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Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

• Jews rejected Christ but Hindus accept Buddha. Buddha and Jesus came to fulfill and not destroy. Buddha's disciples did not understand him.


• 'Hinduism cannot live without Buddhism, nor Buddhism without Hinduism.' Downfall and slavery of India for thousand years was due to separation between brain of Brahmins and heart of Buddhists.

• All forms of worship, from grossest to subtlest, are aimed at gaining freedom. Freedom and intelligence distinguish life from dead matter, machines. Mind is the 'ceaseless inquiry into the meaning and mystery of life'.


• 'The whole nature is worship of God. Wherever there is life, there is this search for freedom and that freedom is the same as God.' This freedom is impossible without knowledge; perfect knowledge gives perfect freedom, omniscience, omnipotence to the soul (story of two birds, द्वासुपर्णा सयुजा..., Mundakopanishad 3.1.1).

• Difference between Vedic mythology and other mythologies is that unlike other mythologies, Vedic gods are always accompanied by the idea of infinity. In Samhitas, the idea of monotheism was developed; idea of fear and sin briefly appeared but was quickly suppressed. Vedic seers did not stop with monotheism but they transcended the idea.


• Unlike Western mythologies and Buddhism, Jainism etc., the Vedic sages did not obliterate lesser gods when one god is made Supreme. The secret behind this peculiarity unique to Vedas is the dictum, 'Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti' 'That which Exists is One, sages call it by various names'.


• Unique religious tolerance developed in Vedic religion due to above fact. 'Even heterodox religions that have come out of India have been likewise affected; for instance, Buddhism. Buddhism is a great religion in some respects, but to confuse Buddhism with Vedanta is without meaning; anyone may mark just the difference that exists between Christianity and the Salvation Army. There are great and good points in Buddhism, but these great points fell into hands which were not able to keep them safe.'


• We see in Vedas 'One particular idea is taken as the support, in which everything rests and exists, and that support has become all this. So on with various ideas.' As the spiritual ideas grew in arithmetic progression, ritualistic ideas grew in geometric progression!


• Devotion to ceremonials, satisfaction in senses, and forming various theories have created a veil between us and Truth; this veil is Maya - the real explanation of Vedanta, and it hides the ever-present Truth from us.


• When the Vedic seers realized the futility of sense-world to reveal the Truth, they turned inward and started analysing their minds.

• Vedanta accepts psychology of the Sankhyas; Sankhya psychology is similar to the psychology of Nyaya and Vaisheshika philosophies.


• Vedantists agree on three points: (1) belief in God, (2) Vedas are revealed scriptures, and (3) cyclic nature of universe.

• To avoid conflicts between various prophets and religions, humanity should rely on reason and not on books. Books are effects of 'constitution of man' as is reason but reason being more directly connected to the constitution of human being than book, is better than book.


• Basic principles of reason - which also is the basis of modern science - are: (1) Principle of generalization - particular is explained by general which in turn is explained by more general till we reach universal. Existence is the most universal concept, even greater than life. (2) Principle of evolution - 'every effect is a reproduction of a preceding cause'; thus the whole creation is an 'evolution' and not 'creation'. All knowledge means classification of observation; also explanation of a thing should come from within itself rather than from external factors. This principle of science if applied to religion would immediately reject 'extra-cosmic God'!


• Brahman of Vedanta satisfies above two principles: It is the ultimate generalization of everything (Pure Existence/Being, Pure Knowledge/Consciousness, Pure Bliss) and out of It evolves/manifest every subtle or gross existence, knowledge/consciousness, bliss. This Brahman is One Unity out of which multiplicity emerges.

• In the development of Indian Thought, the first step of religion - God created the Universe out of nothing and body has a separate soul inside it - is difficult to locate. It has almost vanished, as this was quickly questioned and found wanting. 'The whole history of religion, in fact, is this search after that material [out of which world is created]' and the creator, God. For all Vedantic philosophies, the psychology is same, that of Sankhya.


• Gross body and subtle body are manifestations of same substance; former is gross vibration while latter is subtle; they are not two separate things. That substance is Aakasha - subtlest of all substances; everything is manifestation of Aakasha, in subtle and gross form, under the action of Prana.


• In dualism, God is omnipresent, changeless and eternal, Nature is also eternal but changeful, while jiva is neither Nature nor God but due to paap & punya (good/bad Karmas) suffers transmigration. When jiva becomes fully pure it goes to the highest sphere being Brahmaloka (only place where there is no birth and death!) from which no compulsory return is required; all other spheres of existence allow only temporary residence (and have birth and death)! Earth sphere is Karma-Bhumi, it allows some freedom to chose right/wrong action.


