Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda - Vol-1
THE SOUL AND GOD
(Delivered in San Francisco, March 23, 1900)
[This article was recorded by Ida Ansell in shorthand. As,
however, Swamiji's speed was too great for her in her early
days, dots are put in the articles to indicate the omissions,
while the words within square brackets are added by way of
linking up the disconnected parts.]
Whether it was fear or mere inquisitiveness which first led man
to think of powers superior to himself, we need not discuss. ...
These raised in the mind peculiar worship tendencies, and so on.
There never have been [times in the history of mankind] without
[some ideal] of worship. Why? What makes us all struggle for
something beyond what we see - whether it be a beautiful morning
or a fear of dead spirits? ... We need not go back into
prehistoric times, for it is a fact present today as it was two
thousand years ago. We do not find satisfaction here. Whatever
our station in life - [even if we are] powerful and wealthy - we
cannot find satisfaction.
Desire is infinite. Its fulfilment is very limited.. There is no
end to our desires; but when we go to fulfil them, the
difficulty comes. It has been so with the most primitive minds,
when their desires were [few]. Even [these] could not be
accomplished. Now, with our arts and sciences improved and
multiplied, our desires cannot be fulfilled [either]. On the
other hand, we are struggling to perfect means for the
fulfilment of desires, and the desires are increasing. ...
The most primitive man naturally wanted help from outside for
things which he could not accomplish. ...He desired something,
and it could not be obtained. He wanted help from other powers.
The most ignorant primitive man and the most cultivated man
today, each appealing to God and asking for the fulfilment of
some desire, are exactly the same. What difference? [Some
people] find a great deal of difference. We are always finding
much difference in things when there is no difference at all.
Both [the primitive man and the cultivated man] plead to the
same [power]. You may call it God or Allah or Jehovah. Human
beings want something and cannot get it by their own powers, and
are after someone who will help them. This is primitive, and it
is still present with us. ... We are all born savages and
gradually civilise ourselves. ... All of us here, if we search,
will find the same fact. Even now this fear does not leave us.
We may talk big, become philosophers and all that; but when the
blow comes, we find that we must beg for help. We believe in all
the superstitions that ever existed. [But] there is no
superstition in the world [that does not have some basis of
truth]. If I cover my face and only the tip of my [nose] is
showing, still it is a bit of my face. So [with] the
superstitions - the little bits are true.
You see, the lowest sort of manifestation of religion came with
the burial of the departed. ... First they wrapped them up and
put them in mounds, and the spirits of the departed came and
lived in the [mounds, at night]. ... Then they began to bury
them. ... At the gate stands a terrible goddess with a thousand
teeth. ... Then [came] the burning of the body and the flames
bore the spirit up. ... The Egyptians brought food and water for
the departed.
The next great idea was that of the tribal gods. This tribe had
one god and that tribe another. The Jews had their God Jehovah,
who was their own tribal god and fought against all the other
gods and tribes. That god would do anything to please his own
people. If he killed a whole tribe not protected by him, that
was all right, quite good. A little love was given, but that
love was confined to a small section.
Gradually, higher ideals came. The chief of the conquering tribe
was the Chief of chiefs, God of gods. ... So with the Persians
when they conquered Egypt. The Persian emperor was the Lord of
[lords], and before the emperor nobody could stand. Death was
the penalty for anyone who looked at the Persian emperor.
Then came the ideal of God Almighty and All-powerful, the
omnipotent, omniscient Ruler of the universe: He lives in
heaven, and man pays special tribute to his Most Beloved, who
creates everything for man. The whole world is for man. The sun
and moon and stars are [for him]. All who have those ideas are
primitive men, not civilised and not cultivated at all. All the
superior religions had their growth between the Ganga and the
Euphrates. ... Outside of India we will find no further
development [of religion beyond this idea of God in heaven].
That was the highest knowledge ever obtained outside of India.
There is the local heaven where he is and [where] the faithful
shall go when they die. ... As far as I have seen, we should
call it a very primitive idea. ... Mumbo jumbo in Africa [and]
God in heaven - the same. He moves the world, and of course his
will is being done everywhere. ...
The old Hebrew people did not care for any heaven. That is one
of the reasons they [opposed] Jesus of Nazareth - because he
taught life after death. Paradise in Sanskrit means land beyond
this life. So the paradise was to make up for all this evil. The
primitive man does not care [about] evil. ... He never questions
why there should be any. ...
... The word devil is a Persian word. ... The Persians and
Hindus [share the Aryan ancestry] upon religious grounds, and
... they spoke the same language, only the words one sect uses
for good the other uses for bad. The word Deva is an old
Sanskrit word for God, the same word in the Aryan languages.
Here the word means the devil. ...
Later on, when man developed [his inner life], he began to
question, and to say that God is good. The Persians said that
there were two gods - one was bad and one was good. [Their idea
was that] everything in this life was good: beautiful country,
where there was spring almost the whole year round and nobody
died; there was no disease, everything was fine. Then came this
Wicked One, and he touched the land, and then came death and
disease and mosquitoes and tigers and lions. Then the Aryans
left their fatherland and migrated southward. The old Aryans
must have lived way to the north. The Jews learnt it [the idea
of the devil] from the Persians. The Persians also taught that
there will come a day when this wicked god will be killed, and
it is our duty to stay with the good god and add our force to
him in this eternal struggle between him and the wicked one. ...
The whole world will be burnt out and everyone will get a new
body.
The Persian idea was that even the wicked will be purified and
not be bad any more. The nature of the Aryan was love and
poetry. They cannot think of their being burnt [for eternity].
They will all receive new bodies. Then no more death. So that is
the best about [religious] ideas outside of India. ...
Along with that is the ethical strain. All that man has to do is
to take care of three things: good thought, good word, good
deed. That is all. It is a practical, wise religion. Already
there has come a little poetry in it. But there is higher poetry
and higher thought.
In India we see this Satan in the most ancient part of the
Vedas. He just (appears) and immediately disappears. ... In the
Vedas the bad god got a blow and disappeared. He is gone, and
the Persians took him. We are trying to make him leave the world
[al]together. Taking the Persian idea, we are going to make a
decent gentleman of him; give him a new body. There was the end
of the Satan idea in India.
But the idea of God went on; but mind you, here comes another
fact. The idea of God grew side by side with the idea of
[materialism] until you have traced it up to the emperor of
Persia. But on the other hand comes in metaphysics, philosophy.
There is another line of thought, the idea of [the non-dual
Âtman, man's] own soul. That also grows. So, outside of India
ideas about God had to remain in that concrete form until India
came to help them out a bit. ... The other nations stopped with
that old concrete idea. In this country [America], there are
millions who believe that God is [has?] a body. ... Whole sects
say it. [They believe that] He rules the world, but there is a
place where He has a body. He sits upon a throne. They light
candles and sing songs just as they do in our temples.
But in India they are sensible enough never to make [their God a
physical being]. You never see in India a temple of Brahmâ. Why?
Because the idea of the soul always existed. The Hebrew race
never questioned about the soul. There is no soul idea in the
Old Testament at all. The first is in the New Testament. The
Persians, they became so practical - wonderfully practical
people - a fighting, conquering race. They were the English
people of the old time, always fighting and destroying their
neighbours - too much engaged in that sort of thing to think
about the soul. ...
The oldest idea of [the] soul [was that of] a fine body inside
this gross one. The gross one disappears and the fine one
appears. In Egypt that fine one also dies, and as soon as the
gross body disintegrates, the fine one also disintegrates. That
is why they built those pyramids [and embalmed the dead bodies
of their ancestors, thus hoping to secure immortality for the
departed]. ...
The Indian people have no regard for the dead body at all.
[Their attitude is:] "Let us take it and burn it." The son has
to set fire to his father's body. ...
There are two sorts of races, the divine and the demonic. The
divine think that they are soul and spirit. The demonic think
that they are bodies. The old Indian philosophers tried to
insist that the body is nothing. "As a man emits his old garment
and takes a new one, even so the old body is [shed] and he takes
a new one" (Gita, II. 22). In my case, all my surrounding and
education were trying to [make me] the other way. I was always
associated with Mohammedans and Christians, who take more care
of the body. ...
It is only one step from [the body] to the spirit. ... [In
India] they became insistent on this ideal of the soul. It
became [synonymous with] the idea of God. ... If the idea of the
soul begins to expand, [man must arrive at the conclusion that
it is beyond name and form]. ... The Indian idea is that the
soul is formless. Whatever is form must break some time or
other. There cannot be any form unless it is the result of force
and matter; and all combinations must dissolve. If such is the
case, [if] your soul is [made of name and form, it
disintegrates], and you die, and you are no more immortal. If it
is double, it has form and it belongs to nature and it obeys
nature's laws of birth and death. ... They find that this [soul]
is not the mind ... neither a double. ...
Thoughts can be guided and controlled. ... [The Yogis of India]
practiced to see how far the thoughts can be guided and
controlled. By dint of hard work, thoughts may be silenced
altogether. If thoughts were [the real man], as soon as thought
ceases, he ought to die. Thought ceases in meditation; even the
mind's elements are quite quiet. Blood circulation stops. His
breath stops, but he is not dead. If thought were he, the whole
thing ought to go, but they find it does not go. That is
practical [proof]. They came to the conclusion that even mind
and thought were not the real man. Then speculation showed that
it could not be.
I come, I think and talk. In the midst of all [this activity is]
this unity [of the Self]. My thought and action are varied, many
[fold] ... but in and through them runs ... that one
unchangeable One. It cannot be the body. That is changing every
minute. It cannot be the mind; new and fresh thoughts [come] all
the time. It is neither the body nor the mind. Both body and
mind belong to nature and must obey nature's laws. A free mind
never will. ...
Now, therefore, this real man does not belong to nature. It is
the person whose mind and body belong to nature. So much of
nature we are using. Just as you come to use the pen and ink and
chair, so he uses so much of nature in fine and in gross form;
gross form, the body, and fine form, the mind. If it is simple,
it must be formless. In nature alone are forms. That which is
not of nature cannot have any forms, fine or gross. It must be
formless. It must be omnipresent. Understand this. [Take] this
glass on the table. The glass is form and the table is form. So
much of the glass-ness goes off, so much of table-ness [when
they break]. ...
The soul ... is nameless because it is formless. It will neither
go to heaven nor [to hell] any more than it will enter this
glass. It takes the form of the vessel it fills. If it is not in
space, either of two things is possible. Either the [soul
permeates] space or space is in [it]. You are in space and must
have a form. Space limits us, binds us, and makes a form of us.
If you are not in space, space is in you. All the heavens and
the world are in the person. ...
So it must be with God. God is omnipresent. "Without hands [he
grasps] everything; without feet he can move. ... "
(Shvetâshvatara Upanishad, III. 19.) He [is] the formless, the
deathless, the eternal. The idea of God came. ... He is the Lord
of souls, just as my soul is the [lord] of my body. If my soul
left the body, the body would not be for a moment. If He left my
soul, the soul would not exist. He is the creator of the
universe; of everything that dies He is the destroyer. His
shadow is death; His shadow is life.
[The ancient Indian philosophers] thought: ... This filthy world
is not fit for man's attention. There is nothing in the universe
that is [permanent - neither good nor evil]. ...
I told you ... Satan ... did not have much chance [in India].
Why? Because they were very bold in religion. They were not
babies. Have you seen that characteristic of children? They are
always trying to throw the blame on someone else. Baby minds
[are] trying, when they make a mistake, to throw the blame upon
someone [else]. On the one hand, we say, "Give me this; give me
that." On the other hand, we say, "I did not do this; the devil
tempted me. The devil did it." That is the history of mankind,
weak mankind. ...
Why is evil? Why is [the world] the filthy, dirty hole? We have
made it. Nobody is to blame. We put our hand in the fire. The
Lord bless us, [man gets] just what he deserves. Only He is
merciful. If we pray to Him, He helps us. He gives Himself to
us.
That is their idea. They are [of a] poetic nature. They go crazy
over poetry. Their philosophy is poetry. This philosophy is a
poem. ... All [high thought] in the Sanskrit is written in
poetry. Metaphysics, astronomy - all in poetry.
We are responsible, and how do we come to mischief? [You may
say], "I was born poor and miserable. I remember the hard
struggle all my life." Philosophers say that you are to blame.
You do not mean to say that all this sprang up without any cause
whatever? You are a rational being. Your life is not without
cause, and you are the cause. You manufacture your own life all
the time. ... You make and mould your own life. You are
responsible for yourself. Do not lay the blame upon anybody, any
Satan. You will only get punished a little more. ...
[A man] is brought up before God, and He says, "Thirty-one
stripes for you," ... when comes another man. He says, "Thirty
stripes: fifteen for that fellow, and fifteen for the teacher -
that awful man who taught him." That is the awful thing in
teaching. I do not know what I am going to get. I go all over
the world. If I have to get fifteen for each one I have
taught!...
We have to come to this idea: "This My Mâyâ is divine." It is My
activity [My] divinity. "[My Maya] is hard to cross, but those
that take refuge in me [go beyond maya]." (Gita, VII. 14.) But
you find out that it is very difficult to cross this ocean [of
Maya by] yourself. You cannot. It is the old question - hen and
egg. If you do any work, that work becomes the cause and
produces the effect. That effect [again] becomes the cause and
produces the effect. And so on. If you push this down, it never
stops. Once you set a thing in motion, there is no more
stopping. I do some work, good or bad, [and it sets up a chain
reaction].... I cannot stop now.
It is impossible for us to get out from this bondage [by
ourselves]. It is only possible if there is someone more
powerful than this law of causation, and if he takes mercy on us
and drags us out.
And we declare that there is such a one - God. There is such a
being, all merciful.... If there is a God, then it is possible
for me to be saved. How can you be saved by your own will? Do
you see the philosophy of the doctrine of salvation by grace?
You Western people are wonderfully clever, but when you
undertake to explain philosophy, you are so wonderfully
complicated. How can you save yourself by work, if by salvation
you mean that you will be taken out of all this nature?
Salvation means just standing upon God, but if you understand
what is meant by salvation, then you are the Self.... You are
not nature. You are the only thing outside of souls and gods and
nature. These are the external existences, and God [is]
interpenetrating both nature and soul.
Therefore, just as my soul is [to] my body, we, as it were, are
the bodies of God. God-souls-nature - it is one. The One,
because, as I say, I mean the body, soul, and mind. But, we have
seen, the law of causation pervades every bit of nature, and
once you have got caught you cannot get out. When once you get
into the meshes of law, a possible way of escape is not [through
work done] by you. You can build hospitals for every fly and
flea that ever lived.... All this you may do, but it would never
lead to salvation.... [Hospitals] go up and they come down
again. [Salvation] is only possible if there is some being whom
nature never caught, who is the Ruler of nature. He rules nature
instead of being ruled by nature. He wills law instead of being
downed by law. ... He exists and he is all merciful. The moment
you seek Him [He will save you].
Why has He not taken us out? You do not want Him. You want
everything but Him. The moment you want Him, that moment you get
Him. We never want Him. We say, "Lord, give me a fine house." We
want the house, not Him. "Give me health! Save me from this
difficulty!" When a man wants nothing but Him, [he gets Him].
"The same love which wealthy men have for gold and silver and
possessions, Lord, may I have the same love for Thee. I want
neither earth nor heaven, nor beauty nor learning. I do not want
salvation. Let me go to hell again and again. But one thing I
want: to love Thee, and for love's sake - not even for heaven."
Whatever man desires, he gets. If you always dream of having a
body, [you will get another body]. When this body goes away he
wants another, and goes on begetting body after body. Love
matter and you become matter. You first become animals. When I
see a dog gnawing a bone, I say, "Lord help us!" Love body until
you become dogs and cats! Still degenerate, until you become
minerals - all body and nothing else....
There are other people, who would have no compromise. The road
to salvation is through truth. That was another watchword. ...
[Man began to progress spiritually] when he kicked the devil
out. He stood up and took the responsibility of the misery of
the world upon his own shoulders. But whenever he looked [at
the] past and future and [at the] law of causation, he knelt
down and said, "Lord, save me, [thou] who [art] our creator, our
father, and dearest friend." That is poetry, but not very good
poetry, I think. Why not? It is the painting of the Infinite [no
doubt]. You have it in every language how they paint the
Infinite. [But] it is the infinite of the senses, of the
muscles. ...
"[Him] the sun [does not illumine], nor the moon, nor the stars,
[nor] the flash of lightning." (Katha Upanishad, II. ii. 15.)
That is another painting of the Infinite, by negative language.
... And the last Infinite is painted in [the] spirituality of
the Upanishads. Not only is Vedanta the highest philosophy in
the world, but it is the greatest poem....
Mark today, this is the ... difference between the first part of
the Vedas and the second. In the first, it is all in [the domain
of] sense. But all religions are only [concerned with the]
infinite of the external world - nature and nature's God....
[Not so Vedanta]. This is the first light that the human mind
throws back [of] all that. No satisfaction [comes] of the
infinite [in] space. "[The] Self-exisent [One] has [created] the
[senses as turned] ... to the outer world. Those therefore who
[seek] outside will never find that [which is within]. There are
the few who, wanting to know the truth, turn their eyes inward
and in their own souls behold the glory [of the Self]." (Katha
Upanishad, II. i. 1.)
It is not the infinite of space, but the real Infinite, beyond
space, beyond time.... Such is the world missed by the
Occident.... Their minds have been turned to external nature and
nature's God. Look within yourself and find the truth that you
had [forgotten]. Is it possible for mind to come out of this
dream without the help of the gods? Once you start the action,
there is no help unless the merciful Father takes us out.
That would not be freedom, [even] at the hands of the merciful
God. Slavery is slavery. The chain of gold is quite as bad as
the chain of iron. Is there a way out?
You are not bound. No one was ever bound. [The Self] is beyond.
It is the all. You are the One; there are no two. God was your
own reflection cast upon the screen of Maya. The real God [is
the Self]. He [whom man] ignorantly worships is that reflection.
[They say that] the Father in heaven is God. Why God? [It is
because He is] your own reflection that [He] is God. Do you see
how you are seeing God all the time? As you unfold yourself, the
reflection grows [clearer].
