Swami Vivekananda quotes

Vivekananda in Chicago, September 1893. On the left, Vivekananda wrote: “one infinite pure and holy – beyond thought beyond qualities I bow down to thee”.

Swami Vivekananda ( 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902) was a teacher of Vedanta philosophy, and one of the most famous and influential spiritual leaders of Hinduism.He later travelled to the United States, representing India at the 1893 Parliament of the World Religions. Vivekananda conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating tenets of Hindu philosophy in the United States, England and Europe.

 

“Arise,awake and stop not until your goal is achieved.”

 

“Man is to become divine by realizing the divine. Idols or temples, or churches or books, are only the supports, the help of his spiritual childhood.

 

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual giants are produced.”

 

“Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage.”

 

“Devotion to duty is the highest form of worship of God.”

 

“The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves.”

 

“Believe in yourself and the world will be at your feet.”

 

“The greatest truths are the simplest things in the world, simple as your own existence.”

 

“In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart. ”

 

“There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point.”

 

“The very reason for nature’s existence is for the education of the soul.”

“The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.”

“Dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to carry that out in your life. ”

 

“Be not Afraid of anything. You will do Marvelous work. it is Fearlessness that brings Heaven even in a moment.”

“They alone live, who live for others.”

 

“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.”

 

“All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love’s sake, because it is the only law of life, just as you breathe to live.”

“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far. ”

“Strength is Life, Weakness is Death.
Expansion is Life, Contraction is Death.
Love is Life, Hatred is Death.”

 

“All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind.”

 

“The fire that warms us can also consume us; it is not the fault of the fire.”

 

“The whole life is a succession of dreams. My ambition is to be a conscious dreamer, that is all.”

 

“Comfort is no test of truth. Truth is often far from being comfortable.”

“The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

 

“The brain and muscles must develop simultaneously. Iron nerves with an intelligent brain — and the whole world is at your feet.”

 

“Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you, but do not think of that now.”

“Learn Everything that is Good from Others, but bring it in, and in your own way absorb it; do not become others.”

 

“whatever you think that you will be.
if you think yourself weak,weak you will be;
if you think yourself strong,you will be”

 

“Don’t look back—forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience—then alone can great deeds be accomplished.”

 

“We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in the future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.”

“Feel nothing, know nothing, do nothing, have nothing, give up all to God, and say utterly, ‘Thy will be done.’ We only dream this bondage. Wake up and let it go.”

“Do one thing at a Time, and while doing it put your whole Soul into it to the exclusion of all else.”

“Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.”

“There is no God separate from you, no God higher than you, the real ‘you’. All the gods are little beings to you, all the ideas of God and Father in heaven are but your own reflection. God Himself is your image. ‘God created man after His own image.’ That is wrong. Man creates God after his own image. That is right. Throughout the universe we are creating gods after our own image. We create the god and fall down at his feet and worship him; and when this dream comes, we love it!”

“That man or that society which has nothing to learn is already in the jaws of death.”

 

“All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.”

 

“Books are infinite in number and time is short. The secret of knowledge is to take what is essential. Take that and try to live up to it.”

“How often does a man ruin his disciples by remaining always with them! When men are once trained, it is essential that their leader leave them, for without his absence they cannot develop themselves. Plants always remain small under a big tree.”