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Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Nature

Swami Vivekananda used the word nature in two connected senses, and the quotes gathered here move between them. There is, first, one's own essential nature: the greatest religion, he taught, is to be true to your own nature, and that nature, for his Vedanta, is ultimately divine, since truth is the nature of all souls. There is, second, external nature and the law of cause and effect that binds those who have not awakened, the bondage of those who really understand that they are slaves of nature. The spiritual task, in his teaching, is to recognise one's universal nature and so to stand free, surveying the world with perfect calmness. Drawn largely from Pearls of Wisdom and his lectures on yoga, these passages tie the idea of nature to self-realisation.

Quotes

  • “The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature.”

    Karma Yoga

  • “If I do an evil action, I must suffer for it; there is no power in this universe to stop or stay it.”

    Swâmi Vivekânanda on Râja Yoga (1899), Ch. VI : Pratyâhâra and Dhâraṇâ

  • “All truth is eternal . Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls.”

    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

  • “Have you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstructions? If the whole world stands against you sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you think is right?”

    Pearls of Wisdom

  • “If a piece of burning charcoal be placed on a man’s head, see how he struggles to throw it off. Similar will be the struggle for freedom of those who really understand that they are slaves of nature.”

    Pearls of Wisdom

  • “Soft-brained people, weak-minded, chicken-hearted, cannot find the truth. One has to be free, and as broad as the sky.”

    Pearls of Wisdom

  • “Stand upon the Self, only then can we truly love the world. Take a very high stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all the panorama of the world.”

    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

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