吠檀多主义
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中文
吠檀多主义
以下是贾夫纳印度教徒向斯瓦米·辨喜呈递的欢迎致辞：
斯里玛特·辨喜斯瓦米
尊敬的先生，
我们，信奉印度教的贾夫纳居民，渴望向您致以最衷心的欢迎，欢迎您来到我们的土地——锡兰印度教的主要中心；并对您慨然接受我们的邀请、莅临兰卡此地，表示诚挚的感谢。
我们的祖先在两千多年前从南印度迁居于此，带来了他们的宗教，并得到贾夫纳泰米尔诸王的庇护；然而当葡萄牙人与荷兰人的统治取代了他们的政权之后，宗教礼仪的奉行遭到干涉，公开的宗教礼拜被禁止，包括两处最著名圣殿在内的神圣庙宇，被残忍的迫害之手夷为平地。尽管这些国家持续企图将基督教强加于我们的先祖，他们依然坚守着自己的古老信仰，并将其作为我们最崇高的遗产传承给我们。如今在大英帝国的统治下，不仅出现了一场伟大而有识见的复兴，神圣的建筑也已经，并正在不断修复重建。
我们借此机会，向您在传扬我们宗教事业上所做的崇高而无私的劳作深表感谢——您将吠陀（Vedas）所启示的真理之光带到宗教议会，在美国与英国传播印度神圣哲学的真理，使西方世界了解印度教的真理，从而使东西方更为接近。我们亦对您发起振兴古老宗教运动表示感谢——在这个信仰衰落、无人寻求灵性真理的物质主义时代，此举意义重大。
我们无法充分表达对您的感激——您使西方人民认识了我们宗教的宽宏大量，并将"印度教哲学中包含着西方哲学所梦想不到的更多智慧"这一真理铭刻在西方学者的心灵之中。
我们无需向您保证，我们一直在密切关注您在西方传教的进程，并始终由衷地为您在宗教领域的奉献与成功劳作而欣喜。西方各大知识活动、道德成长与宗教探索中心的新闻媒体，对您及您对我们宗教文献所做的宝贵贡献所给予的赞誉，为您崇高而宏大的努力提供了雄辩的见证。
我们谨对您莅临本地深表欣慰，并希望我们——我们与您同样以吠陀为一切真实灵性知识之根基——将有更多机会在我们中间见到您。
愿上帝——迄今已以显著的成功为您崇高的事业加冕——赐您长寿，赐您精力与力量，以继续您的崇高使命。
谨此，尊敬的先生，
您忠实的，
……
谨代表贾夫纳印度教徒。
斯瓦米作了雄辩的答复，翌日傍晚，他就吠檀多主义发表了演讲，以下是该演讲的报告：
这一主题极为宏大，时间却甚为短暂；在一次演讲中对印度教徒的宗教作出完整的分析是不可能的。因此，我将尽量以简明的语言，向诸位呈现我们宗教的要点。"印度教徒"（Hindu）这个词——如今时兴用它来称呼我们自己——已经失去了它的全部含义，因为这个词仅仅意指居住在印度河（梵文作Sindhu）另一侧的人。这个名称被古代波斯人变形为"Hindu"，而所有居住在辛度河彼岸的人，都被他们称为印度教徒（Hindus）。这个词就这样流传下来；在穆斯林统治时期，我们自己也采用了这个词。当然，使用这个词或许无妨；但正如我所说，它已失去了其意义，因为你们或许会注意到，如今所有居住在印度河此岸的人，并不像他们在古代所奉行的那样信奉同一宗教。因此，这个词不仅涵盖了真正的印度教徒，也涵盖了居住在印度的穆斯林、基督徒、耆那教徒以及其他人。因此，我不想使用"印度教徒"（Hindu）这个词。那么我们应当使用什么词呢？我们能够使用的其他词，要么是吠陀信奉者（Vaidikas）——吠陀的追随者，要么更好的是，吠檀多信奉者（Vedantists）——吠檀多（Vedanta）的追随者。世界上大多数伟大宗教都效忠于某些典籍，相信那些典籍是上帝或其他超自然存在的话语，并以之为宗教的基础。现在，在所有这些典籍中，根据当代西方学者的说法，最古老的是印度教徒的吠陀（Vedas）。因此，有必要对吠陀有所了解。
这部被称为吠陀的大量文字，并非出自任何个人的口述。其年代从未被确定，也永远无法确定，而且按照我们的观点，吠陀是永恒的。有一个突出的要点，我希望诸位记住：世界上所有其他宗教都主张其权威来自一位人格神（Personal God）或若干人格神灵、天使或上帝的特殊使者，传授给某些特定的人；而印度教徒的主张是，吠陀的权威不依赖于任何人，它们本身就是权威，因为它们是永恒的——乃是对上帝的知识。它们从未被书写，从未被创造，它们始终存在；正如创造是无限而永恒的，无始无终，上帝的知识同样无始无终。这种知识，便是吠陀（Vedas，即"Vid"，意为知）的含义所在。这部被称为吠檀多（Vedanta）的知识，是由被称为仙人（Rishis）的人物所发现的，而仙人（Rishi）被定义为"真言见者"（Mantra-drashtâ）——思想的见者；并非说那思想是他自己的。每当你听说某段吠陀出自某位仙人，切莫以为是他写作或凭其心智创造的；他是对已经存在之思想的见证者——那思想在宇宙中永恒地存在着。这位圣者是发现者；仙人们是灵性的发现者。
这部大量的文字——吠陀，主要分为两个部分：业分（Karma Kânda）与智分（Jnâna Kânda）——即业行部分与知识部分，即礼仪部分与灵性部分。业行部分包括各种祭祀；其中大多数近来因不适于当前情况而被放弃，但其他一些至今仍以这样或那样的形式沿用。业分的主要思想——包括人的职责、学生的职责、居家者的职责、隐居者的职责，以及各种不同生活阶段的职责——或多或少地延续至今日。然而，我们宗教的灵性部分在于第二部分，即智分（Jnana Kânda）——吠檀多（Vedanta），吠陀的终极、精华、目标。吠陀知识的精髓被称为吠檀多，它包含了奥义书（Upanishads）；而印度所有教派——二元论者、限定不二论者、不二论者，或湿婆派（Shaivites）、毗湿奴派（Vaishnavites）、夏克塔派（Shâktas）、萨乌拉派（Sauras）、迦纳帕提亚派（Gânapatyas）——每一个敢于归属印度教大家庭的人——都必须承认吠陀的奥义书。他们可以有自己的诠释，可以用自己的方式加以诠释，但他们必须服从这一权威。这就是为何我们要用"吠檀多信奉者"而非"印度教徒"这一称谓。所有正统的印度哲学家都必须承认吠檀多的权威；我们今日所有的宗教，无论其中一些看起来多么粗陋，无论其中一些目的多么难以理解，但凡理解并研究它们的人，都能追溯到奥义书的思想之中。这些奥义书深深沉入我们种族的血液之中，以至于你们中研究印度教徒最粗陋宗教之象征体系的人，有时会惊讶地发现，其中有着奥义书的比喻性表达——随着时间的推移，奥义书演变成了图像等等。奥义书中伟大的灵性与哲学思想，今日在我们这里已转化为以象征形式进行的家庭礼拜。因此，我们如今使用的各种象征，都来自吠檀多，因为在吠檀多中它们被用作象征，这些思想散播于民族之中，遍及全体，直至作为象征融入他们日常生活之中。
次于吠檀多的是法典（Smritis）。这些也是圣人所著之书，但法典的权威是从属于吠檀多的，因为它们与我们的关系，就如同其他宗教的典籍与那些宗教的关系一样。我们承认法典是由特定的圣人所著；从这个意义上说，它们与其他宗教的典籍相同，但这些法典并非最高权威。若法典中有任何内容与吠檀多相抵触，则法典须被摒弃——其权威也随之消失。我们还可以看到，这些法典随着时代的变迁而变化。我们读到，某某法典应在萨提亚世（Satya Yuga）具有权威，某某法典在特雷塔世（Tretâ Yuga），某某在德瓦帕罗世（Dwâpara Yuga），某某在迦利世（Kali Yuga），如此等等。随着基本条件的变化，随着各种情况对这个民族产生影响，礼仪习俗不得不改变，这些法典——主要是对民族礼仪习俗加以规范的——也不得不随时代而改变。这是我特别请求诸位记住的一点。吠檀多中所包含的宗教原则是不变的。为何？因为它们全都建立于人与自然的永恒原则之上；它们永远不会改变。关于灵魂、升天诸如此类的思想永远不会改变；它们数千年前与今日相同，数百万年后仍将相同。但那些完全建立于我们社会地位与相互关联之上的宗教礼仪，必定会随着社会的变化而改变。因此，某一规范在某一时期是善良真实的，在另一时期则未必。我们因此发现，某种食物在某一时期是被允许的，在另一时期则不然，因为这种食物适合于那个时代；但气候及其他事物发生了变化，需要应对各种不同的情况，于是法典改变了食物及其他事宜。由此自然得出，若在现代社会需要进行某些变革，那就必须加以应对，圣人们将会出现，指示我们如何应对；但我们宗教原则中的分毫都不会改变；它们将完整保留。
其次是往世书（Purânas）。"purânam panchalakshanam"（往世书五种特征）——意为往世书具有五种特征——涉及历史、宇宙论，以及对哲学原则的各种象征性阐释，等等。这些书是为了使吠陀的宗教大众化而写就的。吠陀所用的语言极为古老，即便在学者中，也极少有人能考证这些书籍的年代。往世书是用那个时代的通俗语言写就的，即我们称之为近代梵文（modern Sanskrit）的语言。它们当时不是为学者而写，而是为普通民众而写；普通民众无法理解哲学。这类东西以具体的形式呈现给他们——通过圣人与帝王、伟人的生平，以及曾发生于这个民族的历史事件等等。圣人们利用这些材料来阐明宗教的永恒原则。
