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Meditation - a wonderful experience

Meditation and Thoughts

In meditation you find the mind going very deep into itself, but something brings you out. Deep impressions, thoughts, come out and the depth is lost. Over time you repeat the process again and again, and you find your whole nature is changed. Meditation is such a process.
Meditation happens when thoughts subside.

Thoughts arise in so many ways and take you for a spin. Do you recognize them in this list: Desires, ambitions, expectations, doubts, unpleasant memories, feverishness, worries, botherations…?


Thoughts: Worries and Botherations
You are bothered even if you have things that you wanted, and you are bothered if you don't have them! For example, if you have money, there is botheration. You are afraid or worried thinking what to do with this money, whether to invest or not. If you invest you are worried whether it is growing or reducing, or you are anxious about the fluctuations in the share market. If you don't have money, even then you are bothered.

“Liberation” is that total freedom wherein you are not bothered when things are there and you are not bothered even if they are not there.
Look back at times, when you have worried. Just imagine, how you were five years ago on a particular day: o “Will I get the job?” o “Will I get well?” o “Will I be humiliated in class for not doing the assignment?” It was a big deal at that time, but now you really don't remember your past worries. Every time you worry, you think it is fresh and new. When you look back at all those worries that are now stale or no more, you will find that this worry is also stale. What makes a worry stay with you is - your illusion that you are going to live forever.


Thoughts: Desires

Desire simply means that the present moment is not all right. This causes tension in the mind.

Every desire causes feverishness. In this state, meditation is far away from happening. You may sit with your eyes closed, but desires keep arising, thoughts keep arising; you fool yourself that you are meditating, but actually you are daydreaming!

As long as some desires linger in your mind, you cannot be at total rest.

You cannot get into Yoga (union with self) unless you drop the desires or hankerings in you.
~ Bhagavad Gita

Every desire or ambition is like a sand particle in the eyes. You can neither shut your eyes nor keep it open with a sand particle inside - it is uncomfortable either way.

Dispassion is removing this particle of dust or sand from the eye so that you can freely open and shut your eyes! Another way is to extend your desire or make it so big, and then also it won’t bother you. Only a tiny sand particle irritates your eyes, a big stone or a rock can never get into your eyes!

You have no control over the desires. Even if you say, “Oh, desire is the cause of misery. I shouldn't have desires, when will I be free of desires?”, that is another desire! So, as they come up, recognize them and let go. This process is called Sanyas.

When you offer all desires as they rise in you and be centered, then nothing can shake you or take you away from your center.

Thoughts: Ambitions

As long as you hold onto some planning, your mind does not settle.
Have you noticed that when you go to bed with some restlessness, agitation, or desire, you will not get deep sleep. Very ambitious people cannot have deep sleep because the mind inside is not free. Though plans or ambitions do not appear to be there for a while in the mind as you go to sleep, but they are still there.

Before going to sleep, if you simply let go everything, only then you will be able to rest. Similarly, when you want to sit for meditation, let go of everything.

Thoughts: Doubts

Have you noticed doubts are always about something positive?

o When you are happy, you doubt: “Am I really happy?”

o If someone tells you they love you, you say: “Really? Are you sure?”

We never doubt anything negative in life:

o You never doubt someone else’s anger or your anger

o You never doubt your depression

o If someone tells you they hate you, you don’t doubt it

If you can doubt the negativity of people, you become close to the reality.

With this awareness, when you increase the energy level of your body:

o You will see that the doubts disappear

o There is more clarity in the mind

o Confusion goes away from the mind

Meditation is the only way you can transcend the negative thoughts; and then positive thoughts will come spontaneously and automatically.

Thoughts: Unpleasant memories

Memory can make you either sad or enlightened.

How often your mind is churning with unpleasant memories:

o "He said this and that”

o “She was so arrogant”

o “They did this to me

Meditation can bring that shift in your memory – to let go of the trivial, and to recognize your infinite nature.

Let go of thoughts and desires

Streams of thoughts are always passing through your mind. But you may catch hold of the thoughts and not allow them to go easily, like a record needle getting stuck in one groove. Let the thoughts go. Feel that they are not yours. Sorrow comes from getting stuck in one thought or desire. Meditation happens when thoughts subside.

You meditate and calm your mind, then go on with other activities. It’s not easy to keep yourself undisturbed, but it’ll happen as you keep doing the practices regularly. Then it’ll become easy.

Let go of all effort - to stop thoughts, or to concentrate, or to contemplate.

Transcend your thoughts – with meditation

Meditation is letting go of anger from the past, the events of the past and all the planning for the future. Meditation is accepting this moment and living every moment totally with depth.

Just this understanding and few days of continuous practice of meditation - can change the quality of your life.
The rest in meditation is deeper than the deepest sleep that you can ever have - because in meditation you transcend all thoughts/desires. This brings such coolness to the brain and it is like servicing or overhauling the whole body-mind complex.


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Avoiding Negative Thoughts


Quite often we find ourselves with many negative thoughts going through our mind. These trains of thoughts can become very powerful as we endlessly repeat them in our mind. The problem is that that the more we focus on the thoughts, the more powerful they become. Therefore, it can become very difficult to stop these endless cycles of thoughts.

However, it is definitely possible and these are a few tips to control our thoughts.

1. Make a conscious decision to Stop the thoughts

The problem is that sometimes we attach ourselves to certain ideas and problems, and we subconsciously get a kind of pleasure from going through a certain problem / issue. If we subconsciously keep inviting the thoughts, we will never be able to stop them. Therefore, the first stage is to make a clear and conscious decision to stop the repetition of the thoughts. Be aware of their negative impact and don’t allow them to come any more. This conscious step is an indispensable stage in controlling our thoughts.

2. Look upon the Thoughts as being Outside of yourself.

When we first try to stop the thoughts, it seems very difficult because they feel such a strong part of our mind. Therefore, the second stage is to feel that the thoughts are separate to our self. When a thought appears in your mind, look upon the thought as coming from outside yourself. This is a very powerful way to reduce the impact of thoughts on our mind. Once we realise our thoughts are separate to ourselves it becomes possible to stop them.

3. Who is it who listens to thoughts?

This is a technique to try and discover the origination of your thoughts. Whenever a thought appears, just ask yourself, who is it who is thinking this? What we do is to try and discover the source of thoughts. Through asking this question we realise that there is an “I” which can decide to accept or reject thoughts. By asking this question we will be able to stop the thoughts as soon as they enter. You are not a victim of your own thoughts, it is you who either rejects or gives life to thoughts.

4. Catch thoughts as soon as they appear.

This exercise requires a determined effort on our part. We need to be vigilant and watch every thought that enters our mind. As soon as we see a negative thought enter, we must immediately discard it and refuse to follow it. The more we follow thoughts, the more difficult it becomes to stop them later. Therefore, it is best to catch them as soon as possible.


5. Concentrate on Something else.

If we have a train of thoughts which have gained a stranglehold over our mind, the best solution is often to just try and do something completely different. Don’t just sit around, go and do something which gives you no opportunity to ruminate over your thoughts. By doing this we ignore the thoughts completely, and they lose there hold over us.

“Wrong thoughts are inside us just because we identify ourselves with these thoughts. If we identify with something else, immediately they have to leave us.”



6. Meditation

Meditation is the best way to learn how to control our thoughts. Meditation involves the art of concentration and quietening the mind. In meditation we not only try to control our thoughts but we also can bring to the fore our inner qualities of peace and oneness. If we can invoke the calming power of our own heart, then we use an alternative force to take the place of the negative mind.

“The mind has its own power, and right now this power is stronger than your present eagerness and determination to meditate. But if you can get help from your heart, then gradually you will be able to control your mind. The heart, in turn, gets constant assistance from the soul, which is all light and all power.”



We should meditate every day so that we can bring to the fore as much as peace as possible into our mind. If we only meditate when we are overrun with thoughts, we will find meditation very difficult. But, if we gain peace of mind through our daily meditation then we develop our inner capacities to control our thoughts.


There are times when we must go through negative situations. Maybe people say something negative about us, or they show rejection or even resentment against us. In such situations, it may be difficult to stay positive. We may be inclined to react negatively to them. That won’t do us any good though; doing so will just make the situation worse. People may behave even more negatively to us. Our day would be filled with anger and disappointment. At the end, nobody wins.

Though it’s not easy, it’s important to stay positive in negative situations. Beat the negative situations by staying positive. Here are 15 tips on how to do it; pick the ones that work for you:

1) Never respond when you are not calm. If you are not sure that you are calm, don’t respond. Take time to calm yourself down first.

2) Take a deep breath as a first step to calm yourself down.

3) Speak in gentle tone to reduce the tension of the situation.

4) Realize that you can find opportunities in negative situations. Albert Einstein said: “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”

5) Look at the content of what people say to you for something positive that you can act upon to improve yourself. Don’t just reject the whole messages.

6) For the rest of the messages which is negative, simply ignore it.

7) Maintain positive view of the people. Maybe you don’t like their messages or behavior, but that doesn’t mean that you can hate them personally.

8) Realize that having negative feelings will just hurt you, not them. So there is no reason for you to have any negative feeling.

9) If you make mistakes, be open to admit it.

10) If you make mistakes, remember this quote by George Bernard Shaw: “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”

11) If you can, listen to motivational audio program to feed positive thoughts into your mind.

12) Talk to a positive friend who can encourage you.

13) Remember your favorite quotes to give you inspiration and motivation. This is one reason why you should have quote of the day.

14) Look at the negative situations as your training sessions for real life. The higher you climb in life, the worse the negative situations would be, so you’d better be prepared for them.

15) Realize that you can’t please everyone. In fact, nobody can. Sometimes you need to just let some people go. Realizing this will relieve you from a lot of unnecessary burden so that you can focus on the people that you can positively interact with.


Tips to avoid Depression


Is it possible to avoid depression? What is the secret of cultivating happiness and avoiding periods of unhappiness? To a large extent, we determine our own frame of mind; we shouldn’t feel that we are a helpless victim to depression. Depression is something that we can avoid by cultivating the opposite – happiness.

Here are some tips for avoiding depression

1. Offer goodwill to Others.
If we seek to make others miserable how can we expect to be happy ourselves? If we offer goodwill to other people this creates a powerful positive energy. Focusing on other people’s good qualities can definitely help improve our own state of mind. There is a principle that what we give out, we get back. Therefore, by offering positive energy to, at some time, we will also be the recipient.

2. Learn to Detach from Thoughts

Thoughts play a very significant role in determining our state of mind. If we pursue negative thoughts then we give them greater power and influence over our state of being. However, it is possible to decide which thoughts to allow and which to reject. We have to learn to be vigilant and prevent negative thoughts from taking hold. As soon as we become aware of negative thoughts we should let go of them. We can imagine that we are throwing them out of our mind into a cosmic dustbin.

3. Keep Busy.

If we struggle to detach from negative thoughts we should just throw ourselves into other activities. When we get involved in other activities that we enjoy it takes us out of ourselves. Activity forces us to do something constructive, and does not allow us to dwell on our depressed state of mind.

4. Avoid Feelings of guilt.

If we have made a mistake, harbouring feelings of guilt will not help alleviate the situation. In particular, we are seeking to avoid feelings of guilty for minor events of no significance. Often we have done nothing wrong, but, others seek to make us feel guilty for their bad fortune. Instead of feeling guilty we should seek to concentrate on doing the right thing.

5. Live a Balanced Life.

In life we need to make room for different aspects. If we focus all our time and energy on work then we will have no time for relaxation and cultivating other aspects of our life. If we pursue an unbalanced life unhappiness is more likely to occur.

6. Don’t Base your Happiness solely on other people.

If we expect to gain happiness from another person, at some time, we are bound to be disappointed. If bad relationships end, we should see it as an opportunity to move on. It is no use dwelling on what might have been. It is also a mistake to feel that we can change somebody to match our preferences. If we seek to change a person fundamentally we will just feel frustrated when we fail.

7. Share Problems

Good friendships can offer tremendous help. Especially, if we can have 1 or 2 friends who are able and willing to listen to our problems. Our friends will not be able to solve our problems. However, simply having someone to talk to and share difficulties is a tremendous help in being able to work through our own problems.

8. Cultivate Happiness.

To avoid depression we have to focus on the alternative which is happiness. The problem is that when we are depressed, the idea of happiness seems a million miles away. But, sometimes if we can force a smile or try to be insincerely happy, we can trick the mind and force happiness to descend; and after a while we start to achieve real happiness.


9. Have Low Expectations.

Depression often occurs because our desires remain unfulfilled. The more desires we have, the more likely we are to be disappointed. After disappointment comes a sense of frustration and depression. If we minimise our desires then we will not be prone to disappointment. This does not mean we cannot strive for excellence and achieve things. We definitely should strive to achieve various accomplishments. However, we should try to have an attitude of detachment to the outcome. Nor should we expect people to behave in a certain way.

10. Don’t Dwell On the Negative.

This is the key to avoiding depression. If we focus always on negative things this will eventually filter through into our state of mind. Negativity can be, miserable people, depressing situations and our own negative thoughts. If we want to cultivate happiness, we should seek to avoid depressing situations and depressing people.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam



“You have to dream before your dreams can come true.”

“To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal.”

“As a child of God, I am greater than anything that can happen to me.”

“Be more dedicated to making solid achievements than in running after swift but synthetic happiness.”

“Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.”

“Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.”

“I was willing to accept what I couldn't change.”

“Do we not realize that self respect comes with self reliance?”

“We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us.”

“God, our Creator, has stored within our minds and personalities, great potential strength and ability. Prayer helps us tap and develop these powers.”

“Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.”

Those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around

“There are forces in life working for you and against you. One must distinguish the beneficial forces from the malevolent ones and choose correctly between them.”

“Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work.”

“Unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. In this world, fear has no place. Only strength respects strength.”

“We must think and act like a nation of a billion people and not like that of a million people. Dream, dream, dream!”


"Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life."

"Thinking is progress. Non-thinking is stagnation of the individual, organisation and the country. Thinking leads to action. Knowledge without action is useless and irrelevant. Knowledge with action, converts adversity into prosperity."


"When you speak, speak the truth; perform when you promise; discharge your trust... Withhold your hands from striking, and from taking that which is unlawful and bad..."


"What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful and to remove the wrongs of injured..."


"Away! Fond thoughts, and vex my soul no more! Work claimed my wakeful nights, my busy days Albeit brought memories of Rameswaram shore Yet haunt my dreaming gaze!"


"I will not be presumptuous enough to say that my life can be a role model for anybody; but some poor child living in an obscure place in an underprivileged social setting may find a little solace in the way my destiny has been shaped. It could perhaps help such children liberate themselves from the bondage of their illusory backwardness and hopelessness?.."


"My worthiness is all my doubt His Merit- all my fear- Contrasting which my quality Does however appear "




Albert Einstein

 

 
 
# "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

# "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

# "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."

# "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."

# "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."

# "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

# "The only real valuable thing is intuition."

# "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."

# "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."

# "God is subtle but he is not malicious."

# "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."

# "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."

# "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

# "Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."

# "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

# "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

# "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."

# "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

# "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

# "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."

# "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

# "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

# "God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically." # "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."
# "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
# "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."# "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."
# "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
# "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
# "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
# "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."
# "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."

# "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
# "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
# "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
# "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."
# "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
# "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."# "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."
# "Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves."
# "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"
# "No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
# "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
# "Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever."
# "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."# "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
# "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
# "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
# "The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."
# "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
# "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
# "One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."
# "...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought."
# "He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
# "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
# "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

Kiran Bedi - first women IPS




" My motto in life is that nothing is impossible, no target unachievable - one just has to try harder and harder."

" I believe sunshine is for recharging and channelising our energies and not discharging them. Those of us who live this belief remains a source of sustained energy for humankind.

Whatever be the temptations, or compulsions, let there be no clause for 'ifs' or 'buts'...in principled living."

Everything in life is a mixed bag. It depends on what one is looking for.

As long as women continue to be in a position of receiving rather than giving, they shall continue to bear injustice.
Empowered women who reach tough or unconventional positions make choices not sacrifices.

Decision-making, in certain situations, is always controversial. The only way one can avoid this is to take NO decisions and leave the problem as it is. Seniors who do not solve a problem become a part of the problem themselves.

Affluent modern plastering will keep the oldest profession thriving... and women crying foul when the deals go sour.

We can start the change from own homes, neighborhoods, bastis, villages and schools.

What a national revolution it would be if each one of us were to self-police.

There are self-chosen exercises to move forward.

People who do not take charge of their lives are lathi-charged by time.

Corruption cannot be removed without reducing the gap between the governing and the governed.

Terrorism anywhere is a threat for humanity.

Bonding cannot happen without a strong shift in prevailing attitudes.

For me a new phase of life has begun! one of perpetual gratitude and sharing of joy
What a national revolution it would be if each one of us were to self police.

Ethics, decency and morality are the real soldiers

There are self-chosen exercises to move forward.

Value strengths and build on the, while correcting ills along the way

Ethics, decency and morality are the real soldiers.

What is the value of education which does not inculcate passion and fearlessness for setting right what is wrong?

“There is nothing unfinished on my agenda. I do whatever I can for the day. Simple! If I were to die today; I will depart with nothing impending”.

“Works gives me ‘JOY’ and every beginnings is a path of self discovery.”

“I have always nurtured a zeal inside me to live and serve the underprivileged community.”

“I take is in stride, Although I feel content with all that I have, I have never rested on my past laurels, simply as I feel that there is a lot of look ahead and the grand finale is yet to come”.

Jawaharlal Nehru



* A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for his action.

* A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new; when an age ends; and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance.

* Action itself, so long as I am convinced that it is right action, gives me satisfaction.

* Action to be effective must be directed to clearly conceived ends.

* Crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.

* Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.

* Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse.

* Every little thing counts in a crisis.

* Great causes and little men go ill together.

* I have become a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere.

* Ignorance is always afraid of change.


* It is only too easy to make suggestions and later try to escape the consequences of what we say.

* It is the habit of every aggressor nation to claim that it is acting on the defensive.

* Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.

* Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.

* The art of a people is a true mirror to their minds.

* The only alternative to coexistence is co-destruction.

* The person who runs away exposes himself to that very danger more than a person who sits quietly.

* The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.

* We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.

* What we really are matters more than what other people think of us.

* Time is not measured by the passing of years but by what one does, what one feels, and what one achieves.

* Loyal and efficient work in a great cause, even though it may not be immediately recognized, ultimately bears fruit.


Dhirubhai Ambani - A man with dreams




* The problem with Indians is that we have lost the habit of thinking big!

* We can prove to the world that India can do it. That Indians are not afraid of competition. That India is a nation of achievers.

* I dream India of becoming a great economic superpower.

* We must forge a new partnership for a great India. A strong and constructive partnership between industry, government and society.

* We must always go for the best. Do not compromise on quality. Reject if it is not the best -- not only the best in India, but globally.

* If India wants to be a great nation, we must have courage to trust. This is my sincere belief.

* All we have to do is to break the shackles that chain the energies of our people, and India's economy will record a quantum leap and move into a new, higher orbit of growth, competitiveness and productivity.

* I can never fully repay the debt I owe to Mumbai. To all of you. My past was shaped in Mumbai.

* For those who dare to dream, there is a whole world to win!

* I am deaf to the word 'no.'

* I am 100 per cent pro-liberalisation. I do not think any industrialist is against it. But we should protect our industries, from unfair competition.

* There is no question about that (retirement). Business is my hobby. It is not a burden to me. In any case Reliance now can run without me.

* I give least importance to being Number one. I consider myself to be fortunate in this position and would like to contribute to nation building in some way.

* Does making money excite me? No, but I have to make money for my shareholders. What excites me is achievement, doing something difficult. In this room extraordinary things must happen.

* Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly.

* Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India.

* First and foremost, I owe my success and achievements to the affection, friendship and trust of millions of employees, customers, shareholders, and business associates, who have stood by me and been a major source of my strength all along.

* I believe that the success of Reliance cannot be attributed to the qualities and achievements of one individual, or even a group of individuals, but has to be viewed as a triumph of a process, and a spirit that binds the entire Reliance family together.

* I consider myself a pathfinder. I have been excavating the jungle and making the road for others to walk. I like to be the first in everything I do.

* I, as school kid, was a member of the Civil Guard, something like today's NCC. We had to salute our officers who went round in jeeps. So I thought one day I will also ride in a jeep and somebody else will salute me.

* My fulfillment lies in the satisfaction of every member of the Reliance family, comprising thousands of workers, managers, business associates and over five million shareholders. Being instrumental in creating wealth for over 5 million India families, and bringing prosperity and well being to their life is the best source of satisfaction and joy for me.

'You do not require an invitation to make profits'

* Give the youth a proper environment. Motivate them. Extend them the support they need. Each one of them has infinite source of energy. They will deliver.

* You do not require an invitation to make profits.

* If you work with determination and with perfection, success will follow.

* Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth.

* We bet on people.

* Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my expectation.

* Don't give up, courage is my conviction.

* We cannot change our rulers, but we can change the way they rule us.

* Roll up your sleeves and help. You and your team share the same DNA.

* Be a safety net for your team.

* Always be the silent benefactor. Don't tom-tom about how you helped someone.

* Dream big, but dream with your eyes open.

* Leave the professional alone!

* Change your orbit, constantly!

* Money is not a product by itself, it is a by-product, so don't chase it.


Mahatma Gandhiji - Truth succeeds



Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn't have it in the beginning.

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Hate the sin, love the sinner.

Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.

I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth


Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy.

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.

You must be the change you want to see in the world.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.


Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.

One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong

Bruce Lee - the fighting Legend


 


“Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.”

“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.”

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

“using no way as a way, using no limitations as a limitation.”

“As you think, so shall you become.”

“I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.”

“If you make an ass out of yourself, there will always be someone to ride you”

“Simplicity is the key to brilliance”


“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.”

“Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.”

“"A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer."”

“Forget about winning and losing, forget about pride and pain”

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not you go out and look for a successfull personality an duplicate it.”

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

“Real living is living for others.”

“Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.”

“As long as I can remember I feel I have had this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision. It is all these combined. My brain becomes magnetized with this dominating force which I hold in my hand.”

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.”

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”

“The possession of anything begins in the mind”

“Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.”

“If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”

“A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.”

“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”

“When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity. The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and tradition. If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow - you are not understanding yourself.”

“I am not teaching you anything. I just help you to exlplore yourself”

“The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”

“Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.”

“Obey the principles without being bound by them.”

“If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you”

“It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”

“To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.”

“Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.”

“"To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person."”

“Let the spirit out - Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will.”


Gospel of Strength by Swami Vivekanada - Part 5


Help Yourself:


[When a disciple pleaded helplessness, Swamiji thundered]




What nonsense are you talking? Within you lies indomitable power. Only thinking, ‘I am nothing, I am nothing,’ you have become powerless.

You do not deserve to live if you cannot help yourselves.


It is a diabolism to say,” I am so miserable.” Every man has his own burden to bear. If you are miserable, try to conquer it, try to be happy
Therefore, stand up, be bold, and be strong. Take the whole responsibilities on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within you.

It is a tremendous error to feel helpless. Do not seek help from anyone. We are our own help. If we cannot help ourselves, there is none to help us… this is the last and greatest lesson, and oh, what a time it takes to learn it! Just think of that huge mass of misery, and all caused by this false idea of going to seek for help!

There is no help for man. None ever was, none is and none will be… But you are spirit. Pull yourself out of difficulties by yourself! Save yourself by yourself! There is none to help you – never was. To think that there is, is sweet delusion. It comes to no good.

You may pray to everyone that was ever born, but who will come to help you? Help thyself out by thyself. None else can help thee friend. Get hold of the self, then stand up. Don’t be afraid. In the midst of all miseries and all weakness, let the Self come out, faint and imperceptible though it be at first.

The one great question asked by Vedanta is: why are people so afraid? The answer is that they have made themselves helpless and dependant on others. We are so lazy, we do not want to do anything for ourselves, and we want a personal god, a savior or a prophet to do everything for us… If everything is done for a man by another he will lose the use of his own limbs. Anything we do ourselves that is the only thing we do. Anything thing that is done by another never can be ours… All this running after help is foolishness.

You know, there are bullock carts... sometimes a sheaf of straw is dangled at the tip of the pole, a little in front of the bulls but beyond their reach. The bulls try continually to feed upon the strew, but never succeed. That is exactly how we are helped. We think we are going to get security, strength, wisdom, happiness from the outside. We always hope but never realize our hope. Never does any help come from outside.

We human beings are very slow to recognize our own faults so long as we can lay the blame upon somebody else. Men in general lay all the blame of life on their fellow-men or failing that, on God or they conjure up a ghost and say it is fate. Where fate and what is is fate? We reap what we sow. we are the makers of our own fate. None else has the blame, none has the praise.

You know in your inmost heart that many of your limited ideas this humbling of yourself and praying and weeping to imaginary beings are superstitious. Tell me one case where these prayers have been answered. All the answers that came were from your own hearts.

In your ignorance, every prayer that you have made and that was answered, you thought was answered by some being, but you answered the prayer yourself unknowingly. The help came from yourself, and you fondly imagined that someone was sending help to you. There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of universe. These words will burn up the dross that is in the mind, words that will bring out the tremendous energy which is within you already, the infinite power which is sleeping in your heart.

There is no help from anyone. That is the truth. There have been more gods than human beings; and yet no help. We die like dogs- no help. Everywhere beastliness, famine, disease, misery, evil! And all are crying for help. But no help. And yet hoping against hope, we are still screaming for help. Oh, the miserable condition! Oh the terror of it!

You have cried to all gods in the world. Has misery ceased? The masses in India cry to sixty million gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods? The gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? This bending the knee to superstitious this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, my soul. You are infinite, deathless, birth less. Because you are infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be slave. Arise! Awake!

Those that blame others- and alas! The number of them is increasing everyday- are generally miserable with helpless brains; they have brought themselves to that pass through their own mistakes and blame others but this does not alter their position. It does not serve them in any way. This attempt to throw the blame upon others only weakens them the more. Therefore, blame none for your own faults, stand upon your own feet, and take the whole responsibility upon yourselves. Say “This misery that I am suffering is of my own doing, and that very thing proves that is will have to be undone by me alone.”

If the whole responsibility is thrown upon our own shoulders, we shall be at our highest and best; when we have nobody to grope towards, no devil to lay our blame upon, no personal god to carry our burdens, when we are alone responsible, and then we shall rise to our highest and best

Gospel of Strength by Swami Vivekanada - Part 4


The source of strength – Soul


What we need is strength; who will give us strength? There are thousands to weaken us and of stories we had had enough. Every one of our Puranas, if you press it, gives out stories enough to fill three-fourths of the libraries of the world. Everything that can weaken us as a race we have had for the last thousand years… 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 and every time strength. And the Upanishads are the great mine of strength. Therein lies strength enough to invigorate the whole world; the whole world can be vivified, made strong, energized through them.

Strength, strength is what the Upanishads speak to me from every page. This is the one great thing to remember, it has been the one great lesson I have been taught in my life.

Strength, it says strength, O man be not weak. Are there no human weaknesses? – says man. There are, say the Upanishads, but will more weakness heal them? Would you try to wash dirt with dirt? Will sin cure sin? Will weakness cure Weakness? Strength, O man strength, says the Upanishads, stand up and be strong.

First step is getting strength is to uphold the Upanishads and believe “I am soul,” “ Me the sword cannot cut; nor weapons pierce; me the fire cannot burn; me the air cannot dry; I am the Omnipotent, I am the Omniscient.” So repeat these blessed saving words and be strong.

You must know what you are, what your real nature is. You must become conscious of that infinite nature within. Then you bondage will burst.

Think all of you that you are the infinitely powerful Atman, and see what strength comes out.

“Knowledge is Power,” says the proverb. Does it not? It is through knowledge that power comes. Man has got to know that he is a man of infinite power and strength. Really he himself is by his own. And this he must know. And the more he becomes conscious of his own Self, the more he manifests this power, and his bonds break and at last he becomes free.

The soul was never born and will never die, and all these ideas that we are going to die and are afraid to die are mere superstitious. And all such ideas as we can do this or cannot do that are superstitious. We can do everything. The Vedanta teaches men to have faith in themselves first.. Not believing the glory of our own soul is what the Vedanta calls atheism. To many this is, no doubt a terrible idea; and most of us think that this ideal can never be reached; but the Vedanta insists that it can be realized by everyone.

Always talk and hear and reason about this atman. By continuing to practice in this way, you will find in time that the Lion (Brahman) will wake up in you too.

