Personality Development By Swami Vivekananda
anbu
WHAT WE WANT IS to see the man who is harmoniously developed... great
in heart, great in mind, [ great in deed ]... . We want the man whose
heart feels intensely the miseries and sorrows of the world... . And
[ we want ] the man who not only can feel but can find the meaning of
things, who delves deeply into the heart of nature and understanding.
[ We want ] the man who will not even stop there, [but] who wants to
work out [ the feeling and meaning by actual deeds. ]. Such a
combination of head, heart, and hand is what we want.
You see what is happening all around us. The world is one of
influence. Part of our energy is used up in the preservation of our
own bodies. Beyond that, every particle of our energy is day and night
being used in influencing others. Our bodies, our virtues, our
intellect, and our spirituality, all these are continuously
influencing others; and so, conversely, we are being influenced by
them. This is going on all around us. Now, to take a concrete example.
A man comes; you know he is very learned, his language is beautiful,
and he speaks to you by the hour; but he does not make any impression.
Another man comes, and he speaks a few words, not well arranged,
ungrammatical perhaps; all the same , he makes an immense impression.
Many of you have seen that. So it is evident that words alone cannot
always produce an impression. Words, even thoughts, contribute only
one-third of the influence in making an impression, the man , two-
thirds. What you call the personal magnetism of the man - that is what
goes out and impresses you.
In our families there are the heads; some of them are successful,
others are not. Why? We complain of others in our failures. The moment
I am unsuccessful, I say, so-and-so is the cause of the failure. In
failure, one does not like to confess one's own faults and weaknesses.
Each person tries to hold himself faultless and lay the blame upon
somebody or something else, or even on bad luck. When heads of
families fail, they should ask themselves, why it is that some persons
manage a family so well and others do not. Then you will find that the
difference is owing to the man - his presence, his personality.
Coming to great leaders of mankind, we always find that it was the
personality of the man that counted. Now, take all the great authors
of the past, the great thinkers. Really speaking, how many thoughts
have they thought? Take all the writings that have been left to us by
the past leaders of mankind; take each one of their books and appraise
them. The real thoughts, new and genuine, that have been thought in
this world up to this time, amount to only a handful. Read in their
books the thoughts they have left to us. The authors do not appear to
be giants to us, and yet we know that they were great giants in their
days. What made them so? Not simply the thoughts they thought, neither
the books they wrote, nor the speeches they make, it was something
else that is now gone, that is their personality. As I have already
remarked, the personality of the man is two-thirds, and his intellect,
his words, are but one-third. It is the real man, the personality of
the man, that runs through us. Our actions are but effects. Actions
must come when the man is there; the effect is bound to follow the
cause.
The ideal of all education, all training, should be this man-making.
But, instead of that, we are always trying to polish up the outside.
What use in polishing up the outside when there is no inside? The end
and aim of all training is to make the man grow. The man who
influences, who throws his magic, as it were, upon his fellow-beings,
is a dynamo of power, and when that man is ready, he can do anything
and everything he likes; that personality put upon anything will make
it work.
anbu
The science of yoga claims that it has discovered the laws which
develop this personality, and by proper attention to those laws and
methods, each one can grow and strengthen his personality. This is one
of the great practical things, and this is the secret of all
education. This has a universal application. In the life of a
householder, in the life of the poor, the rich, the man of business,
the spiritual man, in every one's life, it is a great thing, the
strengthening of this personality. There are laws, very fine, which
are behind the physical laws, as we know. That is to say, there are no
such realities as a physical world, a mental world, a spiritual world.
Whatever is, is one. Let us say, it is a sort of tapering existence;
the thickest part is here, it tapers and becomes finer and finer. The
finest is what we call spirit; the grossest, the body. And just as it
is here in microcosm, it is exactly the same in the macrocosm. The
universe of ours is exactly like that; it is the gross external
thickness, and it tapers into something finer and finer until it
becomes God.
We also know that the greatest power is lodged in the fine, not the
coarse. We see a man take up a huge weight, we see his muscles swell,
and all over his body we see signs of exertion, and we think the
muscles are powerful things. But it is the thin thread-like things,
the nerves, which bring power to the muscles; the moment one of these
threads is cut off from reaching the muscles, they are not able to
work at all. These tiny nerves bring the power from something still
finer, and that again in its turn brings it from something finer still-
thought, and so on. So, it is the fine that is really the seat of
power. Of course we can see the movements in gross; but when fine
movements take place, we cannot see them. When a gross thing moves, we
catch it, and thus, we naturally identify movement with things which
are gross. But all the power is really in the fine. We do not see any
movement in the fine, perhaps, because the movement is so intense that
we cannot perceive it. But if by any science, any investigation, we
are helped to get hold of these finer forces which are the cause of
the expression, the expression itself will be under control. There is
a little bubble coming from the bottom of a lake; we do not see it
coming all the time, we see it only when it bursts on the surface; so,
we can perceive thoughts only after they develop a great deal, or
after they become actions. We constantly complain that we have no
control over our actions, over our thoughts. But how can we have it?
If we can get control over the fine movements, if we can get hold of
thought at the root, before it has become thought, before it has
become action, then it would be possible for us to control the whole.
Now, if there is a method by which we can analyse, investigate,
understand, and finally grapple with those finer powers, the finer
causes, then alone is it possible to have control over ourselves, and
the man who has control over his own mind assuredly will have control
over every other mind, That is why purity and morality have been
always the object of religion; a pure, moral man has control of
himself. And all minds are the same, different parts of one Mind, He
who knows and controls his own mind knows the secret of every mind and
has power over every mind.
Now, a good deal of our physical evil we can get rid of, if we have
control over the fine parts; a good many worries we can throw off, if
we have control over the fine movements; a good many failures can be
averted, if we have control over these fine powers.
anbu
This gross part of man, this body, in which are the external
instruments, is called in Sanskrit, Sthula Sharira, the gross body;
behind it comes the series, beginning with the organs, the mind, the
intellect, the egoism. These and the vital forces form a compound
which is called the fine body, the Sukshma Sharira. These forces are
composed of very fine elements, so fine that no amount of injury to
this body can destroy them; they survive all the shocks given to this
body. The gross body we see is composed of gross material, and as such
it is always being renewed and changing continuously. But the internal
organs, the mind, the intellect, and the egoism are composed of the
finest material, so fine that they will endure for aeons and aeons.
They are so fine that they cannot be resisted by anything; they can
get through any obstruction. The gross body is non-intelligent, so is
the fine, being composed of fine matter. Although one part is called
mind, another the intellect, and the third egoism, yet we see at a
glance that no one of them can be the "Knower". None of them can be
the perceiver, the witness, the one for whom action is made, and who
is the seer of the action. All these movements in the mind , or the
faculty of intellection, or egoism, must be for some one else. These
being composed of fine matter cannot be self-effulgent. Their
luminosity cannot be in themselves. This manifestation of the table,
for instance, cannot be due to any material thing. Therefore there
must be some one behind them all, who is the real manifester, the real
seer, the real enjoyer and He in Sanskrit is called the Atman, the
Soul of man, the real Self of man.
The body is dying every minute. The mind is constantly changing. The
body is a combination, and so is the mind, and as such can never reach
to a state beyond all change. But beyond this momentary sheathing of
gross matter, beyond even the finer covering of the mind is the Atman,
the true Self of man, the permanent, the ever free. It is his freedom
that is percolating through layers of thought and matter, and, in
spite of the colourings of name and form, is ever asserting its
unshackled existence. It is his deathlessness, his bliss, his peace,
his divinity that shines out and makes itself felt in spite of the
thickest layers of ignorance. He is the real man, the fearless one,
the deathless one, the free.
