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.