Do not think of evil things.
Think only pure thoughts.
Do not resist evil, but face it.
Blame none when evil comes. Blame yourself.
Sacrifice yourself for others.
SACRIFICE EVERYTHING FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS.
See God in man.
If you have to think, think good thought, great thoughts.
Work, but let not the action or the truth produce a deep impression on the mind. Let the ripples come and go, let huge actions proceed from muscles and the brain, but let them not make any deep impression on the soul.
Therefore, be “unattached”; let things work, let brain centers work; work incessantly, but let not a ripple conquer the mind. Work as if you were a stranger in this land, a sojourner; work incessantly, but do not bind yourselves; bondage is terrible.
Work through freedom! Work through love! The word “love” is very difficult to understand; love never comes until there is freedom. There is no true love possible in the slave.
Do you ask anything from your children in return for what you have given them! It is your duty to work for them, and there the matter ends. In whatever you do for a particular person, a city, or a state, assume the same attitude towards it as you have towards you children----------------expect nothing in return. If you can invariably take the position of a giver, in which everything given by you is a free offering to the world, without any thought of return, then will your work bring you no attachment. Attachment comes only where we expect a return.
Be beyond the common worldly motives. “To work you have the right, but not to the fruits thereof”.
Give up all the fruits of work, and be unattached to them.
Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of yoga should be at once rejected. The best guide in life is strength. In religion, as in all other matters, discard everything that weakens you, have nothing to do with it.
Stand sane and motiveless.
Renounce and be happy.
Face facts as facts.
Speak out the truth boldly.
Remain pure always.
Preach the highest truths.
Do not want this world.
No desire for the world!
Expect nothing in return.
Always talk and hear and reason about this Atman.
Be the servant of all.
This life is a hard fact; work your way through it boldly, though it may be adamantine; no matter, the soul is stronger.
Do not search for God in obscure places, for God is there in front of you in millions forms. He who loves creation is serving God…………….Throw away the paraphernalia of worship! Go out and worship man, for God has appeared in the form of man, and to worship man is to serve man and to serve is to toil and labour.
Help thyself out by thyself. None else can help thee, friend. For thou alone art thy greatest enemy, thou alone art thy greatest friend.
You have to realise truth and work it out for yourself according to your own nature.
Do not talk religion.
Preach the highest truths.
Be true to your mission.
Remain pure always.
Become a dynamo of spirituality.
Do not want this world.
Do not despair!
Learn obedience first.
Keep to the ideal.
Control the senses.
Work to lift people!
Save yourself by yourself.
Speak out the truth boldly.
Make men first.
Avoid jealousy and selfishness.
Avoid weakness and slavery.
No desire for the world!
We must not hurt others.
Renounce and be happy.
Seek not, and that is God.
Speak of this Atman to all.
Be bold and fear not.
Off with laziness.
Stand sane and motiveless.
If you have, then give.
Love them that hate you.
Do not be proud.
Dream no more!
Don’t despond in the least.
Work in harmony.
Feel first for the world.
Work on with a heart.
Always hold on to the highest.
Struggle, still I say.
Work on with all energy.
Assert everything that is God.
Cherish positive thoughts.
Know truth for yourself.
Beget no evil.
Beware of falsehood.
Injure no living creature.
Be the servant of all.
Let not the fire die out.
Never say man is weak.
Go on working.
No one is greater.
Have thou no home.
Off with laziness.
Think away everything.
We must reason.
We must love all.
Be jealous of none.
Renounce and give up.
Be moral. Be brave.
We must become thinkers.
Think of Him, speak of Him.
Be a heart-whole man.
Work to lift people.
Bring truth out.
Have patience and work.
Renounce everything.
You must be as free as the air, and as obedient as the plant and the dog.
Do not try to disturb the faith of any man. If you can, give him something better; if you can, get hold of a man where he stands and give him a push upwards.
Do not be anxious, do not be in a hurry. Slow, persistent and silent work does everything.
Seek no praise, no reward, for anything you do.
Go on saying, “I am free”.
Be selfless.
Bow down to nothing but to your own higher self.
Be brave, be brave! Man dies but once.
Only know the truth and realise it.
Do not give up anything! Things will give you up.
Be bold and fear not.
Do not fight with people; do not antagonize anyone.
“Give up”, says the Veda, “Give up”.
Renounce everything.
Renounce and give up.
Be pure and be good; be pure and love everyone.
Believe nothing until you find it out for yourself.
Give up desire.
Do not drag others down to where you are.
“Be practical”.
Do things for others; expand!
Be beyond the common worldly motives.
Do not disturb your mind by vain arguments.
Be beyond both freedom and bondage.
Believe in nothing until you know it
Do not despair!
Believe first in yourself, then in God.
Identify yourself only with God.
Don’t despond in the least.
Do not care what be your lot.
Reason out what is true from what is untrue.
Realise yourself. That is all there is to do.
Hope and do not despair.
Purify yourself, and the world is bound to be purified.
Never tell yourselves or others that you are weak.
Do not talk religion.
Have faith in yourselves.
Have faith that you are all, my brave lads, born to do great things! Let not the barks of puppies frighten you------------------no, not even the thunder bolts of heaven-------------------but stand up and work!
Have faith in yourselves and stand upon that faith and be strong.
Doing is very great, but that comes from thinking……………….. Fill the brain therefore, with high thoughts, highest ideals; place them day and night before you; and out of that will come great work.
Know it for certain that without steady devotion for the Guru, and unflinching patience and perseverance, nothing is to be achieved.
Learn whatever good things you may come across anywhere.
Arise, ye mighty one, and be strong! Work on and on, struggle on and on!
Be moral. Be brave. Be a heart whole man. Strictly moral, brave unto desperation. Don’t bother your head with religious theories. Only cowards sin, brave men never; no, not even in mind. Try to love anybody and everybody.
Face the truth as it is.
You must have strict morality. Deviate an inch from this and you are gone for ever.
Banish all superstition.
Be good and have mercy on those who suffer.
Be steady. And avoid jealousy and selfishness.
Keep yourself holy and pure.
Never say, ‘no’, never say, ‘I cannot’, for you are infinite. Even time and space are as nothing compared with your nature. You can do anything and everything, you are almighty.
NEVER SAY “MINE”. WHENEVER WE SAY A THING IS “MINE”, MISERY WILL IMMEDIATELY COME.
Set yourselves wholly to the service of others.
Beware of everything that is untrue; stick to truth and we shall succeed, may be slowly, but surely.
Choose the highest ideal and live your life upto that.
Face the terrible, face it boldly.
Seek no praise, no reward, for anything you do.
Learn to work unitedly for others.
Do not try to lead your brethren, but serve them. The brutal mania for leading has sunk many a great ship in the waters of life.
Do not look to others for help.
Be free, hope for nothing from anyone.
Believe in the omnipotent power of love……………Have you love? You are omnipotent. Are you perfectly unselfish? If so, you are irresistible. It is character that pays everywhere.
Accept the “beneficial” and discard the “pleasant”.
The seeing of many sis the great sin of all the world. See all as Self and love all; let all idea of separateness go.
This life comes and goes------------wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few days. It is better, far better to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth, than to die like a worldly worm. Advance!
Get up, and put your shoulders to the wheel-------------how long is this life for? As you have come into this world, leave some mark behind. Otherwise, where is the difference between you and the trees and stones? They, too, come into existence, decay and die.
