Great Throughts Treasury

"All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody's property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls. Who can lay any special claim to it?"

"All the worshippers are divided into the common masses and the brave few."

"All the strength and succour you want is within yourselves. Therefore make your own future. Let the dead past bury its dead. The infinite future is before you."

"All who have actually attained any real religious experience never wrangle over the form in which the different religions are expressed. They know that the soul of all religions is the same and so they have no quarrel with anybody just because he or she does not speak in the same tongue."

"Always discriminate--your body, your house, the people and the world are all absolutely unreal like a dream. Always think that the body is only an inert instrument. And the Atman within is your real nature."

"All these forms and ceremonies, these prayers and pilgrimages, these books, bells, candles and priests, are the preparations; they take off the impurities of the soul; and when the soul becomes pure, it naturally wants to get to the mine of purity, God Himself."

"Anything that makes weak - physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison."

"Always remember that we are but puppets in the Lord's hands. Remain pure always. Please take care not to become impure even in thought, as in speech and action; always try to do good to others as far as in you lies."

"And what becomes of a man when he attains perfection? He lives a life of bliss infinite. He enjoys infinite and perfect bliss having obtained the only thing in which man ought to have pleasure, namely God, and enjoys the bliss with God."

"An atheist can be charitable but not religious. But the religious man must be charitable."

"And what causes fear? Ignorance of our own nature."

"Any sect that may help you to realize God is welcome. Religion is the realizing of God."

"Anything that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness, touch it not with the toes of your feet."

"Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of Yoga should be at once rejected. The best guide in life is strength. In religion, as in all other matters, discard everything that weakens you, have nothing to do with it. Mystery-mongering weakens the human brain. It has well-nigh destroyed Yoga--one of the greatest of sciences."

"Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached."

"As I grow older I find that I look more and more for greatness in little things....Anyone will be great in a great position. Even the coward will grow brave in the glare of the footlights. The world looks on! More and more the true greatness seems to me that of the worm doing its duty silently, steadily, from moment to moment and hour to hour."

"Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or temple."

"As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God."

"As long as I feel pain, I have identified myself with the body. When I feel joy or pleasure, I have identified myself with the body. But the high state will look with the same pleasure or blissfulness upon pleasure or upon pain...Every meditation is direct super-consciousness."

"As long as we believe ourselves to be even the least different from God, fear remains with us; but when we know ourselves to be the One, fear goes; of what can we be afraid?"

"As my Master used to say, what would you think of men who went into a mango orchard, and busied themselves in counting the leaves, and examining the color of the leaves, the size of the twigs, the number of branches, and so forth, while only one of them had the sense to begin to eat the mangoes? So leave this counting of leaves and twigs, and this note-taking to others. That work has its own value in its proper place, but not here, in the spiritual realm. Men never become spiritual through such work; you have never seen a strong spiritual man among these leaf-counters. Religion is the highest aim of man, the highest glory, but it does not require leaf-counting. If you want to be a Christian, it is not necessary to know whether Christ was born in Jerusalem or Bethlehem or just the exact date on which He pronounced the Sermon on the Mount; you only require to feel the Sermon on the Mount. It is not necessary to read two thousand words on when it was delivered. All this is for the enjoyment of the learned. Let them have it; say amen to that. Let us eat the mangoes."

"As body, mind, or soul, you are a dream; you really are Being, Consciousness, Bliss (satchidananda). You are the God of this universe."

"As particles of matter combine in space, so mind-waves combine in time."

"As every science has its methods, so has every religion. The methods of attaining the end of religion are called Yoga by us, and the different forms of Yoga that we teach are adapted to the different natures and temperaments of men."

"As pleasure and pain pass before his soul, they leave upon it different pictures, and the result of these combined impressions is what is called man's character."

"As soon as you make a sect, you protest against universal brotherhood. Those who really feel universal brotherhood do not talk much, but their very actions speak aloud."

"As soon as I think that I am a little body, I want to preserve it, to protect it, to keep it nice, at the expense of other bodies; then you and I become separate."

"As soon as you know the voice and understand what it is, the whole scene changes. The same world which was the ghastly battlefield of maya is now changed into something good and beautiful."

"As so many rivers, having their source in different mountains, roll down, crooked or straight, and at last come into the ocean --- so, all these various creeds and religions, taking their start from different standpoints and running through crooked or straight courses, at last come unto Thee."

"Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you, but do not think of that now."

"Astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a physician, take good food, and rest."

"Awake, awake, great ones! The world is burning with misery. Can you sleep? Let us call and call till the sleeping gods awake, till the god within answers to the call. What more is in life? What greater work?"

"Avoid excessive merriment. A mind in that state never becomes calm; it becomes fickle. Excessive merriment will always be followed by sorrow. Tears and laughter are near kin. People so often run from one extreme to the other."

"Be a hero. Always say, I have no fear. Tell this to everyone—Have no fear."

"Be a man and try to make those immediately under your care, brave, moral, sympathizing. No religion for you, my children, but morality and bravery. No cowardice, no sin, no crime, no weakness --- the rest will come of itself."

"Be brave! Be strong! Be fearless! Once you have taken up the spiritual life, fight as long as there is any life in you. Even though you know you are going to be killed, fight till you are killed. Don’t die of fright. Die fighting. Don’t go down till you are knocked down."

"Be an atheist if you want, but do not believe in anything unquestioningly."

"Be free; hope for nothing from anyone. I am sure if you look back upon your lives you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves."

"Be grateful to the man you help, think of him as God. Is it not a great privilege to be allowed to worship God by helping your fellow men?"

"Be like the pearl oyster. There is a pretty Indian fable to the effect that if it rains when the star Swati is in the ascendant, and a drop of rain falls into an oyster, that drop becomes a pearl. The oysters know this, so they come to the surface when the star shines, and wait to catch the precious rain-drop. When a drop falls into them, quickly the oysters close their shells and dive down to the bottom of the sea, there to patiently develop the drop into the pearl. We should be like that. First hear, then understand, and then, leaving all distractions, shut your minds to outside influences, and devote yourselves to developing the truth within you. There is the danger of frittering away your energies by taking up an idea only for its novelty, and again giving it up for another that is newer. Take one thing up and do it, and see the end of it, and before you have seen the end, do not give it up. He who can become mad with an idea, he alone sees light. Those that only take a nibble here and a nibble there will never attain anything. They may titillate their nerves for a moment, but there it will end..."

"Be a man and try to make those immediately under your care, brave, moral, sympathizing. No religion for you, my children, but morality and bravery. No cowardice, no sin, no crime, no weakness --- the rest will come of itself."

"Be not afraid, for all great power throughout the history of humanity has been with the people. From out of their ranks have come all the greatest geniuses of the world, and history can only repeat itself. Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvelous work."

"Be moral. Be brave. Be a heart-whole man. Strictly moral, brave unto desperation. Don't bother your head with religious theories. Only cowards sin, brave men never; no, not even in mind. Try to love anybody and everybody."

"Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvelous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment."

"Be perfectly resigned, perfectly unconcerned; then alone can you do any true work. No eyes can see the real forces; we can only see the results. Put out self, forget it; just let God work, it is His business."

"Be pure, staunch, and sincere to the backbone, and everything else will be all right. If you have marked anything in the disciples of Shri Ramakrishna, it is this--they are sincere to the backbone."

"Be strong! … You talk of ghosts and devils. We are the living devils. The sign of life is strength and growth. The sign of death is weakness. Whatever is weak, avoid! It is death. If it is strength, go down into hell and get hold of it! There is salvation only for the brave. None but the brave deserves the fair. None but the bravest deserves salvation."

"Be you holy and above all sincere and do not for a moment give up your trust in the Lord and you will see the light. Whatever is truth will remain forever; whatever is not, none can preserve. Whatever others think or do, lower not your standard of purity, morality and love of God. No one who loves God need fear any jugglery. Holiness is the highest, and divinest power in earth and in heaven. Truth alone triumphs, not untruth. Through truth alone is opened the way to God. Do not care for a moment who joins hands with you or not, be sure that you touch the hand of the Lord."

"Be strong and stand up and seek the God of Love. This is the highest strength. What power is higher than the power of purity? Love and purity govern the world. This love of God cannot be reached by the weak; therefore be not weak, either physically, mentally, morally, or spiritually."

"Believe in the omnipotent power of love....Have you love? You are omnipotent. Are you perfectly unselfish? If so, you are irresistible? It is character that pays everywhere."