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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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!

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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.

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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!

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

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!...

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

***

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...........!!!!!!

What is meant by liberalisation of the Indian Economy...?

Liberalisation of the economy forms one of the pillars of the New Economic Policy announced by the government in 1991-92.  Liberalisation means freeing the economy from direct or physical controls imposed by the government such as industrial licensing, price and distribution controls on products, import licensing, foreign exchange control, control of capital issues by companies (i.e. collection of funds by sale of their shares and debentures, or funds), direct control of credit (laying down the limit on credit that the financial institutions might grant), restriction on investment by large business houses, and the like, so that development and operation of the economy is increasingly guided by the freely operating market forces.  The new economic policy was built on the assumption that too many government controls gave room for widespread corruption and retarded the growth of the economy.  Accordingly, India has been consistently trying since 1991-92 not only to liberalise its economy but to integrate it with world economy (globalisation).

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What is deep freezing...?

Deep Freezing is a method of preserving food by lowering its temperature to 18 degree centigrade or below.  It stops almost all spoilage processes, although there may be some residual enzyme activity in uncooked vegetables, which is why these are blanched (dipped in hot water to destroy the enzymes) before freezing.  Micro-organisms cannot grow or divide while frozen, but most remain alive and can resume activity once defrosted.  Commercial techniques freeze foods rapidly in order to prevent the growth of large ice crystals which would damage the food tissue on thawing.

When were the Present Continents Formed...?

At the very time when oil was beginning to form, an enormous shift took place in the Earth's crust, which slowly resulted in the formation of the present continents.

***

Numerous studies, even in recent years, confirm the theory that the great continental mass pushed out of the sea in the earlier periods and then split apart into several pieces which drifted about the Earth for hundreds of millions of years.  Finally, between the middle of Cretaceous and early Tertiary Periods (100 million to 50 million years ago) these pieces split up again to form land masses recognisable in form to the continents of today.  These sections are still drifting apart.
***
This interesting suggestion, first put forward by the German meteorologist, Alfred Wegener (1880-1930), is known as the theory of 'continental drift'.  Wegener, who was also a daring explorer and experience geologist, published his ideas in a book printed in 1912.  It naturally created a great stir in scientific circles, which soon split into two groups, one of his supporters and one of his opponents.  They are both eager to prove or disprove his theory.
***
In a few words, wegener's idea was as follows: in dim, distant times the continental masses were joined together in a single block (or shield), which Wegener called Pangaea.  The rest of the Earth was covered by a primeval mass of water, the Pantalaxia.
 ***
During the Eocene Period, about 50 million years ago, a slow but steady movement then began.  The Pangaea cracked and, pulled apart by the rotating movement of the Earth, the bits began to drift away from each other as if they were floating on a heavier, more elastic base.
***
According to Wegener, it was because of this shifting that the folds occurred in the Earth's crust which lifted up the loftiest mountain chains still existing in the world today.
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HIV - 'RESERVOIR' FOUND IN BRAIN...ANI

Aussie scientists have discovered that the brain also acts as a key "reservoir" for HIV, a finding that may be a serious threat to the search for a way to eradicate the virus from the body.  While scientists are using antiretroviral drugs to get rid of HIV altogether, they are finding it difficult to perfect techniques to kill off infected cells in the known reservoirs for HIV in the body.

***

Melbourne-based Dr. Melissa Churchill said that HIV was known to hide out in the thymus and lymph tissues, the gut, spleen, testes, bone marrow, but they have recently found that it also resides in astrocyte cells in the brain.

***

"The astrocytes are basically the support cells - they mop up toxins released from other cells and maintain a really nice environment for the neurons to function," quoted Churchill as saying of the vital role played by these cells for congnition.

***

"Previously, People weren't sure if we have to actually consider it as a genuine viral reservoir, but it is," she added.

***

Churchill and an international team of researchers used latest in high-powered microscopes to examine brain tissue from HIV-Positive people to gauge the presence of the virus in these astrocyte cells.

***

She said that it was believed that the virus had about a "One per cent" presence, but the research showed it was up to 19 percent and "very significant".

***

In her opinion, the discovery poses several new challenges for scientists now progressing the work of finding ways to eradicate HIV from the body.

***

"One of the issues of the brain as a reservoir is that it's quite inaccessible to the immune system and to anti-retrovirals," Churchill said.....Deccan Chronicle Article by ANI

Marry For Happiness, Not Misery... ......

Girls continue to suffer in a bad marriage because parents don't support them.  In such cases they must fall back on their qualifications and be truly independent.....

Most Indian parents, even the urban ones, appear to be suffering from an acute case of divorce phobia.  It's terrifying to see them brainwash their unhappily married daughters to adjust and compromise to a life of hell, boredom or indifference.  This disturbing trend of not wanting to support their child when she wants to walk out of an unhappy marriage, is everywhere.  No matter how modern and liberated everyone claims to be, divorce is viewed as the ultimate failure in life which makes every other achievement seem insignificant.

***

Why is it that parents who bring their child up with no gender bias, instill the need to study well, be outgoing and independent suddenly act all 18th century when she wants to end a bad marriage?  Sociologist GK Karanth says modern parents are at cross-roads.  "They bring up their daughters to be smart and well-educated because deep down they want her to grow up and marry well, as these qualifications will be a prerequisite for certain matrimonial alliances."  But when she is growing up it is never instilled in her that marriage and not career or financial independence is the true goal.  Karanth also feels the modern man wants an intelligent wife who is smart, modern and progressive, but still wants her to be mild, submissive and "yes, yes sir, three bags full" variety.  His mind is ambiguous about what he truly wants.  This is where problems crop up as roles, expectations and fulfillment clash.

***

Parents refuse to accept that problems can't be fixed and coerce the wife to endure a bit more torture, saying all marriages face rough weather.

***

When a well educated, pregnant girl in her late 20s complained to her father that her husband was being both physically and verbally abusive, he told her every would be fine once the baby came along!

***

Another mother thought her child was being ridiculous when she wanted to leave her cheating husband. "Men are like that, as long as he comes home to you and is being nice, how does it matter?"

***

Yes, today's independent girl doesn't really need parental support as she can get herself a job and be financially independent, but at such a vulnerable and difficult time she does need someone to hold her hand and tell her that she's not alone.  This is where parents are failing.

***

Even if the couple is simply incompatible and the girl is miserable parents don't want the D word mentioned.

***

India is still considered to be a patriarchal society and a divorced girl is looked upon secretly as a failure by most.  Vineeta Shah, an emotional consultant says, "Divorce is stigma, even if parents are supportive they are viewed as a "fast" family with no values."  Shah says it is imbibed in a girl that she has to adjust, you don't always get everything, you need to give in more....

***

The poor girl is so confused that it takes a lot of strength and soul searching to say, "I will manage without anyone's help."  If things get really bad, parents are there but they are reluctant to stand by their daughter.

***

If minor changes and adjustments make the relationship work, go for it.  But if dialogue, communication and small compromises don't work then the relationship is not going to work, says Shah.  That's when women need to realise that now is the time to show how independent they can be without a husband or parents to hold their hands..........

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Sun Dried Wonders... Taste It...MEALANIE ANDRADE....

Sun-dried tomatoes are an acquired taste but once you get used to the intense flavour you will be hooked.  Just a handful of sun dried tomatoes goes adds a more complex taste and they can be used in a variety of wonderful ways. 

***

Sun-dried tomatoes can be bought in jars, packed in olive oil.  These just have to be drained (use oil for salad dressing or stir-fries) before using.  If you buy them in a packet, they need to be reconstituted before use.  Soak them in hot water for half an hour.  Drain the water (use this for stocks and pasta sauces), and use.  Once reconstituted, they need to be consumed within a few days.  If they are in oil, they can be refrigerated for two weeks after opening.

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Here are two easy recipes to get you started.

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Sun-dried Tomato Hummus
INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cup boiled chickpeas

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp readymade tahini

1/4 tsp salt

Olive Oil

A handful of chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Chilli flakes, a pinch Parsley, chopped finely

METHOD

 Place boiled chickpeas in a mixer and blend till smooth.  Add crushed garlic, tahini, salt and lemon juice.  Remove and keep aside.

***

Take chopped, sun-dried tomatoes and place in mixer with one tbsp of olive oil.

***

Blend till a smooth pesto forms.  Place hummus in a bowl with the sun dried tomato pesto carefully landled on top of it.  Swirl it around but do not mix it completely.  Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with chopped parsley for colour.

***

Chicken with Sun-dried Tomatoes

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

4 boneless chicken breasts, halved

Freshly ground black pepper 

10 sun-dried tomatoes, drained

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 zucchini, finely sliced

1 cup of broccoli florets

1 1/2 cups of chicken stock

1 tsp oregano

1 1/2 tsp cornflour

1/4 tsp chilli flakes 

1/4 cup cream

Pasta to serve

Grated Parmesan

METHOD

Cut Chicken into cubes, sprinkle with pepper.  Saute chicken in olive oil for five minutes.  Keep aside.  Heat more oil and fry onions till soft.  Add the garlic, zucchini, and broccoli.  Add half the chicken stock and let it simmer for fiver minutes.  Mix the remaining stock with the oregano and cornflour.  Add chicken and chilli flakes and cook till sauce is thick.  Lower the flame and slowly add the cream.  Blend well.  Season to taste and top with grated Parmesan.  Serve with pasta of your choice....

Cool The Planet PLANT A TREE.. M. Sonalee

Planting trees has often been the first line of defence against global warming.  Trees, after all, cool the atmosphere by drinking in the carbon dioxide from the air.  Scientists say that trees absorb and store the key greenhouse gases emitted by cars and power plants.  All plants absorb carbon dioxide but trees process significantly more than smaller plants do, due to their large size and extensive and root structures.

***

Says environmentalist Subhas Datta, "In essence, trees are like the kings of the plant world.  They have much more "woody biomass" to store carbon dioxide than smaller plants."  Subsequently, they are considered nature's most efficient carbon sinks.

***

According to Datta, certain trees are better absorbents of carbon dioxide than others.  "There 'carbon traps' usually grow quickly and live long," says Datta.  Unfortunately, both qualities cannot be found together in foliage.  Normally younger trees grow faster but their older partners are better absorbents.

***

It has been found that trees that grow slower can store much more carbon over their significantly longer lives.  A study shows that tropical, evergreen forests are better at tackling global warming.  According to a study by Dr Govindasamy Bala of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, evergreens like confers and red cedar, "cut down on emissions and help keep the planet cool."  Dr Bala also observes that the further a person moves away from the equator these gains are eroded.  According to researchers, planting trees in mid and high latitude locations do not have similar effects.  In fact, on the contrary they could increase temperatures by 2100.

***

Therefore, you need to plant the right tree at the right location to avail of the benefits of carbon sequestration.  If one takes the US into consideration, each specific region will have a tree that is the best absorbent in that region.  For instance, in Hawaii, it is the eucalyptus; loblolly pine acts best as an absorbent in the Southeast while poplars are best in the Great Lakes.

***

Stan Wullschleger, who is a researcher at Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory specialising in the physiological response of plants to global climate change, observes that there are dozens of tree species that could be planted depending on location, soil and climate.

***

It is prudent to remember that ultimately a tree of any shape, size or genetic origin can help absorb carbon dioxide.  "The least expensive option is to plant a tree in your garden (if you have one) as it will help offset the production of carbon dioxide," suggests Datta.

***

Trees that are low maintenance are the best absorbents.  This has been pointed out by Dave Nowak, a researcher at the US Forest Service's Northern Research Station in Syracuse, New York.  While studying the use of trees for carbon sequestration in 2002, he discovered that trees like the common horse-chestnut, black walnut, London plane, American Sweetgum, Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, red pine, white pine, hispaniolan pine, scarlet oak, red oak, Virginia live oak and bald cypress are very good at absorbing and storing carbon dioxide.  In his research paper, Nowak advises urban land developers to avoid trees that require a lot of maintenance, as the burning of fossil fuels to power equipment like trucks and chainsaws will only erase the carbon absorption gains otherwise made.

***

So, if you want to tackle global warming, all that you need to do is to plant a neem tree in your garden or anywhere in the vicinity! Simple, isn't is?

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Work Like A Master.... Swamy Vivekananda...

We read in the Bhagavad-Gita again and again that we must all work incessantly.  All work is by nature composed of good and evil.  We cannot do any work which will not do some good somewhere; there cannot be any work which will not do some harm somewhere.  Every work must necessarily by a mixture of good and evil; yet we are commanded to work incessantly.  Good and evil will both have their result, will produce their Karma.  Good action will entail upon us good effect; bad action, bad.  But good and bad are both bondages of the soul.  The solution reached in the Gita in regard to this bondage-producing nature of work is that, if we do not attach ourselves to the work we do, it will not have any binding effect on our soul.  We shall try to understand what is meant by this "non-attachment" to work.

***

As the tortoise trucks its feet and head inside the shell, and you may kill it and break it in pieces, and yet it will not come out, even so the character of that man who has control over his motives and organs is unchangeably established.  He controls his own inner forces, and nothing can draw them out against his will.  By this continuous reflex of good thoughts, good impressions moving over the surface of the mind, the tendency for doing good becomes strong, and as the result we feel able to control the Indriyas ( the sense-organs, the nerve-centres).  Thus alone will character be established, then alone a man gets to truth.  Such a man is safe for ever; he cannot do any evil.  You may place him in any company, there will be no danger for him.  There is a still higher state than having this good tendency, and that is the desire for liberation.  You must remember that freedom of the soul is the goal of all Yogas, and each one equally leads to the same result.  By work alone men may get to where Buddha got largely by meditation or Christ by prayer.  Buddha was a working Jnani, Christ was a Bhakta, but the same goal was reached by both of them.  The bad tendencies are to be counteracted by the good ones, and the bad impressions on the mind should be removed by the fresh waves of good ones, until all that is evil almost disappears, or is subdued and held in control in a corner of the mind; but after that, the good tendencies have also to be conquered.  Thus the "attached" becomes the "unattached".  Work, but let not the action or the thought produce a deep impression on the mind.  Let the ripples come and go, let huge actions proceed from the muscles and the brain, but let them not make any deep impression on the soul.

***

How can this be done?  We see that the impression of any action to which we attach ourselves, remains.  I may meet hundreds of persons during the day, and among them meet also one whom I love; and when I retire at night I may try to thin of all the faces I saw, but only that face comes before the mind-the face which I met perhaps only for one minute, and which I loved; all the others have vanished.  My attachment to this particular person caused a deeper impression on my mind than all the other faces.  Physiologically, the impressions have all been the same; every one of the faces that I saw pictured itself on the retina, and the brain took the pictures in, and yet there was no similarity of effect upon the mind.  Most of the faces, perhaps were entirely new faces, about which I had never thought before, but that one face of which I got only a glimpse found associations inside.  Perhaps I had pictured him in my mind for years, knew hundreds of things about him, and this one new vision of him awakened hundreds of sleeping memories in my mind and this one impression having been repeated perhaps a hundred times more than those of the different faces together, will produce a great effect on the mind.

***

The whole gist of this teaching is that you should work like a master and not as a slave; work incessantly, but do not do slave's work.  Do you not see how everybody works?  Nobody can be altogether at rest; ninety-nine per cent of mankind work like slaves, and the result is misery; it is all selfish work.  Work through freedom!  Work through love!  The word "love" is very difficult to understand; love never comes until there is freedom.  There is no true love possible in the slave.  If you buy a slave and tie him down in chains and make him work for you, he will work like a drudge, but there will be no love in him.  So when we ourselves work for the things of the world as slaves, there can be no love in us, and our work is not true work.  This is true of work done for relatives and friends, and is true of work done for our own selves.  Selfish work is slave's work; and there is a test.  Every act of love brings happiness; there is no act of love which does not bring peace and blessedness as its reaction.  Real existence, real knowledge, and real love are eternally connected with one another, the three in one; where one of them is, the others also must be; they are the three aspects of the One without a second-the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.  When that existence becomes relative, we see it as the world; that knowledge becomes relative, we see it as the world; that knowledge becomes in its turn modified into the knowledge of the things of the world; and that bliss forms the foundation of all true love known to the heart of man.  Therefore true love can never react so as to cause pain either to the lover or to the beloved.  Suppose a man loves a woman; he wishes to have her all to himself and feels extremely jealous about her every movement; he wants her to sit near him, to stand near him, and to eat and move at his bidding.  He is a slave to her and wishes to have her as his slave.  That is not love; it is a kind of morbid affection of the slave, insinuating itself as love.  It cannot be love, because it is painful; if she does not do what he wants it brings him pain.  With love there is no painful reaction; love only brings a reaction of bliss; if it does not, it is not love.  when you have succeeded in loving your husband, your wife, your children, the whole world, the universe, in such a manner that there is no reaction of pain or jealousy, no selfish feeling, then you are in a fit state to be unattached.

***

Do you ask anything from your children in return for what you have given them?  It is your duty to work for them, and there the matter ends.  In whatever you do for a particular person, a city, or a state, assume the same attitude towards it as you have towards your children-expect nothing in return.  If you can invariably take the position of a giver, in which everything given by you is a free offering to the world, without any thought of return, then will your work bring you no attachment.  Attachment comes only where we expect a return.

***

If working like slaves results in selfishness and attachment, working as masters of our own mind gives rise to the bliss of non-attachment.  We often talk of right and justice, but we find that in the world right and justice are mere baby's talk.  There are two things which guide the conduct of men: might and mercy.  The exercise of might is invariably the exercise of selfishness.  All men and women try to make the most of whatever power or advantage they have.  Mercy is heaven itself; to be good, we have all to be merciful.  Even justice and right should stand on mercy.  Al thought of obtaining return for the work we do hinders our spiritual progress; nay, in the end it brings misery.  There is another way in which this idea of mercy and selfless charity can be put into practice; that is, by looking upon work as "worship" in case we believe in a Personal God.  Here we give up all fruits of our work unto the Lord, and, worshipping Him thus, we have no right to expect anything from mankind for the work we do.  The Lord Himself works incessantly and is ever without attachment.  Just as water cannot wet the lotus leaf, so work cannot bind the unselfish man by giving rise to attachment to results.  The selfless and unattached man may live in the very heart of a crowded and sinful city; he will not be touched by sin.

***

This idea of complete self-sacrifice is illustrated in the following story:-

After the battle of Kurukshetra the five Pandava brothers performed a great sacrifice and made very large gifts to the poor.  All people expressed amazement at the greatness and richness of the sacrifice, and said that such a sacrifice the world had never seen before.  But, after the ceremony, there came a little mongoose, half of whose body was golden, and the other half brown, and he began to roll on the floor of the sacrificial hall.  He said to those around, "You are all liars; this is not sacrifice."  "What!" they exclaimed, "You say this is no sacrifice; do you not know how money and jewels were poured out to the poor and every one became rich and happy?  This was the most wonderful sacrifice any man ever performed."  But the mongoose said:  "There was once a little village, and in it there dwelt a poor Brahmin, with his wife, his son and his son's wife.  They were very poor and lived on small gifts made to them for preaching and teaching.  There came in that land a three year's famine, and the poor Brahmin suffered more than ever.  At last when the family had starved for days, the father brought home on morning a little barely flour, which he had been fortunate enough to obtain, and he divided it into four parts, one for each member of the family.  They prepared it for their meal, and just as they were about to eat there was a knock at the door.  The father opened it, and there stood a guest.  Now, in India, a guest is a sacred person; he is as a god for the time being, and must be treated as such.  So the poor Brahmin said, "Come in, sir; you are welcome."  He set before the guest his own portion of the food, which the guest quickly ate and said, 'Oh, sir, you have killed me; I have been starving for ten days, and this little bit has but increased my hunger.'  Then the wife said to her husband, 'Give him my share,' but the husband said, 'Not so."  The wife however insisted, saying, 'Here is a poor man, and it is our duty as a wife to give him my portion, seeing that you have no more to offer him.'  Then she gave her share to the guest, which he ate, and said he was still burning with hunger.  So the son said, 'Take my portion also; it is the duty of a son to help his father to fulfil his obligations.'  The guest ate that, but remained still unsatisfied; so the son's wife gave him her portion also.  That was sufficient, and the guest departed blessing them.  That night those four people died of starvation.  A few granules of that flour had fallen on the floor, and when I rolled my body on them half of it became golden, as you see.  Since then I have been travelling all over the world, hoping to find another sacrifice like that, but nowhere have I found one; nowhere else has the other half of my body been turned into gold.  That is why I say this is no sacrifice.

***

This idea of charity is going out of India; great men are becoming fewer and fewer.

***

Now you see what is Karma-Yoga means; even at the point of death to help any one, without asking questions.  Be cheated millions of times and never ask a question, and never think of what you are doing.  Never vaunt your gifts to the poor or expect their gratitude, but rather be greateful to them for giving you the occasion of practising charity to them....................

The Teacher And The Taught...Swamy Vivekananda...

My idea of education is Gurugraha-vasa.  Without the personal life of the teacher, there would be no education.  One should live from his very boyhood with one whose character is a blazing fire and should have before him a living example of the highest teaching.  In our country the imparting of knowledge has always been through men of renunciation.  The charge of imparting knowledge should again fall upon the shoulders of Tyagis.

***

The old system of education in India was very different from the modern system.  The students had not to pay.  It was thought that knowledge is so sacred that no man ought to sell it.  Knowledge should be given freely and without any price.  The teachers used to take students without charge and not only so, most of them gave their students food and clothes.  To support these teachers, the wealthy families made gifts to them and they in their turn had to maintain their students.  The disciple of old used to repair to the hermitage of the Guru, fuel in hand, and the Guru, after ascertaining his competence, would teach him the Vedas, fastening round his waist the threefold filament of Munja, a kind of grass, as the emblem of his vow to keep his body, mind and speech in control.

***

There are certain conditions necessary in the taught and also in the teacher.  The conditions necessary for the taught are purity, a real thirst after knowledge, and perseverance.  Purity in thought, speech and act is absolutely necessary.  As for thirst after knowledge, it is an old law that we all get whatever we want.  None of us can get anything other than what we fix our hearts upon.  There must be a continuous struggle, a constant fight, an unremitting grappling with our lower nature, till the higher want is actually felt and victory is achieved.  The student who sets out with such a spirit of perseverance will surely find success at last.

***

In regard to the teacher, we must see that he knows the spirit of the scriptures.  The whole world reads Bibles, Vedas and Korans; but they are all only words, syntax, etymology, philology-the dry bones of religion.  The teacher who deals too much in words and allows the mind to be carried away by the force of word loses the spirit.  It is the knowledge of the spirit of the scriptures alone that constitutes the true teacher.  The second condition necessary for the teacher is sinlessness.  The question is often asked: 'Why should we look into the character and personality of teacher?'  This is not right.  The sine qua non of acquiring truth for oneself, or for imparting to others, is purity of heart and soul.  He must be perfectly pure and then only comes the value of his words.  The function of the teacher is indeed an affair of the transference of something and not one of mere stimulation of existing intellectual or other faculties in the taught.  Something real and appreciable as an influence comes from the teacher and goes to the taught.  Therefore, the teacher must be pure.  The third condition is in regard to the motive.  The teacher must not teach with any ulterior selfish motive, for money, name or fame.  His work must be simply out of love, out of pure love for mankind at large.  The only medium through which spiritual force can be transmitted is love.  Any selfish motive, such as the desire for gain or name, will immediately destroy the conveying medium.

***

It is not easy to be a disciple.  The first condition is that the student who wants to know the truth must give up all desires for gain.  What we see is not truth as long as any desire creeps into our minds.  So long as there is in the heart the least desire for the world, truth will not come.  The rich understand truth much less than the poor people.  The rich man has no time to think of anything beyond his wealth and power, his comforts and indulgences.  I do not trust the man who never weeps; he has a big block of granite where his heart should be.  Therefore knowing what prosperity means and what happiness means, one should give up these and seek to know the truth and truth alone.  Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practice it.  It is more paying from the point of view of health also.  Love, truth and unselfishness are not merely moral figures of speech, but they form our highest ideal, because in them lies such a manifestation of power.  Self-restraint is a manifestation of greater power than all outgoing action.  All outgoing energy following a selfish motive is frittered away; it will not cause power to return to you; but if restrained, it will result in development of power.  This self-control will tend to produce a mighty will, a character which makes a Christ or a Buddha.
***
The second condition is that a disciple must be able to control the internal and external senses.  By hard practice he has to arrive at the stage where he can assert his mind against the commands of nature.  He should be able to say to his mind, 'You are mine; I order you, do not see or hear anything.'  Next the mind must be made to quiet down.  It is rushing about.  Just as I sit down to meditate, all the vilest subjects in the world come up.  The whole thing is nauseating.  Why should the mind think thoughts I do not want it to think?  I am as it were a slave to the mind.  No spiritual knowledge is possible so long as the mind is restless and out of control.  The disciple has to learn to control the mind.
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Also, the disciple must have great power of endurance.  Life seems comfortable, and you find the mind behaves well when everything is going well with you.  But if something goes wrong, your mind loses its balance.  That is not good.  Bear all evil and misery without one murmur or hurt, without one thought of unhappiness, resistance, remedy or retaliation.  That is true endurance.  When my Master Sri Ramakrishna fell ill, a Brahmin suggested to him that he apply his tremendous mental power to cure himself; he said that if my Master would only concentrate his mind on the diseased part of the body, it would heal.  Sri Ramakrishna answered, "What! Bring down the mind that I've given to God to this little body!"  He refused to think of body and illness.  His mind was continually conscious of God; it was dedicated to Him utterly.  He would not use it for any other purpose.  Remember also the man on the Cross!  He pitied those who crucified him.  He endured every humiliation and suffering.  He took the burden of all upon himself: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  Such is true endurance.  How very high he was above this life, so high that we cannot understand it!
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The next condition the disciple must fulfill is to conceive an extreme desire to be free.  No one is desiring anything beyond the body.  What is the world but a combination of stomach and sex?  Look at millions of men and women-that is what they are living for.  Take these away from them and they will find their life empty, meaningless and intolerable.  Such are we.  And such is our mind; it is continually hankering for ways and means to satisfy the hunger for the stomach and sex.  These desires of the body bring only momentary satisfaction and endless suffering.  It is like drinking a cup of which the surface layer is nectar, while underneath all is poison.  But we still hanker for all these things.  Renunciation of the senses and desires is the only way out of this misery.  If you want to be spiritual, you must renounce.  This is the real test.  Give up the world-this nonsense of the senses.  There is only one real desire: to know what is true, to be spiritual.  No more materialism, no more this egoism.  I must become spiritual.  Strong, intense must be the desire.  If a man's hands and feet were so tied that he could not move and then if a burning piece of charcoal were placed on his body, he would struggle with all his power to throw it off.  When I shall have that sort of extreme desire, that restless struggle to throw off this burning world, then the time will have come for me to glimpse the Divine truth.
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Our sole concern should be to know the highest truth.  Our goal is the loftiest.  Let us worship the spirit in spirit, standing on spirit.  Let the foundation be spirit; the middle, spirit; the culmination, spirit.  Stand thou in the spirit!  That is the goal.  We know we cannot reach it yet.  Never mind.  Do not despair, but do not drag the ideal down.  The important thing is: how much less you think of the body, of yourself as matter, as dead, dull, insentient matter, how much more you think of yourself as shining immortal being.  The more you think of yourself as shining immortal spirit, the more eager you will be to be absolutely free of matter, body and senses.  This is the intense desire to be free.
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There are the conditions which a man who wants to be a disciple must fulfill; without fulfilling them he will not be able to come in contact with the true Guru.  And even if he is fortunate enough to find him, he will not be quickened by the power that the Guru may transmit.  There cannot be any compromising of these conditions.  With the fulfillment of these conditions the lotus of the disciple's heart will open and the bee shall come.  Then the disciple knows that the Guru was within himself.  He opens out.  He realises.  He crosses the ocean of life, goes beyond, and in mercy, without a thought of gain or praise, he in his turn helps others to cross.
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With the teacher our relationship is the same as that between an ancestor and his descendant.  Without faith, humility, submission and veneration in our hearts towards the teacher, there cannot be any growth in us.  In those countries which have neglected to keep up this kind of relation, the teacher has become a mere lecturer, the teacher expecting his five dollars and the person taught expecting his brain to be filled with the teacher's words and each going his own way after this much is done.  But too much faith in personality has a tendency to produce weakness and idolatry.  Worship your Guru as God, but do not obey him blindly.  Love him all you will, but think for yourself.
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The teacher must throw his whole force into the tendency of the taught.  Without real sympathy we can never teach well.  Do not try to disturb the faith of any man.  If you can, give him something better, but do not destroy what he has.  The only true teacher is he who can convert himself, as it were, into a thousand persons at a moment's notice.  The true teacher is he who can immediately come down to the level of the student, as transfer his soul to the student's soul and see through and understand through his mind.  Such a teacher can really teach and none else.
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