GIVE UP HOPE, SAYS THE VEDANTA

Give up hope, says the Vedanta. Why should you hope? You have everything, nay, you are everything. What are you hoping for? If a king goes mad, and runs about trying to find the king of his country, he will never find him, because he is the king himself. He may go through every village and city in his own country, seeking in every house, weeping and wailing, but he will never find him, because he is the king himself. It is better that we know we are God and give up this fool's search after Him; and knowing that we are God we become happy and contented. Give up all these mad pursuits, and then play your part in the universe, as an actor on the stage.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part II

IT IS THESE WORKS THAT WILL TRIUMPH - CAN DOCTRINES AND DOGMAS TOUCH THE HEARTS ?

It is these works that will triumph - can doctrines and dogmas touch the hearts ? Work, work - LIVE THE LIFE; what do doctrines and opinions count ? Philosophy and Yoga and penance - the workship-room - your sunned rice or vegetable offerings - all these constitute the religion of one man or one country; doing good to others is the one great, universal religion.

- Swami Vivekananda
Letters of Swami Vivekananda - 346

GOOD MOTIVES, SINCERITY AND INFINITE LOVE

" I have experienced even in my insignificant life that good motives, sincerity, and infinite love can conquer the world. One single soul possessed of these virtues can destory the dark designs of millions of hypocrites and brutes. "

- Swami Vivekananda
Letters of Swami Vivekananda  - Page325

FIGHT ALWAYS. FIGHT AND FIGHT ON, THOUGH ALWAYS IN DEFEAT

And then he went off into a musing on Kali.

" I am not one of those, he chanted,

" Who put the garland of skulls, round Thy neck,
" And then look back in terror
" And call Thee " The Merciful"!
" The heart must become a burical ground,
" Pride, selfishess, and desire all broken into dust,
" Then and then alone will the Mother dance there ! "

" I love terror for its own sake, " He went on, " Despair for its own sake, misery for its own sake. Fight always. Fight and fight on, though always in defeat, That's the ideal. That's the ideal. "

" The totality of all souls, not the human alone, " He said once, " Is the Personal God. The will of the Totality nothing can resist. It is what we know as Law. And this is what we mean by Shiva and Kali " and so on.

- Swami Vivekananda
[ The Master As I Saw Him ]
 

"And so what would you say, Swamiji, to the women of this country?

"Why, to the women of this country." said the Swami, "I would say exactly what I say to the men. Believe in India and in our Indian faith. Be strong and hopeful and unashamed, and remember that with something to take, Hindus have immeasurably more to give than any other people in the world."

- Swami Vivekananda
ON INDIAN WOMEN — THEIR PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
(Prabuddha Bharata, December, 1898)

Swami Vivekananda - Wednesday, March 16, 1898

The Evening Republican
Wednesday, March 16, 1898

 

Swami Vivekananda - August 30,1893

 The Arizona Republican
August 30, 1893

 

 

FIGHT AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITIES

All those rosy ideas we had before starting have melted, and I have now to fight against impossibilities. A hundred times I had a mind to go out of the country and go back to India. But I am determined, and I have a call from Above; I see no way, but His eyes see. And I must stick to my guns, life or death......

- Swami Vivekananda

YOU NEED NOT WRITE IN THE NEWSPAPERS, YOU NEED NOT GO ABOUT LECTURNING; YOUR VERY FACE WILL SHINE.

Have you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstructions? If the whole world stands against you sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you think is right?

If your wives and children are against you, if all your money goes, your name dies, your wealth vanishes, would you still stick to it? Would you still pursue it and go on steadily towards your own goal? As the great King Bhartrihari says, "Let the sages blame or let them praise; let the goddess of fortune come or let her go wherever she likes; let death come today, or let it come in hundreds of years; he indeed is the steady man who does not move one inch from the way of truth." Have you got that steadfastness? If you have these three things, each one of you will work miracles. You need not write in the newspapers, you need not go about lecturing; your very face will shine.

- Swami Vivekananda
MY PLAN OF CAMPAIGN
(Delivered at the Victoria Hall, Madras)

AS LONG AS WE REQUIRE SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE US HAPPY, WE ARE SLAVES.

Isolation of the soul from all objects, mental and physical, is the goal; when that is attained, the soul will find that it was alone all the time, and it required no one... to make it happy. As long as we require someone else to make us happy, we are slaves. When the Purusha finds that It is free, and does not require anything to complete Itself, that this nature is quite unnecessary, then freedom (Kaivalya) is attained.

- Swami VivekanandaSee More

FILL YOURSELVES WITH THE IDEAL

Do you know how many energy, how many powers, how many forces are still lurking behind that frame of yours ? What scientist has known all that is in man ? Millions of years have passed since man first came here, and yet but one infinitesimal part of his powers has been manifested. Therefore, you must not say that you are weak. How do you know what possibilities lie behind that degradation on the surface ? You know but little of that which is within you. For behind you is the ocean of infinite power and blessedness.......

Fill yourselves with the ideal; whatever you do, think well on it. All your actions will be magnified, transformed, deified, by the very power of the thought. If matter is powerful, thought is omnipotent. Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourselves with the thought of your almightness, your majesty, and your glory

- Swami Vivekananda
Page 493 { VIVEKANANDA AS THE TURNING POINT ]

NEVER FORGET THE GLORY OF HUMAN NATURE!

" Never forget the glory of human nature! We are the Greatest God...Christs and Buddhas are but waves on the boundless Ocean which I AM."

- Swami Vivekananda in America, 1895

THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF THE RELIGION OF THE VEDANTA !

First of all try to ameliorate the terrible distress that is prevailing everywhere, to still the heart-rending cry of your hungry countrymen for a morsel of food; after that come to me to have a debate on the Vedanta. To stake one's whole life and soul to save thousands who are dying of starvation -- this is the essence of the religion of the Vedanta!

So long as even a dog of my country remains without food, to feed and take care of him is my religion, and any thing else is either non - religion or false religion!

- Swami Vivekananda

CONSTANT PRAYER OF VIVEKANANDA

There is too much talk, talk, talk! We are great, we are great! Nonsense! We are imbeciles - that is what we are. This hankering after name and fame and all other humbugs - what are they to me? What do I care about them?......That you may catch my fire, that you may be intensely sincere, that you may die the heroes' death on the battlefield - is the constant prayer of Vivekananda.

- Swami Vivekananda
[From Swami Vivekananda - Leader of Sacred Nationhood - Flashes of Omniscience]
 

THE WHOLE OF NATURE CANNOT CRUSH ME; IT IS MY SERVANT.

Many times I have been in the jaws of death, starving, footsore, and weary; for days and days I had no food, and often could walk no farther; I would sink down under a tree, and life ...would seem ebbing away. I could not speak, I could scarcely think, but at last the mind reverted to one idea: "I have no fear nor death: I never hunger nor thirst. I am It ! I am It ! The whole of nature cannot crush me; it is my servant. Assert thy strength, thou Lord of Lords and God of gods ! Regain thy lost empire! Arise and walk and stop not!" And I would rise up, reinvigorated, and here am I, living today.

- Swami Vivekananda

MEDITATION

" There is the infinite joy, unchanging. Meditation is the gate that opens that to us. Prayers, ceremonials, and all the other forms of worship are simply kindergartens of meditation "

- Swami Vivekananda