Great Sayings
- Purify the spectacles of your mind, and you will see that the world is God.
- The Companionship of the holy and the wise is one of the main elements of spiritual progress.
- Women whether naturally good or not, whether chaste or unchaste, should always be regarded as images of the Blissful Divine Mother.
- Don’t find fault with anyone, not even with an insect. As you pray to God for devotion, so also pray that you may not find fault with anyone.
- It is said that truthfulness alone constitutes the spiritual practice of the Kali Yuga (i.e. modern age). If a man clings tenaciously to truth, he ultimately realizes God.
- Jiva is Shiva (all living beings are God). Who then dare talk of showing mercy to them? Not mercy, but service, service. For man must be regarded as God.
- All religions are true. God can be reached by different religions. Many rivers flow my many ways but they fall into the sea. There all are one.
- The aim of life is to realize God and remain immersed in contemplation of Him. God alone is real and everything else is false.
- Do the Master’s work and along with that practice spiritual discipline. Some amount of work keeps the mind free from idle thoughts.
- The Master used to say that truthfulness alone is the austerity of the present age. One attains to God by holding to the truth.
- If you love a human being you will have to suffer for it. He is blessed, indeed who can love God alone. There is no suffering in loving God.
- Misery is truly a gift of God. I believe it is a symbol of His compassion.
- No doubt you must do your duties. This keeps your mind in good condition. But it is also necessary to practice japa, meditation and prayer.
- Just surrender yourself to Him, you will then feel His grace.
- All expansion is life, all contraction is death. All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love’s sake, because it is the only law of life, just as you breathe to live.
- The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.
- ………… good motives, sincerity and infinite love can conquer the world. One single soul possessed of these virtues can destroy the dark designs of millions of hypocrites and brutes.
- The uplift of the women, the awakenings of the masses must come first and then only can any real good come about for the country, for India.
- After so much austerity, I have understood this as the real truth, God is present in very Jiva; there is no other God besides that. ‘Who serves Jiva, serves God indeed.’
- The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment. Therefore ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.’
- Women will work out their own destinies – much better, too, than men can ever do for them. All the mischief to women has come because men undertook to shape the destiny of women.
- I consider that the great national sin is the neglect of the masses, and that is one of the causes of our downfall. No amount of politics would be of any avail until the masses in India are once more well educated, well fed and well cared for.
- My faith is in the younger generation, the modern generation, out of them will come my workers. They will work out the whole problem like lions.
One should not ask for anything from God, but remain satisfied with whatever He is pleased to give. If you ask God for anything, He will give you a gift which is like a double-edged sword. Real welfare lies in using things properly; wrong use of things brings misfortune.
The most remarkable phenomenon is that all men, all animals desire to live forever. This shows the immortality of all created things. Yes, it is really so. The One that is within us is without beginning and without end, without birth or death. There is nothing like death there.
You are the complete master of your mind, and you can shape it as you like. When the mind is completely under your control, it will have nothing to exist on except noble thoughts. Just as we know that pure and wholesome food is necessary for our physical existence- impure and contaminated food will only injure the body- so is it necessary to nourish the mind with noble thoughts and high ideals, refusing to provide it with evil thoughts and bad associations, which are like poison to the mind.
You are the master of your mind, and you have to keep it pure. Your responsibility ends there, the rest is God’s business. He is Providence, the wish-fulfilling tree, who provides everything. He acts like a valet to provide us with whatever we want. Is he to blame or are we? It is desire that is the root of all evil, and no one else is at fault.
One reason for the decadence of our country is that, is the name of religion, people put forward harmful theories, as a result of which, people lose their faith in religion itself. Simplicity, faithfulness, and purity of heart are called for. Jesus Christ had no weapons to fight with and suffered crucifixion for the sake of truth. We also have to do likewise, and then only will rise again the sun of India’s glory.
The very first attribute of God is lordliness. Contemplation on Him should enable us to gain lordliness over our passions and become masters of our souls. Secondly, whatever God wills is immediately done. We also have the power to translate our wishes into action. Thirdly, God is love. As He loves everyone, so should we love all created beings. One is invoking God’s name properly, to the extent that one is able to acquire His attributes.
Selfishness has got the whole nation in its grip. But, again, without the pursuit of self-interest, the world would be at standstill. Self-interest, however, should not be conceived in narrow and limited terms. Living for the little self is but death. But he who sacrifices his life for the good of the many is living truly.
One who detach his mind from material things will see the light of God and His presence in everything. Worldly attachment draws people away from God and scorch them in the wild fire of the world.
Don’t find fault with others. Rather look at your own faults. Once, while I was at Belur, a gentlemen came and expressed his regret that he had not married and had renounced the world. By all sorts of arguments, he demonstrated that our supreme Guru (Shiva) was also married. Owing to ignorance, man tries to support his views with numerous intellectual arguments, and the result is philosophizing. But he gets over all these, once he is blessed with true insight. The Master used to say, “The world is a bad place, and you should renounce it.” There was no arguments behind it, because he knew that no can get over his unhappiness without renouncing the world. Once it is realized that a thing is bad, the best thing is to discard it, there is no question of arguing about it.