JNÂNA YOGA

  PART II

[Illustration: SWÂMI VIVEKÂNANDA]




  VEDÂNTA PHILOSOPHY


  JNÂNA YOGA

  PART II


  _SEVEN LECTURES_

  BY

  SWÂMI VIVEKÂNANDA


  PUBLISHED BY

  THE VEDÂNTA SOCIETY
  135 West 80th Street
  NEW YORK




  COPYRIGHT, 1907
  BY
  SWÂMI ABHEDÂNANDA


  NEW YORK
  THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO.,
  33 EAST 17TH ST.




EDITOR’S PREFACE


The lectures given in this volume were originally delivered by Swâmi
Vivekânanda in New York in the beginning of 1896, and were received
with the greatest enthusiasm. Their purely philosophical character,
however, made it doubtful as to whether they would appeal to the
general public, and for that reason they were not brought out in
book form at once. The great success of the London lectures on Jnâna
Yoga, which were published several years ago and which have already
gone through two editions, now encourages the belief that this series
will meet with an equally favorable reception. The conception of
Jnâna according to Vedânta is a bold and daring one, and reaches the
highest possible ideal, for it teaches the absolute unity of all
existence. As will be easily understood by the students of the former
volume, Jnâna Yoga is purely monistic on the highest spiritual plane.
Speaking about this phase of Vedânta, Prof. Max Müller writes: “None
of our philosophers, not excepting Heraclitus, Plato, Kant, or Hegel
has ventured to erect such a spire, never frightened by storms or
lightnings. Stone follows on stone in regular succession after once the
first step has been made, after once it has been clearly seen that in
the beginning there can have been but One, as there will be but One in
the end, whether we call It Âtman or Brahman.” This may be a difficult
thought for many to grasp at the outset, but it is worth careful
study, and once understood will be a never-failing light to guide the
enquiring soul to the crowning truth of all philosophy.




CONTENTS.

JNÂNA YOGA--PART II.


  INTRODUCTION                           9


  I.

  THE SÂNKHYA COSMOLOGY                 21


  II.

  PRAKRITI AND PURUSHA                  44


  III.

  SÂNKHYA AND ADVAITA                   69


  IV.

  THE FREE SOUL                         94


  V.

  ONE EXISTENCE APPEARING AS MANY      121


  VI.

  UNITY OF THE SELF                    141


  VII.

  THE HIGHEST IDEAL OF JNÂNA YOGA      157




INTRODUCTION


This universe of ours, the universe of the senses, the rational,
the intellectual, is bounded on both sides by the illimitable, the
unknowable, the ever unknown. Herein is the search, herein are the
inquiries, here are the facts, from this comes the light which is known
to the world as religion. Essentially, however, religion belongs to the
supersensuous and not to the sense plane. It is beyond all reasoning
and is not on the plane of intellect. It is a vision, an inspiration, a
plunge into the unknown and unknowable, making the unknowable more than
known, for it can never be “known.” This search has been in the human
mind, as I believe, from the very beginning of humanity. There cannot
have been human reasoning and intellect in any period of the world’s
history without this struggle, this search beyond. In our little
universe, this human mind, we see a thought arise. Whence it arises we
do not know, and when it disappears, where it goes we know not either.
The macrocosm and the microcosm are, as it were, in the same groove,
passing through the same stages, vibrating in the same key.

In these lectures I shall try to bring before you the Hindu theory that
religions do not come from without, but from within. It is my belief
that religious thought is in man’s very constitution, so much so that
it is impossible for him to give up religion until he can give up his
mind and body, until he can give up thought and life. As long as a
man thinks, this struggle must go on, and so long man must have some
form of religion. Thus we see various forms of religion in the world.
It is a bewildering study, but it is not, as many of us think, a vain
speculation. Amidst this chaos there is harmony, throughout these
discordant sounds there is a note of concord, and he who is prepared
to listen to it will catch the tone.

The great question of all questions at the present time is this: Taking
for granted that the known and the knowable are bounded on both sides
by the unknowable and the infinitely unknown, why struggle for that
infinite unknown? Why shall we not be content with the known? Why shall
we not rest satisfied with eating, drinking, and doing a little good to
society? This idea is in the air. From the most learned professor to
the prattling baby, we are told to do good to the world, that is all of
religion, and that it is useless to trouble ourselves about questions
of the beyond. So much is this the case that it has become a truism.
But fortunately we _must_ question the beyond. This present, this
expressed, is only one part of that unexpressed. The sense universe
is, as it were, only one portion, one bit of that infinite spiritual
universe projected into the plane of sense consciousness. How can
this little bit of projection be explained, be understood, without
knowing that which is beyond? It is said of Socrates that one day while
lecturing at Athens, he met a Brahmin who had travelled into Greece,
and Socrates told the Brahmin that the greatest study for mankind is
man. The Brahmin sharply retorted: “How can you know man until you know
God?” This God, this eternally unknowable, or absolute, or infinite,
or without name,--you may call Him by what name you like,--is the
rational, the only explanation, the _raison d’être_ of that which
is known and knowable, this present life. Take anything before you,
the most material thing; take one of the most material sciences, as
chemistry or physics, astronomy or biology, study it, push the study
forward and forward, and the gross forms will begin to melt and become
finer and finer, until they come to a point where you are bound to make
a tremendous leap from these material things into the immaterial.
The gross melts into the fine, physics into metaphysics, in every
department of knowledge.

Thus man finds himself driven to a study of the beyond. Life will be
a desert, human life will be vain if we cannot know the beyond. It is
very well to say: Be contented with the things of the present; the cows
and the dogs are, and all animals, and that is what makes them animals.
So if man rests content with the present and gives up all search into
the beyond, mankind will have to go back to the animal plane again. It
is religion, the inquiry into the beyond, that makes the difference
between man and an animal. Well has it been said that man is the only
animal that naturally looks upwards; every other animal naturally looks
prone. That looking upward and going upward and seeking perfection are
what is called salvation, and the sooner a man begins to go higher, the
sooner he raises himself towards this idea of truth as salvation. It
does not consist in the amount of money in your pocket, or the dress
you wear, or the house you live in, but in the wealth of spiritual
thought in your brain. That is what makes for human progress, that is
the source of all material and intellectual progress, the motive power
behind, the enthusiasm that pushes mankind forward.

Religion does not live in bread, does not dwell in a house. Again and
again you hear this objection advanced, “What good can religion do? Can
it take away the poverty of the poor”? Supposing it cannot, would that
prove the untruth of religion? Suppose a baby stands up among you when
you are trying to demonstrate an astronomical theorem, and says: “Does
it bring gingerbread?” “No, it does not,” you answer. “Then,” says the
baby, “it is useless.” Babies judge the whole universe from their own
standpoint, that of producing gingerbread, and so are the babies of
the world. We must not judge of higher things from a low standpoint.
Everything must be judged by its own standard and the infinite must be
judged by an infinite standard. Religion permeates the whole of man’s
life, not only the present, but the past, present, and future. It is
therefore the eternal relation between the eternal soul and the eternal
God. Is it logical to measure its value by its action upon five minutes
of human life? Certainly not. These are all negative arguments.

Now comes the question, can religion really accomplish anything? It
can. It brings to man eternal life. It has made man what he is and
will make of this human animal a god. That is what religion can do.
Take religion from human society and what will remain? Nothing but a
forest of brutes. Sense-happiness is not the goal of humanity; wisdom
(Jnânam) is the goal of all life. We find that man enjoys his intellect
more than an animal enjoys its senses, and we see that man enjoys his
spiritual nature even more than his rational nature. So the highest
wisdom must be this spiritual knowledge. With this knowledge will
come bliss. All these things of this world are but the shadows, the
manifestations in the third or fourth degree of the real Knowledge and
Bliss.

One question more: What is the goal? Nowadays it is asserted that
man is infinitely progressing, forward and forward, and there is no
goal of perfection to attain to. Ever approaching, never attaining,
whatever that may mean and however wonderful it may be, it is absurd
on the face of it. Is there any motion in a straight line? A straight
line infinitely projected becomes a circle, it returns to the starting
point. You must end where you begin, and as you began in God, you must
go back to God. What remains? Detail work. Through eternity you have to
do the detail work.

Yet another question. Are we to discover new truths of religion as we
go on? Yea and nay. In the first place we cannot know anything more
of religion, it has all been known. In all the religions of the world
you will find it claimed that there is a unity within us. Being one
with divinity, there cannot be any further progress in that sense.
Knowledge means finding this unity. I see you as men and women, and
this is variety. It becomes scientific knowledge when I group you
together and call you human beings. Take the science of chemistry, for
instance. Chemists are seeking to resolve all known substances into
their original elements and if possible to find the one element from
which all these were derived. The time may come when they will find one
element that is the source of all other elements. Reaching that, they
can go no farther; the science of chemistry will have become perfect.
So it is with the science of religion. If we can discover this perfect
unity, there cannot be any farther progress.

The next question is can such a unity be found? In India the attempt
has been made from the earliest times to reach a science of religion
and philosophy, for the Hindus do not separate these as is customary in
Western countries. We regard religion and philosophy as but two aspects
of one thing which must equally be grounded in reason and scientific
truth. In the lectures that are to follow I shall try to explain to
you first the system of the _Sânkhya_ philosophy, one of the most
ancient in India, or in fact in the world. Its great exponent Kapila
is the father of all Hindu psychology and the ancient system that he
taught is still the foundation of all accepted systems of philosophy in
India to-day,--which are known as the _Dârsanas_. They all adopt his
psychology, however widely they differ in other respects.

Next I shall endeavor to show you how Vedânta, as the logical outcome
of the _Sânkhya_, pushes its conclusions yet farther. While its
cosmology agrees with that taught by Kapila, the Vedânta is not
satisfied to end in dualism, but continues its search for the final
unity which is alike the goal of science and religion. To make clear
the manner in which the task is accomplished will be the effort of the
later lectures in this course.




I

THE SÂNKHYA COSMOLOGY


Here are two words, the microcosm and the macrocosm, the internal and
the external. We get truths from both of these by means of experience;
there is internal experience and external experience. The truths
gathered from internal experience are psychology, metaphysics and
religion; from external experience the physical sciences. Now a perfect
truth should be in harmony with experience in both these worlds. The
microcosm must bear testimony to the macrocosm, and the macrocosm
to the microcosm; physical truth must have its counterpart in the
internal world, and the internal world must have its verification in
the outside. Yet as a rule we find that many of these truths are
constantly conflicting. At one period of the world’s history the
“internals” became supreme, and they began to fight the “externals;”
at the present time the “externals,” the physicists, have become
supreme, and they have put down many claims of the psychologists and
metaphysicians. So far as my little knowledge goes, I find that the
really essential parts of psychology are in perfect accordance with the
essential parts of modern physical knowledge.

It is not given to every individual to be great in every respect; it
is not given to the same race, or nation, to be equally strong in the
research of all the fields of knowledge. The modern European nations
are very strong in their researches into external physical knowledge,
but the ancient Europeans were weak in their researches into the
internal part of man. On the other hand, the Orientals have not been
very strong in their researches in the external physical world, but
have excelled in their researches into the internal, and therefore
we find that some of the Oriental theories are not in accordance with
Occidental physics, neither is Occidental psychology in harmony with
Oriental teachings on this subject. The Oriental physicists have been
criticised by Occidental scientists. At the same time each rests on
truth, and, as we stated before, real truth in any field of knowledge
will not contradict itself, the truths internal are in harmony with the
truths external.

We know the present theories of the Cosmos according to the modern
astronomers and physicists, and at the same time we know how wofully
they hurt the old school of theologians, and how every new scientific
discovery that is made is as a bomb thrown into their house, and how
they have attempted in every age to put down all these researches.
In the first place, let us go over the psychological and scientific
ideas of the Orientals as to cosmology and all that pertains to it,
and you will find how wonderfully it is in accordance with all the
latest discoveries of modern science, and when there is anything
lacking you will find that it is on the side of modern science. We
all use the word Nature, and the old Hindu philosophers called it
by two different names, _Prakriti_, which is almost the same as the
English word “nature,” and by the more scientific name, _Avyaktam_
(“undifferentiated”), from which everything proceeds, out of which come
atoms and molecules, matter and force, and mind and intellect. It is
startling to find that the philosophers and metaphysicians of India
ages ago stated that mind is but matter in a finer form, for what are
our present materialists striving to do but to show that mind is as
much a product of nature as the body? And so is thought; and we shall
find by and by that the intellect also comes from the same nature which
is called _avyaktam_, the undifferentiated.

The ancient teachers define _avyaktam_ as the “equilibrium of the
three forces,” one of which is called _Sattva_, the second _Rajas_ and
the third _Tamas_. _Tamas_, the lowest force, is that of attraction,
a little higher is _Rajas_, that of repulsion, and the highest is
the control of these two, _Sattva_, so that when the two forces,
attraction and repulsion, are held in perfect control, or balance, by
the _Sattva_, there is no creation, no movement; but as soon as this
equilibrium is lost, the balance is disturbed and one of these forces
gets stronger than the other. Then change and motion begin and all
this evolution goes on. This state of things is going on cyclically,
periodically; that is to say, there is a period of disturbance of the
balance, when all these forces begin to combine and recombine, and this
universe is projected; and there is also a period when everything has
a tendency to revert to the primal state of equilibrium, and the time
comes when a total absence of all manifestation is reached. Again,
after a period, the whole thing is disturbed, projected outward,
again it slowly comes out in the form of waves; for all motion in this
universe is in the form of waves, successive rise and fall.

Some of these old philosophers taught that the whole universe quiets
down for a period; others maintained that this quieting down applies
only to systems. That is to say, that while our system here, this
solar system, will quiet down and go back into that undifferentiated
state, there are millions of other systems going the other way. I
should rather follow the second opinion, that this quieting down is
not simultaneous over the whole universe, but that in different parts
different things are going on. But the principle remains the same,
that all that we see, that Nature herself is progressing in successive
rises and falls. The one stage, going back to the balance, to the
perfect equilibrium, is called the end of a cycle. The whole _Kalpa_,
the evolution and the involution, has been compared by theistic writers
in India to the inbreathing and outbreathing of God; God, as it were,
breathes out the universe, and it returns into Him again. When it
quiets down, what becomes of the universe? It still exists, only in
finer form, as it is called in Sanskrit, in the “causal state” (_Kârana
Sarira_). Causation, time and space are still there, only they are
potential. This return to an undifferentiated condition constitutes
involution. Involution and evolution are eternally going on, so that
when we speak of a beginning, we refer only to the beginning of a cycle.

The most extraneous part of the universe is what in modern times
we call gross matter. The ancient Hindus called it the _Bhutas_,
the external elements. There is one element which according to them
is eternal; every other element is produced out of this one, and
this eternal element is called _Âkâsa_. It is somewhat similar to
the modern idea of ether, though not exactly the same. This is the
primal element out of which everything proceeds, and along with this
element there was something called _Prâna_: we shall see what it is
as we go on. This _prâna_ and this _âkâsa_ eternally exist, and they
combine and recombine and form all manifestation. Then at the end
of the cycle everything subsides and goes back to the unmanifested
form of _âkâsa_ and _prâna_. There is in the Rig Veda, the oldest
scriptures in existence, a beautiful passage describing creation, and
it is most poetical--“When there was neither ought nor nought, when
darkness was rolling over darkness, what existed?” and the answer is
given, “It (the Eternal One) then existed without motion.” _Prâna_ and
_âkâsa_ were latent in that Eternal One, but there was no phenomenal
manifestation. This state is called _Avyaktam_, which literally means
“without vibration,” or unmanifested. At the beginning of a new cycle
of evolution, this _avyaktam_ begins to vibrate and blow after blow
is given by _prâna_ to the _âkâsa_. This causes condensation and
gradually, through the forces of attraction and repulsion, atoms are
formed. These in turn condense into molecules and finally into the
different elements of Nature.

We generally find these things very curiously translated; people do
not go to the ancient philosophers or to their commentators for their
translation and have not learning enough to understand for themselves.
They translate the elements as “air,” “fire,” and so on. If they would
go to the commentators they would find that they do not mean anything
of the sort. The _âkâsa_, made to vibrate by the repeated blows of
_prâna_, produces _vâyu_ or the vibratory state of the _âkâsa_, which
in turn produces gaseous matter. The vibrations growing more and more
rapid generate heat, which in Sanskrit is called _tejas_. Gradually it
is cooled off and the gaseous substance becomes solid, _prithivi_. We
had first _âkâsa_, then came heat, then it became liquified, and when
still more condensed appeared as solid matter. It goes back to the
unmanifested condition in exactly the reverse way. The solids will be
converted into liquid and the liquid into a mass of heat, that will
slowly go back into the gaseous state, disintegration of atoms will
begin, finally equilibrium of all forces will be reached, vibration
will stop and the cycle of evolution which in Sanskrit is called
_Kalpa_ is at an end. We know from modern astronomy that this earth and
sun of ours are undergoing the same transitions, this solid earth will
melt down and become liquid once more, and will eventually go back to
the gaseous state.

_Prâna_ cannot work alone without the help of _âkâsa_. All that we
know is that motion or vibration and every movement that we see is a
modification of this _prâna_, and everything that we know in the form
of matter, either as form or as resistance, is a modification of this
_âkâsa_. This _prâna_ cannot exist alone, or act without a medium, but
in every state of it, whether as pure _prâna_, or when it changes into
other forces of nature, say gravitation or centrifugal attraction, it
can never be separate from _âkâsa_. You have never seen force without
matter or matter without force; what we call force and matter being
simply the gross manifestations of these same things, which, when
superfine, we call _prâna_ and _âkâsa_. _Prâna_ you can call in English
the life, or vital energy, but you must not restrict it to the life
of man, nor should you identify it with the spirit, _Âtman_. Creation
is without beginning and without end; it cannot have either, it is an
eternal on-going.

The next question that comes is rather a fine one. Some European
philosophers have asserted that this world exists because “I” exist,
and if “I” do not exist, the world will not exist. Sometimes it is
expressed in this way; they say, if all the people in the world were to
die, and there were no more human beings, and no animals with powers of
perception and intelligence, all manifestations would disappear. It
seems paradoxical, but gradually we shall see clearly that this can be
proved. But these European philosophers do not know the psychology of
it, although they know the principle; modern philosophy has got only a
glimpse of it.

