A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda
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A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

vivekananda.net
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10.07.2015 Views

GOD INEVERYTHING.E have seen how the greater portion of our life mustof necessity be filled with evils, however we mayresist, and that this mass of evil is practicallyalmost infinite for us. We have been struggling to remedythis since the beginning of time, yet all remains very muchthe same. The more we discover remedies the more wein the world. We have also seenfind subtle evils existingthat all religions propose a God, as the one way of escapingthese difficulties. All the religions tell us that ifyou takethe world as it is, as most practical people would advise usto do in this age, then nothing would be left to us butevil. But religions assert that there issomething beyondthis world. This life in the five senses, life in the materialworld, is not all that we have, it is only a small portion,and merely superficial. Behind and beyondis the Infinite,where there is no more evil, which some people call God,some call Allah, some Jehovah, Jove, and so on. TheVedantin calls it Brahman. Yet we have to live.The first impression of the advice given by religions isthat we had better terminate our existence. The questionis how to cure the evils of life, and the answerapparentlyis, give up life. It reminds one of the old story. A mosquito settled on the head of a man, and a friend, wishingto kill the mosquito, gaveit such a blow, that he killedboth man and mosquito. The remedy seems to suggest asimilar course of action. Life is full of ills, the world ifull of evil ;that is a fact no one who is old enough toknow the world can deny.

GOD IN EVERYTHING. 327But what is the remedy proposed by all the religions ?That this world is nothing. Beyondthis world is someth^ngwhich is very real. And here is the real fight. Theremedy seems to destroy everything. How can that be aremedy ? Is there no wayout ? Here is another remedyproposed. The Vedanta says that what all the religionsadvance is perfectly true, but it should be properly understood. Often it is misunderstood, and the religionsarenot very explicit and not very clear. What we want ishead and heart together. The heart is great indeed ;it isthrough the heart that come the great inspirations of life.I would a hundred times rather have a little heart and nobrain, than be all brains and no heart. Life is possible,progress is possible, for him who has heart, but he who hasno heart and only brain dies of dry ness.At the same time we know that he who is carried alongby his heart alone has to undergo many ills, for now andthen he is liable to fall into pits. The combination of heartand head is what we want. I do not mean that a manshould have less heart or less brain, and make a compromise, but let everyone have an infinite amount of heartand feeling, and at the same time an infinite amount ofreason.Is there any limit to what we want in this world ? Isnot the world infinite? There is room for an infiniteamount of feeling,and so ajso for an infinite amount ofculture and reason. Let them all come together withoutany limit, let them be running together, as it were, inparallel lines each with the other.So most of the religions understand the fact, and stateit in very clear and precise language, but the error intowhich they all seem to fall is the same ; they are carriedaway by the heart, the feelings. There is evil in the

GOD INEVERYTHING.E have seen how the greater portion of our life mustof necessity be filled with evils, however we mayresist, and that this mass of evil is practicallyalmost infinite for us. We have been struggling to remedythis since the beginning of time, yet all remains very muchthe same. The more we discover remedies the more wein the world. We have also seenfind subtle evils existingthat all religions propose a God, as the one way of escapingthese difficulties. All the religions tell us that ifyou takethe world as it is, as most practical people would advise usto do in this age, then nothing would be left to us butevil. But religions assert that there issomething beyondthis world. This life in the five senses, life in the materialworld, is not all that we have, it is only a small portion,and merely superficial. Behind and beyondis the Infinite,where there is no more evil, which some people call God,some call Allah, some Jehovah, Jove, and so on. TheVedantin calls it Brahman. Yet we have to live.The first impression of the advice given by religions isthat we had better terminate our existence. The questionis how to cure the evils of life, and the answerapparentlyis, give up life. It reminds one of the old story. A mosquito settled on the head of a man, and a friend, wishingto kill the mosquito, gaveit such a blow, that he killedboth man and mosquito. The remedy seems to suggest asimilar course of action. Life is full of ills, the world ifull of evil ;that is a fact no one who is old enough toknow the world can deny.

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