Lecture delivered on February 15, 1903
Before commencing the Lecture, it will be better for you to concentrate your mind upon the solidarity of mankind, upon the oneness of each and all, upon the Brotherhood of Man. Just feel, feel, feel.
OM
If this were strictly a speculative talk, it would not be worthwhile to spend an hour or so in hearing it. It ought to be made a practical matter which may really bring you spiritual happiness. Oh, what a joy it brings when we feel that all the people in this world are my Self. That music which I heard was mine. What a joy it does bring when we feel that the people in this world who are at the high spring of prosperity and who are awfully popular, Oh, those I am. What a joy it brings! Try to feel that and you will see natural consequences in your practice. Just as you feel that this one body is yours, so begin to feel and realize that all bodies are yours; and when you commence feeling that you will mark that just as this body, which you call yours, obeys your behests and your desires, just as at your desire, at your will the Feet begin to move, at your commandment the hands begin to move; just as you observe that in your own body, similarly it is a matter of experience, it is a fact capable of realization, it is an experimental fact that if you concentrate your mind and your energies upon this truth of oneness, you will observe that all the bodies in this world will begin to move and behave exactly in accordance with your desires. It is an experimental fact, believe in it, verify it. It is not a matter of speculation, it is not empty talk, it is as much a fact as you call this body of yours a fact. Though it is a stern reality, yet supposing it for the sake of argument to be impracticable, you will see one immediate pleasure falling to your lot by this realization of the oneness of humanity. Why do those people feel sorry and anxious about riches? They want to possess gardens; they want to call grass plots their own. What a sorry thought! Could you not go to the gardens of the rich people here, to the public gardens, and sit there hours and hours and enjoy those gardens just the same way as the gentleman who calls that garden his own enjoys it? Could that gentleman who calls that garden his own even see all those flowers and fruits with four eyes? Were not those gardens, flowers, foliage and all those fruits to him accessible only through the same kind of two eyes as you have got? He can hear the music of same sort of two ears as you. Then why worry and bother about the silly desire of possessing that garden? Well, Rama wants you to feel all the gardens of the world as yours, Rama wants you to feel and realize all the bodies of man as yours. Just feel that all the talented forces and gifted minds are yours. This is not a feeling which you might call far-fetched or unnatural. Have you not to practise various virtues for the realization of the high ideals of life? Those are useful to you, but the most useful of all would be for you to concentrate your energies and centre your thoughts upon this truth of truths; upon this reality that all are one, all the bodies are yours. Upon this truth, reality, centre your thoughts; concentrate your energies, feel, feel, feel that all are your bodies. When you look at a man who is passing through the streets, who is honoured, say, the King of England, the Czar of Russia, the President of the United States, let no thought of envy or tearfulness enter your mind. Enjoy that princely gaze as yours, feel that as yours, “I am that, nobody else.” When you try to feel that way, your own experience will prove the truth that all are one, everybody will be your ears, eyes, feet, your own body. Brotherhood of man! Logic may be able to prove it or not, Science may prove it or not, Philosophy may or may not be able to prove it, but it is a fact, a fact which experience proves.
OM
Well, Rama will now give you some reasons which establish this truth, the Brotherhood of Man, and while he advances the reasons you will try to take those conclusions in your feeling heart, you will try to grasp those things in your feelings, in your heart, you will try to realize yourself the conclusions escaping the lips of Rama.
