Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol. 7

NOTHING is proved by reason. Reason is only an instrument or a weapon. Any man can use it with the same skill for his own end. Satan, too, has his advocate.

According to the demands and needs of our ideals, experience and inner impulses, and in order to furnish them with proofs, we engage reason and its company. Therefore the authority of the proof lies not in any power of reasoning, but in the reality behind the ideal, the secret feeling, the profound impulse and impetus.

What is truth is existent; that is, it is true only because it has existence. It is independent of any proof. It has to be seen directly and perceived immediately. The proof of the tree before you consists in your seeing it. There is God, the Self, Immortality, Eternity, the Life Divine. The proof of each of these entities, too, lies in its direct apperception.

You may say, "I see the tree, you see it, he sees it; everybody sees or can see it. But God, the Self, Immortality, the Life Divine: even if you have seen them, I have not done so. Everyone has not seen or cannot see them."

My reply will be, "Not all, but many have realised them, in different ages and in different climes. It is open to you and me, also, to have the realisation if we go through the proper procedure."

If one wants to see London one has to go to London. You cannot say that there is no London because it is not visible from your room. Have you seen a positron? Have you seen a neutron? How many have seen them? To see them, one

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has to go to the laboratory and follow a special procedure.

The process that brings the direct vision of God, the Self, Immortality and the touch of the Divine Life is called the practice of Yoga.

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