• In qualified monism, souls and nature are body of God; He is interpenetrating whole of nature and souls. Souls can contract or expand in knowledge as per good/bad Karmas while nature transforms and changes into different forms. 'The non-dualists say, "This universe does not exist at all; it is all illusion. The whole of this universe, these Devas, gods, angels, and all the other beings born and dying, all this infinite number of souls coming up and going down, all are dreams."' Self ['I'] is infinite Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. This is Advaita.


• Each has to pass through all the above three steps. Human race itself reached this religious conclusion in millions of years. Individual may have to achieve it in one lifetime.

• Without the activity of sense-organs (nerve centres in brain and not the external instruments) there will be no thought. When we sit for meditation with eyes closed, and inside thoughts arise within ourselves, it is the inner sense-organs that are working.


• Shama - not allowing mind to externalize; Dama - checking the external sense instruments; Uparati - not thinking of things of the senses; 'Forbearance of all misery, without even a thought of resisting or driving it out, without even any painful feeling in the mind, or any remorse -- this is Titiksha'; 'Strong faith in God and the consequent eagerness to reach Him constitute Shraddha'; 'Samadhana, or constant practice, to hold the mind in God'; 'Mumukshutva, the intense desire to be free'.


• 'Nityanitya-viveka -- discriminating between that which is true and that which is untrue, between the eternal and the transitory. God alone is eternal, everything else is transitory.'


• Heart is the instrument of inspiration. 'Man will have to go beyond intellect in the end.'

• Two forces seem to work in universe constantly : one differentiating and another unifying; 'The whole universe seems to be the battle-ground of these two forces.' The argument for differentiation says that without differentiation there would be annihilation and hence unification is to be avoided and that differences in class, caste, privilege etc. are necessary and correct. This is the same argument behind Brahmins in India wanting to protect caste and privileges.


• The above two forces are working in metaphysics too: 'The Vedantist declares that unity is the only thing that exists; variety is but phenomenal, ephemeral and apparent. "Look not to variety," says the Vedantist, "go back to unity." "Avoid unity; it is a delusion," says the Buddhist, "go to variety."'


• Ethics is the only thing which makes a departure from this fight, for ethics is unity, its basis is love.


• Universe is a play of unity in variety and variety in unity; finite in infinite and infinite in finite.

• Gita is commentary on Upanishads; ideas of Upanishads are presented in compact, condensed, and systematic form.


• Vedas contain rituals and hymns; in time rituals became important and hymns to gods became just the powerful words to be used during rituals. These words of Veda are the 'eternal words out of which the whole universe has been created.' Eternally existing infinite mass of thought - manifested later as words and external objects - is Veda, is universe. At the end of cosmic cycle, the external objects and words become finer and resolve back into thought-energy, which in turn remains potential in God/Self till the beginning of next cycle.


• The powerful words of Veda which can produce the desired results if pronounced correctly, gave rise to priest class; they became powerful due to their mastery over these words and rituals. Desire-laden common mass had to pay and respect the priests for fructification of desires through these rituals. Priests in India offered the same thing as priests in other religions: endless merry-go-round of pleasures, here and hereafter!


• But there is another part of Veda which is unique: Upanishads - the Knowledge portion which offers Liberation from cycle of transmigration. There is also the idea of Karma - the Law; all are bound by Karma, but Upanishads proclaim a way out of Karma. Upanishads also condemn the endless rituals, especially those involving animal sacrifice; another point of difference between Upanishads and ritual portion is the call of Upanishads to renounce everything.


• The struggle between priests and kings, between rituals and Knowledge was, as if, the 'seed' and the 'tree' of this 'seed' came after two thousand years in the form of Buddhism! One section wanted to cling to rituals, sacrifices etc. and the other wanted to break the chains of masses by spreading knowledge'.


• You can understand the character of a man by analyzing the fables associated with him, for e.g. with Buddha the central idea is self-sacrifice and with Krishna it is non-attachment.

• Primitive man had desires and struggled to fulfill them, couldn't do it as desires are infinite; he sought help from higher power. Modern man's situation is exactly similar despite tremendous improvement and multiplication of arts and sciences.


• Lowest manifestation of religion started with burial of the departed; first the dead were just wrapped in cloths and were placed on mounds. Next came burial and later burning with the idea of flames taking the departed to other spheres of existence.


• Next the manifestation of religion is seen in the idea of tribal gods protecting their tribes and fighting with other tribes. Later chiefs of tribes and emperors of states were looked upon as gods. Then came the idea of God, the omnipotent and omniscient ruler, up in heaven; this too is a primitive idea.


