Monday 15 July 2013

14 July : Self-Confidence : Key to Success

वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।


"He is an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himlself.
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- - Swami Vivekananda

Blaming others for anything and everything had become a chronic disease with us. Why should we expect someone to come and help us? To depends on others is slavery. No good comes of blaming fate, karma or circumstances. Only a man of confidence can convert challenge into a opportunity.

Confidence is not a gift of God. It has to be cultivated with self-effort and diligence. Success stories of great people reveal the truth that in spite of their tremendous confidence they were not always successful. But the only difference between ordinary people and great ones is this: great people never consider defeats and failures as obstacles, on the contrary, they turn them into stepping stones to success, whereas ordinary people get discouraged and stop moving further. Great people are fully aware of the power within themselves, capable of overcoming huge obstacles and continuing their march till they reach their desired goal.

"The food never begins a work for fear of failure, the mediocre gives up in the middle, frustrated by obstruction; but the man of confidence never gives up, in spite of failures, till the goal is reached,"says Bhrtruhari, the poet in 'Nitishatakam' 27th Sloka.

"Arise, Awake and Stop not till the Goal is reached" - Swami Vivekananda



14 July 1895 : Inspired Talk at Thousand Island

14th July, 1896 : Letter to DR. NANJUNDA RAO,
The numbers of Prabuddha Bharata have been received and distributed too to the class. It is very satisfactory. It will have a great sale, no doubt, in India. In America I may get also a number of subscribers. I have already arranged for advertising it in America and Goodyear has done it already. But here in England the progress will be slower indeed. The great drawback here is — they all want to start papers of their own; and it is right that it should be so, seeing that, after all, no foreigner will ever write the English language as well as the native Englishman, end the ideas, when put in good English, will spread farther than in Hindu English.

Then again it is much more difficult to write a story in a foreign language than an essay. I am trying my best to get you subscribers here. But you must not depend on any foreign help. Nations, like individuals, must help themselves. This is real patriotism. If a nation cannot do that, its time has not yet come. It must wait. It is from Madras that the new light must spread all over India. With this end you must stork. One point I will remark however. The cover is simply barbarous. It is awful and hideous. If it is possible, change it. Make it symbolical and simple, without human figures at all. The banyan tree does not mean awakening, nor does the hill, nor the saint, nor the European couple. The lotus is a symbol of regeneration.

We are awfully behind hand in art especially in that of painting. For instance, make a small scene of spring re-awakening in a forest, showing how the leaves and buds are coming again. Slowly go on, there are hundreds of ideas to be put forward. You see the symbol I made for the Raja-Yoga, printed by Longman Green and Co. You can get it at Bombay. It consists of my lectures on Raja-Yoga in New York.

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