A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

>MYMASTER. 21Such is the power of thought ;be in no hurry, therefore,to give your* thoughts to others.First have something togive. He alone teaches who has something to give, forteaching is not talking, teaching is not imparting doctrines,it iscommunicating. Spirituality can be communicatedjust as really as I can give you a flower. This is true inthe most literal sense. This idea isvery old in India andfinds illustration in the West in the belief in the theoryof apostolicsuccfs>ion.Therefore, first make characterthat is the highest duty you can perform. Know Truthfor youi M H,and there will bo many to whom you canteach it afterwards ; they will all come. This was theattitude of my Master he criticised no one.For years I lived with that man, but never did I hearthose lips utter one word of condemnation for any sect.He had the same sympathy for all of them ;he had foundthe harmony between them. A man may be intellectual,or devotional, or mystic, or active, and the various religions represent one or the other of these types. Yet it ispossible to combine all the four in one man, and this iswhat future humanity is going to do. That was his idea.He condemned no one, but saw the good in all.People came by thousands to see this wonderful man,to hear him speak in a patois, every word ot which wasforceful and instinct with light.For it is not what isspoken, much less the language in which it is spoken,it isthe personality of the speaker which dwells in everythinghe says that carries weight. Every one of us feels this attimes. We hear most splendid orations, most wonderfullyseasoned out discourses, and we go home and forget it all.All othir times we hear a few words in the simplest oflanguage, and they accompany us all our lives, become partand parcel of ourselves and produce lasting results. The