More Methods are Better

The Mohammedans want to have the whole world Mohammedan; the Christians, Christian; and the Buddhists, Buddhist; 
but Vedanta says, "Let each person in the world be separate, if you will; the one principle, the unity will be behind. The more prophets there are, the more books, the more seers, the more methods, so much the better for the world". 

Just as in social life the greater the number of occupations in every society, the better for that society, the more chance is there for everyone of that society to make a living; so in the world of thought and of religion.

                 - Swami Vivekananda, 
                ‘Methods and Purpose of Religion’ - Talk in England

Live for an Ideal

Preach Highest Truths

Be bold! My children should be brave, above all. 
Not the least compromise on any account. 
Preach the highest truths broadcast. Do not fear losing your respect or causing unhappy friction. 

Rest assured that if you serve truth in spite of temptations to forsake it, you will attain a heavenly strength in the face of which men will quail to speak before you things which you do not believe to be true. 

               - Swami Vivekananda, 
                  The Evils of Adhikarivada, 
                    Notes from Lectures and Discourses 

Foolery of Materialism

Salutations to Sri Ramakrishna

सामाख्याद्यैर्गीतिसुमधुरैर्मेघगम्भीरघोषै: 
यज्ञध्वानध्वनितगगनैर्ब्राह्मणैर्ज्ञातवेदै: |
वेदान्ताख्यै: सुविहितमखोद्भिन्नमोहान्धकारै:
स्तुतो गीतो य इह सततं तं भजे रामकृष्णम् ||

He who was praised by the Brâhmanas, those knowers of the Vedas who made the sky reverberate with the sacred sounds of the sacrifice and caused the darkness of delusion to vanish through well performed rituals and the knowledge known as Vedanta--he whose greatness was sung in the sweet chants of the Sâma Veda etc., with voices thundering like clouds --to that Shri Ramakrishna, I offer my eternal worship.

      - Swami Vivekananda

 

Whom to Fear

Whom to fear, forsooth?

      क्षीणा: स्म दीना: सकरुणा जल्पन्ति मूढा जना
नास्तिक्यन्त्विदन्तु अहह देहात्मवादातुरा: |
प्राप्ता स्म वीरा गतभया अभयं प्रतिष्ठां यदा
आस्तिक्यन्त्विदन्तु चिनुम: रामकृष्णदासा वयम् ||

पीत्वा पीत्वा परमममृतं वीतसंसाररागा:
हित्वा हित्वा सकलकलहप्रापिणीं स्वर्थसिद्धिम् |
ध्यात्वा ध्यात्वा गुरुवरपदं सर्वकल्यानरूपम्
नत्वा नत्वा सकलभुवनं पातुमामन्त्रयाम: ||

प्राप्तं यद्वै त्वनादिनिधनं वेदोदधिं मथित्वा
दत्तं यस्य प्रकरणे हरिहरब्रह्मादिदेवैर्बलम् |
पूर्णं यत्तु प्राणसारैर्भोमनारायणानां
रामकृष्णस्तनुं धत्ते तत्पूर्णपात्रमिदं भो: ||

 --"It is those foolish people who identify themselves with their bodies, that piteously cry, 'We are weak, we are low.' 
All this is atheism. Now that we have attained the state beyond fear, we shall have no more fear and become heroes. This indeed is theism which we, the servants of Shri Ramakrishna, will choose.

 "Giving up the attachment for the world and drinking constantly the supreme nectar of immortality, for ever discarding that self-seeking spirit which is the mother of all dissension, and ever meditating on the blessed feet of our Guru which are the embodiment of all well-being, with repeated salutations we invite the whole world to participate in drinking the nectar.

 "That nectar which has been obtained by churning the infinite ocean of the Vedas, into which Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the other gods have poured their strength, which is charged with the life-essence of the Avataras -- gods Incarnate on earth -- Shri Ramakrishna holds that nectar in his person, in its fullest measure!" 

                       - Swami Vivekananda, 
                         in a Letter to Brother Disciple 
                          from New York (September 1894)

Worship in Human Tabernacle

Deep as Ocean and Broad as Sky

The history of the past has gone to develop the inner life of India and the activity (i.e. the outer life) of the West. 
Hitherto these have been divergent. 

The time has now come for them to unite. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was alive to the depths of being, yet on the outer plane who was more active? 
This is the secret. 

Let your life be as deep as the ocean, but let it also be as wide as the sky. 

              - Swami Vivekananda, 
                 Prabuddha Bharata Interview (September 1898)

Rationale of All Religions

Custodians of Religion

Wherever you see the most humanitarian ideas fall into the hands of the multitude, the first result you notice is degradation. 
It is learning and intellect that help to keep things safe. 

