Practical Vedanta

Practical Vedantaof my own soul, the nearer I am to the universal soul.We live in one body. We have some pain, some pleasure. Just for this littlepleasure we have by living in this body, we are ready to kill everything in theuniverse to preserve ourselves. If we had two bodies. would not that be muchbetter? So on and on to bliss. I am in everybody. Through all hands I work;through all feet I walk. I speak through every mouth; I live in every body. Infinitemy bodies, infinite my minds. I lived in Jesus of Nazareth, in Buddha, inMohammed — in all the great and good of the past, of the present. I am going tolive in all that [may] come afterwards. Is that theory [No, it is the truth.]If you can realise this, how infinitely more pleasurable that will be. What anecstasy of joy! Which one body is so great that we need here anything [of] thebody. . . After living in all the bodies of others, all the bodies there are in thisworld, what becomes of us? [We become one with the Infinite. And] that is thegoal. That is the only way. One [man] says, "If I know the truth, I shall be meltedaway like butter." I wish people would be, but they are too tough to be melted soquickly!What are we to do to be free? Free you are already. . . . How could the free ever bebound? It is a lie. [You were] never bound. How could the unlimited ever belimited by anything? Infinite divided by infinite, added to infinite, multiplied byinfinite [remains] infinite. You are infinite; God is infinite. You are all infinite.There cannot be two existences, only one. The Infinite can never be made finite.You are never bound. That is all. . . . You are free already. You have reached thegoal — all there is to reach. Never allow the mind to think that you have notreached the goal. . . .Whatever we [think] that we become. If you think you are poor sinners youhypnotise yourselves: "I am a miserable, crawling worm." Those who believe inhell are in hell when they die; those who say that they will go to heaven [go toheaven].It is all play. . . . [You may say,] "We have to do something; let us do good." [But]who cares for good and evil? Play! God Almighty plays. That is all. . . .You arethe almighty God playing. If you want to play on the side and take the part of abeggar, you are not [to blame someone else for making that choice]. You enjoybeing the beggar. You know your real nature [to be divine]. You are the king andplay you are a beggar. . . . It is all fun. Know it and play. That is all there is to it.Then practice it. The whole universe is a vast play. All is good because all is fun.This star comes and crashes with our earth, and we are all dead. [That too is fun.]You only think fun the little things that delight your senses! . . .[We are told that there is] one good god here, and one bad god there always on thewatch to grab me the moment I make a mistake. . . . When I was a child I was toldby someone that God watches everything. I went to bed and looked up andexpected the ceiling of the room to open. [Nothing happened.] Nobody iswatching us except ourselves. No Lord except our [own Self]; no nature but whatwe feel. Habit is second nature; it is first nature also. It is all there is of nature. Ifile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selv...ksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (110 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:34 AM