roachable# nothing can come near Him( +ut slowly this idea has changed also,
and at the ne't stage we find a )od immanent in nature(
In the *ew "estament it is taught, ".ur Father who art in heaven", )od living in the heavens
se%arated from men( 9e are living on earth and He is living in heaven( Further on we find
the teaching that He is a )od immanent in nature# He is not only )od in heaven, but on earth
too( He is the )od in us( In the Hindu %hiloso%hy we find a stage of the same %ro'imity of
)od to us( +ut we do not sto% there( "here is the non-dualistic stage, in which man reali6es
that the )od he has been worshi%%ing is not only the Father in heaven, and on earth, but that
"I and my Father are one(" He reali6es in his soul that he is )od Himself, only a lower
e'%ression of Him( All that is real in me is He# all that is real in Him is I( "he gulf between
)od and man is thus bridged( "hus we find how, by ,nowing )od, we find the ,ingdom of
heaven within us(
In the first or dualistic stage, man ,nows he is a little %ersonal soul, John, James, or "om# and
he says, "I will be John, James, or "om to all eternity, and never anything else(" As well might
the murderer come along and say, "I will remain a murderer for ever(" +ut as time goes on,
"om vanishes and goes bac, to the original %ure Adam(
"+lessed are the %ure in heart, for they shall see )od(" 1an we see )od- .f course not( 1an
we ,now )od- .f course not( If )od can be ,nown, He will be )od no longer( nowledge is
limitation( +ut I and my Father are one0 I find the reality in my soul( "hese ideas are
e'%ressed in some religions, and in others only hinted( In some they were e'%atriated(
1hrist5s teachings are now very little understood in this country( If you will e'cuse me, I will
say that they have never been very well understood(
"he different stages of growth are absolutely necessary to the attainment of %urity and
%erfection( "he varying systems of religion are at bottom founded on the same ideas( Jesus
says the ,ingdom of heaven is within you( Again he says, ".ur father who art in Heaven("
How do you reconcile the two sayings- In this way0 He was tal,ing to the uneducated masses
when he said the latter, the masses who were uneducated in religion( It was necessary to
s%ea, to them in their own language( "he masses want concrete ideas, something the senses
can gras%( A man may be the greatest %hiloso%her in the world, but a child in religion( 9hen
a man has develo%ed a high state of s%irituality he can understand that the ,ingdom of
heaven is within him( "hat is the real ,ingdom of the mind( "hus we see that the a%%arent
contradictions and %er%le'ities in every religion mar, but different stages of growth( And as
such we have no right to blame anyone for his religion( "here are stages of growth in which
forms and symbols are necessary# they are the language that the souls in that stage can
understand(
"he ne't idea that I want to bring to you is that religion does not consist in doctrines or
dogmas( It is not what you read, nor what dogmas you believe that is of im%ortance, but what
you reali6e( "+lessed are the %ure in heart, for they shall see )od," yea, in this life( And that is
salvation( "here are those who teach that this can be gained by the mumbling of words( +ut
no great !aster ever taught that e'ternal forms were necessary for salvation( "he %ower of
attaining it is within ourselves( 9e live and move in )od( 1reeds and sects have their %arts to
%lay, but they are for children, they last but tem%orarily( +oo,s never ma,e religions, but
religions ma,e boo,s( 9e must not forget that( *o boo, ever created )od, but )od ins%ired
all the great boo,s( And no boo, ever created a soul( 9e must never forget that( "he end of
all religions is the reali6ing of )od in the soul( "hat is the one universal religion( If there is
one universal truth in all religions, I %lace it herein reali6ing )od( Ideals and methods may
differ, but that is the central %oint( "here may be a thousand different radii, but they all
converge to the one center, and that is the reali6ation of )od0 something behind this world of
sense, this world of eternal eating and drin,ing and tal,ing nonsense, this world of false
shadows and selfishness( "here is that beyond all boo,s, beyond all creeds, beyond the
vanities of this world, and it is the reali6ation of )od within yourself( A man may believe in
all the churches in the world, he may carry in his head all the sacred boo,s ever written, he
may ba%ti6e himself in all the rivers of the earth, still, if he has no %erce%tion of )od, I would
class him with the ran,est atheist( And a man may have never entered a church or a mos3ue,
nor %erformed any ceremony, but if he feels )od within himself and is thereby lifted above
the vanities of the world, that man is a holy man, a saint, call him what you will( As soon as a
man stands u% and says he is right or his church is right, and all others are wrong, he is
himself all wrong( He does not ,now that u%on the %roof of all the others de%ends the %roof
of his own( &ove and charity for the whole human race, that is the test of true religiousness( I
do not mean the sentimental statement that all men are brothers, but that one must feel the
oneness of human life( $o far as they are not e'clusive, I see that the sects and creeds are all
mine# they are all grand( "hey are all hel%ing men towards the real religion( I will add, it is
good to be born in a church, but it is bad to die there( It is good to be born a child, but bad to
remain a child( 1hurches, ceremonies, and symbols are good for children, but when the child
is grown, he must burst the church or himself( 9e must not remain children for ever( It is li,e
trying to fit one coat to all si6es and growths( I do not de%recate the e'istence of sects in the
world( 9ould to )od there were twenty millions more, for the more there are, there will be a
greater field for selection( 9hat I do ob4ect to is trying to fit one religion to every case(
"hough all religions are essentially the same, they must have the varieties of form %roduced
by dissimilar circumstances among different nations( 9e must each have our own individual
religion, individual so far as the e'ternals of it go(
!any years ago, I visited a great sage of our own country, a very holy man( 9e tal,ed of our
revealed boo,, the 2edas, of your +ible, of the oran, and of revealed boo,s in general( At the
close of our tal,, this good man as,ed me to go to the table and ta,e u% a boo,# it was a boo,
which, among other things, contained a forecast of the rainfall during the year( "he sage said,
"/ead that(" And I read out the 3uantity of rain that was to fall( He said, "*ow ta,e the boo,
and s3uee6e it(" I did so and he said, "9hy, my boy, not a dro% of water comes out( <ntil the
water comes out, it is all boo,, boo,( $o until your religion ma,es you reali6e )od, it is
useless( He who only studies boo,s for religion reminds one of the fable of the ass which
carried a heavy load of sugar on its bac,, but did not ,now the sweetness of it("
$hall we advise men to ,neel down and cry, ". miserable sinners that we are>" *o, rather let
us remind them of their divine nature( I will tell you a story( A lioness in search of %rey came
u%on a floc, of shee%, and as she 4um%ed at one of them, she gave birth to a cub and died on
the s%ot( "he young lion was brought u% in the floc,, ate grass, and bleated li,e a shee%, and
it never ,new that it was a lion( .ne day a lion came across the floc, and was astonished to
see in it a huge lion eating grass and bleating li,e a shee%( At his sight the floc, fled and the
lion-shee% with them( +ut the lion watched his o%%ortunity and one day found the lion-shee%
aslee%( He wo,e him u% and said, "7ou are a lion(" "he other said, "*o," and began to bleat
li,e a shee%( +ut the stranger lion too, him to a la,e and as,ed him to loo, in the water at his
own image and see if it did not resemble him, the stranger lion( He loo,ed and ac,nowledged
that it did( "hen the stranger lion began to roar and as,ed him to do the same( "he lion-shee%
tried his voice and was soon roaring as grandly as the other( And he was a shee% no longer(
!y friends, I would li,e to tell you all that you are mighty as lions( If the room is dar,, do
you go about beating your chest and crying, "It is dar,, dar,, dar,>" *o, the only way to get
the light is to stri,e a light, and then the dar,ness goes( "he only way to reali6e the light
above you is to stri,e the s%iritual light within you, and the dar,ness of sin and im%urity will
flee away( "hin, of your higher self, not of your lower(
Some questions and answers here followed.
?( A man in the audience said, "If ministers sto% %reaching hellfire, they will have no control
over their %eo%le("
A( "hey had better lose it then( "he man who is frightened into religion has no religion at all(
+etter teach him of his divine nature than of his animal(
?( 9hat did the &ord mean when he said, ""he ,ingdom of heaven is not of this world-"
A( "hat the ,ingdom of heaven is within us( "he Jewish idea was a ,ingdom of heaven u%on
this earth( "hat was not the idea of Jesus(
?( 8o you believe we come u% from the animals-
A( I believe that, by the law of evolution, the higher beings have come u% from the lower
,ingdoms(
?( 8o you ,now of anyone who remembers his %revious life-
A( I have met some who told me they did remember their %revious life( "hey had reached a
%oint where they could remember their former incarnations(
?( 8o you believe in 1hrist5s crucifi'ion-
A( 1hrist was )od incarnate# they could not ,ill him( "hat which was crucified was only a
semblance, a mirage(
?( If he could have %roduced such a semblance as that, would not that have been the greatest
miracle of all-
A( I loo, u%on miracles as the greatest stumbling-bloc,s in the way of truth( 9hen the
disci%les of +uddha told him of a man who had %erformed a so-called miracle - had ta,en a
bowl from a great height without touching it, and showed him the bowl, he too, it and
crushed it under his feet and told them never to build their faith on miracles, but to loo, for
truth in everlasting %rinci%les( He taught them the true inner light the light of the s%irit,
which is the only safe light to go by( !iracles are only stumbling-bloc,s( &et us brush them
aside(
?( 8o you believe Jesus %reached the $ermon on the !ount-
A( I do believe he did( +ut in this matter I have to go by the boo,s as others do, and I am
aware that mere boo, testimony is rather sha,y ground( +ut we are all safe in ta,ing the
teachings of the $ermon on the !ount as a guide( 9e have to ta,e what a%%eals to our inner
s%irit( +uddha taught five hundred years before 1hrist, and his words were full of blessings0
never a curse came from his li%s, nor from his life# never one from @oroaster, nor from
1onfucius(

T#e Vedanta P#i*oso(#,
&ecture to and subse3uent discussions at the )raduate Philoso%hical $ociety of Harvard
<niversity on :Following the lecture students and faculty 4oined $wami 2ive,ananda in a
discussion(;
"he 2edanta %hiloso%hy, as it is generally called at the %resent day, really com%rises all the
various sects that now e'ist in India( "hus there have been various inter%retations, and to my
mind they have been %rogressive, beginning with the dualistic or 8avita and ending with the
non-dualistic or Advaita( "he word 2edanta literally means the end of the 2edas--the 2edas
being the scri%tures of the Hindus( $ometimes in the 9est by the 2edas are meant only the
hymns and rituals of the 2edas( +ut at the
%resent time these %arts have almost gone out of use, and usually by the word 2edas in India,
the 2edanta is meant( All our commentators, when they want to 3uote a %assage from the
scri%tures, as a rule, 3uote from the 2edanta, which has another technical name with the
commentators--the $hrutis( *ow, all the boo,s ,nown by the name of the 2edanta were not
entirely written after the ritualistic %ortions of the 2edas( For instance, one of them--the Isha
<%anishad--forms the fortieth cha%ter of the
7a4ur-veda, that being one of the oldest %arts of the 2edas( "here are other <%anishads which
form %ortions of the +rahmanas or ritualistic writings# and the rest of the <%anishads are
inde%endent, not com%rised in any of the +rahmanas or other %arts of the 2edas# but there is
no reason to su%%ose that they were entirely inde%endent of other %arts, for, as we well
,now, many of these have been lost entirely and many of the +rahmanas have become
e'tinct( $o it is 3uite %ossible that the inde%endent <%anishads belonged to some +rahmanas,
which in course of time fell into disuse, while the <%anishads remained( "hese <%anishads
are also called Forest +oo,s or Aranya,as(
"he 2edanta, then, %ractically forms the scri%tures of the Hindus, and all systems of
%hiloso%hy that are orthodo' have to ta,e it as their foundation( Even the +uddhists and
Jains, when it suits their %ur%ose, will 3uote a %assage from the 2edanta as authority( All
schools of %hiloso%hy in India, although they claim to have been based u%on the 2edas, too,
different names for their systems( "he last one, the system of 2yasa, too, its stand u%on the
doctrines of the 2edas more than the %revious systems did, and made an attem%t to
harmoni6e the %receding %hiloso%hies, such as the $an,hya and the *yaya, with the
doctrines of the 2edanta( $o it is es%ecially called the 2edanta %hiloso%hy# and the $utras or
a%horisms of 2yasa are, in modern India, the basis of the 2edanta %hiloso%hy( Again, these
$utras of 2yasa have been variously e'%lained by different commentators( In general there
are three sorts of commentators in India now# from their inter%retations have arisen three
systems of %hiloso%hy and sects( .ne is dualistic, or 8vaita# a second is the 3ualified non-
dualistic, or 2ishishtadvaita# and a third is the non-dualistic, or Advaita( .f these the
dualistic and the 3ualified non-dualistic include the largest number of the Indian %eo%le( "he
non-dualists are com%aratively few in number( *ow I will try to lay before you the ideas that
are contained in all these three sects# but before going on, I will ma,e one remar,--that these
different 2edanta systems have one common %sychology, and that is, the %sychology of the
$an,hya system( "he $an,hya %sychology is very much li,e the %sychologies of the *yaya
and 2aisheshi,a systems, differing only in minor %articulars(
All the 2edantists agree on three %oints( "hey believe in )od, in the 2edas as revealed, and in
cycles( 9e have already considered the 2edas( "he belief about cycles is as follows0 All matter
throughout the universe is the outcome of one %rimal matter called A,asha# and all force,
whether gravitation, attraction or re%ulsion, or life, is the outcome of one %rimal force called
Prana( Prana acting on A,asha is creating or %ro4ecting the universe( At the beginning of a
cycle, A,asha is motionless, unmanifested( "hen Prana begins to act, more and more, creating
grosser and grosser forms out of A,asha--%lants, animals, men, stars, and so on( After an
incalculable time this evolution ceases and involution begins, everything being resolved bac,
through finer and finer forms into the original A,asha and Prana, when a new cycle follows(
*ow there is something beyond A,asha and Prana( +oth can be resolved into a third thing
called !ahat--the 1osmic !ind( "his 1osmic !ind does not create A,asha and Prana, but
changes itself into them(
9e will now ta,e u% the beliefs about mind, soul, and )od( According to the universally
acce%ted $an,hya %sychology, in %erce%tion--in the case of vision, for instance--there are, first
of all, the instruments of vision, the eyes( +ehind the instruments--the eyes--is the organ of
vision or Indriya--the o%tic nerve and its centers--which is not the e'ternal instrument, but
without which the eyes will not see( !ore still is needed for %erce%tion( "he mind or !anas
must come and attach itself to the organ( And besides this, the sensation must be carried to
the intellect or +uddhi--the determinative, reactive state of the mind( 9hen the reaction
comes from +uddhi, along with it flashes the e'ternal world and egoism( Here then is the
will# but everything is not com%lete( Just as every %icture, being com%osed of successive
im%ulses of light, must be united on something stationary to form a whole, so all the ideas in
the mind must be gathered and %ro4ected on something that is stationary--relatively to the
body and mind--that is, on what is called the $oul or Purusha or Atman(
According to the $an,hya %hiloso%hy, the reactive state of the mind called +uddhi or intellect
is the outcome, the change, or a certain manifestation of the !ahat or 1osmic !ind( "he
!ahat becomes changed into vibrating thought# and that becomes in one %art changed into
the organs, and in the other %art into the fine %articles of matter( .ut of the combination of all
these, the whole of this universe is %roduced( +ehind even !ahat, the $an,hya conceives of a
certain state which is called Avya,ta or unmanifested, where even the manifestation of mind
is not %resent, but only the causes e'ists( It is also called Pra,riti( +eyond this Pra,riti, and
eternally se%arate from it, is the Purusha, the soul of the $an,hya which is without attributes
and omni%resent( "he Purusha is not the doer but the witness( "he illustration of the crystal is
used to e'%lain the Purusha( "he latter is said to be li,e a crystal without any color, before
which different colors are %laced, and then it seems to be colored by the colors before it, but
in reality it is not(
"he 2edantists re4ect the $an,hya ideas of the soul and nature( "hey claim that between them
there is a huge gulf to be bridged over( .n the one hand the $an,hya system comes to nature,
and then at once it has to 4um% over to the other side and come to the soul, which is entirely
se%arate from nature( How can these different colors, as $an,hya called them, be able to act
on that soul which by its nature is colorless- $o the 2edantists, from the very first, affirm that
this soul and this nature are one( Even the dualistic 2edantists admit that the Atman or )od
is not only the efficient cause of this universe, but also the material cause( +ut they only say so
in so many words( "hey do not really mean it, for they try to esca%e from their conclusions, in
this way0 "hey say there are three e'istences in this universe--)od, soul, and nature( *ature
and soul are, as it were, the body of )od, and in this sense it may be said that )od and the
whole universe are one( +ut this nature and all these various souls remain different from each
other through all eternity( .nly at the beginning of a cycle do they become manifest# and
when the cycle ends, they become fine, and remain in a fine state(
Advaita 2edantists--the non-dualists--re4ect this theory of the soul, and, having nearly the
whole range of the <%anishads in their favor, build their %hiloso%hy entirely u%on them( All
the boo,s contained in the <%anishads have one sub4ect, one tas, before them--to %rove the
following theme0 "Just as by the ,nowledge of one lum% of clay we have the ,nowledge of all
the clay in the universe, so what is that, ,nowing which we ,now everything in the
universe-" "he idea of the Advaitists is to generali6e the whole universe into one--that
something which is really the whole of this universe( And they claim that this whole universe
is one, that it is one +eing manifesting itself in all these various forms( "hey admit that what
the $an,hya calls nature e'ists, but say that nature is )od( It is this +eing, the $at, which has
become converted into all this--the universe, man, soul, and everything that e'ists( !ind and
!ahat are but the manifestations of that one $at( +ut then the difficulty arises that this would
be %antheism( How
came that $at which is unchangeable, as they admit :for that which is absolute is
unchangeable;, to bn of )od( )od is the material cause of this universe, but not really, only
a%%arently( "he celebrated illustration used is that of the ro%e and the sna,e, where the ro%e
a%%eared to be the sna,e, but was not really so( "he ro%e did not really change into the sna,e(
Even so this whole universe as it e'ists is that +eing( It is unchanged, and all the changes we
see in it are only a%%arent( "hese changes are caused by
8esha, ala, and *imitta :s%ace, time, and causation;, or, according to a higher %sychological
generali6ation, by *ama and /u%a :name and form;( It is by name and form that one thing is
differentiated from another( "he name and form alone cause the difference( In reality they are
one and the same( Again, it is not, the 2edantists say, that there is something as %henomenon
and something as noumenon( "he ro%e is changed into the sna,e a%%arently only# and when
the delusion ceases, the sna,e vanishes( 9hen one is in ignorance, he sees the %henomenon
and does not see )od( 9hen he sees )od, this universe vanishes entirely for him(
Ignorance or !aya, as it is called, is the cause of all this %henomenon--the Absolute, the
<nchangeable, being ta,en as this manifested universe( "his !aya is not absolute 6ero, nor
non-e'istence( It is defined as neither e'istence nor non-e'istence( It is not e'istence, because
that can be said only of the Absolute, the <nchangeable, and in this sense, !aya is non-
e'istence( Again, it cannot be said it is non-e'istence# for if it were, it could never %roduce the
%henomenon( $o it is something which is neither# and in the 2edanta %hiloso%hy it is called
Anirvachaniya or ine'%ressible( !aya, then, is the real cause of this universe( !aya gives the
name and form to what +rahman or )od gives the material# and the latter seems to have been
transformed into all this( "he Advaitists, then have no %lace for the individual soul( "hey say
individual souls are created by !aya( In reality they cannot e'ist( If there were only one
e'istence throughout, how could it be that I am one, and you are one, and so forth- 9e are all
one, and the cause of evil is the %erce%tion of duality( As soon as I begin to feel that I am
se%arate from this universe, then first comes fear, and then comes misery( "9here one hears
another, one sees another, that is small( 9here one does not see another, where one does not
hear another, that is the greatest, that is )od( In that greatest is %erfect ha%%iness( In small
things there is no ha%%iness("
According to the Advaita %hiloso%hy, then, this differentiation of matter, these %henomena,
are, as it were, for a time, hiding the real nature of man# but the latter really has not been
changed at all( In the lowest worm, as well as in the highest human being, the same divine
nature is %resent( "he worm form is the lower form in which the divinity has been more
overshadowed by !aya# that is the highest form in which it has been least overshadowed(
+ehind everything the same divinity is e'isting, and out of this comes the basis of morality(
8o not in4ure another( &ove everyone as your own self, because the whole universe is one( In
in4uring another, I am in4uring myself# in loving another, I am loving myself( From this also
s%rings that %rinci%le of Advaita morality which has been summed u% in one word--self-
abnegation( "he Advaitist says, this little %ersonali6ed self is the cause of all my misery( "his
individuali6ed self, which ma,es me different from all other beings brings hatred and
4ealousy and misery, struggle and all other evils( And when this idea has been got rid of, all
struggle will cease, all misery vanish( $o this is to be given u%( 9e must always hold
ourselves ready, even to give u% our lives for the lowest beings( 9hen a man has become
ready even to give u% his life for a little insect, he has reached the %erfection which the
Advaitist wants to attain# and at that moment when he has become thus ready, the veil of
ignorance falls away from him, and he will feel his own nature( Even in this life, he will feel
that he is one with the universe( For a time, as it were, the whole of this %henomenal world
will disa%%ear for him, and he will reali6e what he is( +ut so long as the arma of this body
remains, he will have to live( 9hen the 2eil Has 2anished
"his state, when the veil has vanished and yet the body remains for some time, is what the
2edantists call the Jivanmu,ti, the living freedom( If a man is deluded by a mirage for some
time, and one day the mirage disa%%ears--if it comes bac, again the ne't day, or at some
future time, he will not be deluded( +efore the mirage first bro,e, the man could not
distinguish between the reality and the dece%tion( +ut when it has once bro,en, as long as he
has organs and eyes to wor, with, he will see the image, but will no more be deluded( "hat
fine distinction between the actual world and the mirage he has caught, and the latter cannot
delude him any more( $o when the 2edantist has reali6ed his own nature, the whole world
has vanished for him( It will come bac, again, but no more the same world of misery( "he
%rison of misery has become changed into $at, 1hit, Ananda--E'istence Absolute, nowledge
Absolute, +liss Absolute--and the attainment of this is the goal of the Advaita(
8iscussion
?( I should li,e to ,now something about the %resent activity of %hiloso%hic thought in India(
"o what e'tent are these 3uestions discussed-
A( As I have said, the ma4ority of the Indian %eo%le are %ractically dualists, and the minority
are monists( "he main sub4ect of discussion is !aya and Jiva( 9hen I came to this country, I
found that the laborers were informed of the %resent condition of %olitics# but when I as,ed
them, "9hat is religion, and what are the doctrines of this and that %articular sect-" they said,
"9e do not ,now# we go to church(" In India if I go to a %easant and as, him, "9ho governs
you-" he says, "I do not ,now# I %ay my ta'es(" +ut if I as, him what is his religion, he says, "I
am a dualist", and is ready to give you the details about !aya and Jiva( He cannot read or
write, but he has learned all this from the mon,s and is very fond of discussing it( After the
day5s wor,, the %easants sit under a tree and discuss these
3uestions(
?( 9hat does orthodo'y mean with the Hindus-
A( In modern times it sim%ly means obeying certain caste laws as to eating, drin,ing, and
marriage( After that the Hindu can believe in any system he li,es( "here was never an
organi6ed church in India# so there was never a body of men to formulate doctrines of
orthodo'y( In a general way, we say that those who believe in the 2edas are orthodo'# but in
reality we find that many of the dualistic sects believe more in the Puranas than in the 2edas
alone(
?( 9hat influence had your Hindu %hiloso%hy on the $toic %hiloso%hy of the )ree,s-
A( It is very %robable that it had some influence on it through the Ale'andrians( "here is some
sus%icion of Pythagoras5 being influenced by the $an,hya thought( Anyway, we thin, the
$an,hya %hiloso%hy is the first attem%t to harmoni6e the %hiloso%hy of the 2edas through
reason( 9e find a%ila mentioned even in the 2edas0 "He who :su%%orts through ,nowledge;
the first-born sage a%ila( "
?( 9hat is the antagonism of this thought with 9estern science-
A( *o antagonism at all( 9e are in harmony with it( .ur theory of evolution and of A,asha
and Prana is e'actly what your modern %hiloso%hies have( 7our belief in evolution is among
our 7ogis and in the $an,hya %hiloso%hy( For instance, Patan4ali s%ea,s of one s%ecies being
changed into another by the infilling of nature# only he differs from you in the e'%lanation(
His e'%lanation of this evolution is s%iritual( He says that 4ust as when a farmer wants to
water his field from the canals that %ass near, he has only to lift u% his gate so each man is the
Infinite already, only these bars and bolts and different circumstances shut him in# but as
soon as they are removed, he rushes out and e'%resses himself( In the animal, the man was
held in abeyance# but as soon as good circumstances came, he was manifested as man( And
again, as soon as fitting circumstances came, the )od in man manifested itself( $o we have
very little to 3uarrel with in the new theories( For instance, the theory of the $an,hya as to
%erce%tion is very little different from modern %hysiology(
?( +ut your method is different-
A( 7es( 9e claim that concentrating the %owers of the mind is the only way to ,nowledge( In
e'ternal science, concentration of mind is %utting it on something e'ternal# and in internal
science, it is drawing towards one5s $elf( 9e call this concentration of mind 7oga(
?( In the state of concentration does the truth of these %rinci%les become evident-
A( "he 7ogis claim a good deal( "hey claim that by concentration of the mind every truth in
the universe becomes evident to the mind, both e'ternal and internal truth(
?( 9hat does the Advaitist thin, of cosmology-
A( "he Advaitist would say that all this cosmology and everything else are only in !aya, in
the %henomenal world( In truth they do not e'ist( +ut as long as we are bound, we have to see
these visions( 9ithin these visions things come in a certain regular order( +eyond them there
is no law and order, but freedom(
?( Is the Advaita antagonistic to dualism-
A( "he <%anishads not being in a systemati6ed form, it was easy for %hiloso%hers to ta,e u%
te'ts when they li,ed to form a system( "he <%anishads had always to be ta,en, else there
would be no basis( 7et we find all the different schools of thought in the <%anishads( .ur
solution is that the Advaita is not antagonistic to the 8vaita :dualism;( 9e say the latter is
only one of three ste%s( /eligion always ta,es three ste%s( "he first is dualism( "hen man gets
to a higher state, %artial non-dualism( And at last he finds he is one with the universe(
"herefore the three do not contradict but fulfill(
?( 9hy does !aya or ignorance e'ist-
A( "9hy" cannot be as,ed beyond the limit of causation( It can only be as,ed within !aya(
9e say we will answer the 3uestion when it is logically formulated( +efore that we have no
right to answer(
?( 8oes the Personal )od belong to !aya-
A( 7es# but the Personal )od is the same Absolute seen through !aya( "hat Absolute under
the control of nature is what is called the human soul# and that which is controlling nature is
Ishvara, or the Personal )od( If a man starts from here to see the sun, he will see at first a little
sun# but as he %roceeds he will see it bigger and bigger, until he reaches the real one( At each
stage of his %rogress he was seeing a%%arently a different sun# yet we are sure it was the same
sun he was seeing( $o all these things are but visions of the Absolute, and as such they are
true( *ot one is a false vision, but we can only say they were lower stages(
?( 9hat is the s%ecial %rocess by which one will come to ,now the Absolute-
A( 9e say there are two %rocesses( .ne is the %ositive, and the other, the negative( "he
%ositive is that through which the whole universe is going that of love( If this circle of love is
increased indefinitely, we reach the one universal love( "he other is the "*eti", "*eti""not
this", "not this"sto%%ing every wave in the mind which tries to draw it out# and at last the
mind dies, as it were, and the /eal discloses Itself( 9e call that $amadhi, or su%er
consciousness
?( "hat would be, then, merging the sub4ect in the ob4ect>
A( !erging the ob4ect in the sub4ect, not merging the sub4ect in the ob4ect( /eally this world
dies, and I remain( I am the only one that remains(
?( $ome of our %hiloso%hers in )ermany have thought that the whole doctrine of +ha,ti
:&ove for the 8ivine; in India was very li,ely the result of occidental influence(
A( I do not ta,e any stoc, in that the assum%tion was e%hemeral( "he +ha,ti of India is not
li,e the 9estern +ha,ti( "he central idea of ours is that there is no thought of fear( It is
always, love )od( "here is no worshi% through fear, but always through love, from beginning
to end( In the second %lace, the assum%tion is 3uite unnecessary( +ha,ti is s%o,en of in the
oldest of the <%anishads, which is much older than the 1hristian +ible( "he germs of +ha,ti
are even in the $amhita :the 2edic hymns;( "he word +ha,ti is not a 9estern word( It was
suggested by the word $hraddhA(
?( 9hat is the Indian idea of the 1hristian faith-
A( "hat is very good( "he 2edanta will ta,e in every one( 9e have a %eculiar idea in India
$u%%ose I had a child( I should not teach him any religion# I should teach him breathings the
%ractice of concentrating the mind, and 4ust one line of %rayer not %rayer in your sense, but
sim%ly something li,e this, "I meditate on Him who is the 1reator of this universe0 may He
enlighten my mind>" "hat way he would be educated, and then go about hearing different
%hiloso%hers and teachers( He would select one who, he thought, would suit him best# and
this man would become his )uru or teacher, and he would become a $hishya or disci%le( He
would say to that man, ""his form of %hiloso%hy which you %reach is the best# so teach me("
.ur fundamental idea is that your doctrine cannot be mine, or mine yours( Each one must
have his own way( !y daughter may have one method, and my son another, and I again
another( $o each one has an Ishta or chosen way, and we ,ee% it to ourselves( It is between me
and my teacher, because we do not want to create a fight( It will not hel% any one to tell it to
others, because each one will have to find his own way( $o only general %hiloso%hy and
general methods can be taught universally( For instance, giving a ludicrous e'am%le, it may
hel% me to stand on one leg( It would be ludicrous to you if I said every one must do that, but
it may suit me( It is 3uite %ossible for me to be a dualist and for my wife to be a monist, and
so on( .ne of my sons may worshi% 1hrist or +uddha or !ohammad, so long as he obeys the
caste laws( "hat is his own IshtA(
?( 8o all Hindus believe in caste-
A( "hey are forced to( "hey may not believe, but they have to obey(
?( Are these e'ercises in breathing and concentration universally %racticed-
A( 7es# only some %ractice only a little, 4ust to satisfy the re3uirements of their religion( "he
tem%les in India are not li,e the churches here( "hey may all vanish tomorrow, and will not
be missed( A tem%le is built by a man who wants to go to heaven, or to get a son, or
something of that sort( $o he builds a large tem%le and em%loys a few %riests to hold services
there( I need not go there at all, because all my worshi% is in the home( In every house is a
s%ecial room set a%art, which is called the cha%el( "he first duty of the child, after his
initiation, is to ta,e a bath, and then to worshi%# and his worshi% consists of this breathing
and meditating and re%eating of a certain name( And another thing is to hold the body
straight( 9e believe that the mind has every %ower over the body to ,ee% it healthy( After
one has done this, then another comes and ta,es his seat, and each one does it in silence(
$ometimes there are three or four in the same room, but each one may have a different
method( "his worshi% is re%eated at least twice a day(
?( "his state of oneness that you s%ea, of, is it an ideal or something actually attained-
A( 9e say it is within actuality# we say we reali6e that state( If it were only in tal,, it would be
nothing( "he 2edas teach three things0 this $elf is first to be heard, then to be reasoned, and
then to be meditated u%on( 9hen a man first hears it, he must reason on it, so that he does
not believe it ignorantly, but ,nowingly# and after reasoning what it is, he must meditate
u%on it, and then reali6e it( And that is religion( +elief is no %art of religion( 9e say religion is
a su%er conscious state(
?( If you ever reach that state of su%er consciousness, can you ever tell about it-
A( *o# but we ,now it by its fruits( An idiot, when he goes to slee%, comes out of slee% an
idiot or even worse( +ut another man goes into the state of meditation, and when he comes
out he is a %hiloso%her, a sage, a great man( "hat shows the difference between these two
states(
?( I should li,e to as,, in continuation of Professor AA5s 3uestion, whether you ,now of any
%eo%le who have made any study of the %rinci%les of self-hy%notism, which they
undoubtedly %racticed to a great e'tent in ancient India, and what has been recently stated
and %racticed in that thing( .f course you do not have it so much in modern India(
A( 9hat you call hy%notism in the 9est is only a %art of the real thing( "he Hindus call it
self-hy%notisation( "hey say you are hy%noti6ed already, and that you should get out of it
and de-hy%noti6e yourself( ""here the sun cannot illume, nor the moon, nor the stars# the
flash of lightning cannot illume that# what to s%ea, of this mortal fire> "hat shining,
everything else shines" :atha <%anishad, II(ii(BC;( "hat is not hy%notisation, but de-
hy%notisation( 9e say that every other religion that %reaches these things as real is %racticing
a form of hy%notism( It is the Advaitist alone that does not
care to be hy%noti6ed His is the only system that more or less understands that hy%notism
comes with every form of dualism( +ut the Advaitist says, throw away even the 2edas, throw
away even the Personal )od, throw away even the universe, throw away even your own
body and mind, and let nothing remain, in order to get rid of hy%notism %erfectly( "From
where the mind comes bac, with s%eech, being unable to reach, ,nowing the +liss of
+rahman, no more is fear(" "hat is de-hy%notisation( "I have neither vice nor virtue, nor
misery nor ha%%iness# I care neither for the 2edas nor sacrifices nor ceremonies# I am neither
food nor eating nor eater, for I am E'istence Absolute, nowledge Absolute, +liss Absolute# I
am He, I am He(" 9e ,now all about hy%notism( 9e have a %sychology which the 9est is
4ust beginning to ,now, but not yet ade3uately, I am sorry to say(
?( 9hat do you call the astral body-
A( "he astral body is what we call the &inga $harirA( 9hen this body dies, how can it come to
ta,e another body- Force cannot remain without matter( $o a little %art of the fine matter
remains, through which the internal organs ma,e another body for each one is ma,ing his
own body# it is the mind that ma,es the body( If I become a sage, my brain gets changed into
a sage5s brain# and the 7ogis say that even in this life a 7ogi can change his body into a god-
body( "he 7ogis show many wonderful things( .ne ounce of %ractice is worth a thousand
%ounds of theory( $o I have no right to say that because I have not seen this or that thing
done, it is false( "heir boo,s say that with %ractice you can get all sorts of results that are most
wonderful( $mall results can be obtained in a short time by regular %ractice, so that one may
,now that there is no humbug about it, no charlatanism( And these 7ogis e'%lain the very
wonderful things mentioned in all scri%tures in a scientific way( "he 3uestion is, how these
records of miracles entered into every nation( "he man, who says that they are all false and
need no e'%lanation, is not rational( 7ou have no right to deny them until you can %rove
them false( 7ou must %rove that they are without any foundation, and only then have you the
right to stand u% and deny them( +ut you have not done that( .n the other hand, the 7ogis
say they are not miracles, and they claim that they can do them even today( !any wonderful
things are done in India today( +ut none of them are done by miracles( "here are many boo,s
on the sub4ect( Again, if nothing else has been done in that line e'ce%t a scientific a%%roach
towards %sychology, that credit must be given to the 7ogis(
?( 1an you say in the concrete what the manifestations are which the 7ogi can show-
A( "he 7ogi wants no faith or belief in his science but that which is given to any other science,
4ust enough gentlemanly faith to come and ma,e the e'%eriment( "he ideal of the 7ogi is
tremendous( I have seen the lower things that can be done by the %ower of the mind, and
therefore, I have no right to disbelieve that the highest things can be done( "he ideal of the
7ogi is eternal %eace and love through omniscience and omni%otence( I ,now a 7ogi who was
bitten by a cobra, and who fell down on the ground( In the evening he revived again, and
when as,ed what ha%%ened, he said0 "A messenger came from my +eloved(" All hatred and
anger and 4ealousy have been burnt out of this man( *othing can ma,e him react# he is
infinite love all the time, and he is omni%otent in his %ower of love( "hat is the real 7ogi( And
this manifesting different things is accidental on the way( "hat is not what he wants to attain(
"he 7ogi says, every man is a slave e'ce%t the 7ogi( He is a slave of food, to air, to his wife, to
his children, to a dollar, slave to a nation, slave to name and fame, and to a thousand things in
this world( "he man who is not controlled by any one of these bondages is alone a real man, a
real 7ogi( ""hey have con3uered relative e'istence in this life who are firm-fi'ed in sameness(
)od is %ure and the same to all( "herefore such are said to be living in )od" :)ita, 2(BD;(
?( 8o the 7ogis attach any im%ortance to caste-
A( *o# caste is only the training school for undevelo%ed minds(
?( Is there no connection between this idea of su%er consciousness and the heat of India-
A( I do not thin, so# because all this %hiloso%hy was thought out fifteen thousand feet above
the level of the sea, among the Himalayas, in an almost Arctic tem%erature(
?( Is it %racticable to attain success in a cold climate-
A( It is %racticable, and the only thing that is %racticable in this world( 9e say you are a born
2edantist, each one of you( 7ou are declaring your oneness with everything each moment
you live( Every time that your heart goes out towards the world, you are a true 2edantist,
only you do not ,now it( 7ou are moral without ,nowing why# and the 2edanta is the
%hiloso%hy which analy6ed and taught man to be moral consciously( It is the essence of all
religions(
?( $hould you say that there is an unsocial %rinci%le in our 9estern %eo%le, which ma,es us
so %luralistic, and that Eastern %eo%le are more sym%athetic than we are-
A( I thin, the 9estern %eo%le are more cruel, and the Eastern %eo%le have more mercy
towards all beings( +ut that is sim%ly because your civili6ation is very much more recent( It
ta,es time to ma,e a thing come under the influence of mercy( 7ou have a great deal of
%ower, and the %ower of control of the mind has es%ecially been very little %racticed( It will
ta,e time to ma,e you gentle and good( "his feeling tingles in every dro% of blood in India If I
go to the villages to teach the %eo%le %olitics, they will not understand# but if I go to teach
them 2edanta, they will say, "*ow, $wami, you are all right"( "hat 2airagya, non-attachment,
is everywhere in India, even today( 9e are very much degenerated now# but ,ings will give
u% their thrones and go about the country without anything( In some %laces the common
village-girl with her s%inning-wheel says, "8o not tal, to me of dualism# my s%inning-wheel
says 5$oham, $oham5 "I am He, I am He(" )o and tal, to these %eo%le, and as, them why it is
that they s%ea, so and yet ,neel before that stone( "hey will say that with you religion means
dogma, but with them reali6ation( "I will be a 2edantist", one of them will say, "only when all
this has vanished, and I have seen the reality( <ntil then there is no difference between me
and the ignorant( $o I am using these stones and am going to tem%les, and so on, to come to
reali6ation( I have heard, but I want to see and reali6e(" "8ifferent methods of s%eech,
different manners of e'%laining the meaning of the scri%tures these are only for the
en4oyment of the learned, not for freedom" :$han,ara;( It is reali6ation which leads us to that
freedom(
?( Is this s%iritual freedom among the %eo%le consistent with attention to caste-
A( 1ertainly not( "hey say there should be no caste( Even those who are in caste say it is not a
very %erfect institution( +ut they say, when you find us another and a better one, we will give
it u%( "hey say, what will you give us instead- 9here is there no caste- In your nation you
are struggling all the time to ma,e a caste( As soon as a man gets a bag of dollars, he says, "I
am one of the Four Hundred(" 9e alone have succeeded in ma,ing a %ermanent caste( .ther
nations are struggling and do not succeed( 9e have su%erstitions and evils enough( 9ould
ta,ing the su%erstitions and evils from your country mend matters- It is owing to caste that
three hundred millions of %eo%le can find a %iece of bread to eat yet( It is an im%erfect
institution, no doubt( +ut if it had not been for caste, you would have had no $ans,rit boo,s
to study( "his caste made walls, around which all sorts of invasions rolled and surged, but
found it im%ossible to brea, through( "hat necessity has not gone yet# so caste remains( "he
caste we have now is not that of even hundred years ago( Every blow has riveted it( 8o you
reali6e that India is the only country that never went outside of itself to con3uer- "he great
em%eror Aso,a insisted that none of his descendants should go to con3uer( If %eo%le want to
send us teachers, let them hel%, but not in4ure( 9hy should all these %eo%le come to con3uer
the Hindus- 8id they do any in4ury to any nation- 9hat little good they could do, they did
for the world( "hey taught it science, %hiloso%hy, religion, and civili6ed the savage hordes of
the earth( And this is the return only murder and tyranny, and calling them heathen rascals(
&oo, at the boo,s written on India by 9estern %eo%le and at the stories of many travelers
who go there# in retaliation for what in4uries are these hurled at them-
?( 9hat is the 2edantic idea of civili6ation-
A( 7ou are %hiloso%hers, and you do not thin, that a bag of gold ma,es the difference
between man and man( 9hat is the value of all these machines and sciences- "hey have only
one result0 they s%read ,nowledge( 7ou have not solved the %roblem of want, but only made
it ,eener( !achines do not solve the %overty 3uestion# they sim%ly ma,e men struggle the
more( 1om%etition gets ,eener( 9hat value has nature in itself- 9hy do you go and build a
monument to a man who sends electricity through a wire- 8oes not nature do that millions of
times over- Is not everything already e'isting in nature- 9hat is the value of your getting it-
It is already there( "he only value is that it ma,es this develo%ment( "his universe is sim%ly a
gymnasium in which the soul is ta,ing e'ercise# and after these e'ercises we become gods( $o
the value of everything is to be decided by how far it is a manifestation of )od( 1ivili6ation is
the manifestation of that divinity in man(
?( Have the +uddhists any caste laws-
A( "he +uddhists never had much caste, and there are very few +uddhists in India( +uddha
was a social reformer( 7et in +uddhistic countries I find that there have been strong attem%ts
to manufacture caste, only they have failed( "he +uddhists5 caste is %ractically nothing, but
they ta,e %ride in it in their own minds(
+uddha was one of the $annyasins of the 2edanta( He started a new sect, 4ust as others are
started even today( "he ideas which now are called +uddhism were not his( "hey were much
more ancient( He was a great man who gave the ideas %ower( "he uni3ue element in
+uddhism was its social element( +rahmins and shatriyas have always been our teachers,
and most of the <%anishads were written by shatriyas, while the ritualistic %ortions of the
2edas came from the +rahmins( !ost of our great teachers throughout India have been
shatriyas, and were always universal in their teachings# whilst the +rahmana %ro%hets with
two e'ce%tions were very e'clusive( /ama, rishna, and +uddhaworshi%%ed as Incarnations
of )od were shatriyas(
?( Are sects, ceremonies, and scri%tures hel%s to reali6ation-
A( 9hen a man realises, he gives u% everything( "he various sects and ceremonies and boo,s,
so far as they are the means of arriving at that %oint, are all right( +ut when they fail in that,
we must change them( ""he ,nowing one must not des%ise the condition of those who are
ignorant, nor should the ,nowing one destroy the faith of the ignorant in their own %articular
method, but by %ro%er action lead them and show them the %ath to come to where he stands"
:)ita, III(EF;(
?( How does the 2edanta e'%lain individuality and ethics-
A( "he real individual is the Absolute# this %ersonalisation is through !aya( It is only
a%%arent# in reality it is always the Absolute( In reality there is one, but in !aya it is
a%%earing as many( In !aya there is this variation( 7et even in this !aya there is always the
tendency to get bac, to the .ne, as e'%ressed in all ethics and all morality of every nation,
because it is the constitutional necessity of the soul( It is finding its oneness# and this struggle
to find this oneness is what we call ethics and morality( "herefore we must always %ractice
them(
?( Is not the greater %art of ethics ta,en u% with the relation between individuals-
A( "hat is all it is( "he Absolute does not come within !aya(
?( 7ou say the individual is the Absolute, and I was going to as, you whether the individual
has ,nowledge(
A( "he state of manifestation is individuality, and the light in that state is what we call
,nowledge( "o use, therefore, this term ,nowledge for the light of the Absolute is not %recise,
as the absolute state transcends relative ,nowledge(
?( 8oes it include it-
A( 7es, in this sense( Just as a %iece of gold can be changed into all sorts of coins, so with this(
"he state can be bro,en u% into all sorts of ,nowledge( It is the state of su%er consciousness,
and includes both consciousness and unconsciousness( "he man who attains that state has all
that we call ,nowledge( 9hen he wants to reali6e that consciousness of ,nowledge, he has to
go a ste% lower( nowledge is a lower state# it is only in !aya that we can have ,nowledge(
Reincarnation
"he word JnGna means ,nowledge( It is derived from the root JnG--to ,now--the same
word from which your English word to ,now is derived( Jnana 7oga is 7oga by means of
,nowledge( 9hat is the ob4ect of the Jnana 7oga- Freedom( Freedom from what- Freedom
from our im%erfections, freedom from the misery of life( 9hy are we miserable- 9e are
miserable because we are bound( 9hat is the bondage- "he bondage is of nature( 9ho is it
that binds us- 9e, ourselves(
"he whole universe is bound by the law of causation( "here cannot be anything, any
fact--either in the internal or in the e'ternal world--that is uncaused# and every cause must
%roduce an effect(
*ow this bondage in which we are is a fact( It need not be %roved that we are in
bondage( For instance0 I would be very glad to get out of this room through this wall, but I
cannot# I would be very glad if I never became sic,, but I cannot %revent it# I would be very
glad not to die, but I have to# I would be very glad to do millions of things that I cannot do(
"he will is there, but we do not succeed in accom%lishing the desire( 9hen we have any
desire and not the means of fulfilling it, we get that %eculiar reaction called misery( 9ho is
the cause of desire- I, myself( "herefore, I myself am the cause of all the miseries I am in(
!isery begins with the birth of the child( 9ea, and hel%less, he enters the world( "he
first sign of life is wee%ing( *ow, how could we be the cause of misery when we find it at the
very beginning- 9e have caused it in the %ast( HHere $wami 2ive,ananda entered into a
fairly long discussion of "the very interesting theory called /eincarnation"( He continued0I
"o understand reincarnation, we have first to ,now that in this universe something
can never be %roduced out of nothing( If there is such a thing as a human soul, it cannot be
%roduced out of nothing( If something can be %roduced out of nothing, then something
would disa%%ear into nothing also( If we are %roduced out of nothing, then we will also go
bac, into nothing( "hat which has a beginning must have an end( "herefore, as souls we
could not have had any beginning( 9e have been e'isting all the time(
"hen again, if we did not e'ist %reviously, there is no e'%lanation of our %resent
e'istence( "he child is born with a bundle of causes( How many things we see in a child
which can never be e'%lained until we grant that the child has had %ast e'%erience--for
instance, fear of death and a great number of innate tendencies( 9ho taught the baby to drin,
mil, and to do so in a %eculiar fashion- 9here did it ac3uire this ,nowledge- 9e ,now that
there cannot be any ,nowledge without e'%erience, for to say that ,nowledge is intuitive in
the child, or instinctive, is what the logicians would call a "%etitio %rinci%ii"( :"Petitio
%rinci%ii" refers to a logical fallacy in which a conclusion is ta,en for granted in the %remise(;
It would be the same HlogicI as when a man as,s me why light comes through a glass,
and I answer him, "+ecause it is trans%arent"( "hat would be really no answer at all because I
am sim%ly translating his word into a bigger one( "he word "trans%arent" means "that
through which light comes"--and that was the 3uestion( "he 3uestion was why light comes
through the glass, and I answered him, "+ecause it comes through the glass"(
In the same way, the 3uestion was why these tendencies are in the child( 9hy should
it have fear of death if it never saw death- If this is the first time it was ever born, how did it
,now to suc, the mother5s mil,- If the answer is ".h, it was instinct", that is sim%ly returning
the 3uestion( If a man stands u% and says, "I do not ,now", he is in a better %osition than the
man who says, "It is instinct" and all such nonsense(
"here is no such thing as instinct# there is no such thing as nature se%arate from habit(
Habit is one5s second nature, and habit is one5s first nature too( All that is in your nature is the
result of habit, and habit is the result of e'%erience( "here cannot be any ,nowledge but from
e'%erience(
$o this baby must have had some e'%erience too( "his fact is granted even by modern
materialistic science( It %roves beyond doubt that the baby brings with it a fund of e'%erience(
It does not enter into this world with a "tabula rasa"--a blan, mind u%on which nothing is
written--as some of the old %hiloso%hers believed, but ready e3ui%%ed with a bundle of
,nowledge( $o far so good(
+ut while modern science grants that this bundle of ,nowledge which the child brings
with it was ac3uired through e'%erience, it asserts, at the same time, that it is not its own--but
its father5s and its grandfather5s and its great grandfather5s( nowledge comes, they say,
through hereditary transmission(
*ow this is one ste% in advance of that old theory of "instinct", that is fit only for
babies and idiots( "his "instinct" theory is a mere %un u%on words and has no meaning
whatsoever( A man with the least thin,ing %ower and the least insight into the logical
%recision of words would never dare to e'%lain innate tendencies by "instinct", a term which
is e3uivalent to saying that something came out of nothing(
+ut the modern theory of transmission through e'%erience --though, no doubt, a ste%
in advance of the old one--is not sufficient at all( 9hy not- 9e can understand a %hysical
transmission, but a mental transmission is im%ossible to understand(
9hat causes me--who am a soul--to be born with a father who has transmitted certain
3ualities- 9hat ma,es me come bac,- "he father, having certain 3ualities, may be one
binding cause( "a,ing for granted that I am a distinct soul that was e'isting before and wants
to reincarnate--what ma,es my soul go into the body of a %articular man- For the e'%lanation
to be sufficient, we have to assume a hereditary transmission of energies and such a thing as
my own %revious e'%erience( "his is what is called arma, or, in English, the &aw of
1ausation, the law of fitness(
For instance, if my %revious actions have all been towards drun,enness, I will
naturally gravitate towards %ersons who are transmitting a drun,ard5s character( I can only
ta,e advantage of the organism %roduced by those %arents who have been transmitting a
certain %eculiar influence for which I am fit by my %revious actions( "hus we see that it is true
that a certain hereditary e'%erience is transmitted from father to son, and so on( At the same
time, it is my %ast e'%erience that 4oins me to the %articular cause of hereditary transmission(
A sim%ly hereditary transmission theory will only touch the %hysical man and would
be %erfectly insufficient for the internal soul of man( Even when loo,ing u%on the matter
from the %urest materialistic stand%oint--vi6( that there is no such thing as a soul in man, and
man is nothing but a bundle of atoms acted u%on by certain %hysical forces and wor,s li,e an
automaton--even ta,ing that for granted, the mere transmission theory would be 3uite
insufficient(
"he greatest difficulties regarding the sim%le hy%othesis of mere %hysical
transmission will be here0 If there be no such thing as a soul in man, if he be nothing more
than a bundle of atoms acted u%on by certain forces, then, in the case of transmission, the soul
of the father would decrease in ratio to the number of his children# and the man who has five,
si' or eight children must, in the end, become an idiot( India and 1hina--where men breed
li,e rats--would then be full of idiots( +ut, on the contrary, we find that the least amount of
lunacy is in India and 1hina(
"he 3uestion is, 9hat do we mean by the word transmission- It is a big word, but, li,e
so many other im%ossible and nonsensical terms of the same ,ind, it has come into use
without %eo%le understanding it( If I were to as, you what transmission is, you would find
that you have no real conce%tion of its meaning because there is no idea attached to it(
&et us loo, a little closer into the matter( $ay, for instance, here is a father( A child is
born to him( 9e see that the same 3ualities Hwhich the father %ossessesI have entered into his
child( 2ery good( *ow how did the 3ualities of the father come to be in the child- *obody
,nows( $o this ga% the modern %hysicists %erfectly understandable( "herefore we are able to
ta,e u% the Hconce%t ofI transmission of thought, and not of hereditary im%ressions of
%roto%lasmic cells alone( 9e need not brush aside the theory, but the main stress must be laid
u%on the transmission of thought(
*ow a father does not transmit thought( It is thought alone that transmits thought(
"he child that is born e'isted %reviously as thought( 9e all e'isted eternally as thought and
will go on e'isting as thought(
9hat we thin,, that our body becomes( Everything is manufactured by thought, and
thus we are the manufacturers of our own lives( 9e alone are res%onsible for whatever we
do( It is foolish to cry out0 "9hy am I unha%%y-" I made my own unha%%iness( It is not the
fault of the &ord at all(
$omeone ta,es advantage of the light of the sun to brea, into your house and rob you(
And then when he is caught by the %oliceman, he may cry0 ".h sun, why did you ma,e me
steal-" It was not the sun5s fault at all, because there are thousands of other %eo%le who did
much good to their fellow beings under the light of the same sun( "he sun did not tell this
man to go about stealing and robbing(
Each one of us rea%s what we ourselves have sown( "hese miseries under which we
suffer, these bondages under which we struggle, have been caused by ourselves, and none
else in the universe is to blame( )od is the least to blame for it(
Powers Of T#e -ind
All over the world there has been the belief in the su%ernatural through the ages( All of us
have heard of e'traordinary ha%%enings, and many of us have had some %ersonal e'%erience
of them( I would rather introduce the sub4ect by telling you certain facts, which have come
within my own e'%erience( I once heard of a man who, if anyone went to him with 3uestions
in his mind, would answer them immediately# and I was also informed that he foretold
events( I was curious, and went to see him with a few fr iends( 9e each had something in our
minds to as,, and, to avoid mista,es, we wrote down our 3uestions and %ut them in our
%oc,ets( As soon as the man saw one of us, he re%eated our 3uestions and gave answers to
them( "hen he wrote something on %a%er, which he folded u%, as,ed me to sign on the bac,,
and said, 58on5t loo, at it# %ut it in your %oc,et, and ,ee% it there till I as, for it again5( And so
on to each one of us( He ne't told us about some events that would ha%%en to us in the
future( "hen he s aid, 5*ow, thin, of a word or sentence, from any language you li,e(5 I
thought of a long sentence from $ans,rit, a language of which he was entirely ignorant( 5*ow
ta,e out the %a%er from your %oc,et5, he said( "he $ans,rit sentence was written there> He
had written it an hour before with the remar,, 5In confirmation of what I have written, this
man will thin, of this sentence(5 It was correct(
Another of us who had been given a similar %a%er, which he had signed and %laced in his
%oc,et, was also as,ed to thin, of a sentence( He thought of a sentence in Arabic, which it
was, still less %ossible for the man to ,now# it was some %assage from the oran( And my
friend found this written down on the %a%er( Another of us was %hysician( He thought of a
sentence from a )erman medical boo,( It was written on his %a%er(
$everal days later I went to this man again, thin,ing %ossibly I had been deluded somehow
before( I too, other friends, and on this occasion also he came out wonderfully trium%hant(
9ell, I saw many things li,e that( )oing about India you find hundreds of similar things in
different %laces( "hese are in every country( Even in this country you will find some such
wonderful things( .f course there is a great deal of fraud, no doubt # but then, whenever you
see fraud, you have also to say that fraud is an imitation( "here must be some truth
somewhere that is being imitated# you cannot imitate anything( Imitation must be of
something substantially true(
In very remote times in India, thousands of years ago, these facts used to ha%%en even more
than they do today( It seems to me that when a country becomes very thic,ly %o%ulated,
%sychical %owers deteriorates( )iven a vast country thinly inhabited, th ere will, %erha%s, be
more of %sychical %ower there( "hese facts, the Hindus being analytically minded, too, u%
and investigated( And they came to certain remar,able conclusions# that is, they made a
science of it( "hey found out that all these, though e e'traordinary, are also natural# there is
nothing su%ernatural( "hey are under laws 4ust the same as any other %hysical %henomenon(
It is not a frea, of nature that a man is born with such %owers( "hey can be systematically
studied, %racticed and ac3uired ( "his science they call the science of /a4a-7oga( "here are
thousands of %eo%le who cultivate the study of this science, and for the whole nation it has
become a %art of daily worshi%(
"he conclusion they have reached is that all these e'traordinary %owers are in the mind of
man( "his mind is a %art of the universal mind( Each mind is connected with every other
mind( And each mind, whenever it is located, is in actual communication with the whole
world(
Have you ever noticed the %henomenon that is called thought-transference- A man here is
thin,ing something, and that thought is manifested in somebody else, in some other %lace(
9ith %re%arations- not by chance- a man wants to send a thought to another r mind at a
distance, and this other mind ,nows that a thought is coming, and he receives it e'actly as it
is sent out( 8istance ma,es no difference( "he thought goes and reaches the other man, and
he understands it( If your mind were an isolated something there, and my mind were an
isolated something here, and there were no connection between the two, how would it be
%ossible for my thought to reach you- In the ordinary cases, it is not my thought that is
reaching you direct# but my thought has got to be dissolved into ethereal vibrations and those
ethereal vibrations go into your brain, and they have to be resolved again into your brain, and
they have to be resolved again into your own thoughts( Here is dissolution of thought, and
there is a resolution of thought( It is a roundabout %rocess( +ut in tele%athy, there is no such
thing# it is direct(
"his shows that there is a continuity of mind, as the 7ogis call it( "he mind is universal( 7our
mind, my mind, all these little minds, are fragments of that universal mind, little waves in the
ocean# and on account of this continuity, we can convey our thoughts directly to one another(
7ou see what is ha%%ening all around us( "he world is one of influence( Part of our energy is
used u% in the %reservation of our own bodies( +eyond that, every %article of our energy is
day and night being used in influencing others( .ur bodies, our virtues, our intellect, and our
s%irituality, all these are continuously influencing others# and so, conversely, we are
influenced by them( "his is going on all around us( *ow, to ta,e a concrete e'am%le( A man
comes# you ,now he is very learned, his language is beautiful, and he s%ea,s to you by the
hour# but he does not ma,e any im%ression( Another man comes, and he s%ea,s a few words,
not well arranged, ungrammatical %erha%s# all the same, he ma,es an immense im%ression(
!any of you have seen that( $o it is evident that words alone cannot always %roduce an
im%ression( 9ords, even thoughts, contribute only one-third of the influence in ma,ing an
im%ression, the man, two-thirds( 9hat you call the %ersonal magnetism of the man- that is
what goes out and im%resses you(
In our families there are the heads# some of them are successful, others are not( 9hy- 9e
com%lain of others in our failure( "he moment I am unsuccessful, I say, so-and-so is the cause
of the failure( In failures, one does not li,e to confess one5s ow n faults and wea,nesses( Each
%erson tries to hold himself faultless and lay the blame u%on somebody or something else or
even on bad luc,( 9hen heads of families fail, they should as, themselves, why it is that
some %ersons manage a family so well and others do not( "hen you will find that the
difference is owing to the man- his %resence, his %ersonality(
1oming to great leaders of man,ind, we always find that it was the %ersonality of the man
that counted( *ow, ta,e all the great authors of the %ast, the great thin,ers( /eally s%ea,ing,
how many thoughts have they thought- "a,e all the writings that h ave been left to us by the
%ast leaders of man,ind# ta,e each one of their boo,s and a%%raise them( "he real thoughts,
new and genuine, that have been thought in this world u% to this time, amount to only a
handful( /ead in their boo,s the thoughts they have left to us( "he authors do not a%%ear to
be giants to us, and yet we ,now that they were great giants in their days( 9hat made them
so- *ot sim%ly the thoughts they thought, neither the boo,s they wrote, nor the s%eeches
they made, it was something else that is now gone, that is their %ersonality( As I have already
remar,ed, the %ersonality of the man is two-thirds, and his intellect, his words, are but one-
third( It is the real man, the %ersonality of the man that runs through us( .ur actions are but
effects( Actions must come when the man is there# the effect is bound to follow the cause(
"he ideal of all education, all training, should be this man-ma,ing( +ut, instead of that, we are
always trying to %olish u% the outside( 9hat use to %olish u% the outside when there is no
inside- "he end and aim of all training is to ma,e the man grow( "he man who influences,
who throws his magic, as it were, u%on his fellow-beings, is a dynamo of %ower, and when
that man is ready, he can do anything and everything he li,es# that %ersonality %ut u%on
anything will ma,e it wor,(
*ow, we see that though this is a fact, no %hysical laws that we ,now of will e'%lain it by
chemical and %hysical ,nowledge- How much of o'ygen, hydrogen, carbon, how many
molecules in different %ositions, and how many cells, etc(, etc(, can e'%lain t his mysterious
%ersonality- And we still see, it is a fact, and not only that, it is the real man# and it is that
man that lives and moves his fellow-beings, and %asses out, and his intellect and boo,s and
wor,s are but traces left behind( "hin, of this( 1om%are the great teachers of religion with the
great %hiloso%hers( "he %hiloso%hers scarcely influenced any body5s inner man, and yet they
wrote most marvelous boo,s( "he religious teachers, on the other hand, moved countries in
their lifetime( "he difference was made by %ersonality( In the %hiloso%her, it is a faint
%ersonality that influences# in the great %ro%hets it is tremendous( In the former we touch the
intellect, in the latter we touch life( In the one case, it is sim%ly a chemical %rocess, %utting
certain chemical ingredients together, which may gradually, combine and under %ro%er
circumstances bring out a flash of light or may fail( In the other, it is li,e a torch that goes
round 3uic,ly, lighting others(
"he science of 7oga claims that it has discovered the laws, which develo% this %ersonality,
and by %ro%er attention to those laws and methods, each one can grow and strengthen his
%ersonality( "his is one of the great %ractical things and this is the secret of all education( "his
has a universal a%%lication(

Ra.a Yo'a(-enta* tec#ni/ue! 0 An Introduction
All our ,nowledge is based u%on e'%erience( 9hat we call inferential ,nowledge, in
which we go from the less to the more general, or from the general to the %articular, has
e'%erience as its basis( In what are called the e'act sciences, %eo%le easily find the truth,
because it a%%eals to the %articular e'%eriences of every human being( "he scientist does not
tell you to believe in anything, but he has certain results which come from his own
e'%eriences, and reasoning on them when he as,s us to believe in his conclusions, he a%%eals
to some universal e'%erience of humanity( In every e'act science there is a basis which is
common to all humanity, so that we can at once see the truth or the fallacy of the conclusions
drawn therefrom( *ow, the 3uestion is0 Has religion any such basis or not- I shall have to
answer the 3uestion both in the affirmative and in the negative( /eligion, as it is generally
taught all over the world, is said to be based u%on faith and belief, and, in most cases, consists
only of different sets of theories, and that is the reason why we find all religions 3uarreling
with one another( "hese theories, again, are based u%on belief( .ne man says there is a great
+eing sitting above the clouds and governing the whole universe, and he as,s me to believe
that solely on the authority of his assertion( In the same way, I may have my own ideas,
which I am as,ing others to believe, and if they as, a reason, I cannot give them any( "his is
why religion and meta%hysical %hiloso%hy have a bad name nowadays( Every educated man
seems to say, ".h, these religions are only bundles of theories without any standard to 4udge
them by, each man %reaching his own %et ideas(" *evertheless, there is a basis of universal
belief in religion, governing all the different theories and all the varying ideas of different
sects in different countries( )oing to their basis we find that they also are based u%on
universal e'%eriences( In the first %lace, if you analy6e all the various religions of the world,
you will find that these are divided into two classes, those with a boo, and those without a
boo,(
"hose with a boo, are the strongest, and have the largest number of followers( "hose without
boo,s have mostly died out, and the few new ones have very small followings( 7et, in all of
them we find one consensus of o%inion, that the truths they teach are the results of the
e'%eriences of %articular %ersons( "he 1hristian as,s you to believe in his religion, to believe
in 1hrist and to believe in him as the incarnation of )od, to believe in a )od, in a soul, and in
a better state of that soul( If I as, him for reason, he says he believes in them( +ut if you go to
the fountainhead of 1hristianity, you will find that it is based u%on e'%erience( 1hrist said he
saw )od# the disci%les said they felt )od# and so forth( $imilarly, in +uddhism, it is +uddha5s
e'%erience( He e'%erienced certain truths, saw them, came in contact with them, and
%reached them to the world( $o with the Hindus( In their boo,s the writers, who are called
/ishis, or sages, declare they e'%erienced certain truths, and these they %reach( "hus it is clear
that all the religions of the world have been built u%on that one universal and adamantine
foundation of all our ,nowledge direct e'%erience( "he teachers all saw )od# they all saw
their own souls, they saw their future, they saw their eternity, and what they saw they
%reached( .nly there is this difference that by most of these religions es%ecially in modern
times, a %eculiar claim is made, namely, that these e'%eriences are im%ossible at the %resent
day# they were only %ossible with a few men, who were the first founders of the religions that
subse3uently bore their names( At the %resent time these e'%eriences have become obsolete,
and, therefore, we have now to ta,e religion on belief( "his I entirely deny( If there has been
one e'%erience in this world in any %articular branch of ,nowledge, it absolutely follows that
that e'%erience has been %ossible millions of times before, and will be re%eated eternally(
<niformity is the rigorous law of nature# what once ha%%ened can ha%%en always( "he
teachers of the science of 7oga, therefore, declare that religion is not only based u%on the
e'%erience of ancient times, but that no man can be religious until he has the same
%erce%tions himself( 7oga is the science, which teaches us how to get these %erce%tions( It is
not much use to tal, about religion until one has felt it( 9hy is there so much disturbance, so
much fighting and 3uarreling in the name of )od- "here has been more bloodshed in the
name of )od than for any other cause, because %eo%le never went to the fountainhead# they
were content only to give a mental assent to the customs of their forefathers, and wanted
others to do the same( 9hat right has a man to say he has a soul if he does not feel it, or that
there is a )od if he does not see Him- If there is a )od we must see Him, if there is a soul we
must %erceive it# otherwise it is better not to believe( It is better to be an outs%o,en atheist
than a hy%ocrite( "he modern idea, on the one hand, with the "learned" is that religion and
meta%hysics and all search after a $u%reme +eing are futile# on the other hand, with the semi
educated, the idea seems to be that these things really have no basis# their only value consists
in the fact that they furnish strong motive %owers for doing good to the world( If men believe
in a )od, they may become good, and moral, and so ma,e good citi6ens( 9e cannot blame
them for holding such ideas, seeing that all the teaching these men get is sim%ly to believe in
an eternal rigmarole of words, without any substance behind them( "hey are as,ed to live
u%on words# can they do it- If they could, I should not have the least regard for human
nature( !an wants truth, wants to e'%erience truth for himself# when he has gras%ed it,
reali6ed it, felt it within his heart of hearts, then alone, declare the 2edas, would all doubts
vanish, all dar,ness be scattered, and all croo,edness be made straight( "7e children of
immortality, even those who live in the highest s%here, the way is found# there is a way out of
all this dar,ness, and that is by %erceiving Him who is beyond all dar,ness# there is no other
way( "he science of /a4a 7oga %ro%oses to %ut before humanity a %ractical and scientifically
wor,ed out method of reaching this truth( In the first %lace, every science must have its own
method of investigation( If you want to become an astronomer and sit down and cry
"Astronomy> Astronomy>" it will never come to you( "he same with chemistry( A certain
method must be followed( 7ou must go to a laboratory, ta,e different substances, mi' them
u%, com%ound them, e'%eriment with them, and out of that will come a ,nowledge of
chemistry( If you want to be an astronomer, you must go to an observatory, ta,e a telesco%e,
study the stars and %lanets, and then you will become an astronomer( Each science must have
its own methods( I could %reach you thousands of sermons, but they would not ma,e you
religious, until you %racticed the method( "hese are the truths of the sages of all countries, of
all ages, of men %ure and unselfish, who had no motive but to do good to the world( "hey all
declare that they have found some truth higher than what the senses can bring to us, and they
invite verification( "hey as, us to ta,e u% the method and %ractice honestly, and then, if we
do not find this higher truth, we will have the right to say there is no truth in the claim, but
before we have done that, we are not rational in denying the truth of their assertions( $o we
must wor, faithfully, using the %rescribed methods, and light will come( In ac3uiring
,nowledge we ma,e use of generali6ations, and generali6ation is based u%on observation(
9e first observe facts, then generali6e, and then draw conclusions or %rinci%les( "he
,nowledge of the mind, of the internal nature of man, of thought, can never be had until we
have first the %ower of observing the facts that are gong on within( It is com%aratively easy to
observe facts in the e'ternal world, for many instruments have been invented for the %ur%ose,
but in the internal world we have no instrument to hel% us( 7et we ,now we must observe in
order to have a real science( 9ithout a %ro%er analysis, any science will be ho%eless mere
theori6ing( And that is why all the %sychologists have been 3uarreling among themselves
since the beginning of time, e'ce%t those few who found out the means of observation( "he
science of /a4a 7oga, in the first %lace, %ro%oses to give us such a means of observing the
internal states( "he instrument is the mind itself( "he %ower of attention, when %ro%erly
guided, and directed towards the internal world, will analy6e the mind, and illumine facts for
us( "he %owers of the mind are li,e rays of light dissi%ated# when they are concentrated, they
illumine( "his is our only means of ,nowledge( Everyone is using it, both in the e'ternal and
the internal world# but, for the %sychologist, the same minute observation has to be directed
to the internal world, which the scientific man directs to the e'ternal# and this re3uires a great
deal of %ractice( From our childhood u%wards we have been taught only to %ay attention to
things e'ternal, but never to things internal# hence most of us have nearly lost the faculty of
observing the internal mechanism( "o turn the mind, as it were, inside, sto% it from going
outside, and then to concentrate all its %owers, and throw them u%on the mind itself, in order
that it may ,now its own nature, analy6e itself, is very hard wor,( 7et that is the only way to
anything which will be a scientific a%%roach to the sub4ect( 9hat is the use of such
,nowledge- In the first %lace, ,nowledge itself is the highest reward of ,nowledge, and
secondly, there is also utility in it( It will ta,e away all our misery( 9hen by analy6ing his
own mind, man comes face to face, as it were, with something which is never destroyed,
something which is, by its own nature, eternally %ure and %erfect, he will no more be
miserable, no more unha%%y( All misery comes from fear, from unsatisfied desire( !an will
find that he never dies, and then he will have no more fear of death( 9hen he ,nows that he
is %erfect, he will have no more vain desires, and both these causes being absent, there will be
no more misery there will be %erfect bliss, even while in this body( "here is only one method
by which to attain this ,nowledge, that which is called concentration( "he chemist in his
laboratory concentrates all the energies of his mind into one focus, and throws them u%on the
materials he is analy6ing, and so finds out their secrets( "he astronomer concentrates all the
energies of his mind and %ro4ects them through his telesco%e u%on the s,ies# and the stars, the
sun, and the moon, give u% their secrets to him( "he more I can concentrate my thoughts on
the matter on which I am tal,ing to you, the more light I can throw u%on you( 7ou are
listening to me, and the more you concentrate your thoughts, the more clearly you will gras%
what I have to say( How has all the ,nowledge in the world been gained but by the
concentration of the %owers of the mind- "he world is ready to give u% its secrets if we only
,now how to ,noc,, how to give it the necessary blow( "he strength and force of the blow
come through concentration( "here is no limit to the %ower of the human mind( "he more
concentrated it is, the more %ower is brought to bear on one %oint# that is the secret( It is easy
to concentrate the mind on e'ternal things, the mind naturally goes outwards# but not so in
the case of religion, or %sychology, or meta%hysics, where the sub4ect and the ob4ect, are one(
"he ob4ect is internal, the mind itself is the ob4ect, and it is necessary to study the mind itself
mind studying mind( 9e ,now that there is the %ower of the mind called reflection( I am
tal,ing to you( At the same time I am standing
aside, as it were, a second %erson, and ,nowing and hearing what I am tal,ing( 7ou wor,
and thin, at the same time, while a %ortion of your mind stands by and sees what you are
thin,ing( "he %owers of the mind should be concentrated and turned bac, u%on itself, and as
the dar,est %laces reveal their secrets before the %enetrating rays of the sun, so will this
concentrated mind %enetrate its own innermost secrets( "hus will we come to the basis of
belief, the real genuine religion( 9e will %erceive for ourselves whether we have souls,
whether life is of five minutes or of eternity, whether there is a )od in the universe or none( It
will all be revealed to us( "his is what /a4a 7oga %ro%oses to teach( "he goal of all its teaching
is how to concentrate the minds, then, how to discover the innermost recesses of our own
minds, then, how to generali6e their contents and form our own conclusions from them( It,
therefore, never as,s the 3uestion what our religion is, whether we are 8eists or Atheists,
whether 1hristians, Jews, or +uddhists( 9e are human beings# that is sufficient( Every human
being has the right and the %ower to see, for religion( Every human being has the right to as,
the reason, why, and to have his 3uestion answered by himself, if he only ta,es the trouble(
$o far, then, we see that in the study of this /a4a 7oga no faith or belief is necessary( +elieve
nothing until you find it out for yourself# that is what it teaches us( "ruth re3uires no %ro% to
ma,e it stand( 8o you mean to say that the facts of our awa,ened state re3uire any dreams or
imaginings to %rove them- 1ertainly not( "his study of /a4a 7oga ta,es a long time and
constant %ractice( A %art of this %ractice is %hysical, but in the main it is mental( As we
%roceed we shall find how intimately the mind is connected with the body( If we believe that
the mind is sim%ly a finer %art of the body, and that mind acts u%on the body, then it stands
to reason that the body must react u%on the mind( If the body is sic,, the mind becomes sic,
also( If the body is healthy, the mind remains healthy and strong( 9hen one is angry, the
mind becomes disturbed( $imilarly when the mind is disturbed, the body also becomes
disturbed( 9ith the ma4ority of man,ind the mind is greatly under the control of the body,
their mind being very little develo%ed( "he vast mass of humanity is very little removed from
the animals( *ot only so, but in many instances, the %ower of control in them is little higher
than that of the lower animals( 9e have very little command of our minds( "herefore to bring
that command about, to get that control over body and mind, we must ta,e certain %hysical
hel%s( 9hen the body is sufficiently controlled, we can attem%t the mani%ulation of the mind(
+y mani%ulating the mind, we shall be able to bring it under our control, ma,e it wor, as we
li,e, and com%el it to concentrate its %owers as we desire( According to the /a4a 7ogi, the
e'ternal world is but the gross form of the internal, or subtle( "he finer is always the cause,
the grosser the effect( $o the e'ternal world is the effect, the internal the cause( In the same
way e'ternal forces are sim%ly the grosser %arts, of which the internal forces are the finer( "he
man who has discovered and learned how to mani%ulate the internal forces will get the
whole of nature under his control( "he 7ogi %ro%oses to himself no less a tas, than to master
the whole universe, to control the whole of nature( He wants to arrive at the %oint where
what we call "nature5s laws" will have no influence over him, where he will be able to get
beyond them all( He will be master of the whole of nature, internal and e'ternal( "he %rogress
and civili6ation of the human race sim%ly mean controlling this nature( 8ifferent races ta,e to
different %rocesses of controlling nature(
Just as in the same society some individuals want to control the e'ternal nature, and others
the internal, so, among races, some want to control the e'ternal nature, and others the
internal( $ome say that by controlling internal nature we control everything( .thers that by
controlling e'ternal nature we control everything( 1arried to the e'treme both are right,
because in nature there is no such division as internal or e'ternal( "hese are fictitious
limitations that never e'isted( "he e'ternalists and the internalists are destined to meet at the
same %oint, when both reach the e'treme of their ,nowledge( Just as a %hysicist, when he
%ushes his ,nowledge to its limits, finds it melting away into meta%hysics, so a meta
%hysician will find that what he calls mind and matter are but a%%arent distinctions, the
reality being .ne( "he end and aim of all science is to find the unity, the .ne out of which the
manifold is being manufactured, that .ne e'isting as many( /a4a 7oga %ro%oses to start from
the internal world, to study internal nature, and through that, control the whole both internal
and e'ternal( It is a very old attem%t( India has been its s%ecial stronghold, but it was also
attem%ted by other nations( In 9estern countries it was regarded as mysticism and %eo%le
who wanted to %ractice it were either burned or ,illed as witches and sorcerers( In India, for
various reasons, it fell into the hands of %ersons who destroyed ninety %er cent of the
,nowledge, and tried to ma,e a great secret of the remainder( In modern times many so
called teachers have arisen in the 9est worse than those of India, because the latter ,new
something, while these modern e'%onents ,now nothing( Anything that is secret and
mysterious in these systems of 7oga should be at once re4ected( "he best guide in life is
strength( In religion, as in all other matters, discard everything that wea,ens you, have
nothing to do with it( !ystery mongering wea,ens the human brain( It has well nigh
destroyed 7oga one of the grandest of sciences( From the time it was discovered, more than
four thousand years ago, 7oga was %erfectly delineated, formulated, and %reached in India( It
is a stri,ing fact that the more modern the commentator the greater the mista,es he ma,es,
while the more ancient the writer the more rational he is( !ost of the modern writers tal, of
all sorts of mystery( "hus 7oga fell into the hands of a few %ersons who made it a secret,
instead of letting the full bla6e of daylight and reason fall u%on it( "hey did so that they might
have the %owers to themselves( In the first %lace, there is no mystery in what I teach( 9hat
little I ,now I will tell you( $o far as I can reason it out I will do so, but as to what I do not
,now I will sim%ly tell you what the boo,s say( It is wrong to believe blindly( 7ou must
e'ercise your own reason and 4udgment# you must %ractice, and see whether these things
ha%%en or not( Just as you would ta,e u% any other science, e'actly in the same manner you
should ta,e u% this science for study( "here is neither mystery nor danger in it( $o far as it is
true, it ought to be %reached in the %ublic streets, in broad daylight( Any attem%t to mystify
these things is %roductive of great danger( +efore %roceeding further, I will tell you a little of
the $an,hya %hiloso%hy, u%on which the whole of /a4a 7oga is based( According to the
$an,hya %hiloso%hy, the genesis of %erce%tion is as follows0 the affections of e'ternal ob4ects
are carried by the outer instruments to their res%ective brain centers or organs, the organs
carry the affections to the mind, the mind to the determinative faculty, from this the Purusha
:the soul; receives them, when %erce%tion results( *e't he gives the order bac,, as it were, to
the motor centers to do the needful( 9ith the e'ce%tion of the Purusha all of these are
material, but the mind is much finer matter than the e'ternal instruments( "hat material of
which the mind is com%osed goes also to form the subtle matter called the "anmatras( "hese
become gross and ma,e the e'ternal matter( "hat is the %sychology of the $an,hya( $o that
between the intellect and the grosser matter outside there is only a difference in degree( "he
Purusha is the only thing, which is immaterial( "he mind is an instrument, as it were, in the
hands of the soul, through which the soul catches e'ternal ob4ects( "he mind is constantly
changing and vacillating, and can, when %erfected, either attach itself to several organs, to
one, or to none( For instance, if I hear the cloc, with great attention, I will not, %erha%s, see
anything although my eyes may be o%en, showing that the mind was not attached to the
seeing organ, while it was to the hearing organ( +ut the %erfected mind can be attached to all
the organs simultaneously( It has the refle'ive %ower of loo,ing bac, into its own de%ths(
"his refle'ive %ower is what the 7ogi wants to attain# by concentrating the %owers of the
mind, and turning them inward, he see,s to ,now what is ha%%ening inside( "here is in this
no 3uestion of mere belief# it is the analysis arrived at by certain %hiloso%hers( !odern
%hysiologists tell us that the eyes are not the organ of vision, but that the organ is in one of
the nerve centers of the brain, and so with all the senses# they also tell us that these centers are
formed of the same material as the brain itself( "he $an,hyas also tell us the same thing( "he
former is a statement on the %hysical side, and the latter on the %sychological side# yet both
are the same( .ur field of research lies beyond this( "he 7ogi %ro%osed to attain that fine state
of %erce%tion in which he can %erceive all the different mental states( "here must be mental
%erce%tion of all of them( .ne can %erceive how the sensation is traveling, how the mind is
receiving it, how it is going to the determinative faculty, and how this gives it to the Purusha(
As each science re3uires certain %re%arations and has its own method, which must be
followed before it could be understood, even so in /a4a 7oga( 1ertain regulations as to food
are necessary# we must use that food which brings us the %urest mind( If you go into a
menagerie, you will find this demonstrated at once( 7ou see the ele%hants, huge animals, but
calm and gentle# and if you go towards the cages of the lions and tigers, you find them
restless, showing how much difference has been made by food( All the forces that are
wor,ing in this body have been %roduced out of food# we see that every day( If you begin to
fast, first your body will get wea,, the %hysical forces will suffer# then, after a few days, the
mental forces will suffer also( First, memory will fail( "hen comes a %oint, when you are not
able to thin,, much less to %ursue any course of reasoning( 9e have, therefore, to ta,e care
what sort of food we eat at the beginning, and when we have got strength enough, when our
%ractice is well advanced, we need not be so careful in this res%ect( 9hile the %lant is growing
it must be hedged round, lest it be in4ured# but when it becomes a tree, the hedges are ta,en
away( It is strong enough to withstand all assaults( A 7ogi must avoid the two e'tremes of
lu'ury and austerity( He must not fast, nor torture his flesh( He who does so, says the )ita,
cannot be a 7ogi0 He who fasts, he who ,ee%s awa,e, he who slee%s much, he who wor,s too
much, he who does no wor,, none of these can be a 7ogi :)ita, 2I, BF;(

THE 1EE% OF A )R)
Every soul is destined to be %erfect, and every being, in the end, will attain the state of
%erfection( 9hatever we are now is the result of our acts and thoughts in the %ast# and
whatever we shall be in the future will be the result of what we thin, and do now( +ut this,
the sha%ing of our own destinies, does not %reclude our receiving hel% from outside# nay, in
the vast ma4ority of cases such hel% is absolutely necessary( 9hen it comes, the higher %owers
and %ossibilities of the soul are 3uic,ened, s%iritual life is awa,ened, growth is animated, and
man becomes holy and %erfect in the end(
"his 3uic,ening im%ulse cannot be derived from boo,s( "he soul can only receive im%ulses
from another soul, and from nothing else( 9e may study boo,s all our lives, we may become
very intellectual, but in the end we find that we have not develo%ed at all s%iritually( It is not
true that a high order of intellectual develo%ment always goes hand in hand with a
%ro%ortionate develo%ment of the s%iritual side in man( In studying boo,s we are sometimes
deluded into thin,ing that thereby we are being s%iritually hel%ed# but if we analy6e the
effect of the study of boo,s on ourselves, we shall find that at the utmost it is only our
intellect that derives %rofit from such studies, and not our inner s%irit( "his inade3uacy of
boo,s to 3uic,en s%iritual growth is the reason why, although almost every one of us can
s%ea, most wonderfully on s%iritual matters, when it comes to action and the living of a truly
s%iritual life, we find ourselves so awfully deficient( "o 3uic,en the s%irit, the im%ulse must
come from another soul(
"he %erson from whose soul such im%ulse comes is called the )uru -- the teacher#
and the %erson to whose soul the im%ulse is conveyed is called the $hishya -- the student( "o
convey such an im%ulse to any soul, in the first %lace, the soul from which it %roceeds must
%ossess the %ower of transmitting it, as it were, to another# and in the second %lace, the soul to
which it is transmitted must be fit to receive it( "he seed must be a living seed, and the field
must be ready %loughed# and when both these conditions are fulfilled, a wonderful growth of
genuine religion ta,es %lace( ""he true %reacher of religion has to be of wonderful
ca%abilities, and clever shall his hearer be" -- Ashcharyo va,tA ,ushaloasya lab8hA# and
when both of these are really wonderful and e'traordinary, then will a s%lendid s%iritual
awa,ening result, and not otherwise( $uch alone are the real teachers, and such alone are also
the real students, the real as%irants( All others are only %laying with s%irituality( "hey have
4ust a little curiosity awa,ened, 4ust a little intellectual as%iration ,indled in them, but are
merely standing on the outward fringe of the hori6on of religion( "here is no doubt some
value even in that, as it may in course of time result in the awa,ening of a real thirst for
religion# and it is a mysterious law of nature that as soon as the field is ready, the seed must
and does come# as soon as the soul earnestly desires to have the religion, the transmitter of
the religious force must and does a%%ear to hel% that soul( 9hen the %ower that attracts the
light of religion in the receiving soul is full and strong, the %ower, which answers to that
attraction and sends in light does come as a matter of course(
"here are, however, certain great dangers in the way( "here is, for instance, the
danger to the receiving soul of its mista,ing momentary emotions for real religious yearning(
9e may study that in ourselves( !any a time in our lives, somebody dies whom we loved#
we receive a blow# we feel that the world is sli%%ing between our fingers, that we want
something surer and higher, and that we must become religious( In a few days that wave of
feeling has %assed away, and we are left stranded 4ust where we were before( 9e are all of us
often mista,ing such im%ulses for real thirst after religion# but as long as these momentary
emotions are thus mista,en, that continuous, real craving of the soul for religion will not
come, and we shall not find the true transmitter of s%irituality into our nature( $o whenever
we are tem%ted to com%lain of our search after the truth that we desire so much, %roving
vain, instead of so com%laining, our first duty ought to be to loo, into our own souls and find
whether the craving in the heart is real( "hen in the vast ma4ority of cases it would be
discovered that we were not fit for receiving the truth, that there was no real thirst for
s%irituality(
"here are still greater dangers in regard to the transmitter, the )uru( "here are many
who, though immersed in ignorance, yet, in the %ride of their hearts, fancy they ,now
everything, and not only do not sto% there, but offer to ta,e others on their shoulders# and
thus the blind leading the blind, both fall into the ditch( avi8hyAyAmantare
varthmAnAhsvayam 8hIraH %a*dithammayamAnAH = dhandhramyamA*AH %ariyanthi
m<dA an8henaiva nIyamAnA yathAn8hAH == -- "Fools dwelling in dar,ness, wise in their
own conceit, and %uffed u% with vain ,nowledge, go round and round staggering to and fro,
li,e blind men led by the blind("-- :atha <%(, I( ii( C;( "he world is full of these( Every one
wants to be a teacher, every beggar wants to ma,e a gift of a million dollars> Just as these
beggars are ridiculous, so are these teachers(

2)ALIFI3ATIO1S OF THE ASPIRA1T A1% THE TEA3HER

How are we to ,now a teacher, then- "he sun re3uires no torch to ma,e him visible, we need
not light a candle in order to see him( 9hen the sun rises, we instinctively become aware of
the fact, and when a teacher of men comes to hel% us, the soul will instinctively ,now that
truth has already begun to shine u%on it( "ruth stands on its own evidence, it does not
re3uire any other testimony to %rove it true, it is self-effulgent( It %enetrates into the
innermost corners of our nature, and in its %resence the whole universe stands u% and says,
""his is truth(" "he teachers whose wisdom and truth shines li,e the light of the sun are the
very greatest the world has ,nown, and they are worshi%ed as )od by the ma4or %ortion of
man,ind( +ut we may get hel% from com%aratively lesser ones also# only we ourselves do not
%ossess intuition enough to 4udge %ro%erly of the man from whom we receive teaching and
guidance# so there ought to be certain tests, certain conditions, for the teacher to satisfy, as
there are also for the taught(
"he conditions necessary for the taught are %urity, a real thirst after ,nowledge, and
%erseverance( *o im%ure soul can be really religious( Purity in thought, s%eech, and act is
absolutely necessary for any one to be religious( As to the thirst after ,nowledge, it is an old
law that we all get whatever we want( *one of us can get anything other than what we fi'
our hearts u%on( "o %ant for religion truly is a very difficult thing, not at all so easy as we
generally imagine( Hearing religious tal,s or reading religious boo,s is no %roof yet of a real
want felt in the heart# there must be a continuous struggle, a constant fight, an unremitting
gra%%ling with our lower nature, till the higher want is actually felt and the victory is
achieved( It is not a 3uestion of one or two days, of years, or of lives# the struggle may have to
go on for hundreds of lifetimes( "he success sometimes may come immediately, but we must
be ready to wait %atiently even for what may loo, li,e an infinite length of time( "he student
who sets out with such a s%irit of %erseverance will surely find success and reali6ation at last(
In regard to the teacher, we must see that he ,nows the s%irit of scri%tures( "he
whole world reads +ibles, 2edas, and orans# but they are only words, synta', etymology,
%hilology, the dry bones of religion( "he teacher who deals too much in words, and allows
the mind to be carried away by the force of words loses the s%irit( It is the ,nowledge of the
s%irit of the scri%tures alone that constitutes the true religious teacher( "he networ, of the
words of the scri%tures is li,e a huge forest, in which the human mind often loses itself and
finds no way out( shabda4Alam mahAra*yam chitra+hrama*a,Ara*am = -- ""he networ,
of words is a big forest# it is the cause of the curious wandering of the mind(" ""he various
methods of 4oining words, the various methods of s%ea,ing in beautiful language, the various
methods of e'%laining the diction of the scri%tures are only for the dis%utations and
en4oyment of the learned, they do not conduce to the develo%ment of s%iritual %erce%tion" --
vAgvaiharI shabda,arI shAsthrAhyAna,aushalam = vaidu$hyam vidu$hAm thadvath
+hu,thaye na thu mu,thaye == "hose who em%loy such methods to im%art religion to others
are only desirous to show off their learning, so that the world may %raise them as great
scholars( 7ou will find that no one of the great teachers of the world ever went into these
various e'%lanations of the te'ts# there is with them no attem%t of "te't-torturing", no eternal
%laying u%on the meanings of the words and their roots( 7et they nobly taught, while others
who have nothing to teach have ta,en u% a word sometimes and written a three-volume boo,
on its origin, on the man who used it first, and on what that man was accustomed to eat, and
how long he sle%t, and so on(
+hagavAn /ama,rishna used to tell a story of some men who went into a mango
orchard and busied themselves in counting the leaves, the twigs, and the branches, e'amining
their color, com%aring their si6e, and noting down everything most carefully, and then got u%
a learned discussion on each of these to%ics, which were undoubtedly highly interesting to
them( +ut one of them, more sensible than the others, did not care for all these things, and
instead thereof, began to eat the mango fruit( And was he not wise- $o leave this counting of
leaves and twigs and note-ta,ing to others( "his ,ind of wor, has its %ro%er %lace, but not
here in the s%iritual domain( 7ou never see a strong s%iritual man among these "leaf-
counters"( /eligion, the highest glory of man, does not re3uire so much labor( If you want to
be a +ha,ta, it is not at all necessary for you to ,now whether rishna was born in !athura
or in 2ra4a, what he was doing, or 4ust the e'act date on which he %ronounced the teachings
of the )ita( 7ou only re3uire to feel the craving for the beautiful lessons of duty and love in
the )ita( All the other %articulars about it and its author are for the en4oyment of the learned(
&et them have what they desire( $ay "$hAntih, $hAntih" to their learned controversies, and
let us "eat the mangoes"(
"he second condition necessary in the teacher is -- sinlessness( "he 3uestion is often
as,ed, "9hy should we loo, into the character and %ersonality of a teacher- 9e have only to
4udge of what he says, and ta,e that u%(" "his is not right( If a man wants to teach me
something of dynamics, of chemistry, or any other %hysical science, he may be anything he
li,es, because what the %hysical sciences re3uire is merely an intellectual e3ui%ment# but in
the s%iritual sciences it is im%ossible from first to last that there can be any s%iritual light in
the soul that is im%ure( 9hat religion can an im%ure man teach- "he sine 3ua non of
ac3uiring s%iritual truth for one5s self, or for im%arting it to others is the %urity of heart and
soul( A vision of )od or a glim%se of the beyond never comes until the soul is %ure( Hence
with the teacher of religion we must see first what he is, and then what he says( He must be
%erfectly %ure, and then alone comes the value of his words, because he is only then the true
"transmitter"( 9hat can he transmit , if he has not s%iritual %ower in himself- "here must be
the worthy vibration of s%irituality in the mind of the teacher, so that it may be
sym%athetically conveyed to the mind of the taught( "he function of the teacher is indeed an
affair of the transference of something, and not one of mere stimulation of the e'isting
intellectual or other faculties in the taught( $omething real and a%%reciable as an influence
comes from the teacher and goes to the taught( "herefore the teacher must be %ure(
"he third condition is in regard to the motive( "he teacher must not teach with any
ulterior selfish motive -- for money, name, or fame# his wor, may be sim%ly out of love, out of
%ure love for man,ind at large( "he only force through which s%iritual force can be
transmitted is love( Any selfish motive, such as the desire for gain or for name, will
immediately destroy this conveying medium( )od is love, and only he who has ,nown )od
as love, can be a teacher of godliness and )od to man(
9hen you see that in your teacher these conditions are all fulfilled, you are safe# if
they are not, it is unsafe to allow yourself to be taught by him, for there is the great danger
that, if he cannot convey goodness to your heart, he may convey wic,edness( "his danger
must by all means be guarded against( shrothriyoAvru4inoa,Amahatho yo
brahmaviththamaH -- "He who is learned in the scri%tures, sinless, un%olluted by lust, and is
the greatest ,nower of +rahman" is the real teacher(
From what has been said, it naturally follows that we cannot be taught to love,
a%%reciate, and assimilate religion everywhere and by everybody( "he "boo,s in the running
broo,s, sermons in stones, and good in everything" is all very true as a %oetical figure# but
nothing can im%art to a man a single grain of truth unless he has the undevelo%ed germs of it
in himself( "o whom do the stones and broo,s %reach sermons- "o the human soul, the lotus
of whose inner holy shrine is already 3uic, with life( And the light which causes the beautiful
o%ening out of this lotus comes always from the good and wise teacher( 9hen the heart has
thus been o%ened, it becomes fit to receive teaching from the stones or the broo,s, the stars, or
the sun, or the moon, or from anything which has its e'istence in our divine universe# but the
uno%ened heart will see in them nothing but mere stones or mere broo,s( A blind man may
go to a museum, but he will not %rofit by it in any way# his eyes must be o%ened first, and
then alone he will be able to learn what the things in the museum can teach(
"his eye-o%ener of the as%irant after religion is the teacher( 9ith the teacher,
therefore, our relationshi% is the same as that between an ancestor and his descendant(
9ithout faith, humility, submission, and veneration in our heart towards our religious
teacher, there cannot be any growth of religion in us# and it is a significant fact that, where
this ,ind of relation between the teacher and the taught %revails, there alone gigantic s%iritual
men are growing # while in those countries which have neglected to ,ee% u% this ,ind of
relation the religious teacher has become a mere lecturer, the teacher e'%ecting his five
dollars and the %erson taught e'%ecting his brain to be filled by the teacher5s words, and each
going his own way after this much has been done( <nder such circumstances s%irituality
becomes almost an un,nown 3uantity( "here is none to transmit it, and none to have it
transmitted to( /eligion with such %eo%le becomes business# they thin, they can obtain it
with their dollars( 9ould to )od that religion be obtained so easily> +ut unfortunately it
cannot be(
/eligion, which is the highest ,nowledge and the highest wisdom, cannot be bought,
nor can it be ac3uired from boo,s( 7ou may thrust your head into all the corners of the world,
you may e'%lore the Himalayas, the Al%s, and the 1aucasus, you may sound the bottom of
the sea, and %ry into every noo, and corner of "ibet and the desert of )obi, you will not find
it anywhere until your heart is ready for receiving it and your teacher has come( And when
that divinely a%%ointed teacher comes, serve him with child li,e confidence and sim%licity,
freely o%en your heart to his influence, and see in him )od manifested( "hose who come to
see, truth with such a s%irit of love and veneration, to them the &ord of "ruth reveals the
most wonderful things regarding truth, goodness, and beauty(

I13AR1ATE TEA3HERS A1% I13AR1ATIO1S
9herever His name is s%o,en, that very %lace is holy( How much more so is the man who
s%ea,s His name, and with what veneration ought we to a%%roach that man out of whom
comes to us such s%iritual truth> $uch great teachers of s%iritual truth are indeed very few in
number in this world, but the world is never altogether without them( "hey are always the
fairest flowers of human life -- ahethu,adayAsin8huH -- "the ocean of mercy without any
motive"( Acharyam mAm vi4AnIyAth -- "now the )uru to be !e", says $hri rishna in the
+hagavata( "he moment the world is absolutely bereft of these, it becomes a hideous hell and
hastens on to its destruction(
Higher and nobler than all ordinary ones are another set of teachers, the AvatAras of
Ishvara, in the world( "hey can transmit s%irituality with a touch, even with a mere wish( "he
lowest and most degraded characters become in one second saints at their command( "hey
are the "eachers of all teachers, the highest manifestations of )od through man( 9e cannot
see )od e'ce%t through them( 9e cannot hel% worshi%%ing them# and indeed they are the
only ones whom we are bound to worshi%(
*o man can see )od e'ce%t through these human manifestations( If we try to see
)od otherwise, we ma,e for ourselves a hideous caricature of Him, and believe the caricature
to be no worse than the original( "here is a story of an ignorant man who was as,ed to ma,e
an image of the )od $hiva, and who, after days of hard struggle, manufactured only the
image of the mon,ey( $o whenever we try to thin, of )od as He is in His absolute %erfection,
we invariably meet with the most miserable failure, because as long as we are men, we cannot
conceive Him as anything higher than man( "he time will come when we shall transcend our
human nature and ,now Him as He is# but as long as we are men, we must worshi% Him in
man and as man( "al, as you may, try as you may, you cannot thin, of )od e'ce%t as a man(
7ou may deliver great intellectual discourses on )od and on all things under the sun, become
great rationalists and %rove to your satisfaction that all these accounts of the Avataras of )od
as man are nonsense( +ut let us come for a moment to %ractical common sense( 9hat is there
behind this ,ind of remar,able intellect- @ero, nothing, sim%ly so much froth( 9hen ne't you
hear a man delivering a great intellectual lecture against this worshi% of the AvatAras of )od,
get hold of him and as, what his idea of )od is, what he understands by "omni%otence",
"omni%resence", and all similar terms, beyond the s%elling of the words( He really means
nothing by them# he cannot formulate as their meaning any idea unaffected by his own
human nature# he is no better off in this matter than the man in the street who has not read a
single boo,( "hat man in the street, however, is 3uiet and does not disturb the %eace of the
world, while this big tal,er creates disturbance and misery among man,ind( /eligion is, after
all, reali6ation, and we must ma,e the shar%est distinction between tal, and intuitive
e'%erience( 9hat we e'%erience in the de%ths of our soul is reali6ation( *othing indeed is so
uncommon as common sense in regard to this matter(
+y our %resent constitution we are limited and bound to see )od as man( If, for
instance, the buffaloes want to worshi% )od, they will, in ,ee%ing with their own nature, see
Him as a huge buffalo# if a fish wants to worshi% )od, it will have to form an idea of Him as a
big fish# and man has to thin, of Him as man( And these various conce%tions are not due to
morbidly active imagination( !an, the buffalo, and the fish, all may be su%%osed to re%resent
so many different vessels, so to say( All these vessels go to the sea of )od to get filled with
water each according to its own sha%e and ca%acity# in the man the water ta,es the sha%e of
man, in the buffalo, the sha%e of a buffalo, and in the fish the sha%e of a fish( In each of these
vessels there is the same water of the sea of )od( 9hen men see Him, they see Him as man,
and the animals, if they have any conce%tion of )od at all, must see Him as animal, each
according to its own ideal( $o we cannot hel% seeing )od as man, and, therefore, we are
bound to worshi% Him as man( "here is no other way(
"wo ,inds of men do not worshi% )od as man -- the human brute who has no
religion, and the Paramahamsa who has risen beyond all the wea,nesses of humanity and has
transcended the limits of his own human nature( "o him all nature has become his own $elf(
He alone can worshi% )od as He is( Here, too, as in all other cases, the two e'tremes meet(
"he e'treme of ignorance and the e'treme of ,nowledge -- neither of these go through acts of
worshi%( "he human brute does not worshi% because of his ignorance, and the Jivanmu,tas
:free souls; do not worshi% because they have reali6ed )od in themselves( +eing between
these two %oles of e'istence, if any one tells you that he is not going to worshi% )od as man,
ta,e ,indly care of that man# he is, not to use any harsher term, an irres%onsible tal,er# his
religion is for unsound and em%ty brains(
)od understands human failings and becomes man to do good to humanity0 yadA
yadA hi 8harmasya glAnir+havathi +haratha = a+hyuththAnama8harmasya thadAtmAnam
sru4Amyaham == %arithrA*Aya sA8h<nAm vinAshAya cha du$h,ruthAm =
8harmasansthA%anArthAya sam+havAmi yuge yuge == -- "9henever virtue subsides and
wic,edness %revails, I manifest !yself( "o establish virtue, to destroy evil, to save the good I
come from 7uga :age; to 7uga(" ava4Ananthi mAm m<dhA mAnu$hIm thanumAshritham =
%aram +havama4Anantho mama +huthamaheshvaram == -- "Fools deride !e who have
assumed the human form, without ,nowing my real nature as the &ord of the universe(" $uch
is $hri rishna5s declaration in the )ita on Incarnation( "9hen a huge tidal wave comes," says
+hagavan $hri /ama,rishna, "all the little broo,s and ditches become full to the brim without
any effort or consciousness on their own %art# so when an Incarnation comes, a tidal wave of
s%irituality brea,s u%on the world, and %eo%le feel s%irituality almost full in the air("

THE -A1TRA4 O-4 "OR% A1% "IS%O-
+ut we are now considering not these !ahA-%urushas, the great Incarnations, but only the
$iddha-)urus :teachers who have attained the goal;# they as a rule, have to convey the germs
of s%iritual wisdom to the disci%le by means of words :!antras; to be meditated u%on( 9hat
are these !antras- "he whole of this universe has, according to Indian %hiloso%hy, both
name and form :*ama-/u%a; as its conditions of manifestation( In the human microcosm,
there cannot be a single wave in the mind-stuff :1hittavritti; unconditioned by name and
form( If it be true that nature is built throughout on the same %lan, this ,ind of conditioning
by name and form must also be the %lan of the building of the whole cosmos(-"As one lam% of
clay being ,nown, all things of clay are ,nown," so the ,nowledge of the microcosm must
lead to the ,nowledge of the macrocosm( *ow, form is the outer crust of which the name or
the idea is the inner essence or the ,ernel( "he body is the form, and the mind or the
Antah,arana is the name, and sound-symbols are universally associated with *ama :name;
in all beings having the %ower of s%eech( In the individual man the thought waves rising in
the limited !ahat or 1hitta :mind-stuff;, must manifest themselves, first as words, and then
as the more concrete forms(
In the universe, +rahma or Hiranyagarbha or the cosmic !ahat first manifested
himself as name, and then as form, i(e( as this universe( All this e'%ressed sensible universe is
the form, behind which stands the eternal ine'%ressible $%hota, the manifester as &ogos or
9ord( "his eternal $%hota, the essential eternal material of all ideals or names, is the %ower
through which the &ord creates the universe# nay, the &ord first becomes conditioned as the
$%hota, and then evolves Himself out as the yet more concrete sensible universe( "his $%hota
has one word as its only only %ossible symbol, and this is the .m( And as by no %ossible
means of analysis can we se%arate the word from the idea, and this .m and the eternal
$%hota are inse%arable# and therefore, it is out of this holiest of all holy words, the mother of
all holy words, the mother of all names and forms, the eternal .m, that the whole <niverse
may be su%%osed to have been created( +ut it may be said that, although thought and word
are inse%arable# and, therefore, it is out of this holiest of all holy words, the mother of all
names and forms, the eternal .m, that the whole universe may be su%%osed to have been
created( +ut it may be said that, although thought and word are inse%arable, yet as there may
be various word symbols for the same thought, it is not necessary that this %articular word
.m should be the word re%resentative of the thought, out of which the universe has become
manifested( "o this ob4ection we re%ly that this .m is the only %ossible symbol that covers the
whole ground, and there is none other li,e it( "he $%hota is the material of all words, yet it is
not any definite word in its fully formed state( "hat is to say, if all the %eculiarities which
distinguish one word from another be removed, then what remains will be the $%hota#
therefore this $%hota is called the *ada-+rahman, the $ound-+rahman(
*ow, as every word-symbol intended to e'%ress the ine'%ressible $%hota, will so
%articulari6e it that it will no longer be the $%hota, that symbol which %articulari6es it the
least and at the same time most a%%ro'imately e'%resses its nature, will be the truest symbol
thereof# and this is the .m, and the .m only# because these three letters A<!(, %ronounced
in combination as .m, may well be the generali6ed symbol of all %ossible sounds( "he letter
A is the least differentiated of all sounds, therefore rishna says in the -"I am A among the
letters(" Again, all articulate sounds are %roduced in the s%ace within the mouth beginning
with the root of the tongue and ending in the li%s-the throat sound is A, and ! is the last li%
sound, and the < e'actly re%resents the rolling forward of the im%ulse which begins at the
root of the tongue till it ends in the li%s( If %ro%erly %ronounced, this .m will re%resent the
whole %henomenon of sound-%roduction, and no other word can do this# and this, therefore,
is the fittest symbol of the $%hota, which is the real meaning of the .m( And as the symbol
can never be se%arated from the thing signified, the .m and the $%hota are one( And as the
symbol can never be se%arated from the thing signified, the .m and the $%hota are one(And
as the $%hota, being the finer side of the manifested universe, is nearer to )od, and is indeed
the first manifestation of divine wisdom, this .m is truly symbolic of )od( Again, 4ust as the
".ne only" +rahman, the A,handa-$achchidananda, the undivided E'istence-nowledge-
+liss, can be conceived by im%erfect human souls only from %articular stand%oints and
associated with %articular 3ualities, so this universe, His body, has also to be thought of along
the line of the thin,er5s mind(
"his direction of the worshi%er5s mind is guided by the %revailing elements or
"attvas( "he result is that the same )od will be seen in various manifestations as the
%ossessor of various %redominant 3ualities, and the same universe will a%%ear as full of
manifold forms( Even as in the case of the least differentiated and the most universal symbol
.m, thought and sound-symbol are seen to be inse%arably associated with each other, so also
this law of their inse%arable association a%%lies to the many differentiated views of )od and
the universe0 each of them therefore must have a %articular word-symbol to e'%ress it( "hese
word-symbols, evolved out of the dee%est s%iritual %erce%tion of sages, symboli6e and
e'%ress, as nearly as %ossible, the %articular view of )od and the universe they stand for(
And as the .m re%resents the A,handa, the undifferentiated +rahman, the others re%resent
the handa or the differentiated views of the same +eing# and they are all hel%ful to divine
meditation and the ac3uisition of true ,nowledge(

