Concentration has tremendous power and it can do wonders for your success. Because of this power of concentration, you can remember your lessons even with one or two readings. Once, when Swami Vivekananda was at Chicago in America, he saw some young boys trying to shoot egg-shells floating in the river. At the shells rolled up and down on the small waves, the boys could not hit them. All the boys tried a number of times but all of them missed the target. They noticed that Vivekananda was watching them with keen interest. So they called out to him, “Sir, you have been watching us all the time. Do you think you can do better?” Vivekananda gave them a smile and said that he would like to try. Taking the gun in his hand, he aimed at the egg-shells, concentrating for some time on the target. Then he fired the gun twelve times and hit an egg-shell, each time.
The boys were wonderstruck on seeing Swamiji’s skill, especially when they came to know that he was handling the gun for the first time. They asked, “Well Sir, how could you do this without any practice?” Swami Vivekananda laughed aloud and said, “Well, I will tell you the secret. Whatever you may be doing, concentrate all your attention on it. Think of nothing else. If you are shooting, keep your mind only on the target. Your aim will not fail. Concentration can work wonders. Even when you are studying, think only of the lesson in hand. What you read well then gets almost printed in your memory.”
Vocabulary
Keen—curious
Skill—expertise
Shopping Cart
