LIBRARY

UNlVEKtlY OP

CAUPOHNIA

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
(From photograph taken just before leaving Madras for the Parliament of Religions at Chicago, showing the Swami in the orange robe and with the shaven head of the Sanyasin.)
a

VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY

INSPIRED TALKS
BY

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
(Recorded by a disciple during the seven weeks at Thousand Island Park)

Second Edition
[Copyright]
All Rights Reserved

PUBLISHED BY

THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION

MYLAPORE, MADRAS

MADRAS:

G. C.

LOGANADHAM BROS.
PRESS,

THE "GUARDIAN"

MOUNT ROAD

V+3T

To His Holiness

SWAMI BRAHMANANDAJI
In

Loving Memory of

SWAM VJVEKANANDA
I

This Book
is

dedicated by

His Devoted Disciples.

"

INSPIRED TALKS

CONTENTS

Frontispiece

Swami Vivekananda.

House at Thousand Island Park.

Page.
I.

Preface
II.

Introductory Narrative
III.

The Master
IV.

24

Inspired Talks

51

PREFACE
This invaluable book
is

published for the

I

second time.
few notes

In this edition

have added a

where

Swamiji's

utterances

appear to be abrupt and unconnected.

may Some

typographical mistakes also have been attended

to

and no pains have been spared

to
all

to

make

it

intelligible

readers

and

free

from

all

errors, as far as possible.

Swamiji
greatest

is

known

all

over the

world as the
of the
felt

and most powerful exponent

in

Vedanta

modern

times.

Many have
in

the

irresistible

charm
In the

of his

eloquence

India and

abroad.

present case Swamiji did not

stand before

a vast

and

critical

audience to

Preface
conquer

them by

his

irrefutable

arguments

based upon sound logic, his bewitching personality

and

his

rare gifts of explaining

the

most

abstruse subjects in a most perspicuous

manner

accompanied by his "cyclonic"

he was
sitting

eloquence, but
of
his

before a few
disciples

already
to

conquered chosen
see in

who had begun

him their only guide

the glory

the ocean of
sat

them beyond ignorance and misery. There he

to take

in

of

his

own

all-illumining

realisation diffusing the

light

balmy

rays of his inner

by means of
all

his

most sweet and musical

voice,

about him, softly raising and opening

the lotus buds of the hearts of his ardent devotees.

Peace reigned

all

around him.

Blessed

indeed were

those few
privilege
of

fortunate souls
sitting

who

had the rare

at

the feet of

such a great sage and Guru.

The

cyclonic

monk was

not there carrying

sat the peaceful

everything before him.

ii

There

Preface
Rishi

mildly disseminating
bliss to

the messages

of

peace and

a few ardent

souls fully ripe

to receive them.

How

illumining and solacing

his holy

were those sweet words coming out of

mouth

like the

smiling and breezy

Dawn coming
If

out of the lap of the bright and ruddy east and

driving

away
had

the darkness before her. the

those

words

power

to

console
to bring

few

souls, they
fort

must have the power

souls and blessed

com-

to all

be the motherpreserved those

heart of that loving disciple

who

saving words and did not allow them to be lost

in the

abysmal

womb
S.

of Eternity.

To mother

Haridasi (Miss

Ellen Waldo) the whole world

should be grateful for these "inspired" talks

of

Swamiji which have brought into existence

the present volume.

friend
this.

There cannot be a better

all

and a

better guide to

humanity than
it

Whoever

will taste the nectar in

is

sure

to

know

that death has

no power over him,

iii

Preface

May

every soul seeking for

to

illumination,
it

rest

and peace have recourse

miseries once for
all.

to

end his or her

Madras,

RAMAKRISHNANANDA.

9th December 1910. f

IV

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

All

who had

the blessing of personal

are

contact

with

Swami Vivekananda

of

one accord

that those

who knew him on

was

the lecture plat-

form only, had but a small measure of his true

power and

greatness.

It

in familiar

con-

versation with chosen friends

and

disciples that

came
his

his

most

brilliant flashes of

illumination,

loftiest flights of

eloquence, his utterances

Unfortunately,
far

of profoundest
ever,

wisdom.

how-

his printed

works so

have shown us
;

only

Vivekananda the

lecturer

Vivekananda
master, was
rare

the friend,

the teacher, the loving

to the

known only

happy few who had the

Glimpses

privilege of sitting at his feet.

of this

Preface
side of the great spiritual genius are revealed

to us,

it is

true, in his

published
first

letters

but

the present

volume

is

the

to give us

words

spoken by him
circle.

in the

intimacy of an inner

They were taken down by Miss

of

S.

E.

Waldo

New

York,

who from

the early

days of the

Swami's American mission served him with

unremitting devotion.
dictated his
It

was to her

that

he
of

translation

and explanation

M Pantanjali's Aphorisms, published in his Raja " and often has she told me how she Yoga,

would

sit

for long

periods of

time watching

always to see that the ink on her pen was kept

wet,

ready to write

down

the

first

word

that

would come as the Swami would emerge from

the depths of self-contemplation
into

which

he had plunged, to discover the true meaning of

the terse Sanskrit phrases.
It

was she

also

who

prepared

all

his

American publications
vi

for the

Preface
press
;

and so great was Swami Vivekananda's

in

confidence

her

ability,

that

he

would

pass the type written transcriptions of his lectures over to

her with the instruction to do

with them what she thought best, for his

indifference to
the fruits
of his

own

work was so

extreme, that he could not be induced to give

even a cursory glance

at his

recorded words.

Through
heart
at

this

constant faithful service with

disciple's
that,

and brain, the

mind became

so

one with the master's

even without the

aid of

shorthand, she was able to transcribe his

teaching with wonderful fullness and accuracy.

As she

herself

said,

it

was as

if

the thought

of

Swami Vivekananda flowed through her and wrote itself upon the page. Once when she
was reading a portion
of these

same notes

to

some

tardy arrivals in

the

Thousand Island
the

Park home, the

floor,

Swami paced up down

unconscious
vii

apparently

of

what

was

Preface
going on, until the
then he turned
to
travellers

had
:

left

the

room

her and said

"

How

could

you have caught

perfectly
?

my
if I

thought and words so

It

was as

heard myself speaking."

?

What need

of other

commendation
Mission
of

The Ramakrishna

Madras

is

highly gratified in having been entrusted with

the task of presenting these truly Inspired Talks
to the public,
felt

and

it

wishes to express its heart-

gratitude to

each one of those

this

who

have

aided in making

rich
all

treasure, so

long

hidden, the property of

mankind.

Madras, November 1908.

DEVAMATA.

Vlll

INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVE
In
the

summer
a

of

1893 there landed in

Vancouver

young Hindu
to attend the

Sanydsin*

He

was on

his

way

Parliament of

Religions at Chicago, but not as an accredited

delegate from any recognised religious organisation.

Unknown and

inexperienced,

he

had

been chosen for his mission by a few earnest

young men

of

Madras,

who

firm in their belief

that he, better than

any one, could worthily

religion
"

represent the ancient

* Literally " one
for a

of

India,

had

who

has renounced

the

Hindu name

man who

gives

up everything and devotes himself to

wandering
reli-

the religious

life

either as a hermit or as a

gious teacher.

Vedanta Philosophy
gone from door
his journey.
to door, soliciting

money

for

The amount

thus collected, to-

gether with contributions

from one or two

princes, enabled the youthful

monk, the then

set

obscure Swami Vivekananda, to

long journey.
It

out on his

required
forth

tremendous
such
a

courage

to

venleave

ture

on

mission.

To

the sacred soil of India for a foreign country

means

far

more

to a

Hindu than we
is

of

the
the

West
case

can
with

realize.

Especially

this

a Sanydsin,

whose
practical,

whole trainmaterial
side
to

ing
of

is
life.

away from the

Unused

to

handling

money,

or

any mode

of travel save

on

his

own

feet,

the
at

Swami was robbed

every
finally
less.

and imposed
journey, until

upon

stage of

his

when he

reached Chicago he was nearly penni-

He had

brought with him no

letters

of introduction

and knew no one

2

in

the great

Introductory
city.* of

Narrative
strangers,

Thus alone among

from
his

thousands
it

miles

own

country,

was a
;

situation to

daunt even a strong

man

but

the

Swami

left

the matter in the hands

of the

Lord, firm in his faith that Divine protection

would never

fail

him

For nearly a

fortnight he

was able

to

meet

the exorbitant demands of his hotel-keeper and

others.

Then

the smal]

sum

still

in his posses-

sion

was reduced

to such
if

meagre proportions

that he realized that,

he did not wish to die

he must
at

of starvation in the street,

once seek
less.
in

a place where the cost of living would be

* Later a Brahmin
of

Madras wrote
this

to a

gentleman

Chicago about the Swami and

gentleman took the joung

Hindu

into his

own

family.

Thus was begun a friendship

lived.

which lasted as long as Swami Vivekananda

All the

members of

the family learned to dearly love the

Swami,

to

appreciate his brilliant gifts

simplicity of his character, to

and

to

admire the purity and

which they often bore willing

and loving testimony.

Vedanta Philosophy
It

was very hard

for

him

to

abandon the task

For a

which he had so bravely undertaken.

moment

a wave of

discouragement and doubt

swept over him and he began to wonder

why

he had been so foolish as

to listen to those few

hot-headed school-boys of Madras.

Yet since

no other course was

heart

left

to

him, with a sad

he

set

out for
and,

Boston, determined to
if

cable for
India.

money

need be, return

to

But the Lord,

willed otherwise.

in

whom

he so firmly trusted,

On

the train he met an old lady

friendly interest that

and

so far

awakened her

she invited him to

become

a guest in her house.

of a professor

Here he made the acquaintance

from Harvard University, who
ed with the

after

being closet-

Swami

for four

hours one day, was

so deeply impressed with his rare ability that

he asked him

why he

did not represent Hin-

duism

at the

Chicago Parliament of Religions.

Introductory

Narrative
difficulties,

The Swami

explained his

that

he

had neither money nor

to any one connected
44

letter

of introduction

with
;

the
I

Parliament.

Mr. Bonney

is

my

friend

will give

you a
;

letter to

him," the Professor quickly replied

it,

and
of
it

at

once he wrote

declaring in the course

this
all

that he
u

had found

unknown Hindu
our learned

monk

more

learned than

men
ticket

put together."

With

this letter

and a

presented by the Professor, the

to

Swami returned

Chicago and was readily accepted as a dele-

gate.

At

last

the day of the opening of the Parlia-

ment

arrived

and Swami Vivekananda took

his

place in the line of Oriental delegates

who

filed

out on the platform

at

the opening Session.

;

His purpose was

accomplished

but as

he

caught sight of that vast

nervousness seized
prepared
speeches.

audience, a sudden
All

him.

the others

had

He
5

had

none.

What

Vedanta Philosophy
should he say to that great gathering of
seven
six or

thousand

men and women

Through-

out the morning he kept putting off his turn to

be introduced, whispering each time to th e " Let some one else President, speak first." So
again in the afternoon, until about five
Dr.

when

Barrows

rising,

named him

as the next

speaker.

The shock
the courage

steadied the nerves

of

and stimulated
at

Vivekananda, and he
It

once

rose to the occasion.

his life that
to speak, or

was the

first

time in
his feet

he had ever stood upon

had addressed a

large audience,

but the

effect

was

electric.

When

he looked
filled

over the sea of expectant faces, he was

with power and eloquence,

his musical voice,
11

and beginning

in

he addressed his hearers as

of

Sisters

and Brothers

America." His sucall

cess

was immediate and during

the rest of

the Congress his popularity never

waned.

He

Introductory Narrative

was

always eagerly
to the

listened

to

and

people

would remain

end of a long Session on

a hot day in order to hear him.

This was the beginning of his work in the

United States.
in

After the Parliament

was

over,

order

to

provide for

his

necessities,

the

Swami accepted an Bureau to make a

offer

from

Lecture

tour

through the West.

Although he attracted large audiences, he soon

gave up the uncongenial work.

He was

here

as a religious teacher, not as a popular lecturer

on

secular subjects

so he

quickly abandon-

ed a most profitable career and early in 1894

came

to

New York
They

to start

on

his real mission.

He

first

visited friends

whom

he had

made

in

Chicago.

were

chiefly

among

the

wealthier class and he spoke

their parlors
;

now and

then in

but this too failed to satisfy him.

He

felt

that the interest he

;

awakened was not

superficial,

what he wanted

it

was too
7

too

Vedanta Philosophy

much mere amusement-seeking.

earnest truth-seekers, whether

Therefore he
all

decided to have a place of his own, where

rich

or

poor,

would be

free to

come.
the

lecture

before

Brooklyn

Ethical

Association led naturally to this independent

teaching.

Dr. Lewis G. Janes, the

President

of the Association,

had heard the young Hindu

attracted

monk

and,

much

by his

ability as

well as by his message to us of the

Western

Hemisphere, had invited him

the
Association.
It

to

speak before
last

was on the

day of

1894.
sion,
its

large audience filled the

Pouch Man-

where the Ethical Association then held

meetings.
as the

The

lecture

was on "Hinduism"
robe and turban,
of his

and

Swami,

in his long

expounded the ancient

land, the interest

[religion

native

grew so deep that

at the close

of the evening there was an insistent

for regular classes in

demand

Brooklyn.

The Swami

Introductory

Narrative

graciously acceded and a series of class meetings was held and several public lectures were

given in the Pouch Mansion and elsewhere.

A
he

few of

those

who had
to

heard

him

in

Brooklyn now began

lived in

go
It

to

the place where

just

New

York.

was

an ordinary
hou$e,

room on
and

the second floor of a lodging

as the classes rapidly increased

beyond the

capacity of the chairs and one lounge, students

sat

on the

dresser,
still

on the corner marble washlike

basin and

others on the floor,

the

Swami

himself,

who

thus seated cross-legged

after the

manner

of his

own
was

country,

taught

his eager students the great truths of Vedanta.

At

last

he

felt

that he

fairly started

on

his mission,

which was to

deliver to the

Wes-

tern world the message of his Master, Sri

krishna,

Rama-

which proclaimed the truth and fundaall religions.

mental unity of

The

classes

grew

so rapidly that they soon overflowed the small 9

Vedanta Philosophy
upstairs

room, and the large double parlors

were
engaged.
In

below

them the

Swami
teach-

taught until the end of the season.

The

ing was entirely free, the necessary

expenses

being met by voluntary contributions.

These

proving insufficient to pay the rent and provide

for the

maintenance of the Swami, the classes

came
port.

near ending for want of pecuniary sup-

At once the

Swami announced

a course
for

of public lectures

on secular subjects

which

he could receive remuneration, and so earned

the

money to support

the religious classes.

it

He
the

explained that the

Hindus regarded

as

duty of a religious teacher not only to freely give

his teaching, but also
if

he possibly could, to
In former times
for the teacher

bear the expenses of his work.

in India,
it

was even customary

to provide a

home and food

time

for his students.

By

this

some

of

the

students

had

become so deeply

interested

in the

Swami's

10

Introductory Narrative
teachings that they were desirous to have them

continued through the summer.

He, however
at first

was

tired after a

hard season's work and

demurred against prolonging

the hot weather.

his labors through

Then

too,

many

of the stu-

dents would be out of town at this time of

year.

The problem solved itself. number owned a small cottage

Island

One
at

of our

Thousand
St.

Park, the largest island in the

Lawit

rence River; and she offered the use of

the

to

Swami and

as

many
plan

of

us as

it

would
to

accommodate.

This

appealed

the

Swami and he agreed

brief visit to

to join us there after a

the Maine

Camp

of

one of

his

friends.

Miss D., the student to

whom
built

the cottage

belonged, feeling that a special sanctuary should

be prepared for the occasion,

love offering to her Teacher, a

as a

true

new wing

that

was nearly

as

large

as

the original

cottage.

11

Vedanta Philosophy

The

place was ideally situated on high ground,

overlooking a wide sweep of the beautiful river

with

many

of its far-famed

Thousand
in

Islands.
the
dis-

Clayton could be dimly discerned

tance,

while the nearer and wider Canadian

shores bounded the view to the north.

cottage
the

The

stood on the side of a

hill,

which on

north

and west sloped abruptly

a

down
little

towards the shores of the river and of

inlet that like a small lake lay

behind the house.

" built
all

The house
"

itself

was

literally

upon a
it.

rock,

and huge bowlders

lay

around
of

The new wing stood on

the steep slope

the

rocks like a great lantern tower with

windows
the
back,

on three

sides, three stories

in the front.

deep

at

and only two

The lower room

The one
the

was occupied by one

over
it

of the students. of

opened out

the

main

part of

house by several doors, and being large and

convenient, became our class-room, where for

12

Introductory Narrative
hours each day the
instruction.

Swami gave us familiar Over this room was the one

of:

devoted exclusively to the use

In order that
it

the Swami.

might be perfectly secluded,

it

Miss D. had supplied

staircase,

with a separate outside

although there was also a door openstory of the piazza.

ing

upon the second

upstairs

This

piazza played

an important

part in our lives, as all the

talks

Swami's evening

were given here.

in,

It

was wide and roomy,

roofed

and extended along the south and

Miss D.
screened

west sides of the cottage.

west
side of
it

had the
off

carefully

by a

partition, so that

none

of

the strangers

who

frequently visited the piazza to see the magnificent

view

it

our privacy.

commanded, could intrude upon There, close by his own door, sat

our beloved Teacher every evening during our

stay

and communed with us who

darkness, eagerly

sat silent in-

the

drinking in his inspired

13

Vedanta Philosophy
words.

The
feet,

place

was a

veritable sanctuary.

At our
of

like a sea of green,

waved the

leaves
sur-

the tree tops, for the entire place

was

rounded by thick woods.

Not one house

it

of

the large village could be seen,

was as
forest,

if

we

were

in the heart of

some dense

miles

away from
trees

the

haunts of men.

spread the

wide expanse of

Beyond the the St. Law-

rence, dotted here

of

and there with

islands,

some
of

which gleamed bright with the

lights

hotels
far

and boarding-houses.
that they

All these

were so

away

seemed more

like a pictured

scene than a

reality.

Not
;

human sound
but
the

penetrated our seclusion

we heard

murmur

of the insects, the sweet songs

of the

birds, or the gentle sighing of the

wind through

the

leaves.

Part of the time the scene was

the

illumined by the soft rays of

face

moon and
" the

her

was mirrored
this

in the

shining waters beneath.

In

scene

of

enchantment,

world

14

Introductory Narrative
forgetting,

by the world

forgot,"

we spent seven

blessed weeks with our beloved Teacher, listen-

ing to his words of inspiration.

after

Immediately

our evening meal each day of our stay,

repaired to the upper piazza
of our Master.

we
the

all

and awaited

coming

Nor had we long

ere the

to wait, for hardly

had we assembled

door of his room would open and he would

quietly step out

and take

his

accustomed

seat.

He
the

always spent two hours with us and more

often

much

longer.

One

glorious night,
full,

when

moon was about

the

he talked to

us until she set below the western horizon,

apparently as unconscious as
lapse of time.

we were

of the

Of these
notes.

talks

it

was not possible

to take

They

are preserved only in the hearts

of the hearers.
uplift,

None

of us can ever forget the

life

the intense spiritual

of those hallowall

ed hours.

The Swami poured out

15

his heart

Vedanta Philosophy
at

those times, his

;

own

struggles were enacted

again before us

the very spirit of his Master

lips, to satisfy all

seemed
doubts,
every

to speak

through his
all

to

answer

questioning, to

soothe

fear.

Many

times the

Swami seemed

hardly conscious of our presence, and then

we

almost held our breath for fear of disturbing

him and checking

the flow
his seat

of his thoughts.

He would
down
forth

rise

from

and pace up and

the narrow limits of the piazza, pouring

a perfect
torrent of

eloquence.

Never

was he more
these hours.

gentle,
It

more

loveable than during

may

have been

much

like

the

way
just

his

own

great Master taught his disciples,,

allowing them to listen to the outpourings

of hfe
It

own

spirit in

communion

with himself.

was
like

a perpetual inspiration to live with

man
till

Swami Vivekananda.
it

From morning
lived in a
spirituality

night

was ever the same, we

intense

constant

atmosphere of

16

Introductory Narrative
Often playful and fun-loving,
full of

merry

jest

and quick
far

repartee, he

was never

for a

moment
Every-

from the dominating note

text

of his

life.

thing could furnish a

or an illustration,
find

and

in

moment we would
tales of

ourselves

swept from amusing

to the deepest

philosophy.

Hindu mythology The Swami had an

inexhaustible
surely

fund of mythological lore and

is

no race

more abundantly supplied

with myths
loved to
listen, for
tell

than those ancient Aryans.

He

them

to

us and

we

delighted to

he never

failed to point out the reality

hidden un der myth and story and

it

to

draw from
for-

valuable

spiritual

lessons.

Never had

tunate

students greater cause to congratulate

I

themselves on having so gifted a Teacher

By

a singular coincidence just twelve students

followed the

Swami

to

Thousand

Island Park,

and he told us that he accepted us as real

disciples

and

that

was why he so constantly

17

Vedanta Philosophy
and
freely taught us, giving us

his best.

All

the twelve were not together at once, ten being

the largest

number

present at any

one time.

Two

of

our

number subsequently
initiated
at

became

sanydsins,

both being

Thousand

Island Park.

On

the occasion of the conse-

cration of the second sanydsin,

Swami

initiatlater, in

ed

five of

us as brahmacharins,* and
City, the rest of our

New York
initiation,

number took

together with several other of the

Swami's
It

disciples there.

was decided, when we went to Thousand

Island Park, that

we should live as

a community,

each doing his or her share of the

in order that

house-work

no

alien presence

should mar the

serenity of our household.

The Swami himself

was an accomplished cook and often prepared

for

us delicious dishes.

He had

learned

how

to

cook when,

after his Master's death,

he had

Religious students devoted to a particular teacher.

18

Introductory Narrative.
served his brethren, a
fellow- disciples,

band

of

young men,

his

whom

he held together and

taught, continuing the training

begun by

his

Master, in order that they might be fitted to

spread abroad over the world the truths imparted by Sri Ramakrishna.

Every morning,

just as

soon as our various

tasks were over (and often before), the

Swami

called us together in the large parlor that served

us as class-room and began to teach us.

Each

day he took up some special subject, or ex-

pounded from some sacred book,

vad
of
Gitd, the Upanishads, or the

as the

Bhaga-

Veddnta Sutras
the

Vyasa.

The

Sutras
the

are

in

form of
state-

aphorisms, being

briefest

possible

ments of the
Vedas.
verb,

great

truths

imbedded

in

the

They have

neither

nominative

nor

and so intent were the writers of them on

every

-eliminating

unnecessary word, that a

Hindu proverb

says that M a writer of Sutras

19

Vedanta Philosophy.
would
rather give one of his sons than

add a

syllable to his sw/ra."

Because of
the

their

almost enigmatical brevity

a rich field for the

Vedanta Sutras offer

commentator, and three great Hindu philosophers, Sankara,

Ramanuja, and Madhva, wrote

In
his
firs!

elaborate

commentaries upon them.

talks the

morning
one of

Swami would

take

up

these

commentaries,

then

another,
guilty of

showing how each commentator was

twisting the

meaning

of the Sutras to

meet

his

own

particular view,

and would read

in the

aphorism whatever would best substantiate his

own

interpretation.

The Swami
is

often pointed
text-

out to us
torturing.''

how

old

the

bad habit of u

Thus
of

it

was that

in

these lessons the point

that
of

view presented

was some times

pure dualism as represented by Madhva,

while

on another day

it

was

that of the qualified

20

Introductory Narrative
non-dualism
Visishtddvaita.

taught by Ramanuja,

known

as the
;

Most frequently, however,

monistic commentary of Sankara was taken up

but because of his subtlety he was more

to understand, so to the

difficult

end Ramanuja remain-

ed the

among the students. Sometimes the Swami took up the

favourite

Bhakti

Sutras of Narada.
of

They are

a short exposition

devotion to God, which gives one some

conception of the lofty

Hindu

ideal

of real,
liter-

all-absorbing love for the Lord, love that

ally

possesses the

devotee to the
Bhakti
is

exclusion
the

of every other thought.

Hindu

method

of realizing union with the Divine, a

to the devout.

method which naturally appeals

It is

to love

God and Him

only.
for the
first

In these talks the

Swami

time

spoke
Sri

to us at

length about his great Master,

of

Ramakrishna,

his daily

life

with him
to

and

of his struggles with his

own tendency

21

Vedanta Philosophy
unbelief,

which

at

times drew tears from his

Master.
that Sri

The

other disciples have often said

told

Ramakrishna always

them

that

Swami Vivekananda was

come
soon as he knew who he
at

a great Soul,

who had
that as

especially to help his

work and

really was,

he would,
that

once give up the body.

But he added

before that time arrived, there

was a

certain
to ac-

mission which the

complish, to help

Swami would have

not only India but other

lands as well.
said,

Frequently Sri
other
I

Ramakrishna
away,

"I have

disciples

far

who

speak a language

do not understand."

After seven weeks spent at

Thousand Island

Park, the

Swami

returned to

New York

City

and

later

went abroad.

He

lectured

and held

classes in

England

until the

end of November,

when he

returned to

his teaching there.

New York and resumed On this occasion, his stuand

dents secured a competent stenographer

22

Introductory Narrative
thus preserved the Swami's words.
of in

The

reports

the class lectures were soon after published

book form and

these books, together with

the pamphlets of the public lectures, remain

to-day as enduring

monuments
America.

of

Swami
those

Viveof us

kananda's work

in

To

who were
and

privileged to hear the lectures given,

to live

the Swami's very presence seems

to speak to

again

us from the printed pages, so

exactly and accurately were his utterances transcribed

of

by one, who subsequently became one

the Swami's most devoted disciples.

of both

The

work

Teacher and taught was purely a

labor of love, so the blessing of the Lord rested

upon

it.

S.

E.

W.

New

York, 1908.

23

II

THE MASTER.
February
14th,

1894,

stands out

in

my
;

memory
it

as a day apart, a sacred, holy

that
I

day

for
lis-

was then

first

saw the form and

tened to the voice of that Great

Spiritual Giant, the

Soul, that

Swami Vivekananda who,

two years

later,

to

my

great

joy

and never-

ceasing wonder, accepted

me

as a disciple.

He had
this
first

been lecturing

in the

large cities of date gave

in

country and on the above

of a series of lectures

the
the

in Detroit,

Unitarian
literally

Church.

The

large

edifice

was

packed
I

and the Swami received an

ovation.

can see him yet as he stepped upon

majestic figure,
vital,

the

platform, a regal,

24

The Master
forceful,

dominant, and

at the first
all

sound

of the
like

wonderful voice, a voice

music

now

the plaintive minor strain of an Eolian harp,

again,

deep,

vibrant,

resonant

there

was a

hush, a

stillness that

could almost be

felt,

and

the vast audience breathed as one man.

The Swami gave

five

public lectures and he

held his audiences, for his was the grasp of the " master hand " and he spoke as one with
authority.

His arguments were

in

logical,

con-

vincing,
flights

and

his

most

brilliant

oratorical

never once did he lose sight of the

the truth he wished to drive

main

issue,

home.
per-

He
sonal

fearlessly attacked principles, but in

matters one

felt

that

here was a
all

man

whose
seeing

great heart could take in

of humanity,

beyond
suffer

their faults

and

foibles;

one who
In

would
fact,

and forgive to the uttermost.

it

when

was given
I

to

me

to

know him
to

more

intimately,

found that he did forgive

25

Vedanta Philosophy
the uttermost.

With what

infinite

love and

patience would he lead those

out of the labyrinth of

point out to

who came to him, their own frailties and

of self to

them the way out

malice.

God.

He knew no
his face

Did one abuse him, he

Siva, Siva, then

would look thoughtful, repeat

"

would become illumined and he would

:

tay gently " or loved;

It

is

only the voice of the Be-

if

we who loved him would become

would ask
:

indignant, he
it

"What

difference can

make when one knows

praiser, praised, are

and
like

one

that blamer, "

?

blamed,

Again, under

circumstances he would
Sri

tell

us

some

story

of

how

Ramakrishna would never recognise

Everything good

personal abuse or malice.

or bad, " the dual throng/' was from the " Be" loved Mother.
It

was given

to

me

to

know him

in

an

inti-

mate way for a period of several years and

never once did Tfind a flaw in his character*.

26

The Master

He was

incapable of petty weakness and

faults,
all

had

Vivekananda possessed
been generous ones.

they would have

his greatness
at

With
child,

he

was as simple as a

equally

home
the

among
While
John
J.

the rich

and the

great, or

among

poor and the lowly.

in

Detroit he was the guest of Mrs,

Bagley, the

widow

of the

ex-Governor

of Michigan

and a lady

of rare culture

and unonce

usual spirituality.

She told

me

that never

during the time he was a guest in her house

(about four weeks) did he
highest in
fail to

express the

word and

action, that

his presence

was a " continual benediction."

Mrs.

After leaving

Bagley, Vivekananda spent two weeks as

of

the guest

Hon. Thomas W. Palmer.

of the

Mr.

Palmer was President

World's Fair

Com-

mission; he had been formerly U. S. Minister to

Spain and also a U.

is still

S.

Senator.

This gentleman

living

and

is

over eighty years of age.

27

Vedanta Philosophy
For myself,
years
I I

can say that never in

fail

all

the

knew Vivekananda did he

life

to manifest

the highest in

and purpose.
I

Blessed and beloved Swamiji,

it

never thought

possible for
!

man

to

be so white, so chaste, as

he was

It

set

him apart from other men.

most

He was
brilliant

brought in contact with our

and beautiful women, mere beauty did

not
like

attract

him but he would

often say

"

to

cross swords with your bright intellec;

tual
in

women

it

is

new

experience for me, for

are

my

country the

women

more

or less

secluded."

His manner was that of boyish frankness

and naivete' and very winsome.

