{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_72368/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_72368","id":"gutenberg_72368","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72368","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Vedanta","Yoga, J\u00f1ana"],"text":"JN\u00c2NA YOGA\n\n  PART II\n\n[Illustration: SW\u00c2MI VIVEK\u00c2NANDA]\n\n\n\n\n  VED\u00c2NTA PHILOSOPHY\n\n\n  JN\u00c2NA YOGA\n\n  PART II\n\n\n  _SEVEN LECTURES_\n\n  BY\n\n  SW\u00c2MI VIVEK\u00c2NANDA\n\n\n  PUBLISHED BY\n\n  THE VED\u00c2NTA SOCIETY\n  135 West 80th Street\n  NEW YORK\n\n\n\n\n  COPYRIGHT, 1907\n  BY\n  SW\u00c2MI ABHED\u00c2NANDA\n\n\n  NEW YORK\n  THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO.,\n  33 EAST 17TH ST.\n\n\n\n\nEDITOR\u2019S PREFACE\n\n\nThe lectures given in this volume were originally delivered by Sw\u00e2mi\nVivek\u00e2nanda in New York in the beginning of 1896, and were received\nwith the greatest enthusiasm. Their purely philosophical character,\nhowever, made it doubtful as to whether they would appeal to the\ngeneral public, and for that reason they were not brought out in\nbook form at once. The great success of the London lectures on Jn\u00e2na\nYoga, which were published several years ago and which have already\ngone through two editions, now encourages the belief that this series\nwill meet with an equally favorable reception. The conception of\nJn\u00e2na according to Ved\u00e2nta is a bold and daring one, and reaches the\nhighest possible ideal, for it teaches the absolute unity of all\nexistence. As will be easily understood by the students of the former\nvolume, Jn\u00e2na Yoga is purely monistic on the highest spiritual plane.\nSpeaking about this phase of Ved\u00e2nta, Prof. Max M\u00fcller writes: \u201cNone\nof our philosophers, not excepting Heraclitus, Plato, Kant, or Hegel\nhas ventured to erect such a spire, never frightened by storms or\nlightnings. Stone follows on stone in regular succession after once the\nfirst step has been made, after once it has been clearly seen that in\nthe beginning there can have been but One, as there will be but One in\nthe end, whether we call It \u00c2tman or Brahman.\u201d This may be a difficult\nthought for many to grasp at the outset, but it is worth careful\nstudy, and once understood will be a never-failing light to guide the\nenquiring soul to the crowning truth of all philosophy.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nJN\u00c2NA YOGA--PART II.\n\n\n  INTRODUCTION                           9\n\n\n  I.\n\n  THE S\u00c2NKHYA COSMOLOGY                 21\n\n\n  II.\n\n  PRAKRITI AND PURUSHA                  44\n\n\n  III.\n\n  S\u00c2NKHYA AND ADVAITA                   69\n\n\n  IV.\n\n  THE FREE SOUL                         94\n\n\n  V.\n\n  ONE EXISTENCE APPEARING AS MANY      121\n\n\n  VI.\n\n  UNITY OF THE SELF                    141\n\n\n  VII.\n\n  THE HIGHEST IDEAL OF JN\u00c2NA YOGA      157\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThis universe of ours, the universe of the senses, the rational,\nthe intellectual, is bounded on both sides by the illimitable, the\nunknowable, the ever unknown. Herein is the search, herein are the\ninquiries, here are the facts, from this comes the light which is known\nto the world as religion. Essentially, however, religion belongs to the\nsupersensuous and not to the sense plane. It is beyond all reasoning\nand is not on the plane of intellect. It is a vision, an inspiration, a\nplunge into the unknown and unknowable, making the unknowable more than\nknown, for it can never be \u201cknown.\u201d This search has been in the human\nmind, as I believe, from the very beginning of humanity. There cannot\nhave been human reasoning and intellect in any period of the world\u2019s\nhistory without this struggle, this search beyond. In our little\nuniverse, this human mind, we see a thought arise. Whence it arises we\ndo not know, and when it disappears, where it goes we know not either.\nThe macrocosm and the microcosm are, as it were, in the same groove,\npassing through the same stages, vibrating in the same key.\n\nIn these lectures I shall try to bring before you the Hindu theory that\nreligions do not come from without, but from within. It is my belief\nthat religious thought is in man\u2019s very constitution, so much so that\nit is impossible for him to give up religion until he can give up his\nmind and body, until he can give up thought and life. As long as a\nman thinks, this struggle must go on, and so long man must have some\nform of religion. Thus we see various forms of religion in the world.\nIt is a bewildering study, but it is not, as many of us think, a vain\nspeculation. Amidst this chaos there is harmony, throughout these\ndiscordant sounds there is a note of concord, and he who is prepared\nto listen to it will catch the tone.\n\nThe great question of all questions at the present time is this: Taking\nfor granted that the known and the knowable are bounded on both sides\nby the unknowable and the infinitely unknown, why struggle for that\ninfinite unknown? Why shall we not be content with the known? Why shall\nwe not rest satisfied with eating, drinking, and doing a little good to\nsociety? This idea is in the air. From the most learned professor to\nthe prattling baby, we are told to do good to the world, that is all of\nreligion, and that it is useless to trouble ourselves about questions\nof the beyond. So much is this the case that it has become a truism.\nBut fortunately we _must_ question the beyond. This present, this\nexpressed, is only one part of that unexpressed. The sense universe\nis, as it were, only one portion, one bit of that infinite spiritual\nuniverse projected into the plane of sense consciousness. How can\nthis little bit of projection be explained, be understood, without\nknowing that which is beyond? It is said of Socrates that one day while\nlecturing at Athens, he met a Brahmin who had travelled into Greece,\nand Socrates told the Brahmin that the greatest study for mankind is\nman. The Brahmin sharply retorted: \u201cHow can you know man until you know\nGod?\u201d This God, this eternally unknowable, or absolute, or infinite,\nor without name,--you may call Him by what name you like,--is the\nrational, the only explanation, the _raison d\u2019\u00eatre_ of that which\nis known and knowable, this present life. Take anything before you,\nthe most material thing; take one of the most material sciences, as\nchemistry or physics, astronomy or biology, study it, push the study\nforward and forward, and the gross forms will begin to melt and become\nfiner and finer, until they come to a point where you are bound to make\na tremendous leap from these material things into the immaterial.\nThe gross melts into the fine, physics into metaphysics, in every\ndepartment of knowledge.\n\nThus man finds himself driven to a study of the beyond. Life will be\na desert, human life will be vain if we cannot know the beyond. It is\nvery well to say: Be contented with the things of the present; the cows\nand the dogs are, and all animals, and that is what makes them animals.\nSo if man rests content with the present and gives up all search into\nthe beyond, mankind will have to go back to the animal plane again. It\nis religion, the inquiry into the beyond, that makes the difference\nbetween man and an animal. Well has it been said that man is the only\nanimal that naturally looks upwards; every other animal naturally looks\nprone. That looking upward and going upward and seeking perfection are\nwhat is called salvation, and the sooner a man begins to go higher, the\nsooner he raises himself towards this idea of truth as salvation. It\ndoes not consist in the amount of money in your pocket, or the dress\nyou wear, or the house you live in, but in the wealth of spiritual\nthought in your brain. That is what makes for human progress, that is\nthe source of all material and intellectual progress, the motive power\nbehind, the enthusiasm that pushes mankind forward.\n\nReligion does not live in bread, does not dwell in a house. Again and\nagain you hear this objection advanced, \u201cWhat good can religion do? Can\nit take away the poverty of the poor\u201d? Supposing it cannot, would that\nprove the untruth of religion? Suppose a baby stands up among you when\nyou are trying to demonstrate an astronomical theorem, and says: \u201cDoes\nit bring gingerbread?\u201d \u201cNo, it does not,\u201d you answer. \u201cThen,\u201d says the\nbaby, \u201cit is useless.\u201d Babies judge the whole universe from their own\nstandpoint, that of producing gingerbread, and so are the babies of\nthe world. We must not judge of higher things from a low standpoint.\nEverything must be judged by its own standard and the infinite must be\njudged by an infinite standard. Religion permeates the whole of man\u2019s\nlife, not only the present, but the past, present, and future. It is\ntherefore the eternal relation between the eternal soul and the eternal\nGod. Is it logical to measure its value by its action upon five minutes\nof human life? Certainly not. These are all negative arguments.\n\nNow comes the question, can religion really accomplish anything? It\ncan. It brings to man eternal life. It has made man what he is and\nwill make of this human animal a god. That is what religion can do.\nTake religion from human society and what will remain? Nothing but a\nforest of brutes. Sense-happiness is not the goal of humanity; wisdom\n(Jn\u00e2nam) is the goal of all life. We find that man enjoys his intellect\nmore than an animal enjoys its senses, and we see that man enjoys his\nspiritual nature even more than his rational nature. So the highest\nwisdom must be this spiritual knowledge. With this knowledge will\ncome bliss. All these things of this world are but the shadows, the\nmanifestations in the third or fourth degree of the real Knowledge and\nBliss.\n\nOne question more: What is the goal? Nowadays it is asserted that\nman is infinitely progressing, forward and forward, and there is no\ngoal of perfection to attain to. Ever approaching, never attaining,\nwhatever that may mean and however wonderful it may be, it is absurd\non the face of it. Is there any motion in a straight line? A straight\nline infinitely projected becomes a circle, it returns to the starting\npoint. You must end where you begin, and as you began in God, you must\ngo back to God. What remains? Detail work. Through eternity you have to\ndo the detail work.\n\nYet another question. Are we to discover new truths of religion as we\ngo on? Yea and nay. In the first place we cannot know anything more\nof religion, it has all been known. In all the religions of the world\nyou will find it claimed that there is a unity within us. Being one\nwith divinity, there cannot be any further progress in that sense.\nKnowledge means finding this unity. I see you as men and women, and\nthis is variety. It becomes scientific knowledge when I group you\ntogether and call you human beings. Take the science of chemistry, for\ninstance. Chemists are seeking to resolve all known substances into\ntheir original elements and if possible to find the one element from\nwhich all these were derived. The time may come when they will find one\nelement that is the source of all other elements. Reaching that, they\ncan go no farther; the science of chemistry will have become perfect.\nSo it is with the science of religion. If we can discover this perfect\nunity, there cannot be any farther progress.\n\nThe next question is can such a unity be found? In India the attempt\nhas been made from the earliest times to reach a science of religion\nand philosophy, for the Hindus do not separate these as is customary in\nWestern countries. We regard religion and philosophy as but two aspects\nof one thing which must equally be grounded in reason and scientific\ntruth. In the lectures that are to follow I shall try to explain to\nyou first the system of the _S\u00e2nkhya_ philosophy, one of the most\nancient in India, or in fact in the world. Its great exponent Kapila\nis the father of all Hindu psychology and the ancient system that he\ntaught is still the foundation of all accepted systems of philosophy in\nIndia to-day,--which are known as the _D\u00e2rsanas_. They all adopt his\npsychology, however widely they differ in other respects.\n\nNext I shall endeavor to show you how Ved\u00e2nta, as the logical outcome\nof the _S\u00e2nkhya_, pushes its conclusions yet farther. While its\ncosmology agrees with that taught by Kapila, the Ved\u00e2nta is not\nsatisfied to end in dualism, but continues its search for the final\nunity which is alike the goal of science and religion. To make clear\nthe manner in which the task is accomplished will be the effort of the\nlater lectures in this course.\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE S\u00c2NKHYA COSMOLOGY\n\n\nHere are two words, the microcosm and the macrocosm, the internal and\nthe external. We get truths from both of these by means of experience;\nthere is internal experience and external experience. The truths\ngathered from internal experience are psychology, metaphysics and\nreligion; from external experience the physical sciences. Now a perfect\ntruth should be in harmony with experience in both these worlds. The\nmicrocosm must bear testimony to the macrocosm, and the macrocosm\nto the microcosm; physical truth must have its counterpart in the\ninternal world, and the internal world must have its verification in\nthe outside. Yet as a rule we find that many of these truths are\nconstantly conflicting. At one period of the world\u2019s history the\n\u201cinternals\u201d became supreme, and they began to fight the \u201cexternals;\u201d\nat the present time the \u201cexternals,\u201d the physicists, have become\nsupreme, and they have put down many claims of the psychologists and\nmetaphysicians. So far as my little knowledge goes, I find that the\nreally essential parts of psychology are in perfect accordance with the\nessential parts of modern physical knowledge.\n\nIt is not given to every individual to be great in every respect; it\nis not given to the same race, or nation, to be equally strong in the\nresearch of all the fields of knowledge. The modern European nations\nare very strong in their researches into external physical knowledge,\nbut the ancient Europeans were weak in their researches into the\ninternal part of man. On the other hand, the Orientals have not been\nvery strong in their researches in the external physical world, but\nhave excelled in their researches into the internal, and therefore\nwe find that some of the Oriental theories are not in accordance with\nOccidental physics, neither is Occidental psychology in harmony with\nOriental teachings on this subject. The Oriental physicists have been\ncriticised by Occidental scientists. At the same time each rests on\ntruth, and, as we stated before, real truth in any field of knowledge\nwill not contradict itself, the truths internal are in harmony with the\ntruths external.\n\nWe know the present theories of the Cosmos according to the modern\nastronomers and physicists, and at the same time we know how wofully\nthey hurt the old school of theologians, and how every new scientific\ndiscovery that is made is as a bomb thrown into their house, and how\nthey have attempted in every age to put down all these researches.\nIn the first place, let us go over the psychological and scientific\nideas of the Orientals as to cosmology and all that pertains to it,\nand you will find how wonderfully it is in accordance with all the\nlatest discoveries of modern science, and when there is anything\nlacking you will find that it is on the side of modern science. We\nall use the word Nature, and the old Hindu philosophers called it\nby two different names, _Prakriti_, which is almost the same as the\nEnglish word \u201cnature,\u201d and by the more scientific name, _Avyaktam_\n(\u201cundifferentiated\u201d), from which everything proceeds, out of which come\natoms and molecules, matter and force, and mind and intellect. It is\nstartling to find that the philosophers and metaphysicians of India\nages ago stated that mind is but matter in a finer form, for what are\nour present materialists striving to do but to show that mind is as\nmuch a product of nature as the body? And so is thought; and we shall\nfind by and by that the intellect also comes from the same nature which\nis called _avyaktam_, the undifferentiated.\n\nThe ancient teachers define _avyaktam_ as the \u201cequilibrium of the\nthree forces,\u201d one of which is called _Sattva_, the second _Rajas_ and\nthe third _Tamas_. _Tamas_, the lowest force, is that of attraction,\na little higher is _Rajas_, that of repulsion, and the highest is\nthe control of these two, _Sattva_, so that when the two forces,\nattraction and repulsion, are held in perfect control, or balance, by\nthe _Sattva_, there is no creation, no movement; but as soon as this\nequilibrium is lost, the balance is disturbed and one of these forces\ngets stronger than the other. Then change and motion begin and all\nthis evolution goes on. This state of things is going on cyclically,\nperiodically; that is to say, there is a period of disturbance of the\nbalance, when all these forces begin to combine and recombine, and this\nuniverse is projected; and there is also a period when everything has\na tendency to revert to the primal state of equilibrium, and the time\ncomes when a total absence of all manifestation is reached. Again,\nafter a period, the whole thing is disturbed, projected outward,\nagain it slowly comes out in the form of waves; for all motion in this\nuniverse is in the form of waves, successive rise and fall.\n\nSome of these old philosophers taught that the whole universe quiets\ndown for a period; others maintained that this quieting down applies\nonly to systems. That is to say, that while our system here, this\nsolar system, will quiet down and go back into that undifferentiated\nstate, there are millions of other systems going the other way. I\nshould rather follow the second opinion, that this quieting down is\nnot simultaneous over the whole universe, but that in different parts\ndifferent things are going on. But the principle remains the same,\nthat all that we see, that Nature herself is progressing in successive\nrises and falls. The one stage, going back to the balance, to the\nperfect equilibrium, is called the end of a cycle. The whole _Kalpa_,\nthe evolution and the involution, has been compared by theistic writers\nin India to the inbreathing and outbreathing of God; God, as it were,\nbreathes out the universe, and it returns into Him again. When it\nquiets down, what becomes of the universe? It still exists, only in\nfiner form, as it is called in Sanskrit, in the \u201ccausal state\u201d (_K\u00e2rana\nSarira_). Causation, time and space are still there, only they are\npotential. This return to an undifferentiated condition constitutes\ninvolution. Involution and evolution are eternally going on, so that\nwhen we speak of a beginning, we refer only to the beginning of a cycle.\n\nThe most extraneous part of the universe is what in modern times\nwe call gross matter. The ancient Hindus called it the _Bhutas_,\nthe external elements. There is one element which according to them\nis eternal; every other element is produced out of this one, and\nthis eternal element is called _\u00c2k\u00e2sa_. It is somewhat similar to\nthe modern idea of ether, though not exactly the same. This is the\nprimal element out of which everything proceeds, and along with this\nelement there was something called _Pr\u00e2na_: we shall see what it is\nas we go on. This _pr\u00e2na_ and this _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_ eternally exist, and they\ncombine and recombine and form all manifestation. Then at the end\nof the cycle everything subsides and goes back to the unmanifested\nform of _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_ and _pr\u00e2na_. There is in the Rig Veda, the oldest\nscriptures in existence, a beautiful passage describing creation, and\nit is most poetical--\u201cWhen there was neither ought nor nought, when\ndarkness was rolling over darkness, what existed?\u201d and the answer is\ngiven, \u201cIt (the Eternal One) then existed without motion.\u201d _Pr\u00e2na_ and\n_\u00e2k\u00e2sa_ were latent in that Eternal One, but there was no phenomenal\nmanifestation. This state is called _Avyaktam_, which literally means\n\u201cwithout vibration,\u201d or unmanifested. At the beginning of a new cycle\nof evolution, this _avyaktam_ begins to vibrate and blow after blow\nis given by _pr\u00e2na_ to the _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_. This causes condensation and\ngradually, through the forces of attraction and repulsion, atoms are\nformed. These in turn condense into molecules and finally into the\ndifferent elements of Nature.\n\nWe generally find these things very curiously translated; people do\nnot go to the ancient philosophers or to their commentators for their\ntranslation and have not learning enough to understand for themselves.\nThey translate the elements as \u201cair,\u201d \u201cfire,\u201d and so on. If they would\ngo to the commentators they would find that they do not mean anything\nof the sort. The _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_, made to vibrate by the repeated blows of\n_pr\u00e2na_, produces _v\u00e2yu_ or the vibratory state of the _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_, which\nin turn produces gaseous matter. The vibrations growing more and more\nrapid generate heat, which in Sanskrit is called _tejas_. Gradually it\nis cooled off and the gaseous substance becomes solid, _prithivi_. We\nhad first _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_, then came heat, then it became liquified, and when\nstill more condensed appeared as solid matter. It goes back to the\nunmanifested condition in exactly the reverse way. The solids will be\nconverted into liquid and the liquid into a mass of heat, that will\nslowly go back into the gaseous state, disintegration of atoms will\nbegin, finally equilibrium of all forces will be reached, vibration\nwill stop and the cycle of evolution which in Sanskrit is called\n_Kalpa_ is at an end. We know from modern astronomy that this earth and\nsun of ours are undergoing the same transitions, this solid earth will\nmelt down and become liquid once more, and will eventually go back to\nthe gaseous state.\n\n_Pr\u00e2na_ cannot work alone without the help of _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_. All that we\nknow is that motion or vibration and every movement that we see is a\nmodification of this _pr\u00e2na_, and everything that we know in the form\nof matter, either as form or as resistance, is a modification of this\n_\u00e2k\u00e2sa_. This _pr\u00e2na_ cannot exist alone, or act without a medium, but\nin every state of it, whether as pure _pr\u00e2na_, or when it changes into\nother forces of nature, say gravitation or centrifugal attraction, it\ncan never be separate from _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_. You have never seen force without\nmatter or matter without force; what we call force and matter being\nsimply the gross manifestations of these same things, which, when\nsuperfine, we call _pr\u00e2na_ and _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_. _Pr\u00e2na_ you can call in English\nthe life, or vital energy, but you must not restrict it to the life\nof man, nor should you identify it with the spirit, _\u00c2tman_. Creation\nis without beginning and without end; it cannot have either, it is an\neternal on-going.