Straight Talk on Religion by Swami Vivekananda

What a thought!!! Only an enlightened soul can dare to speak in such a bold and fearless manner. Thought of sharing it with others. 

Straight Talk on Religion:

(Excerpts from The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda)

A man may believe in all the churches in the world, he may carry in his head all the sacred books ever written, he may baptize himself in all the rivers of the earth, still, if he has no perception of God, I would class him with the rankest atheist.

And a man may have never entered a church or a mosque, nor performed any ceremony, but if he feels God within himself and is thereby lifted above the vanities of the world, that man is a holy man, a saint, call him what you will.

As soon as a man stands up and says he is right or his church is right, and all others are wrong, he is himself all wrong. He does not know that upon the proof of all the others depends the proof of his own. Love and charity for the whole human race, that is the test of true religiousness. I do not mean the sentimental statement that all men are brothers, but that one must feel the oneness of human life.

So far as they are not exclusive, I see that the sects and creeds are all mine; they are all grand. They are all helping men towards the real religion. I will add, it is good to be born in a church, but it is bad to die there. It is good to be born a child, but bad to remain a child. Churches, ceremonies, and symbols are good for children, but when the child is grown, he must burst the church or himself.

We must not remain children for ever. It is like trying to fit one coat to all sizes and growths. I do not deprecate the existence of sects in the world. Would to God there were twenty millions more, for the more there are, there will be a greater field for selection. What I do object to is trying to fit one religion to every case.

Though all religions are essentially the same, they must have the varieties of form produced by dissimilar circumstances among different nations. We must each have our own individual religion, individual so far as the externals of it go.

Until the water comes out, it is all book, book. So until your religion makes you realize God, it is useless. He who only studies books for religion reminds one of the fable of the ass which carried a heavy load of sugar on its back, but did not know the sweetness of it."

The man at whose feet I sat all my life--and it is only a few ideas of his that I try to teach--could [hardly] write his name at all. All my life I have not seen another man like that, and I have traveled all over the world. When I think of that man, I feel like a fool, because I want to read books and he never did. He never wanted to lick the plates after other people had eaten. That is why he was his own book.

All my life I am repeating what Jack said and John said, and never say anything myself. What glory is it that you know what John said twenty-five years ago and what Jack said five years ago? Tell me what you have to say.

Mind you, there is no value in learning. You are all mistaken in learning. The only value of knowledge is in the strengthening, the disciplining, of the mind. By all this eternal swallowing it is a wonder that we are not all dyspeptics. Let us stop, and burn all the books, and get hold of ourselves, and think.

You all talk [about] and get distracted over losing your "individuality". You are losing it every moment of your lives by this eternal swallowing. If any one of you believes what I teach, I will be sorry. I will only be too glad if I can excite in you the power of thinking for yourselves.... My ambition is to talk to men and women, not to sheep.

By men and women, I mean individuals. You are not little babies to drag all the filthy rags from the street and bind them up into a doll!

This is a place for learning! That man is placed in the university! He knows all about what Mr. Blank said!" But Mr. Blank said nothing! If I had the choice, I would ... say to the professor, "Get out! You are nobody!" Remember this individualism at any cost! Think wrong if you wish, no matter whether you get truth or not. The whole point is to discipline the mind. That truth which you swallow from others will not be yours. You cannot teach truth from my mouth; neither can you learn truth from my mouth. None can teach another.

You have to realize truth and work it out for yourself according to your own nature. ... All must struggle to be individuals--strong, standing on your own feet, thinking your own thoughts, realizing your own Self. No use swallowing doctrines others pass on--standing up together like soldiers in jail, sitting down together, all eating the same food, all nodding their heads at the same time. Variation is the sign of life. Sameness is the sign of death.

Once I was in an Indian city, and an old man came to me. He said, "Swami, teach me the way." I saw that that man was as dead as this table before me. Mentally and spiritually he was really dead. I said, "Will you do what I ask you to do? Can you steal? Can you drink wine? Can you eat meat?"

The man [exclaimed], "What are you teaching!"

I said to him, "Did this wall ever steal? Did the wall ever drink wine?"

"No, sir."

Man steals, and he drinks wine, and becomes God. "I know you are not the wall, my friend. Do something! Do something!" I saw that if that man stole, his soul would be on the way to salvation.

How do I know that you are individuals--all saying the same thing, all standing up and sitting down together? That is the road to death! Do something for your souls! Do wrong if you please, but do something! You will understand me by and by, if you do not just now. Old age has come upon the soul, as it were. It has become rusty. The rust must be [rubbed off], and then we go on. Now you understand why there is evil in the world. Go home and think of that, just to take off that rustiness!