This life comes and goes------------wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few days. It is better, far better to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth, than to die like a worldly worm. Advance!
Life is short: Give it up to a Great cause. Arise! awake! and stop not till the goal is reached.
No amount of ignorance or wrong ideas can put a barrier between the soul and God. Even if there be no God, still hold fast to love. It is better to die seeking a God than as a dog seeking only carrion. Choose the highest ideal and give your life up to that. Death being so certain, it is the highest thing to give up life for a great purpose.
Love will painlessly attain to philosophy; then after knowledge comes Parabhakti (supreme devotion).
Knowledge is critical and makes a great fuss over everything; but Love says ‘God will show His real nature to me’ and accepts all.
Do not go against anything-----------------------ours is to put the chemicals together, the Lord knows how and when the crystal will form.
Desire nothing for yourself. Do all for others. This is to live and move and have your being in God.
Please be careful not to become impure even in thought, as also in speech and action; always try to do good to others as far as in you lies.
Have no idea of proprietorship, possessorship.
Let not a ripple conquer the mind.......................................
BE ‘UNATTACHED’; let things work; let brain-centers work; work incessantly, but let not a ripple conquer the mind. Work as if you were a stranger in this land, a sojourner; work incessantly, but do not bind yourselves; bondage is terrible.
IT IS PREFERABLE TO LIVE ON THE GRASS FOR THE SAKE OF DOING GOOD TO OTHERS.
Have faith in the Lord.
Have faith in man, whether he appears to be an angel or the very devil himself.
Day and night tell yourself, “I am He”, “I am He”.
Combine seriousness with childlike naiveté.
Condemn none!
You have the right to work, but do not become so degenerate as to look for results.
Spread ideas--------------go from village to village, from door to door---------------then only there will be real work.
Above all, work for the good of humanity.
Kill self first if you want to succeed.
Go to hell yourself to buy salvation for others.
Put your whole heart and soul in the work to which I have consecrated myself.
Do not destroy. Iconoclastic reformers do no good to the world. Break not, pull not anything down, but build. Help, if you can; if you can not, fold your hands and stand by and see things go on. Do not injure, if you cannot render help. Say not a word against any man’s convictions so far as they are sincere.
A man must desire nothing else but the truth, and truth for truth’s sake.
Remember your great mission in life.
Arise and awake, for the time is passing and all our energies will be frittered away in vain talking.
As Shri Ramakrishna used to love you, as I love you, come, love the world like that.
Be not disheartened. When good nectar is unattainable, it is no reason why we should eat poison.
Be not ruffled by vain arguments. Come to your own realisation. You alone can do it.
Do not give up the world; live in the world, imbibe its influences as much as you can; but if it be for your own enjoyment’s sake, work not at all.
Say, ‘This misery that I am suffering is of my own doing, and that very thing, proves that it will have to be undone by me alone.’ That which I created, I can demolish; that which is created by someone else, I shall never be able to destroy. Therefore, stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within yourselves.
Let things come as they may.
Be positive; do not criticise others. Give your message, teach what you have to teach, and there stop.
Never fear what will happen of you, depend on no one.
Know that you are always free.
Keep yourself holy and pure.
Hate not the most abject sinner, look not to his exterior.
Go on loving. If a man is angry, there is no reason why you should be angry; if he degrades himself, that is no reason why you should degrade yourself.
Plunge in! Do the duty at hand.
Do not take any hasty step.
Be the witness. Learn never to react.
Appreciation or no appreciation, sleep not, slacken not.
Stand firm like a rock. Truth always triumphs.
Be a man first, my friend, and you will see how all those things and the rest will follow of themselves after you.
Awake, awake, great ones! The world is burning with misery. Can you sleep?
Help, if you can; but do not destroy.
Purify yourself, and the world is bound to be purified.
Do not be cowardly and hypocritical.
Try to love anybody and everybody.
Hold fast to your only true aim-----------------God.
Love all alike, then all desires fall off.
Give this life for the service of others.
Be beyond the common worldly motives.
Stand upon Truth, and you have got God.
The body must be properly taken care of.
The only way of getting our divine nature manifested is by helping others to do the same. If there is inequality in nature, still there must be equal chance for all--------------or if greater for some and for some less-----------------the weaker should be given more chance than the strong. In other words, a Brahmana is not so much in need of education as a Chandala. If the son of a Brahmana needs one teacher, that of a Chandala needs ten. For greater help must be given to him whom nature has not endowed with an acute intellect from birth. It is a madman who carries coals to Newcastle. The poor, the downtrodden, the ignorant------------------let these be your God.
The first duty is to educate the people.
Denunciation is not at all the way to do good.
Do not denounce.
One has to be free, and as broad as sky. One has to have a mind that is crystal clear; only then can truth shine in it.
Let there be action without reaction.
Ask not anything in return for your love.
Each duty has its own place, and according to the circumstances in which we are placed, we must perform our duties.
Ask nothing; want nothing in return.
Conquer yourself, and the whole universe is yours.
Keep the ideal in view and work towards it.
Man must love others because those others are himself.
We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care of what you think.
Do not judge any man from his defects.
Educate your women first and leave them to themselves; then they will tell you what reforms are necessary for them.
Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not.
Back your talk with real work.
Above all and in all, be sincere.
If you have to think, think good thoughts, great thoughts.
Take off all ideas of growth from your mind.
Perish in the struggle to be holy; a thousand times welcome death.
Persevere. All progress proceeds by such rise and fall.
You have to teach yourself; your growth must come from inside.
Persevere on, my brave lads. We have only just began. Never despond! Never say enough!
Please be careful not to become impure even in thought, as also in speech and action; always try to do good to others as far as in you lies.
Plod on through the dark, brave heart, with all thy might and main.
There must not be the slightest divergence between one’s words and deeds.
Think some thought; it doesn’t matter whether you are right or wrong. But think something.
This life is a hard fact; work your way through it boldly, though it may be adamantine; no matter, the soul is stronger.
Until we give up the world manufactured by the ego, never can we enter the kingdom of heaven. None ever did, none ever will. To give up the world is to forget the ego, to know it not at all------------living in the body, but not of it. This rascal ego must be obliterated. Power to help mankind is with the silent ones who only live and love and withdraw their own personality entirely.
Take up what suits you, and let others take up what they need.
Teach yourselves, teach every one his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes.
Take one thing up and do it, and see the end of it, and before you have seen the end, do not give it up.
Give up all “me and mine”.
You have to realise truth and work it out for yourself according to your own nature.
You must liberate the whole universe before you leave this body.
Do not be jealous of anyone. Look not to the faults of others.
Take your stand on good purpose, right means, righteous courage, and be brave.
Do not for a moment quail. Everything will come all right. It is will that moves the world.
Be bold and fearless and the road will be clear.
Take care of these two things---------------love of power and jealousy.
No foolish talk now, but actual work.
Take yourself away from all the world’s little selfish clinging.
I want my work to be quick like lightening, and firm as adamant.
Arise and awake and be perfectly sincere.
Learn to see things in the proper light.
We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas.
Do not talk much, but feel the spirit within you.
Work for others.
Be perfectly sincere.
Become perfectly unselfish.
Condemn none; if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so.
Take up a great ideal and give up your whole life to it.
Never lose faith on yourself; you can do anything in this universe. Never weaken, all power is yours.
Cultivate always “faith in yourself”.
Continue to exercise your will and it will take you to higher still.
Achieve the consummation of human life before you pass off.
Every idea that strengthens you must be taken up and every thought that weakens you must be rejected.
Work out the salvation of this land and of the whole world each of you thinking that the entire burden is on your shoulders.
Be always ready to concede to the opinions of your brethren, and try always to conciliate.
Do not try to be a ruler. He is the best ruler who can serve well.
Do not think of matter; think of the spirit.
Be a man and try to make those immediately under your care, brave, moral and sympathising. No religion for you my children, but morality and bravery. No cowardice, no sin, no crime, no weakness---------------------- the rest will come of itself.
Be not compelled. Why should you be compelled? Everything that you do under compulsion goes to build up attachment.
You must give your body, mind, and speech to “the welfare of the world.”
Take courage and work on. Patience and steady work-----------------this is the only way. Go on; remember---------------patience and purity and courage and steady work. So long as you are pure, and true to your principles, you will never fail.
Work, work-----------------------conquer all by your love!
Do things for others; Expand!
Fight on bravely! Life is short! Give it up to a great cause.
Work, work, for, to work only for the good of others is life.
We must be the masters, and not the slaves of nature; neither body nor mind must be our master, nor must we forget that the body is mine, and not I the body’s.
Do not sit idle, thinking that everything will be done in time, later on! Mind------------------------- nothing will be done that way!
Take up an idea, devote yourself to it, struggle on in patience, and the sun will rise for you.
You must be ready to plunge into fire-----------------then will work be done.
Take care that you do not swerve an inch from the ideal.
As you do good to yourself, so you must do good to others.
Fill the mind with the highest thoughts, hear them day after day, think them month after month. And out of that will come great work.
Be pure, be calm! The mind when ruffled cannot reflect the Lord.
Do not stick to particularization; go to the principle, to the One.
Work of your own free will, not from duty.
Don’t enter into wrangles with anybody---------------------always maintain a calm attitude.
Truce to foolish talk; talk of the Lord. Life is too short to be spent in talking about frauds and cranks.
Be the servant while leading.
Realise Religion, no talking will do.
As you do good to yourself, so you must do good to others.
Work, work the idea, the plan, my boys, my brave, noble, good souls-----------------------to the wheel, to the wheel put your shoulders.
Do not be in a hurry, do not go out to imitate anybody else.
Always first learn to be a servant, and then you will be fit to be a master.
Injure no living creature.
If you are really my children, you will fear nothing, stop at nothing. You will be like lions.
Be chaste in thought, word, and action.
Even if the order be wrong, first obey and then contradict it.
Work on! Hold on! Be brave! Dare anything and everything.
Arise, awake, with your hands stretched out to protect the spirituality of the world.
Fill yourselves with the ideal; whatever you do, think well on it.
Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us!
Whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish.
Come! Be men! Come out of your narrow holes and have a look around.
Cultivate always “faith in yourself”.
Work for work’s sake.
Don’t allow egoism to enter your minds, and let love never depart from your hearts.
Your work is to serve the poor and miserable, without distinction of caste or color.
We must electrify society, electrify the world.
Do good because it is good to do good. Ask no more.
Work hard. Be holy and pure and the fire will come.
Work for the idea, not the person.
Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within yourselves.
Arise and awake, let minor things, and quarrels over little details and fights over little doctrines be thrown aside, for here is the greatest of all works, here are the sinking millions.
We shall have to work, giving up altogether all desire for results. People will call us both good and bad. But we shall have to work like lions, keeping the ideal before us, without caring whether “the wise ones praise or blame us”.
You must have a great devotion to your ideal, devotion not of the moment, but calm, persevering, and steady devotion, like that of an Chataka which looks into the sky in the midst of thunder and lightning and would drink no water but from the clouds.
If you want any good to come, just throw your ceremonials overboard and worship the Living God, the Man-God--------------every being that wears a human form--------------------God in His universal as well as individual aspect.
Do not injure another. Love everyone as your own self, because the whole universe is one. In injuring another, I am injuring my self; in loving another, I am loving myself.
Be free; hope for nothing from anyone. I’m sure if you look back upon your lives, you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others, which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves.
Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they are the beauty of life---------these failures. What would life be without them? It would not be worth having if it were not for struggles. Where would be the poetry of life? Never mind the struggles, the mistakes. I never heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only a cow---------never a man. So never mind these failures, these little backslidings; hold the ideal a thousand times; and if you fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more.
Go on spreading love, love that knows no bounds.
We must have faith in ourselves; we must become world-movers, for everything is in us.
Live for an ideal, and that one ideal alone.
Keep your body pure; keep your mind pure.
Condemn none; if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so.
Let us perfect the means; the end will take care of itself. For the world can be good and pure, only if our lives are good and pure. Therefore, let us purify ourselves. Let us make ourselves perfect.
Dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to carry that out in your life.
You have to see God yourself.
Day and night say, “I am He”. It is the greatest strength; it is religion.
See God in men and women.
You have to teach yourself; your growth must come from inside.
If we really want to be blessed, and make others blessed, we must go deeper.
You must all be free.
You must all pay attention to your health first.
Dare to seek Truth even through hell.
It is selfishness that we must seek to eliminate.
Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny.
Deepen your own power of thought and love.
Jealousy is the bane of all slaves. It is the bane of our nation. Avoid that always.
Keep the ideal in view and work towards it.
Man is first to be saved; he must be given food, education, and spirituality.
Always keep your mind joyful; if melancholy thoughts come, kick them out.
Know the Atman alone and give up all dother vain words.
It is not fitting that you think yourself a sinner.
Look upon every man, woman, and everyone as God. You can not help anyone, you can only serve: serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself, if you have the privilege.
You must have an iron will if you would cross the ocean. You must be strong enough to pierce mountains.
You must hold fast and be steady in the search for truth.
You must open your heart.
Love and do good to everybody, but do not become a slave.
Do not be cowardly and hypocritical.
You must learn calm submission to the will of God.
Do not talk much, but feel the spirit within you.
We must be merciful towards those that are in misery.
Do not be in a hurry, do not go out to imitate anybody else.
Slave of the body, slave of the mind, slave of the world, slave of a good word, slave of a bad word, slave of passion, slave of happiness, slave of life, slave of death, slave of everything! This slavery has to be broken.
Do not be jealous of anyone. Look not to the faults of others.
Do not wait for anybody or anything.
Be not in despair; the way is very difficult, like walking on the edge of a razor; yet despair not, arise, awake, and find the ideal, the goal.
You must take off your mind from lust and lucre, must discriminate always between the real and the unreal--------------must settle down into the mood of bodiless ness with the brooding thought that you are not this body, and must always have the realisation that you are the all-pervading Atman.
Stand aside, and freely let these frictions come. You feel the frictions only when you are outside of it simply as a witness and as a student, you will be able to see that there are millions and millions of channels in which God is manifesting Himself as Love.
Do not decry these rituals and mythologies. Let people have them; let those who so desire have them.
Go on doing good, thinking holy thoughts continuously, that is the only way to suppress base impressions. 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…………….The chaste brain has tremendous energy and gigantic will power.
