GOLDEN WORDS OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

When there is a conflict between

the heart and the brain,

let the heart be followed

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Aman of intellect can turn in to a devil,but never a manof heart.

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We are suffering from our own karma. It is not the fault of God.What we do is our own fault, nothing else. Why should God beblamed?

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We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we arebeing ruled. We came to work; we are being worked.All the time,we find that.And this comes into every detail of our life.

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We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. Noneelse has the blame, none has the praise.

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What is the use of talking of one’s mistakes to the world? Theycannot thereby be undone. For what one has done one must suffer;one must try and do better. The world sympathizes only with thestrong and the powerful.

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We must be bright and cheerful. Long faces do not make religion.Religion should be the most joyful thing in the world, because it isthe best.

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Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift offthe bondage and illusion.

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Why are people so afraid? The answer is that they have madethemselves helpless and dependent on others. We are so lazy, wedo not want to do anything ourselves. We want a Personal God, aSavior or a Prophet to do everything for us.

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Whenever we attain a higher vision, the lower vision disappearsof itself.

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What the world wants today is twenty men and women who candare to stand in the street yonder and say that they possess nothingbut God. Who will go? Why should one fear? If this is true, whatelse could matter? If it is not true, what do our lives matter?

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What do you gain in heaven? You become gods, drink nectar, and getrheumatism. There is less misery there than on earth, but also lesstruth.

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Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility onyour own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of yourown destiny.All the strength and succor you want is withinyourselves. Therefore, make your own future.

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Stand as a rock; you are indestructible. You are the Self, the God ofthe universe.

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The essence of Vedanta is that there is but one Being and thatevery soul is that Being in full, not a part of that Being.

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Truth, purity and unselfishness—wherever these are present, there isno power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof.Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the wholeuniverse in opposition.

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Religion is not a theoretical need

but a practicalnecessity.

19

Renunciation does not mean simply

dispassion for the world. It means

dispassion for the world andalso longing for God.

20

There is no

misery where there is no want.

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The secret of life is not

enjoyment, but education

through experience.

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Every new thought must createopposition.

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Renunciation is the withdrawalof mind from

other things and concentrating it on God.

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Every man who thinks ahead ofhis time is sure to be misunderstood.

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In this short life there is no timefor the exchange of compliments.

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Do not wait to cross the riverwhen the water has all rundown.

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The greatest sin is fear.

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Better the scolding of the wise than theadulation of the fools.

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If you love God's creation more than God,You will be disillusioned.

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Everything can be sacrificed for truth,but truth can't be sacrificed for anything.

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God has become man,man will become god again.

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If it is impossible to attainperfection here and now,There is no proof that we can attainperfection in any other life.

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That part of theVedas which agrees with reason is theVedas, and nothing else.

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If you want to do anything evil,do it before the eyes of your superiors

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Happiness presents itselfbefore man,wearing the

crown of sorrow on its head.

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If one is a slave to his passionsand desires, one cannot feel thepure joy of real freedom

37

If you can't attain salvation in this life,What proof is there that you canattain it in the life or lives to come?

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Never mind if your contribution isonly a mite,

your help only a little, blades ofgrass united into a rope will

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hold in confinement themaddest of elephants.

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It is man that becomes the god.

The cow never tells a lie,stone never stealsbut

Cow remians a cow, stone remains stone

Man steals and man tells a lie, and again

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When even man never hears thecries of the fool, do you think God will?

42

Strength is life, weakness is death.

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Never are the wants of a beggar fulfilled.

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which one can stand on one's own feet.

We want the education bywhich character is formed,strength of mind is increased,the intellect is expanded, and by

45

Let the heart be opened first,and all else will follow of itself.

46

Tell the man his defaults directlybut praise his virtues before others.

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Activity is lifeand inactivity is death.

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Salvation is not achieved byinactivity but by spiritual activities.

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Even the least work done forothers awakens the power within.

50

New things have to be learned,have to be introduced and worked out,But is that to be done by sweeping awayall that is old, just because it is old?

51

The man who says he hasnothing more to learn is alreadyat his last grasp

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As long as I live, so do I learn.

53

No one can save a person whohires a carriage to go from onestreet to another, and then complainof diabetes.

54

By the control of the subconscious mind

You get control over the conscious.

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It is the constant struggle againstnature that constitutes human progress,not conformity with it.

56

The very essence of education isconcentration of mind,not the collecting of facts.

57

As we get further and further awayfrom sense- pleasures,

―knowledge for the sake of knowledge‖becomes the supreme pleasure of mind

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All the power is within you; you can doanything and everything. Believe in that;don’t believe that you are weak. Stand upand express the divinity with in you

59

It is through themany that we reach the one.

