— Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works
About this quote
हिन्दी में
शक्ति ही जीवन है, निर्बलता ही मृत्यु।
What it means
This is not encouragement, it is a criterion. Four words set up as an equation running both ways: whatever enlarges your capacity counts as life, whatever shrinks it counts as death. In that framing fear, self-abasement and the habit of calling yourself small are not misfortunes to be pitied but the thing to be removed.
The popular reading turns it into muscle and hustle. The strength in question is nearer to the ability to stand without needing to be consoled. And a line this absolute is easy to turn against the sick, the poor and the frightened, which inverts its purpose — it is a test to apply to doctrines and to your own self-talk, not a verdict to pass on somebody else.
What it teaches you
Use it on your inputs. After a sermon, a self-help reel, a motivational seminar or a long family conversation, ask one question: did I leave more able to act, or more dependent on being reassured? Anything that works by first making you feel small and then selling you the cure fails this test, however soothing it felt at the time.
अर्थ और सीख
यह उत्साह बढ़ाने वाली बात नहीं, एक कसौटी है — जो आपकी सामर्थ्य बढ़ाए वह जीवन, जो घटाए वह मृत्यु। यहाँ ‘शक्ति’ का अर्थ शरीर का बल नहीं, बल्कि बिना दिलासे के खड़े रह पाने की क्षमता है। इसे दूसरों को कमज़ोर ठहराने के लिए नहीं, अपने ऊपर पड़ने वाले उपदेशों और अपनी आत्म-चर्चा को जाँचने के लिए इस्तेमाल कीजिए।
Where it comes from
Genuine Vivekananda — one of his signature refrains, appearing in the Complete Works. ‘Strength, strength it is that we want so much in this life,’ he told his audiences; he judged every doctrine by whether it made people stronger.
