Swami Vivekananda's Quotes On Samsara ~ Swami Vivekananda Quotes

. . . It is all misery, this Samsâra, don't you see!

—Swami Vivekananda

Samsara (Devanagari: संसार, Bengali: সংসার) is an important concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism. It means "relative existence". It has also been described as "endless cycle of birth, life and death".
In this article we'll make a collection of Swami Vivekananda's quotes and comments on Samsara.

By his light alone will man now cross the ocean of Samsâra!^[Source]
Every one has the power to judge of good end evil, but he is the hero who undaunted by the waves of Samsâra — which is full of errors, delusions, and miseries — with one hand wipes the tears, and with the other, unshaken, shows the path of deliverance.^[Source]
Hail, O Lord of Men! Victory unto You! I surrender myself to my Guru, the physician for the malady of Samsara (relative existence) who is, as it were, a wave rising in the ocean of Shakti (Power), who has shown various sports of Love Divine, and who is the weapon to destroy the demon of doubt.^[Source]
I say unto you, as Hindus, as descendants of the glorious Âryans, do not forget the great ideal of our religion, that great ideal of the Hindus, which is, to go beyond this Samsara — not only to renounce the world, but to give up heaven too; ay, not only to give up evil, but to give up good too; and thus to go beyond all, beyond this phenomenal existence, and ultimately realise the Sat-Chit-Ânanda Brahman — the Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, which is Brahman.^[Source]
In Vyashti (the finite) everything is moving; you are moving, the table is moving, motion everywhere; it is Samsâra, continuous motion; it is Jagat.^[Source]
. . . It is all misery, this Samsâra, don't you see!^[Source]
Life is called Samsara -- it is the result of the conflicting forces acting upon us.^[Source]
Of the world
Thou art embellisher. Self-luminous
Art Thou. O Ocean of feeling sublime,
And of Love Divine, O God-maddened One,
Devotees win Thy blessed feet and cross
Safely the swelling sea of Samsara.^[Source]
Samsâra is greater than salvation. That is the one idea, and the more you plunge into this Samsara the more your soul is covered with the workings of life, the better you are. They say, do you not see how we build houses, cleanse the streets, enjoy the senses? Ay, behind that they may hide rancour, misery, horror — behind every bit of that enjoyment.^[Source]
Samsâra (life) is the result of the contradictory forces acting upon us, like the diagonal motion of a ball in a parallelogram of forces.^[Source]
Shri Ramakrishna used to say that the Avataras alone can descend to the ordinary plane from that state of Samadhi, for the good of the world. Ordinary Jivas do not; immersed in that state, they remain alive for a period of twenty - one days; after that, their body drops like a sere leaf from the tree of Samsara (world).^[Source]
The going from birth to death, this travelling, is what is called Samsara in Sanskrit, the round of birth and death literally.^[Source]
The Samsâra is unreal, hollow, void of substance. Unless you give it up, you can never reach God, try however you may.^[Source]
The Vedantist says that so long as there are two, fear does not cease. It is only when one does not see another, does not feel another, when it is all one — then alone fear ceases, then alone death vanishes, then alone Samsara vanishes.^[Source]
The West knows the universe to be full of happiness, and as such, it is to them a place where they can enjoy the most; but the East is born with the conviction that this Samsara, this ever-changing existence, is full of misery, and as such, it is nothing, nothing but unreal, not worth bartering the soul for its ephemeral joys and possessions. For this very reason, the West is ever especially adroit in organised action, and so also the East is ever bold in search of the mysteries of the internal world.^[Source]
Until you get out of this wheel of Samsâra, until the slavery of desire is shaken off, you can't attain either Bhakti or Mukti.^[Source]

We salute Thee!
Lord! Adored of the world,
Samsâra's bondage breaker, taintless Thou,
Embodiment of blessed qualities,
Thou transcendest all Gunas; human form
Thus bearest.
Thee we salute and adore!^[Source]

খন্ডন-ভব-বন্ধন, জগ-বন্দন বন্দি তোমায় ।
নিরঞ্জন, নরব্রূপধর, নির্গুণ গুণময় ।।^[Source]