Caution needed for properly directing will-power
Caution needed for properly directing will-power :
There is, however, one important point to be noted in entire development of will-power… the will must be given a right direction. All the notorious evil geniuses in history who inflicted on humanity unspeakable suffering, such as Hitler and his tribe, also had a kind of powerful will. That kind of will-power can only create bondage for oneself and miseries for others. We are not trying to develop that kind of malevolent will-power. But we are trying to develop the benign will-power from which no evil can ever come…but only good. The perfection of such will-power is attained only when one is able to say with all joy and spontaneity… 'Lord, Thy will be done, not my will!'
At a certain stage when the will-power is taking shape, great care and caution should be taken to direct it entirely to God. And this is done through prayer as taught by Sri Ramakrishna. What could be a simpler method of developing the will-power than prayer? Along with prayer, ideally goes repetition of Lord's name. Many Indian mystics and saints are unanimous in their teachings that, spiritually speaking, there is nothing we cannot attain by mere loving repetition of Lord's name. Who is there so weak, so unfortunate as cannot even take the Lord's name?
In any case, whether we are weak or strong, prayer and repetition of Lord's name will always help us in developing will-power, for these two practices remove all evil thoughts and purify our mind. We must take all care to hunt out all our inner blemishes from their hide-outs and acknowledge them to ourselves and to God within us. We will gain a whole world of strength by doing so.
But we must not go about speaking about our weaknesses to all and sundry. That way no one is helped. We should, however, without reservation, speak about them, in case of need, only to our personal teachers and to no one else. Be sure there are many unscrupulous people in the world who will take every advantage of your uncalled for confessions. Consciousness of our utter helplessness leads us to self-surrender. Self- surrender, when true and complete, shatters all our inner bondages which cause failure of our will. Then suddenly the prostrate-person springs up as the very picture of inner power. No one understands whence has come so much power within him. Says Jesus Christ, 'Without Me Ye can do nothing.' How true! Without God's grace we can do nothing. In other words, with God's grace we can do everything.
When we practice prayer, meditation, repetition of Lord's name, God is already with us. And this fact expresses itself as the purity of mind. This is becoming strong in God's strength. It is the will of the pure mind that is invincible. Through the help of such a will one can attain even the highest which is God.
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