When we Desire we Hypnotise Ourselves

Book 5: 10 classes in New York, 5 lectures in

London, 1 in California and others.

All the misery of the world is caused

by this slavery to the senses. Our

inability to rise above the sense-life –

this striving for physical pleasures.

Then the ‘Teacher-Within’ speaks –

the Teacher of all teachers; eternal

wisdom speaks in that person’s heart.

Slowly you get into the chambers of your

mind to achieve this control.

This Path proposes no faith, no belief,

no God, just impersonal principles.

(Mystical Seeking/Raja Yoga. Ch 4).

Just cock-and-bull stories. My God! Ch. 22.

© Dorkaz Press, Lübeck, Germany. 2025.

www.dorkaz.de

Mastery of the Mind (East) vs Knowledge Accumulation (West)

Swamiji – ‘As Buddha had a message for the East,

I have a message for the West’.

‘He told us in plain and forceful language what

he thought of us – and it was not flattering.’

And, ‘One feels the power is still there, 50 years later’. Swamiji’s recorder, Ida Ansell, 1953.

Mastery over the mind means the control of

everything. Limiting possessions strengthens the willpower. It frees up time to think. A strong will

leads to mastery.

‘I don’t care if all the other guests leave, this Indian is the most brilliant and interesting man who has ever been in our home and he shall stay as long as he wishes’ –

John B. Lyon to his wife. Sep 1893, Chicago.

   Just as the millions of suns seen in the droplets

of spray are reflecting the one sun, so are the

millions of souls reflecting The One Soul.

  It is the heart which takes one to the highest

   plane, which the intellect can never reach – it

    reaches to what is called inspiration.

      This book follows The Path of The Heart.

 Chap    Page        Title

   1  –      26        ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS.

The extraordinary Minister John Hopps has Swamiji give 5 sermons in the middle of his Sunday services to 400 Christian worshippers.

What amazement as the brown-skinned Swamiji walks up to the front in his flaming orange Monk’s robe and turban, and with crimson sash and gives his ‘Christian’ sermon.

First Unitarian and Free Christian Church, West Croydon, London.

8 Nov 1896.

Thanks: Vivekanandaabroad.blog.com.                                                                                                                                                                                                               

1- There may be various roads to go to the same place. 2- Besides God, all things are merely related to each other. 3- In this relative world of ours, various truths can be expressions of that One Reality behind. 4- This is to be understood. 5- The more one goes to the external, the more variation. The more one goes to the internal, the more the unity. 6- The nearer we are to God, the nearer we are to each other. 7- This earth of ours has been deluged in blood in the name of religion. 8- Religion consists of feeling, seeing God. 9- They also declare that persons receiving these messages are not a few. 10- All of them declare they saw! 11- Religion consists in everyone of you becoming prophets. 12- If you preach God, have you seen Him/It? 13- How much more must He/It exist than our feelings, our senses? 14- The more we go towards that realisation, the less the fight. 15- These are all walls between us and God’s voice. 16- That for many persons there is no use for a God. 17- They do not know! 18- How can you have a brotherhood without that unity? 19- Leave God aside and it all falls to the ground. 20- The one Heart, the one Soul of our Souls, the Soul of the universe, the Soul of your Soul and my Soul. 21- The body is a constantly changing mass. 22- Yet behind all these different Souls is another unity which never changes, the never dying, The Almighty, that unity is the Soul of your Soul, and of my Soul. 23- That the only temple in which He lives is the human Soul. 24- The human Soul is the only temple, here we go to worship. 25- To look for God anywhere else, even in the heavens, would be useless. 26- These veils will have vanished, then everything is explained.

   2 –     32        THE RELIGION OF INDIA.

‘The Song of The Free Soul’.

Such will come to your heart. Seek nothing else!

Be Your Own Self!       

Greenacre Conference.

Eliot, Maine. 27-July to 12-August 1894.

CW 9.

Recorded by Emma Thursby.

1- The Teacher is your own Higher Self. 2- If you know you are bound, then you are bound! 3- If you Know you are Free, then you are Free! 4- Swerve not from the path taken. 5- All good thoughts are immortal. 6- Concentrating … so as to discover That One in the many. 7- The ‘Law of laws’ is concentration. 8. Send me to a thousand hells! But let me love You for love’s sake!

   3 –       35          THE WOMEN OF INDIA

Along the same lines, the daughters are to be educated – exactly as the boys.

What is The Soul?

House of Frances Willard,

Cambridge. MA, USA.

17 Dec 1894.  CW 9.                               

One of Swamiji’s first lectures.