"Two beautiful birds are there sitting upon the same tree. The
one [is] calm, silent, majestic; the one below [the individual
self], is eating the fruits, sweet and bitter, and becoming
happy and sad. [But when the individual self beholds the
worshipful Lord as his own true Self, he grieves no more.]"
(Mundaka Upanishad, III. i. 1-2.)
... Do not say "God". Do not say "Thou". Say "I". The language
of [dualism] says, "God, Thou, my Father." The language of
[non-dualism] says, "Dearer unto me than I am myself. I would
have no name for Thee. The nearest I can use is I....
"God is true. The universe is a dream. Blessed am I that I know
this moment that I [have been and] shall be free all eternity;
... that I know that I am worshipping only myself; that no
nature, no delusion, had any hold on me. Vanish nature from me,
vanish [these] gods; vanish worship; ... vanish superstitions,
for I know myself. I am the Infinite. All these - Mrs.
So-and-so, Mr. So-and-so, responsibility, happiness, misery -
have vanished. I am the Infinite. How can there be death for me,
or birth? Whom shall I fear? I am the One. Shall I be afraid of
myself? Who is to be afraid of [whom]? I am the one Existence.
Nothing else exists. I am everything."
It is only the question of memory [of your true nature], not
salvation by work. Do you get salvation? You are [already] free.
Go on saying, "I am free". Never mind if the next moment
delusion comes and says, "I am bound." Dehypnotise the whole
thing.
[This truth] is first to be heard. Hear it first. Think on it
day and night. Fill the mind [with it] day and night: "I am It.
I am the Lord of the universe. Never was there any delusion....
" Meditate upon it with all the strength of the mind till you
actually see these walls, houses, everything, melt away -
[until] body, everything, vanishes. "I will stand alone. I am
the One." Struggle on! "Who cares! We want to be free; [we] do
not want any powers. Worlds we renounce; heavens we renounce;
hells we renounce. What do I care about all these powers, and
this and that! What do I care if the mind is controlled or
uncontrolled! Let it run on. What of that! I am not the mind,
Let it go on!"
The sun [shines on the just and on the unjust]. Is he touched by
the defective [character] of anyone? "I am He. Whatever [my]
mind does, I am not touched. The sun is not touched by shining
on filthy places, I am Existence."
This is the religion of [non-dual] philosophy. [It is]
difficult. Struggle on! Down with all superstitions! Neither
teachers nor scriptures nor gods [exist]. Down with temples,
with priests, with gods, with incarnations, with God himself! I
am all the God that ever existed! There, stand up philosophers!
No fear! Speak no more of God and [the] superstition of the
world. Truth alone triumphs, and this is true. I am the
Infinite.
All religious superstitions are vain imaginations. ... This
society, that I see you before me, and [that] I am talking to
you - this is all superstition; all must be given up. Just see
what it takes to become a philosopher! This is the [path] of
[Jnâna-] Yoga, the way through knowledge. The other [paths] are
easy, slow, ... but this is pure strength of mind. No weakling
[can follow this path of knowledge. You must be able to say:] "I
am the Soul, the ever free; [I] never was bound. Time is in me,
not I in time. God was born in my mind. God the Father, Father
of the universe - he is created by me in my own mind...."
Do you call yourselves philosophers? Show it! Think of this,
talk [of] this, and [help] each other in this path, and give up
all superstition!
BREATHING
(Delivered in San Francisco, March 28, 1900)
[This article was recorded by Ida Ansell in shorthand. As,
however, Swamiji's speed was too great for her in her early
days, dots are put in the articles to indicate the omissions,
while the words within square brackets are added by way of
linking up the disconnected parts.]
Breathing exercises have been very popular in India from the
most ancient times, so much so [that] they form a part of their
religion, just as going to church and repeating certain
prayers.... I will try to bring those ideas before you.
I have told you how the Indian philosopher reduces the whole
universe into two parts - Prâna and Âkâsha.
Prana means force - all that is manifesting itself as movement
or possible movement, force, or attraction. ... Electricity,
magnetism, all the movements in the body, all [the movements] in
the mind - all these are various manifestations of one thing
called Prana. The best form of Prana, however, is in [the
brain], manifesting itself as light [of understanding]. This
light is under the guidance of thought.
The mind ought to control every bit of Prana that has been
worked up in the body.... [The] mind should have entire control
of the body. That is not [the case] with all. With most of us it
is the other way. The mind should be able to control every part
of [the body] just at will. That is reason, philosophy; but
[when] we come to matters of fact, it is not so. For you, on the
other hand, the cart is before the horse. It is the body
mastering the mind. If my finger gets pinched, I become sorry.
The body works upon the mind. If anything happens which I do not
like to happen, I am worried; my mind [is] thrown off its
balance. The body is master of the mind. We have become bodies.
We are nothing else but bodies just now.
Here [comes] the philosopher to show us the way out, to teach us
what we really are. You may reason it out and understand it
intellectually, but there is a long way between intellectual
understanding and the practical realisation of it. Between the
plan of the building and the building itself there is quite a
long distance. Therefore there must be various methods [to reach
the goal of religion]. In the last course, we have been studying
the method of philosophy, trying to bring everything under
control, once more asserting the freedom of the soul. ... "It is
very difficult. This way is not for [every]body. The embodied
mind tries it with great trouble" (Gita, XII. 5).
A little physical help will make the mind comfortable. What
would be more rational than to have the mind itself accomplish
the thing? But it cannot. The physical help is necessary for
most of us. The system of Râja-Yoga is to utilise these physical
helps, to make use of the powers and forces in the body to
produce certain mental states, to make the mind stronger and
stronger until it regains its lost empire. By sheer force of
will if anyone can attain to that, so much the better. But most
of us cannot, so we will use physical means, and help the will
on its way.
... The whole universe is a tremendous case of unity in variety.
There is only one mass of mind. Different [states] of that mind
have different names. [They are] different little whirlpools in
this ocean of mind. We are universal and individual at the same
time. Thus is the play going on.... In reality this unity is
never broken. [Matter, mind, spirit are all one.]
