THE REAL NATURE OF MAN

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:01 pm (PST)

 

THE REAL NATURE OF MAN - Swami Vivekananda

 

We will take the present theme. What is this force which is now

working through us? We know how in old times, in all the ancient

scriptures, this power, this manifestation of power, was thought to

be a bright substance having the form of this body, and which

remained even after this body fell. Later on, however, we find a

higher idea coming -- that this bright body did not represent the

force. Whatsoever has form must be the result of combinations of

particles and requires something else behind it to move it. If this

body requires something which is not the body to manipulate it, the

bright body, by the same necessity, will also require something

other than itself to manipulate it. So, that something was called

the soul, the Atman in Sanskrit. It was the Atman which through the

bright body, as it were, worked on the gross body outside. The

bright body is considered as the receptacle of the mind, and the

Atman is beyond that. It is not the mind even; it works the mind,

and through the mind the body. You have an Atman, I have another,

each one of us has a separate Atman and a separate fine body, and

through that we work on the gross external body. Questions were then

asked about this Atman, about its nature. What is this Atman, this

soul of man, which is neither the body nor the mind? Great

discussions followed. Speculations were made, various shades of

philosophic inquiry came into existence; and I shall try to place

before you some of the conclusions that have been reached about this

Atman.

 

To be continued..

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 77 ]

(Delivered in London)

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Who will bring light to the poor? Who will travel from door to door

bringing education to them? Let these people be your God-think of

them, work for them, pray for them incessantly. The Lord will show

you the way.

- Swami Vivekananda