Our Real Nature
This
lecture on Jnana Yoga was delivered by Swami Vivekananda in London on June 21, 1896 , and is reproduced here from his Complete Works, 2: 70-87.
The Search for Reality
and Happiness
Great is the tenacity with which people cling to the senses.
Yet, however substantial they may think the external world in which they live
and move, there comes a time in the lives of individuals and of races when,
involuntarily, they ask, "Is this real?" To those who never find a
moment to question the credentials of their senses, whose every moment is
occupied with some sort of sense-enjoyment--even to them death comes, and they
also are compelled to ask, "Is this real?" Religion begins with this
question and ends with its answer. Even in the remote past, where recorded
history cannot help us, in the mysterious light of mythology, back in the dim
twilight of civilization, we find the same question was asked, "What
becomes of this? What is real?"
One of the most poetical of the Upanishads, the Katha
Upanishad, begins with the inquiry: "When someone dies, there is a
dispute. One party declares that the person has gone for ever, the other
insists that he or she is still living. Which is true?" Various answers
have been given. The whole sphere of metaphysics, philosophy, and religion is
really filled with various answers to this question. At the same time, attempts
have been made to suppress it, to put a stop to the unrest of mind that asks,
"What is beyond? What is real?" But so long as death remains, all
these attempts at suppression will always prove to be unsuccessful. We may talk
about seeing nothing beyond and keeping all our hopes and aspirations confined
to the present moment, and struggle hard not to think of anything beyond the
world of senses; and, perhaps, everything outside helps to keep us limited
within its narrow bounds. The whole world may combine to prevent us from
broadening out beyond the present. Yet, so long as there is death, the question
must come again and again, "Is death the end of all these things to which
we are clinging, as if they were the most real of all realities, the most
substantial of all substances?" The world vanishes in a moment and is
gone. Standing on the brink of a precipice beyond which is the infinite yawning
chasm, every mind, however hardened, is bound to recoil and ask, "Is this
real?" The hopes of a lifetime, built up little by little with all the
energies of a great mind, vanish in a second. Are they real? This question must
be answered. Time never lessens its power; on the other hand, it adds strength
to it.
Then there is the desire to be happy. We run after
everything to make ourselves happy; we pursue our mad career in the external
world of senses. If you ask the young man with whom life is successful, he will
declare that it is real; and he really thinks so. Perhaps, when the same man
grows old and finds fortune ever eluding him, he will then declare that it is
fate. He finds at last that his desires cannot be fulfilled. Wherever he goes,
there is an adamantine wall beyond which he cannot pass. Every sense-activity
results in a reaction. Everything is evanescent. Enjoyment, misery, luxury,
wealth, power, and poverty, even life itself, are all evanescent.
Two Options: (1)
Nihilism or (2) Seeking the Real
Two positions are possible. One is to believe with the
nihilists that all is nothing, that we know nothing, that we can never know
anything either about the future, the past, or even the present. For we must
remember that one who denies the past and the future and wants to stick to the
present is simply mad. One may as well deny the father and mother and assert
the child. It would be equally logical. To deny the past and future, the
present must inevitably be denied also. This is one position, that of the
nihilists. I have never seen a person who could really become a nihilist for
one minute. It is very easy to talk.
Then there is the other position--to seek for an
explanation, to seek for the real, to discover in the midst of this eternally
changing and evanescent world whatever is real. In this body, which is an
aggregate of molecules of matter, is there anything real? This has been the
search throughout the history of the human mind. In the very oldest times, we
often find glimpses of light coming into the minds of people. We find men and
women, even then, going a step beyond this body, finding something which is not
this external body, although very much like it, much more complete, much more
perfect, and which remains even when this body is dissolved. We read in the hymns
of the Rig-Veda, addressed to the God of Fire who is burning a dead body,
"Carry him, O Fire, in your arms gently, give him a perfect body, a bright
body, carry him where the fathers live, where there is no more sorrow, where
there is no more death."