• 'All the superior religions had their growth between the Ganga and the Euphrates.' Outside India, the idea of God did not evolve much further. Old Persians were very practical people, like the British of the modern, always fighting and conquering neighbors - too much engaged to be able to think of the soul. In India idea of God grew further and with it the idea of soul also grew; highest Advaita is the result.

• 'Attention to the means ... is the great secret of life'. Do not be blinded by the enchantment of the goal but rather take care of causes diligently, the effect is sure to follow.


• Work we all must, but getting attached is the cause of misery. Strength is life, immortality, felicity; weakness is death, misery, strain. Desires bring misery.


• Give up willingly or else Nature will force you to give up. To keep the heart pure and clean in spite of tremendous difficulties of life requires superdivine strength not just superhuman strength! But it can be done by constant practice.

• Religion has been a boon as well as bane for humankind; there have always been efforts to bring harmony between warring religious sects. All religions of the world have seen growth and they are still growing with the exception of Zoroastrianism. All religions were originated between Ganga and Euphrates. The one tremendous defect in Christian propaganda machine, as well as in all Western institutions, is that the machine consumes ninety percent of energy, there is too much machinery.


• Any attempt to bring humanity to one method of thinking or one book has always been a failure and will always be so. It is better to have more sects, more thought systems; that is the sign of life. Let each human being have his/her own sect! We move from lower truth to higher truth, but never from error to truth; every religion has taken up a part of Truth and embodied it (example of photos of sun taken successively when advancing towards it).


• Universal religion already exists and can be perceived, if not disturbed by priests! More the number of sects, greater are the chances for people to turn spiritual. Truth should come to a person as per his temperament and then he/she can easily grasp and assimilate it. It is vain to proclaim that any one sect has whole of Truth; those who have done that and tried to convert entire world have always failed.


• Everyone has a mission in life to perform and thus every nation (a collection of individuals) has a mission to perform; so long as the nation remains true to its mission, it survives. Similarly each religion has a mission to perform; e.g. Islam makes all its followers equal; practical brotherhood - that is the essence of Islam; with Hindus - it is spirituality. Renunciation and spirituality are the two great ideas of India. With Christians - it is purifying oneself, helping others, for the 'kingdom of heaven is at hands'.


• If we wish to dream of a religion which will appeal to all minds then 'acceptance' should be our watchword, not mere toleration. God's book of spiritual revelations is not finished, Bible, Koran, Vedas are just few pages of it and many more remain yet unopened. We should be accepting all.

• The opposite forces of attraction and repulsion (in external world) and of love and hatred (in internal world) are always in play; nowhere else is this more true than in the field of religion. Thus harmony and balance is difficult in the field of religion.


• Every major religion has three parts: philosophy, mythology, rituals. We don't have a universal philosophy yet, and certainly not a universal mythology or universal ritual. Fanaticism is a disease. Nobody can make out the fine distinction between history and mythology; most stories in religions are mythologies with a little grain of history. People of one religion think that their mythologies and rituals are true while that of other religions are superstitions!


• Though it is difficult to find universality among religions on the basis of externals, it exists based on all-pervading God like the 'universal humanity' pervading through diverse human beings. 'Unity in variety is the plan of the universe.' External differences would always remain, as without it there would be no life, but at the back of it, the all-pervading God is the unity. Same God is seen and expressed by all in different ways.


• As to the practical plan for universal religion, one maxim we must remember - "Do not destroy"; 'help, if you can; if you cannot, fold your hands and stand by and see things go on'. Second, we can broadly categories mind-types as: working, emotional, mystical, philosopher. A religion which would be equally acceptable to these mind-types can be universal religion. Perfect man/woman should have all these four types fully developed in him/her. Yoga - i.e. to unite with the goal, is the way; it could be Karma-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga, Raja-Yoga or Jnana-Yoga.


• '... instinct, reason, and inspiration are the three instruments of knowledge. Instinct belongs to animals, reason to man, and inspiration to God-men.' Concentration is the one and only method to acquire knowledge. Raja-Yoga almost exclusively deals with concentration alone. Karma-Yoga deals with working without attachments; Bhakti-Yoga is loving God completely and without any ulterior motive. Jnana-Yogi wishes to transcend the universe and be one with the invisible ultimate reality (story of two birds, द्वासुपर्णा सयुजा..., Mundakopanishad). Practice is necessary for realising the Truth, not mere intellectual assent; religion is realisation.

• The Open Secret

• 'We have three entities. Here is nature which is infinite, but changeful. The whole of nature is without beginning and end, but within it are multifarious changes. It is like a river that runs down to the sea for thousands of years. It is the same river always, but it is changing every minute, the particles of water are changing their position constantly. Then there is God, unchangeable, the ruler; and there is the soul unchangeable as God, eternal but under the ruler. One is the master, the other the servant, and the third one is nature.' This is generally first step in religion, dualism. Next comes Vishishtadvaita, nature and souls are the body of God who is their Soul; nature, souls and God are separate and yet always connected. Final conclusion is, since Infinity can not be more than one, 'It is the same Infinite Soul, which is the background of the universe, that we call God. The same Infinite Soul also is the background of the human mind which we call the human soul.'

• Truths about microcosm (inner world, psychology) and macrocosm (external world, physical sciences) should tally. Orientals have been good at inner truths while occidentals have been good at external truths.


• Ancient Sankhyas used word Prakriti for nature and another more proper word Avyakta, undifferentiated; from this proceeds all subtle and gross material, thoughts, vital-force etc. Avyakta is equilibrium of Tamas (attraction), Rajas (repulsion), and Sattva (balance between Tamas and Rajas). Anidavatam (unvibrating) from Rig-Veda - Reality existing without any vibration, later it starts vibrating and Prana gives blows to Akasha and Vayu (vibrations) are produced; as Vayu vibrates it gives rise to Tejas (heat), heat then ends in liquefaction - Apah, then that liquid becomes solid. At the time of Pralaya these processes become reverse and again equilibrium (un-vibrating state) state is achieved. Thus ends one Kalpa. These cycles continue endlessly.


• External objects -> Tanmatras -> external sense instruments -> Indriyas (brain centers for senses) -> mind (Manas - Chitta Vrittis) -> Buddhi -> Ahamkara -> Mahat -> Atman (Self); Self is pure, perfect and the real seer.


• The entire nature (inner and outer) is for the development of soul and for the realisation that seer is omniscient and omnipotent. Kapila's idea of God - temporal, for a Kalpa (the free soul 'merged in nature' in previous Kalpa). 'Our theory is heredity coupled with reincarnation. By the law of heredity, the reincarnating soul receives from parents the material out of which to manufacture a man.'

• Sankhya philosophy believes nature (Prakriti) to be subtler than atom, indivisible, and all-pervasive; manifestation and destruction means 'fine cause' becoming gross and 'gross effect' resolving back to fine state respectively.


• Prakriti - Mahat (Cosmic Intelligence) - Egoism - Organs of sensation and reaction, Tanmatras of sense-objects. This process is same in microcosm. All philosophies in the world owe debt to Kapila as in one way or the other they are derived from Sankhya philosophy.


• Mahat in human being becomes egoism and all the forces in body; it covers sub-conscious (instinct), conscious (reason), and super-conscious (inspiration). State of association in mind is called Knowledge; conscious knowledge of the world and God has no similar matching pattern in us to compare it with, so we think world as imperfect; only when we transcend conscious plane, can we understand the world and God.


• Entire Prakriti is insentient but the 'Chit' behind is sentient; Sankhya calls him Purusha (he is God in his universal aspect). Purusha is not will as will is a product of Prakriti and is much below in the order of things; intelligence is also in some form 'matter-product' and hence Purusha is not intelligence; Purusha is the cause of intelligence and will. 'Chit' in Purusha plus Prakriti is what we see all around us - sentient and insentient. It follows that this Purusha of the Sankhyas must be omnipresent. According the Kapila, there are infinite numbers of Purushas and Prakriti is also infinite. These last points would be refuted by Advaita philosophy.

• Brief introduction to Sankhya philosophy and psychology [similar to previous lecture]. Purusha is infinite and free but falsely gets entangled in Prakriti (subtle and gross body) and experiences pleasure, pain, birth, death, heavens, hells etc. According to Sankhya, God is not necessary, nature is explanation enough for things and Purushas are infinite in number.


• In any perception, the external input coming through senses is unknown (x); when mind reacts to this input in the form of a wave, the resultant (mind + x) is what we call external world. Similarly the Self within is unknown (y) and when we know ourselves as Mr. So and So, it is 'mind + y'. 'So our whole world is x + mind (external), and y + mind (internal), x and y standing for the thing-in-itself behind the external and the internal worlds respectively'


• Real Knowledge which is Self itself is beyond intuition, reason, and instinct; similarly 'that bliss, when it gets clouded over, we call love, attraction for gross bodies or fine bodies, or for ideas. This is only a distorted manifestation of that blessedness'.


