A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

MASTER.HENEVER virtuesulcome down to help mankind," declares Krishnain the Bhagavad GitA. Whenever this world ofours, on account of growth, on account of added circumstances, requires a new adjustment, a wave of power comes,and as man is acting on two planes, the spiritual and thematerial, waves of adjustment come on both planes. On theone side, of adjustment on the material plane, Europe hasmainly been the basis during modern times, and of the adjustment on the other, the spiritual plane, Asia has beenthe basis throughout the history of the world. To-day,man, requires one more adjustment on the spiritual plane ;to-d-iy, when material ideas are at the height of their gloryhis divineand power ; to-day, when man is likely to forgetnature,through his growing dependence on matter, and islikely to be reduced to a mere money-making machine, anadjustment is necessary, and the power is coming, the voicehas spoken, to drive away the clouds of gathering materialism. The power has been set in motion which, at nodistant date, will bring unto mankind once more thememory of their real nature, and again the place fromwhich this power will start will be Asia. This world ofours is on the plan of the division of labour. It is vainto say that one man shall possess everything. Yet how* Lecture delivered at New York under the auspices of theVedanta Society.