\n\nThe next question that comes is rather a fine one. Some European\nphilosophers have asserted that this world exists because \u201cI\u201d exist,\nand if \u201cI\u201d do not exist, the world will not exist. Sometimes it is\nexpressed in this way; they say, if all the people in the world were to\ndie, and there were no more human beings, and no animals with powers of\nperception and intelligence, all manifestations would disappear. It\nseems paradoxical, but gradually we shall see clearly that this can be\nproved. But these European philosophers do not know the psychology of\nit, although they know the principle; modern philosophy has got only a\nglimpse of it.\n\nFirst we will take another proposition of these old psychologists which\nis rather startling, that the grossest elements are the _bhutas_, but\nthat all gross things are the results of fine ones. Everything that is\ngross is composed of a combination of minute things, so the _bhutas_\nmust be composed of certain fine particles, called in Sanskrit the\n_tanm\u00e2tras_. I smell a flower; to smell that, something must come in\ncontact with my nose; the flower is there and I do not see it move\ntowards me; but without something coming in contact with my nose I\ncannot smell the flower. That which comes from the flower and into\ncontact with my nose are the _tanm\u00e2tras_, fine molecules of that\nflower, so fine that no diminution can be perceived in the flower.\nSo with heat, light, sight, and everything. These _tanm\u00e2tras_ can\nagain be subdivided into atoms. Different philosophers have different\ntheories, and we know these are only theories, so we leave them out\nof discussion. Sufficient for us that everything gross is composed of\nthings that are very, very minute. We first get the gross elements,\nwhich we feel externally, and composing them are the fine elements,\nwhich our organs touch, which come in contact with the nerves of the\nnose, eyes and ears. That ethereal wave which touches my eyes, I cannot\nsee, yet I know it must come in contact with my optic nerve before I\ncan see the light. So with hearing, we can never see the particles that\ncome in contact with our ears, but we know that they must be there.\nWhat is the cause of these _tanm\u00e2tras_? A very startling and curious\nanswer is given by our psychologists,--self-consciousness. That is the\ncause of these fine materials, and the cause of the organs. What are\nthese organs? Here is first the eye, but the eye does not see. If the\neyes did see, when a man is dead, and his eyes are still perfect, they\nwould still be able to see. There is some change somewhere; something\nhas gone out of the man, and that something, which really sees, of\nwhich the eye is the instrument, is called the organ. So this nose\nis an instrument, and there is an organ corresponding to it. Modern\nphysiology can tell you what that is, a nerve centre in the brain. The\neyes, ears, etc., are simply the external instruments. It may be said\nthat the organs, _Indriyas_, as they are called in Sanskrit, are the\nreal seats of perception.\n\nWhat is the use of having one organ for the nose, and one for the eyes,\nand so on? Why will not one serve the purpose? To make it clear to\nyou,--I am talking, and you are listening, and you do not see what is\ngoing on around you because the mind has attached itself to the organ\nof hearing, and has detached itself from the sight organ. If there were\nonly one organ the mind would hear and see at the same time, it would\nsee and hear and smell at the same time, and it would be impossible\nfor it not to do all three at the same time. Therefore it is necessary\nthat there should be separate organs for all these centres. This has\nbeen borne out by modern physiology. It is certainly possible for us to\nsee and hear at the same time, but that is because the mind attaches\nitself partially to both centres, which are the organs. What are the\ninstruments? We see that these are really made of the gross materials.\nHere they are,--eyes, nose, and ears, etc. What are the organs? They\nare also made of materials, because they are centres. Just as this body\nis composed of gross material for transforming _pr\u00e2na_ into different\ngross forces, so these finer organs behind, are composed of the fine\nelements, for the manufacture of _pr\u00e2na_ into the finer forces of\nperception and all kindred things. All these organs or _indriyas_\ncombined, plus the internal instrument or _antahkarana_, are called\nthe finer body of man,--the _linga_ (or _s\u00fbkshma_) _sarira_.\n\nIt has a real form, because everything material must have a form.\nBehind the _indriyas_ is what is called the _manas_, the _chitta_ in\n_vritti_, what might be called the vibratory state of the mind, the\nunsettled state. If you throw a stone into a calm lake, first there\nwill be vibration, and then resistance. For a moment the water will\nvibrate and then it will react on the stone. So, when any impression\ncomes on the _chitta_, or \u201cmind stuff,\u201d it vibrates a little. This\nstate of the mind is called the _manas_. Then comes the reaction, the\nwill. There is another thing behind this will which accompanies all\nthe acts of the mind, which is called egoism, the _ahamk\u00e2ra_, the\nself-consciousness, which says \u201cI am,\u201d and behind that is what is\ncalled _Buddhi_, the intellect, the highest form of nature\u2019s existence.\nBehind the intellect is the true Self of man, the _Purusha_, the pure,\nthe perfect, who is alone the seer, and for whom is all this change.\nThe Purusha is looking on at all these changes; he himself is never\nimpure; but by implication, what the Vedantists call _adhy\u00e2sam_, by\nreflection, he appears to be impure. It is like a red flower held\nbefore a piece of crystal; the crystal will look red; or a blue\nflower and the crystal will look blue; and yet the crystal itself\nis colorless. We will take for granted that there are many selves;\neach self is pure and perfect, but it is all these various divisions\nof gross matter and fine matter that are imposing on the self, and\nmaking it variously colored. Why is nature doing all this? Nature is\nundergoing all these changes for the improvement of the soul; all this\ncreation is for the benefit of the soul, so that it may be free. This\nimmense book which we call the universe is stretched before man so that\nhe may read, and come out, as an omniscient and omnipotent being. I\nmust here tell you that some of our best psychologists do not believe\nin a personal God in the sense in which you believe in Him. The real\nfather of our psychologists, Kapila, denies the existence of God as a\nCreator. His idea is that a personal God is quite unnecessary; Nature\nitself is sufficient to work out all that is good. What is called the\n\u201cDesign\u201d theory he repudiated, and said a more childish theory was\nnever advanced. But he admits a peculiar kind of God; he says we are\nall struggling to get free, and when man becomes free he can, as it\nwere, melt away into Nature for the time being, only to come out at the\nbeginning of the next cycle and be its ruler; come out an omniscient\nand omnipotent being. In that sense he can be called God; you and I and\nthe humblest beings will be gods in different cycles. Kapila says such\na God will be temporal, but an eternal God, eternally omnipotent and\neternally ruler of the universe, cannot be. If there were such a God,\nthere would be this difficulty: he must either be bound or free. A God\nwho is perfectly free would not create; there would be no necessity.\nIf he were bound, he would not create because he could not, he would\nbe weak himself. So, in either case, there cannot be an omnipotent or\nomniscient eternal ruler. So wherever the word God is mentioned in our\nScriptures, Kapila says it means those perfected souls who have become\nfree. The _S\u00e2nkhya_ system does not believe in the unity of all souls.\nVed\u00e2nta believes that all individual souls are united in one cosmic\nBeing called _Brahman_, but Kapila, the founder of the _S\u00e2nkhya_, was\ndualistic. His analysis of the universe so far as it goes is really\nmarvellous. He was the father of Hindu evolutionists, and all the later\nphilosophical systems are simply outcomes of his thought.\n\nAccording to this system all souls will regain their freedom and\ntheir natural rights, which are omnipotence and omniscience. Here\nthe question may be asked, whence is this bondage of the souls? The\n_S\u00e2nkhya_ says it is without beginning, but if it be without beginning\nit must also be without end, and we shall never be free. Kapila\nexplains that this \u201cwithout beginning\u201d means not in a constant line.\nNature is without beginning and without end, but not in the same sense\nas is the soul, because Nature has no individuality, just as a river\nflowing by us is every moment getting a fresh body of water, and the\nsum total of all these bodies of water is the river, so the river is\nnot a constant quantity. Similarly everything in Nature is constantly\nchanging, but the soul never changes. Therefore as Nature is always\nchanging, it is possible for the soul to come out of its bondage. One\ntheory of the _S\u00e2nkhya_ is peculiar to this psychology. The whole\nof the universe is built upon the same plan as one single man, or\none little being; so, just as I have a mind, there is also a cosmic\nmind. When this macrocosm evolves there must be first intelligence,\nthen egoism, then the _tanm\u00e2tras_ and the organs, and then the gross\nelements. The whole universe according to Kapila is one body, all that\nwe see are the grosser bodies, and behind these are the finer bodies,\nand behind them, a universal egoism, and behind that a universal\nIntelligence, but all this is _in_ Nature, all this is manifestation\nof Nature, not outside of Nature. Each one of us is a part of that\ncosmic consciousness. There is a sum-total of intelligence out of\nwhich we draw what we require, so there is a sum-total of mental force\nin the universe out of which we are drawing eternally, but the seed\nfor the body must come from the parents. The theory includes heredity\nand reincarnation too. The material is given to the soul out of which\nto manufacture a body, but that material is given by hereditary\ntransmission from the parents.\n\nWe come now to that proposition that in this process there is an\ninvolution and an evolution. All is evolved out of that indiscreet\nNature; and then is involved again and becomes _Avyaktam_. It is\nimpossible, according to the _S\u00e2nkhyas_, for any material thing to\nexist, which has not as its material some portion of consciousness.\nConsciousness is the material out of which all manifestation is made.\nThe elucidation of this comes in our next lecture, but I will show how\nit can be proved. I do not know this table as it is, but it makes an\nimpression; it comes to the eyes, then to the _indriyas_, and then to\nthe mind; the mind then reacts, and that reaction is what I call the\ntable. It is just the same as throwing a stone into a lake; the lake\nthrows a wave against the stone; this wave is what we know. The waves\ncoming out are all we know. In the same way the fashion of this wall\nis in my mind; what is external nobody knows; when I want to know it,\nit has to become that material which I furnish; I, with my own mind,\nhave furnished the material for my eyes, and the something which is\noutside is only the occasion, the suggestion, and upon that suggestion\nI project my mind, and it takes the form of what I see. The question\nis, how do we all see the same things? Because we all have a part of\nthis cosmic mind. Those who have mind will see the thing, and those who\nhave not will not see it. This goes to show that since this universe\nhas existed there has never been a want of mind, of that one cosmic\nmind. Every human being, every animal, is also furnished out of that\ncosmic mind, because it is always present and furnishing material for\ntheir formation.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nPRAKRITI AND PURUSHA\n\n\nWe will take up the categories we have been discussing and come to the\nparticulars. If we remember we started with _Prakriti_, or Nature.\nThis Nature is called by the _S\u00e2nkhya_ philosophers indiscrete or\ninseparate, which is defined as perfect balance of the materials in it;\nand it naturally follows that in perfect balance there cannot be any\nmotion. All that we see, feel, and hear is simply a compound of motion\nand matter. In the primal state, before this manifestation, where there\nwas no motion, perfect balance, this _Prakriti_ was indestructible,\nbecause decomposition comes only with limitation. Again, according to\nthe _S\u00e2nkhya_, atoms are not the primal state. This universe does not\ncome out of atoms, they may be the secondary, or tertiary state. The\noriginal matter may compound into atoms, which in turn compound into\ngreater and greater things, and as far as modern investigations go,\nthey rather point towards that. For instance, in the modern theory\nof ether, if you say ether is also atomic, that will not solve the\nproposition at all. To make it clearer, say that air is composed\nof atoms, and we know that ether is everywhere, interpenetrating,\nomnipresent, and these atoms are floating, as it were, in ether. If\nether again be composed of atoms, there will still be some space\nbetween two atoms of ether. What fills up that? And again there will\nbe another space between the atoms of that which fills up this space.\nIf you propose that there is another ether still finer you must still\nhave something to fill that space, and so it will be _regressus in\ninfinitum_, what the _S\u00e2nkhya_ philosophers call _anavasth\u00e2_,--never\nreaching a final conclusion. So the atomic theory cannot be final.\nAccording to the _S\u00e2nkhyas_ this Nature is omnipresent, one omnipresent\nmass of Nature in which are the causes of everything that exists. What\nis meant by cause? Cause is the more subtle state of the manifested\nstate, the unmanifested state of that which becomes manifested.\nWhat do you mean by destruction? It is reverting to the cause,--the\nmaterials out of which a body is composed go back into their original\nstate. Beyond this idea of destruction, any idea such as annihilation,\nis on the face of it absurd. According to modern physical sciences,\nit can be demonstrated that all destruction means that which Kapila\ncalled ages ago \u201creverting to the causal state.\u201d Going back to the\nfiner form is all that is meant by destruction. You know how it can\nbe demonstrated in a laboratory that matter is indestructible. Those\nof you who have studied chemistry will know that if you burn a candle\nand put a caustic pencil inside a glass tube beneath the candle,\nwhen the candle has burned away, if you take the caustic pencil out\nof the tube and weigh it, you will find that the pencil will weigh\nexactly its previous weight, plus the weight of the candle,--the candle\nbecame finer and finer, and went on to the caustic. So that in this\npresent stage of our knowledge, if any man claims that anything becomes\nannihilated, he is only making himself absurd. It is only uneducated\npeople who would advance such a proposition, and it is curious that\nmodern knowledge coincides with what those old philosophers taught. The\nancients proceeded in their inquiry by taking up mind as the basis;\nthey analyzed the mental part of this universe and came to certain\nconclusions, while modern science is analyzing the physical part, and\nit also comes to the same conclusions. Both analyses must lead to the\nsame truth.\n\nYou must remember that the first manifestation of this _Prakriti_ in\nthe cosmos is what the _S\u00e2nkhyas_ called _Mahat_. We may call it\nuniversal intelligence, the great principle; that is the literal\nmeaning. The first manifestation of _Prakriti_ is this intelligence;\nI would not translate it by self-consciousness, because that would\nbe wrong. Consciousness is only a part of this intelligence,\nwhich is universal. It covers all the grounds of consciousness,\nsub-consciousness and super-consciousness. In Nature, for instance,\ncertain changes are going on before your eyes which you see and\nunderstand, but there are other changes so much finer that no human\nperception can catch them. They are from the same cause, the same\n_Mahat_ is making these changes. There are other changes, beyond\nthe reach of our mind or reasoning, all this series of changes is\nin this _Mahat_. You will understand it better when I come to the\nindividual. Out of this _Mahat_ comes the universal egoism, and these\nare both material. There is no difference between matter and mind\nsave in degree. It is the same substance in finer or grosser form;\none changes into the other, and this will exactly coincide with the\nmodern physiological research, and it will save you from a great deal\nof fighting and struggling to believe that you have a mind separate\nfrom the brain, and all such impossible things. This substance called\n_Mahat_ changes into the material egoism, the fine state of matter,\nand that egoism changes into two varieties. In one variety it changes\ninto the organs. Organs are of two kinds--organs of sensation and\norgans of reaction. They are not the eyes or nose, but something finer,\nwhat you call brain centres, and nerve centres. This egoism becomes\nchanged, and out of this material are manufactured these centres and\nthese nerves. Out of the same substance, the egoism, is manufactured a\nyet finer form, the _tanm\u00e2tras_, fine particles of matter, those for\ninstance which strike your nose and cause you to smell. You cannot\nperceive these fine particles, you can only know that they are there.\nThese _tanm\u00e2tras_ are manufactured out of that egoism, and out of\nthese _tanm\u00e2tras_, or subtle matter, is manufactured the gross matter,\nair, water, earth, and all the things that we see and feel. I want\nto impress this on your mind. It is very hard to grasp it, because,\nin Western countries, the ideas are so queer about mind and matter.\nIt is hard to take these impressions out of our brains. I myself had\na tremendous difficulty, being educated in Western philosophy in\nmy childhood. These are all cosmic things. Think of this universal\nextension of matter, unbroken, one substance, undifferentiated, which\nis the first state of everything, and which begins to change just as\nmilk becomes curd, and it is changed into another substance called\n_Mahat_, which in one state manifests as intelligence and in another\nstate as egoism. It is the same substance, and it changes into the\ngrosser matter called egoism; thus is the whole universe itself\nbuilt, as it were, layer after layer; first undifferentiated Nature\n(_Avyaktam_), and that changes into universal intelligence (_Mahat_),\nand that again is changed into universal egoism (_Ahamk\u00e2ra_), and\nthat changes into universal sensible matter. That matter changes into\nuniversal sense-organs, again changes into universal fine particles,\nand these in turn combine and become this gross universe. This is the\ncosmic plan, according to the _S\u00e2nkhyas_, and what is in the cosmos or\nmacrocosm, must be in the individual or microcosm.\n\nTake an individual man. He has first a part of undifferentiated\nnature in him, and that material nature in him becomes changed into\n_mahat_, a small particle of the universal intelligence, and that\nsmall particle of the universal intelligence in him becomes changed\ninto egoism--a particle of the universal egoism. This egoism in turn\nbecomes changed into the sense-organs, and out of these sense-organs\ncome the _tanm\u00e2tras_, and out of them he combines and manufactures his\nworld, as a body. I want this to be clear, because it is the first\nstepping stone to Ved\u00e2nta, and it is absolutely necessary for you to\nknow, because this is the philosophy of the whole world. There is no\nphilosophy in the world that is not indebted to Kapila, the founder\nof this _S\u00e2nkhya_ system. Pythagoras came to India and studied his\nphilosophy and carried some of these ideas to the Greeks. Later it\nformed the Alexandrian school, and still later formed the basis of\nGnostic philosophy. It became divided into two parts; one went to\nEurope and Alexandria, and the other remained in India, and became the\nbasis of all Hindu philosophy, for out of it the system of Vy\u00e2sa was\ndeveloped. This was the first rational system that the world saw, this\nsystem of Kapila. Every metaphysician in the world must pay homage\nto him. I want to impress on your mind that as the great father of\nphilosophy, we are bound to listen to him, and respect what he said.\nThis wonderful man, most ancient of philosophers, is mentioned even\nin the Vedas. How wonderful his perceptions were! If there is any\nproof required of the power of the Yogis to perceive things beyond the\nrange of the ordinary senses, such men are the proofs. How could they\nperceive them? They had no microscopes, or telescopes. How fine their\nperception was, how perfect their analysis and how wonderful!\n\nTo revert again to the microcosm, man. As we have seen, he is\nbuilt on exactly the same plan. First the nature is \u201cindiscrete\u201d\nor perfectly balanced, then it becomes disturbed, and action sets\nin and the first change produced by that action is what is called\n_mahat_,--intelligence. Now you see this intelligence in man is just\na particle of the cosmic intelligence,--the _Mahat_. Out of it comes\nself-consciousness, and from this the sensory and the motor nerves,\nand the finer particles out of which the gross body is manufactured.\nI will here remark that there is one difference between Schopenhauer\nand Ved\u00e2nta. Schopenhauer says the desire, or will, is the cause of\neverything. It is the will to exist that makes us manifest, but the\nAdvaitists deny this. They say it is the intelligence. There cannot be\na single particle of will which is not a reaction. So many things are\nbeyond will. It is only a manufactured something out of the ego, and\nthe ego is a product of something still higher, the intelligence, and\nthat is a modification of \u201cindiscrete\u201d Nature, or _Prakriti_.\n\nIt is very important to understand this _mahat_ in man,--the\nintelligence. This intelligence itself is modified into what we call\negoism, and this intelligence is the cause of all these motions in the\nbody. This covers all the grounds of sub-consciousness, consciousness\nand super-consciousness. What are these three states? The sub-conscious\nstate we find in animals, what we call instinct. This is nearly\ninfallible, but very limited. Instinct almost never fails. An animal\ninstinctively knows a poisonous herb from an edible one, but its\ninstinct is limited to one or two things; it works like a machine. Then\ncomes the higher state of knowledge, which is fallible, makes mistakes\noften, but has a larger scope, although it is slow, and this you call\nreason. It is much larger than instinct, but there are more dangers of\nmistake in reasoning than in instinct. There is a still higher state\nof the mind, the super-conscious, which belongs only to the Yogis,\nmen who have cultivated it. This is as infallible as instinct, and\nstill more unlimited than reason. It is the highest state. We must\nremember that in man this _mahat_ is the real cause of all that is\nhere, that which is manifesting itself in various ways, covers the\nwhole ground of sub-conscious, conscious and super-conscious states,\nthe three states in which knowledge exists. So in the Cosmos, this\nuniversal Intelligence, _Mahat_, exists as instinct, as reason, and as\nsuper-reason.\n\nNow comes a delicate question, which is always being asked. If a\nperfect God created the universe, why is there imperfection in it?\nWhat we call the universe is what we see, and that is only this little\nplane of consciousness or reason, and beyond that we do not see at all.\nNow the very question is an impossible one. If I take up only a bit\nout of a mass and look at it, it seems to be imperfect. Naturally. The\nuniverse seems imperfect because we make it so. How? What is reason?\nWhat is knowledge? Knowledge is finding associations. You go into the\nstreet and see a man, and know it is a man. You have seen many men, and\neach one has made an impression on your mind, and when you now see this\nman, you calmly refer to your store of impressions, see many pictures\nof men there, and you put this new one with the rest, pigeon-hole it\nand are satisfied. When a new impression comes and it has associations\nin your mind, you are satisfied, and this state of association is\ncalled knowledge. Knowledge is, therefore, pigeon-holing one experience\nwith the already existing fund of experience, and this is one of the\ngreat proofs that you cannot have any knowledge until you have already\na fund in existence. If you are without experience, or if, as some\nEuropean philosophers think, the mind is a _tabula rasa_, it cannot get\nany knowledge, because the very fact of knowledge is the recognition\nof the new by comparison with already existing impressions. There must\nbe a store ready to which to refer a new impression. Suppose a child\nis born into this world without such a fund, it would be impossible\nfor him to get any knowledge. Therefore the child must have been in a\nstate in which he had a fund, and so knowledge is eternally going on.\nShow me any way of getting out of this. It is mathematical experience.\nThis is very much like the Spencerian and other philosophies. They\nhave seen so far that there cannot be any knowledge without a fund of\npast knowledge. They have drawn out the idea that the child is born\nwith knowledge. They say that the cause has entered the effect. It\ncomes in a subtle form in order to be developed. These philosophers say\nthat these impressions with which the child comes, are not from the\nchild\u2019s own past, but were in his forefathers\u2019; that it is hereditary\ntransmission. Very soon they are going to find this theory untenable,\nand some of them are now giving hard blows to these ideas of heredity.\nHeredity is very good, but incomplete. It only explains the physical\nside. How do you explain the influence of environment? Many causes\nproduce one effect. Environment is one of the modifying causes. On the\nother hand we in turn make our own environment, because as our past\nwas, so we find our present. In other words, we are what we are here\nand now, because of what we have been in the past.\n\nYou understand what is meant by knowledge. Knowledge is pigeon-holing\na new impression with old impressions--recognizing a new impression.\nWhat is meant by recognition? Finding its association with the\nsimilar impressions that we already have. Nothing further is meant by\nknowledge. If that be the case, it must be that we have to see the\nwhole series of similars. Is it not? Suppose you take a pebble; to find\nthe association, you have to see the whole series of pebbles similar to\nit. But with the universe we cannot do that, because in our reasoning\nwe can only go after one perception of our universe, and neither see on\nthis side nor on that side, and we cannot refer it to its association.\nTherefore the universe seems unintelligible, because knowledge and\nreason are always finding associations. This bit of the universe cut\noff by our consciousness is a startling new thing, and we have not been\nable to find its associations. Therefore we are struggling with it, and\nthinking it is so horrible, so wicked, and bad;--sometimes we think it\nis good, but generally we think it is imperfect. The universe will be\nknown only when we find the associations. We shall recognize them when\nwe go beyond the universe and consciousness, and then the universe will\nstand explained. Until we do that all our fruitless striving will never\nexplain the universe, because knowledge is the finding of similars,\nand this conscious plane gives us only a partial view. So with our\nidea of the universal _Mahat_, or what in our ordinary everyday\nlanguage we call God. All that we have of God is only one perception,\njust as of the universe we see only one portion, and all the rest is\ncut off and covered by our human limitation. \u201cI, the Universal, so\ngreat am I that even this universe is a part of me.\u201d That is why we\nsee God as imperfect, and we can never understand Him, because it is\nimpossible. The only way to understand is to go beyond reason, beyond\nconsciousness. \u201cWhen thou goest beyond the heard and hearing, the\nthought and thinking, then alone wilt thou come to truth.\u201d (Bhagavad\nGita II. 52.) \u201cGo thou beyond the Scriptures, because they teach only\nup to Nature, up to the three qualities.\u201d (Gita II. 45.) When we go\nbeyond them we find the harmony, not before.\n\nSo far it is clear that this macrocosm and microcosm are built on\nexactly the same plan, and in this microcosm we know only one very\nsmall part. We know neither the sub-conscious, nor the super-conscious.\nWe know only the conscious. If a man says \u201cI am a sinner,\u201d he is\nfoolish, because he does not know himself. He is the most ignorant\nof men about himself; one part only he knows, because the fact of\nknowledge covers only one part of the \u201cmind-ground\u201d he is in. So with\nthis universe; it is possible to know only one part through reasoning,\nbut Nature comprises the whole of it, the sub-conscious, the conscious\nand the super-conscious, the individual _mahat_ and the universal\n_Mahat_ with all their subsequent modifications, and these lie beyond\nreason.\n\nWhat makes nature change? We see that Up to this point everything,\nall _Prakriti_, is _jad\u00e2_ (insentient). It is working under law; it\nis all compound and insentient. Mind, intelligence, and will, all are\ninsentient. But they are all reflecting the sentiency, the _Chit_\n(Intelligence) of some Being who is beyond all this, and whom the\nS\u00e2nkhya philosophers call _Purusha_. This _Purusha_ is the unwitting\ncause of all these changes in Nature--in the universe. That is to\nsay, this _Purusha_, taking Him in the universal sense, is the God\nof the universe. It is claimed that the will of the Lord created the\nuniverse. This is very good as a common daily expression, but that is\nall. How could it be will? Will is the third or fourth manifestation\nin Nature. Many things exist before it, and what created _them_? Will\nis a compound, and everything that is a compound is a production out\nof Nature. Will itself cannot create Nature. It is not a simple. So\nto say that the will of the Lord created the universe is illogical.\nOur will only covers a little portion of self-consciousness, and moves\nour brain, they say. If it did you could stop the action of the brain,\nbut you cannot. It is not the will. Who moves the heart? It is not\nthe will, because if it were you could stop it or not at your will.\nIt is neither will that is working your body, nor that is working\nthe universe. But it is something of which will itself is one of the\nmanifestations. This body is being moved by the power of which will is\nonly a manifestation in one part. So in the universe there is will,\nbut that is only one part of the universe. The whole of the universe\nis not guided by will, that is why we do not find the explanation in\nwill. Suppose I take it for granted that the will is moving the body,\nand then I begin to fret and fume. It is my fault, because I had no\nright to take it for granted that it was will. In the same way, if I\ntake the universe and think it is will that moves it and then find\nthings that do not coincide, it is my fault. This _Purusha_ is not\nwill, neither can it be intelligence, because intelligence itself is a\ncompound. There cannot be any intelligence without some sort of matter.\nIn man, this matter takes the form which we call brain. Wherever there\nis intelligence there must be matter in some form or other. But that\nintelligence itself is a compound. What then is this _Purusha_? It\nis neither intelligence nor _buddhi_ (will), but yet it is the cause\nof both these; it is His presence that sets them all vibrating and\ncombining. _Purusha_ may be likened to some of these substances which\nby their mere presence promote chemical reaction, as in the case of\ncyanide of potassium which is added when gold is being smelted. The\ncyanide of potassium remains separate and unaffected, but its presence\nis absolutely necessary to the success of the process. So with the\n_Purusha_. It does not mix with Nature: it is not Intelligence, or\n_Mahat_, or any one of these, but the Self, the Pure, the Perfect. \u201cI\nam the Witness, and through My witnessing, Nature is producing all\nthat is sentient and all that is insentient.\u201d (Gita IX. 10.)\n\nWhat is this sentiency in Nature? The basis of sentiency is in the\n_Purusha_, is the nature of the _Purusha_. It is that which cannot be\nspoken, but which is the material of all that we call knowledge. This\n_Purusha_ is not consciousness, because consciousness is a compound,\nbut whatever is light and goodness in this consciousness belongs to It.\nSentiency is in the _Purusha_, but the _Purusha_ is not intelligent,\nnot knowing, it is knowledge itself. The _Chit_ in the _Purusha_, plus\n_Prakriti_, is what is known to us as intelligence and consciousness.\nWhatever is pleasure and happiness and light in the universe belongs\nto the _Purusha_, but it is a compound because it is that _Purusha_\nplus Nature. \u201cWherever there is any happiness, wherever there is any\nbliss, there is one spark of that immortality, which is _Purusha_.\u201d\nThis _Purusha_ is the great attraction of the universe, untouched by,\nand unconnected with the universe, yet it attracts the whole universe.\nYou see a man going after gold, because therein is a spark of the\n_Purusha_, even though he knows it not. When a man desires children,\nor a woman a husband, what is the attracting power? That spark of\n_Purusha_ behind the child or wife, behind everything. It is there,\nonly overlaid with matter. Nothing else can attract. \u201cIn this world of\ninsentiency that _Purusha_ alone is sentient.\u201d This is the _Purusha_\nof the _S\u00e2nkhyas_. As such it necessarily follows that this _Purusha_\nmust be omnipresent. That which is not omnipresent must be limited.\nAll limitations are caused; that which is caused must have beginning\nand end. If the _Purusha_ is limited it will die, will not be final,\nwill not be free, but will have been caused. Therefore if not limited,\nit is omnipresent. According to Kapila there are many _Purushas_, not\none. An infinite number of them, you are one, I am one, each is one;\nan infinite number of circles, each one infinite, running through this\nuniverse. The _Purusha_ is neither born nor dies. It is neither mind\nnor matter, and the reflex from it is all that we know. We are sure if\nit be omnipresent it knows neither death nor birth. Nature is casting\nher shadow upon it, the shadow of birth and death, but it is by its own\nnature eternal. So far we have found the theory of Kapila wonderful.\n\nNext we will have to take up the proofs against it. So far the\nanalysis is perfect, the psychology cannot be controverted. There is\nno objection to it. We will ask of Kapila the question: Who created\nNature? and his answer will be that Nature (_Prakriti_) is uncreate.\nHe also says that the _Purusha_ is omnipresent and that of these\n_Purushas_ there is an infinite number. We shall have to controvert\nthis last proposition, and find a better solution, and by so doing we\nshall come to the ground taken by Ved\u00e2nta. Our first doubt will be how\nthere can be these two infinites. Then our argument will be that it is\nnot a perfect generalization, and that therefore we have not found a\nperfect solution. And then we shall see how the Vedantists find their\nway out of all these difficulties and reach a perfect solution. Yet all\nthe glory really belongs to Kapila. It is very easy to give a finish to\na building that is nearly complete.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nS\u00c2NKHYA AND ADVAITA\n\n\nI will give you first a _resum\u00e9_ of the _S\u00e2nkhya_ philosophy, through\nwhich we have been going, because in this lecture we want to find where\nits defects are, and where Ved\u00e2nta comes in as supplementary to these\ndefects. You must remember that according to the _S\u00e2nkhya_ philosophy,\nNature is causing all these manifestations which we call thought and\nintellect, reason, love, hatred, touch, taste; that everything is\nfrom Nature. This Nature consists of three sorts of elements, one\ncalled _Sattva_, another _Rajas_, and the third _Tamas_. These are not\nqualities, but the materials out of which the whole universe is being\nevolved, and at the beginning of a cycle they remain in equilibrium.\nWhen creation comes this equilibrium is disturbed and these elements\nbegin to combine and recombine, and manifest as the universe. The\nfirst manifestation of this is what the _S\u00e2nkhya_ calls the _Mahat_\n(universal Intelligence), and out of that comes consciousness. And\nout of consciousness is evolved _Manas_ (universal Mind). Out of this\nconsciousness are also evolved the organs of the senses, and the\n_tanm\u00e2tras_,--sound particles, touch particles, taste particles, and\nso forth. All fine particles are evolved from this consciousness, and\nout of these fine particles come the gross particles which we call\nmatter. After the _tanm\u00e2tras_ (those particles which cannot be seen,\nor measured) come the gross particles which we can feel and sense.\nThe _chitta_ (\u201cmind-stuff\u201d) in its three-fold functions of intellect,\nconsciousness and mind, is working and manufacturing the forces\ncalled _pr\u00e2nas_. These _pr\u00e2nas_ have nothing to do with breath, you\nmust at once get rid of that idea. Breath is one effect of the Pr\u00e2na\n(universal Energy). By these _pr\u00e2nas_ are meant the nervous forces\nthat are governing and moving the whole body, which are manifesting\nthemselves as thought, and as the various functions of the body. The\nforemost and the most obvious manifestation of these _pr\u00e2nas_ is the\nbreathing motion. If it were caused by air, a dead man would breathe.\nThe _pr\u00e2na_ acts upon the air, and not air upon it. These _pr\u00e2nas_ are\nthe vital forces which manipulate the whole body, and they in turn are\nmanipulated by the mind and the _indriyas_ (the two kinds of organs).\nSo far so good. The psychology is very clear and most precise, and\njust think of the age of it, the oldest rational thought in the world!\nWherever there is any philosophy or rational thought, it owes something\nto Kapila. Wherever there is any attempt at psychology, or philosophy,\nthere is some indebtedness to the great father of this thought, to this\nman Kapila.\n\nSo far we see that this psychology is wonderful, but we shall have to\ndiffer with it on some points, as we go on. We find that the principal\nidea on which Kapila works is evolution. He makes one thing evolve out\nof another, because his very definition of causation is \u201cthe effect is\nthe cause reproduced in another form,\u201d and because the whole universe,\nso far as we see it, is progressive and evolving. This whole universe\nmust have evolved out of some material, out of _Prakriti_ or Nature.\nTherefore this Nature cannot be essentially different from its cause,\nonly when it takes form it becomes limited. The material itself is\nwithout form. But according to Kapila, from undifferentiated nature\ndown to the last stage of differentiation, none of these is the same as\n_Purusha_, the \u201cEnjoyer,\u201d or \u201cEnlightener.\u201d Just as a lump of clay, so\nis a mass of mind, or the whole universe. By itself it has no light,\nbut we find reason and intelligence in it, therefore there must be\nsome Existence behind it, behind the whole of Nature, whose light is\npercolating through it and appearing as _Mahat_ and consciousness and\nall these various things, and this Existence is what Kapila calls the\n_Purusha_, the _\u00c2tman_ or Self of the Vedantist. According to Kapila,\nthe _Purusha_ is a _simple_ factor, not a compound. It is immaterial,\nthe only one that is immaterial, whereas all the various manifestations\nare material. The _Purusha_ alone knows. Suppose I see a blackboard,\nfirst the external instruments will bring that sensation to the organ\n(to the _indriya_ according to Kapila), from the organ it will go\nto the mind and make an impression; the mind will cover it up with\nanother factor,--consciousness, and will present it to the _buddhi_\n(intelligence), but _buddhi_ cannot act; it is the _Purusha_ behind\nthat acts. These are all its servants, bringing the sensation to It,\nand It gives the orders, and the _buddhi_ reacts. The _Purusha_ is the\nEnjoyer, the Perceiver, the real One, the King on his throne, the Self\nof man, and It is immaterial. Because It is immaterial, it necessarily\nfollows that It must be infinite, It cannot have any limitation\nwhatever. So each one of these _purushas_ is omnipresent, each is\nall-pervading, but can act only through fine and gross manifestations\nof matter. The mind, the self-consciousness, the organs and the vital\nforces compose what is called the fine body, or what in Christian\nphilosophy is called the \u201cspiritual body\u201d of man. It is this body that\ncomes to reward or punishment, that goes to the different heavens; that\nincarnates and reincarnates; because we see from the very beginning\nthat the going and coming of the soul (_Purusha_) is impossible.\nMotion means going and coming, and that which goes from one place to\nanother cannot be omnipresent. It is this _linga-sarira_ (subtle body)\nwhich comes and goes. Thus far we see from Kapila\u2019s psychology that\nthe soul is infinite, and that the soul is the only principle that\nis not an evolution of Nature. It is the only one that is outside\nof Nature, but It has apparently got bound by Nature. This Nature is\naround the _Purusha_ and It has identified Itself with Nature. It\nthinks \u201cI am the _linga-sarira_,\u201d It thinks \u201cI am the gross matter,\nthe gross body,\u201d and as such is enjoying pleasure and pain; but these\ndo not really belong to the soul, they belong to this _linga-sarira_,\nand to the gross body. When certain nerves are hurt we feel pain. We\nrecognize that immediately. If the nerves in our fingers were dead we\ncould cut the fingers and not feel it. So pleasure and pain belong to\nthe nerve-centres. Suppose my organ of sight is destroyed, I do not\nfeel pleasure or pain from color, although my eyes are there. So it is\nobvious that pleasure and pain do not belong to the soul. They belong\nto the mind and the body.\n\nThe soul has neither pleasure nor pain; it is the Witness of\neverything, the eternal Witness of things that are going on, but it\ntakes no fruits from any work. \u201cAs the sun is the cause of sight in\nevery eye, yet is not itself affected by the defects in any eye; as a\npiece of crystal appears red when red flowers are placed before it,\nso this _Purusha_ appears to be affected by pleasure or pain from the\nreflection cast upon It by Nature, but it remains ever unchanged.\u201d\nThe nearest way to describe Its state is that it is meditation.\nThis meditative state is that in which you approach nearest to the\n_Purusha_. Thus we see why the meditative state is always called the\nhighest state by the _Yogi_, neither a passive nor an active state, but\nthe meditative state. This is the _S\u00e2nkhya_ philosophy.\n\nNext, the _S\u00e2nkhyas_ say that this manifestation of Nature is for the\nsoul, all the combinations are for something outside of Nature. So\nthese combinations which we call Nature, these constant changes are\ngoing on for the enjoyment of the soul, for its liberation, that it\nmay gain all this experience from the lowest to the highest, and when\nit has gained it, the soul finds that it never was in Nature. It was\nentirely separate, and it finds that it is indestructible, that it\nneither goes nor comes, that going to heaven and being born again were\nin Nature and not in the soul. So the soul becomes free. All of Nature\nis working for the enjoyment and experience of the soul. It is getting\nthis experience in order to reach the goal, and that goal is freedom.\nThese souls are many, according to the _S\u00e2nkhya_ philosophy. There is\nan infinite number of souls. And the other conclusion is that there is\nno God, as the Creator of the universe. Nature herself is sufficient to\nproduce all these forms. God is not necessary, say the _S\u00e2nkhyas_.\n\nNow we shall have to contest these three positions of the _S\u00e2nkhyas_.\nFirst that intelligence or anything of that sort does not belong to the\nsoul, but that it belongs entirely to Nature; the soul being simply\nqualitiless, colorless. The second point is that there is no God, but\nVed\u00e2nta will show that without a God there cannot be any explanation\nwhatever. Thirdly, we shall have to contend that there cannot be many\nsouls, that there cannot be an infinite number, that there is only One\nSoul in the universe, and that One is appearing as many.\n\nWe will take the first proposition, that intelligence and reason belong\nentirely to Nature, and not to the soul. The Ved\u00e2nta says that the\nsoul is in its essence Existence-Knowledge-Bliss; but we agree with\nthe _S\u00e2nkhyas_ that all that they call intelligence is a compound. For\ninstance, let us look at our perceptions. We remember that the _chitta_\n(or the \u201cmind-stuff\u201d) is what is combining all these things, and upon\nwhich all these impressions are made, and from which reactions come.\nSuppose there is something outside. I see the blackboard. How does the\nknowledge come? The blackboard itself is unknown, I can never know it.\nIt is what the German philosophers call the \u201cthing in itself.\u201d That\nblackboard, that \u201cX,\u201d is acting on my mind, and the _chitta_ reacts.\nThe _chitta_ is like a lake; throw a stone upon it, and as soon as the\nstone strikes it a reactionary wave comes towards the stone. This wave\nis what you really know. And this wave is not like the stone at all, it\nis a wave. So that blackboard, \u201cX,\u201d is the stone which strikes the mind\nand the mind throws up a wave towards that object which strikes it, and\nthis wave which is thrown towards it is what we call the blackboard.