The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Soul, Nature and God
SOUL, NATURE, AND GOD
According to the Vedanta philosophy, man consists of three substances, so to
say. The outermost is the body, the gross form of man, in which are the
instruments of sensation, such as the eyes, nose, ears, and so forth. This
eye is not the organ of vision; it is only the instrument. Behind that is
the organ. So, the ears are not the organs of hearing; they are the
instruments, and behind them is the organ, or what, in modern physiology, is
called the centre. The organs are called Indriyas in Sanskrit. If the centre
which governs the eyes be destroyed, the eyes will not see; so with all our
senses. The organs, again, cannot sense anything by themselves, until there
be something else attached to them. That something is the mind. Many times
you have observed that you were deeply engaged in a certain thought, and the
clock struck and you did not hear it. Why? The ear was there; vibrations
entered it and were carried into the brain, yet you did not hear, because
the mind was not joined to the organ. The impressions of external objects
are carried to the organs, and when the mind is attached to them, it takes
the impressions and gives them, as it were, a colouring, which is called
egoism, "I". Take the case of a mosquito biting me on the finger when I am
engaged in some work. I do not feel it, because my mind is joined to
something else. Later, when my mind is joined to the impression conveyed to
the Indriyas, a reaction comes. With this reaction I become conscious of the
mosquito. So even the mind joining itself to the organs is not sufficient;
there must come the reaction in the form of will. This faculty from which
the reaction comes, the faculty of knowledge or intellect, is called
"Buddhi" First, there must be the external instrument, next the organ, next
the mind must join itself to the organ, then must come the reaction of
intellect, and when all these things are complete, there immediately flashes
the idea, "I and the external object", and there is a perception, a concept,
knowledge. The external organ, which is only the instrument, is in the body,
and behind that is the internal organ which is finer; then there is the
mind, then the intellectual faculty, then egoism, which says, "I" — I see, I
hear, and so forth. The whole process is carried on by certain forces; you
may call them vital forces; in Sanskrit they are called Prâna. This gross
part of man, this body, in which are the external instruments, is called in
Sanskrit, Sthula Sharira, the gross body; behind it comes the series,
beginning with the organs, the mind, the intellect, the egoism. These and
the vital forces form a compound which is called the fine body, the Sukshma
Sharira. These forces are composed of very fine elements, so fine that no
amount of injury to this body can destroy them; they survive all the shocks
given to this body. The gross body we see is composed of gross material, and
as such it is always being renewed and changing continuously. But the
internal organs, the mind, the intellect, and the egoism are composed of the
finest material, so fine that they will endure for aeons and aeons. They are
so fine that they cannot be resisted by anything; they can get through any
obstruction. The gross body is non-intelligent, so is the fine, being
composed of fine matter. Although one part is called mind, another the
intellect, and the third egoism, yet we see at a glance that no one of them
can be the "Knower". None of them can be the perceiver, the witness, the one
for whom action is made, and who is the seer of the action. All these
movements in the mind, or the faculty of intellection, or egoism, must be
for some one else. These being composed of fine matter cannot be
self-effulgent. Their luminosity cannot be in themselves. This manifestation
of the table, for instance, cannot be due to any material thing. Therefore
there must be some one behind them all, who is the real manifester, the real
seer, the real enjoyer and He in Sanskrit is called the Atman, the Soul of
man, the real Self of man. He it is who really sees things. The external
instruments and the organs catch the impressions and convey them to the
mind, and the mind to the intellect, and the intellect reflects them as on a
mirror, and back of it is the Soul that looks on them and gives His orders
and His directions. He is the ruler of all these instruments, the master in
the house, the enthroned king in the body. The faculty of egoism, the
faculty of intellection, the faculty of cogitation, the organs, the
instruments, the body, all of them obey His commands. It is He who is
manifesting all of these. This is the Atman of man. Similarly, we can see
that what is in a small part of the universe must also be in the whole
universe. If conformity is the law of the universe, every part of the
universe must have been built on the same plan as the whole. So we naturally
think that behind the gross material form which we call this universe of
ours, there must be a universe of finer matter, which we call thought, and
behind that there must be a Soul, which makes all this thought possible,
which commands, which is the enthroned king of this universe. That soul
which is behind each mind and each body is called Pratyagâtman, the
individual Atman, and that Soul which is behind the universe as its guide,
ruler, and governor, is God.
The next thing to consider is whence all these things come. The answer is:
What is meant by coming? If it means that something can be produced out of
nothing, it is impossible. All this creation, manifestation, cannot be
produced out of zero. Nothing can be produced without a cause, and the
effect is but the cause reproduced. Here is a glass. Suppose we break it to
pieces, and pulverise it, and by means of chemicals almost annihilate it.
Will it go back to zero? Certainly not. The form will break, but the
particles of which it is made will be there; they will go beyond our senses,
but they remain, and it is quite possible that out of these materials
another glass may be made. If this is true in one case, it will be so in
every case. Something cannot be made out of nothing. Nor can something be
made to go back to nothing. It may become finer and finer, and then again
grosser and grosser. The raindrop is drawn from the ocean in the form of
vapour, and drifts away through the air to the mountains; there it changes
again into water and flows back through hundreds of miles down to the mother
ocean. The seed produces the tree. The tree dies, leaving only the seed.
Again it comes up as another tree, which again ends in the seed, and so on.
Look at a bird, how from; the egg it springs, becomes a beautiful bird,
lives its life and then dies, leaving only other eggs, containing germs of
future birds. So with the animals; so with men. Everything begins, as it
were, from certain seeds, certain rudiments, certain fine forms, and becomes
grosser and grosser as it develops; and then again it goes back to that fine
form and subsides. The whole universe is going on in this way. There comes a
time when this whole universe melts down and becomes finer and at last
disappears entirely, as it were, but remains as superfine matter. We know
through modern science and astronomy that this earth is cooling down, and in
course of time it will become very cold, and then it will break to pieces
and become finer and finer until it becomes ether once more. Yet the
particles will all remain to form the material out of which another earth
will be projected. Again that will disappear, and another will come out. So
this universe will go back to its causes, and again its materials will come
together and take form, like the wave that goes down, rises again, and takes
shape. The acts of going back to causes and coming out again, taking form,
are called in Sanskrit Sankocha and Vikâsha, which mean shrinking and
expanding. The whole universe, as it were, shrinks, and then it expands
again. To use the more accepted words of modern science, they are involved
and evolved. You hear about evolution, how all forms grow from lower ones,
slowly growing up and up. This is very true, but each evolution presupposes
an involution. We know that the sum total of energy that is displayed in the
universe is the same at all times, and that matter is indestructible. By no
means can you take away one particle of matter. You cannot take away a
foot-pound of energy or add one. The sum total is the same always. Only the
manifestation varies, being involved and evolved. So this cycle is the
evolution out of the involution of the previous cycle, and this cycle will
again be involved, getting finer and finer, and out of that will come the
next cycle. The whole universe is going on in this fashion. Thus we find
that there is no creation in the sense that something is created out of
nothing. To use a better word, there is manifestation, and God is the
manifester of the universe. The universe, as it were, is being breathed out
of Him, and again it shrinks into Him, and again He throws it out. A most
beautiful simile is given in the Vedas — "That eternal One breathes out this
universe and breathes it in." Just as we can breathe out a little particle
of dust and breathe it in again. That is all very good, but the question may
be asked: How we, it at the first cycle? The answer is: What is the meaning
of a first cycle? There was none. If you can give a beginning to time, the
whole concept of time will be destroyed. Try to think of a limit where time
began, you have to think of time beyond that limit. Try to think where space
begins, you will have to think of space beyond that. Time and space are
infinite, and therefore have neither beginning nor end. This is a better
idea than that God created the universe in five minutes and then went to
sleep, and since then has been sleeping. On the other hand, this idea will
give us God as the Eternal Creator. Here is a series of waves rising and
falling, and God is directing this eternal process. As the universe is
without beginning and without end, so is God. We see that it must
necessarily be so, because if we say there was a time when there was no
creation, either in a gross or a fine form, then there was no God, because
God is known to us as Sâkshi, the Witness of the universe. When the universe
did not exist, neither did He. One concept follows the other. The idea of
the cause we get from the idea of the effect, and if there is no effect,
there will be no cause. It naturally follows that as the universe is
eternal, God is eternal.
