| "I am the thread that runs through all these pearls," and each pearl is a
religion or even a sect thereof. Such are the different pearls, and God is the
thread that runs through all of them; most people, however, are entirely
unconscious of it. |
| "I do not want to get material life, do not want the sense-life, but
something higher." That is renunciation. Then, by the power of meditation, undo
the mischief that has been done. |
| "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and everything shall be added unto you."
This is the one great duty, this is renunciation. Live for an ideal, and leave
no place in the mind for anything else. Let us put forth all our energies to
acquire that which never fails--our spiritual perfection. If we have true
yearning for realization, we must struggle, and through struggle growth will
come. We shall make mistakes, but they may be angels unawares. |
| “Comfort” is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from
being “comfortable.” |
| “Face the brutes.” That is a lesson for all life—face the terrible, face it
boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee
before them. |
| “I do not want to get material life. I do not want sense-life but something
higher.” That is renunciation. Then, by the power of meditation, undo the
mischief that has been done. |
 “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and everything else shall be added unto
you.” This is the one great duty, this is renunciation. Live for an ideal, and
leave no place in the mind for anything else. |
| “The earth is enjoyed by heroes”—this is the unfailing truth. Be a hero.
Always say, “I have no fear.” |
| A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a
year than a mob in a century. |
| A tremendous stream is flowing toward the ocean, carrying us all along with
it; and though like straws and scraps of paper we may at times float aimlessly
about, in the long run we are sure to join the Ocean of Life and
Bliss. |
| Above all, beware of compromises. Hold on to your own principles in weal or
woe and never adjust them to others’ “fads” through the greed of getting
supporters. Your Atman is the support of the universe—whose support do you stand
in need of? |
| Above all, beware of compromises. I do not mean that you are to get into
antagonism with anybody, but you have to hold on to your own principles in weal
or woe and never adjust them to others “fads” thought the greed of getting
supporters. |
 After every happiness comes misery; they may be far apart or near. The more
advanced the soul, the more quickly does one follow the other. What we want is
neither happiness nor misery. Both make us forget our true nature; both are
chains--one iron, one gold; behind both is the Atman, who knows neither
happiness nor misery. These are states, and states must ever change; but the
nature of the Atman is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have not to get it, we have
it; only wash away the dross and see it. |
| All is the Self or Brahman. The saint, the sinner, the lamb, the tiger, even
the murderer, as far as they have any reality, can be nothing else, because
there is nothing else. |
| All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the
infinite library of the universe is in our own mind. |
| All power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Believe in
that. Do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy
lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. Stand up and express the divinity within
you. |
| All that is real in me is God; all that is real in God is I. The gulf
between God and human beings is thus bridged. Thus we find how, by knowing God,
we find the kingdom of heaven within us. |
| All that is real in me is God; all that is real in God is I. The gulf
between God and me is thus bridged. Thus by knowing God, we find that the
kingdom of heaven is within us. |
| All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can
lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls. |
| All who have actually attained any real religious experience never wrangle
over the form in which the different religions are expressed. They know that the
soul of all religions is the same and so they have no quarrel with anybody just
because he or she does not speak in the same tongue. |
| Always discriminate--your body, your house, the people and the world are all
absolutely unreal like a dream. Always think that the body is only an inert
instrument. And the Atman within is your real nature. |
| Always discriminate—your body, your house, the people around, and the world
are all unreal like a dream. Always think that this body is only an inert
instrument. And the Atman within is your real nature. |
| Anything that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness, touch it not
with the toes of your feet. |
| Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of yoga should be at
once rejected. The best guide in life is strength. In religion, as in all other
matters, discard everything that weakens you, have nothing to do with
it. |
| Are great things ever done smoothly? Time, patience, and indomitable will
must show. |
| Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect
without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or
temple. |
| As body, mind, or soul, you are a dream; you really are Being,
Consciousness, Bliss (satchidananda). You are the God of this
universe. |
| As long as we believe ourselves to be even the least different from God,
fear remains with us; but when we know ourselves to be the One, fear goes; of
what can we be afraid? |
| As soon as I think that I am a little body, I want to preserve it, to
protect it, to keep it nice, at the expense of other bodies; then you and I
become separate. |
| As soon as you know the voice and understand what it is, the whole scene
changes. The same world which was the ghastly battlefield of maya is now changed
into something good and beautiful. |
 Astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind;
therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a
physician, take good food, and rest. |
| Avoid excessive merriment. A mind in that state never becomes calm; it
becomes fickle. Excessive merriment will always be followed by sorrow. Tears and
laughter are near kin. People so often run from one extreme to the
other. |
| Be a hero. Always say, “I have no fear.” Tell this to everyone—“Have no
fear.” |
| Be brave! Be strong! Be fearless! Once you have taken up the spiritual life,
fight as long as there is any life in you. Even though you know you are going to
be killed, fight till you “are killed.” Don’t die of fright. Die fighting. Don’t
go down till you are knocked down. |
| Be not afraid, for all great power throughout the history of humanity has
been with the people. From out of their ranks have come all the greatest
geniuses of the world, and history can only repeat itself. Be not afraid of
anything. You will do marvelous work. |
| Be perfectly resigned, perfectly unconcerned; then alone can you do any true
work. No eyes can see the real forces; we can only see the results. Put out
self, forget it; just let God work, it is His business. |
| Be strong! … You talk of ghosts and devils. We are the living devils. The
sign of life is strength and growth. The sign of death is weakness. Whatever is
weak, avoid! It is death. If it is strength, go down into hell and get hold of
it! There is salvation only for the brave. "None but the brave deserves the
fair." None but the bravest deserves salvation. |
| Be strong! Don’t talk of ghosts and devils. We are the living devils. The
sign of life is strength and growth. The sign of death is weakness. Whatever is
weak, avoid! It is death. If it is strength, go down into hell and get hold of
it! There is salvation only for the brave. |
| Bless people when the revile you. Think how much good they are doing by
helping to stamp out the false ego. Hold fast to the Atman, think only pure
thoughts, and you will accomplish more than a regiment of mere
preachers. |
| Bless people when they revile you. Think how much good they are doing by
helping to stamp out the false ego. Hold fast to the real Self. Think only pure
thoughts, and you will accomplish more than a regiment of mere preachers. Out of
purity and silence comes the word of power. |
| Blows are what awaken us and help to break the dream. They show us the
insufficiency of this world and make us long to escape, to have
freedom. |
| 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. |
| Both the forces of good and evil will keep the universe alive for us, until
we awake from our dreams and give up this building of mud pies. |
| Brave, bold men and women, these are what we want. What we want is vigor in
the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not
softening namby-pamby ideas. Avoid all these. Avoid all mystery. There is no
mystery in religion. |
| Brave, bold people, these are what we want. What we want is vigor in the
blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening
namby-pamby ideas. Avoid all these. Avoid all mystery. There is no mystery in
religion. |
| By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, the duty which is in our
hands now, we make ourselves stronger; and improving our strength in this manner
step by step, we may reach a state in which it shall be our privilege to do the
most coveted and honored duties in life and in society. |
| By the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of
spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Just as the
law of gravitation existed before its discovery, and would exist if all humanity
forgot it, so is it with the laws that govern the spiritual world |
| Change is always subjective. All through evolution you find that the
conquest of nature comes by change in the subject. Apply this to religion and
morality, and you will find that the conquest of evil comes by the change in the
subjective alone. That is how the Advaitic system gets its whole force, on the
subjective side of man. |
| Change is always subjective. To talk of evil and misery is nonsense, because
they do not exist outside. If I am immune from all anger, I never feel angry. If
am immune from all hatred, I never feel hatred. |
| Come out into the broad light of day, come out from the little narrow paths,
for how can the infinite soul rest content to live and die in small
ruts? |
| Come out into the universe of Light. Everything in the universe is yours,
stretch out your arms and embrace it with love. If you every felt you wanted to
do that, you have felt God. |
| Delusion will vanish as the light becomes more and more effulgent, load
after load of ignorance will vanish, and then will come a time when all else has
disappeared and the sun alone shines. |
| Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage. |
| Desire, want, is the father of all misery. Desires are bound by the laws of
success and failure. Desires must bring misery. The great secret of true
success, of true happiness, is this: the person who asks for no return, the
perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful. |
| Despondency is not religion, whatever else it may be. |
| Discriminate within yourself between the real and the unreal. Have you not
read the Vedanta? Even when you sleep, keep the sword of discrimination at the
head of your bed, so that covetousness cannot approach you even in dream.
Practicing such strength, renunciation will gradually come, and then you will
see the portals of heaven are wide open to you. |
| Do any deserve liberty who are not ready to give it to others? Let us calmly
go to work, instead of dissipating our energy in unnecessary fretting and
fuming. |
| Do not go for glass beads leaving the mine of diamonds. This life is a great
chance. What, seekest thou the pleasures of the world? He is the fountain of all
bliss. See for the highest, aim at that highest, and you shall reach the
highest. |
| Do not hate anybody, because that hatred which comes out from you must, in
the long run, come back to you. If you love, that love will come back to you,
completing the circle. |
| Do not look back upon what has been done. Go ahead! |
| Do you think these sannyasi children of Sri Ramakrishna are born to simply
to sit under trees lighting dhuni-fires? Whenever any of them will take up some
work, people will be astonished to see their energy. Learn from them how to
work. |
| Don't look back—forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite
daring, and infinite patience—then alone can great deeds be
accomplished. |
| Each work has to pass through these stages—ridicule, opposition, and then
acceptance. Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be
misunderstood. |
| Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it were after his or her
heart. But the intelligent ones are those who can convert every work into one
that suits their taste. |
| Every action that helps us manifest our divine nature more and more is
good; every action that retards it is evil. |
| Every individual is a center for the manifestation of a certain force. This
force has been stored up as the resultant of our previous works, and each one of
us is born with this force at our back. |
| Every step I take in light is mine forever. |
| Everything must be sacrificed, if necessary, for that one sentiment:
universality. |
| Experience is the only teacher we have. We may talk and reason all our
lives, but we shall not understand a word of truth until we experience it
ourselves. |
| Fear is death, fear is sin, fear is hell, fear is unrighteousness, fear is
wrong life. All the negative thoughts and ideas that are in the world have
proceeded from this evil spirit of fear. |
| Fear is death, fear is sin, fear is hell, fear is unrighteousness. All the
negative thoughts and ideas that are in this world have proceeded from this evil
spirit of fear. |
| Fill the brain with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night
before you, and out of that will come great work. |
| First get rid of the delusion “I am the body,” then only will we want real
knowledge. |
| First, believe in the world—that there is meaning behind
everything. |
| Freedom can never be reached by the weak. Throw away all weakness. Tell your
body that it is strong, tell your mind that it is strong, and have unbounded
faith and hope in yourself. |
| Give up all desire for enjoyment in earth or heaven. Control the organs of
the senses and control the mind. Bear every misery without even knowing that you
are miserable. Think of nothing but spiritual freedom. |
| Go on saying, “I am free.” Never mind if the next moment delusion comes and
says, “I am bound.” Dehypnotize the whole thing. |
| God is merciful to those whom He sees struggling heart and soul for
realization. But remain idle, without any struggle, and you will see that His
grace will never come. |
| God is not to be reached by the weak. Never be weak. You have infinite
strength within you. How else will you conquer anything? How else will you come
to God? |
| God is not to be reached by the weak. Never be weak. You have infinite
strength within you. How else will you conquer anything? How else will you come
to God? |
| God is self-evident, impersonal, omniscient, the Knower and the Master of
nature, the Lord of all. He is behind all worship and it is being done according
to Him, whether we know it or not. |
| God is very merciful to those whom He sees struggling heart and soul for
spiritual realization. But remain idle, without any struggle, and you will see
that His grace will never come. |
| Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time. … Character
has to be established through a thousand stumbles. |
| Have faith in Guru, in his teachings, and in the surety that you can get
free. Think day and night that this universe is zero, only God is. Have intense
desire to get free. |
| Have you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstructions? If the whole
world stands against you sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you
think is right? |
| He whom the sages have been seeking in all these places is in our own
hearts; the voice that you heard was right, says Vedanta, but the direction you
gave to the voice was wrong. |
| Him I call a Mahatma ("great soul") whose heart bleeds for the poor,
otherwise he is a Duratma ("wicked soul"). Let us unite our wills in continued
prayer for their good. |
| Hold to the idea, “I am not the mind, I see that I am thinking, I am
watching my mind act,” and each day the identification of yourself with thoughts
and feelings will grow less, until at last you can entirely separate yourself
from the mind and actually know it to be apart from yourself. |
| However we may receive blows, and however knocked about we may be, the Soul
is there and is never injured. We are that Infinite. |
| I am no metaphysician, no philosopher, nay, no saint. But I am poor and I
love the poor. I see what they call the poor of this country and how many there
are who feel for them! |
| I fervently wish no misery ever came near anyone; yet it is that alone that
gives us an insight into the depths of our lives, does it not? In our moments of
anguish, gates barred forever seem to open and let in many a flood of
light. |
| I hate this world, this dream, this horrible nightmare, with its churches
and chicaneries, its books and blackguardisms, its fair faces and false hearts,
its howling righteousness on the surface and utter hollowness beneath and, above
all, its sanctified shopkeeping! |
| I hate this world, this dream, this horrible nightmare, with its churches
and chicaneries, its books and blackguardisms, its fair faces and false hearts,
its howling righteousness on the surface and utter hollowness beneath, and,
above all, its sanctified shopkeeping. |
| I have been asked many times, "Why do you laugh so much and make so many
jokes?" I become serious sometimes--when I have a stomachache! The Lord is all
blissfulness. He is the reality behind all that exists. He is the goodness, the
truth in everything. You are His incarnations. That is what is glorious. The
nearer you are to Him, the less you will have occasions to cry or weep. The
further we are from Him, the more will long faces come. The more we know of Him,
the more misery vanishes. |
| I, for one, thoroughly believe that no power in the universe can withhold
from anyone anything they really deserve. |
| If a person who lives in God becomes miserable, what is the use of living in
God? What is the use of such a God? Throw such a God overboard into the Pacific
Ocean. We do not want such a God! |
| If a piece of burning charcoal be placed on a man’s head, see how he
struggles to throw it off. Similar will be the struggle for freedom of those who
really understand that they are slaves of nature. |
| If one who lives in the Lord becomes miserable, what is the use of living in
Him? What is the use of such a God? Throw Him overboard into the Pacific Ocean.