• Sankhya's rejection of God can be countered as: if you accept Purusha behind individual manifestation of Prakriti, from intelligence to gross body, then there must be cosmic Purusha (God) behind the universal manifestation from Mahat to gross world. Secondly there can not be two or more infinite Purushas, as one will limit the infinitude of other!


• 'According to Vedanta, it is the mind, its forms, that have limited 'x' and 'y' [the unknown and unknowable mentioned above] apparently and made them appear as external and internal worlds. But 'x' and 'y', being both beyond the mind, are without difference and hence one.' So as per Vedanta, there is only One infinite Brahman (Self) which appears as human, world, God etc.

• In Vedic times the 'home-fire' was kept burning till either spouse died and the funeral pile was lighted from the spark of this home-fire. Rituals and ceremonies could only be performed, if wife is along with the person.


• With the advent of special priest-class, co-priesthood of woman took back seat and at first the 'Assyrian race, coming of Semitic blood, which proclaimed the doctrine that girls have no voice, and no right, even when married. The Persians drank deep of this Babylonian idea, and by them it was carried to Rome and to Greece, and everywhere woman degenerated.'


• Initially the family system was matriarchal and woman was the center of family. This sometimes led to polyandry. Later in India, personal purity was stressed immensely and thus chastity became extremely important. With the advent of Buddhistic monasticism across India, women were condemned; 'The development of all monasticism always meant the degeneration of women.'


• Eventually wife-ideal developed in West while mother-ideal developed in India; in India God is looked upon as mother and mother is representative of God. The secret of Indian race is chastity.

• Buddhism was the 'first historical outburst of a world religion'; the great ancient religions namely Hinduism, Judaism, Persian religion were confined to their races. Within few centuries after Buddha's death, the Buddhist monks and nuns had spread the religion all over the known world.


• Before Buddhism India had Vedas - the eternal repository of knowledge from God - as 'The' source of social, religious life. There was great orthodoxy and rigid caste for society but for sannyasins there was great freedom. Priest class was the highest and most honorable; poverty, noble qualities, learning were their traits but in time they grabbed money and controlled power which was resented by the kingly caste which had military power and also high philosophy.


• Also there were non-Aryans trying to gain Aryan rights and privileges. Then there were Jains who did not accept Vedas and rebelled against killing of animals for Vedic sacrifices calling it 'all priestcraft'; they also denied God and were great ascetics. There were other ascetic sects.


• Buddha and Mohammed are two most authoritative historical prophets as their account is available from their friends as well as foes. Buddha's purity is described even by his enemies in fables; his love for all breaking all caste-barriers and his missionary methods were unique in history. His was tremendous moral force; 'do good for good's sake alone'; but compared to his doctrines, Vedanta is more thoughtful and grand.


• Buddha founded the great organization of monks which spread his message all over the world. Emperor Ashoka came three hundred years after the death of Buddha; his grandfather was contemporary of Alexander; Ashoka accepted Buddhism and spread the message far and wide, he built hospitals for men and animals. Unlike Semitic religions, Buddhism converted people not by sword but only by its pure appeal.


• Monasticism for all was the problem of Buddhism; it left society weak and vulnerable, and intermixing of various races degraded the nation in long run. Shankaracharya brought back Vedas to clean the mess created by degraded Buddhism but the old sacrifices and beef eating was gone forever. Buddhists are slightly sectarian but Hinduism allows everyone to choose his/her own path and move towards God from wherever one is. 'The Vedantist has patience to wait for everybody'.

• Shankaracharya made Gita famous by writing commentary on it; an older commentary on it by Bodhayana is not found now; even Bodhayana's commentary on Vedanta-Sutras is not found now but it is quoted by Shankara and Ramanuja in their commentaries on Vedanta-Sutras.


• In ancient India people did not hanker after name and fame and hence they passed their works under their Guru's or someone else's name. Hence to find correct history about authors and sages like Vyasa, Krishna is extremely difficult. Teachings of Gita are in sync with those of Mahabharata and hence it is safe to say that some great sage taught Brahma-Jnana in the form of Gita at that time. It might have been the scripture of a sect which vanished in the flow of time.


• Some say that the Kurukshetra war is an allegory for the fight of good against evil in human being; this may be true but it seems that there was a war between Kurus and Panchals. In India little thought was given to maintaining historical accuracy of events. Historicity of the events is not a bar to learning the great precepts taught in the scriptures; but we should also not believe superstitions, passed from generation to generation, without investigation. Even great men like Christ and Mohammed have succumbed to some superstitions.


