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.

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.

Every thought that we think, every deed that we do, after a certain time becomes fine, goes into seed form, so to speak, and lives in the fine body in a potential form, and after a time it emerges again and bears its results. These results condition the life of man. Thus he moulds his own life. Man is not bound by any other laws excepting those which he makes for himself.

— Swami Vivekananda (born on 12 January)

Read quotes from the works of Swami Vivekananda for more such inspiring thoughts.

“Past and future exist only in our memory. The present moment, though, is outside of time, it’s Eternity. In India, they use the word ‘karma,’ for lack of any better term. But it’s a concept that’s rarely given a proper explanation. It isn’t what you did in the past that will affect the present. It’s what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future.”

(From Aleph by Paulo Coelho)

There are two ways to live your life.

1. Live like a zombie and allow the karma (momentum generated by your past actions) run (or ruin) your life, or…

2. Live consciously, take total control of your life in the present and shape your future just like a sculptor shapes a sculpture.

The key is the present moment. The present moment is where all action happens. Conscious action in the present moment is what unlinks the future from the influence of the past, redeems the past and changes your future.

Yoga Vasishta categorically states…

There is no power greater than right action in the present. …

What is called fate or divine will is nothing other than the action or self-effort of the past. The present is infinitely more potent than the past. They are indeed fools who are satisfied with the fruits of their past effort (which they regard as divine will) and do not engage themselves in self-effort now.

So, how would you live your life? Would you be satisfied with the fruits of your past effort, let the momentum from your past take control of your life and your future? Or will you decide to live consciously, use the present moment to redeem the past and shape your future?

Decide, now.

Just then I saw a serene person standing on the street, he looked like an old friend, he looked like a Buddha. I felt that he is the only person who can save me. I went to him, and tried to hide behind him. I prayed him to save me. This man seemed to have an effect on the dog the dog dare not approach me who was hiding behind him. I was still breathing fast, and the heart was beating fast, and I asked him why the dog is following me? “Why me? of all the people?” He smiled at me and told me something to this effect, “It’s all your own making. You don’t remember, you poured water on the dog and threw stones at the dog (!) and that’s why he’s determined to take a revenge on you. The law takes its course whether or not you remember your past actions. Nothing comes unwarranted. You reap what you sow.” Saying this, he disappeared leaving me all alone with the dog at a striking distance before me. The dog was looking at me furiously with clenched teeth. There is no use in running now. Yes, the Buddha was right, it’s all due to my own karma, I ridiculed the dog by pouring water and throwing stones at him, and he’s now chasing me to fulfil the law. I had no other option now. I gave up and let the law take its course. There is nothing more for me now. It’s all over, I renounce, I totally surrender. I gave up all hopes, and surprisingly the fears too left me. I was facing the moment, facing the furious dog, he was about to strike me, this is it, this is the moment…. just then, suddenly, everything vanished… the dream broke! Oh my God, was it a dream?… it was just a dream!!

But I was wondering what would have happened. Did the dog attack me? or did he let me go? While I was out of the dream, I was still lying on my bed with closed eyes, and now the same Buddha figure appeared in my mind and communicated to me, “Whether or not the dog attacked you doesn’t matter. What matters is that you woke up. The details of the dream doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you learnt your lesson.” Saying this he dissolved into nothingness and I got up from the bed for yet another day in the real world.

‘Real’ world? How do I know that this ‘real’ world is not just another dream? What is ‘real’? Can somebody explain this to me?

But I really don’t care. The dreams come and go, the objects of the ‘real’ world come and go, the experiences come and go, memories come and go. But the one thing that stays throughout the dreams, the one thing that survives the experiences of ‘real’ world, the one thing that is beyond all the fleeting existence is the feeling of ‘I Am’. The one pure existence, pure consciousness and bliss absolute, the one who witnesses the dreams and experiences of the real world, the one who sees through everything. He is the prime subject, He is the object too. He is the One, and I Am He. Satchidanandoham.

(Just for a record, this dream happened to me this morning (12 Dec 2008) just before I woke up from my sleep.)

You never can tell when you do an act
Just what the result will be;
But with every deed you are sowing a seed,
Though the harvest you may not see.
Each kindly act is an acorn dropped
In God’s productive soil;
You may not know, yet the tree shall grow
And shelter the brows that toil.

You never can tell what your thoughts will do
In bringing you hate or love;
For thoughts are things, and their airy wings
Are swifter than carrier doves.
They follow the law of the universe—
Each thing must create its kind;
And they speed o’er the track to bring you back
Whatever went out from your mind.

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox