Swami Vivekananda Wisdom

Here are a few nuggets of wisdom from Swami Vivekananda:

• Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life — think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”
• The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!
• Nirvana is the realization of the Self; and after having once known that, if only for an instant, never again can one be deluded by the mirage of personality.
• 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.
• Do not look back upon what has been done. Go ahead!
• Each work has to pass through these stages—ridicule, opposition, and then acceptance. Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be misunderstood.
• Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time. … Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.
• Neither seek nor avoid; take what comes. It is liberty to be affected by nothing. Do not merely endure; be unattached.
• Our supreme duty is to advance toward freedom—physical, mental, and spiritual—and help others to do so.
• …unless you realize the Truth, there is no freedom.
• So long as there is desire or want, it is a sure sign that there is imperfection. A perfect, free being cannot have any desire.
• The power is with the silent ones, who only live and love and then withdraw their personality. They never say "me" and "mine"; they are only blessed in being instruments.
• Understanding human nature is the highest knowledge.
• When we come to nonattachment, then we can understand the marvelous mystery of the universe.