还有其他一些典籍——密续（Tantras）。这些在某些方面与往世书很相似，其中某些密续还试图复兴业分中古老祭祀的思想。
所有这些典籍共同构成了印度教徒的经典。当一个民族和一个种族拥有如此大量的神圣典籍，而这个民族和种族将其大部分精力投注于哲学与灵性的思考（没有人知道这已持续了多少数千年），自然应当会有如此众多的教派；实际上，能有这么多教派而没有成千上万更多的，倒是令人称奇。这些教派在某些方面彼此大相径庭。我们没有时间去了解这些教派之间的差异以及所有关于它们的灵性细节；因此我将探讨每一位印度教徒都必须信仰的各教派的共同基础、根本原则。
首先是创造的问题——这个自然、原质（Prakriti）、摩耶（Mâyâ）是无限的，无有起始。并非这世界是前日刚刚被创造出来的，也并非某位神明创造了这个世界，此后便一直沉睡；那是不可能的。创造的能量仍在持续运作。上帝在永恒地创造——从未停歇。请记住《薄伽梵歌》（Bhagavad Gita）中克里希纳（Krishna）所说的话："若我有片刻停歇，这宇宙便将毁灭。"若那在我们周围白昼黑夜运作不息的创造能量停止一秒钟，整个大厦便将倾塌。那能量从未有过不运行于整个宇宙之时，但有着循环的法则——劫灭（Pralaya）。我们梵文中"创造"一词，若正确翻译，应为"投射"（projection）而非"创造"（creation）。因为英文中"创造"（creation）这个词不幸带有那可怕的、最粗陋的观念——某物从虚无中产生，非存在变为存在——这种观念，我当然不会无礼地请求诸位相信。因此，我们的词是"投射"。整个自然界存在着，它变得更精微，沉寂下去；然后经过一段仿佛休息的时期，整体再次向前投射，同样的组合、同样的演化、同样的显现再度出现并持续存在，仿佛运行了一段时间，又再次分崩离析，变得愈来愈精微，直至整体再度沉寂，而后再次显现。如此，它在永恒中以波浪般的运动向前又向后地运行。时间、空间与因果，都在这自然界之内。因此，说它有一个开始，是彻底的无稽之谈。关于其开始或终结，不能提出任何问题。因此，无论在我们的经典中何处出现"开始"与"终结"二词，你们必须记住，那指的是某一特定周期的开始与终结；不过如此而已。
是什么造就了这创造？上帝。我使用英文"God"这个词，所指究竟为何？当然不是这个词在英文中通常的用法——两者之间有相当大的差别。英文中没有其他合适的词。我宁可仅限于使用梵文词"梵"（Brahman）。他是所有这些显现的总因。梵是什么？他是永恒的，永恒地纯洁，永恒地觉醒，全能，全知，全慈，遍在，无形，无分。他创造这宇宙。若他始终在创造并维系着这宇宙，便会产生两种困难。我们看到宇宙中存在着偏颇。一个人生来幸福，另一个人生来痛苦；一个人富有，另一个人贫穷——这显示了偏颇。其次还有残酷，因为在这里，生命本身的条件就是死亡。一种动物将另一种动物撕碎，每个人都试图胜过自己的兄弟。竞争、残酷、恐怖，日夜令心灵裂碎的哀号——这就是我们这个世界的状态。若这是某位上帝的创造，那位上帝比任何人所能想象的恶魔都更残忍，更为残暴。吠檀多（Vedanta）说：这种偏颇的存在，这种竞争的存在，并非上帝的过错。是谁造成了这一切？是我们自己。有一片云彩将雨水平等地降洒在所有田地上。但只有经过精心耕作的田地，才能获得雨水的益处；另一片未曾耕耘或照料的田地，则无法获得这种益处。这不是云彩的过错。上帝的恩典是永恒不变的；是我们制造了差别。但一些人生来幸福、另一些人生来痛苦，这种差异如何解释？他们并未做任何事来造成这种差别！不是在这一生，而是在他们前世所做的，这差异由前世的行为来解释。
我们现在来到第二个原则——不仅所有印度教徒，所有佛教徒与所有耆那教徒都同意的原则。我们都认同，生命是永恒的。它并非从虚无中涌现，因为那是不可能的。如此的生命将不值得拥有。凡在时间中有开始的，必在时间中有终结。若生命仅从昨日才开始，它必在明日终结，结果便是消灭。生命必定一直存在着。今日已不需要多少洞察力便可看出这一点，因为现代的所有科学都已来到我们的援助之侧，从物质世界的角度阐明我们经典中所体现的原则。你们已知晓，我们每一个人都是无限过去的结果；孩子被带到这世界上来，并非如诗人们所喜欢描绘的那样，从大自然的双手中闪耀而出，而是背负着无限过去的重担；无论为善为恶，他来此世是为了了结自己过去的业债（Karma）。这造成了差别。这是业力（Karma）的法则。我们每一个人都是自身命运的创造者。这条法则立刻推翻了一切预定论与宿命论，并给予我们调和上帝与人类的唯一途径。是我们，是我们，唯有我们，才是我们所受苦难的责任者。我们是结果，我们也是原因。因此我们是自由的。若我不幸福，那是我自己所造成的，而这一事实本身表明，若我愿意，我可以幸福。若我不纯洁，那也是我自己所造成的，而这一事实本身表明，若我愿意，我可以纯洁。人类的意志超越一切境遇之上。在它面前——人中那强大、巨大、无限的意志与自由——自然界的一切力量也必须俯首，屈服，成为它的仆役。这便是业力法则的结果。
下一个问题，当然自然而然地会是：灵魂是什么？在我们的经典中，不认识灵魂，就无法了解上帝。在印度以及印度之外，都曾有过通过研究外部自然来一窥彼岸的尝试，我们都知道那已被证明是多么可怕的失败。研究物质世界不但未能给我们带来彼岸的一瞥，反而使我们越来越物质化。我们越是处理物质世界，即便我们此前所拥有的那一点灵性也会消失。因此，通往灵性的道路不在那里，不在通往最高知识的道路上；而必须通过心灵、通过人类的灵魂来获得。外部的劳作不能告诉我们任何关于彼岸、关于无限者的事情，只有内部才能做到。因此，通过灵魂——唯有通过对人类灵魂的分析——我们才能了解上帝。印度各教派对人类灵魂本性的看法各有不同，但有若干共同点。我们都认同，灵魂无始无终，就其本性而言是不朽的；同样认同，一切力量、祝福、纯洁、遍在、全知都潜藏于每一个灵魂之中。那是一个我们应当记住的宏大思想。在每一个人、每一个动物体内，无论软弱或邪恶、伟大或渺小，都居住着同样的遍在、全知的灵魂。差别不在于灵魂，而在于显现。在我与最微小的动物之间，差别仅在于显现，但作为原则，他与我是相同的，他是我的兄弟，他拥有与我相同的灵魂。这是印度所宣扬的最伟大原则。人类博爱的议题，在印度成为普遍生命的博爱——动物的博爱，以及对一切生命乃至最微小的蚂蚁的博爱——所有这些都是我们的躯体。正如我们的经典所言："如此，智者知晓同一主宰居住于一切躯体之中，便将一切躯体作为主宰的居所而礼拜。"这就是为何在印度，对穷人、对动物、对一切人与一切事物，都有着如此慈悲的观念。这是关于我们灵魂观念的一个共同基础。
自然而然地，我们来到上帝的观念。关于灵魂，还有一点。那些学习英文的人，常常被"soul"（灵魂）与"mind"（心灵）两词所迷惑。我们的"真我"（Âtman）与西方所谓的"soul"（灵魂）是完全不同的事物。我们所称的"意"（Manas）——心——西方人称之为"soul"（灵魂）。约在二十年前，西方人从梵文哲学那里获得这一思想之前，始终没有"soul"（真意义上的灵魂）的概念。躯体在这里，在躯体之外是心（Manas），然而心并非真我（Atman）；它是精微身（Sukshma Sharira），由精微的粒子所构成，从一生到另一生地运行，如此循环；然而在心之后，是真我（Atman）——灵魂，人的自我（Self）。它不能用"soul"或"mind"来翻译，因此我们必须使用"Atman"这个词，或如西方哲学家所指定的，用"Self"（自我）这个词。无论你使用哪个词，你必须在心中明确，真我（Atman）既不同于心，也不同于躯体，而这一真我（Atman）伴随着心——精微身（Sukshma Sharira）——经历生死轮回（Samsara）。当它获得一切知识并圆满显现自身的时候，这生死往来便对它停止了。届时，它可以自由地选择保留那心——精微身——或永远放弃它，而在整个永恒中保持独立与自由。灵魂的目标是自由（解脱，Moksha）。这是我们宗教的一个特点。我们也有天堂与地狱；但这些并非无限的，因为就事物的本性而言，它们不可能是无限的。若有任何天堂，那不过是我们这个世界的翻版，规模更大一些，多一点幸福，多一点享乐，但这对灵魂而言反而更糟。有许多这样的天堂。在世间以求报偿为念而行善的人，死后转生为某一天堂中的天神（Deva），如因陀罗（Indra）等。这些天神是某些境界状态的名称。他们也曾是人，通过善行成为天神；这些不同的名称，如因陀罗等等，并非同一位者的名称。将有无数个因陀罗。那胡沙（Nahusha）是一位伟大的国王，死后成为因陀罗。这是一个位置；一个灵魂登上高位，占据因陀罗的位置，只在那里待一定的时间；然后它死去，再次作为人转生。然而，人身是一切身体中最高的。某些天神或许会尝试更上一层楼，放弃天堂中一切享乐的念头；但正如在这个世界上，财富、地位与享乐迷惑了大多数人，大多数天神也同样受到迷惑，在耗尽其善业（Karma）之后，重新跌落，再次成为人。因此，这大地是业力之地（Karma Bhumi）；正是从这大地上，我们获得解脱（Moksha）。所以，即便那些天堂也不值得去追求。
那么，什么才是值得拥有的？解脱（Mukti），自由。我们的经典说，即使在最高的天堂，你也是一个奴隶；若你能当二万年的国王，又如何？只要你还有躯体，只要你还是幸福的奴隶，只要时间作用于你，空间作用于你，你就是一个奴隶。因此，观念是超越外部与内部自然之上而获得自由。自然必须倒伏于你的足下，而你必须踩踏它、超越它，得到自由与荣耀。不再有生命；因此不再有死亡。不再有享乐；因此不再有痛苦。那是难以言喻的、不可摧毁的极乐，超越一切之外。我们在这里所称的幸福与善，不过是那永恒极乐的微粒。而这永恒的极乐，便是我们的目标。
灵魂也是无性别之分的；我们不能说真我（Atman）是男性或女性。性别仅属于躯体。因此，当涉及真我（Self）时，"男人"或"女人"这类观念都是一种幻觉，只有在谈及躯体时才适用。年龄的观念亦然。它从不老去；这古老者永远如一。它是如何降临大地的？在我们的经典中，对此只有一个答案。无明（Avidya）是一切束缚的原因。正是通过无明，我们成为了束缚者；知识将引领我们到彼岸，从而得到治愈。知识将如何到来？通过爱，通过虔信（Bhakti）；通过对上帝的礼拜，通过将一切众生作为上帝的殿堂来爱护。他居住于其中。如此，随着那炽烈的爱，知识将会到来，无明将会消散，束缚将会破碎，灵魂将获自由。
在我们的经典中，有两种关于上帝的观念——其一是人格神（Personal God）；其二是无人格者（Impersonal）。人格神的观念是：他是遍在的创造者、维护者与毁灭者，宇宙永恒的父与母，但始终与我们及一切灵魂相分离；解脱在于接近他、生活于他之中。然后是无人格者的另一种观念，在那里，所有那些修饰语都被作为多余的、不合逻辑的而去除，留下一个无人格的、遍在的存在，它不能被称为一个知晓的存在，因为知识只属于人类的心（mind）。它不能被称为一个思考的存在，因为那是软弱者的运作方式。它不能被称为一个推理的存在，因为推理是软弱的标志。它不能被称为一个创造的存在，因为除了在束缚中，没有人创造。它有什么束缚？除了为满足欲望，没有人工作；它有什么欲望？除了为满足某种需求，没有人工作；它有什么需求？在吠陀中，所用的不是"他"（He）而是"它"（It），因为"他"会产生一种不当的区分，仿佛上帝是一个人。"它"——无人格者——被使用，而这无人格的"它"得到了传扬。这个体系被称为不二论（Advaita）。
而我们与这无人格存在的关系是什么？——我们就是他。我们与他是合一的。每个人不过是那无人格者——一切存在之基础——的一种显现，而痛苦在于将我们自己视为不同于这无限的无人格者；解脱在于认识我们与这奇妙的无人格性的合一。这些，简而言之，就是我们在经典中所发现的两种关于上帝的观念。
在这里有几点说明值得一提。只有通过无人格神的观念，你才能拥有任何伦理体系。在各个民族中，自远古以来，真理一直被传扬——爱你的同类如同爱你自己——我的意思是，爱人类如同爱你自己。在印度，被传扬的是"爱一切众生如同爱你自己"；我们不在人与动物之间作区分。但为何如此，理由始终未被说明，没有人知道为何爱他人如爱自己是好的。而其理由，就存在于无人格神的观念中；当你了解整个世界是一体的时候，你便明白了——宇宙的合一，一切生命的连带关系——伤害任何人就是在伤害我自己，爱任何人就是在爱我自己。因此，我们明白了为何我们不应伤害他人。伦理的理由，因此，只能从无人格神的这一理想中获得。然后是人格神在其中的地位问题。我深深理解从人格神观念中涌流而出的那奇妙的爱的潮流，我完全欣赏虔信（Bhakti）对人的力量与效力，以满足不同时代的不同需要。然而，在我们国家现在所需要的，与其说是哭泣，不如说是一点力量。当一切迷信都被抛弃，人凭借这一认知——我是世界的无人格存在！——挺立于双脚之上时，这无人格神中蕴藏着何等的力量之矿！什么能使我恐惧？我甚至不在乎自然界的法则。死亡对我来说不过是个玩笑。人屹立于自己灵魂的荣耀之上——那无限的、永恒的、不朽的灵魂——没有任何器具能穿透它，没有空气能使它干燥，没有火能焚烧它，没有水能融化它——那无限的、无生的、无死的，无始无终，在其宏大面前，太阳、月亮及其所有星系犹如大洋中的微滴，在其荣耀面前，空间消融为虚无，时间隐没为非有。这荣耀的灵魂，我们必须相信它。力量由此而来。你所思之物，即你所是之物。若你认为自己软弱，软弱你便将是；若你认为自己强壮，强壮你便将是；若你认为自己不纯，不纯你便将是；若你认为自己纯洁，纯洁你便将是。这教导我们不要以自己为软弱，而要以自己为强壮、全能、全知。也许我尚未将其表达出来，但它在我之内。一切知识在我之内，一切力量，一切纯洁，一切自由。为何我不能表达这种知识？因为我不相信它。让我相信它，它就必然会，也必将会涌现出来。这就是无人格者的观念所传授的。从孩提时代起便使你的孩子强壮；不要教导他们软弱，不要传授形式，而要使他们强壮；让他们挺立于自己的双足之上——大胆，无所不克，无所不受；首先，让他们了解灵魂的荣耀。这唯独在吠檀多（Vedanta）中——也唯有在那里——能够获得。它也有在其他宗教中拥有的爱与崇拜及其他思想，以及更多之外的；然而这灵魂的思想，是赋予生命的思想，是最奇妙的思想。在那里，也唯有在那里，才有这即将革命整个世界、并调和物质世界的知识与宗教的伟大思想。
我已试图向诸位呈现我们宗教的要点——即其原则。关于实践与应用，我只需再说几句话。正如我们所见，在印度现存的情况下，自然会出现许多教派。事实上，我们确实发现印度有如此之多的教派，而同时我们也知道这一神秘的事实——这些教派彼此并不争斗。湿婆派（Shaivite）不会说每一位毗湿奴派（Vaishnavite）都将受到诅咒，毗湿奴派也不会说每一位湿婆派都将受到诅咒。湿婆派说："这是我的道路，你有你的道路；最终我们必将相遇。"在印度，他们都知道这一点。这便是"所好"（Ishta）的理论。自远古以来，便已认识到礼拜上帝有各种形式。同样也认识到，不同的天性需要不同的方法。你通往上帝的方式或许不适合我，甚至或许会伤害我。认为只有一种适合所有人的方式，这种观念是有害的、无意义的，完全应当避免。若每个人都持有相同的宗教观点并走上同一条道路，那对世界来说将是灾难。到那时，所有宗教与所有思想都将被摧毁。多样性正是生命的灵魂。当它完全消亡时，创造也将消亡。当思想的这种变化得以保持，我们必将存在；而我们不必因那种多样性而争吵。你的方式对你非常好，但对我不然。我的方式对我好，但对你不然。我的方式在梵文中被称为我的"所好"（Ishta）。请注意，我们与世界上任何宗教都没有争执。我们各有自己的所好。但当我们看到人们来到印度说："这是唯一的道路"，并试图将其强加于我们时，我们有话要说；我们笑而对之。因为，那些想要因其兄弟似乎走上了一条不同于他们自己通往上帝之路而毁灭其兄弟的人——对于这些人来说，谈论爱是荒谬的。他们的爱算不上什么。当他们无法忍受另一个人走上不同于他们自己的道路时，他们还能传扬爱？若那是爱，何为憎恨？我们与世界上任何宗教都没有争执，无论它是引导人们礼拜基督、佛陀（Buddha）还是穆罕默德，或任何其他先知。印度教徒说："欢迎，我的兄弟。我要帮助你；但你必须允许我也走我自己的道路。这是我的所好。你的道路无疑很好；但对我而言或许是危险的。我自己的经验告诉我什么食物对我有益，任何一群医生都无法告诉我这一点。因此，我从自己的经验中知道，哪条道路对我最好。"这就是目标，就是所好，因此，我们说，若一座庙宇、一个象征或一尊神像能帮助你实现内在的神性，那你便欢迎使用它。若你愿意，请有二百尊神像。若某些形式与礼仪能帮助你实现神圣，愿上帝祝佑你；请随心所欲地拥有任何形式、任何庙宇、任何仪式，只要能使你更接近上帝。但不要因此而争吵；一旦你争吵，你便不是在向神而行，而是在向后走，走向野兽。
我们宗教中有几个思想，就是这些。它是包容一切人、排斥任何人的宗教。虽然我们的种姓制度与我们的社会制度表面上与我们的宗教相关联，但并非如此。这些制度对于保护我们作为一个民族是必要的，当这种自我保护的必要性不再存在时，它们将会自然消亡。但我越来越年长，我似乎对印度这些历史悠久的制度越来越感到折服。曾经有一段时间，我曾认为其中许多是无用而无价值的；但我越年长，对随意诅咒其中任何一个，我似乎越感到迟疑，因为它们每一个都是数百年经验的体现。一个昨日才诞生、后天便将消亡的孩子来找我，要求我改变我所有的计划；若我听从那个婴孩的建议，并依照他的观念改变我所有的环境，那我自己便是傻瓜，没有别人比我更傻。来自不同国家对我们的许多忠告，与此如出一辙。请告诉这些自作聪明者："当你们自己建立了一个稳定的社会，我再听你们的话。你们无法将一种观念坚持两天，你们争吵失败；你们如春天的飞蛾般出生，五分钟内如飞蛾般死去。你们如泡沫般涌起，如泡沫般破裂。先建立一个像我们这样的稳定社会。先制定能在数十个世纪中保持其效力不减的法律与制度。到那时，才是与你们谈论这一主题的时机，但在那之前，我的朋友，你不过是一个头晕目眩的孩子。"
我关于我们宗教所要说的已讲完。我将以提醒诸位时代最紧迫的必要性作为结束。赞叹毗耶娑（Vyâsa）——《摩诃婆罗多》（Mahâbhârata）的伟大作者——在这迦利世（Kali Yuga）中有一项伟大的工作。在其他世代所修习的苦行（Tapas）及其他艰苦的瑜伽（Yoga），在今日已不再奏效。在这个世代所需要的，是给予，是帮助他人。布施（Dana）是什么含义？最高的布施是赠予灵性知识；其次是赠予世俗知识；再次是拯救生命；最后才是赠予食物与饮水。赠予灵性知识者，从许许多多的生死中拯救了灵魂。赠予世俗知识者，为人类开启了通往灵性知识的双眼；其他一切布施，甚至包括拯救生命，都远在其下。因此，必须了解并牢记，所有其他种类的工作，其价值都远不及传播灵性知识。最高、最伟大的帮助，是那在传播灵性知识方面所给予的帮助。在我们的经典中，有一股永恒的灵性源泉，而在世界上，除了在这片弃绝的土地上，我们找不到如此崇高的灵性实践典范。我对世界有过一点经验。请相信我，在其他土地上，空谈甚多；但在生活中践行宗教的实践者，就在这里，唯有在这里。空谈不是宗教；鹦鹉能说话，如今机器也能说话。但请让我看看弃绝、灵性、无所不受、无限之爱的生命。这种生命才表明一个人是灵性的。在我们国家拥有如此观念与如此崇高实践典范的情况下，若这一切伟大瑜伽者（Yogis）头脑与心灵中的宝藏不被发掘出来，成为所有人的共同财富——无论富贫、贵贱——不仅在印度，而且必须广泛撒播于全世界——那将是极大的遗憾。这是我们最伟大的职责之一，你们将会发现，你们越多地去帮助他人，你们自己也就获得越多的帮助。若你真正热爱你的宗教，若你真正热爱你的国家，你们所肩负的唯一至关重要的职责，就是必须奋发努力、励精图治，以这一宏大的理念——将你们封闭典籍中的宝藏发掘出来，并将其交付给其合法的继承者——为己任。
而尤其重要的是，有一件事不可或缺。唉，数个世纪以来，我们已被可怕的嫉妒所浸染；我们始终在彼此嫉妒。为何这个人比我有一点优先，而不是我？即便在对上帝的礼拜中，我们也要争夺优先权——我们已沦落到如此奴役的地步。这是必须避免的。若说在今日的印度有什么哭泣的罪孽，那就是这种奴役。每个人都想发号施令，没有人想服从；这是由于缺少那昔日奇妙的梵行（Brahmacharya）体制所致。首先，学会服从。发号施令将自然而来。始终先学做仆人，然后你才有资格做主人。避免这种嫉妒，你将做出那些尚待完成的伟大工作。我们的祖先做了最奇妙的工作，我们带着崇敬与骄傲回望他们的工作。而我们也将要做出伟大的功绩，让后人带着祝福与骄傲回望我们，视我们为他们的祖先。凭借主的祝福，这里的每一位，终将成就那些将使我们祖先的功绩——无论多么伟大与荣耀——都相形见绌的事业。
English
VEDANTISM
The following address of welcome from the Hindus of Jaffna was presented to Swami Vivekananda:
SRIMAT VIVEKANANDA SWAMI
Revered Sir,
We, the inhabitants of Jaffna professing the Hindu religion, desire to offer you a most hearty welcome to our land, the chief centre of Hinduism in Ceylon, and to express our thankfulness for your kind acceptance of our invitation to visit this part of Lanka.
Our ancestors settled here from Southern India, more than two thousand years ago, and brought with them their religion, which was patronised by the Tamil kings of Jaffna; but when their government was displaced by that of the Portuguese and the Dutch, the observance of religious rites was interfered with, public religious worship was prohibited, and the Sacred Temples, including two of the most far-famed Shrines, were razed to the ground by the cruel hand of persecution. In spite of the persistent attempts of these nations to force upon our forefathers the Christian religion, they clung to their old faith firmly, and have transmitted it to us as the noblest of our heritages Now under the rule of Great Britain, not only has there been a great and intelligent revival, but the sacred edifices have been, and are being, restored.
We take this opportunity to express our deep-felt gratitude for your noble and disinterested labours in the cause of our religion in carrying the light of truth, as revealed in the Vedas, to the Parliament of Religions, in disseminating the truths of the Divine Philosophy of India in America and England, and in making the Western world acquainted with the truths of Hinduism and thereby bringing the West in closer touch with the East. We also express our thankfulness to you for initiating a movement for the revival of our ancient religion in this materialistic age when there is a decadence of faith and a disregard for search after spiritual truth.
We cannot adequately express our indebtedness to you for making the people of the West know the catholicity of our religion and for impressing upon the minds of the savants of the West the truth that there are more things in the Philosophy of the Hindus than are dreamt of in the Philosophy of the West.
We need hardly assure you that we have been carefully watching the progress of your Mission in the West and always heartily rejoicing at your devotedness and successful labours in the field of religion. The appreciative references made by the press in the great centres of intellectual activity, moral growth, and religious inquiry in the West, to you and to your valuable contributions to our religious literature, bear eloquent testimony to your noble and magnificent efforts.
We beg to express our heartfelt gratification at your visit to our land and to hope that we, who, in common with you, look to the Vedas as the foundation of all true spiritual knowledge, may have many more occasions of seeing you in our midst.
May God, who has hitherto crowned your noble work with conspicuous success, spare you long, giving you vigour and strength to continue your noble Mission.
We remain, Revered Sir,
Yours faithfully,
. . .
for and on behalf of the Hindus Of Jaffna.
An eloquent reply was given, and on the following evening the Swami lectured on Vedantism, a report of which is here appended:
The subject is very large and the time is short; a full analysis of the religion of the Hindus is impossible in one lecture. I will, therefore, present before you the salient points of our religion in as simple language as I can. The word Hindu, by which it is the fashion nowadays to style ourselves, has lost all its meaning, for this word merely meant those who lived on the other side of the river Indus (in Sanskrit, Sindhu). This name was murdered into Hindu by the ancient Persians, and all people living on the other side of the river Sindhu were called by them Hindus. Thus this word has come down to us; and during the Mohammedan rule we took up the word ourselves. There may not be any harm in using the word of course; but, as I have said, it has lost its significance, for you may mark that all the people who live on this side of the Indus in modern times do not follow the same religion as they did in ancient times. The word, therefore, covers not only Hindus proper, but Mohammedans, Christians, Jains, and other people who live in India. I therefore, would not use the word Hindu. What word should we use then? The other words which alone we can use are either the Vaidikas, followers of the Vedas, or better still, the Vedantists, followers of the Vedanta. Most of the great religions of the world owe allegiance to certain books which they believe are the words of God or some other supernatural beings, and which are the basis of their religion. Now of all these books, according to the modern savants of the West, the oldest are the Vedas of the Hindus. A little understanding, therefore, is necessary about the Vedas.
This mass of writing called the Vedas is not the utterance of persons. Its date has never been fixed, can never be fixed, and, according to us, the Vedas are eternal. There is one salient point which I want you to remember, that all the other religions of the world claim their authority as being delivered by a Personal God or a number of personal beings, angels, or special messengers of God, unto certain persons; while the claim of the Hindus is that the Vedas do not owe their authority to anybody, they are themselves the authority, being eternal — the knowledge of God. They were never written, never created, they have existed throughout time; just as creation is infinite and eternal, without beginning and without end, so is the knowledge of God without beginning and without end. And this knowledge is what is meant by the Vedas (Vid to know). The mass of knowledge called the Vedanta was discovered by personages called Rishis, and the Rishi is defined as a Mantra-drashtâ, a seer of thought; not that the thought was his own. Whenever you hear that a certain passage of the Vedas came from a certain Rishi never think that he wrote it or created it out of his mind; he was the seer of the thought which already existed; it existed in the universe eternally. This sage was the discoverer; the Rishis were spiritual discoverers.
This mass of writing, the Vedas, is divided principally into two parts, the Karma Kânda and the Jnâna Kânda — the work portion and the knowledge portion, the ceremonial and the spiritual. The work portion consists of various sacrifices; most of them of late have been given up as not practicable under present circumstances, but others remain to the present day in some shape or other. The main ideas of the Karma Kanda, which consists of the duties of man, the duties of the student, of the householder, of the recluse, and the various duties of the different stations of life, are followed more or less down to the present day. But the spiritual portion of our religion is in the second part, the Jnana Kanda, the Vedanta, the end of the Vedas, the gist, the goal of the Vedas. The essence of the knowledge of the Vedas was called by the name of Vedanta, which comprises the Upanishads; and all the sects of India — Dualists, Qualified-Monists, Monists, or the Shaivites, Vaishnavites, Shâktas, Sauras, Gânapatyas, each one that dares to come within the fold of Hinduism — must acknowledge the Upanishads of the Vedas. They can have their own interpretations and can interpret them in their own way, but they must obey the authority. That is why we want to use the word Vedantist instead of Hindu. All the philosophers of India who are orthodox have to acknowledge the authority of the Vedanta; and all our present-day religions, however crude some of them may appear to be, however inexplicable some of their purposes may seem, one who understands them and studies them can trace them back to the ideas of the Upanishads. So deeply have these Upanishads sunk into our race that those of you who study the symbology of the crudest religion of the Hindus will be astonished to find sometimes figurative expressions of the Upanishads — the Upanishads become symbolised after a time into figures and so forth. Great spiritual and philosophical ideas in the Upanishads are today with us, converted into household worship in the form of symbols. Thus the various symbols now used by us, all come from the Vedanta, because in the Vedanta they are used as figures, and these ideas spread among the nation and permeated it throughout until they became part of their everyday life as symbols.
Next to the Vedanta come the Smritis. These also are books written by sages, but the authority of the Smritis is subordinate to that of the Vedanta, because they stand in the same relation with us as the scriptures of the other religions stand with regard to them. We admit that the Smritis have been written by particular sages; in that sense they are the same as the scriptures of other religions, but these Smritis are not final authority. If there is any thing in a Smriti which contradicts the Vedanta, the Smriti is to be rejected — its authority is gone. These Smritis, we see again, have varied from time to time. We read that such and such Smriti should have authority in the Satya Yuga, such and such in the Tretâ Yuga, some in the Dwâpara Yuga, and some in the Kali Yuga, and so on. As essential conditions changed, as various circumstances came to have their influence on the race, manners and customs had to be changed, and these Smritis, as mainly regulating the manners and customs of the nation, had also to be changed from time to time. This is a point I specially ask you to remember. The principles of religion that are in the Vedanta are unchangeable. Why? Because they are all built upon the eternal principles that are in man and nature; they can never change. Ideas about the soul, going to heaven, and so on can never change; they were the same thousands of years ago, they are the same today, they will be the same millions of years hence. But those religious practices which are based entirely upon our social position and correlation must change with the changes in society. Such an order, therefore, would be good and true at a certain period and not at another. We find accordingly that a certain food is allowed at one time and not another, because the food was suitable for that time; but climate and other things changed various other circumstances required to be met, so the Smriti changed the food and other things. Thus it naturally follows that if in modern times our society requires changes to be made, they must be met, and sages will come and show us the way how to meet them; but not one jot of the principles of our religion will be changed; they will remain intact.
Then there are the Purânas. पुराणं पञ्चलक्षणम् — which means, the Puranas are of five characteristics — that which treats of history, of cosmology, with various symbological illustration of philosophical principles, and so forth. These were written to popularise the religion of the Vedas. The language in which the Vedas are written is very ancient, and even among scholars very few can trace the date of these books. The Puranas were written in the language of the people of that time, what we call modern Sanskrit. They were then meant not for scholars, but for the ordinary people; and ordinary people cannot understand philosophy. Such things were given unto them in concrete form, by means of the lives of saints and kinds and great men and historical events that happened to the race etc. The sages made use of these things to illustrate the eternal principles of religion.
There are still other books, the Tantras. These are very much like Puranas in some respects, and in some of them there is an attempt to revive the old sacrificial ideas of the Karma Kanda.
All these books constitute the scriptures of the Hindus. When there is such a mass of sacred books in a nation and a race which has devoted the greatest part of its energies to the thought of philosophy and spirituality (nobody knows for how many thousands of years), it is quite natural that there should be so many sects; indeed it is a wonder that there are not thousands more. These sects differ very much from each other in certain points. We shall not have time to understand the differences between these sects and all the spiritual details about them; therefore I shall take up the common grounds, the essential principles of all these sects which every Hindu must believe.
The first is the question of creation, that this nature, Prakriti, Mâyâ is infinite, without beginning. It is not that this world was created the other day, not that a God came and created the world and since that time has been sleeping; for that cannot be. The creative energy is still going on. God is eternally creating — is never at rest. Remember the passage in the Gita where Krishna says, "If I remain at rest for one moment, this universe will be destroyed." If that creative energy which is working all around us, day and night, stops for a second, the whole thing falls to the ground. There never was a time when that energy did not work throughout the universe, but there is the law of cycles, Pralaya. Our Sanskrit word for creation, properly translated, should be projection and not creation. For the word creation in the English language has unhappily got that fearful, that most crude idea of something coming out of nothing, creation out of nonentity, non-existence becoming existence, which, of course, I would not insult you by asking you to believe. Our word, therefore, is projection. The whole of this nature exists, it becomes finer, subsides; and then after a period of rest, as it were, the whole thing is again projected forward, and the same combination, the same evolution, the same manifestations appear and remain playing, as it were, for a certain time, only again to break into pieces, to become finer and finer, until the whole thing subsides, and again comes out. Thus it goes on backwards and forwards with a wave-like motion throughout eternity. Time, space, and causation are all within this nature. To say, therefore, that it had a beginning is utter nonsense. No question can occur as to its beginning or its end. Therefore wherever in our scriptures the words beginning and end are used, you must remember that it means the beginning and the end of one particular cycle; no more than that.
What makes this creation? God. What do I mean by the use of the English word God? Certainly not the word as ordinarily used in English — a good deal of difference. There is no other suitable word in English. I would rather confine myself to the Sanskrit word Brahman. He is the general cause of all these manifestations. What is this Brahman? He is eternal, eternally pure, eternally awake, the almighty, the all-knowing, the all-merciful, the omnipresent, the formless, the partless. He creates this universe. If he is always creating and holding up this universe, two difficulties arise. We see that there is partiality in the universe. One person is born happy, and another unhappy; one is rich, and another poor; this shows partiality. Then there is cruelty also, for here the very condition of life is death. One animal tears another to pieces, and every man tries to get the better of his own brother. This competition, cruelty, horror, and sighs rending hearts day and night is the state of things in this world of ours. If this be the creation of a God, that God is worse than cruel, worse than any devil that man ever imagined. Ay! says the Vedanta, it is not the fault of God that this partiality exists, that this competition exists. Who makes it? We ourselves. There is a cloud shedding its rain on all fields alike. But it is only the field that is well cultivated, which gets the advantage of the shower; another field, which has not been tilled or taken care of cannot get that advantage. It is not the fault of the cloud. The mercy of God is eternal and unchangeable; it is we that make the differentiation. But how can this difference of some being born happy and some unhappy be explained? They do nothing to make out that differences! Not in this life, but they did in their last birth and the difference is explained by this action in the previous life.
We now come to the second principle on which we all agree, not only all Hindus, but all Buddhists and all Jains. We all agree that life is eternal. It is not that it has sprung out of nothing, for that cannot be. Such a life would not be worth having. Everything that has a beginning in time must end in time. Of life began but yesterday, it must end tomorrow, and annihilation is the result. Life must have been existing. It does not now require much acumen to see that, for all the sciences of modern times have been coming round to our help, illustrating from the material world the principles embodied in our scriptures. You know it already that each one of us is the effect of the infinite past; the child is ushered into the world not as something flashing from the hands of nature, as poets delight so much to depict, but he has the burden of an infinite past; for good or evil he comes to work out his own past deeds. That makes the differentiation. This is the law of Karma. Each one of us is the maker of his own fate. This law knocks on the head at once all doctrines of predestination and fate and gives us the only means of reconciliation between God and man. We, we, and none else, are responsible for what we suffer. We are the effects, and we are the causes. We are free therefore. If I am unhappy, it has been of my own making, and that very thing shows that I can be happy if I will. If I am impure, that is also of my own making, and that very thing shows that I can be pure if I will. The human will stands beyond all circumstance. Before it — the strong, gigantic, infinite will and freedom in man — all the powers, even of nature, must bow down, succumb, and become its servants. This is the result of the law of Karma.
The next question, of course, naturally would be: What is the soul? We cannot understand God in our scriptures without knowing the soul. There have been attempts in India, and outside of India too, to catch a glimpse of the beyond by studying external nature, and we all know what an awful failure has been the result. Instead of giving us a glimpse of the beyond, the more we study the material world, the more we tend to become materialised. The more we handle the material world, even the little spirituality which we possessed before vanishes. Therefore that is not the way to spirituality, to knowledge of the Highest; but it must come through the heart, the human soul. The external workings do not teach us anything about the beyond, about the Infinite, it is only the internal that can do so. Through soul, therefore, the analysis of the human soul alone, can we understand God. There are differences of opinion as to the nature of the human soul among the various sects in India, but there are certain points of agreement. We all agree that souls are without beginning and without end, and immortal by their very nature; also that all powers, blessing, purity, omnipresence, omniscience are buried in each soul. That is a grand idea we ought to remember. In every man and in every animal, however weak or wicked, great or small, resides the same omnipresent, omniscient soul. The difference is not in the soul, but in the manifestation. Between me and the smallest animal, the difference is only in manifestation, but as a principle he is the same as I am, he is my brother, he has the same soul as I have. This is the greatest principle that India has preached. The talk of the brotherhood of man becomes in India the brotherhood of universal life, of animals, and of all life down to the little ants — all these are our bodies. Even as our scripture says, "Thus the sage, knowing that the same Lord inhabits all bodies, will worship every body as such." That is why in India there have been such merciful ideas about the poor, about animals, about everybody, and everything else. This is one of the common grounds about our ideas of the soul.
Naturally, we come to the idea of God. One thing more about the soul. Those who study the English language are often deluded by the words, soul and mind. Our Âtman and soul are entirely different things. What we call Manas, the mind, the Western people call soul. The West never had the idea of soul until they got it through Sanskrit philosophy, some twenty years ago. The body is here, beyond that is the mind, yet the mind is not the Atman; it is the fine body, the Sukshma Sharira, made of fine particles, which goes from birth to death, and so on; but behind the mind is the Atman, the soul, the Self of man. It cannot be translated by the word soul or mind, so we have to use the word Atman, or, as Western philosophers have designated it, by the word Self. Whatever word you use, you must keep it clear in your mind that the Atman is separate from the mind, as well as from the body, and that this Atman goes through birth and death, accompanied by the mind, the Sukshma Sharira. And when the time comes that it has attained to all knowledge and manifested itself to perfection, then this going from birth to death ceases for it. Then it is at liberty either to keep that mind, the Sukshma Sharira, or to let it go for ever, and remain independent and free throughout all eternity. The goal of the soul is freedom. That is one peculiarity of our religion. We also have heavens and hells too; but these are not infinite, for in the very nature of things they cannot be. If there were any heavens, they would be only repetitions of this world of ours on a bigger scale, with a little more happiness and a little more enjoyment, but that is all the worse for the soul. There are many of these heavens. Persons who do good works here with the thought of reward, when they die, are born again as gods in one of these heavens, as Indra and others. These gods are the names of certain states. They also had been men, and by good work they have become gods; and those different names that you read of, such as Indra and so on, are not the names of the same person. There will be thousands of Indras. Nahusha was a great king, and when he died, he became Indra. It is a position; one soul becomes high and takes the Indra position and remains in it only a certain time; he then dies and is born again as man. But the human body is the highest of all. Some of the gods may try to go higher and give up all ideas of enjoyment in heavens; but, as in this world, wealth and position and enjoyment delude the vast majority, so do most of the gods become deluded also, and after working out their good Karma, they fall down and become human beings again. This earth, therefore, is the Karma Bhumi; it is this earth from which we attain to liberation. So even these heavens are not worth attaining to.
What is then worth having? Mukti, freedom. Even in the highest of heavens, says our scripture, you are a slave; what matters it if you are a king for twenty thousand years? So long as you have a body, so long as you are a slave to happiness, so long as time works on you, space works on you, you are a slave. The idea, therefore, is to be free of external and internal nature. Nature must fall at your feet, and you must trample on it and be free and glorious by going beyond. No more is there life; therefore more is there death. No more enjoyment; therefore no more misery. It is bliss unspeakable, in destructible, beyond everything. What we call happiness and good here are but particles of that eternal Bliss. And this eternal Bliss is our goal.
The soul is also sexless; we cannot say of the Atman that it is a man or a woman. Sex belongs to the body alone. All such ideas, therefore, as man or woman, are a delusion when spoken with regard to the Self, and are only proper when spoken of the body. So are the ideas of age. It never ages; the ancient One is always the same. How did It come down to earth? There is but one answer to that in our scriptures. Ignorance is the cause of all this bondage. It is through ignorance that we have become bound; knowledge will cure it by taking us to the other side. How will that knowledge come? Through love, Bhakti; by the worship of God, by loving all beings as the temples of God. He resides within them. Thus, with that intense love will come knowledge, and ignorance will disappear, the bonds will break, and the soul will be free.
There are two ideas of God in our scriptures — the one, the personal; and the other, the impersonal. The idea of the Personal God is that He is the omnipresent creator, preserver, and destroyer of everything, the eternal Father and Mother of the universe, but One who is eternally separate from us and from all souls; and liberation consists in coming near to Him and living in Him. Then there is the other idea of the Impersonal, where all those adjectives are taken away as superfluous, as illogical and there remains an impersonal, omnipresent Being who cannot be called a knowing being, because knowledge only belongs to the human mind. He cannot be called a thinking being, because that is a process of the weak only. He cannot be called a reasoning being, because reasoning is a sign of weakness. He cannot be called a creating being, because none creates except in bondage. What bondage has He? None works except for the fulfilment of desires; what desires has He? None works except it be to supply some wants; what wants has He? In the Vedas it is not the word "He" that is used, but "It", for "He" would make an invidious distinction, as if God were a man. "It", the impersonal, is used, and this impersonal "It" is preached. This system is called the Advaita.
And what are our relations with this Impersonal Being? — that we are He. We and He are one. Every one is but a manifestation of that Impersonal, the basis of all being, and misery consists in thinking of ourselves as different from this Infinite, Impersonal Being; and liberation consists in knowing our unity with this wonderful Impersonality. These, in short, are the two ideas of God that we find in our scriptures.
Some remarks ought to be made here. It is only through the idea of the Impersonal God that you can have any system of ethics. In every nation the truth has been preached from the most ancient times — love your fellow-beings as yourselves — I mean, love human beings as yourselves. In India it has been preached, "love all beings as yourselves"; we make no distinction between men and animals. But no reason was forthcoming, no one knew why it would be good to love other beings as ourselves. And the reason, why, is there in the idea of the Impersonal God; you understand it when you learn that the whole world is one — the oneness of the universe — the solidarity of all life — that in hurting any one I am hurting myself, in loving any one I am loving myself. Hence we understand why it is that we ought not to hurt others. The reason for ethics, therefore, can only be had from this ideal of the Impersonal God. Then there is the question of the position of the Personal God in it. I understand the wonderful flow of love that comes from the idea of a Personal God, I thoroughly appreciate the power and potency of Bhakti on men to suit the needs of different times. What we now want in our country, however, is not so much of weeping, but a little strength. What a mine of strength is in this Impersonal God, when all superstitions have been thrown overboard, and man stands on his feet with the knowledge — I am the Impersonal Being of the world! What can make me afraid? I care not even for nature's laws. Death is a joke to me. Man stands on the glory of his own soul, the infinite, the eternal, the deathless — that soul which no instruments can pierce, which no air can dry, nor fire burn, no water melt, the infinite, the birthless, the deathless, without beginning and without end, before whose magnitude the suns and moons and all their systems appear like drops in the ocean, before whose glory space melts away into nothingness and time vanishes into non-existence. This glorious soul we must believe in. Out of that will come power. Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be; if you think yourselves impure, impure you will be; if you think yourselves pure, pure you will be. This teaches us not to think ourselves as weak, but as strong, omnipotent, omniscient. No matter that I have not expressed it yet, it is in me. All knowledge is in me, all power, all purity, and all freedom. Why cannot I express this knowledge? Because I do not believe in it. Let me believe in it, and it must and will come out. This is what the idea of the Impersonal teaches. Make your children strong from their very childhood; teach them not weakness, nor forms, but make them strong; let them stand on their feet — bold, all-conquering, all-suffering; and first of all, let them learn of the glory of the soul. That you get alone in the Vedanta — and there alone. It has ideas of love and worship and other things which we have in other religions, and more besides; but this idea of the soul is the life-giving thought, the most wonderful. There and there alone is the great thought that is going to revolutionist the world and reconcile the knowledge of the material world with religion.
Thus I have tried to bring before you the salient points of our religion — the principles. I have only to say a few words about the practice and the application As we have seen, under the circumstances existing in India, naturally many sects must appear. As a fact, we find that there are so many sects in India, and at the same time we know this mysterious fact that these sects do not quarrel with each other. The Shaivite does not say that every Vaishnavite is going to be damned, nor the Vaishnavite that every Shaivite will be damned. The Shaivite says, this is my path, and you have yours; at the end we must come together. They all know that in India. This is the theory of Ishta. It has been recognised in the most ancient times that there are various forms of worshipping God. It is also recognised that different natures require different methods. Your method of coming to God may not be my method, possibly it might hurt me. Such an idea as that there is but one way for everybody is injurious, meaningless, and entirely to be avoided. Woe unto the world when everyone is of the same religious opinion and takes to the same path. Then all religions and all thought will be destroyed. Variety is the very soul of life. When it dies out entirely, creation will die. When this variation in thought is kept up, we must exist; and we need not quarrel because of that variety. Your way is very good for you, but not for me. My way is good for me, but not for you My way is called in Sanskrit, my "Ishta". Mind you, we have no quarrel with any religion in the world. We have each our Ishta. But when we see men coming and saying, "This is the only way", and trying to force it on us in India, we have a word to say; we laugh at them. For such people who want to destroy their brothers because they seem to follow a different path towards God — for them to talk of love is absurd. Their love does not count for much. How can they preach of love who cannot bean another man to follow a different path from their own? If that is love, what is hatred? We have no quarrel with any religion in the world, whether it teaches men to worship Christ, Buddha, or Mohammed, or any other prophet. "Welcome, my brother," the Hindu says, "I am going to help you; but you must allow me to follow my way too. That is my Ishta. Your way is very good, no doubt; but it may be dangerous for me. My own experience tells me what food is good for me, and no army of doctors can tell me that. So I know from my own experience what path is the best for me." That is the goal, the Ishta, and, therefore, we say that if a temple, or a symbol, or an image helps you to realise the Divinity within, you are welcome to it. Have two hundred images if you like. If certain forms and formularies help you to realise the Divine, God speed you; have, by all means, whatever forms, and whatever temples, and whatever ceremonies you want to bring you nearer to God. But do not quarrel about them; the moment you quarrel, you are not going Godward, you are going backward, towards the brutes.
These are a few ideas in our religion. It is one of inclusion of every one, exclusion of none. Though our castes and our institutions are apparently linked with our religion, they are not so. These institutions have been necessary to protect us as a nation, and when this necessity for self-preservation will no more exist, they will die a natural death. But the older I grow, the better I seem to think of these time-honoured institutions of India. There was a time when I used to think that many of them were useless and worthless; but the older I grew, the more I seem to feel a diffidence in cursing any one of them, for each one of them is the embodiment of the experience of centuries. A child of but yesterday, destined to die the day after tomorrow, comes to me and asks me to change all my plans; and if I hear the advice of that baby and change all my surroundings according to his ideas, I myself should be a fool, and no one else. Much of the advice that is coming to us from different countries is similar to this. Tell these wiseacres: "I will hear you when you have made a stable society yourselves. You cannot hold on to one idea for two days, you quarrel and fail; you are born like moths in the spring and die like them in five minutes. You come up like bubbles and burst like bubbles too. First form a stable society like ours. First make laws and institutions that remain undiminished in their power through scores of centuries. Then will be the time to talk on the subject with you, but till then, my friend, you are only a giddy child."
I have finished what I had to say about our religion. I will end by reminding you of the one pressing necessity of the day. Praise be to Vyâsa, the great author of the Mahâbhârata, that in this Kali Yuga there is one great work. The Tapas and the other hard Yogas that were practiced in other Yugas do not work now. What is needed in this Yuga is giving, helping others. What is meant by Dana? The highest of gifts is the giving of spiritual knowledge, the next is the giving of secular knowledge, and the next is the saving of life, the last is giving food and drink. He who gives spiritual knowledge, saves the soul from many end many a birth. He who gives secular knowledge opens the eyes of human beings to wards spiritual knowledge, and far below these rank all other gifts, even the saving of life. Therefore it is necessary that you learn this and note that all other kinds of work are of much less value than that of imparting spiritual knowledge. The highest and greatest help is that given in the dissemination of spiritual knowledge. There is an eternal fountain of spirituality in our scriptures, and nowhere on earth, except in this land of renunciation, do we find such noble examples of practical spirituality. I have had a little experience of the world. Believe me, there is much talking in other lands; but the practical man of religion, who has carried it into his life, is here and here alone. Talking is not religion; parrots may talk, machines may talk nowadays. But show me the life of renunciation, of spirituality, of all-suffering, of love infinite. This kind of life indicates a spiritual man. With such ideas and such noble practical examples in our country, it would be a great pity if the treasures in the brains and hearts of all these great Yogis were not brought out to become the common property of every one, rich and poor, high and low; not only in India, but they must be thrown broadcast all over the world. This is one of our greatest duties, and you will find that the more you work to help others, the more you help yourselves. The one vital duty incumbent on you, if you really love your religion, if you really love your country, is that you must struggle hard to be up and doing, with this one great idea of bringing out the treasures from your closed books and delivering them over to their rightful heirs.
And above all, one thing is necessary. Ay, for ages we have been saturated with awful jealousy; we are always getting jealous of each other. Why has this man a little precedence, and not I? Even in the worship of God we want precedence, to such a state of slavery have we come. This is to be avoided. If there is any crying sin in India at this time it is this slavery. Every one wants to command, and no one wants to obey; and this is owing to the absence of that wonderful Brahmacharya system of yore. First, learn to obey. The command will come by itself. Always first learn to be a servant, and then you will be fit to be a master. Avoid this jealousy and you will do great works that have yet to be done. Our ancestors did most wonderful works, and we look back upon their work with veneration and pride. But we also are going to do great deeds, and let others look back with blessings and pride upon us as their ancestors. With the blessing of the Lord every one here will yet do such deeds that will eclipse those of our ancestors, great and glorious as they may have been.
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