Quotes by Sri Sri Ravishankar

Seva / Service

* If you are not having good experiences in meditation, then do more seva you will gain merit and your meditation will be deeper. When you bring some relief or freedom to someone through seva, good vibrations and blessings come to you.
Seva brings merit; merit allows you to go deep in meditation; meditation brings back your smile.
* When you make service the sole purpose in life, it eliminates fear, focuses your mind, and gives you meaning
* Be grateful for any opportunity to do seva.


Love

* Love is not an emotion, it is your very existence.
* Here are the signs of love. When you love someone, you see nothing wrong with them.
* When you love someone, you want to see them always happy and you want them to have the best.
* Love is the highest strength, yet it makes you absolutely weak
* Love cannot tolerate distance, and hatred cannot tolerate nearness.
* You can experience love, but you cannot describe it or express it totally.
* Love is beyond sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound.
* When there is Love, there is no ego; ego dissolves like the dew drops with the sun.
* In the company of one who is living Love, you also cant but spring into that Love.
* Love is that phenomenon of dissolving, disappearing, merging, becoming one with.
* Love is that phenomenon of total letting go.
* The seers, the seen, and the process of seeing all merge. The knowledge, the knower, and the known, they all merge, become one & that is Divine Love.


Anger

* In ignorance anger is cheap and a smile is costly
* Make your smile cheaper and you anger expensive.
* The anger of the enlightened is a blessing




Silence

* Silence is the goal of all answers. If an answer does not silence the mind, it is no answer
* Only Silence is complete
* Smiling with all the existence is Silence
* Purpose of words is to create silence.




GOD

* When you know you own God you will not be in a hurry to get something out of God.
* When you have infinite patience, you will realize God belongs to you.
* God does not test you because he knows you completely - your past, present and future
* God is calling you every moment.
* God is the Seer himself. Who sees---that is God
* God is love. Being in love is sharing that love.
* This entire universe is made up of God. There is nothing outside God.
* God is responsibility, total responsibility.




Knowledge

* Be a Gopal. Be a friend in knowledge
* Be a friend in knowledge. Uplift each other in knowledge
* Knowledge is a burden if it does not set you free.
* Knowledge keeps everything fresh.
* In science you have knowledge first, and then faith follows. In spirituality, faith comes first, and then Knowledge follows.
* When you follow fun, misery follows you. When you follow Knowledge, fun follows you.
* Illusion is error of perception and knowing illusion as illusion is Knowledge.
* Suffering is a product of limited knowledge.
* For one who has awakened in knowledge, there is no more suffering.




The Spiritual Master / Guru

* The master is a doorway
* The master is presence. The world is relativity and relativity has limitations. Presence is unlimited.
* If you are not feeling close to the master, it is because of you, because of your mind, because of your ego concepts.
* A master is like an ocean. Ocean is there, readily available. It does not reject anybody.
* If a Master is not hollow and empty, he is no Master at all.




Surrender

* Do not say that you want to surrender. Just know that you already are surrendered.
* A person who cannot surrender cannot be self reliant
* When you are shaken, remember the foundation of responsibility is surrender.
* The greatest power is in surrender, surrender to the Divine.




Sadhana

* Root out boredom through deep and continued meditation
* If you are unable to meditate because your mind is chattering too much, just feel that you are a little stupid, and then you will be able to sink deep into meditation
* Meditation erases the impressions and improves the expression
* Anytime you are confused, your mind is in conflict, do asanas, sit in asana. You will see, right away clarity comes.
* Effect of asana is clearing out of all conflicts, duality.
* The seed of negativity and the tendency for conflict in you can only be annihilated by Sadhana.




Satsang

* Give quality time to the divine, it will be rewarded. Give satsang and meditation your highest priority
* One who does not do satsang is like a wild animal. Satsang alone makes you civilized.
* Satsang is the shelter from changing time and its harsh influence on life.




Freedom

* Break through the barrier of the rational mind and find freedom for yourself
* Freedom is your very nature. Only with freedom do joy, generosity and other human values blossom
* Just an intention to be free makes you immediately free.
* Discipline protects freedom. You can choose to focus either on freedom or discipline, and this makes you happy or unhappy.
* Freedom without discipline is like a country without a defense.


Karma

* When you praise someone, you take on their good karma. When you blame someone, you take on their bad karma
* Performing actions cannot eliminate karma. Only through grace can the bondage of karma be burnt.
* Prarabdha karma cannot be changed. Sanchita karma can be changed by spiritual practices.




Respect

* Respect for the Self is faith and faith is being open
* Have respect for the Self and no one can take your self respect
* Someone does not need to be great in order to be respected. Respecting life makes you great.




Ego

* The "I" or ego in you is a tiny atom
* Ego is separateness, non-belongingness
* The head level is safe for the ego. The heart level breaks the ego. The solve level dissolves the ego
* The inability to communicate occurs because of ego
* Someone experiences bliss, and that bliss, itself, becomes a trip for the ego. So the ego, in turn, destroys the infinity, the joy, the bliss.



Death

* Divinity dwells in the void as well as in celebration.
* Death brings you in touch with the reality of life.
* Wake up an see your life is too short. The realization that life is short will bring dynamism to your life.



Breath

* Breath is the link between your body and your spirit and your mind



Miscellaneous


# Drop all the divisions (of the mind), altogether. This is what is holding you back from enlightenment. This is what is holding you back from your very nature. Drop those right now.





# Your own judgement brings the barrier, separates you, makes you behave so funny. When you are judging, you are judging your own self, but you are super-imposing it on this, or this, or this, or this, or this.





# The entire universe is just an expression, projection, of the Being, of the Self.
Within this small body, you are able to experience the infinite space.




# Though enlightenment is one in the world, there are many different flavors.




# A poor man celebrates the new year once a year. A rich man celebrates each day. But the richest man celebrates every moment.




# Abiding in the self you become the valentine for the whole world. Spirit is the valentine of matter and matter is the valentine of the spirit.




# Enlightenment is beyond seasons like the evergreen coconut tree.




# The world appears imperfect on the surface but underneath, all is perfect. Perfection hides; imperfection shows off.




# Sincerity is being in touch with your Depth.




# A big Mind that is God. And your mind is part of that big Mind.




# You are total. You are full. You have all that you need. Do not underestimate yourself.




# A devotee will never fall. He cannot fall. There is no chance for it.




# Abundance is a state of mind within you. If you just look at "lack," the lack increases in life.




# The best "puja," the best form of worship, is to be happy, to be grateful.




# Over-indulgence in anything reduces the beauty.




# Behind every activity, pleasant, unpleasant, chaotic, harmonious, is one Divinity.




# Basing your life on words is very superficial.




# Whatever you want for others will happen to you.




# See a mistake as a mistake, not as "my" or "his" mistake. "My" means guilt; "his" means anger.




# "Want" is always hanging on to the "I." When the "I" itself is dissolving, "want" also dissolves, disappears.




# See, ninety percent of this body is only space, and space, and space. And what is in this space? That is mind; that is consciousness; that is intelligence.




# Without being critical, the intellect cannot progress. But that criticism should not come from the heart; it can come from the throat.




# If any has to be given, this is the blessing that has to be given: "Be devoid of feverishness."




# The Self is the center of the whole creation.




# If you are passionate, be passionate for the highest, the most wonderful, the most beautiful. Be passionate for this entire creation-everything is so beautiful




# Truth cannot be understood through proof. Anything that can be proven can be disproven also. Truth is beyond proof or disproof.




# Take a while and just relax. Repose in the depth of your being.




# Forgetfulness is one of the greatest blessings.




# Events cannot stick on to you. You are like the pure crystal. Niranjanah---untouched, unstained by anything.




# Beauty has three levels: indication, expression, and exposure. Spirituality indicates, art expresses, and science exposes.




# You are Divine. You are part of me. I am part of you.




# Life is a package of surprise gifts for you.




# When heart speaks and heart listens, harmony is produced. It is always so. When head talks and head listens, argument is produced.