A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

MAYA AND ILLUSION. 165a question of time when you and I, and plants, andanimals, and eve} ry particle of life that exists anywheremust come into that Infinite ocean of life, unto freedom,and unto God.Let me repeat, once more, because we always makethe mistake, that the Yedantic position is neither pessimismnor optimism. It does not say that this world is all evilor all good. It says that our evil is of no more value thanour good, and our good of no more value than our evil.They are all bound together in this way. This is the world ;and knowing this you work with patience.What for ?Whyshould we work ? If this is the state of things, whatshall we do ?Why not become agnostics ? The modernagnostics, also know there is no solution of this problem,no getting out of this veil of maya, as we should say inour language ; therefore, be satisfied and enjoy things.Here, again, is a mistake, a tremendous mistake, a mostillogical mistake. And it is this. What do you meanby the life around you ? Do you mean by life only thesenses ? In this every one of us differs only slightlyfrom the brutes. I am sure that no one is present here,whose life is only in the senses. Then this present lifemeans something more than that. Our feelings and thoughtsand all that are part and parcel of our life ;and is not thestruggle towards the great ideal, towards perfection, oneof the most important components of what we call life ?According to the agnostics, we must take care of life as itis. But this life means our little joys and sorrows, and allthat, and, above all, this tremendous search after the ideal,the backbone of life, going towards perfection. We musthave that, and, therefore, we cannot be agnostics, or takethe agnostic world at sight. The agnostic position takesthis life to be all that exists, minus this latter component r