TEST OF TRUTH

TRUTH MUST BE ENLIGHTENING

It is the man-making religion that we want. It is the man-making theories that we want. It is the man-making education all round that we want.

And here is the test of truth - anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually, and spiritually, reject as poison;there is no life in it, it cannot be true.Truth is strengthening. Truth is purity, truth is all knowledge; truth must be strengthening, must be enlightening, must be invigorating.

MEANING OF RELIGION

RELIGION MEANS REALISATION

Religion does not consist in doctrines or dogmas. It is not what you read, nor what dogmas you believe that is of importance, but what you realise.

Religion does not consist in erecting temples, or building churches, or attending public worship. It is not to be found in books, or in words, or in lectures, or in organisations. Religion consisits in realisation.

A man may believe in all the churches in the world, he may carry in his head all the sacred books ever written, he may baptise himself in all the rivers of the earth, still, if he has no perception of God, I would class him with the rankest atheist. And a man may have never entered a church or a mosque, nor performed any ceremony, but if he feels God within himself and is thereby lifted above the vanities of the world, that man is a holy man, a saint, call him what you will.

Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man. Religion is the idea which is raising the brute unto man, and man unto God.

MEANING OF LIFE

LIVING FOR OTHERS

So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them! I call those men who strut about in their finery, having got all their money by grinding the poor, wretches, so long as they do not do anything for those two hundred millions who are now no better than hungry savages!

Life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.

UNITY OF RELIGIONS

Upon the Banner of every Religion will soon be written, inspite of resistance : "Help and not fight", "Assimilation and not Destruction","Harmony and Peace and not Dissention".
- In the Address at the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 11th September, 1893.

The Christians is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.
- In the Address at the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 15th September, 1893.

FEARLESSNESS

If there is one word that you find coming out like a bomb from the upanishads , bursting like a bombshell upon masses of ignorance , it is the word , fearlessness . And the only religion that ought to be taught is the religion of fearlessness . Either in this world or in the world of religion , it is true that fear is the sure cause of degradation and sin . It is fear that brings misery , fear that brings death , fear that breeds evil .

EDUCATION

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

INSPIRING WORDS

To succeed , you must have tremendous perseverance , tremendous will . " i will drink the ocean ", says the persevering soul , " at my will , mountains will crumble up. " have that sort that energy , that sort of will ; work hard and you will reach the goal .

Never mind failures ; they are quite natural , they are the beauty of life - these failures . What would life be without them ? It would be worth having if it were not for struggles . Where would be the poetry of life ? 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 .

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness , but thinking of strength .teach men of the strength that is already with them .

JUDGING A MAN

A man who does the lower work is not for that reason only, a lower man than he who does the higher works; a man should not be judged by the nature of his duties, but by the manner in which he does them.

(Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda - Volume V, page 239)