Curriculum

In his own words:

<blockquote>When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state.</blockquote>

<blockquote>In one word, this ideal is that you are divine.</blockquote>

<blockquote>All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.</blockquote>

<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

His advice for daily living:

<blockquote>It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin ? to say that you are weak, or others are weak.</blockquote>

<blockquote>We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being.</blockquote>

<blockquote>If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.</blockquote>

I don't know why, but this piece of advice really caught my interest:

<blockquote>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. </blockquote>

[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda Complete Works Online]

[http://thinkexist.com/quotes/swami_vivekananda/ Selected Quotes]

* Lived in the last half of the 1800's, a relatively short life, spent mostly in India.

* Born as Narendranath Dutta to an aristocratic Bengali family of Calcutta in 1863.

* Met his guru, Ramakrishna, when he was 18 and studied with him for 5 years until Ramakrishna's death.

* After the death of his guru, he became a wandering monk, touring the Indian subcontinent and getting first-hand knowledge of India's condition.

* Introduced Hinduism at the 1893 Parliament of World Religions, held at the Art Institute of Chicago. Vivekananda evidently made quite an impression there. His carriage and eloquence connected with the people and the press referred to him as the star of the parliament.

* From there he was invited to speak at universities and other forums throughout America and England. He toured America and Europe for three years before returning to India.

* He made a second trip to the west, in 1900, for a year-and-a-half, visiting England, America and France.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda Complete Bio on Wikipedia]

* Compared to other famous Hindus. Arrival date in America: 1893 - Vivekananda 1920 - Yogananda 1958 - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation 1965 - Prabubad, the Hare Krishna Movement

* Vivekananda was born in India at the time of the American Civil War.

* Vivekananda first spoke in America in 1893, the same year that Yogananda was born.

* India was firmly under control of the British throughout Vivekananda's life.

* Vivekananda was born six years before Gandhi, and lived only half as long. Vivekananda (1863–1902), Ghandi (1869-1948).