Ramakrishna Quotes

It is not lust alone that one should be afraid of in the life of the world. There is also anger. Anger arises when obstacles are placed in the way of desire.

Try to cultivate love of God. You are born as a human being only to attain divine love.

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.

The fabled musk deer searches the world over for the source of the scent which comes from itself.

The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth.

When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited.

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.

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.

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.

What is the use of merely listening to lectures? The real thing is practice.

If you keep your heart immersed always in the depth of that holy love, your heart is sure to remain ever full to overflowing with the Divine fervour of sacred love.

It is the mind that makes one wise or ignorant, bound or emancipated.

God in the form of the saint, God in the form of the sinner, God in the form of the righteous, God in the form of the unrighteous.

You should not feel that your path is the only right path and that other paths are wrong. You mustn't bear malice toward others.

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.

Honour both spirit and form, the sentiment within as well as the symbol without.

Different creeds are but different paths to reach the same God.

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.

Who is whose Guru? God alone is the guide and Guru of the universe.

Unalloyed love of God is the essential thing. All else is unreal.

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.

Whoever wants God intensely, finds Him. Go and verify it in your own life.

So many religions, so many paths to reach the one and the same goal.

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.

If you want to go east, don't go west.

When the fruit appears the blossom drops off. Love of God is the fruit, and rituals are the blossom.

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.

Bondage and Liberation are of the mind alone.

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.

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.

The goal of life is not the earning of money, but the service of God.p.114

The world is impermanent. [All things change. Knowing this helps you see the end of any difficulty and thereby have hope.]

God cannot be realizxd if there is the slightest trace of pride.

The compassion that you see in the kindhearted is God's compassion. He has given it to them to protect the helpless.

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.

Infinite are the paths and infinite the opinions.

It is easy to talk on religion, but difficult to practice it.

The waves belong to the water. Does the water belong to the waves?

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.

You must know that there are different tastes. There are also different powers of digestion... different temperaments... differences in the capacity to comprehend.

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.

As the snake is separate from its slough, even so is the Spirit separate from the body.

Live like a mud-fish: its skin is bright and shiny even though it lives in mud.

The grace of God is a wind which is always blowing.

He who is called Krishna is also Siva and the Primal Sakti...He again, who is called Jesus and Allah. Truth is one.

Work, apart from devotion or love of God, is helpless and cannot stand alone.

The ego is like the root of a banyan tree, you think you have removed it all then one fine morning you see a sprout flourishing again.

Knowledge leads to unity, but ignorance to diversity.

Men bound hand and foot in the endless chain of cause & effect cannot free each other.

As for me, I consider myself as a speck of the dust of the devotee's feet.