Table of Contents

Human Effort Can Triumph Over Destiny.....................................................3

1.1.1.1
1.1.1.2
1.1.1.3
1.1.1.4
1.1.1.5
1.1.1.6
1.1.1.7
1.1.1.8
1.1.1.9
1.1.1.10
1.1.1.11
1.1.1.12
1.1.1.13
1.1.1.14

AN IRON WILL ORISON SWETT MARDEN Psychology......................5

2.1

Chapter 1............................................................................................................................................. 5

2.1.1

Training the Will............................................................................................................................................... 5

2.1.1.1
2.1.1.2
2.1.1.3
2.1.1.4
2.1.1.5
2.1.1.6
2.1.1.7
2.1.1.8

2.1.2
2.1.3

2.2
2.2.1
2.2.2
2.2.3
2.2.4
2.2.5
2.2.6

Do the work only once....................................................................................................................................................................6

Concentrate the Mind on only one task at a given moment....................................................................................................6
Hold all our Energies upon one point Secret of Successful Life.........................................................................................7
Original Text......................................................................................................................................................................................7

Centralizing Force........................................................................................................................................... 7

2.1.5.1
2.1.5.2
2.1.5.3
2.1.5.4
2.1.5.5

2.1.6
2.1.7
2.1.8
2.1.9

Mind must be put to Training to win Lifes Race........................................................................................................................6

Continued Strenuous Efforts, repeated day after day, week, month & year to fasten mind to one subject..................6
Process of obtaining self mastery is a gradual one..................................................................................................................6
Do the thing you have to do when it has to be done, whether you like it or not.................................................................6
Original Text......................................................................................................................................................................................6

Doing Things Once.......................................................................................................................................... 6

2.1.4.1
2.1.4.2
2.1.4.3
2.1.4.4

2.1.5

Original Text......................................................................................................................................................................................6

Mental Discipline............................................................................................................................................. 6

2.1.3.1
2.1.3.2
2.1.3.3
2.1.3.4
2.1.3.5

2.1.4

Success in Life Development and Discipline of Will Power.................................................................................................5

Failure Lack of Dogged Determination and Lack of Dauntless Will...................................................................................5
Achievements in History Human Will.......................................................................................................................................5
Only Will and Simply do what has been planned......................................................................................................................5
Will Power Training for everybody................................................................................................................................................5
Athletic Will Power requires the Same kind of exercise...........................................................................................................5
Extent of Will Power Cultivation, Strengthening and Operative helps in the Battle of Life...............................................5
Original Text......................................................................................................................................................................................5

A Struggle in the Race of Life.......................................................................................................................... 6

2.1.2.1

3
4

Are We Powerless?.........................................................................................................................................................................3
Everything is ATTAINABLE by HUMAN Effort...........................................................................................................................3
Human Effort is of two kinds Past Karma and Present Karma...........................................................................................3
Present Action and Strong Will.....................................................................................................................................................3
Only Past Actions Impede or Catalyze our Progress...............................................................................................................3
Endeavor greater diligence to defeat past karma which causes obstructions....................................................................3
If failing, then past samskaras are Dominant.............................................................................................................................3
Persist in Efforts till past samskaras are overpowered............................................................................................................3
All residues of Past Karmas can be totally eliminated by Determined Effort.......................................................................3
Teach the Mind steadily to tread the right path..........................................................................................................................3
Power of present karma will ride over destiny...........................................................................................................................3
Untangle from Past Karma with Stronger Positive Karma, Action, not with akarma or inaction......................................3
Take your life into your own hands, everything will fall into place..........................................................................................3
Original Text......................................................................................................................................................................................4

Mental Reservoir is like leaky dam because of mind wandering...........................................................................................7

Genius is nothing but Perseverance in disguise.......................................................................................................................7
Not Successful because of Fragmentary, spasmodic, disconnected, unconcentrated, uncontrolled efforts................7
Continuity of purpose alone that achieves results....................................................................................................................7
Original Text......................................................................................................................................................................................7

