Swami Vivekananda's Quotes On Nirvana ~ Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Die in obeying commands like a soldier,
and go to Nirvana, but no cowardice.

—Swami Vivekananda

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

In this article you'll find Swami Vivekananda's quotations on Nirvana.

Buddha was the great preacher of equality. Every man and woman has the same right to attain spirituality -- that was his teaching. The difference between the priests and the other castes he abolished. Even the lowest were entitled to the highest attainments; he opened the door of Nirvana to one and all. His teaching was bold even for India. No amount of preaching can ever shock the Indian soul, but it was hard for India to swallow Buddha's doctrine. How much harder it must be for you!. . . He invited every one to enter into that state of freedom which he called Nirvana. All must attain to it one day; and that attainment is the complete fulfilment of man.^[Source]
Cast out all causation and realise the Atman. Only freedom can produce true morality. If there were only an endless chain of cause and effect, Nirvana could not be. It is extinction of the seeming self, bound by this chain. That is what constitutes freedom, to get beyond causality.^[Source]
Death of the body for ever is Nirvana. It is the negative side and says, "I am not this, nor this, nor this." Vedanta takes the further step and asserts the positive side — Mukti or freedom. "I am Existence absolute, Knowledge absolute, Bliss absolute, I am He", this is Vedanta, the cap-stone of the perfect arch.^[Source]
Die in obeying commands like a soldier, and go to Nirvana, but no cowardice.^[Source]
If you want to attain to freedom, work it out on the spiritual plane, and free you shall be and shall enter into Nirvana, the Eternal Bliss.^[Source]
In Nirvana you are when you are not. Buddha said, "You are best, you are real, when you are not" — when the little self is gone.^[Source]
Man is a succession of waves, and when one goes away it generates another, and the cessation of these wave-forms is what is called Nirvana.^[Source]
Nirvana is before me. I feel it at times — the same infinite ocean of peace, without a ripple, a breath.^[Source]
Only the Ceylonese accept Nirvana as annihilation.^[Source]
The awakening of the soul to its bondage and its effort to stand up and assert itself -- this is called life. Success in this struggle is called evolution. The eventual triumph, when all the slavery is blown away, is called salvation, Nirvana, freedom.^[Source]
The Buddhistic Nirvana must have the same degree of consciousness whatever the Buddhists may say. Our definition of Mukti is affirmative in its nature, while the Buddhistic Nirvana has a negative definition.^[Source]
The Jnani takes nothing for granted; he analyses by pure reason and force of will, until he reaches Nirvana which is the extinction of all relativity. No description or even conception of this state is possible.^[Source]
The Vedanta teaches that Nirvana can be attained here and now, that we do not have to wait for death to reach it. Nirvana is the realisation of the Self, and after having once, if only for an instant, known this, never again can one be deluded by the mirage of personality.^[Source]

Nirvanashatkam, Or Six Stanzas On Nirvana

Swami Vivekananda translated Adi Shankara's verse Nirvanashatkam or Atmashatkam into English—^[Source]

I am neither the mind, nor the intellect, nor the ego, nor the mind-stuff ;
I am neither the body, nor the changes of the body ;
I am neither the senses of hearing, taste, smell, or sight,
Nor am I the ether, the earth, the fire, the air ;
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute—
I am He, I am He. (Shivoham, Shivoham).

I am neither the Prâna, nor the five vital airs ;
I am neither the materials of the body, nor the five sheaths ;
Neither am I the organs of action, nor object of the senses ;
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute—
I am He, I am He. (Shivoham, Shivoham).

I have neither aversion nor attachment, neither greed nor delusion;
Neither egotism nor envy, neither Dharma nor Moksha;
I am neither desire nor objects of desire ;
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute—
I am He, I am He. (Shivoham, Shivoham).

I am neither sin nor virtue, neither pleasure nor pain ;
Nor temple nor worship, nor pilgrimage nor scriptures,
Neither the act of enjoying, the enjoyable nor the enjoyer ;
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute—
I am He, I am He. (Shivoham, Shivoham).

I have neither death nor fear of death, nor caste ;
Nor was I ever born, nor had I parents, friends, and relations ;
I have neither Guru, nor disciple ;
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute—
I am He, I am He. (Shivoham, Shivoham).

I am untouched by the senses, I am neither Mukti nor knowable ;
I am without form, without limit, beyond space, beyond time ;
I am in everything ; I am the basis of the universe ; everywhere am I.
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute—
I am He, I am He. (Shivoham, Shivoham).