inspiring thoughts of swami vivekananda on religion and ethics - part 1 -

8/14/2019 Inspiring Thoughts of Swami Vivekananda on Religion and Ethics - Part 1 -

1/12

Inspiring Thoughts of

Swami Vivekanandaon Religion and Ethics ~

Part - 1

Submitted by Prof. V. Viswanadham


2/12



Part - 1

Religion is the ideawhich is

rising the brute unto man,

and man unto God.


3/12



Part - 1

The definition of God and man:

Man is an infinite circlewhose circumference is nowhere,

but the centre is located

in one spot;

and God is an infinite circle

whose circumference is nowhere,

but whose centre

is everywhere.


4/12



Part - 1

The difference between God and the devil

is in nothing except

in unselfishness and selfishness.

The devil knows as much as God,

is as powerful as God;

only he has no holiness that makes him a devil.Apply the same idea to the modern world:

excess of knowledge and power,

without holiness,

makes human beings devils.


5/12



Part - 1

Virtue is thatwhich tends

to our improvement,

and vice

to our degeneration.


6/12



Part - 1

Man is made up of

three qualities brutal, human, and godly.That which tends to

increase the divinity in you

is virtue,and that which tends to

increase brutality in you

is vice.


7/12



Part - 1

You must kill the brutal nature

and become human,

that is loving and charitable.You must transcend that too

and become pure bliss,

Sachchidananda,fire without burning,wonderfully loving,

but without the weakness of human love,

without the feeling of misery.


8/12



Part - 1

Unselfishness is God.One may live on a throne,

in a golden palace,

and be perfectly unselfish;

and then he is in God.Another may live in a hut and wear rags,

and have nothing in the world;

yet, if he is selfish,

he is intensely merged in the world.


9/12



Part - 1

The first sign that you are becoming religious

is that you are becoming cheerful.When a man is gloomy, that may be dyspepsia,

but it is not religion.

Misery is caused by sin, and by no other cause.

What business have you with clouded faces?It is terrible. If you have a clouded face,

do not go out that day, shut yourself up in your room.

What right have you

to carry this disease out into the world?


10/12



Part - 1

Do you not know

from the history of the world

where the power of the prophets lay?

Where was it? In the intellect?Did any of them write

a fine book on philosophy,on the most intricate ratiocinations of logic?

Not one of them.

They only spoke a few words.


11/12



Part - 1

Feel like Christ

and you will be a Christ;feel like Buddha

and you will be a Buddha.

It is feelingthat is the life,

the strength, the vitality,

without which no amount of intellectual activity

can reach God.


12/12



Part - 1

Just one word please!

This is Part - 1 ofthe Inspiring Thoughts of Swami Vivekananda

on a very significant topic, Religion and Ethics.

Whatever be the religion, and I feel, even if

one does not seriously believe in any particular religion,

Yet, some good idea of what is religion,

what is its relationship with ethics, etc.constitute important issues.

This is very necessary in the modern materialistic world.

Please do read, all the parts, and then make up your mind,

of course, for the better. Thank you for your patient reading.

inspiring thoughts of swami vivekananda on religion and ethics - part 1 -

Documents