We do not want Him. |
| If superstition enters, the brain is gone. |
| If the mind is intensely eager, everything can be accomplished—mountains can
be crumbled into atoms. |
| If there is no strength in body and mind, the Atman cannot be realized.
First you have to build the body by good nutritious food—then only will the mind
be strong. |
| If there is one word that you find coming out like a bomb from the
Upanishads, bursting like a bombshell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word
“fearlessness.” |
| If you really want the good of others, the whole universe may stand against
you and cannot hurt you. It must crumble before your power of the Lord Himself
in you if you are sincere and really unselfish. |
| If you think that you are bound, you remain bound; you make your own
bondage. If you know that you are free, you are free this moment. This is
knowledge, knowledge of freedom. Freedom is the goal of all nature. |
| If you want to be a yogi, you must be free, and place yourself in
circumstances where you are alone and free from all anxiety. One who desires a
comfortable and nice life and at the same time wants to realize the Self is like
the fool who, wanting to cross the river, caught hold of a crocodile, mistaking
it for a log of wood. |
| If you want to be a Yogi, you must be free, and place yourself in
circumstances where you are alone and free from all anxiety. One who desires a
comfortable and nice life and, at the same time, wants to realize the Atman is
like the fool who, wanting to cross the river, caught hold of a crocodile
mistaking it for a log of wood. |
| If you want to have life, you have to die every moment for it. Life and
death are only different expressions of the same thing looked at from different
standpoints; they are the falling and the rising of the same wave, and the two
form one whole. |
| Impurity is a mere superimposition under which your real nature has become
hidden. But the real you is already perfect, already strong. |
| In Buddha we had the great, universal heart and infinite patience, making
religion practical and bringing it to everyone’s door. In Shankaracharya we saw
tremendous intellectual power, throwing the scorching light of reason upon
everything. We want today that bright sun of intellectuality joined with the
heart of Buddha, the wonderful infinite heart of love and mercy. This union will
give us the highest philosophy. Science and religion will meet and shake hands.
Poetry and philosophy will become friends.What! Those giants of old, the ancient
Rishis, who never walked but strode, of whom if you were to think but for a
moment you would shrivel up into a moth, they sir, had time--and you have no
time! |
| In real meditation you forget the body. You may be cut to pieces and not
feel it at all. You feel such pleasure in it. You become so light. This perfect
rest we will get in meditation. |
| In the world take always the position of the giver. Give everything and look
for no return. Give love, give help, give service, give any little thing you
can, but keep out barter. Make no conditions and none will be imposed.
Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us. |
| In the world take always the position of the giver. Give everything and look
for no return. Give love, give help, give service, give any little thing you
can, but keep out barter. Make no conditions and none will be imposed on you.
Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us. |
| In this external world, which is full of finite things, it is impossible to
see and find the Infinite. The Infinite must be sought in that alone which is
infinite, and the only thing infinite about us is that which is within us, our
own soul. Neither the body, nor the mind, nor even our thoughts, nor the world
we see around us, is infinite. |
| Is there any sex-distinction in the Atman (Self)? Out with the
differentiation between man and woman—all is Atman! Give up the identification
with the body, and stand up! |
| It is always for greater joy that you give up the lesser. This is practical
religion—the attainment of freedom, renunciation. Renounce the lower so that you
may get the higher. Renounce! Renounce! Sacrifice! Give up! Not for zero. Not
for nothing, but to get the higher. |
| It is always for greater joy that you give up the lesser. This is practical
religion--the attainment of freedom, renunciation. Renounce the lower so that
you may get the higher. Renounce! Renounce! Sacrifice! Give up! Not for zero.
Not for nothing. But to get the higher. |
| It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no
amount of intellectual activity can reach God. |
| It is only by doing good to others that one attains to one's own
good. |
| It is only work that is done as a free-will offering to humanity and to
nature that does not bring with it any binding attachment. |
| It is only work that is done as freewill offering to humanity and to nature
that does not bring with it any binding attachment. |
| It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind that hews
its way through a thousand difficulties. |
| It is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the
truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity. |
| Jnana teaches that the world should be given up, but not on that account to
be abandoned. To be in the world but not of it—is the true test of the
sannyasin. |
| Karma is the eternal assertion of human freedom. If we can bring ourselves
down by our karma, surely it is in our power to raise ourselves by our own
karma. |
| Knowledge can only be got in one way, the way of experience; there is no
other way to know. |
| Learn to feel yourself in other bodies, to know that we are all one. Throw
all other nonsense to the winds. Spit out your actions, good or bad, and never
think of them again. What is done is done. Throw off superstition. Have no
weakness even in the face of death. Be free. |
| Learn to feel yourself in other bodies, to know that we are all one. Throw
all other nonsense to the winds. Spit out your actions, good or bad, and never
think of them again. What is done is done. Throw off superstition. Have no
weakness even in the face of death. Do not repent, do not brood over past deeds.
