Replied by VIF :In accordance with the ancient teaching of India called Vedanta, Swami Vivekananda taught about the potential divinity of man. His teaching of serving God in man is a direct corollary of this truth. At the same time, Swamiji emphasized on the need to be bold and strong. Below are the salient points of some of Swamiji’s teaching;

1. “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within…”

2. "The older I grow, the more everything seems to me to lie in manliness. This is my new gospel."

3. “I want bold, daring, adventurous spirits to help me.”

4. “…stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creators of your own destiny.”

5. “Strength is goodness, weakness is sin. If there is one word that you find coming out like a bomb from the Upanishads, bursting like a bomb-shell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word fearlessness. And the only religion that ought to be taught is the religion of fearlessness.”

6. “All knowledge is in me, all power, all purity, and all freedom. Why cannot I express this knowledge? Because I do not believe in it.”

7. “Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be; if you think yourselves impure, impure you will be; if you think yourselves pure, pure you will be…”

8. “The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength. Teach men of strength that is already within them.”

9. “There is but one basis of well-being, social, political, or spiritual—to know that I and my brother are one.”

10. “The national ideals of India are RENUNCIATION and SERVICE. Intensify her in those channels, and the rest will take care of itself.”

11. “If you want to find God, serve man. To reach Narayana you must serve the Daridra Narayanas – the starving millions of India…”

12. “This is the gist of all worship — to be pure and to do good to others. He who sees Shiva in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Shiva; and if he sees Shiva only in the image, his worship is but preliminary.”

13. “Blessed are they whose bodies get destroyed in the service of others.”

14. “For the next fifty years this alone shall be our keynote—this, our great Mother India. Let all other vain gods disappear for the time from our minds…the first gods we have to worship are our countrymen.”

15. “Practical patriotism means not a mere sentiment or even emotion of love of the motherland but a passion to serve our fellow-countrymen.”

16. “Give up jealousy and conceit. Learn to work unitedly for others. This is the great need of our country.”

17. “Shelve your intricate philosophical speculations for the present. In our country we at present need manhood and kindness.”

Posted on January 10, 2019