Jnana-Yoga :2-11.

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CHAPTER -2. THE REAL NATURE OF MAN : 11.

(Delivered in London)


People are frightened when they are told this.

They will again and again ask you if they are not going to keep their individuality.

What is individuality?

I should like to see it.

A baby has no moustache; when he grows to be a man, perhaps he has a moustache and beard.

His individuality would be lost, if it were in the body.

If I lose one eye, or if I lose one of my hands, my individuality would be lost if it were in the body.

Then, a drunkard should not give up drinking because he would lose his individuality.

A thief should not be a good man because he would thereby lose his individuality.

No man ought to change his habits for fear of this.

There is no individuality except in the Infinite.

That is the only condition which does not change.

Everything else is in a constant state of flux.

Neither can individuality be in memory.

Suppose, on account of a blow on the head I forget all about my past; then, I have lost all individuality; I am gone.

I do not remember two or three years of my childhood, and if memory and existence are one, then whatever I forget is gone.

That part of my life which I do not remember, I did not live.

That is a very narrow idea of individuality.

Swami Vivekananda
To be continued  ...


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