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The soul is the circle of which thecircumference is nowhere,But the center is the body.God is a circle whose circumference isnowhere, but whose center is everywhere.

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The body itself is the biggest disease

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If any one of you believes what I teach,I will be sorry.I will only be too glad if I can excite inyou the power of thinking for yourselves

63

When the world is the endAnd god the means to attain that end,

that is material.

When God is the end and the world isonly the means to attain that end,Spirituality has began

64

The fear of God is the beginningof religion,but the love of God is the end ofreligion

65

Do not give up ! Things will give you up

66

The sage is often ignorant ofphysical science because he reads theWrong book – the book within;

and the scientist is too often ignorant ofreligion, because he reads the

wrong book- the book without.

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Always first learn to be a servant, andthen you will be fit to be a master. Avoidthis jealousy, and you will do great worksthat have yet to be done

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Experience is the only source ofknowledge.

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Do one thing at a time and whiledoing it put your whole soul intoit to the exclusion of all else.

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Where there is life , there will be death,so get away from life if you want to getrid of death

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Records of great spiritual men of the past dous no good,what ever except

that they urge us onward to do the sameto experience religion ourselves.

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We may read all the Bibles of the world,But that will not give us religion

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The brave alone can afford to be sincere

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The balance is so nice that ifyou disturb the equilibrium of one atom,

the whole world will come to an end.

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Save the spiritual store in your body byobserving continence.

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The wicked see in Godwickedness.The virtuous see in him virtue.

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When good nectar is unattainable,It is no reason why we shoud eat poision

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Love to enemies is not possiblefor ordinary men

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Everything that comes from India take astrue, until you cogent reasons fordisbelieving it,

Everything that come from EuropeTakes as false untilfind cogent reasons for believing it.

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Stand up, be bold, be strong. Takethe whole responsibility on your ownshoulders, & know that you are thecreator of your own destiny

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They alone live who live for others,rest are more dead then alive

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Arise!Awake!And stop not tillthe goal is reached

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To be good and to do good - that is thewhole of religion

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Strength is life, Weakness is death

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The benefit of Yoga is that welearn to control instead of beingcontrolled

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Never talk about the faults of others,No matter how bad they may be.

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All quarrels and disputations concerningReligion simply shows that religion is notpresent

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You must not criticize others,you must criticize yourself.

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What you have inside you iswhat you see in others.

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Our business is to verify not to swallow.

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How can that beloveless which causes love in me?

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You cannot judge a man by his faults.

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You must believe in yourself andThen you will believe in god

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If you are pure, if you are strong you,one man, is equal to the whole world.

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Mother Represents colorless lovethat knows no barter,love that never dies

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We trust the man in the street, but thereis one being in the universe we nevertrust and that is God

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My motto is to learn whatever good thingsI may come across any where

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The secret of religion lies notin theories but in practice.

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Neither money pays, nor name pays, norfame, nor learning; it is CHARACTERthat cleave through adamantine walls ofdifference

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Seek for the highest,aim at the highestand you shall reach the highest

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There is an ocean of difference betweenidleness and renunciation.

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The self-seekingman who is looking after personalcomforts and leading a lazy life,there is no room for him in hell

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Hope is the greatest of all miseries,The highest bliss lies in giving up hope.

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No one ever succeeded inkeeping society in good humorand at the same time did the great work

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Know that talking ill ofothers in private

is a sin.

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ThisAtman is not to be attained by onewho is weak.

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Whatever fosters materiality is no work

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Why look up to men for approbation,look up to God.

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He who knows how to obeyknows how to command.

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Want of sympathy and lack of energyare at the root of all misery.

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India is the only place where,with all its faults, the soul finds itsfreedom, its God.

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What ever you think, that you will be. Ifyou think yourself weak, weak you will be;if you think yourself strong; strong you willbe

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It is the heart that conquers,not the brain.

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All the strength is in you, havefaith in it.

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The body must go no mistake about that. It isbetter to wear out than to rust out.

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In every attempt there are manyobstacles to cope with,but gradually the path becomes smooth

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One must raise oneself by one'sown exertions.

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Both attachment and detachmentperfectly developed make a man greatAnd happy.

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Where there is struggle, where there isrebellion,there is a sign of life, there consciousnessis manifested

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Isn't it man that makes money?Where did you ever hear of moneyMaking man?

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He who always speculates as towhat awaits him in future, accomplishesnothing whatsoever

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Fear is one of the worst enemies.

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If one intends to really find truth,one must not cling to comfort.

