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Inspirational Quotations

by RightAttitudes.com

Inspirational Quotes by Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic)

Inspirational Quotations by Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic)

Swāmī Vivekānanda (1863–1902,) born Narendra Nath Datta, is one of the most admired spiritual leaders of India. He was the chief disciple of the 19th-century Hindu mystic Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and the driving force behind the Ramakrishna Mission and Neo-Hinduism.

Born in Calcutta in British India, Swāmī Vivekānanda was an associate of the Brahmo Samāj, a Hindu reform movement, and training to be a lawyer. When he stumbled upon Ramakrishna, Swāmī Vivekānanda had a forceful religious experience and became one of Ramakrishna’s disciples. After his master’s death, he became a saṃnyāsin and founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He became a mendicant, traveled the length and breadth of India on foot, meditating and propagating his interpretation of Ramakrishna’s teachings.

Swāmī Vivekānanda proposed that, underneath their seeming diversity, all religions are one. His appeal for universal tolerance attracted much attention at the Chicago World Parliament of Religions in 1893, where he introduced Hinduism with an inspiring speech that began, “Sisters and brothers of America…, it fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us.”

Swāmī Vivekānanda was a crucial figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedānta and Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century. He was a significant force in the revival of Hinduism in India and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India.

In India, Swāmī Vivekānanda is widely regarded as the patriot saint of modern India and a source of inspiration. His notable literary works include Karma Yoga (1896,) Raja Yoga (1896,) and The East and the West (1909.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Swami Vivekananda

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Inspirational Quotes by Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic)

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?
—Swami Vivekananda

Every act of love brings happiness; there is no act of love which does not bring peace and blessedness as its reaction.
—Swami Vivekananda

Truth, Purity, Unselfishness
wherever these are present,
there is no power below or above the Sun
to crush the possessor thereof.
—Swami Vivekananda

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive. If all of us think for the society and the country, all our problems will be solved.
—Swami Vivekananda

Perfection is always infinite. We are the Infinite already. You and I, and all beings, are trying to manifest that infinity.
—Swami Vivekananda

Whenever we attain a higher vision, the lower vision disappears of itself.
—Swami Vivekananda

Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage.
—Swami Vivekananda

All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind.
—Swami Vivekananda

Good and bad are both bondages of the soul … If we do not attach ourselves to the work we do, it will not have any binding effect on our soul… This is the one central idea in the Gita: work incessantly, but be not attached to it.
—Swami Vivekananda

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

All men and women try to make the most of whatever power or advantage they have.
—Swami Vivekananda

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?
—Swami Vivekananda

Be a hero. Always say, “I have no fear.” Tell this to everyone—“Have no fear.”
—Swami Vivekananda

The mind is but the subtle part of the body. You must retain great strength in your mind and words.
—Swami Vivekananda

Be for a lone moment really “hopeless”, and the mist will clear. For what to hope when one is the all of existence.
—Swami Vivekananda

A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century.
—Swami Vivekananda

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

Let the end and the means be joined into one.
—Swami Vivekananda

First, believe in the world—that there is meaning behind everything.
—Swami Vivekananda

First, let us become gods and then help others to become gods. ‘Be and make.’ Let this be our motto.
—Swami Vivekananda

Be “unattached”; let things work; let brain centers work; work incessantly, but let not a ripple conquer the mind. Work as if you were a stranger in this land, a sojourner; work incessantly, but do not bind yourselves; bondage is terrible.
—Swami Vivekananda

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.
—Swami Vivekananda
Topics: Helping

Strength is Life, Weakness is Death.
Expansion is Life, Contraction is Death.
Love is Life, Hatred is Death.
—Swami Vivekananda

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

Religion as a science, as a study, is the greatest and healthiest exercise that the human mind can have.
—Swami Vivekananda

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.
—Swami Vivekananda
Topics: Duty

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

The highest manifestation of strength is to keep ourselves calm and on our own feet.
—Swami Vivekananda

Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.
—Swami Vivekananda

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin? To say that you are weak, or others are weak.
—Swami Vivekananda

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

The greatest source of strength for any society is its faith in God. The day it renounces such faith will be the day that society begins to die.
—Swami Vivekananda

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.
—Swami Vivekananda

The whole life is a succession of dreams. My ambition is to be a conscious dreamer, that is all.
—Swami Vivekananda
Topics: Dreams

If we really want to be blessed, and make others blessed, we must go deeper. The first step is not to disturb the mind, not to associate with persons whose ideas are disturbing.
—Swami Vivekananda

Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are soul-immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; you are not matter, you are not bodies; matter is your servant, not you the servant of matter.
—Swami Vivekananda

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