Excerpts from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 5/Notes from Lectures and Discourses/Evolution

Patanjali says that these struggles remain only through our ignorance, and are not necessary, and are not part of the evolution of man. It is just our impatience which creates them. We have not the patience to go and work our way out. For instance, there is a fire in a theatre, and only a few escape. The rest in trying to rush out crush one another down. That crush was not necessary for the salvation of the building nor of the two or three who escaped. If all had gone out slowly, not one would have been hurt. That is the case in life. The doors are open for us, and we can all get out without the competition and struggle; and yet we struggle. The struggle we create through our own ignorance, through impatience; we are in too great a hurry. The highest manifestation of strength is to keep ourselves calm and on our own feet.

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

You make some progress in this life, a little more in the next, and so on.
It is the body alone that changes ; the Atman remains the same.

TN330 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

It is good to love God for hope of reward in this or the next world, but it is better to love God for love's sake.
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume I p.12

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

Whenever people discuss good or evil, all those who are present have to take a little share of the good or evil.
In the Company of the Holy Mother.  By Her Direct Disciples.   Calcutta : Advaita Ashrama, 1980

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

"Yes, sir. The disease has indeed become chronic"[Then what is the, way?]

Sri Ramakrishna: "Give God the power of attorney. Let Him do whatever He wants. Be like a kitten and cry to Him with a fervent heart. The mother cat puts the kitten wherever she wants to. The kitten doesn't know anything. It is left sometimes on the bed and sometimes near the hearth." P. 344 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

It is a complex always to be suspecting impurities.
The more you emphasize your obsession, the more obsessed you become.
It is true of all things.

C153 & TN336 C & TN- In the Company of the Holy Mother.  By Her Direct Disciples.   Calcutta : Advaita Ashrama, 1980 & Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

Does one achieve everything by practising Japa and meditation for a few days? Nothing whatever is achieved
unless Mahamaya clears the path.

TN350-51 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother;
Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

The intelligence of a man is very precarious. It is like the thread of a screw. If one thread is loosened, then he goes crazy. Or he becomes entangled  in the trap of Mahamaya and thinks himself to be very intelligent.
TN350-51 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Excerpts from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda ~ Volume 5 ~ Notes from Lectures and Discourses ~ The Evils of Adhikarivada

This attempt at compromise proceeds from arrant downright cowardice. Be bold! My children should be brave, above all. Not the least compromise on any account. Preach the highest truths broadcast. Do not fear losing your respect or causing unhappy friction. Rest assured that if you serve truth in spite of temptations to forsake it, you will attain a heavenly strength in the face of which men will quail to speak before you things which you do not believe to be true. People will be convinced of what you will say to them if you can strictly serve truth for fourteen years continually, without swerving from it. Thus you will confer the greatest blessing on the masses, unshackle their bandages, and uplift the whole nation.