Teachings and Advices of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Saradadevi & Swami Vivekananda

·        “He alone is the true teacher who is illuminated by the light of true knowledge.”.. SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        “It is idle to expect that dangers & difficulties will not come. They are bound to come but for a devotee they will pass away from under the feet like water”..SRI SARADADEVI

·        "A man attains everything when he discovers his true Self in himself"..SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        “Remain always strong and steadfast in your own faith but eschew   from all bigotry &   intolerance.”….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        “Man finds fault in others after bringing down his own mind to that level. Does any one really lose anything by other’s criticism? The critic himself suffers”…Sri Ma

·        If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of GOD....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        "A boat may stay in water but water should not stay in the boat. An aspirant may live in the world but the world should not live within him"..SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        “The spiritually minded belong to a caste of their own, beyond all social conventions”..SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        “The companionship of the holy and the wise is one of the main elements of spiritual progress”..SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        “If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.”..SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        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. ….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        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. ….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Disease is the tax which the soul pays for the body, as the tenant pays house-rent for the use of the house.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        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.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        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.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        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.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

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

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

·       
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Longing is like the rosy dawn. After the drawn-out comes the sun. Longing is followed by the vision of God.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        More is 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.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

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

·        The physicians of one class feel the patients and go away, merely prescribing medicine. As they leave the room they simply ask the patient to take the medicine. They are the poorest class of physicians.
….SRIRAMAKRISHNA

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

·        If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of GOD....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        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. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Do you know my attitude? Books, scriptures, and things like that only pointy 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. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        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. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        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." ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        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. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Give up worldly talk altogether. Don't talk about anything whatever but God. If you see a worldly person coming near you, leave the place before he arrives. You have spent your whole life in the world. You have seen that it is all hollow. Isn't that so? God alone is Substance, and all else is illusory. God alone is real, and all else has only a two-days existence. What is there in the world? The world is like a pickled hog plum: one craves for it. But what is there in a hog plum? Only skin and pit. And if you eat it you will have colic. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Pilgrimage becomes futile if it does not enable you to attain love of God. Love of God is the one essential and necessary thing. Do you know the meaning of 'kites and vultures'? There are many people who talk big and who say that they have performed most of the duties enjoined in the scriptures. But with all that their minds are engrossed in worldliness and deeply preoccupied with money, riches, name, fame, creature comforts, and such things. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Who can ever know God? I don't even try. I only call on Him as Mother. Let Mother do whatever She likes. I shall know Her if it is Her will; but I shall be happy to remain ignorant if She wills otherwise. My nature is that of a kitten. It only cries, 'Mew, mew!' The rest it leaves to its mother. The mother cat puts the kitten sometimes in the kitchen and sometimes on the master's bed. The young child wants only his mother. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        He doesn't know how wealthy his mother is, and he doesn't even want to know. He knows only, 'I have a mother; why should I worry?' Even the child of the maidservant knows that he has a mother. If he quarrels with the son of the master, he says: 'I shall tell my mother. I have a mother.' My attitude, too, is that of a child. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        A man may not know the right path, but if he has bhakti and the desire to know God, then he attains Him through the force of sheer bhakti. Once a sincere devotee setout on a pilgrimage to the temple of Jagganath in Puri. He did not know the way; he went west instead of south. He no doubt strayed from the right path, but he always eagerly asked people the way, and they gave him the right directions, saying, This is not the path; follow that one.' At last the devotee was able to get to Puri and worship the Deity. So you see, even if you are ignorant, someone will tell you the way if you are earnest. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        A sannyasi must give up 'woman and gold'; he cannot accept it any more. One must not swallow one's own spittle. When a sannyasi gives something to another, he knows that it is not himself who gives. Kindness belongs to God alone. How can a man lay claim to it? Charity depends on the will of Rama. A true sannyasi renounces 'woman and gold' both mentally and outwardly. He who eats no molasses must not even keep molasses about. If he does, and yet tells others not to eat it, they won't listen to him. ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        Sri Ramakrishna - It is very difficult to understand that God can be a finite human being and at the same time the all-pervading Soul of the universe. The Absolute and the Relative are His two aspects. How can we say emphatically withyour small intelligence that God cannot assume a human form? Can we ever understand all these ideas withyour little intellect? Can a one-seer pot hold four seers of milk? ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

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

·        "I have now come to a stage of realization in which I see that God is walking in every human form and manifesting Himself alike through the sage and the sinner, the virtuous and the vicious. Therefore when I meet different people I say to myself, "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." ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        "Do you know what I see? I see Him as all. Men and other creatures appear to me only as hollow forms, moving their heads and hands and feet, but within is the Lord Himself." ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        "God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer." ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        "Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached." ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        "There are pearls in the deep sea, but one must hazard all to find them. If diving once does not bring you pearls, you need not therefore conclude that the sea is without them. Dive again and again. You are sure to be rewarded in the end. So is it with the finding of the Lord in this world. If your first attempt proves fruitless, do not lose heart. Persevere in your efforts. You are sure to realize Him at last." ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA

·        "What are you to do when you are placed in the world? Give up everything to Him, resign yourself to Him, and there will be no more trouble for you. Then you will come to know that everything is done by His will." ....SRIRAMAKRISHNA