1. Is the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi not shelter sufficient? Other than the divine incarnations, I prefer to take refuge with none.
2. Hinduism has reached its nadir with so many fake Gurus openly flaunting their ignorance as superior wisdom. Woe unto our dharma!
3. We cannot hope to save our dharma tradition from its present abuse unless we can identify and shame the fake Gurus.
4. Let shraddha in your own Self replace debilitating faith in self-proclaimed Gurus, for faith in your own Self alone will free you.
5. What necessity is there to follow these fake Gurus when there is Swami Vivekananda who is the preeminent spiritual guide for us?
6. Any serious student of Indian spiritual thought must take recourse to the teachings of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.
7. Have we failed to reach out to the people with the message of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda that so many spiritual pretenders abound?
8. The Vedanta says --- Rely on yourself, on none else, none else, and in the final analysis, give up this self, too, for the real Self.
9. The Bhagavad Geeta exhorts us to constantly work for the preservation of civilisation in a dispassionate unattached manner.
10. Just do not believe in hell and your life on earth will be a heaven if your karma is not anti-dharma, that is, unrighteous.
11. If you wish to be free of fear, reject the outside so-called omnipotent God and behold within your own soul the beloved.
12. Is imposition of one's faith on another consonant with the principles of civilisation? If not, then why is conversion encouraged?
13. The value of the world is cipher as such but immense when seen in the light of the divine shining through.
14. God must be contemplated in loving terms and never through servile fearfulness. Else, degeneration will inevitably set in.
15. The abstruse philosophy of the Indian dharma tradition must be comprehended to its depths before facile judgement be passed on it.
16. This life is a golden opportunity to read into reality. Study your soul to access the truth. The real lies within you.
17. The seat of existence you are, the core of consciousness too; the source of bliss you are, you are the essence of truth.
18. Is this ego real or is it the reflection of a higher reality which is what Christianity means by man being the image of God?
19. Today's devotion is tomorrow's fruition. Let us love Mother today, for what else is there to do on earth?
20. This ego is inconsequential save in keeping the phenomenal play of the individual alive. The universal being engulfs all at the end.
21. Hypnotising people by constant harping on doctrinaire absolutism does not make for a good faith. It makes men cowards and fanatics.
22. What is this burden of the original sin that Christians carry? Give it up and affirm your divinity. No sin can ever touch you.
23. So many speak on religion, so few impress, for they speak not from their souls' realisation but from intellect, from book-learning.
24. Spiritual truths do not make sufficient impression on the audience when the speaker lacks : 1) realisation 2) character-strength.
25. Separate religion from politics. God is love, knowledge, bliss. Love all, spread the light, know thyself to be in essence God.
26. Youth is the age when the struggle for purity must begin but it must continue right through life.
27. Through the darkness of the night come the rays of the morning sun. Do not lose hope.
28. The founder of a religion must be pure, else, degeneration sets in among the followers who imitate the founder as their model.
29. The Day of Judgement is medieval Middle-eastern myth, an archaic attempt to resolve the problem of causality, solved ages ago by the Hindus by their sophisticated Theory of Karma.
30. The Guru's love knows no bounds. It is free in giving, seeks no return and absolves the disciples of his sins.
31. Follow them who have entered into freedom, not them who merely pretend to be free while remaining enmeshed in Maya.
32. The greats of the world were almost all bound souls and so are the ones today. Rare is seen a soul who is free.
33. Men seek the company of kindred souls to either do good to society or evil as their dispositions are.
34. Why uphold the principles of bondage in the name of apologetic approach to our Sanatan Dharma? Give up, renounce, that is all.
35. What is the use of preaching falsity unless you believe numbers will help you achieve political goals? Is that why you convert?
36. Help each other by uniting effort for the propagation of truth instead of isolated endeavour for the same. Create conjointly.
37. Tribalism brought down to the modern age is creating havoc. The world is too polarised, too violent, too ignorant for comfort.
38. Forcing people to accept a proposed faith or to get them entrapped through marriage, inducement or fraud cannot be quite spiritual.