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We manufacture our own heavenand can make a heaven even in hell

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The satisfaction of desire only increases it,As oil poured on fire makes it burn morefiercely

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Both happiness and misery are chains,the one golden,the other iron,But both are equally strong to bind us

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The world is neither true nor untrue,it is a shadow of truth.

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Let us get rid of the little 'I' andLet only the great ’I’live in us.

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Concentration of the mind is thesource of all knowledge.

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Keep your thoughts on virtue;what we think we become

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What we are, we see outside, forthe world is our mirror.

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Resist not evil.Face it! You are higher than evil.

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Anything we do ourselves,That is the only thing we do.-----

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Be cautious now and do not bow,however sweet the chains .

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Anything that brings spiritual,mental or physical weakness, touchit not with the toes of your feet

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Everything that has selfishnessfor its basis,competition as its right hand,and enjoyment as its goal ,Must die soonner or later

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This is a battlefield, fight your way out.Make your life a manifestation of willstrengthened by renunciation.

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Stand and die in your own strength;if there is any sin in the world, it isweakness; avoid all weakness, forweakness is sin, weakness is death

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Be the witness,never learn to react

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The Hindus believe that a man is a souland has a body,while Western people believehe is a body and possesses a soul.

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Of all the scriptures of theworld, it is the Vedas alonewhich declare that the study ofthe Vedas is secondary.

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I find thatwhenever I have made a mistakein my life, it has always been because selfentered into the calculation.

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Never forget that a man ismade great and perfect as muchby his faults as by his virtues.

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If a bad time comes, what of it?The pendulum mustswing back to the other side.But that is no better.The thing to do is to stop it

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This world is our friend when weare its slaves and no more.

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Whatever others think or do,lower not your standard ofpurity, morality,and love of God.

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The road to the God is theroughest and steepest in the universe.

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through a thousand stumbles.Eating, drinking, dressing, and society

Character has to be established

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nonsense are not things to throw a lifeupon.

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He who is always afraid ofloss always loses.

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But unless one does the thingactually, nothing is learnt.

Any amount of theoreticalknowledge one may have;

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Don't yield to sorrow;everything is in God's hands.

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In our moments of anguish,gates barred for ever seem toopen and let in many a flood of light.

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Every bit of pleasure willbring its quota of pain, if notwith compound interest.

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If one gets one blow,one must return tenWith redoubled fury,then only one is a man.

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Don't let egoism to enter your minds,And let love never depart from your hearts.

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It is a land of dreams, it does not matterWhether one enjoys or weeps,They are but dreams and as such,Must break sooner or later

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He whose joy is only in himself,whose desires are only in himselfHe has learnt his lessons

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I have worked for this world,Mary, all my life, and it does notgive me a piece of bread withouttaking a pound of flesh

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Devotion to the mother is theroot of all welfare.

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Face the brutes. That is a lesson for all life—face theterrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardshipsof life fall back when we cease to flee before them.

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It is religion, the inquiry into the beyond,That makes the difference between manAnd animal

163

Dare to be free, dare to go as faras your thought leads, and dareto carry that out in your life

164

Every idea that strengthens youmust be taken up and everythought that weakens you must be rejected

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The same fire that cooks a meal for us

May burn a child and it is no fault of the

Fire if it does so,

The difference lies in the way in which it is used

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Whatever you think, that you will be

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The moment you quarrel , you are notGoing God ward, you are going backwardTowards the brutes

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First learn to obey,The command will come by itself.

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If there is any sin in the world,It is weaknessAvoid all weakness,for weakness is sin,Weakness is death

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The earth is enjoyed by heroes‖—this is the unfailing truth.Be a hero.Always say, ―I have no fear.

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Atremendous stream is flowing toward the ocean, carrying us allalong with it; and though like straws and scraps of paper we mayat times float aimlessly about, in the long run we are sure to jointhe Ocean of Life and Bliss.

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

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In other countries great priests try totrace their descent to some king,But here the greatest Kings would traceTheir descent to some ancient priest

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We as Vedantists, know for certainThat there is no power in the universe toTo injure us unless we first injure ourselves.

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Faith, faith, faith in ourselves,Faith, faith in the – GodThis is the secret of greatness

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To have the ideal is one thing,and to apply it practically to theDetails of daily life is quite another thing

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One ounce of practice is worth twentythousand tons of big talk.

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Let not your work produce results for you,and at the same time may you be never withoutwork.

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Religion is not in books ,nor in theories,Nor in dogmas, nor in talking,not even in reasoning.It is being and becoming

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This atman is not to reached by too much talk,no,not even by thehighest intellect, no,Not even by the study of veds themselves

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Whoever has dared to touch ourliterature has felt the bondage, and isthere bound for ever.

