My countrymen should have nerves of steel, muscles of iron, and minds like thunderbolt.
Swami VivekanandaTremendous purity, tremendous renunciation, is the one secret of spirituality. โNeither through wealth, nor through progeny, but through renunciation alone is immortality to be reached,โ say the Vedas. โSell all that thou hast and give to poor, and follow me,โ says the Christ. So all great saints and prophets have expressed it, and have carried it out in their lives. How can great spirituality come without renunciation?
Swami VivekanandaWe say that if a temple, or a symbol, or an image helps you to realize the Divine within, you are welcome to it. Have two hundred images if you like. If certain forms and formulas help you to realize the Divine, God speed you; have, by all means, whatever forms, temples, whatever ceremonies you want to bring you nearer to God. But do not quarrel about them; the moment you quarrel, you are not going Godward, you are going backward towards the brutes.
Swami Vivekananda