Now, since it is Man who is going to be the centre of all solicitude for centuries to come, and Man to whose service the best energies will be devoted for centuries and centuries, I would say that not only will Man's spiritual Self be glorified and served, but whatever pertains to Man will be considered sacred. Here you might say, 'You are coming back to social service, aren't you?' Yes, in a sense I am; in a sense I am not. Social service merely for the sake of social service is not enough. What vision we have of Man is the important thing.

What vision are you going to have of humanity in this coming age and this present age? I should say that a human being really is a spiritual entity and this spiritual entity will be granted every kind of freedom for its self-- expression. A human being should not be in any way hampered, either for lack of economic means or lack of intellectual knowledge or of physical health or physical strength or for any other disability; he or she must not be made to suffer. And so, as I see it, in trying to glorify Man in the future we shall be forced to glorify every aspect of Man. His economic misery will be removed, his social disabilities will be removed. He should be born in good health and should grow in good health; all his faculties and talents should be cultivated so that he can express himself in the best way possible. But all these things will avail little or nothing--as a matter of fact, I should say that these developments will probably create all kinds of troubles--unless the central vision is accomplished. The essential thing is that the individual should become at least partly aware of his own true nature, which is his spiritual nature.

And how does one become aware of one's true spiritual nature? Just as in order to grasp the nature of the mind we have to distinguish it from the body, in the same way we have to recognize a contradiction between the body and the mind on one side and the Spirit on the other side. If you say, 'That will only produce self-conflict,' no; it doesn't produce self-conflict. Just as the sun can make the clouds around it shine with the glory of burnished silver, though clouds are not of the same substance as the sun itself, similarly when we become aware of our own spiritual Self, although we recognize that it is of a substance very different from the body and the mind, that awareness will make our mind and body shine with a glory of which we now cannot even dream. That vision has to come. Everything is meaningless unless we have caught a glimpse of our true nature.. That is where our stability lies, that is where we find our roots, and that is where we have to feed them, and then our whole being, our whole life and existence will flourish.

You see, this is the vision we have to have. If we do not have it, many things will be wasted. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, 'Zero is absolutely without any value, but put one to the left of it, at once it becomes ten. The more zeros you put to the right, the more one becomes multiplied by ten. So all these things that you do here are absolutely without value, but put this one, this divine reality, by the side of it, and all these things will multiply in value.' This is true; we have to catch a glimpse of the spiritual Self. Well, because we are not doing that now, everything goes wrong. There are many people who are idealistic enough to think it is a noble cause to remove the poverty or social inequalities of others and who devote themselves to this unselfish service; yet when you study these things, you find the whole effect gets more and more bound up into a snarl.

I myself have seen the considerable growth of the labour movement in America. As you all know, it grew up really during the Depression and afterwards. Well, you would say it's a wonderful movement, and yet there has been so much abuse, I think many people consider it to be a mixed blessing, this labour-union movement. And as you have noticed, there have sometimes been doubts in the Administration, certainly in Congress, as to whether the labour-union movement should be allowed to grow uncontrolled. They have made all kinds of laws to check it. Why? I myself believe that if those who were at the head or at the root of this movement were conscious of spiritual reality, this movement would have been a blessing--a blessing to an extent which is unimaginable. But because the leaders went on the basis of secular reality, because they became too grossly realistic about it, it is creating friction everywhere. Power is a peculiar thing; unless it is related to spirituality, it creates havoc.

I do not mean religion, I mean spirituality. Religion--formal, organized religion--is just an organization. I sometimes think that probably it would be better to look upon formal religion as mere organization, because you get a better picture that way. And of course organized religion has caused all kinds of troubles. By spirituality I mean that people should become somehow aware of the existence of the spiritual Being. Even a distant glimpse is a transforming experience. It comes from an inwardness, it comes from that which Christ asked this young man to do--to renounce, not merely externally, but internally. When you do that, you become aware of this other reality. You don't seek anything for yourself, you do not have a power sense within you any more. You do not have the sense of contradiction and competition within you; you feel a sense of basic unity and harmony among all beings, what to speak of all human beings. Then you really can serve. Otherwise, service itself sometimes becomes a source of conflict. You see, this vision is lacking. But that is what will come.

Now at this point, if I try to estimate my idea of what the future of religion is going to be, I shall probably find that many of the prevalent religions will lose much of their influence, and many things that are now in religion will probably become lost through disuse. People will not be going to places to worship as much as they used to, probably they will find these things lead nowhere, and they will become more and more critical and sceptical. Only one thing will stand the test of this age: it is direct experience of truth. When a person is found who has this direct experience, that person has some influence, and therefore we find that everywhere in the western world mysticism has become an absorbing study. Many people want to know how they can become clairvoyant or clairaudient or attain to this or that state, how they can learn how to practise concentration, and thereby have all kinds of mysterious powers. They're eager for those things. Of course, it seems a childish covetousness, because they do not know what price has to be paid in order to have direct experience. But the fact that they want to experience those things is itself significant. People are not content with the idea that after they die some result will come; they think it is possible for them to gain the power of direct experience here and now. They may not know how to gain that experience or what is required to gain it, they may not have a sober knowledge of it, but they feel that they should have it, that they can have it. That itself, as I said, is a very significant trend of mind. So I see the future of religion as a religion of direct experience--not a religion of faith, but a religion of experience.

I say again that a religion will not, cannot, depend upon mere faith and belief. That will not work for long. If faith is emphasized too much, the net result will be that people will lose what they have gained through modern knowledge during the last two or three centuries. They will lose self-confidence and power. You see, you cannot gain knowledge and then just play with it. No; you will lose it. Knowledge is a serious affair; it is not a plaything; it belongs to very strong, serious minds.

Further, religion will be concerned with Man. If a religion does not solve the problems of Man in their most essential and deepest sense, that religion will not have the allegiance of the people. So religions are facing a critical situation in all these respects.

3

From this point on, let us try to think what kind of religion will satisfy the people. I have mentioned some things, but I think I should give some more details. You can at once see, and no doubt some of you have thought about it, that if mankind is going to be the main concern in the future, then you must admit that whatever people have found to be glorious, they will not allow to be lost. One of our great modern prophets in India said, 'This is the age in which all kinds of human achievements will be glorified.' When I first came upon this statement it came as a shock to me, and then afterwards I began to see the light in it. If Man is going to be glorified, then whatever human beings have found, along whatever line, physical, material, mental, psychic, spiritual--all these achievements will become glorified too. If somewhere ways and means have been found by which people can live a better life on earth, even if they cannot attain anything very spiritual thereby, then however ancient or medieval or modern that method is, it will be redeemed and will remain as a part of the human heritage. And so all along the line--whether it is material or mental or spiritual-- whatever is valuable will remain.

In connection with purely religious things, I see an added picture. It is this: if we study all the religions and creeds and cults of the world, we will find that although a particular religion may not be found satisfactory as a whole, in each religion we might come upon many valuable things, based on the actual achievement and experiences of men and women in the past, and we will not allow such things to disappear. If there has been in any one religion a unique conception of God or of the ultimate destiny of the soul, it will remain. If any religion has found unique ways and means by which this ultimate destiny can be realized, then that will be salvaged. It will not be allowed to be lost. And so you can see that a religion of the future cannot be dogmatic or partial; it will have to be some sort of universal religion in the sense that it will contain everything of value that religion has so far discovered, under whatever name or guise. I really believe that the future will require and produce such a religion.

It will not come by abolishing the present religions. It is not that someone will declare a religion which will supplant all the existent religions. No. But certainly it will be a religion that will be without boundaries, in which all the ideas of religion, all the findings of the past will have their legitimate place. For example, I can well see--I have of course been saturated with this idea almost all my life--I can well see that a person could become an earnest worshipper of the Christ, of the Buddha, be a follower of Islam, appreciate everything that there is, and feel no contradiction or self-division. It is quite possible. As a matter of fact, that is what we are aiming at.

