Stairway to Heaven

From On the Wings of the Swan, Volume VI, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Believe in yourself. Know that you have the strength, the ability, the courage and the will to trans form yourself. The best way to reach this point is through silence, not through logic or intellect, or questions and discussion. So many books have been written, still people continue to ask questions.

The answers have been given in all the scriptures and by different masters and saints, still we ask for the reason: the why, when and how. We ask the same questions over and over again, even though we have been given the answers. Learn in silence about the mysteries of life by understanding and believing that you have the strength, the courage and the ability.

You can definitely make a barren piece of ground into a flowering garden. The method you can choose yourself. If water is not available nearby, you will have to dig a well or a channel from a nearby river. You know that you have to water the garden, so you will have to find your own method. You will have to find the means to procure the right seeds and protect them by providing whatever is necessary for their growth.

It becomes easy and simple if you believe in yourself and have will and sincerity. It is no use sitting down with your head in your hands, thinking ‘God, what shall I do with my patch of land? It is full of rocks and there is no water nearby.’ That fatalistic attitude is the road to hell. That is the biggest obstacle one has to overcome. The attitude of faith is the stairway to heaven. Therefore, never be a fatalist. Always have faith in yourself.

13 December 2000, Ganga Darshan, Munger