Heroism

  Be a man first, my friend, and you will see how all those things and the rest will follow of themselves after you. Give up that hateful malice, that dog-like bickering and barking at one another, and take your stand on good purpose, right means, righteous courage, and be brave. When you are born a man, leave some indelible mark behind you. “When you first came to this world, O Tulsi, the world rejoiced and you cried; now live your life in doing such acts that when you will leave this world, the world will cry for you and you will leave it laughing.” If you can do that, then you are a man; otherwise, what good are you?

Let the world say what it chooses, I shall tread the path of duty-know this to be the line of action for a hero. Otherwise, if one has to attend day and night to what this man says or that man writes, no great work is achieved in this world. Do you know this Sanskrit Shloka: “Let those who are versed in the ethical codes praise or blame, let Lakshmi, the goddess of Fortune, come or go wherever she wished, let death overtake him today or after a century, the wise man never swerves from the path of rectitude.” Let people praise you or blame you, let fortune smile or frown upon you, let your fall today or after a Yoga, see that you do not deviate from the path of Truth. How much of tempest and waves one has to weather, before one reaches the haven of peace! The greater a man has become, the fiercer ordeal he has had to pass thorough. Their lives have been tested true by the touchstone of practical life, and only then have they been acknowledged great by the world. These who are faint-hearted and cowardly sink their barks near the shore, frightened by the raging of waves on the sea. He who is a hero never casts a glance at these. Cone what may, I must attain my ideal first- this is Purushakara, manly Endeavour; without such manly Endeavour no amount of Divine help will be of any avail to banish your inertia.

Those who are always down hearted and dispirited in this life can do no work; from life to life they come and go wailing and moaning. “The earth is enjoyed by heroes” this is the unfailing truth. Be a hero. Always say, “I have no fear.” Tell this to everybody- “Have no fear”. Fear is death, fear is sin, fear is hell, fear is unrighteousness, fear is wrong life. All the negative thoughts and ideas that are in this world have proceeded from this evil spirit of fear. This fear alone has kept the sun, air and death in their respective places and functions, allowing none to escape from their bounds…..

In this embodied existence, you will be tossed again and again on the waves of happiness and misery, prosperity and adversity but know them all to be of momentary duration. Never care for them.