of training your muscles! For ascetics, mortification is all right. For workers, well-
developed bodies, muscles of iron and nerves of steel!' He urged them to practise
austerities and meditation in solitude. For the beginners he laid down strict rules about
food. They were to rise early, meditate, and perform their religious duties scrupulously.
Health must not he neglected and the company of worldly people should be avoided.
But above all, he constantly admonished them to give up idleness in any shape or form.
Of himself he said: 'No rest for me! I shall die in harness! I love action! Life is a battle,
and one must always be in action, to use a military phrase. Let me live and die in
action!' He was a living hymn of work.
To a disciple who wanted to remain absorbed in the Brahman of Vedanta, the Swami
thundered: 'Why? What is the use of remaining always stupefied in samadhi? Under
the inspiration of non-dualism why not sometimes dance like Siva, and sometimes
remain immersed in superconsciousness? Who enjoys a delicacy more — he who eats
it all by himself, or he who shares it with others? Granted, by realizing Atman in
meditation you attain mukti; but of what use is that to the world? We have to take the
whole world with us to mukti. We shall set a conflagration in the domain of great
Maya. Then only will you be established in the Eternal Truth. Oh, what can compare
with that Bliss immeasurable, "infinite as the skies"! In that state you will be
speechless, carried beyond yourself, by seeing your own Self in every being that
breathes, and in every atom of the universe. When you realize this, you cannot live in
this world without treating everyone with exceeding love and compassion. This is
indeed practical Vedanta.'
He wanted his disciples to perform with accuracy and diligence the everyday tasks of
life. 'He who knows even how to prepare a smoke properly, knows also how to
meditate. And he who cannot cook well cannot be a perfect sannyasin. Unless cooking
is performed with a pure mind and concentration, the food is not palatable.'
Work cannot produce real fruit without detachment on the part of the worker. 'Only a
great monk', the Swami said one day, 'can be a great worker; for he is without
attachment....There are no greater workers than Buddha and Christ. No work is
secular. All work is adoration and worship.'
The first duty of the inmates of the monastery was renunciation. How the Swami
idolized the monastic life! 'Never forget, service to the world and the realization of
God are the ideals of the monk! Stick to them! The monastic is the most immediate of
the paths. Between the monk and his God there are no idols! "The sannyasin stands on
the head of the Vedas!" declare the Vedas, for he is free from churches and sects and
religions and prophets and scriptures. He is the visible God on earth. Remember this,
and go thou thy way, sannyasin bold, carrying the banner of renunciation — the banner
of peace, of freedom, of blessedness!'
To a disciple who wanted to practise spiritual discipline to attain his own salvation, the
Swami said: 'You will go to hell if you seek your own salvation! Seek the salvation of
others if you want to reach the Highest. Kill out the desire for personal mukti. This is