Face the terrible, Face it boldly

Face the terrible, Face it boldly

Swami Vivekananda spent a few days in Varanasi. One morning, on his way back from temple he was surrounded by a troop of large monkeys. They howled, shrieked and clutched at his feet as he walked. As they came closer, he tried to run but they ran faster and began to bite him. When he was totally at a loss to escape from them, an old Sanyasi called out to him ‘Face the brutes’. Inspired by the suggestion he picked up courage, turned back and boldly faced them. As soon as he did that, they fell back and fled. He thanked the Sanyasi and walked away.

          Years later, Vivekananda referred to this incident in a New York lecture and said, ‘That is a lesson for all life - face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee from them. If we are ever to gain freedom, it must be by conquering nature, never by running away. Cowards never win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before us.’