A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

""human""""""Antara""""""""""""""""""""""""62 SWAMI S REPLY TO THE ADDRESSES.As to the eternity of creation, this doctrine is fihe-corner-stone not only of the Hindu religion, but that ofthe Buddhists and the Jains also.Now all the sects in India can be grouped roughly asfollowing the Gnana Marga or the Bhakti Marga."If you will kindly look into the introduction to theSarirakatheretheBhashyaNirapekshataof Sri Sankaracharya, you will findcussed, and the conclusion drawn, that theof Brahman and the attainment ofof Gnana thoroughly disrealizationMokshanot depend upon ceremonial, creed, caste, colour, ordoctrine. It will come to any being who has the fourSadhanas, which are the most perfect moral culture.As to the Bhaktas," even Bengali critics know verywell that none of theirdoauthorities ever declared that casteor nationality or sex, or, for the matter of that, evenbirth was ever necessary to moksha."Bhakti is the one only thing necessary."Both Gnana and Bhakti" are everywhere preached to be unconditioned, and there is not one authoritywho lays down conditions of caste or creed or nationalityforinoksha."attainingSee the discussion on the Sutraof Vyasa,chapitu tat drishteh by Sankara,Bamanuja and Madhva.Go throughall the Upanishads, and even the Samhitas,nowhere will you find the limited ideas of Mokshawhich every other religion has. As to toleration, it iseverywhere, even in theSamhita," of the AtharvaVeda in the fortieth chapter. The third or fourth verse,if my memory does not fail me, begins with Na budhibhedamjanayet agnanam karma sanginam."This sentiment is running through everywhere. Was anybodypersecuted in India for choosing his Ishtadevata or