\nI see you. You as reality are unknown and unknowable. You are \u201cX\u201d and\nyou act upon my mind, and the mind throws a wave towards the point\nfrom which the action came, and that wave is what I call Mr. or Mrs.\nSo-and-So.\n\nThere are two elements in this, one from inside and the other from\noutside, and the combination of these two, \u201cX\u201d plus mind, is our\nexternal universe. All knowledge is by reaction. In the case of a\nwhale it has been determined by calculation how long after its tail\nis struck, its mind reacts upon the tail and the tail feels the pain.\nTake the case of the pearl oyster, in which the pearl is formed by the\noyster throwing its own juice around the grain of sand that enters the\nshell and irritates him. There are two things which cause the pearl.\nFirst the oyster\u2019s own juice, and second the blow from outside. So this\ntable is \u201cX\u201d plus my mind. The very attempt to know it will be made by\nthe mind; therefore the mind will give some of its own substance to\nenable it to understand, and when we understand it, it has become a\ncompound thing,--\u201cX\u201d plus the mind. Similarly in internal perception;\nwhen we want to know ourselves. The real Self, which is within us, is\nalso unknown and unknowable. Let us call it \u201cY.\u201d When I want to know\nmyself as Mr. So-and-So it is \u201cY\u201d plus the mind. That \u201cY\u201d strikes a\nblow on the mind, and when I want to know myself I must throw a blow\nupon the mind also. So our whole world is \u201cX\u201d plus mind (the external\nworld), and \u201cY\u201d plus mind (the internal world). We shall see later how\nthis Advaitist idea can be demonstrated mathematically.\n\n\u201cX\u201d and \u201cY\u201d are simply the algebraic unknown quantities. We have seen\nthat all knowledge is a combination, and this world, the universe, is\na combination, and intelligence is similarly a combination. If it is\ninternal intelligence it is \u201cY\u201d plus the mind, if an external object,\nit is \u201cX\u201d plus the mind. Knowledge is a combination of \u201cY\u201d plus the\nmind and matter is a combination of \u201cX\u201d plus the mind. We first take\nthe internal group. Intelligence which we see in Nature cannot be\nwholly in Nature, because intelligence itself is a compound of \u201cY\u201d\nplus the mind. \u201cY\u201d comes from the Self. So the intelligence that we\nknow is a compound of the power of the light of the soul plus nature.\nSimilarly, the existence which we know must be a compound of \u201cX\u201d plus\nthe mind. We find therefore that in these three factors, I exist, I\nknow and I am blessed, the idea that I have no want, which comes from\ntime to time, is the central idea, the grand basic idea of our life,\nand when it becomes limited, and becomes a compound, we think it\nhappiness and misery. These factors manifest as existence phenomenal,\nknowledge phenomenal, and love phenomenal. Every man exists, and every\nman must know, and every man is made for bliss. He cannot help it.\nSo through all existence; animals and plants, from the lowest to the\nhighest existence, all must love. You may not call it love; but they\nmust all exist, must all know and must all love. So this existence\nwhich we know is a compound of \u201cX\u201d and the mind, and knowledge also\nis a compound of that \u201cY\u201d inside plus mind, and that love also is a\ncompound of that \u201cY\u201d and mind. Therefore these three factors which come\nfrom inside and are combining themselves with the external things to\nmanufacture phenomenal existence, knowledge and love, are called by\nthe Vedantists \u201cExistence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute.\u201d\n\nThat Absolute Existence which is limitless, which is unmixed,\nuncombined, which knows no change, is the free soul, and that Real\nExistence, when it gets mixed up, muddled up, as it were, with the\nelements of Nature is what we call human existence. It is limited and\nmanifests as plant life, animal life, human life, just as infinite\nspace is apparently limited by the walls of this room, or by any other\nenclosure. That Knowledge Absolute means not the knowledge we know, not\nintelligence, not reason, not instinct, but that which when it becomes\nmanifested we call by these names. When that Knowledge Absolute becomes\nlimited we call it intuition, and when it becomes still more limited we\ncall it reason, instinct, etc. That Knowledge Absolute is _Vijn\u00e2na_.\nThe nearest translation of it is \u201call-knowingness.\u201d There is no\ncombination in it. It is the nature of the soul. That Bliss Absolute\nwhen it becomes limited we call love, attraction for the gross body, or\nthe fine bodies, or for ideas. These are but distorted manifestations\nof this blessedness which is not a quality of the soul, but the\nessence, the inherent nature of the soul. Absolute Existence, Absolute\nKnowledge, and Absolute Blessedness are not qualities of the soul, but\nits essence; there is no difference between them and the soul. And the\nthree are one; we see the one thing in three different lights. They\nare beyond all knowledge and by their reflection Nature appears to be\nintelligent.\n\nIt is that eternal Knowledge Absolute of the Self percolating through\nthe mind of man that becomes our reason and intelligence. It varies\naccording to the medium through which it is shining. There is no\ndifference as soul between me and the lowest animal, only his brain\nis a poorer medium through which the knowledge shines, and we call it\ninstinct. In man the brain is much finer, so the manifestation is\nmuch clearer, and in the highest man it has become entirely clear,\nlike a piece of glass. So with existence; this existence which we\nknow, this limited bit of existence is simply a reflection of that\nExistence Absolute which is the nature of the soul. So with bliss;\nthat which we call love or attraction is but the reflection of the\neternal blessedness of the Self, because with these manifestations come\nlimitations, but the unmanifested, the natural, essential existence\nof the soul is unlimited, to that blessedness there can be no limit.\nBut in human love there are limitations. I may love you one day, I\nmay cease to love you the next. My love increases one day, decreases\nthe next, because it is only a limited manifestation. The first thing\ntherefore that we find against Kapila is that he conceives the soul\nto be a mere qualitiless, colorless, inactive something. Ved\u00e2nta\nteaches that it is the essence of all Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss;\ninfinitely higher than all knowledge that we know, infinitely more\nblessed than any human love that we can think of, infinitely existing.\nThe soul never dies. Death and birth are simply unthinkable in\nconnection with the Self, because it is Existence Absolute.\n\nThe second point where we will contend with Kapila is with regard to\nhis idea of God. Just as this series of limited manifestations of\nNature, beginning with the individual intellect and ending with the\nindividual body, requires the Self behind as the ruler and governor\non the throne, so in the Cosmos, we must enquire what the universal\nIntelligence, the universal Mind, the universal fine and gross\nmaterials have as their ruler and governor? How will that series\nbecome complete without one universal Self behind it as its ruler and\ngovernor? If we deny that there is a universal governor, we must deny\nthere is a soul behind the lesser series, because the whole universe is\na repetition of the same plan. When we know one lump of clay we know\nthe nature of all clay. If we can analyze one human being, we shall\nhave analyzed the whole universe, because it is all built on the same\nplan. Therefore if it be true that behind this individual series there\nstands one who is beyond all nature, who is not composed of materials,\nthe _purusha_, the very same logic will apply to this universe, and\nthis universe too will require such a Soul. The Universal Soul which is\nbehind the modifications of Nature is called by Ved\u00e2nta _Isvara_, the\nSupreme Ruler, God.\n\nNow comes the more difficult point to fight. There can be but one\nSoul. To begin with, we can give the _S\u00e2nkhyas_ a good blow by taking\nup their theories and proving that each soul must be omnipresent,\nbecause it is not composed of anything. Everything that is limited\nmust be limited by something else. Here is the existence of the table.\nIts existence is circumscribed by many things, and we find that every\nlimitation presupposes some limiting thing. If we think of space,\nwe have to think of it as a little circle, but beyond that is more\nspace. We cannot imagine a limited space in any other way. It can only\nbe understood and perceived through the infinite. To perceive the\nfinite, in every case we must apprehend the infinite; both stand or\nfall together. When you think of time, you have also to think of time\nbeyond any particular period of time. The latter is limited time and\nthe larger is unlimited time. Wherever you endeavor to perceive the\nfinite, you will find it impossible to separate it from the infinite.\nIf this be the case, we shall prove thereby that this Self must be\ninfinite, omnipresent. Then comes a fine question. Can the omnipresent,\nthe infinite be two? Suppose there are two infinites, one will limit\nthe other. Suppose there are two infinites,--A and B; the infinite\n\u201cA\u201d limits the infinite \u201cB,\u201d because the infinite \u201cB\u201d you can say is\nnot the infinite \u201cA,\u201d and the infinite \u201cA\u201d it can be said is not the\ninfinite \u201cB.\u201d Therefore there can be but one infinite. Secondly, the\ninfinite cannot be divided. Infinity divided into any number of parts\nmust still be infinity, for it cannot be separated from itself. Suppose\nthere is an infinite ocean of water, could you take up one drop from\nthere? If you could, that ocean would no longer be infinite, that drop\nwould limit it. The infinite cannot be divided by any means.\n\nBut there are stronger proofs that the Self is One. Not only so, but\nthat the whole universe is one. We will once more take up our \u201cX\u201d\nand \u201cY\u201d. We have shown how what we call the external world is \u201cX\u201d\nplus mind, and the internal world \u201cY\u201d plus mind. \u201cX\u201d and \u201cY\u201d are both\nunknown quantities, unknown and unknowable. What is the mind? The\nmind is the \u201ctime, space and causation.\u201d This idea is the nature of\nthe mind. You can never think without time, you can never conceive of\nanything without space, and you can never imagine anything without\ncausation. These three are the forms in which both \u201cX\u201d and \u201cY\u201d are\ncaught, and which become the mind. Beyond that there is nothing to\nthe mind. Take off these three forms which of themselves do not\nexist,--what remains? It is all one; \u201cX\u201d and \u201cY\u201d are one. It is only\nthis mind, this form, that has limited them apparently, and made them\ndiffer as internal and external world. \u201cX\u201d and \u201cY\u201d are both unknown and\nunknowable. We cannot attribute any quality to them. As such they are\nboth the same. That which is qualitiless and attributeless and absolute\nmust be one. There cannot be two absolutes. When there are no qualities\nthere can be only One. \u201cX\u201d and \u201cY\u201d are both without qualities because\nthey take qualities only in the mind, therefore this \u201cX\u201d and \u201cY\u201d are\none.\n\nThe whole universe is One. There is only One Self in the universe, only\nOne Existence, and that One Existence, when it is passing through the\nforms of time, space and causation, is called _buddhi_, fine matter,\ngross matter, etc. All physical and mental forms, everything in the\nuniverse is that One, appearing in various ways. When a little bit of\nit gets into this network of time, space and causation, it apparently\ntakes forms; remove the network and it is all One. This whole universe\nis all one, and is called in the Advaitist philosophy _Brahman_.\n_Brahman_ appearing behind the universe is called God; appearing behind\nthe little universe--the microcosm, is the soul. This very \u201cSelf\u201d or\n\u00c2tman therefore is God in man. There is only one _Purusha_, and He\nis called God, and when God and man are analyzed they are one. The\nuniverse is you yourself, the unbroken you; you are throughout this\nuniverse. \u201cIn all hands you work, through all mouths you eat, through\nall nostrils you breathe, through all minds you think.\u201d The whole\nuniverse is you; this universe is your body; you are the universe, both\nformed and unformed. You are the soul of the universe, its body also.\nYou are God, you are the angels, you are man, you are the animals,\nyou are the plants, you are the minerals, you are everything; all\nmanifestation is you. Whatever exists is you--the _real_ \u201cYou\u201d--the one\nundivided Self--not the little, limited personality that you have been\nregarding as yourself.\n\nThe question now arises,--how have you, that Infinite Being, broken\ninto parts, become Mr. So-and-So, and the animals and so on? The answer\nis that all this division is only apparent. We know that the infinite\ncannot be divided, therefore this idea that you are a part has no\nreality, and never will have: and this idea that you are Mr. So-and-So\nwas never true at any time; it is but a dream. Know this and be free.\nThat is the Advaitist conclusion. \u201cI am neither the mind, nor the body,\nnor am I the organs; I am Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; I am He,\nI am He,\u201d This is knowledge, and everything besides this is ignorance.\nEverything that is, is but ignorance, the result of ignorance. Where is\nknowledge for me, for I am knowledge itself! Where is life for me, for\nI am life itself! Life is a secondary manifestation of my nature. I am\nsure I live, for I am life, the one Being, and nothing exists except\nthrough me, and in me, and as me. I am manifested through elements,\nbut I am the one free. Who seeks freedom? Nobody seeks freedom. If you\nthink that you are bound, you remain bound; you make your own bondage.\nIf you realize that you are free, you are free this moment. This is\nknowledge, knowledge of freedom. Freedom is the goal of all Nature.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE FREE SOUL\n\n\nWe have seen that the analysis of the _S\u00e2nkhyas_ stops with the duality\nof existence, Nature and souls. There are an infinite number of souls,\nwhich, being simple, cannot die, and must therefore be separate from\nNature. Nature in itself changes and manifests all these phenomena,\nand the soul, according to the _S\u00e2nkhyas_ is inactive. It is a simple\nby itself, and Nature works out all these phenomena for the liberation\nof the soul, and liberation consists in the soul discriminating that\nit is not Nature. At the same time we have seen that the _S\u00e2nkhyas_\nwere bound to admit that every soul was omnipresent. Being a simple the\nsoul cannot be limited, because all limitation comes either through\ntime, space, or causation. The soul being entirely beyond these cannot\nhave any limitation. To have limitation one must be in space, which\nmeans the body, and that which is body must be in Nature. If the soul\nhad form, it would be identified with Nature; therefore the soul is\nformless, and that which is formless cannot be said to exist here,\nthere, or anywhere. It must be omnipresent. Beyond this the _S\u00e2nkhya_\nphilosophy does not go.\n\nThe first argument of the Vedantists against this is that this analysis\nis not a perfect one. If this Nature be a simple, and the soul is also\na simple, there will be two simples, and all the arguments that apply\nin the case of the soul to show that it is omnipresent, will apply in\nthe case of Nature, and Nature too will be beyond all time, space, and\ncausation, and as the result there will be no change or manifestation.\nThen will come the difficulty of having two simples, or two absolutes,\nwhich is impossible. What is the solution of the Vedantist? His\nsolution is that, just as the _S\u00e2nkhyas_ say, it requires some sentient\nbeing as the motive power behind, which makes the mind think and Nature\nwork, because Nature in all its modifications, from gross matter up to\n_Mahat_ (Intelligence) is simply insentient. Now, says the Vedantist,\nthis sentient being which is behind the whole universe is what we\ncall _God_, and consequently this universe is not different from Him.\nIt is He Himself who has become this universe. He not only is the\ninstrumental cause of this universe, but also the material cause. Cause\nis never different from effect, the effect is but the cause reproduced\nin another form. We see that every day. So this Being is the cause\nof Nature. All the forms and phases of Ved\u00e2nta, either dualistic, or\nqualified-monistic, or monistic, first take this position,--that God\nis not only the instrumental but also the efficient cause of this\nuniverse, that everything which exists is He. The second step in\nVed\u00e2nta is that these souls are also a part of God, one spark of that\nInfinite Fire. \u201cAs from a mass of fire millions of small particles\nfly, even so from this Ancient One have come all these souls.\u201d So far\nso good, but it does not yet satisfy. What is meant by a part of the\nInfinite? The Infinite is indivisible; there cannot be parts of the\nInfinite. The Absolute cannot be divided. What is meant therefore\nthat all these sparks are from Him? The Advaitist, the non-dualistic\nVedantist, solves the problem by maintaining that there is really no\npart; that each soul is really not a part of the Infinite, but actually\n_is_ the Infinite _Brahman_. Then how can there be so many? The sun\nreflected from millions of globules of water appears to be millions\nof suns, and in each globule is a miniature picture of the sun-form;\nso all these souls are but reflections and not real. They are not the\nreal \u201cI\u201d which is the God of this universe, the one undivided Being of\nthe universe. And all these little different beings, men and animals,\netc., are but reflections, and not real. They are simply illusory\nreflections upon Nature. There is but one Infinite Being in the\nuniverse, and that Being appears as you and as I, but this appearance\nof division is after all delusion. He has not been divided, but only\nappears to be divided. This apparent division is caused by looking at\nHim through the network of time, space, and causation. When I look at\nGod through the network of time, space, and causation, I see Him as\nthe material world. When I look at Him from a little higher plane,\nyet through the same network, I see Him as an animal, a little higher\nas a man, a little higher as a god, but yet He is the One Infinite\nBeing of the universe, and that Being we are. I am That, and you are\nThat. Not parts of It, but the whole of It. \u201cIt is the Eternal Knower\nstanding behind the whole phenomena; He Himself is the phenomena.\u201d He\nis both the subject and the object, He is the \u201cI\u201d and the \u201cYou.\u201d How\nis this? \u201cHow to know the knower?\u201d The Knower cannot know himself.\nI see everything but cannot see myself. The Self, the Knower, the\nLord of all, the Real Being, is the cause of all the vision that is\nin the universe, but it is impossible for Him to see Himself or know\nHimself, excepting through reflection. You cannot see your own face\nexcepting in a mirror, and so the Self cannot see its own nature until\nit is reflected, and this whole universe therefore is the Self trying\nto realize Itself. This reflection is thrown back first from the\nprotoplasm, then from plants and animals, and so on and on from better\nand better reflectors, until the best reflector,--the perfect man,--is\nreached. Just as a man who, wanting to see his face, looks first in a\nlittle pool of muddy water, and sees just an outline. Then he comes\nto clearer water, and sees a better image, then to a piece of shining\nmetal, and sees a still better image, and at last to a looking-glass,\nand sees himself reflected as he is. Therefore the perfect man is the\nhighest reflection of that Being, who is both subject and object. You\nnow find why man instinctively worships everything, and how perfect men\nare instinctively worshipped as God in every country. You may talk as\nyou like, but it is they who are bound to be worshipped. That is why\nmen worship Incarnations, such as Christ or Buddha. They are the most\nperfect manifestations of the eternal Self. They are much higher than\nall the conceptions of God that you or I can make. A perfect man is\nmuch higher than such conceptions. In him the circle becomes complete;\nthe subject and the object become one. In him all delusions go away\nand in their place comes the realization that he has always been that\nperfect Being. How came this bondage then? How was it possible for this\nperfect Being to degenerate into the imperfect? How was it possible\nthat the free became bound? The _Advaitist_ says he was never bound,\nbut was always free. Various clouds of various colors come before the\nsky. They remain there a minute and then pass away. It is the same\neternal blue sky stretching there forever. The sky never changes; it\nis the cloud that is changing. So you are always perfect, eternally\nperfect. Nothing ever changes your nature, or ever will. All these\nideas that I am imperfect, I am a man, or a woman, or a sinner, or I\nam the mind, I have thought, I will think, all are hallucinations; you\nnever think, you never had a body; you never were imperfect. You are\nthe blessed Lord of this universe, the one Almighty ruler of everything\nthat is and ever will be, the one mighty ruler of these suns and\nstars and moons and earths and plants, and all the little bits of our\nuniverse. It is through you the sun shines, and the stars shed their\nlustre, and the earth becomes beautiful. It is through your blessedness\nthat they all love and are attracted to each other. You are in all, and\nyou are all. Whom to avoid, and whom to take? You are the all in all.\nWhen this knowledge comes delusion immediately vanishes.\n\nI was once travelling in the desert in India. I travelled for over\na month and always found the most beautiful landscapes before me,\nbeautiful lakes and all that. One day I was very thirsty and I wanted\nto have a drink at one of these lakes, but when I approached that\nlake it vanished. Immediately with a blow came into my brain the idea\nthat this was a mirage about which I had read all my life, and then\nI remembered and smiled at my folly, that for the last month all the\nbeautiful landscapes and lakes I had been seeing were this mirage, but\nI could not distinguish them then. The next morning I again began my\nmarch; there was the lake and the landscape, but with it immediately\ncame the idea, \u201cThis is a mirage.