The Concept of
"The Fall"
The same idea you will find present in every religion. And
we get another idea with it. It is a significant fact that all religions,
without one exception, hold that we humans are a degeneration of what we once
were, whether they clothe this in mythological words, or in the clear language
of philosophy, or in the beautiful expressions of poetry. This is the one fact
that comes out of every scripture and of every mythology that we as we are now
are a degeneration of what we were. This is the kernel of truth within the
story of Adam's fall in the Jewish scripture. This is again and again repeated
in the scriptures of the Hindus; the dream of a period which they call the Age
of Truth (satya-yuga), when no one died unless they wished to die, when
they could keep their bodies as long as they liked, and their minds were pure
and strong. There was no evil and no misery; and the present age is a
corruption of that state of perfection.
Side by side with this, we find the story of the deluge
everywhere. That story itself is a proof that this present age is held to be a
corruption of a former age by every religion. It went on becoming more and more
corrupt until the deluge swept away a large portion of humanity, and again the
ascending series began. It is going up slowly again to reach once more the
early state of purity. You are all aware of the story of the deluge in the Old
Testament. The same story was current among the ancient Babylonians, the
Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Hindus. Manu, a great ancient sage, was praying
on the bank of the Ganga , when a little minnow came to him for
protection, and he put it into a pot of water he had before him. "What do
you want?" asked Manu. The little minnow declared he was pursued by a
bigger fish and wanted protection. Manu carried the little fish to his home,
and in the morning he had become as big as the pot and said, "I cannot
live in this pot any longer." Manu put him in a tank, and the next day he
was as big as the tank and declared he could not live there any more. So Manu
had to take him to a river, and in the morning the fish filled the river. Then
Manu put him in the ocean, and he declared, "Manu, I am the Creator of the
universe. I have taken this form to come and warn you that I will deluge the world.
You build an ark and in it put a pair of every kind of animal, and let your
family enter the ark, and there will project out of the water my horn. Fasten
the ark to it; and when the deluge subsides, come out and people the
earth." So the world was deluged, and Manu saved his own family and two of
every kind of animal and seeds of every plant. When the deluge subsided, he
came and peopled the world; and we are called "man", because we are
the progeny of Manu.
Scientific Superstition
vs. Religious Superstition
Now, human language is the attempt to express the truth
that is within. I am fully persuaded that a baby whose language consists of
unintelligible sounds is attempting to express the highest philosophy, it is
just that the baby has neither the organs to express it nor the means. The
difference between the language of the highest philosophers and the utterances
of babies is one of degree and not of kind. What you call the most correct,
systematic, mathematical language of the present time, and the hazy, mystical,
mythological languages of the ancients, differ only in degree. All of them have
a grand idea behind, which is, as it were, struggling to express itself; and
often behind these ancient mythologies are nuggets of truth; and often, I am
sorry to say, behind the fine, polished phrases of the moderns is arrant trash.
So, we need not throw a thing overboard because it is clothed in mythology,
because it does not fit in with the notions of Mr. So-and-so and Mrs. So-and-so
of modern times. If people should laugh at religion because most religions
declare that we must believe in mythologies taught by such and such a prophet,
they ought to laugh more at these moderns. In modern times, if people quote a
Moses or a Buddha or a Christ, they are laughed at; but let them give the name
of a Huxley, a Tyndall, or a Darwin, and it is swallowed without salt.
"Huxley has said it," and that is enough for many. We are free from
superstitions indeed! That was a religious superstition, and this is a scientific
superstition; only, in and through that superstition came life-giving ideas of
spirituality; in and through this modern superstition come lust and greed. That
superstition was worship of God, and this superstition is worship of filthy
lucre, of fame and power. That is the difference.
The Theory of Cycles
To return to mythology. Behind all these stories we find
one idea standing supreme--that we are a degeneration of what we were. Coming
to the present times, modern research seems to repudiate this position absolutely.
Evolutionists seem to contradict entirely this assertion. According to them, we
humans have evolved from the mollusc; and, therefore, what mythology states
cannot be true. There is in India , however, a mythology
that is able to reconcile both these positions. The Indian mythology has a
theory of cycles, which states that all progression is in the form of waves.
Every wave is attended by a fall, and that by a rise the next moment, followed
by a fall in the next, and again another rise. The motion is in cycles.
Certainly it is true, even on the grounds of modern research, that human beings
cannot be simply an evolution. Every evolution presupposes an involution. The
modern scientist will tell you that you can only get as much amount of energy
out of a machine as you have previously put into it. Something cannot be
produced out of nothing. If we are an evolution of the mollusc, then the
perfect amongst us--the Buddha, the Christ--was involved in the mollusc. If it
is not so, whence come these gigantic personalities? Something cannot come out
of nothing. Thus we are in the position of reconciling the scriptures with
modern light. The energy that manifests itself slowly through various stages
until it becomes the perfect person, cannot come out of nothing. It existed
somewhere; and if the mollusc or the protoplasm is the first point to which you
can trace it, that protoplasm, somehow or other, must have contained the
energy.
Force and Matter
There is a great discussion going on as to whether the
aggregate of materials we call the body is the cause of manifestation of the
force we call the soul, thought, etc., or whether it is the thought that
manifests this body. The religions of the world of course hold that the force
called thought manifests the body, and not the reverse. There are schools of
modern thought which hold that what we call thought is simply the outcome of
the adjustment of the parts of the machine which we call body. Taking the
second position that the soul or the mass of thought, or however you may call
it, is the outcome of this machine, the outcome of the chemical and physical
combinations of matter making up the body and brain, leaves the question
unanswered.
What makes the body? What force combines the molecules
into the body form? What force takes up material from the mass of matter around
and forms my body one way, another body another way, and so on? What makes
these infinite distinctions? To say that the force called soul is the outcome
of the combinations of the molecules of the body is putting the cart before the
horse. How did the combinations come; where was the force to make them? If you
say that some other force was the cause of these combinations, and soul was the
outcome of that matter, and that soul--which combined a certain mass of matter--was
itself the result of the combinations, it is no answer. That theory ought to be
taken which explains most of the facts, if not all, and that without
contradicting other existing theories. It is more logical to say that the force
that takes up the matter and forms the body is the same that manifests through
that body. To say, therefore, that the thought forces manifested by the body
are the outcome of the arrangement of molecules and have no independent
existence has no meaning; neither can force evolve out of matter. Rather it is
impossible to demonstrate that what we call matter does not exist at all. It is
only a certain state of force. Solidity, hardness, or any other state of matter
can be proved to be the result of motion. Increase of vortex motion imparted to
fluids gives them the force of solids. A mass of air in vortex motion, as in a
tornado, becomes solid-like and by its impact breaks or cuts through solids. A
thread of a spider's web, if it could be moved at almost infinite velocity, would
be as strong as an iron chain and would cut through an oak tree. Looking at it
in this way, it would be easier to prove that what we call matter does not
exist. But the other way cannot be proved.
What is the force that manifests itself through the body?
It is obvious to all of us, whatever that force be, that it is taking particles
up, as it were, and manipulating forms out of them--the human body. None else
comes here to manipulate bodies for you and me. I never saw anybody eat food
for me. I have to assimilate it, manufacture blood and bones and everything out
of that food. What is this mysterious force? Ideas about the future and about
the past seem to be terrifying to many. To many they seem to be mere
speculation.
The Atman and Its
Nature
We will take the present theme. What is this force which
is now working through us? We know how in old times, in all the ancient
scriptures, this power, this manifestation of power, was thought to be a bright
substance having the form of this body, and which remained even after this body
fell. Later on, however, we find a higher idea coming--that this bright body
did not represent the force. Whatsoever has form must be the result of
combinations of particles and requires something else behind it to move it. If
this body requires something that is not the body to manipulate it, the bright
body, by the same necessity, will also require something other than itself to
manipulate it. So, that something was called the soul, the Atman in Sanskrit.
It was the Atman that through the bright body, as it were, worked on the gross
body outside. The bright body is considered as the receptacle of the mind, and
the Atman is beyond that. The Atman is not the mind; it works the mind, and
through the mind the body. You have an Atman, I have another, each one of us
has a separate Atman and a separate fine body, and through that we work on the
gross external body.
