Our Life His Mission

OVERCOME YOUR WEAKNESS

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 17:53:00 +0530

The youth icon Swami Vivekananda, I have no words to describe Swami Vivekananda ,not just me but there is only one person who understands Swami Vivekananda is Swamiji Himself, I just love Swamiji.

There are several quotes of Swamiji, but the one I like the most is, "Anything that makes you weak, physically ,mentally ,destroy as poison.” In our life we always say that, if you drink real poison it will destroy us or we will expire. Just like that, if we accept any thought that makes us weak mentally or Spiritually, we will expire. So we must avoid such poisons.

What I like most that the way Swamiji speaks. You take any of Swamiji’s quotes; it is very simple to understand what He tries to say us. In these particular quotes Swamiji gives a very important message. In today’s world people use to attempt suicide for small things. You may take an example of a SSC student, when he failed in exams, he attempts suicide. There are many reasons that make us weak nowadays, physical weakness is rather acceptable, but when you have mental weakness, it is very hard to overcome. What Swamiji says in this particular quote is, small things can destroy us badly, it is always better to destroy those things which make us weak. So, dear friends, do not worry about whatever your problems in life, do not forget that there is one Master in the world who is always there to solve our problems- The great Swami Vivekananda. Read His books whenever you will feel yourself weak, His words will surely raise you again to a Blessed & beautiful life, with a new Divine Energy!

May Swamiji Bless all!

Jayatu Swamiji!

YUVA SHAKTI : THE POWER OF YOUTH

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 9 Jul 2013 14:19:00 +0530

“My faith is in the younger generation, the modern generation. Out of them will come my workers. They will work out the whole problem likelions” – Swami Vivekananda.

India is the blessed country with the most ancient civilization & a glorious Spiritual past. It has maximum youth. Swami Vivekananda has envisaged that the youth of India would take up the challenge of regeneration of India, by combining the glorious activities of Her past with the modern Scientific improvements of western countries. Swamiji dreamt of this new India, & His faith was on the young generation of India to fulfill it. Today we see the signs that youth of India is educated, well-established, and sincere and wants to know more about our country. The service to the masses appeal to them. They are eager to respond to the call of distressed people, & also, that call needs to reach them. Swami Vivekananda was the one who had given the open call which had touched many young hearts; as a result they then jumped into the fire of struggle for the independence of India. Today when the youth is again poised for take-off, the message of Swami Vivekananda would inspire them to take India to new heights. What is urgent in present situation is to carry His messages to all Indians. If only a few percentages of youth accept Him, then fulfillment of Swamiji’s dream of making a new India will be possible.

Let us take the oath of making India of His dream!

Jayatu Swamiji!

ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 4 Jul 2013 09:12:00 +0530

Dear friends, devotees & readers,

After a long time we have returned to spread the messages of our Master Swami Vivekananda again. Please forgive us for being absent from His Service for so long period. We are requesting you to support & cooperate with us by giving your feedback so that we can make this Blog just like before.

Today is 4th July, the day of His MahaSamadhi. Today we are publishing a beautiful poem expressing the heartbeat of this day.

This poem was written by Somnath Mishra, one of our contributors, on 4th July, 2007

On the fourth of July

Behold! The earth is mourning deep

The sky is shedding tears

Lamenting profound are the heaven, earth,

Sun, moon and all the stars.

The Universe doth remain all silent

They are hearing the melancholy cry

Of trees, birds, the all vigilant

On this fourth of July!

The king of the Universe is leaving His realm

Tonight, His journey is fixed

Nothing can prevent Him from His go,

Adieu thy king thou now bid.

He is thy king, the ancient Rishi,

Whose Soul is Infinite, beyond all thought,

And yet He came in human form

And worship of everything He hath brought.

But lament not! Where canst He go?

The Universe is His kingdom

We are His children,

Leaving us, where canst He stay?

He was amidst us, is and will be

Forever, until we become one with Him.

Author -Somnath Mishra

Somnath's verbatim and the poem

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:08:00 +0530

As described before, we are ready to present you with our contributors' literary creations.

Here is a poem written by Somnath Mishra, one of our contributors of this blog. This poem was written by him on 21/02/2007.

I was in my 3rd year graduation course when I wrote this poem on 21st February, 2007. I remember that my situation was quite uneasy and hazardous. While being scared and disturbed of many problems, pains and tortures of life, I craved for knowing Swami Vivekananda more and more and one day I felt that all my fears are gone because I was under the guidance of Swamiji, the thunderous monk. I suddenly felt that I have become fearless, that there is really nothing that can humiliate me anymore. With this feeling within, I wrote the following poem. I don't know how good is it as a poem, as it was written out of a sheer feeling of strength. I did not sit down to write a poem with a poetic feeling at all. It is, so, up to you to rate this account as a poem.

To the oddities of Life

Oddities of life!
Show not me thy rude red eyes-
I care not thee!
I've seen thy brutality much
Felt thy cold and terrible touch
On myself. Now no more
I bear in me yesterday's abhor
For thee. Nor do I scare
Thy gory heinous form mere
Anymore. I bore thee in my heart till;
Now I let thee be free. My new zeal
He has brought to me: His clarion voice
I've heard, and received His rarest grace.
Have I known- I'm a soul free, free forever,
Pangs or joy can shake me never
I'm not body.

Sorrows of life!
Now thou be ready
To face my challenge to thee.
I'm the son of thy Death-
Who is none but the Universe's breath:
I've touched His feet. Now no fear
Can stir me at all. Nor any cheer
Can make me its servant. I do sit
Now underneath His sacred feet-
Cut I all my earthly bound,
To reach the place beyond sky or ground.

Author : Somnath Mishra

A Life Blessed by Swami Vivekananda (Part - 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:26:00 +0530

In our last post (part 1), we showed only one example to state how Swamiji used to inspire & motivate ordinary people to be a true Karma yogi. But that is only one type of His Blessings where, if He gets any perfect combination of head, heart & hand in a youth, He makes him prepared for His own Mission. There are lots of examples of this Blessing of Him in His well-known biographies; we just showed one of them which are a little bit unfamiliar to most of the readers.

Now, in this part, we shall try to express another type of His Grace through another blessed ordinary person. Coincidentally, this person is also a woman, & her incident is also almost unfamiliar to people. This incident is not only a sum total of facts, but it has to be understood & felt with a devotee’s heart. It shows Swamiji’s another side that whenever we are in utter distress, He is the Best Doctor to cure all of our pains. We all know how He cured Madam Emma Calve, the famous French singer & actress when her daughter died in accident. The following incident proves that even now He is doing the similar thing with people whoever is suffering in His Universe!

This is a true incident, collected from ‘Chandannagar Journal the Institute’ of 1970 (first volume).

