Swami Vivekananda's illuminative ideas on religion are spread over nearly 4200 pages of his Complete Works. This book containing eight lectures is a compilation from the same and serves as a small introduction to his voluminous writings, talks, and lectures on the subject.
I have been asked many times, Why do you laugh so much and make so many jokes? I become serious sometimes--when I have a stomachache! The Lord is all blissfulness. He is the reality behind all that exists. He is the goodness, the truth in everything. You are His incarnations. That is what is glorious. The nearer you are to Him, the less you will have occasions to cry or weep. The further we are from Him, the more will long faces come. The more we know of Him, the more misery vanishes.
-Swami Vivekananda