Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is within you. Again he says, "Our father who art in Heaven." How do you reconcile the two sayings? In this way: He was talking to the uneducated masses when he said the latter, the masses who were uneducated in religion. It was necessary to speak to them in their own language. The masses want concrete ideas, something the senses can grasp.
A man may be the greatest philosopher in the world but a child in religion. When a man has developed a high state of spirituality, he can understand that the kingdom of heaven is within him. That is the real kingdom of the mind.
Thus we see that the apparent contradictions and perplexities in every religion mark but the different stages of growth. And as such we have no right to blame anyone for his religion. There are stages of growth in which forms and symbols are necessary; they are the language that the souls in that stage can understand.
Talk given at Unity Hall, Hartford (Connecticut), USA, on March 8, 1895, as reported in "Hartford Times" (March 11, 1895). Complete Works, 1. 324.
India has to learn from Europe the conquest of external nature, and Europe has to learn from India the conquest of internal nature. Then there will be neither Hindus nor Europeans-there will be the ideal humanity which has conquered both the natures, the external and the internal. We have developed one phase of humanity, and they another. It is the union of the two that is wanted. The word freedom, which is the watchword of our religion, really means freedom physically, mentally, spiritually.
Interview in The Hindu. Chennai, 1896. Complete Works, 5. 216.
Prophets preach, but the Incarnations like Jesus, Buddha, Ramakrishna, can give religion; one glance, one touch is enough. That is the power of the Holy Ghost, the "laying on of hands." The power was actually transmitted to the disciples of the Master--the "chain of Guru-power." That, the real baptism, has been handed down for untold ages.
Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 24, 1895. Complete Works, 7. 8.
We must travel, we must go to foreign parts. We must see how the engine of society works in other countries, and keep free and open communication with what is going on in the minds of other nations.
Letter, September 1892. Complete Works, 5. 5.
Hindus do stand in need of social reform. At times great men would evolve new ideas of progress, and kings would give them the sanction of law. Thus social improvements had been made in India in the past. To effect such progressive reforms in modern times, we will have first to build up such an authoritative power. Kings having gone, the power is the people's. We have, therefore, to wait till the people are educated, till they understand their needs and are ready and able to solve their problems. The tyranny of the minority is the worst tyranny in the world. Therefore, instead of frittering away our energies on ideal reforms, which will never become practical, we had better go to the root of the evil and make a legislative body, that is to say, educate our people, so that they may be able to solve their own problems. Until that is done, all these old reforms will remain ideals only. The new order of things is the salvation of the people by the people, and it takes time to make it workable, especially in India, which has always in the past been governed by kings.
Interview in The Hindu. Chennai, 1896. Complete Works, 5. 215-16.
We should not think of ourselves as men or women, but as human beings born to cherish and to help one another.
Sayings and utterances. Complete Works, 5. 412.
In the first or dualistic stage, man knows he is a little personal soul, John, James, or Tom; and he says, "I will be John, James, or Tom for all eternity, and never anything else." As well might the murderer come along and say, "I will remain a murderer for ever." But as time goes on, Tom vanishes and goes back to the original pure Adam.
Talk given at Unity Hall, Hartford (Connecticut), USA, on March 8, 1895, as reported in "Hartford Times" (March 11, 895). Complete Works, 1. 323.
Mother is the first manifestation of power and is considered a higher idea than father. With the name of Mother comes the idea of Śakti, divine energy and omnipotence, just as a baby believes its mother to be all-powerful, able to do anything.
Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 30, 1895. Complete Works, 7. 26.
Vedanta took this old idea of God, the Governor of the universe, who is external to the universe, and first put him inside the universe. He is not a God outside, but he is inside. From there Vedanta took him in our own hearts. Here he is in the human heart, the Soul of our souls, the Reality in us.
From a lecture on "Vedic Religious Ideals," given in London, probably on Oct 13, 1896. Complete Works, 1.355-56.
Jealousy and absence of collective action is the very nature of enslaved nations.
Letter to Swami Ramakrishnananda. Written in Bengali from Chicago on March 19, 1894. Complete Works, 6.286. his is Swamiji's second letter to his brother disciples, after the Parliament of Religions in September 1893
We do not or cannot see the painful parts in objects, we are charmed with only the pleasurable portion; and, thus grasping the pleasurable, we unwittingly draw in the painful.
From notes discovered among Swami Vivekananda's papers. He evidently intended to write a book and jotted down these points for the work. Complete Works, 5:428.
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