“…But, my brother, our ideal of life is to hide, to suppress, and to deny. We are to give up and not to take….The Sannyasin must not have self-defence. “ Living in a room covered with black soot – however careful you may be – some spots must stick to your clothes.” So, however one may try to be good and holy, so long he is in the world, some part of his nature must gravitate downwards. The way to god is the opposite to that of the world. And to few, very few, are given to have God and mammon at the same time.”
(p.466-7., Letters of Swami Vivekananda, Swamiji’s letter dated May 1894 to Prof Wright.)
“The eternal, the infinite, the omnipresent, the omniscient is a principle, not a person. You, I , and everyone are but embodiments of that principle, and more of this infinite principle is embodied in a person, the greater is he, and all in the end will be the perfect embodiment of that and thus all will be one as they are now essentially. This is all there is of religion, and the practice is through this feeling of oneness that is love. All old fogy forms are mere old superstitions.”
(p.498-9, Letters of Swami Vivekananda, Swamiji’s letter dated May 1896 written to Mary Hale)