Ramakrishna Vivekananda Divinity School

Ramakrishna Vivekananda Divinity School Awake! And Stop not till the goal is reached.

Get connected to start your day with inspirational quotes and teachings from Ramakrishna Vivekananda Vedanta Literature and Divine Life incidents of Sri Ramakrishna, Maa Sarada Devi & Swami Vivekananda

Arise!

The proof, therefore, of the Vedas is just the same as the proof of this table before me, Pratyaksha, direct perception....
25/05/2026

The proof, therefore, of the Vedas is just the same as the proof of this table before me, Pratyaksha, direct perception. This I see with the senses, and the truths of spirituality we also see in a superconscious state of the human soul.

This Rishi-state is not limited by time or place, by s*x or race. Vâtsyâyana boldly declares that this Rishihood is the common property of the descendants of the sage, of the A***n, of the non-A***n, of even the Mlechchha. This is the sageship of the Vedas, and constantly we ought to remember this ideal of religion in India, which I wish other nations of the world would also remember and learn, so that there may be less fight and less quarrel.

Religion is not in books, nor in theories, nor in dogmas, nor in talking, not even in reasoning. It is being and becoming. Ay, my friends, until each one of you has become a Rishi and come face to face with spiritual facts, religious life has not begun for you. Until the superconscious opens for you, religion is mere talk, it is nothing but preparation.

~Swami Vivekananda
Complete-Works / Volume 3 / Lectures from Colombo to Almora / THE SAGES OF INDIA

Reminiscence of Sri Ramakrishna by Ramlal Chattopadhyay (Master’s Nephew):Seeing the Master's anxiety for Swamiji, I ask...
25/05/2026

Reminiscence of Sri Ramakrishna by Ramlal Chattopadhyay (Master’s Nephew):

Seeing the Master's anxiety for Swamiji, I asked him, "Why are you so anxious about him?" The Master replied: "As Rasik [Rasiklal Sarkar, a worker at the Kali temple] is your friend and Hazra is Naren's friend, so Naren is my friend. Naren told me that he would come on Wednesday, and now another Wednesday is approaching and still he has not come. Please go to his house and bring me news of him." Then he told me : "Look Ramalal. The Marwaree devotees gave me sweets, nuts and raisins. I shall not eat these things. Give them to Naren and bring news about his health."

The Master put the food in a bundle and handed it to me, and left for Calcutta. In those days one could go to Calcutta by share carriage from Baranagore. There was no other passenger for the carriage, however. And as it would not leave until another passenger came, I decided to walk all the way to Swamiji's house. Swamiji reprimanded me saying, "Brother, didn't you have money?" I replied: "Yes, I have money. But I realized that the carriage would be leaving late, so I walked. Swamiji washed my feet and fanned me. I said to him: "You told the Master that you would visit him on Wednesday, but you didn't. He was worried about you and has sent me with all these things." Swamiji said : "Yes, Brother, I always plan to visit the Master, but the pressure of my family does not allow me to go anywhere. I shall go with you right now." Swamiji changed his clothes and nicely combed his curly hair. When we reached Dakshineshwar Swamiji bowed down to the Master. The Master wiped the dust from Swamiji's forehead. Then he ruffled Swamiji's hair with his fingers and said: "This foppishness does not befit you. Will you stay here today?" "Yes, Master," replied Swamiji. Then the Master told me, "Ramlal, please arrange some nice food for him."

~Ramakrishna As We Saw Him - p.51-52

You people will have your spiritual insight opened without much trouble. Now that you have chanced to come here, you hav...
25/05/2026

You people will have your spiritual insight opened without much trouble. Now that you have chanced to come here, you have liberation and all under your thumb. Besides practising meditation, etc., set yourselves heart and soul to remove to a certain extent the miseries of the world, so full of wails. Through hard austerities I have almost ruined this body. There is hardly any energy left in this pack of bones and flesh. You set yourselves to work now, and let me rest a while. If you fail to do anything else, well, you can tell the world at large about the scriptural truths you have studied so long. There is no higher gift than this, for the gift of knowledge is the highest gift in the world.

~Swami Vivekananda
Complete Works/ Volume 7/Conversations And Dialogues/XXVI

Disciple: Is the divine play of Shri Krishna with the Gopis of Vrindavan not good, then?Swamiji: Under the present circu...
24/05/2026

Disciple: Is the divine play of Shri Krishna with the Gopis of Vrindavan not good, then?

