A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"VEDANTA IN INDIAN LIFE. 411)content, self-satisfied, as the Gita says, Those that havebecbmesatisfied in the Atman, those who do not wantanything beyond Atman, what work is there for them ?Why should ?"they drudge He catches a glimpse, then againhe forgets, he goes on eating the sweet and bitter fruits*of life, he forgets everything again ; perhaps after a time..1*5 catches another glimpse, perhaps the lower bird ^omesnearer and X^earer, as blows are received ;if he be fortunateto receive hard knocks, then he comes nearer and nearerto the other bird, his companion, his life, his friend, andas he goes nearer he finds that the light from the otherbird is playing round his own plumage and as it comesnearerand nearer, lo ! the transformation is going on.He finds himself melting away, nearer and nearer still hehasgone, he has entirely disappeared. He did notexist ;it was but the reflection of the other bird, whowas there calm and majestic on those moving leaves,,it was he always, always so calm. It was his glory ofthat upper bird s. No mure fear ; perfectly satisfied,,calmly serene, he remains. In this figure the Upanishac?takes you from Dualistic to the utmost Adwaitic conception. Examples can be added to examples, we haveno time in this lecture to do that, to show the marvellouspoetry of the Upanishads, the painting of the sublime,the grand conceptions ; but one ,other idea, the languageandthe thought and everything come direct, they fall uponyou like a sword blade, like a hammer blow they come. Nomistakingtheir meanings. Every tone of that music isfirm and produces its full effect ;no gyrations, no madwords, no intricacies in which the brain is lost. Signs ofdegradation are not there ;no attempts at too much allegorising, too much piling of adjectives, makingit moreandmore intricate till the whole of the sense is and1lost,