Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on November 13, 2011.

In this lecture, Swami Manishananda uses several striking statements from Swami Vivekananda to illuminate the standpoint of non-dualistic Vedanta. He begins by outlining the Vedantic distinction between the unchanging reality—Brahman—and the changing world of name and form, explaining why the sages call the world “unreal” in the specific sense of being impermanent. To make this practical, he draws on familiar analogies such as dream experience and the classic rope-and-snake illustration to show how ignorance of the underlying reality gives rise to mistaken appearance, and how knowledge removes fear and confusion.

From this foundation he explores Vivekananda’s definitions of nature, the universe, religion, and the devil. Nature is presented as a “book” that educates the soul through experience across many lifetimes, gradually weakening attachment and aversion. The universe is described as “the wreckage of the infinite on the shores of the finite,” suggesting both the poignancy of bondage and the possibility of using what is “salvageable” in life—spiritual discipline, worship, and inquiry—to move toward freedom. Religion, he says, is learning to “play consciously,” and the devil is not an external being but the world’s misery interpreted through superstition and projected fear. The talk concludes with Vivekananda’s “Song of the Free,” pointing to the courage and clarity that arise with knowledge of the Self and awareness of inherent divinity.