A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"Why206 THE KEAL AND THE APPARENT MAN.that sense all these mythologies are true, that the apparentman, however great he may be, is only ^ a dim reflectionof the real man which isbeyond. The real man, tj?espirit, being beyond cause and effect, not bound by timeand space,must therefore be free. He was never bound,and could not be bound. The apparent man, the reflectionis limited by time, space and causation, and he isthereforebound. Or in the language of some of our philosophers,he appears to be bound, but really is not. This is thereality in our souls, this omnipresence, this spiritual nature,this infinity, which we are already. Every soul is infinite,therefore there is no question of birth and death. Somechildren were being examined. The examiner put themrather hard questions and among them was this question :does not the earth fall ?" fwanted toHeevoke answers about gravitation and so forth.Most of thechildren could not answer at all ;a few answered that itwas gravitation or something. One bright little girlanswered itby putting another "question Where should:it fall ?" Because the question is nonsense. Where shouldthe earth fall ? There is no falling or rising for the earth.In infinite space there is no up or down ;that isonly inthe relative. Where is the going or coming for the infinite?Whence should it come and whither should it go? Whenpeople refuse to think of the past, or future, or what isthe idea ofgoing to become of them when they give upbody, because, being limited, the body comes and goesthen they have risen to a higher ideal. The bodyis notthe real man, neither is the mind, for the mind waxes andwanes. It is the spirit beyond which alone can live forever. The body and mind are continually changing.These are the names of series of changeful phenomena,rivers where every particle of water is in a constant state