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Pure Heart Is The Best Mirror For Reflection Of Truth – Swami Vivekananda

A sage once told me, ‘To teach others, much intellect and learning are necessary, but not so for your own self illumination.’ Are you pure? If you are pure, you will reach God.

‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’


If you are not pure, and you know all the sciences in the world, that will not help you at all; you may be buried in all the books you read, but that will not be of much use. It is the heart that reaches the goal. Follow the heart. A pure heart sees beyond the intellect; it gets inspired; it knows things that reason can never know, and whenever there is conflict between the pure heart and the intellect, always side with the pure heart, even if you think what your heart is doing is unreasonable.

When it is desirous of doing good to others, your brain may tell you that it is not politic to do so, but follow your heart, and you will find that you make less mistakes than by following your intellect.

The pure heart is the best mirror for the reflection of truth, so all these disciplines are for the purification of the heart. And as soon as it is pure, all truths flash upon it in a minute; all truth in the universe will manifest in your heart if you are sufficiently pure.

From The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
(Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2016), 1.403-04.