All these are but various names. There is but one fact in the
universe, and we look at it from various standpoints. The same
[fact] looked at from one standpoint becomes matter. The same
one from another standpoint becomes mind. There are not two
things. Mistaking the rope for the snake, fear came [to a man]
and made him call somebody else to kill the snake. [His] nervous
system began to shake; his heart began to beat.... All these
manifestations [came] from fear, and he discovered it was a
rope, and they all vanished. This is what we see in reality.
What even the senses see - what we call matter - that [too] is
the Real; only not as we have seen it. The mind [which] saw the
rope [and] took it for a snake was not under a delusion. If it
had been, it would not have seen anything. One thing is taken
for another, not as something that does not exist. What we see
here is body, and we take the Infinite as matter.... We are but
seeking that Reality. We are never deluded. We always know
truth, only our reading of truth is mistaken at times. You can
perceive only one thing at a time. When I see the snake, the
rope has vanished entirely. And when I see the rope, the snake
has vanished. It must be one thing....
When we see the world, how can we see God? Think in your own
mind. What is meant by the world is God as seen as all things
[by] our senses. Here you see the snake; the rope is not. When
you know the Spirit, everything else will vanish. When you see
the Spirit itself, you see no matter, because that which you
called matter is the very thing that is Spirit. All these
variations are [superimposed] by our senses. The same sun,
reflected by a thousand little wavelets, will represent to us
thousands of little suns. If I am looking at the universe with
my senses, I interpret it as matter and force. It is one and
many at the same time. The manifold does not destroy the unity.
The millions of waves do not destroy the unity of the ocean. It
remains the same ocean. When you look at the universe, remember
that we can reduce it to matter or to force. If we increase the
velocity, the mass decreases. ... On the other hand, we can
increase the mass and decrease the velocity.... We may almost
come to a point where all the mass will entirely disappear. ...
Matter cannot be said to cause force nor [can] force [be] the
cause of matter. Both are so [related] that one may disappear in
the other. There must be a third [factor], and that third
something is the mind. You cannot produce the universe from
matter, neither from force. Mind is something [which is] neither
force nor matter, yet begetting force and matter all the time.
In the long run, mind is begetting all force, and that is what
is meant by the universal mind, the sum total of all minds.
Everyone is creating, and [in] the sum total of all these
creations you have the universe - unity in diversity. It is one
and it is many at the same time.
The Personal God is only the sum total of all, and yet it is an
individual by itself, just as you are the individual body of
which each cell is an individual part itself.
Everything that has motion is included in Prana or force. [It
is] this Prana which is moving the stars, sun, moon; Prana is
gravitation. ...
All forces of nature, therefore, must be created by the
universal mind. And we, as little bits of mind, [are] taking out
that Prana from nature, working it out again in our own nature,
moving our bodies and manufacturing our thought. If [you think]
thought cannot be manufactured, stop eating for twenty days and
see how you feel. Begin today and count. ... Even thought is
manufactured by food. There is no doubt about it.
Control of this Prana that is working everything, control of
this Prana in the body, is called Prânâyâma. We see with our
common sense that it is the breath [that] is setting everything
in motion. If I stop breathing, I stop. If the breath begins,
[the body] begins to move. What we want to get at is not the
breath itself; it is something finer behind the breath.
[There was once a minister to a great king. The] king,
displeased with the minister, ordered him to be confined in the
top of [a very high tower. This was done, and the minister was
left there to perish. His wife came to the tower at night and
called to her husband.] The minister said to her, "No use
weeping." He told her to take a little honey, [a beetle], a pack
of fine thread, a ball of twine, and a rope. She tied the fine
thread to one of the legs of the beetle and put honey on the top
of its head and let it go [with its head up]. [The beetle slowly
crept onwards, in the hope of reaching the honey, until at last
it reached the top of the tower, when the minister grasped the
beetle, and got possession of the silken thread, then the pack
thread, then the stout twine, and lastly of the rope. The
minister descended from the tower by means of the rope, and made
his escape. In this body of ours the breath motion is the
"silken thread"; by laying hold of it we grasp the pack thread
of the nerve currents, and from these the stout twine of our
thoughts, and lastly the rope of Prana, controlling which we
reach freedom. (Vide ante.)
By the help of things on the material plane, we have to come to
finer and finer [perceptions]. The universe is one, whatever
point you touch. All the points are but variations of that one
point. Throughout the universe is a unity (at bottom).... Even
through such a gross thing as breath I can get hold of the
Spirit itself.
By the exercise of breathing we begin to feel all the movements
of the body that we [now] do not feel. As soon as we begin to
feel them, we begin to master them. Thoughts in the germ will
open to us, and we will be able to get hold of them. Of course,
not all of us have the opportunity nor the will nor the patience
nor the faith to pursue such a thing; but there is the common
sense idea that is of some benefit to everyone.
The first benefit is health. Ninety-nine per cent of us do not
at all breathe properly. We do not inflate the lungs enough....
Regularity [of breath] will purify the body. It quiets the
mind.... When you are peaceful, your breath is going on
peacefully, [it is] rhythmic. If the breath is rhythmic, you
must be peaceful. When the mind is disturbed, the breath is
broken. If you can bring the breath into rhythm forcibly by
practice, why can you not become peaceful? When you are
disturbed, go into the room and close the door. Do not try to
control the mind, but go on with rhythmic breathing for ten
minutes. The heart will become peaceful. These are common sense
benefits that come to everyone. The others belong to the
Yogi....
Deep-breathing exercises [are only the first step]. There are
about eighty-four [postures for] various exercises. Some
[people] have taken up this breathing as the whole [pursuit] of
life. They do not do anything without consulting the breath.
They are all the time [observing] in which nostril there is more
breath. When it is the right, [they] will do certain things, and
when [it is] the left, they do other things. When [the breath
is] flowing equally through both nostrils, they will worship.
When the breath is coming rhythmically through both nostrils,
that is the time to control your mind. By means of the breath
you can make the currents of the body move through any part of
the body, just [at] will. Whenever [any] part of the body is
ill, send the Prana to that part, all by the breath.
Various other things are done. There are sects who are trying
not to breathe at all. They would not do anything that would
make them breathe hard. They go into a sort of trance....
