HAS GAINED THE CERTAINTY OF CONVICTION AND ATTAINED THE POWER AND STRENGHT OF DEMONSTRATION

What little work has been done by me has not been from any inherent power that resides in me, but from the cheers, the goodwill, the blessings that... have followed my path in the West from this our very beloved, most sacred, dear Motherland. Some good has been done, no doubt, in the West, but specially to myself; for what before was the result of an emotional nature, perhaps, has gained the certainty of conviction and attained the power and strength of demonstration. Formerly I thought as every Hindu thinks, and as the Hon. President has just pointed out to you, that this is the Punya Bhumi, the land of Karma.

- Swami Vivekananda
Colombo, 16 January, 1897
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Lectures from Colombo to Almora/First Public Lecture in the East (Colombo)

" THE QUEST " - WISH YOU A HAPPY, ENCHANTING AND PURPOSEFUL 2012

6 day’s from today - January 5th, is the death anniversary of Sir Ernest Shackleton. He died while steaming southward on the ship “THE QUEST“ to explore Antarctic. One of first things which attracted one's eyes on the ship were the below lines of Rudyard Kippling engraved on a brass plate. These lines of his, is very apt as we embark into yet another unknown new year. Having lost one more year before our goals were meet from our quota of life, let these verses of Sir Ernest Shackleton { which he called it } " THE SPIRIT OF QUEST " act as a padestial upon which we can start again to achieve our goals of 2012.

“The Spirit of Quest”

If you can dream and not make dreams your master;
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster;
And treat those two impostors just the same,

If you can force your heart, and nerve, and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone;
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will, which says to them,“ Hold On??”

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty seconds‘worth of distance run,
yours is the earth and everything that’s in it,
And, what is more, you’ll be a man, my son.

Let me end with these two imperative questions which stares at US, year after year. “Did we add LIFE to YEARS in 2011” Or “ Did we add YEARS to LIFE in 2011 ? " Irrespective of the answer, each of us should be elated since we have another chance of adding LIFE TO YEARS in year 2012.

I wish each of you a happy, enchanting and PURPOSEFUL 2012.
- Thanks
Rajhashekher B C - Raj
SATURDAY, 31 december, 2011

INDIAN RACE NEVER STOOD FOR WEALTH....THE VITALITY OF THE RACE, THE MISSION OF THE RACE IS RELIGION; AND BECAUSE THAT HAS NOT BEEN TOUCHED, THERE THAT RACE LIVES.

But we find that the Indian race never stood for wealth. Although they acquired immense wealth, perhaps more than any other nation ever acquired, yet the nation did not stand for wealth. It was a powerful race for ages, yet we find that that nation never stood for power, never went out of the country to conquer. Quite content within their own boundaries, they never fought anybody. The Indian nation never stood for imperial glory. Wealth and power, then, were not the ideals of the race.

What then? Whether they were wrong or right -- that is not the question we discuss -- that nation, among all the children of men, has believed, and believed intensely, that this life is not real. The real is God; and they must cling unto that God through thick and thin. In the midst of their degradation, religion came first. The Hindu man drinks religiously, sleeps religiously, walks religiously, marries religiously, robs religiously.

Did you ever see such a country? If you want to get up a gang of robbers, the leader will have to preach some sort of religion, then formulate some bogus metaphysics, and say that this method is the clearest and quickest way to get God. Then he finds a following, otherwise not. That shows that the vitality of the race, the mission of the race is religion; and because that has not been touched, therefore that race lives.
- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 8/Lectures And Discourses/My Life And Mission
(Delivered at the Shakespeare Club of Pasadena, California, on January 27, 1900)

THE MASSES IN INDIA CRY TO SIXTY MILLION GODS, AND STILL DIE LIKE DOGS. WHERE ARE THESE GODS?

Knowing this, stand up and fight! Not one step back, that is the idea. ... Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards. ... Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all the gods in the world. Has misery ceased? The masses in India cry to sixty million gods, and still die like dogs. Where are these gods? ... The gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game. ... This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, my soul. You are infinite, deathless, birthless. Because you are infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. ... Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. You are all the world. Who can help you?
- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered In San Francisco, on May 28, 1900)
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita II

OUT OF PURITY AND SILENCE COMES THE WORD OF POWER

Our best work and our greatest influence is when we are without a thought of self. It is the "desireless" who bring great results to pass. Bless men when they revile you. Think how much good they are doing by helping to stamp out the false ego. Hold fast to the real Self, think only pure thoughts, and you will accomplish more than a regiment of mere preachers. Out of purity and silence comes the word of power.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 8/Lectures And Discourses/Discourses On Jnana-Yoga

ANGER AND LUST AND JEALOUSY, EVIL THOUGHTS AND ALL THESE THINGS, NEVER COME TO ME

Thus sang a Vedantin, "I never had fear nor doubt. Death never came to me. I never had father or mother: for I was never born. Where are my foes? — for I am All. I am the Existence and Knowledge and Bliss Absolute. I am It. I am It. Anger and lust and jealousy, evil thoughts and all these things, never came to me; for I am the Existence, the Knowledge, the Bliss Absolute. I am It. I am It."

That is the remedy for all disease, the nectar that cures death. Here we are in this world, and our nature rebels against it. But let us repeat, "I am It; I am It. I have no fear, nor doubt, nor death. I have no sex, nor creed, nor colour. What creed can I have? What sect is there to which I should belong? What sect can hold me? I am in every sect!"
- Swami Vivekanadna
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/The Open Secret

LIFE

Life will keep bringing you the same test, over and over, til you pass it.....

LIGHT COMES GENTLY, SLOWLY, BUT SURELY IT COMES.

However much the body rebels, however much the mind rebels, in the midst of the uttermost darkness, in the midst of agonising tortures, in the uttermost despair, repeat this, once, twice, thrice, ever more. Light comes gently, slowly, but surely it comes.
- Swami Vivekanadna
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/The Open Secret

AND I WOULD RISE UP, REINVIGORATED, AND HERE AM I, LIVING, TODAY.

 Many times I have been in the jaws of death, starving, footsore, and weary; for days and days I had had no food, and often could walk no farther; I would sink down under a ...tree, and life would seem ebbing away. I could not speak, I could scarcely think, but at last the mind reverted to the idea: "I have no fear nor death; I never hunger nor thirst. I am It! I am It! The whole of nature cannot crush me; it is my servant. Assert thy strength, thou Lord of lords and God of gods! Regain thy lost empire! Arise and walk and stop not!" And I would rise up, reinvigorated, and here am I, living, today.

- Swami Vivekanadna
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/The Open Secret

YOU MAY PRAY TO EVERYONE THAT WAS EVER BORN, BUT WHO WILL COME TO HELP YOU ?

Thus, whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish. For, after all, it is but a dream. Mountain-high though the difficulties ap...pear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Mâyâ. Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies. Be not afraid. Think not how many times you fail. Never mind. Time is infinite. Go forward: assert yourself again and again, and light must come. You may pray to everyone that was ever born, but who will come to help you? And what of the way of death from which none knows escape? Help thyself out by thyself. None else can help thee, friend. For thou alone art thy greatest enemy, thou alone art thy greatest friend. Get hold of the Self, then. Stand up. Don't be afraid.

- Swami Vivekanadna
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/The Open Secret

BUILD UP YOUR CHARACTER, AND MANIFEST YOUR REAL NATURE, THE EFFULGENT, THE RESPLENDENT, THE EVER - PURE AND CALL IT UP IN EVERYONE THAT YOU SEE.

If I teach you, therefore, that your nature is evil, that you should go home and sit in sackcloth and ashes and weep your lives out because you took certain false steps, it will not help you, but will weaken you all the more, and I shall be showing you the road to more evil than good. If this room is full of darkness for thousands of years and you come in and begin to weep and wail, "Oh the darkness", will the darkness vanish? Strike a match and light comes in a moment. What good will it do you to think all your lives, "Oh, I have done evil, I have made many mistakes"? It requires no ghost to tell us that. Bring in the light and the evil goes in a moment. Build up your character, and manifest your real nature, the Effulgent, the Resplendent, the Ever-Pure, and call It up in everyone that you see.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part IV

" COME DO SOMETHING HEROIC? " LET HIM WHO HAS COURAGE IN HIS MIND AND LOVE IN HIS HEART COME WITH ME. I WANT NONE ELSE.......

