EDUCATION

EDUCATION

COMPILED FROM THE SPEECHES AND

WRITINGS OF

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Compiled and Edited by

T. S. AVINASHILINGAM

SRI RAMAKRISHNA MISSION VIDYALAYA

P. O. RAMAKRISHNA VIDYALAYA

COIMBATORE-20 (TAMIL NADU) INDIA

Published by

The President,

Sn Ramakrishna Math,

Mylapore, Madras 600 004

Rights Reserved

Fifteenth Impression

3CV-10M eC 1 92

ISBN 81 7120-002 8

Printed in India at

Sri Ramaknshna Math Printing Press,

Mylapore, Madras 6OO OO4

DEDICATED

TO

SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDAJI MAHARAJ

A Direct Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.

To whose deep love, affection and inspiration

I give my spiritual life.

INTRODUCTION

It has been my desire for some time to collect the

sayings of Swami Vivekananda on Education. The

present Satyagraha movement and incarceration

in the Trichy Jail gave me the necessaiffi time for it.

The Swami was a great and forcefu^personality

and his sayings on Education are as inspifcng as the

rest. Some of the sayings may seem toiE^ bearing

more on religion than on educat^i. l&ey have

been included as it was the opinio^Spfyt^ Swami

that a pure and religious life is the$p&nti(|tion of

all education and culture. p V

I am deeply grateful to my revered (leader

Sjt. C. Rajagopalachariar for his very valuable

suggestions and also to Sri K. Ramakotiswark Bao,

Editor, 'Triveni', and Sri K. Arunachalan^ * my

brother- worker in the Vidyalaya, for their kind

help. We are grateful to Swami Pavitrananda, the

President of the Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati,

Himalayas, the publishers of The Complete Works

of Swami Vivekananda for kindly giving us

permission to publish this book.

The references to the various passages in The

Complete 'Works have been given at the end of

the book.

Sri Ramakrishna Mission }

Vidyalaya, ( m <

Coimbatore District, I i '

2nd July, 1943. J

INTRODUCTION TO THE FIFTH EDITION

We are glad that four editions of this book have

come out and the fifth edition will shortly be going

to print. It has been translated in many of the

Indian languages. Swami Vivekananda came as a

dynamic force in the rise of a New India. His words

and works continue to be a force even after half a

century of his passing away and will continue to be

so till the end of time, for all seekers of Truth.

This book was first compiled when I was im-

prisoned during the 1942 freedom movement. Since

then independence has been won and we are

involved in the grand task of building a glorious

India, which the great Swami foresaw and dreamt

of. When a large reconstruction work is going on

throughout the country, these words of the Swami

have a great value in inspiring the thousands of

men and women, who are engaged in it.

In this edition some of the chapters have been

rewritten. Some new chapters, namely, Develop-

ment of personality, The end and the means, What

is duty, and Work like a master, have been added.

We hope and pray that the revised edition will carry

the message of the Master to the thousands of teach-

ers, students and others who are engaged in the

great task of education and other nation-building

activities.

19-8-'57. T. S. AVINASHILINGAM.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I Philosophy of Education . . 1

II The Only Method of Education . . 9

III Education for Character . . 15

IV Development of Personality . . 21

V The Teacher and the Taught . . 30

VI Religious Education . . 39

VII The End and the Means . . 50

VIII Education of Women . . 62

IX Education of the Masses . . 68

X What is Duty . - 77

XI Work Like a Master . . 85

Appendix . . 95

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

Education is the manifestation of the perfection

already in man. 1

Knowledge is inherent in man, no knowledge

comes from outside ; it is all inside. What we say

a man * knows ', should, in strict

. is psychological language, be what he

* discovers' or * unveils'. What a

man * learns ' is really what he * discovers ' by

taking the cover of! his own soul, which is a mine

of infinite knowledge. We say Newton discovered

gravitation. Was it sitting anywhere in a corner

waiting for him ? It was in his own mind ; the time

came and he found it out. All knowledge that the

world has ever received comes from the mind ; the

infinite library of the universe is in your own mind.

The external world is only the suggestion, the occa-

sion, which sets you to study your own mind. The

falling of an apple gave the suggestion to Newton,

and he studied his own mind. He rearranged all

the previous links of thought in his mind and dis-

covered a new link among them, which we call the

EDUCATION

law of gravitation. It was not in the apple nor in

anything in the centre of the earth. 2

All knowledge therefore, secular or spiritual, is

in the human mind. In many cases it is not dis-

covered, but remains covered, and

^ U wu n hin. ledge when the covering is being slowly

taken off, we say ' we are learn-

ing', and the advance of knowledge is made

by this process of uncovering. The man from whom

this veil is being lifted is the more knowing man ;

the man upon whom it lies thick is ignorant ; the

man from whom it has entirely gone is all-know-

ing, omniscient. Like fire in a piece of flint,

knowledge exists in the mind ; suggestion is the

friction which brings it out. 3 All knowledge and all

power are within. What we call powers, secrets

of Nature, and force are all within. All knowledge

comes from the human soul. Man manifests

knowledge, discovers it within himself, which is

pre-existing, through eternity. 4

No one was ever really taught by another.

Each of us has to teach himself. The external

teacher offers on y the suggestion

ls^t e he P ui. which rouses the inter *al teacher

to work to understand things, Then

things will be made clearer to us by our own

power of perception and thought, and we shall

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

realise them in our own souls. 5 The whole of the

big banyan tree which covers acres of ground was

in the little seed which was perhaps no bigger than

one-eighth of a mustard seed. All that mass of

energy was there confined. The gigantic intellect,

we know, lies coiled up in the protoplasmic cell.

It may seem like a paradox, but it is true. Each one

of us has come out of one protoplasmic cell and

all the powers we possess were coiled up there.

You cannot say they came from food, for if you

heap up food mountains high, what power comes

out of it ? The energy was there potentially no

doubt, but still there. So is infinite power

in the soul of man whether he knows it or not.

Its manifestation is only a question of being

conscious of it. c

The Light Divine within is obscured in most

people. It is like a lamp in a cask of iron : no

gleam of light can shine through.

Gradually, by purity and unselfish-

ness, we can make the obscur-

ing medium less and less dense, until at last it

becomes as transparent as glass. Sri Ramakrishna

was like the iron cask transformed into a glass

cask, through which can be seen the inner light

;is it is. 7

You cannot teach a child any more than you

EDUCATION

can grow a plant. The plant develops its own

nature. 8 The child also teaches

Self-education. .,,-., i <, -* *

itself. But you can help it to go

forward in its own way. What you can do is not

of a positive nature but negative. You can take

away the obstacles, and knowledge comes

out of its own naure. Loosen the soil a little,

so that it may come out easily. Put a hedge

round it ; see that it is not killed by anything. 9 You

can supply the growing seed with the materials

for the making up of its body, bringing to it the

earth, the water, the air that it wants. And there

your work stops. It will take all that it wants by

its own nature. 10 So with the education of the

child. A child educates itself. 11 The teacher

spoils everything by thinking that he is teaching.

Within man is all knowledge, and it requires only

an awakening, and that much is the work of the

teacher. We have only to do so much for the boys

that they may learn to apply their own intellect to

the proper use of their hands, legs, ears and eyes. 12

That system which aims at educating our boys

in the same manner as that of the man who batter-

ed his ass, being advised that it

ree grow . C0 uld thereby be turned into a

horse, should be abolished. 13 Owing to undue

domination exercised by the parents, our boys

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

do not get free scope for growth. In every

one there are infinite tendencies which require

proper scope for satisfaction. 14 Violent attempts

at reform always end by retarding reform. If you

do not allow one to become a lion, one will become

a fox. 15

We should give positive ideas. Negative

thoughts only weaken men. Do you not find that

where parents are constantly taxing

Positive ideas. ,. . , , , .,

their sons to read and write,

telling them that they will never learn any-

thing and calling them fools and so forth,

the latter do actually turn out to be so in many

cases ? If you speak kind words to them and

encourage them, they are bound to improve in

time. If you can give them positive ideas, people

will grow up to be men and learn to stand on their

own legs. In language and literature, in poetry

and arts, in everything we must point out not the

mistakes that people are making in their thoughts

and actions, but the way in which they will be

able to do these things better. 16 The teaching must

be modified according to the needs of the taught.

Past lives have moulded our tendencies, and so givf*

to the pupil according to his tendencies. Take every

one where he stands and push him forward. 17 We

have seen how Sri Ramakrishna would encourage

EDUCATION

even those whom we considered worthless and

change the very course of their lives thereby ! He

never destroyed a single man's special inclinations.

He gave words of hope and encouragement even

to the most degraded of persons and lifted them up.

Liberty is the first condition of growth. It is

wrong, a thousand times wrong, if any of you

dares to say, 'I will work out the

salvation of this woman or child/

Hands off! They will solve their

own problems. Who are you to assume that you

know everything ? How dare you think that you

have the right over God? For, don't you know

that every soul is the Soul of God ? Look upon

every one as God. You can only serve. Serve the

children of the Lord if you have the privilege. If

the Lord grants that you can help any one of His

children, blessed you are. Blessed you are that

that privilege was given to you when others had

it not. Do it only as worship. 18

Education is not the amount of information that

is put into your brain and runs riot there, un-

digested all your life. We must

have life-building, man-making,

character-making, assimilation of

ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made

them your life and character, you have more educa-

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

tion than any man who has got by heart a whole

library. If education were identical with informa-

tion, the libraries would be the greatest sages in

the world and encyclopaedias the Rishis. 1 *

Getting by heart the thoughts of others in a

foreign language and stuffing your brain with them

and taking some university degrees,

educafion y u consider yourself educated.

Is this education ? What is the

goal of your education ? Either a clerkship, or

being a lawyer, or at the most a Deputy Magistrate,

which is another form of clerkship isn't that all ?

What good will it do you or the country at large ?

Open your eyes and see what a piteous cry for food

is rising in the land of Bharata, proverbial for its

food. Will your education fulfil this want ? * The

education that does not help the common mass of

people to equip themselves for the struggle for life,

which does not bring out strength of character, a

spirit of philanthropy and the courage of a lion is

it worth the name ? 21

We want that education by which character is

formed, strength of mind is increased, the intel-

lect is expanded and by which one

educatfoi? ed can stanc * on one's wn feet."

What we need is to study, inde-

pendent of foreign control, different branches of

EDUCATION

the knowledge that is our own, and with it the

English language and western science ; we need

technical education and all else that will develop

industries, so that men instead of seeking for

service may earn enough to provide for themselves

and save against a rainy day. 23

The end of all education, all training, should

be man-making. The end and aim of all training

is to make the man grow. 24 The

training by which the current and

expression of will are brought

under control and become fruitful, is called educa-

tion. 25 What our country now wants are muscles

of iron and nerves of steel, gigantic wills which

nothing can resist, which can penetrate into the

mysteries and secrets of the universe and will

accomplish their purpose in any fashion, even if it

meant going down to the bottom of the ocean,

meeting death face to face. 26 It is man-making

religion that we want. It is man-making theories

that we want. It is man-making education all

round that we want. 27

II

THE ONLY METHOD OF EDUCATION

There is only one method by which to attain

knowledge, that which is called concentration. 1

The very essence of education is

Concentration , . . * . , 2 _, .,

concentration of mind. 2 From the

lowest man to the highest yogi, all have to use the

same method to attain knowledge. The chemist

who works in his laboratory concentrates all the

powers of his mind, brings them into one focus,

and throws them on the elements ; the elements

stand analysed, and thus his knowledge comes.

The astronomer concentrates the powers of his

mind and brings them into one focus ; and he

throws them on to objects through his telescope ;

and stars and systems roll forward and give up

their secrets to him. So it is in every case : with

the professor in his chair, the student with his book,

with every man who is working to know. 3

The more the power of concentration, the

greater the knowledge that is acquired. Even the

lowest shoeblack, if he gives more

Its power . .,, , i -i i

concentration, will black shoes

better. The cook with concentration will cook a

meal all the better. In making money, or in wor-

EDUCATION

shipping God, or in doing anything, the stronger

the power of concentration, the better will that

thing be done. This is the one call, the one knock,

which opens the gates of Nature, and lets out floods

of light. 4

Ninety per cent of thought-force is wasted by

the ordinaiy human being and therefore he is con-

Difference in stantly committing blunders. The

degree. trained man or mind never makes

a mistake.* The main difference between men and

the animals is the difference in their power of con-

centration. An animal has very little power of

concentration. Those who have trained animals

find much difficulty in the fact that the animal is

constantly forgetting what is told him. He cannot

concentrate his mind upon anything for a long time.

