我们面前的工作
本译文由人工智能辅助工具生成，可能存在不准确之处。如需查阅权威文本，请参考英文原文。
AI-translated. May contain errors. For accurate text, refer to the original English.
中文
我们面前的工作
（在马德拉斯特里普利坎文学协会发表）
生命的问题随着世界的前进，日益深邃而广博。吠檀多（Vedanta）真理最初被发现之时，便已宣讲了其精髓与核心——万物生命的同一性。宇宙中任何一个原子的运动，都必然牵动整个世界随之而动。没有全世界的共同跟进，便不可能有任何进步；而日益明朗的是，任何问题都决不能在种族的、民族的或狭隘的基础上得到解决。每一种理念都必须不断扩展，直至涵盖整个世界；每一种抱负都必须持续增长，直至将全人类乃至一切生命尽纳其中。这便可以解释，为何我们的国家在过去数百年间已不复昔日的辉煌。我们发现，导致这一衰落的原因之一，正是我们视野的日益狭窄，我们行动范围的日益收缩。
历史上曾出现过两个奇特的民族——出自同一种族，却置身于不同的环境与境遇之中，各以其独特的方式探索生命的问题。我所指的，是古代的印度人与古代的希腊人。印度雅利安人——北有喜马拉雅山的皑皑雪峰为界，平原上有如滚滚大洋般奔涌的淡水长河环绕，有在他眼中仿佛直抵天涯的永恒森林——他将目光转向内心；加之雅利安人天赋的本能、超凡的智识，以及这般壮阔雄浑的自然环境，其自然的结果便是他成为了内省之人。对自我心灵的分析，正是印度雅利安人伟大的主题。希腊人则不然，他们来到的是一片更显美丽而非壮阔的土地——爱琴海诸岛风景如画，四周的自然慷慨而纯朴——他的心灵自然向外驰骋，渴望分析外部世界。因此，分析性科学皆发端于印度，而综合性科学则皆发端于希腊。印度心灵沿着自身的方向前行，产生了最为奇妙的成果。即便在今日，印度人的逻辑能力以及印度人智识的惊人力量，依然无与伦比。我们都知道，我们的子弟与任何其他国家的子弟相较，无不胜出。然而与此同时，当民族的生命力衰退之时——大约是在穆斯林征服印度前的一两个世纪——这种民族才能便过度膨胀，以至堕落，我们在印度的一切事物中——艺术、音乐、科学，无一不见此衰落的痕迹。在艺术上，宏阔的构思不再，形式的均衡与立意的崇高不再，取而代之的是对繁缛华丽风格的无度追求。这一种族的创造力似乎已荡然无存。在音乐上，古代梵文音乐那些振人魂魄的意境不再，每个音符仿佛自立于脚下、产生那奇妙和谐的时代不再，每个音符已失去了其个体性。现代音乐的全部，不过是音符的杂乱堆砌，是混乱的曲线之团。这是音乐衰落的征兆。同样，若你分析你们的理想观念，会发现同样是对繁缛意象的追求，同样是原创力的丧失。甚至在宗教——你们尤为擅长的领域——也出现了最可怕的堕落。一个民族，数百年来忙于讨论诸如应用右手还是左手喝水这般重大问题，你还能期待什么？还有什么比这更深重的堕落——一个国家最伟大的头脑，数百年来竟在讨论厨房之事，讨论我是否可以触碰你、你是否可以触碰我，以及此种触碰应受何种忏悔！吠檀多的主题——曾在地球上被宣讲过的对于神与灵魂最为崇高、最为光辉的观念——已几近消亡，深埋于丛林之中，仅由少数游方僧（Sannyasin）加以保存，而全国其余之人则在讨论彼此触碰、服饰与饮食这些所谓的重大问题。穆斯林的征服无疑也带来了诸多好事；即便是世界上最卑微的人，也能向最尊贵的人传授某些道理；然而，它终究未能给这个民族带来活力。其后，无论好坏，英国人征服了印度。当然，每一场征服都是恶的，因为征服本身是恶，外国统治是恶，这无可置疑；然而，恶中有时也能生出善来，英国征服的巨大善果在于：英格兰乃至整个欧洲，都要感谢希腊赐予它文明。正是希腊通过欧洲的一切事物发出声音。每一座建筑、每一件家具上都印有希腊的烙印；欧洲的科学与艺术，无不是希腊的翻版。今日，古代的希腊人正在印度的土地上与古代的印度人相遇。于是，那酵母便悄然而缓慢地渗入；我们所见的这场使人宽广、赋予生机、振兴复苏的运动，正是由这两股力量共同推动的。一种更为宏阔、更为慷慨的生命观念已呈现在我们面前；尽管起初我们曾一度迷失，试图将事物压缩到狭窄之中，然而今日我们正在发现，那些正在发挥作用的慷慨冲动，那些更为宽广的生命观念，乃是我们古代典籍中所载内容的逻辑诠释。它们是我们祖先最初观念的严格逻辑延伸。走向宽广，走向外部，融合，普世化——这是我们目标的归宿。而我们一直以来却在使自己越来越渺小，越来越孤立，悖于我们的经典所规划的道路。
前路有几重危险，其一便是那种极端的观念——认为世界上只有我们才是真正的人。纵然我热爱印度，纵然我满怀爱国之心并对古人充满崇敬，我也不得不认为我们必须向其他民族学习许多东西。我们必须随时准备好坐在所有人的脚边求学，因为请记住，每一个人都能教给我们伟大的道理。我们伟大的法典制定者摩奴（Manu）说："即便从出身卑微之人处，也应汲取有益的知识；即便从最低贱出身之人处，也当以侍奉之道学习通往天堂之路。"因此，作为摩奴真正的子孙，我们必须遵循他的教导，随时准备向任何能够教导我们的人学习今生或来世的功课。与此同时，我们亦不可忘记，我们也有伟大的功课要传授给世界。我们离不开印度以外的世界；正是我们的愚蠢使我们以为可以，而我们已为此付出了约一千年奴役的代价。我们没有走出去与其他民族相互比较，没有留意那些始终在我们周围发生的事情，这正是印度心灵衰落的一大根本原因。我们已付出了代价；莫要再重蹈覆辙。所有那些"印度人不可出境"之类的愚昧观念都是幼稚的。它们必须被彻底打碎；你们越是走出去、越是游历世界各国，对你们自身和你们的国家就越是有益。若你们数百年前便已如此，今日便不会沦落到俯首于任何一个妄图统治印度的民族脚下。生命最直接的表现形式是扩张。若你们想要生存，就必须扩张。一旦你们停止扩张，死亡便悄然降临，危险便如影随形。我去了美国和欧洲——你们如此盛情地提及此事——我不得不如此，因为那是民族生命复兴的第一个征兆：扩张。这正在复兴的民族生命，在内部不断扩张，将我推出，也将把数以千计的人推出。请记住我的话，只要这个民族尚存，这一切必然发生。因此，这个问题乃是民族生命复兴最伟大的征兆之一；通过这种扩张，我们对人类知识总体的贡献，我们对世界整体变革的奉献，正向外部世界传递而去。
此外，这并非新鲜之事。那些认为印度人历来都被囿于本国四壁之内、从未踏足外部世界的人，是大错特错的；若你们如此认为，说明你们并未研读古代典籍，也没有正确地研究这一种族的历史。每个民族都必须给予方能存活。当你给予生命，你便拥有生命；当你接受，你必须以给予一切他人来偿还；而我们已生存了数千年，这是摆在我们面前不可回避的事实，其答案只有一个——无论无知者如何看待，我们始终在向外部世界给予。然而印度的给予，乃是宗教与哲学、智慧与灵性的给予。宗教不需要军队为其开路；智慧与哲学无需在血流成河中前行；智慧与哲学不踩踏流血的人体，不以暴力行进，而是乘着和平与爱的羽翼而来，自古如此。因此，我们必须给予。曾有一位伦敦的年轻女士问我："你们印度人做了什么？你们甚至从未征服过任何一个民族。"从英国人的观点来看，从那英勇尚武的刹帝利（Kshatriya）的观点来看，这是实情——征服是一个人所能拥有的凌驾于他人之上的最高荣耀。从他们的观点来看，这是实情，但从我们的观点来看，恰恰相反。若有人问我印度伟大的原因何在，我的回答是：因为我们从未征服过任何人。这是我们的光荣。你们每天都在听到——有时令我痛惜的是——来自本应更清醒明智之人的斥责，斥责我们的宗教，因为它根本不是一种征服的宗教。在我看来，这恰恰是我们的宗教比任何其他宗教都更真实的论据，因为它从未征服，因为它从未流血，因为它的口中始终向一切人倾洒的，是祝福、和平、爱与同情的话语。正是在这里，正是在这片土地上，宽容的理想首次被宣讲；也正是在这里，宽容与同情已成为现实——在其他任何国家，这只是理论；唯有在这里，唯有在这片土地上，印度教徒为穆斯林建造清真寺，为基督徒建造教堂。
由此可见，我们的信息已多次传向世界，但总是缓慢的、无声的、未被察觉的。这与印度的一切事物如出一辙。印度思想的一大特质便是其沉静与宁和。与此同时，其背后的磅礴力量从不以暴力表达。它始终是印度思想那无声的魅惑之力。若一位外国人拿起我们的文学来研读，起初他会感到枯燥；也许不那么有感官的激荡，不那么能立刻引燃他热情的冲劲。将欧洲的悲剧与我们的悲剧相比较——前者充满动作，能在片刻间激起你的情绪，然而待它结束，随之而来的是反弹，一切都消散了，仿佛被从你的脑海中冲刷而去。印度的悲剧犹如催眠者的力量——宁静、无声，然而随着你不断深入研读，它会令你着迷；你无法动弹，你已被束缚；凡是敢于触碰我们文学的人，无不感受到这种束缚，并从此永远被困于其中。犹如那轻盈的露珠，无声无息地降落，却使最美丽的玫瑰绽放——印度对世界思想的贡献便是如此。无声的、未被察觉的，却又无所不在地影响着一切，它已彻底改变了世界的思维，然而没有人知道它是何时做到这一切的。曾有人对我说："在印度要查明任何一位作者的名字，是多么困难。"我回答道："这正是印度的理念。"印度的作者与现代作者不同——后者从其他作者那里窃取百分之九十的思想，仅有百分之十是自己的，而他们还会在序言中郑重写道："这些观点由我负责。"那些伟大的智者在人类心灵中产生了深远的成果，却甘愿不署名地写作，悄然离世，将书籍留传后世。谁知道我们哲学典籍的作者？谁知道我们《往世书》（Puranas）的作者？他们都统统归于毗耶娑（Vyasa）、迦毗罗（Kapila）等名下。他们是室利·克里希纳（Krishna）真正的子嗣。他们是《薄伽梵歌》（Bhagavad Gita）真正的追随者；他们以实际行动践行了那伟大的教诲："你有权利行动，但无权索求行动的果实。"
因此，印度正在作用于世界，但有一个条件是必要的。思想如同商品，只能通过他人开辟的渠道流通。道路必须先被开通，思想才能从一处流向另一处；每当历史上出现一个伟大的征服民族，将世界各地联结贯通，印度的思想便通过这些渠道涌流而出，渗入每个种族的血脉之中。甚至在佛教诞生之前，便有越来越多的证据表明，印度思想已渗透世界。在佛教兴起之前，吠檀多便已渗入中国、波斯以及东方群岛。当希腊人那雄健的心灵将东方世界的各个部分联结起来，印度思想也随之涌入；基督教以其所有引以为傲的文明，不过是印度思想若干片段的汇集。我们的宗教，是佛教——这一叛逆之子——所由出的母体，是基督教——这一颇为东拼西凑的仿制品——所从摹的原本。如今，又一个这样的周期到来了。英格兰那磅礴的力量将世界各地联结在一起。英格兰的道路不再像罗马道路那样仅在陆地上延伸，而是在各个方向犁开了深邃的大海。从大洋到大洋，英格兰的道路无处不通。世界的每一部分都与其他部分相连，而电力作为全新的信使，发挥着最为神奇的作用。在这一切情形之下，我们再次看到印度在复兴，准备好向世界的进步与文明奉献她自己的配额。而我被自然之力所驱使，不得不前往美国和英国讲道，正是这一结果的体现。我们每一个人都应该早已看到，时机已经成熟。一切似乎都预兆吉祥，印度哲学与灵性的思想，必将再次传遍四方，征服世界。因此，我们面前的问题每一天都呈现出更为宏大的比例。不仅仅是要振兴我们自己的国家——那只是一件小事；我是一个富有想象力的人——而我的理念，是用印度民族征服整个世界。
历史上曾出现过伟大的征服民族。我们同样也曾是伟大的征服者。我们征服的故事，已由印度那位高贵的皇帝阿育王（Asoka）描述为宗教与灵性的征服。印度必须再一次征服世界。这是我毕生的梦想，而我希望今日听到我讲话的每一位，都能在心中怀有同样的梦想，并永不停歇，直至将这梦想实现。他们每天都会告诉你们，最好先把自己家里的事情处理好，然后再去外面做事。但我要直言相告：当你为他人做事之时，才是你做得最好之时。你们曾为自己所做的最好的事情，是当你们为他人而工作，试图用外国语言将你们的思想传播到海外；而今日这场集会本身，正是向其他国家传播你们思想的这一努力，如何有助于你们自己的国家的明证。我前往英国和美国，对于在国内产生的效果而言，若我仅将我的思想限定于印度之内，其效果连实际所产生效果的四分之一都不会有。这是我们面前伟大的理想，每一个人都必须为之做好准备——用印度征服整个世界——不能少于此，我们都必须为此做好准备，为此竭尽全力。让外国人来了，让他们的军队洪水般涌入这片土地，也不要紧。印度啊，起来，用你的灵性征服世界！正如首先在这片土地上所宣示的那样：爱必须征服仇恨，仇恨不能以仇恨克制。唯物主义及其一切苦难，决不能被唯物主义所征服。军队试图征服军队，只会使人类不断繁衍出更多的兽性。灵性必须征服西方。他们正在缓慢地发现，他们所需要的是灵性——以之保全各自的民族。他们正在等待着它，他们渴望着它。供给将从何而来？那些准备好前往世界各地、传递印度伟大圣贤信息的人们在哪里？那些准备好牺牲一切，使这一信息传达到世界每个角落的人们在哪里？需要这样的英雄之志，来推动真理的传播。需要这样的英雄工作者，走出国门，帮助传播吠檀多（Vedanta）伟大的真理。世界需要它；没有它，世界将走向毁灭。整个西方世界正坐在一座随时可能明日爆发、明日崩裂的火山上。他们搜遍世界的每个角落，都找不到慰藉。他们深饮了享乐之杯，发现一切不过是虚空。现在是行动的时刻，使印度的灵性理念深入渗透西方。因此，马德拉斯的年轻人们，我特别敦请你们记住这一点。我们必须走出去，我们必须用我们的灵性与哲学征服世界。别无选择，我们必须如此，否则便是走向灭亡。民族生命——苏醒而充满生机的民族生命——存在的唯一条件，就是用印度的思想征服世界。
与此同时，我们不可忘记，我所说的用灵性思想征服世界，是指传播那些赋予生命的原则，而非数百年来我们紧抱于胸的种种迷信。这些迷信必须在这片土地上被清除，被抛弃，让它们永远消亡。这些正是导致这个民族堕落的原因，并将导致脑力的软化。那种无法思考崇高而高贵之思想的头脑，那种已经丧失一切原创力的头脑，那种已经丧失一切活力的头脑，那种始终以各种以宗教之名流传的小迷信来毒害自身的头脑——我们必须对此保持警惕。在我们的视野之内，在印度，有几重危险。其中两者，犹如锡拉（Scylla）与卡律布狄斯（Charybdis）——极端的唯物主义与其对立面极端的迷信，必须加以回避。有一种人，饮了西方智慧之杯之后，以为自己无所不知。他嗤笑古代的圣贤。在他眼中，一切印度教思想都是废物——哲学不过是孩子的胡言，宗教不过是愚者的迷信。另一方面，有一种人受过教育，却是某种意义上的偏执狂，奔向另一个极端，竭力解释种种征兆预兆。他对他特定种族、特定神明或特定村落的每一种迷信，都能给出哲学的、形而上学的，以及种种冠冕堂皇的幼稚解释。在他看来，每一个小村庄的迷信都是吠陀（Vedas）的命令，而依他之见，民族的生命就系于这些迷信能否被贯彻执行。你们必须对此保持警惕。我宁可见到你们每一个人都成为彻底的无神论者，也不愿见到你们沦为迷信的蠢人，因为无神论者尚有活力，尚有可造就之处。但一旦迷信侵入，头脑便已毁坏，头脑便已软化，堕落已经降临到这生命之上。回避这两者。勇敢而大胆的人——这正是我们所需要的。我们需要的是血液中的活力，神经中的力量，钢铁般的肌肉与钢铁般的神经，而非那种软弱绵柔的观念。回避这一切。回避一切神秘之说。宗教中没有神秘。吠檀多有何神秘？吠陀有何神秘？本集（Samhita）有何神秘？往世书（Puranas）有何神秘？古代的圣贤（仙人，Rishi）建立了什么秘密社团来传播他们的宗教？典籍中记载了他们用何种魔术把戏来将伟大的真理带给人类？神秘主义与迷信，始终是软弱的征兆。它们始终是堕落与死亡的征兆。因此，对它们保持警惕；要坚强，依靠自己的双脚站立。确有伟大的事物，最为奇妙的事物。我们或许以超自然来称呼它们，就我们对自然的认知而言——但它们没有一个是神秘的。在这片土地上，从未有人宣扬宗教的真理是神秘的，或是喜马拉雅山雪峰上某些秘密社团的专属财产。我曾在喜马拉雅山中。你们没有去过那里；那离你们家园有数百英里之遥。我是一位游方僧（Sannyasin），过去十四年间我一直徒步跋涉。那些神秘的社团根本不存在于任何地方。不要追逐这些迷信。对你们和对这个民族而言，与其如此，不如成为彻底的无神论者，至少你们会有力量；而这些则是堕落与死亡。强壮的人将时间浪费在这些迷信上——这是人类的耻辱；将全部时间都用来为世界上最为腐朽的迷信发明寓言式的解释——这是人类的耻辱。要大胆；不要试图用那种方式解释一切。事实是，我们有许多迷信，有许多丑陋的斑点与疮疤在我们的身上——这些必须被切除、割掉并消除——但这些并不会摧毁我们的宗教、我们的民族生命、我们的灵性。宗教的每一条原则都是安全的，而这些黑斑被清除得越快，原则就会越发光辉灿烂。坚守这些原则。
你们听到每种宗教都声称自己是世界的普世宗教。让我首先告诉你们，这样的宗教也许永远不会存在；但若有一种宗教可以提出这样的主张，那唯有我们的宗教，而没有其他，因为所有其他宗教都依附于某一个或某几个人物。所有其他宗教都是围绕着他们所认为的历史人物的一生而建立起来的；而他们所认为的宗教的力量，实际上是宗教的软弱——因为只要这一人物的历史真实性被推翻，整座宗教大厦便会轰然倒塌。这些伟大的宗教创立者，其一半的生平已被各方质疑，另一半也受到严重怀疑。如此一来，凡是仅凭他们的言辞得到认可的真理，便化为乌有。但我们宗教的真理，尽管我们有数不尽的人物，却并不依附于这些人物。克里希纳（Krishna）的光荣不在于他是克里希纳，而在于他是吠檀多（Vedanta）的伟大导师（Guru）。若非如此，他的名字便会像佛陀（Buddha）的名字在印度一样，从印度消失。因此，我们的忠诚，始终是对原则的忠诚，而非对人物的忠诚。人物不过是原则的具体体现与诠释。若原则存在，人物将以千万之数涌现。若原则安全，像佛陀这样的人物将以数百数千涌现。然而若原则已经失落与遗忘，整个民族生命试图依附于一个所谓的历史人物，那这种宗教便将遭殃，那这种宗教便将陷入危险！我们的宗教是唯一不依附于任何一个或几个人物的宗教；它建立于原则之上。与此同时，这里有容纳数百万个人物的空间。这里有充足的余地来引入人物，但他们每一个人都必须是这些原则的体现。我们必须牢记这一点。我们宗教的这些原则全都是安全的，使这些原则保持安全、使这些原则免受历代积累的污垢与尘埃的侵蚀，应是我们每个人终生的事业。令人惊奇的是，尽管这个民族一次又一次地遭受堕落的侵袭，吠檀多的这些原则从未蒙受玷污。无论是多么邪恶的人，都从未敢向它们泼污。我们的典籍是世界上保存最为完好的典籍。与其他书籍相比，其中没有插入伪文，没有曲解原文，没有对其中思想精髓的破坏。它就在那里，一如最初，引导着人类的心灵走向那理想，那目标。
你们发现，这些典籍已被不同的注释者所诠释，已被伟大的导师们所宣讲，并以此为基础建立了各种教派；你们也发现，在这些吠陀（Vedas）的典籍中，存在着各种表面上相互矛盾的观念。有些经文完全是二元论的，另一些则完全是一元论的。主张二元论的注释者不明所以，试图压制一元论的经文。宣教者和祭司们想要以二元论的含义来解释它们。主张一元论的注释者也以同样的方式对待二元论的经文。然而，这并非吠陀（Vedas）的过错。试图证明整部吠陀都是二元论的，是愚蠢的。同样愚蠢的是试图证明整部吠陀都是非二元论的。它们既是二元论的，也是非二元论的。在更新的思想观念的光照下，我们今日能更好地理解它们。这些不过是不同的概念，引导向最终的结论——即二元论与一元论的概念对于心灵的进化都是必要的，因此吠陀对二者均有宣讲。吠陀出于对人类的慈悲，指示了通往更高目标的各种阶梯。它们并非矛盾的废话，也非吠陀用以欺骗孩童的伎俩；不仅对孩童而言是必要的，对许多成年人而言同样如此。只要我们尚有肉身，只要我们仍然被对肉身的认同所迷惑，只要我们拥有五种感官并感知外部世界，我们就必须有一个人格性的神。因为若我们持有这一切观念，我们就必须接受，正如伟大的罗摩奴阇（Ramanuja）所证明的那样，一切关于神、自然与个体灵魂的观念；当你接受其中一个，就必须接受整个三角形——我们无法回避这一点。因此，只要你感知外部世界，回避人格性的神与个体灵魂，就是彻底的愚妄。然而，在圣贤的生命中，也许有某些时刻，人类的心灵超越了自身的局限，人甚至超越自然，进入那个领域——启示书（Shruti）中如此宣示："言语与心灵无法触达而退转之处"；"那里眼睛无法企及，言语无法企及，心灵也无法企及"；"我们不能说我们知道它，我们也不能说我们不知道它"。在那里，人类的灵魂超越了一切局限，唯有在那时，在那时，一元论的观念才会在人类灵魂中闪现：我与整个宇宙是一，我与梵（Brahman）是一。你们会发现，这一结论不仅通过知识与哲学达到，其部分也通过爱的力量达到。你们在《薄伽梵往世书》（Bhagavata）中读到，当克里希纳（Krishna）消失之时，牧女们（Gopis）悲叹他的离去；最终，克里希纳的念想在她们心中变得如此突出，以至每一个人都忘却了自己的身体，以为自己就是克里希纳，并开始像他一样装扮自己、玩耍嬉戏。由此我们理解，这种与神同一的境界，甚至可以通过爱来实现。曾有一位古代波斯苏菲派诗人，他的诗中写道："我来到心爱者处，看到门是关闭的；我叩门，里面传来声音：'是谁？'我答：'是我。'门没有开启。第二次我来叩门，同样的声音问道：'是谁？''是某某。'门没有开启。第三次我来，同样的声音问道：'是谁？''我就是你自己，我的爱人，'门开了。"
因此，有许多阶段，纵然古代注释者之间曾有过争论，我们也无需为此争执——那些古代注释者，我们都应当崇敬；因为知识没有界限，任何古代或现代的人都不可能独占全知。若过去曾有圣贤与仙人（Rishi），可以确信的是，今日也将有许多。若古代曾有毗耶娑（Vyasa）、蚁垤（Valmiki）、商羯罗（Shankaracharya），为何你们每一个人不能成为商羯罗？这是我们宗教的另一要点，你们必须始终铭记——在所有其他典籍中，灵感都被引用为其权威的依据，但这种灵感仅限于极少数人，真理通过他们传达给大众，而我们所有人都必须服从他们。真理降临于拿撒勒人耶稣，我们所有人都必须服从他。但真理降临于印度的仙人们——"真言见者"（Mantra-drashtas）——思想的见者，将来也会降临于所有的仙人，而不是那些空谈者，不是那些吞书本的人，不是那些学者，不是那些语文学家，而是那些思想的见者。真我（Atman）不是靠滔滔不绝的言辞所能达到的，就连最高的智识也不能，就连对典籍的研读也不能。典籍本身也如此说。你们在任何其他典籍中，见过如此大胆的断言吗——就连研读吠陀（Vedas）也无法使你到达真我（Atman）？你们必须敞开你们的心灵。宗教不是去教堂，不是在额头上画记号，不是穿戴特别的服装；你们可以将自己涂上彩虹所有的颜色，但若心灵未曾敞开，若你们没有证悟神，一切都是枉然。若一个人心中有真正的颜色，他就不需要任何外在的颜色。这才是真正的宗教证悟。我们不可忘记，各种颜色与这一切事物，在它们能够提供帮助的限度内，都是好的；在这个限度内，它们都是值得欢迎的。然而它们往往趋于堕落，不但不帮助，反而成为阻碍，使人把宗教与外在形式混同起来。去寺庙变得与灵性生活等同。向祭司施舍变得与宗教生活等同。这些是危险的、有害的，应当立即加以遏止。我们的典籍反复宣示，就连外部感官的知识也不是宗教。那使我们证悟不变的那一者的，才是宗教，而那是适于每一个人的宗教。谁证悟了超越性的真理，谁在自己的本性中证悟了真我（Atman），谁与神面对面相见，谁在一切事物中看见唯有神——他便已成为一位仙人（Rishi）。在你们成为仙人之前，你们没有宗教生命。唯有那时，宗教才为你们开始；现在不过是准备阶段。那时宗教才在你们身上破晓，而今你们只不过是在进行智识上的体操和身体上的苦修（Tapas）。
因此，我们必须记住，我们的宗教明确而清晰地规定：每一个渴望解脱（Moksha）的人，都必须经历仙人（Rishi）的阶段——必须成为"真言见者"（Mantra-drashta），必须见到神。这就是解脱；这就是我们典籍所规定的法则。之后，便能够以自己的眼光审视典籍，自己理解其含义，分析自己所需要的，自己理解真理。这正是必须去做的事情。与此同时，我们必须对古代的圣贤们所做的工作致以全部的崇敬。他们是伟大的，这些古人；但我们要更为伟大。他们在过去做了伟大的工作，但我们必须做比他们更为伟大的工作。古代印度有数百位仙人，我们将有数百万位——我们将拥有；你们每一个人越早相信这一点，对印度和对世界就越好。无论你们相信什么，那便是你们将成为的。若你们相信自己是圣贤，明日你们便是圣贤。没有任何东西能够阻碍你们。因为若有一个共同的教义贯穿我们所有表面上相互冲突、相互矛盾的各个教派，那就是：一切荣耀、力量与纯洁，都已经在灵魂之中了；只是按照罗摩奴阇（Ramanuja）的说法，灵魂有时收缩有时扩展；按照商羯罗（Shankara）的说法，灵魂处于迷幻（无明，Avidya）之中。不要在意这些差别。所有人都承认这样一个真理——力量就在那里——无论是潜在的还是显现的，它就在那里——你们越早相信这一点，对你们就越好。一切力量都在你们之内；你们能够做任何事情和一切事情。相信这一点，不要相信你们是软弱的；不要相信你们是半疯的狂人，如我们今日大多数人所认为的那样。没有任何人的指引，你们也能做任何事情和一切事情。一切力量都在那里。站立起来，表达出你们内在的神性。
English
THE WORK BEFORE US
(Delivered at the Triplicane Literary Society, Madras)
The problem of life is becoming deeper and broader every day as the world moves on. The watchword and the essence have been preached in the days of yore when the Vedantic truth was first discovered, the solidarity of all life. One atom in this universe cannot move without dragging the whole world along with it. There cannot be any progress without the whole world following in the wake, and it is becoming every day dearer that the solution of any problem can never be attained on racial, or national, or narrow grounds. Every idea has to become broad till it covers the whole of this world, every aspiration must go on increasing till it has engulfed the whole of humanity, nay, the whole of life, within its scope. This will explain why our country for the last few centuries has not been what she was in the past. We find that one of the causes which led to this degeneration was the narrowing of our views narrowing the scope of our actions.
Two curious nations there have been — sprung of the same race, but placed in different circumstances and environments, working put the problems of life each in its own particular way. I mean the ancient Hindu and the ancient Greek. The Indian Aryan — bounded on the north by the snow-caps of the Himalayas, with fresh-water rivers like rolling oceans surrounding him in the plains, with eternal forests which, to him, seemed to be the end of the world — turned his vision inward; and given the natural instinct, the superfine brain of the Aryan, with this sublime scenery surrounding him, the natural result was that he became introspective. The analysis of his own mind was the great theme of the Indo-Aryan. With the Greek, on the other hand, who arrived at a part of the earth which was more beautiful than sublime, the beautiful islands of the Grecian Archipelago, nature all around him generous yet simple — his mind naturally went outside. It wanted to analyse the external world. And as a result we find that from India have sprung all the analytical sciences, and from Greece all the sciences of generalization. The Hindu mind went on in its own direction and produced the most marvellous results. Even at the present day, the logical capacity of the Hindus, and the tremendous power which the Indian brain still possesses, is beyond compare. We all know that our boys pitched against the boys of any other country triumph always. At the same time when the national vigour went, perhaps one or two centuries before the Mohammedan conquest of India, this national faculty became so much exaggerated that it degraded itself, and we find some of this degradation in everything in India, in art, in music, in sciences, in everything. In art, no more was there a broad conception, no more the symmetry of form and sublimity of conception, but the tremendous attempt at the ornate and florid style had arisen. The originality of the race seemed to have been lost. In music no more were there the soul-stirring ideas of the ancient Sanskrit music, no more did each note stand, as it were, on its own feet, and produce the marvellous harmony, but each note had lost its individuality. The whole of modern music is a jumble of notes, a confused mass of curves. That is a sign of degradation in music. So, if you analyse your idealistic conceptions, you will find the same attempt at ornate figures, and loss of originality. And even in religion, your special field, there came the most horrible degradations. What can you expect of a race which for hundreds of years has been busy in discussing such momentous problems as whether we should drink a glass of water with the right hand or the left? What more degradation can there be than that the greatest minds of a country have been discussing about the kitchen for several hundreds of years, discussing whether I may touch you or you touch me, and what is the penance for this touching! The themes of the Vedanta, the sublimest and the most glorious conceptions of God and soul ever preached on earth, were half-lost, buried in the forests, preserved by a few Sannyâsins, while the rest of the nation discussed the momentous questions of touching each other, and dress, and food. The Mohammedan conquest gave us many good things, no doubt; even the lowest man in the world can teach something to the highest; at the same time it could not bring vigour into the race. Then for good or evil, the English conquest of India took place. Of course every conquest is bad, for conquest is an evil, foreign government is an evil, no doubt; but even through evil comes good sometimes, and the great good of the English conquest is this: England, nay the whole of Europe, has to thank Greece for its civilization. It is Greece that speaks through everything in Europe. Every building, every piece of furniture has the impress of Greece upon it; European science and art are nothing but Grecian. Today the ancient Greek is meeting the ancient Hindu on the soil of India. Thus slowly and silently the leaven has come; the broadening, the life-giving and the revivalist movement that we see all around us has been worked out by these forces together. A broader and more generous conception of life is before us; and although at first we have been deluded a little and wanted to narrow things down, we are finding out today that these generous impulses which are at work, these broader conceptions of life, are the logical interpretation of what is in our ancient books. They are the carrying out, to the rigorously logical effect, of the primary conceptions of our own ancestors. To become broad, to go out, to amalgamate, to universalist, is the end of our aims. And all the time we have been making ourselves smaller and smaller, and dissociating ourselves, contrary to the plans laid down our scriptures.
Several dangers are in the way, and one is that of the extreme conception that we are the people in the world. With all my love for India, and with all my patriotism and veneration for the ancients, I cannot but think that we have to learn many things from other nations. We must be always ready to sit at the feet of all, for, mark you, every one can teach us great lessons. Says our great law-giver, Manu: "Receive some good knowledge even from the low-born, and even from the man of lowest birth learn by service the road to heaven." We, therefore, as true children of Manu, must obey his commands and be ready to learn the lessons of this life or the life hereafter from any one who can teach us. At the same time we must not forget that we have also to teach a great lesson to the world. We cannot do without the world outside India; it was our foolishness that we thought we could, and we have paid the penalty by about a thousand years of slavery. That we did not go out to compare things with other nations, did not mark the workings that have been all around us, has been the one great cause of this degradation of the Indian mind. We have paid the penalty; let us do it no more. All such foolish ideas that Indians must not go out of India are childish. They must be knocked on the head; the more you go out and travel among the nations of the world, the better for you and for your country. If you had done that for hundreds of years past, you would not be here today at the feet of every nation that wants to rule India. The first manifest effect of life is expansion. You must expand if you want to live. The moment you have ceased to expand, death is upon you, danger is ahead. I went to America and Europe, to which you so kindly allude; I have to, because that is the first sign of the revival of national life, expansion. This reviving national life, expanding inside, threw me off, and thousands will be thrown off in that way. Mark my words, it has got to come if this nation lives at all. This question, therefore, is the greatest of the signs of the revival of national life, and through this expansion our quota of offering to the general mass of human knowledge, our contribution to the general upheaval of the world, is going out to the external world.
Again, this is not a new thing. Those of you who think that the Hindus have been always confined within the four walls of their country through all ages, are entirely mistaken; you have not studied the old books, you have not studied the history of the race aright if you think so. Each nation must give in order to live. When you give life, you will have life; when you receive, you must pay for it by giving to all others; and that we have been living for so many thousands of years is a fact that stares us in the face, and the solution that remains is that we have been always giving to the outside world, whatever the ignorant may think. But the gift of India is the gift of religion and philosophy, and wisdom and spirituality. And religion does not want cohorts to march before its path and clear its way. Wisdom and philosophy do not want to be carried on floods of blood. Wisdom and philosophy do not march upon bleeding human bodies, do not march with violence but come on the wings of peace and love, and that has always been so. Therefore we had to give. I was asked by a young lady in London, "What have you Hindus done? You have never even conquered a single nation." That is true from the point of view of the Englishman, the brave, the heroic, the Kshatriya — conquest is the greatest glory that one man can have over another. That is true from his point of view, but from ours it is quite the opposite. If I ask myself what has been the cause of India's greatness, I answer, because we have never conquered. That is our glory. You are hearing every day, and sometimes, I am sorry to say, from men who ought to know better, denunciations of our religion, because it is not at all a conquering religion. To my mind that is the argument why our religion is truer than any other religion, because it never conquered, because it never shed blood, because its mouth always shed on all, words of blessing, of peace, words of love and sympathy. It is here and here alone that the ideals of toleration were first preached. And it is here and here alone that toleration and sympathy have become practical it is theoretical in every other country, it is here and here alone, that the Hindu builds mosques for the Mohammedans and churches for the Christians.
So, you see, our message has gone out to the world many a time, but slowly, silently, unperceived. It is on a par with everything in India. The one characteristic of Indian thought is its silence, its calmness. At the same time the tremendous power that is behind it is never expressed by violence. It is always the silent mesmerism of Indian thought. If a foreigner takes up our literature to study, at first it is disgusting to him; there is not the same stir, perhaps, the same amount of go that rouses him instantly. Compare the tragedies of Europe with our tragedies. The one is full of action, that rouses you for the moment, but when it is over there comes the reaction, and everything is gone, washed off as it were from your brains. Indian tragedies are like the mesmerist's power, quiet, silent, but as you go on studying them they fascinate you; you cannot move; you are bound; and whoever has dared to touch our literature has felt the bondage, and is there bound for ever. Like the gentle dew that falls unseen and unheard, and yet brings into blossom the fairest of roses, has been the contribution of India to the thought of the world. Silent, unperceived, yet omnipotent in its effect, it has revolutionised the thought of the world, yet nobody knows when it did so. It was once remarked to me, "How difficult it is to ascertain the name of any writer in India", to which I replied, "That is the Indian idea." Indian writers are not like modern writers who steal ninety percent of their ideas from other authors, while only ten per cent is their own, and they take care to write a preface in which they say, "For these ideas I am responsible". Those great master minds producing momentous results in the hearts of mankind were content to write their books without even putting their names, and to die quietly, leaving the books to posterity. Who knows the writers of our philosophy, who knows the writers of our Purânas? They all pass under the generic name of Vyâsa, and Kapila, and so on. They have been true children of Shri Krishna. They have been true followers of the Gita; they practically carried out the great mandate, "To work you have the right, but not to the fruits thereof."
Thus India is working upon the world, but one condition is necessary. Thoughts like merchandise can only run through channels made by somebody. Roads have to be made before even thought can travel from one place to another, and whenever in the history of the world a great conquering nation has arisen, linking the different parts of the world together, then has poured through these channels the thought of India and thus entered into the veins of every race. Before even the Buddhists were born, there are evidences accumulating every day that Indian thought penetrated the world. Before Buddhism, Vedanta had penetrated into China, into Persia, and the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Again when the mighty mind of the Greek had linked the different parts of the Eastern world together there came Indian thought; and Christianity with all its boasted civilisation is but a collection of little bits of Indian thought. Ours is the religion of which Buddhism with all its greatness is a rebel child, and of which Christianity is a very patchy imitation. One of these cycles has again arrived. There is the tremendous power of England which has linked the different parts of the world together. English roads no more are content like Roman roads to run over lands, but they have also ploughed the deep in all directions. From ocean to ocean run the roads of England. Every part of the world has been linked to every other part, and electricity plays a most marvellous part as the new messenger. Under all these circumstances we find again India reviving and ready to give her own quota to the progress and civilisation of the world. And that I have been forced, as it were, by nature, to go over and preach to America and England is the result. Every one of us ought to have seen that the time had arrived. Everything looks propitious, and Indian thought, philosophical and spiritual, roast once more go over and conquer the world. The problem before us, therefore, is assuming larger proportions every day. It is not only that we must revive our own country — that is a small matter; I am an imaginative man — and my idea is the conquest of the whole world by the Hindu race.
There have been great conquering races in the world. We also have been great conquerors. The story of our conquest has been described by that noble Emperor of India, Asoka, as the conquest of religion and of spirituality. Once more the world must be conquered by India. This is the dream of my life, and I wish that each one of you who hear me today will have the same dream in your minds, and stop not till you have realised the dream. They will tell you every day that we had better look to our own homes first and then go to work outside. But I will tell you in plain language that you work best when you work for others. The best work that you ever did for yourselves was when you worked for others, trying to disseminate your ideas in foreign languages beyond the seas, and this very meeting is proof how the attempt to enlighten other countries with your thoughts is helping your own country. One-fourth of the effect that has been produced in this country by my going to England and America would not have been brought about, had I confined my ideas only to India. This is the great ideal before us, and every one must be ready for it — the Conquest of the whole world by India — nothing less than that, and we must all get ready for it, strain every nerve for it. Let foreigners come and flood the land with their armies, never mind. Up, India, and conquer the world with your spirituality! Ay, as has been declared on this soil first, love must conquer hatred, hatred cannot conquer itself. Materialism and all its miseries can never be conquered by materialism. Armies when they attempt to conquer armies only multiply and make brutes of humanity. Spirituality must conquer the West. Slowly they are finding out that what they want is spirituality to preserve them as nations. They are waiting for it, they are eager for it. Where is the supply to come from? Where are the men ready to go out to every country in the world with the messages of the great sages of India? Where are the men who are ready to sacrifice everything, so that this message shall reach every corner of the world? Such heroic spurs are wanted to help the spread of truth. Such heroic workers are wanted to go abroad and help to disseminate the great truths of the Vedanta. The world wants it; without it the world will be destroyed. The whole of the Western world is on a volcano which may burst tomorrow, go to pieces tomorrow. They have searched every corner of the world and have found no respite. They have drunk deep of the cup of pleasure and found it vanity. Now is the time to work so that India's spiritual ideas may penetrate deep into the West. Therefore young men of Madras, I specially ask you to remember this. We must go out, we must conquer the world through our spirituality and philosophy. There is no other alternative, we must do it or die. The only condition of national life, of awakened and vigorous national life, is the conquest of the world by Indian thought.
At the same time we must not forget that what I mean by the conquest of the world by spiritual thought is the sending out of the life-giving principles, not the hundreds of superstitions that we have been hugging to our breasts for centuries. These have to be weeded out even on this soil, and thrown aside, so that they may die for ever. These are the causes of the degradation of the race and will lead to softening of the brain. That brain which cannot think high and noble thoughts, which has lost all power of originality, which has lost all vigour, that brain which is always poisoning itself with all sorts of little superstitions passing under the name of religion, we must beware of. In our sight, here in India, there are several dangers. Of these, the two, Scylla and Charybdis, rank materialism and its opposite arrant superstition, must be avoided. There is the man today who after drinking the cup of Western wisdom, thinks that he knows everything. He laughs at the ancient sages. All Hindu thought to him is arrant trash — philosophy mere child's prattle, and religion the superstition of fools. On the other hand, there is the man educated, but a sort of monomaniac, who runs to the other extreme and wants to explain the omen of this and that. He has philosophical and metaphysical, and Lord knows what other puerile explanations for every superstition that belongs to his peculiar race, or his peculiar gods, or his peculiar village. Every little village superstition is to him a mandate of the Vedas, and upon the carrying out of it, according to him, depends the national life. You must beware of this. I would rather see every one of you rank atheists than superstitious fools, for the atheist is alive and you can make something out of him. But if superstition enters, the brain is gone, the brain is softening, degradation has seized upon the life. Avoid these two. Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigour in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas. Avoid all these. Avoid all mystery. There is no mystery in religion. Is there any mystery in the Vedanta, or in the Vedas, or in the Samhitâs, or in the Puranas? What secret societies did the sages of yore establish to preach their religion? What sleight-of-hand tricks are there recorded as used by them to bring their grand truths to humanity? Mystery mongering and superstition are always signs of weakness. These are always signs of degradation and of death. Therefore beware of them; be strong, and stand on your own feet. Great things are there, most marvellous things. We may call them supernatural things so far as our ideas of nature go, but not one of these things is a mystery. It was never preached on this soil that the truths of religion were mysteries or that they were the property of secret societies sitting on the snow-caps of the Himalayas. I have been in the Himalayas. You have not been there; it is several hundreds of miles from your homes. I am a Sannyâsin, and I have been for the last fourteen years on my feet. These mysterious societies do not exist anywhere. Do not run after these superstitions. Better for you and for the race that you become rank atheists, because you would have strength, but these are degradation and death. Shame on humanity that strong men should spend their time on these superstitions, spend all their time in inventing allegories to explain the most rotten superstitions of the world. Be bold; do not try to explain everything that way. The fact is that we have many superstitions, many bad spots and sores on our body — these have to be excised, cut off, and destroyed — but these do not destroy our religion, our national life, our spirituality. Every principle of religion is safe, and the sooner these black spots are purged away, the better the principles will shine, the more gloriously. Stick to them.
You hear claims made by every religion as being the universal religion of the world. Let me tell you in the first place that perhaps there never will be such a thing, but if there is a religion which can lay claim to be that, it is only our religion and no other, because every other religion depends on some person or persons. All the other religions have been built round the life of what they think a historical man; and what they think the strength of religion is really the weakness, for disprove the historicity of the man and the whole fabric tumbles to ground. Half the lives of these great founders of religions have been broken into pieces, and the other half doubted very seriously. As such, every truth that had its sanction only in their words vanishes into air. But the truths of our religion, although we have persons by the score, do not depend upon them. The glory of Krishna is not that he was Krishna, but that he was the great teacher of Vedanta. If he had not been so, his name would have died out of India in the same way as the name of Buddha has done. Thus our allegiance is to the principles always, and not to the persons. Persons are but the embodiments, the illustrations of the principles. If the principles are there, the persons will come by the thousands and millions. If the principle is safe, persons like Buddha will be born by the hundreds and thousands. But if the principle is lost and forgotten and the whole of national life tries to cling round a so-called historical person, woe unto that religion, danger unto that religion! Ours is the only religion that does not depend on a person or persons; it is based upon principles. At the same time there is room for millions of persons. There is ample ground for introducing persons, but each one of them must be an illustration of the principles. We must not forget that. These principles of our religion are all safe, and it should be the life-work of everyone of us to keep then safe, and to keep them free from the accumulating dirt and dust of ages. It is strange that in spite of the degradation that seized upon the race again and again, these principles of the Vedanta were never tarnished. No one, however wicked, ever dared to throw dirt upon them. Our scriptures are the best preserved scriptures in the world. Compared to other books there have been no interpolations, no text-torturing, no destroying of the essence of the thought in them. It is there just as it was first, directing the human mind towards the ideal, the goal.
