Swami Vivekananda on the human mind

July 16, 2026 Mike Zonta Leave a comment

Vivekananda in Chicago, September 1893. In note on the left Vivekananda wrote: “One infinite pure and holy – beyond thought beyond qualities I bow down to thee”.^[1]

“The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance.”

~ Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Wikipedia

Born January 12, 1863, Ramakrishna Mission Swami Vivekananda’s Ancestral House & Cultural Centre, Kolkata, India

Died July 4, 1902 (age 39 years), Belur Math, Howrah, India

Swami Vivekananda

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Quotes

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“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.”
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“Show up. Dive in. Keep at it.”
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“Give me some TRUTH!”
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“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.”
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“The Cosmic Intention is to evolve from a thing to a think.”
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“It is so respectful to not get involved in somebody else’s angst.”
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“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
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“Man will not be satisfied until he is everywhere equally present.”
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“Human consciousness is how the universe understands itself.”
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“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
— George Bernard Shaw

“. . . the only difference between you and God is that you have forgotten that you are divine.”
— Peter Solomon in The Lost Symbol

“Have an open-mind, but don’t let your brains fall out.”
— Jacob Needleman

“When thought races ahead of Being, a civilization is racing towards destruction.”
— Jacob Needleman in his new book What is God?

“A great man knows he is not God, and the greater he is the better he knows it.”
— G.K. Chesterton

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only at night.”
— Edgar Allan Poe

“Give thanks to unknown blessings already on their way.”
— Native American proverb at cafe in San Francisco

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
–e.e. cummings

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Bathtub Bulletin

Swami Vivekananda on the human mind

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Consciousness, spirituality, biography, sexuality, androgyny, futurism, space, the arts, science, astrology, democracy, humor, books, movies and more