Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

God is very merciful to a person whom He sees struggling heart and soul for realization. But remain idle, without any struggle, and you will see that His grace will never come.

Conversations recorded in Bengali. From the diary of  

Sarat Chandra Chakravarty. Complete Works, 5.398.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

The Ātman is fearless. When we pray to a God outside, it is good, only we do not know what we do. When we know the Self, we understand.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. July 3, 1895. Complete Works, 7.29-30.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

Mental pleasures are greatly superior to physical joys. Mental pains are more poignant than physical tortures.

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, 5.429.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

We make our own environment and we strike the fetters off.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. July 3, 1895. Complete Works, 7.29.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

That which is limited is material. The spirit alone is infinite. God is spirit and is infinite. We are spirit and are infinite, and the infinite alone can worship the infinite. We will worship the infinite: that is the highest spiritual worship.

From a lecture on "What Is Religion?". Complete Works, 1.341.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

The finer the organism, the higher the culture--the greater is the power to enjoy the pleasure and the sharper are the pangs of pain.

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, 5.429.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

Knowledge itself is  

the highest reward of knowledge.

From Swamiji's book "Raja Yoga," Chapter One, "Introductory." Complete Works, 1.130.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

For those who procrastinate regarding renunciation, saying, "Oh, not so soon! I shall do it when the time comes," Self-realization is very far off. "Let me realize the Truth this moment! In this very life!"--these are the words of a hero.

Conversations recorded in Bengali. From the diary of Sarat Chandra Chakravarty. Complete Works, 5.398.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

Christ and Buddha were the names of a state to be attained; Jesus and Gautama were the persons to manifest it. "Mother" is the first and highest manifestation, next the Christs and Buddhas.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. July 3, 1895. Complete Works, 7.29.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

The highest evolution is when the veil of differentiation is torn off. The highest creed is Oneness. I am so-and-so is a limited idea, not true of the real "I". I am the universal. Stand upon that truth and always worship God through the highest form, for God is spirit and should be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

From a lecture on "What Is Religion?". Complete Works, 1.341.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

India can only rise by sitting at the feet of Sri Ramakrishna. His life and his teachings are to be spread far and wide and should be made to penetrate every pore of Hindu society. Who will do it? Who will stem the tide of degeneration at the sacrifice of name and fame, wealth and enjoyment--nay, of every hope of this or other worlds? A few young men have jumped in the breach and have sacrificed themselves. They are a few; we want a few thousand of such as they, and they will come. I am glad that our Lord has put it in your mind to be one of them.

Letter to Dr. Nanjunda Rao. Written from USA on November 30, 1894. Complete Works, 6.281.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

When we feel oneness with everything, we shall be immortal. We are even physically immortal when we are one with the universe. So long as there is even one who breathes throughout the universe, I live in that one. I am not this limited little being. I am the life of all the sons of the past. I am the soul of the Buddha, of Jesus, of Mohammed. I am the soul of the teachers, and I am all the robbers that robbed, and all the murderers that were hanged, I am the universal. Stand up then; this is the highest worship. You are one with the universe. That is true humility--not crawling upon all fours and calling yourself a sinner.

From a lecture on "What Is Religion?". Complete Works, 1.341.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

From our childhood we have been taught only to pay attention to things external, but never to things internal. So most of us have nearly lost the faculty of observing the internal mechanism. To turn the mind, as it were, inside, stop it from going outside, and then to concentrate all its powers, and throw them upon the mind itself, in order that it may know its own nature, analyze itself, is very hard work. Yet that is the only way to anything which will be a scientific approach to the subject.

From Swamiji's book "Raja Yoga," Chapter One, "Introductory." Complete Works, 1.129-30

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

The mind becomes tarnished by constant contact with the objects of the senses and receives a permanent moulding and impress from them. Renunciation, and renunciation alone, is the real secret, the mulamantra, of all realization.

Conversations recorded in Bengali. From the diary of Sarat Chandra Chakravarty. Complete Works, 5.397.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215

Vivekananda's Quote of the Day

The Absolute cannot be worshiped, so we must worship a manifestation, such a one as has our nature. Jesus had our nature, he became the Christ. And so can we, and so must we.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. July 3, 1895. Complete Works, 7.29.

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SOURCE: Ramakrishna Vedanta Society | 58 Deerfield Street | Boston | MA | 02215