......Avail yourselves of this stir that is rife all over the country, and scatter yourselves in all quarters. Let it not be an empty sound merely. Why are you nervous about conducting it? ... Come? Do something heroic! Brother, what if you do not attain Mukti, what if you suffer damnation a few times? Is the saying untrue?

" There are some saints who full of holiness in thought, word, and bleed, please the whole world by their numerous beneficent acts, and who develop their own hearts by magnifying an atom of virtue in others as if it were as great as a mountain" (Bhartrihari, Nitishataka).

What if you don't get Mukti? What childish prattle! Lord! They say even the venom of a snake loses its power by firmly denying it. Isn't it true? What queer humility is this to say, "I know nothing !" "I am nothing !" This is pseudo-renunciation and mock modesty, I tell you. Off with such a self-debasing spirit! "If I do not know, who on earth does!" What have you been doing so long if you now plead ignorance? These are the words of an atheist — the humility of a vagabond wretch. We can do everything, and will do everything! He who is fortunate enough will heroically join us, letting the worthless mew like cats from their corner. A saint writes, "Well, you have had enough of blazoning. Now come back home." I would have called him a man if he could build a house and call me. Ten years' experience of such things has made me wiser. I am no more to be duped by words. Let him who has courage in his mind and love in his heart come with me. I want none else.

- Swami Vivekananda
1895, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 6/Epistles - Second Series/LXXI Rakhal

 

AN INDIAN WHO DID NOT CELEBRATE NEW YEAR FOR 21 YEARS

We are awaiting yet another new year to fulfill our personal dreams, to fight our tribulations, to reach new horizons, to…, to…, to…seem never ending…..! In this psychodrama of life, we tend to forget and forgive Jaliianwala Bagh Massacer. But, there was a person who did not forget nor forgive Michael O’Dwyer {The Then Governor General of the State} who was the prime person for orchestrating and executing this massacre on Indian’s. After the massacre Dwyer gives a statement “To teach the INDIANS a lesson, to make a wide impression and to strike terror thought – out Punjab“.

26th December is 112th Birth Anniversary of Udham Singh. Indian, who did not celebrate New Year for 21 years, but his sole purpose of life and dream of life, was to restore the honor of INDIA because of the massacre. He, after witnessing this massacre at Jaliianwala Bagh was much shaken. He went to Golden Temple bathed in the holy sarvor { Pool of Nectar } and took a solemn pledge “ To wreak vengeance on the perpetrators of this crime and to restore honor to what he saw as a “ Humiliated Nation ”. In order to fulfill this pledge of his he hounded Michael O’ Dwyer across the globe for 21 years. At last at Caxton hall, in Great Britain killed him. Then he voluntarily surrendered to police.  When asked in court about Killing of O’Dwyer he said:

“I did it because I had a grudge against him. He deserved it. He was the real culprit. He wanted to crush the spirit of my people, so I have crushed him. For full 21 years, I have been trying to wreak vengeance. I am happy that I have done the job. I am not scared of death. I am dying for my country. I have seen my people starving in India under the British Rule. I have protested against this, it was my duty. What a Greater honor could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my MOTHERLAND? “
World’s reactions for this killing poured in fast: 

* Amrit Bazar Patrika wrote, "O'Dwyer's name is connected with Punjab incidents which India will never forget".

* New Statesman observed: "British conservatism has not discovered how to deal with Ireland after two centuries of rule. Similar comment may be made on British rule in India. Will the historians of the future have to record that it was not the Nazis but the British ruling class which destroyed the British Empire?"

* Indians all over regarded Singh's action as justified and an important step in India's struggle to end British colonial rule in India. At a public meeting in Kanpur, a speaker stated that "at last an insult and humiliation of the nation had been avenged".

* Most of the press worldwide remembered the story of Jallianwala Bagh and held Michael O' Dwyer fully responsible for the events. Singh was called "fighter for freedom" by The Times, London, and his action was said to be "an expression of the pent-up fury of the downtrodden Indian People".

* Bergeret, published in large-scale from Rome at that time, ascribed the greatest significance to the circumstance and praised Udham Singh's action as courageous.

* Berliner Borsen Zeitung called the event "The torch of the Indian freedom" AND

* German radio repeatedly broadcast: "The cry of tormented people spoke with shots". And "Like the elephants, the Indians never forgive their enemies. They strike them down even after 20 years".

“The Indians never forgive their enemies. They strike them down even after 20 years”. World reaction to this incident is indicative of the blatant truth that India got independence not only because of non – violence. But our test books still carries the old diseased dead statements “India got independence because of non – violence”. If that be the case, then how are we going to account for six and half lack freedom fighters who willingly gave there life’s for each of us, to celebrate New Year, Year after Year!?

- Thanks
Rajhashekher BC - Raj
SATERDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2011
Facebook : - Swami Vivekananda Myindiaeternal

NEVER THINK THERE IS ANYTHING IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE SOUL. IT IS THE GREATEST HERESY TO THINK SO

This, says the Vedanta, is the ideal to follow. Every one of us will have to become a prophet, and you are that already. Only know it. Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin — to say that you are weak, or others are weak.
- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

EVERY ONE OF US WILL HAVE TO BECOME A PROPHET, AND YOU ARE THAT ALREADY. ONLY KNOW IT

How do you know that a book teaches truth? Because you are truth and feel it. That is what the Vedanta says. What is the proof of the Christs and Buddhas of the world? That you and I feel like them. That is how you and I understand that they were true. Our prophet-soul is the proof of their prophet-soul. Your godhead is the proof of God Himself. If you are not a prophet, there never has been anything true of God. If you are not God, there never was any God, and never will be. This, says the Vedanta, is the ideal to follow. Every one of us will have to become a prophet, and you are that already. Only know it.
Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

THE BOOK IS NOT THE PROOF OF YOUR CONDUCT, BUT YOU ARE THE PROOF OF THE BOOK.

 Intellect is like limbs without the power of locomotion. It is only when feeling enters and gives them motion that they move and work on others. That is so all ...over the world, and it is a thing which you must always remember. It is one of the most practical things in Vedantic morality, for it is the teaching of the Vedanta that you are all prophets, and all must be prophets. The book is not the proof of your conduct, but you are the proof of the book.

- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

THE BOOK IS NOT THE PROOF OF YOUR CONDUCT, BUT YOU ARE THE PROOF OF THE BOOK.

Intellect is like limbs without the power of locomotion. It is only when feeling enters and gives them motion that they move and work on others. That is so all over the world, and it is a thing which you must always remember. It is one of the most practical things in Vedantic morality, for it is the teaching of the Vedanta that you are all prophets, and all must be prophets. The book is not the proof of your conduct, but you are the proof of the book.
- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

IT IS FEELING THAT IS LIFE, THE STRENGHT, THE VITALITY, WIHTOUT WHICH NO AMOUNT OF INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY CAN REACH GOD.

Do you not know from the history of the world where the power of the prophets lay? Where was it? In the intellect? Did any of them write a fine book on philosophy, on the most intricate ratiocinations of logic? Not one of them. They only spoke a few words. Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God. Intellect is like limbs without the power of locomotion.
- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

YOU MAY BE THE MOST INTELLECTUAL GIANT EVERY BORN, BUT YOU WILL BE NOTHING

Do you feel for others? If you do, you are growing in oneness. If you do not feel for others, you may be the most intellectual giant ever born, but you will be nothing; you are but dry intellect, and you will remain so. And if you feel, even if you cannot read any book and do not know any language, you are in the right way. The Lord is yours.
- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

AWAKE AND ARISE, IT DOES NOT BEFIT YOU - PERSIST IN TELLING IT.

Let the world resound with this ideal, and let superstitions vanish. Tell it to men who are weak and persist in telling it. You are the Pure One; awake and arise, O mighty on...e, this sleep does not become you. Awake and arise, it does not befit you. Think not that you are weak and miserable. Almighty, arise and awake, and manifest your own nature.

- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

IT IS YOUR TURN NOW AND YOU ALREADY KNOW THE TRUTH

What is there to be taught more in religion than the oneness of the universe and faith in one's self? All the works of mankind for thousands of years past have been towards this one goal, and mankind is yet working it out. It is your turn now and you already know the truth.
- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

BUT DO NOT TEACH THESE THINGS TO OTHERS - BE MASTERS OF ALL THESE

 Tell me one case where these prayers have been answered. All the answers that came were from your own hearts. You know there are no ghosts, but no sooner are you in the dar...k than you feel a little creepy sensation. That is so because in our childhood we have had all these fearful ideas put into our heads. But do not teach these things to others through fear of society and public opinion, through fear of incurring the hatred of friends, or for fear of losing cherished superstitions. Be masters of all these.


- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

THESE ARE SOMETIMES TERRIBLE DOCTRINES TO TEACH. NEVER TELL YOURSELVES THAT YOU ARE WEAK

These are sometimes terrible doctrines to teach. I know people who get frightened at these ideas, but for those who want to be practical, this is the first thing to learn. Never tell yourselves or others that you are weak. Do good if you can, but do not injure the world. You know in your inmost heart that many of your limited ideas, this humbling of yourself and praying and weeping to imaginary beings are superstitions.

- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

DO NOT MAKE THE PATH MORE DIFFICULT FOR THOSE WHO ARE COMING AFTER YOU.

Would to God we had not been surrounded from our birth by all these superstitious influences and paralysing ideas of our weakness and vileness! Would to God that mankind had had an easier path through which to attain to the noblest and highest truths! But man had to pass through all this; do not make the path more difficult for those who are coming after you.
- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part 1

BRING THIS THOUGHT TO BEAR UPON YOUR LIFE

Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourselves with the thought of your almightiness, your majesty, and your glory. Would to God no superstitions had been put into your head! Would to God we had not been surrounded from our birth by all these superstitious influences and paralysing ideas of our weakness and vileness!
- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part

ALL YOUR ACTIONS WILL BE MAGNIFIED, TRANSFORMED, DEIFIED, BY THE VERY POWER OF THE THOUGHT

"I am the birthless, the deathless, the blissful, the omniscient, the omnipotent, ever-glorious Soul." Think on it day and night; think on it till it becomes part and parcel of your life. Meditate upon it, and out of that will come work. "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh," and out of the fullness of the heart the hand worketh also. Action will come. Fill yourselves with the ideal; whatever you do, think well on it. All your actions will be
magnified, transformed, deified, by the very power of the thought.
- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I

TILL IT ENTERS INTO YOUR VERY VEINS, TILL IT TINGLES IN EVERY DROP OF BLOOD, TILL IT IS IN YOUR FLESH AND BONE

"This Âtman is first to be heard of." Hear day and night that you are that Soul. Repeat it to yourselves day and night till it enters into your very veins, till it tingles in every drop of blood, till it is in your flesh and bone. Let the whole body be full of that one ideal, "I am the birthless, the deathless, the blissful, the omniscient, the omnipotent, ever-glorious Soul." Think on it day and night; think on it till it becomes part and parcel of your life. Meditate upon it, and out of that will come work.

- Swami Vivekanananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I

MILLIONS OF YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MAN FIRST CAME HERE, AND YET BUT ONE INFINITESIMAL PART OF HIS POWERS HAS BEEN MANIFESTED.

But it is not selfish faith because the Vedanta, again, is the doctrine of oneness. It means faith in all, because you are all. Love for yourselves means love for all, love for animals, love for everything, for you are all one. It is the great faith which will make the world better. I am sure of that. He is the highest man who can say with truth, "I know all about myself." Do you know how much energy, how many powers, how many forces are still lurking behind that frame of yours? What scientist has known all that is in man? Millions of years have passed since man first came here, and yet but one infinitesimal part of his powers has been manifested. Therefore, you must not say that you are weak. How do you know what possibilities lie behind that degradation on the surface? You know but little of that which is within you. For behind you is the ocean of infinite power and blessedness.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

THE NEW RELIGION SAYS THAT HE IS THE ATHEIST WHO DOES NOT BELIEVE IN HIMSELF

Why should we have all these bitter experiences in order to gain faith in ourselves? We can see that all the difference between man and man is owing to the existence or non-existence of faith in himself. Faith in ourselves will do everything. I have experienced it in my own life, and am still doing so; and as I grow older that faith is becoming stronger and stronger. He is an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is the atheist who does not believe in himself.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

IF ANY MOTIVE POWER HAS BEEN MORE POTENT THEN ANOTHER IN THE LIVES OF ALL GREAT MEN AND WOMEN, IT IS THAT OF FAITH IN THEMSELVES.

