THE WORD OF POWER

" Out of purity and silence comes the word of power "

- Swami Vivekananda

Vol 8. Page 32

DARE TO GO AS FAR AS YOUR THOUGHT LEADS

" If we have known the Âtman as It is, if we have known that there is nothing else but this Atman, that everything else is but a dream, with no existence in reality, then this world with its poverties, its miseries, its wickedness, and its goodness will cease to disturb us. If they do not exist, for whom and for what shall we take trouble? This is what the Jnana-Yogis teach. Therefore, dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to carry that out in your life. It is very hard to come to Jnâna. It is for the bravest and most daring, who dare to smash all idols, not only intellectual, but in the senses "

Swami Vivekananda

DID HE NOT DEFINE LIFE

Did he ( Swami Vivekananda ) not define life as " the tendency of the unfolding and development of a being under circumstances tending to press it down " ? - Swami Vivekananda ( April 1891: Interview with the Maharaja of Khetri. ) 

RELIGION IS SELF - ABNEGATION

One cannot divide the rights of universe. To talk of " right " implies limitation. It is not " right " but " responsibility ". Each is responsible for the evil anywhere in the world. No one can separate himself from his brother. All that unites with the universal is virtue; all that separates I'd sin. You are a part of the Infinite. This is your nature. Hence you are your brother's keeper.

- Swami Vivekananda
Page 83, Vol 6, CW of Swami Vivekananda

ALLEGIANCE AND CONFIDENCE

There is no allegiance possible where there is no character in the leader, and perfect purity ensures the most lasting allegiance and confidence.

Take up an idea, devote yourself to it, struggle on in patience, and sun will rise for you "

Swami Vivekananda
Page 135, Vol 6 Complete works of Swami Vivekananda

" HARMONY AND PEACE AND NOT DISSENSION "

BUT YOU MUST NOT SACRIFICE YOUR OWN FAITH

" Cultivate the virtue of obedience, but you much not sacrifice your own faith. No centralization is possible unless there is obedience to superiors. No great work can be done without this centralization of the individual forces. The Calcutta Math is the main center; the members of all other branches must act in unity and conformity with the rules of that center.

Give up jealousy and conceit. Learn to work unitedly for others. This is the great need of our country.

Yours with blessings,
Vivekananda.

Swami Vivekananda
Page 224
Book: - Letters of Swami Vivekananda 

FIFTY CENTURIES ARE LOOKING ON YOU, THE FUTURE OF INDIA DEPENDS ON YOU

Take Care! Beware of everything that is untrue, stick to truth and we shall succeed, may be slowly but surely. Work on as if I never existed. Work as if one each of you depended the whole work.

Fifty centuries are looking on you, the future of India depends on you.

Work On...

Swami Vivekananda
Letters of Swami Vivekananda
Page 175

Leaf – Counters

The whole world reads Bibles, Vedas, and Korans; but they are all only words, syntax, etymology, philology, and the dry bones of religion. The teacher who deals too much in words and allows the mind to be carried away by the force of words loses the spirit. It is the knowledge of the spirit of the scriptures alone that constitutes the true religious teacher. The network of the words of the scriptures is life a huge forest in which the human mind often loses itself and finds no way out.

Ramakrishna used to tell a story of some men who went into a mango orchard and busied themselves in counting the leaves, the twigs, and the branches, examining their color, comparing their size, and noting down everything most carefully, and then got up a learned discussion on each of these topics, which were undoubtedly highly interesting to them. But one of the them, more sensible then the others, did not care for all these things, and instead thereof, began to eat the mango fruit. And was he not wise? So leave this counting of leaves and twigs and note taking to others. This kind of work has its proper place, but not here in the spiritual domain. You never see a strong spiritual man among the “ leaf – counters “.

     

- Swami Vivekananda – Page 128 ( Meditation and Its Methods )

WHENEVER VIRTUE SUBSIDES AND IMMORALITY PREVAILS, THEN I COME AGAIN AND AGAIN TO HELP THE WORLD

Since the dawn of history, no missionary went out of India to propagate the Hindu doctrines and dogmas; but now a wonderful change is coming over us. Shri Bhagavân Krishna says, "Whenever virtue subsides and immorality prevails, then I come again and again to help the world." Religious researches disclose to us the fact that there is not a country possessing a good ethical code but has borrowed something of it from us, and there is not one religion possessing good ideas of the immortality of the soul but has derived it directly or indirectly from us.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Lectures from Colombo to Almora/Reply to the Address of Welcome at Pamban

 

 

LOOK HERE - WE SHALL ALL DIE!!

One day, with some of my young friends belonging to different colleges, I went to the Belur Math to see Swamiji. We sat round him: talks on various subjects were going on. No sooner was any question put to him than he gave the most conclusive answer to it. Suddenly he exclaimed, pointing to us, " You are all studying different schools of European philosophy and metaphysics and learning new facts about nationalities and countries; can you tell me what is the grandest of all the truths in life ? "

We began to think, but could not make out what he wanted us to say. As none put forth any reply, he exclaimed in his inspiriting language:

" Look here - we shall all die! Bear this in mind always, and then the spirit within will wake up. Then, only, meanness will vanish from you, practicality in work will come, you will get new vigour in mind and body, and those who come in contact with you will also feel that they have really got something uplifting, from you. "


- Swami Vivekananda
( THINK OF DEATH ALWAYS AND NEW LIFE WILL COME WITHIN - WORK FOR OTHERS - GOD THE LAST REFUGE )
Page: - 497 - Talks with Swami Vivekananda

HOW THEN CAN WE FIND THE PATH TO LIBERTY ?

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

TO HURL ONESELF UPON THE SWORD'S POINT

TO HURL ONESELF UPON THE SWORD'S POINT

" Fools!" he exclaimed once - as he dwelt in quiet talk on " The worship of the Terrible, " on " becoming one with the Terrible " - " Fools! they put a garland of skulls round Thy neck, and then start back in terror, and call Thee " the Merciful"!". And as he spoke, the underlying egoism of worship that is devoted to the kind God, to Providence, the consoling Divinity, without a heart for God in the earthquake, or God in the volcano, overwhelmed the listener. One saw that such worship was at bottom, as the Hindu calls it, merely " Shop- keeping, " and one realised the infinitely greater boldness and truth of the teaching that God manifests through evil as well as through good. One saw that the true attitude for the mind and will that are not to be baffled by the mind and will that are not to be baffled by the personal self, was in fact the determination, in the stern words of the Swami Vivekananda, ' to seek death not life, to hurl oneself upon the sword's point, to be come one with the Terrible for evermore!"

- Swami Vivekananda
Page 136, The Master As I Saw Him - Sister Nivedita 

THE REAL WORKING FORCE OF ALL GREAT WORK IS IN ITS ALMOST UNPERCEIVED BEGINNINGS

Above all, beware of compromises. I do not mean that you are to get into antagonism with anybody, but you have to hold on to your own principles in weal or woe and never adjust them to others' "fads" through the greed of getting supporters. Your Âtman is the support of the universe — whose support do you stand in need of? Wait with patience and love and strength; if helpers are not ready now, they will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry? The real working force of all great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings.

- Swami Vivekananda
ON PROFESSOR MAX MÜLLER
(Written for the Brahmâvadin, from London, June 6, 1896.)

WORK, WORSHIP, AND JNANA - FIRST WORK, AND YOUR MIND WILL BE PURIFIED

No good will come of sitting idle and having princely dishes, and saying "Ramakrishna, O Lord!" — unless you can do some good to the poor. Go to other villages from time to time, and teach the people the arts of life as well as religion. Work, worship, and Jnana (knowledge) — first work, and your mind will be purified; otherwise everything will be fruitless like pouring oblations on a pile of ashes instead of in the sacred fire.

- Swami Vivekananda
(March or April?) 1894. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 6/Epistles - Second Series/LV Akhandananda

THE WILL OF THE TOTALITY NOTHING CAN RESIST

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 ]

NEVER FORGET...

