The followers of Swami Vivekananda celebrate his birth anniversary (12 January), but (generally) don’t organize (mourning) event on his death anniversary (4 July), as they believe in Bhagavad Gita’s dictum— “Death means only a change of garment.”[Source] Some followers and devotees of Ramakrishna do not use the word “death” or “died”, they say “samadhi” or “mahasamadhi“. British novelist Christopher Isherwood visited Belur Math and felt— “In the life of the Belur Math, Vivekananda still lives and is as much a participant in its daily activities as any of its monks.”[Source]
In this page we’ll make a collection of Swami Vivekananda‘s quotes on death. Note, this article will only include quotes and comments on death and notlife after death, rebirth, heaven and hell. You may click on “Contents” above to check other topics. Some directly related articles are listed at the bottom of this page.
- All objective pleasure in the long run must bring pain, because of the fact of change or death.[Source]
- Be true unto death.[Source]
- Birth is re-composition, death is de-composition.[Source]
- Death comes to all forms of bodies in this and other lives. Devas are also mortal and can only give enjoyment.[Source]
- Death is better than a vegetating ignorant life; it is better to die on the battle-field than to live a life of defeat.[Source]
- Death is but a change.[Source]
- Death is but a change of condition. We remain in the same universe, and are subject to the same laws as before. Those who have passed beyond and have attained high planes of development in beauty and wisdom are but the advance-guard of a universal army who are following after them.[Source]
- Death is simply a change.[Source]
- Death is stalking day and night over this earth of ours, but at the same time we think we shall live eternally. A question was once asked of King Yudhishthira, “What is the most wonderful thing on this earth?” And the king replied, “Every day people are dying around us, and yet men think they will never die.” And this is Maya.[Source]
- Death is the goal of all objects, change is the nature of all objective things.[Source]
- Death is the result of inaction.[Source]
- Death lies in the senses.[Source]
- Death means going back to the component parts, and that which was never a compound can never die. It is sheer nonsense to say It dies.[Source]
- Death overtakes everything which is complex.[Source]
- Do not tarry—the time of death is approaching day by day! Do not sit idle, thinking that everything will be done in time, later on! Mind—nothing will be done that way![Source]
- Every one of us comes into this world to fight, as on a battlefield. We come here weeping to fight our way, as well as we can, and to make a path for ourselves through this infinite ocean of life; forward we go, having long ages behind us and an immense expanse beyond. So on we go, till death comes and takes us off the field — victorious or defeated, we do not know.[Source]
- Even death is but a manifestation of that Real Existence. Birth and death, life and decay, degeneration and regeneration — are all manifestations of that Oneness.[Source]
- Fear is death.[Source]
- Great men have died. Weak men have died. Gods have died. Death — death everywhere. This world is a graveyard of the infinite past, yet we cling to this [body]: “I am never going to die”. Knowing for sure [that the body must die] and yet clinging to it. There is meaning in that too [because in a sense we do not die]. The mistake is that we cling to the body when it is the spirit that is really immortal.[Source]
- Have no weakness even in the face of death. Do not repent, do not brood over past deeds, and do not remember your good deeds; be âzâd (free).[Source]
- He alone lives whose life is in the whole universe, and the more we concentrate our lives on limited things, the faster we go towards death.[Source]
- How is it that the fear of death is everywhere? A little chicken is just out of an egg and an eagle comes, and the chicken flies in fear to its mother. There is an old explanation (I should hardly dignify it by such a name). It is called instinct. What makes that little chicken just out of the egg afraid to die? How is it that as soon as a duckling hatched by a hen comes near water, it jumps into it and swims? It never swam before, nor saw anything swim. People call it instinct.[Source]
- Hope is dominant in the heart of childhood. The whole world is a golden vision to the opening eyes of the child; he thinks his will is supreme. As he moves onward, at every step nature stands as an adamantine wall, barring his future progress. He may hurl himself against it again and again, striving to break through. The further he goes, the further recedes the ideal, till death comes, and there is release, perhaps.