39. The numbers game is going to be crucial in determining the future character and culture of the world. One shudders to contemplate a return to tribal times. If repressive regressive ideology masking as enlightenment and absolute commandment of God takes over, the flourishing of future civilisation will be at stake. Hence, measures must be adopted to educate the children in liberal ideas based on pure reason, humanity and science. Culture must be inclusive and not ideologically exclusive nor must irrationality be allowed to proliferate in the name of dogma in religion. Absolutist faiths must be resisted and the Vedanta which declares the essential divinity of all of sentience and inanimate things must be allowed universal access. Only then will it be possible to check narrow fundamentalist religions and political philosophies from proliferating and in consequence holding civilisation to ransom. But in an increasingly volatile and ideologically polarised world with economic self-interest adding fuel to the imminent ignition how far these measures will succeed remains to be seen. Man is frustratingly slow in responding to radically altered situations so often such is his inertia it seems that the world has had to pass through two cataclysmic world wars already in the past century with a cold third war to boot. Now in a highly volatile multi-polar world with demographic changes altering the political landscape rapidly, there looms large the spectre of a third cataclysm which could annihilate humanity leaving no trace behind. These are serious questions to ponder and I do hope that readers will reflect deeply and arrive at their own inferences.
40. Learning, the flavour of life and love its very soul.
41. Remember the bond with the Guru stretches ad infinitum through life after life even unto freedom in the Absolute Self when love matures to its fulfilment.
42. Revere men as manifestations of the Divine. Love them, serve them, worship them. That is religion.
43. Purity energises the system and refines it for perception of the divine.
44. The initiated one must chant and live pure. That is binding. Else, spirituality is a far cry.
45. Who will save civilisation? Is the Lord forthcoming?
46. The intelligence and character of people in our rapidly expanding polity is on the decline and culture precipitating to its nadir.
47. When duffers lead everywhere, where is the hope for constructive change? Even the wicked fake Gurus are fundamental duffers.
48. When communication becomes difficult, open up the channels of prayer, meditation and reflection. The universe is integrated, your thoughts will surely reach.
49. The whole idea is to connect oneself to the rest of the universe and remove this desolation of the puny self and its false identity.
50. Self-assertion is one and self-surrender quite another. Yet, in the fullness of time, in the blossoming of experience, the twain meet.
51. Atheists have often the mistaken notion that God is an entity external to the organic being and hanging high in the heavens.
52. The deeper the bond with the Guru, the steeper the ascent unto the divine. But the summit is sure to be scaled. Fear not.
53. Perfect is the disciple who carries out the Guru's commandment much before the Guru has even thought of it.
54. All pretend to be Gurus but how many truly are capable of dispelling the disciple's delusions?
55. The world has lost direction and is in a whirl heading towards destruction. The times are, thus, ripe for the descent of the Divine.
56. Give up slavery of all sorts. This servility is not devotion. Come off it and stand free, leading yourself and following yourself too.
57. God will not save you, save yourself. But be moral in your effort at self-survival lest you infringe upon someone else's rights.
58. Conversion by coercion, inducement, enticement, false projection or by institutional arrangement is a crime against man and God.
59 . The Vedanta exhorts man to cast off the superstition of dualistic dependence and stand erect on one's legs.
60. We must be self-reliant and not unduly dependent on God. Self-reliance is the soul of spirituality whose end consists in Self-realisation.
61. The universe is a dot in the infinite sea of creation without beginning or end. The Being behind manifests as this cosmic series.
62. Welcome hell if interpreting the scripture my way leads to it. Happier in hell thus than bribing my way into heaven.
63. The decline in academic standards has much to do with the declining morals of society in general and the absurd imitation of the West.
64. Pampering children is not the same as protecting them from the roughening up of their sensibilities. The latter refines while the former spoils.
65. Are these live coals? Well, then they symbolise the burning misery of millions. Let us do something to assuage their pain.
66. This door is shut. It must be thrown wide open for the winds of change to blow in and freshen the stagnant air that is stifling life within.
