THE POWERS OF THE MIND- 16. - Swami Vivekananda

(Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900)
16.

Now, can we not hasten the growth of individuals?

We can.

Can we put a limit to the hastening?

We cannot say how much a man can grow in one life.

You have no reason to say that this much a man can do and no more.

Circumstances can hasten him wonderfully.

Can there be any limit then, till you come to perfection?

So, what comes of it? —

That a perfect man, that is to say, the type that is to come of this race, perhaps millions of years hence, that man can come today.



And this is what the Yogis say, that all great incarnations and prophets are such men; that they reached perfection in this one life.

We have had such men at all periods of the world's history and at all times.

Quite recently, there was such a man who lived the life of the whole human race and reached the end — even in this life.



Even this hastening of the growth must be under laws.

Suppose we can investigate these laws and understand their secrets and apply them to our own needs; it follows that we grow.

We hasten our growth, we hasten our development, and we become perfect, even in this life.



This is the higher part of our life, and the science of the study of mind and its powers has this perfection as its real end.

Helping others with money and other material things and teaching them how to go on smoothly in their daily life are mere details.

Swami Vivekananda
  To be continued  ....