Throughout the history of mankind, if any motive power has been more potent than another in the lives of all... great men and women, it is that of faith in themselves. Born with the consciousness that they were to be great, they became great. Let a man go down as low as possible; there must come a time when out of sheer desperation he will take an upward curve and will learn to have faith in himself. But it is better for us that we should know it from the very first.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896

IF FAITH IN OURSELVES HAD BEEN MORE EXTENSIVELY TAUGHT AND PRACTICED, I AM SURE A VERY LARGE PORTION OF THE EVILS AND MISERIES THAT WE HAVE WOULD HAVE VANISHED

The ideal of faith in ourselves is of the greatest help to us. If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished. Throughout the history of mankind, if any motive power has been more potent than another in the lives of all great men and women, it is that of faith in themselves.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896

FEAR IS ONE OF OUR WORST ENEMIES.

The first thing to be got rid of by him who would be a Jnani is fear. Fear is one of our worst enemies. Next, believe in nothing until you know it. Constantly tell yourself, "I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am not thought, I am not even consciousness; I am the Atman." When you can throw away all, only the true Self will remain.
- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 8/Lectures And Discourses/Discourses On Jnana-Yoga

FOR, IF A RELIGION CANNOT HELP MAN WHEREVER HE MAY BE, WHEREVER HE STANDS, IT IS NOT OF MUCH USE; IF WILL REMAIN ONLY A THEORY FOR THE CHOSEN FEW

.
These are the principles of ethics, but we shall now come down lower and work out the details. We shall see how this Vedanta can be carried into our everyday life, the city life, the country life, the national life, and the home life of every nation. For, if a religion cannot help man wherever he may be, wherever he stands, it is not of much use; it will remain only a theory for the chosen few. Religion, to help mankind, must be ready and able to help him in whatever condition he is, in servitude or in freedom, in the depths of degradation or on the heights of purity; everywhere, equally, it should be able to come to his aid. The principles of Vedanta, or the ideal of religion, or whatever you may call it, will be fulfilled by its capacity for performing this great function.
- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

NEVER SAY, " NO ", NEVER SAY, " I CANNOT ", FOR YOU ARE INFINITE. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, YOU ARE ALMIGHTY

Teach men of the strength that is already within them. Instead of telling them they are sinners, the Vedanta takes the opposite position, and says, "You are pure and perfect, and what you call sin does not belong to you." Sins are very low degrees of Self-manifestation; manifest your Self in a high degree. That is the one thing to remember; all of us can do that. Never say, "No", never say, "I cannot", for you are infinite. Even time and space are as nothing compared with your nature. You can do anything and everything, you are almighty.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

THE REMEDY FOR WEAKNESS IS NOT BROODING OVER WEAKNESS, BUT THINKING OF STRENGHT

 There may be weakness, says the Vedanta, but never mind, we want to grow. Disease was found out as soon as man was born. Everyone knows his disease; it require...s no one to tell us what our diseases are. But thinking all the time that we are diseased will not cure us — medicine is necessary. We may forget anything outside, we may try to become hypocrites to the external world, but in our heart of hearts we all know our weaknesses. But, says the Vedanta, being reminded of weakness does not help much; give strength, and strength does not come by thinking of weakness all the time. The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

WE SPEND OUR ENERGIES IN CONDEMNING OTHERS

Condemn none; if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way. Dragging down and condemning is not the way to work.... Never is work accomplished in that way. We spend our energies in condemning others. Criticism and condemnation is a vain way of spending our energies, for in the long run we come to learn that all are seeing the same thing, are more or less approaching the same ideal, and that most of our differences are merely differences of expression.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

MAN SHOULD NOT BE DEGRADED TO WORLDLY SLAVERY, BUT SHOULD BE RAISED UP TO GOD.

