QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 54

What is the use of fighting and complaining? That will not help us to better things. He who grumbles at the little thing that has fallen to his lot to do, will grumble at everything. Always grumbling, he will lead a miserable life, and everything will be a failure. But that man who does his duty as he goes, putting his shoulder to the wheel, will see the light, and higher and higher duties will fall to his share.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 53

For the world can be good and pure, only if our lives are good and pure. It is an effect, and we are the means. Therefore, let us purify ourselves. Let us make ourselves perfect.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 52

I disagree with the idea that freedom is obedience to the law of nature. I do not understand what that means. According to history of human progress, it is disobedience to nature that has constituted that progress.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 51

Man begins to struggle and fight against nature. He makes many mistakes, he suffers. But eventually, he conquers nature and realizes his freedom. When he is free, nature becomes his slave.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 50

Unfortunately, in this life, the vast majority of persons are groping through this dark life without any ideal at all. If a man with an ideal makes a thousand mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal makes fifty thousand. Therefore, it is better to have an ideal.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 49

„Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die.‟ Be of good cheer and believe that we are selected by the Lord to do great things, and we will do them.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 48

Make your own future. „Let the dead past bury its dead.‟ The infinite future is before you, and you must always remember that each word, thought and deed lays up a store for you, and that as the bad thoughts and bad works are ready to spring upon like tigers, so also there is the inspiring hope that the good thoughts and good deeds are ready with the power of hundred thousand angels to defend you always and for ever.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 47

Say, „This misery that I am suffering is of my own doing, and that very thing proves that it will have to be undone by me alone.‟ That which I created, I can demolish; that which is created by someone else, I shall never be able to destroy. Therefore, stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within yourselves.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 46

Men in general lay all the blame of life on their fellowmen, or, failing that, on God, or they conjure up a ghost, and say it is fate. Where is fate, and who is fate? We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. None else has the blame, none has the praise. The wind is blowing; and those vessels whose sails are unfurled catch it, and go forward on their way, but those which have their sails furled do not catch the wind. Is the fault of the wind?

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 45

You have to grow from inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 44

All healthy social changes are the manifestations of the spiritual forces working within, and if these are strong and well adjusted. Society will arrange itself accordingly. Each individual has to work out his own salvation; there is no other way, and so also with nations. ….. It is very easy to point out the defects of institutions, all being more or less imperfect, but he is the real benefactor of humanity who helps the individual to overcome his imperfections under whatever institutions he may live. The individuals being raised, the nation and its institutions are bound to rise.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 43

This world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 42

Man is man, so long as he is struggling to rise above nature, and his nature is both internal and external. ……. And if we read the history of nations between the lines, we shall always find that the rise of a nation comes with an increase in the number of such men; and the fall begins when the pursuit after the Infinite, however vain the Utilitarian may call it, has ceased. That is to say, the mainspring of the strength of every race lies in its spirituality, and the death of that race begins the day that spirituality wanes and materialism gains ground.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 41

This human body is the greatest body in the universe, and the human being the greatest being. Man is higher than all animals, than all angels; none is greater than man.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 40

We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 39

What do I care if Mohammed was a good man, or Buddha! Does that alter my own goodness or evil? Let us be good for our own sake and our own responsibility! Not because somebody way back there was good!

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 38

How to attain purity living this life? Shall we all go to the forest caves? What good it would do? If the mind is not under control, it is no use living in a cave because the same mind will bring disturbances there. We will find twenty devils in the cave because all the devils are in mind. If the mind is under control, we can have the cave anywhere, wherever we are. It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in proper light.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 37

Whatever you do, devote your whole mind, heart and soul to it. I once met a great sannyasi, who cleansed his brass cooking utensils, making them shine like gold, with as much care and attention as he bestowed on his worship and meditation.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 36

In the history of mankind, you will find that there come Messengers, and that from their very birth there mission is found and formed. The whole plan is there, laid down; and you see them swerving not one inch from that. Because they come with a mission, they come with a message, ….. When they speak, each word is direct; it bursts like a bomb-shell. What is in the word, unless it has the Power behind? What matters is what language you speak, and how you arrange your language? What matters it whether you speak correct grammar or with fine rhetoric? What matters it whether your language is ornamental or not? The question is: Whether or not you have anything to give? It is a question of giving and taking, and not listening. Have you anything to give? – that is the first question. If you have, then, give.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 35

Good and evil thoughts are each a potent power, and they fill the universe. As vibration continues, so thought remains in the form of thought until translated into action. For example, force is latent in the arm until he strikes a blow, when he translates it into activity. We are the heirs of good and evil thought. If we make ourselves pure and the instruments of good thoughts, these will enter us. The good soul will not be receptive to evil thoughts.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 32

The main difference between men and the animals is the difference in their power of concentration. All success in any line of work is the result of this. ….. The difference in the power of concentration also constitutes the difference between man and man. Compare the lowest with the highest man. The difference is in the degree of concentration.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 34

What work you do except from the men of little hearts? Nothing in the world! You must have an iron will if you would cross the ocean. You must be strong enough to pierce mountains.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 33

Ninety percent of thought-force is wasted by the ordinary human being, therefore he is constantly committing blunders; the trained man or mind never makes a mistake.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 31

Free! We, who cannot, for a moment, govern our own minds, nay, cannot hold our minds on a subject, focus, it on a point to the exclusion of everything else, for a moment! Yet we call ourselves free. Think of it!.....The mind uncontrolled and unguided will drag us down, down, forever - rend us, kill us; and the mind controlled and guided will save us, free us.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 30

No force can be created; it can only be directed. Therefore, we must learn to control the grand powers that are already in our hands, and by will power make them spiritual, instead of animal. Thus it is clearly seen that chastity is the cornerstone of all morality and of all religions.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 29

How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but the concentration of the powers of mind? The world is ready to give 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. There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentration it is, the more power is brought to bean on one point; that is the secret.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 28

The more this power of concentration, the more knowledge is acquired, because this is the one and only method of acquiring knowledge. Even the lowest shoeblack, if he gives more concentration, will black shoes better; the cook with concentration will cook a meal all the better. In making money, or in worshipping God, or in doing anything, the better
the power of concentration, the better will that thing be done. This is the one call, the one knock, which opens the gates of nature, and lets out the floods of light.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 27

All the great prophets, saints, and the seers of the world – what did they do? In one span of life, they lived the whole life of humanity, traversed the whole length of time that it takes the ordinary humanity to come to perfection. In one life, they perfect themselves; they have no thought for anything else, never live a moment for any other idea, and thus the way is shortened for them. This is what is meant by concentration, intensifying the power of assimilation, thus shortening the time.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 26

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 alone. This is the way to success. ….. If we really want to be blessed, and make others blessed, we must go deeper.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 25

Stand up and fight! Not one step, back, that is the idea. Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the spheres! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards. Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all Gods in the world. Has miseries ceased? ….The Gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game. You are infinite, deathless, birthless. Because you are infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight!

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 24

Once when I was in Varanasi, I was passing through a place where there was a large tank of water on one side and high wall on the other. It was in the grounds where there were many monkeys. The monkeys of Varanasi are huge brutes and sometimes surly. They now took it into their heads not to allow me to pass through their street, so they howled and shrieked and clutched at my feet as I passed. As they pressed closer, I began to run, but the faster I ran, the faster came the monkeys, and they began to bite at me. It seemed impossible to escape, but just then I met a stranger who called to me, „Face the brutes‟. I turned and faced the monkeys, and they fell back and finally fled. That is the lesson for all life – face the terrible, face it boldly.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 23

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 in this fellow, or that fellow‟, but I say, „Have faith in yourself – all power is in you – be conscious and bring it out. Say, „I can do everything‟. „Even the poison of snake is powerless, if you can firmly deny it.‟

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 22

Why weepest thou, brother? There is neither death, nor disease for thee. Why weepest thou, brother? There is neither misery, nor misfortune for thee. Why weepest thou, brother? Neither change nor death was predicted of thee. Thou art Existence Absolute. …… Be your own self.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 21

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.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 20

Can anything be done unless everybody exerts himself to his utmost? „It is the man of action, the lion-heart that the Goddess of Wealth resorts to.‟ No need of looking behind. FORWARD! We want infinite energy, infinite zeal, infinite courage, and infinite patience, then, only will great things be achieved.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 19

Come, do something heroic, Brother, what if you do not attain mukti, what if you suffer damnation a few times? Is the saying untrue: „There are some saints who, full of holiness in thought, word, and deed, please the whole world by their numerous beneficent acts, and who develop their own hearts by magnifying an atom of virtue in others as if it were as great a mountain.‟

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 18

Death is better than a vegetating ignorant life; it is better to die on the battle-field than to live a life of defeat.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 17

Are not drums made in the country? Are not trumpets and kettle-drums available in India? Make the boys hear the deep-toned sound of these instruments. Hearing from boyhood the sound of these effeminate forms of music, …… the country is well-nigh converted into a country of women.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA 16

Men, men, these are wanted; everything else will be ready, but strong, vigorous, believing young men, sincere to the backbone, are wanted. A hundred such and the world become revolutionized.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA15

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

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA14

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

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA13

This is one question I put to every men…..Are you strong? Do you feel strength? – for I know it is the truth alone that gives strength…….Strength is the medicine for the world‟s disease.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA12

Be strong, my young friends, that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to heaven through football than through 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.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA11

If you look, you will find that I have never quoted anything but the Upnishads. And of the Upnishads, it is only that one idea, strength. The quintessence of the Vedas and Vedanta and all lies in that word.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA10

If there is one word you find coming like a bomb from the Upnishads, bursting like a bomb-shell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word, fearlessness.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA9

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength. Teach men of strength that is already within them.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA8

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.

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QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA7

Ye are the children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth – sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free blest and eternal.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA6

Never say, „No‟, never say, „I cannot‟, for you are infinite. Even time and space are as nothing compared with your nature. You can do anything and everything, you are almighty.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA5

Be free; hope for nothing from anyone. I am sure, if you look back upon your lives, you will find that you were always trying to get help from others, which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA4

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

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA3

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.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA2

The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves. That faith calls 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.

QUOTES FROM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA1

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 an atheist who does not believe in himself.

WHO CAN TELL?

TAKE the case of a patient. Nature has almost
cured him, when the physician prescribes a herb
and asks him to drink its juice. After taking the
medicine he is completely cured. Now, is the
patient cured by the medicine'? Or does he get well
by himself? Who can tell?
Lakshmana said to Lava and Kusa, "You are mere
children, you don't know Rama's power. At the
touch of His feet, Ahalya31, who had been turned
into a stone, got back her human form." Lava and
Kusa said, "Revered sir, we know that! We have
heard the story, The stone became Ahalya because
of the power of the holy man's words. The sage
Gautama said to her: 'In the Tretayuga, Rama will
pass this hermitage. You will become a human
being again at the touch of His feet."
Now, who can tell whether the miracle happened
in order that the sage's words should be fulfilled or
on account of Rama's holiness?

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THAT?

ONE must believe in the Divine Presence in the
image.
Once I went to Vishnupur. The Raja of that place
has several fine temples. In one of them there is an
image of the Divine Mother, called Mrinmayi.
There are several lakes near the temple, known as
the Lalbandh, Krishnabandh, and so on. In the
water of one of the lakes I could smell the
ointments that women use for their hair. How do
you explain that? I didn't know at that time that the
woman devotees offer ointments to the Goddess
Mrinmayi while visiting Her temple. Near the lake I
went into samadhi, though I had not yet seen the
image in the temple. In that state I saw the divine
form from the waist up, rising from the water.

WHEN GOD LAUGHS

GOD laughs on two occasions. He laughs when
the physician says to the patient's mother, "Don't
be afraid, mother, I shall certainly cure your boy."
God laughs saying to Himself, "I am going to take
his life, and this man says he will save it!" The
physician thinks he is the master, forgetting that
God is the Master. God laughs again when two
brothers divide their land with a string, saying to
each other, "This side is mine, that side is yours."
He laughs and says to Himself, "The universe
belongs to Me, but they say they own this portion
or that portion,"

WHY NOT THROUGH A MAN?

IT is God Himself who plays about as human
beings. If God can be worshipped through a clay
image why not through a man?
Once a merchant was shipwrecked. He floated to
the shore of Ceylon, where Vibhishana was the
king of the monsters. Vibhishana ordered his
servants to bring the merchant to him. At the sight
of him Vibhishana was overwhelmed with joy and
said: "Ah! He looks like my Rama. The same
human form!" He adorned the merchant with
robes and jewels, and worshipped him. When I
first heard this story, 1 felt such joy that I cannot
describe it.

AN INTERESTING INCIDENT!

PADMALOCHAN was a man of deep wisdom.
He had great respect for me, though at that time I
constantly repeated the name of the Divine
Mother. He was the court pandit of the Maharaja
of Burdwan. Once he came to Calcutta and went
to live in a garden house near Kamarhati. I felt a
desire to see him and sent Hriday there to learn if
the pandit had any vanity, I was told that he had
none. Then I met him. Though a man of great
knowledge and scholarship, he began to weep on
hearing me sing Ramprasad's devotional songs. We
talked together a long while; conversation with
nobody else gave me such satisfaction.
Padmalochan told me an interesting incident. Once
a meeting was called to decide which of the two
deities, Siva or Brahma, was the greater, and unable
to come to any decision, the pandits at last referred
the matter to Padmalochan. With characteristic
guilelessness he said: "How do I know? Neither I
nor any of my ancestors back to the fourteenth
generation have seen Siva or Brahma!"

INSCRUTABLE ARE THE WAYS OF GOD

How can we understand the ways of God through
our small intellects?
As Bhishma lay dying on his bed of arrows, the
Pandava brothers and Krishna stood around him.
They saw tears flowing from the eyes of the great
hero. Arjuna said to Krishna: "Friend, how
surprising it is! Even such a man as our grandsire
Bhishma - truthful, self-restrained, supremely wise
and one of the eight Vasus - weeps through Maya,
at the hour of death." Sri Krishna asked Bhishma
about it. Bhishma replied: "O Krishna, You know
very well that this is not the cause of my grief. 1 am
thinking that there is no end to the Pandavas'
sufferings, though God Himself is their charioteer,
A thought like this makes me feel that 1 have
understood » nothing of the ways of God, and so I
weep."

KA! KA! KA!

THERE was a pundit who was tremendously vain.
He did not believe in the forms of God. But who
can understand the inscrutable ways of the Divine?
God revealed Himself to him as the Primal Power.
The vision made the pundit unconscious for a long
time.
After regaining partial consciousness he uttered
only the sound 'Ka! Ka! Ka!' He could not fully
pronounce 'Kali'.

A PEACOCK THAT TASTED OPIUM

A MAN once fed a peacock with a pill of opium at
four o'clock in the afternoon. The next day, exactly
at that lime, the peacock came back. It had felt the
intoxication of the drug and returned just in time
to have another dose.
Similarly, a devotee who had the good fortune to
meet the Master felt an uncontrollable desire to
meet him again and again.

THE LURE OF DIVINE LILA

AFTER the destruction of Ravana at Rama's
hands, Nikasha, Ravana's mother, began to run
away for fear of her life. Lakshmana' said to Rama:
"Revered brother, please explain this strange thing
to me. This Nikasha is an old woman who has
suffered a great deal from the loss of her many
sons, and yet she is so afraid of losing her own life
that she is taking to her heels!" Rama bade her
come near, gave her assurance of safety, and asked
her why she was running away. Nikasha answered
"O Rama, I am able to witness all this lila of Yours
because I am still alive. I want to live longer so that
I may see the many more things You will do on
this earth."

ALL ELSE IS UNREAL

THE truth is that God alone is real and all else is
unreal. Men, universe, house, children—all these
are like the magic of the magician. The magician
strikes his wand and says: "Come delusion! Come
confusion!" Then he says to the audience, "Open
the lid of the pot; see the birds fly into the sky."
But the magician alone is real and his magic unreal.
The unreal exists for a second and then vanishes.
Siva was seated in Kailas. His companion Nandi
was near Him. Suddenly a terrific noise arose.
"Revered sir," asked Nandi "what does that mean?"
Siva said: "Havana is born. That is the meaning!" A
few moments later another terrific noise
was heard. "Now what is this noise?" Nandi
asked. Siva said with a smile, "Ravana is dead."
Birth and death are like magic. You see the magic
for a second and then it disappears. God alone is
real and all else unreal. Water alone is real; its
bubbles appear and disappear. They disappear into
the very water from which they rise.

GOD IS UNDER THE CONTROL OF HTS DEVOTEES

 SOME Sikhs said to me in front of the Kali
temple, "God is compassionate". I said, "To
whom is he compassionate?" '"Why revered sir, to
all of us", said the Sikhs. I said: "We are His
children. Does compassion to one's own children
mean much? A father must look after his children;
or do you expect the people of the neighbourhood
to bring them up? Well, won't those who say that
God is compassionate ever understand that we are
God's children and not someone else's?"
Should we not, then, address God as
compassionate? Of course we should, as long as
we practise sadhana. After realizing God, one
rightly feels that God is our Father or Mother. As
long as we ha\e not realized God, we feel that we
are far away from Him, children of someone else.
During the stage of sadhana one should describe
God by all His attributes. One day Hazra said to
Narendra: "God is Infinity. Infinite is His
splendour. Do you think He will accept your
offerings of sweets and bananas or listen to your
 music? This is a mistaken notion of yours."
Narendra at once sank ten fathom. So I said to
Hazra, "You villain! Where will these youngsters be
if you talk to them like that?" How can a man live
if he gives up devotion? No doubt God has infinite
splendour; yet He is under the control of His
devotees. A rich man's gate keeper comes to the
parlour where his master is seated with his friends.
He stands on one side of the room. In his hand he
has something covered with a cloth. He is very
hesitant, The master asks him, "Well, gatekeeper,
what have you in your hand?" Very hesitantly the
servant takes out a custard-apple from under the
cover, places it in front of his master, and says,
"Sir, it is my desire that you eat this," The master is
impressed by his servant's devotion. With great
love he takes the fruit in his hand and says: "Ah!
This is a very nice custard-apple. Where did you
pick it? You must have taken a great deal of
trouble to get it."
God is under the control of His devotees. King
Duryodhana was very attentive to Krishna and said
to Him, "Please have your meal here." But the
Lord went to Vidura's hut. He was very fond of
His devotee. He ate Vidura's simple rice and greens
as if they were celestial food.

NATURE OF GOD

GOD has the nature of a child.
A child is sitting with gems in the skirt of his cloth.
Many a person passes by him along the road. Many
of them pray to him for gems. But he hides the
gems with his hands and says turning away his face,
"No I will not give any away." But another man
comes along. He does not ask for the gems, and
yet the child runs after him and offers him the
gems, begging him to accept them.

TO HIM THESE ARE MERE DUST AND STRAW

ONCE a thief broke into the temple of Vishnu and
robbed the image of its jewels. Mathur Babu and I
went to the temple to sec what was the matter.
Addressing the image, Mathur said bitterly: "What
a shame, Lord! You are so worthless! The thief
took all the ornaments from your body, and You
couldn't do a thing about it?"
Thereupon I said to Mathur: "Shame on you! How
improper your words are! To God, the jewels you
talk so much about are only lumps of clay,
Lakshmi, the goddess of Fortune, is His consort.
Do you mean to say that He should spend
sleepless nights because a thief has taken your few

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM

ONE day in course of a conversation about God,
Mathur Babu observed, "God too must abide by
his own laws, He has no power to transcend
them." "What an absurd proposition!", I exclaimed,
"One who has made a law can repeal it at pleasure
or make a new law in its place."
'"How can that be?" said Mathur. "A plant that
produces only red flowers cannot produce flowers
of any other colour,—white, for instance, for such
is the law.
1 should like to see God produce white flowers
from a plant bearing only red flowers," "That too
He can do," answered I "for everything depends
on His will." Mathur was not convinced. The next
day, while taking a stroll in the temple garden I
came across a china-rose plant with two flowers on
the same stalk, one of which was red and the other
snow-white. I broke off the branch to show it to
Mathur, who felt highly surprised at the sight of it
and exclaimed, "Father, I will never more argue a
point with thee!"

THUS SAW ARJUNA

ACCORDING to the Jnani there is no Incarnation
of God, Krishna said to Arjuna, "You speak of Me
as an Incarnation of God. Let Me show you
something. Come with Me." Arjuna had followed
Sri Krishna a short distance, when Sri Krishna
asked him, "What do you see there?" Arjuna
replied, "A big tree with black berries hanging in
bunches." Krishna said, "Those are not black
berries. Go nearer and look at them." Arjuna went
nearer and saw that they were Krishnas hanging in
bunches. "Do you see now", said Krishna "how
many Krishnas like Me have grown there?"

