Swadharma

A quote from Swami Vivekananda, whose complete works are available online:

Have you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstructions? If the whole world stands against you sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you think is right?

I am assuming that these rhetorical questions have injunctive force — by asking, Swami Vivekananda is suggesting that we acquire those qualities of tenacity and principled living.

Here I ask — for all the bloodshed and murder that the terrorists in Mumbai have caused, are they daring to do what they think is right, though the whole world stands against them? The distinction between what is right and what they think is right is important. I am still trying to untangle this question, because it seems that Swami Vivekananda’s quote justifies the terrorists’ vicious character, a justification that I do not like. Or maybe my gut reaction is invalid, and we must accept the tenacity of the terrorists, separate from their horrific goals — learn something from people whom we instinctively decry.

Related posts:

1. The history of the world
2. Intersection of the four yogas
3. Strength, self-abnegation, and self-esteem
4. Are we blind to blind faith?
5. This world is neither good nor evil