\u201d Once known it had lost its powers\nof illusion. So this illusion of the universe will break one day. The\nwhole of this will vanish, melt away. This is realization. Philosophy\nis no joke or talk. It will be realized; this body will vanish, this\nearth and everything will vanish, this idea that I am the body, or\nthe mind, will for some time vanish, or if the _Karma_ is ended it\nwill disappear never to come back; but if one part of the _Karma_\nremains,--as a potter\u2019s wheel after the potter has finished the pot,\nwill sometimes go on from the past momentum--so this body, when this\ndelusion has vanished altogether, will go on for some time. Again\nthis world will come, men and women and animals will come, just as\nthe mirage came the next day, but not with the same force, along with\nit will come the idea that I know its nature now, and it will cause\nno bondage, no more pain, nor grief, nor misery. Whenever anything\nmiserable will come, the mind will be able to say, \u201cI know you as\nhallucination.\u201d When a man has reached that state he is called _jivan\nmukta_, \u201cliving free,\u201d free even while living. The aim and end in this\nlife for the _Jn\u00e2na Yogi_ is to become this _jivan mukta_, living\nfreedom. He is _jivan mukta_ who can live in this world without being\nattached. He is like the lotus leaves in water, which are never wet\nby the water. He is the highest of human beings, nay, the highest of\nall beings, for he has realized his identity with the Absolute, he has\nrealized that he is one with God. So long as you think you have the\nleast difference from God, fear will seize you, but when you have known\nthat you are He, that there is no difference, entirely no difference,\nthat you are He, all of Him, and the whole of Him, all fear ceases.\n\u201cThere who sees whom? Who worships whom? Who talks to whom? Who hears\nwhom? Where one sees another, where one talks to another, where one\nhears another, it is in law. Where none sees none, where none speaks to\nnone that is the highest, that is the great, that is the _Brahman_.\u201d\nBeing That, you are always That. What will become of the world then?\nWhat good shall we do to the world? Such questions do not arise.\n\u201cWhat becomes of my gingerbread if I become old?\u201d says the baby. \u201cWhat\nbecomes of my marbles if I grow, so I will not grow,\u201d says the boy.\n\u201cWhat will become of my dolls if I grow old?\u201d says the little child. It\nis the same question in connection with this world; it has no existence\nin the past, present, or future. If we have known the _\u00c2tman_ as It\nis, if we have known that there is nothing else but this _\u00c2tman_, that\neverything else is but a dream, with no existence in reality, then this\nworld with its poverties, its miseries, its wickedness and its goodness\nwill cease to disturb us. If they do not exist, for whom and for what\nshall we take trouble? This is what the _Jn\u00e2na Yogis_ teach. Therefore,\ndare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to\ncarry that out in your life. It is very hard to come to _jn\u00e2nam_. It\nis for the bravest and most daring, who dare to smash all idols, not\nonly intellectual, but in the senses. This body is not I; it must go.\nAll sorts of curious things may come out of this. A man stands up and\nsays I am not the body, therefore my headache must be cured, but where\nis the headache if not in his body? Let a thousand headaches and a\nthousand bodies come and go. What is that to me? \u201cI have neither birth\nnor death; father nor mother I never had; friends and foes I have none,\nbecause they are all I; I am my own friend and I am my own enemy; I am\nExistence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; I am He, I am He.\u201d If in a thousand\nbodies I am suffering from fever and other ills, in millions of bodies\nI am healthy. If in a thousand bodies I am starving, in other thousand\nbodies I am feasting. If in thousands of bodies I am suffering misery,\nin thousands of bodies I am happy. Who shall blame whom, who praise\nwhom? Whom to seek, whom to avoid? I seek none, nor avoid any, for I am\nall the universe, I praise myself, I blame myself, I suffer for myself,\nI am happy at my own will, I am free. This is the _Jn\u00e2ni_, brave and\ndaring. Let the whole universe tumble down; he smiles and says it never\nexisted. It was all an hallucination; we see the universe tumble down;\nwhere was it? Where has it gone?\n\nBefore going into the practical part, we will take up one more\nintellectual question. So far the logic is tremendously rigorous. If\nman reasons, there is no place for him to stand until he comes to this,\nthat there is but One Existence, that everything else is nothing.\nThere is no other way left for rational mankind but to take this view.\nBut how is it that what is infinite, ever perfect, ever blessed,\nExistence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute has come under these delusions? It\nis the same question that has been asked all the world over. In the\nvulgar form the question becomes \u201cHow did sin come into this world?\u201d\nThis is the most vulgar and sensuous form of the question, and the\nother is the more philosophic form, but the answer is the same. The\nsame question has been asked in various grades and fashions, but in\nits lower forms it finds no solution, because the stories of apples\nand serpents and women do not give the explanation. In that state,\nthe question is childish and so is the answer. But the question has\nassumed very high proportions now. \u201cHow this illusion came?\u201d And the\nanswer is as fine. The answer is that we cannot expect any answer to an\nimpossible question. The very question is impossible in terms. You have\nno right to ask that question. Why? What is perfection? That which is\nbeyond time, space and causation. That is perfect. Then you ask how the\nperfect became imperfect. In logical language the question may be put\nin this form--\u201cHow did that which is beyond causation become caused?\u201d\nYou contradict yourself. You first admit it is beyond causation, and\nthen ask what causes it. This question can only be asked within the\nlimits of causation. As far as time and space and causation extend, so\nfar can this question be asked. But beyond that it will be nonsense\nto ask it, because the question is illogical. Within time, space and\ncausation it can never be answered, and what answer may lie beyond\nthese limits can only be known when we have transcended them, therefore\nthe wise will let this question rest. When a man is ill, he devotes\nhimself to curing his disease, without insisting that he must first\nlearn how he came to have it.\n\nThere is another form of this question, a little lower, but more\npractical and illustrative. What produced this delusion? Can any\nreality produce delusion? Certainly not. We see that one delusion\nproduces another, and so on. It is delusion always that produces\ndelusion. It is disease that produces disease, and not health that\nproduces disease. The wave is the same thing as the water, the effect\nis the cause in another form. The effect is delusion, and therefore the\ncause must be delusion. What produced this delusion? Another delusion.\nAnd so on without beginning. The only question that remains for you to\nask is, does not this break your monism, because you get two existences\nin the universe, one yourself, and the other the delusion? The answer\nis,--delusion cannot be called an existence. Thousands of dreams come\ninto your life, but do not form any part of your life. Dreams come\nand go; they have no existence; to call delusion existence will be\nsophistry. Therefore there is only one individual existence in the\nuniverse, ever free, and ever blessed, and that is what you are. This\nis the last conclusion reached by the _Advaitists_. It may then be\nasked, what becomes of all these various forms of worship? They will\nremain; they are simply groping in the dark for light, and through\nthis groping light will come. We have just seen that the Self cannot\nsee Itself. Our knowledge is within the network of _M\u00e2y\u00e2_ (unreality),\nand beyond that is freedom; within the network there is slavery, it is\nall under law. Beyond that there is no law. So far as the universe is\nconcerned, existence is ruled by law, and beyond that is freedom. As\nlong as you are in the network of time, space and causation, to say you\nare free is nonsense, because in that network all is under rigorous\nlaw, sequence and consequence. Every thought that you think is caused,\nevery feeling has been caused; to say that the will is free is sheer\nnonsense. It is only when the infinite existence comes, as it were,\ninto this network of _M\u00e2y\u00e2_ that it takes the form of will. Will is a\nportion of that being caught in the network of _M\u00e2y\u00e2_, and therefore\n\u201cfree-will\u201d is a misnomer. It means nothing,--sheer nonsense. So is all\nthis talk about freedom. There is no freedom in _M\u00e2y\u00e2_.\n\nEvery one is as much bound in thought, word, deed, and mind, as a\npiece of stone or this table. That I talk to you now is as rigorously\nin causation as that you listen to me. There is no freedom until you\ngo beyond _M\u00e2y\u00e2_. That is the real freedom of the soul. Men, however\nsharp and intellectual, however clearly they see the force of the\nlogic that nothing here can be free, are all compelled to think they\nare free; they cannot help. No work can go on until we begin to say we\nare free. It means that the freedom we talk about is the glimpse of\nthe blue sky through the clouds, and that the real freedom--the blue\nsky itself,--is behind. True freedom cannot exist in the midst of this\ndelusion, this hallucination, this nonsense of the world, this universe\nof the senses, body and mind. All these dreams, without beginning\nor end, uncontrolled and uncontrollable, ill-adjusted, broken,\ninharmonious, form our idea of this universe. In a dream, when you see\na giant with twenty heads chasing you, and you are flying from him, you\ndo not think it is inharmonious; you think it is proper and right. So\nis this law. All that you call law is simply chance without meaning.\nIn this dream state you call it law. Within _M\u00e2y\u00e2_, so far as this law\nof time, space and causation exists, there is no freedom, and all\nthese various forms of worship are within this _M\u00e2y\u00e2_. The idea of God\nand the ideas of brute and of man are within this _M\u00e2y\u00e2_, and as such\nequally hallucinations; all of them are dreams. But you must take care\nnot to argue like some extraordinary men of whom we hear at the present\ntime. They say the idea of God is a delusion, but the idea of this\nworld is true. Both ideas stand or fall by the same logic. He alone has\nthe right to be an atheist who denies this world, as well as the other.\nThe same argument is for both. The same mass of delusion extends from\nGod to the lowest animal, from a blade of grass to the Creator. They\nstand or fall by the same logic. The same person who sees falsity in\nthe idea of God ought also to see it in the idea of his own body, or\nhis own mind. When God vanishes, then also vanish the body and mind,\nand when both vanish, that which is the Real Existence remains forever.\n\u201cThere the eyes cannot go, nor the speech, nor the mind. We cannot see\nit, neither know it.\u201d And we now understand that so far as speech and\nthought and knowledge, and intellect go, it is all within this _M\u00e2y\u00e2_,\nwithin bondage. Beyond that is Reality. There neither thought, nor\nmind, nor speech, can reach.\n\nSo far it is intellectually all right, but then comes the practice.\nThe real work in these classes is the practice. Are any practices\nnecessary to realize this one-ness? Most decidedly. It is not that you\nbecome this _Brahman_. You are already that. It is not that you are\ngoing to become God or perfect; you are already perfect, and whenever\nyou think you are not, it is a delusion. This delusion which says that\nyou are Mr. So-and-So, or Mrs. So-and-So, can be got rid of by another\ndelusion, and that is practice. Fire will eat fire, and you can use\none delusion to conquer another delusion. One cloud will come and\nbrush away another cloud, and then both will go away. What are these\npractices then? We must always bear in mind that we are not going to be\nfree, but are free already. Every idea that we are bound is a delusion.\nEvery idea that we are happy or unhappy, is a tremendous delusion; and\nanother delusion will come,--that we have got to work and worship and\nstruggle to be free,--and this will chase out the first delusion, and\nthen both will stop.\n\nThe fox is considered very unholy by the Mohammedans, also by the\nHindus. Also, if a dog touches any bit of food it has to be thrown out,\nit cannot be eaten by any man. In a certain Mohammedan house a fox\nentered and took a little bit of food from the table, ate it up and\nfled. The man was a poor man, and had prepared a very nice feast for\nhimself, and that feast was made unholy, and he could not eat it. So\nhe went to a _Mulla_, a priest, and said: \u201cThis has happened to me; a\nfox came and took a mouthful out of my meal; what can be done? I had\nprepared a feast and wanted so much to eat it, and now comes this fox\nand destroys the whole affair.\u201d The _Mulla_ thought for a minute, and\nthen found only one solution and said: \u201cThe only way is for you to get\na dog, and make him eat a bit out of the same plate, because dog and\nfox are eternally quarrelling. The food that was left by the fox will\ngo into your stomach, and that not eaten by the dog will go there, and\nboth will be purified.\u201d We are very much in the same Predicament. This\nis an hallucination that we are imperfect, and we take up another, that\nwe have to practice to become perfect. Then one will chase the other,\nas we can use one thorn to extract another and then throw both away.\nThere are people for whom it is sufficient knowledge to hear, \u201cThou art\nThat.\u201d With a flash this universe goes away and the real nature shines,\nbut others have to struggle hard to get rid of this idea of bondage.\n\nThe first question is, who are fit to become _Jn\u00e2na Yogis_? Those who\nare equipped with these requisites. First, renunciation of all fruits\nof work and of all enjoyments in this life or another life. If you are\nthe creator of this universe whatever you desire you will have, because\nyou will create it for yourself. It is only a question of time. Some\nget it immediately; with others the past _samsk\u00e2ras_ (impressions)\nstand in the way of getting their desires. We give the first place to\ndesires for enjoyment, either in this or another life. Deny there is\nany life at all, because life is only another name for death. Deny\nthat you are a living being. Who cares for life? Life is one of these\nhallucinations and death is its counterpart. Joy is one part of these\nhallucinations, and misery the other part, and so on. What have you to\ndo with life or death? These are all creations of the mind. This is\ncalled giving up desires of enjoyment either in this life or another.\n\nThen comes controlling the mind, calming it so that it will not break\ninto waves and have all sorts of desires; holding the mind steady,\nnot allowing it to get into waves from external or internal causes,\ncontrolling the mind perfectly just by the power of will. The _Jn\u00e2na\nYogi_ does not take any one of these physical helps, or mental helps,\nsimply philosophic reasoning, knowledge and his own will, these are the\ninstrumentality he believes in. Next comes _Titiksh\u00e2_, forbearance,\nbearing all miseries without murmuring, without complaining. When an\ninjury comes, do not mind it. If a tiger comes, stand there. Who flies?\nThere are men who practice _titiksh\u00e2_, and succeed in it. There are men\nwho sleep on the banks of the Ganges in the mid-summer sun of India,\nand in winter float in the waters of the Ganges for a whole day; they\ndo not care. Men sit in the snow of the Him\u00e2layas, and do not care to\nwear any garment. What is heat? What is cold? Let things come and go,\nwhat is that to me, I am not the body. It is hard to believe this in\nthese Western countries, but it is better to know that it is done.\nJust as your people are brave to jump at the mouth of a cannon, or\ninto the midst of the battle-field, so our people are brave to think\nand act out their philosophy. They give up their lives for it. \u201cI am\nExistence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; I am He; I am He.\u201d Just as the\nWestern ideal is to keep up luxury in practical life, so ours is to\nkeep up the highest form of spirituality, to demonstrate that religion\nis not merely frothy words, but can be carried out, every bit of it, in\nthis life. This is _titiksh\u00e2_, to bear everything, not to complain of\nanything. I myself have seen men who say \u201cI am the soul; what is the\nuniverse to me? Neither pleasure, nor pain, nor virtue, nor vice, nor\nheat, nor cold are anything to me.\u201d That is _titiksh\u00e2_; not running\nafter the enjoyments of the body. What is religion? To pray: \u201cgive\nme this and that\u201d? Foolish ideas of religion! Those who believe them\nhave no true idea of God and soul. My Master used to say the vulture\nrises high and high until he becomes a speck, but his eye is always\nin the piece of rotten carrion on the earth. After all, what is the\nresult of your ideas of religion? To cleanse the streets, and have\nmore bread and clothes. Who cares for bread and clothes? Millions come\nand go every minute. Who cares? Why care for the joys and vicissitudes\nof this little world? Go beyond that if you dare; go beyond law, let\nthe whole universe vanish, and stand alone. \u201cI am Existence-Absolute,\nKnowledge-Absolute, Bliss-Absolute; I am He; I am He.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nONE EXISTENCE APPEARING AS MANY\n\n\nWe have seen how _Vair\u00e2gyam_, or renunciation, is the turning point in\nall these various _Yogas_. The _Karmi_ (worker) renounces the fruits\nof his work. The _Bhakta_ (devotee) renounces all little loves for the\nalmighty and omnipresent love. The _Yogi_ renounces his experiences,\nbecause his philosophy is that the whole Nature, although it is for the\nexperience of the soul, at last brings him to know that he is not in\nNature, but eternally separate from Nature. The _Jn\u00e2ni_ (philosopher)\nrenounces everything, because his philosophy is that Nature never\nexisted, neither in the past, present nor future. We have also seen\nhow the question of utility cannot be asked in these higher themes;\nit is very absurd to ask utility, and even if it be asked, after a\nproper analysis what do we find in this question of utility? The ideal\nof happiness, that which brings man greater happiness is of greater\nutility to him than those things which do not improve his material\nconditions or bring him such great happiness. All the sciences are for\nthis one end, to bring happiness to humanity and that which brings\nthe larger amount of happiness, mankind takes and gives up that which\nbrings a lesser amount of happiness. We have seen how happiness is\neither in the body, or in the mind, or in the _\u00c2tman_. With animals,\nand in the lowest of human beings, who are very much like animals,\nhappiness is all in the body. No man can eat with the same pleasure as\na famished dog, or a wolf; so, in the dog and the wolf the happiness\nis gone entirely into the body. In men we find a higher plane of\nhappiness, that of thought, and in the _Jn\u00e2ni_ there is the highest\nplane of happiness in the Self, the _\u00c2tman_. So to the philosopher this\nknowledge of the Self is of the highest utility, because it gives him\nthe highest happiness possible. Sense gratifications or physical things\ncannot be of the highest utility to him because he does not find in\nthem the same pleasure that he finds in knowledge itself; and after\nthat, knowledge is the one goal, and is really the highest happiness\nthat we know. All who work in ignorance are, as it were, the draught\nanimals of the _devas_. The word _deva_ is here used in the sense of a\nwise man. All the people that work, and toil, and labor like machines\ndo not really enjoy life, but it is the wise man who enjoys. A rich man\nbuys a picture at a cost of a hundred thousand dollars perhaps, but it\nis the man who understands art that enjoys it; and if a man is without\nknowledge of art it is useless to him, he is only the owner. All over\nthe world, it is the wise man who enjoys the happiness of the world.\nThe ignorant man never enjoys; he has to work for others unconsciously.\n\nThus far we have seen the theories of these Advaitist philosophers,\nhow there is but one _\u00c2tman_; there cannot be two. We have seen how in\nthe whole of this universe there is but One Existence, and that One\nExistence when seen through the senses is called the world, the world\nof matter. When It is seen through the mind It is called the world of\nthoughts and ideas, and when It is seen as it is, then It is the One\nInfinite Being. You must bear this in mind; it is not that there is\na soul in man, although I had to take that for granted in order to\nexplain it at first, but that there is only One Existence, and that one\nthe _\u00c2tman_, the Self, and when this is perceived through the senses,\nthrough sense imageries, It is called the body. When It is perceived\nthrough thought, It is called the mind. When It is perceived in Its\nown nature, It is the _\u00c2tman_, the One Only Existence. So, it is not\nthat there are three things in one, the body and the mind and the\nSelf, although that was a convenient way of putting it in the course of\nexplanation; but all is that _\u00c2tman_, and that one Being is sometimes\ncalled the body, sometimes the mind, and sometimes the Self, according\nto different vision. There is but one Being which the ignorant call the\nworld. When a man goes higher in knowledge he calls the very same Being\nthe world of thought. Again when knowledge itself comes, all illusions\nvanish, and man finds it is all nothing but _\u00c2tman_. I am that One\nExistence. This is the last conclusion. There are neither three nor\ntwo in the universe; it is all One. That One, under the illusion of\n_M\u00e2y\u00e2_ is seen as many, just as a rope is seen as a snake. It is the\nvery rope that is seen as a snake. There are not two things there,\na rope separate and a snake separate. No man sees two things there.\nDualism and non-dualism are very good philosophic terms, but in perfect\nperception we never perceive the real and the false at the same time.\nWe are all born monists, we cannot help it. We always perceive the one.\nWhen we perceive the rope, we do not perceive the snake at all, and\nwhen we see the snake, we do not see the rope at all; it has vanished.\nWhen you see illusion, you do not see real men. Suppose one of your\nfriends is coming from a distance in the street; you know him very\nwell, but through the haze and mist that is before you, you think it\nis another man. When you see your friend as another man, you do not\nsee your friend at all, he has vanished. You are perceiving only one.\nSuppose your friend is Mr. A., but when you perceive Mr. A. as Mr. B.\nyou do not see Mr. A. at all. In each case you perceive only one. When\nyou see yourself as a body, you are body and nothing else, and that is\nthe perception of the vast majority of mankind. They may talk of soul\nand mind, and all these things, but what they perceive is the physical\nform, the touch, taste, vision, and so on. Again, with certain men, in\ncertain states of consciousness, they perceive themselves as thought.\nYou know, of course, the story told of Sir Humphrey Davy, who was\nmaking experiments before his class with laughing-gas, and suddenly\none of the tubes broke, and the gas escaping, he breathed it in. For\nsome moments he remained like a statue. Afterwards he told his class\nthat when he was in that state, he actually perceived that the whole\nworld is made up of ideas. The gas, for a time, made him forget the\nconsciousness of the body, and that very thing which he was seeing\nas the body, he began to perceive as ideas. When the consciousness\nrises still higher, when this little puny consciousness is gone\nforever, that which is the Reality behind shines, and we see it as the\nOne Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, the one _\u00c2tman_, the Universal. \u201cOne\nthat is only knowledge itself, One that is bliss itself, beyond all\ncompare, beyond all limit, ever free, never bound, infinite as the sky,\nunchangeable as the sky. Such an One will manifest Himself in your\nheart in meditation.\u201d\n\nHow does the Advaitist theory explain all these various phases of\nheavens and hells and all these various ideas we find in all religions?\nWhen a man dies it is said that he goes to heaven or hell, goes here\nor there, or that when a man dies he is born again in another body,\neither in heaven or in another world, or somewhere. These are all\nhallucinations. Nobody is ever born or dies, really speaking. There\nis neither heaven nor hell, nor this world; all three never really\nexisted. Tell a child a lot of ghost stories, and let him go out into\nthe street in the evening. There is a little stump of a tree. What does\nthe child see? A ghost, with hands stretched out, ready to grab him.\nSuppose a man comes from the corner of the street, wanting to meet his\nsweetheart; he sees that stump of the tree as the girl. A police-man\ncoming from the street corner sees the stump as a thief. The thief sees\nit as a police-man. It is the same stump of a tree that was seen in\nvarious ways. The stump is the reality, and the visions of the stump\nare the projections of the various minds. There is one Being, this\nSelf; It neither comes nor goes. When a man is ignorant, he wants to\ngo to heaven or some place, and all his life he has been thinking and\nthinking of this, and when this earth dream vanishes he sees this world\nas a heaven, with _devas_ and angels flying about, and all such things.\nIf a man all his life desires to meet his forefathers he gets them all,\nfrom Adam downwards, because he creates them. If a man is still more\nignorant and has always been frightened by fanatics with ideas of hell,\nwhen he dies he will see this very world as hell, with all sorts of\npunishments. All that is meant by dying or being born is simply changes\nin the plane of vision. Neither do you move, nor does that move upon\nwhich you project your vision. You are the permanent, the unchangeable.\nHow can you go and come? It is impossible; you are omnipresent. The\nsky never moves, but the clouds move over the surface of the sky, and\nwe may think that the sky itself moves. Just as you go into a railway\ntrain, and you think the land is moving. It is not so, but it is the\ntrain which is moving. You are where you are; this dream, these various\nclouds move. One dream follows another without connection. There is\nno such thing as law or connection in this world, but we are thinking\nthat there is a great deal of connection. All of you have probably\nread \u201cAlice in Wonderland.\u201d It is the most wonderful book for children\nwritten in this century. When I read it I was delighted, it was always\nin my head to write that sort of a book for children. What pleased\nme most in it was what you think most incongruous, that there is no\nconnection there. One idea comes and jumps into another, without any\nconnection. When you were children you thought that the most wonderful\nconnection. So this man brought back his thoughts of childhood,\nperfectly connected to him as a child, and composed this book for\nchildren. And all these books which men write, trying to make children\nswallow their own ideas as men are nonsense. We too are grown up\nchildren, that is all. The world is the same unconnected thing,--\u201cAlice\nin Wonderland,\u201d--with no connection whatever. When we see things happen\na number of times in a certain sequence, we call it cause and effect,\nand say that the thing will happen again. When this dream changes\nanother dream will seem quite as connected as this. When we dream, the\nthings we see all seem to be connected; during the dream we never think\nthey are incongruous; it is only when we wake that we see the want of\nconnection. When we wake from this dream of the world and compare it\nwith the Reality, it will be found all incongruous nonsense, a mass of\nincongruity passing before us, we do not know whence or whither, but\nwe know it will end; and this is called _M\u00e2y\u00e2_, and is like masses of\nfleeting, fleecy clouds. They represent all this changing existence,\nand the sun itself, the unchanging, is you. When you look at that\nunchanging Existence from the outside, you call it God, and when you\nlook at it from the inside you call it yourself. It is but one. There\nis no God separate from you, no God higher than you, the real \u201cyou.\u201d\nAll the gods are little beings to you, all the ideas of God and Father\nin heaven are but your reflection. God Himself is your image. \u201cGod\ncreated man after His own image.\u201d That is wrong. Man creates God after\nhis own image. That is right. Throughout the universe we are creating\ngods after our own image. We create the god, and fall down at his feet\nand worship; and when this dream comes, we love it!\n\nThis is a good point to understand,--that the sum and substance of\nthis morning\u2019s lecture is that there is but One Existence, and that\nOne Existence seen through different constitutions appears either as\nthe earth, or heaven, or hell, or God, or ghosts, or men or demons,\nor world, or all these things. But among these many \u201cHe who sees that\nOne in this ocean of death, he who sees that One Life in this floating\nuniverse, who realizes that One who never changes, unto him belongs\neternal peace; unto none else, unto none else.\u201d This One Existence has\nto be realized. How, is the next question. How is it to be realized?\nHow is this dream to be broken, how shall we wake up from this dream\nthat we are little men and women, and all such things? We are the\nInfinite Being of the universe, and have become materialized into these\nlittle beings, men and women, depending upon the sweet word of one\nman, or the angry word of another man and so forth. What a terrible\ndependence, what a terrible slavery! I who am beyond all pleasure and\npain, whose reflection is the whole universe, little bits of whose life\nare the suns and moons and stars,--I am held down as a terrible slave.\nIf you pinch my body I feel pain. If one says a kind word I begin\nto rejoice. See my condition,--slave of the body, slave of the mind,\nslave of the world, slave of a good word, slave of a bad word, slave\nof passion, slave of happiness, slave of life, slave of death, slave\nof everything. This slavery has to be broken. How? \u201cThis _\u00c2tman_ has\nfirst to be heard, then reasoned upon and then meditated upon.\u201d This\nis the method of the Advaita _Jn\u00e2ni_. The truth has to be heard, then\nreflected upon and then to be constantly asserted. Think always--\u201cI am\n_Brahman_\u201d; every other thought must be cast aside as weakening. Cast\naside every thought that says that you are men or women. Let body go,\nand mind go, and gods go, and ghosts go. Let everything go but that\nOne Existence. \u201cWhere one hears another, where one sees another, that\nis but small; where one does not hear another, where one does not see\nanother, that is infinite.\u201d That is the highest, when the subject and\nthe object become one. When I am the listener and I am the speaker,\nwhen I am the teacher and I am the taught, when I am the creator and I\nam the created,--then alone fear ceases; there is not another to make\nus afraid. There is nothing but myself, what can frighten me? This is\nto be heard day after day. Get rid of all other thoughts. Everything\nelse must be thrown aside, and this is to be repeated continually,\npoured through the ears until it reaches the heart, until every nerve\nand muscle, every drop of blood tingles with the idea that I am He,\nI am He. Even at the gate of death say \u201cI am He.\u201d There was a man in\nIndia, a _Sanny\u00e2sin_, who used to repeat \u201c_Shivoham_\u201d (\u201cI am Bliss\nEternal\u201d), and a tiger jumped on him one day and dragged him away and\nkilled him, and as long as he was living the sound came \u201c_Shivoham,\nShivoham_.\u201d Even at the gate of death, in the greatest danger, in the\nthick of the battle-field, at the bottom of the ocean, on the tops of\nthe highest mountains, in the thickest of the forest, tell yourself\n\u201cI am He, I am He.\u201d Day and night say \u201cI am He.\u201d It is the greatest\nstrength; it is religion. \u201cThe weak will never reach the _\u00c2tman_.\u201d\nNever say: \u201cO Lord, I am a miserable sinner.\u201d Who shall help you? You\nare the help of the universe. What in this universe can help you? Where\nis the man, or the god, or the demon to help you? What can prevail over\nyou? You are the god of the universe; where can you seek for help?\nNever help came from anywhere but from yourself. In your ignorance,\nevery prayer that you made and that was answered, you thought was\nanswered by some Being, but you answered the prayer yourself,\nunknowingly. The help came from yourself, and you fondly imagined that\nsome one was sending help to you. There is no help for you outside of\nyourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm you\nhave built a cocoon around yourself. Who will save you? Cut your own\ncocoon and come out as the beautiful butterfly, as the free soul.\nThen alone you will see Truth. Ever tell yourself \u201cI am He.\u201d These\nare words that will burn up the dross that is in the mind, words that\nwill bring out the tremendous energy which is within you already, the\ninfinite power which is sleeping in your heart. This is to be brought\nout by constantly hearing the truth and nothing else. Wherever there is\nthought of weakness, approach not the place. Avoid all weakness if you\nwant to be _Jn\u00e2ni_.\n\nBefore you begin to practise, clear your mind of all doubts. Fight and\nreason and argue, and when you have established it in your mind that\nthis and this alone can be the truth and nothing else, do not argue any\nmore; close your mouth. Hear not argumentation, neither argue yourself.\nWhat is the use of any more arguments? You have satisfied yourself,\nyou have decided the question. What remains? The truth has now to be\nrealized, therefore why waste valuable time in vain arguments? The\ntruth has now to be meditated upon and every idea that strengthens you\nmust be taken up and every thought that weakens you must be rejected.\nThe _Bhakta_ meditates upon forms and images and all such things and\nupon God. This is the natural process, but a slower one. The _Yogi_\nmeditates upon various centres in his body and manipulates powers in\nhis mind. The _Jn\u00e2ni_ says the mind does not exist, neither the body.\nThis idea of the body and of the mind must go, must be driven off;\ntherefore it is foolish to think of them. It would be like trying to\ncure one ailment by bringing in another. His meditation therefore is\nthe most difficult one, the negative; he denies everything, and what is\nleft is the Self. This is the most analytical way. The _Jn\u00e2ni_ wants to\ntear away the universe from the Self by the sheer force of analysis.\nIt is very easy to say, \u201cI am a _Jn\u00e2ni_,\u201d but very hard to really be\none. \u201cThe way is long; it is, as it were, walking on the sharp edge of\na razor, yet despair not. Awake, arise, and stop not until the goal is\nreached,\u201d say the Vedas.\n\nSo what is the meditation of the _Jn\u00e2ni_? He wants to rise above every\nidea of body or mind, to drive away the idea that he is the body. For\ninstance, when I say \u201cI, Sw\u00e2mi,\u201d immediately the idea of the body\ncomes. What must I do then? I must give the mind a hard blow and say,\n\u201cNo, I am not the body, I am the Self.\u201d Who cares if disease comes or\ndeath in the most horrible form? I am not the body. Why make the body\nnice? To enjoy the illusion once more? To continue the slavery? Let it\ngo, I am not the body. That is the way of the _Jn\u00e2ni_. The _Bhakta_\nsays: \u201cThe Lord has given me this body that I may safely cross the\nocean of life and I must cherish it until the journey is accomplished.\u201d\nThe _Yogi_ says: \u201cI must be careful of the body so that I may go on\nsteadily and finally attain liberation.\u201d The _Jn\u00e2ni_ feels that he\ncannot wait, he must reach the goal this very moment. He says: \u201cI am\nfree through eternity, I am never bound; I am the God of the universe\nthrough all eternity. Who shall make me perfect? I am perfect already.\u201d\nWhen a man is perfect he sees perfection in others. When he sees\nimperfection, it is his own mind projecting itself. How can he see\nimperfection if he has not got it in himself? So the _Jn\u00e2ni_ does not\ncare for perfection or imperfection. None exists for him. As soon as\nhe is free, he does not see good and evil. Who sees evil and good? He\nwho has it in himself. Who sees the body? He who thinks he is the body.\nThe moment you get rid of the idea that you are the body, you do not\nsee the world at all. It vanishes forever. The _Jn\u00e2ni_ seeks to tear\nhimself away from this bondage of matter by the force of intellectual\nconviction. This is the negative way,--the \u201c_neti, neti_\u201d (\u201cnot this,\nnot this\u201d).\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nUNITY OF THE SELF\n\n\nTo illustrate the conclusion arrived at in our last lesson, I will read\nto you from one of the Upanishads, showing how these ideas were taught\nin India from the most ancient times.\n\n_Yajnavalkya_ was a great sage. You know the rule in India was that\nevery man must give up the world when he became old. So _Yajnavalkya_\nsaid to his wife: \u201cMy beloved, here is all my money and my possessions,\nand I am going away.\u201d She replied: \u201cSir, if I had this whole earth\nfull of wealth would that give me immortality?\u201d _Yajnavalkya_ said:\n\u201cNo, that cannot be. Your life will be that of the rich, and that will\nbe all, but wealth cannot give you immortality.\u201d She replied: \u201cThat\nthrough which I shall become immortal, what shall I do to gain that?\nIf you know that, tell me.\u201d _Yajnavalkya_ replied: \u201cYou have always\nbeen my beloved; you are more beloved now by this question. Come, take\nyour seat, and I will tell you, and when you have heard, meditate upon\nit.\u201d He continued: \u201cIt is not for the sake of the husband that the wife\nloves the husband, but for the sake of the _\u00c2tman_ (the Self) that she\nloves the husband, because she loves the Self. None loves the wife\nfor the sake of the wife, but it is because he loves the Self that he\nloves the wife. None loves the children for the sake of the children,\nbut because he loves the Self, therefore he loves the children. None\nloves wealth on account of the wealth, but because he loves the Self,\ntherefore he loves wealth. None loves the Brahmin for the sake of the\nBrahmin, but because he loves the Self, he loves the Brahmin. So none\nloves the _Kshatriya_ for the sake of the _Kshatriya_, but because he\nloves the Self. Neither does anyone love the world on account of the\nworld, but because he loves the Self. None similarly loves the gods on\naccount of the gods, but because he loves the Self. None loves anything\nfor that thing\u2019s sake, but it is for the Self of that thing that he\nloves it. This Self therefore, is to be heard, is to be reasoned, and\nis to be meditated upon. Oh my _Maitreyi_, when that Self has been\nheard, when that Self has been seen, when that Self has been realized,\nthen all these things become known.\u201d\n\nWhat does this mean? Before us we find a curious philosophy. That\nthe Self shines through all these various things which we call the\nworld. The statement has been made that every love is selfishness in\nthe lowest sense of the word; because I love myself, therefore I love\nanother; it cannot be. There have been philosophers in modern times\nwho have said that self is the only motive power in the world. That is\ntrue, and yet it is wrong. This self is but the shadow of that real\nSelf which is behind. It appears wrong and evil because it is limited.\nThat very love we have for the Self, which is the universe, appears to\nbe evil, because it is seen through limitation. Even when a wife loves\na husband, whether she knows it or not, she loves the husband for that\nSelf. It is selfishness as it is manifested in the world, but that\nselfishness is really but a small part of that \u201cSelf-ness.\u201d Whenever\none loves, one has to love in and through the Self.\n\nThis Self has to be known. Those that love the Self without knowing\nwhat It is, their love is selfishness. Those that love knowing what\nthat Self is, their love is free, they are sages. None loves the\nBrahmin for the Brahmin, but because he loves the Self, which is\nappearing through the Brahmin. \u201cHim the Brahmin gives up who sees the\nBrahmin as separate from the Self. Him the _Kshatriya_ gives up who\nsees the _Kshatriya_ as separate from the Self. The world gives him up\nwho sees this world as separate from the Self. The gods give him up\nwho believes the gods to be separate from the Self. All things give\nhim up who knows them as separate from the Self. These Brahmins, these\n_Kshatriyas_, this world, these gods, whatever exists, everything is\nthat Self.\u201d Thus _Yajnavalkya_ explains what he means by that love.\nThe difficulty comes when we particularize this love. Suppose I love a\nwoman; as soon as that woman is particularized, is separated, from that\n_\u00c2tman_ (the Self), my love will not be eternal; it has become selfish\nand is likely to end in grief, but as soon as I see that woman as the\n_\u00c2tman_, that Love becomes perfect, and will never suffer. So, as soon\nas you are attached to anything in the universe detaching it from the\nuniverse as a whole--from the _\u00c2tman_--then comes a reaction. With\neverything that we love outside the Self, grief and misery will be the\nresult. If we enjoy everything in the Self, and as the Self, no misery\nor reaction will come. This is perfect bliss.\n\nHow to come to this ideal? _Yajnavalkya_ goes on to tell us the process\nby which to reach that state. The universe is infinite; how can we take\nevery particular thing and look at it as the _\u00c2tman_, without knowing\nthe _\u00c2tman_? \u201cWith a drum, when we are at a distance, we cannot conquer\nthe sound by trying to control the sound waves, but as soon as we come\nto the drum, and put our hand on it, the sound is conquered. When the\nconch shell is being blown, we cannot conquer the sound, until we come\nnear and get hold of the shell, and then it is conquered. When the\nvina is being played, as soon as we come to the vina, we can control\nthe centre of the sound, whence the sound is proceeding. As when some\none is burning damp fuel, all sorts of smoke and sparks of various\nkinds rise, even so from this great One has been breathed out history\nand knowledge; everything has come out of Him. He breathed out, as it\nwere, all knowledge. As to all water the one goal is the ocean, as to\nall touch the hand is the one centre, as to all smell the nose is the\none centre, as of all taste the tongue is the one centre, as of all\nform the eyes are the one centre, as of all sounds the ears are the\none centre, as of all thought the mind is the one centre, as of all\nknowledge the heart is the one centre, as of all work the hands are the\none centre, as of all speech the organ of speech is the one centre,\nas the concentrated salt is through and through the waters of the\nsea, yet not to be seen by the eyes; even so, oh _Maitreyi_, is this\n_\u00c2tman_ not to be seen by the eyes, yet He permeates this universe. He\nis everything. He is concentrated knowledge. The whole universe rises\nfrom Him, and again goes down unto Him. Reaching Him, we go beyond\nknowledge.\u201d We here get the idea that we have all come just like sparks\nfrom Him, and that when we know Him then we go back, and become one\nwith Him again.\n\n_Maitreyi_ became frightened, just as everywhere people become\nfrightened. She said: \u201cSir, here is exactly where you have thrown a\nconfusion over me. You have frightened me by saying there will be no\nmore gods; all individuality will be lost. When I reach that stage\nshall I know that _\u00c2tman_, shall I reach the unconscious state and lose\nmy individuality, or will the knowledge remain with me that I know Him?\nWill there be no one to recognize, no one to feel, no one to love,\nno one to hate? What will become of me?\u201d \u201cO _Maitreyi_!\u201d replied her\nhusband, \u201cthink not that I am speaking of an unconscious state, neither\nbe frightened. This _\u00c2tman_ is indestructible, eternal in His essence;\nthe stage where there are two is a lower one. Where there are two there\none smells another, one sees another, one hears another, one welcomes\nanother, one thinks of another, one knows another. But when the whole\nhas become that _\u00c2tman_, who is to be smelled by whom, who is to be\nseen by whom, who is to be heard by whom, who is to be welcomed by\nwhom, who is to be known by whom? Who can know Him by whom everything\nis known? This _\u00c2tman_ can only be described as \u201c_neti, neti_\u201d (not\nthis, not this). Incomprehensible, He cannot be comprehended by the\nintellect. Unchangeable, He never fades. Unattached, He never gets\nmixed up with Nature. Perfect, He is beyond all pleasure and pain.\nWho can know the Knower? By what means can we know Him? By no means;\nthis is the conclusion of the sages, O _Maitreyi_! Going beyond all\nknowledge, is to attain Him and to attain immortality.\u201d\n\nSo far the idea is, that it is all One Infinite Being, that is the\nReal Individuality, when there is no more division, no more parts and\nparcels, no more such low and illusory ideas. And yet, in and through\nevery part of this little individuality is shining that Infinite, the\nReal Individuality. Everything is a manifestation of the _\u00c2tman_. How\nto reach to that? _Yajnavalkya_ told us in the beginning that--\u201cThis\n_\u00c2tman_ is first to be heard, then to be reasoned, then to be meditated\nupon.