It is the cultured among a community that are the real custodians of religion and philosophy in their purest form. 
It is that form which serves as the index for the intellectual and social condition of a community. 

         – Swami Vivekananda, 
             Sayings and Utterances

No Religion without Renunciation

Atman State

Man as Atman is really free; as man he is bound, changed by every physical condition. 
As man, he is a machine with an idea of freedom; but this human body is the best and the human mind the highest mind there is. 

When a man attains to the Atman state, he can take a body, making it to suit himself; he is above law. 
This is a statement and must be proved. Each one must prove it for himself; we may satisfy ourselves, but we cannot satisfy another. 

              - Swami Vivekananda, 
                 Inspired Talks  

Absolute and Continuous Remembrance

THE DANCE OF SHIVA

Lo, the God is dancing
-- Shiva the all-destroyer and Lord of creation,
     The Master of Yoga and the wielder of Pinaka.
     His flaming locks have filled the sky,
     Seven worlds play the rhythm
    As the trembling earth sways almost to dissolution,
Lo, the Great God Shiva is dancing.  

                     - Swami Vivekananda, 
                        poem translated from Bengali 

We Are Shiva

Divine Outlaw

One must admit that law, government, politics are phases not final in any way. There is a goal beyond them where law is not needed. 
And by the way, the very word Sannyasin means the divine outlaw, one might say, divine nihilist, but 
that mis-comprehension pursues those that use such a word. 

All great Masters teach the same thing. Christ saw that the basis is not law, that morality and purity are the only strength. 

               - Swami Vivekananda, 
                ‘Sunday Times, London’ Interview (1896)

Seat of All Power

God - The Lover

This is how we are to love God: 
"I do not want wealth, nor [friends, nor beauty], nor possessions, nor learning, nor even salvation. If it be Thy will, send me a thousand deaths. Grant me, this -- that I may love Thee and that for love's sake. 

That love which materialistic persons have for their worldly possessions, may that strong love come into my heart, but only for the Beautiful. Praise to God! 
Praise to God the Lover!" 

God is nothing else than that. 

           - Swami Vivekananda, 
           ‘Divine Love’ – Talk in California

Strong and Powerful

National History

A nation that has no history of its own has nothing in this world. 
Do you believe that one who has such faith and pride as to feel, "I come of noble descent", can ever turn out to be bad?
How could that be? 
That faith in himself would curb his actions and feelings, so much so that he would rather die than commit wrong. 

So a national history keeps a nation well-restrained and does not allow it to sink so low. 

                - Swami Vivekananda, 
                   Conversations and Dialogues, 
                     recorded by Priya Nath Sinha 

Experience - The Eye-Opener

No Work is Petty

Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it be after his heart. But the intelligent man is he who can convert every work into one that suits his taste. 
No work is petty. 

Everything in this world is like a banyan-seed, which, though appearing tiny as a mustard-seed, has yet the gigantic banyan tree latent within it. He indeed is intelligent who notices this and succeeds in making all work truly great.

           - Swami Vivekananda, 
              in a Letter to Swami Shuddhananda 
              from Almora (July 1897)

One Basis of Well-Being

Jnani and Bhakta

As long as one is within the region of Maya, so long the idea of duality will no doubt remain. Space-time-causation, or name-and-form, is what is called Maya.

When one goes beyond this Maya, then only the Oneness is realized, and then man is neither a dualist nor an Advaitist -- to him all is One. 

All this difference that you notice between a Bhakta and a Jnani is in the preparatory stage -- one sees God outside, and the other sees Him within. 

                     - Swami Vivekananda, 
                        Conversations and Dialogues, at Calcutta,
                          Surendra Nath Sen Diary

Good Motives, Sincerity

Principles and Emotions

We can very much agree as to principles, but not very much as to persons. The persons appeal to our emotions; and the principles, to something higher, to our calm judgment.

Principles must conquer in the long run, for that is the manhood of man. Emotions many times drag us down to the level of animals. Emotions have more connection with the senses than with the faculty of reason; and, therefore, when principles are entirely lost sight of and emotions prevail, religions degenerate into fanaticism and sectarianism. 

          - Swami Vivekananda, 
              ‘Methods and Purpose of Religion’ - Talk in England

Buddhas by Hundred

Ahimsa

Non-injury is right; "Resist not evil" is a great thing -- these are indeed grand principles; 
but the scriptures say, "Thou art a householder; if anyone smites thee on thy cheek, and thou dost not return him an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, thou wilt verily be a sinner." 

Many say, "When one has come to kill you, there is no sin in killing him, even though he be a Brahmin" (Manu, VIII. 350). This is very true, and this is a thing which should not be forgotten. 

               - Swami Vivekananda, 
                 The East and The West 

Internal and External

Virtue and Sin

Doing good to others is virtue (Dharma); injuring others is sin. 
Strength and manliness are virtue; weakness and cowardice are sin. 
Independence is virtue; dependence is sin. 
Loving others is virtue; hating others is sin. 

Faith in God and in one's own Self is virtue; doubt is sin. 
Knowledge of oneness is virtue; seeing diversity is sin. 

The different scriptures only show the means of attaining virtue. 

                  - Swami Vivekananda, 
                      Sayings and Utterances

Attitude towards Vedas

Q.-- What should be our attitude to the Vedas?

A.-- The Vedas, i.e. only those portions of them which agree with reason, are to be accepted as authority. 

Other Shastras, such as the Puranas etc., are only to be accepted so far as they do not go against the Vedas. 

All the religious thoughts that have come subsequent to the Vedas, in the world, in whatever part of it, have been derived from the Vedas.

- Swami Vivekananda, 

  Selections from the Math Diary

Off with Self-Debasing Spirit!

Prema and Madhura Bhava

But know this for certain, that Prema cannot come while there is lust. 
Why not try first to get rid of carnal desires? You will say, "How is that possible? I am a householder." 
Nonsense! Because one is a householder, does it mean that one should be a personification of incontinence, or that one has to live in marital relations all one's life? 

And, after all, how unbecoming of a man to make of himself a woman, so that he may practise this Madhura love! 

            - Swami Vivekananda, 
              Conversations and Dialogues, at Calcutta, 
               Surendra Nath Sen Diary 

All is He

Renunciation is Religion

The only knowledge that is of any value is to know that all this is humbug. But few, very few, will ever know this. 

"Know the Atman alone, and give up all other vain words." This is the only knowledge we gain from all this knocking about the universe. 
This is the only work, to call upon mankind to "Awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached". 

It is renunciation, Tyaga, that is meant by religion, and nothing else. 

            - Swami Vivekananda, 
                in a Letter to J J Goodwin 
                 from Switzerland (August 1896)

Misery, Disease, and Death

Idea of Freedom

God is pure, the same to all. Therefore such a sage [God-Realised Sage] would be a living God. This is the goal towards which we are going; and every form of worship, every action of mankind, is a method of attaining to it. 

The man who wants money is striving for freedom -- to get rid of the bondage of poverty. Every action of man is worship, because the idea is to attain to freedom, and all action, directly or indirectly, tends to that. 

Only, those actions that deter are to be avoided. The whole universe is worshipping, consciously or unconsciously; …  

                  - Swami Vivekananda, 
                    Law and Freedom, 
                    Notes from Lectures and Discourses

Network of Foolishness

Mohammedanism in India

Q.-- Did Vedanta exert any influence over Mohammedanism?

A.-- This Vedantic spirit of religious liberality has very much affected Mohammedanism. Mohammedanism in India is quite a different thing from that in any other country. 

It is only when Mohammedans come from other countries and preach to their co-religionists in India about living with men who are not of their faith that a Mohammedan mob is aroused and fights. 

                    - Swami Vivekananda, 
                       Q & A at the Twentieth Century Club of Boston

Love - The Only Law of Life

All Imagination

Some imaginations help to break the bondage of the rest. 
The whole universe is imagination, but one set of imaginations will cure another set. 

Those that tell us that there is sin and sorrow and death in the world are terrible. But the other set -- thou art holy, there is God, there is no pain -- these are good, and help to break the bondage of the others. 

The highest imagination that can break all the links of the chain is that of the Personal God. 

           - Swami Vivekananda, 
             On Bhakti-Yoga, 
             Notes from Lectures and Discourses 

Universe - Mud-Puddle!

Acharya and Mukta

Anyone and everyone cannot be an Acharya (teacher of mankind); but many may become Mukta (liberated). 

The whole world seems like a dream to the liberated, but the Acharya has to take up his stand between the two states. 
He must have the knowledge that the world is true, or else why should he teach? Again, if he has not realized the world as a dream, then he is no better than an ordinary man, and what could he teach? 

             - Swami Vivekananda, 
               On Bhakti-Yoga, 
                Notes from Lectures and Discourses 

Bars to Brotherly Feelings

Great Ocean of Life and Bliss

A tremendous stream is flowing towards the ocean, carrying little bits of paper and straw hither and thither on it. 
They may struggle to go back, but in the long run they must flow down to the ocean. 

So you and I and all nature are like these little straws carried in mad currents towards that ocean of Life, Perfection, and God. We may struggle to go back, or float against the current and play all sorts of pranks, but in the long run we must go and join this great ocean of Life and Bliss. 

              - Swami Vivekananda, 
                On Jnana-Yoga, 
                  Notes from Lectures and Discourses 

Music - Highest Art