Swami Vivekananda

[Guest guest]

Many years ago, I visited a great sage of our own country, a very holy

man. We talked of our revealed book, the Vedas, of your Bible, of the

Koran, and of revealed books in general. At the close of our talk,

this good man asked me to go to the table and take up a book; it was a

book which, among other things, contained a forecast of the rainfall

during the year. The sage said, " Read that. " And I read out the

quantity of rain that was to fall. He said, " Now take the book and

squeeze it. " I did so and he said, " Why, my boy, not a drop of water

comes out.

 

Until the water comes out, it is all book, book. So until your

religion makes you realize God, it is useless. "

 

The man at whose feet I sat all my life--and it is only a few ideas of

his that I try to teach--could [hardly] write his name at all. All my

life I have not seen another man like that, and I have traveled all

over the world. When I think of that man, I feel like a fool, because

I want to read books and he never did. He never wanted to lick the

plates after other people had eaten. That is why he was his own book.

 

All my life I am repeating what Jack said and John said, and never say

anything myself. What glory is it that you know what John said

twenty-five years ago and what Jack said five years ago? Tell me what

you have to say.

 

Mind you, there is no value in learning. You are all mistaken in

learning. The only value of knowledge is in the strengthening, the

disciplining, of the mind. By all this eternal swallowing it is a

wonder that we are not all dyspeptics. Let us stop, and burn all the

books, and get hold of ourselves, and think.

 

You all talk [about] and get distracted over losing your

" individuality " . You are losing it every moment of your lives by this

eternal swallowing. If any one of you believes what I teach, I will be

sorry. I will only be too glad if I can excite in you the power of

thinking for yourselves.. .. My ambition is to talk to men and women,

not to sheep.By men and women, I mean individuals. You are not little

babies to drag all the filthy rags from the street and bind them up

into a doll!

 

" This is a place for learning! That man is placed in the university!

He knows all about what Mr. Blank said! " But Mr. Bland said nothing!

If I had the choice, I would ... say to the professor, " Get out! You

are nobody! " Remember this individualism at any cost! Think wrong if

you will, no matter whether you get truth or not. The whole point is

to discipline the mind. That truth which you swallow from others will

not be yours. You cannot teach truth from my mouth; neither can you

learn truth from my mouth. None can teach another.

 

You have to realize truth and work it out for yourself according to

your own nature. ... All must struggle to be individuals- -strong,

standing on your own feet, thinking your own thoughts, realizing your

own Self. No use swallowing doctrines others pass on--standing up

together like soldiers in jail, sitting down together, all eating the

same food, all nodding their heads at the same time. Variation is the

sign of life. Sameness is the sign of death.

 

Swami Vivekananda.