From My Spiritual Diary-60: "Controlling the Mind"

How hard it is to control the mind! Well has it been compared to the maddened monkey. There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough, some one made him drink freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion, he jumps about for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery, a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such a mind?

The first lesson, then, is to sit for some time and let the mind run on....Until you know what the mind is doing you cannot control it. Give it the rein; many hideous thoughts may come into it; you will be astonished that it was possible for you to think such thoughts. But you will find that each day the mind's vagaries are becoming less and less violent, that each day it is becoming calmer.....we must patiently practise every day.....It is a tremendous work, not to be done in a day. Only after a patient, continuous struggle for years can we succeed.

Excerpt from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

From My Spiritual Diary-59: "The Spirit of Vedanta"

…I came here to represent a philosophy of India, which is called the Vedanta philosophy. This philosophy is very, very ancient; it is the outcome of that mass of ancient Aryan literature known by the name of the Vedas. It is, as it were, the very flower of all the speculations and experiences and analyses, embodied in that mass of literature — collected and culled through centuries. This Vedanta philosophy has certain peculiarities. In the first place, it is perfectly impersonal; it does not owe its origin to any person or prophet: it does not build itself around one man as a centre. Yet it has nothing to say against philosophies which do build themselves around certain persons. In later days in India, other philosophies and systems arose, built around certain persons — such as Buddhism, or many of our present sects. They each have a certain leader to whom they owe allegiance, just as the Christians and Mohammedans have. But the Vedanta philosophy stands at the background of all these various sects, and there is no fight and no antagonism between the Vedanta and any other system in the world.

One principle it lays down — and that, the Vedanta claims, is to be found in every religion in the world — that man is divine, that all this which we see around us is the outcome of that consciousness of the divine. Everything that is strong, and good, and powerful in human nature is the outcome of that divinity, and though potential in many, there is no difference between man and man essentially, all being alike divine. There is, as it were, an infinite ocean behind, and you and I are so many waves, coming out of that infinite ocean; and each one of us is trying his best to manifest that infinite outside. So, potentially, each one of us has that infinite ocean of Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss as our birthright, our real nature; and the difference between us is caused by the greater or lesser power to manifest that divine. Therefore the Vedanta lays down that each man should be treated not as what he manifests, but as what he stands for. Each human being stands for the divine, and, therefore, every teacher should be helpful, not by condemning man, but by helping him to call forth the divinity that is within him.

It also teaches that all the vast mass of energy that we see displayed in society and in every plane of action is really from inside out; and, therefore, what is called inspiration by other sects, the Vedantist begs the liberty to call the expiration of man. At the same time it does not quarrel with other sects; the Vedanta has no quarrel with those who do not understand this divinity of man. Consciously or unconsciously, every man is trying to unfold that divinity.

Man is like an infinite spring, coiled up in a small box, and that spring is trying to unfold itself; and all the social phenomena that we see the result of this trying to unfold. All the competitions and struggles and evils that we see around us are neither the causes of these unfoldments, nor the effects. As one of our great philosophers says — in the case of the irrigation of a field, the tank is somewhere upon a higher level, and the water is trying to rush into the field, and is barred by a gate. But as soon as the gate is opened, the water rushes in by its own nature; and if there is dust and dirt in the way, the water rolls over them. But dust and dirt are neither the result nor the cause of this unfolding of the divine nature of man. They are coexistent circumstances, and, therefore, can be remedied.

….There are moments when every man feels that he is one with the universe, and he rushes forth to express it, whether he knows it or not. This expression of oneness is what we call love and sympathy, and it is the basis of all our ethics and morality. This is summed up in the Vedanta philosophy by the celebrated aphorism, Tat Tvam Asi, "Thou art That".

To every man, this is taught: Thou art one with this Universal Being, and, as such, every soul that exists is your soul; and every body that exists is your body; and in hurting anyone, you hurt yourself, in loving anyone, you love yourself. As soon as a current of hatred is thrown outside, whomsoever else it hurts, it also hurts yourself; and if love comes out from you, it is bound to come back to you. For I am the universe; this universe is my body. I am the Infinite, only I am not conscious of it now; but I am struggling to get this consciousness of the Infinite, and perfection will be reached when full consciousness of this Infinite comes.

Another peculiar idea of the Vedanta is that we must allow this infinite variation in religious thought, and not try to bring everybody to the same opinion, because the goal is the same. As the Vedantist says in his poetical language, "As so many rivers, having their source in different mountains, roll down, crooked or straight, and at last come into the ocean — so, all these various creeds and religions, taking their start from different standpoints and running through crooked or straight courses, at last come unto THEE."

…This is one of the great lessons that the Vedanta has to teach. Knowing that, consciously or unconsciously, we are struggling to reach the same goal, why should we be impatient? If one man is slower than another, we need not be impatient, we need not curse him, or revile him. When our eyes are opened and the heart is purified, the work of the same divine influence, the unfolding of the same divinity in every human heart, will become manifest; and then alone we shall be in a position to claim the brotherhood of man.

When a man has reached the highest, when he sees neither man nor woman, neither sect nor creed, nor colour, nor birth, nor any of these differentiations, but goes beyond and finds that divinity which is the real man behind every human being …

Excerpt from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

From My Spiritual Diary-58: "Call of the Spirit"

One day or other, in the life of every man must come a time when he too feels the call of the spiritual ideal. When such a call comes he cannot but listen to it. Nothing in the world can then give him satisfaction. He can never find peace until he follows the dictates of that higher call. This inner awareness and compelling urge to follow the higher ideal marks the beginning of spiritual life. The spiritual ideal then fascinates him and haunts him all through life. This change from following worldly ideals to following a spiritual ideal is called 'conversion'. Spiritual life begins with that. In the case of some people this conversion is sudden; in the case of some others, it is a gradual development.

The number of people who undergo such genuine conversion is rather small at any time in any country. Whether you like it or not, true spiritual life is only for a chosen few. There can never be any mass spirituality, however beautiful this ideal may seem to you. The Bhagavad-Gita says that out of thousands of people only a few take to spiritual life, and out of the latter, fewer still really attain the highest superconscious realization. But let us all think we are these chosen few, and strive to make ourselves fit for the fulfilment of the highest spiritual ideal.

- Excerpt from Chapter 1 : The Spiritual Quest" from the book, "MEDITATION AND SPIRITUAL LIFE" by Swami Yatiswarananda, Published by Ramakrishna Math, Bangalore.

From My Spiritual Diary-57: "Understanding Hinduism"

1. We Hindus do not merely tolerate, we unite ourselves with every religion, praying in the mosque of the Mohammedan, worshipping before the fire of the Zoroastrian, and kneeling to the cross of the Christian. We know that all religions alike, from the lowest fetishism to the highest absolutism, are but so many attempts of the human soul to grasp and realise the Infinite. So we gather all these flowers, and, binding them together with the cord of love, make them into a wonderful bouquet of worship.

2. Wherever thou seest extraordinary holiness and extraordinary power, raising the purifying humanity, know thou that I am there. To the Hindu, says Vivekananda, "Man is not travelling from error to truth, but climbing up from truth to truth, from truth that is lower to truth that is higher."

3. From the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy, of which the latest discoveries of science seem like echoes, to the lowest ideas of idolatry with its multifarious mythology, the agnosticism of the Buddhists, and the atheism of the Jains, each and all have a place in the Hindu's religion.

4. Dvaita, Vishishtadvaita, and Advaita are but three phases or stages in a single development, of which the last-named constitutes the goal.

5. Sri Ramakrishna expressed the same thing, "God is both with form and without form. And He is that which includes both form and formlessness."

6. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions are true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth.

7. As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.

8. ...the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me."

9. Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be fa more advanced than it is now.

Excerpts from "The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda", Vol.I, Published by Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta.

Grateful thanks to the Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta.

From My Spiritual Diary-56: "The Search for Unity"

...You must remember the one theme that runs through all the Vedas: "Just as by the knowledge of one lump of clay we know all the clay that is in the universe, so what is that, knowing which we know everything else?"

This expressed more or less clearly, is the theme of all human knowledge. It is the finding of a unity towards which we are all going. Every action in our lives - the most material, the grossest as well as the finest, the highest, the most spiritual - is alike in tending towards this one ideal, the finding of unity.

A man is single. He marries. Apparently it may be a selfish act, but at the same time, the impulsion, the motive power, is to find that unity. He has children, he has friends, he loves his country, he loves the world, and ends by loving the whole universe. Irresistibly we are impelled towards that perfection which consists in finding the unity, killing this little self and making ourselves broader and broader. This is the goal, the end towards which the universe is rushing.

Every atom is trying to go and join itself to the next atom. Atoms after atoms combine, making huge balls, the earths, the suns, the moons, the stars, the planets. They, in their turn, are trying to rush towards each other, and, at last, we know that the whole universe, mental and material, will be fused into one.

The process that is going in the cosmos on a large scale, is the same as that going on in the microcosm on a smaller scale.

Just as this universe has its existence in separation, in distinction, and all the while rushing towards unity, non-separation, so in our little worlds, each is born, as it were, cut off from the rest of the world. The more ignorant, the more unenlightened the soul, the more it thinks that it is separate from the rest of the universe. The more ignorant the person, the more he thinks, he will die or will be born, and so forth - ideas that are an expression of this separateness. But we find that, as knowledge comes, man grows, morality is evolved, and the idea of non-separateness begins. Whether men understand it or not, they are impelled by that power behind to become unselfish. That is the foundation of all morality. It is the quintessence of all ethics, preached in any language, or in any religion, or by any prophet in the world.

"Be thou unselfish", "Not 'I', but 'thou'" - that is the background of all ethical codes. And what is meant by this is the recognition of non-individuality - that you are a part of me, and I of you; the recognition that in hurting you, I hurt myself, and in helping you, I help myself; the recognition that there cannot possibly be death for me when you live. When one worm lives in this universe, how can I die? For my life is in the life of that worm. At the same time, it will teach us that we cannot leave one of our fellow-beings without helping him, that in his good consists my good.

This is the theme that runs through the whole of Vedanta, and which runs through every other religion....

Excerpt from "Methods and Purpose of Religion"
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: Vol.VI.

From My Spiritual Diary-55: "Virtues to be cultivated by all"

Truth, Kindness, Austerity, Cleanliness, Forbearance, Thoughtfulness, Control of Mind, Restraint of the Senses, Renunciation, Study of the Scriptures, Straight Forwardness, Contentment, Equal Vision, Service, Gradually withdrawing from the coarse desires, Seeing the vain activity of people, Silence, Inquiry about the Self, Sharing Food and such other necessities of life with all creatures according to their need, Looking on them - more particularly on the human beings - as one's self and as a God, listening to and singing about the ultimate goal of all the great ones, remembering Him constantly, seeing Him, offering sacrifices to Him, bowing down to Him, becoming His servant, His friend and finally, Total Surrender to Him - these thirty qualities constitute the supreme duty of all human beings and by these the Lord can be pleased.

- The Bhagavata.

From My Spiritual Diary-54:

1. Man decays and dies like corn and emerges again like corn.

2. The preferable is different indeed; and so, indeed, is the pleasurable different. These two, serving divergent purposes, (as they do), bind men. Good befalls him who accepts the preferable out of these two. He who selects the pleasurable falls from the true end.

3. The preferable and the pleasurable approach mankind. The man of intelligence having considered them, separates the two. The intelligent one selects the electable in preference to the delectable; the non-intelligent one selects the delectable for the sake of growth and protection (of the body etc.)

4. One who has not desisted from bad conduct, whose senses are not under control, whose mind is not concentrated, whose mind is not free from anxiety (about the result of concentration), cannot attain this Self through knowledge.

5. Know the (individual) Self as the master of the chariot, and the body as the chariot. Know the intellect as the charioteer and the mind as verily the bridle.

- Katha Upanishad

From My Spiritual Diary-53:

1. Do not covet the wealth of anyone.

2. The wise man who realizes all beings not distinct from his own Self, and his Self as the Self of all beings, does not, by virtue of that perception, hate anyone.

3. What delusion, what sorry, can there be for that wise man who realizes the unity of all existence by perceiving all beings as his own Self?

