ARISE! AWAKE! ... 2

ARISE! AWAKE! ... 2

Devotees, do not be lambs. Be lions. Stand up for your principles. Do not cower before authority. Manifest the martial spirit. Remember, soft sentimentality is not spirituality. Sacrifice fear at the altar of divine love. Then lion's courage will come into you. 

Why fear death when death of the body is inevitable? Your dispassion should help you conquer fear. It is fear that kills in life, not the final end to life. So, kill fear if you fancy yourself to be a devotee. The more you practise fearlessness, the less will you be afraid of phantoms that haunt you now. 

Our country, much wounded over 1300 years, needs valorous souls who will dare death in their search for truth and light and in defence of the Dharma. Are you prepared to be one such soldier of the soul? 

What is life? What is death? A trifling thing when spent in the pursuit of sensate pleasures. Give up such a debased life and wake up to Vivekananda. Study his works religiously. Cultivate shraddhaa and manhood, the manhood which Swamiji spent his life's energy to quicken among his countrymen, especially in his beloved Bengal. Must you fail him and only pander to your puerile vanity by giving effeminate chants glorifying his name which may seem worthwhile on the face of it but which you very well know is but the cover for your concealed cowardice? Shed cowardice and be a man, a real man whose very presence is a blessing unto mankind, whose character inspires the highest humanistic impulses in fellow beings and whose personality is purged of all lowly sycophancy to the corridors of power and of all pandering to the vanities of the rich. Can you become such a follower of Swami Vivekananda who you so admire? Then become one. And others will follow.

Written by Sugata Bose