SHE CAME AND WENT AWAY

BY the roadside on the way to Kamarpukur is
Ranjit Raya's lake. Bhagavati the Divine Mother,
was born as his daughter. Even now people hold
an annual festival there in the month of Chaitra, in
honour of this divine daughter.
Ranjit Raya was the landlord of that part of the
country. Through the power of his tapasya he
obtained the Divine Mother as his daughter. He
was very fond of her, and she too was much
attached to him; she hardly left his presence. One
day Ranjit Raya was engaged in the duties of his
estate. He was very busy. The girl, with her
childlike nature, was constantly interrupting him,
saying: "Father, what is this? What is that?" Ranjit
Raya tried, with sweet words, to persuade her not
to disturb him, and said: "My child, please leave me
alone. I have much work to do." But the girl
would not go away. At last absent-mindedly, the
father said, "Get out of here!" On this pretext she
left home. A pedlar of conch-shell articles was
going along the road. From him she took a pair of
bracelets for her wrists. When he asked for the
price, she said that he could get the money from a
certain box in her home. Then she disappeared.
Nobody saw her again. In the meantime the pedlar
came to the house and asked for the price of his
bracelets. When she was not to be found at home,
her relatives began to run about looking for her.
Ranjit Raya sent people in all directions to search
for her. The money owed to the pedlar was found
in the box, as she had indicated. Ranjit Raya was
weeping bitterly, when people came running to him
and said that they had noticed something in the
lake. They all ran there and saw an arm, with
conch-shell bracelets on the wrist, being waved
above the water. A moment afterwards it
disappeared. Even now people worship her as the
Divine Mother at the time of the annual festival
By dint of austerity, a man may obtain God as his
son. God reveals Himself in many ways;
sometimes as man, sometimes in other divine
forms made of spirit.

FEW, VERY FEW ARE THEY

A RICH man said to his servant: "Take this
diamond to the market and let me know how
different people price it. Take it, first of all, to the
egg-plant seller." The servant took the diamond to
the egg-plant seller. He examined it, turning it over
in the palm of his hand, and said, "Brother, I can
give nine seers of egg-plant, for it." "Friend," said
the servant, "a little more say, ten seers." The eggplant
seller replied: "No, I have already quoted
above the market price. You may give it to me if
that price suits you." The servant laughed. He
went back to his master and said: "Sir, he would
give me only nine seers of egg-plants and not one
more. He said he had offered more than the
market price." The master smiled and said:
"Now take it to the cloth dealer. The other man
deals only in egg plants. What does he know
about a diamond? The cloth-dealer has a little
more capital. Let us see how much he offers for
it." The servant went to the cloth dealer and said:
"Will you buy this? How much will you pay for
it?" The merchant said: "Yes, it is a good thing.
I can make a nice ornament out of it. I will give
you nine hundred rupees for it." "Brother," said
the servant, "offer a little more and J will sell it to
you. Give me at least a thousand rupees." The
cloth-dealer said: "Friend, don't press me for
more. I have offered more than the market price.
I cannot give a rupee more. Suit yourself."
Laughing, the servant returned to his master and
said: "He won't give a rupee more than nine
hundred. He too said he had quoted above the
market price." The master said with a laugh:
"Now take it to a jeweller, Let us see what he has
to say." The servant went to the jeweller. The
jeweller glanced at the diamond and said at once, "I
will give you one hundred thousand rupees for it."
One offers a price for an article according to one's
capital. Can all comprehend the Indivisible
Satchidananda? Only twelve rishis could recognize
Ramachandra. All cannot recognise an Incarnation
of God. Some take him for an ordinary man, some
for a holy person, and only a few recognise him as
an Incarnation.

STRIP NAME AND FORM AND LOOK BEYOND

ONCE a sadhu placed his disciple in a magnificent
garden with the intention of imparting to him the
knowledge of the real Self and went away. After a
few clays he came back and asked the disciple, "Do
you feel any want, my boy?" On being answered in
the affirmative, he left with him a fair woman
named Shyarna, and advised him to take fish and
meat freely. After a considerable time he came
again and asked the same question as before. This
time the disciple replied, "No, I have no want,
thank you". The sadhu then called both the disciple
and Shyama to him and pointing to Shyama's
hands, asked the disciple, "Can you tell me what
these are?" "Why, these are Shyama's hands",
replied the disciple. He put the same question
several times, pointing to Shyama's eyes, nose, and
other parts of the body, and the disciple gave
appropriate answers. Presently the idea struck the
disciple, "I am talking of everything as Shyama's
'this' and Shyama's 'that'. What then is this
Shyaraa?" Bewildered, he asked his Guru the
question, "But who is this Shyama to whom belong
these eyes, ears and the rest?" The sadhu said, ''If
you wish to know who this Shyama is, come with
me, and I will enlighten you". So saying, he
revealed to him the secret.

GOD ALONE HAS BECOME ALL THINGS

AT one time Rama was overpowered by the spirit
of renunciation. Dasaratha, worried at this, went to
the sage Vasistha and begged him to persuade
Rama not to give up the world. The sage came to
Rama and found him in a gloomy mood. The fire
of intense renunciation had been raging in the
Prince's mind. Vasistha said: "Rama, why should
you renounce the world? Is the world outside
God? Reason with me." Rama realized that the
world had evolved from the supreme Brahman. So
he said nothing.

HOW A MONK KNEW THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD

A certain monk went to the temple of Jagannath at
Puri. He had doubts as to whether God is with
form or without form. When he saw the holy
image, he desired to examine it and settle his
doubt. He passed his staff from the left to the right
in order to feel if it touched the image. For a time,
he could not see anything or feel anything with the
staff. So he decided that God was without form.
When he was about to pass the staff from the right
to the left, it touched the image.
So the monk decided that God is both with form
and without form.

WHAT THE DIVINE MOTHER REVEALED TO ME

Do you know where those who speak of the
formless God make their mistake? It is where
they say that God is formless only, and that those
who differ from them .are wrong.
But I know God is both with and without form.
And he may have many more aspects. It is possible
for Him to be everything.
The Chitsakti, Mahamaya, has become the twenty
four cosmic principles. One day as I was
meditating, my mind wandered away to Rashke's
house. He is a scavenger. I said to my mind, 'Stay
there, you rogue!'
The Divine Mother revealed to me that the men
and women in this house were mere masks; inside
them was the same Divine Power, Kundalini that
rises up through the six spiritual centres of the
body.

MAN WITH A TUB OF DYE

NATURALLY the doubt arises in the mind: if
God is formless, how then can He have form?
Further, if He has a form, why does He have so
many forms?
These things do not become clear until one has
realized God. He assumes different forms and
reveals Himself in different ways for the sake of
His devotees.
A man kept a solution of dye in a tub. Many people
came to him to have their clothes dyed. He would
ask a customer, "What colour should you like to
have your cloth dyed?" If the customer wanted red,
then the man would dip the cloth in the tub and
say, "Here is your cloth dyed red." ff another
customer wanted his cloth dyed yellow, the man
would dip his cloth in the same tub and say, "Here
is your cloth dyed yellow." If a customer wanted
his cloth dyed blue, the man would dip it in the
same tub and say, "Here is your cloth dyed blue."
Thus he would dye the clothes of his customers
different colours, dipping them all in the same
solution. One of the customers watched all this
with amazement. The man asked him, "Well! What
colour do you want for your cloth?" The customer
said, "Brother, dye my cloth the colour of the dye
in your tub."

THE CHAMELEON

ONCE a man entered a wood and saw a small
animal on a tree. He came back and told another
man that he had seen a creature of a beautiful red
colour on a certain tree. The second man replied:
"When f went into the wood, I also saw that
animal. But why do you call it red? It is green."
Another man who was present contradicted them
both and insisted that it was yellow. Presently
others arrived and contended that it was grey,
violet, blue, and so forth and so on. At last they
started quarrelling among themselves. To settle the
dispute they all went to the tree. They saw a man
sitting under it. On being asked, he replied: *'Yes, I
live under this tree and I know the animal very
well. All your descriptions are true. Sometimes it
appears red, sometimes yellow, and at other times
blue, violet, grey and so forth- It is a chameleon.
And sometimes it has no colour at all. Now it has
a colour, and now it has none."
In like manner, one who constantly thinks of God
can know His real nature; he alone knows that
God reveals Himself to seekers in various forms
and aspects. God has attributes; then again He has
none. Only the man who lives under the tree
knows that the chameleon can appear in various
colours, and he knows further that the animal at
times has no colour at all. It is the others who
suffer from the agony of futile argument.

ALL PURE SPIRIT

ALL doubts disappear when one sees God. It is
one thing to hear of God, but quite a different
thing to see Him. A man cannot have one hundred
per cent conviction through mere hearing. But if
he beholds God face to face, then he is wholly
convinced.
Formal worship drops away after the vision of
God. It was thus that my worship in the temple
came to an end. I used to worship the deity in the
Kali Temple. It was suddenly revealed to me that
everything is Pure Spirit. The utensils of worship,
the altar, the door-frame - all Pure Spirit. Then like
a mad man I began to shower flowers in all
directions. Whatever I saw I worshipped

HE EATS, YET EATS NOT

ONCE Vyasadeva was about to cross the Jamuna.
The gopis also were there. They wanted to go to
the other side of the river to sell curd, milk, and
cream. But there was no ferry at that time. They
were all worried about how to cross the river,
when Vyasa said to them, "I am very hungry." The
milkmaids fed him with milk and cream. He
finished almost all their food. Then Vyasa said to
the river, "O Jamuna, if I have not eaten anything,
then your waters will part and we shall walk
through." It so happened. The river parted and a
pathway was formed between the waters.
Following that path, the gopis and Vyasa crossed
the river.
Vyasa had said, "If I have not eaten anything."
That means, the real man is Pure Atman. Atman is
unattached and beyond Prakriti. It has neither
hunger nor thirst; It knows neither birth nor death;
It does not age, nor does It die. It is immutable as
Mount Sumeru.

AN ANT WENT TO A SUGAR HILL

MEN often think they have understood Brahman
fully.
Once, an ant went to a sugar hill. One grain filled
its stomach. Taking another grain in its mouth it
started homeward. On its way it thought, "Next
time I shall carry home the whole hill."
That is the way shallow minds think. They don't
know that Brahman is beyond one's words and
thought, However great a man may be, how much
can he know of Brahman? Sukadeva and sages like
him may have been big ants; but even they at the
utmost could carry eight or ten grains of sugar!

'BEHOLD, O KING! BEHOLD'

ONCE, a king asked a yogi to impart Knowledge
to him in one word. The yogi said, "All right; you
will get knowledge in one word." After a while a
magician came to the king. The king saw the
magician moving two of his lingers rapidly and
heard him exclaim, "Behold, O king, Behold." The
king looked at him amazed when, after a few
minutes, he saw the two lingers becoming one. The
magician moved that one finger rapidly and said,
"Behold, O king! Behold."
The implication of the story is that Brahman and
the Primal Energy at first appear to be two. But
after attaining knowledge of Brahman one does not
see the two. Then there is no differentiation; it is
One, without a second—Advaita—non-duality.

WHEN FACE TO FACE

WHERE the mind attains peace by practising the
discipline of 'Neti, neti', there Brahman is.
The king dwells in the inmost room of the palace,
which has seven gates. The visitor comes to the
first gate. There he sees a lordly person with a large
retinue, , surrounded on all sides by pomp and
grandeur. The visitor asks his companion, "Is he
the king?" "No", says his friend with a smile.
At the second and other gates he repeats the same
question to his friend. He finds that the nearer he
comes to the inmost part of the palace, the greater
is the glory, pomp, and grandeur. When he passes
the seventh gate he does not ask his companion
whether it is the king; he stands speechless at the
king's immeasurable glory. He realizes that he is
face to face with the king. He hasn't the slightest
doubt about it.

THE KING AND THE MAGICIAN

As you go nearer to God you see less and less of
His upadhis, His attributes. A devotee at first may
see the Deity as the ten-armed Divine Mother;
when he goes nearer, he sees her possessed of six
arms; still nearer, he sees the Deity as the twoarmed
Gopala. The nearer he comes to the Deity,
the fewer attributes he 5-ees. At last, when he
comes into the presence of (he Deity, he sees only
Light without any attribute, Listen a little to the
Vedantic reasoning. A magician came to a king to
show his magic. When the magician moved away a
little, the king saw a rider on horse-back
approaching him. He was brilliantly arrayed and
had various weapons in his hands. The king and
the audience began to reason out what was real in
the phenomenon before them. Evidently the horse
was not real, nor the robes nor the armours. At last
they found out beyond the shadow of a doubt that
the rider alone was there. The significance of this is
that Brahman alone is real and the world unreal.
Nothing whatsoever remains if you analyse.

NEITHER 'YES' NOR 'NO'!

THE husband of a young girl has come to his
father-in-law's house and is seated in the drawingroom
with other young men of his age. The girl
and her friends are looking at them through the
window. Her friends do not know her husband
and ask her, pointing to one young man, "Is that
your husband?" "No," she answers, smiling. They
point to another young man and ask if he is her
husband. Again she answers, "No." They repeat
the question, referring to a third, and she gives the
same answer. At last they point to her husband and
ask, "Is he the one?" She says neither yes nor no
but only smiles and keeps quiet. Her friends realize
that he is her husband.
One becomes silent on realising the true nature of
Brahman.

WHERE SILENCE IS ELOQUENT AND SPEECH DOTH FALTER

A MAN had two sons. The father sent them to a
preceptor to learn the knowledge of Brahman.
After a few years they returned from their
preceptor's house and bowed low before their
father. Wanting to measure the depth of their
knowledge of Brahman, he first questioned the
older of the two boys. "My child," he said "you
have studied all the scriptures. Now, tell me, what
is the nature of Brahman?" The boy began to
explain Brahman by reciting various texts from the
Vedas. The father did not say anything. Then he
asked the younger son the same question. But the
boy remained silent and stood with eyes cast down.
No word escaped his lips. The father was pleased
and said to him: "My child, you have understood a
little of Brahman. What It is cannot be expressed
in words."

A SALT DOLL WENT TO FATHOM THE OCEAN

ONCE, a salt doll went to measure the depth of
the ocean. It wanted to tell others how deep the
water was. But this it could never do, for no
sooner did it get into the water than it melted.
Now, who was there to report the ocean's depth?
What Brahman is cannot be described. In samadhi
one attains the knowledge of Brahman—one
realises Brahman. In that state reasoning stops
altogether, and man becomes mute. He has no
power to describe the nature of Brahman.

EQUAL VISION IS THE FIRST AND LAST SIGN OF RENUNCIATION

A HUSBAND and wife renounced the world and
together undertook a pilgrimage to various holy
shrines. Once, as they were walking along a road,
the husband, who was a little ahead of the wife,
saw a piece of diamond on the road. Immediately
he began to scratch the ground to hide the
diamond in it, thinking that if his wife saw it
perchance she might be moved to avarice, and thus
lose the merit of renunciation. While he was thus
scratching the ground, the wife came up and asked
him what he was doing. He gave her, in an
apologetic tone, an evasive .reply. She, however,
finding out the diamond and reading his thoughts
remarked, "Why did you leave the world if you
still feel the distinction between the diamond
and dust?"

A GHOST SOUGHT A COMPANION

A GHOST sought a companion. It is said that a
man who dies on a Saturday or Tuesday becomes a
ghost, Therefore, whenever the ghost saw anybody
fall from a roof or stumble and faint on the road
on either side of those days, he would run to him,
hoping that the man, through an accidental death,
would become a ghost and be his companion. But
such was his ill luck that everyone revived. The
poor thing could not get a companion.
It is very difficult to find a person who has totally
renounced the world.

WHEN RENUNCIATION BECOMES THE LIFE-BREATH

No Spiritual progress is possible without the
renunciation of 'woman and gold'. I renounced
these three; land, wife and wealth. Once I went to
the Registry office to register some land, the title of
which was in the name of Raghuvir28. The officer
asked me to sign my name; but I did not do it
because I couldn't feel that it was 'my' land. I was
shown much respect as the guru of Keshab Sen.
They presented me with mangoes, but I couldn't
carry them home. A Sannyasi cannot lay things up.
How can one expect to attain God without
renunciation? Suppose one thing is placed upon
another; how can you get the second without
removing the first? (

EVEN IF YOU WISH TO RENOUNCE THE WORLD

MAN cannot renounce the world even if he
wishes, because he is thwarted by the karmas that
are bearing fruit in the present birth and by the
impressions of previous actions left on the mind
{Prarabdha and Samskara).
Once a Yogi asked a king to sit down near him and
meditate upon God. To him the King replied, "No,
Sir, it cannot be. I can remain near you, but still the
thirst for worldly enjoyment will be with me. If I
remain in this forest, perhaps there will arise a
kingdom within it, as I am still destined to enjoy."

THE KING AND THE PANDIT

THERE was a king who used daily to hear the
Bhagavata recited by a pandit. Every day, after
explaining the sacred book, the pandit would say to
the king, "O King, have you understood what I
have said?" And every day the king would reply,
"You had better understand it first yourself." The
pandit would return home and think; "Why does
the king talk to me that way day after day? I explain
the texts to him so clearly, and he says to me, “you
had better understand it first yourself”. What does
he mean?" The pandit used to practise spiritual
discipline. A few days later he came to realise that
God alone is real and everything else - house,
family, wealth, friends, name, and fame - illusory.
Convinced of the unreality of the world, he
renounced it. As he left home he asked a man to
take this message to the king: "O king, I now
understand." (

AS YOU GO FROM NEAR TO NEARER

A MUSSALMAN, while saying his prayers,
shouted: "O Allah! O Allah!" Another person said
to him: "You are calling on Allah. That's all right.
But why are you shouting like that? Don't you
know that He hears the sound of the anklets on the
feet of an ant?"
When the mind is united with God, one sees him
very near, in one's own heart. But you must
remember one thing. The more you realize this
unity, the farther your mind is withdrawn from
worldly things. There is the story of Vilwamangal
in the Bhaktamala. He used to visit a prostitute.
One night he was very late in going to her house.
He had been detained at home by the Sraddha
ceremony of his father and mother. In his hands he
was carrying the food offered in the ceremony, to
feed his mistress. His whole soul was so set upon
the woman that he was not at all conscious of his
movements.
He did not even know how he was walking. There
was a Yogi seated on the path, meditating on God
with his eyes closed. Vilwamangal stepped on him.
The yogi became angry, and cried out: "What? Are
you blind? I have been thinking of God and you
step on my body!" "I beg your pardon" said
Vilwamangal, "but may I ask you something? I
have been unconscious, thinking of a prostitute,
and you are conscious of the outer world though
thinking of God. What kind of meditation is that?"
In the end Vilwamangal renounced the world and
went away in order to worship God. He said to the
prostitute: 'You are my Guru. You have taught me
how one should yearn for God." He addressed the
prostitute as his mother and gave her up.

HOLD HARD YOUR SPADE

AT one time there was a drought in a certain part
of the country. The formers began to cut long
channels to bring water to their fields. One fanner
was stubbornly determined. He took a vow that he
would not stop digging until the channel connected
his field with the river. He set to work. The time
came for his bath, and his wife sent their daughter
to him with oil. "Father," said the girl, "it is already
late. Rub your body with oil and take your bath."
"Go away," thundered the farmer. "I have too
much to do now." It was past midday and the
farmer was still at work in his field. He didn't even
think of his bath. Then his wife came and said:
"Why haven't you taken your bath? The food is
getting cold. You overdo everything. You can
finish the rest tomorrow or even today after
lunch." The farmer scolded her furiously and ran at
her, spade in hand, crying: "What! Have you no
sense? There's no rain. The crops are dying.
What will the children eat? You'll all starve to
death. I have taken a vow not to think of bath and
food today before I bring water to my field." The
wife saw his state of mind and ran away in fear.
Through a whole day's backbreaking labour the
farmer managed by evening to connect his field
with the river. Then he sat down and watched the
water flowing into his field with a murmuring
sound. His mind was filled with peace and joy. He
went home, called his wife and said to her, "Now
give me some oil and prepare a smoke." With
serene mind he finished his bath and meal, and
retired to bed, where he snored to his heart's
content. The determination he showed is an
example of strong renunciation.
Now, there was another farmer who was also
digging a channel to bring water to his field. His
wife, too, came to the field and said to him, "It's
very late. Come home. It is not necessary to
overdo things." The farmer did not protest much,
but put aside his spade and said to his wife, "Well I
will go home since you ask me to." That man could
never succeed in irrigating his field. This is the case
of mild renunciation.

A BAHURUPI IMPERSONATING SIVA

A Bahurupi disguised himself as Siva and visited a
house. The master of the house wanted to give him
a rupee, but he did not accept it. Then the
mendicant went home, removed his disguise, came
back to the gentle man, and asked for the rupee.
"Why didn't you accept it before?" he was asked.
He said: "I was impersonating Siva, a sannyasi. I
couldn't touch money at that time."

HARD ARE THE RULES FOR A SANNYASI

THE Rules for a sannyasin are extremely hard. He
cannot have the slightest contact with 'woman and
gold'. He must not accept money with his own
hands, and he must not even allow it to be left near
him.
Lakshminarayan Marwari, a Vedantist, used to
come here26 very often. One day he saw a dirty
sheet on my bed and said: "I shall invest ten
thousand rupees in your name. The interest will
enable you to pay your expenses." The moment he
uttered these words, I fell unconscious, as if struck
by a stick. Regaining consciousness I said to him:
"If you utter such words again, you had better not
come here. It is impossible for me to touch money.
It is also impossible for me to keep it near me." He
was a very clever fellow. He said: "Then you too
have the idea of acceptance and rejection. In that

case you haven't attained Perfect Knowledge." "My
dear sir," I said, "I haven't gone that far."
Lakshminarayan then wanted to leave the money
with Hriday. I said to him: "That will not do. If you
leave it with Hriday, then I shall instruct him to
spend it as I wish. If he does not comply, I shall be
angry. The very contact of money is bad. No, you
can't leave it with Hriday, Won't an object kept
near a mirror be reflected in it?"

EQUAL VISION IS THE FIRST AND LAST SIGN OF RENUNCIATION

A HUSBAND and wife renounced the world and
together undertook a pilgrimage to various holy
shrines. Once, as they were walking along a road,
the husband, who was a little ahead of the wife,
saw a piece of diamond on the road. Immediately
he began to scratch the ground to hide the
diamond in it, thinking that if his wife saw it
perchance she might be moved to avarice, and thus
lose the merit of renunciation. While he was thus
scratching the ground, the wife came up and asked
him what he was doing. He gave her, in an
apologetic tone, an evasive .reply. She, however,
finding out the diamond and reading his thoughts
remarked, "Why did you leave the world if you
still feel the distinction between the diamond
and dust?"

SIMULATION OF HOLINESS MAY BECOME A STIMULATION FOR IT

ONK night a fisherman went into a garden and
cast his net into the lake in order to steal some fish.
The owner heard him and surrounded him with his
servants. They brought lighted torches and began
to search for him. In the mean time the fisherman
smeared his body with ashes and sat under a tree,
pretending to be a holy man. The owner and his
men searched a great deal but could not find the
thief. All they saw was a holy man covered with
ashes, meditating under a tree. The next day the
news spread in the neighbourhood that a great sage
was staying in the garden. People gathered there
and saluted him with offerings of fruits, flowers,
and sweets. Many also offered silver and copper
coins. "How strange!" thought the fisherman, 'T
am not a genuine holy man, and still people show
such devotion to me. I shall certainly realize God if
I become a true sadhu. There is no doubt about it."

TODAY'S IMITATION IS TOMORROWS INSPIRATION

A THIEF entered the palace of a king in the dead
of night and overheard the king saying to the
queen, "I shall give my daughter in marriage to one
of those sadhus {holy men) who are dwelling on
the bank of the river," The thief thought within
himself: "Well, here is good luck for me. I will go
and sit among the sadhus tomorrow in the disguise
of a sadhu, and perchance I may succeed in getting
the king's daughter."
The next day he did so. When the king's officers
came soliciting the sadhus to marry the king's
daughter, none of them consented to it. At last
they came to the thief in the guise of a sadhu, and
made the same proposal to him. The thief kept
quiet. The officers went back and told the king that
there was a young sadhu who might be influenced
to marry the princess and that there was no other
who would consent. The king then came to the
sadhu in person and earnestly entreated him to
honour him by accepting the hand of his daughter.

But the heart of the thief was changed at the king's
visit. He thought within himself: "I have only
assumed the garb of a sadhu, and behold! the king
comes to me and is all entreaties. Who can say
what better things may not be in store for me if I
become a real sadhu!" These thoughts so strongly
affected him that, instead of marrying under false
pretences, he began to mend his ways from that
very day and exerted himself to become a true
sadhu. He did not marry at all, and ultimately
became one of the most pious ascetics of his day.
The counterfeiting of a good thing sometimes
leads to unexpected good results.

NONE WILL FOLLOW THEE AFTER DEATH

A DISCIPLE said to his Guru that his wife loved
him very much and so he could not renounce the
world. The disciple used to practise Hatha Yoga.
To convince him of the hollowness of his plea, the
Guru taught him some secrets of this branch of -
Yoga. One day, all of a sudden, there was great
consternation in the disciple's house and wailings
and sobbing were heard all around. The
neighbours came running to the house, and saw
the disciple in a room, quite motionless, in a
peculiar convoluted posture. They all thought that
life was, extinct in the body. The wife of the
disciple was crying: "Alas! Where have you gone,
dear? Why have you forsaken us? Ah! we never
knew that such a calamity would befall us!" In the
meantime the relatives brought a cot to take the
corpse out for cremation. Then they found
themselves face to face with a very serious
difficulty. As the man was in a contorted posture,
his body would not come out through the door.
Seeing that, one of his neighbours, brought an axe
and began to cut the wooden frame of the door.

Till then the wife was weeping in an uncontrollable
fit of sorrow; but no sooner did she hear the sound
of the axe than she ran to the spot, and, though
still weeping, anxiously enquired what they were
about. One of the neighbours told her that they
were cutting the door as her husband's body could
not otherwise be taken out owing to its peculiar
posture. "No, no," cried out the wife, "don't do so
now. I have been widowed and there is none to
look after me. I have to bring up my fatherless
children. If you now cut the door, it cannot be
repaired again. Whatever was to happen has
happened to my husband. You had better cut his
hands and legs and take him out." Hearing this, the
Hatha Yogi at once stood up; the effect of the drug
having gone by this time, and bawled out,
"Woman, you want to cut my hands and legs?"
And so saying, he went away with his Guru
renouncing hearth and home.

