The Young prince Siddharta
was sitting alone under a tree in his palace-garden absorbed in his
thoughts. It was midnight and whole world lay hushed in darkness and
silence. He had just then left the banquet hall having got disgusted
with the noise and mirth of dancing girls. An intense dissatisfaction, a
deep void, was growing withing him. All of a sudden, there arose
strange voices. As he listened, he heard some celestial beings singing
in chorus:
We moan for the rest, alas! but rest can never find;
We know not whence we come, nor where we float away.
Time and again we read this round of smiles and tears;
In vain we pine to know whither ou pathway leads,
And why play this empty play..........................
Rise, dreamer, from your dream, and slumber not again!
Siddhartha rose from his seat, had a last look at his sleeping wife and child, and set out on his historic journey that ultimately made him Buddha, the Enlightened One.
Buddha was not alone in taking to the spiritual path. The Katha Upanisad says: 'Arise! Awake! And realize the Truth following the great teachers'. Indeed, from time immemorial God has been speaking to man through the great scriptures to take up the cross and follow Him. And, in obedience to this call thousands of people in the East and in the West have given up their all and taken to this journey into the super conscious realms. For ordinary people this world and its pleasures are of great importance, but there are people who hunger and thirst after the Eternal and the Infinite. Think of Swami Vivekananda's struggles and relentless search for the Truth. He was extraordinary pure, strong, handsome, intelligent and talented, could have risen to any height in worldly life if he had only cared to. The poverty and helplessness of his family was another compelling force to drag him into the worldly life. But, in spite of all these temptations, he chose the path of renunciation and service.
One day or other, in the life of every man must come a time when he too feels the call of the spiritual ideal. When such a call comes he cannot but listen to it. Nothing in the world can give him satisfaction. He can never find peace until he follows the dictates of the higher call. This inner awareness and compelling urge to follow the higher ideal marks the beginning of spiritual life. The spiritual ideal then fascinates him and haunts him all through life. This change from following worldly ideals to following spiritual ideal is called 'conversion'. Spiritual life begins with that. In the case of some people this conversion is sudden; in the case of some others, it is a gradual development.
The number of people who undergo such genuine conversion is rather small at any time in any country. Whether you like it or not, true spiritual life is only for a chosen few. There can never be any mass spirituality, however beautiful this idea seem to you. The Bhagavad-Gita says that out of thousands of people only a few take to spiritual life, and out of the latter, fewer still really attain the highest super conscious realization. But let us all think we are these chosen few, and strive to make ourselves fit for the fulfillment of the highest spiritual ideal.
Swami Yatiswarananda
A monk from Ramakrishna monasteryWe moan for the rest, alas! but rest can never find;
We know not whence we come, nor where we float away.
Time and again we read this round of smiles and tears;
In vain we pine to know whither ou pathway leads,
And why play this empty play..........................
Rise, dreamer, from your dream, and slumber not again!
Siddhartha rose from his seat, had a last look at his sleeping wife and child, and set out on his historic journey that ultimately made him Buddha, the Enlightened One.
Buddha was not alone in taking to the spiritual path. The Katha Upanisad says: 'Arise! Awake! And realize the Truth following the great teachers'. Indeed, from time immemorial God has been speaking to man through the great scriptures to take up the cross and follow Him. And, in obedience to this call thousands of people in the East and in the West have given up their all and taken to this journey into the super conscious realms. For ordinary people this world and its pleasures are of great importance, but there are people who hunger and thirst after the Eternal and the Infinite. Think of Swami Vivekananda's struggles and relentless search for the Truth. He was extraordinary pure, strong, handsome, intelligent and talented, could have risen to any height in worldly life if he had only cared to. The poverty and helplessness of his family was another compelling force to drag him into the worldly life. But, in spite of all these temptations, he chose the path of renunciation and service.
One day or other, in the life of every man must come a time when he too feels the call of the spiritual ideal. When such a call comes he cannot but listen to it. Nothing in the world can give him satisfaction. He can never find peace until he follows the dictates of the higher call. This inner awareness and compelling urge to follow the higher ideal marks the beginning of spiritual life. The spiritual ideal then fascinates him and haunts him all through life. This change from following worldly ideals to following spiritual ideal is called 'conversion'. Spiritual life begins with that. In the case of some people this conversion is sudden; in the case of some others, it is a gradual development.
The number of people who undergo such genuine conversion is rather small at any time in any country. Whether you like it or not, true spiritual life is only for a chosen few. There can never be any mass spirituality, however beautiful this idea seem to you. The Bhagavad-Gita says that out of thousands of people only a few take to spiritual life, and out of the latter, fewer still really attain the highest super conscious realization. But let us all think we are these chosen few, and strive to make ourselves fit for the fulfillment of the highest spiritual ideal.
Collected from a compiled book
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