MAYA AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION OF GOD

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:33 pm (PST)

(Delivered in London, 20th October 1896)

 

MAYA AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION OF GOD-5

 

The Vedanta was (and is) the boldest system of religion. It stopped

nowhere, and it had one advantage. There was no body of priests who

sought to suppress every man who tried to tell the truth. There was

always absolute religious freedom. In India the bondage of

superstition is a social one; here in the West society is very free.

Social matters in India are very strict, but religious opinion is

free. In England a man may dress any way he likes, or eat what he

lilies - no one objects; but if he misses attending church, then Mrs.

Grundy is down on him. He has to conform first to what society says

on religion, and then he may think of the truth. In India, on the

other hand, if a man dines with one who does not belong to his own

caste, down comes society with all its terrible powers and crushes

him then and there. If he wants to dress a little differently from

the way in which his ancestor dressed ages ago, he is done for. I

have heard of a man who was cast out by society because he went

several miles to see the first railway train. Well, we shall presume

that was not true! But in religion, we find atheists, materialists,

and Buddhists, creeds, opinions, and speculations of every phase and

variety, some of a most startling character, living side by side.

Preachers of all sects go about reaching and getting adherents, and

at the very gates of the temples of gods, the Brâhmins - to their

credit be it said - allow even the materialists to stand and give

forth their opinions.

 

Buddha died at a ripe old age. I remember a friend of mine, a great

American scientist, who was fond of reading his life. He did not like

the death of Buddha, because he was not crucified. What a false idea!

For a man to be great he must be murdered! Such ideas never prevailed

in India. This great Buddha travelled all over India, denouncing her

gods and even the God of the universe, and yet he lived to a good old

age. For eighty years he lived, and had converted half the country.

 

Then, there were the Chârvâkas, who preached horrible things, the

most rank, undisguised materialism, such as in the nineteenth century

they dare not openly preach. These Charvakas were allowed to preach

from temple to temple, and city to city, that religion was all

nonsense, that it was priestcraft, that the Vedas were the words and

writings of fools, rogues, and demons, and that there was neither God

nor an eternal soul. If there was a soul, why did it not come back

after death drawn by the love of wife and child. Their idea was that

if there was a soul it must still love after death, and want good

things to eat and nice dress. Yet no one hurt these Charvakas.

 

Thus India has always had this magnificent idea of religious freedom,

and you must remember that freedom is the first condition of growth.

What you do not make free, will never grow. The idea that you can

make others grow and help their growth, that you can direct and guide

them, always retaining for yourself the freedom of the teacher, is

nonsense, a dangerous lie which has retarded the growth of millions

and millions of human beings in this world. Let men have the light of

liberty. That is the only condition of growth.

 

To be continued...

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life

eternal, immortal. Weakness is constant strain and misery; weakness

is death.

- Swami Vivekananda