Sri Krishnamacharya Quotes

Sri Krishnamacharya used to tell me: 'Do the Headstand when you are tired and in need of a tonic; when you are unable to fall asleep; when you are hungry, nervous and unhappy. Do it when in need of relaxation, when the brain is clouded, when you are in low spirits. Do it when your thoughts are distracted and you cannot concentrate properly or meditate.' ~ Indra Devi

In this world, man has two significant possessions: intelligence and emotion. These two possessions govern our day-to-day life. But very often we see that emotion (ego) gets the upper hand in our life. We know that even if someone is extremely intelligent, when his emotion comes to the fore it will devour him. He is compelled to do what his emotion asks him to do. ~ Sri Chinmoy

Today I must dive deep within
And know what I come
To this earth-stage for. ~ Sri Chinmoy

There seems to be no end in you as your love spins round and round
so I dive into your golden heart and drink your light and sound.... ~ Sri Gawn Tu Fahr

The great are strongest when they stand alone, A God-given might of being is their force. ~ Sri Aurobindo

Recognize and honour your uniqueness. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Life is nothing to be very serious about. Life is a ball in your hands to play with. Don't hold on to the ball.
~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Some people think very cleverly, 'Let me
live my whole life the way I want to live.
In the last few moments, I will remember
god and chant His name and enter heaven
somehow.' Please be very clear, only that
which you thought of in your whole life,
will come up when you leave the body.
Don't think that at that last moment you
can play the game! No!
- HDH Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivoham, in the book "Living Enlightenment ~ Paramahamsa Nithyananda

If you are bombarded by so many thoughts in solitude, you are in ignorance. If you are calm even amidst a crowd then you are in knowledge. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Everywhere I go - from villages outside Kandy, Sri Lanka, to community centers in Amman, Jordan, to offices at the State Department in Washington, D.C. - I find people with a similar story. When thousands of people discover that their story is also someone else's story, they have the chance to write a new story together. ~ Eboo Patel

God has blessed me with the capacity to meditate even while I am talking. ~ Sri Chinmoy

A spiritual man should be a normal man, a sound man. God Himself is normal; He is not insane. In order to reach God, a spiritual person has to be divinely practical in his day-to-day activities. Spirituality does not negate the outer life. But we have to know that the outer life does not mean the animal life. The outer life should be the manifestation of the divine life within us. ~ Sri Chinmoy

Wherever you go, go with inspiration and aspiration.
Whatever you do, do with love and concern.
Whomever you see, see with purity's beauty
And responsibility's glory. ~ Sri Chinmoy

When you drive, you are doing several things at once. You are using your eyes, ears, hands, your mind. If you have meditated for many years and have reached a lofty height in your meditation, as I have, you can meditate while running and cycling and painting. ~ Sri Chinmoy

The complete use of pure reason brings us finally from physical to metaphysical knowledge. But the concepts of metaphysical knowledge do not in themselves fully satisfy the demand of our integral being. They are indeed entirely satisfactory to the pure reason itself, because they are the very stuff of its own existence. But our nature sees things through two eyes always, for it views them doubly as idea and as fact and therefore every concept is incomplete for us and to a part of our nature almost unreal until it becomes an experience. ~ Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

If you make someone feel guilty about their mistake, then you have not forgiven them. That guilt is itself punishment. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The difficulty is that we try to perfect others before we perfect ourselves. ~ Sri Chinmoy

All you can teach is understanding. The rest comes on its own. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

First of all, let us try to know what love is. If love means to possess someone or something, then that is not real love, not pure love. If loves means to give oneself, to become one with everything and everyone, then that is real love. Real love is total oneness with the object loved and with the Possessor of love. ~ Sri Chinmoy

No religion is absolutely perfect. Yet not only do we fight for religion, but also are we often willing to sacrifice our lives for it. And what we hopelessly fail to do is to live it. A true religion is that which has no caste, no creed, no colour. It is but an all-uniting and all-pervading embrace. ~ Sri Chinmoy