Therefore you must struggle towards the ideal, and if a man comes who wants to bring that ideal down to your level, and teach a religion that does not carry that highest ideal, do not listen to him. To me that is an impracticable religion. But if a man teaches a religion which presents the highest ideal, I am ready for him. Beware when anyone is trying to apologise for sense vanities and sense weaknesses. If anyone wants to preach that way to us, poor, sense-bound clods of earth as we have made ourselves by following that teaching, we shall never progress. I have seen many of these things, have had some experience of the world, and my country is the land where religious sects grow like mushrooms. Every year new sects arise. But one thing I have marked, that it is only those that never want to reconcile the man of flesh with the man of truth that make progress. Wherever there is this false idea of reconciling fleshly vanities with the highest ideals, of dragging down God to the level of man, there comes decay. Man should not be degraded to worldly slavery, but should be raised up to God.
- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

THERE IS THIS STRONGLY CONSERVATIVE TENDENCY IN HUMAN NATURE: WE DO NOT LIKE TO MOVE ONE STEP FORWARD

 There is this strongly conservative tendency in human nature: we do not like to move one step forward. I think of mankind just as I read ...of persons who become frozen in snow; all such, they say, want to go to sleep, and if you try to drag them up, they say, "Let me sleep; it is so beautiful to sleep in the snow", and they die there in that sleep. So is our nature. That is what we are doing all our life, getting frozen from the feet upwards, and yet wanting to sleep.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

IF ONE INTENDS TO REALLY FIND TRUTH, ONE MUST NOT CLING TO COMFORT. IT IS HARD TO LET ALL GO, BUT THE JNANI MUST DO IT

"Comfort" is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being "comfortable". If one intends to really find truth, one must not cling to comfort. It is hard to let all go, but the Jnâni must do it.
- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 8/Lectures And Discourses/Discourses On Jnana-Yoga

MOST OF US HERE HAVE MORE TIME THAN WE THINK WE HAVE, IF WE REALLY WANT TO USE IT FOR GOOD

My wants are as nothing compared with the demands of Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, commanding a huge army; and yet he could find time in the midst of the din and turmoil of battle to talk the highest philosophy and to carry it into his life also. Surely we ought to be able to do as much in this ...life of ours — comparatively free, easy, and comfortable. Most of us here have more time than we think we have, if we really want to use it for good.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

WITH THE AMOUNT OF FREEDOM WE HAVE WE CAN ATTAIN TO 200 IN THIS LIFE, IF WE WILL..

With the amount of freedom we have we can attain to two hundred ideals in this life, if we will, but we must not degrade the ideal to the actual. One of the most insinuating things comes to us in the shape of persons who apologise for our mistakes and teach us how to make special excuses for all our foolish wants and foolish desires; and we think that their ideal is the only ideal we need have. But it is not so. The Vedanta teaches no such thing. The actual should be reconciled to the ideal, the present life should be made to coincide with life eternal.
- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

THAT WE CANNOT REALISE THEM IS A SHAME TO US, SEEING THAT WE ARE COMPARATIVELY FREE ALL THE TIME, HAVING VERY LITTLE TO DO.

 The Vedanta also says that not only can this be realised in the depths of forests or caves, but by men in all possible conditions of life. We have seen that the people who discovered these truths were neither living in caves nor forests, nor following the ordinary vocations... of life, but men who, we have every reason to believe, led the busiest of lives, men who had to command armies, to sit on thrones, and look to the welfare of millions — and all these, in the days of absolute monarchy, and not as in these days when a king is to a great extent a mere figurehead. Yet they could find time to think out all these thoughts, to realise them, and to teach them to humanity. How much more then should it be practical for us whose lives, compared with theirs, are lives of leisure? That we cannot realise them is a shame to us, seeing that we are comparatively free all the time, having very little to do. My requirements are as nothing compared with those of an ancient absolute monarch.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

THE VEIL DROPS AWAY, AND THE NATIVE PURITY OF THE SOUL BEGINS TO MANIFEST ITSELF

 This we must always bear in mind that in the Vedanta there is no attempt at reconciling the present life — the hypnotised life, this false life which we have assumed — with the ideal; but this false life must go, and the real life which is always existing must manifest itself, must shine out. No man becomes purer and... purer, it is a matter of greater manifestation. The veil drops away, and the native purity of the soul begins to manifest itself. Everything is ours already — infinite purity, freedom, love, and power.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

EVERY TIME YOU THINK IN THAT WAY, YOU, AS IT WERE, RIVET ONE MORE LINK IN THE CHAIN THAT BINDS YOU DOWN, YOU ADD ONE MORE LAYER OF HYPNOTISM ON TO YOUR OWN SOUL.

