Swami Vivekananda's Birthday

DEAR ALL,

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA JAYANTHI,  JANUARY 12 2011

 

Swami Vivekananda was born in Calcutta (Now Kolkata) Monday in a traditional family, on 12 January. His father Vishwanath Dutta was an attorney of Calcutta High Court. He was considered generous, and

had a liberal and progressive outlook in social and religious matters. His mother Bhuvaneshwari Devi was pious and had practiced austerities and a devotee of Lord Shiva. Swami Vivekananda’s thinking and personality were influenced by his parents—the father by his rational mind and the mother by her religious temperament. From his mother he learnt the power of self-control. 

 

Swami Vivekananda taught the principles of the universe, and his teachings are popular even today. His ageless words will touch the life of all. No matter whether old or young; the spiritual messages quotations and sayings of great Swami Vivekananda will bring wisdom and enlighten our life.

He was a man of great brilliance and had a tremendous presence. I am sharing some of the quotes.

Religion is not in doctrines, in dogmas, nor in intellectual argumentation,

It is being and becoming, it is realization.

The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves."

First of all, our young men must be strong. Religion will come afterwards. Be strong, my young friends; that is my advice to you.

The secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice. To be good and do good - that is the whole of religion.

The very fact of disputations and fighting among sects shows that they do not know anything about religion. Religion to them is a mere mass of frothy words, to be written in books.

Religion is not going to church, or putting marks on the forehead, or dressing in a peculiar fashion. You may paint yourselves in all the colours of the rainbow, but if the heart has not been opened, if you have not realized God, it is all vain.

The basic aim of religion is to bring peace to man. It is not a wise thing for one to suffer in this life so that one can be happy in the next. One must be happy here and now. Any religion that can bring that

about is the true religion for humanity.

TRUTH:

Truth, purity, and unselfishness - whenever these are present, there is no power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in opposition.

Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.

Stick to truth, but we shall succeed, may be slowly, but surely.  

Pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the gods there are but unless you realize the Truth, there is no freedom.

Practice truthfulness.Tweleve years of absolute truthfulness in thought, word and deed gives a man what he wills.

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls."

Good motives, sincerity, and infinite love can conquer the world. One single soul possessed of these virtues can destroy the dark designs of millions of hypocrites and brutes.

The ignorant man, by prayer and devotion, can reach beyond the philosopher. To know God, no philosophy is necessary. Our duty is not to disturb the faith of others.

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.

Accept the beneficial and discard the pleasant.

It is good and very grand to conquer external nature, but grander still it is to conquer internal nature.

If a man with an ideal makes a thousand mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal makes fifty thousand. Therefore, it is better to have an ideal.

If you have assimilated five ideas, and made them your life and character, you have more education than anyman who has got by heart a whole library.

Do good to all, like everyone, but do not love anyone. 

If you really want the good of others, the whole universe may stand against you and cannot hurt you. It must crumble before your power of the Lord Himself in you if you are sincere and really unselfish.

Out of purity and silence comes the word of power.

In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart. "

When once you consider an action, do not let anything dissuade you. Consult your heart, not others, and then follow its dictates.

Perfection does not come from belief or faith. Talk does not count for anything. Parrots can do that. Perfection comes through selfless work.

Please everyone without becoming a hypocrite or a coward.

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you,
none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this:

the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful."

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."

"Learn everything that is good from others, but bring it in, and in your own way absorb it; do not become others."

A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century."

"Do one thing at a Time, and while doing it put your whole Soul into it to the exclusion of all else."

Have Faith in Man, whether he appears to you to be a very learned one or a most ignorant one."

The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them."

Above all, beware of compromises. Hold on to your own principles in weal or woe and never adjust them to others’.

"It is the Level-headed Man, the Calm Man, of Good Judgement and cool nerves, of Great sympathy and love, who does good work and so does good to himself."

Neither money pays, nor name pays, nor fame, nor learning; it is CHARACTER that cleave through adamantine walls of difference”

We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on ones feet.

In eating, dressing or lying, in singing or playing, in enjoyment or disease, always manifest the highest moral courage.If you can build your character after such an ideal, then a thousand others will follow.

Help if you can; if you cannot, fold your hands and stand by and see things go on. Do not injure, if you cannot render help”

Three things are necessary to make every man great, every nation great”

1.Conviction of the powers of goodness

2.Absence of jealousy and suspicion

3.Helping all who are trying to be and to do good.

Nature wants us to react, to return blow for blow, cheating for cheating,

lie for lie, to hit back with all our might, then it requires a super divine power not hit back, to keep control, to be unattached”

The very essence of education is concentration of mind, not collecting of facts. Develop the power of concentration of mind and detachment and then with a perfect instrument collect facts at will.

Persons are but the embodiments, the illustration of principles. If the principles are there, the persons will come by the thousands and millions.

A "GOOD WORLD" A "HAPPY WORLD" AND SOCIAL PROGRESS are all terms equally intelligible with "Hot Ice" or "dark light".There is no progress without corresponding digression. 

 

Swami vivekananda's words are not ordinary words of inspiration. Each word of his utterances is potent with a latent power.I tried my best to bring out the gist of his sayings. There are many quotes and I made a small attempt to forward a few of his quotes and utterances. 