First we will take another proposition of these old psychologists which
is rather startling, that the grossest elements are the _bhutas_, but
that all gross things are the results of fine ones. Everything that is
gross is composed of a combination of minute things, so the _bhutas_
must be composed of certain fine particles, called in Sanskrit the
_tanmâtras_. I smell a flower; to smell that, something must come in
contact with my nose; the flower is there and I do not see it move
towards me; but without something coming in contact with my nose I
cannot smell the flower. That which comes from the flower and into
contact with my nose are the _tanmâtras_, fine molecules of that
flower, so fine that no diminution can be perceived in the flower.
So with heat, light, sight, and everything. These _tanmâtras_ can
again be subdivided into atoms. Different philosophers have different
theories, and we know these are only theories, so we leave them out
of discussion. Sufficient for us that everything gross is composed of
things that are very, very minute. We first get the gross elements,
which we feel externally, and composing them are the fine elements,
which our organs touch, which come in contact with the nerves of the
nose, eyes and ears. That ethereal wave which touches my eyes, I cannot
see, yet I know it must come in contact with my optic nerve before I
can see the light. So with hearing, we can never see the particles that
come in contact with our ears, but we know that they must be there.
What is the cause of these _tanmâtras_? A very startling and curious
answer is given by our psychologists,--self-consciousness. That is the
cause of these fine materials, and the cause of the organs. What are
these organs? Here is first the eye, but the eye does not see. If the
eyes did see, when a man is dead, and his eyes are still perfect, they
would still be able to see. There is some change somewhere; something
has gone out of the man, and that something, which really sees, of
which the eye is the instrument, is called the organ. So this nose
is an instrument, and there is an organ corresponding to it. Modern
physiology can tell you what that is, a nerve centre in the brain. The
eyes, ears, etc., are simply the external instruments. It may be said
that the organs, _Indriyas_, as they are called in Sanskrit, are the
real seats of perception.

What is the use of having one organ for the nose, and one for the eyes,
and so on? Why will not one serve the purpose? To make it clear to
you,--I am talking, and you are listening, and you do not see what is
going on around you because the mind has attached itself to the organ
of hearing, and has detached itself from the sight organ. If there were
only one organ the mind would hear and see at the same time, it would
see and hear and smell at the same time, and it would be impossible
for it not to do all three at the same time. Therefore it is necessary
that there should be separate organs for all these centres. This has
been borne out by modern physiology. It is certainly possible for us to
see and hear at the same time, but that is because the mind attaches
itself partially to both centres, which are the organs. What are the
instruments? We see that these are really made of the gross materials.
Here they are,--eyes, nose, and ears, etc. What are the organs? They
are also made of materials, because they are centres. Just as this body
is composed of gross material for transforming _prâna_ into different
gross forces, so these finer organs behind, are composed of the fine
elements, for the manufacture of _prâna_ into the finer forces of
perception and all kindred things. All these organs or _indriyas_
combined, plus the internal instrument or _antahkarana_, are called
the finer body of man,--the _linga_ (or _sûkshma_) _sarira_.

It has a real form, because everything material must have a form.
Behind the _indriyas_ is what is called the _manas_, the _chitta_ in
_vritti_, what might be called the vibratory state of the mind, the
unsettled state. If you throw a stone into a calm lake, first there
will be vibration, and then resistance. For a moment the water will
vibrate and then it will react on the stone. So, when any impression
comes on the _chitta_, or “mind stuff,” it vibrates a little. This
state of the mind is called the _manas_. Then comes the reaction, the
will. There is another thing behind this will which accompanies all
the acts of the mind, which is called egoism, the _ahamkâra_, the
self-consciousness, which says “I am,” and behind that is what is
called _Buddhi_, the intellect, the highest form of nature’s existence.
Behind the intellect is the true Self of man, the _Purusha_, the pure,
the perfect, who is alone the seer, and for whom is all this change.
The Purusha is looking on at all these changes; he himself is never
impure; but by implication, what the Vedantists call _adhyâsam_, by
reflection, he appears to be impure. It is like a red flower held
before a piece of crystal; the crystal will look red; or a blue
flower and the crystal will look blue; and yet the crystal itself
is colorless. We will take for granted that there are many selves;
each self is pure and perfect, but it is all these various divisions
of gross matter and fine matter that are imposing on the self, and
making it variously colored. Why is nature doing all this? Nature is
undergoing all these changes for the improvement of the soul; all this
creation is for the benefit of the soul, so that it may be free. This
immense book which we call the universe is stretched before man so that
he may read, and come out, as an omniscient and omnipotent being. I
must here tell you that some of our best psychologists do not believe
in a personal God in the sense in which you believe in Him. The real
father of our psychologists, Kapila, denies the existence of God as a
Creator. His idea is that a personal God is quite unnecessary; Nature
itself is sufficient to work out all that is good. What is called the
“Design” theory he repudiated, and said a more childish theory was
never advanced. But he admits a peculiar kind of God; he says we are
all struggling to get free, and when man becomes free he can, as it
were, melt away into Nature for the time being, only to come out at the
beginning of the next cycle and be its ruler; come out an omniscient
and omnipotent being. In that sense he can be called God; you and I and
the humblest beings will be gods in different cycles. Kapila says such
a God will be temporal, but an eternal God, eternally omnipotent and
eternally ruler of the universe, cannot be. If there were such a God,
there would be this difficulty: he must either be bound or free. A God
who is perfectly free would not create; there would be no necessity.
If he were bound, he would not create because he could not, he would
be weak himself. So, in either case, there cannot be an omnipotent or
omniscient eternal ruler. So wherever the word God is mentioned in our
Scriptures, Kapila says it means those perfected souls who have become
free. The _Sânkhya_ system does not believe in the unity of all souls.
Vedânta believes that all individual souls are united in one cosmic
Being called _Brahman_, but Kapila, the founder of the _Sânkhya_, was
dualistic. His analysis of the universe so far as it goes is really
marvellous. He was the father of Hindu evolutionists, and all the later
philosophical systems are simply outcomes of his thought.

According to this system all souls will regain their freedom and
their natural rights, which are omnipotence and omniscience. Here
the question may be asked, whence is this bondage of the souls? The
_Sânkhya_ says it is without beginning, but if it be without beginning
it must also be without end, and we shall never be free. Kapila
explains that this “without beginning” means not in a constant line.
Nature is without beginning and without end, but not in the same sense
as is the soul, because Nature has no individuality, just as a river
flowing by us is every moment getting a fresh body of water, and the
sum total of all these bodies of water is the river, so the river is
not a constant quantity. Similarly everything in Nature is constantly
changing, but the soul never changes. Therefore as Nature is always
changing, it is possible for the soul to come out of its bondage. One
theory of the _Sânkhya_ is peculiar to this psychology. The whole
of the universe is built upon the same plan as one single man, or
one little being; so, just as I have a mind, there is also a cosmic
mind. When this macrocosm evolves there must be first intelligence,
then egoism, then the _tanmâtras_ and the organs, and then the gross
elements. The whole universe according to Kapila is one body, all that
we see are the grosser bodies, and behind these are the finer bodies,
and behind them, a universal egoism, and behind that a universal
Intelligence, but all this is _in_ Nature, all this is manifestation
of Nature, not outside of Nature. Each one of us is a part of that
cosmic consciousness. There is a sum-total of intelligence out of
which we draw what we require, so there is a sum-total of mental force
in the universe out of which we are drawing eternally, but the seed
for the body must come from the parents. The theory includes heredity
and reincarnation too. The material is given to the soul out of which
to manufacture a body, but that material is given by hereditary
transmission from the parents.

We come now to that proposition that in this process there is an
involution and an evolution. All is evolved out of that indiscreet
Nature; and then is involved again and becomes _Avyaktam_. It is
impossible, according to the _Sânkhyas_, for any material thing to
exist, which has not as its material some portion of consciousness.
Consciousness is the material out of which all manifestation is made.
The elucidation of this comes in our next lecture, but I will show how
it can be proved. I do not know this table as it is, but it makes an
impression; it comes to the eyes, then to the _indriyas_, and then to
the mind; the mind then reacts, and that reaction is what I call the
table. It is just the same as throwing a stone into a lake; the lake
throws a wave against the stone; this wave is what we know. The waves
coming out are all we know. In the same way the fashion of this wall
is in my mind; what is external nobody knows; when I want to know it,
it has to become that material which I furnish; I, with my own mind,
have furnished the material for my eyes, and the something which is
outside is only the occasion, the suggestion, and upon that suggestion
I project my mind, and it takes the form of what I see. The question
is, how do we all see the same things? Because we all have a part of
this cosmic mind. Those who have mind will see the thing, and those who
have not will not see it. This goes to show that since this universe
has existed there has never been a want of mind, of that one cosmic
mind. Every human being, every animal, is also furnished out of that
cosmic mind, because it is always present and furnishing material for
their formation.




II

PRAKRITI AND PURUSHA


We will take up the categories we have been discussing and come to the
particulars. If we remember we started with _Prakriti_, or Nature.
This Nature is called by the _Sânkhya_ philosophers indiscrete or
inseparate, which is defined as perfect balance of the materials in it;
and it naturally follows that in perfect balance there cannot be any
motion. All that we see, feel, and hear is simply a compound of motion
and matter. In the primal state, before this manifestation, where there
was no motion, perfect balance, this _Prakriti_ was indestructible,
because decomposition comes only with limitation. Again, according to
the _Sânkhya_, atoms are not the primal state. This universe does not
come out of atoms, they may be the secondary, or tertiary state. The
original matter may compound into atoms, which in turn compound into
greater and greater things, and as far as modern investigations go,
they rather point towards that. For instance, in the modern theory
of ether, if you say ether is also atomic, that will not solve the
proposition at all. To make it clearer, say that air is composed
of atoms, and we know that ether is everywhere, interpenetrating,
omnipresent, and these atoms are floating, as it were, in ether. If
ether again be composed of atoms, there will still be some space
between two atoms of ether. What fills up that? And again there will
be another space between the atoms of that which fills up this space.
If you propose that there is another ether still finer you must still
have something to fill that space, and so it will be _regressus in
infinitum_, what the _Sânkhya_ philosophers call _anavasthâ_,--never
reaching a final conclusion. So the atomic theory cannot be final.
According to the _Sânkhyas_ this Nature is omnipresent, one omnipresent
mass of Nature in which are the causes of everything that exists. What
is meant by cause? Cause is the more subtle state of the manifested
state, the unmanifested state of that which becomes manifested.
What do you mean by destruction? It is reverting to the cause,--the
materials out of which a body is composed go back into their original
state. Beyond this idea of destruction, any idea such as annihilation,
is on the face of it absurd. According to modern physical sciences,
it can be demonstrated that all destruction means that which Kapila
called ages ago “reverting to the causal state.” Going back to the
finer form is all that is meant by destruction. You know how it can
be demonstrated in a laboratory that matter is indestructible. Those
of you who have studied chemistry will know that if you burn a candle
and put a caustic pencil inside a glass tube beneath the candle,
when the candle has burned away, if you take the caustic pencil out
of the tube and weigh it, you will find that the pencil will weigh
exactly its previous weight, plus the weight of the candle,--the candle
became finer and finer, and went on to the caustic. So that in this
present stage of our knowledge, if any man claims that anything becomes
annihilated, he is only making himself absurd. It is only uneducated
people who would advance such a proposition, and it is curious that
modern knowledge coincides with what those old philosophers taught. The
ancients proceeded in their inquiry by taking up mind as the basis;
they analyzed the mental part of this universe and came to certain
conclusions, while modern science is analyzing the physical part, and
it also comes to the same conclusions. Both analyses must lead to the
same truth.

You must remember that the first manifestation of this _Prakriti_ in
the cosmos is what the _Sânkhyas_ called _Mahat_. We may call it
universal intelligence, the great principle; that is the literal
meaning. The first manifestation of _Prakriti_ is this intelligence;
I would not translate it by self-consciousness, because that would
be wrong. Consciousness is only a part of this intelligence,
which is universal. It covers all the grounds of consciousness,
sub-consciousness and super-consciousness. In Nature, for instance,
certain changes are going on before your eyes which you see and
understand, but there are other changes so much finer that no human
perception can catch them. They are from the same cause, the same
_Mahat_ is making these changes. There are other changes, beyond
the reach of our mind or reasoning, all this series of changes is
in this _Mahat_. You will understand it better when I come to the
individual. Out of this _Mahat_ comes the universal egoism, and these
are both material. There is no difference between matter and mind
save in degree. It is the same substance in finer or grosser form;
one changes into the other, and this will exactly coincide with the
modern physiological research, and it will save you from a great deal
of fighting and struggling to believe that you have a mind separate
from the brain, and all such impossible things. This substance called
_Mahat_ changes into the material egoism, the fine state of matter,
and that egoism changes into two varieties. In one variety it changes
into the organs. Organs are of two kinds--organs of sensation and
organs of reaction. They are not the eyes or nose, but something finer,
what you call brain centres, and nerve centres. This egoism becomes
changed, and out of this material are manufactured these centres and
these nerves. Out of the same substance, the egoism, is manufactured a
yet finer form, the _tanmâtras_, fine particles of matter, those for
instance which strike your nose and cause you to smell. You cannot
perceive these fine particles, you can only know that they are there.
These _tanmâtras_ are manufactured out of that egoism, and out of
these _tanmâtras_, or subtle matter, is manufactured the gross matter,
air, water, earth, and all the things that we see and feel. I want
to impress this on your mind. It is very hard to grasp it, because,
in Western countries, the ideas are so queer about mind and matter.
It is hard to take these impressions out of our brains. I myself had
a tremendous difficulty, being educated in Western philosophy in
my childhood. These are all cosmic things. Think of this universal
extension of matter, unbroken, one substance, undifferentiated, which
is the first state of everything, and which begins to change just as
milk becomes curd, and it is changed into another substance called
_Mahat_, which in one state manifests as intelligence and in another
state as egoism. It is the same substance, and it changes into the
grosser matter called egoism; thus is the whole universe itself
built, as it were, layer after layer; first undifferentiated Nature
(_Avyaktam_), and that changes into universal intelligence (_Mahat_),
and that again is changed into universal egoism (_Ahamkâra_), and
that changes into universal sensible matter. That matter changes into
universal sense-organs, again changes into universal fine particles,
and these in turn combine and become this gross universe. This is the
cosmic plan, according to the _Sânkhyas_, and what is in the cosmos or
macrocosm, must be in the individual or microcosm.

Take an individual man. He has first a part of undifferentiated
nature in him, and that material nature in him becomes changed into
_mahat_, a small particle of the universal intelligence, and that
small particle of the universal intelligence in him becomes changed
into egoism--a particle of the universal egoism. This egoism in turn
becomes changed into the sense-organs, and out of these sense-organs
come the _tanmâtras_, and out of them he combines and manufactures his
world, as a body. I want this to be clear, because it is the first
stepping stone to Vedânta, and it is absolutely necessary for you to
know, because this is the philosophy of the whole world. There is no
philosophy in the world that is not indebted to Kapila, the founder
of this _Sânkhya_ system. Pythagoras came to India and studied his
philosophy and carried some of these ideas to the Greeks. Later it
formed the Alexandrian school, and still later formed the basis of
Gnostic philosophy. It became divided into two parts; one went to
Europe and Alexandria, and the other remained in India, and became the
basis of all Hindu philosophy, for out of it the system of Vyâsa was
developed. This was the first rational system that the world saw, this
system of Kapila. Every metaphysician in the world must pay homage
to him. I want to impress on your mind that as the great father of
philosophy, we are bound to listen to him, and respect what he said.
This wonderful man, most ancient of philosophers, is mentioned even
in the Vedas. How wonderful his perceptions were! If there is any
proof required of the power of the Yogis to perceive things beyond the
range of the ordinary senses, such men are the proofs. How could they
perceive them? They had no microscopes, or telescopes. How fine their
perception was, how perfect their analysis and how wonderful!

To revert again to the microcosm, man. As we have seen, he is
built on exactly the same plan. First the nature is “indiscrete”
or perfectly balanced, then it becomes disturbed, and action sets
in and the first change produced by that action is what is called
_mahat_,--intelligence. Now you see this intelligence in man is just
a particle of the cosmic intelligence,--the _Mahat_. Out of it comes
self-consciousness, and from this the sensory and the motor nerves,
and the finer particles out of which the gross body is manufactured.
I will here remark that there is one difference between Schopenhauer
and Vedânta. Schopenhauer says the desire, or will, is the cause of
everything. It is the will to exist that makes us manifest, but the
Advaitists deny this. They say it is the intelligence. There cannot be
a single particle of will which is not a reaction. So many things are
beyond will. It is only a manufactured something out of the ego, and
the ego is a product of something still higher, the intelligence, and
that is a modification of “indiscrete” Nature, or _Prakriti_.

It is very important to understand this _mahat_ in man,--the
intelligence. This intelligence itself is modified into what we call
egoism, and this intelligence is the cause of all these motions in the
body. This covers all the grounds of sub-consciousness, consciousness
and super-consciousness. What are these three states? The sub-conscious
state we find in animals, what we call instinct. This is nearly
infallible, but very limited. Instinct almost never fails. An animal
instinctively knows a poisonous herb from an edible one, but its
instinct is limited to one or two things; it works like a machine. Then
comes the higher state of knowledge, which is fallible, makes mistakes
often, but has a larger scope, although it is slow, and this you call
reason. It is much larger than instinct, but there are more dangers of
mistake in reasoning than in instinct. There is a still higher state
of the mind, the super-conscious, which belongs only to the Yogis,
men who have cultivated it. This is as infallible as instinct, and
still more unlimited than reason. It is the highest state. We must
remember that in man this _mahat_ is the real cause of all that is
here, that which is manifesting itself in various ways, covers the
whole ground of sub-conscious, conscious and super-conscious states,
the three states in which knowledge exists. So in the Cosmos, this
universal Intelligence, _Mahat_, exists as instinct, as reason, and as
super-reason.

