This booklet comprises the text of the speeches delivered by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, on Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, on two different occasions. Since the dawn of these two spiritual luminaries on the horizon of modern India, they have evoked a deep interest in the subject of religion and spirituality among a wide circle of people so as to include intellectuals, philosophers, scientists, politicians, statesmen and others, to mention just a few. In this light, it would be extremely interesting for all the admirers and devotees of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda to know what the well-known statesman of India had to say on them.
The important thing is how much less you think of the body, of yourself as matter -- as dead, dull, insentient matter; how much more you think of yourself as shining immortal being. The more you think of yourself as spirit, the more eager you will be to be absolutely free from matter, body and senses. This is the intense desire to be free.
-Swami Vivekananda