Vivekanada Thoughts

If the world is created for us, we are also created for the world. That this world is created for our enjoyment is the most wicked idea that holds us down. This world is not for our sake. Millions pass out of it every year; the world does not feel it; millions of others are supplied in their place. Just as much as the world is for us, so we also are for the world.

The whole body of supersensuous truths, having no beginning or end, and called by the name "Vedas," is ever-existent. The Creator himself is creating, preserving, and destroying the universe with the help of these truths. The person in whom this supersensuous power is manifested is called a Rishi, and the supersensuous truths which he or she realizes by this power are called the Vedas.

Happiness and misery are states, and states must always change. But the nature of the man is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have not to get it, we have it already. Only wash away the dross and see it. After every happiness comes misery. They may be far apart or near. The more advanced the soul, the more quickly does one follow the other. What we want is neither happiness nor misery. Both make us forget our true nature. Both are chains--one iron, one gold. Behind both is the man, who is affected by neither happiness nor misery.