• In Upanishads the essential truths are embedded in the labyrinth irrelevant subjects but in Gita, all beautiful ideas are strung together. Also 'Shraddha' can be found in Upanishads but hardly any 'Bhakti'; in Gita, Bhakti is mentioned extensively and also its culmination is reached. Gita also harmonizes the previously quarrelling sects of Jnana, Bhakti, Yoga etc.; and even where Krishna failed to show the complete Samanvaya between these warring sects, Sri Ramakrishna has fully accomplished this.


• Nishkama Karma does not mean becoming purposeless & inert, otherwise heartless brutes and walls would be Karma-yogis! It is pure Sattva and not Tamasa. Special characteristic of Gita is Nishkama Karma and its reconciliation of different paths of Dharma.


• Arjuna was overcome by Tamasa in the garb of Daya (pity) and hence Sri Krishna addressed him with Klaibya etc. Then Krishna tried to arouse the Atman-power within Arjuna by saying नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते etc. Tamasa and Sattva appear similar but they are poles apart similarly children and Paramahamsas may appear similar from outside but they are poles apart.

• Prophets of the world, the Incarnations are the impetus for tidal wave of spirituality in any nation and they themselves are also the product of that wave. No one Incarnation can be ruler or savior for entire world but only for the part of it. Most of us can understand any principle or idea only through a personality. Mohammedans do not like worshipping prophets but they end up worshipping thousands of saints!


• These messengers of God do not swerve an inch from their mission in life and they have tremendous faith in themselves. The power behind their words make people listen to them; words and language is secondary, spiritual realisation is primary. Talking about God and impersonality is fine but as long as man is man, he is bound to worship these incarnations of God.


• Fanaticism about one Prophet is extremely bad; some Mohammedans indulged in blood-shed for five hundred years in the blind fury of this sectarianism. Atavism is also bad; if we stick to old theories and do not think or do anything, then we degenerate. Failures don't matter, we can learn through them, but doing nothing is no good; think something, struggle Godward!


• Central idea taught by Krishna in Gita is non-attachment as also doing our duties but giving up fruits of it to God. Buddha asks us to be unselfish as this existence is all misery. Jesus says be ready, Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Mohammad was a prophet of equality, of brotherhood of man. 'With every great prophet his life is the only commentary'. Take message of the old one, supplement that with your own realizations and become Prophet unto others.

• Working without motive was highly developed by Buddhism and Buddha was perfect example of it. Buddha shows that even if one does not believe in God, metaphysics, books, rituals, temples etc., still one can reach highest.

• Our life's energy is expended at best in few years but that of the incarnations of God takes centuries to unfold and it gathers new vigor as ages roll on. All have at their back the whole past of the world as it were but we manifest the omnipresent God only a bit. Messengers of God reflect God immensely and they exceed our conceptualization of God; and hence it is beneficial for human beings that they fall at the feet of these messengers.


• The insincere and hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees were the 'fall' which gave rise to the 'wave' of Jesus of Nazareth. Circumstances forced the concentration and gathering of power in Jewish race which later expanded as Christianity in the world. Messenger of God represents the peak of rising wave which was generated by great good forces of his race and he is the impetus for future of his race and future of others as well.


• To the Greek mind, which is now European mind, everything is human, practical and external. To the Asian mind religion is the tie of unity, of brotherhood; and that mind is dreamer, visionary, looking for permanent thing in evanescent life. All messengers of God are Orientals including Jesus; he was a mass of light and not body and hence needs to be worshipped as God.


• Different forms of religions and worships are only different stages towards eternal light, God. Jesus taught all three steps towards God (dualism, qualified-monism, and monism) as per the development of the disciples. He also taught renunciation - the basis of religion. Those who say Jesus as a person is indispensible for salvation are greatly mistaken for the messengers of God never care for personality. We all, in our own capacities, are bearing our cross and burden of life and thus are Prophets in our circles!

• Our world requires adjustment on material and spiritual plane from time to time; adjustment on material plane is provided by Europe in modern times and that on spiritual plane has always been provided by Asia. Occidental values life of senses while Oriental values life of spirit. Happiness can never be found in external nature, it is within.


• Occidentals are heroic and practical in external world while Orientals are heroic and practical in the matters of spirituality. In the Nineteenth century Westerners succeeded in putting doubts in the minds of young Indians about the ancient Indian scriptures, religion, social structure etc. and thus reformers were born who condemned anything Indian and imitated West. But true reformer should first feel intensely for others, then should find remedy for the problems, and then should check his/her motives.


