Here we present some podcasts prepared by the members of the samithi.
CALL TO THE NATION by Swami Vivekananda
Chapter 1. Faith and Strength.
Page 35 Quote 1: He is an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself.
Page 35 Quote 2: The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves. That faith calls out the divinity within. You can do anything. You fail only when you do not strive sufficiently to manifest infinite power. As soon as a man or a nation loses faith, death comes.
Page 35 Quote 3: Faith, faith, faith in ourselves, faith, faith in god, this is the secret of greatness. If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty millions of your mythological gods, and in all the gods which foreigners have now and again introduced into your midst, and still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you.
Page 36 Quote 1: Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin — to say that you are weak, or others are weak.
Page 36 Quote 2: Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.
Page 36 Quote 3: Be free; hope for nothing from anyone. I am sure if you look back upon your lives you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves.
Page 36 Quote 4: Never say, No, never say I cannot, for you are infinite. Even time and space are as nothing compared with your nature. You can do anything and everything, you are almighty.
Page 36 Quote 5: Ye are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth — sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal.
Page 37 Quote 1: Never mind the struggles, the mistakes. I never heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only a cow — never a man. So never mind these failures, these little backslidings; hold the ideal a thousand times, and if you fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more.
Page 37 Quote 2: The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength. Teach men of the strength that is already within them.
Page 37 Quote 3: If there is one word that you find coming out like a bomb from the Upanishads, bursting like a bomb-shell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word fearlessness.
Page 37 Quote 4: If you look, you will find that I have never quoted anything but the Upanisads. And of the Upanisads, it is only that one idea strength. The quintessence of the Vedas and Vedanta and all lies in that one word.
Page 37 Quote 5: Be strong, my young friends, that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to heaven through football than through the study of the Gita. These are bold words; but I have to say them, for I love. I know where the shoe pinches. I have gained a little experience. You will understand the Gita better with your biceps, your muscles, a little stronger.
Page 38 Quote 1: This is the one question I put to every man… Are you strong? Do you feel strength? For I know it is truth alone that gives strength. Strength is the medicine for the world’s disease.
Page 38 Quote 2: This is the great fact: Strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery, weakness is death.
Page 38 Quote 3: o succeed you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. ‘I will drink the ocean,’ says the persevering soul, ‘at my will mountains will crumble up.’ Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you will reach the goal.
Page 38 Quote 4: Men, men, these are wanted, everything else will be ready, but strong, vigorous, believing young men, sincere to the backbone, are wanted. A hundred such and the world becomes revolutionized.
Page 38 Quote 5: Are not drums made in the country? Are not trumpets and kettle-drums available in India? Make the boys hear the deep-toned sound of these instruments. Hearing from boyhood the sound of these effeminate forms of music, … the country is well-nigh converted into a country of women.
Page 39 Quote 1: Death is better than a vegetating ignorant life; it is better to die on the battlefield than to live a life of defeat.
Page 39 Quote 2: Come, do something heroic! Brother, what if you do not attain mukti, what if you suffer damnation a few times? Is the saying untrue: There are some saints who, full of holiness in thought, word, and deed, please the whole world by their numerous beneficent acts, and who develop their own hearts by magnifying an atom of virtue in others as if it were as great as a mountain’?
Page 39 Quote 3: Can anything be done unless everybody exerts himself to his utmost? ‘It is the man of action, the lion-heart, that the Goddess of Wealth resorts to.’ No need of looking behind. FORWARD! We want infinite energy, infinite zeal, infinite courage, and infinite patience, then only will great things be achieved.
Page 39 Quote 4: Be not in despair; the way is very difficult, like walking on the edge of a razor; yet despair not, arise, awake and find the ideal, the goal.
Page 40 Quote 1: Why weepest thou, brother? There is neither death nor disease for thee. Why weepest thou, brother? There is neither misery nor misfortune for thee. Why weepest thou, brother? Neither change nor death was predicated of thee. Thou art Existence Absolute… Be your own self.
Page 40 Quote 2: Let people say whatever they like, stick to your own convictions, and rest assured, the world will be at your feet. They say, ‘Have faith in this fellow or that fellow’, but I say, ‘Have faith in yourself first’, that’s the way. Have faith in yourself — all power is in you — be conscious and bring it out. Say, ‘I can do everything.’ ‘Even the poison of a snake is powerless if you can firmly deny it.’
Page 40 Quote 3: Once when I was in Varanasi, I was passing through a place where there was a large tank of water on one side and a high wall on the other. It was in the grounds where there were many monkeys. The monkeys of Varanasi are huge brutes and are sometimes surly. They now took it into their heads not to allow me to pass through their street, so they howled and shrieked and clutched at my feet as I passed. As they pressed closer, I began to run, but the faster I ran, the faster came the monkeys and they began to bite at me. It seemed impossible to escape, but just then I met a stranger who called out to me, ‘Face the brutes’. I turned and faced the monkeys, and they fell back and finally fled. That is a lesson for all life — face the terrible, face it boldly.
Page 41 Quote 1: Stand up and fight! Not one step back, that is the idea. Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards. Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all the gods in the world. Has misery ceased?…. The gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game… You are infinite, deathless, birthless. Because you are infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight!