Ramana Maharshi was a spiritual master who had a lot of wisdom to share. His quotes are insightful and inspiring, and can help you live a better life. Here are some of my favorite Ramana Maharshi quotes.
Ramana Maharshi was one of the most renowned sages of the 20th century. He was known for his deep wisdom and enlightenment, which he attained at a very young age. Ramana Maharshi spent most of his life teaching others about the path to enlightenment, and his teachings are still highly respected and followed today.
Ramana Maharshi was born in 1879 in India. He had a deep spiritual awakening at the age of sixteen. He taught about self-realization and the nature of the Self. He explained that the Self is the only reality and that everything else is an illusion.
He said that the goal of life is to realize the Self and that once this is accomplished, the individual is liberated from the cycle of birth and death. Ramana Maharshi was one of the most famous teachers of self-realization in India and his teachings continue to be popular today.
In Ramana Maharshi‘s teachings, the focus is on the direct experience of the Self, which is the ultimate reality. He provides a simple method to inquire into the nature of the self, which is to become aware of the ‘I-thought’ and then to inquire into its nature. This leads to the discovery of the true self, which is always present and unchanging.
Ramana Maharshi quotes are a great source of inspiration, and they can help us to live a better life.
55 Ramana Maharshi Quotes
- “Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.”
2. “No one succeeds without effort… Those who succeed owe their success to perseverance.”
3. “Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”
4. “Do what is right at a given moment and leave it behind”
5. “Action and knowledge are not obstacles to each other.”
6. “When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of silence.”
7. “Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent.”
8. “The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress.”
9. “Realisation is not acquisition of anything new nor is it a new faculty. It is only removal of all camouflage”
10. “If you go on working with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be seeking you.”
11. “What introverted mind calls peace, outside as power is shown; Those who have reached and found this truth, their unity have known.”
12. “A man may be sleeping here with his body inert, and yet he may be climbing hills and falling from them in dream at the same time.”
13. “The man who prays, the prayer, and the God to whom he prays all have reality only as manifestations of the Self.”
14. “The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from its restlessness; give it peace; make it free from distractions; train it to look inward; make this a habit. This is done by ignoring the external world and removing the obstacles to peace of mind.”
15. “Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.”
16. “If you hold this feeling of ‘I’ long enough and strongly enough, the false ‘I’ will vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent ‘I’, consciousness itself”
17. “Eventually, all that one has learnt will have to be forgotten.”
18. “The pure mind is itself Brahman; it therefore follows that Brahman is not other than the mind of the sage.”
19. “I do not consider anyone to be my disciple. I have never sought upadesh from anyone nor do I give ceremonial upadesh. If the people call themselves my disciples I do not approve or disapprove.”
20. “One who knows the secret of that LOVE finds the world full of Universal Love”
21. “The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divine and strong in his real nature. What are weak and evil are his habits, his desires and thoughts, but not himself.”
22. “The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within and realize the Self.”
23. “You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it.”
24. “A day will dawn when you will laugh at your past efforts. What you realize on the day you laugh is also here and now”
25. “When the mind that is subtle goes out through the brain and the sense-organs, the gross names and forms appear; when it stays in the Heart, the names and forms disappear.”
26. “The Power that created you has created the world as well. If it can take care of you, it can similarily take care of the world also. If God has created the world, it is His business to look after it, not yours.”
27. “The ultimate truth is so simple; it is nothing more than being in one’s natural, original state.”
28. “Mind your business. Take care of what you came here for. Find the ‘I’ first and you may afterwards speak of other matters.”
29. “The revelation or intuition arises in its own time and one must wait for it.”
30. “You are already that which you seek”
31. “People such as inventors searching for new material, make their discoveries in a state of self-forgetfulness. It is in a condition of deep intellectual concentration that this forgetfulness of the ego arises and the invention is revealed. This is also a way of developing intuition.”
32. “What is said is given out to suit the temperament of the hearers”
33. “Your concentration must come as easily as the breath. Fix yourself on one thing and try to hold onto it. All will come right. Meditation is sticking to one thought. That single thought keeps away other thoughts. The dissipated mind is a sign of its weakness. By constant meditation it gains strength.”
34. “There is neither creation nor destruction, neither destiny nor free will, neither path nor achievement.”
35. “As the activities of the wise man exist only in the eyes of others and not in his own, although he may be accomplishing immense tasks, he really does nothing.”
36. “A dreamer dreams that everyone else in his dream must awaken before he can awaken.”
37. “We know that the train carries all loads, so after getting on it why should we carry our small luggage on our head to our discomfort, instead of putting it down in the train and feeling at ease?”
38. “Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desires cannot get solitude wherever he may be, whereas a detached man is always in solitude.”
39. “Whatever draws the mind outward is unspiritual and whatever draws the mind inward is spiritual”
40. “Hope for the best, expect the best, toil for the best and everything will come right for you in the end.”
41. “Peace is your natural state. It is your mind that destroys it.”
42. “Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world.”
43. “Complete surrender does require that you have no desire of your own, that God’s desire alone is your desire and that you have no desire of your own.”
44. “Be equally indifferent to both and abide in the faith of God. That will be so only when one’s faith is strong that God looks after all of us.”
45. “The peace of mind which permeates the saint’s atmosphere is the only means by which the seeker understands the greatness of the saint.”
46. “All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?”
47. “Thoughts of bondage and of freedom last only as long as one feels, ‘I am bound’. When one enquires of oneself, ‘Who am I, the bound one?’ the Self, Eternal, ever free, remains. The thought of bondage goes; and with it goes the thought of freedom too.”
48. “If it is asked whether the wise man derives any benefit from the discharge of domestic duties, it may be answered that, as he has already attained the state of complete satisfaction which is the sum total of all benefits and the highest good of all, he does not stand to gain anything more by discharging family duties.”
49. “The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within and realize the Self.”
50. “God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee, teaches him the Truth, and, moreover, purifies his mind by association.”
51. “Real peace is happiness. Pleasures do not form happiness.”
52. “We are that. The very fact that we wish for liberation shows that freedom from all bondage is our real nature.”
53. “Instead of indulging in mere speculation, devote yourself here and now to the search for the Truth that is ever within you.”
54. “The purpose of all these illustrations is to direct the seeker’s mind towards the one Reality underlying them all.”
55. “A man should surrender the personal selfishness which binds him to this world. giving up the false self is the true renunciation.”