Be âzâd ("free"). |
| Learning and wisdom are superfluities, the surface glitter merely, but it is
the heart that is the seat of all power. |
| Learning and wisdom are superfluities, the surface glitter merely, but it is
the heart that is the seat of all power. It is not in the brain but in the heart
that the Atman, possessed of knowledge, power, and activity, has its
seat. |
| Let each one of us pray day and night for the downtrodden millions who are
held fast by poverty, priestcraft, and tyranny. Pray day and night for them. I
care more to preach religion to them than to the high and the rich. |
| Let each one of us pray day and night for the downtrodden millions, who are
held fast by poverty, priestcraft, and tyranny. Pray day and night for them. I
care more to preach religion to them than to the high and the rich. I am no
metaphysician, no philosopher, nay, no saint. But I am poor and I love the
poor. |
| Let the mind be cheerful but calm. Never let it run into excesses, because
every excess will be followed by a reaction. |
| Let the mind be cheerful but calm. Never let it run into excesses, because
every excess will be followed by a reaction. |
| Let us make our hearts as big as an ocean, to go beyond all the trifles of
the world and see it only as a picture. We can then enjoy the world without
being in any way affected by it. |
| Let us not depend upon the world for pleasure. |
| Let us put forth all our energies to acquire that which never fails—our
spiritual perfection. If we have true yearning for realization, we must
struggle, and through struggle growth will come. We shall make mistakes, but
they may be angels unawares. |
| Let us worship the spirit in spirit, standing on spirit. Let the foundation
be spirit, the middle spirit, the culmination spirit. |
| Live for an ideal, and that one ideal alone. Let it be so great, so strong,
that there may be nothing else left in the mind; no place for anything else, no
time for anything else. |
| Live for an ideal, and that one ideal alone. Let it be so great, so strong,
that there may be nothing else left in the mind; no place for anything else, no
time for anything else. |
| Look here--we shall die! Bear this in mind always, and then the spirit
within will wake up. Only then will meanness vanish from you, practicality in
work will come, you will get new vigor in mind and body, and those who come in
contact with you will also feel that they have really got something uplifting
from you. |
| Look here—we shall die! Bear this in mind always, and then the spirit within
will wake up. Then meanness will vanish from you, practicality in work will
come, you will get new vigor in mind and body, and those who come in contact
with you will also feel that they have really got something uplifting from
you. |
| Look upon every man, woman, and everyone as God. You cannot help anyone, you
can only serve: serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself, if you
have the privilege. |
| Love is always mutual and reflective. You may hate me, and if I want to love
you, you repulse me. But if I persist, in a month or a year you are bound to
love me. It is a well-known psychological phenomenon. |
| Many of us get many messages in our lives, or think we get them. As long as
the message is regarding our own selves, go on doing what you please. But when
it is in regard to our contact with and behavior to others, think a hundred
times before you act upon it—and then you will be safe. |
| 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. |
| Meditation means the mind is turned back upon itself. The mind stops all the
thought-waves and the world stops. Your consciousness expands. Every time you
meditate you will keep your growth. |
| Meditation means the mind is turned back upon itself. The mind stops all the
thought-waves and the world stops. Your consciousness expands. Every time you
meditate, you will keep your growth. |
| Mind you, this is life's experience: if you really want the good of others,
the whole universe may stand against you and cannot hurt you. It must crumble
before your power of the Lord Himself in you if you are sincere and really
unselfish. |
| My child, what I want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, inside which
dwells a mind of the same material as that of which the thunderbolt is
made. |
| 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. |
| Nature grinds all of us. Keep count of the ounce of pleasure you get. In the
long run, nature did her work through you, and when you die your body will make
other plants grow. Yet we think all the time that we are getting pleasure
ourselves. Thus the wheel goes round. |
| Nature, body, mind go to death, not we. We neither go nor come. The man
Vivekananda is in nature, is born and dies; but the Self we see as Vivekananda
is never born and never dies. It is the eternal and unchangeable
Reality. |
| Neither seek nor avoid; take what comes. It is liberty to be affected by
nothing. Do not merely endure; be unattached. |
| No authority can save us, no beliefs. If there is a God, all can find
Him. No one needs to be told it is warm; all can discover it for themselves. So
it should be with God. He should be a fact in the consciousness of every
person. |
| No one should be judged by their defects. The great virtues a person has are
his or her especially. But their errors are the common weakness of humanity and
should never be counted in estimating a person’s character. |
| No one should be judged by their defects. The virtues a person has are his
especially; his errors are the common weaknesses of humanity and should never be
counted in estimating his character. |
| Not even the deepest sleep will give you such a rest as meditation can. The
mind goes on jumping even in deepest sleep. Just those few moments in meditation
your brain has almost stopped. … You forget the body. … You feel such pleasure
in it. You become so light. This perfect rest we will get in
meditation. |
| Oh, to live even for a day in the full light of freedom, to breathe the free
air of simplicity! Isn’t that the highest purity? |
| Oh, to live even for a day in the full light of freedom, to breathe the free
air of simplicity! Isn’t that the highest purity? |
| One who leans on others cannot serve the God of Truth. |
| Our first duty is not to hate ourselves, because to advance we must have
faith in ourselves first and then in God. Those who have no faith in themselves
can never have faith in God. |
| Our supreme duty is to advance toward freedom—physical, mental, and
spiritual—and help others to do so. |
| Out of purity and silence comes the word of power. |
| Perfection does not come from belief or faith. Talk does not count for
anything. Parrots can do that. Perfection comes through selfless work. |
| Perfection is always infinite. We are the Infinite already.You and I, and
all beings, are trying to manifest that infinity. |
| Please everyone without becoming a hypocrite or a coward. |
| Pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the
gods there are ...but unless you realize the Truth, there is no
freedom. |
| Pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the
gods there are …[but] unless you realize the Self (atman), there is no
freedom. |
| Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success and,
above all, love. |
| Put God behind everything—human beings, animals, food, and work. Make this a
habit. |
| Put God behind everything—people, animals, food, work. Make this a
habit. |
| Realize your true nature. That is all there is to do. Know yourself as you
are—infinite spirit. That is practical religion. Everything else is impractical,
for everything else will perish. |
| Realize yourself. That is all there is to do. Know yourself as you
are—infinite spirit. That is practical religion. Everything else is impractical,
for everything else will vanish. |
| Religion as a science, as a study, is the greatest and healthiest exercise
that the human mind can have. |
| Religion has no business to formulate social laws and insist on the
difference between beings, because its aim and end is to obliterate all such
fictions and monstrosities. |
| 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 the background of all religious thought wherever it be, and
you will always find that as this idea of renunciation lessens, the more will
the senses creep into the field of religion, and spirituality will decrease in
the same ratio. |
| Renunciation is the very basis of our true life. Every moment of goodness
and real life that we enjoy is when we do not think of ourselves. |
| Say "So'ham, So'ham" whatever comes. Tell yourself this even in eating,
walking, suffering. Tell the mind this incessantly—that what we see never
existed, that there is only "I". Flash--the dream will break! Think day and
night, this universe is zero, only God is. Have intense desire to get
free. |
| Self-realization is to be attained by renunciation, by
meditation—renunciation of all the senses, cutting the knots, the chains that
bind us down to matter. |
| So long as millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every person a
traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to
them. |
| So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every person a
traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to
them! |
| So long as there is desire or want, it is a sure sign that there is
imperfection. A perfect, free being cannot have any desire. |
| Soft-brained people, weak-minded, chicken-hearted, cannot find the truth.
