Vivekananda Ajay on 04/18/2009 at 9:09am (UTC)   Sayings of Swami Vivekananda Sayings of Swami Vivekananda * For my own part I will be incarnated two hundred times, if that is necessary to do what I have undertaken amongst my people. * All my patriotism is gone. Everything is gone. Now it's only Mother, Mother! * My ideal, indeed, can be put into a few words, and that is to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life. * Religion is the manifestation of the divinity already in man. * Religion is the idea which is raising the brute unto man, and man unto God. * The secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice. To be good and do good - that is the whole of religion. Man is higher than all animals, than all angels; none is greater than man. * One may gain political and social independence, but if one is a slave to his passions and desires, one cannot feel the pure joy of real freedom. * Look at the wall. Did the wall ever tell a lie? It is always the wall. Man tells a lie and becomes a god, too. After so much austerity, I have understood this as the real truth - God is present in every jiva; there is no other God besides that. 'Who serves jiva, serves God indeed.' * Cut out the word help from your mind. You cannot help; it is blasphemy! You worship. When you give a morsel of food to a dog, you worship the dog as God. He is all, and is in all. * Unselfishness is God. One may live on a throne, in a palace, and be perfectly unselfish; and then he is in God. Another may live in a hut and wear rags, and have nothing in the world; yet if he is selfish, he is intensely merged in the world. All nations have attained greatness by paying proper respect to women. That country and that nation which do not respect women have never become great, nor will ever be in future. * With five hundred men, ... the conquest of India might take fifty years: with as many women, not more than a few weeks. Religion and religion alone is the life of India, and when that goes, India will die, in spite of politics, in spite of social reforms, in spite of Kubera's wealth poured upon the head of every one of her children. * Before flooding India with socialistic or political ideas, first deluge the land with spiritual ideas. * We want to lead mankind to the place where there is neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran; yet this has to be done by harmonizing the Vedas, the Bible, and the Koran. * Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of THE RELIGION, which is Oneness, so that each may choose the path that suits him best. * Who will give the world light? Sacrifice in the past has been the Law, it will be, alas, for ages to come. The earth's bravest and best will have to sacrifice themselves for the good of many, for the welfare of all. * Truth, purity, and unselfishness - whenever these are present, there is no power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in opposition. * Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything. * The highest ideal is eternal and entire self-abnegation, where there is no 'I', but is Thou'. * By work alone, men may get to where Buddha got largely by meditation or Christ by prayer. Buddha was a working Jnani, Christ was a Bhakta, but the same goal was reached by both of them. * All expansion is life, all contraction is death. * All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love's sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live. * The national ideals of India are Renunciation and Service. Intensity her in those channels, and the rest will take care of itself. * Good motives, sincerity, and infinite love can conquer the world. One single soul possessed of these virtues can destroy the dark designs of millions of hypocrites and brutes. * Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on 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.   its Vivekanand ajay on 04/18/2009 at 8:56am (UTC)   When I Asked God for Strength He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face When I Asked God for Brain & Brown He Gave Me Puzzles in Life to Solve When I Asked God for Happiness He Showed Me Some Unhappy People When I Asked God for Wealth He Showed Me How to Work Hard When I Asked God for Favors He Showed Me Opportunities to Work Hard When I Asked God for Peace He Showed Me How to Help Others God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted He Gave Me Everything I Needed - SWAMI VIVEKANANDA Some tips regarding topics you can post:- 1.Issues concerning our nation and what we can do. 2.Work done by U or a person you know that can become a source of great inspiration to us. 3.Share your success story. 4.Try to post meaningful positive ideas that can make our lives full of joy.   My best story Ajay on 04/01/2009 at 12:01pm (UTC)   You can also listen to this story: Download mp3 file or listen on your PC To download, right-click on the link above, choose 'Save target as', and select where you want to save the file. If you're a using a Mac, simply double-click on the link and use the on-screen window to select the file's destination. If you want to listen on your PC, just left click and the file will play in your default player. For Mac users, click the link. (See/print audio script) (pdf doc) Alberto’s New Neighbours Alberto took one look at his new neighbours and knew that his life was going to get more difficult. He watched them arrive in their big, noisy car and watched them get out. There they were, two of them, as big and as noisy as their car, and smelly and stupid as well. “Terrible!” he thought. “How am I going to put up with them?” He went to tell Mimi. Mimi was the friend he lived with. “Have you seen the new neighbours?” he asked her. “No” she said. “Who are they?” “Two of them. The ones we don’t like. Big and noisy and stupid and smelly. Just like they always are.” “Oh, no” said Mimi. “How awful! Still, I suppose we can just ignore them.” “I suppose you’re right” agreed Alberto. “We’ll just have to ignore them.” For a few days, then, Alberto and Mimi tried to ignore their new neighbours. When the neighbours went out for a walk, Alberto and Mimi didn’t say hello to them. When the neighbours were in their garden, Alberto and Mimi went inside. This was ok for a few days, but, perhaps inevitably, things didn’t stay this way… One day Alberto woke up from his sleep to find one of the neighbours in his garden. “Mimi!” he shouted. “Have you seen this!? He’s in our garden!!!! Look!” “How terrible” said Mimi. “Let’s call our staff and make sure they get rid of him immediately!” Mimi went off to call their staff. Two minutes later Alberto and Mimi’s head of staff was out in the garden trying to get rid of the unwelcome neighbour. “Go on!” he shouted. “Get out of here! Go home!” The neighbour didn’t say anything, but gave Alberto and Mimi’s head of staff a dirty look, then he went back into his garden. Alberto and Mimi felt better, and then asked their head of staff to prepare their lunch for them. However, it wasn’t enough. Over the next few days Alberto and Mimi often found one or other or both of their new neighbours walking around their own garden. It was terrible. To show how they felt, Alberto and Mimi went into their neighbours’ garden, at night, when the neighbours were inside, and broke all the flowers. The next morning one of the neighbours came to talk to Alberto. “Hey!” he said. “Hey you!” Alberto ignored him, but he continued talking. “You came into our garden last night and broke all the flowers!” Alberto didn’t say anything, but gave his neighbour a dirty look. “Now I’m in trouble!” continued his neighbour. “They think I did it!” “Who are ‘they’?” asked Alberto. “My owners, of course…” replied the neighbour. “Owners !!???” said Alberto. “You have ‘owners’?” “Course we do” said his neighbour. “Don’t you?” “Oh no” replied Alberto. “We have staff.” Alberto went to tell Mimi that the neighbours didn’t have staff, but they had owners. “That’s not a surprise” said Mimi. “That explains everything. That’s why they’re so noisy and smelly and stupid. We need to make their ‘owners’ become ‘staff’…” The next day, Alberto and Mimi were actually very friendly with their new neighbours. They tried to explain how to make their owners become staff. “Listen” said Alberto to them. “It’s very easy. First, understand that the house is your house, not theirs…” “And second” said Mimi, “Make sure that you are always clean.” “Make sure they give you food whenever you want!” “Sit on the newspaper while they are reading it!” “Sleep as much as possible – on their beds!” “And finally, try not to bark, but to miaow instead.” But it was no good. The neighbours just didn’t understand. After a week, they gave up. “It’s no good” said Mimi. “They’ll never understand – dogs have owners, cats have staff.” THE END top   <-Back  1  Continue->