Questions were then asked about this Atman, about its
nature. What is this Atman, which is neither the body nor the mind? Great discussions
followed. Speculations were made, various shades of philosophic inquiry came
into existence; and I shall try to place before you some of the conclusions
that have been reached about this Atman.
The different philosophies seem to agree that this Atman,
whatever it be, has neither form nor shape, and that which has neither form nor
shape must be omnipresent. Time begins with mind, space also is in the mind.
Causation cannot stand without time. Without the idea of succession there
cannot be any idea of causation. Time, space and causation, therefore, are in
the mind, and as this Atman is beyond the mind and formless, it must be beyond
time, beyond space, and beyond causation. Now, if it is beyond time, space, and
causation, it must be infinite. Then comes the highest speculation in our
philosophy. The infinite cannot be two. If the Atman be infinite, there can be
only one Atman, and all ideas of various souls--you having one soul, and I
having another and so forth--are not real.
The Real Person, therefore, is one and infinite, the
omnipresent Spirit. And the "apparent person" is only a limitation of
that Real Person. In that sense the mythologies are true that the apparent
person, however great he or she may be, is only a dim reflection of the Real Person
who is beyond. The Real Person, the Atman--being beyond cause and effect, and
not bound by time and space--must therefore be free. The Real Person was never
bound, and could not be bound. The apparent person, the reflection, is limited
by time, space, and causation, and is therefore bound. Or in the language of
some of our philosophers, the person appears to be bound, but really is not. This
is the reality within, this omnipresence, this spiritual nature, this infinity.
Every Atman is infinite, therefore there is no question of
birth and death. Some children were being examined. The teacher put them rather
hard questions, and among them was this one: "Why does not the earth
fall?" He wanted to evoke answers about gravitation. Most of the children
could not answer at all; a few answered that it was gravitation or something.
One bright little girl answered it by putting another question: "Where
should it fall?" The question is nonsense. Where should the earth fall?
There is no falling or rising for the earth. In infinite space there is no up
or down; that is only in the relative. Where is the going or coming for the
infinite? Whence should it come and whither should it go?
Thus, when people cease to think of the past or future,
when they give up the idea of body--because the body comes and goes and is
limited--then they have risen to a higher ideal. The body is not the Real
Person, neither is the mind, for the mind waxes and wanes. It is only the Atman
beyond, which can live for ever. The body and mind are continually changing,
and are in fact only names of series of changeful phenomena, like rivers whose
waters are in a constant state of flux, yet presenting the appearance of
unbroken streams. Every particle in this body is continually changing; no one
has the same body for many minutes together, and yet we think of it as the same
body. So with the mind: one moment it is happy, another moment unhappy; one
moment strong, another weak; an ever-changing whirlpool. The mind cannot be the
Atman, which is infinite. Change can only be in the limited. To say that the
infinite changes in any way is absurd; it cannot be. You and I, as limited
bodies, can move; every particle in this universe is in a constant state of
flux, but taking the universe as a unit, as one whole, it cannot move, it
cannot change. Motion is always a relative thing. I move in relation to
something else. Any particle in this universe can change in relation to any
other particle; but take the whole universe as one, and in relation to what can
it move? There is nothing besides it. So this infinite unit is unchangeable,
immovable, absolute, and this is the Real Person. Our reality, therefore,
consists in the universal and not in the limited. These are old delusions,
however comfortable they are, to think that we are little limited beings,
constantly changing. People are frightened when they are told that they are the
Universal Being, everywhere present. Through everything you work, through every
foot you move, through every lip you talk, through every heart you feel.
Individuality
People are frightened when they are told this. They will
again and again ask you if they are not going to keep their individuality. What
is "individuality"? I should like to see it. A baby boy has no
moustache; when he grows to be a man, perhaps he has a moustache and beard. His
individuality would be lost if it were in the body. If I lose one eye, or if I
lose one of my hands, my individuality would be lost if it were in the body. A
drunkard should not give up drinking because he would lose his individuality. A
thief should not be a good man because he would thereby lose his individuality.
