Jnâna Yoga, Part II: Seven LecturesVivekananda, Swami
Religion
Jnâna Yoga, Part II: Seven Lectures
Vivekananda, Swami
Vedanta; Yoga, Jñana
That Absolute Existence which is limitless, which is unmixed,
uncombined, which knows no change, is the free soul, and that Real
Existence, when it gets mixed up, muddled up, as it were, with the
elements of Nature is what we call human existence. It is limited and
manifests as plant life, animal life, human life, just as infinite
space is apparently limited by the walls of this room, or by any other
enclosure. That Knowledge Absolute means not the knowledge we know, not
intelligence, not reason, not instinct, but that which when it becomes
manifested we call by these names. When that Knowledge Absolute becomes
limited we call it intuition, and when it becomes still more limited we
call it reason, instinct, etc. That Knowledge Absolute is _Vijnâna_.
The nearest translation of it is “all-knowingness.” There is no
combination in it. It is the nature of the soul. That Bliss Absolute
when it becomes limited we call love, attraction for the gross body, or
the fine bodies, or for ideas. These are but distorted manifestations
of this blessedness which is not a quality of the soul, but the
essence, the inherent nature of the soul. Absolute Existence, Absolute
Knowledge, and Absolute Blessedness are not qualities of the soul, but
its essence; there is no difference between them and the soul. And the
three are one; we see the one thing in three different lights. They
are beyond all knowledge and by their reflection Nature appears to be
intelligent.
It is that eternal Knowledge Absolute of the Self percolating through
the mind of man that becomes our reason and intelligence. It varies
according to the medium through which it is shining. There is no
difference as soul between me and the lowest animal, only his brain
is a poorer medium through which the knowledge shines, and we call it
instinct. In man the brain is much finer, so the manifestation is
much clearer, and in the highest man it has become entirely clear,
like a piece of glass. So with existence; this existence which we
know, this limited bit of existence is simply a reflection of that
Existence Absolute which is the nature of the soul. So with bliss;
that which we call love or attraction is but the reflection of the
eternal blessedness of the Self, because with these manifestations come
limitations, but the unmanifested, the natural, essential existence
of the soul is unlimited, to that blessedness there can be no limit.
But in human love there are limitations. I may love you one day, I
may cease to love you the next. My love increases one day, decreases
the next, because it is only a limited manifestation. The first thing
therefore that we find against Kapila is that he conceives the soul
to be a mere qualitiless, colorless, inactive something. Vedânta
teaches that it is the essence of all Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss;
infinitely higher than all knowledge that we know, infinitely more
blessed than any human love that we can think of, infinitely existing.
The soul never dies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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