Sunday, April 15, 2012

WHEN THE SOUL HAS WRESTLED WITH CIRCUMSTANCE AND HAS MET DEATH, A THOUSAND TIMES DEATH ON THE WAY, BUT NOTHING DAUNTED HAS STRUGGLED FORWARD AGAIN AND AGAIN AND YET AGAIN ....


Through Hell to Heaven is always the way. When the soul has wrestled with circumstance and has met death, a thousand times death on the way, but nothing daunted has struggled forward again and again and yet again — then the soul comes out as a giant and laughs at the ideal he has been struggling for, because he finds how much greater is he than the ideal. I am the end, my own Self, and nothing else, for what is there to compare to me own Self? Can a bag of gold be the ideal of my Soul? Certainly not! My Soul is the highest ideal that I can have. Realising my own real nature is the one goal of my life.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Notes from Lectures and Discourses/Sadhanas or Preparations for Higher Life

No comments:

Post a Comment