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Once
upon a time, the son of an Indian king came to Rama
in the mountains, and put this question, "Swami,
Swami, What is God?" This is a deep question, a
very difficult problem. This is the one subject
which all the theologies and all the religions
propose to investigate, and you want to know all
about "it in a short time". He said, "Yes, sir yes,
Swami. Where shall I go to have it explained?
Explain it to me." The boy was asked, "Dear prince,
you want to know what God is, you want to make
acquaintance with God, but do you not know that the
rule is, when a man wants to see a great personage,
he will have to send his own card first, he will
have to send to the chief his own address and name?
Now you want to see God. You had better send to God
your card; you had better let God know what you
are. Give Him your card. Rama will place it in the
hands of God directly and God will come to you, and
you will see what God is." "Well", the boy said,
"It is all right, it is reasonable. I will directly
let you know what I am. I am the son of king so and
so, living on the Himalayas in Northern India. This
is my name." He wrote it out on a piece of paper.
It was taken up by Rama and read. It was not put
into the hands of God directly, but was given back
to that prince and the prince was told, "O prince,
you do not know what you are. You are like the
illiterate, ignorant person who wants to see your
father, the king and cannot write his own name.
Will your father, the king receive him? Prince, you
cannot write your name. How will God receive you?
First tell us correctly what you are, and then will
God come to you and receive you with open
arms."
The boy reflected. He began to think and think over
the subject. He said, "Swami, Swami, now I see, now
I see. I made a mistake in writing my own name. I
have given you the address of the body only, and I
have not put upon the paper what I am."
There was an attendant of that prince standing by.
The attendant could not understand it. Now the
prince was asked to make his meaning clear to this
attendant, and so the prince asked the attendant
this question, "Mr. so and so, to whom does this
card belong?" The man said, "To me." and taking up
a stick from the hands of the attendant the prince
asked him, "Mr. so and so, to whom does this stick
belong?" The man said "To me." "Well, to whom does
this turban of yours belong?" The man said, "To
me." The prince said, "All right. If the turban
belongs to you, there is a relation between the
turban and you; the turban is your property, and
you are the owner. Then you are not the turban, the
turban is yours." He said, "Indeed, that is so
plain." "Well, the pencil belongs to you, the
pencil is yours, and you are not the pencil." He
said, "I am not the pencil because the pencil is
mine; that is my property, I am the owner." All
right. Then the prince asked that attendant, taking
hold of the ears of that attendant, "Whom do these
ears belong to?" The attendant said, "To me." The
prince said, "All right, the ears belong to you,
the ears are yours. As such you are not the ears.
Similarly the nose belongs to you. As the nose is
yours, you are not the nose. Then, whose body is
that?" [Just beckoning to the body of the
attendant.] The attendant said, "The body is
mine; this body is mine." "If the body is yours,
Mr. attendant, then you are not the body; you
cannot be the body because you say that the body is
yours; you cannot be the body. The very statement
– my body, my ears, my head, my hand proves
that you are something else and the body together
with the ears and hands and eyes, etc., is
something else. This is your property, you are the
owner, the master; the body is like your garment
and you are the owner. The body is like your horse
and you are the owner. Now, what are you?" The
attendant understood it so far, and also concurred
with the prince in saying that when the prince had
put down on paper the address of the body and had
meant that this address stood for himself, the
prince had made a mistake. "You are not the body,
not the ears, not the nose, not the eyes, nothing
of the kind. What are you then?" Now the prince
began to reflect, and said, "Well, well, I am the
mind, I am the mind, I must be the mind."
"Is that so indeed?" The question was put to that
prince. "Now, can you tell me how many bones you
have got in your body? Can you tell where the food
lies in your body that you took this morning?" The
prince could make no answer, and these words
escaped his lips, "Well, my intellect does not
reach that. I have not read that. I have not yet
read anything of physiology or anatomy. My brain
does not catch it, my mind cannot comprehend
it."
Now the prince was asked, "Dear prince, O good boy,
you say your mind cannot comprehend it, your
intellect cannot reach up to that, your brain
cannot understand this. By making these remarks you
confess and admit that the brain is yours, the mind
is yours, the intellect is yours. Well, if the
intellect is yours, you are not the intellect. If
the mind is yours, you are not the mind. If the
brain is yours, you are not the brain. These very
words of yours show that you are the master of the
intellect, the owner of the brain and the ruler of
the mind. You are not the mind, the intellect or
the brain. What are you? Think, think, please. Be
more careful and let us know correctly what you
are. Then will God be just brought to you, and you
will see God, you will be introduced directly into
the presence of God. Please tell us what you
are."
The boy began to think, and thought and thought but
could not go further. The body said, "My intellect,
my mind cannot, reach further."
Oh, how true are these words! Indeed the mind or
the intellect cannot reach the true Divinity or God
within.
The real Self, the true God is beyond the reach of
words and minds.
The boy was asked to sit down for a while and
meditate upon what his intellect had reached so
far. "I am not the body; I am not the mind." If so,
feel it, put it into practice, repeat it in the
language of feeling, in the language of action;
realise that you are not the body. If you live this
thought only, if you work into practice even so
much of the truth, if you are above the body and
the mind, you become free from all anxiety, all
fear. Fear leaves you when you raise yourself above
the level of the body or the mind. All anxiety
ceases, all sorrow is gone, when you realise even
so much of the Truth that you are something beyond
the body, beyond the mind.
After that, the boy was helped on a little to
realise what he himself is, and he was asked,
"Brother, prince, what have you done today? Will
you please let us know the works or deeds that you
have performed this morning?"
He began to relate, "I woke up early in the
morning, took bath, and did this thing and that
thing, took my breakfast, read a great deal, wrote
some letters, visited some friends, received some
friends, and came here to pay my respects to the
Swami."
Now the prince was asked, "Is that all? Have you
not done a great deal more? Is that all? Just see."
He thought and thought; and then mentioned a few
other things of the same sort. "That is not all;
you have done thousands of things more; you have
done hundreds, thousands, nay, millions of things
more. Innumerable deeds you have done, and you
refuse to make mention of them. This is not
becoming. Please let us know what you have done.
Tell us everything that you have done this
morning."
The prince, hearing such strange words that he had
done thousands of things besides the few that he
had named, was startled. "I have not done anything
more than what I have told you, sir, I have not
done anything." "No, you have done millions,
trillions, quadrillions of things more." How is
that?
The boy was asked, "Who is looking at the Swami at
this time?" He said, "I". "Are you seeing this
face, this river Ganga that flows beside us?" He
said, "Yes, indeed." "Well, you see the river and
you see the face of the Swami, but who makes the
six muscles in the eyes move? You know the six
muscles in the eyes move, but who makes the muscles
move? It cannot be anybody else; it cannot be
anything extra. It must be your own Self that makes
the muscles in the eyes move in the act of
seeing."
The boy said, "Oh, indeed, it must be I; it cannot
be anything else."
"Well, who is seeing just now, who is attending to
this discourse?" The boy said, "I, it is I." "Well,
if you are seeing, if you are attending to this
discourse, who is making the oratory nerves
vibrate? It must be you, it must be you. Nobody
else. Who took the meals this morning." The boy
said, "I, I." "Well, if you took the meals this
morning and it is you that will go to the toilet
and vacate, who is it that assimilates and digests
the food? Who is it, please? Tell us if you eat and
you throw it out, it must be you who digests, it
must be yourself that assimilates, it cannot be
anybody else. Those days are gone when outside
causes were sought after to explain the phenomena
in nature. If a man fell down, the cause of his
fall was said to be some outside ghost. Science
does not admit such solutions of the problem.
Science and philosophy require you to seek the
cause of a phenomenon in the phenomenon
itself."
"Here you take the food, go into the toilet and
throw it off. When it is digested, it must be
digested by yourself, no outside power comes and
digests it; it must be your own Self. The cause of
digestion also must be sought within you and not
without you."
Well, the boy admitted so far. Now he was asked,
"Dear Prince, just reflect, just think for a while.
The process of digestion implies hundreds of kinds
of movements. In the process of digestion, in
mastication, saliva is emitted from the glands in
the mouth. Here is again the next process of
oxidation going on. Here is blood being formed.
There is the blood coursing through the veins,
there is the same food being converted into
carnatic muscles, bones, and hair; here is the
process of growth going on in the body. Here are a
great many processes going on, and all these
processes in the body are connected with the
process of assimilation and digestion."
"If you take the food, it is you yourself who are
the cause of respiration; you yourself make the
blood course through your veins; you yourself make
the hair grow; you yourself make the body develop,
and here mark how many processes there are; how
many acts, how many deeds there are that you are
performing every moment."
