Swami Vivekananda Quotes About Animals

• Manushya (man) is a being with Manas (mind); and as soon as his thinking power goes, he becomes no better than an animal.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Animal, Men, Thinking

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.1263, Manonmani Publishers

• In every man and in every animal, however weak or wicked, great or small, resides the same omnipresent, omniscient soul. The difference is not in the soul, but in the manifestation. Between me and the smallest animal, the difference is only in manifestation, but as a principle he is the same as I am, he is my brother, he has the same soul as I have. This is the greatest principle that India has preached.

  Swami Vivekananda

  God, Brother, Animal

  "Prabuddha Bharata: Or Awakened India".

• A man, and a cat, and a dog, are all animals. These particular examples, as man, or dog, or cat, are parts of a bigger and more general concept, animal. The man, and the cat, and the dog, and the plant, and the tree, all come under the still more general concept, life. Again, all these, all beings and all materials, come under the one concept of existence, for we all are in it.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Dog, Cat, Men

  Swami Vivekananda (1955). “Complete Works”

• I hear, Western people say, "The world was created for us." If tigers could write books, they would say, man was created for them and that man is a most sinful animal, because he does not allow him (the tiger) to catch him easily. The worm that crawls under your feet today is a God to be.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Book, Writing, Animal

  Swami Vivekananda (1964). “Complete Works”

• The great lesson is, that unity is behind all. Call it God, Love, Spirit. Allah, Jehovah - it is the same unity that animates all life from the lowest animal to the noblest man.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Animal, Men, Diversity

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.2154, Manonmani Publishers

• Buddha taught kindness towards lower beings; and since then there has not been a sect in India that has not taught charity to all beings, even to animals. This kindness, this mercy, this charity - greater than any doctrine - are what Buddhism left to us.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Kindness, Buddhism, Animal

  Swami Vivekananda, Swami Adiswarananda (2006). “Vivekananda, World Teacher: His Teachings on the Spiritual Unity of Humankind”, p.146, SkyLight Paths Publishing

• Even the minds of animals, such as dogs, lions, cats, and serpents, become charmed with music.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Dog, Cat, Animal

  Swami Vivekananda (2016). “Addresses on Bhakti Yoga: Art of living”, p.8, editionNEXT.com

• From Him are all name and form; all the animals and men are from Him. He is the one Supreme. He who knows Him becomes free.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Animal, Men, Names

• The guiding motive of mankind should be charity towards men, charity towards all animals.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Animal, Men, Charity

  Swami Vivekananda, Swami Adiswarananda (2006). “Vivekananda, World Teacher: His Teachings on the Spiritual Unity of Humankind”, p.85, SkyLight Paths Publishing

• Meditative state is the highest state of existence. So long as there is desire, no real happiness can come. It is only the contemplative, witness-like study of objects that brings to us real enjoyment and happiness. The animal has its happiness in the senses, the man in his intellect, and the god in spiritual contemplation. It is only to the soul that has attained to this contemplative state that the world really becomes beautiful. To him who desires nothing, and does not mix himself up with them, the manifold changes of nature are one panorama of beauty and sublimity.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Beautiful, Spiritual, Real

  Swami Vivekananda (2016). “Raja Yoga: Conquering the Internal Nature”, p.53, Advaita Ashrama

• Non-injuring has to be attained by him who would be free. No one is more powerful than he who has attained perfect non-injuring. No one could fight, no one could quarrel, in his presence. Yes, his very presence, and nothing else, means peace, means love wherever he may be. Nobody could be angry or fight in his presence. Even the animals, ferocious animals, would be peaceful before him.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Powerful, Mean, Fighting

  Swami Vivekananda (2016). “Vivekananda Reader”, p.193, Advaita Ashrama (A publication branch of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math)

• . . . it is difficult for Europeans to appreciate the sentiment. Other nations kill animals by wholesale and kill one another; they exist in a sea of blood. A European said that the reason why in India animals were not killed was because it was supposed that they contained the spirits of ancestors. This reason was worthy of a savage nation who are not many steps from the brute.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Animal, Blood, Sea

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.3670, Manonmani Publishers

• Men may have given millions of dollars and fed rats and cats, as some do in India. They say that men can take care of themselves, but the poor animals cannot. . .

  Swami Vivekananda

  Cat, Animal, Men

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.467, Manonmani Publishers

• The animal man lives in the senses. If he does not get enough to eat, he is miserable; or if something happens to his body, he is miserable. In the senses both his misery and his happiness begin and end.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Animal, Men, Doe

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “Jnana Yoga: The Yoga of Knowledge”, p.38, Advaita Ashrama

• Ordinary love is mere animal attraction. Otherwise why is the distinction between the sexes? If one kneels before an image, it is dreadful idolatry; but if one kneels before husband or wife, it is quite permissible!

  Swami Vivekananda

  Sex, Husband, Animal

  Swami Vivekananda (2016). “Addresses on Bhakti Yoga: Art of living”, p.13, editionNEXT.com

• The glory of man is that he is a thinking being. It is the nature of man to think and therein he differs from animals

  Swami Vivekananda

  Animal, Men, Thinking

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “Practical Vedanta Philosophy”, p.32, editionNEXT.com

• Well has it been said that man is the only animal that naturally looks upwards; every other animal naturally looks down.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Animal, Men, Looks

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.938, Manonmani Publishers

• Is enjoyment the goal of life? Were it so, it would be a tremendous mistake to become a man at all. What man can enjoy a meal with more gusto than the dog or the cat ? Go to a menagerie and see the [wild animals] tearing the flesh from the bone. Go back and become a bird! . . . What a mistake then to become a man! Vain have been my years - hundreds of years - of struggle only to become the man of sense-enjoyments.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Dog, Mistake, Struggle

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.1642, Manonmani Publishers

• We must not forget that health is only a means to an end. If health were the end, we would be like animals; animals rarely become unhealthy.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Health, Mean, Animal

  Swami Vivekananda (2016). “Raja Yoga: Conquering the Internal Nature”, p.18, Advaita Ashrama

• Those who die, merely suffering the woes of life like cats and dogs, are they human beings? The worthy are those who, even when agitated by the sharp interaction of pleasure and pain, are discriminating and, knowing them to be of an evanescent nature, become passionately devoted to the Atman. This is all the difference between human beings and animals.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Dog, Pain, Cat

• Put God behind everything-human beings, animals, food, and work. Make this a habit.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Animal, Habit, Behinds

• Well has it been said that man is the only animal that naturally looks upwards; every other animal naturally looks down. That looking upward and going upward and seeking perfection are what is called salvation; and the sooner a man begins to go higher, the sooner he raises himself towards this idea of truth as salvation.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Men, Animal, Ideas

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.938, Manonmani Publishers

• The animal has its happiness in the senses, the human beings in their intellect, and the gods in spiritual contemplation. It is only to the soul that has attained to this contemplative state that the world really becomes beautiful.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Beautiful, Spiritual, Animal

  Swami Vivekananda (1959). “Raja Yoga”, p.42, Jazzybee Verlag

You May Also Like:

Ramakrishna

Mahatma Gandhi

Rabindranath Tagore

Subhas Chandra Bose

Abdul Kalam

Sarada Devi

Sri Aurobindo