QUOTATIONS

1. In the Absolute, there is neither time, space, nor causation; It is

all one.
2. If the absolute becomes limited by the mind, it is no more
Absolute.
3. The Absolute cannot be worshipped, so we must worship a
manifestation.
4. As soon as we identify ourselves with the work we do, we feel
miserable.
5. Attachment comes only where we expect a return.
6. Our misery comes, not from work, but by our getting attached to
something.
7. In every attempt there will be one set of men who will applaud,
and another who will pick holes.
8. The great quality of Bhakti is that it cleanses the mind.
9. As long as we require someone else to make us happy, we are
slaves.
10.

Books are good but they are only maps.

11.

The brave are always moral.

12.

The brave alone can afford to be sincere.

13.

The brave alone do great things, not the cowards.

14.

We are the makers of our own fate.

15.

No one is to blame for our miseries but ourselves.

16.

Existence never comes out of non-existence.

17.

We only get what we deserve.

18.
Character is repeated habits, and repeated habits alone
can reform character.
19.
It is character that cleaves its way through adamantine
walls of difficulties.

20.
Test everything, try everything, and then believe it, and if
you find it for the good of many, give it to all.
21.

There is no higher virtue than charity.

22.

Chastity is the life of a nation.

23.
Chastity is the corner-stone of all morality and of all
religion.
24.
No civilisation can grow unless fanaticism, bloodshed, and
brutality stop.
25.
Civilisation, true civilisation, should mean the power of
taking the animal-man out of his sense-life.
26.

Civilisation is the manifestation of that divinity in man.

27.
The power of concentration is the only key to the treasurehouse of knowledge.
28.
There is no greater sin than cowardice; cowards are never
savedthat is sure.
29.
It is culture that withstands shocks, not a simple mass of
knowledge.
30.

It is the desireless who bring great results to pass.

31.
Ones destiny is in ones own hands the Guru only makes
this much understood.
32.
Almost all our suffering is caused by not having the power
of detachment.
33.

Dirt cannot wash dirt; hate cannot cure hate.

34.

Our business is to verify, not to swallow.

35.

No duty is ugly, no duty is impure.

36.

Education is not filling the mind with a lot of facts.

37.

It is man-making education all round that we want.

38.
Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in
man.
39.
Real education is that which enables one to stand on ones
own legs.

40.
The only way of getting our divine nature manifested is by
helping others to do the same.
41.
We need to have three things; the heart to feel, the brain
to conceive, the hand to work.
42.
We must have life-building, man-making, character-making
assimilation of ideas.
43.
So long as you have faith and honesty and devotion,
everything will prosper.
44.

Everything will come to you if you have faith.

45.
Great results are attained only by great patience, great
courage, and great attempts.
46.
Every evolution here is the evolution of something which
existed previously.
47.
The true secret of evolution is the manifestation of the
perfection which is already in every being.
48.

Experience is the only source of knowledge.

49.

Experience is the one teacher, the one eye-opener.

50.
Faith is not belief, it is the grasp on the Ultimate, an
illumination.
51.

He who has no faith in himself can never have faith in God.

52.

A man must not only have faith but intellectual faith too.

53.
Faith is one of the potent factors of humanity and of all
religions.
54.

It is faith that makes a lion of a man.

55.
So long as you have faith in your Guru, nothing will be able
to obstruct your way.
56.
The disease of fanaticism is one of the most dangerous of
all diseases.
57.
Never forget that a man is made great and perfect as
much by his faults as by his virtues.
58.

Fear is a sign of weakness.

59.
The only religion that ought to be taught is the religion of
fearlessness.

60.

We, we, and none else, are responsible for what we suffer.

61.

To become pure is the shortest path to freedom.

62.

Freedom means immortality.

63.

The highest of gifts is the giving of spiritual knowledge.

64.

Realising my own real nature is the one goal of my life.

65.

The end and aim of all training is to make the man grow.

66.
God is a circle whose circumference is nowhere and whose
centre is everywhere.
67.
Pure Existence-Knowledge-and-Love is the goal; and Love
is God.
68.
The greatness of a teacher consists in the simplicity of his
language.
69.

The Guru only knows what will lead towards perfection.

70.

The only remedy for bad habits is counter habits.

71.
There is no happiness higher than what a man obtains by
this attitude of non-offensiveness, to all creation.
72.

Real happiness is not in the senses but above senses.

73.
all.

God will come to everyone, harmony is within the reach of

74.

A pure heart sees beyond the intellect.

75.
It is through the heart, and that alone, that the world can
be reached.
76.
It is the hero alone, not the coward, who has liberation
within his easy reach.
77.

The whole religion of the Hindu is centred in realisation.

78.

The ideal of man is to see God in everything.

79.
It is a great thing to take up a grand ideal in life and then
give up ones whole life to it.
80.

Nothing is done by leading idle lives.

81.
The real evil is idleness, which is the principal cause of our
poverty.

82.
Immortality and bliss are not to be acquired, we possess
them already; they have been ours all the time.
83.

Religion in India culminates in freedom.

84.
The gift of India is the gift of religion and philosophy, and
wisdom and spirituality.
85.
Renunciation and spirituality are the two great ideas of
India.
86.
We have to give back to the nation its lost individuality and
raise the masses.
87.
What India wants is a new electric fire to stir up a fresh
vigour in the national veins.
88.
Jealousy is a terrible, horrible sin; it enters a man so
mysteriously.
89.

Pleasure is not the goal of man, but knowledge.

90.

He who can become mad with an idea, he alone sees light.

91.
Instinct, reason, and inspiration are the three instruments
of knowledge.
92.
Books are infinite in number, and time is short; therefore
the secret of knowledge is to take what is essential.
93.

Perception is our only real knowledge or religion.

94.

It is practice first, and knowledge afterwards.

95.

All knowledge depends upon calmness of mind.

96.

The gift of knowledge is the highest gift in the world.

97.

Knowledge and happiness lead to freedom.

98.
The only value of knowledge is in the strengthening, the
disciplining, of the mind.
99.
There is no knowledge in nature; all knowledge comes from
the human soul.
100.
There must not be a shade of jealousy of selfishness, then
you are a leader.
101.
The secret of life is not enjoyment, but education through
experience.

102.
This world is just a gymnasium in which we play; our life is
an eternal holiday.
103.

The object of life is to learn the laws of spiritual progress.

104.
The only medium through which spiritual force can be
transmitted is love.
105.
Love opens the most impossible gates; love is the gate to
all the secrets of the universe.
106.

Every act of love brings happiness.

107.
There is no limit to mans power, the power of words and
the power of mind.
108.
Everyone can play the role of a master but it is very
difficult to be a servant.
109.
Material science can only give worldly prosperity, whilst
spiritual science is for eternal life.
110.
Misery comes because we think we are finite we are little
beings.
111.
Everything that strengthens the will by revealing the real
nature is moral.
112.
Morality is the path towards freedom, and immorality leads
to bondage.
113.
A nation is advanced in proportion as education and
intelligence spread among the masses.
114.
In the well-being of ones own nation is ones own wellbeing.
115.
In each nation, as in music, there is a main note, a central
theme, upon which all others turn.
116.
Goodness is our nature, purity is our nature, and that
nature can never be destroyed.
117.

The first requisite for organisation is obedience.

118.
He who is overcautious about himself falls into dangers at
every step.
119.

Patience, purity, and perseverance will prevail.

120.

Patience is the best means of success.

121.
If you have infinite patience and perseverance, success is
bound to come.
122.

It is only those who persevere to the end that succeed.

123.
Our philosophy does not depend upon any personality for
its truth.
124.
There is no power on earth which can be kept long
confined within a narrow limit.
125.
From the highest god to the meanest grass, the same
power is present in allwhether manifested or not.
126.
One ounce of practice is worth a thousand pounds of
theory.
127.

Realization is real religion, all the rest is only preparation.

128.
We may talk and reason all our lives, but we shall not
understand a word of truth, until we experience it ourselves.
129.
It is only when the sun is on our own head that there is no
shadow.
130.
Meddle not with so-called social reform, for there cannot be
any reform without spiritual reform first.
131.
Life and death are but different names for the same fact,
they are the two sides of one coin.
132.

Expansion is life, and contraction is death.

133.
It is better, for better, to die on the field of duty, preaching
the truth, than to die like a worldly worm.
134.

Ignorance is death, knowledge is life.

135.
Happiness and misery are the obverse and reverse of the
same coin.
136.
All happiness which comes from the senses will, eventually,
bring pain.
137.

True happiness consists in killing selfishness.

138.

So long as there is desire, no real happiness can come.

139.

There is a pleasure in suffering even, when it is for others.

140.

If there is no desire, there is no suffering.

141.

It is better to wear out than rust out.

142.
Religion is to be realised, not only heard; it is not in
learning some doctrine like a parrot.
143.
It is an insult to a starving people to offer them religion; it
is an insult to a starving man to teach him metaphysics.
144.

Realization is the soul, the very essence of religion.

145.
The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you
are becoming cheerful.
146.

The end of all religions is the realizing of God in the soul.

147.

True religion is entirely transcendental.

148.
Religion is realisation; not talk, nor doctrine, nor theories,
however beautiful they may be.
149.
Religion is a question of being and becoming, not of
believing.
150.

Doing good to others is the one great universal religion.

151.

Renunciation is the very basis upon which ethics stands.

152.
Renunciation is the evolution
manifestation of the God within.

of

nature

and

the

153.
To live in the world and not to be of it is the true test of
renunciation.
154.
Everything is fraught with fear : Renunciation alone is
fearless.
155.

No great work has been done in the world without sacrifice.

156.

Those that persevere will see the light, sooner or later.

157.
Doing good to others constitutes a way, a means of
revealing ones own Self or Atman.
158.
All that man has to do is to take care of three things; good
thought, good word, good deed.
159.
Our best work and our greatest influence is when we are
without a thought of self.
160.
He who gives up the little self for the world will find the
whole universe his.

161.
Until we can free ourselves from nature, we are slaves; as
she dictates so we must go.
162.

True Being is undifferentiated and eternal.

163.

The sky never changes: it is the cloud that is changing.

164.
The worst lie that you ever tell yourself is that you were
born a sinner or a wicked man.
165.
Everything in the universe is yours, stretch out your arms
and embrace it with love.
166.
We are lions in sheeps clothing of habit, we are hypnotized
into weakness by our surroundings.
167.

Never does any help come from the outside.

168.
I have to accommodate myself to the world, and not the
world to me.
169.
We are responsible for what we are; and whatever we wish
ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.
170.

Anything that changes cannot be immortal.

171.

All selfishness is death, and this is true here or hereafter.

172.
With the sense of possession comes selfishness, and
selfishness brings on misery.
173.
That which is selfish is immoral, and that which is unselfish
is moral.
174.
It is only selfishness that causes the difference between
good and evil.
175.

Self-sacrifice, indeed, is the basis of all civilisation.

176.
Complete self-surrender is the only way to spiritual
illumination.
177.

Sense-happiness is not the goal of humanity.

178.
Blessed are they whose bodies get destroyed in the service
of others.
179.

You work best when you work for others.

180.
If you are a real lover of Shiva, you must see Him in
everything and in everyone.

181.
What makes one man great and another weak and low is
this Shraddha.
182.
Shravana not only means hearing from the Guru, but also
repetition to our ownselves.
183.
sin.

Doing good to others is virtue (Dharma), injuring others is

184.

The greatest sin is to think yourself weak.

185.

Slave wants power to make slaves.

186.
That society is the greatest, where the highest truths
become practical.
187.
Our solution is renunciation, giving up, fearlessness, and
love, these are the fittest to survive.
188.

Each soul is potentially divine.

189.
No other ideal can put into us the same mass of energy as
the spiritual.
190.
We want spiritual ideals before us, we want enthusiastically
to gather round grand spiritual names.
191.

Spiritual vitality can be given from one mind to another.

192.
He who gives man spiritual knowledge is the greatest
benefactor of mankind.
193.
Spirituality can never be attained unless all material ideas
are given up.
194.

The best guide in life is strength.

195.
Strength, strength it is that we want so much in this life, for
what we call sin and sorrow have all one cause, and that is our
weakness.
196.
Strength is the medicine that the ignorant must have when
oppressed by the learned.
197.

Strength is life, weakness is death.

198.
The degree of unselfishness marks the degree of success
everywhere.
199.

Superstition is a great enemy of man, but bigotry is worse.

200.

Devotion to the mother is the root of all welfare.

201.

Without real sympathy we can never teach well.

202.
Working for the sake of others itself constitutes Tapasya
(practice of austerity).
203.

Power comes of austerities.

204.
The great task is to revive the whole man, as it were, in
order to make him the complete master of himself.
205.
The first test of true teaching must be, that the teaching
should not contradict reason.
206.
We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care of
what you think.
207.

If you have to think, think good thoughts, great thoughts.

208.

What we think we tend to become.

209.
Whatever we shall be in the future will be the result of
what we think and do now.
210.

Truth can never come to us as long as we are selfish.

211.
Truth is the fruit of realisation; therefore seek it within the
soul.
212.
The greatest truths are the simplest things in the world,
simple as your own existence.
213.

Truth is purity, truth is all knowledge.

214.

To accomplish anything, we must be willing to die for truth.

215.
Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be
sacrificed for anything.
216.
Truth comes to those alone who worship at her shrine for
her sake only, without fear and without shopkeeping.
217.
Truth never comes where lust and fame and greed of gain
reside.
218.
Vedanta teaches the God that is in everyone, has become
everyone and everything.
219.

The Vedanta was (and is) the boldest system of religion.

220.

The first step for the pure Vedantist is to be Abhih, fearless.

221. Sympathy
for
the
poor,
the
downtrodden, even unto deaththis is our
motto.
222. That action is moral which frees us
from the bondage of matter.
223. The ideal woman in India is the mother,
the mother first, and the mother last.
224. What I want is muscles of iron and
nerves of steel, inside which dwells a mind
of the same material as that of which the
thunderbolt is made.
225. We want that education by which
character is formed, strength of mind is
increased, the intellect is expanded, and
by which one can stand on ones own feet.
226. We must keep a firm hold on
spirituality, that inestimable gift handed
down to us by our ancient forefathers.
227. Whatever retards the onward progress
or helps the downward fall is vice;
whichever helps in coming up and
becoming harmonized is virtue.
228. Workthis is the time; for the freshest,
the untouched, and unsmelled flowers
alone are to be laid at the feet of the Lord.
229. India that is to be, the future India,
must be much greater than ancient India.
230. What makes one man great and
another weak and low is Shraddha.
231. Be of good cheer and believe that we
are selected by the Lord to do great things,
and we will do them.
232. Any work that is done with any the
least selfish motive, instead of making us
free, forges one more chain for our feet.

233. The secret of religion lies not in

theories but in practice. To be good and to
do good that is the whole of religion.
234. Cowards only sin, brave men never, no;
not even in mind.
235. He who sees Shiva in the poor, in the
weak, and in the diseased, really worships
Shiva.
236. This world is the great gymnasium
where we come to make ourselves strong.
237. Utter no words of condemnation. Close
your lips, and let your hearts open.
238. All the strength and succour you want
is within yourselves. Therefore make your
own future.
239. Service to the humanity is the highest
form of worship.
240. The universe is objectified God.
241. Death being so certain it is better to
die for a good cause.
242. The goal of mankind is knowledge.
243. It is better, far better to die on the field
of duty, preaching the Truth, than to die
like a worldly worm.
244. If there is sin, this is the only sin to say
that you are weak, or others are weak.
245. Work as if on each of you depended the
whole world.
246. Each soul is potentially divine.
247. Real education is that which enables
one to stand on his own legs.
248. It is better to wear out than to rust out
specially for the sake of doing good to
others.
249.

250. Religion is realisation; not talk, no

doctrine, nor theories, however beautiful
they may be. It is being and becoming.
251. That which is selfish is immoral, and
that which is unselfish is moral.
252. He is an atheist who does not believe
in himself.
253. Knowledge is nothing but finding unity
in the midst of diversity.
254. What nation wants is pluck and
scientific genius. We want great spirit,
tremendous energy and boundless
enthusiasm.
255. India will be raised not with the power
of the flesh, but with the power of the
spirit.
256. Religion is the idea which is raising the
brute unto man and man unto God.
257. The only service to be done for our
lower classes is to give them education, to
develop their lost individuality.
258. Him I call a Mahatman whose heart
bleeds for the poor; otherwise he is a
Duratman.
259. In helping the world we really help
ourselves.
260. Anything that makes you weak
physically, intellectually and spiritually,
reject as poison.
261. To work without motive, to work
unattached, brings the highest bliss and
freedom.
262. Whatever you think, that you become.
If you have to think, think good thoughts,
great thoughts.
263. When a man has begun to be ashamed
of his ancestors, the end has come.

264. World is in need of those whose life is

one of burning love, selfless.
265. Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal
is reached.
266. Men are valuable than all the wealth of
the world.
267. The happiest moments we ever know
are when we entirely forget ourselves.
268. He who struggles is better than he who
never attempts.
269. Character has to be established
through a thousand stumbles.
270. All knowledge depends upon calmness
of mind.
271. The concentrated mind is a lamp that
shows us every corner of the soul.
272. Education is the manifestation of the
perfection already in man.
273. Religion is the manifestation of the
Divinity already in man.
274. If your freedom hurts others, you are
not free then.
275. It is struggle against nature and not
confinity to nature that makes man what
he is.
276. The history of civilisation is the
progressive reading of spirit into matter.
277. The eternal law is self-sacrifice, not
self-assertion.
278. Inspiration is much higher than reason
but it must not contradict it.
279. Books are useless to us until our own
book opens.
280. Go from village to village, do good to
humanity and to the world at large.

281. The remedy for weakness is not

brooding over weakness, but thinking of
strength.
282. If there is sin, this is the only sin to
say that you are weak, or others are weak.
283. Self-sacrifice, indeed, is the basis of
all civilization.
284. Do not look back upon what has been
done. Go ahead!
285. Duty is sweet only through Love.
286.
Be not weak, either physically,
mentally, morally or spiritually.
287. Truths of the Upanishads are before
you, take them up, live up to them, and the
salvation of India will be at hand.