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Every one wants to command, and no one wants to obey and this is owing to the absence of that wonderful brahmacharya system of yore. First, learn to obey. The command will come by itself. Always first learn to be a servant, and then you will be fit to be a master.

Swami Vivekananda

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Swami Vivekananda
Age: 39 †
Born: 1863
Born: January 12
Died: 1902
Died: July 4
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Narendra Nath Datta
Vivekananda
Swamy Vivekananda
Narendranath Datta
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More quotes by Swami Vivekananda

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You gain nothing by becoming cowards.
Swami Vivekananda
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Forget not that thy marriage, thy wealth, thy life are not for sense-pleasure, are not for thy individual personal happiness.
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We can have no conception of God higher than man, so our God is man, and man is God.
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Happiness presents itself to man, wearing the crown of sorrow on its head. He who welcomes it must also welcome sorrow.
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You know your real nature [to be divine]. You are the king and play you are a beggar. . . . It is all fun. Know it and play. That is all there is to it. Then practice it. The whole universe is a vast play.
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No doubt it is an evil to be bound by laws, but it is necessary at the immature stage to be guided by rules in other words, as the Master used to say that the sapling must be hedged round, and so on.
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There cannot be a cause without an effect, the present must have had its cause in the past and will have its effect in the future.
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Even the lowest of the Hindus, the Pariah, has less of the brute in him than a Briton in a similar social status. This is the result of an old and excellent religious civilization. This evolution to a higher spiritual state is possible only through discipline and education.
Swami Vivekananda
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Without birth or death, eternal, ever-existing, free, unchangeable and beyond all conditions is this Soul of man - the real Self of Man - the Atman.
Swami Vivekananda
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He who knows even how to prepare a smoke properly, knows also how to meditate. And he who cannot cook well cannot be a perfect sannyasin. Unless cooking is performed with a pure mind and concentration, the food is not palatable.
Swami Vivekananda
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You are incarnations of God, all of you. You are incarnations of the Almighty, Omnipresent, Divine Principle. You may laugh at me now, but the time will come when you will understand. You must. Nobody will be left behind.
Swami Vivekananda
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Hold to the idea, I am not the mind, I see that I am thinking, I am watching my mind act, and each day the identification of yourself with thoughts and feelings will grow less, until at last you can entirely separate yourself from the mind and actually know it to be apart from yourself.
Swami Vivekananda
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Change is the nature of all objective things.
Swami Vivekananda
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God is cruel and not cruel. He is all being and not being at the same time. Hence He is all contradictions. Nature also is nothing but a mass of contradictions.
Swami Vivekananda
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Ordinary love is mere animal attraction. Otherwise why is the distinction between the sexes? If one kneels before an image, it is dreadful idolatry but if one kneels before husband or wife, it is quite permissible!
Swami Vivekananda
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The greatest sin is to think that you are weak. No one is greater: realize that you are Brahman. Nothing has power except what you give it.
Swami Vivekananda
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If you die, you get to heaven and if you win, you enjoy the earth (Gita). Even if you die in this attempt, well and good, many will take up the work, following your example. And if you succeed, you will live a life of great opulence.
Swami Vivekananda
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Oh, if only you knew yourselves! You are souls you are Gods. If ever I feel like blaspheming, it is when I call you man.
Swami Vivekananda
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If you are angry, and then happy, the next moment the anger passes away. Out of that anger you manufactured the next state. These states are always interchangeable. Eternal happiness and misery are a child's dream.
Swami Vivekananda
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Do not wait for anybody or anything. Do whatever you can. Build your hope on none.
Swami Vivekananda