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The Self Cannot Be Gained By A man Who Is Weak And Cowardly - Swami Ramakrishnananda

This Self cannot be gained by a man who is weak and cowardly. He must shake off all false ideas of weakness in time. He can never be weak if he believes himself to be a part and parcel of the all-powerful God. How can the child of such a father be weak? He must have faith in his own boundless strength, which, though latent, may be displayed to its full advantage whenever the occasion demands it. If the struggle is continued in this way, victory will come within a very short time.

The senses want one to make friends with all the beautiful women of the world; morality commands, ‘Marry only one girl and love her if you cannot resist lustfulness, for, as says St Paul, “It is better to marry than to burn”, but if you can make yourself a “eunuch for the Kingdom of God”, that is far better and nobler.’

The senses want a man to sacrifice truth for pleasure; morality comes forward and commands him to sacrifice pleasure for truth and duty. The senses want him to live for the enjoyments of life; morality commands him only to take as much enjoyment in the shape of food and drink as is necessary to keep his body and soul together, for fools alone live to eat, whereas the wise only eat to live. The senses want him to believe that all pleasures lie centered in them; morality comes forward and says, ‘No, the senses are the homes of misery, pain and anguish; the abode of pleasure is beyond the senses. So spurn the senses, go beyond them, and you will find bliss perennial. March onward and never stop until you crush the senses under your feet.’

When perseverance, strength and courage at last win the day, and when the senses are fully subdued, then begins to rise on the horizon of his mental plane the gladdening suns of Truth and Bliss, which are eternally and indissolubly connected with each other and shed their benign, congenial, balmy and life-giving rays so as to plunge the victor into the ocean of unbroken beatitude.