Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Swami Vivekananda

Quote by Swami Vivekananda

“A man, and a cat, and a dog, are all animals. These particular examples, as man, or dog, or cat, are parts of a bigger and more general concept, animal. The man, and the cat, and the dog, and the plant, and the tree, all come under the still more general concept, life. Again, all these, all beings and all materials, come under the one concept of existence, for we all are in it.”

Quote by Swami Vivekananda

Work

Complete Works

This volume encompasses a wide array of the author's or composer's most notable writings or compositions, providing a comprehensive overview of their literary or musical achievements. more

Author

Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda (January 12, 1863 – July 4, 1902) was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, and social reformer. Born as Narendranath Datta in Kolkata, he was a chief disciple of the mystic Ramakrishna. He is best known for his historic speech at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago, where he introduced Hinduism to the Western world. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897, focusing on social service, education, and interfaith harmony. His teachings emphasized self-realization, service to humanity, and the unity of all religions. He wrote extensively on yoga and Vedanta philosophy, influencing global spirituality and Indian nationalism. He died at the age of 39, leaving a lasting legacy as a bridge between Eastern and Western thought. more

You May Also Like

“Is enjoyment the goal of life? Were it so, it would be a tremendous mistake to become a man at all. What man can enjoy a meal with more gusto than the dog or the cat ? Go to a menagerie and see the [wild animals] tearing the flesh from the bone. Go back and become a bird! . . . What a mistake then to become a man! Vain have been my years - hundreds of years - of struggle only to become the man of sense-enjoyments.”

“[Not parroting.] My old Master used to say, "It is all very good to teach the parrot to say, 'Lord, Lord, Lord' all the time; but let the cat come and take hold of its neck, it forgets all about it" [You may] pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the gods there are, [but] unless you realise the soul there is no freedom. Not talking, theorising, argumentation, but realisation. That I call practical religion.”