Recorded by Mrs. Willard’s stenographer

1- The Vedas were not written in India – perhaps on the coast of the Baltic, perhaps in Central Asia – we do not know. 2- ‘I am the Empress, the Fulfiller of all prayers’. 2- A large portion of these Vedas carry words spoken by women. Their names recorded, with the teachings. 3- What is The Soul? 4- I will quote a passage from her life that is very much suited to the ladies of this country. 5- I found that I was his and he was mine. 6- Along the same lines, the daughters are to be educated – exactly as the boys. 7- If the husband dies with no child born, the whole of his property goes to her, regardless. 8- The state of Rajputana has been managed wonderfully well whenever it has been managed by a woman. 9- The very peculiarity of Hindu women, which they have developed and which is the idea of their life, is that of the mother. 10- In teaching morality the Vedas say – “Let the mother be your God”. 11- Why should the Hindu mother be worshipped? 12- Whatever good impulse I have was given to me by my mother. 13- Why we worship mothers as Gods. 14- He indeed is a learned man who looks upon all women as his mother. 15- Perhaps in this new land, America, you may bring in that new civilisation – and, perhaps, through American women.

   4  –   53          THE SCIENCE OF BREATHING

Achieving mastery of my mind is true education.

Slowly you get into the chambers of the mind to achieve this control.

This Path proposes no faith, no belief, no God, just impersonal principles. (Mystical Seeking/Raja-Yoga).

Washington Hall, Red Men’s Building. SF.

29 March 1900.   CW 1.

1- The Life Force [Prana]. The Light of Understanding. 2- For you, the cart is before the horse. The body is master of the mind. 3- This way is difficult. The embodied mind tries it with great difficulty. 4- This system uses the powers in the body to produce certain mental states that strengthen the mind gradually, till it regains its lost empire! 6- They are different whirlpools in this ocean of the mind, The Unity. Thus the play is going on and on. In reality, this Unity is never broken. 7- We look at the one fact from various standpoints. 8- We are never Deluded. We always know The Truth, only our reading is mistaken at times. 9- God is seen as all things by our senses. 10- The single sun will be seen as a thousand little suns when reflected by the droplets of spray. The universe is one and many at the same time. The millions of waves do not destroy the unity of the ocean. 11- ‘It’ is One and ‘It’ is many at the same time. 12- If you think thought cannot be manufactured, stop eating for 10 days and see how you feel! Thought comes from food. 13- We want to get at something finer than the breath. 14- We grasp the pack thread of the nerves, the stout twine of the thoughts, the rope of our ‘Life-Force’. Controlling them we reach Freedom. 15- Even through a gross thing as the breath we can get hold of the Spirit. 16- By the exercise of breathing we will begin to feel the movements in the body we do not feel now. Then we begin to master them. 17- Regularity of deep breathing will purify the body. 18- Some do not do anything without consulting the breath. 19- If progress is possible it is by regulating the mind. 20- Every drop has the whole ocean in it! Who can put a limit to the power of the mind? 21- It is absolutely necessary that every individual can become Divine. My senses are then my servants, not my masters. 22- Achieving mastery of my mind is true education. 23- The power of detachment. I would give half my life to take my mind off that object! 24- There is only one science that can teach facts, psychology. And it begins with controlling the breath. 25- Slowly and gradually you get into the chambers of your mind to achieve this control. 26- This Path proposes no faith, no belief, no God, just impersonal principles. 27- I beg you not to be merely curious. Practise a few days, if you do not find any benefit come and curse me! 28- Duty is what pleases slaves.

   5 –    65          THE IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGY.

All the misery of the world is caused by this slavery with the senses. Our inability to rise above the sense life – the striving for physical pleasures.

CW 6. Unknown place, date.

1- We have a little sensuous consciousness and imagine that to be our entire mind. 2- We are all slaves to our senses. 3- We are all slaves to our own mind. We are helpless! Forced onward. 4- This great boundless ocean of subjective mind is full of the past. We obey blindly! 5- The ghosts of the past hold us down. 6- This striving for physical pleasure is the cause of all the miseries/depression. 7- To teach us to hold in check the wild gyrations of the mind. 8- The controlled mind will save us, free us. 9- Every mystical crank claims his data is reliable but it is just his own imaginings. 10- The results of all who study the mind deeply are the same. 11- By the control of the sub-conscious mind you get control of the conscious mind

     Josiah Goodwin has just been employed as the stenographer to record Swamiji’s lectures – early Dec-1895. His accuracy is exceptional – these are Swamiji’s exact words – for the 10 New York classes and the 5 London lectures. 

    6 –   71       INTRODUCTION TO GNANA-YOGA/UNION.

The Path of Knowledge.

Kant was the first to arrive at this analysis of  the mind but it was stated in the Vedas long ago.

This Unit exists, but is looked at through the lens of the mind, by projecting.

This ‘I’ is the result of impressions, projections, it is no Reality.   

The Real Self is intelligence, beyond the material mind.