NOT UNTIL THE ILLUSION BREAKS

A GURU said to his disciple: "The world is
illusory. Come away with me." "But revered sir,"
said the disciple, "my people at home—my father,
my mother, my wife—love me so much. How can
I give them up?" The guru said: "No doubt you
now have this feeling of T and 'mine' and say that
they love you; but this is all an illusion of your
mind, I shall teach you a trick, and you will know
whether they love you truly or not." Saying this, the
teacher gave the disciple a pill and said to him:
"Swallow this at home. You will appear to be a
corpse, but you will not lose consciousness. You
will see everything and hear everything. Then I
shall come to your house and gradually you will
regain your normal state."
The disciple followed the teacher's instructions and
lay on his bed like a dead person. The house was
filled with loud wailing. His mother, his wife, and
the others lay on the ground weeping bitterly. Just
then a brahmana entered the house and said to
them, "What is the matter with you?" "This boy is
dead", they replied. The brahmana felt the pulse
and said: "How is that? No, he is not dead. I have a

medicine that will cure him completely." The joy of
the relatives was unbounded; it seemed to them
that heaven itself had come down into their house.
"But", said the brahmana, "I must tell you
something else. Another person must take some of
this medicine first, and then the boy must swallow
the rest. But the other person will die. I see he has
so many dear relatives here; one of them will
certainly agree to take the medicine. I see his wife
and mother crying bitterly. Surely they will not
hesitate to take it."
At once the weeping stopped and all sat quiet. The
mother said: ''Well, this is a big family: Suppose I
die; then who will look after the family?" She fell
into a reflective mood. The wife, who had been
crying a minute before and bemoaning her ill luck,
said: "Well he has gone the way of mortals. 1 have
these two or three young children. Who will look
after them if I die?"
The disciple saw everything and heard everything.
He stood up at once and said to the teacher: "Let
us go, revered sir. 1 will follow you."

DISPASSION COMES LIKE A FLOOD AND NEVER BY DROPS

How does a man come to have vairagya
(dispassion)?
A wife once said to her husband: "Dear, I am very
anxious about my brother. For the past one week
he has been thinking of becoming an ascetic, and
has been busy preparing for that life. He is trying
to reduce gradually all his desires and wants." The
husband replied: "Dear, be not anxious about your
brother. Pie will never become a sannyasin. No one
can become a sannyasin in that way." "How does
one become a sannyasin then?" asked the wife.
"Thus" exclaimed the husband; so saying, he tore
his flowing dress to pieces, took a piece and tied it
round his loin, and told his wife that she and all of
her sex were henceforth mothers to him. He left
the house, nevermore to return.

HE WENT AWAY, TOWEL ON HIS SHOULDER

A MAN was going to bathe. He had his towel on
his shoulder. His wife said to him, "You are
worthless. You are getting old and still you cannot
give up some of your habits. You cannot live a
single day without me. But look at that man!
What a renouncer he is!"
Husband: "Why? What has he done?"
Wife: "He has sixteen wives and he is renouncing
them one by one. You will never be able to
renounce."
Husband: "Renouncing his wives one by one! You
are crazy. He won't be able to renounce. If a man
wants to renounce, does he do it little by little?"
Wife (smiling): "Still he is better than you."
Husband: "You are silly; you don't understand. He
cannot renounce. But I can. See! Here I go!"
That is called intense renunciation. No sooner did
the man discriminate than he renounced. He went

away with the towel on his shoulder. He didn't turn
back to settle his worldly affairs. He didn't even
look back at his home.
He who wants to renounce needs great strength of
mind. He must have a dare-devil attitude like a
dacoit's. Before looting a house, the dacoits shout:
"Kill! Murder! Loot!"

THE HOMA BIRD

TPHE Vedas speak of the Homa bird. It lives very
high in the sky. There the mother bird lays her egg.
She lives so high that the egg falls for many days.
While falling it is hatched. The chick continues to
fall. That also goes on for many days. In the
meantime the chick develops eyes. Coming near
the earth, it becomes conscious of the world. It
realises it will meet certain death if it hits the
ground. Then it gives a shrill cry and shoots up
towards its mother. The earth means death, and it
frightens the young bird; it then seeks its mother.
She dwells high up in the sky, and the young bird
shoots straight up in that direction. It doesn't look
anywhere else.
Persons who are born with God-consciousness
realise the danger of coming in contact with the
world. From their very childhood they are afraid of

the world, and their one thought is how to reach
the mother, how to realise God.

IT'S NOT EASY TO ATTAIN TRUE HUMILITY

A MAN went to a sadhu and said with a great
show of humility: "Sir, I am a very low person. Tell
me, O Master, how I am to be saved." The sadhu,
reading the heart of the man, told him, "Well, go
and bring me that which is meaner than yourself."
The man went out and looked all round but found
nothing whatsoever meaner than himself. At last
he saw his own excrement and said, "Well, here is
something which is certainly worse than myself."
He stretched forth his hand to take it up and carry
it to the sadhu when suddenly he heard a voice say
from within the ordure: "Touch me not, O sinner.
I was a sweet and delicious cake, fit to be offered
to the gods and in appearance so pleasing to all the
spectators. But my ill-fortune brought me to you,
and by your evil contact I have been reduced to
such a detestable condition that men run away
from me with faces turned and with handkerchiefs
covering their noses. Once only did I come in
contact with you and this has been my fate. What

deeper degradation may I not be thrown into if you
touch me again?"
The man was thus taught true humility and became
the humblest of the humble. As a result he attained
the highest perfection.

SELF-SURRENDER KNOWS NO COMPLAINT

WHEN Rama and Lakshmana went to take their
bath in Pampa Lake, they thrust their bows into
the ground. Coming out of the water, Lakshmana
took out his bow and found its tip stained with
blood. Rama said to him:
"Look, brother! Look. Perhaps we have hurt some
creature." Lakshmana dug in the earth and found a
big bull frog. It was dying. Rama said to the frog in
a sorrowful voice: "Why didn't you croak? We
should have tried to save you. You croak lustily
enough when you are in the jaws of a snake." The
frog said:
"O Lord when I am attacked by a snake I croak,
saying: 'O Rama, save me!' This time I found that it
was Rama Himself who was killing me; so I kept
still."

LORD NARAYANA AND HIS SELFDEFENDING DEVOTEE

ONCE, Lakshmi and Narayana were seated in
Vaikuntha, when Narayana suddenly stood up.
Lakshmi had been stroking his feet. She said,
"Lord, where are you going?" Narayana answered:
"One of My devotees is in great danger. I must
save him." With these words He went out. But He
came back immediately. Lakshmi said, "Lord, why
have You returned so soon?"
Narayana smiled and said: "The devotee was going
along the road overwhelmed with love for Me.
Some washermen were drying clothes on the grass
and the devotee walked over the clothes. At this
the washermen chased him and were going to beat
him with their sticks.
So I ran out to protect him." "But why have You
come back?" asked Lakshmi. Narayana laughed
and said, "I saw the devotee himself picking up a
brick to throw at them. So I came back."

SELF-HELP AND SELF-SURRENDER

A FATHER was once passing through u field with
his two little sons. He was carrying one of them in
his arms while the other was walking along with
him holding his hand. They saw a kite flying and
the latter boy giving up his hold on his father's
hand, began to clap his hands with joy, crying,
"Behold, papa, there is a kite!" But immediately he
stumbled down and got hurt. The boy who was
carried by the father also clapped the hands with
joy, but did not fall, as his father was holding him.
The first boy represents self-help in spiritual
matters, and the second self-surrender.