Dog Poet Transmitting.......
Here is a great lecture by an illumined
soul and it is a classic example of how a wise person can say one
thing and mean another, or say something that is arguably (if you
argue) not true in any relative sense but may well be true in a
cosmic sense. It is going to make some people who read it angry. He
says at different points that this does not exist and that does not
exist and in the ultimate sense this could well be so but then again
it is not; NETI NETI. In the end... at every point... what you
believe to be true becomes true for you because you believed it. You
poured life into it. You made it real. We are all God the Creator in
a smaller way and we make the things we experience and which we
endure. We make what pleases us and gives us pain. WHEN WE LEARN
THIS, WE WILL BE FREE AND ALSO CREATE ONLY WHAT SERVES AND HELPS
OTHERS AND WHAT BRINGS JOY AND BLISS. TO OTHERS AND... TO OURSELVES.
THE GOAL
(Delivered in San
Francisco, March 27, 1900)
(Reprinted from the
Vedanta and the West, May-June 1958.
The editors of the Magazine published
it as it was recorded, adding certain words (in square brackets) to
maintain the continuity of thought, and periods to indicate omissions
that might have occurred in recording. — Ed.)
We find that man, as it were, is always
surrounded by something greater than himself, and he is trying to
grasp the meaning of this. Man will ever [seek] the highest ideal. He
knows that it exists and that religion is the search after the
highest ideal. At first all his searches were in the external plane —
placed in heaven, in different places — just according to [his
grasp] of the total nature of man. [Later,] man began to look at
himself a little closer and began to find out that the real "me"
was not the "me" that he stands for ordinarily. As he
appears to the senses is not the same as he really is. He began to
[search] inside of himself, and found out that . . . the same ideal
he [had placed] outside of himself is all the time within; what he
was worshipping outside was his own real inner nature. The difference
between dualism and monism is that when the ideal is put outside [of
oneself], it is dualism.
When God is [sought] within, it is
monism. First, the old question of why and wherefore . . . How is it
that man became limited? How did the Infinite become finite, the pure
become impure? In the first place, you must never forget that this
question can never be answered [by] any dualistic hypothesis. Why did
God create the impure universe? Why is man so miserable, made by a
perfect, infinite, merciful Father? Why this heaven and earth,
looking at which we get our conception of law? Nobody can imagine
anything that he has not seen. All the tortures we feel in this life,
we put in another place and that is our hell . . . . Why did the
infinite God make this world? [The dualist says:] Just as the potter
makes pots. God the potter; we the pots. . . .
In more philosophical language the
question is: How is it taken for granted that the real nature of man
is pure, perfect, and infinite? This is the one difficulty found in
any system of monism. Everything else is clean and clear. This
question cannot be answered. The monists say the question itself is a
contradiction. Take the system of dualism — the question is asked
why God created the world. This is contradictory. Why? Because —
what is the idea of God? He is a being who cannot be acted upon by
anything outside. You and I are not free. I am thirsty. There is
something called thirst, over which I have no control, [which] forces
me to drink water. Every action of my body and even every thought of
my mind is forced out of me. I have got to do it. That is why I am
bound . . . . I am forced to do this, to have this, and so on . . . .
And what is meant by why and wherefore? [Being subject to external
forces.]
Why do you drink water? Because thirst
forces you. You are a slave. You never do any. thing of your own will
because you are forced to do everything. Your only motive for action
is some force. . . . The earth, by itself, would never move unless
something forced it. Why does the light burn? It does not burn unless
somebody comes and strikes a match. Throughout nature, everything is
bound. Slavery, slavery! To be in harmony with nature is [slavery].
What is there in being the slave of nature and living in a golden
cage? The greatest law and order is in the [knowledge that man is
essentially free and divine] Now we see that the question why and
wherefore can only be asked [in ignorance]. I can only be forced to
do something through something else. [You say] God is free. Again you
ask the question why God creates the world. You contradict yourself.
The meaning of God is entirely free will. The question put in logical
language is this: What forced Him, who can never be forced by
anybody, to create the world? You say in the same question, What
forced Him? The question is nonsense. He is infinite by His very
nature; He is free. We shall answer questions when you can ask them
in logical language.
Reason will tell you that there is only
one Reality, nothing else. Wherever dualism has risen, rnonism came
to a head and drove it out. There is only one difficulty in
understanding this. Religion is a common-sense, everyday thing. The
man in the street knows it if you put it in his language and not [if
it is put] in a philosopher's language. It is a common thing in human
nature to [project itself]. Think of your feeling with the child.
[You identify yourself with it. Then] you have two bodies.
[Similarly] you can feel through your husband's mind Where can you
stop? You can feel in infinite bodies. Nature is conquered by man
every day. As a race, man is manifesting his power. Try in
imagination to put a limit to this power in man. You admit that man
as a race has infinite power, has [an] infinite body. The only
question is what you are. Are you the race or one [individual]? The
moment you isolate yourself, everything hurts you. The moment you
expand and feel for others, you gain help. The selfish man is the
most miserable in the world.
The happiest is the man who is not at
all selfish. He has become the whole creation, the whole race and God
[is] within him. . . . So in dualism — Christian, Hindu, and all
religions — the code of ethics . . . . is: Do not be selfish . . .
. things for others! Expand! . . . . The ignorant can be made to
understand [this] very easily, and the learned can be made to
understand still more easily. But the man who has just got a speck of
learning, him God himself cannot make understand. [The truth is,] you
are not separate [from this universe]; Just as your Spirit] is [not]
separate from the rest of you. If [not] so, you could not see
anything, could not feel anything. Our bodies are simply little
whirlpools in the ocean of matter. Life is taking a turn and passing
on, in another form . . . . The sun, the moon, the stars, you and I
are mere whirlpools. Why did I select [a particular mind as mine? It
is] simply a mental whirlpool in the ocean of mind. How else is it
possible that my vibration reaches you just now? If you throw a stone
in the lake, it raises a vibration and [that stirs] the water into
vibration. I throw my mind into the state of bliss and the tendency
is to raise the same bliss in your mind.
How often in your mind or heart [you
have thought something] and without [verbal] communication, [others
have got your thought]? Everywhere we are one. . . . That is what we
never understand. The whole [universe] is composed of time, space,
and causation. And God [appears as this universe]. . . . When did
nature begin? When you [forgot your true nature and] became [bound by
time, space, and causation]. This is the [rotating] circle of your
bodies and yet that is your infinite nature. . . . That is certainly
nature — time, space, and causation. That is all that is meant by
nature. Time began when you began to think. Space began when you got
the body; otherwise there cannot be any space. Causation began when
you became limited. We have to have some sort of answer. There is the
answer. [Our limitation] is play. Just for the fun of it. Nothing
binds you; nothing forces [you. You were] never bound. We are all
acting our parts in this [play] of our own invention. But let us
bring another question about individuality. Some people are so afraid
of losing their individuality. Wouldn't it be better for the pig to
lose his pigindividuality if he can become God? Yes. But the poor pig
does not think so at the time. Which state is my individuality? When
I was a baby sprawling on the floor trying to swallow my thumb? Was
that the individuality I should be sorry to lose?
Fifty years hence I shall look upon
this present state and laugh, just as I [now] look upon the baby
state. Which of these individualities shall I keep ? . . . We are to
understand what is meant by this individuality. . . . [There are two
opposite tendencies:] one is the protection of the individuality, the
other is the intense desire to sacrifice the individuality. . . . The
mother sacrifices all her own will for the needy baby. . . . When she
carries the baby in her arms, the call of individuality, of
self-preservation is no more heard. She will eat the worst food, but
her children will have the best. So for all the people we love we are
ready to die. [On the one hand] we are struggling hard to keep up
this individuality; on the other hand, trying to kill it. With what
result? Tom Brown may struggle hard. He is [fighting] for his
individuality. Tom dies and there is not a ripple anywhere upon the
surface of the earth. There was a Jew born nineteen hundred years
ago, and he never moved a finger to keep his individuality. . . .
Think of that! That Jew never struggled to protect his individuality.
That is why he became the greatest in the world. This is what the
world does not know.
In time we are to be individuals. But
in what sense? What is the individuality of man? Not Tom Brown, but
God in man. That is the [true] individuality. The more man has
approached that, the more he has given up his false individuality.
The more he tries to collect and gain everything [for himself], the
less he is an individual. The less he has thought of [himself], the
more he has sacrificed all individuality during his lifetime, . . .
the more he is an individual. This is one secret the world does not
understand. We must first understand what is meant by individuality.
It is attaining the ideal. You are man now, [or] you are woman. You
will change all the time. Can you stop? Do you want to keep your
minds as they are now — the angels, hatreds, jealousies, quarrels,
all the thousand and one things in the mind? Do you mean to say that
you will keep them? . . . You cannot stop anywhere . . . until
perfect conquest has been achieved, until you are pure and you are
perfect. You have no more anger when you are all love, bliss,
infinite existence. . . .
Which of your bodies will you keep? You
cannot stop anywhere until you come to life that never ends. Infinite
life! You stop there. You have a little knowledge now and are always
trying to get more. Where will you stop? Nowhere, until you become
one with life itself. . . . Many want pleasure [as] the goal. For
that pleasure they seek only the senses. On the higher planes much
pleasure is to be sought. Then on spiritual planes. Then in himself —
God within him. The man whose pleasure is outside of [himself]
becomes unhappy when that outside thing goes. You cannot depend for
this pleasure upon anything in this universe. If all my pleasures are
in myself, I must have pleasure there all the time because I can
never lose my Self. . . . Mother, father, child, wife, body, wealth —
everything I can lose except my self . . . bliss in the Self All
desire is contained in the Self. . . . This. is individuality which
never changes, and this is perfect. . . . And how to get it? They
find what the great souls of this world — all great men and women —
found [through sustained discrimination]. . . .
What of these dualistic theories of
twenty gods, thirty gods? It does not matter. They all had the one
truth, that this false individuality must go. . . . So this ego —
the less there is of it, the nearer I am to that which I really am:
the universal body. The less I think of my own individual mind, the
nearer I am to that universal mind. The less I think of my own soul,
the nearer I am to the universal soul. We live in one body. We have
some pain, some pleasure. Just for this little pleasure we have by
living in this body, we are ready to kill everything in the universe
to preserve ourselves. If we had two bodies. would not that be much
better? So on and on to bliss. I am in everybody. Through all hands I
work; through all feet I walk. I speak through every mouth; I live in
every body. Infinite my bodies, infinite my minds. I lived in Jesus
of Nazareth, in Buddha, in Mohammed — in all the great and good of
the past, of the present. I am going to live in all that [may] come
afterwards. Is that theory [No, it is the truth.] If you can realise
this, how infinitely more pleasurable that will be. What an ecstasy
of joy! Which one body is so great that we need here anything [of]
the body. . . After living in all the bodies of others, all the
bodies there are in this world, what becomes of us? [We become one
with the Infinite. And] that is the goal. That is the only way.
One [man] says, "If I know the
truth, I shall be melted away like butter." I wish people would
be, but they are too tough to be melted so quickly! What are we to do
to be free? Free you are already. . . . How could the free ever be
bound? It is a lie. [You were] never bound. How could the unlimited
ever be limited by anything? Infinite divided by infinite, added to
infinite, multiplied by infinite [remains] infinite. You are
infinite; God is infinite. You are all infinite. There cannot be two
existences, only one. The Infinite can never be made finite. You are
never bound. That is all. . . . You are free already. You have
reached the goal — all there is to reach. Never allow the mind to
think that you have not reached the goal. . . . Whatever we [think]
that we become. If you think you are poor sinners you hypnotise
yourselves: "I am a miserable, crawling worm." Those who
believe in hell are in hell when they die; those who say that they
will go to heaven [go to heaven]. It is all play. . . . [You may
say,] "We have to do something; let us do good." [But] who
cares for good and evil? Play! God Almighty plays. That is all. . . .
You are the almighty God playing. If
you want to play on the side and take the part of a beggar, you are
not [to blame someone else for making that choice]. You enjoy being
the beggar. You know your real nature [to be divine]. You are the
king and play you are a beggar. . . . It is all fun. Know it and
play. That is all there is to it. Then practice it. The whole
universe is a vast play. All is good because all is fun. This star
comes and crashes with our earth, and we are all dead. [That too is
fun.] You only think fun the little things that delight your senses!
. . . [We are told that there is] one good god here, and one bad god
there always on the watch to grab me the moment I make a mistake. . .
. When I was a child I was told by someone that God watches
everything. I went to bed and looked up and expected the ceiling of
the room to open. [Nothing happened.] Nobody is watching us except
ourselves. No Lord except our [own Self]; no nature but what we feel.
Habit is second nature; it is first nature also. It is all there is
of nature. I repeat [something] two or three times; it becomes my
nature. Do not be miserable! Do not repent! What is done is done. If
you burn yourself, [take the consequences]. . . . Be sensible. We
make mistakes; what of that? That is all in fun. They go so crazy
over their past sins, moaning and weeping and all that. Do not
repent! After having done work, do not think of it. Go on! Stop not!
Don't look back! What will you gain by looking back? You lose
nothing, gain nothing. You are not going to be melted like butter.
Heavens and hells and incarnations —
all nonsense! Who is born and who dies? You are having fun, playing
with worlds and all that. You keep this body as long as you like. If
you do not like it, do not have it. The Infinite is the real; the
finite is the play. You are the infinite body and the finite body in
one. Know it! But knowledge will not make any difference; the play
will go on. . . . Two words — soul and body — have been joined.
[Partial] knowledge is the cause. Know that you are always free. The
fire of knowledge burns down all the [impurities and limitations]. I
am that Infinite. . . . You are as free as you were in the beginning,
are now, and always will be. He who knows that he is free is free; he
who knows that he is bound is bound. What becomes of God and worship
and all that? They have their place. I have divided myself into God
and me; I become the worshipped and I worship myself. Why not? God is
I. Why not worship my Self? The universal God — He is also my Self.
It is all fun. There is no other purpose.
