What is this force which is manifesting itself through the body? It is obvious to all of us, what- ever that force be, that it is taking particles up, as it were, and manipulating forms out of them — the human body. None other comes here to manipulate bodies for you and me. I never saw anybody eat food for me. I have to assimilate it, manufacture blood and bones and everything out of that food. What is this mysterious force? Ideas about the future and about the past seem to be terrifying to man. To many they seem to be mere speculation. We will take the pres- ent theme. What is this force now which is working through us? We have seen how in old times in all the ancient scriptures this power, this manifestation of power, was thought to be a bright substance having a body like this body, and which remains even after this body falls. Later on, however, we find a higher idea coming even — that this body does not represent the force. Whatsoever has form must be the result of combinations of particles and requires something THE REAL NATURE OF MAN 37 else behind it to move it. If this body requires some- thing which is not the body to manipulate it, the bright body, by the same necessity, will also require something other than itself to manipulate it. So that something was called the soul, the Atman, in Sanskrit. It was the Atman which through the bright body, as it were, worked on the gross body outside. The bright body is considered as the receptacle of the mind, and the Atman is beyond that. It is not the mind even, it operates the mind, and through the mind the body. You have an Atman, I have another, each one of us has a separate Atman, and a separate fine body, and through that we work on the gross external body. Questions were then asked about this Atman, about its nature. What is this Atman, this soul of man which is neither a body nor a mind? Great discus- sions followed. Speculations came, various shades of philosophic inquiry came into existence, and I will try to place before you some of the conclusions that have been reached about this Atman. The different philosophies seem to agree that this Atman, whatever it be, has neither form nor shape, and that which has neither form nor shape must be omnipresent. Time begins with mind, space also is in the mind. Causation cannot stand without time. Without the idea of succession there cannot be any idea of causation. Time, space, and causation, therefore, are in the mind, and as this Atman is beyond the mind and formless it must be beyond time, beyond space, and beyond causation. Now if it. is beyond time, space and causa- tion, it must be infinite. Then comes the highest speculation in our philosophy. The infinite cannot be 38 J NANA YOGA two. If the soul be infinite there can be only one soul, and all these ideas of various souls — you having one soul, and I having another, and so forth — are not real. The real man therefore is one and infinite, the omnipresent spirit. And the apparent man is only a limitation of that real man. In that sense all these mythologies are true, that the apparent man, however great he may be, is only a dim reflection of the real man which is beyond. The real man, the spirit, being beyond cause and effect, not bound by time and space, must therefore be free. He was never bound, and could not be bound. The apparent man, the reflec- tion, is limited by time,, space and causation, and he is therefore bound. Or in the language of some of our philosophers, he appears to be bound, but really is not. This is the reality in our souls, this omni- presence, this spiritual nature, this infinity, which we are already. Every soul is infinite, therefore there is no question of birth and death. Some children were being examined. The examiner put them rather hard questions, and among them was this question: "Why does not the earth fail?" He wanted to evoke answers about gravitation and so forth. Most of the children could not answer at all; a few answered that it was gravitation or something. One bright little girl an- swered it by putting another question: "Where should it fall?" The question is nonsense. Where should the earth fall? There is no falling or rising for the earth. In infinite space there is no up or down; that is only in the relative. Where is going or coming for the infinite? Whence should it come and whither should it go? When people refuse to think of the THE REAL NATURE OF MAN 39 past, or future, or what is going to become of them— when they give up the ideas of body, because being limited, the body comes and goes — then they have risen to a higher ideal. The body is not the real man, neither is the mind, for the mind waxes and wanes. It is the spirit beyond which alone can live forever. The body and mind are continually changing. These are the names of series of changeful phenomena, rivers where every particle of water is in a constant state of flux; yet we recognize the series as the same river. Every particle in this body is continually changing; no one has the same body for several minute's together. Yet a sort of impression left in the mind makes us call it the same. So with the mind, one moment happy, another moment unhappy; one moment strong, another weak. An ever-changing whirlpool. That cannot be the spirit, for spirit is infinite. Change can only be in the limited. To say that the infinite changes in any way is absurd; it cannot be. You can move and I can move as bodies; every particle in this uni- verse is in a constant state of flux, but taking the universe as a unit, as one whole, it cannot move, it cannot change. Motion is always a relative thing. I move only in relation to something else. Any particle in this universe can change in relation to any other particle, but the whole universe as one; — in relation to what will that move? There is nothing beside it. So this infinite unit is unchangeable, immovable, abso- lute, and this is the Real Man. Our reality, there- fore, consists in the Universal, and not in the limited. These are old delusions, however comfortable they are, to think that we are little limited beings, constant- 40 J NANA YOGA ly changing. People are frightened when they are told that they are Universal Being, everywhere pres- ent. Through everything you work, through every foot you move, through every lip you talk, through every breath you breathe. People are frightened when they are told this. They will again and again ask you if they are not going to lose their individuali- ty. What is any man's individuality? I should be glad to see it.
A little baby has no moustache; when he grows older he has a moustache and beard. His individu- ality is lost if it is in the body. If I lose one eye, or if I lose one of my hands my individuality will be lost if it is in the body. A drunkard should not give up drinking because he would lose his indivuality. A thief need not be a good man because he would there- fore lose his individuality. No man ought to change his habits for fear of this. There is no individuality except in the Infinite. That is the only condition which does not change. Everything else is in a con- stant state of flux. Neither can individuality be in memory. Suppose I receive a blow on the head and forget all about my past; then I have lost all my individuality; I am gone. I do not remember two or three years of my childhood, and if memory and exist- ence are one, then whatever I forget is gone. That part of my life which I do not remember I did not live. That is a very narrow idea of individuality. We are not individuals yet. We are struggling towards individuality and that is the Infinite; that is the real nature of man. He alone lives whose life is in the whole universe, and the more we concentrate THE REAL NATURE OF MAN 4I our lives on little limited things the faster are we going towards death. That moment alone we have lived when our lives were in the universe, in others; and all those minutes which we concentrated upon this little life was death, simply death, and that is why the fear of death comes. The fear of death can only be conquered when man realizes that so long as there is one life in this universe he is living. When he can say: 'T am in everything, in every body; I am in all lives, I am the universe, this whole universe is my body. How can I die so long as one particle remains? Who says I will die?" then alone comes the state of fearlessness. To talk of immortality in little constantly changing things is ridiculous. Says an old Sanskrit philosopher: It is only the spirit that is the individual because it is infinite; no infinity can be divided; infinity cannot be broken into pieces. It is the same one, undivided unit forever, and this is the individual man, the Real Man. The apparent man is merely a struggle to express, to manifest this indi- viduality, which is beyond, and that evolution is not in the spirit. These changes which are going on, the wicked becoming good, the animal becoming man, take it whatever way you like, are not in the spirit.
Evolution of nature and manifestation of spirit. Sup- pose here is a screen hiding you from me, and there is a small hole in the screen, and through that I can just see some of the faces before me, just a few faces. Now suppose this hole begins to grow larger and larger. As the hole goes on becoming larger and larger, more and more of the scene before me reveals itself, and when the hole has become identified with 42 JNANA YOGA the screen I stand face to face with you. You did not change at all in this case, you were where you always were. It was the hole that was evolving and you were manifesting yourself. So it is with the spirit. You are already free and perfect. No perfection is going to be attained. You are that already — free and perfect. What are all these ideas of religion and God and searching for the hereafter? Why does man go to look for a God? Why in every nation, in every state of society did man want a perfect ideal some- where, either in man, in God, or anywhere else? Be- cause that idea is in you. It is your own heart beating and you did not know, you were mistaking it for something external. It is the God within your own self that is impelling you to seek for Him, to realize Him, and after long search here and there, in temples and in churches, in earths, in heavens, and in all various ways, at last you come back, complete the circle from where you started, back to your own soul and find that He for whom you have been seeking all over the world, for whom you have been weeping and praying in churches and temples, on whom you were looking as the mystery of all mysteries shrouded behind the clouds. He nearest of the near, your own Self, the reality of your own life, your body and your soul. That is your own nature, the real nature of man. Assert it, manifest it. You are pure already. You are not to become perfect, you are that already. This w^hole of nature is like that screen which was hiding the reality beyond. Every good thought that you think or act upon is simply tearing the veil, as it were, and the purity, the Infinity, the