VISIT TODAY RAMAKRISHNA II Spiritual Talks, Swami Shivananda
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Sri
Ramakrishna
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Sri
Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Shivananda
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1)Extraordinary work requires incredible and relentless exertion for quite a while. Neither need we inconvenience ourselves if a couple fizzle. It is in the idea of things that many should fall, that inconveniences should come, that gigantic troubles ought to emerge, that childishness and the various villains in the human heart should battle hard when they are going to be driven out by the flame of otherworldliness. The way to the Good is the roughest and steepest known to mankind. It is a marvel that such huge numbers of succeeding, no big surprise that such a significant number of fizzles.
page.383,
C.W.Volume.8, Swamiji’s letter to J.J Goodwin on 8th
August 1896.
2)In
this struggle for life there will always be hope and fear. Life
without struggle is no life at all. If a man has a continuous flow of
happiness and sense-enjoyment, then he will never think of higher
things – about God, soul, etc. And how does such a life differ from
that of the brutes? But if there are only fear and misery, they dwarf
the growth – they do not allow him to progress.
page.
336, Spiritual Talks, Swami Shivananda
3)Combine
spiritual practices with social service. Do both with equal
enthusiasm. Both should go on simultaneously. Service is also a kind
of spiritual practice. You have to be convinced of this. It is
wrong to think they are contradictory…Beware that none among you
make the mistake of thinking that selfless service and spiritual
practices are two different paths. You reach Sri Ramakrishna’s
realm if you continue these two paths.
page..205-6,
Letters for Spiritual Seekers, Letters of Swami Shivananda,
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