Born on January 12, 1863, as Narendra Nath Datta in Kolkata into an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family, he became a deciple of the famed saint of Dakshineshwar, Swami Ramkrishna Paramhansa. He renounced worldly pleasures and became a sanyasi, not to roam aimlessly, but for the service of humanity. Swami Vivekanada was a key figure for introducing the Indian Vendanta and philosophies of Yoga to the world which put India on the world's spiritual map. It was his famous speech at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, 1893 that forever changed the way the world looked at India.
Founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission, Vivekananda not only revived our ancient heritage, but also, enlightened and awakened people's religious consciousness and worked for uplifting the downtrodden. He is also credited for raising inter-faith awareness, reviving Hinduism and contributing to the idea of nationalism in India in the 19th century.
Remembering the great saint Swami Vivekananda on his death anniversary today, we share some of his timeless quotes here which are pertinent even today.
1. "The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves."
2. "Strength is Life, Weakness is Death.
Expansion is Life, Contraction is Death.
Love is Life, Hatred is Death."
3. "Talk to yourself once in a day, otherwise you may miss meeting an intelligent person in this world."
4. "Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true."
5. "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."
6. "In a day, when you don't come across any problems - you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong path."
7. "In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart."
8. "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."
9. "Be the servant while leading. Be unselfish. Have infinite patience, and success is yours."
10. "You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul."
11. "We are what are thoughts have made us, so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far."
12. "Arise! Awake! And stop not until the goal is reached."
13. "You can not believe in God until you believe in yourself."
14. "The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong."
15. "Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak."
16. "That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material."
17. "If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished."
18. "Truth can be stated in thousand different ways, yet each one can be true."
19. "Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth."
20. "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."
21. "Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being."
22. "The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them."
23. "The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed."
24. "As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God."
25. "All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything."
26. "External nature is only internal nature writ large."
27. "If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better."
28. "When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state."
29. "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."
30. "God is to be worshipped as the one beloved, dearer than everything in this and next life."
31. "In one word, this ideal is that you are divine."
32. "The will is not free - it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect - but there is something behind the will which is free."
33. "Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man."
34. "Purity,patience, and preserverance are the three essentials to success, and above all: love."
35. "Anything that makes weak – physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison."
36. "All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in your own mind."
37. "If the mind is intensely eager, everything can be accomplished - mountains can be crumbled into atom."
38. "This life is a hard fact; work your way through it boldly, though it may be adamantine; no matter, the soul is stronger."
39. "All the powers of the universe are inside us. It is we who put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark."
40. "The external nature is only the internal nature is large."
41. "All distinctions in this world are of some level, not of type, because unity is the secret of all things."
42. "Do not condemn anyone: If you can raise your hand to help, then definitely increase. If you can't extend, then join your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their way."
43. "When an idea has exclusive control over the brain, when it is modified into a real physical or mental state."
44. "The more we do good with others, the more our heart becomes pure and God dwells in it."
45. "Believing in myself would have been taught and practised in more detail, I am sure that a great deal of evils and sorrows would have vanished."
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