One has to be free, and as broad as the sky. |
| 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? |
| Stand as a rock; you are indestructible. You are the Self (atman),
the God of the universe. |
| Stand as a rock; you are indestructible. You are the Self, the God of the
universe. |
| Stand up, be bold, and take the blame on your own shoulders. Do not go about
throwing mud at others; for all the faults you suffer from, you are the sole and
only cause. |
| Stand up, be bold, and take the blame on your own shoulders. Do not go about
throwing mud at others; for all the faults you suffer from, you are the sole and
only cause. |
| Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own
shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the
strength and succor you want is within yourselves. Therefore, make your own
future. |
| Stand upon the Atman, then only can we truly love the world. Take a very,
very high stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect
calmness upon all the panorama of the world. |
| Stand upon the Self, only then can we truly love the world. Take a very high
stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all
the panorama of the world. |
| 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! |
| 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. |
| Strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal,
immortal. Weakness is constant strain and misery; weakness is death. |
| Strength is the sign of vigor, the sign of life, the sign of hope, the sign
of health, and the sign of everything that is good. As long as the body lives,
there must be strength in the body, strength in the mind, strength in the
hand. |
| Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse. |
| Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life—think of it, dream of it,
live on that idea. Let the brain, 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. Others are
mere talking machines. |
| Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life--think of it, dream of it,
live on that idea. Let the brain, 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. Others are
mere talking machines. |
| Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never pander to weakness. If
truth is too much for intelligent people and sweeps them away, let them go; the
sooner the better. |
| Thank God for giving you this world as a moral gymnasium to help your
development, but never imagine you can help the world. |
| That which is nearest is least observed. The Atman is the nearest of the
near, therefore a careless and unsteady mind gets no clue to the Atman. But one
who is alert, calm, self-restrained, and discriminating, ignores the external
world and, diving more and more into the inner world, realizes the glory of the
Atman and becomes great. |
| That which is nearest is least observed. The Atman is the nearest of the
near, therefore the careless and the unsteady mind gets no clue to it. But the
person who is alert, calm, self-restrained, and discriminating ignores the
external world and, diving more and more into the inner world, realizes the
glory of the Atman and becomes great. |
| The animal has its happiness in the senses, the human beings in their
intellect, and the gods in spiritual contemplation. It is only to the soul that
has attained to this contemplative state that the world really becomes
beautiful. |
| The Atman alone is eternal. Hospitals will tumble down. Railroad givers will
all die. This earth will be blown to pieces, suns wiped out. The Atman endures
for ever. |
| The book one must read to learn natural sciences is the book of nature. The
book from which to learn religion is your own mind and heart. |
| The correct meaning of the statement "The Vedas are beginningless and
eternal" is that the law or truth revealed by them is permanent and
changeless. |
| The correct meaning of the statement “The Vedas are beginningless and
eternal” is that the law or truth revealed by them is permanent and
changeless. |
| The disciple must have great power of endurance. Bear all evil and misery
without one thought of unhappiness, resistance, remedy, or retaliation. That is
true endurance, and that you must acquire. |
| The disciple must have great power of endurance. Life seems comfortable; and
you find the mind behaves well when everything is going well with you. But if
something goes wrong, your mind loses its balance. That is not good. Bear all
evil and misery without one murmur of hurt, without one thought of unhappiness,
resistance, remedy, or retaliation. That is true endurance; and that you must
acquire. |
| The essence of Vedanta is that there is but one Being and that every soul is
that Being in full, not a part of that Being. |
| The essential thing in religion is making the heart pure; the Kingdom of
Heaven is within us, but only the pure in heart can see the King. While we think
of the world, it is only the world for us; but let us come to it with the
feeling that the world is God, and we shall have God. |
| The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you are becoming
cheerful. |
| 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. |
| 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 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. |
| The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in
yourselves! If you do not exist, how can God exist, or anybody else? |
| The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in
yourselves! If you do not exist, how can God or anybody else exist? |
| The greatest sin is to think that you are weak. No one is greater: realize
that you are Brahman. Nothing has power except what you give it. |
| The highest manifestation of strength is to keep ourselves calm and on our
own feet. |
| The highest manifestation of strength is to keep ourselves calm and on our
own feet. |
| The human soul has sojourned in lower and higher forms, migrating from one
to another according to the samskaras or impressions, but it is only in the
highest form as a human being that it attains to freedom. |
| The idea of perfect womanhood is perfect independence. |
| The important thing is how much less you think of the body, of yourself as
matter—as dead, dull, insentient matter; how much more you think of yourself as
shining immortal being. The more you think of yourself as spirit, the more eager
you will be to be absolutely free from matter, body and senses. This is the
intense desire to be free. |
| The important thing is: how much less you think of the body, of yourself as
matter—as dead, dull, insentient matter; how much more you think of yourself as
shining immortal being. |
| The important thing is: how much less you think of the body, of yourself as
matter--as dead, dull, insentient matter; how much more you think of yourself as
shining immortal being. The more you think of yourself as shining immortal
spirit, the more eager you will be to be absolutely free of matter, body and
senses. This is the intense desire to be free. |
| The Kingdom of Heaven is within us. God is within us. He is the Soul of our
souls. See Him in your own soul. That is practical religion. That is
freedom. |
| The Kingdom of Heaven is within us. He is there. He is the soul of our
souls. See Him in your own soul. That is practical religion. That is
freedom |
| The less passion there is, the better we work. The calmer we are, the better
for us and the more the amount of work we can do. When we let loose our
feelings, we waste so much energy, shatter our nerves, disturb our minds, and
accomplish very little work. |
| The less the thought of the body, the better it is for us. For it is the
body that drags us down. It is attachment, identification, which makes us
miserable. |
| The less the thought of the body, the better it is. For it is the body that
drags us down. It is attachment, identification which makes us miserable. That
is the secret: to think that I am the spirit and not the body, and that the
whole of this universe with all its relations, with all its good and all its
evil, is but as a series of paintings--scenes on a canvas--of which I am the
witness. |
| The meditative state is the highest state of existence. So long as there is
desire, no real happiness can come. It is only the contemplative, witness-like
study of objects that brings to us real enjoyment and happiness. |
| The mind is but the subtle part of the body. You must retain great strength
in your mind and words. |
| The mistake is that we cling to the body when it is the spirit that is
really immortal. |
| The mistake is that we cling to the body when it is the spirit that is
really immortal. |
| The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of
misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is
the fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings
heaven in a moment. |
| The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the greatest cause
of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It
is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven
in a moment. |
| The more we grow in love and virtue and holiness, the more we see love and
virtue and holiness outside. All condemnation of others really condemns
ourselves. Adjust the microcosm (which is in your power to do) and the macrocosm
will adjust itself for you. |
| The more we grow in love and virtue and holiness, the more we see love and
virtue and holiness outside. All condemnation of others really condemns
ourselves. Adjust the microcosm (which is in your power to do) and the macrocosm
will adjust itself for you. It is like the hydrostatic paradox, one drop of
water can balance the universe. |
| The more you think of yourself as shining immortal spirit, the more eager
you will be to be absolutely free of matter, body, and senses. This is the
intense desire to be free. |
| The nature of the brute is to remain where he is, of a human being to seek
good and to avoid evil, and of God to neither seek nor avoid but just to be
eternally blissful. Let us be Gods, let us make our hearts like an ocean, to go
beyond all the trifles of the world and see it only as a picture. We can then
enjoy it without being in any way affected by it. |
| The nature of the brutes is to remain where they are, of human beings to
seek good and avoid evil, and of God to neither seek nor avoid but just to be
blissful eternally. Let us be like God. |
| The nearer we are to God, the less we will have occasions to cry or weep.
