Quotessence
Home / Authors / Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllSelfMindIfsHeartWorldRealKnowsMeditationYogaEgoRealizationThinkingStatesBodyDoeSpiritualConsciousnessSelf RealizationPracticeSilence

Famous Ramana Maharshi Quotes

“...the Lord of the Universe carries the entire burden of this world. You imagine you do. You can hand all your burdens over to His care. Whatever you have to do, you will be made an instrument for doing it at the right time. Do not think you cannot do it unless you have the desire to do it. Desire does not give you the strength for doing. The entire strength is the Lord's.”

ThinkingWorldGivingDoeMadeHandsCareDesireUniverseLordImagineThis WorldInstrumentsBurdenCarrieRight Time
Author:Ramana Maharshi
Create image

“Time is only an idea. There is only the Reality. Whatever you think it is, it looks like that. If you call it time, it is time. If you call it existence, it is existence, and so on. After calling it time, you divide it into days and nights, months, years, hours, minutes, etc. Time is immaterial for the Path of Knowledge.”

IfsThinkingYearsLooksIdeasRealityNightHoursExistencePathMinutesMonthsCallingEtcDividesDay And Night
Book:Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Create image

“Concentration is not thinking of one thing. On the contrary, it is excluding all thoughts, since all thoughts obstruct the sense of one's true being. All efforts are to be directed simply to removing the veil of ignorance. Concentrating the mind solely on the Self will lead to happiness or bliss. Drawing in the thoughts, restraining them and preventing them from straying outwards is called detachment (vairagya). Fixing them in the Self is spiritual practice (sadhana). Concentrating on the heart is the same as concentrating on the Self. Heart is another name for Self.”

ThinkingMindHeartSelfSpiritualNamesEffortPracticeOne ThingIgnoranceQuietContraryDrawingBlissConcentrationVeilsDetachmentFixingPreventingConcentratingSpiritual PracticeSelf WillRestraining
Author:Ramana Maharshi
Create image

“You are the witness of the three bodies: the gross, the subtle, and the causal, and of the three times: past, present and future, and also this void. In the story of the tenth man, when each of them counted and thought they were only nine, each one forgetting to count himself, there is a stage when they think one is missing and do not know who it is; and that corresponds to the void. We are so accustomed to the notion that all that we see around us is permanent and that we are this body, that when all this ceases to exist we imagine and fear that we also have ceased to exist.”

ThinkingKnowsMenStoriesBodyPastThreeForgetImagineStageMissingQuietNotionNineCeaseWitnessPermanentSubtleVoidAccustomedThree TimesGrossPast PresentPast Present And FutureTimes Past
Author:Ramana Maharshi
Create image

“The master is within; meditation is meant to remove the ignorant idea that he is only outside. If he is a stranger whom you await, he is bound to disappear also. What is the use of a transient being like that? But so long as you think you are separate or that you are the body, an external master is also necessary and he will appear to have a body. When the wrong identification of oneself with the body ceases, the master will be found to be none other than the Self.”

IfsThinkingLongIdeasSelfUseBodyFoundMeditationMastersBoundsOneselfStrangerDisappearCeaseIgnorantRemoveIdentificationTransient
Author:Ramana Maharshi
Create image

“If one wants to abide in the thought-free state, a struggle is inevitable. One must fight one's way through before regaining one's original primal state. If one succeeds in the fight and reaches the goal, the enemy, namely the thoughts, will all subside in the Self and disappear entirely.”

IfsThinkingWayWantSelfStatesFightingGoalEnemyStruggleSucceedOriginalsDisappearInevitablePrimalFree State
Book:Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Create image

“Keep the remembrance of your real nature alive, even while working, and avoid haste which causes you to forget. Be deliberate. Practice meditation to still the mind and cause it to become aware of its true relationship to the Self which supports it. Do not imagine that it is you who are doing the work. Think that is the underlying current which is doing it. Identify yourself with the current.”

ThinkingMindStillsRealSelfInspirationCausesForgetPracticeSupportMeditationAliveImagineCurrentsImagine ThatRemembranceDeliberateHasteDeliberate PracticeTrue Relationship
Author:Ramana Maharshi
Create image

“There is no greater mystery than this, that we keep seeking reality though in fact we are reality. We think that there is something hiding reality and that this must be destroyed before reality is gained. How ridiculous! A day will dawn when you will laugh ... at all your past efforts. That which will be the day you laugh is also here and now.”

ThinkingFactsRealityPastEffortLaughingGreaterMysterySeekingRidiculousSelf RealizationDestroyedRealizationDawnHidingOur PastYour PastHere And Now
Author:Ramana Maharshi
Create image