Top 100 Quotes About Ramakrishna
#1. If I am a Pariah, I will be all the more glad, for I am the disciple of a man, who - the Brahmin of Brahmins - wanted to cleanse the house of a Pariah. (here "the man" means Ramakrishna)
Swami Vivekananda
#2. Shri Ramakrishna use to say, "As Long as I Live, so long do I learn". That man or that society which has nothing to learn is already in the jaws of death.
Swami Vivekananda
#3. Ramakrishna says, "One who has merely heard of fire has ajnana, ignorance. One who has seen fire has jnana. But one who has actually built a fire and cooked on it has vijnana." In
Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
#4. If a householder is a genuine devotee, he performs his duties without attachment; he surrenders the fruit of his work to God - his gain or loss, his pleasure or pain. Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Abridged)
Ramakrishna
#5. Even avatars have to desire to be in God in every moment. And when avatars die, they desire with all their being to be united with God. ... .. Look at Ramakrishna.
How much he wept and prayed for the Divine Mother.
Mother Meera
#6. Ramakrishna didn't suddenly become enlightened. We had years of him meditating, seeking, crying to Mother Kali, going in and out of samadhi; but after many years of this process, he was enlightened. He was no longer a finite individual.
Frederick Lenz
#7. The ground under the Bilva tree is very holy. Meditating here quickly brings about an awakening of the religious instinct. Shri Ramakrishna used to say so.
Swami Vivekananda
#8. I am a slave of Ramakrishna, who left his work to be done by me and will not give me rest till I have finished it. And oh, how shall I speak of him? Oh, his love for me!
Swami Vivekananda
#9. The goal of human life," says Ramakrishna, "is to meet God face to face." But the magic is this: if we look deeply into the face of all created things, we will find God. Therefore, savor the world, the body. Open it, explore it, look into it. Worship it.
Stephen Cope
#10. Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God. Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,p.81
Ramakrishna
#11. At times Maharajji's behavior reminds me of a story Ramakrishna tells of a saint who asked a snake not to bite but to love everyone. The snake agreed. But then many people threw things at the snake. The saint found the snake all battered. "I didn't say not to hiss," said the saint.
Ram Dass
#12. You can focus on Jesus or Buddha or Krishna, Ramakrishna, Lao Tsu, Yukteswar, Yogananda, Vivekananda, any of the great spiritual teachers who have lived, or on a living teacher, and draw light from them.
Frederick Lenz
#13. My son, there is no rest for me. That which Sri Ramakrishna called "Kali" took possession of my body and soul three or four days before his passing away. That makes me work and work and never lets me keep still or look to my personal comfort.
Swami Vivekananda
#14. Do you think these sannyasi children of Sri Ramakrishna are born to simply to sit under trees lighting dhuni-fires? Whenever any of them will take up some work, people will be astonished to see their energy. Learn from them how to work.
Swami Vivekananda
#15. Now, stopping thought is only the beginning. As Brahmananda, who was a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, once remarked: The inner life begins with samadhi. This is an awesome thought, I realize, for the average person who meditates, that it could begin with samadhi.
Frederick Lenz
#16. Every person I've known has had an effect on me, as have people whom I've not met in the physical in this life, but whom I've met inwardly, teachers from other eras - Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Ramakrishna and Lao Tse.
Frederick Lenz
#17. The nearer you approach to God, the less you reason and argue. When you attain Him, then all sounds - all reasoning and disputing - come to an end. Then you go into samadhi - sleep - , into communion with God in silence.
Ramakrishna
#18. As long as I live, so long do I learn.
Ramakrishna
#19. I have no disciple. I am the servant of the servant of Rama .
Ramakrishna
#20. The waves belong to the water. Does the water belong to the waves?
Ramakrishna
#21. God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God.
Ramakrishna
#22. Common men talk bagfuls of religion but do not practise even a grain of it. The wise man speaks a little, even though his whole life is religion expressed in action.
Ramakrishna
#23. Imagine a limitless expanse of water: above and below, before and behind, right and left, everywhere there is water. In that water is placed a jar filled with water. There is water inside the jar and water outside, but the jar is still there. The 'I' is the jar.
Ramakrishna
#24. Why does God allow evil in the world? To thicken the plot.
Ramakrishna
#25. If a white cloth is stained even with a small spot, the stain appears very ugly indeed. So the smallest fault of a holy man becomes painfully prominent.
Ramakrishna
#26. To work without attachment is to work without the expectation of reward or fear of any punishment in this world or the next. Work so done is a means to the end, and God is the end.
Ramakrishna
#28. God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.
Ramakrishna
#29. All troubles come to an end when the ego dies
Ramakrishna
#30. Those who wish to attain God and progress in religious devotion, should particularly guard themselves against the snares of lust and wealth. Otherwise they can never attain perfection.
Ramakrishna
#31. Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge: those who are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not over-crowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing.
Ramakrishna
#32. God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true. The important thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole.
Ramakrishna
#33. It is necessary to pray to Him, with a longing Heart.
Ramakrishna
#34. As for myself, I look upon all women as my Mother. This is a very pure attitude of mind. There is no risk or danger in it. To look upon a woman as one's sister is also not bad. But the other attitudes are very difficult and dangerous. It is almost impossible to keep to the purity of the ideal.
Ramakrishna
#35. Bondage is of the mind; freedom too is of the mind. If you say 'I am a free soul. I am a son of God who can bind me' free you shall be.
Ramakrishna
#36. Do not be small minded. Do not pray for gourds and pumpkins from God, when you should be asking for pure love and pure knowledge to dawn within every heart.
Ramakrishna
#37. Once a person has faith, he has achieved everything.
Ramakrishna
#38. You must know that there are different tastes. There are also different powers of digestion ... different temperaments ... differences in the capacity to comprehend.
Ramakrishna
#39. Do not seek illumination unless you seek it as a man whose hair is on fire seeks a pond.
Ramakrishna
#40. The way of love is as true as the way of knowledge. All paths ultimately lead to the same Truth. But as long as God keeps the feeling of ego in us, it is easier to follow the path of love.
Ramakrishna
#41. As a boy holding to a post or a pillar whirls about it with headlong speed without any fear or falling, so perform your worldly duties, fixing your hold firmly upon God, and you will be free from danger.
Ramakrishna
#42. In the scriptures you will find the way to realize God. But after getting all the information about the path, you must begin to work, Only then can you attain your goal.
Ramakrishna
#43. The winds of God's grace are always blowing, it is for us to raise our sails.
Ramakrishna
#44. Do yourself what you wish others to do.
Ramakrishna
#45. By the mind one is bound; by the mind one is freed ... He who asserts with strong conviction: "I am not bound, I am free," becomes free.
Ramakrishna
#46. It is on account of the ego that one is not able to see God. In front of the door of God's mansion lies the stump of ego. One cannot enter the mansion without jumping over the stump.
Ramakrishna
#47. Disease is the tax which the soul pays for the body, as the tenant pays house-rent for the use of the house.
Ramakrishna
#48. Why should you renounce everything? You are all right as you are, following the middle ...
Ramakrishna
#49. Live like a mud-fish: its skin is bright and shiny even though it lives in mud.
Ramakrishna
#50. The fool who repeats again and again: "I am bound, I am bound," remains in bondage. He who repeats day and night: "I am a sinner, I am a sinner," becomes a sinner indeed.
Ramakrishna
#51. You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? Because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.
Ramakrishna
#52. If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.
Ramakrishna
#53. Men bound hand and foot in the endless chain of cause & effect cannot free each other.
Ramakrishna
#54. He who is called Krishna is also Siva and the Primal Sakti ... He again, who is called Jesus and Allah. Truth is one.
Ramakrishna
#55. More are the names of God and infinite are the forms through which He may be approached. In whatever name and form you worship Him, through them you will realise Him.
Ramakrishna
#56. The world is impermanent. One should constantly remember death.
Ramakrishna
#58. How dare you talk of helping the world? God alone can do that. First you must be made free from all sense of self; then the Divine Mother will give you a task to do.
Ramakrishna
#59. One should not think, 'My religion alone is the right path and other religions are false.' God can be realized by means of all paths. It is enough to have sincere yearning for God. Infinite are the paths and infinite are the opinions.
Ramakrishna
#60. The sun can give heat and light to the whole world, but he cannot do so when the clouds shut out his rays. Similarly as long as egotism veils the heart, God cannot shine upon it.
Ramakrishna
#61. The ordinary man says in his ignorance, "My religion is the sole religion, my religion is the best." But when his heart is illuminated by the true knowledge, he knows that beyond all the battles of sects and of sectaries presides the one, indivisible, eternal and omnipresent Benediction.
Ramakrishna
#62. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
Swami Vivekananda , Ramakrishna Paramhans, Sarda Devi
#63. As a toy fruit or a toy elephant reminds one of the real fruit and the living animal, so do the images that are worshipped remind one of the God who is formless and eternal.
Ramakrishna
#64. The Man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself.
Ramakrishna
#65. The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth.
Ramakrishna
#67. We laugh at the efforts of the musk deer to find the source of the scent which comes from itself and despair at our efforts to find the peace which is our essence.
Ramakrishna
#68. These people are like ... a frog living in a well, who has never seen the outside world. He knows only his well, so he will not believe that there is such a thing as the world. Likewise, people talk so much about the world because they have not known the joy of God.
Ramakrishna
#69. As the shell, the pith and the kernel of the fruit are all produced form one parent seed of the tree, so from the one Lord is produced the whole of creation, animate and inanimate, spiritual and material.
Ramakrishna
#70. The breeze of grace is always blowing; set your sail to catch that breeze.
Ramakrishna
#71. The world is impermanent. [All things change. Knowing this helps you see the end of any difficulty and thereby have hope.]
Ramakrishna
#72. One cannot attain divine knowledge till one gets rid of pride. Water does not stay on the top of a mound; but into low land it flows in torrents from all sides.
Ramakrishna
#73. If you keep your heart immersed always in the ocean of divine love, your heart is sure to remain ever full to overflowing with the waters of divine love.
Ramakrishna
#74. Meditate upon the Knowledge and Bliss Eternal , and you will also have bliss. The Bliss indeed is eternal, only it is covered and obscured by ignorance. The less your attachment is towards the senses, the more will be your love towards God .
Ramakrishna
#75. When divine vision is attained, all appear equal; and there remains no distinction of good and bad, or of high and low.
Ramakrishna
#76. God cannot be realizxd if there is the slightest trace of pride.
Ramakrishna
#77. He is born in vain, who having attained the human birth, so difficult to get, does not attempt to realize God in this very life.
Ramakrishna
#78. Knowledge leads to unity, but ignorance to diversity.
Ramakrishna
#79. Try to cultivate love of God. You are born as a human being only to attain divine love.
Ramakrishna
#81. Finish the few duties you have at hand, and then you will have peace.
Ramakrishna
#82. The supreme purpose and goal for human life ... is to cultivate love.
Ramakrishna
#83. If you feel proud, let it be in the thought that you are the servant of God, the son of God. Great men have the nature of a child. They are always a child before Him; so they are free from pride. All their strength is of God and not their own. It belongs to Him and comes from Him.
Ramakrishna
#84. When the fruit appears the blossom drops off. Love of God is the fruit, and rituals are the blossom.
Ramakrishna
#85. Dislodging a green nut from it's shell is almost impossible, but let it dry and the lightest tap will do it.
Ramakrishna
#86. The winds of grace blow all the time. All we need to do is set our sails.
Ramakrishna
#87. The grace of God is a wind which is always blowing.
Ramakrishna
#88. As a piece of rope, when burnt, retains its form, but cannot serve to bind, so is the ego which is burnt by the fire of supreme Knowledge.
Ramakrishna
#89. Unalloyed love of God is the essential thing. All else is unreal.
Ramakrishna
#90. Man needs a guru. But a man must have faith in the guru's words. He succeeds in spiritual life by looking on his guru as God Himself.
Ramakrishna
#91. Live in the world like a waterfowl. The water clings to the bird, but the bird shakes it off. Live in the world like a mudfish. The fish lives in the mud, but its skin is always bright and shiny.
Ramakrishna
#92. It is very pleasant to scratch an itching ring-worm, but the sensation one gets afterwards is very painful and intolerable. In the same way the pleasures of this world are very attractive in the beginning, but their consequences are terrible to contemplate and hard to endure.
Ramakrishna
#93. You should love everyone because God dwells in all beings.
Ramakrishna
#94. One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God.
Ramakrishna
#95. A man is truly free, even here in this embodied state, if he knows that God is the true agent and he by himself is powerless to do anything.
Ramakrishna
#96. When you meditate, go into the solitude of a forest, or a quiet corner, and enter into the chamber of your heart. And always keep your power of discrimination awake.
Ramakrishna
#97. A boat may stay in water, but water should not stay in boat. A spiritual aspirant may live in the world, but the world should not live within him.
Ramakrishna
#98. What is the use of merely listening to lectures? The real thing is practice.
Ramakrishna
#100. If there are errors in other religions, that is none of our business. God, to whom the world belongs, takes care of that.
Ramakrishna
