The Sovereign Remedy .... Swami Purushottamananda

Fear is not today's problem.  Fear is not any one man's problem nor of a certain class of people.  Fear has enveloped the whole world.  And then, fear is not of a single type; innumerable varieties of fears are there.  Everyone is tormented by one or the other type of fear, and all are busy in conquering their fears.  But what is the root  cause of all fears?  Sages have solved this riddle ages ago.  As long as man has identified himself with his body and mind he cannot get rid of fear completely.  But he can only minimize his fears by various means.  Swami Vivekananda says that the absolute remedy for overcoming fear lies in realizing one's true Self - the deathless, the birthless, the omnipotent, the omniscient Atman!  Because Atman, in other words God, alone is beyond all fear._ Swami Purushottamananda.

FEAR AMONG THE TEENAGERS - A FACT - BUT NO NEED TO WORRY ... Swami Purushottamananda

For many teenagers, their sudden bodily and mental changes come as a shock.  But this shock is only temporary - they soon realize that these changes are common to all the therefore nothing dangerous.  For some teenagers, however, the transition is not smooth.  The prolonged presence of fear may cause deep and long-lasting damage to their personality.  Such youngsters need sympathetic help from their elders.  They must be taught that they are going through a transition period, and a new body and a new mind are being formed, that all these changes are perfectly alright and are not signs of any weakness or disease.

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Swami Vivekananda said a wonder-ful thing in this regard, which seems a reliable standard - "The best guide in life is Strength....  The sign of vigour, the sign of life, the sign of hope, the sign of health, the sign of everything that is good is - Strength."

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What this means is as follows:  Watch impartially; none of these bodily and mental changes will weaken the body, nor bring about a loss of general health, nor lead to lack of vigour in the mind, which means that these changes are for the better and not for the worse.  In spite of these doubts and fears lingering in the mind, the students will manage to remain in usual spirits and keep up good academic performance.  If this happens, it means there is nothing to worry and the fears will slowly disappear when he or she evolves into an adult.

***

Fear affects different teenagers differently, according to their constitution, temperament and upbringing.  Some students are shy and diffident in making new acquaintances; some may find it difficult to accommodate themselves in a new environment; in some, it may manifest as a fear to speak boldly; in others it may result in a lack of confidence to shoulder even minor responsibilities; some may tend to avoid challenging opportunities while some may choose to remain reserved always.  Thus, it is not possible to say definitely how this "Adolescent fear" might affect an individual.

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Knowing this, you should avoid comparing yourself with others.  Comparing with others will invariably leave you morose or disheartened; instead of such fruitless activities, busy yourself in developing the faculties and talents that you already possess.  These are beneficial, confidence-building measures.

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It is better to know that in spite of all these steps and preventive measures, a little fear could continue to remain in the heart, mainly because adolescence is a period of transition; both body and mind undergo great changes; new feelings and aspirations enter the brain and heart; one's whole perspective of the world undergoes a sea-change.  During such turbulent periods, a little fear might remain in spite of all your efforts.  This you must learn to quietly put up with.  It will leave you when you pass out of adolescence and become an adult.  Time is the only remedy for this fear.  Bear with it patiently.

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Identify some dependable, trust-worthy, sympathetic, helpful elders.  Approach them for general and specific guidance.  Their love and help will prove most beneficial to tide over turbulent times, quell your fear and remain happy and peaceful.  But, as we have already mentioned, speaking of these fears with our same-aged friends and brooding over them will only make a mountain of more-hill and bring in unwanted suffering.

USING FEAR - FOR SELF-PROTECTION ... Swami Purushottamananda

In spite of all the arguments against fear, it has a positive role in our lives.  It acts as a stimulus for our self-protection.  If we had no fear, how could we guard ourselves against dangers from wicked people or wild beasts?  For self-protection, carefulness and caution are inevitable and these proceed only from a sense of fear.  Thus, it is fear that helps us to protect ourselves.

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However, fear turns into a real evil when we start fearing illogically - for instance, imagining hideous things staying in the dark, or having a fear in your heart even after preparing well for the exams, or becoming too nervous waiting for the results, or stage fright, or accidents, etc.  There are some youngsters who compulsively imagine an accident while riding a vehicle, and some others who yield to stage fright even before small, friendly gatherings.  Hundreds of such silly reasons for baseless fears can be found.

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If you entertain such baseless fears, there is no end to it and your whole life could be doomed to be a horrible hell!  So, learn to think clearly and steer clear of such baseless fears and try to lead a happy, wholesome life.  Again, Swami Vivekananda will prove to be of great help in this effort.  His powerful will be most effective in dispelling many kinds of ignorance and will instill a new life in your fear-stricken soul......

FEAR : THE REMEDIES ... Swami Purushottamananda

It is most essential therefore, that youngsters take appropriate steps to wipe off this blot on their personality - the blot of Fear and Cowardice.

1.  Clarity of thought  is the most useful tool in dispelling fear.  You must be able to analyse circumstances and experiences in your own life, boldly and impartially.  In order to learn to think clearly and analyse meaningfully, you will have to associate with brave, wise men who know how to do it.

        It is essential to live in an atmosphere which is throbbing with bravery and confidence and courage in order to imbibe these faculties.  Such wise men create this kind of an atmosphere around themselves.  The environment itself will have a tremendous positive impact on your mind and the personal influence of these elders will gradually bring about a revolution in your mind.

2. Never give expression  to your fears even if they enter your heart once in a while.  Use your willpower and forcefully throw out the thoughts that cause fear immediately.  And vigorously recall strength-giving ideas, especially Swami Vivekananda's words.

       Give your mind some strong auto-suggestions such as :  I am bold, I am strong.

       Giving expression to fear through words or gestures only enhances it all the more.  And it will provoke others to take undue advantage of your fearful state.  Once you get into a lower position in the eyes of others and allow them to bully you it will be very difficult for your to set yourself again to a state on par with them.

3.  Fill up your mind with powerful ideas  and healthy, positive thoughts.  Always think and speak of boldness, bravery and courage.  Read strength-giving literature.

       You will have to read powerful ideas and assimilate them.  Swami Viveka- nanda, the epitome of Strength and Courage Incarnate, has bequeathed a priceless legacy of strength and courage in the form of his letters and lectures.  You must make a sincere effort to study this literature - a veritable treasure-house of power.  This is a study that will open new horizons before your mind and introduce you to many new and powerful ideas.  Allow Swami Vivekananda's ideas to just enter your mind once and then watch for yourself how your personality will get transformed.

