Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.
Swami VivekanandaRead
You are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. You divinities on earth. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; you are not matter, you are not bodies; matter is your servant,not you the servant of matter.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the inherent divinity and potential within every individual, encouraging a shift in perspective towards self-empowerment.
Swami Vivekananda's quote calls upon individuals to recognize their true nature as spiritual beings, free from the limitations of the physical world. By referring to humans as 'Children of God' and 'divinities on earth,' he asserts that each person possesses not only an immortal soul but also the potential for greatness. The metaphor of shaking off the delusion of being 'sheep' highlights the importance of awakening to this truth and rejecting the confines of materialism. In essence, it urges us to embrace our spiritual identity and live with purpose and strength.
Themes
DivinityImmortalSpiritualityEmpowermentIdentityFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote during a motivational speech about self-discovery and personal growth.
More from Swami Vivekananda
All quotes →Rama, the ancient idol of the heroic ages, the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband, and above all, the ideal king, this Rama has been presented before us by the great sage Valmiki. No language can be purer, none chaster, none more beautiful, and at the same time simpler, than the language in which the great poet has depicted the life of Rama.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Hinduism threw away Buddhism after taking its sap. The attempt of all the Southern Acharyas was to effect a reconciliation between the two. Shankaracharya's teaching shows the influence of Buddhism. His disciples perverted his teaching and carried it to such an extreme point that some of the later reformers were right in calling the Acharya's followers "crypto-buddhists".
Swami VivekanandaRead
According to the law of nature, wherever there is an awakening of a new and stronger life, there it tries to conquer and take the place of the old and the decaying. Nature favours the dying out of the unfit and the survival of the fittest. The final result of such conflict between the priestly and the other classes has been mentioned already.
Swami VivekanandaRead
I have come to deal with principles. I have only to preach that God comes again and again, and that He came in India as Krishna, Rama, and Buddha, and that He will come again. It can almost be demonstrated that after each 500 years the world sinks, and a tremendous spiritual wave comes, and on the top of the wave is a Christ.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Salvation means knowing the truth. We do not become anything; we are what we are. Salvation [comes] by faith and not by work. It is a question of knowledge! You must know what you are, and it is done. The dream vanishes. This you [and others] are dreaming here. When they die, they go to [the] heaven [of their dream]. They live in that dream, and [when it ends], they take a nice body [here], and they are good people.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Similar quotes
One could only damage oneself through the harm one did to others. One could never get directly at oneself.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.
Bertrand RussellRead
We are descended from a people whose government was founded on liberty; our glorious forefathers of Great Britain made liberty the foundation of everything. That country is become a great, mighty, and splendid nation; not because their government is strong and energetic, but, sir, because liberty is its direct end and foundation.
Patrick HenryRead
There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens cannot cure.
Dwight D. EisenhowerRead
If one has been blessed or have been fortunate enough to have got much more than normal wealth, it is but natural that one expects a certain fiduciary responsibility in terms of how that wealth is applied, used and leveraged for purposes of society.
Azim PremjiRead
There is in the universe neither center nor circumference.
Giordano BrunoRead