Now comes a delicate question, which is always being asked. If a
perfect God created the universe, why is there imperfection in it?
What we call the universe is what we see, and that is only this little
plane of consciousness or reason, and beyond that we do not see at all.
Now the very question is an impossible one. If I take up only a bit
out of a mass and look at it, it seems to be imperfect. Naturally. The
universe seems imperfect because we make it so. How? What is reason?
What is knowledge? Knowledge is finding associations. You go into the
street and see a man, and know it is a man. You have seen many men, and
each one has made an impression on your mind, and when you now see this
man, you calmly refer to your store of impressions, see many pictures
of men there, and you put this new one with the rest, pigeon-hole it
and are satisfied. When a new impression comes and it has associations
in your mind, you are satisfied, and this state of association is
called knowledge. Knowledge is, therefore, pigeon-holing one experience
with the already existing fund of experience, and this is one of the
great proofs that you cannot have any knowledge until you have already
a fund in existence. If you are without experience, or if, as some
European philosophers think, the mind is a _tabula rasa_, it cannot get
any knowledge, because the very fact of knowledge is the recognition
of the new by comparison with already existing impressions. There must
be a store ready to which to refer a new impression. Suppose a child
is born into this world without such a fund, it would be impossible
for him to get any knowledge. Therefore the child must have been in a
state in which he had a fund, and so knowledge is eternally going on.
Show me any way of getting out of this. It is mathematical experience.
This is very much like the Spencerian and other philosophies. They
have seen so far that there cannot be any knowledge without a fund of
past knowledge. They have drawn out the idea that the child is born
with knowledge. They say that the cause has entered the effect. It
comes in a subtle form in order to be developed. These philosophers say
that these impressions with which the child comes, are not from the
child’s own past, but were in his forefathers’; that it is hereditary
transmission. Very soon they are going to find this theory untenable,
and some of them are now giving hard blows to these ideas of heredity.
Heredity is very good, but incomplete. It only explains the physical
side. How do you explain the influence of environment? Many causes
produce one effect. Environment is one of the modifying causes. On the
other hand we in turn make our own environment, because as our past
was, so we find our present. In other words, we are what we are here
and now, because of what we have been in the past.

You understand what is meant by knowledge. Knowledge is pigeon-holing
a new impression with old impressions--recognizing a new impression.
What is meant by recognition? Finding its association with the
similar impressions that we already have. Nothing further is meant by
knowledge. If that be the case, it must be that we have to see the
whole series of similars. Is it not? Suppose you take a pebble; to find
the association, you have to see the whole series of pebbles similar to
it. But with the universe we cannot do that, because in our reasoning
we can only go after one perception of our universe, and neither see on
this side nor on that side, and we cannot refer it to its association.
Therefore the universe seems unintelligible, because knowledge and
reason are always finding associations. This bit of the universe cut
off by our consciousness is a startling new thing, and we have not been
able to find its associations. Therefore we are struggling with it, and
thinking it is so horrible, so wicked, and bad;--sometimes we think it
is good, but generally we think it is imperfect. The universe will be
known only when we find the associations. We shall recognize them when
we go beyond the universe and consciousness, and then the universe will
stand explained. Until we do that all our fruitless striving will never
explain the universe, because knowledge is the finding of similars,
and this conscious plane gives us only a partial view. So with our
idea of the universal _Mahat_, or what in our ordinary everyday
language we call God. All that we have of God is only one perception,
just as of the universe we see only one portion, and all the rest is
cut off and covered by our human limitation. “I, the Universal, so
great am I that even this universe is a part of me.” That is why we
see God as imperfect, and we can never understand Him, because it is
impossible. The only way to understand is to go beyond reason, beyond
consciousness. “When thou goest beyond the heard and hearing, the
thought and thinking, then alone wilt thou come to truth.” (Bhagavad
Gita II. 52.) “Go thou beyond the Scriptures, because they teach only
up to Nature, up to the three qualities.” (Gita II. 45.) When we go
beyond them we find the harmony, not before.

So far it is clear that this macrocosm and microcosm are built on
exactly the same plan, and in this microcosm we know only one very
small part. We know neither the sub-conscious, nor the super-conscious.
We know only the conscious. If a man says “I am a sinner,” he is
foolish, because he does not know himself. He is the most ignorant
of men about himself; one part only he knows, because the fact of
knowledge covers only one part of the “mind-ground” he is in. So with
this universe; it is possible to know only one part through reasoning,
but Nature comprises the whole of it, the sub-conscious, the conscious
and the super-conscious, the individual _mahat_ and the universal
_Mahat_ with all their subsequent modifications, and these lie beyond
reason.

What makes nature change? We see that Up to this point everything,
all _Prakriti_, is _jadâ_ (insentient). It is working under law; it
is all compound and insentient. Mind, intelligence, and will, all are
insentient. But they are all reflecting the sentiency, the _Chit_
(Intelligence) of some Being who is beyond all this, and whom the
Sânkhya philosophers call _Purusha_. This _Purusha_ is the unwitting
cause of all these changes in Nature--in the universe. That is to
say, this _Purusha_, taking Him in the universal sense, is the God
of the universe. It is claimed that the will of the Lord created the
universe. This is very good as a common daily expression, but that is
all. How could it be will? Will is the third or fourth manifestation
in Nature. Many things exist before it, and what created _them_? Will
is a compound, and everything that is a compound is a production out
of Nature. Will itself cannot create Nature. It is not a simple. So
to say that the will of the Lord created the universe is illogical.
Our will only covers a little portion of self-consciousness, and moves
our brain, they say. If it did you could stop the action of the brain,
but you cannot. It is not the will. Who moves the heart? It is not
the will, because if it were you could stop it or not at your will.
It is neither will that is working your body, nor that is working
the universe. But it is something of which will itself is one of the
manifestations. This body is being moved by the power of which will is
only a manifestation in one part. So in the universe there is will,
but that is only one part of the universe. The whole of the universe
is not guided by will, that is why we do not find the explanation in
will. Suppose I take it for granted that the will is moving the body,
and then I begin to fret and fume. It is my fault, because I had no
right to take it for granted that it was will. In the same way, if I
take the universe and think it is will that moves it and then find
things that do not coincide, it is my fault. This _Purusha_ is not
will, neither can it be intelligence, because intelligence itself is a
compound. There cannot be any intelligence without some sort of matter.
In man, this matter takes the form which we call brain. Wherever there
is intelligence there must be matter in some form or other. But that
intelligence itself is a compound. What then is this _Purusha_? It
is neither intelligence nor _buddhi_ (will), but yet it is the cause
of both these; it is His presence that sets them all vibrating and
combining. _Purusha_ may be likened to some of these substances which
by their mere presence promote chemical reaction, as in the case of
cyanide of potassium which is added when gold is being smelted. The
cyanide of potassium remains separate and unaffected, but its presence
is absolutely necessary to the success of the process. So with the
_Purusha_. It does not mix with Nature: it is not Intelligence, or
_Mahat_, or any one of these, but the Self, the Pure, the Perfect. “I
am the Witness, and through My witnessing, Nature is producing all
that is sentient and all that is insentient.” (Gita IX. 10.)

What is this sentiency in Nature? The basis of sentiency is in the
_Purusha_, is the nature of the _Purusha_. It is that which cannot be
spoken, but which is the material of all that we call knowledge. This
_Purusha_ is not consciousness, because consciousness is a compound,
but whatever is light and goodness in this consciousness belongs to It.
Sentiency is in the _Purusha_, but the _Purusha_ is not intelligent,
not knowing, it is knowledge itself. The _Chit_ in the _Purusha_, plus
_Prakriti_, is what is known to us as intelligence and consciousness.
Whatever is pleasure and happiness and light in the universe belongs
to the _Purusha_, but it is a compound because it is that _Purusha_
plus Nature. “Wherever there is any happiness, wherever there is any
bliss, there is one spark of that immortality, which is _Purusha_.”
This _Purusha_ is the great attraction of the universe, untouched by,
and unconnected with the universe, yet it attracts the whole universe.
You see a man going after gold, because therein is a spark of the
_Purusha_, even though he knows it not. When a man desires children,
or a woman a husband, what is the attracting power? That spark of
_Purusha_ behind the child or wife, behind everything. It is there,
only overlaid with matter. Nothing else can attract. “In this world of
insentiency that _Purusha_ alone is sentient.” This is the _Purusha_
of the _Sânkhyas_. As such it necessarily follows that this _Purusha_
must be omnipresent. That which is not omnipresent must be limited.
All limitations are caused; that which is caused must have beginning
and end. If the _Purusha_ is limited it will die, will not be final,
will not be free, but will have been caused. Therefore if not limited,
it is omnipresent. According to Kapila there are many _Purushas_, not
one. An infinite number of them, you are one, I am one, each is one;
an infinite number of circles, each one infinite, running through this
universe. The _Purusha_ is neither born nor dies. It is neither mind
nor matter, and the reflex from it is all that we know. We are sure if
it be omnipresent it knows neither death nor birth. Nature is casting
her shadow upon it, the shadow of birth and death, but it is by its own
nature eternal. So far we have found the theory of Kapila wonderful.

Next we will have to take up the proofs against it. So far the
analysis is perfect, the psychology cannot be controverted. There is
no objection to it. We will ask of Kapila the question: Who created
Nature? and his answer will be that Nature (_Prakriti_) is uncreate.
He also says that the _Purusha_ is omnipresent and that of these
_Purushas_ there is an infinite number. We shall have to controvert
this last proposition, and find a better solution, and by so doing we
shall come to the ground taken by Vedânta. Our first doubt will be how
there can be these two infinites. Then our argument will be that it is
not a perfect generalization, and that therefore we have not found a
perfect solution. And then we shall see how the Vedantists find their
way out of all these difficulties and reach a perfect solution. Yet all
the glory really belongs to Kapila. It is very easy to give a finish to
a building that is nearly complete.




III

SÂNKHYA AND ADVAITA


I will give you first a _resumé_ of the _Sânkhya_ philosophy, through
which we have been going, because in this lecture we want to find where
its defects are, and where Vedânta comes in as supplementary to these
defects. You must remember that according to the _Sânkhya_ philosophy,
Nature is causing all these manifestations which we call thought and
intellect, reason, love, hatred, touch, taste; that everything is
from Nature. This Nature consists of three sorts of elements, one
called _Sattva_, another _Rajas_, and the third _Tamas_. These are not
qualities, but the materials out of which the whole universe is being
evolved, and at the beginning of a cycle they remain in equilibrium.
When creation comes this equilibrium is disturbed and these elements
begin to combine and recombine, and manifest as the universe. The
first manifestation of this is what the _Sânkhya_ calls the _Mahat_
(universal Intelligence), and out of that comes consciousness. And
out of consciousness is evolved _Manas_ (universal Mind). Out of this
consciousness are also evolved the organs of the senses, and the
_tanmâtras_,--sound particles, touch particles, taste particles, and
so forth. All fine particles are evolved from this consciousness, and
out of these fine particles come the gross particles which we call
matter. After the _tanmâtras_ (those particles which cannot be seen,
or measured) come the gross particles which we can feel and sense.
The _chitta_ (“mind-stuff”) in its three-fold functions of intellect,
consciousness and mind, is working and manufacturing the forces
called _prânas_. These _prânas_ have nothing to do with breath, you
must at once get rid of that idea. Breath is one effect of the Prâna
(universal Energy). By these _prânas_ are meant the nervous forces
that are governing and moving the whole body, which are manifesting
themselves as thought, and as the various functions of the body. The
foremost and the most obvious manifestation of these _prânas_ is the
breathing motion. If it were caused by air, a dead man would breathe.
The _prâna_ acts upon the air, and not air upon it. These _prânas_ are
the vital forces which manipulate the whole body, and they in turn are
manipulated by the mind and the _indriyas_ (the two kinds of organs).
So far so good. The psychology is very clear and most precise, and
just think of the age of it, the oldest rational thought in the world!
Wherever there is any philosophy or rational thought, it owes something
to Kapila. Wherever there is any attempt at psychology, or philosophy,
there is some indebtedness to the great father of this thought, to this
man Kapila.

So far we see that this psychology is wonderful, but we shall have to
differ with it on some points, as we go on. We find that the principal
idea on which Kapila works is evolution. He makes one thing evolve out
of another, because his very definition of causation is “the effect is
the cause reproduced in another form,” and because the whole universe,
so far as we see it, is progressive and evolving. This whole universe
must have evolved out of some material, out of _Prakriti_ or Nature.
Therefore this Nature cannot be essentially different from its cause,
only when it takes form it becomes limited. The material itself is
without form. But according to Kapila, from undifferentiated nature
down to the last stage of differentiation, none of these is the same as
_Purusha_, the “Enjoyer,” or “Enlightener.” Just as a lump of clay, so
is a mass of mind, or the whole universe. By itself it has no light,
but we find reason and intelligence in it, therefore there must be
some Existence behind it, behind the whole of Nature, whose light is
percolating through it and appearing as _Mahat_ and consciousness and
all these various things, and this Existence is what Kapila calls the
_Purusha_, the _Âtman_ or Self of the Vedantist. According to Kapila,
the _Purusha_ is a _simple_ factor, not a compound. It is immaterial,
the only one that is immaterial, whereas all the various manifestations
are material. The _Purusha_ alone knows. Suppose I see a blackboard,
first the external instruments will bring that sensation to the organ
(to the _indriya_ according to Kapila), from the organ it will go
to the mind and make an impression; the mind will cover it up with
another factor,--consciousness, and will present it to the _buddhi_
(intelligence), but _buddhi_ cannot act; it is the _Purusha_ behind
that acts. These are all its servants, bringing the sensation to It,
and It gives the orders, and the _buddhi_ reacts. The _Purusha_ is the
Enjoyer, the Perceiver, the real One, the King on his throne, the Self
of man, and It is immaterial. Because It is immaterial, it necessarily
follows that It must be infinite, It cannot have any limitation
whatever. So each one of these _purushas_ is omnipresent, each is
all-pervading, but can act only through fine and gross manifestations
of matter. The mind, the self-consciousness, the organs and the vital
forces compose what is called the fine body, or what in Christian
philosophy is called the “spiritual body” of man. It is this body that
comes to reward or punishment, that goes to the different heavens; that
incarnates and reincarnates; because we see from the very beginning
that the going and coming of the soul (_Purusha_) is impossible.
Motion means going and coming, and that which goes from one place to
another cannot be omnipresent. It is this _linga-sarira_ (subtle body)
which comes and goes. Thus far we see from Kapila’s psychology that
the soul is infinite, and that the soul is the only principle that
is not an evolution of Nature. It is the only one that is outside
of Nature, but It has apparently got bound by Nature. This Nature is
around the _Purusha_ and It has identified Itself with Nature. It
thinks “I am the _linga-sarira_,” It thinks “I am the gross matter,
the gross body,” and as such is enjoying pleasure and pain; but these
do not really belong to the soul, they belong to this _linga-sarira_,
and to the gross body. When certain nerves are hurt we feel pain. We
recognize that immediately. If the nerves in our fingers were dead we
could cut the fingers and not feel it. So pleasure and pain belong to
the nerve-centres. Suppose my organ of sight is destroyed, I do not
feel pleasure or pain from color, although my eyes are there. So it is
obvious that pleasure and pain do not belong to the soul. They belong
to the mind and the body.

The soul has neither pleasure nor pain; it is the Witness of
everything, the eternal Witness of things that are going on, but it
takes no fruits from any work. “As the sun is the cause of sight in
every eye, yet is not itself affected by the defects in any eye; as a
piece of crystal appears red when red flowers are placed before it,
so this _Purusha_ appears to be affected by pleasure or pain from the
reflection cast upon It by Nature, but it remains ever unchanged.”
The nearest way to describe Its state is that it is meditation.
This meditative state is that in which you approach nearest to the
_Purusha_. Thus we see why the meditative state is always called the
highest state by the _Yogi_, neither a passive nor an active state, but
the meditative state. This is the _Sânkhya_ philosophy.

Next, the _Sânkhyas_ say that this manifestation of Nature is for the
soul, all the combinations are for something outside of Nature. So
these combinations which we call Nature, these constant changes are
going on for the enjoyment of the soul, for its liberation, that it
may gain all this experience from the lowest to the highest, and when
it has gained it, the soul finds that it never was in Nature. It was
entirely separate, and it finds that it is indestructible, that it
neither goes nor comes, that going to heaven and being born again were
in Nature and not in the soul. So the soul becomes free. All of Nature
is working for the enjoyment and experience of the soul. It is getting
this experience in order to reach the goal, and that goal is freedom.
These souls are many, according to the _Sânkhya_ philosophy. There is
an infinite number of souls. And the other conclusion is that there is
no God, as the Creator of the universe. Nature herself is sufficient to
produce all these forms. God is not necessary, say the _Sânkhyas_.

Now we shall have to contest these three positions of the _Sânkhyas_.
First that intelligence or anything of that sort does not belong to the
soul, but that it belongs entirely to Nature; the soul being simply
qualitiless, colorless. The second point is that there is no God, but
Vedânta will show that without a God there cannot be any explanation
whatever. Thirdly, we shall have to contend that there cannot be many
souls, that there cannot be an infinite number, that there is only One
Soul in the universe, and that One is appearing as many.

We will take the first proposition, that intelligence and reason belong
entirely to Nature, and not to the soul. The Vedânta says that the
soul is in its essence Existence-Knowledge-Bliss; but we agree with
the _Sânkhyas_ that all that they call intelligence is a compound. For
instance, let us look at our perceptions. We remember that the _chitta_
(or the “mind-stuff”) is what is combining all these things, and upon
which all these impressions are made, and from which reactions come.
Suppose there is something outside. I see the blackboard. How does the
knowledge come? The blackboard itself is unknown, I can never know it.
It is what the German philosophers call the “thing in itself.” That
blackboard, that “X,” is acting on my mind, and the _chitta_ reacts.
The _chitta_ is like a lake; throw a stone upon it, and as soon as the
stone strikes it a reactionary wave comes towards the stone. This wave
is what you really know. And this wave is not like the stone at all, it
is a wave. So that blackboard, “X,” is the stone which strikes the mind
and the mind throws up a wave towards that object which strikes it, and
this wave which is thrown towards it is what we call the blackboard.
I see you. You as reality are unknown and unknowable. You are “X” and
you act upon my mind, and the mind throws a wave towards the point
from which the action came, and that wave is what I call Mr. or Mrs.
So-and-So.