- Isavasya Upanishad

From My Spiritual Diary-52:

* In doing evil, we injure ourselves and others also. In doing good we do good to ourselves and to others as well. According to karma-yoga, the action one has done cannot be destroyed until it has borne its fruit; no power in nature can stop it from yielding its results. If I do an evil action, I must suffer for it; there is no power in this universe to stop or stay it. Similarly, if I do a good action, there is no power in the universe which can stop its bearing good results - Swami Vivekananda.

* As the different strams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee. - Swami Vivekananda.

* Men do not realize how far they are dragged down by women. Once I went to the Fort in a carriage, feeling all the while that I was going along a level road. At last I found that I had gone four storeys down. It was sloping road. - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

* Truth is the last end for the entire universe and the contemplation of truth is the chief occupation of wisdom. - St.Thomas Aquinas.

* A man becomes an animal if he thinks his physical needs are supreme and if he has no mind at all or has a mind vitiated by ill thoughts and feelings. He is a demon if he finds pleasure in doing mischief to others and he is a god if he is totally unselfish and his only pleasure is to do good to others. Most men are between these two extremes...an unselfish man is an asset to society and adds to its strength and glory. An ideal society is one in which every individual takes unselfishness as his ideal and pursues it regardless of what it may cost him - Swami Lokeswarananda.

* Religion gives the incentive to struggle and indicates the steps to be taken. The struggle is not so much physical as mental. It is easy to overcome physical hurdles but very difficult to overcome selfishness, anger, hatred, envy etc. Religion shows the way to overcome these mental drawbacks. - Swami Lokeswarananda.

* The phenomenal world is .... partly real and partly unreal; not absolutely unreal and also of course not absolutely real. - Swami Lokeswarananda.

From My Spiritual Diary-51:

* Renounce as much as you can. - Mahapurush Maharaj
* There are pearls in the deep sea, but you must hazard all perils to get them. If you fail to get at them by a single dive, do not conclude that the sea is without them. Dive again and again, and you are sure to be rewarded in the end. So also in the quest for the Lord, if your first attempt to see Him proves fruitless, do not lose heart. - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
* Be humble! Be the servant of all! Only he who knows how to serve is fit to rule - Swami Turiyananda
* If faults are to be noticed, look at your own. Being aware of the defects in others only serves to show your own defective nature - Swami Turiyananda
* That one is a master who is never crushed or disheartened - Swami Paramananda
* We must climb higher and radiate higher qualities in our life. To do this requires faith and courage - Swami Paramananda
* He is a fool who cannot get angry and he is a wise man who will not. - Swami Turiyananda
* Try to be one with all. Never antagonize. - Swami Turiyananda
* If you should speak, speak what is benevolent. Speak not what is malevolent. - Thiruvalluvar

From My Spiritual Diary-50:

* To love truly is the greatest triumph of life - Swami Paramananda
* The greatest manifestation of God is in man - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
* Purity is the foundation of a spiritual life - Mahapurush Maharaj
* Divine grace is already with us; we have only to allow its free play in us by surrendering ourselves to the Divine completely; it will then guide us to our natural birth-right with the aid of external stimulus or without it. - Notes on Narada Bhakti Sutras - Translated by Swami Tyagisananda
* Fear is the greatest sin. Banish all fear and weakness from your mind - Swami Brahmananda
* If a man leads a householder's life, he must have unflagging devotion to truth. God can be realized through truth alone - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
* The philosopher who has not realized his metaphysics is just an ass bearing a load of books - Prophet Mohamed
* The main factors for God realization are Renunciation, Detachment, Purity and Sincere Hankering (for God) - Mahapurush Maharaj.
* If devotion is wanting, all deeds are null and void - Adhyatmaramayana.
* He who gives up everything voluntarily is happy - Svetasvatara Upanishad.
* That which is not a means of liberation is not to be thought of; it becomes a cause of bondage - Svetasvatara Upanishad.
* The Kingdom of Heaven is within you - Jesus Christ

From my Spiritual Diary-49:

* Guru Purnima or Vyasa Purnima falls this year on July 21st (written in 1986). The sacred occasion serves to remind us of the massive contribution of the myriad-minded Vyasa to our philosophy and literature. He edited and classified the Vedas, composed the Brahmasutras, wrote the Mahabharata with its crest jewel of the Gita, and gave us the innumerable Puranas crowned by Srimad Bhagavata. To Vyasa, we owe everything in our culture.

