The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Reports in American Newspapers/Divinity of Man
DIVINITY OF MAN
(Ada Record, February 28, 1894)
The lecture on the Divinity of Man by Swami Vive Kananda, [1] the Hindu monk, drew a packed house at the Opera last Friday
evening [February 22].
He stated that the fundamental basis of all religions was belief in the soul
which is the real man, and something beyond both mind and matter, and
proceeded to demonstrate the proposition. The existence of things material
are dependent on something else. The mind is mortal because changeable.
Death is simply a change.
The soul uses the mind as an instrument and through it affects the body. The
soul should be made conscious of its powers. The nature of man is pure and
holy but it becomes clouded. In our religion every soul is trying to regain
its own nature. The mass of our people believe in the individuality of the
soul. We are forbidden to preach that ours is the only true religion.
Continuing the speaker said: "I am a spirit and not matter. The religion of
the West hopes to again live with their body. Ours teaches there can not be
such a state. We say freedom of the soul instead of salvation." The lecture
proper lasted but 30 minutes but the president of the lecture committee had
announced that at the close of the lecture the speaker would answer any
questions propounded him. He gave that opportunity and liberal use was made
of the privilege. They came from preachers and professors, physicians and
philosophers, from citizens and students, from saints and sinners, some were
written but dozens arose in their seats and propounded their questions
directly. The speaker responded to all — mark the word, please — in an
affable manner and in several instances turned the laugh on the inquirer.
They kept up the fusilade for nearly an hour; when the speaker begged to be
excused from further labor there yet remained a large pile of unanswered
questions. He was an artful dodger on many of the questions. From his
answers we glean the following additional statements in regard to the Hindu
belief and teachings: They believe in the incarnation of man. One of their
teachings is to the effect that their God Krishna was born of a virgin about
5000 years ago in the North of India. The story is very similar to the
Biblical history of Christ, only their God was accidently killed. They
believe in evolution and the transmigration of souls: i.e. our souls once
inhabited some other living thing, a bird, fish or animal, and on our death
will go into some other organism. In reply to the inquiry where these souls
were before they came into this world he said they were in other worlds. The
soul is the permanent basis of all existence. There was no time when there
was no God, therefore no time when there was no creation. Buddhists [sic] do
not believe in a personal god; I am no Buddhist. Mohammed is not worshipped
in the same sense as Christ. Mohammed believes in Christ but denies he is
God. The earth was peopled by evolution and not special selection
[creation]. God is the creator and nature the created. We do not have prayer
save for the children and then only to improve the mind. Punishment for sin
is comparatively immediate. Our actions are not of the soul and can
therefore be impure. It is our spirit that becomes perfect and holy. There
is no resting place for the soul. It has no material qualities. Man assumes
the perfect state when he realizes he is a spirit. Religion is the
manifestation of the soul nature. The deeper they see is what makes one
holier than another. Worship is feeling the holiness of God. Our religion
does not believe in missions and teaches that man should love God for love's
sake and his neighbor in spite of himself. The people of the West struggle
too hard; repose is a factor of civilization. We do not lay our infirmities
to God. There is a tendency toward a union of religions.
- ↑ In the earlier days Swami Vivekananda's name was thus misspelt by the American Press. — Publisher.