Guest guest Posted March 11, 1999 Report Share Posted March 11, 1999 Words of Swami Vivekananda... Just transcribed by me. Enjoy... "How are we to know a teacher then? In the first place, the sun requires no torch to make it visible. We do not light a candle to see the sun. When the sun rises, we instinctively become aware of its rising; and when a teacher of men comes to help us, the soul will instinctively know that it has found the truth. Truth stands on its own evidences; it does not require any other testimony to attest it; it is self-effulgent. It penetrates into the inmost recesses of our nature, and the whole universe stands up and says, "This is Truth." "You must not criticize others; you must criticize YOURSELF. If you see a drunkard, do not criticize him; remember he is you in another shape. He who has not darkness sees no darkness in others. What you have inside you is that which you see in others. This is the surest way of reform. If the would-be reformers who criticize and see evil would themselves stop creating evil, the world would be better. Beat this idea into yourself." "There is no such thing as good and bad, they are not two different things; the same thing is good or bad, and the difference is only in degree. The very thing I call pleasurable today, tomorrow under better circumstances I may call pain. The fire that warms us can also consume us; it is not the fault of the fire. Thus, the Soul being pure and perfect, the man who does evil is giving the lie unto himself, he does not know the nature of himself. Even in the murderer the pure Soul is there; It dies not. It was his mistake; he could not manifest It; he had covered It up. Nor in the man who thinks that he is killed is the Soul killed; It is eternal." "We need to have three things; the heart to feel, the brain to conceive, the hand to work. First we must go out of the world and make ourselves fit instruments. Make yourself a dynamo. FEEL first for the world. At a time when all men are ready to work, where is the man of FEELING?... Test your love and humility. That man is not humble or loving who is jealous. Jealousy is a terrible, horrible sin; it enters a man so mysteriously. Ask yourself, does the mind react in hatred or jealousy? Good works are continually being undone by the tons of hatred and anger which are being poured out on the world. If you are pure, if you are strong, YOU, ONE MAN, are equal to the whole world." "Our principle should be love, and not compassion. The application of the word "compassion" even to jiva seems to me to be rash and vain. For us, it is not to pity but to serve. Ours is not the feeling of compassion but of love, and the feeling of Self in all." "Religion has no business to formulate social laws and insist on the difference between beings, because its aim and end is to obliterate all such fictions and monstrosities." "After every happiness comes misery; they may be far apart or near. The more advanced the soul, the more quickly does one follow the other. WHAT WE WANT IS NEITHER HAPPINESS NOR MISERY. Both make us forget our true nature; both are chains - one iron, one gold; behind both is the Atman, who knows neither happiness nor misery. These are STATES, and states must ever change; but the nature of the Soul is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have not to get it, we have it; only to wash away the dross and see it. Stand upon the Self, then only can we truly love the world. Take a very, very high stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all the PANORAMA of the world." "All that is real in me is He; all that is real in Him is I. The gulf between God and man is thus bridged. Thus we find how, by knowing God, we find the kingdom of heaven within us." "All search is vain, until we begin to perceive that knowledge is within ourselves, that no one can help us, that we must help ourselves." "Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy--by one or more or all of these-- and be free. This is the whole of religion. Docrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details." "Desire, ignorance, and inequality--this is the trinity of bondage." "But as a man sees his own face in a mirror, perfect, distinct, and clear, so is the Truth shining in the soul of man. The highest heaven, therefore, is in our own souls; the greatest temple of worship is the human soul." "We attend lectures and read books, argue and reason about God and soul, religion and salvation. These are not spirituality, because spirituality does not exist in books or in theories or in philosophies. It is not in learning or reasoning, but in actual inner growth. Even parrots can learn things by heart and repeat them. If you become learned, what of it? Asses can carry whole libraries. So when real light will come, there will be no more of this learning from books--no book-learning. The man who cannot write even his own name can be perfectly religious, and the man with all the libraries of the world in his head may fail to be. Learning is not a condition of spiritual growth; scholarship is not a condition. The touch of the guru, the transmittal of spiritual energy, will quicken your heart. Then will begin the growth. That is the real baptism by fire." ----- The CORE of Reality awaits you at: http://www.eskimo.com/~fewtch/ND/index.html - Poetry, Writings, Live Chat on spiritual topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 12, 1999 Report Share Posted March 12, 1999 Tim Gerchmez wrote: > > Tim Gerchmez <fewtch > > Words of Swami Vivekananda... Just transcribed by me. Enjoy... > > "How are we to know a teacher then? In the first place, the sun requires > no torch to make it visible. We do not light a candle to see the sun. > When the sun rises, we instinctively become aware of its rising; and when a > teacher of men comes to help us, the soul will instinctively know that it > has found the truth. Truth stands on its own evidences; it does not > require any other testimony to attest it; it is self-effulgent. It > penetrates into the inmost recesses of our nature, and the whole universe > stands up and says, "This is Truth." > > "You must not criticize others; you must criticize YOURSELF. If you see a > drunkard, do not criticize him; remember he is you in another shape. He > who has not darkness sees no darkness in others. What you have inside you > is that which you see in others. This is the surest way of reform. If the > would-be reformers who criticize and see evil would themselves stop > creating evil, the world would be better. Beat this idea into yourself." > > "There is no such thing as good and bad, they are not two different things; > the same thing is good or bad, and the difference is only in degree. The > very thing I call pleasurable today, tomorrow under better circumstances I > may call pain. The fire that warms us can also consume us; it is not the > fault of the fire. Thus, the Soul being pure and perfect, the man who does > evil is giving the lie unto himself, he does not know the nature of > himself. Even in the murderer the pure Soul is there; It dies not. It was > his mistake; he could not manifest It; he had covered It up. Nor in the > man who thinks that he is killed is the Soul killed; It is eternal." > > "We need to have three things; the heart to feel, the brain to conceive, > the hand to work. First we must go out of the world and make ourselves fit > instruments. Make yourself a dynamo. FEEL first for the world. At a time > when all men are ready to work, where is the man of FEELING?... Test your > love and humility. That man is not humble or loving who is jealous. > Jealousy is a terrible, horrible sin; it enters a man so mysteriously. Ask > yourself, does the mind react in hatred or jealousy? Good works are > continually being undone by the tons of hatred and anger which are being > poured out on the world. If you are pure, if you are strong, YOU, ONE MAN, > are equal to the whole world." > > "Our principle should be love, and not compassion. The application of the > word "compassion" even to jiva seems to me to be rash and vain. For us, it > is not to pity but to serve. Ours is not the feeling of compassion but of > love, and the feeling of Self in all." > > "Religion has no business to formulate social laws and insist on the > difference between beings, because its aim and end is to obliterate all > such fictions and monstrosities." > > "After every happiness comes misery; they may be far apart or near. The > more advanced the soul, the more quickly does one follow the other. WHAT > WE WANT IS NEITHER HAPPINESS NOR MISERY. Both make us forget our true > nature; both are chains - one iron, one gold; behind both is the Atman, who > knows neither happiness nor misery. These are STATES, and states must ever > change; but the nature of the Soul is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have > not to get it, we have it; only to wash away the dross and see it. Stand > upon the Self, then only can we truly love the world. Take a very, very > high stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect > calmness upon all the PANORAMA of the world." > > "All that is real in me is He; all that is real in Him is I. The gulf > between God and man is thus bridged. Thus we find how, by knowing God, we > find the kingdom of heaven within us." > > "All search is vain, until we begin to perceive that knowledge is within > ourselves, that no one can help us, that we must help ourselves." > > "Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity > within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by > work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy--by one or more or all > of these-- and be free. This is the whole of religion. Docrines, or > dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary > details." > > "Desire, ignorance, and inequality--this is the trinity of bondage." > > "But as a man sees his own face in a mirror, perfect, distinct, and clear, > so is the Truth shining in the soul of man. The highest heaven, therefore, > is in our own souls; the greatest temple of worship is the human soul." > > "We attend lectures and read books, argue and reason about God and soul, > religion and salvation. These are not spirituality, because spirituality > does not exist in books or in theories or in philosophies. It is not in > learning or reasoning, but in actual inner growth. Even parrots can learn > things by heart and repeat them. If you become learned, what of it? Asses > can carry whole libraries. So when real light will come, there will be no > more of this learning from books--no book-learning. The man who cannot > write even his own name can be perfectly religious, and the man with all > the libraries of the world in his head may fail to be. Learning is not a > condition of spiritual growth; scholarship is not a condition. The touch > of the guru, the transmittal of spiritual energy, will quicken your heart. > Then will begin the growth. That is the real baptism by fire." > > ----- > The CORE of Reality awaits you at: > http://www.eskimo.com/~fewtch/ND/index.html - > Poetry, Writings, Live Chat on spiritual topics. > > ------ > We are proud as punch of our new web site! > > Onelist: The leading provider of free email community services -- Enter The Silence to Know God ... and... accept life as the teacher. Gloria Joy Greco e-mail me at : lodpress and visit our homepages at: http://users.intercomm.com/larryn/ & http://www.freeyellow.com/members/zg888/ Hope you enjoy them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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