* ....today 'varna' is wrongly interpreted as caste. The Gita clearly defines 'varna' as determined by Guna and Karma.

* The excellence of a person depends on the perfection with which he does his job. It does not depend on the nature of the job as long as it is socially useful.

* That which takes us from our present state to the transcendent state is comprehensively called Dharma. The word means that which sustains, that which nourishes, that which protects, and that which gives us the beautitude. (C.S.Ramakrishnan).

From my Spiritual Diary-48:

· It is only after the practice of intense tapas that men are freed of guile and stinginess. God vision comes to them who are free from crookedness and cunning. But in the name of simplicity, man should not become a simpleton. It is good to be a devotee, but to be a dullard. Know what is right and do what is good. (Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa).

· Neither this person nor that person is the cause of anything; at the root of all is God. Everything has emerged from him. Never forget him, “from whom has streamed forth this eternal activity”…. Don’t pay much attention to external causes; rather, practice to see everything within. “Your lover is in yourself, and your enemy too is within you.” (A Hindi saying). “He himself is his friend, and he himself is his enemy(Gita VI.5)”. (Swami Turiyananda).

· Tapasya sharpens the mind, followed by longing. Then one can understand that this rare human body is perishable. Then one begins to long to finish it quickly. If this life is wasted, one cannot be sure when one will again be born in a human body. So one takes to it in right earnest. And giving up food and sleep, tries for it. One says to oneself with firm determination, “I shall get up only after THE GOLD HAS BEEN MELTED…. THE WATER HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO THE FIELD – only then shall I bathe and eat – such a FIRM RESOLVE one makes. Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna) used to say: “I would lie down in the Panchavati night and day unconscious. Sometimes a snake would crawl over me and I would not take notice.” (“M” - Mahendra Nath Gupta).

· Don’t eat too much, and give up this craze for outer cleanliness. People with a craze do not attain Knowledge. Follow conventions only as much as necessary. Don’t go to excess. (Sri Ramakrishna).

From my Spiritual Diary-47:

… in this universe, the Divine manifests, expresses Himself as Knowledge in the mind, as Love in the Heart, as Power in our Life-impulses, and as Beauty in the Physical. And what is beauty? Beauty is a perfect condensation, a perfect coordination of everything that is involved. (M.P.Pandit)

If only you are awake, you can see the hand of God everywhere.
(M.P.Pandit).

This body has been given to us by God and we have no right to punish it by refusing to clothe it elegantly, feed it fully. We are asked to look upon the body as a temple of God. We have to treat as sacred, keep it pure, well-decorated. (M.P.Pandit)

Once you recognize that there is joy in life, suffering changes its complexion.(M.P.Pandit)

Nobody wants to die, nobody wants to leave this world; even the poorest man, even the man who suffers the most, does not want to die, because deep within him there is the joy of life. If you can total up all the suffering and all the happiness in this world, happiness will be found to be more, that is why there is a will to live. Nobody wants to end his life. This is the secret of life; there is joy hidden in life, and all our education, our culture, our religion must awaken this sense of joy, sense of happiness, sense of beauty in each one of us and to the extent we serve this ideal, we serve not only humanity, but also God. (M.P.Pandit)

What we are, what we think we are, is only the tip of the iceberg. Behind our surface mind, behind the thoughts and the emotions and helpless actions that we perform from morning till evening, there is a great belt of consciousness of which we are not aware. And still it is the impulses from these regions that influence us. (M.P.Pandit).

From My Spiritual Diary-46 :

‘God is the Head of this house. The unseen guest at every meal. The silent listener to every conversation’ (Written at the entrance of Mr PAC Ramasamy Raja).

‘Assuming a human body, the Incarnation falls a victim to disease, grief, hunger, thirst and all such things, like ordinary mortals. Rama wept for Sita. “Brahman weeps, entrapped in the snare of the five elements!”.

“It is said in the Purana that God, in His Incarnation as the Sow (Varaha Avatar), lived happily with His young ones even after the destruction of Hiranyaksha. (According to Hindu mythology, God incarnated Himself as a sow in order to save the world from the iniquities of the demon, Hiranyaksha). As the Sow, He nursed them and forgot all about His abode in heaven. At last, Siva killed the sow-body with his trident, and God, laughing aloud went to His own abode.” (Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa).

