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Swami Vivekananda
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A key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies to the Western world. He is renowned for his speeches at the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893, where he spoke on the universality of spirituality and the importance of religious tolerance. His teachings emphasized the need for personal spiritual development and the idea of serving humanity as a form of worship. He played a crucial role in the revival of Hinduism and the promotion of Vedanta philosophy globally. His work inspired many to explore spiritual and philosophical thought.

If you can get absolutely still for just one moment, you have reached the goal.

Swami Vivekananda

To weep is a sign of weakness, of bondage.

Swami Vivekananda

Free thyself from the mighty attraction- The maddening wine of love, the charm of sex. Break the harp! Forward, with the ocean's cry! . . .

Swami Vivekananda

All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls.

Swami Vivekananda

The coward is an object to be pitied.

Swami Vivekananda

As thou thinkest, so art thou.

Swami Vivekananda

Avoid excessive merriment. A mind in that state never becomes calm; it becomes fickle. Excessive merriment will always be followed by sorrow. Tears and laughter are near kin. People so often run from one extreme to the other.

Swami Vivekananda

We must travel; we must go to foreign parts. We must see how the engine of society works in other countries, and keep free and open communication with what is going on in the minds of other nations, if we really want to be a nation again.

Swami Vivekananda

Above all, India is the land of religion.

Swami Vivekananda

Say it with pride we are Hindus

Swami Vivekananda

Each one of us pray, day and night, for the downtrodden millions in India, who are held fast by poverty, priest craft, and tyranny - pray day and night for them. I am no meta physician, no philosopher, nay, no saint. But I am poor, I love the poor.... Let these people be your God - think of them, work for them, pray for them incessantly - the Lord will show you the way.

Swami Vivekananda

They alone live, who live for others.

Swami Vivekananda

As the cause is, so the effect will be. Cause is never different from effect, the effect is but the cause reproduced in another form.

Swami Vivekananda

To the Indian mind there is nothing higher than religious ideals, that this is the keynote of Indian life.

Swami Vivekananda

How long do you remember that it is the Lord who is making you work? But then, by repeatedly analysing like that, you will come to a state when the ego will vanish and in its place the Lord will come in. Then you will be able to say with justice "Thou, Lord, art guarding all my actions from within." But, my friend, if the ego occupies all the space within your heart, where forsooth will there be room enough for the Lord to come in? The Lord is verily absent!

Swami Vivekananda

Man is the greatest being that ever can be.

Swami Vivekananda

We should cultivate the optimistic temperament, and endeavour to see the good that dwells in everything. If we sit down and lament over the imperfection of our bodies and our minds, we profit nothing; it is the heroic endeavour to subdue adverse circumstances that carries our spirit upward.

Swami Vivekananda

Never say any man is hopeless, because he only represents a character, a bundle of habits, which can be checked by new and better ones. Character is repeated habits, and repeated habits alone can reform character.

Swami Vivekananda

It is an irrational claim to believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ and at the same time to hold that the greater part of his teachings have no application at the present time. If you say that the reason why the powers do not follow them that believe (as Christ said they would) is because you have not faith enough and are not pure enough-that will be all right. But to say that they have no application at the present time is to be ridiculous.

Swami Vivekananda

Whatever is weak, avoid! It is death.

Swami Vivekananda

Realize your true nature. That is all there is to do. Know yourself as you are - infinite Spirit. That is practical religion. Everything else is impractical, for everything else will perish.

Swami Vivekananda

Chastity, non-injury, forgiving even the greatest enemy, truth, faith in the Lord, these are all different Vrittis. Be not afraid if you are not perfect in all of these; work, they will come. He who has given up all attachment, all fear, and all anger, he whose whole soul has gone unto the Lord, he who has taken refuge in the Lord, whose heart has become purified, with whatsoever desire he comes to the Lord, He will grant that to him. Therefore worship Him through knowledge, love, or renunciation.

Swami Vivekananda

In countries where there is no marriage, there is no duty between husband and wife; when marriage comes, husband and wife live together on account of attachment; and that kind of living together becomes settled after generations; and when it becomes so settled, it becomes a duty.

Swami Vivekananda