“Helping others physically, by removing their physical needs, is indeed great; but the help is greater according as the need is greater and according as the help is far-reaching. If a man’s wants can be removed for an hour, it is helping him indeed; if his wants can be removed for a year, it is more helpful; but if his wants can be removed forever, it is surely the greatest help that can be given him.” – Vivekananda in “The Secret of Work”
“Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigor in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel… Mystery mongering and superstition are always signs of weakness. They are always signs of degradation and of death.” – Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekanada, the disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahansa, was a great believer in action. One of his most famous quotes is “Arise, Awake, and stop not till the goal is achieved”. There can be no simpler, yet more powerful call to action. So, what is this “goal” that Swami Vivekananda is challenging us to work […]
Awake, arise and stop not till the desired end is reached. Arise, awake, for the time is propitious. Be bold and fear not. We have to become Abhih, fearless, and our task will be done. Arise, awake, for your country needs this tremendous sacrifice. It is the young men that will do it. The young, the energetic, the strong, the well-built, the intellectual – for them is the task.
Swami Vivekananda was a great teacher of the Vedas and Vedic thought, and of the Upanishads in particular. His lecture on the Vedanta (Lahore, 1897) outlined several key concepts of Hinduism and clarified a lot of misconceptions regarding the Vedas and the Upanishads.
The theme of the Upanishads can be viewed as an attempt to find an ultimate unity among all things. “Knowledge is nothing but finding unity in the midst of diversity”. The goal of the Upanishads is to find unity in the midst of infinite variation in “this marvelously diversified universe, where prevail infinitely different names and forms, in matter and spirit – each thought differing from every other thought, each form differing from every other form”.
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