Ignorance and Life

Ignorance is death, knowledge is life. Life is of very little value, if it is a life in the dark, groping through ignorance and misery.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, December 20, 1895. Complete Works, 1:52.

Desire and pain

As desire increases, so increases the power of pleasure,
so the power of pain.

From notes discovered among Swami Vivekananda's papers.
He evidently intended to write a book and
jotted down these points for the work.
Complete Works, 5:429.

Universal brotherhood

As soon as you make a sect, you protest against universal brotherhood. Those who really feel universal brotherhood do not talk much, but their very actions speak aloud.

Sayings and Utterances. Complete Works, 5:410.

Laying foundation

My children must plunge into the breach, must renounce the world--then the firm foundation will be laid.

Letter to Dr, Nanjunda Rao. From Switzerland: August 26, 1896. Complete Works, 5.114.

Scriptures in today's India

How many in India truly understand the scriptures nowadays? They have only learnt such words as Brahman, Maya, Prakriti, and so on, and confuse their heads with them. Setting aside the real meaning and purpose of the scriptures, they fight only over the words.

Sayings and Utterances. Complete Works, 5.420.

Love and Reasoning

All desires are but beads of glass. Love of God increases every moment and is ever new, to be known only by feeling it. Love is the easiest of all, it waits for no logic, it is natural. We need no demonstration, no proof. Reasoning is limiting something by our own minds. We throw a net and catch something, and then say that we have demonstrated it, but never, never can we catch God in a net.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 24, 1895. Complete Works, 7.10.

Brahman and Maya

The metaphysical and the physical universe are one, and the name of this One is Brahman. The perception of separateness is an error called māyā or avidyā. This is the culmination of knowledge.

From "The East and the West," originally written in Bengali. Complete Works, 5.520.

World and God

Karma, Bhakti, and Jnana all meet in self-abnegation; and that is what the great preachers of ancient times meant, when they taught that God is not the world. There is one thing which is the world and another which is God; and this distinction is very true.

What they mean by world is selfishness. Unselfishness is God. One may live on a throne, in a golden palace, and be perfectly unselfish--and then such a person can be said to be in God. Another may live in a hut and wear rags, and have nothing in the world--yet, if this person is selfish, he is intensely merged in the world.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 3, 1896. Complete Works, 1.87.

Personalities and Inspiration

Q: In what sense is Shri Ramakrishna a part of this awakened Hinduism?

Vivekananda: That is not for me to determine. I have never preached personalities. My own life is guided by the enthusiasm of this great soul; but others will decide for themselves how far they share in this attitude. Inspiration is not filtered out to the world through one channel, however good. Each generation should be inspired afresh. Are we not all God?

Interview in the Prabuddha Bharata. September 1898. Complete Works, 5.227.

Scriptures are for one and all

If the scriptures cannot help all people in all conditions at all times, of what use, then, are such scriptures? If the scriptures show the way to only the monk and not to the householder, then what need has a householder for such one-sided scriptures? If the scriptures can only help people when they give up all work and retire into the forests, and cannot show the way of lighting the lamp of hope in the hearts people of the workaday world--in the midst of their daily toil, disease, misery, and poverty, in the despondency of the penitent, in the self-reproach of the downtrodden, in the terror of the battlefield, in lust, anger and pleasure, in the joy of victory, in the darkness of defeat, and finally, in the dreaded night of death--then weak humanity has no need at all of such scriptures, and such scriptures will be no scriptures at all!

Sayings and Utterances. Complete Works, 5.420-21.

Health of Westerners vis-a-vis Indians

In point of longevity and physical and mental strength, there is a great difference between the Westerners and Indians. As soon as we Indians attain to forty, our hope and physical and mental strength are on the decline. While, at that age, full of youthful vigor and hope, the Westerners have only made a start.

From "The East and the West," originally written in Bengali. Complete Works, 5.466-67.

Guru's Greatness

The greatness of a teacher consists in the simplicity of his language.

Letter to Alasinga Perumal. From Boston: March 23, 1896. Complete Works, 5.106.

On Belief and Conversion

I do not come to convert you to a new belief. I want you to keep your own belief. I want to make the Methodist a better Methodist; the Presbyterian a better Presbyterian; the Unitarian a better Unitarian. I want to teach you to live the truth, to reveal the light within your own soul.

Sayings and Utterances. Complete Works, 5:419.

My Work

I have formulated the idea and have given my life to it. If I do not achieve success, some better one will come after me to work it out, and I shall be content to struggle.

Interview in Madras Times. Chennai, February 1897. Complete Works, 5. 223.

Do Work as Yoga

Work is merely a schooling for the doer; it can do no good to others. We must work out our own problem. The prophets only show us how to work. "What you think, you become." So if you throw your burden on Jesus, you will have to think of him and thus become like him--you love him.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 24, 1895. Complete Works, 7.9.
By "it can do no good to others," Swamiji means that it can do no lasting good to others.
Whatever good we do to others is temporary. To the doer, though, work done as yoga
brings purity of mind, which is not temporary.

This World

This world is not our habitation.
It is only one of the many steps through which we are passing.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, December 20, 1895. Complete Works, 1:56.

Multi-faceted personality

One-sidedness is the bane of the world. The more sides you can develop, the more souls you have, and you can see the universe through all souls--through the bhakta (devotee) and the jñānī (philosopher). Determine your own nature and stick to it.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 23, 1895. Complete Works, 7:6.

God is nature

We go through the world like a man pursued by a policeman and see the barest glimpses of the beauty of it. All this fear that pursues us comes from the believing in matter. Matter gets its existence from the presence of mind behind it. What we see is God percolating through nature.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 19, 1895. Complete Works, 7:6.
In this quote, "nature" is used in the sense of matter and mind.

Use a thorn to remove a thorn ... and then throw away both

There is a thorn in my finger and I use another to take the first one out, and when I have taken it out, I throw both of them aside. I have no necessity of keeping the second thorn, because both are thorns after all. So the bad tendencies are to be counteracted by the good ones, and the bad impressions on the mind should be removed by the fresh waves of good ones, until all that is evil almost disappears, or is subdued and held in control in a corner of the mind. But after that, the good tendencies have also to be conquered. Thus the "attached" becomes the "unattached."

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, December 20, 1895. Complete Works, 1:55-56.

Guru-Bhakti

Guru-Bhakti is the foundation of all spiritual development.

Letter to Alasinga Perumal. From USA: November 18, 1895. Complete Works, 5.98.

Be Brave!

The brave alone do great things, not the cowards. Know once for all, you faithless ones, that I am in the hands of the Lord. So long as I am pure and His servant, not a hair on my head will be touched ... Be brave, be brave! Human beings die but once. My disciples must not be cowards.

Letter to Alasinga Perumal. From USA: July 1, 1895. Complete Works, 5.86-87.

True Happiness

We think foolishly that we can make ourselves happy and, after years of struggle, find out at last that true happiness consists in killing selfishness and that no one can make us happy except ourselves.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 3, 1896. Complete Works, 1.84.

Nature

External nature is only internal nature writ large.

Sayings and utterances. Complete Works, 5:409

Importance of Activity

I once met a man in my country whom I had known before as a very stupid, dull person, who knew nothing and had not the desire to know anything, and was living the life of a brute. He asked me what he should do to know God, how he was to get free. "Can you tell a lie?" I asked him. "No," he replied. "Then you must learn to do so. It is better to tell a lie than to be a brute, or a log of wood. You are inactive; you have not certainly reached the highest state, which is beyond all actions, calm and serene; you are too dull even to do something wicked." That was an extreme case, of course, and I was joking with him; but what I meant was that a person must be active in order to pass through activity to perfect calmness.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, 1895. Complete Works, 1:39-40

Manners

Sister, the way is long, the time is short, evening is approaching. I have to go home soon. I have no time to give my manners a finish. I cannot find time to deliver my message. You are good, you are so kind, I will do anything for you; and do not be angry, I see that you all are mere children.

Letter to Miss Mary Hale. From New York: February 1, 1895. Complete Works, 5:72.

True Renounciation

Buddha gave up his throne and renounced his position, that was true renunciation; but there cannot be any question of renunciation in the case of a beggar who has nothing to renounce.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, 1895. Complete Works, 1:38

What is Religion?

Religion is the idea that is raising the brute unto a human being, and a human being unto God.

Sayings and utterances. Complete Works, 5:409

My Life's Work

The dry, abstract Advaita must become living--poetic--in everyday life. Out of hopelessly intricate mythology must come concrete moral forms, and out of bewildering Yogi-ism must come the most scientific and practical psychology--and all this must be put in a form so that a child may grasp it. That is my life's work.

Letter to Alasinga Perumal. From USA: February 17, 1896. Complete Works, 5.104-5.

Action and Reaction

Just as every action that emanates from us comes back to us as reaction, even so our actions may act on other people and theirs on us. Perhaps all of you have observed it as a fact that when people do evil actions, they become more and more evil, and when they begin to do good, they become stronger and stronger and learn to do good all the time. This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 3, 1896. Complete Works, 1:81.

The True Guru

Everyone makes shipwreck on the rock of would-be Guruism,
except souls that were born to be Gurus.

Sayings and Utterances. Complete Works, 5:417.

Universal Brotherhood

Look at the "ocean" and not at the "wave." See no difference between ant and angel. Every worm is the brother of Nazarene. How can you say one is greater and one less? Each is great in his own place. We are in the sun and the stars as much as here. Spirit is beyond space and time and is everywhere.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 23, 1895. Complete Works, 7.7.

Social Reform In India

Hindus do stand in need of social reform. At times great men would evolve new ideas of progress, and kings would give them the sanction of law. Thus social improvements had been made in India in the past. To effect such progressive reforms in modern times, we will have first to build up such an authoritative power. Kings having gone, the power is the people's. We have, therefore, to wait till the people are educated, till they understand their needs and are ready and able to solve their problems. The tyranny of the minority is the worst tyranny in the world. Therefore, instead of frittering away our energies on ideal reforms, which will never become practical, we had better go to the root of the evil and make a legislative body, that is to say, educate our people, so that they may be able to solve their own problems. Until that is done, all these old reforms will remain ideals only. The new order of things is the salvation of the people by the people, and it takes time to make it workable, especially in India, which has always in the past been governed by kings.

Interview in The Hindu. Chennai, 1896. Complete Works, 5: 215-16.

The Way of Knowledge

Jñāna Yoga is divided into three parts.

(1) hearing the truth--that the Ātman is the only reality and that everything else is māyā.
(2) reasoning upon this philosophy from all points of view.
(3) giving up all further argumentation and realizing the truth.

This realization comes from:

(1) being certain that Brahman is real and everything else is unreal;
(2) giving up all desire for enjoyment;
(3) controlling the senses and the mind;
(4) intense desire to be free.

Meditating on the reality always and reminding oneself of its real nature are the only ways in this yoga. It is the highest but most difficult. Many persons get an intellectual grasp of it, but very few attain realization.

Written during Swamiji's first visit to America, in response to questions put by a Western disciple. Complete Works, 8:154-155.

On His Work In The West

To put the Hindu ideas into English and then make out of dry philosophy and intricate mythology and startling psychology, a religion which shall be easy, simple, popular, and at the same time meet the requirements of the highest minds--is a task only those can understand who have attempted it.

Letter to Alasinga Perumal. From USA: February 17, 1896. Complete Works, 5.104.