Swami Vivekananda Quotes on God

Quotes

• “You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.”

  Lectures from Colombo to Almora

• “The highest truth is this: God is present in all beings. They are His multiple forms. There is no other God to seek. . . . It is a man-making religion that we want. . . . Give up these weakening mysticisms, and be strong. . . . For the next fifty years. ... let all other gods disappear from our minds. This is the only God that is awake, our own race, everywhere His hands, everywhere His feet, everywhere His ears; He covers everything. . . . The first of all worships is the worship of those all around us. ... He alone serves God who serves all other beings.”

  Quoted from Will Durant , Our Oriental Heritage.

• “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 of energy , that sort of will; work hard, and you will reach the goal.”

  Vedânta philosophy : Lectures by the Swâmi Vivekânanda on Râja Yoga (1899), Ch. VI : Pratyâhâra and Dhâraṇâm

• “India is immortal if she persists in her search for God . But if she goes in for politics and social conflict, she will die.”

  A few hours before his death, as quoted in Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture , Volume 14 (1963), p. 469

• “To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is not religion.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “As body, mind, or soul, you are a dream; you really are Being, Consciousness, Bliss (satchidananda). You are the God of this universe.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “God is self-evident, impersonal, omniscient, the Knower and the Master of nature, the Lord of all. He is behind all worship and it is being done according to Him, whether we know it or not.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “Pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the gods there are ...but unless you realize the Truth, there is no freedom.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “We are ever free if we would only believe it, only have faith enough. You are the soul, free and eternal, ever free, ever blessed. Have faith enough and you will be free in a minute.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “We must approach religion with reverence and with love, and our heart will stand up and say, this is truth, and this is untruth.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “What do you gain in heaven? You become gods, drink nectar, and get rheumatism. There is less misery there than on earth, but also less truth.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “Buddha is the only prophet who said, I do not care to know your various theories about God. What is the use of discussing all the subtle doctrines about the soul ? Do good and be good .”

  Call to the Nation

• “Education is the manifestation of perfection present already in man. Religion is the manifestation of the divinity already in man.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being?”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin — to say that you are weak, or others are weak.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “All that is real in me is God; all that is real in God is I. The gulf between God and me is thus bridged. Thus by knowing God, we find that the kingdom of heaven is within us.”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “As long as we believe ourselves to be even the least different from God, fear remains with us; but when we know ourselves to be the One, fear goes; of what can we be afraid?”

  Pearls of Wisdom

• “Come out into the broad light of day, come out from the little narrow paths, for how can the infinite soul rest content to live and die in small ruts?”

  Pearls of Wisdom