There are two elements in this, one from inside and the other from
outside, and the combination of these two, “X” plus mind, is our
external universe. All knowledge is by reaction. In the case of a
whale it has been determined by calculation how long after its tail
is struck, its mind reacts upon the tail and the tail feels the pain.
Take the case of the pearl oyster, in which the pearl is formed by the
oyster throwing its own juice around the grain of sand that enters the
shell and irritates him. There are two things which cause the pearl.
First the oyster’s own juice, and second the blow from outside. So this
table is “X” plus my mind. The very attempt to know it will be made by
the mind; therefore the mind will give some of its own substance to
enable it to understand, and when we understand it, it has become a
compound thing,--“X” plus the mind. Similarly in internal perception;
when we want to know ourselves. The real Self, which is within us, is
also unknown and unknowable. Let us call it “Y.” When I want to know
myself as Mr. So-and-So it is “Y” plus the mind. That “Y” strikes a
blow on the mind, and when I want to know myself I must throw a blow
upon the mind also. So our whole world is “X” plus mind (the external
world), and “Y” plus mind (the internal world). We shall see later how
this Advaitist idea can be demonstrated mathematically.

“X” and “Y” are simply the algebraic unknown quantities. We have seen
that all knowledge is a combination, and this world, the universe, is
a combination, and intelligence is similarly a combination. If it is
internal intelligence it is “Y” plus the mind, if an external object,
it is “X” plus the mind. Knowledge is a combination of “Y” plus the
mind and matter is a combination of “X” plus the mind. We first take
the internal group. Intelligence which we see in Nature cannot be
wholly in Nature, because intelligence itself is a compound of “Y”
plus the mind. “Y” comes from the Self. So the intelligence that we
know is a compound of the power of the light of the soul plus nature.
Similarly, the existence which we know must be a compound of “X” plus
the mind. We find therefore that in these three factors, I exist, I
know and I am blessed, the idea that I have no want, which comes from
time to time, is the central idea, the grand basic idea of our life,
and when it becomes limited, and becomes a compound, we think it
happiness and misery. These factors manifest as existence phenomenal,
knowledge phenomenal, and love phenomenal. Every man exists, and every
man must know, and every man is made for bliss. He cannot help it.
So through all existence; animals and plants, from the lowest to the
highest existence, all must love. You may not call it love; but they
must all exist, must all know and must all love. So this existence
which we know is a compound of “X” and the mind, and knowledge also
is a compound of that “Y” inside plus mind, and that love also is a
compound of that “Y” and mind. Therefore these three factors which come
from inside and are combining themselves with the external things to
manufacture phenomenal existence, knowledge and love, are called by
the Vedantists “Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute.”

That Absolute Existence which is limitless, which is unmixed,
uncombined, which knows no change, is the free soul, and that Real
Existence, when it gets mixed up, muddled up, as it were, with the
elements of Nature is what we call human existence. It is limited and
manifests as plant life, animal life, human life, just as infinite
space is apparently limited by the walls of this room, or by any other
enclosure. That Knowledge Absolute means not the knowledge we know, not
intelligence, not reason, not instinct, but that which when it becomes
manifested we call by these names. When that Knowledge Absolute becomes
limited we call it intuition, and when it becomes still more limited we
call it reason, instinct, etc. That Knowledge Absolute is _Vijnâna_.
The nearest translation of it is “all-knowingness.” There is no
combination in it. It is the nature of the soul. That Bliss Absolute
when it becomes limited we call love, attraction for the gross body, or
the fine bodies, or for ideas. These are but distorted manifestations
of this blessedness which is not a quality of the soul, but the
essence, the inherent nature of the soul. Absolute Existence, Absolute
Knowledge, and Absolute Blessedness are not qualities of the soul, but
its essence; there is no difference between them and the soul. And the
three are one; we see the one thing in three different lights. They
are beyond all knowledge and by their reflection Nature appears to be
intelligent.

It is that eternal Knowledge Absolute of the Self percolating through
the mind of man that becomes our reason and intelligence. It varies
according to the medium through which it is shining. There is no
difference as soul between me and the lowest animal, only his brain
is a poorer medium through which the knowledge shines, and we call it
instinct. In man the brain is much finer, so the manifestation is
much clearer, and in the highest man it has become entirely clear,
like a piece of glass. So with existence; this existence which we
know, this limited bit of existence is simply a reflection of that
Existence Absolute which is the nature of the soul. So with bliss;
that which we call love or attraction is but the reflection of the
eternal blessedness of the Self, because with these manifestations come
limitations, but the unmanifested, the natural, essential existence
of the soul is unlimited, to that blessedness there can be no limit.
But in human love there are limitations. I may love you one day, I
may cease to love you the next. My love increases one day, decreases
the next, because it is only a limited manifestation. The first thing
therefore that we find against Kapila is that he conceives the soul
to be a mere qualitiless, colorless, inactive something. Vedânta
teaches that it is the essence of all Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss;
infinitely higher than all knowledge that we know, infinitely more
blessed than any human love that we can think of, infinitely existing.
The soul never dies. Death and birth are simply unthinkable in
connection with the Self, because it is Existence Absolute.

The second point where we will contend with Kapila is with regard to
his idea of God. Just as this series of limited manifestations of
Nature, beginning with the individual intellect and ending with the
individual body, requires the Self behind as the ruler and governor
on the throne, so in the Cosmos, we must enquire what the universal
Intelligence, the universal Mind, the universal fine and gross
materials have as their ruler and governor? How will that series
become complete without one universal Self behind it as its ruler and
governor? If we deny that there is a universal governor, we must deny
there is a soul behind the lesser series, because the whole universe is
a repetition of the same plan. When we know one lump of clay we know
the nature of all clay. If we can analyze one human being, we shall
have analyzed the whole universe, because it is all built on the same
plan. Therefore if it be true that behind this individual series there
stands one who is beyond all nature, who is not composed of materials,
the _purusha_, the very same logic will apply to this universe, and
this universe too will require such a Soul. The Universal Soul which is
behind the modifications of Nature is called by Vedânta _Isvara_, the
Supreme Ruler, God.

Now comes the more difficult point to fight. There can be but one
Soul. To begin with, we can give the _Sânkhyas_ a good blow by taking
up their theories and proving that each soul must be omnipresent,
because it is not composed of anything. Everything that is limited
must be limited by something else. Here is the existence of the table.
Its existence is circumscribed by many things, and we find that every
limitation presupposes some limiting thing. If we think of space,
we have to think of it as a little circle, but beyond that is more
space. We cannot imagine a limited space in any other way. It can only
be understood and perceived through the infinite. To perceive the
finite, in every case we must apprehend the infinite; both stand or
fall together. When you think of time, you have also to think of time
beyond any particular period of time. The latter is limited time and
the larger is unlimited time. Wherever you endeavor to perceive the
finite, you will find it impossible to separate it from the infinite.
If this be the case, we shall prove thereby that this Self must be
infinite, omnipresent. Then comes a fine question. Can the omnipresent,
the infinite be two? Suppose there are two infinites, one will limit
the other. Suppose there are two infinites,--A and B; the infinite
“A” limits the infinite “B,” because the infinite “B” you can say is
not the infinite “A,” and the infinite “A” it can be said is not the
infinite “B.” Therefore there can be but one infinite. Secondly, the
infinite cannot be divided. Infinity divided into any number of parts
must still be infinity, for it cannot be separated from itself. Suppose
there is an infinite ocean of water, could you take up one drop from
there? If you could, that ocean would no longer be infinite, that drop
would limit it. The infinite cannot be divided by any means.

But there are stronger proofs that the Self is One. Not only so, but
that the whole universe is one. We will once more take up our “X”
and “Y”. We have shown how what we call the external world is “X”
plus mind, and the internal world “Y” plus mind. “X” and “Y” are both
unknown quantities, unknown and unknowable. What is the mind? The
mind is the “time, space and causation.” This idea is the nature of
the mind. You can never think without time, you can never conceive of
anything without space, and you can never imagine anything without
causation. These three are the forms in which both “X” and “Y” are
caught, and which become the mind. Beyond that there is nothing to
the mind. Take off these three forms which of themselves do not
exist,--what remains? It is all one; “X” and “Y” are one. It is only
this mind, this form, that has limited them apparently, and made them
differ as internal and external world. “X” and “Y” are both unknown and
unknowable. We cannot attribute any quality to them. As such they are
both the same. That which is qualitiless and attributeless and absolute
must be one. There cannot be two absolutes. When there are no qualities
there can be only One. “X” and “Y” are both without qualities because
they take qualities only in the mind, therefore this “X” and “Y” are
one.

The whole universe is One. There is only One Self in the universe, only
One Existence, and that One Existence, when it is passing through the
forms of time, space and causation, is called _buddhi_, fine matter,
gross matter, etc. All physical and mental forms, everything in the
universe is that One, appearing in various ways. When a little bit of
it gets into this network of time, space and causation, it apparently
takes forms; remove the network and it is all One. This whole universe
is all one, and is called in the Advaitist philosophy _Brahman_.
_Brahman_ appearing behind the universe is called God; appearing behind
the little universe--the microcosm, is the soul. This very “Self” or
Âtman therefore is God in man. There is only one _Purusha_, and He
is called God, and when God and man are analyzed they are one. The
universe is you yourself, the unbroken you; you are throughout this
universe. “In all hands you work, through all mouths you eat, through
all nostrils you breathe, through all minds you think.” The whole
universe is you; this universe is your body; you are the universe, both
formed and unformed. You are the soul of the universe, its body also.
You are God, you are the angels, you are man, you are the animals,
you are the plants, you are the minerals, you are everything; all
manifestation is you. Whatever exists is you--the _real_ “You”--the one
undivided Self--not the little, limited personality that you have been
regarding as yourself.

The question now arises,--how have you, that Infinite Being, broken
into parts, become Mr. So-and-So, and the animals and so on? The answer
is that all this division is only apparent. We know that the infinite
cannot be divided, therefore this idea that you are a part has no
reality, and never will have: and this idea that you are Mr. So-and-So
was never true at any time; it is but a dream. Know this and be free.
That is the Advaitist conclusion. “I am neither the mind, nor the body,
nor am I the organs; I am Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; I am He,
I am He,” This is knowledge, and everything besides this is ignorance.
Everything that is, is but ignorance, the result of ignorance. Where is
knowledge for me, for I am knowledge itself! Where is life for me, for
I am life itself! Life is a secondary manifestation of my nature. I am
sure I live, for I am life, the one Being, and nothing exists except
through me, and in me, and as me. I am manifested through elements,
but I am the one free. Who seeks freedom? Nobody seeks freedom. If you
think that you are bound, you remain bound; you make your own bondage.
If you realize that you are free, you are free this moment. This is
knowledge, knowledge of freedom. Freedom is the goal of all Nature.




IV

THE FREE SOUL


We have seen that the analysis of the _Sânkhyas_ stops with the duality
of existence, Nature and souls. There are an infinite number of souls,
which, being simple, cannot die, and must therefore be separate from
Nature. Nature in itself changes and manifests all these phenomena,
and the soul, according to the _Sânkhyas_ is inactive. It is a simple
by itself, and Nature works out all these phenomena for the liberation
of the soul, and liberation consists in the soul discriminating that
it is not Nature. At the same time we have seen that the _Sânkhyas_
were bound to admit that every soul was omnipresent. Being a simple the
soul cannot be limited, because all limitation comes either through
time, space, or causation. The soul being entirely beyond these cannot
have any limitation. To have limitation one must be in space, which
means the body, and that which is body must be in Nature. If the soul
had form, it would be identified with Nature; therefore the soul is
formless, and that which is formless cannot be said to exist here,
there, or anywhere. It must be omnipresent. Beyond this the _Sânkhya_
philosophy does not go.

The first argument of the Vedantists against this is that this analysis
is not a perfect one. If this Nature be a simple, and the soul is also
a simple, there will be two simples, and all the arguments that apply
in the case of the soul to show that it is omnipresent, will apply in
the case of Nature, and Nature too will be beyond all time, space, and
causation, and as the result there will be no change or manifestation.
Then will come the difficulty of having two simples, or two absolutes,
which is impossible. What is the solution of the Vedantist? His
solution is that, just as the _Sânkhyas_ say, it requires some sentient
being as the motive power behind, which makes the mind think and Nature
work, because Nature in all its modifications, from gross matter up to
_Mahat_ (Intelligence) is simply insentient. Now, says the Vedantist,
this sentient being which is behind the whole universe is what we
call _God_, and consequently this universe is not different from Him.
It is He Himself who has become this universe. He not only is the
instrumental cause of this universe, but also the material cause. Cause
is never different from effect, the effect is but the cause reproduced
in another form. We see that every day. So this Being is the cause
of Nature. All the forms and phases of Vedânta, either dualistic, or
qualified-monistic, or monistic, first take this position,--that God
is not only the instrumental but also the efficient cause of this
universe, that everything which exists is He. The second step in
Vedânta is that these souls are also a part of God, one spark of that
Infinite Fire. “As from a mass of fire millions of small particles
fly, even so from this Ancient One have come all these souls.” So far
so good, but it does not yet satisfy. What is meant by a part of the
Infinite? The Infinite is indivisible; there cannot be parts of the
Infinite. The Absolute cannot be divided. What is meant therefore
that all these sparks are from Him? The Advaitist, the non-dualistic
Vedantist, solves the problem by maintaining that there is really no
part; that each soul is really not a part of the Infinite, but actually
_is_ the Infinite _Brahman_. Then how can there be so many? The sun
reflected from millions of globules of water appears to be millions
of suns, and in each globule is a miniature picture of the sun-form;
so all these souls are but reflections and not real. They are not the
real “I” which is the God of this universe, the one undivided Being of
the universe. And all these little different beings, men and animals,
etc., are but reflections, and not real. They are simply illusory
reflections upon Nature. There is but one Infinite Being in the
universe, and that Being appears as you and as I, but this appearance
of division is after all delusion. He has not been divided, but only
appears to be divided. This apparent division is caused by looking at
Him through the network of time, space, and causation. When I look at
God through the network of time, space, and causation, I see Him as
the material world. When I look at Him from a little higher plane,
yet through the same network, I see Him as an animal, a little higher
as a man, a little higher as a god, but yet He is the One Infinite
Being of the universe, and that Being we are. I am That, and you are
That. Not parts of It, but the whole of It. “It is the Eternal Knower
standing behind the whole phenomena; He Himself is the phenomena.” He
is both the subject and the object, He is the “I” and the “You.” How
is this? “How to know the knower?” The Knower cannot know himself.
I see everything but cannot see myself. The Self, the Knower, the
Lord of all, the Real Being, is the cause of all the vision that is
in the universe, but it is impossible for Him to see Himself or know
Himself, excepting through reflection. You cannot see your own face
excepting in a mirror, and so the Self cannot see its own nature until
it is reflected, and this whole universe therefore is the Self trying
to realize Itself. This reflection is thrown back first from the
protoplasm, then from plants and animals, and so on and on from better
and better reflectors, until the best reflector,--the perfect man,--is
reached. Just as a man who, wanting to see his face, looks first in a
little pool of muddy water, and sees just an outline. Then he comes
to clearer water, and sees a better image, then to a piece of shining
metal, and sees a still better image, and at last to a looking-glass,
and sees himself reflected as he is. Therefore the perfect man is the
highest reflection of that Being, who is both subject and object. You
now find why man instinctively worships everything, and how perfect men
are instinctively worshipped as God in every country. You may talk as
you like, but it is they who are bound to be worshipped. That is why
men worship Incarnations, such as Christ or Buddha. They are the most
perfect manifestations of the eternal Self. They are much higher than
all the conceptions of God that you or I can make. A perfect man is
much higher than such conceptions. In him the circle becomes complete;
the subject and the object become one. In him all delusions go away
and in their place comes the realization that he has always been that
perfect Being. How came this bondage then? How was it possible for this
perfect Being to degenerate into the imperfect? How was it possible
that the free became bound? The _Advaitist_ says he was never bound,
but was always free. Various clouds of various colors come before the
sky. They remain there a minute and then pass away. It is the same
eternal blue sky stretching there forever. The sky never changes; it
is the cloud that is changing. So you are always perfect, eternally
perfect. Nothing ever changes your nature, or ever will. All these
ideas that I am imperfect, I am a man, or a woman, or a sinner, or I
am the mind, I have thought, I will think, all are hallucinations; you
never think, you never had a body; you never were imperfect. You are
the blessed Lord of this universe, the one Almighty ruler of everything
that is and ever will be, the one mighty ruler of these suns and
stars and moons and earths and plants, and all the little bits of our
universe. It is through you the sun shines, and the stars shed their
lustre, and the earth becomes beautiful. It is through your blessedness
that they all love and are attracted to each other. You are in all, and
you are all. Whom to avoid, and whom to take? You are the all in all.
When this knowledge comes delusion immediately vanishes.

