Swami Vivekananda on the Mind and its Control
“The powers of the mind are like rays of light dissipated; when they are concentrated they illuminate. This is our only means of knowledge." “The man that has practiced control over himself cannot be acted upon by anything outside; there is no more slavery for him. His mind has become free. Such a man alone is fit to live in the world.”
“The man who has control over his own mind assuredly will have control over every other mind. That is why purity and morality have been always the object of the religion; a pure moral man has control over himself. He who knows and controls his own mind knows the secret of every mind and has power over every mind.”
“How hard it is to control the mind! Well has it been compared to the maddened monkey. There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough some one made him drink freely of wine, so that it became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion, he jumps about for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worst than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey?
The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy of the success of others, and last of all the daemon of pride enter the mind making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such mind!
Swami Vivekananda on Self – Confidence
“Faith, faith, faith in ourselves, faith, faith in God - this is the secret of greatness. If you have faith in all three hundred and thirty millions of your mythological gods, and all the gods in which the foreigners have now and again introduced into your midst, and still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you.”
“You have in you a thousand times more than is in all the books. Never loose faith in yourself, you can do any thing in this universe. Never weaken all powers is yours.”
“You must not say that you are weak. How do you know what possibilities lie behind that degradation on the surface? You know but little of that which is within you. For behind you is the ocean of infinite power and blessedness.”
“The ideal of faith in ourselves is of the greatest help to us.”