No one ought to change their habits for fear of this. The truth is that there
is no individuality except in the Infinite. That is the only condition that
does not change. Everything else is in a constant state of flux. Neither can
individuality be in memory. Suppose, on account of a blow on the head I forget
all about my past; then, I have lost all individuality; I am gone. I do not
remember two or three years of my childhood, and if memory and existence are
one, then whatever I forget is gone. That part of my life which I do not
remember, I did not live. That is a very narrow idea of individuality.
We are not individuals yet. We are struggling towards
individuality, and that is the Infinite, that is our real nature. Only the
person whose life is in the whole universe really "lives." The more
we concentrate our lives on limited things, the faster we go towards death.
Those moments alone we live when our lives are in the universe, in others; and
living this little life is death, simply death, and that is why the fear of
death comes. The fear of death can only be conquered when we realize that so
long as there is one life in this universe, we are living. When I can say,
"I am in everything, in everybody, I am in all lives, I am the
universe," then alone comes the state of fearlessness. To talk of
immortality in constantly changing things is absurd. Says an old Sanskrit
philosopher: It is only the Spirit that is the individual, because it is
infinite. Infinity cannot be divided; infinity cannot be broken into pieces. It
is the same one, undivided unit for ever, and this is the real individual, the
Real Person. The apparent person is merely a struggle to express, or to
manifest, this individuality that is beyond; and evolution is not in the
Spirit. These changes that are going on--the wicked becoming good, the animal
becoming human, take them in whatever way you like--are not in the Atman. They
are the evolution of nature and manifestation of Atman.
Suppose there is a screen hiding you from me, in which
there is a small hole through which I can see some of the faces before me, just
a few faces. Now suppose the hole begins to grow larger and larger, and as it
does so, more and more of the scene before me reveals itself and when at last
the whole screen has disappeared, I stand face to face with you all. You did
not change at all in this case; it was the hole that was evolving, and you were
gradually manifesting yourselves. So it is with the Atman. No perfection is
going to be attained. You are already free and perfect.
What are these ideas of religion and God and searching for
the hereafter? Why do we look for a God? Why do we, in every nation, in every
state of society, want a perfect ideal somewhere, either in human beings, or in
God, or elsewhere? Because that idea is within us. It was our own heart beating
and we did not know; we were mistaking it for something external. It is the God
within our own self that is propelling us to seek for Him and to realize Him.
After long searches here and there, in temples and in churches, in earths and
in heavens, at last we come back, completing the circle from where we started,
to our own soul and find that He for whom we have been seeking all over the
world, for whom we have been weeping and praying in churches and temples, on
whom we were looking as the mystery of all mysteries shrouded in the clouds, is
nearest of the near, is our own Self, the reality of our life, body and mind.
That is our own nature. Assert it, manifest it. Not to become pure, we are pure already. We are not
to become perfect, we are that already. Nature is like the screen which is
hiding the reality beyond. Every good thought that we think or act upon is
simply tearing the veil, as it were; and the purity, the Infinity, the God
behind, manifests Itself more and more.
The "Why" of
Ethics
This is the whole history of human evolution. Finer and
finer becomes the veil, more and more of the light behind shines forth, for it
is its nature to shine. It cannot be known; in vain we try to know it. Were it
knowable, it would not be what it is, for it is the eternal subject. Knowledge
is a limitation, knowledge is objectifying. He is the eternal subject of everything,
the eternal witness in this universe, your own Self. Knowledge is, as it were,
a lower step, a degeneration. We are that eternal subject already; how can we
know it? It is the real nature of every one of us, and we are struggling to
express it in various ways; otherwise, why are there so many ethical codes?
Where is the explanation of all ethics? One idea stands out as the centre of
all ethical systems, expressed in various forms, namely, doing good to others.
Our guiding motive should be charity towards fellow human beings, charity
towards all animals. But these are all various expressions of that eternal
truth that, "I am the universe; this universe is one." Or else, where
is the reason? Why should I do good to my fellow beings? Why should I do good
to others? What compels me? It is sympathy, the feeling of sameness everywhere.
The hardest hearts feel sympathy for beings sometimes. Even those who gets
frightened if they are told that this assumed individuality is really a
delusion, that it is ignoble to try to cling to this apparent individuality,
that very people will tell you that extreme self-abnegation is the center of
all morality.
And what is perfect self-abnegation? It means the
abnegation of this apparent self, the abnegation of all selfishness. This idea
of "me and mine"--Ahamkâra and Mamatâ--is the result of past
superstition, and the more this present self passes away, the more the real
self, or the Atman, becomes manifest. This is true self-abnegation, the center,
the basis, the gist of all moral teaching; and whether we know it or not, the
whole world is slowly going towards it, practicing it more or less. Only, the
vast majority of people are doing it unconsciously. Let them do it consciously.
Let them make the sacrifice, knowing that this "me and mine" is not
the real Atman but only a limitation. But one glimpse of that infinite reality
which is behind--but one spark of that infinite fire that is the
All--represents our present reality; the Infinite is our true nature.
The Utility of the Knowledge
of Our Real Nature
What is the utility, the effect, the result, of this
knowledge? In these days, we have to measure everything by utility--by how many
pounds, shillings, and pence it represents. What right has a person to ask that
truth should be judged by the standard of utility or money? Suppose there is no
utility, will it be less true? Utility is not the test of truth. Nevertheless,
there is the highest utility in this. Happiness, we see, is what everyone is
seeking for, but the majority seek it in things which are evanescent and not
real. No happiness was ever found in the senses. There never was a person who
found happiness in the senses or in the enjoyment of the senses. Happiness is
only found in the Atman. Therefore the highest utility for us all is to find
this happiness in the Atman.
The next point is that ignorance is the great mother of
all misery, and the fundamental ignorance is to think that the Infinite weeps
and cries, that He is finite. This is the basis of all ignorance that we, the
immortal, the ever pure, the perfect Atman, think that we are little minds,
that we are little bodies; it is the mother of all selfishness. As soon as I
think that I am a little body, I want to preserve it, to protect it, to keep it
nice, at the expense of other bodies; then you and I become separate. As soon
as this idea of separation comes, it opens the door to all mischief and leads
to all misery. This is the utility that if a very small fractional part of
human beings living today can put aside the idea of selfishness, narrowness,
and littleness, this earth will become a paradise tomorrow; but it will never
be with just machines and improvements of material knowledge. These only
increase misery, as oil poured on fire increase the flame all the more. Without
the knowledge of the Atman, all material knowledge is only adding fuel to fire,
only giving into the hands of selfish man one more instrument to take what
belongs to others, to live upon the life of others, instead of giving up his
life for them.
Is This Knowledge
Practical?
Is it practical?--is another question. Can it be practiced
in modern society? Truth does
not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to
Truth or die. Societies
should be molded upon truth, and truth has not to adjust itself to society. If
such a noble truth as unselfishness cannot be practiced in society, it is
better for us to give up society and go into the forest. That is the daring
person.
There are two sorts of courage. One is the courage of facing
the cannon. And the other is the courage of spiritual conviction. An Emperor
who invaded India was told by his
teacher to go and see some of the sages there. After a long search for one, he
found a very old man sitting on a block of stone. The Emperor talked with him a
little and became very impressed by his wisdom. He asked the sage to go to his
country with him. "No," said the sage, "I am quite satisfied
with my forest here." Said the Emperor, "I will give you money, position,
wealth. I am the Emperor of the world." "No," replied the man.
"I don't care for those things." The Emperor replied, "If you do
not go, I will kill you." The man smiled serenely and said, "That is
the most foolish thing you have ever said, Emperor. You cannot kill me. Me the
sun cannot dry, fire cannot burn, sword cannot kill, for I am the birthless,
the deathless, the ever-living omnipotent, omnipresent Spirit." This is
spiritual boldness, while the other is the courage of a lion or a tiger. In the
Mutiny of 1857 there was a Swami, a very great soul, whom a Muslim mutineer
stabbed severely. The Hindu mutineers caught and brought the man to the Swami,
offering to kill him. But the Swami looked up calmly and said, "My
brother, thou art He, thou art He!" and expired. This is another instance.
