Jnana-Yoga : - 1-5.

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CHAPTER  : I - THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION-5.


But by this time the search had begun, and the search was inward, arid man continued inquiring more deeply into the different stages of the mind and discovered higher states than either the waking or the dreaming.

This state of things we find in all the organised religions of the world, called either ecstasy or inspiration.

In all organised religions, their founders, prophets, and messengers are declared to have gone into states of mind that were neither waking nor sleeping, in which they came face to face with a new series of facts relating to what is called the spiritual kingdom.

They realised things there much more intensely than we realise facts around us in our waking state.

Take, for instance, the religions of the Brahmins.

The Vedas are said to be written by Rishis.

These Rishis were sages who realised certain facts.

The exact definition of the Sanskrit word Rishi is a Seer of Mantras — of the thoughts conveyed in the Vedic hymns.

These men declared that they had realised — sensed, if that word can be used with regard to the supersensuous — certain facts, and these facts they proceeded to put on record.

We find the same truth declared amongst both the Jews and the Christians.

Swami Vivekananda
To be continued  ...


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