Wisdom from Swami Vivekananda

The soul of man is like a piece of crystal, but it takes the color of whatever is near it. Whatever the soul touches… it has to take its color. That is the difficulty. That constitutes bondage. The color is so strong, the crystal forgets itself and identifies itself with the color. Suppose a red flower is near the crystal: the crystal takes the color and forgets itself, thinks it is red. We have taken the color of the body and have forgotten what we are. All the difficulties that follow come from that one dead body. All our fears, all worries, anxieties, troubles, mistakes, weakness, evil, are from that one great blunder — that we are bodies. This is the ordinary person. It is the person taking the color of the flower near to it. We are no more bodies than the crystal is the red flower.

— Swami Vivekananda

(Photo by Jennuine Captures)

Swami Vivekananda on the power of thought

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.

A Karma Yogi has one pointed mind (Bhagavad Gita 2.41)

Those who are resolute in this path (of Karma Yoga) have one pointed mind. Many-branched and endless are the thoughts of the irresolute.

— Bhagavad Gita 2.41

You feed your energies to whatever you pay attention to. A karma yogi knows this and s/he does not dissipate his/her energies. A karma yogi takes up a worthy purpose, puts all his/her attention into the purpose and gets it done.

Even physical science has plenty of examples to illustrate the power of focus and attention. When a paper is exposed to sunlight, nothing happens. But when the sun’s rays are focused using a lens into a single point of the paper, so much energy goes into the point that it burns. A piece of iron as such is nothing. But when the polarity of particles in the iron piece is aligned, it becomes a magnet.

We know that the objects of pleasure and pain vary from person to person and time to time, ultimately pleasure and pain have no reality, these are just notions of mind created by habitual responses of the mind and associations. But when we pay too much attention to the thoughts that try to convince us that the pleasure and pain are real, the reality of pleasure and pain grows in our life. When pursuit of pleasure and denial of pain becomes the dominant reality of one’s life, it’s one miserable life. A karma yogi knows this and so is focused only on the purpose at hand, he/she is not infatuated by the notions of pleasure and pain.

Swami Vivekananda says,

Take up one idea. Make that one idea our 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, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

Duty consciousness (Bhagavad Gita 2.31-37)

After speaking about the impermanence of physical existence and the immortality of the Self, Sri Krishna now reminds Arjuna about his duty.

Even if you consider your own duty, you should not hesitate because there is nothing better for a Kshatriya than a righteous war. (Bhagavad Gita 2.31)

Happy are the Kshatriyas, O Arjuna, who are called upon to fight in such a battle that comes of itself as an open door to heaven! (2.32)

We have seen in the very beginning that the duty of Arjuna as a skilled warrior is to fight this war, defeat the evil Kauravas and protect the people of the kingdom. Nothing less than that.

But what is your duty and my duty? What are we supposed to be doing in this world?

One way of looking at this: taking into account the circumstances of your life and your skills and abilities, do whatever the work on hand to the best of your abilities without getting distracted and without giving in to infatuations. As Swami Vivekananda says, “By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, the duty which is in our hands now, we make ourselves stronger and improving our strength in this manner step by step, we may even reach a state in which it shall be our privilege to do the most coveted and honoured duties in life and in society.”

Another way I look at it: We see Bhagavad Gita preach the oneness of existence, that you are not the physical body and your true nature is the immortal Self which is also the Self of all beings and entities in existence. Knowing that there is nothing other than yourself in existence, and dropping all ideas of ‘me’ and the ‘other’, dropping all separation and selfishness, do the most appropriate thing you can do that brings good to your world. Whatever work that takes you towards realization of oneness of life is appropriate and whatever work that takes you back towards the idea of separation and selfishness is inappropriate.

Sri Krishna continues his attempts to wake up Arjuna from his slumber…

But if you don’t engage in this righteous war, forfeiting your duty and honour, you shall incur sin. (2.33)

Moreover, the world will speak ill about you forever. For a man of honour, dishonour is worse than death. (2.34)

The great warriors, who hold you in great estimation, will think that you withdraw from the battlefield out of fear. Your value will go down. (2.35)

Your enemies will speak many unkind and fabricated words and insult your ability. What’s more painful than this? (2.36)

Even if we don’t understand all the philosophies, we should shed our lethargies and get on with the work on hand at least for the sake of not losing our honour.

If you are killed on the battlefield you attain heaven, or if you are victorious in the battle you enjoy the earth. Rise therefore, O son of Kunti, and fight with determination. (2.37)

Failure is not an option. If you die in your attempt to do good, you get to heaven. If you succeed in your attempts to do good you enjoy heaven on earth. That is it.

You are deathless, birthless, You are the infinite spirit (Bhagavad Gita 2.22- 30)

This part of the Bhagavad Gita I like the most. Sri Krishna continues…

Just as a person gives up old worn-out garments and puts on new ones, the same way the Self gives up old and useless bodies and accepts new ones. (2.22)

This drives home the point that you are not the body. You are the Self and you have these bodies. Nothing more need be said about this (please refer the previous post s).

This (the Self) can never be cut into pieces by the weapons, nor burnt by fire, nor moistened by water, nor dried by the wind. (2.23)

This (the Self) cannot be broken, it cannot be burned, it cannot be dissolved, it cannot be dried, it is eternal, all pervading, immovable, unchangeable and eternally the same. (2.24)

This (the Self) is impersonal, inconceivable, unchangeable. Thus knowing This to be such, you don’t deserve to lament. (2.25)

These three verses emphatically states that the Self is non-physical and removes all illusions and fears that may arise due to identifying oneself with the physical body.

Okay, but what if you are not able to accept all such concepts of about the Self? All we see is the physical body and, after all, Krishna himself says the soul is inconceivable. So why try to convince oneself with such unthinkable concepts? You may think so, that’s fine. Sri Krishna answers…

Even if you take this to have constant birth and death, you still don’t deserve to lament, O mighty armed! (2.26)

For, certain is death for the born and certain is birth for the dead; therefore, over the inevitable you should not grieve. (2.27)

All beings are unmanifested in their beginning, O Bharata, manifested in their middle state and unmanifested again in their end. What is there then to grieve about? (2.28)

A lump of clay on the surface of the earth takes the form of the pot, retains the form for a while, and then it’s broken and gets back to being the mass of clay on the surface of the earth. Similarly all beings are unmanifested in the beginning, manifest in the middle state and unmanifested again in the end. What’s there to grieve?

Some see This (the Self) with amazement, some speak about This with amazement. Yet others hear about This with amazement and there are others, who even after hearing about This don’t know (understand). (2.29)

Perhaps, this verse implies that only a few actually experience the real non-physical Self. Others speak about the Self, hear about it from others, and there are many others who even after hearing don’t understand at all. So, even if you can’t understand the Self, don’t worry, you still don’t have a reason to grieve as long as you can understand that death is certain for everything that’s born.

Grief is just unnecessary. Accept the inevitable and do what needs to be done. That is it.

This Self, the indweller in the body of everyone, is always indestructible, O Arjuna! Therefore, you need not grieve for any creature. (2.30)

Okay, this quote from Swami Vivekananda sums it up all, in meaning and spirit.

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 the gods in the world. Has misery 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!