The further we are from God, the more will long faces come. The more we know
God, the more misery vanishes. |
| 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. |
| The past was great no doubt, but I sincerely believe that the future will be
more glorious still. |
| The power is with the silent ones, who only live and love and then withdraw
their personality. They never say “me” and “mine”; they are only blessed in
being instruments. |
| The power of purity—it is a definite power. |
| The powers of the mind should be concentrated and the mind turned back upon
itself; as the darkest places reveal their secrets before the penetrating rays
of the sun, so will the concentrated mind penetrate its own innermost
secrets. |
| The sages are often ignorant of physical science, because they read the
wrong book—the book within; and the scientists are too often ignorant of
religion, because they too read the wrong book—the book outside. |
| The secret of life is not enjoyment but education through
experience. |
| The Self when it appears behind the universe is called God. The same Self
when it appears behind this little universe—the body—is the soul. |
| The Soul is not composed of any materials. It is unity indivisible.
Therefore it must be indestructible. |
| The varieties of religious belief are an advantage, since all faiths are
good, so far as they encourage us to lead a religious life. The more sects there
are, the more opportunities there are for making a successful appeal to the
divine instinct in all of us. |
| The weak have no place here, in this life or any other life. Weakness leads
to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental. Weakness
is death. |
| The weak have no place here, in this life or in any other life. Weakness
leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental.
Weakness is death. |
| The weak, the fearful, the ignorant will never reach the Atman. You cannot
undo what you have done; the effect must come. Face it, but be careful never to
do the same thing again. Give up the burden of all deeds to God. Give all, both
good and bad. God helps those who do not help themselves. |
| The weak, the fearful, the ignorant will never reach the Atman. You cannot
undo, the effect must come, face it, but be careful never to do the same thing
again. Give up the burden of all deeds to the Lord. Give all, both good and bad.
Do not keep the good and give only the bad. God helps those who do not
help themselves. |
| 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
free. |
| The whole universe is one in the Atman. That Atman when it appears behind
the universe is called God. The same Atman when it appears behind this little
universe, the body, is the soul. This very soul, therefore, is the Atman in
us. |
| 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. |
| The whole universe is one. There is only one Self in the universe, only One
Existence. |
| The will is stronger than anything else. Everything must go down before the
will, for it comes from God. A pure and strong will is omnipotent. |
| The wind of divine grace is always blowing. You just need to spread your
sail. Whenever you do anything, do it with your whole heart concentrated on it.
Think day and night, “I am of the essence of that Supreme
Being-Consciousness-Bliss. What fear and anxiety have I?” |
| The wind of divine grace is blowing on for ever and ever. Do you spread your
sail. Whenever you do anything, do it with your whole heart concentrated on
it. |
| 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 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 |
| There cannot be friendship without equality. |
| There is hope for all. None can die; none can be degraded forever. Life is
but a playground, however gross the play may be. However we may receive blows,
and however knocked about we may be, the Atman is there and is never injured. We
are that Infinite. |
| There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the
universe. Like the silkworm you have built a cocoon around yourself…. Burst your
own cocoon and come out aw the beautiful butterfly, as the free soul. Then alone
you will see Truth. |
| There is one thing to be remembered: that the assertion--I am God--cannot be
made with regard to the sense-world. |
| There is one thing to be remembered: that the assertion—I am God—cannot be
made with regard to the sense-world. |
| There is only one sin and it is: weakness. When I was a boy, I read Milton’s
Paradise Lost. The only good man I had any respect for was Satan. The only saint
is that person who never weakens, faces everything, and determines die
game. |
| There is only one sin. That is weakness.... The only saint is that soul that
never weakens, faces everything, and determines to die game. |
| There is only one sin—and that sin is weakness. When I was a boy, I read
Milton’s Paradise Lost. The only good man I had any respect for was
Satan. The only saint is the soul who never weakens, faces everything, and
determines to die game. |
| There is to be found in every religion the manifestation of the struggle
toward freedom. It is the groundwork of all morality, of unselfishness, which
means getting rid of the idea that human beings are the same as this little
body. |
| They alone live whose lives are in the whole universe, and the more we
concentrate our lives on limited things, the faster we go towards death. Those
moments alone we live when our lives are in the universe, in others; and living
this little life is death, simply death, and that is why the fear of death
comes. |
| They alone live whose lives are in the whole universe. The more we
concentrate our lives in limited things, the faster we go towards death. Those
moments alone we live when our lives are in the universe, in others; and living
this little life is death, simply death, and that is why the fear of death
comes. |
| Think always, “I am ever-pure, ever-knowing, and ever-free. How I can do
anything evil? Can I ever be fooled like ordinary people with the insignificant
charms of lust and wealth?” Strengthen the mind with such thoughts. This will
surely bring real good. |
| Think always: "I am ever-pure, ever-knowing, and ever-free. How can I do
anything evil? Can I ever be befooled like ordinary people with the
insignificant charms of lust and wealth?" Strengthen the mind with such
thoughts. This will surely bring real good. |
| Think day and night, "I am of the essence of that Supreme Existence,
Knowledge, Bliss--what fear and anxiety have I? This body, mind, and intellect
are all transient, and That which is beyond these is myself." |
| This earth is higher than all the heavens; this is the greatest school in
the universe. |
| This I have seen in life—those who are overcautious about themselves fall
into dangers at every step; those who are afraid of losing honor and respect,
get only disgrace; and those who are always afraid of loss, always
lose. |
| This is no world. It is God Himself. In delusion we call it world. |
| This is the first lesson to learn: be determined not to curse anything
outside, not to lay the blame upon anyone outside, but stand up, lay the blame
on yourself. You will find that is always true. Get hold of yourself. |
| This is the great lesson that we are here to learn through myriads of births
and heavens and hells—that there is nothing to be asked for, desired for, beyond
one’s spiritual Self (atman). |
| This is the secret of spiritual life: to think that I am the Atman and not
the body, and that the whole of this universe with all its relations, with all
its good and all its evil, is but as a series of paintings—scenes on a canvas—of
which I am the witness. |
| This life is a hard fact; work your way through it boldly, though it may be
adamantine; no matter, the soul is stronger. |
| This little separate self must die. Then we shall find that we are in the
Real, and that Real is God, and He is our own true nature, and He is always in
us and with us. Let us live in Him and stand in Him. It is the only joyful state
of existence. Life on the plane of the Spirit is the only life, and let us all
try to attain to this realization. |
| This little separate self must die. Then we shall find that we are in the
Real, and that Reality is God, and He is our own true nature, and He is always
in us and with us. Let us live in Him and stand in Him. It is the only joyful
state of existence. |
| This world is nothing. It is at best only a hideous caricature, a shadow of
the Real. We must go to the Real. Renunciation will take us to It. Renunciation
is the very basis of our true life; every moment of goodness and real life that
we enjoy is when we do not think of ourselves. |
| This world is nothing. It is at best only a hideous caricature, a shadow of
the Reality. We must go to the Reality. Renunciation will take us to
It. |
| 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. |
| Those who grumble at the little thing that has fallen to their lot to do
will grumble at everything. Always grumbling they will lead a miserable life….
But those who do their duty putting their shoulder to the wheel will see the
light, and higher and higher duties will fall to their share. |
| Those who grumble at the little thing that has fallen to their lot to do
will grumble at everything. Always grumbling, they will lead a miserable life,
and everything will be a failure. But those who do their duties as they go,
putting their shoulders to the wheel, will see the light, and higher duties will
fall to their share. |
| 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. |
| Those who work at a thing heart and soul not only achieve success in it but
through their absorption in that they also realize the supreme truth—Brahman.
Those who work at a thing with their whole heart receive help from
God. |
| To believe blindly is to degenerate the human soul. Be an atheist if you
want, but do not believe in anything unquestioningly. |
| To realize the spirit as spirit is practical religion. Everything else is
good so far as it leads to this one grand idea. |
| To realize the spirit as spirit is practical religion. Everything else is
good so far as it leads to this one grand idea. That realization is to be
attained by renunciation, by meditation—renunciation of all the senses, cutting
the knots, the chains that bind us down to matter. |
| To succeed you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. “I will
drink the ocean,” says the persevering soul, “at my will mountains will
crumble.” Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you will
reach the goal. |
| To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. "I will
rink the ocean," says the persevering soul, "at my will mountains will crumble
up." Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you will reach
the goal. |
| To talk of evil and misery is nonsense, because they do not exist outside.
If I am immune against all anger, I never feel angry. If I am proof against all
hatred, I never feel hatred. |
| To the person who desires nothing and does not get entangled in desires, the
manifold changes of nature are one panorama of beauty and sublimity. |
| 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? |
| Tremendous purity, tremendous renunciation, is the one secret of
spirituality. How can great spirituality come without renunciation? Renunciation
is the background of all religious thought wherever it be, and you will always
find that as this idea of renunciation lessens, the more will the senses creep
into the field of religion, and spirituality will decrease in the same
ratio. |
| True religion is not talk, or doctrines, or theories, nor is it
sectarianism. It is the relation between soul and God. Religion does not consist
in erecting temples, or building churches, or attending public worship. It is
not to be found in books, or in words, or in lectures, or in organizations.
Religion consists in realization. We must realize God, feel God, see God, talk
to God. That is religion. |
| Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to
pay homage to Truth or die. |
| Truth, purity and unselfishness—wherever these are present, there is no
power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with
these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in
opposition. |
| Truth, purity, and unselfishness—wherever these are present, there is no
power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with
these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in
opposition. |
| 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. |
| Understanding human nature is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing it
can we know God. It is also a fact that the knowledge of God is the highest
knowledge, and only by knowing God can we understand human nature. |
| Wait with patience and love and strength. If helpers are not ready now, they
will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry? The real working force of all
great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings. |
| Watch people do their most common actions; these are indeed the things that
will tell you the real character of a great person. |
| We are ever free if we would only believe it, only have faith enough. You
are the soul, free and eternal, ever free, ever blessed. Have faith enough and
you will be free in a minute. |
| We are suffering from our own karma. It is not the fault of God. What we do
is our own fault, nothing else. Why should God be blamed? |
| We believe that every being is divine, is God. Every soul is a sun covered
over with clouds of ignorance; the difference between soul and soul is owing to
the difference in density of these layers of clouds. |
| We believe that every being is divine, is God. Every soul is a sun covered
over with clouds of ignorance; the difference between soul and soul is owing to
the difference in density of these layers of clouds. |
| We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled.
