You all know that certain things are necessary to make a religion. First of all, there is the book. The power of the book is simply marvellous! Whatever it be, the book is the centre round which human allegiance gathers. Not one religion is living today but has a book. With all its rationalism and tall talk, humanity still clings to the books. In your country every attempt to start a religion without a book has failed. In India sects rise with great success, but within a few years they die down, because there is no book behind them. So in every other country.
Swami VivekanandaThose who are acquainted with the literature of India will remember a beautiful old story about this extreme charity, how a whole family, as related in the Mahรขbhรขrata, starved themselves to death and gave their last meal to a beggar. This is not an exaggeration, for such things still happen.
Swami Vivekananda