“Hear, ye children of immortal bliss! Even ye that reside in higher spheres! I have found the Ancient One who is beyond all darkness, all delusion: knowing Him alone you shall be saved from death over again.” “Children of immortal bliss” — what a sweet, what a hopeful name! Allow me to call you, brethren, by that sweet name — heirs of immortal bliss — yea, the Hindu refuses to call you sinners. Ye are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth — sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter is your servant, not you the servant of matter.
May the Lord break the bondage of all—may all come out of Maya—is the constant prayer of
Vivekananda
This Vedic Mantra is the most favourite of Swami Vivekananda. This belongs to Shvetashatara Upanishad.
Meaning:
May all the sons of Brahma who reign over heavenly regions hear! 2:5
I know this great Person who is resplendent like the sun and is beyond darkness, By knowing Him alone one transcends death; there is no other path to go by. 3:8
Purport:
This mantra speaks of Nrivikalpa Samadhi in which the spiritual aspirant gains complete absorption in Brahman, The Rishi who has realised that blessed state is exhorting others to tread the path leading to it—even those occupying celestial regions whose bliss is insignificant compared with that this highest absorption. Those who are priding in their worldly prosperity are shown that there is something higher for them to gain—their birthright of Immortal Bliss.
Again, with a view to making firm the idea already expressed, the realisation of the seer of the mantra, reveals that the highest human Goal is acquired only from the complete knowledge of the non-dual Brahman as identical with the Self that is all bliss, and not through any other knowledge.