The majority of sects will be transient, and last only as bubbles, because the leaders are not usually men of character. Perfect love, the heart never reacting, this is what builds character. There is no allegiance possible where there is no character in the leader, and perfect purity ensures the most lasting allegiance and confidence. Take up an idea, devote yourself to it, struggle on it, in patience, and the sun will rise for you.
Do not try to be a ruler. He is the best ruler who can serve well.
Be pure first, and you will have power.
Drink deep of the nectar of the knowledge of God.
Let us help one another and let us love one another.
Don’t allow egoism to enter your minds, and let love never depart from your hearts.
Feel that you are great and you become great.
Be ready to lend a hand to every worker of good.
No superstition.
Work as if on each of you depended the whole work.
Whatever you do let that be your worship for the time.
Have infinite patience, and success is yours.
Every man must begin where he stands, must learn how to control the things that are nearest to him.
Do not despair, and do not drag the ideal down.
Do not disturb, but help everyone to get higher and higher; include all humanity.
Now you see you must try to think out original; ideas-----------------else as soon as I die, the whole thing will tumble to pieces………………..
Lastly, you must remember I expect more from my children than from my brethren. I want each one of my children to be a hundred times greater than I could ever be. Every one of you must be a giant------------------must, that is my word. Obedience, readiness, and love for the cause-------------------if you have these three, nothing can hold you back.
There has been enough of criticism, there has been enough of fault finding, the time has come for the rebuilding, the reconstruction; the time has come for us to gather all our scattered forces, to concentrate them into one focus, and through that, to lead the nation on its onward march, which for centuries almost has been stopped.
WE SHALL HAVE TO WORK, GIVING UP ALTOGETHER ALL DESIRE FOR RESULTS. People will call us both good and bad. BUT WE SHALL HAVE TO WORK LIKE LIONS, KEEPING THE IDEAL BEFORE US, without caring whether “the wise ones praise or blame us”.
Seek no praise, no reward, for anything you do.
Do not fight over methods. Look only for realisation and choose the best method you can find to suit you.
Stand upon the Self, then only can we truly love the world. Take a very, very high stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all the panorama of the world. It is but baby’s play, and we know that, so cannot be disturbed by it. If the mind is pleased with praise, it will be displeased with blame. All pleasures of the senses or even of the mind are evanescent, but within ourselves is the one true unrelated pleasure, dependent upon nothing. It is perfectly free, it is bliss. The more our bliss is within, the more spiritual we are. The pleasure of the Self is what the world calls religion.
Be not anxious.
Give up all self, as egotism; get out of anger, lust, give all to God. Blame none; if evil comes.
Do not fly away from the wheels of the world-machine, but stand inside it and learn the secret of work.
Do not for a moment quail. Everything will come all right. It is will that moves the world.
Religious teaching must always be constructive, not destructive.
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, weakness is death.
Do something. Think some thought; it doesn’t matter whether you are right or wrong.
If you want to be a householder, hold your life a sacrifice for the welfare of others; and if you choose the life of renunciation, do not even look at beauty and money and power. Each is great in his own place, but the duty of the one is not the duty of the other.
Face the terrible, face it boldly.
Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never pander to weakness. If truth is too much for intelligent people and it sweeps them away, let them go; the sooner the better.
Expect nothing in return.
My old watchword--------------------struggle, struggle up to light! Onward!
A hundred thousand men and women, fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith in the Lord, and nerved to lion's courage by their sympathy for the poor and the fallen and the downtrodden, will go over the length and breadth of the land, preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel of help, the gospel of social raising-up — the gospel of equality.
Despair not; remember the Lord says in the Gita, "To work you have the right, but not to the result." Gird up your loins, my boy. I am called by the Lord for this. I have been dragged through a whole life full of crosses and tortures, I have seen the nearest and dearest die, almost of starvation; I have been ridiculed, distrusted, and have suffered for my sympathy for the very men who scoff and scorn. Well, my boy, this is the school of misery, which is also the school for great souls and prophets for the cultivation of sympathy, of patience, and, above all, of an indomitable iron will which quakes not even if the universe be pulverised at our feet. I pity them. It is not their fault. They are children, yea, veritable children, though they be great and high in society. Their eyes see nothing beyond their little horizon of a few yards — the routine-work, eating, drinking, earning, and begetting, following each other in mathematical precision. They know nothing beyond — happy little souls! Their sleep is never disturbed, their nice little brown studies of lives never rudely shocked by the wail of woe, of misery, of degradation, and poverty, that has filled the Indian atmosphere — the result of centuries of oppression. They little dream of the ages of tyranny, mental, moral, and physical, that has reduced the image of God to a mere beast of burden; the emblem of the Divine Mother, to a slave to bear children; and life itself, a curse. But there are others who see, feel, and shed tears of blood in their hearts, who think that there is a remedy for it, and who are ready to apply this remedy at any cost, even to the giving up of life. And "of such is the kingdom of Heaven". Is it not then natural, my friends, that they have no time to look down from their heights to the vagaries of these contemptible little insects, ready every moment to spit their little venoms?
It is not the work of a day, and the path is full of the most deadly thorns. But
Parthasarathi is ready to be our Sârathi — we know that. And in His name and with eternal faith in Him, set fire to the mountain of misery that has been heaped upon India for ages — and it shall be burned down. Come then, look it in the face, brethren, it is a grand task, and we are so low. But we are the sons of Light and children of God. Glory unto the Lord, we will succeed. Hundreds will fall in the struggle, hundreds will be ready to take it up. I may die here unsuccessful, another will take up the task. You know the disease, you know the remedy, only have faith. Do not look up to the so-called rich and great; do not care for the heartless intellectual writers, and their cold-blooded newspaper articles. Faith, sympathy — fiery faith and fiery sympathy! Life is nothing, death is nothing, hunger nothing, cold nothing. Glory unto the Lord — march on, the Lord is our General. Do not look back to see who falls — forward — onward! Thus and thus we shall go on, brethren. One falls, and another takes up the work.
The brave alone can afford to be sincere. Compare the lion and the fox…………..All time is yours, there is no indecent haste. Everything will come right if you are pure and sincere……………….and have really got hold of one link, do not let go; the rest is bound to come……………….The body never remains for anyone. Arise and awake and be perfectly sincere………………… (along with) that steadiness and character that make a man cling on to a thing like grim death.
The will is stronger than anything else……………..And whatever you do sincerely is good for you. Even the least thing well done brings marvelous results; …………….It depends upon you who have no money; because you are poor, therefore you will work. Because you have nothing, therefore you will be sincere. Because you are sincere, you will be ready to renounce all.
Even if you are at your last breath, be not afraid.
……………no sincere worker passes put the field of activity without making himself known and catching at least a few rays of light…………….None will be able to resist truth and love and sincerity. Are you sincere? Unselfish even unto death? And Loving? Then fear not, not even death…………….Everything will come alright. Truth must triumph……………….
Be not anxious. It is against the big tree that a great wind strikes. “Pocking a fire makes it burn better”; “A snake struck on the head raises its hood”; and so on. When affliction seizes the heart, when the storm of sorrow blows all around, and it seems light will be seen no more, when hope and courage are almost gone, it is then, in the midst of this great spiritual tempest, that the light of the Brahman within gleams. Brought up in the lap of luxury, lying on a bed of roses, and never shedding a tear, who has ever become great, who has ever unfolded the Brahman within? Why do you fear to weep? Weep! Weeping clears the eyes and brings about intuition. Then the vision of diversity-----------------man, animal, tree-------------------slowly melts away and makes room for the infinite realisation of Brahman everywhere and in everything. Then------------------“Verily, seeing the same God equally existent everywhere, he does not injure the self by the self, and so goes to the Supreme Goal.”