4.  Never sit idle when some fear arises in your heart.  If you sit idle, you will start brooding over it.  That will only enhance the fear in your heart.  The popular proverb - " an idle mind is the devil's workshop" has great truth in it.  This proverb actually explains the state of our own mind!  So, when fear arises in your heart, don't sit idle.  Get up at once and do one of the following:

  a.  Start reading Swami Vivekananda's words of strength and hope.

  b.   Take up some constructive and creative activity.

  c.  Go to some dependable elders you know and spend some time in their elevating  presence.

  d.   Take deep breaths rhythmically and do some methodical exercises.

  e.  Pray intensely to God in whichever form you like.

5.  If you want to achieve success in overcoming fear, there are certain rotten personal habits you must avoid at all costs:

  a.  Wandering about doing nothing

  b.  Losing yourself in idle gossip

  c.  Brooding over your weaknesses

  d.  Postponing your duties

  e.  Lingering in an undecided state of mind.

       All of these exhaust the brain, weaken the mind, and drain all your energies, leaving the inner core of your personality greatly damaged.

      A more detailed list of remedies is given later.

 

 

       

FEAR : THE CAUSE... Swamy Purushottamananda

More and more students are developing various fear complexes and phobias than ever before.  In all aspects of their life, fear seems to be stopping them from going ahead.  Often, they are found to be afraid for no apparent reason.  Many students again, are afraid for reasons which they cannot express to others.  Even those in the prime of their youth are found to be devoid of courage and a spirit of adventure.  Swami Vivekananda thundered, "I want iron wills and hearts that do not know how to quake."  But, alas! youths who should actually radiate energy and be filled with bravery and courage are often seen to exhibit their opposite qualities!  When a challenging situation comes up, by taking part in which, these youths could develop these positive qualities in their personality, they are found to be strangely backing out beating a retreat and accepting failure, all in a queer and stupid manner.  What is the reason?  Lack of Self-Confidence.

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A weak body is the root cause for this lack of Self-Confidence.  Added to this weak body is a weak mind that further complicates the matter.  A weak mind is a safe heaven for fear and cowardice.  "I am inclined to believe that one who is a coward will be born after death as an insect or a worm..." said Swami Vivekananda.  A young mind is a storehouse of unbounded energy and enthusiasm.  And this great curse of weakness is ruining it and destroying personalities.  So, students must recognise the reasons for the ruin of their personality and make the best use of time in their formative years.

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As a student, you should know that it is quite possible to overcome fear.  The sooner this conviction comes to your, the better.

The Spirit of Cleanliness...V. Balakrishnan

BRUSHING OUR teeth is something we do every morning without sparing a second thought.  But like each and every act of daily life, this too had come under the keen observation of the sages of the past.  And like many other daily acts, they prescribed a routine for cleaning our teeth too.

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Accordingly, before cleaning the teeth, one has to hold water in mouth, gargle well and spit it out.  While doing this, bow your head Dto the left side, for there are rishis in front of us and devas on our right side.  As per old beliefs, the left side alone is vacant.

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Now start brushing.  Take a small, green twig of neem, red mandaram, fig or mango tree, beat its head with a stone and brush with this softened end.  this prescription appears in Devi Bhagavatham also.

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However, on certain days like Vavu, Prathama, Shashti, Navami, Ekadasi etc, this sort of brushing is not permitted.  On these days, gargling 12 times with fresh water will do.

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While brushing, mentally chant the prayer:

"Annadyaya vyoohadhwamse somorajayamagamatu

Samemukham prakshalyate yasasa cha bhagena cha

Ayurbalam yasorvarcha: pasuvasooni chabrahma

Prajnjancha medhancha twannodehi vanaspathe"

In Kerala, Sankarasmriti does not encourage people to brush using these twigs.  According to the text, burnt chaff or leaves of the mango tree are preferable to twigs.

***

Householders should not brush their teeth on Sundays and Tuesdays.  There is also a taboo on brushing one's teeth on birthdays, Prathipadam.  Chaturdasi etc as well.  However, no such restrictions are binding on Mondays.  It is a must-day for brushing!

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Like wise, the texts warn us not to brush our teeth facing southwards.  You can face east or northeast while brushing your teeth.

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ONE MAY wonder why there are specific instructions with regard to trifles like brushing one's teeth.

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Traditional beliefs and observances have something remarkable in them and that is why they persisted so long.  For one, these prescriptions urge us to do justice to great beings.  And, more importantly, they indicate that no task is mundane.

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In Yajanavalkya Smriti, for instance, bathing is mainly classified into Mukhyam and Gaunam, and these have six and seven sub-divisions respectively.  All auspicious acts are supposed to bath.  Otherwise they don't incur any results.  Hence, one has tobegin the day with bathing.

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However, there is restriction on bathing on certain days like Ahashti, Ashtami, and newmoon.  Likewise, one should not take bath immediately after food, while suffering from diseases and at mid-night.  Dip-bath in water bodies or bathing in medicinal water is recommended.

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While bathing in a lake or river one has to imagine the presence of holy river Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati and worship them uttering the shloka:

"Gangae cha Yamunae chaiva Godavari Saraswathi Narmada Sindhu Kaveri Theertho asmin samindin kuru"

After taking bath, one should stand in water and undertake certain observances to please the deities.  Then drying your hair and body, again as per specific prescriptions, you can return home.

***

These restrictions and prescriptions succeeded in ensuring personal and social wellness apart from imposing habits of hygiene on our ancestors......

.................DR VENGANOOR BALAKRISHNANAN... is the author of Thaliyola, a book on Hindu beliefs and rituals.  He has also written books on the Vedas and Upanishads.  The author can be reached at ...DRVENGANOOR@YAHOO.CO.IN.

Cyber Relationships Ruin Real Ones....

With more and more people turning to the online world for comfort, real relationships are being sidelined...........

Chatting, Pinging, Emailing, Twittering and texting - the cyber world is throwing newer forms of connecting with people, every other month.  Innovation, something that usually took years to develop, is now literally taking place with a snap of a finger.  While it is great for technological progress, is it really that great for relationships?

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Many being online interactions with no serious intent except to connect, have fun, network and 'be around" as they put it.  "If you aren't on Facebook you're pretty much an old hat and better relegate yourself to a tomb," say the with-it, who are always connected and available.  "What! You've got to be kidding, you don't know how to twitter?  Get a life babe/dude.  You'd rather have been born in the 16th century," is yet another common perception.  With comments like these, youngsters, who may not be web-savvy, are literally arm-twisted into being "connected'.  They fear that if they don't, they'd be looked upon as 'un-cool" and be the odd ones out.

