All Power is in You - Swami Vivekananda

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All Power is in You - Swami Vivekananda

FAITH, faith, faith in ourselves, faith, faith in God – this is the secret of greatness. If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty millions of your mythological gods, and in all the gods which foreigners have now and again introduced into your midst, and still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you.

The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves. That faith calls out the divinity within. You can do anything. You fail only when you do not strive sufficiently to manifest infinite power. As soon as a man or a nation loses faith, death comes.

He is an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is the atheist who does not belief in himself.

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin – to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.

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 a thousand times, make the attempt once more.

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength.

Be strong, my young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Gita. 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.

This is the great fact: Strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery: Weakness is death.

To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. ‘I will drink the ocean, says the preserving soul, ‘at my will mountains will crumble up.’ Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you reach the goal.

Be not in despair; the way is very difficult, like walking on the edge of a razor; yet despair not, arise, awake, and find the ideal, the goal.

Let people say whatever they like, stick to your own convictions, and rest assured, the world will be at your feet. They say, ‘Have faith on that fellow’, but I say, ‘Have faith in yourself first’, that’s the way. Have faith in yourself – all power is in you – be conscious and bring it out.

Be of good cheer and believe that we are selected by the Lord to do great things, and we will do them.

Go and preach to all, ‘Arise, awake, sleep no more; within each of you there is the power to remove all wants and miseries. Believe this, and that power will be manifested.