In Bhagavad Gita, chapter 6, verse 5, we find Shri Krishna suggested Arjuna—
Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet
Atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanahSo Shri Krishna suggestion was “save oneself by his won help”. We have already discussedthat Swami Vivekananda was an admirer of Bhagavad Gita and the book was his lifelong companion. In a lecture delivered at Los Angeles, California on 5 January 1900, Swami Vivekananda mentioned this verse, “Help thyself out by thyself. None else can help thee, friend. For thou alone art thy greatest enemy, thou alone art thy greatest friend.”.[Source]
Now, in this article is on Swami Vivekananda‘s quotes and comments on help.
On getting help
- All search is vain, until we begin to perceive that knowledge is within ourselves, that no one can help us, that we must help ourselves.[Source]
- All the help that has come was from within yourselves.[Source]
- Help does not come from without; it comes from within ourselves. Cry to all the gods in the universe. I cried for years, and in the end I found that I was helped. But help came from within.[Source]
- Help thyself out by thyself. None else can help thee, friend. For thou alone art thy greatest enemy, thou alone art thy greatest friend.[Source]
- In considering the question of helping others, we must always strive not to commit the mistake of thinking that physical help is the only help that can be given. It is not only the last but the least, because it cannot bring about permanent satisfaction. The misery that I feel when I am hungry is satisfied by eating, but hunger returns; my misery can cease only when I am satisfied beyond all want. Then hunger will not make me miserable; no distress, no sorrow will be able to move me. So, that help which tends to make us strong spiritually is the highest, next to it comes intellectual help, and after that physical help.[Source]
- Learn to help without pitying or feeling that there is any misery.[Source]
- Never help came from anywhere but from yourself. In your ignorance, every prayer that you made and that was answered, you thought was answered by some Being, but you answered the prayer yourself unknowingly. The help came from yourself, and you fondly imagined that some one was sending help to you. There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the universe.[Source]
- The Vedas cannot show you Brahman, you are That already; they can only help to take away the veil that hides the truth from our eyes.[Source]
- We are our own help. If we cannot help ourselves, there is none to help us.[Source]
- What did Buddha say with his dying breath? “None can help you; help yourself; work out your own salvation.”[Source]
- Work out your own salvation,” he says with the dying Buddha; “I cannot help you. No man can help you. Help yourself.[Source]
On helping others
- Be grateful to the man you help, think of him as God. Is it not a great privilege to be allowed to worship God by helping our fellow men?[Source]
- Do good by helping others without ulterior motives.[Source]
- Do not stand on a high pedestal and take five cents in your hand and say, “Here, my poor man,” but be grateful that the poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver. Be thankful that you are allowed to exercise your power of benevolence and mercy in the world, and thus become pure and perfect.[Source]
- “Help and not Fight,” “Assimilation and not Destruction,” “Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.”[Source]
- Help another because you are in him and he is in you.[Source]
- Help, if you can; but do not destroy.[Source]
- Help, if you can; if you cannot, fold your hands and stand by and see things go on. Do not injure, if you cannot render help.[Source]
- Helping others physically, by removing their physical needs, is indeed great, but the help is great according as the need is greater and according as the help is far reaching. If a man’s wants can be removed for an hour, it is helping him indeed; if his wants can be removed for a year, it will be more help to him; but if his wants can be removed for ever, it is surely the greatest help that can be given him.[Source]
- Helping others is only helping ourselves.[Source]
- If you want to help others, your little self must go.[Source]
- Let us rather purify ourselves, and the result must be that in so doing we shall help others.[Source]
- Never talk about the faults of others, no matter how bad they may be. Nothing is ever gained by that. You never help one by talking about his fault; you do him an injury, and injure yourself as well.[Source]
- Our duty to others means helping others; doing good to the world. Why should we do good to the world? Apparently to help the world, but really to help ourselves.[Source]
- Take part in them to help others, but take care they do not become a bondage.[Source]
- The heart, many around us may have, and we also want to help others. But we do not have the brain; we do not know the ways and means by which help can be given.[Source]
- The Jnani seeks not to destroy, but to help all.[Source]
- This world is full of misery. Try to help this world.[Source]
- To advance oneself towards freedom — physical, mental, and spiritual — and help others to do so, is the supreme prize of man.[Source]
- We should always try to help the world, that should be the highest motive in us; but if we consider well, we find that the world does not require our help at all. This world was not made that you or I should come and help it. I once read a sermon in which it was said, “All this beautiful world is very good, because it gives us time and opportunity to help others.” Apparently, this is a very beautiful sentiment, but is it not a blasphemy to say that the world needs our help?[Source]
- What is needed in this Yuga is giving, helping others.[Source]
