Swami Vivekananda's Quotes On Pravritti And Nivritti

Swami Vivekananda's Quotes On Pravritti And Nivritti:

Nivritti is turning aside from the world.
—Swami Vivekananda

Pravritti (Devanagari: प्रवृत्ति) and Nivritti {Devanagari: निवृत्ति) are two Sanskrit words and Hindu concepts.There are two impulses in every mind, one says— "go outside", and the another suggests not to go. The first one is "Pravritti" and the second one is "Nivritti.

 Vivekananda Quotes On Pravritti And Nivritti

From Karma Yoga, Chapter: Non-attachment is the complete self-abnegation—

• Here are two Sanskrit words. The one is Pravritti, which means revolving towards, and the other is Nivritti, which means revolving away. The "revolving towards" is what we call the world, the "I and mine”; it includes all those things which are always enriching that "me" by wealth and money and power, and name and fame, and which are of a grasping nature, always tending to accumulate everything in one centre, that centre being "myself". That is the Pravritti, the natural tendency of every human being; taking everything from everywhere and heaping it around one centre, that centre being man's own sweet self. When this tendency begins to break, when it is Nivritti or "going away from," then begin morality and religion. Both Pravritti and Nivritti are of the nature of work: the former is evil work, and the latter is good work. This Nivritti is the fundamental basis of all morality and all religion, and the very perfection of it is entire self-abnegation, readiness to sacrifice mind and body and everything for another being. When a man has reached that state, he has attained to the perfection of Karma-Yoga. This is the highest result of good works.

From Jnana Yoga, Chapter: Maya and Evolution—

• There is one impulse in our minds which says, do. Behind it rises another voice which says, do not. There is one set of ideas in our mind which is always struggling to get outside through the channels of the senses, and behind that, although it may be thin and weak, there is an infinitely small voice which says, do not go outside. The two beautiful Sanskrit words for these phenomena are Pravritti and Nivritti, "circling forward" and "circling inward". It is the circling forward which usually governs our actions. Religion begins with this circling inward. Religion begins with this "do not". Spirituality begins with this "do not". When the "do not" is not there, religion has not begun. And this "do not" came, causing men's ideas to grow, despite the fighting gods which they had worshipped.