Guiding principles

Thus spake

Swami Vivekananda

"Bring all the forces of good together. Do not care under what banner you march. Do not care what be your colour - green, blue, or red - but mix up all the colours and produce that intense glow of white, the colour of love."

Albert Einstein

"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty... We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.

"Everyman is a doorway through which the infinite passes into the finite, through which God becomes man, through which the Universal becomes individual.

-Emerson

The Institute aims at to provide a congenial ambience for inner growth of individual life in line with our spiritual culture of India. At the same time emphasis will be laid on to acquire the knowledge of secular sciences to keep pace with the present developments. The goal is to realize the Truth that governs the whole universe and the spark that resides in us. The work we do at this institute should be a reflection of those principles that make human beings a divine one. No doubt, the work before us is difficult but not impossible. If we are determined to reach our goal and with those principles of Truth we can transform our lives.

The great personalities do inspire and guide us as to how to tread the divine path in the face of opposition. Life is a continuous process of a struggle to overcome impediments that come on the way to a higher life. The letters of such leaders give us a key to that treasure house that opens the unlimited growth in ones personality.

Here comes Swami ji with his message of fearlessness:

Arise! Awake! Onward! I only tell you this, that whoever reads my letters will imbibe my spirit!”

Reading his letters would ignite the fire of imagination for a great cause. To make our life a worth living for. Set a target on what we want to become, pursued with zeal and determination, we will definitely reach our destination.

I give below one of his letters (selected portion) to make a beginning:

    541, Dearborn Avenue
                                                        Chicago, U.S.A 1894

Dear Alasinga,

Your letter just to hand…

What India wants is a new electric fire to stir up a fresh vigor in the national veins. This was ever, and always will be, slow work. Be content to work, and, above all, be true to yourself. Be pure, staunch, and sincere to the very backbone, and everything will be all right. …

Upon ages of struggle a character is built. Be not discouraged. One word of truth can never be lost; ….

I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them! … We are always poor, my brothers, we are nobodies, but such have been always the instrument of the Most High. The Lord bless you all.


   With all love,
                                                                                                VIVEKANANDA

A note:

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Interested people may visit Sri Ramakrishna Math at Belur, Dakshineshwar Kali Mandir, across the Ganges, West Bengal and at Mayavati in Uttarakhand to understand what spiritual powers these two divine personalities had. They may also visit Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Vivekananda Kendra at Kanyakumari, a memorial dedicated to Swamiji by the Nation.

Sri Aurobindo Ashram is situated at Puducherri (Pondicherry) near Chennai (Madras). The place is also a mine of spiritual power. Visit the place and stay for a few days to absorb a little of that spiritual energy. It has the power to transform your life.

Sri Ramana Ashram at Tiruvannumalai is another place where you can feel the presence of the Rishi. Circumbulate the Arunachal Hill and you will be spiritually benefited. Here again stay for a few days.

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"Have you seen a man, have you seen a woman, who is not quietly, patiently, bearing his or her little burden of life? The great Prophets were giants-they bore a gigantic world on their shoulders. Compared with them we are pigmies, no doubt, yet we are doing the same task; in our little circles, in our little homes, we are bearing our little crosses. There is no one evil, no one so wothless, but he has to bear his own cross. But with all our mistakes, with all our evil thoughts and evil deeds, there is a bright spot somewhere, there is still somewhere the golden thread through which we are always in touch with the divine... there is always somewhere in our heart of hearts, however low and degraded we may be, a little circle of light which is in constant tough with the divine. "

- Swami Vivekananda

Indian Institute of Human Excellence (IIHE)

Guilding principles