A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"REALIZATION. 297we are prompted by our past associations. It isassociation of ideas that has such a tremendous power in ourmind. To those who have always been hearing about aPersonal God and the personality of the mind, from theirchildhood, these ideas, of course, will appear very stern andharsh, but if we listen to them, think of them, for quite along time, they will become part and parcel of our lives,and will-fret frighten us any more. The great questionthat generally rises, of course, is the utility of philosophy.To that there can be only one answer, that if on the utilitarian ground it is good for many men to seek for pleasures,why should not those whose pleasure is in religious speculation seek that ? Because sense enjoyments please many,they seek for them, but there may be others whom they donot please, they want higher enjoyment. The dog spleasure is only in eating and drinking. The dog cannotunderstand the pleasure of the scientist who gives upeverything, and perhaps dwells on the top of a mountain toobserve the position of certain stars. The dog maysmile at him and think he is a madman. Perhaps thispoor scientist never had money enough to marry even ;he eats a few bits of bread and drinks water and sits onthe top of a mountain. Perhaps this dog laughs at him.But the scientist will say, My dear dog, your pleasureis only in the senses you enjoy it : ; you know nothingbeyond it, but for me this is the most enjoyable thing, andifyou have the right to seek your pleasure in your own wayso have I, in my own way."The mistake is that we wantto tie the whole world down to our own place, we want tomake our minds the measure of the whole Universe. To youthe old sense things are perhaps the greatest pleasure, but,it is not necessary that my pleasure should be the sameand when you insistupon that, I differ from you. That is