Swami Vivekananda's Quotes On Parrot-like Talking Or Repeating ~ Swami Vivekananda Quotes

We speak of many things parrot-like, but never do them;
speaking and not doing has become a habit with us.

—Swami Vivekananda

Parrot-like talking or repeating means saying or repeating something without understanding its meaning. Swami Vivekananda told—

Realisation is real religion, all the rest is only preparation — hearing lectures, or reading books, or reasoning is merely preparing the ground; it is not religion.

Unfortunately we see many people and preachers who keep on repeating suggestions without understanding their meaning. In this article topic is Swami Vivekananda's quotations on parrot-like talking or repeating.

As the loving wife thinks of her departed husband, with the same love we must desire the Lord, and then we will find God, and all books and the various sciences would not be able to teach us anything. By reading books we become parrots; no one becomes learned by reading books. If a man reads but one word of love, he indeed becomes learned. So we want first to get that desire.^[Source]
Man stands in materialism; you and I are materialists. Our talking about God and Spirit is good; but it is simply the vogue in our society to talk thus: we have learnt it parrot-like and repeat it. So we have to take ourselves where we are as materialists, and must take the help of matter and go on slowly until we become real spiritualists, and feel ourselves spirits, understand the spirit, and find that this world which we call the infinite is but a gross external form of that world which is behind.^[Source]
Not theory, mind you. Not reading books. . . . [Not parroting.] My old Master used to say, "It is all very good to teach the parrot to say, 'Lord, Lord, Lord' all the time; but let the cat come and take hold of its neck, it forgets all about it" [You may] pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the gods there are, [but] unless you realise the soul there is no freedom. Not talking, theorising, argumentation, but realisation. That I call practical religion.^[Source]
Religion is to be realised, not only heard; it is not in learning some doctrine like a parrot. Neither is it mere intellectual assent — that is nothing; but it must come into us.^[Source]
We speak of many things parrot-like, but never do them; speaking and not doing has become a habit with us.^[Source]

No one will listen, if you just utter like a parrot

From Complete Works, Volume: VII—

Disciple: But, sir, who will listen to us? Why should our countrymen accept them?

Swamiji: If you can truly convince them and practise what you preach, they must. If, on the contrary, like a coward you simply utter Shlokas as a parrot, be a mere talker and quote authority only, without showing them in action -- then who will care to listen to you?

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