Swamiji: Under the present circumstances, that worship is of no good to you. Playing on the flute and so on will not regenerate the country.
We now mostly need the idea of a hero with the tremendous spirit of Rajas thrilling through his veins from head to foot -- the hero who will dare and die to know the Truth -- the hero whose armour is renunciation, whose sword is wisdom. We want now the spirit of the brave warrior in the battlefield of life, and not of the wooing lover who looks upon life as a pleasure-garden!

Disciple: Is then the path of love, as depicted in the ideal of the Gopis, false?

Swamiji: Who says so? Not I! That is a very superior form of worship (Sadhana). In this age of tremendous attachment to sense-pleasure and wealth, very few are able even to comprehend those higher ideals.

Disciple: Then are not those who are worshipping God as husband or lover (Madhura) following the proper path?

Swamiji: I dare say not. There may be a few honourable exceptions among them, but know, that the greater part of them are possessed of dark Tamasika nature. Most of them are full of morbidity and affected with exceptional weakness.
The country must be raised. The worship of Mahavira must be introduced; the Shakti-puja must form a part of our daily practice; Shri Ramachandra must be worshipped in every home. Therein lies your welfare, therein lies the good of the country -- there is no other way.

- Conversations and Dialogues [with Swami Vivekananda], recorded by Sharat Chandra Chakravarty

Reminiscence of Sri Ramakrishna by Ramlal Chattopadhyay (Master’s Nephew):One day I went to Shiva Acharya sing kirtan at...
23/05/2026

Reminiscence of Sri Ramakrishna by Ramlal Chattopadhyay (Master’s Nephew):

One day I went to Shiva Acharya sing kirtan at Alambazar. Later I reported to the Master about a song that I heard there, "Who has sung the precious name of Sri Rama in my ear?" The Master said, "Oh, I missed this wonderful kirtan!" A few days later Shiva Acharya came to visit the Dakshineshwar temple, and I asked him to meet the Master. He agreed. The Master said to him: "Ramlal heard your kirtan and told me about it. Why don't you sing that song for me?" Shiva Acharya sang, and tears began to flow from the Master’s eyes. Gradually he went into samadhi. The Master later asked me to copy that song. He told Shiva Acharya: "Your song brings joy to so many people. It is wonderful that you can sing for four or five hours at a strech without you voice giving out. God's power dwells in the heart of one who attracts many people and gives joy to them."

Shiva Acharya invited the Master to visit Bhadrakali [a village on the western side of the Ganga], and the Master agreed. One day Shiva Acharya came with four boats decorated with flags, and the Master, along with some devotees, went to his place. We sang kirtan on the way. The Master was received at the village with garlands, and people chanted the Lord's name while distributing candy. The Master was in ecstasy.

They had a debate at that meeting. Brahmavarta Samadhyayi was a great scholar and logician. The Master listened to what he said and observed how he was refuting others' agruments. All of a sudden the Master said: "Mother, this fellow is arguing too much. He is a dry scholar." Then the Master rushed to the scholar, touched his right knee, and said, "What did you say?" "I didn't say anything," Samadhyayi replied in bewilderment. The Master's touch had chnged Samadhyayi's mind. The Master then said, "Just now you were talking about so many things and arguing with people." "I was joking with them. Please don't take me seriously," replied the pandit. Afterwards we brought the Master back to Dakshineshwar.

~Ramakrishna As We Saw Him - p.52-53

Our sacred motherland is a land of religion and philosophy — the birthplace of spiritual giants — the land of renunciati...
23/05/2026

Our sacred motherland is a land of religion and philosophy — the birthplace of spiritual giants — the land of renunciation, where and where alone, from the most ancient to the most modern times, there has been the highest ideal of life open to man.

I have been in the countries of the West — have travelled through many lands of many races; and each race and each nation appears to me to have a particular ideal — a prominent ideal running through its whole life; and this ideal is the backbone of the national life. Not politics nor military power, not commercial supremacy nor mechanical genius furnishes India with that backbone, but religion; and religion alone is all that we have and mean to have. Spirituality has been always in India.

Great indeed are the manifestations of muscular power, and marvellous the manifestations of intellect expressing themselves through machines by the appliances of science; yet none of these is more potent than the influence which spirit exerts upon the world.