-evening after he

remember one

had delivered a profoundly

scaling

impressive
realization,

lesson,

the very heights of

at

he was found standing

the foot

of the stairs with a puzzled, almost disconsolate

expression on his face.

People were going up

28

The Master
and down
putting on their wraps, etc. " I Suddenly his face lighted up and he said
stairs
:

have

it

going up the
the
lady,

stairs,

the gentleman
the

precedes

coming down,
isn't
it

lady
to his

precedes the gentleman,

Eastern training, he
felt

"

True

that a breach of eti-

quette was a breach of hospitality.

In speaking to

me one day

regarding those

to have a part in his life work, he " said they must be pure in heart." There was

who wished

one disciple of
evidently

whom

he hoped much.

He
re-

saw

in

her great possibilities for

self-sacrifice.

nunciation and

He found me
questions
after
I

alone one day and asked

regarding her
life

me many
he looked
she
is

and environment, and

all,

had answered them

wistfully
soul,
is

at

me so

and
it

said

"
:

And

not
is

"
?
I

simply

pure, pure in " Yes. answered

:

Swami, she

absolutely pure in heart."

His

face lighted up

and

his eyes

shone with divine

29

Vedanta Philosophy
fire

"
;

knew

it, I

felt

it,

must have her

for

my
the

work

in Calcutta,"

he said with enthusiasm.

He

then told

me

of his plans

and hopes
of

for

advancement
is

of

the

women

India.
say,

" Education
"

what they need," he would

in

We

must have a school

Calcutta."

school for girls has since been established there

by the

Sister Nivedita

and the above-mentioned

her, living in a

disciple shares

the

work with

Calcutta lane and wearing the Sari, doing the

Mother's work as best she may.

all

She shared

these experiences with me, for

we

together

sought out the Master and asked him to teack

us.

He was

the "

man

of the hour'' in Detroit

that winter.

Society smiled
after.

upon him and he

daily papers re;

was much sought

The

corded his comings and

his goings

even his

food was discussed, one paper gravely stating

that his breakfast consisted of bread
thickly

and butter
and

sprinkled

with pepper

Letters

30

The Master
invitations

came pouring

in

and Detroit was

at

the feet of Vivekananda.

He
for
all

always loved Detroit and was grateful

the kindness

and courtesy shown him.

to

We
way
in

had no chance
at the time,

meet him
listened

in a personal

but

we

and pondered
say,

our hearts over

all

that

we heard him

resolving to find

him sometime, somewhere,

go across the world
to

even

if

we had

to

do

it.

We

lost trace of

him completely

for nearly

two

years and thought that probably he had return-

ed to India, but one afternoon we were told by

a friend that he was
that he
still

in this

country and
at

was spending the summer

Thousand

Island Park.

We started

the next morning, reto teach us.

solved to seek

him out and ask him

a weary search,

At

last after

we found him.

We

were

feeling very
in thus

much

frightened at our

temerity

intruding upon his privacy,

fire

but he had lighted a

in

our souls that could

31

Vedanta Philosophy
not be quenched.
this

We

must know more

his teaching.
It

of

wonderful

man and

was
after

a dark

and rainy night and we were weary

seen
?

our long journey, but we could not

rest until

we had
accept us

him
if

face to face.

Would he

And

he did not, what then could

it

we do

It

suddenly seemed to us that

might

be a foolish thing to go several hundred miles

to find a

man who

did not

even

know

of

our

existence, but

rain

we plodded on up the hill in the and darkness, with a man we had hired to
the

show us
us as u

way with

his lantern.

Speaking

of this in after years,

our Guru would refer to

travelled

my

disciples,

who

hundreds

of

miles to find

me and

they

came

in the night
to-

and

in the rain.''

We

had thought of what

realized that

say to him, but

really
fine

when we

we had
all

found him, we instantly forgot

our

speeches and one of us blurted out

Detroit

"
:

We

came from

and Mrs.
32

P.

sent

us to

The Master
you."
just as

The

other said

"
:

We

have come to you

we would go to Jesus if he were still on the earth and ask him to teach us.'' He looked
at

us so kindly

and

said gently, "

If

only

possessed the power of the Christ to set

free

you

now!"

He stood

for a

moment looking

thoughtful and then turning to his hostess

who
are

was standing

near,

said

"
:

These

ladies

from Detroit, please show them upstairs and

allow them to spend the evening with
us."

We
who

remained
paid no
all

until

late

listening to the

Master

more

attention to us,

but as

we

bade them
the next

good night we were

at

told to

come

morning

nine o'clock.

We

arrived

promptly, and to our great joy were accepted

by the Master and were cordially become members of the household. Of our
fully,

invited

to

stay there another disciple has written

I

and

will

only say that

I

it

was a most

blessed

summer.

have never seen our Master

33

Vedanta Philosophy
quite as he was then.

He was

at

his

best

among

those

who

loved him.
it

There were twelve of us and

Pentecostal
fire

seemed as

if

descended and touched the

Master.

One

afternoon
the glory of

when he had been

renunciation, of the
of the ochre robe,

telling us of

joy and freedom of those

he

suddenly

left

us

and
of

in

a short time he had

written his "

Song

the

Sanyasin" a very
I

passion of sacrifice and renunciation.

think

the thing which impressed

me most

in those

days was his

like

infinite

patience and gentleness

a father with his children, though most of

After a
it

us were several years older than he.

morning

in
if

the class-room

where

almost

seemed

as

he had gazed into the very face of

the Infinite, he would leave the room returning soon to say : u Now I am going to cook for

you."

And

with what patience would he stand

prepare

over the stove and

some Indian

tit-bit

34

The Master
for us!

The

last

time he was with us in Detroit

he prepared

for us the

most delicious

curries.

What

a lesson to his disciples,

the brilliant,

the great

to their

and learned Vivekananda ministering little wants He was at those times so

!

gentle, so benign.

What

a legacy

of

sacred

tender memories has he

left

us

One day Vivekananda

that
It

related to us the story

itself

had most impressed

upon

his in

life.

was told him over and over again

his nurse

his

babyhood by
of hearing
it

and he never wearied

I

repeated.

will give

it

as

nearly

as possible in his

own words.
Brahmin was
a
little

The widow
poor with

of a

left

very, very

one

child,

almost a baby.

boy who was Because he was the son of a

to be educated,

Brahmin
to

the

boy had

but

how

do

it?

In the village where the poor

widow

lived, there

was no teacher, so the boy had to

and

go

to the neighbouring village to be taught

35

Vedanta Philosophy
because his mother was very, very poor he had
to

walk there.

There was a small

villages

forest

be-

tween the two

and through
all

this the

boy

had

to pass.
is

In India, as in

hot countries,,

teaching

given very early in the morning and

again towards evening.

the day no

Through
it

the heat of

work

is

done, so

was always dark

school and
also

when

the

little

boy went
In

to

when be came home.

tion in religion
is

my

country, instruc-

free to those

who cannot

pay,

so the

little

boy could go to

this teacher

without

charge,

but he had to walk through the forest

all

and he was

alone and he was terribly afraid.

He
to

went to

his

mother and

said: "I have

always

go alone through that

afraid.

terrible forest

and
to

am

Other boys have servants

of

go

with them and take care

1

them, why cannot

have a servant to go with me?"

said: "Alas

But his
I

mother

my

child

am

too poor,

cannot send a servant with you." "What can

36

The Master
do then
said his

?" asked the

little

boy. Ml
In

will tell

you,"
is

mother,

"

do

this.

the forest

your shepherd-brother

Krishna

(Krishna
;

is

known

in India as the " shepherd-god")

will

call

on him and he

come and

take care of

you

and you
the
tl

will

not be alone."

So the next day

forest

little

boy went into the

and

called

Brother-shepherd, brother-shepherd, are you there ?" and he heard a voice say " Yes, I am
here," and the
little

boy was comforted and was

to

no more

afraid.
of the

By and by he used
forest,

meet,

coming out

a boy of his

own age
while the

who
the

played with him and walked with him and

little

boy was happy.

After a

father of the teacher died

and

their

was a great

ceremonial

festival (as is

common
all

in India

on

such occasions), when

presents to their teacher

the

scholars

made
boy

and the poor

to

little

went to his mother and asked her

present to give like the
rest.

buy him a

But his mother

37

Vedanta Philosophy
told said
said,

him she was too poor.

:

"What
Go
to

shall

Then he wept and do?" And his mother

"

brother-shepherd and ask him."

forest

So he went into the

and

called, "Brother-

shepherd, brother-shepherd, can you give

present to give
to

me

my

teacher ?"
little

And
of

there

appeared before him a

pitcher

milk.

The boy took

to

the pitcher gratefully

of
his

and went
in

the house

teacher

and stood

corner waiting for the servants to take his

to the teacher.

gift

Bat the other presents were so

finer that the servants

much grander and

no
"
attention
to

paid
said,

him, so he spoke and

is

Teacher, here
Still

the present

have brought
notice.
his

you."
the

no one took

any

Then
corner
I

little

boy spoke up again from

"

and

said,

Teacher, here

is

the present

have

brought you," and the teacher looking over and

seeing the pitiful
little gift,

scorned

it,

but said
fuss

to the servant, " Since he

makes so much

38

The Master
about
into
it,

take the pitcher

and pour the milk

let

one of the glasses and

him go."

So

the servant took the pitcher

and poured the

milk into a cup, but just as soon as he poured

out the milk, the pitcher
filled

right

up again

and

it

could not be emptied.

Then everybody
is this,

was

surprised

and asked,

"

What

where

did you get this pitcher ?" and the

said,

little

boy

"

Brother-shepherd gave
"

it

to

me

in the

forest."

What

V they
little

all

exclaimed,

"

you

have seen
li

Krishna and he gave

boy,
"

you

this

Yes", said the

and he plays

with
I

me

come

every day and walks with me when " " to school. What !" they all ex-

claimed

"

You walk

with Krishna

You

play

with Krishna

P
I

And

the teacher said, "

this ?"

Can
little

you take us and show us

" boy said, Yes
the
little

And
"

the

can,

come

with me.

Then

boy and the teacher went into the

little

forest

and the

boy began
89

to call as usual,

Vedanta Philosophy
41

Brother-shepherd, brother-shepherd,
teacher

here

is
'

my

come

to you,

where are you

little

?'

but no answer came.

The
"

boy

called

again and again and no answer came.

Then
do

he

wept and
or else

said,

Brother-shepherd
will
call

come,

they

me

liar.''
:

Then from
4t

afar off a voice

to

was heard saying

come

you because you are pure and

but your
teacher has

your time has come,

many many rounds

can
see

to

go through before he

Me."

After the

summer

at

Thousand Island Park,

England and
I

Vivekananda
see

sailed for

did not

him

until the following spring (1896)

when

he came to

Detroit for

two weeks.

He was
rooms

accompanied by

his stenographer, the faithful

Goodwin.

They occupied

a suite of

at

The Richelieu^ a small family hotel, and had the

use of the large drawing

room

for class

work

and

lectures.

The room was not

large

enough

40

The Master
to

accommodate

the

crowds and

to our great

regret

many were turned away. The room,

At that time he was
all

as

also the hall, staircase and library were literally

packed.
love for

Bhakti

the

God was

a hunger and a thirst.

kind of divine madness seemed to take possession

of him, as
if

his heart

would burst with

longing for the

Beloved Mother.

His
the

last

public appearance in Detroit was at

of

Temple Beth El

which the Rabbi Louis

admirer of the Swami,

Grossman, an ardent

was the
great

pastor.

It

was Sunday evening and so

that

was the crowd

There was a

we almost

feared a
far out

panic.

solid line reaching

into the street

and hundreds were turned away.

held the large audience spell-

Vivekananda

bound, his subject being,

the West,"
Religion."

" India's message to

of

and "The

Ideal

Universal

He

gave us a most brilliant and

masterly discourse.

Never had

seen

tfye

41

Vedanta Philosophy
Master look as he looked that night.

There
It

was something

in his

beauty not of earth.

was

as

if

the spirit

had almost burst the bonds

that
I

of flesh

and

it

was then

first

saw a

fore-

shadowing of the end. He was much exhausted from years of overwork, and it was even then
to be seen that he
I

was not long

eyes to
it,

for this

world,
heart
felt

tried to

close

my

but in

my

knew

the truth.

He had needed
saw him was
ill

rest

but

that he

must go on.
next time
I

The

in July 1899.

He had

been extremely

and

it

was thought

that a long sea voyage

sailed for

would

benefit him, so he

England from Calcutta on the steam;

ship Golconda

much

to his surprise,
at the

two

of his

American
in

disciples

were

Tilbury Docks

London when

the ship arrived.

We

had

seen in an Indian magazine a notice that he

would

sail

on a

certain

date

and we hastened

over to the other side to meet him, as

we were

42

The Master
very

much alarmed

at the reports

we had heard

regarding his health.

He had grown
acted like a boy.

very slim and looked

and

He was
The

so happy to find the

voyage had brought

strength

back some of the old

Sister

and

vigor.

Nivedita and

the
to

Swami

Turiyananda

accompanied him

England and quarters were found for the two Swamis in a roomy old fashioned house at

Wimbledon not
quiet

far

from London.

It

was very
a

and

restful

and we

all

spent

happy

month

there.

Swami did no
that

public work in

England

at

time and soon sailed for America accom-

panied by the Swami

Turiyananda and his

American friends.
forgotten

There were ten never-to-beReading

every

days spent on the ocean.

of

and exposition
morning,

the

Gitd occupied

also reciting

and

translating

poems

and

stories

from the Sanskrit and chanting old

43

Vedanta Philosophy
Vedie hymns.

The

sea

was smooth and

entrancing.

at

night the moonlight was

Those
up
the

were wonderful evenings

the Master paced

figure

and down the deck, a majestic

moonlight, stopping

in

now and

us of the beauties of Nature.

then to speak to " And if all this

Maya

is

so beautiful,

think of the
it

wondrous
he would

beauty of the Reality behind

exclaim.

"
!

One
was

especially fine evening

when

the

moon

at the full

and

softly

mellow and golden,

a night of mystery and enchantment, he stood

silently

for a long time

drinking in the

beauty

of

the scene.

Suddenly he turned to us
recite

and

said

poetry when there, pointto sea and sky, " is the very essence of ing
.

"

Why

"

poetry ?"

We
that

reached

New

York

all

too soon,

feeling

we never could be

grateful

enough

for

those blessed, intimate ten days with our Guru.

44

The Master
The
next time
I

saw him was on July

to

4th, 1900,
visit

when he came

Detroit

for

a short

among

his friends.

He had grown

so thin, almost ethereal,

spirit

not

long would that great

clay.

be imprisoned in
to the

Once more we closed our eyes

sad truth, hoping against hope.

I

never saw him again, but "that other dis"

ciple

was privileged

to

be with him
left

in

India

for a

few weeks before he

I

us for ever.

Of

that time

cannot bear to think.

it

The sorrow
abides with
all

and the heartbreak of

all

still

me
and

but deep
grief is

down underneath

the pain

a great calm, a sweet

that

and blessed

consciousness

Great Souls do

come

to

earth to point out to

men

" the way, the truth,

I

and the
given to

life

";

and when

realize that

it

was
of

me

to

come under

the influence

such an One, finding each day a

a deeper significance in

new

beauty,
I

his teachings,

can

45

Vcdanta Philosophy
almost believe, as
I
I

meditate
:

upon

all this,

that

hear a voice saying

off

"

Take

off

thy shoes

from

thy feet for the place whereon thou

is

standest

holy ground."

M. C. F.
Detroit, Michigan, 1908.

46

NOTE
At the morning talks
it

was possible

to take

a few notes and those that follow were

made
some-

on these occasions.

They
as the

are naturally

what disconnected

Swami encouraged
fullest
itself.

us to ask questions and to seek the

explanation of any problem that presented

Thus, these are not

lectures, but

at all like

notes of regular

simply brief records of familiar

discourses.
solely
for

Being taken
individual

in

longhand (and

use),

much

that

was

said failed to be written

are,

down.

Such

as they

with

all

their incompleteness,

they possess

a value of their own, and an added value to

those

who knew and

loved the Swami, as being

necessarily the teaching

his utterances.

While

47

Note
itself

cannot vary much, the presentation

different

is

new and
have

from anything that we

now

in print of the

words of our much loved

Teacher.
In loving

remembrance

of a great

and good
spent with

man and

of the

many happy hours

the

him, these fragments of his teachings are

offered to the public.

now
he

May

Lord

whom

so devoutly

worshipped and untiringly proinspired

claimed to

us, bless his

words and

fill

our hearts with that divine love which the

Swami

so constantly urged us to manifest

S.

E.

W.

48

INSPIRED TALKS

INSPIRED TALKS
Wednesday, June
(This
19th, 1895.
the regular
to

day marks the beginning of

leaching given daily by

his disciples at

Swdmi Vivekdnanda

Thousand Island Park.

We had

not yet all

assembled there, but the Master's heart

in
his

was always

work, so he
or four

commenced at

>once to teach the three

who were with

the

him.

He came on
his

this first

morning with
to

Bible in

hand and opened

that since

the

Book of

John,
it

saying

we were

all

Christians,

was proper that

he should begin

with the

Christian Scriptures.)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the

Word was

with God, and the

calls this

Word was God/'

The Hindu

Maya, the manifestation

51

Vedanta Philosophy
'of

God, because
call

it is

the power of

God

The
is

Absolute

reflecting

through

the universe

what we

Nature.

The word has two mani-

festations,

the general one of Nature, and the

special

one of the great Incarnations of God Krishna, Buddha, Jesus and Ramakrishna.

Christ, the special manifestation of the Absolute,

is

known and knowable. The Absolute cannot be known we cannot know the Father, only
:

the Son.

can only see the Absolute " tint of humanity," through Christ. through the
In the
first

We

five verses of
;

John

is

the whole
is

essence of Christianity

each verse

full

of

the profoundest philosophy.

The
ness.

Perfect never

becomes imperfect.
but
is

It

is

in the darkness,

but

is

not affected by the darkall,

God's mercy goes to

not
is

affected

by

their

wickedness.

The
of

sun

not

affected

by

any
see

disease
it

our

eyes

which
*

may make us

distorted.

In the

Ma'ya' being the Sakti (power) of God.

52

Inspired Talks
" twenty-ninth verse taketh away the sin of the

world

"

means

that Christ

would show us the

way to become perfect. God became Christ to show man his true nature, that we too are
God.

We

are

human

coverings

over the

Divine,

but as the divine

Man, Christ and we

are one.

The

Trinitarian Christ
is

is

elevated above us

the Unitarian Christ

neither can

merely a moral

man
is

help us.

The

Christ

who
us, in

the

Incarnation of God,

who

has not

forgotten

His
there

divinity,
is

that Christ

can help

Him

no imperfection.

These Incarnations

are always conscious of their

own

divinity

they

know

it

from

their
is

birth.

They

are like
after

the actors
their

whose play
is

over, but

who,

work

done, return to

please

others.

These great Ones are untouched by aught of

earth
;

they assume our form and our limia time in order to teach us, but in

tations for

53

Vedanta Philosophy
reality they are

never limited, they are ever * * *

free.

Good

is

near Truth,

but

is

not yet Truth.

After learning not to be disturbed

by

evil,

we

have to learn not to be made happy by good.

We

must find
;

that

we

are

beyond both

evil

and good

we must

study their adjustment and

see that they are both necessary.

The

idea of

dualism

is

from the ancient

Persians.*
are in our

Really good and evil are one,f and

own mind. When

the

mind

is
it.

self-

poised neither good nor bad affects

perfectly free, then neither can affect
it,

Be

and we

enjoy freedom and

bliss.

Evil

is

the iron chain,,

free,

good

is

the gold one

both are chains. Be

and know once

*

for all that there is

no chain

for

Parsees, the followers of Zoroaster

who

taught that

whole creation has come out of two primary principles, one being called Orntuzd (the principle of Good) and the
the

other Ahriman (the principle of Evil.)

f Because they are both chains.

54

Inspired Talks
you.
the

Lay hold

of the golden

chain

to loosen

hold of the iron

one,
is

then throw both

in

away.

The

thorn of

evil

our

flesh

take

another thorn from the same bush and extract

the
free.
>

first

thorn,

then throw away both and be

In the world take always the position of the

giver.

Give everything and look for no return.

little

Give love, give help, give service, give any

thing you
can,

but keep out barter.

will

Make no
Let us
gives

conditions
give
to us.

and none

be imposed.

out

of our

own

bounty, just as

God

The Lord
only

is

the only Giver,

all

the world are

shopkeepers.

Get His

cheque

and

it

must be honored everywhere.

"

God

is

the inexplicable,

inexpressible es-

sence of Love," to be known, but never defined.

55

Vedanta Philosophy
In

our miseries and

struggles

the

world
just as

seems to us a very dreadful place. But when we watch two puppies playing and

biting

we do not concern
that
it

ourselves at

all,

realizing

is

only fun

and that even a sharp nip

now and
world

then will do no actual

in

harm

so

all

our struggles are but play

is

God's eyes.

This
;

all
it

for play

and only amuses God

nothing in
*
4i

can make

God

angry.

*
!

*
life

Mother

In the sea of

my

bark

is

sinking,

The whirlwind
attachment

of
is

illusion,

the storm

of

growing every moment,

are foolish,
is

My

five

oarsmen (senses)

and

the

helmsman (mind)

weak.
boat
is

My bearings are lost, my O Mother Save me !"

1

sinking.

"Mother,

Thy
it

light

stops

not for the saint

or the sinner;

animates the lover and the mur-

56

Inspired Talks
derer/'
all.

Mother

is

ever manifesting through

The

light is not polluted

by what

it

shines

on, nor benefited

by

it.

The

light is ever pure,

is

ever

changeless.

Behind

every creature

the " Mother," pure, lovely, never changing. " Mother manifested as light in all beings, we
!

equally in suffer" When the ing, hunger, pleasure, sublimity.

to
!"
is

bow down

Thee

She

bee sucks honey, the Lord

ing that the Lord
is

is

eating."

Know-

everywhere, the sages give

up

praising

and blaming.
you.

Know

that

nothing
?

can hurt

How ?
?

Are you

not free

Are you not A'tman

lives,

He

is

the Life of our

the hearing of our ears, the sight of our

eyes.

We go through the world

by a policeman and
of the beauty of
it.

like

man

pursued

see the

barest glimpses

All this fear that pursues

in

us comes from
gets
its

believing

matter.

Matter

whole existence from the presence of

57

Vedanta Philosophy
mind behind
it.

What we

see

is

God

percolat-

ing through nature.*

Sunday, June 23rd

Be brave and be

sincere

then follow any

path with devotion and you must reach the

Whole.

Once
the

lay

hold of one

link

of

the

chain and
degrees.

whole chain must

the

come by
(that
is,

Water

roots of the tree,

is

reach the Lord) and the whole tree

getting the Lord,

watered

we
the

get

all.

One-sideness

is

bane of the world.

The

more

sides

you can develop, the more souls

see the universe

you have and you can

all souls,

through

'through the Bhakta,

(devotee)

and

the Jndni (philosopher).

Determine your

own

nature and stick to

ideal) is the

it.

Nishthd (devotion to one

only method for the beginner, but

it

with devotion and sincerity

will

lead to alL

Churches, doctrines, forms are the hedges to

*

Here " Nature' means matter and mind.

(Ed.)

58

Inspired Talks
protect the tender plant, but they

must

later

be

broken

down

that the plant

may become
but

a tree.

So the various
all

religions, Bibles,
little

Vedas, dogmas
;

are just tubs for the

plant
is,

it

must

get out of the tub.

Nishthd
in

in a

manner,
the

placing the plant

struggling soul in
its

the

tub,

shielding

chosen path.
*
"

Look
see

at the

"

ocean

and not

at the

"

wave";

no difference between ant and angel. Every

is

worm

the

brother of the

Nazarene.

How
great,

say one
in

is

greater
place.

and one

less ?

Each

is

his

own

We
is

are in the
Spirit

sun and in
is

the stars as

much
and
is

as here.

beyond

space and

time,

every where. Every

mouth

praising the
is

Lord

my

mouth,every eye seeing

my

eye.

We

are confined
is

nowhere

we

are
are

not body, the universe

our body.

We

magicians waving magic wands and creating

scenes before us at
will.

We are the

spider in

59

Vedanta Philosophy
his

huge web, who can go on the varied strands wheresoever he desires. The spider is now
only conscious of the spot where he
will
is,

but he

in

time become conscious of the whole

web.

We are now
is,

conscious only where the

brain
;

body

we can use only one

ultra-consciousness,
all

but

when

we

reach

we know

all,

we

can use
the push

brains.
in

Even now we can

it

"

give

"

consciousness and

goes beyond

and

acts in the superconscious.

We
no "
I

are striving " to be

"

''

and nothing more,

even,

just

pure

crystal, reflecting all,

but ever the same.

there
is

When that
;

state is

reached
a
it

no more doing

the

body becomes
for
it
;

mere mechanism, pure without care

cannot become impure.

Know you
Say ever
K
I

are the Infinite, then fear

must

die.

and

my
*

Father are one." # *

#
In time to

come

Christs will be in

numbers

60

Inspired Talks
like

bunches of grapes on a vine

be over and
all will

then the play

will

pass out.
first

As water in
one bubble
all

kettle

beginning to boil shows

then another, then more and more until

in ebullition

is

and passes out

as steam.

Buddha

and Christ are the two biggest "bubbles " the

world has yet
produced.

Moses was a tiny

bubble, greater and greater ones came.

Some;

time however

all

will

be bubbles and escape

but creation, ever new, will bring

new

water to

go through the process

all

over again.
(The

Monday, June
was from

24//?.

reading to-day-

the Bhakti Sutras

byNdrada.)
is

" Extreme love to

love
is

God

Bhakti, and this

the real

immortality, getting which a

perfectly
satisfied,
;

man becomes
no
loss

sorrows for

and

is

never jealous

knowing which

man becomes mad."

My

Master used to say, " this world

is

a huge

61

Vedanta Philosophy
lunatic asylum where
all

men

are mad,

some after

money, some

after

women, some
I

after

name

or fame, and a few after God.

prefer to be

mad

after

God.

God

is

the philosopher's stone

that turns us to gold in

an instant

the form

remains, but the nature

is

changed

the

human
sin."

form remains, but no more can we hurt or

"

Thinking of God, some weep, some

laugh,

sing,

some

some dance, some say wonderful

speak of nothing but God."
like
;

things, but

all

Prophets preach, but the Incarnations

Jesus,

Buddha, Ramakrishna, can

is

give religion

one

glance, one touch

enough.

That

is

the

" laying on of power of the Holy Ghost, the " the transmitted was hands
;

power

actually

to the disciples by

the Master,
real

the " chain of

Guru-power."

That, the

baptism,

has

been handed down for untold ages.

u

Bhakti cannot be used to

being the check to
all

fulfil

any

desires,

itself

desires."

Narada

62

Inspired Talks
gives these as the signs of love.
"

When

all

thoughts,

all

words and

all

deeds are given up

unto

the

Lord, and the least forgetfulness of

intensely miserable, then

God makes one

has begun."
*

love

This
is

is

the highest form of love because

desire for reciprocity,
love."

therein
is

no

which

desire

in all
11

human

A man who

has gone beyond social and

is

Scriptural usage, he

Sanydsin.

When

the

whole soul goes to God, when we take refuge

only
in

God, then we know that we are about

to get this love."

Obey
enough
them.
is

the
to

Scriptures

until

you are strong

do without them, then go beyond

are not an end-all.
Verification

Books

the only proof of religious truth.

;

Each must

verify for himself

11

and no teacher who says

"
is

have seen, but you cannot

to be trusted,
see too." All

only that one

who

says

"

you can

63

Vedanta Philosophy
Scriptures,
all
all

truths are Vedas, in

all

times, in

countries

because these truths are to be

seen

and any one may discover them.

"

When

the sun of

Love begins
up
all

to

break on

the horizon,

we want

to give

our actions

unto

God and when we

it

forget

Him

for

moment,

grieves us greatly.''

Let nothing stand between

love for

God and youF

Him.

and

let

Love Him, love Him, love Him, the world say what it will. Love is of
one demands, but gives nothing
is
;.

three sorts,

the second

exchange, and the third

is

love

without thought of return,

love like that of the

moths

for the light.

is

" Love

higher than works, than Yoga, than

knowledge."

Work
our

is

merely a schooling for the doer,

it

can do no good to others.

We

must work out

own problem, the prophets only show us how to work. " What you think, you become,"
64

Inspired Talks
so
if

you throw your burden

have to think of

on

Jesus,

you
e

will
like

Him and

thus

becom

Him, you love Him. u Extreme love and highest knowledge are
But theorizing about God
not do

one."
will
;

we

must love and work.

all is

Give up the world and

" " wordly things, especially while the plant

tender.

Day and

night think of

God and
The

think of nothing else as far as possible.

daily

necessary thoughts can

all

be

thought

through God.
sleep to

Eat
see

to

Him, drink to
all.

Him,
to

Him,
is

Him in

Talk of

God

others, this

most

beneficial.

Get the mercy of

children
;

God and

of

His greatest

these are the two chief

of

ways

to
is

God.

The company
hard to get
;

five

very minutes in their company will

life,

these children of light

change a whole

and

if

you

really

want

it

enough, one will come to you.

The presence

65

Vedanta Pilosophy
of those

who

love

God makes

a place

holy,

" such

is

the glory of the children of the

Lord."
their

They words

are

and when they speak, The place where are Scriptures.

;

He

they

have been becomes

filled

with their vibrations,

and those going there feel them and have a tendency to become holy also.

"To
caste,

such lovers there

beauty,
all

is

no distinction of
or oc-

learning,
;

birth, wealth,

cupation

because
all

are His."

Give up

evil

company,

especially

at

the beginning.
will
distract

Avoid worldly company, that

Give

your mind.

up

all

"

me

and mine."

