A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

146 THE FREEDOM OF THE SOUL.neither father nor mother, nor birthnor death, nor friendnor foe, for I am Existence, Knowledge and Bliss Absolute ;I am the Blissful One, I am the Blissful One. I am notbound either by virtue or vice, by happiness or misery.Pilgrimages and books and the Vedas, and all theseceremonials can never bind me. I do not eat, the body isnot mine, nor the superstitions that come to the body, northe decay that comes to the body, for I am Existence,Knowledge and Bliss Absolute I am the Blissful; One, Iam the Blissful One."This, says the Vedanta, is the only prayer that themasses should have. This is the only way to reach thegoal, to tell ourself, and to tell everybody else that weare He. And as you go on repeating, strength comes.He who limps at first will get stronger and stronger, thevoice will increase in volume until it takes possession ofour hearts and ideas, and will course through our veins,and permeateall our body. The delusion will vanish at>the sunlight becomes more and more effulgent, load afterload of ignorance will vanish, and then will come a timewhen the whole has disappeared and the Sun, and the Sunalone, will be left. This Vedantic idea of course to manyseems very terrible, but that is, just as I have said, onaccount of superstition. There are people in this countrywho, if I told them there was no such being as the devil,will think all religion is gone. Many people have said tome, how can there be religion without a devil ?They say,how can there be religion without someone to direct us ?How can we live without being ruled by somebody ? Welike to be so treated. We have become used to it andlike it. We are not happyuntil we feel we have beenreprimanded by somebody every day. The same super-