During one of his lectures in the US, Swami Vivekananda was asked, 'Swamiji, are you not hypnotising us?' His reply was, 'People are already hypnotised into thinking that they are petty, small. I am trying to de-hypnotise them, so that they can discover their real nature.'

If all his utterances could be summed up in one word, it is 'expansion'. Expansion from the narrow confines of our world, encompassing our self-interests, and progressively embracing a wider vision. Pursuing mirage-like things relentlessly will only bring us misery. Vivekananda says, 'All misery is of our own choosing; such is our nature.'

He narrates the story of a person who was released from prison after 60 yrs at the coronation of a new emperor. After his release from prison, he said, he wanted to go back to his dungeon as he could not bear the light. So, he was sent back to prison. Vivekananda says we are in a similar situation. We run headlong after all sorts of misery and are unwilling to be free.

If our goal is to be an ideal grihasth, householder, the path to fulfilment is not by acquiring wealth. But by developing a vision de-hypnotised by devotion and spiritual knowledge, and being committed to action with the attitude of a debtor. Knowing that we are not the doer but an instrument in the hands of the Divine.