Vedanta teaches people
to have faith in themselves first.
As certain religions of the world say
that a person who does not believe
in a Personal God outside himself
is an atheist, so Vedanta says
that a person who does not
believe in the God within
himself is an atheist.
Not believing in the
glory of our own soul
is what Vedanta calls atheism.
— swami vivekananda
To be able to use what we call viveka,
discrimination, to learn how,
in every moment of our lives,
in every one of our actions,
to discriminate between
right and wrong and true and false,
we will have to know the test of truth, which is purity, oneness.
Everything that makes
for oneness is truth.
Love is truth, because
it makes for oneness;
but ill-will is false,
because ill-will in any form
makes for multiplicity.
It is ill-will that separates people;
therefore it is wrong and false.
It is a disintegrating power;
it separates and destroys.
Love unites;
love makes for that oneness,
for love is Existence, God Himself,
and all we see is the manifestation
of that One Love,
more or less expressed.
The differences are only of degree;
it is the manifestation of
that One Love throughout.
Therefore, in all our actions,
we have to judge whether or not
our act is making for oneness.
If it isn’t, we have to give it up;
but if it is, we may be sure it is good.
So with our thoughts;
we have to decide whether or not
they make for oneness,
binding soul to soul,
and thus generating a great force.
If they do this, we will take them up,
and if not, we will throw them off
as false and harmful
to our spiritual growth.
The goal of all religions is the same,
but the language of the
teachers differs.
The goal is to destroy the selfish “I,”
so that the real “I,” the Lord,
will reign through us.
We must cherish God alone.
We must say, “Not I, but Thou”;
not my little personality
or any of its selfish clingings,
but He, and He alone, should reign.
“Thy will be done” — every moment
the traitor mind rebels against it;
yet we must say it again and again,
if we are ever to conquer the lower self.
We cannot serve a traitor and be free.
There is salvation for all
except for the traitor mind,
who must be destroyed.
We stand against our own Spirit,
against the majesty of God,
whenever we refuse to obey
the voice of our Higher Self.
— swami vivekananda
All these small ideas that
I am a man or a woman,
sick or healthy, strong or weak,
or that I hate or love
or have little power,
are but hallucinations.
Stand up then!
Know that every thought and word
that weakens you in this world
is the only evil that exists.
Stand as a rock;
you are the Infinite Spirit.
Say, “I am Existence Absolute,
Bliss Absolute, Knowledge Absolute,”
and like a lion breaking its cage,
break your chains and be free forever.
What frightens you,
what holds you down?
Only ignorance of your
true nature, of your blessedness;
nothing else can bind you.
You are the Pure One,
the Ever-Blessed.
Therefore, if you dare, stand on that —
mold your whole life on that.
You are one with the Eternal Soul.
Know then that thou art He,
and model your whole life accordingly;
for those who know this
and model their lives accordingly,
will no more suffer in darkness.
— swami vivekananda