Part 20 (2/2)

I come, I think and talk. In the midst of all [this activity is] this unity [of the Self]. My thought and action are varied, many [fold] ... but in and through them runs ... that one unchangeable One. It cannot be the body. That is changing every minute. It cannot be the mind; new and fresh thoughts [come] all the time. It is neither the body nor the mind. Both body and mind belong to nature and must obey nature's laws. A free mind never will. ...

Now, therefore, this real man does not belong to nature. It is the person whose mind and body belong to nature. So much of nature we are using. Just as you come to use the pen and ink and chair, so he uses so much of nature in fine and in gross form; gross form, the body, and fine form, the mind. If it is simple, it must be formless. In nature alone are forms. That which is not of nature cannot have any forms, fine or gross. It must be formless. It must be omnipresent. Understand this. [Take] this gla.s.s on the table. The gla.s.s is form and the table is form. So much of the gla.s.s-ness goes off, so much of table-ness [when they break]. ...

The soul ... is nameless because it is formless. It will neither go to heaven nor [to h.e.l.l] any more than it will enter this gla.s.s. It takes the form of the vessel it fills. If it is not in s.p.a.ce, either of two things is possible. Either the [soul permeates] s.p.a.ce or s.p.a.ce is in [it]. You are in s.p.a.ce and must have a form. s.p.a.ce limits us, binds us, and makes a form of us. If you are not in s.p.a.ce, s.p.a.ce is in you. All the heavens and the world are in the person. ...

So it must be with G.o.d. G.o.d is omnipresent. ”Without hands [he grasps] everything; without feet he can move. ... ” (Shvetshvatara Upanishad, III. 19.) He [is] the formless, the deathless, the eternal. The idea of G.o.d came. ... He is the Lord of souls, just as my soul is the [lord] of my body. If my soul left the body, the body would not be for a moment. If He left my soul, the soul would not exist. He is the creator of the universe; of everything that dies He is the destroyer. His shadow is death; His shadow is life.

[The ancient Indian philosophers] thought: ... This filthy world is not fit for man's attention. There is nothing in the universe that is [permanent - neither good nor evil]. ...

I told you ... Satan ... did not have much chance [in India]. Why? Because they were very bold in religion. They were not babies. Have you seen that characteristic of children? They are always trying to throw the blame on someone else. Baby minds [are] trying, when they make a mistake, to throw the blame upon someone [else]. On the one hand, we say, ”Give me this; give me that.” On the other hand, we say, ”I did not do this; the devil tempted me. The devil did it.” That is the history of mankind, weak mankind. ...

Why is evil? Why is [the world] the filthy, dirty hole? We have made it. n.o.body is to blame. We put our hand in the fire. The Lord bless us, [man gets] just what he deserves. Only He is merciful. If we pray to Him, He helps us. He gives Himself to us.

That is their idea. They are [of a] poetic nature. They go crazy over poetry. Their philosophy is poetry. This philosophy is a poem. ... All [high thought] in the Sanskrit is written in poetry. Metaphysics, astronomy - all in poetry.

We are responsible, and how do we come to mischief? [You may say], ”I was born poor and miserable. I remember the hard struggle all my life.” Philosophers say that you are to blame. You do not mean to say that all this sprang up without any cause whatever? You are a rational being. Your life is not without cause, and you are the cause. You manufacture your own life all the time. ... You make and mould your own life. You are responsible for yourself. Do not lay the blame upon anybody, any Satan. You will only get punished a little more. ...

[A man] is brought up before G.o.d, and He says, ”Thirty-one stripes for you,” ... when comes another man. He says, ”Thirty stripes: fifteen for that fellow, and fifteen for the teacher - that awful man who taught him.” That is the awful thing in teaching. I do not know what I am going to get. I go all over the world. If I have to get fifteen for each one I have taught!...

We have to come to this idea: ”This My My is divine.” It is My activity [My] divinity. ”[My Maya] is hard to cross, but those that take refuge in me [go beyond maya].” (Gita, VII. 14.) But you find out that it is very difficult to cross this ocean [of Maya by] yourself. You cannot. It is the old question - hen and egg. If you do any work, that work becomes the cause and produces the effect. That effect [again] becomes the cause and produces the effect. And so on. If you push this down, it never stops. Once you set a thing in motion, there is no more stopping. I do some work, good or bad, [and it sets up a chain reaction].... I cannot stop now.

It is impossible for us to get out from this bondage [by ourselves]. It is only possible if there is someone more powerful than this law of causation, and if he takes mercy on us and drags us out.

And we declare that there is such a one - G.o.d. There is such a being, all merciful.... If there is a G.o.d, then it is possible for me to be saved. How can you be saved by your own will? Do you see the philosophy of the doctrine of salvation by grace? You Western people are wonderfully clever, but when you undertake to explain philosophy, you are so wonderfully complicated. How can you save yourself by work, if by salvation you mean that you will be taken out of all this nature? Salvation means just standing upon G.o.d, but if you understand what is meant by salvation, then you are the Self.... You are not nature. You are the only thing outside of souls and G.o.ds and nature. These are the external existences, and G.o.d [is] interpenetrating both nature and soul.

