Radhanath Swami on Accomplishments and Character

It is the character that makes a person great, not his accomplishments. But in the present age, accomplished men and women are seen as great. A cultured society respects and honors accomplishments are if they are done properly, but what actually invokes the love and respect of the heart is the character of the person. A person's accomplishments induce respect and adoration from another person's mind; it doesn't go beyond that, but a person's character induces respect and love from other people's hearts. Character is the most important thing in a person’s life. We should try to accomplish the best we possibly can but not at the cost of our character. If we do so then everything becomes empty, spiritually, in the eyes of God.

Radhanath Swami on The Greatest Optimism

pessimistic? Let’s be realistic; this world is a pessimistic place. When an ostrich is chased by the tiger and he sees the tiger is about to devour him, he digs a hole in the ground and puts his head in it and closes his eyes, thinking that the tiger has gone. Is he safe? Isn’t it said that ignorance is bliss? Ignorance is very blissful, but knowledge in this world is very painful. Because knowledge makes us understand the predicament we are in. The ostrich is about to die whether he opens his eyes or not, whether he admits it or not. We are about to die, whether we admit it or not. We are about to grow old, whether we admit or not. That is not pessimistic, this is realistic. But to say there is nothing more than death is really pessimistic. God’s devotees are telling us an alternative. That there is eternal life. This is the greatest optimism.

Radhanath Swami on The Need for Saints

There’s a need for accountants, there’s a need for lawyers, there’s a need for doctors, there’s a need for housewives and fathers, there’s a need for teachers, there’s a need for policemen, there’s a need for soldiers, there’s a need for farmers, there’s a need for architects, there’s a need for all the various occupations. There’s also a need for saints, somewhere. The purpose of saints is to teach society how to utilize their talents, their gifts and their particular positions in such a way that they will be liberated rather than entangled, and that they can do great benefit for the world rather than just add to the karma of the world.

Radhanath Swami on The Higher Principle

Spirituality teaches us to focus on the higher principles. The higher principle is to consider another person’s suffering as our sufferings and another person’s happiness as our happiness. The principle of real compassion is to serve others without selfish motives. It should be without any ego because where there is selfish egoistic motivation, ‘I’ becomes the center of the universe, and we develop a mindset where we think what pleases me is good and what does not please me is not good. But the problem with that situation is there will be many conditions which are beyond our control. We can neither control people nor could we control destiny, nor can we control the weather or the economy because we have very little control in this world. But if there is no selfishness then our relationships with others will be very strong and nothing would break the inner joy and the happiness of our relationships. Once we harmonize our differences on a higher principle based on the principle of love and compassion then there will be no conflict and we will always experience inner bliss and ecstasy.

Radhanath Swami on Wake Up to Eternal Glory

Sanatan Dharma is the message taught in the Vedas. The Vedas do not teach Hinduism, the Vedas teach Sanatan Dharma. Hinduism is basically the modern understanding of Sanatan Dharma. But Sanatan Dharma means to understand that you are eternal and that your essential constitutional position is that you are a servant of God. To engage in His loving service, to love Him - that is Sanatan Dharma. Every religion is teaching essentially Sanatan Dharma. We can capture that realization within our heart, within our life, and then we will be peaceful. Not only will we be peaceful in this age of chaos, we will not even see chaos. We will only see how we are a humble servant to help every living being come out of this illusion of chaos. That is the greatest goal of life - to wakeup out of this dream of chaos and understand our eternal glory and the eternal glory of God.