It may not be out of place to mention that in a speech made in 1993, Federico
Mayor, Director-General of UNESCO, stated:
I am indeed struck by the similarity of the constitution of the Ramakrishna Mission which
Vivekananda established as early as 1897 with that of UNESCO drawn up in 1945. Both
place the human being at the centre of their efforts aimed at development. Both place
tolerance at the top of the agenda for building peace and democracy. Both recognize the
variety of human cultures and societies as an essential aspect of the common heritage




Tell me what you have done. Couldn’t you give away one life for the sake of others? [. . .]
Let this body go in the service of others – and then I shall know you have not come to
me in vain! (Rolland, 1992, p. 166).
Vivekananda


The Light Divine within is obscured in most people. It is like a lamp in a cask of
iron, no gleam of light can shine through. Gradually, by purity and unselfishness,
we can make the obscuring medium less and less dense, until at last it becomes transparent
as glass (CW, vol. VII, p. 21).
Vivekananda






The education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves
for the struggle for life, which does not bring out strength of character, a spirit of
philanthropy, and the courage of a lion – is it worth the name? Real education is
that which enables one to stand on one’s own legs (CW, vol. VII, pp. 147–148).

Vivekananda







Vivekananda also observed that, if education is to serve the entire human being,
in all his/her dimensions, the pursuit of knowledge will be a lifelong process. Even
an illustrious being like Sri Ramakrishna said, from his own experience, ‘As long as I
live, so long do I learn.’


To me the very essence of education is concentration of mind, not the collecting of
facts’ (CW, vol. VI, p. 38).




It is culture that withstands shocks, not a simple mass of knowledge. [. . .] Knowledge
is only skin-deep, as civilisation is, and a little scratch brings out the old savage (CW,
vol. III, p. 291).





Intellect has been cultured with the result that hundreds of sciences have been discovered,
and their effect has been that the few have made slaves of the many – that is all the good
that has been done. Artificial wants have been created; and every poor man, whether he
has money or not, desires to have those wants satisfied, and when he cannot, he struggles,
and dies in the struggle (CW, vol. I, p. 414).