Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 41 (10 Feb)

Imitation, cowardly imitation, never makes for progress.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 3

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 40 (9 Feb)

All the secret of success is there; to pay as much attention to the means as to the end.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 2

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 39 (8 Feb)

One ounce of practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talk.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 3

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 38 (7 Feb)

You know little of that which is within you. For behind you is the ocean of infinite power and blessedness.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 2

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 37 (6 Feb)

Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 8

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 36 (5 Feb)

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strenght.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 2

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 35 (4 Feb)

In eating, dressing, or lying, in singing or playing, in enjoyment or disease, always manifest the highest moral courage. If you can build your character after such an ideal, then a thousand others will follow you.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 34 (3 Feb)

The more longing grows, the more will the cloud of obstacles be dispelled, and stronger will faith be established.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 33 (2 Feb)

Truth, purity and unselfishness - wherever 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.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 4

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 32 (1 Feb)

Purify yourself first, and the world is bound to be purified then.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 1

Swami Vivekanand Quotation Series - Day 31 (31 Jan)

 The mind incontrolled and unguided will drag us down forever - rend us, kill us; and the mind controlled and guided will save us, free us.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 6.

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 30

 We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 5

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 29

 You have to be practical in all spheres of work. The whole country has been ruined by masses of theories.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 7

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 28

 The history of the world is that of men of faith, men of deep pure character. We need to have three things: the heart to feel, the brain to conceive, the hand to work.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 6

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 27

 Great enterprise, boundless courage, tremendous energy, and above all, perfect obedience - these are the only traits that lead to individual and national regeneration.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 6.

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 26

 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.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 5.

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 25

 Despondency is not religion. By being pleasant always and smiling, it takes you nearer to God.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 4.

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 24

 The Gita is like a bouquet composed of beautiful flowers of spiritual truths collected from the Upanishads.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 2

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 23

 All misery and pain come from attachment.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 2

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 22

 Whatever you do sincerely is good for you. Even the least thing well done brings marvellous results; therefore let everyone do what little he can.

- Swami Vivekanand 

The Complete Works, Vol. 3

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 21

 The pleasure of the Self is what the world calls religion. The more our bliss within, the more spiritual we are. Let us not depend upon the world for pleasure.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 8

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 20

 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 succour you want is within yourself.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 2

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 19

 This I lay down as the first essential in all I teach: anything that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness, touch it not with the toes of your feet.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 8

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 18

 You are lions, you are souls, pure, infinite, and perfect. The might of the universe is within you. Why weepest thou, my friend?

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 2

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 17

 It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 3

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 16

 The only test of good things is that they make us strong. Good is life, evil is death.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 8

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 15

 Perfect sincerity, holiness, gigantic intellect, and an all-conquering will. Let only a handful of men work with these, and the whole world will be revolutionised.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 8

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 14

 What makes you weep, my friend? In you is all power. Summon up your all-powerful nature, O mighty one, and this whole universe will lie at your feet. It is the Self alone that predominates, and not matter.

- Swami Vivekanand 

The Complete Works, Vol. 6

Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 13

 Learn obedience first. Always first learn to be a servant; and then you will be fit to be a master.
- Swami Vivekanand
The Complete Works, Vol. 3 & Vol. 6

Vivekanand जयंति

 12 January - Today is Swami Vivekanand जयंति. A million नमस्कारs to the great Swami!

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 12

 Infinite faith and strength are the only conditions of success

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 5

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 11

Sincerity of conviction and purity of motive will surely gain the day; and even a small minority, armed with these, is surely destined to prevail against all odds.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 4

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 10

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

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 2

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 9

 Unfortunately, श्रद्धा has nearly vanished from India, and this is why we are in our present state. What makes one man great and another weak is श्रद्धा. This श्रद्धा must enter in you.

- Swami Vivekanand

Complete Works, Vol. 3

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 8 (8 Jan)

Stand up! Be bold! You are the sole and only cause.

- Swami Vivekanand

Complete Works, Vol. 3

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 7 (7 Jan)

Life is short, and the vanities of the world are transient; They alone live who live for others.

- Swami Vivekanand

Complete Works, Vol. 4

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 6 (6 Jan)

 The man who is pure, and who dares, does all things.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 8

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 5 (5 Jan)

 Have faith in yourselves. Great convictions are the mothers of great deeds.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 5

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 4 (4 Jan)

Be pure first and you will have power. The chaste brain has tremendous energy and gigantic will-power. Without chastity there can be no spiritual strength. Continence gives wonderful control over mankind. The spiritual leaders of men have been very continent, and this is what gave them power.

- Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 1 & Vol. 4

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 3 (3 Jan)

It is only through love, a passion for truth, and tremendous energy that all great undertakings are accomplished.

