Light

Light

This poem forms a part of a letter that Swami Vivekananda wrote to Josephine MacLeod from Belur Math on December 26, 1900.

I look behind and after
And find that all is right,
In my deepest sorrows
There is a soul of light.

In truth everything is established.

Through truth everything is attained. In truth everything is established.

really great man

Great occasions rouse even the lowest of human beings to some kind of greatness, but he alone is the really great man whose character is great always, the same wherever he be.

Awake! Awake!

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

The only worship is love.

spiritual

Anything that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness, touch it not with the toes of your feet. 

Truth is the nature of all souls.

All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls. 

Don't look back

Don't look back—forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience—
then alone can great deeds be accomplished. 

Mercy shall not be for men alone,

Mercy shall not be for men alone, but shall go beyond, and embrace the whole world.

forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm,

Don't look back—forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience—
then alone can great deeds be accomplished. 

You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself. 

Ocean of Life and Bliss.

A tremendous stream is flowing toward the ocean, carrying us all along with it; and though like straws and scraps of paper we may at times float aimlessly about, in the long run we are sure to join the Ocean of Life and Bliss. 

God behind, manifests Itself more and more.

Every good thought that you think or act upon is simply tearing the veil, as it were;and the purity, the Infinity, the God behind, manifests Itself more and more.

God will be

The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.

truth cannot be sacrificed for any thing.

Everything can be sacrificed for truth , but truth cannot be sacrificed for any thing.

Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being. 

Conviction of the powers of goodness

Three things are necessary to make every man great, every nation great:
1. Conviction of the powers of  goodness,
2. Absence of jealousy and suspicion,
3. Helping all who are trying to be and do good.

Are you unselfish? That is the question.

“Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or a temple.”

Do not injure, if you cannot render help

“Help if you can; if you cannot, fold your hands and stand by and see things go on. Do not injure, if you cannot render help.”

avoid all weakness

“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.”

“Strength is life, Weakness is death.”

“Strength is life, Weakness is death.”

be good and to do good

“To be good and to do good - that is the whole of  religion.”

“Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached.”

Stand up and express the divinity within you

“All the power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that; don’t believe that you are weak. Stand up and express the divinity within you.”

keep control, to be unattached

“Nature wants us to react, to return blow for blow, cheating for cheating, lie for lie, to hit back with all our might, then it requires a super divine power not to hit back, to keep control, to be unattached.”

Stand up, be bold, be strong.

“Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on our 
own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny”

Educate and raise the masses and thus alone a nation is possible.

Educate and raise the masses and thus alone a nation is possible , The whole defect is here , The real nation who live in cottage have forgotten their manhood, Everyone must work out his own salvation.

Arise awake world is calling upon you.

Stand up and fight! Not one step, back, that is the idea. Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the spheres! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards. Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all Gods in the world. Has miseries ceased? ….The Gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game. You are infinite, deathless, birth less. Because you are infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! 

What the world wants is character.

What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love—selfless. That love will make every word tell like a thunderbolt. Aware, awake, great souls! The world is burning in misery. Can you sleep? 

Freedom can never be reacched by the weak.

Freedom can never be reacched by the weak. Throw away all weaknesses , tell your body it is strong tell your mid that it is strong and have unbound faith and hope in yourself.

immortality

That man has reach immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.

Your Atman is the support of the universe

Your Atman is the support of the universe—whose support do you stand in need of? Wait with patience and love and strength. If helpers are not ready now, they will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry? The real working force of all great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings.

if you think yourself strong strong you will be.

Whatever you think, that you will be. if you think yourself weak , weak you will be ; if you think yourself strong strong you will be.

Blows are what awaken us and help to break the dream.

Blows are what awaken us and help to break the dream. They show us the insufficiency of this world and make us long to escape, to have freedom.To give compassion to all.   

We want that education by which character is formed

We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet.

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

When once you consider an action, do not let anything dissuade you. Consult your heart, not others, and then follow its dictates. 

mind must be made to dwell upon whatever object you concentrate it.

The mind has to be made malleable like clay. Just as clay sticks wherever you throw it, so the mind must be made to dwell upon whatever object you concentrate it.

For I know it is the truth alone that gives strength

This is one question I put to every men…..Are you strong? Do you feel strength? – For I know it is the truth alone that gives strength…….Strength is the medicine for the world’s disease. 

I am of the essence of that Supreme Being Consciousness Bliss What fear and anxiety have i

The wind of divine grace is always blowing. you just need to speread your sail. Whenever you do anything , do it with your whole heart concentrated on it .
Think day and night , "I am of the essence of that Supreme Being Consciousness Bliss What fear and anxiety have i ?"

"I do not want to get material life, do not want the sense-life, but something higher."

"I do not want to get material life, do not want the sense-life, but something higher." That is renunciation. Then, by the power of meditation, undo the mischief that has been done. 

"I am the thread that runs through all these pearls,"

"I am the thread that runs through all these pearls," and each pearl is a religion or even a sect thereof. Such are the different pearls, and God is the thread that runs through all of them; most people, however, are entirely unconscious of it.

All the powers in the universe are already ours.

All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark. 

oneness is the secret of everything

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.

In one word ideal is that you are divine.

In one word ideal is that you are divine.

It is only that one idea, strength

If you look, you will find that I have never quoted anything but the Upnishads. And of the Upnishads, it is only that one idea, strength. The quintessence of the Vedas and Vedanta and all lies in that word. 

fearlessness

If there is one word you find coming like a bomb from the Upnishads, bursting like a bomb-shell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word, fearlessness. 

Teach men of strength that is already within them.

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength. Teach men of strength that is already within them. 

if you fail a thousand times make the attempt once more.

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. 

Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free blest and eternal.

Ye are the children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth – sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free blest and eternal. 

You can do anything and everything, you are almighty.

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.