A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"""HeHINDUISM AS A RELIGION. 39sinners ? It is a sin to call a man so. It is a standinglibel on human nature. Come up! lions and shake offthe delusion that you are sheep you are souls immortal,spirits free and blest and eternal, ye are not matter, yeare not bodies. Matter isyour servant, not you the servant of matter.Thus it is that the Vedas proclaim, not a dreadfulcombination of unforgiving laws, not an endless prison ofcause and effect, but that at the head of all natural laws,in and through every particle of matter and force, standsOne through whose command the wind blows, the firethe earth."burns, the clouds rain and death stalks uponAnd what is His nature ?He iseverywhere, the pure and formless One, the Almighty and the All-merciful.Thou art our father, Thouart our mother, Thou art our beloved friend, Thou artthe source of all strength. Thou art He that beareth theburdens of the universe ; help me bear the little burden ofthis life." Thus sang the Rishis of the Veda. And howare we to worship Him ?Through love.worshipped as the one beloved,is to bedearer than every thing inthis and the next life."Thh is the doctrine of love preached in the Vedas, andlet us see how it is fully developed and preached byKrishna, whom the Hindus believe to have been God incarnate on earth.KRISHNA S TEACHING.He taught that a man ought to live in this world likea lotus leaf, which grows in water but is never moistenedby water so a man ought to live in this world with hisheart for God and his hands for work. %It isgood to love God for hope of reward in this orthe next world, but it is better to love God for love s sake