Quotes by Shri Ramakrishna

• “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.”
  
  
• “You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? Because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.”
  
  
• “One man may read the Bhagavata by the light of a lamp, and another may commit a forgery by that very light; but the lamp is unaffected. The sun sheds its light on the wicked as well as on the virtuous.”

• “You speak of doing good to the world. Is the world such a small thing? And who are you, pray, to do good to the world? First realise God, see Him by means of spiritual discipline. If He imparts power you can do good to others; otherwise not.”
  
  
• “As long as I live, so long do I learn.”
  
  
• “What Brahman is cannot be described. All things in the world — the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras, the six systems of philosophy — have been defiled, like food that has been touched by the tongue, for they have been read or uttered by the tongue. Only one thing has not been defiled in this way, and that is Brahman. No one has ever been able to say what Brahman is.”
  
  
• “The Man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself.”
  
  
• “God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.”
  
  
• “Different creeds are but different paths to reach the same God.”
  
  
• “Common men talk bagfuls of religion but do not practise even a grain of it. The wise man speaks a little, even though his whole life is religion expressed in action.”
  
  
• “If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.”
  
  
• “Finish the few duties you have at hand, and then you will have peace.”
  
  
• “Bondage and Liberation are of the mind alone.”
  
  
• “The winds of God's grace are always blowing, it is for us to raise our sails.”
  
  
• “God has revealed to me that only the Paramatman, whom the Vedas describe as the Pure Soul, is as immutable as Mount Sumeru, unattached, and beyond pain and pleasure. There is much confusion in this world of His maya. One can by no means say that 'this' will come after 'that' or 'this' will produce 'that'.”
  
  
• “God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God.”
  
  
• “As Long As I Live, So Long Do I Learn”
  
  
• “Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God “The goal of life is not the earning of money, but the service of God. ”
  
  
• “Through selfless work, love of God grows in heart.”
  
  
• “Do not seek illumination unless you seek it as a man whose hair is on fire seeks a pond.”
  
  
• “That knowledge which purifies the mind and heart alone is true Knowledge, all else is only a negation of Knowledge.”
  
  
• “When divine vision is attained, all appear equal; and there remains no distinction of good and bad, or of high and low.”
  
  
• “God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and countries. All doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with whole-hearted devotion...One may eat a cake with icing either straight or sidewise. It will taste sweet either way.”
  
  
• “Bondage is of the mind; freedom too is of the mind. If you say 'I am a free soul. I am a son of God who can bind me' free you shall be.”
  
  
• “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.” 

• “It is easy to talk on religion, but difficult to practice it.”
  “Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.” 

• “Why should you renounce everything? You are all right as you are, following the middle...”
  
  
• “If you desire to be pure, have firm faith, and slowly go on with your devotional practices without wasting your energy in useless scriptural discussions and arguments. Your little brain will otherwise be muddled.”
  
  
• “It is necessary to pray to Him, with a longing Heart.”
  
  
• “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.”
  
  
• “Do you know my attitude? Books, scriptures, and things like that only point out the way to reach God. After finding the way, what more need is there of books and scriptures? Then comes the time for action.”
  
  
• “If you first fortify yourself with the true knowledge of the Universal Self, and then live in the midst of wealth and worldliness, surely they will in no way affect you.”
  
  
• “Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day.”
  
  
• “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.”
  
  
• “There is no hope for a worldly man if he is not sincerely devoted to God.”
  
  
• “Disease is the tax which the soul pays for the body, as the tenant pays house-rent for the use of the house.”
  
  
• “The nearer you approach to God, the less you reason and argue. When you attain Him, then all sounds—all reasoning and disputing—come to an end. Then you go into samadhi—sleep—, into communion with God in silence.”
• 
  
  
• “If a householder is a genuine devotee, he performs his duties without attachment; he surrenders the fruit of his work to God - his gain or loss, his pleasure or pain. Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Abridged)”
  
  
• “When the flower blooms ....The bees come uninvited.”
  
  
• “Can he rectify false weight whose own scales are uncertain? Can you enlighten your neighbor while you yourself have no light?”
  
  
• “No one can say with finality that God is only 'this' and nothing else. He is formless, and again He has forms. For the bhakta He assumes forms. But He is formless for the jnani, that is, for him who looks on the world as a mere dream. The bhakta feels that he is one entity and the world another. Therefore God, reveals Himself to him as a Person. But the jnani — the Vedantist, for instance — always reasons, applying the process of 'Not this, not this'. Through this discrimination he realizes, by his inner perception, that the ego and the universe are both illusory, like a dream. Then the jnani realizes Brahman in his own consciousness. He cannot describe what Brahman is.”
  
  
• “Now... We are going in a loop.”
  
  
• “1. Is anything impossible for the grace of God? Suppose you bring a light into a room that has been dark a thousand years; does it remove the darkness little by little? The room is lighted all at once. Intense renunciation is what is needed.”
• 
  “In the scriptures you will find the way to realize God. But after getting all the information about the path, you must begin to work, Only then can you attain your goal.”
• 
  
  “become.It is said in the Bhagavad Gitâ that the future is determined by the thought that is uppermost at the moment of death, and in the Purâna there is a story that King Bharata was born as a deer p. 48 because when he died, his mind was fixed on the thought of a deer. He who passes away thinking of God and meditating on Him, does not come back to this world. A devotee:” 

• “Who means Who?” 

• “The alligator loves to swim on the surface of the water, but is obliged to remain beneath for fear of the hunter. Yet, whenever he finds an opportunity, he rises with a deep whizzing noise, and swims happily on the watery expanse. O man, entangled in the meshes of the world, you too are anxious to swim on the surface of the Ocean of Bliss, but are prevented by the importunate demands of your family! Yet be of good cheer! Whenever you find any leisure, call eagerly upon your God, pray to Him earnestly, and tell Him all your sorrows. In due time, He will surely emancipate you, and enable you to swim happily upon the Ocean of Bliss”
  
  
• “How dare you talk of helping the world? God alone can do that. First you must be made free from all sense of self; then the Divine Mother will give you a task to do.”
  
  
• “Let's not go into the past.”