Learning to Swim............................................................................................................................................. 7
Dr. Cuyler........................................................................................................................................................ 7
The Big Trees.................................................................................................................................................. 8
I Will................................................................................................................................................................. 8

Chapter 2............................................................................................................................................. 8
The Rulers of Destiny...................................................................................................................................... 9
The Wills, The Wonts and the Cants............................................................................................................. 9
A Tailors Needle............................................................................................................................................ 10
What is Worse Than Rashness? - Irresolution.............................................................................................. 10
Conscious Power........................................................................................................................................... 11
Do You Believe in Yourself?........................................................................................................................... 11

Dictionary.....................................................................................................13
TBD..............................................................................................................14
4.1
4.1.1

TBD................................................................................................................................................... 14
TBD............................................................................................................................................................... 14

4.1.1.1

TBD..................................................................................................................................................................................................14

1 Human Effort Can Triumph Over Destiny

We often feel confounded at the play of destiny in our lives.

At times we feel quite paralyzed by its power and so surrender ourselves.

But are we really so powerless?

The Yoga Vasishta has some clear answers to this question.

Prince Rama, at the tender age of 16, is disturbed at the transient nature of the world & suffers a deep sense of vairagya, having no inclination to
indulge in worldly affairs. Sage Vishwamitra requests Sage Vasishta to enlighten Rama about the true nature of the powers at work. Vasishtas
chat with Rama forms the body of the text of the Yoga Vasishta that runs into 32,000 shlokas.

The Yoga Vasishta says that there is nothing in this world which is not attainable by human effort

Provided one adheres to the standard path prescribed in the relevant scriptures.

Human effort is of two kinds

One that is done at an earlier time (Past Karma Past Actions) or in previous births and

The other that is undertaken at the present moment. (Present Action)

Vasishta assures Rama that past karma can definitely be outwitted by present action.

He who has strong will is ever-enthusiastic; he can even ingest the insurmountable Meru.

What can any pre-ordained destiny do to such a person?

In fact, it is maintained that our past actions only make up what we understand as destiny or fate and
There is nothing apart from our previous actions, which impede or catalyze our progress.

Our past karma and present action are exemplified as two rams fighting each other where the stronger triumphs over the weaker.
Hence, man has to endeavor to defeat his past karma with greater diligence, which causes obstructions in his pursuits.

He who does not rely on directly perceivable human effort, but banks on fate -- which can only be inferred and not directly perceived -- is like
one who runs helter-skelter, full of self-doubt.

If there is any suffering in this world on account of either poverty or lack of right knowledge, it is all due to the lassitude prevailing in the human
psyche.

If a person fails in his endeavors, he should realize that his past samskaras are dominant and persist in his efforts till he overpowers them.

Such a person is sure to succeed in his efforts.

Just as past mistakes can be rectified by appropriate rectification measures taken today, similarly all residues of our past karmas can be
effectively cleansed by determined effort.

Our samskaras can drive us in the right or wrong direction.

If our mind is steadily taught to tread the right path, it gains enough strength to overcome all forces that decelerate our progress.

Yudishtira also was enlightened of this simple yet profound truth by Bhishma the patriarch when, upon the advice of Krishna, Yudishtira approached
him to understand raja dharma. Greatly pained at the loss of human lives in the Mahabharata war, Yudishtira was inclined to the path of inaction -leaving everything to destiny and leading the life of an ascetic, thinking that such a path would absolve him of the sins of war.
Bhishma enlightens him of the power of karma over destiny and impels him to accept the throne.

You can untangle yourself from your past karma only with a stronger positive karma and not with akarma or inaction!

The same precious advice was received by Arjuna from Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita.

It is we who carry false notions and unnecessarily burden ourselves and indulge in blame games.

The day we take our lives into our own hands, everything will fall into place.

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