A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"170 MAYA AND THE CONCEPTION OF GOD.lives. In judging others we always judge them by ourown ideals. That is not as it should be. Every one must bejudged according to his own ideal, and not by that of any oneelse. In all our dealings with our fellow-beings we constantly labour under this mistake, and I am of opinion thatthe vast majority of our quarrels and fights with our fellowbeingsarise simply from this one cause, that we are alwaystrying to judge other gods by our own, other ideals by ourideals, and others motives from our motives. Undercertain circumstances I might do a certain thing, andwhen I see another person taking the same course I thinkhe has also the same motive actuating him, littledreamingthat although the effect may be the same, yet many thousands of eauses may produce the same effect. Jle mayhave performed the action with quite a dfcferent motivefrom what would impel me to do the same thing. So injudging of those ancient religions we must not take theordinary standpoint to which we incline in our judgmentof others, but must throw ourselves, as it were, into theposition of thought in those early times.The idea of the cruel and ruthless Jehovahin the OldTestament has frightened many but why ? "What righthave they to assume that the Jehovah of the ancient Jew&must represent the conventional idea of God of the presentday And ? at the same time we must not forget thatthere will come men after us who will laugh at our ideasof religion and God in the same way that we laugh at thoseof the ancients. Yet throughall those various conceptionsruns the golden thread of unity, and it is the purpose ofthe Yedanta to unfold this thread.I am thethreadthat runs throughall these various ideas, each one of \vhichis like one pearl," says the Lord Krishna ;and that is theduty of Yedanta, to establish this connecting thread, how-