THE REAL NATURE OF MAN

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:06 pm (PST)

 

THE REAL NATURE OF MAN - Swami Vivekananda

 

We are not individuals yet. We are struggling towards individuality,

and that is the Infinite, that is the real nature of man. He alone

lives whose life is in the whole universe, and the more we

concentrate our lives on limited things, the faster we go towards

death. Those moments alone we live when our lives are in the

universe, in others; and living this little life is death, simply

death, and that is why the fear of death comes. The fear of death

can only be conquered when man realises that so long as there is one

life in this universe, he is living. When he can say, " I am in

everything, in everybody, I am in all lives, I am the universe, "

then alone comes the state of fearlessness. To talk of immortality

in constantly changing things is absurd. Says an old Sanskrit

philosopher: It is only the Spirit that is the individual, because

it is infinite. No infinity can be divided; infinity cannot be

broken into pieces. It is the same one, undivided unit for ever, and

this is the individual man, the Real Man. The apparent man is merely

a struggle to express, to manifest this individuality which is

beyond; and evolution is not in the Spirit. These changes which are

going on -- the wicked becoming good, the animal becoming man, take

them in whatever way you like -- are not in the Spirit. They are the

evolution of nature and manifestation of Spirit. Suppose there is a

screen hiding you from me, in which there is a small hole through

which I can see some of the faces before me, just a few faces. Now

suppose the hole begins to grow larger and larger, and as it does

so, more and more of the scene before me reveals itself and when at

last the whole screen has disappeared, I stand face to face with you

all. You did not change at all in this case; it was the hole that

was evolving, and you were gradually manifesting yourselves. So it

is with the Spirit. No perfection is going to be attained. You are

already free and perfect. What are these ideas of religion and God

and searching for the hereafter? Why does man look for a God? Why

does man, in every nation, in every state of society, want a perfect

ideal somewhere, either in man, in God, or elsewhere? Because that

idea is within you. It was your own heart beating and you did not

know; you were mistaking it for something external. It is the God

within your own self that is propelling you to seek for Him, to

realise Him. After long searches here and there, in temples and in

churches, in earths and in heavens, at last you come back,

completing the circle from where you started, to your own soul and

find that He for whom you have been seeking all over the world, for

whom you have been weeping and praying in churches and temples, on

whom you were looking as the mystery of all mysteries shrouded in

the clouds, is nearest of the near, is your own Self, the reality of

your life, body, and soul. That is your own nature. Assert it,

manifest it. Not to become pure, you are pure already. You are not

to be perfect, you are that already. Nature is like that screen

which is hiding the reality beyond. Every good thought that you

think or act upon is simply tearing the veil, as it were; and the

purity, the Infinity, the God behind, manifests Itself more and more.

 

To be continued..

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 80 ]

(Delivered in London)

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

The wind of divine grace is blowing on for ever and ever. Do you

spread your sail. Whenever you do anything, do it with your whole

heart concentrated on it.

- Swami Vivekananda