(Translated from Bengali):

Cemon Eva, a French woman, wrote her experience:-

“Swamiji appeared in my life through a severe pain. As a University student I read the biography of Vivekananda written by Romain Roland but did not pay much attention to it. Even I had forgotten it later. After that 15 years have been passed; I had to face a dangerous disease, dark shadow of death covered my life, & I went through a critical surgical treatment. I did not know whether I shall survive or not. At that time one of my friends brought me three books of Vivekananda-Rajyoga, Jnanyoga & Bhaktiyoga. The friend told me that these books have Supreme motivational energy which helped to survive!

“Is it true? Within that extreme pain I turned only few pages of Rajyoga, & at once felt bolt from the blue! It seemed to me that windows, roofs, walls-the entire room is rounding! Within that trembling waves my soul shouted with joy, ‘Eureka! I have seen the Truth!’

“I don’t know how long this condition was. One day, my danger was not completely cured till then, I was still fighting at the midpoint of life & death, and suddenly He appeared to me! A blissful appearance! Who is He? Swami Vivekananda? Yes, surely He is! What a Divine Beauty! Holy Light emitted from His body, He had a large flower having a divine smell in His hand, a flower unknown to me, but I realized that it was nothing but Indian Lotus. With that Lotus in His hand Vivekananda smiled like a delightful infant! I burst into anger, ‘What is this, Swamiji? You are smiling!!! See, I’m in my death-bed, my pain knows no end! Still you are smiling? How cruel are you!’ But He continued to smile. His Divine smile mingled with the Lotus flower.

“With extreme anger I was going to turn my face from Him, but suddenly my eyes fell on His body. What is that, that wound? Yes, there was a big wound on His heart which was bleeding continuously, & still, He smiled!

“Then I heard His Divine voice,

‘Have no fear! Don’t get disappointed! You are not weak. You must survive! Remember, you have to win this battle! It will bleed, but still we will smile in this world!’”

Dear friends! Try to feel this Voice without Form which was heard by this woman! Is not this the same voice which always speaks to us but we cannot listen to it due to our ignorance? I do believe that Swamiji is always with us, guiding & protecting us, & supplies His Supreme Energy to increase our strength & tolerance. If we can realize it, feel it, we will overcome all our sufferings by His Grace! If our Master can smile in spite of carrying such a wound in His heart then why do we not smile? We must remember that He is carrying all pains of Universe alone, & thus His sufferings are much more than all of us!

He wants to see our smiling faces. Let’s conquer all worldly sorrow & pray to Him to give us more strength.

“Namo Sri Yatirajaya Vivekanandasuraye

Sat-Chit-Sukha-Swarupaya Swamine Taapahaarine!”

O remover of all distresses! Salutations to Thee!

(END)

A Life Blessed By SwamiI Vivekananda (Part - 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 11:59:00 +0530

Dear friends, we all know that our Master Swami Vivekananda is a touchstone. Whoever comes in His contact becomes pure gold at once!

Today we are going to narrate a real story of an ordinary girl whose life was changed & dedicated in service of men by Swamiji’s blessings. This fact can be known from the memories of Haricharan Misra, the priest of Baidyanath Dham, Deoghar. When Swamiji lived at Deoghar, He used to stay at Priyanath Mukhopadhyay’s house named ‘Ananda Kutir’. A tribal couple, Munna Santal & Jhari Santal worked at Ananda Kutir as servents. They had only one daughter named Munia. When Munia was a child of just seven years, unfortunately her father died of cholera without any treatment, as there was no arrangement of treatment of this disease at that time. After Munna’s death, Jhari burst into tears at Priyanath’s house, and then Swamiji consoled her. Priyanath also provided her some financial help.

After that, both mother & daughter started to work at Priyanath’s house. Munia served Swamiji very lovingly, she brought water for His bath, washed His cloths & footwear (how lucky was she!). She addressed Swamiji as ‘Sadhu Baba’. Little Munia took care of Him who takes care of all! She made healthy food & juice from some medicinal plants in order to cure Swamiji’s illness. Swamiji used to say, ‘Munia is my guardian here’. He had immense affection towards this girl who had lost her father. One day He said to Haricharan, ‘Pandaji (priest)! You are Brahmins. You are serving many pilgrims everyday. Can you please arrange some education for this poor orphan girl? If you need some money for that purpose I’m ready to arrange it for you.’ Then Haricharan assured Him, ‘No Swamiji you need not pay for that. Once you have ordered it to me, I will try to do at my best.’

One of Haricharan’s relatives was a teacher. He sent Munia to that teacher. Munia learned to read & write from him. She did never get any School-College or University Degree but she had the real education within her & she became a perfect human being, only with Swamiji’s blessings. When Swamiji visited Deoghar for the last time, He told Munia, ‘Ask Pandaji (Haricharan Misra) for whatever you need. He will arrange it for you.’ According to Swamiji’s instruction, after primary education Munia was employed as a servant in the Kushthashram, the Leprosy Clinic. Thus she could help her own family financially.

Little Munia grew up & gradually came to know the Holy Name of Thakur Sri Ramkrishna Dev. Besides she knew about Swamiji’s life & works, & about His Mission. Gradually the simple girl understood that who came to their village to bless her, & whose affection she had got! She respected Swamiji so much that she used to salute that house of Priyanath every morning before going to her work, as a salutation to Swamiji’s Holy Ashram!

The tribal society started to create pressure on Munia’s mother as her daughter was then elder enough to get married. But Munia disagreed to marry. Her mother & Haricharan both tried a lot to convince Munia for marriage, but Munia did not marry. She said, ‘Sadhu Baba (Swamiji) blessed me by keeping His hands on my head, He will protect me always’! Blessed this girl was who had so strong faith on Swamiji.

Remaining unmarried Munia dedicated herself entirely in service of Leprosy patients. The patients loved her very much, & her sacrifice & service was appreciated by all.

After serving human God throughout her small life, Munia died at very tender age of 20 or 22. Before death she was attacked by a dangerous fever. Getting that news when Haricharan reached at their home he found Munia was no more! But there was a pair of footwear near her head. Haricharan asked the reason of them. Munia’s mother answered, ‘They are Sadhu Baba’s footwere. Munia begged them & worshipped them daily. Within her fever she asked me to keep them near her head, she told that her Sadhu Baba will come to use them again!' (By then Swamiji had already left His mortal Body).

Haricharan became astonished. He realized that Munia got the blessings of Swamiji indeed. Otherwise how an illiterate orphan girl could lead such an ideal life & dedicate herself in Swamiji’s Mission ‘Service to man is service to God’! Swamiji once said to Swami Swarupananda, “Look, Swarup, on whose head I have kept my hands once, that person need not worry about anything.” Does this sentence need any more proof? Munia had proved it in her life!

Dear friends, we should learn something from this so-called illiterate poor girl. We should learn how to keep faith & how to use that faith to be rigid in own decision & not to compromise with own ideals of life. Above all, we should learn from her how to dedicate ourselves in Swamiji’s Work. If this girl could do it then why not we, the University Degree holders can do something for our Master’s Mission?

Always think that, we all have got His blessings in our previous births. What else can choke our way when Swamiji is with us?

Jayatu Swamiji!

(Next part to be published soon)

How Swami Vivekananda change my life. - Sandeep Tonde

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:51:00 +0530

Few years ago a friend of mine gave me small book of Swami Vivekananda called "Swami Vivekananda says."

It was a Marathi book and the first sentence I read was "Arise, Awake, & stop not till the goal is reached." When I started the book with such a powerful thought, I fell in love with that great book of our great Swamiji. In that book Swamiji expressed many Powerful & Inspirational thoughts, especially for youth. Some of them are: "You are the creator of your destiny", "Strength is life Weakness is death", "You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself", "If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught& practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished", "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 way to success."

There were many more thoughts with these. In that book the publisher gave the address of The Ramakrishna Math, Pune. One day I Visited the Ramakrishna Math. When I saw the Math first time, I said to myself, "What a lovely place, & how idiot was I that didn't know about the place before." After that I became a regular visitor of Math. Later I also knew about the Swamiji's Spritual Guru Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa & the World's Holy Mother Sarada Maa. I Also met the monks in that Math. Now I feel very blessed that Swami Vivekananda is my ideal & recommend all to read His books and follow His thoughts. He is the greatest Youth icon & the spiritual Master world has ever produced.
Jai Swamiji.

Author : Sandeep Tonde

Sri Ramakrishna: A Tribute.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 07:03:00 +0530

Friends, today it's the holy Janam-tithi (the moment of Birth according to Hindu astronomical chart) of Sri Ramakrishna Dev, one of the greatest saints the world has ever seen. This article is just an attempt to pay a small tribute to this unfathomable personality.

Sri Ramakrishna Dev was born in the year of 1836, in India, when our country was being ruled by British emperor. Apparently, He was a priest in a Kali Temple in a place called Dakshineshwar in West Bengal, a state of India. He did not take part in Indian freedom struggle actively or indirectly, neither He had the proper education of even a school, nor was He had an impressive personality. Seemingly, He was an illiterate person with least social courtesy. So we wonder, what is there in This Man that today millions bow down to His photograph, what is there in Him that makes many of us use a capital letter in every pronoun we use for Him.

To answer this question in this article or even in a 1000 paged book is impossible, believe me. But if we try to analyze the reason, we shall find some wonderful facts. Usually, we identify a person's greatness by the uniqueness he has. In this scenario, too, we shall see that first.The most striking difference that Sri Ramakrishna had from others is that He craved for God as we crave for our earthly pleasure. To some of us, God is but an image; to some, God is just an abstract idea; to some, God is a supernatural force and to some God is a faith on an non-existent object! For Sri Ramakrishna, God was the person next to Him, God was His best Friend! For Him, God was no idea or belief, it is an Universal Truth that existed and stayed with Him day and night. People say He attained God, but I say- He became one with God, just as a fish becomes a fossil after a long stay with a stone.

Sri Ramakrishna Dev, being an Indian citizen never took part in Indian freedom struggle or any social reformation. But it won't be wrong if we say that it was for Him that India got Her freedom in 1947, otherwise it might have been even later. It is also true that if someone has plausibly the greatest contribution in the social reformation of India, it is Sri Ramakrishna. You may wonder how is that possible. True, He never fought for Indian freedom struggle, but He gifted India Her greatest son: Swami Vivekananda. But for Him, Narendranath Dutta could not become Swami Vivekananda, who would later prove to be the greatest social reformer of India and maker of fiercest martyrs of Indian freedom struggle.

Sri Ramakrishna's attitude towards women has been historic and most extraordinary. While common people have feeling of lust and desire on women, He was absolutely unique. To Him, women represented the Universal Mother. So deep-rooted and genuine was this attitude and feeling that He even saw Mother in His wife, Sri Sarada Devi, another giant of spiritual world, and He literally worshiped Her. He never had a physical relationship with His wife, all He had for Her was tremendous respect and unconditional, divine love, a love that cannot be fathomed by material brain. Today's shallow-minded folks may not be able to gauge this relationship and may point out to some weird concept from biology and human psychology, but if they realize in depth, they will realize that it was absolutely natural and genuine.

Do we see a man calculating all different methods of a mathematical problem to find out the answer? Generally, people follow one or two methods. Sri Ramakrishna Dev practiced almost all the major religious ways and their rituals to attain God. Being a Hindu Brahmin priest, He practiced all the sections of Hindu religion, He succeeded. He even practiced Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and proved that God can be attained by all these ways and this God is equal in all religions.

There are many more religious teachers in this world, but the uniqueness of Sri Ramakrishna was that He has made religion your piece of cake! He has described the most difficult subject in the easiest language. Have we ever seen anyone describing the oneness of God in easier example than that He did:"Water is called in different names in every country, but does the subject change? No! The subject remains the same- it's water everywhere. Similarly, people call God in different names, but those name do not alter the form of God. God is one and the same for all religions."

We have already mentioned that to fathom this ultra-divine personality is impossible for words. We just touched the very basics of His Life as a tribute to His janma-tithi. Critics say that to understand Sri Ramakrishna Dev completely is impossible for an ordinary human. It is said that only Swami Vivekananda, who was the greatest gift of Ramakirhna to our world, realized the excellence of Sri Ramakrishna properly. But even Swami Vivekananda said that He cannot gauge the divinity of Sri Ramakrishna in words, as no words are able to express His purity, divinity and personality.
We shall finish this article with a small account of Swami Vivekananda that He made about His dearest Guru in His Calcutta lecture. His analysis may help us getting a glimpse on Sri Ramakrishna's true being. Listen what this epoch making spiritual giant of all times says about His 'illiterate' Guru:

"Brothers, you have touched another chord in my heart, the deepest of all, and that is the mention of my teacher, my master, my hero, my ideal, my God in life - Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. If there has been anything achieved by me, by thoughts, or words, or deeds, if from my lips has ever fallen one word that has helped any one in the world, I lay no claim to it, it was his. But if there have been curses falling from my lips, if there has been hatred coming out of me, it is all mine and not his. All that has been weak has been mine, and all that has been life-giving, strengthening, pure, and holy, has been his inspiration, his words, and he himself. Yes, my friends, the world has yet to know that man. We read in the history of the world about prophets and their lives, and these come down to us through centuries of writings and workings by their disciples. Through thousands of years of chiselling and modelling, the lives of the great prophets of yore come down to us; and yet, in my opinion, not one stands so high in brilliance as that life which I saw with my own eyes, under whose shadow I have lived, at whose feet I have learnt everything —the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa."