I was once travelling in the desert in India. I travelled for over
a month and always found the most beautiful landscapes before me,
beautiful lakes and all that. One day I was very thirsty and I wanted
to have a drink at one of these lakes, but when I approached that
lake it vanished. Immediately with a blow came into my brain the idea
that this was a mirage about which I had read all my life, and then
I remembered and smiled at my folly, that for the last month all the
beautiful landscapes and lakes I had been seeing were this mirage, but
I could not distinguish them then. The next morning I again began my
march; there was the lake and the landscape, but with it immediately
came the idea, “This is a mirage.” Once known it had lost its powers
of illusion. So this illusion of the universe will break one day. The
whole of this will vanish, melt away. This is realization. Philosophy
is no joke or talk. It will be realized; this body will vanish, this
earth and everything will vanish, this idea that I am the body, or
the mind, will for some time vanish, or if the _Karma_ is ended it
will disappear never to come back; but if one part of the _Karma_
remains,--as a potter’s wheel after the potter has finished the pot,
will sometimes go on from the past momentum--so this body, when this
delusion has vanished altogether, will go on for some time. Again
this world will come, men and women and animals will come, just as
the mirage came the next day, but not with the same force, along with
it will come the idea that I know its nature now, and it will cause
no bondage, no more pain, nor grief, nor misery. Whenever anything
miserable will come, the mind will be able to say, “I know you as
hallucination.” When a man has reached that state he is called _jivan
mukta_, “living free,” free even while living. The aim and end in this
life for the _Jnâna Yogi_ is to become this _jivan mukta_, living
freedom. He is _jivan mukta_ who can live in this world without being
attached. He is like the lotus leaves in water, which are never wet
by the water. He is the highest of human beings, nay, the highest of
all beings, for he has realized his identity with the Absolute, he has
realized that he is one with God. So long as you think you have the
least difference from God, fear will seize you, but when you have known
that you are He, that there is no difference, entirely no difference,
that you are He, all of Him, and the whole of Him, all fear ceases.
“There who sees whom? Who worships whom? Who talks to whom? Who hears
whom? Where one sees another, where one talks to another, where one
hears another, it is in law. Where none sees none, where none speaks to
none that is the highest, that is the great, that is the _Brahman_.”
Being That, you are always That. What will become of the world then?
What good shall we do to the world? Such questions do not arise.
“What becomes of my gingerbread if I become old?” says the baby. “What
becomes of my marbles if I grow, so I will not grow,” says the boy.
“What will become of my dolls if I grow old?” says the little child. It
is the same question in connection with this world; it has no existence
in the past, present, or future. If we have known the _Âtman_ as It
is, if we have known that there is nothing else but this _Âtman_, that
everything else is but a dream, with no existence in reality, then this
world with its poverties, its miseries, its wickedness and its goodness
will cease to disturb us. If they do not exist, for whom and for what
shall we take trouble? This is what the _Jnâna Yogis_ teach. Therefore,
dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to
carry that out in your life. It is very hard to come to _jnânam_. It
is for the bravest and most daring, who dare to smash all idols, not
only intellectual, but in the senses. This body is not I; it must go.
All sorts of curious things may come out of this. A man stands up and
says I am not the body, therefore my headache must be cured, but where
is the headache if not in his body? Let a thousand headaches and a
thousand bodies come and go. What is that to me? “I have neither birth
nor death; father nor mother I never had; friends and foes I have none,
because they are all I; I am my own friend and I am my own enemy; I am
Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; I am He, I am He.” If in a thousand
bodies I am suffering from fever and other ills, in millions of bodies
I am healthy. If in a thousand bodies I am starving, in other thousand
bodies I am feasting. If in thousands of bodies I am suffering misery,
in thousands of bodies I am happy. Who shall blame whom, who praise
whom? Whom to seek, whom to avoid? I seek none, nor avoid any, for I am
all the universe, I praise myself, I blame myself, I suffer for myself,
I am happy at my own will, I am free. This is the _Jnâni_, brave and
daring. Let the whole universe tumble down; he smiles and says it never
existed. It was all an hallucination; we see the universe tumble down;
where was it? Where has it gone?

Before going into the practical part, we will take up one more
intellectual question. So far the logic is tremendously rigorous. If
man reasons, there is no place for him to stand until he comes to this,
that there is but One Existence, that everything else is nothing.
There is no other way left for rational mankind but to take this view.
But how is it that what is infinite, ever perfect, ever blessed,
Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute has come under these delusions? It
is the same question that has been asked all the world over. In the
vulgar form the question becomes “How did sin come into this world?”
This is the most vulgar and sensuous form of the question, and the
other is the more philosophic form, but the answer is the same. The
same question has been asked in various grades and fashions, but in
its lower forms it finds no solution, because the stories of apples
and serpents and women do not give the explanation. In that state,
the question is childish and so is the answer. But the question has
assumed very high proportions now. “How this illusion came?” And the
answer is as fine. The answer is that we cannot expect any answer to an
impossible question. The very question is impossible in terms. You have
no right to ask that question. Why? What is perfection? That which is
beyond time, space and causation. That is perfect. Then you ask how the
perfect became imperfect. In logical language the question may be put
in this form--“How did that which is beyond causation become caused?”
You contradict yourself. You first admit it is beyond causation, and
then ask what causes it. This question can only be asked within the
limits of causation. As far as time and space and causation extend, so
far can this question be asked. But beyond that it will be nonsense
to ask it, because the question is illogical. Within time, space and
causation it can never be answered, and what answer may lie beyond
these limits can only be known when we have transcended them, therefore
the wise will let this question rest. When a man is ill, he devotes
himself to curing his disease, without insisting that he must first
learn how he came to have it.

There is another form of this question, a little lower, but more
practical and illustrative. What produced this delusion? Can any
reality produce delusion? Certainly not. We see that one delusion
produces another, and so on. It is delusion always that produces
delusion. It is disease that produces disease, and not health that
produces disease. The wave is the same thing as the water, the effect
is the cause in another form. The effect is delusion, and therefore the
cause must be delusion. What produced this delusion? Another delusion.
And so on without beginning. The only question that remains for you to
ask is, does not this break your monism, because you get two existences
in the universe, one yourself, and the other the delusion? The answer
is,--delusion cannot be called an existence. Thousands of dreams come
into your life, but do not form any part of your life. Dreams come
and go; they have no existence; to call delusion existence will be
sophistry. Therefore there is only one individual existence in the
universe, ever free, and ever blessed, and that is what you are. This
is the last conclusion reached by the _Advaitists_. It may then be
asked, what becomes of all these various forms of worship? They will
remain; they are simply groping in the dark for light, and through
this groping light will come. We have just seen that the Self cannot
see Itself. Our knowledge is within the network of _Mâyâ_ (unreality),
and beyond that is freedom; within the network there is slavery, it is
all under law. Beyond that there is no law. So far as the universe is
concerned, existence is ruled by law, and beyond that is freedom. As
long as you are in the network of time, space and causation, to say you
are free is nonsense, because in that network all is under rigorous
law, sequence and consequence. Every thought that you think is caused,
every feeling has been caused; to say that the will is free is sheer
nonsense. It is only when the infinite existence comes, as it were,
into this network of _Mâyâ_ that it takes the form of will. Will is a
portion of that being caught in the network of _Mâyâ_, and therefore
“free-will” is a misnomer. It means nothing,--sheer nonsense. So is all
this talk about freedom. There is no freedom in _Mâyâ_.

Every one is as much bound in thought, word, deed, and mind, as a
piece of stone or this table. That I talk to you now is as rigorously
in causation as that you listen to me. There is no freedom until you
go beyond _Mâyâ_. That is the real freedom of the soul. Men, however
sharp and intellectual, however clearly they see the force of the
logic that nothing here can be free, are all compelled to think they
are free; they cannot help. No work can go on until we begin to say we
are free. It means that the freedom we talk about is the glimpse of
the blue sky through the clouds, and that the real freedom--the blue
sky itself,--is behind. True freedom cannot exist in the midst of this
delusion, this hallucination, this nonsense of the world, this universe
of the senses, body and mind. All these dreams, without beginning
or end, uncontrolled and uncontrollable, ill-adjusted, broken,
inharmonious, form our idea of this universe. In a dream, when you see
a giant with twenty heads chasing you, and you are flying from him, you
do not think it is inharmonious; you think it is proper and right. So
is this law. All that you call law is simply chance without meaning.
In this dream state you call it law. Within _Mâyâ_, so far as this law
of time, space and causation exists, there is no freedom, and all
these various forms of worship are within this _Mâyâ_. The idea of God
and the ideas of brute and of man are within this _Mâyâ_, and as such
equally hallucinations; all of them are dreams. But you must take care
not to argue like some extraordinary men of whom we hear at the present
time. They say the idea of God is a delusion, but the idea of this
world is true. Both ideas stand or fall by the same logic. He alone has
the right to be an atheist who denies this world, as well as the other.
The same argument is for both. The same mass of delusion extends from
God to the lowest animal, from a blade of grass to the Creator. They
stand or fall by the same logic. The same person who sees falsity in
the idea of God ought also to see it in the idea of his own body, or
his own mind. When God vanishes, then also vanish the body and mind,
and when both vanish, that which is the Real Existence remains forever.
“There the eyes cannot go, nor the speech, nor the mind. We cannot see
it, neither know it.” And we now understand that so far as speech and
thought and knowledge, and intellect go, it is all within this _Mâyâ_,
within bondage. Beyond that is Reality. There neither thought, nor
mind, nor speech, can reach.

So far it is intellectually all right, but then comes the practice.
The real work in these classes is the practice. Are any practices
necessary to realize this one-ness? Most decidedly. It is not that you
become this _Brahman_. You are already that. It is not that you are
going to become God or perfect; you are already perfect, and whenever
you think you are not, it is a delusion. This delusion which says that
you are Mr. So-and-So, or Mrs. So-and-So, can be got rid of by another
delusion, and that is practice. Fire will eat fire, and you can use
one delusion to conquer another delusion. One cloud will come and
brush away another cloud, and then both will go away. What are these
practices then? We must always bear in mind that we are not going to be
free, but are free already. Every idea that we are bound is a delusion.
Every idea that we are happy or unhappy, is a tremendous delusion; and
another delusion will come,--that we have got to work and worship and
struggle to be free,--and this will chase out the first delusion, and
then both will stop.

The fox is considered very unholy by the Mohammedans, also by the
Hindus. Also, if a dog touches any bit of food it has to be thrown out,
it cannot be eaten by any man. In a certain Mohammedan house a fox
entered and took a little bit of food from the table, ate it up and
fled. The man was a poor man, and had prepared a very nice feast for
himself, and that feast was made unholy, and he could not eat it. So
he went to a _Mulla_, a priest, and said: “This has happened to me; a
fox came and took a mouthful out of my meal; what can be done? I had
prepared a feast and wanted so much to eat it, and now comes this fox
and destroys the whole affair.” The _Mulla_ thought for a minute, and
then found only one solution and said: “The only way is for you to get
a dog, and make him eat a bit out of the same plate, because dog and
fox are eternally quarrelling. The food that was left by the fox will
go into your stomach, and that not eaten by the dog will go there, and
both will be purified.” We are very much in the same Predicament. This
is an hallucination that we are imperfect, and we take up another, that
we have to practice to become perfect. Then one will chase the other,
as we can use one thorn to extract another and then throw both away.
There are people for whom it is sufficient knowledge to hear, “Thou art
That.” With a flash this universe goes away and the real nature shines,
but others have to struggle hard to get rid of this idea of bondage.

The first question is, who are fit to become _Jnâna Yogis_? Those who
are equipped with these requisites. First, renunciation of all fruits
of work and of all enjoyments in this life or another life. If you are
the creator of this universe whatever you desire you will have, because
you will create it for yourself. It is only a question of time. Some
get it immediately; with others the past _samskâras_ (impressions)
stand in the way of getting their desires. We give the first place to
desires for enjoyment, either in this or another life. Deny there is
any life at all, because life is only another name for death. Deny
that you are a living being. Who cares for life? Life is one of these
hallucinations and death is its counterpart. Joy is one part of these
hallucinations, and misery the other part, and so on. What have you to
do with life or death? These are all creations of the mind. This is
called giving up desires of enjoyment either in this life or another.

Then comes controlling the mind, calming it so that it will not break
into waves and have all sorts of desires; holding the mind steady,
not allowing it to get into waves from external or internal causes,
controlling the mind perfectly just by the power of will. The _Jnâna
Yogi_ does not take any one of these physical helps, or mental helps,
simply philosophic reasoning, knowledge and his own will, these are the
instrumentality he believes in. Next comes _Titikshâ_, forbearance,
bearing all miseries without murmuring, without complaining. When an
injury comes, do not mind it. If a tiger comes, stand there. Who flies?
There are men who practice _titikshâ_, and succeed in it. There are men
who sleep on the banks of the Ganges in the mid-summer sun of India,
and in winter float in the waters of the Ganges for a whole day; they
do not care. Men sit in the snow of the Himâlayas, and do not care to
wear any garment. What is heat? What is cold? Let things come and go,
what is that to me, I am not the body. It is hard to believe this in
these Western countries, but it is better to know that it is done.
Just as your people are brave to jump at the mouth of a cannon, or
into the midst of the battle-field, so our people are brave to think
and act out their philosophy. They give up their lives for it. “I am
Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; I am He; I am He.” Just as the
Western ideal is to keep up luxury in practical life, so ours is to
keep up the highest form of spirituality, to demonstrate that religion
is not merely frothy words, but can be carried out, every bit of it, in
this life. This is _titikshâ_, to bear everything, not to complain of
anything. I myself have seen men who say “I am the soul; what is the
universe to me? Neither pleasure, nor pain, nor virtue, nor vice, nor
heat, nor cold are anything to me.” That is _titikshâ_; not running
after the enjoyments of the body. What is religion? To pray: “give
me this and that”? Foolish ideas of religion! Those who believe them
have no true idea of God and soul. My Master used to say the vulture
rises high and high until he becomes a speck, but his eye is always
in the piece of rotten carrion on the earth. After all, what is the
result of your ideas of religion? To cleanse the streets, and have
more bread and clothes. Who cares for bread and clothes? Millions come
and go every minute. Who cares? Why care for the joys and vicissitudes
of this little world? Go beyond that if you dare; go beyond law, let
the whole universe vanish, and stand alone. “I am Existence-Absolute,
Knowledge-Absolute, Bliss-Absolute; I am He; I am He.”




V

ONE EXISTENCE APPEARING AS MANY


We have seen how _Vairâgyam_, or renunciation, is the turning point in
all these various _Yogas_. The _Karmi_ (worker) renounces the fruits
of his work. The _Bhakta_ (devotee) renounces all little loves for the
almighty and omnipresent love. The _Yogi_ renounces his experiences,
because his philosophy is that the whole Nature, although it is for the
experience of the soul, at last brings him to know that he is not in
Nature, but eternally separate from Nature. The _Jnâni_ (philosopher)
renounces everything, because his philosophy is that Nature never
existed, neither in the past, present nor future. We have also seen
how the question of utility cannot be asked in these higher themes;
it is very absurd to ask utility, and even if it be asked, after a
proper analysis what do we find in this question of utility? The ideal
of happiness, that which brings man greater happiness is of greater
utility to him than those things which do not improve his material
conditions or bring him such great happiness. All the sciences are for
this one end, to bring happiness to humanity and that which brings
the larger amount of happiness, mankind takes and gives up that which
brings a lesser amount of happiness. We have seen how happiness is
either in the body, or in the mind, or in the _Âtman_. With animals,
and in the lowest of human beings, who are very much like animals,
happiness is all in the body. No man can eat with the same pleasure as
a famished dog, or a wolf; so, in the dog and the wolf the happiness
is gone entirely into the body. In men we find a higher plane of
happiness, that of thought, and in the _Jnâni_ there is the highest
plane of happiness in the Self, the _Âtman_. So to the philosopher this
knowledge of the Self is of the highest utility, because it gives him
the highest happiness possible. Sense gratifications or physical things
cannot be of the highest utility to him because he does not find in
them the same pleasure that he finds in knowledge itself; and after
that, knowledge is the one goal, and is really the highest happiness
that we know. All who work in ignorance are, as it were, the draught
animals of the _devas_. The word _deva_ is here used in the sense of a
wise man. All the people that work, and toil, and labor like machines
do not really enjoy life, but it is the wise man who enjoys. A rich man
buys a picture at a cost of a hundred thousand dollars perhaps, but it
is the man who understands art that enjoys it; and if a man is without
knowledge of art it is useless to him, he is only the owner. All over
the world, it is the wise man who enjoys the happiness of the world.
The ignorant man never enjoys; he has to work for others unconsciously.

Thus far we have seen the theories of these Advaitist philosophers,
how there is but one _Âtman_; there cannot be two. We have seen how in
the whole of this universe there is but One Existence, and that One
Existence when seen through the senses is called the world, the world
of matter. When It is seen through the mind It is called the world of
thoughts and ideas, and when It is seen as it is, then It is the One
Infinite Being. You must bear this in mind; it is not that there is
a soul in man, although I had to take that for granted in order to
explain it at first, but that there is only One Existence, and that one
the _Âtman_, the Self, and when this is perceived through the senses,
through sense imageries, It is called the body. When It is perceived
through thought, It is called the mind. When It is perceived in Its
own nature, It is the _Âtman_, the One Only Existence. So, it is not
that there are three things in one, the body and the mind and the
Self, although that was a convenient way of putting it in the course of
explanation; but all is that _Âtman_, and that one Being is sometimes
called the body, sometimes the mind, and sometimes the Self, according
to different vision. There is but one Being which the ignorant call the
world. When a man goes higher in knowledge he calls the very same Being
the world of thought. Again when knowledge itself comes, all illusions
vanish, and man finds it is all nothing but _Âtman_. I am that One
Existence. This is the last conclusion. There are neither three nor
two in the universe; it is all One. That One, under the illusion of
_Mâyâ_ is seen as many, just as a rope is seen as a snake. It is the
very rope that is seen as a snake. There are not two things there,
a rope separate and a snake separate. No man sees two things there.
Dualism and non-dualism are very good philosophic terms, but in perfect
perception we never perceive the real and the false at the same time.
We are all born monists, we cannot help it. We always perceive the one.
When we perceive the rope, we do not perceive the snake at all, and
when we see the snake, we do not see the rope at all; it has vanished.
When you see illusion, you do not see real men. Suppose one of your
friends is coming from a distance in the street; you know him very
well, but through the haze and mist that is before you, you think it
is another man. When you see your friend as another man, you do not
see your friend at all, he has vanished. You are perceiving only one.
Suppose your friend is Mr. A., but when you perceive Mr. A. as Mr. B.
you do not see Mr. A. at all. In each case you perceive only one. When
you see yourself as a body, you are body and nothing else, and that is
the perception of the vast majority of mankind. They may talk of soul
and mind, and all these things, but what they perceive is the physical
form, the touch, taste, vision, and so on. Again, with certain men, in
certain states of consciousness, they perceive themselves as thought.
You know, of course, the story told of Sir Humphrey Davy, who was
making experiments before his class with laughing-gas, and suddenly
one of the tubes broke, and the gas escaping, he breathed it in. For
some moments he remained like a statue. Afterwards he told his class
that when he was in that state, he actually perceived that the whole
world is made up of ideas. The gas, for a time, made him forget the
consciousness of the body, and that very thing which he was seeing
as the body, he began to perceive as ideas. When the consciousness
rises still higher, when this little puny consciousness is gone
forever, that which is the Reality behind shines, and we see it as the
One Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, the one _Âtman_, the Universal. “One
that is only knowledge itself, One that is bliss itself, beyond all
compare, beyond all limit, ever free, never bound, infinite as the sky,
unchangeable as the sky. Such an One will manifest Himself in your
heart in meditation.”

