Be warned, some one told me humorously, when you meet Swami Nikhileswarananda. He will hand you a bomb.
The bomb refers to the booklet, "Thoughts of Power" by Swami Vivekananda.
I learnt later that Swami Nikhileswarananda has distributed over 1,00,000 copies of this little book in the past few years. He placed a beautiful suggestion before the participants of the seminar on Management & Leadership recently held at Rajkot: "Purchase 10 copies of this booklet containing powerful thoughts and present them to ten friends with a request that if they find the book inspiring and elevating, they should in turn present ten copies to their friends; a fission like reaction will take place and you will undergo tremendous transformation, leading to the transformation of the whole society."
I liked the idea. I too have made a beginning. What is my logic? Thoughts lead to words, words lead to action and action leads to results and consequences. Since we all want positive results, we have to start with good thoughts.
And where do you find them?
You find them in a number of places. The availability is not the problem. Availing of it is. One unfailing place to start is the bookstore of any Ramakrishna Mission Centre. Modestly priced books are there to cater to all tastes. If you want cartoon type of books, they are available. If you want heavy volumes, they are available. Books you can carry in your shirt pocket are available too.
If you don't want to read, if you would rather prefer to listen, you are welcome to audio and video cassettes. For example, the three volumes of Bhagavad Gita by Swami Ranganathananda are available now in print media. For quite some years, they have been available in video cassettes form.
Our output depends in good part on our input, especially of thoughts.
I have found that 15 minutes - that is the minimum - of reading of any of the Math's publications energizes me for the day. If you will find it difficult to spare 15 minutes a day, you can make it 10 minutes; only, make it a DAILY ten minutes. It may help you as it has helped me, since 1938.
Please do not ask me for book title suggestions. The list will be long. I can list some of the books. I recently read or re-read. They are are: God Lived with Them; They lived with God; Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna; Parables of Sri Ramakrishna; Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda; Ramakrishna Upanishad and Bhagavad Gita by Swami Ranganathananda.
The books are available in a number of languages. I find some of the books read better in the Indian languages.
In 1938, I started with an investment of one rupee a year in good books. Now it is one thousand rupees per month. I give this information for only one reason. It pays to invest in books. Compared to other countries, India offers books at modest prices. Ramakrishna Math offers first-class books at most modest prices, almost token prices. It is an available blessing. It blesses when it is availed of. My prayer is that you avail it.
Article by Prof.Dr.N.H.Athreya, Management Consultant & Founder Director, MMC School of Management, Mumbai
Published in Souvenir of Ramakrishna Mission, Porbander.
Grateful thanks to Prof.Athreya and Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Porbaner.
Thank you for this post. i met Dr. Athreya in the early 1990s, but am still impressed with him and his ideas.
ReplyDeletei read God Lived with Them almost on a daily basis and find it very energizing.