"ORSHIP OF S)&STIT)TES A1% I-AES
"he ne't %oints to be considered are the worshi% of Prati,as, or of things more or less
satisfactory as substitutes for )od, or images( 9hat is the worshi% of )od through a Prati,a-
It is- "Joining the mind with devotion to that which is not +rahman, ta,ing it to be +rahman"-
says +hagavAn /amanu4a( "9orshi% the mind as +rahman, this is internal# and the A,asha as
+rahman, this is with regard to the 8evas," says $han,ara( "he mind is an internal Prati,a,
the A,asha is an e'ternal one# and both have to be worshi%ed as substitutes of )od( He
continues, "similarly- the $un is +rahman, this is the command,5 5He who worshi%s *ame as
+rahman5- in all such %assages the doubt arises as to the worshi% of Prati,as(" "he word
Prati,a means going towards# and worshi%%ing a Prati,a is worshi%%ing something as a
substitute which is, in someone or more res%ects, li,e +rahman more and more, but is not
+rahman( Along with the Prati,as mentioned in the $rutis there are various others to be
found in the Puranas and the "antras( In this ,ind of Prati,a-worshi% may be included the
various forms of Pitri- worshi% and the 8eva-worshi%(
*ow, worshi%%ing Ishvara and Him alone is +ha,ti# the worshi% of anything else-
8eva, or Pitri, or any other being- cannot be +ha,ti( "he various ,inds of worshi% of the
various 8evas are all to be included in ritualistic arma, which gives to the worshi%er only a
%articular result in the form of some celestial en4oyment, but can neither give rise to +ha,ti
nor lead to !u,ti( .ne thing, therefore, has to bee carefully borne in mind( If, as it may
ha%%en in some cases, the high %hiloso%hic ideal, the su%reme +rahman, is dragged down by
Prati,a-worshi% to the level of the Prati,a, and the Prati,a itself is ta,en to be the atman of
the worshi%er, or his Antaryamin, the worshi%er gets entirely misled, as no Prati,a can really
be the Atman of the worshi%er(
+ut where +rahman Himself is the ob4ect of worshi%, and the Prati,a stands only as
a substitute or a suggestion thereof, that is to say, where, through the Prati,a the omni%resent
+rahman is worshi%ed- the Prati,a itself being ideali6ed into the cause of all, +rahman- the
worshi% is %ositively beneficial# nay, it is absolutely necessary for all man,ind, until they
have all got beyond the %rimary or %re%aratory state of the mind in regard to worshi%( 9hen,
therefore, any gods or other beings are worshi%ed in and for themselves, such worshi% is only
ritualistic arma# and as a 2idya :science; it gives us only the fruit belonging to that
%articular 2idya# but when the 8evas or any other beings are loo,ed u%on as +rahman and
worshi%%ed, the result obtained is the same as by the worshi%%ing of Ishvara( "his e'%lains
how, in many cases, both in the $hrutis and the $mritis, a god, or a sage, or some other
e'traordinary being is ta,en u% and lifted, as it were, out of its own nature and ideali6ed into
+rahman, and is then worshi%%ed( $ays the Advaitin, "Is not everything +rahman when the
name and the form have been removed from it-" "Is not He, the lord, the innermost self of
everyone-" says the 2ishishtadvaitin(-""he fruition of even the worshi% of Adityas etc(
+rahman Himself bestows, because He is the /uler of all(" $ays $han,ara, in his +rahma-
$utra-+hashya- "Here in this way does +rahman become the ob4ect of worshi%, because He, as
+rahman, is su%erim%osed on the Prati,as, 4ust as 2ishnu etc("
"he same ideas a%%ly to the worshi% of the Pratimas as to that of the Prati,as that is
to say, if the image stands for a god or a saint, the worshi% is not the result of +ha,ti, and
does not lead to liberation# but if it stands for the one )od, the worshi% thereof will bring
both +ha,ti and !u,ti( .f the %rinci%al religions of the world we see 2edantism, +uddhism,
and certain forms of 1hristianity freely using images, only two religions, !ohammedanism
and Protestantism, refuse such hel%( 7et the !ohammedans use the graves of their saints and
martyrs almost in the %lace of images# and the Protestants, in re4ecting all concrete hel%s o
religion, are drifting away every year farther and farther from s%irituality till at %resent there
is scarcely any difference between the advanced Protestants and the followers of August
1omte, or agnostics who %reach ethics alone( Again, in 1hristianity and !ohammedanism
whatever e'ists of image worshi% is made to fall under that category in which the Prati,a or
the Pratima is worshi%%ed in itself, but not as a "hel% to the vision" :8ristisau,aryam; of )od#
therefore it is at best only of the nature of the ritualistic armas and cannot %roduce either
+ha,ti or !u,ti( In this form of image-worshi%, the allegiance of the soul is given to other
things than Ishvara, and therefore, such use of images, or graves, or tem%les, or tombs, is real
idolatry# it is in neither sinful nor wic,ed- it is a rite- a arma, and worshi%ers must and will
get the fruit thereof(

THE -ETHO% A1% THE -EA1S
In regard to the method and the means of +ha,ti-7oga we read in the commentary of
+hagavan /amanu4a on the 2edanta-$utras0 ""he attaining of "hat comes through
discrimination, controlling the %assions, %ractice, sacrificial wor,, %urity, strength, and
su%%ression of e'cessive 4oy(" 2ive,a or discrimination is, according to /amanu4a,
discriminating, among other things, the %ure food from the im%ure( According to him, food
becomes im%ure from three causes0 :B; by the nature of the food itself, as in the case of garlic
etc(# :E; owing to its coming from wic,ed and accused %ersons# and :J; from %hysical
im%urities, such as dirt, or hair etc( "he shrutis say, "9hen the food is %ure the $attva element
gets %urified, and the memory becomes unwavering," and /amanu4a 3uotes this from the
1handogya <%anishad(
"he 3uestion of food has always been one of the most vital with the +ha,tas( A%art
from the e'travagance into which some of the +ha,ti sects have run, there is a great truth
underlying this 3uestion of food( 9e must remember that according to the $an,hya
%hiloso%hy, the $attva, /a4as, and "amas, which in the state of homogenous e3uilibrium form
the Pra,riti, and in the heterogeneous disturbed condition form the universe- are both the
substance and the 3uality of Pra,riti( As such they are the materials out of which every
human form has been manufactured, and the %redominance of the $attva material is what is
absolutely necessary for s%iritual develo%ment( "he materials which we receive through our
food into our body-structure, go a great way to determine our mental constitution# therefore
the food we eat is to be %articularly ta,en care of( However, in this matter, as in others, the
fanaticism into which the disci%les invariably fall, is not to be laid at the door of the masters(
And this discrimination of food is, after all, of secondary im%ortance( "he very same
%assage 3uoted above is e'%lained by $han,ara in his +hashya on the <%anishads in a
different way, by giving an entirely different meaning to the word Ahara, translated
generally as food( According to him, ""hat which is gathered in is Ahara( "he ,nowledge of
the sensations, such as the sound etc(, is gathered in for the en4oyment of the en4oyer :self;#
the %urification of the ,nowledge which gathers in the %erce%tion of the senses is the
%urifying of the food :Ahara;( "he word 5%urification-of-food5 means the ac3uiring of
,nowledge of sensations untouched by the defects of attachment, aversion, and delusion#
such is the meaning( "herefore, such ,nowledge or Ahara being %urified, the $attva material
or the %ossessor of it-the internal organ- will be %urified, and the $attva being %urified, an
unbro,en memory of the Infinite .ne who has been ,nown in His real nature from scri%tures
will result("
"hese two e'%lanations are a%%arently conflicting, yet both are true and necessary(
"he mani%ulating and controlling of what may be called the finer body, vi6( the mind, are no
doubt higher functions than the controlling of the grosser body of flesh( +ut the control of the
grosser is absolutely necessary to enable one to arrive at the control of the finer( "he beginner,
therefore, must %ay %articular attention to all such dietetic rules as have come down from the
line of the accredited teachers# but the e'travagant meaningless fanaticism, which has driven
religion entirely to the ,itchen, as it may be noticed in the case of many of our sects, without
any ho%e of the noble truth of that religion ever coming out to the sunlight of s%irituality, is a
%eculiar sort of %ure and sim%le materialism( It is neither Jnana, nor +ha,ti, nor arma# it is a
s%ecial ,ind of lunacy, and those who %in their souls to it are more li,ely to go to lunatic
asylums than to +rahmalo,a( $o it stands to reason that discrimination in the choice of food is
necessary for the attainment of this higher state of mental com%osition, which cannot be
easily obtained otherwise(
1ontrolling the %assions is the ne't thing to be attended to( "o restrain the Indriyas
:organs; from going towards the ob4ects of senses, to control them and bring them under the
guidance of the will, is the very central virtue in religious culture( "hen comes the %ractice of
self-restraint and self-denial( All the immense %ossibilities of divine reali6ation in the soul
cannot get actuali6ed without struggle and without such %ractice on the %art of the as%iring
devotee( ""he mind must always thin, of the &ord(" It is very hard at first to com%el the mind
to thin, of the &ord always, but with every new effort the %ower to do so grows stronger and
stronger in us( "+y %ractice, . son of unti, and by non attachment is it attained," says
rishna in the )ita( And then as to the sacrificial wor,, it is understood that the five great
sacrifices :Panchamahaya4na; have to be %erformed as usual(
Purity is absolutely the basic wor,, the bed-roc, u%on which the whole +ha,ta
building rests( 1leansing the e'ternal body and discriminating the food are both easy, but
without internal cleanliness and %urity, these e'ternal observances are of no value
whatsoever( In the list of the 3ualities conducive to %urity, as given by /amanu4a, there are
enumerated, $atya, truthfulness# Ar4ava, sincerity# 8aya, doing good to others without any
gain to one5s self# Ahimsa, not in4uring others by thought, word, or deed# Anabhidya, not
coveting others5 goods, not thin,ing vain thoughts, and not brooding over in4uries received
from another( In this list, the one idea that deserves s%ecial notice is Ahimsa, non-in4ury to
others( "his duty of non-in4ury is, so to s%ea,, obligatory on us in relation to all beings( As
with some, it does not sim%ly mean the non-in4uring of human beings( As with some, it does
not sim%ly mean the non-in4uring of human beings and mercilessness towards the lower
animals# nor, as with some others, does it mean the %rotecting of cats and dogs and feeding of
ants with sugar- with liberty to in4ure brother-man in every horrible way> It is remar,able
that almost every good idea in the world can be carried to a disgusting e'treme( A good
%ractice carried to an e'treme and wor,ed in accordance with the letter of the law becomes a
%ositive evil( "he stin,ing mon,s of certain religious sects, who do not bathe lest the vermin
on their bodies should be ,illed, never thin, of the discomfort and disease they bring to their
fellow human beings( "hey do not, however, belong to the religion of the 2edas>
"he test of Ahimsa is absence of 4ealousy( Any man may do good deed or ma,e a
good gift on the s%ur of the moment, or under the %ressure of some su%erstition or %riest
craft# but the real lover of man,ind is he who is 4ealous of none( "he so-called great men of
the world may all be seen to become 4ealous of each other for a small name, for a little fame,
and for a few bits of gold( $o long as this 4ealousy e'ists in a heart, it is far away from the
%erfection of Ahimsa( "he cow does not eat meat, nor does the shee%( Are they great 7ogis,
great non-in4urers :Ahimsa,as;- Any fool may abstain from eating this or that# surely that
gives him no more distinction than to herbivorous animals( "he man who will mercilessly
cheat widows and or%hans, and do the vilest deeds for money is worse than any brute, even
if he lives entirely on grass( "he man whose heart never cherishes even the thought of in4ury
to any one, who re4oices at the %ros%erity of even his greatest enemy that man is the +ha,ta,
he is the 7ogi, he is the )uru of all, even though he lives every day of his life on the flesh of
swine( "herefore we must always remember that e'ternal %ractices have value only as hel%s
to develo% internal %urity( It is better to have internal %urity alone, when minute attention to
e'ternal observances is not %racticable( +ut woe unto the man and woe unto the nation that
forgets the real, internal, s%iritual essentials of religion, and mechanically clutches with death
li,e gras% at all e'ternal forms and never lets them go( "he forms have value only so far as
they are e'%ressions of the life within( If they have ceased to e'%ress life, crush them out
without mercy(


&HA5TI OR %EVOTIO1
"he idea of a Personal )od has obtained in almost every religion, e'ce%t a very few( 9ith the
e'ce%tion of the +uddhist and the Jain, %erha%s all the religions of the world have the idea of
a Personal )od, and with it comes the idea of devotion and worshi%( "he +uddhists and the
Jains, although they have no Personal )od, worshi% the founders of their religions in
%recisely the same way as others worshi% a Personal )od( "his idea of devotion and worshi%
to some higher being who can reflect bac, the love to man is universal( In various religions
this love and devotion is manifested in various degrees, at different states( "he lowest stage is
that of ritualism, when abstract ideas are almost im%ossible, and are dragged down to the
lowest %lane, and made concrete( Forms come into %lay, and, along with them, various
symbols( "hroughout the history of the world, we find that man is trying to gras% the abstract
through thought forms, or symbols( All the e'ternal manifestations of religion-bells, music,
rituals, boo,s, and images-come under that head( Anything that a%%eals to the senses,
anything that hel%s man to form a concrete image of the abstract, is ta,en hold of, and
worshi%%ed(
Futility of o%%osing symbol worshi%
From time to time, there have been reformers in every religion who have stood against all
symbols and rituals( +ut vain has been their o%%osition, for so long as man will remain as he
is, the vast ma4ority will always want something concrete to hold on to, something around
which, as it were, to %lace their ideas, something which will be the center of all the thought-
forms in their minds( "he great attem%ts of the !ohammedans and of the Protestants have
been directed to this one end, of doing away with all rituals, and yet we find that even with
them, rituals have cre%t in( "hey cannot be ,e%t out# after long struggle, the masses sim%ly
change one symbol for another( "he !ohammedan, who thin,s that every ritual, every form,
image, or ceremony, used by a non-!ohammedan is sinful, does not thin, so when he comes
to his own shrine, the aaba( Every religious !ohammedan wherever he %rays, must
imagine that he is standing before the aaba( 9hen he ma,es a %ilgrimage there, he must
,iss the blac, stone in the wall of the shrine( All the ,isses that have been im%rinted on that
stone, by millions and millions of %ilgrims, will stand u% as witnesses for the benefit of the
faithful on the last day of 4udgment( "hen, there is the well of @im6im( !ohammedans
believe that whoever draws a little water out of that well will have his sins %ardoned, and he
will, after the day of resurrection, have a fresh body, and live for ever( In others, we find that
the symbology comes in the form of buildings( Protestants hold that churches are more sacred
than other %laces( "he church, as it is, stands for a symbol( .r there is the +oo,( "he idea of
the +oo,, to them, is much holier than any other symbol(
9hy not symbol worshi%-It is vain to %reach against the use of symbols, and why should we
%reach against them- "here is no reason why man should not use symbols( "hey have them
in order to re%resent the ideas signified behind them( "his universe is a symbol, in and
through which we are trying to gras% the thing signified, which is beyond and behind( "he
s%irit is the goal, and not matter( Forms, images, bells, candles, boo,s, churches, tem%les, and
all holy symbols are very good, very hel%ful to the growing %lant of s%irituality, but thus far
and no farther( In the vast ma4ority of cases, we find that the %lant does not grow( It is very
good to be born in a church, but it is very bad to die in a church( It is very good to be born
within the limits of certain forms that hel% the little %lant of s%irituality, but if a man dies
within the bounds of these forms, it shows that he has not grown, that there has been no
develo%ment of the soul(
If, therefore, any one says that symbols, rituals, and forms are to be ,e%t for ever, he is wrong#
but if he says, that these symbols and rituals are a hel% to the growth of the soul, in its low
and undevelo%ed state, he is right( +ut, you must not mista,e this develo%ment of the soul as
meaning anything intellectual( A man can be of gigantic intellect, yet s%iritually he may be a
baby( 7ou can verify it this minute( All of you have been taught to believe in an .mni%resent
)od( "ry to thin, of it( How few of you can have any idea of what omni%resence means> If
you struggle hard, you will get something li,e the idea of the ocean, or of the s,y, or of a vast
stretch of green earth, or of a desert( All these are material images, and so long as you cannot
conceive of the abstract as abstract, of the ideal as the ideal, you will have to resort to these
forms, these material images( It does not ma,e much difference whether these images are
inside or outside the mind( 9e are all born idolaters, and idolatry is good, because it is in the
nature of man( 9ho can get beyond it- .nly the %erfect man, the )od-man( "he rest are all
idolaters( $o long as we see this universe before us, with its forms and sha%es, we are all
idolaters( "his is a gigantic symbol we are worshi%%ing( He who says he is the body is a born
idolater( 9e are s%irit, s%irit that has no form or sha%e, s%irit that is infinite, and not matter(
"herefore, anyone who cannot gras% the abstract, who cannot thin, of himself as he is, e'ce%t
in and through matter, as the body, is an idolater( And yet how %eo%le fight among
themselves, calling one another idolaters> In other words, each says, his idol is right, and the
others5 are wrong(
"herefore, we should get rid of these childish notions( 9e should get beyond the %rattle of
men who thin, that religion is merely a mass of frothy words, that it is only a system of
doctrines# to whom religion is only a little intellectual assent or dissent# to whom religion is
believing in certain words which their own %riests tell them# to whom religion is something
which their forefathers believed# to whom religion is a certain form of ideas and su%erstitions
to which they cling because they are their national su%erstitions( 9e should get beyond all
these and loo, at humanity as one vast organism, slowly coming towards light a wonderful
%lant, slowly unfolding itself to that wonderful truth which is called )od, and the first
gyrations, the first motions, towards this are always through matter and through ritual(
In the heart of all these ritualisms, there stands one idea %rominent above all the rest the
worshi% of a name( "hose of you who have studied the older forms of 1hristianity, those of
you who have studied the other religions of the world, %erha%s have mar,ed that there is this
idea with them all, the worshi% of a name( A name is said to be very sacred( In the +ible we
read that the holy name of )od was considered sacred beyond com%are, holy beyond
everything( It was the holiest of all names, and it was thought that this very 9ord was )od(
"his is 3uite true( 9hat is this universe but name and form- 1an you thin, without words-
9ord and thought are inse%arable( "ry if any one of you can se%arate them( 9henever you
thin,, you are doing so through word forms( "he one brings the other# thought brings the
word, and the word brings the thought( "hus the whole universe is, as it were, the e'ternal
symbol of )od, and behind that stands His grand name( Each %articular body is a form, and
behind that %articular body is its name( As soon as you thin, of your friend $o-and-so, there
comes the idea of his body, and as soon as you thin, of your friend5s body, you get the idea of
his name( "his is in the constitution of man( "hat is to say, %sychologically, in the mind-stuff
of man, there cannot come the idea of name without the idea of form, and there cannot come
the idea of form without the idea of name( "hey are inse%arable# they are the e'ternal and the
internal sides of the same wave( As such, names have been e'alted and worshi%%ed all over
the world-consciously or unconsciously, man found the glory of names(
Again, we find that in many different religions, holy %ersonages have been worshi%%ed( "hey
worshi% rishna, they worshi% +uddha, they worshi% Jesus, and so forth( "hen, there is the
worshi% of saints# hundreds of them have been worshi%%ed all over the world, and why not-
"he vibration of light is everywhere( "he owl sees it in the dar,( "hat shows it is there,
though man cannot see it( "o man, that vibration is only visible in the lam%, in the sun, in the
moon, etc( )od is omni%resent, He is manifesting Himself in every being# but for men, He is
only visible, recogni6able, in man( 9hen His light, His %resence, His s%irit, shines through
the human face, then and then alone, can man understand Him( "hus, man has been
worshi%%ing )od through men all the time, and must do so as long as he is a man( He may
cry against it, struggle against it, but as soon as he attem%ts to reali6e )od, he will find the
constitutional necessity of thin,ing of )od as a man(
$o we find that in almost every religion these are the three %rimary things which we have in
the worshi% of )od-forms or symbols, names, )od-men( All religions have these, but you
find that they want to fight with each other( .ne says, "!y name is the only name# my form is
the only form# and my )od-man are the only )od-men in the world# yours are sim%ly
myths(" In modern times, 1hristian clergymen have become a little ,inder, and they allow
that in the older religions, the different forms of worshi% were foreshadowing of 1hristianity,
which of course, they consider, is the only true form( )od tested Himself in older times,
tested His %owers by getting these things into sha%e which culminated in 1hristianity( "his,
at least, is a great advance( Fifty years ago they would not have said even that# nothing was
true e'ce%t their own religion( "his idea is not limited to any religion, nation, or class of
%ersons# %eo%le are always thin,ing that the only right thing to be done by others is what
they themselves are doing( And it is here that the study of different religions hel%s us( It
shows us that the same thoughts that we have been calling ours, and ours alone, were %resent
hundreds of years ago in others, and sometimes even in a better form of e'%ression than our
own(
"hese are the e'ternal forms of devotion, through which man has to %ass# but if he is sincere,
if he really wants to reach the truth, he goes higher than these, to a %lane where forms are as
nothing( "em%les or churches, boo,s or forms, are sim%ly the ,indergarten of religion, to
ma,e the s%iritual child strong enough to ta,e higher ste%s# and these first ste%s are necessary
if he wants religion( 9ith the thirst, the longing for )od, comes real devotion, real +ha,ti(
9ho has the longing- "hat is the 3uestion( /eligion is not in doctrines, in dogmas, nor in
intellectual argumentation# it is being and becoming, it is reali6ation( 9e hear so many
tal,ing about )od and the soul, and all the mysteries of the universe, but if you ta,e them
one by one, and as, them, "Have you reali6ed )od- Have you seen your $oul- "how many
can say they have- And yet they are all fighting with one another> At one time, in India,
re%resentatives of different sects met together and began to dis%ute( .ne said that the only
)od was $hiva# another said, the only )od was 2ishnu, and so on# and there was no end to
their discussion( A sage was %assing that way, and was invited by the dis%utants to decide
the matter( He first as,ed the man who was claiming $hiva as the greatest )od( "Have you
seen $hiva- Are you ac3uainted with Him- If not, how do you ,now He is the greatest )od-"
"hen turning to the worshi%er of 2ishnu, he as,ed, "Have you seen 2ishnu-" And after
as,ing this 3uestion to all of them, he found out that not one of them ,new anything of )od(
"hat was why they were dis%uting so much, for had they really ,nown, they would not have
argued( 9hen a 4ar is being filled with water, it ma,es a noise, but when it is full, there is no
noise( $o, the very fact of these dis%utations and fighting among sects shows that they do not
,now anything about religion( /eligion to them is a mere mass of frothy words, to be written
in boo,s( Each one hurries to write a big boo,, to ma,e it as massive as %ossible, stealing his
materials from every boo, he can lay his hands u%on, and never ac,nowledging his
indebtedness( "hen he launches his boo, u%on the world, adding to the disturbance that is
already e'isting there(
"he vast ma4ority of men are atheists( I am glad that, in modern times, another class of
atheists has come into e'istence in the 9estern world, I mean the materialists( "hey are
sincere atheists( "hey are better than the religious atheists, who are insincere, who fight and
tal, about religion, and yet do not want it, never try to reali6e it, never try to understand it(
/emember the words of 1hrist0 "As,, and it shall be given you# see,, and ye shall find# ,noc,,
and it shall be o%ened unto you(" "hese words are literally true, not figures or fiction( "hey
were the outflow of the heart5s blood of one the greatest sons of )od who have ever come to
this world of ours# words which came as the fruit of reali6ation, from a man who had felt and
reali6ed )od himself# who had s%o,en with )od, lived with )od, a hundred times more
intensely than you or I see this building( 9ho wants )od- "hat is the 3uestion( 8o you thin,
that all this mass of %eo%le in the world want )od, and cannot get Him- "hat cannot be(
9hat want is there without its ob4ect outside- !an wants to breathe, and there is air for him
to breathe( !an wants to eat, and there is food to eat( 9hat creates these desires- "he
e'istence of e'ternal things( It was the light that made the eyes# it was the sound that made
the ears( $o every desire in human beings has been created by something which already
e'isted outside( "his desire for %erfection, for reaching the goal and getting beyond nature,
how can it be there, until something has created it and drilled it into the soul of man, and
ma,es it live there- He, therefore, in whom this desire is awa,ened, will reach the goal( 9e
want everything but )od( "his is not religion that you see all around you( !y lady has
furniture in her %arlor, from all over the world, and now it is the fashion to have something
Ja%anese# so she buys a vase and %uts it in her room( $uch is religion with the vast ma4ority#
they have all sorts of things for en4oyment, and unless they add a little flavor of religion, life
is not all right, because society would critici6e them( $ociety e'%ects it# so they must have
some religion( "his is the %resent state of religion in the world(
A disci%le went to his master and said to him, "$ir, I want religion(" "he master loo,ed at the
young man, and did not s%ea,, but only smiled( "he young man came every day, and insisted
that he wanted religion( +ut the old man ,new better than the young man( .ne day, when it
was very hot, he as,ed the young man to go to the river with him and ta,e a %lunge( "he
young man %lunged in, and the old man followed him and held the young man down under
the water by force( After the young man had struggled for a while, he let him go and as,ed
him what he wanted most while he was under the water( "A breath of air", the disci%le
answered( "8o you want )od in that way- if you do, you will get Him in a moment," said the
master( <ntil you have that thirst, that desire, you cannot get religion, however you may
struggle with your intellect, or your boo,s, or your forms( <ntil that thirst is awa,ened in
you, you are no better than any atheist# only the atheist is sincere, and you are not(
A great sage used to say, "$u%%ose there is a thief in a room, and somehow he comes to ,now
that there is a vast mass of gold in the ne't room, and that there is only a thin %artition
between the two rooms( 9hat would be the condition of that thief- He would be slee%less, he
would not be able to eat or do anything( His whole mind would be on getting that gold( 8o
you mean to say that, if all these %eo%le really believe that the !ine of Ha%%iness, of
+lessedness, or )lory were here, they would act as they do in the world, without trying to get
)od-" As soon as a man begins to believe there is a )od, he becomes mad with longing to get
to Him( .thers may go their way, but as soon as a man is sure that there is a much higher life
than that which he is leading here, as soon as he feels sure that the senses are not all, that this
limited, material body is as nothing com%ared with the immortal, eternal, undying bliss of the
$elf, he becomes mad until he finds out this bliss for himself( And this madness, this thirst,
this mania, is what is called the "awa,ening" to religion, and when that has come, a man is
beginning to be religious( +ut it ta,es a long time( All these forms and ceremonies, these
%rayers and %ilgrimages, these boo,s, bells, candles, and %riests, are the %re%arations# they
ta,e off the im%urities from the soul( And when the soul has become %ure, it naturally wants
to get to the mine of all %urity, )od Himself( Just as a %iece of iron, which had been covered
with the dust of centuries, might be lying near a magnet all the time, and yet not be attracted
by it, but as soon as the dust is cleared away, the iron is drawn by the magnet# so, when the
human soul, covered with the dust of ages, im%urities, wic,ednesses, and sins, after many
births, becomes %urified enough by these forms and ceremonies, by doing good to others,
loving other beings, its natural s%iritual attraction comes, it wa,es u% and struggles towards
)od(
7et, all these forms and symbols are sim%ly the beginning, not true love of )od( &ove we hear
s%o,en of everywhere( Everyone says, "&ove )od(" !en do not ,now what it is to love# if
they did, they would not tal, so glibly about it( Every man says he can love, and then, in no
time, finds out that there is no love in his nature( Every woman says she can love and soon
finds out that she cannot( "he world is full of the tal, of love, but it is hard to love( 9here is
love- How do you ,now that there is love- "he first test of love is that it ,nows no
bargaining( $o long as you see a man love another only to get something from him, you ,now
that that is not love# it is sho%-,ee%ing( 9herever there is any 3uestion of buying and selling,
it is not love( $o, when a man %rays to )od, ")ive me this, and give me that", it is not love(
How can it be- I offer you a %rayer, and you give me something in return# that is what it is,
mere sho%-,ee%ing( A certain great ,ing went to hunt in a forest, and there he ha%%ened to
meet a sage( He had a little conversation with him and became so %leased with him that he
as,ed him to acce%t a %resent from him( "*o," said the sage, "I am %erfectly satisfied with my
condition# these trees give me enough fruit to eat# these beautiful %ure streams su%%ly me
with all the water I want# I slee% in these caves( 9hat do I care for your %resents, though you
be an em%eror-" "he em%eror said, "Just to %urify me, to gratify me, come with me into the
city and ta,e some %resent(" At last the sage consented to go with the em%eror, and he was
ta,en into the em%eror5s %alace, where there were gold, 4ewelery, marble, and the most
wonderful things( 9ealth and %ower were manifest everywhere( "he em%eror as,ed the sage
to wait a minute, while he re%eated his %rayer, and he went into a corner and began to %ray,
"&ord, give me more wealth, more children, more territory(" In the meanwhile, the sage got
u% and began to wal, away( "he em%eror saw him going and went after him( "$tay, $ir, you
did not ta,e my %resent and are going away(" "he sage turned to him and said, "+eggar, I do
not beg of beggars( 9hat can you give- 7ou have been begging yourself all the time(" "hat is
not the language of love( 9hat is the difference between love and sho%-,ee%ing, if you as,
)od to give you this, and give you that- "he first test of love is that it ,nows no bargaining(
&ove is always the giver, and never the ta,er( $ays the child of )od, "If )od wants, I give
Him my everything, but I do not want anything of Him( I want nothing in this universe( I
love Him, because I want to love Him, and I as, no favor in return( 9ho cares whether )od is
almighty or not- I do not want any %ower from Him nor any manifestation of His %ower(
$ufficient for me that He is the )od of love( I as, no more 3uestion("
"he second test is that love ,nows no fear( $o long as man thin,s of )od as a +eing sitting
above the clouds, with rewards in one hand and %unishments in the other, there can be no
love( 1an you frighten one into love- 8oes the lamb love the lion- "he mouse, the cat- "he
slave, the master- $laves sometimes simulate love, but is it love- 9here do you ever see love
in fear- It is always a sham( 9ith love never comes the idea of fear( "hin, of a young mother
in the street0 if a dog bar,s at her, she flees in to the nearest house( "he ne't day she is in the
street with her child, and su%%ose a lion rushes u%on the child, where will be her %osition-
Just at the mouth of the lion, %rotecting her child( &ove con3uered all her fear( $o also in the
love of )od( 9ho cares whether )od is a rewarder or a %unisher- "hat is not the thought of a
lover( "hin, of a 4udge when he comes home, what does his wife see in him- *ot a 4udge, or a
rewarder or %unisher, but her husband, her love( 9hat do his children see in him- "heir
loving father, not the %unisher or rewarder( $o the children of )od never see in Him a
%unisher or a rewarder( It is only %eo%le who have never tasted of love that fear and 3ua,e(
1ast off all fear-though these horrible ideas of )od as a %unisher or rewarder may have their
use in savage minds( $ome men, even the most intellectual, are s%iritual savages, and these
ideas may hel% them( +ut to men who are s%iritual, men who are a%%roaching religion, in
whom s%iritual insight is awa,ened, such ideas are sim%ly childish, sim%ly foolish( $uch men
re4ect all ideas of fear(
"he third is a still higher test( &ove is always the highest ideal( 9hen one has %assed through
the first two stages, when one has thrown off all sho%-,ee%ing, and casts off all fear, one then
begins to reali6e that love is always the highest ideal( How many times in this world we see a
beautiful woman loving an ugly man- How many times we see a handsome man loving an
ugly woman> 9hat is the attraction- &oo,ers-on only see the ugly man or the ugly woman,
but not so the lover# to the lover the beloved is the most beautiful being that ever e'isted(
How is it- "he woman who loves the ugly man ta,es, as it were, the ideal of beauty which is
in her own mind, and %ro4ects it on the ugly man# and what she worshi%s and loves is not the
ugly man, but her own ideal( "hat man is, as it were, only the suggestion, and u%on that
suggestion she throws her own ideal, and covers it# and it becomes her ob4ect of worshi%(
*ow, this a%%lies in every case where we love( !any of us have very ordinary loo,ing
brothers or sisters# yet the very idea of their being brothers or sisters ma,es them beautiful to
us(
"he %hiloso%hy in the bac,ground is that each one %ro4ects his own ideal and worshi%s that(
"his e'ternal world is only the world of suggestion( All that we see, we %ro4ect out of our
own minds( A grain of sand gets washed into the shell of an oyster and irritates it( "he
irritation %roduces a secretion in the oyster, which covers the grain of sand and the beautiful
%earl is the result( $imilarly, e'ternal things furnish us with suggestions, over which we
%ro4ect our own ideals and ma,e our ob4ects( "he wic,ed see this world as a %erfect hell, and
the good as a %erfect heaven( &overs see this world as full of love, and haters as full of hatred#
fighters see nothing but strife, and the %eaceful nothing but %eace( "he %erfect man sees
nothing but )od( $o we always worshi% our highest ideal, and when we have reached the
%oint, when we love the ideal as the ideal, all arguments and doubts vanish for ever( 9ho
cares whether )od can be demonstrated or not- "he ideal can never go, because it is a %art of
my own nature( I shall only 3uestion the ideal when I 3uestion my own e'istence, and as I
cannot 3uestion the one, I cannot 3uestion the other( 9ho cares whether )od can be almighty
and all-merciful at the same time or not- 9ho cares whether He is the rewarder of man,ind,
whether He loo,s at us with the eyes of a tyrant or with the eyes of a beneficent monarch-
"he lover has %assed beyond all these things, beyond rewards and %unishments, beyond
fears and doubts, beyond scientific or any other demonstration( $ufficient unto him is the
ideal of love, and is it not self-evident that this universe is but a manifestation of this love-
9hat is it that ma,es the atoms unite with atoms, molecules with molecules, and causes
%lanets to fly towards each other- 9hat is it that attracts man to man, man to woman, woman
to man, and animals to animals, drawing the whole universe, as it were, towards one center-
It is what is called love( Its manifestation is from the lowest atom to the highest being0
omni%otent, all-%ervading, is this love( 9hat manifests itself as attraction in the sentient and
the insentient, in the %articular and in the universal, is the love of )od( It is the one motive
%ower that is in the universe( <nder the im%etus of that love, 1hrist gives his life for
humanity, +uddha even for an animal, the mother for the child, the husband for the wife( It is
under the im%etus of the same love that men are ready to give u% their lives for their country,
and strange to say, under the im%etus of the same love, the thief steals, the murderer
murders( Even in these cases, the s%irit is the same, but the manifestation is different( "his is
the one motive %ower in the universe( "he thief has love for gold# the love is there, but it is
misdirected( $o, in all crimes, as well as in all virtuous actions, behind stands that eternal
love( $u%%ose a man writes a che3ue for a thousand dollars for the %oor of *ew 7or,, and at
the same time, in the same room, another man forges the name of a friend( "he light by which
both of them write is the same, but each one will be res%onsible for the use he ma,es of it( It is
not the light that is to be %raised or blamed( <nattached, yet shining in everything, is love, the
motive %ower of the universe, without which the universe would fall to %ieces in a moment,
and this love is )od(
"*one, . beloved, loves the husband for the husband5s sa,e, but for the $elf that is in the
husband# none, . beloved, ever loves the wife for the wife5s sa,e, but for the $elf that is in the
wife( *one ever loves anything else, e'ce%t for the $elf(" Even this selfishness, which is so
much condemned, is but a manifestation of the same love( $tand aside from this %lay, do not
mi' in it, but see this wonderful %anorama, this grand drama, %layed scene after scene, and
hear this wonderful harmony# all are the manifestation of the same love( Even in selfishness,
that self will multi%ly, grow and grow( "hat one self, the one man, will become two selves
when he gets married# several, when he gets children# and thus he grows until he feels the
whole world as his $elf, the whole universe as his $elf( He e'%ands into one mass of universal
love, infinite love, the love that is )od(
"hus we come to what is called su%reme +ha,ti, su%reme devotion, in which forms and
symbols fall off( .ne who has reached that cannot belong to any sect, for all sects are in him(
"o what shall he belong- For all churches and tem%les are in him( 9here is the church big
enough for him- $uch a man cannot bind himself down to certain limited forms( 9here is the
limit for unlimited love, with which he has become one- In all religions which ta,e u% this
ideal of love, we find the struggle to e'%ress it( Although we understand what this love
means and see that everything in this world of affections and attractions is a manifestation of
that Infinite &ove, the e'%ression of which has been attem%ted by sages and saints of different
nations, yet we find them using all the %owers of language, transfiguring even the most
carnal e'%ression into the divine(
"hus sang the royal Hebrew sage, thus sang they of India( ". beloved, one ,iss of "hy li%s>
issed by "hee, one5s thirst for "hee increaseth for ever> All sorrows cease, one forgets the
%ast, %resent, and future, and only thin,s of "hee alone("
"hat is the madness of the lover, when all desires have vanished( "9ho cares for salvation-
9ho cares to be saved- 9ho cares to be %erfect even- 9ho cares for freedom- "says the lover(
"I do not want wealth, nor even health# I do not want beauty, I do not want intellect0 let me be
born again and again, amid all the evils that are in the world# I will not com%lain, but let me
love "hee, and that for love5s sa,e(" "hat is the madness of love which finds e'%ression in
these songs( "he highest, most e'%ressive, strongest, and most attractive human love is that
between man and woman, and, therefore, that language was used in e'%ressing the dee%est
devotion( "he madness of this human love was the faintest echo of the mad love of the saints(
"he true lovers of )od want to become mad, inebriated with the love of )od, to become
")od-into'icated men(" "hey want to drin, of the cu% of love which has been %re%ared by the
saints and sages of every religion, who have %oured their heart5s blood into it, and in which
have been concentrated all the ho%es of those who have loved )od without see,ing reward,
who wanted love for itself only( "he reward of love is love, and what a reward it is> It is the
only thing that ta,es off all sorrows, the only cu%, by the drin,ing of which this disease of the
world vanishes( !an becomes divinely mad and forgets that he is man(
&astly, we find that all these various systems, in the end, converge to that one %oint, that
%erfect union( 9e always begin as dualists( )od is a se%arate +eing, and I am a se%arate
being( &ove comes between, and man begins to a%%roach )od, and )od, as it were, begins to
a%%roach man( !an ta,es u% all the various relationshi%s of life, as father, mother, friend, or
lover# and the last %oint is reached when he becomes one with the ob4ect of worshi%( "I am
you, and you are I# and worshi%%ing you, I worshi% myself# and in worshi%%ing myself, I
worshi% you(" "here we find the highest culmination of that with which man begins( At the
beginning it was love for the self, but the claims of the little self made love selfish# at the end
came the full bla6e of light, when that self had become the Infinite( "hat )od who at first was
a +eing somewhere, became resolved, as it were, into Infinite &ove( !an himself was also
transformed( He was a%%roaching )od, he was throwing off the vain desires, of which he
was full before( 9ith desires vanished selfishness, and, at the a%e', he found that &ove,
&over, and +eloved were .ne(

%IS3IPLESHIP
!y sub4ect is 8isci%leshi%( I don5t ,now how you would ta,e what I have to say( It would be
rather difficult to acce%t it( "he ideals of teachers in this country vary so much from those of
ours( An old %roverb of India comes to my mind( ""here are hundreds of thousands of
teachers, but it is hard to find one 8isci%le"( It seems to be true( "he one im%ortant thing in
the attainment of $%irituality is the attitude of the %u%il( 9hen the right attitude is there,
illumination comes easily( 9hat does the disci%le need in order to receive the "ruth- "he
great sages say that to attain "ruth ta,es but the twin,ling of an eye> It is 4ust a 3uestion of
,nowing> "he dream brea,s( How long does it ta,e- In a second the dream is gone( 9hen
illusion vanishes, how long does it ta,e-> 9hen I ,now the "ruth, nothing ha%%ens e'ce%t
that the falsehood vanishes away( I too, the ro%e for the sna,e and now I see it as a ro%e( It is
only a matter of half a second and the whole thing is done( ""hou Art "hat> "hou Art the
/eality>" How long does it ta,e to ,now this- If we are )od and always have been so, not to
,now this is most astonishing( "o ,now this is the only natural thing> It should not ta,e ages
to find out what we5ve always been and what we now are( 7et it seems difficult to reali6e this
self evident "ruth( Ages and ages %ass before we begin to catch a faint glim%se of it( )od is
life, )od is "ruth> 9e write about this( 9e feel in out inmost heart that this is so and that
everything else, then )od is nothing( Here "oday gone "omorrow and yet most of us remain
the same all through the life( 9e cling to untruth# we turn our bac, u%on truth( 9e do not
want to attain truth> 9e do not want any one to brea, our dream( 7ou see# the teachers are
not wanted> 9ho wants to learn> +ut, if anyone wants to reali6e the truth and overcome
illusion, if he wants to receive the truth from a teacher, he must be a true disci%le( It is not
easy to be a 8isci%le> )reat %re%arations are necessary( !any conditions have to be fulfilled(
Four %rinci%al conditions are laid down by the 2edantists(
"he first condition is that the student who wants to ,now the truth must give u% all desires
for gain in this world, or in the life to come( "he truth is not what we see( 9hat we see is not
truth as long as any desire cree%s into the mind( )od is true> "he world is not true( $o long as
there is, in the heart, the least desire for the world, the truth will not come( &et the world fall
to ruin around my ear> I do not care( $o
is with the ne't life( I do not care to go to heaven( 9hat is heaven - .nly the continuation of
this Earth( 9e would be better and the little foolish dreams we are dreaming would brea,
sooner, if there were no heaven, no continuation of this silly life, on Earth( +y going to heaven
we only %rolong the miserable illusions( 9hat do you gain in Heaven> 7ou become )ods,
drin, nectar and get rheumatism> "here is
less misery there but also less "ruth( "he very rich can understand truth much less than the
%oorer %eo%le( It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
enter into the ingdom of )od( "he rich man has no time beyond his wealth and %ower, his
comforts and indulgences( "he rich rarely become religious( 9hy- +ecause they thin,, if they
become religious they will have no more fun in life> In the same way there is very little chance
to become s%iritual in heaven( "here is too much of comfort and en4oyment there( "he
dwellers in heaven are disinclined to give u% their fun( "hey say, there shall be no more
wee%ing in heaven( I do not trust a man who never wee%s> He has a big bloc, of granite
where the heart should be( It is evident that the heavenly %eo%le have not much sym%athy(
"here are vast masses of them over there and we are miserable creatures suffering in this
horrible %lace( "hey could %ull us all out of it( +ut they do not( "hey do not wee%> "here is no
sorrow or misery there, therefore they do not care for anyone5s misery( "hey drin, their
nectar# dances go on, beautiful wives and so on( )oing beyond these things, the disci%le
should say, "I do not care for
anything in this life, nor for all the heavens that have e'isted, I do not care to go to any one of
them, I do not want this sense life in any form>" "his is identification of my self with the body(
As I feel now, I am this body this huge mass of flesh( "his is what I feel I am( I refuse to
believe that( "he world and heavens, all these are bound u% with senses( Heaven is also the
world( Earth, heaven and all that between have but one name, Earth( "herefore the disci%le,
,nowing the %ast and the %resent and thin,ing of future ,nowing what %ros%erity means
what ha%%iness means, gives u% all these and see,s to ,now the "ruth and the "ruth alone(
"his is the first condition(
"he second condition is that the disci%le must be able to control the internal and e'ternal
senses and must be established in several other s%iritual virtues( "he e'ternal senses are the
visible organs situated in different %arts of the body( "he internal senses are intangible( 9e
have the e'ternal eyes, ears, nose and so on and we have the corres%onding internal senses(
9e are continually at the bec, and call of both these grou%s of senses( 1orres%onding to the
senses are sense ob4ects( If any sense ob4ects are nearby the senses are com%el us to %erceive
them( 9e have no choice or inde%endence> "here is the big nose( A little fragrance is there# I
have to smell it( If there were a bad odor, I would say to myself, "8o not smell it", but nature
say, "$mell", and I smell it( Just thin, what we have become> 9e have bound ourselves( I have
eyes, anything going on, good or bad, I must see it( It is the same with hearing( If anyone
s%ea,s un%leasantly with me, I must hear it( !y sense of hearing com%els me to do so and
how miserable I feel( 1urse or %raise, man has got to hear( I5ve seen many deaf %eo%le who do
not usually hear but anything about themselves, they always hear( All these senses, e'ternal
and internal must be under the disci%le5s %erfect control( +y hard %ractice he has to arrive at
this where he can assert his mind against the senses, against the commands of nature( He
should be able to say to his mind, "7ou are mine, I order you, do not see or hear anything",
and the mind will not see or hear anything( *o form or sound will react on the mind( In that
state the mind has become free of the domination of the senses, has become se%arated from
them, no longer is it attached t o the senses( "he e'ternal things cannot order the mind now(
"he mind refuses to attach itself to them( +eautiful fragrance is there( "he disci%le says to the
mind, "8o not smell", and the mind does not %erceive the fragrance( 9hen you have arrived
at that %oint, you are beginning to be a 8I$1IP&E( "hat is why when everybody says, I ,now
the truth, I say, "If you ,now the truth you must have self control and if you have control of
yourself show it by controlling these organs"(
*e't, the mind must be made to 3uite down( It is rushing about( Just as I sit down to
meditate, all the vilest sub4ects in the world come u%( "he whole thing is nauseating( 9hy
should the mind thin, thoughts I do not want it to thin,- I am as it were a slave to the mind>
*o s%iritual ,nowledge is %ossible so long as the mind is restless and out of control( "he
disci%le has to learn to control the mind( 7es> it is the function of the mind to thin, but it must
not thin, if the disci%le does not want it to( It must sto% thin,ing when he commands it to( "o
3ualify as a disci%le this state of my mind is necessary( Also the disci%le must have a great
%ower of endurance( &ife seems comfortable and you find the mind behaves well when
everything is going well with you( +ut if something goes wrong, your mind loses its balance(
"hat is not good( +ear all evil and misery without one murmur of hurt, without one thought
of unha%%iness, resistance, remedy or retaliation( "hat is true endurance and that you must
ac3uire( )ood and evil are always there in the world( !any forget there is any evil, at least
they try to forget and when evil comes u%on them they are overwhelmed by it and feel bitter(
"here are others who deny that there is any evil at all and consider everything good( "hat
also, is a wea,ness( "hat also %recedes from a fear of evil( If something is evil smelling, why
s%rin,le it with rose water and call it fragrant- 7es, there are good and evil in the world> )od
has %ut evil in the world> +ut, you do not have to white wash him> 9hy there is evil is none
of your business( Please, have faith and ,ee% 3uite>
9hen my master $ri /ama,rishna fell ill, a +rahmin, suggested to him that he a%%ly his
tremendous mental %ower to cure himself and he said that if my master would concentrate
his mind on the diseased %art of the body, it would heal( $ri /ama,rishna answered, "9hat>
+ring down the mind that I5ve given to )od to this little body>>" He refused to thin, of body
and illness( It was dedicated to him utterly( He would not use it for any other %ur%ose( "his
craving for health, wealth, long life and the li,e, the so-called ")ood", is nothing but an
illusion( "o devote the mind to them in order to secure them only strengthens the delusion(
9e have these dreams and illusions in the life and we want to have more of them in the life to
come, in heaven, more and more illusion( /esist not evil, face it> 7ou are higher than evil>
"here is this misery in this world( It has to be suffered by someone( 7ou cannot act without
ma,ing evil to somebody> And when you e'%ect worldly good, you only avoid an evil, which
must be suffered by somebody else( Everybody is trying to %ut it on someone else-s
shoulders( "he disci%le says, "&et the miseries of the world come to me, I shall endure them
all( &et others go free(" /emember the !an on the 1ross- He could have brought do6ens of
angels to victory( +ut he did not resist> He %itied those who crucified him( He endured every
humiliation and suffering( He too, the burden of all u%on himself( "1ome unto me, all ye that
labor and all the heavy laden and I shall give you rest(" $uch is true endurance( How very
high he was above this life, so high that we cannot understand it, we slaves> *o sooner does a
man sla% me in the face then my hand hits bac,( +ang, it goes> How can I understand the
greatness and blessedness of the glorified one- How can I see the glory of it>
+ut I will not drag the ideal down( I feel, I am the body resisting evil( If I get a headache, I go
all over the world to have it cured( I drin, two thousand bottles of medicine> How can I
understand these marvelous minds- I can see the ideal but how much of that ideal- *one of
this consciousness of this body, of the little self of its %leasures and %ains, of its hurts and
comforts, none of these can reach that atmos%here( +y thin,ing only of the s%irit and ,ee%ing
the mind out of matter all the time, I can catch a faint glim%se of that ideal( !aterial thought
and forms of the senses have no %lace in that ideal( "a,e them off and %ut the mind u%on the
$%rit( Forget your life and death, your %ains and %leasures, your name and fame and reali6e
that your neither body nor mind but the %ure $%irit( 9hen I say "I", I mean this "$%irit"( 1lose
your eyes and see what %icture of the body that comes or of your mental nature- If so, you
have not reali6ed the true "I" yet( "he time will come however, when as soon as you say "I",
you will see the universe, the infinite being( "hen you will have reali6ed your true $elf and
found that you are Infinite( "hat is the "ruth( 7ou are the $%irit, 7ou are not matter( "here is
such a thing as illusion( In it one thing is ta,en for another( "!atter" is ta,en for "$%irit", the
"+ody" for "$oul"( "hat is the tremendous illusion> It must go>"
"he ne't 3ualification is that the disci%le must have faith in the guru, the teacher( In the west
the teacher sim%ly gives intellectual ,nowledge, that is all( "he relationshi% with the teacher
is the greatest in life( !y dearest and nearest relative in life is my guru( *e't my mother, then
my father( !y first reverence is to the )uru( If my father says, "8o this", and my )uru says,
"8o not do this", I do not do it( "he )uru frees my soul( !y mother and father give me birth
in this body, but my )uru gives rebirth in the $oul(
9e have certain %eculiar beliefs, one of them is that there are some souls, a few e'ce%tional
ones who are already free and who will be born here for the good of the world, ho hel% the
world( "hey are free already( "hey do not care for their own salvation( "hey want to hel%
others( "hey do not re3uired to be taught anything( From their childhood they ,now
everything( "hey may s%ea, the highest truths even when they are babies si' months old>
<%on these free souls de%ends the s%iritual growth of man,ind( "hey are li,e the first lam%s
are lighted( "rue, the light is in everyone, but in most men it is hidden( "he great souls are
shining lights from the beginning( "hose who come into contact with them have as it were
their own lam%s lighted( +y this the first lam% does not lose anything, yet it communicates its
light to other lam%s( A million lam%s are lighted but the first lam% goes on shining with
undiminished light( "he first lam% is the )uru and the lam% that is lighted from it is the
8isci%le( "he second in turn becomes the )uru and so on(
"hese great ones are whom you call incarnations of )od are mighty s%iritual giants( "hey
come and set into motion a tremendous s%iritual current by transferring their %ower to their
immediate disci%les and through them, to generation after generation of 8isci%les(
A bisho% in a 1hristian church, by the laying of a hand claims to transmit the %ower, which
he had su%%osed to have received from the %receding bisho%s( "he bisho% says that Jesus
1hrist transmitted his %ower to his immediate disci%les and they to other and that is how the
1hrist5s %ower has come to him( 9e hold that every one of us, not bisho%s only, ought to
have such %ower( "here is no reason why each of you cannot be a vehicle of the mighty
current of $%irituality( +ut first you must find the teacher and you must remember that he is
not 4ust a man( 7ou may get a teacher in the body, but the real teacher is not in the body( He
is not the %hysical man( He is not as he a%%ears to your eyes( It may be that the teacher may
come to you as a human being and you will receive the %ower from him( $ometimes he may
come in a dream and transmit things to the world( "he %ower of the teacher may come to us
in many ways but for us ordinary mortals, the teacher must come and our %re%aration must
go till he comes(
9e attend lectures, read boo,s, argue and reason about )od and $oul, religion and salvation(
"hese are not $%irituality> because s%irituality does not e'ist in boo,s or in theories or in
%hiloso%hies( It is not in learning and reasoning but in actual inner growth( Even %arrots can
learn things by heart( If you become learned, 9hat of it> Asses can carry whole libraries> $o
when real light will come, there will be no more of this learning from boo,s( *o more boo,
learning> "he man who cannot write his own name can be %erfectly religious and the man
who has all the libraries of the world in his head may fail to be( &earning is not a condition of
s%iritual growth# scholarshi% is not a condition( "he touch of the )uru, the transmittal of
s%iritual energy will 3uic,en the heart( "hen will begin the growth( "hat is the real ba%tism
by fire( *o more sto%%ing> 7ou go on and on>
$ome years ago, one of your 1hristians teachers, a friend of mine, said, "8o you believe in
1hrist",
"7es", I answered but %erha%s with a little more reverence(
""hen why don5t you be ba%ti6ed-
How could I be ba%ti6ed> +y whom- 9here is the man who can give true +a%tism- 9hat is
+a%tism- Is it s%rin,ling some water over you or di%%ing you in water in water while
muttering formulas-> +a%tism is the direct introduction into the life of the $%irit( If you
receive the real ba%tism, you ,now you are not the body but the $%irit( )ive me that ba%tism
if you can( If not, you are not 1hristians( Even after the so-called ba%tism, which you
received, you have remained the same> 9hat is the sense in merely saying that you have been
ba%ti6ed in the name of 1hrist- !ere tal,, tal,> ever disturbing the world with your
foolishness( Ever stee%ed in the dar,ness of ignorance, yet considering themselves wises and
learned( "he fools go round and round, staggering to and fro, li,e the blind led by the blind(
"herefore do not say that you are 1hristians> 8o not brag about ba%tism and things of that
sort> .f course, there is true ba%tism( "here was ba%tism in the beginning, when 1hrist came
to the earth and taught( "he illumined souls, the great ones that come to the earth from time
to time, have the %ower to reveal the su%ernal vision to us( "his is true +a%tism> 7ou see,
before the formulas and ceremonies of every religion there e'isted a germ of universal truth(
In course of time this truth becomes forgotten( It becomes as it were strangled by forms and
ceremonies( "he forms remain# we find the cas,et with the $%irit all gone( 7ou
have the "Form" of ba%tism but few can evo,e the living s%irit of ba%tism( "he "Form" will
not suffice> If we want to gain the living ,nowledge of the living truth we must be truly
initiated into it(
"his is the ideal( "he )uru must teach me and lead me into the light, ma,e me a lin, in that
chain of which he himself is a lin,( "he man in the street cannot claim to be a )uru( "he guru
must be the man who has ,nown, who has actually reali6ed the divine truth, has %erceived
himself as the $%irit( A mere tal,er cannot be a )uru( A tal,ative fool li,e me can tal, much
but cannot be the )uru( A true )uru will tell the disci%le, ")o and sin no more", and no more
can he sin( *o more has the %erson the %ower to sin( I had seen such men in this life( I had
read the +ible and all such boo,s( "hey alone are fit to be )urus( 7ou and I are only hollow
tal, - not teachers( 9e are disturbing the world more by tal,ing, ma,ing bad vibrations( 9e
ho%e and %ray and struggle on and the day will come when we shall arrive at the "ruth and
we shall not have to s%ea,( "he teacher was a boy of si'teen, he taught a man of eighty(
$ilence was the method of teaching and the doubts of the disci%le vanished forever( "hat is
the )uru( Just thin,, if you find such man a man, what faith and love you ought to have for
that such %erson( 9hy, he is )od himself> *othing less than that( "hat is why 1hrist5s
disci%les worshi%%ed him as )od( "he disci%le must worshi% the )uru as )od himself( All
the man can ,now is the living )od( )od as embodied in man, until he himself has reali6ed
)od( How else would he ,now-
Here is man in America, born BDKK years after 1hrist, who does not even belong to the same
race of 1hrist, the Jewish race( He has not seen Jesus or his family( He says, Jesus is )od( If
you do not believe it, you go to hell( 9e can understand how the disci%les believed it, that
1hrist as )od( He was their )uru and they must have believed he was )od( +ut what has this
American man got to do with a man born BDKK years ago( "his young man tells me that I do
not believe in Jesus and I have to go to hell> 9hat does he ,now of Jesus> He is fit for a
lunatic asylum( "his ,ind of belief won5t do> He must find his )uru> Jesus may be born again,
may come to you( "hen if you worshi% him as )od, you are all right( 9e must all wait till the
)uru comes( "he )uru must be worshi%%ed as )od( He is )od# he is nothing less than that(
As you loo, at him, the )uru gradually melts away and what is left> "he )uru %icture gives
%lace to )od himself( "he guru is a bright mas, that )od wears in order to come to us( As we
loo, steadily on, gradually the mas, falls off and )od is revealed(
I bow to the )uru who is the embodiment of the bliss divine( "he %ersonification of the
highest ,nowledge and the giver of the greatest beatitude, who is %ure, %erfect, one without a
second, eternal, beyond %leasure and %ain, beyond all thought and all 3ualification,
"ranscendental( $uch, in reality, the )uru> *o wonder, the disci%le loo,s u%on him as )od
himself, trusts him, reveres him, obeys him, follows him un3uestioningly( "his is the relation
between the )uru and the 8isci%le(
"he ne't condition the disci%le must fulfill is to conceive an e'treme desire to be free( 9e are
li,e moths %lunging into the flaming fire, ,nowing that it will burn us, ,nowing that the
senses will only burn us, that they only enhance desire( 8esire is never cessiated by
en4oyment> En4oyment only increases desire as butter fed into fire only increases the fire(
8esire is increased by desire( nowing all this, %eo%le still %lunge into it( All the time, life
after life( "hey5ve been going after the ob4ects of desire, suffering e'tremely in conse3uence,
yet they cannot give u% desire( Even religion, which should rescue them from this terrible
bondage to desire, they have made means to satisfy desire( /arely do they as, )od to free
from the bondage to the body and senses, from slavery of desires( Instead they %ray to him
for health and %ros%erity, for long life( ". )od> 1ure my headache, give me some money or
something" "he circle of vision has become so narrow, so degraded, so beastly, so animal(
*one is desiring anything beyond this body( .h, this terrible degradation> "he terrible misery
of it> 9hat little flesh> "he five senses, the stomach( 9hat is the world but a combination of
stomach and se'- &oo, at millions of men and women( "hat is what they are living for( "a,e
these things away from them and they will find their em%ty, meaningless and intolerable(
$uch are we and such is our mind( It is continually han,ering for ways and means to satisfy
the hunger of the stomach and se'( All the time, this is going on( "here is also endless
suffering( "hese desires of the body bring only momentary satisfaction and endless suffering(
It is li,e drin,ing a cu% of which the surface layer is nectar while underneath all is %oison( +ut
we still han,er for all these things( 9hat can be done- /enunciation of the senses and desires
is the only way out of this misery( If you want to be s%iritual, you must /enounce( "his is the
real test( )ive u% the world> "he nonsense of the senses> "here is only one real desire, to
,now what is "rue, to be $%iritual( *o more materialism, no more this egoism( I must become
$%iritual( $trong, intense must be the desire( If a man5s hands and feet were so tied that he
could not no move and then a burning %iece of charcoal were %laced on his body, if would
struggle with all his %ower to throw it off( 9hen I shall I have that sort of e'treme desire, that
restless struggle, to throw off this burning world, then the time will have come for me to
glim%se the divine truth( &oo, at me> If I lose my little %oc,et boo, with two or three dollars
in it I go twenty times into the house to find that %oc,et boo,( "he an'iety, the worry, the
struggle( If one of you crosses me, I remember it twenty years( I cannot forgive and forget> For
the little things of the senses, I can struggle li,e that( 9ho is there who struggles for )od that
way-
1hildren forget everything in their %lay, the young are mad after the en4oyment of the senses#
they do not care for anything else( "he old are brooding over their %ast misdeeds( "hey are
thin,ing of their %ast en4oyments, chewing the cud, that is the best they can do( *one crave
for the &ord> , in the same intense s%irit for which they crave for the things of the senses( "hey
all say that )od is the "ruth, the only
thing that really e'ists, that $%irit alone is, not matter, yet things they see, of )od are rarely
$%irit> "hey as, always for material things( In their %rayers, $%irit is not se%arated from
matter( 8egradation, that is what religion has turned out to be( "he whole thing is becoming a
sham( And the years are rolling on and rolling on and nothing s%iritual is being attained( +ut
man must hunger for one thing alone, the $%irit, because $%irit alone e'ists( "hat5s the ideal> If
you cannot attain it now say, "I cannot do it( "hat is the ideal( I ,now but I cannot follow it
yet(" +ut that is not what you do> 7ou degrade religion to your low level and see, matter in
the name of $%irit( 7ou are all atheists> 7ou do not believe in anything e'ce%t the senses( $o
and so said such and such( "here may be something to it, let us try and have the fun( Possibly
some benefit will come# %ossible my bro,en leg will get straight( !iserable are the diseased
%eo%le( "hey are great worshi%ers of the &ord for they ho%e that if they %ray to him, he will
heal them( *ot that that is all together bad> if such %rayers are honest and if they remember
that that is not religion(
$ri rishna says in the )ita, four classes of %eo%le worshi% me( "he 8istressed,the $ee,er of
material things, the In3uirer and the nower of "ruth( Peo%le who are in distress a%%roach
god for relief( If they are ill, they worshi% him to be healed( If they lose their wealth, they %ray
him to get it bac,( "hey are other %eo%le who as, him for all ,inds things because they are
full of desires, name fame, wealth, %osition and so on( Hey will say, ". 2irgin !ary, I will
ma,e you an offering to you if you get what I want, if you are successful in granting my
%rayers, I will worshi% )od and give you a %art of everything( !en not so material as that but
still no faith in )od feel inclined to ,now about him( "hey study %hiloso%hies, read
scri%tures, listen to lectures and so on( "hey are the In3uirers( "he last class are those who
worshi% )od and ,now Him( All four classes of %eo%le are good, not bad( All of them
worshi% Him( +ut we are trying to be 8isci%les>
.ur sole concern is to ,now the highest "ruth, our goal, the loftiest( 9e have said big words
to ourselves, Absolute reali6ation and all that( &et us measure u% to the words( &et us
worshi% the $%irit in $%irit, standing on $%rit( &et the foundation be $%irit, the middle $%irit,
and the culmination, $%irit> "here will be no world anywhere( &et it go and whirl into s%ace(
9ho cares- $tand "hou in "hy $%irit>
"hat is the goal( 9e ,now we cannot reach it yet( *ever mind> 8o not des%air and do not
drag the ideal down( "he im%ortant thing is how much less you thin, of the body, of your self
as matter, as dead dull incensiant matter( How much more you thin, of yourself as shining
immortal $%irit, the more eager you will be, to be absolutely free of matter, body and senses(
"his is the intense desire to be free(
"he fourth and last condition of 8isci%leshi% the 8iscrimination of the /eal from the <nreal(
"here is only one thing that is /eal> )od> All the time, the mind should be drawn to him( )od
e'ists, nothing else e'ists( Everything comes and goes( Any desire for the world is illusion,
because the world is <nreal( !ore and more the mind must become conscious of )od alone
until everything a%%ear as it really is, <nreal(
"hese are the four conditions which one wants to be a 8isci%le must fulfill( 9ithout fulfilling
them he will not be able to come into contact with the true )uru( And even if he is fortunate
enough to find one, he will not be 3uic,ened by the %ower that the )uru may transmit( "here
cannot be any com%romising of these conditions( 9ith the fulfillment of these conditions,
with all these %re%arations, the "&otus" of the
8isci%le5s heart will o%en and the "+ee" shall come( "hen the 8isci%le ,nows that the )uru
was within the body, within himself( He o%ens out( He reali6es( He crosses the .cean of &ife(
He goes beyond( He crosses this terrible ocean and in mercy, without a thought of gain and
%raise, he in his turn, hel%s others to 1ross(
Rea* "ors#i(
It is in love that religion e'ists and not in ceremony, in the %ure and sincere love in the heart(
<nless a man is %ure in body and mind, his coming into a tem%le and worshi%%ing $hiva is
useless( "he %rayers of those that are %ure in mind and body will be answered by $hiva, and
those that are im%ure and yet try to teach religion to others will fail in the end( E'ternal
worshi% is only a symbol of internal worshi%# but internal worshi% and %urity are the real
things( 9ithout them, e'ternal worshi% would be of no avail( "herefore you must all try to
remember this(
Peo%le have become so degraded in this ali 7uga that they thin, they can do anything, and
then they can go to a holy %lace, and their sins will be forgiven( If a man goes with an im%ure
mind into a tem%le, he adds to the sins that he had already, and goes home a worse man than
when he left it( "irtha :%lace of %ilgrimage; is a %lace which is full of holy things and holy
men( +ut if holy %eo%le live in a certain %lace, and if there is no tem%le there, even that is a
"irtha( If unholy %eo%le live in a %lace where there may be a hundred tem%les, the "irtha has
vanished from that %lace( And it is most difficult to live in a "irtha# for if sin is committed in
any ordinary %lace it can easily be removed, but sin committed in a "irtha cannot be
removed( "his is the gist of all worshi%, to be %ure and to do good to others( He who sees
$hiva in the %oor, in the wea,, and in the diseased, really worshi%s $hiva# and if he sees $hiva
only in the image, his worshi% is but %reliminary( He who has served and hel%ed one %oor
man seeing $hiva in him, without thin,ing of his caste, or creed, or race, or anything, with
him $hiva is more %leased than with the man who sees Him only in tem%les(
A rich man had a garden and two gardeners( .ne of these gardeners was very la6y and did
not wor,# but when the owner came to the garden, the la6y man would get u% and fold his
arms and say, "How beautiful is the face of my master", and dance before him( "he other
gardener would not tal, much, but would wor, hard, and %roduce all sorts of fruits and
vegetables which he would carry on his head to his master who lived a long way off( .f these
two gardeners, which would be the more beloved of his master- $hiva is that master, and this
world is His garden, and there are two sorts of gardeners here# the one who is la6y,
hy%ocritical, and does nothing, only tal,ing about $hiva5s beautiful eyes and nose and other
features# and the other, who is ta,ing care of $hiva5s children, all those that are %oor and
wea,, all animals, and all His creation( 9hich of these would be the more beloved of $hiva-
1ertainly he that serves His children( He who wants to serve the father must serve the
children first( He who wants to serve $hiva must serve His children, must serve all creatures
in this world first( It is said in the $hastra that those who serve the servants of )od are His
greatest servants( $o you will bear this in mind(
&et me tell you again that you must be %ure and hel% any one who comes to you, as much as
lies in your %ower( And this is good arma( +y the %ower of this, the heart becomes %ure
:1hittashuddhi;, and then $hiva who is residing in every one will become manifest( He is
always in the heart of every one( If there is dirt and dust on a mirror, we cannot see our
image( $o ignorance and wic,edness are the dirt and dust that are on the mirror of our hearts(
$elfishness is the chief sin, thin,ing of ourselves first( He who thin,s, "I will eat first, I will
have more money than others, and I will %ossess everything", he who thin,s, "I will get to
heaven before others, I will get !u,ti before others" is the selfish man( "he unselfish man
says, "I will be last, I do not care to go to heaven, I will even go to hell if by doing so I can
hel% my brothers(" "his unselfishness is the test of religion( He who has more of this
unselfishness is more s%iritual and nearer to $hiva( 9hether he is learned or ignorant, he is
nearer to $hiva than anybody else, whether he ,nows it or not( And if a man is selfish, even
though he has visited all the tem%les, seen all the %laces of %ilgrimage, and %ainted himself
li,e a leo%ard, he is still further off from $hiva(
Sad#anas Or Pre(arations for Hi'#er Life

