Swami Vivekananda's Quotes On Sita

Sita (Devanagari: सीता), or Seetha is the central female character of the Indian Hindu epic Ramayana. In this article you'll find Swami Vivekananda's quotes and comments on the character Sita.

Swami Vivekananda on Sita

I know that the race that produced Sita— 
even if it only dreamt of her— 
has a reverence for woman that is unmatched on earth.

—Swami Vivekananda

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Swami Vivekananda told—

• A Bhakta should be like Sita before Rama. He might be thrown into all kinds of difficulties. Sita did not mind her sufferings; she centered herself in Rama.^[Source]
• I know that the race that produced Sita— even if it only dreamt of her— has a reverence for woman that is unmatched on earth.
• If a priest has to bless a woman he says, "Be Sita!" If he blesses a child, he says "Be Sita!" They are all children of Sita, and are struggling to be Sita, the patient, the all-suffering, the ever-faithful, the ever-pure wife. Through all this suffering she experiences, there is not one harsh word against Rama. She takes it as her own duty, and performs her own part in it. Think of the terrible injustice of her being exiled to the forest! But Sita knows no bitterness. That is, again, the Indian ideal. Says the ancient Buddha, "When a man hurts you, and you turn back to hurt him, that would not cure the first injury; it would only create in the world one more wickedness." Sita was a true Indian by nature.^[Source]
• Rama and Sita are the ideals of the Indian nation. All children, especially girls, worship Sita. The height of a woman's ambition is to be like Sita, the pure, the devoted, the all-suffering! When you study these characters, you can at once find out how different is the ideal in India from that of the West. For the race, Sita stands as the ideal of suffering. The West says, "Do! Show your power by doing." India says, "Show your power by suffering." The West has solved the problem of how much a man can have: India has solved the problem of how little a man can have.^[Source]
• Sita is the name  in India for everything that is good, pure, and holy; everything that in woman we call woman. Sita— the patient, all suffering, ever-faithful, ever-pure wife! Through all the suffering she had, there was not one harsh word against Rama. Sita never returned injury. Be Sita.^[Source]



Sita is typical of India— the idealized India. 
The question is not whether she ever lived, 
whether the story is history or not, 
we know that the ideal is there.


—Swami Vivekananda

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

• Sita is typical of India— the idealized India. The question is not whether she ever lived, whether the story is history or not, we know that the ideal is there.^[Source]
• Sita is unique; the character was depicted once and for all. There may have been several Ramas, perhaps, but never more than one Sita.
• Sita — to say that she was pure is a blasphemy. She was purity itself embodied -- the most beautiful character that ever lived on earth.^[Source]
• Sita was chastity itself; she would never touch the body of another man except that of her husband. "Pure? She is chastity itself", says Rama.^[Source]
• What to speak of Sita? You may exhaust the literature of the world that is past, and I may assure that you will have to exhaust the literature of the world of the future, before finding another Sita.^[Source]

See also

1. Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Rama
2. Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Krishna

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This page was last updated on: 21 May 2014, 9:13 pm IST (UTC+5:30 hours)
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