THE WAY TO THE REALISATION OF A UNIVERSAL RELIGION

[Guest guest]

Selective paragraphs from Swami Vivekananda's lecture delivered in

the

Universalist Church, Pasadena, California, 28th January 1900

Source:holy_trinity (AT) googl (DOT) com

 

" The fact that all these old religions are living today proves that

they must have kept that mission intact; in spite of all their

mistakes, in spite of all difficulties, in spite of all quarrels, in

spite of all the incrustation of

forms and figures, the heart of every one of them is sound — it is a

throbbing, beating, living heart. They have not lost, any one of

them, the great mission they came for. And it is splendid to study

that mission. Take Mohammedanism, for instance. Christian people

hate no religion in the world so much as Mohammedanism. They think

it is the very worst form of religion that ever existed. As soon as

a man becomes a Mohammedan, the whole of Islam receives him as a

brother with open arms, without making any distinction, which no

other

religion does. If one of your American Indians becomes a Mohammedan,

the Sultan of Turkey would have no objection to dine with him. If he

has brains, no position is barred to him. In this country, I have

never yet seen a church where the white man and the negro can kneel

side by side to pray. Just think of that: Islam makes its followers

all equal — so, that, you see, is the peculiar excellence of

Mohammedanism. In many places in the Koran you find very sensual

ideas of life. Never mind. What Mohammedanism comes to preach to the

world is

this practical brotherhood of all belonging to their faith. That is

the essential part of the Mohammedan religion; and all the other

ideas about heaven and of life etc.. are not Mohammedanism. They are

accretions.

 

With the Hindus you will find one national idea — spirituality. In

no other religion, in no other sacred books of the world, will you

find so much energy spent in defining the idea of God. They tried to

define the ideal of soul so that no earthly touch might mar it. The

spirit must be divine; and spirit understood as spirit must not be

made into a man. The same idea of unity, of the realisation of God,

the omnipresent, is preached throughout. They think it is all

nonsense to say that He lives in heaven, and all that. It is a mere

human, anthropomorphic idea. All the heaven that ever existed is now

and here. One moment in infinite time is quite as good as any other

moment. If you believe in a God, you can see Him even now. We think

religion begins when you

have realised something. It is not believing in doctrines, nor

giving intellectual assent, nor making declarations. If there is a

God, have you seen Him? If you say " no " , then what right have you to

believe in Him? If you are in

doubt whether there is a God, why do you not struggle to see Him?

Why do you not renounce the world and spend the whole of your life

for this one object?

Renunciation and spirituality are the two great ideas of India, and

it is because India clings to these ideas that all her mistakes

count for so little.

 

With the Christians, the central idea that has been preached by them

is the same: " Watch and pray, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand " —

which means, purify your minds and be ready! And that spirit never

dies. You recollect that the Christians are, even in the darkest

days, even in the most superstitious Christian countries, always

trying to prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord, by trying

to help others, building hospitals, and so on. So long as the

Christians keep to that ideal, their religion lives.

 

Now an ideal presents itself to my mind. It may be only a dream. I

do not know whether it will ever be realised in this world, but

sometimes it is better to dream a dream, than die on hard facts.

Great truths, even in a dream are good, better than bad facts. So,

let us dream a dream.

 

You know that there are various grades of mind. You may be a matter-

of-fact, common-sense rationalist: you do not care for forms and

ceremonies; you want intellectual, hard, ringing facts, and they

alone will satisfy you. Then there are the Puritans, the

Mohammedans, who will not allow a picture or a statue in their place

of worship. Very well! But there is another man who is more

artistic. He wants a great deal of art — beauty of lines and curves,

the colours, flowers, forms; he wants candles, lights, and all the

insignia and

paraphernalia of ritual, that he may see God. His mind takes God in

those forms, as yours takes Him through the intellect. Then, there

is the devotional man, whose soul is crying for God: he has no other

idea but to worship God, and to praise Him. Then again, there is the

philosopher, standing outside all these, mocking at them. He

thinks, " What nonsense they are! What ideas about God! "

 

They may laugh at one another, but each one has a place in this

world. All these various minds, all these various types are

necessary. If there ever is going to be an ideal religion, it must

be broad and large enough to supply food for all these minds. It

must supply the strength of philosophy to the philosopher, the

devotee's heart to the worshipper; to the ritualist, it will give

all that the most marvellous symbolism can convey; to the poet, it

will

give as much of heart as he can take in, and other things besides.

To make such a broad religion, we shall have to go back to the time

when religions began and take them all in.

 

Our watchword, then, will be acceptance, and not exclusion. Not only

toleration, for so-called toleration is often blasphemy, and I do

not believe in it. I believe in acceptance. Why should I tolerate?

Toleration means that I think that you are wrong and I am just

allowing you to live. Is it not a blasphemy to think that you and I

are allowing others to live? I accept all religions that were in the

past, and worship with them all; I worship God with every one of

them, in whatever form they worship Him. I shall go to the mosque of

the Mohammedan; I shall enter the Christian's church and kneel

before the crucifix; I shall enter the Buddhistic temple, where I

shall take refuge in Buddha and in his Law. I shall go into the

forest and sit down in meditation with the Hindu, who is trying to

see the Light which enlightens the heart of every one.

Gokulmuthu Narayanaswamy <gokulmuthu