What is the end and aim of life? None,
because I [know that I am the Infinite]. If you are beggars, you can
have aims. I have no aims, no want, no purpose. I come to your
country, and lecture — just for fun. No other meaning. What meaning
can be there? Only slaves do actions for somebody else. You do
actions for nobody else. When it suits you, you worship. You can join
the Christians, the Mohammedans, the Chinese, the Japanese. You can
worship all the gods that ever were and are ever going to be. . . . I
am in the sun, the moon, and the stars. I am with God and I am in all
the gods. I worship my Self. There is another side to it. I have kept
it in reserve. I am the man that is going to be hanged. I am all the
wicked. I am getting punished in hells. That [also] is fun. This is
the goal of philosophy [to know that I am the Infinite]. Aims,
motives, purposes, and duties live in the background. . . .
This truth is first to be listened to
then to be thought about. Reason, argue it out by all manner of
means. The enlightened know no more than that. Know it for certain
that you are in everything. That is why you should not hurt anybody,
because in hurting them you hurt yourself. . . . [Lastly,] this is to
be meditated upon. Think upon it. Can you realise there will come a
time when everything will crumble in the dust and you will stand
alone? That moment of ecstatic joy will never leave you. You will
actually find that you are without bodies. You never had bodies. I am
One, alone, through all eternity. Whom shall I fear? It is all my
Self. This is continuously to be meditated upon. Through that comes
realisation. It is through realisation that you become a [blessing]
to others. . . . "Thy face shines like [that of] one who has
known God." (Chhândogya. IV. ix. 2.) That is the goal. This is
not to be preached as I am doing. "Under a tree I saw a teacher,
a boy of sixteen; the disciple was an old man of eighty. The teacher
was teaching in silence, and the doubts of the disciple vanished."
(Dakshinâmurtistotram, 12.) And who speaks? Who lights a candle to
see the sun? When the truth [dawns], no witness is necessary. You
know it . . . . That is what you are going to do: . . . realise it.
[first think of it.
Reason it out. Satisfy your curiosity.
Then [think] of nothing else. I wish we never read anything. Lord
help us all! Just see what [a learned] man becomes. "This is
said, and that is said. . . ." "What do you say, my
friend?" "I say nothing.'' [He quotes] everybody else's
thought; but he thinks nothing. If this is education, what is lunacy?
Look at all the men who wrote! . . . These modern writers, not two
sentences their own! All quotations. . . . There is not much value in
books, and in [secondhand] religion there is no value whatsoever. It
is like eating. Your religion would not satisfy me Jesus saw God and
Buddha saw God. If you have not seen God, you are no better than the
atheist. Only he is quiet, and you talk much and disturb the world
with your talk. Books and bibles and scriptures are of no use. I met
an old man when I was a boy; [he did not study any scripture, but he
transmitted the truth of God by a touch].
Silence ye teachers of the world.
Silence ye books. Lord, Thou alone speak and Thy servant listeneth. .
. . If truth is not there, what is the use of this life? We all think
we will catch it, but we do not. Most of us catch only dust. God is
not there. If no God, what is the use of life? Is there any
resting-place in the universe? [It is up to us to find it]; only we
do not [search for it intensely. We are] like a little piece of maw
carried on in the current. If there is this truth, if there is God,
it must be within us. . . . [I must be able to say,] "I have
seen Him with my eyes," Otherwise I have no religion. Beliefs,
doctrines, sermons do not make religion. It is realisation,
perception of God [which alone is religion]. What is the glory of all
these men whom the world worships? God was no more a doctrine [for
them. Did they believe] because their grandfather believed it? No. It
was the realisation of the Infinite, higher than their own bodies,
minds, and everything. This world is real inasmuch as it contains a
little bit [of] the reflection of that God. We love the good man
because in his face shines the reflection a little more. We must
catch it ourselves. There is no other way. That is the goal. Struggle
for it! Have your own Bible. Have your own Christ. Otherwise you are
not religious. Do not talk religion. Men talk and talk.
"Some of them, steeped in
darkness, in the pride of their hearts think that they have the
light. And not only [that], they offer to take others upon their
shoulders and both fall into the pit." (Katha, I. ii. 5.) . . .
No church ever saved by itself. It is good to be born in a temple,
but woe unto the person who dies in a temple or church. Out of it! .
. . It was a good beginning, but leave it! It was the childhood place
. . . but let it be! . . . Go to God directly. No theories, no
doctrines. Then alone will all doubts vanish. Then alone will all
crookedness be made straight. . . . In the midst of the manifold, he
who sees that One; in the midst of this infinite death, he who sees
that one life; in the midst of the manifold, he who sees that which
never changes in his own soul — unto him belongs eternal peace.
End Transmission.......
