THE REAL NATURE OF MAN

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:08 pm (PST)

 

THE REAL NATURE OF MAN - Swami Vivekananda

 

Then there is the desire to be happy. We run after everything to

make ourselves happy; we pursue our mad career in the external world

of senses. If you ask the young man with whom life is successful, he

will declare that it is real; and he really thinks so. Perhaps, when

the same man grows old and finds fortune ever eluding him, he will

then declare that it is fate. He finds at last that his desires

cannot be fulfilled. Wherever he goes, there is an adamantine wall

beyond which he cannot pass. Every sense - activity results in a

reaction. Everything is evanescent. Enjoyment, misery, luxury,

wealth, power, and poverty, even life itself, are all evanescent.

 

Two positions remain to mankind. One is to believe with the

nihilists that all is nothing, that we know nothing, that we can

never know anything either about the future, the past, or even the

present. For we must remember that he who denies the past and the

future and wants to stick to the present is simply a madman. One may

as well deny the father and mother and assert the child. It would be

equally logical. To deny the past and future, the present must

inevitably be denied also. This is one position, that of the

nihilists. I have never seen a man who could really become a

nihilist for one minute. It is very easy to talk.

 

To be continued..

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 70 ]

(Delivered in London)

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Your Atman is the support of the universe-whose support do you stand

in need of? Wait with patience and love and strength. If helpers are

not ready now, they will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry?

The real working force of all great work is in its almost

unperceived beginnings.

- Swami Vivekananda