Swami Vivekananda’s “stray dog” anecdote has a profoundly deep meaning

“As long as a stray dog of my country remains without food, my religion will be to feed and take care of him. All else is either non-religion or false religion.”

— Swami Vivekananda

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The above quote by Swami Vivekananda is very deep. It says that there is no point in carrying out religious activities if you can’t help those who are gravely in need of help and are struggling to survive. His example mentions a stray dog but it is applicable to anyone who has no means of survival. He says that even a stray dog shouldn’t be kept hungry. So, it obviously means the same for people from the human race as well.

There are crores of people out there who lack the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter. If you are not moved by their misery, all your religious talk is of no use. You will find plenty of powerful people around us who believe that merely by building new places of worship they are serving God. But the actual service towards God is to serve the needy.

Swami Vivekananda has said the same even through another quote of his that reads:

“This is the gist of all worship — to be pure and to do good to others. He who sees Shiva in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Shiva; and if he sees Shiva only in the image, his worship is but preliminary.”

Also read: How Swami Vivekananda attacked communalism, casteism, class division in one go