Swami Vivekananda at Cape Comorin

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:49:00 +0530

Before visiting West, Swami Vivekananda traveled all India and finally reached to Kanyakumari, the Cape Comorin.

Here He sat on a deep meditation to find out the way to rejuvenate India's lost glory. What exactly happened? Well, here is a brief account:

At Cape Comorin Swami Vivekananda was filled with joy and immediately rushed to the temple. As He came out of the temple his eyes fell upon the Rock. The Ocean was full of waves but still Swamiji reached the Rock by swimming. His heart was filled with emotions. He almost had traveled across India and realized that the Indians are starving to death, no proper education and at some place no education at all. He sat on the rock and recalled the pitiable conditions of the Indian masses which He had seen with his own eyes. He asked to himself what is the duty towards this situation? He remembered that as a sannyasin He had taken the oath to dedicate himself in service of country. Men are living the life of animals due to ignorance and poverty. To improve the conditions of these men food and proper education with science and technology must be given. Teaching metaphysics to an empty stomach is madness. He needed men. Men with no selfishness, no jealously and free from all worldly ties. But where to find these men to regenerate India? His eyes fell upon the numerous monks who had renounced the world. Here Swamiji wanted to inspire these monks and make them to dedicate themselves in service of country.

He sitting on the rock hit upon a great plan which He later revealed in a letter to one of his friend.
Swamiji wrote- "Suppose some disinterested sannyasins bent on doing good to others, go from village to village disseminating education in various ways to better the condition of all. Down to the untouchable through oral teachings, by means of map, globes, magic lantern and other accessories. Would this bring forth good in time?. If the mountain does not come to Mohammad, Mohammad must go to the mountain. We as a nation have lost our individuality. We have to give back to the nation its lost individuality and rise the masses".

He again went in to deep thinking that to accomplish this great task where can he get source from. He himself is a penniless beggar. Few people in India are rich but did nothing. His admirers are poor. He then suddenly hit upon a great plan to visit West i.e America and give them the ancient wisdom of India and in return bring back the scientific knowledge to India.
He recalled the earnest request of his friends who encouraged him to go to west and represent India in the forthcoming Parliament of Religions. He especially remembered the words of the friends in Khatiawar who had been the first to encourage him to go to west: 'Go and take it by storm and then return'.

He then decided to visit west and represent India which would surely help to rise India.
Swami Vivekananda, the great monk of all the times sitting on the rock went in to deep meditation and had thus realized the main reason for the downfall of India and had found the remedy to regenerate and rise India.

Dream no more!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 9 Mar 2013 19:00:00 +0530

We all have dreams. Some dream to become Engineer, Doctor, Businessman, Politician, Spiritual teacher, etc.

Some people have multiple dreams in life.Now, having a dream in life is very important but to have a dream and doing nothing to manifest that dream into a reality is not at all correct. We all dream a lot but, we don’t tend to take a single step to turn that dream into a reality. We also talk of our dreams a lot, we just keep talking and expressing our dreams to people around us. But if someone asks us for the action we are doing to make our dream come true, many of us won’t really be able to answer. Swami Vivekananda says, “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 ”. Yes it's true, we speak like parrots but we can't even take one step to achieve our dreams.

Now, let us see how can we make our dreams come true? “Action”, this is the answer that can make our dreams come true. There is no other substitute. Let me ask you, if you are hungry and if you dream of delicious dishes will that fill your stomach? It won’t. You have to go to your kitchen prepare the food and then you take it, that fills your stomach. So dreaming is of no use. But like we are hungry for food, can we be that much hungry for our dreams to come true? Yes, if really from bottom of our heart we feel for it. It is the feeling, the intense hunger, that will make us take thousand steps and even more if we fail.

Former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam says "Dream, Dream and Dream transforms into thoughts .Thoughts results into action." So thinking on our dreams day and night will transform it into action provided we have hearty feeling to make it into reality. Whatever we all want to become we have to go for it. We have to work hard day and night. We have to sweat. Dreams are not those which we see in our sleep those which don't let us sleep.

Swamiji wonderfully puts into one of his sayings the secret to achieve our dreams , goals in life. He says , “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, 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.” This sentence has made many people think and achieve their goals in life. Let us make this our mantra of life and march on. We shall sure to achieve success in life.

Swami Vivekananda on women

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 8 Mar 2013 13:03:00 +0530

Friends, 8th March is observed as Women's Day throughout the world, which is today. Before some days, we published an article on Swami Vivekananda's idea on rejuvenation of Women Power. Today, we have decided to post the sayings of this great prophet on women, as a tribute to the women of the world.

Swami Vivekananda, the Vedic seer, knew very well the importance of women in society and He respected them tremendously. He has repeatedly spoken about the rise of women-power to make the world beautiful. Here are some most appealing of them, straight from the prophet's lips:

"All nations have attained greatness by paying proper respect to women. That country and that nation which do not respect women have never become great, nor will ever be in future."

"Educate your women first and leave them to themselves; then they will tell you what reforms are necessary for them. In matters concerning them (women), who are you?"

"...my principle is: each one helps himself... No man shall dictate to a woman; nor a woman to a man... Women will work out their own destinies- much better, too, than men can ever do for them."

"Woman is as courageous as man. Each is equally good in his or her way. What man can bring up a child with such patience, endurance and love as the woman can?"

"The worship of even one spark of Mother in our earthly mother leads to greatness. Worship Her if you want love and wisdom."

"If a man can be a know er of Brahman, why cannot a woman attain to the same knowledge? Therefore I was saying if even one amongst the women became a knower of Brahman, then by the radiance of her personality thousands of women would be inspired and awakened to truth, and great well-being of the country and society would ensue."

"One Vedic teacher excels ten ordinary teachers in glory, a father excels a hundred Vedic teachers in glory; but a mother excels even a thousand fathers in glory."

Being satisfied with what we have is the key to happiness and success

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 7 Mar 2013 14:59:00 +0530

We, humans, crave for success and happiness in our life, but how many of us really achieve it? Apparently, many people achieve success, but if we go deep inside, we find very few to be happy with their life. If we analyze the reason, we shall find the root cause to be dissatisfaction. We are not happy with what we get. And this creates a turmoil in our life.

Let's take a small hypothetical example to elaborate the meaning. A person doesn't earn so he longs for a job. After a lot of effort, he gets a job with a salary of Rs. 10,000 pm. He becomes happy and thinks that he is successful to achieve his aim. After some days, or months or years, he discovers that his colleague is earning Rs. 15,000 and in his mind he feels dissatisfaction and longs to earn like his friend. He tries a new job and manages to earn 15,000 this time but again after sometime he finds someone earning more than he does and again becomes unhappy. Thus, he initiates a self-made competition that never ends, and it results utter dissatisfaction despite earning sufficient.

This was just an example. Same goes with everything in life. We want something in life, be it money, education, pleasure or company; our expectation and greed just increases after every single layer we achieve. Finally one day we understand the improbability of achieving our ever increasing desire and that leads to utter dissatisfaction and agony of mind. We get many materialistic things, but still our thirst of desire doesn't get quenched, we live with a never-ending pain.

You may ask, 'life is painful, so would we not try to be successful and sit idle?' Well, In order to get the answer we need to know the meaning of success. We want success in life, but what do we mean by success? I don't know what you mean by "success", but for me, "success" is something that brings happiness to me, not only outwardly, but also inwardly. I may be a CEO of a multinational company, I may generate revenue in billions every year, I may have the most beautiful woman in life, yet what of that, if I don't find happiness; what's the use of getting everything without a smile in my heart; a smile that even a poor farmer smiles every evening? I want to enjoy life like king Nero, but I die a death of Dr. Faustus! Thus, according to my view, success and happiness go hand-in-hand.

So what's the remedy? Well, it's simple. Being satisfied with what we have is the key to happiness and success. Bur It doesn't mean that we won't try for our improvement or move on in life. We shall definitely move on, but at the same time, we need to ensure that we don't feel any malice to others' success and that we don't regret if we fail in doing something.

The doctrine of being happy and successful is indeed very simple: work hard, try honestly, but don't long for any specific result. Work tirelessly, and enjoy work, but ask nothing in return, for this expectation binds us and does not let us focus into work. If we follow these simple steps, we shall definitely become happy and successful.

We would love to end this topic with Swami Vivekananda's view on success. We're sure that if you have any doubt from the above written excerpt, the following comment of Swamiji will erase that doubt and enlighten your mind.

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

Swami Vivekananda on character

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 6 Mar 2013 14:31:00 +0530

Swami Vivekananda, the epoch making spiritual leader of all time, strongly recommended character to be the backbone of a person as well as that of a nation. Throughout His life, He has emphasized on making character and has considered this ideal to be the highest in human life. Here are some most striking sayings on 'character' that fell down from this prodigious prophet's lips:
'Neither money pays, nor name, nor fame, nor learning, it is character that can cleave through adamantive walls of difficulties.'

'Each work we do, each thought we think, produces an impression...upon the mind and the sum total of these impressions becomes the tremendous force which is called "character". The character of a man is what he has created for himself; it is the result of the mental and physical actions that he has done in life.'

'...first make character- that is the highest duty you can perform."

'Referring to the history, we see that only that fragment which is fit will survive, and what makes fit to survive but character? ....they alone shall gain the day who are able to show most character in their lives, no matter how far they may be.'

'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.'

Work, attachment and misery

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 5 Mar 2013 12:22:00 +0530

We all work day and night , some may be students, employees, businessman, spiritual teachers etc. But in doing this work we often care for its result, its outcomes or profit and importantly we are very much attached to the work.

Swami Vivekananda, the greatest leader, used to say, "Work! Be unattached! That is the whole secret". We today may do brilliant work but the thing is we are attached to it. We may become great Doctors, Engineers, Entrepreneurs etc., but we all are very much attached to our work and its result. And this attachment brings the misery. One may say,if this attachment brings misery then, its better not to work. Now, no one can stay like that, everyone has to work because life without work makes us lazy and useless. Even the King of Jungle, Lion, has to hunt for its food. So, everyone has to work.

How does misery come when we are attached to work? Misery comes when our expectation is not fulfilled. Let us take an example. A student who wants to give an Entrance exam studies day and night, so that he can get admitted into a best college and in all he always thinks about his bright future. But somehow he could not make into best of the colleges and he is under great depression. He is into a great mental depression and regrets how much has he studied and gave time, but all attempts are in vain. At last he sees that his future is in dark and loses faith in himself. He may also try to commit suicide. But suicide or depression is not the answer to this problem or for every problem in life. The student was so much attached to the results, and this attachment or expectation let to his depression. Had he not cared for whichever college he gets in, the situation would have been different. Some start new business and they fail, misery enters into their life. And they lose hope in life and suffer. Yes its true that everyone wants success , but not at life's cost.

So what's the way out? Work hard, try it, but without attachment. Swamji says, "Work incessantly, but give up all attachment to work". Now the question arises, how to work with non attachment? Swamiji has given the answer beautifully, he says, "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". Just we have to work and think as if this is God's work or he has given me this work. You will get the results no doubt but don't think of it because when we think of results too much we get attached and when great work is not done we feel the misery. Work is worship , but we don't get the real meaning of it. We all have to work as if this work is a worship to the Lord. If we work in that way we will never get attached to the work and misery won't come. Swamiji says "He is perfect man who has both the power of attachment and detachment". Yes if we practice detachment we can avoid the miseries of the life. Swamiji himself says that he too suffered because of this attachment and after long practice he cultivated that habit of detachment. It's seen that most miseries in life come due to this attachment. We all have in us great power of attachment but we lack detachment. So,we all should practice detachment. We can see today because of so much attachment not only to work but other things like money, fame, senses,stardom etc. is bringing misery to the society in which we live. If everyone of us can practice detachment then it would turn out to be a wonderful society.

True Love: meaning and importance

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:22:00 +0530

LOVE- a four-lettered word, and yet possibly the most powerful feeling in the world. What is love? It is impossible to define the exact meaning of Love in some pages, or even in an entire book. But we shall try to express the central idea of this small word.

Apparently, Love is a feeling of respect and care. We love our parents, we love our siblings, we love our partner, we love our friends- because we think for them, and we care for them. They in turn, also show us the same kind of reaction that we call 'love'.

But if we go deep into our philosophy, we shall find that 'LOVE' has got something to do with an absolutely higher sphere. Our definition of love is nothing in front of it, as Love depicted by Indian philosophy and Indian religion means sacrifice and non-expectant. Here love is depicted as a kind of 'platonic love' - a feeling that does not ask for anything in return. It's a feeling absolutely divine and it is unfathomable.

To elaborate a little more, we all love our near and dear ones in family and friends. But if we go deep into our love, we shall find that we love them either for they have been helpful to us sometime or for we expect something from them in return. A child loves parents as they look after him, parents love child because they expect the child to look after them later; a teacher loves student as expects the student to do good, a student loves a teacher as the teacher helps the student in studies; friends love each other as they get help from each other; husband-wife love each other as they both care for and depend on each other to sustain in the family. But as far as 'LOVE' is concerned, none of these relationships carry true love.

You may wonder what we are talking about. Well, let us put it across this way: all the relations mentioned above are based on some enhanced positive feeling, e.g., parents' love for children is not 'love' but it is a feeling of enhanced care and responsibility, child's love for parents is a feeling of enhanced respect and responsibility. Feeling of responsibility is common in all those relations we think we love. Similarly, a teacher's feeling for a student is a feeling of enhanced responsibility, a student's 'love' for a teacher is actually a feeling of enhanced respect; a couple's love for each other is not 'love' but a feeling of enhanced affection etc.

To be more precise, no worldly relation can be termed as 'love', for they exchange expectations. True love never expects anything in return, come what may. When a boy loves a girl, he just loves a body and its behavior. So the love does not happen. Had there been true love in a couple, there would not have been any divorce filed in the history.

True love demands extreme sacrifice. I love you, but I cannot tolerate when you do something that I dislike. What kind of 'love' is this? If I really love you, I should not put any condition in it. Yes, I can certainly advice you when you are wrong, but then, I should not persuade you to do what I want, as my motto is to see you happy.

And here is where we commit mistake. In order to carry on a relation, we start compromising and we term that compromise as sacrifice! Sacrifice and comprise are two different things altogether, compromise comes from a negative state of mind, where sacrifice comes from sheer love.

Imagine Thakur Sri Ramakrishna Dev loving His disciples. There was no expectation of return. It was a pure love, without any demand. Swami Vivekananda sacrificed His entire life to serve Thakur and suffering humanity. The disciples of Swamiji sacrificed their entire life for serving humanity, leaving their own pleasure behind. Why? Indian freedom fighters sacrificed their life, they were shot dead, and they were hanged till death with smile on their face, why? To get something in return? No. They did it for 'LOVE', a love that does not maintain any specific relationship. It flows in heart, for anyone, for country, for love.

Swami Vivekananda says: "Love itself is the eternal, endless sacrifice. You will have to give up everything. You cannot take possession of anything."

How would we understand we can love like this? There is a simple way. When we start loving without any expectation, we become fearless. We dare love. We feel an absolute bliss; smile never fades out from our lips. I cannot resist quoting Swamiji here, for I have never seen such a romantic and wonderful description of falling in love:
"In the first moment of intense love the whole world seems in tune with your own heart. Every bird in the universe sings your love; the flowers bloom for you. It is infinite, eternal love itself that (human) love comes from."

The idea of love, therefore, is love for the sake of love. The idea is to see the self in all and be one with the object we love. This is, indeed, the first and ultimate step to love God, and be God. In practical world, it seems difficult, and it is difficult to love someone this way. But this is not impossible. If we have purity in mind, fire in heart, zeal in soul and passion in ourselves, we are capable enough to love everyone.

Swami Vivekananda as I feel Him

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 3 Mar 2013 21:55:00 +0530

Swami Vivekananda, the name itself represents Joy of light. Who is he? Is he man or God?

For me he is God. He is the one who changed my entire dimensions of life & many other youths' lives, too.

I still say that If I have not found him, I would still sit in the dark corner of a room & cry with cowardice in my heart.

Let me share my views on him, It is written in Bhagwad Gita, "If adharma prevails then God himself would come to Earth in human form from yuga to yuga to destroy adharma". I feel that in 19the century God came in Swami Vivekananda's form to wipe the tears of all. He himself was a fearless Lion & converted many Indian youths to Lion.

He had a burning love for the country. The great patriot, leader, master, He had a heart that bled for poor. I have no words to express him for he is infinite. Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient- that's what I feel Him to be.

I have never seen a great hero like Swami Vivekananda. "I bow down to Thee".

Author : Sandeep Panchal

We are Petrified

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 2 Mar 2013 17:31:00 +0530

We are petrified with the incident that took place in Delhi. The dark shadow of infamous rape case has not been dissolved yet from our memory, and now a 7-year old girl was raped in her school. Is this a civilized country we are living in?
We are immensely terrified by this incident. No negative adjective can describe the mentality of people who tend to do this kind of shameful act. May they be civilized now- that's all we pray.

Till the time we try to understand the meaning of civilization, till the time we arouse humanity within us, till the time we respect ourselves, there is no chance of improvement of our Nation, for we represent our nation. We speak much about respecting women, but people who assault women, don't have any self-respect. People without self-respect can never respect anyone else.

We know that the Govt. Of India is not going to punish any of these criminals, for it pampers them, yet we shall hope that the criminals will reap what they have sowed

I am He

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 1 Mar 2013 10:28:00 +0530

Every man is Divine in nature. Every man is God. Then why is there so negativity in this world? Why this world is not like Heaven?

This is only because we do not know our own self. To make us aware of the fact our Master Swami Vivekananda dedicated His whole mortal Life & promised to be with man always until they find out this truth. He says, “When you think you are a body, are apart from the universe; when you think; you are a soul, you are a spark from the great Eternal Fire; when you think you are the Atman (Self), you are All.”

Most of the people in the world think themselves as bodies. This thought makes us bound, but unfortunately we do not feel this bondage. What is this bondage and why?

Well, whenever we think ourselves as bodies only, we think that we are limited. Our power is limited, our goodness is limited, & anyone from outside may harm us or disturb our goodness. This is the bondage which gives limitation to our thoughts & does not allow expressing our inner power, our eternal Divinity. We start to fear, as we think ourselves weaker than others. Thus our eternal Divine nature & eternal pure energy is covered with the highest superstition that, ‘It is I, & I am a body.’ This is the ‘small I’ which chokes the path to our salvation.

Again, we are thinking we are weak, & we have fear too. That is the highest sin Swamiji mentioned. He says,

“The root of evil is in the illusion that we are bodies. This, if any, is the original sin.” This illusion that ‘I am body’ is the origin of all weakness, all fear & as well as all negative thoughts. So it makes us impure & sinners. All the souls, even being suns, are covered by this cloud of illusion or Maya, & salvation becomes difficult. Also, thus man becomes a sinner.
So what is the way to recover this?

We must think ourselves as soul first. This is the initial step to defeat & remove Maya. When we think so, we feel that we are not mere bodies; there is an eternal Energy & Divinity within us which can do everything. We are parts of God. God is present within us, & we have the ability to conquer all difficulties with His Grace & Power. Then we get an immense energy from the inner side & almost all weakness & fear is vanished. Then we can think positive & those positive thoughts spread a positive wave of goodness over the universe. Thus the whole universe is benefited including ourselves. As a part of God, we are the sparks of the Paramatman, which Swamiji described as ‘the great Eternal Fire’, so we have part of Divine Energy in this state, as a spark of fire carries the heat of fire. This is the Vishishtadwaita theory which helps man to identify himself first.

We have to be very careful when we start thinking so. At times, we just pretend to think, but we actually cannot think because we don't gain the depth of thought. This thought requires continuous practice, i.e., even though we fail thinking so initially, we must not give up. In our day to day life, we have to practice this thought, and reading good books and taking to likeminded people help.

But this is not the final conclusion. We are not only the parts of that Eternal Fire. We are that Fire itself. When we know that we are Atman, then all illusions, all Maya is vanished. Then we can feel that there is nothing impossible for us, there is nothing to defeat us, and there is nothing negative within us, because, ‘I am He! I am He!’. Then we become entirely Pure & Divine, as we become God. The whole heat of the Eternal Fire then comes with the ‘small I’ & thus the ‘small I’ burns out. From its ashes rises the ‘Bigger I’. This is the Advaita which gives salvation.

So always say, ‘I am He!’ Remember, even poison of snake can be conquered by saying with great confidence, ‘there is no poison’ (as Sri Sri Thakur said). Even a lamb can become a lion if it utters always confidently, ‘I am Lion’. So why shall we not become God by saying ‘I am He’?

May Swamiji Bless us all with this Knowledge!

Bless Your Mistakes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:13:00 +0530

Swami Vivekananda says, "What is done is done.... Do not repent, do not brood over past deeds.... You cannot undo, the effect must come, face it, but be careful never to do the same thing again".

Humans make mistake, it's in their nature. In our day to day life we tend to make mistakes. There is no Man on this earth who has never made a mistake. We all make mistakes which in turn bring its effects, we suffer and brood over it. But the important thing is, if we all can learn a lesson from it. Yes, every mistake, big or small, has a lesson hidden in it. We all have to take a lesson. Many times we make a mistake and we brood over it for our entire Life. Important thing to note is that it's our mistakes in life that make us successful provided we take a lesson from it and never repeat those.

When we make mistakes, we run away from it. Why? The reason behind this is we do not want to face the coming situation after making the mistake or we do not want to try anymore i.e, our confidence becomes less. Every action has its effect , this is the eternal law of nature. So effect is bound to come. Face it boldly, Swamiji says. Face the effect because the thing is by facing this you become more strong from inside. Every successful man is first unsuccessful. Success is nothing but learning from the mistakes, facing the consequences and to never make that mistake again.

So, we all should bless our mistakes because they teach us a lot. The best example of failure and success is of Abraham Lincoln, the 17th President of U.S.A who lost job, failed in business, his wife died then he had nervous break down. Then after joining politics he was defeated several times, at last he was elected as President. But despite all of these he kept on going, he kept learning and made sure that he never repeat mistakes. All great people made mistakes and took great lessons from it. So we can say that mistakes are great teachers in life.

Great inventor Thomas Alva Edison who invented electric bulb, motion picture camera etc., says "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward....". So we learn a lot from our mistakes.

Swami Vivekananda says, "In all our actions, errors and mistakes are our only teachers. Who commits mistakes, the path of truth is attainable by him only. Trees never make mistakes nor do stones fall into error; animals are hardly seen to transgress the fixed laws of nature; but man is prone to err, and it is man who becomes God-on-earth." In other saying he says, "Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they are the beauty of life... It would not be worth having if it were not for struggles. Where would be the poetry of life? Never mind the struggles, 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 backsliding! Hold the ideal a thousand times, and if you fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more".

So, we all should try to bless our mistakes , face the consequences ,learn a lesson from them and be careful to never make it again.

Being religious V/S Religious Bias

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:14:00 +0530

Looking down on the present condition of India and the world, it seems the social situation is grave and terrified.

Since the beginning of civilization, our planet has been attacked for quite a number of times now. These include a huge list from "the battle of Panipath" in Mughal period to the attack in World Trade Centre in recent past. If we look into our own country, we find several attacks, starting from the riots in India in the days of Indian freedom struggle to the recent Hyderabad Blast. Needless to say, these incidents are not something to take pride on for a nation.

If we look deep into the reason of these casualties, we shall find a common reason in all- religion. Right from the dawn of civilization, many massacres have taken place just to keep particular religious biases intact! Take the example of Babri masjid and Ayodhya issue or that of Hindu-Muslim riot: we see the same picture. The question of the day is- are these quarrels necessary in the name of religion?

The answer is a bold and flat 'NO'. Not only are these quarrels unnecessary, but also they are heinous. We fight for Allah or God or Bhagwan, it does not affect Allah or God or Bhagwan, but it affects ourselves. We get bleed, our kins, near and dear ones die for unnecessary reason.

The point is, being religious is good, but keeping a bias in mind is worst and it spawns all kinds of quarrels. When we are born, we born as human. Our society gives us a stamp of religion and we confine us into some rituals. But is it really important to stamp us in a particular caste or creed? Even if we get a stamp, is it necessary to think other religion untrue?

We know the answer, it is blowing in the wind. We know that religious bias is not good. But still, our society has so many conflicts between different religions. If we look into the reason, we shall find that it is because we don't understand the meaning of religion, we don't know the purpose of religion.

What does 'religion' mean? Is it just a sect? No. Swami Vivekananda, the greatest world teacher says: "Religion is the manifestation of divinity already in man." This sentence is immensely important. This defines that we are already divine, religion is only a tool to discover it, doesn't matter which religion do we belong to.

Our Holy Quran says: "The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah- That which We have sent by inspiration to you- and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus..." (Quran- 42:13). How beautifully does this line describe harmony in religions! Not only Quran, if we read the religious scriptures, whichever religion is it, and if we go deep into it, we shall find that it's morale is Universality and Brotherhood. No religion wants bloodshed.

On 11th September, 1893, Swami Vivekananda announced in America:

"Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilisation and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal."

The world did not yet realize the importance of His words, and most ironically on the same day after 108 years, in the same America, took place world's biggest massacre recorded till date: the famous World Trade Centre was destroyed into pieces; and some religiously biased people did this unpardonable crime. Post that also, people have not been quite aware about this issue, so many other incidents like this took place after that, around the world, too. We can take incidents like attack in Mumbai, blast in Pune or even the recent blast in Hyderabad in our country. What is the net result: bloodshed. And those blood do not belong to any specific religion.

Friends, we still have time to rectify. Before the world gets shattered in the war created from bogus fight between religious sects, it's our responsibility to understand the importance of the greatest religion- Humanity, and make others understand this. A human cannot have any religion apart from humanity. Does not matter what race or which color the person next to us belongs to, the point is that he is a human and we must be humane to him/her: this should be the attitude. If we carry this attitude till our last breath, we can gift a malice-free wonderful world to the next-generation, and like the world-famous singer John Lennon we can also 'imagine' and who knows, even sing:

                                        "Imagine there's no heaven
                                               It's easy if you try
                                                No hell below us
                                              Above us only sky
                                          Imagine all the people
                                              Living for today...

