“Nobleness is to refuse all personal calculation. Generosity is to find one’s own satisfaction in the satisfaction of others.”
– The Mother (Sri Aurobindo Ashram)
A powerful teaching of Swami Vivekananda, on how to progress to a higher spiritual consciousness by cutting out the tumor of jealousy from within us.
Swami Vivekananda: “I once read a story about some ships that were caught in a cyclone in the South Sea Islands, and there was a picture of it in the “Illustrated London News” (see image below).
All of them were wrecked except one English vessel, which weathered the storm. The picture showed the men who were going to be drowned, standing on the decks and cheering the people who were sailing through the storm.
Be brave and generous like that. Do not drag others down to where you are.”
– Swami Vivekananda lecturing on Practical Vedanta.
Note: What Swami Vivekananda is referring to above, is an incident that took place in Samoa, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, near Australia. In 1889 a terrible tropical cyclone struck Apia, the capital of Samoa.
All the ships docked in the harbor capsized, except one. This was the HMS Calliope, a British navy vessel, which made a last minute dash, out of the harbor towards the open seas and thus narrowly escaped the fate of being smashed against the rocks and reef, in the shallow harbor.
Nearly 200 sailors belonging to the other ships perished. At the time the HMS Calliope was making a perilous dash out of a narrow outlet towards the open seas, the crew of another doomed ship, the USS Trenton belonging to the US Navy, despite knowing of their own terrible fate, enthusiastically cheered the HMS Calliope as it escaped.
In those deathly moments these brave sailors, did not exhibit the slightest feelings of jealousy or ill-will towards those who managed to escape. This scene of amazing generosity even in the face of death was beautifully captured in an artist’s sketch, which appeared in the Illustrated London News.
(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.)
“I want to speak of moral generosity. To feel happy, for example, when a comrade is successful. An act of courage, of unselfishness, a fine sacrifice have a beauty in them which gives you joy.
It may be said that moral generosity consists in being able to recognize the true worth and superiority of others.”
– The Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram
