IF YOU CANNOT, YOU MAY READ ALL THE BOOKS THAT ARE IN THE WORLD, FROM EAST TO WEST, SWALLOW ALL THE LIBRARIES, AND BECOME THE GREATEST OF PANDITS, BUT IF YOU HAVE KARMA KANDA ONLY, YOU ARE NOTHING, THERE IS NO SPIRITUALITY

Of course, there have been great givers-up of the world, even sitting on thrones. But even (King) Janaka himself had to renounce; who was a greater renouncer than he? But in modern times we all want to be called Janakas! They are all Janakas (lit. fathers) of children — unclad, ill-fed, miserable children. The word Janaka can be applied to them in that sense only; they have none of the shining, Godlike thoughts as the old Janaka had. These are our modern Janakas! A little less of this Janakism now, and come straight to the mark! If you can give up, you will have religion. If you cannot, you may read all the books that are in the world, from East to West, swallow all the libraries, and become the greatest of Pandits, but if you have Karma Kanda only, you are nothing; there is no spirituality. Through renunciation alone this immortality is to be reached. It is the power, the great power, that cares not even for the universe; then it is that ब्रह्माण्डम् गोष्पदायते। "The whole universe becomes like a hollow made by a cow's foot."

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Lectures from Colombo to Almora/The Vedanta in all its phases