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Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

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Famous Swami Vivekananda Quotes

“May I be born again and again, and suffer thousands of miseries so that I may worship the only God that exists, the only God I believe in, the sum total of all souls-and, above all, my God the wicked, my God the miserable, my God the poor of all races, of all species, is the special object of my worship.”

BelieveMaySoulSufferingI BelieveBornPoorRaceSpecialObjectsWorshipMiserySpeciesI Believe InMiserableWickedAgain And AgainBorn Again
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
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“My name should not be made prominent. It is my ideas that I want to see realized. The disciples of all the prophets have always inextricably mixed up the ideas of the Master with person, and at last killed the ideas for the person. The disciples of Sri Ramakrishna must guard against doing the same thing. Work for the idea, not the person.”

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Book:Complete Works
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“Some people are so afraid of losing their individuality. Wouldn't it be better for the pig to lose his pig-individuality if he can become God? Yes. But the poor pig does not think so at the time. Which state is my individuality? When I was a baby sprawling on the floor trying to swallow my thumb? Was that the individuality I should be sorry to lose? Fifty years hence I shall look upon this present state and laugh, just as I now look upon the baby state. Which of these individualities shall I keep?”

PeopleIfsThinkingShouldTryingYearsLooksDoeStatesLosesPoorLaughingBabyLosingSorryIndividualityLook UpFiftyPigsThumbs
Book:Practical Vedanta Philosophy
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“Stick to God! Who cares what comes to the body or to anything else! Through the terrors of evil, say-my God, my love! Through the pangs of death, say-my God, my love! Through all the evils under the sun, say-my God, my love! Thou art here, I see Thee. Thou art with me, I feel Thee. I am Thine, take me. I am not of the world's but Thine, leave not then me.”

WorldFeelsArtBodyCareEvilSunSticksTerrorTheeTake MeWho CaresGod Help Me
Book:The Complete Works of the Swami Vivekananda, Comprising All His Lectures, Addresses and Discourses Delivered in Europe, America and India: All His Writings in Prose and Poetry, Together with Translations of Those Written in Bengali and Sanskrit; Reports of His Interviews and His Replies to the Various Addresses of Welcome; His Sayings and Epistles,--private and Public--original and Translated; with an Index; Carefully Revised & Edited
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“The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation. In meditation we divest ourselves of all material conditions and feel our divine nature. We do not depend upon any external help in meditation. The touch of the soul can paint the brightest color even in the dingiest places; it can cast a fragrance over the vilest thing; it can make the wicked divine-and all enmity, all selfishness is effaced.”

FeelsSoulHelpingSpiritualLife IsMeditationConditionsDivineColorMaterialsDependsPaintCastsSelfishnessWickedSpiritual LifeFragranceEnmityDivine Nature
Book:Meditation and Its Methods
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“The one eternal religion is applied to the opinions of various minds and various races. There never was my religion or yours, my national religion or your national religion; there never existed many religions, there is only the one. One infinite religion existed all through eternity and will ever exist, and this religion is expressing itself in various countries in various ways.”

WayMindCountryRaceOpinionEternalEternityInfiniteVarious
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
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“The whole universe is one. There is only one Self in the universe, only One Existence, and that One Existence, when it passes through the forms of time, space, causation, is called by different names, buddhi, fine matter, gross matter, all mental and physical forms. Everything in the universe is that One, appearing in various forms. When a little part of it comes, as it were, into this network of time, space and causation, it takes forms. Take off the network, and it is all one.”

LittlesDifferentSelfMatterWholeFormUniverseNamesSpaceExistenceFineVariousGrossAppearingCausationDifferent Names
Book:Living at the Source: Yoga Teachings of Vivekananda
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“There are hundreds of thousands of microbes surrounding us, but they cannot harm us unless we become weak, until the body is ready and predisposed to receive them. There may be a million microbes of misery floating about us. Never mind! They dare not approach us, they have no power to get a hold on us, until the mind is weakened. This is the great fact: strength is life. Weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal. Weakness is constant strain and misery: weakness is death”

MindMayFactsBodyMillionsReadyEternalApproachWeaknessWeakConstantMiseryDareHarmImmortalFloatingStrainCity LifeFelicityMicrobesSithStrength Weakness
Book:The Complete Works of the Swami Vivekananda, Comprising All His Lectures, Addresses and Discourses Delivered in Europe, America and India: All His Writings in Prose and Poetry, Together with Translations of Those Written in Bengali and Sanskrit; Reports of His Interviews and His Replies to the Various Addresses of Welcome; His Sayings and Epistles,--private and Public--original and Translated; with an Index; Carefully Revised & Edited
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“Those who die, merely suffering the woes of life like cats and dogs, are they human beings? The worthy are those who, even when agitated by the sharp interaction of pleasure and pain, are discriminating and, knowing them to be of an evanescent nature, become passionately devoted to the Atman. This is all the difference between human beings and animals.”

HumansPainSufferingDiesDifferencesHuman BeingsPleasureAnimalKnowingDogCatWorthyInteractionDevotedWoePain And PleasureCat And DogAtmanHuman Beings And Animals
Author:Swami Vivekananda
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“Those who have succeeded in attaching or detaching their minds at will have succeeded in Pratyahara, which means gathering towards, checking the outgoing powers of the mind, freeing it from the thralldom of the senses. When we can do this, we shall really possess character; then alone we shall have taken a long step towards freedom. Before that, we are mere machines.”

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Author:Swami Vivekananda
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