Showing posts with label this day on swami vivekananda life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label this day on swami vivekananda life. Show all posts

Friday, 2 August 2013

Develop one idea at the expense of all the rest

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

Nishthâ (devotion to one ideal) is the beginning of realisation. "Take the honey out of all flowers; sit and be friendly with all, pay reverence to all, say to all, 'Yes, brother, yes, brother', but keep firm in your own way." A higher stage is actually to take the position of the other. If I am all, why can I not really and actively sympathise with my brother and see with his eyes? While I am weak, I must stick to one course (Nishthâ), but when I am strong, I can feel with every other and perfectly sympathise with his ideas.

The old idea was: "Develop one idea at the expense of all the rest". The modern way is "harmonious development". A third way is to "develop the mind and control it", then put it where you will; the result will come quickly. This is developing yourself in the truest way. Learn concentration and use it in any direction. Thus you lose nothing. He who gets the whole must have the parts too. Dualism is included in Advaitism (monism).

"I first saw him and he saw me. There was a flash of eye from me to him and from him to me."

This went on until the two souls became so closely united that they actually became one. . . .

There are two kinds of Samadhi — I concentrate on myself, then I concentrate and there is a unity of subject and object.

You must be able to sympathise fully with each particular, then at once to jump back to the highest monism. After having perfected yourself, you limit yourself voluntarily. Take the whole power into each action. Be able to become a dualist for the time being and forget Advaita, yet be able to take it up again at will.

*            *            *

Cause and effect are all Maya, and we shall grow to understand that all we see is as disconnected as the child's fairy tales now seem to us. There is really no such thing as cause and effect and we shall come to know it. Then if you can, lower your intellect to let any allegory pass through your mind without questioning about connection. Develop love of imagery and beautiful poetry and then enjoy all mythologies as poetry. Come not to mythology with ideas of history and reasoning. Let it flow as a current through your mind, let it be whirled as a candle before your eyes, without asking who holds the candle, and you will get the circle; the residuum of truth will remain in your mind.

The writers of all mythologies wrote in symbols of what they saw and heard, they painted flowing pictures. Do not try to pick out the themes and so destroy the pictures; take them as they are and let them act on you. Judge them only by the effect and get the good out of them.

*            *            *

Your own will is all that answers prayer, only it appears under the guise of different religious conceptions to each mind. We may call it Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Jehovah, Allah, Agni, but it is only the Self, the "I". . . .

Concepts grow, but there is no historical value in the allegories which present them. Moses' visions are more likely to be wrong than ours are, because we have more knowledge and are less likely to be deceived by illusions.

Books are useless to us until our own book opens; then all other books are good so far as they confirm our book. It is the strong that understand strength, it is the elephant that understands the lion, not the rat. How can we understand Jesus until we are his equals? It is all in the dream to feed five thousand with two loaves, or to feed two with five loaves; neither is real and neither affects the other. Only grandeur appreciates grandeur, only God realises God. The dream is only the dreamer, it has no other basis. It is not one thing and the dreamer another. The keynote running through the music is — "I am He, I am He", all other notes are but variations and do not affect the real theme. We are the living books and books are but the words we have spoken. Everything is the living God, the living Christ; see it as such. Read man, he is the living poem. We are the light that illumines all the Bibles and Christs and Buddhas that ever were. Without that, these would be dead to us, not living.

Stand on your own Self.

The dead body resents nothing; let us make our bodies dead and cease to identify ourselves with them.

(CWSV : 7 Inspired talk, RECORDED BY MISS S. E. WALDO, A DISCIPLE)


Today's-Special : 2-August in Swami Vivekananda Life

August 2, 1895 - Inspired Talks

Nishthâ (devotion to one ideal) is the beginning of realisation. "Take the honey out of all flowers; sit and be friendly with all, pay reverence to all, say to all, 'Yes, brother, yes, brother', but keep firm in your own way." A higher stage is actually to take the position of the other. If I am all, why can I not really and actively sympathise with my brother and see with his eyes? While I am weak, I must stick to one course (Nishthâ), but when I am strong, I can feel with every other and perfectly sympathise with his ideas.

