A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"""64 SWAMl S REPLY TO THE ADDRESSES.of Bhagavan Bhashyakara Sankaracharyais that it washis genius which gave the most wonderful expression tothe ideas of ,Yyasa.As absolute Brahman alone is true ;so relatively trueare all the different sects, standing upon different manifestations of the same Brahman, whether in India orelsewhere. Only some are higher than others.Suppose a man starts straight towards the sun. Atevery step of his journey he sees newer and newer visionsof the sun, the size, the view and the light will everymoment be new, until he reaches the real sun. He seesthesun at first like a big ball, and then it begins to increasein size. The sun is neither small like a ball nor even likeall the succession of suns seen in his journey. Still, is itnot true that our traveller always sees the sun and nothingbut the sun ? Similarly, all these various sects are true,some nearer, some further off from the real Sun, which isEkamevadvitiyam."And as the Vedas are the only scriptures which teachthis real absolute God of which all other ideas of God arebut minimized and limited visions ;as thehitaishiniSrutiSarvalokatakes the devotee gently by the hand,,and leads him from stage to stage throughall the stagesthat are necessary for man to travel to reach the Absoluteand as all other religions represent cue or other of thesestages in an unprogressive and crystallized form ;all theother religions of the world are included in the nameless rlimitless, eternal Yeclic Religion.Work hundreds of lives out, search every corner ofyour mind for ages, and still you will not find one noblereligiousidea that is not already imbedded in that infinitemine of spirituality.As to the so-called idolatry of the Hindus, first go and