IS MAN A TINY BOAT IN A TEMPEST ?

Is man a tiny boat in a tempest, raised one moment on the foamy crest of a billow and dashed down into a yawning chasm the next, rolling to fro at the mercy of good and bad actions......The heart sinks at the idea, yet this is the law of of Nature. Is there no hope ? Is there no escape ? - Was the cry that went up from the bottom of the heart of despair. It reached the throne of mercy, and words of hope and consolation came down and inspired a Vedic sage, and he stood up before the world and in trumpet voice proclaimed the glad tidings:

" Hear, ye childern of immortal bliss! Even ye that reside in higher spheres! I have found the Ancient One who is beyond all darkness, all delusion: knowing Him alone you shall be saved from death over again. "

" Children of immortal bliss" - what a sweet, what a hopeful name! Allow me to call you, brethren, by that sweet name - heirs of immortal bliss - yea, the Hindu refuses to call you sinners. Ye are children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth - sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter is your servant, not your servant of matter "


- Swami Vivekananda
Page 339, Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita - An exposition of the Gita in the light of Modern Thought and Modern Needs, Volume 1 - Swami Ranganathananda

IF YOU ARE STRONG, TAKE UP THE VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY AND BE INDEPENDENT

If you are strong, take up the Vedanta philosophy and be independent. If you cannot do that, worship God; if not, worship some image. If you lack strength even to do that, do some good works without the idea of gain. Offer everything you have unto the service of the Lord. Fight on! "Leaves and water and one flower — whosoever lays anything on my altar, I receive it with equal delights." If you cannot do anything, not a single good work, then take refuge [in the Lord]. "The Lord resides within the heart of the being, making them turn upon His wheel. Do thou with all thy soul and heart take refuge in Him.


- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/Krishna