The boy began to think and said, "Indeed, indeed,
sir, in my body, in this body, there are thousands
of processes that the intellect does not know,
about which the mind is unconscious, and still they
are being performed, and it must be I that am the
cause of all that, it must be I that am performing
all that; and indeed it was a mistake I made when I
said that I had done a few things, a few things
only, and nothing more, a few things that were done
through the agency of the intellect or mind."
It must be made further clear. In this body of
yours there are two kinds of functions being
discharged; there are two kinds of work being done,
involuntary and voluntary. Voluntary acts are those
that are performed through the agency of the
intellect or mind; for instance, reading, writing,
walking, talking and drinking. These are acts done
through the agency of the intellect or mind.
Besides these, there are thousands of acts or
processes being performed directly, so to say,
without the agency, or without the medium of mind
or intellect, for instance, respiration, the
coursing of blood through the veins, the growth of
hair, etc.
People make this mistake, this glaring blunder that
they admit only those acts to be performed by them
which are performed through the agency of mind or
intellect. All the other deeds, all the other acts
which are being performed directly without the
agency of intellect or mind, are disclaimed
entirely. They are entirely cast aside, they are
entirely neglected, and by this neglect and by this
mistake, by this imprisoning the real Self in the
little mind, identifying the Infinity with the
small brain, people are making themselves miserable
and wretched. People say, "Oh, God is within me."
All right, the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, God
is within you, but that kernel which is within you,
that kernel is yourself and not the shell. Please
think over it seriously. Reflect whether you are
the kernel or the shell, whether you are He that is
within you, or you are the shell that is
without.
Some people say, "O sir, I eat and nature digests;
O sir, I see but nature makes the muscles move; O
sir, I hear but it is nature that makes the nerves
vibrate." Mark, in the name of justice, in the name
of truth, in the name of freedom, just mark,
whether you are that nature or whether you are the
mere body. Mark, you are that nature. You are the
Infinite God. If throwing aside all prejudice,
waiving all preconceptions and casting off all
superstitions, you reflect over the matter, discuss
it, sift it, investigate it, examine it, you will
become of the same mind as what you call Rama
standing for. You will see that you are the kernel,
the nature, the whole nature you are.
Most of you may have understood the drift of the
argument; but that boy, that Indian prince, did not
understand it thoroughly. "Well," he said, "Indeed,
I have understood it so far that I am something
beyond the intellect." At this time the attendant
of the prince asked, "Sir, make it more clear to
me, I have not quite comprehended it yet." Well,
that attendant was asked, "Mr. so and so, when you
go to bed, do you die or live?" The attendant said,
"I live; I do not die." "And what about the
intellect?" He said, "I go on dreaming, the
intellect is still there." "And when you are in the
deep sleep state [you know there is a state
called the deep sleep state, in that state even no
dreams are seen], where is the intellect, where
is the mind?"
He began to think. "Well, it passes into
nothingness; it is no longer there, the intellect
is not there, the mind is not there." "But are you
there or not?" He said, "Oh, indeed I must be
there; I cannot die, I remain there." Well, mark
here, even in the deep sleep state, where the
intellect ceases, where the intellect is, as it
were, like a garment hoisted on a peg, hoisted on a
post, like an overcoat, the intellect is taken off
and placed upon the post, you are still there, you
do not die out. The boy said, "The intellect is not
there, and I do not die out. This I do not quite
comprehend."
Well, the boy was asked, "When you wake up after
enjoying this deep sleep, when you wake up, do you
not make such statements, ‘I enjoyed profound
sleep tonight, I had no dreams tonight.’ Do
you not make remarks of that kind?" He said, "Yes."
Well. This point is very subtle. All of you will
have to listen closely. When after waking up from
the deep sleep state, this remark is made, "I slept
so soundly that I saw no dreams, I saw no rivers,
no mountains, in that state there was no father, no
mother, no house, no family, nothing of the kind;
all was dead and gone; there was nothing, nothing,
nothing there. I slept and there was nothing
there." This statement is like the statement made
by the man who bore witness to the desolation of a
place, and said, "At the dead of night, at such and
such a place, there was not a single human being
present." That man was asked to write out this
statement. He put it on paper. The magistrate asked
him, "Well, is this statement true?" He said, "Yes,
sir." "Well, is this statement made on hearsay or
founded upon your own evidence, are you an
eyewitness?" He said, "Yes, sir, I am an
eyewitness. This is not based on hearsay." "You are
an eyewitness that at the time mentioned on the
paper and at the place mentioned on the paper,
there was not a single human being present?" He
said, "Yes." "What are you? Are you a human being
or not?" He said, "Yes, I am a human being." "Well,
then, if this statement is true according to you,
it must be wrong according to us, because, as you
were present and you are a human being, the
statement that there was not a single human being
present is not literally true. You were present
there. In order that this statement may be true
according to you, it must be false according to us,
because in order that there might be nobody, there
must be somebody, must be some body, must be at
least yourself, present at the time."
So when you wake up after enjoying the deep sleep
state and make this remark, "I did not see anything
in the dream;" well, we may say that you must have
been present; there was no father, no mother, no
husband, no wife, no house, no river, no family
present in that state, but you must have been
present; the very evidence that you give, the very
witness that you bear proves that you did not
sleep, that you did not go to sleep, for had you
been asleep, who would have told us about the
nothingness of that? You are something beyond the
intellect; the intellect was asleep, the brain was
at rest in a way, but you were not asleep. If you
had been asleep, who would have made the blood run
through the blood-vessels, who would have continued
the process of digestion in the stomach? Who would
have continued the process of the growth of your
body, if you had really fallen into the deep sleep
state? So you are something which is never asleep.
The intellect sleeps, but not you. "I am something
beyond the intellect, mind and body."
Now the boy said, "Sir, sir, I have understood it
so far, and have come to know that I am a Power
Divine, that I am the Infinite Power which never
sleeps, never changes. In my youth, the body is
different, in my childhood the mind was not the
same as I have now, the body was not the same as I
have now. In my childhood, my intellect, brain,
body and mind were entirely different from what
they are now." Doctors tell us that after seven
years, the whole system undergoes a thorough
change; every moment the body is changing, and
every second the mind is changing, and the mental
thoughts, the mental ideas which you entertained in
your childhood, where are they now? In the days of
childhood you looked upon the Sun as a beautiful
cake which was eaten by the angels, the Moon was a
beautiful piece of silver; the stars were as big as
diamonds. Where are these ideas gone? The mind of
yours, the intellect of yours has undergone a
thorough, a whole-sale change. But you still say,
"When I was a child, when I was a boy, when I shall
grow up to the age of seventy." You still make such
remark which show that you are something which was
the same in childhood, which was the same in
boyhood, which will be the same at the age of
seventy. When you say, "I went to sleep, I went
into the deep sleep state, etc,"; when you make
remarks of that kind, it shows that there is the
true ‘I’ in you, the real Self in you,
which remains the same in the dreamland, which
remains the same in the deep sleep state, which
remains the same in the wakeful state. There is
something within you which remains the same when
you are in a swoon, which remains the same when you
are bathing, when you are writing. Just think,
reflect, just mark, please. Are you not something
which remains the same under all circumstances,
unchanging in its being, the same yesterday, today
and for ever? If so, just reflect a little more,
think a little more and you will be immediately
brought face to face with God. You know the promise
was, know your-self, put down your right address on
paper, and God will be introduced to you
immediately.
Now the boy, the prince, expected that as he knew
about himself, he had come to know that he was
something unchanging, something constant, something
which was never asleep; so he wanted to know what
God is. The prince was asked; "Brother, mark, here
are these trees growing. Is the Power that makes
this tree grow different from the Power that makes
that tree grow?" He said, "No, no, it must be the
same Power certainly." "Now, is the Power which
makes all these trees grow different from the Power
that makes the bodies of animals grow?" He said,
"No, No, it cannot be different, it must be the
same." Now is the Power, the force which makes the
stars move, different from the Power which makes
these rivers flow? He said, "It cannot be
different, it must be the same."
Well, now the Power that makes these trees grow
cannot be different from the Power which makes your
body grow, it cannot be different from the Power
which makes your hair grow. The same Universal
Power of nature, the same Universal Divinity or the
Unknowable, which makes the stars shine, makes your
eyes twinkle, the same Power which is the cause of
the growth of that body’s hair which you call
mine, the same Power makes the blood course through
the veins of each and all. Indeed, and then what
are you? Are you not that Power which makes your
hair grow, which makes your blood flow through your
veins, which makes your food get digested? Are you
not that Power? That Power which is beyond the
intellect, the mind, indeed you are. If so, you are
the same Power which is governing the force of the
whole Universe, you are the same Divinity, you are
the same God, the same Unknowable, the same energy,
force, substance anything you may call it, the same
Divinity, the All which is present everywhere. The
same, the same you are.