Every child is a born optimist; he dreams golden dreams. In youth he becomes still more optimistic. It is hard for a young man to believe that there is such a thing as death, such a thing as defeat or degradation. Old age comes, and life is a mass of ruins. Dreams have vanished into the air, and the man becomes a pessimist. Thus we go from one extreme to another, buffeted by nature……………..not one ideal can be fully attained, not one thirst can be quenched………………and when latter we get kicked about by society like foot balls…………………we sit in a corner and croak and throw cold water on the enthusiasm of others.
But bold we must be. Hiding facts is not the way to find a remedy. As you all know, a hare hunted by dogs puts its head down and thinks itself safe……………….If we sit down and lament over the imperfection of our bodies and minds, we profit nothing; it is the heroic endeavour to subdue adverse circumstances that carries our spirit upwards.
Drink deep of the nectar of the knowledge of God.
Do things for others; Expand!
Do something for your souls! Do wrong if you please, but do something!
Do not lay the blame upon anybody.
Do not limit God anywhere.
Do not look to others for help.
Every religion is an expression, a language to express the same truth, and we must speak to each in his own language.
Purity in thought, speech, and act is absolutely necessary for any one to be religious.
Do not merely endure, be unattached.
If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.
Arise, awake, with your hands stretched out to protect the spirituality of the world.
Do something for the nation, then they will help you, then the nation will be with you.
Do not run away, it is cowardice. When in the thing, you must do it.
Do not seek help from anyone. We are our own help.
Be not discouraged. One word of truth can never be lost; for ages it may be hidden under rubbish, but it will show itself sooner or later.
Be not inflated with my success or yours. Great works are to be done; what is this small success in comparison with what is to come?
Always talk and hear and reason about this Atman.
Be chaste in thought, word, and action.
Be ready to lend a hand to every worker of good.
Have conviction in the power of goodness.
There must be absence of jealousy and suspicion.
Help all who are trying to be good and do good.
424.Practise boldness.
(Stand up, men and women, in the spirit, dare to believe in the Truth, dare to practise the Truth! The world requires a few hundred bold men and women. Practise that boldness which dares know the Truth, which dares show the Truth in life, which does not quake before death, nay, welcomes death, makes a man know that he is the Spirit, that, in the whole universe, nothing can kill him. Then you will be free.)
Doing is very great, but that comes from thinking……………….. Fill the brain therefore, with high thoughts, highest ideals; place them day and night before you; and out of that will come great work.
Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they are the beauty of life---------------------these failures. What would life be without them? It would not be worth having if it were not for struggles. Where would be the poetry of life? Never mind the struggles, the mistakes. I never heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only a cow-----------------never a man. So never mind these failures, these little backslidings; hold the ideal a thousand times; and if you fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more.
We must not look down with contempt on others. All of us are going towards the same goal. The difference between the weakness and strength is one of degree; the difference between virtue and vice is one of degree; the difference between heaven and hell is one of degree; the difference between life and death is one of degree; all difference in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
Say, “I am the Spirit! Nothing external can touch me”. When evil thoughts arise, repeat that, give that sledge-hammer blow on their heads, “I am the Spirit! I am the Witness, the Ever-Blessed! I have no reason to do, no reason to suffer, I have finished with everything, I am the witness. I am in my picture gallery---------this universe is my museum, I am looking at these successive paintings. They are all beautiful. Whether good or evil. I see the marvelous skill, but it is all one. Infinite flames of the great Painter! ”
Stand up, men and women, in the spirit, dare to believe in the Truth, dare to practise the Truth! The world requires a few hundred bold men and women. Practise that boldness which dares know the Truth, which dares show the Truth in life, which does not quake before death, nay, welcomes death, makes a man know that he is the Spirit, that, in the whole universe, nothing can kill him. Then you will be free.
Let us be brave. KNOW THE TRUTH AND PRACTISE THE TRUTH. THE GOAL MAY BE DISTINCT, BUT AWAKE, ARISE, AND STOP NOT TILL THE GOAL IS REACHED.
Go on! Do not look back if you think you have done something that is not right. Now, do you believe you could be what you are today if you had not made those mistakes before?
Only have faith. Do not look up to the so called rich and great; do not care for the heartless intellectual writers, and their cold-blooded newspaper articles. Faith, sympathy-fiery faith and fiery sympathy! Life is nothing, death is nothing, hunger nothing, cold nothing. Glory unto the Lord---------------------march on, the Lord is our General.
The one vital duty incumbent on you, if you really love your religion, if you really love your country, is that you must struggle hard to be up and doing, with this one great idea of bringing out the treasures from your closed books and delivering them over to their rightful heirs.
My idea is to bring to the poor of the meanest, the poorest, the noble ideas that the human race has developed both in and out of India, and let them think for themselves.
Those that want to help mankind must take their own pleasure and pain, name and fame, and all sorts of interests, and make a bundle of them and throw them into the sea, and then come to the Lord. This is what all the Master said and did.
DO NOT TRY TO DISTURB THE FAITH OF ANY MAN. IF YOU CAN, GIVE HIM SOMETHING BETTER; IF YOU CAN, GET HOLD OF A MAN WHERE HE STANDS AND GIVE HIM A PUSH UPWARDS.
Ninety per cent of human brutes you see are dead, are ghosts-----------------for none lives, my boys, but he who loves. Feel, my children, feel; feel for the poor, the ignorant, the down-trodden, feel till the heart stops and the brain reels and you think you will go mad-------------then pour the soul out at the feet of the Lord and then will come power, help and indomitable energy…………..Be not afraid, my children. Look not up in that attitude of fear towards that infinite vault as if it would crush you. Wait! In a few hours more the whole of it will be under your feet. Wait, money does not pay, nor name; fame does not pay, nor learning. It is love that pays; it is character that cleaves its way through adamantine walls of difficulties.
Do not be jealous of anyone. Look not to the faults of others.
If your freedom hurts others, you are not free there; you must not hurt others.
Do not be miserable! Do not repent! What is done is done.
Do not be anxious, do not be in a hurry. Slow, persistent and silent work does everything.
Perfect sincerity, holiness, gigantic intellect and an all-conquering will---------------------let only a handful of men work with these, and the whole world will be revolutionized.
Infinite power will come unto you-----------------never fear. Be pure, have faith; be obedient.
I believe in God and I believe in man. I believe in helping the miserable, I believe in going even to hell to serve others.
Plunge into the fire and bring people towards the Lord.
This world for me, not I for the world. Good and evil are our slaves, not we theirs. It is the nature of the brute to remain where he is (not to progress); it is the nature of man to seek good and avoid bad; it is the nature of God to seek neither, but just to be eternally blissful. Let us be gods! Make the heart like an ocean; go beyond all the trifles of the world; be mad with joy even at evil, see the world as a picture and then enjoy its beauty, knowing that nothing affects you. Children finding glass beads in a mud puddle, that is the good of the world. Look at it with calm complacency; see good and evil as the same, both are merely ‘God’s play’; enjoy all.
Do not delay a moment. Leave nothing for tomorrow. Get ready for the final event, which may overtake you immediately, even now.
Proclaim the glory of the Atman with the roar of a lion, and impart fearlessness unto all beings by saying, “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached”.
Stand upon the Self, then only can we truly love the world. Take a very, very high stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all the panorama of the world. It is but baby’s play, and we know that, so cannot be disturbed by it. If the mind is pleased with praise, it will be displeased with blame. All pleasures of the senses or even of the mind are evanescent, but within ourselves is the one true unrelated pleasure, dependent upon nothing. It is perfectly free, it is bliss. The more our bliss is within, the more spiritual we are. The pleasure of the Self is what the world calls religion.
Do not despair, and do not drag the ideal down.
In a conflict between the heart and the brain follow your heart.
Practise truthfulness. Twelve years of absolute truthfulness in thought, word, and deed gives a man what he wills.
Teach man of the strength that is already within them.
Earnestness is the one thing necessary.
Do something for the nation; then they will help you, then the nation will be with you.
Put your whole heart and soul in the work to which I have consecrated myself.
Ask nothing!
Give everything!
Don't look back---------------forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience------------------then alone can great deeds be accomplished.
Proclaim to the whole world with trumpet voice, “There is no sin in thee, there is no misery in thee; thou art the reservoir of omnipotent power. Arise, awake, and manifest the Divinity within!”
Do not go against anything--------------------ours is to put the chemicals together, the Lord knows how and when the crystal will form.
Be true unto death.
Men are more valuable than all the wealth of the world.
That you may catch my fire, that you may be intensely sincere, that you may die the hero's death on the field of battle--------------------is the constant prayer of Vivekananda.
Meddle not with so-called social reform; for there cannot be any reform without spiritual reform first.
Be unselfish even unto death, and work.
The disciples of all the prophets have always inextricably mixed up the ideas of the Master with the 'person' and at last killed the ideas for the 'person'. The disciples of Sri Ramakrishna must guard against doing the same thing. Work for the 'idea' not the person.
Do not repent, do not brood over past deeds. You can not undo, the effect must come, face it; but be careful never to do the same thing again.
My children must be ready to jump into fire, if needed, to accomplish their work.
We Vedantists in every difficulty ought to ask the subjective questions, 'Why do I see that? Why can I not conquer this with love?'
Think not that you are poor; money is not power, but goodness, holiness.
Do not disturb, but help everyone to get higher and higher; include all humanity.
Be pure and be good; be pure and love everyone.
It won't do to become impatient---------------------wait, wait—-----------------patience is bound to give success.
Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is any sin, this is the only sin----------------------to say that you are weak, or others are weak.
Sacrifice everything for the good of others.
Choose the highest ideals, and give your life up to that.
You must be pure and help any one who comes to you, as much as lies in your power.
Everything will come right if you are pure and sincere.
Renounce and give up.
Appreciation or no appreciation, sleep not, slacken not.
Fill your heart with overflowing compassion and love.
Do not let nature raise the wave. Keep quite, and then after a little while she will give you up.
A man must desire nothing else but the truth, and truth for truth's sake.
Give up this life for His sake.
We have to give up ignorance and all that is false, and then truth will begin to reveal itself to us.
Those that want to help mankind must take their own pleasure and pain, name and fame, and all sorts of interests, and make a bundle of them and throw them into the sea, and then come to the Lord. This is what all the Master said and did.
Our duty is to encourage everyone in his struggle to live up to his own highest ideal, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the truth.
From all of you I want this that you must discard for ever self-aggrandisement, faction-mongering, and jealousy. You must be all-forbearing like Mother Earth. If you can achieve this, the world will be at your feet.
Throw the ideas broadcast, and let the result take care of itself.
Life is short! Give it up to a great cause.
He who is the servant of all is the true master. He never becomes a leader, in whose love there is a consideration of high or low. He whose love knows no end, and never stops to consider high or low, has the whole world lying at his feet.
Great things can be done by great sacrifices only.
Live in harmony with all. Give up all idea of egoism and entertain no sectarian views. Useless wrangling is a great sin.
Always hold on to the highest.
Never turn back to see the result of what you have done.
Always look within.
The children of the Lord are dying of starvation……………Worship with water and tulasi leaves alone, and let the allowance for His Bhoga (food offerings) be spent in offering food to the living God who dwells in the persons of poor------------------then will His grace descend on everything.
Search truth for yourself; realise it yourself. Then if you find it beneficial to one and many, give it to people.
Rouse yourselves, therefore, or life is short. There are greater works to be done than aspiring to become lawyers and picking quarrels and such things.
Good motives, sincerity and infinite love can conquer the world. One single soul possessed of these virtues can destroy the dark designs of millions of hypocrites and brutes.
Then only will India awake, when hundreds of large-hearted men and women, giving up all desires of enjoying the luxuries of life, will long and exert themselves to their utmost for the well-being of the millions of their country men who are gradually sinking lower and lower in the vortex of destitution and ignorance.
Renounce the lower so that you may get the higher.
Learn everything that is good from others, but bring it in, and in your own way absorb it; do not become others.
Whatever others think or do, lower not your standard of purity, morality and love of God.
Do not drag others down to where you are.
Serve the living God! God comes to you in the blind, in the halt, in the poor, in the weak, in the diabolical.
Know that talking ill of others in private is a sin. You must wholly avoid it.
Be pure and be true to your principle.
(So long as you are pure, and true to your principles, you will never fail, and blessings will be yours.)
Give up jealousy and conceit. Learn to work unitedly for others. This is the great need of our country.
Keep yourself holy, and pure.
This hideous world is Maya. Renounce and be happy. Give up the idea of sex and possession. There is no other bond.
Love makes no distinction between man and man, between an Aryan and a Mlechchha, between a Brahmana and a Pariah, nor even between a man and a woman. Love makes the whole universe as one's own home. True progress is slow but sure. Work among those young men who can devote heart and soul to this one duty---------------------the duty of raising the masses of India. Awake them, unite them, and inspire them with this spirit of renunciation. It depends on wholly on the young people of India.
Test everything, try everything, and then believe it, and if you find it for the good of many, give it to all.
Vow, then, to devote your whole lives to the cause of the redemption of the three hundred millions, going down and down everyday.
Believe that the soul is immortal, infinite and all powerful.
We must not look down with contempt on others. All of us are going towards the same goal. The difference between the weakness and strength is one of degree; the difference between virtue and vice is one of degree; the difference between heaven and hell is one of degree; the difference between life and death is one of degree; all difference in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
Live in harmony with all. Give up all idea of egoism, and entertain no sectarian views. Useless wrangling is a great sin.
No foolish talk now, but actual work.
You must be pure and help anyone who comes to you, as much as lies in your power.
Remain always strong and steadfast in thy own faith, but eschew all bigotry and intolerance.
Work, work the idea, the plan, my boys, my brave, noble, good souls------------------to the wheel, to the wheel put your shoulders.
You, poor men of Bengal, come up you can do everything, and you must do everything.
Live in the midst of the battle of life.
We are what our thoughts have made us, so take care of what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live, they travel far. Each thought we think is tinged with our own character, so that for the pure and holy man, even his jests or abuse will have the twist of his own love and purity and do good.
Your duty is to go on working, and then everything will follow of itself.
Plunge in! Do the duty at hand.
We must electrify society, electrify the world.
All healthy social changes are the manifestations of the spiritual forces working within, and if these are strong and well adjusted, society will arrange itself accordingly. Each individual has to work out his own salvation; there is no other way, and so also with nations…………….It is very easy to point out the defects of institutions, all being more or less important, but he is the real benefactor of humanity who helps the individual to overcome his imperfections under whatever institutions he may live. The individuals being raised, the nation and its institution are bound to rise.
Look with perfect calmness upon all the panorama of the world.
Think of Him, think of Him alone, and give up all other vain words.
We must persevere until the goal is reached.
If you want any good to come, just throw your ceremonials overboard and worship the Living God, the Man-God-----------------------every being that wears a human form-----------------------God in His universal as well as individual aspect.
What you want is character, strengthening of the will.
Find the teacher, serve him as a child, open your heart to his influence, see in him God manifested.
Give them ideas--------------------that is the only help they require--------------------and then the rest must follow as the effect. Ours is to put the chemicals together, the crystallization comes in the law of nature. Our duty is to put ideas into their heads, they will do the rest.
Work for them, love them, do good to them, sacrifice a hundred lives, if need be, for them, but never be attached.
Wait with patience and love and strength; if helpers not ready now, they will come in time. Why should we be in hurry? The real working force of all great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings.
Say, day and night, “Come up, my brothers; you are the infinite ocean of purity! Be God! Manifest as God!”
My boys, when death is inevitable, is it not better to die like heroes than as stocks and stones? And what is the use of living a day or two more in this transitory world? It is better to wear out than to rust out--------------------specially for the sake of doing the least good to others.
First make your mind pure.
Work for work's sake, love for love's sake.
Do not call your brothers a sinner.
Take up a grand ideal in life and give your whole life to it.
See Him in all, good and bad alike.
With no strength in the body; no enthusiasm at heart, and no originality in the brain, what will they do---------------------these lumps of dead matter! By stimulating them, I want to bring life into them-------------------------to this, I have dedicated my life. I will rouse them through the infallible power of Vedic mantras. I am born to proclaim to them that fearless message---------------------“Arise, Awake!” Be you my helpers in this work.
O ye modern Hindus, de-hypnotise yourselves. The way to do that is found in your own sacred books.
Be sincere and do your duty. Everything will come all right. Truth must triumph.
Do not go for glass beads leaving the mine of diamonds! This life is a great chance.
Do not injure any being, not injuring any being is virtue, injuring any being is sin.
Do not disturb the faith of any. For you must know that religion is not in doctrines.
One must be a servant of servants and must accommodate a thousand minds. There must not be a shade of jealousy or selfishness, then you are a leader.
A leader must be impersonal.
The ideals of us are RENUNCIATION and SERVICE..............................Intensify yourself in these channels, and the rest will take care of itself.
What will you do with wealth and fame that are so transitory? Do you know what I think? -------------------I don’t care for Mukti and all that. My mission is to arouse within you all such ideas; I am ready to undergo a hundred thousand rebirths to train up a single man.
The infinite future is before you, and you must always remember that each word, thought, and deed lays up a store for you, and that as the bad thoughts and bad works are ready to spring upon you like tigers, so also there is the inspiring hope that the good thoughts and good deeds are ready with the power of a hundred thousand angels to defend you always and forever.
Break your chain and be free for ever. What frightens you, what holds you down? Only ignorance and delusion; nothing else can bind you.
Cast into the fire/ all thy dross of self, thy mean selfishness.
Bring all the forces of good together. Do not care under what banner you march. Do not care what be your colour-------------------green, blue, or red------------------but mix up all the colours and produce that intense glow of white, the colour of love.
Be the witness and do not react, only thus can you be happy.
Bear with the various opinions of everybody. Patience, purity, and perseverance will prevail.
Become perfectly unselfish, ready to give up your life even for an ant.
Before flooding someone with socialistic or political ideas, first deluge her with spiritual ideas.
Believe in man first. Why start with the belief that man is degraded and degenerated?
Ever tell yourself “I AM HE”. These are words that will burn up the dross that is in the mind, words that will bring out THE TREMENDOUS ENERGY WHICH IS WITHIN YOU ALREADY, THE INFINITE POWER WHICH IS SLEEPING IN YOUR HEART.
Hold on with faith and strength; be true, be honest, be pure, and don't quarrel among yourselves. Jealousy is the bane of our race.
Stand as a witness, as a student, and observe the phenomena of nature.
Therefore, if you have knowledge and see a man weak, do not condemn him. Go to his level and help him if you can. He must grow.
Let people praise you or blame you, let fortune smile or frown upon you, let your body fall today or after a yuga, see that you do not deviate from the path of truth. How much of tempests and waves one had to weather, before one reaches the heaven of peace. The greater a man has become, the firer ordeal he has had to pass through.
Learn good knowledge with all devotion from the lowest caste.
Let all our actions--------------------eating, drinking, and everything that we do----------------------tend towards the sacrifice of our self.
Look not for success or failure. Join yourself to the perfectly unselfish will and work on.
Let us work without desire for name or fame or rule over the others. Let us be free from the triple bonds of lust, greed of gain, and anger. And the truth is with us!
No man is to be judged by the mere nature of his duties, but all should be judged by the manner and the spirit in which they perform them.
No man should be judged by his defects.
Let us be brave. Know the Truth and practise the Truth. The goal may be distant, but awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached.
Let us be at peace, perfect peace, with ourselves, and give up our whole body and mind and everything as an eternal sacrifice unto the Lord.
Rouse yourselves, therefore, or life is short. There are greater works to be done.
Hold yourself in readiness, i.e., be pure and holy, and love for love's sake.
No one is to blame for our miseries but ourselves.
Let us put ideas into their heads, and they will do the rest.
Let these people be your God------------------think of them, work for them, pray for them incessantly------------------------the Lord will show you the way.
First form character, first earn spirituality and results will come of themselves.
Give the last bit of bread you have even if you are starving.
Give up for ever the desire for name and fame and power.
Talk not about impurity, but say that we are pure.
Let there be as little materialism as possible, with the maximum of spirituality.
Give up the world--------------------this nonsense of the senses. There is only one real desire: to know what is true, to be spiritual.
Let name and fame and money go; they are a terrible bondage.
Down with all sloth, down with all enjoyments here or hereafter.
Root out selfishness, and everything that makes you selfish.
No selfishness, no name, no fame, yours or mine, nor my Master's even!
You must not criticise others; you must criticise yourself.
Lay down your comforts, your pleasures, your names, fame or position, nay even your lives, and make a bridge of human chains over which millions will cross this ocean of life.
Seek no help from high or low, from above or below. Desire nothing-------------------and look upon this vanishing panorama as a witness and let it pass.
Let each one of us pray day and night for the down-trodden millions in India who are held fast by poverty------------------pray day and night for them.
Follow truth wherever it may lead you; carry ideas to their utmost logical conclusions.
The first requisite is to be moral.
One ounce of the practice of righteousness and of spiritual self-realisation outweighs tons and tons of frothy talk and nonsensical sentiments.
Stand up for God; let the world go.
The first duty is to educate the people.
None can help you; help yourself; work out your own salvation.
Fire and enthusiasm must be in our blood.
