MAYA AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION OF GOD

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:03 am (PST)

 

MAYA AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION OF GOD - 2

(Delivered in London, 20th October 1896)

 

The great mistake is in recognising the evolution of the worshippers,

while we do not acknowledge the evolution of the Worshipped. He is

not credited with the advance that his devotees have made. That is to

say, you and I, representing ideas, have grown; these gods also, as

representing ideas, have grown. This may seem somewhat curious to

you - that God can grow. He cannot. He is unchangeable. In the same

sense the real man never grows. But man's ideas of God are constantly

changing and expanding. We shall see later on how the real man behind

each one of these human manifestations is immovable, unchangeable,

pure, and always perfect; and in the same way the idea that we form

of God is a mere manifestation, our own creation. Behind that is the

real God who never changes, the ever pure, the immutable. But the

manifestation is always changing revealing the reality behind more

and more. When it reveals more of the fact behind, it is called

progression, when it hides more of the fact behind, it is called

retrogression. Thus, as we grow, so the gods grow. From the ordinary

point of view, just as we reveal ourselves as we evolve, so the gods

reveal themselves.

 

We shall now be in a position to understand the theory of Maya. In

all the regions of the world the one question they propose to discuss

is this: Why is there disharmony in the universe? Why is there this

evil in the universe? We do not find this question in the very

inception of primitive religious ideas, because the world did not

appear incongruous to the primitive man. Circumstances were not

inharmonious for him; there was no dash of opinions; to him there was

no antagonism of good and evil. There was merely a feeling in his own

heart of something which said yea, and something which said nay. The

primitive man was a man of impulse. He did what occurred to him, and

tried to bring out through his muscles whatever thought came into his

mind, and he never stopped to judge, and seldom tried to check his

impulses. So with the gods, they were also creatures of impulse.

Indra comes and shatters the forces of the demons. Jehovah is pleased

with one person and displeased with another, for what reason no one

knows or asks. The habit of inquiry had not then arisen, and whatever

he did was regarded as right. There was no idea of good or evil. The

Devas did many wicked things in our sense of the word; again and

again Indra and other gods committed very wicked deeds, but to the

worshippers of Indra the ideas of wickedness and evil did not occur,

so they did not question them.

 

With the advance of ethical ideas came the fight. There arose a

certain sense in man, called in different languages and nations by

different names. Call it the voice of God, or the result of past

education, or whatever else you like, but the effect was this that it

had a checking power upon the natural impulses of man. There is one

impulse in our minds which says, do. Behind it rises another voice

which says, do not. There is one set of ideas in our mind which is

always struggling to get outside through the channels of the senses,

and behind that, although it may be thin and weak, there is an

infinitely small voice which says, do not go outside. The two

beautiful Sanskrit words for these phenomena are Pravritti and

Nivritti, " circling forward " and " circling inward " . It is the

circling forward which usually governs our actions. Religion begins

with this circling inward. Religion begins with this " do not " .

Spirituality begins with this " do not " . When the " do not " is not

there, religion has not begun. And this " do not " came, causing men's

ideas to grow, despite the fighting gods which they had worshipped.

 

To be continued...

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Let each one of us pray day and night for the downtrodden millions

who are held fast by poverty, priestcraft, and tyranny. Pray day and

night for them. I care more to preach religion to them than to the

high and the rich.

- Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works, 5: 58