The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Lectures and Discourses/The Free Soul
THE FREE SOUL
(Delivered in New York, 1896)
The analysis of the Sânkhyas stops with the duality of existence — Nature
and souls. There are an infinite number of souls, which, being simple,
cannot die, and must therefore be separate from Nature. Nature in itself
changes and manifests all these phenomena; and the soul, according to the
Sankhyas, is inactive. It is a simple by itself, and Nature works out all
these phenomena for the liberation of the soul; and liberation consists in
the soul discriminating that it is not Nature. At the same time we have seen
that the Sankhyas were bound to admit that every soul was omnipresent. Being
a simple, the soul cannot be limited, because all limitation comes either
through time, space, or causation. The soul being entirely beyond these
cannot have any limitation. To have limitation one must be in space, which
means the body; and that which is body must be in Nature. If the soul had
form, it would be identified with Nature; therefore the soul is formless,
and that which is formless cannot be said to exist here, there, or anywhere.
It must be omnipresent. Beyond this the Sankhya philosophy does not go.
The first argument of the Vedantists against this is that this analysis is
not a perfect one. If their Nature be absolute and the soul be also
absolute, there will be two absolutes, and all the arguments that apply in
the case of the soul to show that it is omnipresent will apply in the case
of Nature, and Nature too will be beyond all time, space, and causation, and
as the result there will be no change or manifestation. Then will come the
difficulty of having two absolutes, which is impossible. What is the
solution of the Vedantist? His solution is that, just as the Sankhyas say,
it requires some sentient Being as the motive power behind, which makes the
mind think and Nature work, because Nature in all its modifications, from
gross matter up to Mahat (Intelligence), is simply insentient. Now, says the
Vedantist, this sentient Being which is behind the whole universe is what we
call God, and consequently this universe is not different from Him. It is He
Himself who has become this universe. He not only is the instrumental cause
of this universe, but also the material cause. Cause is never different from
effect, the effect is but the cause reproduced in another form. We see that
every day. So this Being is the cause of Nature. All the forms and phases of
Vedanta, either dualistic, or qualified-monistic, or monistic, first take
this position that God is not only the instrumental, but also the material
cause of this universe, that everything which exists is He. The second step
in Vedanta is that these souls are also a part of God, one spark of that
Infinite Fire. "As from a mass of fire millions of small particles fly, even
so from this Ancient One have come all these souls." So far so good, but it
does not yet satisfy. What is meant by a part of the Infinite? The Infinite
is indivisible; there cannot be parts of the Infinite. The Absolute cannot
be divided. What is meant, therefore, by saying that all these sparks are
from Him? The Advaitist, the non-dualistic Vedantist, solves the problem by
maintaining that there is really no part; that each soul is really not a
part of the Infinite, but actually is the Infinite Brahman. Then how can
there be so many? The sun reflected from millions of globules of water
appears to be millions of suns, and in each globule is a miniature picture
of the sun-form; so all these souls are but reflections and not real. They
are not the real "I" which is the God of this universe, the one undivided
Being of the universe. And all these little different beings, men and
animals etc. are but reflections, and not real. They are simply illusory
reflections upon Nature. There is but one Infinite Being in the universe,
and that Being appears as you and as I; but this appearance of divisions is
after all a delusion. He has not been divided, but only appears to be
divided. This apparent division is caused by looking at Him through the
network of time, space, and causation. When I look at God through the
network of time, space, and causation, I see Him as the material world. When
I look at Him from a little higher plane, yet through the same network, I
see Him as an animal, a little higher as a man, a little higher as a god,
but yet He is the One Infinite Being of the universe, and that Being we are.
