UNITY IN DIVERSITY 1

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Om Namah Sivaya

Discourse by Sri Swami Vivekananda

(Delivered in London, 3rd November 1896)

"The Self-existent One projected the senses outwards and, therefore, a man

looks outward, not within himself. A certain wise one, desiring immortality,

with inverted senses, perceived the Self within." As I have already said, the first

inquiry that we find in the Vedas was concerning outward things, and then a

new idea came that the reality of things is not to be found in the external world;

not by looking outwards, but by turning the eyes, as it is literally expressed,

inwards. And the word used for the Soul is very significant: it is He who has

gone inward, the innermost reality of our being, the heart centre, the core, from which, as it were, everything comes out; the central sun of which the mind, the body, the sense-organs, and everything else we have are but rays going

outwards. "Men of childish intellect, ignorant persons, run after desires which are external, and enter the trap of far-reaching death, but the wise, understanding immortality, never seek for the Eternal in this life of finite

things." The same idea is here made clear that in this external world, which is

full of finite things, it is impossible to see and find the Infinite. The Infinite

must be sought in that alone which is infinite, and the only thing infinite about

us is that which is within us, our own soul. Neither the body, nor the mind, not even our thoughts, nor the world we see around us, are infinite. The Seer, He to whom they all belong, the Soul of man, He who is awake in the internal man,

alone is infinite, and to seek for the Infinite Cause of this whole universe we

must go there. In the Infinite Soul alone we can find it. "What is here is there

too, and what is there is here also. He who sees the manifold goes from death to death." We have seen how at first there was the desire to go to heaven. When

these ancient Aryans became dissatisfied with the world around them, they

naturally thought that after death they would go to some place where there

would be all happiness without any misery; these places they multiplied and

called Svargas — the word may be translated as heavens — where there would

be joy for ever, the body would become perfect, and also the mind, and there

they would live with their forefathers. But as soon as philosophy came, men

found that this was impossible and absurd. The very idea of an infinite in place

would be a contradiction in terms, as a place must begin and continue in time.

Therefore they had to give up that idea. They found out that the gods who lived

in these heavens had once been human beings on earth, who through their good

works had become gods, and the godhoods, as they call them, were different

states, different positions; none of the gods spoken of in the Vedas are

permanent individuals.

For instance, Indra and Varuna are not the names of certain persons, but the

names of positions as governors and so on. The Indra who had lived before is

not the same person as the Indra of the present day; he has passed away, and

another man from earth has filled his place. So with all the other gods These are

certain positions, which are filled successively by human souls who have raised

themselves to the condition of gods, and yet even they die. In the old Rig-Veda

we find the word "immortality" used with regard to these gods, but later on it is

dropped entirely, for they found that immortality which is beyond time and

space cannot be spoken of with regard to any physical form, however subtle it

may be. However fine it may be, it must have a beginning in time and space, for

the necessary factors that enter into the make-up of form are in space. Try to

thinly of a form without space: it is impossible. Space is one of the materials, as

it were, which make up the form, and this is continually changing Space and

time are in Maya, and this idea is expressed in the line — "What is hole, that is

there too." If there are these gods, they must be bound by the same laws that

apply here, and all laws involve destruction and renewal again and again. These

laws are moulding matter into different forms, and crushing them out again.

Everything born must die; and so, if there are heavens, the same laws must hold

good there.

 

Sivaya Namah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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