Duty of any kind is not to be slighted.
Only be sincere; and if you are sincere, says Vedantism, you are sure to be brought to the goal.
Every step I take in the light is mine for ever. When you go to a country and see it, then it is yours. We have each to see for ourselves; teachers can only bring the food, we must eat it to be nourished.
No more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men.
We must work out our own problem, the prophets only show us how to work.
Ours is to do good works in our lives and hold an example before others.
This race after gold and power is all vanity of vanities.
This idea of the body and of the mind must go, must be driven off.
Throw away everything, even your own salvation, and go and help others.
Never lose heart. In eating, dressing, or lying, in singing or playing, in enjoyment or disease, always manifest the highest moral courage.
Nature must fall at your feet and you must trample on it and be free and glorious by going beyond.
Only know the truth and realise it.
The basis of all religions is the same, wherever they are; try to help them all you can, teach them all you can, but do not try to injure them.
Stretch forth a helping hand, and open the gates of knowledge to one and all, and give the downtrodden masses once more their just and legitimate rights and privileges.
Open the windows of your hearts to the clean light of truth, and sit like children at the feet of those who knows what they are talking about--------------------the sages of India.
We must inform our minds that no one in this universe depends upon us.
Criticism and destruction are of no avail.
Are great things ever done smoothly? Time, patience, and indomitable will must show. I could have told you many things that would have made your heart leap, but I will not. I want iron wills and hearts that do not know how to quake. Hold on. The Lord bless you.
Don't worry in the least; heaven or hell, or Bhakti or Mukti---------------------don't care for anything, but go, my boy, and spread the name of the Lord from door to door.
Sympathy for the poor, the downtrodden, even unto death---------------------this is our motto.
May you be ever possessed of valour!
You have got to work and worship and struggle to be free.
The first thing needed is obedience.
We have to work now so that everyone will become a prophet.
Do not look upon humanity as the centre of all your human and higher interests.
Make yourselves decent men!........................Be chaste and pure!............................There is no other way.
Hold fast to the real Self, think only pure thoughts, and you will accomplish more than a regiment of mere preachers. Out of purity and silence comes the word of power.
Make your life a manifestation of will strengthened by renunciation.
Help another because you are in him and he is in you.
The Vedas cannot show you Brahman, you are That already; they can only help to take away the veil that hides the truth from our eyes. The first veil to vanish is ignorance, and when that is gone, sin goes, next desire ceases, selfishness ends and all misery disappears. This cessation of ignorance can only come when I know that God and I are one; in other words, identify yourself with Atman, not with human limitations. Disidentify yourself with the body and all will cease. This is the secret of healing. The universe is a case of hypnotization; dehypnotize yourself and cease to suffer.
Follow the heart. A pure heart sees beyond the intellect; it gets inspired; it knows things that reason can never know, and whenever there is conflict between the pure heart and the intellect, always side with the pure heart even if you think what your heart is doing is unreasonable.
Go on bravely. Do not expect success in a day or a year. Always hold on to the highest. Be steady. Avoid jealousy and selfishness. Be obedient and eternally faithful to the cause of truth, humanity, and your country and you will move the world.
Give up and know that success will follow, even if you never see it. Jesus left twelve fishermen and yet those few blew up the Roman Empire.
Stop not to look back for name, or fame, or any such nonsense. Throw self overboard and work.
Get hold of the mind. The mind is like a lake, and every stone that drops into it raises waves.
Try to be moral, try to be brave, try to be sympathising.
Strive after that Rishihood, stop not till you have attained the goal, and the whole world will of itself bow at your feet!
We must plunge heart and soul and body into the work.
O hero, awake, and dream no more.
Think of nothing but liberation.
Calm and silent and steady work, and no newspaper humbug, no name-making, you must always remember.
Always cultivate the heart.
Once you have pledged your faith to a particular teacher, stick to him with all force.
Do not spend your energy in talking, but meditate in silence.
Bold words and bolder deeds are what we want. Arise, awake, great ones! The world is burning with misery. Can you sleep? Let us call and call till the sleeping gods awake, till the god within answers to the call. What more is in life? What greater work? The details come to me as I go. I never make plans. Plans grow and work themselves. I only say, awake, awake!
Give up that hateful malice, that dog-like bickering and barking at one another, and take your stand on good purpose, right means, righteous courage, and be brave. When you are born a man, leave some indelible mark behind you.
Struggle Godward! Light must come.
Seek to eliminate all forms of selfishness.
Think of God all the time and that will purify you.
(Buddha set his greatest enemy free because he, by hating him (Buddha) so much, kept constantly thinking of him; that thought purified his mind and he became ready for freedom. Therefore think of God all the time and that will purify you.)
Build your hope on none.
We have to learn from others.
Beware of everything that takes away your freedom.
Wait for the time to come. Do not hurry.
Be perfectly unselfish, and you will be sure to succeed.
Be pure, staunch, and sincere to the very backbone, and everything will be all right.
Be bold, face facts as facts. Do not be chased about the universe by evil. Evils are evils. What of that?
Arise! Arise! A tidal wave is coming! Onward! Men and women, down to the Chandala (Pariah)---------------------all are pure in his eyes. Onward! Onward! There is no time to care for name, or fame, or Mukti, or Bhakti!
Desire nothing; think of God and look for no return. It is the desireless who bring results.
Have charity towards all beings. Pity those who are in distress. Love all creatures. Do not be jealous of anyone. Look not to the faults of others.
Hold on to the ideal. March on! Do not look back upon little mistakes and things. In this battle-field of ours, the dust of mistakes must be raised. Those who are so thin-skinned that they cannot bear the dust, let them get out of the ranks.
Let us be good for our own sake on our own responsibility.
Stand up and say, I am the master, the master of all. We forge the chain, and we alone can break it.
Say “Everything is in me, and I can manifest it at will”.
Go and preach to all: 'Arise, awake, sleep no more; within each of you, there is the power to remove all wants and all miseries. Believe this, and that power will be manifested'.........................If you can think that infinite power, infinite knowledge, and indomitable energy lie within you, and if you can bring out that power, you also can become like me.
Study, and then meditate on what you have studied.
Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes.
Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvellous work.
You must be perfectly pure. Do not think of evil things, such thoughts will surely drag you down.
You must not say that you are weak. How do you know what possibilities lie behind that degradation on the surface.
Want of sympathy and lack of energy are at the root of all misery, and you must therefore give these two up.
Work for work's sake. Worship for worship's sake. Do good because it is good to do good. Ask no more.
Be not despair; the way is very difficult, like walking on the edge of a razor; yet despair not, arise, awake, and find the ideal, the goal.
Forget first the love for gold and name and fame, and for this little trumpery world of ours.
Give up the so-called boast of your narrow orthodox life.
Whenever power is used for evil, it becomes diabolical; it must be used for good only.
The first of everything should go to the poor; we have only a right to what remains.
Let us then be brave and sincere: whatever path we follow with devotion, must take us to freedom.
No privilege for anyone, equal chances for all; let everyone be taught that the divine is within, and every one will work out his own salvation.
Throw overboard all idea of jealousy and egotism, once for all.
Think of your higher self, not of your lower.
Those who are pure always in body, mind, and speech, who have strong devotion, who discriminate between the real and the unreal, who persevere in meditation and contemplation------------------upon them alone the grace of the Lord descends.