I am That, and you are That. Not parts of It, but the whole of It. "It is
the Eternal Knower standing behind the whole phenomena; He Himself is the
phenomena." He is both the subject and the object, He is the "I" and the
"You". How is this? "How to know the Knower? The Knower cannot know Himself;
I see everything but cannot see myself. The Self, the Knower, the Lord of
all, the Real Being, is the cause of all the vision that is in the universe,
but it is impossible for Him to see Himself or know Himself, excepting
through reflection. You cannot see your own face except in a mirror, and so
the Self cannot see Its own nature until It is reflected, and this whole
universe therefore is the Self trying to realise Itself. This reflection is
thrown back first from the protoplasm, then from plants and animals, and so
on and on from better and better reflectors, until the best reflector, the
perfect man, is reached — just as a man who, wanting to see his face, looks
first in a little pool of muddy water, and sees just an outline; then he
comes to clear water, and sees a better image; then to a piece of shining
metal, and sees a still better image; and at last to a looking-glass, and
sees himself reflected as he is. Therefore the perfect man is the highest
reflection of that Being who is both subject and object. You now find why
man instinctively worships everything, and how perfect men are instinctively
worshipped as God in every country. You may talk as you like, but it is they
who are bound to be worshipped. That is why men worship Incarnations, such
as Christ or Buddha. They are the most perfect manifestations of the eternal
Self. They are much higher than all the conceptions of God that you or I can
make. A perfect man is much higher than such conceptions. In him the circle
becomes complete; the subject and the object become one. In him all
delusions go away and in their place comes the realisation that he has
always been that perfect Being. How came this bondage then? How was it
possible for this perfect Being to degenerate into the imperfect? How was it
possible that the free became bound? The Advaitist says, he was never bound,
but was always free. Various clouds of various colours come before the sky.
They remain there a minute and then pass away. It is the same eternal blue
sky stretching there for ever. The sky never changes: it is the cloud that
is changing. So you are always perfect, eternally perfect. Nothing ever
changes your nature, or ever will. All these ideas that I am imperfect, I am
a man, or a woman, or a sinner, or I am the mind, I have thought, I will
think — all are hallucinations; you never think, you never had a body; you
never were imperfect. You are the blessed Lord of this universe, the one
Almighty ruler of everything that is and ever will be, the one mighty ruler
of these suns and stars and moons and earths and planets and all the little
bits of our universe. It is through you that the sun shines and the stars
shed their lustre, and the earth becomes beautiful. It is through your
blessedness that they all love and are attracted to each other. You are in
all, and you are all. Whom to avoid, and whom to take? You are the all in
all. When this knowledge comes delusion immediately vanishes.
I was once travelling in the desert in India. I travelled for over a month
and always found the most beautiful landscapes before me, beautiful lakes
and all that. One day I was very thirsty and I wanted to have a drink at one
of these lakes; but when I approached that lake it vanished. Immediately
with a blow came into my brain the idea that this was a mirage about which I
had read all my life; and then I remembered and smiled at my folly, that for
the last month all the beautiful landscapes and lakes I had been seeing were
this mirage, but I could not distinguish them then. The next morning I again
began my march; there was the lake and the landscape, but with it
immediately came the idea, "This is a mirage." Once known it had lost its
power of illusion. So this illusion of the universe will break one day. The
whole of this will vanish, melt away. This is realization. Philosophy is no
joke or talk. It has to be realised; this body will vanish, this earth and
everything will vanish, this idea that I am the body or the mind will for
some time vanish, or if the Karma is ended it will disappear, never to come
back; but if one part of the Karma remains, then as a potter's wheel, after
the potter has finished the pot, will sometimes go on from the past
momentum, so this body, when the delusion has vanished altogether, will go
on for some time. Again this world will come, men and women and animals will
come, just as the mirage came the next day, but not with the same force;
along with it will come the idea that I know its nature now, and it will
cause no bondage, no more pain, nor grief, nor misery. Whenever anything
miserable will come, the mind will be able to say, "I know you as
hallucination." When a man has reached that state, he is called Jivanmukta,
living-free", free even while living. The aim and end in this life for the
Jnâna-Yogi is to become this Jivanmukta, "living-free". He is Jivanmukta who
can live in this world without being attached. He is like the lotus leaves
in water, which are never wetted by the water. He is the highest of human
beings, nay, the highest of all beings, for he has realised his identity
with the Absolute, he has realised that he is one with God. So long as you
think you have the least difference from God, fear will seize you, but when
you have known that you are He, that there is no difference, entirely no
difference, that you are He, all of Him, and the whole of Him, all fear
ceases. "There, who sees whom? Who worships whom? Who talks to whom? Who
hears whom? Where one sees another, where one talks to another, where one
hears another, that is little. Where none sees none, where none speaks to
none, that is the highest, that is the great, that is the Brahman." Being
That, you are always That. What will become of the world then? What good
shall we do to the world? Such questions do not arise "What becomes of my
gingerbread if I become old?" says the baby! "What becomes of my marbles if
I grow? So I will not grow," says the boy! "What will become of my dolls if
I grow old?" says the little child! It is the same question in connection
with this world, it has no existence in the past, present, or future. If we
have known the Âtman as It is, if we have known that there is nothing else
but this Atman, that everything else is but a dream, with no existence in
reality, then this world with its poverties, its miseries, its wickedness,
and its goodness will cease to disturb us. If they do not exist, for whom
and for what shall we take trouble? This is what the Jnana-Yogis teach.