The history of our race shows that India has always been most active. Today we are taught by men who ought to know better that the Hindu is mild and passive; and this has become a sort of proverb with the people of other lands. I discard the idea that India was ever passive. Nowhere has activity been more pronounced than in this blessed land of ours, and the great proof of this activity is that our most ancient and magnanimous race still lives, and at every decade in its glorious career seems to take on fresh youth — undying and imperishable. This activity manifests here in religion. ..
The eyes of the whole world are now turned towards this land of India for spiritual food; and India has to provide it for all the races. Here alone is the best ideal for mankind; and Western scholars are now striving to understand this ideal which is enshrined in our Sanskrit literature and philosophy, and which has been the characteristic of India all through the ages.

~Swami Vivekananda
Complete-Works / Volume 3 / Lectures from Colombo to Almora / REPLY TO THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME AT PAMBAN

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A thief enters a dark room and feels the various articles therein. He lays his hand upon a table perhaps, and saying “No...
22/05/2026

A thief enters a dark room and feels the various articles therein. He lays his hand upon a table perhaps, and saying “Not this” passes on. Next he comes upon some other article—a chair, perhaps—and again saying “Not this” continues his search, till, leaving article after article, he finally lays his hand on the box containing the treasure. Then he exclaims, “It is here!” and there his search ends. Such, indeed, is the search for Brahman.

~ Sayings Of Sri Ramakrishna - p-194 no #733

Always discriminate between the real and the unreal, and devote yourself heart and soul to the attempt to realise the At...
22/05/2026

Always discriminate between the real and the unreal, and devote yourself heart and soul to the attempt to realise the Atman. There is nothing higher than this knowledge of the Atman; all else is Maya, mere jugglery. The Atman is the one unchangeable Truth. This I have come to understand, and that is why I try to bring it home to you all.

~Swami Vivekananda
Complete Works /Volume 6/ Conversations and Dialogues/XII)

No one can get anything unless he earns it. This is an eternal law. We may sometimes think it is not so, but in the long...
21/05/2026

No one can get anything unless he earns it. This is an eternal law. We may sometimes think it is not so, but in the long run we become convinced of it. A man may struggle all his life for riches; he may cheat thousands, but he finds at last that he did not deserve to become rich, and his life becomes a trouble and a nuisance to him.

We may go on accumulating things for our physical enjoyment, but only what we earn is really ours. A fool may buy all the books in the world, and they will be in his library; but he will be able to read only those that he deserves to; and this deserving is produced by Karma. Our Karma determines what we deserve and what we can assimilate. We are responsible for what we are; and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.

If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.

You will say, “What is the use of learning how to work? Everyone works in some way or other in this world.” But there is such a thing as frittering away our energies. With regard to Karma-Yoga, the Gita says that it is doing work with cleverness and as a science; by knowing how to work, one can obtain the greatest results.

You must remember that all work is simply to bring out the power of the mind which is already there, to wake up the soul. The power is inside every man, so is knowing; the different works are like blows to bring them out, to cause these giants to wake up.

~Swami Vivekananda
Complete Works/Volume 1/Karma Yoga/Chapter I - Karma In Its Effect On Character

Anger is a sign of Tamas. In anger man loses all discrimination. Hanuman set fire to Lanka, but he had not sense then to...
20/05/2026

Anger is a sign of Tamas. In anger man loses all discrimination. Hanuman set fire to Lanka, but he had not sense then to apprehend that it might burn even the place where Sita was staying.

~Sayings Of Sri Ramakrishna - Maxims (p. 284). no #1029

"Ninety per cent of thought force is wasted by the ordinary human being and therefore he is constantly committing blunde...
20/05/2026

"Ninety per cent of thought force is wasted by the ordinary human being and therefore he is constantly committing blunders. The trained man or mind never makes a mistake. The main difference between men and the animals is the difference in their power of concentration. An animal has very little power of concentration. Those who have trained animals find much difficulty in the fact that the animal is constantly forgetting what is told him. He cannot concentrate his mind upon anything for a long time. Herein is the difference between man and the animals. This difference in their power of concentration also constitutes the difference between man and man. Compare the lowest with the highest man. The difference is in the degree of concentration."

~Swami Vivekananda
Complete-Works / Volume 6 / Notes of Class Talks and Lectures / CONCENTRATION

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