The soul must also be eternal. Why? In the first place we see that the soul
is not matter. It is neither a gross body, nor a fine body, which we call
mind or thought. It is neither a physical body, nor what in Christianity is
called a spiritual body. It is the gross body and the spiritual body that
are liable to change. The gross body is liable to change almost every minute
and dies, but the spiritual body endures through long periods, until one
becomes free, when it also falls away. When a man becomes free, the
spiritual body disperses. The gross body disintegrates every time a man
dies. The soul not being made of any particles must be indestructible. What
do we mean by destruction? Destruction is disintegration of the materials
out of which anything is composed. If this glass is broken into pieces, the
materials will disintegrate, and that will be the destruction of the glass.
Disintegration of particles is what we mean by destruction. It naturally
follows that nothing that is not composed of particles can be destroyed, can
ever be disintegrated. The soul is not composed of any materials. It is
unity indivisible. Therefore it must be indestructible. For the same reasons
it must also be without any beginning. So the soul is without any beginning
and end.
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.
God being the cause of the projection, the continuance, and the dissolution
of the universe, the cause must be present to produce the effect. Not only
so, the cause becomes the effect. Glass is produced out of certain materials
and certain forces used by the manufacturer. In the glass there are those
forces plus the materials. The forces used have become the force of
adhesion, and if that force goes the glass will fall to pieces; the
materials also are undoubtedly in the glass. Only their form is changed. The
cause has become the effect. Wherever you see an effect you can always
analyze it into a cause, the cause
manifests itself as the effect. It follows, if God is the cause of the
universe, and the universe is the effect, that God has become the universe.
If souls are the effect, and God the cause, God has become the souls. Each
soul, therefore, is a part of God. "As from a mass of fire an infinite
number of sparks fly, even so from the Eternal One all this universe of
souls has come out."
We have seen that there is the eternal God, and there is eternal nature. And
there is also an infinite number of eternal souls. This is the first stage
in religion, it is called dualism, the stage when man sees himself and God
eternally separate, when God is a separate entity by Him, self and man is a
separate entity by himself and nature is a separate entity by itself. This
is dualism, which holds that the subject and the object are opposed to each
other in everything. When man looks at nature, he is the subject and nature
the object. He sees the dualism between subject and object. When he looks at
God, he sees God as object and himself as the subject. They are entirely
separate. This is the dualism between man and God. This is generally the
first view of religion.
Then comes another view which I have just shown to you. Man begins to find
out that if God is the cause of the universe and the universe the effect,
God Himself must have become the universe and the souls, and he is but a
particle of which God is the whole. We are but little beings, sparks of that
mass of fire, and the whole universe is a manifestation of God Himself. This
is the next step. In Sanskrit, it is called Vishishtâdvaita. Just as I have
this body and this body covers the soul, and the soul is in and through this
body, so this whole universe of infinite souls and nature forms, as it were,
the body of God. When the period of involution comes, the universe becomes
finer and finer, yet remains the body of God. When the gross manifestation
comes, then also the universe remains the body of God. Just as the human
soul is the soul of the human body and minds so God is the Soul of our
souls. All of you have heard this expression in every religion, "Soul of our
souls". That is what is meant by it. He, as it were, resides in them, guides
them, is the ruler of them all. In the first view, that of dualism, each one
of us is an individual, eternally separate from God and nature. In the
second view, we are individuals, but not separate from God. We are like
little particles floating in one mass, and that mass is God. We are
individuals but one in God. We are all in Him. We are all parts of Him, and
therefore we are One. And yet between man and man, man and God there is a
strict individuality, separate and yet not separate.
Then comes a still finer question. The question is: Can infinity have parts?
What is meant by parts of infinity? If you reason it out, you will find that
it is impossible. Infinity cannot be divided, it always remains infinite. If
it could be divided, each part would be infinite. And there cannot be two
infinites. Suppose there were, one would limit the other, and both would be
finite. Infinity can only be one, undivided. Thus the conclusion will be
reached that the infinite is one and not many, and that one Infinite Soul is
reflecting itself through thousands and thousands of mirrors, appearing as
so many different souls. 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.