Jnana-Yoga : 4-7.

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CHAPTER-4. Maya and the Evolution of the Conception of God-7.
(Delivered in London, 20th October 1896)

We shall now be in a position to understand the theory of Maya.

In all the regions of the world the one question they propose to discuss is this : -

Why is there disharmony in the universe? Why is there this evil in the universe?

We do not find this question in the very inception of primitive religious ideas, because the world did not appear incongruous to the primitive man, were not inharmonious for him; there was no dash of opinions; to him there was no antagonism of good and evil.

There was merely a feeling in his own heart of something which said yea, and something which said nay. The primitive man was a man of impulse.

He did what occurred to him, and tried to bring out through his muscles whatever thought came into his mind, and he never stopped to judge, and seldom tried to check his impulses.

Swami Vivekananda
To be continued ...


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