Scarcely any part of the body [functions]. The heart almost
ceases [to beat].... Most of these exercises are very dangerous;
the higher methods [are] for acquiring higher powers. There are
whole sects trying to [lighten] the whole body by withdrawal of
breath and then they will rise up in the air. I have never seen
anyone rise.... I have never seen anyone fly through the air,
but the books say so. I do not pretend to know everything. All
the time I am seeing most wonderful things.... [Once I observed
a] man bringing out fruits and flowers, etc. [out of nowhere].
... The Yogi, when he becomes perfect, can make his body so
small it will pass through this wall - this very body. He can
become so heavy, two hundred persons cannot lift him. He will be
able to fly through the air if he likes. [But] nobody can be as
powerful as God Himself. If they could, and one created, another
would destroy....
This is in the books. I can [hardly] believe them, nor do I
disbelieve them. What I have seen I take....
If the study [improvement?] of things in this world is possible,
it is not by competition, it is by regulating the mind. Western
people say, "That is our nature; we cannot help it." Studying
your social problems, [I conclude] you cannot solve them either.
In some things you are worse off than we are, ... and all these
things do not bring the world anywhere at all...
The strong take everything; the weak go to the wall. The poor
are waiting.... The man who can take, will take everything. The
poor hate that man. Why? Because they are waiting their turn.
All the systems they invent, they all teach the same thing. The
problem can only be solved in the mind of man.... No law will
ever make him do what he does not want to do. ... It is only if
[man] wills to be good that he will be good. All the law and
juries ... cannot make him good. The almighty man says, "I do
not care." ... The only solution is if we all want to be good.
How can that be done?
All knowledge is within [the] mind. Who saw knowledge in the
stone, or astronomy in the star? It is all in the human being.
Let us realise [that] we are the infinite power. Who put a limit
to the power of mind? Let us realise we are all mind. Every drop
has the whole of the ocean in it. That is the mind of man. The
Indian mind reflects upon these [powers and potentialities] and
wants to bring [them] all out. For himself he doesn't care what
happens. It will take a great length of time [to reach
perfection]. If it takes fifty thousand years, what of that! ...
The very foundation of society, the formation of it, makes the
defect. [Perfection] is only possible if the mind of man is
changed, if he, of his own sweet will, changes his mind; and the
great difficulty is, neither can he force his own mind.
You may not believe in all the claims of this Raja-Yoga. It is
absolutely necessary that every individual can become divine.
That is only [possible] when every individual has absolute
mastery over his own thoughts.... [The thoughts, the senses]
should be all my servants, not my masters. Then only is it
possible that evils will vanish....
Education is not filling the mind with a lot of facts.
Perfecting the instrument and getting complete mastery of my own
mind [is the ideal of education]. If I want to concentrate my
mind upon a point, it goes there, and the moment I call, it is
free [again]....
That is the great difficulty. By great struggle we get a certain
power of concentration, the power of attachment of the mind to
certain things. But then there is not the power of detachment. I
would give half my life to take my mind off that object! I
cannot. It is the power of concentration and attachment as well
as the power of detachment [that we must develop]. [If] the man
[is] equally powerful in both - that man has attained manhood.
You cannot make him miserable even if the whole universe tumbles
about his ears. What books can teach you that? You may read any
amount of books.... Crowd into the child fifty thousand words a
moment, teach him all the theories and philosophies.... There is
only one science that will teach him facts, and that is
psychology.... And the work begins with control of the breath.
Slowly and gradually you get into the chambers of the mind and
gradually get control of the mind. It is a long, [hard
struggle]. It must not be taken up as something curious. When
one wants to do something, he has a plan. [Raja-Yoga] proposes
no faith, no belief, no God. If you believe in two thousand
gods, you can try that. Why not? ... [But in Raja-Yoga] it is
impersonal principles.
The greatest difficulty is what? We talk and theorise The vast
majority of mankind must deal with things that are concrete. For
the dull people cannot see all the highest philosophy. Thus it
ends. You may be graduates [in] all sciences in the world, ...
but if you have not realised, you must become a baby and learn.
... If you give them things in the abstract and infinite, they
get lost. Give them things [to do,] a little at a time [Tell
them,] "You take [in] so many breaths, you do this." They go on,
[they] understand it, and find pleasure in it. These are the
kindergartens of religion. That is why breathing exercises will
be so beneficial. I beg you all not to be merely curious.
Practise a few days, and if you do not find any benefit, then
come and curse me....
The whole universe is a mass of energy, and it is present at
every point. One grain is enough for all of us, if we know how
to get what there is....
This having to do is the poison that is killing us.... [Duty is]
what pleases slaves.... [But] I am free! What I do is my play.
[I am not a slave. I am] having a little fun - that is all....
The departed spirits - they are weak, are trying to get vitality
from us....
Spiritual vitality can be given from one mind to another. The
man who gives is the Guru. The man who receives is the disciple.
That is the only way spiritual truth is brought into the world.
[At death] all the senses go into the [mind] and the mind goes
into Prana, vitality. The soul goes out and carries part of the
mind out with him. He carries a certain part of the vitality,
and he carries a certain amount of very fine material also, as
the germ of the spiritual body. The Prana cannot exist without
some sort of [vehicle].... It gets lodgement in the thoughts,
and it will come out again. So you manufacture this new body and
new brain. Through that it will manifest....
[Departed spirits] cannot manufacture a body; and those that are
very weak do not remember that they are dead.... They try to get
more enjoyment from this [spirit] life by getting into the
bodies of others, and any person who opens his body to them runs
a terrible risk. They seek his vitality....
In this world nothing is permanent except God.... Salvation
means knowing the truth. We do not become anything; we are what
we are. Salvation [comes] by faith and not by work. It is a
question of knowledge! You must know what you are, and it is
done. The dream vanishes. This you [and others] are dreaming
here. When they die, they go to [the] heaven [of their dream].
They live in that dream, and [when it ends], they take a nice
body [here], and they are good people....
[The wise man says,] "All these [desires] have vanished from me.
This time I will not go through all this paraphernalia." He
tries to get knowledge and struggles hard, and he sees what a
dream, what a nightmare this is - [this dreaming], and working
up heavens and worlds and worse. He laughs at it.
