A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"372 VEUANTA.pathy.How is it possible that my soul can act upon yoursoul, where is the medium through which it can wdrk,where is the medium through which it can act? Hov. is itI can feel anything about your soul ? What is it that isin touch both with your soul, and with my soul ? Therefore there is a metaphysical necessity of admitting anothersoul, for it must be a soul which acts in contact with al]the different souls and in matter ;one soul v r hich coversand interpenetrates all the infinite number of souls in theworld, in and through which it lives, in and through whichit sympathises, and loves, and works for one another.And this universal soul is Paramatman, the Lord God ofthe universe. Again,it follows that because the soul is notmade of matter, since it is spiritual, it cannot obey thelaws of matter, it cannot b& judged by the laws of matter.It is therefore deathless and changeless Nainam chhindantisastrani,&c.This Self the fire cannot burn, norinstruments pierce, the sword cannot cut it asunder, theair cannot dry it up, nor the water melt ; unconquerable,deathless,and birth! ess is this Self of man." What isthis Self doing then? We have known that accordingto Gita and according to Yedanta,this individual Selfis also vibhu, is, according to Kapila, omnipresent. Ofcourse there are sects in India according to which thisSelf is ami ;but what they mean is ami in manifestation ;its real nature is vibhu.There comes another idea, startling perhaps, yet acharacteristically Indian idea, and if there isany idea thatis common to all our sects it is this. Therefore I beg youto pay attention to this one idea and to remember it, forthis is the very foundation of everything that we have inIndia. The idea is this. You have heard of the doctrineof physical evolution preached in the Western world, by