How does the Advaitist theory explain all these various phases of
heavens and hells and all these various ideas we find in all religions?
When a man dies it is said that he goes to heaven or hell, goes here
or there, or that when a man dies he is born again in another body,
either in heaven or in another world, or somewhere. These are all
hallucinations. Nobody is ever born or dies, really speaking. There
is neither heaven nor hell, nor this world; all three never really
existed. Tell a child a lot of ghost stories, and let him go out into
the street in the evening. There is a little stump of a tree. What does
the child see? A ghost, with hands stretched out, ready to grab him.
Suppose a man comes from the corner of the street, wanting to meet his
sweetheart; he sees that stump of the tree as the girl. A police-man
coming from the street corner sees the stump as a thief. The thief sees
it as a police-man. It is the same stump of a tree that was seen in
various ways. The stump is the reality, and the visions of the stump
are the projections of the various minds. There is one Being, this
Self; It neither comes nor goes. When a man is ignorant, he wants to
go to heaven or some place, and all his life he has been thinking and
thinking of this, and when this earth dream vanishes he sees this world
as a heaven, with _devas_ and angels flying about, and all such things.
If a man all his life desires to meet his forefathers he gets them all,
from Adam downwards, because he creates them. If a man is still more
ignorant and has always been frightened by fanatics with ideas of hell,
when he dies he will see this very world as hell, with all sorts of
punishments. All that is meant by dying or being born is simply changes
in the plane of vision. Neither do you move, nor does that move upon
which you project your vision. You are the permanent, the unchangeable.
How can you go and come? It is impossible; you are omnipresent. The
sky never moves, but the clouds move over the surface of the sky, and
we may think that the sky itself moves. Just as you go into a railway
train, and you think the land is moving. It is not so, but it is the
train which is moving. You are where you are; this dream, these various
clouds move. One dream follows another without connection. There is
no such thing as law or connection in this world, but we are thinking
that there is a great deal of connection. All of you have probably
read “Alice in Wonderland.” It is the most wonderful book for children
written in this century. When I read it I was delighted, it was always
in my head to write that sort of a book for children. What pleased
me most in it was what you think most incongruous, that there is no
connection there. One idea comes and jumps into another, without any
connection. When you were children you thought that the most wonderful
connection. So this man brought back his thoughts of childhood,
perfectly connected to him as a child, and composed this book for
children. And all these books which men write, trying to make children
swallow their own ideas as men are nonsense. We too are grown up
children, that is all. The world is the same unconnected thing,--“Alice
in Wonderland,”--with no connection whatever. When we see things happen
a number of times in a certain sequence, we call it cause and effect,
and say that the thing will happen again. When this dream changes
another dream will seem quite as connected as this. When we dream, the
things we see all seem to be connected; during the dream we never think
they are incongruous; it is only when we wake that we see the want of
connection. When we wake from this dream of the world and compare it
with the Reality, it will be found all incongruous nonsense, a mass of
incongruity passing before us, we do not know whence or whither, but
we know it will end; and this is called _Mâyâ_, and is like masses of
fleeting, fleecy clouds. They represent all this changing existence,
and the sun itself, the unchanging, is you. When you look at that
unchanging Existence from the outside, you call it God, and when you
look at it from the inside you call it yourself. It is but one. There
is no God separate from you, no God higher than you, the real “you.”
All the gods are little beings to you, all the ideas of God and Father
in heaven are but your reflection. God Himself is your image. “God
created man after His own image.” That is wrong. Man creates God after
his own image. That is right. Throughout the universe we are creating
gods after our own image. We create the god, and fall down at his feet
and worship; and when this dream comes, we love it!

This is a good point to understand,--that the sum and substance of
this morning’s lecture is that there is but One Existence, and that
One Existence seen through different constitutions appears either as
the earth, or heaven, or hell, or God, or ghosts, or men or demons,
or world, or all these things. But among these many “He who sees that
One in this ocean of death, he who sees that One Life in this floating
universe, who realizes that One who never changes, unto him belongs
eternal peace; unto none else, unto none else.” This One Existence has
to be realized. How, is the next question. How is it to be realized?
How is this dream to be broken, how shall we wake up from this dream
that we are little men and women, and all such things? We are the
Infinite Being of the universe, and have become materialized into these
little beings, men and women, depending upon the sweet word of one
man, or the angry word of another man and so forth. What a terrible
dependence, what a terrible slavery! I who am beyond all pleasure and
pain, whose reflection is the whole universe, little bits of whose life
are the suns and moons and stars,--I am held down as a terrible slave.
If you pinch my body I feel pain. If one says a kind word I begin
to rejoice. See my condition,--slave of the body, slave of the mind,
slave of the world, slave of a good word, slave of a bad word, slave
of passion, slave of happiness, slave of life, slave of death, slave
of everything. This slavery has to be broken. How? “This _Âtman_ has
first to be heard, then reasoned upon and then meditated upon.” This
is the method of the Advaita _Jnâni_. The truth has to be heard, then
reflected upon and then to be constantly asserted. Think always--“I am
_Brahman_”; every other thought must be cast aside as weakening. Cast
aside every thought that says that you are men or women. Let body go,
and mind go, and gods go, and ghosts go. Let everything go but that
One Existence. “Where one hears another, where one sees another, that
is but small; where one does not hear another, where one does not see
another, that is infinite.” That is the highest, when the subject and
the object become one. When I am the listener and I am the speaker,
when I am the teacher and I am the taught, when I am the creator and I
am the created,--then alone fear ceases; there is not another to make
us afraid. There is nothing but myself, what can frighten me? This is
to be heard day after day. Get rid of all other thoughts. Everything
else must be thrown aside, and this is to be repeated continually,
poured through the ears until it reaches the heart, until every nerve
and muscle, every drop of blood tingles with the idea that I am He,
I am He. Even at the gate of death say “I am He.” There was a man in
India, a _Sannyâsin_, who used to repeat “_Shivoham_” (“I am Bliss
Eternal”), and a tiger jumped on him one day and dragged him away and
killed him, and as long as he was living the sound came “_Shivoham,
Shivoham_.” Even at the gate of death, in the greatest danger, in the
thick of the battle-field, at the bottom of the ocean, on the tops of
the highest mountains, in the thickest of the forest, tell yourself
“I am He, I am He.” Day and night say “I am He.” It is the greatest
strength; it is religion. “The weak will never reach the _Âtman_.”
Never say: “O Lord, I am a miserable sinner.” Who shall help you? You
are the help of the universe. What in this universe can help you? Where
is the man, or the god, or the demon to help you? What can prevail over
you? You are the god of the universe; where can you seek for help?
Never help came from anywhere but from yourself. In your ignorance,
every prayer that you made and that was answered, you thought was
answered by some Being, but you answered the prayer yourself,
unknowingly. The help came from yourself, and you fondly imagined that
some one was sending help to you. There is no help for you outside of
yourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm you
have built a cocoon around yourself. Who will save you? Cut your own
cocoon and come out as the beautiful butterfly, as the free soul.
Then alone you will see Truth. Ever tell yourself “I am He.” These
are words that will burn up the dross that is in the mind, words that
will bring out the tremendous energy which is within you already, the
infinite power which is sleeping in your heart. This is to be brought
out by constantly hearing the truth and nothing else. Wherever there is
thought of weakness, approach not the place. Avoid all weakness if you
want to be _Jnâni_.

Before you begin to practise, clear your mind of all doubts. Fight and
reason and argue, and when you have established it in your mind that
this and this alone can be the truth and nothing else, do not argue any
more; close your mouth. Hear not argumentation, neither argue yourself.
What is the use of any more arguments? You have satisfied yourself,
you have decided the question. What remains? The truth has now to be
realized, therefore why waste valuable time in vain arguments? The
truth has now to be meditated upon and every idea that strengthens you
must be taken up and every thought that weakens you must be rejected.
The _Bhakta_ meditates upon forms and images and all such things and
upon God. This is the natural process, but a slower one. The _Yogi_
meditates upon various centres in his body and manipulates powers in
his mind. The _Jnâni_ says the mind does not exist, neither the body.
This idea of the body and of the mind must go, must be driven off;
therefore it is foolish to think of them. It would be like trying to
cure one ailment by bringing in another. His meditation therefore is
the most difficult one, the negative; he denies everything, and what is
left is the Self. This is the most analytical way. The _Jnâni_ wants to
tear away the universe from the Self by the sheer force of analysis.
It is very easy to say, “I am a _Jnâni_,” but very hard to really be
one. “The way is long; it is, as it were, walking on the sharp edge of
a razor, yet despair not. Awake, arise, and stop not until the goal is
reached,” say the Vedas.

So what is the meditation of the _Jnâni_? He wants to rise above every
idea of body or mind, to drive away the idea that he is the body. For
instance, when I say “I, Swâmi,” immediately the idea of the body
comes. What must I do then? I must give the mind a hard blow and say,
“No, I am not the body, I am the Self.” Who cares if disease comes or
death in the most horrible form? I am not the body. Why make the body
nice? To enjoy the illusion once more? To continue the slavery? Let it
go, I am not the body. That is the way of the _Jnâni_. The _Bhakta_
says: “The Lord has given me this body that I may safely cross the
ocean of life and I must cherish it until the journey is accomplished.”
The _Yogi_ says: “I must be careful of the body so that I may go on
steadily and finally attain liberation.” The _Jnâni_ feels that he
cannot wait, he must reach the goal this very moment. He says: “I am
free through eternity, I am never bound; I am the God of the universe
through all eternity. Who shall make me perfect? I am perfect already.”
When a man is perfect he sees perfection in others. When he sees
imperfection, it is his own mind projecting itself. How can he see
imperfection if he has not got it in himself? So the _Jnâni_ does not
care for perfection or imperfection. None exists for him. As soon as
he is free, he does not see good and evil. Who sees evil and good? He
who has it in himself. Who sees the body? He who thinks he is the body.
The moment you get rid of the idea that you are the body, you do not
see the world at all. It vanishes forever. The _Jnâni_ seeks to tear
himself away from this bondage of matter by the force of intellectual
conviction. This is the negative way,--the “_neti, neti_” (“not this,
not this”).




VI

UNITY OF THE SELF


To illustrate the conclusion arrived at in our last lesson, I will read
to you from one of the Upanishads, showing how these ideas were taught
in India from the most ancient times.

_Yajnavalkya_ was a great sage. You know the rule in India was that
every man must give up the world when he became old. So _Yajnavalkya_
said to his wife: “My beloved, here is all my money and my possessions,
and I am going away.” She replied: “Sir, if I had this whole earth
full of wealth would that give me immortality?” _Yajnavalkya_ said:
“No, that cannot be. Your life will be that of the rich, and that will
be all, but wealth cannot give you immortality.” She replied: “That
through which I shall become immortal, what shall I do to gain that?
If you know that, tell me.” _Yajnavalkya_ replied: “You have always
been my beloved; you are more beloved now by this question. Come, take
your seat, and I will tell you, and when you have heard, meditate upon
it.” He continued: “It is not for the sake of the husband that the wife
loves the husband, but for the sake of the _Âtman_ (the Self) that she
loves the husband, because she loves the Self. None loves the wife
for the sake of the wife, but it is because he loves the Self that he
loves the wife. None loves the children for the sake of the children,
but because he loves the Self, therefore he loves the children. None
loves wealth on account of the wealth, but because he loves the Self,
therefore he loves wealth. None loves the Brahmin for the sake of the
Brahmin, but because he loves the Self, he loves the Brahmin. So none
loves the _Kshatriya_ for the sake of the _Kshatriya_, but because he
loves the Self. Neither does anyone love the world on account of the
world, but because he loves the Self. None similarly loves the gods on
account of the gods, but because he loves the Self. None loves anything
for that thing’s sake, but it is for the Self of that thing that he
loves it. This Self therefore, is to be heard, is to be reasoned, and
is to be meditated upon. Oh my _Maitreyi_, when that Self has been
heard, when that Self has been seen, when that Self has been realized,
then all these things become known.”

What does this mean? Before us we find a curious philosophy. That
the Self shines through all these various things which we call the
world. The statement has been made that every love is selfishness in
the lowest sense of the word; because I love myself, therefore I love
another; it cannot be. There have been philosophers in modern times
who have said that self is the only motive power in the world. That is
true, and yet it is wrong. This self is but the shadow of that real
Self which is behind. It appears wrong and evil because it is limited.
That very love we have for the Self, which is the universe, appears to
be evil, because it is seen through limitation. Even when a wife loves
a husband, whether she knows it or not, she loves the husband for that
Self. It is selfishness as it is manifested in the world, but that
selfishness is really but a small part of that “Self-ness.” Whenever
one loves, one has to love in and through the Self.

This Self has to be known. Those that love the Self without knowing
what It is, their love is selfishness. Those that love knowing what
that Self is, their love is free, they are sages. None loves the
Brahmin for the Brahmin, but because he loves the Self, which is
appearing through the Brahmin. “Him the Brahmin gives up who sees the
Brahmin as separate from the Self. Him the _Kshatriya_ gives up who
sees the _Kshatriya_ as separate from the Self. The world gives him up
who sees this world as separate from the Self. The gods give him up
who believes the gods to be separate from the Self. All things give
him up who knows them as separate from the Self. These Brahmins, these
_Kshatriyas_, this world, these gods, whatever exists, everything is
that Self.” Thus _Yajnavalkya_ explains what he means by that love.
The difficulty comes when we particularize this love. Suppose I love a
woman; as soon as that woman is particularized, is separated, from that
_Âtman_ (the Self), my love will not be eternal; it has become selfish
and is likely to end in grief, but as soon as I see that woman as the
_Âtman_, that Love becomes perfect, and will never suffer. So, as soon
as you are attached to anything in the universe detaching it from the
universe as a whole--from the _Âtman_--then comes a reaction. With
everything that we love outside the Self, grief and misery will be the
result. If we enjoy everything in the Self, and as the Self, no misery
or reaction will come. This is perfect bliss.

How to come to this ideal? _Yajnavalkya_ goes on to tell us the process
by which to reach that state. The universe is infinite; how can we take
every particular thing and look at it as the _Âtman_, without knowing
the _Âtman_? “With a drum, when we are at a distance, we cannot conquer
the sound by trying to control the sound waves, but as soon as we come
to the drum, and put our hand on it, the sound is conquered. When the
conch shell is being blown, we cannot conquer the sound, until we come
near and get hold of the shell, and then it is conquered. When the
vina is being played, as soon as we come to the vina, we can control
the centre of the sound, whence the sound is proceeding. As when some
one is burning damp fuel, all sorts of smoke and sparks of various
kinds rise, even so from this great One has been breathed out history
and knowledge; everything has come out of Him. He breathed out, as it
were, all knowledge. As to all water the one goal is the ocean, as to
all touch the hand is the one centre, as to all smell the nose is the
one centre, as of all taste the tongue is the one centre, as of all
form the eyes are the one centre, as of all sounds the ears are the
one centre, as of all thought the mind is the one centre, as of all
knowledge the heart is the one centre, as of all work the hands are the
one centre, as of all speech the organ of speech is the one centre,
as the concentrated salt is through and through the waters of the
sea, yet not to be seen by the eyes; even so, oh _Maitreyi_, is this
_Âtman_ not to be seen by the eyes, yet He permeates this universe. He
is everything. He is concentrated knowledge. The whole universe rises
from Him, and again goes down unto Him. Reaching Him, we go beyond
knowledge.” We here get the idea that we have all come just like sparks
from Him, and that when we know Him then we go back, and become one
with Him again.

_Maitreyi_ became frightened, just as everywhere people become
frightened. She said: “Sir, here is exactly where you have thrown a
confusion over me. You have frightened me by saying there will be no
more gods; all individuality will be lost. When I reach that stage
shall I know that _Âtman_, shall I reach the unconscious state and lose
my individuality, or will the knowledge remain with me that I know Him?
Will there be no one to recognize, no one to feel, no one to love,
no one to hate? What will become of me?” “O _Maitreyi_!” replied her
husband, “think not that I am speaking of an unconscious state, neither
be frightened. This _Âtman_ is indestructible, eternal in His essence;
the stage where there are two is a lower one. Where there are two there
one smells another, one sees another, one hears another, one welcomes
another, one thinks of another, one knows another. But when the whole
has become that _Âtman_, who is to be smelled by whom, who is to be
seen by whom, who is to be heard by whom, who is to be welcomed by
whom, who is to be known by whom? Who can know Him by whom everything
is known? This _Âtman_ can only be described as “_neti, neti_” (not
this, not this). Incomprehensible, He cannot be comprehended by the
intellect. Unchangeable, He never fades. Unattached, He never gets
mixed up with Nature. Perfect, He is beyond all pleasure and pain.
Who can know the Knower? By what means can we know Him? By no means;
this is the conclusion of the sages, O _Maitreyi_! Going beyond all
knowledge, is to attain Him and to attain immortality.”

