Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

There is a thorn in my finger and I use another to take the first one out, and when I have taken it out, I throw both of them aside. I have no necessity of keeping the second thorn, because both are thorns after all. So the bad tendencies are to be counteracted by the good ones, and the bad impressions on the mind should be removed by the fresh waves of good ones, until all that is evil almost disappears, or is subdued and held in control in a corner of the mind. But after that, the good tendencies have also to be conquered. Thus the 'attached' becomes the 'unattached.'

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, December 20, 1895. Complete Works, 1:55-56.

Excerpts from Complete Works - Karma Yoga

By the continuous reflex of good thoughts, good impressions moving over the surface of the mind, the tendency for doing good becomes strong, and as a result we are able to control the sense-organs. Thus alone is character established, then alone do we get to truth.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, December 20, 1895. Complete Works, 1:55.

Excerpts from Complete Works

Reply to Calcutta Address

Ours is to work. The results will take care of themselves.

Let us calmly and in a manly fashion go to work, instead of dissipating our energy in unnecessary frettings and fumings. I, for one, thoroughly believe that no power in the universe can withhold from anyone anything he really deserves.

Excerpts from The Gospel of Holy Mother - Broom

Even the broom has to be replaced respectfully. An ordinary work too
must be done with care and attention.
P. 402 The Gospel of The Holy Mother

The Gospel of The Holy Mother

Far better is it to work than to let the mind loose to indulge in riotous thinking. If the mind is allowed a little laxity, it will create such a turmoil. P. 397 The Gospel of The Holy Mother

Swami Vivekananda's Quote

"If I think that I am bound, I remain bound. I make my own bondage.  If I know that I am free, I am free from this moment. Call upon that sleeping Soul; then all powers will come; all strength will come; all goodness will come; everything else will come; all superstitions will go; all delusions will go.  I have neither death nor fear.  Pilgrimage, books, rituals, ceremonies, forms and temples can never bind me.  This is the knowledge of the Freedom.  Freedom is the Goal of all Nature.  All power is in you.  Be conscious and bring it out.  You can do anything and everything.  Even the poison of the snake will be powerless, if you can firmly deny it.  Therefore, the idea that you are Mr. So and So can never be True; It is the daydream.  Know this and be free.  No breathing; no physical training of Yoga. Nothing is of any use until you reach the idea " I am the Witness; I am the Spirit; Nothing external can touch me"

P. 108 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Je-Lok Kamanashunya Hoye Karma Korbe Se Nijer-i Mongol korbe.

The man, who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does
good to himself.
P. 108 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Gospel of Holy Mother

Since death has no fixed hours, one should perform holy duties as
soon as an opportunity comes. P. 332 The Gospel of The Holy Mother

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, 1896. Complete Works, 1:116.

Every good work that we do without any ulterior motive, instead of
forging a new chain, will break one of the links in the existing
chains. Every good thought that we send to the world without thinking
of any return, will be stored up there and break one link in the
chain, and make us purer and purer, until we become the purest of
mortals.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, 1896. Complete Works, 1:116.

karma yoga

Let us do good because it is good to do good. Those who do good work
even in order to get to heaven bind themselves down, says the Karma
Yogi. Any work that is done with any the least selfish motive, instead
of making us free, forges one more chain for our feet.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, 1896. Complete Works, 1:116.

P. 893 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

If a man truly believes that God alone does everything, that He is the
Operator and man the machine, then such a man is verily liberated in
life. 'Thou workest Thine own work; men only call it theirs.' Do you
know what it is like? Vedanta philosophy gives an illustration.
Suppose you are cooking rice in a pot, with potato, egg-plant, and
other vegetables. After a while the potatoes, eggplant, rice, and the
rest begin to jump about in the pot. They seem to say with pride: 'We
are moving! We are jumping!' The children see it and think the
potatoes, egg-plant, and rice are alive and so they jump that way. But
the elders, who know, explain to the children that the vegetables and
the rice are not alive; they jump not of themselves, but because of
the fire under the pot; if you remove the burning wood from the
hearth, then they will move no more. Likewise the pride of man, that
he is the doer, springs from ignorance. Men are powerful because of
the power of God. All becomes quiet when that burning wood is taken
away. The puppets dance well on the stage when pulled by a wire, but
they cannot move when the wire snaps.