DO NOT SEEK HELP FROM ANYONE - THIS IS THE LAST AND GREATEST LESSON

It is a tremendous error to feel helpless. Do not seek help from anyone. We are our own help. If we cannot help ourselves, there is none to help us. ... "Thou thyself art thy only friend, thou thyself thy only enemy. There is no other enemy but this self of mine, no other friend but myself."[22] This is the last and greatest lesson, and Oh, what a time it takes to learn it! We seem to get hold of it, and the next moment the old wave comes. The backbone breaks. We weaken and again grasp for that superstition and help. Just think of that huge mass of misery, and all caused by this false idea of going to seek for help!

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, on May 29, 1900)
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita III

FACE THE TRUTH AS IT IS! WE ARE DETERMINED TO DIE GAME - THAT IS ALL THE RELIGION I KNOW - GO ON!

All weakness, all bondage is imagination. Speak one word to it, it must vanish. Do not weaken! There is no other way out.... Stand up and be strong! No fear. No superstition. Face the truth as it is! If death comes — that is the worst of our miseries — let it come! We are determined to die game. That is all the religion I know. I have not attained to it, but I am struggling to do it. I may not, but you may. Go on!

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, on May 29, 1900)The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita III

WHAT MAKES THE VALUE OF ANYTHING IN LIFE ? NOT ENJOYMENT, NOT POSSESSIONS

What makes the value of anything in life? Not enjoyment, not possessions. Analyse everything. You will find there is no value except in experience, to teach us something. And in many cases it is our hardships that give us better experience than enjoyment. Many times blows give us better experience than the caresses of nature.... Even famine has its place and value....

- Swami Vivekananda
The Gita III (Delivered in San Francisco, on May 29, 1900)
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita III

RELIGION IS A [ MATTER OF ] GROWTH, NOT A MASS OF FOOLISH WORDS

Again, we must consider, religion is a [matter of] growth, not a mass of foolish words. Two thousand years ago a man saw God. Moses saw God in a burning bush. Does what Moses did when he saw God save you? No man's seeing God can help you the least bit except that it may excite you and urge you to do the same thing. That is the whole value of the ancients' examples. Nothing more. [Just] signposts on the way. No man's eating can satisfy another man. No man's seeing God can save another man. You have to see God yourself. All these people fighting about what God's nature is — whether He has three heads in one body or five heads in six bodies. Have you seen God? No. ... And they do not believe they can ever see Him. What fools we mortals be! Sure, lunatics!

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, on May 29, 1900)The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita III

HAVE YOU REALISED THAT YOU ARE SPIRIT ?

Have you realised that you are spirit? When you say, "I do," what is meant by that — this lump of flesh called the body or the spirit, the infinite, ever blessed, effulgent, immortal? You may be the greatest philosopher, but as long as you have the idea that you are the body, you are no better than the little worm crawling under your foot! No excuse for you! So much the worse for you that you know all the philosophies and at the same time think you are the body! Body-gods, that is what you are! Is that religion?

- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in San Francisco, on May 29, 1900) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita III