A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

THE REAL AND THE APPARENT MAN. 207of flux ; yet we recognize the series as the same river.Every particle ir? this body is continually changing no;cfie has the same body for several minutes together. Yetn sort of impression left in the mind makes us call it thesame. So with the mind, one moment happy anothermoment unhappy one moment; strong, another weak. Anever-changing whirlpool. That cannot be the spirit, it isinfinite.Change can only be in the limited. To say thatthe infinite changes in any way is absurd it cannot be.;You can move and I can move as bodies ; every particle inthis universe is in a constant state of flux, but taking theuniverse as a unit, as one whole, it cannot move,it cannotchange. Motion isalways a relative thing. I move inrelation to a table, in relation to something else. Anyparticle in this universe can change in relation to any otherparticle, but the whole universe as one in relation to whatwill that move ? There isnothing beside it. So this infinite unit isunchangeable, immovable, absolute, and this isthe Real one. Our reality, therefore, consists in the Universal, and not in the limited. These are old delusions,however comfortable they are, to think that we are littlelimited beings, constantly changing. People are frightened when they are told that they are Universal Being,everywhere present. Through every thing you work,through every foot you move, through every lip you talk,throug every heart you breathe. People are frightenedwhen they are told this. They will again and again tellyou that you are not going to lose your individuality.What isany man s individuality ? I should be glad to see it.A littlebaby has no moustache when he;grows olderhe has a moustache and beard. His individuality is lost ifit is in the body. If I lose one eye, or if I lose one of myhands my individuality will be lost if it is in the body.A