I don't know what I believe
I was raised in a tradition and I no longer know if any of it is true.
The library's charter verse is three thousand years old: “the One Being the wise call by many names.” Its oldest creation hymn ends with “perhaps he knows—or perhaps he does not.” Doubt is not the enemy here. Vivekananda said he would rather see rank atheists than superstitious fools, “for the atheist is alive,” and that religion is realisation, not doctrine. Ramakrishna answered doubt with a chameleon, a salt doll and an ant on a sugar hill: every description is partial, the knower dissolves in the knowing, and the one who thinks he has grasped it has misunderstood the scale. Sri Aurobindo's aphorism is the sharpest: they proved to him God did not exist, and he believed them; then he saw God. The Mother warns that indulged doubt is corrosive; Valluvar says wisdom is to find the truth in whatever you hear, from whoever says it. The only test any of them offer is experiment: practise, and see.
The mind may be a shifting sea of doubts and yet that faith may be there within and, if so, it will keep even the doubt-racked mind in the way.
Doubt is not a sport to indulge in with impunity; it is a poison which drop by drop corrodes the soul.
God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true.
The mind is everything. It is in the mind alone that one feels pure and impure.
I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance.
In this age the path open to everyone is the name of God. Chant it. Sing it. Bring your children to the temple and let them hear it. The elaborate rites belong to a few; the name belongs to all.
நிற்பதுவே நடப்பதுவே பறப்பதுவே
நீங்களெல்லாம் சொப்பனந்தானோ?You that stand, you that walk, you that fly — / are you all only a dream?
Niṟpadhuvē naḍappadhuvē paṟappadhuvē / nīngaḷellām soppananthānō?
Sub Ishwar hai. (It's all God.)
Have faith and confidence in your Guru. Believe fully, that Guru is the sole Actor or Doer.
असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय ॥
From the unreal lead me to the real. From darkness lead me to light. From death lead me to immortality.
எப்பொருள் யார்யார்வாய்க் கேட்பினும் அப்பொருள்
மெய்ப்பொருள் காண்ப தறிவு.
Whatever you hear, from whomever you hear it, wisdom is to see the truth in it.
தென்னாடுடைய சிவனே போற்றி
என்னாட்டவர்க்கும் இறைவா போற்றி
Praise to Shiva, who has the southern land! Praise to the Lord of people of every land!
Attanā hi kataṁ pāpaṁ, attanā saṅkilissati;
attanā akataṁ pāpaṁ, attanāva visujjhati;
suddhī asuddhi paccattaṁ, nāñño aññaṁ visodhaye.
By oneself evil is done; by oneself one is defiled. By oneself evil is left undone; by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself; no one can purify another.
इन्द्रं मित्रं वरुणमग्निमाहुरथो दिव्यः स सुपर्णो गरुत्मान् ।
एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्त्यग्निं यमं मातरिश्वानमाहुः ॥
They call it Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni; and it is the heavenly bird with fine wings. The One Being the wise call by many names—Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan.
Vivekananda's sitting practice
- Practise twice a day, morning and evening. He said half an hour of each would “make you another person.”
- Sit erect, holding chest, neck and head in a straight line, in whatever posture is easiest for you.
- Before anything else, send goodwill outward. In his words: mentally repeat, “Let all beings be happy; let all beings be peaceful; let all beings be blissful.”
- Take a deep breath, fill the lungs, and slowly let it out. Continue slowly and rhythmically.
- Tell the body it is strong; tell the mind it is strong. Then sit in that strength, quietly, for the rest of the time.
- Expect nothing in a day. “It requires hard and constant practice.”
Is there anything you have actually tried, rather than only read about?
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