Therefore, just as my soul is [to] my body, we? as it were, are the bodies of G.o.d. G.o.d-souls-nature - it is one. The One, because, as I say, I mean the body, soul, and mind. But, we have seen, the law of causation pervades every bit of nature, and once you have got caught you cannot get out. When once you get into the meshes of law, a possible way of escape is not [through work done] by you. You can build hospitals for every fly and flea that ever lived.... All this you may do, but it would never lead to salvation.... [Hospitals] go up and they come down again. [Salvation] is only possible if there is some being whom nature never caught, who is the Ruler of nature. He rules nature instead of being ruled by nature. He wills law instead of being downed by law. ... He exists and he is all merciful. The moment you seek Him [He will save you].

Why has He not taken us out? You do not want Him. You want everything but Him. The moment you want Him, that moment you get Him. We never want Him. We say, ”Lord, give me a fine house.” We want the house, not Him. ”Give me health! Save me from this difficulty!” When a man wants nothing but Him, [he gets Him]. ”The same love which wealthy men have for gold and silver and possessions, Lord, may I have the same love for Thee. I want neither earth nor heaven, nor beauty nor learning. I do not want salvation. Let me go to h.e.l.l again and again. But one thing I want: to love Thee, and for love's sake - not even for heaven.”

Whatever man desires, he gets. If you always dream of having a body, [you will get another body]. When this body goes away he wants another, and goes on begetting body after body. Love matter and you become matter. You first become animals. When I see a dog gnawing a bone, I say, ”Lord help us!” Love body until you become dogs and cats! Still degenerate, until you become minerals - all body and nothing else....

There are other people, who would have no compromise. The road to salvation is through truth. That was another watchword. ... [Man began to progress spiritually] when he kicked the devil out. He stood up and took the responsibility of the misery of the world upon his own shoulders. But whenever he looked [at the] past and future and [at the] law of causation, he knelt down and said, ”Lord, save me, [thou] who [art] our creator, our father, and dearest friend.” That is poetry, but not very good poetry, I think. Why not? It is the painting of the Infinite [no doubt]. You have it in every language how they paint the Infinite. [But] it is the infinite of the senses, of the muscles. ...

”[Him] the sun [does not illumine], nor the moon, nor the stars, [nor] the flash of lightning.” (Katha Upanishad, II. ii. 15.) That is another painting of the Infinite, by negative language. ... And the last Infinite is painted in [the] spirituality of the Upanishads. Not only is Vedanta the highest philosophy in the world, but it is the greatest poem....

Mark today, this is the ... difference between the first part of the Vedas and the second. In the first, it is all in [the domain of] sense. But all religions are only [concerned with the] infinite of the external world - nature and nature's G.o.d.... [Not so Vedanta]. This is the first light that the human mind throws back [of] all that. No satisfaction [comes] of the infinite [in] s.p.a.ce. ”[The] Selfexisent [One] has [created] the [senses as turned] ... to the outer world. Those therefore who [seek] outside will never find that [which is within]. There are the few who, wanting to know the truth, turn their eyes inward and in their own souls behold the glory [of the Self].” (Katha Upanishad, II. i. 1.) It is not the infinite of s.p.a.ce, but the real Infinite, beyond s.p.a.ce, beyond time.... Such is the world missed by the Occident.... Their minds have been turned to external nature and nature's G.o.d. Look within yourself and find the truth that you had [forgotten]. Is it possible for mind to come out of this dream without the help of the G.o.ds? Once you start the action, there is no help unless the merciful Father takes us out.

That would not be freedom, [even] at the hands of the merciful G.o.d. Slavery is slavery. The chain of gold is quite as bad as the chain of iron. Is there a way out?

You are not bound. No one was ever bound. [The Self] is beyond. It is the all. You are the One; there are no two. G.o.d was your own reflection cast upon the screen of Maya. The real G.o.d [is the Self]. He [whom man] ignorantly wors.h.i.+ps is that reflection. [They say that] the Father in heaven is G.o.d. Why G.o.d? [It is because He is] your own reflection that [He] is G.o.d. Do you see how you are seeing G.o.d all the time? As you unfold yourself, the reflection grows [clearer].

”Two beautiful birds are there sitting upon the same tree. The one [is] calm, silent, majestic; the one below [the individual self], is eating the fruits, sweet and bitter, and becoming happy and sad. [But when the individual self beholds the wors.h.i.+pful Lord as his own true Self, he grieves no more.]” (Mundaka Upanishad, III. i. 1-2.) ... Do not say ”G.o.d”. Do not say ”Thou”. Say ”I”. The language of [dualism] says, ”G.o.d, Thou, my Father.” The language of [non-dualism] says, ”Dearer unto me than I am myself. I would have no name for Thee. The nearest I can use is I....

”G.o.d is true. The universe is a dream. Blessed am I that I know this moment that I [have been and] shall be free all eternity; ... that I know that I am wors.h.i.+pping only myself; that no nature, no delusion, had any hold on me. Vanish nature from me, vanish [these] G.o.ds; vanish wors.h.i.+p; ... vanish superst.i.tions, for I know myself. I am the Infinite. All these - Mrs. So-and-so, Mr. So-and-so, responsibility, happiness, misery - have vanished. I am the Infinite. How can there be death for me, or birth? Whom shall I fear? I am the One. Shall I be afraid of myself? Who is to be afraid of [whom]? I am the one Existence. Nothing else exists. I am everything.”

It is only the question of memory [of your true nature], not salvation by work. Do you get salvation? You are [already] free.

Go on saying, ”I am free”. Never mind if the next moment delusion comes and says, ”I am bound.” Dehypnotise the whole thing. [This truth] is first to be heard. Hear it first. Think on it day and night. Fill the mind [with it] day and night: ”I am It. I am the Lord of the universe. Never was there any delusion.... ” Meditate upon it with all the strength of the mind till you actually see these walls, houses, everything, melt away - [until] body, everything, vanishes. ”I will stand alone. I am the One.” Struggle on! ”Who cares! We want to be free; [we] do not want any powers. Worlds we renounce; heavens we renounce; h.e.l.ls we renounce. What do I care about all these powers, and this and that! What do I care if the mind is controlled or uncontrolled! Let it run on. What of that! I am not the mind, Let it go on!”

The sun [s.h.i.+nes on the just and on the unjust]. Is he touched by the defective [character] of anyone? ”I am He. Whatever [my] mind does, I am not touched. The sun is not touched by s.h.i.+ning on filthy places, I am Existence.”

This is the religion of [non-dual] philosophy. [It is] difficult. Struggle on! Down with all superst.i.tions! Neither teachers nor scriptures nor G.o.ds [exist]. Down with temples, with priests, with G.o.ds, with incarnations, with G.o.d himself! I am all the G.o.d that ever existed! There, stand up philosophers! No fear! Speak no more of G.o.d and [the] superst.i.tion of the world. Truth alone triumphs, and this is true. I am the Infinite.

All religious superst.i.tions are vain imaginations. ... This society, that I see you before me, and [that] I am talking to you - this is all superst.i.tion; all must be given up. Just see what it takes to become a philosopher! This is the [path] of [Jnna-] Yoga, the way through knowledge. The other [paths] are easy, slow, ... but this is pure strength of mind. No weakling [can follow this path of knowledge. You must be able to say:] ”I am the Soul, the ever free; [I] never was bound. Time is in me, not I in time. G.o.d was born in my mind. G.o.d the Father, Father of the universe - he is created by me in my own mind....”

Do you call yourselves philosophers? Show it! Think of this, talk [of] this, and [help] each other in this path, and give up all superst.i.tion!

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BREATHING This article was recorded by Ida Ansell in shorthand. As, however, Swamiji's speed was too great for her in her early days, dots are put in the articles to indicate the omissions, while the words within square brackets are added by way of linking up the disconnected parts.

(Delivered in San Francisco, March 28, 1900) Breathing exercises have been very popular in India from the most ancient times, so much so [that] they form a part of their religion, just as going to church and repeating certain prayers.... I will try to bring those ideas before you.

I have told you how the Indian philosopher reduces the whole universe into two parts - Prna and ksha. Prana means force - all that is manifesting itself as movement or possible movement, force, or attraction. ... Electricity, magnetism, all the movements in the body, all [the movements] in the mind - all these are various manifestations of one thing called Prana. The best form of Prana, however, is in [the brain], manifesting itself as light [of understanding]. This light is under the guidance of thought.

The mind ought to control every bit of Prana that has been worked up in the body.... [The] mind should have entire control of the body. That is not [the case] with all. With most of us it is the other way. The mind should be able to control every part of [the body] just at will. That is reason, philosophy; but [when] we come to matters of fact, it is not so. For you, on the other hand, the cart is before the horse. It is the body mastering the mind. If my finger gets pinched, I become sorry. The body works upon the mind. If anything happens which I do not like to happen, I am worried; my mind [is] thrown off its balance. The body is master of the mind. We have become bodies. We are nothing else but bodies just now.

Here [comes] the philosopher to show us the way out, to teach us what we really are. You may reason it out and understand it intellectually, but there is a long way between intellectual understanding and the practical realisation of it. Between the plan of the building and the building itself there is quite a long distance. Therefore there must be various methods [to reach the goal of religion]. In the last course, we have been studying the method of philosophy, trying to bring everything under control, once more a.s.serting the freedom of the soul. ... ”It is very difficult. This way is not for [every]body. The embodied mind tries it with great trouble” (Gita, XII. 5).

A little physical help will make the mind comfortable. What would be more rational than to have the mind itself accomplish the thing? But it cannot. The physical help is necessary for most of us. The system of Rja-Yoga is to utilise these physical helps, to make use of the powers and forces in the body to produce certain mental states, to make the mind stronger and stronger until it regains its lost empire. By sheer force of will if anyone can attain to that, so much the better. But most of us cannot, so we will use physical means, and help the will on its way.

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