\u201d Thus far he has spoken about the Self, the _\u00c2tman_, as being\nthe essence of everything in this universe. Then reasoning on the\nInfinite nature of that Self and the finite nature of the human mind\nhe comes to the conclusion that it is impossible for the finite mind\nto know the Knower of all--the Self. What is to be done then if we\ncannot know the Self? _Yajnavalkya_ tells _Maitreyi_ that It can be\nrealized, although It cannot be known, and he enters upon a discourse\nas to how It is to be meditated upon. This universe is helpful to every\nbeing and every being is also helping this universe, for they are both\npart and parcel of each other, the development of the one helps the\ndevelopment of the other; but to the _\u00c2tman_, the self-effulgent One,\nnothing can be helpful because It is perfect and infinite. All that is\nbliss, even in the lowest sense, is but the reflection of It. All that\nis good is the reflection of that _\u00c2tman_, and when that reflection is\nless clear it is called evil. When the _\u00c2tman_ is less manifested it\nis called darkness--evil, and when it is more manifested it is called\nlight--goodness. That is all. This good and evil are only a question of\ndegree, the _\u00c2tman_ more manifested or less manifested. Just take the\nexample of our own lives. How many things we see in our childhood which\nwe think to be good, but which really are evil, and how many things\nseem to be evil which are good? How our ideas change! How an idea\nbecomes higher and higher! What we thought very good at one time, we do\nnot think so good now. Thus good and evil depend on the development of\nour minds, and do not exist objectively. The difference is only in the\ndegree. All is a manifestation of that _\u00c2tman_; It is being manifested\nin everything, only when the manifestation is very poor we call it\nevil, and when it is clearer we call it good. That _\u00c2tman_ Itself is\nbeyond both good and evil. So everything that is in the universe is\nfirst to be meditated upon as all good, because it is a manifestation\nof that perfect One. He is neither evil nor good; He is perfect and\nthe perfect can be only one. The good can be many, and the evil many,\nthere will be degrees of variation between the good and the evil; but\nthe perfect is only one, and that perfect One when seen through certain\ncovering we call different degrees of good, and when seen through other\ncovering we call evil. Our ideas of good and evil as two distinct\nthings are mere superstition. There is only more good and less good and\nthe less good we call evil. These mistaken ideas of good and evil have\nproduced all sorts of dualistic delusions. They have gone deep into the\nhearts of human beings, terrorizing men and women in all ages. All the\nhatred with which we hate others is caused by these foolish ideas which\nwe have imbibed since our childhood. Our judgment of humanity becomes\nentirely false; we make this beautiful earth a hell, but as soon as we\ncan give up these false ideas of good and evil, it will become a heaven.\n\n\u201cThis earth is blissful (\u2018sweet\u2019 is the literal translation) to all\nbeings, and all beings are sweet to this earth; they all help each\nother. And all this sweetness is the _\u00c2tman_, that effulgent, immortal\nOne.\u201d That one sweetness is manifesting itself in various ways.\nWherever there is any love, any sweetness in any human being, either\nin a saint or a sinner, either in an angel or a murderer, either in\nthe body or the mind or the senses, it is all He. How can there be\nanything but the One? Whatever is the lowest physical enjoyment is He,\nand the highest spiritual enjoyment is also He. There is no sweetness\nbut He. Thus says _Yajnavalkya_. When you come to that state, and look\nupon all things with the same eyes; when you see in the drunkard\u2019s\npleasure in drink only that sweetness, or in the saints\u2019 meditation\nonly that sweetness, then you have got the truth, and then alone you\nwill know what happiness means, what peace means, what love means. But\nas long as you make these vain distinctions, silly, childish, foolish\nsuperstitions, all sorts of misery will come. But that immortal One,\nthe effulgent One, He is the background of the whole universe, it is\nall His sweetness. This body is a miniature universe, as it were; and\nthrough all the powers of the body, all the enjoyments of the mind,\nshines that effulgent One. That self-effulgent One who is in the body,\nHe is the _\u00c2tman_. \u201cThis world is so sweet to all beings, and every\nbeing is so sweet to it!\u201d But the self-effulgent One, the Immortal\nis the bliss in this world. In us also, He is that bliss. He is the\n_Brahman_. \u201cThis air is so sweet to all beings, and all beings are so\nsweet to this air.\u201d But He who is that self-effulgent immortal Being\nin the air, He is also in this body. He is expressing Himself as the\nlife of all beings. \u201cThis sun is so sweet to all beings, and all beings\nare so sweet to this sun.\u201d He who is the self-effulgent Being in\nthe sun, Him we reflect as smaller lights. What can there be but His\nreflection? He is in the body, and it is His reflection which makes us\nsee the light. \u201cThis moon is so sweet to all beings, and all beings\nare so sweet to this moon.\u201d But that self-effulgent and immortal One\nwho is the soul of that moon, He is in us expressing himself as mind.\n\u201cThis lightning is so sweet to all beings and all beings are sweet to\nthis lightning,\u201d but the self-effulgent and immortal One is the soul of\nthis lightning, and is also in us, because all is that _Brahman_. This\n_Brahman_, this _\u00c2tman_, this Self, is the King of all beings. These\nideas are very helpful to men; they are for meditation. For instance,\nmeditate on the earth, think of the earth, at the same time knowing\nthat we have in us that which is in the earth, that both are the same.\nIdentify the body with the earth, and identify the soul with the Soul\nbehind. Identify the air with the soul that is in the air and that is\nin you and so on. All these are one, manifested in different forms. To\nrealize this unity is the end and aim of all meditation, and this is\nwhat _Yajnavalkya_ was trying to explain to _Maitreyi_.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE HIGHEST IDEAL OF JN\u00c2NA YOGA\n\n\nAs this is the last of these classes it is better that I give a brief\n_resum\u00e9_ of all that I have been trying to tell you. In the Vedas and\nUpanishads we find records of some of the very earliest religious ideas\nof the Hindus, ideas that long antedated the time of Kapila, ancient as\nthis great sage is. He did not propound the _S\u00e2nkhya_ philosophy as a\nnew theory of his own. His task was to throw the light of his genius on\nthe vast mass of religious theories that were existing in his time and\nbring out a rational and coherent system. He succeeded in giving India\na psychology that is accepted to the present day by all the diverse\nand seemingly opposing philosophical systems to be found among the\nHindus. His masterly analysis and his comprehensive statement of the\nprocesses of the human mind have not yet been surpassed by any later\nphilosopher and he undoubtedly laid the foundation for the Advaita\nphilosophy, which accepted his conclusions as far as they went and then\npushed them a step farther, thus reaching a final unity beyond the\nduality that was the last word of the _S\u00e2nkhyas_.\n\nAmong the religious ideas that preceded the time of Kapila the first\ngroups that we see coming up,--I mean among recognized religious\nideas, and not the very low ones, which do not deserve the name of\nreligion,--all include the idea of inspiration, and revealed book and\nso forth. In the earliest step, the idea of creation is very peculiar;\nit is that the whole universe is created out of zero, at the will of\nGod; that all this universe did not exist, and out of nothingness\nall this has come. In the next stage we find this conclusion is\nquestioned. The first step in Ved\u00e2nta asks this question: How can\nexistence be produced out of non-existence? If this universe is\nexistent it must have come out of something, because it was easy for\nthem to see that there is nothing coming out of nothing anywhere. All\nwork that is going on by human hands requires materials. Naturally,\ntherefore, the ancient Hindus rejected the first idea that this world\nwas created out of nothing, and sought some material out of which this\nworld was created. The whole history of religion, in fact, is this\nsearch for material. Out of what has all this been produced? Apart from\nthe question of the efficient cause, or God, apart from the question\nwhether God created the universe, the great question of all questions\nhas been, out of what did God create it? All the philosophies are\nturning, as it were, on this question.\n\nOne solution is that nature and God and soul are eternal existences,\nas if three parallel lines are running eternally, of which nature and\nsoul comprise what they call the dependent, and God the independent\nBeing. Every soul, like every particle of matter, is perfectly\ndependent on the will of God. These and many other ideas we find\nalready existing when the _S\u00e2nkhya_ psychology was brought forward by\nKapila. According to it, perception comes by the transmission of the\nsuggestion, which causes perception first to the eyes, from the eyes\nto the organs, from the organs to the mind, the mind to the _buddhi_\nand from the _buddhi_ to something which is a unit, which they call\nthe _\u00c2tman_. Coming to modern physiology we know that they have found\ncentres for all the different sensations. First are found the lower\ncentres, then a higher grade of centres, and these two will exactly\ncorrespond with the actions of the _buddhi_ and the _manas_ (mind), but\nnot one centre has been found which controls all the other centres, so\nphilosophy cannot answer what unifies all these centres. Where and how\ndo the centres get unified? The centres in the brain are all different,\nand there is not one centre which controls all the others; therefore,\nso far as it goes, the _S\u00e2nkhya_ psychology stands unchallenged upon\nthis point. We must have this unification, something upon which the\nsensations will be reflected to form a complete whole. Until there\nis that something I cannot have any idea of you, or the picture, or\nanything else. If we had not that unifying something we would only\nsee, then after a while hear, and then feel, and while we heard a man\ntalking we should not see him at all, because all the centres are\ndifferent.\n\nThis body is made of particles which we call matter, and it is dull\nand insentient. So is what is called the fine body. The fine body,\naccording to the _S\u00e2nkhyas_ is a little body, made of very fine\nparticles, so fine that no microscope can see them. What is the use\nof it? It is the receptacle of what we call mind. Just as this gross\nbody is the receptacle of the grosser forces, so the fine body is the\nreceptacle of the finer forces, that which we call thought, in its\nvarious modifications. First is the body, which is gross matter, with\ngross force. Force cannot exist without matter. It can only manifest\nitself through matter, so the grosser forces work through the body and\nthose very forces become finer; the very force which is working in a\ngross form works in a fine form and becomes thought. There is no real\ndifference between them, simply one is the gross and the other the fine\nmanifestation of the same thing. Neither is there any difference in\nsubstance between the fine body and the gross body. The fine body is\nalso material, only very fine material.\n\nWhence do all these forces come? According to the Ved\u00e2nta philosophy\nthere are two things in Nature, one of which they call _\u00c2k\u00e2sa_, which\nis substance, or matter, infinitely fine, and the other they call\n_Pr\u00e2na_. Whatever you see, or feel, or hear, as air or earth, or\nanything, is material. And everything is a form of this _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_. It\nbecomes finer and finer, or grosser and grosser, and it changes under\nthe action of _Pr\u00e2na_ (universal Energy). Like _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_, _pr\u00e2na_ is\nomnipresent, interpenetrating everything. _\u00c2k\u00e2sa_ is like the water,\nand everything else in the universe like blocks of ice, made out of\nthat water and floating in it, and _pr\u00e2na_ is the power that changes\nthe _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_ into all these various forms. This body is the instrument\nmade out of _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_ for the manifestation of _pr\u00e2na_ in gross forms,\nas muscular motion, or walking, sitting, talking, and so on. The fine\nbody also is made of _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_, a much finer form of _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_, for the\nmanifestation of the same _pr\u00e2na_ in the finer form of thought. So,\nfirst there is this gross body, beyond that is the fine body, and\nbeyond that is the _jiva_ (soul), the real man. Just as these finger\nnails can be pared off a hundred times a year, and yet are still a\npart of our bodies, not different, so we have not two bodies. It is not\nthat man has a fine and also a gross body; it is the one body, only it\nremains longer when it is a fine body, and the grosser it is the sooner\nit dissolves. Just as I can cut this nail a hundred times a year, so\nmillions of times I can shed this body in one \u00e6on, but the fine body\nwill remain. According to the dualists this _jiva_, or the real man, is\nvery fine, minute.\n\nSo far we have seen that man is a being who has first a gross body\nwhich dissolves very quickly, then a fine body which remains through\n\u00e6ons, and lastly a _jiva_. This _jiva_, according to the Ved\u00e2nta\nphilosophy, is eternal, just as God is eternal, and Nature is also\neternal, but changefully eternal. The material of Nature, the _pr\u00e2na_\nand the _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_, are eternal, but are changing into different forms\neternally. Matter and force are eternal, but their combinations vary\ncontinually. The _jiva_ is not manufactured, either of _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_, or of\n_pr\u00e2na_; it is immaterial, and therefore will remain for ever. It is\nnot the result of any combination of _pr\u00e2na_ and _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_, and whatever\nis not the result of combination will never be destroyed, because\ndestruction is decomposition. That which is not a compound cannot\nbe destroyed. The gross body is a compound of _\u00e2k\u00e2sa_ and _pr\u00e2na_\nin various forms and will be decomposed. The fine body will also be\ndecomposed after a long time, but the _jiva_ is a simple, and will\nnever be destroyed. For the same reason, we cannot say it ever was\nborn. Nothing simple can be born; the same argument applies. Only that\nwhich is a compound can be born. The whole of this nature combined in\nthese millions of forms is under the will of God. God is all pervading,\nomniscient, formless, everywhere, and He is directing this nature\nday and night. The whole of it is under His control. There is no\nindependence of any being. It cannot be. He is the Ruler. This is the\nteaching of dualistic Ved\u00e2nta.\n\nThen the question comes, if God be the Ruler of this universe, why\ndid He create such a wicked universe, why must we suffer so much? The\nanswer is made that it is not God\u2019s fault. It is our own fault that\nwe suffer. Whatever we sow that we reap. God does not do anything to\npunish us. If a man is born poor, or blind, or lame, he did something\nbefore he was born in that way, something that produced these results.\nThe _jiva_ has been existing for all time, was never created. It has\nbeen doing all sorts of things all the time. Whatever we do we suffer\nfor. If we do good we shall have happiness, and if bad, unhappiness.\nThis _jiva_ is by its own nature pure, but ignorance covers its\nnature, says the dualist. As by evil deeds it has covered itself with\nignorance, so by good deeds it can become conscious of its own nature\nagain. Just as it is eternal, so its nature is pure. The nature of\nevery being is pure. When through good deeds all its sins and misdeeds\nhave been washed away, then the _jiva_ becomes pure again, and when\nhe becomes pure he goes after death by what is called _Devayana_ (the\npath of the gods), to heaven, or the abode of the gods. If he has been\nonly an ordinarily good man he goes to what is called the \u201cAbode of the\nFathers.\u201d\n\nWhen the gross body falls, the organs of speech enter the mind. You\ncannot think without words; wherever there are words there must be\nthought. The mind is resolved into the _pr\u00e2na_, and the _pr\u00e2na_\nresolves into the _jiva_. Then the _jiva_ leaves the body and goes\nto that condition of reward or punishment which he has earned by his\npast life. _Devaloka_ is the \u201cplace (or abode) of the gods.\u201d The word\n_deva_ (god) means bright or shining one, and corresponds to what the\nChristians and Mohammedans call \u201cangels.\u201d According to this teaching\nthere are various heavenly spheres somewhat analogous to the various\nheavens described by Dante in the _Divine Comedy_. There are the\nheaven of the fathers (or _pitris_), _devaloka_, the lunar sphere,\nthe electric sphere and highest of all the _Brahmaloka_, the heaven\nof _Brahma_. From all the lower heavens the _jiva_ returns again to\nhuman birth, but he who attains to _Brahmaloka_ lives there through\nall eternity. These are the highest men who have become perfectly\nunselfish, perfectly purified, who have given up all desires, do not\nwant to do anything except to worship and love God. There is a second\nclass, who do good works, but want some reward, want to go to heaven\nin return. When they die the _jiva_ goes to the lunar sphere, where it\nenjoys and becomes a _deva_ (god or angel). The gods, the _devas_, are\nnot eternal, they have to die. In heaven they will all die. The only\ndeathless place is _Brahmaloka_, where alone there is no birth and\nno death. In our mythology it is said there are also the demons, who\nsometimes give the gods chase. In all mythologies you read of these\nfights between the demons, or wicked angels, and the gods and sometimes\nthe demons conquer the gods. In all mythologies also, you find that\nthe _devas_ were fond of the beautiful daughters of men. As a _deva_,\nthe _jiva_ only reaps results of past actions, but makes no new Karma.\nOnly man makes Karma. Karma means actions that will produce effects,\nalso those effects, or results of action. When a man dies and becomes a\n_deva_ he has a period of pleasure, and during that time makes no fresh\nKarma; he simply enjoys the reward of his past good works. But when the\ngood Karma is worked out then the other Karma begins to take effect.\n\nIn the Vedas there is no mention of hell. But afterwards the _Pur\u00e2nas_,\nthe later books in our Scriptures, thought that no religion could\nbecome complete without a proper attachment of hells, and so they\ninvented all sorts of hells, with as many, if not more, varieties of\npunishment than Dante saw in his _Inferno_, but our books are merciful\nenough to say that it is only for a period. Bad Karma is worked out\nin that state and then the souls come back to earth and get another\nchance. This human form is the great chance. It is called the _karmic_\nbody, in which we decide our fate. We are running in a huge circle, and\nthis is the point in the circle which determines the future. So a human\nbody is considered the greatest body there is; man is greater than the\ngods. Even they return to human birth. So far with dualistic Ved\u00e2nta.\n\nNext comes a higher conception of Ved\u00e2nta philosophy, which says that\nthese ideas are crude. If you say there is a God who is an infinite\nBeing, and a soul which is also infinite, and Nature which is also\ninfinite, you can go on multiplying infinites indefinitely, but that\nis illogical, because each would limit the other and there would be\nno real infinite. God is both the material and the efficient cause of\nthe universe; He projects this universe out of Himself. Does that\nmean that God has become these walls, and this table, that God has\nbecome the animal, the murderer and all the evils in the world? God is\npure, how can He become all these degenerate things? He has not. God\nis unchangeable, all these changes are in Nature; just as I am a soul\nand have a body, this body is not different from me in a sense, yet I,\nthe real \u201cI,\u201d in fact am not this body. For instance, I am a child, I\nbecome a young man, an old man, but my soul has not changed. It remains\nthe same soul. Similarly the whole universe comprises all Nature, and\nan infinite number of souls, or, as it were, the infinite body of God.\nHe is interpenetrating the whole of it. He alone is unchangeable, but\nNature changes and soul changes. In what way does Nature change? In its\nforms; it takes fresh forms. But the soul cannot change that way. The\nsoul contracts and expands in knowledge. It contracts by evil deeds;\nthose deeds which contract the natural knowledge and purity of the\nsoul are called evil deeds. Those deeds, again, which bring out the\nnatural glory of the soul, are called good deeds. All these souls were\npure, but they have become contracted by their own acts. Still, through\nthe mercy of God, and by doing good deeds, they will expand and become\npure again. Every soul has the same chance, and, in the long run, must\nbecome pure and free itself from Nature. But this universe will not\ncease, because it is infinite. This is the second theory. The first\nis called dualistic Ved\u00e2nta; the second teaches that there is God,\nsoul, and Nature, that soul and Nature form the body of God, and that\nthese three form one unit. Believers in this second theory are called\nqualified non-dualists (_Visishtadvaitins_).\n\nThe last and highest theory is pure monism, or as it is known in\nIndia, _Advaita_. It also teaches that God must be both the material\nand the efficient cause of this universe. As such, God has become the\nwhole of this universe. This theory denies that God is the soul, and\nthe universe is the body, and the body is changing. In that case what\nis the use of calling God the material cause of this universe? The\nmaterial cause is the cause become effect; the effect is nothing but\nthe cause in another form. Wherever you see effect, it is the cause\nreproduced. If the universe is the effect, and God the cause, this\nmust be the reproduction of God. If it be claimed that the universe\nis the body of God and that that body becomes contracted and fine and\nbecomes the cause, and out of that the universe is evolved, then the\n_advaitist_ says it is God Himself who has become this universe. Now\ncomes a very fine question. If God has become this universe, then\neverything is God. Certainly; everything is God. My body is God, and my\nmind is God, and my soul is God. Then why are there so many _jivas_?\nHas God become divided into millions and millions of _jivas_? How can\nthat infinite power and substance, the one Being of the universe\nbecome divided? It is impossible to divide infinity. How can the pure\nBeing become this universe? If He has become the universe, He is\nchangeful, and if He is changeful, He is in Nature, and whatever is in\nNature is born and dies. If God is changeful, He must die some day.