Therefore, dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and
dare to carry that out in your life. It is very hard to come to Jnâna. It is
for the bravest and most daring, who dare to smash all idols, not only
intellectual, but in the senses. This body is not I; it must go. All sorts
of curious things may come out of this. A man stands up and says, "I am not
the body, therefore my headache must be cured"; but where is the headache if
not in his body? Let a thousand headaches and a thousand bodies come and go.
What is that to me? I have neither birth nor death; father or mother I never
had; friends and foes I have none, because they are all I. I am my own
friend, and I am my own enemy. I am Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. I am
He, I am He. If in a thousand bodies I am suffering from fever and other
ills, in millions of bodies I am healthy. If in a thousand bodies I am
starving, in other thousand bodies I am feasting. If in thousands of bodies
I am suffering misery, in thousands of bodies I am happy. Who shall blame
whom, who praise whom? Whom to seek, whom to avoid? I seek none, nor avoid
any, for I am all the universe. I praise myself, I blame myself, I suffer
for myself, I am happy at my own will, I am free. This is the Jnâni, the
brave and daring. Let the whole universe tumble down; he smiles and says it
never existed, it was all a hallucination. He sees the universe tumble down.
Where was it! Where has it gone!
Before going into the practical part, we will take up one more intellectual
question. So far the logic is tremendously rigorous. If man reasons, there
is no place for him to stand until he comes to this, that there is but One
Existence, that everything else is nothing. There is no other way left for
rational mankind but to take this view. But how is it that what is infinite,
ever perfect, ever blessed, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, has come
under these delusions? It is the same question that has been asked all the
world over. In the vulgar form the question becomes, "How did sin come into
this world?" This is the most vulgar and sensuous form of the question, and
the other is the most philosophic form, but the answer is the same. The same
question has been asked in various grades and fashions, but in its lower
forms it finds no solution, because the stories of apples and serpents and
women do not give the explanation. In that state, the question is childish,
and so is the answer. But the question has assumed very high proportions
now: "How did this illusion come?" And the answer is as fine. The answer is
that we cannot expect any answer to an impossible question. The very
question is impossible in terms. You have no right to ask that question.
Why? What is perfection? That which is beyond time, space, and causation —
that is perfect. Then you ask how the perfect became imperfect. In logical
language the question may be put in this form: "How did that which is beyond
causation become caused?" You contradict yourself. You first admit it is
beyond causation, and then ask what causes it. This question can only be
asked within the limits of causation. As far as time and space and causation
extend, so far can this question be asked. But beyond that it will be
nonsense to ask it, because the question is illogical. Within time, space,
and causation it can never be answered, and what answer may lie beyond these
limits can only be known when we have transcended them; therefore the wise
will let this question rest. When a man is ill, he devotes himself to curing
his disease without insisting that he must first learn how he came to have
it.
There is another form of this question, a little lower, but more practical
and illustrative: What produced this delusion? Can any reality produce
delusion? Certainly not. We see that one delusion produces another, and so
on. It is delusion always that produces delusion. It is disease that
produces disease, and not health that produces disease. The wave is the same
thing as the water, the effect is the cause in another form. The effect is
delusion, and therefore the cause must be delusion. What produced this
delusion? Another delusion. And so on without beginning. The only question
that remains for you to ask is: Does not this break your monism, because you
get two existences in the universe, one yourself and the other the delusion?
