Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: All Volumes (PCS786)

by Vivekananda

Prana is not the breath; but that which causes the motion of the breath, that which is the vitality of the breath, is the Prana. Again, the word Prana is used for all the senses; they are all called Pranas, the mind is called Prana; and so we see that Prana is force.

And yet we cannot call it force, because force is only the manifestation of it.

if the mind becomes concentrated on the tip of the nose,

If it becomes concentrated at the root of the tongue, one begins to hear sounds; if on the tip of the tongue, one begins to taste wonderful flavours;

The first step, the preliminary step, is called Kriya-yoga. Literally this means work, working towards Yoga.

organs are the horses,

the mind is t...

the intellect is the c...

the soul is th...

and the body is the...

Do not answer any argument, but go away calmly, because arguments only disturb the mind.

ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion and clinging to life.

Ignorance is the cause of egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.

We think of man, and see man as body. This is the great delusion.

Egoism

and all that we now call instinct is the result of past experience,

So it was there; if not, there would not have been memory.

Thus every action, every thought, good or bad, just goes down and becomes fine, and is there stored up.

The physiological meaning of food is assimilation of energy from the sun. The energy has reached the plant, the plant is eaten by an animal, and the animal by man. The science of it is that we take so much energy from the sun, and make it part of ourselves.

Love, existence, and knowledge are not the qualities of the Purusha, but its essence.

The whole activity of nature is to make the soul know that it is entirely separate from nature.

When the soul knows this, nature has no more attractions for it. But the whole of nature vanishes only for that man who has become free. There will always remain an infinite number of others, for whom nature will go on working.

When we begin to practise the power of discrimination, the first sign that we are getting near truth will be that that dissatisfied state will vanish.

We shall feel quite sure that we have found the truth, and that it cannot be anything else but the truth.

we must persevere until the goal is reached.

The second grade will be the absence of all pains. It will be impossible for anything in the universe, external or internal, to give us pain.

The third will be the attainment of f...

neither body nor mind was ever related, much less joined, to us. They were working their own way, and we, through ignorance, joined ourselves to them.

We required none else to make us happy, for we are happiness itself.

Non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and nor-receiving are called Yamas.

non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, chastity, and non-receiving

With every gift, he is likely to receive the evils of the giver.

cheerfulness of the mind, concentration, conquest of the organs, and fitness for the realisation of the Self.

Tamas,

To the Yogi everything is bliss, every human face that he sees brings cheerfulness to him.

when he will die, at what hour, even at

that the thoughts at the moment of departure are great powers in determining the next life.

On the hollow of the throat, (comes) cessation of hunger. When a man is very hungry, if he can make Samyama on the hollow of the throat, hunger ceases.

Body is an unreal dream,

and we think we are all bodies.

The body and mind are compounds, and yet we are ever identifying ourselves with them