Swami Akhandananda took to heart the message of Swami Vivekananda that all souls are potentially divine and we must worship God by serving the needy. The book contains an absorbing account of the Swami?s adventurous wanderings in the holy Himalayas and pioneering relief work in famine-gripped villages. He set the pattern for all the relief and rehabilitation services rendered by the Ramakrishna Mission in later years.
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