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If you have assimilated five ideas and madeThem your life and character,You have more education than any man whoHas got by heart whole library

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Fill the brain with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them dayand night before you, and out of that will come great work.

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Fear is death, fear is sin, fear is hell, fear is unrighteousness, fear iswrong life.All the negative thoughts and ideas that are in the worldhave proceeded from this evil spirit of fear.

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Do not look back upon what has been done. Go ahead!

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

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First, believe in the world—that there is meaning behindeverything.

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If superstition enters, the brain is gone.

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There cannot be friendship without equality.

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The weak have no place here, in this life or any other life.Weakness leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery,physical and mental. Weakness is death.

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The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you arebecoming cheerful.

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Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse.

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Stand as a rock; you are indestructible. You are the Self, the Godof the universe.

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Put God behind everything—human beings, animals, food, andwork. Make this a habit

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Mind you, this is life's experience: if you really want the good ofothers, the whole universe may stand against you and cannot hurtyou. It must crumble before your power of the Lord Himself inyou if you are sincere and really unselfish.

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It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mindthat hews its way through a thousand difficulties.

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Have faith in Guru, in his teachings, and in the surety that you canget free. Think day and night that this universe is zero, only God is.Have intense desire to get free.

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God is not to be reached by the weak. Never be weak. You haveinfinite strength within you. How else will you conquer anything?How else will you come to God?

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Come out into the broad light of day, come out from the littlenarrow paths, for how can the infinite soul rest content to live anddie in small ruts?

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Books are infinite in number and time is short. The secret ofknowledge is to take what is essential. Take that and try to live upto it.

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Be strong! Don’t talk of ghosts and devils. We are the living devils.The sign of life is strength and growth. The sign of death isweakness. Whatever is weak, avoid! It is death. If it is strength, godown into hell and get hold of it! There is salvation only for thebrave.

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Be brave! Be strong! Be fearless! Once you have taken up thespiritual life, fight as long as there is any life in you. Even thoughyou know you are going to be killed, fight till you ―are killed.‖Don’t die of fright. Die fighting. Don’t go down till you areknocked down.

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Astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of aweak mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent inour minds, we should see a physician, take good food, and rest.

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Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will beperfect without reading a single religious book, without going intoa single church or temple.

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Him I call a Mahatma ("great soul") whose heart bleeds for thepoor, otherwise he is a Duratma ("wicked soul"). Let us unite ourwills in continued prayer for their good.

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

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No good comes out of the manWho day night thinks he is nobody

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Follies there are,weakness there must be,But remember your real natureAlways – that is the only way to cure theWeakness,that is the only way to cure theFollies.

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Everything in this life is fraught with fear.It is renunciation alone that makes onefearless

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The true man is he who is strongAs streangth itself and possesses a woman’sheart

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Verily, these three are rare to obtain andCome only through theGrace of God –human birth,Desire to obtain Moksha,And the company of theGreat – souled ones.

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Why should you feel ashamed toTake the name of Hindu , which is yourgreatest and most glorious possessionThis religion is so great that even a littleof it brings a great amount of it

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Don't believe what others say unless youyourselves know it to be true

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Rise at the expense of another?I did not come to earth for that.

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Show your power by suffering

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Our misery comes, not from work butby our getting attached to something

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The man who can’t believe in himself,

How can you expect him to believe in anything

else

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It is better to do something;never mind if it proves to be wrong,It is better then doing nothing.

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If we can't follow the ideal, let us confessOur weakness, but not degrade it;Let not any try to pull it down.

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If a man possesses everything thatis under the sun and does not possessSpirituality , what avails it?

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First form character ,First earn spiritualityAnd results will come of themselves.

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If we sit down and lament over theimperfection of our bodies and minds,we profit nothing;It is the heroic endeavor to subduceadverse circumstances that carries ourspirit upwards

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Truth, purity and unselfishness – whereverthese are present,There is no power below or above the sunto crush the possessor thereof.

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No claim is made by the doer of great deeds,Only by lazy worthless fools.

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To know God is to become God

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Bring in the light; the darkness will vanishof itself

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Ours not to question why, ours but to do anddie

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Education is the manifestation of thePerfection already in man,Religion is the manifestation of the divinityalready in man.

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Conscious efforts lead the way toSuper-conscious illumination.

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Who commits mistakes, the path of truth isattainable by him only.

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He, the brave alone,can deny the self

234

And if this Maya is so beautiful,think ofthe wondrous beauty of the reality behind it.

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For one thing we may be grateful;This life is not eternal.

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When the mind tries to think of anything else,

give it a hard blow, so that it may turn around and

think of God.

