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Explore all of the quotations in our Living Book…
When he tries to extend his power over objects
Those objects gain control of him.
He who is controlled by objects
Loses possession of his inner self.
If he no longer values himself,
How can he value others?
If he no longer values others,
He is abandoned.
He has nothing left.
We survive in adversity and perish in ease and comfort.
To be possessed of an energetic mind is not enough; the first requirement is to use it correctly.
Those who do not love the truth take as a pretext that it is disputed, and that a multitude deny it. And so their error arises only from the fact that they do not love either truth or charity.
Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Man does not wish to come out of spiritual servitude into spiritual liberty, for the reason, first, that he does not know what spiritual servitude is and what spiritual liberty is; he does not possess the truths that teach this; and without truths, spiritual servitude is believed to be freedom, and spiritual freedom to be servitude.
From a distance it is something; nearby it is nothing.
If a man is a good judge of silver, he will know, for the coin will tell its own story.
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
To find the permanent amid all the changes of life, and, having found it, adhere to it under all circumstances… this only is true happiness, this only is salvation and lasting peace.
Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
Ramakrishna used to tell a story of some men who went into a mango orchard and busied themselves in counting the leaves, the twigs, and the branches, examining their colour, comparing their size, and noting down everything most carefully, and then got up a learned discussion on each of these topics… But one of them, more sensible than the others, did not care for all these things, and instead thereof, began to eat the mango fruit. And was he not wise? So leave the counting of leave and twigs and this note taking to others… You can never once see a strong spiritual man among these “leaf-counters.”
The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man.
Every living being longs always to be happy, untainted by sorrow; and everyone has the greatest love for himself, which is solely due to the fact that happiness is his real nature. Hence, in order to realize that inherent and untainted happiness, which indeed he daily experiences when the mind is subdued in deep sleep, it is essential that he should know himself. For obtaining such knowledge the inquiry “Who am I?” in quest of the Self is the best means.
Being fully present is the best guarantee for a bright future.
The very discovery of these hidden things is in itself a purifying experience! The soul needs to discover what is inside. The self nature needs to see what it really is, and what it is like, right to the very bottom.
Silence is a source of Great Strength.
To win true peace, a man needs to feel himself directed, pardoned, and sustained by a supreme power, to feel himself on the right road, at the point where God would have him be — in harmony with God and the universe. This reliance gives strength and calm.
This is the greatest stumbling block in our spiritual discipline, which, in actuality, consists not in getting rid of the self but in realizing the fact that there is no such existence from the first. The realization means being “poor” in spirit. “Being poor” does not mean “becoming poor.” “Being poor” means to be from the very beginning not in possession of anything and not giving away what one has. Nothing to gain, nothing to lose; nothing to give, nothing to take; to be just so, and yet to be rich in inexhaustible possibilities — this is to be “poor” in its most proper and characteristic sense of the word, this is what all religious experiences tell us. To be absolutely nothing is to be everything. When one is in possession of something, that something will keep all other somethings from coming in.