                            Imagine there's no countries               It isn't hard to do
                                         Nothing to kill or die for
                                             And no religion too
                                          Imagine all the people
                                             Living life in peace...

                                     You may say I'm a dreamer
                                        But I'm not the only one
                                    I hope someday you'll join us
                                    And the world will be as one"

Swami Vivekananda on Education

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:35:00 +0530

"Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man."

"We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet."

"Education is not filling the mind with a lot of facts. Perfecting the instrument and getting complete mastery of my own mind (is the ideal of education)..."

Perseverance will finally conquer.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 09:31:00 +0530

We all have goals in our life. Will it be achieved in a day? No. It's perseverance that will lead us towards our goal. It is Perseverance will finally conquer in the way of getting success. No great work happens overnight.

First let us see what is the meaning of Perseverance. Perseverance means a state of going onward in a positive way in spite of facing obstacles. It also means continuous hard efforts till we reach the goal. Also, we all know the famous saying, 'Rome was not built in a day.' Also take example of a beautiful Taj Mahal which took 22 years to be built. Now in individual life also one cannot become perfect in particular field in a day. Masters like Pele, Bruce Lee, Bill Gates, Sachin Tendulkar, Lata Mangeskar etc. did not became perfect in a day. Whether we want to become Engineer, Doctor, Business Man, spiritual teacher or great cook in one day its not possible. Perseverance is the answer we will get if we go deep into everyone's success story. So, Perseverance is the key thing for achieving our goals.

Now how to have great Perseverance? Well, its all about how eagerly we want to reach the goal despite downfalls. We should not lose hope even if failure occurs. We need to have faith in ourselves first. Swamiji Himself many times have said to have faith on oneself. Also he says "never mind if you fail hundred times make one more attempt, one day you will reach the goal." Also will power plays an important role here. We must have strong will power to continue the faith we have on ourselves even in case we fail at times.

So to have Perseverance, we must have faith in ourselves with great will power and we should not give up. Many people lose their hopes when they fail and they don't even retry. This happens because they lack will power, faith in themselves and no more passion for work, in short, they lack perseverance.

We would like to share 2 examples. If we check the history of Indian freedom struggle, we find that it took continuous years' long attempts made by our freedom fighters. If we read life of great freedom fighters, we will find that these men had great power of Perseverance.

Einstein, as we all know, is a master of modern physics. He had great power of perseverance; for more than 18 years he just kept searching for answer of one question! He was many times asked, what is the secret of his genius. He used to say that he has practiced to stay longer with the problems!

Einstein or the freedom fighters did not emerge from Jupiter. They all were human like us. We have the same potential that they had, it's just that we need to explore our strength. And to do that, we need to practice perseverance.

Swami Vivekananda, the leader of the leaders, said that three things are necessary to be successful. "Purity, patience and perseverance" are all what we require, he said. If we follow this, we must reach our destination.

Forming Character should be our first and foremost aim

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:42:00 +0530

The crying need of the day, as we see in present world, is some good and honest humans. In our own country, we find so many corrupted people nowadays. Forget about the common people, the one ruling our country are most corrupted and dishonest. The net result we see is degradation of a generation, humiliation of a race, downfall of a country.

But we are not here to crib on the problems only! We know that our Govt. is useless, but that does not mean that we'll remain silent. If a resolution doesn't come, it must be brought. And we shall bring it, by creating a difference.

Let's solve this in Vivekananda style. According to Swami Vivekananda, the epoch-making world teacher, a solid character must be formed to break all difficulties. To quote His own words:

"Neither money pays, nor name, nor fame, nor learning, it is character that can cleave through adamantive walls of difficulties."

Indeed, yes, we need to form a firm character first. It is our character that will shape our thoughts and these thoughts will shape our actions in return. And it is obvious that our good action will contribute in making a good nation.

How to make good characters? There are many ways. Being with honest people, reading good books, respecting others, loving everyone; these would help to form a good character.

The best way has been directed by Swami Vivekananda Himself: "Character is repeated habits, and habits alone can reform character."

It means, in our day to day life, we have to form good habits. We must not think harm of anyone, come what may- this resolution has to be taken. If we find anyone doing anything wrong, we should assist him doing the correct thing, does not matter what he thinks. This should be the attitude.

A strong character can set a good example for thousand others. Swami Vivekananda is one such example. There are many. Why can't we set such examples?

We can build character and make a difference. Let's start the process, now, to make our planet better.

Strength is Life , Weakness is Death

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 14:30:00 +0530

Friends today we will try to understand the following Swamijis Quote:
"Let positive, strong, helpful thoughts enter into your brains from very childhood. Lay yourselves open to these thoughts, and not to weakening and paralysing ones."

Swamiji always hated weakness. Today many people are very weak minded, Why? In many cases from our childhood our parents, teachers, friends have told us, "See if you don't do this or if you do this, this and that will happen... " . This kind of treatment have made us weak. In some cases we believe in what others say about us regarding our weakness, before we do it in practice. So therefore Swamiji says , "Let positive , strong, helpful thoughts enter into your brains from childhood". We all have to live upon this positive and strong thoughts and never allow weakness to overcome our mind. Many people just keep brooding over weakness. Sitting at the corner and weeping will make no difference , this type of state will make one paralyzed. We don't want that, the remedy for that is to fill our brains day and night with positive thoughts. We can see in Life of Shivaji Maharaj how his Mother (Maa Saheb Jijaau) trained Shivaji from childhood . Also in case of Swamiji himself it was his Mother Bhuvaneshwari Devi who trained him. Swamiji says "I am indebted to my mother for the efflorescence of my knowledge." Now some may ask from where to get positive thoughts ? Answer is, in tons of ways. We can read inspirational and positive books, meditation, involving ourselves in good peaceful and positive atmosphere,etc. Best source of inspiration and positive thoughts you will get from Swami Vivekananda's teachings, Maa Sarada Devi's teachings and Sri Ramakrishna's teachings. I hope we also try to inject positive , strong thoughts in ourselves and also into others.

In a nutshell, we have to work in practice. We shouldn't just sit and think idle of a problem, because it won't help us. Let's face difficulties in the field of work and overcome the negatives.

The Man With a Burning Love For The Country

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:15:00 +0530

Here is a man with a great burning love for country.

Rare is seen such a man with such great and sincere love for his country. Let us give an example- Once when Swamiji was invited by someone in the West, he was given all the luxuries. Swamiji could not sleep on a luxurious bed thinking that his poor country men, how can they sleep on the floor? He said - "I call him a mahatman whose blood bleeds for the country otherwise he is a duratman."