MAYA AND ILLUSION

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:38 pm (PST)

 

MAYA AND ILLUSION - Swam Vivekananda

 

The Vedanta says, there must come a time when we shall look back and

laugh at the ideals which make us afraid of giving up our

individuality. Each one of us wants to keep this body for an

indefinite time, thinking we shall be very happy, but there will

come a time when we shall laugh at this idea. Now, if such be the

truth, we are in a state of hopeless contradiction -- neither

existence nor non-existence, neither misery nor happiness, but a

mixture of them. What, then, is the use of Vedanta and all other

philosophies and religions? And, above all, what is the use of doing

good work? This is a question that comes to the mind. If it is true

that you cannot do good without doing evil, and whenever you try to

create happiness there will always be misery, people will ask

you, " What is the use of doing good? " The answer is in the first

place, that we must work for lessening misery, for that is the only

way to make ourselves happy. Every one of us finds it out sooner or

later in our lives. The bright ones find it out a little earlier,

and the dull ones a little later. The dull ones pay very dearly for

the discovery and the bright ones less dearly. In the second place,

we must do our part, because that is the only way of getting out of

this life of contradiction. Both the forces of good and evil will

keep this universe alive for us, until we awake from our dreams and

give up this building of mud pies. That lesson we shall have to

learn, and it will take a long, long time to learn it.

 

to be continued...

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 98]

(Lecture Delivered in London)

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

There is only one sin and it is: weakness. When I was a boy, I read

Milton's Paradise Lost. The only good man I had any respect for was

Satan. The only saint is that person who never weakens, faces

everything, and determines die game.

- Swami Vivekananda