2 August 1895 : Letter to Mr E T Sturdy - Some Theosophists came to my classes in New York, but as soon as human beings perceive the glory of the Vedanta, all abracadabras fall off of themselves. This has been my uniform experience. Whenever mankind attains a higher vision, the lower vision disappears of itself. Multitude counts for nothing. A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men can do more in a year than a mob in a century. If there is heat in one body, then those others that come near it must catch it. This is the law. So success is ours, so long as we keep up the heat, the spirit of truth, sincerity, and love. My own life has been a very chequered one, but I have always found the eternal words verified: "Truth alone triumphs, not untruth. Through truth alone lies the way to God."
2 August 1898 : Swami Vivekananda was at Amarnath

Faith

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Sunday, 9 June 2013

9th June Swami Vivekananda Life

9 June 1894:

Letter To Mrs. G. W. Hale

We are all doing very well here. Last night the sisters (The daughters of Mrs. Hale: Mary and Harriet.) invited me and Mrs. Norton and Miss Howe and Mr. Frank Howe. We had a grand dinner and softshell crab and many other things, and a very nice time. Miss Howe left this morning. The sisters and Mother Temple (Mrs. James Matthews, Mr. Hale’s sister.) are taking very good care of me. Just now I am going to see my "oh-my-dear" Gandhi.1 Narasimha was here yesterday; he wanted to go to Cincinnati where he says he has more chances of success than anywhere else in the world. I gave him the passage, and so I hope I have got the white elephant out of my hands for the time being. How is Father Pope doing now? Hope he has been much benefited by the mudfish business. I had a very beautiful letter from Miss Guernsey of New York, giving you her regards. I am going downtown to buy a new pair of shoes as well as to get some money, my purse having been made empty by Narasimha. Nothing more to write. Yes, we went to see the "Charley's Aunt".3 I nearly killed myself with laughing. Father Pope will enjoy it extremely. I had never seen anything so funny.

Probably Mr. Virchand Gandhi, who represented Jainism at the Chicago World's Parliament of Religions, in 1893.
Mr. and Mrs. Hale were staying at the mineral-springs resort in Indiana. "Mud baths" were supposed cures for all ailments.
Charley's Aunt was a highly popular comedy of the era.

9th June, 1898. ALMORA,
Letter to Maharaja of Khetri.
Very sorry to learn that you are not in perfect health. Sure you will be in a few days. I am starting for Kashmir on Saturday next. I have your letter of introduction to the Resident, but better still if you kindly drop a line to the Resident telling him that you have already given an introduction to me. Will you kindly ask Jagamohan to write to the Dewan of Kishangarh reminding him of his promise to supply me with copies of Nimbârka Bhâshya on the Vyâsa-Sutras and other Bhashyas (commentaries) through his Pandits.

PS. Poor Goodwin is dead. Jagamohan knows him well. I want a couple of tiger skins, if I can, to be sent to the Math as present to two European friends. These seem to be most gratifying presents to Westerners.

9th June 1900.
Letter to Christina
I could not write more, as the last few weeks of my stay in California was one more relapse and great suffering. However, I got one great benefit out of it inasmuch as I came to know I have really no disease, except worry and fear. My kidneys are as sound as any other healthy man's. All the symptoms of Bright's disease etc., are only brought on by nerves. I wrote you one, however, from 770 Oak Street, San Francisco, to which I did not get any reply. Of course, I was bedridden then and my address book was not in the place I was in. There was a mistake in number. I cannot believe you did not reply willingly. As you see, now I am in New York, and will be here a few days. I have an invitation from Mrs. Walton of Cleveland, Ohio. I have accepted it. She writes me you are also invited and have accepted her invitation. Well, we will meet in Cleveland then. I am sure to see you before I go to Europe — either there or anywhere you wish. If you don't think it would be possible for you to come to Ohio, I will come to any other place you want me to come to say goodbye. When is your school going to close? Write me all about your plans — do! Miss Noble wants me very much to go to Cleveland. I would be very, very glad to get a few weeks' seclusion and rest before I start with friends who do not disturb me at all. I know I will find rest and peace that way, and you can help me any amount in that. In Cleveland, of course, there will be a few friends always and much talkee-talkee as a matter of course. So if you think I will have real peace and rest elsewhere, just write all about it. My reply to the Cleveland lady depends on your letter. How I wish I were in Detroit or elsewhere just now, among friends who I know are good and true always. This is weakness; but when the physical vitality is lowered and the nerves all unstrung, I feel so, so much to depend upon somebody. You will be glad to learn I made a little money in the West. So I will be quite able to pay my expenses.