There are all kinds of people, and in the attempt to build up a solidarity among them, defects of each one affect all the others. ~ Sri Aurobindo

The fact that television and tourism have made the whole world accessible has created the illusion that we enjoy intimate knowledge of other places, when we barely scratch their surface. For the vast majority, the knowledge of Thailand or Sri Lanka acquired through tourism consists of little more than the whereabouts of the beach. ~ Martin Jacques

I did not come into the world to prove anything. I came into the world to love everyone and everything. ~ Sri Chinmoy

Unless you know yourself, what else can you know? ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Human conduct is ever unreliable until man is anchored in the Divine. Everything in the future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now. ~ Sri Yukteswar Giri

Make other comfortable and you will see that nature will take care of your comfort. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Lo, how to conquer evil thoughts?Easy! One thing, just try -Imagine you are the ocean vast,You are the boundless sky. ~ Sri Chinmoy

If something can bring you great pleasure, it can also bring you pain. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The word 'yoga' means skill - skill to live your life, to manage your mind, to deal with your emotions, to be with people, to be in love and not let that love turn into hatred. ~ Sri Chinmoy

If something is not working today, then something better is in store. This surety should be in our mind. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Trust the divine power, and she will free the godlike elements in you and shape all into an expression of divine nature. ~ Sri Aurobindo

Suffering is due entirely to clinging or resisting. It is a sign of our unwillingness to move on, to flow with life ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Responsibility is the possibility of opportunity culminating in inevitable fulfillment. ~ Sri Chinmoy

There is no greater miracle than our conscious efforts to become good human beings. ~ Sri Chinmoy

Nabadwip, a centre of piety and learning consecrated to the memory of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu - saint, mystic, and devotee of Sri Krishna. ~ Amitav Ghosh

Even in the worst of times, the Tamils had not expected the Sri Lankan army to shell the sick and dying. ~ Rohini Mohan

Suffering is primarily a
call for attention, which itself is a movement of love. More than
happiness, love wants growth, the widening and deepening of awareness and consciousness and being. Whatever prevents that, becomes a cause of pain, and love does not shirk from pain. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

A disease-free body, quiver-free breath, stress-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, obsession-free memory, ego that includes all, and soul which is free from sorrow is the birthright of every human being. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If we call ourselves children of God, then others are also children of God. ~ Sri Chinmoy

Begin with perfecting your daily life. That's the way to perfection. ~ Sri M

Do you think these sannyasi children of Sri Ramakrishna are born to simply to sit under trees lighting dhuni-fires? Whenever any of them will take up some work, people will be astonished to see their energy. Learn from them how to work. ~ Swami Vivekananda

In science knowledge comes first and then faith follows. In spirituality faith comes first and then knowledge follows. The knowledge that pesticides and chemical fertilizers are good for plants came through science. Based on this knowledge, people had faith in pesticides and fertilizers and they were used all over the world. Then a different knowledge came and faith shifted to organic farming. Knowledge brought faith, the knowledge changed, and then faith changed. The knowledge and faith of science is of "happening." In spirituality, faith is first and knowledge comes later. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

What we call "willing" is often but an inflation of ourselves, attended by a hardening. ~ Nilakanta Sri Ram

I commend Sri Chinmoy for his faith and serenity, and I hope he will continue to exert his calming and constructive influence on the international community for many years to come. ~ Brian Mulroney

The rush to enjoy robs the joy from life and only denies the happiness and freedom of here and now. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Your life is infinite. You are as old as these mountains and you will remain for ever. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If peace is not In Nature's beauty, Then where is it, where? ~ Sri Chinmoy

I tell you, deep inside you is a fountain of bliss, a fountain of joy. Deep inside your center core is truth, light, love, there is no guilt there, there is no fear there. Psychologists have never looked deep enough. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar