Unity in Diversity

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" The Self-existent One projected the senses outwards and, therefore,

a man looks outward, not within himself. A certain wise one, desiring

immortality, with inverted senses, perceived the Self within. " As I

have already said, the first inquiry that we find in the Vedas was

concerning outward things, and then a new idea came that the reality

of things is not to be found in the external world; not by looking

outwards, but by turning the eyes, as it is literally expressed,

inwards. And the word used for the Soul is very significant: it is He

who has gone inward, the innermost reality of our being, the heart

centre, the core, from which, as it were, everything comes out; the

central sun of which the mind, the body, the sense-organs, and

everything else we have are but rays going outwards. " Men of childish

intellect, ignorant persons, run after desires which are external,

and enter the trap of far-reaching death, but the wise, understanding

immortality, never seek for the Eternal in this life of finite

things. " The same idea is here made clear that in this external

world, which is full of finite things, it is impossible to see and

find the Infinite. The Infinite must be sought in that alone which is

infinite, and the only thing infinite about us is that which is

within us, our own soul. Neither the body, nor the mind, nor even our

thoughts, nor the world we see around us, are infinite. The Seer, He

to whom they all belong, the Soul of man, He who is awake in the

internal man, alone is infinite, and to seek for the Infinite Cause

of this whole universe we must go there. In the Infinite Soul alone

we can find it. What is here is there too, and what is there is here

also. He who sees the manifold goes from death todeath. " We have seen

how at first there was the desire to go to heaven. When these ancient

Aryans became dissatisfied with the world around them, they naturally

thought that after death they would go to some place where there

would be all happiness without any misery; these places they

multiplied and called Svargas--the word may be translated as heavens--

where there would be joy for ever, the body would become perfect,

and also the mind, and there they would live with their forefathers.

But as soon as philosophy came, men found that this was impossible

and absurd. The very idea of an infinite in place would be a

contradiction in terms, as a place must begin and continue in time.

Therefore they had to give up this idea. They found out that the gods

who lived in these heavens had once been human beings on earth, who

through their good works had become gods, and the godhoods, as they

call them, were different states, different positions; none of the

gods spoken of in the Vedas are permanent individuals.

 

For instance, Indra and Varuna are not the names of certain persons,

but the names of positions as governors and so on. The Indra who had

lived before is not the same person as the Indra of the present day;

he has passed away, and another man from earth has filled his place.

So with all the other gods. These are certain positions, which are

filled successively by human souls who have raised themselves to the

condition of gods, and yet even they die. In the old Rig-Veda we find

the word " immortality " used with regard to these gods, but later on

it is dropped entirely, for they found that immortality which is

beyond time and space cannot be spoken of with regard to any physical

form, however subtle it may be. However fine it may be, it must have

a beginning in time and space, for the necessary factors that enter

into the make-up of form are in space. Try to think of a form without

space; it is impossible. Space is one of the materials, as it were,

which make up the form, and this is continually changing. Space and

time are in Maya, and this idea is expressed in the line-- " What is

here, that is there too. " If there are these gods, they must be bound

by the same laws that apply here, and all laws involved destruction

and renewal again and again. These laws are moulding matter into

different forms, and crushing them out again. Everything born must

die; and so, if there are heavens, the same laws must hold good

there.

 

- Swami Vivekananda

 

.... to be continued