Every year, January 12 is celebrated as National Youth Day in India. It was this day in 1863 when one of India’s most revered philosophers and thinkers, Swami Vivekananda, was born in Kolkata. Swami Vivekananda, born as Narendranath Datta was a chief disciple of the Hindu spiritual guru, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa. He later founded the Ramakrishna Math as well as the Ramakrishna Ashram, both of which are headquartered at the Belur Math on the banks of the Hooghly River in Kolkata. Swami Vivekananda advocated for reforms in the Hindu religion. He also shaped the discourse on nationalism in India, inspiring the youth to participate in freedom movements as well as nation building in the post-independent India. Every year, since 1985, his birthdate is celebrated as National Youth Day. Here are top 10 quotes of the universally-admired religious and spiritual leader which can help steer your life towards enlightenment:
Swami Vivekananda: Top 10 quotes
1. Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being.
2. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
3. We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
4. You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
5. Relationships are more important than life, but it is important for those relationships to have life in them.
6. All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.
7. You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself
8. When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state.
9. That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.
10. Arise! Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached.
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