Monday, October 31, 2011

FILL THE BRAIN, THEREFORE, WITH HIGH THOUGHTS - OUT OF THAT WILL COME GREAT WORK


There is a great tendency in modern times to talk too much of work and decry thought. Doing is very good, but that comes from thinking. Little manifestations of energy through the muscles are called work. But where there is no thought, there will be no work. Fill the brain, therefore, with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you, and out of that will come great work. Talk not about impurity, but say that we are pure.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Real Nature of Man

TEACH THEM THAT THEY ARE ALL GLORIOUS CHILDREN OF IMMORTALITY


So with all knowledge. Do not talk of the wickedness of the world and all its sins. Weep that you are bound to see wickedness yet. Weep that you are bound to see sin everywhere, and if you want to help the world, do not condemn it. Do not weaken it more. For what is sin and what is misery, and what are all these, but the results of weakness? The world is made weaker and weaker every day by such teachings. Men are taught from childhood that they are weak and sinners. Teach them that they are all glorious children of immortality, even those who are the weakest in manifestation. Let positive, strong, helpful thought enter into their brains from very childhood.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Real Nature of Man

YOU ARE LIONS, YOU ARE SOULS, PURE, INFINITE, AND PERFECT. - THE MIGHT OF THE UNIVERSE IS WITHIN YOU


You are lions, you are souls, pure, infinite, and perfect. The might of the universe is within you. "Why weepest thou, my friend? There is neither birth nor death for thee. Why weepest thou? There is no disease nor misery for thee, but thou art like the infinite sky; clouds of various colours come over it, play for a moment, then vanish. But the sky is ever the same eternal blue."

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Real Nature of Man

Sunday, October 30, 2011

DRIVE OUT THE SUPERSTITION THAT HAS CONVERED YOUR MINDS


That is the Truth; the infinite strength of the world is yours. Drive out the superstition that has covered your minds. Let us be brave. Know the Truth and practice the Truth. The goal may be distant, but awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Real Nature of Man

EVERYTHING IS EVANCESCENT


Then there is the desire to be happy. We run after everything to make ourselves happy; we pursue our mad career in the external world of senses. If you ask the young man with whom life is successful, he will declare that it is real; and he really thinks so. Perhaps, when the same man grows old and finds fortune ever eluding him, he will then declare that it is fate. He finds at last that his desires cannot be fulfilled. Wherever he goes, there is an adamantine wall beyond which he cannot pass. Every sense-activity results in a reaction. Everything is evanescent. Enjoyment, misery, luxury, wealth, power, and poverty, even life itself, are all evanescent.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Real Nature of Man
Evanescent:
1. passing out of sight; fading away; vanishing
2. ephemeral or transitory

RELIGION BEGINS WITH THIS QUESTION AND ENDS WITH ITS ANSWER


To the person who never finds a moment to question the credentials of his senses, whose every moment is occupied with some sort of sense-enjoyment — even to him death comes, and he also is compelled to ask, "Is this real?" Religion begins with this question and ends with its answer. Even in the remote past, where recorded history cannot help us, in the mysterious light of mythology, back in the dim twilight of civilisation, we find the same question was asked, "What becomes of this? What is real?"

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Real Nature of Man

FEARLESS MONK

Today, is a day when I can take leave for my courier service and let the below article { NOT BY ME } take the centre stage as it speaks volumes about the tribulation which every human has to pass across in the journey called life.

-Thanks
Rajhashekher BC
SUNDAY, October 30, 2011
________________________________________________

FEARLESS MONK
– By Unknown


Long ago, I too was a rebellious teenager — defiant, stubborn, questioning and even reckless. Some of those traits I still retain. But the one who triggered my transition from a docile little boy to a combative and confident individual ready to take on the world was not a school hero or popular rapper; it was a man who was long dead, having lived a spectacular life of 39 years. He spoke to me through words he uttered or wrote with a fire that remains undiminished in intensity despite the passage of time.

I picked up Vivekananda's thoughts one day in Class XII, and haven't been able to put them down since. I cannot quite lay claim to being what an Eklavya was to his guru, Dronacharya. Yet, when I was beginning to decipher questions of right and wrong, moral and immoral, he summed up for me the essence of it all, by saying: "Fear is the greatest sin my religion teaches." Ever since, I've ensured that I do not commit the cardinal sin, whatever other errors I made.