The self within is always shining forth resplendent. Turning away from the people say, I I, I, with their attention held up by this material body, this queer cage of flesh and bones. This is the root cause of all weakness.

Hear day and night that you are that soul. Repeat it to yourselves day and night till it enters into your very veins, till it tingles in every drop of blood, till it is in your flesh and bone. Let the whole body be full of that one ideal, “I am the birth less, the death less, the blissful, the omniscient, and the omnipotent, ever-glorious soul.” Think on it day and night; think on it till it becomes part and parcel of your life. Meditate upon it.. All your actions will be magnified, transformed, deified, by the very power of thought. If matter is power, though is omnipotent. Bring this though to bear upon your life, fill yourselves with the thought of your almightiness, your majesty and your glory.

These conceptions of Vedanta must come out, must remain not only in the forest, not only in the cave, but they must come out to work at the bar and the bench, in the pulpit, and in the cottage of the poor man, with the fishermen that are catching fish, and with the students that are studying.. If the fisherman thinks that he is the spirit he will be a better fisherman; if the student thinks that he is the spirit, he will be a better student. If the lawyer thinks that he is the spirit, he will be a better lawyer and so on…

You have now to make the character of Mahavira [Hanuman] your ideal… He was a perfect master of his senses and wonderfully sagacious. You have now to build your life on this great ideal of personal service. Through that, all the other ideals with gradually manifest in life. Obedience to the guru without questioning and strict observance of Bramacharya – 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, striking the whole world with awe.

Keep aside for the present the vrindavan aspect of shri Krishna and spread far and wide the worship of shri Krishna roaring Gita out, with the voice of a lion… We now mostly need the ideal of a hero with the tremendous spirit of Rajas thrilling through his veins from head to foot… the hero whose armor is renunciation, whose sword is wisdom. We want now the spirit of brave warrior in the battlefield of life, and not of the wooing lover who looks upon life as a pleasure-garden!

This is the only prayer we should have… to tell ourselves, and to tell everybody else that we are divine. And as we go on repeating this, “I am divine, I am divine,” strength comes. He who falters at first will get stronger and stronger, and the voice will increase in volume until the truth takes possession of our hearts, and courses through our veins, and permeates our bodies.

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 these effeminate forms of music the county is well-nigh converted into a country of women. What more degradation can you expect? Even the poet’s imagination fails to draw this picture!

The Damaru and horn have to be sounded; drums are to be beaten so as to raise the deep and martial notes… The music which awakens only the softer feelings of man is to be stopped now for some time. Stopping the light tunes 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 county. In everything the austere spirit of heroic manhood is to be revived. In following such an ideal lays the good of the people and the country.

Gospel of Strength by Swami Vivekanada - Part 3


Stop becoming weak , Be strong:

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 of that? Physical weakness. This sort of weak brain is not able to do anything; we must strengthen it.




You are lions; you are souls, pure, infinite and perfect. The might of the universe is within you. Why weepiest thou my friend?

The brain and muscles must develop simultaneously. Iron nerves with an intelligent brain – and the whole world is at your feet.

You must learn to make the physique very strong and teach the same to others—Body and mind must run parallel.. When the necessity of strengthening the physique is brought home to people, they will exert themselves of their own accord.

This is not the time with us to weep even in joy; we have had weeping enough; no more is the time for us to become soft. This softness has been with us till we have become like masses of cotton and are dead. What our country now wants are muscles of iron and nerves of steel, gigantic wills which nothing can resist, which can penetrate into the mysteries and the secrets of the universe, and will accomplish their purpose in any fashion even if it meant going down to the bottom of the ocean and meeting death face to face.

If you, my sons, can proclaim this message to the world. “Yield not to unmanliness, O son of Pritha it does not befit thee” – then all this disease, grief, sin and sorrow will vanish off from the face of the earth in three days.

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 Gita. These are bold words; but I have to say them, for I love you. I know where the shoe pinches. I have gained a little experience. You will understand the Gita better with your biceps, your muscles, a little stronger. You will understand the mighty genius and mighty strength of Krishna better with a little of strong blood in you. You will understand the Upanishads better and the glory of Atman when your body stands firm upon your feet, and you feel yourselves as men.

That is all I have to say to the world. Be strong! The sign of life is strength and growth, the sign of death is weakness. What—ever is weak, avoid! It is death! If it is strength, go down into hell and get hold of it!

Be strong. Be manly. I have respect even for a wicked person so long as he is manly and strong, for his strength will someday make him give up his wickedness, and even renounce all work for selfish ends. It will thus eventually bring him to the truth.

The sign of vigor, the sign of life, the sign of hope, the sign of health, the sign of everything that is good, is strength.

Mark you, those things which you see in pusillanimous effeminate folk who speak in a nasal tone chewing every syllable whose voice is a thin as of one who has been starving for a week, who never protest or are moved even if kicked by anybody – those are the signs of death, not of sattva [the calm and balanced state] – all corruption and stench… During these last thousand years, the whole country is filling the air with the name of the Lord and is sending its prayers to him; and the lord is never lending his hears to them. And why should He? When even man never hears the cries of the fool, do you think God will? Now the only way out is to listen to the words of Lord in Gita – “Yield not to unmanliness, O partha!”

This I lay down as the first essential in all I teach: anything that brings spiritual , mental or physical weakness, touch it not with the toes of your feat.

In your country it is as if the blood has become congealed in the heart, so that it cannot circulate in the veins as if the paralysis has overtaken the body and it has become languid, So my idea is first to make the people active by developing their Rajas [ the tendency for activity ] .. With no strength in the body, no enthusiasm at heart, and no originality in the brain, what will they do- these lumps of dead matter! By stimulating them I want to bring life into them – to this I have dedicated my life... Be you my helpers in the work!
Tell each and all that infinite power resides within them, that they are sharers of immortal bliss. Thus rouse up the Rajas within them – make them fir for the struggle of the existence and then Speak to them about salvation.

Infinite strength is religion and God.

Gospel of Strength by Swami Vivekanada - Part 2


Stop becoming weak , be strong:

The infinite strength of world is yours. Drive out the superstition that has covered your minds. Let us be brave.

By degrees the heart has to be strengthened. If one man is made, it equals the result of a thousand lectures.

Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak and you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be; if you think yourselves impure, impure you will be; if you think yourselves pure, pure you will be. This teaches us not to think ourselves as weak, but as strong, omnipotent and omniscient.

Know that every thought and word that weakens you in the world is the only evil that exists. Whatever makes man weak and fear is the only evil that should be shunned.

The greatest sin is to think yourself weak.

I beg you to understand this one fact – no good comes out of the man who day and night thinks he is nobody. If a man day and night thinks he is miserable low and nothing, nothing he becomes… That is the great fact which ought to remember.

Being reminded of weakness does not help much; give strength and strength does not come by thinking of weakness all the time. The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength.

If you tell a man,” You are low, you are vile,” in season and out of season, then he is bound to believe in course of time that he is really such. This is called hypnotism.

To call another a sinner is the worst thing you can do.

Everybody is hypnotized already. The work of attaining freedom, of realizing one’s real nature consists in de-hypnotization.

Come up, O lions , and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free , blest , you are not bodies; matter is you servant , nit you the servant of matter.

“Children of immortal bliss” – what a sweet, what a hopeful name! Allow me to call you brethren, by that sweet name – heirs of immortal bliss.. You are the children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. You divinities on earth- sinners~ It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature.

Arise, Awake! Awake from this hypnotism of weakness. None is really weak; the soul is infinite, omnipotent and omniscient. Stand up, assert yourself, proclaim the God within you, do not deny him! Too much of inactivity, too much of weakness, too much of hypnotism has been and is upon our race.. De-hypnotize yourselves. The way to do that is found in your own sacred books. Teach yourselves, teach everyone his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakens. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self conscious activity.

The more I live, the more I become convinced everyday that every human being is divine. In no man or woman, however vile, does that divinity die.

Studying the external alone, man begins to feel himself to be nothing. These vast powers of nature, these tremendous changes occurring – whole communities wiped off the face of the earth in a twinkling of time, one volcanic eruption shattering to pieces whole continents – perceiving and studying these things, man begins to feel himself weak. Therefore it is not the study of nature that makes one strong. But there is the internal nature of man – a million times more powerful that any volcanic eruption or any law of nature – which conquers nature, triumphs over all its laws. And that alone teaches man what he is.


One stumbles more than another, and him who stumbles more we call bad, him who stumbles less we call good.. The difference is not one of kind, but of degree.

In spite of the greatness of the Upanishads, in spite of our boasted ancestry of sages, compared to many other races, I must tell you that we are weak, very weak. First of all is our physical weakness. That physical weakness is the cause of at least one-third of our miseries.

Do you know how much energy, how much powers, how many forces are still lurking behind the frame of yours? What scientist has known all that is in man? Millions of years have passed since man first came here and yet but one infinitesimal part of his powers has been manifested. Therefore you must not say that you are weak. How do you know what possibilities lie behind that degradation on the surface? You know but little of that which is within you. For behind you is the ocean of infinite power and blessedness.

Say not man is a sinner. Tell him that he is a God.

Silly fools tell you that you are sinners, and you sit down in a corner and weep. It is foolishness, wickedness, down-right rascality to say that you are sinners! You are all God.

The greatest error, says the Vedanta is to say that you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable creature, and that you have no power and you cannot do this and that. Every time you think in that way, you as it were, rivet one more link in the chain that binds you down, you add one more layer of hypnotism into tour own soul. Therefore, who so ever thinks he is weak is wrong, who so ever thinks he is impure is wrong and throwing a bad thought into the world.

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