Swami Vivekananda: Quotes about God (page 2)

“Why are people so afraid? The answer is that they have made themselves helpless and dependent on others. We are so lazy, we do not want to do anything ourselves. We want a Personal God, a Savior or a Prophet to do everything for us.”

“Our first duty is not to hate ourselves, because to advance we must have faith in ourselves first and then in God. Those who have no faith in themselves can never have faith in God.”

“"I am the thread that runs through all these pearls," and each pearl is a religion or even a sect thereof. Such are the different pearls, and God is the thread that runs through all of them; most people, however, are entirely unconscious of it.”

“One who leans on others cannot serve the God of Truth.”

“There is one thing to be remembered: that the assertion — I am God — cannot be made with regard to the sense-world.”

“No authority can save us, no beliefs. If there is a God, all can find Him. No one needs to be told it is warm; all can discover it for themselves. So it should be with God. He should be a fact in the consciousness of every person.”

“All that is real in me is God; all that is real in God is I. The gulf between God and me is thus bridged. Thus by knowing God, we find that the kingdom of heaven is within us.”

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

“Stand as a rock; you are indestructible. You are the Self (atman), the God of the universe.”

“Thank God for giving you this world as a moral gymnasium to help your development, but never imagine you can help the world.”

“God is self-evident, impersonal, omniscient, the Knower and the Master of nature, the Lord of all. He is behind all worship and it is being done according to Him, whether we know it or not.”

“India is immortal if she persists in her search for God. But if she goes in for politics and social conflict, she will die.”

“As body, mind, or soul, you are a dream; you really are Being, Consciousness, Bliss (satchidananda). You are the God of this universe.”

“The Self when it appears behind the universe is called God. The same Self when it appears behind this little universe—the body—is the soul.”

“Look upon every man, woman, and everyone as God. You cannot help anyone, you can only serve: serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself, if you have the privilege.”

“Come out into the universe of Light. Everything in the universe is yours, stretch out your arms and embrace it with love. If you every felt you wanted to do that, you have felt God.”

“One of the chief distinctions between the Vedic and the Christian religion is that the Christian religion teaches that each human soul had its beginning at its birth into this world, whereas the Vedic religion asserts that the spirit of man is an emanation of the Eternal Being and has no more a beginning than God Himself.”

“What do you gain in heaven? You become gods, drink nectar, and get rheumatism. There is less misery there than on earth, but also less truth.”

“The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.”