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 
 
 
 
I 
 
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 
z 
 
5 
 
 
 
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- 
 
6 
 
 
 
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 
 
 
 
8 
 
 
 
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, 
 
10 
 
 
 
 
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 
 
11 
 
 
 
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 
 
12 
 
 
 
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 
 
13 
 
 
 
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* 
 
 
 
14 
 
 
 
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 
 
15 
 
 
 
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 ; 
 
16 
 
 
 
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 
 
17 
 
 
 
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. 
 
18 
 
 
 
 
 
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 
 
19 
 
 
 
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 
 
 
 
20 
 
 
 
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. 
d 
 
21 
 
 
 
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 
 
22 
 
 
 
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 
 
23 
 
 
 
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 
 
24 
 
 
 
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 
 
25 
 
 
 
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. 
 
26 
 
 
 
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 
 
27 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
 
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 
 
 
 
29 
 
 
 
V 
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 
 
31 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
 
-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 
 
32 
 
 
 
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 
 
33 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
 
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> 
 
34 
 
 
 
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 
 
35 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
 
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. 
 
36 
 
 
 
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 
 
4 
 
37 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
 
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 
 
 
 
38 
 
 
 
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- 
 
39 
 
 
 
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 
 
40 
 
 
 
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 
 
41 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
 
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 
 
42 
 
 
 
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 
 
43 
 
 
 
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 
 
44 
 
 
 
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 
 
45 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
 
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 
 
46 
 
 
 
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 
 
47 
 
 
 
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 
 
48 
 
 
 
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 
 
 
 
49 
 
 
 
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 
 
50 
 
 
 
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 
 
51 
 
 
 
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- 
 
52 
 
 
 
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 
 
5 
 
53 
 
 
 
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. 
 
54 
 
 
 
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 
 
55 
 
 
 
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 ; 
 
56 
 
 
 
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 
 
57 
 
 
 
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 
 
58 
 
 
 
 
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, 
 
59 
 
 
 
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 
 
60 
 
 
 
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 
 
 
 
61 
 
 
 
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- 
62 
 
 
 
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 
 
63 
 
 
 
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. 
 
64 
 
 
 
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 
 
65 
 
 
 
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 
 
66 
 
 
 
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 
 
 
 
67 
 
 
 
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 
 
68 
 
 
 
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 
 
6 
 
69 
 
 
 
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 
 
70 
 
 
 
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 
 
71 
 
 
 
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- 
 
72 
 
 
 
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 
 
73 
 
 
 
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 
 
74 
 
 
 
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 
 
75 
 
 
 
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 
 
 
 
76 
 
 
 
X 
 
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 
 
77 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
 
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 
 
78 
 
 
 
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 
 
79 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
 
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 
 
80 
 
 
 
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 
 
81 
 
 
 
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 
 
82 
 
 
 
 
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 
 
83 
 
 
 
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 
 
 
 
84 
 
 
 
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- 
 
i 
 
35 
 
 
 
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 
 
86 
 
 
 
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 
 
87 
 
 
 
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 
 
88 
 
 
 
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. 
 
89 
 
 
 
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 
 
92 
 
 
 
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 
 
93 
 
 
 
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 
 
 
 
94 
 
 
 
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 
 
 
 
13 
17 
21 
25 
 
 
 
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. 
 
V 
 
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. 
 
95 
 
 
 
EDUCATION 
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. 
 
X 
 
1 : I. 63-71. 
 
XI 
1 : I. 53-62. 
 
 
 
96