Swamiji on Swami Vivekananda’s ‘tenacity of purpose’. Talks Excerpt 188.

From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

[Excerpts from a book by Swami Yatiswarananda]

Strength is physical and mental. For physical strength the body must be healthy and have strong emotions to withstand the strain and the struggle. To fight your mind is very difficult. What you at first think is going to help you, turns out not to help you, though it does help you later. Keep the body pure and trim. Take regular exercise. A spiritual aspirant [sadhaka] often neglects the body when he wants to concentrate for a long time.

Look after the body – do not neglect it or be attached to it, because it is the temple of God.

Food should be light and nourishing – avoid all indulgences. Practice continence [brahmacharya], or the brain may get heated up, but later becomes cool.

Without continence the brain cannot withstand long meditation. Strengthen the mind and strengthen the will.

You will know that when you begin fasting, the mind says, ‘Do this, do that, have a little food etc.’ But if you give in today, you will weaken your mind. Adopt the attitude of non co-operation with the mind.

Some people who go to temples still have no faith in the Deity [Ishta Devata] they worship. Swami Vivekananda insisted on tenacity of purpose. Never stop struggling. Every one of us, at some time, has had an experience of faith in God – then we forget, and lose faith.

Be decisive in small things – do the smallest thing in life consciously. You must do everything perfectly – and to do that you must become conscious.

The free-to-read, 396 page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography is available by clicking HERE.

These recordings were made from the 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.