A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"Don190 MAYA AND FREEDOM.(unto me, I cause them to cross this river of "Come life."unto me, allye that labour and are heavy laden, and I willgive you This the voice that rest." is leading us for-?ward. Man has heard it,and is hearing it all throughthe ages. This voice comes to men when everything seemsto be lost, and hopeis flying away, when man s dependence on his own strength has been crushed down,and when everything seems to melt away between hisfingers, and life is a hopeless ruin. Then he hears it.This is called Religion.On the one side, therefore, is the bold assertion, themost hopeful assertion, to realise that this is all nonsense,this is Maya, but beyond Maya there is a way out. On theother hand our practical men tell ustyou botheryour heads about such nonsense as Religion and Metaphysics. Live here ;this is a very bad world, indeed, butmake the best of it." Which put in plain language meanslive a hypocritical, lying life, a life of continuous fraud,covering all sores the best way you can. Go on, patchafter patch, until everything is lost, and you are a massof patchwork. This is what is called practical life. Thosethat are satisfied with this patchwork will never come toReligion. Religion begins with a tremendous dissatisfactionwith the present state of things, with our own lives, ahatred, an intense hatred for this patching up of life,anunbounded disgust for fraud and lies. He alone can bereligious who dares stand up and say as the mighty Buddhaonce said under the Bo-tree, when this idea of practicalityappeared also before him and he found it was all nonout. And once camesense, and yet could not find a waythe temptation, give up this search, give up the search oftruth, go back to the world andlive the old life of fraud,calling things by wrong names, telling lies to yourselves