• India has seen number of violent and disruptive invasions but She still lives and will continue to live because of spirituality. Life of Brahmins in India was very circumscribed and pure; they had exclusiveness but tremendous intensity. Parents of Sri Ramakrishna were of these old pure types of Brahmins.


• Seeing that the aim of all secular education was one's material advancement, Sri Ramakrishna gave up all secular education and decided to pursue only spirituality. In India, being a temple priest who takes money for worship was considered very low occupation for a Brahmin; to realise God directly was one central idea. God must be directly perceived, more real than sense-perceptions; reason can make fact only probable but it can't demonstrate the fact, fact needs to be experienced.


• Sri Ramakrishna wanted to see Mother and hence he completely banished the ideas of money and lust from his mind; he cried intensely for Mother and Mother guided him and revealed Herself. Later a woman monk and then a man monk came and taught Sri Ramakrishna according to scriptures. Sri Ramakrishna married but since he had developed an outlook to see Divine Mother in all women, he explained this to his wife and she being pure and noble soul, did not drag him down to physical plane.


• Sri Ramakrishna next practiced the paths to God prescribed in Islam and Christianity and other sects; he reached the same Truth through all paths. He practiced humility by cleaning the house of a Pariah and to eradicate sex idea he dressed and behaved like a woman for a time. After becoming full with spiritual treasures he naturally attracted spiritual seekers, to whom he taught without the sense of being a master; he always thought himself as an instrument of Mother.


• Sri Ramakrishna said that first realise the Truth, later people would come to you for it; do not rush to teach without realising the Truth first. Religion is realisation, it is between soul and God, it can not be made into societies. Renunciation is the first ideal in the attempt to realise God; give up everything for God, it is hard and long task but begin from wherever you are. Sri Ramakrishna also discovered through his own experiences that all religions reach the same goal and they are not contradictory.


• Sri Ramakrishna was best example of complete renunciation and hence in him was tremendous purity and spirituality. Another aspect was his love for others; he continuously helped spiritual aspirants without caring for his body. Pure spirituality and fundamental unity of all religions the message of Sri Ramakrishna.

• Universe is infinite in space and eternal in duration but the Infinite unchanging Reality beyond super-sensuous does not register any space or time! Body and mind are incessantly changing but human soul seeks something unchanging, stable. The indwelling spirit is free just as God is free but body and mind are dependent on external world.


• Buddhist position of denying anything unchanging, eternal behind individual and idealist's position of denying the external world can be reconciled only by Vedanta which says that all nature is mixture of existence and non-existence. The germ of perfection and freedom is present in all, from lowest to highest of the universe; as the mind is purified more and more, the inner perfection shines brightly.

• Concentration of mind is the only method to gain knowledge, external as well as internal; method of getting this concentration can be varied but the safest methods are scientific, peaceful and slow. First requisite is morality, purity. External observances and purity is useful if the essential spirituality is there otherwise they are degrading.


• Posture, breathing, Dharana, meditation are the steps, meditation being highest which takes aspirant to super-consciousness and makes him/her free of birth and death.

• If man is to be just man, just a perfected machine and if religion is to be just doing some charity, then it is most hopeless case. Religion is freedom, knowledge of the soul and not conformity with nature. Infinite can be satisfied only by Infinite and nothing less.


• Practical Religion is renouncing lower pleasures for higher joys, identifying with real Self. There is no limit for renunciation. Actual realisation of spirit as spirit, 'seeing God', that matters and not mere talking, believing, reading books, theorizing etc.

• Evolution according to Indian philosophers is due to "infilling of nature"; it is in the nature of species to evolve and manifest more and more the inherent divinity. This eliminates necessity of struggle and competition. 'Our education and progression simply means taking away the obstacles, and by its own nature the divinity will manifest itself.'


• History of the world where wars and struggle between men formed large part would have to be judged as unnecessary for human evolution. It is the human impatience which creates it.

• West formed ideas of God first and then of human soul while India first developed idea of human soul and later of God. We have external and internal nature to study and though at first they seem contradictory, in the end they are found to be one indivisible whole.


• Every religion has philosophy, mythology, and ceremonials; advantage with Vedanta has been the clear distinction between these three while other religions suffered due to blurring of the distinction and hence persons (mythologies) swallowing up principles (philosophy).


• Study of religion should be making of Prophets - the seers of Truth; it is not by random chance or Will of Superior Being that a Prophet is made, but he/she had been struggling at it for ages. We can believe Prophets when we become one ourselves. We must practice the methods and disciplines mentioned in scriptures and observed in the lives of saints, in order to realize religion. Methods vary according to the different temperaments. Vedanta welcomes various paths, prophets, methods for reaching the One principle.

• In West, psychology was treated from a very low standard i.e. the standard of its external utility. [Since Swamiji's time, there has been slight improvement in this regard - compiler] But psychology is 'science of science'; it is fundamental science. 'We have just a little bit of sensuous consciousness and imagine that to be our entire mind and life; but, as a matter of fact, it is but a drop in the mighty ocean of subconscious mind.'


• 'We are slaves to our own and everybody else's mind; whether we are good or bad, that makes no difference.'
  'Our inability to rise above the sense-lfe - the striving for physical pleasures, is the cause of all the horrors and miseries in the world.' Psychology tells us how to control the mind and bring it under the control of will.


• Mind can not be quantified, measured and observed from outside and hence unlike other sciences it has no external, observable, universally accepted logical consclusions; but deep within all is the common substratum which is the only stable platform to study and control mind. To reach that substratum, mind is to be turned inwards and made one with the substratum.


• Many self-styled mystics who indulge in mystery-mongering and miracles have not gone deep enough. They haven't reached the substratum but they go slightly deep and are influenced by some small revealations. But few saints, irrespective of country & religion, who reach the substratum, have same universal experience.


• Mind operates by perception and impulsion. Mind's reaction to external perception is impulsion. To control the mind, we have to go deep into subconscious mind and arrange all impressions there. Thus we can control the conscious mind by the subconscious mind. This is the first step.

• Masses can not worship God as spirit, they necessarily need forms, rituals, concretized symbols for worship. Mohammedans tried to do away with all forms in worship but ended up worshiping saints and their body parts!


• Ancient forms of worship included tree, stone worship; tree worship and serpent worship go hand in had. Man never worshiped tree or stone as material but only as his idea of spirit imposed on the object. Ancestor worship and worshipping God in various images is slightly higher than tree, stone worship. Still higher is saint or holy men worship; higher than that is worship through symbols.


• Worshipping God for body, for desires here in the world is all materialism and not spirituality; yet it is better than not praying and no worship! When man rises above senses to mental plane he takes delight in great ideas and later when concentration comes, spirit is revealed and he transcends sense-plane; then is worship of God as spirit.

• 'The Buddhists were the most logical agnostics. You can really stop nowhere between nihilism and absolutism. The Buddhists were intellectually all-destroyers, carrying their theory to its ultimate logical issue. The Advaitists also worked out their theory to its logical conclusion and reached the Absolute -- one identified Unit Substance out of which all phenomena are being manifested. Both Buddhists and Advaitists have a feeling of identity and non-identity at the same time; one of these feelings must be false, and the other true. The nihilist puts the reality in non-identity, the realist puts the reality in identity; and this is the fight which occupies the whole world. The is the "tug-of-war".'


• 'The realist asks, "How does the nihilist get any idea of identity?" How does the revolving light appear a circle? A point of rest alone explains motion. The nihilist can never explain the genesis of the delusion that there is a background; neither can the idealist explain how the One becomes the many. The only explanation must come from beyond the sense-plane; we must rise to the superconscious, to a state entirely beyond sense-perception. That metaphysical power is the further instrument that the idealist alone can use. He can experience the Absolute; the man Vivekananda can resolve himself into the Absolute and then come back to the man again. For him, then, the problem is solved and secondarily for others, for he can show the way to others. Thus religion begins where philosophy ends. The "good of the world" will be that what is now superconscious for us will in ages to come be the conscious for all. Religion is therefore the highest work the world has; and because man has unconsciously felt this, he has clung through all the ages to the idea of religion.'

• Every surviving established religion has three basic things: a book, a person venerated as God or highest teacher, and hatred for other religions. Vedanta rules out all these three; it is most democratic in saying God is in all and as everything.


• It will take thousands of years for large number of men to become fully rational. It is very difficult to teach new things to men.


• Vedanta teaches unity of all existence; all is Consciousness but we have to be conscious of it. Dualistic methods may have some merit but they have not helped much humanity in these thousand years.

• God, nature, and soul - this Trinity is essentially unity but appearing as separate. Sat-Chit-Ananda - Existence (Sat) is Father, Knowledge (Chit) is Son, and Bliss (Ananda) is Holy Ghost, the Christian Trinity. Out of Father (Sat) comes everything but in Son, Christ (Chit) Father is manifested i.e. becomes conscious and simultaneously Holy Ghost (Ananda) is also manifested. As we begin to have Christ within us, we get bliss and thus the three are unified.

----------- Om Tat Sat -----------