If atavism gains, you go down# if evolution gains, you go on( "herefore we must not allow
atavism to ta,e %lace( Here, in my own body, is the first wor, of the study( 9e are too busy
trying to mend the ways of our neighbors, that is the difficulty( 9e must begin with our own
bodies( "he heart, the liver, etc(, are all atavistic# bring them bac, into consciousness, control
them, so that they will obey your commands and act u% to your wishes( "here was a time
when we had control of the liver# we could s ha,e the whole s,in, as can the cow( I have seen
many %eo%le bring the control bac, by sheer hard %ractice( .nce an im%ress is made, it is
there( +ring bac, all the submerged activities-the vast ocean of action( "his is the first %art of
the great study, and it is absolutely necessary for our social well being( .n the other hand,
only the consciousness need not be studied all the time(
"hen there is the other %art of the study, not so necessary in our social life, which tends to
liberation( Its direct action is to free the soul, to ta,e the torch into the gloom, to clean out
what is behind, to sha,e it u% or even defy it and to ma,e us march onward %iercing the
gloom( "hat is the goal- the su%er conscious( "hen, when that state is reached, this very man
becomes divine, becomes free( And the mind thus trained to transcend all, gradually this
universe will begin to give u% its secrets# the boo, of *ature will be read, cha%ter after
cha%ter, till the goal is attained, and we %ass from this valley of life and death to that .ne,
where death and life do not e'ist, and we ,now the /eal and become the /eal(
"he first thing necessary is a 3uiet and %eaceable life( If I have to go about the world the
whole day to ma,e a living, it is hard for me to attain to anything very high in this life(
Perha%s in another life I shall be born under more %ro%itious t get which you really wanted-
It could not be( For it is the want that creates the body( It is the light that has bored the holes,
as it were, in your head, called the eyes( If the light had not e'isted you would have had no
eyes( It is sound that had made the ears( "he ob4ect of %erce%tion e'isted first, before you
made the organ( In a few hundred thousand years, or earlier, we may have other organs to
%erceive electricity and other things( "here is no desire for a %eaceful mind( 8esire will not
come unless there is something outside to fulfill it( "he outside something 4ust bores a hole in
the body, as it were, and tries to get into the mind( $o, when the desire shall arise to have a
%eaceful, 3uiet life, where everything shall be %ro%itious for the develo%ment of the mind
that shall come-you may ta,e that as my e'%erience( It may come in thousands of lives, but it
must come( Hold on to that, the desire( 7ou cannot have the strong desire if the ob4ect lives,
but it must come( Hold on to that, the de sire( 7ou cannot have the strong desire if its ob4ect
was not outside for you already( .f course, you must understand, there is a difference
between desire and desire( "he master said, "!y child, if you so desire after )od, )od shall
come to you(" "he disci%le did not understand his master fully( .ne day both went to bathe in
the river, and the master said, "Plunge in", and the boy did so( In a moment the master was
u%on him, holding him down( He would not let the boy come u%( 9hen the boy struggled
and was e'hausted, he let him go( "7es, my child, how did you feel there-" ".h, the desire for
a breath of air>" "8o you have that ,ind of desire for )od-" 5*o, sir(" "Have that ,ind of desire
for )od, and you shall have )od( 5 "hat, without which we cannot, must come to us, life
could not go on(
If you want to be a 7ogi, you must be free and %lace yourself in circumstances where you are
alone and free from all an'iety( He who desires for a comfortable and nice life and at the same
time wants to reali6e the $elf is li,e the fool who, wanting t o cross the river, caught hold of a
crocodile mista,ing it for a log of wood(
"$ee, ye first the ingdom of )od and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you(" <nto him comes everything who does not care for anything( Fortune is li,e a flirt#
she cares not for him who wants her, but she is at the feet of him who does not care for her(
!oney comes and showers itself u%on one who does not care for it# so does fame come in
abundance, until it is a trouble and a burden( "hey always com e to the !aster( "he slave
never gets anything( "he !aster is he who can live in s%ite of them, whose life does not
de%end u%on the little, foolish things of the world( &ive for an ideal and that one ideal alone(
&et it be so great, so strong, that there may be nothing else left in the mind# no %lace for
anything else, no time for anything else(
How some %eo%le give all their energies, time, brain, body, and everything, to become rich>
"hey have no time for brea,fast> Early in the morning they are out and at wor,> "hey die in
the attem%t-ninety %ercent of them-and the rest when they ma,e money, cannot en4oy it( "hat
is grand> I do not say it is bad to try to be rich( It is marvelous, wonderful( 9hy, what does it
show- It shows that one can have the same amount of energy and struggle for freedom as one
has for money( 9e ,now we have to give u % money and all other things when we die, and
yet, see the amount of energy we can %ut forth for them( +ut we, the same human beings,
should we not %ut forth a thousand fold more strength and energy to ac3uire that which
never fades, but which remains to us forever- For this is the one great friend, our own good
deeds our own s%iritual e'cellence that follows us behind here with the body(
"hat is the one great ste%- the real desire for the ideal( Everything comes easy after that( "hat
the Indian mind found out# therein India, men go to any length to find truth( +ut here, in the
9est, the difficulty is that everything is made so easy( I t is not truth, but develo%ment, that is
the great aim( "he struggle is the great lesson( !ind you, the great benefit in this life is
struggle( It is through that we %ass-if there is any road to Heaven is always the way( 9hen
the soul has wrestled with circumstance and has met death, a thousand times death on the
way, but nothing daunted has struggled forward again and again and yet again-then the soul
comes out as a giant and laughs at the ideal he has been struggling for, because he finds how
much greater is he than the ideal( I am the end, my own $elf, and nothing else, for what is
there to my own $elf- 1an a bag of gold be the ideal of my $oul- 1ertainly not> !y $oul is the
highest ideal that I can have( /eali6ing my own real nature is the one goal of my life(
"here is nothing that is absolutely evil( "he devil has a %lace here as well as )od# else he
would not be here( Just as I told you it is through Hell that we %ass to Heaven( .ur mista,es
have %laces here( )o on> 8o not loo, bac, if you thin, you have done something that is not
right( *ow, do you believe you could be what you are today had you not made those
mista,es before- +less your mista,es, then( "hey have been angels unawares( +lessed be
torture> +lessed be ha%%iness> 8o not care what be your lo t( Hold on to the ideal( !arch on>
8o not loo, bac, u%on little mista,es and things( In this battlefield of ours, the dust of
mista,es must be raised( "hose who are so thin s,inned that they cannot bear the dust let
them go out of the ran,s(
$o, then, this tremendous determination to struggle, a hundred fold more determination than
that which you %ut forth to gain anything which belongs to this life, is the first great
%re%aration( And then along with it, there must be meditation( !editation is the one thing(
!editate> "he greatest thing is meditation( It is the nearest a%%roach to s%iritual life - the
mind meditating( It is the one moment in our daily life that we are not at all material - the
$oul thin,ing of Itself, free from all matter - this marvelous touch of the $oul>
"he body is our enemy, and yet is our friend( 9hich of you can bear the sight of misery- And
which of you cannot do so when you see it only as a %ainting# it cannot bless us, it cannot
bless us, it cannot hurt us( "he most terrible misery %ainted u%on a %iece of canvas, we may
even en4oy# we %raise the techni3ue of the artist, we wonder at his marvelous genius, even
though the scene he %aints is most horrible( "hat is the secret# that non-attachment( +e the
9itness(
*o breathing, no %hysical training of 7oga, nothing is of any use until you reach to the idea,
"I am the 9itness"( $ay, when the tyrant hand is on your nec,, "I am the $%irit> *othing
e'ternal can touch me(" 9hen evil thoughts arise, re%eat that# give that sledgehammer blow
on their heads, "I am the $%irit> I am the 9itness, the Ever +lessed> I have no reason to do, no
reason to suffer( I have finished with everything( I am the 9itness, the Ever +lessed> I have
finished with everything( I am the 9itness( I am in my %icture gallery- this universe is my
museum, I am loo,ing at these successive %aintings( "hey are all beautiful, whether good or
evil( I see the marvelous s,ill, but it is all one( Infinite flames of the )reat Painter>" /eally
s%ea,ing, t here is naught- neither volition nor desire( He is all( He- $he- the !other is
%laying, and we are li,e dolls, Her hel%ers in this %lay( Here, $he %uts one now in the garb of
a beggar, another moment in the garb of a ,ing, the ne't moment, in the garb of a saint, and
again in the garb of a devil( 9e are %utting on different garbs to hel% the !other $%irit in Her
%lay( 9hen the baby is at %lay, she will not come even if called by her mother( +ut when she
finishes her %lay, she will rush to her mother, an d will have no %lay( $o there come moments
in our life, when we feel our %lay is finished, and we want to rush to the !other( "hen all our
toil here will be of no value# men, women and children- death, name, and fame, 4oys and
glories of life- %unishment s and successes- will be no more, and the whole life will seem li,e
a show( 9e shall see only the infinite rhythm going on, endless and %ur%oseless, going we do
not ,now where( .nly this much shall we say0 our %lay is done( :1om%lete 9or,s of $wami
2ive,ananda, 2ol( 2, %%( ELD-CL;
"he )oal and !ethods of /eali6ation
"he greatest misfortune to befall the world would be if all man,ind were to recogni6e and
acce%t but one religion, one universal form of worshi%, one standard of morality( "his would
be a death blow to all religious and s%iritual %rogress( Instead of trying to hasten this
disastrous event by inducing %ersons, by good or evil methods, to conform to our own
highest ideal of truth, we ought rather to endeavor to remove all obstacles which %revent
men from develo%ing in accordance with their attem%t vain to establish one universal
religion(
"he ultimate goal of all man,ind, the aim and the end of all religions is but one- reunion with
)od, or, what amounts to the same, with the divinity which is every man5s true nature( +ut
while the aim is one, the method of attaining may vary with the different tem%eraments of
men(
+oth the goal and the methods em%loyed for reaching it are called 7oga, a word derived from
the $ans,rit root as the English "yo,e" meaning" to 4oin", to 4oin us to our reality, )od( "here
are various such 7ogas or methods of union- but the chief ones are- arma-7oga, +ha,ti
-7oga, /a4a-7oga, and Jnana -7oga( Every man must develo% according to his own nature( As
every science has its methods, so has every religion( "he methods of attaining the end of
religion are called 7oga by us, and the different forms of 7oga that we teach, are ada%ted to
the different natures and tem%eraments of men( 9e classify them in the following way, under
four heads0
arma-7oga - "he manner in which a man reali6es his own divinity through wor,s and duty(
+ha,ti -7oga - "he reali6ation of the divinity through devotion to, and love of, a Personal
)od(
/a4a-7oga - "he reali6ation of divinity through the control of the mind(
Jnana-7oga - "he reali6ation of a man5s own divinity through ,nowledge(
"hese are all different roads leading to the same center- )od( Indeed, the varieties of religious
belief are an advantage, since all faiths are good, so far as they encourage man to lead a
religious life( "he more sects there are, the more o%%ortunities there are for ma,ing successful
a%%eals to the divine instincts in all men( :1(9( 2ol( 2( %%( EDB- DE;( "$ee, ye first the
ingdom of )od, and everything will be added unto you(" "his is the one great duty, this is
renunciation( &ive for an ideal, and leave no %lace in the mind for anything else( &et us %ut
forth all our energies to ac3uire that which n ever fails- our s%iritual %erfection( If we have
true yearning for reali6ation, we must struggle, and through struggle, reali6ation will come(
9e shall ma,e mista,es, but they ma,e angels unawares( :1(9(, 2ol( 2II, %( BC;(
)ive u% all evil com%any, es%ecially at the beginning( Avoid worldly com%any that will
distract the mind( )ive u% all "me and mine"( "o him who has nothing in the universe the
&ord comes( 1ut the bondage of all worldly affections# go beyond la6iness and all care as to
what becomes of you( *ever turn bac, to see the result of what you have done( )ive all to the
&ord and go on and thin, not of it( "he whole soul %ours in a continuous current towards
)od# there is no time to see, money, or fame, no time to thin, of anything but )od# then will
come into our hearts that infinite, wonderful bliss of &ove( All desires are but beads of glass(
&ove of )od increases every moment and is ever new, to be ,nown only by feeling it( &ove is
the easiest of all, it waits for no logic, it is natural( 9e need no demonstration, no %roof( :1(9(
2ol(2II, %( BK;( )ive u%, renounce the world( *ow we are li,e dogs strayed into a ,itchen and
eating a %iece of meat, loo,ing round in fear lest at any moment some one may come and
drive them out( Instead of that, be a ,ing, and ,now you own the world( "his never comes
until you give it u% and it ceases to bind( (((
&earn to feel yourself in other bodies, to ,now that we are one( "hrow all other nonsense to
the winds( $%it out your actions, good or bad, and never other nonsense to the winds( $%it out
your actions, good or bad, and never thin, of them again( 9hat is done is done( "hrow off
su%erstition( Have no wea,ness even in the face of death( 8o not re%ent, do not brood over
%ast deeds, and do not remember your good deeds# be a6ad :free;( "he wea,, the fearful, the
ignorant will never reach Atman( 7ou cannot undo# the effect must come, face it# but be
careful never to do the same thing again( )ive u% the burden of all deeds to the &ord# give all
both good and bad( )od hel%s those who do not hel% themselves(
"8rin,ing the cu% of desire, the world becomes mad(" 8ay and night never come together, so
desire and the &ord can never come together( )ive u% desire( :1(9(,2ol(2II, %%(DK-DB;(
FI/$" among the 3ualifications re3uired of the as%irant of Jnana, wisdom, come $hama and
8ama, which may be ta,en together( "hey mean the ,ee%ing of the organs in their own
centers without allowing them to stray out( I shall e'%lain to you first what the word "organ"
means( Here are the eyes# the eyes are not the organs of vision but only the instruments(
<nless the organs also are %resent, I cannot see, even if I have eyes( +ut, given both the organs
and instruments, unless the mind attaches itself to these two, no vision ta,es %lace( $o, in each
act of %erce%tion, three things are necessary-first, the e'ternal instruments, then, the internal
organs, and lastly, the mind( If any one of them be absent, there will be no %erce%tion( "hus
the mind acts through two agencies- one e'ternal, and the other internal( 9hen I see things,
my mind goes out, becomes e'ternali6ed# but su%%ose I close my eyes and begin to thin,, the
mind does not go out, it is internally active( +ut, in either case, there is activity of the organs(
9hen I loo, at you and s%ea, to you, both the organs and instruments are active, but not the
instruments( 9ithout the activity of these organs, there will be no thought( 7ou will find none
of you can thin, through the same symbol( I n the case of the blind man, he has also to thin,
through some figure( "he organs of sight and hearing are generally very active( 7ou must
bear in mind that by the word "organs" is meant the nerve center in the brain( "he eyes and
ears are only the instruments of seeing and hearing and the organs are inside( If the organs
are destroyed by any other means, even if the eyes or the ears be there, we shall not see or
hear( $o in order to control the mind, we must first be able to control these organs( "o re
strain the mind from wandering outward or inward, and ,ee% the organs in their res%ective
centers, is what is meant by the words $hama and 8ama( $hama consists in not allowing the
mind to e'ternali6e, and 8ama in chec,ing the e'ternal instruments(
*ow comes <%arati, which consists in not thin,ing of things of the senses( !ost of our time is
s%ent in thin,ing of sense -ob4ects, things which we have seen, or we have heard, which we
shall see or shall hear, things which we have eaten or are eating or shall eat, %laces where we
have lived, and so on( 9e thin, of them or tal, of them most of our time( .ne who wishes to
be a vedantin must give u% this habit(
"hen comes the ne't %re%aration :it is a hard tas, to be a %hiloso%her>;, "iti,sha, the most
difficult of all( It is nothing less than forbearance-" /esist not evil "( "his re3uires a little
e'%lanation( 9e may not resist an evil, but at the same time we may feel miserable( A man
may say very harsh things to me, and I may not outwardly hate him for it, may not answer
him bac,, and may restrain myself from a%%arently getting angry, but anger and hatred may
be in my mind, and I may feel very badly towards that man( "his is not non-resistance# I shall
be without any feeling of hatred may be in my mind, and I may feel very badly towards that
man( "his is not non-resistance# I should be without any feeling of hatred or anger, without
any thought o f resistance# my mind must then be as calm as nothing had ha%%ened( And
only when I have got to that state, have I attained to non-resistance# and not before(
Forbearance of all misery# without even a thought of resisting or driving it out, without even
any %ainful feeling in the mind, or any remorse- that is "iti,sha( $u%%ose I do not resist, and
some great evil comes thereby# if I have "iti,sha, I should not feel any remorse for not having
resisted( 9hen the mind has attained to that state, it has become established in "iti,sha( "hey
bear tremendous heat and cold without caring, they do not even care for snow, because they
ta,e no thought for the body# it is left to itself, as if it were a foreign thing(
"he ne't 3ualification re3uired is $hraddha, faith( .ne must have tremendous faith in
religion and )od( <ntil one has it, one cannot as%ire to be a Jnani( A great sage once told me
that not one in twenty millions believed in )od( I as,ed him why, and he told me, "$u%%ose
there is a thief in this room, and he gets to ,now that there is a mass of gold in the ne't room,
and only a very thin %artition between the two rooms# what will be the condition of that
thief-" I answered, "He will not be able to slee% at all# his brain will be actively thin,ing of
some means of getting at the gold, and he will thin, of nothing else(" "hen he re%lied, "8o
you believe that a man could believe in )od and the conse3uent eagerness to reach Him
constitute $hraddha(
"hen comes $amadhana, or constant %ractice to hold the mind in )od( *othing is done in a
day( /eligion cannot be swallowed in the form of a %ill( It re3uires hard and constant %ractice(
"he mind can be con3uered only by slow and steady %ractice(
*e't is !umu,shutva, the intense desire to be free( "hose of you who have read Edwin
Arnold5s &ight of Asia remember his translation of the first sermon of +uddha, where +uddha
says0 "7e suffer from yourselves( *one else com%els( *one other holds you that that ye live
and die, And whirl u%on the wheel, and hug and ,iss Its s%o,es of agony, Its tire of tears, its
nave of nothingness("
All the misery we have is of our own choosing# such is our nature( "he old 1hinaman, who
having been ,e%t in %rison for si'ty years was released on the coronation of a new em%eror
e'claimed, when he came out, that he could not live# he must go bac, to his horrible dungeon
among the rats and mice# he could not bear the light( $o he as,ed them to ,ill him or send
him bac, to the %rison, and he was sent bac,( E'actly similar is the condition of all men( 9e
run along headlong after all sorts of miser y, and we are unwilling to be freed from them(
Every day we run after %leasure, and before we reach it, we find it is gone, it has sli%%ed
through our fingers( $till we do not cease from our mad %ursuit, but on and on we go,
blinded fools that we are(
In some oil mills in India, bulloc,s are used that go round and round to grind the oil-seed(
"here is a yo,e on the bulloc,5s nec,( "hey have a %iece of wood %rotruding from the yo,e,
and on that is fastened a wis% of straw( "he bulloc, is blindfolded in such a way that it can
only loo, forward, and so it stretches its nec, to get at the straw# and in doing so, it %ushes
the %iece of wood %rotruding from the yo,e, and on that is fastened a wis% of straw( "he
bulloc, is blindfolded in such a way that it can only loo, forward, and so it stretches its nec,
to get at the straw# and in doing so, it %ushes the %iece of wood out a little further# and it
ma,es another attem%t with the same result, and yet another, and so on( It never catches the
straw, but goes round and round in the ho%e of getting it, and in so doing, grinds out the oil(
In the same way you and I who are born slaves to nature, money and wealth, wives and
children, are always chasing a wis% of straw, a mere chimera, and are going through an
innumerable round of lives without obtaining what we see,( "he great dream is love# we are
all going to be ha%%y and never meet with misery, but the more we go towards ha%%iness,
the more it goes away from us( "hus the world is going on, society goes on, and we blinded
slaves, have to %ay for it without ,nowing( $tudy your own lives, and find how little
ha%%iness there is in them, and how little in truth you have gained in the course of this wild-
goose chase of the world(
8o you remember the story of $olon and 1roesus- "he ,ing said to the great sage that Asia
!inor was a very ha%%y %lace( And the sage as,ed him( "9ho is the ha%%iest man- I have not
seen anyone very ha%%y(" "*onsense," said 1roesus, "I am the ha%%iest man in the world("
"9ait, sir, till the end of your life# don5t be in a hurry," re%lied the sage and went away( In
course of time that ,ing was con3uered by the Persians, and they ordered him be burnt alive(
"he funeral %yre was %re%ared and when %oor 1roesus saw it, he cried aloud "$olon>" .n
being as,ed to whom he referred, he told his story, and the Persian em%eror was touched,
and saved his life(
$uch is the life-story of each one of us# such is the tremendous %ower of nature over us( It
re%eatedly ,ic,s us away, but still we %ursue it with feverish e'citement( 9e are always
ho%ing against ho%e# this ho%e, this chimera maddens us# we are always ho%ing for
ha%%iness(
"here was a great ,ing in ancient India who was once as,ed four 3uestions, of which one
was0 "9hat is the most wonderful thing in the world-" "Ho%e", was the answer( "his is the
most wonderful thing( 8ay and night we see %eo%le dying around us, and ye t we thin, we
shall not die# we never thin, that we shall die, or that we shall suffer( Each man thin,s that
success will be his, ho%ing against ho%e, against all odds, against all mathematical reasoning(
*obody is ever really ha%%y here( If a man be wealthy and have %lenty to eat, his digestion is
out of order, and he cannot eat( If a man5s digestion is good, and he has the digestive %ower
of a cormorant, he has nothing to %ut into his mouth( If he were rich, he has no children( If he
were hungry and %oor, he has a whole regiment of children, and does not ,now what to do
with them( 9hy is it so- +ecause ha%%iness and misery are the obverse and reverse of the
same coin# he who ta,es ha%%iness without misery, and it has ta,en such %ossession of us
that we have no control over the senses(
9hen I was in +oston, a young man came u% to me, and gave me a scra% of %a%er on which
he had written a name and address, followed by these words0 "All the wealth and all the
ha%%iness of the world are yours, if you only ,now how to get them( If you come to me, I will
teach you how to get them( 1harge,MC(" He gave me this and said, "9hat do you thin, of
this-" I said, "7oung man, why don5t you get the money to %rint this- 7ou have not even
enough money to get this %rinted>" He did not understand this( He was infatuated that he
could get immense wealth and ha%%iness without any trouble( "here are two e'tremes into
which men are running# one is e'treme o%timism, when everything is rosy and nice and
good# the other , e'treme %essimism, when everything seems to be against them( "he ma4ority
of men have more or less undevelo%ed brains( .ne in a million we see with a well-develo%ed
brain# the rest have %eculiar idiosyncrasies, or are monomaniacs(
*aturally we run into e'tremes( 9hen we are healthy and young, we thin, that all the wealth
of the world will be ours, and when later we get ,ic,ed about by society li,e footballs and get
older, we sit in a corner and croa, and throw cold water on the enthusiasm of others( Few
men ,now that with %leasure there is %ain, and with %ain, %leasure# and as %ain is disgusting
so is %leasure, as it is the twin brother of %ain( It is derogatory to the glory of man that he
should be going after %leasure( +oth should be turned aside by men whose reason is well
balanced( 9hy will not man see, freedom from being %layed u%on- "his moment we are
whi%%ed, and when we begin to wee%, nature gives us a dollar# again we are whi%%ed, and
when we wee%, nature gives us a %iece of gingerbread, and we begin to laugh again(
"he sage wants liberty# he finds that sense ob4ects are all vain and that there is no end to
%leasures and %ains( How many rich %eo%le in the world want to find fresh %leasures> All
%leasures are old, and they want new ones( 8o you not see how many foolish things they are
inventing every day, 4ust to titillate the nerves for a moment, and that done, how there comes
a reaction- "he ma4ority of %eo%le are 4ust li,e a floc, of shee%( If the leading shee% falls into a
ditch, all the rest follow and brea, their nec,s( In the same way, what one leading member of
a society does, all the others do, without thin,ing what they are doing( 9hen a man begins to
see the vanity of worldly things, he will feel he ought not to be thus %layed u%on or borne
along by nature( "hat is slavery( If a man has a few ,ind words said to him, he begins to
smile, and when he hears a few harsh words, he begins to wee%( He is a slave to a bit of
bread, to a breath of air# a slave to dress, a slave to %atriotism, to country, to na me, and to
fame( He is thus in the midst of slavery and the real man has become buried within, through
his bondage( 9hat you call man is a slave( 9hen one reali6es all this slavery, then comes the
desire to be free# an intense desire comes( If a %iece of burning charcoal be %laced on a man5s
head, see how he struggles to throw it off( $imilar will be the struggles for freedom of a man
who really understands that he is a slave of nature(
9e have now seen what !umu,shutva, or the desire to be free, is( "he ne't training is also a
difficult one( *ityanitya-2ive,a - discriminating between that which is true and that which is
untrue, between the eternal and the transitory( )od alone is eternal, everything else is
transitory( Everything dies# the angels die, men die, animals die, earths die, sun, moon, and
stars, all die# everything undergoes constant change( "he mountains of today were the oceans
of yesterday and will be oceans tomorrow( Everything is in a state of flu'( "he whole universe
is a mass of change( +ut there is .ne who never changes and that is )od# and the nearer we
get to Him, the less will nature be able to wor, on us# and when we reach Him, and stand
with Him, we shall con3uer nature, we shall be masters of these %henomena of nature and
they will have no effect on us(
7ou see, if we really have undergone the above disci%line, we really do not re3uire anything
else in this world( All ,nowledge is within us( All %erfection is there already in the soul( +ut
this %erfection has been covered u% by nature# layer after layer of nature is covering this
%urity of the soul( 9hat have we to do- /eally we do not develo% our souls at all( 9hat can
develo% the %erfect- 9e sim%ly ta,e the veil off# and the soul manifests itself in its %ristine
%urity, its natural, innate freedom(
*ow begins the en3uiry0 9hy is this disci%line so necessary- +ecause religion is not attained
through the ears, nor through the eyes, nor yet through the brain( *o scri%tures can ma,e us
religious( 9e may study all the boo,s that are in the world, yet we may not understand a
word of religion or of )od( 9e may tal, all our lives and yet may not be the better for it# we
may be the most intellectual %eo%le the world ever saw, and yet we may not come to )od at
all( .n the other hand have you not seen what irreligious men have been %roduced from the
most intellectual training- It is one of the evils of your 9estern civili6ation that you are after
intellectual education alone, and ta,e no care of the heart( It only ma,es men ten times more
selfish, and th at will be your own destruction( 9hen there is a conflict between the heart and
the brain, let the heart be followed, because intellect has only one state, reason, and within
that, intellect wor,s, and cannot get beyond( It is the heart, which ta,es one to the highest
%lane, which intellect can never reach# it goes beyond intellect, and reaches to what is called
ins%iration( Intellect can never become ins%ired# only the heart when it is enlightened,
becomes ins%ired( An intellectual, heartless man never become an ins%ired man( It is always
the heart that s%ea,s in the man of love# it discovers a greater instrument than intellect can
give you, the instrument of ins%iration( Just as the intellect is the instrument of ,nowledge, so
is the heart the instrument of ins%iration( In a lower state it is a much wea,er instrument than
intellect( An ignorant man ,nows nothing, but he is a little emotional by nature( 1om%are
him with a great %rofessor- what wonderful %ower the latter %ossesses> +ut the %rofessor is
bound by his intellect, and he can be a devil and an intellectual man at the same time# but the
heart can never be a devil# no man with emotion was ever a devil( Pro%erly cultivated, the
heart can be changed, and will go beyond intellect# it will be c hanged into ins%iration( !an
will have to go beyond intellect in the end( "he ,nowledge of man, his %owers of %erce%tion,
of reasoning and intellect and heart, all are busy churning this mil, of the world( .ut of long
churning comes butter, and this butter is )od( !en of heart get the "butter", and the
buttermil, is left for the intellectual(
"hese are all %re%arations for the heart, for that love sym%athy a%%ertaining to the heart( It is
not at all necessary to be educated or learned to get to )od( A sage once told me( ""o ,ill
others one must be e3ui%%ed with swords and shields, but to commit suicide a needle is
sufficient# so to teach others, much intellect and learning are necessary, but not so for your
own self-illumination(" Are you %ure- If you are %ure you will reach )od( "+lessed are the
%ure in heart, for they shall see )od(" If you are not %ure, and you ,now all the sciences in the
world, that will not hel% you at all# you may be buried in all the boo,s you read, but that will
not be of much use( It is the heart that reaches the goal( Follow the heart( A %ure heart sees
beyond the intellect# it gets ins%ired# it ,nows things that reason can never ,now, and where
there is a conflict between the %ure heart and the intellect, always side with the %ure heart,
even if you thin, what your heart is doing is unreasonable( 9hen it is desirous of doing good
to others, your brain may tell you that it is not %olitic to do so, but follow your heart, and you
will find that you ma,e less mista,es than by following your intellect( "he %ure heart is the
best mirror for the reflection of truth, so all these disci%lines are for the %urification of the
heart( And so soon as it is %ure, all truths flash u%on it in a minute# all truth in the universe
will manifest your heart if you are sufficiently %ure(
"he great truth about atoms, and the finer elements, and the finer %erce%tions of men, were
discovered ages ago by men who never saw a telesco%e, or a microsco%e, or a laboratory(
How did they ,now all these things- It was through the heart# they %urified the heart( It is
o%en to us to do the same today# it is the culture of the heart, really, and not that of the
intellect that will lessen the misery of the world(
Intellect has been cultured with the result that hundreds of sciences have been discovered,
and their effect has been that the few have made slaves of the many- that is all the good that
has been done( Artificial wants have been created# and every %oor man, whether he has
money or not, desires to have those wants satisfied, and when he cannot, he struggles, and
dies in the struggle( "his is the result( "hrough the intellect is not the way to solve the
%roblem of misery, but through the heart( If all this vast amount of effort has been s%ent in
ma,ing men %urer, gentler, more forbearing, this world would have a thousandfold more
ha%%iness than it has today( Always cultivate the heart# through the heart the &ord s%ea,s,
and through the intellect yo u yourself s%ea,(
7ou remember in the .ld "estament where !oses was told, "Put off the shoes from thy feet,
for the %lace whereon thou stand est is holy ground(" 9e must always a%%roach the study of
religion with that reverent attitude( He who comes with a %ure heart an d a reverent attitude,
his heart will be o%ened# the doors will o%en for him, and he will see the truth(
If you come with intellect only, you can have a little intellectual gymnastics, intellectual
theories, but not truth( "ruth has such a face that any one who sees that face becomes
convinced( "he sun does not re3uire any torch to show it# the sun is self-effulgent( If truth
re3uires evidence, what will evidence that evidence- If something is necessary as witness for
truth, where is the witness for that witness- 9e must a%%roach religion with reverence and
with love, and our heart will stand u% and say , this is truth, and this is untruth(
"he field of religion is beyond our senses, beyond even our consciousness( 9e cannot sense
)od( *obody has seen )od with his eyes or ever will see# nobody has )od in his
consciousness( I am not conscious of )od, nor you, nor anybody( 9here is )od- 9here is the
field of religion- It is beyond the senses, beyond consciousness( 1onsciousness is only one of
the many %lanes in which we wor,# you will have to transcend the field of consciousness, to
go beyond the senses, a%%roach nearer and nearer to )od( 9hat is the %roof of )od- 8irect
%erce%tion, Pratya,sha( "he %roof of this wall is that I %erceive it( )od has been %erceived by
thousands before, and will be %erceived by all who want to %erceive Him( +ut this %erce%tion
is no sense %erce%tion at all# i t is su%er sensuous, su%er conscious, and all this training is
needed to ta,e us beyond the senses( +y means of all sorts of %ast wor, and bondages we are
being dragged downwards# these %re%arations will ma,e us %ure and light( +ondages will
fall off by themselves and we shall be buoyed u% beyond this %lane of sense-%erce%tion to
when we shall s%ea, a strange language, as it were, and the world will not understand us,
because it does not ,now anything but the senses( "rue religion is entirely transcendental(
Every being that is in the universe has the %otentiality of transcending the senses# even the
little worm will one-day transcend the senses and reach )od( *o life will be a failure# there is
no such thing as failure in the universe( A hundred times man will hurt himself, a thousand
times he will tumble, but in the end he will reali6e that he is )od( 9e ,now there is no
%rogress in a straight line( Every soul moves, as it were, in a circle, and will have to com%lete
it , and no soul can go so low but there will come a time when it will go u%wards( *o one will
be lost( 9e are a ll %ro4ected from one common center, which is )od( "he highest as well as
the lowest life )od ever %ro4ected, will come bac, to the Father of all lives( "From whom all
beings are %ro4ected, in whom all live, and unto whom they all return# that is )od("

T#e "a, To T#e Rea*i6ation of T#e )niversa* Re*i'ion
*o search has been dearer to the human heart than that which brings to us light from )od(
*o study has ta,en so much human energy, whether in times %ast or %resent, as the study of
the soul, of )od, and of human destiny( However dee%ly immersed we are in our daily
occu%ations, in our ambitions, in our wor,, sometimes in the midst of the greatest of our
struggles there comes a %ause# the mind sto%s and wants to ,now something beyond this
world( $ometimes it catches glim%ses of a realm beyond the senses, and a struggle to get at it
is the result( "hus it has been throughout the ages in all countries( !an has wanted to loo,
beyond, wanted to e'%and himself# and all that we call %rogress, evolution, has always been
measured by that one search, the search for human destiny, the search for )od(
As our social struggles are re%resented, among different nations, by different social
organi6ations, so man5s s%iritual struggles are re%resented by various religions( And as
different social organi6ations are constantly 3uarreling, are constantly at war with each other,
so these s%iritual organi6ations have been constantly at war with each other, constantly
3uarrellings( !en belonging to a %articular social organi6ation claim that the right to live
belongs only to them, and so long as they can, they want to e'ercise that right at the cost of
the wea,( 9e ,now that 4ust now there is a fierce struggle of that sort going on in $outh
Africa(5 $imilarly each religious sect has claimed the e'clusive right to live( And thus we find
that though nothing has brought man more blessings than religion, yet at the same time there
is nothing that has brought him more horror than religion( *othing has made more for %eace
and love than religion# nothing has engendered fiercer hatred than religion( *othing has
made the brotherhood of man more tangible than religion# nothing has bred more bitter
enmity between man and man than religion( *othing has built more charitable institutions,
more hos%itals for men and even for animals, than religion# nothing has deluged the world
with more blood than religion(
9e ,now, at the same time, that there has always been an o%%osing undercurrent of thought#
there have always been %arties of men, %hiloso%hers, students of com%arative religion, who
have tried and are still trying to bring about harmony in the midst of all these 4arring and
discordant sects( As regards certain countries these attem%ts have succeeded, but as regards
the whole world they have failed( "hen again, there are some religions, which have come
down to us from the remotest anti3uity, imbued with the idea that all sects should be allowed
to live-that every sect has a meaning, a great idea, embedded in it, and therefore all sects are
necessary for the good of the world and ought to be hel%ed( In modern times the same idea is
%revalent, and attem%ts are made from time to time to reduce it to %ractice( +ut these
attem%ts do not always come u% to our e'%ectations, u% to the re3uired efficiency( *ay, to
our great
disa%%ointment, we sometimes find that we are 3uarreling all the more(
*ow, leaving aside dogmatic study and ta,ing a common-sense view of the thing, we find at
the start that there is a tremendous life-%ower in all the great religions of the world( $ome
may say that they are unaware of this# but ignorance is no e'cuse( If a man says, "I do not
,now what is going on in the e'ternal world, therefore the things that are said to be going on
there do not e'ist," that %lea is ine'cusable( *ow, those of you who are watching the
movement of religious thought all over the world are %erfectly aware that not one of the great
religions of the world has died( *ot only so# each one of them is %rogressing( "he 1hristians
are multi%lying, the !ohammedans are multi%lying, and the Hindus are gaining ground# the
Jews
also are increasing in numbers, and as a result of their activities all over the world, the fold of
Judaism is constantly e'%anding(
.nly one religion of the world-an ancient, great religion-is dwindling away, and that is the
religion of @oroastrianism, the religion of the ancient Persians( After the !ohammedan
con3uest of Persia, about a hundred thousand of these %eo%le came to India and too, shelter
there, and some remained in Persia( "hose who were in Persia, under the constant
%ersecution of the !ohammedans, dwindled till there are at most only ten thousand( In India
there are about eighty thousand of them, but they do not increase( .f course, there is an
initial difficulty0 they do not convert others to their religion( And then, this handful of
%ersons living in India, with the %ernicious custom of cousin-marriage, does not multi%ly(
9ith this single e'ce%tion, all the great religions are living, s%reading, and increasing(
9e must remember that all the great religions of the world are very ancient-not one has been
formed at the %resent time-and that every religion of the world had its origin in the region
between the )anges and the Eu%hrates( *ot one great religion has arisen in Euro%e# not one
in America-not one( Every religion is of Asiatic origin and belongs to that %art of the world( If
what the modern scientists say is true, that the survival of the fittest is the test, these religions
%rove by their still being alive that they are yet fit for some %eo%le( And there is a reason why
they should live0 they bring good to many( &oo, at the !ohammedans, how they are
s%reading in some %laces in southern Asia, and s%reading li,e wildfire in Africa( "he
+uddhists are s%reading over central Asia all the time( "he Hindus, li,e the Jews, do not
convert others# still, gradually other races are coming within Hinduism and ado%ting the
manners and customs of the Hindus and falling into line with them( 1hristianity, you all
,now, is s%reading-though I am not sure that the results are e3ual to the energy %ut forth(
"he 1hristians5 attem%t at %ro%aganda has one tremendous defect, and that is the defect of all
9estern institutions0 the machine consumes ninety %er cent of the energy# there is too much
machinery( Preaching has always been the business of the Asiatics( "he 9estern %eo%le are
grand in organi6ation-social institutions, armies, governments, and so forth( +ut when it
comes to %reaching religion, they cannot come near the Asiatics, whose business it has been
all the time-and they ,now it, and do not use too much machinery(
"his, then, is a fact in the %resent history of the human race0 that all these great religions e'ist
and are s%reading and multi%lying( *ow, there is a meaning, certainly, to this# and had it
been the will of an all-wise and all-merciful 1reator that one of these religions should alone
e'ist and the rest die, it would have become a fact long, long ago( If it were a fact that only
one of these religions was true and all the rest were false, by this time it would have covered
the whole world( +ut this is not so# not one has gained all the ground( All religions sometimes
advance, sometimes decline( *ow, 4ust thin, of this0 in your own country there are more than
si'ty millions of %eo%le, and only twenty-one millions %rofess a religion of some sort( $o it is
not always %rogress( In every country, %robably, if the statistics were ta,en, you would find
that the religions sometimes %rogress and sometimes go bac,( $ects are multi%lying all the
time( If the claim of any one religion that it has all the truth, and that )od has given it all that
truth in a certain boo,, be true, why then are there so many sects- *ot fifty years %ass before
there are twenty sects founded u%on the same boo,( If )od has %ut all the truth in certain
boo,s, He does not give us those boo,s in order that we may 3uarrel over te'ts( "hat seems to
be the fact( 9hy is this- Even if a boo, were given by )od which contained all the truth about
religion, it would not serve the %ur%ose, because nobody could understand the boo,( "a,e
the +ible, for instance, and all the sects that e'ist among the 1hristians( Each one %uts its own
inter%retation u%on the same te't, and each says that it alone understands that te't and all the
rest are wrong( $o with every religion( "here are many sects among the !ohammedans and
among the +uddhists, and hundreds among the Hindus(
*ow, I %lace these facts before you in order to show you that any attem%t to bring all
humanity to one method of thin,ing in s%iritual things has been a failure and always will be a
failure( Every man who starts a theory, even at the %resent day, finds that if he goes twenty
miles away from his followers they will ma,e twenty sects( 7ou see that ha%%ening all the
time( 7ou cannot ma,e all conform to the same ideas# that is a fact, and I than, )od that it is
so( I am not against any sect( I am glad that sects e'ist, and I only wish they may go on
multi%lying more and more( 9hy- $im%ly because of this0 If you and I and all who are
%resent here were to thin, e'actly the same thoughts, there would be no thoughts for us to
thin,( 9e
,now that two or more forces must come into collision in order to %roduce motion( It is the
clash of thought, the differentiation of thought, that awa,ens thought( *ow, if we all thought
ali,e, we should be li,e Egy%tian mummies in a museum, loo,ing vacantly at one another5s
faces-no more than that( 9hirls and eddies occur only in a rushing, living stream( "here are
no whirl%ools in stagnant, dead water(
9hen religions are dead, there will be no more sects# it will be the %erfect %eace and harmony
of the grave( +ut so long as man,ind thin,s, there will be sects( 2ariation is the sign of life,
and it must be there( I %ray that sects may multi%ly so that at last there will be as many sects
as human beings and each one will have his own method, his individual method of thought,
in religion(
$uch a situation, however, e'ists already( Each one of us is thin,ing in his own way( +ut this
natural thin,ing has been obstructed all the time and is still being obstructed( If the sword is
not used directly, other means are used( Just hear what one of the best %reachers in *ew 7or,
says( He %reaches that the Fili%inos should be con3uered because that is the only way to teach
1hristianity to them> "hey are already 1atholics# but he wants to ma,e them Presbyterians,
and for this he is ready to lay all this terrible sin of bloodshed u%on his race( How terrible>
And this man is one of the greatest %reachers of this country, one of the best informed men(
"hin, of the state of the world when a man li,e that is not ashamed to stand u% and utter
such arrant nonsense# and thin, of the state of the world when an audience cheers him( Is this
civili6ation- It is the old blood-thirstiness of the tiger, the cannibal, the savage, coming out
once more under new names in new circumstances( 9hat else can it be- If such is the state of
things now, thin, of the horrors through which the world %assed in olden times, when every
sect was trying, by every means in its %ower, to tear to %ieces the other sects( History shows
that the tiger in us is only aslee%# it is not dead( 9hen o%%ortunities come it lum%s u% and, as
of old, uses its claws and fangs( And a%art from the sword, a%art from material wea%ons,
there are wea%ons still more terrible0 contem%t, social hatred, and social ostracism(
*ow, these afflictions that are hurled against %ersons who do not thin, e'actly in the same
way we do are the most terrible of all afflictions( And why should everybody thin, 4ust as we
do- I do not see any reason( If I am a rational man, I should be glad that they do not thin, 4ust
as I do( I do not want to live in a grave-li,e land( I want to be a man in a world of men(
"hin,ing beings must differ# difference is the first sign of thought( If I am a thoughtful man,
certainly I ought to li,e to live among thoughtful %ersons, where there are differences of
o%inion(
"hen arises the 3uestion0 How can all this variety be true- If one thing is true, its negation is
false( How can contradictory o%inions be true at the same time- "his is the 3uestion which I
intend to answer( +ut I shall first as, you0 Are all the religions of the world really
contradictory- I do not mean the e'ternal forms in which great thoughts are clad( I do not
mean the different buildings, languages, rituals, boo,s, and so forth, em%loyed in various
religions, but I mean the internal soul of every religion( Every religion has a soul behind it,
and that soul may differ from the soul of another religion# but are they contradictory- 8o they
contradict or su%%lement each other--that is the 3uestion(
I too, u% this 3uestion when I was 3uite a boy, and have been studying it all my life(
"hin,ing that my conclusion may be of some hel% to you, I %lace it before you( I believe that
they are not contradictory# they are su%%lementary( Each religion, as it were, ta,es u% one
%art of the great, universal truth and s%ends its whole force in embodying and ty%ifying that
%art of the great truth( It is therefore addition, not e'clusion( "hat is the idea( $ystem after
system arises, each one embodying a great ideal# ideals must be added to ideals( And this is
how humanity marches on(
!an never %rogresses from error to truth, but from truth to truth-from lesser truth to higher
truth, but never from error to truth( "he child may develo% more than the father# but was the
father inane- "he child is the father %lus something else( If your %resent stage of ,nowledge is
much higher than the stage you were in when you were a child, would you loo, down u%on
that earlier stage now- 9ill you loo, bac, and call it inanity- 7our %resent stage is the
,nowledge of childhood %lus something more(
"hen again, we ,now that there may be almost contradictory %oints of view of a thing, but
they all %oint to the same thing( $u%%ose a man is 4ourneying towards the sun and as he
advances he ta,es a %hotogra%h of the sun at every stage( 9hen he comes bac,, he has many
%hotogra%hs of the sun, which he %laces before us( 9e see that no two are ali,e# and yet who
will deny that all these are %hotogra%hs of the same sun, from different stand%oints- "a,e
four %hotogra%hs of this church from different corners( How different they would loo,> And
yet they would all re%resent this church( In the same way, we are all loo,ing at truth from
different stand%oints, which vary according to our birth, education, surroundings, and so on(
9e are viewing truth, getting as much of it as these circumstances will %ermit, coloring it
with our own feelings, understanding it with our own intellects, and gras%ing it with our
own minds( 9e can ,now only as much of truth as is related to us, as much of it as we are
able to receive( "his ma,es the difference between man and man and sometimes even
occasions contradictory ideas( 7et we all belong to the same great, universal truth(
!y idea, therefore, is that all these religions are different forces in the economy of )od,
wor,ing for the good of man,ind, and that not one can become dead, not one can be ,illed(
Just as you cannot ,ill any force in nature, so you cannot ,ill any one of these s%iritual forces(
7ou have seen that each religion is living( From time to time it may retrogress or go forward(
At one time it may be shorn of a good many of its tra%%ings# at another time it may be
covered with all sorts of tra%%ings( +ut all the same, the soul is ever there# it can never be lost(
"he ideal which every religion re%resents is never lost, and so every religion is intelligently
on the march(