At least America is aiming at it. Here everybody has a hearing. It is an extraordinary country. Anybody who wants to say something, there are people who will listen to him. They will listen to another person the next day, another person the third day. They are giving welcome to everything. Now, what will happen, do you think, to these Americans? Ah! Ideas are dangerous things. You think, 'Oh, that's nothing. Today I hear something; tomorrow I shall hear something else. Today I read one book; tomorrow I shall read another book. Why should I have to be converted?' But you don't know; some of those things will remain part of your being. Experience, of however flimsy a nature, is not for nothing. It will leave something in you, and whether you like it or not, whether you recognize it or not, you will become transformed. And that is what is happening. As a matter of fact, that will happen with every country and every people.

In India we had our big doses, long, long ago. You see, when the British conquered us, they found it to their advantage to train us in the English language; they needed a huge number of people to do their clerical work in their own language. And of course they would not establish more schools or colleges than were necessary for their purpose. But the moment the Hindus began to taste western learning, there were many who at once began to learn European languages--French, German, Latin, Greek--they just went after them, they became eager. So, many of our colleges were not established by the British, but by the Hindus themselves. As a result, we became acquainted with western thought; with western literature, with western art and politics, history, economics, with what the West thinks, what it likes, its problems, the solutions it has given--all these things we were taught in our schools and colleges. Fortunately, we also became acquainted with our own heritage; we became more perfect citizens of the world.

You have to learn these things now. And you are starting to learn. At first, just a handful of men and women were interested in Oriental learning, and they were often looked upon as queer people. But came the Second World War, and you sprawled all over the world, and since then, you are going to India, people are coming here from India, everybody is studying Indian philosophy, Buddhistic philosophy, Chinese philosophy, learning the Chinese language, learning Sanskrit, learning this, learning that. You have become world-minded. The ways of God are mysterious! How these things happen, nobody knows. But you are getting acquainted with the thoughts and the problems of other people. Americans are continually going out and studying these problems. Some of you may think you are studying only the political or economic or military problems, but there are many Americans who are also studying cultural problems and getting acquainted with the deep-seated thoughts of the Oriental people in order to understand them. So you no longer can remain just pure Americans in the way you thought you would.

Of course, it is the same everywhere. This is the age in which mankind is coming into its own. Man in every country was a partial being, but now, such are the circumstances, everywhere he is compelled to be the universal Man. The more he will become so, the more he will find himself in harmony with the spirit of the times, and the more useful a member of the human race he will become; he will find his path is clear. A partial person, a person with prejudice, will find his path everywhere blocked. These things are bound to happen. Whether you like it or not, the seeds of all the thoughts of all people are falling on the fertile, warm grounds of the human heart, and they are bound to grow and bear fruit.

But the human mind is such that while accepting everything, it would like to systematize all these thoughts. The human mind always works by systematization. After you have imbibed all the thoughts of the whole world, you will still have the responsibility of organizing them in your own mind, and therefore there has to be a philosophy.

We Hindus are proud to say that we have found in Vedanta a philosophy that has an infinite capacity of containing not only all the revelations that have been given to mankind so far, and all the findings that people have made through their own efforts, but all future revelations and findings. Vedanta rejects nothing, as long as it is real, as long as it is true. It is not a philosophy in the sense of being a body of certain ideas that were revealed to some prophet and imposed by that prophet upon his fellow beings. It is, rather, a recognition of the basic structure of human nature, a recognition of the constitution of reality in all its phases. What, then, can be omitted from it? Once a philosophy has gotten hold of the main lines of the constitution of reality, you find that everything can be included in it. And that is the Vedanta philosophy. And that is why, feeling that this is what the world needs as the future religion--that is why we have crossed the seven seas to come to these shores and speak of the essential truths that we call Vedanta. We think that this basic philosophy should be understood by all for the future of mankind.