(Collected from various lectures and talks from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda)

HAPPY REPUBLIC????

Hello everyone. Hope you had a wonderful weekend, coz the first day of the weekend was celebration of a National Holiday, and almost all Indians were heard saying, “wishing all of you a very Happy Republic Day.”

Happy??? Republic??? Sounds strange, doesn’t it?

For all the people who take pains to remember their country only on 2 days a year, it may sound very normal; but what about the one’s who live their life for the country? For those who have utmost faith in our Constitution? For those who seek justice and are deprived of the same? And for those who are victims of the failed system of our country?

For them, this day of Republic is merely a prank; a prank which the entire system plays to ridicule the people of the so-called “Republic of India”.

Incidentally, I came across some of the points mentioned in our Constitution, especially pertaining to Fundamental Rights mentioned in Part III, Article 14 to Article 32, which guarantees the 6 rights as below :

            * Right to equality

            *Right to freedom

            *Right against exploitation

          *Right to freedom of religion

      *Cultural & educational Rights

      *Right to Constitutional Remedies

Sadly enough, these rights are merely words written on the paper, having no real-life significance. In the past few months, we have seen all these rights getting snatched away from the common Indian citizen.

*When the Constitution itself mentions the Right to Equality, its our own government who creates divide among various sections of the society. The recent example being of the Home Minister, sushil kumar shinde, who called Hindus as “terrorists”, and when he was opposed for his allegations, the govt played a game of Divide & Rule by stating that shinde was opposed only because he is a dalit.

*Similarly, right to freedom has been ridiculed time and again by the same govt. For eg : Article 19, Part 2 gives the provision to assemble peacefully & without arms. But when people protest and gather to oppose the evil practices of the govt or for justice for a rape victim, they are trashed out by the police, thus depriving them of their basic fundamental right. And there are no actions taken when 50,000 terrorists from Bangladesh & Pakistan, along with the local goons riot in Azad Maidan, the biggest & the busiest area of Mumbai, with not even a single arrest. 

*Not to forget the Right against exploitation, which, the people are seldom aware of. People are so used to getting exploited that they don’t even know that there is a provision in the Constitution to fight against such evil. Infact, whenever people come forward to ask for any Right, the govt inflates the prices of the basic necessities, thus diverting the people’s attention.

*Another funny thing I came across, was the Right to Liberty mentioned in the Article 21. When a pervert called M.F.Hussain, made nude paintings of Gods, many liberals come in his defence, stating it as an art and the freedom to express. These same liberals are silent when actor Kamal Hassan made a film, Vishwaroopam, which created a controversy as it potrayed the members of a particular community in a “wrong” way. Why is it that liberalism applies only to express(or rather exploit) only one community, and not the other??? (Again ridiculing the Right to Equality)

It is said that Public Opinion is the key to run a successful democratic-republic state. There are various agencies which influence the public opinion in India, namely Political Parties, Press, Electronic Media, Radio, Public Platform, etc. Amongst them, the reality of the media, is known to the entire country. Free and impartial media, which was supposed to be the “Lighthouse of Democracy” is under serious hazard. What was seen in the newspaper of 26^th Jan, 2013 was anything but impartial. We saw almost 2/3^rd of all the newspaper displaying ads of the “success” & “achievements” of the current ruling party. (The biggest joke one can imagine on a Holiday), while half of the remaining 1/3^rd part was filled with ads related to offers in super-markets.

A few news channels which showed clips and facts related to the formation of the Republic of India, and its struggle, were in full praise of the ruling party, while many failures of the Republic were hidden from the people, as if what the electronic & print media will show will only be the ultimate truth. And it would have been so, had there not been social media. Social media, currently is the only Public Platform that is exposing the failure of Republic, without any pressure or influence.

When the media is been controlled by the anti-nationals, and the public opinion is manipulated, how can you rate the Republic as successful??? When common man has to fight for his basic rights, and still doesn’t get justice, how can you term the Republic as successful??? When the devils are sitting on the important positions of the system, how can the Republic be termed as successful??? When people are not free to express their views and when common man is brutally man-handled when he wants to oppose the evils of the govt, how can that Republic be successful???

It is been said that, “When injustice becomes law, Rebellion becomes duty”.

Sincere request to the govt of India to still come forward and accept your responsibility to turn this FAILED REPUBLIC into a successful DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, as mentioned in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, else a day will come when people will come forward to become the government by themselves.

JAI HIND