The answer is: Delusion cannot be called an existence. Thousands of dreams
come into your life, but do not form any part of your life. Dreams come and
go; they have no existence. To call delusion existence will be sophistry.
Therefore there is only one individual existence in the universe, ever free,
and ever blessed; and that is what you are. This is the last conclusion
reached by the Advaitists.
It may then be asked: What becomes of all these various forms of worship?
They will remain; they are simply groping in the dark for light, and through
this groping light will come. We have just seen that the Self cannot see
Itself. Our knowledge is within the network of Mâyâ (unreality), and beyond
that is freedom. Within the network there is slavery, it is all under law;
beyond that there is no law. So far as the universe is concerned, existence
is ruled by law, and beyond that is freedom. As long as you are in the
network of time, space, and causation, to say you are free is nonsense,
because in that network all is under rigorous law, sequence, and
consequence. Every thought that you think is caused, every feeling has been
caused; to say that the will is free is sheer nonsense. It is only when the
infinite existence comes, as it were, into this network of Maya that it
takes the form of will. Will is a portion of that being, caught in the
network of Maya, and therefore "free will" is a misnomer. It means nothing
— sheer nonsense. So is all this talk about freedom. There is no freedom in
Maya.
Every one is as much bound in thought, word, deed, and mind, as a piece of
stone or this table. That I talk to you now is as rigorous in causation as
that you listen to me. There is no freedom until you go beyond Maya. That is
the real freedom of the soul. Men, however sharp and intellectual, however
clearly they see the force of the logic that nothing here can be free, are
all compelled to think they are free; they cannot help it. No work can go on
until we begin to say we are free. It means that the freedom we talk about
is the glimpse of the blue sky through the clouds and that the real freedom
— the blue sky itself— is behind. True freedom cannot exist in the midst of
this delusion, this hallucination, this nonsense of the world, this universe
of the senses, body, and mind. All these dreams, without beginning or end,
uncontrolled and uncontrollable, ill-adjusted, broken, inharmonious, form
our idea of this universe. In a dream, when you see a giant with twenty
heads chasing you, and you are flying from him, you do not think it is
inharmonious; you think it is proper and right. So is this law. All that you
call law is simply chance without meaning. In this dream state you call it
law. Within Maya, so far as this law of time, space and causation exists,
there is no freedom; and all these various forms of worship are within this
Maya. The idea of God and the ideas of brute and of man are within this
Maya, and as such are equally hallucinations; all of them are dreams. But
you must take care not to argue like some extraordinary men of whom we hear
at the present time. They say the idea of God is a delusion, but the idea of
this world is true. Both ideas stand or fall by the same logic. He alone has
the right to be an atheist who denies this world, as well as the other. The
same argument is for both. The same mass of delusion extends from God to the
lowest animal, from a blade of grass to the Creator. They stand or fall by
the same logic. The same person who sees falsity in the idea of God ought
also to see it in the idea of his own body or his own mind. When God
vanishes, then also vanish the body and mind; and when both vanish, that
which is the Real Existence remains for ever. "There the eyes cannot go, nor
the speech, nor the mind. We cannot see it, neither know it." And we now
understand that so far as speech and thought and knowledge and intellect go,
it is all within this Maya within bondage. Beyond that is Reality. There
neither thought, nor mind, nor speech, can reach.
So far it is intellectually all right, but then comes the practice. The real
work is in the practice. Are any practices necessary to realise this
Oneness? Most decidedly. It is not that you become this Brahman. You are
already that. It is not that you are going to become God or perfect; you are
already perfect; and whenever you think you are not, it is a delusion. This
delusion which says that you are Mr. So-and-so or Mrs. So-and-so can be got
rid of by another delusion, and that is practice. Fire will eat fire, and
you can use one delusion to conquer another delusion. One cloud will come
and brush away another cloud, and then both will go away. What are these
practices then? We must always bear in mind that we are not going to be
free, but are free already. Every idea that we are bound is a delusion.
Every idea that we are happy or unhappy is a tremendous delusion; and
another delusion will come — that we have got to work and worship and
struggle to be free — and this will chase out the first delusion, and then
both will stop.
The fox is considered very unholy by the Mohammedans and by the Hindus.