67. The dark forces have no power to almighty light that dispels delusions and releases man unto the infinitude of freedom.
68. Send powerful thought waves for world-welfare in all directions. Be the radiating centre of knowledge, goodwill and understanding.
69. Do not pin your hopes on human love, for frustrated you will be before long. Love Thakur-Ma-Swamiji and you will never come to grief.
70. This world is a strange place where we are all closeted together to help each other find a way out of it. That is the cosmic game.
71. Darkness abounds where desires degrade. Light reigns free where the Lord dwells. So, love the Lord and live enlightened.
72. Each one of you can be of immense help to the Ramakrishna Mission. Serve the Order and its Mission to the best of your ability.
73. Scattered is the mind and divergent the rays from the source. Renunciation lies in converging these back to whence they had sprung.
74. Like beggars we move on in this world scarce realising what a wealth is stored up within us to explore and discover. Now, do it.
75. Another spiritual revolution there will be. Its vibrations are in the air. The Lord will manifest yet again to set the rudder right.
76. Set ablaze the citadels of Maya. Read the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and ignite this fire within that will burn off all the dross.
77. The condemned cell of convict man. Open the door and step out into freedom. Who prevents?
78. Here the ancient amphibian had set its first foot ashore. What a giant step in historic evolution! Arise and take a like step ahead.
79. The jewels lie at the base of the ocean of existence, the Garden of Babylon hangs above as this phenomenal universe. Who am I?
80. This great dark is radiating light but for want of matter remains dark nonetheless. Step in to be illumined.
81. Communication is critical in community living and, hence, a fundamental feature of civilisation. Learn to effectively communicate.
82. When the going is green, sow the seeds. The fruition will come in due time. Spring's the season for furrowing the field.
83. Desires are fulfilled when they are backed up by effective executive action. Else, they remain distant daydreams unfulfilled.
84. Integrity is a rare attribute found only in the man of character. But it is the bedrock of spirituality and the cornerstone of life.
85. Is this desperate drive towards material gain modern living? No, it is an aberration of modernity whose soul lies in enlightenment.
86. My soul is immersed in material enjoyment, my lips are engaged in pretentious spirituality, yet, I must buy my way to peace!
87. Does God love money? Come off it and serve your fellow men without attaching strings to future repayment from God, interest added.
88. An early awareness of spirituality is one's vision of ancestors in dreams. The next is a terrible sense of captivity in the body.
89. Ah, were we more sincere! Then much of our maladies would be at an end. Insincerity causes mistrust, suspicion, decadence and death.
90. We must have a living ideal and these modern gurus hobnobbing with politicians cannot provide us that. Go back to Ramakrishna.
91. The price of enjoyment is not money but mortality. The price of renunciation is hazardous hardship but its prize, immortality.
92. Go beyond this little whirlpool of your day-to-day life and extend your horizons. So much lies for you to explore and enjoy.
93. We as a nation must develop a sense of history to be not only rooted to our past but to branch out along fresher avenues of future growth.
94. Freedom curbed or curtailed leads to a terrible situation of suffocation and when the condition mounts to being a national calamity!
95. An environment that fosters growth is necessarily one that provides maximum freedom and individual liberty of living.
96. Merry Christmas to all my friends around the world! May the Lord bless you on this hallowed day of His advent on earth!
97. This day in 1886 at Antpur the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna assumed informal vows of absolute renunciation.
98. It was Christmas Eve and the children of Ramakrishna unknowingly fell into a fever of supreme renunciation. The location was Antpur.
99. Narendra was seized with the spirit of the Christ and, yet, he was completely unaware that it was Christmas Eve.
100. As Narendra spoke of the life of the Nazarene over a fire they had lit that night, they were all caught in its vibration.
101. Under the dark starlit sky the prophets of the future that was unfolding fast got imbued with the spirit of the life supreme.
102. Daily discipline leads to mountain-tops being scaled, the summit of realisations reached. It is the moment that amounts to aeons.
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