Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna Quotes
Ramakrishna Quotes
- 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
Inspirational, Self, Two
Ramakrishna (1960). “Sayings: The Most Exhaustive Collection of Them, Their Number Being 1120” - Sugar and sand may be mixed together, but the ant rejects the sand and goes off with the sugar grain; so pious men lift the good from the bad.
Ramakrishna
Men, Together, May - All religions are true. God can be reached by different religions. Many rivers flow by many ways but they fall into the sea. They all are one.
Ramakrishna
Fall, Sea, Rivers - There are three kinds of love;
unselfish, mutual, and selfish.
The unselfish love is of the highest kind;
The lover only minds the welfare of the beloved and does not care for his own sufferings.
In mutual love the lover not only wants the happiness of his beloved;
but has an eye towards his own happiness also. It is middling.
The selfish love is the lowest. It only looks towards its own happiness,
no matter whether the beloved suffers weal or woe.
Ramakrishna
Selfish, Eye, Love Is - 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
Heart, Clouds, Light
Ramakrishna (1960). “Sayings: The Most Exhaustive Collection of Them, Their Number Being 1120” - The supreme purpose and goal for human life... is to cultivate love.
Ramakrishna
Goal, Purpose, Life Is - God laughs on two occasions. He laughs when the physician says to the patient's mother, 'Don't be afraid, mother; I shall certainly cure your boy.' God laughs, saying to Himself, 'I am going to take his life, and this man says he will save it!' The physician thinks he is the master, forgetting that God is the Master. God laughs again when two brothers divide their land with a string, saying to each other, 'This side is mine and that side is yours.' He laughs and says to Himself, 'The whole universe belongs to Me, but they say they own this portion or that portion.'
Ramakrishna
Mother, Brother, Boys - Different people call on [God] by different names: some as Allah, some as God, and others as Krishna, Siva, and Brahman. It is like the water in a lake. Some drink it at one place and call it 'jal', others at another place and call it 'pani', and still others at a third place and call it 'water'. The Hindus call it 'jal', the Christians 'water', and the Moslems 'pani'. But it is one and the same thing.
Ramakrishna
Christian, Lakes, Names - All troubles come to an end when the ego dies
Ramakrishna
Ego, Trouble, Ends
Swami Lokeśvarānanda, Ramakrishna (1992). “The Way to God as Taught by Sri Ramakrishna” - A bath in Ganges undoubtedly absolves one of all sins; but what does that avail? They say that the sins perch on trees along the banks of the Ganges. No sooner does the man come back from the holy waters that the old sins jump on his shoulders from the trees. The same old sins take possession of him again. He is hardly out of the waters before they fall upon him.
Ramakrishna
Fall, Men, Water
- As long as I live, so long do I learn.
Ramakrishna
Long
Ramakrishna (1965). “Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna: the most exhaustive collection of them, their number being 1120” - The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.
Ramakrishna
Wind, Grace, Sail - So long as the bee is outside the petals of the lily, and has not tasted the sweetness of its honey, it hovers around the flower emitting the buzzing sound; but when it is inside the flower, it noiselessly drinks the nectar. So long as a man quarrels and disputes about doctrines and dogmas, he has not tasted the nectar of true faith; when he has tasted it, he becomes quiet and full of peace.
Ramakrishna
Faith, Peace, Flower - Sunlight is one and the same wherever it falls; but only a bright surface like that of water, or of a mirror reflects it fully. So is the light Divine. It falls equally and impartially on all hearts, but the pure and pious hearts of holy men receive and reflect that light well.
Ramakrishna
Fall, Heart, Men - 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
Important, Rope, Bamboo
Ramakrishna, Mahendra Nath Gupta (1942). “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna”, Ramakrishna Vivekanada Center - Take the case of the infinite ocean. There is no limit to its water. Suppose a pot is immersed in it: there is water both inside and outside the pot. The jnani sees that both inside and outside there is nothing but Paramatman. Then what is this pot? It is 'I-consciousness'. Because of the pot the water appears to be divided into two parts; because of the pot you seem to perceive an inside and an outside. One feels that way as long as this pot of 'I' exists. When the 'I' disappears, what is remains. That cannot be described in words.
Ramakrishna
Ocean, Two, Long - It is true that God is even in the tiger, but we must not go and face the animal. So it is true that God dwells even in the most wicked, but it is not meet that we should associate with the wicked.
Ramakrishna
Animal, Wicked, Faces - 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
Spiritual, Water, World - The magnetic needle always points to the north, and hence it is that sailing vessel does not lose her direction. So long as the heart of man is directed towards God, he cannot be lost in the ocean of worldliness.
Ramakrishna
Ocean, Heart, Men
Ramakrishna (1960). “Sayings: The Most Exhaustive Collection of Them, Their Number Being 1120” - One cannot be spiritual as long as one has shame, hatred, or fear.
Ramakrishna - God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.
Ramakrishna - To work without attachment is to work without the expectation of reward.
Ramakrishna - Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.
Ramakrishna
Religious, Book, Reading
Ramakrishna (1960). “Sayings: The Most Exhaustive Collection of Them, Their Number Being 1120” - 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
Mean, Thinking, Religion
Ramakrishna, Mahendra Nath Gupta (1942). “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna”, Ramakrishna Vivekanada Center - Wisdom leads to unity, but ignorance to separation.
So long as God seems to be outside and far away, there is ignorance.
But when God is realised within, that is true knowledge.
Ramakrishna