COMPLETE WORKS | VOLUME 2 | SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

|| SECTION 2 | PRACTICAL VEDANTA & OTHER LECTURES ||

|| < : GOD IS TEACHING : > ||

In the first place I would ask humankind to recognise this maxim ,

" Do not destroy " .

Iconoclastic reformers do no good to the world . Break not , pull not anything down , but build .

Help , if you can ; if you cannot , fold your hands and stand by and see things go on .

Do not injure , if you cannot render help .
Say not a word against anyone's convictions so far as they are sincere .

Secondly , take a person where the person stands , and from there give that person a lift . If it be true that GOD is the centre of all religions , and that each of us is moving towards GOD along one of these radii , then it is certain that all of us must reach that centre . And at the centre , where all the radii meet , all our differences will cease ; but until we reach there , differences there must be . All these radii converge to the same centre . One , according to one's nature , travels along one of these lines , and another , along another ; and if we all push onward along our own lines , we shall surely come to the centre , because , " All roads lead to Rome " .

Each of us is naturally growing and developing according to one's own nature ; each will in time come to know the highest truth for after all , everyone must teach themselves . What can you and I do ? Do you think you can teach even a child ? You cannot . The child teaches itself .

Your duty is to afford opportunities and to remove obstacles . A plant grows . Do you make the plant grow ? Your duty is to put a hedge round it and see that no animal eats up the plant , and there your duty ends . The plant grows of itself .

So it is in regard to the spiritual growth of everone . None can teach you ; none can make you spiritual . You have to teach yourself ; your growth must come from inside .

SOURCE | SATYAVEDISM.ORG