9 June 1894

Letter To Mrs. G. W. Hale

We are all doing very well here. Last night the sisters (The daughters of Mrs. Hale: Mary and Harriet.) invited me and Mrs. Norton and Miss Howe and Mr. Frank Howe. We had a grand dinner and softshell crab and many other things, and a very nice time. Miss Howe left this morning. The sisters and Mother Temple (Mrs. James Matthews, Mr. Hale’s sister.) are taking very good care of me. Just now I am going to see my "oh-my-dear" Gandhi.1 Narasimha was here yesterday; he wanted to go to Cincinnati where he says he has more chances of success than anywhere else in the world. I gave him the passage, and so I hope I have got the white elephant out of my hands for the time being. How is Father Pope doing now? Hope he has been much benefited by the mudfish business. I had a very beautiful letter from Miss Guernsey of New York, giving you her regards. I am going downtown to buy a new pair of shoes as well as to get some money, my purse having been made empty by Narasimha. Nothing more to write. Yes, we went to see the "Charley's Aunt".3 I nearly killed myself with laughing. Father Pope will enjoy it extremely. I had never seen anything so funny.

Probably Mr. Virchand Gandhi, who represented Jainism at the Chicago World's Parliament of Religions, in 1893.
Mr. and Mrs. Hale were staying at the mineral-springs resort in Indiana. "Mud baths" were supposed cures for all ailments.
Charley's Aunt was a highly popular comedy of the era.

9th June, 1898. ALMORA,
Letter to Maharaja of Khetri.
Very sorry to learn that you are not in perfect health. Sure you will be in a few days. I am starting for Kashmir on Saturday next. I have your letter of introduction to the Resident, but better still if you kindly drop a line to the Resident telling him that you have already given an introduction to me. Will you kindly ask Jagamohan to write to the Dewan of Kishangarh reminding him of his promise to supply me with copies of Nimbârka Bhâshya on the Vyâsa-Sutras and other Bhashyas (commentaries) through his Pandits.

PS. Poor Goodwin is dead. Jagamohan knows him well. I want a couple of tiger skins, if I can, to be sent to the Math as present to two European friends. These seem to be most gratifying presents to Westerners.

9th June 1900.
Letter to Christina
I could not write more, as the last few weeks of my stay in California was one more relapse and great suffering. However, I got one great benefit out of it inasmuch as I came to know I have really no disease, except worry and fear. My kidneys are as sound as any other healthy man's. All the symptoms of Bright's disease etc., are only brought on by nerves. I wrote you one, however, from 770 Oak Street, San Francisco, to which I did not get any reply. Of course, I was bedridden then and my address book was not in the place I was in. There was a mistake in number. I cannot believe you did not reply willingly. As you see, now I am in New York, and will be here a few days. I have an invitation from Mrs. Walton of Cleveland, Ohio. I have accepted it. She writes me you are also invited and have accepted her invitation. Well, we will meet in Cleveland then. I am sure to see you before I go to Europe — either there or anywhere you wish. If you don't think it would be possible for you to come to Ohio, I will come to any other place you want me to come to say goodbye. When is your school going to close? Write me all about your plans — do! Miss Noble wants me very much to go to Cleveland. I would be very, very glad to get a few weeks' seclusion and rest before I start with friends who do not disturb me at all. I know I will find rest and peace that way, and you can help me any amount in that. In Cleveland, of course, there will be a few friends always and much talkee-talkee as a matter of course. So if you think I will have real peace and rest elsewhere, just write all about it. My reply to the Cleveland lady depends on your letter. How I wish I were in Detroit or elsewhere just now, among friends who I know are good and true always. This is weakness; but when the physical vitality is lowered and the nerves all unstrung, I feel so, so much to depend upon somebody. You will be glad to learn I made a little money in the West. So I will be quite able to pay my expenses.

8th June Swami Vivekananda Life

8 June:
 

8 June 1894,
Host: George Hale,
541 Dearborn Ave, Chicago

8 June 1895,
Host: Francis Leggett,
White Birch Lodge,
Camp Percy, NH

8 June 1896,
Host: Margessons,
63 St. George's Rd,
London, England

8 June 1900,
Vedanta Society,
102 E 58th St,
New York, NY

In memories of Margessons (Isabel Margesson )

Let me quote some of those sayings of the Master that have molded my character in the most positive way under the stress of joy and sorrow, of anxiety and illness, and of the many perplexities that invariably accompany us when we start the way.

I must put first that they are a key to all the rest. Without it, I can confidently affirm, there can be no real inner growth or progress of the soul in its search for Peace and for Reality.

The key lies in daily meditation. The Master's words on this subject can never be forgotten. I am well aware that of late years it has been recognized as the pearl of great price in almost all spiritual enlightenment, but when I first heard the Swami's lessons on it, it was new to me. The monkey mind, the charioteer who controls the horses (i.e. the senses), the silence of the Inner Self, the necessity of practice, the study of the teaching which teaches liberation of the Self, discrimination between the Real and the unreal, are thoughts and phrases that will at once recall the Swami to his disciples. Other words of practical wisdom, as I remember them in my own inadequate words are:

(1) Grow up within the fold of your own particular church, but do not die in it. Let it gradually lead you into fresh pastures.

(2) As scaffolding is an indispensable factor in material building, so is it in spiritual attainment. Do not destroy it either for yourself or for others (the Gospel says, "Let both grow until the harvest"), but wait for the inevitable moment of its automatic destruction.

(3) Never debase your ethical standard by calling wrong right. If you know that an act of yours is wrong, do it if you wish, but do not call it right for that is a fatal self-deception.

(4) Say to yourself when you repent of some small action: "I am glad I did that wrong, for now I see and I shall never do it again."

(5) Unselfish work for other people must be regarded as beneficial to the doer, for it is the doer that gains in his character.

(6) Do not identify your Self with any mental state. Perhaps this injunction is specially fundamental in sorrow or pity for the Self. Nothing leads so directly to wise judgement as holding the Real Self free from the unreal Self.

(7) The greatest heresy is separation.

(8) Unity is the Goal of Religion and of Science.

(9) I am That.

I must add to these great sayings the stories told by the Swami — inimitable stories which illustrated the points in his teaching. They became like the parables in the Bible — marvellous "lamps of light unto our feet."

Friday, 7 June 2013

7th June Swami Vivekananda Life

7 June:
 
7th June, 1896.

DEAR MISS NOBLE,

My ideal indeed can be put into a few words and that is: to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life.

This world is in chain of superstition. I pity the oppressed, whether man or woman, and I pity more the oppressors.

One idea that I see clear as daylight is that misery is caused by ignorance and nothing else. Who will give the world light? Sacrifice in the past has been the Law, it will be, alas, for ages to come. The earth's bravest and best will have to sacrifice themselves for the good of many, for the welfare of all. Buddhas by the hundred are necessary with eternal love and pity.

Religions of the world have become lifeless mockeries. What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love, selfless. That love will make every word tell like thunderbolt.

It is no superstition with you, I am sure, you have the making in you of a world-mover, and others will also come. Bold words and bolder deeds are what we want. Awake, awake, great ones! The world is burning with misery. Can you sleep? Let us call and call till the sleeping gods awake, till the god within answers to the call. What more is in life? What greater work? The details come to me as I go. I never make plans. Plans grow and work themselves. I only say, awake, awake!