NOT A JELLY FISH
As a child, I learnt, as we all do, that convention and what everyone else thought, mattered. Then, I unlearnt it. "I will die a thousand deaths than lead a jelly-fish existence and yield to every requirement of this foolish world", the fearless monk thundered through the years into my consciousness. No wonder, I was more of a difficult-to-handle nonconformist than what any teen with a dozen tattoos, eyebrow piercing and purple hair could have been.

When I was at my most despondent, unsure and rudderless, I would remember the monk's words:


"Human help I spurn with my foot. He who has been with me through hills and dales, through deserts and forests, will be with me, I hope; if not, some heroic soul would arise some time or other, far abler than myself, and carry it out."

DO YOUR DUTY
When I stood befuddled by the rat race, staring wide-eyed at the slippery rungs of the corporate ladder, Vivekananda reassured me:

"We find ourselves in the position for which we are fit, and if one has some capacity above another, the world will find that out too...." I decided to work on my capacity, and let the world do the finding-out.

When I got upset with injustices, he was at hand once again: "No man can long occupy a position for which he is not fit. By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, which is in our hands now, we make ourselves stronger, and improving our strength in this manner, we may reach a state in which it shall be our privilege to do the most coveted duties...."

I resolved to do well what was in my hands and stop cribbing.

When I face flak, I recollect Vivekananda's letter to his boys: "Have faith that you are all, my brave lads, born to do great things! Let not the barks of puppies frighten you — no, not even the thunderbolts of heaven — but stand up and work!"

He roared: "The names of those who will wish to injure us will be legion. But is not that the surest sign of our having the truth? The more I have been opposed, the more my energy has always found expression." And I stood up and worked, irrespective of the "barks of puppies and thunderbolts from heaven" and learnt to relish opposition — and lived to tell the tale.


When I wistfully looked at the 20s go by in 12-hour work days, struggle and little else, I wondered why I had neither money nor fame and whether my existential USPs were worth nothing. "Wait," smiled the monk; "wait, money does not pay, nor name; fame does not pay, nor learning. It is love that pays; it is character that cleaves its way through adamantine walls of difficulties." When the instinct to do what I thought was earth-shattering egged me on, only to be killed with one look at my dismal bank balance, my monk-guide asked me: "Was it ever in the history of the world that any great work was done by the rich? It is the heart and the brain that do it ever and not the purse." I stopped assuming that I was incapable of great work if my purse was empty.

FOREVER YOUNG


After many years of long hours and busy schedules, sometimes one yearns to simply be quiet and put thoughts into words, like now, but time is scarce when one is busy eking out a living. Vivekananda wrote to Sister Nivedita: "I was born for the life of a scholar — retired, quiet, and poring over my books. But the Mother dispenses otherwise — yet that tendency is there." And for a moment my master and I are kindred spirits, joined in a thought though separated by at least a hundred years."

- UNKNOWN





Saturday, October 29, 2011

IT IS GOOD AND VERY GRAND TO CONQUER EXTERNAL NATURE, BUT GRANDER STILL TO CONQUER OUR INTERNAL NATURE


Man is man so long as he is struggling to rise above nature, and this nature is both internal and external. Not only does it comprise the laws that govern the particles of matter outside us and in our bodies, but also the more subtle nature within, which is, in fact, the motive power governing the external. It is good and very grand to conquer external nature, but grander still to conquer our internal nature.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

SHOULD CULTIVATE RELIGIOUS THOUGHT, FOR IT IS THE HIGHEST PLEASURE THAT EXISTS


Spirituality is a still higher plane. The subject being infinite, that plane is the highest, and the pleasure there is the highest for those who can appreciate it. So, even on the utilitarian ground that man is to seek for pleasure, he should cultivate religious thought, for it is the highest pleasure that exists. Thus religion, as a study, seems to me to be absolutely necessary.
- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

THE SUBJECT BEING INFINITE, THAT PLANE IS THE HIGHEST, AND THE PLEASURE THERE IS THE HIGHEST FOR THOSE WHO CAN APPRECIATE IT


The lower the organisation, the greater the pleasure in the senses. Very few men can eat a meal with the same gusto as a dog or a wolf. But all the pleasures of the dog or the wolf have gone, as it were into the senses. The lower types of humanity in all nations find pleasure in the senses, while the cultured and the educated find it in thought, in philosophy, in arts and sciences. Spirituality is a still higher plane. The subject being infinite, that plane is the highest, and the pleasure there is the highest for those who can appreciate it.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

THEY ALSO HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY " NO " TO THE MAN WHO FINDS HIS HIGHEST PLEASURE IN SPIRITUAL THOUGHT



Some persons find the greatest pleasure in eating. We have no right to say that they should not. Others find the greatest pleasure in possessing certain things. We have no right to say that they should not. But they also have no right to say "no" to the man who finds his highest pleasure in spiritual thought.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

Friday, October 28, 2011

THIS STRUGGLE ITSELF IS THE GRANDEST AND MOST GLORIOUS THAT MAN CAN MAKE.


Thus, apart from the solid facts and truths that we may learn from religion, apart from the comforts that we may gain from it, religion, as a science, as a study, is the greatest and healthiest exercise that the human mind can have. This pursuit of the Infinite, this struggle to grasp the Infinite, this effort to get beyond the limitations of the senses — out of matter, as it were — and to evolve the spiritual man — this striving day and night to make the Infinite one with our being — this struggle itself is the grandest and most glorious that man can make.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

IN BUILDING UP CHARACTER IN MAKING FOR EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD AND GREAT



But the world-movers, men who bring, as It were, a mass of magnetism into the world whose spirit works in hundreds and in thousands, whose life ignites others with a spiritual fire — such men, we always find, have that spiritual background. Their motive power came from religion. Religion is the greatest motive power for rea...lising that infinite energy which is the birthright and nature of every man. In building up character in making for everything that is good and great, in bringing peace to others and peace to one's own self, religion is the highest motive power and, therefore, ought to be studied from that standpoint.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

NO OTHER IDEAL CAN PUT INTO US THE SAME MASS OF ENERGY AS THE SPIRITUAL



We can see it in its effects. It is the greatest motive power that moves the human mind. No other ideal can put into us the same mass of energy as the spiritual. So far as human history goes, it is obvious to all of us that this has been the case and that its powers are not dead.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

Thursday, October 27, 2011

WHEN RELIGIONS HAVE BECOME THUS BROADENED, THERE POWER FOR GOOD WILL HAVE INCREASED A HUNDERDFOLD.

In my life I have seen a great many spiritual men, a great many sensible persons, who did not believe in God at all that is to say, not in our sense of the word. Perhaps they understood God better than we can ever do. The Personal idea of God or the Impersonal, the Infinite, Moral Law, or the Ideal Man — these all have to come under the definition of religion. And when religions have become thus broadened, their power for good will have increased a hundredfold. Religions, having tremendous power in them, have often done more injury to the world than good, simply on account of their narrowness and limitations.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

DOORS MUST BE KEPT OPEN FOR FUTURE ADDITIONS TO ALREADY EXISTING STORE



The religious ideals of the future must embrace all that exists in the world and is good and great, and, at the same time, have infinite scope for future development. All that was good in the past must be preserved; and the doors must be kept open for future additions to the already existing store. Religions must also be inclusive and not look down with contempt upon one another because their particular ideals of God are different.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

TO ME IT SEEMS THAT THEY HAVE JUST BEGUN TO GROW

 

It is sometimes said that religions are dying out, that spiritual ideas are dying out of the world. To me it seems that they have just begun to grow. The power of religion, broadened and purified, is going to penetrate every part of human life. So long as religion was in the hands of a chosen few or of a body of priests, it was in temples, churches..., books, dogmas, ceremonials, forms, and rituals. But when we come to the real, spiritual, universal concept, then, and then alone religion will become real and living; it will come into our very nature, live in our every movement, penetrate every pore of our society, and be infinitely more a power for good than it has ever been before.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

RELIGIOUS IDEAS WILL HAVE TO BECOME UNIVERSAL, VAST, AND INFINITE; AND THEN ALONE WE SHALL HAVE THE FULLEST PLAY OF RELIGION

Even at the present time we find many sects and societies, with almost the same ideas, fighting each other, because one does not want to set forth those ideas in precisely the same way as another. Therefore, religions will have to broaden. Religious ideas will have to become universal, vast, and infinite; and then alone we shall have the fullest play of religion, for the power of religion has only just begun to manifest in the world.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

THE MAINSPRING OF THE STRENGTH OF EVERY RACE LIES IN ITS SPIRITUALITY


But in every society there is a section whose pleasures are not in the senses, but beyond, and who now and then catch glimpses of something higher than matter and struggle to reach it. And if we read the history of nations between the lines, we shall always find that the rise of a nation comes with an increase in the number of such men; and the fall begins when this pursuit after the Infinite, however vain Utilitarians may call it, has ceased. That is to say, the mainspring of the strength Of every race lies in its spirituality, and the death of that race begins the day that spirituality wanes and materialism gains ground.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

IT IS GOOD AND VERY GRAND TO CONQUER EXTERNAL NATURE, BUT GRANDER STILL TO CONQUER OUR INTERNAL NATURE


It is good and very grand to conquer external nature, but grander still to conquer our internal nature. It is grand and good to know the laws that govern the stars and planets; it is infinitely grander and better to know the laws that govern the passions, the feelings, the will, of mankind. Thi...s conquering of the inner man, understanding the secrets of the subtle workings that are within the human mind, and knowing its wonderful secrets, belong entirely to religion.

- Swami Vivekananda
( Delivered in London )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Necessity of Religion

EVERYTHING LIES IN THE PREPARATION


Everyone without exception, everyone of us, can attain to this culmination of Yoga. But it is a terrible task. If a person wants to attain to this truth, he will have to do something more than to listen to lectures and take a few breathing exercises. Everything lies in the preparation. How long does it take to strike a light? Only a second; but how long it takes to make the candle! How long does it take to eat a dinner? Perhaps half an hour. But hours to prepare the food! We want to strike the light in a second, but we forget that the making of the candle is the chief thing.

- Swami Vivekananda
HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY ( Delivered at the Home of Truth, Los Angeles, California ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE MARVELLOUS CHILDHOOD OF JESUS, BUDDHA, SHANKARA ?



But though it is so hard to reach the goal, yet even our smallest attempts are not in vain. We know that nothing is lost. In the Gita, Arjuna asks Krishna, "Those who fail in attaining perfection in Yoga in this life, are they destroyed like the clouds of summer?" Krishna replies, "Nothing, my friend, is lost in this world.... Whatever one does, that remains as one's own, and if the fruition of Yoga does not come in this life, one takes it up again in the next birth." Otherwise, how do you explain the marvellous childhood of Jesus, Buddha, Shankara?

- Swami Vivekananda
HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY ( Delivered at the Home of Truth, Los Angeles, California )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2

IF WE HAVE TRUE YEARNING FOR REALISATION, WE MUST STRUGGLE, AND THROUGH STRUGGLE GROWTH WILL COME


 If you want to be a Yogi, you must be free, and place yourself in circumstances where you are alone and free from all anxiety. He who desires a comfortable and nice life and at the same time wants to realise the Self is like the fool who, wanting to cross the river, caught hold of a crocodile, mista...king it for a log of wood (Vivekachudâmani, 84.). "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and everything shall be added unto you." This is the one great duty, this is renunciation. Live for an ideal, and leave no place in the mind for anything else. Let us put forth all our energies to acquire that, which never fails — our spiritual perfection. If we have true yearning for realisation, we must struggle, and through struggle growth will come. We shall make mistakes, but they may be angels unawares.

- Swami Vivekananda
HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY ( Delivered at the Home of Truth, Los Angeles, California )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2

THAT IS THE SECRET: TO THINK THAT I AM THE SPIRIT AND NOT THE BODY - I AM THE WITNESS


The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation (Dhyâna). In meditation we divest ourselves of all material conditions and feel our divine nature. We do not depend upon any external help in meditation. The touch of the soul can paint the brightest colour even in the dingiest places; it can cast a fragrance over the vilest thing; it can make the wicked divine — and all enmity, all selfishness is effaced. The less the thought of the body, the better. For it is the body that drags us down. It is attachment, identification, which makes us miserable. That is the secret: To think that I am the spirit and not the body, and that the whole of this universe with all its relations, with all its good and all its evil, is but as a series of paintings — scenes on a canvas — of which I am the witness.

- Swami Vivekananda
HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY ( Delivered at the Home of Truth, Los Angeles, California )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2

ANALYSE, TEST, PROVE EVERYTHING, AND THEN TAKE IT.


True science asks us to be cautious. Just as we should be careful with the priests, so we should be with the scientists. Begin with disbelief. Analyse, test, prove everything, and then take it. Some of the most current beliefs of modern science have not been proved. Even in such a science as mathematics, the vast majority of its theories are only working hypotheses. With the advent of greater knowledge they will be thrown away.
- Swami Vivekananda
HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY ( Delivered at the Home of Truth, Los Angeles, California )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2

Monday, October 24, 2011

BUT WHY DID NOT YOUR RISHIS COME TO ENGLAND TO TEACH US?


Now, coming back to the practical. The subject of the practical application of psychology has been taken up in India from very early times. About fourteen hundred years before Christ, there flourished in India a great philosopher, Patanjali by name. He collected all the facts, evidences, and researches in psychology and took advantage of all the experiences accumulated in the past. Remember, this world is very old; it was not created only two or three thousand years ago. It is taught here in the West that society began eighteen hundred years ago, with the New Testament. Before that there was no society. That may be true with regard to the West, but it is not true as regards the whole world. Often, while I was lecturing in London, a very intellectual and intelligent friend of mine would argue with me, and one day after using all his weapons against me, he suddenly exclaimed, "But why did not your Rishis come to England to teach us?" I replied, "Because there was no England to come to. Would they preach to the forests?"

- Swami Vivekananda
HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY ( Delivered at the Home of Truth, Los Angeles, California )The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

BUT I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS TRUE AND VAST AND WONDERFUL


But I can understand that it is true and vast and wonderful.

Now, if there is any one amongst you who really wants to study this science, he will have to start with that sort of determination, the same as, nay even more than, that which he puts into any business of life.

And what an amount of attention does business require, and what a rigorous taskmaster it is! Even if the father, the mother, the wife, or the child dies, business cannot stop! Even if the heart is breaking, we still have to go to our place of business, when every hour of work is a pang. That is business, and we think that it is just, that it is right.

- Swami Vivekananda
THE POWERS OF THE MIND ( Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900 ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2

PEOPLE ASK ME WHY I DO NOT GIVE THEM PRACTICAL LESSONS. - IT TOOK ME THIRTY YEARS TO LEARN IT. THIRTY YEARS OF HARD STRUGGLE.



But this science deals with the mind, which moves all the time; the moment you want to study it, it slips. Now the mind is in one mood, the next moment, perhaps, it is different, changing, changing all the time. In the midst of all this change it has to be studied, understood, grasped, and controlled. How much more difficult, then, is this science! It requires rigorous training. People ask me why I do not give them practical lessons. Why, it is no joke. I stand upon this platform talking to you and you go home and find no benefit; nor do I. Then you say, "It is all bosh." It is because you wanted to make a bosh of it.

I know very little of this science, but the little that I gained I worked for thirty years of my life, and for six years I have been telling people the little that I know. It took me thirty years to learn it; thirty years of hard struggle. Sometimes I worked at it twenty hours during the twenty-four; sometimes I slept only one hour in the night; sometimes I worked whole nights; sometimes I lived in places where there was hardly a sound, hardly a breath; sometimes I had to live in caves. Think of that. And yet I know little or nothing; I have barely touched the hem of the garment of this science. But I can understand that it is true and vast and wonderful.
- Swami Vivekananda
THE POWERS OF THE MIND ( Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900 ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2

THIS IS THE PECULIARITY OF THE INDIAN MIND, THAT WHEN ANYTHING INTERESTS IT, IT GETS ABSORBED IN IT AND OTHER THINGS ARE NEGLECTED.


 There is no end to the power a man can obtain. This is the peculiarity of the Indian mind, that when anything interests it, it gets absorbed in it and other things are neglected. You know how many sciences had their origin in India. Mathematics began there. You are ...even today counting 1, 2, 3, etc. to zero, after Sanskrit figures, and you all know that algebra also originated in India, and that gravitation was known to the Indians thousands of years before Newton was born.