What good is it to talk of the strength of your muscles,
of the superiority of your Western institutions, if you cannot make Truth
square with your society, if you cannot build up a society into which the
highest Truth will fit? What is the good of this boastful talk about your
grandeur and greatness, if you stand up and say, "This courage is not
practical." Is nothing practical but pounds, shillings, and pence? If so,
why boast of your society? That
society is the greatest, where the highest truths become practical. That is my opinion; and if society is
not fit for the highest truths, make it so; and the sooner, the better. Stand
up, men and women, in this spirit, dare to believe in the Truth, dare to
practice the Truth! The world requires a few hundred bold men and women.
Practice that boldness which dares know the Truth, which dares show the Truth
in life, which does not quake before death, nay, welcomes death, helps us know
that every one of us is the Atman, that nothing in this universe can kill us.
Then we will be free. Then we will know our real self, the Atman. "This
Atman is first to be heard, then thought about and then meditated upon."
Work and Thought
There is a great tendency in modern times to talk too much
of work and decry thought. Doing is very good, but that comes from thinking.
Little manifestations of energy through the muscles are called work. But where
there is no thought, there will be no work. Fill the brain, therefore, with
high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you, and out of
that will come great work. Talk not about impurity, but say that we are pure.
We have hypnotized ourselves into this thought that we are little, that we are
born, and that we are going to die, and into a constant state of fear.
There is a story about a lioness who was big with young,
going about in search of prey; and seeing a flock of sheep, she jumped upon
them. She died in the effort; and a little baby lion was born, motherless. It
was taken care of by the sheep and the sheep brought it up, and it grew up with
them, ate grass, and bleated like the sheep. And although in time it became a
big, full-grown lion, it thought it was a sheep. One day another lion came in
search of prey and was astonished to find that in the midst of this flock of
sheep was a lion, fleeing like the sheep at the approach of danger. He tried to
get near the sheep-lion, to tell it that it was not a sheep but a lion; but the
poor animal fled at his approach. However, he watched his opportunity and one
day found the sheep-lion sleeping. He approached it and said, "You are a
lion." "I am a sheep," cried the other lion and could not
believe the contrary but bleated. The lion dragged him towards a lake and said,
"Look here, here is my reflection and yours." Then came the
comparison. It looked at the lion and then at its own reflection, and in a
moment came the idea that it was a lion. The lion roared, the bleating was
gone.
You are lions! You are souls, pure, infinite, and perfect.
The might of the universe is within you. "Why weepest thou, my friend?
There is neither birth nor death for thee. Why weepest thou? There is no
disease nor misery for thee, but thou art like the infinite sky; clouds of
various colours come over it, play for a moment, then vanish. But the sky is
ever the same eternal blue."
That Which Is
"Inside" We See "Outside"
Why do we see wickedness? There was a stump of a tree, and
in the dark, a thief came that way and said, "That is a policeman." A
young man waiting for his beloved saw it and thought that it was his
sweetheart. A child who had been told ghost stories took it for a ghost and
began to shriek. But all the time it was the stump of a tree. We see the world
as we are. Suppose there is a baby in a room with a bag of gold on the table and
a thief comes and steals the gold. Would the baby know it was stolen? That
which we have inside, we see outside. The baby has no thief inside and sees no
thief outside. So with all knowledge. Do not talk of the wickedness of the
world and all its sins. Weep that you are bound to see wickedness yet. Weep
that you are bound to see sin everywhere, and if you want to help the world, do
not condemn it. Do not weaken it more. For what is sin and what is misery, and
what are all these, but the results of weakness? The world is made weaker and
weaker every day by such teachings.
Men and women are taught from childhood that they are weak
and sinners. Teach them that they are all glorious children of immortality,
even those who are the weakest in manifestation. Let positive, strong, helpful
thought enter into their brains from very childhood. Lay yourselves open to
these thoughts, and not to weakening and paralyzing ones. Say to your own
minds, "I am the Atman. I am the Infinite." Let it ring day and night
in your minds like a song, and at the point of death declare, "I am the
Atman." That is the Truth; the infinite strength of the world is yours.
Drive out the superstition that has covered your minds. Let us be brave. Know
the truth and practice the truth. The goal may be distant, but awake, arise,
and stop not till the goal is reached.
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