With every breath, every impulse of our heart asks us to be selfish. At the same time, there is some power beyond us which says that it is unselfishness alone which is good.
Every child is a born optimist; he dreams golden dreams. In youth he becomes still more optimistic. It is hard for a young man to believe that there is such a thing as death, such a thing as defeat or degradation. Old age comes, and life is a mass of ruins. Dreams have vanished into the air, and the man becomes a pessimist. Thus we go from one extreme to another, buffeted by nature, without knowing where we are going. ... ...
Then, there is the tremendous fact of death. The whole world is going towards death; everything dies.
All our progress, our vanities, our reforms, our luxuries, our wealth, our knowledge, have that one end -- death. That is all that is certain. ... ...
Death is the end of life, of beauty, of wealth, of power, of virtue too. Saints die and sinners die, kings die and beggars die. They are all going to death, and yet this tremendous clinging on to life exists. Somehow, we do not know why, we cling to life; we cannot give it up.
And this is Maya.
Every child is a born optimist; he dreams golden dreams. In youth he becomes still more optimistic. It is hard for a young man to believe that there is such a thing as death, such a thing as defeat or degradation. Old age comes, and life is a mass of ruins. Dreams have vanished into the air, and the man becomes a pessimist. Thus we go from one extreme to another, buffeted by nature, without knowing where we are going. ... ...
Then, there is the tremendous fact of death. The whole world is going towards death; everything dies.
All our progress, our vanities, our reforms, our luxuries, our wealth, our knowledge, have that one end -- death. That is all that is certain. ... ...
Death is the end of life, of beauty, of wealth, of power, of virtue too. Saints die and sinners die, kings die and beggars die. They are all going to death, and yet this tremendous clinging on to life exists. Somehow, we do not know why, we cling to life; we cannot give it up.
And this is Maya.
- Swami Vivekananda,
Jnana-Yoga, London
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