Swami Vivekananda’s Message

You are Divine. Manifest it.

Who am I? Am I the body? Am I the physiological system? Am I the mind? Am I the intellect? Who am I? I am the master of all these.

Man vs. Matter Man makes money. Money does not make man. I am higher than any object or situation. If I really want to be happy and peaceful under any situation, nothing can stop me.

Free !!! I am inherently free. Unless I decide to get bound, nothing can bind me. Unless I let the situation overwhelm me, I am bigger than any situation. I always have the freedom and the right to be happy in any situation. As long as I keep trying, I have not failed.

You are Divine Let eyes grow dim and heart grow faint,  And friendship fail and love betray,  Let Fate its hundred horrors send,  And clotted darkness block the way.  All nature wear one angry frown,  To crush you out — still know, my soul,  You are Divine. March on and on,  Nor right nor left but to the goal. 

What is the Goal? Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these - and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.

Be Good, Do Good. Motto of Ramakrishna Math and Mission aatmano mokshaartam jagat hitaaya ca For self-liberation and welfare of the world “Be Good. Do Good.”

Be Good Believe in being good. Strength is life. Weakness is death. Peace of mind is more important than being wealthy and famous. Be a master of your senses and mind. Identify your self with the spirit.

Struggle Struggle is the sign of life. Everything is conscious which rebels against nature: there, consciousness is manifested. Just try to kill a little ant, even it will once resist to save its life. Where there is struggle, where there is rebellion, there is the sign of life, there consciousness is manifested.

Do Good Serve without any selfish motive. Never expect any material return. Your own inner development is the benefit. Work is worship. Serving the underprivileged is the way to please God. Not out of pity, but out of gratitude.

Real Worship 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. He who has served and helped one poor man seeing Shiva in him, without thinking of his caste, or creed, or race, or anything, with him Shiva is more pleased than with the man who sees Him only in temples.

Be a King Give, give, give. Don’t be a beggar. Be a king. Expectation is slavery. Selfishness is sin. Expansion is life. Contraction is death. Love is life, and hatred is death. Have no place for jealousy. Celebrate and appreciate success of others.

You are Divine. Manifest it.

Arise !! Awake !!! Let every man and woman and child, without respect of caste or birth, weakness or strength, hear and learn that behind the strong and the weak, behind the high and the low, behind every one, there is that Infinite Soul, assuring the infinite possibility and the infinite capacity of all to become great and good.

Arise !! Awake !!! Let us proclaim to every soul: uttishthata jagrata prapyavaran nibodhata Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached. Arise, awake! Awake from this hypnotism of weakness. None is really weak; the soul is infinite, omnipotent, and omniscient. Stand up, assert yourself, proclaim the God within you, do not deny Him!

Arise !! Awake !!! Teach yourselves, teach every one his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.

You are Divine. Manifest it.