We came to work; we are being worked. All the time, we find that. And this comes
into every detail of our life. |
| We can never lose what is really ours. Who can lose his being? Who can lose
his very existence? If I am good, it is the existence first, and then that
becomes colored with the quality of goodness. If I am evil, it is the existence
first, and that becomes colored with the quality of badness. That existence is
first, last, and always; it is never lost but ever present. |
| We cannot see outside what we are not inside. The universe is to us what the
huge engine is to the miniature engine; and indication of any error in the tiny
engine leads us to imagine trouble in the huge one. |
| We cannot see outside what we are not inside. The universe is to us what the
huge engine is to the miniature engine; and indication of any error in the tiny
engine leads us to imagine trouble in the huge one. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| We have to go back to philosophy to treat things as they are. We are
suffering from our own karma. It is not the fault of God. What we do is our own
fault, nothing else. Why should God be blamed? |
| We must approach religion with reverence and with love, and our heart will
stand up and say, this is truth, and this is untruth. |
| We must be bright and cheerful. Long faces do not make religion. Religion
should be the most joyful thing in the world, because it is the best. |
| We must have friendship for all; we must be merciful toward those that are
in misery; when people are happy, we ought to be happy; and to the wicked we
must be indifferent. These attitudes will make the mind peaceful. |
| We must plunge heart and soul and body into the work. And until we are ready
to sacrifice everything else to one Idea and to one alone, we never, never will
see the Light. |
| We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. None else has the
blame, none has the praise. |
| We want to know in order to make ourselves free. That is our life: one
universal cry for freedom. |
| What about this marvelous experience of standing alone, discarding all help,
breasting the storms of life, of working without any sense of recompense,
without any sense of putrid duty, and of working a whole life, joyful, free --
not goaded on to work like slaves by false human love or ambition?Nature grinds
all of us. Keep count of the ounce of pleasure you get. In the long run, nature
did her work through you, and when you die your body will make other plants
grow. Yet we think all the time that we are getting pleasure ourselves. Thus the
wheel goes round. |
| What do you gain in heaven? You become gods, drink nectar, and get
rheumatism. There is less misery there than on earth, but also less
truth. |
| What I want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, inside which dwells a
mind of the same material as that of which the thunderbolt is made. |
| What is material and what is not material? When the world is the end and God
the means to attain that end, then that is material. When God is the end and the
world is only the means to attain that end, spirituality has begun. |
| What is material and what is not? When the world is the end and God is the
means to attain that end, that is material. When God is the end and the world is
only the means to attain that end, spirituality has begun. |
| What is the use of talking of one’s mistakes to the world? They cannot
thereby be undone. For what one has done one must suffer; one must try and do
better. The world sympathizes only with the strong and the powerful. |
| What is the world that is to be given up? It is here. I am carrying it all
with me. My own body. It is all for this body that I put my hand voluntarily
upon my fellow beings, just to keep it nice and give it a little pleasure; [all
for this body] that I injure others and make mistakes. |
| What is the world that is to be given up? It is here. I am carrying it all
with me. My own body. It is all for this body that I put my hand voluntarily
upon my fellow human beings, just to keep it nice and give it a little pleasure.
It is all for the body that I injure others and make mistakes. |
| What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life
is one burning love--selfless. That love will make every word tell like a
thunderbolt. Awake, awake, great souls! The world is burning in misery. Can you
sleep?Work unto death--I am with you, and when I am gone, my spirit will work
with you. This life comes and goes--wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few
days. It is better, far better, to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth
than to die like a worldly worm. Advance! |
| What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life
is one burning love—selfless. That love will make every word tell like a
thunderbolt. Aware, awake, great souls! The world is burning in misery. Can you
sleep? |
| What the world wants today is twenty men and women who can dare to stand in
the street yonder and say that they possess nothing but God. Who will go? Why
should one fear? If this is true, what else could matter? If it is not true,
what do our lives matter? |
| What the world wants today is twenty men and women who can dare to stand in
the street yonder and say that they possess nothing but God. Who will go? Why
should one fear? If this is true, what else could matter? If it is not true,
what do our lives matter? |
| Whatever you believe, that you will be. If you believe yourselves to be
sages, sages you will be tomorrow. There is nothing to obstruct you. |
| When once you consider an action, do not let anything dissuade you. Consult
your heart, not others, and then follow its dictates. |
| When we can attach the mind to—or detach it from—the sense at our will, we
shall really possess character. Then alone we shall have taken a long step
towards freedom; before that, we are mere machines. |
| When we come to nonattachment, then we can understand the marvelous mystery
of the universe: how it is intense activity and at the same time intense peace,
how it is work every moment and rest every moment. |
| When we have become free, we need not go mad and throw up society and rush
off to die in the forest or the cave; we shall remain where we were but we shall
understand the whole thing. The same phenomena will remain but with a new
meaning. |
| When we have become free, we need not go mad and throw up society and rush
off to die in the forest or the cave; we shall remain where we were, only we
shall understand the whole thing. |
| Whenever we attain a higher vision, the lower vision disappears of
itself. |
| Where God is, there is no other. Where the world is, there is no God. These
two will never unite. Like light and darkness. That is what I have understood
from Christianity and the life of Jesus. Isn’t that also Buddhism? Isn’t that
Hinduism? Isn’t that Islam? Isn’t that the teaching of all the great sages and
teachers? |
| Where God is, there is no other. Where world is, there is no God. These two
will never unite. Like light and darkness. |
| Who makes us ignorant? We ourselves. We put our hands over our eyes and weep
that it is dark. |
| Who will bring light to the poor? Who will travel from door to door bringing
education to them? Let these people be your God—think of them, work for them,
pray for them incessantly. The Lord will show you the way. |
| Whose meditation is real and effective? Who can really surrender to the will
of God? Only the person whose mind has been purified by selfless work. |
| Why are people so afraid? The answer is that they have made themselves
helpless and dependent on others. We are so lazy, we do not want to do anything
ourselves. We want a Personal God, a Savior or a Prophet to do everything for
us. |
| Woman has suffered for eons, and that has given her infinite patience and
infinite perseverance. |
| Women will work out their destinies—much better, too, than men can ever do
for them. All the mischief to women has come because men undertook to shape the
destiny of women. |
| Work a little harder at meditation and it 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. |
| Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift off the
bondage and illusion. |
| Work on with the intrepidity of a lion but at the same time with the
tenderness of a flower. |
|
Work unto death—I am with you, and when I am gone, my spirit will work with
you. This life comes and goes—wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few days.
It is better, far better, to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth, than
to die like a worldly worm. Advance! |
| Worship of society and popular opinions is idolatry. The soul has no sex, no
country, no place, no time. |
| You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself. |
| You must avoid excessive merriment. A mind in that state never becomes calm;
it becomes fickle. Excessive merriment will always be followed by sorrow. Tears
and laughter are near kin. People so often run from one extreme to the
other. |
| You, as body, mind, or soul, are a dream, but what you really are, is Being,
Consciousness, Bliss. You are the God of this universe. You are creating the
whole universe and drawing it in. |
Your Atman is the support of the universe—whose support do you stand in need
of? Wait with patience and love and strength. If helpers are not ready now, they
will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry? The real working force of all
great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings.
|
Incorporate my eight steps to fearlessness into your everyday life and feel your fears melt away:
