Struggle
Hindu
- Bhagavad Gita
My mind is very fickle O Krsna,
it is impetuous, strong and obstinate.
I think that it is as difficult to control as the wind.
The Blessed Lord said:
Without doubt O Arjuna the mind is difficult to curb and
restless,
but it can be controlled by constant practice and non-attachment.
Buddhist
- The Ten Heads: Hindrances to be Abolisshed
Get up! Do not lie there clasping a decaying corpse to thy bosom.
Even though it passes under the name of man, it is only an
aggregation of rubbish.
It is as if you had been poisoned by an arrow; In your pain would
you lazily lie down to sleep?
It is as if you were tightly bound because you had murdered
someone;
In your calamity and fear would you lie down to sleep?
This thief and kidnapper might well be our death if you do not
repel him forcefully.
It is like lying down with a poisonous snake, or it is like lying
down in the midst of battle;
under such desperate conditions, how could you think of indulging
in a siesta?
Zoroastrian
He who sleeps through the night,
neither performing the communion nor chanting the hymns,
worshipping neither by word nor by deed,
neither learning nor teaching with a longing for everlasting
life,
He lies when he says "I am a follower of Asha"
Jewish
- Proverbs 15/19
The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns,
but the way of the righteous is made plain.
Christian
- Matthew 19/29
Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.
For the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a householder,
who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his
vineyard.
And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he
sent them into his vineyard...
And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing
idle, and said to them,
Why stand ye here all the day idle… Go ye also into the
vineyard, and whatever is right, that shall ye receive.
So when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard said to his
steward, Call the labourers and give them their hire...
And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they
received every man a penny.
But when the first came, they supposed that they should have
received more, and likewise they received every man a penny.
And when they had received it they murmured against the good man
of the house, saying,
these last have worked but one hour and you have made them equal
to us which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
But he answered one of them and said, Friend I do thee no wrong.
Islamic
- Sura 9/41
Go ye forth, whether equipped lightly or heavily, and strive and
struggle with your goods and your persons, in the cause of Allah.
That is best for you if ye but knew. If there had been immediate
gain, and the journey easy, they would have without doubt followed
thee,
but the distance was long on them. They would indeed swear by
Allah "If we only could, we should certainly have come out
with you".
They would destroy their own souls, for Allah doth know that they
are certainly lying.
Sufi
- Gayan
If you walk on the path of light and yet seek the darkness, it is
like being pulled by the two poles of the Earth.
You are torn between them and can go in neither direction.
Struggle