I claim no supernatural authority ....

My teaching is my own interpretation of our ancient books, in the light which my Master shed upon them. I claim no supernatural authority. Whatever in my teaching may appeal to the highest intelligence and be accepted by thinking people, the adoption of that will be my reward.

Interview, October 23, 1895. Complete Works, 5.186.

All religions have for their object the teaching either of devotion, knowledge, or yoga, in a concrete form. Now, the philosophy of Vedanta is the abstract science which embraces all these methods, this it is that I teach, leaving each one to apply it to their own concrete forms. I refer each individual to their own experiences, and where reference is made to books, the latter are procurable, and may be studied by anyone. Above all, I teach no authority proceeding from hidden beings speaking through visible agents, any more than I claim learning from hidden books or manuscripts. I am not an exponent of any occult society, nor do I believe that good can come of such bodies. Truth stands on its own authority, and truth can bear the light of day.

Interview, October 23, 1895. Complete Works, 5.186-87.

I had a deep interest in religion and philosophy from my childhood, and our books teach renunciation as the highest ideal to which we can aspire. It only needed the meeting with a great Teacher--Ramakrishna Paramahamsa--to kindle in me the final determination to follow the path he himself had trod, as in him I found my highest ideal realized.

Interview, October 23, 1895. Complete Works, 5: 186

Concentrating the powers of the mind is the only way to knowledge. In external science, concentrating the mind is--putting it on something external; and in the internal science, it is--drawing towards one's Self. This concentration of mind we call Yoga.

Conversation at Harvard, 1896. Complete Works, 5.299.

All morality can be divided into the positive and the negative elements. It says either "Do this" or "Do not do this." When it says, "Do not," it is evident that it is a check to a certain desires which would make us slaves. When it says, "Do," its scope is to show the way to freedom and to the breaking down of a certain degradation which has already seized the human heart.

Written in answer to a question put by a Western Disciple. Complete Works, 8.147.

Those who depend upon the world for enjoyment are the "bound" (tāmasika). Then there are the "egotistical" (rājasika), who always talk about "I," "I," "I." They do great work sometimes and may become spiritual. But the highest are the "introspective" (sāttvika), who live only in the Ātman.

Retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 25, 1895. Complete Works, 7.12.

When you give something to a man and expect nothing--do not even expect the man to be grateful--his ingratitude will not affect you, because you never expected anything, never thought you had any right to anything in the way of return. You gave him what he deserved. His own karma got it for him, your karma made you the carrier thereof. Why should you be proud of having given away something? You are the porter that carried the money or other kind of gift, and the world deserved it by its own karma. Where is then the reason for pride in you? There is nothing very great in what you give to the world.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 3, 1896. Complete Works, 1.90.