A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

THE MISSION OF THE VEDANTA. 429any truth in it, and if prognostications ever prove true,it must be that those who train themselves to live on theleastasupply of things and to control themselves well, willin the end gain the battle, and that all those who runafterenjoyment and luxury, however vigorous they may seemfor the moment, will have to die and become annihilated.T!K i^-tire times in the history of a man s life, nay,^ri thehistory or the lives of nations, when a sort of world -weariness becomes painfully predominant. It seems thatsuch a tide of world-weariness has come upon the WesternWorld. There too they have thinkers, great men ;andthey are already finding out that it is all vanity ofvanities, this race after gold and power ; many, nay, mostcultured men and women there, are already weary of thiscompetition, this struggle, this brutality of their commercial civilisation, and they are looking forward towards something better. There is a class which stillclings 011 to political and social changes as the onlypanacea for the evils in Europe, but among the greatthinkers there other ideals are growing. They have foundout that no amount of political or social manipulation ofhuman contitions can cure the evils of life. It is only achange of the soul itself for the better that will cure theevils of life. No amount of force, or government, or legislative cruelty, will change the conditions of a race, but it isspiritual culture and ethical culture alone that can changewrong racial tendencies for the better. Thus these racesof the "West are eager for some new thought, for some newphilosophy ; the religion they have had, Christianity, although imperfectly understood and good and glorious inmany respects, is, as understood hitherto, found to be insufficient. The thoughtful men of the West find in ourancient philosophy, especially in the Vedanta, the new