228 W 39 th St. NY. Class in his rooms.

11 Dec 1895  am. CW 6.

1– One cannot get at The Truth by external methods. 2- If we know The Human Soul, we know the whole of nature. 3- The Path of Knowledge is the surest way of analysing your own minds. 4- Only when the mind reacts is the object truly perceived. 5- This “I” is the result of impressions [projections], it is no Reality. 6- The Real Self is intelligence, beyond the material mind. 7- The universe is seen through our perceptive faculty [making projections]. 8- Kant [1724-1804] was the first to arrive at this analysis of the mind, but it was stated in the Vedas long ago. 9- Anything beyond our mind must be beyond time, space and causation. 10- Any properties we give to ‘It’ are from our own projecting. 11- The result varies constantly, yet ‘X’ remains unchanged. 12- This Unit exists, but is looked at through the lens of the mind, by projecting. 13- ‘That’ ‘Without Difference’ is the Perfect Condition. 14- The question is impossible, ‘That’‘Without Difference’ has no cause and effect, It is beyond time, space and causation. 15- The ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’ are in the mind only. 16- The Self is beyond causation, and It alone is Free. Its Light percolates through every form of mind. 17- The will is the first expression of The Real Self. 18- But The True Being/You has never been in this mix. It is illusion. You never had a will! 19- What then is the value of life? It is to give us experience.

   7 – 78        THE PRACTICE OF YOGA/UNION.

Frugal, moral living with sitting still.

OJAS – The force expressed in sexual powers.    CW 6

1- The best times for meditation are at dawn and at twilight. 2- Lastly join your mind to your breath and attain the power of concentrating on its movements. 3- THE OJAS. 4- The Ojas give a tremendous power of attraction. It is the force expressed in the sexual powers. 5- A large amount of the sexual energy is stored in the Sacral Plexus. 6- Super-consciousness forces the stored Ojas up the spinal cord from the Sacral Plexus. 7- As the current of the Ojas travels from one centre to another, You travel from one plane of existence to another. 8- All experiences of the Spirit are possible in the human body. We do not need another.

 8-      81     EACH IS GREAT IN THEIR OWN PLACE.

Karma Yoga/Union. The Path of Work.

Your actions show you to be a coward. Stand up and fight! (God telling King Arjuna before his final battle).

If you want to, then renounce, live like the Monk to whom the most beautiful woman and a kingdom were as nothing.

228 W 39th St. NY.  Class.

13 December 1895.    CW 1.

1- The 3 energies/traits: Balanced, Active and Lethargic. 2- The Path of Work deals with these 3 factors. 3- Two ways are open to us: that of the ignorant and that of the wise. 4- They taught that non-resistance is the highest moral idea, but if put into practice the whole social fabric would fall to pieces! 5- Our first duty is to have faith in ourselves. 6- In the Song of the Gita, God calls King Arjuna a hypocrite for not facing up to what he must do. 7- A beggar cannot renounce. But we, having the power, do a grand act of love. 8- Your actions show you to be a coward! Stand up and fight! 9- Such is the central idea of the Path of Work. 10- Plunge into this world! Only after suffering and enjoying all that’s in it, will renunciation come then followed by calmness. 11- These ideas of serenity and renunciation have been preached for thousands of years. 12- Unity in variety is the plan of creation. 13- You must first come and live as I do for a few days. 14- The town-crier was proclaiming that the princess was about to choose a husband. 15- ”Move on!” she said, if not pleased with the suitor! 16- The princess could not find a husband handsome enough. 17- As soon as she saw the handsome Monk she selected him. 18- Nonsense! I do not want to marry! 19- The young Monk vanished into his forest. 20- Now a bird, his wife and three little ones lived in a nest on that tree. 21- Live ready to sacrifice yourself for others. 22- If you want to renounce, live like the Monk to whom the most beautiful woman and a kingdom were as nothing.

   9 –     98   THE FIRST STEPS. RAJA YOGA/UNION.

The Path of Mystic Seeking.

228 W 39th St. NY. Class in his rooms.

14 Dec 1895.    CW 6

1- Let the whole weight of the body be supported by the ribs. 2- As so great an authority as Shankara advises it, it must be mentioned – the purifying of the nerves. 3- Practice is absolutely necessary. 4- We always feel doubt about things we do not know. But in a few days of practice a glimpse will come, to give encouragement. 5- We must remember the goal is the liberation of the Soul. 6- The body is the name of a series of changes. 7- Controlling the breathing. 8- You must practice twice per day. 9- Have no anger or unholy thought in that room.

10 – 109     THE FIRST STEPS, BHAKTI YOGA/UNION.

The Path of Love.

If we desire only sense-enjoyments, we go down to the ‘brute state’.

Each person will find there is something higher, of which they did not know.

228 W 39th St. NY. Class.

16 Dec 1895  pm.    CW 5.

1- We are a body and have a Soul or, we are a Soul and have a body. 2- If you ask why a person lives, it is to enjoy the senses, possessions and wealth. 3- No person was ever born who could eat that way the pig does! 4- The lower the person also, the more delight they find in the senses. 5- The amount of energy spent on one area limits that available for another. 6- If we desire only sense-enjoyments, we go down to the ‘brute state’. 7- They are like swine wallowing in the mire of the senses. 8- Each person will find there is something higher, of which they did not know. 9- The Sage on the Path of Love does not want to go to heaven because he thinks it is child’s play. 10- We can never conceive anything higher. 11- You cannot really love anything but God. 12- ‘That’s’ love knows no change and is ever ready to take us in. 13- How long would any of you bear with me if I injured you? 14- Let us struggle therefore. 15- When that Sun bursts upon them, a person becomes mad. 16- They will never rise higher. They will always be a slave to the senses. 17- You and I are materialists. Our talking is simply the vogue. 18- Then one day along comes Death. 19- Following the Path of Love is a religion. 20- You will feel the necessity of something beyond the world. 21- The Path of Love is not for the fashion seeker. 22- All these lower desires seem like a drop in the ocean. 23- By reading books we become parrots! 24- What is the use of robbing beggars? You must rob the king’s treasury. 25- So if you want to really love, love God. 26- It is better to be an atheist than to have such an idea of religion.

 11 – 121                  WHAT IS DUTY?

The Path of Work.  Karma-Yoga/Union.   

Duty is seldom sweet. Love greases its wheels.

Perhaps that is why the Chinese call Europeans and Americans ‘Foreign Devils’!

228 W 39th St. NY. Beginners’ class.

20 Dec 1895  pm.  CW 1.

1- To give an objective definition of duty is impossible. 2- At the Chicago Fair a man pulled at my turban. On speaking English to him he became very much abashed [Swamiji wore the Hindu monk’s bright orange garb]. 3- Another man gave me a push. When I spoke English to him he stammered an apology. 4- Perhaps that is why the Chinese call Europeans and Americans ‘Foreign Devils’. 5- Duty is seldom sweet. Love greases its wheels. 6- Chastity is the first virtue. 7- The position of the Mother is the highest in the world. 8- How dare you throw dry leaves on my head! 9- Boy! Don’t be thinking too much of yourself! 10- You will find a butcher who will tell you something you will be very glad to learn. 11- The ‘Butcher’s Song’. It contains one of the highest flights of Vedanta. 12- Why are you in that body? Why are you doing such filthy work? 13- I neither know your Yoga, nor am I a Monk, nor do I live in a forest. 14- He told me the secret of work. ‘Let the end and the means be joined into one’. 15- When you are doing any work, do not think of anything beyond. Give it your whole heart while doing it. 16- The result was they became Illumined [Awakened, Free]. 17- It is the worker who is attached to results who grumbles. 18- We are all apt to think too highly of ourselves.

 12 – 131             THE TEACHER OF SPIRITUALITY.

Path of Love.   Bahkti-Yoga/Union.

A person can have gigantic intellectual power without the least development of their Soul.

You only require to feel the sermon on the mount.

What is behind this remarkable intellect? – Zero! Nothing, simply so much froth!

When the heart has been opened, it can receive teaching.

228 W 39th St. NY. Class.

23 Dec 1895 am.  CW 6.

1- The Soul can receive an impulse only from another Soul. 2- As soon as the field is ready the seed must come. 3- The danger of mistaking momentary emotion for real Spiritual yearning. 4- To look into Our Own Souls and find whether we really want it. 5- The one great condition, purity in every way, 6- To want Spirituality is a very difficult thing. 7- Those who let the mind run in the force of words lose the Spirit. 8- The network of words is like a huge forest where the mind gets lost. Those are simply desirous to show learning. 9- They were all counting the leaves. Only one had the sense to eat the mangoes! 10- You have never seen a strong Spiritual person among these ‘leaf-counters’! 11- You only require to feel the Sermon on the Mount. 12- One can have gigantic intellectual power without the least development of their Soul. 13- It is only through love that Spiritual forces are conveyed. 14- No one can teach a single grain of thruth until they have it in themselves. 15- When the heart has been opened, it can receive teaching. 16- Give me a dollars’ worth of Spirituality. Cannot I pay for it? 17- It will not come until you find a Teacher! 18- Tread Softly! Take off your shoes! Where you stand is sacred ground! 19- We cannot help worshipping them. They are the only Beings we are bound to worship. 20- What is behind this remarkable intellect? Zero! Simply So Much Froth! 21- They think of something huge – blue skies, the sea! How else can you think of God? 22- They are mistaken. Beware! Their spirituality is for frothy thinkers! 23- I would rather worship Him by fasting than by feasting – by praying. 24- When These Great Ones are thought of, they express themselves in Our Souls! We become like Them! 25- The whole Human Soul will change. Their whole life will be Spiritualised. From every pore, Spiritual power will emanate. 26- Christ’s words will roll on and on – a gigantic magazine [store of ammunition] of power. Inexhaustible. 27- The power of purity is a definite power. That’s what we seek.

   13 – 145            THE NEED FOR SYMBOLS

The Path of Love.  Bahkti-Yoga/Union.

The increased want is like throwing butter on the fire increasing the flames.

This desire for heaven is a desire for enjoyment. It is too vulgar!