- Swami Vivekananda
THE POWERS OF THE MIND ( Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900 ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2

THIS SCIENCE WANTS YOU TO BE STRONG, TO TAKE THE WORK IN YOUR OWN HAND, INSTEAD OF LEAVING IT IN THE HANDS OF NATURE


The utility of this science is to bring out the perfect man, and not let him wait and wait for ages, just a plaything in the hands of the physical world, like a log of drift-wood carried from wave to wave and tossing about in the ocean. This science wants you to be strong, to take the work in your own hand, instead of leaving it in the hands of nature, and get beyond this little life. That is the great idea.

- Swami Vivekananda
THE POWERS OF THE MIND ( Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900 ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2

Sunday, October 23, 2011

THE END AND AIM OF ALL TRAINING IS TO MAKE THE MAN GROW. - THE DYNOMO OF POWER


The ideal of all education, all training, should be this man-making. But, instead of that, we are always trying to polish up the outside. What use in polishing up the outside when there is no inside? The end and aim of all training is to make the man grow. The man who influences, who throws his magic, as it were, upon... his fellow-beings, is a dynamo of power, and when that man is ready, he can do anything and everything he likes; that personality put upon anything will make it work.

- Swami Vivekananda
THE POWERS OF THE MIND ( Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900 ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2

HE WHO KNOWS AND CONTROLS HIS OWN MIND KNOWS THE SECRET OF EVERY MIND AND HAS POWER OVER EVERY MIND.


Now, if there is a method by which we can analyse, investigate, understand, and finally grapple with those finer powers, the finer causes, then alone is it possible to have control over ourselves, and the man who has control over his own mind assuredly will have control over every other mind. That is why purity and morality have been always the object of religion; a pure, moral man has control of himself. And all minds are the same, different parts of one Mind. He who knows one lump of clay has known all the clay in the universe. He who knows and controls his own mind knows the secret of every mind and has power over every mind.

- Swami Vivekananda
THE POWERS OF THE MIND ( Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900 ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2

I AM INDIA, INDIA IS ME; WHEN I WALK, INDIA WALK’S; IF I SPEAK, INDIA SPEAK'S


Romain Rollond writes these immaculate lines in one of his books “A biography of anyone is hard to write. But a biography of a saint is the most difficult of all, because most of the drama of a saint's life is lived within - far from the gaze, and even farther from the understanding, of the rest of the world ". After reading these lines of his, a couple of years ago, I did forbid myself from doing research on monk's lives. The reason being, any monk’s life is a war internal kingdom and it would be an vain unsuccessful attempt in first in understanding those undercurrent struggle’s and second it would be impossible to comprehend the measure the degree with which the fire of the furnace incrementally gets churned inside those subtle channels while journeying those razor’s edge’s.



So, in keeping with forbidden sanctorum of saint’s life, I have tried to portray that monk’s life whose life as it were, was inspired by Swami Vivekananda. In doing so, let me also add; I have avoided all research on references to his spiritual life, his mystical experience, and his philosophical ideas. As I do not consider myself to be competent to understand those…nor do I stand a change to co-relate those aspects in layman's language. However, I felt that it would be more appealing to a layman to delineate his personality in layman’s terms and from an Indian perspective. And most importantly what is it that can be learned from this Great Monk of India.



This monk during his pre monastic days was a mathematics professor in a Forman Christian College at Lahore. One day, this mathematics professor heard Swami Vivekananda speaking during his visit of Lahore of 1897. After hearing him he was very much impressed and meet Swami Vivekananda at the time of departure, presented him with a Gold Watch {which was given to him by his wife’s father during his marriage}. Swamiji being a Vedantist returned the watch to his pocket saying “Very well, friend, I shall wear it here in this pocket “. And continued “I don’t want your watch, but I want you“.
This professor could not understand those words of Swamiji then, but within a span of three years he resigned from this post as a professor, renounced worldly life, went to Himalayas, lead a life of spiritual austerity, Traveled to western countries preaching Vedanta philosophy. And after returning to India proclaimed these words which need to be etched in each Indian Heart and Indian Mind from an Indian Blood.

“I am India. India is me. My head is Kashmir. My shoulders are Himalayas. My legs are Kanyakumari. When I walk, India walks; When I speak, India speaks”

These words were the words of Swami Rama Tirtha, whose birth anniversary was yesterday, October 22nd of 1873. On this, next day of his birth anniversary let us meditate on these words of his, for in these words are the greatest impetus an Indian can find in leading life of success, harmony and peace. If every Indian start thinking and acting as if“ I AM INDIA; INDIA IS ME; IF I SPEAK, INDIA SPEAK’S “ then will there be any thing left out which cannot be achieved by an Indian in this life!?


- Thanks
Rajhashekher BC - Raj
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2011
Facebook : - Swami Vivekananda Myindiaeternal







 

Saturday, October 22, 2011

WHAT YOU CALL THE PERSONAL MAGNETISM OF THE MAN - THAT IS WHAT GOES OUT AND IMPRESSES YOU


You see what is happening all around us. The world is one of influence. Part of our energy is used up in the preservation of our own bodies. Beyond that, every particle of our energy is day and night being used in influencing others. Our bodies, our virtues, our intellect, and our spirituality, all these are continuously influencing others; and so, conversely, we are being influenced by them. This is going on all around us. Now, to take a concrete example. A man comes; you know he is very learned, his language is beautiful, and he speaks to you by the hour; but he does not make any impression. Another man comes, and he speaks a few words, not well arranged, ungrammatical perhaps; all the same, he makes an immense impression. Many of you have seen that. So it is evident that words alone cannot always produce an impression. Words, even thoughts contribute only one-third of the influence in making an impression, the man, two-thirds. What you call the personal magnetism of the man — that is what goes out and impresses you.

- Swami Vivekananda
THE POWERS OF THE MIND ( Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900 ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2

THIS MIND IS A PART OF THE UNIVERSAL MIND.


 The conclusion they have reached is that all these extraordinary powers are in the mind of man. This mind is a part of the universal mind. Each mind is connected with every other mind. And each mind, wherever it is located, is in actual communication with the whole world.

- Swami Vivekananda
THE POWERS OF THE MIND ( Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900 ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume

THERE IS SOUL, AND INSIDE THIS SOUL IS ALL POWER.



The Yoga doctrine, which we are having our lecture on, is not from that standpoint. [It teaches that] there is the soul, and inside this soul is all power. It is already there, and if we can master this body, all the power will be unfolded. All knowledge is in the soul. Why are people struggling? To lessen the misery.... All unhappiness is caused by our not having mastery over the body.... We are all putting the cart before the horse....

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Practical Religion: Breathing And Meditation

IT IS ALL OWN FOOLISHNESS, NOT HAVING PROPER MASTERY OF OUR OWN BODIES



The Yogi says you are to go to the root of all this. Why is there misery in the world? He answers: "It is all our own foolishness, not having proper mastery of our own bodies. That is all." He advises the means by which this misery can be [overcome]. If you can thus get mastery of your body, all the misery of the world will v...anish. Every hospital is praying that more and more sick people will come there. Every time you think of doing some charity, you think there is some beggar to take your charity. If you say, "O Lord, let the world be full of charitable people!" — you mean, let the world be full of beggars also. Let the world be full of good works - let the world be full of misery. This is out-and-out slavishness!

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Practical Religion: Breathing And Meditation

PHOTO DETAILS: Miss Mary Elizabeth Dutcher's cottage in Thousand Island Park

CIRCUMSTANCES CAN NEVER BE GOOD OR BAD. ONLY THE INDIVIDUAL MAN CAN BE GOOD OR BAD


... The Yogi says, religion is practical if you know first why misery exists. All the misery in the world is in the senses. Is there any ailment in the sun, moon, and stars? The same fire that cooks your meal burns the child. Is it the fault of the fire? Blessed be the fire! Blessed be this electricity! It gives light.... Where can you lay the blame? Not on the elements. The world is neither good nor bad; the world is the world. The fire is the fire. If you burn your finger in it, you are a fool. If you [cook your meal and with it satisfy your hunger,] you are a wise man. That is all the difference. Circumstances can never be good or bad. Only the individual man can be good or bad. What is meant by the world being good or bad? Misery and happiness can only belong to the sensuous individual man.

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Practical Religion: Breathing And Meditation

THE THING THAT HELD ME IN [ SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ] WAS HIS UNLIMITEDNESS!


“The thing that held me in {Swami Vivekananda } was his UNLIMITEDNESS! I never could touch the bottom - or top - or sides!........." “It is the 'truth' that I saw in Swamiji that has set me 'free'. One's faults seem so insignificant. Why remember them, when one has the Ocean of Truth to be one's playground? "

I feel that Swamiji was a rock for us to stand upon - that was His function in my life. Not worship, nor glory, but a steadiness under one's feet for experiments! "

- Josephine Macleod

Friday, October 21, 2011

THIS IS THE OUTRIGHT, PURE, SIMPLE, CLEAR - CUT TRUTH


Here is a bad odour. It will bring me unhappiness as soon as it touches my nose. I am the slave of my nose. If I am not its slave, I do not care. A man curses me. His curses enter my ears and are retained in my mind and body. If I am the master, I shall say: "Let these things go; they are nothing to me. I am not miserable. I do not bother." This is the outright, pure, simple, clear-cut truth.
The other problem to be solved is — is it practical? Can man attain to the power of mastery of the body? ... Yoga says it is practical .... Supposing it is not — suppose there are doubts in your mind. You have got to try it. There is no other way out....

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Practical Religion: Breathing And Meditation

MAN CAN CONTROL ALL THESE AND BECOME GOD, THE MASTER - MAN CAN BE MASTERS OF THEMSELVES


What is the difference between men and animals? ... "Food and [sleep],
procreation of the species, and fear exist in common with the animals. There is one difference: Man can control all these and become God, the master." Animals cannot do it. Animals can do charitable work. Ants do it. Dogs do it. What is the difference then? Men can be masters of themselves. They can resist the reaction to anything.... The animal cannot resist anything. He is held ... by the string of nature everywhere. That is all the distinction. One is the master of nature, the other the slave of nature. What is nature? The five senses....

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Practical Religion: Breathing And

I WILL STRUGGLE AND NEVER LET GO. NOTHING IS LOST


[The conquest of internal nature] is the only way out, according to Yoga.... The thirst for God is religion.... Good works and all that [merely] make the mind a little quiet. To practice this — to be perfect — all depends upon our past. I have been studying [Yoga] all my life and have made very little progress yet. But I have got enough [result] ...to believe that this is the only true way. The day will come when I will be master of myself. If not in this life, [in another life]. I will struggle and never let go. Nothing is lost. If I die this moment, all my past struggles [will come to my help]. Have you not seen what makes the difference between one man and another? It is their past. The past habits make one man a genius and another man a fool. You may have the power of the past and can succeed in five minutes. None can predict the moment of time. We all have to attain [perfection] some time or other.

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Practical Religion: Breathing And Meditation

PEOPLE WHO WORK WITH THEIR BRAINS ARE THE LONGEST - LIVED PEOPLE


Violent exercises are not all necessary.... If you want to be muscular, Yoga is not for you. You have to manufacture a finer organism than you have now. Violent exercises are positively hurtful.... Live amongst those who do not take too much exercise. If you do not take violent exercise, you will live longer. You do not want to bur...n out your lamp in muscles! People who work with their brains are the longest-lived people.... Do not burn the lamp quickly. Let it bum slowly and gently.... Every anxiety, every violent exercise — physical and mental — [means] you are burning the lamp

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Practical Religion: Breathing And Meditation

HALF AN HOUR IN THE MORNING AND HALF AN HOUR IN THE EVENING WILL MAKE YOU ANOTHER PERSON


Take a deep breath and fill the lungs. Slowly throw the breath out. Take it through one nostril and fill the lungs, and throw it out slowly through the other nostril. Some of us do not breathe deeply enough. Others cannot fill the lungs enough. These breathings will correct that very much. Half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening will make you another person. This sort of breathing is never dangerous. The other exercises should be practiced very slowly. And measure your strength. If ten minutes are a drain, only take five.

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Practical Religion: Breathing And Meditation

ANOTHER CONDITION FOR SUCCESS IN YOGA IS CHASTITY. IT IS THE CORNER - STONE OF ALL PRACTICE


Another condition [for success in Yoga] is chastity. It is the corner-stone of all practice. Married or unmarried — perfect chastity. It is a long subject, of course, but I want to tell you: Public discussions of this subject are not to the taste of this country. These Western countries are full of the most degraded beings in the shape of teachers who teach men and women that if they are chaste they will be hurt. How do they gather all this? ... People come to me — thousands come every year — with this one question. Someone has told them that if they are chaste and pure they will be hurt physically.... How do these teachers know it? Have they been chaste? Those unchaste, impure fools, lustful creatures, want to drag the whole world down to their [level]! ...

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Practical Religion: Breathing And Meditation