[According to SWAMI VIVEKANANDA HIS SECOND VISIT TO THE WEST (P.
461), this address was delivered on 29 March 1900 under the
title "The Science of Breathing". - Ed.]
PRACTICAL RELIGION: BREATHING AND MEDITATION
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900)
[This article was recorded by Ida Ansell in shorthand. As,
however, Swamiji's speed was too great for her in her early
days, dots are put in the articles to indicate the omissions,
while the words within square brackets are added by way of
linking up the disconnected parts.]
Everyone's idea of practical religion is according to his theory
of practicality and the standpoint he starts from. There is
work. There is the system of worship. There is knowledge.
The philosopher thinks ... the difference between bondage and
freedom is only caused by knowledge and ignorance. To him,
knowledge is the goal, and his practicality is gaining that
knowledge.... The worshipper's practical religion is the power
of love and devotion. The worker's practical religion consists
in doing good works. And so, as in every other thing, we are
always trying to ignore the standard of another, trying to bind
the whole world to our standard.
Doing good to his fellow-beings is the practical religion of the
man full of love. If men do not help to build hospitals, he
thinks that they have no religion at all. But there is no reason
why everyone should do that. The philosopher, in the same way,
may denounce every man who does not have knowledge. People may
build twenty thousand hospitals, and the philosopher declares
they are but ... the beasts of burden of the gods. The
worshipper has his own idea and standard: Men who cannot love
God are no good, whatever work they do. The [Yogi believes in]
psychic [control and] the conquest of [internal] nature. "How
much have you gained towards that? How much control over your
senses, over your body?"- that is all the Yogi asks. And, as we
said, each one judges the others by his own standard. Men may
have given millions of dollars and fed rats and cats, as some do
in India. They say that men can take care of themselves, but the
poor animals cannot. That is their idea. But to the Yogi the
goal is conquest of [internal] nature, and he judges man by that
standard....
We are always talking [about] practical religion. But it must be
practical in our sense. Especially [so] in the Western
countries. The Protestants' ideal is good works. They do not
care much for devotion and philosophy. They think there is not
much in it. "What is your knowledge!" [they say]. "Man has to do
something!" ... A little humanitarianism! The churches rail day
and night against callous agnosticism. Yet they seem to be
veering rapidly towards just that. Callous slaves! Religion of
utility! That is the spirit just now. And that is why some
Buddhists have become so popular in the West. People do not know
whether there is a God or not, whether there is a soul or not.
[They think :] This world is full of misery. Try to help this
world.
The Yoga doctrine, which we are having our lecture on, is not
from that standpoint. [It teaches that] there is the soul, and
inside this soul is all power. It is already there, and if we
can master this body, all the power will be unfolded. All
knowledge is in the soul. Why are people struggling? To lessen
the misery.... All unhappiness is caused by our not having
mastery over the body.... We are all putting the cart before the
horse.... Take the system of work, for instance. We are trying
to do good by ... comforting the poor. We do not get to the
cause which created the misery. It is like taking a bucket to
empty out the ocean, and more [water] comes all the time. The
Yogi sees that this is nonsense. [He says that] the way out of
misery is to know the cause of misery first.... We try to do the
good we can. What for? If there is an incurable disease, why
should we struggle and take care of ourselves? If the
utilitarians say: "Do not bother about soul and God!" what is
that to the Yogi and what is it to the world? The world does not
derive any good [from such an attitude]. More and more misery is
going on all the time....
The Yogi says you are to go to the root of all this. Why is
there misery in the world? He answers: "It is all our own
foolishness, not having proper mastery of our own bodies. That
is all." He advises the means by which this misery can be
[overcome]. If you can thus get mastery of your body, all the
misery of the world will vanish. Every hospital is praying that
more and more sick people will come there. Every time you think
of doing some charity, you think there is some beggar to take
your charity. If you say, "O Lord, let the world be full of
charitable people!" - you mean, let the world be full of beggars
also. Let the world be full of good works - let the world be
full of misery. This is out-and-out slavishness!
... The Yogi says, religion is practical if you know first why
misery exists. All the misery in the world is in the senses. Is
there any ailment in the sun, moon, and stars? The same fire
that cooks your meal burns the child. Is it the fault of the
fire? Blessed be the fire! Blessed be this electricity! It gives
light.... Where can you lay the blame? Not on the elements. The
world is neither good nor bad; the world is the world. The fire
is the fire. If you burn your finger in it, you are a fool. If
you [cook your meal and with it satisfy your hunger,] you are a
wise man. That is all the difference. Circumstances can never be
good or bad. Only the individual man can be good or bad. What is
meant by the world being good or bad? Misery and happiness can
only belong to the sensuous individual man.
The Yogis say that nature is the enjoyed; the soul is the
enjoyer. All misery and happiness - where is it? In the senses.
It is the touch of the senses that causes pleasure and pain,
heat and cold. If we can control the senses and order what they
shall feel - not let them order us about as they are doing now -
if they can obey our commands, become our servants, the problem
is solved at once. We are bound by the senses; they play upon
us, make fools of us all the time.
Here is a bad odour. It will bring me unhappiness as soon as it
touches my nose. I am the slave of my nose. If I am not its
slave, I do not care. A man curses me. His curses enter my ears
and are retained in my mind and body. If I am the master, I
shall say: "Let these things go; they are nothing to me. I am
not miserable. I do not bother." This is the outright, pure,
simple, clear-cut truth.
The other problem to be solved is - is it practical? Can man
attain to the power of mastery of the body? ... Yoga says it is
practical .... Supposing it is not - suppose there are doubts in
your mind. You have got to try it. There is no other way out....
You may do good works all the time. All the same, you will be
the slave of your senses, you will be miserable and unhappy. You
may study the philosophy of every religion. Men in this country
carry loads and loads of books on their backs. They are mere
scholars, slaves of the senses, and therefore happy and unhappy.
They read two thousand books, and that is all right; but as soon
as a little misery comes, they are worried, anxious.... You call
yourselves men! You stand up ... and build hospitals. You are
fools!