228 W 39th St. NY. Class in his rooms.

23 Dec 1895  pm.  CW 6.

  1- Yet these ceremonies are necessary. 2- Spirituality consists in Realisation. 3- With most, Spirituality is an intellectual assent and goes no further than a document. 4- You have to find out the way to see The Soul. True Spirituality must show us The Soul, show us God, show us The Truth in ourselves. 5- Then there are some who want a sensation. 6- They weaken the mind, bring disorder and a hopeless muddle. 7- It is not learning, but Being. 8- Only what you are and what you have Realised matters, no amount that you may have stuffed into your brain – of doctrines or philosophies or books, will matter. 9- This Realisation is a long process. 10- First: the lower phase of worship – Rituals of Love. 11- So there are forms through which the mind takes this concrete exercise. 12- The final idea is that my Spirituality cannot be yours nor your mine. 13- Then there are words! 14- We think symbolically. 15- Such praying, “shop-keeping”, is a beggar’s Spirituality. 16- This body will go! Who cares! 17- In these beggar’s rags we cannot enter. This is the Emperor of emperors. 18- They are slaves, bound by law, puppets in the hand of nature. 19- We are always multiplying our wants. We are so unhinged with this morbid desire. 20- Must have unnatural food, unnatural excitement. 21- 200 years ago people had few wants but with more knowledge, these increased rapidly – always wanting! 22- The increased want is like throwing butter on the fire increasing the flames. 23- This desire for heaven is a desire for enjoyment. It is too vulgar.

 14 – 154                THE TEACHER WITHIN.

Then the ‘Teacher-Within’ speaks – the Teacher of all teachers; eternal wisdom speaks in that person’s heart.

BHAKTI-YOGA/UNION. The Path of Love.

He, a fanatical Muslim, like a Presbytarian here, the same breed. Both believe in barbecuing for eternity!

Do not think of eating the chicken when you are saying the name of the Most Blissful God!

As you are going to meet your heavenly lover you should not notice that I, a girl, am there!

Those men that go to church to look at the beautiful faces of the women!

228 W 39th St. NY. Class in his rooms.

20 Jan 1896 am.    CW 9.

1- I want to see that Rama form of yours. 2- So when the seed of Spirituality is growing, it is no good to fritter away the energies on different Spiritual ideas. 3- Each has their own Chosen Way. 4- This plant of Spirituality has grown, The Soul has become strong, you begin to realise your Ideal is everywhere. 5- So we will have to grow in this thought. 6- Unadjusted ideas, the battle of Waterloo in the brain – are no good! You must have devotion to one idea, the One Ideal. 7- Take up one idea, your Chosen Ideal, let the whole Soul be devoted to it, then practise until The Soul grows. 8- The story of the worshipper of Shiva. 9- It is very easy to hate. The world is full of these fanatical demons. 10- The danger with the liberals is they are too expansive and have no intensity. 11- Here ends the first part of the Path of Love. 12- What are the necessary qualifications for the disciple? 13- Those will become Spiritual who really want it. 14- The second qualification for the disciple is to be pure. 15- The Preparatory step on the Path of Love. 16- It was taught how humility and reverence are necessary. 17- The story of the ignorant cowherd and the Sage from the forest. 18- You Blockhead! Go home and tend your cows! 19- Day and night he took that bull for God, began to worship it. 20- ‘My son, my son’. The bull is speaking! No, the bull cannot speak. 21- He found that God was in him. That wonderful truth, ‘I am with you always’. 22- He comes – changed, transfigured, the Light of Heaven shining round his face. 23- ”I got everything out of that bull! For is He not everywhere?” 24- Then the ‘Teacher-Within’ speaks – the Teacher of all teachers; eternal wisdom speaks in the heart of that person. 25- All these forms are preparations, until that Eternal Energy wakes up. 26- Then alone comes Spirituality, when one goes beyond these laws. 27- On this Path to be the Supreme Lover, these superstitions will fly away and only The Soul remains. 28- Even into the brains of babies are put diabolical nonsense. 29- They are all atheists, grovelling in some group or another. 30- The first thing they will do is join a church. 31- Those men that go to church to look at the beautiful faces of women. 32- What you want, you get. Those that love That, all come to That. 33- ‘Guru’ Nanak, a great prophet, from 1500 ca. 34- The only punishment, instant death. Kill him! 35- Do not think of eating the chicken when you say the name of the Most Blissful God! 36- He was a fanatical Muslim, like a Presbytarian here, the same breed! Both believe in barbecuing eternally! 37- Going to meet your heavenly lover you should not notice I am there!

  15 – 169               WHEN WE DESIRE WE HYPNOTISE OURSELVES!                          

MUNDAKA FOREST BOOK.

Gnana-Yoga/Union class. The Path of Knowledge.

All fiction! The Soul can never come nor go.

In this body are two birds: one is the Human Soul, eating the sweet and sour fruits of life. The other is God Himself, no fruit, just looking on!

These are the mythologies of our country, it is all hypnosis!

