HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY

[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees of TBP,

 

Love and Love alone....

 

Here is the second part of the series on " Hints on Pracatical

Spirituality " of Sw. Vivekananda, which I received from a different

source. Please read, reflect and enjoy.

 

Love and love alone.....

 

P. Gopi Krsihan

 

=====

 

HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY

Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Thu May 10, 2007 10:46 pm (PST)

HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY - Swami Vivekananda

(Delivered at the Home of Truth, Los Angeles, California)

 

Then, you see that strength, power, and courage are things which are

very peculiar. We generally say, " A courageous man, a brave man, a

daring man " , but we must bear in mind that courage or bravery or any

other trait does not always characterise the man. The same man who

would rush to the mouth of a cannon shrinks from the knife of the

surgeon; and another man who never dares to face a gun will calmly

bear a severe surgical operation, if need be. Now, in judging others

you must always define your terms of courage or greatness. The man

whom I am criticising as not good may be wonderfully so in some

points in which I am not.

 

Take another example. You often note, when people are discussing as

to what man and woman can do, always the same mistake is made. They

think they show man at his best because he can fight, for instance,

and undergo tremendous physical exertion; and this is pitted against

the physical weakness and the non-combating quality of woman. This is

unjust. 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 one has developed the power of doing;

the other, the power of suffering. If woman cannot act, neither can

man suffer. The whole universe is one of perfect balance. I do not

know, but some day we may wake up and find that the mere worm has

something which balances our manhood. The most wicked person may have

some good qualities that I entirely lack. I see that every day of my

life. Look at the savage! I wish I had such a splendid physique! He

eats, he drinks, to his heart's content, without knowing perhaps what

sickness is, while I am suffering every minute. How many times would

I have been glad to have changed my brain for his body! The whole

universe is only a wave and a hollow; there can be no wave without a

hollow. Balance everywhere. You have one thing great, your neighbour

has another thing great. When you are judging man and woman, judge

them by the standard of their respective greatness. One cannot be in

other's shoes. The one has no right to say that the other is wicked.

It is the same old superstition that says, " If this is done, the

world will go to ruin. " But in spite of this the world has not yet

come to ruin. It was said in this country that if the Negroes were

freed, the country would go to ruin -- but did it? It was also said

that if the masses were educated, the world would come to ruin -- but

it was only made better. Several years ago a book came out depicting

the worst thing that could happen to England. The writer showed that

as workmen's wages were rising, English commerce was declining. A cry

was raised that the workmen in England were exorbitant in their

demands, and that the Germans worked for less wages. A commission was

sent over to Germany to investigate this and it was reported that the

German labourers received higher wages. Why was it so?

 

Because of the education of the masses. Then how about the world

going to ruin if the masses are educated? In India, especially, we

meet with old fogies all over the land. They want to keep everything

secret from the masses. These people come to the very satisfying

conclusion that they are the crème de la crème of this universe. They

believed they cannot be hurt by these dangerous experiments. It is

only the masses that can be hurt by them!

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 25 ]

 

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

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.

- Swami Vivekananda