The boy was astonished and he said, "Really,
really, I wanted to know God. I put the question
what God is, and I find my own Self, my true Atman
is God. What was I asking, what did I ask, what a
silly question did I put! I had to know myself. I
had to know what I am, and God was known." Thus was
God known.
The only difficulty in the way of realising this
truth is that people play the part of children. You
know, children sometimes take a fancy to a
particular kind of plate and do not want to eat
anything except when it is served to them in the
plates which have their fancy. They will say, "I
will eat in my plate, I will eat in my dish, I
won’t have anything in any other plate." O
children! see, it is not this particular plate
alone which is yours; all the plates in the house
are yours; all the golden dishes are yours. This is
a mistake. If the people in this world know
themselves, they will find the true Self to be God
Almighty, to be the Infinite Power, but they have
taken a fancy for this particular plate, this head,
this brain. "What is done through this brain only,
that is done by me. What is done through this mind
or intellect, that is mine, and all else I
won’t have; all else I disclaim. I will have
only that which is served to me in this particular
plate." Herein comes selfishness. They want to get
everything done through this plate and to take
credit for this plate, they want to have everything
accumulated around this little plate, which they
call particularly theirs, that with which they have
identified themselves. This is the cause of all
selfishness, all anxiety and misery. Get rid of
this false notion; realise your true Self to be the
All; rise above this selfish egoism, you are happy
this moment, one with the whole universe you are.
This is a mistake of the same character as that
which the prince made. The prince was put a catch
question. "Where is your place?" And he named the
metropolis of the state. "That is my place." O boy,
that metropolis of the state is not the only place
you have got. The whole state, the whole country is
yours. You live in that metropolis, that capital of
the state, while that capital is not the only place
that is yours, the whole state is yours, this
magnificent landscape, these fairy scenes, this
grand Himalayan scenery, all this belongs to you,
and not only that particular small town.
This is the mistake made by the people. This
intellect or brain may be called the metropolis or
the capital of your real Self, the Atman. You have
no right to claim this to yourself and deny
everything else; this little metropolis of the
brain, this metropolis of the mind or intellect is
not the only place you have got. The wide world,
the moons, the earths the planets, the milkyways,
all these are yours. Realise that. Just regain your
birthright; and all anxiety, all misery ceases.
People talk about freedom; people talk about
salvation. What is it that has bound you first? If
you want to be free, if you want to get salvation,
you ought to know what is the cause of your
bondage. It is just like a monkey in the fable. A
monkey is caught in India in a very queer manner. A
narrow-necked basin is fixed in the ground, and in
that basin are put some nuts and other eatables
which the monkeys like. The monkeys come up and
thrust their hands into the narrow-necked basin and
fill their hands with the nuts. The fist becomes
thick, and it cannot be taken out. There the monkey
is caught; he cannot come out. Queerly, strangely
he is caught.
We ask what it is that binds you first. You
yourself have brought you under thraldom and
bondage. Here is the whole wide world, a grand
magnificent forest; and in this grand magnificent
wood of the whole universe, there is a
narrow-necked vessel found. What is that
narrow-necked vessel? It is your brain; this little
brain, narrow-necked. Herein are some nuts and
people have got hold of these nuts and all what is
done through the agency of this brain or through
the medium of this intellect, is owned as
one’s own. "I am the mind," is what everybody
says; everybody has practically identified himself
with the mind, "I am the mind," "I am the
intellect," and he takes a strong grip of these
nuts of this narrow-necked vessel. That is what
makes you slave, that is what makes you slave to
anxiety, slave to fear, slave to temptations, slave
to all sorts of troubles. That is what binds you;
that is the cause of all the sufferings in this
world. If you want salvation, if you want freedom
only let go the hold, free your hand. The whole
forest is yours, you can jump from tree to tree and
eat all the nuts and eat all the walnuts and all
the fruits in the wood, all being yours. The whole
world is yours; just get rid of this selfish
ignorance and you are free, you are your own
saviour.
Making a famine where abundance lies,
[is it fair? No, it is not fair, it is not
becoming].
Making a famine where abundance lies,
This thy foe, to thy sweet self so cruel,
Should not be so, should not do this,
Within thine own but buriest thou content,
Thou makest waste and niggarding.
Be not niggardly, be not miserly.
