The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Lectures and Discourses/Unity, the Goal of Religion
UNITY, THE GOAL OF RELIGION
(Delivered in New York, 1896)
This universe of ours, the universe of the senses, the rational, the
intellectual, is bounded on both sides by the illimitable, the unknowable,
the ever unknown. Herein is the search, herein are the inquiries, here are
the facts; from this comes the light which is known to the world as
religion. Essentially, however, religion belongs to the supersensuous and
not to the sense plane. It is beyond all reasoning and is not on the plane
of intellect. It is a vision, an inspiration, a plunge into the unknown and
unknowable, making the unknowable more than known for it can never be
"known". This search has been in the human mind, as I believe, from the very
beginning of humanity. There cannot have been human reasoning and intellect
in any period of the world's history without this struggle, this search
beyond. In our little universe, this human mind, we see a thought arise.
Whence it arises we do not know; and when it disappears, where it goes, we
know not either. The macrocosm and the microcosm are, as it were, in the
same groove, passing through the same stages, vibrating in the same key.
I shall try to bring before you the Hindu theory that religions do not come
from without, but from within. It is my belief that religious thought is in
man's very constitution, so much so that it is impossible for him to give
up religion until he can give up his mind and body, until he can give up
thought and life. As long as a man thinks, this struggle must go on, and so
long man must have some form of religion. Thus we see various forms of
religion in the world. It is a bewildering study; but it is not, as many of
us think, a vain speculation. Amidst this chaos there is harmony, throughout
these discordant sounds there is a note of concord; and he who is prepared
to listen to it will catch the tone.
The great question of all questions at the present time is this: Taking for
granted that the known and the knowable are bounded on both sides by the
unknowable and the infinitely unknown, why struggle for that infinite
unknown? Why shall we not be content with the known? Why shall we not rest
satisfied with eating, drinking, and doing a little good to society? This
idea is in the air. From the most learned professor to the prattling baby,
we are told that to do good to the world is all of religion, and that it is
useless to trouble ourselves about questions of the beyond. So much is this
the case that it has become a truism.
But fortunately we must inquire into the beyond. This present, this
expressed, is only one part of that unexpressed. The sense universe is, as
it were, only one portion, one bit of that infinite spiritual universe
projected into the plane of sense consciousness. How can this little bit of
projection be explained, be understood, without. Knowing that which is
beyond? It is said of Socrates that one day while lecturing at Athens, he
met a Brahmin who had travelled into Greece, and Socrates told the Brahmin
that the greatest study for mankind is man. The Brahmin sharply retorted:
"How can you know man until you know Gods" This God, this eternally
Unknowable, or Absolute, or Infinite, or without name — you may call Him by
what name you like — is the rationale, the only explanation, the raison d'être
of that which is known and knowable, this present life. Take anything
before you, the most material thing — take one of the most material
sciences, as chemistry or physics, astronomy or biology — study it, push the
study forward and forward, and the gross forms will begin to melt and become
finer and finer, until they come to a point where you are bound to make a
tremendous leap from these material things into the immaterial. The gross
melts into the fine, physics into metaphysics, in every department of
knowledge.
Thus man finds himself driven to a study of the beyond. Life will be a
desert, human life will be vain, if we cannot know the beyond. It is very
well to say: Be contented with the things of the present. The cows and the
dogs are, and so are all animals; and that is what makes them animals. So if
man rests content with the present and gives up all search into the beyond,
mankind will have to go back to the animal plane again. It is religion, the
inquiry into the beyond, that makes the difference between man and an
animal. Well has it been said that man is the only animal that naturally
looks upwards; every other animal naturally looks down. That looking upward
and going upward and seeking perfection are what is called salvation; and
the sooner a man begins to go higher, the sooner he raises himself towards
this idea of truth as salvation. It does not consist in the amount of money
in your pocket, or the dress you wear, or the house you live in, but in the
wealth of spiritual thought in your brain. That is what makes for human
progress, that is the source of all material and intellectual progress, the
motive power behind, the enthusiasm that pushes mankind forward.
Religion does not live on bread, does not dwell in a house. Again and again
you hear this objection advanced: "What good can religion do? Can it take
away the poverty of the poor?" Supposing it cannot, would that prove the
untruth of religion? Suppose a baby stands up among you when you are trying
to demonstrate an astronomical theorem, and says, "Does it bring
gingerbread?" "No, it does not", you answer. "Then," says the baby, "it is
useless." Babies judge the whole universe from their own standpoint, that of
producing gingerbread, and so do the babies of the world. We must not judge
of higher things from a low standpoint. Everything must be judged by its own
standard and the infinite must be judged by the standard of infinity.
Religion permeates the whole of man's life, not only the present, but the
past, present, and future. It is, therefore, the eternal relation between
the eternal soul and the eternal God. Is it logical to measure its value by
its action upon five minutes of human life? Certainly not. These are all
negative arguments.
Now comes the question: Can religion really accomplish anything? It can. It
brings to man eternal life. It has made man what he is, and will make of
this human animal a god. That is what religion can do. Take religion from
human society and what will remain? Nothing but a forest of brutes.
Sense-happiness is not the goal of humanity. Wisdom (Jnâna) is the goal of
all life. We find that man enjoys his intellect more than an animal enjoys
its senses; and we see that man enjoys his spiritual nature even more than
his rational nature. So the highest wisdom must be this spiritual knowledge.
With this knowledge will come bliss. All these things of this world are but
the shadows, the manifestations in the third or fourth degree of the real
Knowledge and Bliss.
One question more: What is the goal? Nowadays it is asserted that man is
infinitely progressing, forward and forward, and there is no goal of
perfection to attain to. Ever approaching, never attaining, whatever that
may mean and however wonderful it may be, it is absurd on the face of it. Is
there any motion in a straight line? A straight line infinitely projected
becomes a circle, it returns to the starting point. You must end where you
begin; and as you began in God, you must go back to God. What remains?
Detail work. Through eternity you have to do the detail work.
Yet another question: Are we to discover new truths of religion as we go on?
Yea and nay. In the first place, we cannot know anything more of religion,
it has all been known. In all religions of the world you will find it
claimed that there is a unity within us. Being one with divinity, there
cannot be any further progress in that sense. Knowledge means finding this
unity. I see you as men and women, and this is variety. It becomes
scientific knowledge when I group you together and call you human beings.
Take the science of chemistry, for instance. Chemists are seeking to resolve
all known substances into their original elements, and if possible, to find
the one element from which all these are derived. The time may come when
they will find one element that is the source of all other elements.
Reaching that, they can go no further; the science of chemistry will have
become perfect. So it is with the science of religion. If we can discover
this perfect unity, there cannot be any further progress.
The next question is: Can such a unity be found? In India the attempt has
been made from the earliest times to reach a science of religion and
philosophy, for the Hindus do not separate these as is customary in Western
countries. We regard religion and philosophy as but two aspects of one thing
which must equally be grounded in reason and scientific truth.
The system of the Sânkhya philosophy is one of the most ancient in India, or
in fact in the world. Its great exponent Kapila is the father of all Hindu
psychology; and the ancient system that he taught is still the foundation of
all accepted systems of philosophy in India today which are known as the
Darshanas. They all adopt his psychology, however widely they differ in
other respects.
The Vedanta, as the logical outcome of the Sankhya, pushes its conclusions
yet further. While its cosmology agrees with that taught by Kapila, the
Vedanta is not satisfied to end in dualism, but continues its search for the
final unity which is alike the goal of science and religion.