Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
1. ‘The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.’
2. ‘Let us reject erudition and live as a child.’
3. God is simple one, unless a man is simple, he cannot recognise him.
4. So long as one does not become innocent like a child, one does not get divine illumination. Forget all the worldly knowledge and become innocently ignorant as a child, then you will get divine wisdom.
5. Today generally, liberty to women seems to mean – liberty in which moves about the well-educated women in shameless freedom.
6. Today, fashion in respect of dress means an outfit that reveals more then what it clothes.
7. Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err and
learn. I don’t understand how human beings, even able and experienced ones, can deprive others of that precious right.
8. Committing mistakes is quite natural for human beings. There is nothing unusual or criminal in it. There is no need to hide ourself or feel ashamed for our mistakes. But if we don’t learn from our mistakes, we lose the benefit of the lessons which every mistake brings with it.
9. A mistake is a blessing if you learn from it and a curse if you do not.
10. We must learn from other’s mistakes as we cannot live long enough to make them all ourselves.
11. ‘Waste your money and you are only out of money, but waste your time and you have lost a part of your life.’ Hence always be busy in some useful constructive work.
12. Some people feel that by saying ‘No’ other persons may feel annoyed
and displeased. But remember that the purpose of our life is not to please others, but self-development.
13. I have not much faith in working of many of the organizations or clubs masquerading as dedicated instruments of social welfare because these mixed-up conglomerations of all ‘isms’ and ‘ities’ – mostly fads – disturb the steadiness of the mind and makes our thinking frivolous. It is all organised loafing, a camouflage for self-glorification and a means for satisfaction of one’s self-conceit.
14. All great movements must proceed from the capital for it is the heart of a nation. All blood comes into the heart and then it is distributed.
15. Excessive use of physical, psychological and verbal violence in cinema and TV serials etc. tend to lend legitimacy to domestic violence. Besides that, undue focus on bigamy, extramarital relations and other social evils has an undesirable impact on children. It is an enervating entertainment.
16. There is a general tendency in modern times to talk too much of work and decry thoughts. Doing is very good but it comes from thinking. Thoughts are the seeds of action; actions originate in thoughts. Where there is no thought, there can be no work. Fill the brain, therefore, with high thoughts and ideals, place them day and night before you and out of that will come great works. Hyperboles of yesterday are realities of today.
17. Both the realist and the idealist are necessary and complementary to one another. The idealist brings bold aspirations down to earth, the realist causes it to take shape through work. Therefore, combine in your life immense idealism with immense practicality.
18. Most of us cannot keep our activities on par with our thought-lives. Most of us seem to lose the power of working when we think deeper, and the power of deep thinking when we work more. That is why almost all great thinkers have to leave to posterity, the practical realisation of their great ideals.
19. An idea is extremely short lived. Hence it is best to take action as soon as it blossoms. Otherwise you just lose it or it may fade into oblivion. Not only that, you must not only implement your ideas but also ensure that your thoughts remain alive and evergreen.
20. We must challenge and defeat the idea that the wanton killing of innocent people advances any cause or supports any aspiration. And we must call this despicable act by its rightful name – murder.
21. Don’t argue and waste your time and energy in talking to obstinately foolish people, it is better to surrender.
22. If a man or a woman were allowed the freedom to take up any woman or man as wife or husband, if individual pleasure of animal instincts is allowed to run riot in society, the result must be – evil, evil children, wicked and diabolical. Man in every country is producing these brutal children and multiplying police force to keep these brutes down. The question is not how to destroy evil but how to prevent the very birth of it. Therefore, as long as you live in a society, your marriage certainly affects every member of it; and therefore, society has the right and a role in this matters.
23. On one hand new India is saying, we should have full freedom in selection of husband or wife because on it depends our future, happiness and misery and we must have the right to exercise our own will. On the other hand, old India dictates that marriage is not for sense-enjoyment but to perpetuate the race. By producing children, you are contributing to and are responsible for the future good or evil of the society. Hence, society has a right to decide to whom you shall marry and whom you should not. You have to follow the way which is most conducive to the well-being of the society and have to give up your personal predilection of individual pleasure for the good of many.
24. Swamiji defines what constitute the truly modern, as different from cheap and shallow modernity that we find everywhere in our country. To be truly modern is to be scientific in temper and attitude and to be humanistic in all inter-human relations. The modern West became modern when it developed science and humanism. We have also to do the same to make our country modern.
25. It is better to deserve honour and not to have it than to have it and not to deserve it.
26. Generally, all great and learned people become more and more humble as they acquire more and more of wealth, power, status and honour; for becoming proud on getting them is the sign of an undeveloped mind. One should make no attempt to show off any of his material or social status to others. Pride and arrogance lead to a definite downfall of the person.
27. The good arising from our prayers and worship are nullified by our wrong actions.
28. Be in no hurry to give your thoughts to others, first have then give.
29. Students must have continence. It is owing to its paucity that everything is on the brink of ruin in our country.
30. It is better to follow truth and be rejected than not to follow and be accepted.
31. People who drink to drown their sorrows and pains should be told that they (sorrows and pains) know how to swim.
32. Humility is a strong thing. The moment you think you have got it, it vanishes.
33. It is better to lose your pride for love rather than your love for pride.
34. Hard work never kills anybody. Time and tide wait for none, opportunity never comes again.
35. Many people will walk in and out of your life but only true friends will leave their footprints in your heart.
36. Anger is only one letter short of danger.
37. If someone betrays you once, it is his fault but if he betrays you twice, it is your fault.
38. When a thing has been said and well said, have no scruples; take it up and give reference.
39. You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.
40. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
41. The supreme excellence is not to win a hundred victories but to subdue your enemies without any fight.
42. If we cannot attain perfection, at least, by chasing perfection we can catch excellence.
43. There is no speed limits on the road to excellence.
44. Humility is not weakness, it is strength, never a weakness.
45. Politics develops more comedians than any other field of activity.
46. “Just as God fills the whole world, so does the soul fill the body. Just as God sees but is not seen, same is with the soul. Just as God feeds the whole world so does the soul the body. Just as God is placed in the innermost precincts of the temple so does the soul dwell in the innermost part of the body.”
47. If we do not think about future generations they will never forget and forgive us.
48. A man can be cheated into passion but has to be reasoned to truth.