"#at is -a,a $
!aya is sometime erroneously e'%lained as illusion( "he oldest idea of !aya in 2edic
literature is the sense of delusion, meaning something li,e magic# but at that time the real
theory had not been reached(
And !aya of the 2edanta, in its last develo%ed form, is neither Idealism nor /ealism, nor it it
a theory( It is as sim%le statement of facts - what we are and what we see around us( !aya is
statement of fact of this universe, of how it is going on( +ut in one form or other we all are in
!aya(
9e are %hiloso%hers in it, we are s%iritual men in it, nay, we are devils in this !aya, and we
are gods in this !aya( $tretch your ideas as far as you can ma,e them higher and higher, call
them infinite or by any other name you %lease, even these ideas are within this !aya( 9hole
of human ,nowledge is a generali6ation of this !aya trying to ,now as it a%%ears to be(
Everything that has form, everything that calls u% an idea in your mind, is within !aya# for
everything that is bound by the laws of time, s%ace, and causation is within !aya( 9e come
here wee%ing to fight our way, as well as we can, and to ma,e %ath for ourselves through this
infinite ocean of life# forward we go, having long ages behind us and an immense e'%anse
beyond( $o on we go, till death comes and ta,es us off the field - victorious or defeated, we do
not ,now( And this is !aya(
In our desire to solve the mysteries of the universe,, we cannot sto% our 3uestioning, we feel
we must ,now and cannot believe that no ,nowledge is to be gained( A few ste%s, and there
aroused the wall of begin less and endless time which we cannot surmount( A few ste%s, and
there a%%ears a wall of boundless s%ace which cannot be surmounted, and the whole is
irrevocably bound in by the walls of cause and effect( 9e cannot go beyond them( 7et we
struggle, and still have to struggle( And this is
!aya(
"ime, the avenger of everything, comes, and nothing is left( He swallows u% the saint and the
sinner, the ,ing and the %easant, the beautiful and the ugly# and leaves nothing( Everything is
rushing towards that one goal, destruction(
Everyday %eo%le are dying around us, and yet men thin, they will never die and this is
!aya(
Animals are living u%on %lants, men u%on animals and, worst of all, u%on one another, the
strong u%on the wea,( "his is going on everywhere( And this is !aya(
&i,e moths hurling themselves against the flame, we are hurling ourselves again and again
into sense %leasures, ho%ing to find satisfaction there( 9e return again and again with
freshened energy# thus we go on, till cri%%led and cheated we die( And this is !aya(
Is there no way out- Is there no ho%e then- 9e find with all this, with this terrible fact before
us, in the midst of sorrow and suffering, even in this world a still small voice that is ringing
through all ages, through every country, and in every heart0 ""his !y !aya is divine, made
u% of 3ualities, and very difficult to cross( 7et those that come unto !e, cross the river of life("
"his is the voice that is leading us forward( !an has heard it, and is hearing it all through the
ages( "his voice comes to men when everything seems to be lost and ho%e has fled, when
man5s de%endence on his own strength has been crushed down, and everything seems to melt
away between his fingers, and life is a ho%eless ruin( "hen he hears it( "his is
called religion(
*ot only the human soul, but all creatures from the lowest to the highest have heard the voice
and are rushing towards it# and in the struggle are either combining with each other or
%ushing each other out of the way( "hus come com%etition, 4oys, struggles, life, %leasure, and
death, and the whole universe is nothing but the result of this mad struggle to reach the
voice( "his is the manifestation of nature(
As soon as you ,now the voice and understand what it is, the whole scene changes( "he same
world which was the ghastly battle field of !aya is now changed into something good and
beautiful( 9e no longer curse nature, nor say that the world is horrible and that it is all vain#
we need no longer wee% and wail( As soon as we understand the voice, we see the reason
why this struggle should be here, this fight, this com%etition, this difficulty, this cruelty, these
%leasures and 4oys# we see that they are in the nature of things, because without them there
would be no going towards the voice, to attain which we are destined, whether we ,now it
on not(
"he sun is moving towards the goal, so is the earth in circling round the sun, so is the moon
in circling round the earth( "o that goal the %lanet is moving, and the air is blowing(
Everything is struggling towards that voice, and cannot be hindered# the miseries also going
towards the same destination, the greatest wor,er of good hears the same voice within, and
he cannot resist it, he must go towards the voice# so with the most arrant idler( .ne stumbles
more we call bad, him who stumbles less we call good( )ood and bad are never two different
things, they are one and the same# the difference is not one of ,ind, but of degree(
/eligion begins with a tremendous dissatisfaction with the %resent state of things, with our
lives, and a hatred, an intense hatred, for this %atching u% of life, and unbounded disgust for
fraud and lies( "here is a being beyond all these manifestation of !aya, who is su%erior to
and inde%endent of !aya, and who is
attracting us towards Himself, and that we are all going towards Him( "he idea that goal is
far off, far beyond nature, attracting us all towards it, has to be brought nearer and nearer,
without degrading or degenerating it( "he )od is heaven becomes the )od in nature, and the
)od in nature becomes the )od within this tem%le of body, and the )od dwelling in the
tem%le of the body at last becomes the tem%le itself, becomes the soul and man -- and there it
reaches the last words it can reach( "he voice that you heard was right, says the 2edanta, but
you %ro4ected it outside yourself, and that was your mista,e( +ring it nearer and nearer, until
you find that is was all the time within you, it was the $elf of your own self( "hat freedom
was our own nature, and this !aya never bound you, *ature never has %ower over you( &i,e
a frightened child you were dreaming that it was throttling you, and the release form this fear
is the goal0 not only to see intellectually, but to %erceive it, intellectually it, much more
definitely than we %erceive this world( "hen we shall ,now that we are free(
!aya is e'%lained through a small story
.nce *arada said to rishna, "&ord, $how me !aya(" A few days %assed away, and rishna
as,ed *arada to ma,e a tri% with him towards a desert, and after wal,ing for several miles,
rishna said, "*arada I am thirsty# can you fetch some water for me0" I will go at once, sir,
and get you water("$o *arada went( At a little distance there was a village# he entered the
village in search of water and ,noc,ed at a door, which was o%ened by a most beautiful
young girl( At the sight of her he immediately forgot that his master was waiting for water,
%erha%s dying for the want of it( He forgot everything and
began to tal, with the girl( All that day he did not return to his !aster( "he ne't day, he was
again at the house, ta,ing to the girl( "hat tal, ri%ened into love# he as,ed the father for the
daughter, and they were married and lived there and has children( "hus twelve years %assed(
His father-in-law died, he inherited his %ro%erty( He lived, as he seemed to thin,, a very
ha%%y life with his wife and children, his fields and his cattle, and so forth( "hen came the
flood( .ne night the river rose until it overflowed its ban,s and
flooded the whole village( Houses fell, men and animals were floating in the rush of the
stream( *arada had to esca%e( 9ith one hand he held his wife, and with the other two of his
children# another child was on his shoulders, and he was trying to ford this tremendous
flood( After a few ste%s he found the current was too strong( and the child on his shoulders
fell and was borne away( A cry of des%air came from *arada( In trying to save that child, he
lost his gras% u%on one of the others, and it also was lost( At last his wife, whom he clas%ed
with all his might, was torn away by the current, and he was thrown on the ban,, wee%ing
and wailing in bitter lamentation( +ehind him there came a gentle voice, "!y child, where is
the water- 7ou went to fetch a %itcher of water, and I am waiting for you# you have been
gone for 3uiet half an hour(" "Half an hour>" *arada e'claimed( "welve whole years had
%assed through his mind, and all there scenes ha%%ened in half an hour> And this is !aya(

7nana(wisdom! and 5arma(deeds!
"he greatest force is derived from the %ower of thought( "he finer the element, the more
%owerful it is ( "he silent %ower of thought influences %eo%le even at a distance, because
mind is one as well as many(
"he universe is a cobweb# minds are s%iders( "he universe e3uals the %henomena of one
<niversal +eing( He, seen through our senses, is the universe( "his is !aya( $o the world is
illusion, that is, the im%erfect vision of the /eal, a semi-revelation, even as the sun in the
morning is a red ball( "hus all evils and wic,edness are but wea,ness, the im%erfect vision of
goodness(
A straight line %ro4ected infinitely becomes a circle( "he search for good comes bac, to $elf( I
am the whole mystery, )od( I am a body, the lower self# and I am the &ord of the universe(
9hy should a man be moral and %ure- +ecause this strengthens his will( Everything that
strengthens the will by revealing the real nature is moral( Everything that does the reverse is
immoral( "he standard varies from country to country, from individual to individual( !an
must recover from his state of slavery to laws, to words, and so on( 9e have no freedom of
the will now, but we shall have when we are free( /enunciation is this giving u% of the world(
"hrough the senses, anger comes, and sorrow comes( As long as renunciation is not there, self
and the %assion animating it are different( At last they become identified, and the man is an
animal at once who become %ossessed with the feeling of renunciation(
I once had a body, was born, struggled and died0 9hat awful hallucinations> "o thin, that
one was cram%ed in a body, wee%ing for salvation> +ut does renunciation demand that we all
become ascetics- 9ho then is to hel% others- /enunciation is not asceticism( Are all beggars
1hrist- Poverty is not a synonym for holiness# often the reverse( /enunciation is of the mind(
How does it come- In a desert, when I was thirsty, I saw a la,e( It was in the midst of a
beautiful landsca%e( "here were trees surrounding it, and their reflections could be seen in
the water, u%side down( +ut the whole thing %roved to be a mirage( "hen I ,new that every
day for a month I had seen this# and only that day, being thirsty, I had learn it to be unreal(
Every day for a month I should see it again( +ut I should never ta,e it to be real( $o, when we
reach )od, the idea of the universe, the body and so on, will vanish( It will return afterwards(
+ut ne't time we shall ,now it to be unreal(
"he history of the world is the history of %ersons li,e +uddha and Jesus( "he %assionless and
unattached do most for the world( Picture Jesus in the slums( He sees beyond the misery,
"7ou, my brethren, are all divine(" His wor, is calm( He removes causes( 7ou will be able to
wor, for the good of the world when you ,now for a fact that this wor, is all illusion( "he
more unconscious this wor,, the better, because it is then the more su%er conscious( .ur
search is not for good or evil# but ha%%iness and good are nearer to truth than their o%%osites(
A man ran a thorn into his finger, and with another thorn too, it out( "he first thorn is Evil(
"he second thorn is )ood( "he $elf is that Peace which %asseth beyond both evil and good(
"he universe is melting down0 man draws nearer to )od( For one moment he is real-)od( He
is re-differentiated, a %ro%het( +efore him, now, the world trembles( A fool slee%s and wa,es
a fool, a man unconscious# and su%er conscious, he returns with infinite %ower, %urity, and
love the )od-!an( "his is the use of the su%er conscious state(
9isdom can be %racticed even on a battlefield( "he )ita was %reached so( "here are three
states of mind0 the active, the %assive, and the serene( "he %assive state is characteri6ed by
slow vibrations# the active by 3uic, vibrations, and the serene by the most intense vibrations
of all( now that the soul is sitting in the chariot( "he body is the chariot# the outer senses are
the horses# and the mind the reins# and the intellect the charioteer( $o man crosses the ocean
of !aya( He goes beyond( He reaches )od( 9hen a man is under the control of his senses, he
is of this world( 9hen he has controlled the senses, he has renounced(
Even forgiveness, if wea, and %assive, is not true0 fight is better( Forgive when you could
bring legions of angels to the victory( rishna, the charioteer of Ar4una, hears him say, "&et us
forgive our enemies", and answers, "7ou s%ea, 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( "his is a battlefield, fight your way out( &ife in this world is an attem%t to see
)od( !a,e your life a manifestation of will strengthened by renunciation(
9e must learn to control all our brain-centers consciously( "he first ste% is the 4oy of living(
Asceticism is fiendish( "o laugh is better than to %ray( $ing( )et rid of misery( 8o not for
heaven5s sa,e infect others with it( *ever thin, )od sells a little ha%%iness and a little
unha%%iness( $urround yourself with flowers and %ictures and incense( "he saints went to
the mountain to%s to en4oy nature(
"he second ste% is %urity(
"he third is full training of the mind( /eason out what is true from what is untrue( $ee that
)od alone is true( If for a moment you thin, you are not )od, great terror will sei6e you( As
soon as you thin, "I am He ", great %eace and 4oy will come to you( 1ontrol the senses( If a
man curses me, I should still see in him )od, whom through my wea,ness I see as a curser(
"he %oor man to whom you do good is e'tending a %rivilege to you( He allows you, through
His mercy, to worshi% Him thus(
"he history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves( "hat faith
calls out the divinity within( 7ou can do anything( 7ou fail only when you do not strive
sufficiently to manifest infinite %ower( As soon as a man or a nation loses faith, death comes(
"here is a divine within that cannot be overcome either by church dogmas or by blac,-
guardism( A handful of )ree,s s%ea, wherever there is civili6ation $ome mista,es there must
always be( 8o not grieve( Have great insight( 8o not thin,, "9hat is done is done( .h, that
were done better>" If man had not been )od, humanity would by this time have become
insane, with its litanies and its %enitence(
*one will be left, none destroyed( All will in the end be made %erfect( $ay, day and night,
"1ome u%, my brothers> 7ou are the infinite ocean of %urity> +e )od> !anifest as )od>"
9hat is civili6ation- It is the feeling of the divine within( 9hen you find time, re%eat these
ideas to yourself and desire freedom( "hat is all( 8eny everything that is not )od( Assert
everything that is )od( !entally assert this, day and night( $o the veil grows thinner0
"I am neither man nor angel( I have no se' nor limit( I am ,nowledge itself( I am He( I have
neither anger nor hatred( I have neither %ain nor %leasure( 8eath or birth I never had( For I
am nowledge Absolute, and +liss Absolute( I am He, my soul, I am He>"
Find yourself bodiless( 7ou never had a body( It was all su%erstition( )ive bac, the divine
consciousness to all the %oor, the down-trodden, the o%%ressed, and the sic,(
A%%arently, every five hundred years or so, a wave of this thought comes over the world(
&ittle waves arise in many directions0 but one swallows u% all the others and swee%s over
society( "hat wave does this which has most character at its bac,(
1onfucius, !oses, and Pythagoras# +uddha, 1hrist, !ohammad# &uther, 1alvin, and the
$i,hs# "heoso%hy, $%iritualism, and the li,e# all these mean only the %reaching of the 8ivine
in !an(
*ever say man is wea,( 9isdom 7oga is no better than the others( &ove is the ideal and
re3uires no ob4ect( &ove is )od( $o even through devotion we reach the sub4ective )od( I am
He> How can one wor,, unless one loves city, country, animals, the universe- /eason leads to
the finding of unity in variety( &et the atheist and the agnostic wor, for the social good( $o
)od comes(
+ut this you must guard against0 8o not disturb the faith of any( For you must ,now that
religion is not in doctrines( /eligion lies in being and becoming, in reali6ation( All men are
born idolaters( "he lowest man is an animal( "he highest man is %erfect( And between these
two, all have to thin, in sound and color, in doctrine and ritual(
"he test of having ceased to be an idolater is0 "9hen you say 5I5, does the body come into your
thought or not- If it does, then you are still a worshi%er of idols(" /eligion is not intellectual
4argon at all, but reali6ation( If you thin, about )od, you are only a fool( "he ignorant man,
by %rayer and devotion, can reach beyond the %hiloso%her( "o ,now )od, no %hiloso%hy is
necessary( .ur duty is not to disturb the faith of others( /eligion is e'%erience( Above all and
in all, be sincere# identification brings misery, because it brings desire( "hus the %oor man
sees gold, and identifies himself with the need of gold( +e the witness( &earn never to react(

5arma In It8s Effect On 3#aracter
"he word arma is derived from the $ans,rit ri, to do# all actiIn many cases it is
not discovered, but remains covered, and when the covering is being slowly ta,en off, we
say, "9e are learning," and the advance of ,nowledge is made by the advance of this %rocess
of uncovering(with the word arma as meaning wor,( "he goal of man,ind is ,nowledge(
"hat is the one ideal %laced before us by Eastern %hiloso%hy( Pleasure is not the goal of man,
but ,nowledge( Pleasure and ha%%iness come to an end( It is a mista,e to su%%ose that
%leasure is the goal( "he cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that men foolishly
thin, %leasure to be the ideal to strive for( After a time man finds that it is not ha%%iness, but
,nowledge, towards which he is go ing, and that both %leasure and %ain are great teachers,
and that he learns as much from evil as from good( As %leasure and %ain %ass before his soul
they have u%on it different %ictures, and the result of these combined im%ressions is what is
called man 5s "character"( If you ta,e the character of any man, it really is but the aggregate of
tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his mind# you will find that misery and ha%%iness are
e3ual factors in the formation of that character( )ood and evil have an e3ual share in molding
character, and in some instances misery is a greater teacher than ha%%iness( In studying the
great characters the world has %roduced, I dare say, in the vast ma4ority of cases, it would be
found that it was misery that taught more than ha%%iness, it was %overty that taught more
than wealth, it was blows that brought out their inner fire more than %raise(
*ow this ,nowledge, again, is inherent in man( *o ,nowledge comes from outside# it is all
inside( 9hat we say a man ",nows", should, in strict %sychological language, be what he
"discovers" or "unveils"# what a man "learns" is really what he "discovers", by ta,ing the cover
off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite ,nowledge( 9e say *ewton discovered
gravitation( 9as it sitting anywhere in a corner waiting for him- It was in his own mind# the
time came and he found it out( All ,nowledge that the world has ever received comes from
the mind# the infinite library of the universe is in your own mind( "he e'ternal world is
sim%ly the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind, but the ob4ect of
your study is always your own mind( "he falling of an a%%le gave the suggestion to *ewton,
and he studied his own mind( He rearranged all the %revious lin,s of thought in his mind
and discovered a new lin, among them, which we call the law of gravitation( It was neither in
the a%%le nor i n anything in the center of the earth(
All ,nowledge, therefore, secular or s%iritual, is in the human mind( In many cases it is not
discovered, but remains covered, and when the covering is being slowly ta,en off, we say,
"9e are learning," and the advance of ,nowledge is made by the advance of this %rocess of
uncovering( "he man from whom this veil is being lifted is the more ,nowing man, the man
u%on whom it lies thic, is ignorant, and the man from whom it has entirely gone is all
,nowing, omniscient( "here have been omniscient men, an d, I believe, there will be yet# and
that there will be myriads of them in the cycles to come( &i,e fire in a %iece of flint,
,nowledge e'ists in the mind# suggestion is the friction, which brings it out( $o with all our
feelings and actions our tears an d our smiles, our 4oys and our griefs, our wee%ing and our
laughter, our curses and our blessings, our %raises and our blames every one of these we may
find, if we calmly study our own selves, to have been brought out from within ourselves by
so many blows( "he result is what we are( All these blows ta,en together are called arma
wor,, action(
Every mental and %hysical blow that is given to the soul, by which, as it were, fire is struc,
from it, and by which its own %ower and ,nowledge are discovered, is arma, this word
being used in its widest sense( "hus we are all doing arma all the ti me( I am tal,ing to you0
that is arma( 7ou are listening0 that is arma( 9e breathe0 that is arma( 9e wal,0 arma(
Everything we do, %hysical or mental, is arma, and it leaves its mar,s on us( "here are
certain wor,s, which are, as it were, the aggregate, the sum total, of a large number of smaller
wor,s( If we stand near the seashore and hear the waves dashing against the shingle, we
thin, it is such a great noise, and yet we ,now that one wave is really com%osed of millions
and millions of minute w aves( Each one of these is ma,ing a noise, and yet we do not catch
it# it is only when they become the big aggregate that we hear( $imilarly, every %ulsation of
the heart is wor,( 1ertain ,inds of wor, we feel and they become tangible to us# they are, at
the same time, the aggregate of a number of small wor,s( If you really want to 4udge of the
character of a man, loo, not at his great %erformances( Every fool may become a hero at one
time or another( 9atch a man do his most common actions# those are in deed the things,
which will tell you the real character of a great man( )reat occasions rouse even the lowest of
human beings to some ,ind of greatness, but he alone is the really great man whose character
is great always, the same wherever he be(
arma in its effect on character is the most tremendous %ower than man has to deal with(
!an is, as it were, a center, and is attracting all the %owers of the universe towards himself,
and in this center is fusing them all and again sending them off i n a big current( $uch a center
is the real man the almighty, the omniscient and he draws the whole universe towards him(
)ood and bad, misery and ha%%iness, all are running towards him and clinging round him#
and out of them he fashions the mighty stream of tendency called character and throws it
outwards( As he has the %ower of drawing in anything, so has he the %ower of throwing it
out( All the actions that we see in the world, all the movements in human society, all the
wor,s that we have around us, are sim%ly the dis%lay of thought, the manifestation of the
will of man( !achines or instruments, cities, shi%s, or men of war, all these are sim%ly the
manifestation of the will of man# and this will is caused by character, and character is
manufactured by arma( As is arma, so is the manifestation of the will( "he men of mighty
will the world has %roduced have all been tremendous wor,ers gigantic souls, with wills
%owerful enough to overturn worlds, wills they got by %ersistent wor,, through ages, an d
ages( $uch a gigantic will as that of a +uddha or a Jesus could not be obtained in one life, for
we ,now whom their fathers were( It is not ,nown that their fathers ever s%o,e a word for
the good of man,ind( !illions and millions of car%enters li,e Jose%h had gone# millions are
still living( !illions and millions of %etty ,ings li,e +uddha5s father had been in the world( If
it was only a case of hereditary transmission, how do you account for this %etty %rince, who
was not, %erha%s, obeyed by his own servants, %roducing this son, whom half a world
worshi%s- How do you e'%lain the gulf between the car%enter and his son, whom millions of
human beings worshi% as )od- It cannot be solved by the theory of heredity( "he gigantic
will which +uddha and Jesus threw over the world, whence did it come- 9hence came this
accumulation of %ower- It must have been there through ages and ages, continually growing
bigger and bigger, until it burst on society in a +uddha or a Jesus, even rolling down to the
%resent day( All this is determined by arma, wor,( *o one can get anything unless he earns
it( "his is an eternal law( 9e may sometimes thin, it is not so, but in the long run we become
convinced of it( A man may struggle all his life for riches# he may cheat thousands, but he
finds at last that he did not deserve to become rich, and his life becomes a trouble and a
nuisance to him( 9e may go on accumulating things for our %hysical en4oyment, but only
what we earn is really ours( A fool may buy all the boo,s in the world, and they will be in his
library# but he will be able to read only those that he deserves to# and this deserving is
%roduced by arma( .ur arma determines what we deserve and what we can assimilate(
9e are res%onsible for what we are# and what ever we wish ourselves to be, we have the
%ower to ma,e ourselves( If what we are now has been the result of our own %ast actions, it
certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be %roduced by our %resent
actions# so we have to ,now how t o act( 7ou will say, "9hat is the use of learning how to
wor,- Everyone wor,s in some way or other in this world(" +ut there is such a thing as
frittering away our energies( 9ith regard to arma 7oga, the )ita says that it is doing wor,
with cleverness and as a science# by ,nowing how to wor,, one can obtain the greatest
results( 7ou must remember that all wor, is sim%ly to bring out the %ower of the mind, which
is already there, to wa,e u% the soul( "he %ower is inside every man, so is ,nowing# the
different wor,s are li,e blows to bring them out, to cause these giants to wa,e u%(
!an wor,s with various motives( "here cannot be wor, without motive( $ome %eo%le want
to get fame, and they wor, for fame( .thers want money, and they wor, for money( .thers
want to have %ower, and they wor, for %ower( .thers want to get to heaven, an d they wor,
for the same( .thers want to leave a name when they die, as they do in 1hina, where no man
gets a title until he is dead# and that is a better way, after all, than with us( 9hen a man does
something very good there, they give a title of nobility to his father, who is dead, or to his
grandfather( $ome %eo%le wor, for that( $ome of the followers of certain !ohammedan sects
wor, all their lives to have a big tomb built for them when they die( I ,now sects among
whom, as soon as a child is born, a tomb is %re%ared for it# that is among them the most
im%ortant wor, a man has to do, and the bigger and the finer the tomb, the better off the man
is su%%osed to be( .thers wor, as a %enance# do all sorts of wic,ed things, then erect a
tem%le, or give something to the %riests to buy them off and obtain from them a %ass%ort to
heaven( "hey thin, that this ,ind of beneficence will clear them and they will go $cot free in
s%ite of their sinfulness( $uch are some of the various motives for wor,( 9or, for wor,5s sa,e(
"here are some who are really the salt of the earth in every country and who wor, for wor,5s
sa,e, who do not care for name, or fame, or even to go to heaven( "hey wor, 4ust because
good will come of it( "here are others who do good to the %oor and hel% man,ind from still
higher motives, because they believe in doing good and love good( "he motive for name and
fame seldom brings immediate results, as a rule# they come to us when we are old and have
almost done with life( If a man wor,s without any selfish motive in view, does he not gain
anything- 7es, he gains the highest( <nselfishness is more %aying, only %eo%le have not the
%atience to %ractice it( It is more %aying from the %oint of view of health also( &ove, truth and
unselfishness are not merely moral figures of s%eech, but they form our highest ideal, because
in them lies such a manifestation of %ower( In the first %lace, a man who can wor, for five
days, or even for five minutes, without any selfish motive whatever, without thin ,ing of
future, of heaven, of %unishment, or anything of the ,ind, has in him the ca%acity to become a
%owerful moral giant( It is hard to do it, but in the heart of our hearts we ,now its value, and
the good it brings( It is the greatest manifestation o f %ower this tremendous restraint# self-
restraint is a manifestation of greater %ower than all outgoing action( A carriage with four
horses may rush down a hill unrestrained, or the coachman may curb the horses( 9hich is the
greater manifestation of %ower, to let them go or to hold them- A cannon ball flying through
the air goes a long distance and falls( Another is cut short in its flight by stri,ing against a
wall, and the im%act generates intense heat( All outgoing energy following a selfish motive i s
frittered away# it will not cause %ower to return to you# but if restrained, it will result in
develo%ment of %ower( "his self-control will tend to %roduce a mighty will, a character that
ma,es a 1hrist or a +uddha( Foolish men do not ,now this secret# they nevertheless want to
rule man,ind( Even a fool may rule the whole world if he wor,s and waits( &et him wait a
few years, restrain that foolish idea of governing# and when that idea is wholly gone, he will
be a %ower in the world( "he ma4ority of us cannot see beyond a few years, 4ust as some
animals cannot see beyond a few ste%s( Just a little narrow circle that is our world( 9e have
not the %atience to loo, beyond, and thus become immoral and wic,ed( "his is our wea,ness,
our %owerlessness( Even the lowest forms of wor, are not to be des%ised( &et the man, who
,nows no better, wor, for selfish ends, for name and fame# but everyone should always try to
get towards higher and higher motives and to understand them( ""o wor, we have the right,
but not to the fruits thereof(" &eave the fruits alone( 9hy care for results- If you wish to hel%
a man, never thin, what that man5s attitude should be towards you( If you want to do a great
or a good wor,, do not trouble to thin, what the result will be(
"here arises a difficult 3uestion in this ideal of wor,( Intense activity is necessary# we must
always wor,( 9e cannot live a minute without wor,( 9hat then becomes of rest- Here is one
side of the life struggle wor,, in which we are whirled ra%idly round( And here is the other
that of calm, retiring renunciation0 everything is %eaceful around, there is very little of noise
and show, only nature with her animals and flowers and mountains( *either of them is a
%erfect %icture( A man used to solitude, if brought in contact with the surging whirl%ool of
the world, will be crushed by it# 4ust as the fish that lives in the dee% sea water, as soon as it is
brought to the surface, brea,s into %ieces, de%rived of the weight of water on it that had ,e%t
it together( 1an a man who has been used to the turmoil and the rush of life live at ease if he
comes to a 3uiet %lace- He suffers and %erchance may lose his mind( "he ideal man is he
who, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the most intense activity, and in
the midst of the intensest activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert( He has learn the
secret of restraint, he has controlled himself( He goes through the streets of a big city with all
its traffic, and his mind is as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a sound could reach him#
and he is intensely wor,ing all the time( "hat is the ideal of arma 7oga, and if you have
attained to that you have really learn the secret of wor,(
+ut we have to begin from the beginning, to ta,e u% the wor,s as they come to us and slowly
ma,e ourselves more unselfish every day( 9e must do the wor, and find out the motive
%ower that %rom%ts us# and, almost without e'ce%tion, in the first years, we shall find that
our motives are always selfish# but gradually this selfishness will melt by %ersistence, till at
last will come the time when we shall be able to do really unselfish wor,( 9e may all ho%e
that some day or other, as we struggle through the %aths of life, there will come a time when
we shall become %erfectly unselfish# and the moment we attain to that, all our %owers will be
concentrated, and the ,nowledge which is ours will be manifest(

