# The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Epistles - First Series/LXXVII Sarat Chandra

ॐ नमो भगवते रामकृष्णाय। यस्य वीर्येण कृतिनो वयं च भुवनानि च। रामकृष्णं सदा वन्दे शर्वं स्वतन्त्रमीश्वरम्॥
"प्रभवति भगवान् विधि" रित्यागमिनः अप्रयोगनिपुणाः प्रयोगनिपुणाश्च पौरुषं बहुमन्यमानाः। तयोः पौरुषेयापौरुषेयप्रतीकारबलयोः विवेकाग्रहनिबन्धनः कलह इति मत्वा यतस्वायुष्मन् शरच्चन्द्र आक्रमितुम् ज्ञानगिरिगुरोर्गरिष्ठं शिखरम्।
यदुक्तं "तत्त्वनिकषग्रावा विपदिति" उच्येत तदापि शतशः "तत्त्वमसि" तत्त्वाधिकारे। इदमेव तन्निदानं वैराग्यरुजः। धन्यं कस्यापि जीवनं तल्लक्षणाक्रान्तस्य। अरोचिष्णु अपि निर्दिशामि पदं प्रचीनं—"कालः कश्चित् प्रतीक्ष्यताम्" इति। समारूढक्षेपणीक्षेपणश्रमः विश्राम्यतां तन्निर्भरः। पूर्वाहितो वेगः पारंनेष्यति नावम्। तदेवोक्तं—"तत् स्वयं योगसंसिद्धः कालेनात्मनि विन्दति," "न कर्मणा न प्रजया धनेन त्यागेनैके अमृतत्वमानशुः" इत्यत्र त्यागेन वैराग्यमेव लक्ष्यते। तद्वैराग्यं वस्तुशून्यं वस्तुभूतं वा। प्रथमं यदि, न तत्र यतेत कोऽपि कीटभक्षितमस्तिष्केन विना; यद्यपरं, तदेदम् आपतति—त्यागः मनसः संकोचनम् अन्यस्मात् वस्तुनः, पिण्डीकरणं च ईश्वरे वा आत्मनि। सर्वेश्वरस्तु व्यक्तिविशेषो भवितुं नार्हति, समष्टिरित्येव ग्रहणीयम्। आत्मेति वैराग्यवतो जीवात्मा इति नापद्यते, परन्तु सर्वगः सर्वान्तर्यामी सर्वस्यात्मरूपेणावस्थितः सर्वेश्वर एव लक्ष्यीकृतः। स तु समष्टिरूपेण सर्वेषां प्रत्यक्षः। एवं सति जीवेश्वरयोः स्वरूपतः अमेदभावात् तयोः सेवाप्रेमरूपकर्मणोरभेदः। अयमेव विशेषः—जीवे जीवबुद्धया या सेवा समर्पिता सा दया, न प्रेम, यदात्मबुद्धया जीवः सेव्यते, तत् प्रेम। आत्मनो हि प्रेमास्पदत्वं श्रुतिस्मृतिप्रत्यक्षप्रसिद्धत्वात्। तत् युक्तमेव यदवादीत् भगवान् चैतन्यः — प्रेम ईश्वरे, दया जीवे इति। द्वैतवादित्वात् तत्र भगवतः सिद्धान्तः जीवेश्वरयोर्भेदविज्ञापकः समीचीनः। अस्माकं तु अद्वैतपराणां जीवबुद्धिर्बन्धनाय इति। तदस्माकं प्रेम एव शरणं, न दया। जीवे प्रयुक्तः दयाशब्दोऽपि साहसिकजल्पित इति मन्यामहे। वयं न दयामहे, अपि तु सेवामहे; नानुकम्पानुभूतिरस्माकम्, अपि तु प्रेमानुभवः स्वानुभवः सर्वस्मिन्।
सैव सर्ववैषम्यसाम्यकरी भवव्याधिनीरूजकरी प्रपञ्चावश्यम्भाव्यत्रितापहरणकरी सर्ववस्तुस्वरूपप्रकाशकरी मायाध्वान्तविध्वंसकरी आब्रह्मस्तभ्बपर्यन्तस्वात्मरूपप्रकटनकरी प्रेमानुभूतिर्वैराग्यरूपा भवतु ते शर्मणे शर्मन्।
इत्यनुदिवसं प्रार्थयति त्वयि धृतचिरप्रेमबन्धः
Translation
Almora, 3rd July, 1897.
Constant salutation be to Shri Ramakrishna, the Free, the Ishvara, the Shiva-form, by whose power we and the whole world are blessed.
Mayest thou live long, O Sharat Chandra!
Those writers of Shâstra who do not tend towards work say that all-powerful destiny prevails; but others who are workers consider the will of man as superior. Knowing that the quarrel between those who believe in the human will as the remover of misery and others who rely on destiny is due to indiscrimination — try to ascend the highest peak of knowledge.
It has been said that adversity is the touchstone of true knowledge, and this may be said a hundred times with regard to the truth: "Thou art That." This truly diagnoses the Vairâgya (dispassion) disease. Blessed is the life of one who has developed this symptom. In spite of your dislike I repeat the old saying: "Wait for a short time." You are tired with rowing; rest on your oars. The momentum will take the boat to the other side. This has been said in the Gita (IV. 38), "In good time, having reached perfection in Yoga, one realises That in one's own heart;" and in the Upanishad, "Neither by rituals, nor by progeny, nor by riches, but by renunciation alone a few (rare) people attained immortality" (Kaivalya, 2). Here, by the word renunciation Vairagya is referred to. It may be of two kinds, with or without purpose. If the latter, none but worm-eaten brains will try for it. But if the other is referred to, then renunciation would mean the withdrawal of the mind from other things and concentrating it on God or Atman. The Lord of all cannot be any particular individual. He must be the sum total. One possessing Vairagya does not understand by Atman the individual ego but the All-pervading Lord, residing as the Self and Internal Ruler in all. He is perceivable by all as the sum total. This being so, as Jiva and Ishvara are in essence the same, serving the Jivas and loving God must mean one and the same thing. Here is a peculiarity: when you serve a Jiva with the idea that he is a Jiva, it is Dayâ (compassion) and not Prema (love); but when you serve him with the idea that he is the Self, that is Prema. That the Atman is the one objective of love is known from Shruti, Smriti, and direct perception. Bhagavân Chaitanya was right, therefore, when he said, "Love to God and compassion to the Jivas". This conclusion of the Bhagavan, intimating differentiation between Jiva and Ishvara, was right, as He was a dualist. But for us, Advaitists, this notion of Jiva as distinct from God is the cause of bondage. Our principle, therefore, should be love, and not compassion. The application of the word compassion even to Jiva seems to me to be rash and vain. For us, it is not to pity but to serve. Ours is not the feeling of compassion but of love, and the feeling of Self in all.
For thy good, O Sharman, may thine be Vairagya, the feeling of which is love, which unifies all inequalities, cures the disease of Samsâra, removes the threefold misery, inevitable in this phenomenal world, reveals the true nature of all things, destroys the darkness of Mâyâ, and which brings out the Selfhood of everything from Brahma to the blade of grass!
This is the constant prayer of
Vivekananda.
Ever bound to thee in love.