It is niggardliness to give away all this property
and confine thyself unto the few things in this
little brain only.
You will see that this brain of yours will become
of Infinite Power if you realise your Oneness with
the All. That is what puts you in perfect harmony
with the whole world.
Oh, we can wait no longer,
We too take ship, O soul [intellect],
Joyous we too launch out on trackless seas
Fearless for unknown shores on waves of ecstasy to
sail.
Amid the wafting winds, [thou pressing me to
thee, I thee to me, O Soul].
Carolling free, singing our song of God,
Chanting our chant of pleasant exploration
With laugh and many a kiss,
[Let others deprecate, let others weep for sin,
remorse, humiliation]
O soul, thou pleasest me, I thee.
Ah, more than any priest, O soul, we too believe in
God,
But with the mystery of God we dare not dally.
O soul, thou pleasest me, I thee.
Sailing these seas or on the hills, or waking in
the night,
Thoughts, silent thoughts of Time and Space and
Death, like waters flowing,
Bear me indeed as through the regions Infinite,
Whose air I breathe, whose ripples hear, leave me
all over,
Bathe me, O God, in thee, mounting to thee
I and my soul to range in range of thee
O thou transcendent,
Nameless, the fibre and the breath.
Light of the lights, shedding forth universes, thou
centre of them,
Thou mightier centre of the true, the good, the
loving
Thou moral, spiritual fountain-affection’s
source thou reservoir,
[O pensive soul of me – O thirst
unsatisfied – waitest not there?
Waitest not happy for us somewhere there the
Comrade perfect?]
Thou pulse – thou motive of the stars, suns,
systems,
That, circling, move in order, safe,
harmonious,
Athwart the shapeless vastnesses of space,
How should I think, how breathe a single breath,
how speak, if, out of myself,
I could not launch to those superior universes?
Swiftly I shrivel at the thought of God,
At Nature and its wonders, Time and Space and
Death
But that I, turning, call to thee, O soul, thou
actual me,
And lo, thou gently masterest the orbs,
Thou matest Time, smilest content at Death,
And fillest, swellest full the vastnesses of
Space.
Greater than stars or suns
Bounding, O soul, thou journeyest forth;
What love other than thine and ours could wider
amplify?
What aspirations, wishes, outvie thine and ours, O
soul?
What dreams of the ideal? What plans of purity,
perfection, strength?
What cheerful willingness for others’ sake to
give up all?
For others’ sake to suffer all?
Reckoning ahead, O soul, when thou, the time
achiev’d
The seas all cross’d, weather’d the
capes, the voyage done,
Surrounded, copest, frontest God, yieldest the aim
attain’d,
As fill’d with friendship, love complete, the
Elder Brother found,
The Younger melts in fondness in his arms.
Sail on, march on to the real Self; get rid of all
this superstition, this superstition of the body.
Get rid of this hypnotism of this little body; you
have hypnotised your-self into this brain or body.
Get rid of that, sail on, march on to the Eternity,
the Reality, the true Self; passage to more than
India.
Passage to more than India!
Are thy wings plumed indeed for such far
flights?
O soul, voyagest thou indeed on voyages like
those?
Disportest thou on waters such as those?
Soundest below the Sanskrit and the Vedas?
Then have thy bent unleas’d.
Passage to you, you shores, ye aged fierce
enigmas!
Passage to you, to mastership of you, ye strangling
problems
You, strew’d with the wrecks of skeletons,
that, living, never reached you.
Passage to more than India!
O Secret of the earth and sky!
Of you, O waters of the sea! O winding creeks and
rivers!
Of you, O woods and fields! of you strong mountains
of my land!
Of you, O Prairies! of you, gray rocks!
O morning red! O clouds! O rain, snows!
O day and night, passage to you!
Rise above the body, and you become all these, you
get a passage unto all these. All these you realise
yourself to be.
O Sun and Moon and all stars! Sirius and
Jupiter!
Passage to you!
Passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my
veins!
Away, O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
Cut the hawsers-haul out-shake out every sail!
Have we not stood here like trees in the ground
long enough?
Have we not grovel’d here long enough, eating
and drinking like mere brutes?
Have we not darken’d and dazed ourselves with
books long enough?
Sail forth-steer for the deep waters only,
Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou
with me,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to
go
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all
O my brave soul!
O farther, farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas
of God?
O farther, farther sail!
OM! OM!! OM!!!
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