“Akrura came to Vrindavan to take Krishna and Balarama to Mathura. When they mounted the chariot, the gopis clung to the wheels. They would not let the chariot move.” Saying this, Sri Ramakrishna sang, assuming the attitude of Akrura: “Hold not, hold not the chariot’s wheels! Is the wheels that make it move? The Mover of its wheels is Krishna, By whose will the worlds are moved…” Sri Ramakrishna then said: “Is it the wheels that make it move?’ ‘By whose will the worlds are moved; The driver moves the chariot at his Master’s bidding. I feel deeply touched by these lines”.

In the Bhagavatam, Sri Krishna says: “I have proclaimed three kinds of yoga for the spiritual enlightenment of human beings. These are Jnana Yoga (Path of Knowledge), Karma Yoga (Path of Action), and Bhakti Yoga (Path of Devotion). There is no other way besides these three. The path of knowledge is for those who are disgusted with work, and as a result, have renounced it. The path of action is for those who have desires and are therefore not yet disgusted with work and its fruits. The path of devotion is very effective for that person who by some good fortune has develop faith in my divine life and message, but has neither extreme renunciation nor excessive attachment for the world. (Swami Turiyananda).

“Life has a meaning, our birth has a meaning; that meaning is to realize in ourselves, in each one of us, something of God, to express in our daily life something that is associated with God, knowledge, kindness, benevolence, purity and happiness. (M.P.Pandit).

From My Spiritual Diary-45:

Who feels in India for the three hundred millions of men and women sunken for ever in poverty and ignorance? Where is the way out? Who feels for them? Let these people be your God – think of them, work for them, pray for them incessantly – the Lord will show you the way. Him I call a Mahatma, a noble soul, whose heart bleeds for the poor; otherwise he is a 'duratma', a wicked soul.

So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them…

We are poor, my brothers, we are nobodies, but such have always been the instruments of the Most High. (Swami Vivekananda)

From Age to Age, God becomes man so that man may become God. (Unknown)

The worldly man must constantly live in the company of holy men. It is necessary for all… especially necessary for the householder. His disease has become chronic because he has to live constantly in the midst of ‘woman and gold’.

The highest duty of man is to realize God. To achieve it, holy company and service to the guru are needed. They will gradually fix the intellect on God. Sri Ramakrishna used to compare it with toothache. One attends to everything but the mind remains attached to the pain. Similarly, one must attend to all worldly matters but keep the intellect on Him. (‘M’)

From My Spiritual Diary-44:

Let no political significance ever be attached falsely to my writings or sayings. What nonsense!.... I will have nothing to do with political nonsense. I do not believe in politics. God and Truth are the only politics in the world. Everything else is trash.

It is a man-making religion that we want. It is a man-making education all round that we want. And here is the test of truth: ANYTHING THAT MAKES YOU WEAK PHYSICALLY, INTELLECTUALLY AND SPIRITUALLY, REJECT AS POISON; there is no life in it, it cannot be true. Truth is strengthening. Truth is purity, truth is all knowledge. Truth must be strengthening, must be enlightening, must be invigorating. Give up these weakening mysticisms and be strong. The greatest truths are the simplest things in the world, simple as your own existence.

He who wants perfection in the world is a madman – for it cannot be. How can you find the infinite in the finite?

The real spiritual man – everywhere – is broad-minded. His love forces him to be so. They to whom religion is a trade are forced to become narrow-minded and mischievous by their very introduction into religion of the competitive, fighting selfish methods of the world.

No religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism, and no religion on earth treads upon the necks of the poor and the low in such a fashion as Hinduism. Religion is not at fault, but it is the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Let each of us pray, day and night, for the downtrodden millions in India, 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, I love the poor… (Swami Vivekananda)

From My Spiritual Diary-43:

If you look you will find that I have never quoted anything but the Upanishads. And of the Upanishads, it is only that one idea – STRENGTH. The quintessence of the Vedas and Vedanta and all, lies in that one word.

