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Swami Vivekananda’s Birthday celebration Live (Online Only) streaming - Feb 7, 2021 at 11:00am

Life will be a desert, human life will be vain, if we cannot know the beyond. It is very well to say: Be contented with the things of the present. The cows an...d the dogs are, and so are all animals; and that is what makes them animals. So if man rests content with the present and gives up all search into the beyond, mankind will have to go back to the animal plane again. It is religion, the inquiry into the beyond, that makes the difference between man and an animal. Well has it been said that man is the only animal that naturally looks upwards; every other animal naturally looks down. That looking upward and going upward and seeking perfection are what is called Salvation. Swami Vivekananda (CW/V3/Lectures and Discourses/ Unity, the Goal of Religion) See more

Swami Vivekananda’s Birthday celebration-Belur Math

Birthday of Swami Subodhananda today Pre-monastic name:Subodh Chandra Ghosh Date of Birth: 8 November 1867 Place of Birth :Kolkata, West Bengal Born in an affluent family, Subodh was spiritually inclined from boyhood. While studying in class eight he heard about Sri Ramakrishna from his father who was a follower of Brahmo Samaj. One day in 1884 Subodh walked all the way to Dakshineswar in the company of a friend. Sri Ramakrishna received them with great love. After that S...ubodh went to the Master several times. Owing to the opposition of his parents, he could not stay with Sri Ramakrishna or serve him during his last illness. But the Master understood his difficulty and made him his own through his boundless love. He joined the Baranagar Math and was ordained a sannyasin bearing the name Subodhananda. Since he was only nineteen and the youngest of the group, he was endearingly called ‘Khoka’ (which means ‘child’) by Swamiji and other monastic brothers. He spent several years travelling in different parts of India performing tapasya. After Swami Vivekananda’s return from the West when Belur Math monastery was established, he felt himself quite at home there. He visited East Bengal (now Bangladesh) twice and inspired many people with his talks and loving conduct. All through his life he combined in himself the simplicity of a child and the wisdom of an illumined soul. He passed away in Belur Math on 2 December 1932. See more

There may be differences as to the relation between the soul and God. According to one sect, the soul may be eternally different from God, according to another it may be a spark of that infinite fire, yet again according to others it may be one with that Infinite. It does not matter what our interpretation is, so long as we hold on to the one basic belief that the soul is infinite, that this soul was never created, and therefore will never die, that it had to pass and evolve into various bodies, till it attained perfection in the human one in that we are all agreed. Swami Vivekananda (CW/V3/Lectures from Colombo to Almora/The Common Bases of Hinduism)

Dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to carry that out in your life. It is very hard to come to Jnana. It is for the bravest and most daring, who dare to smash all idols, not only intellectual, but in the senses. Swami Vivekananda (CW/V3/Lectures and Discourses/The Free Soul)

Eating, sleeping, fear, copulation these are the common characteristics of man and beast. We differ from the beasts in that we can discriminate between right and wrong. If one lives on a low plane of consciousness, one finds pleasure in the senses. With spiritual growth, one experiences happiness in subtler things. Then the person no longer finds enjoyment in the gross. Most people live the lives of beasts drinking, hunting, running after a mate. If one cannot rise to a higher plane of consciousness, human birth is wasted. -Swami Turiyananda (Conversations With Swami Turiyananda, recorded by Swami Raghavananda and translated by Swami Prabhavananda, July 2, 1915)

Sri Sri Jagaddhatri Puja at Ramakrishna Mission, Saradapitha, Belur Math, on 23 November 2020.

After telling me about Sadhu Amulya, Swamiji asked me: "What is that you want to know from me? You may put any question you like". I said: "I have seen your lectures on Maya. It has appealed to me. But I have not understood it. Please let me know, what is Maya". For a while he was silent. Then he said: "If you have anything else to know, you can ask me". I said: "Sir, I have nothing more to ask. If a knower of Brahman, like you, cannot enlighten me, then it will remain a cl...Continue reading

Should one think of the Chosen Ideal at the time of meditation only and then forget Him at other times? You should always keep a part of the mind attached to Him. You must surely have noticed that a sacrificial lamp has to be lighted at the time of the worship of Durga. That light should always be kept burning near the deity, it should not be allowed to go out. If it does, it augurs ill for the householder. Even so, after the Chosen Ideal is brought and seated on the lotus ...of the heart, the sacrificial lamp of meditation on Him should always be kept burning. While one is engaged in worldly duties, one should watch at intervals whether that lamp is burning within or not. Ah, in those days before beginning to meditate on the Chosen Ideal, I imagined that I was thoroughly flushing out the inside of the mind! You see, there exist various kinds of dirt and dust (bad thoughts and desires) within the mind. I imagined that I was washing them off and was then making the Chosen Ideal sit there. Do just like that. - Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna (Swami Saradananda Sri Ramakrishna The Great Master, Part III, Ch. 2, 51-52)