From Organic Gardening Magazine, July/August 2000 Issue:

Miracle-Gro is a synthetic fertilizer that contains ammonium phosphate and several other chemicals that can be toxic to your soil and plants. It is prohibited from use in certified-organic farming. Here’s what soil expert Robert Parnes, Ph.D., says in his book Fertile Soil: "[Ammonium fertilizer] acidifies the soil, and thus it is probably more harmful to soil organisms than any other nitrogen fertilizer . . . . The application has to be timed carefully and placed properly to avoid burning the leaves and roots . . . . In addition, ammonium tends to inhibit the release of . . . potassium . . . Ammonium fertilizers are deliberately manufactured to be spread at high application rates in order to obtain maximum yields with no regard to adverse effects on the soil. Probably nowhere is the conflict between the mass production of food to feed the world and the preservation of the soil more obvious than in the confrontation over the use of either ammonium fertilizers or liquid ammonia."

And there’s more: long-term studies at the University of Wisconsin have shown that acidic chemical fertilizers are causing serious, permanent damage to our soils. Usually these fertilizers are also highly soluble, so they leach away and pollute our water systems, too. Soil fertility authority Garn Wallace, Ph.D., of Wallace Laboratories in El Segundo, California, points out that Miracle-Gro contains muriate of potash, which contains excess chlorine that will burn plants and inhibit the uptake of nitrogen. Dr. Wallace also warns that products such as Miracle-Gro often contain unsafe levels of zinc and copper that will be toxic to soil life.

It may not be out of place to mention that in a speech made in 1993, Federico
Mayor, Director-General of UNESCO, stated:
I am indeed struck by the similarity of the constitution of the Ramakrishna Mission which
Vivekananda established as early as 1897 with that of UNESCO drawn up in 1945. Both
place the human being at the centre of their efforts aimed at development. Both place
tolerance at the top of the agenda for building peace and democracy. Both recognize the
variety of human cultures and societies as an essential aspect of the common heritage




Tell me what you have done. Couldn’t you give away one life for the sake of others? [. . .]
Let this body go in the service of others – and then I shall know you have not come to
me in vain! (Rolland, 1992, p. 166).
Vivekananda


The Light Divine within is obscured in most people. It is like a lamp in a cask of
iron, no gleam of light can shine through. Gradually, by purity and unselfishness,
we can make the obscuring medium less and less dense, until at last it becomes transparent
as glass (CW, vol. VII, p. 21).
Vivekananda






The education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves
for the struggle for life, which does not bring out strength of character, a spirit of
philanthropy, and the courage of a lion – is it worth the name? Real education is
that which enables one to stand on one’s own legs (CW, vol. VII, pp. 147–148).

Vivekananda







Vivekananda also observed that, if education is to serve the entire human being,
in all his/her dimensions, the pursuit of knowledge will be a lifelong process. Even
an illustrious being like Sri Ramakrishna said, from his own experience, ‘As long as I
live, so long do I learn.’


To me the very essence of education is concentration of mind, not the collecting of
facts’ (CW, vol. VI, p. 38).




It is culture that withstands shocks, not a simple mass of knowledge. [. . .] Knowledge
is only skin-deep, as civilisation is, and a little scratch brings out the old savage (CW,
vol. III, p. 291).





Intellect has been cultured with the result that hundreds of sciences have been discovered,
and their effect has been that the few have made slaves of the many – that is all the good
that has been done. Artificial wants have been created; and every poor man, whether he
has money or not, desires to have those wants satisfied, and when he cannot, he struggles,
and dies in the struggle (CW, vol. I, p. 414).

Waiting for me, you are here. You, the Lord of the worlds, the refuge of all in quest of whom devotees ever roam in this world."

| Gauri-Ma
(Upon Visiting Sri Ramakrishna Dev at the Ganges- at age 25 after 15 years period of elapsed when she was initiated by him in a banana grove at age 10)


It is true that Sri Ramakrishna would often say in everyone's presence, "Gauri Ma is the greatest tapasvini. She is very fortunate and full of holiness." In a serious tone he would add, "Gauri is that gopi who has received the grace of the Lord through many births. She is a gopi from Brindavan."


Name and fame are like the excreta of pigs. Do your work with a detached attitude. You must treat name and fame like garbage. When you go to serve others, if you find lurking in the corner of your heart any desire for praise or prestige, it is like committing suicide in your spiritual life.
| Gauri-Ma


On one such occasion she said to the devotees, "In Durga Saptashati the Divine Mother is described as 'the most beneficent among the beneficent,' 'the fulfiller of wishes.' The Divine Mother fulfills all the wishes of Her devotees. Everything is in Her hands. Like a stubborn child, we hold on to Her sari and pester Her continuously. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, 'If you cannot do anything else, then be a child who pesters Mother. Have you not seen how a child clings to his mother's sari and insists on candy? The mother goes from one room to another room and the child follows her, still holding on to her sari, grumbling and demanding all the time. She cannot free herself from his grasp. Finally, she relents. It is her own child and she cannot watch him cry for long, so she opens her cupboard, picks him up on her lap, pats him, and calms him.'"
| Gauri-Ma



Another time when she was speaking with some women devotees, Gauri Ma reminded them, "Are you as women less than anybody else? Through the ages, countless sadhus and sannyasins have
been born for the welfare of the universe – they were all born to women. Women are the preservers of society and religion. They have more faith and devotion. If they try, they can realize God more quickly."
| Gauri-Ma


My ideal indeed can be put into a few words and that is: to preach unto mankind their Divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life
| Vivekananda


The American ideal of equality had special appeal to Vivekananda. Prior to coming to America, he had traversed the vast Indian subcontinent. He had witnessed the squalid conditions of its poor and experienced first-hand the great gulf separating the elites from the downtrodden. He lamented the fact that rich and poor would treat him, as a Sannyasin, with great respect and hospitality but would turn a blind eye to those millions suffering at the lowest rung of society. While he had also encountered inequality in America, he noted an important difference. Americans saw inequity as a moral failing to be corrected. In his view, this made American society particularly predisposed to Vedanta.



What is the God of Vedanta? He is principle, not person


I accept all religions that were in the past, and worship them all … I shall keep my heart open for all that may come in the future. Is God’s book finished? Or is it still a continuous revelation going on?




'Unceasing battle is indeed the worship of the Divine [Mother Kali].
Let not continuous defeat in this battle unnerve thee at all. Pulverized, pounded be all
self-centeredness, base cravings and vain self-esteem. The  heart  be  thus  made the  cremation
ground; And let Shyama (the Divine Mother Kali) dance there.'

'Speaking of San Francisco reminds me of a remark he made to me one evening after one of his lectures here. Several of us were walking home with him. I was in front with someone, and he behind with some others. Apropos of something he had been discussing, he said, "You have heard that Christ said, 'My words are spirit and they are life'." He pointed his finger at me and declared, "So are my words spirit and life; and they will burn their way into your brain and you will never get away from them."'

 | MRS. ALICE. M. HANSBROUGH

http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/reminiscences/other_02_amh.htm

I dont like to dance unless You lead me.
If You want me to dance,
You must sing Yourself.
Mechthild

Not one of us knows what effect his life produces, and what he gives to others;
that is hidden from us and must remain so, though we are often allowed to
seem some little fraction of it, so that we may not lose courage.
The way in which power works is a mystery
- Schweitzer

Detachment lends one vision
to see clearly and so
to judge correctly;
hence from it springs justice.






And how may fearlessness come to us?

to the measure that the ego is less dominant,
to that measure will fearlessness grow ; and the easiest way to outgrow the ego is to grow towards an ideal.


Hence detachment brings with it
clear and correct judgement . and fearlessness the strength & courage to put into execution the judgement arrived at. so from these two parent qualities are born righteousness.
And how may mercy grow within us ?
It comes in larger or smaller measure, to the extent that we learn to identify ourselves
one with the other.

| Mi Cao Bu of Burma