" The Vedanta recognises no sin, it only recognises error. And the greatest error, says the Vedanta, is to say that you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable creature, and that you have no power and you cannot do this and that. Every time you think in that way, you, as it were, rivet one more link in the chain that binds you down, you add one more layer of hypnotism on to your own soul. Therefore, whosoever thinks he is weak is wrong, whosoever thinks he is impure is wrong, and is throwing a bad thought into the world "
- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

PRACTISE SILENCE EVERY DAY

We live in a noisy world, a noisome world. All the noises around us create stress. Even as particles of dust cling to our clothes, even so particles of noise cling to our minds, our hearts, nay our very souls.
When our clothes are soiled, we wash them with soap and water. How do we clean our souls, which are polluted by the noise around us? We must wash them in the waters of silence - the flowing river of silence. We need to take dips in the river again and again.

Dr. Deborah Bright is regarded as an authority on stress; and her recommendation to overcome stress is what she calls PQT. PQT is Personal Quiet Time. Dr. Bright recommends two sessions of PQT - 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes in the evening - everyday. If you have these two sessions regularly, tension and stress cannot touch you.

A philosopher once asked a king, “Who do you think is the happiest being in the world?"
“God,” replied the king, and he added, “The happiest of men is he who is closest to God."

“How may we get close to God?" he was asked.

“Through the practice of silence!" he was asked.

Significant are the words of the Upanishad: “The mind alone is the cause of man's bondage; the mind is also, the instrument of man's liberation."

It is silence which can still the mind, so that the mind is calm and clear as the surface of the lake on a windless day. In silence, the mind will become a source of indescribable joy and peace - and tension and stress will vanish, as dew before the rising sun.
To sit in silence, you must learn to be still. “The more a man does," says an English mystic, “the more he is and exists. And the more he is exists, the less of god is and exists within him."

Let me sit in silence, so that the God within me awakens. Let me sit still, as a silent spectator viewing the shifting scenes of a fickle mind. Let me but sit, as I sat long ago, in a theatre watching a play. The actors appeared on the stage, played their respective roles and disappeared. I kept looking on! So too, let me keep looking at the thoughts that come and go - rushing out of the unknown depths of my mind. They are not mine. I have nothing to do with them. They come: let them come. They will soon pass out, leaving the chamber of my mind calmer, cleaner and brighter.

Sitting in silence, you can pray. You can meditate upon the Lord. You can engage yourself in a loving and intimate conversation with God. God is not from you afar. He is wherever we are. He is here. He is now. Anchor your hopes and aspirations in His safe harbor. Where He is - there is absolute Peace.

TO MANY THIS IS, NO DOUDT, A TERRIBLE IDEA; AND MOST OF US THINK THAT THIS IDEAL CAN NEVER BE REACHED; BUT THE VEDANTA INSISTS THAT IT CAN BE REALISED BY EVERY ONE

As certain religions of the world say that a man who does not believe in a Personal God outside of himself is an atheist, so the Vedanta says, a man who does not believe in himself is an atheist. Not believing in the glory of our own s...oul is what the Vedanta calls atheism. To many this is, no doubt, a terrible idea; and most of us think that this ideal can never be reached; but the Vedanta insists that it can be realised by every one. There is neither man nor woman or child, nor difference of race or sex, nor anything that stands as a bar to the realisation of the ideal, because Vedanta shows that it is realised already, it is already there.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

THE VEDANTA TEACHES MEN TO HAVE FAITH IN THEMSELVES FIRST

The soul was never born and will never die, and all these ideas that we are going to die and are afraid to die are mere superstitions. And all such ideas as that we can do this or cannot do that are superstitions. We can do everything. The Vedanta teaches men to have faith in themselves first.
- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part I (Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)