THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:56 pm (PST)

 

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

 

Ethics always says, " Not I, but thou. " Its motto is, " Not self, but

non-self. " The vain ideas of individualism, to which man clings when

he is trying to find that Infinite Power or that Infinite Pleasure

through the senses, have to be given up -- say the laws of ethics.

You have to put yourself last, and others before you. The senses

say, " Myself first. " Ethics says, " I must hold myself last. " Thus,

all codes of ethics are based upon this renunciation; destruction,

not construction, of the individual on the material plane. That

Infinite will never find expression upon the material plane, nor is

it possible or thinkable.

 

So, man has to give up the plane of matter and rise to other spheres

to seek a deeper expression of that Infinite. In this way the various

ethical laws are being moulded, but all have that one central idea,

eternal self - abnegation. Perfect self - annihilation is the ideal

of ethics. People are startled if they are asked not to think of

their individualities. They seem so very much afraid of losing what

they call their individuality. At the same time, the same men would

declare the highest ideals of ethics to be right, never for a moment

thinking that the scope, the goal, the idea of all ethics is the

destruction, and not the building up, of the individual.

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 62 ]

(Delivered in London)

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

" The earth is enjoyed by heroes " -this is the unfailing truth. Be a

hero. Always say, " I have no fear. "

- Swami Vivekananda