228 W 39th St. NY. Class.

29 Jan 1896  pm. CW 9.

 1- It is the only science by which we reach The Unchangeable. 2- The Absolute – ‘That’ from Whom everything comes. 3- The Mundaka Forest Book. 4- Fools are they who think rituals and doing good works have nothing higher. 5- The Sage throws away all duties and wants to know ‘That’, getting which, there is no more change. 6- To that disciple in whom all those vexatious desires have calmed down, the Teacher teaches The Way. 7- Then comes what Angiras taught. 8- From ‘That’ comes the mind. 9- Place on the bow the sharpened arrow of worship. Now, how to stretch that bow? By making the mind become ‘That’. 10- What is the use of all other talk? Know ‘That’ alone. 11- Just as all the spokes of a wheel meet at the hub, the body has that ‘hub’ from where all the arteries flow out and the veins flow back to meet, the heart! 12- All doubts will vanish. All work will vanish. 13- When ‘That’ shines within, the whole person shines! 14- There is nothing so spiritually sublime as that found in the Forest Books. 15- In this body are two birds: one is the Human Soul, eating the sweet and sour fruits of life. The other is God Himself, no fruit, just looking on! 16- But the lower bird knows he is weak, he is a slave and tells lies. 17- Knowing this, The Sage speaks not. Gives up all criticising, thinking evil of anyone. 18- All fiction! The Soul can never come nor go. 19- What nonsense! How can The Soul have any gender? 20- Some fools have hypnotised themselves that they have bodies and wives! I have also hypnotised myself. We are all in the same boat!

 16 –  185       HISTORY OF THE ARYAN RACE

Gnana-Yoga/Union. The Path of Knowledge.

Non-resistance is the greatest strength. In meekness and mildness lies the greatest strength. In suffering there is a greater strength than in    doing. In resisting one’s own passions there is a far greater strength.

India is the only nation that never went beyond its frontiers to cut the throats of its neighbours.

It is a cheerful religion, joyful, at times hilarious! Not a bit of pessimism.

39 Victoria St. London, (Hall takes 500).

7 May 1896, CW 9.

1- William Jones [1746-1794. Calcutta Judge, Linguist]. He found a large number of Sanskrit words were the same in Latin. 2- The Lithuanian language is surprisingly close to Sanskrit. 3- These are theories, mere conjecture and guesses. 4- The Lotus flower, sacred with energies, only grows in India, yet it is found on walls in Ancient Egyptian temples. 5- Of all the books or literature, the oldest are Sanskrit – in the Vedas. 6- The Vedas were not written, they were taught orally, father to son, Sage to disciple. 7- They  rush in. That is why they fail so much and have to make fresh theories every five years. 8- Religion was the first idea to spring out of the heart of the human. 9- All knowledge was confined to the priests, being the first thinkers [closed-shop education. Like the Druids.] 10- Then later, astronomy and astrology were considered very holy subjects. 11- Almost the largest portion of the Vedas has been lost. 12- The Vedas are divided into four: Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, Atharva-Veda. 13- Every nation wanted to invade India for its fabled wealth. 14- Some of the most stupendous creations of art were lost. 15- When these waves of invaders burst in, books, literature, civilisation, all were submerged. 16- There is a vitality in the nation, perhaps it comes from non-resistance. Resisting one’s own passions is far higher. 17- It is the only nation that never went beyond its frontiers to cut the throats of its neighbours. 18- Three quarters of the wealth of the world has come out of India. 19- Then the Arabs created a wall between Venice and India [to monopolise the trade]. 20- We are the only race that can be called immortal, that can never be killed. Fighting for The Truths of Spirituality. A beacon! It is much higher not to resist, much higher to suffer! 21- Where are the Romans? Gone! Vanished like the morning dew. 22- Generally, vulgur minds cannot grasp any fine movement. 23- Everyone sees the body, very few see the mind 24- All the time it was not spoken at home. It was only the language of the learned. 25- The Vedas have three groups: Samhitas, Brahmanas, Forest Books. 26- ‘That’ is the One Being. Sages call ‘That’ variously. 27- Mummies will come out and begin to walk the streets again! 28- The Aryans had the idea that This Soul is not the body. 29- Three quarters of the mythology of the Vedas is the same as the Greeks have. 30- It is a cheerful religion, joyful, at times hilarious! Not a bit of pessimism. 31- These words have mystical power. When said in a certain mental state, they produce a certain effect.

  17 – 206      GOD IN EVERYTHING

This life in the 5 senses is not at all a life! It is only a small portion, merely superficial!

They have been great teachers – the things we wish we had never done, the failures. But still progress, I am still glad for them!

Failures are natural. They are the beauty of life. It would be not worth having if it were not for the struggles.   

Most in this life are groping through the dark without any ideal at all.

This ignorance is the idea of separation, see that it is all One!

39 Victoria St, London.

27th Oct 1896.   CW 2.

1- This life in only the 5 senses is not a life at all! It is a small portion, merely superficial. 2- We had better terminate our existence! Give up life, say these religions. 3- I would choose a hundred times to have a little heart and no brain, than all brains and no heart. 4- Now and then they will tumble into pitfalls when following only the heart. 5- Let everyone have an infinite amount of heart and feeling. 6- Vedanta seeks to teach the Deification of the world. 7- That you see God in your wife. You see God in your children. 8- Give up the world you have conjectured, upon poor reasoning. A false world, a dream, Delusion [projections]. 9- Your desire is not fulfilled – the result is distress! 10- They have been great teachers – the things we wish we had never done, the failures. But still progress, I am still glad for them. 11- Put everything in the Lord – God is in the wealth you enjoy. 12- The Truth we have been searching for was all the time within us. In our ignorance, we thought we had lost it. 13- Who enjoys the painting – the seller or the seer? 14- I never read any more beautiful concept of God than this. 15- When we have given up desires, then alone shall we be able to enjoy. 16- So work, putting God in everything, knowing God to be in everything. 17- We have seen how false desires are the cause of our depression. 18- What is a world of demons? Vedanta says ignorance! 19- Yet perhaps each means exactly what the other is expressing, but in a different language. 20- As soon as I mix with the world and collect a few blows, the idea vanishes. 21- We make grand resolutions of strength but when the ‘dogs‘ of trials and temptation bark, we run! 22- Most are groping through the dark without any ideal at all. 23- Failures are natural. They are the beauty of life. It would be not worth having if it were it not for the struggles. 24- Take your time and you will achieve your end. 25- There is no more Delusion for them. 26- This ignorance is the idea of separation, ‘dozens-of-them’. 27- This separation does not exist, it is not real. 28- They grope in darkness, who worship things of this ignorant world.

   18 – 219      UNITY IN DIVERSITY

You are the makers of your own fortunes.

You put your hands over your eyes and say it is dark. Remove your hands!

This mind, so Deluded, so easily led astray, it may catch a glimpse of that Knowledge, that Oneness and become strong.

These laws do not govern you. Go beyond them. You are not the slave of nature. Be Free!

I thought a cave would give me clearer vision, not so! Then a forest – not so! The same mind followed.

39 Victoria St. London.

3 Nov 1896. CW 2.    

1- The core, the heart centre, the innermost Reality – words for The Soul. 2- Understanding immortality, the wise never seek for The Eternal in this life of finite things. 3- The only thing infinite in ourselves is our Soul. 4- The Seer, He who is awake in the Internal Person. 5- In the old Rig-Veda we find the word ”immortality” used for these Gods but it is later dropped. 6- Life and death, they are different expressions of the same unit, they must go together. 7- The argument against my statement is; all that is evil is being reduced, eventually to be eliminated. It is a fallacy! 8- Take the lowest person, their happiness is only in the sense-plane. 9- Their sense-enjoyment will evolve into intellectual enjoyment. 10- Take your country, the richest with all the luxury, how many more lunatics you have compared to others, because the desires are so keen. 11- It is useless to tell children that this world is all flowers, all milk and honey. 12- It is the law of Unity that gives us our food and the same law that kills many through accidents. 13- Behind all the ‘dozens’, Vedanta finds that Unity. 14- These laws do not govern you. Go beyond them. You are not the slave of nature. Be Free! 15- You are the makers of your own fortunes. You put your hands over your eyes and say it is dark. Remove your hands! 16- This mind, so Deluded, so easily led astray, it may catch a glimpse of that Knowledge, that Oneness and become strong. 17- The Self of all people is not affected by the depression of the body. 18- They who in these myriads find that Oneness. 19- There, the sun cannot illuminate. ‘That’ shining, everything else shines! 20- Happiness is in The Soul, not in this or that heaven. 21- I thought a cave would give me clearer vision, not so! Then a forest – not so! The same mind followed. 22- The Path we are now considering consists in controlling the senses. 23- They never had brain enough to understand the real meaning of Eastern thought. 24- Whatever is True is here and that is the Human Soul! 25- The Hindu wants to enjoy Spirituality. 26- In America there was a great agnostic [Robert Ingersoll]. 27- I want the why of everything, the how I leave to children. 28- It is good and great to be scientific but when a person says that is all there is, they are talking foolishly. 29- Then that Oneness, the Harmony of Oneness will pervade the world. 30- In the long run we are sure to join the Ocean of Life and Bliss.

   19 – 235     THE FREEDOM OF THE SOUL

The last words of each Forest Book: ‘You are That!’

If The Soul is Free, then nothing outside can act on It, can affect It and It can never die. It is beyond Delusion!

Why let people drink ditch-water when the ‘Stream of Life’ is flowing by?

We are depressed through our Delusion.

Every system which weakens the mind; it makes one mope, I do not like it!

In Vedanta we believe our bondage is a Delusion.

To think we are bound is self-hypnosis, it is dangerous! Do not think it!