God behind, manifests THE REAL NATURE OF MAN 43 itself. This is the whole history of man. Finer and finer becomes the veil, more and more of the light behind shines by its own nature, for it is its nature to shine. It cannot be known; ni vain we try to know it. Were it knowable, it would not be what it is, for it is the Eternal Subject: knowledge is a limitation, knowl- edge is objectifying. He is the eternal subject of everything, the eternal witness in this universe, your own Self. Knowledge is, as it were, a lower step, a degeneration. We are that Eternal Subject already; how to know it? That is the real nature of every man and he is struggling to express it in various ways; else why are there so many ethical codes? Where is the explanation of all ethics? One idea stands out as the centre in all ethics, expressed in various forms; doing good to others. The guiding motive of mankind is charity towards men, charity towards all animals. But these are all various expres- sions of that eternal truth that "I am the universe; this universe is one." Else where is the reason? Why shall I do good to my fellow men? Why should I do good to others? What compels me? It is this sympathy, this feeling the sameness everywhere. The hardest hearts feel sympathy to other beings sometimes. Even the man who gets frightened if he is told that this assumed individuality is really a delu- sion, that it is ignoble to try to cling to this apparent individuality, that very man will tell you that extreme self-abnegation is the centre of all morality; and what is perfect self-abnegation? What remains? Self- abnegation means the abnegation of this apparent self, the abnegation of all selfishness. This idea of "me" 44 JNANA YOGA and "mine" — ahankdra and mama — is the result of past superstition, and the more this present self rolls away, the more the Real Self becomes manifest in its full glory. This is real self-abnegation, the centre, the basis, the gist of all moral teaching, and whether men know it or not, the whole world is slowly going towards that, practising that more or less. Only the vast majority of mankind do it unconsciously. Let them do it consciously. Let them make the sacrifice knowing that this is not the real self; this is nothing but a limitation. One glimpse of that Infinite Reality which is behind, one spark of that Infinite Fire that is the All, represents the present man, but that Infinite is his true nature.
What is the utility, the effect, the result of this knowledge? In these days we have to measure every- thing by utility. That is to say generally, by how many pounds, shillings and pence it represents. What right has a person to ask that truth should be judged by the standard of utility or money? Suppose there is no utility, will it be less truth? Utility is not the test of truth. Nevertheless, there is the highest utility in this. Happiness, we see, is what every one is seeking for, but the majority seek it in things which are evanescent, and which are not real. No happiness / was ever found in the senses. There never was a V person who found happiness in the senses, or in enjoy- ments of the senses. Happiness is only found in the / spirit. Therefore the highest utility to mankind is to / find this happiness in the spirit. The next point is, that ignorance is the great mother of all misery, and this is the fundamental ignorance, to think that the THE REAL NATURE OF MAN 45 Infinite weeps and cries that he is finite, and this is the basis of all ignorance, that we, the immortal, the ever pure, the perfect spirit, think that we are little minds, that we are little bodies; this is the mother of all selfishness. As soon as I am a little body I want to preserve it, to protect it, to keep it nice, at the expense of other bodies; you and I have become sep- arate. As soon as this idea of separation comes, it opens the door to all mischief and leads to all misery. This is the utility, that if a very small fractional part of the human beings living to-day can put aside this idea of selfishness and narrowness and littleness, this earth will become a paradise to-morrow, but with machines and improvements of material knowledge it will never come. These only increase misery, as oil poured on fire increases the flame all the more. With- out the knowledge of spirit, every bit of material knowledge is only adding fuel to fire, only giving into the hands of selfish man one more instrument to take what belongs to others, to live upon the life of others, instead of giving up his life for others.
Is it practical, is another question. Can it be prac- tised in modern society. Truth does not pay homage to any society, modern or ancient. Society has to pay homage to Truth, or die. Societies and all beings are moulded upon truth, and truth has not to adjust itself to society. If such noble truth as unselfishness cannot be practised in society, better give up society and go into forests. That is the daring man. There are two sorts of courage. One is the courage to jump at the mouth of a cannon. Tigers, in that case, have been braver than men and wolves also. But there is also 46 J NANA YOGA the courage of spiritual boldness. An invading Em- peror went to India. His teacher told him to go and see some of those sages of India. After a long search he found a very old man sitting on a block of stone. The Emperor talked with him a little and became very much pleased with the conversation of the man. He asked the sage to go with him to his country. "No, I am quite satisfied with my forest here." Said the Emperor, "I will give you money, position, wealth. I am the Emperor of the world." "No," replied the man, "I don't care for those things." The Emperor replied, "If you do not go I will kill you." The man smiled serenely. "That is the most foolish thing you ever said, Emperor. You cannot kill me. Me the sun cannot dry, neither fire can burn, neither instru- ment kill, for I am the birthless, the deathless, the omnipotent, omnipresent spirit, ever living." That is another boldness. In the Mutiny of 1857 there was a great Swami, a very great soul. A Mahommedan mutineer stabbed him and nearly killed him. The Hindu mutineers brought the Mahommedan to the Swami and offered to kill him. But the Swami turned and said: "Yet, brother, thou art He, thou art He!" and expired. That is another bravery. What is it to talk of the bravery of your muscles, of the superiority of your Western institutions, if you cannot make a truth square with your society, if you cannot build up a society into which the highest truth will fit? What is this boastful talk about your grandeur and greatness, if you above all things stand up and say, "This kind of courage is not practical." Is nothing practical, but pounds, shillings, and pence? If so, THE REAL NATURE OF MAN 47 why the boast of your society? That society is the greatest where the highest truths become practical. That is my opinion, and if society is not fit for the highest truths, make it fit. Make it if you can, and the sooner you do so, the better. Stand up, men and women, in the spirit, dare to beheve in the truth, dare to practise the truth. The world requires a few hun- dred bold men and women. It is very hard to be bold. In that animal boldness, the tigers can do better. Wolves have it naturally. Even the ants are better than all other animals. What use to talk of this physi- cal boldness! Practice that boldness which does not quake before death, which welcomes death, which stands there and knows it is the spirit and in the whole universe, no arms can kill it, not all the light- nings can kill it. Not all the fire in the universe can burn it. It dares know the truth and show the truth in life. This is the free man, this is the real soul. **This Atman is first to be heard, then thought about, and then meditated upon."
There is a great tendency in modern times to talk too much of works and decry all thought. Doing is very good, but even that comes from thinking. Little manifestations of energy which have originated in thought are escaping through the muscles and are called work. Where there is no thought, there will be no work. Fill the brain, therefore, with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you, and out of that will come great work. Talk not about impuritv, but tell the mind we are pure. We have hypnotized ourselves into this thought that we are little, that we are born and that we ^8 J NANA YOGA are going to die, and into living in a constant state of fear.
There was a lioness, heavy with young, going about in search of prey, and there was a flock of sheep, and the lioness jumped upon the flock. She died in the attempt and a little baby lion was born, motherless. It was taken care of by the sheep and the sheep brought it up and it grew with the sheep, lived on grass like the sheep, bleated like the sheep, and although it became a big full-grown lion, to all intents and purposes it thought it was a sheep. In course of time another big lion came in search of prey, and what was its astonishment to find that in the midst of this flock was this lion flying like the sheep at the approach of danger. He tried to get near to teach it that it was not a sheep, but a lion, but at the very approach of the other lion the sheep fled, and with it the sheep-lion. But the other lion was rather kind, he watched, and one day found the big sheep-lion sleeping. He jumped on it and said, "You are a lion." "I am a sheep," cried the other lion. He would not believe, but bleated. The lion dragged him towards a lake and said, "Look there, there is my reflection and yours." Then came the comparison. He looked at this lion and then at his own reflection, and in a moment came the idea that he was a lion. The lion roared, the bleating was gone. You are the lions, you are souls, pure, infinite and perfect. The might of the universe is in you. "Why weepest thou, my friend? There is neither birth nor death for thee. Why weepest thou? There is no disease nor misery for thee, but thou art like the infinite sky, clouds of various colors come THE REAL NATURE OF MAN 49