Swami Vivekananda

[Guest guest]

Mrs. Ole Bull, quoting Swami Vivekananda' s conversation in London-

 

" It is very good to have a high ideal, but don't make it too high. A high

ideal raises mankind, but an impossible ideal lowers them from the very

impossibility of the case. "

 

--

 

Swami Abhedananda' s diary, quoting Swami Vivekananda' s observation of the

English people-

 

" You can't make friends here without knowing their customs, behaviour,

politics. You have to know the manners of the rich, the cultured and the poor. "

 

--

 

Swami Vivekananda' s response to Mrs. Alice Hansbrough's sight-seeing

attempts-

 

" Do not show me sights. I have seen the Himalayas! I would not go ten steps

to see sights; but I would go a thousand miles to see a [great] human being! "

 

--

 

Swami Vivekananda' s interest in the problem of child training-

 

Swamiji did not believe in punishment. It had never helped him, he said, and

added, " I would never do anything to make a child afraid "

 

--

 

Swami Vivekananda' s explanation of God to seventeen-year- old Ralph

Wyckoff-

 

" Can you see your own eyes? God is like that. He is as close as your own

eyes. He is your own, even

though you can't see Him. "

 

--

 

Swami Vivekananda said-

 

" When once you consider an action, do not let anything dissuade you. Consult

your heart, not others, and then follow its dictates. "

 

--

 

Swami Vivekananda' s " kitchen " counsel while he was staying in San

Francisco, California-

 

" If I consider myself greater than the ant that crawls on the ground I am

ignorant. "

 

" Learn to be the witness. If two dogs are fighting on the street and I go

out there, I get mixed up in the fight; but if I stay quietly in my room, I

witness the fight from the window. So learn to be the witness. "

 

--

 

In a private talk with Mr. Thomas J. Allan Swami Vivekananda said-

 

" We do not progress from error to truth, but from truth to truth. Thus we

must see that none can be blamed for what they are

doing, because they are, at this time, doing the best they can. If a child

has an open razor, don't try to take it from him, but give him a red apple or a

brilliant toy, and he will drop the razor. But he who puts his hand in the fire

will be burned; we learn only from experience. "

 

--

 

Swami Vivekananda' s talk on renunciation-

 

" In India we never say that you should renounce a higher thing for a lower.

It is better to be absorbed in music or in literature than in comfort or

pleasure, and we never say otherwise. "

 

--

 

Swami Saradananda' s letter to a brother-disciple, concerning Swami

Vivekananda' s last days-

 

Sometimes Swami Vivekananda would say, " Death has come to my bedside; I have

been through enough of work and play; let the world realize what contribution I

have made; it will take quite a long time to understand that "

 

--

 

An after-lunch conversation Swami Vivekananda said-

 

" The Master said he would come again in about two hundred years — and I will

come with him. When a Master comes, he brings his own people. "

 

--

 

During an evening talk with Swami Saradananda-

 

" Men should be taught to be practical, physically strong. A dozen such lions

will conquer the world, not millions of sheep. Men should not be taught to

imitate a personal ideal, however great. "

 

--

 

During his walk Swami Vivekananda said-

 

" You have heard that Christ said, 'My words are spirit and they are life'.

So are my words spirit and life; they will burn their way into your brain and

you will never get away from them! "

 

--

 

After Swami Vivekananda was told of Sister Nivedita's willingness to serve

India-

 

" For my own part I will be incarnated two hundred times, if that is

necessary, to do this work amongst my people that I have undertaken. "

 

--

 

Swami Vivekananda' s closing remarks in his talk to swamis and novices

assembled at Belur Math-

 

" My sons, all of you be men. This is what I want! If you are even a little

successful, I shall feel my life has been meaningful. "

 

--

 

Swami Sadananda reported that early in the morning, while it was still dark,

Swami Vivekananda would rise and call the others, singing-

 

" Awake! Awake! all ye who would drink of the divine nectar! "