Thursday, 6 June 2013

6th June Swami Vivekananda Life

June 6, 1890
Letter to SARADANANDA and KRIPANANDA,
Your letters have duly reached us. They say Almora is healthiest at this time of the year, yet you are taken ill! I hope it is nothing malarious. I find Gangadhar the same pliant child with his turbulence moderated by his wanderings, and with a greater love for us and for our Lord. He is bold, brave, sincere, and steadfast. The only thing needed is a guiding mind to whom he would instinctively submit with reverence, and a fine man would be the result. Who advises you to jump into fire? If you don't find the Himalayas a place for Sadhana, go somewhere else then. So many gushing inquiries simply betray a weak mind. Arise, ye mighty one, and be strong! Work on and on, struggle on and on! Nothing more to write.  

6th June 1896
Letter to MRS. BULL —
I have sent to Mr. Leggett by last mail the power of attorney, and, as you desired, this is to notify you of the fact and absolve you from the responsibilities of the power of attorney which I gave you in America last year.

5th June Swami Vivekananda Life

5 June:
 
5 June 1896 : To Mrs. Bull.
 
The Raja-Yoga book is going on splendidly. Saradananda goes to the States soon.
 
I do not like any one whom I love to become a lawyer, although my father was one. My Master was against it, and I believe that that family is sure to come to grief where there are several lawyers. Our country is full of them; the universities turn them out by the hundreds. What my nation wants is pluck and scientific genius. So I want Mohin to be an electrician. Even if he fails in life, still I will have the satisfaction that he strove to become great and really useful to his country.  In America alone there is something in the air which brings out whatever is best in every one. I want him to be daring, bold, and to struggle to cut a new path for himself and his nation. An electrical engineer can make a living in India.
 
5 June 1898 : Swami Vivekananda returns to Almora after a week long tour with Seviers
 
He got the message of nirvana of Sri Pavahari Baba.


4th June Swami Vivekananda Life

4 June:
 
To Mrs. Ole Bull -4th June '95
 
Dear Mother,
Today I leave New York at 5 p.m. by steamer with Mr. Leggett.
 
The classes were closed on Saturday last [June 1] and so far the work has been very successful, no small part of which is due to you.
 
MY DEAR SHASHI,
Reading your letter I felt like laughing, and also rather sorry. The cause of the laughter is that you had a dream through indigestion and made yourself miserable, taking it to be real. The cause of my sorrow is that it is clear from this that your health is not good, and that your nerves require rest very badly.
 
Never have I laid a curse on you, and why should I do so now? All your life you have known my love for you, and today are you doubting it? True, my temper was ever bad, and nowadays owing to illness it occasionally becomes terrible — but know this for certain that my love can never cease.

3rd June Swami Vivekananda Life

3 June:
 
To Sister Nivedita
ALMORA,
 
3rd June, 1897:
 
DEAR MISS NOBLE,
 
As for myself I am quite content. I have roused a good many of our people, and that was all I wanted. Let things have their course and Karma its sway. I have no bonds here below. I have seen life, and it is all self — life is for self, love for self, honour for self, everything for self. I look back and scarcely find any action I have done for self — even my wicked deeds were not for self. So I am content; not that I feel I have done anything specially good or great, but the world is so little, life so mean a thing, existence so, so servile — that I wonder and smile that human beings, rational souls, should be running after this self — so mean and detestable a prize.
 
This is the truth. We are caught in a trap, and the sooner one gets out, the better for one. I have seen the truth — let the body float up or down, who cares?

I was born for the life of a scholar — retired, quiet, poring over my books. But the Mother dispenses otherwise — yet the tendency is there.

2nd June Swami Vivekananda Life

2 June:
 
2 June 1893 - Enroute Colombo:
 
To Marie Halboister on 2 Jun 1897,
 
As I am writing to you, before me, reflecting the afternoon's flow, stand long, long lines of huge snow peaks. They are about twenty miles as the crow flies from here, and forty through the circuitous mountain roads.
 
I hope your translations have been well received in the Countess's paper. I had a great mind and very good opportunity of coming over to England this Jubilee season with some of our Princes, but my physicians would not allow me to venture into work so soon. For going to Europe means work, isn't it? No work, no bread.
 
