Today's Vivekananda Quotes !

The binding link of "I and mine" is in the mind. If we have not this link with the body and with the things of the senses, we are non-attached, wherever and whatever we may be. A person may be on a throne and perfectly non-attached, another may be in rags and still very much attached. 

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.101.

[To a group of college students] Think of this infinite universe with its millions and millions of solar systems, and think with what an infinite, incomprehensible power they are impelled, running as if to touch the Feet of the One Unknown--and how little we are! Where then is room here to allow ourselves to indulge in vileness and mean-mindedness? What should we gain here by fostering mutual enmity and party-spirit?

                     Conversations recorded in Bengali by Surendra Nath Das Gupta. Complete Works, 5.330.

I am Ramakrishna's slave, having laid my body at his feet "with Til and Tulasi leaves." That great sage laid down his life after having attained to superhuman heights of jñāna, bhakti, love, and powers, and after having practiced for forty years stern renunciation, non-attachment, holiness, and great austerities. I trust his words as the words of one identified with truth.

Letter to Pramada Das Mitra. Written in Bengali from Kolkata on May 26, 1890. Complete Works, 6.239.

We must first attain the state of non-attachment and then we must work incessantly. Karma yoga gives us the method that will help us in giving up all attachment, though it is indeed very hard.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.101-102.

There are two ways of giving up attachment. One is for those who do not believe in God, or in any outside help. They are left to their own devices. They have simply to work with their own will, with the powers of their mind and discrimination, saying, "I must be non-attached."

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.102.

For those who believe in God, there is a much less difficult way of giving up all attachment. They give up the fruits of work to God. They work and are never attached to the results. Whatever they see, feel, hear, or do, is for God.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.102. 

See Gita, 9.27: "Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, 

whatever you give away, whatever austerities you practice

--do all of that as an offering to God."

Today's Vivekananda Quotes !

 What is karma yoga? It is the knowledge of the secret of work. We see that the whole universe is working. ... Instead of being knocked about in this universe, and after long delay and thrashing, getting to know things as they are, we learn from karma yoga the secret of work, the method of work, the organizing power of work.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.99.

 

Karma yoga makes us admit that this world is a world of five minutes, that it is something we have to pass through, and that freedom is not here but is only to be found beyond. To find the way out of the bondages of the world we have to go through it slowly and surely. There may be a few exceptional persons who can stand aside and give up the world, as a snake casts off its skin and stands aside and looks at it. There are no doubt these exceptional beings. But the rest of us have to go slowly through the world of work. Karma yoga shows the process, the secret, and the method of doing it to the best advantage.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.99-100.

 

Hindus spend their lives with the name of the Ganga on their lips, they die immersed in the waters of the Ganga, people from far off places take away Ganga water with them, keep it carefully in copper vessels, and sip drops of it on holy festive occasions. ... The Gita and the sacred waters of the Ganga constitute the Hinduism of the Hindus.

From "Memoirs of European Travel," written in Bengali. Complete Works, 7.300-301.

 

Whenever I drank a few drops of Ganga water, that stream of people, that intense activity of the West, that clash and competition at every step, those seats of luxury and celestial opulence--Paris, London, New York, Berlin, Rome--all would disappear and I used to hear that wonderful sound of "Hara, Hara," to see that lonely forest on the sides of the Himalayas, and feel the murmuring heavenly river coursing through the heart and brain and every artery of the body and thundering forth, "Hara, Hara, Hara!"

From "Memoirs of European Travel," written in Bengali. Complete Works, 7.301.

 

Never say "mine." Whenever we say a thing is "mine," misery will immediately come. Do not even say "my child" in your mind. Possess the child, but do not say "mine." If you do, then will come misery.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.100.

 

If we think of our death always, won't the spirit break down and the heart be overpowered by despondency?

Vivekananda: Quite so. At first, the heart will break down, and despondency and gloomy thoughts will occupy your mind. But persist, let days pass like that-and then? Then you will see that new strength has come into the heart, that the constant thought of death is giving you a new life and is making you more and more thoughtful by bringing every moment before your mind's eye the truth of the saying, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" Wait! Let days, months, and years pass, and you will feel that the spirit within is waking up with the strength of a lion, that the little power within has transformed itself into a mighty power! Think of death always, and you will realize the truth of every word I say.

Conversations recorded in Bengali by Surendra Nath Das Gupta. Complete Works, 5. 329-30.

 

 

Today's Vivekananda Quotes !

The whole scope of all systems of yoga (and each religion represents one) is to remove ignorance and allow the Ātman to restore its own nature. The chief helps in this liberation are abhyāsa and vairāgya. Vairāgya is non-attachment to life, because it is the will to enjoy that brings all this bondage in its train; and abhyāsa is constant practice of any one of the yogas.

Written during Swamiji's first visit to America, in response to questions put by a Western disciple. Complete Works, 8.152.

 

Our tendencies are the result of past conscious actions. A child is born with certain tendencies. Whence do they come? No child is born with a tabula rasa--with a clean, blank page--of a mind. The page has been written on previously. The old Greek and Egyptian philosophers taught that no child came with a vacant mind. Each child comes with a hundred tendencies generated by past conscious actions. The child did not acquire these in this life, and we are bound to admit that it must have acquired them in past lives.

Talk given at Unity Hall, Hartford (Connecticut), USA, on March 8, 1895, as reported in "Hartford Times" (March 11, 1895). Complete Works, 1.320-21.

 

"Dependence is misery. Independence is happiness." Advaita is the only system that gives us complete control over ourselves, takes off all dependence and its associated superstitions, thus making us brave to suffer, brave to do, and in the long run, attain to absolute freedom.

Written by Swami Vivekananda in March 1899, for the prospectus of the Advaita Ashrama at Mayavati in the Himalayas. Complete Works, 5:435-36.

 

With every person, there is an idea. The external person is only the outward manifestation, the mere language of this idea within. Likewise, every nation has a corresponding national idea. The idea is working for the world and is necessary for its preservation. The day when the necessity of an idea as an element for the preservation of the world is over, that very day the receptacle of that idea, whether it be an individual or a nation, will meet destruction.

From "The East and the West," originally written in Bengali. Complete Works, 5.443.

 

Can we see God? Of course not. Can we know God? Of course not. If God can be known, He will be God no longer. Knowledge is limitation. But I and my Father are one: I find the reality in my soul. These ideas are expressed in some religions, and in others only hinted.

Talk given at Unity Hall, Hartford (Connecticut), USA, on March 8, 1895, as reported in "Hartford Times" (March 11, 1895). Complete Works, 1.323.

 

If you believe in the existence of God, you will be reminded of him at every step of your life.

Selections from the Belur Math Diary. Complete Works, 5.318.

 

Karma is the eternal assertion of human freedom. If we can bring ourselves down by our karma, surely it is in our power to raise ourselves by it.

Interview in The Hindu. Chennai, 1896. Complete Works, 5.213-14.

 

 



Today's Vivekananda Quotes !

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.

Today's Swami Vivekananda QUOTE

Think all of you that you are the infinitely powerful Atman, and see what strength comes out.

Letter to his brother-disciples. Written in Bengali from New York on September 25, 1894. Complete Works, 6.276.

 A bit of Mother, a drop, was Krishna, another was Buddha, another was Christ. The worship of even one spark of Mother in our earthly mother leads to greatness. Worship the Divine Mother if you want love and wisdom.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 30, 1895. Complete Works, 7.27.

Of what use is self-depreciation? I am the child of the Infinite, the all-powerful Divine Mother. What is disease or fear or want to me? Stamp out the negative spirit as if it were a pestilence, and it will conduce to your welfare in every way.

Letter to his brother-disciples. Written in Bengali from New York on September 25, 1894. Complete Works, 6.276.

