Page 370 - Complete Works of Dr. KCV Volume 1

should be so much misery and ills. The great writer Somerset Maugham has asked this question. So have others. I don't think anybody has an answer to the sins, the ills, the injustices, the torture of the human spirit even at the lowest strata of mankind. Man cutting man; man robbing man; all this we see clearly.
Would you consider that this is the State of Nature? You may remember Hobb's definition that Man is red, tooth and claw. He is in perpetual conflict with Nature and his existence is one long tale of suffering, misery, violence, hate and passions. The least that is to be achieved is a rationality under which men will at least not kill each other. All these experiments in human associations have been made and are continuing to be made. But the Psychologists will tell you where we have got to, or rather where we have NOT got to.
India has ever been the land of Dharma, of right conduct, of right action. Dharma is the Indian way of life. It meant, in a word, regulation, and so meant our safety. That is what the Sanatana Dharma has given to us - the safety of self-regulation. We may still be maladjusted, ill-disciplined but there was in a total way, this Dharma, this self-regulation which helped us to live peacefully and grow with a little amount of happiness.
If you can share with Thoreau the idea of living with Nature, you might be able to see how nature is capable of being moulded to our own needs for growth and development.
So we have a higher nature, each one of us. It is to this, the Atma, that we have to address ourselves to. Please note that no cliches are to be bred. Our connection should be sought to be established directly only with Reality, the Ultimate Reality. I use the word Atman not in its philosophic sense. In fact I would rather say higher nature, our Self, for Atman.
It demands harmony, a peace, which life in Society and in this body hardly provides. Back of you all, when alone, when thrown upon yourself, you find yourself isolated, your real nature comes out. How can I improve this Self? How can I add to the quantum of this Self and diminish the attention to lower self? Be prepared to die for this, or that, or the other! What is it He wants you to do? Surrender! Let it be for a great Cause. Surrender to an