Say This To Your Weakness

Good morning, dear readers and a very Happy Friday to one and all. I hope you had a good week so far, and are all geared up for the weekend. Well so am I, and I got to tell you that I am happier today because I came across this interesting article in the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda yesterday. This was from one of his lectures that he delivered in San Francisco in 1900.

This is 2022, and never have these words felt more real to me than now. I am sure that most of you would be acquainted with Swamiji’s saying where he said that Strength is life, and weakness is death. In this article that I read yesterday, he went a bit further to talk about strengths and weaknesses in detail. 

In our daily lives, there are so many times when we feel like giving up (at least this happens to me a lot of times), and feel that the world has become evil. Swamiji mentioned that it isn’t the world that has become evil, and that it is us operating from this sense of insecurity and weakness which makes us feel so. 

But, what do we do? In this increasingly competitive world, where almost everything seems to be as ephemeral as anything, is there anything permanent, one we could hold onto? Yes, there is, it’s our very eternal nature, our very souls that are permanent. You would often hear Swamiji talk of our internal strength where he refers to us as “Children of immortal bliss” and asks us to shake off the delusion about ourselves that we are weak. 

He says the same about weakness too and reveals that whenever one feels weak and feeble, he must repeat to himself and train his mind to order it to just vanish. It's as if he is saying that we cannot afford to be weak, no matter what the situation. According to him, we have to get up on our feet, accept the truth as it is, regain our strength and operate from that area of strength. 

In my personal experience, I can say that I tried this a couple of times, and it has worked wonders for me. It’s not like every time I had gotten the desired results, but I can vouch for the fact that each time I saw myself in a pit, I had the courage within myself to lift myself up and stay strong. When I repeated this process a couple of times, I noticed that my thoughts grew stronger each time, leaving me with more confidence. 

Were there moments of self-doubt? Of course, there were, and there were many. But, each time I encountered such situations, I reminded myself of Swamiji's words where he already spilt the beans for dealing with weakness. He said that we must have no fear and that we must be stronger than ever. 

Now, when I can see weakness appear in front of me, even in a much feeble form, I deal with it calmly and just ask it to vanish. Sometimes, it mistakes my politeness to be my weakness, and then I disguise myself as a mighty demon ordering my weakness to leave me right away, and it follows, believe me. 

So, this is the guided path of Swamiji, the man who taught mankind nothing but love. To everyone out there, who is still struggling with their daily affairs, I would just suggest to calm yourself down and remind yourself whose son or daughter you are, and within a flash, you would see all the fears and weakness disappear in a flash. 

Just try it out. 

Take care everyone, see you next week.

Image courtesy: Evelyn Chong on Pexels