Vivekananda Mailing List

[Guest guest]

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION

 

(Delivered in London)

 

Of all the forces that have worked and are still working to mould the

destinies of the human race, none, certainly, is more potent than

that, the manifestation of which we call religion. All social

organization have as a background, somewhere, the workings of that

peculiar force, and the greatest cohesive impulse ever brought into

play amongst human units has been derived from this power. It is

obvious to all of us that in very many cases the bonds of religion

have proved stronger than the bonds of race, or climate, or even of

descent. It is a well-known fact that persons worshipping the same

God, believing in the same religion, have stood by each other, with

much greater strength and constancy, than people of merely the same

descent, or even brothers. Various attempts have been made to trace

the beginnings of religion. In all the ancient religions which have

come down to us at the present day, we find one claim made-that they

are all supernatural, that their genesis is not, as it were, in the

human brain but that they have originated somewhere outside of it.

--

______________________________

Today we begin:

 

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION

(Delivered in London)

 

This lecture is found in Vol. II of the Complete Works, pg. 57-69,

Part of Jnana Yoga.

 

This is a part of a daily study of the lectures and writings of Swami

Vivekananda. All lectures are sent out in sequenced form, as he spoke

them.

 

Please tell a friend about this Vivekananda Mailing (VML) list and study group.

To or send a message to sarada.