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Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

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Famous Swami Vivekananda Quotes

“Whether dualistic, qualified monistic, or monistic, they all firmly believe that everything is in the soul itself; it has only to come out and manifest itself. Therefore, this shraddha is what I want, and what all of us here want, this faith in ourselves, and before you is the great task to get that faith. Give up the awful disease that is creeping, into our national blood, that idea of ridiculing everything, that loss of seriousness. Give that up. Be strong and have this shraddha, and everything else is bound to follow.”

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Author:Swami Vivekananda
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“How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but by the concentration of the powers of the mind? The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow come through concentration. 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; that is the secret.”

IfsKnowsWorldGivingMindHumansForceSecretKnow HowReadyBearsLimitsGiving UpBlowConcentrationHuman MindPower Of The MindReady To Give Up
Book:Raja Yoga: Conquering the Internal Nature
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“None deserves liberty who is not ready to give liberty”

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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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“It is weakness, says the Vedanta, which is the cause of all misery in this world. Weakness is the one cause of suffering. We become miserable because we are weak. We lie, steal, kill and commit other crimes, because we are weak. We die because we are weak. Where there is nothing to weaken us, there is no death nor sorrow. We are miserable through delusion. Give up the delusion and the whole thing vanishes.”

WorldGivingWholeLyingSufferingDiesCausesStrengthCrimeThis WorldSorrowGiving UpWeaknessWeakMiseryStealingCommitMiserableDelusionVedanta
Author:Swami Vivekananda
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“We have seemingly been divided, limited, because of our ignorance; and we have become as it were the little Mrs. so - and - so and Mr. so - and - so. But all nature is giving this delusion the lie every moment. I am not that little man or little woman cut off from all else; I am the one universal existence. The soul in its own majesty is rising up every moment and declaring its own intrinsic Divinity.”

MenGivingLittlesSoulMomentsMotivationalLyingExistenceCuttingIgnoranceUniversalRisingDivinityDelusionDividedMajestyDeclaringLittle ManLittle WomenRising Up
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
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“I am thoroughly convinced that no individual or nation can live by holding itself apart from the community of others. Give and take is the law; and if India wants to raise herself once more, it is absolutely necessary that she brings out her treasures and throws them broadcast among the nations of the earth, and in return be ready to receive what others have to give her. Expansion is life, contraction is death. Love is life, and hatred is death. We commenced to die the day we began to hate other races; and nothing can prevent our death unless we come back to expansion, which is life.”

IfsWantGivingEarthLawHateDiesIndividualNationsCommunityLove IsRaceReadyReturnHatredIndiaRaisesConvincedTreasureLive ByExpansionGive And TakeContractionsLove Is Life
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
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“We get caught. How? Not by what we give but by what we expect. We get misery in return for our love: not from the fact that we love but from the fact that we want love in return. There is no misery where there is no want. Desire, want, is the father of all misery. Desires are bound by the laws of success and failure. Desires must bring misery.”

WantGivingFactsLawDesireFatherReturnMiseryBoundsCaughtOur LoveSuccess And Failure
Book:Vedanta: Voice of Freedom
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“May He who is the Brahman of the Hindus, the Ahura-Mazda of the Zoroastrians, the Buddha of the Buddhists, the Jehovah of the Jews, the Father in Heaven of the Christians give strength to you to carry out your noble idea.”

GivingMayIdeasChristianFatherHeavenJewNobleBuddhistJehovahBrahmanFather In Heaven
Book:Vivekananda, World Teacher: His Teachings on the Spiritual Unity of Humankind
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“Give up the idea that by ruling over others you can do any good to them. But you can do just as much as you can in the case of the plant: you can supply the growing seed with the materials for the making up of its body, bringing to it the earth, the water, the air, that it wants. It will take all that it wants by its own nature, it will assimilate and grow by its own nature.”

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Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
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“Jesus Christ was God - the Personal God become man. He has manifested Himself many times in different forms and these alone are what you can worship. God in His absolute nature is not to be worshipped. Worshipping such God would be nonsense. We have to worship Jesus Christ, the human manifestation, as God. You cannot worship anything higher than the manifestation of God. The sooner you give up the worship of God separate from Christ, the better for you.”

MenGivingHumansDifferentWould BeFormJesusChristHe ManHigherGiving UpWorshipJesus ChristAbsolutesManifestationNonsenseWorship GodWorship Jesus
Book:Complete Works
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“Renounce and give up. What did Christ say? "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." Again and again did he preach renunciation as the only way to perfection. There comes a time when the mind awakes from this long and dreary dream-the child gives up its play and wants to go back to its mother. Renunciation is not asceticism. Are all beggars Christ? Poverty is not a synonym for holiness; often the reverse.”

WayWantGivingMindChildrenLongPlayDreamMotherJesusChristPovertyGiving UpPerfectionSakeHolinessAgain And AgainReverseBeggarRenounceRenunciationDrearyThere Comes A TimeAsceticismSynonym
Book:Jnana Yoga: The Yoga of Knowledge
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“Dâna, charity. There is no higher virtue than charity. The lowest man is he whose hand draws in, in receiving; and he is the highest man whose hand goes out in giving. The hand was made to give always. Give the last bit of bread you have even if you are starving. You will be free in a moment if you starve yourself to death by giving to another. Immediately you will be perfect, you will become God.”

IfsMenGivingMadeMomentsHandsLastsBitsPerfectVirtueHigherHighestDrawsCharityBreadReceivingLowestStarving
Book:Addresses on Bhakti Yoga: Art of living
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“There is another way in which this idea of mercy and selfless charity can be put into practice; that is, by looking upon work as "worship" in case we believe in a Personal God. Here we give up all the fruits our work unto the Lord, and worshipping Him thus, we have no right to expect anything from man kind for the work we do.”

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Book:Karma Yoga: The Yoga of Action
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“Try a little harder, and meditation comes. You do not feel the body or anything else. When you come out of it after the hour, you have had the most beautiful rest you ever had in your life. That is the only way you ever give rest to your system. Not even the deepest sleep will give you such a rest as that.”

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Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
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“Tremendous purity, tremendous renunciation, is the one secret of spirituality. “Neither through wealth, nor through progeny, but through renunciation alone is immortality to be reached,” say the Vedas. “Sell all that thou hast and give to poor, and follow me,” says the Christ. So all great saints and prophets have expressed it, and have carried it out in their lives. How can great spirituality come without renunciation?”

GivingSpiritualityChristWealthPoorSecretSellsSaintImmortalityProphetPurityFollow MeRenunciationGreat SpiritualVedasProgeny
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
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