 - Swami Vivekanand

The Complete Works, Vol. 6

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 2 (2 Jan)

 Stick to truth and we shall succeed, may be slowly, but surely.

- Swami Vivekanand

Complete Works, Vol. 4

Swami Vivekanand Quotes Series - Day 1 (1 Jan)

 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 moment of life.

- Swami Vivekanand
Complete Works, Vol. 7

Quotes of Swami Vivekanand

 I have decided to post one quote of Swami Vivekanand every day this year. I had thought of posting it on facebook. I  stayed away from social media in December. Specifically Facebook, and Twitter. And WhatsApp as much as possible. I am feeling good about staying away from social media. I would like it to continue for more time. So instead of posting on Facebook, I would post on my blog site. 

As Ram Worships Bhagwan Shankar ....

The only good thing about the lockdown is the replaying of Ramayana and Mahabharat on Doordarshan. The kids are watching both the serials and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Unlike kids, I can’t watch all the episodes. But on & off I get to watch some episodes or parts thereof. Despite having watched and read different re-creations of Ramayana and Mahabharat, there is always something new to learn every time you watch or read Ramayana or Mahabharat.

For instance, this morning’s episode of Ramayana showed the tactics and strategies adopted by Ram and Ravana in preparation of war. As the final act of preparation, Bhagwan Ram, an incarnation of Vishnu, worshiped his आराध्य देवता, Bhagwan Shankar, to seek his blessings for success.

In the British era there was a lot of animosity between Shaivas and Vishnavas. Historically there has been no ill-will between Bhagwan Shankar & Bhagwan Vishnu, and no ill-will between those who primarily worshipped Bhagwan Shankar and those who prime diety was Bhagwan Vishnu. These divisions and the animosity were created and cultivated by the British to divide Indians.

Similarly the division between so-called Aryans & Dravidians were created by the British, and sustained by pseudo-intellectuals of independent India, who have been more British than Indian in their outlook. Peoples of this land united by Adi Shankaracharya’s travels from Kaladi in Kerala to Kandahar, to Kashmir, to Kamakhya (in today’s Assam), and back to Kanyakumari are all one as Indians/Hindus, and every other identity that we may have is inconsequential in comparison.

A Tribute to India's Greatest Hero

This morning in my office I saw a person wearing saffron kurta and jeans. Immediately I was reminded that it is Shivjayanti today. Later I saw many folks dressed in saffron - boys in saffron kurtas or T-shirts, girls in saffron dresses or sarees. I liked this trend of wearing saffron as a mark of respect to India's greatest hero of the second millenium - Chattrapati Shivaji!!

Tanhaji

10 months ago we thoroughly enjoyed watching ManikarnikaTheFilm. Before watching the movie, I thought that I knew all about Rani Laxmibai from what I had read in school history text books and from studying Subhadra Kumari Chouhan's epic poem "खूब लडी मरदानी, वह तो झांसी वाली रानी थी". Yet there were many things about the great warrior queen that I had not known. After seeing the movie I read about Rani Laxmibai again, to separate fact from fiction, as many historical movies depart from facts to meet their box office targets. Interestingly the story line of the film was a fairly accurate depiction of history. ManikarnikaTheFilm was an excellent movie and a must-watch for every Indian.

I am now looking forward to see TANHAJI this weekend. And I am hoping it turns out as good and authentic as Manikarnika. Most viewer reviews on the internet of TANHAJI are positive, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I had often wondered why there were no Hindi movies on Shivaji, despite the history of Shivaji being so fascinating! So many events in Shivaji's life - Tanhaji's conquest of Kondhana, Baji Prabhu Deshpande's defense of Ghodkhind, Shivaji's midnight attack on Shaesta Khan at Pune's Lal Mahal, the battle of Pratapgad, to name a few - are incredible tales of exemplary valor and wit. It was surprising that no one had made a Hindi movies on any of these events.

Now Ajay Devgan has brought "The Lion" Tanhaji Malsure to life on screen. It is good to see films depicting lives of real heroes of India now being made by a few honest film makers in Bollywood.

Justice Is Done!

From 1528 to 2019 - we Hindus waited for 491 long years for this! And finally JUSTICE IS DONE!!

On Ayodhya

I came across some interesting facts about the Ayodhya case. A court ruling in 1951 confirmed that the no Muslims had offered prayers since 1936 in the structure that was called "Babri Masjid". Which means that for last 83 years Muslims have not used that place for prayers or any other religious activity. The same ruling confirmed that during that period (1936-51) Hindus have been praying at that place.

In 1949, when idols of Bhagwan Ram were discovered at the place, the gates to the structure were locked and Hindus were forbidden from entering the place. But Hindus continued to offer prayers to Bhagwan Ram from outside the gates. On the other hand Muslim had already foresaken the place, and it had no religious significance to them. No Muslim prayers were offered there.

