For in the case of a Vivekananda or of any other man cast in the
heroic mold, there can be no question of throwing up the arms in
advance, raising the hands and resigning himself to despair - still less
is it possible to cover the eyes as do some agnostics, while they chant
" What do I know ? " and to gulp down the fleeting and passing
pleasures which past our bodies like ghosts floating along the edge of
the river!....What is it that will assuage the cry of the soul, the
Great Hunger? Certainly such rags of flesh will not fill up the gulf:
all the Epicure's roses will not keep him from starting back, like the
horses of Orcagna in the Campo Santo, from the stench of putrefying
corpses. He must get out of the graveyard, out of the circle of tombs,
away from the crematorium. He must win freedom or die: and better to
die, if need arises, for freedom! " Better to die on the battlefield
than to live a life of defeat ! "
- Swami Vivekananda
The life of Vivekananda And The Universal Gospel - Romain Rolland - Page 150
- Swami Vivekananda
The life of Vivekananda And The Universal Gospel - Romain Rolland - Page 150