When this title “Brotherhood of Man” was suggested to the gentleman who had to get it advertised in the newspapers, Rama afterwards felt ashamed. “Brotherhood of Man” is a misnomer. “Universal Brotherhood” is a misnomer, it does not quite come up to the mark. The word ‘brother‘ implies some difference; brothers are seen at war fighting with one another, but here there is not the least room for any difference; here there is more than brotherhood. “Oneness and the United Oneness of Man “would have been a better title. You will say, “Bother us not about the speculations of the Atman, you always talk to us about the Atman or Self; that is something very subtle.”Well, all right, if you be willing to hear about that Atman, then there is no room for talk, and all the matter ends immediately; there at least we are all one, no words can reach that state; no language can come up there. But if you do not want to hear about the Atman which is beyond words, Rama will take up the matter from the very body; that is very gross; even if we waive the nature of the Atman, even if we do not consider the Atman, the true Self, the physical bodies also prove that all of you are one. Minds prove that all of you are one. Even on the plane of feeling, Science shows that all of you are one; upon the physical plane, upon the psychological plane, upon the astral plane you are all one. If you do not feel that, and if you do not live that brotherhood in your practical everyday life, then you are violating the most sacred truth. You know that the person who tries to encroach upon the laws of State is punished, he cannot go scot-free. Similarly those who do not feel this brotherhood and do not carry out this brotherhood in every-day life in practice, must suffer. All the suffering in this world, all the misery and all the anguish in this Universe is due only to your trying to violate this most sacred law, this most sacred truth, the Law of laws, the brotherhood of mankind, nay, the oneness of each and all. Now, all our physical bodies are one. Brethren, how can that be? That body sits there and this body stands here, how can they be one? Just as in the ocean we feel a ripple here and a wave there; they appear to be located at different places; they appear to be of different sizes, but as a matter of fact both these waves or ripples are one as they are from the same water, it is the same ocean which appears in these waves. The water which now forms this wave will, after a while, form the other wave or ripple. Just as we observe in the case of waves, so it is with your material bodies. The matter which now forms this body does after a while form another body, nay more, the material particles which appear to be composing this body which you call Rama’s body, go into the other body even in your lifetime. So does respiration prove. You are taking in oxygen and sending it back converted into carbonic acid gas. This carbonic acid gas is inhaled by plants and the plants set free the oxygen. That oxygen you inhale and you exhale carbon dioxide, the same carbon dioxide is inhaled again by plants. From that we see that you are related to plants even as brother? your breath passes into them and their breath passes into you; you breathe into the plants and the plants breathe into you. You are one even with the gardens and plants.
We will consider it from another stand-point. The same oxygen that you breathe and is converted into carbon dioxide, was set free by the plants, the same oxygen goes into the lungs of your brothers; that which was now in your body is then in your brother’s body. You breathe the same air, all of you. Just feel that all of you breathe the same air, in your breath your bodies are all one. As you live upon the same earth, the same sun, the same moon, the same atmosphere are all around you. You eat fruits, vegetables or meat; you eat them, they form your body, they are excreted and in their excreted form, they will pass into vegetables and fruits, they re-appear in those shapes, the same matter which went out of your bodies, when it reappears in the shape of vegetables and fruits, is taken up again by your brothers, enters into the bodies of other people. Thus we see that the same matter which was once yours becomes theirs in no time. If we look at our skin with a microscope, we will observe small living particles coming out of our bodies; very minute living particles coming out of our bodies. They are not only coming out, but similar particles are going into your body. Here are some particles coming out of the bodies and others going into the bodies. Here there is a continual exchange going on in this world; the living particles which are now coming out of your body are being diffused into this atmosphere, and these very living particles which were now yours, become your fellows’ in no time. Science lays it beyond doubt that your physical bodies are all one. You will not perhaps believe that. How could it be possible that living, microscopic particles going out of the bodies of my friends enter my body, and those that come out of my body stick to the body of my friends? How is that possible? Let us see. How is smell caused? You know that smell is due to small, living particles coming out of the objects which we smell. Flowers are fragrant because they send forth small living particles. This is a fact proved by Science. Here we see all your bodies, do they not smell? But your sense of smell is not sharp enough, or say, is not of a kind, or of a capacity to be able to perceive this smell. Your bodies do smell. Sometimes even you smell your bodies; dogs will smell you out. How could dogs smell you out if your bodies were not giving out smell? All smell going out of your bodies proves that small, living particles are leaving your body and going out of it. These small living particles go out of your bodies and enter your bodies from the bodies of others. There you are all One. Oh! We have all of us the same body. Feel that smell. We have all of us one physical body in that sense. One man is sick, you go to him and the very room smells of his sickness. One man is suffering from a contagious disease cholera, small pox, or plague. How is it that other people catch the contagion? The only reason is that the small particles that are coining out of the body of the sick enter your body. Does it not show that the particles which come out of the bodies of the sick stick to our bodies? Thus we catch contagion and feel sick. One man is suffering from cold, another who remains with him, provided he is a man of very fine nature, will catch cold. One person is suffering from consumption. Another catches that disease. How could that be, if the living particles which form your brother’s body, did not come out of their bodies and form your bodies? It shows that all of you are one. Even our physical bodies are one, not to say anything of the Atman. Well, this leads Rama to a strange conclusion. If a man falls sick, what is the main significance of his sickness, the main responsibility connected with it? He is sick, he is suffering himself, that is true. Why? Because of his ignorance, because it brings about our sickness. He suffers himself, but he is responsible for his sickness to the whole world. He is sick and through his diseased body he is unconsciously sending forth germs of disease. I have no business to fall sick not only because of my pain, but because of being responsible to the whole world for the sickness of this body. You have no right to fall sick. You are responsible to the whole world for your sickness, your sick body is making the whole world sick, it is creating those malarious germs. Thus everybody should be very careful. Sickness is not only a physical disease but a moral disease as well. You have to be on your guard then to keep your bodies well and strong. When you are eating or drinking anything, then be cautious, not in the name of your own bodily personal comfort, but in the name of the good of the whole world. Do not eat too much, do not drink too much, be very cautious.
Well again, what is the duty of those who are healthy towards the sick? Those who are healthy have to attend to the sick. Not on the ground of doing a favour or conferring a boon, but because of the whole world. For the good of the whole world, in the name of Humanity and Truth, in the name of universal brotherhood, in the name of your own good, you have to nurse the sick. It is no benevolence to the sick, it is your duty to Humanity to nurse the sick and to try to help out. You see then that our physical bodies which appear to be so different, are suffering for one another. On the physical plane we are brothers, united by the most holy bond* of common flesh and blood. Physicians prove that after every seven years the body of a man is entirely changed, every particle of the body is replaced by new particles. That also tells you that these particles which are changing, these bodies which are in continual flux, we have no right to look upon as exclusively mine or thine. I have no right to call this body mine and that body thine. This body is changing every moment, and that which I call mine at this moment does not remain there. What is it that 1 call mine? Seven years ago what is now the body of Rama was the body of somebody else. That which was the body of Rama fourteen years ago, to whom does it belong now? To many people. So this body which you are calling yours belongs to each and all. Feel that please. Even on the physical plane you are all one.
We come now to the mental plane. Your hairs grow and the blood flows in your veins. Just mark. What is it that makes your hair grow? Is not that the same power which makes the hair on your fellow-man grow? Could you conceive any difference? What is it that makes the blood flow in the veins? Is it not the same power that makes the blood flow in the veins of each and all? What is it that makes the food get digested in your stomach? Is it not the same power which makes the food get digested in the stomach of each and all? Is it not one and the same power? Just keep this truth before your mind, and feel it for a second. Oh, wonder of wonders, what am I? Am I not the same power which makes the hair grow and the food get digested and the blood flow in the veins? If I am the same power, then I am undivided, one, present in the bodies of each and all. I am the one indivisible, undefinable, indestructible power governing and controlling all these bodies. Feel that please. This is on the mental plane. You are all one. You are all one, no difference. Feel that please. Why grieve when this one body which you call yours starves? All the bodies that are well-fed are also yours. Why feel miserable and unhappy when this particular body which you call yours falls sick? All those that are healthy are you. Feel this truth, feel this truth. What is your duty towards others? When other people fall sick, bring them up to your just as you would have attended to the wounds of this particular body, attend to those wounds as if they were yours. Your duty towards others will be to raise them up, feel for them, sympathise with them. But your duty will be to your own body to keep yourself cheerful and happy under, all circumstances. Avoid all worry and botheration.
We come now to the Psychological plane, the plane of feeling. On the plane of feeling also you are all one. On the Psychological plane you are all one. This is a truth, a fact, realize it. There is a lyre, or say, a stringed instrument well adjusted, well fitted, and there is another stringed instrument placed opposite to it, both of them being fitted exactly alike. When you begin to play upon a string, a similar note comes out from the opposite instrument. When you strike a chord on the one instrument, a similar chord on the opposite instrument begins to vibrate. Why is that? Because the vibrations which give us the sound from one instrument are present around the other instrument. You begin to feel something, your neighbour is touched immediately. In dramatic performances and in theatrical places, the actors put on all kinds of feelings. Their feelings are not sincere, they weep on one side and begin to laugh on the other. Their feelings are not sincere, and yet it is seen that when the best performer begins to cry, all the audience, all the spectators, are moved to tears. Why is that? One tyre or stringed instrument is struck, and all the instruments of your minds and feelings are struck immediately. That were impossible if all of you had not the same minds, if all your feelings or minds or the psychological beings of man were not related to each other as brothers, as one. If your minds were not related to each other the same way as the different waves arc related to each other, if your minds were not ripples and waves in the same ocean, this fellow-feeling would be impossible. Science says that if one body is to act upon another body there must be continuity between the two, no force can act breaking the law of continuity. Here is this solid, rigid desk or table, move one point of it, the whole moves, because this point is rigidly connected with the other points. Every force in order that it may act must act in a continuous action. Here the feelings of one man are transmitted to another man. This would be impossible if the heart of one man were not connected with the heart of another man by a continuous medium, so to say. Thus if all your hearts were not connected with each other continuously rigidly, the feelings of one man could never pass on to another. This is a stern fact. Don’t you see that the fact of the feelings of one man passing on to another compels you to the conclusion that all your minds are connected with each other, as one body, so to say, there is solidarity of thought and feeling? Rama has often noticed that when he laughs in the Lecture everybody laughs. It is also seen that when a man begins to cry, other peoples* minds begin to get mellow, tender. Here is one man singing, those that are round about him also feel the vibrations.