Herein is the difference between man and the ani-

mals. This difference in their power of concentra-

tion also constitutes the difference between man

and man. Compare the lowest with the highest

man. The difference is in the degree of con-

centration. 6

All success in .any line of work is the result of

this. High achievements in arts, music, etc., are the

Results result of concentration. 7 When the

mind is concentrated and turned

back on itself, all within us will be our servants,

METHOD OF EDUCATION

not our masters. The Greeks applied their con-

centration to the exernal world and the re

perfection in art, literature etc. The Hind

cent rated on the internal world, upon the

realms in the self and developed the scie

yo#a. 8 The world is ready to give uj

if we only know how to knock, how

necessary blow. The strength and for<!

blow comes through concentration. 9

The power of concentration is the onlj

the treasure-house of knowledge. In the preseA^ ;

omy koy to slate of our body we are much dis-*

knowledge traded, and the mind is frittering c f

away its energies upon a hundred things. As soon

as I try to call on my thoughts and concentrate my

mind upon any one object of knowledge, thousands

of undesired impulses rush into the brain,

thousands of thoughts rush into the mind and

disturb it. How to check it and bring the mind

under control is the whole subject of study in

Rajayoga. w The practice of meditation leads to

mental concentration. 11

To me the very essence of education is con-

centration of mind, not the collection of facts. If

I had to do my education once again, I would not

study facts at all. I would develop the power of

concentration and detachment, and then with a

EDUCATION

perfect instrument, collect facts at will. 12

Ppwer comes to him who observes unbroken

Brahmacharya for a period of twelve years. 13

Complete continence gives great

Brahmacharya intellectual and spiritual power. 14

necessary lor __ . A _ *

concentration. Controlled desire leads to the

highest results. Transform the

sexual energy into spiritual energy. The stronger

this force, the more can be done with it. Only a

powerful current of water can do hydraulic

mining. 15 It is owing to want of continence that

everything is on the brink of ruin in our country.

By observance of strict Brahmacharya all learning

can be mastered in a very short time ; one acquires

an unfailing memory of what one hears or knows

but once. 16 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 spiri-

tual leaders of men have been very continent and

this is what gave them power. 17

Every boy should be trained to practise abso-

lute Brahmacharya and then, and then alone faith

and Shraddha will come. 18 Chastity in thought,

word and deed always and in all conditions is what

is called Brahmacharya. 19 Unchaste imagination

is as bad as unchaste action. 20 The Brahmacharin

METHOD OF EDUCATION

must be pure in thought, word and deed. 21

The idea of true Shraddha must be brought

back once more to us. The faith in our own selves

must be reawakened and then only

n " the P r blems which face our

country will gradually be solved by

ourselves. 22 What we want is this Shraddha. What

makes the difference between man and man is the

difference in the Shraddha and nothing else. What

makes one man great and another weak and low

is this Shraddha. My master used lo say : he who

thinks himself weak will become weak ; and that is

true. This Shraddha must enter into you. What-

ever of material power you see manifested by the

western races, is the outcome of this Shraddh-i,

because they believe in their muscles; and if you

believe in the spirit how much more will it work ! 2J

I beg you to understand this one fact, no good

comes out of the man who day and night thinks he

is nobody. If a man day and njght

lhinks lhat hc ^ miserable, low and

nothing, nothing he becomes. If

you say ' I am, I am ', so shall you be. That is Ihe

great fact you ought to remember. We are children

of the Almighty, we are sparks of the infinite,

divine fire. How can we be nothings ? We are

everything, ready to do everything ; we can do

EDUCATION

everything. This faith in themselves was in the

heart of our ancestors ; this faith in themselves was

the motive power that pushed them forward in

the march of civilization. If there has been dege-

neration, if there has been defect, you will find that

degeneration to have started on the day our people

lost this faith in themselves.* 1

To preach the doctrine of Shraddha or genuine

faith is the mission of my life. Let me repeat to you

that this faith is one of the most potent factors

of humanity. First have faith in yourselves. Know

that though one may be a little bubble and another

may be a mountain-high wave, yet behind both the

bubble and the wave there is the infinite ocean*

The infinite ocean is the background of me as well

as you. Mine also is that infinite ocean of life, of

power, of spirituality as well as yours. Therefore,

my brethren, teach this life-saving, great, ennobling,

grand doctrine to your children even from their

very birth*

Ill

EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER

The character of any man is but the <3gregate

of his tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his

mind. As pleasure and pain pass

before his soul, they leave upon it

different pictures, and the result of

these combined impressions is what is called a man's

character. 1 We are what our thoughts have made

us. 2 Each thought is a little hammer blow on the

lump of iron which our bodies are, manufacturing

out of it what we want it to be. 3 Words are

secondary. Thoughts live ; they travel far. And

so take care of what you think.

Good and evil have an equal share in moulding

character and in some cases misery is a greater

teacher than happiness. In studying

The role of the great characters the world

pleasure and .

pain. has produced, I dare say, in the /ast

majority of cases, it would be found

that it was misery that taught more than happiness,

it was poverty that taught more than wealth, and

EDUCATION

it was blows that brought out their inner fire more

than praise. 4 Brought up in the lap of luxury, lying

on a bed of roses and never shedding a tear, who

has become great ? When there comes affection in

the heart, when the storm of sorrow blows all

round, and it seems as if light will be seen no more,

when hope and courage are almost gone, it is then,

in the midst of this great spiritual tempest, that

the light within gleams. 5

Using the simile of a lake for the mind, every

ripple, every wave that rises in the mind, when it

subsides, does not die out entirely,

^cTilfn. f but leaves a mark and a ^ture pos-

sibility of that mark coming out

again. Every work that we do, every movement

of the body, every thought that we think, leaves

such an impression on the mind-stuff, and even

when such impressions are not obvious on the sur-

face, they are sufficiently strong to work beneath

the surface, subconsciously. What we are evejy

moment is determined by the sum total of these

impressions on the mind. Each man's character is

determined by the sum total of these impressions.

If good impressions prevail, the character becomes

good, if bad, it becomes bad. If a man continuously

hears bad words, thinks bad thoughts, does bad

actions, his mind will be full of bad impressions ;

EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER

and they will influence his thought and work with-

out his being conscious of the fact. In fact, these

bad impressions are always working. The sum

total of these impressions in him will create the

strong motive power for doing bad actions. He

will be like a machine in the hands of his

impressions. 6

Similarly if a man thinks good thoughts and

does good works, the sum total of these impressions

will be good and they in a similar

f manner will force him to do good in

spite of himself. When a man has

done so much good work and thought so many good

thoughts, there is an irresistible tendency in him

to do good. Even if he wishes to do evil, his mind,

as the sum total of his tendencies, will not allow

him to do so. He is completely under the influence

of the good tendencies. When such is the case, a

man's good character is said to be established. If

you really want to judge the character of a man,

look not at his great performances. Watch a man

do his most common actions. Those are indeed the

things which will tell you the real character of the

great man. Great occasions rouse even the lowest

of human beings to some kind of greatness, but he

alone is really great whose character is great always

the same wherever he be. 7

EDUCATION

When a large number of these impressions is

left on the mind, they coalesce and become a habit

It is said, 'Habit is second nature.

xt &rsi nature also and the whole

nature of man.* Everything that

we are 13 the result of habit. That gives us consola-

tion because, if it is only habit, we can make it and

unmake it at any time. The only remedy for bad

habits is counter habits. All the bad habits can be

controlled by good habits. Go on doing good, think-

ing holy thoughts continuously. That is the only

way to suppress base impressions. Never say any

man is hopeless, because he only represents a

character, a bundle of habits, which can be checked

by new and better ones. Character is repeated

habits and repeated habits alone can reform

character.*

The cause of all apparent evil is in ourselves.

Do not blame any supernatural being. Neither be

hopeless or despondent, nor think

that we are in a place from which we

can never escape unless someone

comes and gives a helping hand. We are like silk-

worms. We make the thread ou of our own sub-

* This is baaed on the Doctrine ol Karma and Rebirth by

which even at birth, the start of character is founded on pre-

vious habit, tH*., that of a previous life.

EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER

stance and spin the cocoon, and in course of time are

imprisoned inside. This network of karma we have

woven around ourselves. And in our ignorance we

feel as if we are bound, and weep and wail forhejlp.

But help does not come from without ; it

from within ourselves. Cry to all the Gods

universe. I cried for years and in the end I

that I was helped. But help came fr> n

And I had to undo what I had done by |_ ist

had to cut the net which I had thrown

self. I have committed many mistakes

But mark you, without those mistakes, IWioul

be what I am to-day. I do not mean that yo

to go home and wilfully commit mistakes ;

misunderstand me in that way. But do not Hg>pe

because of the mistakes you have committed. 9 ^

We commit mistakes because we are weak, and

we are weak because we are ignorant. Who

makes us ignorant ? We ourselves.

^ e P ut our h anc k over our e y es anc *

weep that it is dark. Take the hands

away and there is light. The light exists always

for us, the self -effulgent nature of the human soul.

Do you not hear what modern scientific men say ?

What is the cause of evolution ? Desire. The

animal wants to do something but does not find the

environment favourable, and therefore develops a

EDUCATION

new body. Who develops it ? The animal itself :

its will. Continue to exercise your will and it will

take you higher. The will is almighty. If it is

almighty, you may say : why cannot I do every-

thing ? But you are thinking only of your little

self. Look back on yourself from the state of the

amoeba to the human being ; who made all that ?

Your own will. Can you deny that it is almighty ?

That which has made you come up so high, can

make you go higher still. What you want is charac-

ter, strengthening of the will. 10

If you go home and sit in sack-cloth and ashes,

and weep your lives out because you took certain

false steps, it will not help you, but

wil1 weaken y u a11 the more - If

this room is full of darkness for

thousands of years and you come in and begin to

weep and wail, will the darkness vanish ? Strike

a match and light comes in a moment. What good

will it do to you to think all your lives, * Oh, I have

done evil ; I have made many mistakes/ ? It requires

no ghost to tell us that. Bring in the light and

evil goes in a moment. Build up your character

and manifest your real nature, the Effulgent, the

Resplendent, the Ever-Pure and call it up in every

one you see. 11

IV

DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

You see what is happening all around us. The

world is one of influence. Part of our energy is used

Personal U P in the preservation of our own

magnetism. bodies. Beyond that, every particle

of our energy is day and night being used in influ-

encing others. Our bodies, our virtues, our intel-

lect, and our spirituality, all these are continuously

influencing others ; and so, conversely, we are being

influenced by them. This is going on all around us.

Now, to take a concrete example : a man comes,

you know he is very learned, his language is beau-

tiful and he speaks to you by the hour but he

does not make any impression. Another man comes,

and he speaks a few words, not well arranged, un-

grammatical perhaps ; all the same, he makes an

immense impression. Many of you have seen that.

So it is evident that words alone cannot always

produce an impression. Words, even thoughts, con-

tribute only one-third of the influence in making an

impression, the man, two-thirds. What you call the

personal magnetism of the man that is what

<ioes out and impresses you.

EDUCATION

Coming to great leaders of mankind, we always

find that it was the personality of the man that

counted. Now, take all the great

authors of the past, the great

thinkers. Really speaking, how

many thoughts have they thought ? Take all the

writings that have been left to us by the past

leaders of mankind ; take each one of their books

and appraise them. The real thoughts, new and

genuine, that have been thought in this world up

to this time, amount to only a handful. Read in

their books the thoughts they have left to us. The

alithors do not appear to be giants to us, and yet

we know that they were great giants in their days.

What made them so ? Not simply the thoughts

they thought, neither the books they wrote, nor the

speeches they made, it was something else that is

now gone, that is their personality. As I have

already remarked, the personality of the man is two-

thirds, and his intellect, his words, are but one-

third. It is the real man, the personality of the man,

that runs through us. Our actions are but effects.

Actions must come when the man is there ; the

effect is bound to follow the cause.

The iddal of all education, all training, should

be this man-making. But, instead of that, we are

always trying to polish up the outside. What use

DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

in polishing up the outside when there is no inside ?