So the so-called "Babri Masjid" wasn't a masjid like Jama Masjid of Delhi or your neighbourhood Masjid, where Muslims offer prayers every week. It was a place abondoned by Muslims, while being continually used by Hindus for prayers. Archeological evidence has by now conclusively proved that a grand Hindu temple, absolutely certainly, existed at that place. Given these facts, the name "masjid" is really a misnomer for that place.

The more you read about the Ayodhya case, the more you realize that the facts of the case are strongly in favour of Hindus. The Sunni Waqf Board has a very weak case that it is trying to defend. If the decision in Ayodhya case is based purely on the merits of the case then the result would go entirely in favour of Hindus.

Swami Vivekanand and the Divine Mother

On the occasion of Durga pooja / Navaratri here's something from the life of Swami Vivekanand.

There is a beautiful Hindu temple called Sri Arulmigu Murugan temple in Jurong East, Singapore. The chief deity of the temple is Murugan or Kartikeya, the God of war. However, the temple also has other deities, one of which is a beautiful मूर्ती of Goddess Durga. It's the most magnificent image of Durga I have seen. Resplendent in gold, She evokes feelings of intense awe and reverence for the Goddess, who embodies divine शक्ती. Looking at the image mesmerizes you, taking you to a higher level of consciousness where you forget your worldly hassles and worries.

This glorious image of Durga, (the quality of this photo does no justice to which) reminds one of the interesting incident involving Ramakrishna Paramhamsa & Swami Vivekanand. It was 1884, when Vivekanand, then Narendra, was in his student years. His father died unexpectedly, and it pushed his until then well-to-do family into abject poverty. The responsibility to support the family financially fell on Narendra’s shoulders, as he was the eldest son. Narendra was tormented to see his mother and his younger siblings in states of destitution. He writes about those days as, “I was dying of starvation. Barefooted I went from office to office and was refused (job) everywhere. This was my first contact with the (hard) realities of life”.

Vivekanand asked Ramakrishna Paramhamsa to pray to Goddess Kali to help his family in these times of financial difficulties, but Ramakrishna told him to pray himself. Until then Narendra did not believe in Kali. Narendra was after all a product of the Bristish education system (which India is still following) that taught the kids to reject the tenets of Hinduism. So Narendra was skeptical. But having tried everything else and failed, he decided to plead his case with Kali and went to Dakshineshwar mandir.

As he entered the temple and looked at the image of Kali, he was overawed with a great feeling of devotion and love. He described the feeling as "ecstasy of joy" and felt She was "living and conscious, full of divine love and beauty". He prayed to the Goddess for divine knowledge and devotion, and for her eternal divine vision.

He met Ramakrishna Paramahansa and confessed that he had forgotten to pray to Kali for financial assistance. Ramakrishna advised Vivekanand to pray again, and told him to not forget to pray for his family’s financial well-being. So Vivekanand went to pray again. When he saw the image of Kali माता, he prayed, “Give me discrimination and divine knowledge. Grant me Mother your unhindered vision".

Ramakrishna advised him to make a third attempt. Vivekanand tried again but could not bring himself to pray to the Goddess for material things in life.

This event is considered a turning point in the life of Swami Vivekanand, who on that day realized the true essence of मूर्ती पूजा. Swami Vivekanand thus became devoted to the Goddess Mother. Vivekanand has described this eventful revelation of goddess Kali as, "There is somewhere a Great Power that thinks of Herself as feminine called Kali and Mother. Kali is the Divine Mother of the Universe, who has embodied in Herself, creation and destruction, love and terror, life and death.”

It is to Her that we pray today!

An Elliptical Commute!

Recently we have been considering buying an elliptical trainer at home. Since we are too busy to go to a gym, having something at home could come handy. With that in mind I started my search.

There is this brand Life Fitness that makes exercising equipment. I checked their website. They had few ellipticals listed on their website. They didn't mention price for any of the models. I knew it was a pricey brand, and I wasn't looking for anything very costly. But I thought I better check out their store. Maybe there is something there good for me.

I took out few hours from my schedule last weekend. And visited their store.

Salesman: Good evening, sir!
Me: Good evening! Could you show some of the eliptical trainers you got here.
Salesman: Sure, sir! Over here, sir. This one is our basic model. It is priced at rupees three-and-half lakhs. And this one, sir, is the advanced version. It costs rupees seven-and-half lakhs.
Me: Can I commute to office on these?
Salesman: Sir?? Sorry, I didn't get you. You are looking for an elliptical?? Right?
Me: Yes. But the prices you are quoting are for cars. So I am wondering if I can go office on any of these ellipticals!!!