Rama has also seen that when one man begins to sing, other people begin to sing. That is a fact. How could this be if all your feelings or minds were not one? Just notice this please. How do we learn things? We learn things from our friends, from other people. How could a teacher teach you anything if the teacher and the taught had not the same mind; if there were no brotherhood on the mental plane? Here is a mind directly communicating with another, the knowledge of the teacher becomes the knowledge of the pupil, how could that be if the two minds were not connected directly? And you know again this is a matter of experience that when you really feel for another friend, and entertain feelings of love, kindness, benevolence, feelings of appreciation for one man, the other man is bound to feel the vibration at distances of thousands of miles. Rama has tried the truth of this fact, and every day Rama tries that. Thousands and thousands of miles make no difference. Does it not show that all your minds are of the same plane, are intimately connected, are one? On the mental plane you are brothers.
How are culprits and criminals produced in this world? One man comes and wounds your feelings, but that man is very strong, too strong for you. You send out against him a thought of hatred, but you cannot carry that thought of hatred into effect. The same strong fellow wounds the feelings of another mild man, that second mild man resents it, sends out evil thoughts but cannot execute those thoughts in his own person. The strong fellow hurts the feelings of a third body, the third body is also poor and can inflict no direct injury upon the culprit, and so on, say twenty, fifty, or hundred men suffer from one man, until there comes a time when this strong fellow approaches a very, very strong man, a match for him, This fellow being insulted very slightly by the original culprit gets exasperated and enraged to such a degree that he does not consider at all the weight of insult; he does not consider whether the insult is very slight or very strong; he jumps to his feet and takes into his hands a gun and shoots him. There the original culprit is shot, this second fellow is taken by the police as a criminal and the matter is brought before the magistrate. The magistrate begins to investigate the matter. He is surprised to find the wrath quite out of proportion to the insult inflicted upon him. The insult was very slight, but the wrath evoked in this second criminal was awful. The magistrate is surprised; the newspapers take up the matter. Here was a touchy fellow, here was a very vicious fellow, a very slight insult provoked him to such a tremendous wrong that he committed homicide. Do not such cases happen every day? The magistrate and the newspaper cannot explain why such awful wrath was provoked by such a small insult. The Vedanta explains it. The Vedanta says that there was on the mental plane a joint stock company. You know that joint stock companies have many shareholders and one man is the boss or manager. Thus when the original culprit provoked your feelings, you sent forth thoughts of animosity and hostility against that man, and there you contributed your quota, your share of wrath against the man. When the second person was insulted, the second person contributed his share, and when the third fellow was insulted, he gave his share. So the fourth, fifth, or sixth, and so on, until there came a time when all that was necessary to start business. When a sufficient number of shares were paid up, there appeared the boss, the strong man, and when this strong man was insulted, by a law of spiritual affinity, the wrath sent forth by the first, second, third, fourth, and twenty and hundred persons, all these wraths were at once drawn to this boss, attracted, called forth, and collected in the person of the man who dealt out the final death blow, who shot the original culprit and himself became a State criminal. The Government or State will punish this boss only, but in the eyes of God or in the sight of Divinity or Truth all of you are shareholders, all of you are murderers. You are also murderers. You who sent forth thoughts of animosity or hatred, arc to blame just as much as the man who committed the murder is to blame. Thus Christ says that it won’t do simply to abstain from murder but you will have to abstain from sending forth any thoughts of hatred. He who hates his fellow is just as much a murderer as the man who commits actual murder. Why? While this explains why people who commit murders are oftentimes exasperated quite out of proportion to the insult, the insult was very slight, but the exasperation and wrath are tremendous, there you see that it is not the personal wrath only that is provoked, it is the wrath of your brothers also that comes up to you and takes hold of you, and you become mad, you become possessed by the wrath of your fellows who have been slightly insulted by the culprit. Just as a man is possessed by a demon they say, as a man is possessed by a ghost, so you become possessed by anger toward your fellow man, and being under that possession you are exasperated, intoxicated, and in that state you deal out the death blow, and people begin to wonder why this wrath provoked was quite out of proportion to the insult. This is the way your murderers are produced. Read the history of the world and you will find that after a reign of terror all the people wanted a man who might carry matters with an iron hand, who might keep the mob under control. Each wanted to control the mob, but none of them had the power to do