Also, if a dog touches any bit of food, it has to be thrown out, it cannot
be eaten by any man. In a certain Mohammedan house a fox entered and took a
little bit of food from the table, ate it up, and fled. The man was a poor
man, and had prepared a very nice feast for himself, and that feast was made
unholy, and he could not eat it. So he went to a Mulla, a priest, and said,
"This has happened to me; a fox came and took a mouthful out of my meal.
What can be done? I had prepared a feast and wanted so much to eat it, and
now comes this fox and destroys the whole affair." The Mulla thought for a
minute and then found only one solution and said, "The only way for you is
to get a dog and make him eat a bit out of the same plate, because dogs and
foxes are eternally quarrelling. The food that was left by the fox will go
into your stomach, and that left by the dog will go there too, and both will
be purified." We are very much in the same predicament. This is a
hallucination that we are imperfect; and we take up another, that we have to
practice to become perfect. Then one will chase the other, as we can use one
thorn to extract another and then throw both away. There are people for whom
it is sufficient knowledge to hear, "Thou art That". With a flash this
universe goes away and the real nature shines, but others have to struggle
hard to get rid of this idea of bondage.
The first question is: Who are fit to become Jnana-Yogis? Those who are
equipped with these requisites: First, renunciation of all fruits of work
and of all enjoyments in this life or another life. If you are the creator
of this universe, whatever you desire you will have, because you will create
it for yourself. It is only a question of time. Some get it immediately;
with others the past Samskâras (impressions) stand in the way of getting
their desires. We give the first place to desires for enjoyment, either in
this or another life. Deny that there is any life at all; because life is
only another name for death. Deny that you are a living being. Who cares for
life? Life is one of these hallucinations, and death is its counterpart. Joy
is one part of these hallucinations, and misery the other part, and so on.
What have you to do with life or death ? These are all creations of the
mind. This is called giving up desires of enjoyment either in this life or
another.
Then comes controlling the mind, calming it so that it will not break into
waves and have all sorts of desires, holding the mind steady, not allowing
it to get into waves from external or internal causes, controlling the mind
perfectly, just by the power of will. The Jnana-Yogi does not take any one
of these physical helps or mental helps: simply philosophic reasoning,
knowledge, and his own will, these are the instrumentalities he believes in.
Next comes Titikshâ, forbearance, bearing all miseries without murmuring,
without complaining. When an injury comes, do not mind it. If a tiger comes,
stand there. Who flies? There are men who practice Titiksha, and succeed in
it. There are men who sleep on the banks of the Ganga in the midsummer sun
of India, and in winter float in the waters of the Ganga for a whole day;
they do not care. Men sit in the snow of the Himalayas, and do not care to
wear any garment. What is heat? What is cold? Let things come and go, what
is that to me, I am not the body. It is hard to believe this in these
Western countries, but it is better to know that it is done. Just as your
people are brave to jump at the mouth of a cannon, or into the midst of the
battlefield, so our people are brave to think and act out their philosophy.
They give up their lives for it. "I am Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; I
am He, I am He." Just as the Western ideal is to keep up luxury in practical
life, so ours is to keep up the highest form of spirituality, to demonstrate
that religion is riot merely frothy words, but can be carried out, every bit
of it, in this life. This is Titiksha, to bear everything, not to complain
of anything. I myself have seen men who say, "I am the soul; what is the
universe to me? Neither pleasure nor pain, nor virtue nor vice, nor heat nor
cold is anything to me." That is Titiksha; not running after the enjoyments
of the body. What is religion? To pray, "Give me this and that"? Foolish
ideas of religion! Those who believe them have no true idea of God and soul.
My Master used to say, "The vulture rise higher and higher until he becomes
a speck, but his eye is always on the piece of rotten carrion on the earth."
After all, what is the result of your ideas of religion? To cleanse the
streets and have more bread and clothes? Who cares for bread and clothes?
Millions come and go every minute. Who cares? Why care for the joys and
vicissitudes of this little world? Go beyond that if you dare; go beyond
law, let the whole universe vanish, and stand alone. "I am
Existence-Absolute, Knowledge-Absolute, Bliss-Absolute; I am He, I am He."