The end and aim of all training is to make the

man grow. The man who influences, who throws

his magic, as it were, upon his fellow-beings,

is a dynamo of power, and when that man is

ready, he can do anything and everything he likes :

that personality put upon anything will make it

work.

Now we see that though this is a fact, no phy-

sical laws that we know-of will explain this. How

can we explain it by chemical and physical know-

ledge ? How much of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon

how many molecules in different positions, and

how many cells, etc., etc., can explain this myste-

rious personality 9 And we still see, it is a fact,

and not only that, it is the real man ; and it is

that man that lives and moves and works, it is

that man that influences, moves his fellow-beings

and passes out, and his intellect and books and

works are but traces left behind. Think of this.

Compare the great teachers of religion with the

great philosophers. The philosophers scarcely

influenced anybody's inner man, and yet they

wrote most marvellous books. The religious tea-

chers, on the other hand, moved countries in their

lifetime. The difference was made by personality.

In the philosopher it is a faint personality that

EDUCATION

influences ; in the great Prophets it is tremendous.

In the former we touch the intellect, in the latter

we touch life. In the one case, it is simply

a chemical process, putting certain chemical

ingredients together which may gradually com-

bine and under proper circumstances bring out

a flash of light or may fail. In the other, it is

like a torch that goes round quickly, lighting

others.

The science of Yoga claims that it has dis-

covered the laws which develop this personality,

and by proper attention to those

fog cc f laws an d methods, each one can

grow and strengthen his persona-

lity. This is one of the great practical things and

this is the secret of all education. This has a

universal application. In the life of the house-

holder, in the life of the poor, the rich, the man

of business, the spiritual man, in every one's life,

it is a great thing, the strengthening of this perso-

nality. They are laws, very fine, which are behind

the physical laws, as we know. That is to say,

there are no such realities as a physical world, a

mental world, a spiritual world. Whatever is, is

one. Let us say, it is a sort of tapering existence,

the thickest part is here, it tapers and becomes

finer and finer; the finest is what we call

DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

spirit ; the grossest, the body. And just as it is

here, in the microcosm, it is exactly the same in the

macrocosm. This universe of ours is exactly like

that ; it is the gross external thickness, and it

tapers into something finer and finer until it

becomes God.

We also know that the greatest power is lodged

in the fine, not in the coarse. We see a man take

up a huge weight, we see his mus-

POWCT m the c]es swellj and all Qver his body we

see signs of exertion, and we think

the muscles are powerful things. But it is the thin

thread-like things, the nerves, which bring power

to the muscles ; the moment one of these threads

Is cut off from reaching the muscles, they are not

able to work at all. These tiny nerves bring the

power from something finer still thought, and so

on. So, it is the fine that is really the seat of power.

Of course we can see the movements in the gross ;

but when fine movements take place, we cannot

see them. When a gross thing moves, we catch it,

and thus we naturally identify movement with

things which are gross. But all the power is really

in the fine. We do not see any movement in the

fine, perhaps because the movement is so intense

that we cannot perceive it. But if by any science,

any investigation, we are helped to get hold of

EDUCATION

these finer forces which are the cause of the expres-

sion, the expression itself will be under control.

There is a little bubble coming from the bottom

of a lake ; we do not see it coming all the time, we

see it only when it bursts on the surface ; so, we can

perceive thoughts only after they develop a great

deal, or after they become actions. We constantly

complain that we have no control over our actions,

over our thoughts. But how can we have it ? If

we can get control over the fine movements, if we

can get hold of thought at the root, before it has

become thought, before it has become action, then

it would be possible for us to control the whole.

Now, if there is a method by which we can analyse,

investigate, understand and finally grapple with

those finer powers, the finer causes, then alone is it

possible to have control over ourselves, and the man

who has control over his own mind assuredly will

have control over every other mind. That is why

purity and morality have been always the object

of religion ; a pure, moral man has control of

himself. And all minds are the same, different

parts of one Mind. He who knows one lump of

clay has known all the clay in the universe. He

who knows and controls his own mind knows

the secret of every mind and has power over

every mind.

DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

Each man in his childhood runs through tho

stages through which his race has come up ; only

the race took thousands of years to

years. The child is first thc old

.savage man and he crushes a butterfly under his

feet. The child is at first like the primitive ances-

tors of his race. As he grows, he passes through

different stages until he reaches the development of

his race. Only he does it swiftly and quickly.

Now, take the whole of humanity as a race, or take

the whole of the animal creation, man and the lower

animals, as one whole. There is an end towards

which the whole is moving. Let us call it perfection.

Some men and women are born who anticipate the

whole progress of mankind. Instead of waiting and

being reborn over and over again for ages until the

whole human race has attained to that perfection,

they, as it were, rush through them in a few short

years of their life. And we know that we can hasten

these processes, if we be true to ourselves. If a

number of men, without any culture, be left to live

upon an island, and are given barely enough food,

clothing and shelter, they will gradually go on and

on, evolving higher and higher stages of civilisation.

We know also, that this growth can be hastened by

additional means. We help the growth of trees, do

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we not ? Left to nature they would have grown,

only they would have taken a longer time ; we help

them to grow in a shorter time than they would

otherwise have taken. We are doing all the time

the same thing, hastening the growth of things by

artificial means. Why cannot we hasten the growth

of man ? We can do that as a race. Why are

teachers sent to other countries ? Because by these

means we can hasten the growth of races. Now,

can we not hasten the growth of individuals ? We

can. Can we put a limit to the hastening ? We

cannot say how much a man can grow in one life.

You have no reason to say that this much a man can

do and no more. Circumstances can hasten him

wonderfully. Can there be any limit then, till you

come to perfection ? So, what comes of it ? That

a perfect man, that is to say, the type that is to come

of this race, perhaps millions of years hence, that

man, can come today.

All great Incarnations and Prophets are such

men ; they reached perfection in this one life.

We have had such men at all periods

o the world ' s history and at all

times. Quite recently there was

such a man who lived the life of the whole human

race and reached the end even in this life.

Even this hastening of the growth must be under

DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

laws. Suppose we can investigate these laws and

understand their secrets and apply them to our own

needs ; it follows that we grow. We hasten our

growth, we hasten our development, and we become

perfect, even in this life. This is the higher part of

our life, and the science of the study of mind and

its powers has this perfection as its real end.

The utility of this science is to bring out the

perfect man, and not let him wait and wait for ages,

just a plaything in the hands of the physical world,

like a log of drift-wood carried from wave to wave

and tossing about in the ocean. This science wants

you to be strong, to take the work in your own hand,

instead of leaving it in the hands of nature, and get

beyond this little life. 1

THE TEACHER AND THE TAUGHT

My idea of education is Gurugriha-vasa.

Without the personal life of the teacher, there would

be no education. 1 One should live

teachers* 8 from his very boyhood with one

whose character is a blazing fire

and should have before him a living example of

the highest teaching. In our country the imparting

of knowledge has always been through men of

renunciation. The charge of imparting knowledge

should again fall upon the shoulders of Tyagis. 2

The old system of education in India was very

different from the modern system. The students

had not to pay. It was thought that

knowledge is so sacred that no man

ought to sell it. Knowledge should

be given freely and without any price. The teachers

used to take students without charge and not only

so, most of them gave their students food and clothes.

To support these teachers, the wealthy families made

gifts to them and they in their turn had to maintain

their students. 3 The disciple of old used to repair

10 the hermit?"** of thp Guru, fwl in hand, and the

THE TEACHER AND THE TAUGHT

Guru, after ascertaining his competence, woulc

teach him the Vedas, fastening round his waist the

threefold filament of Munja, a kind of gras

as the emblem of his vow to keep his body, minj

and speech in control. 4 J

There are certain conditions necessary Jfri t

taught and also in the teacher. 5 The

necessary for the taught aregurit

a real thirst afte] T knowledge, aij

perseverance. Purity in thou

speech and act is absolutely necessary. As for

after knowledge, it is an old law that we all

whatever we want. None of us can get

other than what we fix our hearts upon. There

must be a continuous struggle, a constant fight, an

unremitting grappling with our lower nature, till

the higher want is actually felt and victory is

achieved. The student who sets out with such a

spirit of perseverance will surely find success at

last. 6

In regard to the teacher, we must see that he

knows the spirit of the scriptures. The whole world

_ A reads Bibles, Vedas and Korans ; but

The teacher: , ' , A

his quahft- they are all only words, syntax, ety-

cations. mology, philology the dry bones of

religion. The teacher who deals too much in words

and allows the mind to be carried away by the force

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-of word loses the spirit. It is the knowledge ot

the spirit of the scriptures alone that constitutes

the true teacher. 6 The second condition necessary

for the teacher is sinlessness. The question is often

asked : 4 Why should we look into the character and

personality of a teacher ? ' This is not right. The

sine qua non of acquiring truth for oneself, or for

imparting to others, is purity of heart and soul. He

must be perfectly pure and then only comes the

value of his words. 7 The function of the teacher is

indeed an affair of the transference of something and

not one of mere stimulation of existing intellectual

or other faculties in the taught. Something real an<I

appreciable as an influence comes from the teacher

and goes to the taught. Therefore, the teacher must

be pure. The third condition is in regard to the

motive. The teacher must not teach with any

ulterior selfish motive, for money, name or fame.

His work must be simply out of love, out of pure

love for mankind at large. The only medium

through which spiritual force can be transmitted is

love. Any selfish motive, such as the desire for gain

or name, will immediately destroy the conveying

medium. 8

It is not easy to be a disciple. The first condition

is that the student who wants to know the truth

must give up all desires for gain. What we see is

THE TEACHER AND THE TAUGHT

not truth as long as any desire creeps into our

minds. So long as there is in the heart the least

desire for the world, truth will not come. The rich

understand truth much less than the poor people.

The rich man has no time to think of anything

beyond his wealth and power, his comforts and

indulgences. I do not trust the man who never

weeps ; he has a big block of granite where his heart

should be. Therefore knowing what prosperity

means and what happiness means, one should give

up these and seek to know the truth and truth alone.

Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not

the patience to practise it. It is more paying from

the point of view of health also. Love, truth and

unselfishness are not merely moral figures of speech,

but they form our highest ideal, because in them

lies such a manifestation of power. Self-restraint

is a manifestation of greater power than all outgoing

action. All outgoing energy following a selfish

motive is frittered away ; it will not cause power to

return to you ; but if restrained, it will result in

development of power. This self-control will tend

to produce a mighty will, a character which makes

a Christ or a Buddha.

The second condition is that a disciple must be

able to control the internal and external senses. By

hard practice he has to arrive at the stage where he

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can assert his mind against the commands of nature.

He should be able to say to his mind, "You are

mine ; I order you, do not see or hear anything."

Next the mind must be made to quiet down. It is

rushing about. Just as I sit down to meditate, all the

vilest subjects in the world come up. The whole

thing is nauseating. Why should the mind think

thoughts I do not want it to think ? I am as it

were a slave to the mind. No spiritual knowledge

is possible so long as the mind is restless and out

of control."" The disciple has to learn to control

the mind.

Also, the disciple must have great power of

endurance. Life seems comfortable, and you find

the mind behaves well when everything is going

well with you. But if something goes wrong, your

mind loses its balance. That is not good. Bear

all evil and misery without one murmur or hurt,

without one thought of unhappiness, resistance,

remedy or retaliation. That is true endurance.

When my Master, Sri Ramakrishna, fell ill, a

Brahmin suggested to him that he rpply his tremen-

dous mental power to cure himse f ; he said thai if

my Master would only concentrate his mind on the

diseased part of the body, it would heal. Sri Rama-

krishna answered, " What ! Bring down the mind

that I've given to God to this little body ! " He>

THE TEACHER AND THE TAUGHT

refused to think of body and illness. His mind was

continually conscious of God ; it was dedicated to

Him utterly. He would not use it for any other

purpose. Remember also the man on the cross !

He pitied those who crucified him. He endured

every humiliation and suffering. He took the bur-

den of all upon himself : " Come unto me, all ye

that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you

rest." Such is true endurance. How very high he

was above this life, so high that we cannot under-

stand it !

The next condition the disciple must fulfil is to

conceive an extreme desire to be free. No one is

desiring anything beyond the body. What is the

world but a combination of stomach and sex?

Look at millions of men and women that is what

they are living for. Take these away from them and

they wfll find their life empty, meaningless and

intolerable. Such are we. And such is our mind ;

it is continually hankering for ways and means to

satisfy the hunger of the stomach and sex. These

desires of the body bring only momentary satisfac-

tion and endless suffering. It is like drinking a cup

of v/bich the surface layer is nectar, while under-

neath all Is poison. But we still hanker for all these

things. Renunciation of the senses and desires is

the only way out of this misery. If you want to be

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spiritual, you must renounce. This is the real test.

Give up the world this nonsense of the senses.

There is only one real desire : to know what is true,

to be spiritual. No more materialism, no more this

egoism. I must become spiritual. Strong, intense

must be the desire. If a man's hands and feet were

so tied that he could not move and then if a burning

piece of charcoal were placed on his body, he would

struggle with all his power to throw it off. When

I shall have that sort of extreme desire, that restless

struggle to throw off this burning world, then the

time will have come for me to glimpse the Divine

truth.

Our sole concern should be to know the highest

truth. Our goal is the loftiest. Let us worship the

spirit in spirit, standing on spirit. Let the founda-

tion be spirit ; the middle, spirit ; the culmination,

spirit. Stand thou in the spirit ! That is the goal.

We know we cannot reach it yet. Never mind. Do

not despair, but do not drag the ideal down. The

important thing is : how much less you think of the

body, of yourself as matter, as dead, dull insentient

matter ; how much more you think of yourself as

shining immortal being. The more you think of

yourself as shining immortal spirit, the more eager

you will be to be absolutely free of matter, body

and senses. This is the intense desire to be free.

THE TEACHER AND THE TAUGHT /

These are the conditions which a man who wants

1o be a disciple must fulfil ; without fulfilling them

he will not be able to come in contact with the true

Guru. And even if he is fortunate enough to find

him, he will not be quickened by the power that the

Guru may transmit. There cannot be any com-

promising of these conditions. With the fulfilment

of these conditions the lotus of the disciple's

heart will open and the bee shall come. Then the

disciple knows that the Guru was within himself.

He opens out. He realises. He crosses the ocean

of life goes beyond, and in mercy, without a

thought of gain or praise, he in his turn helps

others to cross. 9

With the teacher our relationship is the same as

that between an ancestor and his descendant. With-

out faith, humility, submission and

the veneration in our hearts towards the

teacher, there cannot be any growth

in us. In those countries which have neglected to

keep up this kind of relation, the teacher has

become a mere lecturer, the teacher expecting his

five dollars and the person taught expecting his

brain to be filled with the teacher's words and each

going his own way after this much is done. 10 But

too much faith in personality has a tendency to

produce weakness and idolatry. Worship your Guru

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LS God, but do not obey him blindly. Love him all

you will, but think for yourself. 11

The teacher must throw his whole force into the

tendency of the taught. Without real sympathy we

can never teach well. 12 Do not try to

thT taught** disturb the faith of any man. If you

can, give him something better, but

do not destroy what he has. The only true teacher

is he who can convert himself, as it were, into a

thousand persons at a moment's notice. The true

teacher is he who can immediately come down to

the level of the student, and transfer his soul to the

student's soul and see through and understand

through his mind. Such a teacher can really teach

and none else. u

VI

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Religion is the innermost core of education. I

do not mean my own or any one else's opinion about

religion. 1 The true eternal principles

wmts hlp f have to be held before the people.

First of all we have to introduce the

worship of the great saints. Those great-souled

ones who have realised the eternal truths are to be

presented before the people as the ideals to be

followed Sri Ramachandra, Sri Krishna, Maha-

vira, Sri Ramakrishna and others. Keep aside for

the present the Vrindavan aspect of Sri Krishna and

spread far and wide the worship of Sri Krishna

roaring out the Gita with the voice of a lion, and

bring into daily use the worship of Shakti the

Divine Mother, the source of all power. We now

mostly need the ideal of the hero with the tremend-

ous spirit of Rajas thrilling through his veins from

head to foot the hero who will dare and die to

know the truth, the hero whose armour is renuncia-

EDUCATION

tion, whose sword is wisdom. We now want the

spirit of the brave warrior in the battle-field. 2

Make the character of Mahavira your ideal.

At the command of Ramachandra he crossed the

ocean ! He had no care for life

ideal of or d eat h jj e was a perfect master

service.

of the senses and wonderfully saga-

cious. Build your life on this great ideal of

personal service. Through that ideal all the other

ideas will gradually manifest themselves in life.

Obedience to the Guru without questioning and

strict observance of Brahmacharya this is the

secret of success. As on the one hand Hanuman

represents the ideal of service, so on the other he

represents leonine courage, striking the world with

awe. He has not the least hesitation in sacrificing

his life for the good of Rama. A supreme indiffer-

ence to everything except the service of Rama.

Only the carrying out of Sri Rama's behest is the

one vowcof his life. Such whole-hearted devotion

is wanted?

At the present time the worship of the divine

play of Sri Krishna with the Gopis is not good.

Raise deep Haying on the flute and so on will

nots martiaJ n0t re g enerate the country. 4 Playing

on the khol and kartal and dancing

in the frenzy of the kirtana has degenerated the

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

whole people. In trying to imitate the highest

sadhana, the preliminary qualification for which is

absolute purity, they have been swallowed in dire

tamas. 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

effeminate forms of music, the country is well-nigh

converted into a country of women. The Damaru

and horn have to be sounded, drums are to be beaten

so as to raise the deep and martial notes, and with

* Mahavira, Mahavira ' on our lips and shouting

* Kara, Kara, Vyom, Vyom ', the quarters are to be

reverberated. The music which awakens only the

softer feelings of man is to be stopped now for some

time. The people are to be accustomed to hear the

Dhrupad music. 5

Through the thunder roll of the dignified Vedic

hymns life is to be brought back into the country.

In everything the austere spirit of heroic manhood

should be revived. If you can build your character

after such an ideal then a thousand others will

follow. But take care that you do not swerve an

inch from the ideal. Never lose heart. In eating,

dressing or lying, in singing or playing, in enjoy-

ment or disease, always manifest the highest moral

courage. 6 Never allow weakness to overtake your

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mind. Remember Mahavira, remember the Divine

Mother, and you will see that all weakness, all

cowardice will vanish at once. 7

The old religions said that he was an atheist

who did not believe in God. The new religion says

that he is the atheist who does not

new reli " believe in himself. But it is not

selfish faith. It means faith in all

because you are all. Love for yourself means love

for all, love for animals, love for everything, for

you are all one. It is the great faith which will

make the world better. The ideal of faith in our-

selves is of the greatest help to us. If faith in

ourselves had been more extensively taught and

practised, I am sure a very large portion of the

evils and miseries that we have would have

vanished. Throughout the history of mankind if

any motive power has been more potent than

another in the lives of great men and women,

it is that faith in themselves. Born with the

consciousness that they were to be great, they

became great. 8

Infinite strength is religion. 9 Strength is good-

ness, weakness is sin. 10 All sins and all evil can be

_ . summed up in that one word : weak-

strength.

ness. It is weakness that is the

motive power in all evil doing. It is weakness

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

that is the source of all selfishness. It is weak-

ness that makes man injure others. Let them

all know what they are, let them repeat day

and night what they are : * So'ham '. Let them

suck it in with their mother's milk, this idea of

strength I am He ! This is to be first heard ; and

then let them think of it ; and out of that thought

will proceed works such as the world has never

seen. 11

Tell the truth boldly. 12 All truth is eternal.

Truth is the nature of all souls. 13 And here is the

test of truth : anything that makes you weak physi-

cally, intellectually and spiritually, reject a&

poison. There is no life in it, it cannot be true. Truth

is strengthening. Truth is purity, truth is all

knowledge. Truth must be strengthening, must be

enlightening, must be invigorating. 14 Go back to

your Upanishads, the shining, the strengthening, the

bright philosophy. Take up this philosophy. The

greatest truths are the simplest things in the world,

simple as your own existence. The truths of the

Upanishads are before you. Take them up, live

up to them and the salvation of India will be at

hand. 15

Physical weakness is the cause of at least one-

third of our miseries. We are lazy; we cannot

combine. 16 We speak of many things parrot-like

EDUCATION

but never do them. Speaking and not doing has

become a habit with us. What is the cause?

Physical weakness. This sort cf weak brain is not

able to do anything. We must strengthen it. First

of all our young men must be strong. Religion will

come afterwards. 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.

You will understand Gita better with your biceps,

your muscles, a little stronger. You will understand

the mighty genius and the mighty strength of

Krishna better with a little strong blood in you.

You will understand the Upanishads better and

the glory of the Atman, when your body stands

firm on your feet and you feel yourselves as

men. 17

Strength, strength is what the Upanishads speak

to me from every page. It is the only literature in

the world, where you find the word

Fearlessness. ' Abhih ', 'Fearless 1 , used again and

again. In no other scripture in the

world is this adjective applied either to God or man.

And in my mind rises from the past the vision of

the great emperor of the West, Alexander the Great,

and I see as it were in a picture the great monarch

standing on the banks of the Indus, talking to one

of our sannyasins in the forest : the old man he was

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

talking to, perhaps naked, stark naked, sitting upon

a block of stone, and the Emperor astonished at his

wisdom tempting him with gold and honour, to come

over to Greece. And this man smiles at his gold

and smiles at his temptations, and refuses. And

then the Emperor standing in his authority as

Emperor says, ' I will kill you if you do not come ',

and the man bursts into a laugh, and says,

4 You never told such a falsehood in your life

as you tell just now. Who can kill me ? For I

am spirit unborn and undecaying.' That is

strength ! 18

There are thousands to weaken us, and of

stories we have had enough. Therefore, my friends,

TT as one of your blood, as one that lives

Upamshads, J '

the mine of and dies with you, let me tell you

strength. that we ^^ strength, strength,

every time strength. And the Upanishads are the

great mine of strength. Therein lies strength enough

to invigorate the whole world. The whole world

can be vivified, made strong, energised through

them. They will call with trumpet voice upon the

weak, the miserable and the down-trodden of all

races, all creeds and all sects to stand on their feet

and be free. Freedom, physical freedom, mental

freedom and spiritual freedom are the watchwords

of the Upanishads. 19

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But no scriptures can make us religious. We

may study all the books that are in the world, yet

we may not understand a word of

religion or of God. 20 We may talk

and reason all our lives, but we shall

not understand a word of truth until we experience

it ourselves. You cannot hope to make a man a

surgeon by simply giving him a few books. You

cannot satisfy my curiosity to see a country by

showing me a map. Maps can only create curiosity

in us to get more perfect knowledge. Beyond that

they have no value whatever. 21 Temples and

churches, books and forms are simply the kinder-

garten of religion, to make the spiritual child strong

enough to take the higher steps. Religion is not in

doctrines or dogmas, nor in intellectual argumenta-

tion. It is being and becoming. It is realisation. 22

We may be the most intellectual people the

world ever saw and yet we may not come to God

at all. On the other hand, irreligious

men have been P roduced from the

most intellectual training. It is one

of the evils of western civilization intellectual

education alone without taking care of the heart.

It only makes men ten times more selfish. When

there is conflict between the heart and the brain, let

the heart be followed. It is the heart which takes

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

one to the highest plane, which intellect can never

reach. It goes beyond the intellect and reaches

what is called inspiration. 23 Always cultivate the

heart. Through the heart the Lord speaks. 24

The intensest love that humanity has ever

known has come from religion. The noblest words

of peace that the world has ever heard have come

from men of the religious plane. At the same time

the bitterest denunciation that the world has ever

known has been uttered by religious men. 25 Each

religion brings out its own doctrines and insists upon

them as being the only true ones. Some will even

draw the sword to compel others to believe as they

do. This is not through wickedness, but through a

particular disease of the human mind called fanati-

cism. 28 Yet out of this strife and struggle, this

hatred and jealousy of religions and sects, there

have risen from time to time potent voices proclaim-

ing peace and harmony. 27

The time was ripe for one to be born who would

see in every sect the same spirit working : the same

God : one who would see God in

Sri Ramakrishna, , 1-1,1-1

the messenger of every being, one whose heart would

harmony. weep f Qr the poo ^ for the weak> for

the down-trodden, and at the same time whose grand

brilliant intellect would harmonise all conflicting

sects not only in India but also outside India ; and

EDUCATION

bring a marvellous harmony, the universal religion,

into existence. Such a man was born and I had

the good fortune to sit at his feet for years. 28 I

learned from my Master the wonderful truth that

the religions of the world are not contradictory or

antagonistic. They are but various phases of one

eternal religion. 29 Sri Ramakrishna never spoke a

harsh word against anyone. So beautifully tolerant

was he that every sect thought that he belonged to

it. He loved every one ; to him all religions were

true. 30 His whole life was spr : nt in breaking down

the barriers of sectarianism and dogma. 31

Let our watchword then be acceptance and not

exclusion. Not only toleration, for so-called tolera-

tion is often blasphemy. Toleration

means that x think that y u are

wrong and I am just allowing you to

live. Is it not blasphemy to think that you and I are

allowing others to live ? I accept all religions that

were in the past and worship them all. I worship

God with every one of them, in whatever form they

worship Him. I shall go to the mosque of the

Mohammedan ; I shall enter the Christian's church

and kneel before the crucifix. I shall enter

the Buddhistic temple, where I shall take

refuge in Buddha and in his Law. I shall go into

the forest and sit down in meditation with the

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Hindu, who is trying to see the Light which

enlightens the heart of everyone.

Not only shall I do all these but I shall keep

my heart open for all that may come in the future.

Is God's book finished ? Or is it still a continuous

revelation going on ? It is a marvellous book

these spiritual revelations of the world. The Bible,

the Vedas, the Koran and all other sacred books are

but so many pages, and an infinite number of pages

remain yet to be unfolded. Let us take in all that

has been in the past, enjoy the light of the present

and open every window of the heart for all that

will come in the future. Salutation to all the pro-

phets of the past, to all the great ones of the present

and to all that are to come in the future. 32

VII

THE END AND THE MEANS

One of the greatest lessons I have learned in

my life is to pay as much attention to the means of

work as to its end. He was a great

im a ortant man * rom w ^ om * learned it, and his

own life was a practical demonstra-

tion of this great principle. I have been always

learning great lessons from that one principle, and it

appears to me that all the secret of success is there :

to pay as much attention to the means as to the end.

Our great defect in life is that we are so much

drawn to the ideal, the goal is so much more

enchanting, so much more alluring, so much bigger

in our mental horizon, that we lose sight of the

details altogether.

But whenever failure comes, if we analyse it

critically, in ninety-nine per cent of cases we shall

find that it was be jause we did not

P 21 ^ at t en ti n to ' lie means. Proper

attention to the finishing, strengthen-

ing, of the means, is what we need. With the means

all right, the end must come. We forget that it is

THE END AND THE MEANS

the cause that produces the effect ; the effect cannot

come by itself ; and unless the causes are exact,

proper and powerful, the effect will not be produced.

Once the ideal is chosen and the means determined,

we may almost let go the ideal, because we are sure

it will be there, when the means are perfected.

When the cause is there, there is no more difficulty

about the effect, the effect is bound to come. If

we take care of the cause, the effect will take care

of itself. The realisation of the ideal is the effect.

The means are the cause : attention to the means,

therefore, is the great secret of life. We also read

this in the Gita and learn that we have to work,

constantly work, with all our power ; to put our

whole mind in the work, whatever it be, that we

are doing. At the same time, we must not be

attached. That is to say, we must not be drawn

away from the work by anything else, but still we

must be able to quit the work whenever we like.

If we examine our own lives, we find that the

greatest cause of sorrow is this : we take up some-

thing, and put our whole energy on it ; perhaps

it is a failure, and yet we cannot give it up. We

know that it is hurting us, that any further clinging

to it is simply bringing misery on us ; still, we cannot

tear ourselves away from it. The bee came to sip

the honey, but its feet stuck to the honey-pot and

EDUCATION

it could not get away. Again and again, we are

finding ourselves in that state. That is the whole

secret of existence. Why are we here ? We came

here to sip the honey, and we find our hands and

feet sticking to it. We are caught, though we came

to catch. We came to enjoy ; we are being enjoyed.

We came to rule ; we are being ruled. We came to

work ; we are being worked. All the time, we find

that. And this comes into every detail of our life.

We are being worked upon by other minds, and

we are always struggling to work on other minds.

We want to enjoy the pleasures of life ; and they

eat into our vitals. We want to get everything

from nature, but we find in the long run that nature

takes everything from us depletes us, and casts

us aside.

That is the one cause of misery : we are

attached, we are being caught. Therefore says the

Gita: Work constantly; work, but

Cause of ^ e not attached ; be not caught.

misery. , , *

Reserve unto yourself the power of

detaching yourself from everything, however

beloved, however much the soul might yearn for it,

however great the pangs of misery you feel if you

were going to leave it ; still, reserve the power of

leaving it whenever you want. The weak have no

place here, in this life or in any other life. Weak-

THE END AND THE MEANS

ness leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds

of misery, physical and mental. Weakness is death.

There are hundreds of thousands of microbes sur-

rounding us, but they cannot harm us unless we

become weak, until the body is ready and predis-

posed to receive them. There may be a million

microbes of misery, floating about us. Never mind !

They dare not approach us, they have no power to

get a hold on us, until the mind is weakened. This

is the great fact : strength is life, weakness is death.

Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal ; weak-

ness is constant strain and misery; weakness is

death.

Attachment is the source of all our pleasures

now. We are attached to our friends, to our rela-

tives ; we are attached to our intellectual and spiri-

tual works ; we are attached to external objects, so

that we get pleasure from them. What, again,

brings misery but this very attachment ? We have

to detach ourselves to earn joy. If only we had

power to detach ourselves at will, there would not

be any misery. That man alone will be able to

get the best of nature, who, having the power of

attaching himself to a thing with all his energy, has

also the power to detach himself when he should

do so. The difficulty is that there must be as much

power of attachment as that of detachment. There

EDUCATION

are men who are never attracted by anything. They

can never love, they are hard-hearted and apathe-

tic ; they escape most of the miseries of life. But

the wall never feels misery, the wall never loves,

is never hurt ; but it is the wall, after all. Surely

it is better to be attached and caught, than to be a

wall. Therefore the man who never loves, who is

hard and stony, escaping most of the miseries of

life, escapes also its joys. We do not want that.

That is weakness, that is death. That soul has not

been weakened that never feels weakness, never

feels misery. That is a callous state. We do not

want that.

At the same time, we not only want this mighty

power of love, this mighty power of attachment, the

power of throwing our whole soul upon a single

object, losing ourselves and letting ourselves be

annihilated, as it were, for other souls which is

the power of the gods but we want to be higher

even than the gods. The perfect man can put his

whole soul upon that one point of love, yet he is

unattached. How comes this? There is another

secret to learn.

The beggar is never happy. The beggar only

gets a dole, with pity and scorn behind it, at least

with the thought behind that the beggar is a low

object. He never really enjoys what he gets.

THE END AND THE MEANS

We are all beggars. Whatever we do, we want

a return. We are all traders. We are traders in

life, we are traders in virtue, we are traders in

religion. Alas ! we are also traders in love.

If you come to trade, if it is a question of give-

and-take, if it is a question of buy-and-sell, abide

by the laws of buying and selling. There is a bad

time and there is a good time ; there is a rise, and

a fall in prices : always you expect the blow to

come. It is like looking at the mirror. Your face

is reflected : you make a grimace there is one in

the mirror ; if you laugh, the mirror laughs. This

is buying and selling, giving and taking.

We get caught. How ? Not by what we give,

but by what we expect. We get misery in return

for our love ; not from the fact that we love, but

from the fact that we want love in return. There

is no misery where there is no want. Desire, want,

is the father of all misery. Desires are bound by

the laws of success and failure. Desires must bring

misery.

The great secret of true success, of true happi-

ness, then, is this : the man who asks for no return,

the perfectly unselfish man, is the

Secret of most succe ssful. It seems to be a

happiness.

paradox. Do we not know that

every man who is unselfish in life gets cheated, gets

EDUCATION

hurt? Apparently, yes. "Christ was unselfish,

and yet he was crucified." True, but we know that

his unselfishness is the reason, the cause of a great

victory, the crowning of millions upon millions of

lives with the blessings of true success.

Ask nothing ; want nothing in return. Give

what you have to give ; it will come back to you

but do not think of that now. It will come back

multiplied a thousandfold but the attention must

not be on that. Yet have the power to give ; give,

and there it ends. Learn that the whole of life is

giving, that nature will force you to give. So, give

willingly. Sooner or later you will have to give up.

You come into life to accumulate. With clenched

hands, you want to take. But nature puts a hand

on your throat and makes your hands open. Whe-

ther you will it or not, you have to give. The

moment you say, " I will not ", the blow comes ; you

are hurt. None is there but will be compelled,

in the long run, to give up everything. And the more

one struggles against this law, the more miserable

one feels. It is because we dare not give, because

we are not resigned enough to accede to this grand

demand of nature, that we are miserable. The

forest is gone, but we get heat in return. The sun

is taking up water from the ocean, to return it in

showers. You are a machine for taking and giving ;

THE END AND THE MEANS

you take, in order to give. Ask, therefore, nothing

in return ; but the more you give, the more will

come to you. The quicker you can empty the air

out of this room, the quicker it will be filled up by

the external air ; and if you close all the doors and

every aperture, that which is within will remain,

but that which is outside will never come in, and

that which is within will stagnate, degenerate,

and become poisoned. A river is continually

emptying itself into the ocean and is continu-

ally filling up again. Bar not the exit into

the ocean. The moment you do that, death seizes

you.

Be, therefore, not a beggar; be unattached.

This is the most terrible task of life ! You do not

calculate the dangers on the path.

Even by intellectually recognising

the difficulties, we really do not know

them until we feel them. From a distance we may

get a general view of a park : well, what of that ?

We feel and really know it when we are in it. Even

if our every attempt is a failure, and we bleed and

are torn asunder, yet, through all this, we have to

preserve our heart we must assert our Godhead

in the midst of all these difficulties. Nature

wants us to react, to return blow for blow,

cheating for cheating, lie for lie, to hit back with

EDUCATION

all our might. Then it requires a super-divine

power not to hit back, to keep control, to be

unattached.

I know the difficulties. Tremendous they are,

and ninety per cent of us become discouraged and

lose heart, and in our turn, often become pessimists

and cease, to believe in sincerity, love, and all that

is grand and noble. So, we find men who in the

freshness of their lives have been forgiving, kind,

simple, and guileless, become in old age, lying masks

of men. Their minds are a mass of intricacy. There

may be a good deal of external policy, possibly.

They are not hot-headed, they do not speak, but it

would be better for them to do so ; their hearts are

dead and, therefore, they do not speak. They do

not curse, nor become angry ; but it would be

better for them to be able to be angry, a thousand

times better, to be able to curse. They cannot.

There is death in the heart, for cold hands have

seized upon it, and it can no more act, even to utter

a curse, even to use a harsh word.

All this we have to avoid : therefore I say, we

require super-divine power. Superhuman power

is not strong enough. Super-divine strength is the

only way, the one way out. By it alone we can

pass through all these intricacies, through these

showers of miseries, unscathed. We may be cut to

THE END AND THE MEANS

pieces, torn asunder, yet our hearts must Bfc>w

nobler and nobler all the time. *

It is very difficult, but we can overcom^|the

difficulty by constant practice. We must fftar

nothing can happen to us,|

Overcome make ourselves susceptible

difficulty by , . J

practice. have just said, no disease!

to me until the body is ready ; itj

not depend alone on the germs, but upon a

predisposition which is already in the body, c^ We

get only that for which we are fitted.

us give up our pride and understand

that never is misery undeserved. There never

has been a blow undeserved ; there never has

been an evil for which I did not pave the way

with my own hands. We ought to know that.

Analyse yourselves and you will find that every

blow you have received came to you because you

prepared yourselves for it. You did half and the

external world did the other half ; that is how the

blow came. That will sober us down. At the same

time, from this very analysis will come a note of

hope, and the note of hope is : "I have no control

of the external world, but that which is in me and

nearer unto me, my own world, is in my control.

If the two together are required to make a failure,

if the two together are necessary to give me a blow,

EDUCATION

not contribute the oiie which is in my

keeping and how then can the blow come? If

I get real control of myself, the blow will never

come."

We are all the time, from our childhood, trying

to lay the^blame upon something outside ourselves.

We are always standing up to set right other people,

and not Ourselves. If we are miserable, we say,

" Oh, the world is a devil's world." But why should

we be in such a world, if we really are so good ? If

this is a devil's world, we must be devils also, why

else, should we be here ? " Oh, the people of the

world are so selfish ! " True enough ; but why

should we be found in that company, if we be

better ? Just think of that !

We only get what we deserve. It is a lie when

we say, the world is bad and we are good. It can

never be so. It. is a terrible lie

we get what we tell ourselves. This is the first

we deserve.

lesson to learn : be determined not

to curse anything outside, not to lay the blame upon

any one outside, but be a man, stand up, lay the

blame on yourself. You will find that is always

true. Get hold of yourself.

We are to take care of ourselves that much

we can do and give up attending to others, for a

time. Let us perfect the means; the end will

THE END AND THE MEANS

take care of itself. For the world can be gooa

and pure, only if our lives are good and pure. It

is an effect, and we are the means. Therefore,

let us purify ourselves. Let us make ourselves

perfect. 1

VIII

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

It is very difficult to understand why in this

country so much difference is made between men

and women, whereas the Vedanta

declares that one and the same Self

is present in all beings. Writing

down Smritis etc., and binding them by hard rules,

the men have turned the women into mere manu-

facturing machines. In the period of degradation,

when the priests made the other castes incompetent

to study the Vedas, they deprived the women also

of all their rights. You will find in the Vedic and

Upanishadic age Maitreyi, Gargi and other ladies of

revered memory have taken the place of Rishis.

In an assembly of a thousand Brahmanas who

were all erudite in the Vedas, Gargi boldly

challenged Yajnavalkya in a discussion about

Brahman, 1

All nations have attained greatness by paying

proper respect to women. That country and that

nation which do not respect women

Real Shakti h ave never become great, nor will

worship.

ever be in future. The real Shakti-

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

worshipper is he who knows that God is the Omni-

present force in the universe, and sees in women the

manifestation of that force. In America men look

upon their women in this light and treat their

women as well as can be desired, and hence they

are so prosperous, so learned, so free and so energe-

tic. 3 The principal reason why our race has so

degenerated is that we had no respect for these

living images of Shakti. Manu says, * Where

women are respected, there the Gods delight,

and where they are not, there all work and

efforts come to naught.' There is no hope of

rise for that family or country where they live in

sadness. 4

Women have many and grave problems, but

none that cannot be solved by that magic word :

education. 5 What does our Manu

Education will enjoin ? ' Daughters should be sup-

P robiems men ' 8 ported and educated with as much

care and attention as the sons.' As

sons should be married after observing Brahma-

charya up to the thirtieth year, so daughters also

should observe Brahmacharya and be educated by

their parents. But what are we actually doing ? 6

They have all the time been trained in helplessness

and servile dependence on others ; and so they are

good only to weep their eyes out at the approach of

EDUCATION

the slightest mishap or danger. 7 Women must be

put in a position to solve their own problems in their

own way. Our Indian women are as capable of

doing it as any in the world. 8

Female education should be spread with reli-

gion as its centre. All other training should be

secondary to religion. Religious

training, the formation of character

and observance of the vows of celi-

bacy these should be attended to. 9 Our Hindu

women easily understand what chastity means,

because it is their heritage. First of all intensify

that ideal within them above everything else, so

that they may develop a strong character by the

force of which, in every stage of their lives, whether

married or single if they prefer to remain so

they will not be in the least afraid even to give up

their lives rather than flinch an inch from their

chastity. 10

The women of India must grow and develop in

the footprints of Sita. Sita is unique. She is the

very type of the true Indian woman,

Sit*, the MetL of

ed woman have grown out of that one life of Sita.

And here she stands these thousands of years, com-

manding the worship of every man, woman and child

throughout the length and breadth of Aryavarta.

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

There she will always be, this glorious Sita, purer

than purity itself, all patience, and all suffering.

She who suffered that life of suffering without a

murmur, she the ever chaste and ever pure wife, she

the ideal of the people, our national God she must

always remain. She has gone into the very vitals

of cur race. Any attempt to modernise our women,

if it tries to take our women away from that ideal

of Sita, is immediately a failure as we see every

day. 11

Studying the present needs of the age, it seems

imperative to train some of them up in the ideals of

renunciation, so that they will take

U P the vow of We-long virginity,

fired with the strength of that vir-

tue of chastity which is innate in their blood from

hoary antiquity. Our motherland requires for her

well-being some of her children to become pure-

souled Brahmacharins and Brahmacharinis. 12 Even

if one amongst the women became a knower of

Brahman, then by the radiance of her personality,

thousands of women would be inspired and awaken-

ed to Truth, and great well-being of the country

and society would ensue. 13

Brahmacharinis of education and character

should take up the task of teaching. 14 In villages and

towns they must open centres and strive for the

EDUCATION

spread of female education. Through such devout

preachers of character, there will

Secular educa- fce the real gpread Qf female edu _

cation in the country. 15 History and

puremos, house-keeping and the arts, the duties of

home life and the principles that make for the deve-

lopment of character have to be taught. 18 Other

matters such as sewing, culinary art, rules of domes-

tic work and upbringing of children will also be

taught. Japa, worship and meditation shall form

m ^ an indispensable part of the teach-

Self-defence. . 17 A , ... ,. ,. ,,

ing. 17 Along with other things they

should acquire the spirit of valour and heroism. In

the present day it has become necessary for them

also to learn self-defence how grand was the

Queen of Jhansi ! 18 So shall we bring to the need of

India great fearless women women worthy to

continue the traditions of Sanghamitta, Lila, Ahalya

Bai, and Mira Bai women fit to be mothers of

heroes, because they are pure and fearless, strong

with the strength that comes of touching the feet of

God." We must see to their growing up as ideal

matrons of home in time. The children of such

mothers will make further progress in the virtues

that distinguish themselves. It is only in the homes

of educated and pious mothers that great men are

born. 20

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

If the women are raised, their children will by

their noble actions glorify the name of the country ;

Ihen will culture, knowledge, power and devotion

awaken in the country. 21

IX

EDUCATION OF THE MASSES

My heart aches to think of the condition of the

poor, the low in India. They sink lower and lower

every day. They feel the blow

natlonanL showered upon them by a cruel

society, but they do not know

whence the blow comes. They have forgotten that

they too are men. 1 My heart is too full to express

my feelings. So long as the millions live in hunger

and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who,

having been educated at their expense, pays not the

least heed to them. 2 Our great national sin is the

neglect of the masses and that is the cause of our

downfall. No amount of politics would be of any

avail until the masses in India are once more well

educated, well fed and well cared for. 3

A nation is advanced in proportion as education

and intelligence spread among the masses. The chief

cause of India's ruin has been the

Mass educa- monopolising of the whole education

Botution! nly and intelligence of the land among

a handful of men. If we are to rise

again, we shall have to do it by spreading education

EDUCATION OF THE MASSES

among the masses. 4 The only service to be done for

our lower classes is to give them education to deve-

lop their individuality. They are to be given ideas.

Their eyes are to be opened to what is going on in

the world around them, and then they will work out

their own salvation. Every nation, every man and

every woman must work out their own salvation.

Give them ideas that is the only help they require

and then the rest must follow as effect. Ours is to

put the chemicals together, the crystallization comes

in the law of nature. 5

My idea is first of all to bring out the gems of

spirituality that are stored up in our books and in

the possession of a few only, hidden

Bring the as it were in monasteries and forests

SSJi'SSr 1 - to brin e them out ; to brin s the

the reach of all. knowledge out of them, not only

from the hands where it is hidden,

but from the still more inaccessible chest, the lan-

guage in which it is preserved, the incrustation of

centuries- of Sanskrit words. In one word, I want

to make them popular. I want to bring out these

ideas and let them be the common property of all,

of every man in India, whether he knows the Sans-

krit language or not. The great difficulty in the way

is the Sanskrit language, this glorious language of

ours, and this difficulty cannot be removed until, if

EDUCATION

it is possible, the whole of our nation are good Sans-

krit scholars. You will understand the difficulty

when I tell you that I have been studying this lan-

guage all my life and yet every new book is new to

me. How much more difficult would it then be for

people who never had time to study it thoroughly !

Therefore the ideas must be taught in the language

of the people. 6 Teach the masses in

the vernaculars. Give them ideas ;

they will get information, but some-

thing more will be necessary. Give them culture.

Until you can give them that, there can be

no permanence in the raised condition of the

masses. 7

At the same time Sanskrit education must go

along with it, because the very sound of Sanskrit

words gives a prestige, a power and

a stren S th to the race - 8 Even lhe

great Buddha made one false step

when he stopped the Sanskrit language from being

studied by the masses. He wanted rapid and imme-

diate results ; and translated and preached in the

language of the day Pali. That was grand ; he

spoke the language of the people and the people

understood him. It spread the ideas quickly and

made them reach far and wide. But along with that

Sanskrit ought to have been spread. Knowledge

EDUCATION OF THE MASSES

came, but prestige was not there. Until you give

them that, there will be another caste created,

having the advantage of the Sanskrit language,

which will qmckly get above the rest. 7

Remember that the nation lives in the cottage. 9

Your duty at present is to go from one part of the

country to another, from village to

viiia s e > and make the p e p ie undcr -

stand that mere sitting about idly

won't do any more. Make them understand their

real condition and say, ' O ye Brothers, all arise !

awake ! How much longer would you remain

asleep ! ' Go and advise them how to improve their

own condition and make them comprehend the sub-

lime truths of the shastras, by presenting them in a

lucid and popular way. Impress upon their minds

that they have the .same right to religion as the

Brahmanas. Initiate, even down to the Chandalas,

in these fiery mantras. Also instruct them in simple

words about the necessities of life, and in trade,

commerce, agriculture, etc. 10

Centuries and centuries, a thousand years of

crushing tyranny of castes, kings and foreigners

Spiritualize all have taken out all their strength,

walks of hie. And lhe first step in gelling strength

is to uphold the Upimishuds and believe * I -am the

Soul', 'Me the swoid cannot cut; nor weapons

EDUCATION

pierce ; me the fire cannot burn ; me the air

cannot dry; I am the Omnipotent. I am the

Omniscient.' 11 These conceptions of the Vedanta

must come out from the forest and the cave, they

must come out to work at the bar and the bench, in

the pulpit and in the cottage of the poor man, with

the fishermen that are catching fish and with the

students that are studying. They call to every

man, woman and child, whatever their occupation,

wherever they may be. How can the fishermen and

all these carry out the ideas of the Upanisads ?

The way has been shown. If the fisherman thinks

that he is the spirit, he will be a better fisherman ;

if a student thinks he is the spirit, he will be a

better student. 12

The one thing that is at the root of all evils in

India is the condition of the poor. 13 Suppose you

Education to P en a free scho l in every village,

reach every still it would do no good, for the

me ' poverty in India is such that the poor

boys would rather go to help their fathers in the

fields or otherwise try to make a living than come

to the school. Now if the mountain does not come to

Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain.

If the poor boy cannot come to education, education

must go to him. There are thousands of single-

minded, self-sacrificing sannyasins in our own coun-

EDUCATION OF THE MASSES

try, going from village to village, teaching religion.

If some of them can be organised as teachers of

secular things also, they will go from place to place,

from door to door, not only preaching but teaching

also. Suppose two of these men go to a village in

the evening with a camera, a globe, some maps etc.,

they can teach a great deal of astronomy and geo-

graphy to the ignorant. By telling stories about

different nations, they can give the poor a hundred

times more information through the ear than they

can get in a lifetime through books. 14 Kindle their

knowledge with the help of modern science. 15

Teach them History, Geography, Science, Litera-

ture and .along with these the profound truths of

Religion through these. 16

Engrossed in the struggle for existence, they

had not the opportunity for the awakening of know-

ledge. They have worked so long like machines and

the clever educated section have taken the substan-

tial part of the fruits of their labour. But times have

changed. The lower classes are gradually awaken-

ing to this fact, and making a united front against

this. The upper classes will no longer be able to

repress the lower, try they ever so much. The well-

being of the higher classes now lies in helping the

lower to get their legitimate rights. Therefore 1

say : set yourself to the task of spreading education

EDUCATION

among the masses. Tell them and make them under-

stand, 'You are our brothers, a part and parcel of

our bodies.' If they receive this sympathy from

you, their enthusiasm for work will be increased a

hundredfold. 17

Three things are necessary for great achieve-

ments. First, feel from the heart. What is in the

intellect or reason ? It goes a few

Requisites tor steps and there it stops. But through

great achieve- ^ , .... T

ments: Feeling, the heart comes inspiration. Love

opens the most impossible gates.

Feel, therefore, my would-be patriots. Do you feel ?

Do you feel that millions and millions of the des-

cendants of gods and of sages have become next-

door neighbours to brutes ? Do you feel that

millions are starving to-day, and millions have been

starving for ages ? Do you feel that ignorance has

come over the land as a dark cloud ? Does it make

you restless ? Does it make you sleepless ? Has it

gone into your blood, coursing through your veins,

becoming consonant with your heart-beats ? Has it

made you almost mad ? Are you seized with the

one idea of the misery of ruin, and have you for-

gotten all about your name, your fame, your wives,

your children, your property, even your own

bodies ? Have you done that ? That is the very

first step. 18

EDUCATION OF THE MASSES

You may feel then ; but instead of spending

your energies in frothy talk, have you found any

m, i * wa Y out an Y practical solution, to

The solution. J ' J l '

soothe their miseries, to bring them

out of this living death ? Yet that is not all. Have

you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstruc-

tions ? If the whole world stands against you, sword

in hand, would you still dare to do what you think

is right? If your wives and children are against you,

if all your name dies, your wealth

Steadfastness. . , , _ J .,_ . . . , A n

vanishes, would you still stick to it r

Would you still pursue it and go on steadily towards

your own goal ? As the great king Bhartrihari says,

4 Let the sages blame or let them praise ; let the God-

dess of Fortune come or let Her go wherever She

likes, let death come to-day or let it come in hund-

reds of years, he indeed is the steady man who does

not move one inch from the way of truth.' Have

you got that steadfastness ? If you have these three

things, each one of you will work miracles. 19

Let us pray, ' Lead, kindly Light f ; a beam will

come through the dark, and a hand will be stretched

forth to lead us. Let each one of us pray day and

night for the down-trodden millions

of India > who are hold fast b y

poverty, priestcraft and tyranny ;

pray day and night for them. I care more to preach

EDUCATION

to them than to the high and the rich. I am no

metaphysician, no philosopher, nay, no saint. But

I am poor. I love the poor. Who feels for the two

hundred millions of men and women sunken for

ever in poverty and ignorance ? Him I call a

mahatman who feels for the poor. Who feels for

them ? They cannot find light or education. Who

will bring the light to them who will travel from

door to door bringing education to them ? Let these

people be your God think of them, work for

them, pray for them incessantly the Lord will

show you the way. 20

WHAT IS DUTY

It is necessary to know what duty is. If I have

to do something I must first know that it is my duty,

and then I can do it. The idea of duty is different

in different nations. The Mohammedan says what

is written in his book, the Koran, is his duty ; the

Hindu says what is in the Vedas is his duty ; and the

Christian says what is in the Bible is his duty. We

find that there are varied ideas of duty, differing

according to different states in life, different histori-

cal periods and different nations. The term " duty ",

like every other universal abstract term, is impossi-

ble to define clearly ; we can only get an idea of it

by knowing its practical operations and results.

When certain things occur before us we have all a

natural or trained impulse to act in a certain manner

totvards them ; when this impulse comes, the mind

begins to think about the situation. Sometimes it

thinks that it is good to act in a particular manner

under the given conditions, at other times it thinks

that it is wrong to act in the same manner even in

the very same circumstances. The ordinary idea of

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duty everywhere is that every good man follows the

dictates of his conscience.

But what is it that makes an act a duty ? If a

Christian finds a piece of beef before him and does

not eat it to save his own life, or will

not S ive tt to save the life of another

man, he is sure to feel that he has

not done his duty. But if a Hindu dares to eat that

piece of beef or to give it to another Hindu, he is

equally sure to feel that he too has not done his

duty ; the Hindu's training and education make him

feel that way. Ordinarily if a man goes out into the

street and shoots down another man, he is apt to

feel sorry for it, thinking that he has done wrong.

But if the very same man, as a soldier in his regi-

ment, kills not one but twenty, he is certain to feel

glad and think that he has done his duty remark-

ably well. Therefore we see that it is not the thing

done that defines a duty. To give an objective defi-

nition of duty is thus entirely impossible. Yet there

is duty from the subjective side. Any action that

makes us go godward is a good action, and is our

duty ; any action that makes us go downward is

evil, and is not our duty. From the subjective stand-

point we may see that certain acts have a tendency

to exalt and ennoble us, while certain other acts

have a tendency to degrade and to brutalise us. But

WHAT IS DUTY

it is not possible to make out with certainty which

acts have which kind of tendency in relation to all

persons, of all sorts and conditions. There is, how-

ever, only one idea of duty which has been univer-

sally accepted by all mankind, cf all ages and sects

and countries ; and that has been summed up in a

Sanskrit aphorism thus: "Do not injure any

being; not injuring any being is virtue, injuring

any being is sin.' 1

The Bhagavad Gita frequently alludes to duties

dependent upon birth and position in life. Birth and

position in life and in society largely

determine the mental and moral

attitude of life. It is therefore our duty to do that

work which will exalt and ennoble us in accordance

with the ideals and activities of the society in which

we are born. But it must be particularly remem-

bered that the same ideals and activities do not pre-

vail in all societies and countries ; our ignorance of

this is the main cause of much of the hatred of one

nation towards another. An American thinks that

whatever an American does in accordance with the

custom of his country is the best thing to do, and

that whoever does not follow his custom must

be a very wicked man. A Hindu thinks that his

customs are the only right ones and are the best

in the world, and that whosoever does not obey

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thgm must be the most wicked man living. This

is^ quite a natural mistake which all of us are

apt to make. But it is very harmful ; it is the

cause of half the uncharitableness found in the

world.

Therefore the one point we ought to remember

is that we should always try to see the duty of others

through their own eyes, and never judge the customs

of other peoples by our own standards. I am not the

standard of the universe. I have to accommodate

myself to the world, and not the world to me. So

we see that environments'change the nature of our

duties, and doing the duty which is ours at any parti-

cular time is the best thing we can do in this world.

Let us do that duty which is ours by birth ; and

when we have done that, let us do the duty which

is ours by our position in life and in society. There

is, however, one great danger in human nature, viz.,

that man never examines himself. He thinks he is

quite as fit to be on the throne as the king. Even if

he is, he must first show that he has done the

duty of his own position ; and then higher

duties will come to him. When we begin to work

earnestly in the world, nature gives us blows

right and left and soon enables us to find out our

position. No man can long occupy satisfactorily

a position for which he is not fit. There is no

WHAT IS DUTY

use in grumbling against nature's adjustment

He who does the lower work is not therefor^pa

lower man. No man is to be judgdd by

mere nature of his duties, but all should i

judged by the manner and the spirit irt wlj

they perform them. }

Later on we shall find that even this; ic

duty undergoes change, and that the greatest

_ is done only when there is no

Do your duty. . *

motive to prompt it. Yet it is

through the sense of duty that leads us to

without any idea of duty ; when work will be

worship nay, something higher then will work

be done for its own sake. We shall find that the

philosophy of duty, whether it be in the form of

ethics or of love, is the same as in every other Yoga

the object being the attenuating of the lower self,

so that the real higher Self may shine forth ; to

lessen the frittering away of energies on the lower

plane of existence, so that the soul may manifest

itself on the higher ones. This is accomplished by

the continuous denial of low desires, which duty

rigorously requires. The whole organisation of

society has thus been developed consciously or un-

consciously in the realms of action and experience,

where, by limiting selfishness, we open the way to

an unlimited expansion of the real nature of man

EDUCATION

W Duty is seldom sweet. It is only when love

gleases its wheels that it runs smoothly ; it is a

continuous friction otherwise. How

de^res f ^ elSC C0uld P arents do their duties to

their children, husbands to their

wives and vice versa ? Do we not meet with cases

of friction every day in our lives ? Duty is sweet

only through love, and love shines in freedom alone.

Yet is it freedom to be a slave to the senses, to

anger, to jealousies and a hundred other petty

things that must occur every day in human life ?

In all these little roughnesses that we meet with in

life, the highest expression of freedom is to forbear.

Women, slaves to their own irritable, jealous tem-

pers, are apt to blame their husbands, and assert

their own " freedom ", as they think, not knowing

that thereby they only prove that they are slaves.

So it is wih husbands who eternally find fault with

their wives.

The only way to rise is by doing the duty next

A to us, and thus gathering strength go

Sannyasin and on until we reach the highest state,

housewife. A young Sannyasin went to a forest ;

there he meditated, worshipped and practised

Yoga for a long time. After years of hard work and

practice, he was one day sitting under a tree, when

some dry leaves fell upon his head. He looked up

WHAT IS DUTY

and saw a crow and a crane fighting on the topi

the tree, which made him very angry. He sa|

" What ! Dare you throw these dry leaves upon

head ! " As with these words he angrily glanced)

them a flash of fire went out of, his head sflph

the Yogin's power and burnt the birds tjf 3gh

He was very glad, almost overjoyed, at this ""

ment of power he could burn the crowSnd

crane by a look. After a time he had to go to

town to beg his bread. He went, stood at a

and said, " Mother, give me food." A voice-

f rom inside the house, " Wait a little, my son."

young man thought, "You wretched woman,

dare you make me wait ! You do not know my

power yet." While he was thinking thus the voice

came again : " Boy, don't be thinking too much of

yourself. Here is neither crow nor crane." He was

astonished ; still he had to wait. At last the woman

came, and he fell at her feet and said, " Mother, how

did you know that ? " She said : " My boy, I do not

know your Yoga or your practices. I am a common

everyday woman. I made you wait because my

husband is ill, and I was nursing him. All my life

I have struggled to do my duty. When I was un-

married, I did my duty to my parents ; now that I

am married, I do my duty to my husband ; that is

all the Yoga I practise. But by doing my duty I

EDUCATION

have become illumined ; thus I could read your

thoughts and know what you had done in the

forest "

It is the worker who is attached to results that

grumbles about the nature of the duty which has

Do not fallen to his lot ; to the unattached

grumble. * worker all duties are equally good,

and form efficient instruments with which selfish-

ness and sensuality may be killed, and the freedom

of the soul secured. We are all apt to think too

highly of ourselves. Our duties are determined by

our deserts to a much larger extent than we are

willing to grant. Competition rouses envy, and it

kills the kindliness of the heart. To the grumbler all

duties are distasteful ; nothing will ever satisfy him,

and his whole life is doomed to prove a failure. Let

us work on, doing as we go whatever happens to be

our duty, and being ever ready to put our shoulders,

to the wheel. Then surely we see the Light ! 1

XI

WORK LIKE A MASTER

We read in the Bhagavad-Gita again and again

that we must all work incessantly. All work is by

Work inces- nature composed of good and eviL

santiy. We cannot do any work which will

not do some good somewhere ; there cannot

be any work which will not do some harm

somewhere. Every work must necessarily be a

mixture of good and evil ; yet we are commanded

to work incessantly. Good and evil will both have

their results, will produce their Karma. Good action

will entail upon us good effect ; bad action, bad.

But good and bad are both bondages of the soul.

The solution reached in the Gita in regard to this

bondage-producing nature of work is, that if we do

not attach ourselves to the work we do, it will not

have any binding effect on our soul. We shall try to

understand what is meant by this " non-attach-

ment " to work.

As the tortoise tucks its feet and head inside

the shell, and you may kill it and break it ir

Unattached. pieces, and yet it will not come out,

even so the character of that man who has con-

EDUCATION

trol over his motives and organs is unchangeably

established. He controls his own inner forces, and

nothing can draw them out against his will. By this

continuous reflex of good thoughts, good impressions

moving over the surface of the mind, the tendency

for doing good becomes strong, and as the result we

feel able to control the Indriyas (the sense-organs,

the nerve-centres). Thus alone will character be

established, then alone a man gets to truth. Such a

man is safe for ever ; he cannot do any evil. You

may place him in any company, there will be no

danger for him. There is a still higher state than

having this good tendency, and that is the desire for

liberation. You must remember that freedom of

the soul is the goal of all Yogas, and each one equally

leads to the same result. 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. The bad tendencies are to be

counteracted by the good ones, and the bad im-

pressions on the mind should be removed by the

fresh waves of good ones, until all that is evil almost

disappears, or is subdued and held in control in a

corner of the mind ; but after that, the good tenden-

cies have also to be conquered. Thus the " attached "

becomes the "unattached". Work, but let not

WORK LIKE A MASTER

the action or the thought produce a deep impression

on the mind. Let the ripples come and go, let huge

actions proceed from the muscles and the brain,

but let them not make any deep impression on

the soul.

How can this be done ? We see that the im-

pression of any action to which we attach our-

* * * selves, remains. I may meet hund-

How to do it. ' , , ,

reds of persons during the day, and

among them meet also one whom I love ; and when

I retire at night I may try to think of all the faces

I saw, but only that face comes before the mind

the face which I met perhaps only for one minute,

and which I loved ; all the others have vanished.

My attachment to this particular person caused a

deeper impression on my mind than all the other

faces. Physiologically, the impressions have all

been the same ; every one of the faces that I saw

pictured itself on the retina, and the brain took the

pictures in, and yet there was no similarity of effect

upon the mind. Most of the faces, perhaps, were

entirely new faces, about which I had never thought

before, but that one face of which I got only a

glimpse found associations inside. Perhaps I had

pictured him in my mind for years, knew hundreds

of things about him, and this one new vision of him

awakened hundreds of sleeping memories in my

EDUCATION

mind and this one impression having been repeated

perhaps a hundred times more than those of the

different faces together, will produce a great effect

on the mind.

The whole gist of this teaching is that you

should work like a master and not as a slave ; work

incessantly, but do not do slave's

work. Do you not see how every-

body works ? Nobody can be al-

together at rest ; ninety-nine per cent of mankind

work like slaves, and the result is misery ; it is all

selfish work. Work through freedom ! Work through

love ! The word " love " is very difficult to under-

stand ; love never comes until there is freedom.

There is no true love possible in the slave. If you

buy a slave and tie him down in chains and make

him work for you, he will work like a drudge, but

there will be no love in him. So when we ourselves

work for the things of the world as slaves, there can

be no love in us, and our work is not true work.

This is true of work done for relatives and friends,

and is true of work done for our own selves. Selfish

work is slave's work ; and there is a test. Every act

of love brings happiness ; there is no act of love

which does not bring peace and blessedness as its

reaction. Real existence, real knowledge, and real

love are eternally connected with one another, the

WORK LIKE A MASTER

three in one ; where one of them is, the others also

must be; they are the three aspects of the One

without a second the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.

When that existence becomes relative, we see it

as the world ; that knowledge becomes in its turn

modified into the knowledge of the things of the

world ; and that bliss forms the foundation of all

true love known to the heart of man. Therefore

true love can never react so as to cause pain either

to the lover or to the beloved. Suppose a man loves

a woman ; he wishes to have her all to himself and

feels extremely jealous about her every movement ;

he wants her to sit near him, to stand near him, and

to eat and move at his bidding. He is a slave to her

and wishes to have her as his slave. That is not

love ; it is a kind of morbid affection of the slave,

insinuating itself as love. It cannot be love, because

it is painful ; if she does not do what he wants, it

brings him pain. With love there is no painful

reaction ; love only brings a reaction of bliss ; if it

does not, it is not love ; it is mistaking something

else for love. When you have succeeded in loving

your husband, your wife, your children, the

whole world, the universe, in such a manner that

there is no reaction of pain or jealousy, no

selfish feeling, then you are in a fit state to be

unattached.

EDUCATION

Do you ask anything from your children in

return for what you have given them ? It is your

_ . duty to work for them, and there the

Don t expect. ^ '

matter ends. In whatever you do for

a particular person, a city, or a state, assume the

same attitude towards it as you have towards

your children expect nothing in return. If

you can invariably take the position of a

giver, in which everything given by you is a

free offering to the world, without any thought of

return, then will your work bring you no attach-

ment. Attachment comes only where we expect

a return.

If working like slaves results in selfishness and

attachment, working as masters of our own mind

Results gives rise to the bliss of non-attach-

in bliss. ment. We often talk of right and

justice, but we find that in the world right and

justice are mere baby's talk. There are two things

which guide the conduct of men : might and mercy.

The exercise of might is invariably the exercise of

selfishness. All men and women try to make the

most of whatever power or advantage they have.

Mercy is heaven itself ; to be good, we have all to be

merciful. Even justice and right should stand on

mercy. All thought of obtaining return for the

work we do hinders our spiritual progress ; nay, in

I'O

WORK LIKE A MASTER

the end it brings misery. There is another way in

which this idea of mercy and sefless charity can be

put into practice ; that is, by looking upon work as

" worship " in case we believe in a Personal God.

Here we give up all the fruits of our work unto

the Lord, and, worshipping Him thus, we have

no right to expect anything from mankind for

the work we do. The Lord Himself works

incessantly and is ever without attachment.

Just as water cannot wet the lotus leaf, so work

cannot bind the unselfish man by giving rise to

attachment to results. The selfless and unattach-

ed man may live in the very heart of a

crowded and sinful city ; he will not be touched

by sin.

This idea of complete self -sacrifice is illustrated

in the following story : After the battle of Kuru-

kshetra the five Pandava brothers

ng s oose y f the P erf o r med a great sacrifice and made

very large gifts to the poor. All peo-

ple expressed amazement at the greatness and rich-

ness of the sacrifice, and said that such a sacrifice

the world had never seen before. But, after the

ceremony, there came a little mongoose, half of

whose body was golden, and the other half brown,

and he began to roll on the floor of the sacrificial

hall. He said to those around, " You are all liars ;

EDUCATION

this is no sacrifice." " What ! " they exclaimed,

" You say this is no sacrifice ; do you not know how

money and jewels were poured out to the poor and

every one became rich and happy ? This was the

most wonderful sacrifice any man ever performed."

But the mongoose said : " There was once a little

village, and in it there dwelt a poor Brahmin, with

his wife, his son and his son's wife. They were very

poor and lived on small gifts made to them for

preaching and teaching. There came in that land a

three years' famine, and the poor Brahmin suffered

more than ever. At last when the family had

starved for days, the father brought home one morn-

ing a little barley flour, which he had been fortu-

nate enough to obtain, and he divided it into four

parts, one for each member of the family. They

prepared it for their meal, and just as they were

about to eat there was a knock at the door. The

father opened it, and there stood a guest. Now in

India a guest is a sacred person ; he is as a god for

the time being, and must be treated as such. So the

poor Brahmin said, '.Come in, sir ; you are welcome.*

He set before the guest his own portion of the food,

which the guest quickly ate and said, ' Oh, sir, you

have killed rne ; I have been starving for ten days,

and this little bit has but increased my hunger.'

Then the wife said to her husband, ' Give him my

WORK LIKE A MASTER

share,' but the husband said, 'Not so/ The wife

however insisted, saying, ' Here is a poor man, and

it is our duty as householders to see that he is fed,

and it is my duty as a wife to give him my portion,

seeing that you have no more to offer him.' Then

she gave her share to the guest, which he ate, and

said he was still burning with hunger. So the son

said, ' Take my portion also ; it is the duty of a son

to help his father to fulfil his obligations.' The guest

ate that, but remained still unsatisfied ; so the son's

wife gave him her portion also. That was sufficient,

and the guest departed blessing them. That night

those four people died of starvation. A few granules

of that flour had fallen on the floor, and when I

rolled my body on them half of it became golden,

as you see. Since then I have been travelling

all over the world, hoping to find another sacrifice

like that, but nowhere have I found one ; no-

where else has the other half of my body been

turned into gold. That is why I say this is no

sacrifice."

This idea of charity is going out of India ; great

men are becoming fewer and fewer.

Now you see what Karma- Yoga means ; even at

the point of death to help any one, without asking

questions. Be cheated millions of times and never

ask a question, and never think of what you are

EDUCATION

doing. Never vaunt of your gifts to the poor or

expect their gratitude, but rather be grateful to

them for giving you the occasion of practising

charity to them. 1

APPENDIX

The references are to THE COMPLETE WORKS OF

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA, MAYAVATI MEMORIAL

EDITION, published by the Advaita Ashrama, 1962, and

after. The Roman numbers refer to the volumes and the

figures to the pages.

1 : IV. 358 ; 2 : I. 28 ; 3 : I. 28 ; 4 : I. 422 ; 5 : I. 93 ;

6 : II. 339-40 ; 7 : VII. 21 ; 8 : V 410 ; 9 : IV. .55 ;

10 : III. 247 ; 11 : IV. 55 ; 12 : V 366 ; 13 . V. 366 ;

14: VII. 269; 15: VII. 22; 16: VII. 170,

17 : VII 170-1 ; 18 : III. 246 ; 19 : III. 302 ;

20 : VII. 182 ; 21 : VII 147 ; 22 : V. 342 ; 23 : V. 368-9 ;

24 : II. 15 ; 25 : IV. 490 ; 26 : III. 190 ; 27 : III. 224.

II

1 : 130 ; 2 VI 38 ; 3 : II. 390-1 ; 4 : II. 391

5 : VI. 123-4 ; 6 : VI. 37 ; 7 : VI. 37 ; 8 : VI. 124

9 : I. 130 ; 10 II 391 ; 11 : VI. 486 ; 12 : VI. 38-9

V. 358 ; 14 : VII. 67 ; 15 : VII. 69 ; 16 : VII. 224

I. 263 ; 18 : V. 369 ; 19 : I. 190 ; 20 : VII. 69

VII. 67 ; 22 : V. 332 ; 23 : III. 319 ; 24 : III. 376

III. 444 ; 26 : III. 376.

Ill

1 : I. 27 ; 2 : VII. 14 : 3 : VII. 20 : 4 : I. 27 ;

5 : IV. 492 ; 6 : I 54 : 7 : 1.29 ; 8 : I. 207-8 ; 9 : 355-6 ;

10 : II. 356-7 ; 11 : II. 357.

IV

1 : II. 13-19.

1 : V. 224 ; 2 : V 369 ; 3 : IV 1G2-3 ; 4 : VI. 472 ;

5 : IV. 24 ; 6 : III. 48-9 ; 7 : III. 50 ; 3 : III. 51 ;

9 : VIII. 107-121 ; 10 : III. 52 ; 11 : VII. 85-6 ,

12 : VII. 99 ; 13 : IV. 183.

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VI

1 : V. 231 ; 2 : V. 388 ; 3 : VII. 232 ; 4 : V. 388 ;

5 : VII. 232-3 ; 6 : VII. 233 ; 7 : VII. 234 ; 8 : II. 301 ;

9 : VII. 13 ; 10 : III. 160 ; 11 : III. 426 ; 12 : VII. 79 ;

13 : II. 358 ; 14 : III. 225 ; 15 : III. 225 ; 16 : III. 241 ;

17 : III. 242 ; 18 : III. 237-8 ; 19 : III. 238 ; 20 : I. 412 ;

21 : I. 185 ; 22 : II. 43 ; 23 : I. 412 ; 24 : I. 415 ;

25 : II. 375 ; 26 : II. 377 ; 27 : II. 376 ; 28 : II. 267 ;

29 : IV. 180 ; 30 : VII. 24 ; 31 : V. 186 ; 32 : II. 373-4.

VII

1 : II. 1-9.

VIII

1 : VII. 214-5 ; 2 : VII. 215 ; 3 : V. 26 ; 4 : VII. 215 ;

5 : V. 231 ; 6 : V. 26 ; 7 : V. 342 ; 8 : V. 229-30 ;

9 : VII. 220 ; 10 : V. 342-3 ; 11 : III. 255 ; 12 : V. 343 ;

13 VII. 219 ; 14 : VI. 489 ; 15 : VII. 217-8 ; 16 : VI. 489 ;

17 VII. 217 ; 18 : V, 342 ; 19 : V. 231 ; 20 : VI. 489 ;

21 VII. 220.

IX

1 : V. 14 ; 2 : V. 58 ; 3 : V. 222-3 ; 4 : IV. 482 ;

5 : IV. 362 ; 6 : III. 290 ; 7 : III. 291 ; 8 : III. 290 ;

9 : V. 29 ; 10 : V. 381 ; 11 : III. 244 ; 12 : III. 245 ;

13 : IV. 362 ; 14 : IV. 363 ; 15 : VII. 149 ; 16 : VII. 148-9 ;

17 : VII. 149 ; 18 : III. 225-6 ; 19 : III. 226 ; 20 : V. 57-8.

1 : I. 63-71.

XI

1 : I. 53-62.