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What starts off as a way to get familiar with people eventually turns into a dependence of sorts, with people freaking out if their Internet connections are down for even a few hours.  It slowly veers into personal space where couples who usually "communicated" inter-personally, now prefer to sit silently next to each other, busy with his/her laptop "communicating" with an unknown stranger.

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Often, the ramifications on relationships aren't too evident.  Over time however, it eats into special time and before one knows it, one has transgressed into an emotional connect with an online person who "listens", makes no judgments, completely accepts you for what you are and allows you to vent.  Since virtual buddies don't live with each other, it makes it easier for them, to be more accepting, accommodating, tolerant and less complaining about peculiarities.  In this safe haven of anonymity and total approval, people don't even realise how and when they slip into an emotional attachment with a stranger.

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This new age phenomenon of emotional connections in the virtual world is here to stay.  But we have to safeguard ourselves from falling into trap, that to an undiscerning eye, shows no evident threat.  It is a hazard so severe that, if not taken care of, could spiral into something that you can't control.

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As simple as it may sound, developing a solid relationship with your significant other decreases the probability of "online infidelity".  A unifying bond between you two, and putting your faith in similar ideas of loyalty may help you draw boundaries and around what is acceptable and what is not - in both the virtual world or in reality.

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Keeping each other in the loop about to who you connect with and who you interact with on various sites, could be another method to keep a check on yourself.

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Those who swear by the concept of "individuality" would exclaim, "Are we supposed to share everything about our lives with our partners..."  But isn't it a healthier method to share everything with each other, so that you don't fall prey to temptation?  If your intentions are clear, what's there to hide, right?...............

      ..........THE WRITER IS A PSYCHOLOGIST WITH LILAVATI HOSPITAL, MUMBAI..............

FINDING GOD .. the Gandhian Way

A part from being the father of the nation and the driving force behind our freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi was also a man whose faith instilled a moral compass of the highest order in not just his followers but anyone who performed public service.  If one observes the Mahatma's life, he or she would understand that spirituality was at the centre of every action undertaken by him.  Liberating the country with his concept of ashima (non-violence) and tolerance, the Mahatma had imbibed the highest ideals of faith in his followers, urging them to renounce the use of force to prove a point and treat each faith with the same respect that they would afford their own.  And it is a well known fact that Gandhi's commitment to religion did not mean commitment to a single religion.  
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Every faith had full freedom and complete equality, and in his prayer meetings his Gita has the same space as the Holy Quran, the Bible and the Guru Granth Saheb.  He spoke of a Ram Rajya because Lord Rama was an ideal, an image that most Indians could identify with, but there was no propaganda in his concept of divinity, and there was always equal space for all faiths.  When Gandhiji was asked about his opinion on God and spirituality he said, "The Truth is my God."
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And it's that universal truth which has inspired the likes of everyone from Martin Luther King Jr to Nelson Mandela.  That truth laid the foundation for the way in which Bapuji conducted his life.  He never really considered himself a religiously or communally inclined person.  Nevertheless in his morning prayers and even in his last breath - his belief in the truth being a manifestation of God was unwavering.

***

Once he was asked about the relevance of the phrase Hey Ram in his life.  And he replied that he felt the same degree of peace and contentment when he uttered the phrase that another individual would feel uttering the name of Mohammed.  If both names were capable of invoking a similar effect - that of utmost calmness and fulfilment - weren't they one and the same thing?  It was just one of the pointers to how secular Gandhi was in his outlook.

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On the eve of India's independence, when Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru unfurled and tricolour at the Red Fort,  Gandhiji was nowhere in sight.  When Bapuji was questioned about the same, he said India would not have achieved true independence until the day the Hindus and the Muslims learned to co-exist in harmony.  He literally lived by the mantra of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which means the whole world is one family....

................THE WRITER IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE GANDHIAN STUDIES CENTRE AT BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY.....................
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MORE THAN A CENTURY AFTER MAHATMA GANDHI, THE FATHER OF THE NATION USHERED IN THE ERA OF A SPIRITUAL AND HOLISTIC APPROACH TO POLITICS AND SOCIETY, HIS PHILOSOPHY FINDS A MODERN DAY RESONANCE IN ALMOST EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE............

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.............'''''''''If one observes the Mahatma's life, he or she would understand that spirituality was at the centre of every action undertaken by him'''''''''''''''........................

Only a few people in the world are capable of being silent, meditative..Osho International Foundation

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE says:  All that is needed is to know the art of listening.  Listening to the winds and listening to the clouds and listening to the dancing trees, the falling leaves - utterly in silence, you mind weaving no thoughts, no thinking - is the very foundation of listening.

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It does not mean you have to agree.  There is no question of agreement, because a man like Nietzsche is not so mean that he wants you to agree with him.

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He simply wants you to understand him, and then it is up to you what you do with it.  Agree or don't agree - but at least listen!  There are only very few people in the world who are capable of being silent, meditative, capable of listening.  It is a strange phenomenon: if you can learn the art, it is not a question of listening to my words.  It is a question of the art of listening.  It is within you.

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BEST SILENT IS MEDITATION

Said differently, I call it meditation - just being silent.  Even listening does not give you the accurate description of the state that is needed for you to find the truth of your own self.  But listening is certainly one of the easiest processes of meditation.  And as you become able to listen, you listen to the winds and the rain and the clouds and the whole heartbeat of the universe.  In that listening, you will open up; your bud will become an open rose.

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"I KNOW AND YOU DON'T KNOW" IS INHUMAN

The very idea that "I know and you don't know" is inhuman.  It is uncultured, it is uncivilised.  It may be that I have experienced something that I can share with you, but I cannot denounce you as ignorant.  I can only say, "Perhaps you have missed it, perhaps you have bypassed it.  Perhaps you are innocent and you have not looked at it."  I cannot call you ignorant and propose that I am the knower and you are ignorant and take your dignity, your freedom, your inquiry, and ask you just to believe.

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TRUST IS ANOTHER NAME OF LOVE

Love yourself and love all that is all around you.  there is no need to create chains, there is no need to create prisons.  Love is enough.  But love is not a belief, love is a reality.  It is in your very Heartbeat, it is your experience.  It is not in the scriptures; it is not Christian and it is not Hindu, it is not Mohammedan.  Love is the blossoming of your inner being just like a rose....

                                                                                 Courtesy Osho International Foundation.......

Conquer Ego, Conquer Death.. J.S.NEKI

A great existential truth is the certainty and inevitability of death.  This frail body is destined to be overtaken by age.  Youth comes, but soon departs; when senility descends, it never departs -  only its victim does.  Guru Tegh Bahadur observed, "One might become anxious should something unexpected happen.  But on the worldly pathway, nothing is stable or permanent".

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Yet, we live in this world ignoring the transience of life.  We want to live it the way our whims dictate.  Even the thought of leaving the world in which we have invested our desires, plans and programmes becomes a dread for us.

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There are cultural nuances that determine the intensity of this apprehension.  Someone has said, "Life is for the European a career, for the American a hazard, and for the Indian a holiday".  In the Semitic cultures, one's soul after death is believed to wander around in the dark space until the Day of Reckoning.  That is a highly despairing and frightening prospect.  In oriental cultures that subscribe to the theory of reincarnation, death is at once the beginning of a new life.  So the dread is not always as intense.

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The Sikh view is somewhat different.  It holds that at death, the body which is but dust, returns to dust; that which speaks therein is breath and that returns to wind.  Then the question arises: "Who, in reality, dies?" Guru Nanak tells us:

....What perish are man's sensorium,

His discords and his ego.

That in him, which observes all, perishes not.

And adds elsewhere:

Don't think, I have died - only the demon within me has.  The One who pervades all, does not die...

Guru Arjan Dev, in fact, believes that since atma (the soul is imperishable, no one really dies, no one really can die.

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No one dies; none is capable of dying...

The soul dies not, it is imperishable.

That what you believe dies, does not even exists.

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In the Guru's point of view, not only is life a play, even death is a play.  Isn't watching a good play until its final drop-scene, simply enjoyable?  Should it not be so for life, inclusive of its exit?  Where then is room for mourning?  Guru Amar Das asks:

***

For whom should we mourn, O Baba?  This world is but a play!

The mourner is therefore reminded:

The one who now laments will also arise and depart.

When he himself was about to depart from this world, Guru Amar Das summoned his family and, as reported by his nephew Baba Sunder in his famous "dirge", addressed them in the following words:

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O my children, siblings and family, reflect in your mind: 

The pre-ordained death warrant cannot be avoided, the Guru is going to be with his Lord...

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And then, the Guru in this own sweet will, sat up and further addressed his kin:

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Let no one weep for me after I am gone.  That would not please me at all.

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Such a placid departure can be the outcome only of an insight-fully lived life.
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What, then, is insightfully lived life?  Not the one that begun crying, endured complaining and concluded in disappointment.  The aim of insightful life is to be aware - joyfully, serenely and divinely.  It does not hanker after life.
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Hankering after life also subsumes hankering after commodities.  Isn't that simply a vain aspiration?
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This weeping is all in vain; the world ignores the Lord, and weeps for maya.
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Such evils as ostentatiousness, greed, pride, dishonesty and nepotism sprout from hankering after things.  This enhances our bondage to worldliness and pushes the chances for our liberation further and further away from us.  It is such hankering that also creates restlessness and generates fear of death. 
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Those who do not cling to life and care not for its commodities remain spiritually blissful.  They not only live a blessed life, but also earn a blessed death.  Guru Nanak said:
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THE DEATH OF HEROES IS HALLOWED, AND IT IS APPROVED BY GOD.
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One might ask, who are the heroes referred to here?
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Guru Amar Das informs us:
He alone is a brave warrior, a hero.
Who conquers and subdues his vicious inner ego.
"Conquering the ego is conquering the whole world", said Guru Nanak.  This, then, is the requirement for a heroic spiritual life.
***
We all think man fears death.  But, in reality, he fears himself.  The remorses and repentances of life haunt him.  One who has no remorse, nor any ground for repentance, has no reason to fear death.  Death, the most dreaded evil for many, is not so for those who are spiritually illumined.  For them it is of little concern.
***
Only right living can prepare us for safe or even joyous dying.  Let us, then, be of good cheer about death and know this that no evil can happen to a good man either in life or after death.  Death, be assured, is no evil.  It is impossible that a thing so natural, so necessary, and so universal should ever have been designed by our Creator as an evil to mankind.
***
Let us conclude with these lines from Karib:


PEOPLE SAY IT IS GOOD TO LIVE FOREVER,,,,, BUT WITHOUT DYING, THERE IS NO LIFE.  SO, WHAT WISDOM SHOULD I PREACH?  EVERYTHING WORLDLY IS PERISHING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME....!

Why were the Pyramids built ?

The Pyramids were built as tombs for the pharaohs of ancient Egypt.

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The early kings, or pharaohs, were buried in tombs inside roughly built stepped pyramids.  The greatest pyramids came later.  The largest is that of the pharaoh Khufu (also called Cheops) at Giza.  Over two millions blocks of stone were needed, each dragged into place by hundreds of slaves.  Inside the burial chamber, the pharaoh's body, preserved as a mummy wrapped is cloth, was buried in a stone tomb.  Around him were food, clothes, weapons: everything that he might need in the next world.

How can ice float on water..?

Ice floats on water because a piece of ice is lighter than the same amount of water.  The ice is not very much lighter than the water, so it floats low in the water.

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When water freezes to ice, the water molecules line up in rows.  But as they do so, the molecules move apart slightly.  The ice increases in size as it forms and this gives ice a lower density than water, making it float in water.

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The force between the molecules is very strong, and nothing can resist the expansion that occurs as the ice forms.  This is why water pipes sometimes burst in winter.  The ice expands and cracks the pipe.  Then when the weather gets warmer, the ice melts and water pours from the cracked pipe.  It is unusual for liquid to expand on freezing, but it is a good thing that water does so.  The layer of ice that may form over lakes and the sea in winter prevents the water beneath from freezing.

The End And The Means... Swamy Vivekananda...

One of the greatest lessons I have learned in my life is to pay as much attention to the means of work as to its end.  He was a great man from whom I learned it, and his own life was a practical demonstration of this great principle.  I have been always learning great lessons from that one principle, and it appears to me that all the secrets of success is there: to pay as much attention to the means as to the end.

***

Our great defect in life is that we are so much drawn to the ideal, the goal is so much more enchanting, so much more alluring, so much bigger in our mental horizon, that we lost sight of the details altogether.