39 Victoria St. London.

5 Nov 1896.  CW 2.

1- The Gita is like a bouquet composed of the beautiful flowers of Spiritual Truths. 2- The last words of each Forest Book are, ”You are That!” 3- Why does evil exist and what is its cause? 4- The human is only apparently a person – in reality they are the Impersonal Being, ‘That’. 5- Crude Dualists say: ‘Everything is predestined. What shall we do, enjoy, suffer?’ 6- These philosophical ideas are but gymnastics of the mind! 7- You are pure already, you are Free already. If you think you are Free, then Free you are this moment. 8- From the beginning, had you been Free, what could have made you lose it? 9- Freedom means the independence from anything outside. 10- If The Soul is Free, then nothing outside can act on It, can affect It and It can never die. It is beyond Delusion! 11- In Vedanta we believe our bondage is a Delusion. 12- To think we are bound is self-hypnosis, it is dangerous! Do not think it! 13- What this world needs today, more than ever before, is strength. 14- We are depressed through our Delusion. 15- Why let people drink ditch-water when the Stream of Life is flowing by. 16- By eating all sorts of unhealthy food we are incompetent to eat a good meal. 17- There are very few who do not get a creepy sensation when in the dark. 18- Repeat with gladness: ‘I am Free! I was Free! I always will be Free!’ 19- Whether this idea first came from the Hebrews or people in the Arctic regions nobody cares! 20- They are afraid – ‘This idea is for Nuns or Monks who give up the world and live in forests’. 21- Spreading Monism may take ages but why not begin now? 22- I have no objection to Dualism in many of its forms, but I object to every form which teaches weakness! 23- Every system which weakens the mind, it makes one mope, I do not like it! 24- Books and ceremonials can never bind me. 25- As we go on repeating this, strength comes – The Truth takes possession of our hearts. Load after load of ignorance vanishes!

20 – 251     THE DEATH OF GOODWIN.

To know that the dead are here beside us.

21 – 252      AND SO, I AM HAPPY AND GLORIFIED!

Letter while at the Greenacre Conference, to the Hales and McKinleys. Aug-1894.

22 – 257     JUST COCK-AND-BULL STORIES. MY GOD!

They are called imbeciles.

Letter expressing his frustration at his fellow monks back in Kolkata, 1894.

1- It is over a year now and nothing done. There is no hope! Just cock-and-bull stories with neither head nor tail! My God! 2- They are called imbeciles. 3- God means this world and serving it, this indeed is work. 4- Should the rice plate be presented for 10 or 30 minutes before the Deity! 5- The rich merchants of Mumbai are erecting hospitals for bugs while people starve! It is a plague with our country. 6- No quarrelling, friends with all. 7- Don’t worry! Go my boy! Spread the name of The Lord! 8- We want 1000s, from the North to the South Poles, to spread this power.

23 – 263      A DUSKY PHILOSOPHER FROM INDIA.

We live in time, they live in eternity.

Blanch Partington interviews Swamiji.

San Francisco Chronicle.

18 March 1900.

   24 – 268     CALIFORNIA CAMPING

Hello, who is this ‘sky pilot’?                                 ‘Black man like coffee. White man like coffee. Red man like coffee’.

All that wood is enough for a funeral pyre.

Makes a log-fire without wasting wood.

2-16 May 1900. Marin County. California.

Vivekananda in the West: New Discoveries.

   25 – 273     SIT WITH THE SPINE PERFECTLY FREE

THINK OF THE BODY AS LUMINOUS.

Frank Rhodehamel’s notes.

26 March 1900. SF.

 26 – 274       CHRIST’S MESSAGE

Everything progresses in waves.

New Discoveries, Vol. 5, p. 379.

From Frank Rhodehamel’s notes.

11 March, 1900. SF.

 27 – 275       WE ARE HYPNOTIZED INTO WEAKNESS BY OUR SURROUNDINGS.                                                   

New Discoveries, Vol. 5, pp. 396-98.     

The San Francisco Examiner

Interviews, collected comments.

18 March, 1900.  SF.

   28 – 279       MY PLAY IS DONE.

   29 – 285      ‘TELL ME ANOTHER STORY SWAMI’ –

AS I RUSHED UP TO HIM AND SAT ON HIS LAP.

She was a 6 yr-old. Cornelia Conger reminisces.

‘I don’t care if all the other guests leave, this Indian is the most brilliant and interesting man who has ever been in our home and he shall stay as long as he wishes’ – John  B. Lyon to his wife. [Cornelia Conger’s grandparents].

   30 – 293       THEY PUT A BRAKE ON THE SLAUGHTER.

The 14 nuns and 2 lay-members who  were executed by the mob at the French Revolution.

  31 –  295       THE GOLDEN BOAT.

Rabindra Tagore. Such a beautiful poem!

  32 –  314                 Glossary.

  33 –  320                 Swamiji’s Lectures –

List with date and place.

  We have a little sensuous consciousness and imagine that to be our entire mind!

   In Vedanta we believe our bondage is a Delusion.

  Failures are natural. They are the beauty of life. It would be not worth having if it were not for the struggles.