Ramana Maharshi

Self-reform automatically brings about social reform.

When there are thoughts, it is distraction: when there are no thoughts, it is meditation.

Without understanding yourself, what is the use of trying to understand the world?

The main factor in meditation is to keep the mind active in its own pursuit without taking in external impressions or thinking of other matters.

Realization is nothing new to be acquired. It is already there, but obstructed by a screen of thoughts. All our attempts are directed to lifting this screen and then realization is revealed.

If there is anything besides the Self there is reason to fear? Who sees the second? First, the ego arises and sees objects as external. If the ego does not rise, the Self alone exists and there is no second.

Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind.

If you go the way of your thoughts you will be carried away by them and you will find yourself in an endless maze.

The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge the progress.

The best way to meditate is through meditation itself.

There are no impediments to meditation. The very thought of such obstacles is the greatest impediment.

Our own self-realization is the greatest service we can render the world.

Your own Self-realization is the greatest service you can render the world.

That which comes and goes, rises and sets, is born and dies is the ego. That which always abides, never changes, and is devoid of qualities is the Self.

The state we call realization is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything.

Your duty is to be and not to be this or that. ‘I am that I am’ sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in the words ‘Be still’. Give up the notion that ‘I am so and so’. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?

When there are thoughts it is distraction when there are no thoughts it is meditation.

All bad qualities centre round the ego. When the ego is gone, Realisation results by itself. There are neither good nor bad qualities in the Self. The Self is free from all qualities. Qualities pertain to the mind only.

What message is needed when heart speaks to heart?

Even the structure of the atom has been found by the mind. Therefore the mind is subtler than the atom. That which is behind the mind, namely the individual soul, is subtler than the mind.

No one succeeds without effort... Those who succeed owe their success to perseverance.

To realise the Self is to be still.

The body dies, but the spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death.

The Real is ever-present, like the screen on which the cinematographic pictures move. While the picture appears on it, the screen remains invisible. Stop the picture, and the screen will become clear. All thoughts and events are merely pictures moving on the screen of Pure Consciousness, which alone is real.

Time and space always change, but there is something which is eternal and changeless. For example, the world and time, past or future, nothing exists for us in sleep. But we exist. Let us try to find out that which is changeless and which always exists.

All unhappiness is due to the ego. With it comes all your trouble. If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it you would be free.

It is the Higher Power which does everything, and the man is only a tool. If he accepts that position, he is free from troubles; otherwise, he courts them.

I am not the perishable body, but the eternal Self.

Actions yield result by the ordinance of God as He wills.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the universe is the merest illusion.

Think of God; attachments will gradually drop away. If you wait till all desires disappear before starting your devotion and prayer, you will have to wait for a very long time indeed.

Silence is also conversation.

All activities and events that a body is to go through are determined at the time of conception.

Silence is ever speaking; it is the perennial flow of language.

As instruments for knowing the objects, the sense organs are outside, and so they are called outer senses; and the mind is called the inner sense because it is inside. But the distinction between inner and outer is only with reference to the body; in truth, there is neither inner nor outer. The mind's nature is to remain pure like ether.

Concentration of the mind is in a way common to both Knowledge and Yoga. Yoga aims at union of the individual with the universal the Reality. This Reality cannot be new. It must exist even now and it does exist.

Let come what comes, let go what goes. See what remains.

Doubts never end. If one doubt is removed, another takes its place. It is like removing the leaves of a tree one by one. Even if all the leaves are clipped off, new ones grow. The tree itself must be uprooted.

You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all.

See who is in the subject. The investigation leads you to pure consciousness beyond the subject.

To the extent we behave with humility to that extent good will result.

The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress.

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.

Whenever a thought arises, instead of trying even a little either to follow it up or to fulfil it, it would be better to first enquire, “To whom did this thought arise?”

Meditation applies the brakes to the mind.