So far the idea is, that it is all One Infinite Being, that is the
Real Individuality, when there is no more division, no more parts and
parcels, no more such low and illusory ideas. And yet, in and through
every part of this little individuality is shining that Infinite, the
Real Individuality. Everything is a manifestation of the _Âtman_. How
to reach to that? _Yajnavalkya_ told us in the beginning that--“This
_Âtman_ is first to be heard, then to be reasoned, then to be meditated
upon.” Thus far he has spoken about the Self, the _Âtman_, as being
the essence of everything in this universe. Then reasoning on the
Infinite nature of that Self and the finite nature of the human mind
he comes to the conclusion that it is impossible for the finite mind
to know the Knower of all--the Self. What is to be done then if we
cannot know the Self? _Yajnavalkya_ tells _Maitreyi_ that It can be
realized, although It cannot be known, and he enters upon a discourse
as to how It is to be meditated upon. This universe is helpful to every
being and every being is also helping this universe, for they are both
part and parcel of each other, the development of the one helps the
development of the other; but to the _Âtman_, the self-effulgent One,
nothing can be helpful because It is perfect and infinite. All that is
bliss, even in the lowest sense, is but the reflection of It. All that
is good is the reflection of that _Âtman_, and when that reflection is
less clear it is called evil. When the _Âtman_ is less manifested it
is called darkness--evil, and when it is more manifested it is called
light--goodness. That is all. This good and evil are only a question of
degree, the _Âtman_ more manifested or less manifested. Just take the
example of our own lives. How many things we see in our childhood which
we think to be good, but which really are evil, and how many things
seem to be evil which are good? How our ideas change! How an idea
becomes higher and higher! What we thought very good at one time, we do
not think so good now. Thus good and evil depend on the development of
our minds, and do not exist objectively. The difference is only in the
degree. All is a manifestation of that _Âtman_; It is being manifested
in everything, only when the manifestation is very poor we call it
evil, and when it is clearer we call it good. That _Âtman_ Itself is
beyond both good and evil. So everything that is in the universe is
first to be meditated upon as all good, because it is a manifestation
of that perfect One. He is neither evil nor good; He is perfect and
the perfect can be only one. The good can be many, and the evil many,
there will be degrees of variation between the good and the evil; but
the perfect is only one, and that perfect One when seen through certain
covering we call different degrees of good, and when seen through other
covering we call evil. Our ideas of good and evil as two distinct
things are mere superstition. There is only more good and less good and
the less good we call evil. These mistaken ideas of good and evil have
produced all sorts of dualistic delusions. They have gone deep into the
hearts of human beings, terrorizing men and women in all ages. All the
hatred with which we hate others is caused by these foolish ideas which
we have imbibed since our childhood. Our judgment of humanity becomes
entirely false; we make this beautiful earth a hell, but as soon as we
can give up these false ideas of good and evil, it will become a heaven.

“This earth is blissful (‘sweet’ is the literal translation) to all
beings, and all beings are sweet to this earth; they all help each
other. And all this sweetness is the _Âtman_, that effulgent, immortal
One.” That one sweetness is manifesting itself in various ways.
Wherever there is any love, any sweetness in any human being, either
in a saint or a sinner, either in an angel or a murderer, either in
the body or the mind or the senses, it is all He. How can there be
anything but the One? Whatever is the lowest physical enjoyment is He,
and the highest spiritual enjoyment is also He. There is no sweetness
but He. Thus says _Yajnavalkya_. When you come to that state, and look
upon all things with the same eyes; when you see in the drunkard’s
pleasure in drink only that sweetness, or in the saints’ meditation
only that sweetness, then you have got the truth, and then alone you
will know what happiness means, what peace means, what love means. But
as long as you make these vain distinctions, silly, childish, foolish
superstitions, all sorts of misery will come. But that immortal One,
the effulgent One, He is the background of the whole universe, it is
all His sweetness. This body is a miniature universe, as it were; and
through all the powers of the body, all the enjoyments of the mind,
shines that effulgent One. That self-effulgent One who is in the body,
He is the _Âtman_. “This world is so sweet to all beings, and every
being is so sweet to it!” But the self-effulgent One, the Immortal
is the bliss in this world. In us also, He is that bliss. He is the
_Brahman_. “This air is so sweet to all beings, and all beings are so
sweet to this air.” But He who is that self-effulgent immortal Being
in the air, He is also in this body. He is expressing Himself as the
life of all beings. “This sun is so sweet to all beings, and all beings
are so sweet to this sun.” He who is the self-effulgent Being in
the sun, Him we reflect as smaller lights. What can there be but His
reflection? He is in the body, and it is His reflection which makes us
see the light. “This moon is so sweet to all beings, and all beings
are so sweet to this moon.” But that self-effulgent and immortal One
who is the soul of that moon, He is in us expressing himself as mind.
“This lightning is so sweet to all beings and all beings are sweet to
this lightning,” but the self-effulgent and immortal One is the soul of
this lightning, and is also in us, because all is that _Brahman_. This
_Brahman_, this _Âtman_, this Self, is the King of all beings. These
ideas are very helpful to men; they are for meditation. For instance,
meditate on the earth, think of the earth, at the same time knowing
that we have in us that which is in the earth, that both are the same.
Identify the body with the earth, and identify the soul with the Soul
behind. Identify the air with the soul that is in the air and that is
in you and so on. All these are one, manifested in different forms. To
realize this unity is the end and aim of all meditation, and this is
what _Yajnavalkya_ was trying to explain to _Maitreyi_.




VII

THE HIGHEST IDEAL OF JNÂNA YOGA


As this is the last of these classes it is better that I give a brief
_resumé_ of all that I have been trying to tell you. In the Vedas and
Upanishads we find records of some of the very earliest religious ideas
of the Hindus, ideas that long antedated the time of Kapila, ancient as
this great sage is. He did not propound the _Sânkhya_ philosophy as a
new theory of his own. His task was to throw the light of his genius on
the vast mass of religious theories that were existing in his time and
bring out a rational and coherent system. He succeeded in giving India
a psychology that is accepted to the present day by all the diverse
and seemingly opposing philosophical systems to be found among the
Hindus. His masterly analysis and his comprehensive statement of the
processes of the human mind have not yet been surpassed by any later
philosopher and he undoubtedly laid the foundation for the Advaita
philosophy, which accepted his conclusions as far as they went and then
pushed them a step farther, thus reaching a final unity beyond the
duality that was the last word of the _Sânkhyas_.

Among the religious ideas that preceded the time of Kapila the first
groups that we see coming up,--I mean among recognized religious
ideas, and not the very low ones, which do not deserve the name of
religion,--all include the idea of inspiration, and revealed book and
so forth. In the earliest step, the idea of creation is very peculiar;
it is that the whole universe is created out of zero, at the will of
God; that all this universe did not exist, and out of nothingness
all this has come. In the next stage we find this conclusion is
questioned. The first step in Vedânta asks this question: How can
existence be produced out of non-existence? If this universe is
existent it must have come out of something, because it was easy for
them to see that there is nothing coming out of nothing anywhere. All
work that is going on by human hands requires materials. Naturally,
therefore, the ancient Hindus rejected the first idea that this world
was created out of nothing, and sought some material out of which this
world was created. The whole history of religion, in fact, is this
search for material. Out of what has all this been produced? Apart from
the question of the efficient cause, or God, apart from the question
whether God created the universe, the great question of all questions
has been, out of what did God create it? All the philosophies are
turning, as it were, on this question.

One solution is that nature and God and soul are eternal existences,
as if three parallel lines are running eternally, of which nature and
soul comprise what they call the dependent, and God the independent
Being. Every soul, like every particle of matter, is perfectly
dependent on the will of God. These and many other ideas we find
already existing when the _Sânkhya_ psychology was brought forward by
Kapila. According to it, perception comes by the transmission of the
suggestion, which causes perception first to the eyes, from the eyes
to the organs, from the organs to the mind, the mind to the _buddhi_
and from the _buddhi_ to something which is a unit, which they call
the _Âtman_. Coming to modern physiology we know that they have found
centres for all the different sensations. First are found the lower
centres, then a higher grade of centres, and these two will exactly
correspond with the actions of the _buddhi_ and the _manas_ (mind), but
not one centre has been found which controls all the other centres, so
philosophy cannot answer what unifies all these centres. Where and how
do the centres get unified? The centres in the brain are all different,
and there is not one centre which controls all the others; therefore,
so far as it goes, the _Sânkhya_ psychology stands unchallenged upon
this point. We must have this unification, something upon which the
sensations will be reflected to form a complete whole. Until there
is that something I cannot have any idea of you, or the picture, or
anything else. If we had not that unifying something we would only
see, then after a while hear, and then feel, and while we heard a man
talking we should not see him at all, because all the centres are
different.

This body is made of particles which we call matter, and it is dull
and insentient. So is what is called the fine body. The fine body,
according to the _Sânkhyas_ is a little body, made of very fine
particles, so fine that no microscope can see them. What is the use
of it? It is the receptacle of what we call mind. Just as this gross
body is the receptacle of the grosser forces, so the fine body is the
receptacle of the finer forces, that which we call thought, in its
various modifications. First is the body, which is gross matter, with
gross force. Force cannot exist without matter. It can only manifest
itself through matter, so the grosser forces work through the body and
those very forces become finer; the very force which is working in a
gross form works in a fine form and becomes thought. There is no real
difference between them, simply one is the gross and the other the fine
manifestation of the same thing. Neither is there any difference in
substance between the fine body and the gross body. The fine body is
also material, only very fine material.

Whence do all these forces come? According to the Vedânta philosophy
there are two things in Nature, one of which they call _Âkâsa_, which
is substance, or matter, infinitely fine, and the other they call
_Prâna_. Whatever you see, or feel, or hear, as air or earth, or
anything, is material. And everything is a form of this _âkâsa_. It
becomes finer and finer, or grosser and grosser, and it changes under
the action of _Prâna_ (universal Energy). Like _âkâsa_, _prâna_ is
omnipresent, interpenetrating everything. _Âkâsa_ is like the water,
and everything else in the universe like blocks of ice, made out of
that water and floating in it, and _prâna_ is the power that changes
the _âkâsa_ into all these various forms. This body is the instrument
made out of _âkâsa_ for the manifestation of _prâna_ in gross forms,
as muscular motion, or walking, sitting, talking, and so on. The fine
body also is made of _âkâsa_, a much finer form of _âkâsa_, for the
manifestation of the same _prâna_ in the finer form of thought. So,
first there is this gross body, beyond that is the fine body, and
beyond that is the _jiva_ (soul), the real man. Just as these finger
nails can be pared off a hundred times a year, and yet are still a
part of our bodies, not different, so we have not two bodies. It is not
that man has a fine and also a gross body; it is the one body, only it
remains longer when it is a fine body, and the grosser it is the sooner
it dissolves. Just as I can cut this nail a hundred times a year, so
millions of times I can shed this body in one æon, but the fine body
will remain. According to the dualists this _jiva_, or the real man, is
very fine, minute.

So far we have seen that man is a being who has first a gross body
which dissolves very quickly, then a fine body which remains through
æons, and lastly a _jiva_. This _jiva_, according to the Vedânta
philosophy, is eternal, just as God is eternal, and Nature is also
eternal, but changefully eternal. The material of Nature, the _prâna_
and the _âkâsa_, are eternal, but are changing into different forms
eternally. Matter and force are eternal, but their combinations vary
continually. The _jiva_ is not manufactured, either of _âkâsa_, or of
_prâna_; it is immaterial, and therefore will remain for ever. It is
not the result of any combination of _prâna_ and _âkâsa_, and whatever
is not the result of combination will never be destroyed, because
destruction is decomposition. That which is not a compound cannot
be destroyed. The gross body is a compound of _âkâsa_ and _prâna_
in various forms and will be decomposed. The fine body will also be
decomposed after a long time, but the _jiva_ is a simple, and will
never be destroyed. For the same reason, we cannot say it ever was
born. Nothing simple can be born; the same argument applies. Only that
which is a compound can be born. The whole of this nature combined in
these millions of forms is under the will of God. God is all pervading,
omniscient, formless, everywhere, and He is directing this nature
day and night. The whole of it is under His control. There is no
independence of any being. It cannot be. He is the Ruler. This is the
teaching of dualistic Vedânta.

Then the question comes, if God be the Ruler of this universe, why
did He create such a wicked universe, why must we suffer so much? The
answer is made that it is not God’s fault. It is our own fault that
we suffer. Whatever we sow that we reap. God does not do anything to
punish us. If a man is born poor, or blind, or lame, he did something
before he was born in that way, something that produced these results.
The _jiva_ has been existing for all time, was never created. It has
been doing all sorts of things all the time. Whatever we do we suffer
for. If we do good we shall have happiness, and if bad, unhappiness.
This _jiva_ is by its own nature pure, but ignorance covers its
nature, says the dualist. As by evil deeds it has covered itself with
ignorance, so by good deeds it can become conscious of its own nature
again. Just as it is eternal, so its nature is pure. The nature of
every being is pure. When through good deeds all its sins and misdeeds
have been washed away, then the _jiva_ becomes pure again, and when
he becomes pure he goes after death by what is called _Devayana_ (the
path of the gods), to heaven, or the abode of the gods. If he has been
only an ordinarily good man he goes to what is called the “Abode of the
Fathers.”

When the gross body falls, the organs of speech enter the mind. You
cannot think without words; wherever there are words there must be
thought. The mind is resolved into the _prâna_, and the _prâna_
resolves into the _jiva_. Then the _jiva_ leaves the body and goes
to that condition of reward or punishment which he has earned by his
past life. _Devaloka_ is the “place (or abode) of the gods.” The word
_deva_ (god) means bright or shining one, and corresponds to what the
Christians and Mohammedans call “angels.” According to this teaching
there are various heavenly spheres somewhat analogous to the various
heavens described by Dante in the _Divine Comedy_. There are the
heaven of the fathers (or _pitris_), _devaloka_, the lunar sphere,
the electric sphere and highest of all the _Brahmaloka_, the heaven
of _Brahma_. From all the lower heavens the _jiva_ returns again to
human birth, but he who attains to _Brahmaloka_ lives there through
all eternity. These are the highest men who have become perfectly
unselfish, perfectly purified, who have given up all desires, do not
want to do anything except to worship and love God. There is a second
class, who do good works, but want some reward, want to go to heaven
in return. When they die the _jiva_ goes to the lunar sphere, where it
enjoys and becomes a _deva_ (god or angel). The gods, the _devas_, are
not eternal, they have to die. In heaven they will all die. The only
deathless place is _Brahmaloka_, where alone there is no birth and
no death. In our mythology it is said there are also the demons, who
sometimes give the gods chase. In all mythologies you read of these
fights between the demons, or wicked angels, and the gods and sometimes
the demons conquer the gods. In all mythologies also, you find that
the _devas_ were fond of the beautiful daughters of men. As a _deva_,
the _jiva_ only reaps results of past actions, but makes no new Karma.
Only man makes Karma. Karma means actions that will produce effects,
also those effects, or results of action. When a man dies and becomes a
_deva_ he has a period of pleasure, and during that time makes no fresh
Karma; he simply enjoys the reward of his past good works. But when the
good Karma is worked out then the other Karma begins to take effect.

In the Vedas there is no mention of hell. But afterwards the _Purânas_,
the later books in our Scriptures, thought that no religion could
become complete without a proper attachment of hells, and so they
invented all sorts of hells, with as many, if not more, varieties of
punishment than Dante saw in his _Inferno_, but our books are merciful
enough to say that it is only for a period. Bad Karma is worked out
in that state and then the souls come back to earth and get another
chance. This human form is the great chance. It is called the _karmic_
body, in which we decide our fate. We are running in a huge circle, and
this is the point in the circle which determines the future. So a human
body is considered the greatest body there is; man is greater than the
gods. Even they return to human birth. So far with dualistic Vedânta.

Next comes a higher conception of Vedânta philosophy, which says that
these ideas are crude. If you say there is a God who is an infinite
Being, and a soul which is also infinite, and Nature which is also
infinite, you can go on multiplying infinites indefinitely, but that
is illogical, because each would limit the other and there would be
no real infinite. God is both the material and the efficient cause of
the universe; He projects this universe out of Himself. Does that
mean that God has become these walls, and this table, that God has
become the animal, the murderer and all the evils in the world? God is
pure, how can He become all these degenerate things? He has not. God
is unchangeable, all these changes are in Nature; just as I am a soul
and have a body, this body is not different from me in a sense, yet I,
the real “I,” in fact am not this body. For instance, I am a child, I
become a young man, an old man, but my soul has not changed. It remains
the same soul. Similarly the whole universe comprises all Nature, and
an infinite number of souls, or, as it were, the infinite body of God.
He is interpenetrating the whole of it. He alone is unchangeable, but
Nature changes and soul changes. In what way does Nature change? In its
forms; it takes fresh forms. But the soul cannot change that way. The
soul contracts and expands in knowledge. It contracts by evil deeds;
those deeds which contract the natural knowledge and purity of the
soul are called evil deeds. Those deeds, again, which bring out the
natural glory of the soul, are called good deeds. All these souls were
pure, but they have become contracted by their own acts. Still, through
the mercy of God, and by doing good deeds, they will expand and become
pure again. Every soul has the same chance, and, in the long run, must
become pure and free itself from Nature. But this universe will not
cease, because it is infinite. This is the second theory. The first
is called dualistic Vedânta; the second teaches that there is God,
soul, and Nature, that soul and Nature form the body of God, and that
these three form one unit. Believers in this second theory are called
qualified non-dualists (_Visishtadvaitins_).

The last and highest theory is pure monism, or as it is known in
India, _Advaita_. It also teaches that God must be both the material
and the efficient cause of this universe. As such, God has become the
whole of this universe. This theory denies that God is the soul, and
the universe is the body, and the body is changing. In that case what
is the use of calling God the material cause of this universe? The
material cause is the cause become effect; the effect is nothing but
the cause in another form. Wherever you see effect, it is the cause
reproduced. If the universe is the effect, and God the cause, this
must be the reproduction of God. If it be claimed that the universe
is the body of God and that that body becomes contracted and fine and
becomes the cause, and out of that the universe is evolved, then the
_advaitist_ says it is God Himself who has become this universe. Now
comes a very fine question. If God has become this universe, then
everything is God. Certainly; everything is God. My body is God, and my
mind is God, and my soul is God. Then why are there so many _jivas_?
Has God become divided into millions and millions of _jivas_? How can
that infinite power and substance, the one Being of the universe
become divided? It is impossible to divide infinity. How can the pure
Being become this universe? If He has become the universe, He is
changeful, and if He is changeful, He is in Nature, and whatever is in
Nature is born and dies. If God is changeful, He must die some day.
Remember that. Again, how much of God has become this universe? If you
say “X,” the algebraical unknown quantity, then God is God minus “X”
now, and therefore not the same God as before this creation, because
so much of Him has become this universe. The answer of the non-dualist
is that this universe has no real existence, it exists in appearance
only. These _devas_ and gods and angels and being born and dying, and
all this infinite number of souls coming up and going down, all these
things are mere dreams. All is the one Infinite. The one sun reflected
on various drops of water appears to be many, millions of globules of
water reflect so many millions of suns and in each globule will be
a perfect image of the sun, yet there is only one sun, and so it is
with all these _jivas_, they are but reflections of the one infinite
Being. A dream cannot be without a reality, and that reality is the one
infinite Existence. You, as body, mind, or soul, are a dream, but what
you really are is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Thus says the
_Advaitist_. All these births and rebirths, this coming and going are
but parts of the dream. You are infinite. Where can you go? The sun,
moon, and the whole universe are but a drop in your nature. How can you
be born or die? The Self was never born, never will be born, never had
father or mother, friends or foes, for it is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss
Absolute.

