Thursday, April 12, 2012

BUT THE LIFE OF BUDDHA SHOWS THAT EVEN A MAN WHO DOES NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, HAS NO METAPHYSICS, BELONGS TO NO SECT, AND DOES NOT GO TO ANY CHURCH, OR TEMPLE, EVEN HE CAN ATTAIN TO THE HIGHEST


To many the path becomes easier if they believe in God. But the life of Buddha shows that even a man who does not believe in God, has no metaphysics, belongs to no sect, and does not go to any church, or temple, and is a confessed materialist, even he can attain to the highest. We have no right to judge him. I wish I had one infinitesimal part of Buddha's heart. Buddha may or may not have believed in God; that does not matter to me. He reached the same state of perfection to which others come by Bhakti — love of God — Yoga, or Jnâna. Perfection does not come from belief or faith. Talk does not count for anything. Parrots can do that. Perfection comes through the disinterested performance of action.
- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 4/Lectures and Discourses/On Lord Buddha

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