To him who

has nothing in the

universe the Lord comes.

of
all

Cut the bondage

;

worldly affections

go beyond

lazi-

ness

and

all

care

as

to

what becomes of
see the
all
it.

you.

Never turn back

to

result

of

what you have done.

Give
of

to

the

Lord

and go on and think not

66

The whole

Inspired Talks
soul pours in a continuous

current to

God

there

is

no time to seek money, or name, or

fame, no time to think of anything but

then will

God

come
bliss

into

our hearts that

All

infinite,

wonderful

of Love.

desires

are but

beads of

glass.
is

Love of God increases every

ever new, to be

moment and
by
no
feeling
it.

known only
of
all,
it

Love
logic,

is
it

the
is

easiest

waits for no

natural.

We

need
is

demonstration,

no

proof.

Reasoning

limiting something

by our own minds.

We

throw a net
say that

and catch something, and then

it
;

we have demonstrated
we
catch

but never,

never can

God

in a net.

Love should be unrelated.

love wrongly,
bliss
Its
;

Even when we
of the true

it is

of the true love,

the

power

is

the

same, use

it

as

very nature

is

peace and

bliss.

we may. The murfor

derer

when he
all

kisses his
love.

baby forgets

an
all

instant

but

Give

up

all

self,

67

Vedanta Philosophy
-

egotism " I am

get out of anger, lust, give all to

art
;

God.

not, but Thou

the old

gone, only Thou

remainest."

man is air am Thou."

Lord
i&

Blame none

if

evil

comes,

know

the

playing with you and be exceeding glad.

Love

is

beyond time and

25th.

space,

it is

absolute.

Tuesday, June

After every happiness

comes misery

they

may be
other.

far apart or near.

The more advanced

the soul, the

more quickly does one follow the What we want is neither happiness
Both make us forget our true
;

nor misery.
nature
;

both are chains, one iron, one gold

is

behind both

the ^tman,

Who

knows

neither

happiness nor misery.

states

These are
;

states

and

must ever change

but the nature of the

soul

is bliss,
it,

peace unchanging.
it
;

We

have not

to get

we have
it.

only wash away the dross

and

see

Stand upon the

Self,

then only can we truly

68

Inspired Talks
love the world.

Take a

very, very high stand

knowing our universal

nature,

we must
the

look

with perfect calmness upon

of the world.
It
is

all

panorama

but baby's play, and

disturbed
it

we
If

know
the

that, so
is

cannot be

by

it.

mind

pleased with praise,

will

be

dis-

pleased with blame.

All pleasures of the senses

or even of the mind are evanescent, but within

ourselves
is

the one true unrelated pleasure,

dependent
it

upon nothing.

It is

perfectly free,

is

bliss.

The more our

we
are.

bliss is within, the

more
Self is

spiritual

The

pleasure

of the

what the world

calls religion.

The
greater

internal universe,

the real,

is infinitely is

than

the external,

which

only a

shadowy projection
is

of the true one.

it is

This world

neither true

nor untrue,
is

the

shadow

of of

truth.

''Imagination

the gilded

shadow

truth,'' says

the poet.

We

enter into creation,

and then

for us

it

69

Vedanta Philosophy
becomes
selves
like
;

living.

Things are dead

give

in

themthen,
afraid
like

only

we

them
around

life,

and
are

fools,

we
or

turn

and

of

them,

enjoy

them.

But be not
in a

certain

fisherwomen,

who, caught

storm

on
in for

their

way home from market, took refuge

of
in

the house
the

florist.

They were lodged

next the
the

night
air

room
of

garden
of

where the
flowers.

was

full

fragrance
rest,

In

vain

did they try to

until

one
wet
their
sleep.

of
their

their

number suggested
baskets and
all

that

they

fishy

place
fell

them near
sound

heads.

Then they

into a

The world
depend upon

is
it

our

fish

basket,

we must not

for enjoyment.

Those who do

are the tdmasas, or the bound.

Then

there are

the

rajasaS)

or the egotistical,

who

talk always

about "I," "I."

times

and

They do good work somemay become spiritual. But the

70

Inspired Talks
highest
are

the
live

s&ttvikas,

the

introspective,

those

who

only in the Self.

rajas

These three
are
in
at

qualities,

tamas,

and

sattva,

everyone,

and

different

once predominate

different times.

Creation
is

is

not a " making" of something,

to

it

the

struggle

regain the equilibrium, as

when atoms

of cork are

thrown

to the

bottom of

a pail of water and rush to or in clusters. Life

is

rise to

the top, singly

and must be accompanied

the source of life ; the
little

by evil

A little

evil is
is

wickedness that
for

in

the world
is

is

very good,

when

the balance

regained, the world

will end,

because sameness and destruction are

this

one.

When
it
,

world goes, good and

evil

go

with

but when
of

we can

transcend this world

evil

we

get rid

both good and

and have

bliss.

There

is

no

possibility of ever having plea-

sure without pain,

good without
71

evil, for living

Vedanta Philosophy
itself
is is

just the

lost

equilibrium.
life,

What

we

want
good.

freedom, not
Creation
is

nor pleasure, nor

without beginning
in

infinite,

and without end, the ever-moving ripple

infinite lake.

an

There are yet unreached depths

and

others

where the equilibrium has

is

been

regained, but the ripple

always progressing,
is

the struggle to regain the balance

Life

eternal.
for the

and death
fact,

are only different

names

same

the two sides of the one coin.

Both

are Mdyd, the inexplicable state of striving at

one time

to live,

and a moment

later to die.

Beyond this is the true nature, While we recognize a God, it is

the Self, from which
selves
is

the A'tman.
really

only
ourit

we have separated
;

and worship
all

as outside of us

but

our true Self

the time, the one

and only

God.

To

regain the balance

rajas,

we must counteract

tamas by

then conquer rajas by sattva,

72

Inspired Talks
the calm beautiful state that will

grow

and

grow

until all else

is

gone.
free,

Give up bondage,

become a
"see
the
is

son,

be

and then
did
Jesus.

you

can

Father"
religion

as

Infinite

strength

and God.

Avoid weakness

and
free
free
;

slavery.

You

are only a soul, if

if

you

are

there
there

is
is

immortality for you,

a God, if

you are

He
m
I

is free.

The world
and
evil are

for me, not

for the world.

theirs.
is

Good
the

our slaves, not we

It is

nature of the brute to remain where he

progress);
it is

(not to

the nature of
it is

man

to seek

good

and avoid bad;

the nature of

God

to seek

neither, but just to be eternally blissful.

Let us

be gods

Make
the

the

heart

like

an

ocean; go

beyond

all

trifles of

the world; be

mad

with

joy even at

evil, see
its

the world

as a picture
that

and

then enjoy
affects you.

beauty,

knowing

nothing

Children finding glass beads in a

73

Vedanta Philosophy

mud

puddle, that

is

the

good

of the world.

Look at it with calm complacency;

evil

see

good and
"

as

the

play"; enjoy

*****
all,
:

same,

both

are

merely

Gods

My
water,
ing.''

Master used to say

is

" All

is

God, but
water
is

tiger-God

to

be

shunned.

All

but

we

avoid dirty water for drink-

The whole sky

sun and

is

the censer of

God and

the

moon
?

are the lamps.

are

needed

All eyes
;

Thine,

What temple i& yet Thou hast

not an eye

all

hands are Thine, yet Thou hast

not a hand.
Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes^
It is liberty to

be affected by nothing

do not
the

merely endure, be unattached.

story of the bull.

Remember

A mosquito sat
5

long on the

horn

of

a certain bull

then his conscience

74

Inspired Talks
troubled him and he said
:

" Mr. Bull,

I

have

been
you.

sitting here a
I

long time, perhaps

I

annoy
bull

am
:

sorry,

will

go away." But the

all
1

replied

"

Oh

no, not at

Bring your whole

family and live on

to

my

horn

what can you do

me
Our

?"

Wednesday, June
best work
is

26th.

done, our greatest influence

are without thought of self.

is

exerted

when we

All great geniuses

know

this.

Let us open

ourselves to the one Divine Actor

act,
I

and
"

let

Him
1

and do nothing ourselves.

Arjuna

have no duty in the whole world,"

says

Krishna.

Be
;

perfectly resigned, perfectly-

un-

concerned
work.

then alone can you do any true

eyes can see the real forces,
results.

No

we can
it,

only see the

get
it
;

Put out
work,
it

self,
is

lose

for-

just let

God

His business.
let

We

have nothing to do but stand aside and

work.

God

The more we go away,

75

the

more

Vedanta Philosophy

God comes
let

in.

Get rid of the

"
I

little

"

"
I

and

H only the great

live.

We

are what our thoughts have

of

made

us, so

take care

what you think.

Words
travel far.

are se-

condary.
thought

Thoughts live, they

Each
cha-

we think

is

tinged with our

own

racter, so that for the

pure and holy man, even

his jests or abuse will

have the twist of his

own

love

and

purity

and do good.
;

Desire nothing

think of

God and who

look for

no return

it

is

the desireless

bring results.
to

The begging monks

man's door
;

carry religion

every

but they think that they do noth-

ing, they claim nothing, their

work

is

uncon-

sciously done.
of
all

If

they should eat of the tree

knowledge, they would become egoists and

the

good they do would

say
"
"
I

fly

away

As soon
the time,
it

as

we

we
u

are

humbugged

all

and we

call

it

knowledge,"

but

is

only

going round and round like a bullock

tied to

76

Inspired Talks
tree.

The Lord has hidden Himself

is

best

and

His work
best,

best

so he

who

hides himself

accomplishes most.
is

Conquer yourself and

the whole universe

yours.

In the state of sattva

of things,

we

see the very

nature

reason.
is

we go beyond the senses and beyond The adamantine wall that shuts us in
;

egoism
I

we

refer everything to

ourselves,,

thinking
of this

do

this,

that
;

and the
this
it,

other.

Get

rid

puny

ul "

kill

diabolism in
it,

us

"not
til

I,

but Thou," say

feel

live

it.

Un
of

we

give

up the world manufactured by the

can we
ever

ego,

never

enter
did,
is

the

kingdom
will.

teaven.
[ive

None

none ever
forget

To

up the world
it

to

the

ego, to

mow
of
it.

not

at all, living in the

body, but not

This rascal ego must be obliterated.

Bless men,
luch
>nly

when they

revile you.

Think how
;

good they are

doing you

they can

hurt themselves.

Go where
77

people hate

Vedanta Philosophy
you,
let

them thrash the ego out

get nearer to

of

you and
Like the

you

will

the Lord.

mother-monkey,*
world, as long as

we hug our we can, but at

under our
feet

"baby,'' the
last

when we
step

are driven to put

it,

it

and

on

then
to

we

are ready to

come

to

God.

Blessed

it is

be persecuted for the sake of righteousBlessed are

ness.

we

if

we cannot

read,

we

have

less to take
is

us

away from God.

Enjoyment

the million-headed serpent that

we must
go
on,

tread under foot.

We
is

renounce, and
;

then find nothing and despair

on.

but
It

hold on, hold

is

The world

demon.
is

a kingdom of which the puny ego

it

king.

Put

away and stand

firm.

Give up lust and

the Lord,

gold and fame and hold

at last

fast to

and

we

shall reach a state of perfect indiffer-

of

The mother monkey is very fond of her young in time she does not scruple to safety but when danger comes,
;

throw
self.

it

down and trample on

it, if

necessary, to save her-

[Ed.]

78

Inspired Talks
ence.

The

idea that the gratification of the

is

senses constitutes enjoyment

listic.

purely

materia-

There
all

is

not one spark of real enjoyment

is, is

there:

the joy there

a mere reflection

of the true bliss.

Those who give themselves up

to

the

Lord

do more
workers.

for the

world than

all

the so-called

One man who has

purified

himself

thoroughly, accomplishes more than a regiment

of preachers.

Out of purity and

silence

comes

the

word

of power.
lily,

"Be

like a

stay in one place

will

and
of

expand
them-

your petals and the bees

selves."

come

There was a great contrast between

[eshab
'he
in

Chunder Sen and

Sri

Ramakrishna.

second never recognized any sin or misery

the world, no evil to fight against.

a great ethical reformer, leader,
After

The

first

ras
>f

and founder
years
the

the BrdhmO'Samdj.

twelve

[uiet

prophet of Dakshineswar had worked

79

Vedanta Philosophy
a revolution not only in India, but in the world.

The power
live

is

with

the silent

ones,

who
their

only
per-

and love and then withdraw

sonality.

They

never say
in

"me" and "mine";

being instruments.
of

they

are

only blessed
are

Such men
Buddhas,

the

makers
fully

Christs

and
with

ever

living,

identified

God,

ideal existences, asking nothing

and not

consciously doing anything.

They

are the real

selfless,

movers, the Jivan-muktas, absolutely

the
little

personality entirely

blown away, amare

all

bition

non-existent.

They

principle,

no personality.

Thursday, June 27th (Swdmi brought the New Testament this morning and talked again
on the book of John.)

Mahommed
that
it

claimed to be the "Comforter"

Christ promised to send.

He

considered

unnecessary to claim a supernatural birth for

Jesus.

Such claims have been

common

in

all

80

Inspired Talks
ages and in
all

countries.

All great

men have

claimed gods for their

fathers.

Knowing

is

only relative

we can
is

be

God,,

but never know Him.

state
;

Knowledge

a lower

Adam's falli was when he came to " know."

truth,

Befo re that he was God, he was

purity.

he was

We

are our

own

faces,

but can see

only a

reflection, never the real thing.

We
is

are

love, but

when we

think of

it

we have
matter

to use

phantasm, which proves that

externalized thought.*
Nivritti
is

only

turning aside
says

from the
the
his

worldfirst-

Hindu mythology
*

that

four

Since the knower can know only

is

reflection

and
is

not himself, he

ever

unknowable.

So knowledge
it

distinct and separate

from the knower, and as such

or

is

externalized

thought

thought standing outside

Since the knower goes
is

the

knower
the
it

as a separate entity.
of Spirit that

by

name

which
of

distinct

and separate from

the

should go by the

name

Matter.

Hence

Swami

" " matter is says only externalized thought.

81

Vedanta Philosophy
created * were warned by a
that manifestation

Swan (God Himself)

The meaning
of

was only secondary, so they

remained without creating.

this is that expression is degeneration,

spirit

because

can only be expressed by the letter and then the " letter killeth M ; t yet principle is

bound

to

be clothed in matter, though

we know

that later

we

shall lose sight of the

real in the

covering.

Every great teacher understands

this

and that
phets
give

why a has to come

is

continual succession of proto

show

us the principle

and

it

new covering
that

suited religion

to the times.
is

My

Master taught

one

all

prophets teach the same, but they

can only
it

present the principle in a form, so they take

out of the old form and put

it

before us in a

new

one.

When we
especially

free ourselves

from name

and form,
*

from a body,

when we

The

four first-created

were Sanaka, Sananda na, Sani[Ed.]

taria,

and Sanatkumara.
III., 6.

f Bible, 2 Cor.

82

Inspired Talks

need no body, good or bad, then only do we

|

escape from bondage.

eternal

Eternal progression
is to

is

bondage

annihilation of form
free
is

be

preferred.

We

must get

from any body

the

even a " god-body."

God

only
is

real,

existence, there cannot be two*.

There

but

One Soul and

am

That.
as a

Good works
escape
other.
;

are only valuable

means

of

they do good to the doer, never to any

*
is

*
classification.

Knowledge
find

mere

When we
are satis-

many
of
;

things of the
certain

same kind we call the

sum
fied

them by a

name and

we

discover " facts," never "

why."
"

We

take a circuit in a wider field of

darkness and

think
*

we know something
is

No
the

why" can

Body

a limitation.

Hence

bodiless must be
Infinities,

limitless or infinite.

As there cannot be two

"

<3od or "

One Soul

(who

is

bodiless)

must be one and

cannot be two.

83

Vedanta Philosophy
be answered in
to
it

this world, for

that

we must

go;

God.
is

as

The Knower can never be expressed when a grain of salt drops into the ocean,,
once merged
in the ocean.

it is at

Differentiation creates

homogeneity or samedifferentiation
;

ness

is

God.

Get beyond
life

then

you conquer

and death and reach eternal

in

sameness and are

God, are God.

life.

Get

free-

dom, even

at the

cost of

All lives

belong

to us as leaves to a

book

but we are unchang-

ed, the Witness, the Soul,

upon

whom

the im-

pression
circle is
is

is

made, as when the impression of a

the eyes

made upon

when

a firebrand

rapidly whirled
the unity of

round and round.

The

soul
it is

is

all personalities,

and because

at rest, eternal, unchangeable,

It is

it is

God, Atman.
life.

not

life,

but
it

it is

coined into

It is

not

pleasure, but

is

manufactured into pleasure. # # #

being abandoned by the world

To-day God

is

84

Inspired Talks
because
for the

He

does not seem to be doing enough

is

" Of what world, so they say, good

He V

Shall

we look upon God

?

as

mere

municipal authority
All
hates,

we can do
differences

is

to

put

down
the

all

desires,
self,

put

down
as
it

lower
;

commit mental

suicide,

were

keep the

body and mind pure and

healthy, but only as

is

instruments to help us to God, that

true use.

their only

Seek truth for truth's sake alone, look

It

may come, but do not let that be your incentive. Have no motive except God. Dare to come to Truth even through hell.
not for
bliss.

Friday, June 28th.

(The entire party went

en a picnic for the day and although the

Swdmi
was
}

taught constantly^ as he did wherever he

no

notes were

taken

and no

record, therefore, of
his break-

what he said remains.

As he began

fast before setting out, however, he remarked-,)

85

Vedanta
Be thankful
for all

Philosophy
food,
is
it

is

Brahman.*

His universal energy

individual

transmuted into our

helps

energy

and

us

in

all

that

we

do.
29th.

Saturday,
this

June
the

(The
his

Swdmi came

morning with
the

GlTA in
of

hand.)
talks

Krishna,

"

Lord

souls,"

to

Arjuna,

or

Gudakesa,

"lord of
sleep).
is

who has conquered

virtue"
five

sleep" (he The " field of

world
;

(the

battlefield)

this

the

brothers (representing righteousness) fight

the hundred

other

brothers

(all
;

that

we love

and have
brother,
general.
Perhaps

to contend against)

the

most heroic
is

Arjuna (the awakened

soul),

the

We
it

have

to

fight all sense-delights,

will be well to explain here the difference bet(neut.)

ween Brahman

and Brahma'

(mas.).

The former

is

the impersonal, beginningless supreme Self, the Atman.

latter is the first

The

person of the Hindu Trinity(Brabm&, Vishnu,

(Ed.)

Siva)

and

is

the Creator of the Universe

86

Inspired Talks
the
kill

things

to

which we are^most attached,

have to stand alone
other
ideas
;

to

them.

We
all

we

are

Brahman,

must be merged

into this one.

Krishna
attachment
"

did
;

everything
in the

but without

any
it.

he was

world, but not of

;

Do

all

for work's sake, never for yourself."

*****
true of
it is

work but without attachment

work

Freedom can never be

form
are that
;

name and
(the

the clay out of

which we

pots)

made

then

it

is

limited

and not

free,

so

freedom can never

be true of the
I

related.
;

One pot can

only as
free.
it

never say "

am

free'*

as a pot
it

loses all idea of

form does
is

become
Self

The whole
the

universe

only the

with

variations,

one

time

made

bearable by

variation

sometimes there are discords, but

they only

make

the subsequent harmony: tnore

87

Vedanta Philosophy
perfect.

In the

universal

melody three

ideas

stand out, freedom, strength and sameness.*

If

your freedom hurts others, you are not

;

free there

you must not hurt

is

others.

"To
Doing

be weak

to

be miserable," says Milton.

inseparably joined.

and

suffering are

(Often, too, the

man who

laughs most

is

the

one who
right,

surfers most.) u
fruits

To work you have

n

the

not to the

thereof."
it

Evil

thoughts, looked at materially,

are the

disease bacilli.

Each thought

is

little

hammer blow on
are,

the

lump

of iron

which
it

our bodies
it

manufac-

turing out of

what we want
all

to be.

We

are heirs to
if

the good thoughts of the

universe,

we open
is all

ourselves to them.
us.

The book
thou
?

in

"

Fool,

hearest not
is

In thine

own

heart day

and night

singing that
*

Eternal MusiCj^-Satchiddnanda,

These are the Swami's Trinity.

88

Inspired Talks

Soham,

Sohant.
I

(Existence-Knowledge-Bliss
I

Absolute,

am

He,

am

He.)
is

The

fountain of

all

knowledge

in every

one
Real

of us, in the ant as in the highest angel.

religion
is

one, but

we

quarrel with the forms,

the symbols, the illustrations.

exists

The millenium
find
it
;

already for those

who

we have
is lost.

lost ourselves

and then think the world

Perfect strength will have

no
act.

activity in this

world;

it

only

is, it

does not

While

real perfection is

only one,

relative

perfections

must be many.

Sunday, June

30//;.

To
to

try to think without a

phantasm

is

to try

make

the impossible

possible.

We

cannot

think

"mammalia" without

a concrete example,

so with the idea of God.

The

great abstraction of ideas in the world

call

is

what we

God.

89

Vedanta Philosophy
Each thought has two parts, the thinking and the word, and we must have both. Neither
idealists

nor materialists are right

we must take
we can
will

both idea and expression.

All

knowledge

is

of the reflected, as

only see our face in a mirror.

ever
that

No one

know his own Self or God, own Self, we are God.

Nirvana

but we are

In

you

are

when

you

are not.

Buddha said, "You

you
are not.''

are best, you are real

when

(When

the

little self is is

gone.)

T he
people.

Light Divine within

It is like

obscured in most

a lamp in a cask of iron,

no

gleam

of light can shine

through.

Gradually,

by

purity

and unselfishness we can make the

obscuring
last
it

medium

less

and

less dense, until

glass.

at

becomes as transparent as
like the iron

Sri

Ramakrishna was
into
a glass cask,
light

cask transformed

through which can be seen

it

the inner

as

is,

We

are all

on the

way

to

become

the cask of glass

and even

90

Inspired Talks
higher and higher reflections. As long as there a " cask" at all, we must think through is
material means.

No

impatient

one can ever

succeed.
*%t
vjr

^f

*%t

Great saints are the object lessons of the

Principle.

But the

disciples

make

the saint

the Principle

and then they

forget the Prin-

ciple in the person.

The

result of

Buddha's constant inveighing

against a personal
idols into India.

God was
God

the introduction of

In the Vedas they

knew them

not because they saw

everywhere, but the

reaction against the loss of

God

as Creator

and

Friend was to

make

idols,

and Buddha became

an
is

idol

so too with Jesus.

to

from wood and stone

idols.

The range of idols Jesus and Buddha,

but we must have

*

Violent attempts at reform

always end

by

91

Vedanta Philosophy
retarding reform. " You are
Priests

Do

not say "

You

are bad";

say only

" good, but be better.

are an

evil

in

every country
criticise,

be-

cause
at

they

denounce

and
it

pulling

one

string to

mend
of

until

two or three
never
de-

others

are

out

place.

Love

nounces, only ambition does that. There is no such thing as " righteous " anger of justifiabl e
If

killing.

you do not allow one

to

become

a lion,

he

will

become a
it

fox.

Women
for
evil

are a power,

only

now

is

more
is

because

man
is

oppresses her

she

the fox, but

will

when she

no longer oppressed, she

Ordinarily
speaking,

become

the lion.

spiritual

aspiration
intellect,

ought to be balanced through the

otherwise
mentality. *
All theists agree
it

may

degenerate into mere senti*

that

behind the changeable

there

is

an Unchangeable, though they vary in

92

Inspired Talks
their

conception

of

the

Ultimate.
is

Buddha

denied this in

toto.

"There
said.

no Brahman,

no Atman, no soul" he

As a character Buddha was the

world has ever seen
;

greatest
Christ.

the

next to

him

But

the teachings of Krishna as taught

by the Gita

are the grandest the world has ever

known.
of
of

He who

wrote that wonderful

poem was one

wave

those rare souls whose lives send a

regeneration through the

world.

The human
brain
as
his

race will never again see such

who wrote
*

the Gita.

There

is

only one Power, whether manifestor good.

ing as evil

God and

the

devil

are

the

same

river with the water flowing in

op-

>osite directions.

Monday, July
Sri

1st. (Sri

Rdmakrishna Deva.)
of a very orthogift

Ramakrishna was the son

dox Brahmin, who would refuse even a

Vedanta Philosophy
from any but a
special

caste

of

Brahmins

neither might he work, nor even be a priest in

a temple, nor

sell

books nor serve anyone.

what
it

He
a

could only have u

fell

from the skies"

(alms) and even then

"fallen"

must not come through

Brahmin.
religion;
if

Temples have no hold on

they were
all

the

Hindu

destroyed,

religion

would not be

affected a grain.

A man
guests,"

must only build a house

for

"God and

to build for himself would be selfish; therefore

he erects temples as dwelling places for God.

Owing
Sri

to the

extreme poverty of bis family,

to

Ramakrishna was obliged

a priest
in

become

in his
to

boyhood

temple

dedicated

Divine Mother, also called

Prakriti

or Kali,

represented by a female figure standing with her

feet
lifts,

on

male

figure, indicating that until

Mdyd

we can know

nothing.

Brahman

is

neuter,

unknown and unknowable,

he covers himself with a

but to be objectified

veil of

Mdyd, becomes

94

Inspired Talks
the Mother of the Universe

and so brings forth

the creation.

The

prostrate figure (Siva, or

lifeless)

God)

has become Sava (dead, or

by being
"
I

covered by Mdyd.

The Jndni
"

says
;

will

uncover

God by

force
will

(Advaitism)

but the

dualist says " we

to Mother,

uncover
to

God by
the

praying

begging Her

open

door to

which She alone has the key."

The
ally

daily

service of the

Mother Kali graduin

awakened

such intense devotion

priest

the

heart of the

young

that

he could

no
so

longer carry on the regular temple worship,

he abandoned

his duties

and

retired to a small

woodland

in the

temple compound, where he

gave himself up entirely to meditation.

These

woods were on
and one day
feet just the
little

the

bank

of

the river

Ganges
very

the swift current bore

to his

necessary

materials to build

him

hut.

In this hut he stayed

and wept and

care of his

prayed, taking no thought for

the

95

Vedanta Philosophy,
body
or for aught except
his

Divine

Mother.

relative fed

him.

him once a day and watched over Later came a girl Sanydsin or ascetic, to
Whatever
;

u Mother." help him find his

tea-

chers he needed
every
offer

him unsought from sect some holy saint would come and to teach him and to each he listened
came
to

eagerly.
all

But he worshipped

only Mother

to

him was Mother.

Ramakrishna never spoke a harsh word

Sri

against anyone.
that

So

beautifully tolerant

was he

every sect thought that he belonged to

them.

He

loved everyone.

To him

all reli-

gions were true.

one.

He found

a place for each

He was

free,

but free in love,

creates,

not in

" thunder.''

The mild type

the thun-

dering type spreads.

Paul was the thundering

type to spread the light.*

*

And

it

has been said by

St.

many

that

Swami Vivekananda

himself was a kind of

Paul to Sri Ramakrishna. [Ed.]

96

Inspired Talks

The age
to be the

of St. Paul, however,

is

gone we are
;

new

lights for this day.

is

A
will

self-ad-

justing organization

the great

need of our
be the

time.
last

When we

can get one, that

world.
it,

religion of the

The wheel must

not hinder.

turn,

and we should help

of religious

The

waves

thought

rise

and

fall

and on

the topmost one stands the u

period."

prophet of the
teach the
reli-

Ramakrishna came

to

gion of today, constructive, not

destructive.
for facts

He had
11

to

go afresh

to

Nature to ask

and he got

scientific religion,
I

" " believe," but see";

which never says see, and you too can

will

see."

Use the same means and you

vision.
is

reach

the

same

God

will

come
all.

to everyone,
Sri

harmony
ism

within the reach of

RamaHindu-

krishna's teachings are

;"

" the gist of

they were not peculiar to him.

-,

Nor

did

he claim that they were

he cared naught for

name

or fame.

97

Vedanta Philosophy

He began
forty
;

to

preach when he was

about
it.

but he never went out to do

He
to

waited for those

who wanted
In

his teachings

come

to

him.

accordance

with

Hindu

custom, he was married by his parents in early

youth to a

little girl

of

five,

who remained

at

home

with her family in a distant village, un-

conscious of the great struggle through which

her young husband was passing.

When

she

reached maturity, he was already deeply absorbed in religious devotion.

foot from her

She travelled on
temple
at

home

to the

Dakshias soon

neswara where he was then

living,

and

as she saw him she recognized what he

for she herself was a great soul, pure

was,

and holy,

who

only desired to help his work and never to

drag him

down

to the

level of the grihastha

(householder).
Sri

Ramakrishna
of

is

worshipped
Incarnations

in

India
his

as

one

the great

and

98

Inspired Talks
birthday
festival.
is

celebrated there

as

religious

*
is

*
the

curious round stone

emblem

of

Vishnu, the omnipresent.

priest

Each

morning a
to

comes

in,

offers sacrifice

the idol,

waves incense before him, then puts him to

bed

and apologizes
in that

to

God

for worshipping

him
of

way, because he can only conceive

of

him through an image or by means

object.

some

material

He

bathes the idol,

self

clothes
" to

him, and puts his divine

into the idol

make

it

alive.''

*
There
to
is

a sect which says

"It is weakness

worship only the good and beautiful,

we

ought also to love and

worship the hideous

sect

and

the

evil/'

This

prevails

all

over
India

Thibet and they have no marriage.

In

proper they cannot

exist openly,

but organize

99

Vedanta Philosophy
secret societies.

No
rosa.

decent

men

will

belong to

them except sub

tried

Thrice
it

communism was
They use
power

in Thibet

and

thrice

failed.

tapas and with

is

immense success

as far as

concerned.
Tapas means
literally

"to burn."

It is

a kind
It is

" the higher nature. of penance to " heat

sometimes in the form of a sunrise to sunset

vow, such as repeating

These actions
that
will

Om

all

day incessantly.

produce a certain

power

you can convert into any form you wish,

This idea of tapas peneof

spiritual or material.
trates

the

whole
that
is

Hindu

religion.

The

Hindus even say

the world.
It

God made
rt

tapas to create

a mental instrument with

which

to

do everything.
* *

Everything in the
tapas!'

three worlds can be caught

by
*

People

who

report about sects with which

they are not in sympathy are both conscious

100

Inspired Talks

and unconscious

rarely see truth in others.

*****
it

liars.

believer in

one

sect

can

great

Bhakta (Hanuman) once said when

was,"

asked what day of the month

God

is

my

eternal date,

no other date

care

for.*'

Tuesday,

July 2nd {The Divine

Mother.)
as Mother,
is

Sdktas worship the Universal

Energy

the sweetest

name

they know; for the mother

the highest ideal of

womanhood

in India.

When

God

is

worshipped as "Mother," as Love, the

call
it

Hindus
leads
to

the" right-handed"

way and
to

it

spirituality,

but never
is

material

prosperity.

When God
is,

worshipped on His

terrible side, that

it

in

the"left-handed" way,

leads usually to great material prosperity, but

rarely to spirituality;

and eventually

it

leads to

degeneration and the obliteration

of the

race

who

practise

it.

101

Vedanta Philosophy
Mother
is

the

first

manifestation

of

power

and

is

considered a higher idea than father.

of

With the name

Sakti,

mother comes the idea of

Divine Energy and omnipotence, just as

its

the baby believes

mother to be all-powerful,
is

able

to

do anything. The Divine Mother

the Kundalini sleeping in us, without worship-

ping Her

we can never know

ourselves. Allattri-

merciful, ail-powerfui,

omnipresent are

butes of Divine Mother.

She

is

the sum-total

of the energy in the universe.

Every manifestis

ation

of

power
She

in
is

the universe
Intelligence,

"Mother."
is

She She
is

is Life,
is

She

Love.

in the universe, yet separate

from

it.

She

a person

and can be seen and known

(as Sri

Ramakrishna saw and new Her). Established

in the idea of

Mother we can do anything. She

quickly answers prayer.

She can show Herself

to us in

any form

at

any moment.

Divine

Mother can have form

102

Inspired Talks
(rupa)

and name (ndma), or name without

form, and as we worship Her in these various

aspects neither

we can

rise

to

pure Being,

having

form nor name.

sum-total of
all

The
is

the cells in an organism

is

one person, so each soul

like

one

cell

and
is

the

sum

of

them

is

God, and beyond

sea
is

that

the Absolute.
the
is

The
in

calm

is

the Absolute;

same sea

waves

Divine Mother.

She

time, space

and

causation.

God

is

Mother

and has two

natures, the

conditioned and the

is

unconditioned.

As the former, She

As the
latter,

God,
is

Nature and soul (man).

She

unknown and unknowable.

conditioned came the
soul,
trinity,

Out of the UnGod, Nature and

This
is

the

triangle

of

existence.

the

Visishtadvaitist idea.

A
The

bit

of

Mother,

a drop,

was Krishna,

another was Buddha,

another

was

Christ.

w orship

of even

one spark of Mother in

103

Vedanta Philosophy
our earthly mother leads to greatness.
ship

Wor-

Her

if

you want love and wisdom.

Wednesday, July 3rd. Generally speaking, human

with
fear.

religion

begins
is

u The
of

fear

of

the

Lord
later

the

beginning

wisdom.''

But

comes
fear."

the higher idea "Perfect love casteth out

Traces of fear

will

remain with us
is.

until

we

get

knowledge, know what God

Christ,

being

man
it
;

had

to

see

impurity and
higher,

denounced
see

but

God

infinitely

does not

iniquity
is

and cannot be angry.

Denunciation

never the highest,

David's hands were

smeared with blood; he could not build the

temple.

The more we grow in love and holiness, the more we see love and
holiness outside.
really
All

virtue
virtue

and

and

condemnation

of others

condemns

ourselves.

Adjust the micro-

104

Inspired Talks

cosm (which
macrocosm

is

in

your power to do)

and the
It is like

will adjust itself for

you

the hydrostatic paradox, one drop of water can

balance the universe.

We
engine

cannot see outside

what we are not

us what the huge

inside.

The universe
is

is

to

to the

miniature

engine

an indication

of

any error in the

trouble in

tiny engine leads us to imagine

the

huge one.
Every
step that has

been really gained in the

;

world has been gained by love

never

criticising

can
for

do

any
of

good,
years.

it

has been

tried

thousands

Condemnation accom-

plishes nothing.

A
all.

real

Vedantist

must

sympathize
is

with
very
to

Monism

or absolute oneness

the

soul of Vedanta.

Dualists naturally
to

tend
the

become
way.

intolerant,

think theirs
in

only
are

The

Vaishnavas
a

India,

who

dualists, are

most

intolerant sect.

Among

105

Vedanta Philosophy
the
is

Saivas,

another

dualistic

sect,

the

story

told of a

devotee by
Bell. eared,

the

name

of

Ghantadevout

karna, or the

who was

so

worshipper of Siva that he did not wish

of

even to hear the name

any other

deity,

so

he wore two bells tied to his ears in

to

order

drown

the

sound
names.
to

of

any

voice

uttering

other
intense

Divine

On
Siva

account of his
the latter wanted

devotion

to teach

him
Siva

that

there

was no
so

difference

between
before
that

and Vishnu,

he appeared
half
Siva.

him

as half

Vishnu and

At

moment

the devotee

was waving incense

was the bigotry of

before him, but so great

Ghantakarna that when he saw the fragrance

of the incense entering the
nostril

of

Vishnu,

he thrust his finger into

it

to

prevent the god

from enjoying the sweet smell.

*
*
like

*
the
lion,

The meat-eating animal, 106

gives

Inspired Talks

one blow and subsides, but the

patient bullock

goes on all day, eating and sleeping as it walks. The u live Yankee '' cannot compete with the
rice-eating

Chinese

coolie.

While

military
5

power dominates, meat-eating

will prevail

but

with the advance of science fighting will

less

grow

and then the vegetarians will come in. * V v V

divide ourselves into two to love God,

We
and
I

myself loving

my

Self.

God

has created
create
to

me
our

have created God.

;

We

God

in

image
it is

it is

we who create Him

be our master,

not

God who makes

that

us His servants.

we know
and

we

are

one with God,

When that we

He
by a

are

friends, then

come

equality and

freedom.
ted
fear

So long
hair's

as

you hold yourself separathis

breadth from

Eternal One,

cannot go.

Never ask that foolish question, what good

will
it

do to the world

Let the world go.

107

Vedanta Philosophy
Love and ask nothing love and look for nothing further. Love and forget all the "isms."
;

Drink the cup of love and become mad. Say " u and plunge Thine, O Thine forever O Lord
!

in, forgetting all else.

The very idea

of

God

is

love.

Seeing a cat loving her kittens, stand and

pray.

God has become

Repeat
see H
I

manifest there

literally

believe this.
for

am

Thine,

am Thine",
not seek

we can
Him,

God

everywhere.

Do

for
11

just see

Him.
alive,

May
*

the

Lord ever keep you

!"

light of

the world, soul of the universe

#
so

The Absolute cannot be worshipped,

we
as

must worship a manifestation, such a one

has our nature.
Jesus
;

had our

nature

he

became
Christ
state to

the Christ

so can

we and
the

so must we.

and

Buddha were

names
" Mother

of a

be attained; Jesus and Gautama were

to

the

persons

manifest

it.

''

is

108

Inspired Talks
the
first

and highest manifestation, next the

Christs and Buddhas.

We

make our own

off.

en-

vironment and we

strike

the fetters

The

Atman

is

the fearless.
it

When we
only

pray to a

God, outside

is

good,

we do not
the Self,

know what we
we understand.
is

do.

When we know

The

highest expression of love

unification.

" There was a time

when

was a woman

and he was a man,

Still

love grew until there was neither he

nor

I;

Only

remember

faintly there

was a time

when

there were two,

But love came between and made them

one."
(Persian Sufi Poem).

Knowledge
tent with
spiritual

exists

eternally

and

is

co-exis-

God.
is

The man who

inspired

discovers

law

and what he brings

109

Vedanta Philosophy
is

revelation,

but

revelation
final

too

is

eternal,

not to be crystallized as
followed.

and then blindly The Hindus have been criticised

so

many

years by their conquerors that they

(the

Hindus)

dare to criticise their religion

this

themselves,

and

makes them

free.

Their

foreign rulers struck off their fetters without

knowing
earth,

it.

The most
Hindus have
;

religious

people

on

the

actually
of

no

sense

of

blasphemy
is

to

speak
in

holy
a

things in
sanctifica-

any way
tion.

to

them

itself

Nor have they any

artificial

respect for

prophets or books, or for hypocritical piety.

The Church
the Church

tries

to

fit

Christ into

it,

not

into

Christ;

so

only those writ-

ings were preserved that suited the purpose in

hand.

Thus the books

are not
is

to

be depended

upon and book- worship

idolatry to bind our feet.
to

the worst kind of

All has to

conform
;

the book,

science,

religion,

philosophy

110

Inspired Talks
it

is

the most horrible tyranny,

this

tyranny
in Chris-

of the Protestant Bible.

tian

Every man

countries has a huge

cathedral

on his

head, and on top of that a Book, and

lives
is

yet

man

and grows

Does not

this

prove that

man
and

God ? Man is

the highest

being that exists

this is

the greatest world.

We

can have no
so our
rise

conception of

God

higher than man,

is

God

is

man and man

God.

When we

and go beyond and

find of

something
the mind,

higher,

we have

to

jump out

out of
this

body and the imagination

world
;

and leave
be the
world.

when we
no
of

rise

to
this

Absolutei

we

are

longer
the

in

Man

is

the apex

only
of

world

we can
is

ever

know.
analogy,

All

we know

animals

only by

we judge them by what we do and

ever the same,

feel ourselves.

The

sum-total of knowledge

is

111

Vedanta Philosophy
only

sometimes
less.

it

is

more manifested and

source of
it is

sometimes

The only
is it

within

and there only

*
All poetry,

found.
i
is

*
feeling ex-

painting and music

pressed through words, through color, through

sound.

*
their sins are
is

Blessed are those upon

whom

quickly visited, their account

the

sooner
is

balanced
deferred,

Woe
is

to those
!

whose punishment

it

the greater

Those who have

to be living in

attained
All

sameness are said

is is

God.

hatred

killing the

"Self by the
life.

self/'

therefore love
is

the law of

To

rise to this

to

be

perfect,

but the

more

perfect

we are, the

less

work

(so-called)

can

we

do.

The

sdttvikas see

and know

that all is

mere

child's play

and do not trouble them-

selves about anything.

112

Inspired Talks
easy to strike a blow, but tremendously hard to stay the hand, stand still and say : " In
It is

Thee

Lord

take refuge,

"

and then wait

for

Him

to act.

Friday, July
Until

5th.

you are ready

to

change any minute

;

you can never see the truth but you must, hold fast and be steady in the search for
truth.

Chdrvdkas, a very ancient sect in India, were

rank materialists.

They have died out now

books are
lost.

and most of

their

They claimthere was

ed that the soul, being the product of the body

and

its

forces, died with

its

it ;

that

no

proof of
inferential

further existence.

They denied

knowledge, accepting only percepsenses.

tion

by the
*

113

Vedanta Philosophy
Samddhi
in one, or
is

when
u

the Divine

and human are

it is

bringing sameness." * * *

Materialism says,
delusion.

The voice

of freedom

is

Idealism says,
is

The voice

that tells of

bondage
free

delusion.
free at the

Vedanta

says,
;

You

are

and not

same time
but

never free

on

the earthly

plane,

ever free

on the

spiritual.

Be beyond both freedom and bondage. We are Siva, we are immortal knowledge
beyond
the senses.

Infinite

power
it

is

back of everyone

pray to

"Mother "and
"

will

come

to you.

O Mother,

giver of

Vdk (eloquence),

Thou
lips."

self-existent,

come

as the

Vdk upon

my

{Hindu invocation). " That Mother whose voice

is

in the thunder,
eternal,

come Thou

in

me

Kdli,

Thou time
Power
!"

Thou

force irresistible, Sakti,

114

Inspired Talks

Saturday, July Uh. (To-day we had Sankardcharya's commentary on Vydsa's Vedanta Sutras)

Om
of the

tat sat

According to Sankara, there are two phases

universe,

one

is I

and the other thou

and they
so
it

are as contrary as light

and darkness,

goes without saying that neither can be

derived

from the other.

On

the subject, the

;

object has been superimposed

the only reality, the other a

the subject

is

mere appearance.
Matter and

The

opposite view

is

untenable.

the external world are but the soul in a certain

state
;

in reality there is

only one.

All our

world comes from truth and untruth

coupled together.

Samsdra

(life)

is

the

result

of the contradictory forces acting

upon

us, like

the diagonal motion of a ball in a parallelogram

of forces.
that
is

The world

is

God and
see
;

is real,

but
see
not.

not the world

we

just as
it

we
is

silver in

the mother-of-pearl where

115

Vedanta Philosophy
This
is

what

is

known
is,

as

Adhydsa or super-

imposition, that

a relative existence depen-

dent upon a
scene
us,

real

one, as
;

when we
it

recall

we have

seen

for
is

the time
real.

exists for

but that existence

as

not

Or some

say r

it is

when we imagine
to
it
;

heat in water,
it

which

does not belong

so really
it

is

something

which has been put where

"
taking the thing for

does not belong,

not."

what

it is

We

see

reality,

but distorted by the

see
it.

medium

through

which we

You can
objectified.

never

know

yourself

except

as

When we

mistake one thing for

another,

we always

take the thing before us as

the real, never the

unseen

thus

we mistake

the object for the subject.

The Atman never

is

becomes the

object.

Mind
its

the internal sense

In

the outer senses are

subject
is

instruments.

the
that

trifle

of the objectifying
I

power

enables

him

to

know u

am ";

but the subject

116

Inspired Talks
is

the object of

its

own

self,

never of the

mind

or the senses.

one
sky

idea
is

on

can, however, superimpose another idea, as when we say " the

You

blue", the sky itself being only

all

an

idea.

Science and nescience are

the Self
Relative
is

there are, but

never affected by any nescience.

is

knowledge

good, because

it

leads to

absolute knowledge; but neither the knowledge

of the senses,

nor of the mind, nor even of the

since

Vedas

is

true,

they are

all

within the
of

realm of relative knowledge.

the delusion "I

First get rid

am

the body", then only can

we want

real

knowledge.

Man's knowledge

is

only a higher degree of brute knowledge. * * *

One

part of the

Vedas deals with Karma,

forms and ceremonies.

with the knowledge of
religion.
Self

The

other part deals

discusses

Brahman and

The Vedas

in this part teach of the

and because they do,

their

knowledge

is

117

Vedanta Philosophy
approaching
real

knowledge.

Knowledge of

the Absolute depends

upon no book, nor upon

itself.

anything;
of

it

is

absolute in

No amount
it

study will give this knowledge;

it is

is

not

theory,

realization.

Cleanse the dust from

the
flash

mirror,

purify your

own mind, and

are

in

you know that you

exists,

Brahman.

God

not birth or death, not pain, nor

misery, nor murder, nor change, nor good or

evil;
all

is

Brahman.
the error

We
is

take the "rope for

ours...

the

serpent,"

We

can only

do good when we love God and

love.

He

reflects

our

The murderer
is

is

God and

the "clothing

of

murderer"

only superimposed
tell

upon
the

him.
truth.

Take him by the hand and

him

Soul has no caste and to think

delusion, so are
life

it

has

is

and death or any motion

or quality.

The Atman never changes, never

It
is

goes or comes.

the eternal Witness of

118

Inspired Talks
all its

own manifestations,
;

but

we

take

it

for the

manifestation

an

eternal

illusion,

without

beginning or end, ever going on.

The Vedas,

however, have to come

if

down

to our level, for

they told us the highest truth in the highest

way,

we could
is

not understand

it.

Heaven
desire,

a mere superstition arising from

is

and desire
Never

ever a yoke,

degeneraas

tion.

approach, anything except

do,

God

for

if

we

we

see

evil

because

we
at
il-

throw a veil of delusion over what we look

and then we
lusions
;

see evil.

Get free from these

be blessed.

Freedom

is

to

lose

all

illusions.

In one

sense

Brahman

is
I

known

to

every

human
does

being

he knows "
himself but
as

am";
he
is.

but

man
all

not

know
are,

We
are.
;

know

we

not

how we
Vedas

All

lower explanations are partial truths

flower, the

but the
that the

essence of

the

is

119

Vedanta Philosophy
Self in

each of us
is

is

Brahman.

Every pheno;

menon

included in birth, growth and death

appearance,

continuance
realization
is

and

disappearance.

Our own

beyond the
upon

Vedas,

because even they depend

highest Vedanta
is

that.

The
Be-

the philosophy

of the

yond.

To
is

say

that

creation

has

any beginning
of
all

to

lay 'the

axe at

the

root

phi-

losophy.

Mdyd
and

is

the energy of the universe, potential

kinetic.

Until

Mother

releases

us,

we

cannot get

free.
is

The

universe

ours to
is

enjoy,

but want

nothing.

To want
we

weakness.

Want makes

us beggars and
beggars.

are sons of the king, not

Sunday Morning, fuly

1th.

Infinite manifestation dividing itself in portions

120

Inspired Talks
still

remains infinite, and each portion

is

is infinite.*

Brahman

the

same

in

two forms,

changeunex-

able and unchangeable,

pressed.

expressed and
the

Know

that the

Knower and

known
known

are one.

The Trinity,
is

the Knower, the

and knowing,
That

manifesting as this universe.

God

the Yogi sees in meditation, he sees

through the power of his

own
is is

Self.

What we call nature, fate,

So
long as enjoyment

simply God's
sought,

will.

bondage

remains. Only imperfection can enjoy, because

enjoyment

is

the fulfilling

of

desire.

The

human
reality

soul enjoys Nature.

of

The underlying
is

Nature, soul and

is

God

but
*

it

(Brahman)

unseen, until

Brahman; we bring it

Infinity is one,

unmanifested.

By

without a second, ever indivisible, and 'infinite manifestation,' the Swami

means the universe, both visible and invisible. Although it made up of countless forms which are limited by their very nature, still as a whole it is always infinite nay even
is
;

a portion of

it

is infinite,
it.

as each such portion

is

insepara-

bly united with

121

Vedanta Philosophy
out.
It

may

be brought out by Pramantha or

friction, just as

we can produce

fire

by

friction.

The body
the
the

is

the lower

piece of

wood,

Om

is
is

pointed piece and dhydna (meditation)

friction.
is

When

this

is

used, that

light

which

the knowledge of

Brahman

will burst

forth in the soul.

Seek

it

through tapas. Holdorgans of

ing the

body

upright, sacrifice the

sense in the mind.

The

sense-centres are within,

the organs without, so drive

them

into the

mind
the

and through dhdrana (concentration)

fix

mind
the

in

dhydna.
is

Brahman
butter

is

omnipresent in
but
friction

universe as
it

in milk,

makes

manifest in one pJace.

As churning
so

brings out the butter in the milk,

brings the realization
All
of

dhydna

Brahman

in the soul.
is

Hindu philosophy

declares that there

a sixth sense, the superconscious, and through

it

comes

inspiration.

122

Inspired Talks

The

universe

is

motion,

and

friction
;

will

eventually bring everything to

an end

then

comes

a rest

and

after that all

*
"

begins again. *

So long as the " skin sky

that
is,

surrounds man,,

so long as he identifies himself with his

body, he cannot see God.

Sunday afternoon.
There are
six

schools of philosophy in India

that are regarded as

lieve in the Vedas.

orthodox because they be-

Vyasa's philosophy

is

par

excellence that of the

is

Upanishads.

He

wrote in Sutra form, that

in brief algebraical

symbols without nominative

or verb.

This caused so

much

ambiguity that
"
;

out of the Sutras

came dualism, mono-dualism,

"

and monism or
the

roaring Vedanta
in

and

all

great

commentators

these

different
liars

schools were at
order to

times " conscious

"

in

make

the texts suit their philosophy.

125

Vedanta Philosophy
The Upanishads contain very
little

history

of the doings of any man, but nearly

Scriptures are largely

all

other

personal histories.
with

The

Vedas deal almost

entirely

philosophy.

Religion without philosophy runs into superstition

;

philosophy without religion becomes

dry atheism.
Visishta-advaita
is

qualified

advaita

(monsays,

ism).

Its

expounder was Ramanuja.

of

He

" Out of the ocean of milk

the

Vedas

Vyasa has churned

the better to
" All virtues

this butter of

philosophy,
says again,

help mankind."

He
is

and

all

qualities belong to

Brahma,
greatest

Lord

of

the universe.

He

the
is

Pttrusha
the

and Brahman
itself."

(neut.)
is

lower,

or

universe

Madhva
dvaitist.

thorough-

going dualist

or

He

claims that
study the

every caste and even

women might

Vedas.

He

quotes chiefly from the Purdnas.

He

says that

Brahman means Vishnu, not

124

Siva

Inspired Talks
at
all,

because there

is

no

salvation

except

through Vishnu.

Monday, July
There
is

Sth.

no place
it is

for reasoning in

Madhva's

explanation,
in the

all

taken from

the revelation

Vedas.
says,

Ramanuja
study.

the

Vedas are the

holiest

Let the sons of the three upper castes

get the Sutras

of age to a

and

at eight, ten, or eleven years

begin the study, which means going

Guru and learning the Vedas word for word, with perfect intonation and pronunciation.

Japa

is

repeating the

Holy Name
Infinite.
is

through

this the devotee rises to the

The boat
frail,
,

of sacrifice

and ceremonies

very

we

need more than that to

alone
is

know Brahman which

is

freedom.
of

Liberty

nothing more

than destruction

ignorance

and

that

can

125

Vedanta Philosophy
only go

when we know Brahman.

all

It is

not

necessary to go through
to reach the

these ceremonials

meaning

of the Vedanta.

Repeat-

ing

Om

is

enough.
is

Seeing difference

the

cause of

all

misery,

and ignorance
That
is

is

the cause of seeing difference.

why

ceremonials are not needed, be;

cause they increase the idea of inequality

practise

you
or to

them

to

get rid of something,

obtain something.

Brahman

is

without action, At man

are
all

is

Brah~
like

man and
this

we
off

Atman
error.

knowledge

takes

It

must be
lastly

heard,
realized.

apprehended
Cogitating
this
is

intellectually,

and

applying reason
in ourselves
it

and establishing
Realiz-

knowledge
is

by reason.
of

ing

making

a
it.

part

our lives by

constant thinking of
or

This constant thought

that

dhydnam
line

is

as oil

pours in one unvessel

;

broken

from

vessel to

dhydnam

126

Inspired Talks
rolls the

mind

in this

thought day and night

and so helps us
always
"

to attain to liberation.
;

Think
as
;

Soham, Soham"
liberation.

this
it

is

almost

good

as

Say

day

and night

realization will

come

as the result of this con-

tinuous cogitation.

This absolute and contiof the

nuous remembrance

Lord

is

what

is

meant by Bhakti.
This Bhakti
works.
is

indirectly helped

by

all

good

Good

thoughts and good works create

less differentiation

than bad ones, so indirectly

they lead to freedom.

results

Work, but

give

up the
can
of

to

the

Lord.

Knowledge alone
follows the

make us

perfect.

He who

God

Truth with devotion, to him the

reveals Himself.

God
*
is

of

Truth

We

are lamps and our burning

what we

call "life."

When

the supply of oxygen gives

out.
All

out, then the

lamp must go

we can

127

Vedanta
do
is

Philosophy

lamp clean. Life is a product, a compound, and as such must resolve itself
into
its

to keep the

elements.

Tuesday, July

9th.
is

Man

as

Atman

really free, as

man he

is-

bound, changed by every physical condition.

As man, he
freedom
;

is

machine with an idea of

but this

human body
Atman

is

the

best
is.

and the human mind the highest mind there

When

man

attains to the

state

he can
;

take a body,

making
This
is

it

to suit himself

he

is

above law.
proved.

a statement and must be

;

Each one must prove it for himself we may satisfy ourselves but we cannot satisfy
another.

Raja Yoga

is

the only science of

reli-

gion that can be demonstrated, and only what

I

myself have proved by experience, do

full

teach.

The

ripeness of reason

is

intuition,

but in

tuition

cannot antagonize reason.

128

Inspired Talks

Work
men and

purifies the heart

and so leads
said doing

to vidyd

(wisdom).

The Buddhists

good
;

to

to animals

were the only works

all

the

Brahmins

said that

worship and

ceremonials
the

were equally
Sankara
bad, are ing to

"

work"

and

purify

mind.

declares that

M all works,

good and

against knowledge."

Actions tend-

ignorance are sins,

not directly, but

as causes,

because they tend to increase tamas

and

rajas.

With

sattva only,

comes wisdom.

Virtuous deeds take off the veil from knowledge

and knowledge alone can make us see God.

Knowledge can never be created, it can only be discovered and every man who makes a
;

great discovery
spiritual truth

is

inspired.

Only, when
call

it is

a
;

he brings, we

him

a prophet

and when

it

is

on the physical plane, we

call

him a

scientific

man and we

attribute

more

importance to
of
all

the former, although the source

truth

is

One.

129

Vedanta Philosophy
Sankara says Brahman
reality of all
is

the essence,
that
all

the

knowledge and

manifesta-

tion as

Knower, knowing and known are mere

imaginings in Brahman.

Ramanuja

attributes
attri-

consciousness to

God

the real monists

bute nothing, not even existence in

any mean-

ing

that

we can

attach
is

to

it.

Ramanuja

declares that

God

the essence of conscious

knowledge.

Undifferentiated

consciousness,

when

differentiated,

becomes the world.

Buddhism, one
religions
in

of

the most

philosophical
all

the

world,

spread

through

the populace, the

common

people of India.

What
been

a wonderful culture there

must have

among

the Aryans twenty-five

hundred
!

years ago, to be able to grasp such ideas

Buddha was
pher

the only great Indian philoso-

who would not recognise caste, and^not one

of his followers remains in India. All the other

130

Inspired

Talks

philosophers pandered more or less to social

prejudices
still
;

no matter how high they soared,

a bit of the vulture remained in them.

As

my
on a

Master used to say,

"

The

vulture soars
is

high out of sight in the sky, but his eye

bit of carrion

ever

on
*

the earth."

*
scholars,
said,

The ancient Hindus were wonderful

veritable
11

living
in

encyclopaedias.

They
in

knowledge

books and

money

other

people's hands

is like

no money and no know-

ledge at

all."

Sankara was regarded by

nation of Siva.

many

as an incar-

Wednesday, July
There are
in India,
*

10th.

sixty-five

million
Sufis.*

Mohammedans
Sufis

most

of

them

identify
in

The

influence of

Hinduism upon Mahommedanism

India gave rise to the sect

known

as Sufis or Shias. [Ed.]

131

Vedanta Philosophy

man

with

God and
"

through them

this idea

came

into Europe.

They

are also called M Shias.'*

They say

am

that Truth "; but they have

an esoteric as well as an exoteric doctrine,

although

Mohammed

himself did not hold

it.

"Hashshashin"*
"assassin'',

has

become our

word

because the old sects of

Mohammetheir

danism
creed.

killed

non-believers as a part of

pitcher of water has to be present

in the

Mohammedan
filling

worship as a symbol of

God

the universe.

The Hindus
*

believe that there will be

ten

The name of a military and

murders committed by

religious order existing in

of
to
is

Syria in the 11th century and

secret

famous for the number

its

members in obedience
meaning of the word

the will of their chief.

The

literal

" Hashish-eater " and was applied to the order because of

their habitual use of this special

drug

to fortify the

murderers

for their task.

[Ed.]

132

Inspired Talks
Divine Incarnations.
tenth
is still

Nine have been and the

to

come.
*

Sankara sometimes resorts to sophistry in

order to prove that the ideas in the Books go
to.

uphold his philosophy.

Buddha was more

brave and sincere than any teacher.

" Believe
If

He

said

no book

Vedas

* are

all

humbug.

they agree with me, so

1

much

the better for

;

the books.

am

the greatest

book

sacrifice

and prayer

are useless."

Buddha was

the

first

human

being to give to the world a complete

system of morality.
sake,

He was good
is

for

good's

he loved for love's sake.

Sankara says:
because
the
;

God

to

be reasoned on,

Vedas

say

so.

Reason

helps
or

inspiration

books

and

realized

reason,

individualized perception

both are proofs of

God.

The Vedas

are,

according to him, a sort

first

*By Vedas is here meant the Karma-Kanda or

portion.

133

Vedanta Philosophy
of

incarnation of universal knowledge.

The

proof of

God

is

that

he brought forth the

is

Vedas, and the proof of the Vedas

that such

wonderful books could only have been given

out by Brahman.

They

are the

mine
of

of

all

knowledge and they have come out

as a
that

Him

man

breathes out air

is

therefore

we know

He
a

infinite in

power and knowledge.

He may
that
is
is

or

may
;

not have created the

to
!

wo rid

trifle

have produced the Vedas

more important

The world has come

the Vedas
;

to

know God through

there
is.

no other way

And

so

universal

is

this belief,

held

by

Sankara, in the all-inclusiveness of the Vedas

that there
loses his
is

even a

Hindu proverb

that

if

man

cow, he goes

to look for her in the

Vedas

Sankara further affirms that obedience to

ceremonial
is

not knowledge.

Knowledge

of

134

Inspired Talks

God
fice,

is

independent of moral

duties, or

sacri-

or ceremonial, or what

we

think or do not

think, just as the

stump

is

not affected

when

one man takes

it

it

for a ghost

and another sees

as

it is.

Vedanta

is

necessary because neither reason-

ing nor books can

to be

show us God.

