Swami Vivekananda Quotes

 "Each soul is potentially  divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these- and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details."

2nd January- "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."

3rd January- "You are the children of God, the shaders of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. You divinities on earth- sinners!  It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature."

4th January- "The first thing that you are becoming religious is that you are becoming cheerful. When a man is gloomy, that may be dyspepsia, but it is not religion."

5th Jan- "This I lay down as the first essential in all I teach: anything  that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness, touch it not with the toes of your feet."

6th Jan- "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."

7th January- "This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live for others, the rest are more dead than alive."

8th January- "Control the mind, cut off the senses, than you are a yogi; after that, all the rest will come. Refuse to hear, to see, to smell, to taste; take away the mental power from the external organs."

9th January- "If this room is full of darkness for thousands of years and you come in and begin to weep and wail, 'Oh the darkness', will the darkness vanish?  Strike a match and light comes in a moment."

10th January- "Simply by the observance of strict Brahmacharya (continence) all learning can be mastered in a very short time - one has an unfailing memory of what one hears or knows but once."

11th January- "If a man thinks good thoughts and does good works, the sum total of these impressions will be good; and they, in a similar manner, will force him to do good even in spite of himself."

12th January- "The first obstruction  (to spiritual practice) is an unhealthy body: if the body is not in a fit state, the practice will be obstructed. Therefore we have to keep the body in good health; we have to take care of what we eat and drink, and what we do."

13th January- "Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take up the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succour you want is within yourselves. Therefore, make your own future."

14th January- "Those who are pure always in body, mind, and speech, who have strong devotion, who discriminate between the real and the unreal, who persevere in meditation  and contemplation - upon them alone the grace of the Lord descends."

15th January- "This Batman has first to be heard, then reasoned upon, and then meditated upon. This is the method of Advaita Jnani. The truth has to be heard, then reflected upon and then to be constantly assorted. Think always, 'I am Brahman'."

16th January-  "Religions of the World have become lifeless mockeries. 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 thunderbolt."

17th January- "There is a vast difference  between saying 'food, food' and eating it, between saying 'water, water' and drinking it. So by merely repeating the words 'God, God' we can not hope to attain realization. We must strive and practice."

18th January- "Be free; hope for nothing from anyone. I am sure if you look back upon your lives you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others which never came. All the help that has come was from within ourselves."

19th January- "Better that you had no learning, better that you never read a book in your life. These are not at all necessary for salvation neither wealth, nor position nor power, not even learning; but what is necessary is that one thing, purity."

20th January- "He who does the lower work is not therefore a lower man.  No man is to be judged by the mere nature of his duties, but all should be judged by the manner and the spirit in which they perform them."

21st January- "Man is a thinking being and must struggle on until he conquers death, until he sees the light. He must not spend himself in vain talking that bears no fruit. Worship of society and popular opinion is idolatry."

22nd January- "Should you be proud because you are good?  Certainly not. You are good because you can not help it. Another is bad because he can not help it. If you we're in his position, who knows what you would have been."

23rd January- "The early morning  and the early evening are the two periods of calmness. Your body will have a like tendency to become calm at those times. We should take advantage of that natural condition and begin then to practise."

24th January- "All knowledge is in every  soul, even in the most ignorant; he has not manifested it, but, perhaps, he has not had the opportunity, the environments were not, perhaps, suitable to him. When he gets the opportunity, he will manifest it."

25th January- "The man who gives way to anger, or hatred, or any other passion, can not work; he only breaks himself to pieces, and does nothing practical. It is the calm, forgiving, equable, well balanced mind that does the greatest amount of work."

26th January- "All enjoyment will make us thirst for more, and that brings pain as its result. There is no limit to man's desires; he goes on desiring, and when he comes to a point where desire can not be fulfilled, the result is pain."

27th January- "The only remedy for bad habits is counter habits; all the bad habits that have left their impressions are to be controlled by good habits. Go on doing good, thinking holy thoughts continuously; that is the only way to suppress base impressions."

28th January- "Think of your own body, and see that it is strong and healthy; it is the best instrument you have. Think of it ad being as strong as adamant, and that with the help of this body you will cross the ocean of life. Freedom is never to be reached by the weak. Throw away all weakness."

29th January- "For whatever good work we may do, let us not claim any praise or benefit. It is the Lord's; give up the fruits unto Him. Let us stand aside and think that we are only servants obeying the Lord, our Master, and that every impulse for action comes from Him every moment."

30th January- "As the organization becomes finer and finer, it will be found in the beginning that the least irregularity throws one out of balance. One bit of food more or less will disturb the whole system, until one gets perfect control, and then one will be able to eat whatever one likes."

31st January- "We should cultivate the optimistic temperament, and endeavor to see the good that dwells in everything. If we sit down and lament over the imperfection of our bodies and minds, we profit nothing; it is the heroic endeabour to subdue adverse circumstances that carries our spirit upwards."

1st February- "Day and night think and meditate on Brahman, meditate with great one-pointedness of mind. And during the time of awareness to outward life, either do some work for the sake of others or repeat in your mind, 'Let good happen to Jivas and the world! '.  Let the mind of all flow in the direction of Brahman!."

2nd February- "In life and in death, in happiness and in misery, the Lord is equally present. The whole world is full of the Lord. Open your eyes and see Him."

3rd February- "The Tapas and the other hard Yogas that we're practiced in other Yugas do not work now. What is needed in this Yuga is giving, helping others."

4th February- "The Lord is very merciful to him 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."

5th February- "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."

6th February- "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."

7th February- "Practice hard; whether you live or die does not matter. You have to plunge in and work, without thinking of the result. If you are brave enough, in six months you be a perfect Yogi."

8th February- "We have to cover everything with the Lord Himself, not by a false sort of optimism, not by blinding our eyes to the evil, but by really seeing God in everything."

9th February- "We must die, that is certain; let us die then for a good cause, Let all our actions - eating, drinking, and everything that we do - tend towards the sacrifice of our self. "

10th February- "Take one thing up and do it, and see the end of it, and before you have seen the end, do not give it up. He who can become mad with an idea, he alone sees light."

11th February- "Love conquers all fear. Fear comes from the selfish idea of cutting one's self off from the universe. The smaller and the more selfish I make myself, the more is my fear."

12th February- "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 you are free."

13th February- "Meditation is the gate that opens to us. Prayers, ceremonial, and all the other forms of worship are simply kindergarten of meditation."

14th February- "The man that has practisef control over himself can not be acted upon by anything outside; there is no more slavery for him. His mind has become free. Such a man alone is fit to live well in the world."

15th February- "The direction of the mind which always runs after the senses has to be turned within. The mind has to be killed... When the mind dies, all limiting adjuncts vanish and you are established in Brahman."

16th February- "Think of God; let the mind not think of any physical or mental enjoyment, but of God alone. When it tries to think of anything else, give it a good blow, so that it may turn round and think of God."

17th February- "To control our passions we have to control them at their very roots; then alone shall we be able to burn out their very seeds. As fried seeds thrown into the ground will never come up, so these passions will never arise."

18th February- "Nothing shall be done in haste. Purity, patience and perseverance are the three essentials to success and, above all, love. All time is yours, there is no indecent haste. Everything will come right if you are pure and sincere."

19th February- "The omnipresent Batman which depends on nothing else to support it is the only Refuse. At first man does not find that. When discrimination and depression arise in the course of meditation and spiritual practices, he comes to know it."

20th February- "Do not pity anyone. Look upon all as your equal, cleanse yourself of the primal sin of inequality. We are all equal and must not think, 'I am good and you are bad, and I am trying to reclaimyou'. Equality is the sign of the free."

21st February- "Those who give themselves  up to the Lord do more for the World than all the so-called Workers. One man who has purified himself thoroughly accomplishes more than a regiment of preachers. Out of purity and silence comes the word power."

22nd February- "You will find that astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a week mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds,  we should see a physician,  take good food and rest."