Once some American cowboys shot at Swami Vivekananda while he was lecturing. What did he do? Did he run and hide? Discover his extraordinary response!
In this video we visit an incident from the life of Swami Vivekananda which teaches us the important lesson of doing as we say, of being honest and truthful in our dealings; of not misleading others about our intentions or becoming boastful of our capabilities. This teaching is particularly relevant because many times we:
- Teach our children to speak the truth, while we ourselves regularly lie to cover up our mistakes and to get out of unpleasant situations. For example: we may lie to our boss about why we arrived late to work, or why we took the day off. Those of us who are in marketing, may be in the habit of talking up a product and misleading their customers, just so that they can sell that product and earn a commission.
- Many of us have the ugly habit of saying sweet things to our friend’s face, and then turning around and saying utterly mean things behind their back.
- Some of us tend to be extremely boastful about our capabilities so much so that we even lie on our resume! To show off our status and to earn the respect and admiration of others, some of us make exaggerated boasts about our wealth, about our own or our children’s achievements, whereas the reality may be otherwise.
So through this incident in Swami Vivekananda’s life we learn that if we really want to progress on the spiritual path, if we want to endear ourselves to God, and if we want God to help us, then we must become straightforward and honest in all our dealings and we must weed out dishonesty and hypocrisy from our behaviour.
Article Referenced in this Video
This video references the article: Power of Brahmacharya – When Swami Vivekananda Memorized 10 Volumes of an Encyclopedia.
