No postings for about a month. Hence submitting some quotes.

Regards,

Ankur


Some Quotes of the Swami Vivekananda

In the world take always the position of the giver. Give everything and look for no return. Give love, give help, give service, give any little thing you can, but keep out barter. Make no conditions, and none will be imposed. Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us.
- Swami Vivekananda
Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 19, 1895. Complete Works, 7:5.



We run a twofold danger in doing evil: first, we open ourselves to all the evil influences surrounding us; secondly, we create evil which affects others, may be hundreds of years hence. In doing evil we injure ourselves and others also. In doing good we do good to ourselves and others as well.



Swami Vivekananda. Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 3, 1896. Complete Works, 1:82.



We find the vast majority of people in every country believing that there will be a time when this world will become perfect, when there will be no disease, nor death, nor unhappiness, nor wickedness. That is a very good idea, a very good motive power to inspire and uplift the ignorant. But if we think for a moment, we shall find on the very face of it that it cannot be so. How can it be, seeing that good and evil are the obverse and reverse of the same coin? How can you have good without evil at the same time?



Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 3, 1896. Complete Works, 1.83-84.



What is Religion?

A huge locomotive has rushed on over the line and a small worm that was creeping upon one of the rails saved its life by crawling out of the path of the locomotive. Yet this little worm, so insignificant that it can be crushed in a moment, is a living something, while this locomotive, so huge, so immense, is only an engine, a machine. You say the one has life and the other is only dead matter and all its powers and strength and speed are only those of a dead machine, a mechanical contrivance. Yet the poor little worm which moved upon the rail and which the least touch of the engine would have deprived of its life is a majestic being compared to that huge locomotive. It is a small part of the Infinite and, therefore, it is greater than this powerful engine. Why should that be so? How do we know the living from the dead? The machine mechanically performs all the movements its maker made it to perform, its movements are not those of life. How can we make the distinction between the living and the dead, then? In the living there is freedom, there is intelligence; in the dead all is bound and no freedom is possible, because there is no intelligence. This freedom that distinguishes us from mere machines is what we are all striving for. To be more free is the goal of all our efforts, for only in perfect freedom can there be perfection. This effort to attain freedom underlies all forms of worship, whether we know it or not.

-- Swami Vivekananda.



The presence of those who love God makes a place holy, "such is the glory of the children of the Lord." They are he, and when they speak, their words are scriptures. The place where they have been becomes filled with their vibrations, and those going there feel them and have a tendency to become holy also.

-- Swami Vivekananda



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



Give up all "me and mine." To the person who has nothing in the world the Lord comes. Cut the bondage of all worldly affections. Go beyond laziness and all care as to what becomes of you.

-- Swami Vivekananda



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



Some Quotes of the Swami Ashokananda

(Disciple of Swami Vivekananda)



See God in All



According to Vedanta every person, every being, is perfect. We should treat every person, every being, as God Himself.



The only legitimate approach to another person is to look upon that person as God, because that is the truth.



Look upon others as divine—as God, as the Self. All sense of separation, fear, attachment, love, hatred, and jealously will vanish forever from your heart. Of whom would you be jealous? Of God; of your true Self? The Self is all there is.



“Be still, O mind, and know that I am the Self.”



Imagine God in the heart of all being.



Every single being that exists is an inexhaustible mine of beauty and love.



Unless we see divinity in every being, we will never see unity in the world. Intelligence is that which sees unity among apparently separate things.



You can have a true democratic spirit if you can really persuade yourself that everyone is divine.



Our perception, our understanding, is only skin deep.



When we address a person, we address the skin. Address the real person—talk to the conscious, luminous, perfect Being. You will get a wonderful response. Truth has extraordinary power.



Check yourself. Never judge an appearance. Always acknowledge the luminous Being within.



Do you care for others? If not, you have a ******* pear disposition. Why can’t your heart leap in joy when you see a devotee?



Cultivate the capacity to appreciate the good in others. See something beyond. Make your heart bloom and also the hearts of others.



Be kind. Don’t worry about whether this is right or wrong—be kind.



Be kind to all living beings. Serve them. You will develop a taste for the name of God. Get rid of your limitations and all beings will begin to reveal themselves as divine.



Spiritual people learn to reverence everyone.



Behind what appears to you as a dull face, a bright face, or a vicious face is God alone. All these various pictures we see are but misreadings of the one truth, just tricks of the mind. Actually, everything is perfect.



Everything brings the message of God; from everywhere comes the touch of my Beloved.



This one is dear to me not because of what I see, but because deep down in him is the resplendent Self, expressing Itself in that voice, those postures, those gestures. Consider the truth about a person and the superficial things will appear sacred—expressions of the divine Self within.



The Self dwells in the monk, in the devotee, in the foolish; so I, the Self, am enjoying and suffering in each one.



Concentrate on that which is resplendent in everyone and you will reach Oneness.



Always think of yourself in the best terms and try to live up to them. You will be surprised.



From the book - Shafts of Light. Selected teaching of Swami Ashokananda for spiritual practice. Compiled and Edited by Sister Gargi (Marie Louise Burke) and Shelley Brown. Kalpa Tree Press, New York.

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One should face things as they are, do not make excuses, for fun or in pain, because a person can live with failure but not with excuses that takes away his right to fault.

-- Guru Chandra Kanto Singha.

Location: Guwahati, Assam, India