\nRemember that. Again, how much of God has become this universe? If you\nsay \u201cX,\u201d the algebraical unknown quantity, then God is God minus \u201cX\u201d\nnow, and therefore not the same God as before this creation, because\nso much of Him has become this universe. The answer of the non-dualist\nis that this universe has no real existence, it exists in appearance\nonly. These _devas_ and gods and angels and being born and dying, and\nall this infinite number of souls coming up and going down, all these\nthings are mere dreams. All is the one Infinite. The one sun reflected\non various drops of water appears to be many, millions of globules of\nwater reflect so many millions of suns and in each globule will be\na perfect image of the sun, yet there is only one sun, and so it is\nwith all these _jivas_, they are but reflections of the one infinite\nBeing. A dream cannot be without a reality, and that reality is the one\ninfinite Existence. You, as body, mind, or soul, are a dream, but what\nyou really are is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Thus says the\n_Advaitist_. All these births and rebirths, this coming and going are\nbut parts of the dream. You are infinite. Where can you go? The sun,\nmoon, and the whole universe are but a drop in your nature. How can you\nbe born or die? The Self was never born, never will be born, never had\nfather or mother, friends or foes, for it is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss\nAbsolute.\n\nWhat is the goal, according to this philosophy? That those who receive\nthis knowledge are one with the universe; for them all heavens, even\n_Brahmaloka_, are destroyed, the whole dream vanishes, and they find\nthemselves the eternal God of the universe. They attain their real\nindividuality, infinitely beyond these little selves which we now think\nof so much importance. No individuality will be lost; an infinite and\neternal Individuality will be realized. Pleasures in little things will\ncease. We are finding pleasure in this little body, in this little\nindividuality. How much greater the pleasure when this whole universe\nis in our one body? If there be pleasure in these separate bodies, how\nmuch more when all bodies are one? The man who has realized this has\nattained to freedom, has gone beyond the dream and known himself in his\nreal nature. This is the teaching of Advaita, the non-dualistic Ved\u00e2nta.\n\nThese are the three steps which Ved\u00e2nta philosophy has taken, and we\ncannot go beyond, because we cannot go beyond unity. When any science\nreaches a unity it cannot possibly go any farther. You cannot go beyond\nthis idea of the Absolute, the One Idea of the universe, out of which\neverything else has evolved. All people cannot take up this _Advaita_\nphilosophy; it is too hard. First of all, it is very difficult to\nunderstand it intellectually. It requires the sharpest of intellects,\na bold understanding. Secondly, it does not suit the vast majority of\npeople.\n\nIt is better to begin with the first of these three steps. Then by\nthinking of that and understanding it, the second one will open of\nitself. Just as a race travels, so individuals have to travel. The\nsteps which the human race has taken to come to the highest pinnacle of\nreligious thought, every individual will have to take. Only, while the\nhuman race took millions of years to reach from one step to another,\nindividuals may live the whole life of the human race in a few years,\nor they may be able to do it more quickly, perhaps in six months.\nBut each one of us will have to go through these steps. Those of you\nwho are non-dualists can, no doubt, look back to the period of your\nlives when you were strong dualists. As soon as you think you are a\nbody and a mind, you will have to accept the whole of this dream. If\nyou have one piece you must take the whole. The man who says, here is\nthis world but there is no God, is a fool, because if there be a world\nthere will have to be a cause of the world, and that is what is called\nGod. You cannot have an effect without knowing that there is a cause.\nGod will only vanish when this world vanishes. When you have realized\nyour one-ness with God, this world will no longer be for you. As long\nas this dream exists, however, we are bound to see ourselves as being\nborn and dying, but as soon as the dream that we are bodies vanishes,\nso will vanish this dream that we are being born and dying, and so\nwill vanish the other dream that there is a universe. That very thing\nwhich we now see as this universe will appear to us as God, and that\nvery God who was so long external, will appear as the very Self of our\nown selves. The last word of _Advaita_ is, _Tat tvam asi_,--\u201cThat thou\nart.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n_ADVERTISEMENTS_\n\n\n\n\nPublications of The Ved\u00e2nta Society\n\nBY SW\u00c2MI VIVEK\u00c2NANDA\n\n\nJn\u00e2na Yoga.--Part I.\n\n12mo. 356 pages. Cloth, $1.50. Postage, 11 cents.\n\n\u201cOne of the great thought challengers of the day is this work by the\nSw\u00e2mi Vivek\u00e2nanda. The book goes deep and treats of startling things,\nbut when analyzed and viewed from the author\u2019s standpoint, they are\nfound to be links in the great chain of truth. He alone will deny who\nis out of sympathy or limited in vision.\u201d--_Transcript_, Boston, Sept.\n24, 1902.\n\n\u201cStudents of religion will find much of interest in it; those who care\nfor India in any way will be glad to receive an indication of high\nHindu thought in one of the most striking religious movements of the\nday; while the orthodox Christian will derive some information from the\nwork regarding the attitude of cultured Hindus toward Christianity and\nits Founder. After reading the book one is inexcusable if his ideas\nconcerning Ved\u00e2nta are hazy.\u201d--_New York Saturday Review of Books_,\nJuly 12, 1902.\n\n\u201cThe lectures show a wonderful insight into great truths which underlie\nall religious aspiration.\u201d--_Courier Journal_, Louisville, July 5, 1902.\n\n\u201cThe altruism with which his preaching is permeated attracts and\ninspires. The love of humanity which he inculcates harmonizes with\nthe spirit of the age, His English is good, his style easy to read,\nhis sincerity unquestionable. Merely as an intelligent presentation\nof what is best in the ancient Hindu Scriptures, the Sw\u00e2mi\nVivek\u00e2nanda\u2019s book is deserving of attention at the hands of religious\nstudents.\u201d--_Record-Herald_, Chicago, Aug. 19, 1902.\n\n\u201cThe lectures are all extremely interesting, the style brilliant, the\nreasoning often subtle. Whether the philosophy advanced is satisfactory\nor not to those whose theories are the outgrowth of a different system\nof thought, his method of presenting it affords an intellectual\npleasure.\u201d--_Journal_, Indianapolis, Oct. 13, 1902.\n\n\u201cIt is a book which appeals to the intellectual, and no one could be\nthe worse for reading it, since it contains much of truth even as\nChristians measure truth.\u201d--_Milwaukee Sentinel_, Aug, 15, 1902.\n\n\u201cThe Ved\u00e2nta Philosophy as explained by Vivek\u00e2nanda is interesting....\nAs given by him and his followers, no more lofty teachings can\nbe found. The work is a valuable addition to the literature of\nreligions.\u201d--_Toledo Blade_ Oct. 11, 1902.\n\n\n  VED\u00c2NTA PUBLICATION COMMITTEE\n  135 West 80th St., New York.\n\n\nR\u00e2ja Yoga\n\n376 pages. Cloth, $1.50. Postage, 11 cents. Portrait of author,\nfrontispiece.\n\nBesides lectures on R\u00e2ja Yoga the book contains Patanjali\u2019s Yoga\nAphorisms with Commentary, a copious Sanskrit Glossary, a lecture on\nImmortality, and the Sw\u00e2mi\u2019s lectures on BHAKTI YOGA.\n\n\u201cThe whole spirit of the book is candid in the extreme. It appeals\nto what is best and noblest in man. It makes no foolish mysteries\nand demands no blind belief. It puts forth its system in a plain and\nsimple manner. It is able to present its own method without in any\nway attacking the method of others. It manifests a charity that it is\nusual to call Christian but which Vivek\u00e2nanda proves is equally the\nproperty of the Hindu. If this little book had nothing to teach but the\nbeautiful toleration it advocates, it would be well worth reading; but\nmany will find in it valuable suggestions to aid in reaching the higher\nlife.\u201d--_Arena_, Mar., 1897.\n\n\u201cA large part of the book is occupied with that method of attaining\nperfection known as R\u00e2ja Yoga, and there are also translations of a\nnumber of aphorisms and an excellent glossary.\u201d--_Living Age_, August\n5th, 1899.\n\n\u201cA valuable portion of the volume to students is the glossary of\nSanskrit technical terms. This includes not only such terms as are\nemployed in the book, but also those frequently employed in works on\nthe Ved\u00e2nta philosophy in general.\u201d--_New York Times_, July 22d, 1899.\n\n\u201cA new edition with enlarged glossary, which will be welcomed by\nstudents of comparative religion, who are already familiar with the\nauthor\u2019s lectures in this country.\u201d--_Review of Reviews_, Oct., 1899.\n\n\u201cThe methods of practical realization of the divine within the\nhuman are applicable to all religions, and all peoples, and\nonly vary in their details to suit the idiosyncrasy of race and\nindividuals.\u201d--_Post_, Washington, D. C., June 12th, 1899.\n\n\n  Sent on receipt of price and postage by the\n  VED\u00c2NTA PUBLICATION COMMITTEE\n\n  135 West 80th St., New York.\n\n  _Agents for Europe_--Messrs. LUZAC & CO.,\n  London, W. C., 46 Great Russell St.\n\n\nThe Sayings of Sri R\u00e2makrishna.\n\nCOMPILED BY\n\nSW\u00c2MI ABHED\u00c2NANDA\n\n234 pages. Flexible cloth, gilt top, 75c. net. Postage, 4c.\n\nR\u00e2makrishna was a great Hindu saint of the nineteenth century who\nhas already had an influence on the religious thought of America and\nEngland through the teachings of his disciples, Sw\u00e2mi Vivek\u00e2nanda,\nSw\u00e2mi Abhed\u00e2nanda, and others. His Sayings are full of broad practical,\nnon-sectarian instructions concerning the spiritual life which cannot\nbut give help and inspiration to the followers of all creeds. The\npresent volume contains a larger number of Sayings than has yet\nappeared in any one English collection. For the first time also they\nhave been classified into chapters and arranged in logical sequence\nunder marginal headings, such as \u201cAll creeds paths to God,\u201d \u201cPower of\nMind and Thought,\u201d \u201cMeditation,\u201d \u201cPerseverance.\u201d As an exposition of\nthe universal truths of Religion and their application to the daily\nlife this book takes its place among the great scriptures of the world.\n\n\nMy Master\n\nBy SW\u00c2MI VIVEK\u00c2NANDA\n\n12mo, 90 pages. Cloth, 50 cents. Postage, 6 cents.\n\n\u201cThis little book gives an account of the character and career of the\nremarkable man known in India as Paramahamsa Srimat R\u00e2makrishna, who is\nregarded by a great number of his countrymen as a divine incarnation.\nIt is not more remarkable for the story it tells of a holy man than for\nthe clear English in which it is told, and the expressions of elevated\nthought in its pages.\u201d--_Journal_, Indianapolis, May 13th, 1901.\n\n\u201cThe book, besides telling the life of Sri R\u00e2makrishna, gives an\ninsight into some of the religious ideas of the Hindus and sets forth\nthe more important ideals that vitally influence India\u2019s teeming\nmillions. If we are willing to sympathetically study the religious\nviews of our Aryan brethren of the Orient, we shall find them governed\nby spiritual concepts in no way inferior to the highest known to\nourselves, concepts which were thought out and practically applied\nby these ancient philosophers in ages so remote as to antedate\nhistory.\u201d--_Post, Washington_, May 13th, 1901.\n\nSent on receipt of price and postage by the\n\n\n  VED\u00c2NTA PUBLICATION COMMITTEE\n  135 West 80th Street, New York.\n\n  _Agts. for Europe_--Messrs. LUZAC & CO., London, W. C.,\n  46 Great Russell Street.\n\n\nBy SW\u00c2MI ABHED\u00c2NANDA\n\nDivine Heritage of Man\n\n12mo, 215 pages. Portrait of author, frontispiece.\n\nCloth, $1.00. Postage, 8 cents.\n\nCONTENTS. I. Existence of God. II. Attributes of God. III. Has God any\nForm? IV. Fatherhood and Motherhood of God. V. Relation of Soul to\nGod. VI. What is an Incarnation of God? VII. Son of God. VIII. Divine\nPrinciple in Man.\n\n \u201cThe Sw\u00e2mi Abhed\u00e2nanda\u2019s writings are also companionable and\n readable.... The Philosophy of India, being the bringing together of\n the best thoughts and reasonings of the best men for the thousands of\n preceding years, had under consideration the self-same problems that\n are to-day vexing the souls of our philosophers. The Sw\u00e2mi\u2019s book is\n therefore not so radical a departure from accepted thought as might\n at first be imagined.... It is not meat for babes, but rather will it\n give new lines of thought to the brightest intellects.\u201d--_Transcript_,\n Boston, Aug., 1903.\n\n \u201cHis method of dealing with these fundamental questions is peculiarly\n free both from dogmatic assertion and from pure metaphysical\n speculation.\u201d--_Inter-Ocean_, Chicago, Aug., 1903.\n\n \u201cHe bases his arguments, not on theological hypotheses, but on\n scientific facts.\u201d--_Cleveland Plain Dealer_, Aug., 1903.\n\n \u201cIt is written in a plain and logical style, and cannot fail to\n interest all who are anxious for information concerning the philosophy\n of which the author is such an able exponent.\u201d--_Times_, Pittsburg,\n June, 1903.\n\n \u201cA glance over a few of its pages would be sufficient to convince\n the reader that he is in the presence of an intellect of high order,\n more thoroughly conversant with the philosophies and sciences of the\n Occidental world than most Europeans or Americans.... The \u2018Divine\n Heritage of Man\u2019 gives a rare insight into the religious views of\n educated Hindoos and its argumentation furnishes an intellectual\n treat.\u201d--_Chronicle_, San Francisco, Aug., 1903.\n\n \u201cFully cognizant of modern scientific discoveries, the author treats\n his subject broadly.\u201d--_Bookseller, Newsdealer, and Publisher_, New\n York, Aug., 1903.\n\n \u201cThe student of religions will find much of value in the discourses,\n since they are full of historical information concerning the\n origin and growth of certain ideas and beliefs dominant in\n Christianity.\u201d--_Republican_, Denver, July, 1903.\n\n \u201cThere is no disposition on the part of the author to assail any of\n the Christian principles, but he simply presents his subject with\n calmness, not attempting to reconcile religion and science, for to him\n they are one.\u201d--_Washington Post_, June, 1903.\n\n\nHow to be a Yogi.\n\n    I. Introductory.\n   II. What is Yoga?\n  III. Science of Breathing.\n   IV. Was Christ a Yogi?\n\n12mo, 188 pages. Cloth, $1.00. Postage, 8 cents.\n\n\u201cFor Christians interested in foreign missions this book is of moment,\nas showing the method of reasoning which they must be prepared to\nmeet if they are to influence the educated Hindu. To the Orientalist,\nand the philosopher also, the book is not without interest....\nSw\u00e2mi Abhed\u00e2nanda preaches no mushroom creed and no Eurasian hybrid\n\u2018theosophy.\u2019 He aims to give us a compendious account of Yoga. Clearly\nand admirably he performs his task. In form the little bank is\nexcellent, and its English style is good.\u201d--_New York Times Saturday\nReview of Books_, Dec. 6, 1902.\n\n\u201c\u2018How to be a Yogi\u2019 is a little volume that makes very interesting\nreading. The book contains the directions that must be followed in\nphysical as well as in mental training by one who wishes to have full\nand perfect control of all his powers.\u201d--_Record-Herald_, Chicago, Feb.\n28, 1903.\n\n\u201cThe Sw\u00e2mi writes in a clear, direct manner. His chapter on Breath\nwill elicit more than ordinary attention, as there is much in it that\nwill prove helpful. The book makes a valuable addition to Ved\u00e2nta\nPhilosophy.\u201d--_Mind_, June, 1903.\n\n\u201cThe book is calculated to interest the student of Oriental thought and\nfamiliarize the unread with one of the greatest philosophical systems\nof the world.\u201d--_Buffalo Courier_, Nov. 23, 1902.\n\n\u201c\u2018How to be a Yogi\u2019 practically sums up the whole science of Ved\u00e2nta\nPhilosophy. The term Yogi is lucidly defined and a full analysis is\ngiven of the science of breathing and its bearing on the highest\nspiritual development. The methods and practices of Yoga are\ninterestingly set forth, and not the least important teaching of the\nbook is the assertion of how great a Yogi was Jesus of Nazareth.\u201d--_The\nBookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer_, Jan. 15, 1903.\n\n\u201cThis book is well worth a careful reading. Condensed, yet clear\nand concise, it fills one with the desire to emulate these Yogis in\nattaining spiritual perfection.\u201d--_Unity_, Kansas City, Dec., 1902.\n\n\nReligion of Ved\u00e2nta\n\nPamphlet printed for free distribution. 12mo, 8 pages. $1.00 for 150.\n\n\nNEW BOOK BY SW\u00c2MI ABHED\u00c2NANDA\n\nSelf-Knowledge (Atma-Jn\u00e2na.)\n\nCloth, $1.00. Postage, 8 cents. Portrait of author, frontispiece.\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n    I. Spirit and Matter.\n   II. Knowledge of the Self.\n  III. Pr\u00e2na and the Self.\n   IV. Search after the Self.\n    V. Realization of the Self.\n   VI. Immortality and the Self.\n\n\u201cSo practically and exhaustively is each phase of the subject treated\nthat it may well serve as a text-book for any one striving for\nself-development and a deeper understanding of human nature.\u201d--_Toronto\nSaturday Night_, Dec., 1905.\n\n\u201cIt will also be welcomed by students of the Vedic Scriptures, since\neach chapter is based upon some one of the ancient Vedas known as the\nUpanishads, and many passages are quoted.\u201d--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_,\nJan., 1906.\n\n\u201cThe book, from the gifted pen of the head of the Ved\u00e2nta Society\nof New York, presents in a clear manner, calculated to arrest\nthe attention of those not yet familiar with Vedic literature,\nthe principles of self-knowledge as taught by the leaders of\nthat philosophy.... The many passages quoted prove the profound\nwisdom and practical teaching contained in the early Hindu\nScriptures.\u201d--_Washington Evening Star_, Dec., 1905.\n\n\u201cA new book which will be welcome to students of Truth, whether\nit be found in the Eastern religions, in modern thought or\nelsewhere.\u201d--_Unity_, Nov., 1905.\n\n\u201cThe book is very well written.\u201d--_San Francisco Chronicle_, Dec., 1905.\n\n\u201cIn forcefulness and clearness of style it is in every way equal to the\nother works by the Sw\u00e2mi Abhed\u00e2nanda, who has always shown himself in\nhis writings a remarkable master of the English language.\u201d--_Mexican\nHerald_, Dec., 1905.\n\n\u201cThe volume is forcefully written, as are all of this author\u2019s\nworks, and cannot fail to be of great interest to all who have\nentered this field of thought. A fine portrait of the Sw\u00e2mi forms the\nfrontispiece.\u201d--_Toledo Blade_, Nov., 1905.\n\n\nSpiritual Unfoldment.\n\n    I. Self-control.\n   II. Concentration and Meditation.\n  III. God-consciousness.\n\nPaper, 35 cents. Cloth, 50 cents. Postage, 2 and 6 cents.\n\n\u201cThis attractive little volume comprises three lectures on the Ved\u00e2nta\nPhilosophy. The discourses will be found vitally helpful even by\nthose who know little and care less about the spiritual and ethical\nteachings of which the Sw\u00e2mi is an able and popular exponent. As the\nVed\u00e2nta itself is largely a doctrine of universals and ultimates, so\nalso is this book of common utility and significance among all races of\nbelievers. Its precepts are susceptible of application by any rational\nthinker, regardless of religious predilection and inherited prejudices.\nThe principles set forth by this teacher are an excellent corrective\nof spiritual bias or narrowness, and as such the present work is to be\ncommended. It has already awakened an interest in Oriental literature\nthat augurs well for the cause of human brotherhood, and it merits\na wide circulation among all who cherish advanced ideals.\u201d--_Mind_,\nApril, 1902.\n\n\nReincarnation.\n\nNew and Enlarged Edition.\n\nPaper, 40 cents. Cloth, 60 cents. Postage, 3 and 7 cents.\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n    I. What is Reincarnation?\n   II. Heredity and Reincarnation.\n  III. Evolution and Reincarnation.\n   IV. Which is Scientific, Resurrection or Reincarnation?\n    V. Theory of Transmigration.\n\n\n  Orders received and filled promptly by the\n  VED\u00c2NTA PUBLICATION COMMITTEE,\n  135 W. 80th St., New York.\n\n  _Agents for Europe_--Messrs. LUZAC & CO.,\n  London, W. C., 46 Great Russell Street.\n\n\nIndia and Her People\n\n  (_Lectures delivered before the Brooklyn Institute\n  of Arts and Sciences during the season\n  of 1905-1906_)\n\n  BY\n  SW\u00c2MI ABHED\u00c2NANDA\n\n  Cloth, $1.25.        Postage, 10 Cents.\n\n  CONTENTS.\n\n    I. Philosophy of India To-day.\n   II. Religions of India.\n  III. Social Status of India: Their System of Caste.\n   IV. Political Institutions of India.\n    V. Education in India.\n   VI. The Influence of India on Western Civilization and\n         the Influence of Western Civilization on India.\n\n\u201cThis book has more than usual interest as coming from one who knows\nthe Occident and both knows and loves the Orient.... It is decidedly\ninteresting.... The book has two admirable qualities: breadth in\nscope and suggestiveness in material.\u201d--_Bulletin of the American\nGeographical Society_, Sept., 1906.\n\n\u201cThis volume, written in an attractive style and dealing with the life,\nphilosophy and religion of India, should prove a useful addition to\nthe literature of a fascinating and as yet largely unknown subject.\nIt is designed for popular reading, the metaphysical portions being\nso handled that the reader runs little risk of getting beyond his\ndepth.\u201d--_Literary Digest_, Feb. 16, 1907.\n\n\u201cThe Sw\u00e2mi possesses the exceptional advantage of being able to look\nupon his own country almost from the standpoint of an outsider and to\nhandle his subject free from both foreign and native prejudice.\u201d--_New\nYork World_, Aug. 4, 1906.\n\n\u201cIt is a valuable contribution to Western knowledge of India,\ncontaining precisely what the American wants to know about that\nregion.\u201d--_Washington Evening Star_, Aug. 4, 1906.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s note\n\nMinor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Accent marks\nhave been standardized.\n\nThe following printer errors have been changed.\n\n  =CHANGED FROM                            TO=\n  Page 12: \u201cthe _raison d'etre_ of that\u201d   \u201cthe _raison d'\u00eatre_ of that\u201d\n  Page 26: \u201cquieting down aplies\u201d          \u201cquieting down applies\u201d\n  Page 30: \u201cstate, disintegradation\u201d       \u201cstate, disintegration\u201d","title":"Jn\u00e2na Yoga, Part II: Seven Lectures","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":31999}