Labor Day Weekend Retreat

 

    This is a world of good and evil. Wherever there is good, evil follows, but beyond and behind all these manifestations, all these contradictions, Vedanta finds that Unity. It says, “Give up what is evil and give up what is good.” What remains then? Beyond good and evil stands something that is yours, the real “you”—beyond every evil, and beyond every good too—and it is that which is manifesting itself as good and bad.

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     Know that first, and then, and then alone, will you be a true optimist, and not before;  for then you will be able to control everything. Control these manifestations and you will be at liberty to manifest the real “you.” First be master of yourself, stand up and be free ,go beyond the pale of these laws. For these laws do not absolutely govern you; they are only part of your being. First, find out that you are not the slave of nature, never were and never will be—that this nature, infinite as you may think it, is only finite, a drop in the ocean, and your Soul is the ocean. You are beyond the stars, the sun, and the moon. They are like mere bubbles compared with your infinite being. Know that, and you will control both good and evil. Then alone will the whole vision change, and you will stand up and say, “How beautiful is good and how wonderful is evil!”

     ~ Swami Vivekananda~


    Copyright © 2000  Vedanta Center of Greater Washington, D.C.