It is impossible for man to give up religion until he can give up his mind and body, says Swami Vivekananda
This universe of ours, the universe of the senses, the rational, the intellectual, is bounded on both sides by the illimitable, the unknowable, and the ever unknown. Herein is the search, here are the facts; from this comes the light which is known to the world as religion. Essentially, however, religion belongs to the super sensuous 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 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. 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.
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. 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.
Taking for granted that the known and knowable are bounded on both sides by the unknowable and the infinitely unknown, why struggle for infinite unknownIJ 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. But we must inquire into the beyond. This present is only one part of that unexpressed. The sense universe is, as it were, one bit of that infinite spiritual universe projected into the plane of sense consciousness.
One day while lecturing at Athens, Socrates met a Brahmin who had travelled to Greece. Socrates told him that the greatest study for mankind is man. The Brahmin retorted: “How can you know man until you know Gods”. This God is the raison d’être of that which is known and knowable.
Thus man finds himself driven to a study of the beyond. It is very well to say: Be contented with the present. But if man rests content with the present and gives up search into the beyond, mankind will have to go back to the animal plane. It is religion, the inquiry into the beyond that makes the difference between man and animal. Man is the only animal that naturally looks upwards; every other animal naturally looks down. That looking upward and seeking perfection is salvation.
Again and again you hear this objection: “What good can religion doIJ Can it take away povertyIJ” Supposing it cannot, would that prove the untruth of religionIJ
Can religion really accomplish anythingIJ It can; it brings to man eternal life. It has made man what he is and will make of this human animal a god. Sense-happiness is not the goal of humanity. Wisdom (Jnâna) is the goal of all life. The highest wisdom must be spiritual knowledge, with this will come bliss. Are we to discover new truths of religion as we go onIJ 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.
So, can such a unity be foundIJ 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.
Excerpts from Swami Vivekananda’s discourses