Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)

“Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter is your servant, not you the servant of matter.”

“Freedom is the motive of the universe, freedom its goal. The laws of nature are the methods through which we are struggling to reach that freedom under the guidance of Mother. This universal struggle for freedom attains its highest expression in man in the conscious desire to be free.”

“Everything that we perceive around us is struggling towards freedom, from the atom to the man, from insentient, lifeless particle of matter to the highest existence on earth, the human soul. The whole universe is in fact the result of this struggle for freedom.”

“Ignorance is death, knowledge is life”

Excerpts from The Complete works of Swami Vivekananda-Addresses at The Parliament of Religions & Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

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