it. Now the desire on the part of each and all was to get somebody who would control the revolting people, and it took shape in the body of Napoleon. Napoleon comes up just when the times need him and he has the power of thousands, nay millions. Why do heroes possess the power of millions? An army came to capture Napoleon and he, single-handed, went straight up to them and said “avaunt” and they stopped. Here is one man hushing into silence thousands who came to capture him. The people are astonished to hear such facts. Vedanta explains it. Vedanta says that in reality, the power, the thoughts of thousands are accumulated in that one man, as a matter of fact the thoughts of thousands are in that man. Thus Napoleon has no right, no hero has any right to entertain any thoughts of selfaggrandisement. Hero! If you possess the power of millions, you are millions. It is the millions whose thoughts are working in your body. Where is your specially bred divine person? It is the millions that are working in yourselves. There you see again Shakespeare, a great dramatist. No Shakespeare is needed in these days. It was in those times that they wanted a Shakespeare and Shakespeare came. Those were the stage-going days, those were the days when all the people had a mania for the stage. Those were the days which wanted dramatists, which wanted plays. The people wanted them, and it was the people’s minds and thoughts that appeared as Shakespeare. You see Shakespeare or any other great man does not appear alone. Along with Shakespeare we have a whole galaxy of bright persons, geniuses, philosophers,—Marlow, Beaumont, and Fletcher and what not,—and we have before him a whole reign of literature of the same sort. Here the circumstances, the times of the people send forth thoughts, thoughts in that direction, and all these thoughts by a law of chemical affinity assemble in one body and there you have your Shakespeare. Thus you see that your silver-tongued Shakespeare and your speakers who can keep in awe big audiences, one man who can control thousands, one general whose word becomes law unto thousands, millions, one man who can bring energy and action into millions and millions, how could this be produced if the thoughts of millions could not collect or accumulate into different bodies? There you see that Shakespeare and Napoleon are your own creation. Your emotions and your thoughts become their emotions and their thoughts. These are historical facts, and we also observe them every day all around us. Thus upon the psychological plane you are all one.
How were the Crusades caused? One map felt deeply about the state of Jerusalem. He came back to Europe and preached to the Europeans about the condition of Jerusalem. He preached, wept, and cried. One man felt all this, and the people got the same feelings, the feelings of one became the feelings of others. All of them set up in arms against the Turks, the Mahommedans. Thus were the Crusades caused. How was your War of Independence caused? The same way. One man, the President of the first Congress in America, drew out his sword when the people did not agree with him. He drew out his sword from the scabbard and said, “I for one am for war, war, war.”And all the people had to catch that word. The same Congress fellows who were against war, and against him, had to follow him. There you see that if your hearts and minds be not one, how could such marvellous actions be possessed? One we are. Feel this oneness.
We come now to another plane. You see that in your deep sleep state, all of you are one. Sleep is a great leveller. No difference is left in the deep sleep state, the king and the poor fellow, one sleeping on those velvet cushions, covered by those magnificent sheets, the king, and the poor beggar lying down in the streets are in the same state. Consider both of them in the deep sleep state. Where is the difference? Both are one and the same. In your deep sleep state you are one; in your wakeful state your bodies are all one, and your minds and feelings which live in this dreamland, are all one. Now we come to consider the real Atman, the true reality. Oh, the one Atman, the real reality, the true Self. There is no room for language or any expression of difference. There even the word ‘wave‘ or ‘ripple‘ cannot apply, there you are all one. You will say, no, my son is mine, but this fellow is not mine. You are mistaken if you think that. It is not so. Those whom you call as different from you, are just as much yours as your son is. How many times were you connected with them in your past births as brothers, sons or daughters, or fathers? Do you know that? The same person who is now your enemy may have been your father or your son in the past birth. The man who is your father in the birth may not be your father in your next birth. In your next birth you will be born of some different parents. Your feelings and sympathies are continually changing and so your relatives and friends, sisters and brothers are also continually changing. Does it not happen that a man who is born under the same roof with certain girls and boys, passes all his life apart from them, never sees them again in his life, and does it not happen that a man born in this country passes all his life in other countries? The reason is that the people who were born in other countries, happen to be his spiritual relatives. There you see that you ought not to confine your brotherhood only to those whom you call your sisters and brothers, wives or husbands. All, all, each and all are your own Self. Realize that. Science proves it.