What is the goal, according to this philosophy? That those who receive
this knowledge are one with the universe; for them all heavens, even
_Brahmaloka_, are destroyed, the whole dream vanishes, and they find
themselves the eternal God of the universe. They attain their real
individuality, infinitely beyond these little selves which we now think
of so much importance. No individuality will be lost; an infinite and
eternal Individuality will be realized. Pleasures in little things will
cease. We are finding pleasure in this little body, in this little
individuality. How much greater the pleasure when this whole universe
is in our one body? If there be pleasure in these separate bodies, how
much more when all bodies are one? The man who has realized this has
attained to freedom, has gone beyond the dream and known himself in his
real nature. This is the teaching of Advaita, the non-dualistic Vedânta.

These are the three steps which Vedânta philosophy has taken, and we
cannot go beyond, because we cannot go beyond unity. When any science
reaches a unity it cannot possibly go any farther. You cannot go beyond
this idea of the Absolute, the One Idea of the universe, out of which
everything else has evolved. All people cannot take up this _Advaita_
philosophy; it is too hard. First of all, it is very difficult to
understand it intellectually. It requires the sharpest of intellects,
a bold understanding. Secondly, it does not suit the vast majority of
people.

It is better to begin with the first of these three steps. Then by
thinking of that and understanding it, the second one will open of
itself. Just as a race travels, so individuals have to travel. The
steps which the human race has taken to come to the highest pinnacle of
religious thought, every individual will have to take. Only, while the
human race took millions of years to reach from one step to another,
individuals may live the whole life of the human race in a few years,
or they may be able to do it more quickly, perhaps in six months.
But each one of us will have to go through these steps. Those of you
who are non-dualists can, no doubt, look back to the period of your
lives when you were strong dualists. As soon as you think you are a
body and a mind, you will have to accept the whole of this dream. If
you have one piece you must take the whole. The man who says, here is
this world but there is no God, is a fool, because if there be a world
there will have to be a cause of the world, and that is what is called
God. You cannot have an effect without knowing that there is a cause.
God will only vanish when this world vanishes. When you have realized
your one-ness with God, this world will no longer be for you. As long
as this dream exists, however, we are bound to see ourselves as being
born and dying, but as soon as the dream that we are bodies vanishes,
so will vanish this dream that we are being born and dying, and so
will vanish the other dream that there is a universe. That very thing
which we now see as this universe will appear to us as God, and that
very God who was so long external, will appear as the very Self of our
own selves. The last word of _Advaita_ is, _Tat tvam asi_,--“That thou
art.”




_ADVERTISEMENTS_




Publications of The Vedânta Society

BY SWÂMI VIVEKÂNANDA


Jnâna Yoga.--Part I.

12mo. 356 pages. Cloth, $1.50. Postage, 11 cents.

“One of the great thought challengers of the day is this work by the
Swâmi Vivekânanda. The book goes deep and treats of startling things,
but when analyzed and viewed from the author’s standpoint, they are
found to be links in the great chain of truth. He alone will deny who
is out of sympathy or limited in vision.”--_Transcript_, Boston, Sept.
24, 1902.

“Students of religion will find much of interest in it; those who care
for India in any way will be glad to receive an indication of high
Hindu thought in one of the most striking religious movements of the
day; while the orthodox Christian will derive some information from the
work regarding the attitude of cultured Hindus toward Christianity and
its Founder. After reading the book one is inexcusable if his ideas
concerning Vedânta are hazy.”--_New York Saturday Review of Books_,
July 12, 1902.

“The lectures show a wonderful insight into great truths which underlie
all religious aspiration.”--_Courier Journal_, Louisville, July 5, 1902.

“The altruism with which his preaching is permeated attracts and
inspires. The love of humanity which he inculcates harmonizes with
the spirit of the age, His English is good, his style easy to read,
his sincerity unquestionable. Merely as an intelligent presentation
of what is best in the ancient Hindu Scriptures, the Swâmi
Vivekânanda’s book is deserving of attention at the hands of religious
students.”--_Record-Herald_, Chicago, Aug. 19, 1902.

“The lectures are all extremely interesting, the style brilliant, the
reasoning often subtle. Whether the philosophy advanced is satisfactory
or not to those whose theories are the outgrowth of a different system
of thought, his method of presenting it affords an intellectual
pleasure.”--_Journal_, Indianapolis, Oct. 13, 1902.

“It is a book which appeals to the intellectual, and no one could be
the worse for reading it, since it contains much of truth even as
Christians measure truth.”--_Milwaukee Sentinel_, Aug, 15, 1902.

“The Vedânta Philosophy as explained by Vivekânanda is interesting....
As given by him and his followers, no more lofty teachings can
be found. The work is a valuable addition to the literature of
religions.”--_Toledo Blade_ Oct. 11, 1902.


  VEDÂNTA PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
  135 West 80th St., New York.


Râja Yoga

376 pages. Cloth, $1.50. Postage, 11 cents. Portrait of author,
frontispiece.

Besides lectures on Râja Yoga the book contains Patanjali’s Yoga
Aphorisms with Commentary, a copious Sanskrit Glossary, a lecture on
Immortality, and the Swâmi’s lectures on BHAKTI YOGA.

“The whole spirit of the book is candid in the extreme. It appeals
to what is best and noblest in man. It makes no foolish mysteries
and demands no blind belief. It puts forth its system in a plain and
simple manner. It is able to present its own method without in any
way attacking the method of others. It manifests a charity that it is
usual to call Christian but which Vivekânanda proves is equally the
property of the Hindu. If this little book had nothing to teach but the
beautiful toleration it advocates, it would be well worth reading; but
many will find in it valuable suggestions to aid in reaching the higher
life.”--_Arena_, Mar., 1897.

“A large part of the book is occupied with that method of attaining
perfection known as Râja Yoga, and there are also translations of a
number of aphorisms and an excellent glossary.”--_Living Age_, August
5th, 1899.

“A valuable portion of the volume to students is the glossary of
Sanskrit technical terms. This includes not only such terms as are
employed in the book, but also those frequently employed in works on
the Vedânta philosophy in general.”--_New York Times_, July 22d, 1899.

“A new edition with enlarged glossary, which will be welcomed by
students of comparative religion, who are already familiar with the
author’s lectures in this country.”--_Review of Reviews_, Oct., 1899.

“The methods of practical realization of the divine within the
human are applicable to all religions, and all peoples, and
only vary in their details to suit the idiosyncrasy of race and
individuals.”--_Post_, Washington, D. C., June 12th, 1899.


  Sent on receipt of price and postage by the
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The Sayings of Sri Râmakrishna.

COMPILED BY

SWÂMI ABHEDÂNANDA

234 pages. Flexible cloth, gilt top, 75c. net. Postage, 4c.

Râmakrishna was a great Hindu saint of the nineteenth century who
has already had an influence on the religious thought of America and
England through the teachings of his disciples, Swâmi Vivekânanda,
Swâmi Abhedânanda, and others. His Sayings are full of broad practical,
non-sectarian instructions concerning the spiritual life which cannot
but give help and inspiration to the followers of all creeds. The
present volume contains a larger number of Sayings than has yet
appeared in any one English collection. For the first time also they
have been classified into chapters and arranged in logical sequence
under marginal headings, such as “All creeds paths to God,” “Power of
Mind and Thought,” “Meditation,” “Perseverance.” As an exposition of
the universal truths of Religion and their application to the daily
life this book takes its place among the great scriptures of the world.


My Master

By SWÂMI VIVEKÂNANDA

12mo, 90 pages. Cloth, 50 cents. Postage, 6 cents.

“This little book gives an account of the character and career of the
remarkable man known in India as Paramahamsa Srimat Râmakrishna, who is
regarded by a great number of his countrymen as a divine incarnation.
It is not more remarkable for the story it tells of a holy man than for
the clear English in which it is told, and the expressions of elevated
thought in its pages.”--_Journal_, Indianapolis, May 13th, 1901.

“The book, besides telling the life of Sri Râmakrishna, gives an
insight into some of the religious ideas of the Hindus and sets forth
the more important ideals that vitally influence India’s teeming
millions. If we are willing to sympathetically study the religious
views of our Aryan brethren of the Orient, we shall find them governed
by spiritual concepts in no way inferior to the highest known to
ourselves, concepts which were thought out and practically applied
by these ancient philosophers in ages so remote as to antedate
history.”--_Post, Washington_, May 13th, 1901.

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By SWÂMI ABHEDÂNANDA

Divine Heritage of Man

12mo, 215 pages. Portrait of author, frontispiece.

Cloth, $1.00. Postage, 8 cents.

CONTENTS. I. Existence of God. II. Attributes of God. III. Has God any
Form? IV. Fatherhood and Motherhood of God. V. Relation of Soul to
God. VI. What is an Incarnation of God? VII. Son of God. VIII. Divine
Principle in Man.

 “The Swâmi Abhedânanda’s writings are also companionable and
 readable.... The Philosophy of India, being the bringing together of
 the best thoughts and reasonings of the best men for the thousands of
 preceding years, had under consideration the self-same problems that
 are to-day vexing the souls of our philosophers. The Swâmi’s book is
 therefore not so radical a departure from accepted thought as might
 at first be imagined.... It is not meat for babes, but rather will it
 give new lines of thought to the brightest intellects.”--_Transcript_,
 Boston, Aug., 1903.

 “His method of dealing with these fundamental questions is peculiarly
 free both from dogmatic assertion and from pure metaphysical
 speculation.”--_Inter-Ocean_, Chicago, Aug., 1903.

 “He bases his arguments, not on theological hypotheses, but on
 scientific facts.”--_Cleveland Plain Dealer_, Aug., 1903.

 “It is written in a plain and logical style, and cannot fail to
 interest all who are anxious for information concerning the philosophy
 of which the author is such an able exponent.”--_Times_, Pittsburg,
 June, 1903.

 “A glance over a few of its pages would be sufficient to convince
 the reader that he is in the presence of an intellect of high order,
 more thoroughly conversant with the philosophies and sciences of the
 Occidental world than most Europeans or Americans.... The ‘Divine
 Heritage of Man’ gives a rare insight into the religious views of
 educated Hindoos and its argumentation furnishes an intellectual
 treat.”--_Chronicle_, San Francisco, Aug., 1903.

 “Fully cognizant of modern scientific discoveries, the author treats
 his subject broadly.”--_Bookseller, Newsdealer, and Publisher_, New
 York, Aug., 1903.

 “The student of religions will find much of value in the discourses,
 since they are full of historical information concerning the
 origin and growth of certain ideas and beliefs dominant in
 Christianity.”--_Republican_, Denver, July, 1903.

 “There is no disposition on the part of the author to assail any of
 the Christian principles, but he simply presents his subject with
 calmness, not attempting to reconcile religion and science, for to him
 they are one.”--_Washington Post_, June, 1903.


How to be a Yogi.

    I. Introductory.
   II. What is Yoga?
  III. Science of Breathing.
   IV. Was Christ a Yogi?

12mo, 188 pages. Cloth, $1.00. Postage, 8 cents.

“For Christians interested in foreign missions this book is of moment,
as showing the method of reasoning which they must be prepared to
meet if they are to influence the educated Hindu. To the Orientalist,
and the philosopher also, the book is not without interest....
Swâmi Abhedânanda preaches no mushroom creed and no Eurasian hybrid
‘theosophy.’ He aims to give us a compendious account of Yoga. Clearly
and admirably he performs his task. In form the little bank is
excellent, and its English style is good.”--_New York Times Saturday
Review of Books_, Dec. 6, 1902.

“‘How to be a Yogi’ is a little volume that makes very interesting
reading. The book contains the directions that must be followed in
physical as well as in mental training by one who wishes to have full
and perfect control of all his powers.”--_Record-Herald_, Chicago, Feb.
28, 1903.

“The Swâmi writes in a clear, direct manner. His chapter on Breath
will elicit more than ordinary attention, as there is much in it that
will prove helpful. The book makes a valuable addition to Vedânta
Philosophy.”--_Mind_, June, 1903.

“The book is calculated to interest the student of Oriental thought and
familiarize the unread with one of the greatest philosophical systems
of the world.”--_Buffalo Courier_, Nov. 23, 1902.

“‘How to be a Yogi’ practically sums up the whole science of Vedânta
Philosophy. The term Yogi is lucidly defined and a full analysis is
given of the science of breathing and its bearing on the highest
spiritual development. The methods and practices of Yoga are
interestingly set forth, and not the least important teaching of the
book is the assertion of how great a Yogi was Jesus of Nazareth.”--_The
Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer_, Jan. 15, 1903.

“This book is well worth a careful reading. Condensed, yet clear
and concise, it fills one with the desire to emulate these Yogis in
attaining spiritual perfection.”--_Unity_, Kansas City, Dec., 1902.


Religion of Vedânta

Pamphlet printed for free distribution. 12mo, 8 pages. $1.00 for 150.


NEW BOOK BY SWÂMI ABHEDÂNANDA

Self-Knowledge (Atma-Jnâna.)

Cloth, $1.00. Postage, 8 cents. Portrait of author, frontispiece.

CONTENTS.

    I. Spirit and Matter.
   II. Knowledge of the Self.
  III. Prâna and the Self.
   IV. Search after the Self.
    V. Realization of the Self.
   VI. Immortality and the Self.

“So practically and exhaustively is each phase of the subject treated
that it may well serve as a text-book for any one striving for
self-development and a deeper understanding of human nature.”--_Toronto
Saturday Night_, Dec., 1905.

“It will also be welcomed by students of the Vedic Scriptures, since
each chapter is based upon some one of the ancient Vedas known as the
Upanishads, and many passages are quoted.”--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_,
Jan., 1906.

“The book, from the gifted pen of the head of the Vedânta Society
of New York, presents in a clear manner, calculated to arrest
the attention of those not yet familiar with Vedic literature,
the principles of self-knowledge as taught by the leaders of
that philosophy.... The many passages quoted prove the profound
wisdom and practical teaching contained in the early Hindu
Scriptures.”--_Washington Evening Star_, Dec., 1905.

“A new book which will be welcome to students of Truth, whether
it be found in the Eastern religions, in modern thought or
elsewhere.”--_Unity_, Nov., 1905.

“The book is very well written.”--_San Francisco Chronicle_, Dec., 1905.

“In forcefulness and clearness of style it is in every way equal to the
other works by the Swâmi Abhedânanda, who has always shown himself in
his writings a remarkable master of the English language.”--_Mexican
Herald_, Dec., 1905.

“The volume is forcefully written, as are all of this author’s
works, and cannot fail to be of great interest to all who have
entered this field of thought. A fine portrait of the Swâmi forms the
frontispiece.”--_Toledo Blade_, Nov., 1905.


Spiritual Unfoldment.

    I. Self-control.
   II. Concentration and Meditation.
  III. God-consciousness.

Paper, 35 cents. Cloth, 50 cents. Postage, 2 and 6 cents.

“This attractive little volume comprises three lectures on the Vedânta
Philosophy. The discourses will be found vitally helpful even by
those who know little and care less about the spiritual and ethical
teachings of which the Swâmi is an able and popular exponent. As the
Vedânta itself is largely a doctrine of universals and ultimates, so
also is this book of common utility and significance among all races of
believers. Its precepts are susceptible of application by any rational
thinker, regardless of religious predilection and inherited prejudices.
The principles set forth by this teacher are an excellent corrective
of spiritual bias or narrowness, and as such the present work is to be
commended. It has already awakened an interest in Oriental literature
that augurs well for the cause of human brotherhood, and it merits
a wide circulation among all who cherish advanced ideals.”--_Mind_,
April, 1902.


Reincarnation.

New and Enlarged Edition.

Paper, 40 cents. Cloth, 60 cents. Postage, 3 and 7 cents.

CONTENTS.

    I. What is Reincarnation?
   II. Heredity and Reincarnation.
  III. Evolution and Reincarnation.
   IV. Which is Scientific, Resurrection or Reincarnation?
    V. Theory of Transmigration.


  Orders received and filled promptly by the
  VEDÂNTA PUBLICATION COMMITTEE,
  135 W. 80th St., New York.

  _Agents for Europe_--Messrs. LUZAC & CO.,
  London, W. C., 46 Great Russell Street.


India and Her People

  (_Lectures delivered before the Brooklyn Institute
  of Arts and Sciences during the season
  of 1905-1906_)

  BY
  SWÂMI ABHEDÂNANDA

  Cloth, $1.25.        Postage, 10 Cents.

  CONTENTS.

    I. Philosophy of India To-day.
   II. Religions of India.
  III. Social Status of India: Their System of Caste.
   IV. Political Institutions of India.
    V. Education in India.
   VI. The Influence of India on Western Civilization and
         the Influence of Western Civilization on India.

“This book has more than usual interest as coming from one who knows
the Occident and both knows and loves the Orient.... It is decidedly
interesting.... The book has two admirable qualities: breadth in
scope and suggestiveness in material.”--_Bulletin of the American
Geographical Society_, Sept., 1906.

“This volume, written in an attractive style and dealing with the life,
philosophy and religion of India, should prove a useful addition to
the literature of a fascinating and as yet largely unknown subject.
It is designed for popular reading, the metaphysical portions being
so handled that the reader runs little risk of getting beyond his
depth.”--_Literary Digest_, Feb. 16, 1907.

“The Swâmi possesses the exceptional advantage of being able to look
upon his own country almost from the standpoint of an outsider and to
handle his subject free from both foreign and native prejudice.”--_New
York World_, Aug. 4, 1906.

“It is a valuable contribution to Western knowledge of India,
containing precisely what the American wants to know about that
region.”--_Washington Evening Star_, Aug. 4, 1906.

       *       *       *       *       *




Transcriber’s note

Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Accent marks
have been standardized.

The following printer errors have been changed.

  =CHANGED FROM                            TO=
  Page 12: “the _raison d'etre_ of that”   “the _raison d'être_ of that”
  Page 26: “quieting down aplies”          “quieting down applies”
  Page 30: “state, disintegradation”       “state, disintegration”