***

But whenever failure comes, if we analyze it critically, critically, in ninety-nine per cent of cases we shall find that it was because we did not pay attention to the means.  Proper attention to the finishing, strengthening, of the means, is what we need.  With the means all right, the end must come.  We forget that it is the cause that produces the effect; the effect cannot come by itself; and unless the causes are exact, proper and powerful, the effect will not be produced.  Once the ideal is chosen and the means determined, we may almost let go the ideal, because we are sure it will be there, when the means are perfected.  When the cause is there, there is no more difficulty about the effect, the effect is bound to come.  If we take care of the cause, the effect will take care of itself.  The realization of the ideal is the effect.  The means are the cause: attention to the means, therefore, is the great secret of life.  We also read this in the Gita and learn that we have to work, constantly work, with all our power; to put our whole mind in the work, whatever it be, that we are doing.  At the same time, we must not be attached.  That is to say, we must not be drawn away from the work by anything else, but still we must be able to quit the work whenever we like.

***

If we examine our own lives, we find that the greatest cause of sorrow is this: we take up something, and put our whole energy on it; - perhaps it is a failure, and yet we cannot give it up.  We know that it is hurting us, that any further clinging to it is simply bringing misery on us; still, we cannot tear ourselves away from it.  The bee came to sip the honey, but its feet stuck to the honey-pot and it could not get away.  Again and again, we are finding ourselves in that state.  That is the whole secret of existence.  Why are we here?  We came here to sip the honey, and we find our hands and feet sticking to it.  We are caught, though we came to catch.  We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed.  We came to rule; we are being ruled.  We came to work; we are being worked.  All the time,we find that.  And this comes into every detail of our life.  We are being worked upon by other minds, and we are always struggling to work on other minds.  We want to enjoy the pleasure of life; and they eat into our vitals.  We want to get everything from nature, but we find in the long run that nature takes everything from us-depletes us, and casts us aside.

***

That is the one cause of misery: we are attached, we are being caught.  Therefore says the Gita:  Work constantly; work, but be not attached; be not caught.  Reserve unto yourself the power of detaching yourself from everything, however beloved, however much the soul might yearn for it, however great the pangs of misery you feel if you were going to leave it; still, reserve the power of leaving it whenever you want.  The weak have no place here, in this life or in any other life.  Weakness leads to slavery.  Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental.  Weakness is death.  There are hundreds of thousands of microbes surrounding us, but they cannot harm us unless we become weak, until the body is ready and predisposed to receive them.  There may be a million microbes of misery, floating about us.  Never mind!  They dare not approach us, they have no power to get a hold on us, until the mind is weakened.  This is the great fact: strength is life, weakness is death.  Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery; weakness is death.

***

Attachment is the source of all our pleasures now.  We are attached to our friends, to our relatives;  We are attached to our intellectual and spiritual works; we are attached to external objects, so that we get pleasure from them.  What, again, brings misery but this very attachment?  We have to detach ourselves to earn joy.  If only we had power to detach ourselves at will, there would not be any misery.  That man alone will be able to get the best of nature, who having the power of attaching himself to a thing with all his energy, has also the power to detach himself when he should do so.  The difficulty is that there must be as much power of attachment as that of detachment.  There are men who are never attracted by anything.  They can never love, they are hard-hearted and apathetic; they escape most of the miseries of life.  But the wall never feels misery, the wall never loves, is never hurt; but it is the wall, after all. Surely it is better to be attached and caught, than to be a wall.  Therefore the man who never loves, who is hard and stony, escaping most of the miseries of life, escapes also its joys. We do not want that.  That is weakness, that is death.  That soul has not been weakened that never feels weakness, never feels misery.  That is a callous state.  We do not want that.

***

At the same time,we not only want this mighty power of love, this mighty power of attachment, the power of throwing our whole soul upon a single object, losing ourselves and letting ourselves be annihilated, as it were, for other souls-which is the power of the gods-but we want to be higher even than gods.  The perfect man can put his whole soul upon that one point of love, yet he is unattached.  How comes this?  There is another secret to learn.

***

The beggar is never happy.  The beggar only gets dole, with pity and scorn behind it, at least with the thought behind that the beggar is a low object.  He never really enjoys what he gets.

***

We are all beggars.  Whatever we do, we want a return.  We are all traders.  We are traders in life, we are traders in virtue, we are traders in religion.  Alas! we are also traders in love.

***

If you come to trade, if it is a question of give-and-take, if it is a question of buy-and-sell, abide by the laws of buying and selling.  There is a bad time and there is a good time; there is a rise, and a fall in prices: always you expect the blow to come.  It is like looking at the mirror.  Your face is reflected; you make a grimace-there is one in the mirror; if you laugh, the mirror laughs.  This is buying and selling, giving the taking.

***

We get caught.  How? Not by what we give, but by what we expect.  We get misery in return of our love; not from the fact that we love, but from the fact that we want love in return.  There is no misery where there is no want.  Desire, want, is the father of all misery.  Desires are bound by the laws of success and failure.  Desires must bring misery.

***

The great secret of true success, of true happiness, then, is this: the man who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish man is the most successful.  It seems to be a paradox.  Do we not know that every man who is unselfish in life gets cheated, gets hurt?  Apparently, yes.  "Christ was unselfish, and yet he was crucified."  True, but we know that his unselfishness is the reason, the cause of a great victory, the crowning of millions upon millions of lives with the blessing of true success.

***

Ask nothing; want nothing in return.  Give what you have to give; it will come to you -  but do not think of that now.  It will come back multiplied a thousandfold - but the attention must not be one that.  Yet have the power to give; give, and there it ends.  Learn that the whole of life is giving, that nature will force you to give.  So, give willingly.  Sooner or later you will have to give up.  You come into life to accumulate.  With clenched hands, you want to take.  But nature puts a hand on your throat and makes your hands open.  Whether you will it or not, you have to give.  The moment you say, "I will not", the blow comes; you are hurt.  None is there but will be compelled, in the long run, to give up everything.  And the more one struggles against this law, the more miserable one feels.  It is because we dare not give, because we are not resigned enough to accede to this grand demand of nature, that we are miserable.  The forest is gone, but we get heat in return.  The sun is taking up water from the ocean, to return it in showers.  You are a machine for taking and giving; you take in order to give.  Ask, therefore, for nothing in return; but the more you give, the more will come to you.  The quicker you can empty the air out of this room, the quicker it will be filled up by the external air; and if you close all the doors and every aperture, that which is within will remain, but that which is outside will never come in, and that which is within will stagnate, degenerate, and become poisoned.  A river is continually emptying itself into the ocean and is continually filling up again.  Bar not the exit into the ocean.  The moment you do that, death seizes you.

***

Be, therefore, not a beggar; be unattached.  This is the most terrible task of life!  You do not calculate the dangers on the path.  Even by intellectually recognizing the difficulties, we really do not know them until we feel them.  From a distance we may get a general view of a park: well, what of that?  We feel and really know it when we are in it.  Even if our every attempt is a failure, and we bleed and are torn asunder, yet, through all this, we have to preserve our heart -  we must assert our God head in the midst of all these difficulties.  Nature wants us to react, to return blow for blow, cheating for cheating, lie for lie, to hit back with all our might.  Then it requires a super-divine power not to hit back, to keep control, to be unattached.

***

I know the difficulties.  Tremendous they are, and ninety per cent of us become discouraged and lose heart, and in our turn, often becomes pessimists and cease to believe in sincerity, love, and all that is grand and noble.   So, we find men who in the freshness of their lives have been forgiving, kind, simple, and guileless, become in old age, lying masks of men.  Their minds are a mass of intricacy.  There may be a good deal of external policy, possibly.  They are not hot-heade, they do not speak; but it would be better for them to do so; their hearts are dead and, therefore, they do not speak.  They do not curse, nor become angry; but it would be better for them to be able to be angry, a thousand times better, to be able to curse.  They cannot.  There is death in the heart, for cold hands have seized upon it, and it can no more act, even to utter a curse, even to use a harsh word.

***

All this we have to avoid :  therefore I say, we require super-divine power.  Superhuman power is not strong enough.  Super-divine strength is the only way, the one way out.  By it alone we can pass through all these intricacies, through these showers of miseries, unscathed.  We may be cut to pieces, torn asunder, yet our heart must grow nobler and nobler all the time.

***

It is very difficult, but we can overcome the difficulty by constant practice.  We must learn that nothing can happen to us, unless we make ourselves susceptible to it.  I have just said, no disease can come to me until the body is ready; it does not depend alone on the germs, but upon a certain predisposition which is already in the body.  We get only that for which we are fitted.  Let us give up our pride and understand this, that never is misery undeserved.  There never has been a blow undeserved; there never has been an evil for which I did not pave the way with my own hands.  We ought to know that.  Analyse yourselves and you will find that every blow you have received came to you because you prepared yourselves for it.  You did half and the external world did the other half;  that is how the blow came.  That will sober us down.  At the same time, from this very analysis will come a note of hope, and the note of hope is: "I have no control of the external world, but that which is in me and nearer unto me, my own world, is in my control.  If the two together are required to make a failure, if the two together are necessary to give me a blow, I will not contribute the one which is in  my keeping and how then can the blow come?  If I get real control of myself, the blow will never come."

***

We are all the time, from our childhood, trying to lay the blame upon something outside ourselves.  We are always standing up to set right other people, and not ourselves.  If we are miserable, we say, "Oh, the world is a devil's world."  But why should we be in such a world, if we really are so good?  If this is a devil's world, we must be devils also, why else should we be here?  "Oh, the people of the world are so selfish!"  True enough; but why should we be found in that company, if we be better?  Just think of that!

***

We only got what we deserve.  It is a lie when we say, the world is bad and we are good.  It can never be so.  It is a terrible lie we tell ourselves.  This is the first lesson to learn: be determined not to curse anything outside, not to lay the blame upon any one outside, but be a man, stand up, lay the blame on yourself.  You will find that is always true.  Get hold of yourself.

***

We re to take care of ourselves-that much we can do-and give up attending to others, for a time.  Let us perfect the means; the end will take care of itself.  For the world can be good and pure, only if our lives are good and pure.  It is an effect, and we are the means.  Therefore, let us purity ourselves.  Let us make ourselves perfect.........

Mind is an action that can be stoppped... PARAMAHAMSA NITYANANDA

A simple and straight understanding is: mind is not an object, it is an action.  People ask me, 'How to stop the mind?  How to go beyond the mind? '  I can say that this is a Frequently Asked Question - FAQ!

***

I tell them, mind is not a thing to be fought with.  It is not a thing to destroy it.  It is an action.

***

Just imagine that you are walking.  If you don't want to walk, what do you do?  You just sit.  Let us say you are talking.  If you don't want to talk, what do you do?  You become silent.

***

In the same way, mind also is an action.  If you don't want to think, don't think, that's all!  But our mind says, 'No, I have tried many things.  I have tried many times.  It comes back again.

***

Just think: it is you who's doing it.  Is there anybody else doing it inside? No.  And it is a simple action.  So when you don't want it, just stop, that's all!

***

If you say that you have tried and that after some time it comes back, it means you wanted it to start again.  That is why it started.  If you understand to start it again, you will take responsibility for your decisions and take the right decision - to stop it.  Let us take the whole responsibility upon us. 

***

Understand: the mind is just one portion of your brain.  Most often we think our mind is bigger than our brain.  With your leg you can do many things.  Walking is one action of your leg.  You can kick or play or also run with your leg.  In the same way, thinking is just one action of your brain.  Mind is just one action of your brain.

***

Even when you are silent your whole body is functioning.  It means that the mind is only one part of your brain!  Even without the mind, the brain is able to operate your day-to-day life.  The brain is able to keep you alive.

***

Living your life without having what you call as 'mind', is what I call Living Enlightenment!  That is the essence.  If your mind is a part of your brain and you have the courage and clarity to switch it off at your will, then it is your slave; it is under your control.  If it is otherwise, if it is an industry, then please understand that you are a slave to it.  Be Blissful! ..............  PARAMAHAMSA NITYANANDA.....www.nityananda.org

Education and Women... Swamy Vivekananda...

It is very difficult to understand why in this country so much difference is made between men and women, whereas the Vedanta declares that one and the same Self is present in all beings.  Writing down Smritis etc., and binding them by hard rules, the men have turned the women into mere manufacturing machines.  In the period of degradation, when the priests made the other castes in competent to study the Vedas, they deprived the women also of all their rights.  You will find in the Vedic and Upanishadic age Maitreyi, Gargi and other ladies of revered memory have taken the place of Rishis.  In an assembly of a thousand Brahmanas who were all erudite in the Vedas, Gargi boldly challenged Yajnavalkya in a discussion about Brahman.

***

All nations have attained greatness by paying proper respect to women.  That country and that nation which do not respect women have never become great, nor will ever be in future.  The real Shakti-worshipper is he who knows that God is the Omnipresent force in the universe, and see in women the manifestation of that force.  In America men look upon their women in this light and treat their women as well as can be desired, and hence they are so prosperous, so learned, so free and so energetic.  The principal reason why our race has so degenerated in that we had no respect for these living images of Shakti, Manu says, 'Where women are respected, there the Gods delight, and where they are not, there all work and effort come to naught."  There is no hope of rise for that family or country where they live in sadness.