It is selfishness that we must seek to eliminate. I find that whenever I have made a mistake in my life, it has always been because SELF entered into the calculation. Where self has not been involved, my judgment has gone straight to the mark.

The older I grow, the more everything seems to me to lie in manliness. This is my new gospel. Do even evil like a man! Be wicked, if you must, on a grand scale!

The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves. That faith calls out the inner divinity. You can do anything. You fail only when you do not strive sufficiently to manifest infinite power. As soon as a man loses faith in himself, death comes. Believe first in yourself and then in God. A handful of strong men will move the world. We need a heart to feel, a brain to conceive, and a strong arm to do the work…..One man contains within him the whole universe. One particle of matter has all the energy of the universe at its back. In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart.

You must try to combine in your life immense idealism with immense practicality. You must be prepared to go into deep meditation now, and the next moment you must be ready to go and cultivate the fields… The true man is he who is strong as strength itself and yet possesses a woman’s heart.

Work, my children, work with your whole heart and soul! Mind not the fruit of work. What if you go to hell working for others? That is worth more than to gain heaven by seeking your own salvation…(Swami Vivekananda)

From My Spiritual Diary-42:

Helping others makes us happy. It is not what we do for ourselves that makes us happy, but when we are able to help another and make him happy; and this happiness is much more than what we can get ourselves from our selfish actions. (Swami Vireswarananda)

Truth is revealed in the mirror of the heart when it has been thoroughly cleansed. Prayer and meditation, sacraments and ceremonies, vows and austerities, cannot give us the vision of Truth, they can only help us to remove the coverings of the mind. (Swami Adiswarananda).

What good is this body? Let it go in helping others. Did not the Master preach until the very end? And shall I not do the same? I do not care a straw if the body goes. You cannot imagine how happy I am when I find earnests seekers after truth to talk to. In the work of waking up the Atman in my fellow men, I shall die again and again! (Swami Vivekananda).

He who exploits another man, near or distant, offends God and will pay for it sooner or later. All men are sons of the same God. He who wishes to serve must serve man – and in the first instance, man in the humblest, poorest, most degraded form. Only breaking down the barriers between man and man can one usher in the kingdom of heaven on earth. (Swami Vivekananda).

After so much tapasya, austerity, I have known that the highest truth is this: “He is present in all beings. These are all the manifested forms of Him. There is no other God to seek for! He alone is worshipping God, who serves all beings.” (Swami Vivekananda).

Your duty is to serve the poor and the distressed without distinction of caste and creed. What business have you to consider the fruits of your action? Your duty is to go on working, and everything will set itself right in time, and work by itself. My method of work is to construct and not to destroy that which is already existing. (Swami Vivekananda).

From My Spiritual Diary-41:

Ø True individuality lies not at the level of the finite ego, but at the level of infinite Atman. Man is truly individual only when he becomes universal. He has to transcend the false individuality of the ego to realize his true individuality in the Atman. To the question, “When shall I be free?’, Sri Ramakrishna gives the straight answer, ‘When “I” shall cease to be’. To gain true life, we have to lose our false life first, says Jesus. (Swami Ranganathananda).

Ø All attempts of language calling Him father or brother, our dearest friend, are attempts to objectify God, which cannot be done. He is the eternal SUBJECT of everything. I am the subject of the chair. I see the chair: so God is the eternal subject of my soul. How can you objectify Him, the essence of your souls, the Reality of everything? Thus, I would repeat to you once more, GOD is never knowable nor unknowable, but something infinitely higher than either. He is one with us; and that which is one with us is neither knowable nor unknowable… You cannot know your own self; you cannot move it out and make it an object to look at, because you ARE that, and cannot separate yourself from it. Neither is it unknowable, for what is better known than yourself? It is really the centre of our knowledge. In exactly the same sense, God is neither unknowable nor known, but infinitely higher than both; for He is our real Self. (Swami Vivekananda).

Ø Do you expect anything from your small son, if you do him something? In a similar manner, you will have to work for others also without expecting anything. You will have to expand and think that this whole world is your own self. … When you have tasted a bit of the Bliss of selfless service, you can never leave it. The force of service will induce you to work more with great zeal and enthusiasm. (Swami Sivananda of Divine Life Society).