Now freedom is only possible when no external power can exert any
influence, produce any change. Freedom is only possible to the being
who is behind all conditions, all laws, all bondages of cause and
effect. In other words, the unchangeable alone can be free and,
therefore, immortal. This Being, this Atman, this real Self of man,
the free, the unchangeable is beyond all conditions, and as such, it
has neither birth nor death.
Every human personality may be compared to a glass globe. There is
the same pure white light--an emission of the divine Being--in the
centre of each, but the glass being of different colours and
thickness, the rays assume diverse aspects in the transmission. The
equality and beauty of each central flame is the same, and the
apparent inequality is only in the imperfection of the temporal
instrument of its expression. As we rise higher and higher in the
scale of being, the medium becomes more and more translucent.
anbu
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--yea, the Hindu refuses to call you sinners. Ye are the Children
of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye
divinities on earth--sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is
standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the
delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free,
blest and eternal; ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter is
your servant, not you the servant of matter.
Even this world, this body and mind are superstitions; what infinite
souls you are! And to be tricked by twinkling stars! It is a shameful
condition. You are divinities; the twinkling stars owe their existence
to you.
Everything that is strong, and good, and powerful in human nature is
the outcome of that divinity, and though potential in many, there is
no difference between man and man essentially, all being alike divine.
There is, as it were, an infinite ocean behind, and you and I are so
many waves, coming out of that infinite ocean; and each one of us is
trying his best to manifest that infinite outside. So, potentially,
each one of us has that infinite ocean of Existence, Knowledge, and
Bliss as our birthright, our real nature; and the difference between
us is caused by the greater or lesser power to manifest that divine.
This infinite power of the spirit, brought to bear upon matter
evolves material development, made to act upon thought evolves
intellectuality, and made to act upon itself makes of man a God.
Manifest the divinity within you, and everything will be harmoniously
arranged around it.
anbu
Pleasure Is Not The Goal of man, but knowledge. Pleasure and
happiness come to an end. It is a mistake to suppose that pleasure is
the goal. The cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that
men foolishly think pleasure to be the ideal to strive for. After a
time man finds that it is not happiness, but knowledge, towards which
he is going, and that both pleasure and pain are great teachers, and
that he learns as much from evil as from good.
Good and evil have an equal share in moulding character, and in some
instances misery is a greater teacher than happiness. In studying the
great characters the world has produced, I dare say, in the vast
majority of cases, it would be found that it was misery that taught
more than happiness, it was poverty that taught more than wealth, it
was blows that brought out their inner fire more than praise.
Sense-happiness is not the goal of humanity. Wisdom ( Jnanna ) is the
goal of all life. We find that man enjoys his intellect more than an
animal enjoys his spiritual nature even more than this rational
nature. So the highest wisdom must be this spiritual knowledge. With
this knowledge will come bliss. All these things of this world are but
the shadows, the manifestations in the third or fourth degree of the
real Knowledge and Bliss.
Only the fools rush after sense-enjoyments. It is easy to live in the
senses. It is easier to run in the old groove, eating and drinking;
but what these modern philosophers want to tell you is to take these
comfortable ideas and put the stamp of religion on them. Such a
doctrine is dangerous. Death lies in the senses.Life on the plane of
the Spirit is the only life, life on any other plane is mere death;
the whole of this life can be only described as a gymnasium. We must
go beyond it to enjoy real life.
anbu
Every work that we do, every movement of the body, every thought that
we think, leaves such an impression on the mind-stuff, and even when
such impressions are not obvious on the surface, they are sufficiently
strong to work beneath the surface, subconsciously. What we are every
moment is determined by the sum total of these impressions on the
mind. What I am just at this moment is the effect of the sum total of
these impressions on the mind. What I am just at this moment is the
effect of the sum total of all the impressions of my past life. This
is really what is meant by character; each man's character is
determined by the sum total of these impressions.If good impressions
prevail, the character becomes good; if bad, it becomes bad. If a man
continuously hears bad words, thinks bad thoughts, does bad actions,
his mind will be full of bad impressions; and they will influence his
thought and work without his being conscious of the fact. In fact,
these bad impressions are always working, and their resultant must be
evil, and that man will be a bad man; he cannot help it. The sum total
of these impressions in him will create the strong motive power for
doing bad actions. He will be like a machine in the hands of his
impressions, and they will force him to do evil. Similarly, if a man
thinks good thoughts and does good works, the sum total of these
impressions will be good; and they, in a similar manner, will force
him to do good even in spite of himself. When a man has done so much
good work and thought so many good thoughts that there is an
irresistible tendency in him to do good, in spite of himself and even
if he wishes to do evil, his mind, as the sum total of his tendencies,
will not allow him to do so; the tendencies will turn him back; he is
completely under the influence of the good tendencies. When such is
the case, a man's good character is said to be established.
If you really want to judge of the character of a man, look not at
his great performances. Every fool may becomes a hero at one time or
another. Watch a man do his most common actions; those are indeed the
things which will tell you the real character of a great man. Great
occasions rouse even the lowest of human beings to some kind of
greatness, but he alone is the really great man whose character is
great always, the same wherever he be.
All the actions that we see in the world, all the movements in human
society, all the works that we have around us, are simply the display
of thought, the manifestation of the will of man. Machines or
instruments, cities, ships, or men-of-war, all these are simply the
manifestation of the will of man; this will is caused by character,
and character is manufactured by Karma. As is Karma, so is the
manifestation of the will. The men of mighty will, the world has
produced have all been tremendous workers--gigantic souls, with wills
powerful enough to overturn worlds, wills they got by persistent work,
through ages, and ages.
We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care of what you
think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live, they travel far. Each
thought we think is tinged with our own character, so that for the
pure and holy man, even his jests or abuse will have the twist of his
own love ad purity and do good.
Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time.
Neither need we trouble ourselves if a few fail. It is in the nature
of things that many should fall, that troubles should come, that
tremendous difficulties should arise, that selfishness and all the
other devils in the human heart should struggle hard when they are
about to be driven out by the fire of spirituality. The road to the
Good is the roughest and steepest in the universe.It is a wonder that
so many succeed, no wonder that so many fall. Character has to be
established through a thousand stumbles.
The mind, to have non-attachment, must be clear, good, and rational.
Why should we practise ? Because each actions is like the pulsations
quivering over the surface of the lake. The vibration dies out, and
what is left? The samskaras, the impressions. When a large number of
these impressions are left on the mind, they coalesce and become a
habit. It is said, "Habit is second nature", it is first nature also,
and the whole nature of man; everything that we are is the result of
habit. That gives us consolation, because, if it is only habit, we can
make and unmake it at any time. The samskaras are left by these
vibrations passing out of our mind, each one of them leaving its
result. Our character is the sum-total of these marks, and according
as some particular wave prevails one takes that tone. If good
prevails, one becomes good; if wickedness, one becomes wicked; if
joyfulness, one becomes happy. The only remedy for bad habits is
counter habits; all the bad habits that have left their impressions
are to be controlled by good habits. Go on doing good, thinking holy
thoughts continuously; that is the only way to suppress base
impressions. Never say any man is hopeless, because he only represents
a character, a bundle of habits, which can be checked by new and
better ones. Character is repeated habits, and repeated habits alone
can reform character.
Give up, renounce the world. Now we are like dogs strayed into a
kitchen and eating a piece of meat, looking round in fear lest at any
moment some one may come and drive them out. Instead of that, be a
king and know you own the world. This never comes until you give it up
and it ceases to bind. Give up mentally, if you do not physically.
Give up from the heart of your hearts. Have vairagya
( renunciation ) . This is the real sacrifice, and without it, it is
impossible to attain spirituality. Do not desire, for what you desire
you get, and with it comes terrible bondage.
anbu
Just as every action that emanates from us comes back to us as
reaction, even so our actions may at on other people and theirs on us.
Perhaps all of you have observed it as a fact that when persons do
evil actions, they become more and more evil, and when they begin to
do good, they become stronger and stronger and learn to do good at all
times. This intensification of the influence of action cannot be
explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each
other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing
a certain action, my mind may be said to be in a certain state of
vibration; all minds which are in similar circumstances will have the
tendency to be affected by my mind. If there are different musical
instruments tuned alike in one room, all of you may have noticed that
when one is struck, the other have the tendency to vibrate so as to
give the same note. So all minds that have the same tension, so to
say, will be equally affected by the same thought. Of course, this
influence of thought on mind will vary according to distance and other
causes, but the mind is always open to affection. Suppose I am doing
an evil act, my mind is certain state of vibration, and all minds is
in a certain state of vibration, and all minds in the universe, which
are in a similar state, have the possibility of being affected by the
vibration of my mind. So, when I am doing a good action, my mind is in
another state of vibration; all minds similarly strung have the
possibility of being affected by my mind; and this power of mind upon
mind is more or less according as the force of the tension is greater
or less.
Following this simile further, it is quite possible that, just as
light waves may travel for millions of years before they reach any
object, so thought waves may also travel hundreds of years before they
meet an object with which they vibrate in unison. It is quite
possible, therefore, that this atmosphere of ours is full of such
thought pulsations, both good and evil. Every thought projected from
every brain goes on pulsating, as it were, until it meets a fit object
that will receive it. Any mind which is open to receive some of these
impulses will take them immediately. So, when a man is doing evil
actions, he has brought his mind to a certain state of tension and all
the waves which correspond to that state of tension, and which may be
said to be already in the atmosphere, will struggle to enter into his
mind. That is why an evil doer generally goes on doing more and more
evil. His actions become intensified. Such also will be the case with
the doer of good; he will open himself to all the good waves that are
in the atmosphere, and his good actions also will become intensified.
We run, therefore, a twofold danger in doing evil: first, we open
ourselves to all the evil influences surrounding us; secondly, we
create evil which affects others, may be hundreds of years hence. In
doing evil we injure ourselves and others also. In doing good we do
good to ourselves and to others as well; and, like all other forces in
man, these forces in man, these forces of good and evil also gather
strength from outside.
Fill yourselves with the idea; whatever you do, think well on it. All
your actions will be magnified, transformed, deified, by the very
power of the thought. If matter is powerful, thought is omnipotent.
Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourselves with the
thought of your almightiness, your majesty, and your glory. Would to
God no superstitions had been surrounded from our birth by all these
superstitious influences and paralysing ideas of our weakness and
vileness! Would to God that mankind had had an easier path through
which to attain to the noblest and highest truths! But man had to pass
through all this; do not make the path more difficult for those who
are coming after you.
anbu
We must have these four sorts of ideas. We must have friendship for
all; we must be merciful towards those that are in misery; when people
are happy, we ought to be happy; and to the wicked we must be
indifferent. So with all subjects that come before us. If the subject
is a good one, we shall feel friendly towards it; if the subject of
thought is one that is miserable, we must be merciful towards it. If
it is good, we must be glad; if it is evil, we must be indifferent.
These attitudes of the mind towards the different subjects that come
before it will make the mind peaceful. Most our difficulties in our
daily lives come from being unable to hold our minds in this way. For
instance, if a man does evil to us, instantly we want to react evil,
and every reaction of evil shows that we are not able to hold the
chitta down; it comes out in waves towards the object, and we lose our
power. Every reaction in the form of hatred or evil is so much loss to
the mind; and every evil thought or deed of hatred, or any thought of
reaction, if it is controlled, will be laid in our favour. It is not
that we lose by thus restraining ourselves; we are gaining infinitely
more than we suspect. Each time we suppress hatred, or a feeling
anger, it is so much good energy stored up in our favour; that piece
of energy will be converted into the higher powers.
Every vicious thought will rebound, every thought of hatred which you
may have thought, in a cave even, is stored up, and will one day come
back to you with tremendous power in the form of some misery here. If
you project hatred and jealousy, they will rebound on you with
compound interest. No power can avert them; when once you have put
them in motion, yo will have to bear them. Remembering this will
prevent you from doing wicked things.
I may remark that this idea explains the ethical theory that you must
not hate, and must love. Because, just as in the case of electricity
the modern theory is that the power leaves the dynamo and completes
the circle back to the dynamo, so with hate and love; they must come
back to the source. Therefore do not hate anybody, because that hatred
which comes out from you, must, in the long run, come back to you. If
you love, that love will come back to you, completing the circle. It
is as certain as can be, that every bit hatred that goes out of the
heart of a man comes back to him in full force, nothing can stop it;
similarly every impulse of love comes back to him.
The great secret is--absence of jealousy. Be always ready to concede
to the opinions of your brethren, and try always to conciliate. That
is the whole secret. Fight on bravely! Life is short! Give it up to a
great cause.
anbu
We have seen that it is the subjective world that rules the
objective. Change the subject, and the object is bound to change;
purify yourself, and the world is bound to be purified. This one thing
requires to be taught now more than ever before. We are becoming more
and more busy about our neighbours, and less and less about ourselves.
The world will change if we change; if we are pure, the world will
become pure. The question is why I should see evil in others. I cannot
see evil unless I be evil. I cannot be miserable unless I am weak.
Things that used to make me miserable when I was a child, do not do so
now. The subject changed. so the object was bound to change; so says
the Vedanta.
Thus the man that has practised control over himself cannot be acted
upon by anything outside; there is no more slavery for him. His mind
has become free. Such a man alone is fit to live well in the world. We
generally find men holding two opinions regarding the world. Some are
pessimists and say, "How horrible this world is, how wicked!" Some
others are optimists and say, "How beautiful this world is, how
wonderful!" To those who have not controlled their own minds, the
world is either full of evil or at best a mixture of good and evil.
This very world will become to us an optimistic world when we become
masters of our own minds. Nothing will then work upon us as good or
evil; we shall find everything to be in its proper place, to be
harmonious.
The more we grow in love and virtue and holiness, the more we see
love and virtue and holiness outside. All condemnation of others
really condemns ourselves. Adjust the microcosm ( which is your power
to do ) and the macrocosm will adjust itself for you. It is like the
hydrostatic paradox, one drop of water can balance the universe. We
cannot see outside what we are not inside. The universe is to us what
the huge engine is to the miniature engine; and indication of any
error in the tiny engine leads us to imagine trouble in the huge one.
Every step that has been really gained in the world has been gained
by love; criticising can never do any good, it has been tried for
thousands of years. Condemnation accomplishes nothing.
anbu
We are responsible for what we are and whatever we wish ourselves to
be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now have been
the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever
we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we
have to know how to act.
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 your 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 not 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."
Nothing makes us work so well at our best and highest as when all
responsibility is thrown upon ourselves. I challenged everyone of you.
How will you behave if I put a little baby in your hands? Your whole
life will be changed for the moment; whatever you may be. you must
become selfless for the time being. You will give up all your criminal
ideas as soon as responsibility is thrown upon you--your whole
character will change. So 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, then we shall
rise to our highest and best. I am responsible for my fate, I am the
bringer of good unto myself, I am the bringer of evil.
This life is a hard fact; work your way through it boldly, though it
may be adamantine; no matter, the soul is stronger. It lays no
responsibility on little gods; for you are the makers of your own
fortunes. You make yourselves suffer, you make good and evil, and it
is you who put your hands before your eyes and say it is dark. Take
your hands away and see the light; you are effulgent, you are perfect
already, from the very beginning.
This is the only solution of the problem. Those that blame others--
and, alas! the number of them is increasing every day--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 it will
have to be undone by me alone." That which I created, I can demolish;
that which is created by some one else I shall never be able to
destroy. Therefore, stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole
responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the
creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succour you want is
within yourselves. Therefore, make your own future. "Let the dead past
bury its dead." The infinite future is before you, and you must always
remember that each word, thought, and deed lays up a store for you and
that as the bad thoughts and bad works are ready to spring upon you
like tigers, so also there is the inspiring hope that the good
thoughts and good deeds are ready with the power of a hundred thousand
angels to defend you always and for ever.
anbu
Work for work's sake. There are some who are really the salt of the
earth in every country and who work for work's sake, who do not care
for name, or fame, or even to go to heaven. They work just because
good will come of it. There are others who do good to the poor and
help mankind from still higher motives, because they believe in doing
good and love good. The motive for name and fame seldom brings
immediate results, as a rule; they come to us when we are old and have
almost done with life.
If a man works without any selfish motive in view, does he not gain
anything? Yes, he gains the highest. Unselfishness is more paying,
only people have not the patience to practise 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.
Real activity, which is the goal of Vedanta, is combined with eternal
calmness, the calmness which cannot be ruffled, the balance of mind
which is never disturbed, whatever happens. And we all know from our
experience in life that that is the best attitude for work.
I have been asked many times how we can work if we do not have the
passion which we generally feel for work. I also thought in that way
years ago, but as I am growing older, getting more experience, I find
it is not true. The less passion there is, the better we work. The
calmer we are, the better for us, and the more the amount of work we
can do. When we let loose our feelings, we waste so much energy,
shatter our nerves, disturb our minds, and accomplish very little
work. The energy which ought to have gone out as work is spent as mere
feeling, which counts for nothing. It is only when the mind is very
calm and collected that the whole of its energy is spent in doing good
work. And if you read the lives of the great workers which the world
has produced, you will find that they were wonderfully calm men.
Nothing, as it were, could throw them off their balance. That is why
the man who becomes angry never does a great amount of work, and the
man whom nothing can make angry accomplishes so much. The man who
gives way to anger, or hatred, or any other passion, cannot work; he
only breaks himself to pieces, and does nothing practical. It is the
calm, forgiving, equable, well-balanced mind that does the greatest
amount of work.
You will say, "What is the use of learning how to work? Everyone
works in some way or other in this world." But there is such a thing
as frittering away our energies. With regards to Karma-Yoga, the Gita
says that it is doing work with cleverness and as a science; by
knowing how to work, one can obtain the greatest results. You must
remember that all work is simply to bring out the power of the mind
which is already there, to wake up the soul. The power is inside every
man, so is knowing; the different works are like blows to bring them
out, to cause these giants to wake up.
Inactivity should be avoided by all means. Activity always means
resistance. Resist all evils, mental and physical; and when you have
succeeded in resisting, then will calmness come. It is very easy to
say, "Hate nobody, resist not evil." but we know what that kind of
thing generally means in practice. When the eyes of society are turned
towards us, we may make a show of non-resistance, but in our hearts it
is canker all the time. We feel the utter want of the calm of non-
resistance ; we feel that it would be better for us to resist. If you
desire wealth, and know at the same time that the whole world regards
him who aims at wealth as a very wicked man, you, perhaps, will not
dare to plunge into the struggle for wealth, yet your mind will be
running day and night after money. This is hypocrisy and will serve no
purpose. Plunge into the world, and then, after a time, when you have
suffered and enjoyed all that is in it, will renunciation come; then
will calmness come.
He who always speculates as to what awaits him in future,
accomplishes nothing whatsoever. What you have understood as true and
good, just do that at once.What's the good of calculating what may or
may not befall in future? The span of life is so, so short--and can
anything be accomplished in it if you go on forecasting and computing
results. God is the only dispenser of results leave it to Him to do
all that. What have you got to do with it? Don't look that way, but go
on working.
It is the worker who is attached to results that grumbles about the
nature of the duty which has fallen to his lot; to the unattached
worker all duties are equally good, and form efficient instruments
with which selfishness and sensuality may be killed, and the freedom
of the soul secured. We are all apt to think too highly of ourselves.
Our duties are determined by our deserts to a much larger extent than
we are willing to grant. Competition rouses envy, and it kills the
kindliness of the heart. To the grumbler all duties are distasteful;
nothing will ever satisfy him, and his whole life is doomed to prove a
failure. Let us work on, doing as we go whatever happens to be our
duty, and being ever ready to put our shoulders to the wheel. Then
surely shall we see the Light!
So work, says the Vedanta, putting God in everything, and knowing Him
to be in everything. Work incessantly, holding life as something
deified, as God Himself, and knowing that this is all we have to do,
this is all we should ask for. God is in everything, where else shall
we go to find Him? He is already in every work, in every thought, in
every feeling. Thus knowing, we must work--this is the only way, there
is no other. Thus the effects of work will not bind us. We have seen
how false desires are the cause of all the misery and evil we suffer,
but when they are deified, purified, through God, they bring no evil,
they bring no misery. Those who have not learnt this secret will have
to live in a demoniacal world until they discover it. Many do not know
what an infinite mine of bliss is in them, around them, everywhere;
they have not yet discovered it. What is a demoniacal world? The
Vedanta says, ignorance.
Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it be after his
heart. But the intelligent man is he who can convert every work into
one that suits his taste. No work is petty. Everything in this world
is like a banyan-seed, which, though appearing tiny as a mustard seed,
has yet the gigantic banyan tree latent within it. He indeed is
intelligent who notices this and succeeds in making all work truly
great.
Duty of any kind is not to be slighted. Aman who sdoes the lower work
is not, for that reason only, a lower man than he who does the higher
work; a man should not be judged by the nature of his duties, but by
the manner in which he does them. His manner of doing them and his
power to do them are indeed the test of a man. A shoe maker who can
turn out a strong, nice pair of shoes in the shortest possible time is
a better man, according to his profession and his work, than a
professor who talks nonsense every day of his life.
Every duty is holy, and devotion to duty is the highest form of the
worship of God; it is certainly a source of great help in enlightening
and emancipating the deluded and ignorance-encumbered souls of the
Baddhas--the bound ones.
By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, the duty which is in
our hands now, we make ourselves stronger; and improving our strength
is this manner step by step, we may even reach a state in which it
shall be our privilege to do the most coveted and honoured duties in
life and in society.
anbu
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 here 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.
The man who works through freedom and love cares nothing for results.
But the slave wants his whipping; the servant wants his pay. So with
all life; take for instance the public life. The public speaker wants
a little applause or a little hissing and hooting. If you keep him in
a corner without it, you kill him, for he requires it. This is working
through slavery. To expect something in return, under such conditions,
becomes second nature. Next comes the work of the servant, who
requires some pay; I give this, and you give me that. Nothing is
easier to say, "I work for work's sake", but nothing is so difficult
to attain.
We must work. Ordinary mankind, driven everywhere by false desire,
what do they know of work. The man propelled by his own feelings and
his own senses, what does he know about work. He works, who is not
propelled by his own desires, by any selfishness whatsoever. He works,
who has no ulterior motive in view. He works, who has nothing to gain
from work.
anbu
Our duty to others means helping others; doing good to the world. Why
should we do good to the world? Apparently to help the world, but
really to help ourselves. We should always try to help the world, that
should be the highest motive in us; but if we consider well, we find
that the world does not require our help at all. This world was not
made that you or I should come and help it. I once read a sermon in
which it was said, "All this beautiful world is very good, because it
gives us time and opportunity to help others." Apparently, this is a
very beautiful sentiment, but is it not a blasphemy to say that the
world needs our help? We cannot deny that there is much misery in it;
to go out and help others is, therefore, the best thing we can do,
although in the long run, we shall find that helping others is only
helping ourselves.
Yet we must do good; the desire to do good is the highest motive
power we have, if we know all the time that it is a privilege to help
others. Do not stand on a high pedestal and take five cents in your
hand and say, "Here, my poor man," but be grateful that the poor man
is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help
yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver.
Be thankful that you are allowed to exercise your power of benevolence
and mercy in the world, and thus become pure and perfect.
We become forgetful of the ego when we think of the body as dedicated
to the service of others--the body with which most complacently we
identify the ego. And in the long run comes the consciousness of
disembodiedness. The more intently you think of the well-being of
others, the more oblivious of self you become. In this way, as
gradually your heart gets purified by work, you will come to feel the
truth that your own Self is pervading all beings and all things. Thus
it is that doing good to others constitutes a way, a means of
revealing one's own Self or Atman. Know this also to be one of the
spiritual practices, a discipline for God-realisation. Its aim also is
Self-realisation.
When you give something to a man and expect nothing--do not even
expect the man to be grateful--his ingratitude will not tell upon you,
because you never expected anything, never thought you had any right
to anything in the way of a return. You gave him what he deserved; his
own karma got it for him;your karma made you the carrier thereof. Why
should you be proud of having given away something? You are the porter
that carried the money or other kind of gift, and the world deserved
it by its own karma. Where is then the reason for pride in you? There
is nothing very great in what you give to the world.
Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give;it
will come back to you--but do not think of that now, it will come back
multiplied a thousandfold--but the attention must not be on 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, 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, ad 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.
Wisdom, knowledge, wealth, men, strength, prowess, and whatever else
nature gathers and provides us with, are all only for diffusion, when
the moment of need is at hand. We often forget this fact, put the
stamp of "mine only" upon the entrusted deposits, and pari passu, we
sow the seed of our own ruin!
anbu
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. Foolish
men do not know this secret; they nevertheless want to rule mankind.
Even a fool may rule the whole world if he works and waits. Let him
wait a few years, restrain that foolish idea of governing; and when
that idea is wholly gone, he will be a power in the world. The
majority of us cannot see beyond a few years... Just a little narrow
circle--that is our world. We have not the patience to like beyond,
and thus become immoral and wicked. This is our weakness, our
powerlessness.
Selfishness is the chief sin, thinking of ourselves first. He who
thinks, "I will eat first, I will have more money than others, and I
will possess everything", he who thinks, "I will get to heaven before
others, I will get Mukti before others" is the selfish man. The
unselfish man says,"I will be last, I do not care to go to heaven, I
will even go to hell if by doing so I can help my brothers." This
unselfishness is the test of religion. He who has more of this
unselfishness is more spiritual and nearer to God. Whether he is
learned or ignorant, he is nearer to God than anybody else, whether he
knows it or not. And if a man is selfish, even though he has visited
all the temples, seen all the places of pilgrimage, and painted
himself like a leopard, he is still further off from God.
Every successful man must have behind him somewhere tremendous
integrity, tremendous sincerity, and that is the cause of his signal
success in life. He may not have been perfectly unselfish; yet he was
tending towards it. If he had been perfectly unselfish, his would have
been as great a success as that of the Buddha or of the Christ. The
degree of unselfishness marks the degree of success everywhere.
Life is ever expanding, contraction is death. The self-seeking man
who is looking after his personal comforts and leading a lazy life--
there is no room for him even in hell.
anbu
Nothing else is necessary but these--love, sincerity, and patience.
What is life but growth, i.e. expansion, i.e.love? Therefore all love
is life, it is the only law of life; all selfishness is death, and
this is true here or hereafter. It is life to do good, it is death not
to do good to others. Ninety per cent of human brutes you see are
dead, are ghosts--for none lives, my boys, but he who loves. Feel, my
children, feel;feel for the poor, the ignorant, the down-trodden; feel
till the heart stops and the brain reels and you think you will go
mad--then pour the soul out at the feet of the Lord, and then will
come power, help, and indomitable energy...Be not afraid, my children.
Look not up in that attitude of fear towards that infinite starry
vault as if it would crush you. Wait! In a few hours more, the whole
of it will be under your feet. Wait, money does not pay, nor name;
fame does not pay, nor learning. It is love that pays; it is character
that cleaves its way through adamantine walls of difficulties.
Those who are men and yet have no feeling in the heart for man, well,
are such to be counted as men at all?
Duty is seldom sweet. It is only when love greases its wheels that it
runs smoothly; it is a continuous friction otherwise. How else could
parents do their duties to their children, husbands to their wives,
and vice versa? Do we not meet with cases of friction every day in our
lives? Duty is sweet only through love, and love shines in freedom
alone. Yet is it freedom to be a slave to the senses, to anger, to
jealousies and a hundred other petty things that must occur everyday
in human life? In all these little roughnesses that we meet with in
life, the highest expression of freedom is to forbear. Women, slaves
to their own irritable, jealous tempers, are apt to blame their
husbands, and assert their own "freedom", as they think, not knowing
that thereby they only prove that they are slaves. So it is with
husbands who eternally find fault with their wives.
Love never fails, my son; today or tomorrow or ages after, truth will
conquer. Love shall win the victory. Do you love your fellow-men?
Where should you go to seek for God--are not all the poor, the
miserable, the weak, Gods? Why not worship them first? Why go to dig a
well on the shores of the Ganga? Believe in the omnipotent power
name ? I never keep watch of what the newspapers are saying. Have you
love?--You are omnipotent. Are you perfectly unselfish? If so, you are
irresistible. It is character that pays everywhere. It is the Lord who
protects His children in the depths of the sea.
The individual's life is in the life of the whole, the individual's
happiness is in the happiness of the whole; apart from the whole, the
individual's existence is inconceivable--this is an eternal truth and
is the bed-rock on which the universe is built. To move slowly towards
the infinite whole, bearing a constant feeling of intense sympathy and
sameness with it, being happy with its happiness and being distressed
in its affliction, is the individual's sole duty. Not only is it his
duty, but in its transgression is his death, while compliance with
this great truth leads to life immortal.
If in this hell of a world one can bring a little joy and peace even
for a day into the heart of a single person, that much alone is true;
this I have learnt after suffering all my life; all else is mere
moonshine...
anbu
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! The dare not approach us, they have no power to get a hold
on us, until the mind is wakened. This is the great fact: strength is
life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal,
immortal;weakness is constant strain an misery; weakness is death.
See how we are flying like hunted hares from all that is terrible,
and like them, hiding our heads and thinking we are safe. See hour the
whole world is flying from everything terrible. Once when I was in
Varanasi, I was passing through a place where there was a large tank
of water on one side and a high wall on the other. It was in the
grounds where there was a large tank of water on one side and a high
wall on the other. It was in the grounds where there were many
monkeys. The monkeys of Varanasi are huge brutes and are sometimes
surly. They now took in into their heads not to allow me to pass
through their street, so they howled and shrieked and clutched at my
feet as I passed. As they pressed closer, I began to run, but the
faster I ran, the faster came the monkeys and they began to bite at
me. It seemed impossible to escape, but just then I met a stranger who
called out to me,"Face the brutes." I turned and faced the monkeys,
and they fell back and finally fled. That is a lesson for all life--
face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of
life fall back when we cease to flee before them. If we are ever to
gain freedom, it must be by conquering nature, never by running away.
Cowards never win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and
ignorance if we expect them to flee before us.
Strength, strength it is that we want so much in this life, for what
we call sin and sorrow have all one cause, and that is our weakness.
With weakness comes ignorance, and with ignorance comes misery. It
will make us strong. Them miseries will be laughed at, then the
violence of the vile will be smiled at, and the ferocious tiger will
reveal, behind its tiger's nature, my own Self.
Be strong, m young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be
nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the 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 the mighty
strength of Krishna better with a little of strong blood in you. You
will understand the Upanishads better and the glory of the Atman when
your body stands firm upon your feet, and you feel yourselves as men.
Do not talk of the wickedness of the world and all its sins. Weep
that you are bound to see wickedness yet. Weep that you are bound to
see sing everywhere, and if you want to help the world, do not condemn
it. Do not weaken it more. For what is sin and what is misery, and
what are all these, but the results of weakness? The world is made
weaker and weaker every day by such teachings. Men are taught from
childhood that they are weak and sinners. Teach them that they are all
glorious children of immortality, even those who are the weakest in
manifestation. Let positive, strong, helpful thought enter into their
brains from very childhood. Lay yourselves open to these thoughts, and
not to weakening and paralysing ones. Say to your own minds, "I am He.
I am he." Let it ring day and night in your minds like a song, and at
the point of death declare, "I am he." That is the truth; the infinite
strength of the world is yours. Drive out the superstition that has
covered your minds. Let us be brave. Know the Truth and practise the
Truth. The goal may be distant, but awake, arise, and stop not till
the goal is reached.
Weak men, when they lose everything and feel themselves weak, try all
sorts of uncanny methods of making money, and come to astrology and
all these things."It is the cowards and the fool who says,"This is
fate"--so says the Sanskrit proverb. But it is the strong man who
stands up and says, "I will make my fate." It is the people who are
getting old who talk of fate. Young men generally do not come to
astrology. We may be under planetary influence, but it should not
matter much to us...
Let stars come, what harm is there? If a star disturbs my life, it
would not be worth a cent. You will find that astrology and all these
mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind; therefore as soon
as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a
physician, take good food and rest.
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 feet. Religion is the manifestation of the natural
strength that is in man. A spring of infinite power is coiled up and
is inside this little body, and that spring is spreading itself.And as
it goes on spreading, body after body is found insufficient; it throws
them off and takes higher bodies.This is the history of man, of
religion, civilisation, or progress. That giant Prometheus, who is
bound, is getting himself unbound. It is always a manifestation of
strength, and all these ideas such as astrology, although there may be
a grain of truth in them, should be avoided.
anbu
I once read a story about some ships that were caught in a cyclone in
the South Sea Islands, and there was a picture of it in the
Illustrated London News. All of them were wrecked except one English
vessel, which weathered the storm. The picture showed the men who were
going to be drowned, standing on the decks and cheering the people who
were sailing through the storm. Be brave and generous like that.
Whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse
must vanish. For, after all, it is but a dream. Mountain-high though
the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem,
they are but delusions. Fear not--it is banished. Crush it, and it
vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies. Be not afraid. Think not how
many times you fail. Never mind. Time is infinite. Go forward;assert
yourself again and again, and light must come. You may pray to
everyone that was ever born, but who will come to help you? And what
of the way of death from which none knows escape? Help thyself out by
thyself. None else can help thee, friend. For thou alone art thy
greatest enemy, thou alone art thy greatest friend. Get hold of the
Self, then. Stand up. Don't be afraid.
Go on bravely. Do not expect success in a day or a year. Always hold
on to the highest. Be steady. Avoid jealousy and selfishness. Be
obedient and eternally faithful to the cause of truth, humanity, and
your country, and you will move the world. Remember it is the person,
the life, which is the secret of power--nothing else..Jealousy is the
bane of all slaves. It is the bane of our nation. Avoid that always.
All blessings attend you and all success.
anbu
Be a man first, my friend, and you will see how all those things and
the rest will follow of themselves after you. Give up that hateful
malice, that dog-like bickering and barking at one another, and take
your stand on good purpose, right means, righteous courage, and be
brave. When you are born a man, leave some indelible mark behind you.
"When you first came to this world, O Tulsi, the world rejoiced and
you cried; now live your life in doing such acts that when you will
leave this world, the world will cry for you and you will leave it
laughing." If you can do that, then you are a man; otherwise what good
are you?
Let the world say what it chooses, I shall tread the path of duty--
know this to be the line of action for a hero. Otherwise, if one has
to attend day and night to what this man says or that man writes, no
great work is achieved in this world. Do you know this Sanskrit
Shloka:"Let those who are versed in the ethical codes praise or blame,
let Lakshmi, the goddess of Fortune, come or go wherever she wisheth,
let death overtake him today or after a century, the wise man never
swerves from the path of rectitude." Let people praise you or blame
you, let fortune smile or frown upon you, let your body fall today or
after a Yuga, see that you do not deviate from the path of Truth. How
much of tempest and waves one has to weather, before one reaches the
haven of Peace! The greater a man has become, the fiercer ordeal he
has had to pass through.Their lives have been tested true by the
touchstone of practical life, and only then have they been
acknowledged great by the world.Those who are faint-hearted and
cowardly sink their barks near the shore, frightened by the raging of
waves on the sea. He who is a hero never casts a glance at these. Come
what may, I must attain my ideal first--this is Purushakara, manly
endeavour; without such manly endeavour no amount of Divine help will
be of any avail to banish your inertia.
Those who are always down-hearted and dispirited in this life can do
no work; from life to life they come and go wailing and moaning. "The
earth is enjoyed by heroes"--this is the unfailing truth. Be a hero.
Always say,"I have no fear". Fear is death, fear is sin, fear is hell,
fear is unrighteousness, fear is wrong life. All the negative thoughts
and ideas that are in this world have proceeded from this evil spirit
of fear. This fear alone has kept the sun, air and death in their
respective places and functions, allowing none to escape from their
bounds...
In this embodied existence, you will be tossed again and again on the
waves of happiness and misery, prosperity and adversity--but know them
all to be of momentary duration. Never care for them.
anbu
Next, you must understand this, my friend, that we have many things
to learn from other nations. The man who says he has nothing more to
learn is already at his last grasp. The nation that says it knows
everything is on the very brink of destruction! "As long as I live, so
long do I learn." But one point to note here is that when we take
anything from others, we must mould it after our own way. We shall add
to our stock what others have to teach, but we must always be careful
to keep intact what is essentially our own.
None can teach another. You have to realise truth and work it out for
yourself according to your own nature... . All must struggle to be
individuals--strong, standing on your own feet, thinking your own
thoughts, realising your own Self. No use swallowing doctrines others
pass on--standing up together like soldiers in jail, sitting down
together, all eating the same food, all nodding their heads at the
same time. Variation is the sign of life. Sameness is the sign of
death.
Another great lesson we have to remember;imitation is not
civilisation... Imitation, cowardly imitation, never makes for
progress. It is verily the sign of awful degradation in a man.. We
have indeed many things to learn from others, yea, that man who
refuses to learn is already dead... Learn everything that is good from
others, but bring it in, and in your own way absorb it; do not become
others. Do not be dragged away out of this Indian life; do not for a
moment think that it would be better for India if all the Indians
dressed, ate, and behaved like another race.
The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are placed
around it. Does the seed become the earth, or the air, or the water?
No. It becomes plant, it develops after the law of its own growth,
assimilates the air,the earth, and the water, converts them into plant
substance, and grows into a plant...[Similarly] each must assimilate
the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow
according to his own law of growth.
anbu
One idea stands out as the centre of all ethical systems, expressed
in various forms, namely, doing good to others. The guiding motive of
mankind should be charity towards men, charity towards all animals.
But these are all various expressions of that eternal truth, that, "I
am the universe; this universe is one." Or else, where is the reason?
Why should I do good to my fellowmen? Why should I do good to others?
What compels me? It is sympathy, the feeling of oneness everywhere.
The hardest hearts feel sympathy for beings sometimes. Even the man
who gets frightened if he is told that this assumed individuality is
really a delusion, that it is ignoble to try to cling this apparent
individuality, that very man will tell you that extreme self-
abnegation is the centre of all morality. And what is perfect self-
agnegation? It means the abnegation of this apparent self, the
abnegation of all selfishness. This idea of "me and mine"--Ahamkara
and Mamata--is the result of past superstition, and the more this
present self passes away, the more the real Self becomes manifest.
This is true self-abnegation, the centre, the basis, the gist of all
moral teaching; and whether man knows it or not, the whole world is
slowly going towards it, practising it more or less. Only, the vast
majority of mankind are doing it unconsciously. Let them do it
consciously. Let them make the sacrifice, knowing that this "me and
mine" is not the real Self, but only a limitation. But one glimpse of
that infinite reality which is behind--but one spark of that infinite
fire that is the All--represents the present man; the Infinite is his
true nature.
Doing good to others is virtue ( Dharma );injuring others is sin.
Strength and manliness are virtue; weakness and cowardice are sin.
Independence is virtue; dependence is sin. Loving others is virtue;
hating others is sin. Faith in God and in one's own Self is virtue;
doubt is sin. Knowledge of oneness is virtue; seeing diversity is sin.
The different scriptures only show the means of attaining virtue.
It is the quintessence of all ethics, preached in any language, or in
any religion, or by any prophet in the world, "Be thou unselfish","Not
'I', but 'thou'"-- that is the background of all ethical codes. And
what is meant by this is the recognition of non-individuality--that
you are a part of me, and I of you; the recognition that in hurting
you I hurt myself, and in helping you I help myself; the recognition
that there cannot possibly be death for me when you live. When one
worm lives in this universe, how can I die? For my life is in the life
of that worm. At the same time it will teach us that we cannot leave
one of our fellow-beings without helping him, that in his good
consists my good.
anbu
That is the one great first step--the real desire for the ideal.
Everything comes easy after that... The struggle is the great lesson.
Mind you, the greater benefit in this life is struggle. It is through
that we pass. If there is any road to Heaven, it is through Hell.
Through Hell to Heaven is always the way. When the soul has wrestled
with circumstances and has met death, a thousand times death on the
way, but nothing daunted has struggled forward again and again and yet
again, then the soul comes out as a giant and laughs at the ideal he
has been struggling for, because he finds how much greater is he than
the ideal. I am the end, my own self, and nothing else, for what is
there to compare to my own Self? Can a bag of gold be the ideal of my
Soul? Certainly not! My Soul is the highest ideal that I can have.
Realising my own real nature is the one goal of my life.
There is nothing that is absolutely evil. The devil has a place here
as well as God, else he would not be here. Just as I told you, it is
through Hell that we pass to Heaven. Our mistakes have places here. Go
on! No not look back if you think you have done something that is not
right. Now, do you believe you could be what you are today, had you
not made those mistakes before? Bless your mistakes, then. They have
been angels unawares. Blessed be torture! Blessed be happiness! Do not
care what be your lot. Hold on to the ideal. March on! Do not look
back upon little mistakes and things. In this battle field of ours,
the dust of mistakes must be raised. Those who are so thin-skinned
that they cannot bear the dust, let them get out of the ranks.
If a man with an ideal makes a thousand mistakes, I am sure that the
man without an ideal makes fifty thousand. Therefore, it is better to
have an ideal. And this ideal we must hear about as much as we can,
till it enters into our hearts, into our brains, into our very veins,
until it tingles in every drop of our blood and permeates every pore
in our body. We must meditate upon it. "Out of the fullness of the
heart the mouth speaketh," and out of the fullness of the heart the
hand works too.
It is thought which is the propelling force in us. Fill the mind with
the highest thoughts, hear them day after day, think them month after
month. Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they are the
beauty of life, these failures. What would life be without them? It
would not be worth having if it were not for struggles. Where would
be the poetry of life? Never mind the struggles, the mistakes. I never
heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only a cow--never a man. So never
mind these failures, these little backslidings;hold the ideal a
thousand times, and if you fail thousand times, make the attempt once
more. The ideal of man is to see God in everything. But if you cannot
see that thing which you like best, and then see infinite life before
the soul. Take your time and you will achieve your end.
Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life--think of it, dream of
it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of
your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea
alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual
giants are produced. Others are mere talking machines.
The life of the practical is in the ideal. It is the ideal that has
penetrated the whole of our lives, whether we philosophise, or perform
the hard, everyday duties of life. The rays of the ideal, reflected
and refracted in various straight or tortuous lines, are pouring in
through every aperture and windhole, and consciously or unconsciously,
every function has to be performed in its light, every object has to
be seen transformed, heightened, or deformed by it. It is the ideal
that has made us what we are, and will make us what we are going to
be. It is the power of the ideal that has enshrouded us, and is felt
in our joys or sorrows, in our great acts or mean doings, in our
virtues and vices.
anbu
The main difference between men and the animals is the difference in
their power of concentration. All success in any line of work is the
result of this. Everybody knows something about concentration. We see
its results every day. High achievements in art, music, etc. are the
results of concentration. An animal has very little power of
concentration. Those who have trained animals find much difficulty in
the fact that the animal is constantly forgetting what is told him. He
cannot concentrate his mind long upon anything at a time. Herein is
the difference between man and the animals-- man has the greater power
of concentration.The difference in their power of concentration also
constitutes the difference between man and man. Compare the lowest
with the highest man. The difference is in the degree of
concentration. This is the only difference.
Everybody's mind becomes concentrated at times. We all concentrate
upon those things we love, and we love those things upon which we
concentrate our minds. What mother is there that does not love the
face of her homeliest child? That face is to her the most beautiful in
the world. She loves it because she concentrates her mind upon it; and
if every one could concentrate his mind on that same face, everyone
would love it. It would be to all the most beautiful face. We all
concentrate our minds upon those things we love.
The great trouble with such concentrations is that we do not control
the mind;it controls us. Something outside of ourselves, as it were,
draws the mind into it and holds it as long as it choses. We hear a
melodious tone or see a beautiful painting and the mind is held fast;
we cannot take it away.
If I speak to you well upon a subject you like, your mind becomes
concentrated upon what I am saying. I draw your mind away from
yourself and hold it upon the subject in spite of yourself. Thus our
attention is held, our minds are concentrated upon various things, in
spite of ourselves. We cannot help it.
Now the question is:Can this concentration be developed, and can we
become masters of it? The Yogis say, yes. The Yogis say that we can
get perfect control of the mind. On the ethical side there is danger
in the development of the power of concentration--the danger of
concentrating the mind upon an object and then being unable to detach
at will. This state causes greater suffering. almost all of our
suffering is caused by our not having the power of detachment. So
along with the development of concentration we must develop the power
of detachment. We must learn not only to attach the mind to one thing
exclusively, but also to detach it at a moment's notice and place it
on something else. These two should be developed together to make it
safe.
This is the systematic development of the mind. To me the very
essence of education is concentration of mind, not the collection of
facts. If I had to do my education over again, and had any voice in
the matter, I would not study facts at all. I would develop the power
of concentration and detachment, and then with a perfect instrument I
could collect facts at will. Side by side, in the child, should be
developed the power of concentration and detachment.
How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but by the
concentration of the powers of mind? The world is ready to give up its
secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary
blow. The strength and force of the blow come through concentration.
There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more
concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point;
that is the secret.
In training the mind the first step is to begin with breathing.
Regular breathing puts the body in a harmonious condition; and it is
then easier to reach the mind. In practicing breathing, the first
thing to consider is Asana or posture. Any posture in which a person
can sit easily is his proper position. The spine should be kept free,
and the weight of the body should be supported by the ribs. Do not try
by contrivances to control the mind; simple breathing is all that is
necessary in that line.
anbu
Do not pity anyone. Look upon all as your equal, cleanse yourself of
the primal sin of inequality. we are all equal and must not think, "I
am good and you are bad, and I am trying to reclaim you". Equality is
the sign of the free...
Only sinners see sin. See not man, see only the Lord. We manufacture
our own heaven and can make a heaven even in hell. Sinners are only to
be found in hell, and as long as we see them around us, we are there
ourselves.
Men must have education. They speak of democracy, of the equality of
all men, these days. But how will a man know he is equal with all? He
must have a strong brain, a clear mind free of nonsensical ideas; he
must pierce through the mass of superstitions encrusting his mind to
the pure truth that is in his inmost Self. Then he will know that all
perfections, all powers are already within himself, that these have
not to be given him by others. When he realises this, he becomes free
that moment, he achieves equality. He also realises that everyone else
is equally as perfect as he, and he does not have to exercise any
power, physical, mental or moral, over his brother men. He abandons
the idea that there was ever any man who was lower than himself. Then
he can talk of equality; not until then.
anbu
Learn to feel yourself in other bodies, to know that we are all one.
Throw all other nonsense to the winds. Spit out your actions, good or
bad, never think of them again. What is done is done. Throw off
superstition. Have no weakness even in the face of death. Do not
repent, do not brood over past deed, and do not remember your good
deeds; be azad (free). The weak, the fearful, the ignorant will never
reach Atman. You cannot undo, the effect must come, face it, but be
careful never to do the same thing again. Give up the burden of all
deeds to the Lord; give all, both good and bad. Do not keep the good
and give only the bad. God helps those who do not help themselves.
When you have acquired the feeling of non-attachement, there will
then be neither good nor evil for you. It is only selfishness that
causes the difference between good and evil. It is a very hard thing
to understand but you will come to learn in time that nothing in the
universe has power over you until you allow it to exercise such a
power. Nothing has power over the Self of man, until the Self becomes
a fool and loses independence. So, by non-attachement you overcome and
deny the power of anything to act upon you. It is very easy to say
that nothing has the right to act upon you until you allow it to do
so; but what is the true sign of the man who...is neither happy nor
unhappy when acted upon by the external world? The sign is that good
or ill fortune causes no change in his mind: in all conditions he
continues to remain the same.
All these things which we call causes of misery and evil, we shall
laugh at when we arrive at that wonderful state of equality, that
sameness. This is what is called in Vedanta attaining to freedom. The
sign of approaching that freedom is more and more of this sameness and
equality. In misery and happiness the same, in success and defeat the
same--such a mind is nearing that state of freedom.
He who has succeeded in attaching or detaching his mind to or from
the centres at will has succeeded in Pratyahara, which
means,"gathering towards," checking the outgoing powers of the mind,
freeing it from the thraldom of the senses. When we can do this, we
shall have taken a long step towards freedom; before that we are mere
machines.
The sage wants liberty; he finds that sense-objects are all vain and
that there is no end of pleasures and pains. How many rich people in
the world want to find fresh pleasures? All pleasures are old, and
they want new ones. Do you not see how many foolish things they are
inventing every day, just to titillate the nerves for a moment, and
that done, how there comes a reaction? The majority of people are just
like a flock of sheep. If the leading sheep falls into a ditch, all
the rest follow and break their necks. In the same way, what one
leading member of a society does, all the others do, without thinking
what they are doing. When a man begins to see the vanity of worldly
things, he will feel he ought not to be thus played upon or borne
along by nature. That is slavery. If a man has a few kind words said
to him, he begins to smile, and when he hears a few harsh words, he
begins to weep. He is a slave to dress, a slave to patriotism, to
country, to name, and to fame. He is thus in the midst of slavery and
the real man has become buried within, through his bondage. What you
call man is a slave. When one realises all this slavery, then comes
the desire to be free; an intense desire comes. If a piece of burning
charcoal be placed on a man's head, see how he struggles to throw it
off. Similar will be the struggle for freedom of a man who really
understands that he is a slave of nature.
Be free, and then have any number of personalities you like. Then we
will play like the actor who comes upon the stage and plays the part
of a beggar. Contrast him with the actual beggar walking in the
streets. The scene is, perhaps, the same in both cases, the words are,
perhaps, the same, but yet what difference! The one enjoys his beggary
while the other is suffering misery from it. And what makes this
difference, the one is free and the other is bound. The actor knows
his beggary is not true, but that he has assumed it for play, while
the real beggar thinks that it is his too familiar state and that he
has to bear it whether he wills it or not. This is the law. So long as
we have no knowledge of our real nature, we are beggars, jostled about
by every force in nature; and made slaves of by everything in nature;
we cry all over the world for help, but help never comes to us; we cry
to imaginary beings, and yet it never comes. But still we hope help
will come, and thus in weeping, wailing, and hoping, one life is
passed, and the same play goes on and on.
anbu
Now, if there is any one amongst you who really wants to study this
science, he will have to start with that sort of determination, the
same as, nay even more than, that which he puts into any business of
life.
And what an amount of attention does business require, and what a
rigorous task-master it is ! Even if the father, the mother, the wife,
or the child dies, business cannot stop! Even if the heart is
breaking , we still have to go to our place of business, when every
hour of work is a pang. That is business, and we think that it is
just, that it is right.
This science calls for more application than any business can ever
require. Many men can succeed in business; very few in this. Because
so much depends upon the particular constitution of the person
studying it. As in business all may not make a fortune, but everyone
can make something, so in the study of this science each one can get a
glimpse which will convince him of its truth and of the fact that
there have been men who realised it fully.
Even the least thing well done brings marvellous results; therefore
let everyone do what little he can. If the fisher man thinks that he
is the Spirit, he will be a better fisherman; if the student thinks 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.
Advance like a hero. Don't be thwarted by anything. How many days
will this body last, with its happiness and misery? When you have got
the human body, then rouse the Atman within and say--I have reached
the state of fearlessness!...and then as long as the body endures,
speak unto others this message of fearlessness: "Thou art That",
"Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached!".