The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.
Swami VivekanandaIn Shankaracharya we saw tremendous intellectual power, throwing the scorching light of reason upon everything.
Swami VivekanandaMeditative state is the highest state of existence. So long as there is desire, no real happiness can come. It is only the contemplative, witness-like study of objects that brings to us real enjoyment and happiness. The animal has its happiness in the senses, the man in his intellect, and the god in spiritual contemplation. It is only to the soul that has attained to this contemplative state that the world really becomes beautiful. To him who desires nothing, and does not mix himself up with them, the manifold changes of nature are one panorama of beauty and sublimity.
Swami VivekanandaOne may gain political and social independence, but if one is a slave to his passions and desires, one cannot feel the pure joy of real freedom
Swami Vivekananda