***

Women have many and grave problems, but none that cannot be solved by that magic word: education.  What does our Manu enjoin?  'Daughters should be supported and educated with as much care and attention as the sons.'  As sons should be married after observing Brahmacharya up to the thirtieth year, so daughters also should observe Brahmacharya and be educated by their parents.  But what are we actually doing?  They have all the time been trained in helplessness and servile dependence on others; and so they are good only to weep their eyes out at the approach of the slightest mishap or danger.  Women must be put in a position to solve their own problems in their own way.  Our Indian women are as capable of doing it as any in the world.

***

Female education should be spread with religion as its centre.  All other training should be secondary to religion.  Religious training, the formation of character and observance of the vows of celibacy-these should be attended to.  Our Hindu women easily understand what chastity means, because it is their heritage.  First of all intensify that ideal within them above everything else, so that they may develop a strong character by the force of which,, in every stage of their lives, whether married or single-if they prefer to remain so-they will not be in the least afraid even to give up their lives rather than flinch an inch from their chastity.

***

The women of India must grow and develop in the footprints of Sita.  Sita is unique.  She is the very type of the true Indian woman, for all the Indian ideals of a perfected woman have grown out of that one life of Sita.  And here she stands these thousands of years, commanding the worship of every man, woman and child throughout the length and breadth of Aryavarta.  There she will always be, this glorious Sita, purer than purity itself, all patience, and all suffering.  She who suffered that life of suffering without a murmur, she the ever chaste and ever pure wife, she the ideal of the people, our national God she must always remain.  She has gone into the very vitals of our race.  Any attempt to modernise our women, if it tries to take our women away from that ideal of Sita, is immediately a failure as we see every day.

***

Studying the present needs of the age, it seems imperative to train some of them up in the ideals of renunciation, so that they will take up the vow of life-long virginity, fired with the strength of that virtue of chastity which is innate in their blood from hoary antiquity.  Our motherland requires for her well-being some of her children to become pure-souled Brahmacharins and Brahmachirinis.  Even if one amongst the women became a knower of Brahman, then by the radiance of her personality, thousands of women would be inspired and awakened to Truth, and great well-being of the country and society would ensue.

***

Brahmacharinis of education and character should take up the task of teaching.  In villages and towns they must open centres and strive for the spread of female education.  Through such bevout preachers of character, there will be the real spread of female education in the country.  History and puranas, house-keeping and the arts, the duties of home life and the principles that make for the development of character have to be taught.  Other matters such as sewing, culinary art, rules of domestic work and upbringing of children will also taught.  Japa, worship and meditation shall form an indispensable part of the teaching.  Along with other things they should acquire the spirit of valour and heroism.  In the present day it has become necessary for them also the learn self-defence-how grand was the Queen of Jhansi!  So shall we bring to the need of India great fearless women-women worthy to continue the traditions of Sanghamittra, Lila, Ahalya Bai, and Mira Bai-women fit to be mothers of heroes, because they are pure and fearless strong with the strength that comes of touching the feet of God.  We must see to their growing up as ideal matrons of home in time.  The children of such mothers will make further progress in the virtues that distinguish themselves.  It is only in the homes of educated and pious mothers that great men are born.

***

If the women are reaised, their children will by their noble actions glorify the name of the country; then will culture, knowledge, power and devotion awaken in the country..........

Religious Education... Swamy Vivekananda...

Religion is the innermost core of education.  I do not mean my own or any one else's opinion about religion.  The true eternal principles have to be held before the people.  First of all we have to introduce the worship of the great saints.  Those great-souled ones who have realised the eternal truths are to be presented before the people as the ideals to be followed - Sri Ramachandra, Sri Krishna, Mahavira, Sri Ramakrishna and others.  Keep aside for the present the Vrindavan aspect of Sri Krishna and spread far and wide the worship of Sri Krishna roaring out the Gita with the voice of a lion, and bring into daily use the worship of Shankti - the Divine Mother, the source of all power.  We now mostly need the ideal of the hero with the tremendous spirit of Rajas thrilling through his veins from head to foot-the hero who will dare and die to know the truth, the hero whose armour is renunciation, whose sword is wisdom.  We now want the spirit of the brave warrior in the battle-field.

***

Make the character of Mahavira your ideal.  At the command of Ramachandra he crossed the ocean!  He had no care for life or death.  He was a perfect master of the senses and wonderfully sagacious.  Build your life on this great ideal of personal service.  Through that ideal all the other ideas will gradually manifest themselves in life.  Obedience to the Guru without questioning and strict observance of Brahmacharya-this is the secret of success.  As on the one hand Hanuman represents the ideal of service, so on the other he represents leonine courage, stroking the world with awe.  He has not the least hesitation in sacrificing his life for the good of Rama.  A supreme indifference to everything except the service of Rama.  Only the carrying out of Sri Rama's behest is the one vow of his life.  Such whole-hearted devotion is wanted.

***

At the present time the worship of the divine play of Sri Krishna with the Gopis is not good.  Playing on the flute and so on will not regenerate the country.  Playing on the khol and kartal and dancing in the frenzy of the kirtana has degenerated the whole people.  In trying to imitate the highest sadhana, the preliminary qualification for which is absolute purity, they have been swallowed in dire tamas.  Are not drums made in the country?  Are not trumpets and kettle-drums available in India?  Make the boys hear the deep-toned sound of these instruments.  Hearing from boyhood the sound of effeminate forms of music, the country is well-nigh converted into a country of women.  The damaru and horn have to be sounded, drums are to be beaten so as to raise the deep and martial notes, and with 'Mahavira, Mahavira' on our lips and shouting 'Hara, Hara, Vyom, Vyom', the quarters are to be reverberated.  The music which awakens only the softer feelings of  man is to be stopped now for some time.  The people are to be accustomed to hear the Dhrupad music.

***

Through the thunder roll of the dignified Vedic hymns life is to be brought back into the country.  In everything the austere spirit of heroic manhood should be revived.  If you can build your character after such an ideal then a thousand others will follow.  But take care that you do not swerve an inch from the ideal.  Never lose heart.  In eating, dressing or lying, in singing or playing, in enjoyment or disease, always manifest the highest moral courage.  Never allow weakness to overtake your mind.  Remember Mahavira, remember the Divine Mother, and you will see that all weaknes, all cowardice will vanish at once.

***

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.  But it is not selfish faith.  It means faith in all because you are all.  Love for yourself 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.  The ideal of faith in ourselves is of the greatest help to us.  If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practised, 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 great men and women, it is that faith in themselves.  Born with the consciousness that they were to be great, they became great.

