Swami Vivekananda
Tales and Parables
You Western folk want action! You cannot yet perceive the poetry of every common little incident in life! What beauty could be greater than that of the story of the young mother coming to Buddha with her dead boy? Or the incident of the goats? You see the Great Renunciation w
The Devotee
There was a certain Yogi who used to practise meditation in a lonely part of the forest, on the banks of a river. There was a poor cowherd, a very ignorant man, who used to tend his herd in that forest. Every day he used to see this same Yogi meditating by the hour, practising austerities, l
The Greatest Sacrifice
This idea of complete self-sacrifice is illustrated in the following story: After the battle of Kurukshetra the five Pandava brothers performed a great sacrifice and made very large gifts to the poor. All people expressed amazement at the greatness and richness of the sacrifice, and said that
The Mohammedan
A certain Mohammedan was praying in a garden. They are very regular in their prayers. When the time comes, wherever they are they just begin, fall down on the ground and get up and fall down, and so on. One of them was in a garden when the call for prayer came, so he knelt there, prostrate on
Hanuman's Ideal
There is a story of Hanuman, who was a great worshipper of Rama; just as the Christians worship Christ as he incarnation of God, so the Hindus worship many incarnations of God; according to them, God came nine times in India, and will come once more.
The Fanatical Worshiper of Shiva
There is an old story of a man who was a worshipper of Shiva.
The Princess and the Sanyasin
A certain king used to inquire of all the Sannyasins that came to his country, "Which is the greater man--he who gives up the world and becomes a Sannyasin, or he who lives in the world and performs his duties as a householder?"
Guru Nanak and the Mullah
There was a great prophet in India, Guru Nanak, born 400 years ago. Some of you have heard of the Sikhs, the fighting people. He was a follower of the Sikh religion.
The Drop of Water Who Wept
(As told to the opera singer, Emma Calve who was repulsed at the thought of the loss of her ego/individuality.(from her autobiography, My Life, 1922, Appleton)
Tales and Parables
When Buddha was born, he was so pure that whosoever looked at his face from a distance immediately gave up the ceremonial religion and became a monk and became saved. So the gods held a meeting. They said, 'We are undone.' Because most of the gods live upon the ceremonials. These sacrifices go
The story of Savitri
There was a king called Ashvapati. The king had a daughter, who was so good and beautiful that she was called Savitri, which is the name of a sacred prayer of the Hindus. When Savitri grew old enough, her father asked her to choose a husband for herself. These ancient Indian princesses were very ind
The Story of Prahlada
Hiranyakashipu was the king of the Daityas. The Daityas, though born of the same parentage as the Devas or gods, were always, at war with the latter. The Daityas had no part in the oblations and offerings of mankind, or in the government of the world and its guidance. But sometimes they waxed st