- I care not even for nature’s laws. Death is a joke to me.[Source]
- I shall work incessantly until I die, and even after death I shall work for the good of the world.[Source]
- In this world where life and death are synonymous.[Source]
- It has neither birth nor death, but it is passing through all these various stages. It is manifesting slowly and gradually from lower to higher, and so on. It is expressing its own grandeur, working through the mind on the body; and through the body it is grasping the external world and understanding it. It takes up a body and uses it; and when that body has failed and is used up, it takes another body; and so on it goes.[Source]
- Let it ring day and night in your minds like a song, and at the point of death declare “I am He.” That is the Truth; the infinite strength of the world is yours.[Source]
- Life is another name for death, and death for life. One particular mode of manifestation is what we call life; another particular mode of manifestation of the same thing is what we call death. When the wave rises on the top it is life; and when it falls into the hollow it is death.[Source]
- Man says, “I live.” He knows not that it is [the fear of] death that makes him cling slavishly to life. He says “I enjoy.” He never dreams that nature has enslaved him.[Source]
- Men of childish intellect, ignorant persons, run after desires which are external, and enter the trap of far-reaching death, but the wise, understanding immortality, never seek for the Eternal in this life of finite things.[Source]
- Nature, body, and mind go to death, not we; we never go nor come. The man Swami Vivekananda is in nature, is born, and dies; but the self which we see as Swami Vivekananda is never born and never dies. It is the eternal and unchangeable Reality.[Source]
- “सन्निमित्तॆ वरं त्यागॊ विनाशॆ विनाशॆ नियतॆ सति—When death is so certain, it is better to die for a good cause.”[Source]
- Saints die and sinners die, kings die and beggars die. They are all going to death, and yet this tremendous clinging on to life exists. Somehow, we do not know why, we cling to life; we cannot give it up. And this is Maya.[Source]
- The fear of death can only be conquered when man realises that so long as there is one life in this universe, he is living. When he can say, “I am in everything, in everybody, I am in all lives, I am the universe,” then alone comes the state of fearlessness.[Source]
- The Hindu believes that every soul is a circle whose circumference is nowhere, but whose centre is located in the body, and that death means the change of this centre from body to body. Nor is the soul bound by the conditions of matter. In its very essence it is free, unbounded, holy, pure, and perfect. But somehow or other it finds itself tied down to matter, and thinks of itself as matter.[Source]
- The human soul is eternal and immortal, perfect and infinite, and death means only a change of centre from one body to another.[Source]
- The only sign of life is going outward and forward and expansion. Contraction is death.[Source]
- The Sannyasin is to love death.[Source]
- There is death, you know, inevitable death, in water, in air, in the palace, in the prison – death everywhere.[Source]
- Variation is the sign of life. Sameness is the sign of death.[Source]
- What is life but growth, i.e. expansion, i.e. love? Therefore all love is life, it is the only law of life; all selfishness is death, and this is true here or hereafter. It is life to do good, it is death not to do good to others.[Source]
- Why weepest thou, my friend? There is neither birth nor death for thee. Why weepest thou? There is no disease nor misery for thee, but thou art like the infinite sky; clouds of various colours come over it, play for a moment, then vanish. But the sky is ever the same eternal blue.[Source]
- Why will you die every minute of your life by constantly harping on death like a coward?. . . My boy, when death is inevitable, is it not better to die like heroes than as stocks and stones? And what is the use of living a day or two more in this transitory world? It is better to wear out than to rust out — specially for the sake of doing the least good to others.[Source]
- You die a dog’s; death, with the same feelings that the dog does. The dog howls and weeps because he knows that he is only matter and he is going to be dissolved.[Source]
See also
- Swami Vivekananda’s Death – 4 July 1902
- Swami Vivekananda’s quotes on Rebirth
- Swami Vivekananda’s quotes on God