***

Infinite strength is religion.  Strength is goodness, weakness is sin.  All sins and all evil can be summed up in that one word: weakness.  It is weakness that is the motive power in all evil-doing.  It is weakness that is the source of all selfishness.  It is weakness that makes man injure others.  Let them all know what they are, let them repeat day and night what they are: 'So'ham'.  Let them suck it in with their mother's milk, this idea of strength-I am he!  This is to be first heard; and then let them think of it; and out of that thought will proceed works such as the world has never seen.

***

Tell the truth boldly.  All truth is eternal.  Truth is the nature of all souls.  And here is the test of truth: anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject as poison.  There is no life in it, it cannot be true.  Truth is strengthening.  Truth is purity, truth is all knowledge.  Truth must be strengthening, must be enlightening, must be invigorating.  Go back to your Upanishads, the shining, the strengthening, the bright philosophy.  Take up this philosophy.  The greatest truths are the simplest things in the world, simple as your own existence.  The truths of the Upanishads are before you.  Take them up, live up to them and the salvation of India will be at hand.

***

Physical weakness is the cause of at least one-third of our miseries.  We are lazy; we cannot combine.  We speak of many things parrot-like but never do them.  Speaking and not doing has become a habit with us.  What is the cause?  Physical weakness.  This sort of weak brain is not able to do anything.  We must strengthen it.  First of all our young men must be strong.  Religion will come afterwards.  Be strong, my young friends, that is my advice to you.  You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Gita.  You will understand Gita better with your biceps, your muscles, a little stronger.  You will understand the mighty genius and the mighty strength of Krishna better with a little strong blood in you.  You will understand the Upanishads better and the glory of the Atman, when your feet and you feel yourselves as men.

***

Strength, strength is what the Upanishads speak to me from every page.  It is the only literature in the world, where you find the word "Abhih", 'Fearless', used again and again.  In no other scripture in the world is this adjective applied either to God or man.  And in my mind rises from the past the vision of the great emperor of the West, Alexander the Great, and I see as it were in a picture the great monarch standing on the banks of the Indus, talking to one of our sannyasins in the forest: the old man he was talking to, perhaps naked, stark naked, sitting upon a block of stone, and the Emperor astonished at his wisdom, tempting him with gold and honour, to come over the Greece.  And this man smiles at his gold and smiles at his temptations, and refuses.  And then the emperor standing in his authority as Emperor says, 'I will kill you if you do not come', and the man bursts into a laugh, and says, 'You never told such a falsehood in your life as you tell just now.  Who can kill me?  For I am spirit unborn and undecaying.'  That is strength!...

***

There are thousands to weaken us, and of stories we have had enough.  Therefore, my friends, as one of your blood, as one that lives and dies with you, let me tell you that we want strength, strength, every time strength.  And the Upanishads are the great mines of strength.  There in lies strength enough to invigorate the whole world.  The whole world can be vivified, made strong, energised through them.  They will call with trumpet voice upon the weak, the miserable and the down-trodden of all races, all creeds and all sects to stand on their feet and be free.  Freedom, physical freedom, mental freedom and spiritual freedom are the watchwords of the Upanishads.

***

But no scriptures can make us religious.  We may study all the books that are in the world, yet we may not understand a word of religion or of God.  We may talk and reason all our lives, but we shall not understand a word of truth until we experience it ourselves.  You cannot hope to make a man a surgeon by simply giving him a few books.  You cannot satisfy my curiosity to see a country by showing me a map.  Maps can only create curiosity in us to get more perfect knowledge.  Beyond that they have no value whatever.  Temples and churches, books and forms are simply the kindergarten of religion, to make the spiritual child strong enough to take the higher steps.  Religion is not in doctrines or dogmas, nor in intellectual argumentation.  It is being and becoming.  It is realisation.

***

We may be the most intellectual people the world ever saw and yet we may not come to God at all.  On the other hand, irreligious men have been produced from the most intellectual training.  It is one of the evils of western civilization-intellectual education alone without taking care of the heart.  It only makes men ten times more selfish.  When heart be followed.  It is the heart which takes one to the highest plane, which intellect can never reach.  It goes beyond the intellect and reaches what is called inspiration.  Always cultivate the heart.  Through the heart the Lord speaks.

***

The intensest love that humanity has ever known has come from religion.  The noblest words of peace that the world has ever heard have come from men of the religious plane.  At the same time the bitterest denunciation that the world has ever known has been uttered by religious men.  Each religion brings out its own doctrines and insists upon them as being the only true ones.  Some will even draw the sword to compel others to believe as they do.  This is not through wickedness, but through a particular disease of the human mind called fanaticism.  Yet out of this strife and struggle, this hatred and jealousy of religions and sects, there have risen from time to time potent voices proclaiming peace and harmony.

***

The time was ripe for one to be born who would see in every sect the same spirit working: the same God: one who would see God in every being, one whose heart would weep for the poor, for the weak, for the downtrodden, and at the same time whose grand brilliant intellect would harmonise all conflicting sects not only in India but also outside India; and bring a marvellous harmony, the universal religion, into existence.  Such a man was born and I had the good fortune to sit at his feet for years.  I learned from my Master the wonderful truth that the religions of the world are not contradictory of antagonistic.  They are but various phases of one eternal religion.  Sri Ramakrishna never spoke a harsh word against anyone.  So beautifully tolerant was he that every sect thought that he belonged to it.  He loved every one; to him all religions were true.  His whole life was spent in breaking down the barriers of sectarianism and dogma.

***

Let our watchword then be acceptance and not exclusion.  Not only toleration, for so-called toleration is often blasphemy.  Toleration means that I think that you are wrong and I am just allowing you to live.  Is it not blasphemy to think that you and I are allowing others to live?  I accept all religions that were in the past and worship them all.  I worship God with every one of them, in whatever form they worship Him.  I shall go to the mosque of the Mohammedan; I shall enter the Christian's church and kneel before the crucifix.  I shall enter the Buddhistic temple, where I shall take refuge in Buddha and in his Law.  I shall go into the forest and sit down in meditation with the Hindu, who is trying to see the Light which enlightens the heart of everyone.

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Not only shall I do all these but I shall keep my heart open for all that may come in the future.  Is God's book finished?  Or is it still a continuous revelation going on?  It is a marvellous book-these spiritual revelations of the world.  The Bible, the Vedas, the Koran and all other sacred books are but so many pages, and an infinite number of pages remain yet to be unfolded.  Let us take in all that has been in the past, enjoy the light of the present and open every window of the heart for all that will come in the future.  Salutation to all the prophets of the past, to all the great ones of the present and to all that are to come in the future...........!!!!!!