" 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. "

_Vivekananda in America, 1895
The life of Vivekananda AND THE UNIVERSAL GOSPEL_ROMAIN ROLLAND

I KNOW MY MISSION IN LIFE, AND NO CHAUVINISM ABOUT ME

Dear Alasinga, ( Pasis, 9th September, 1895 )

...I am surprised you take so seriously the missionaries nonsense.....If the people in India want me to keep strictly to my Hindu diet, Please tell them to send me a cook and money enough to keep him. This silly bossism without a mite of real help makes me laugh. On the other hand, if the missionaries tell you that I have even broken the two great vows of the Sannyasin - chastity and poverty - tell them that they are big liars. Please write to the missionary Hume asking him categorically to write you what mis demeanour he saw in me, or give you the names of his informants, and whether the information was first-hand or not; that will settle the question and expose the whole thing.....

As for me, mind you, I stand at nobody's dictation. I know my mission in life, and no chauvinism about me; I belong as much to India as to the world, no humbug about that, I have helped you all I could. You must now help yourselves. What country has any special claim on me ? Am I any nation's slave ? Don't talk any more silly nonsense, you faithless atheists.

- Swami Vivekananda
Page 257 - Letters of Swami Vivekananda

NATURE IS CONQUERED BY MAN EVERY DAY

Nature is conquered by man every day. As a race, man is manifesting his power. Try in imagination to put a limit to this power in man. You admit that man as a race has infinite power, has [an] infinite body. The only question is what you are. Are you the race or one [individual]? The moment you isolate yourself, everything hurts you. The moment you expand and feel for others, you gain help. The selfish man is the most miserable in the world. The happiest is the man who is not at all selfish. He has become the whole creation, the whole race and God [is] within him. . . . So in dualism — Christian, Hindu, and all religions — the code of ethics . . . . is: Do not be selfish . . . . things for others! Expand! . . . .

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/The Goal

MOTION IS THE SIGN OF LIFE

I am thoroughtly convinced that no individual or nation can live by holding itself apart from the community of others, and whenever such an attempt has been made under false ideas of greatness, policy, or holiness, the result has always been disastrous to the secluding one. The fact of our isolation from all the other nations of the world is the cause of our degeneration, and its only remedy is getting back into the current of the world. Motion is the sign of life.


- Swami Vivekananda
( Quoted in The discovery of India, p, 402 )

IN THE MIDST OF ALL MISERIES AND ALL WEAKNESS

You may pray to everyone that was ever born, but who will come to help you ? ....Help thyself out by thyself. None else can help thee, friend...Get hold of the Self, then. Stand up. Don't be afraid. In the midst of all miseries and all weakness, let the Self come out, faint and imperceptible though it be at first.

- Swami Vivekananda
To The Brave Youth - Page 151

ಅಕ್ಕಿಯೊಳಗನ್ನವನು ಮೊದಲಾರು ಕಂಡವನು? । - DVG - Mankutimma 655

ಅಕ್ಕಿಯೊಳಗನ್ನವನು ಮೊದಲಾರು ಕಂಡವನು? ।
ಅಕ್ಕರದ ಬರಹಕ್ಕೆ ಮೊದಲಿಗನದಾರು? ॥
ಲೆಕ್ಕವಿರಿಸಿಲ್ಲ ಜಗ ತನ್ನಾದಿಬಂಧುಗಳ ।
ದಕ್ಕುವುದೆ ನಿನಗೆ ಜಸ? – ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ॥ ೬೫೫ ॥

%% & %%

Who was the first inventor to discover rise inside paddy?
Who was first to write using alphabets?   
World has not keep accounts of its (previous) lineage!
Will you get that fame {which was not bestowed even to these...}? – Mankutimma 655    

ಏನು ಜೀವನದರ್ಥ? ಏನು ಪ್ರಪಂಚಾರ್ಥ? । Mankutimma - 4

ಏನು ಜೀವನದರ್ಥ? ಏನು ಪ್ರಪಂಚಾರ್ಥ? ।

ಏನು ಜೀವಪ್ರಪಂಚಗಳ ಸಂಬಂಧ? ॥

ಕಾಣದಿಲ್ಲಿ‍ರ್ಪುದೇನಾನುಮುಂಟೆ? ಅದೇನು?।

ಜ್ಞಾನಪ್ರಮಾಣವೇಂ? – ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ॥ ೪ ॥

What is meaning of life? What is meaning of world?

What is the correlation between life and world?

Is there anything which cannot be comprehended by sensory acuity? 

What is it ? Is Logic testament?

- Mankutimma - 4

KEEP ASIDE FOR THE PRESENT THE VRINDAVAN ASPECT OF SHRI KRISHNA

Keep aside for the present the Vrindavan aspect of Shri Krishna, and spread far and wide the worship of Shri Krishna roaring the Gita out, with the voice of a lion...We now mostly need the ideal of a hero with the tremendous spirit of Rajas thrilling through his veins from head to foot....the hero whose armour is renunciation, whose sword is wisdom. We want now the spirit of brave warrior in the battlefield of life, and not of the wooing lover who looks upon life as a pleasure - garden!

- Swami Vivekananda
Page 250 - To The Brave Youth.

ಭಾವದಾವೇಶದಿಂ ಮನವಶ್ವದಂತಿರಲಿ । Mankutimma DVG - 543

ಭಾವದಾವೇಶದಿಂ ಮನವಶ್ವದಂತಿರಲಿ ।
ಧೀವಿವೇಚನೆಯದಕೆ ದಕ್ಷರಾಹುತನು ॥
ತೀವಿದೊಲವಿನ ದಂಪತಿಗಳಾಗಿ ಮನಬುದ್ಧಿ ।

ಜೀವಿತವು ಜೈತ್ರಕಥೆ – ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ॥ ೫೪೩ ॥

With emotional avalanche, let your heart be like a horse; Intellectual discrimination as its expert navigator. Synchronization of heart and mind, be it like synched harmony between a married couple. Then life will be a story of success.

- Mankutimma - 543

ಗ್ರಹಗತಿಯ ತಿದ್ದುವನೆ ಜೋಯಿಸನು ಜಾತಕದಿ? । - 366 - Mankutimma - DVG

ಗ್ರಹಗತಿಯ ತಿದ್ದುವನೆ ಜೋಯಿಸನು ಜಾತಕದಿ? ।

ವಿಹಿತವಾಗಿಹುದದರ ಗತಿ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿ ವಿಧಿಯಿಂ ॥

ಸಹಿಸಿದಲ್ಲದೆ ಮುಗಿಯದಾವ ದಶೆ ಬಂದೊಡಂ ।

ಸಹನೆ ವಜ್ರದ ಕವಚ - ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ॥ ೩೬೬ ॥

Will an astrologer rearrange placement of planets in a horoscope?
Planet movement is governed by destiny of nature.
Irrespective of change in astrological time cycles, nothing is completed without forbearance….Patience is the only impregnable [diamond] armor - Mankutimma - 366

ಬದುಕು ಕದನವೆಂದಂಜಿ ಬಿಟ್ಟೋಡುವನು । Mankutimma - 598 DVG

ಬದುಕು ಕದನವೆಂದಂಜಿ ಬಿಟ್ಟೋಡುವನು ।

ಬಿದಿಯ ಬಾಯಿಗೆ ಕವಳವಾಗದುಳಿಯುವನೆ? ॥

ಎದೆಯನುಕ್ಕಾಗಿಸುತ, ಮತಿಗದೆಯ ಪಿಡಿದು, ನೀ- ।

ನೆದುರು ನಿಲೆ ಬಿದಿಯೊಲಿವ – ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ॥ ೫೯೮ ॥

If retreating from life considering it to be a battle, will he escape from clutches of destiny?

For destinies reverential acceptance, one should face it with club of intellectual wisdom in ones hand and an iron heart - Mankutimma - 598

FAITH, I WAIT UPON FAITH, COME WHAT MAY

Start with the idea that we can finish all experience of this world in this incarnation. We must aim to become perfect in this life this very moment. Success only comes to that life amongst men who wants to do this very moment. It is acquired by him who says : " Faith, I wait upon faith, come what may. "

Therefore, go on knowing you are to finish this very moment. Struggle hard, and then, if you do not succeed, you are not to blame. Let world praise or blame you, let all the wealth of the earth come to your feet, or let you be made the poorest on earth, let death come this moment or hundreds of years hence, swerve not from the path you have taken. All good thoughts are immortal and go to make Buddhas and Christs.