You find that these texts have been commented upon by different commentators, preached by great teachers, and sects founded upon them; and you find that in these books of the Vedas there are various apparently contradictory ideas. There are certain texts which are entirely dualistic, others are entirely monistic. The dualistic commentator, knowing no better, wishes to knock the monistic texts on the head. Preachers and priests want to explain them in the dualistic meaning. The monistic commentator serves the dualistic texts in a similar fashion. Now this is not the fault of the Vedas. It is foolish to attempt to prove that the whole of the Vedas is dualistic. It is equally foolish to attempt to prove that the whole of the Vedas is nondualistic. They are dualistic and non-dualistic both. We understand them better today in the light of newer ideas. These are but different conceptions leading to the final conclusion that both dualistic and monistic conceptions are necessary for the evolution of the mind, and therefore the Vedas preach them. In mercy to the human race the Vedas show the various steps to the higher goal. Not that they are contradictory, vain words used by the Vedas to delude children; they are necessary not only for children, but for many a grown-up man. So long as we have a body and so long as we are deluded by the idea of our identity with the body, so long as we have five senses and see the external world, we must have a Personal God. For if we have all these ideas, we must take as the great Râmânuja has proved, all the ideas about God and nature and the individualized soul; when you take the one you have to take the whole triangle — we cannot avoid it. Therefore as long as you see the external world to avoid a Personal God and a personal soul is arrant lunacy. But there may be times in the lives of sages when the human mind transcends as it were its own limitations, man goes even beyond nature, to the realm of which the Shruti declares, "whence words fall back with the mind without reaching it"; "There the eyes cannot reach nor speech nor mind"; "We cannot say that we know it, we cannot say that we do not know it". There the human soul transcends all limitations, and then and then alone flashes into the human soul the conception of monism: I and the whole universe are one; I and Brahman are one. And this conclusion you will find has not only been reached through knowledge and philosophy, but parts of it through the power of love. You read in the Bhâgavata, when Krishna disappeared and the Gopis bewailed his disappearance, that at last the thought of Krishna became so prominent in their minds that each one forgot her own body and thought she was Krishna, and began to decorate herself and to play as he did. We understand, therefore, that this identity comes even through love. There was an ancient Persian Sufi poet, and one of his poems says, "I came to the Beloved and beheld the door was closed; I knocked at the door and from inside a voice came, 'Who is there?' I replied, 'I am'. The door did not open. A second time I came and knocked at the door and the same voice asked, 'Who is there?' 'I am so-and-so.' The door did not open. A third time I came and the same voice asked, 'Who is there?' 'I am Thyself, my Love', and the door opened."
There are, therefore, many stages, and we need not quarrel about them even if there have been quarrels among the ancient commentators, whom all of us ought to revere; for there is no limitation to knowledge, there is no omniscience exclusively the property of any one in ancient or modern times. If there have been sages and Rishis in the past, be sure that there will be many now. If there have been Vyâsas and Vâlmikis and Shankarâchâryas in ancient times, why may not each one of you become a Shankaracharya? This is another point of our religion that you must always remember, that in all other scriptures inspiration is quoted as their authority, but this inspiration is limited to a very few persons, and through them the truth came to the masses, and we have all to obey them. Truth came to Jesus of Nazareth, and we must all obey him. But the truth came to the Rishis of India — the Mantra-drashtâs, the seers of thought — and will come to all Rishis in the future, not to talkers, not to book-swallowers, not to scholars, not to philologists, but to seers of thought. The Self is not to be reached by too much talking, not even by the highest intellects, not even by the study of the scriptures. The scriptures themselves say so. Do you find in any other scripture such a bold assertion as that — not even by the study of the Vedas will you reach the Atman? You must open your heart. Religion is not going to church, or putting marks on the forehead, or dressing in a peculiar fashion; you may paint yourselves in all the colours of the rainbow, but if the heart has not been opened, if you have not realised God, it is all vain. If one has the colour of the heart, he does not want any external colour. That is the true religious realisation. We must not forget that colours and all these things are good so far as they help; so far they are all welcome. But they are apt to degenerate and instead of helping they retard, and a man identifies religion with externalities. Going to the temple becomes tantamount to spiritual life. Giving something to a priest becomes tantamount to religious life. These are dangerous and pernicious, and should be at once checked. Our scriptures declare again and again that even the knowledge of the external senses is not religion. That is religion which makes us realise the Unchangeable One, and that is the religion for every one. He who realises transcendental truth, he who realises the Atman in his own nature, he who comes face to face with God, sees God alone in everything, has become a Rishi. And there is no religious life for you until you have become a Rishi. Then alone religion begins for you, now is only the preparation. Then religion dawns upon you, now you are only undergoing intellectual gymnastics and physical tortures.
We must, therefore, remember that our religion lays down distinctly and clearly that every one who wants salvation must pass through the stage of Rishihood — must become a Mantra-drashta, must see God. That is salvation; that is the law laid down by our scriptures. Then it becomes easy to look into the scripture with our own eyes, understand the meaning for ourselves, to analyse just what we want, and to understand the truth for ourselves. This is what has to be done. At the same time we must pay all reverence to the ancient sages for their work. They were great, these ancients, but we want to be greater. They did great work in the past, but we must do greater work than they. They had hundreds of Rishis in ancient India. We will have millions — we are going to have, and the sooner every one of you believes in this, the better for India and the better for the world. Whatever you believe, that you will be. If you believe yourselves to be sages, sages you will be tomorrow. There is nothing to obstruct you. For if there is one common doctrine that runs through all our apparently fighting and contradictory sects, it is that all glory, power, and purity are within the soul already; only according to Ramanuja, the soul contracts and expands at times, and according to Shankara, it comes under a delusion. Never mind these differences. All admit the truth that the power is there -potential or manifest it is there — and the sooner you believe that, the better for you. All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. You can do anything and everything without even the guidance of any one. All power is there. Stand up and express the divinity within you.
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