Now Rama is going to sum up. Science shows that just as this particular body which you call yourself is one; the toes of the feet are connected with the heel, and that is connected with other parts of the body, and there is the law of continuity running through all the particles of your body, and your body is one, indivisible whole, and on that ground you see that it is only one power, the Atman, which fills the head as well as the feet. The same self pervades the feet and the hands. You see that. Now Science proves that different objects in this Universe are so related to each other that if by the side of the most undeveloped protoplasm, we place a higher form of protoplasm and next to that we place the next higher form, and so on, and if we could arrange everything in this universe in the right order, we would find a continuity running through every object in this universe. We find the whole world hold up by this most inviolable continuity. That being the case, the whole universe is a single, indivisible body. Now, as in the case of one whole body you are forced to believe oneself pervading the ears as well as the feet, so in this whole universe, which is a single continuous body, you will have to believe one Self or Atman filling or pervading the minutest microbe as well as the highest angel. Thus the Self or Atman of the highest angel is the same as the self or Atman of the most insignificant worm. There from the standpoint of the Atman you are all one.
Now, reasons or arguments to establish the brotherhood of man have been laid before you to some extent. Now will Rama lay stress upon the practical application of this truth. You may not accept it intellectually, but moral laws will force this truth upon you. You will have to live this truth in practice or die. There is no other way. Here is the hand. Once it became selfish and wanted to violate the law of brotherhood or unity and began to reason this way. -”Here am I, I work all day, but all the benefit of my work is reaped by the stomach, or other parts of the body, I do not eat anything, I should not allow the teeth or mouth to reap all the advantage, I will have everything myself.”The hand, after advancing this argument, became willing to carry it into effect. The food that was served on the table -milk, meat, all sorts of things, fruit, vegetables, -all those things the hand must now eat himself; the hand must get the benefit of it himself. The hand took a pin, made a hole and poured that milk into it, injected that milk, so that the mouth would not get the benefit. The hand made itself sick, it could not be benefited by it. There was one other way. In order to make itself fat the hand wanted to take honey, and wherefrom does it come? From the bee. So the hand took the bee and made it sting it. The hand got so much honey, it got the life of the bee into it, you know the bee dies after it stings. The hand became very fat, all the honey was in the hand. Oh, but this made the hand bitter and painful, it tortured the hand. When the hand had suffered and suffered, after a while it came to its senses. The hand said, “All that I earn must not go to myself alone. All that I earn must go into the stomach and there it must be used by the blood, by the hands and feet, by every organ of the body, and then and then alone can I, the hand, be profited; there is no other way. Then and then alone can the hand be profited. Now the hand was forced to believe that the self of the hand was not confined within this small area. The self of the hand will be profited when the Self of the whole body is profited; the self of the band will be profited when the self of the eyes is profited. The self of the hand is the same as the self of the eyes, and the self of the ears and the self of the whole body. So try to be selfish in the same way as the hand did, and you will suffer the consequences, you will suffer the same way as the poor hand did by trying to execute his selfishness. The divine law cannot allow you to separate yourself from your own kind. The most sacred truth is violated when you consider yourself not one with your fellow-men. The merchants who do not look upon the interests of their customers as their own or the shopkeepers who do not regard the interests of their customers as identical with their own, are shunned and avoided by the people and ruin themselves. In your life you will have to realize this, then and then alone will you prosper. O hand, your self is the Self of the whole universe, your self is the Self of the eyes and the feet and the teeth and every other part of the body. Feel that, realize that. If you want to keep yourself above misery and make yourself happy, realize and feel this oneness with each and all. Your practice will show, your own experience will prove that when you feel and realize this unity, when you concentrate your mind upon this truth, everybody around you is bound to come up to your help the same way as the hand comes up to help this part, when this part is itching or suffering. Here you fee! in itching sensation, the hand immediately comes up there. Similarly if you realize that the Self, the Atman, or the true nature of yourself, is the same as the Self or Atman of your fellow who is related to you as, when you are in need your fellows will immediately come to you and aid you. This is a matter of experience, practice, experimental fact.
OM! OM!! OM!!!