237

If I am impure, that is also of myown making and that very thingshows that I can be pure if I will.

238

Stand and die in your own strength;If there is any sin in the world,It is weakness;Avoid all weakness,for weakness is sin,

239

I do not know whether I succeed or not,

but it is a great thing to take up a grand ideal in life and

then give up one’s whole life to it

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To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendouswill. "I will rink the ocean," says the persevering soul, "at my willmountains will crumble up." Have that sort of energy, that sort ofwill, work hard, and you will reach the goal.

241

In the west, they are trying to solve the

Problem how much a man can possess,

And we are trying here to solve the problem

on how little a man can live

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It is the change of the soul itself forthe better that alone will cure theevils of the world

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Teach yourself, teach every onehis real nature, call upon the sleepingSoul and see how it awakes

244

Power will come, glory will come,Goodness will come,purity will come,And everything that is excellent willcome,when this sleeping soul is roused toself conscious activity

245

You have done well; only try to do better

246

Work out the salvation of this land and of

The whole world , each one of you thinking that

The entire burden is on your shoulders.

247

Let not the fire die out

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Is it such a bad choice in this world to think

Not of matter but of spirit,not of man but of God?

249

If you attempt to get the secular knowledge

Without religion,I tell you plainly,vain is your

attempt

250

Anything that makes you weak physically,

Intellectually, and spiritually, reject as poison;

There is no life in it,it cannot be true

251

To talk of evil and misery is nonsense, because they do not existoutside. If I am immune against all anger, I never feel angry. If Iam proof against all hatred, I never feel hatred.

252

Love opens the most impossible gates;The gate to all the secrets of the universe.

253

Never let curses rise on your lips.

254

Feel that you are great and youbecome great.

255

You can't help anyone , you can only servethe children of the lord , serve theLord himself, if you have the privilege

256

The moment you fear you are nobody.It is fear that is the great cause of misery in theworld

257

Struggle for that grace

258

If a man goes towards what is false,It is because he can’t get what is true

259

Knowledge is the finding of unity in Diversity, andthe highest point in every science is reached whenit finds the underlying unity in all variety

260

Obey the scriptures until you are notStrong enough to do without them.

261

Watch people do their most common Actions; these are indeed the things that will tell you the real character of a great person.

262

Until a man becomes prophet,Religion is a mockery

263

Be not in despair, The way despair not;arise, awake, and find the ideal, yet the goalis very difficult, like walking on the blade ofa razor

264

Death is better than a vegetating ignorant life,

It is better to die on the battlefield than to

live a life of defeat

265

When you find yourseleves suffering,Blame yourselves, and try to do better

266

The highest direction is thatwhich takes us to God;Every other direction is lower

267

Understand my words in theirTrue spirit and apply yourselves to workIn their light.

268

I want the why of everything.I leave the how to children.

269

Your country requires heroes;be heroes;

your duty is to go on working, and theneverything will follow of itself

270

Take up one idea, make that one idea yourlife, think of it, dream of it, live of it, let thebrain, muscle, nerves, every part of yourbody be full of that idea and just leaveevery other idea alone. This is the waygreat spiritual giants are produced, othersare mere talking machines

271

You must have an iron will if you wouldcross the ocean. You must be strong enoughto pierce mountains

272

Nature wants us to react, to return blowfor blow, cheating for cheating, lie for lie,to hit back with all our might, then itrequires a super divine power not hit back,to keep control, to be unattached

273

Misery comes through attachment, notthrough work.As soon as we identifyourselves with work we do, we feelmiserable; but if we don’t identify ourselveswith it, we do not feel that misery

274

―Are you unselfish? That is the question. Ifyou are, you will be perfect without readinga single religious book, without going into asingle church or temple.‖

275

Three things are necessary to makeevery man great, every nation great

1. Conviction of the powers ofgoodness

2. Absence of jealousy andsuspicion

3. Helping all who are trying to beand do good

276

The greatest sin is to think yourselfweak

277

To be good and to do good - that is the whole ofreligion

278

Arise!Awake!And stop not till the goal isreached

279

They alone live who live for others, rest aremore dead then alive

280

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All the power is within you; you can doanything and everything. Believe in that; don’tbelieve that you are weak. Stand up and expressthe divinity with in you

281

What ever you think, that you will be. If youthink yourself weak, weak you will be; if youthink yourself strong; strong you will be

282

He is an atheist who does not believe inhimself. The old religion said that he was anatheist who does not believe in God. The newreligion says that he is an atheist who does notbelieve in himself

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Help if you can; if you cannot, fold yourhands and stand by and see things go on.Do not injure, if you cannot render help

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