The Real Test of Religion
“Selfishness is the chief sin, thinking of ourselves first. He who thinks, “I will eat first, I will have more money, and I will possess everything,” he who thinks “I will get to heaven before others, I will get Mukti before others,” is the selfish man. The unselfish man says, “I will be last, I do not care to go to heaven, I will even go to hell if it helps my brothers.” This unselfishness is the test of religion.” — Swami Vivekananda
The Difference Between Contact And Connection
As soon as we say “I”, we are humbugged all the time; and we call it “knowable,” but it’s only going round and round like a bullock tied to a tree. . . Conquer yourself and the whole universe is yours.” — Swami Vivekananda
Love Makes the World Go Round
“Let your love go to all, whatever they do to you. A blind man cannot see color, so how can we see evil unless it is in us?” — Swami Vivekananda The most beautiful emotion we can experience is love. It can inspire us to do incredible things. In fact, medieval theology believed that love […]
Love the Terrible and the Painful
“Loving only the good in God and nature—even a child does that. You should love the terrible and the painful as well. A father loves the child, even when he is giving him trouble.” — Swami Vivekananda You slogged your butt off, but the results were nowhere close to what you hoped for. You got […]
Why Do You Do What You Do?
When Valmiki heard that Hanuman had written a version of the Ramayana, he went to the forest in search of it. There, beside Hanuman on a banana leaf, the sage found the most beautiful rendition of the epic. “Who will read my Ramayana now?”, he wept. Hearing this, Hanuman popped the banana leaf in his […]
Don’t Be Needed, Be Useful
“The watchword of all well-being is not ‘I’ but ‘thou’. Who cares whether there is a heaven or hell, who cares if there is a soul or not . . .? Here is the world, and it is full of misery. Go out into it as Buddha did, and struggle to lessen it or die […]
You Are Part of the Whole
“As manifested beings we appear to be separate, but our reality is one, and the less we think of ourselves as separate from that One, the better for us. The more we think of ourselves as separate from the Whole, the more miserable we become.” — Swami Vivekananda Spend an hour on a hill, by […]
Relationships Are Mirrors Into Ourselves
“Relationship is a process of self-revelation — revelation of oneself through contact with others. Others can help us to see ourselves as we are, but this revelation is denied to us if we depend upon them or use them for our gratification or happiness.” — J. Krishnmurti If our partner forgets a special date, we […]
Loving an Ideal Versus Loving a Human
“To love an ideal, a Master, a god, a state is easier. . . they can be created in our image according to our hopes, fears, illusions. It is more convenient. . . to have an ideal, a far-off image to love, for between that and ourselves there can be no unpleasant, personal reaction which […]
How To Be an Original Masterpiece
A craft is what you do, like cooking, teaching, driving, or something else. It becomes an art when you add love to it. Because when you love something (or someone), you don’t look for a template on what to do. You do what feels right to you, and give expression to your instinct without fear. […]