He

is

only

realized

by superconscious perception
to
attain that.
(Isvara)

and Vtdanta teaches how

You
and

must get beyond personal God

reach the

Absolute Brahman.
;

God
,;

is

the peris

ception of every being

perceived.

He

is all
1

there
is

to

be

That which says"

Brahman,.

but although we, day and night, perceive Him,

we do not know

that

we

are

perceiving
this

Him.
all

As so on as we become aware of
misery goes
truth.
;

truth,

so

we must
;

get

knowledge
duality will

of

the

Reach unity no more

come.

But knowledge does not come by sacrifice, but

by seeking, worshipping, knowing the Aiman-

135

Vedanta Philosophy
Brahmavidyd
is

the
;

highest

knowledge,
is

knowing the Brahman

science.

lower knowledge

This
or

is

the teaching of the

the

Munda-

kopanishad,

Upanishad for Sanydsins,

knowledge,
is

There are two

sorts of

principal
that part of

and secondary.

The

unessential

the Vedas dealing with worship

also
all

and ceremonial,
essential
It is

secular knowledge.

The

that

by which we reach the Absolute.

all

(the

Absolute) creates
is

from

its

own nature

there
all

nothing to cause, nothing outside.

it is all

It is

energy,

there

is.

He who makes
Atman, he

all

sacrifices to

himself,

the

alone

knows Brahman. Fools think outside worship

the highest; fools think works can give us

God.
(the

Only those whe go through the Susumna

<l

"

path

of the Yogis) reach to a

the

At man.
part

They
has

must go
the

Guru

to

learn.
;

Each
all

same nature as the whole

is

springs from the whole

the Atman. Meditation

the arrow,

136

Inspired Talks
^oul going out to
the arrow to
its

God

is

the bow, which speeds

mark, the Alman.

As

finite

we can

never express the Infinite, but

we

are

the Infinite.

Knowing

this

we argue with no

one.

Divine wisdom
meditation

is

to

be got by devotion,
tl

and

chastity.

Truth

alone
truth

triumphs, and

not untruth."
is

Through

alone the

way

spread to Brahman, where

alone love and truth are.

Thursday, July
Without
continue.
entirely

11th.

mother-love

no

creation

could

Nothing

is

entirely physical, nor yet

;

metaphysical

one presupposes

the

other and explains the other.

that
there
is

All Theists agree

a background
differ

to

this

visible

universe,

they

as

to

the

nature

or

character of that background.

there
is

Materialists say

no background.

137

Vedanta Philosophy
In
all

religions the

superconscious state

is

identical.

Hindus, Christians, Mohammedans,

all

Buddhists, and even those of no creed,

the very

have

same experience when they transcend

*
*

the body.
,

The

purest Christians in the world were es-

tablished in India

by the Apostle
after

Thomas
death
of

about
Jesus.
still

twenty-five years

the

This was while the Anglo-Saxons were

savages, painting their bodies

and

living in

caves.

The

Christians in India once

numberthere are

ed about three millions, but about one million.

Christianity
is

now

always propagated

by the

sword.

How

wonderful that the disciples of

kill

such a gentle soul should

three

so

much

The

missionary religions are the Buddhist,

Christian.

Mohammedan and
ones,

The

three older

Hinduism, Judaism and Zoroastrianism,,

138

Inspired Talks
never

sought
killed,

to

make

converts.

Buddhists

never

but converted three-quarters of the

world

at

one time by pure gentleness.

the most
logical

The Buddhists were

tics.

agnos-

You can

really stop

nowhere between

nihilism and absolutism.

intellectually

The Buddhists were

carrying
issue.

all-destroyers,

their

theory to
vaitists

its

ultimate logical

The Adto
its

also

worked out

their

theory

logical

conclusion and reached the Absolute,

one
all

identified

Unit
are

Substance,

out of which

phenomena
and

being manifested.

Both

Buddhists
identity

Advaitists

have a feeling of
at

and non-identity
feelings

the

same time

one of these
true.

must be
the

false

and one
in

The

nihilist

puts

reality

non;

identity,

the realist puts the reality in identity

and

this is the fight

world.

This

is

which occupies the whole " the tug of war."

139

Vedanta Philosophy
The
realist

any idea

of

How does the How does identity ?"

asks,
?

"

nihilist get

the revolv-

ing light appear a circle

point of rest

alone explains motion.

The

nihilist

can never
is

explain the genesis of the delusion that there

a background
;

neither can the idealist explain

how

the

One becomes

the

many.

The only
the sense-

explanation must

come from beyond

rise to the

plane

we must

superconscious,

to

state entirely

beyond sense perception.

is

That

metaphysical power

the further
use.

instrument can experican

then

that the idealist alone can

He

ence the Absolute

resolve

the

man Vivekananda

himself
to

into

the Absolute and

again.

come back
the

the
is

man

For him, then,

for

problem
for

solved

and secondarily

others,

he can show the way to

others.

Thus

religion begins

where philosophy ends.

will

The "good to the world'' now superconscious for us

140

be that what

is

will in ages to

come

Inspired Talks
be the conscious for
fore
all.

Religion

is

there-

the

highest

work

the

world has;
felt this,

and
he
of

because

man

has unconsciously
all

has clung through

religion.

the ages to

the idea

Religion the great milch

kicks,

cow

has given

many
of

but never mind,

it

gives a great deal

the

milk.

The milkman does not mind

kick
is

of the

cow which

gives

much

milk.

Religion

the greatest child to be born, the great

of
realization," let us feed
it

"moon
it

it

and help

and

will

become

a.

giant.

King Desire
just as

grow and
latter

King Knowledge fought and

the

was about
to him,

to be

defeated,

a child the

was born,
victory to

Vedanta, and saved

(Bhakti)

him.

Then Love

and

Knowledge
Love
without
with
a.

married and " lived happy ever

concentrates
effort,
all

after."

the

power

of the will
in love

as

when

man

falls

woman.
141

Vedanta Philosophy
The
pleasant.

path

of

devotion
is

is

natural

and

Philosophy
its

taking the mountain

It

stream back to

source by force.

is

quicker method but very hard.

says,

Philosophy
says,
self-

"check
all

everything."

Devotion
eternal

"give up

to the stream, have

It is

surrender."
happier.

a longer

way, but easier and

"Thine
I

am

forever;
it.

henceforth

whatever
there

do,

it

is

Thou doing

No more

is

any

me

or mine."
to give,

"Having no money
learn,

no brains
to

to

no time
One,
I

to

practice Yoga,

Thee,

sweet

give

myself, to

Thee

my body
ideas can

and mind."

No amount

of ignorance or

wrong

put a barrier between the soul aud God.

if

Even
It is

there be no God,
to

still

hold

fast to love.

better

die seeking a

God

than as a dog
ideal

seeking only carrion.

Chose the highest

142

Inspired Talks

and give your

certain,
it

life

up

to that.

Death being so
life

is

the highest thing to give up

for a great purpose.

Love

will painlessly

attain to

philosophy

then after

knowledge comes Pardbhakti

(su-

preme devotion).
Knowledge
fuss
will
is

critical
;

and makes a
"

great

over everything

but

Love says u God

to

show His
all.

real

nature

me

and

.accepts

RABBIA.
Rabbia, sick upon her bed,

By two
Holy

saints

was

visited,

Malik,
of

Hassan
in
k

wise,

Men

mark
said,

Moslem

eyes.
is

Hassan

Whose

prayer

pure,

Will God's chastisements endure."

Malik, from a deeper sense

Uttered his experience

143

Vedanta Philosophy
"

He who

loves his master's choice

Will in chastisement rejoice"

Rabbia saw some

In their

selfish will
still,

maxims
"
;

lingering

And replied He who sees

O men

of grace,

his Master's face

Will not in his prayers recall

That he

is

chastised at

all !"

Persian Poem,

Friday, July

12th. (Sankara's Commentary)*.

(is)

Fourth Vyasa Sutra: " Atman

all."

the

aim of

The Isvara
all

is

to
to

be known from the Vedanta

Vedas point

Him (who

is

the Cause

the
is

Creator,

Preserver and Destroyer).

Isvara
as

the unification of the Trinity,

known

Brahma
head of

Vishnu and
the

Siva,

which stands
"

at the

Hindu Pantheon.
144

Thou

art

our Father

Inspired Talks

who

takest us to the

other shore of the dark

ocean."

(Invocation to Isvara).

The Vedas cannot show you Brahman, you

are That already
;

they can only help to take

the truth from our eyes.
is

away the veil that hides The first veil to vanish

that
is

ignorance, and

when

gone, sin goes, next desire ceases,

selfish-

ness ends

and

all

misery disappears.

This
I

cessation of ignorance can only

come when

know

that

God and

are one

in other

words,

identify yourself with Atman,

limitations.

not with

human
body

D/s-identify yourself with the

and

all

pain will cease.

This

is

the secret of

healing.
tion
;

The universe
de-hypnotize

is

a case of hypnotiza-

yourself

and cease

to

suffer.

In order to be free
vice to virtue,
is

we have

to pass

through

and then get

rid of both.

Tamas

to

be conquered by rajas, both are to be

in

submerged

sattva

then,

go beyond the

145

Vedanta Philosophy
three qualities.

Reach a

state

where your very

breathing

is

a prayer.

Whenever you

learn (gain

anything) from
that

another man's words,

know

you had the

experience in a previous existence, because experience

is

the only teacher. *

With
desire.

all

powers comes further misery, so

is

kill

Getting any desire

like

putting
is

stick into a nest of hornets.

Vairdgyam
but

find-

ing out that desires are

poison. " Mind
asi,"

gilded balls

of

is

not

God "

(Sankara).

u Tat

tvam

"Aham Brahmasmi" ("That thou art," am Brahman ''). When a man realizes this,
all

all

the knots of 'his heart are cut asunder,

his

doubts vanish.
*

Fearlessness

is

not possible

you know
not,

Whenever you know any person, place or thing, it because it you can remember it you can,-

you say that you do not know it, and ycu can only remember that which you experienced before. o experience
is

the only teacher.

146

Inspired Talks
as long as we have even
be

God

over us

we must

God.
;

What
if

is

disjoined will be forever dis-

joined

you

are separate

from God, then you

vice versa.
If

can never be one with Him, and

by

virtue

you

are joined to

God, when

that
is

ceases, disjunction will

come.

The junction
remove the
it.
<l

eternal

and

virtue only helps to

veil.

We

are dzdd (free),

we must

realize

Whom
and

the Self chooses"

means we

are the Self

choose ourselves.

Does
or does
It

seeing depend
it

upon our own

efforts
?

depend

upon something outside

;

depends upon ourselves

the
is

our

efforts

take

off

dust, the

mirror

does

not

change.

There
14

neither knower,

knowing nor known.

know, he

He who knows
It."

that he does not

knows
nothing.

He who
we
are

has

theory

knows

The
sion.

idea that

bound

is

only an

illu-

147

Vedanta Philosophy
Religion
is

not of this world

its

it

is

"

heartis-

cleansing"

and

effect
is

on

this

world

secondary.

Freedom

inseparable from the

is

nature of the Atman.

perfect, ever

This

ever pure, ever

unchangeable.

This Atman you

can never know.

the
"

We

can say nothing about

not this."

Atman but "not

this,

Brahman

is

that

which we can never drive

out by any power of

(Sankara).

mind

or imagination."

*
is

The
are the
create

universe

thought,
this

and

the

Vedas
can

words

of

thought.

We

and

uncreate

this

whole

universe.
is

Repeating the words, the

unseen thought
is

aroused and as a result a seen effect

duced.

pro-

This

is

the claim of a
that each
T

certain sect of

Karmis.
creator.

They think

one

of us is

Pronounce the w ords, the thought

will arise

which corresponds

and

the result

148

Inspired Talks
will

become

visible.

"

Thought
is

is

the power
of

of the word, the

the thought/'

word

the

expression

say the Mimdnsakas, a

Hindu

philosophical sect.

Saturday, July
Everything we

13th.
is

know

compound and

all

sense-knowledge comes through analysis.

think that
dent,
is

To

mind

is

a simple, single or indepen-

dualism.
,

Philosophy
the

is

not got by

more you read books, the more muddled becomes the mind. The idea
studying books
of unthinking philosophers

was

that the
to

mind

was a simple, and

free-will.

this led

them

believe in

Psychology, the analysis of the mind,

to

shows the mind

be a compound, and every

held together by
is

compound must be
side force
;

some

out-

so the will

bound by the combi-

nation of outside
will to eat unless

forces.
is

Man

cannot even
is

he

hungry.
;

Will

subject
it.

to desire.

But we

are free

everyone

feels

149

Vedanta Philosophy

The

agnostic says this idea

?

is

a delusion.

Then, how prove the world

is

Its

only proof

that
all

we

all

see

it

and

feel
If
it

it

so just as

much

we

feel

freedom.

universal consensus

affirms this world, then

must be accepted as
is

affirming freedom
will as
it is.

but freedom

not of the

The
is

constitutional belief of
all

man
Free-

in

freedom
is

the basis of
it

reasoning.
it

dom

of the will as

was before
of free-will

became

bound.

The very idea

shows every

moment man's
free

struggle against bondage.

The

can be only one, the Unconditioned, the

the Unlimited.

Infinite,

Freedom

in

man

is

now
dom.

a memory,

an

attempt

towards

free-

Everything in the universe

complete a
turn to
its

is its

struggling to
source, to re-

circle, to return

to

only real Source, Atman. The search

is

for happiness

a struggle to find the balance, equilibrium.

to

restore

the

Morality

is

the

150

Inspired Talks
struggle of the

bound

will to get free

and

is

the

proof that

we have come from

*'**
is

perfection.

The

idea of duty

the

midday sun
"

of misery

scorching the very soul.

king, drink this

(" I

one drop

of nectar

and be happy."
the nectar.)

am

not the doer," this

is

Let there be action without reaction

is

action
child
;

pleasant,
its

all

misery

is

reaction.

The

puts

hand
its

in the flame, that is pleasure

but when

system reacts, then comes the pain

of burning.

When we can

stop that reaction,

then

we have nothing
let
it

to fear.

Control the brain

;

and do not
ness and

read the record

react,

be the wit-

do not

only thus can you be

happy.
are

The

happiest

moments we

ever

know
of

when we

entirely forget ourselves.

Work

your
duty.

own

free will, not

is

from duty.
just
is

We

have no
in

This world

gymnasium

which we play; our

life

an eternal holiday.

151

Vedanta Philosophy

The whole
fear.

secret of existence
fear

is

to have no
of you, dereject

Never

what

will

become

pend on no one.
all

Only the moment you

free.

help are

you

The
*

full

sponge can
*
is

absorb no more.
*
*
in

Even
though

righting
it is

self-defence

wrong,

higher than fighting in aggression.

"

There

is

no " righteous

indignation, because

indignation comes from not recognizing "same" in all things. ness

Sunday, July
Philosophy
in

14//*.

India

means

that

through
;

which we

see

God, the rationale of religion

so

no Hindu would ever ask

religion

for a link between

and philosophy.

Concrete, generalized, abstract are the three

stages in the process of philosophy.
est abstraction in

The highis

which

all

things agree,

the

152

Inspired Talks

One.

In religion

we

have,

first,

symbols and
philosophy.
;

forms, next mythology, and

last,

The
phy

first
is

two are
the

for the

time being
basis
of
all

philoso-

underlying

and

the

others are only stepping stones in the struggle

to reach the Ultimate.

In Western religion the idea the

is

that without

New Testament and Christ there could be no religion. A similar belief exists in Judaism with
regard to Moses and the Prophets, because these
religions are

dependent upon mythology only.

Real religion, the highest, rises above mythology

;

it

can never

rest

upon

that.

Modern

science has really

made

the foundations of reliis

gion strong.
scientifically

That the whole universe

demonstrable.

one

is

What

the meta-

physicians call "being" the physicist calls "matter,"

but there

is

no

real fight

between the two,

is

for both are one.

Though an atom
it

invisible,

unthinkable, yet in

are the

whole power and

153

Vedanta Philosophy
potency of the universe.

That

is

exactly what

the Vedantist says of Atman.

ly saying the

All sects are real-

same thing

in different

words.

Vedanta and modern science both posit a

self-evolving Cause.
In Itself are
all

the causes.

Take

for

example the potter shaping a pot.

is

The

potter

the primal cause, the clay the

material cause,

and

the wheel the

is

instrumental

cause

but the

Atman

all

three.

Atman

is

cause and manifestation

too.
it is

The

Vedantist

says, the universe is not real,

only apparent.

Nature

is

God

seen through nescience.

The

Pantheists say,

God

has

become

nature or this

world; the Advaitists affirm that

ing as this world, but

God

is

appear-

He

is

not this world.

We can

only

know
the

experience as a mental

process, a fact in
in the brain.

mind

as well as a

mark

We

cannot push the brain back

the

or forward, but

we can

mind

it

can stretch

over

all

time, past,

present and future,

and so

154

Inspired Talks
facts in the

mind

are eternally preserved.

All
is

facts are already generalized in

mind, which

omnipresent.*
Kant's great achievement was the discovery
that " time, space

and causation are modes of

ages ago

thought,"

but Vedanta taught this

it

and

called

"

Mdyd." Schopenhauer stands

rationalizes the

on reason only and

Vedas...

Sankara maintained the orthodoxy of the Vedas. * * * *

M Treeness "
is

or the

idea tree,

found
the

out

among

trees,
is

knowledge, and

highest

knowledge
Personal

One
is

God

the last generalization of the

in Space,

*Asthe entire creation existing

tion can
itself as

Time and Causawhole

never exist beyond mind or memory, manifesting

thinking, feeling and willing, therefore the
it.

of space, time and causation must have to be in

Hence

mind

is

omnipresent.

Individual

mind

is

a portion of the

omnipresent or universal mind almost shut up in a body

like a gulf

or a bit of the ocean mostly surrounded by land

it

leaving a narrow opening which joins

to the ocean.

155

Vedanta Philosophy
universe, only

hazy, not clear-cut

and

philo-

sophic

Unity

is

self-evolving,

out of which

every-

thing comes.

....
is

Physical science

to find

out facts,

meta-

physics

is

the thread to bind the flowers into a

bouquet.

Every abstraction
at

is

metaphysical
root of

even putting manure

the

a tree

involves a process of abstraction

Religion

includes the

concrete,
unity.

the

more
not

generalized and the ultimate

stick
to

Do

particularizations.

Get to the prin*

darkness,

ciple, to the

One.
#

Devils are machines of

angels

are machines of light

but both are machines.

strike
free.

Man

alone

is alive.

Break the machine,

the balance,* and then

*

man

can become

Find out that the relationship between yourself and the

machine is as between a worker Never identify yourself with it.

and

his

instrument.

156

Inspired Talks
This
is

the only world

where man can work

out his salvation.

"
is

Whom

the Self chooses

it

"
is

true.

Election

true,

but put

within.
it

As an external and

fatalistic doctrine,

is

horrible.

Monday, July 15th. Where there is polyandry,

as

in

Thibet,

women are

physically stronger

than the men.

When
large

the English go there, these the mountains.

women

carry

men up

In Malabar, although of course polyandry does

not obtain there, the

women
is

lead in everything.

Exceptional cleanliness

apparent everywhere

and

there
I

is

the

greatest

impetus to learning.
I

When
rest

myself was in that country,

met many

women who
of

spoke good Sanskrit,

while in the
in

India not one

it.

woman

a million

can speak
debases.

Mastery elevates and servitude

Malabar has never been conquered

157

Vedanta Philosophy
either

by the Portuguese, or by the Mussul-

mans.

The Dravidians were

Central Asia,

non-Aryan race of
the Aryans,

who preceded

and

those of Southern India were the most civilized.

Women

with them stood

higher

than

men.
to

They subsequently
Egypt, others

divided,

some going
and the

to Babylonia,

rest re-

maining

in India.

Tuesday, July
Adrishtam, the
to sacrifice

16th. (Sankara)

u unseen

cause,"
in turn

leads us

and worship, which

;

produce
think

seen results

so

we must

first

hear, then

or reason, and then

meditate upon Brahman.

result of

The

result of

works and the

know-

ledge are two different things.

Do

"

and " Do

not do

"

are the

background

of all morality, but

they really belong only to

the

body and the

mind.

All

happiness and misery are inextri'

158

Inspired Talks
cably connected with
the senses,

and body

is

necessary to experience them.

The higher

the

body, the

higher the standard of virtue,

j

even

up

to

Brahma
is

but

all

have bodies. As long as

pleasure

there

a body, there must be

and

pain

only when one has got rid of the

body

can one escape them.

says Sankara.

The Atman

is

bodiless,

No

law can make ,you

free,
if

you are you have

free.
it

Nothing can give you freedom,

already.

not

The Atman
do not reach

is

self-illumined.

Cause

and

effect
is

there,

and

this

disembodiis,

edness
to

freedom. Beyond what was, or

effect,

or

is

be

is

Brahman. As an
;

freedom would
,

have no value
as such
It is

it

would be

compound

and

would contain the seeds

of bondage.

the one real factor, not to be attained, but

the real nature of the soul.

Work and
to take

worship, however, are necessary

the veil, to
lift

away

off the

bondage

159

Vedanta Philosophy
and
but
part
are.
is

illusion.
all

They do not

give us freedom,

the same, without effort on our

see

own

we do not open our eyes and

what we

Sankara says further that Advaita-Veddnta

;

the crowning glory of the Vedas

but the

lower Vedas are also necessary, because they

teach work and worship and through these

many

come

to the Lord.

Others

any help but Advaita.

to the

may come without Work and worship lead

des-

same

result as Advaita.

Books cannot teach God, but they can

troy ignorance
;

their action is negative.

at the

To

hold to the books and

the

Same time open

way

to

freedom,
after all,

is
it

Sankara's great achieveis

ment.
ting.

But
Give

a kind of hair-split-

man

first

the concrete, then raise

degrees.

him

to the highest

by slow

This

is

the effort of the various religions

their existence

and why each

is

suited to

and explains some

are a

stage of development.

The very books

160

Inspired Talks
part of the ignorance they help to dispel.

Their

duty

is

to drive out the ignorance that has

come

upon knowledge.
truth."

"Truth

shall

drive out unso.

You
as

are free

and cannot be made

creed,

So long

you have a
he

you have no God.

"He who knows

thing."

knows,
the

knows noth?

Who

can

know

Knower

There
the

are

two

eternal facts in

existence,

God and

The former unchangeable, the latter changeable. The world exists eternally. Where
universe.

your mind cannot grasp the amount of change,

you

call

it

eternity... You see the stone or the has

relief

on

it,

but not both

at

once; yet both are one.

*
at

Can you make

second
The
?

yourself

rest

even for a

All Yogis say

you can.
*

*
greatest sin

*
is

to

think yourself weak.

No

you are Brahman* Nothing has power except what you give it.
one
is

greater

realize

We

are

beyond the sun, the

L
161

stars, the universe.

Vedanta Philosophy
Teach the Godhood
none.
of

man.
I

Deny

evil,

create

Stand up and say,

all.
it.

am

the master, the

master of

We

forge the chain

and we alone

can break

No action can give you

ledge can
sistible
;

freedom; only know-

make you
the

free.

Knowledge
take
it

is

irreit.

mind cannot

or reject
it
;

When
it is

it

comes, the mind has to accept

its

so

not a work of the mind, only,

expres-

sion

comes

in the

mind.
is

Work
your

or worship
nature.

to

bring

you back

to

own
is

It is

an entire illusion that

the Self

the body; so even while living here in

the body,
in

we can be

free.

The body has nothing

Illusion
is

common

with the Self.

taking
at all."

the real for the unreal

not "nothing

Wednesday, July 17///. Raman uja divides the universe

and Isvara
;

into Chit, Achit

;

man, Nature and God

conscious,

subconscious

and

superconscious.

Sankara,

162

Inspired Talks

on

the contrary, says that Chit, the soul,

as
5

is

the
is

same

God.

God

is

truth,

is

knowledge,

infinity

these are not qualities. a qualification

u is

Any thought
that

of

God

is

and

all

can be

said of

him

Om

tat sat''

Sankara further asks, can you see

separate

existence
is

from everything

else

Where
?

the
in
it.

differentiation

between two objects

ail

Not
in

sense perception, else

would be one
sequence.
is,

We

have to perceive
of

in

In getting
get also

knowledge

what a thing
it

we

something which
are in the

is

not

The

differentiae

memory and
is

are got by comparison

with what

stored there.
it is

Difference
in the brain.

is

not in

the nature of a thing,

Homoinside
is

geneous one
(in the

is

mind)

outside, differentiae are " " so the idea of many

the

creation of the mind.

Differentiae

become

qualities

when

they are

separate, but joined in

one

object.

We

cannot

163

Vedanta Philosophy
say positively what differentiation
is.

All

that

we

see

and

feel

about things
All else

is

pure and simple

in
us.

" isness " existence,

is

Being

is

the only positive proof

we have

of anything.
"
reality,

All differentiation is really

"secondary

as the snake in

the rope,

because the serpent

too had a certain reality, in that something was

seen

although

misapprehended.

When

the

knowledge

of the

rope becomes negative, the

positive,

knowledge of the snake becomes

vice versa
;

and
one

but

the fact that

you
is

see only

does not prove that the other

non-existent.

The

idea of the world

of

is

an obstruction coveris

ing the idea

it

God, and

to

be removed, but

does have an existence.

Sankara says again,

proof of existence.

perception

is

the

last
self-

It is self-effulgent

and

conscious, because to go

beyond

the senses

we

should

still

need perception.
senses, of
all

Perception

is in-

dependent of the

instruments, un-

164

Inspired Talks
conditioned.

There

can
;

be

no

perception

without consciousness

perception

has
is

self-

luminosity, which in a lesser degree

called

consciousness.

Not one
;

act of perception

can
the

be unconscious

in

fact,

consciousness

is

nature of perception. Existence and perception

are

one thing, not two things joined together.

is

That which needs no cause

perception
It is
is

infinite,

so as

the last proof of

;

itself, it is

eternal.
is its

always subjective
perceiver.

perception
is

itself

own

Perception

not in the mind,

It is

but perception brings mind.

absolute, the

only knower, so perception

Perception
itself

is

really the

Atman.
can-

perceives, but the

Atman
"

not be a knower,

because a u

knower
;

becomes

such by the action of knowledge

says "this

but Sankara

Atman
"
I

is

not

"
I

because the connot in the Atman.

sciousness

am

"
(a ham) is

We

are but the reflections of that

are one.

Atman

and

Atman and Brahman

165

Vedanta Philosophy

When you
you have
logical to

talk

and think
in

of

the

Absolute,
all

do

it

the relative, so
In Yoga,

these

arguments apply.
are

perception
,

and

realization

one.

Visishtddvaita
is

of

which Ramanuja is the exponent,

unity and
is

seeing partial

a step toward Advaita.

Prakriti
is

Visishtam
nature of

means

differentiation.

the
it.

the world and change

ful

comes upon
in

Change-

thoughts expressed

changeful words can

never prove the Absolute.

You

reach only
not

something that

is

minus

certain

qualities,

Brahman

Itself

only a verbal unification, the

the

highest abstraction, but not

of the relative.

non-existence

Thursday, Jidy

18th.

(The

lesson

to-day

was mainly Sankara's argument against the conclusions of the

Sdnkhya philosophy.)
that

The Sdnkhyas say

consciousness
last

is

compound, and beyond

that, the
;

analysis

gives us the Purusha, Witness

but that there

166

Inspired Talks
are

many purushas, each

of us is one.

Advait a
can be

on the contrary,
only One.

affirms that purushas

That Purusha cannot be conscious,

unconscious or have any qualification, for either

these qualities
tually cease
qualities,

would bind, or they would evenso the

One must be without any

It

even knowledge, and

cannot be the
" In

cause of the universe or of anything.

beginning,
existence
only,

the

One without a

second," says the Vedas.

*

The presence

of satlva with
is

knowledge does

not prove that sattva

the cause of knowledge;

on the contrary sattva

existing in

calls out
fire

what was already

ball
it,

man,
it

as the

heats an iron

placed near

by arousing the heat

ball.
is

latent in

not by entering into the

Sankara says, knowledge

because
it is

not a bondage,

the nature of

God.

The world

167

Vedanta Philosophy
ever
is,

whether manifested or unmanifested

so an eternal object exists.

Jndna-bala-kriya (knowledge, power, activity)

is

God.

Nor does He need form, because

and hold

the

finite

only needs form to interpose as an obinfinite

struction to catch

knowledge
There

but

God
"

really

needs no such help.

there
is is

is

no

moving

soul,"

only one Atman.

Jiva (individual soul)

this

the conscious ruler of

life

body,

in

whom

the five

principles
is

come
t

into unity,

and yet that very jiva

Atman.

the

Atman

because
it,

all is

What you
else

think about

is

your delusion and not

in the jiva.

You
is

are

God and whatever

you may think

wrong.

You must worship

the Self in Krishna,

not Krishna as Krishna,

the Self
al

Only by worshipping can freedom be won. Even personbut the Self objectified.
"

God

is

Intense

search after

my own

reality is

Bhakti" says

Sankara,

168

Inspired Talks
All the
it

means we take
like trying

to reach

God

are true

is

only
it

to

find

the pole star

by
it.

locating

through the stars that are around * * * *

Gild
is

The Bhagavad
Vedanta.

the best authority

on

Friday, July

19lh.

So long
speak
of
I

as

say

"

you''

have the right to

God

protecting
all

us.

When

see

another,

must take

the

consequences and

put in the third, the Ideal, which stands be-

tween us

that

is

the apex of the triangle.

The

vapor becomes snow, then water, then Ganges;

but

when
it is

it

is

vapor, there

is

no Ganges, and

when
The

water,

we

think

of

no vapor
is

in

it.

idea of creation or change

will.

inseparably

connected with
this

So long as we perceive

world
it.

in

motion,

we have

to conceive will

behind

Physics prove the utter delusion of

;

the senses

nothing really

is

as

we

see,

hear,

169

Vedanta Philosophy
feel,

smell, taste

it.

Certain
affect

vibrations produc;

ing certain

results

our senses

we know

only relative truth.

The

Sanskrit

word

for truth is' Isness'' (sat).

From

our present standpoint this world appears

to us as will
is

and consciousness.
entity for

Personal

God

as

much an

Himself as we are for

ourselves,

and no more.

God can
are
seen.

also

be seen

as a form, just as

we
;

As men we

must have a God

This
is

as

gods we need none.

why

Sri

Ramakrishna constantly saw

with him, more
;

the Divine Mother ever present

real

than any other thing around him

all

but in

Samddhi

went but the

Self.

Personal

God
away

comes nearer and nearer

and there
is

until

He

melts

no more personal God and no

more "I

"; all is

merged
is

in Self.

Consciousness

a bondage.

The argument
precedes

from design claims that

form
,

intelligence
is

but

if

intelligence

the cause of any-

170

Inspired Talks
thing,
it

itself is in its

turn an effect.

It is

M&yd.
this is

God

creates us

and we create God and

unbroken
;

Mayd.

The

circle is

mind

creates

body and body

creates

mind; the egg brings

the egg
;

the chicken, the chicken

seed, the seed the tree.

the
is

tree the

The world

neither

entirely differentiated nor yet entirely

homoge-

neous.
sides.

Man
"

is

free

and must

rise

above both
;

Both are

right in their place

but to
all

teach truth,
that

isness,"

we must transcend

we now know

of existence, will, consci-

ousness, doing, going, knowing.

real

There

is

no

individuality of the jiva

it,

('separate soul);,
will

eventually

as a

compound,
is

go

to pieces.

Only
"

that

which

beyond further
alone
All
is

analysis is

simple

and

that

truth, freedom,

immortality,

bliss.

struggles for the pre-

servation of this illusive individuality are really

vices.

All struggles to lose this individuality

are virtues.

Everything

in the

universe

is

try-

171

Vedanta Philosophy
ing to break

down

this

individuality,

either

consciously or unconsciously.

All morality is

based upon the destruction of separateness or

false individuality,
all sin.

because that
first,

is

the cause

of

Morality exists

later religion codi-

fies

it.

Customs come

first

and then mythology

follows to explain

them.

While
a

things are

happening, they
reasoning
;

come by

higher law than

the
is

that arises later in

attempt to

understand them.
power,
it

Reasoning

not the motive

"

is

chewing the cud

historian

afterwards.
of the

Reason

is

the

of

the

actions

human

being,

*
(for

Buddha was
was
really only
is

a great Vedantist

Buddhism

an offshoot of Vedanta), and

" hidden
Buddhist.''

Sankara

often called a

Buddha made

the
it.

analysis,

Sankara made the

synthesis out of

Buddha never bowed down

to anything, neither Veda, nor caste, nor priest,

172

Inspired Talks
nor custom.

He

fearlessly

reasoned so

far as

reason could take him.

for truth

Such

a fearless search
living
i

and such love

for every

thing
the

the world has never seen.

Buddha was
world
to the
;

Washington

of the

religious
it

he conworld, as

quered a throne only to give

Washington did to the American people.

sought nothing for himself.

He

Saturday, July
Perception
gion.
is

20th.
reli-

our only real knowledge or

it

Talking about
soul.

for ages will never

make

us

know our

There

is

no
In

difference
fact,
I

between theories and

atheist
is

atheism.

the
in

the truer

man.

Every step

take

the

light is

mine

forever.
it,

When you
it is

go

to

country and see

then

yours.

We

have
only

each to see for ourselves

u

teachers can
eat
it

bring the food,"

we must

to

be nourishas

ed.

Argument can never prove God save

logical conclusion.

173

Vedanta Philosophy
It
is

impossible to find

God

outside of

ourdivi-

selves.

Our own
is

souls contribute all the

nity that

outside of us.

We

are the greatest

temple.

The

objectifi cation

is

only

faint

imitation of

what we see within ourselves.

is

Concentration of the powers of the mind

our only instrument to help us see God.

If

you

know one
past,

soul (your

own), you know

all

souls,

present and to

come.

The

will

concencon-

trates
trol

the mind, certain things excite and

this will,
etc.

such as reason, love, devotion

breathing,

The concentrated mind

is

lamp

that

shows us every corner

suit ail.

of the soul.

No one method can

methods
one
after another.

These
to

different

are not steps necessary

be taken

Ceremonials are the lowest

after that

form next God external and

internal.

God

In

some

cases gradation

may be
required

needed, but in
It

many

only one

way

is

would

be the height of folly to say to every-

174

Inspired Talks
one,
u

you must

pass

through Karma

and

Bhakti before you can reach Jndnam." Stick to your reason until you reach something higher, and you will

know

it

to

be higher

because

it

will

not jar with reason.

is

The

stage

beyond consciousness

inspiration (Samddhi)
real

but never mistake hysterical trances for the

thing.
It is

a terrible thing to claim this inspir-

ation falsely, to mistake instinct for inspiration.

There

is
it

no

external test for

,

inspiration,

we

know
is

ourselves

our guardian against mistake

All religion
is

negative,

the voice of reason.

is

going beyond reason, but the reason

Instinct
is

the
ice,

only guide to get there.

reason
tlest
is

like

the water,

and
;

inspiration

is

the sub-

form or vapor
is

one follows the other.

sequence,
;

Everywhere

this

eternal

unconmatter,

sciousness, consciousness, intelligence

body, mind

and

to us

it

seems as
link

if

the chain

began with the particular

we

first

lay hold

175

Vedanta Philosophy
of.

Arguments on

both sides

are

of

equal

weight and both are true.

We
is

must reach
neither

beyond both,

to

where there

the
all

one nor the other.

Maya.
Religion
is

These successions are

is

above reason, supernatural. Faith

it is

not belief,

the grasp on the Ultimate, an

illumination.

First hear, then reason

and find

out
let

all

that reason can

give about the

Atman

the flood of reason flow

If

over

it,

then take

what remains.

nothing remains, thank

a superstition.

God
you

you have escaped

When

have determined that nothing can take away the

Atman,

that

it

stands every
to
all.

test,

hold

fast to this

and teach
it

it

Truth cannot be
all.

partial

is

for the

good

of

Finally,
it,

in

perfect

rest

and peace meditate upon

it,

concentrate
it.

your mind upon

make

yourself one with

;

Then no speech
the truth.

is

needed

silence will carry

Do

not spend your energy in talking,

176-

Inspired Talks
but meditate in silence
;

and do not

let

the rush

of the outside world disturb you.

When your
are

mind

is

in
it.

the

highest

state,

you

uncon-

scious of

Accumulate power
of spirituality.

in silence

and

become a dynamo
beggar give
?

What can a
give,

Only a king can

*

and he

only

when he wants nothing

* *

himself.

Hold your money merely as custodian for what is God's. Have no attachment for h\
Let

name and fame and money go

bondage.
Feel the

they are a

terrible

wonderful atmos!

phere of freedom.
blessed
finite
!

You

are free, free, free

I
!

Oh

am
In
All

Freedom am
I

am

the In-

my

soul
is

can find no beginning and

no end.

my

Self.

Say

this unceasingly.

Sunday, July
orisms.)

21st.

(Patanjali's

Yoga Aph-

Yoga

is

the science of restraining the chitta

377

Vedanta Philosophy
(mind) from breaking into m//* (modifications.)

Mind

is

a mixture of

sensation
it

and

feelings, or

action and reaction, so

cannot be permanent.
this
it

The mind has a

fine

body and through

works on the gross body.

behind the mind
is

Vedanta says that

It

the real Self.

accepts

the other two, but posits a third, the Eternal, the

Ultimate, the
is

last analysis,

the unit, where there

no

further

compound.
is

Birth

is

^-composifinal

tion,

death
is

decomposition,
is

and the
;

analysis

where Atman

found
the

there being

no further division
reached.

possible,

perduring

is

The whole ocean

each wave and
all

is

present at the back of

manifestations are
small
;

waves,

some very

big,

some

yet

all

are the ocean

in their essence, the

whole ocean, but as wave s

the

each
then

is

a part.

When
;

waves

are

stilled,

all is

one

" a spectator

without

a spectis active,

acle" says Patanjali.

When
178

the

mind

Inspired Talks
the

Atman

is

mixed up with
in

it.

The
is

repetition

of old

forms

quick succession

memory.
power, and

Be unattached.
getting

Knowledge
other.

is

one you get the

By knowledge

you can even banish the material world.

you can mentally get
rid of

When
after

one quality
all

another from any object until

are gone,

you

can

at will

make

the object

itself

disappear from

your consciousness.

Those who

are ready,

advance very quickly

months.
;

and can become

developed

Yogis in six

The

less

may

take several years

and anyone

by
else

faithful

work and by giving up everything

solely to practice can

and devoting himself

reach the goal in twelve years.

Bhakti will

bring you there without any of these mental * gymnastics, but it is a slower way.
*

Here by Bhakti

Swamiji does not mean intense or

has already taught " Extreme " and again in deLove and Highest knowledge are one it he says. "This absolute and continuous remembrfining
ur divided love for God.

He

ance

of the

Lord

is

what

is

meant by Bhakti

";

so by

179

Vedanta Philosophy
Isvara
is

the

Atman

as seen or grasped
is

by
it,

mind.

His highest name

Otn, so repeat
all
its

meditate

on

it

and think

of

wonderful

nature and attributes.

tinually
is

Repeating the

Om

con-

the only true worship.

It is

not a

word,

it is

God

Himself.

Religion gives you

takes off obstacles

nothing new
lets

it

only

and

you

see your Self.

;

Sickness

is

the

first

great obstacle

healthy
is

body

is

the best instrument.

barrier.
after

Melancholy
If

an

almost insuperable

you have once

known Brahman, never

choly.

can you be melan-

Doubt, want of perseverance, mistaken

* *

ideas, are other obstacles.

Prdnas are subtle energies, sources of motion.

There are ten in

Bhakti he means here,

all,

five

inward and
is

five

out-

Love which

not yet whole-souled.

There are few Bhaktas who love God for God's sake. Most of them love Him for His omnipotence, wherewith he can
fulfil

their desires for things other than Himself.

180

Inspired Talks
ward.

One

great

current flows upwards, and

the other downwards.

ling the

Prdnaydma

is

control-

prdnas through breathing.

is

Breath
is

is

the fuel, prdna

engine.

the steam

and the body

three
parts,

the

Prdnaydma has

puraka

(in-breathing),

kumbhaka (holding
*
#

the breath)

rechaka (out-breathing).

*
is

The Guru
spiritual

the conveyance in
is

which the

influence

brought to you. Anyone

can teach, but the

the

spirit

must be passed on by

Guru

to the Sishya (disciple)

and

that will

fructify.

The

relation

between
is

sishyas is that

of brotherhood,

and

this

actually

accepted

by law in India.

The Guru

passes the thought

power, the mantram, that he has received from

those before

him

and nothing can be done

without a Guru.

In fact, great danger ensues.

Usually without a Guru these yoga practices

lead to lust
;

but with one this seldom happens.

181

Vedanta Philosophy
Each Ishtam has
a mantram.

The Ishtam
worshipper
it.

is

the
the

ideal peculiar to the particular

mantram

is

the external

word

to express

Con-

stant repetition of the

word helps

to fix the ideal

firmly in the mind.

prevails

This method of worship

all

among

religious devotees

over India.

Tuesday, July 23rd. (Bhagavad

Gitd. Kar-

ma

Yoga).
attain liberation

To

through work join yourdesire, looking for

self to

work but without

Such work leads

no

result.

to

knowledge, which

in turn brings

emancipation.

To

give

up work

before

you know,

leads to misery.

Work done
Neither desire
It

for the Self gives

no bondage.

pleasure nor fear pain from work.

is

the

mind and body

self this

that

work, not
it.

I.

Tell your-

unceasingly and realize

Try not

to

know

that
all

you work.
or
offering to the Lord.

Do

as a sacrifice

182

Inspired Talks

Be

in the world, but

not of

it,

like the

lotus

leaf,

whose

roots are in the

mud
blind

but which
all,

remains always pure.

Let your love go to

whatever they do to you.

not see color, so
is

man

canit

how can we

see evil except

compare what we see outside with what we find in ourselves and pronounce
in us ?

We

judgment accordingly.
cannot see impurity.
us.
It

If

we

are

pure,

we

may

exist,

but not for

See only
;

God

in every

man,

woman and
light,"

child

see

it

" by the antarjyotis," "inner

that,

and seeing

we can

see naught

else.

Do

not want this world, because what you desire

you

get.

Seek the Lord and the Lord only.

The more power there is, the more bondage, the more fear. How much more afraid and
miserable are
all

we

than the ant

Get out of

it

and come

to the Lord.

Seek the science of

the maker and not that of the made.

"
I

am

the doer

and the deed." " He who can

183

Vedanta Philosophy
stem the
"
tide of lust

and anger

is

a great Yogi."

Only by practice and non-attachment cai

we conquer mind."
3ft
3fe

Our Hindu ancestors sat down and thought on

God and
for the

morality,
;

and so have we brains to use

but in the rush of trying to
to lose

same ends

get gain,

we

are likely

them

again.

The body has

curing
itself

in

itself

a certain

power

of

and many things can rouse

action,

this

curative

power into

such as mental
etc.

conditions or medicine, or exercise,

As

long as we are disturbed by physical conditions,

so long

we need

the help of

physical agencies.
to the

Not

until

we have

got rid of bondage

nerves, can

we disregard them.
unconscious mind, but
is
it is

There

is

below

consciousness, which

just

one
is

part of the

human

organism.

Philosophy

guess work

184

Inspired Talks
about the mind.
contact,

Religion

is

based upon sense

upon

seeing, the only basis of

know-

ledge.

What comes
"

in contact with the super-

conscious mind

is fact.

"

Aptas" are those

who
if

have

"

sensed

religion.

The proof

is

that

you

follow their method, you too

will

see.

Each science requires its own

and instruments.

particular

method

An astronomer cannot show

you the rings of Saturn by the aid of all the He needs a pots and pans in the kitchen.
telescope.

So, to see the great facts of religion,

of those

the

method

who have
greater
of

already

seen

must be followed.
the

The
the

the science,

more

varied

means

studying

it.

Before
the
to

we came

into the
;

world
all

God

provided
to

means
find

to get out

so

we have

do

is

the

means.

But do not

fight

over

methods. Look only for realization and choose

the best

method you can

let

find to suit you.

Eat

the mangoes and

the rest quarrel over the

185

Vedanta Philosophy
basket. See Christ, then
All else is talk
;

you

will

be a Christian ,

the less talking the better.

The message
Learn

makes the
;

messenger.
vice versa.

The

Lord makes the temple

until

not

" the glory

it

of the

Lord shines

through your face," as

of Svetaketu.

shone through the face

Guess against guess makes

fight

but talk of

what you have seen and no human heart can

resist
it.

Paul was converted against his will

by

realization.

Tuesday Afternoon.
was a
the

(AJter

dinner there
of which

short conversation in the course

:)

Swdmi said

Delusion creates delusion.

itself

Delusion creates
such
is

and destroys

itself,

Maya.

All

knowledge
is

(so-called)

being
in

based on Maya,

a vicious circle

and

time that very knowLet

ledge

destroys

itself.

"

go

the

rope,"

186

Inspired Talks
delusion cannot touch the Attnan.
lay hold of the

When we
be

rope,

identify
us.

ourselves with

Mciydy she has

power over

Let go of

it,

the

Witness only, then you can admire the

picture of the universe undisturbed.

Wednesday, July 2ith. The powers acquired by

are apt to be so

the practice of Yoga

are not obstacles for the Yogi

who

is

perfect,

but

for the beginner,

through the

wonder and pleasure

excited by their exercise.

Siddhis are the powers the practice

which mark success

in

and they may be produced by

such as the repetition of a
practice, meditation, fasting,

various

means,

mantram, by yoga
or even

by the use of herbs and drugs. The

has conquered
all

Yogi

who

interest
all

in

the

powers acquired and who renounces

arising

virtue

from

his actions,

comes

into the " cloud

states of

of virtue"

(name

of

one of the

Samd-

187

Vedanta Philosophy
dhi)

and

radiates

holiness

as

a cloud

rains

water.

Meditation
centration
is

is

on a

series of

objects,

con-

on one

object.
it is

Mind

is

cognized by the Atman, but

not

self-illuminated.

The Atman

cannot be the
it

cause of anything.
the Purusha join
It

How
itself

can

be?

How

can
?

to

Prakriti

(Nature)

does not;
so.

it is

only

illusively

thought

to

do

Learn to help without pitying, or feeling that

there
is

any misery. Learn

to friend,

to

be the same to

enemy and
that

then

when you can do

desires, the goal is

and no longer have any

attained.

Cut down the banyan

tree of desire with

it

the

axe of non-attachment and

It is all

will

vanish utterly.
blight and

illusion.

He from whom
who

delusion have fallen, he

has conquered

188

Inspired Talks
the
evils

of

association,

he

alone

is

dzdd

(free)."

To

love anyone personally

is

bondage. Love

all alike,

then

all

desires

fall off.

M eater Time, the

all

of everything,"
to

comes and
earth,,
last.

has to go.

Why try

improve the

to paint the butterfly ?

It all

has to go at

Do

not be mere

white mice in

a treadmill,

working always aud never accomplishing anything.

Every

desire
itself

is

fraught

with
evil.

evil,

whelike
is

ther the desire

be good or

It is

a dog jumping for a piece of meat ever receding from

his reach,

which

and dying a dog's

Cut
off all

death at
desire.

last.

Do

not be like that.

Paramdtman

as

ruling

Mdyd
is

is

Isvara

Paramdtman

as

under

Mdyd

Jivdtman.

Maya

is

the sum-total of manifestation

and

will

utterly vanish.

189

Vedanta Philosophy
Tree- nature
is

Maya,

it

is

really

God- nature
Maya.

which we
"

see

under the
is

veil

of

The

why

"

of

anything
is

in

Maya.

To

ask

why

Maya came Maya who

not "
"

a useless question, because the

in

answer can never be given

will

Maya, and beyond

ask

it ?

Evil creates "

it

why

"

why
"
?

"

the evil,

and

is evil

that asks

why

Illusion

destroys illusion.

Reason
is

itself,

being

based upon
kill

contradiction,

circle
is

and has to

itself.

Sense perception

an inference and yet all inference comes from

perception.

Ignorance
seen
;

reflecting
itself
it

the
is

light

of

God

is

but

by

zero.

The

cloud

would not appear except

on
it.

as the sunlight falls

There were four

high wall.
to the top
over.

travellers

who came

to a

The first one climbed with

difficulty

and without looking back, jumped The second clambered up the wall,
2

90

Inspired Talks
looked over and with a shout of delight disappeared.
top,

The

third in his turn climbed to the

looked where his companions had gone^

laughed with joy and followed them.

fourth one

But the

came back

to

tell

what had happen*

sign to hs that

ed to
there

his fellow-travellers.
is

The
is

something beyond

the

laugh

that

rings back

from those

great

ones

who have

plunged from M/lyd's wall. * * *

Separating ourselves from the Absolute and

attributing certain qualities to
It is
it

gives us Isvara.

the Reality of the universe as seen through

our mind.

Personal devil

is

the misery of the

world seen through the minds of the superstitious.

Thursday, July
Aphorisms.)
"

25th.

(Patanjalis

Yoga

Things

may be

done, caused to be done, or

effect

approved
equal.

of,"

and the

upon us

is

nearly

191

Vedanta Philosophy
Complete continence gives great
intellectual

and

spiritual

power.

The Brahmacharin must

be sexually pure in thought, word and deed.

Lose regard

for the
it

body

get rid of the con-

sciousness of

so far as possible.

Asana

(posture)

must be steady and

identifying

pleasant,

and constant
with the

practice,

the

mind

Infinite, will

bring this about.

is

Continual attention to one object

templation.

con-

When
many
action

a stone
are

is

thrown into

still

water,
all

circles
,

made, each distinct but

;

interacting
is

so with our minds

only in us the
it

unconscious, while with the Yogi

is

conscious.

We

are spiders in a

web and yoga

Nonwhere

practice will enable us

like the spider to pass

along any strand of the

Yogis are

web we

please.

bound

to the particular spot

they are.

192

Inspired Talks

To
the

injure

another creates bondage and hides

Negative virtues are not enough
;

truth.

we have

to

conquer Mdyd and then she

will

follow us.

We

only deserve things when they

us.

have ceased to bind

ceases, really

When

the

bondage
to us.
of

and

truly, all things

come

Only those who want nothing are masters

Nature.

Take refuge
broken
his

in

some soul who has already

in

bondage, and
his

time he will free

you through

mercy.

Higher
(Isvara),

still,

is

to

take refuge in the

Lord

but

it is

the

most

difficult

only once in a century can one

has really done
it.

be found

who

Feel nothing,
nothing, give

know
up
all

nothing, do nothing, have

to

God and

say utterly,

"

Thy

will

be

done."

We
let
it

only dream this bondage.

go.

Wake

up and

Take refuge

in

God, only so
" Let

can we cross the desert of Mdyd.

hold,

go thy
!

Sanydsin bold, say

'

Om

tat sat,

Om

".

193

Vedanta Philosophy
It is

our privilege to be allowed to be charit-

able, for only so can

suffers that

we grow.

The poor man

;

we may be helped

let

the

giver

kneel

down and

give thanks, let the

receiver

stand up and permit.

See the Lord back of

every being and give to Him.

to see
evil,

When we

cease

the world must end for us, since to

rid us of that

mistake
is

is its

only object.

To
it.

think

there

any imperfection creates

Thoughts
cure
it.

of strength

and

perfection alone can

can,

Do what good you

it
;

some

evil will

inhere in
sonal

but do

all
all

without regard to perresults to the

result, give

up

Lord, then

neither

good nor
is

evil will affect

you.

Doing work

not

religion,

but work done

all

rightly leads to freedom.

In reality
to pity
?

pity

is

darkness,
pity

because
?

whom

Can you
?

God
for

And

is

there anything else

Thank
moral
but

God

giving ycu this

to

world

as

gymnasium

help

your

development,

194

Inspired Talks
never imagine you can
grateful to

help

the world.
for

Be

him who

curses you,

he gives
is,

you

a mirror to

show what cursing

self-restraint
;

also a

chance

to practise

so bless

him

and be

glad.

Without exercise power cannot

the

come

out, without

mirror

we cannot

see

ourselves.

Unchaste imagination
action.
result.

is

as

bad as unchaste

Controlled desire

leads to the highest

Transform

the

sexual

energy

into

spiritual energy,

but do not emasculate, because

that

is

throwing away the power.

The

stronger

this force, the

more can be done with

it.

Only

a powerful current of water can do hydraulic

mining.

What we need
a

to-day

is

to

know
feel

that there

is

God and

that

we can

see

and

Him

here

and now.

Chicago professor says, "Take

care of this world,

next."

God
!

will
If

take

care of the

What nonsense

we can take care

195

Vedanta Philosophy
of this world,

what need
!

of a gratuitous

Lord

to take care of the other

Friday, July 2&th.

shad.)

(Brihadciranyakopani-

Love
Self.
11

all

things

only through and for the

Maitreyi,
his wife,
things.''

Yajnavalkya said to
the

Through

At man we

know

all

The Atman can

ledge,

never be the object of know-

nor can the Knower be known.

is

He who

knows he

the Atman, he
is

is

a law unto himself.

He knows

he
*

the universe

and

its

creator.

Perpetuating old myths in the form of allegories

and giving them undue importance

fosters

superstition

and

is

really

weakness.

Truth

must have no compromise.

Teach

truth
;

and

make no apology for any superstition drag truth down to the level of
tener.

neither

the

lis-

196

Inspired Talks
Saturday, July 21th,
(Kathopanishad.)
Self save

Learn not the truth of the

from one
it

who
talk.

has realized
Realization
future

it

in

all

others
virtue
all

is

mere
vice.,

is

beyond
;

and

beyond

and

past

beyond

the pairs of
Self

opposites.

"The

stainless

one sees the

soul."

and

an

eternal

calm comes

in the

Talking,

arguing and reading books,

of the intellect,

the highest flights

all

the Vedas themselves,

Self.

these

cannot give knowledge of the

In
us are the two,

the God-soul

and the
is

man-soul.

The

sages

know

that the latter

is

but

the shadow, that the former

the only real Sun.

Unless we join the mind with the senses,

get

we

no report from eyes, nose,

organs
are
let

ears, etc.

The
of the

external

used by the power

mind.

Do

not

the senses go outside

and

then you can get rid of body and the external

world.

This very "x" which

we

see

here

as

an

197

Vedanta Philosophy
external
hell

world, the

departed see as heaven or

according to their

own

mental

states.
latter
is

Here

and hereafter are two dreams, the

led

model-

on the former
all

get rid of both, all

omni-

present,

is

now.

Nature, body and

;

mind

go

to

death, not

we

we

never go nor come.

is

The man Swami Vivekananda

born and
dies
;

in Nature, is

but the Self which

is

we

see as

Swami Vivekananda
dies.
It is

never born and never

the eternal

and unchangeable Reality.

The power of the mind is the same, whether we divide it into five senses or whether we see
only one.

blind

man
I

says,

"Every thing has

a distinct echo, so
that echo

clap

my

hands and get

is

and then

can

tell

everything that

around me."
safely

So in a fog the blind man could

lead the seeing

man.

Fog

or darkness

makes no

difference to him.
off the
all

Control the mind, cut

senses,

then

you

are a Yogi; after that

the rest will come.

198

Inspired Talks
Refuse to hear, to see, to smell, to taste
;

take

away
organs.
as

the

mental power

from
it

the

external

You
do

continually do
is

unconsciously,
;

when your mind

it

absorbed

so you can

learn to

consciously.
it

The mind can put

Get
rid

the senses

where

pleases.

of the

fundamental superstition that we are obliged to

act through the body.

We

are not.

Go

into

your

own room and

get the

Upanishads out of your

own

Self.

You

are the greatest

book

that ever

was or ever
all

will be,

the infinite depositary of

all

that

is.

Until the inner teacher opens,

is

outside teaching

in vain.

It

must

lead

to

the opening of the

book

of the

heart to

have

any value.

The
Ruler

will is the

<l

still

small voice," the real

not."
It

who
all

says

"do" and M do

has

done
to

that binds us.

The ignorant
will

will leads

bondage, the knowing

can

free us.

The
,

will

can be made strong in thousands of ways

199

Vedanta Philosophy
every way
is

a kind of Yoga, but the systematizquickly.

ed Yoga accomplishes the work more

Bhakti, Karma, Rdja and Jnana Yoga get over

the ground

more

effectively.

Put on

all

powers,
;

philosophy,
all sail,

work, prayer, meditation

all

crowd
the

put on

head

of steam,
better.

and reach

goal.

The sooner, the

#

*
is

Baptism
the internal.

external purification
It is

symbolizing

of Buddhist origin.

The Eucharist
custom
ed

is

a survival of a very ancient

of savage tribes.

They sometimes

kill-

their great chiefs

and

ate their flesh in order

to obtain in themselves the qualities that

their leaders great.

made

They

believed that in such

a way, the characteristics that made the chief

brave and wise would become theirs and make
the whole tribe brave

and

wise, instead of only

one man.

Human

sacrifice

was also a Jewish

despite

idea and one that clung to

them

many

200

Inspired Talks
chastisements from Jehovah.
Jesus was gentle
beliefs,

and

loving, but to
of

fit

him

into Jewish

the idea

human

sacrifice in

the

form

of
to

atonement or as a human scape-goat, had

come

in.

This cruel

idea

made

Christianity

depart from the teachings

of Jesus himself

and

develop a

spirit

of persecution

and bloodshed.
*

*
is

Say "it
duty
*'

is

my

nature," never say "it

my

to

do anything whatever.
Stand

" Truth alone triumphs, not untruth.''

upon Truth and you have got God.

*

From
caste

the earliest times in India the

Brahmin
all

have

held themselves

beyond

law

they claim to be gods.

They

are poor, but their

weakness
about

is

that they seek

power.

Here
are

are

sixty millions of

people

who

good
are

and moral and hold no property, and they what they are because from their birth they

are

201

Vedanta Philosophy
taught that they are above law, above punish" twicefeel themselves to be ment

They

born," to be sons of God.

Sunday,
"Song of
"All

July

2Sth

(Avadhuta

Gitd

or

the Purified''

by Dattdtreya*)

knowledge depends upon calmness of

mind."
"

He who

has

filled

the universe,
I

He who
!"
is

is

Self in self,

How
the

shall

salute

Him

To know

Atman

as

my
"
I

nature

both

knowledge and
is

realization.
it."

am

He, there

not the least doubt of

"No

thought,
for

no word, no deed,
I

creates
senses,

a
I

bondage

me.

am

beyond the

am knowledge and
There
all
is
is

Bliss."

neither existence nor

non-existence,
;

Atman.

Shake

off all ideas of relativity

Dattatreya

was a

sage, the son

of

of Atri

and Anasuya>

and was an incarnation

Brahm&, Vishnu and Maheswara,

202

Inspired Talks
shake
off all superstitions; let
all

caste

and

birth

and devas and

ing and

else vanish.
?

Why

talk of be-

becoming
!

Give up talking of Dualism

and Advaitism
talk of

When
?

were you two, that you

universe
is

two or one

The

this

Holy

One and He
you pure
;

alone.

Talk not of Yoga to make

you are pure by your very nature.

teach you.

None can

Men

like

him who wrote

alive.

this

song are what

actually realiz-

keep religion
ed
;

They have

they care for nothing, feel nothing done to

the body, care not for heat and cold or danger

or anything.
of

They
them

sit still

and enjoy the

their

bliss

Atman, while red hot coals burn

feel

body,

and they

not.

"When
knowledge
Atman."
"

the threefold

bondage
ceases,

of

knower,
is

and

known

there

the

Where

the delusion of

bondage and
is."

free-

dom

ceases, there the

Atman
203

Vedanta Philosophy
"

What
if

if

you have controlled the mind,

not
?

what

you have
if

What
?

if

you have
are

money, what

you have not

Say,
'I

You

the

Atman

ever

pure.

am

the Atman,
I

No bondage

ever
;

came near me.

am

the

changeless sky

clouds of belief

may

pass over

me, but they do not touch me'/'

"
talk.

Burn
I

virtue,

burn

vice.

Freedom

is

baby
I

am

that

immortal

Knowledge.

am

that purity."
11

No one was
There
is

ever bound, none

was ever
the
!

free.
finite,

none but

me.

am

In-

the Ever-Free.

Talk not to

me

Wiiat
!

can change me, the essence of knowledge

Who
ditch.

can teach,

who can be

taught ?"
into the

Throw argument, throw philosophy

"

Only

a slave sees slaves, the deluded

delu-

sion, the

impure impurity."
are
all

Place, time, causation

delusions.

It

204

Inspired Talks
is

your disease that you think you are bound

will

and

be

free.

You

are

the
let

Unchangeable.
all

Talk not.

Sit

down and

things
is

melt
dif-

away, they are but dreams.

ferentiation,
stition are.
;

There
it

no

no

distinction,

is

all

super-

therefore be silent

and know what you

"

am
you

the essence are

all

of
is.

bliss.

"

Follow no

ideal,

there

Fear naught, you

are the essence of existence.

Be

at peace.

Do
Get

not disturb yourself.

age,
rid

You never were

in

bond-

you never were virtuous or

of
all

sinful.

these delusions

and be
worships

at
?

peace.
All
is

Whom

to

worship

Who

the Atman.

To

Repeat over and over,

speak, to think u I am

is superstition.

Atman,''

"

am

Atman."

Let everything else go.

MONDAY, July

29th.

We sometimes

indicate a thing by describing

205

Vedanta Philosophy
its

surroundings.

When

we

say

" SatchiBliss''),

ddnanda"

(" Existence

Knowledge

we

are merely indicating the shores of

an indes" is "

cribable Beyond.

Not even can we say

too
is

about

it,

for that

is

relative.
;

Any
,

imagi-

nation, any concept

this,

in vain

neti

neti ("

not

not this")
is

is all

that can be

said, for

even

to think

to limit

and so

to lose.

The

senses cheat you

day and night.

;

Ve-

danta found that out ages ago

is

modern science
fact.

just

discovering the

same

picture

has only length and breadth,

copies Nature in

and the painter

artificially

her cheating by
of

giving the

appearance
the
will

depth.

No

two

people

see

same

world.
that
;

The
there

highest
is

knowledge

show you

no

motion, no change in anything

idea of
that
is,
it is all

that the very

Maya.

Study Nature as a whole,

study motion.
Self
;

Mind and body

belong to

are not

our

real

both

nature,

but

206

Inspired Talks
-eventually

we can know the ding an

sich.
all

Then

mind and body being transcended,

conceive goes.

that they
to

When

you cease you

utterly

know and

see the world, then

realize

Atman.
is

The superseding of relative knowledge we want. There is no infinite mind or

what

infinite

knowledge, because both mind and knowledge

are limited.

then
all

we

now seeing through a veil, M p which is the reach the x, Reality of

are
at a picture

We

our knowing.
If

we look

through a pin hole in

an
is

a card board,

we

get

utterly

mistaken

notion

yet

what we see
hole,

really the picture.

As we enlarge the
clearer idea-

we

get a clearer

and

Out

of the reality
in

we manufacture
our

the

different

views

conformity with

mistaken perceptions of

name and form. When

we throw away picture, but we

the attributes,

the cardboard,
see
it

we

see the

same
all

as

it

is.

We

put in

all

the errors, the picture

itself is

207

Vedanta Philosophy
unaltered thereby.
the reality of
as
all
;

That
all

is

because
is

Atman

is

we

see

Atman, but not

;

we

see

it,

as

name and form

they are

all in

our

veil, in

Mdyd.
of a

They

are like spots in the object glass

yet
it

telescope,

is

the light of the sun that

shows us the

spots

we could not even

see the

illusion save for the

is

background

of reality
is

which

Brahman.

Swami Vivekananda
,

just the
real,

speck on the object glass

am Atman,
Atman
is

unchangeable, and that reality alone enables

me

to see

Swami Vivekananda.

the
is
it

essence of every hallucination; but

the sun

never identified with the spots on the glass,

only shows them to

are evil
"spots,"
us.

us.

Our

actions,

as

they

or good, increase

or

decrease the

but they never affect the

God

within

Perfectly cleanse the

mind

of

spots
are
later.

and

instantly

we

see

"I

and

my

father

one'*

We

first

perceive,

then reason

We

208

Inspired Talks

must have

this perception

as a [fact,

and
if

it

is

called religion, realization.

No

matter

one
let

never heard of creed or prophet or book,

him

get this realization

and he needs no more.

is

Cleanse the mind, this

until

all

of religion;

and

we

ourselves clear off the spots,

it is.

we cannot
no
sin
;

see the Reality as

The baby

sees
it

he has not yet the measure of

Get

in himself.

rid of the defects within yourself

and you

will not

be able to see any

without.

A baby
to
in

sees robbery

done and

it

means nothing
hidden object

him.

Once you

find the
it

puzzle picture, you see

ever

more

so

when

once you are

free

and

stainless,

you

see only

freedom

and purity
all

in

the

world

around.

"That moment
cut asunder,
straight

the knots of the heart are

all

crooked

places

are

made

and

this

world vanishes as a dream."

ever

And when we awake, we wonder how we came to dream such trash

I

209

Vedanta Philosophy
"Getting

Whom,
move
of

misery mountain high has

no power

to

the soul."

With the axe

knowledge cut the wheels

free,

asunder and the Altnan stands

the

even though
of

old

momentum

carries

on the wheel

mind and body.

straight,

The wheel can now only go

If

can only do good.

that
is

body does
not "jivan-

anything bad,
tnukta"
it is
;

know
if

that the

man

he

lies

he makes that claim.

But

only when the wheels have got a good

straight

motion (from cleansing the mind) that

be applied.
All purifying action

the axe can

deals conscious or unconscious blows

sion.

on

delu-

To

call

another a sinner

is

the

worst

thing you can do.

antly produces the

Good
same

action
result

done ignor-

and helps

to

break the bondage.

To

identify
is

the sun with the spots

the fundamental error.

on the
the

object glass

Know

sun, the "I," to be ever unaffected

by anything,

210

Inspired Talks

and devote

yourself to

cleansing the spots.

be.

Man
The
man,

is

the greatest being that ever can

is,

highest worship there

as Krishna,

is

to

worship

Buddha,
Get
*

Christ.

What you
*
all

want, you create.

rid of desire.

The angels and

the departed are

here,

seeing this world as heaven.

is

The same "x"

" x"

seen by

all

according to their mental attitude.

The
on

best vision to be
earth.

had

of

the
to

is

here

this
is

Never want

go

to heaven,

that

the

worst delusion.

Even

here,

too

much

wealth and grinding poverty are both

bondages

and hold us back

gifts

from
a

religion.

Three great
(The

we have,
is

first

human body.

human mind

the nearest reflection of

" His own God, we are image.") Second, the

desire to be free.
soul,

Third, the help of a noble the

who
as a

has

crossed

ocean

of

deluthese

sion,

teacher.

When you
211

have

Vedanta Philosophy
three, bless the
free.

Lord

you

are

sure

to

be

What you
realize is

only grasp intellectually

may be
reli-

overthrown by a new argument, but what you

yours forever.
little

Talking, talking

gion

is

but

good.

Put God behind everythis

thing,
habit.

man, animal, food, work, make

Ingersoll once said

to

me: "I

believe

in

making the most out

of this world, in squeezing

is all

the orange dry, because this world

we are
way
to

sure of."

replied

"
:

know a

better

squeeze the orange of this world than you do

and
so
I

get

more

out of

it.

know

cannot
there
is

die,

am
so

not in a hurry
I

know
I

no

fear,

enjoy the squeezing.

of wife

have no duty,
;

no bondage
I

and children and property

Every one

can love
to
!

all

men and women.

Think

is

God

me.

of the joy of loving

this

man

as

God

Squeeze your orange

way and

get

212

Inspired Talks
ten thousand fold
single drop."

more out

of

it.

Get every

That which seems

behind,
it is

to

be the

will is the

Atman

really free.

Monday Afternoon.
Jesus

was imperfect because he did not

live

up

fully to his

own

ideal,

and above

all

because

he did not give

woman

a place

equal to man.
yet he

Women
so

did everything for

him and

was
one

bound by the Jewish custom was made an apostle. Still he was

that not

the greatest

character next to Buddha,

who

in his turn

was

not fully perfect.

Buddha, however, recognized

an equal place
of
his greatest
in religion

woman's
his
first

right to

and

and one
wife,

disciples

was

his

own

who became

the head of the

whole Buddhistic movement among the women

of India.

But we ought not to

criticise

these
as

great ones,

we should only look upon them

213

Vedanta Philosophy
far

above ourselves.

Nonetheless

we must not
;

pin our faith to any man, however great

we

too must become Buddhas and Christs.

No man
The
his

should be judged by

his

defects.

great virtues a
errors
are

man

has are

his,

especially
of
in

the

common

weaknesses

humanity and should

estimating his character. * *
Viva, the Sanskrit

never be counted

#
is

word

for " heroic",

the

origin of our

word u virtue", because

in ancient

times the best fighter was regarded as the most

virtuous man.

TUESDAY, July
Christs

30th.

and Buddhas are simply occasions

to objectify

upon which

our own inner powers.

We
It

really
is

answer our own prayers.

to think

blasphemy

that

if

Jesus

had

never been born, humanity would not have been

214

Inspired Talks
saved.
in
It is

horrible to thus forget the divinity

that
of

human

nature, a divinity

must come
nature.

out.

Never forget the glory

greatest

human

We are the
will be.

God

that

ever was or ever

are but

Christs

and Buddhas
/

waves

on the boundless ocean which

to nothing

am.

Bow down
Until
of gods,

but your
that

own

higher

Self.

you know

you are

that very

God

there will never be

All

any freedom

for you.

our past actions are really good because

us to what
to
is

they lead

we ultimately become.
I

Of

whom
all

beg

am

the

real
it

existence
I.
I

and

else

a dream save as
;

is

am

the whole ocean

do not
"
I
;

call

the
it

little

wave

you have made

but
a

"

know

for

nothing
truth)

Satyakdma (lover heard the inner voice telling him, "

the infinite, the universal
is

wave.

of

You

are

in you.

Control

yourself
Self."

and

listen to the

voice of your true

215

Vedanta Philosophy
The
to

great prophets
less perfect

who do

the fighting have

be

than those

who

live silent

lives of holiness, thinking great

thoughts and so

helping the world.

These men, passing out

one
the

after another,

produce as final outcome

man

of

power who preaches.

*
exists,

*
it.

Knowledge

man

only discovers

The Vedas
which

are this eternal knowledge, through

God

created the world.

philosophy (the highest),

They and make

#
it

talk high
this tre-

mendous

claim.

Tell the truth boldly, whether

hurts or not.
is

Never pander to weakness.

for
let

If

truth

too

much

intelligent

people and sweeps them away,

the sooner the better.

them go

Childish

ideas are for babies

and savages

and these are

not

all in

the nursery

and

the forests,

some

of

them have

fallen into the pulpits.

216

Inspired Talks
It
is

bad to stay in the church

spiritually.

after

you

are

grown up
open

Come

out and die in the

air of

freedom.
is

All progression

in

the relative world.

The

human form

is

the highest and

man

the greatest get rid of

being, because here

and now we can

the relative

world

entirely,
is

can actually attain

freedom, and this

can, but

the goal.

Not only we
;

some have reached

perfection

so

no

matter what finer bodies come, they could only

be on the

relative plane

and could do no more

is all

than we, for to attain freedom

that can

be

done.

The

angels never do

wicked deeds, so they

never get punished and never get saved.

are

Blows

what awaken us and help

to

break the

dream.

They show us

the insufficiency of this

world and make us long to escape, to have

freedom.

*
217

Vedanta

Philosophy
;

A thing dimly perceived we call by one name

the

same thing when

fully perceived

we

call

by

another.

The

higher the

moral nature, the

will.

higher the perception and the stronger the

Tuesday Afternoon.
The reason
and matter
thing, call
internal
is
it

of the

harmony between thought

because they are two sides of one

%"

which divides
external.

itself

into

the

and the

The English word " paradise

the Sanskrit para-desa, which
into the Persian language

"

comes from

was taken over

literally

and means

"

beyond the land

'*

or really " the land

beyond,"

or the other world.

The

old Aryans always

believed in a soul, never that

man was
all

the body.

Their heavens and hells were

temporary,

because no
cause
is

effect
;

can outlast
therefore

its

cause and no

eternal

all effects

must come

to an end.

218

Inspired Talks

The whole
this story
:

of the

Vedanta Philosophy
of golden

is

in
sat

Two

birds

plumage

on

the

same

tree.

The one above,

serene,

majestic,

immersed

in his

own

glory

the one
tree,

below

restless

and eating the

bitter.

fruits of

the

now sweet, now

at

Once he

ate

an excep-

tionally bitter fruit, then he

paused and looked

;

up

the

majestic bird

above

but he soon

forgot about the other bird and

the fruits of the tree as before.
bitter fruit

went on eating
Again he
ate a

and

this time

he hopped up a few
at

boughs nearer

to

the bird

the top.
last

This

happened many times

bird

until at

the lower

came

to

the place of the upper bird

and

lost himself.

He found

all at

once that there

al]

had never been two

birds,

but that he

the

time was that upper bird, serene, majestic and

immersed

in his

own

glory.
31s/.

Wednesday, July
Luther drove a

nail into

religion

when he

219

Vedanta Philosophy
took away renunciation and gave us morality
instead.
ethics,

Atheists

and

materialists

can have

but only believers in the Lord can have

religion.

The wicked pay

holiness.

the price of the great soul's

Think

of that

when you

see a wicked
for

man.

just as the

poor man's labor pays

is it

the rich man's luxury, so

world.
in India

in the

spiritual

The
is

terrible degradation

of the

masses

the price Nature pays for the pro-

duction of great souls like Mira-bai, Buddha,

etc.*

*
"
I

*
I

am
M I.

the holiness of the holy." (Gita) "

it

am

the root, each uses

"
I

in his

own way,

but

all is

do everything, you are but the

occasion."

For when people become very much degraded then

(Vide

only great souls like Mira-bai, Buddha etc are born.

Gita.)

220

Inspired Talks

Do

not talk much, but

feel the spirit

within

you, then you are a Jnani.

all

This
that

is

knowledge,

else is ignorance.

All
all.

ito be known
*

is

Brahman.
*
Sattva

It is

the

binds through the search for happi-

ness and knowledge, rajas binds through desire,

tamas binds through wrong perception

laziness.

and
$attva r

Conquer

the
all

two lower by
to

and then give up

free.

the

Lord and be

The Bhakti

Yogi realizes

Brahman very soon

qualities.*

and goes beyond the three

The

will,

the consciousness, the senses, desire,

all

the passions,
call

these

combined make what we

the

lt

soul."

There
the

is first

the apparent self (body)

second

mental

self,

who

mistakes

the

body for
;

himself (the Absolute

*

bound by Mdyd)

third

Git&, Chapter XII.

221

Vedanta Philosophy
the

Atman, the ever

partially, It
is

pure, the
;

ever

free.
all

Seen

nature

seen wholly,
of
it

Nature goes, even the

memory

is

lost.

There

is

the changeable

(mortal), the eternally

changeable (Nature), and the Unchangeable

(Atman). *

*
is

*
the highest state.

Be

perfectly hopeless, that

is

What
bonds
never

there to

hope

for

Burst asunder the

rest,

of

hope, stand on your Self, be at

do, give
it.

mind what you

up

all

to

God,

but have no hypocrisy about

Svastha, the Sanskrit "
Self,
is

word

for " standing

on
"

your own

used colloquially in
well, are

India
?

to enquire

" Are you

you happy
"
I

And when Hindus would

"
thing,

express
a

saw a
"

they

"
say,

saw

word-meaning
is

(Paddrtha).

Even

this universe

a "

word-

meaning."
*

222

Inspired Talks

A
right

perfect
;

man's

body mechanically does

it

it

can do only good because

is fully

purified.

The

past

momentum
is
all

that

carries
All
evil

on

the wheel of

body
*

good.

tendencies are burnt out.

*
" That day
is

indeed a bad day

when we do

not speak of the Lord, not a stormy day."

Only love
Bhakti.

for

the

Supreme Lord
"

is

true

Love

for

any other being, however

great, is not Bhakti.

The

Supreme Lord

"

here

means

Isvara, the concept of

in the

which transcends

what you
God.
in
is

West mean by the personal

this universe proceeds,

"

He from whom
it

whom

rests,

and

to

whom

it

returns,

He

Isvara, the Eternal, the Pure, the All- Merci-

ful,

the Almighty, the Ever-Free, the All

Know-

ing, the

Teacher of
nature

all

teachers, the

Lord who

of

His

own

is

inexpressible Love."

Man

does not manufacture

God

out of his

223

Vedanta Philosophy

own

brain

but he can only see

God

in

the

light of his

own

capacity,
all

and he

attributes to
attribute

Him
is

the best of

he knows.

Each

the whole of God, and this signifying the

whole

by one

quality

is

the

metaphysical

explanation of

the

personal God.
all

hvara

is

without form yet has

lities

forms,

is

without quabeings

yet has

all

qualities.

As

human

we have

to see the trinity of existence,

;

God,

man, Nature
But
to the

and we cannot do otherwise.

all

Bhakta

these philosophical dis-

cares nothing " for argument, he does not reason, he senses,"

idle talk.

tinctions are

mere

He

he perceives.
love of

He

wants to lose himself

in

pure

God, and there have been Bhaktas who

is

maintain that this

liberation
;

more
"
I

to

be desired than
to

who

say

do not want
"
I

be

sugar.

want

to taste sugar."

want

to love

and enjoy the Beloved,"

In Bhakti-Yoga the
first

essential is to

want

224

Inspired Talks

God

honestly and intensely.

We

want every,
desires

thing but
are fulfilled

God, because our ordinary by

the external world.

So long as

our needs are confined within the limits of the

physical universe,

we do

not

feel

any need for

God;
in

it is

only

when we have had hard blows

our

lives

and are disappointed with every-

thing here that

we

feel the

need for something

higher

then
is

we

seek God.
;

Bhakti
all

not destructive

it

teaches

that

our faculties

may become means

must turn them
all

to reach

salvation.

We

towards

God and

give to

Him

that

love

which

is

usually wasted

on the

fleeting objects of sense.

Bhakti differs from your Western

religion
in

idea

of of

that Bhakti

admits no element

fear, no Being to be appeased or propitiated. There are even Bhaktas who worship God as

their

own

child, so that

there

may remain no
There can be

feeling even of

awe or

reverence.

225

Vedanta Philosophy
no
fear
in

true love,
T

and so long
even
for

as

there

is

the least fear Bhakti cannot

begin.

In

Bhakti there

is

also

no place

begging or

bargaining with God.

for anything
is

The

idea of asking

God
will

sacrilege to a Bhakta.

He

not pray for health or wealth or even to go to

heaven.

One who wants

to love

God,

to

be a Bhakta,
desires

must make a bundle

leave

of all these

and

them outside the door and then

wants to enter the realms of
all

enter.

He who
make
and
It is

light

must

a bundle of
cast
it

"

shop-keeping

"
religion
gates.

away before he can pass the

not that you do not get what you pray for;

get everything,

you

but

it

is

low, vulgar,
is

beggar's religion.
living

M Fool indeed

he,

who
little

on the banks of the Ganges, digs a

Fool indeed
of
is

well for water.

the

man who,

coming

to a

mine

diamonds, begins to search

for glass beads."

These prayers for health and

226

Inspired Talks
wealth

and material prosperity are not Bhakti.

form
of

They

are the lowest

Karma.

Bhakti

is

a higher thing.

We

are striving to

come

into

the presence of the King of kings.

get there in a beggar's dress.
If

We

cannot
to

we wanted

enter the presence of an emperor

would we be

admitted in beggar's rags

lackey
is

Certainly not.
of the

The
This

would drive us out

gates.

the

Emperor
before

of

emperors and never can we

in

come

Him

beggar's garb.

Shop-

keepers never have admission there, buying and

selling will not

do there

at all.

You

read in the

Bible that Jesus drove the buyers and sellers

out of the temple.

So

it

goes without saying that the

a

first

task in

becoming

Bhakta

is

to give

up

all

desires of
like

heaven and so on. Such a heaven would be

this place, this earth, only a
little

better.

The

Christian idea of heaven

is

a place of intensified

enjoyment.

How

can that be

God

All this

227

Vedanta Philosophy
desire to

go

to

heaven

is

a desire for enjoyment.

This has to be given up.

The

love

of the

Bhakta must be absolutely pure and

seeking nothing for
after.
itself

unselfish,

either here or here-

"

Giving up the desire of pleasure and pain,

loss,
is

gain or
a

worship

God day and

,

night

not

moment
"

to be lost in vain.'
all

Giving up

other thoughts, the whole

mind day and

night

worships God.

Thus
reveals

being worshipped day and night,

He
feel

Himself and makes His worshippers

him."

Thursday, August

1st.

The

real

Guru

is

the one through

whom we

have our

spiritual

descent.

He

is

the channel

through which the

spiritual current flows to us;

the link which joins us to the whole spiritual

world.

Too much

faith

in personality has

tendency to produce weakness and idolatry,

228

Inspired Talks
but intense love for the

Guru

makes rapid
inter-

growth

possible,

he connects us with the

-if

nal Guru. truth

in

Adore your Guru

there be real

him

that

Guru-bhakti (devotion to

the teacher) will quickly lead you to the highest.

Sri

Ramakrishna's purity was that of a baby.

He

never touched

money

in his life

and

lust

was absolutely annihilated

to

in him.

Do

not go
physical

great

religious
their

teachers to learn

science,
spiritual.

whole energy has gone to the

In Sri
all

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

the

man was

dead and only

sin,

God remained

he actually could not see

he was

literally

" of purer eyes than to behold iniquity."

purity of these few

The
that
all

paramahamsas
If

is

all

holds the world together.

die out
pieces.

they

should

and

leave

it,

the world

would go

to

They do good by simply being, and

it

they

know

not

they just are.

229

Vedanta Philosophy
Books suggest the inner
of bringing that out,
light

and the method

but

we can only underthe

stand them

when we have earned

know-

ledge ourselves.
flashed for you,
let

When
in

the inner light has

the books go, and look only

within.

You have
is

you
all

all

and

thousand

times more than

in

the books.

Never
in
is

lose faith in yourself,

this

you can do anything

weaken,
all

universe.

Never

power

yours.
If

religion

and

life

depend upon books or

upon

the existence of any prophet whatsoever,.

all

then perish
is

religion

and books
teachers

Religion

in us.

No books

or
it,

can do more

than help us to find

and even without them

Yet have gratitude
to

we can
to

get

all

truth within.

books and teachers without bondage

as

them;

and worship your Guru

obey him blindly
think for yourself.
;

God, but do not

all

love

him

you

will,

but

No

blind

belief

can save

230

Inspired Talks
you, work out your

own

salvation.
is

Have only

one idea of God,

that

He

an eternal help.

Freedom and

highest love

must go together,

then neither can become a bondage.

give nothing to
is

We
us.

can

God

He

gives

all

to

the

Guru

of gurus.

Then we

find

the " Soul of

our

souls'',

our very
is

He that He is No Self.
?

wonder we love Him, He

souls
;

the

Soul of our
love

whom

or what else can

we

We

want

to

be the " steady flame, burning without

heat and without smoke."

do good, when you

" sameness."
to yourself
;

see

To whom can you God ? You only

All

cannot do good to God.

If

doubt goes,
at
all,

all is
it

you do good

you do

feel that

the receiver

is

the higher

one.

You

serve

the

other

because you are

lower then
are

he, not because

he

is

low and you

perfume,

high.
it

Give
is

as the

rose

gives

because

its

own

nature,

utterly

uncon-

scious of giving.

231

Vedanta Philosophy
The
great

Hiudu

reformer,

Rajah

Ram
of this
life

Mohan Roy, was a wonderful example He devoted his whole unselfish work.
helping India.
It

to

was he who stopped the

It is

burning of widows.
this

usually believed that

;

reform was due entirely to the English

it

but

was Rajah

Ram Mohan Roy who

of

started

the agitation against the custom and succeeded

in

obtaining the support

it.

the

Government

in suppressing

Until

he began the move-

ment, the English had done nothing.

He

also

founded the important religious Society called

the Brahmo-Samdj,
to

and subscribed $ 100,000

found a
told

university.
to

He

then stepped out

and

them

go

ahead without him.

He

cared nothing for fame or for results to himself.

Thursday Afternoon.
There are endless
41

series of manifestations, like

merry-go-rounds", in which the souls ride,

232

Inspired Talks
so to speak.

The

series are

eternal

individual

souls get out, but the events

eternally

repeat themselves

and

that is

how
all

one's past
is

and future
present.
it

can

be read,
the
soul

because
is

really

When
one

in

a certain chain,

has to

go through the experiences

series souls

of that chain.

From

go to other

series

from some

series

they escape forever by realizing that they

are

Brahman.

By

getting hold of

one promiit,

nent event in a chain and holding on to

the

whole chain can be dragged

in

and read.
it

This
real

power

is

easily

acquired,
it

but

is

of

no

value and to practise

takes just so

much from

our

spiritual forces.

Go

not after these things,

worship God.

Friday, August 2nd.

Nishta
(devotion
to

one

Ideal)

is

the

beginning of realization.
of
all

Take the honey out

friendly with
all,

flowers

sit

and be

pay

233

Vedanta Philosophy
reverence to
brother,
all,

say to

all,

" Yes brother, yes

M but keep firm

is
I

in

your

own way.

higher stage
the other.

actually to take the position of

If

am

all,

why can

not really and

actively sympathize with

my
am

brother and see

I

with his eyes

to
I

While

weak,

must

stick

one course
can
feel

(nishta),

but

when

am

strong,

with

every

other

and

perfectly

sympathize with his ideas.

The

old idea was " develop one idea at the

all

expense of

the rest."

The modern way

is

"harmonious development."
"
it

third
it,"

way

is

to

develop the mind and control

then put
quickly.

where you
is

will

the result will

come

This

developing yourself in the truest way.

it

Learn concentration and use

in

any

direction.

Thus you

lose

nothing.

He who

gets the
is

whole must have the parts too.

included in Advaitism (monism).
"
I first

Dualism

saw him and he saw me,

234

Inspired Talks
" There was a flash of eye from

me

to

him and

from him to me."

This went on until the two souls became so
closely united that they actually

became one.

*
There are two [kinds Sam&dhi,
trate
I

concenis

on myself, then

concentrate, and there

a unity of subject and object.

You must be

able to sympathize fully with

at

each particular, then

the highest monism.
yourself,

once

to

jump back

to

After having perfected

you

limit yourself voluntarily.

Take
to

the whole

power

into each action.

Be able
and

become a

dualist for the time being

forget

Advaita, yet be able to

will.

take

it

up again at

*
effect is all

*
shalF

Cause and

Mdyd, and we
all

grow

to

understand that

we

see

is

as dis-

connected as the child's fairy

tales

now seem

235

Vedanta Philosophy
to us.

There

is

really
shall

no such thing

as cause
it.

and
if

effect

and we

come

to

know
mind

Then
any

you can,
pass

lower your intellect to

let

allegory

through

your

without

questioning about connection.

of

Develop love

imagery and
all

beautiful

poetry

and

then
not to

enjoy

mythologies as poetry.

Come

mythology with ideas of history and reasoning.

Let
let
it

flow as a current through your mind,

it

be whirled as a candle before your eyes,

asking

without

who

holds the candle,

;

and

you
will

will get the circle

the residuum of truth

remain

in

your mind.
of
all

The

writers
of

mythologies

wrote

in

symbols

what they saw and heard, they

painted flowing pictures.

Do
let

not try to pick

;

out the themes and so destroy the pictures

take

them

as they are

and

them
and

act

on you.

Judge them only by the

out of them. *

effect

get the

good

236

Inspired Talks

Your own
it

will is all that

answers prayer, only

appears under the guise of different religious

conceptions to each mind.

We may

call

it

Buddha,
but
it is

Jesus, Krishna, Jehovah, Allah,

Agnid

only the Self, the "I."

* #

#
is

Concepts grow, but there

value
in

no

historical

the

allegories

which present them

be wrong

Moses' visions are more likely to

than ours are, because

we have more knowledge

be deceived by
illu-

and

are

less

likely

to

sions.

Books

are useless to us until

all

our own book

opens, then

other books are

It is is

good so

far as

they confirm our book.

the

strong that

understands strength,

it

the elephant that

rat.

understands the

lion,

not the

How

can

we understand
It
is

Jesus until

We

are his equals ?

five

all

in the

dream

to feed

thousand
loaves
;

with two loaves, or to feed two with

five

237

Vedanta Philosophy
neither
is

real

and neither

affects

the other.

Only grandeur appreciates grandeur, only God realizes God. The dream is only the dreamer,
it

has no other basis.

It is

not

one thing and

the dreamer another.

The keynote running

through the music

all

is

"I

am

He,"

"I

am

He,''

other notes are but variations and do not

affect the real theme.

We

are the living

books

and books are but the words we have spoken.

Everything
see
it

is

the living God, the living Christ

as such.

Read man, he

is

the living poem.

all

We
and
out

are the light that illumines

the Bibles

Christs

and Buddhas

that ever were.

for us,

With-

that, these

would be dead

not living.

Stand on your

own

self.
let

The dead body

with them.

resents nothing

us

make

our bodies dead and cease

to identify

ourselves

Saturday, August 3rd.

Individuals

who

are to get

freedom

in

this

238

Inspired Talks
life

have to

live

thousands of years

in

one

life-

time.

They have

to be ahead of their times,

but the masses can only crawl.

Christs

Thus we have
*
so

and Buddhas.
* *
a

There was once

desired that
all

Hindu queen, who

much
the

her children should attain freethat she herself took

all

dom

in this

life

care of

them

and

as she rocked

them

to sleep,

she sang always the one song to them,

"Tat

tvam
thou

asi,

Tat tvam asi" ("That thou

art,

That

art.")

Three

of

them became

Sanydsins,

but the fourth was taken

away

to be

brought

up elsewhere
leaving

to

become a

king.

As he was

home, the mother gave him a piece of

paper which he was to read when he grew to

manhood.

On
or
of

that piece of paper

All else
killed.

was written,

"God
never

alone
kills

is true.
is

is false.

The

soul

Live alone or in the

company

holy ones."

When

the

young

239

Vedanta Philosophy
prince read this, he too at once renounced the

world and became a Sanydsin.

Give up, renounce the world.

like

Now, we

are

dogs

strayed

into a kitchen

and eating a
lest at

piece of meat, looking

round

in fear

any

moment some one may come and

out.

drive

them

Instead of that be a king and

the world.
it

know you
Give up
Give up
Vaird-

own
give

This never comes until you

it

up and
if

ceases to

bind.

mentally,

you do not
of

physically.

from the heart

your hearts.
This
is

Have

gyam

(renunciation).
it, it is

the real sacrifice,

and without
tuality.

impossible to attain spiri-

Do

not desire, for what you desire you

it

get

and with

comes

terrible

bondage.

It is

nothing but bringing "noses on us,"* as in the

*

poor

man was

once able to propitiate a certain God

who
the

gave him three boons to ask along with three throws

of dice.

The happy man went home and communicated

of this

news

good luck

to his wife

who,

full of

joy, at

once told him

to cast

for wealth

first.

To

this the

man

240

Inspired Talks
case of the

man who had

get freedom
Let us

three boons to ask.

until
little

We
said
"

never

we
noses,

are
for

self

We, both have very ugly

at us.

which

people laugh
noses.
"

first cast

for beautiful acquiline

Wealth

cannot remove

the

deformity
first

of our

persons.

But the wife was for

th e wealth

and so

she caught hold of his hand to prevent him from throwing

the dice.

The man
the

hastily snatched

once threw

dice,

exclaiming

hand a way and at " Let us both have

his All at

beautiful noses and nothing but

their bodies

noses."

once

both

were covered over with many beautiful noses, but they proved such a great nuisance to them that both of them agreed to throw for the second time asking for
their removal.
little
It

ones by that,

was done, and also they lost their own and left completely noseless. Two

boons thus they had

know what
Having

to do.

lost thefr

lost and in utter dismay they did not There was only one boon more to ask. noses they looked more ugly than before.

They
to

could not even dream

to

of

going out

in

that

plight.

They wanted

have two beautiful noses, but they

lest

feared

be questioned about their transformation

all

they should

be regarded by

to

be two big fools

who

could not

mend
boons.
little

their

circumstances even
of

with the help of three

So both

noses

and

the dice

them agreed to get back their ugly were accordingly cast. This story

illustrates the

" previous sentence

it

Do

not desire; for what

terrible

you desire you get and with

comes

bondage."

241

Vedanta Philosophy
contained.
else."

"Self

is

the Saviour of

self,

none

Learn

to

feel

yourself
are
all

in

other bodies, to

know

that

we

one.

Throw

all

other,

nonsense to the winds.

Spit out your actions,

of

good or bad, and never think

them

again.

What

is

done

is

done.

Throw

off superstition.

Have no weakness even

in the face of death.

Do
dzdd

not repent, do not brood over past deeds,

;

and do not remember your good deeds

(free).

be

The weak, the

fearful, the

ignorant
the

will never

reach Attnan.
it,

You cannot undo,

effect

must come, face

but be careful never

to

do the same thing again.

of all deeds to the

Give up the bur;

den

Lord

give

all,

both

good and bad.

only the bad.

Do

not keep the good and give

helps those

God

who do

not

help themselves.
*

*
the cup
of
desire,

*
the world

"Drinking

242

Inspired Talks

becomes mad."
together,

Day and
Give up *

night never

come

so desire

and the Lord can never

desire.

come

together.

There
" "
food,

is

a vast difference "

between saying
between saying

food

and eating
"

it,

water, water"

and drinking
God,

it.

So by merely
"

repeating the

word

God

we cannot
strive

hope to

attain realization.

We

must

and

practise.

Only by the wave

can
it

falling

back into the sea

it

become

unlimited,
after
it

never as a wave can

it

be

so.

Then

has become the sea,

can become the wave again and as big a one as

it

pleases.

Break the identification

of yourself
free.

with the current and

know

that

you are

True philosophy
tain perceptions.

is

the systematizing of cer-

Intellect
is

ends where religion

higher than reason,
it.

begins. Inspiration

much

but

it

must not contradict

Reason

is

the

243

Vedanta Philosophy
rough tool
the
to

do the hard work

inspiration is
all

bright light
will to

which shows us
is

truth.

The

do a thing

not necessarily inspi-

ration.

*
Progression in

*
is

Maya
to the

a circle that brings

you back

to the starting point; but

you

start ig-

norant and

come

end with

all

knowledge.
holy
ones,

Worship

of

God, worship

of the

concentration and

meditation, and

unselfish

work, these are the ways of breaking away from

Mdyd's net

but we must

first

have the strong

light

desire to get free.

The

flash of

that will
;

illumine the darkness for us,

is in

us
is

it

is

the

knowledge that
right,"

is

our nature, (there

All

no"birth-

we were
to drive
all

never born).

that

we have
it.

to

do

is

away

the clouds

that cover
in

Give up
heaven.

desire for

enjoyment

earth or

Control the organs of the senses and

control the mind.

Bear every misery without

244

Inspired Talks
even knowing that you are miserable.
of nothing but liberation.
in his teachings,

Think
Guru,

Have

faith in

and
"

in the surety that

you can
whatever

get free.

Say

Soham,
this

Soham

"

Comes. Tell yourself

ing, suffering
;

even

in eating, walk-

tell

the

mind

this incessantly,

that

what we
'*

see

never existed,
the
this

that there is
will
is

only

I".

Flash,

dream
universe

break

Think day and night,

zero, only

God

is.

Have

intense desire to get free.

All relatives

and friends
into

-are

but u old dry

get
is

wells"

-,

we

fall

them and

dreams

of

duty and bondage, and there

not create
like a
If

no end.

Do
It is

illusion
tree,

by helping anyone.
that

banyan

spreads on and on.

are a fool
to
try to

you are a
If

dualist,

you

help God.

you are a monist, you know that

where find duty
?

you

are

God

You have no
Take things
as

duty to husband, child, friend.

they come,
lie still

and when your body

floats,

245

Vedanta Philosophy
go
;

rise

with the rising

tide, fall

with the

fall-

ing tide.
is

Let the body die ; this idea of body but a worn-out fable. " Be still and know
I

that

am

God."
is

The
no

present

the only existence.

There

is

past or future
it

even in thought, because to

to

think

you

have

make

it

the present.
it

Give up everything and This world

again.
is all

let it float

where
it

will.

a delusion,

do not let
for
is.

fool
it is

you
not,
is

You have known

it

it

what
If

now know
the

for

what
let it

it

the

body

dragged anywhere,

go

do not care where

is

body

is.

This tyrannical idea of duty

terrible poison

and

is

destroying the world.

Do
by
;

not wait to have a harp and rest by and

not
take a
?

why

harp and begin here

Why
there

wait for heaven

is

Make

it

here. In
in

heaven
;

no marrying or giving
at

marriage

why

not begin

once and have none here

Sanyasin
is

The yellow robe

of the

the sign

246

Inspired
of the free.

Talks

Give up the beggar's dress ot the

flag of

world; wear the

robe.

freedom, the ochre

Sunday, August
"

tth.

Whom

the ignorant worship,

Him

preach

unto thee."
This one and only
of the

God
the

is

the

" knownest"

known.
All

He

is

one thing we see

everywhere.

know

their

own
All

self,

all

know "I am", even

is

animals.
the
Self.

we know
this

the the

projection

of

Teach
it.

to

children,

they

can

grasp
Self,
is
life

Every

religion

has worshipped the

even though

unconsciously, because there

nothing else.
as
It

This indecent clinging to

here,
is

we know
all

it

the source of

all evil.

causes

this

cheating and stealing.

It

makes money a god

Value nothing
If

and

all

vices

and

fears

ensue.
it.

material

and do not

cling to

you cling to

247

Vedanta Philosophy
nothing, not even
life,

then there

is

no

^fear.

"
in

He

goes from death to death

world."

who

sees

many
see

this

There can be

no

physical

death for as and no mental death,

thai all
is

when we

one.

All bodies are mine, so

even

body

is

eternal,

because the

tree,

the
itself

animal,
is

the sun, the

moon,

the universe
it

my

body

then

how can
is

die

Every mind,
can death
dies.

every thought

mine, then

how

come

The

Self is

never born and never

all

When we
am,
I

realize
I

this,

doubts vanish,

"

know,

love,"
is

these

can
for

never
all

be
is

doubted.
eaten
is

There

no hunger,
If

that
out,
dies,

eaten by me.
die
;

a hair falls
if

we
it

do not think we
is

so

one body

but a hair

falling.

The superconscious
There are three

is

God,

is

beyond speech,

beyond thought, beyond consciousness

states,

brutality {lamas),

hu-

248

Inspired Talks
manity
(rajas),

and

divinity

(sattva).

Those

attaining the
dies

highest state simply are.

Duty

there

they only love and as a magnet

to them.

draw others

This

is

freedom.

No

more you do moral acts, but whatever you do The Brahmavit (knower of God) is is moral.
higher than
ship Jesus
all

gods.

The angels came

to

wor-

when he had conquered

delusion and

had

said

"Get thee behind

me

Satan.

"

None
bows

can help a Brahmavit, the universe

itself

down

before him.

His every desire

;

is fulfilled,

his spirit purifies others

therefore worship the

to attain
'

Brahmavit

if

you wish

the
of

highest.

When we
a

have the three great

'gifts

God/'

human

body, intense desire to be free and the

help of a great soul to

liberation
is
3f?

show us the way, then

is

certain for us. Mukti

3JJ

ours.
3|&

Death of the body forever

the negative side and says
"
1

is

Nirvdna. not
this,

It

is

am

nor

249

Vedanta Philosophy
this,

nor

this.

"

Vedanta

takes

the

further

step

and

asserts

the positive

side,

mukti or

freedom.

"

am

Existence absolute,
I

Know,

ledge absolute, Bliss absolute,

is

am He"

this

Vedanta, the capstone of the perfect arch.

The

great

majority

of

the adherents

of

Northern Buddhism believe in mukti and are

really

Vedantists.

Only

the Ceylonese accept

Nirvdna as annihilation.

No

belief or

disbelief can
belief

kill

the

"

I.

"

That which comes with

disbelief is

and goes with

only a delusion.
"
I

Nothing touches

the At man.
illuminated,

salute

salute

my own Self." "Selfmyself, I am Brahman"

;

The body
becomes

is

a dark

room
it

when we
becomes

enter
alive.
;

it, it

illuminated,

No-

thing can ever affect the illumination

it

cannot
never

be destroyed.
destroyed.

It

may be

covered,

but

250

Inspired Talks
At the present time

God

should be worship-

ped as

<l

Mother", the
to

Infinite

Energy.

This

will lead

purity,

and tremendous energy

Here no temples
they

will

come

here in America.

weigh us down, no one

poorer
aeons,

suffers as

do in
for

countries.

Woman

has

suffered

and that has given her

infinite patience

and
idea.

infinite perseverance.
It is

She holds on

to

an

this

which makes her the support

of even superstitious religions

in every land,

and

of the priests
her.

and

it is

this

that

will free
live
it,

We have

to

become
;

Vedantists and

this

grand thought

the masses

must

get

and
In

only in free America can this be

India
these

done.
out

ideas were

brought

by

individuals, like

Buddha, Sankara, and others,

not
retain them.

but

the

masses did

The

new
and

cycle must see the masses living Vedanta

this

will

have

to

come

through

women.
251

Vedanta Philosophy
Keep the beloved,
beautiful

Mother

in

the

heart of your hearts with all care. " Throw out everything but the tongue, keep " that to say Mother, Mother !
'

" Let

no

evil

counsellors enter

let
.
.

you and
.

me,

my
"
u

heart, alone see Mother."

Thou

art

beyond
of
life,

all

that lives

My Moon

my

Soul of soul

'!

Sunday Afternoon.
Mind
just as
is

an instrument in the hand of Atman,

is
is

body

an instrument in the hand of

mind. Matter
inside.
If

motion outside, mind

is

motion
time.

All

change begins and ends

is

in

the
;

Atman
if

unchangeable,
it

It

must be per;

fect

perfect,
It

must be

infinite
;

and

if

It

be

infinite,

must be only One

there

cannot
Self

be two

infinities.

So the Atman, the

It
If

can

be only One.
It is really

Though
One.

seems to be various,
a

only

man were

to

go

252

Inspired Talks

toward the sun,

different sun,
after
all.

at

every step he would

it

see a

and yet

would be the same sua

Asti,

"

isness,'

is

the basis of
is

all

unity and

just as

soon
If all

as the basis

found, perfection

ensues.

color could be resolved into one

color, painting

would

cease.

The

perfect one-

ness

is

rest

we

refer all

manifestations to one
Buddhists,.

Being.

Taoists,

Confucianists,

Hindus, Jews,
Zoroastrians,
in
all

Mahommedans,

Christians

and

preached the golden rule and

almost

the

same words

but only

the

Hindus have given the

saw the reason
:

rationale,

because they

Man must

love others because

is

those others are himself.

There

but One.

Of
has

all

the great

religious teachers the

world
Jesus " Do

known only

Laotze,

Buddha and
and
said,

transcended the golden rule

u good to your enemies," Love them

that hate

you."

253

Vedanta Philosophy
Principles exist;

we do not

create them,

we

only discover them. ..Religion

in realization.

consists solely
reli-

Doctrines are methods, not

religions

gion.

All the different

are but appli-

cations of the

one
of

religion

adapted to suit the

nations.

requirements

different
;

Theories
of

only lead to fighting

that ought
to bring

thus the

Name

God

peace has been the cause

world.

of half the bloodshed of the

direct source.

Go
is.

to the

Ask God what He

not;

Unless
religion

He

answers,

teaches that

He is He does

but

every

answer.

Have something

to say for yourself, else

how

can you have any idea of what others have

said
?

Do

not

cling

to

old

superstitions
u Fools

be ever ready for new

they

truths.

are

who would

drink brackish

water from

a well that their forefathers have digged

and

would not drink pure water from a well that

others have digged."
Until

we

realize

God

for

254

Inspired Talks
ourselves

we can know nothing about Him.

is

Each man

perfect

by

his

nature

prophets
is

have manifested
tial

this perfection,

but

it

potenthat
? If

in

us.

How
to

can

we

understand
see

Moses saw God unless we too

Him
to

God
I

ever

came

anyone
direct
;

He
let

will

come

me.
me.

will

go to God

Him
to a

talk to
is

cannot take

belief as a
If

basis, that

atheism
in the

and blasphemy.
deserts of Arabia

God spake

man

two thousand years

ago,

He
I

can also speak

to

me

to-day,
?

else

how
to

can

know

that

He

has not died

;

Come
But
in

God

any way you can

only come.

coming

do not push anyone down.

The knowing ones must have pity on the ignorant. One who knows is willing to give
up
his

body even

for

an ant, because he knows

that the

body

is

nothing.
5th.
:

Monday, August The question is

Is

it

necessary

to

pass

255

Vedanta Philosophy
through
or
all

the lower stages to reach the highest

can

a plunge be

taken

at

once

The

modern American boy

to attain that

takes twenty-five years

forefathers

which

his

took hungets
in

dreds of

years

to do.

The

Hindu

twenty years to the

height reached
ancestors.

in eight

thousand years by
sical side, the

his

On
the

the phyto

embryo goes from

amoeba

man

in the

womb.

These are the teachings of

modern
tells
all

science.

Vedanta goes further

to live the
life

and
life

us that

we not only have

of

past humanity,

but also the future

the

of all

humanity.
educated

The man who does

man, the second
is

first is

the

the jivan-mukta,

forever free.

Time

is

merely the measure of our thoughts,

swift, there is
live

and thought being inconceivably

no
the

limit
life
it

to the speed with

which we can

ahead.

So

it

cannot be stated
live
all

how
It

long

would take

to

future

life.

256

Inspired Talks

might be
lifetimes.

in
It

a second, or

it

might take
intensity of

fifty

depends on the

the

desire.
fied

The

teaching must therefore be modi-

according to the needs of the taught.

fire is

The

consuming
chunks of

ready for

all,

even water and

Fire a mass
;

ice quickly

consume.
will

of bird- shot,

one

at

least

strike

give a

man
take

a whole

museum

of truths, he will at

once

what

is

suited to him.

Past lives have

moulded our
accordance
mystical,
basis,

tendencies, give to the taught in

with his

tendency.

Intellectual,

devotional, practical,

make one
it.

the

but teach the others with

Intellect

must be balanced with

with reason,

love, the mystical nature

while practice

must form part of

every method. Take every one where he stands

and push

him forward.

Religious teaching

must always be

constructive,

not destructive.

Each
past, the

tendency shows the life-work of the

line or radius

along which that

man

257

Vedanta Philosophy
must move.
All radii lead to the centre.

Never

even attempt to disturb anyone's tendencies, to

do

that puts back

both teacher and

taught.

When you

teach

Jnanam, you must become a

Jndni and stand mentally exactly where the

taught stands.
Similarly in every other Yoga.
if
it

Develop every faculty as

were the only

one possessed,

this is the true secret of so-called

harmonious development.
sity

That
its

is,

get exten-

with intensity, but not at

expense.

We
we

are infinite.

There

is

no

limitation in us,

can be as intense as the most devoted

Mahom.
atheist.

medan and

as broad as the
to

most roaring

The way
any one
the
side

do

this is not to

put the mind on

subject,
itself
;

but to develop and control

then you can turn
it

mind

on any

you choose.
extensity.

Thus you keep

the intensity
if

and

Feel

Jnanam

as

it

were

all

there was, then do the

same with Bhakti, with

Raja, with Karma.

Give up the waves and go

258

Inspired Talks
to the ocean, then you can have the waves as

you

please.
else

" of your Control the " lake

own
of

mind,

you cannot understand the lake

another's mind.

The

true teacher

is

one

who can throw

his

whole force into the tendency of the taught.

Without

real

sympathy we can never teach

well.

Give up the notion that

being, only the perfect

man
is

is

a responsible

man

responsible.

The

ignorant have drunk deep of the cup of delusion

and

are not sane.

You, who know, must

with these.

have

infinite patience

Have nothing

but love for them and find out the disease that
has

made them

see the world in a

it

wrong
aright.

light,

then help them to cure

and see

Re-

member always
will
;

that

only the free have free

all

the rest are in

bondage and

are not
is

responsible for what they do.

Will as will

bound.

The

water

when melting on
but becoming

the top of

the Himalayas

is free,

the river r

259

Vedanta Philosophy
it is

bound by the banks

it

yet the original

imits

petus carries

to the sea
first is

and
"
fall

it

regains

freedom.

The

the

of

man," the

second

is

the " resurrection.''

it

Not one atom

can rest until

finds

its

freedom.

Some

imaginations help to break the bondrest.

age of the
ation,

The whole

universe

is

imagin-

but one set of

set.

imaginations will cure

tell

another
sin

Those which

us that there

is

and sorrow and death

;

in

the

world are
*
I

terrible

but the other

is

set

which says ever

is

am
are

holy, there

God, there

no

"
pain,

these
of the

good and help

to break the

bondage

others.

The
all

highest

imagination that
chain,
is

can
per-

break

the links of the

that of

sonal God.
"

Om

tat sat

"

is

the only thing beyond Maya,

but

God

exists eternally.

As long as Niagara
will

Falls

exists, the

rainbow

exist

but the
are the

water continually flows away.

The

falls

260

Inspired Talks
universe and the rainbow
is

personal God, and

exists,

both are eternal.

While the universe

God must

exist.

God

creates the universe

and

the universe creates

God and both

nor

are

eternal.

Mdyd

is

neither

existence

non-existence.
are

Both Niagara
eternal

Falls

and the rainbow

the

changeable,

Brahman
half "

seen
split

through
into

Mdyd.

Persians and Christians

call the

Mdyd
the

two and
half

good

God " and

bad
as a
it,

the

"devil."

Vedanta takes Mdyd

whole and recognizes a unity beyond

Brahman,
#
# *
that

*
Christianity

Mahommed
straying

found

was

out from the

Semitic fold

and his

teachings were to
to be as a Semitic

show what

Christianity ought
it

religion, that

should hold
I

to one God.

The Aryan

idea that "

and

my

Father are one" disgusted and terrified him.

In
reality the

conception of the Trinity was a

261

Vedanta Philosophy
great advance over the dualistic idea of Jehovah,

who was

forever

separate
is

from man.
first

The
in

theory of incarnation

the

link

the

chain of ideas leading to the recognition of the

oneness of
in

God and man.

God

appearing

first

one human form, then re-appearing

in other

at differlast

ent times

human forms

is at

re-

cognized as being in every

in
all

human
the

form,

or

men.
is

Monistic

is

highest

stage,

monotheistic
lead

a lower stage.

Imagination will

you

to the highest

even more rapidly and

easily than reasoning.

Let a few stand out and

live for

God

alone

and save
tend to

religion for the world.

Do

not pre-

be

like

Janaka when you are only the

"progenitor" of delusions.

(The name Janaka

to a king

means "progenitor'' and belonged

who, although he
still

held his kingdom for the

sake of his people,

mentally).

had given up everything

say, "I see the ideal

Be honest and
262

Inspired Talks
but
I

cannot yet approach

to give

it"

but do not prenot.

If

tend
up,
seize
all

up when you do
If

you give
the fight,

stand

fast.

a hundred
it

fall in

the flag and carry

on.
fails.

God

is

true for

that,

no matter who
flag to

Let him

who
;

falls
it

hand on the
fall.

another to carry on

can never

When
impurity
the
else

am washed and
added
of

clean

why
Seek

shall
first

be

on

to

me?
let

kingdom
go.
;

Heaven

and

everything

Do

not want anything "added unto

rid
will
left

you" be only glad to get up and know that success

if

of

it.

Give

follow, even

you

never see
yet those

it.

Jesus

twelve fisher-

men and
Empire.
Sacrifice
best.

few blew up the

Roman
and
he

on

God's

altar

earth's purest
is

He

who

struggles

better

than

who

never attempts.

Even
has
a

to

look on one
effect

who

has given

up

purifying

263

Vedanta Philosophy
Stand up for

God;

let

the world go.

the

Have

no compromise.

Give up

world, then

alone you are loosened from the body.

it

When
Death

dies,

you are

az&d, free.

Be

free.

alone can never free us.

attained

Freedom must be
during
life
;

by our own

efforts

then,

when

the

body

falls,

there will be

no

re-birth

for the free.

Truth
else.

is

to

be judged by truth and by nothing

is

Doing good

no

test of truth
it.

the

Sun
if

needs no torch by which to see

truth
truth
;

Even
still
it

destroys the whole universe,

is

stand by

it.

Practising the concrete

forms of religion
;

is is

easy and attracts the masses

but really there

nothing in the external. " As the spider throws her web out of herself

and draws
out and

it

in,

even so this universe

is

thrown

drawn

in

by God."

264

Inspired Talks

Tuesday, August Mh.

Without the
outside.
"
"
I

there can

" be no * you to

From

this

some philosophers came

"

the conclusion that the external world did not

exist

save in the

subject;

that

the

you

''

only in the "I." Others have argued " that the " I can only be known through
existed

the

"you "and with

equal

logic.

These two

views are partial truths each wrong in part and

each right
rial

in part.

Thought
in nature

is

as

much mateis.

and

as

much

as

body

Both

matter and mind exist

divides
itself

in a third, a

unity which
is

into

the two.

This unity

the

Attnan, the real Self.

There
itself

is

being,

"x" which

is

manifesting
Its

as both
in the

mind and

matter.

move-

ments
called
is

seen are along certain fixed lines

law.

As a
law.

unity,
Still,

it is

free

as

many,

it

bound by
idea
of

with

all this

bondage,

an

freedom

is

ever present and this is

265

Vedanta Philosophy
nivtitti

or the "dragging

from

attachment."
desire

The

materializing forces

which through

lead us tu

take an active part in worldly affairs

are called pravritti.

That action

is

moral which

frees us

from the

bondage
appears
circle
;

of matter
infinite
it

and

vice versa.

This world
is

because
to

everything
it

in

returns

whence
is

came.

The
here
is

circle meets, so there

no

rest

or peace

in

any

place.
to

We
*

must get

out.

Mukti

the

one end
*

be attained. * *

Evil changes in
in quality.
it is

form, but remains the same

In ancient times force ruled, to-day

cunning.

Misery in

India

is

not so bad

as in

America, because the poor

contrast to his
evil

man

here sees

the greater

own bad

condition.

Good and

are

inextricably

combined,

and one cannot be had

without the other.

is like

The sum

total of

energy in this universe

266

Inspired Talks
a lake, every wave inevitably leads to a corres-

ponding depression.
lutely the to
is

The sum

total is

absois

same, so to

make one man happy

make another unhappy.

material

External happiness
is

and the supply

fixed

so that not

one grain can be had by one person without

taking from another.

Only

bliss

beyond the
|

material world can be had without loss to any.

Material

happiness

is

but a transformation of

material sorrow.

Those who are born

it,

in the

wave and keep in

is

do not see the depression and what

there.

Never think you can make the world

happier.

better

and

The bullock

in

the

oil

mill

never

reaches the wisp of hay tied in

front of him,

he

only grinds out the

oil.

So we chase the

will-

o'-the-wisp of happiness

that always eludes us

mill,

and we only grind

merely to begin again.
evil,

Nature's
If

then

die

we could

get rid of
of

we should never catch a glimpse

any-

267

Vedanta Philosophy
thing higher
;

we would be

satisfied

and never
that
all

struggle to get free.

When man
All

finds
is

search for happiness in matter

nonsense,
is

then religion begins.

human knowledge
the balance
is

but part of religion.

In the

human body
evil is

between
a chance

good and
for

so even that there

man

to wish to free himself

from both.
;

The

free never
is

became bound
question.

to ask

how
"

he did,

an

illogical
is

Where no
effect.
I

bondage

is,

there
in a
I

no cause and
a

became a fox

dream and

dog chased me."

Now how
The
followed

can

ask

why

the dog chased

me

fox was a part of the

as

dream and the dog

;

a matter

of course

but both

belong to the dream and have

outside.

no existence

Science and religion are both attempts

to help us out of the

bondage

only religion

is

the

more ancient and we have

it is

the superstition

that

the

more

holy.

In a

way

it is,

because

268

Inspired Talks
it

makes morality a vital point and science does

" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall

not.

see

God."
if

This
all

sentence alone would save

lost.

mankind,

books and prophets were

will

This purity of heart

bring the vision of

the whole music of
is

God.
this

It

is

the theme of

universe.

In

purity

no

bondage.
purity, then

Remove

the veils of ignorance

by

we

manifest
that

ourselves as

we

really

are and

know

we were
is

never in bondage.
all

The

seeing of

many
Self

the great sin of

all
;

the world.
idea
of

See

all

as

and love

let

all

separateness go.
fc

?y

4y

The

diabolical

man
is.

is

a part of

my body
it

as

wound
get
it

or a burn
5

We
he
"

have to nurse

and

better

so continually nurse
until

diabolical

man

and help the heals" and is once

more happy and

healthy.

268

Vedanta Philosophy
While we think on the
have the
relative

plane,

we

right to believe that as bodies

relative things

we can
that

be hurt by

and equally
This

we

can be helped by them.

abstracted,
is

idea of help,

what we

call

God.

The sum

total of all ideas of help is

God.
of all that
is

God

is

the abstract

compound
helpful
;

merciful and

good and

that should be

the sole idea.

to say

As Atman we have no body, so

poison does not hurt

"

am God and
we have

me''

is

an absurdity.
it,

While there

is

and we see
the
little
?

not realized God.

after the river
it,

body Can
van-

whirlpool
for

remain

ishes

Cry

help and you will get

and

at last

you

will find that the

one crying for help

has vanished and so has the Helper, and the

play
is

over

only the Self remains.

This once done, come back and play as you

will.
it

This body can then do no

not until the
evil

evil,

because

is

forces are

all

burned out

270

Inspired
that
liberation

Talks
All

comes.

dross

has

been

burned out and there remains " flame without

heat and without smoke."

The
it

past

momentum

carries

on the body, but

all

can only do good, because the bad was

before freedom came.

gone

The dying
of

thief

on the cross reaped the

actions.

effects

his past
;

He had

been a Yogi and had slipped

;

then he had to be born again

again he slipped

and became a

thief

but the past good he had

in

done bore

fruit,

and he met Jesus

the

moment when
Buddha
he,

liberation could
free.

come and one

word made him

set his greatest

enemy

free

because

by hating him (Buddha) so much, kept

constantly thinking of
fied his

him

that thought
for

purifree-

mind and he became ready

Therefore think of

dom.

God

all

the time and

that will purify you.

271

Vedanta Philosophy
(This ended
the beautiful lessons of

our beloved

Guru.

The following

day

he

left

Thousand

Island Park

and

returned to

New

York.)

272

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THE UNIVERSE AND MAN

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