- Swami Vivekananda
Page 30 - Swami Vivekananda and His Work by Swami Abhedananda

NATURE'S JUSTICE IS UNIFORMLY STERN AND UNRELENTING

Nature's justice is uniformly stern and unrelenting.The great leaders of mankind belong to higher fields than the field of platform work.  

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Notes from Lectures and Discourses/On Karma-Yoga

THIS IS A VERY LARGE ORDER - THE PLAN OF WORK

I must frankly state that in my life - long experience in the work, I have always found " Occultism " injurious and weakening to humanity. What we want is strength. We Indians, more than any other race, want strong and vigorous thought. We have enough of the superfine in all concerns. For centuries we have been stuffed with the mysterious; the result is that our intellectual and spiritual digestion is almost hopelessly impaired, and the race has been dragged down to the depths of hopeless imbecility - never before or since experienced by any other civilised community. There must be freshness and vigour of thougth behind to make a virile race. More than enough to strengthen the whole world exists in the Upanishads. The Adviata is the enternal mine of strength. But it requires to be applied. It must first be cleared of the incrustation of scholasticism, and then in all its simplicity, beauty and sublimity be taught over the length and breadth of the land, as applied even to the minutest detail of daily life.

" This is a very large order" ; but we must work towards it, nevertheless, as if it would be accomplished tomorrow. Of one thing I am sure - that whoever wants to help his fellow beings through genuine love and unselfishness will work wonders. "

- Swami Vivekananda
[ Page 284 - The Plan of Work - Swami Vivekananda ON HIMSELF ]

MEANS ARE WANTING IN THIS COUNTRY

There are many things to be done, but means are wanting in this country. We have brains, but no hands. We have the doctrine of Vedanta, but we have not the power to reduce it into practice. In our books there is the doctrine of universal equality, but in work we make great distinctions. It was in India that unselfish and and disinterested work of the most exalted type was preached; but in practice we are awfully cruel, awfully heartless - unable to think of anything besides our own mass-of-flesh bodies....I too believe that India will awake again if anyone could love with all his heart the people of the country - bereft of the grace of affluence, of blasted fortune, their discretion totally lost, downtrodden, ever - starved, quarrelsome, and envious. Then only will India awake, when hundreds of large-hearted men and women, giving up all desires of enjoying the luxuries of life, will long and exert themselves to their utmost for the well - being of the millions of their countrymen who are gradually sinking lower and lower in the vortex of destitution and ignorance.

- Swami Vivekananda

[ Vivekananda His Call To The Nation - Page 97 ]

 

MYSTERY - MONGERING WEAKENS THE HUMAN BRAIN

" Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of Yoga should be at once rejected. The best guide in life is strength. In religion, as in all other matters, discard everything that weakens you, have nothing to do with it. Mystery-mongering weakens the human brain "

- Swami Vivekananda
Volume 1, Raja-Yoga

NOT TO SHIRK OUR DUTIES, BUT TO TAKE THEM UP MANFULLY

Therefore Krishna teaches us not to shirk our duties, but to take them up manfully, and not think of the result. The servant has no right to question. The soldier has no right to reason. Go forward, and do not pay too much attention to the nature of the work you have to do. Ask your mind if you are unselfish. If you are, never mind anything, nothing can resist you! Plunge in! Do the duty at hand. And when you have done this, by degrees you will realise the Truth: "Whosoever in the midst of intense activity finds intense peace, whosoever in the midst of the greatest peace finds the greatest activity, he is a Yogi, he is a great soul, he has arrived at perfection."

Now, you see that the result of this teaching is that all the duties of the world are sanctified. There is no duty in this world which we have any right to call menial: and each man's work is quite as good as that of the emperor on his throne.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 4/Lectures and Discourses/The Great Teachers of the World

ADJUST THE MICROCOSM - HYDROSTATIC PARADOX

The more we grow in love and virtue and holiness, the more we see love and virtue and holiness outside. All condemnation of others really condemns ourselves. Adjust the microcosm (which is in your power to do) and the macrocosm will adjust itself for you. It is like the hydrostatic paradox, one drop of water can balance the universe. We cannot see outside what we are not inside. The universe is to us what the huge engine is to the miniature engine; and indication of any error in the tiny engine leads us to imagine trouble in the huge one.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 7/Inspired Talks/Wednesday, July 3

THE HIGHEST MEN ARE CALM, SILENT AND UNKNOWN

In the life of Gautama Buddha we notice him constantly saying that he is the twenty-fifth Buddha. The twenty-four before him are unknown to history, although the Buddha known to history must have built upon foundations laid by them. The highest men are calm, silent and unknown.

They are the men who really know the power of thought; they are sure that, even if they go into a cave and close the door and simply think five true thoughts and then pass away, these five thoughts of their will live through eternity. Indeed such thoughts will penetrate through the mountains, cross the oceans, and travel through the world. They will enter deep into human hearts and brains and raise up men and women who will give them practical expression in the workings of human life. These Sâttvika men are too near the Lord to be active and to fight, to be working, struggling, preaching and doing good, as they say, here on earth to humanity.

- Swami Vivekananda
Chapter - VII - Freedom

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

WHERE IS THAT MARTICAL SPIRIT ?

Where is that martial spirit which, at the very outset, requires one to know how to serve and obey and to practice self-restraint!. The martial spirit is not self-assertion but self-sacrifice. One must be ready to advance and lay down one's life at the word of command, before he can command the hearts and lives of others. One must sacrifice himself first.

- Swami Vivekananda
Call to the nation - Page 71

.

WHAT BRUTALITY IS THERE WHICH PURITY

What brutality is there which purity and chastity cannot conquer ? - Swami Vivekananda

THOSE THAT BLAME OTHER - AND ALAS!

Those that blame others - and alas! the number of them is increasing everyday - are generally miserable with helpless brains; they have brought themselves to that pass through their own mistakes and blame others, but this does not alter their position. It does not serve them in any way. This attempt to throw the blame upon others only weakens them the more. Therefore, blame none for your own faults, stand upon your own feet, and take the whole responsibility upon yourselves. Say, " This misery that I am suffering is of my own doing, and that very thing proves that it will have to be undone by me alone. "


- Swami Vivekananda

WE WANT AN ENTERPRISING SPIRIT

We want an enterprising spirit. Nothing is done by leading idle lives.


_ Swami Vivekananda

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 6/Epistles - Second Series/LVIII Sarada
17th Jan., 1895. 228 W.39, NEW YORK

WE MAY DIE UNKNOWN, UNPITIED, UN BEWAILED

Let us unite our wills in continued prayer for their good. We may die unknown, unpitied, un-bewailed, without accomplishing anything; but not one thought will be lost. It will take effect sooner or later.


- Swami Vivekananda [ Page: - 107 Vivekananda - The Man and His Message ]

BE FEARLESS; SHRI RAMAKRISHNA IS OUR HELPER, WHAT FEAR ?

There is famine in many other places as well, so it is not necessary to stay so long in one place. Tell them to move to other localities and write to each man to go to a separate place. All such work is real work. If the field is made ready in this way, the seeds of spiritual knowledge can be sown. Remember this always — that the only answer to those conservative fanatics who abuse us is such work.

A work can be judged by its results only, just as one can infer the nature of previous mental tendencies by their resultant in present behavior. . . .Do the work very confidentially. Be fearless; Shri Ramakrishna is our helper, what fear? Give my love to all.

Yours affectionately,
Vivekananda - 13th July, 1897.
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 8/Epistles - Fourth Series/XCVIII Rakhal

GOOD PURPOSE, RIGHT MEANS, RIGHTEOUS COURAGE

Be a man first, my friend, and you will see how all those things and the rest will follow of themselves after you. Give up that hateful malice, that dog - like bickering and barking at one another, and take your stand on good purpose, right means, righteous courage, and be brave. When you are born a man, leave some indelible mark behind you.

- Swami Vivekananda

WHAT IS THE GRANDEST OF ALL THE TRUTHS IN LIFE ?

[ Shri Surendra Nath Das Gupta ]: One day, with some of my young friends belonging to different colleges, I went to the Belur Math to see Swamji ( Swami Vivekananda ). We sat round him; talks on various subjects were going on. No sooner was any question put to him than he gave the most conclusive answer to it. Suddenly he exclaimed, pointing to us, “You are all studying different schools of European Philosophy and metaphysics and learning new facts about nationalities and countries; can you tell me what is the grandest of all the truths in life?”

We began to think, but could not make out what he wanted us to say. As none put forth any reply, he exclaimed in his inspiring language:

“LOOK HERE - WE SHALL ALL DIE!” Bear this in mind always, and then the spirit within will wake up. Then only, meanness will vanish from you, practicality in work will come, you will get new vigor in mind and body, and those who come in contact with you will also feel that they really got something uplifting from you."

- Swami Vivekananda
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 5, Page 329

WHAT MEETS THE EYE OF THE EUROPEAN TRAVELER IN INDIA

Devastation by violent plague and cholera; malaria eating into the very vitals of the nation; starvation and semi-starvation as second nature; death-like famine often dancing its tragic... dance; the Kurukshetra (battlefield) of malady and misery, the huge cremation ground, strewn with the dead bones of lost hope, activity, joy and courage; and in the midst of that, sitting in august silence, the Yogi, absorbed in deep communion with the Spirit, with no other goal in the life than Moksha: This is what meets the eye of the European traveler in India.

- Swami Vivekananda
(Book: The east and the west - Swami Vivekananda Page - 5)

VIKRAM SATH AT HIS BEST..

NDTV facilitated India’s 25 Greatest Global Living legends @ Rastrapati Bhawan on Dec 14, 2013. When Vikram Sath (One of the 25 living legends of India) was called to share his three advices to youth of India, he ...shared below three corner stones which can act as elevated pedestal for any individual in 2014.

Intolerance is violence: -

My first piece of advice is …as great Ela Bhatt said “Poverty is violence. And poverty is violence with the acquiescence of society”. I would say in a perfectly parallel mode that “Intolerance is violence (applause). And accepted…. (Applause) intolerance is violence with acquiescence of society“.

There is no point in rapping yourself up in colors of a flag, when you don’t realize that the flag has more than one component. There are different colors in it, they mean different things, and in the heart of it – is the wheel. The wheel of Buddhism – you might call it, but really it's the wheel of Justice, the wheel of dharm, the wheel of recycle of birth, the wheel of law.........

We cannot have intolerance in family; you can see how disastrous that would be! And we cannot certainly have a spirit of intolerance within our country, as a whole….

Go with yourself: -

And the second one is …You may as well be yourself because really there is no else you can be. We are here for such a ridiculously short time, in this ridiculous trivial corner of the universe that if we aren’t ourselves than what’s the point of doing anything at all. So I would say in all matters…, whether it’s your profession, whether it’s your beliefs or whether it's the person you love, you must go at heart with who you are? Not what someone else tells you…Not what your clan tells you….Not even what unjust law tells you, go with yourself….!?

Respect your parents: -

And the third thing which I would say is…..Your parents are who make you who you are, in case of I, loving…hardworking, generous hearted parents…. I can only say I really vow more to them, then I can describe…Thank you....

THE LAW OF KARMA MUST HAVE ITS POUND OF FLESH

" Possibly the priest says his routine words and expects something. Sixty thousand people look to the skies and pray and pay the priest. Month after month they still look, still pay and pray. ...Think of that! Is it not lunacy? What else is it? Who is responsible? You may preach religion, but to excite the minds of undeveloped children...! You will have to suffer for that. In your heart of hearts, what are you? For every weakening thought you have put into anybody's head you will have to pay with compound interest. The law of Karma must have its pound of flesh......"

- Swami Vivekananda

WORK THROUGH YOGA [ CONCENTRATION ]

Gita teaches Karma - Yoga. We should work through Yoga ( concentration ). In such concentration in action ( Karma - Yoga ), there is no consciousness of the lower ego present. The consciousness that I doing this and that is never present when one works through Yoga.

- Swami Vivekananda [ Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda - V5, Page 248 ]

THE HEART MUST BECOME A BURIAL GROUND

“The heart must become a burial ground” “Pride, selfishness, and desire all broken into dust” “Then and then alone will the Mother (Kali) dance there!”

- Swami Vivekananda
[From: Sister Nivedita - The Master as I Saw Him]