Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda: 7. VILVAMANGALA : : (Found in the papers of Miss S. E. Waldo by Swami Raghavananda when he was in the U.S.A.) This is a story from one of the book...

(Found in the papers of Miss S. E. Waldo by Swami Raghavananda when he was in the U.S.A.) This is a story from one of the books of India, called "Lives of Saints". There was a young man, a Brahmin by birth, in a certain village. The man fell in love with a bad woman in another village. There was a big river between the two villages, and this man, every day, used to go to that girl, crossing this river in a ferry boat. Now, one day he had to perform the obsequies of his father, and so, although he was longing, almost dying to go to the girl, he could not. The ceremonies had to be performed, and all those things had to be undergone; it is absolutely necessary in Hindu society. He was fretting and fuming and all that, but could not help it. At last the ceremony ended, and night came, and with the night, a tremendous howling storm arose. The rain was pouring down, and the river was lashed into gigantic waves. It was very dangerous to cross. Yet he went to the ban...

Swami Vivekananda: 6. SOUL, GOD AND RELIGION : : Through the vistas of the past the voice of the centuries is coming down to us; the voice of the sages of the Himalayas and the reclu...

Swami Vivekananda: Swami Vivekananda: 5. THE HINDU RELIGION : Swami Vivekananda: 5. THE HINDU RELIGION : My religion is to learn. I read my Bible better in the light of your Bible and the dark prophecie...

Through the vistas of the past the voice of the centuries is coming down to us; the voice of the sages of the Himalayas and the recluses of the forest; the voice that came to the Semitic races; the voice that spoke through Buddha and other spiritual giants; the voice that comes from those who live in the light that accompanied man in the beginning of the earth — the light that shines wherever man goes and lives with him for ever — is coming to us even now. This voice is like the little rivulets; that come from the mountains. Now they disappear, and now they appear again in stronger flow till finally they unite in one mighty majestic flood. The messages that are coming down to us from the prophets and holy men and women of all sects and nations are joining their forces and speaking to us with the trumpet voice of the past. And the first message it brings us is: Peace be unto you and to all religions. It is not a message of antagonism, but of one united religion. Let us study th...

Swami Vivekananda: 5. THE HINDU RELIGION : My religion is to learn. I read my Bible better in the light of your Bible and the dark prophecies of my religion become brighter whe...

My religion is to learn. I read my Bible better in the light of your Bible and the dark prophecies of my religion become brighter when compared with those of your prophets. Truth has always been universal. If I alone were to have six fingers on my hand while all of you had only five, you would not think that my hand was the true intent of nature, but rather that it was abnormal and diseased. Just so with religion. If one creed alone were to be true and all the others untrue, you would have a right to say that that religion was diseased; if one religion is true, all the others must be true. Thus the Hindu religion is your property as well as mine. Of the two hundred and ninety millions of people inhabiting India, only two millions are Christians, sixty millions Mohammedans and all the rest are Hindus.  The Hindus found their creed upon the ancient Vedas, a word derived from Vid, "to know". These are a series of books which, to our minds, contain the essence of all re...

Swami Vivekananda: 4.WHAT IS RELIGION? : A huge locomotive has rushed on over the line and a small worm that was creeping upon one of the rails saved its life by crawling o...

A huge locomotive has rushed on over the line and a small worm that was creeping upon one of the rails saved its life by crawling out of the path of the locomotive. Yet this little worm, so insignificant that it can be crushed in a moment, is a living something, while this locomotive, so huge, so immense, is only an engine, a machine. You say the one has life and the other is only dead matter and all its powers and strength and speed are only those of a dead machine, a mechanical contrivance. Yet the poor little worm which moved upon the rail and which the least touch of the engine would have deprived of its life is a majestic being compared to that huge locomotive. It is a small part of the Infinite and, therefore, it is greater than this powerful engine. Why should that be so? How do we know the living from the dead? The machine mechanically performs all the movements its maker made it to perform, its movements are not those of life. How can we make the distinction between t...

Swami Vivekananda: Swami Vivekananda-4 : KRISHNA : This article was recorded by Ida Ansell in shorthand. As, however, Swamiji's speed was too great for her i...

KRISHNA : This article was recorded by Ida Ansell in shorthand. As, however, Swamiji's speed was too great for her in her early days, dots are put in the articles to indicate the omissions, while the words within square brackets are added by way of linking up the disconnected parts.  (Delivered in California, on April 1, 1900) Almost the same circumstances which gave birth to Buddhism in India surrounded the rise of Krishna. Not only this, the events of that day we find happening in our own times.  There is a certain ideal. At the same time there must always be a large majority of the human race who cannot come up to the ideal, not even intellectually. ... The strong ones carry it out and many times have no sympathy for the weak. The weak to the strong are only beggars. The strong ones march ahead. ... Of course, we see at once that the highest position to take is to be sympathetic and helpful to those who are weak. But then, in many cases t...

  IDEALS OF WOMANHOOD : (Brooklyn Standard Union, January 21, 1895) Swami Vivekananda, after being presented to the audience by Dr. Janes, president of the Ethical Association, said in part:  "The product of the slums of any nation cannot be the criterion of our judgment of that nation. One may collect  the rotten, worm-eaten apples under every apple tree in the world, and write a book about each of them, and still know nothing of the beauty and possibilities of the apple tree. Only in the highest and best can we judge a nation — the fallen are a race by themselves. Thus it is not only proper, but just and right, to judge a custom by its best, by its ideal.  "The ideal of womanhood centres in the Arian race of India, the most ancient in the worlds history. In that race, men and women were priests, 'sabatimini [saha-dharmini],' or co-religionists, as the Vedas call them. There every family had its hearth or altar, on which, at the time of the weddi...

Hinduism and Sri Ramakrishna : The following essay has been translated from Bengali and is reproduced from Swami Vivekananda’s Complete Works, 6: 181-86.  For the Hindus, by the word “Shastras” is meant the Vedas which are without beginning or end. In matters of religious duty the Vedas are for them the only capable authority.  The Puranas and other religious scriptures are all denoted by the word "Smriti". And their authority goes so far as they follow the Vedas and do not contradict them.  Truth is of two kinds: (1) that which is known through the five ordinary senses we humans have, and by reasoning based thereon; (2) that which is known through the subtle, supersensuous power of Yoga.  Knowledge acquired by the first means is called science; and knowledge acquired by the second is called the Vedas.  The whole body of supersensuous truths, having no beginning or end, and called by the name of the Vedas, is ever-existent. The Creator Hims...