CWSV Volume 1
Artist, teachers, philosophers and thinkers in their own lines get inspiration, but this inspiration comes only through crucifixion. People in this world want to keep themselves as enjoyers, keep themselves as agents, but Vedanta shows it is not in accordance with the laws of Nature that you should enjoy anything. It is not for man to enjoy anything. This enjoyer is the false self, it is not the real Self, it is not you. All thinkers, philosophers will have to see their body, their mind, their whole being enjoyed by the whole world. There is the road. If you want to be an enjoyer, the way to salvation, the way to happiness, the way to enjoyment is barred for you, is marred for you. You cannot, cannot enjoy this world, for you there is only one way, and that one way is to see the body, the mind and everything of yours enjoyed by Divinity, eaten up by Divinity. As Christ says, “Here, eat my flesh, eat it.” “Here, you will have to drink my blood!” at the Lord’s Supper!
CWSV Volume 1
Some people say that Vedanta teaches pessimism, Vedanta teaches hopelessness; it teaches idleness, laziness. Rama requests those people to keep their logic with them and not to sell their intellect to others; keep it to themselves and see whether the teachings of Vedanta lead to life, energy, power, success or something else. Ask not whether the Indians live it or not. Rama tells plainly that it is not the exclusive property of the Indians, it is everybody’s property. It is your own birthright. The Americans in business-life live it more and thus they are successful in the line; the Indians in practice do not live it to the same extent as the Americans do, thus they are backward from the material standpoint.
CWSV Volume 1
The secret of success is an open secret. Everybody has got something to say on the subject, and perhaps you often heard its general principles enunciated, but the vital importance of the subject justifies any amount of emphasis driving it home into the minds of the people. The principles of success are Work, Self-Sacrifice , Self-Forgetfulness, Universal Love, Cheerfulness, Fearlessness and Self-Reliance.
CWSV Volume 1
Vedanta wants you to spell things in the right way. Do not misread them; do not misspell them. Read this “God is nowhere,” that is to say, the phenomenon of sin, crime as, “God is now here.” Even in your sins is proved your Divinity, the divinity of your nature. Realize that and the whole world blooms for you a paradise, the whole world is converted into a garden, a heaven.
Realize the true Self within you; like Christ, realize that the father and the son are one. “In the beginning was the word; the word was with God”. Realize it, realize it. The Heaven of heavens is within you. Realize that and wherever you go, the dirtiest water will blush into the sparkling wine for you; every dungeon will be converted into the Heaven of heavens for you. There will not be a single difficulty or trouble for you; the master of all ye become.
CWSV Volume 1
Vedanta says there is a cause for it, and the cause is within you, it is not without yourself. This thought of freedom in you, this universal thought tells us that there is something in you; and that something in you is your true Self, the real Me, because this freedom you want to have for Me, for the I, the real Self, and for nobody else. There is something in you which is really free, unlimited, unbound. The universality of this idea preaches in unmistakable language that the real Self, the real Atman, is something which is absolutely free. But owing to the same kind of mistake which the ignorant people make in attributing the motion of the earth to the Sun interchanging the attributes through ignorance—we want to have freedom realized for the body, for the mind, for the gross self.
CWSV Volume 1
People make this mistake, this glaring blunder that they admit only those acts to be performed by them which are performed through the agency of mind or intellect. All the other deeds, all the other acts which are being performed directly without the agency of intellect or mind, are disclaimed entirely. They are entirely cast aside, they are entirely neglected, and by this neglect and by this mistake, by this imprisoning the real Self in the little mind, identifying the Infinity with the small brain, people are making themselves miserable and wretched. People say, “Oh, God is within me.” All right, the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, God is within you, but that kernel which is within you, that kernel is yourself and not the shell. Please think over it seriously. Reflect whether you are the kernel or the shell, whether you are He that is within you, or you are the shell that is without.