God is still, established upon his own majestic changeless Self. You and I try to be one with him, but we plant ourselves upon nature, upon the trifles of daily life, on money, on fame, on human love, and all these changing forms in nature which make for bondage.

From a lecture on "What Is Religion?". Complete Works, 1.337

 None of us has understood Sri Ramakrishna fully. So I do not venture to speak about him anywhere and everywhere. Only he knows what he himself really was. Only his frame was human, but everything else about him was entirely different from others.

Conversations recorded in Bengali. From the diary of Sarat Chandra Chakravarty. Complete Works, 5.389.

Many religious theories are based on belief. One man says there is a great Being sitting above the clouds and governing the whole universe, and he asks me to believe that solely on the authority of his assertion. In the same way, I may have my own ideas, which I am asking others to believe, and if they ask a reason, I cannot give them any. This is why religion and metaphysical philosophy have a bad name these days. Every educated person seems to say, "Oh, these religions are only bundles of theories without any standard to judge them by, all preaching their own pet ideas."

Nevertheless, there is a basis of universal belief in religion, governing all the different theories and all the varying ideas of different sects in different countries. Going to their basis we find that they also are based upon universal experiences.

From Swamiji's book "Raja Yoga," Chapter One, "Introductory." Complete Works, 1.125-26.

 

Be not negative. You must be all-positive, affirmative. Say, "I am, God is, everything is in me. I will manifest health, purity, knowledge, whatever I want."

Letter to his brother-disciples. Written in Bengali from New York on September 25, 1894. Complete Works, 6.276.

 When nature shines, upon what depends its shining? Upon God and not upon the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars. Wherever anything shines, whether it is the light in the sun or in our own consciousness, it is God. He shining, all shines after him.

From a lecture on "What Is Religion?". Complete Works, 1.337. Here Swamiji is paraphrasing from the Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.15 and the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.2.10.

Vivekanand Quote !!

• Mind you, this is life’s experience: if you really want the good of others, the whole universe may stand against you and cannot hurt you. It must crumble before your power of the Lord Himself in you if you are sincere and really unselfish.

Complete Works, 8: 83

• Bless people when they revile you. Think how much good they are doing by helping to stamp out the false ego. Hold fast to the real Self. Think only pure thoughts, and you will accomplish more than a regiment of mere preachers. Out of purity and silence comes the word of power.

Complete Works, 8: 31–32

• Say “So’ham, So’ham” whatever comes. Tell yourself this even in eating, walking, suffering. Tell the mind this incessantly—that what we see never existed, that there is only “I”. Flash—the dream will break! Think day and night, this universe is zero, only God is. Have intense desire to get free.

Complete Works, 7: 92

• Give up all desire for enjoyment in earth or heaven. Control the organs of the senses, and control the mind. Bear every misery without even knowing that you are miserable. Think of nothing but liberation. Have faith in Guru, in his teachings, and in the surety that you can get free.

Complete Works, 7: 92

• Jñāna Yoga is divided into three parts. First: hearing the truth--that the Ātman is the only reality and that everything else is māyā. Second: reasoning upon this philosophy from all points of view. Third: giving up all further argumentation and realizing the truth. This realization comes from (1) being certain that Brahman is real and everything else is unreal; (2) giving up all desire for enjoyment; (3) controlling the senses and the mind; (4) intense desire to be free. Meditating on the reality always and reminding oneself of its real nature are the only ways in this yoga. It is the highest but most difficult. Many persons get an intellectual grasp of it, but very few attain realization.

Written during Swamiji's first visit to America, in response to questions put by a Western disciple. Complete Works, 8:154-155.

• Just as every action that emanates from us comes back to us as reaction, even so our actions may act on other people and theirs on us. Perhaps all of you have observed it as a fact that when people do evil actions, they become more and more evil, and when they begin to do good, they become stronger and stronger and learn to do good all the time. This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 3, 1896. Complete Works, 1:81.