What is the world that is to be given up? It is here. I am carrying it all with me. My own body. It is all for this body that I put my hand voluntarily upon my fellow human beings, just to keep it nice and give it a little pleasure. It is all for the body that I injure others and make mistakes.
I direct my attention to the individual, to make him strong, to teach him that he himself is divine, and I call upon men to make themselves conscious of this divinity within. That is really the ideal – conscious or unconscious – of every religion.
If you dare declare that you are free, free you are this moment. If you say you are bound, bound you will remain.
Meditate upon the Om that is in the heart.
It is only by doing good to others that one attains to one’s own good.
He who has conquered the internal nature controls the whole universe; it becomes his servant.
Have faith in yourselves, great convictions are the mother of great deeds.
Art is – representing the beautiful. There must be Art in everything.
Give up all self, all egotisms get out of anger, lust, give all to God. “I am not, but Thou art; the old man is all gone, only Thou remainest.” “I am Thou.” Blame none; if evil comes, know the Lord is playing with you and be exceeding glad.
Desire, ignorance, and inequality – this is the trinity of bondage.
The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves. That faith calls out the divinity within. You can do anything. You fail only when you do not strive sufficiently to manifest infinite power. As soon as a man or a nation loses faith, death comes.
Life without death and happiness without misery are contradiction and neither can be found alone, because each of them is a different manifestation of the same thing.
Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift off the bondage and illusion.
Be free; hope for nothing from anyone. I am sure if you look back upon your lives you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others which never came.
An intellectual, heartless man never becomes an inspired man. It is always the heart that speaks in the man of love; it discovers a greater instrument than intellect can give you, the instrument of inspiration.
The present is determined by our past actions, and the future by the present.
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.
Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never pander to weakness. If truth is too much for intelligent people and sweeps them away, let them go; the sooner the better.
First, believe in the world-that there is meaning behind everything.
The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women.