"ork And It8s Secrets
.ne of the greatest lessons I have learn in my life is to %ay as much attention to the
means of wor, as to its end( He was a great man from whom I learn it , and his own life was a
%ractical demonstration of this great %rinci%le( I have been always learning great lessons from
that one %rinci%le, and it a%%ears to me that all the secret of life is there# to %ay as much
attention to means as to the end(
.ur great defect in life is that we are so much drawn to the ideal, the goal is so much more
enchanting so much more alluring, so much bigger in our mental hori6on, that we lose sight
of the details altogether( +ut whenever failure comes, if we analy6e it critically, in ninety nine
%ercent of cases we shall find that it was because we did not %ay attention to the means(
Pro%er attention to the finishing, strengthening of the means is what we need( 9ith the
means all right, the end must come( 9e forget that it is the cause that %roduces the effect# the
effect cannot come by itself# and unless the causes are e'act, %ro%er, and %owerful, the effect
will not be %roduced( .nce the ideal is chosen and the means determined, we may almost let
go of the ideal, because we are sure it will be there, there is no more difficulty about the effect(
"he effect is bound to come( If we ta,e care of the cause, the effect will ta,e care of itself( "he
reali6ation of the ideal is the effect( "he means are the cause 0 attention to the means,
therefore, is the great secret of life( 9e also read this in the )ita and learn that we have to
wor,, constantly wor, with all our %ower# to %ut our whole mind in the wor,( 9hatever it
be, that we are doing( At the same time, we must not be attached( "hat is to say, we must not
be drawn away form the wor, by anything else# still, we must be able to 3uit the wor,
whenever we li,e(
If we e'amine our own lives, we find that the greatest cause of sorrow is this0 we ta,e u%
something, and %ut our whole energy on it - %erha%s it is a failure and yet we cannot give it
u%( 9e ,now that is hurting us, that any further clinging to it is sim%ly bringing misery on
us# still, we cannot tear ourselves away from it( "he bee came to si% the honey, but its feet
stuc, to the honey %ot and it could not get away( Again and again, we are finding ourselves
in that state( "hat is the whole secret of e'istence( 9hy are we here- 9e came here to si% the
honey, and we find our hands and feet stic,ing to it( 9e are caught, though we came to catch(
9e came to rule# we are being ruled( 9e came to wor,# we are being wor,ed( All the time,
we find that( And this comes into every detail of our life( 9e are being wor,ed u%on by other
minds, and we are always struggling to wor, on other minds( 9e want to en4oy the %leasures
of life# and they eat into our vitals( 9e want to get everything from nature, but we find in the
long run that nature ta,es everything from us - de%letes us , and casts us aside( Had it not
been for this, life would have been all sunshine( *ever mind> 9ith all its failures and success(
9ith all its 4oys and sorrows, it can be one succession of sunshine, if only we are not caught(
"hat is the one cause of misery0 we are attached, we are being caught( "herefore says )ita0
9or, constantly# wor,, but be not attached# be not caught( /eserve unto yourself the %ower
of detaching yourself from everything, however beloved, however much the soul might yearn
for it, however great the %angs of misery you fee if you were going to leave it# still, reserve
the %ower of leaving it whenever you want( "he wea, have no %lace here, in this life or in any
other life( 9ea,ness leads to slavery( 9ea,ness leads to all ,inds of misery, %hysical and
mental( 9ea,ness is death( "here are hundreds of thousands of microbes surrounding us, but
they cannot harm us unless we become wea,, until the body is ready and %redis%osed to
receive the( "here may be a million microbes of misery, floating about us( *ever mind> "hey
dare not a%%roach us, they have no %ower to get a hold on us, until the mind is wea,ened(
"his is the great fact0 strength is life, wea,ness is death(
Attachment is the source of all our %leasures now( 9e are attached to our friends, to our
relatives# we are attached to our intellectual and s%iritual wor,s# we are attached to e'ternal
ob4ect, so that we get %leasure form them( 9hat, again, brings misery but this very
attachment- 9e have to detach ourselves to earn 4oy( If only we had the %ower to detach
ourselves to earn 4oy( If only we had %ower to detach ourselves at will, there wouldn5t be any
misery( "hat man alone will be able to get the best of nature, who having the %ower of
attaching himself to a thing with all his energy, has also the %ower to detach himself when he
should do so( "he difficulty is that there must be %ower to attachment as that of detachment(
"here are men who are never attracted by anything( "hey can never love, they are hard
hearted and a%athetic# they esca%e most of the miseries +ut the wall never feels misery, and
the wall never loves, is never hurt# but it is the wall, after all( $urely it is better to be attached
and caught, than to be a wall( "herefore the man who never loves, who is hard and stony,
esca%ing most of the miseries of life, esca%es also its 4oys( 9e do not want that( "hat is
wea,ness, that is death( "hat soul has not been awa,ened that never feels wea,ness, never
feels misery( "hat is a callous state( 9e don5t want that( At the same time, we not only want
this mighty %ower of love, this mighty %ower of attachment, the %ower of throwing our
whole soul u%on a single ob4ect, loosing ourselves and letting ourselves be annihilated, as it
were, for other souls which is the %ower of gods( "he %erfect man can %ut his whole soul
u%on that one %oint of love, yet he is unattached( How come this- "here is another secret to
learn(
"he beggar is never ha%%y( "he beggar only gets a dole with %ity and scorn behind it, at least
with the thought behind that the beggar is a low ob4ect( He never really en4oys what he gets(
9e are all beggars( 9hatever we do we want a return( 9e are all traders( 9e are traders in
life, we are traders in virtue, we are traders in religion( And alas> we are also traders in &ove(
If you come to trade, if it is a 3uestion of give and ta,e, if it is a 3uestion of buy and sell, abide
by the laws of buying and selling( "here is a bad time and there is a good time# there is a rise
and a fall in %rices0 always you e'%ect the blow to come( It is li,e loo,ing at the mirror( 7our
face is reflected0 you ma,e a grim face there is one in the mirror# if you laugh, the mirror
laugh( "his is buying and selling, giving and ta,ing( 9e get caught( How- *ot by what we
give, but by what we e'%ect( 9e get misery in return for our love# not form the fact that we
love, but from the fact that we want love in rerun( "here is no misery where there is no want(
8esire, want, is the father of all misery( 8esire are bound by the laws of success and failure(
8esires must bring misery(
"he great secret of true success, of true ha%%iness, is this0 the man who as,s for no return, the
%erfectly unselfish man, is the most successful( It seems to be a %arado'( 8o we not ,now that
every man who is unselfish in life gets cheated, gets hurt- A%%arently, 7es( "1hrist was
unselfish, and yet he was crucified(" "rue, but we ,now that his unselfishness is the reason,
the cause of a great victory the crowning of millions u%on millions of lives with the blessings
of true success( As, nothing# want nothing in return( )ive what your have to give# it will
come bac, to you but multi%lied a thousand fold but the attention must not be on that( 7et
have the %ower to give0 give, and there it ends( &earn that the whole of life is giving( that
nature will force you to give( $o give willingly( $ooner of later your will have to give u%( 7ou
come into life to accumulate( 9ith clenched hands you want to ta,e( +ut nature %uts a hand
on your throat and ma,es your hands o%en( 9hether your will it on not, you have to give(
"he moment you say,"I will not"(
the blow comes# you are hurt( *one is there but will be com%elled, in the long run, to give
everything( And the more one struggles against this law, the more miserable one feels( It is
because we dare not give, because we are not resigned enough to accede to this grand
demand of nature, that we are miserable( "he forest is gone, but we get heat in return( "he
sun is ta,ing u% water from the ocean, to return it in showers( 7our are a machine for ta,ing
and giving0 you ta,e, in order to give( As,, therefore, nothing in return# but the more you
give, the more will come to you( "he 3uic,er it will be filed u% by the e'ternal air# and if you
close all the doors and every a%erture, that which is within will remain, but that which is
outside will never come in, and that which is within will stagnate, degenerate, and become
%oisoned( As river is continually em%tying itself into the ocean and is continually filing u%
again( +ar not the e'it in to the ocean( "he moment you do that , death sei6es you(
+e, therefore, not a beggar# be unattached( "his is the most terrible tas, of life> 7ou do not
calculate the dangers on the %ath( Even by intellectually recogni6ing the difficulties, we really
don5t ,now them until we feel them( From a distance we may get a general view of a %ar,#
well, what of that- 9e feel and really ,now it when we are in it( Even if our every attem%t is a
failure and we bleed and torn asunder, yet, through all this, we have to %reserve our heart we
must assert our )od head in the midst of all these difficulties( *ature wants us to react, to
return blow for blow, cheating for cheating, lie for lie, to hit bac, with all our might( "hen it
re3uires a su%er divine %ower not to hit bac,, to ,ee% control, to be unattached(
Every day we renew our determination to be unattached( 9e cast our eyes bac, and loo, at
the %ast ob4ect of our love and attachment, and feel how every one of them made us
miserable( 9e went down into the de%ths of des%ondency because of our "love"> 9e found
ourselves mere slaves in the hands of others, we were dragged down and down> And we
ma,e a fresh determination0 "Henceforth, I will be master of myself# henceforth, I will have
control over myself(" +ut the time comes, and the same story once more> Again the soul is
caught and cannot get out( "he bird is in a net, struggling and fluttering# "his is our life( I
,now the difficulties( "remendous they are, and ninety %ercent of us become discourage and
lose heart, and in our turn, often become %essimists and cease to believe in sincerity, love, and
all that is grand and noble( $o, we find men who in the freshness of their lives have been
forgiving, ,ind, sim%le, and guileless, become in old age lying mas,s of men( "heir minds are
a mass of intricacy( "here may be a good deal of e'ternal %olicy, %ossibly( "hey are not hot
headed they do not s%ea,, but it would be better for then to do so# their hearts are dead and,
therefore, they do not s%ea,, "hey do not curse, not become angry# but it would be better for
them to be able to be angry# a thousand times better, to be able to curse( "hey cannot( "here is
death in the heart, for cold hands have sei6ed u%on it, and it can no more act, even act, even
to utter a curse, even to use a harsh word(
All this we have to avoid# therefore I say, we re3uire su%er divine %ower( $u%er human
%ower is not strong enough( $u%er divine strength is the only way, the one way out( +y it
alone we can %ass through all these intricacies, through these showers of miseries, unscathed(
9e may be cut to %ieces , torn asunder, yet our hearts must grow nobler an nobler all the
time( It is very difficult, but we can overcome the difficulty by constant %ractice( 9e must
learn that nothing can ha%%en to us, unless we ma,e ourselves susce%tible to it( I have 4ust
said, no disease can come to me until the body is ready# it does not de%end alone on the
germs , but u%on a certain %redis%osition which is already in the body( 9e get only that for
which we are fitted( &et us give u% our %roud and understand this, that never is misery
undeserved, "here never has been a blow undeserved0 there never has been evil for which I
did not %ave the way with my own hands( 9e ought to ,now that every blow you have
received, came to you because you %re%ared yourselves for it( 7ou did half, and the e'ternal
world did the other half0 that is how the blow came( "hat will sober us down( At the same
time, from this very analysis will come a note of ho%e, and the note of ho%e is0 " I have no
control of e'ternal world, but that which is in me and nearer unto me, my own world, is in
my control( If the two together are re3uired to ma,e a failure, if the two together are
necessary to give me a blow, I will not contribute the one which is in my ,ee%ing# and how
then can the blow come- If I get real control of myself, the blow will never come("
9e are all the time, form our childhood, trying to lay blame u%on something outside
ourselves( 9e are always standing u% to set right other %eo%le, and not ourselves( If we are
miserable, we say, ".h, the world is a devil5s world(" 9e curse others and say, "9hat
infatuated fools>" +ut why should we be in such a world, if we really are so good- If this is a
devil5s world, we must be devils also# why else should we be here- ".h, the %eo%le of the
world are so selfish>" "rue enough, but why should we be found in that com%any, if we be
better- Just thin, of that( 9e only get what we deserve( It is a lie when we say, the world, is
bad and we are good( It can never be so( It is terrible lie we tell ourselves( "his is the first
lesson to learn0 be determined not to curse anything outside, not to lay the blame u%on any
one outside, but be a man, stand u%( &ay the blame on yourself( 7ou will find, that is always
true( )et hold of yourself( If it not a shame that at one moment we tal, so much of our
manhood, of our being gods that we ,now everything, we can do everything, we are
blameless( s%otless, the most unselfish %eo%le in the world# and at the ne't moment a little
stone huts us, a little anger ma,es "these gods" miserable> $hould this be so if we are such
gods- Is if true that the world is to blame- 1ould )od, who is the %urest and the noblest of
should, be made miserable by any of our tric,s- If you are of unselfish, 7ou are li,e )od(
9hat world can hurt you- 7ou would go through the seventh hell unscathed, untouched, but
the very fact that you com%lain and want to lay the blame u%on the e'ternal world shows
that you feel the e'ternal world the very fact that you feel shows that you are not what you
claim to be( 7ou only ma,e your offense greater by hea%ing misery u%on misery, by
imagining that the e'ternal world is hurting our , and crying out, ".h , this devil5s world>
"his man hurts me# that man hurts me>" and so forth( It is adding lies to misery( 9e are to
ta,e care of ourselves that much we can do and give u% attending to others for a time( let us
%erfect the means# the end will ta,e care of itself( For the world can be good and %ure, only if
our lives are good and %ure( It is an effect, and we are the means( "herefore, let us %urify
ourselves( &et us ma,e ourselves %erfect(
"e He*( Ourse*ves+ 1ot T#e "or*d
+efore considering further how devotion to duty hel%s us in our s%iritual %rogress, let me
%lace before you in a brief com%ass another as%ect of what we in India mean by arma( In
every religion there are three %arts0 %hiloso%hy, mythology, and ritual( Philoso%hy of course
is the essence of every religion# mythology e'%lains and illustrates it by means of the more or
less legendary lives of great men, stories and fables of wonderful things, and so on# ritual
gives to that %hiloso%hy a still more concrete form, so that every one may gras% it ritual is in
fact concretised %hiloso%hy( "his ritual is arma# it is necessary in every religion, because
most of us cannot understand abstract s%iritual things until we grow much s%iritually( It is
easy for men to thin, that they can understand anything# but when it comes to %ractical
e'%erience, they find that abstract ideas are often very hard to com%rehend( "herefore
symbols are of great hel%, and we cannot dis%ense with the symbolical method of %utting
things before us( From time immemorial symbols have been used by all ,inds of religions( In
one sense we cannot thin, but in symbols# words themselves are symbols of thought( In
another sense everything in the universe may be loo,ed u%on as a symbol( "he whole
universe is a symbol, and )od is the essence behind( "his ,ind of symbology is not sim%ly the
creation of man# it is not that certain %eo%le belonging to a religion sit down together and
thin, out certain symbols, and bring them into e'istence out of their own minds( "he symbols
of religion have a natural growth( .therwise, why is it that certain symbols are associated
with certain ideas in the mind of almost every one- 1ertain symbols are universally
%revalent( !any of you may thin, that the cross first came into e'istence as a symbol in
connection with the 1hristian religion, but as a matter of fact it e'isted before 1hristianity
was, before !oses was born, before the 2edas were given out, before there was any human
record of human things( "he cross may be found to have been in e'istence among the A6tecs
and the Phoenicians# every race seems to have had the cross( Again, the symbol of the
crucified $aviour, of a man crucified u%on a cross, a%%ears to have been ,nown to almost
every nation( "he circle has been a great symbol throughout the world( "hen there is the most
universal of all symbols, the $wasti,a %icturedN( At one time it was thought that the
+uddhists carried it all over the world with them, but it has been found out that ages before
+uddhism it was used among nations( In .ld +abylon and in Egy%t it was to be found( 9hat
does this show- All these symbols could not have been %urely conventional( "here must be
some reason for them# some natural association between them and the human mind(
&anguage is not the result of convention# it is not that %eo%le ever agreed to re%resent certain
ideas by certain words# there never was an idea without a corres%onding word or a word
without a corres%onding idea# ideas and words are in their nature inse%arable( "he symbols
to re%resent ideas may be sound symbols or color symbols( 8eaf and dumb %eo%le have to
thin, with other than sound symbols( Every thought in the mind has a form as its
counter%art( "his is called in $ans,rit %hiloso%hy *ama /u%a, name and form( It is as
im%ossible to create by convention a system of symbols as it is to create a language( In the
world5s ritualistic symbols we have an e'%ression of the religious thought of humanity( It is
easy to say that there is no use of rituals and tem%les and all such %ara%hernalia# every baby
says that in modern times( +ut it must be easy for all to see that those who worshi% inside a
tem%le are in many res%ects different from those who will not worshi% there( "herefore the
association of %articular tem%les, rituals, and other concrete forms with %articular religions
has a tendency to bring into the minds of the followers of those religions the thoughts for
which those concrete things stand as symbols# and it is not wise to ignore rituals and
symbology altogether( "he study and %ractice of these things form naturally a %art of arma
7oga(
"here are many other as%ects of this science of wor,( .ne among them is to ,now the relation
between thought and word and what can be achieved by the %ower of the word( In every
religion the %ower of the word is recogni6ed, so much so that in some of them creation itself
is said to have come out of the word( "he e'ternal as%ect of the thought of )od is the 9ord,
and as )od thought and willed before He created, creation came out of the 9ord( In this
stress and hurry of our materialistic life, our nerves lose sensibility and become hardened(
"he older we grow, the longer we are ,noc,ed about in the world, the more callous we
become# and we are a%t to neglect things that even ha%%en %ersistently and %rominently
around us( Human nature, however, asserts itself sometimes, and we are led to in3uire into
and wonder at some of these common occurrences# wondering thus is the first ste% in the
ac3uisition of light( A%art from the higher %hiloso%hic and religious value of the 9ord, we
may see that sound symbols %lay a %rominent %art in the drama of human life( I am tal,ing to
you( I am not touching you# the %ulsations of the air caused by my s%ea,ing go into your ear,
they touch your nerves and %roduce effects in your minds( 7ou cannot resist this( 9hat can
be more wonderful than this- .ne man calls another a fool, and at this the other stands u%
and clenches his fist and lands a blow on his nose( &oo, at the %ower of the word> "here is a
woman wee%ing and miserable# another woman comes along and s%ea,s to her a few gentle
words, the doubled u% frame of the wee%ing woman becomes straightened at once, her
sorrow is gone and she already begins to smile( "hin, of the %ower of words> "hey are a great
force in higher %hiloso%hy as well as in common life( 8ay and night we mani%ulate this force
without thought and without in3uiry( "o ,now the nature of this force and to use it well is
also a %art of arma 7oga(
.ur duty to others means hel%ing others# doing good to the world( 9hy should we do good
to the world- A%%arently to hel% the world, but really to hel% ourselves( 9e should always
try to hel% the world, that should be the highest motive in us# but if we consider well, we find
that the world does not re3uire our hel% at all( "his world was not made that you or I should
come and hel% it( I once read a sermon in which it was said, "All this beautiful world is very
good, because it gives us time and o%%ortunity to hel% others(" A%%arently, this is a very
beautiful sentiment, but is it not a blas%hemy to say that the world needs our hel%- 9e
cannot deny that there is much misery in it# to go out and hel% others is, therefore, the best
thing we can do, although in the long run, we shall find that hel%ing others is only hel%ing
ourselves( As a boy I had some white mice( "hey were ,e%t in a little bo' in which there were
little wheels, and when the mice tried to cross the wheels, the wheels turned and turned, and
the mice never got anywhere( $o it is with the world and our hel%ing it( "he only hel% is that
we get moral e'ercise( "his world is neither good nor evil# each man manufactures a world
for himself( If a blind man begins to thin, of the world, it is either as soft or hard, or as cold or
hot( 9e are a mass of ha%%iness of misery# we have seen that hundreds of times in our lives(
As a rule, the young are o%timistic and the old %essimistic( "he young have life before them#
the old com%lain their day is gone# hundreds of desires, which they cannot fulfill struggle in
their hearts( +oth are foolish nevertheless( &ife is good or evil according to the state of mind in
which we loo, at it, it is neither by itself( Fire, by itself, is neither good nor evil( 9hen it ,ee%s
us warm we say, "How beautiful is fire>" 9hen it burns our fingers, we blame it( $till, in itself
it is neither good nor bad( According as we use it, it %roduces in us the feeling of good or bad#
so also is this world( It is %erfect( +y %erfection is meant that it is %erfectly fitted to meet its
ends( 9e may all be %erfectly sure that it will go on beautifully well without us, and we need
not bother our heads wishing to hel% it(
7et we must do good# the desire to do good is the highest motive %ower we have, if we ,now
all the time that it is a %rivilege to hel% others( 8o not stand on a high %edestal and ta,e five
cents in your hand and say, "Here, my %oor man," but be grateful that the %oor man is there,
so that by ma,ing a gift to him you are able to hel% yourself( It is not the receiver that is
blessed, but it is the giver( +e than,ful that you are allowed to e'ercise your %ower of
benevolence and mercy in the world, and thus become %ure and %erfect( All good acts tend to
ma,e us %ure and %erfect( 9hat can we do at best- +uild a hos%ital, ma,e roads, or erect
charity asylums( 9e may organi6e a charity and collect two or three millions of dollars, build
a hos%ital with one million, with the second give balls and drin, cham%agne, and of the third
let the officers steal half, and leave the rest finally to reach the %oor# but what are all these-
.ne mighty wind in five minutes can brea, all your buildings u%( 9hat shall we do then-
.ne volcanic eru%tion may swee% away all our roads and hos%itals and cities and buildings(
&et us give u% all this foolish tal, of doing good to the world( It is not waiting for your or my
hel%# yet we must wor, and constantly do good, because it is a blessing to ourselves( "hat is
the only way we can become %erfect( *o beggar whom we have hel%ed has ever owed a
single cent to us# we owe everything to him, because he has allowed us to e'ercise our charity
on him( It is entirely wrong to thin, that we have done, or can do, good to the world, or to
thin, that we have hel%ed such and such %eo%le( It is a foolish thought, and all foolish
thoughts bring misery( 9e thin, that we have hel%ed some man and e'%ect him to than, us,
and because he does not, unha%%iness comes to us( 9hy should we e'%ect anything in return
for what we do- +e grateful to the man you hel%, thin, of him as )od( Is it not a great
%rivilege to be allowed to worshi% )od by hel%ing our fellow men- If we were really
unattached, we should esca%e all this %ain of vain e'%ectation, and could cheerfully do good
wor, in the world( *ever will unha%%iness or misery come through wor, done without
attachment( "he world will go on with its ha%%iness and misery through eternity(
"here was a %oor man who wanted some money# and somehow he had heard that if he could
get hold of a ghost, he might command him to bring money or anything else he li,ed# so he
was very an'ious to get hold of a ghost( He went about searching for a man who would give
him a ghost, and at last he found a sage with great %owers, and besought his hel%( "he sage
as,ed him what he would do with a ghost( "I want a ghost to wor, for me# teach me how to
get hold of one, sir# I desire it very much," re%lied the man( +ut the sage said, "8on5t disturb
yourself, go home(" "he ne't day the man went again to the sage and began to wee% and
%ray, ")ive me a ghost# I must have a ghost, sir, to hel% me(" At last the sage was disgusted,
and said, ""a,e this charm, re%eat this magic word, and a ghost will come, and whatever you
say to him he will do( +ut beware# they are terrible beings, and must be ,e%t continually
busy( If you fail to give him wor,, he will ta,e your life(" "he man re%lied, ""hat is easy# I can
give him wor, for all his life(" "hen he went to a forest, and after long re%etition of the magic
word, a huge ghost a%%eared before him, and said, "I am a ghost( I have been con3uered by
your magic# but you must ,ee% me constantly em%loyed( "he moment you fail to give me
wor, I will ,ill you(" "he man said, "+uild me a %alace,", and the ghost said, "It is done# the
%alace is built(" "+ring me money," said the man( "Here is your money," said the ghost( "1ut
this forest down, and build a city in its %lace(" ""hat is done," said the ghost, "anything more-"
*ow the man began to be frightened and thought he could give him nothing more to do# he
did everything in a trice( "he ghost said, ")ive me something to do or I will eat you u%(" "he
%oor man could find no further occu%ation for him, and was frightened( $o he ran and ran
and at last reached the sage, and said, ".h, sir, %rotect my life>" "he sage as,ed him what the
matter was, and the man re%lied, "I have nothing to give the ghost to do( Everything I tell him
to do he does in a moment, and he threatens to eat me u% if I do not give him wor,(" Just then
the ghost arrived, saying, "I5ll eat you u%," and he would have swallowed the man( "he man
began to sha,e, and begged the sage to save his life( "he sage said, "I will find you a way out(
&oo, at that dog with a curly tail( 8raw your sword 3uic,ly and cut the tail off and give it to
the ghost to straighten out(" "he man cut off the dog5s tail and gave it to the ghost, saying,
"$traighten that out for me(" "he ghost too, it and slowly and carefully straightened it out,
but as soon as he let it go, it instantly curled u% again( .nce more he laboriously straightened
it out, only to find it again curled u% as soon as he attem%ted to let go of it( Again he %atiently
straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it curled u% again( $o he went on for days and
days, until he was e'hausted and said, "I was never in such trouble before in my life( I am an
old veteran ghost, but never before was I in such trouble(" "I will ma,e a com%romise with
you#" he said to the man, "you let me off and I will let you ,ee% all I have given you and will
%romise not to harm you(" "he man was much %leased, and acce%ted the offer gladly(
"his world is li,e a dog5s curly tail, and %eo%le have been striving to straighten it out for
hundreds of years# but when they let it go, it has curled u% again( How could it be otherwise-
.ne must first ,now how to wor, without attachment, then one will not be a fanatic( 9hen
we ,now that this world is li,e a dog5s curly tail and will never get straightened, we shall not
become fanatics( If there were no fanaticism in the world, it would ma,e much more %rogress
than it does now( It is a mista,e to thin, that fanaticism can ma,e for the %rogress of
man,ind( .n the contrary, it is a retarding element creating hatred and anger, and causing
%eo%le to fight each other, and ma,ing them unsym%athetic( 9e thin, that whatever we do
or %ossess is the best in the world, and what we do not do or %ossess is of no value( $o,
always remember the instance of the curly tail of the dog whenever you have a tendency to
become a fanatic( 7ou need not worry or ma,e yourself slee%less about the world# it will go
on without you( 9hen you have avoided fanaticism, then alone will you wor, well( It is the
level-headed man, the calm man, of good 4udgment and cool nerves, of great sym%athy and
love, who does good wor, and so does good to himself( "he fanatic is foolish and has no
sym%athy# he can never straighten the world, nor himself become %ure and %erfect(
"o reca%itulate the chief %oints in today5s lecture0 First, we have to bear in mind that we are
all debtors to the world and the world does not owe us anything( It is a great %rivilege for all
of us to be allowed to do anything for the world( In hel%ing the world we really hel%
ourselves( "he second %oint is that there is a )od in this universe( It is not true that this
universe is drifting and stands in need of hel% from you and me( )od is ever %resent therein,
He is undying and eternally active and infinitely watchful( 9hen the whole universe slee%s,
He slee%s not# He is wor,ing incessantly# all the changes and manifestations of the world are
His( "hirdly, we ought not to hate anyone( "his world will always continue to be a mi'ture of
good and evil( .ur duty is to sym%athies with the wea, and to love even the wrongdoer( "he
world is a grand moral gymnasium wherein we have all to ta,e e'ercise so as to become
stronger and stronger s%iritually( Fourthly, we ought not to be fanatics of any ,ind, because
fanaticism is o%%osed to love( 7ou hear fanatics glibly saying, "I do not hate the sinner( I hate
the sin," but I am %re%ared to go any distance to see the face of that man who can really ma,e
a distinction between the sin and the sinner( It is easy to say so( If we can distinguish well
between 3uality and substance, we may become %erfect men( It is not easy to do this( And
further, the calmer we are and the less disturbed our nerves, the more shall we love and the
better will our wor, be(

Privilege
Two forces seem to be working throughout nature. One of these is constantly differentiating,
and the other is as constantly unifying; the one making more and more for separate individuals, the
other, as it were, bringing the individuals into a mass, bringing out sameness in the midst of all this
differentiation. It seems that the action of these two forces enters into every department of nature and of
human life. On the physical plane, we always find the two forces most distinctly at work, separating the
individuals, making them more and more distinct from other individuals, and again making them into
species and classes, and bringing out similarities of expressions, and form. The same holds good as
regards the social life of man. Since the time when society began, these two forces have been at work,
differentiating and unifying. Their action appears in various forms, and is called by various names, in
different places, and at different times. ut the essence is present in all, one making for differentiation,
and the other for sameness; the one making for caste, and the other breaking it down; one making for
classes and privileges, and the other destroying them. The whole universe seems to be the battleground
of these two forces. On the one hand, it is urged, that though this unifying process exists, we ought to
resist it with all our might, because it leads towards death, that perfect unity is perfect annihilation, and
that when the differentiating process that is at work in this universe ceases, the universe comes to an
end. It is differentiation that causes the phenomena that are before us; unification would reduce them
all to a homogeneous and lifeless matter. Such a thing, of course, mankind wants to avoid. The same
argument is applied to all the things and facts that we see around us.
It is urged that even in the physical body and social classification, absolute sameness would produce
natural death and social death. !bsolute sameness of thought and feeling would produce mental decay
and degeneration. Sameness, therefore, is to be avoided. This has been the argument on the one side,
and it has been urged in every country and in various times, with only a change of language. "ractically
it is the same argument which is urged by the rahmins of India, when they want to uphold the
divisions and castes, when they want to uphold the privileges of a certain portion of the community,
against everybody else. The destruction of caste, they declare, would lead to destruction of society, and
boldly they produce the historical fact that theirs has been the longest#lived society. So they, with some
show of force, appeal to this argument. $ith some show of authority they declare that that alone which
makes the individual live the longest life must certainly be better than that which produces shorter
lives.
On the other hand, the idea of oneness has had its advocates throughout all times. %rom the days of the
&panishads, the uddhas, and 'hrists, and all other great preachers of religion, down to our present
day, in the new political aspirations, and in the claims of the oppressed and the downtrodden, and of all
those who find themselves bereft of privileges, comes out the one assertion of this unity and sameness.
ut human nature asserts itself. Those who have an advantage want to keep it, and if they find an
argument, however one#sided and crude, they must cling to it. This applies to both sides.
!pplied to metaphysics, this (uestion also assumes another form. The uddhist declares that we need
not look for anything which brings unity in the midst of these phenomena, we ought to be satisfied with
this phenomenal world. This variety is the essence of life, however miserable and weak it may seem to
be; we can have nothing more. The )edantist declares that unity is the only thing that exists; variety is
but phenomenal, ephemeral and apparent. *+ook not to variety,* says the )edantist, *go back to unity.*
*!void unity; it is a delusion,* says the uddhist, *go to variety.* The same differences of opinion in
religion and metaphysics have come down to our own day, for, in fact, the sum#total of the principles
of knowledge is very small. ,etaphysics and metaphysical knowledge, religion and religious
knowledge, reached their culmination five thousand years ago, and we are merely reiterating the same
truths in different languages, only enriching them sometimes by the accession of fresh illustrations. So
this is the fight, even today. One side wants us to keep to the phenomenal, to all this variation, and
points out, with great show of argument, that variation has to remain, for when that stops, everything is
gone. $hat we mean by life has been caused by variation. The other side, at the same time, valiantly
points to unity.
'oming to ethics, we find a tremendous departure. It is, perhaps, the only science which makes a bold
departure from this fight. %or ethics is unity; its basis is love. It will not look at this variation. The one
aim of ethics is this unity, this sameness. The highest ethical codes that mankind has discovered up to
the present time know no variation; they have no time to stop to look into it; their one end is to make
for that sameness. The Indian mind, being more analytical, I mean the )edantic mind#found this unity
as the result of all its analyses, and wanted to base everything upon this one idea of unity. ut as we
have seen, in the same country, there were other minds -the uddhistic. who could not find that unity
anywhere. To them all truth was a mass of variation, there was no connection between one thing and
another. I remember a story told by "rof. ,ax ,uller in one of his books, an old /reek story, of how a
rahmin visited Socrates in !thens. The rahmin asked, *$hat is the highest knowledge0* !nd
Socrates answered, *To know man is the end and aim of all knowledge.* *ut how can you know man
without knowing /od0* replied the rahmin. The one side, the /reek side, which is represented by
modern 1urope, insisted upon the knowledge of man; the Indian side, mostly represented by the old
religions of the world, insisted upon the knowledge of /od. The one sees /od in nature, and the other
sees nature in /od. To us, at the present time, perhaps, has been given the privilege of standing aside
from both these aspects, and taking an impartial view of the whole. This is a fact that variation exists,
and so it must, if life is to be. This is also a fact that in and through these variations unity must be
perceived. This is a fact that /od is perceived in nature. ut it is also a fact that nature is perceived in
/od. The knowledge of man is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing man, can we know /od.
This is also a fact that the knowledge of /od is the highest knowledge, and knowing /od alone we can
know man. !pparently contradictory though these statements may appear, they are the necessity of
human nature. The whole universe is a play of unity in variety, and of variety in unity. The whole
universe is a play of differentiation and oneness; the whole universe is a play of the finite in the
Infinite. $e cannot take one without granting the other. ut we cannot take them both as facts of the
same perception, as facts of the same experience; yet in this way it will always go on.
Therefore, coming to our more particular purpose, which is religion rather than ethics, a state of things,
where all variation has died down, giving place to a uniform, dead homogeneity, is impossible so long
as life lasts. 2or is it desirable. !t the same time, there is the other side of the fact, vi3 that this unity
already exists. That is the peculiar claim not that this unity has to be made, but that it already exists,
and that you could not perceive the variety at all, without it. /od is not to be made, but 4e already
exists. This has been the claim of all religions. $henever one has perceived the finite, he has also
perceived the Infinite. Some laid stress on the finite side, and declared that they perceived the finite
without; others laid stress on the Infinite side, and declared they perceived the Infinite only. ut we
know that it is a logical necessity that we cannot perceive the one without the other. So the claim is that
this sameness, this unity, this perfection, as we may call it is not to be made, it already exists, and is
here. $e have only to recogni3e it, to understand it. $hether we know it or not, whether we can
express it in clear language or not, whether this perception assumes the force and clearness of a sense#
perception or not, it is there. %or we are bound by the logical necessity of our minds to confess that it is
there, else, the perception of the finite would not be. I am not speaking of the old theory of substance
and (ualities, but of oneness; that in the midst of all this mass of phenomena, the very fact of the
consciousness that you and I are different brings to us, at the same moment, the consciousness that you
and I are not different. 5nowledge would be impossible without that unity. $ithout the idea of
sameness there would be neither perception nor knowledge. So both run side by side.
Therefore the absolute sameness of conditions, if that be the aim of ethics, appears to be impossible.
That all men should be the same, could never be, however we might try. ,en will be born
differentiated; some will have more power than others; some will have natural capacities, others not;
some will have perfect bodies, others not. $e can never stop that. !t the same time ring in our ears the
wonderful words of morality proclaimed by various teachers6 *Thus, seeing the same /od, e(ually
present in all, the sage does not in7ure Self by the Self, and thus reaches the highest goal. 1ven in this
life they have con(uered relative existence whose minds are firmly fixed on this sameness; for /od is
pure, and /od is the same to all. Therefore such are said to be living in /od.* $e cannot deny that this
is the real idea; yet at the same time comes the difficulty that the sameness as regards external forms
and position can never be attained. ut what can be attained is elimination of privilege. That is really
the work before the whole world. In all social lives, there has been that one fight in every race and in
every country. The difficulty is not that one body of men are naturally more intelligent than another,
but whether this body of men, because they have the advantage of intelligence, should take away even
physical en7oyment from those who do not possess that advantage. The fight is to destroy that privilege.
That some will be stronger physically than others, and will thus naturally be able to subdue or defeat
the weak, is a self#evident fact, but that because of this strength they should gather unto themselves all
the attainable happiness of this life, is not according to law, and the fight has been against it. That some
people, through natural aptitude, should be able to accumulate more wealth than others, is natural6 but
that on account of this power to ac(uire wealth they should tyranni3e and ride roughshod over those
who cannot ac(uire so much wealth, is not a part of the law, and the fight has been against that. The
en7oyment of advantage over another is privilege, and throughout ages, the aim of morality has been its
destruction. This is the work which tends towards sameness, towards unity, without destroying variety.
+et all these variations remain eternally; it is the very essence of life. $e shall all play in this way,
eternally. 8ou will be wealthy, and I shall be poor; you will be strong, and I shall be weak; you will be
learned and I ignorant; you will be very spiritual, and I, less so. ut what of that0 +et us remain so, but
because you are physically or intellectually stronger, you must not have more privilege than I, and that
you have more wealth is no reason why you should be considered greater than I, for that sameness is
here, in spite of the different conditions.
The work of ethics has been, and will be in the future, not the destruction of variation and the
establishment of sameness in the external world, which is impossible for it would bring death and
annihilation, but to recogni3e the unity in spite of all these variations, to recogni3e the /od within, in
spite of everything that frightens us, to recogni3e that infinite strength as the property of everyone in
spite of all apparent weakness, and to recogni3e the eternal, infinite, essential purity of the soul in spite
of everything to the contrary that appears on the surface. This we have to recogni3e. Taking one side
alone, one half only of the position, is dangerous and liable to lead to (uarrels. $e must take the whole
thing as it is, stand on it as our basis and work it out in every part of our lives, as individuals and as unit
members of society.
Compiled for a Pro3ect-45iaison of Reli2ions4
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