The ideal of faith in ourselves is of the greatest help to us. If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished. Throughout the history of mankind, if any motive power has been more potent than another in the lives of all great men and women, it is that of faith in themselves. Born with the consciousness that they were to be great, they became great. Let a man go down as low as possible; there must come a time when out of sheer desperation he will take an upward curve and will learn to have faith in himself. But it is better for us that we should know it from the very first. Why should we have all these bitter experiences in order to gain faith in ourselves? We can see that all the difference between men is owing to the existence or non-existence of faith in himself. Faith in ourselves will do everything.
Even an atheist believes, be it in the power of science or in the absence of god, or even in himself. Who believes in nothing is then another form of being; requiring constant experience or proof, life is then paranoia. Vedic wisdom is not about self-serving faith, but is the doctrine of oneness. It means faith in all, because you are all. Love for yourself means love for all, love for animals, love for everything, for you are all one. It is the great faith which will make the world better.
Do you know how much energy, how many powers, how many forces are still lurking behind that frame of yours? What scientist has known all that is in man? Millions of years have passed since man first came here and yet but one infinitesimal part of his powers has been manifested. Therefore, you must not say that you are weak. How do you know what possibilities lay behind that degradation on the surface? You know but little of that which is within you. For behind you are the ocean of infinite power and blessedness.
"This Atman is first to be heard of." Hear day and night that you are that Soul. Repeat it to yourselves day and night till it enters into your very veins, till it tingles in every drop of blood, till it is in your flesh and bone. Let the whole body be full of that one ideal, "I am the birth-less, the deathless, the blissful, the omniscient, the omnipotent, ever-glorious Soul." Think on it day and night; think on it till it becomes part and parcel of your life. Meditate upon it, and out of that will come work. "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks," and out of the fullness of the heart the hand works. Action will come. Fill yourselves with the ideal; whatever you do, think well on it. All your actions will be magnified, transformed, deified, by the very power of the thought. If matter is powerful, thought is omnipotent. Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourselves with the thought of your almightiness, your majesty, and your glory.
These are sometimes terrible doctrines to teach. Some get frightened at these ideas, but for those who want to be practical, this is the first thing to learn. Never tell yourselves or others that you are weak. Do good if you can, but do not injure the world. You know in your inmost heart that many of your limited ideas, this humbling of yourself and praying and weeping to imaginary beings are superstitions. Tell me one case where these prayers have been answered. All the answers that came were from your own hearts. You know there are no ghosts, but no sooner are you in the dark than you feel a little creepy sensation. That is so because in our childhood we have had all these fearful ideas put into our heads. But do not teach these things to others through fear of society and public opinion, through fear of incurring the hatred of friends, or for fear of losing cherished superstitions. Be masters of all these. What is there to be taught more in religion than the oneness of the universe and faith in one's self? All the works of mankind for thousands of years past have been towards this one goal, and mankind is yet working it out. It is your turn now and you already know the truth.
To be able to use what we call Viveka (discrimination), to learn how in every moment of our lives, in every one of our actions, to discriminate between what is right and wrong, true and false, we shall have to know the test of truth, which is purity, oneness. Everything that makes for oneness is truth. Love is truth, and hatred is false, because hatred makes for multiplicity. It is hatred that separates man from man; therefore, it is wrong and false. It is a disintegrating power; it separates and destroys.
There is nothing as strengthening as humility, a humble man, renouncing his own self yields to wisdom.
Man has all that he requires if Wisdom dwells in him. For Wisdom to dwell in us, we must do only one thing: diminish ourselves in order to give place to Wisdom. As soon as man has diminished himself, Wisdom enters and dwells in him. Therefore in order to have all that is needful to him, man must first humble himself.
The more deeply man penetrates into self, and the more insignificant he appears to himself, the higher he rises towards Wisdom.
He who worships pride flees from his heart even as the light of a camp fire before the rays of the sun. He whose heart is pure and in whom there is no pride, he who is humble, constant and simple, who looks upon every creature as upon his friend and love every one as his own, he who treats every creature with equal tenderness and love, he who would do good and has abandoned vanity – in his heart dwells the wisdom of life.
Even as the earth is adorned with beautiful plants which she brings forth, even so is he adorned in whose soul dwells the Lord of life.
Many think that if we eliminate the biases of personality and the love of them out of our life nothing would remain. They imagine that there is no life without likes and dislikes. But this seems so only to people who have never experienced the joys of self-renunciation. Eliminate the biases of personality from life, renounce them and that which remains forms the substance of life – love which yields positive happiness.
The more man recognizes his spiritual self and the more he renounces unwanted aspects of his personality, the more truly he understands himself.
It is therefore very important to appreciate good thoughts, your own as well as that of others, as soon as you recognize them. Nothing will aid you as much as good thoughts in the accomplishment of the true task of your life.
Be master of your thoughts if you would attain your purpose. Fix the glance of your Atman upon that one pure light which is free from passions.
When misfortune befalls on you know that they are not due to what you have done, but to what you have thought.
If we cannot restrain ourselves from committing a deed which we know is evil, it is because we first permitted ourselves to think of this evil act and failed to restrain our thoughts. Strive not to think of things which you believe to be evil.
More injurious than evil acts are those thoughts which lead to evil acts. An evil act need not be repeated and it could be – at times – repented. But evil thoughts give birth to evil deeds. An evil act points the path to other evil acts. Evil thoughts drag you along upon the path to evil deeds.
Fruit is born of a seed. Even so deeds are born of thoughts. Even as evil fruit is born of evil seed, so evil acts are born of evil thoughts. As a farmer separates good and true seed from the seed of weeds, and selects from among the good seed the choicest and guards and sorts it; even so a prudent man treats his thoughts; he repels vain and foolish thoughts, and preserves the good thoughts, cherishing and assorting them. If you do not repel evil thoughts, nor cherish good thoughts, you simply cannot avoid evil acts. Good deeds come from good thoughts only. Cherish good thoughts, searching for them in books of wisdom, in sensible conversation and above all in your inner self.
For a lamp to give steady light it must be placed where it is protected from the wind. But if a lamp is in a windy place, the light will flicker and cast strange and dark shadows. Similarly, uncontrolled, foolish and ill-assorted thoughts cast strange and dark shadows upon men.
When the light of wisdom is being extinguished, the dark shadows of your bodily desires fall across your path – beware of these dreadful shadows; the light of your spirit cannot dissipate their darkness until you expel the desires of the body from your soul.
Just as a candle canno
t burn without a fire, men cannot thrive without wisdom. The Atman dwells in all beings, but not all beings are aware of this. Happy is the life of him who knows this, and unhappy is his life who does not know it.
Even your shadow lives and vanishes. That which is eternal you – Atman – that which has reason, does not belong to the evanescent life. This eternal principle is within you, transport yourself into it, and it will reveal unto you that which is life and all that which is true and all that which you need to know. It will even guarantee you a life of perpetual bliss filled with health, wealth and prosperity to the brim.
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[1] Bridging The Gap: Essays on Inclusive Development and Education ,edited by Latha Pillai, Babu Remesh ,SAGE Publications India, 8 Nov 2011
[2] Breathing exercises have an important place in Yoga, as breathing patterns indicate the mental state and physical health of a person. For this reason, numerous breathing exercises are suggested in Ashtanga Yoga so as to bring the mind (and body) under control via the breath. These are best learnt under a qualified teacher who can guide and suggest exercises based on the unique requirement and physical/ mental health of the student.
Essentials of Vedic Wisdom for Blissful Living Page 10