Realisation

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We now get a very developed idea of renunciation and Vedic morality,

that until one has conquered the desires for enjoyment the truth will

not shine in him. So long as these vain desires of our senses are

clamouring and as it were dragging us outwards every moment, making

us slaves to everything outside--to a little colour, a little taste,

a little touch--notwithstanding all our pretensions, how can the

truth express itself in our hearts?

 

Yama said, " That which is beyond never rises before the mind of a

thoughtless child deluded by the folly of riches. `This world exists,

the other does not,' thinking thus they come again and again under my

power. To understand this truth is very difficult. Many, even hearin

it continually, do not understand it, for the speaker must be

wonderful, so must the hearer. The teacher must be wonderful, so must

be the taught. Neither is the mind to be disturbed by vain arguments,

for it is no more a question of argument, it is a question of fact. "

We have always heard that every religion insists on our having faith.

We have been taught to believe blindly. Well, this idea of blind

faith is objectionable, no doubt, but analysing it, we find that

behind it is a very great truth. What it really means is what we read

now. The mind is not to be ruffled by vain arguments, because

argument will not help us to know God. It is a question of fact, and

not of argument. All argument and reasoning must be based upon

certain perceptions. Without these, there cannot be any argument.

Reasoning is the method of comparison between certain facts which we

have already perceived. If these perceived facts are not there

already, there cannot be any reasoning. If this is true of external

phenomena, why should it not be so of the internal? The chemist takes

certain chemicals and certain results are produced. This is a fact;

you see it, sense it, and make that the basis on which to build all

your chemical arguments. So with the physicists, so with all other

sciences. All knowledge must stand on perception of certain facts,

and upon that we have to build our reasoning. But, curiously enough

the vast majority of mankind think, especially at the present time,

that no such perception is possible in religion, that religion can

only be apprehended by vain arguments. Therefore we are told not to

disturb the mind by vain arguments. Religion is a question of fact,

not of talk. We have to analyse our own souls and to find what is

there. We have to understand it and to realise what is understood.

That is religion. No amount of talk will make religion. So the

question whether there is a God or not can never be proved by

argument, for the arguments are as much on one side as on the other.

But if there is a God, He is in our own hearts. Have you even seen

Him? The question as to whether this world exists or not has not yet

been decided, and the debate between the idealists and the realists

is endless. Yet we know that the world exists, that it goes on. We

only change the meaning of words. So, with all the questions of life,

we must come to facts. There are certain religious facts which, as in

external science, have to be perceived, and upon them religion will

be built. Of course, the extreme claim that you must believe every

dogma of a religion is degrading to the human mind. The man who asks

you to believe everything, degrades himself, and, if you believe,

degrades you too. The sages of the world have only the right to tell

us that they have analysed their minds and have found these facts,

and if we do the same we shall also believe, and not before. That is

all that there is in religion. But you must always remember this,

that as a matter of fact 99.9 per cent of those who attack religion

have never analysed their minds, have never struggled to get at the

facts. So their arguments do not have any weight against religion,

any more than the words of a blind man who cries out, " You are all

fools who believe in the sun, " would affect us.

 

- Swami Vivekananda

 

.... to be continued