From IIM Ahmedabad To Happiness

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 88

FROM IIM-AHMEDABAD TO HAPPINESS
his belief was a mistaken one?
Like the child in the example, man believes that there is, in the chamber of his heart, the black serpent of Evil, and is unhappy thereby. There is only one way of removing the wrong impression from his mind, and that is to convince him that there is no serpent but God Himself in his heart. Quoting best of authority on the subject is not going to convince him; it can be done only when he has been led to think and experiment for himself, to his utter satisfaction. Every individual has to stand on his own legs; none may claim support from his neighbour. You must remove your own doubts, one by one, for no one but you know what your doubts are.
One may believe the conclusions arrived at by others to be correct, but this is merely a second-hand method. Unless we have thought over the point for ourselves, we can never be certain of the result, and the germ of doubt cannot be said to have been killed. The only way of effectively destroying doubt is to revolve the thing, in all its bearing in the mind, that is, to dissect it, to analyze it, to cut it to pieces, from all possible points of view. The opinion formed in this manner will preclude all doubts. This kind of thinking with a purpose is meditation. Meditation is the process of classification and generalization of facts into principles, and it is clear that no sound grounding of knowledge can be possible without it. But meditation depends on concentration, which is the real secret of success. And concentration means the focusing of force on a point.
Stress is laid by all the great scholars of the world, directly or by necessary implication, on mental concentration, described by some as the keynote of success. Swami Vivekananda on the power of concentration:
“How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but by concentration of the power of the mind? Nature is ready to give up
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