 

Every quote and utterances of swami vivekanada has a great power. In many speeches he used to oft quote one of the sayings of his mother :

 

"Remain pure all your life; guard your own honor and never transgress the honor of others. Be very tranquil, but when necessary, harden your heart.  

 

 

A mere reading of the ideas presented here won't do.The ideas must be aasimilated and should be put in to practice.understand the quotes in their spirit and apply to work in the light.Swami

Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1976

Baruch S. Blumberg

D. Carleton Gajdusek

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1976 was awarded jointly to Baruch S. Blumberg and D. Carleton Gajdusek "for their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases"

Mother Theresa....Indian of Albaninan orgin

Mother Theresa

Perhaps of of the most famous mothers in history wasn't technically a mother herself, yet millions who she provided care for would look up to her. Mother Theresa was her name, and she has gone down in history as one of the most influential humanitarians to ever walk the earth, spending her entire adult life taking care of the poor, homeless, and the sick in the name of Jesus Christ.
Born Agnes Gonxha in 1910, Theresa would grow up as a Roman Catholic following the death of her father at a very young age, and this upbringing would have an important effect on her work later in life. At the age of 12 she would become obsessed with the work of missionaries and decide to dedicate her life to their work.

She left her native home in Albania at the age of 18 to begin her missionary life with the Sisters of Loreto, never to see her family again. After a stay in Ireland to learn English, Theresa would then head to India where she cared for the sick and poor for many years.

In September of 1946 Theresa would experience what she described as the "call within the call". This is where Theresa decided to leave the convent in 1948 to devote her life to helping those within the poorest sections of Calcutta. There she would being schooling the children of the slums and begin a small movement of supporters to help he with her work.
In 1950, this work would culminate in "The Missionaries of Charity", dedicated to caring for the poorest of people that Theresa referred to as "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone."
Over the years, these missionaries would go on to assist the poor in countries worldwide, helping not just the poor but also those who have lived through floods, famine and other natural disasters to helping orphanages and AIDS hospices, alcoholics, and others suffering. This organization of charity would become an official International Association in 1969; today it has thousands of nuns organizing millions of co-workers worldwide.
While she has been criticized by many for her obvious affiliations to her Catholic religion, her work at helping those less fortunate in the world cannot be denied. Theresa fought hard to help spread the work she and the Missionaries of Charity accomplished to nations who at first rejected it, and traveled to areas such as Ethiopia and Chernobyl to see her work help others first hand.
Mother Theresa was given an official state funeral by the Indian Government in death in 1997. She had won numerous important Indian awards over the years such as the Padma Shri in 1962. Other awards would continue to follow, including the Jawaharlal Neru Award for International Understanding in 1972, and the highest civilian award known as the Bharat Ratna in 1980. Even though se received this recognition, her reception to the people at the time in India wasn't necessarily mutual.
Critics pointed out that a negative appearance of Calcutta may have been interpreted through her work, and others often reflected on her opposition to the Hindu religion that many throughout India were affiliated with. Politics frequently arose around Theresa's "non-political" agendas related to her opinions on divorce and abortion, as she obviously did not favor these actions due to her faith in Christ and Catholicism. Many at the time often wondered if her actions were playing a larger role in trying to convert others to her beliefs and religion. Still, even some her most outspoken critics praised and favored her in her death.
For her work in southeast asia, Mother Theresa earned the Ramon Magsayay Award for International Understanding in 1962. In 1971, Theresa had the honor of receiving were the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, presented to her by Pope John Paul for Christian charity work, and the Pacem in Terris Award in 1976. By this time, Theresa was known worldwide for her work, mostly in part to these awards and an earlier documentary entitled Something Beautiful for God, both a film in 1969 and book in 1971. It was in this film that a "divine light" supposedly lit from Mother Theresa during a shoot in less than desirable lighting conditions.
As her celebrity rose, so did her acceptance by some nations and some opposition by others. Critics would create politics around the finances surrounding Theresa in addition to her supposed affiliations with particular governments, including the United States, where she was named an honorary citizen in 1986 by Ronald Regan, and the United Kingdom. Still, she continued to be recognized in various parts of the world for her continued philanthropy, obtaining the Albert Scweitzer International Prize in 1975. She was granted the Balzan prize in 1978 for "promoting humanity, peace, and brotherhood amoung peoples". Finally, in 1979, she was awarded the highly regarded Nobel Peace Prize, donating the financial reward to her poor in Calcutta.

Throughout her life as a believer in Jesus Christ, Mother Theresa has followed a path towards sainthood. After in death in 1997, the Holy See, or central governing body of the Catholic Church, began the steps that needed to be taken for Theresa to receive Beatification. This was a recognition by the church that Theresa had accented into heaven and was to be considered one to have achieved sainthood.

Part of this process involved evidence that Theresa had indeed performed a miracle, and called upon an incident where a patient witnessed a "beam of light" that shun from a picture of Theresa, curing a tumor. Of course, in the proceedings, witnesses denounced the miracle in addition to critics of Theresa questioning Theresa's motivations for work throughout her career.

Nonetheless, in October of 2003, her beatification took place and the title of "Blessed" given to one of the greatest "mothers" to have ever lived.