20 Powerful Lessons From Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda's life lessons

In this article you'll find 20 powerful lessons from Swami Vivekananda.

Note: If we thoroughly study the published literary works of Swami Vivekananda, we'll find many
times Swamiji clearly indicated some advices, quotes or suggestions as "lessons" or "great
lessons". In this article, our attempt will be to make a collection of these quotations.
Our entire website is dedicated to Swami Vivekananda's quotes. You may explore quotes on
different topics from the "Contents" section.
We'll not include Swami Vivekananda's Raja Yoga lessons here.
Lesson
I will tell you a great lesson I have learnt in this life. It is this: "The higher is your ideal, the more
miserable you are"; for such a thing as an ideal cannot be attained in the world, or in this life
even. He who wants perfection in the world is a madman, for it cannot be. [Source]
Lession
The one great lesson I was taught is that life is misery, nothing but misery. Mother knows what is
best. Each one of us is in the hands of Karma; it works itself out and no nay. There is only one
element in life which is worth having at any cost, and it is love. Love immense and infinite, broad
as the sky and deep as the ocean this is the one great gain in life. Blessed is he who gets it.
[Source]

Lesson
This is the great lesson that we are here to learn through myriads of births and heavens and
hells that there is nothing to be asked for, desired for, beyond one's Self. "The greatest thing I
can obtain is my Self." "I am free", therefore I require none else for my happiness. "Alone through
eternity, because I was free, am free, and will remain free for ever." This is Vedantism. I preached
the theory so long, but oh, joy! Mary, my dear sister, I am realising it now every day. Yes, I am
"I am free." "Alone, alone, I am the one without a second." [Source]

Lesson
There is but One, seen by the ignorant as matter, by the wise as God. And the history of
civilisation is the progressive reading of spirit into matter. The ignorant see the person in the nonperson. The sage sees the non-person in the person. Through pain and pleasure, joy and
sorrow, this is the one lesson we are learning. . . .[Source]
Lesson
Once when I was in Varanasi, I was passing through a place where there was a large tank of
water on one side and a high wall on the other. It was in the grounds where there were many
monkeys. The monkeys of Varanasi are huge brutes and are sometimes surly. They now took it
into their heads not to allow me to pass through their street, so they howled and shrieked and
clutched at my feet as I passed. As they pressed closer, I began to run, but the faster I ran, the
faster came the monkeys and they began to bite at me. It seemed impossible to escape, but just
then I met a stranger who called out to me, "Face the brutes." I turned and faced the monkeys,
and they fell back and finally fled. That is a lesson for all life face the terrible, face it boldly.
Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee before them. If we are
ever to gain freedom, it must be by conquering nature, never by running away. Cowards never
win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before
us.[Source]
Lesson
The man who is groping through sin, through misery, the man who is choosing the path through
hells, will reach it, but it will take time. We cannot save him. Some hard knocks on his head will
help him to turn to the Lord. The path of virtue, purity, unselfishness, spirituality, becomes known
at last and what all are doing unconsciously, we are trying to do consciously. The idea is
expressed by St. Paul, "The God that ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you." This is the
lesson for the whole world to learn. What have these philosophies and theories of nature to do, if
not to help us to attain to this one goal in life? Let us come to that consciousness of the identity
of everything and let man see himself in everything. Let us be no more the worshippers of creeds
or sects with small limited notions of God, but see Him in everything in the universe. If you are
knowers of God, you will everywhere find the same worship as in your own heart. [Source]
Lesson
"The Divine within; every being, however degraded, is the expression of the Divine. The Divinity
becomes covered, hidden from view. I call to mind an incident of the Indian Mutiny. A Swami, who
for years had fulfilled a vow of eternal silence, was stabbed by a Mohammedan. They dragged
the murderer before his victim and cried out, 'Speak the word, Swami, and he shall die.' After
many years of silence, he broke it to say with his last breath: 'My children, you are all mistaken.
That man is God Himself.' The great lesson is, that unity is behind all. Call it God, Love, Spirit.
Allah, Jehovah it is the same unity that animates all life from the lowest animal to the noblest
man. Picture to yourself an ocean ice-bound, pierced with many different holes. Each of these is
a soul, a man, emancipated according to his degree of intelligence, essaying to break through
the ice."[Source]
Lesson
This is a great lesson for us all to learn, that in all matters the two extremes are alike. The
extreme positive and the extreme negative are always similar. When the vibrations of light are
too slow, we do not see them, nor do we see them when they are too rapid. So with sound; when

very low in pitch, we do not hear it; when very high, we do not hear it either. Of like nature is the
difference between resistance and non-resistance. One man does not resist because he is weak,
lazy, and cannot, not because he will not; the other man knows that he can strike an irresistible
blow if he likes; yet he not only does not strike, but blesses his enemies. The one who from
weakness resists not commits a sin, and as such cannot receive any benefit from the nonresistance; while the other would commit a sin by offering resistance. [Source]
Lesson
The great lesson to learn is that I am not the standard by which the whole universe is to be
judged; each man is to be judged by his own idea, each race by its own standard and ideal, each
custom of each country by its own reasoning and conditions. [Source]
Lesson
Forget yourselves; this is the first lesson to be learnt, whether you are a theist or an atheist,
whether you are an agnostic or a Vedantist, a Christian or a Mohammedan. The one lesson
obvious to all is the destruction of the little self and the building up of the Real Self. [Source]
Lesson
One of the greatest lessons I have learnt in my life is to pay as much attention to the means of
work as to its end. He was a great man from whom I learnt it, and his own life was a practical
demonstration of this great principle I have been always learning great lessons from that one
principle, and it appears to me that all the secret of success is there; to pay as much attention to
the means as to the end.[Source]
Lesson
This is the first lesson to learn: be determined not to curse anything outside, not to lay the blame
upon any one outside, but be a man, stand up, lay the blame on yourself. You will find, that is
always true. Get hold of yourself. [Source]
Lesson
Do not be in a hurry, do not go out to imitate anybody else. This is another great lesson we have
to remember; imitation is not civilisation. I may deck myself out in a Raja's dress, but will that
make me a Raja? An ass in a lion's skin never makes a lion. Imitation, cowardly imitation, never
makes for progress. It is verily the sign of awful degradation in a man. [Source]
Lesson
By means of the constant effort to do good to others we are trying to forget ourselves; this
forgetfulness of self is the one great lesson we have to learn in life. Man thinks foolishly that he
can make himself happy, and after years of struggle finds out at last that true happiness consists
in killing selfishness and that no one can make him happy except himself. Every act of charity,
every thought of sympathy, every action of help, every good deed, is taking so much of selfimportance away from our little selves and making us think of ourselves as the lowest and the
least, and, therefore, it is all good. [Source]
Lesson
We must inform our minds that no one in this universe depends upon us; not one beggar
depends on our charity; not one soul on our kindness; not one living thing on our help. All are
helped on by nature, and will be so helped even though millions of us were not here. The course

of nature will not stop for such as you and me; it is, as already pointed out, only a blessed
privilege to you and to me that we are allowed, in the way of helping others, to educate
ourselves. This is a great lesson to learn in life, and when we have learned it fully, we shall never
be unhappy; we can go and mix without harm in society anywhere and everywhere. [Source]
Lesson
The struggle is the great lesson. Mind you, the great benefit in this life is struggle. It is through
that we pass. If there is any road to Heaven, it is through Hell. Through Hell to Heaven is always
the way. When the soul has wrestled with circumstance and has met death, a thousand times
death on the way, but nothing daunted has struggled forward again and again and yet again
then the soul comes out as a giant and laughs at the ideal he has been struggling for, because
he finds how much greater is he than the ideal. I am the end, my own Self, and nothing else, for
what is there to compare to me own Self? Can a bag of gold be the ideal of my Soul? Certainly
not! My Soul is the highest ideal that I can have. Realising my own real nature is the one goal of
my life.[Source]
Lesson
That is another great lesson. Spirituality can never be attained unless all material ideas are given
up. ... What is in the senses? The senses are all delusion. People wish to retain them [in heaven]
even after they are dead a pair of eyes, a nose. Some imagine they will have more organs
than they have now. They want to see God sitting on a throne through all eternity the material
body of God. ... Such men's desires are for the body, for food and drink and enjoyment. It is the
materialistic life prolonged. Man cannot think of anything beyond this life. This life is all for the
body. "Such a man never comes to that concentration which leads to freedom." [Source]
Lesson
All the struggles which we have in our lives were past for him. His hard-earned jewels of
spirituality, for which he had given three-quarters of his life, were now ready to be given to
humanity, and then began his mission. His teaching and preaching were peculiar. In our country
a teacher is a most highly venerated person, he is regarded as God Himself. We have not even
the same respect for our father and mother. Father and mother give us our body, but the teacher
shows us the way to salvation. We are his children, we are born in the spiritual line of the
teacher. All Hindus come to pay respect to an extraordinary teacher, they crowd around him. And
here was such a teacher, but the teacher had no thought whether he was to be respected or not,
he had not the least idea that he was a great teacher, he thought that it was Mother who was
doing everything and not he. He always said, "If any good comes from my lips, it is the Mother
who speaks; what have I to do with it?" That was his one idea about his work, and to the day of
his death he never gave it up. This man sought no one. His principle was, first form character,
first earn spirituality and results will come of themselves. His favourite illustration was, "When the
lotus opens, the bees come of their own accord to seek the honey; so let the lotus of your
character be full-blown, and the results will follow." This is a great lesson to learn. [Source]
Lesson
My Master taught me this lesson hundreds of times, yet I often forget it. Few understand the
power of thought. If a man goes into a cave, shuts himself in, and thinks one really great thought
and dies, that thought will penetrate the walls of that cave, vibrate through space, and at last
permeate the whole human race. Such is the power of thought; be in no hurry therefore to give
your thoughts to others. First have something to give. He alone teaches who has something to

give, for teaching is not talking, teaching is not imparting doctrines, it is communicating.
Spirituality can be communicated just as really as I can give you a flower. This is true in the most
literal sense. This idea is very old in India and finds illustration in the West in the "theory, in the
belief, of apostolic succession. Therefore first make character that is the highest duty you can
perform. Know Truth for yourself, and there will be many to whom you can teach it after wards;
they will all come.[Source]
Lesson
Strength, strength is what the Upanishads speak to me from every page. This is the one great
thing to remember, it has been the one great lesson I have been taught in my life; strength, it
says, strength, O man, be not weak. Are there no human weaknesses? says man. There are,
say the Upanishads, but will more weakness heal them, would you try to wash dirt with dirt? Will
sin cure sin, weakness cure weakness? Strength, O man, strength, say the Upanishads, stand
up and be strong.[Source]

Swami Vivekananda's Quotes On Strength

The world is ready to give up its

secrets
if we only know how to knock,
how to give it the necessary blow.
The strength and force of the blow
come through concentration.
Swami Viekananda
Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of yoga should

be at once rejected. The best guide in life is strength. In religion, as in all other
matters, discard everything that weakens you, have nothing to do with it.[Source]

Be strong! Dont talk of ghosts and devils. We are the living devils. The
sign of life is strength and growth. The sign of death is weakness. Whatever is
weak, avoid! It is death. If it is strength, go down into hell and get hold of it!
There is salvation only for the brave.[Source]

Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigour in the
blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening
namby-pamby ideas. Avoid all these. Avoid all mystery.[Source]

By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, the duty which is in our
hands now, we make ourselves stronger; and improving our strength in this
manner step by step, we may reach a state in which it shall be our privilege to
do the most coveted and honored duties in life and in society.

Doing good to others is virtue (dharma); injuring others is sin. Strength

and manliness are virtue; weakness and cowardice are sin. Independence is
virtue; dependence is in. Loving others is virtue; hating others is sin. Faith in
God and in one's own self is virtue, doubt is sin. Knowledge of oneness is
virtue; seeing diversity is sin.

Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be
a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no
amount of intellectual activity can reach God.

God is not to be reached by the weak. Never be weak. You have infinite
strength within you. How else will you conquer anything? How else will you
come to God?[Source]

. . . Hold on with faith and strength; be true, be honest, be pure, and

don't quarrel among yourselves. Jealousy is the bane of our race.

If you want to be great materially, believe that you are so. I may be a
little bubble, and you may be wave mountain-high, but know that for both of us
the infinite ocean is the background, the infinite Brahman is our magazine of
power and strength, and we can draw as much as we like, both of us. I the
bubble and you the mountain-high wave. Believe therefore in yourselves.

If there is no strength in body and mind, the Atman cannot be realized.

First you have to build the body by good nutritious foodthen only will the
mind be strong.

It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no
amount of intellectual activity can reach God.

Infinite strength is religion and God.[Source]

Know that every time you feel weak, you not only hurt yourself but also
the cause. Infinite faith and strength are the only conditions of success.

. . . Please everybody without becoming a hypocrite and without being a

coward. Hold on to your own ideas with strength and purity, and whatever
obstructions may now be in your way, the world is bound to listen to you in the
long run. . . . [Source]

Say, This misery that I am suffering is of my own doing, and that very
thing proves that it will have to be undone by me alone. That which I created, I
can demolish; that which is created by someone else, I shall never be able to
destroy. Therefore, 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. All the strength and succour you want is within ourselves.

Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own
shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the
strength and succour you want is within yourself. Therefore make your own
future.

Strength is in goodness, in purity.[Source]

Strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal,

immortal. Weakness is constant strain and misery; weakness is death.

Strength is the medicine for the world's disease. Strength is the

medicine which the poor must have when tyrannised over by the rich. Strength
is the medicine that the ignorant must have when oppressed by the learned;
and it is the medicine that sinners must have when tyrannised over by other
sinners; and nothing gives such strength as this idea of monism. Nothing
makes us so moral as this idea of monism.[Source]

Strength is the sign of vigour, the sign of life, the sign of hope, the sign
of health, and the sign of everything that is good. As long as the body lives,
there must be strength in the body, strength in the mind, strength in the hand.

Strength, strength it is that we want so much in this life, for what we call
sin and sorrow have all one cause, and that is our weakness.[Source]

The difference between weakness and strength is one of degree; the

difference between virtue and vice is one of degree, the difference between
heaven and hell is one of degree, the difference between life and death is one
of degree, all differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because
oneness is the secret of everything.[Source]

The highest manifestation of strength is to keep ourselves calm and on

our own feet.

The mind is but the subtle part of the body. You must retain great
strength in your mind and words.

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking
of strength.

This is the great fact: strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is

felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery:
weakness is death.

The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock,
how to give it the necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow come
through concentration.

Wait with patience and love and strength. If helpers are not ready now,
they will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry? The real working force of
all great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings.

What this world wants today, more than it ever did before, is strength.