What is the difference between men and animals? ... "Food and
[sleep], procreation of the species, and fear exist in common
with the animals. There is one difference: Man can control all
these and become God, the master." Animals cannot do it. Animals
can do charitable work. Ants do it. Dogs do it. What is the
difference then? Men can be masters of themselves. They can
resist the reaction to anything.... The animal cannot resist
anything. He is held ... by the string of nature everywhere.
That is all the distinction. One is the master of nature, the
other the slave of nature. What is nature? The five senses....
[The conquest of internal nature] is the only way out, according
to Yoga.... The thirst for God is religion.... Good works and
all that [merely] make the mind a little quiet. To practice this
- to be perfect - all depends upon our past. I have been
studying [Yoga] all my life and have made very little progress
yet. But I have got enough [result] to believe that this is the
only true way. The day will come when I will be master of
myself. If not in this life, [in another life]. I will struggle
and never let go. Nothing is lost. If I die this moment, all my
past struggles [will come to my help]. Have you not seen what
makes the difference between one man and another? It is their
past. The past habits make one man a genius and another man a
fool. You may have the power of the past and can succeed in five
minutes. None can predict the moment of time. We all have to
attain [perfection] some time or other.
The greater part of the practical lessons which the Yogi gives
us is in the mind, the power of concentration and meditation....
We have become so materialistic. When we think of ourselves, we
find only the body. The body has become the ideal, nothing else.
Therefore a little physical help is necessary....
First, to sit in the posture In which you can sit still for a
long time. All the nerve currents which are working pass along
the spine. The spine is not intended to support the weight of
the body. Therefore the posture must be such that the weight of
the body is not on the spine. Let it be free from all pressure.
There are some other preliminary things. There is the great
question of food and exercise....
The food must be simple and taken several times [a day] instead
of once or twice. Never get very hungry. "He who eats too much
cannot be a Yogi. He who fasts too much cannot be a Yogi. He who
sleeps too much cannot be a Yogi, nor he who keeps awake too
much." (Gita, VI. 16.) He who does not do any work and he who
works too hard cannot succeed. Proper food, proper exercise,
proper sleep, proper wakefulness - these are necessary for any
success.
What the proper food is, what kind, we have to determine
ourselves. Nobody can determine that [for us]. As a general
practice, we have to shun exciting food.... We do not know how
to vary our diet with our occupation. We always forget that it
is the food out of which we manufacture everything we have. So
the amount and kind of energy that we want, the food must
determine....
Violent exercises are not all necessary.... If you want to be
muscular, Yoga is not for you. You have to manufacture a finer
organism than you have now. Violent exercises are positively
hurtful.... Live amongst those who do not take too much
exercise. If you do not take violent exercise, you will live
longer. You do not want to burn out your lamp in muscles! People
who work with their brains are the longest-lived people.... Do
not burn the lamp quickly. Let it bum slowly and gently....
Every anxiety, every violent exercise - physical and mental -
[means] you are burning the lamp.
The proper diet means, generally, simply do not eat highly
spiced foods. There are three sorts of mind, says the Yogi,
according to the elements of nature. One is the dull mind, which
covers the luminosity of the soul. Then there is that which
makes people active, and lastly, that which makes them calm and
peaceful.
Now there are persons born with the tendency to sleep all the
time. Their taste will be towards that type of food which is
rotting - crawling cheese. They will eat cheese that fairly
jumps off the table. It is a natural tendency with them.
Then active people. Their taste is for everything hot and
pungent, strong alcohol....
Sâttvika people are very thoughtful, quiet, and patient. They
take food in small quantities, and never anything bad.
I am always asked the question: "Shall I give up meat?" My
Master said, "Why should you give up anything? It will give you
up." Do not give up anything in nature. Make it so hot for
nature that she will give you up. There will come a time when
you cannot possibly eat meat. The very sight of it will disgust
you. There will come a time when many things you are struggling
to give up will be distasteful, positively loathsome.
Then there are various sorts of breathing exercises. One
consists of three parts: the drawing in of the breath, the
holding of the breath - stopping still without breathing - and
throwing the breath out. [Some breathing exercises] are rather
difficult, and some of the complicated ones are attended with
great danger if done without proper diet. I would not advise you
to go through any one of these except the very simple ones.
Take a deep breath and fill the lungs. Slowly throw the breath
out. Take it through one nostril and fill the lungs, and throw
it out slowly through the other nostril. Some of us do not
breathe deeply enough. Others cannot fill the lungs enough.
These breathings will correct that very much. Half an hour in
the morning and half an hour in the evening will make you
another person. This sort of breathing is never dangerous. The
other exercises should be practiced very slowly. And measure
your strength. If ten minutes are a drain, only take five.
The Yogi is expected to keep his own body well. These various
breathing exercises are a great help in regulating the different
parts of the body. All the different parts are inundated with
breath. It is through breath that we gain control of them all.
Disharmony in parts of the body is controlled by more flow of
the nerve currents towards them. The Yogi ought to be able to
tell when in any part pain is caused by less vitality or more.
He has to equalise that....
Another condition [for success in Yoga] is chastity. It is the
corner-stone of all practice. Married or unmarried - perfect
chastity. It is a long subject, of course, but I want to tell
you: Public discussions of this subject are not to the taste of
this country. These Western countries are full of the most
degraded beings in the shape of teachers who teach men and women
that if they are chaste they will be hurt. How do they gather
all this? ... People come to me - thousands come every year -
with this one question. Someone has told them that if they are
chaste and pure they will be hurt physically.... How do these
teachers know it? Have they been chaste? Those unchaste, impure
fools, lustful creatures, want to drag the whole world down to
their [level]! ...
Nothing is gained except by sacrifice.... The holiest function
of our human consciousness, the noblest, do not make it unclean!
Do not degrade it to the level of the brutes.... Make yourselves
decent men! ... Be chaste and pure! ... There is no other way.
Did Christ find any other way? ... If you can conserve and use
the energy properly, it leads you to God. Inverted, it is hell
itself ....
It is much easier to do anything upon the external plane, but
the greatest conqueror in the world finds himself a mere child
when he tries to control his own mind. This is the world he has
to conquer - the greater and more difficult world to conquer. Do
not despair! Awake, arise, and stop not until the goal is
reached!