On one side I see nothing will be rejected; on the other side I see a basic necessity of recognizing the fundamentals of all religious findings and thoughts and experiences of mankind--that is to say, a need to recognize a distinct philosophy, a universal philosophy. If you find some other philosophy better suited, welcome; I myself shall welcome it. But so far, we have not found it. I shall therefore earnestly recommend the study of the Vedanta philosophy to all thoughtful people. It is, of course, also very intellectually stimulating. Even if it has no other effect on you, Vedanta is a tremendous stimulus to your intellect, to your mind.

Swami Vivekananda used to seak of Vedanta as the universal religion, in which there will be included not only all the religious ideals, but all the other, secondary things--all the various methods by different religions that have been found valid and helpful, so that by means of those things people of different temperaments can reach the ultimate goal. He was never tired of saying that there is no harm in having sects; it is sectarianism that is harmful. Sometimes he would go further and say he wished there were as many sects as there were people in the world, so that everyone would have a wide choice. You see, when an educational institution teaches many courses and contains many different branches of learning, students of different temperaments and talents can find a place in that institution. If it teaches only a few courses of study, only a handful of people find what they want. In the same way, if a religion contains many sects, many different ideals, many different methods, then each of us could choose the one most suited to ourselves, and thereby we would find it easier to grow. So variety is not sacrificed in this universal religion. It is the antagonism to variety because of misunderstanding that is condemned. Each shall choose his or her own way, looking upon all the other ways as equally valid and also recognizing that all these different methods lead to the same goal, which is indescribable in itself but which has infinite phases and aspects, satisfying the infinite hungers of an infinite number of individuals.

Now remember, I said that Man is going to occupy the centre of the stage, not God. If this is so, and if this age is true to its own spirit, it will teach men and women to learn of their own glory above all else. There is no escaping it. You well know that anything that has been achieved in this age is through the self-confidence of human beings. If people had thought they did not have the power to find new knowledge or to accomplish new things, nothing would have been achieved. It is because they had faith in themselves that they have done so much up till now, and they can do yet more. But, then, there is self-confidence and self-confidence. The self-confidence that rises from physical vigour, physical abilities, or that rises because of mental or intellectual power is certainly very secondary compared with the self-confidence that rises from one's own moral nature or from the consciousness of one's own true spiritual nature. This particular teaching of Vedanta--that Man is essentially divine--is exceedingly valuable, and therefore we believe that it is going to be one of the major tenets of the future religion. I am almost willing to say that the future religion will fail to realize itself, unless the belief in the divinity of one's own nature is emphasized.

Sri Ramakrishna sometimes would say that one should not say, 'I am God,' until one has transcended body-consciousness. Even he, however, would teach the truth I am speaking about in another form. He would say, 'If you are a child of God, why should you think you are bound? If you think you are bound, bound you will become. But if you say, 'I am free,' then free you will become.' In regard to one's own self, that is really the essence of what we call Advaita or monism.

What am I really? Am I a weakling? Am I an imperfect being? Am I a miserable sinner? What am I? To begin with what we have now, we say, 'I have something. I can do something; I am not worthless. I am worth something.' That is self-confidence, that is sraddha, to use a Sanskrit term. Sraddha literally means faith, self-confidence, self-respect. As it is applied to one's own self, or to one's ideal, it is respect for one's inner self: 'Yes, I am worth something.' It is said in the Katha Upanisad that when the little boy Nachiketa was condemned by his father to go to the house of death, sraddha entered into him. Sraddhavivesa so manyata.² He said, 'Of many I am the best, and of many I am middling; therefore maybe death also has some use for me.' That is sraddha. 'I am not insignificant; I can do something too.' That is not egotism.

And because you Americans have this self-confidence, you have become great in modern times. If Americans as pioneers had said, 'Oh, miserable sinners that we are! We should not be proud, we are no good at all,' nothing would have been accomplished. I have never seen an American Christian believing in his heart of hearts that he is no good. He may say so when he goes to his church, but when he comes out he is an egotist of egotists--in a good sense. 'Oh, surely we can do it!' If you ask an American if he can float the Asian continent over the Pacific and join it to America, he might scratch his head for a few minutes, then, 'Yes, it could be done. Could be done.' Well, that's good! Nothing wrong about it. But, you see, there is a spiritual counterpart to it. I have already told you that unless man's achievements are related to even a distant glimpse of the spiritual reality, they are fraught with danger. Therefore, even one's self-confidence has to be somehow related to one's spiritual nature. That should be achieved.

I see the future Man tall, strong, serene, raising his head into the open sky. Above his head there is nothing except this blue, blue sky and the beautiful sunshine. Only the light and the infinite freedom of the sky will play round his head and nothing else. That's my dream of the Man of the future. Maybe some of you would not call it religion. I call it the best of religion, the essence of religion. Everything is true in relation to the 'I'. God is true in relation to me; otherwise God is nothing. If I have not experienced Him, He is just a word. And if I am not there, how can I experience Him? So this 'I' has to be right, this self has to be right. I do not crave anything of the senses, I do not want to be great by physical strength, I do not want to be a great intellect, I do not want to dominate others, I do not want anything of the kind. I want to satisfy the hunger of my soul, which is trying to know the infinite. And if I have that attitude, where is egotism? There won't be any egotism. This is the future Man. So I see this philosophy regarding one's own self, at the centre of the future religion.

Then comes this next point! We say Man will be glorified--all the greatnesses of Man will be made living again. Everything that is good and great concerning Man will be enshrined forever in this new religion. Yes, but don't you see? If man's true nature is divine, my worship will not be necessarily in a temple or a shrine or a chapel; it will be in the street, in the marketplace; it will be wherever Man has put his footsteps. My worship will be kneeling down at the feet of Man, because Man is God Himself. Every human being is God Himself.

You might ask me, 'Aren't all living beings God Himself? Why do you signal out human beings?' You see, every age has its strong points and therefore its limitations. Whenever you highlight some particular thing, you put other things somewhat in the shade. I am afraid this age is not as all embracing as was the age of Buddha when Lord Buddha thought in terms of compassion for all living beings. This age is narrower in that respect. It is concerned with human beings above all. Not that it has an antagonistic attitude towards other beings, but the attention will be so much focused on the ways and affairs of humans that probably the human mind will not find time to devote itself to subhuman beings so much. I may be quite wrong, but that's my feeling. So I say that worship will go to the feet of mankind. When you have been convinced that the vision you are having now is really born of ignorance, you will find that all these infinite forms are the forms of God Himself, of the One. As this consciousness grows in you, you will find that all the clamours of the senses, all the clamours that have made your whole life full of noise and tumult, have been lost in a deep, beautiful silence. You will find infinite peace surrounding you, and in such silence and such peace, worship and adoration become possible.

Yes, great service has to be done to mankind, great things have to be done. Modern technological development and unification of the world has made it possible to remove the tremendous sufferings to which humanity has been heir through thousands and thousands of years of civilization. This is the age in which these disabilities can be removed, and therefore I see, for centuries and centuries to come, a great many things have to be done by people unto other people, and in that doing I see utter worship. In that worship men and women will have forgotten that Man is Man; the only thing they will remember is that Man is God. Yes, if I have to say just one thing about it, I would say the future of religion is the worship of the divinity in Man, or of Man as the Divine.

References and footnotes

1. It should be noted that when this lecture was delivered (1953) the term Man could be used in a generic sense without causing alarm. It meant mankind; it included all men and women everywhere. Throughout this lecture, the swami uses the term in this sense. _Ed.
2. Katha Upanisad, 1.1.2.