Swami Vivekananda
The Goal - Teachings of Swami Vivekananda by Topic
Dualism recognises God and nature to be eternally separate: the universe and nature eternally dependent upon God. The extreme monists make no such distinction. In the last analysis, they claim, all is God: the universe becomes lost in God; God is the eternal life of the universe. With them infini
Soul and God - Teachings of Swami Vivekananda by Topic
Anything that is in space has form. Space itself has form. Either you are in space, or space is in you. The soul is beyond all space. Space is in the soul, not the soul in space. Form is confined to time and space and is bound by the law of causation. All time is in us, we are not in time. As the
Thoughts on the Vedas and the Upanishads - Teachings of Swami Vivekananda by Topic
The Vedic sacrificial altar was the origin of Geometry. The invocation of the Devas, or bright ones, was the basis of worship. The idea is that one invoked is helped and helps. Hymns are not only words of praise but words of power, being pronounced with the right attitude of mind. Heavens are only
Unselfish Work is True Renunciation - Teachings of Swami Vivekananda by Topic
This world is not for cowards. Do not try to fly. Look not for success or failure. Join yourself to the perfectly unselfish will and work on. Know that the mind which is born to succeed joins itself to a determined will and perseveres. You have the right to work, but do not become so degenerate
Divine Love
[Love may be symbolised by a triangle. The first angle is,] love questions not. It is not a beggar. . . . Beggar's love is no love at all. The first sign of love is when love asks nothing, [when it] gives everything. This is the real spiritual worship, the worship through love. Whether God is me
Formal worship
All of you who are students of the Bible . . . .understand that the whole [of] Jewish history and Jewish' thought have been produced by two [types of] teachers — priests and prophets, the priests representing the power of conservatism, the prophets the power of progress. The whole thing is that a
Worshipper and worshipped
We have been taking up the more analytical side of human nature. In this course we [shall] study the emotional side. . . . The former deals with man as unlimited being, [as] principle, the latter with man as limited being. . . . The one has no time to stop for a few tear-drops or pangs; the other
Vedanta philosophy and Christianity
( Notes of a lecture delivered at the Unitarian Church, in Oakland, California, on February 28, 1900 )
Concentration and breathing
The main difference between men and the animals is the difference in their power of concentration. All success in any line of work is the result of this. Everybody knows something about concentration. We see its results every day. High achievements in art, music, etc., are the results of concent
Nature and man
The modern idea of nature includes only that part of the universe that is manifested on the physical plane. That which is generally understood to be mind is not considered to be nature. Philosophers endeavouring to prove the freedom of the will have excluded the mind from nature; for as nature is
The importance of psychology
The idea of psychology in the West is very much degraded. Psychology is the science of sciences; but in the West it is placed upon the same plane as all other sciences; that is, it is judged by the same criterion — utility. How much practical benefit will it do to humanity? How much will it add t
The nature of the soul and its goal
The earliest idea is that a man, when he dies, is not annihilated. Something lives and goes on living even after the man is dead. Perhaps it would be better to compare the three most ancient nations — the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the ancient Hindus — and take this idea from all of them. W