Vivekananda Mailing List-12/10/02

[Guest guest]

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.