Here the yellow cloth is sufficient, and I would have food enough. Anyhow I am taking a much desired rest, hope it will do me good.

1st June Swami Vivekananda Life

1 June:
 

1 June 1897 : Letter to Swami Shuddhananda in Samskrit,
 

At Almora, every evening Achyutananda gathers the people together and reads to them the Gita and other Shâstras. Many residents of the town, as also soldiers from the cantonment, come there daily. I learn also that he is appreciated by all.
 

The Bengali interpretation that you have given of the Shloka etc., does not seem to me to be right. The interpretation in question is this: "When (the land) is flooded with water, what is the use of drinking water?" If the law of nature be such that when a land is flooded with water, drinking it is useless, that through certain air passages or through any other recondite way people's thirst may be allayed, then only can this novel interpretation be relevant, otherwise not. It is Shankara whom you should follow. Or you may explain it in this way: As, even when whole tracts are flooded with water, small pools are also of great use to the thirsty (that is to say, just a little water suffices him, and he says, as it were, "Let the vast sheet of water be, even a little of water will satisfy my object."), of identical use are the whole Vedas to a learned Brahmin. As even when the land is overflooded, one's concern lies in drinking the water and no more, so in all the Vedas illumination alone is the concern.
 

Here is another interpretation which hits better the meaning the author wishes to convey: Even when the land is overflooded, it is only that water which is drinkable and salutary, that people seek for, and no other kind. There are various kinds of water, which differ in quality and properties — even though the land be flooded over — according to the differences in property of their substratum, the soil. Likewise a skilful Brahmin, too, will, for the quenching of the worldly thirst, choose from that sea of words known as the Vedas, which is flooded over with diverse courses of knowledge, that which alone will be of potence to lead to liberation. And it is the knowledge of the Brahman which will do this.

31 May Swami Vivekananda Life

31 May:
 
31 May 1898 - J.J. Goodwin died in Ootacamund
 
Swami Vivekananda writes to his mother :
 
Speed forth, O soul! upon thy star-strewn path,
Speed, blissful one, where thought is ever free,
Where time and sense no longer mist the view,
Eternal peace and blessings be on thee!

Thy service true, complete thy sacrifice,
Thy home the heart of love transcendent find,
Remembrance sweet, that tells all space and time,
Like altar-roses, fill thy place behind.

Thy bonds are broke, thy quest in bliss is found.
And-one with that which comes as Death and Life, -
Thou helpful one! unselfish e'er on earth,
Ahead, still aid with love this world of strife.

30th May Swami Vivekananda Life

30 May:
 

London -30th May, 1896.
Dear Mrs. Bull,
 

Day before yesterday I had a fine visit with Prof. Max Muller. He is a saintly man and looks like a young man in spite of his seventy years, and his face is without a wrinkle. I wish I had half his love for India and Vedanta. At the same time he is a friend of Yoga too and believes in it. Only he has no patience with humbugs.
 

Above all, his reverence for Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is extreme, and he has written an article on him for the Nineteenth Century . He asked me, "What are you doing to make him known to the world?" Ramakrishna has charmed him for years. Is it not good news? .
 

To Mary Hale : I am having classes here just now. I begin Sunday lectures from next week. The classes are very big and are in the house. We have rented it for the season. Last night I made a dish. It was such a delicious mixture of saffron, lavender, mace, nutmeg, cubebs, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cream, limejuice, onions, raisins, almonds, pepper, and rice, that I myself could not eat it. There was no asafoetida, though that would have made it smoother to swallow.
 

Yesterday I went to a marriage a la mode. Miss Müller, a rich lady, a friend who has adopted a Hindu boy and to help my work has taken rooms in this house, took us to see it. One of her nieces was married to somebody's nephew I suppose. What tiring nonsense!

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

29th May Swami Vivekananda Life

29 May:
 
29 May 1897 : Dr Bhushan Ghosh from Almora : Anyhow I feel very, very strong now. You ought to see me, Doctor, when I sit meditating in front of the beautiful snow peaks and repeat from the Upanishads:
 
He has neither disease, nor decay, nor death; for, verily, he has obtained a body full of the fire of Yoga."I am very glad to learn of the success of the meetings of the Ramakrishna Mission at Calcutta. All blessings attend those that help in the great work. .
 
 29 May 1899 : [Frank Rhodehamel's notes of the Bhagavad-Gitâ lecture delivered Tuesday, 
 May 29, 1900, in San Francisco, California]
 
1. "If you know everything, disturb not the childlike faith of the innocent."
2. "Religion is the realization of Spirit as Spirit. Not spirit as matter."
3. "You are spirit. Realize yourselves as spirit. Do it any way you can."
4. "Religion is a growth": each one must experience it himself.
5. "Everyone thinks 'my method is the best'. That is so, but it is the best for you."
6. "Spirit must stand revealed as spirit."
7. "There never was a time when spirit could be identified with matter."
8. "What is real in nature is the spirit."
9. "Action is in nature."
10. "'In the beginning there was That Existence. He looked and everything was created.'"
11. "Everyone works according to his own nature."
12. "You are not bound by law. That is in your nature. The mind is in nature and is bound by  law."
13. "If you want to be religious, keep out of religious arguments."
14. "Governments, societies, etc., are evils."
"All societies are based on bad generalizations."
"A law is that which cannot be broken."
15. "Better never love, if that love makes us hate others."
16. "The sign of death is weakness; the sign of life is strength."

28th May Swami Vivekananda Life

28 May:
 

To Alasinga Perumal -
on 28 May 1894 : In the meantime try to organise and push on our plans. Believe you can do everything. Know that the Lord is with us, and so, onward, brave souls!
 

I have had enough appreciation in my own country. Appreciation or no appreciation, sleep not, slacken not. You must remember that not a bit even of our plans has been as yet carried out.
 

Act on the educated young men, bring them together, and organise them. Great things can be done by great sacrifices only. No selfishness, no name, no fame, yours or mine, nor my Master's even! Work, work the idea, the plan, my boys, my brave, noble, good souls--to the wheel, to the wheel put your shoulders! Stop not to look back for name, or fame, or any such nonsense. Throw self overboard and work. Remember, "The grass when made into a rope by being joined together can even chain a mad elephant." The Lord's blessings on you all! His power be in you all--as I believe it is already. "Wake up, stop not until the goal is reached", say the Vedas. Up, up, the long night is passing, the day is approaching, the wave has risen, nothing will be able to resist its tidal fury. The spirit, my boys, the spirit; the love, my children, the love; the faith, the belief; and fear not! The greatest sin is fear.
 

28th May, 1895 -Dear Alasinga,
 

Herewith I send a hundred dollars or £ 20-8-7 in English money. Hope this will go just a little in starting your paper. Hoping to do more by and by.
 

28 May 1896 : Meets Max Muller in Oxford
 

28 May 1898 : Swami Vivekananda returns to Mayavati Ashram after 3 days meditation in the forest
 

He brought peace with Him and showered it on Bhagini Nivedita

27th May Swami Vivekananda Life

27 May:

To Sister Christine -The Math, Belur, Dist. Howrah, 

27th May 1902.

My dear Christine,
I am sorry I could not visit the mountains this time.
 
I am so happy to learn the mountains are doing you good. Eat a lot, sleep as much as you can, and get plump. Stuff yourself till you get plump or you burst.
 
If you feel you are becoming the least burdensome to Mrs. Sevier, write me immediately. 

It would be a sin to put further pressure on her--she does so much for me. However, she likes you very much and writes that you look be-au-ti-ful in saris.
 
I have just now two kids and three lambs added to the family. There was one more kid, but he got himself drowned in the yellow fish tank. How is Margot? Is she still there, or gone away with Mr. Okakura? How is she pulling on with the boys?
 
What do you do the whole day? How do you pass the day? Write me all details, and frequently; but do not expect long letters from me often.
 
Give my love to Mrs. Sevier, to Margot and the rest, and you may take a few spoonfuls, if you like.